Disney still loves its cash calf, Miley Cyrus, and is doing all it can to see her mature in its own pastures. The studio has hired Nicholas Sparks for a tailor-made project along the lines of his A Walk to Remember. He’ll simultaneously pen the novel and script, the plot and title of which are unknown. The only thing certain about the film is that it won’t feature any singing parts for Cyrus.
More South Korea firsts: following the recent news that Universal is financing a South Korean film, Sony Pictures has announced a production that will be the first mainstream Hollywood movie to shoot in the country. Unfortunately, the movie is Beverly Hills Ninja 2, starring David Hasselhoff.
Last Friday, before conspiracy theorists were questioning who actually birthed newborn Trig Palin, and long before it was announced that Bristol Palin is a (first time?) teen mom-to-be, I was innocently thinking of the more simple Sarah Palin movie. The one that goes sorta like The Contender, except that in this case the nude photos, which may or may not be of the female VP candidate, are pageant-related rather than a remnant of sorority hazing.
Now, of course, despite the gossip blogs’ wet dream that there are indeed scandalous photos out there of the former Miss Alaska runner-up, the movie goes a little more like Juno — or, as many a site has effortlessly picturedit, Juneau. Either way, both The Contender’s Joan Allen and Juno mom Allison Janney could easily pull off the role of Sarah Palin, but I’ve got my heart set on someone else for the part (see above). And I’ve gone ahead and cast the rest of the movie, too (see below). But feel free to comment below with your own choices for each of the cast.
Last night, the trailer for Disaster Movie premiered on MySpace. You can watch it after the jump. But considering it’s completely lacking in disaster spoofage, I’ve instead reserved the top spot for Disaster!(aka Disaster the Movie!), a claymation feature from a few years back that appears to have done much better with the disaster genre parody. Plus, it co-stars Motley Crue (in clay form, that is).
The New York Daily News reports that just days after Disney tried to shame Vanity Fair and photographer Annie Leibovitz for releasing a photo of tween Disney Channel sensation Miley Cyrus wrapped in a bed sheet, it’s been revealed that the company is selling Disney underwear in China via billboards that show adolescent models wearing even less. A Disney spokesman claimed the Chinese ad “has caught us totally by surprise” –– which seems about as credible as the suggestion that the company had no idea what was happening on Leibovitz’s set. The shock shouldn’t be that Disney is selling sex; the shock should be that Disney is not only feigning shock, but that they’ve turned feigning shock into a business model.
I am one of the biggest supporters of digital 3D, but I just can’t get behind Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D. It appears to be the most exploitive of the technology as little more than a gimmick and attraction. Every bit of computer generated imagery looks tailor made to look neat in three-dimensions. And then the story was probably constructed around those shots. Hell, even that non-CGI shot of Brendan Fraser spitting into the sink seems to exist only so that the spit will appear to fly at you. This isn’t a movie; it’s an amusement park-appropriate spectacle — like Captain EO.
Directed by Oscar-winning ILM effects master Eric Brevig (Total Recall) and based on the classic Jules Verne story, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D is obviously about a journey to the center of the earth, in 3D. It also apparently features dinosaurs, phosphorescent hummingbirds, giant man-eating fly-trap-type plants and a really, really long fall that reminds me of Fraser’s role in the underrated Joe Dante comedy Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Those things alone at least make the movie sound better than The Core. Of course, that isn’t saying much. …Read more
Who knows whether or not anyone had to use their AK, but according to a “well-placed” WGA strike insider, “Friday was a good day.” The labor dispute is by no means over, but both sides are apparently circling a decision on streaming residuals that no one, as of yet, seems to have a major problem with.
That Hannah Montana 3D concert film made ridiculous money over the weekend––$42,460 at each of its 683 locations––thus robbing Titanic of the record for best Super Bowl box office of all time.
Each of the five Best Picture nominees have enjoyed a significant bump at the box office since the noms were announced two weeks ago, but No Country For Old Men“seemingly affirmed its status as Oscar frontrunner” by nabbing the Producers Guild prize over the weekend.
Informal strike talks are still slogging on––Robert Iger from Disney and Peter Chernin of News Corp will rep the AMPTP today––but without a set deadline for “officially” going back to the table, there are fears that the WGA will drag this out until June, when SAG’s contract expires, so that they can basically shut down Hollywood together until some time in the fall.
The tech world is freaking out over Microsoft’s offer to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion in cash and stock, which kind of takes the thunder from another Yahoo story from several hours before that story broke: former Warner Brothers chief Terry Semel announced he was leaving his position on the board at Yahoo. Earlier this week, Nikki Finke spread a rumor that Semel would soon leave Yahoo and possibly take over as head of New Line.
Disney is releasing the 3D concert film Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour theatrically for one week only beginning today. The tween sensation is expected to beat the box office competition, which includes the Jessica Alba horror film The Eye, which was withheld from film critics.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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Who knows whether or not anyone had to use their AK, but according to a “well-placed” WGA strike insider, “Friday was a good day.” The labor dispute is by no means over, but both sides are apparently 
