5/21/2012
Sure Shots: Peter Weir; 'The Avengers'; 'The Night Stalker'
* Peter Weir(Master and Commander) usually takes many years between his directorial projects, so it's good to see we won't have to wait long after last year's The Way Back(review here). Weir has signed on to adapt and direct an adaptation of The Keep, Jennifer Egan's bestselling gothic novel about two cousins who were forever scarred by a childhood prank gone terribly wrong, now reunited years later to renovate a medievel castle in Eastern Europe. There, old traumas are relived with even more catastrophic results. Weir is currently working on the script, with filming set to begin next spring. [Variety]
* The $1B grossing The Avengers will be hitting DVD and Blu-Ray on September 25th, just four months from now. Too soon? Hardly. We've already learned from Joss Whedon that the Blu-Ray package will include 30 minutes(!!!) of additional footage, but apparently none of that will be on the barebones DVD. Nope, all the goodies will be found in either the 4-Disc or 2-Disc Blu-ray, or the 2-Disc DVD sets, which will be worth it for me because they'll include an alternate opening and ending featuring Maria Hill(Cobie Smulders). The Whedon audio commentary is there, of course, plus tons of extended and other alternate footage. Most intriguing of all is a Marvel one-shot short film titled Item 47. Could it have something to do with Agent Coulson? All the rest have up to this point. This is a pretty awesome set, worthy of such an awesome film. Sign up to be notified of the pre-order date here![JoBlo]
* Chances are we won't see Edgar Wright and Johnny Depp's remake of 1970s TV movie turned cult series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, anytime soon. Wright has a pair of movies to direct before then in The World's End and Ant-Man, but that doesn't mean The Night Stalker is just sitting in limbo. THR reports that D.V. DeVincentis(High Fidelity) has been brought on to pen the script, which follows a Chicago reporter who investigates mysterious crimes, usually involving the supernatural. Darren McGavin played the character in both movies and the subsequent, short-lived series.