— Coming off a strong year for the once-flailing studio, Paramount head honcho Brad Grey has given an interview to the New York Times, in which he not only confirms the existence of sequels to “Paranormal Activity” and, god help us, “G.I. Joe,” but also that new studio mascot JJ Abrams may direct another “tentpole” film before he gets around to “Star Trek 2.” There’s some speculation online that it means that Abrams might helm the new Jack Ryan movie, starring his Captain Kirk, Chris Pine, but we don’t think that fits — the tone of the series isn’t really in Abrams’ wheelhouse, and Grey does the say the project is “yet to be announced.” Our best guess is that Abrams is cooking up an original movie franchise, to be announced shortly — possibly the big-money pitch that Simon Kinberg and Aline Brosh McKenna sold a few months back. Or it’s “Six Degrees: The Movie.” One or the other…
— In an article focusing on next year’s resurgence of Greek mythology in blockbusters like “Clash of the Titans” and “Percy Jackson” (centaurs: they’re the new Truman Capote!), misogynistic man-child Frank Miller revealed that he is indeed writing the rumored prequel comic book to “300,” which will be entitled “Xerxes,” and tell the story of the battle of Marathon. Zack Snyder has previously expressed interest in returning to his green-screen wonderland, providing he likes Miller’s follow-up. It’s unknown how many of the original characters will return, but, being Miller, it’s almost certain that it’ll return us to a simpler time, when men were men, and women were either virgins or whores.
— “Avatar” is still a couple of days way from release, but already talk has turned to James Cameron’s next film — there was speculation last week he was cooking up a secret blockbuster with writer Shane Salerno, but it turned out that he would only be producing a 3-D version of “Fantastic Voyage.” MTV asked him about his long-discussed adaptation of the anime “Battle Angel Alita,” and received some rather mixed messages. Cameron initially said “We’re not that far down the line,” but later says “It’s pretty much just add water and we’re ready to go.” If “Avatar” hits big, we imagine a sequel may become a bigger priority both for Cameron and for Fox, but we’ll see…
— The “Lord of the Rings” trilogy has been announced for Blu-Ray release on April 6th. A nine-disc set will include the theatrical versions of all three movies, plus presumably a decent selection of extras (it is nine discs, after all…). There seems to be some disappointment in the fanboy community that the extended editions aren’t yet being released, but we’re not sure we’ll miss the extra hour on the end of the 200-minute-long “Return of the King…” A trailer for the re-release is below.
