Marc Forster’s latest effort, Machine Gun Preacher starring Gerard Butler, came and went with very little attention and only managed to make $1 million worldwide. Despite this, Forster still has Brad Pitt’s zombie epic World War Z hitting in December, and the director has now become attached to an adaptation of the graphic novel Cowboy Ninja Viking at Universal.

According to Deadline Zombieland, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and Deadpool writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese wrote the script, and the project was initially set up at Disney but was “deemed too edgy” for their upcoming slate.

Here’s a description of the story from Wikipedia:

The series revolves around a counter-intelligence unit of Multiple Personality Disorder patients, formed by psychotherapist Dr. Sebastian Ghislain, who are transformed into agents known as Triplets (referring to the three different personalities inside their minds). After the unit falls apart its various members are turned into hired killers. Duncan, a Triplet who channels the skills of a Cowboy, Ninja, and Viking, is sent to find and stop the rogue Triplets.

The intention is to begin shooting later this year after World War Z is complete and, as usual, the studio hopes to spawn a franchise. Although, the makers of Cowboys and Aliens should probably tell Universal that just because the title sounds like a fanboy wet dream, that doesn’t mean it’ll be a success.

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As usual, December was quite a competitive month for movies with Mission: Impossible, Sherlock Homes, Tintin (in the US), War Horse, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo all competing for the Christmas audience.

Next year will be no different as we’re getting Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables, the first part of The Hobbit, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, and Brad Pitt’s zombie epic World War Z. If Pitt’s movie manages to find an audience amongst all the competition it may provide the actor with his first proper franchise.

The story, based on the novel by Max Brooks, follows UN bureaucrat Gerard Lane (Pitt) who, in the aftermath of a world wide Zombie epidemic, is asked to compile a complete report on the incident. His interviews chart a decade-long war against zombies from the view point of many different people of various nationalities.

In a recent article by the The L.A Times it is suggested the studio is planning to make a series of films if World War Z is a success.

For Pitt, the big sci-fi thriller also represents his strongest bid to have a big film franchise of his own, which might be viewed as the missing piece of his career jigsaw puzzle. Forster and Paramount Pictures each view “World War Z” as a trilogy that would have the grounded, gun-metal realism of, say, Damon’s Jason Bourne series tethered to the unsettling end-times vibe of AMC’s “The Walking Dead.”

I’m sure many wouldn’t mind a Bourne/Waking Dead-style zombie franchise. Over recent years zombie movies have been fairly low budget (Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead cost $30 million in 2004), so there’s the prospect of seeing something much larger in scale with Marc Forster’s movie as it’s been given $125 million to play with. As the story is global is shouldn’t have much trouble finding a global audience (in theory), so it should make its budget back and then some.

As well as Pitt, the movie stars Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Matthew Fox and David Morse, and will invade screens on December 21, 2012.

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Relativity Media have released our first look at Machine Gun Preacher, the next movie from director Marc Forster (The Kite Runner, Quantum of Solace).

The film, based on a true story, follows Sam Childers (Gerard Butler), a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the savior of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children in Sudan.

Watch the trailer below:

This looks quite good. It’s reminds me of those Oscar-bait films where a character sees the error of his/her ways and makes changes for the better. Only this film involves rocket launchers and machine guns.

Along with Butler the film also stars Michelle Monaghan, Michael Shannon, Madeline Carroll, Kathy Baker, Inga R. Wilson and Souleymane Sy Savane. Machine Gun Preacher will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month and opens on September 23rd.

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World War Z, based on the novel by Max Brooks, has been in development for around two years now. Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster is still attached to direct the film, which centers on a UN bureaucrat named Gerry Lane, who in the aftermath of a world wide Zombie epidemic is asked to compile a complete report on the incident. Brad Pitt is producing, and last summer he decided he also wanted to star, which pleased everyone involved.

With Marc Forster in post-production on Machine Gun Preacher (starring Gerard Butler and Michelle Monaghan) World War Z was expected to be his next project, however it appears unless Paramount finds a co-financier the movie won’t be happening at all.

From Vulture:

The film currently has a price tag of more than $125 million, and the studio is fervently searching for a partner to share the risk. Our sources tell us that if they can’t find one, it’s likely that Paramount will pull the plug on the adaptation of the Max Brooks book.

Insiders say an eleventh-hour effort is being made to court frequent Paramount co-financier David Ellison (Mission: Impossible IV, Top Gun II) as well as another, unspecified investor. Paramount Film Group president Adam Goodman insists to Vulture, “We’re really committed to making a big, kick-ass giant movie with Marc Forster and Brad Pitt.” Pressed on whether the studio would move forward without a financial partner, Goodman declined to elaborate, saying it was too early to tell.

You would have thought a PG-13 zombie war movie with Brad Pitt would be an easy sell, but over recent years studios have been trying to reduce the risk involved, and we’ve had causalities such as Guillermo del Toro’s At The Mountains Of Madness. Hopefully World War Z won’t be joining it, as it has potential to be pretty cool thanks to the talent involved. Plus, who doesn’t want to see a zombie war?

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We have our Peter Parker in the form of Andrew Garfield, however an equally important casting decision has yet to be made: Who is going to kidnap Mary Jane-Watson? Even though Marc Webb and Sony are rebooting the Spider-Man franchise it is likely the nemesis will borrow Parker’s girlfriend at some point, or his Aunt, so a talented actor will be required carry out the deed.

Back in June we heard that Michael Fassbender was wanted for an unspecified villain role, but he decided to play the Master of Magnetism in X-Men: First Class instead. Now Production Weekly is reporting that Sony has an interest in Oscar winning actor Christoph Waltz for the villain role, which may or may not be The Lizard.

Following his turn as Col. Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds Waltz been offered many roles, mostly villains, and he will be seen in The Green Hornet opposite Seth Rogen in January. From the sounds of things Sony is just interested at this point, however there is the question of whether Waltz would be willing to play the villain in another superhero movie.

With filming set to start in December we will be hearing casting confirmations over the upcoming months, and we will finally find out whether Peter Parker will be facing off against The Lizard or another foe. Who do you want to play the villain?

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World War Z had been in development for over a year with hardly any movement beyond the scripting stage, however in April Paramount renewed the option on the novel by Max Brooks for half the time and twice the money, which hinted that the studio were still eager to move forward.

Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster is still attached to direct the movie which takes place ten years after the human victory over a world wide Zombie epidemic. Brad Pitt was set to produce with his production company Plan B Entertainment, although according to Max Brooks he may now be stepping in front of the camera too.

From MTV:

Pitt’s production company Plan B Entertainment first secured the rights to “World War Z” back in 2007 after a bidding war with Leonardo DiCaprio’s company, Appian Way. The actor has long been rumored as a potential lead for the film, but Brooks received the call confirming Pitt’s attachment (and the other “Survival Guide” deals) while signing copies of the books at the Avatar booth tonight (Wednesday, July 21) during Preview Night at Comic-Con.

“I can’t believe how cool Paramount has been to me and these projects, and how cool Plan B has been,” said Brooks when asked for his reaction to the news.

Brooks continued to say that Paramount are aiming for a summer 2012 release and the studio recently received a new draft of the World War Z script, so we can expect further developments over the upcoming months.

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We haven’t heard anything on Marc Forster’s worldwide Zombie epidemic movie World War Z for a while. In October author Max Brooks said the script was still being worked on, and in a recent interview with MTV he said that was still the case, with everyone waiting for Matt Carnahan to finish his latest draft which “should happen within a few weeks”.

Brooks also took part in another interview this week, and revealed something which suggests Paramount is eager to get things moving.

From FearNet:

What can you tell us about the film adaptation of your zombie universe?

Paramount just renewed the option for World War Z, for half the time and twice the money, so that might signal interest. We still got our director, Marc Forster, who’s raring to go. Were all waiting on Matt Carnahan’s new draft, which should come in a month or so. Once that comes in then I think it probably will have to be tweaked and brought to the studio but we’re sort of zeroing in on that moment where Paramount has to say yes or no.

Budget-wise, what will the scale of World War Z be?

That’s a good question, because I think the size of the book, the scope of the book, makes it hard to produce, in that this thing’s gotta be done right or it just can’t be done. You can’t do a cheap and dirty World War Z. It’s a world war, and I think that makes studio executives nervous. I think it limits its options, so that’s running against it.

Paramount wouldn’t spend that sort of money renewing the option if they weren’t keen on turning the script into a full feature film. Marc Forster is at his best when he is making smaller movies such as Finding Neverland and Monsters Ball. I wasn’t a fan of his chopping action in Quantum of Solace, but I’m still interested in seeing which he can do with another sizeable budget and storyline set ten years after the human victory over the world wide Zombie epidemic.

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We haven’t heard anything on World War Z for a few months, and the last thing we did hear was from director Marc Forster who said the film’s script still needed a lot of development and is “still far from realization”. Now we have an update from author Max Brooks who commented on the scripting process and expects a new draft in a few weeks time:

From MTV:

The initial script, the first draft from Straczynski, left the book’s author very impressed. “I read Straczynski’s first draft, and it was f—ing brilliant. As the book writer i know that’s sacrilege to say, but it really was good,” Brooks said. “I turned to my wife and said ‘Honey, this is as good as the book. This is gonna be an amazing movie.’”

First drafts being what they are, you can expect that the script has changed some since Brooks first read it. “You know… the studio comes in and gives their notes and Forster came in and gave his notes,” he explained. “Carnahan was brought in for reasons unbeknownst to me. Maybe he’s doing a polish, maybe he’s doing a top-down rewrite. I know that his draft is supposed to come in in the next few weeks.”

World War Z takes place ten years after the human victory over a world wide Zombie epidemic, and above you can see some concept art for the film.

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After Marc Forster finished work on Quantum of Solace he revealed that his next project would be World War Z, a film which takes place ten years after a human victory over a world wide Zombie epidemic (you can see some concept art above). Well Dark Horizons got some quotes from the director who said that we will have to wait a little bit longer before we see it on the big screen.

Forster says the film’s script still needs a lot of development and is “still far from realization”. As a result he’s likely moving forward with another project entitled “Disconnect” which is ‘ready to go’.

“Disconnect” is said to be about how humans deal with new technologies and the changes it causes to interpersonal relationships.

“World War Z”, based on the novel by Max Brooks, is a series of interviews conducted with various people about the events that transpired when a zombie pandemic swept the globe.

I’m sure everyone would rather see a world wide Zombie epidemic rather than stuff about technology relationships, but I suppose that’s how things go. I’m still waiting for his take on historical epic Nerfititi with Halle Berry which has been in development hell for years.

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Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster told MTV that he has declined an offer to return to direct Bond 23. However, he did have some suggestions for what he would like to see on Bond’s next outing.

“They asked me if I wanted to,” Forster told MTV News. “I’ll never say never again, but at this point I would say no.”

“It really depends on what direction they want to take it,” the “Kite Runner” and “Monster’s Ball” director explained. “For me, I wanted to take it to a harder and darker place, but now that that journey I’ve gone on has succeeded, I feel like the next one can take it to a bit more humorous place again.”

“I feel like next time you should take it in a lighter and more humorous way, maybe add a few more girls and a bit more sex – all that kind of stuff,” he said. “I think that would be interesting.”

While I wouldn’t be opposed to this (who would be?) I don’t want the next film to be a romantic comedy. They can add the sex and women as long as it is before, during or after a high speed car chase, explosive mini-bus shoot-out, or an adrenaline filled Go-Kart battle. Lets keep Bond the action master that he is!

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