AWARDS HEADLINES
Awards 2016: How Iconic Themes for ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Rocky’ and ‘Charlie Brown’ Get Reboots
John Williams’ themes from Star Wars and Jurassic Park. Bill Conti’s Rocky fanfare. The John Barry arrangement of Monty Norman’s “James Bond Theme.” Lalo Schifrin’s Mission: Impossible. Iconic film and TV themes, and viewers of today’s sequels, spinoffs and franchises might well feel cheated if they didn’t hear the music that is so indelibly associated with these franchises. But where to use them? And how to adapt them into a larger, original score? (IC)
Awards 2016: Last-Minute Surges Are Upending a Race That Began Wide Open
Just a few weeks ago, it all seemed so clear: Warner Bros. had a surefire Oscar contender in Black Mass; Universal had a guaranteed winner in Steve Jobs; Focus Features was destined to reap multiple nominations for The Danish Girl; and Paramount, well, it had chosen to sit out the race — a year after doing an about-turn when late entry Selma bumped off Interstellar as the studio’s main contender. How quickly things change. (TR)
Awards 2016: Meanwhile, There Is a Reasonable Chance That This Could Be the Year Only Five Films Get Best Picture Nominations
The scenario is theoretically possible, but it hasn’t happened since the current system was adopted in 2012. This strange Oscar season may change that. The conventional wisdom has it that a wide-open field increases the chances of 10 films receiving a Best Picture nomination—voters spreading the love—but the math suggests otherwise. (TOH)
OTHER HEADLINES
Film Development for 1/7/16: Guillermo del Toro in Talks to Helm ‘Fantastic Voyage’, Michael Bay Directing ‘Transformers 5’, Christina Hendricks in for ‘Bad Santa 2’
Among the other items on this week’s ledger are a new project for Jordan Peele and Jason Blum, an untitled take on Santa Claus’ wife from married producing team Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman, and a biopic of an unbeatable prison boxer. Click the link to read all the details. (SSN)
Hugh Laurie Is Headed Back To TV, and Bringing Back His Fake M.D., To Boot
After eight years playing Dr. Gregory House, he’s signed up to star in a new drama called Chance. Based on Kem Nunn’s book, the show will see Laurie as Eldon Chance, who works in San Francisco as a forensic neuropsychiatrist whose life is thrown into turmoil when he’s targeted by his lover’s abusive husband, who also happens to be a ruthless police detective. Soon, he’s exploring the deeper frontiers of the human mind. (EMP)
There’s No Stopping M. Night Shyamalan, as He Teams With TNT To Reincarnate ‘Tales From the Crypt’
Cable network is using the reboot to anchor a proposed two-hour block of horror programming, which will be overseen by the Sixth Sense director. For those not familiar, the original HBO program was based on an EC Comics series of anthology horror tales, and was itself an anthology series that featured short tales of horror and suspense. (COL)
Pee-Wee Herman’s New Movie, AMC’s ‘Preacher’ and ‘Midnight Special’ All Set To Premiere At SXSW 2016
South By Southwest, the annual event in Austin, Texas, has announced the first slate of media set to debut at the festival, including the Netflix special Pee-wee’s Big Holiday and the long awaited comic book adaptation from creators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Jeff Nichols’ latest film, starring Michael Shannon and Kirsten Dunst, also premieres. The full lineup of films will be released next month. (CS)
Cross Off One Potential Superhero Show, as TNT Is Not Moving Forward With Its ‘Titans’ Series
Cable network has opted not to move forward with the one-hour live-action drama that would have been based on younger characters in the WB-owned DC Comics universe. TNT president Kevin Reilly announced the news at the network’s TCA press day in Pasadena, Calif. He did not voluntary bring up the topic, but did confirm the project had been scraped when asked by a reporter of Titans’ status. (VAR)
Fool Us Once … Is Virtual Reality Once Again the Next Big Thing?
Virtual Reality isn’t new, people have been talking about it since the 90s, so why has the industry never quite taken off in the way we might expect? The quick answer is that the technology simply wasn’t there. The hardware was prohibitively expensive and very bulky and the graphics capabilities were too limited to produce a successful VR user experience – unless you consider motion sickness a success. (AA)
Trailer Buzz: The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist
Warner Bros. has released the first look at the upcoming horror sequel from director James Wan, and once again starring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. The film hits theaters June 10th. (CB)