News

Exclusive: Brain Dead Studios announced on Monday that its debut feature Dogleg, directed by and starring Al Warren (Dream Scenario), will debut exclusively on Mubi in North America on May 1st, following special theatrical screenings at the Roxy Cinema in New York City on April 13th, and at Now Instant Image Hall in Los Angeles on April 25th and 27th.

Written by Michael Bible and Warren, Dogleg follows amateur director Alan, who loses his fiancé’s dog at a gender reveal party on the day of an important shoot. As he struggles to finish his latest project with the help of a New York critic, the pursuit of the lost dog and the chaos of his film begin to blend, and Alan grows desperate for the day to be over.

Produced by Babak Khoshnoud and Studio Yours Truly, pic’ cast also includes Dream Scenario filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli, Nick Pinkerton (The...

“America’s Got Talent” season 15 continues on June 2 with another two-hour episode showcasing the best (and worst) auditions. In this phase of “Agt,” an act needs at least three of the four judges to give them a “yes” vote to advance to the next round. If two or more judges buzz the act, it is immediately eliminated.

Each judge, along with host Terry Crews, has one chance to hit the “golden buzzer” and send an act straight through to the live performances. Terry was inspired to press his golden buzzer on the season 15 premiere by the performance of the Voices of Our City Choir. Their mission is to serve the homeless community of San Diego. In their audition they sang “Sounds of the Sidewalk,” an original tune written and produced through their songwriting clinic.

See Where are the first 14 ‘America’s Got Talent’ winners now: Find out what happened to your favorites...

Facebook is bringing more content to its Watch episodic-video platform, with the release of relationship-therapy spoof series “Please Understand Me” from Sarah Silverman and Group Nine Media’s Jash comedy studio.

The five-episode comedy is executive produced and narrated by Silverman and created by Steven Feinartz and Ahamed Weinberg.

Facebook is funding the series as part of its effort to deliver TV-style programming — and advertising — to the social service’s massive user base. Group Nine declined to disclose terms of the pact for “Please Understand Me.”

The first two episodes of “Please Understand Me” debuted May 30 on the show’s Facebook Watch page at facebook.com/PleaseUnderstandMe, with the remaining three segments to be released on following Wednesdays. The show also will be promoted by Group Nine’s Thrillist and Silverman.

In each episode, two mismatched comedians pretend to hash out the problems of their fake relationship — in front of a real therapist,...

At the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, TV is invading the schedule in a whole new way. The Park City film fest has previously dabbled in what’s possible on the small screen, but this year marks the launch of the Indie Episodics section — which will spotlight TV pilots that mostly lack mainstream distribution.

The selections include “America to Me,” a new docu-series by “Hoop Dreams” director Steve James; as well as “The Mortified Guide,” a screen adaptation of the popular stage show “Mortified,” spotlighting the most embarrassing true stories of adolescence. There’s also “This Close,” showcasing star/creators Josh Feldman and Shoshannah Stern (both of whom are deaf), and “Franchesca,” featuring digital star and “The Nightly Show” writer/contributor Franchesca Ramsey.

This marks a major change for Sundance, and a renewed commitment to independent television. While Sundance has featured TV programming since the premiere of “Top of the Lake” in...

With The Angry Birds Movie making tons of money at the box office and the ludicrously-named Emojimovie: Express Yourself looming in our near future, it seems like Hollywood executives are looking inside their phones for movie ideas. That pattern continued with an announcement a few months ago that Fruit Ninja would be turned into a new film, and now THR reports that New Line Cinema has acquired the film rights to the fruit slicing game. Sounds like this movie is really going to happen.

Tripp Vinson (San Andreas) is producing, while J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani (who wrote the upcoming film How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack) are writing the screenplay. The story "will revolve around a team of misfits who are recruited to become Fruit Ninjas in order to save the world." Sounds an awful lot like Adam Sandler's Pixels...so let's hope, for everyone's sake, that...

Yeah, Hollywood has a nasty habit of taking really dumb ideas and adapting them to the big screen. Battleship? Stupid. An Emoji movie? Pass! Angry Birds? Bleh!

In Hollywood, brand recognition is perhaps the single most important asset. It doesn’t matter if that brand is fit for the medium. If audiences recognize it, they’re more likely to go see it in theater than, say, Kubo and the Two Strings, a film you’ve never heard of, and are therefore less invested in. It’s because of this fact that this next news piece is no surprise.

According to THR, New Line has acquired the film rights to Fruit Ninja, the mobile game that lets you slice and dice your favorite fruits for no reason other than the fact that it’s strangely rewarding. Producing the flick is Tripp Vinson, one of the guys behind the Journey to the Center of the Earth...

It’s the world we live in. First, there was Angry Birds. Then came Pokemon Go. And now, a game about a knife-wielding man with a vendetta against fruit is being turned into a movie. THR.com is reporting that the popular mobile phone game Fruit Ninja is headed to the big screen. The script will be written by J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani. It’s being produced by New Line. According to the publication, Fruit Ninja will center around a “team of misfits” who become Fruit Ninjas to save the world. How all those components work together, we’ll just have to wait and see. Released in 2010, Fruit Ninjas is among the most popular mobile games of all time. In September 2015, the game passed the 1 billion download mark, rarified air for or mobile application or game. No release date has been announced for Fruit Ninjas.

New Line has won the film rights to “Fruit Ninja,” a movie based on a popular and self-explanatory mobile game featuring ninjas who chop fruit with different blades. The script was written by J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani, who were behind Sony Animation’s “How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack.” Producer Tripp Vinson partnered with the game‘s developer, Australia’s Halfbrick Studios, to develop a live-action adaptation of the game, which was a Top 5 Worldwide seller in 2015, per mobile analyst App Annie. Vinson produced the “Journey to the Center of the Earth” films for New Line and was also an executive producer on.

2016-09-02T12:44:57-07:00Dickens' 'Oliver Twist' Coming to TV as a Crime Procedural

From the "Who asked for it?" file today comes news that NBC and Joel Silver are adapting Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist as a TV series. The Hollywood Reporter reports that the network has given the script go-ahead for a contemporary take on the story, which will be called Twist.

The extremely loose adaptation features a 20-something woman who teams up with a talented band of misfits who together fight crime. The proposed adaptation seems to have virtually nothing in common with Dickens' novel other than part of its title.

The series will be produced by Joel Silver (Lethal Weapon) and written by Chad Damiani and J.P. Lavin, who are currently working on a film adaptation of the once-popular smartphone game Fruit Ninja.

Dickens' novel features a young orphan boy...

Well, this is quite a twist. An… Oliver Twist.

The classic Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist is being reimagined as a female-driven crime procedural by NBC, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project, tentatively titled Twist, promises “a sexy contemporary take” centering on a twentysomething woman named Twist who teams up with a group of skilled outcasts to catch wealthy criminals.

RelatedThe Departed Reboot Series in Development at Amazon

This is just the latest are-they-serious? reboot heading to the small screen. Earlier this week, Fox announced they would reboot the tale of King Arthur and Camelot as a police procedural.

New Line has racked up the high score for Fruit Ninja. The studio has landed the film rights to the addictive mobile game app that has become a staple on phones and tablets. The deal puts producer Tripp Vinson back in business with New Line. Vinson has a long history with New Line, having produced such films for the studio as the Journey to the Center of the Earth films. He most recently was an executive producer on New Line's action hit San Andreas. J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani, the duo behind How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack

read more...

A couple of weeks ago I posted a short film based on the hit mobile game Fruit Ninja. It made for a fun and silly short, but I never imagined that Fruit Ninja could ever be a feature film. Well, Hollywood has proved me wrong once again. I guess if Angry Birds can be a successful film, any mobile game can.

Fruit Ninja will be developed as a live-action family comedy that centers on ninjas with an inexplicable vendetta against fruit. It sounds absolutely absurd, but who knows, maybe something funny will come out of it. If The Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were attached to it, I could see it being good.

As of right now, Tripp Vinson is set to produce the movie under his Vinson Films production banner, and he’s hired J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani to write the script. They recently adapted...

Halfbrick Studios, the makers of the billion-selling fruit-slicing game, have announced plans to convert it into a live-action family comedy

Mobile phone game Fruit Ninja is to follow The Angry Birds Movie into cinemas, in a move sparked by the latter’s impressive box-office results.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Halfbrick Studios, the makers of the popular smartphone fruit-slicing game, have partnered with Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters producer Tripp Vinson to create “a live-action family comedy” inspired by the game. Few details of the proposed project have emerged, other than that the script is due to be written by Jp Lavin and Chad Damiani, previously responsible for the as-yet-unproduced crime romance Kamikaze Love, which appeared on the 2007 Black List of most-liked screenplays.

Continue reading...

Since Hollywood never met a pop-culture fixation it couldn’t appropriate (see: this weekend’s Angry Birds Movie), perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising to hear that someone is working on bringing the Fruit Ninja mobile app to the big screen in – get this – a “live-action family comedy.”

No, it’s really not too surprising that we’ll be getting a Fruit Ninja movie (and possibly a franchise, seeing as how these kinds of things usually go), but that certainly doesn’t make it any less depressing. And here I was, just coming to terms with the fact that The Emoji Movie is probably going to make bucketloads of money.

For those of you not versed in app-phenomenon culture, Fruit Ninja is the second-highest-selling iOS game of all time, with more than 1 billion downloads since its launch across mobile platforms. It essentially amounts to an endless barrage of fruit flying...

According to The Hollywood Reporter, producer Tripp Vinson of Vinson Films along with Halfbrick Studios is gearing up to turn the mobile game, "Fruit Ninja", into a feature length film. "Fruit Ninja" is considered the second-highest-selling mobile game on the App Store with over a billion downloads. 

Vinson is developing the project with screenwriters J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani writing the script which is being described as a "live action family comedy." Lavin and Damiani recently penned the script for"How To Survive A Garden Gnome Attack", based on the 2010 book by author Chuck Sambuchino, which is set up at Sony Animation with director Robert Zemeckis' ImageMovers developing the project.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter...

facebook

twitter

google+

Blame Angry Birds: Fruit Ninja is now on its way to the movies...

Classic films sometimes come out of nowhere. The makers of The Wizard of Oz didn't know they'd made a classic until years after the movie debuted to a lackluster box office. King Kong never thought he'd play outside Skull Island. But an upcoming cinematic experience will show there ain't no ape in apricot.

Fruit Ninja is coming to the big screen. Now you can watch as someone wildly makes a fruit salad out of miles of digital celluloid. In anticipation of the all popcorn crumbs Angry Birds will be leaving in the aisles, Tripp Vinson announced it will produce a feature film treatment of the mobile app Fruit Ninja.

The addictive game already spawned a live action version from a YouTuber named ScottDW but this one will come from Vinson Films. The screenplay...

The Angry Birds franchise has some sharp competition on its hands — top-selling mobile game “Fruit Ninja” is now in development as a feature film. Creator Halfbrick Studios have partnered with Tripp Vinson‘s eponymous production company — behind the recently announced “Rose Red” prequel at Disney — to bring it to the big screen as a family adventure, an individual familiar with the deal told TheWrap. J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani will write the script, the insider said. The film is currently planned as a live-action adaptation. Also Read: Disney Plans Live-Action Movie About Snow White's Sister “Fruit Ninja” was a Top 5 Worldwide seller.

On the eve of the release of the "Angry Birds" film, Halfbrick Studios and producer Tripp Vinson's Vinson Films banner are teaming to turn the mobile app game "Fruit Ninja" into a live-action family comedy feature.

"Fruit Ninja" has had over one billion downloads so far. The popular game centers around ninjas with an inexplicable vendetta against produce, and is the second top-selling iOS game of all time.

Jp Lavin and Chad Damiani ("How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack") will pen the script while Sam White and Tara Farney are serving as executive producers.

Source: Heat Vision...

CBS has put in development Jet Set, a drama from National Treasure helmer Jon Turteltaub and CBS TV Studios. Turteltaub is executive producing through his Junction Entertainment banner. J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani are co-writing and executive producing. In Jet Set, a young, rich socialite partners with a blue-collar FBI agent to pose as the new “it” couple to investigate and apprehend suspects who have hidden behind wealth and influence to escape other charges. The last…...

CBS is looking to expand its relationship with Shane Brennan. The network has handed out a script commitment to an untitled drama exec produced by the NCIS: Los Angeles showrunner, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. See more Faces of Fall 2014 The untitled entry, written by writing duo J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani (Anchorwoman), centers on four agents who go undercover as the perfect family for an operation that has them rooting out dangerous criminals in the suburbs while becoming an unlikely family at the same time. Brennan is attached as a non-writing exec producer alongside Stephen Crawford and

read more...

Horrible Bosses 2

Several new photos are out of Christoph Waltz and Chris Pine's father-and-son villains in the upcoming comedy sequel "Horrible Bosses 2". Waltz plays a rich investor who tries to take control of the new business of our trio (Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis) so they plan to kidnap the son (Pine). [Source: Flickering Myth]

Knight of Cups

Appearing at the annual Cine event in Riccione, Italy, the CEO of the Italian distributor of the Christian Bale-led Terrence Malick drama "Knight of Cups" says the film will reportedly score a limited U.S. theaterical run later this year. It's also suggested the film will be up for multiple Oscar nominations. [Source: The Film stage]

Flat Stanley

Chad Damiani and J.P. Lavin ("Kamikaze Love," "Max Steel") have been hired to rewrite the live-action adaptation of the children's classic "Flat Stanley" for 20th Century Fox and Walden Media. Josh Greenbaum will direct.

The story...

A film adaptation of Jeff Brown’s beloved children’s book Flat Stanley has been in the works over at Fox for some time now, but today brings news that the project is finally moving forward with a new director and pair of writers. Josh Greenbaum, who previously directed a golf documentary titled The Short Game, has signed on to helm. Additionally, Chad Damiani and J.P. Lavin will re-write the film, which is being envisioned as a live-action take, working from an earlier draft by Adam Goldberg (Aliens in the Attic, ABC’s The Goldbergs) and Chris Bishop (The Goldbergs).

Flat Stanley (first published way back in 1964) centers on a boy named Stanley Lambchop, who is accidentally flattened by a bulletin board but uses his new paper-thin body to explore many extraordinary places. The book is considered to be a classic and has birthed an entire series, so Fox could...

20th Century Fox has hired Chad Damiani and J.P. Lavin to rewrite the live-action adaptation of the children's classic Flat Stanley. Josh Greenbaum, who directed the golf documentary The Short Game, is on board to helm. Walden Media optioned Jeff Brown's series of books in 2011, which is now being developed with Fox. Flat Stanley, which was first published in 1964, revolves around the boy protagonist Stanley Lambchop, who is able to go many unlikely places after being accidentally flattened. Adam F. Goldberg and Chris Bishop wrote a previous draft. List Hollywood's 100 Favorite Films Damiani and Lavin are best known

read more...

The Cisco Kid

CBS has picked up a new script for a modern-day action series retelling of the classic western "The Cisco Kid". Salma Hayek and Lauren Shuler Donner will produce, while Chad Damiani and J.P. Lavin are attached to pen the script and serve as supervising producers.

This new version follows a discharged Marine who returns to L.A. for his father’s funeral and learns the man was actually the mythical Cisco Kid. So, he and his best friend join the remaining members of his father’s team to take on the job of helping the downtrodden and disenfranchised. [Source: The Live Feed]

Untitled Netflix Drama

Netflix has given a 13-episode order for an untitled psychological thriller series from the creators of FX's acclaimed legal drama "Damages" (Todd A. Kessler, Daniel Zelman and Glenn Kessler).

The story follows a family of adult siblings whose secrets and scars are revealed when their black sheep brother returns home.

CBS is retooling The Cisco Kid. The network has picked up a new script for a modern-day retelling of the classic Western, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The drama hails from producers Salma Hayek and Lauren Shuler Donner (X-Men) with new writers Chad Damiani and J.P. Lavin (How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack) attached to pen the new script and serve as supervising producers. Hayek and Donner first developed the drama last year with The Shield's Diego Gutierrez attached to write the script. Hayek and her Ventanarosa president Jose "Pepe" Tamez will again produce the CBS Television

read more...

Robert Zemeckis and his Imagemovers production company, along with Sony Pictures Animation, are going forward with an adaptation of Chuck Sambuchino’s novel How To Survive A Garden Gnome Attack. The film will be live action, while the garden gnomes will be CGI, and is a tale about a survival guide, which prepares homeowners on the off chance the lawn ornaments stage a home invasion. Chad Damiani and Jp Lavin have been hired to write the script. Zemeckis may end up directing it.

Just like it did with Spartacus‘ second season, which was ordered before the series had premiered, Starz announced they have renewed the drama for a third season ahead of the Jan. 27 debut of Season 2, Spartacus: Vengeance. Production on the yet-untitled third season is slated to begin in New Zealand in early 2012. Vengeance marks the debut of Liam McIntyre (who looks remarkably like Whitfield) in the title role of Spartacus,...

Chad Damiani and Jp Lavin ("Max Steel," "Geronimo") have been hired to pen a live-action adaptation of Chuck Sambuchino's novel "How To Survive A Garden Gnome Attack" for Robert Zemeckis' Imagemovers and Sony Pictures Animation says Deadline.

The book is described as a "survival guide that will help you prevent, prepare for and ward off an imminent home invasion by the common garden gnome. Once thought of as harmless yard decorations, evidence is mounting that these smiling lawn statues are poised and ready to wreck havoc."

The intention is to make an edgy PG-13 version with scary gnomes and Zemeckis is developing the film as a potential directing vehicle.

Finally someone in the movie biz will bring the wildly popular garden gnomes to life for a silver screen adventure. Director Robert Zemeckis, whose created light-hearted animated movies with The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol, may go considerably darker for his next semi-animated feature.

Deadline reports, Zemeckis is producing a film adaptation of Chuck Sambuchino’s "How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack" for Sony, and has just hired writers Chad Damiani and Jp Lavin to pen the script for this live-action story (though the gnomes will be animated).

You knew Robert Zemeckis couldn't stay away from the CGI and motion capture forever. Though he may be in the midst of a live action "Flight" with Denzel Washington, he's preparing his next special effects extravaganza. The subject? Garden gnomes.Zemeckis is preparing a big-screen adaptation of "How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack," which is yet another one of those novelty guides you find at the registers of your Barnes and Noble stores. He's hired Chad Damiani and Jp Lavin to pen the script, and rework it into more of an edgy PG-13 thing that's  full of scary gnomes.  It will be the anti-"Gnomeo and Juliet" because we all know the world was asking for one.So, enjoy "Flight" when it hits, because I suspect we'll be losing Zemeckis back into the world of wacky pixel hijinks, assaulting your eyes in 3D, allowing you to note every one...

The last time there was anything to talk about regarding the Robert Zemeckis live action adaptation of Chuck Sambuchino's How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack was this past April, and now that writers are attached, Zemeckis himself might direct instead of just producing. Read on for details.

According to Deadline Chad Damiani and Jp Lavin have just been hired to adapt the book for Zemeckis and his Imagemovers banner.

The film will be live action (the garden gnomes will be animated) and based on the Chuck Sambuchino novel, which was optioned by Sony Pictures Animation. Zemeckis and his ImageMovers partners Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey are producing with The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Eric Robinson.

The book is a survival guide, preparing the homeowner on the off chance the lawn ornaments stage a home invasion. The intention is to make an edgy PG-13 version so the gnomes will be scary.

With their first few features, including the wonderful Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Sony Pictures Animation have dabbled in standard 3D computer animation. In their latest project The Smurfs, they began experimenting by throwing live-action into the mix and it paid off, creating their most profitable film to date.

They have more family-friendly, standard animations including Arthur Christmas and The Pirates! Band of Misfits in the pipeline, but the studio is also planning a very different kind of project with a live-action mix. We reported on the R-rated, live-action/CG-hybrid adaptation of How To Survive A Garden Gnome Attack earlier this year, but now Deadline lets us know the project has been toned down to the PG-13 arena and two writers have come aboard.

Chad Damiani and Jp Lavin have just been signed on to writer the film by producer Robert Zemeckis and his Imagemovers company, which has been...

Do you remember that Garden Gnome Attack movie we reported on back in April? If not, Robert Zemeckis is producing a live-action/CG-hybrid film based on author Chuck Sambuchino’s How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack: Defend Yourself When the Lawn Warriors Strike (And They Will).

Sony Pictures Animation optioned the book with the intention of turning it into a film geared toward adults, and a new report names the writers hired to work on the screenplay. According to Deadline, Chad Damiani and Jp Lavin will be working on the screenplay and are aiming for an “edgy PG-13″ film. The budget is expected to be in the $20 – $30 million range, but this project is still in the very early stages of development.

For those who are not familiar with the book, it is described as “a tongue-in-cheek survival guide to help garden gnome-owners prepare for and ward off an imminent...

Ever since Amelie sent her father.s pointy-hatted companion on an impromptu tour of the world.s top monuments, the film industry has been enamored with garden gnomes. So while some like to cast the ceramic cherubs in adaptations of William Shakespeare tragedies, others want to turn them into horror-movie threats. Enter How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack, a planned adaptation of Chuck Sambuchino.s unique survival guide that has been optioned by Sony and produced by Robert Zemeckis. Deadline now reports that Chad Damiani and Jp Lavin have been hired to bang out a script for a live-action story about humans preparing for a garden gnome invasion (the gnomes will be animated, according to the site). The plan is to push the envelope on a PG-13 rating, making the rosy cheeked gnomes in the picture a legitimate threat. I can see that. Even in the recent animated feature...

Chad Damiani and Jp Lavin have just been hired to adapt How To Survive A Garden Gnome Attack for Robert Zemeckis and his Imagemovers banner, reports Deadline. The film is a live action film (the garden gnomes will be animated), based on the Chuck Sambuchino novel, which was optioned by Sony Pictures Animation. ImageMovers is producing with The Gotham Groups Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Eric Robinson. The book is a survival guide, preparing the homeowner on the off chance the lawn ornaments stage a home invasion. The intention is to make an edgy PG-13 version, so the gnomes will be scary. Zemeckis is developing the film as a potential directing vehicle. The scribes most recent credit is Max Steel for Paramount and producer Joe Roth, and they adapted the comic book Geronimo for producers Alexandra Milchan and Antonio Moura Santos Jr....

Robert Zemeckis has found his scribes for his upcoming Garden Gnome movie. Deadline reports that Chad Damiani and Jp Lavin have been hired to adapt How To Survive A Garden Gnome Attack for Zemeckis' Imagemovers banner. 

The film is planned as an edgy PG-13 version with scary animated garden gnomes and live-action. It is based on the Chuck Sambuchino novel, which is"a survival guide, preparing the homeowner on the off chance the lawn ornaments stage a home invasion." The project could wind up being directed by Zemeckis. The duo most recently penned Max Steel for Paramount and producer Joe Roth, and they adapted the comic book Geronimo for producers Alexandra Milchan and Antonio Moura Santos Jr.

This sounds like a perfect project for Zemeckis and I am excited to see how edgy this will actually be. What are your thoughts on this news?

Source: Deadline (http://www.deadline.com...

Exclusive: Chad Damiani and Jp Lavin have just been hired to adapt How To Survive A Garden Gnome Attack for Robert Zemeckis and his Imagemovers banner. The film is an adaptation of the Chuck Sambuchino novel, which is in the process of being optioned by Sony Pictures Animation. ImageMovers is producing with The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Eric Robinson. The book is a survival guide, preparing the homeowner on the off chance the lawn ornaments stage a home invasion. The scribes’ most recent credit is Max Steel for Paramount and producer Joe Roth, and they adapted the comic book Geronimo for producers Alexandra Milchan and Antonio Moura Santos Jr. The writers are repped by Wme and Luber/Roklin.

The Director of 2009's A Christmas Carol is on board to produce the live-action/CG hybrid film based on the comedy novel that prepares garden owners with tips on surviving a murderous gnome attack. Robert Zemeckis, whose latest producing venture was Hugh Jackman's robot boxing flick Real Steel, has not confirmed that he will direct How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack at this time but he's still considering the options. Chad Damiani and Jp Lavin have now been brought on board to draft a screenplay for the film, which is being marketed as an R-rated $20-30 million mix live action and CG killer gnomes. Zemeckis is producing alongside his ImageMovers partner Jack Rapke and Gotham Group's Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Eric Robinson, as well as Jackie Levine. There’s a new threat in town—and it’s...

Chad Damiani, Jp Lavin script Garden Gnome Attack animated movie Robert Zemeckis has hired the duo for writing duties on his How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack animated movie, produced via Zemeckis Imagemovers company. Pic is based on the book of the same title by Chuck Sambuchino. Here's what the book's about (courtesy official site): How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack (buy the book) is the only comprehensive survival guide that will help you 1) prevent, 2) prepare for, and 3) ward off an imminent home invasion by the common garden gnome. Once thought of as harmless yard decorations, evidence is mounting that these smiling lawn statues are poised and ready to wreck havoc...

Chad Damiani, Jp Lavin script Garden Gnome Attack animated movie Robert Zemeckis has hired the duo for writing duties on his How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack animated movie, produced via Zemeckis Imagemovers company. Pic is based on the book of the same title by Chuck Sambuchino. Here's what the book's about (courtesy official site): How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack (buy the book) is the only comprehensive survival guide that will help you 1) prevent, 2) prepare for, and 3) ward off an imminent home invasion by the common garden gnome. Once thought of as harmless yard decorations, evidence is mounting that these smiling lawn statues are poised and ready to wreck havoc...

Chad Damiani, Jp Lavin script Garden Gnome Attack animated movie Robert Zemeckis has hired the duo for writing duties on his How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack animated movie, produced via Zemeckis Imagemovers company. Pic is based on the book of the same title by Chuck Sambuchino. Here's what the book's about (courtesy official site): How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack (buy the book) is the only comprehensive survival guide that will help you 1) prevent, 2) prepare for, and 3) ward off an imminent home invasion by the common garden gnome. Once thought of as harmless yard decorations, evidence is mounting that these smiling lawn statues are poised and ready to wreck havoc...

Several first photos today from the likes of Catherine Hardwicke's Red Riding Hood, Disney animated feature Mars Need Moms, and British animated feature Gnomeo and Juliet. There's also three more photos from Scream 4.

The first posters for Cowboys and Aliens, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Mechanic, Frankie and Alice, The Rite, Mars Needs Moms, Cars 2, and Gnomeo and Juliet.

There's also the third one-sheet for True Grit, and a poster for The Dilemma that uses as much, if not more airbrushing than that infamous "Sex and the City 2" poster back in May.

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart strip down to their undies and swimwear to shoot honeymoon scenes for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, John Cusack appears in costume as Edgar Allan Poe on the set of The Raven, and Amy Adams hangs with Jason Segel shooting The Muppets.

"First reported the other week,...

At The end of September, we learned that Kate Beckinsale was returning as Selene for Underworld 4 and that the studio was looking for a director.

It's now been reported that Swedish duo Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein are to direct the film, which starts shooting in March and will be released on January 20, 2012.

The pair previously directed Shelter (see poster on right), a supernatural thriller starring Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Myers; it was released in the UK on April 9.

Darren Aronofsky has revealed the official title of Hugh Jackman's second Wolverine film, which he's directing for 20th Century Fox. He told Hitfix the movie will be called simply The Wolverine and that it's a standalone project rather than a sequel to last year's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. So what does this mean for the X-Men film series?

I have to say I'm skeptical about the name but, whether it sticks or not,...

Director Brett Ratner has been attached to an adaptation of Rob Liefeld's comic book Youngblood since February of 2009, and, over a year later, revealed he and writers J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani were hard at work on the screenplay. Six months later, and Ratner is "still working" on Youngblood. Ratner updated MTV on the hold-up.

There were some rights issues. We actually waited for over a year for the rights to these comic books that were made by independent comic books. There was a lot of owners of these comic books and a lot of people were claiming they had the rights. It's taken a long time but I think we've finally cleared the legal part of it.

Next Showing:

Link | Posted 11/13/2010 by Ryan

Brett Ratner | Youngblood...

Since the announcement in August of 2009, Brett Ratner and writers J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani have been hard at work to adapt the comic series into a film. Ratner discusses with MTV what has been holding the project up. MTV was able to sit down and discuss with Brett Ratner about his proposed Youngblood film which will be an adaption to the comic series by Image Comics. Movie Trailers - Movies Blog Hold ups are a usual part of film making in Hollywood. Especially when adapting films from books, comics, television series and what not. In regards to the Youngblood film Ratner explain, "We're still working on it," said the director, "There were some rights issues. We actually waited for over a year for the rights to these comic books. There were a lot of owners of these comic books and a...

Brett Ratner has revealed that his proposed Youngblood movie is still at the scripting stage. Speaking to MTV, the helmer said that writers J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani are hard at work on a screenplay for the Image Comics adaptation. "We're still working on it," he told the network, before going on to say that legal issues delayed the film's production. "There were some rights issues," he explained. "We actually waited for over a year for the rights to these comic books. There were a lot of owners (more)...

These things takes time. In August of 2009, six months after the project was first announced, Brett Ratner told us that an adaptation of "Youngblood" was still being scripted. The next spring, Ratner let us know he and writers J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani were still hard at work on a draft.

"We're still working on it," Ratner told MTV News when he stopped by Splash Page HQ this week.

That sort of delay, of course, is hardly unusual in Hollywood. But what's been the particular hold-up for "Youngblood"?

"There were some rights issues," Ratner said. "We actually waited for over a year for the rights to these comic books that were made by independent comic books. There was a lot of owners of these comic books and a lot of people were claiming they had the rights. It's taken a long time but I think we've finally cleared the legal part of it.

Paramount has signed "New Moon" actor Taylor Lautner to star in "Max Steel," based on the Mattel action figure.The story will center on a 19-year-old extreme sports athlete recruited by a secret agency after an accident leaves him with superhuman abilities.According to Variety, there is no director attached yet. Chad Damiani and J.P. Lavin will write the screenplay.

Following its successes with Hasbro's Transformers and G.I. Joe toy lines, Paramount is now planning to put Mattel's Max Steel on the big screen.

And it's now been confirmed that Taylor Lautner, who plays native American wolfboy Jacob Black in Twilight and sequel New Moon, has signed to star in the role.

The screenplay, to be penned by Chad Damiani and Jp Lavin, will tell of a 19-year-old extreme sports junkie Josh McGrath. He's an orphan who is recruited by a secret agency after an accident infects his body with microscopic machines called nanoprobes, giving him the powers of superstrength, invisibility and altering his appearance.

The Max Steel action figure - along with a tie-in comic book - was introduced in the USA in 1999 and led to an animated series from 2000-2002 as well as a video game (pictured above).

Max Steel is hugely popular in Latin America, where...

Taylor Lautner, the Us actor that played werewolf 'Jacob Black" in the Vancouver-lensed "Twilight Saga" movies, will play the lead in producer Joe Roth's upcoming Paramount feature "Max Steel", based on the Mattel toy brand, from a screenplay by Chad Damiani and J.P. Lavin.

Mattel introduced the character in North America in 1999 as an action figure, then branded the characater in an animated TV series that ran from 2000-2002.

17-year old Lautner would play 'Josh McGrath', a 19-year-old extreme-sports athlete accidentally exposed to 'nanotechological' machines that become a part of him, increasing his strength, providing 'near-invulnerability' and the ability to disguise his appearance.

"...When a diabolical empire threatens to terrorize the world, there's only one hero who can stop it...'Max Steel'. Working for a secret global security force, agent Max Steel must eliminate the enemy and its most terrifying villains, 'Psycho', 'Bio-Constrictor' and 'Vitriol'.

Join...

According to Variety, Twilight star Taylor Lautner signed on to star in teenage superhero movie “Max Steel” for Paramount Pictures.

With the success of “Transformers” and “GI Joe,” the studio is trying to get more franchises up and running.

Lautner will play Josh McGrath, a 19-year-old extreme-sports athlete who is accidentally exposed to the unleashed power of nanotechnological machines, which become part of him and give him increased strength, near-invulnerability and the ability to change his appearance.

The Max Steel toy line first came out in 1999 and was immediately turned into a CG-animated television series that ran from 2000-02. It also later spawned a video game, five animated movies, as well as the “Turbo Missions” series of one-minute clips that ran on the Cartoon Network in 2008.

J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani are writing the script for the film.