David Elliot and Paul Lovett have been hired by Universal to write Midnight Run 2, the sequel to 1988′s Midnight Run. The original starred Robert De Niro as a bounty hunter and Charles Grodin as his prisoner, and apparently De Niro is attached to reprise his role in this sequel. Oh, and if I needed any further reason to be apathetic about this film, Brett Ratner is in negotiations to direct.

Let’s be honest – the original wasn’t exactly a classic, so it seems a bit strange to be setting a sequel in motion almost 25 years later. Deadline spoke to Charles Grodin, who has retired from acting, about this prospect and the actor said he’d be willing to come back to the biz to play this character again. Who knows if that will actually happen, or even if De Niro himself will end up starring (though he’ll definitely be producing it). I wouldn’t be surprised if Ratner recast every role and did more of a reboot than a sequel, but we’ll have to see how it plays out. I don’t think many people are excited about this one either way, especially since writers Elliot and Lovett are best known for G.I. Joe – The Rise of Cobra.

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Roughly two weeks ago we heard that Dwayne Johnson was in talks to play Hercules for Brett Ratner (Tower Heist) in a film based on the comic books by Radical Publishing. Now Variety has confirmed that Johnson has officially signed on for the role, and filming will begin later this year in New Zealand.

There are two comics in the series, The Thracian Wars and The Knives of Kush, and a description of the first one can be read below:

Fourteen-hundred years ago, a tormented soul walked the Earth that was neither man nor god. Hercules, powerful son of the god king Zeus, received nothing but suffering his entire life. After twelve arduous labors and the loss of his family, this dark, world-weary soul turned his back on the gods, finding his only solace in bloody battle. Over the years he warmed to the company of six similar souls, their only bond being their love of fighting and the presence of death. These men and woman never question where, why, or whom they go to fight; only how much they will be paid. Knowing this, the King of Thrace has hired these mercenaries to train his men to become the greatest army of all time. Hercules begins to question King Cotys’ motives when he takes his army out to battle and sees them practice on innocent men, women, and children of their neighbors. Deep in his soul something stirs, but is it enough to stop a mad king and his army of the damned from marching across Greece – or even Olympus itself?!

This means Johnson has a very busy year with Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain and Fast and the Furious 5 both shooting over the upcoming months, and then Hercules later on.

Peter Berg (Hancock, Battleship) is producing, and Ryan Condol adapted the script.

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Dwayne Johnson already has a packed 2012 with Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain and Fast and the Furious 5 both shooting over the upcoming months. Johnson likes the keep the projects coming though, and according to Variety the actor has entered negotiations with MGM to star in Hercules, which will be directed by Brett Ratner (Tower Heist, X-Men 3).

The movie will be based on the comic books by Radical Publishing. There are two in the series, The Thracian Wars and The Knives of Kush, and a description of the first one can be read below:

Fourteen-hundred years ago, a tormented soul walked the Earth that was neither man nor god. Hercules, powerful son of the god king Zeus, received nothing but suffering his entire life. After twelve arduous labors and the loss of his family, this dark, world-weary soul turned his back on the gods, finding his only solace in bloody battle. Over the years he warmed to the company of six similar souls, their only bond being their love of fighting and the presence of death. These men and woman never question where, why, or whom they go to fight; only how much they will be paid. Knowing this, the King of Thrace has hired these mercenaries to train his men to become the greatest army of all time. Hercules begins to question King Cotys’ motives when he takes his army out to battle and sees them practice on innocent men, women, and children of their neighbors. Deep in his soul something stirs, but is it enough to stop a mad king and his army of the damned from marching across Greece – or even Olympus itself?!

We first heard about Hercules way back in 2008 when Peter Berg (Hancock, Battleship) was attached to direct, but Berg will now serve as a producer. Ryan Condol adapted the script.

While i’m sure many would prefer a director in charge, Ratner has directed more serious movies over the years such as 2002′s Red Dragon and his latest effort, Tower Heist, received mostly positive reviews. The Rush Hour director is hit and miss, but with a decent script and Dwayne Johnson as his lead Ratner may be able to make a Hercules movie worth seeing.

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Less than a day after Brett Ratner and Eddie Murphy pulled out of producing and hosting the 84th annual Academy Awards, Brian Grazer has stepped in to produce the ceremony.

Brian Grazer’s A Beautiful Mind won Best Picture in 2001, and he has produced The Da Vinci Code, Frost/Nixon and Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar. Funnily, he also produced Ratner’s Tower Heist.

The search will now be on to find a host.

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Following Brett Ratner’s resignation as a producer of the 84th annual Academy Awards, Eddie Murphy has withdrawn as host.

Murphy was confirmed as host in September and was said to be Ratner’s only choice. But with Ratner gone, Murphy obviously feels no reason to stick around.

Here’s the press release:

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak announced that Eddie Murphy has withdrawn as host of the 84th Academy Awards. “I appreciate how Eddie feels about losing his creative partner, Brett Ratner, and we all wish him well,” said Sherak.

Commented Murphy, “First and foremost I want to say that I completely understand and support each party’s decision with regard to a change of producers for this year’s Academy Awards ceremony. I was truly looking forward to being a part of the show that our production team and writers were just starting to develop, but I’m sure that the new production team and host will do an equally great job.”

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar® presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

The Academy now has just over three months until the main event, so finding a new producer and host will likely happen sooner rather than later. I imagine Murphy’s approach would have been heavy on comedy, so The Academy may opt for another comedian. Any suggestions for the new host?

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The Academy has released a statement stating that Brett Ratner “has submitted his resignation as a producer of the 84th annual Academy Awards to Academy President Tom Sherak”.

Ratner was hired to produce the upcoming ceremony in August and assigned Eddie Murphy as host, but at a Q&A session and screening for their latest movie Tower Heist Ratner said “rehearsal is for fags” when asked how actors prepared for the film.

Here’s the full statement from the Academy:

This morning, Brett Ratner submitted his resignation as a producer of the 84th annual Academy Awards to Academy President Tom Sherak. Ratner then issued an open letter to the entertainment industry in which he explained his decision.

“He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself,” Sherak said. “Words have meaning, and they have consequences. Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable. We all hope this will be an opportunity to raise awareness about the harm that is caused by reckless and insensitive remarks, regardless of the intent.”

…and here’s Ratner’s statement in full:

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last few days, I’ve gotten a well-deserved earful from many of the people I admire most in this industry expressing their outrage and disappointment over the hurtful and stupid things I said in a number of recent media appearances. To them, and to everyone I’ve hurt and offended, I’d like to apologize publicly and unreservedly.

As difficult as the last few days have been for me, they cannot compare to the experience of any young man or woman who has been the target of offensive slurs or derogatory comments. And they pale in comparison to what any gay, lesbian, or transgender individual must deal with as they confront the many inequalities that continue to plague our world.

So many artists and craftspeople in our business are members of the LGBT community, and it pains me deeply that I may have hurt them. I should have known this all along, but at least I know it now: words do matter. Having love in your heart doesn’t count for much if what comes out of your mouth is ugly and bigoted. With this in mind, and to all those who understandably feel that apologies are not enough, please know that I will be taking real action over the coming weeks and months in an effort to do everything I can both professionally and personally to help stamp out the kind of thoughtless bigotry I’ve so foolishly perpetuated.

As a first step, I called Tom Sherak this morning and resigned as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards telecast. Being asked to help put on the Oscar show was the proudest moment of my career. But as painful as this may be for me, it would be worse if my association with the show were to be a distraction from the Academy and the high ideals it represents.

I am grateful to GLAAD for engaging me in a dialogue about what we can do together to increase awareness of the important and troubling issues this episode has raised and I look forward to working with them. I am incredibly lucky to have a career in this business that I love with all of my heart and to be able to work alongside so many of my heroes. I deeply regret my actions and I am determined to learn from this experience.

Sincerely, Brett Ratner

Eddie Murphy is said to be unhappy with Ratner’s departure, and at present it’s still uncertain whether he’ll remain as host. The Academy is currently looking for another producer to take over.

The 84th annual Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, February 26, 2012

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Earlier this week we heard that Brett Ratner, who has been given the duty of producing next year’s Oscar ceremony, wanted Eddie Murphy to host the event. Well it looks like Ratner got his wish, as the Academy today confirmed Eddie Murphy will host.

Here’s the press release:

Oscar® nominee Eddie Murphy, whose performing career spans movies, television and the stage, will host this year’s Academy Awards show on Sunday, February 26, 2012, telecast producers Brett Ratner and Don Mischer announced today. This will be Murphy’s first hosting stint on the Oscars®.

“Eddie is a comedic genius, one of the greatest and most influential live performers ever,” said Ratner. “With his love of movies, history of crafting unforgettable characters and his iconic performances – especially on stage – I know he will bring excitement, spontaneity and tremendous heart to the show Don and I want to produce in February.”

Commented Mischer, “Eddie is a truly ground-breaking performer, whose amazingly diverse array of roles has won him a devoted audience of all ages. His quick wit and charisma will serve him very well as Oscar host.”

“I am enormously honored to join the great list of past Academy Award hosts from Hope and Carson to Crystal, Martin and Goldberg, among others,” said Murphy. “I’m looking forward to working with Brett and Don on creating a show that is enjoyable for both the fans at home and for the audience at the Kodak Theatre as we all come together to celebrate and recognize the great film contributions and collaborations from the past year.”

Murphy began his career at the age of 15 as a stand-up comedian. In 1980, at the age of 19, he joined the cast of “Saturday Night Live,” becoming the show’s youngest cast member to that point, and bringing to life many of the show’s most memorable characters. His 1983 album “Eddie Murphy: Comedian” won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording. It included portions of his groundbreaking HBO special “Eddie Murphy Delirious.” In 1987, “Eddie Murphy Raw” was theatrically released and went on to gross over $50 million. Murphy made his feature film debut in 1982 with the classic “48 Hrs.” and would go on to star in such box-office hits as “Beverly Hills Cop” and the “The Nutty Professor” and “Shrek” franchises. All told, movies in which he has performed have earned in excess of $7 billion worldwide during their theatrical releases.

Murphy earned an Oscar nomination in 2006 for his supporting role in “Dreamgirls.”

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Murphy will certainly liven up the event. What do you think about Eddie Murphy hosting? Good decision?

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Following a string of critical and box office failures over recent years such as Meet Dave and Norbit, Eddie Murphy may return to form this November in Tower Heist, an action/comedy with Ben Stiller. Brett Ratner (Rush Hour series) is directing, and he’s also been given the duty of producing next year’s Oscar ceremony. Any guesses as to who Ratner wants as host?

According to Deadline:

Ratner will offer one name to Academy President Tom Sherak: Eddie Murphy. This is by no means a done deal yet, but this is a first step – though a lot more steps have to happen before this becomes a reality. I’m told that a lot of big names have approached the other 84th Academy Awards producer Don Mischer saying they are interested in hosting, and Don is fielding those calls. But insiders tell me that Ratner since getting the Academy Awards producing gig has only been talking to one person: Eddie. It’s been along the lines of, “If the Academy asked you to host, would you accept?” I learned that Eddie is “showing interest”.

Murphy is no stranger to the Oscars having been nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 2006 for Dreamgirls. Since that nomination his career has been stale (other than collecting Shrek money), so returning to host may be what the actor/comedian needs. While I don’t think Anne Hathaway and James Franco did a bad job this year, the ceremony benefits from comedic hosts (Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were great the previous year), so Murphy hosting may not be a bad idea.

What do you think?

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Something very strange happened today. A trailer for an upcoming Eddie Murphy movie appeared online and it actually looked watchable. To add to the strangeness it’s a movie directed by Brett Ratner, the man partly responsible for the disappointment that was X-Men 3.

You can watch the trailer for Tower Heist, which also stars Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, Téa Leoni, Michael Peña, and Gabourey Sidibe, below:

After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them.

It looks like a pretty average comedy, but even that’s a big step up for Murphy after Meet Dave and Norbit. The inclusion of Ben Stiller and Casey Affleck will probably help sell this film, which hits November 4th.

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Empire got the chance to speak with Conan producer Joe Gatta who revealed that Brett Ratner is no longer directing the Conan reboot, and that they are currently looking for someone else to direct.

“We’re currently in the process of hiring a director,” he told us. “For the past six months we were discussing the movie with Brett Ratner, and for more timing issues than anything else we had to part ways with Brett. We all wanted him to do it, believe me; just the timing didn’t work. But you never know what can happen.”

However, having no director hasn’t stopped them from setting a start date:

“We have a potential start-date on Conan of August 24. And we’ll be shooting in Bulgaria. I would say though the emphasis is on Conan [rather than Red Sonja]. It’s our crown jewel here at the company and that will be the leader. Red Sonja probably won’t happen until next year, as far as making it goes. So we want to launch Conan and reinvent the franchise.”

As for the hiring of Conan himself, you might want to start pumping some serious iron: Gatta says that, “We’ll have an open casting call: as soon as we hire our director the search is on.”

Personally I didn’t think Ratner was the best director for the project. Whoever they eventually hire will give us a clear idea which direction they are heading. Will it be faithful gritty reboot or a commerical popcorn flick?

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