Michael Bay Ready To Ruin 'Nightmare On Elm Street' For A New Generation Of Horror Fans

Continuing his obsessive quest to take the finest slasher films the 1970s and 80s had to offer and update them for an ADD-addled teen audience eager to see the stars of their favorite The CW melodramas eviscerated in a budget-conscious fashion on their local multiplex's big screen, leading Hollywood re-envisionary Michael Bay has convinced New Line to allow him to run the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise through his Platinum Dunes dream-despoiling factory. More »

NBC Recalls Better-Rated Heyday By Reviving 'Knight Rider'

Proving once again that his finger is firmly on the pulse of what is hot in other countries, in the decades before his network slid into fourth place, or at the multiplex three months ago, NBC's perfect TV executive storm Ben Silverman has made yet another bold programming move that should shame his overly cautious, Idol-dependent, Cavemen-greenlighting rivals: according to Variety, his Peacock is bringing back Knight Rider, preparing a two-hour backdoor pilot that will reintroduce audiences to an updated series about the love between a man and his sassy, wisecracking supercar. More »

Denzel Washington Is The New Walter Matthau

· Hollywood Out of Ideas, Unoriginality Is Easy As 1-2-3 Edition: Denzel Washington will star in director Tony Scott's sure-to-be incomprehensible remake of The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3, assuming a role originally played by Walter Matthau and not-so-memorably reprised by Edward James Olmos in a 1998 made-for-TV version. [Variety] More »

Disney Needlessly Upgrading Tron To Version 2.0

· Because that weekend-house mortgage isn't going to pay itself, Don Cheadle signs on for the Emma Roberts vehicle Hotel for Dogs (plot more or less self-explanatory). [Variety] More »

NBC Resurrecting American Gladiators

"We've been circling around this property for a long time now," said Craig Plestis, exec VP of alternative programming, development and specials at NBC Entertainment. "It's truly what's not in the TV landscape right now. While everyone's zigging, I'm attracted to doing a zag."—Variety More »

Giant Fucking (Lion-Shaped) Robots Are Coming

· Hollywood Out of Ideas, Five Lions, Zero Ideas Edition: With Transformers breaking so many nonsequel box office records this summer, it was only a matter of time before someone put Voltron, the other 80s cartoon/toy series about robots that do cool, transforming-related stuff (no offense to Gobots)—into the adaptation pipeline.[Variety] More »

Warner Bros. Options 'Thundercats,' Mulls Acquisition Of 'Lazer Tag Academy'

The recent announcement that Warner Bros. would be resurrecting He-Man for yet another big-screen adaptation stirred little in us, other than a vague feeling that our childhood had once again been diddled by a studio desperate for ideas and mild disappointment that they hadn't chosen the relatively underexploited, vastly superior Thundercats for their 80s cartoon revival project. Imagine, then, the mixture of delight and fear we experienced upon reading in today's Var that Warners has optioned a script that could one day result in Lion-O, Panthro, Cheetara (inevitably to be played by Brandon Routh, Michael Clark Duncan, and Elisha Cuthbert) and their mutant-feline clan battling Mumm-Ra (Kevin Spacey, cashing an easy paycheck) at your local multiplex. But as Dolph Lundren's beloved Masters movie has set the creative bar dauntingly high for the new He-Man project, the successful development of Thundercats faces its own challenge, as the cartoon has already received a live-action treatment that arguably obviates the need for further updates. A clip of this visionary masterwork follows after the jump: More »

Joel Silver Ready To Resurrect He-Man

It's been 20 years since Hollywood pooped out Dolph Lungren vehicle Masters of the Universe, the big-screen version of the moderately beloved (let's be honest here: it was no Thundercats) 1980s after-school toy infomercial, so in keeping with the industry's loosely observed Two Decade Rule for the re-adaptation of previously exploited material, superproducer Joel Silver and Warner Bros. now feel enough time has passed to do another He-Man movie. The early plans already sound as if the creative team isn't going to sidestep the Gay He-Man Question, as recent queer-cinema blockbuster 300 is cited as an inspiration for their vision; once the deal is finalized and the script finished, production should begin on a cavernous Warner Bros. soundstage, where the prodigiously muscled, well-oiled actors playing He-Man, Ram-Man, and Fisto will gather in front of a green screen to battle the six-packed legions of darkness led by a liberally pierced Skeletor and equally terrifying, orally fixated henchman Trap-Jaw. More »

Trade Round-Up: Queen Latifah Wants Lily Tomlin's Mid-80s Career

· Hollywood Out of Ideas, Special 80s Possession-Comedy Edition: Queen Latifah will star in a remake of Lily Tomlin/Steve Martin farce All of Me for New Line, though it's unclear from the story if their reimagination of the material will call for Latifah to play the possessing spirit or the showier role of host body. Either way, we hope they keep the bit where the guru flushes a toilet each time the telephone rings. That really cracked us up when we were ten. [Variety] More »