You may have seen the movie trailer for the Steven Spielberg-produced JJ Abrams-directed sci-fi film Super 8 attached to Iron Man 2 or bootlegged online, but did you notice the Easter eggs hidden at the end of the trailer that launched the film’s viral marketing efforts?
Yesterday I noticed that during the last seconds of the trailer, some letters flash through the lens of the film camera. I even asked on Twitter if anyone could figure out what the letters spelt.
The awesome sleuths at the UnfictionForum were able to screencapture all of the letters:
The spelt: “Scariest Thing I Ever Saw”
The website ScariestThingIEverSaw.com was register a little over a week after the film’s official website super8-movie.com, and by the same registration company. The website shows a PDP-11 16-bit microcomputer display:
If you try to print all pages, you get prompted with the following message:
Stop posting publicly. I can answer your questions.
I have proof.
>>>>
If you follow all the prompts on the green screen you will end up on a countdown screen.. CrispyG4 at unfiction calculated how long the countdown goes:
The number ticks every 5 seconds. 134640 parts. Start at 6000 so subtract those 6000 from the total: 128640. Times that by 5, you get 643,200 seconds until the countdown ends. Divide that by 60, 10720 minutes. Divide THAT by 60, get 179 hours. Which is just around 7 1/2 days. So, probably around Noon on the 15th?
So it appears that something will be revealed or unlocked on May 15th 2010. My first guess is that it could be the date when the movie trailer officially goes online.
Also, the guys at Super8News noticed the mention of a name “D, Morris” in the green screen terminal and decided to cross reference the name with UFOs and Area 51. This is the information they uncovered:
Dan Morris is a retired Air Force career Master Sergeant who was involved in the extraterrestrial projects for many years. After leaving the Air Force, he was recruited into the super-secret National Reconnaissance Organization, or NRO, during which time he worked specifically on extraterrestrial-connected operations. He had a cosmic top-secret clearance (38 levels above top secret) which, he states, no U.S. president, to his knowledge, has ever held. In his testimony, he talks of assassinations committed by the NSA; he tells how our military deliberately caused the 1947 ET craft crashes near Roswell, and captured one of the ETs, which they kept at Los Alamos for 3 years, until he died. He talks about the intelligence teams that were charged with intimidating, discrediting, and even eliminating witnesses to ET/UFO events. He talks about Germany’s re-engineering of UFOs, even prior to WWII. He talks about our current energy crisis — and the fact that we haven’t needed fossil fuels since the 1940s, when free energy technologies were developed — but have been kept from humanity. This is the real reason for the secrecy of the ET/UFO subject. “What the people in power right now don’t want us to know is that this free energy is available to everybody.” In conclusion, he warns against the weaponization of space and the shooting down of ET craft — this could force them to retaliate, and that would be our destruction.
Also of interest is this screen grab from Carlton Halpert, which he took right before the letters zoom by the camera lens at the end of the trailer:
Lionsgate has released a new red band movie trailer for Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of the Mark Millar comic book series Kick-Ass. As you know, I’ve been very critical of the marketing for this film thus far. I’ve not only seen the preview footage at comic-con, read part of the comic, but I’ve seen the entire film — it is awesome.
The three reasons why people will love this movie is because of the politically incorrect humor, the vulgarity, and the intense bloody super-stylized action. The posters for Big Daddy, Red Mist, Hit-Girl and now the entire cast, display none of these characteristics. They attempt to appeal to the masses with a colorful bublegum look (see above).
But this new restricted red band movie trailer is Kick-Ass — this is the movie, and this is the way to advertise it. Too bad most trailers and television networks won’t air this kind of trailer, because if you see this trailer, I’m pretty sure it’s as good as pre-ordering a ticket for opening weekend. Watch the trailer after the jump, and please leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Official Plot Synopsis: The film tells the story of average teenager Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a comic-book fanboy who decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero. As any good superhero would, he chooses a new name — Kick-Ass — assembles a suit and mask to wear, and gets to work fighting crime. There’s only one problem standing in his way: Kick-Ass has absolutely no superpowers. His life is forever changed as he inspires a subculture of copy cats, is hunted by assorted violent and unpleasant characters, and meets up with a pair of crazed vigilantes, including an 11-year-old sword-wielding dynamo, Hit Girl (Chloë Moretz) and her father, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage).
Watch the trailer in High Definition on MySpace. KICK-ASS is in theaters on April 16, 2010.
Over the course of the weekend, James Cameron’s Avatar was on track to beat Titanic’s record and become the top-grossing film of all time. The numbers have been verified, and Avatar’s worldwide gross stands at over $1.292 billion dollars, which tops Titanic’s $1.242 billion. The domestic record hasn’t yet fallen — by Sunday Avatar was still about $50m shy of Titanic’s $600.8m US gross. About 70% of Avatar’s revenue comes from foreign markets, compared to Titanic’s 67%.
High 3D ticket prices have helped Avatar reach that total, without a doubt. But so have Russia and China, which weren’t nearly as powerful movie markets for US films when Titanic was in theaters. Avatar is the biggest-grossing film of all time in those markets, as well as the highest-grossing American film ever to play in India. Chances that anyone will ever again doubt James Cameron have fallen significantly.
Not an Avatar fan? Take comfort in the fact that, when adjusted for inflation, Gone With the Wind is still the box office champ, with a $400m worldwide gross in 1939 translating to $6b today. Titanic’s 1997 gross would be worth $2.5b total. [THR]
Repo Men is the film once called Reposession Mambo, which has been sitting on the shelf at Universal for a while. The movie has nothing to do with the Alex Cox classic Repo Man.
Instead it tells of a near future when human life spans have been greatly extended by expensive artificial organs created by a company called The Union. When people fail to make their payments for a fancy new liver or other piece of their gut, a team of surgical operatives are sent out to reclaim The Union’s property. The film follows two of these guys, played by Jude Law and Forest Whitaker. Check out the first red band trailer to see what’s in store.
We’ve seen Natalie Portman in period pieces before, but I bet she’s never had to fight off hordes of undead at the same time. Portman is set to star and produce Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an adaptation of the uber-popular Seth Grahame-Smith novel that mashed up zombies with Jane Austen’s original text. Richard Kelly will also be one of her producing colleagues on the project.
Annette Savitch, another producer on the film, told Variety:
Natalie and I are longtime passionate fans of Jane Austen’s books and this a fresh, fun and thought-provoking way to approach her work. The idea of zombies running rampant in 19th Century England may sound odd, but it lends a modern sense of urgency to a well known love story.
There’s little else known about the project at this moment, but I’d be interested to see who ends up directing. Are they going to go with a known horror director to suit the zombie material, or will they go with a more dramatic and period-friendly director? Of course, whoever is chosen will have to tackle both aspects of the novel—but I think I’d be more interested to see them try and play the project straight.
I haven’t read the novel yet, but from what I’ve seen it doesn’t really go too far with the zombies. As we’ve reported previously, about 85% of the novel is just the original text (which is why Austen is still listed as an author). I think the adaptation will work best if they just treat it like another version of Pride and Prejudice, except this one just happens to have zombies. Going too campy will probably ruin much of the fun.
Now that must have been one damn successful breakfast meeting. Apparently, comedian Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation, Human Giant) and director Jason Woliner (Human Giant, Players) recently sat down for breakfast with Judd Apatow and pitched him three ideas for future projects. To their surprise, Apatow wanted all three.
Having worked together on Human Giant and Parks and Recreation, I can just imagine what a feature length project from Ansari and Woliner would look like. The first, tentatively titled Let’s Do This, is “a road movie about two guys who work for a motivational speaking company.” The second stars Ansari as a disgrced cosmonaut who’s forced to return to space. The third apparently came out of Ansari’s role in Funny People, although I don’t suspect that we’ll be getting a Raaaaaaaandy film. Woliner will also be directing all of the films.
Little else is known about the films, Ansari explains why:
We are hesitant to say too much about our ideas. A few years ago, we announced our new idea about a film where the world ended in the year 2014. We have since had to stop developing this movie.
As a huge fan of Ansari and Woliner’s work, I’d be amped for any project they launch. Now that Apatow is behind it as a producer, I’m even more excited. The only problem now is that with their rising careers we probably won’t be seeing any more Human Giant for a while, if ever.
Ansari can be seen in the upcoming Forgetting Sarah Marshall spinoff Get Him to the Gig (recently changed from Get Him to the Greek) , and Woliner will be directing the pilot for the upcoming Cartoon Network Adult Swim series Eagleheart.
Wikipedia has a list of the highest grossing films of this decade so far, and kottke noticed that of the top 20 films at the box office, only one movie was not based on a past film or tv show (remake/sequel), or an adaptation of an established property (be it a comic, book, play, toy…etc).
Which is the only original feature film to make it into the the top 20 grossing films of this decade (so far)? Answer after the jump.
Finding Nemo, which lands at #15 with $864.6 million.
If you take a look at the top 30 films from this decade, there is only one other original film property among the bunch, that being…
DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda, #30 spot with $631.7 million.
In fact, out of the top 50 grossing films of this decade, there are only 9 movies based on original properties. And five of those nine films were created by Pixar Animation Studios. How sad…
You can check out the full list below.
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King New Line Cinema $1,119,110,941 2003
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Disney $1,066,179,725 2006
3. The Dark Knight Warner Bros. $1,001,921,825 2008
4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Warner Bros. $974,733,550 2001
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End Disney $960,996,492 2007
6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Warner Bros. $938,212,738 2007
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Warner Bros. $929,022,922 2009
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers New Line Cinema $925,282,504 2002
9. Shrek 2 DreamWorks SKG $919,838,758 2004
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Warner Bros. $895,921,036 2005
11. Spider-Man 3 Columbia $890,871,626 2007
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Warner Bros. $878,643,482 2002
13. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs 20th Century Fox $878,615,229 2009
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring New Line Cinema $870,761,744 2001
15. Finding Nemo Disney / Pixar $864,625,978 2003
16. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith 20th Century Fox $848,754,768 2005
17. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Paramount $833,229,011 2009
18. Spider-Man Columbia $821,708,551 2002
19. Shrek the Third DreamWorks SKG $798,958,162 2007
20. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Warner Bros. $795,634,069 2004
21. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Paramount $786,636,033 2008
22. Spider-Man 2 Columbia $783,766,341 2004
23. The Da Vinci Code Sony / Columbia $758,239,851 2006
24. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Disney $745,011,272 2005
25. The Matrix Reloaded Warner Bros. $742,128,461 2003
26. Transformers DreamWorks / Paramount $709,709,780 2007
27. Ice Age: The Meltdown 20th Century Fox $655,388,158 2006
28. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Disney $654,264,015 2003
29. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones 20th Century Fox $649,398,328 2002
30. Kung Fu Panda DreamWorks SKG $631,736,484 2008
31. The Incredibles Disney / Pixar $631,442,092 2004
32. Hancock Columbia $624,386,746 2008
33. Ratatouille Disney / Pixar $623,707,397 2007
34. The Passion of the Christ Newmarket $611,899,420 2004
35. Mamma Mia! Universal $609,841,637 2008
36. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa DreamWorks SKG $603,900,344 2008
37. Casino Royale MGM / Columbia $594,239,066 2006
38. War of the Worlds DreamWorks / Paramount $591,745,540 2005
39. Quantum of Solace MGM / Columbia $586,090,727 2008
40. I Am Legend Warner Bros. $585,349,010 2007
41. Iron Man Paramount $585,133,287 2008
42. Night at the Museum 20th Century Fox $574,480,450 2006
43. King Kong Universal $550,517,357 2005
44. Mission: Impossible II Paramount $546,388,105 2000
45. The Day After Tomorrow 20th Century Fox $544,272,402 2004
46. Madagascar DreamWorks SKG $532,680,671 2005
47. The Simpsons Movie 20th Century Fox $527,071,022 2007
48. Monsters, Inc. Disney / Pixar $525,366,597 2001
49. WALL-E Disney / Pixar $521,268,237 2008
50. Meet the Fockers Universal $516,642,939 2004
Fans of Broken Lizard’s Super Troopers will be glad to know that things are moving along nicely for a sequel. According to Movie Cultists, they have independent financing and are looking to make a deal with Fox as well. Steve Lemme describes the situation as follows:
We’re like, three drafts into it. It’s funny, because we have an independent financier — we have a lot of independent financiers — who are like, ‘Give us that fucking movie.’ And we’re like, ‘We will, we will but we have to go through a studio first.’ But it’s a great thing to go to a studio and say, ‘We have the money.’
And yes, as far as we know right now, Brian Cox will be back for Super Troopers 2. Director Jay Chandrasekhar mentioned that he loved the first film, and added “He wanted to play in a movie where he could be like Jerry Lewis, because he’s always been a big Jerry Lewis fan.” Cox apparently told them that he’s approached more about Super Troopers than any other of his films.
We also have some updates on several Paramount projects, which came out of an update on the studio’s recent financing deal with SkyDance. Projects moving forward include the Shane Salerno (Shaft, Armageddon) action-comedy License to Steal, which is being produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Variety describes the project as “loosely based on a Marc Weingarten Salon.com article, the film focuses on the high-end repo business and agents who travel the world to reclaim play-toys of the wealthy that include private jets and speedboats.”
Also moving forward is Northern Lights, Todd Robinson-scripted film about ” four aspiring acrobatic pilots who form a team and take on a more experienced varsity squad for dominance in the sky.” Variety describes the project as “Top Gun meets Fast and the Furious“.
The Weekly Re-brew did a spoof on the trailer for "Paranormal Acitivty." The spoof is getting some hype so help us out by digging and watching this spoof. Thanks everyone.
The Weekly Re-brew will be on location at the GIRAF Animation Festival next weekend... we'll be partying with some artist, learning to draw, and watching some fucking good films... check the giraf site for show times and more info.. http://www.giraffest.ca/
Slash Films says The direct-to-dvd sequel, Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassin’s Ball, isn’t likely to be any better. In fact, it will probably be a lot worse, especially considering that Lost Boys: The Tribe director P.J. Pesce is at the helm.
The press release advertises that the film “features a sexy cast, whip-smart script and hyper-kinetic visuals.” The big selling point is that Lazlo Soot and the Tremor Brothers from the original theatrical film make their return. Here is the short plot synopsis (plot? do we really need a plot in a Smokin Aces direct-to-video sequel?):
Federal agents once again match wits with a cadre of creative killers in the high-octane feature-length film Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball. Walter Weed (Tom Berenger) is an unassuming desk jockey at the FBI when the Bureau uncovers a plot to assassinate him. A team of degenerate, psychotic assassins dispatched by mystery man Hal Leuco to win a huge bounty includes a resourceful beauty who has a unique method of killing her prey (Martha Higareda), a power-tool wielding psychopath (Vinnie Jones) and a deadly master of disguise (Tommy Flanagan). Also in the hunt is the fan-favorite Tremor family from the original film, featuring nymphomaniacal gun-nut (Autumn Reeser) and her lethal kinfolk (Maury Sterling, Michael Parks and C. Ernst Harth). Baker (Clayne Crawford), the agent in charge of the operation, puts himself and his team in the line of fire to defend Weed, but it’s not until the smoke clears on the film’s explosive climax that the surprising identity of the plot’s mastermind is revealed.
Still with me? You can watch the trailer embedded after the jump.
Learn the trick
Thanks to CraveOnline for the trailer embed. Check out the special features below:
· DELETED SCENES
· GAG REEL
· BEHIND THE SCENES WITH JOE CARNAHAN: Executive producer Joe Carnahan, producer Mike Elliott, writers Olatunde Osunsanmi and Olumide Odebunmi and director P.J. Pesce talk about the process of jumping back into the world of Smokin’ Aces.
· CONFESSIONS OF AN ASSASSIN: Director P.J. Pesce and the stars of the movie take us through production, from the ground, amidst the mayhem, blood, guts, bullets and all.
· READY, AIM, FIRE: THE WEAPONS OF SMOKIN’ ACES 2: Meet the armorer who equipped the gang with the over 20 guns in the film.
· CUE THE CLOWN: A behind the scenes look at what it took to produce one of the most explosive stunts in the movie.
· THE BUNKER MENTALITY: DESIGNING THE SET: Production designer Chris August, along with director P.J. Pesce and executive producer Joe Carnahan discuss the Art Deco look and feel of the sets as well as the little details that gave them the freedom them to shoot quickly and in every direction.
· FEATURE COMMENTARY with executive producer Joe Carnahan and director P.J. Pesce
Smoking Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball will be available on Blu-ray™ Hi-Def, DVD and digital download on January 19, 2010.
We’ve known that Dimension would remake Short Circuit, and we’ve known that Robot Chicken writer Dan Milano would be scripting. Now we’ve got a director: Steve Carr. Who? How about this: he’s the guy who directed Paul Blart: Mall Cop.
I haven’t seen Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It might be more funny than a lot of people would like to admit. (I doubt it, but trying to be fair here.) But knowing that I have no interest in seeing Paul Blart, I’m looking at Carr’s resume to get an idea of what to expect. Maybe Paul Blart wasn’t really his fault. Let’s see…we’ve got Next Friday to start with. Funny enough, not a bad start. Then…uh-oh. Dr. Doolittle 2. Daddy Day Care and the very aptly titled Are We Done Yet? Yikes. I’m glad I had no particular ties to this remake in the first place.
Dan Milano replaced original creators S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, but he’s reportedly penned a fairly faithful update of the original film. Variety calls it ” a robot reboot that brings the iconic Johnny 5 into the 21st century,” which jibes with what we ran when Milano was hired. Then he said he wanted to take advantage of advancements in robotics, though how that would affect the story beyond adding some extra options to flesh out the origin and capabilities of Johnny 5 is tough to predict.
If you’re looking at Carr’s resume and thinking Dimension is just out to create a broadly appealing film that can rope in the largest family fan base possible, you’re exactly right. Variety says “Short Circuit fits into Dimension’s priority of making franchise films, a list that includes Scream 4, Spy Kids 4, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser [with which they've been having quite a tough time], Scanners [not that again] and An American Werewolf in London.
Russ Fischer from Slash Film says "Months ago I ran into Brent Hinds, guitarist for Mastodon, who mentioned that he’d just shot a cameo for the new John Malkovich movie, and that the band would be doing some music for it. That had to be Jonah Hex, but I wasn’t able to get any more details. Soon enough AICN got wind of Mastodon’s score for the film, but no further info. Now some other enterprising Atlanta boys have talked to the band and got the scoop on what we can expect to hear in the film. And I’m more excited than I expected to be, as the band says that in part, the music resembles Neil Young’s score for Dead Man!
Paste talked to Troy Sanders, bass player for Mastodon, and he gave up a bunch of details about what the band has done for the movie. Director Jimmy Hayward actually approached the band, saying that their record Blood Mountain had been an influence while working on the script. That led to Hinds visiting the New Orleans set and his cameo, and then the band went to LA to record about an hour’s worth of music for the film.
The songs are all instrumental, including “five full songs and many smaller musical themes adapted throughout.” Composer John Powell is integrating that music into his original score. “We wrote variations on themes for each character,” Sanders says, “different variables for a bunch of riffs: faster, slower, heavier, lighter,” Sanders said. “It’s the Darth Vader approach.”
So what does it sound like? Sanders says, “a lot of it was spacey, Melvins B-sides, Pink Floyd-like, surreal outer space, like Neil Young’s Dead Man. Swirling, nausea music.”
And basically, Sanders says the whole album’s worth of music was done for nothing. “I guarantee an incredibly popular misconception will be, ‘Oh my god, they’re selling out doing a fucking comic-book movie. They probably got a huge paycheck and don’t give a shit about integrity,’” Sanders predicts. “The fact is the exact opposite. We sacrificed another two weeks away from home to give away an album’s worth of material for nothing in return but satisfaction in being a part of something incredible.”
The Weekly Re-Brew Was invited to cover
The Calgary Underground Film Festival (CUFF)
who are co presenting with
the Calgary Cinematheque,
a special screening of a rare, and surreal, horror film called HOUSE (HAUSU).
Date:
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Time:
9:15pm - 11:00pm
Location:
The Plaza
Street:
1133 Kensington Road NW
City/Town:
Calgary, AB
HOUSE (HAUSU)
1977, Japan, 88 Minutes, Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi
How to describe Nobuhiko Obayahshi’s indescribable 1977 movie Hausu? As a psychedelic ghost tale? A stream-of-consciousness bedtime story? An episode of Scooby Doo as directed by Dario Argento? Any of the above will do for this hallucinatory head trip about a schoolgirl who travels with six classmates to her ailing aunt’s creaky country home, only to come face to face with evil spirits, bloodthirsty pianos, and a demonic housecat. Too absurd to be genuinely terrifying, yet too nightmarish to be merely comic, Hausu seems like it was beamed to Earth from another planet. Or perhaps the mind of a child: the director fashioned the script after the eccentric musings of his eleven-year-old daughter, then employed all the tricks in his analog arsenal (mattes, animation, and collage) to make them a visually astonishing, raucous reality. Never before released in the North America, and a bona fide cult classic in the making, Hausu is one of the most exciting genre discoveries in years.
"Hausu may have been intended to be a horror film, but it switches genres so fast and furiously that you cannot help but be jarred by the cinematic whiplash it inflicts. Do not miss this rare opportunity to experience this cinematic wonder with an audience" -Kevin Monahan, Boston Underground Film Festival
Official Selection:::::
Fantastic Fest 2009, Fantasia Film Festival 2009, New York Asian Film Festival 2009, Boston Underground Film Festival 2009, American Cinematheque 2009
Awards:::::
WINNER: Best New Director, Blue Ribbon Awards 1978
Michael Dougherty’s semi-anthology horror film Trick ‘r Treat has been the subject of a lot of blog talk over the past two years, and now thanks to this week’s DVD release, everyone can see it. So, of course, Dougherty is talking about the sequel. In this case, it’s one I’m very interested to hear more about.
Dougherty tells MTV that he’s got part of the first sequel mapped out. He knows how the sequel ends, and without giving too much away, that’s the most crucial part. Because while Trick ‘r Treat is labeled an anthology film, in reality it is a handful of interwoven tales. While focusing on one, you’ll catch glimpses of the others and in that way fill in some intentional little narrative gaps. And there’s sort of a full-circle narrative style going on, so the end is, in some ways, the beginning. Once again, the organizing principle here will have to do with Sam, the little guy on the DVD covers above, who is destined to become the series’ mascot and very soon a costume you’ll see every Halloween. Dougherty says,
The whole idea originally, for me, was to do one if not every Halloween, at least every other Halloween. Because it’s an anthology film, it lends itself to telling another four stories which would intertwine – but I think you could take the film and explore how Halloween was celebrated in different locations, different time periods, and the one consistent character would be Sam, the mascot.
Beyond that, I’m not going to evangelize the first Trick ‘r Treat too much. It’s a great movie, a really fun little Halloween flick. Finally got to see it last weekend with a group of friends and, though most were skeptical at first, all were converted by the end. But so much has been written about how it’s the greatest horror movie since [insert last great horror movie title here] that I don’t want to over-inflate expectations at this point. Trick ‘r Treat is out on DVD this week, and if you like fun, well-written horror, you’ll likely enjoy it. That is all.
It’s getting to the point where I feel a little silly writing every last little word about the potential Arrested Development movie that comes down the wire. But that’s what we do, right? So here it is: there is…will be…a script for an Arrested Development movie. Soon. So very, very soon. Maybe. If things go well.
THR reports the sky-rending news that Mitch Hurwitz has begun work on a script with series co-exec producer James Vallely. This is notable, I guess, because THR reports that Hurwitz has said he wouldn’t start a script unless the entire cast was in place to return for the film. Michael Cera had been reported as the holdout for some time, but maybe (Maeby?) he’s in now. Your guess is as good as mine. Some of the cast have even said in the past that Hurwitz had already been working on the script, but perhaps they just caught him taking notes on the behavior of banana stand employees in Santa Monica.
What’s the story for the film? Start guessing there, too. Back during Comic Con Jason Bateman said the movie wasn’t dead and that the plot could jump off from the end of the television series, when Maeby pitches the family’s story to Ron Howard as a movie. That’s more of a jumping off point than a story, though, so there will have to be a lot more revealed than that.
Fox Searchlight is still behind the film, and Hurwitz will direct. This would seem like the necessary point for me to include my boilerplate text about how the show was great, but probably better as a self-contained entity and that it’s already been too long and we don’t really need a movie, but I’ll let everyone hash that out in the comments. At this point, I’d be happy about the film really happening just so we could finally have something more than half-news and rumor to report about.
Old News
