Movie P.I.

Variety has announced that Reeves will produce and star in Henry’s Crime, a project being directed by Malcolm Venville. In the Capraesque romcom, scripted by Sacha Gervasi, Reeves will play a bighearted man who is falsely accused of robbing a bank in Buffalo. The picture will be financed through private equity. No distribution has yet been set for the film.

Fox has announced that they’re moving forward on rebooting the Fantastic Four franchise that director Tim Story ruined twice already. Screenwriter and producer Akiva Goldsman has been hired to oversee the reboot as producer. The studio has also hired Michael Green, a co-executive producer to write the new screenplay.

Screen Gems has debuted the new trailer for Armored, the Nimrod Antal-directed action-thriller hitting theaters on December 4th. The movie stars Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne.

Plot: A newbie guard for an armored truck company is coerced by his veteran coworkers to steal a truck containing $42 million. But a wrinkle in their supposedly foolproof plan divides the group, leading to a potentially deadly resolution.

Disney is going to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion!

Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”

“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Iger said.

“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.”

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Mr. Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel’s properties.

The Boards of Directors of Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, effectiveness of a registration statement with respect to Disney shares issued in the transaction and other customary closing conditions. The agreement will require the approval of Marvel shareholders. Marvel was advised on the transaction by BofA Merrill Lynch.

Columbia Pictures is developing a third installment of the “Bad Boys” franchise, hiring Peter Craig to write the screenplay. The studio hopes to have a script that would reunite director Michael Bay, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

The first Bad Boys grossed $141 million worldwide and the second one grossed $273 million worldwide.

Nu Image/Millennium Films has given the green light to the fifth installment in the “Rambo” franchise, with Sylvester Stallone starring and directing. The production will start in the spring.

Variety says the storyline for the fifth film talks about Rambo fighting his way through human traffickers and drug lords to rescue a young girl abducted near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Heat Vision is reporting that Nicolas Cage signed to star in Drive Angry, a 3D revenge action movie that Patrick Lussier will direct for Nu Image/Millenium Films and will be written by Lussier and Todd Farmer.
The studio is planning to begin production in April in Louisiana.

The story centers on a man driven by rage who is chasing the people who killed his daughter and kidnapped her baby. The vendetta/rescue spins out of control as the chase gets bloodier by the mile, leaving bodies strewn along the highway.

It was revealed that Sony Pictures Animation’s big screen Smurfs feature would be coming to theaters in 3D, and now we have a picture of one of the little fellas hitting theaters on December 17, 2010, the film will be directed by Raja Gosnell.

Sony Pictures Classics plans to release Terry Gilliam’s new movie The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus on Christmas Day, confirming earlier conjecture about the possibility. The film will be making its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on September 18 and be released in the UK on October 16. The movie also stars Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law.

the winner is… Final Destination’s big 3-D opening. I was pleased to see Inglourious Basterds fell less than 50 percent. The people have spoken, and they like Tarantino’s style. Let’s break it down.

1. The Final Destination : 28.3 million
2. Inglourious Basterds: 20.0 million
3. Halloween II: 17.4 million
4. District 9: 10.7 million
5. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: 8.0 million
6. Julie & Julia: 7.4 million
7. The Time Traveler’s Wife: 6.7 million
8. Shorts: 4.8 million
9. Taking Woodstock: 3.7 million
10. G-Force: 2.8 million