Willy Wonka Reboot Unstuck In The Warner Bros. Pipeline

by Daniel Crooke

If a major Hollywood studio acquires the legal rights to the key role in a beloved, recently deceased performer's legacy, is its tone still deaf? Warner Bros. will learn the answer to this question in due time as it develops a new Willy Wonka film after nearly a year of deal-closing with the Roald Dahl estate to own the cinematic future of the literary creation. While the intellectual property lays in Dahl's estate, it's fair to say that Wonka's iconography may belong more readily to the late Gene Wilder's beloved performance in the children's classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Variety reports that Warner Bros. plans to pop the whimsical chocolatier into his own standalone film (sans bratty children) but has made sure to point out that this won't necessarily be an origin story. This will mark the third effort to bring Wonka to the screen - lest we forget the ill-advised bob on Johnny Depp's iteration - but the first time he will serve as central protagonist. While we've seen quicker reboots of the Spider-Man variety - this, a decade; that, three - time isn't the issue with this one but the question of whether or not a studio should tamper at all with such precious goods. Is it fair game to revive the Wonka brand or should Warner Bros. let him rest in peace?

Chloe Moretz For "Suspiria"

Chris here with some casting news for one we're keeping an eye on: Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria remake.

Chlöe Grace Moretz has signed on to Guadagnino's passion project retelling, one that has been long in the making with directors (Darren Aronofsky and David Gordon Green) and stars (Isabelle Huppert) dropping off. The casting is curious considering that Moretz had quite recently dropped out of all upcoming projects to refocus her career. I guess that's a quick turnaround!

Horror redos haven't been the actress's sweet spot, with Carrie and Let Me In both being big misses (though consider me a fan of the latter) that didn't use her particularly well. This remake will also come with a higher pedigree than those previous efforts and she might welcome the challenge that will likely come with the ballet-focused film. But maybe the Guadagnino pairing foretells Moretz repositioning her career through the hands of autuers - don't forget that Olivier Assayas was maybe the first to "get" her in Clouds of Sils Maria.

Moretz joins a cast that includes Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson, and Mia Goth. What do you think of the casting?

Thoughts I Had... The "Jumanji" Cast

Chris here. Do you remember 1995's Jumanji? That 90s kids classic still holds up today, so naturally we have a remake coming our way. Stars Dwayne Johnson and Jack Black are no strangers to family entertainment, and they're also bringing along the bankability of Kevin Hart and fan favorite Karen Gillan. Here's a first look at what they have in store:

... and I have some thoughts:

• What is this Lara Croft ensemble Gillan is giving us? I'm no prude, but oversexualizing the only woman for a kids movie seems a bit much.
• No seriously, she can't be wearing that little clothes because the jungle is so hot. Jack Black is wearing seventeen layers.
• Does this crew go inside the game? The point of Jumanji is that the wild comes to you.
• Johnson and Black have done plenty of family fare, but Kevin Hart is actually an inspired choice for this kind of entertainment. Can you believe The Secret Life of Pets was his first voiceover work?
• Remember Johnathan Hyde's hunter villain in the original and how Hyde was seemingly the villain in all mid-90s movies? I wonder if we'll get another stock villain actor here too.
• ... sigh What's Bonnie Hunt up to these days?

Jumanji opens next summer. Do you have fond memories of the original?

Review: "The Magnificent Seven"

by Chris Feil

Drawing on the original iterations of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and the 1960 American remake by John Sturges, Antoine Fuqua's The Magnificent Seven arrives as another attempt to reanimate the American western.

Denzel Washington leads this bursting cast as Chisolm, corralling a ragtag mini-militia to help protect a small town from a violent and overbearing tycoon (Peter Sarsgaard). There are familiar faces (Ethan Hawke, Chris Pratt, Vincent D'Onofrio) and emerging talents (Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Martin Sensmeier) rounding out the Magnificent bunch with more shared attention to each player than you might be anticipating...

Click to read more ...

Cast This: "Clue" The Remake

I grew up playing "Clue" at home with my family so when the movie came out I was thrilled and saw it three times to catch the separate endings. My story is not unique (except for falling for the studio's marketing gamble and seeing it three times in theaters) because the board game has been hugely popular since its initial release in 1949 so multiple generations have played it and loved it. It has a built in audience so naturally movie studios are interested because franchises is what they do. Remember a handful of years ago when Universal was going to remake the movie Clue (1985) but nothing came of it? Too make a long story short... "too late!" ... the project is back on again at a different studio. 

Clue art by Kevin Wada

Now, Fox will remake the movie despite the fact that board game based movies haven't done well at the box office (including the original Clue, despite its huge fanbase after the fact). Nevertheless it's a perfect opportunity for us to play CAST THIS! after the jump...

Click to read more ...