Tomb Raider up for a Reboot

The Tomb Raider movies series, based on the popular video game series, is up for a reboot.

GK Films acquired the film rights from interactive entertainment company Square Enix Ltd, and announced its plans to launch some fresh new "Tomb Raider" movies, separate from the 2001 and 2003 Tomb Raider movies which starred Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft. In an interview with Ugo.com way back in 2004, Jolie made it clear that she was done with the Tomb Raider series and was satisfied with the second movie; "I just don't feel like I need to (go back to the role of Lara Croft), because I felt very happy with the last one, which was kind of the one we wanted to do. The first one kind of frustrated us, because we were trying something new. The second one, I felt like that's kind of how I wanted to do it, and I don't really feel the need to do another one." 

That means that we are bound to see a fresh new actress to fill in the boots as the Lara Croft for movie franchise reboot. Producer Graham King, who produced "The Departed" and "The Town," said: "We are very excited to be rebooting what is already a hugely successful film franchise and continuing the 'Tomb Raider' phenomenon"

The press release noted that the reboot "will create daring new adventures for the young and dynamic Lara Croft."

The first film in the series reboot is aiming to hit theaters in 2013.

Resident Evil 5 movie is Going to Happen, according to Jovovich

Paul WS Anderson is brilliant, not in the sense of being a film-maker, but in the sense that he ends each and every Resident Evil movie with a cliffhanger, so much so that those who liked the movie would crave for a sequel. I remember As for me, I dont care if it's a dumb, silly, ridiculous, or even a bad ending, there's just something about it that makes you curious how they will continue this on the yet-to-be-made sequel. And yes, Resident Evil 5 is happening...

Milla Jovovich’s movie Resident Evil: Afterlife opened this weekend, and the actress is already gearing up for the series' next installment. "This new Resident Evil  is the first one to ever open at No. 1 worldwide. It’s the biggest movie in the franchise," she told us, while hosting the Mercedes-Benz Tea Party at Lincoln, the new restaurant at Lincoln Center. “So we’re definitely going to make another one,” she said, adding that director Paul W.S. Anderson, her husband, already has some ideas for the fifth Resident Evil  installment, and this time he wants the audience's ideas, too. "We’ve been talking to a lot of fans on Twitter and stuff, so it’s probably going to be one of the first movies where we really talk to fans to see what they want, and what characters they want to see. It's going to be a more interactive process."

SOURCE: nymag.com

Mass Effect game to be adapted into movie

Legendary Pictures has picked up rights to “Mass Effect,” the Electronic Arts-BioWare video game. Mark Protosevich, the scribe who wrote “I Am Legend” and worked on “Thor,” is in talks to pen the movie, which will be produced by Avi and Ari Arad as well as Legendary’s Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni.

“Mass,” which debuted in 2007, is an epic sci-fi action game set in the year 2183, focusing on a human soldier and his starship, the SSV Normandy. The galaxy-spanning story involves a long-extinct race of aliens, dormant beacons and more alien species than you can shake a lightsaber at. A sequel to the game was released in January.

The project is still in the early stages of development, though any game-to-screen undertaking would require a massive commitment. So far, humans vs. aliens movies have tended to be set on Earth, which makes those films easier to shoot while making them relatable for mass audiences.

One of the by-products of the success of “Avatar” has been showing that moviegoers will follow and invest themselves in non-human characters if given a reason to, which opens the door for more alien movies.

The players involved all have experience in undertaking giant-sized production. Legendary’s credits include co-producing such tentpoles as “The Dark Knight,” “300” and the recent “Clash of the Titans” remake. Avi Arad is the former chairman of Marvel Studios, whose Arad Prods. is developing a feature film version of video game “Drake’s Fortune.”

CAA-repped Protosevich is known for his large-scope sci-fi work. In addition to “Legend” and “Thor,” the scribe worked on remakes of “Stranger in a Strange Land” and “The Bride of Frankenstein,” both still in development at their respective studios, and is writing the English-language translation of “Old Boy” for Mandate.

Tull called “Effect” “ripe for translation,” saying it had “depth, compelling characters and an engaging back story.” Arad described the game as “a parable whose conflicts mirror the ones we currently face in our own world.  This story emphasizes the need for all cultures to learn to work together.”

Casey Hudson, who exec produced the game series, said BioWare always “thought ‘Mass Effect’ was perfectly suited to be a motion picture,” while Pat O’Brien of UTA-repped EA said the game was seen early on as having cross-over potential by EA Entertainment, whose mission is to take key EA titles and develop new ways to expand their audience.

“Effect” will fall under Legendary's co-production and co-financing agreement with Warner Bros., who will distribute the film worldwide.BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk will serve as executive producers, as will Hudson. [source: The Hollywood Reporter]

In the meantime, check out the video I attached here, which is a trailer for the game itself.

Warner Brothers Summon A New Mortal Kombat

Warner Brothers Pictures is bringing the almost twenty-year-old franchise back for another battle, hiring Oren Uziel to pen the screenplay. Though there's no word on a start date, director or cast, Uziel's last script, Shimmer Lake, made the 2009 Black List (the list of the best un-produced screenplays in Hollywood), so anticipation is high for what the new Mortal Kombat film will entail. [source: Bloody Disgusting]

MORTAL KOMBAT (& its 2 other game sequels that came much later on) is simply about a death tournament of the most skillful, most dangerous fighters around the world, including mystical and immortal characters.

Mortal Kombat was my favorite arcade game to come out of the mid 90's & SNES era. It's appeal lied not only on its realistic content (as it applied photographic images of actual character models), but also on its adult gore elements. The game was one of the earliest video games made for adults. Unfortunately, the movie adaptation was horribly simmered down to appeal to a wider audience; it did not help that the adaptation was very cheesy and silly.

I just hope that this new adaptation would be more faithful to the game; that's to say that it should be violent and gritty, as it originally is. The studio should take note that whatever infant which became a Mortal Kombat fan during the 90's should be all grown-up now, so it really should not hold them back from making a very adult-oriented action movie. But then again, there are those executives that would probably want it to appeal to a new generation of kids. With that thinking, they should keep in mind that what made Mortal Kombat successful was because it was realistic and dark. And that the two movies really did not push high enough to be a good enough of a film franchise because it was cartoony.