* Remember Mad Max: Fury Road? George Miller's long delayed fourth installment of the franchise popularized in the 80s by Mel Gibson? Seasonal rains had caused the 2010 start date to be pushed back, but now THR reports that the film is finally ready to roll again, or at least it will be early in 2012 in the New South Wales town of Broken Hill. Tom Hardy is set to take over the Gibson role, with Nicholas Hoult(About a Boy
), Teresa Palmer(I Am Number Four
), and Charlize Theron co-starring. * CBS Films continues their aimless search for a box office hit. After a string of flops(Beastly
, Faster
, The Back-Up Plan
), the studio found some modest success with The Mechanic last month. Their best chance to for success might come as distributors of the Coen Brothers' scripted, Colin Firth starring crime film, Gambit. A remake of the 1966 flick, Gambit features Firth as an art dealer who teams up with a rodeo queen(Cameron Diaz) to rip off a rich dude. Michael Hoffman is directing, making this the first time in 23 years that someone else is directing a Coen Brothers script. Thanks to Deadline for that story. * Can Sony kick it? Yes they can! Sony Pictures Classics has scooped up the rights to Michael Rapaport's directorial debut, Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest. The documentary was a hit in the festival circuit earlier year, and follows the many ups and downs of what many consider to be the greatest hip hop group of all-time. They are the best. Period, pointblank.
