Corona | Coming Attractions

New Incredible Shrinking Man movie being written

The general public might have a distinct memory about The Incredible Shrinking Man but I don't think many people know the significance of the story's creator, Richard Matheson. Turning 87 this month, Matheson created an impressive body of speculative fiction work, crafting memorable episodes of the original Twilight Zone TV series as well as the novels I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come, both of which were turned into Hollywood movies. His short story "Steel" about robot boxers was also made into a recent movie, Real Steel, which starred Hugh Jackman.

Talk about the two spinoff Star Wars movies

Last week Lucasfilm was forced to release an official press release that expanded on the additional Star Wars films that Disney is developing and that are unrelated to the three new Episodes that supposedly will continue on the saga of the Skywalker family. In their company announcement Disney said that writers Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg were working on two stand-alone Star Wars movies, but that the storylines and characters weren't discussed.

Chris Pratt leads Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy

The leading man has been found for Marvel Studios' big budget, live action Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and it's Chris Pratt. He can currently be seen on-screen as one of the Navy SEALs that took down Osama bin Laden in Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty.

Fast and Furious 6 gets two hype previews

How much gas is left in the Fast and Furious movie franchise? I've never been the kind of guy to be excited about seeing Vin Diesel and Paul Walker shift gears in 70 mm, but judging from the action sequences in the fourth and fifth FF movies, and the stuff we get to see in the two previews I'm about to show you, there's still plenty of road left down the action highway for these flicks.

Hulk's future revealed for Avengers 2 & Avengers 3 movies?

Today is the day that Superbowl Sunday happened, and it gave the online movie news community a chance to grab and post all those new movie commercials for 2013 shows. Me, I figure if you want to watch the marketing for movies, you either saw it during the game or you know about this site called YouTube (which has all the commercials up about 15 seconds after they're broadcast.)

Hansel and Gretel hunts witches and collects box office

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is the new #1 movie in the land. This weird fantasy-action movie starring Jeremy Renner from The Avengers and The Bourne Legacy and Gemma Arterton from Quantum of Solace, grossed an estimated $19 million dollars this weekend.

With a new number one, last week's champ, the horror flick Mama, drops to #2 with $12.8m in new ticket sales. Two weeks into its theatrical run Mama has a total gross of $48.6m.

Buoyed by its four Oscar nominations for its actors, Silver Linings Playbook remains solid at #3 ($10m new, $69.4m total.)

Zero Dark Thirty drops two spots to #4 this week ($9.8m new, $69.9m total.)

Is J.J. Abrams directing Star Wars Episode VII?

The internet went all giggly this afternoon when The Wrap broke a story that Star Trek reboot director J.J. Abrams is locked and loaded to direct Hollywood's hottest next job, Star Wars Episode VII. But is it true?

The Wrap reached out to Lucasfilm but a comment wasn't forthcoming in time for their story. That's interesting. I've written before about Lucasfilm outright lying when accurate scoops are broken online, but even so, a no answer isn't a confirmation.

No new Batman movie until 2017?

With Christopher Nolan's trilogy of Batman movies now complete, what's Warner Bros. doing about passing on the Gotham City torch to the next filmmaker? Officially no one is speaking for the movie studio. While The Dark Knight Rises earned a commanding $448 million dollars domestically at the box office, WB is opting to not discuss what plans (if any) it has for the next Batman movie.

Mama horror movie opens at #1, Schwarzenegger's screen comeback bombs big

Judging from the box office returns from this weekend, we may have witnessed the end of Arnold Schwarzenegger's reign at the box office.

The new number one movie in the country is Mama, a horror-thriller executive produced by Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro. Mama stars Jessica Chastain in the top billing, and who incidentally also is the leading actor in this week's number two movie at the box office, Zero Dark Thirty.

Made for a modest low budget of just $15 million, Mama grossed an estimated $28.1 million dollars in its inaugural weekend.

Zack Snyder isn't making a Star Wars movie. Maybe.

Earlier today New York magazine's showbiz gossip source Vulture broke the story that Watchmen / 300 director Zack Snyder would be making his own Star Wars movie. It wouldn't be the long prophecised Episode VII, or Episode VIII, or even Episode IX, but a stand-alone Star Wars movie that would feature new, never before seen Jedi characters.

This rumored Star Wars movie that Snyder was going to make would be his version of Akira Korosawa's Seven Samurai, with the Jedi Knights and their lightsabers subbing for the blade-wielding ronin.

Zero Dark Thirty expands, captures first place at the box office

Last week was a big one for Zero Dark Thirty, the new Kathryn Bigelow-directed docu-drama about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. The movie captured five Oscar nominations and also expanded its theatrical run, adding nearly 2,900 new screens. Those two factors propelled Zero Dark Thirty to the top of the moviegoer's consciousness, granting it a commanding $24 million dollar gross and the title of first place at the weekend box office.

The Wayans brothers new ghostly comedy A Haunted House came in second place with a very decent showing of $18.8 million dollars. Made for an estimated budget of only $2.5 million, that gives the comedy a very respectful profit already in its first week of release.

Trailer #2: Evil Dead

So there's this remake of Evil Dead scheduled for release on April 13. Frankly, I haven't been giving it much thought; there's so many remakes of '80s horror movies these days, how does an updated version of Sam Raimi's scary debut make itself stand out from any of the others?

Well, this new version of Evil Dead is now standing out for me thanks to the new (and its second) trailer.