MOVIE ROUNDUP (WOLF ON WALL STREET, KOJAK & TOLKIEN BIOPIC)

MOVIE ROUNDUP

(Scorsese longest film, New Tarantino and Vin wants Ang Lee)

THE WOLF ON WALL STREET

The Wolf of Wall Street opens on December 25^th and now we know just how long the Martin Scorese film will be. France distributor Metropolitan Filmexport tells Allocine [via The Playlist] that the movie runs 179 minutes, which would get it just in under the 3-hour limit usually set by most studios.  Early reports also said the film was NC-17, so even with that material cut, there’s still plenty left for the true story of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) raiding Wall Street during the 1990s. This is definitely one film you do not want to miss.

If Allocine is correct, then the movie will be Scorsese’s longest film to date, beating out Casino by one minute.  The film stars. Jonah Hill, Kyle Chandler, Matthew McConaughey, Jean Dujardin, Margot Robbie, Jon Bernthal, and Rob Reiner.  The Wolf of Wall Street opens on December 25th.

NEW TARANTINO WESTERN

We finally know what Tarantino’s next film will be, sort of anyway.

With Django Unchained having earned over $425 million at the worldwide box office, Quentin Tarantino is sticking with the Western genre for his next film.

Appearing on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," Tarantino talked about the project.

"I can't talk that much about it, but I will say one thing. I haven't told anyone about this publicly, but I will say the genre. It's a Western," he said. "It's not a 'Django' sequel, but it's another Western, and the thing is I had so much fun doing 'Django' and I love Westerns so much, that after I taught myself how to make one, it's like 'well okay, now let me make another one now I know what I'm doing.'"

KOJAK

Last year Universal Pictures' announced that Kojak would be coming to the big screen and Vin Diesel is set to headline it.  

"Kojak… New York… Ang Lee…" was the message Diesel posted on Facebook when asked what director he'd like to work with in the future.

Although it's entirely possible that Diesel is merely pointing out his top choice, to specifically name Kojak as the project coupled with the fact that the film has not yet announced a director suggests that Diesel's dream is about to come true.

Screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (Skyfall) are providing the screenplay to the television series adaptation. The original show, which ran on CBS from 1973 to 1978, starred Telly Savalas as NYPD Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak, known for his penchant for lollipops and his catchphrase, "Who loves ya baby?"

Kojak has never before been brought to the big screen but a short-lived series reboot was attempted in 2005 with Ving Rhames in the Kojak role.

Diesel is also set to produce the feature version alongside Samantha Vincent.

TOKLIEN BIOPIC

The true story behind The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien is in the works with a biopic tentatively titled Tolkien. The LA Times reports that David Gleeson will be providing the screenplay.

Tolkien is said to focus largely on the author's young life, including his time at Pembroke College and his military service during the first World War. The film will tie his experiences as a young man to those depicted in his iconic fantasy novels.

It is unknown whether or not Tolkien's estate will be involved in the biopic's production in any capacity. Christopher Tolkien, J.R.R.'s son, is infamously not a fan of Peter Jackson's big screen adaptations, the latest of which hits theaters December 13 as The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

MOVIE ROUNDUP (AVENGERS AGE OF ULTRON, BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN & ANT-MAN)

MOVIE ROUNDUP 

(Olsen is a Scarlet Witch, Ant Man will be a Badass and Batman wasn't a afterthought)

AVENGERS AGE OF ULTRON

Elizabeth Olsen just recently been cast as Scarlet Witch in Marvel's The Avengers: Age of Ultron, hs finally given the freedom to talk about the latest film as well as her role in the film.

Olsen cites the sequel's "cool ensemble" as one of the project's draws for her, telling The Huffington Post, "When there's a great ensemble already in place, you're just like, That sounds awesome -- because I want to work with all of those people. That's amazing. And it's all of these people that I respect."

The Godzilla and Martha Marcy May Marlene actress also likes the fact that no one's portrayed Scarlet Witch onscreen before, thus allowing her the opportunity to make Wanda Maximoff her own.

Olsen says Scarlet Witch's "life is insane. And for obvious reasons you can't talk about certain background [her dad's Magneto, but Fox owns the film rights to him so Marvel can't use him], but it is so much fun. And it's so funny, everyone always talks to me about, 'Do you really love having all of these psychological problems and things like that [with your characters]?' And I'm like, 'I don't mean for that to happen.' And with Scarlet Witch, I'm like she's complicated, that one! You know? Like, She might be the most damaged of them all! Which is so cool."

Avengers: Age of Ultron -- which will reunite Olsen with both Oldboy's Jackson and her Godzilla co-star Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Scarlet Witch's brother Quicksilver -- begins filming in early 2014 for a May 1, 2015 release.

ANT-MAN

Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man film has been in development for a real long time, but the film is finally moving forward as fans can expect the film in 2015. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Wright elaborated on what he wants to do with the film and how he thinks it will surprise audiences.

"I want to make him into a badass [laughs]. No, I always liked that comic and I always thought it would be an interesting thing to see in live-action. That's why I [showed] that Comic-Con test that we did for Marvel, to show this fight scene like a proof of concept, like this is what the action is going to look like. I think a lot of people who maybe don't know the character sort of see that test and go, "Oh, right, I get it. It's like an action film," so that's the idea. I think people will be surprised by what kind of movie it is, and so in that respect it's something that I know is going to stand out because it's got a very different story and is a very different movie."

 

When asked about the tone of the film, Wright says he thinks it will be in line with the rest of the Marvel films.

"Well, I think the Marvel movies are funny, you know? I think generally the Iron Man films and The Avengers is funny. They're not ever in the comedy section, but they are funny and entertaining, so I think it'll be something in a similar vein to that."

Walt Disney Pictures has scheduled a July 31, 2015 release for the film, which was written by Wright and Joe Cornish.

BATMAN VS SUPERMAN

There are a ton of big, highly anticipated films set to be released in 2015 and Zack Snyder's Batman Vs. Superman film surely is one of them. In a recent interview with Variety, the producer of those films, Charles Roven, talked about their statuses,

“On ‘Batman vs. Superman,’ we started soft prep in June, and we’ll be shooting eight months later.... We felt that we accomplished our goals with ‘Man of Steel, our intention was to bring Superman into the 21st century with a contemporary character and a different kind of superhero than what’s out there right now...We knew we had created a world and we had left Easter eggs in the movie that let people know that in the universe that Zack was creating, there was the possibility of other DC characters besides Clark Kent."

 

He went on to reveal that the idea of the sequel has been around for awhile,

"We had a sketch of an idea, the beats of a story that David Goyer worked on with Zack. We have a first draft, and we’re continuing to work with it. Those scripts are never fully finished until the movie is in the theaters. We love the characters — we think that Ben (Affleck) is going to be a really great and interesting Batman.”

He went on to discuss why they cast Ben Affleck in the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.

“We wanted a guy who had a certain age and a certain gravitas to what he had done in terms of his recent work. If you take a look at ‘The Town’ and ‘Argo,’ he plays a couple of serious guys in those movies. He’s a big man. He’s also a mature man. As you see him and Henry together, one definitely has much more experience just by looking at him. That’s what we wanted, particularly juxtaposed against our Superman.”

Batman vs. Superman is set to be released in theaters July 17th, 2015,