Movie Muser

When Steve Allen’s novel Meg, hit shelves in 1997 many saw it as a bit of a successor to Jaws, and figured it wouldn’t be long until it hit the big screen.

However despite numerous attempts (the first of which was scuppered by the release of Deep Blue Sea), it’s never happened, but they haven’t given up, as now Eli Roth is in talks to direct a film version of the prehistoric shark tale, according to THR.

The novel, ‘revolves around two men who band together to neutralize an ancient shark that’s threatening the California coast. The Megaladon, considered one of the largest and most powerful predators in history, can reach a maximum length of 60 feet.’

However with China now the market Hollywood is keen to pander to, the massive beast will now be threatening that country rather than the US, although there will presumably be some Yanks around to save the day.

Dean Georgaris’ script is apparently the thing that got Warner Bros. excited about the possibilities for Meg, and no doubt Jurassic World’s recent success has helped sweeten things. It’s not clear when it will shoot though.

Recently we had the first trailer for Guillermo Del Toro’s haunted house tale, Crimson Peak, and that’s now been followed by a quartet of classy, gothic character posters featuring Tom Hiddleson, Jessica Castain, Charlie Hunnam & Mia Wasikowska.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Legendary Pictures’ Crimson Peak, a co-production with Universal Pictures, is a haunting gothic horror story directed by the master of dark fairy tales, Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy series, Pacific Rim), written by del Toro, Matthew Robbins and Lucinda Coxon and starring Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston and Charlie Hunnam.

In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds…and remembers.’

It’ll be in cinemas in October.

Last week it was revealed that Hugh Jackman and Rooney Mara had taken the lead roles in Collateral Beauty, with Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) set to direct. Now another actor is in talks for the movie, as Jason Segel is circling the film, according to Variety.

Collateral Beauty is ‘about a New York advertising executive (Jackman) who experiences a deep personal tragedy. When his colleagues devise an unconventional plan to break him out of his depression, the plan works, but not in a way that anyone imagined’.

It’s not clear who Segel will play, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s one of the colleagues trying to help Jackman out.

Allan Loeb wrote the script, with plans to shoot the movie this autumn.

It seems to be the year for Universal underestimating the popularity of their movies, with Furious 7 and Jurassic World both massively outperforming expectations, and Pitch Perfect 2 also surprising, making $171 million in the US alone.

It certainly wasn’t expected, as while Universal had hoped to make a third Pitch Perfect movie, they’d already decided they’d have to do so without Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson, with Hailee Steinfeld deliberately brought into the second movie so that she could lead a lowed budgeted Part 3. Indeed, the end of Pitch Perfect 2 seemed to suggest the original characters were moving on.

However due to the movie’s huge success, plans have changed and THR reports both Kendrick and Wilson will now be back for Pitch Perfect 3, which has been set for released on July 21st, 2017. Kay Cannon, who wrote the first two films, is also returning, but there’s no news on the plot.