Joe Cornish Sought for Legendary's King Kong Prequel, 'Skull Island'

Legendary's Comic-Con panel came to a surprising end over the weekend with the announcement of Skull Island, a King Kong prequel taking place in the land of his origin. After showing off a brief teaser of the lush jungle locale, Legendary's Thomas Tull offered up little in the way of details. We quickly learned the film would be released on November 4th 2016, a date that suggests talent will be coming aboard soon, and now we have an idea who is being sought to direct.

Deadline reports Joe Cornish has been offered the directing gig but at this point he has not accepted. Given the high-profile jobs Cornish has turned down it's far from a done deal. The news of a King Kong movie has naturally had some thinking of a future King Kong vs. Godzilla movie, and Legendary has thrown some fire on those rumors by hiring Godzilla writer Max Borenstein to write the screenplay. Skull Island is full of giant, exotic creatures and we saw a lot of it in Peter Jackson's King Kong movie.

Cornish is currently attached to direct Section Six, a potential franchise starring Jack O'Connell (Unbroken) that chronicles the formation of Britain's secret intelligence agency, MI6.

Read More

Edgar Wright Abruptly Exits Marvel's 'Ant-Man'

Before Iron Man, before Thor, before the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it, there was Edgar Wright's Ant-Man. The film has been in the works forever, and became part of the whole Marvel machine when it began to grow into a Hollywood behemoth. And finally the film seemed to be coming together nicely with a release date set for July 2015, a cast well in place, and even some test footage presented by Wright himself. And now all of that hard work has just hit a major road bump as Wright has departed the film due to "creative differences". Here's the brief statement released by Marvel....

Marvel and Edgar Wright jointly announced today that the studio and director have parted ways on ANT-MAN due to differences in their vision of the film. The decision to move on is amicable and does not impact the release date on July 17, 2015. A new director will be announced shortly.

Who knows how long this split has been in the works but it's probably not a surprise Marvel announced it during the "Friday night news dump" when most aren't paying as much attention. Still, this is a big development considering things at Marvel tend to run so smoothly. And considering Wright is such a fan-favorite director, who could Marvel be considering as a replacement? Joe Cornish, who directed Attack the Block and co-wrote Ant-Man's script has to be seen as a frontrunner. But who else? Who would you want to see as Wright's replacement?

Read More

Joe Cornish to Direct 'Section 6'; Zhang Yimou Scales 'The Great Wall', and More

* Attack the Block director Joe Cornish has flirted with a number of follow-up projects, including Star Trek 3 and Masters of the Universe, but he's finally made a decision on what he'll tackle next. Cornish will direct Section 6, eyed as a potential franchise with rising star Jack O'Connell in the lead role. The story, penned by Aaron Berg, chronicles the formation of Britain's secret intelligence agency, known as MI6. [TheWrap]

* The Great Wall is being rebuilt, only now it's with House of Flying Daggers director, Zhang Yimou. Yimou is taking over for Ed Zwick on the big budget action film, which had Benjamin Walker (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), Zhang Ziyi, and Henry Cavill starring before production ground to a halt. Max Brooks (World War Z) and Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull developed the story which explores the mystery of the Great Wall of China's construction. British soldiers happen upon the wall and learn of a supernatural threat that must be defended against. Yimou has been making headway here in America, recently signing on to direct an adaptation of Robert Ludlum's The Parsifal Mosaic.

* Ready for more overwrought Nicholas Sparks adaptations, guys? George Tillman Jr. (Faster) has made the regrettable decision to bring Sparks' novel, The Longest Ride, to the big screen. Craig Bolotin will pen the script which tells two stories that will probably cross paths in a really ridiculous manner. The first story "focuses on an elderly man who lies trapped in a car accident, and, while fighting to remain conscious, sees visions of his deceased wife and their life together. The second centers on a high school senior who meets a young bull rider with a secret." [THR]

Read More

Possible "Masters of the Universe' Directors Includes Rian Johnson and Joe Cornish

Michael Bay's Transformers movies have earned well over $2B at the box office, and the G.I. Joe films haven't done too shabby, either. So of course it makes sense that another popular 1980s toy property like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe would be a top studio priority. Jon Chu had been attached to direct a feature film for quite awhile before dropping out to focus on G.I. Joe 3, but now an even more interesting crop of directors have emerged as candidates.

According to the guys at Schmoes Know, that shortlist of directors includes Rian Johnson (Looper), Joe Cornish (Attack the Block), Andy Muschietti (Mama), Kirk DeMicco & Chris Sanders (The Croods) and Phil Lord and Chris Miller of 21 Jump Street fame. Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean) is writing the script, and production is said to be "close to happening", although with a list this of directors this long that doesn't seem to be the case.

Obviously Johnson and Cornish are the two pearls here, and bring a sci-fi/fantasy background that should mesh well with Masters of the Universe. Although considering what Lord and Miller have been able to do with The Lego Movie, perhaps they've got an edge? Maybe they can scrap the whole live-action thing and do it all with action figures?

Read More

Joe Cornish "No Longer Involved" with 'Star Trek 3'

A little over a month ago Attack the Block director Joe Cornish emerged as the frontrunner to take over Star Trek 3 from J.J. Abrams, and fans were excited to see him finally make the blockbuster leap. He had turned down the chance to direct A Good Day to Die Hard (wise move) and had expressed reluctance to take such a big step forward. So what was it that changed his mind finally? Apparently nothing, because Cornish won't be directing Star Trek 3 after all.

In Variety's story about the hiring of unproven writers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay to help Roberto Orci pen the script, it was revealed that Cornish is "no longer involved". No reason is given for the decision and a search for a director continues. Jon Chu (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) and Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) were mentioned at the same time as Cornish and are probably on Paramount's speed dial right now.

Cornish will move on to pen and direct an adaptation of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, and he co-wrote Marvels' Ant-Man with Edgar Wright. As for Star Trek 3, filming is hopeful to begin next summer for a 2016 release. 

Read More

Joe Cornish the Frontrunner to Direct 'Star Trek 3'

As soon as J.J. Abrams took on the gargantuan task of directing the next Star Wars film, the chances of him maintaining a grip on Paramount's Star Trek were pretty slim. Some close to the project held out hope he would return for the follow-up to Star Trek Into Darkness, but soon some pretty big names started to emerge as contenders to replace him. Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) Jon M. Chu  (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) and Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) all had their names in the mix, and now a frontrunner has emerged.

Deadline reports that Paramount are "sweet on" Cornish to take over Star Trek 3, which is great news for the many fans of his offbeat alien invasion film Attack the Block, but there are a couple of caveats to be aware of. First of all, Cornish has been offered the job before and turned it down, just as he was reluctant to take on another potential blockbuster when his name popped up for A Good Day to Die Hard. What's changed? Well, nothing really. No offer is on the table and he could still reject it when or if it does reach that point. So this is basically still just wishlist stuff at this point.

But at the same time Cornish has been easing his way into more high-profile gigs. He helped write The Adventures of Tintin which featured Star Trek's Simon Pegg as part of the voice cast. He's also teamed up with his buddy Edgar Wright to pen the script for Marvel's Ant-Man, and there's also Paramount's planned adaptation of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash which Cornish has been attached to helm at some point. Obviously, Star Trek 3 would take priority and with a summer 2014 start date planned we should expect to learn something definite soon.

Read More

'Attack the Block' director Joe Cornish in the mix to helm next 'Star Trek'?

After all of that waiting and secrecy, Star Trek Into Darkness hit theaters and....well, at least the Trekkers turned out for it, I guess. Paramount's probably not doing any backflips over the box office, although it could possibly be saved on the foreign market. But it does make the likelihood of a third film a bit cloudier, especially with J.J. Abrams moving on to helm Star Wars: Episode VII. After serving to the needs of Abrams' schedule on the last film, Paramount isn't going to sit around waiting again, and it looks like a list of names have already begun to emerge as his replacement.

El Mayimbe over at Latino Review says that a list of contenders to take over Star Trek 3 is out there, and at the top of it is Attack the Block director and Ant-Man co-writer, Joe Cornish. Abrams and Bad Robot will be sticking around to produce, and it's likely he and his team will have some other creative input. Paramount will want to get the ball moving on this soon, as they'll probably want to have the next film ready by Star Trek's 50th anniversary in 2016.

Attack the Block was an offbeat, genre-busting cult classic and one of the more exciting films of the last few years, and it would interesting to see what he can do on a much larger scale. We'll see if these rumors hold true, and who else may be in the running.

Read More