The Social Network: the Facebook movie

Just when people thought Hollywood was running out of ideas for movies, Hollywood proves them right…

The Social Network - A story about the founders of the social-networking website, Facebook.

Based off the book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich and directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), the movie is a loose account of the history of Facebook and its founders.

In The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield will play Facebook co-founders Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin, while Justin Timberlake will star as Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster and the founding president of the site. The screenplay for The Social Network was penned by award winning writer Aaron Sorkin, and production on the film is slated to begin next month in Boston. The film will be produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures, Scott Rudin, and Kevin Spacey. – Screencrave.com

So far, the three people who have been confirmed for roles are Jesse Eisenberg (as Mark Zuckerberg), Justin Timberlake (as Sean Parker) and Andrew Garfield (as Eduardo Saverin).

The funny thing is that the book that The Social Network is based off of is not really doing so well according to Amazon user ratings. Out of 44 user ratings, the average is 3 out of 5 stars, but there are 10 one-star ratings (at the time of this post). That is not very good comparatively. Most of the lower-rating critics say Mezrich’s books are formulaic and his characters seem like puppets. But who knows? Never judge a book by its cover and never pre-judge a movie by its book – as we’ve seen with Twilight.

Resident Evil: Confusion

 

I was just going to blog about the upcoming Resident Evil movie, the fourth in the franchise, but while surfing the web, I have learned that they are already planning a fifth movie! The interesting/confusing part is that is sounds like it is basically a remake of the first film, yet the fourth film is supposed to begin a new Resident Evil trilogy… [breath]

Confused yet? Let me explain, beginning from the fourth movie.

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Set for release September 17, 2010 (some sources say August 27, 2010), Resident Evil 4 is supposed to start a brand new trilogy for the Resident Evil film franchise. Shocktillyoudrop.com had an exclusive quote from writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson. One thing he mentioned is that this movie will be done in 3D (which seems to be the new/retro movie fad), using the same equipment as the upcoming movie Avatar by James Cameron.

Here’s what the site had to say about this fourth installment:

Anderson, who will write and direct, told us that the fourth film in the franchise will have the largest budget of all the films so far. "I always envisioned Resident Evil as a trilogy of films," he said. "And we've been very lucky where it's a trilogy where the audience has built and built. I wanted to kick off a brand new trilogy. I'm really excited we're doing it [in 3-D] and we're using the same camera system [James] Cameron used for Avatar. There are a lot of exciting things about this one. I don't regard it as Resident Evil 4, I regard it as a re-tooling and rebirth of the entire franchise."

Anderson is not the only one to return for the fourth movie - Milla Jovovich has been confirmed to return and Ali Larter and Jason O’Mara are rumored for a return as well. Also rumored to be in the movie are Eva Mendes (as Excella Gionne) and Jensen Ackles (as Leon S. Kennedy).

Paul W.S. Anderson wrote and directed the first Resident Evil movie, but bowed out directing the following two sequels, yet he did write the screenplay for them. He also produced all three earlier installments and is producing this fourth one as well.

Shocktillyoudrop.com also talked to Anderson’s fiancé, Milla Jovovich about his preparations for the 3D element:

Anderson has really been getting prepared to make his return to directing the franchise since the first movie, especially with the 3D factor being added to the equation. "He's been really studying it and seeing all the different things they have and watching every 3D movie ever made pretty much," Milla told us. "Especially for a movie like this, because it's wild and a lot of action and a lot of potential for 3D to use the medium at its best. Paul has been going to every 3D company and he's now signed a deal to go with Jim Cameron's 3D company--they did 'Avatar'--It should be pretty interesting. I've never actually seen a 3D movie."

Resident Evil: Afterlife will start filming September 28th in Toronto, Canada.

Resident Evil 5

So, even though they have just started filming the fourth movie, Sony Screen Gems, the studio that has brought the previous three Resident Evil movies, has announced a fifth movie. However, instead of continuing the story where Resident Evil: Afterlife leaves off, it is planned to do a “rehash” of the first movie, sans Alice (Milla Jovovich).

Bloody-disgusting.com has this to say:

Instead of moving forward with the ongoing story, the studio is planning a quasi-reboot, which is tentatively titled Resident Evil Begins. While it's a long, long, long way off, the idea is to redo the story of a special military unit who fights a powerful, out-of-control supercomputer and hundreds of scientists who have mutated into flesh-eating creatures after a laboratory accident.

Reacting to this news, Screenrant.com has said:

This news comes as a bit of a surprise since we recently heard that Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth film in the franchise, would kick off a new trilogy. How can the fifth movie be a reboot and yet still be part of that trilogy? Is the term “reboot” being assigned too readily? And is it more along the lines of a sequel, just following a different set of people? It’s hard to tell at this very early stage in the game, but nonetheless, it’s a bit miffing.

However, I remember at the end of the first movie, you hear a man (I forget who, it’s been a while) order a group of people to re-open the Hive and find out what happened. My thoughts are that the fifth film will be about that group and what happened, but who knows…

Pirates 4 on shaky ground?

For those fans (like myself) of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise, there may or may not be a fourth installment.

IMDB.com very recently added some more details to the Pirates of the Caribbean 4 page, namely the addition of a title (“On Stranger Tides”) and the “confirmation” of Johnny Depp’s reprise as Captain Jack Sparrow.

However, due to the resignation of Dick Cook, Walt Disney Studio Chairman, Johnny Depp may not be interested in making the movie anymore. Here is the reasoning taken from movieweb.com:

In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Johnny Depp, who credits Cook as being a major supporter of his Jack Sparrow creation on set when other producers weren't happy with what the actor was doing, explained, "(Cook) said, 'We're thinking about doing this Pirates of the Caribbean movie,' I said I was in. This was before there was a script or anything. He's instantly trustworthy. And you generally don't meet people at the studios you trust. When things went a little sideways on the first 'Pirates' movie and others at the studio were less than enthusiastic about my interpretation of the character, Dick was there from the first moment. He trusted me." Now, with Cook gone, Depp said about a Fourth film, "There's a fissure, a crack in my enthusiasm at the moment."

And, as everyone knows, Johnny Depp is basically what has made the films what they are, a billion dollar entity. There are plenty more articles listing the same thing as well.

Another item to note is that the director for the fourth movie is non other than “Chicago” director, Rob Marshall instead of Gore Verbinski who directed the previous three Pirates movies. Interesting choice…