Casting Bits: Dwayne Johnson Could Be Sinbad In ‘Arabian Nights’; Julia Roberts May Play Meryl Streep’s Daughter In ‘August: Osage County’ Got a couple of casting possibilities for you guys to mull over, starting withDwayne Johnsonplaying the character of Sinbad inArabian Nights, the$70 million 3D ‘spin’on the classic collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian folk tales and stories referred to outside of the US asOne Thousand and One Nights....

Catherine Hardwicke’s ‘Haml3t’ With Emile Hirsch Won’t Happen Did we really need another film rendition ofHamlet? Probably not, but I’d be lying if I saidEmile HirchandCatherine Hardwicke’s “suspense thriller"take on the materialdidn’t intrigue me at least a little, if only to see how it’d turn out. Alas, looks like we’ll never know. For reasons that haven’t yet been made clear, the project is no more. The Playlistreports the news, noting that the picture fell apart and will most likely not be made....

Chris Pratt Bootlegging Adventure ‘The Real McCoy’ Lands At Universal The Real McCoyis a pitch that castsChris Prattas a bootlegger, and the quickly developing film has just landed at Universal. That’s bootlegging as in old-school rum running, not stealing movie content — Pratt would play famed rum runnerWilliam McCoy, who operated up and down the eastern seaboard during Prohibition.THRhas the news, saying that the battle for rights to the film came down to two contenders: Warner Bros....

Cool Stuff: ‘Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer’ Gets A Blood-Smeared Vinyl Soundtrack This year marks the 35th anniversary of the psychological horror thrillerHenry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, starringMichael RookerandTom Towlesin a story loosely based on real life serial killersHenry Lee LucasandOtis Toole. In honor of the milestone anniversary, Waxwork Records is releasing a deluxe vinyl soundtrack featuring the synth-fueled score byRobert McNaughton,Steven A. Jones, andKen Hale. Get a look at theHenry: Portrait of a Serial Killervinyl soundtrack....

Cool Stuff: Sideshow’s ‘The Iron Giant’ Maquette Is Exquisite We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. This year didn’t mark a special anniversary forThe Iron Giant, the animated film from directorBrad Birdwhich hit theaters in 1999, but the movie did finallyhit Blu-ray for the first time, finally giving fans the HD version of the movie they’ve wanted for years. Now another treat for fans ofThe Iron Giantcomes fromSideshow Collectiblesin the form of a gorgeous maquette that stands over two feet tall....

Dakota Johnson To Play Madame Web For Sony Pictures Marvel Movie Sony Pictures is aggressively looking to expand its universe of “Spider-Man” spin-off movies that kicked off with “Venom” back in 2018. One of the projects that has been in development behind the scenes is now coming together in a big way as the “Madame Web” movie has lined up a star to take on the title role. That star is none other than Dakota Johnson (“Fifty Shades of Grey,” “Bad Times at the El Royale”) who is in discussions to take her place within the larger Marvel multiverse as a pretty unique character....

David Chase Signs Huge HBO Deal, Could This Mean More Sopranos? “The Sopranos” prequel movie “The Many Saints of Newark” is now streaming on HBO Max, and it’s not going to be the last time we’ll see something new from “Sopranos” creator David Chase on HBO. Chase has just signed a five-year, first-look deal to develop content for HBO, HBO Max, and Warner Bros. Pictures Group. As of right now, there’s no indication ofwhatChase is going to end up making, but everyone will automatically assume this means more “Sopranos....

Disney+ Will Have A Big Part In The Future Of The Marvel Cinematic Universe Where is the Marvel Cinematic Universe going? Anywhere it wants, because it makes all the money. But it’s also going to Disney+, the new Disney streaming service set to debut in 2019. We already knew that Marvel shows are being planned for the service, and now Marvel Studios head honchoKevin Feigehas underlined the importance of Disney+ regarding future plans for the MCU....

Disneyland Hotel Union Launches Anti-‘Toy Story 3’ Oscar Campaign Disney’s desire to seeToy Story 3not only be nominated, but win the Oscar for Best Picture is no secret. They’ve been mountinga very aggressive and inventive ad campaignalerting Oscar voters to the film’s incredible reviews and the fact that there are precedents for underdogs, animated films and sequels to receive such accolades. And though it didn’t succeed in getting aBest Musical or ComedyGolden Globe nomination, most Oscar experts would probably agreeToy Story 3has a great shot at making the elite Best Picture top 10....

Drew Goddard Exits Marvel’s ‘Daredevil’ Show [Updated] Anothermajor Marvel departureis breaking over the Memorial Day weekend.Drew Goddard, the director ofThe Cabin in the Woodsand writer ofCloverfield, has reportedly left theMarvel’s Netflix TV show,Daredevil. Update:Goddard’s exit is confirmed, and a new showrunner has been named. Original story, with an addendum, follows.Latino Reviewonce again broke the news. Goddard had been attached to write, produce and run the showsince last yearand pre-productionwas believed to be ongoing....

First Look: Bane And Commissioner Gordon Reunite For Soviet Thriller ‘Child 44’ We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. Tom Hardykept a pretty low profile in 2013, after spending the previous two years zipping from Cold War thriller to Prohibition drama to superpowered blockbuster. But fortunately for fans, his release schedule ramps up again in 2014 with two promising crime pics: the Dennis Lehane adaptationAnimal Rescue, and the Stalin-era mysteryChild 44....

Gus Van Sant And Bret Easton Ellis Team To Write Suicide Film How’s this for a pairing:Gus Van SantandBret Easton Ellisare teaming to write a screenplay based onVanity Fair’s 2008 articleThe Golden Suicides. Ellis had previously been announced as the screenwriter for the Lionsgate project, but the addition of Van Sant makes the thing even more interesting. The article looks into the dual suicides of ‘golden couple’ Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake, who each committed suicide in 2007, and may have done so after developing delusions of persecution and conspiracy....

How ‘Project Almanac’ Is More Of A 2015 Time Travel Movie Than ‘Back To The Future II’ Was [Set Visit] We’ve all seen time travel, but we’ve never seen time travel the Michael Bay way. Bay is one of the producers ofProject Almanac, a found-footage time travel movie described asPrimermeetsChronicle. In the film, time travel is raw, gritty and painful. Bay’s time travel is pretty unique, and will be handled by the film’s directorDean Israelite....