Trailer for Chinese Epic 'Dragon Blade' with Jackie Chan, Adrien Brody, and John Cusack

Here's a project you may have forgotten about because it seemed so unlikely just based on the cast. Awhile back John Cusack and Adrien Brody signed on to Dragon Blade, a Chinese historical epic starring Jackie Chan. How does that strike you? This one was interesting, at least to me, for a couple of reasons. The massive (for China anyway) $65M budget, one of the largest in China's history; and Daniel Wu, the director behind Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon. What does all of that amount to now that the film is completed?

The first trailer for Dragon Blade is impressive, at least in terms of scope, but it's hard to get over how out of place Cusack and Brody are. The story takes place in China in 48 BC and has Chan as hero Huo An who was framed for murder and enslaved, but escapes and crosses paths with a Roman general on the run, leading to a much bigger adventure full of questionable screenwriting. This one will win out on technical merits alone, most likely, but it could be worth checking out.

Dragon Blade opens in China in February, and it better get a stateside release because I must see this.

Read More

James Franco is 'The Fixer', Ricky Gervais Returns for 'Night at the Museum 3', Daniel Wu Joins 'Warcraft'

* Ian Olds scored an indie smash a few years with his documentary, Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi, winning Best New Documentary Filmmaker in the process. He's been busy working with James Franco on a number of his smaller films and on the Faulkner adaptation As I Lay Dying, and now the two will collaborate on another feature, titled The Fixer. Franco will take one of the leads as an unstable hot-tub craftsman named Lindsay in the story of Osman, "an Afghan journalist exiled from his war-torn country to a small bohemian community in Northern California. When he attempts to turn his menial job on the local police blotter into “Afghan-style” coverage of local crime, he gets drawn into the backwoods of this small town." [TheWrap]

* After the first two films nearly brought in $1B it was only a matter of time before a third Night at the Museum was ordered up, and that's exactly what we're getting. Ben Stiller and Robin Williams are confirmed to return for the sequel, along with director Shawn Levy, with a script by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant that takes the living monuments to London. Now Deadline is reporting Ricky Gervais is also set to return as Stiller's former boss, Dr. McPhee. Night at the Museum 3 is set to open on Christmas Day 2014.

* Daniel Wu (Europe Report) and Clancy Brown (Sleepy Hollow) are the latest additions to Duncan Jones' Warcraft, joining Paula Patton, Travis Fimmel, Ben Foster, Toby Kebbell, Dominic Cooper, and Rob Kazinsky in the video game adaptation. No word on their roles as much of the story is still being kept under wraps. Warcraft powers on March 11th 2016.

Read More