When one thinks of Charlie Kaufman, the writer/director’s mind-bending projects often come to mind: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation., Being John Malkovich, and Synecdoche, New York. He’s not exactly the guy you might peg to adapt “the next Hunger Games,” but that’s exactly what Lionsgate has done by hiring him on to write the script for Patrick Ness’ futuristic young adult series Chaos Walking. More after the jump.

It’s unclear if Kaufman will be directing, but he’s certainly been brought on to write the screenplay. What’s the story about, you ask? I’ll let Deadline take it from here:

The Carnegie Medal winning book is set in a dystopian future with humans colonizing a distant earth-like planet. When an infection called the Noise suddenly makes all thought audible, privacy vanishes, chaos ensues, and a corrupt autocrat threatens to take control of the human settlements and wage war with the indigenous alien race. Only young Todd Hewitt holds the key to stopping planet wide-destruction.

His previous adaptations of existing properties resulted in the script for George Clooney’s directorial debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and the Oscar-nominated Adaptation, so it’s clear he can work from someone else’s material without an issue. Kaufman’s also got his second directorial effort, Frank or Francis, coming out in 2013, so it looks like he’ll be busy for a little while. As for the story, it sounds a bit different than your typical post-apocalyptic nonsense, but I’m still not convinced that it’s the heir apparent to The Hunger Games.

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Well, that didn’t take long. Just last night, we told you about the short list of directors for Catching Fire, Lionsgate’s highly anticipated follow-up to The Hunger Games. Like many people, we speculated that, among the choices, Francis Lawrence was probably the best option. Looks like Lionsgate agrees, as Deadline reports that Lawrence has been chosen for the job.

Lawrence recently directed Water For Elephants, but he’s best known for directing the 2007 Will Smith action/drama I Am Legend. That film shares similarities with the futuristic world of the Hunger Games, and I think Lawrence will be a fine successor to Gary Ross’s throne. Like the Twilight series and Harry Potter before it, The Hunger Games fans have already proven they’re willing to spend big bucks to see movies made out of their favorite books, and the tactic of choosing a different director for every film isn’t a groundbreaking decision.

Take a look at the Mission: Impossible franchise for another example of how bringing in fresh directors can change the vibe of a series. Here’s hoping Lawrence can make a movie that’s just as good as Ross’ take on the original.

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There were conflicting reports last week regarding whether The Hunger Games director Gary Ross would return to direct the sequel, Catching Fire. Well Ross has now released a statement confirming that he WON’T be back “because of the fixed and tight production schedule.”

Here’s his statement:

Despite recent speculation in the media, and after difficult but sincere consideration, I have decided not to direct Catching Fire. As a writer and a director, I simply don’t have the time I need to write and prep the movie I would have wanted to make because of the fixed and tight production schedule.

I loved making The Hunger Games – it was the happiest experience of my professional life. Lionsgate was supportive of me in a manner that few directors ever experience in a franchise: they empowered me to make the film I wanted to make and backed the movie in a way that requires no explanation beyond the remarkable results. And contrary to what has been reported, negotiations with Lionsgate have not been problematic. They have also been very understanding of me through this difficult decision.

I also cannot say enough about the people I worked with: Producer Nina Jacobson, a great collaborator and a true friend; the brilliant Suzanne Collins, who entrusted us with her most amazing and important story; the gifted and remarkable Jennifer Lawrence whose performance exceeded my wildest expectations, and the rest of the incredible cast, whom I am proud to call my friends.

To the fans I want to say thank you for your support your faith, your enthusiasm and your trust. Hard as this may be to understand I am trying to keep that trust with you. Thank you all. It’s been a wonderful experience.

Here’s the response from Lionsgate, who will now have to begin the search for a new director in order to continue shooting in August.

We’re very sorry that Gary Ross has chosen not to direct Catching Fire. We were really looking forward to making the movie with him. He did an incredible job on the first film and we are grateful for his work. This will not be the end of our relationship, as we consider Ross to be part of the Lionsgate family and look forward to working with him in the future.

I always prefer directors to remain with their franchises as the films often suffer if they leave (Bryan Singer’s X-Men trilogy, for example), however switching directors was actually a positive move for the Harry Potter franchise, so maybe something similar can happen with The Hunger Games. It will all depend on who is hired to replace Ross.

What do you think about Gary Ross deciding against directing the sequel? Who should direct now?

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Back in November we heard that Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment were in talks about a possible merger which, if successful, would make The Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games part of the same family. Talks appeared to slow down towards the end of 2011, but now it has been announced that Lionsgate will acquire Summit Entertainment.

You can read the press release from Deadline below:

SANTA MONICA, Calif. and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 13, 2012 – Lionsgate (“the Company”) and Summit Entertainment today announced that Lionsgate has completed a transaction to acquire Summit for a combination of cash and stock valued at $412.5 million.

The transaction unites two leading studios with powerful brands and complementary assets, solidifying Lionsgate’s position as the world’s largest and most diversified independent entertainment company. By acquiring Summit, Lionsgate enhances its feature film and home entertainment offerings and further broadens its 13,000 title filmed entertainment library to include such titles as The Twilight Saga, The Hurt Locker and Red. The integration of both Summit’s domestic and international theatrical film operations will significantly enhance Lionsgate’s production and distribution capacity, while also extending the Company’s worldwide reach and creating a dominant international sales organization.

The transaction brings together Summit’s Twilight Saga feature film franchise, which has already grossed more than $2.5 billion at the worldwide box office, and Lionsgate’s highly anticipated Hunger Games franchise, which opens on March 23, 2012. Lionsgate will also continue to benefit from its premier television production and distribution business, its array of branded film and television properties, its suite of branded channels and its success as an innovator in creating and distributing content for digital platforms. Both the Lionsgate and Summit labels are expected to continue and be active in the production and distribution of films, although the combined company expects to realize significant synergies through the consolidation of administrative and other costs.

“This transaction continues Lionsgate’s long-term growth strategy of building a diversified worldwide media company through a combination of disciplined, accretive strategic acquisitions and organic growth while maintaining a solid balance sheet,” said Lionsgate Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer and Vice Chairman Michael Burns. “We are uniting two powerful entertainment brands, bringing together two world-class feature film franchises to establish a commanding position in the young adult market, strengthening our global distribution infrastructure and creating a scalable platform that will result in significant and accretive financial benefits to Lionsgate shareholders. Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger have built a remarkable organization, and we’re pleased to welcome Summit’s talented team to the Lionsgate family. Lionsgate’s growth has been built over the years in part by the successful acquisition and integration of companies like Trimark, Artisan, Redbus, Debmar-Mercury, Mandate and TV Guide Network and, in each case, Lionsgate has emerged stronger and the Company’s brand has become more resonant.”

“Jon Feltheimer, Michael Burns and the rest of the Lionsgate team have built an exciting and entrepreneurial content leader over the past 12 years, and we’re delighted to join together these two great companies,” said Summit Entertainment’s Co-Chairmen Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger. “We believe that the combined entity will be even greater than the sum of its parts and our dramatically enlarged media platform will create tremendous opportunities for all of us within the Summit and Lionsgate families. We want to thank our employees, whose hard work and creativity have led to the successful evolution of Summit into a leading worldwide studio, and the combination of Lionsgate and Summit will be the next chapter in creating a true global media powerhouse.”

“As demonstrated by this acquisition, Lionsgate remains focused on preserving a strong balance sheet while pursuing its long-term growth strategy,” said Dr. Mark H. Rachesky, Co-Chairman of the Lionsgate Board of Directors. “We are big believers in the increasing value of content and this transaction strengthens Lionsgate’s asset base while providing significant financial benefits, including highly visible cash flow and revenue. We are looking forward to realizing the value of a Lionsgate-Summit combination for all Lionsgate shareholders.”

The majority of the purchase price was funded with cash on the balance sheet at Summit. The remainder was funded with $55 million of existing Lionsgate cash, $45 million of cash received from a newly issued series of Lionsgate convertible notes, $50 million of Lionsgate common stock and an additional $20 million of cash or stock to be issued at Lionsgate’s option within 60 days. At closing, Summit’s existing term loan was refinanced with a $500 million debt facility, secured by the collateral of the Summit assets. Although the term loan matures in 2016, the Company anticipates repaying the loan well before the maturity date, due to the significant cash flow the business is expected to generate. In addition, this expected cash flow will facilitate the Company’s financial objective of further deleveraging Lionsgate’s balance sheet. The transaction is expected to be significantly accretive in Lionsgate’s 2013 fiscal year beginning
April 1, 2012.

JP Morgan, Barclays Capital, and Jefferies served as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners on financing the acquisition for Lionsgate. JP Morgan, Barclays Capital, and Jefferies also served as financial advisors to the Company. Barclays Capital provided a fairness opinion to Lionsgate. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as outside legal counsel for Lionsgate. Liner Grode Stein LLP and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP served as outside legal counsel for Summit.

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Remakes have the reputation of provoking emotions of disgust, confusion, and even hilarity among fans, but it really depends on the actual film that happens to be the victim of being remade. After the recent news of a Scarface remake in the works, fans were downright livid with Hollywood and questioned its integrity for making movies, which is absolutely understandable.

How about if that film is a well loved cult classic that has a passionately dedicated group of fans? When handling with that type of group, a remake is the equivalent of declaring war, and the recent film being targeted, according to Variety, is American Psycho.

Yes that’s right, the film that made us aware of Christian Bale’s acting potential as the psychotic yet suave Patrick Bateman, is getting a remake. In fact, Lionsgate has already hired Noble Jones as both writer and director, meaning this is all too real to be just a sick joke. Now the original, even though being released in 2000, was set in the 80′s and did a fantastic job as showing a psychotic version of Wall Street boom and the effects fortune can lead to.

However, the remake will be taking place in the present day, which honestly completely misses the point, taking away from the entire message that both the original book, written by Easton Ellis, and the film adaptation focused on.

The most devastating news of all, though, is the fact that Bale’s performance was all too perfect, giving a psychotic and methodical killing machine a sense of charm and charisma, and ultimately jump starting Bale’s acting career. So to see someone else take over the role of Bateman would just diminish a character that already reached the pinnacle of perfection, making it just an empty attempt to make some quick cash.

Ironically, the original, being a cult classic and all, had a poor return at the box office, only making around $15 million, so with only the diehard fans essentially being aware of the film, it would make it difficult for a new audience to flock to a newer version of the film without being aware of what the actual meaning is, and just thinking it’s a typical horror movie. But alas, the film is being made and someone will fill Bateman’s shoes, but whom?

Well actually Ellis had recently said on his Twitter that “I have warned Lionsgate that I will not approve a new version of “American Psycho” unless it stars SCOTT DISICK or MILES FISCHER.” Disick is definitely the oddball here because, with those of you unfamiliar with him, he’s primarily a reality “star” in Keeping Up With The Kardashians as Kourtney Kardashian’s husband.

Yea, maybe he has had some experience with a little drama in his days and he does have a Bateman-esque look to him, but the lack of actual acting experience is definitely a problem. On the other hand, Fischer, in addition to having true acting experience (ok, maybe a role in Final Destination 5 isn’t that great, but at least it’s something), actually bears a striking resemblance of a young Bale and has even played Bateman in a parody music video entitled “This Must Be The Place,” which you can check out below:

So with that being said, no matter how “perfect” Fischer may be, the remake is still an idea that I definitely don’t support. We’ve all bear witness to what some remakes have done to our favorite films in the past, coming off as just a heartless rehashing, and I have a feeling that this one is no exception.

I’m sure we’ll be seeing quite a bit of news roll out until the film actually starts production, and we’ll no doubt keep you updated. But, unless you’re a supporter of the remake, definitely tread lightly with this one because, if you’re like me, you’ll be needing a lot of convincing in order to accept this.

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According to sources at Bloomberg Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment are currently in talks about a possible merger which, if successful, could make The Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games part of the same family.

Lionsgate and Summit have entered numerous merger talks over the years but they’ve all broken down due to issues of money and control. While Lionsgate has about $550 million in debt the company has 13,000 movie and TV titles in its library, including Mad Men and the Saw franchise, and The Hunger Games could develop into a 4 movie franchise and generate $700 million in box office sales if it’s a hit next March.

Summit Entertainment, meanwhile, has raised $750 million this year to finance future movies, and once The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 ends its run next year the box office sales for the franchise will total over $3 billion. While that will keep Summit in business for the foreseeable future the company has yet to find a property to replace Twilight, so joining forces with Lionsgate may ensure stability and allow the mini-studios to compete with the likes of Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal and 20th Century Fox.

There’s talk of other companies being interested in a deal with Summit or Lionsgate either separately or in some kind of combination, so a straight Lionsgate/Summit merger may not happen and talks could still break down again, but a Lionsgate/Summit pairing does make a lot of sense.

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Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games, already has a release date set for November 22, 2013, but in a recent interview Lionsgate executives Jon Feltheimer and Michael Burns said it would only be moving forward if The Hunger Games makes a certain amount at the box office.

From Bloomberg (via CBM):

“The Hunger Games” must hit $100 million in domestic box office sales to justify making sequels. “I’m not too concerned we won’t get to that kind of number,” the studio head says.

“We would be disappointed if we didn’t make three or four movies,” Feltheimer says.

Why such emphasis on US sales? The article reveals that Lionsgate has already sold “the international distribution rights, except for the U.K., to other studios” and has already made $50 million by doing so. New Line did the same with The Golden Compass and it proved disastrous. The movie made over $300 million overseas, but only made $70 million in the US, less than half of the budget.

The Hunger Games is said to cost $80 million with another $40 million set aside for marketing, so the stakes aren’t as high as The Golden Compass, but with Conan, Warrior and Taylor Lautner’s action thriller Abduction under-performing over recent months the pressure is on The Hunger Games to perform.

Hoping to grab the Twilight audience, Lionsgate will be attaching the new theatrical trailer to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 which opens November 18th. The teaser is below:

The Hunger Games chronicles a dystopic Capitol which requires its twelve subjugated districts to pay tribute in the form of a teenage boy and girl, forced to participate in the annual “Hunger Games,” a fight-to-the-death live televised event.

Katniss Everdeen’s little sister is chosen in the lottery to participate and Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to take her place. Although persevering through hardship is commonplace for Katniss, she must start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love in order to win the games and return home.

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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (which, in case you’ve been living under a rock has become an iconic piece of modern pop culture), has had some bad luck with the film adaptation.

It has had issues with locking in a stable cast as well as a director, with actors such as Blake Lively, Natalie Portman, and James McAvoy being highly considered but declining, and director Mark White departed after replacing director/screenwriter David O. Russell. It’s been quite a struggle for the project, which for some reason just can’t get a stable start. Well, unfortunately that curse is still alive and well.

Yes, Deadline reports that Craig Gillespie is the latest director to abandon Lionsgate’s film-child, leaving the studio with pretty much nothing in the divorce (yes, that was a joke). But in all seriousness, it strikes me as odd that the film just can’t get a solid start, especially when the novel the film is based on, written by Seth Grahame-Smith, is an extremely unique and ingenious piece of literature that just so happens to have such a monumental fan base.

The story pretty much speaks for itself, boldly taking Jane Austen’s classic piece of historical literature and throws in a chunk of pop culture in the form of bloodthirsty zombies. It’s hard for everyone to like, but there would no doubt be hordes of horror fans and fans of the novel alike who will happily pay to watch zombies terrorize Victorian England. But with the recent departure of Gillespie, what’s keeping everyone away?

To me it comes as a surprise that Gillespie dropped out, considering he recently took on the remake for Fright Night, which was surprisingly well done, showing us that he could handle blending horrorifying suspense with humor. It’s a headscratcher for sure, but it gives Lionsgate a chance to restrategize how they go about creating the project, hopefully keeping it from (gulp) being cancelled.

Admittedly, it’s hard to see big box office payouts flowing in due to the fact that it pretty much targets a certain niche of fans, but with such a consintrated and dedicated fanbase, pleasing them is an accomplishment all on its own (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, anyone?).

While Lionsgate sets out to search for both a dedicated director and dedicated cast, let’s hope they don’t just make a quick decision and be done with it. This is the type of sensitive material that needs to be handled with care because, let’s face it, an unpleased fan can be worse than a swarm of zombies.

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Lionsgate have high hopes for The Hunger Games, having witnessed the success of the Twilight franchise for Summit Entertainment. In the past we’ve heard of their intentions to turn all three of Suzanne Collins’ books into a movie trilogy, but now it looks like Lionsgate may follow the trend of splitting the final movie into two.

From Deadline:

Lionsgate executives told Wall Street analysts this morning to expect big things from The Hunger Games, a series of four action films that the studio will release from the trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. COO Joe Drake said it was “the highest selling film we’ve ever had” at the Cannes Film Festival and that overseas exhibitors consider it “the movie that can change their company.” Although Lionsgate wouldn’t disclose its budget for the films, Drake says Hunger Games could become an “outsized success” for Lionsgate. The studio says it bought the rights before the books became runaway best-sellers, and it has “retained the majority of the upside” in its talent and distribution deals.

Lionsgate could decide to split Catching Fire, the second book, into two movies, however it’s most likely that the final book, Mockingjay, will get the split treatment. I haven’t read the books so I can’t comment on whether two movies are required (in the case of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it was), but this decision is obviously a financial one. If (big if) The Hunger Games is a success next March then Lionsgate will obviously want to spawn a profitable franchise of its own, as other studios and production companies have over recent years.

The Hunger Games is set in a future America which is divided into 12 poor districts that serve a wealthy Capitol territory. Once a year, each district submits a girl and boy as tributes to participate in life-or-death games. Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen alongside Josh Hutcherson (Peeta Mellark), Liam Hemsworth (Gale Hawthorne), Elizabeth Banks (Effie Trinket), Stanley Tucci (Caesar Flickerman) and 24 other young actors who play tributes from 12 different districts.

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Before they even hit the bookshelves Seth Grahame-Smith’s huge selling revisionist period horror novels have been hot properties in Hollywood. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – essentially a retelling of Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice with added zombie mayhem – was announced back in 2009 but has had a hard time finding its way to the screen.

It has so far been through the hands of two directors, David O Russell (The Fighter)  and Mike White (Year of the Dog). They didn’t stay long, leaving the production due to scheduling problems. Even the author himself and producing partner David Katzeberg considered taking the reins at one time.

Now according to Deadline Lionsgate have offered the gig to Lars and the Real Girl director Craig Gillespie, who entered the frame after White departed and who recently wrapped on DreamWorks 3D remake of 80s horror Fright Night starring Colin Farrell.

Many actors have been rumoured to be interested over the past couple of years including Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johannson, Bradley Cooper and most recently Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy, but of course no-one is attached at this time.

So with this and Paramount’s big budget adaptation of Max Brooks’ novel World War Z in the works, the zombie apocalyse looks set to shuffle on and on for the foreseable future.

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