Friday The 13th isn’t the only Sean S. Cunningham-related remake to come out next year. Indeed the 66 year old filmmaker served as a producer on The Last House On The Left, the controversial 1972 writing/directing debut from good friend Wes Craven (Red Eye). Noted for its incredibly graphic scenes and made for less than $90000, the film has long been unavailable in several countries such as the UK and Australia until recently due to censorship.

Now thanks to the success of the recent remake of Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes, several other remakes of the horror master’s movies are being planned, the first of which is obviously The Last House On The Left, courtesy of Rogue Pictures. Produced by Craven and Cunningham, the film marks the second feature directing effort (and first English-language movie) for Greek director Denis Eliadis (Harcore) while the screenplay was adapted by newcomer Adam Alleca and Carl Ellsworth (Disturbia).

Like the original, the new movie will feature a gang of criminals who kidnap, rape and murder a couple of teenage girls before unknowingly seeking refuge at one of the girls’ parents’ house while hiding from the police. The parents then realize who their guests are and decide to have their revenge. The remake stars Sara Paxton (Superhero Movie), Monica Potter (Saw), Garret Dillahunt (The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford) and Tony Goldwyn (The Last Samurai) among others and will be released sometime next year. I’ve included the 1972 film’s trailer after the jump.

Fun Fact: The 1972 original was heavily inspired by the Ingmar Bergman-directed 1960 Swedish film The Virgin Spring, winner of the Best Foreign Film Oscar and Golden Globe in 1961.

The Last House On The Left (1972)

Friday The 13th is undoubtedly one of the biggest, most enduring and recognizable horror franchises in movie history. It all started with John Carpenter‘s seminal 1978 slasher Halloween (recently remade by Rob Zombie) which paved the way for the 1980 release of the original Friday The 13th. Directed by Sean S. Cunningham and written by Victor Miller and Ron Kurz, the film was a big success (in no small part thanks to its tiny $700000 budget) and eleven movies later the producers decided it was time to reboot the franchise.

Enter Platinum Dunes, a production company headed by Michael Bay (director of Transformers), Brad Fuller and Andrew Form that specializes in horror movies (mainly remakes) much like the Joel Silver/Robert Zemeckis-headed Dark Castle Entertainment and the Sam Raimi-headed Ghost House Pictures. Originally in talks with Jonathan Liebesman (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning), Platinum Dunes finally chose to put Marcus Nispel (Pathfinder) in charge, the director who provided them with their best received film, the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Written by Freddy Vs. Jason scribes Damian Shannon & Mark Swift, the film will reportedly not be a direct remake but will instead take elements from the first three films in the franchise and go in its own direction. The movie stars Jared Padalecki (The CW’s Supernatural), Danielle Panabaker (CBS’ Shark), Amanda Righetti (Role Models), Travis Van Winkle (Meet The Spartans), Aaron Yoo (Nick And Norah’s Infinte Playlist) and Derek Mears (The Hills Have Eyes 2) among others.

It will premiere on February 12th, 2009 in Argentina, Germany, Portugal, Russia and the Netherlands, and come out the next day in a few other countries including the USA and the UK. You can check out four pictures from the new flick here and I have included the trailers for the first three films of the franchise after the jump. Don’t forget to tell me what you think in the comments.

Friday The 13th (1980)

Friday The 13th: Part 2 (1981)

Friday The 13th: Part 3 (1982)

Sylvester Stallone‘s current writing/directing/acting project The Expendables is quickly shaping up to be one of the greatest action movies of all time. Indeed apart from Stallone, the film already stars Jason Statham (the Transporter movies) and Jet Li (The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor), and now Dolph Lundgren has joined the cast, reuniting with Stallone 23 years after their epic boxing match in Rocky IV.

The casting was announced by Stallone at the premiere of Transporter 3 in Las Vegas. Lundgren was actually Stallone’s second choice, but Jean-Claude Van Damme (who co-starred with Lundgren in Universal Soldier) turned down the offer, saying he wanted to take his career in another direction. Arnold Schwarzenegger (the Terminator films) has also been offered a part as has Forest Whitaker (Street Kings).

Set in South America, the film will follow a group of mercenaries that take dangerous jobs that no one else will as they attempt to overthrow a dictator and the opening scene reportedly features Statham’s character eliminating a Mexican drug lord while dressed as a homosexual. The Expendables should start filming early next year in Louisiana and Costa Rica for a 2010 release.

This will of course not be Stallone’s first stab at directing. The man has indeed plenty of experience behind the camera, having written or co-written most of his films and directed quite a few of them (including the last Rambo film and four of the Rocky movies). Stallone has talent there is no doubt, and a lot of people seem to forget that his screenplay for the first Rocky was Oscar-nominated.

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Actor/Director Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby) has done it again! A mere two months after the release of his excellent previous directing effort Changeling comes Gran Torino, a film which might perhaps be Eastwood’s last outing as an actor according to the man himself.

The film will premiere in the US on limited release on December 12th before going wide on January 16th. Warner Bros is already pushing the film for serious award consideration, as can be seen here. The script was written by newcomers Nick Schenk and Dave Johannson.

Eastwood stars as a racist Korean War veteran who is disgusted by the amount of Asian people who have moved in his neighborhood. However, when he stops a young Asian kid from stealing his Ford Gran Torino as part of gang initiation one day, the boy is forced by his family to work for him as penance. A friendship eventually forms between the two.

I personally think it looks superbly awesome, and one must admire all the Asian actors, for most of whom this is the first film. As I said earlier, another surefire bonafide great piece of cinema from a man that can only be called a master. What do you think? Tell me below in the comments.

Steven Seagal (Kill Switch) can now add Reality TV star to an impressive resumé that already includes movie star, musician, aikido master, bodyguard as well as energy drink, herbal oil, knife and aftershave creator. Indeed, the once popular action star will headline the new A&E TV show Steven Seagal: Lawman which is expected to air late next year.

According to the net, Seagal has been working on and off as a fully commissioned deputy with the Jefferson Parish County Sheriff’s Office for nearly two decades. One of his stints found him assisting with recovery efforts during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

So, yes, Steven Seagal is actually also an off-screen hero as much as he is an on-screen one. The show will also naturally focus on his life off duty and while some may claim that Seagal is only doing this to reinvigorate his straight-to-DVD-centric career, one must admit this sounds a whole lot more interesting than following the pampered daily lives of Denise Richards, the Lohan family and the Simpson sisters.

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I was somewhat reserved about Bride Wars‘ first trailer, and while this one still doesn’t make the film look that good, I still feel it’s a slight improvement and it certainly looks a whole lot better then Confessions Of A Shopaholic. As for the poster, it showcases the two leading beauties but hopefully this isn’t the final one-sheet. Bride Wars will premiere in the US on January 9th, 2009. Tell me what you think in the comments.

Bride Wars tells the story of two best friends portrayed by Kate Hudson (Fool’s Gold) and Anne Hathaway (Passengers) who become bitter rivals when they accidentally schedule their respective weddings the same day. The film co-stars Candice Bergen (ABC’s Boston Legal), Bryan Greenberg (ABC’s October Road) and Chris Pratt (Wanted). It is directed by Gary Winick (Charlotte’s Web) and was written by Greg DePaul (Saving Silverman), and relative newcomers June Raphael & Casey Wilson.

This is actually a few days old but I haven’t seen it reported on any English film site yet. EuropaCorp has released the first bunch of official stills from the District B13 (original title B13: Banlieue 13) sequel, as well as a rather uninteresting on-set pic and the quite apocalyptic poster. Also, the French actioner, which was announced as Banlieue 14 (District B14) is now titled B13 – U: Banlieue 13 – Ultimatum (District B13 – Ultimatum), which is quite logical I guess since judging from one of the stills the film continues to take place in District B13.

I thought the first film was all kinds of stupid storywise and basically played like a beat ‘em all video game literally brought to screen, but it did boast some cool action (actually that was all the film had) and is probably responsible for all the Parkour we’ve seen in action movies recently. The sequel promises even more of the same, with Parkour stunts aplenty as can be seen in the production video diaries viewable on the official site. Read the official plot synopsis (translated by me) and view the rest of the pics after the jump.

District B13, two years later. The government has changed, but nothing else… The isolation wall – higher, bigger, farther – has stretched around the ghetto suburbs and the gangs have become even more powerful. Trafficking is now divided between five ethnic neighborhoods, each headed by a ruthless gang leader. Determined to “solve the problem” now more than ever, the secret service deliberately adds fuel to the fire. Martial arts expert cop Damien (Cyril Raffaelli) and Leïto (David Belle), capable of snaking his way in and out of the suburbs as he pleases, once again team up to save the suburbs from chaos through hardcore fights and chase scenes that defy the laws of gravity.

Parkour creator David Belle (also seen in Femme Fatale and Babylon A.D.) and stuntman Cyril Raffaelli (also seen in Live Free Or Die Hard and Kiss Of The Dragon) return in the leads whereas MC Jean Gab’1, who played Nico in the first film, plays an apparently different role in this one, that od Molko. Also included in the cast are Moussa Maaskri (Dark Portals: The Chronicles Of Vidocq), Pierre-Marie Mosconi (Rules Of Silence) and Alaa Oumouzoune (Traitor) among others. Lancôme spokesmodel Camille De Pazis (The Singer) provides the obligatory love interest/eye candy.

Due to his being busy with From Paris With Love, another EuropaCorp production, District B13 helmer Pierre Morel (also director of the supercool Taken) does not return, handing over directing duties to Patrick Alessandrin (August 15th), making this his first action film. The film was penned by producer Luc Besson, who co-wrote the original with Bibi Naceri (The Code). Filming took place in Serbia and Paris, France. B13 – U: Banlieue 13 – Ultimatum will premiere in France on February 18th, 2009.

Obvious update: Well I obviosly spoke too soon concerning the return of the site. But we ARE back now.

Finally! After two weeks of inactivity, computer troubles are finally over and updates will resume (The problems apparently came from the motherboard). I will not cover the extensive back catalogue of film news that has accumulated since I went offline, but here are some of the most interesting tidbits (at least in my opinion):

• Sylvester Stallone (Rambo), Jason Statham (Death Race) and Jet Li (The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor) will co-star in The Expendables, an action movie set in South America which will be written and directed by Stallone himself. Stallone has of course plenty of experience in the field having written or co-written most of his films and directed quite a few of them (including the last Rambo film and four of the Rocky movies).
• Joe Johnston, director of such films as Hidalgo, Jurassic Park III and October Sky will direct The First Avenger: Captain America, another of the cross-over comic book films Marvel Studios is making in the lead up to The Avengers (others include Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Iron Man 2). You know what I’d love? That they manage to include a crossover with the X-Men franchise, seeing as both this and the forthcoming X-Men Origins: Magneto will be set during World War II.
• Acclaimed British director Ridley Scott (Body Of Lies) will direct an adaptation of the popular board game Monopoly.
• Will Smith’s son Jaden, already seen in The Pursuit Of Happyness with his father, will play the lead in a remake of The Karate Kid.
• Speaking of Will Smith, he’ll star in a remake of the South Korean cult film Oldboy which will be directed by Steven Spielberg (you know, the Indiana Jones films)
• Lethal Weapon 5 isn’t completely dead after all and may happen eventually, according to series producer Joel Silver.
• And of course, there’s the very sad news that bestselling author Michael Crichton died of cancer at age 66 on November 4th. Crichton’s novels have inspired films such as Jurassic Park, The 13th Warrior, Sphere, Congo, The Andromeda Strain, Timeline and many others. In addition he created the long-running medical show ER, wrote a few original screenplays such as Twister and even did a bit of directing with films like Westworld, Coma, The First Great Train Robbery and a few others.

As for the site, I’m happy to report that the hiatus did nothing to slow viewership, in fact these past three days have been our busiest ever with slightly less than two thousand visits per day on average. However, The Movie Planet will have a slight change in focus. Seeing as how this is for now a one-man operation and that I do lead a rather busy life, I will only give proper news posts to items which particularly interest me and cover the rest of the daily film news in a round-up sort of way. Thus I hope I’ll be able to write more articles in the vein of the one I penned about Babylon A.D., and you can expect such writings on the subject of Quantum Of Solace, The Happening and the High School Musical franchise soon (I hope to have my Quantum Of Solace “review” later today, but you can already see my score of the film on the What We’ve Been Watching page).

Finally, you can now contact The Movie Planet at themovieplanetblog@gmail.com, how cool is that?

Jovial Update: The site will be back VERY VERY SOON!

Hey guys, sorry to report that my computer has recently encountered major, and for now unexplained, trouble, thus stopping me from updating the site for now. I will of course resume as soon as possible but until then I suggest you view your film news from sites such as /Film, Tuna Flix, IGN Movies, First Showing, Film School Rejects, CHUD, Collider, etc… But don’t forget to come by here once in a while to see if we’re back on!

See you soon!

Pirates Of The Caribbean on-screen couple Keira Knightley & Orlando Bloom are apparently considering a reunion for The Fever Returns, which is either a second sequel or a remake to the 1977 classic dance flick Saturday Night Fever (trailer above), details are unclear. The film will be set in Hoddedson, a small British town and all I can say is….WTF?

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