The "Evil Dead" Will Not Die

Sam Raimi, with original producing partners Rob Tapert and actor Bruce Campbell are fast-tracking their remake of "The Evil Dead", through Ghost House Pictures,

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Fede Alvarez will direct the new film from a screenplay co-written by Rodo Sayagues, with Oscar winner Diablo Cody ("Juno") providing writing revisions,

Ghost House Pictures partners Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane will executive produce, with Nicole Brown and J.R. Young overseeing the project for Ghost House. Lionsgate will handle international sales on the film.

The original "Evil Dead" feature, directed by Raimi, follows five twenty-something friends who become holed up in a remote cabin where they discover a 'Book Of The Dead'. An archaeologist's tape recording reveals that the ancient text was discovered among the 'Khandarian' ruins of a 'Sumerian' civilization. Playing the taped incantations, the youths unwittingly summon up dormant demons living in the nearby woods, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left intact to fight for survival.

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"Underworld: Awakening"

Sony's Screen Gems reports that the official title of the Vancouver-lensed, fourth "Underworld" installment, from Lakeshore Entertainment, is "Underworld: Awakening", directed by Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein, starring Kate Beckinsale, India Eisley and Michael Ealy.

"Underworld: Awakening", focusing on the continuing battle between 'Vampires' and werewolf 'Lycans', is the first film in the franchise to shoot in 3D.

Beckinsale, star of the first two films, returns in the lead role as vampire warrior 'Selene', who escapes imprisonment, only to find herself in a world where humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycan clans, and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both of the immortal species.

"Underworld: Awakening" is produced by Tom Rosenberg, Len Wiseman and executive producers David Kern, David Coatsworth, Henry Winterstern and Skip Williamson.

The previous 3 "Underworld" features, "Underworld" (2003), "Underworld: Evolution" (2006) and "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" (2009) internationally earned a box office total of $298,376,455. "Underworld: Awakening is scheduled for release January 20, 2012.

 

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EA Shakes Up PopCap

Redwood, California-based games publisher Electronic Arts reports it will buy mobile game maker 'PopCap Games' for $750 million in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close August 2011.

PopCap makes games for mobile devices, tablets, PCs and social networking sites. In addition to their franchise "Bejeweled", the company's list of hits also includes "Plants vs. Zombies".

EA's catalog includes console products and online games, with more than 100 million registered players internationally. The company's titles include "The Sims".

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"Batman: Year One" - October 18, 2011

Warner Home video reports that writer Frank Miller’s comic book take of DC Comics' "Batman", will make its full-length animated debut in "Batman: Year One", the next entry in the ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies.

Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, the new, PG-13 rated film will be available, October 18, 2011 :

"...'Batman: Year One' is based on the 1987 DC Comics titles from 12-time Eisner Award winner Frank Miller and illustrator David Mazzucchelli. The film depicts the return of young 'Bruce Wayne’ to 'Gotham City' in his first attempts to fight injustice as a costumed vigilante.

"The playboy billionaire chooses the guise of a giant bat to combat crime, creates an early bond with a young 'Lieutenant James Gordon', already battling corruption from inside the police department, inadvertently plays a role in the birth of 'Catwoman' and helps to bring down a crooked political system that infests Gotham..."

Voice cast includes Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad"), Ben McKenzie ("Southland"), Eliza Dushku ("Dollhouse"), Katee Sackhoff ("Battlestar Galactica").

Executive producer is Bruce Timm, for directors Lauren Montgomery ("Superman/Batman: Apocalypse") and Sam Liu ("All-Star Superman") from a script by Oscar nominee Tab Murphy ("Gorillas in the Mist").

The "Batman: Year One Blu-ray Combo Pack" will include 3 hours of content, including a special Sneak Peek of "Justice League: Doom", the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie.

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"Logan's Run": Enter 'Sandman'

Bluwater Productions' "Logan's Run: Aftermath" #6, available October 2011, is written by Paul Salamoff, with illustrations by Phillip Simpson and a cover by Mike Dorman :

"...'Logan' will do anything to protect his family but it's possible he has gone too far. In the explosive finale, the former 'Sandman', in an effort to set things right, crosses a line that he may never return from..."

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Schwarzenegger's "Last Stand"

Lionsgate reports that actor Arnold Schwarzenegger will star in "The Last Stand", directed by Kim Jee-Woon ("A Tale of Two Sisters"), based on a screenplay by Andrew Knauer, rewritten by Jeffrey Nachmanoff.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura will produce the film through his di Bonaventura Pictures.

"...Schwarzenegger will star as 'Sheriff Owens', a man who has resigned himself to a life of fighting what little crime takes place in sleepy border town 'Sommerton Junction' after leaving his LAPD post following a bungled operation that left him wracked with failure and defeat after his partner was crippled. After a spectacular escape from an FBI prisoner convoy, the most notorious, wanted drug kingpin in the hemisphere is hurtling toward the border at 200 mph in a specially outfitted car with a hostage and a fierce army of gang members. He is headed, it turns out, straight for Summerton Junction, where the whole of US law enforcement will have their last opportunity to make a stand and intercept him before he slips across the border forever. At first reluctant to become involved, and then counted out because of the perceived ineptitude of his small town force, Owens ultimately accepts responsibility for one of the most daring face offs in cinema history..."

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"Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows"

Sneak Peek the new trailer supporting director Guy Ritchie's upcoming mystery feature "Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows", produced by Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey and Dan Lin.

The new movie is a sequel to the 2009 film "Sherlock Holmes" based on the character of the same name, created by author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law reprise their roles as 'Sherlock Holmes' and 'Dr. Watson', joining forces to outwit 'cunning' adversary, 'Professor Moriarty' :

"...Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room... until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large—Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris)—and not only is he Holmes' intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may actually give him an advantage over the renowned detective.

"When the Crown Prince of Austria is found dead, the evidence, as construed by 'Inspector Lestrade' (Eddie Marsan), points to suicide. But Sherlock Holmes deduces that the prince has been the victim of murder—a murder that is only one piece of a larger and much more portentous puzzle, designed by one Professor Moriarty. "Mixing business with pleasure, Holmes tracks the clues to an underground gentlemen's club, where he and his brother, 'Mycroft Holmes' (Stephen Fry) are toasting Dr. Watson on his last night of bachelorhood. It is there that Holmes encounters 'Sim' (Noomi Rapace), a Gypsy fortune teller, who sees more than she is telling and whose unwitting involvement in the prince's murder makes her the killer's next target. Holmes barely manages to save her life and, in return, she reluctantly agrees to help him.

"The investigation becomes ever more dangerous as it leads Holmes, Watson and Sim across the continent, from England to France to Germany and finally to Switzerland. But the cunning Moriarty is always one step ahead as he spins a web of death and destruction—all part of a greater plan that, if he succeeds, will change the course of history.."

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