Not sure why anyone would care at this point outside a few hardcore geeks, but Zack Snyder’s director’s cut of “Watchmen” will see a one-week theatrical release in July as per planned. Then again, the release is nicely timed, one week before Comic-Con when nerd herd fervor hits its summer peak. There’s 25 minutes of additional footage which means a new running time of 3 hours and 13 minutes that will be screened in Los Angeles, Dallas, Minneapolis, and New York, prior to Comic-Con. Good luck with that. The Blu-ray and DVD hits on July 21.[THR]
“Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen” (or ‘ROTFL‘ as some are cheekily calling it) grossed about $16 million from it’s midnight screenings on Wednesday. Only “The Dark Knight” and “Star Wars: Episode 3 – Revenge Of The Sith” have done better from though they had the advantage of of opening at midnight on a Friday and Thursday respectively. Will bad word of mouth affect it’s box office run at all? [Variety] Update: Wow, the film has no amassed $60 million from Wednesday receipts alone. So far it’s already grossed, $120 worldwide. Seems like it has an easy shot at beating “Star Trek” as the highest grossing film in the U.S. in 2009 so far. But “Star Trek” is only #3 in the highest grossing films of the year worldwide. #1 is “Angels & Demons” which has grossed, $459 million in total around the world. Odd, right?
In what is sure to warm the hearts of fanboys, Zak Penn (“X2,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “Elektra” and “The Incredible Hulk”) revealed his attempt to adapt Marvel’s “The Avengers” film: “We all have the best intentions, and it still might suck.” [SciFiWire]
Sylvain White’s “The Losers” has been given a tentative April 16th, 2010 release date. The film, of course, follows a team of vengeance-seeking rogue black-ops whose cast consists of the likes of Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jackie Earle Haley, Idris Elba, Columbus Short and Zoe Saldana while Jason Patric and Chris Evans were in talks but not yet confirmed. [MTV]
An American college student at the University of Indiana has come under intense scrutiny after setting up a small play titled “The Last Days Of Heath Ledger” based on an Esquire article by Lisa Taddeo chronicling Ledger’s final days. The article, though, is tagged “reported fiction” with Taddeo filling parts of the story “with her imagination.”[HeraldSun]
Ryan Reynolds is set to star in indie film “Buried.” The actor will play a civilian contractor who’s kidnapped in Iraq and awakens buried in a coffin in the desert, armed only with a cell phone, a candle and a knife. Sounds likes a “MacGyver” episode of some sort. [Variety]
Count Tyrese out of contention for the role of B.A. Baracus for Joe Carnahan’s “The A-Team.” When asked about it, the singer-actor remarked: “I don’t know who they have in mind, but I would definitely be honored if I ever got that phone call.” [CinemaBlend]