Frank Marshall dishes about Indy, Bourne and more

MTV news caught up to mega-producer Frank Marshall at the LA premier of the latest "Twilight" movie and asked him some pointed questions about the future of the Bourne franchise, the identity of the director for "Episode 7" and whether the LucasFilm sale to Disney had any impact on the future of the long talked about "Indy 5" movie. That film had pretty much slipped into the development underworld a while ago but there were some diehard Indy fanatics who'd hoped that recent events might have breathed some life into the corpse. Unfortunately instead of breathing life into Indy Marshall seems to toss dirt onto the Jones casket. Listen to the whole thing.

Entire early version of "Prometheus" script available online

If you're like me you thought Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" was a film that got lost somewhere in the writing process. Brimming with potential and visually stunning with a great cast the film seemed to suffer from too many cooks in the kitchen. It's been well documented that Jon Spaihts' original story was subjected to revision and embellishment at the hands of Damon Lindelof and many, including me, feel the film suffered mightily for it.

Now a pre-Lindelof version of the script has surfaced online and anyone willing to take a trip over to here is welcome to read it. (If you're willing to sign up to scribd you can even download it.) While I'm not sure this script would have been everything I wanted as it is, I do think it has a much more cohesive feel to it start to finish than "Prometheus" wound up having. Read it yourself and decide.

The top 10 movies for the weekend of November 9 - November 11, 2012

1) Skyfall	$88.3 Million
2) Wreck-It Ralph	$33 Million
3) Flight	$14.7 Million
4) Argo	$6.6 Million
5) Taken 2	$4 Million
6) Cloud Atlas	$2.6 Million
7) The Man with the Iron Fists	$2.59 Million
8) Pitch Perfect	$2.57 Million
9) Here Comes The Boom	$2.52 Million
10) Hotel Transylvania	$2.4 Million

The number one movie a year ago this week was Relativity's "Immortals" which debuted in the top spot with $32.2 million.

(Green indicates new release)

"Skyfall" rewrites the Bond box office record books

There was only one story at the box office this weekend and it's name was Bond, James Bond. "Skyfall" smashed the previous opening weekend record for a 007 film by hauling in an estimated $87.8 million at the North Amerian box office. Add to that another $95 million it pulled in overseas during the weekend and Daniel Craig's 3rd run in Bond's shoes has already captured an estimated $518 million in global treasure. The film is poised to become the first Bond film to shatter the $600 million mark worldwide and with Japan and Australia still to open and a long run ahead in North America is probably looking at a final global take that's north of $750 million. Amazing and well deserved.

Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Director Sam Mendes and Bernice Marlohe of "Skyfall"

Off the beaten track trailer of the day - "Tragedi Penerbangan 574"

Take a corpse and load it into the cargo hold of an airplane full of superstitious types and what d'ya get? "Tragedi Penerbangan 574" which I'm thinking means something like "We couldn't afford a continuity guy". First the trailer:


Not that it really matters but I couldn't help noticing they placed that corpse on a rear-engine Fokker F28...

but once it headed down the runway it took on the distinctive profile of a Boeing 737 with flat-bottomed engines out on the wings.

What's more, the poster for the film shows a jet with yet another engine type: out on the wings and perfectly round.

I think that ghost is trying to mess with my mind!

Michael Arndt confirmed to write "Star Wars Episode 7"

Michael Arndt with his bling

Who'da thought Star Wars would be back in the forefront of tentpole talk as we wind down 2012? Not anyone I know. But here we are and here it is with the latest piece of news coming out of the marriage of LucasFilm and Disney being that Michael Arndt is officially confirmed to be writing the screenplay for Episode 7.

Arndt, well known for his work on "Toy Story 3" and "Little Miss Sunshine" (for which he won an Oscar), is said to have already completed a 40 - 50 page treatment for the saga as it moves forward. Said treatment is reported to call for appearances by cast members from the original trilogy playing older incarnations of their beloved characters.

Now all we need is a director. To that end the name Brad Bird keeps popping up though no one will go on the record at this time to either confirm or categorically deny that rumor. It shouldn't take long, though, to fill the chair with a summer 2015 release date looming a mere (in blockbuster terms) 2 1/2 years away.

Mark Walhberg joins "Transformers 4"

In a move that shocked the hell out of me Michael Bay has announced that Mark Walhberg has joined the cast of "Transformers 4". The move certainly lends some gravitas to the upcoming installment (if a Transformers movie can be said to have gravitas) - the first without series anchor Shia LaBeouf. From Bay's official announcement:

“Mark is awesome... and I’m so fired up to be back working with him. An actor of his calibre is the perfect guy to re-invigorate the franchise and carry on the Transformers legacy.”

Bay also credited internet "chatter" for giving him the idea to cast Walhberg:

"...let's say that very internet chatter gave me some ideas. We are at the inception of our story process right now on T4. Let's say some ideas are gaining traction with me and my writer – so I'm here to say thanks internet chatter."

Just how many films Walhberg has signed up for is unknown. Transformers 4 is due in theaters June 27, 2014.

"World War Z" - trailer

The whole zombie thing got old for me about, oh, 10 years ago so I was uber-skeptical about the upcoming "World War Z" with Brad Pitt. But I have to say this trailer is an absolute hoot! Check it out.


"World War Z" is due in theaters next June.

Oh my! Elijah Wood goes that extra bloody mile in new "Maniac" trailer

Maybe something about his role in 2005's "Sin City" gave him a taste for blood. Or maybe he felt that that particular cannibal just wasn't far enough out on the edge for his taste. Then again maybe he just felt that in order to truly and effectively avoid being typecast the rest of his career (for playing you-know-who) that he had to go out and try and one up Norman Bates. But whatever. At this point the reasons aren't as important as the work itself and so without further ado here is Elijah Wood in the new international red band trailer (and I mean RED) for Franck Khalfoun's "Maniac".

Definitely Not Safe For Work and not for the squeamish. You have been warned.


As of this writing there is no American theatrical release date for "Maniac". It opens in France on December 26th.

The top 10 movies for the weekend of November 2 - November 4, 2012

1) Wreck-It Ralph	$49 Million
2) Flight	$24.9 Million
3) Argo	$10.2 Million
4) The Man with the Iron Fists	$7.9 Million
5) Taken 2	$5.9 Million
6) Cloud Atlas	$5.3 Million
7) Hotel Transylvania	$4.4 Million
8) Paranormal Activity 4	$4.2 Million
9) Here Comes The Boom	$3.5 Million
10) Silent Hill: Revelation 3D	$3.2 Million

The number one movie a year ago this week was Paramount's "Puss in Boots" which held onto the top spot for a second week with $33 million (a remarkable drop of only 3% from it's debut weekend).