Much as we like to bemoan the dearth of original ideas in Hollywood, it’s clear why the studios prefer to bet big on existing properties. The 2013 box office has been dominated so far by sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots, and adaptations — as was the 2012 box office, the 2011 box office, and so on.

Still, a handful of truly new films manage to break through each year, and this year none has broken through harder than Pacific Rim. While the Guillermo del Toro-directed sci-fi failed to make much of an impression domestically, its worldwide tally is the highest of any live-action movie…

For the first time, the filmmakers behind the Atlas Shrugged movie trilogy will raise production and marketing money through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign.

 

The campaign is scheduled to kick off Monday and is designed to raise $250,000 of the film’s $10 million budget.

Filmmakers also said Monday that the movie has been officially titled, Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt?

Yeah… see, I’m not so interested in this film because I like films that are well made. While the second installment was, in my opinion, somewhat better than the first, it still was not great filmmaking. Those…

As Lucasfilm and the filmmakers behind Episode VII launch their casting efforts for what looks very much like a new actor to play Chewbacca, an amazing amount of support has rushed forth for Peter Mayhew, the actor who originated the role in George Lucas‘ 1977 original.

As we told you earlier in the month, Mayhew isn’t in the best of health right now. Complications arising from his gigantism lead to him being unable to stand up straight or walk unassisted.

But he’s undergone surgery on his knees and legs, and when the whole healing process has been completed, the doctors say that he should…

WikiLeaks has posted what it calls a “mature version” of the screenplay to Bill Condon’s Julian Assange film The Fifth Estate, adding that it was “obtained at a late stage during the principal photography of 2013.”

The script was posted last Friday after the film’s world premiere in Toronto, but before its wide theatrical release. Along with it, the site included a 4,000-word essay attempting to discredit the film, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch in the role of WikiLeaks founder Assange, and Daniel Bruhl as ex-WikiLeaks employee Daniel Domscheit-Berg.

In the essay, WikiLeaks describes The…

“The Last Vampire” chronicles the life of Sita as a character prone not only to great spiritual beliefs and human-like compassion, but also brutal acts of retribution. “She is at once captivating and beguiling, due in part to her personification as a beautiful, intelligent, innocent appearing, contemporary girl — who is in reality a 5000-year-old predator,” Preger said.

You know, because we don’t have enough vampire films in the world right now… 

The Walt Disney Co. has announced that it would not renew its first-look deal with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, bringing an end to a longtime partnership between the Hollywood icons.

The company said it will continue to focus on its branded properties from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm.

“Jerry is one of the most respected and prolific producers working in the motion picture industry, and we have had an incredibly successful collaboration over the past two decades and he is a friend to many of us here at Disney,” said Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn in a statement. “We will continue…

According to a new report, Saoirse Ronan has read for a role in Episode VII. “Has read for” is a long way off from “finalized a deal for,” but personally, I’d love to see this one pan out.

Word of Ronan’s potential casting comes from Latino Review, who have reported several Episode VII casting rumors already. None of them have been confirmed as fact at this point, but none have been definitively proven false, either. Disney’s just not ready to give away anything yet.

She’s a good actress and so I would welcome her casting in the upcoming Star Wars film. What part do you guys think she…

There will be no new Pixar movie in 2014. The highly decorated computer animation company, which is owned by Disney, has pushed the release of The Good Dinosaur from June 2014 to November 25, 2015. But wait, wasn’t Finding Dory scheduled for that date? It was, but now the underwater sequel will open June 17, 2016.

Disney also moved the Angelina Jolie film Maleficent up from July 2, 2014 to May 30, 2014, the space vacated by The Good Dinosaur.

Hmm. Should we worry about the beloved animation studio? Probably not. Actually, I’d rather see them take the time they need to make a good film…

For Rowling, the most important issue was creative control‚ not an easy ask for a first-time screenwriter. Sources say Warners cannot hire someone else to rewrite her script without her approval – a gamble for the studio and a departure from the Potter films, which were written by such seasoned scribes as Steve Kloves and Michael Goldenberg. Rowling also has script approval on subsequent Fantastic Beasts films.

This seems like a very good thing to me. My problems with the films tended to feel like things that J.K. Rowling would not have done. Her books are fantastic. I realize that…