Two weeks ago, we learned that Paul Newman has lung cancer (or may have lung cancer). And my first reaction was: will he still be able to do A Walk in the Woods with Robert Redford? Or whatever that long-ago confirmed final film is, if not that Bill Bryson adaptation? A couple years back the Oscar-winning actor said he's retiring after one "last hurrah," and it was speculated that he'd be re-teaming with Redford (his partner in both Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting).

via cinematical.com

After the whole Spike Lee vs. Clint Eastwood kerfuffle, it's great to finally see a glimpse of Lee's new World War II movie, Miracle at St. Anna. The trailer for the film has just shown up on Yahoo! and it looks just as great as I'd hoped it would.

via cinematical.com

When I was a kid, I watched all the awards shows ... except the Tonys. Even when I was involved in theater as a teenager I wasn't a follower of Broadway. And I lived an hour away from Manhattan. But today's youths may be more interested in tuning in to the 2008 Tony Awards, because everyone's favorite boy wizard is among the presenters. Daniel Radcliffe will likely be there solely to promote his Broadway debut this fall, in Equus, but.....

via moviesinsight.com

One thing you can count on in Hollywood is that when a film under-performs at the box office, the studio will have a bevy of explanations for it -- and it's never just that the movie is no good. (Wouldn't that be great, though? "Yes, our tentpole summer release tanked. Our best explanation for this is that it was just a huge pile of crap.")

via cinematical.com

Quick, what's the first Disney live-action character you can think of that deserves to be the subject of a graphic novel? In the past, a series of Disney comics were published based on cartoon characters, but now Walt Disney Studios has formed Kingdom Comics with one of the goals being to "re-imagine and rejuvenate movies from the Disney 'vault,' the company's library of live action films," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

via cinematical.com

The MPAA's rating system is flawed and arbitrarily enforced, and the system itself is corrupt. I urge one and all to see the enlightening This Film Is Not Yet Rated for ample evidence of this -- or, if you prefer, just watch The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and marvel at how such a violent movie magically got the kid-friendly PG rating

via cinematical.com

Thanks to Bourne, the spy-fi genre is alive and well and every studio is on the lookout for a franchise of their own -- even Disney. Variety reports that super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer (along with the Mouse) has purchased the screen rights to David Ignatius' spy thriller, The Increment. Ignatius is an associate editor for The Washington Post and Increment will be his seventh novel. An adaptation of his 2007 book, Body of Lies, has already finished shooting with Ridley Scott at the helm, and Leonardo DiCaprio starring as a CIA agent hot on the tail of a terrorist.

via cinematical.com

I know that Ben Foster is a really talented actor and I'm quite sure that he will go really, really far in his career. I wouldn't even be surprised if he becomes a Robert Redford type -- hugely popular and long-lasting. But still ... whether he's got wings as a mutant, or helps some creepy vampires attack a small Alaskan town, to me he's always the cute, goofy kid from Disney's Flash Forward.

via cinematical.com

OK, first off: Whoever decided to call this movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua needs to be fired really quick. I mean, seriously: Are we still cribbing titles off of Beverly Hills Cop -- which came out 27 years ago? You want your new kiddie flick to be remembered as fondly as Beverly Hills Ninja, Beverly Hills Bodysnatchers, Troop Beverly Hills, and The Taking of Beverly Hills? With all due respect to Down and Out in Beverly Hills and Slums of Beverly Hills, the phrase is practically the kiss of death where movies are concerned. (Makes me wish Axel Foley's first adventure had had a more accurate title, like A Detroit Cop in Beverly Hills or The Cop Who Laughed Funny.)

via cinematical.com

Well, it was a surprise. MTV caught up with Jason Segel to pry more Muppet movie tidbits from him, and it seems he was happy to oblige. He revealed he's written a cameo for a veteran of The Great Muppet Caper.

"I have a cameo for Charles Grodin in it. It's a really brilliant cameo, I must say. I'm really proud of it." Maybe we will find out if he ever tried Hare Krishna.

via cinematical.com

David Silverman, who most recently helmed "The Simpsons Movie," has signed on to develop and direct "The Pet," a live-action sci-fi family comedy for Disney. Scott Rudin and Craig Perry are producing.

The project, written by Matt Lieberman, centers on an everyday guy who becomes the pet of a group of aliens.

Sheila Hanahan Taylor and Mark Roybal are exec producing.

via hollywoodreporter.com

Maybe you're completely sick of all things Wall·E, but I'm not. He's like candy, only without the bad side effects. Every video clip that comes across the Internet, I watch it. And post it. I like that they are just bits of character work and giving nothing away.

via cinematical.com

This is neat - Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann, the original kid stars of Disney's 1970s "Witch Mountain" movies, are coming back for "Race to Witch Mountain," says The Hollywood Reporter.

In a nod to the original movies, Eisenmann plays a sheriff and Richards plays a waitress at a roadhouse called Ray's in a town called Stony Creek. They help a cabbie (Dwayne Johnson) and his two paranormal-powered passengers (AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig).

via moviehole.net

"Enchanted" seems like the perfect movie to watch with you family, gather around the parents and grandparents, order pizza, and watch a rehash of every Disney classic ever. So I’m saving it for the next Tyler family get together, I figure it’s more grandma’s speed than Viggo’s naked fighting in Eastern Promises, the other movie atop my TV vying for attention.

I’m told though, by all of you, that Enchanted is really good. So how about a sequel? Our friends over at Moviehole say that may be on tap over at the studio where everyone is forced to wear mouse ears. Sure it made a big chunk of money in theaters, but they say it’s the films big time DVD sales which are pushing Disney towards making another one.

via cinemablend.com

Michael Dougherty has teamed with Walt Disney Pictures and Robert Zemeckis' ImageMovers on Calling All Robots, an animated sci-fi adventure the screenwriter plans to direct using the same type of performance capture technology recently deployed to produce Beowulf.

The Hollywood Reporter says Dougherty will write the project with Breehn Burns and Simeon Wilkins, who will serve as artists and visual designers on the project. The trio conceived the idea together.

Details of the project are being kept under wraps, but it uses performance capture to "tell a story that's a throwback to old Godzilla movies," Dougherty said. "I grew up watching Godzilla movies. This film is very much rooted in those movies."

ImageMovers' Zemeckis, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey will produce.

The producers are readying A Christmas Carol, their follow up to Beowulf and The Polar Express, which will use the performance capture process and Disney will distribute on November 6, 2009.

via comingsoon.net