- The non-Disney, live action, English-language Mulan moves a step closer to reality with the news that Jan de Bont will direct Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon’s Zhang Ziyi in the project. Production is set to get underway this fall in China, and should wrap in January.
- The first early screenings of Disney’s Tangled have taken place in Burbank for a select group of journalists. The animation is only 60% polished, and the 3D isn’t done, and the score isn’t there, but people who have seen it says it stands not only a decent chance of an Oscar nomination, but that it could actually beat Toy Story 3.
- The Hurt Locker’s Jeremy Renner and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s Noomi Rapace are reportedly signed to play Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. It’s being called a horror comedy that picks up 15 years after the incident at the cottage in the woods, and is produced by Will Ferrell … and I just suddenly lost any interest.
- Composer David Arnold tweeted that he’s done recording the score for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It now moves to mixing, and the movie gets that much closer to the theater.
- Robert Schwentke, who directed The Time Traveler’s Wife and the upcoming Helen Mirren film Red has signed on to direct Ryan Reynolds as an undead cop in an adaptation of R.I.P.D. How many comic book characters can one actor convincingly play?
- British soap EastEnders star Roxanne McKee says that after the soap, she’s shooting a part in HBO’s A Game of Thrones. She doesn’t specify her role.
- Terry Pratchett gives a long, slightly sad interview about his father’s illness and passing, his own Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and his upcoming Tiffany Aching novel , I Shall Wear Midnight. It may be a YA fantasy novel set in Discworld, but it’s darker than his earlier work.
- I’m not entirely sure that Priest is a traditional vampire movie, even if it uses the terminology. There is an evolutionary monster called a “vampire,” and “priests,” engineered to fight them. Something framed around a church structure functions as a government. I’m calling this “post-apocalyptic,” but maybe I’m splitting hairs.
- ComingSoon has finally published their set visit from last year to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. They got to stand in the Magician’s Library, board the Dawn Treader, and talk with the cast about the movie.
- We’re two weeks out from the DVD release of The Secret of Moonacre, a fantasy film starring Tim Curry and based on the novel Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. It’s rated as suitable for the whole family, even the truly little ones. I can’t wait for September 21st!
- Buried in an interview with the floral designer for Lord of the Rings and The Last Samurai, production design for The Hobbit is moving forward. He says he won’t do the design, but will provide the silks for the movie.
