After wrapping Skyfall, Sam Mendes (American Beauty) denied being interested in returning for any future installments of Bond. Although he claims to have had a good experience working with the iconic franchise, he needed to return to other projects, both within the film and theatrical world. Apparently a big, fat paycheck has changed his mind as Mendes is now confirmed to return for Bond 24 and is highly likely to also shoot Bond 25.

As to whether these features will shoot back-to-back is still unknown but speculation has pointed to A. these two films telling one narrative arc and B. they will be Daniel Craig‘s final Bond features. Having a director shoot two consecutive Bond movies is unheard of, let alone three so this is a definitive shift in the way that the Bond estate does business.

Putting this into context of reports that Christopher Nolan will be stepping aboard a Bond film, this perfectly sets up a Nolan-helmed Bond 26 as a relaunch with a new face for Bond. If  MGM can just speed this train up on these next two Bond films then we could look for that Nolan relaunch around 2018.

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Before you get your hopes up and start having a nerdgasm, remember that this is only a rumor zooming its way around the internet and gaining traction but it’s still a rumor worth reporting on because if this actually were to happen, it would be pretty, pretty, pretty good. So on to the actual word on the street: Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception) is said to be in informal talks to direct Bond 24.

Now, obviously news like this is to be taken with a grain of salt but you have to take into accountant the fact that Nolan has expressed interest in directing a Bond film before. His latest comment that “It would have to be the right situation and the right time in their cycle of things” though seems to discredit any suggestion that he would be stepping into direct Bond 24. His specific reference to the “right time in their cycle” seems to suggest that he would want to step in and do the first film in a new iteration of Bond rather than close out this latest generation that started with 2006’s Casino Royale.

Not only would Nolan be less likely to pick up the Daniel Craig-led franchise, considering it’s on its hind legs and primed for a more sturdy follow-up to Skyfall than a completely original vision, but he’s also got his hands very much full with Interstellar which has yet to even start filming.

Unless MGM wanted to push Bond 24 back to a late 2015 release date, it’s very unlikely that Nolan would even have the time to begin pre-production let alone film the thing. But both parties are probably very well aware of these scheduling conflicts, leading me to assume that these early negotiations are more likely revolving around the relaunch of Bond after Craig fills the mantle one last time with Bond 24.

For the time being, I think we can expect MGM and Co. to push forward on Bond 24 without Nolan, keeping him in their back pocket for the inevitable Bond 25.

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It may be longer yet until we see malevolent dinosaurs roam Isla Nubla again as production on Jurassic Park 4 has been shut down indefinitely. Yesterday, Digital Asset Manager Todd Smoyer and Concept Artist Dean Sherriff both took to Twitter to get the news out that Universal has stopped the JP train in its tracks with Smoyer going all drama queen and claiming,

 “Hollywood makes and crushes dreams. Goodbye JP4.”

 On the heels of these comments and the internet blowing up, Universal stepped forward and tried to reassure fans that while JP4 would no longer be hitting theaters in June 2014, it would still be waiting in the wings.

“In coordination with filmmakers, Universal has decided to release Jurassic Park 4 at a later date giving the studio and filmmakers adequate time to bring audiences the best possible version of the fourth installment in Universal’s beloved franchise. We could not be more excited about the vision that Colin Trevorrow has created for this film, and we look forward to watching as he and the producers create another great chapter in this franchise’s storied history.”

Although Universal seems to remaining optimistic, it’s likely that they are just trying to calm the storm for now. While pushing back the release date in order to give the special effects crew more time to work through this very FX driven film would seem like a reasonable move on the studios part, pulling the plug on the production entirely is never good news.

With Steven Spielberg producing and Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) directing, JP4 was expected to take the franchise back to its roots and see the state of the island from the first film some-odd years later. Like the fate of the triceratops from the original Jurassic Park, this potentially promising production is now in the hands of something greater. At this point, we will see if that vision is ever realized.

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A long time ago a picture made the internet rounds that showed Iron Man done Pixar style and got everyone talking about the possibility of Marvel and Pixar merging for a film under the auspices of parent corporation Disney. Well now it looks like that possibility is a reality as Pixar Studios will tackle Big Hero 6, based on the Marvel comic of the same name.

Big Hero 6 takes place in the fiction city of San Fransokyo and follows the exploits of Hiro Hamada, a robotics engineer who gets caught up in a battle against a band of baddies on a destruction path to take down the city.

The original Marvel comic squad appeared for the first time in September of 1998 so they are a relatively new addition to the Marvel canon. Included in the superhero group of the comics is Silver Samurai, Sunfire, GoGo Tomago, Honey Lemon, Hiro Takachiho, Baymax, Ebon Samurai, Sunprye, Wasabi-No-Ginger and Fred. Thus far, the only cross over appears to be the titular Hiro but with no cast yet announced, this film will be sure to add in the slew of heroes.

Take a peek at the following concept footage that shows off the East-meets-West city of bluntly named San Fransokyo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA9tb_5kMF0

While Big Hero 6 won’t be shoe-horned into the separate operation that Marvel Studios is running, it’s a hell of a maneuver for the faltering Pixar brand as it opens up a whole new world of possibility. Will this merger allow for Pixar’s return to form or will it be the roots of a whole new strand of disappointment? Time will tell.

Big Hero 6 already has a release date of November 7, 2014. The biggest question that remains is what do they call the sequel? Big Hero 6 2? Big Hero 7? 2 Big 2 Hero 6?

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A dream within a wormhole within time travel within a dream within a wormholm within….

Blockbuster mastermind Christopher Nolan has wowed audiences over the last decade with his innovative original features Inception, The Prestige and Memento but is more closely associated with much loved Dark Knight trilogy. Nolan managed to turn a faltering franchise, whose last film iteration featured George Clooney‘s nipples, into a grounded and complex saga that reignited the spark of superhero potential. Now that Nolan has wrapped up his take on the Dark Knight, he is free to set his sights on more original fare in line with Inception and his next feature film, Interstellar, seems like it will be just as grand and macroscopic as that film.

Under the collective banners of Warner Bros. and Paramount, Interstellar will be hitting theaters on November 7, 2014 and will be sure to make a mighty box office blow. According to the studio:

“The film will depict a heroic interstellar voyage to the furthest reaches of our scientific understanding.”

 Nolan, and the title of the film alone, has made it clear that this filmic journey will take place in the galactic realm and will involve worm holes and likely alternate realities. Although no cast has yet been assembled, I’m going to go ahead and assume that he’ll at least be pulling a fair share for his regular corral of actors. I’d be willing to bet that at least two of the following are cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanbe.

I personally am glad to hear that Nolan is still willing to challenge himself and his audiences and I’ll be sure to be waiting in line for this one. As for whether we’ll see him returning to superhero fare as a exec. producer for Justice League, we’ll have to wait and see.

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The notorious NC-17 is both alluring and repelling, the rating alone stands as a statement and a double-dog-dare. While some of our jaded generation may see a film just to see what exactly made it so explicit, most won’t even be able to see it because the bottom line is many theaters just won’t put it on the roster because of said rating. So the unfortunate fact of the matter is a NC-17 stamp kills a film’s chances at the box office. Since money talks, studios avoid that NC-17 like a plague.

This brings us to The Evil Dead which fell at my number five spot for my Most Anticipated Films of 2013. Even The Evil Dead trailer needed a Red-Band rating and the MPAA came down hard on the film, stamping it with the much condemning NC-17 rating. After this initial rating some necessary (to box office results) cuts were made to snag that R-rating for strong bloody violence and gore, some sexual content and language.

This brings up an interesting point of debate: why is the Nc-17 rating unacceptable? If you look at it from a purist perspective, it really is a shame that all NC-17 films are cut down to that R-rating. This isn’t to say that I need to see any egregious violence or explicit porno in my movies but I want to see what the filmmaker intended me to see not a watered down MPAA approved cut.

The whole stigma around the rating is  silly to say the least as there really should be something that’s a step above R. Argo and The Kings Speech for instance are ‘soft’ R ratings. The only reason they snag the R-rating is because of that terrible F-word. Aside from that, they’re perfectly suitable films for any age group.

Other movies like Cronenberg‘s Crash, Tarantino‘s Django Unchained or even Kick-Ass are ‘hard’ R. But they’ve got torrents of blood, excessive language or gaudy nudity. They are not films for children or even certain impressionable teenagers. So what’s with the lack of contrast between these R ratings? In 1969, Midnight Cowboy was given an X-rating because it was not easy material and yet managed to win Best Picture. It was a hard R and it made sense to be in a different class from the Argo‘s and King Speech‘s. Isn’t it more than a little silly that the MPAA doesn’t just make this  distinction between ‘soft R’ and ‘hard R’ more clear with the NC-17 rating? Unfortunately, with the massive stigma surrounding the rating, don’t expect the problem to end anytime soon.

Tangent aside, expect Evil Dead to debut under the audience friendly and theater acceptable R-rating on April 12.

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