There are some potentially great video game adaptations coming up, but I'm not sure either of these two fit in that category. The Need for Speed film has some great talent in front of the camera, and a director who seems right for the material, but it just sounds like a poor man's version of The Fast and the Furious. On the other side, Hitman had a moderately successful first film starring Timothy Olyphant just a few years ago, and now they're looking to start it over from scratch with...the most boring guy from The Fast and the Furious. Hey, how 'bout that?
Heatvision reports that Michael Keaton, perhaps with some spare time on his hands, has joined Aaron Paul, Imogen Poots, Kid Cudi, Dominic Cooper, and Rami Malek in Need for Speed. Based on the hit EA racing game, the story follows a street-racer who teams with an arrogant businessman, only to get framed for a crime and sent to prison. Once he gets out, he plots revenge, but winds up with a bounty on his head and forced into a cross-country race against those looking to cash in. Keaton will play the eccentric host of an underground supercar race. Scott Waugh (Act of Valor) will direct for release on February 7th 2014.
It's been six years since Fox's Hitman film, based on the best-selling stealth game about a cold and emotionless assassin, did solid business to the tune of $99M. Certainly numbers worthy of a sequel, and talk began of just that very thing with Daniel Benmayor (Paintball) once attached to direct. For whatever reason, the studio has had a change of heart and decided to reboot the whole thing, renaming it Agent 47 and slotting Paul Walker for the lead role. Well, if you need a cold unfeeling actor to play a cold unfeeling character, Walker's the dude.
This will be his first big time solo franchise, and apparently he's willing to shave and be a chrome dome for it. Commercials director Aleksander Bach will make his feature debut, with a script by Skip Woods and Michael Finch. Woods actually wrote the previous film, so there's a touch of continuity at least. Production on Agent 47 begins in June. [Deadline]
