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‘We’re not done with ‘Friday Night Lights,’ ‘ executive producer Peter Berg tells MTV News.
By Kara Warner, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Taylor Kitsch on the “Friday Night Lights” TV series
Photo: NBC

The last time we checked in on a potential movie based on the “Friday Night Lights” TV series, star Taylor Kitsch told MTV News that he knew just as much as we did. “I hear hearsay and all this kind of stuff,” Kitsch said, adding that executive producer Peter Berg could always make it happen. “If Pete sets his mind to something, he’ll usually get it done.”

MTV News was lucky enough to catch up with Berg himself at a “Battleship” preview at Toy Fair in New York, and we asked for an update on the movie.

“Jason Katims, who was our super talented show-runner, is about done with the script,” Berg said. “You never know. So much of these things become scheduling. Kyle [Chandler] is busy, Adrianne [Palicki] is busy, Taylor is busy, Connie Britton is busy, but if we can get everyone in the same room at the same time, we all want to do it. We’re not done with ‘Friday Night Lights.’ ”

Speaking to a potential plotline, Berg said they plan to involve some real-life elements pegged to former Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach but that things will revolve around Coach and Tami Taylor from the TV series.

“[Katims] has come up with a really great storyline that parallels what happened to Mike Leach, one of my heroes, a coach at Texas Tech who was unjustly fired and unjustly accused of mistreating a player with a concussion, which was proven to not have been the case. He’s now at Washington State getting ready for what I think will be a great redemption story,” Berg explained. “It would be critical that we get Kyle and Connie [onboard for the film] — we anchored the show around them — and then bring in Riggins, Tyra, Lyla and all other characters as we could get them. But the idea is to really revolve it around the coach.”

Kitsch seemed to have reservations about returning to his beloved character, but he’s open to a cameo. “I loved the way I left Riggs,” Kitsch said when asked if he’d like to continue on with the character. “You never know. Maybe a little cameo or something. We’ll see if he even wants me in it.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1679274/friday-night-lights-movie.jhtml

Batman The Dark Knight Rises Christian Bale

MTV News thinks ‘Rango’ is the likely winner at this year’s Academy Awards, but who should win?
By Josh Wigler

“Rango”
Photo: Paramount Pictures

The Academy Awards are fast approaching, and it’s bound to be an animated show this year — if not a particularly “Adventure”-ous one.

For the first time in years, animation powerhouse Pixar has been shut out of the Oscar race for Best Animated Feature Film, leaving the field wide open for an unexpected newcomer to take the top prize. Two foreign flicks — “A Cat in Paris” and “Chico & Rita” — are in the mix, battling it out against popular favorites and proven franchise hits “Kung Fu Panda 2″ and “Puss in Boots.” But we expect that the Academy will skew toward the surreal this year, honoring the beautifully bizarre “Rango” with a shiny new golden statue.

Read on for our picks and wishes for Best Animated Feature Film.

Who Will Win: “Rango” takes it home. “A Cat in Paris” and “Chico & Rita” cancel each other out, as do DreamWorks Animation’s two offerings. That leaves the door open for the little chameleon that could, played to quirky perfection by seasoned veteran Johnny Depp. Reteaming with his former “Pirates of the Caribbean” captain Gore Verbinski, “Rango” stands out as one of the most original animated movies to hit theaters stateside in quite some time. It’s fully deserving of its impending victory. Having said that…

Who Should Win: “The Adventures of Tintin.” Clearly, it’s not going to win — it’s not even nominated! A travesty, I say. Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the adventure tales from Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi stands out as one of the greatest comic book films of 2011, and in my opinion, the best animated movie of the year. It deserves not just a nomination, but a win, for its fantastic score from John Williams, wonderfully inventive opening credits, astoundingly assembled action pieces and yet another all-star motion-capture grand slam from the incredible Andy Serkis. “Tintin” didn’t win its Golden Globe award for nothing, folks. This movie should already be polishing its Oscar by now — there are no excuses for its exclusion from the race.

The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Stick with us for everything you need to know leading up to the awards show, and on Sunday, February 25, we’ll put you on the red carpet and bring you all the winners.

Related Photos

• 2012 Oscar Nominees

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1679264/oscar-best-animated-feature-predictions.jhtml

Human Centipede The Walking Dead

MTV News thinks ‘Rango’ is the likely winner at this year’s Academy Awards, but who should win?
By Josh Wigler

“Rango”
Photo: Paramount Pictures

The Academy Awards are fast approaching, and it’s bound to be an animated show this year — if not a particularly “Adventure”-ous one.

For the first time in years, animation powerhouse Pixar has been shut out of the Oscar race for Best Animated Feature Film, leaving the field wide open for an unexpected newcomer to take the top prize. Two foreign flicks — “A Cat in Paris” and “Chico & Rita” — are in the mix, battling it out against popular favorites and proven franchise hits “Kung Fu Panda 2″ and “Puss in Boots.” But we expect that the Academy will skew toward the surreal this year, honoring the beautifully bizarre “Rango” with a shiny new golden statue.

Read on for our picks and wishes for Best Animated Feature Film.

Who Will Win: “Rango” takes it home. “A Cat in Paris” and “Chico & Rita” cancel each other out, as do DreamWorks Animation’s two offerings. That leaves the door open for the little chameleon that could, played to quirky perfection by seasoned veteran Johnny Depp. Reteaming with his former “Pirates of the Caribbean” captain Gore Verbinski, “Rango” stands out as one of the most original animated movies to hit theaters stateside in quite some time. It’s fully deserving of its impending victory. Having said that…

Who Should Win: “The Adventures of Tintin.” Clearly, it’s not going to win — it’s not even nominated! A travesty, I say. Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the adventure tales from Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi stands out as one of the greatest comic book films of 2011, and in my opinion, the best animated movie of the year. It deserves not just a nomination, but a win, for its fantastic score from John Williams, wonderfully inventive opening credits, astoundingly assembled action pieces and yet another all-star motion-capture grand slam from the incredible Andy Serkis. “Tintin” didn’t win its Golden Globe award for nothing, folks. This movie should already be polishing its Oscar by now — there are no excuses for its exclusion from the race.

The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Stick with us for everything you need to know leading up to the awards show, and on Sunday, February 25, we’ll put you on the red carpet and bring you all the winners.

Related Photos

• 2012 Oscar Nominees

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1679264/oscar-best-animated-feature-predictions.jhtml

The Walking Dead The Hobbit Movie

One day after the release of a brand new Twisted Metal game for the Playstation 3 and two days before the release of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Sony has announced that they will be bringing these two properties together in a scorcher of a deal. That’s right, Twisted Metal is headed to the big screen, and one of the directors of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is the man who will make it happen. For the uninitiated, Twisted Metal is a long-running series of video games that revolve around multiplayer battles between characters driving tricked-out heavily armed vehicles. It’s easy to see why Sony might connect these two franchises; after all, Twisted Metal’s most popular character is Sweet Tooth, a psychotic clown with a flaming head who drives an ice cream truck. According to Deadline, Brian Taylor has landed a seven-figure deal to write and direct a live-action Twisted Metal movie. For the first time, he will be working without his partner in crime, Mark Neveldine, although it’s not clear why he decided to branch out on his own. Together, the duo previously directed the Crank films plus the horrendous Gamer starring Gerard Butler. The movie will be somewhat similar to the Death Race films, revolving around an underground arena vehicular fight to the death between multiple competitors. The organizer of the event is Calypso, a man who was involved in a freak accident that killed his wife and daughter. He essentially made a deal with the devil to come back from the dead and now possesses a mystical power stolen from a demon that allows him to grant the sole survivor anything they wish for. Clearly this movie will be absolutely ridiculous, and Brian Taylor seems like the perfect man for the job. Are you looking forward to a Twisted Metal movie?

Source: http://www.filmjunk.com/2012/02/15/one-half-of-neveldinetaylor-to-direct-twisted-metal-movie/

Christian Bale Human Centipede

Chris Pine’s baby blues can look deep into our souls any day of the week. And this week they will once again grace the big screen in the action-packed rom-com, “This Means War.” Sure, we could never pick between Tom Hardy and Chris, if we ever actually had to, but we were able to pull [...]

Source: http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2012/02/15/this-means-war-chris-pine-hump-day-hottie/

Jason Statham Batman The Dark Knight Rises

MTV News thinks ‘Rango’ is the likely winner at this year’s Academy Awards, but who should win?
By Josh Wigler

“Rango”
Photo: Paramount Pictures

The Academy Awards are fast approaching, and it’s bound to be an animated show this year — if not a particularly “Adventure”-ous one.

For the first time in years, animation powerhouse Pixar has been shut out of the Oscar race for Best Animated Feature Film, leaving the field wide open for an unexpected newcomer to take the top prize. Two foreign flicks — “A Cat in Paris” and “Chico & Rita” — are in the mix, battling it out against popular favorites and proven franchise hits “Kung Fu Panda 2″ and “Puss in Boots.” But we expect that the Academy will skew toward the surreal this year, honoring the beautifully bizarre “Rango” with a shiny new golden statue.

Read on for our picks and wishes for Best Animated Feature Film.

Who Will Win: “Rango” takes it home. “A Cat in Paris” and “Chico & Rita” cancel each other out, as do DreamWorks Animation’s two offerings. That leaves the door open for the little chameleon that could, played to quirky perfection by seasoned veteran Johnny Depp. Reteaming with his former “Pirates of the Caribbean” captain Gore Verbinski, “Rango” stands out as one of the most original animated movies to hit theaters stateside in quite some time. It’s fully deserving of its impending victory. Having said that…

Who Should Win: “The Adventures of Tintin.” Clearly, it’s not going to win — it’s not even nominated! A travesty, I say. Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the adventure tales from Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi stands out as one of the greatest comic book films of 2011, and in my opinion, the best animated movie of the year. It deserves not just a nomination, but a win, for its fantastic score from John Williams, wonderfully inventive opening credits, astoundingly assembled action pieces and yet another all-star motion-capture grand slam from the incredible Andy Serkis. “Tintin” didn’t win its Golden Globe award for nothing, folks. This movie should already be polishing its Oscar by now — there are no excuses for its exclusion from the race.

The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Stick with us for everything you need to know leading up to the awards show, and on Sunday, February 25, we’ll put you on the red carpet and bring you all the winners.

Related Photos

• 2012 Oscar Nominees

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1679264/oscar-best-animated-feature-predictions.jhtml

Batman The Dark Knight Rises Christian Bale

The fourth film, which will be released in summer of 2014, will be ‘an evolution,’ Lorenzo di Bonaventura tells MTV News.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Optimus Prime in “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
Photo: Paramount

Since late last year, rumors began firing off about a potential “Transformers” sequel or sequels, and they ran the gamut. Paramount might film two sequels back to back. Michael Bay might return for both. Jason Statham may be the new star. Rumors came and went, but perhaps the biggest question lingered: Will Bay return to direct?

The master of the big-budget explosion, Bay’s highly stylized eye for action lent the trilogy its signature look and breakneck pace. With potential sequels looming, no word had been given on whether Bay would return for any follow-ups.

But at Toy Fair 2012, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura confirmed to MTV News that Bay would, indeed, return for a fourth “Transformers” film. “Michael’s going to direct, and it’ll be in the summer of 2014. We’ll be releasing then,” di Bonaventura said.

Di Bonaventura said that the director is eager to get back to the franchise he started. “He’s a cool customer. He’s excited,” he said. “I think the challenge there is that we are really going to do a reboot and what that’s going to be, we don’t even know yet.” Bay will reportedly film the next “Transformers” after making “Pain and Gain,” which has Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg circling major roles.

As for the Jason Statham rumors, di Bonaventura said that it is way too early in the process to decide something like casting. “No, it’s so silly. We have to get a story first,” he said. “You can’t pick characters if you don’t have a story.”

With the series heading in the direction of a reboot, many new questions form about which characters and storylines will return. Di Bonaventura insisted that the fourth film will not be a hard reboot, but an “evolution.”

“Again, it’s a hybrid because it’s a funny thing. I’m not involved with ‘Spider-Man,’ but what I perceive ‘Spider-Man’ to be is just a redoing of the whole thing. It’s not. It’s an evolution. There’s still continuity that’s going on, yet there will be a lot of new cast,” he said. “Whether there’s anybody from the first cast, we don’t even know yet. The trust is it’s going to be a whole new story. The characters that would certainly come along are Optimus and Bumblebee, I’m sure.”

Are you excited for a “Transformers 4″? Leave your comment below!

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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• MTV Rough Cut: ‘Transformers: Dark Of The Moon’

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1679197/transformers-four-michael-bay.jhtml

Christian Bale Human Centipede

Michael Bay is directing “Transformers 4,” as MTV News exclusively reported on Monday (February 13). The next outing in the robots-in-disguise franchise won’t make its way to theaters until the summer of 2014, however, leaving plenty of time for Bay to figure out the particulars of his developing reboot.

That also gives us plenty of time [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/02/14/michael-bay-transformers-4-reboot/

Christian Bale Human Centipede

Houston’s talents were ‘undeniable and vast,’ actress Angela Bassett says in statement.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Angela Bassett, Whitney Houston, Lela Rochon and Loretta Devine in “Waiting to Exhale”
Photo: 20th Century Fox

In the days since her tragic death, there has been an outpouring for Whitney Houston from the music industry, but those who worked with Houston on feature films have also spoken out about her passing.

Houston starred in 1995′s “Waiting to Exhale” alongside Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon. The film, directed by Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker, was based on Terry McMillan’s book and marked Houston’s second starring role in a film after

Bassett, Devine and McMillan spoke publicly about Houston’s death, each expressing their deep sadness at the loss.

“I am so thankful to have been enveloped by the warmth of Whitney’s great talents. They were undeniable and vast,” Bassett said in a statement. “Whatever her burdens, she has at last laid them down and picked up instead a crown. For truly, she was and will ever be for us — who were so captivated by her strengths — unparalleled.”

Both Devine and McMillan referenced the developing sequel the group was to collaborate on, “Getting to Happy,” in their comments about Houston’s death. McMillan, however, insisted over Twitter that now was not the time to talk about the status of the sequel. “I am not thinking about the damn movie,” she said. “So please, don’t ask.” The author said that she had been afraid this would happen and stated, “I’m sad, hurt and angry. Because I did not want to see her leave us. Period.”

Houston’s “Waiting to Exhale” co-star Devine worked with the singer on several occasions and had expressed hope about working together again.

“I am overwhelmed. I cannot wrap my mind around this. I missed the chance to see her at a party this past Thursday and when we spoke last she had just finished ‘Sparkle’ and she told me how excited she was to start production on ‘Waiting to Exhale 2′ with Angela, Lela and myself,” Devine said. “My prayers go out to her family and I am so honored for the time I spent working with her on ‘Waiting to Exhale,’ ‘The Preacher’s Wife’ and on ‘Boston Public.’ I love you, Whitney, and I will miss your easy laugh.”

Share your condolences with Whitney’s family and friends on our Facebook page.

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• Whitney Houston: Life And Music Of An Icon

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• Whitney Houston

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1679135/whitney-houston-dead-remembered-waiting-to-exhale.jhtml

Jason Statham Batman The Dark Knight Rises

Happy Valentine’s Day! Sadly, there aren’t too many romantic movies hitting DVD or Blu-ray today, but I suppose anything with Johnny Depp always makes for a perfect date flick… even if he happens to be playing an alcoholic. The Rum Diary is really the only major release of the week, with most of the other selections being indie and foreign films including Take Shelter starring Michael Shannon, Jose Padilha’s Elite Squad: The Enemy Within and The Human Centipede II: Full Sequence. Criterion is also putting out Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture and Hideo Gosha’s Three Outlaw Samurai, and then there are a couple of acclaimed documentaries in The Interrupters and Urbanized. We’d also be remiss if we did not mention 50 Cent’s cancer drama All Things Fall Apart… did someone say Oscar snub? What will you be buying or renting this week? Check out the list of new releases after the jump.

Source: http://www.filmjunk.com/2012/02/14/this-week-on-dvd-and-blu-ray-take-shelter-the-rum-diary-the-interrupters/

Human Centipede The Walking Dead