Extras! 31 March 2015

Welcome to The Extras! A daily dose of all the smaller movie related news, clips and just plain cool stuff that you might have missed!

• With Maleficent turning a beloved children’s tale into a dark rape fantasy (oh yeah, watch it again) and then making stupid amounts of money at the box office, it only makes sense that Disney produces some more remakes of their classics. And Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is just the man to make it happen!

[PLEASE NOTE: You need to install something like Proxtube to get around the regional restrictions on this video. Trust me, it’s worth it]

• Growing up as a kid, I watched far too much classic kung fu movies (this might explain why my lips don’t move to match my words when I speak), and many of them was the work the Shaw Brothers. The iconic Hong Kong production studio founded by legendary producer Run Run Shaw in the 1920’s may have lost the battle to rival studio Golden Harvest back in the 80’s, but it appears that they are poised to make a comeback. TVB, the current owners of the Shaw Brothers, have unveiled a $13 million plan for seven new films to be produced this year.

• Take this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 rumour with a grain of salt. Or whatever other seasoning you enjoy with turtles on the half shell. During a recent podcast at Grantland (via ShockYa) LA Clippers basketball player JJ Redick, who will be appearing the upcoming sequel, revealed that the full title will be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Half Shell.

• Poster of the day: The Wolf Man

• Now that the fat lady has finally sung on Glee (and no, that wasn’t a joke about Mercedes’ weight) some of the show’s principal stars will probably be branching out into other stuff soon. And it looks like Lea “Rachel” Michele has already lined up her first gig. And it doesn’t even involve singing. I think. Michele will be co-starring with swimsuit model/occasional actress Kate Upton in The Layover, the second directing effort from veteran actor William H. Macy. The film will see the two young ladies as “lifelong best friends who decide to avoid their problems by taking a vacation only to find that their plane has been rerouted due to a hurricane warning. To make matters worse, the two friends find themselves battling for the same guy during an extended layover in St. Louis. Macy will play a role in the film as well.”

• Dear world, if you can all just put together some cash and buy me this incredible new range of Star Wars action figures from video game publisher Square Enix, I would love you all long time.

• Yesterday was actually the 47th birthday of everybody’s favourite warrior princess and second-favourite Cylon, Lucy Lawless! And to celebrate, Pajiba has put together this awesome gallery in honour of this “beautiful, powerful, giver of no f@cks!”.

• And because clearly beating up blind dudes is not enough to get him all his bad guy jollies, Vincent D’Onofrio is reportedly being eyed to play the main villain in the upcoming Magnificent Seven remake. This new version, which is directed by Antoine Fuqua and already includes Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke in its cast, is a remake of the classic Yul Brenner and Steven McQueen 1960’s western, itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai.

• In the comic books, Deadpool is known for using a variety of guns, and it looks like Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds just added two more to the inventory. The actor posted this pic of himself and a young fan at the gym where Reynolds was getting in shape for the role.

This stud out-benched me in the gym Sunday. Nice meeting you Adley.pic.twitter.com/wi4p9SVbz2”

— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) March 30, 2015

Other than showing off his ripped muscles, Reynolds also responded to a different fan on Twitter on what the age restriction will be on Deadpool:

“I want Deadpool to be R. Always have. Fighting the good fight still. Lotta yelling today.”

• For a second there, I thought that Disney was going to pull a Tak3n and somehow try to force an unholy of numbers and letters for Tron 3. No, I don’t know how that would even work either, and I’m glad I won’t find out either as it appears that sanity has prevailed at the house of mouse, with the upcoming third film apparently being titled Tron: Ascension. Ok, they can maybe still go with Tron: Asc3nsion…. Damn it! I just gave them the idea, didn’t I?

• So there’s a new, fully CG animated Smurfs movie coming up. It’s supposed to be a reboot of sorts after the horrible live-action Neil Patrick Harris, taking the movie franchise back to its classic cartoon roots. Personally, I think they missed a big opportunity to throw in with an already established franchise that would bring in a new audience. Maybe something like…. Game of Thrones?

If you have anything you would like to contribute to Extras, whether it be interesting stories, funny videos, or artistic photos of yourself in morally questionable poses, feel free to drop a mail to kervyn@themovies.co.za.

Last Updated: March 31, 2015