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Disney Legend Richard M. Sherman, half of the Academy Award-winning songwriting team of the Sherman Brothers with his late brother, fellow Legend Robert B. Sherman, died today at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills at 95 from age-related illness.

Sherman was a key member of Walt Disney’s inner circle of creative talents. He garnered nine Academy Award nominations (winning two Oscars for his work on the 1964 Mary Poppins), won three Grammy Awards, and received 24 gold and platinum albums over the course of his 65-year career.

Richard and his brother were inducted as Disney Legends in 1990.

The Sherman brothers were perhaps best known for their work on Mary Poppins, for which they won Oscars for Best Score – Substantially Original, and Best Original Song for Chim Chim Cher-ee.

Another cherished song from the film, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, became a pop hit, entering the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965, while the lullaby Feed the Birds became one of Walt’s favorite songs.

Richard M. Sherman, one-half of the prolific Disney songwriting duo The Sherman Brothers, has died. He was 95.

Sherman and his brother Robert were responsible for dozens of the brand’s most memorable cinematic songs. They were most known for their work on “Mary Poppins,” which earned the duo two Oscars, the soundtrack for “The Jungle Book” and “It’s a Small World.”

“Richard Sherman was the embodiment of what it means to be a Disney Legend, creating along with his brother Robert the beloved classics that have become a cherished part of the soundtrack of our lives,” Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, said in a statement Saturday.

“From films like ‘Mary Poppins’ and ‘The Jungle Book’ to attractions like ‘It’s a Small World,’ the music of the Sherman Brothers has captured the hearts of generations of audiences. We are forever grateful for the mark Richard left on the world,...

Margaret Hamilton with Ray Bolger and Jack Haley in an MGM promotional photo for "The Wizard of Oz".

Movie lovers associate actress Margaret Hamilton almost exclusively with her immortal portrayal of the Wicked Witch in the 1939 MGM classic "The Wizard of Oz". However, as writer Veronika Bondarenko points out in a column for Pocket Worthy, there was much more to the woman and her talents. Hamilton was proud of her performance in "Oz" but ultimately resented the fact that her other career achievements were largely ignored by the public and critics. She appeared in such diverse productions as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", "13 Ghosts", "My Little Chickadee", "The Red Pony", "Brewster McCloud" and "The Anderson Tapes". She was also a veteran of stage productions and appeared in countless hit TV shows.

To read about her remarkable life and career, click here.

It’s a classic from the Golden Year of 1939, directed in fine style by Wild Bill Wellman and well cast with Paramount stars Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, and Robert Preston, and with Brian Donlevy as one of the movies’ most hissable villains. The popular story has been remade and spoofed innumerable times, yet this remains the indelible best version. A commentary with William Wellman Jr. and Frank Thompson points out many things we didn’t notice before, including where some excised scenes belong, and what originally happened in them.

Beau Geste

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1939 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 112 min. / Street Date April 7, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, J. Carrol Naish, Albert Dekker, Broderick Crawford, Charles Barton, James Stephenson, Heather Thatcher, George P. Huntley, Donald O’Connor, Billy Cook, Martin Spellman, Ann Gillis, David Holt, Henry Brandon, Nestor Paiva, Francis McDonald.

The Critics Choice Association (Cca) has announced that award-winning actress, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Kristen Bell will receive the fourth annual #SeeHer Award at the 25th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards.

The star-studded gala will once again be hosted by film, television, and stage star Taye Diggs, and broadcast live on The CW Television Network on Sunday, January 12, from 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. Et (delayed Pt).

The #SeeHer Award recognizes a woman who embodies the values set forth by the SeeHer movement, to push boundaries on changing stereotypes and acknowledge the importance of authentic portrayals of women across the entertainment landscape. SeeHer is the leading global movement for accurate portrayals of women and girls in media. Led by the Association of National Advertisers (Ana), SeeHer is a collective of leading marketers committed to creating advertising and supporting content that portrays women and girls as they really are. Previous award recipients are Viola Davis,...

Once upon a time in New York City, two young talents set off on a near-impossible quest: a successful Broadway career. Since childhood, Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell had focused on their quest with a ferocious drive — and learned to avoid the trolls.

In Long Island, Menzel, the daughter of a pajama salesman, spent her weekends singing at weddings and bar mitzvahs, and otherwise kept her big voice a secret. “No one knew how good I was at school because I didn’t want kids to know,” admits Menzel today. “I didn’t want to be the one to show off.”

Meanwhile in Michigan, Bell signed up for every community play and helped support her single mother by modeling underwear and karaoke machines for Kmart catalogs. Classmates would brandish shots of her in a training bra. Bell didn’t care. That money would get her to Manhattan.

Both Menzel and...

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Blu ray

Kino Lorber Home Video

1938 / 1.33:1 / Street Date July 10, 2018

Starring Tommy Kelly, May Robson, Marcia Mae Jones

Cinematography by James Wong Howe

Directed by Norman Taurog

Though Hemingway suggested “all modern American literature” comes from Huckleberry Finn, a case could be made for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as the great American campfire tale.

David Selznick’s picaresque film version of Mark Twain’s bucolic farce plays out through the producer’s rose-colored glasses – an elegy to “the beautiful past, the dear and lamented past.” The brisk adaptation by screenwriter John Weaver (only 91 minutes) is a laundry list of Tom’s greatest hits – his graveyard vigil with Huck Finn, the pirate escapade, the hair-raising cavern finale – all are adventures ingrained in the collective unconscious of most sentient human beings – even those who never cracked a book.

Directed by Norman Taurog, a man who specialized...

So much time, so few movies to see. Scratch that. Reverse it.

Running a little later than usual this year, the 2018 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival gets under way this coming Thursday, screening approximately 88 films and special programs over the course of the festival’s three-and-a-half days, beginning Thursday evening, and no doubt about it, this year’s schedule, no less than any other year, will lay out a banquet for classic film buffs, casual film fans and harder-core cinephiles looking for the opportunity to see long-time favorites as well as rare and unusual treats on the big screen. I’ve attended every festival since its inaugural run back in 2010, and since then if I have not reined in my enthusiasm for the festival and being given the opportunity to attend it every year, then I have at least managed to lasso my verbiage. That first year I wrote about...

Ann Gillis, a child star from Hollywood’s golden age whose career continued through Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi classic “2001: A Space Odyssey,” died Wednesday at age 90. Her son Gordon Fraser confirmed her passing to The Hollywood Reporter. The Arkansas native was signed to Warner Bros. at age 7 and appeared in dozens of films, notably playing Becky Thatcher in David O. Selznick’s 1938 adaptation of the Mark Twain novel “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” Also Read: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2018 (Photos) She also voiced Fantine, Bambi’s eventual mate, in Walt Disney’s 1941 animated classic “Bambi.” Gillis mostly stepped away from film work...

You might remember that around this time last year, “Parks & Recreation” star Nick Offerman brought to life Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” in a unique audiobook narration performance through Amazon’s Audible. Now, once more, you can listen to his lulling voice narrating another Twain classic in Audible’s new audiobook: “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”.

The 1889 novel follows Hank Morgan, a mechanic living in 19th-century New England, who (after hitting his head) travels back in time 1300 years to Camelot during the years of King Arthur. Being a mechanic living in a progress-driven atmosphere, Hank feels compelled to teach the citizens of Camelot the modern way of life. As he sets out on his endeavor, he encounters several obstacles like an arrogant, devious wizard. While time-travel narratives were not as usual as they are today, the novel says something crucial to readers about social...

Leapin’ Lizards! The original cavemen vs. dinosaurs saga is a winner — if viewer involvement trumps visual effects, it’s got a narrow lead over the Hammer/Harryhausen remake. Victor Mature, Carole Landis and Lon Chaney Jr. all made career hay out of their weeks spent running in loincloths, out in the desert. And Vci’s new disc is a terrific UCLA Archive restoration.

One Million B.C.

Blu-ray

Vci

1940 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 80 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 /

Starring: Victor Mature, Carole Landis, Lon Chaney Jr., Conrad Nagel, John Hubbard, Nigel De Brulier, Mamo Clark, Jean Porter, Inez Palange, Edgar Edwards, Jacqueline Dalya, Mary Gale Fisher.

Cinematography: Norbert Brodine

Film Editor: Ray Snyder

Original Music: Werner R. Heymann

Visual Effects: Roy Seawright, Jack Shaw, Frank Young

Written by Mickell Novack, George Baker, Joseph Frickert

Produced and Directed by Hal Roach

In the late 1930s fantasy and science fiction movies were few and far between,...

Tommy Kelly, who played the title role in the 1938 movie version of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” has died. He was 90. Kelly passed away from congestive heart failure on Jan. 25, 2016, in Greensboro, North Carolina, his son announced on Tuesday. Along with starring in the film adaptation of Mark Twain’s classic adventure story, Kelly was predominantly known for his work as a child star and went on to appear in “Gone With the Wind,” “The Magnificent Yankee,” “Life Begins for Andy Hardy,” “Mug Town,” “He Walked By Night,” “Battleground” and “The West Point Story.” Also Read: Daniel Gerson, 'Big Hero 6' Screenwriter,...

To this day I am still surprised how mainstream zombies have become. Currently there are four television shows and more movies churned out in the last decade than any one person could ever hope to watch. With more titles than a herd of Walkers, filmmakers need to insure their title can stand out from the pack. Along shambles Pride and Prejudice and Zombies hoping to bite a piece out of the box office. But is it memorable?

A mysterious plague has ravaged 19th Century England. Mr. Bennett (Charles Dance) has been training his five daughters their whole life for combat. But Mrs. Bennett (Sally Phillips) is worried about her daughter’s future and wants to marry them all off to wealthy suitors. Daughter Elizabeth (Lily James) lays eyes on Mr. Darcy (Sam Riley) at a party and seems quite taken with him. Of course it can’t be that easy...

This review originally ran as part of La Film Fest Plot: A modern day re-telling of the adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. The two are now grown up and still searching for a hidden treasure, one they seem to have looked for their entire lives. Review: The idea of presenting a modern story based on Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and his best pal Huckleberry... Read More...

George Bailey: I’m shakin’ the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I’m gonna see the world. Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Coliseum. Then, I’m comin’ back here to go to college and see what they know. And then I’m gonna build things. I’m gonna build airfields, I’m gonna build skyscrapers a hundred stories high, I’m gonna build bridges a mile long…

Uncle Billy: They did, they did it, George, they voted Potter down. And they only had one condition, and that’s the best part. They want you to run the Building and Loan.

George Bailey: No, no, this is my last chance to get away from here. Harry Bailey is your man, he will run the Building and Loan.

Uncle Billy: But George, they’ll vote with Potter otherwise…

Mary Bailey: George Bailey lassos stork.

George Bailey: Mary…...

Band Of Robbers screens Monday, November 9th at 7pm at The Tivoli Theatre as part of The St. Louis International Film Festival. Ticket information can be found Here. The film’s co-directors Adam and Aaron Nee will be in attendance. This screening is sponsored by Tenacious Eats

A modern-day retelling of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huck Finn, the comedy Band Of Robbers re-imagines the characters as adults, now grown from juvenile delinquents into small-time crooks. When Huck Finn (Kyle Gallner) is released from prison, he hopes to leave his criminal life behind, but lifelong friend and corrupt cop Tom Sawyer (co-director Adam Nee) has other plans. Not ready to give up on his childhood fantasies, Tom forms the Band of Robbers, recruiting Huck and their misfit friends Joe Harper (Matthew Gray Gubler) and Ben Rogers (Hannibal Buress) to join an elaborate scheme...

Last week, I taunted you with visions of ancient superhero movies – serials, as they were called back then. Today we’d call them really low-budget webcasts. Here’s a few more worthy of your consideration, and this time we’re delving into a trio of iconic heroes from the pulps and newspaper strips – and now, of course, comic books.

The Shadow is the best-known of all the classic pulp heroes, and for a very good reason: many of the more than 300 stories published were quite good. Walter B. Gibson created something magical – a series with a lead character who had plenty of secrets but no secret identity, aided and abetted by a slew of agents who had no idea who their master was. The character’s popularity was enhanced massively by a highly successful radio series, one that gave The Shadow an alter-ego and a female companion and took away most of his agents.

Fans at opening night of the Frozen Sing-Along at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood got more than they wished for when the movie’s star Kristen Bell came out to introduce the special screening. “There is no way to foresee a movie’s success or how much it would touch people,” Bell exclusively told EW before taking the stage. “You strive to make the best movie possible and I felt like we did that.”

Bell was joined by her film counterpart Princess Anna, her sister, Queen Elsa, and even snow, a rare sight in California. The snow of course was fake,...

On Friday, May 2nd, Broadway Sessions for Broadway Battles Bullying was held at Joe's Pub. Click below to watch highlights from the concert, featuring performers Chondra Profit The Lion King, Heather Parcells A Chorus Line, Wonderland, Brian Craft Avenue Q, Anthony Crouchelli The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Rachel Lorin 'The Next Big Thing', John Ryan Del Bosque Lmpc, Matthew Pritchard The Spazmatics, Alex Bennett Cabaret, Brooke Humphrey Theatre Under The Stars and Michael Platek...

On Friday, May 2nd, Broadway Sessions for Broadway Battles Bullying was held at Joe's Pub. Scroll down for photos featuring performers Chondra Profit The Lion King, Heather Parcells A Chorus Line, Wonderland, Brian Craft Avenue Q, Anthony Crouchelli The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Rachel Lorin 'The Next Big Thing', John Ryan Del Bosque Lmpc, Matthew Pritchard The Spazmatics, Alex Bennett Cabaret, Brooke Humphrey Theatre Under The Stars and Michael Platek...

"Frozen" fans who line up to see the hit animated movie when it becomes a Broadway show may hear a familiar voice onstage, if Kristen Bell has anything to say about it.

Bell, who played Anna in the blockbuster Disney flick, discussed the film's Broadway plans with Entertainment Weekly's EW Radio, and said that she would be interested in reprising her role if the show's producers asked.

"I certainly hope that they try," the actress said. "Everybody in 'Frozen' is a Broadway veteran so I certainly hope they try and wrangle us."

Bell's Broadway background includes a stint in the musicals "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Reefer Madness," as well as a role alongside Liam Neeson and Laura Linney in a revival of "The Crucible." Idina Menzel starred in the Tony-winning "Rent" and snagged a statuette herself for her role in "Wicked," while Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad...

With a culture that revolves around many celebrities who rise to fame for basically no reason, it's incredibly refreshing to hear about stars who had their big breaks in musical theater. These stars are triple threats with their singing, dancing and acting talents and their careers have only grown since their more humble beginnings. Some of these celebrities are known for their raw musical talent, but a few come as quite a surprise.

Sarah Jessica Parker

In March 1979, far before she was known as Carrie Bradshaw, Sjp starred in "Annie" as the musical's namesake for a year.

Nick Jonas

Before the Jonas Brothers began, Nick had acted in several plays, including "A Christmas Carol," "Annie Get Your Gun," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Les Misérables."

Lea Michele

The beloved actress who plays Broadway-obsessed Rachel Berry was a star before "Glee" even started. Her Broadway debut in 1995 as Young Cosette in...

Oscar winners Olivia de Havilland and Luise Rainer among movie stars of the 1930s still alive With the passing of Deanna Durbin this past April, only a handful of movie stars of the 1930s remain on Planet Earth. Below is a (I believe) full list of surviving Hollywood "movie stars of the 1930s," in addition to a handful of secondary players, chiefly those who achieved stardom in the ensuing decade. Note: There’s only one male performer on the list — and curiously, four of the five child actresses listed below were born in April. (Please scroll down to check out the list of Oscar winners at the 75th Academy Awards, held on March 23, 2003, as seen in the picture above. Click on the photo to enlarge it. © A.M.P.A.S.) Two-time Oscar winner and London resident Luise Rainer (The Great Ziegfeld, The Good Earth, The Great Waltz), 103 last January...

Jeff Nichols’ ‘Mud’ is ‘no ordinary movie’ (photo: Matthew McConaughey in ‘Mud’) Ostensibly, writer-director Jeff Nichols’ Mud is about the titular character, played by Matthew McConaughey, who’s on the run from the law and the family of a man he killed for love of a woman, Juniper, played by a bedraggled Reese Witherspoon. That’s a fine, if ordinary, foundation for a thriller — though this is no ordinary movie by any stretch. In fact, Mud isn’t even about the character Mud; instead, it’s a coming-of-age story that’s part mystery, fable, and thriller. Beneath it all lies a love story — indeed, several love stories, all tied together through the heart of a young boy called Ellis (The Tree of Life‘s Tye Sheridan in an accomplished performance): a witness to the death of love in his family, Ellis feels it in his heart and is willing to do anything,...

The other installments in our Lizzie Bennet Week have led up to this. The fictional vlogger has released her final update, thanking her fans for tuning in to all 100 episodes. The content of the vlog is very lovey-dovey, with Lizzie sharing tender moments with both Charlotte and her little sister Lydia. Such an upbeat tone is consistent with the end of Pride and Prejudice, where everyone gets hitched and they all presumably live happily ever after. As previously mentioned, the end of Lizzie Bennet Diaries is far from the end for Bernie Su and Hank Green's practice of adapting classic literature for the web series format. The Welcome to Sanditon companion series will release in May, and a new book will adapted starting sometime this summer. While Emma is the odds-on favorite, I also stand by the other six source material choices I proposed yesterday. A few honorable mention: The Great Gatsby,...

In this week’s Entertainment Weekly, we take Once Upon a Time showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz to Disneyland as we get the scoop on the ABC hit’s second season and beyond. While checking out Walt’s traditional versions of Once’s iconic characters like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, the writer-producers reveal how their gleefully revisionist fairy tale series will become the ultimate TV mashup of wildly different people and locations from various fictional sources — not unlike the park itself. Fairy tales were just the beginning.

“It’s like when you were young and had Star Wars...

Today we are talking to a busy and very recognizable actress who has appeared in over 100 TV and film properties since her debut in the 1970s and just this year played arcs on both the freshly-minted 2012 Emmy-winning Best Drama Homeland, as well as HBOs hit nighttime vampire series True Blood - the accomplished and arresting Linda Purl. Discussing her roles on the hit HBO and Showtime series she has appeared on this year as well as her recent multi-episode stint on NBCs The Office, Purl sheds some light on her long and rich career and also shares stories from the sets of some of her most famous forays - Happy Days, Visiting Hours and more included. Additionally, we shed some light on her upcoming two-night-stand at Feinsteins At Loews Regency, Midnight Caravan Travels Through The Great New York Nightclubs, with special guest Desi Arnaz, Jr., and she sets the stage...

With "Sherlock" and "Elementary" bringing Sherlock Holmes back to TV and both The CW and ABC developing "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" updates, it was only a matter of time before Mark Twain's public domain work was plundered for television.

First up? The adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are the foundation of "Finn & Sawyer," in which the kids meet again as twenty-somethings in steampunk New Orleans.

Naturally, they decide to investigate crime together.

THR was the first to report that ABC is developing the project.Jason Richman and David Zabel, who helmed "Detroit 1-8-7," will write and executive produce. And if Matt Barr (of "Hellcats" and "Hatfields & McCoys") isn't considered for the role of grown-up Tom Sawyer, we will be devastated. Just putting that out there.

What do you think, Zap2it readers? Will "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" serve as strong source material? Jezebel is already...

2012 has been an interesting year for Disney. It has seen some very high highs (the record-smashing "The Avengers," which recently eclipsed "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" to become the studio's single most successful film of all time) and very low lows ("John Carter," Andrew Stanton's sci-fi western, poisoned by bad publicity and even worse marketing, will cost the studio least $200 million). In truth, the studio only has a handful of true Disney films left on the horizon - a pair of animated treats (Pixar's "Brave," which we liked but didn't love; and Thanksgiving's videogame-themed "Wreck-It Ralph," a movie that we've been told is just phenomenal, even in super unfinished form) and a weird fantasy drama "The Odd Life of Timothy Green," which opens late this summer and looks like a total snooze (the rest of the movies Disney is releasing will be DreamWorks co-ops.) So it's not...

The final episode of "House" brought back just about everybody (with one big exception) who's played a significant role on the show and presented us with a "This Is Your Life" sort of story for its central character.

It also mixed in some of the storytelling technique of one of the show's finest episodes, Season 1's "Three Stories," borrowed a little from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and House's literary predecessor Sherlock Holmes and came to, if not the happiest of endings, at least a happy enough one for its central relationship, that of House and Wilson.

"Everybody Dies" was an ambitious episode, both thematically and in terms of production, and it's hard not to respect the show for going for it in its last episode. But for about 53 minutes, it was also kind of depressing. That mood reversed pretty quickly in the final scenes, and in a way that...

This one’s for Martha …

Nothing like a good book to get the rabble-rousers going.

In Field Of Dreams, Ray Kinsella’s wife, played by Amy Madigan, successfully shuts down the effort to ban Terence Mann’s books from the local Iowa school system. Terence Mann – played by James Earl Jones – was based on J.D. Salinger, the reclusive author of Catcher In The Rye.

Catcher was published in 1951, and has pretty much stayed on “attempts to ban it” lists since its publication. In fact, it was the most censored book in America from 1961 to 1982, even though, according to Wikipedia, it was the “second most taught book in United States public schools.” It most recently reappeared on the “most challenged books” list, published by American Library Association, in 2009.

These are some of the books I remember being on the curriculum when I was in school, along some that I missed because...

While re-imagining well-known fairy tales such as Snow White are all the rage in Hollywood, you can now add Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn to the list of classic characters getting a makeover. While the storyline is being kept under wraps, Paramount has picked up a script from Bedtime Stories scribe Andy Burg titled Huck. The film revolves around the characters created by Mark Twain in his 1876 novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and three additional books. The project is being described as a re-imagining in the vein of Snow White and the Huntsman, focusing on Tom and Huck as adults. There's also supernatural elements in the script, though what exactly is unknown.   No director has been attached yet, but the project does have the support of Rise of the Planet of the Apes...

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One thing’s for sure; if you want to bring a classic story back to the screen, you’ve got to change the name. “Mirror Mirror,” “Tangled,” “Frozen,” “Elementary” -- the trend certainly points toward giving established properties cooler titles, ones that hint at the source material being adapted from. Hell, even Batman and Superman are now going by their nicknames rather than their more recognizable monikers. So it goes then, that “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” will be known simply as “Huck” when the story next finds its way to theaters.

Paramount has picked up a spec script from newcomer Andy Burg, which is based on Mark Twain’s classic stories featuring the characters of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. They‘re familiar tales and have been adapted more times than we could even attempt to document here. In fact, there’s already an adaptation that’s currently in...

Hollywood isn’t done with reboots and re-imaginings. Paramount Pictures draws inspiration from Universal’s latest re-imagining of Snow White and the Huntsman and is set to take on Mark Twain’s 19th century tale of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

According to THR, Paramount has picked up Huck, a spec script by Andy Burg with Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark, and Matt Lopez attached to produce the project. Little detail is being released about the script thus far, but we do know that this re-imagining will follow an adult Sawyer and Finn and feature “supernatural elements.”

Are you ready for a re-imagining of this American classic? How will this project take these characters from Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to a modern day interpretation? Keep it here on SciFi Mafia and we’ll fill you in on the details!

Paramount Pictures has picked up a script by Andy Burg (Bedtime Stories, The Sorcerer's Apprentice) titled "Huck," which revolves around the characters created by author Mark Twain, appearing in his 1876 novel "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and three additional books. The storyline is being kept under wraps, but the project is described as a re-imagining in the vein of "Snow White and the Huntsman," focusing on Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn as adults. There also are supernatural elements in the script. Twain's book have had several film and TV adaptation, from 1918's "Huck and Tom" to Disney's 1995 version "Tom and Huck," starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Brad Renfro. The new movie is produced by Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark (Rise of the Planet of the Apes).

Mark Twain may have published "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" eight years before "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," but don't tell that to Paramount.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the studio plans on adapting the famous Mark Twain novels into a film called "Huck and Tom."

But! There's a catch: The story will feature Sawyer and Finn as grown-ups, and include "supernatural elements." (Initiate mass groan from literature aficionados.)

"Huck and Tom" is the latest in a long line of Sawyer-Finn film adaptations, and is not to be confused with "Tom and Huck," the 1995 film with Jonathan Taylor Thomas, nor "Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn," the upcoming flick starring Joel Courtney ("Super 8") that Variety reported on last year.

"Huck and Tom" currently has no release date.

[via THR]...

Mark Twain may have published "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" eight years before "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," but don't tell that to Paramount. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the studio plans on adapting the famous Mark Twain novels into a film called "Huck and Tom." But! There's a catch: The story will feature Sawyer and Finn as grown-ups, and include "supernatural elements." (Initiate mass groan from literature aficionados.) "Huck and Tom" is the latest in a long line of Sawyer-Finn film adaptations, and is not to be confused with "Tom and Huck," the 1995 film with Jonathan Taylor Thomas, nor "Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn," the upcoming flick starring Joel Courtney ("Super 8") that Variety reported on last year. "Huck and Tom" currently has no release date. [via THR]...

The adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, as written about in Mark Twain's novels based on the teenage characters, have been adapted to the screen countless times, but probably never in a way as odd and possibly crazy as this one. According to THR, Rise of the Planet of the Apes producer Peter Chernin is planning to re-introduce the characters as adults, in a story with "supernatural elements," in the movie Huck and Tom, existing now only as spec script by Andrew Burg. Chernin will be producing along with Dylan Clark and Matt Lopez, but as the guy behind a very recent dicey-seeming reboot of a popular franchise, Chernin might be the guy we should count on to keep this form going off the rails. Apparently the project is being described as a remaining "in the vein of" Snow White and the Huntsman," though the vibe I'm getting...

Paramount is giving Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer a 21st century makeover. The studio has picked up a spec by Andy Burg titled Huck, with Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark producing along with Matt Lopez. The title characters, of course, are 19th century creations of author Mark Twain and are known for their mischievous teenage adventures – Sawyer, presented as a small-town, all-American boy, is something of a schemer, while Finn, who is more of an outcast, is faced with tougher moral choices. The duo first appeared in Twain's 1876 novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Twain

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Two of Mark Twain's beloved fictional characters introduced way back in 1876 are getting a 21st Century makeover at Paramount Pictures, which has picked up Andrew Burg's spec script Huck and Tom with Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark ( Rise of the Planet of the Apes ) and Matt Lopez producing, according to The Hollywood Reporter . Not much is known about the story, although Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, the two boys introduced in Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," who grew popular through their mischievous adventures in four books, multiple films and television shows, will be portrayed as adults and there will be a supernatural element to the film. Huck and Tom joins Burg's other Paramount project, Hellified , a supernatural action flick that Lorenzo di...

Val Kilmer is set to play the backwoods literary genius Mark Twain in his one-man show "Citizen Twain," Playbill reports.

Kilmer wrote, directed and stars in the play, that is said to be a mix of the author's biography and a celebration of words and storytelling. The play has been shown in development to audiences at the Disney Concert Hall, Tim Robbins' The Actors' Gang, and The United States Veterans Artists' Alliance Hall.

Though better known for his roles in films like "Batman Forever" and "The Outsiders," Kilmer has had a role in a handful of plays including "How It All Began," a play he co-authored and starred in in 1981.

This isn't the first time Twain, or his works, has been on stage either. One of the most well-known is the 2001 Broadway musical hit "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" based off the book of the same name. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn...

In honor of Mark Twain’s 176th birthday, Google has posted a panoramic painted Doodle, featuring the world of Tom Sawyer. The Doodle, which replaces the search engine’s official logo on its homepage, includes the writer’s legendary character persuading his friends to whitewash the Google logo. The Doodle also features other characters from Twain’s most memorable books, ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ and ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.’ The illustration’s folksy style also pays tribute to the author’s illustrator, True Williams. Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. His family then moved to the nearby Hannibal, which served as the model setting where many of...

Wizards of Waverly Place star Jake T Austin is in talks to take on a leading role in the upcoming adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, it has been reported. The actor is to play Tom's best friend and layabout Huckleberry Finn in the new version of Mark Twain's classic, according to Variety. He currently stars as Max Russo, the youngest of the three wizards in the Disney show about a magical family. Austin was one of the first to publicly reveal (more)...

After stunning nearly everyone who saw Super 8 with his naturalistic and immediately winning performance, 15-year-old Joel Courtney moved on to play one of American literature's most iconic characters, signing on to star in a new movie adaptation of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, this one called Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn. And though Courtney's inexperienced naturalism-- he'd never been in a film before this summer-- was one of the selling points of his performance in Super 8, he'll be joined in the new film by a veteran of the trade. Variety reports that Jake T. Austin, star of Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place, has signed on to play Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer's best friend and, you may remember, an iconic literary character all his own. At 15 and 16 Austin and Courtney are both a little older than Tom and Huck are as described in Twain's book, but both...

15-year-old "Super 8" star Joel Courtney has entered negotiations to join both a new adaptation of "Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn" and supernatural adventure "The Healer" reports Variety.

Courtney will play Sawyer in the new adaptation of Mark Twain's character which Jo Kastner will adapt, direct and produce. Sawyer appeared in three Twain books, most notably in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer".

The title suggests it might also include elements of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" which, as "Easy A" so aptly put it, follows the journey of "a white boy who runs off with an older black man".

Shooting begins in August in Bulgaria.

Courtney could then segue to Giorgio Serafini's "The Healer"' which follows an ailing father who takes his two teenage kids into the woods to renew the bond they shared before a divorce. Shooting begins this September in North Carolina.

Talk about your wild Hollywood ride: fresh from his first film role in Jj Abrams’ Super 8, 15 year-old actor Joel Courtney is now in negotiations for two new parts, with the highest profile being a new adaptation of Mark Twain’s classic tale The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer.Courtney will be the title character, an adventurous sort who heads out in search of trouble around 1850s Missouri. Jo Kastner is at work on the script and plans to make the movie his directorial debut. The plan is to kick off shooting the film this August in, er, Bulgaria. Which doesn’t sound like the most obvious place to recreate the American South, but we bet the tax breaks are attractive.When he’s done with that, Courtney will move on to The Healer, which Giorgio Serafini is writing and directing.The plot finds a sick father who takes his two...

How would you celebrate a Tony nomination? Whoopi Goldberg, who’s up for Best Musical as part of the team behind Sister Act, told EW she “worked like a dog and then did Jimmy Kimmel and The Joy Behar Show.” First-time Best Featured Actor in a Musical nominee Rory O’Malley of The Book of Mormon partied in the stairwell with costars and fellow nominees Andrew Rannells (pictured) and Josh Gad, while The Motherf—er with the Hat playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis ate pork and met Darryl Strawberry.

There were lots of stories like these being bandied around on Wednesday...

As the only literate Reject, it’s my duty to find the latest, the greatest and the untouched classics that would make great source material for film adaptations. I read so you don’t have to. There has been a lot of commotion and debate surrounding the new edition of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” because it waters down the language (at least a certain part of it). It has shocked people that a classic could be so obliterated for the sake of political correctness, but the book was weakened years ago considerably – by movies. It’s time for a fresh cinematic take on Mark Twain‘s – a take that is gritty and hilarious and strongly-worded as the book truly is. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain “You don’t know about me, without you have read a book by the name of ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,’ but...

It’s an exciting time to be a consumer of entertainment! You’ve probably heard that many American school districts have been reluctant to teach Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because it contains lots of language -- particularly a nasty epithet for black people used repeatedly -- that offends delicate folk. The solution? Don’t challenge attitudes, change the book! Mark Twain scholar Alan Gribben is publishing a new edition of Huck Finn, plus The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in the same volume in which all the instances of the word nigger will be replaced by the word slave (injun will be cut, too). Why, they mean the same thing anyway! As Gribben told Publishers Weekly, it all makes perfect sense: This is not an effort to render Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn colorblind. Race matters in these books. It's a matter of how you express that in the 21st century.

A new edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is to be published with the word "n***er" omitted, it has emerged. Mark Twain's classic book and its predecessor The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, published in 1876 and 1884 respectively, feature the word over 200 times. According to The Guardian, a new edition from Alabama-based NewSouth books will replace the word with "slave" to pre-empt any banning by school boards. The word "injun" will also be replaced. Editor and Twain scholar Dr Alan Gribben of Auburn University, Montgomery said: "The n-word possessed, then as now, demeaning implications more vile than almost any insult that can be applied to other racial groups. "As a result, with every passing decade this affront appears to gain rather than lose its impact. We may applaud Twain's ability as a prominent American (more)...