Some More Upcoming Movie News...

Some interesting news via Comingsoon.net: News from Thomas Jane that Punisher 2 will start filming this summer. I also heard elsewhere that they said it will be set in New York, and I think they named the villain, but it escapes me at the moment. Either way, I liked the first Punisher, so getting a sequel is good news. I also think the first one would have done better at the box office had it not opened on the same weekend as Kill Bill 2… Vinne Jones who plays Juggernaut in X-Men 3, has been quoted in an interview that he has signed on for X3, 4, and 5. This is news, as the popular opinion seems to be that this would be the last one. Of course, it could just be the last one with these actors as the primary cast. This franchise is a major cash cow for Fox and Marvel, so unless they completely blow it with this 3rd one, they will find a way to keep bringing money in on new ones. One theory I’ve read is that there are so many mutants and storylines in the X-Men universe, that they could easily spin more movies with just new characters. Should be interesting to first see how X3 goes with a new director, then how the Wolverine and Magneto spin-off movies are approached, and then what direction the X-Men movie franchise goes from there. Wolverine is slated for a 2007 release, and I hope they do it right. Hugh Jackman will play the role, of course, so that’s good, and with David Benioff writing the script, there might be some hope for a good one. He did come up with 25th Hour, after all, and that was excellent… Yes, apparently, though no one asked for it, they have made a 3rd Fast and the Furious movie. Called The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, it is set in Tokyo (really?) and does not feature anybody from the 1st two movies. Expect more pocket rockets, electric shaver cars, nitrous oxide, and lots of CGI. Set to annoy at a theatre near you this summer, June 16th… The trailer for Ultraviolet has also hit the web, and it looks like an interesting Sci-Fi movie (Feb. 24 release date). It stars Milla Jovovich, and even though she looks a little too close to Aeon Flux, I’d be interested to see it. It’s got a unique style too, and the action scenes look well done. They just had to give a nice surprise away in the trailer, but what trailer doesn’t do that anymore? I’ve always liked Jovovich, and if the plot holds up, this looks like a much better version of what her Resident Evil movies could have been. (Though I did enjoy the second one, and according to IMDB, there’s a third one coming out this year…) Lately I’ve been catching more episodes of Miami Vice on my local rerun cable channel. I am really digging the show and I have to say, based on the teaser trailer, I am really looking forward to the big screen version of Miami Vice. Along with X3, it is one of the coolest teasers to have hit the web. The music, action, and Miami locales all come together well. Plus, it has one of the best ending lines to a teaser: As the music fades out, Jamie Foxx says at the end, “Smooth…that’s how we do it.” It looks like they’ve really kept the spirit of the TV show, and I have no doubts about Foxx being good after watching him in Collateral. Colin Farell as Sonny, I’m not quite so sure about, but I’ll bet director Michael Mann gets this one right…