Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Today's Film News: New Line Restarts Old Franchise


By Katey Rich

Krueger



New Line, the studio famously searching for a new moneymaking franchise after the end of The Lord of the Rings and the utter flop of The Golden Compass, is restarting one of the oldest franchises in their library: the Nightmare on Elm Street saga. The trio behind a similar Friday the 13th relaunch--Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form-- will take charge of the remake. According to Variety it will overhaul the franchise in a way similar to the recent remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.



As reported here yesterday, Mark Romanek has stepped down as director of The Wolf Man, a remake of the 1941 horror classic starring Claude Rains. The Hollywood Reporter now says that Romanek departed over budget disputes; he wanted more money, and the studio was intent on keeping the production under $100 million. Universal is now looking for a new director, and the start date has been pushed back to March.



Two of the stars of this season's romantic comedies will team up in The Ugly Truth. Katherine Heigl, star of the hit 27 Dresses, will be joined by Gerard Butler, who played opposite Hilary Swank in December's P.S. I Love You. Heigl plays a TV news producer forced to team up with a chauvinistic co-host (Butler) to prove his negative theories about true love. Robert Luketic directs the script by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith; all three were behind the mega-successful Legally Blonde.



Oliver Stone, whose Pinkville project fell apart in the wake of the writers strike, is back in business for his George W. Bush biopic. He announced last week that Josh Brolin would play the President, and now he has secured financing from the production and financing company QED, according to Variety. This could put the movie in theatres as early as this November, just in time to shake up the Presidential election.



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