These live-action Disney remakes/re-imaginings just keep on coming. According to THR Tim Burton is in talks with Warner Bros. to direct a live-action Pinocchio movie, and the director has his eye on Robert Downey Jr. to star.

No deals have been made, but if things happen Downey Jr. would play Geppetto, the woodcarver who creates the puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy. Warner Bros. wants things to work out quickly as there are a few Pinocchio projects in development, with the main competition being Pinocchio prequel The Three Misfortunes of Geppetto which is set-up at 20th Century Fox and has Shawn Levy (Real Steel) attached to direct.

Here’s some details on the story from THR:

In the version being developed at Warner Bros., Geppetto embarks on a quest to reunite with his missing marionette. The well-regarded script is by Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller. Dan Jinks (American Beauty) is producing.

Neither Burton nor Downey has a deal with Warners, but sources say Burton is keen to direct the film and has begun talks with the studio, so it’s just a question of whether Pinocchio will be his next movie. The Alice in Wonderland director also is eyeing an adaptation of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children at Fox, among other projects.

The site mentions Warner Bros. may have to find another director if Burton can’t make it his next project, so a Burton/Downey Jr. collaboration may not even happen at all. Downey Jr. is a busy man nowadays so he may not be able to fit this Pinocchio movie in amongst all the Iron Man/Avengers sequels and a potential Sherlock Holmes 3.

Would you see a Tim Burton-directed live-action Pinocchio movie starring Robert Downey Jr. as Geppetto?

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Johnny Depp is a busy guy. Once he’s finished promotion for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides he’ll be heading to London to start shooting his 8th collaboration with Tim Burton, Dark Shadows.

Today Warner Bros. sent out a press release announcing the start of production, along with the official synopsis for the movie.

Filming begins this week on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ “Dark Shadows,” which brings the cult classic television series to the big screen under the direction of Tim Burton. The film’s all-star ensemble cast includes Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Bella Heathcote, Chloe Moretz, and newcomer Gulliver McGrath.

In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet—or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive.

Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles.

Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth’s ne’er-do-well brother, Roger Collins, (Jonny Lee Miller); her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz); and Roger’s precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and David’s new nanny, Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote.

It’s also worth noting that cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) is working on the film so at least it will look great, even if Burton delivers another average film like he did with Alice in Wonderland. Burton has been hit and miss over recent years so hopefully he makes something along the lines of Sleepy Hollow and Sweeney Todd.

Dark Shadows is scheduled for release on May 11th, 2012.

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Over a year ago we heard that Tim Burton and Angelina Jolie were loosely attached to Disney’s Maleficent, a live-action take on the wicked fairy godmother who cast the original spell on Sleeping Beauty. Burton never officially signed on, but he got his Alice in Wonderland screenwriter Linda Woolverton to write the script.

After a year with little news on the project Heat Vision now reports that Burton has moved on and is no longer directing, but with Angelina Jolie still interested Disney are in search of a new director.

One of the names that has apparently surfaced in the early search is David Yates, director of the past four Harry Potter movies including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which looks nothing short of epic. Yates would be a great choice, but after spending the last 6 years in the fantasy genre he may want to do something different before diving back into magic and dragons.

If a director is found it could still be a year or two before it actually gets made as Jolie and Sony are currently searching for a director to helm Cleopatra, with David Fincher being a possible candidate.

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According to Deadline Eva Green, who played Bond girl Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, will be joining Johnny Depp in Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows.

Green is negotiating to play the role of Angelique, a powerful witch who is tormented and bewitched by her love-hate relationship with Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp).

Dark Shadows is a gothic-horror tale centering on the life of vampire Barnabas Collins and his run-ins with various monsters, witches, werewolves and ghosts. The original TV series ran from 1966-1971 and Warner Bros. purchased the rights to make it into a movie in 2007.

Filming will begin in April, with a 2012 release likely.

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It has been confirmed by Deadline that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s 8th collaboration will be Dark Shadows, a gothic-horror tale centering on the life of vampire Barnabas Collins and his run-ins with various monsters, witches, werewolves and ghosts. The original TV series ran from 1966-1971 and Warner Bros. purchased the rights to make it into a movie in 2007.

We’re all familiar with Tim Burton’s style by now so we can expect Dark Shadows to be weird and wonderful. It’s early days yet but Helena Bonham Carter will probably appear (she’s been in every Burton film since 2001) and Depp can add another iconic role to his resume to sit alongside the Mad Hatter, Edward Scissorhands, Jack Sparrow, Sweeney Todd etc.

The April start date means Depp will probably have to rule himself out of Kathryn Bigelow’s Sleeping Dogs with Tom Hanks which is also shooting early next year, unless of course they can work something out. Dark Shadows will likely be released sometime in 2012.

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Generally the movies that are nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars have also received good reviews, which makes sense. But this year it may be different as according to Deadline Disney intends to give Alice in Wonderland (51% on Rotten Tomatoes) a “major advertising campaign” in the hope of gaining some Oscar love.

However, this won’t just be for the “technical nominations such as art direction, makeup, visual effects, and costumes, but also Best Picture and Director recognition.” Having seen Alice in Wonderland I could see it getting some technical nods, but Disney should be putting all it’s efforts behind Toy Story 3 which is by far a better film and stands a greater chance at actually winning. Wonderland may have made over $1 billion but that box office doesn’t always reflect quality, and clearly not everyone enjoyed it.

A problem for Disney is that as Alice in Wonderland was released in March people may have forgotten about it by the time it comes to voting (hence the ‘major’ campaign) and all of the Oscar-fare is being released over the next few months, which may steal some of it’s thunder.

Should Alice in Wonderland be nominated for Best Picture alongside (potentially) Inception, The Social Network and Toy Story 3?

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When Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was sat at $980 million worldwide just over a week ago we wondered whether it had any box office punch left in it to join the likes of Dead Man’s Chest and Return on the King in the billion dollar club. Well over the last 9 days or so the film has made another $20 million worldwide, and it will be crossing the $1 billion mark at some point over the next few days (if it hasn’t already).

Not bad for a film considered ‘Rotten‘ by movie critics.

Most of the box office gross came from overseas with $667 million, $100 million of which came from Japan alone where it spent 6 weeks at #1 (they must really like Johnny Depp over there). Wonderland also made $332 million in the US which has enabled it to become only the sixth movie ever made to take one billion dollars at the worldwide box office.

If Disney’s bank account isn’t overflowing now it will be soon. The DVD and Blu-ray will be released next week.

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As I type Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland currently sits at $980 million worldwide, with $600+ million coming from overseas. It has overtaken all of the Harry Potter films and is just $20 million away from crossing the $1 billion mark, and overtaking The Dark Knight‘s $1,001,921,825 in the process.

Obviously 3D ticket prices had a huge impact on Wonderland‘s gross and if you take inflation into account it wouldn’t be in the top 10, but based on gross alone it may end up joining Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in the $1 billion club.

With the final Harry Potter movies set to be released in 3D they will likely overtake Wonderland, and if Batman 3 gets made in 3D it might have a shot too, but until then i’m sure Disney will be eagerly watching the numbers to see how Alice in Wonderland fares over the next few weeks.

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Disney have set a June 1st release date for Alice in Wonderland on DVD and Blu-ray, which is only 3 months after it was released on the big screen. As I type it is still in the top 10 at the US box office, and has accumulated a gross of over $785 million worldwide.

You may remember that UK cinemas were threatening to boycott the film due to Disney’s plan to release the DVD 12 weeks after the theatrical release, instead of the usual 17 weeks. Odeon actually went ahead with a boycott, although it later agreed to show the film after agreeing a deal with Disney.

As for the DVD/Blu-ray, it will contain nine bonus features including “the making of the Futterwacken Dance, a look inside the world of the Mad Hatter and Johnny Depp’s transformation, Tim Burton’s vision for the movie and its characters, the visual effects of growing and shrinking of Alice, costume designs, music, stunts and more.”

You can pre-order Alice in Wonderland on DVD and Blu-ray via these links: DVD | Blu-ray

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In January we heard that Alice in Wonderland director Tim Burton was developing a live-action take on Maleficent, the wicked fairy godmother who cast the original spell on Sleeping Beauty. Burton hasn’t officially signed on to direct yet and it seems he is still deciding what his next project will be, however earlier this week Disney hired Wonderland screenwriter Linda Woolverton to write the script, which may increase the chances of him sitting in the director’s chair.

With the project just entering the scripting stage casting may be a bit premature, although according to the L.A Times an actress who goes by the name of Angelina Jolie may be interested in playing the title character.

Both Tim Burton and Angelina Jolie had last spring been rumored to join the project, which Disney has been kicking around for a while as a way to mine its library, among other things. Burton’s involvement remains unclear as he contemplates several projects. But sources say that, as of the last few weeks, Jolie is keen on the film and would like to sign on to play the titular villain.

There’s no deal (or, for that matter, script) yet. And it’s unclear if Jolie’s involvement would be conditional on Burton moving forward with it too. But it’s nonetheless notable that Jolie — who has no new movie after shooting the international thriller “The Tourist” — is actively engaging with the material and could, according to sources, very well star in the film when all is said and done.

This would be something new for Jolie who hasn’t ventured into the fairy tale/Disney world before. In Beowulf she got a taste of the fantasy element, but that film was for mature audiences. With the writer of The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast penning the script Maleficent shouldn’t be that dark, and Disney may be aiming for a similar tone to that of Alice in Wonderland.

Do you think Angelina Jolie would be a good choice to play a wicked fairy godmother who has the ability to morph into a fire-breathing dragon?

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