2009 Movie Release Schedule

Variety has a ton of news and updates about the 2009 movie release schedule. LOTS of changes are going on as studios are scrambling to capitalize on the biggest films.

- Sony has pushed back 2012 from July 10 to Nov 13.
- Guy Ritchie’s remake of Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law gets pushed back from Nov 13 to Christmas Day, Dec 25.
- Sony moved up the release of Hugh Grant-Sarah Jessica Parker romantic comedy Did You Hear About the Morgans? to Dec. 18.
- Other pics already planting a flag on Christmas Day are Disney toon The Princess and the Frog and 20th Century Fox’s Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel.
- James Cameron’s 3D epic Avatar opens Dec. 18.
- Universal is moving back the release of Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno from May 15 to July 10.

Warner Bros. made a number of other additions and changes to its calendar, including giving the final Harry Potter pic a release date of July 15, 2011. The 2011 calendar is fairly wide open, save for the July 15 weekend, which already had been claimed by Marvel Entertainment/Paramount’s The Avengers.

Warners also fleshed out its 2010 release calendar, dating a number of projects, including Green Lantern, which debuts Dec. 17.

Movie News

Tons of movie news coming out of Hollywood as things are gearing up for the big summer and fall season’s.

– Ridley Scott’s reimagination of “Nottingham” is still on. Cate Blanchett is replacing Sienna Miller. There were rumors that Miller would look too young opposite an aging 45 year old Russell Crowe. Now rumors are swirling that Sienna was bounced from the project after studio exec’s felt she was “box office poison.” Blanchett is a bit more age apporpriate for the role at 39. Principal photography begins in April for most likely a mid 2010 release.

– Samuel L. Jackson is indeed on board for Iron Man 2 reprising his role as Nick Fury. Fan’s of the first Iron Man will remember that Jackson did a cameo after the credits had rolled, no word on how big his role will be in this film but look for Nick Fury to most likely get its own spin-off in the future. Personally, I feel like Sam Jackson has just been in too many movies and I think Marvel would have been better suited getting a lesser known actor to play Nick Fury as a Sam Jackson driven vehicle just isn’t that exciting.

– Fan’s of the early 90’s Arnold Schwarzenegger flick “Total Recall” have something to be happy about. Neal H. Moritz and his Original Films banner are in final negotiations to develop and produce a remake for Columbia Pictures. The original, based on the Philip K. Dick story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale,” follows a man haunted by a recurring dream of journeying to Mars who buys a literal dream vacation from a company called Rekall Inc., which sells implanted memories. The man comes to believe he is a secret agent and ends up on a Martian colony, where he fights to overthrow a despotic ruler controlling the production of air.

– One of the best actors on The Office is Ed Helms (Andy Bernard) and he’ll finally be getting a chance to shine on the big screen with his own feature film through Warner Bros. Steve Carrell is producing and Helms would play a civil war re-enacter, someone who is obsessive about historical precision – stitch count in a coat, buttons from the period, proper speech, etc. He and three other guys (two fellow re-enacters and an African-American professor of history who is protesting the event) are accidentally transported back in time and awaken in the actual civil war. Once there, they have find there way home without altering history or permanently breaking America in half.

The Hills Season 5 Preview

A new trailer has been released for the 5th and most likely final season of The Hills. While at first it seemed like a believable show that chronicled a young Lauren “LC” Conrad’s move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in fashion after her Laguna Beach show had ended.

Somehow just 5 seasons and 3 years later, it’s spiraled into a deep dark drama involving villains (spencer/heidi/stephanie) and heroes (LC, Lo, Whitney) and the in between (Audrina). Plus carefully placed appearances from reality tv crossover’s like Brody Jennar, while intently staying away from any semblance of “reality” as LC’s real life boyfriend actor Kyle Howard is kept off the show completely.

All of that being said, I will watch every episode of this new season as I have done so with each season before it. There is something addictive about these people and their dysfunctional trainwreck of a life. Spencer getting into a bar fight is about as believable as the Easter Bunny, but I’m sure it’ll still be a delight to watch. LC and Lo moving out of their house in the Hollywood Hills for an apartment in Downtown LA is a change of pace which may freshen things up. Are Audrina and Justin Bobby still going strong? Is Lo finally going to find a human being who can stand her? Will Stephanie finally spend more time with her poor ailing grandmother?! All of these questions and more will be answered when The Hills returns in Mid-March Monday nights at 10.

Dwight Howard 75 foot Shot

Not only is 23 year old Dwight Howard a Dunk champ, the guy can effortlessly make a 75 foot over the shoulder shot like it’s nothing. If he’s this good now, I can’t imagine where he’ll be in a few years when he really hits his stride. Superman is for real folks!

credit Deadspin

OSCAR Live Blog

– Slumdog Millionaire wins for Best Picture.

– Sean Penn (Milk) wins for Best Actor. (I can’t help but feel Mickey Rourke was robbed as it makes for such a great story to see him win, not to mention how great that acceptance speech would have been, but Penn was pretty damn good as Harvey Milk and deserving of this award as well.)

– Kate Winslet (The Reader) wins for Best Actress.

– CAN PEOPLE PLEASE STOP KISSING ANNE HATHAWAY’S ASS!! She’s not that great, she’s pale and boring and picks projects like Bride Wars and Get Smart which nobody cares about. As bad as Hollywood wants to make her the new “it” girl she is NOT even in the same league as Kate Winslet, Angelina Jolie, or Meryl Streep and will never be!

– Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) wins for Best Director.

– Reese Witherspoon and her chin present Best Director together.

– Departures wins for Best Foreign Language Film

– is this even a competition? “Jai Ho” is a stone cold lock for this award. UPDATE: it won.. shocker.. A.R. Rahman “Jai Ho” wins for Best Original Song

– more song and dance.. the Academy truly knows what its viewers want, that is the female 50+ viewers.

– A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire) wins for Best Original Score. Nice to see a man from the mother land pick up a golden statue!

– nevermind. here’s comes our savior from the dull none other than hollywood megastar.. Zac Efron! UGH

– most boring Tony Awar..ahem.. Oscar Award’s ever.. the band is playing the most depressing songs from this year’s films while Hugh Jackman most likely tinkers with a dildo offstage.. Give us the award’s we want guys, 3 1/2 hours of this is ridiculous.

– Eddie Murphy presents Jerry Lewis with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

– Slumdog Millionaire wins for Best Film Editing

– Slundog Millionaire wins for Best Sound Mixing

– The Dark Knight wins for Outstanding Sound Editing

– The Curious Case of Benjamin Button wins for Best Visual Effects

– Oscar’s giving credit to action flicks!?? This really must be a time of change. Hopefully this doesn’t mean another 5 minute broadway dance fest coming up.

– Smile Pinki wins for Best Documentary Short Subject

– Man on Wire wins for Best Documentary

– HEATH LEDGER wins for Best Supporting Actor (The Academy did good on this one)

– I have no doubt that Hugh Jackman is a closet gay.. his love for musicals and being married to a whale is a pretty good give away. Wolverine likes the hog fella’s.

– Slumdog Millionaire wins for Best Cinematography

– Ben Stiller acting as Joaquin Phoenix.. viral video on youtube in 3…2…1..

– Romance 2008 video, good time to take a dump or refill on snacks.

– The Curious Case of Benjamin Button wins for Best MakeUp

Taking of Pelham 123 Trailer

John Travolta and Denzel Washington are starring opposite each other in this new Tony Scott thriller. It’s a remake of a movie from the 70’s and is about a subway heist. The real story is that yours truly will be cameoing in this flick. Watch for a pivotal scene where I cross the street, it really makes or breaks the entire plot of the film and I assume the studio will be sending the scene in for awards consideration next year.

Heroes Review

Heroes is in the second half of its third season and the show has been notorious for disappointing its fans and inconsistent thrown together storylines with no real payoff.  We’ve been clammoring since the end of season 1 for a return to form and the Heroes writers have finally answered our prayers.  I’m here to tell you that this show is headed back on track and if things keep going well, “Fugitives” may be the best chapter in the Heroes series so far.

Things have quickly spiraled out of control for our super powered friends.  Nathan Petrelli is heading up a government agency that is looking for anyone with an ability and doing god knows what to them.  He has his little henchman Hunter who does the dirty work with a specially trained task force.  Somehow old Horned Rim Glasses has gotten looped into this as well as apparently Claire will be excused from containment if HRG helps out.  The real secret to all of this is that nobody in the gov’t actually knows Nathan himself has an ability, the moment that is revealed he himself would be captured.  It’s interesting to see the back and forth between Nathan and Noah (HRG) as they both have something the other doesn’t want ruined.  Claire’s involvement in this season is becoming to be a bit much as for some reason Hayden Panetierre (sp?) just looks weird and is a horrible actress.  Only actor on this show as bad as her is Milo Ventimiglia (her real life ex-boyfriend) who has the acting range of a cardboard box.

Fortunately we have Adrian Pasdar, Masi Oka, Greg Grunberg, Zachary Quinto, and the much improved Ali Larter to carry the acting burden.  Sylar has made a new friend in the quest to find his birth father.  He is mentoring a teenage boy who also has an ability and who uses it for evil as well.  This is an interesting situation to see Sylar as a “father figure” while also learning much about himself in the process.  We see some shreds of humanity out of him, while at the same time the serial killer in him is at an all time high after the horrible love fest storyline he had with Elle (Kristen Bell).  Sylar is more sadisitic and plotting this time around.  You actually are almost as afraid of him again as you were in season 1.

The romance between Matt Parkman and the Speedster seems to be short lived as she was shot in the second episode.  No word on if she’ll be back through flashbacks or such, but there isnt much of a loss there either.  The thing I love about Heroes is that the guests can come and go but the main cast is strong enough to support the series without feeling as you misssed anything.  Even Mohinder (Sendhil Ramamurthy) has had a lessened role this year so far.  It will be interesting to see where things go from here.  Right now its almost as if every character is getting reestablished for a story that will lead to intersecting paths and a big payoff.  On Monday’s episode Noah is captured by Peter, Matt, and Mohinder and will be interrogated about what’s going on.  This is a dynamic the show hasn’t used yet and I am expecting another all star performance.

SiriusXM agree to deal with Liberty Media

After working at a company ran by Mel Karmazin, I have learned that he is a man you can NEVER count out. No matter how high the deck is stacked against him, the man finds a way out and always rises to the top. Mel has ingeniously taken a dying product with a burden of debt and created a high priced bidding war between two huge investors (Echo Star/DirecTV).

This will bring in a good cash flow to take care of SiriusXM’s debt and the company COULD be in positive revenue by 2011. Pretty big news for an organization that was expected to file for bankruptcy today. The cherry on top is that even though John Malone’s Liberty Media is paying so much cash (est. 500+ mil) to help out SiriusXM, he won’t be in control of the company! King Mel will retain his crown when the business inevitably starts making money.

I would consider this the beginning of a huge success for SiriusXM. Once this debt is taken care of they’re looking at over 2 billion dollars a year profit from their 20 Million or so suscribers. Not to mention that number will grow when auto sales finally go back up. People who counted out this company should probably hold their tongue’s as I think there is a huge potential for satellite radio within the next 3-5 years.

Here’s some of the details from the Wall Street Journal/Hollywood Reporter:

The agreement will allow Liberty to look for synergies between satellite TV DirectTV, which it controls, and Sirius, even though the two wouldn’t be combined.

Liberty will invest up to $530 million in Sirius in two stages.

The first phase includes a $280 million senior secured loan, $250 million of which will be provided today to repay debt due today and provide cash for general corporate purposes.

The second phase is an additional loan of $150 million to Sirius unit XM. In addition, Liberty agreed to offer to purchase up to $100 million of the unit’s loans outstanding under existing credit facilities.

If the second phase is completed, Sirius will issue Liberty 12.5 million shares of preferred stock that can be converted into 40% of the common stock of Sirius.

Liberty will get seats on the Sirius board proportionate to its equity ownership, with chairman John Malone and CEO Greg Maffei expected to take seats.

If Sirius hadn’t reached a financing deal, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing could have become necessary as early as tonight.

Amid the global credit crunch, Sirius has struggled with a big debt burden after the merger that created the company last year.

“Liberty’s investment is an important validation of what Sirius XM has already achieved and a vote of confidence in what we will achieve,” said CEO Karmazin. “This agreement enables Sirius XM to continue to develop the opportunities first outlined in the merger of Sirius and XM.”

Maffei said Liberty is “excited to be investing in Sirius XM,” adding: “We have been impressed with the company, its operations and management team.”

He particularly cited Sirius’ ability to grow subscribers and revenue in a difficult financial and auto market, arguing that this “is indicative of how listeners view this as a “must have” service.”

New Transformers 2 Trailer

Since this is predominantly a blog for men, we figured you MIGHT be interested in watching the brand spankin’ new Transformer’s 2 trailer that ran in front of Friday the 13th this weekend.  Just thought you might want to take a peek.  As you can see Shia Lebouf and Megan Fox are back and this looks to be bigger and better than anything in the first flick.  Looks like this will hands down be the biggest movie of 2009.

New Blizzard MMO in the works?

Apparently a Blizzard developer has let the cat out of the bag on the much speculated about rumors of a new MMO in the works. It is supposedly going to be a step away from the Warcraft universe. Since Diablo is pretty similar to WoW, I wouldn’t be surprised if they do one for Starcraft. If not then hopefully it’ll be something completely new. Here’s the official blurb from IGN about the story:

On a post today on the World of Warcraft forums, Jeff Kaplan revealed that he’s stepping away from World of Warcraft to work on Blizzard’s “upcoming, unannounced MMO.” Kaplan, who has served as lead designer on World of Warcraft for the last few years and was the game director for Wrath of the Lich King, did not offer any details on the new game or reveal his new role, but he did state that his passion for World of Warcraft is still strong and, in his words, “fuels the challenge of making our next MMO even better.” Those are some big shoes to fill, as Kaplan himself admits.

We hope to have more details on this new project in the coming months.