As with the other studio entries, the dates mentioned are target start dates, not release dates.
BARBARELLA (NDA) This is the sort of movie you should remake, by which I mean, the ones that weren’t that great to start with. (Not that I can really talk, because I haven’t seen the old one.) On the other hand, this will take careful work to update without sucking the juice out of it. I know for a while they were talking Drew Barrymore to do this, but there’s no cast listings at this point. Apparently Robert Rodriguez will direct.
BIG BROTHERS (NDA) Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott are loutish brothers who, after their latest drunken spree, are sentenced to be Big Brothers as their community service time. Yes, that sounds like a good idea, don’t see any downside to that. Comedy (?) and no doubt heart-tugging personal growth ensue.
CIRQUE DU FREAK Jan or Feb I’m assuming this is an adaptation of a popular series of YA vampire novels. See Blood and Chocolate, that’s all I’m saying.
CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON FEB One of Universal’s two attempts to update their old monster characters, one can only hope that both do a better job than the hideously gaaak-worthy Van Helsing. Everyone in the world have been seemingly attached to this long-brewing project, it seems, from John Carpenter back in the day to Guillermo del Toro. Now it’s Breck Eisner (who) at the helm, although I can’t argue with Bill Paxton playing the lead. I actually like the reports—if they are true—that they are backdating the action by making the expedition down the Amazon a Victorian era one. (The Wolfman too is set in that general era.) I just hope other reports of a heavy handed environmental ‘message’ are unfounded. Oh, and please limit the CGI.
THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS 4 Feb 4, 2007 Uhm…. I will say that my first thought on seeing this title was, “Well, they shouldn’t have any trouble getting Vin Diesel back for this one,” and so it proved. He and Paul Walker return, which presumably will help at the box office. I just hope it’s better written and directed than the first one.
LAND OF THE LOST End of Feb Will Ferrell to me is like Adam Sandler; I wouldn’t want to see all his movies, but every now and then they go down OK. Having said that, having Ferrell play the dad in a comic version of the old Saturday morning lost world show could be hilarious, if they do it right.
THE CHANGELING Oct. 15 2007 Crime drama starring Angelina Jolie, but here’s the good part, directed by Clint Eastwood, who is probably the best American filmmaker of the last 20 years. That doesn’t mean everything he makes is good (much less great), but that the odds are better than with anyone else.
TRAVELING Jan or Feb Chick flick drama starring Jennifer Aniston.
THE WOLFMAN Jan 28, 2007 In the old days “Wolf Man” was two words, but we don’t have time for that in today’s rush-rush society! Benicio Del Toro (good choice) is Larry Talbot, the period setting is being kept, and Rick Baker is handling the practical special effects.
My thoughts: Finally, a slate I can get behind. There are actually a couple of films here I will definitely see, most I would see assuming the reviews were good, and only one definitely on the ‘no thanks’ list, although I have serious doubts that Cirque du Freak could amount to anything.
