TFC Journal at TheFilmChair.com

Top Story: Stephen King has signed on to turn his Hard Case Crime mystery, The Colorado Kid, into a series for E1. Though the novella had no surface elements of the supernatural, the series, titled Haven, will focus on the mysteries and curses plaguing the inhabitants of an isolated New England community. (Variety)

In Other News: Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to star in Fox’s adaptation of John D. MacDonald’s The Deep Blue Goodbye. (Variety)

Roman Polanski’s The Ghost, a political thriller about a British politician and his ghostwriter, is now in jeopardy because of the director’s arrest in Switzerland. All I can say is: “Free Roman”! (THR)

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Top Story: Sony has changed the date for its Michael Jackson concert film and hired a director. Michael Jackson: This Is It will open on  Wednesday, Oct. 28, for a two week limited run. Tickets will go on sale on Sept. 28. Director Kenny Ortega from the High School Musical franchise will helm the project. (THR)

In Other News: Director Catherine Hardwicke has signed on to direct the Leo DiCaprio-produced The Girl with the Red Riding Hood.  The Appian Way production will be a gothic retelling of the classic children’s tale. (Variety)

Bryan Singer will produce and possibly direct a remake of the 1981 film Excalibur for Warner Bros. (Variety)

Universal has brought in writer Josh Zetumer to pen the fourth Bourne film. (THR)

Opening Today:
Inglourious Basterds|
Post Grad
Shorts
X Games 3D The Movie

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Top Story: Leonardo DiCaprio and Ridley Scott will reteam for an adaptation of Brave New World, Aldous Huxley’s 1931 dystopian masterpiece. The film will be produced by DiCaprio’s Appain Way, Scott’s Scott Free, and Universal Pictures. Apocalypto scribe Farhad Safinia will write the script. Scott has his eye on directing the picture, while DiCaprio is looking to star as the Alpha-Plus Bernard. Impossible not to screw this up? Probably, but this being one of my favorite books, I’ll be paying close attention to the project. (THR)

In Other News: Liam Neeson is in negotiations to star in Unknown White Male, a thriller about a man who wakes from a coma only to find out that someone else has assumed his identity. (Variety)

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Top Story: TV actor Josh Duhamel will star opposite other TV star Katherine Heigl in Life as We Know It, an upcoming film from TV writer Greg Berlanti. The film follows two adults who must take care of their mutal friends’ daughter after the parents die in a car accident. Heigl, who has no instinct for choosing projects, is producing, so you can bet this will win an Oscar suck hard. (Variety)

In Other News: Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way is developing a feature film based on Little Red Riding Hood, which will have a Gothic twist. (Variety)

Jennifer Aniston will star in the Michael Sucsy-directed film Goree Girls, which follows an all-female Country band in a Texas prison. (Variety)

CBS Films is developing a feature adaptation of the CBS TV series Gunsmoke. (THR)

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Top Story: With Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen closing in $400 million at the domestic box office, it makes sense that another 80s robot series is finally headed to the big screen.  Atlas Entertainment has acquired the rights to the Japanese anime about five robot lions who come together to form a super robot. Fox put the project in turnaround last year and the rights have since expired, allowing Atlas to grab them up. No date has been set for the film’s release. (THR’s Risky Biz)

In Other News: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince cast a spell over the weekend box office, taking in $79.5 million and bringing in $159.7 million since it opened on Wednesday.  The film also had the biggest worldwide opening of all time, taking in $359.7 million in its first five days.  That beat’s Spider-Man 3’s previous record of $381.7 million. (Variety)

Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way are moving ahead on a Twilight Zone feature film. (Variety)

Morgan Freeman is in talks to join Bruce Willis in Summit Entertainment’s adaptation of the DC Comics’ espionage thriller Red. (Variety)

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Looks like Martin Scorsese is venturing back into Cape Fear territory with his latest film Shutter Island. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a US marshal who becomes trapped on Shutter Island while investigating the disappearance of a patient at a hospital for the criminally insane. You can probably start removing it from your list of Oscar contenders, but it’s still likely to be a fun ride.

Shutter Island hits theaters on Oct. 2.

Ol’ Blue Eyes as directed by Ol’ Bushy Brows? Looks to be the case according to Madame Finke. Martin Scorsese is on board to direct and produce a Frank Sinatra  biopic for Universal Pictures from Phil Alden Robinson’s script.The Sinatra family has given the picture its blessing with Frank’s youngest daughter Tina Sinatra on board as executive producer. Peter Guber will also produce the film, which Finke reports is Guber’s long time passion project.

There’s no release date yet, but you can bet your ass the Oscar race that year already has its frontrunner.

The big question: Who’s going to play the iconic crooner? Judging from Scorese’s recent work, something tells me we may already know that answer. Isn’t that right, Leo?

Top Story: Robert Rodriguez’s schedule just got a little crowded. Fox has tapped Planet Terror director to relaunch its Predator franchise. This master of the B-movie is perfect for the job. But Rodriguez isn’t done yet.  He’ll also co-direct Machete, which was first featured in Grindhouse as a faux trailer. (Variety)

In Other News: Christopher Nolan’s Inception is already shaping up to be a massive sci-fi blockbuster with Leo DiCaprio as the star. Now Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one of the most talented film actors of his generation, has joined the all-star cast, which also includes Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, and Cillian Murphy. (THR)

Denzel Washington is in negotiations to star in hack director Tony Scott’s Unstoppable. (Variety)

Disney has nailed down August 14 as the release date for Hayao Miyazaki’s Pongo. (erc BoxOffice)

Disneynature’s Earth debuted with $4 million at the domestic box office on Wednesday. See below for the film’s it will go up against this weekend. (Variety)

Opening Today:
Obsessed
Fighting
The Soloist
The Informers

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Top Story: Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the opening film of the summer movie season, is now available for download. Illegally. And its just a rough cut. The film leaked online this week. If the rough cut is good, I’ll blame this one on Fox. Way to market the picture to geekdom.  If it’s bad, you can blame someone still sore about the whole Watchmen debacle. I’m sure we’ll hear more about the version on the Net because there is still a month before it hits theaters. (Variety)

In Other News: Sex and the City 2 has a release date.  The ladies will hit the silver screen once again on May 28, 2010. (erc BoxOffice)

In WTF News, Hannah Montana director Peter Chelsom called Miley Cyrus the next Judy Garland. Ugh. (PopEater)

Juno, the Scarecrow, and Edith Piaf are in talks for Christopher Nolan’s Inception.  Leo DiCaprio was already announced as the lead with Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, and Marion Cotillard possibly rounding out the all-star cast. (Variety)

Fox, director Francis Lawrence, and writer Mark Protosevic are turning the nonfiction, environmentally themed tome The World Without Us into a feature film. (THR)

Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds will play in competition at Cannes. (Variety)

And in TV that would stop me from watching a movie news, Project Runway fans can rejoice.  The lawsuit is settled and the show will be back on the air this summer, only this time on the Lifetime Network. (Variety)

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Top Story: Director Christopher Nolan’s Inception, his first Christian Bale-less project since Insomnia, will star Leonardo DiCaprio. The story isn’t being released but we know it’s going to be smart sci-fi and we know Nolan is directing and we know it has DiCaprio. Those are 3 very good reasons to see this flick. (Variety)

In Other News: Self-proclaimed man-woman Megan Fox will star in two upcoming comic book adaptations Jonah Hex and Fathom. (HR)

Super producer Scott Rudin and Miramax have nabbed the rights to Zoe Heller’s novel The Believers. (Variety)

20th Century Fox has set a day for the next Narnia movie.  Voyage of the Dawn Treader sets sail on December 10, 2010. (erc BoxOffice)

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