Despite the talk and the buzz, I never thought it would actually happen. If any novel merits the term "unfilmable," certainly Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is it. I mean, the climax is a 60-page radio broadcast! And the entire thing is what can charitably be called a screed, preaching Rand's extremely unliberal "objectivist" political philosophy. So when I heard that Vadim Perelman (The House of Sand and Fog and the upcoming The Life Before Her Eyes) was developing the project, with Angelina Jolie attached to star as Dagny Taggart, my reaction was quite simply: Pfffffft.

But it looks like I pfffffted too soon. Comingsoon.net talked to Perelman this week, and he told them that he's finishing up the script, and that Lionsgate wants to start shooting in December. So, uh: it looks like this might actually happen.

via cinematical.com

Over at the official website for The Spirit, Miller has posted a new production blog. While he never specifically addresses the charges against him (and may not even be thinking of them as he posted this), Miller nevertheless has written a spirited defense. "I love writing tough, powerful women." And he has set out to do just that with one chick specifically -- Ellen Dolan, love interest of the title character. The character has proved to be a challenge, a weak stereotype of the age in which she was created. Miller calls her "a lousy character" and complains, "[The Spirit] even tossed her over his knee and spanked her. And she took it. Ellen Dolan made Donna Reed look like Angelina Jolie."

So he has set about changing her, trying to make her into a worthy love interest and the kind of heroine we can watch without cringing. He's given her a job, for one -- she's now a doctor, and one who can use her scalpels with deadly efficiency. I can't imagine what kind of commotion this will cause among Spirit fans.

via cinematical.com

Adriana (Paulina Gaitan) is a 13-year-old girl from Mexico City whose kidnapping by sex traffickers sets in motion a desperate mission by her 17-year-old brother, Jorge (Cesar Ramos), to save her. Trapped and terrified by an underground network of international thugs who earn millions exploiting their human cargo, Adriana’s only friend and protector throughout her ordeal is Veronica (Alicja Bachleda), a young Polish woman tricked into the trade by the same criminal gang. As Jorge dodges immigration officers and incredible obstacles to track the girls’ abductors, he meets Ray (Kevin Kline), a Texas cop whose own family loss to sex trafficking leads him to become an ally in the boy’s quest.

In Theatres: April 13th, 2007
Drama
Rating: R

Marco Kreuzpaintner (dir.)
Kevin Kline
Cesar Ramos Ceballos
Alicja Bachleda-Curus
Paulina Gaitan
 

 

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"The Condemned" tells the story of Joe Conrad (Stone Cold Steve Austin), who is awaiting the death penalty in a corrupt Central American prison. He is "purchased" by a wealthy television producer and taken to a desolate island where he must fight to the death against nine other condemned killers from all corners of the world, with freedom going to the sole survivor.

Genres: Action/Adventure and Drama
Release Date: April 27th, 2007 (wide) 
MPAA Rating: R for pervasive strong brutal violence, and for language. 
Distributors: Lionsgate

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Lionsgate has resurrected Tulia, the long-gestating Tollin-Robbins project starring Halle Berry as a lawyer investigating an infamous Texas drug bust.

The producers are in negotiations with Carl Franklin to direct the feature. The film centers on the 1999 arrests of 46 black men in the impoverished town of Tulia, Texas -- a sting effort where no money, drugs or illegal weapons were found on any of the suspects.

Berry will portray the lead attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which intervened to free the citizens wrongly convicted based on one crooked cop's testimony...more click on heading

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Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures announced today that Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II and Saw III) is back to helm the next installment of the "Saw" franchise, the most successful horror series in history. The announcement was made jointly by Lionsgate's President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions Peter Block and Senior Vice President of Acquisitions Jason Constantine, and Twisted Pictures' Mark Burg and Oren Koules...more click on heading

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Icon Productions has sold stateside distribution rights to the R-rated crime thriller Butterfly on a Wheel to Lionsgate Releasing.

Directed by Mike Barker (A Good Woman), the film stars Pierce Brosnan as a mysterious stranger who arrives in Chicago and terrorizes a happy-seeming married couple (Maria Bello, Gerard Butler) after kidnapping their daughter. Soon it becomes clear that his outrageous demands are not in pursuit of a big cash payment...more click on heading

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Lionsgate has acquired screen rights to Eidos Interactive videogame Kane & Lynch, which has not yet been released. Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter will produce. Howard Sun will co-produce.

The game teams mercenary Kane with schizophrenic named Lynch. They meet while being transported to death row, only to be attacked and kidnapped by Kane's former team. The unlikely duo is forced to retrieve a stolen fortune that Kane has hidden...more click on heading

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Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures are partnering on Repo! The Genetic Opera, to be helmed by Saw II and Saw III director Darren Lynn Bousman. He is reuniting with his collaborators on the horror franchise, the Twisted Pictures team of Mark Burg and Oren Koules.

The futuristic clone-age fantasy is based on an original story by co-composers and screenwriters Terrance Zdunich and Darren Smith. In the not-so-distant future when an epidemic of organ failures devastates the planet, scientists gear for a massive organ harvest...more click on heading

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Premise: A successful female attorney falls in love with a janitor, the single father of three daughters, over the objections of her father.
 
Genres: Comedy and Romance 
Release Date: February 14th, 2007 (wide) 
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic material, drug and sexual content, some violence and language. 
Distributors: Lionsgate

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When the wizard in charge of Fairy Tale World goes on holiday Cinderella's wicked stepmother takes over the world, which is home to characters such as Little Red Riding Hood, The Seven Dwarves and Rapunzel.
 
Also Known As: Happily Never After
 
 
Genres: Comedy, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Animation
 
Release Date: January 5th, 2007 (wide)
 
MPAA Rating: PG for some mild action and rude humor.
 
Distributors: Lionsgate ....more click on heading
 

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Release Date: January 5th, 2007

Last January, writer/director Eli Roth terrified moviegoers with the blood-drenched "Hostel," which catapulted to the top of the box office charts and became the first Number One film of 2006. One year later, Roth takes us back to where it all began, and deeper into the darkest recesses of the human mind. In "Hostel: Part II," three young Americans studying art in Rome set off for a weekend trip when they run into a beautiful model from one of their classes. Also on her way to an exotic destination, the gorgeous European invites the coeds to come along, assuring them they will be able to relax and rejuvenate. Will the girls find .....

 

Starring: Lauren German, Heather Matarazzo, Bijou Phillips, Richard Burgi, Vera Jordanova
Directed by: Eli Roth
Produced by: Boaz Yakin, Scott Spiegel, Quentin Tarantino

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Release Date: October 27, 2006

Jigsaw's (Tobin Smith) new apprentice, Amanda (Shawnee Smith), kidnaps a woman named Lynn and takes her to an abandoned warehouse. Jigsaw is on the verge of death and she is charged with keeping the madman alive long enough for another of his victims, Jeff, to complete a game of his own. Together, Lynn and Jeff struggle to complete their assigned tests, unaware that Jigsaw has something even more devious planned for them.

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Release Date: October 13, 2006

This doc looks at the activities of a priest named Oliver O'Grady. O'Grady had been identified by the Catholic Church as a pedophile but was allowed to continue to work and molest children throughout the 1970s.

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A couple of employees at a Costco-like superstore (Dax Shepard, Dane Cook) compete for the affections of a new co-worker (Jessica Simpson) by trying to win the Employee of the Month award.

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