A studio spokeswoman said Wednesday that Paramount would fight the proposed follow-up to the 1946 holiday classic starring Jimmy Stewart as George Baily, a desperate family man who imagines what his town would be like if he’d never been born. Star Partners and Hummingbird Productions announced plans Monday to create a sequel titled It’s a Wonderful Life: The Rest of the Story.

Bob Farnsworth, president of Nashville, Tenn.-based Hummingbird Productions, told trade publication Variety that the film was set for release in 2015 and would star Karolyn Grimes, who played George Bailey’s daughter…

MPAA’s Anti-Piracy Fight Contributed To Financial Loss In 2012 While Chris Dodd Collected $3.3M

The Hollywood’s lobby group’s finances took a hit in 2012, a tax filing shows — but CEO Chris Dodd did just fine even as the MPAA licked its wounds from its failed effort to promote tough anti-piracy legislation.  Dodd’s compensation came to $3.3M last year. (The package: $3M base compensation, $250,000 bonus, $41,930 other compensation, $13,753 retirement benefit, and $19,585 non-tax benefit.) That’s up 36.5% but it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison since he worked a partial year in 2011…

So this is a clip to go along with the one I posted yesterday. Let me tell you this is looking pretty weird. And I don’t think that’s in a good way.

The following obviously contains spoilers for The Wolverine.

The biggest addition, which accounts for many of the extra twelve minutes in this version, is an extra segment that takes place at the beginning of the ninja encounter that opens the movie’s final sequence. It features a lot of blood, in big washes, thanks to dastardly use of a snow-grinding machine. This sequence seems to have been shot with the knowledge it could end up cut from the final edit, as there are easily discernible “in” and “out” points that don’t tie it too firmly to the action that bookends the fight. I’d also wager…

So I’ve previously been thinking that this film might possibly work for me on some level — that somehow it might be just strange enough and magical enough and fanciful enough to just work. This clip makes me doubt that a lot. There’s nothing particularly engaging about it, but the worst part is, Keanu Reeves is obviously fighting a CGI monster. That thing looks so fake that I doubt even a four year old would believe it was a real monster.

Who knows, maybe it could still be good and the story could overcome the bad effects. But I’m not counting on it. Frankly, why wouldn’t you show off…

Sparked by the success of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series, Abrams wasn’t optimistic about Star Trek returning to its roots on television, saying:

I have been hearing for as long as I can remember that CBS, who has the rights to the series, has just been saying they’re not interested. That’s the word I’ve been told. [A CBS Studios rep replied: “We love the Star Trek franchise, its fan base and the many possibilities for its future when the time is right.

However, an unnamed CBS Studio representative left the door open, responding to Abrams’ comments, by saying:

We love the Star…

This trailer is set to a bit more, shall we say contemporary beat? than what we have previously seen for this film. I reckon they’re probably having a little bit of a hard time getting interest in this film and maybe some upbeat music will help. Well I’m guessing that’s what the thinking on this is anyway.

I am looking forward to it but I don’t think it’s coming to Nashville for a while. It’s going to a very limited release starting on November 29^th and doesn’t go to a wide release until Christmas — which is just annoying. Whatever. I’ll watch it whenever I can finally see it.

For The Fixer I alternated between geeky wonderment, and snorting with laughter. I mean seriously, I couldn’t make up my mind. I mean, Mario and Luigi are fantasy characters in a fantasy world that is mostly just food fun. And these two short films (soon to be four) take themselves soooo seriously, and yet they are completely ludicrous.

These short films are written and directed by Evan Daugherty Snow White and the Huntsman, Divergent, and the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (we’ll try not to hold that against him).

In these first two films we meet up with Marion in the first, and…

Only one new film I’m interested in this weekend, but it looks like a great one! I am of course speaking about The Book Thief. The problem is, it’s in limited release. Somehow I missed this bit of info until just now when I was looking stuff up.

New This Weekend

The Book Thief - PG-13

This looks extremely good. There’s no doubt that the filmmakers certainly had their eyes on an Oscar in this film, and if the trailers are any indication I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t get very close. While this film can certainly be classified as a WWII film given the subject matter, this does not look…