ComingSoon.net is reporting that Smallville star Kristin Kreuk will play Chun-Li in Hyde Park Entertainment’s Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li. The new movie is set to be directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak from a Justin Marks script. Filming in Thailand in March, 2008. 20th Century Fox will distribute the live-action feature based on Capcom’s video game. The movie is focused on female fighter Chun-Li and her journey for justice.
Variety reports that actor Keanu Reeves has signed onto Twentieth Century Fox’s remake of the 1951 science fiction classic The Day the Earth Stood Still, to be directed by Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) from a script by David Scarpa. Reeves will be playing the part of Klaatu, a humanoid alien who arrives on Earth accompanied by an indestructible, heavily armed robot and a warning to world leaders that their continued aggression will lead to annihilation by species watching from afar. The production is looking at a late fall or early 2008 start as a planned tentpole for the studio. Returning Reeves to the world of science fiction for the first time since The Matrix trilogy, plans are to update the original 1951 movie, which was directed by Robert Wise, using the advances in visual effects. The role of Klaatu in the original movie was played by Michael Rennie.
Regency and 20th Century Fox are overhauling the big screen adaptation of TV series Dallas, about the oil-rich Ewing clan, and this time they’re drilling for laughs. Variety says Betty Thomas, the director who mined two spoof movie hits from The Brady Bunch, is in discussions to direct. Pam Brady, who most recently scripted Hot Rod, is penning the script. John Travolta remains attached to play slimy oil tycoon J.R. Ewing.
When the movie was derailed late last year, Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) was directing. Luke Wilson was attached to play Bobby Ewing with Shirley MacLaine to play Miss Ellie, while producers were talking with Meg Ryan to play Sue Ellen after Jennifer Lopez dropped out. The studio is eyeing a January start date.
Roland Emmerich will direct a remake of the 1966 sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage for 20th Century Fox. National Treasure screenwriters Marianne and Cormac Wibberley are in talks to pen the script. Voyage is about a scientist who is dying of a blood clot. His only chance for survival is for five scientist colleagues to be miniaturized in a ship, and injected into his bloodstream. The original, directed by Richard Fleischer, starred Raquel Welch and Donald Pleasence.
20th Century Fox-based production company New Regency has partnered with the Mark Gordon Company to adapt Voltron: Defender of the Universe into a possible franchise. Producer Mark Gordon has been developing the film, based on the popular 1980s Japanese animated TV series, comic books and toy line, for some time with Justin Marks writing the script. But interest in the property hit a high after Transformers turned into a box office juggernaut, raking in nearly $300 million to date. Marks’ take is described as a post-apocalyptic tale of survival set in New York City and Mexico.
In the animated series, five Galaxy Alliance pilots control vehicles shaped like lions that combine and form the massive sword-wielding Voltron robot in order to battle an evil menace. Gordon is producing with Lawrence Inglee and Jordan Wynn shepherding the project. Mark Costa and Ford Oelman are executive producers. Marks is also adapting He-Man and the Masters of the Universe for Joel Silver at Warner Bros., as well as the Green Arrow pic Supermax, also at the studio. Marks also has Street Fighter in the works at Hyde Park and Fox.
20th Century Fox has set Gavin Hood to direct Hugh Jackman in Wolverine, the X-Men spinoff that was written by David Benioff. The film, which begins production in November for a 2008 release, will be produced by Lauren Shuler-Donner, Jackman and his Seed Productions partner John Palermo. Hood is the South African director whose 2005 film Tsotsi won the foreign film Oscar. His next film, the thriller Rendition with Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, opens on October 12.
Using several resources that include the Marvel Comics lore, along with the more recent Weapon X graphic novels by Frank Miller, Wolverine mixes action with an origin story about how Logan emerged from a barbaric experiment as an indestructible mutant with retractable razor-sharp claws. After three “X-Men” films grossed over $1 billion worldwide, the studio has made Wolverine a top priority. “I have long been a fan of Gavin’s work and know he will make a masterful film with the character intensity and action beats the fans expect,” said Jackman.
Variety says 20th Century Fox has acquired feature rights to the life simulation computer game The Sims from Electronic Arts, and has set project up with Fox-based John Davis. The five-year-old franchise is the best selling PC game in history, with worldwide sales topping 85 million, bringing in over $1.6 billion. The movie will be live-action. Steve Asbell is overseeing the project for Fox with “Sims” Studio head Rod Humble managing the creative property for Electronic Arts. Brian Lynch will write the script; the story is under wraps with talent yet to be named.
Mike Myers is attached to long-in-the works remake of the 1947 Danny Kaye classic The Secret Life of Walter Mitty at 20th Century Fox. The story centers on a quintessential daydreamer whose vivid imagination allows him to escape from the mundane constraints of his ordinary life. This latest incarnation is penned by writer-producer Jay Kogen and is still being produced by Samuel Goldwyn Jr. The new script will start from scratch. Mark Waters was previously attached to direct and Owen Wilson to star back in late 2005 over at Paramount, but that version stalled. Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg, Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Chuck Russell have been attached to various version over the years. Myers begin work on his next film The Love Guru in August.
20th Century Fox is launching development of a sequel to Oliver Stone’s 1987 drama Wall Street as a potential starring vehicle for Michael Douglas, who won an actor Oscar for his role as cold-hearted takeover artist Gordon Gekko. Variety says Fox has signed deals with Edward Pressman, who produced the original, and writer Stephen Schiff to write an updated version of a look into the underside of the financial world. The project is titled Money Never Sleeps, but Stone’s not involved as a writer or director. Pressman was a producer on Amazing Grace and an executive producer on Thank You for Smoking.
Variety is reporting that David Goyer will direct Magneto, the X-Men spinoff in development from 20th Century Fox and Marvel Studios that centers on the villain played in the original trilogy by Ian McKellen. After the first three X-Men films grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, Fox and Marvel hatched the spinoff program. Magneto will be the second such movie to go into production. First up is Wolverine, a David Benioff-scripted film that will star Hugh Jackman as the steel-clawed mutant; Fox and Marvel will set a director shortly on that pic. Goyer will develop a Magneto script that was written by Sheldon Turner.
