Fancast: The Big Picture

The crazy Hollywood satire Tropic Thunder topped the weak August box office for a third straight week, beating out all comers over the holiday weekend. Not good news for College and Hamlet 2, both of which opened in wide release over the weekend and both of which wound up in the low end of the top 20. The Dark Knight, however, topped the $500 million mark.

1. Tropic Thunder - $14.3m
2. Babylon A.D. - $12m
3. The Dark Knight - $11m
4. The House Bunny - $10.2m
5. Traitor - $10m
6. Death Race - $8.1m
7. Disaster Movie - $6.8m
8. Mamma Mia! - $5.7m
9. The Pineapple Express - $4.5m
10. Vicky Cristina Barcelona - $3.5m

Cool movies like The Dark Knight get people talking about sequel chatter and who would play which villains in the next installment. Inevitably, no matter what franchise you're talking about, Johnny Depp will be brought up to play somebody important, because everyone loves the guy. It's hard not to, because he's great and he's also dreamy. Of course, fans have bandied about the idea of him playing The Riddler (not the Mad Hatter - he's playing that in Tim Burton's Through the Looking Glass project), and Depp says "it seems like it'd be a fun gig for a while," even though he hasn't been approached about it as yet.

It's likely, however, that Christopher Nolan, should he return for a third Batman film, will not even choose to use the Riddler. Instead, he may likely mine a more obscure Bat-villain, or go in a slightly lighter direction with a strong female perspective, bringing in Catwoman and Poison Ivy. It would be a trap to try and out-dark The Dark Knight.

Diane Kruger of National Treasure fame and Til Schweiger of Tomb Raider 2 fame have both joined the cast of Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards. Kruger will play a German actress who will help Lt. Aldo Raine's (Brad Pitt) team of Nazi hunters, which will include Schweiger, infiltrate a movie premiere. Both Kruger and Schweiger are Germans themselves, so they may just be a good fit, since they both sprechen sie Deutsch.

Guy Ritchie is working up a Sherlock Holmes movie where the world's greatest detective is buffed up into a more adventurous type than his stereotypical depiction would suggest, and Robert Downey Jr. has stepped into the lead role. There were rumors that Russell Crowe might slide in as Holmes' assistant Watson, but Ritchie has put the kibosh on that.

"I don’t have a Watson. Somebody just told me that I have Russell Crowe lined up but that’s news to me. I suspect that hasn’t happened and I’m still looking for my Watson.”

Susan Downey, producer of the film and wife of the star, had this to say about her husband's preparation process.

“He’s been practicing how he’s going to sound, how he’s going to look and he’s pretty excited,” says Downey. “He’s going to get here in the middle of the month and he’s raring to get going. What we can tell you is that he’s a badass in this movie alright. That’s what we’re going back to. Any Holmes fan that we’ve spoken to is getting really excited about this one.”

Don LaFontaine, the most famous movie trailer voice-over announcer ever, has passed away at the age of 68 from complications of a collapsed lung.

When you hear his unique voice in the clip below, you'll recognize it immediately.

So, Tropic Thunder is on top of the box office for the third straight week, with a horde of trailers, clips and even a mockumentary available here on Fancast.

Yet, its core plot of idiot actors being thrust into a life-or-death situation while still thinking they are just acting may seem familiar if you've seen the brilliantly fun comedy Three Amigos!

It stars Steve Martin as Lucky Day, Chevy Chase as Dusty Bottoms and Martin Short as Ned Nederlander, three Western actors from the silent film era who find themselves outdated and thrown off the movie studio lot. Down on their luck, they accept a job in Mexico to work with the "infamous" thespian El Guapo, not realizing that he's actually just a bandito terrorizing the small town of Santa Poco.

You've seen Tropic Thunder by now, and if you haven't seen Three Amigos!, you absolutely have to check it out right here, and find out which one of these 'oblivious-actors-in-hot-water' comedies is the best. Or enjoy them both for what they are, and that's funny.

Watch the hilarious comedy Three Amigos! for free in its entirety right here, right now on Fancast.
Watch trailers and clips from Tropic Thunder.

So, we've heard that the next Superman film will be a reboot instead of a sequel to Bryan Singer's lukewarm effort Superman Returns. There's been nothing official beyond that, but comic writer Mark Millar apparently has a grand vision for the project that he may actually get to put into action. Along with revealing the budget for the film adaptation of his book Kick-Ass will be nearly $70 million - huge for an indie - Millar also talked up his Superman dreams.

“A director approached me about three months ago and he said ‘look, [Bryan Singer's] The Man Of Steel might not be happening. If that doesn’t happen, it has been spoken about the possibility of me coming in, would you like to write it?’ And I was like 'Yeah.' I’ve had this plan for like 10 years for a big three-picture Superman thing, like a big Lord of the Rings epic, starting over from scratch again with a seven-hour Superman story. And hopefully release them one year after another,” continued Millar. “If it works out, we’ll have to start shooting next summer.”

As far as differentiating his vision from Singer's too-faithful homage to Richard Donner's original Superman films, Millar says he'll be a “Superman for the 21st Century, keeping everything we adore, but starting from scratch and making the kids love it as much as the 30-somethings.” Judging from Millar's previous work with major flagship characters, where he's made Captain America an oblivious jerk and the Punisher into a complete moron in the somehow-mega-selling crossover event Civil War in Marvel Comics, we can probably expect a lot more "extreme action." Millar can do great work, though, such as Superman: Red Son, which poses the question of what would happen if the baby Kal-El had crash-landed in Communist Russia rather than wholesome Kansas. So it remains to be seen how he'd approach something on this massive scale. No word on who this director is, but the chance that Millar will get this opportunity is "a longshot," in his own words. We'll have to wait and see how much WB liked Wanted.

Best known in the movies for his truck-driving role as Snowman in the Burt Reynolds/Sally Field/Jackie Gleason crazy car action-comedy Smokey and the Bandit, country music man Jerry Reed has died at the age of 71 due to emphysema. He wrote the unbelievably catchy theme song for that movie, "East Bound and Down." Watch him performing it right here.

Bruce Springsteen is The Boss, but a couple of notable folks look to have hired him to help make their films better. First, the definite - Darren Aronofsky has seemingly done the impossible in making a film about a professional wrestler that is getting Oscar-buzz. The Wrestler, starring Mickey Rourke as a broken down grappler trying to find his way, is set to premiere this Friday at the Venice Film Festival, and Springsteen has actually written a song of the same name for the closing credits. Aronofsky confirmed this in his blog.

"Bruce Springsteen wrote a beautiful original song for the closing the film. called "The Wrestler." it is a wonderful acoustic piece. makes me choke up every time i hear it. he really captured the spirit of the film and Mickey's character in the piece."

The second is unconfirmed at the moment, but Springsteen has also been approached for an on-screen role in Judd Apatow's Funny People, a dramedy about the lives of stand-up comedians. Apparently, he'd be appearing in a bit not unlike his great little cameo in High Fidelity, so it's possible the role might go to some other iconic figure as well.

January 6 is the date where 20th Century Fox will take their case to Warner Bros., claiming that they have the rights to make the film adaptation of Watchmen and not WB, who has actually made the film. The Judge, one Gary Allen Feess, has said that there will be no preliminary injunction, though, which means the marketing machine can move ahead as it normally would for the rest of the year. Will Fox actually try to completely shelve the film? Probably not. They just want the ability to do that in order to strongarm their way into a bigger piece of the action - hence the timing of this claim. If their claim holds true, We'll still likely get Watchmen in 2009, but WB might just insist on a lot of dumbing-down cuts to make sure it makes the most money possible to offset whatever Fox takes from them.

Stephen Sommers, who is currently working on Paramount's G.I. Joe project, is being pursued by Warner Bros. to bust out an updated version of Tarzan. This is a significant change from when they were trying to get Guillermo Del Toro to do it a couple of years ago. It certainly won't be the same kind of movie.

Check out WB's previous Tarzan relaunch efforts:

Watch the trailer for Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, starring Christopher Lambert.
Watch the trailer for Tarzan and the Lost City, starring Casper Van Dien.

Hammer [watch the movie]
Fred Williamson IS Hammer, a dock worker who forges a new career as a prizefighter, unaware that his manager is crooked until he finds his girlfriend kidnapped in order to ensure that he'll take a dive in an important fight. It's up to The Hammer to figure out a way to save his girl and his honor.

Hell Up In Harlem [watch the movie]
Wounded crimelord Tommy Gibbs (Fred Williamson) escapes a hit attempt orchestrated by a corrupt D.A., and he has to fight against threats from outside and in for his organization to survive.

Friday Foster [watch the movie]
Based on an adventure comic strip star, Pam Grier is Friday Foster, a freelance photographer who uncovers a sinister plot to assassinate several prominent black leaders. Also starring Yaphet Kotto, Eartha Kitt, Ted Lange and Jim Backus.

Black Mama, White Mama [watch the movie]
Pam Grier is in prison for prostitution. Margaret Markov is in prison for running with anarchists. Neither of them can stand to take any crap from The Man who runs this penitentiary, so they escape - but they're stuck chained together, on the run from Sid Haig.

Civil Brand [watch the movie]
A modern-day take on the problems in a female penitentiary, starring LisaRaye McCoy, Lark Voorhies, N'Bushe Wright, Monica Calhoun and Mos Def.

J.D.'s Revenge [watch the movie]
Crime kingpin J.D. Walker (David McKnight) is shot dead on Bourbon Street in the mid-1940s, but his ghost possesses a college kid named Ike (Glynn Turman) to go after a minister (Louis Gossett Jr.) who played a role in his death.

Anna Lucasta [watch the movie]
Eartha Kitt is a waterfront prostitute who foils her greedy brother-in-law's plans by falling in love with the rich man he'd arranged a marriage with, but when someone from her best-forgotten past returns to her life (Sammy Davis Jr.), there's bound to be trouble.

Hollywood Shuffle [watch the movie]
Robert Townsend's highly amusing satire of Hollywood and how it treats black people in the casting process. Featuring Keenen Ivory and Damon Wayans before they hit it big.

A Recipe for Controversy: A docu-drama from a British filmmaker that examines the fictional aftermath of a successful assassination of President George W. Bush.

As this political season reaches a peak, it may be time to check out Gabriel Range's Death of a President and see for yourself just how the events unfold, including the swearing in of Dick Cheney as the new commander-in-chief and the hasty conviction and execution of the man thought responsible for the murder. It's a study of the delicate international relations between the United States and the Middle East, created with a blend of archival footage, CG and dramatization.

American political pundits quickly condemned this film sight unseen, although they quickly condemn everything. The film won the International Critics Award at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival, likely due to its global view of American foreign policy. Now you can check this film out and decide where you stand on the controversy without having to spend a dime. Is it a bitingly effective look into a potential nightmarish future, or is it an unforgivable polemic based on an unconscionably murderous desire on the part of the filmmakers? See for yourself.

Watch Death of a President for free in its entirety right here, right now on Fancast.

So, there's a big question at the end of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. It was fairly apparent that Aaron Eckhart's star-making character of Harvey Dent, the crusading district attorney who has his life systematically destroyed by Heath Ledger's Joker had met his maker after his last stand. Yet there were many who believed that fall didn't kill him, and that he'd be locked away in Arkham Asylum awaiting a third film. The question of "is Harvey Dent alive" was just posed to Eckhart himself less than an hour ago, at the junket for his new indie film Towelhead, and this was his response.

"No. He is dead as a doornail. He ain't coming back, baby. I asked Chris that question, and he goes 'You're dead.' Before I even got the question out of my mouth. 'Hey, Chris, am I - ' 'You're dead.' 'All right, cool.' No, I'm not coming back. I think, unfortunately, Heath was supposed to go on, you know, and that didn't work out. I'm nobody, I'm a cog, so I have no say in this sort of stuff, but I'm sure that there are so many other characters that they can whip together. I mean, I heard Angelina Jolie was going to be Catwoman or something. I thought that was a great idea. I'd like to be in that one!"

So there you have it. One mystery solved. We've lost Gotham's white knight. He was the best of us.

So the trailer for David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt as a strange man who ages in reverse, had people giddy with excitement about the potential for a greatly magical drama from an often-brilliant director. Oscar-worthiness was assumed. Then some selected footage screened for critics apparently disappointed with their slow pace, tempering expectations for the final project. Now, it's been revealed that Paramount has been fighting with Fincher over the running time of the film. The strife is reportedly bitter enough that the planned Heavy Metal project was pulled from them and set up at Sony, to spite their attempt to strongarm him by refusing to greenlight Fincher's other projects. The cut of the film is currently rumored to be about two and a half hours, but more may yet be shorn before the actual release. Even the trailer makes it look like it'll be a long and slowly-paced film - it spans a man's entire lifetime. Maybe it should just be what it'll be.

No, it's not the Tooth Fairy horror movie.

Ashley Judd is joining up with Michael Lembeck's Tooth Fairy, playing a single mom who's also the girlfriend of Dwayne Johnson, the erstwhile Rock, who will be playing a minor league hockey player with that somewhat unmasculine moniker. Then again, if he's playing hockey, that nickname probably means he excels at knocking people's teeth out. He is well-schooled in the art of laying the smack down.

Watch Ashley Judd star opposite Kevin Kline in the life story of Cole Porter in the Free Fancast Film De-Lovely.
Watch Dwayne Johnson's first starring role in the Free Fancast Film The Scorpion King.

So, there's a rumor that Tom Cruise may be providing the voice for the villain of Shrek Goes Fourth. The first response is likely "oh god, please stop making Shrek movies! The first one was mildly clever and that's it!" Yet, it will likely be inexplicably popular yet again, and the Cruise Career Control project would continue to roll on, showing everybody that he's not always weird and off-putting, but in fact he does have a sense of humor. Tropic Thunder showcased that fairly well. It's also not often that Cruise plays a villain either, like he did in Interview with the Vampire - he's even making a Nazi heroic in Valkyrie. It's not as though any Shrek villain would be on par with that, of course. The curious thing is that both Tropic Thunder and Valkyrie seem to illustrate that Cruise has absolutely no vocal range. He always sound exactly like Tom Cruise. Yet that's what he'd be hired for if he does Shrek - well, no, let's be honest. Celebrity voices in animated movies are rarely hired because of their vocal talent - they just want names. Case in point - Alvin and the Chipmunks hiring Justin Long and Jesse McCartney to provide their voices, only to have them sped up so much that they're unrecognizable. What's the point? "Hey, look at who's in this movie!" That's the point.

Guillermo Del Toro's career path seems well-planned right now. He's working on a pair of Hobbit movies with Peter Jackson, and he's just signed a long-term deal with Universal set to start five years down the line, once the Middle Earth saga is completed. The deal includes remakes of Frankenstein, Slaughterhouse Five and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, along with an adaptation of a novel called Drood, about the life of Charles Dickens after surviving a train crash that darkened his existence before he wrote his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. That sounds right up his alley. Universal also wants his adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's At The Mountains of Madness, too, and is backing a pair of his producer projects as well - the apocalyptic Hater and the 'gothic romance' Crimson Peak. With all this on his plate, most conspicuous is the absence of Hellboy III, which Hellboy II: The Golden Army very obviously set up. It got a little swallowed up in the Iron Man/Batman hype this summer, but it still did well. Apparently not well enough to get a greenlight yet even with all this future planning.

The Pope has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the Pope?

Bloody Mallory is!

In truth, the masked menaces that absconded with the newly-elected Pope may just be more than just ninjas. They're connected to the mystery assailant who decimated Mallory's elite strike-force dedicated to kicking supernatural ass, including the drag queen explosives guru Vena Cava and the pre-teen telepath Talking Tina. This means war, and Bloody Mallory is just the badass to wage it - hell, she even chopped up her husband on her wedding night when she found out he was a demon, so you can bet whatever vampiric ghoul is behind this Vatican nastiness and the undead monsters attacking a convent won't be shown any mercy.

Olivia Bonamy stars in the title role of Bloody Mallory, a French action-horror-comedy in the vein of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with a dash of Run Lola Run giving us the striking look of our heroine. In France, where their language rules are much more relaxed than they are here, this film had the simplest and yet most eloquent tagline of any movie in history - "F--k Evil!" That's all you should need to check out this flick.

Watch the action of Bloody Mallory for free in its entirety right here, right now on Fancast.

Peter O'Toole is one of the greatest actors of all time, although he has yet to earn an Oscar despite being the star of Lawrence of Arabia, considered one of the best films ever. Watch him at work in two of his films, both available for free right here on Fancast.

First up is the 1965 sex comedy that "introduced" Woody Allen, from a script he wrote, with the provocative title of What's New, Pussycat? O'Toole stars as fashion editor Michael James, who is so torn between his love of womanizing and his love of his fiancee Carole (Romy Schneider) that he seeks out the help of the lecherous therapist Dr. Fassbender (an outrageous Peter Sellers), who wants nothing more than to have Michael's life of copious coitus. Meanwhile, Michael's friend Victor (Allen) is hoping their relationship fails, since he's actually in love with Carole himself. Can Michael overcome the fact that women like Ursula Andress throw themselves at him and find it in his heart to commit to marriage? You'll have to watch and see, and you'll even get to hear Tom Jones' theme song, one of his most enduring hits. Whoa-oh-whoa-oh!

Watch What's New, Pussycat? in its entirety right here, right now on Fancast.

That's followed by the more tragic musical tale of the Man of La Mancha. O'Toole stars as Miguel de Cervantes, an author imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition and finding himself and his treasured manuscript at the mercy of the other prisoners. In order to save it from their hands, he stages an impromptu production of the woeful tale of Don Quixote, the aging man who chose to put aside the burden of sanity and become a knight errant, determined to prove that virtue will always triumph over injustice. The valiant crusader sees windmills as giants, a shoddy inn as a castle and the whore Aldonza (Sophia Loren) as a fair maiden he dubs Dulcinea, giving her the first instance of kindness in her troubled life. His quest is threatened by his family, shamed by his madness, who hire one Dr. Carrasco to cure him of it. But will that cure cost him his life?

Watch the classic Man of La Mancha right here on Fancast.

The Venice Film Festival is buzzing about Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married, which marks Anne Hathaway's departure from her usual light comedy roles and into darker territory. The Oscar chatter centers around her performance as a bitter recovering drug addict who checks out of rehab to attend her sister's wedding only to have her angry barbs and discontent bring her family's problems to a head. Her own response to that notion was a bit of a deflection.

"It's the beginning of September and if I started being concerned about buzz now I would never make it through Christmas. I could not be happier with this film, whatever happens to it. If it sinks at the box office, if it doesn't ever win an award, it's so successful in my mind,"

Word is that the VFF has a weaker slate than usual, so it's possible her performance is more of a stand-out given that lesser field, but you can watch the trailer here and see for yourself what you think.

Watch the trailer for Rachel Getting Married, due out this October.

One of the major Oscar contenders for this awards season is expected to be Gus Van Sant's Milk, which tells the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office back in 1977. This first full look shows us Sean Penn is melting into another great performance, with Josh Brolin being appropriately ominous as Dan White, Milk's fellow city supervisor who eventually becomes his murderer. Penn's Into the Wild star Emile Hirsch is back with him again as well, and James Franco is playing his partner Scott Smith.