-Are you ready for another boring-ass rags-to-riches story about a subpar pop star? Flash-in-the-pan Justin Bieber, currently on minute thirteen of fifteen, is planning on starring in a biopic about himself. Moms, hide your panties (and your daughters). Perverts.
-The $25 million Aussie animated picture “Trouble Down Under” has added a director in Steve Trenbirth. Trenbirth has previously directed “The Lion King II” and “The Jungle Book II” for Disney. The plot apparently concerns a race war between African meerkats and Aussie kangaroos. Writes itself, really.
-Apparently Jon Turtletaub, not much of a director, gave free reign to Nicolas Cage on the set of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” which resulted in a loopy Bruce Lee impersonation apparently so terrible (and possibly offensive?) it won’t even be on the DVD. The Jerry Bruckheimer adventure film, which flopped loudly this weekend, also wasn’t helped by a questionable buy-one-get-one-free policy thanks to Fandango.
-“Salt” opens this weekend, but Sony is taking no chances with this slightly older-skewing adventure. Looking for support from the geeks and young-uns, Angelina Jolie will be making a pilgrimage to the San Diego Comic Con while the movie is in theaters. This photo is what you can expect to happen on the convention floor.
-Disney is interested in an untitled idea centered around gargoyles from the pen of screenwriter Zoe Green, one that would look into the history of gargoyles warding off evil spirits through the years. Didn’t they do this already?
-IFC Films, beefing up its IFC Midnights label, have acquired not only the recent “Tetsuo: The Bullet Man,” the third film in the “Tetsuo” trilogy, but also the second film, 1992’s “Tetsuo II: Body Hammer,” for an early 2011 day-and-date VOD/theatrical release. We could’ve sworn “Body Hammer” was readily available, but the chance to see these films on the big screen, all three parts of a collective audio-visual assault, is a can’t-miss opportunity. And if you haven’t seen the original, “Tetsuo: The Iron Man,” then you’ve either been wasting your life, or you simply aren’t that adventurous.
-Tom Felton, aka Draco Malfoy of the “Harry Potter” series, has been added to the cast of “Rise of the Apes,” playing the son of Brian Cox’s character, the co-owner of an ape facility.
-Comic Con will serve as the launchpad for Warner Premiere’s latest direct-to-DVD animated offering, “Batman: Under The Red Hood.” The toon, the latest in a line of above-average animated offerings from DC, will be shown with an animated short starring the character of Jonah Hex, voiced by Tom Jane, who is pretty much always at comic conventions.
-The intolerable idiot Sherri Shepherd, who still believes the Earth is flat, will play dual roles in the latest Katherine Heigl movie “One For The Money.” Both roles are, gah, prostitutes with hearts of gold. Might as well title this movie, “‘Twill Be A Cold Day In Hell Before You Willingly Watch This.”
-“Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist And Rebel” is a new documentary about Hefner as the rabble-rouser that sparked great change far beyond the sexual revolution of the sixties. Don’t believe that? Then maybe this trailer is not for you. For the rest of us, this exciting-sounding documentary opens July 30th.