The teaser poster for Spider-man 3 has been revealed exclusively on Superhero Hype!.

The poster is incredibly effective at setting the mood for the film — gone is the golden glow of the first two films, replaced instead with a monochromatic, desaturated look. Sadness, despair, fatigue: these are the sort of words that immediately spring to mind.

This would have to be the golden age of comic book adaptations.

Source: Superhero Hype!

Variety is reporting that both Batman Begins and the forthcoming Superman Returns will get sequels, with Christopher Nolan’s brother Jonah writing the Batman sequel (which seems to suggest Christopher Nolan’s involvement as director once more).

Chis Nolan and David Goyer (who jointly wrote Batman Begins) had already written a treatment for the sequel, which this will presumably be based on.

I’m personally looking forward to the Batman sequel much more than X3. Superman Returns should be at least decent, but I’d rather Singer had stuck with X-Men.

Sources: Variety, Dark Horizons

I’ve put off posting about this story because there’s an air of desperation about the way other sites have taken a few words from an interview with Spielberg and concluded that Indy 4 is his next project. However, on top of the fact that Ford seems rather positive about the whole thing, I have to admit that, yes, it does seem to be that Indy 4 is all but officially confirmed as being ready to go.

In a recent interview, Spielberg noted:

“I am about to make Indiana Jones 4, which is, as far as I am concerned, the sweet dessert I give those who had to chow down on the bitter herbs that I’ve used in Munich.”

Meanwhile, Ford is dropping hints like madman. On the film Manhunt, he told Moviehole.net:

“That would seem to be next”, smiles Ford. Um. Seem to be next? Why so tight-lipped…

“[There’s] a bunch of other things that have come to fruition…recently”, he added.

What more do you need?

Sources: Yedioth Ahronoth, Moviehole.net, Ynetnews, The Indy Experience.com

Only a few days after Daniel Craig gets his teeth knocked out while filming a stunt for Casino Royale, up surfaces a fan-driven website full of histrionics over Craig being cast as Bond:

After twenty blockbuster Bond films with five great Bonds, why did EON Productions dump current fan favorite Pierce Brosnan, only to replace him with Bill Murray lookalike Daniel Craig? EON owner Barbara Broccoli has pointed to their desire to move Bond in new creative directions. Perhaps the real reasons for this questionable move lie with the money politics of Hollywood and EON’s legendary ego.

What’s wrong with Bill Murray?

Sources: CraigNotBond.com, Sci Fi Wire

Like a lot of people, I was rather disappointed in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? — it was suitably bizarre and surreal, but there really wasn’t much going on under the surface. (It was, however, better than Bakshi’s Cool World, which felt like Roger Rabbit on acid.)

The Chinese government must be doing something right, because today Variety is reporting that they’ve nixed any distribution in China of features where animated characters interact with flesh-and-blood humans, in an attempt at protectionism:

In one of the more bizarre orders from China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, TV shows and films featuring human thesps with animated companions will be banned.

“These human live-action, so-called animation pieces will not receive distribution or distribution licenses,” read the order, issued Feb. 15. However, films and shows that have already received permits will continue to air.

CGI and 2-D characters alongside human actors jeopardize “the broadcast order of homemade animation and mislead their development,” according to a report from the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Babe had previously been banned because (according to Variety) “animals can’t talk and some viewers would be confused.”

Source: Variety

Australian Box Office

1. Date Movie ($1,803,586/$1,803,586)
2. Walk the Line ($1,307,674/$7,355,108)
3. Syriana ($852,794/$852,794)
4. Brokeback Mountain ($796,613/$5,342,730)
5. Casanova ($645,562/$1,098,890)
6. Jarhead ($642,550/$2,622,886)
7. Lord of War ($525,026/$525,026)
8. Just Friends ($512,671/$1,922,830)
9. Goal! ($466,404/$469,614)
10. Memoirs of a Geisha ($357,080/$9,065,407)

Opening wide this week: Derailed, Hostel and Imagine Me and You.

US Box Office

1. Eight Below ($24,968,601/$24,968,601)
2. Date Movie ($21,812,384/$21,812,384)
3. The Pink Panther ($20,863,217/$46,548,715)
4. Curious George ($15,367,950/$33,523,265)
5. Final Destination 3 ($11,538,251/$37,253,197)
6. Firewall ($10,382,241/$28,700,754)
7. Freedomland ($6,707,111/$6,707,111)
8. When a Stranger Calls ($5,824,394/$42,102,350)
9. Big Momma’s House 2 ($5,574,090/$62,459,610)
10. Nanny McPhee ($5,102,555/$39,251,465)

Opening wide this week: Madea’s Family Reunion, Doogal: The Magic Roundabout and Running Scared. Australian film Little Fish gets a limited release, too.

Sources: movie marshal, Box Office Mojo

Ooh, exciting!

Forthcoming embarrassment X3 will feature in two exclusive cover-shots for the next issue of Empire. On one cover, you’ve got Wolverine and Storm, while on the other is Magneto and Jean Grey (possibly the biggest spoiler since the reveal of Gandalf’s return in the promotion of The Two Towers).

With Ratner already implying that he would have been happier making Superman, this is one film that’ll be sure to please!

Sources: Empire, MovieWeb

The poster for A Scanner Darkly has hit the ‘Net, as has the one-sheet for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

On the one hand, the Scanner Darkly poster doesn’t suffer from the “floating heads” syndrome that the Pirates poster does. On the other hand, the Pirates poster has a really nice old-fashioned feel to it that really appeals to me.

Is the “photoshopped” look that has plagued one-sheets for so long finally fallen out of favour? One can only hope…

Source: LatinoReview.com

Well, the BAFTA awards have once again been and gone, with Brokeback Mountain and Memoirs of a Geisha taking four and three awards, respectively.

Brokeback Mountain won awards for best film, direction (for Ang Lee), adapted screenplay (for Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana) and actor in a supporting role (for Jake Gyllenhaal).

Memoirs of a Geisha, meanwhile, picked up awards for film music (for John Williams), cinematography (for Dion Beebe) and costume design (for Colleen Atwood).

Crash and Walk the Line both picked up two awards each.

Full details can be found at the BAFTA website.

Source: BAFTA

Uwe Boll, the bane of gamers and film geeks everywhere, has hit back at his critics, calling them filmmaking wannabes who work at Starbucks. While this may be true, it is certainly impolite of him to point this out.

“I get bashed as the worldwide enemy number one in film-making by people who are working at Starbucks and who also want to make movies. It’s ridiculous - it’s completely idiotic because they’re hitting on a guy who actually made it happen, but I started my career in the same position as anybody else,” Boll argues.

Even better, on his forthcoming movie Postal:

“The movie will be so politically incorrect and harsh, it’s like a mirror to American society, and I don’t think the movie will be well received by everybody. For example, Osama Bin Laden will be one of the lead characters - I think that shows the mood of the movie.”

So what will Bin Laden’s role be, exactly? Well, Boll explains, the idea is that he’s holed up in Tucson, Arizona, running a Taliban camp. “That shows a little bit how politically incorrect Postal will be - it’s really an underground, alternative point of view. Let’s wait and see; I think we will suprise a lot of people.”

Yes, “surprise” is one way to put it — “enrage” is another.

The whole interview is comedy gold and well worth reading in full.

Sources: Eurogamer, Cinescape

For a while now, James Cameron has been talking about Battle Angel, an adaptation of Yukito Kishiro’s graphic novels, being his next directorial project.

Not quite.

The self-proclaimed “king of the world” is instead going to tackle the codenamed “Project 880″ first, hoping for a 2007 release, with Battle Angel following in 2009. Both films are going to utilise the nascent digital 3-D technology being touted by George Lucas, Robert Rodriguez, Robert Zemeckis et al.

I’m still not sold on the 3-D thing — it seems gimmicky. However, it will certainly be good to see Cameron back directing features.

Sources: Entertainment Weekly, ComingSoon.net

Two new trailers currently being discussed elsewhere:

1. A Scanner Darkly
2. Special

I’m not sure how I feel about the Scanner Darkly trailer. On the one hand, Richard Linklater is a talented director, but a similar effect was used on Waking Life, and I found that movie almost unwatchable. On the other hand, judging by the trailer alone, the effect doesn’t seem as “fluid” here, and it seems to achieve the desired effect of giving the film a sense of unreality. Still, I find it offputting, but otherwise, the film looks great.

Special just looks quirky and interesting. Any film with Michael Rapaport as a possibly deranged wannabe superhero is okay by me. Note the lack of animated effects.

Sources: Warner Bros., Special, Cinematical, CHUD.com