James Franco is reportedly up for the role of Oz in the upcoming Sam Raimi film Oz, the Great and Powerful since Johnny Depp passed on the role.

The Oscar-nominated host of the Academy Awards is in early talks to star in Oz, the Great and Powerful, Disney’s prequel-ish take on The Wizard of Oz tale being directed by Sam Raimi.

The Oz role has been a hot one since Robert Downey Jr. fell out two and a half weeks ago. Johnny Depp was then in discussions for the role but after several meetings ultimately passed last night.

James Franco is one of those actors that I just didn’t see getting this big a few years ago, but he’s proven himself to be quite the contender. His well deserved Oscar nomination has led to so much more opportunity for him! He’d definitely work for this role, he could easily pull off the eccentricity of this character with that goofy smile of his.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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Spider-Man 4 was almost ready to begin principle photography, but the plug has been pulled. There will be no Spider-Man 4. Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire and the rest of the current cast are out. It’s not all bad news though, Sony is still planning to make another Spider-Man film. Rather than a sequel to the current series it will be a re-boot with young Peter Parker in high school.

Sony has announced that Sam Raimi, director of the first three Spider-Man films, has backed out of the next one due to creative differences. Star Tobey Maguire has also backed out now, and Sony is planning for the next film to be a total franchise reboot that will start with the Peter Parker character back in high school. This new film, which won’t be Spider-Man 4, is now set for release in 2012.

Raimi had told Sony that he couldn’t make the scheduled May 5th, 2011 release date for Spider-Man 4 while maintaining the film’s creative integrity. Sony responded by dumping the entire film, going back to a reboot script written by James Vanderbilt (Zodiac), and started the search for a new director and cast.

Here’s what Raimi had to say about the news, “Working on the ‘Spider-Man’ movies was the experience of a lifetime for me. While we were looking forward to doing a fourth one together, the studio and Marvel have a unique opportunity to take the franchise in a new direction, and I know they will do a terrific job.”

To me this is great news! I wasn’t excited about Spidey 4 anyway, not after the abysmal failure of a movie that was Spider-Man 3. I was never a fan of Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, this news means an all new cast! I’m thrilled, and besides, the new Spider-Man will still be out in 2012.

Source: FanBolt

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The original Evil Dead from director Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) is coming back to theaters!

SAM RAIMI’S ‘THE EVIL DEAD’ RETURNS TO THE BIG SCREEN!

‘The Ultimate Experience in Grueling Horror’ is Back!

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Grindhouse Releasing is bringing Sam Raimi’s original horror classic THE EVIL DEAD back to the big screen as a midnight movie.

Raimi and producers Robert Tapert and Bruce Campbell gave the go-ahead for a series of EVIL DEAD revival screenings to Grindhouse Releasing partner Bob Murawski, the film editor of Raimi’s SPIDER MAN 1, 2 & 3, DRAG ME TO HELL and the EVIL DEAD sequel ARMY OF DARKNESS.

Stephen King hailed THE EVIL DEAD as “the most ferociously original film of the year”? when the film premiered in 1981. Shot in Michigan and Tennessee, Raimi’s low-budget debut was released independently with a self-imposed ‘No One Under 17′ rating for its graphic violence and gore.

Dates and venues will be announced at GrindhouseReleasing.com. For bookings, contact David Szulkin at info@grindhousereleasing.com.

This is truly a horror classic, watching this movie shows the foundation  of all of Sam Raimi‘s newer films. This is definitive Sam Raimi.

Source: /Film

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Well it’s a fact that Dylan Baker is returning for Spider-Man 4, but will he make his fated transformation into The Lizard?

Baker is coming back for another go around in the Spider-Man film franchise.

You may recall that he appeared in the most recent two Spider-Man films as Dr. Curt Connors, the man who – as per the comics at least – is fated to turn into Spidey’s scaly foe, The Lizard.

A source for UGO was there at the Q&A, and reported on Baker and Dougherty’s comments. There seemed to be some joking going on, helping to keep the truth about Baker’s role rather fuzzy. Though we don’t know what size of role Baker is up for this time, I think we can be sure that it’s true he’s had the call and he’s coming back to the Empire State University for more.

By the 4th film you would think they could have him go through the transformation, Spidey needs better foes than last go-around. In any case Baker returning is good news, hopefully it will be his big villainous debut!

Source: /Film

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Venom is slowly coming together and moving forward.

SCI FI Wire got a chance to talk to Zombieland co-writer Paul Wernick about the script for “Spider-Man” spin-off Venom that he wrote with Rhett Reese.

“We’ve written two drafts of Venom, and the studio has it, and they’re pushing forward in whatever ways they push forward,” Wernick said. He was tight-lipped about whether there was a relationship between Spider-Man 4 and theVenom project.

“We can’t really talk about that, unfortunately,” he added. “Basically, the studio and Marvel and the Arads are taking our drafts and going beyond and figuring out what’s the next step.”

This movie needs to be really high quality, the story needs to be solid. Venom needs to be somebody completely different than the version played by Topher Grace in Spider-Man 3, he was just all wrong for that part.

Source: Coming Soon

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Sam Raimi, director of Drag Me to Hell, Evil Dead and the Spider-Man movies is producing a new horror film called Refuge.

Sam Raimi has signed on to produce supernatural horror film Refuge, based on a pitch from up-and-coming British director Corin Hardy. The project has been set up at Mandate.

Refuge centers on a remote town terrorized by a Yeti, the mythological creature native to the mountains of the Himalayas. Hardy will direct from a script by fellow British writer Tom De Ville.

Any horror that he’s attached to I have some interest in. Hopefully he has a strong influence on it to make it good. It’s going to be hard to make a yeti really scary, but hopefully it will at least be fun!

Source: Coming Soon

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Spider-Man 4 has an official release date. And that date is May 6th, 2011.

Columbia Pictures confirmed that the fourth installment in the comicbook franchise, based on the popular Marvel character, will unspool in both traditional and Imax theaters on the date, making it the first summer tentpole that year.

Finally they have decided on a date, that means that work will have to begin very soon on this one, given it’s only a year and 4 months off.

Source: Variety

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Director Sam Raimi (Spider Man 1-3) has signed on to direct the film Warcraft, based on the popular video game.

“Legendary Pictures and vidgame publisher Blizzard Entertainment are mounting the film, and Warner Bros. will co-finance and distribute.

The team boasts an impressive pedigree: In addition to the director of “Spider-Man,” the partners have added “The Dark Knight” producer Charles Roven to the creative mix.

The plan is for Raimi to supervise development of “Warcraft” and shoot the picture after he completes work on “Spider-Man 4,” which gets under way early next year for Columbia Pictures.

The movie will be financed under the Legendary Pictures’ co-production and co-financing deal with WB, in a manner similar to the Todd Phillips-directed “The Hangover” plus the Roven-produced “Batman Begins” and “Dark Knight.”

This is extremely surprising news to me, I’m very curious to see what kind movie this is going to be. It’s a given that it’s a fantasy, but with Sam Raimi at the helm it’s should be a very interesting pic.

Source: Variety

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Spider-Man 4 is getting re-written again, this time by Gary Ross, director of Seabiscuit and Pleasantville.

Sam Raimi will again direct the Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios project that will go into production early next year.

The Spider-Man 4 script was originally written by James Vanderbilt, and then rewritten by David Lindsay-Abaire.

The fourth installment is scheduled for a May 6, 2011 release.

I’m hoping with all of these re-writes it’s going to come out better than Spider-Man 3, that was a terrible movie.

Source: Coming Soon

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