Action & Actioner
ac-tion-er [ak-shuhn-er]
(n.) a film that features action, often extreme or violent;
thriller.
Have a gander at summer’s top grossers:
• “Pirates of the Caribbean 2”;
•
“Cars”;
•
“X-Men: The Last Stand”;
•
“The Da Vinci Code”; and
•
“Superman Returns.”
What do they have in common? Action.
Lots of fighting and frightening explosions and fast-moving
vehicles and
running about. In celebration, this month’s Next!
looks ahead to just some of the actioners rocketing into
cinemas next year.
It’s been barely two-and-a-half years since the
release of “King Arthur” and Hollywood is already
taking another big-budget crack at Camelot with “The
Last Legion.” Set during the final days of the Roman
Empire, it’s about a young man who sets out from
Rome to raise a legion, only to find himself in England – where
he becomes the basis of the legend of Arthur. Second-unit
director Doug Lefler (“A Simple Plan,” “Spider-Man
2”) makes his first-unit feature directorial debut
from a screenplay by David Leland (“The Land Girls,” “The
White River Kid”) and Leslie Megahey. Colin Firth
(“Nanny McPhee”), Ben Kingsley (“Lucky
Number Slevin”), Thomas Sangster (“Nanny McPhee”),
Aishwarya Rai (“Bride & Prejudice”), Iain
Glen (“Kingdom of Heaven”), Kevin McKidd (“Kingdom
of Heaven”), Peter Mullan (“Children of Men”)
and John Hannah (“The Mummy Returns”) co-star.
MGM plans a Jan. XIX release.
“Rogue” (not to be confused with the upcoming
Jet Li-Jason Statham actioner of the same name) is a thriller
about an American journalist on assignment in the Australian
Outback, where he encounters a giant, man-eating crocodile.
It was written and directed by Greg McLean (“Wolf
Creek”). Michael Vartan (“Monster-in-Law”),
Radha Mitchell (“Silent Hill”), Sam Worthington
(“The Great Raid”), Robert Taylor (“Ned
Kelly”), Celia Ireland and Geoff Morrell (“Ned
Kelly”) star. Weinstein lets it loose Feb. 2
2007 actioners covered in
previous editions of Next!:
Fox’s “Pathfinder,” due Jan.
12, is an epic about invading Vikings clashing
with Native Americans. Marcus Nispel (“Texas
Chainsaw Massacre”) directs Karl Urban (“Doom”).
(In Focus,
August/September 2006.)
Sony’s “Ghost Rider,” due Feb.
16, is based on the Marvel Comic series about a
motorcycle stunt perfomer who moonlights as a spirit
of vengeance. Mark Steven Johnson (“Daredevil”)
directs Nicolas Cage (“The Wicker Man”).
(In Focus, June 2005.)
Warner Bros.’ “300,” set 2,500
years ago and due March 9, is about 300 Spartans
battling a much larger number of invading Persians.
Zack Snyder (“Dawn of the Dead”) directs
Gerard Butler (“The Phantom of the Opera”).
(In Focus, July 2006.)
Lionsgate’s “Skinwalkers,” due
April 13, is about a 12-year-old boy who gets involved
with two warring packs of werewolves. James Isaac
(“Jason X”) directs Matthew Knight
(“Cheaper by the Dozen 2”). (In
Focus, January 2006.)
Sony’s “Spider-Man 3,” due May
4, introduces new love interest Gwen Stacy and
supervillians Flint “Sandman” Marko
and Eddie “Venom” Brock to the franchise.
Director Sam Raimi (“The Gift”) and
stars Tobey Maguire (“Seabiscuit”)
and Kirsten Dunst (“Marie Antoinette”)
reunite. (In Focus, May
2006.)
Buena Vista’s “Pirates of the Caribbean
3,” due May 25, introduces Chow Yun-Fat (“Bulletproof
Monk”) as Captain So Feng. Returnees from
parts one and two include director Gore Verbinski
(“The Weatherman”) and actors Johnny
Depp (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”),
Keira Knightley (“Pride and Prejudice”)
and Orlando Bloom (“Elizabethtown”).
(In Focus, November
2005.)
Paramount’s “Beowulf,” due Nov.
16, 2007, is a “performance-capture” project
based on the epic middle-English poem about a Norse
warrior who faces off against an indomitable monster.
Robert Zemeckis (“The Polar Express”)
directs Ray Winstone (“The Departed,” “Breaking
and Entering”) and Crispin Glover (“Charlie’s
Angels: Full Throttle”). (In
Focus, January 2006.)
New Line’s “Shoot ‘Em
Up,” due
next year, is about a man entrusted with the care
and protection of a baby born during a shoot-out.
Michael Davis (“Double Dragon”) directs
Clive Owen (“Inside Man”). (In
Focus, August/September 2006.) |
If “Rogue” doesn’t offer enough crocodile
mayhem for American moviegoing audiences, Buena Vista has
scheduled for release just seven days later a thriller
titled “Gustave.” Previously known as “Primeval,” it’s
about members of a news crew, sent to South Africa to investigate
a legendary killer crocodile, who find themselves targeted
by a local warlord. Veteran TV director Michael Katleman
(“Jack & Bobby,” “Reunion”)
makes his feature directorial debut from a screenplay by
John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris (“Terminator
3: Rise of the Machines,” “Catwoman”).
Dominic Purcell (“Blade: Trinity”), Brooke
Langton (“The Benchwarmers”), Gideon Emery
(“Citizen Verdict”), Kevin Otto (the “Poseidon
Adventure” TV movie) and Orlando Jones (“House
of D”) star.
“Breach” is a Cold War drama, based on a true
story, about a young FBI agent on the hunt for another
agent selling secrets to the Soviets. Billy Ray (“Shattered
Glass”) directs from a screenplay by Ray (“Suspect
Zero,” “Flightplan”), Adam Mazer and
Bill Rotko. Chris Cooper (“Syriana”), Ryan
Phillippe (“Crash,” “Flags of our Fathers”),
Laura Linney (“Man of the Year,” “The
Savages”), Caroline Dhavernas (“Hollywoodland”),
Dennis Haysbert (“Jarhead”), Kathleen Quinlan
(“The Hills Have Eyes”), Mary Jo Deschanel
(“Winter Passing”) and Bruce Davison (“Runaway
Jury”) star. Universal is creating a Feb. 16 opening.
“Code Name: The Cleaner” is an action-comedy
about a hapless, amnesic janitor tricked into believing
he is an undercover agent about to break up an international
arms ring. Directed by Les Mayfield (“American Outlaws,” “The
Man”) from a screenplay by Robert Adetuyi (“Turn
It Up”) and George Gallo (“The Whole Ten Yards”),
it stars Cedric the Entertainer (“The Honeymooners”),
Lucy Liu (“Lucky Number Slevin”), Elizabeth
Hurley (“Serving Sara”), Mark Dacascos (“Cradle
2 The Grave”), Callum Keith Rennie (“Blade:
Trinity”), DeRay Davis (“Scary Movie 4”)
and Nicollette Sheridan (“Spy Hard”). New Line
hopes to clean up April 13.
“The Hitcher” is a remake of the 1986 horror
thriller, about two college kids on a road trip through
desolate terrain who become prey for a serial killer. Veteran
music video director Dave Meyers (The Offspring’s “Defy
You,” Britney Spears’s “Lucky”)
makes his feature directorial debut from a screenplay by
Jake Wade Wall (“When A Stranger Calls”) and
Eric Bernt (“Romeo Must Die”). Sean Bean (“Silent
Hill”), Sophia Bush (“John Tucker Must Die”),
Zachary Knighton (“The Prince & Me”), Lauren
Cohn (“Win A Date with Tad Hamilton!”), Kyle
Davis (“Elizabethtown”) and Neal McDonough
(“The Guardian,” “Flags of our Fathers”)
star. Focus has hitched it to April 13.
“The Kingdom” is a thriller about an elite
team of U.S. counterterrorism experts who set out to track
down the perpetrators of an attack upon a group of Americans
visiting the Middle East. Directed by Peter Berg (“The
Rundown,” “Friday Night Lights”) from
a screenplay by Matthew Carnahan, it stars Jamie Foxx (“Miami
Vice”), Jennifer Garner (“Elektra,” “Catch
and Release”), Jason Bateman (“The Break-Up”),
Kyle Chandler (“King Kong”) and Chris Cooper
(“Breach”). Universal holds the coronation
April 20.
“28 Weeks Later,“ the sequel
to the 2003 horror hit “28 Days Later” (about
an epidemic that zombifies its victims), tells the tale
of the Americans
who come to re-colonize a devastated Great Britain. Spaniard
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo makes his English-language feature
directorial debut from a screenplay by Rowan Joffe. Jeremy
Renner (“North Country”) and Harold Perrineau
(“The Matrix Revolutions”) are set to star.
Fox Searchlight plans to release it May 11, which coincidentally
is 28 weeks from ShowEast.
“Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” is a
sequel to the hit 2005 sci-fi actioner, this time about
the superpowered quartet’s encounter with deadly
extraterrestrial invaders. Returnees from part one include
director Tim Story (“Barbershop,” “Taxi”),
screenwriter Mark Frost (“The Greatest Game Ever
Played”) and actors Ioan Gruffudd (“King
Arthur”) as Mr. Fantastic, Jessica Alba (“Into
the Blue”) as The Invisible Woman, Chris Evans
(“London”) as The Human Torch, Michael Chiklis
(“Soldier”) as The Thing and Kerry Washington
(“Little Man,” “The Last King of Scotland”)
as Alicia Masters. Newcomers are reported to include
actor Doug Jones (“Lady in the Water”) as
the Silver Surfer and Gonzalo Menendez (“The Lost
City”). Fox begins mining the silver June 15.
“The Brave One” is a thriller about a woman
who recovers from a brutal attack by setting out on a mission
of vengeance. Directed by Neil Jordan (“The Good
Thief,” “Breakfast on Pluto”) from a
screenplay by Cynthia Mort (TV’s “Roseanne”)
and Roderick & Bruce A. Taylor (TV’s “Witchblade”),
it stars Jodie Foster (“Inside Man”), Terrence
Howard (“Idlewild,” “August Rush”),
Jane Adams (“Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate
Events”), Naveen Andrews (“Bride & Prejudice”),
James Biberi (“Find Me Guilty,” “The
Hoax”), Nicky Katt (“World Trade Center”)
and Mary Steenburgen (“Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom
Dancing & Charm School”). Warner Bros. has boldly
chosen June 22 as its release date.
“Live Free or Die Hard,” the fourth installment
of the franchise and the first since 1995, finds ever-resourceful
NYPD vet John McClane back in Washington, D.C., trying
to thwart a group of techno-terrorists determined to “shut
down the entire nation” on Independence Day via the
Internet. Returnees from parts one, two and three include
Bruce Willis (“Lucky Number Slevin”) as McClane.
Returnees from parts one and two include screenwriter Doug
Richardson (“Hostage”). Newcomers to the series
include director Len Wiseman (the “Underworld” series),
screenwriter Mark Bombeck (“Godsend”) and actor
Justin Long (“Accepted”). Fox plans to boot
it up June 29.
Based on the popular toy line and animated
TV series, “Transformers” is
a sci-fi adventure about two races of extraterrestrial
androids – the Autobots (led by the peace-craving
Optimus Prime) and the Decepticons (led by the warlike
Megatron) – that can disguise themselves as ordinary
automobiles and other devices, and what happens when they
begin to wage their ancient war on Earth. Directed by Michael
Bay (“Bad Boys II,” “The Island”)
from a screenplay by Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci (“The
Island,” “The Legend of Zorro,” “Mission:
Impossible III”), it stars Josh Duhamel (“Win
a Date with Tad Hamilton!”), Tyrese Gibson (“Waist
Deep”), Bernie Mac (“Guess Who”), Jon
Voight (“Glory Road”), Megan Fox (“Confessions
of a Teenage Drama Queen”), John Turturro (“She
Hate Me”), Dane Cook (“Employee of the Month”),
Kevin Dunn (“Gridiron Gang”), Rachael Taylor
(“See No Evil”) and Shia LeBeouf (“The
Greatest Game Ever Played”) as Spike Witwicky. Paramount
is shaping July 4 as the project’s release date.
New Line resurrected a long-dormant
franchise this summer when it finally began shooting “Rush Hour 3.” This
second sequel to the hit comedy-actioner, set largely in
Paris, will see the mismatched American and Chinese cops
in, among other things, a motorcycle chase down the Champs-Elysees,
over the Alexandre III Bridge and into the 7th arrondissement
as they contend with a Chinese crime syndicate. Returnees
from the earlier films include director Brett Ratner (“After
the Sunset,” “X-Men: The Last Stand”)
and actors Jackie Chan (“Around the World in 80 Days”)
and Chris Tucker (“Jackie Brown”). Returnees
from part two include screenwriter Jeff Nathanson (“The
Terminal,” “The Last Shot”) and actress
Roselyn Sanchez (“Chasing Papi”). Newcomers
to the series are rumored to include Ian McKellan (“X-Men:
The Last Stand”), Vinnie Jones (“X-Men: The
Last Stand”), Roman Polanski (“Grosse Fatigue”),
Michael Richards (“Trial and Error”) and Yvan
Attal (“Munich”). New Line is racing toward
an Aug. 10 release.
“Resident Evil:
Extinction” is the third installment
in the series, this time following Alice as she joins a
post-apocalyptic caravan trying to make its way from zombie-infested
Nevada to Alaska. Returnees from parts one and two include
screenwriter Paul W.S. Anderson (“Alien Vs. Predator”)
and actress Milla Jovavich (“Ultraviolet”).
Returnees from part two include actors Oded Fehr (“Deuce
Bigalow: European Gigolo”), Mike Epps (“The
Honeymooners”) and Iain Glen (“Kingdom of Heaven”).
Newcomers to the franchise include director Russell Mulcahy
(“Swimming Upstream”) and actors Ali Larter
(“A Lot Like Love”), Spencer Locke (“Spanglish”),
Christopher Egan (“Eragon,” TV’s “Vanished”),
Matthew Marsden (“DOA: Dead or Alive”), Shane
Woodson (“Johnson Family Vacation”) and Ashanti
(“John Tucker Must Die”). Sony revives its
franchise Sept. 7.
Will Smith’s co-stars in “I
Am Legend” have
not yet been cast as we write this in early September,
but the movie-gossip website Ain’t It Cool News has
already posted photographs of what appears to be the Smith
character’s car cruising “deserted” Manhattan
streets. Warner Bros. has staked out Nov. 21, 2007 for
the thriller, about somebody who believes he may be the
last man alive after a biological weapon kills most of
the world’s human population – and turns the
rest into vampire-like creatures. It’s based on the
novel by Richard Matheson (“What Dreams May Come,” “Stir
of Echoes”), which also served as the basis of 1964’s “The
Last Man on Earth” and 1971’s “The Omega
Man.” Francis Lawrence (“Constantine”)
was reportedly set to direct Smith (“Hitch”)
from a screenplay by Mark Protosevich (“The Cell,” “Poseidon”).
“10,000 B.C.” is
a prehistoric adventure about a young man’s efforts
to rescue the woman he loves from an evil warlord. Directed
by Roland Emmerich (“The
Patriot,” “The Day After Tomorrow”) from
a screenplay by Emmerich, Robert Rodat (“Saving Private
Ryan,” “The Patriot”) and composer Harald
Kloser, it stars Steven Strait (“The Covenant”),
Camilla Belle (“The Quiet”), Omar Sharif (“Hidalgo”),
Mona Hammond (“Kinky Boots”), Joel Virgel Vierset
(“The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas”), Tim
Barlow (“Kingdom of Heaven”) and Marco Khan
(“Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World”).
Warner Bros. has it scheduled for Dec. 14, 2007.
“Perfect Creature” is
a thriller – set in an alternate universe in which
a benevolent race of vampires co-exist peacefully on Earth
with humans – about a genetic experiment that turns
one of the vampires into a murderer. Written and directed
by Glenn Standring, it stars Dougray Scott (“Dark
Water”), Saffron Burrows (“Troy”), Leo
Gregory (“Tristan + Isolde”), Scott Wills (“Boogeyman”),
Stuart Wilson (“Vertical Limit”), Craig Hall
(“King Kong”), Robbie Magasiva (“The
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”), Peter McCauley
(TV’s “The Lost World”), Stephen Ure
(“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and
the Wardrobe”), John Sumner (“King Kong”),
Roi Taimana (“Whale Rider”), Danielle Cormack
(“Without a Paddle”), Aaron Murphy (“The
World’s Fastest Indian”), Ian Mune (“Once
Were Warriors”), Katrina Brown (“The Chronicles
of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”)
and Rachel House (“Whale Rider”). Fox has not
staked out a release date.
“Fracture” is a thriller about a young assistant district
attorney who goes after the man who was released on a technicality
after trying to kill his wife. Directed by Gregory Hoblit
(“Frequency,” “Hart’s War”)
from a screenplay by Dan Pyne (“The Sum of All Fears,” “The
Manchurian Candidate”) and Glenn Gers, it stars Anthony
Hopkins (“The World’s Fastest Indian,” “All
the King’s Men,” “Bobby”), Ryan
Gosling (“Stay”), David Strathairn ( “The
Notorious Bettie Page”), Billy Burke (“Ladder
49”), Xander Berkeley (“North Country”),
Rosamund Pike (“Doom”), Embeth Davidtz (“Junebug”)
and Fiona Shaw (“The Black Dahliae”). New Line
has no verdict yet on a release date.
