The Year That Was: 2014 in Film

Check out ALL of the PDC end of year lists!

Review: Ava DuVernay's 'Selma'

Starring David Oyelowo

Review: Rob Marshall's 'Into The Woods'

Starring Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and Anna Kendrick

Tim Burton's 'Big Eyes'

Starring Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams

Showing posts with label malcolm d. lee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label malcolm d. lee. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Bill Nighy Join 'Dad's Army'; Bryan Cranston is 'The Infiltrator', and More



 British sitcom Dad's Army is headed to the big screen, and it will star Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bill Nighy, Toby Jones, Daniel Mays, Michael Gambon, Bill Paterson and Tom Courtenay. Directed by Oliver Parker (Johnny English Reborn), the film is set in 1944 at the climax of WWII.  "The Allies are poised to invade France and finally defeat the German army. But in Walmington-on-Sea morale amongst the Home Guard is low. Their new mission then – to patrol the Dover army base – is a great chance to revive spirits and reputation, that is until glamorous journalist Rose Winters arrives to write about their exploits, setting the pulses racing and putting the local women on red alert. MI5 then discover a radio signal sent direct to Berlin from Walmington-on-Sea. There’s a spy on the loose! The outcome of the war is suddenly at stake, and it falls to our unlikely heroes to stand up and be counted." Filming begins later this month. [THR]

Bryan Cranston will reteam with The Lincoln Lawyer director Brad Furman for the spy flick, The Infiltrator. Based on the autobiography by Robert Mazur and the first of seven planned feature films (franchise!!!!), the story adapted by Ellen Brown Furman centers on Customs and Excise Agent Mazur and his undercover alias, Bob Musella. [THR]

Paco Cabezas and Max Landis' action-romance Mr. Right is putting together a very impressive cast. Already set to star Sam Rockwell, Anna Kendrick, and RZA, Tim Roth is the latest to come aboard. Kendrick plays a woman who meets the perfect guy in Mr. Right (Rockwell), only he turns out to be a hitman. Roth will play Hopper, Mr. Right's former mentor, now his nemesis. [Deadline]

Kerry Washington will take a break from Scandal to star in something lighter but probably just as ridiculous. She'll star in rom-com Is He the One, directed by Malcolm D. Lee (The Best Man Holiday) and penned by the DJ Richardson and Michelle Morgan (Girl Most Likely). The story takes a How I Met Your Mother approach, following a bride's three major relationships with the audience unaware of which guy she will ultimately marry. Blergh. Washington deserves better than this stuff like this.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

'The Best Man Wedding' Ties the Knot in 2016


Fans of The Best Man waiting fifteen years for the sequel, The Best Man Holiday, and it showed as the film earned a solid $71M. That's not bad for a film with no huge stars and a $17M budget, and with director Malcolm Lee hinting at a third movie late last year, it now has a title and release date.

Universal has announced the entire ensemble will return for The Best Man Wedding, opening on April 15th 2016. Lee will once again write and direct with Monica Calhoun, Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long, Melissa De Sousa, and Harold Perrineau reuniting for "the most unexpected wedding to date".

So who are we thinking? Howard and De Sousa's oft-contentious characters tying the knot?

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Malcolm D. Lee and Will Packer Team for 'Girls' Trip'


While it's been Kevin Hart who has reaped much of the glory for the success or Ride Along, Think Like a Man, and About Last Night, the real power behind those films has been producer Will Packer. He's found out how to reach a broad audience looking for (mostly) smart comedies with fresh faces, and now he's got his sights set on another hit.

Packer and The Best Man Holiday director Malcolm Lee are teaming up for Girls Trip, which will be housed over at Universal Pictures, the studio continuing their fruitful relationship with both men. Details are unavailable right now but we can probably make a good guess just based on the title. Considering Packer has an inner circle of actors he tends to call upon, it shouldn't be too hard figuring out who he may cast. A writer has yet to be found but Lee tends to script the projects he directs.

This one's moving fast, too, with production to begin this summer.

Monday, November 18, 2013

'The Best Man Holiday' Sequel in the Works; Malcolm D. Lee in Talks to Return



Fourteen years after 1999's The Best Man, the gang got back together again for The Best Man Holiday and it proved to be a smashing success. Despite the lengthy gap between films the $30M debut weekend wasn't much of a surprise, and Universal is going to make sure that the wait for a sequel is considerably shorter next time.

Deadline reports that writer/director Malcolm D. Lee is in talks to return for a follow-up to The Best Man Holiday. As of now it doesn't seem as if the principle cast of Taye Diggs, Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, Terrence Howard, Regina Hall, Harold Perrineau, and Melissa De Sousa, is contractually bound to another film. That could cause a problem because this one was such a labor of love that some of the higher paid stars were willing to take a reduction to maintain the slim $17M budget. Universal would find a sequel much less attractive at a greater cost.

So we'll see what happens. Lee has to complete the script for The Best Man Vacation or whatever it'll be called before anything moves forward.