Cate Blanchett joins cast of Indy 4

Personally, I was not planning on seeing this film because I think the name is just being exploited to make more money and the series was perfect as a trilogy. But, then I read this news…

The Oscar-winning actress has been cast opposite Harrison Ford in the long-awaited fourth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise, which will be directed by Stephen Spielberg and produced by George Lucas’ Lucasfilm. Because the script is so top-secret, it is not yet known what role Blanchett will play, but sources tell the Hollywood Reporter that it is a starring one. The movie begins shooting in June, and Paramount will release it in theaters on May 22, 2008. (Hollywood Reporter)

Update: Will 300 beat out Bullock

Click on the tab entitled “Weekend Boxoffice” to find out. In this page are The Movie Paradise’s official prediction for the box office outcome.

Jigsaw will be back for Saw IV

After the success of Saw III, the producers once again rushed a sequel into production. Saw IV is due out this October and creator/executive producer Leigh Whannell promises the franchise hasn’t run out of surprises. Though there are plenty of rumors about how to handle Jigsaw’s fate at the end of Saw III, Whannell assures us that they won’t do something lame.
“Once again, in Saw films, it all comes down to pulling the rug out,” said Whannell. “There’s a sleight of hand style that’s been cultivated through three Saw films that we’re hopefully going to continue where you think you’re watching one thing and it turns out you’re watching another, so I hope that we can continue that and still fool the fans. I mean, fooling Saw fans is getting harder and harder because now they’re looking to spot twists and turns.”
Whannell co-wrote the first Saw trilogy but bowed out of Saw IV so that some new blood could do their take. Those he and all of the producers shared ideas about where the story could go, Whannell felt he was no longer the right person to tell Jigsaw’s story.
“The last thing I want for the sake of the Saw fans is for the Saw films to get stale, which they could be in danger of doing if I was to continue just hashing it out. Better to have a couple of young guys who are really excited about it the way James [Wan] and I were with the first Saw film. Better to have them come in and really attack it with passion and do something that has real passion in it than to have me just sort of slapping it out, because people would notice. The Saw fans would notice. That’s when words like tired start to get used or stale.”
[Editor's Note: Producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules divulged at ShoWest news that actor Tobin Bell will indeed appear as Jigsaw in both Saw IV and Saw V.]
From: Rottentomatoes.com

Trailer Alert: Transformers and Fantastic Four 2

Here a peak at two of this summer’s hottest tickets.

Tranformers
July 4, 2007

Since I was a child I have loved the Transformers, but something about the way they look in the trailer is a bit off-putting. I can’t say I’m a Michael Bay-fan, but I really hope he pulls this off. Though I will definitely this one, I will be walking with rather low expectations.

Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer
June 15, 2007

The trailer for the sequel is more exciting than the original film in its entirity. I am really looking forward to seeing this film and I think this could be one of the year’s biggest hits.

Snyder adapting another graphic novel

Director Zack Snyder is developing a film version of the 1986 graphic novel Watchmen, and the current success of his film 300 may put his new project on the front burner.
Many at Warner Bros. were a bit surprised at the strong performance by 300 at the box office over the weekend. The risky period action epic cost $65 million to make, and earned a healthy $70 million in its first weekend. Now the studio is looking a little more closely at the most famous of all graphic novels, Watchmen. The Hollywood Reporter says the film is in development at Warner Bros., with 300 director Zack Snyder likely to helm.
Universal Pictures and Paramount have both held the rights to the 1983 graphic novel, created by Alan Moore, and directors ranging from Terry Gilliam to Paul Greengrass to Darren Aronofsky have been associated with it at one time or another. But everyone has passed due to the complexity of the material and the likelihood that the film would require a gigantic budget and a sizeable risk to any studio producing it. Warners has the rights to the project now after picking them up from Paramount in a turnaround deal.
Snyder has been making it clear that he wants to begin shooting the project sometime later this year. He’s been sneaking hints about Watchmen into marketing materials for 300, including an image of one of the Watchmen characters embedded into a DVD trailer for 300, which was recently discovered by fans.
Warner Bros. hasn’t given the greenlight for Watchmen just yet; the studio wants the picture to come in under $100 million, and Snyder is reportedly holding out for 150. But big bucks for 300 may be the key to putting Watchmen in front of the cameras at last. Separately this week, CAA has been busy shopping 300 star Gerard Butler around as the potential star of a packaged remake of the Kurt Russell-John Carpenter movie Escape from New York.

Kudrow returns

Former Friends star Lisa Kudrow has been offered the chance to return to a surefire TV hit after failing to make waves as a struggling actress.
The beloved star, who played Phoebe in the hit sitcom, has been slated to star alongside Kate Walsh in the new Grey’s Anatomy spin-off.
Kudrow, whose first post-Friends show, The Comeback, won over critics, but couldn’t find an audience, will play a quirky doctor on the new TV drama, according to sources.
Taye Diggs and Tim Daly are also signed to star in the new medical show.

Here is a funny clip of Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish singing “I Will Survive”