27th July 2012

As the Olympics start in London, most film distributors are giving the next two weeks a wide berth, which will give The Dark Knight Rises that much more time to dominate the box office. As evidence, the biggest release in the UK this week is Dr Seuss' The Lorax, which came out in February in America.

Non-sports fans in the US have another option, with the release of the suburban alien invasion comedy-thriller The Watch, starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill. The rest of the world will have to wait until after the Olympics to see it.

Man Of Steel Film Poster


Even though the film doesn't open for a year, a pair of teaser trailers for the Superman reboot Man of Steel set the internet buzzing this week. Subtly but significantly different, both have an elegiac tone that reflects the skills of director Zack Snyder (Watchmen) and producer Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight).


After debuting at last year's Toronto Film Festival, the comedy The Oranges is getting ready for its release this autumn. A new trailer features Hugh Laurie, Alison Janney, Oliver Platt and Catherine Keener as long-time neighbours whose friendship is strained when one man (Laurie) falls for the daughter (Leighton Meester) of the other couple. All of the roles look pretty juicy.


But the trailer that caught everyone off guard this week was Ang Lee's Life of Pi, based on the award-winning novel by Yann Martel. Visually, this looks like nothing Lee has ever done (indeed, it's in 3D). The trailer is seriously gorgeous, with lush bright colours illustrating a wild tale of a boy who survives a shipwreck only to find a Bengal tiger in his lifeboat.

Jeremy Renner. CinemaCon 2012 Big Screen Achievement Awards at Caesars Palace Resort and Casino



Meanwhile in movie news, word has it that Jeremy Renner has been asked to play Julian Assange in a biopic tracing the life of the Australian-born WikiLeaks founder who is currently seeking asylum from legal charges. Twilight's Bill Condon might be directing.

And we also had the tantalising news that Terminators Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sam Worthington may team up for Ten, an action-thriller variation on Agatha Christie's much-filmed novel Ten Little Indians, this time about members of an elite drugs task force who are picked off one by one.

Rich Cline

 

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