Jeepers Creepers 3 Update

B-D has the latest on the long-awaited third film in the Jeepers Creepers franchise. Ray Wise spoke to B-D, and this is how that conversation went...

Last night Bloody Disgusting's Chris Eggertsen visited the set of Infestation director Kyle Rankin's latest, Nuclear Family, a thriller set in the backdrop of the apocalypse. While on set Chris had a chance to speak with star Ray Wise who updated him on the progress of Jeepers Creepers III, Victor Salva's long delayed sequel to his creature feature franchise started back in 2001.

Bloody-Disgusting had the chance to catch up today with actor Ray Wise, star of Jeepers Creepers 2, who updated us on the long-rumored third installment.

"The script for 'Jeepers Creepers 3' is complete," Wise said. "They're in pre-production planning now. I'm hopeful that sometime in the next two or three months we'll get a start date...[MGM] definitely want[s] to do it, and it's just a matter of putting together all the final financing I believe...I think it's gonna be a go in a couple of months."

In addition, he indicated the third chapter in the series would pick up literally right where the second film let off.

"It begins right where the second one ended, right there in that barn with the Creeper on the wall and me the old man waiting there with my harpoon gun."

Of course we've heard this kind of talk before, but it at least keeps hope alive for fans of the series. One thing you can definitely be sure of -- if it ever does happen, no one but Victor Salva will direct. Said Wise: "He wouldn't let anybody touch that. The Creeper is his."

The only question I have is whether or not the MGM auction is affecting the project and if it's going to end up burying it for good.

Burton's Cooky For Addams Family

Now this is something that will most likely interest me: a 3-D spot-motion (claymation) Addams Family movie! Here's what Deadline Hollywood Daily is reporting...

EXCLUSIVE: Alice in Wonderland director Tim Burton has found a new 3D project. He will direct a stop-motion animated film based on Charles Addams' original ghoulish cartoon drawings of The Addams Family. Illumination Entertainment, the Universal-based family film unit headed by Chris Meledandri, has acquired the underlying rights of the Addams drawings, once a staple of The New Yorker magazine.

Other than being inspired by the same source material, the animated feature is unrelated to previous incarnations of Addams’ work, the 60s TV series, the two `90s feature film comedies that Barry Sonnenfeld directed with Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston, or the Broadway musical opening this spring with Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth in the starring roles.

Meladandri will produce the film. Kevin Miserocchi of the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation will be executive producer. A writer will be hired shortly. Burton, whose visual creations are currently on display at a MOMA exhibit that opened last November, is expected to provide much of the visual look of the film himself.

Burton’s experience in animated film is extensive. He last directed Corpse Bride, and is making a feature version of Frankenweenie, the 1984 30-minute short film Burton made about a boy who reanimates his dead dog. That reportedly got him tossed off the Disney lot for making a film too terrifying for a family audience, but the film has since become a cult favorite. Burton recently produced 9, as well as the delightful stop-motion animated The Nightmare Before Christmas, for which he wrote the story.

His intention is to go back to the litany of Addams illustrations that displayed a sharper wit than could be place into a 60s family TV series.

While there are many post-Green Zone articles speculating how Universal will pull itself out of an extended feature slump, Illumination's upcoming animated slate should be a big help in giving Universal a foothold in the 3D CG family entertainment market. Meledandri left the top post at Fox Animation to form Illumination in 2007, and begins contributing to the Universal pipeline when the studio releases the Steve Carell-voiced Despicable Me on July 9. That’s followed by the April 1, 2011 release of I Hop, with Russell Brand voicing the Easter Bunny, with the Ricky Gervais creation Flanimals coming later 2011. Right behind that is Where’s Waldo and Dr.Seuss’ The Lorax.

Not So Final: Final Destination 5

I think we all seen this coming. Warner Brothers is prepping the fourth sequel in the Final Destination franchise. Will this one, in fact, be final? Here's what Moviehole is saying...

Despite the last one sucking worse than a $2 store vacuum cleaner, Warner Bros are preparing to grease the wheels on a fifth "Final Destination".

Warner Bros. head Alan Horn told attendees of ShoWest, say Bloody Disgusting, that the studio just "couldn't resist" in greenlight sequel number four.

"The Final Destination", the most recent entry in the teen-slasher series, was a big success for the studio when it was released last August.

Update On Police Academy Sequel/Reboot

Producer Paul Maslansky spoke to MTV about the upcoming Police Academy sequel/reboot. This is what he had to say...

While everyone was obsessing over the not-yet-aired Academy Awards show a couple weeks ago, I was running around in circles at the news that "Police Academy" was coming back. Not just that, but series producer Paul Maslansky was leading the charge to bring it back. This is very exciting news for me, as the "Police Academy" series is one that stands out in my formative experiences with film.

I immediately put in a call to Maslansky, not even daring to hope that he would speak with the press at such an early stage. He did though, and we had a lengthy conversation about the past, present and future of "Police Academy." The specific details haven't yet been hammered out, but it's clear from talking to the man that there's a plan which all involved parties are focused on carrying out. There's too much from the interview to contain in a single blog post, so I figured I'd start off with what my fellow fans are most interested in: what's up with the eighth "Police Academy"?

"I have ideas [and] the executives at New Line have ideas and we’re just in the formative stage," Maslansky explained. "My ambition would be to cast... a new class of Academy cadets, because it’s called 'Police Academy' you can’t get them, you know, [fighting crime] right away, they’ve got to be trained to be police."

Of course, the key to those classic "Police Academy" movies are the faces we remember so well. Mahoney. Hightower. Tackleberry. Hooks. "Motor Mouth" Jones. The success of those original films hinged on the colorful cast, which is something that Maslansky recognizes and acknowledges as an issue to be addressed in planning the next movie.

"You’ve got to of course introduce each character as we did in the first one," he explained. "This kind of comedy is a major challenge because you have to write a lot of jokes and you have to write a lot of personalities into it. Each one of these characters has to be separate from the other, they each have to have their own idiosyncratic behavior."

Important as they are, it's not just quirky cast of characters that will make another "Police Academy" work. "I want to recreate that atmosphere that the first [movie] had. I’m going to use the theme obviously from Robert Folk, who wrote the music. Believe me, that theme, probably it was as helpful as anything in that first movie to bring it to life," Maslansky explained. "I’m going to do everything in my power to satisfy an audience that I know will be accepting."

And so we circle around to the biggest question: where are things right now? "New Line as well as agencies have been giving me scripts of their writers, and there are quite a few writers who are really interested in getting involved in ['Police Academy,']" he said. "There’s such an opportunity to bring good fresh comics to it or actors that can perform comedy, which is a terribly difficult thing to do."

As for the other big question, which characters will be returning, Maslansky isn't naming any names. "I haven’t decided which ones. And I don’t want to mention names and others will be disappointed, at this point," he said. "All I know is that I want to bring back some of the older characters to it, and maybe they’ll have principal roles, some of them, and some of them might be just you know [a cameo]."

The one thing that rings clearly in everything that Maslansky says about the coming "Police Academy" is how excited he is, how much he's looking forward to returning to this classic series. "I trust that we’re going to be up to the challenge. I really hope so, because we don’t want to disappoint the audience out there. I really don’t. Just to make another 'Police Academy' is not what I have in mind."

I'm all for another flick!

Pirates 4 Casting Details

This casting call list is from Moviehole...and I found it quite amusing and decided to share...

"Pirates of the Caribbean : On Stranger Tides" is inching forward it seems (from the sounds of it, principal photography will commence in May/June) with casting agents desperately trying to hunt down some beauticious extras for a couple of crucial scenes.

The breakdown read :

Beautiful Female Fit Models. Must be 5'7-5'8, Size 4 or 6 - NO BIGGER OR SMALLER. Age 18-25. Must have a lean dancer body. MUST have real breasts. Do not submit if you have implants. This is a show and tell of costumes with the director and the producers. Plan on an entire day of trying on clothes and being photographed.

Professional Dancers who are Swimmers. Females ONLY. Age 18-30. All ethnicities. YOU MUST have an extensive dance/swimming resume. We will be shooting in Hawaii.

The film, directed by Rob Marshall ("Nine"), stars Johnny Depp, Ian McShane, Penelope Cruz and - likely - Geoffrey Rush.

Oh, Hollywood...

Tom Atkins Attached To Halloween 3?

This interesting news is courtesy of our good buddies over at HorrorBid. Could Tom Atkins be attached to Halloween 3 (a sequel to RZ's H2)? Here's what HB had to say...

There are a couple of problems with this story however. Halloween 3D is either not going to happen or more than likely happen with a different script. Rewind to last year when Rob Zombie's Halloween 2 hit the box office. The numbers weren't great and the film was getting panned by the critics. Regardless of that the Weinstein Brothers announced that there would be a third film (minus Zombie this time) and the director and writer of My Bloody Valentine 3D would be coming aboard to pen and direct the new film titled, you guessed it, Halloween 3D or H3D. In a matter of weeks that project got nixed for uncertain reasons and has been up in the air sense.

Fast forward to present day. Atkins is currently shooting a film (which will also be for Farmer and Lussier) titled Drive Angry. During an interview with Fangoria magazine Atkins said he would be playing "a shrink in a mental hospital that Laurie [Scout Taylor-Compton] is in with a bunch of other girls who have been up to no good. I'm trying to help them find a way to the light."

Not exactly a ton to go on but if the mustache one speaks, we listen! So if Halloween 3D does get off the ground and lets be honest it probably will (it will make money) then it appears as if the one and only Tom Atkins may indeed have a part. And who better to be in a Halloween 3 film then the "THRILL ME" star himself considering he was in the original Halloween 3: Season of the Witch.

It would be nice to see Atkins after all these years get a chance to go toe to toe with the Boogeyman himself, Michael Myers. Time will tell. Bidites what do you think? Good idea or better left on the cutting room floor?

Remember, Atkins was in the original Halloween III: Season of the Witch, so this could be something not too short of pure awesomeness (it's a word, Google that shit).

Muppet Sequel With Jason Segel

This amazing news comes from Moviehole...

The script for Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller's "The Greatest Muppet Movie Of All Time" is Gold. It's classic Henson - top tunes, great gags, oodles of cameos (there's even an opportunity for Charles Grodin to reprise his 'Great Muppet Caper' character), and no goddamn literary cross-overs (you know what I mean - a 'Christmas Carol', 'Treasure Island' and so on).

Predators Footage Online

If you head on over to the official website for the new Predators flick, you'll find a cool little featurette on there that show a lot of behind the scenes production footage and a neat quasi-interview with Robert Rodriguez. Click here to check that out now!

Third Chipmunks To Be 3-D

I've sort of been against the whole 3-D movement as of late, but this film I actually want to see in the third dimension! ComingSoon reports that the third film in the Chipmunks franchise will, in fact, be in 3-D. I look forward to it.

20th Century Fox has announced that Alvin and the Chipmunks 3D, the third installment in the franchise, is coming to theaters on December 16, 2011. Combined, the first two films earned an impressive $791 million in theaters worldwide.

Who knew the Chipmunks, a late 80s, early 90s cartoon sensation would be popular in 2010.

Twilight Saga Eclipse trailer

So the trailer for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has debuted. Yeah, I really don't know what else there is to write. Um. You can watch it if you're into this type of thing...