A while back we learned that Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Patriot) had acquired the right to Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. I foolishly hoped time would pass and the film(s) would never get made. Or at least not get made by Emmerich himself. David Chen of /film sat down with Mr. Emmerich today at Comic-Con where he was promoting the release of 2012 and revealed that Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan) would soon be finished with the first script.

The premise of The Foundation series is that mathematician Hari Seldon spent his life developing a branch of mathematics known as psychohistory. Using the law of mass action, it can predict the future, but only on a large scale. Using these techniques, Seldon foresees the fall of the Galactic Empire, which encompasses the entire Milky Way, and a dark age lasting thirty thousand years before a second great empire arises. To shorten the period of barbarism, he creates two Foundations – small, secluded havens of all human knowledge, on opposite ends of the galaxy.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I can’t think of two people less qualified to tackle this project. Sure Emmerich can produce special effects driven crap that can pass as mildly entertaining for a brief time, but Foundation is real science fiction. Foundation is not Will Smith dragging an alien through the desert complaining about how he’s missing a barbecue. If not these two, who would you like to see adapt Asimov’s classic series?

Check out Chen’s Original Article on /Film here.

Back in October we found out that a live action World of Warcraft movie was in the works. Most of us feared the worst, Uwe Boll. Thankfully, that is not the case. Instead Variety is reporting that Sam Raimi will begin work on the film immediately following Spiderman 4. This is good news and bad news. For most of you nerds out there it means you’ll get to see your favorite MMORPG brought to the big screen by one of the most talented directors around. Sadly, it means Evil Dead 4 is that much further away. WoW is reportedly budgeted at 100 million and should begin by mid 2010.

Yes. The idea of remaking Predator is complete bollox. That is unless Robert Rodriguez is the guy behind the lens. Much to my dismay that is not the case. A few months ago when it was first reported that Rodriguez’s Troublemaker studios would be responsible for rebooting the now classic action flick there was much speculation that Rodriguez himself would direct. Now that’s an idea I can get behind. Sadly that wet dream was cut short when Rodriguez himself announced that director Nimrod Antal (Vacancy, Kontroll) had been chosen to helm the reboot. Below is a bit of what Rodriguez had to say when AICN caught up with him:

“First of all, on a personal level I found him to be an outstanding presence, a great communicator full of ideas, and upon meeting him you can immediately understand how he is able to wrangle cast and crew and get the best out of everyone. I always loved “Kontroll”, where he proved himself to be a very resourceful and original filmmaker. When I saw “Armored”, I could tell he’s also great with action and has a keen eye for casting. He reminded me of Quentin with how he was able to work with a group of very strong, singular actor talents and make it look effortless. I know he’ll be able to get the most out of what we want to be an outstanding cast. We really want to go with a character driven action movie, because that’s what we all remember about the original “Predator”, and we want to take it even further with this.”

Let me start by saying I really enjoyed Kontroll. Vacancy didn’t make me want to jump for joy, but I didn’t want to spoon my eyes out either. But what the fuck is Rodriguez thinking? Has he been too busy making kids movies (Spy Kids, Shorts) to put any actual thought into who should direct this film? Antal is a competent director. Better than most, but he is not fit for a Predator reboot. Perhaps I’m wrong. Maybe with Rodriguez’s guidance as a producer Antal will turn in a great movie. I doubt it. What do you guys think?
Check out the trailer for Armored, Antal’s latest, below.

Stephen Soderbergh (Oceans Trilogy, The Underneath, Che) is one fantastic filmmaker. I’m not
sure how I feel about the Oceans sequels, but I love the rest of his body of work. It was a nice
surprise to see that The Informant, which I thought was going to be a corporate thriller/drama is
actually a comedy. And damn if it doesn’t look life a funny one. In The Informant the U.S.
government decides to go after an agri-business giant with a price-fixing accusation, based
on the evidence submitted by their star witness, vice president turned informant Mark
Whitacre (Matt Damon). The cast also includes Scott Bakula, Patton Oswalt, Candy Clark,
Joel McHale, and Frank Welker. It’s nice to see Bakula back on the big screen. Check out
the trailer below.

*Welker has worked in nearly 600 projects since 1967, including being the voice of
Megatron in 44 episodes of The Transformers animated series.

Okay Bobcat probably won’t come to your house and punch you in the face, but I might if you don’t see this movie. Robin Williams is at his best in dark comedy. I’m not talking about the mangled mess that was Death to Smoochy. Think more along the lines of The World According to Garp, but darker. Bobcat Goldthwait directs this tale of a high school english teacher who fakes his son’s suicide note after an embarrassing accidental death. When the note becomes and unexpected hit he uses the opportunity to realize his dream of becoming a successful author. I love Goldthwait’s Shakes the Clown. Fuckin’ Mimes! So I’m 100% in on this one. World’s Greatest Dad releases August 21st to select cities.

Fanboys everywhere were relieved to hear that Brett Ratner wouldn’t get his filthy inept mitts all over the Conan remake. Sadly he’s been replaced with the possibly even more hacktacular Marcus Nispel. For those of you who don’t already know Nispel is the man responsible for ruining the Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre remakes. He also directed the inexplicably awful Pathfinder. There are a lot of fanboys out there who are really excited about this. Is Nispel really better than Ratner? It’s not so much a step up or a step back. It seems more like a step to the side. I can only hope at this point that this project never sees the light of day.

* Is Nispel’s only goal as a director to make shitty versions of other people’s films?

* Who do you want to direct a Conan remake?

Martin Scorsese has quite a few films that fit into quite a few categories, but he has yet to give us a true horror film. I’m not sure that Shutter Island really falls into the horror genre but the
trailer sure as hell makes it look like it does. With a stellar cast that boasts Michelle Williams,
Patricia Clarkson, Leonardo Dicaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow, Emily Mortimer,
Ted Levine, Jackie Earle Haley, and Elias Koteas I don’t really see how this film can go
wrong. Shutter Island releases October2nd. Check out the trailer below and let me know what
you think. Thanks to Heather for the link. I agree with her, does anyone else see elements of Kubrick’s The Shining in this there?

Invictus, previously known as The Human Factor, is Clint Eastwood’s drama about the life of Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) after the fall of apartheid during his first term as president when he campaigned to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup as an opportunity to unite his countrymen. The film snagged a December 11th, 2009 release date and will compete against Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones. Both films are being released in the heat of Oscar season and are expected to be top contenders. I already smell nominations for Freeman as Mandela and possibly for Matt Damon who plays the Rugby team captain Francois Pienaar. Who do you have your money on? Jackson or Eastwood?

Thanks to JoBlo for posting this kick ass pic of Brolin as Jonah Hex.Not as gruesome as I was hoping, but it will do. Hex is the story of a scarred bounty hunter who tracks a voodoo practitioner bent on liberating the South by raising an army of the undead. The cast includes Brolin, John Malkovich, Michael Shannon, Michael Fassbender, and the theatrically challenged but ridiculously hot Megan Fox. I’m a fan of the comic, and I think they did a terrific job casting, but does anyone else think that Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears a Who) directing was a bit of a misfire?

Imagine someone decided to remake Little Shop of Horrors. Now imagine Audrey II has been replaced with a newborn baby and the Seymour character is now the mother of said newborn. Pretty fucked up idea, right? Well that’s what Writer/Director Paul Solet has done, and if the hype from Sundance and the amazing NSFW red band trailer below are any indication he’s made on hell of a frightening flick. Check out the NSFW trailer below. Thanks to Twitch for this nugget.

* Grace is still making the festival rounds with no current release date set.