Movie News Page 1046

Taking new direction towards film feature after years of making games, developers of "Oddworld" videogame franchise Lorne Lanning and Sherry McKenna are joining forces with Vanguard Animation to create a dark political thriller movie entitled "Citizen Siege."

Described as a rare CG animated film aimed at adults, the project will be made at $40 million budget and set in the near future with Lanning on board to direct and John Williams producing. Meanwhile, Vanguard intends to work on the film in its Vancouver studio where it is currently producing "Space Chimps."

Back in 1994, moviegoers was already presented with a videogame adaptation of "Street Fighter" starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and now a newer big screen version is about to be made through a joint venture between Hyde Park Entertainment and Capcom Ltd..

Tentatively titled the same as the game's name, the project is said to take its focus on the game's most popular female fighter Chun-Li, but plot details are still being kept under wraps though it is revealed that Justin Marks has been appointed to write the screenplay.

Expanding its cast lineup, "The Jane Austen Book Club" has smoothly added four more Hollywood stars namely Hugh Dancy, Maggie Grace, Kevin Zegers, and Amy Brenneman in its high-profile list already containing the likes of Maria Bello, Josh Lucas, Emily Blunt, Ellen Burstyn, and Jimmy Smits.

Dancy will play a sci-fi fan and computer whiz named Grigg while Grace is billed as the lesbian daughter of Brenneman's character Sylvia, who is left by her husband Daniel (Smits) after thirty two years of marriage, and Zegers as an oversexed teen who gets entangled in a romantic relationship with one of the club's members.

Emmy-winning directing brothers Joe and Anthony Russo plus Phil Johnston make a big deal this time. Variety learned that the trio has delightfully earned positive sign from Universal to set up their new project titled "A Friggin' Christmas Miracle" under the studio's banner.

Also produced by Imagine Entertainment, the flick centers on a father who has to spend one night with his archenemy and his own father looking for his son's present which he forgets to buy on Christmas Eve. No words yet on the cast lineup.

Boldly decided to present sensitive issue, Focus Features will develop a big screen feature about family honor killings among Muslims in Britain and other European countries titled "Hunted by Their Families" under its wings following its successful attempt to obtain the project's rights.

Based on an article by Denise Dowling in Marie Claire, the movie has already tapped British filmmaker Amma Asante to both write and direct with Kahli Small overseeing for Focus. No details yet on film's cast and production date.

Constructing a great line-up of cast, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-Fat, and Michelle Yeoh are set to share scenes together in a period drama titled "The Children of Huang Shi", Production Weekly has reported.

Based on true events, the movie, set in war-ravaged China during the late 1930s, focuses on a young British journalist named Gregg Hogg who leads a group of orphaned children on a 1000-mile journey in his effort to save them.

Facing each other onscreen for the first time, "8 Mile" star Mekhi Phifer and rapper Eve have both signed on to join Vincent Laresca in "Ego", an indie feature set to be written and directed by Antonio Macia.

Scheduled to begin filming by late November in Connecticut, the project follows a cop who has to face emotional consequences for the rest of his life after repeatedly harassing an ex-con until his tragic death. Laresca will portray the former character while Phifer the latter one.

Seems that moviegoers really know how to welcome Halloween properly in their own way at the weekend as it turns out that "Saw III" is the one that has gained the highest score in the weekend box-office competition of October 27-29, 2006.

Snatching a large sum of $33.6 million, the third installment of the horror franchise gloriously runs far ahead all its competitors, particularly runner-up "The Departed" and second runner-up "The Prestige" which collected $9.8 million and $9.5 million respectively.

"Faces of Death" was a hit in the 1970s and '80s. And now, Rogue Pictures is bringing again the project to public worldwide.

The studio is developing a remake of the series of gory videotapes and has recruited J.T. Petty to direct.

The production team remained tight-lipped on the forthcoming "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian". Yet, its cast William Moseley gives an update on the project.

The actor said that shooting on the drama adventure flick is scheduled to begin January next year. Unfortunately, details about where on earth the shooting will take place have been kept under wrap.

The rumors on the street happen to be true. "Borat" star Sacha Baron Cohen is picking up "Bruno" as his next film project.

Greater than that, the soon-to-be-released movie has reportedly triggered an intense bidding war among heavy contenders in Hollywood, like Universal Pictures, DreamWorks, Sony, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. Pictures just to name a few.

From FBI agent to the cleaner, that's the job of Samuel L. Jackson. The veteran actor, who has just wrapped up his latest film "Snakes on a Plane", has for now on being tapped to play the lead in the upcoming thriller "The Cleaner".

The flick, written by Matthew Aldrich, follows Jackson's character Tom, an extremely hygienic man who uses this urge in his professional life as a crime scene cleaner. When he somehow becomes involved in a job he later finds out was a covered up murder, he gets tied in to a web of deception, that unearth his own family's long buried pain and secrets.

Though reports suggest otherwise, it is already confirmed that Gael Garcia Bernal isn't sign on to star in the highly anticipated "The Bourne Ultimatum".

Not without reason, but the Mexican actor, who previously was offered the chance to play the nemesis in the action, drama, thriller flick, was unable to take the role as he is still busy working on his directorial debut "Deficit."

New Line emerges with good news that it has given the green light to the comedy flick "Semi-Pro." That's not all, the studio also gives details on the project, confirming Will Ferrell and Woody Harrelson will both star in.

"Semi-Pro," set in the world of 1970s pro basketball, will be directed by New Line executive VP Kent Alterman. With Scot Armstrong writing the screenplay, shooting is expected to begin early next year.

"Blood and Thunder," the new Hampton Sides book, is in the hand of DreamWorks Pictures as the studio has acquired the rights to turn the project into big screen feature.

The book is said to tell an epic-sized story of the 19th century campaign to settle the West and the slaughter of the American Indian tribes that got in the way.