Paramount Moving Forward With New ‘Pet Sematary’ Movie

There appears to be somewhat of a new Stephen King obsession going on in Hollywood right now. Last September we heard about a huge movie/TV crossover adaptation of King’s epic Dark Tower series; a new movie based on IT has been in the works for almost two years; and just a couple of days ago we heard word of Warner Bros. developing a new film based on King’s beloved book The Stand.

To add to those three we’re going to be getting a new adaptation of one of King’s  beloved novels: Pet Sematary, the book which the author himself regards as his scariest.

We reported on the new new Pet Sematary movie way back in March of last year, with 1408 screenwriter Matthew Greenberg being hired to pen the script. Since then we haven’t heard much about the status of the project… until now.

24 Frames reports of the news that Paramount is moving forward with the new Pet Sematary film, with Greenberg set to turn in a draft of the script soon. It’s noted that this info comes from someone familiar with the project who wasn’t supposed to speak about it publicly. The studio is said to be seeking a high-profile director to helm the film, although no names were specifically mentioned and Paramount declined to comment.

This is, of course, not the first time King’s haunting Pet Sematary has made its way to the big-screen. In 1989 a movie was made from a script King wrote himself and starred Dale Midkiff, Fred Gwynne and Denise Crosby. It’s certainly not one of the most highly-regarded King films, but I still have memories of it having a very creepy atmosphere. A sequel to that film was made in 1992 with a surprisingly notable cast which included Clancy Brown, Edward Furlong and Anthony Edwards.

Pet Sematary tells the story of a family who moves into a new house but soon discover a mysterious pet cemetery  not far from their new home. What unfolds involves all manner of death-related incidents involving both animals and humans. It’s certainly not for those of you who have a strong fear of cats!

I, for one, am actually okay with this particular remake/new adaptation. The original isn’t exactly the best translation of a King story and in the right hands a lot of very cool and scary things could be done with a new movie. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Greenberg’s adaptation of King’s 1408 and that fact that he wrote the lackluster Halloween H20 doesn’t exactly inspire much confidence.

However, I am personally more interested in who Paramount will pick as a director. Hopefully it’s someone with experience in horror filmmaking who will still steer Pet Sematary in the right direction. I suppose Frank Darabont – writer and director of King-based films like The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist – would be too much to hope for?

More on this new version of Pet Sematary as news comes out.

Source: 24 Frames

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Paramount To Distribute ‘Bond 23′ Instead of Sony?

After months of MGM’s financial woes keeping the fate of the next Bond film hanging in the balance, things are finally back on the straight and narrow with the project. Just a few days ago we learned that Bond 23 has indeed snagged director Sam Mendes, that it will shoot in late 2011 and that the film will be released on November 12th, 2012, with Daniel Craig once again portraying 007.

Although Bond 23 has yet to begin filming, attention has to be given to which studio will distribute the film once it’s in the can. Sony Pictures released the last two flicks, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, but it appears that another one of the big studios, Paramount Pictures, might swoop in to distribute Bond 23.

The Hollywood Reporter has the news that Paramount is currently the lead player and has apparently gotten the first shot at negotiations, thanks to a close relationship between the studio and recently appointed MGM co-chairmen Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum.

The owners of the Bond estate, the Broccoli family, have reportedly approved of Paramount as a possible distributor, despite being on excellent terms with the other distribution contender in this equation, Sony Pictures. The Broccoli family are said to be very impressed with the way Paramount has managed to sell big movies on a worldwide scale – for instance, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen made $836 million while Iron Man 2 took in $622 million, both within the last two years alone.

Recent successes for Paramount - Transformers 2 and Iron Man 2

On top of the Broccoli family being sufficiently impressed with Paramount’s money-making credentials as of late, MGM co-chairmen Barber and Birnbaum are on good terms (financially) with Paramount execs Brad Grey and Rob Moore after they teamed on J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot. The (at the time) “risky proposition” that Barber and Birnbaum took on evidently paid off as the film went on to make almost $400 million worldwide.

A source familiar with Paramount’s way of thinking has said that the studio regards the Bond franchise as a very attractive one, but not life-changing. Despite the last two Bond films taking almost $1.2 billion combined at the box office, a share of that went to the Broccoli family and others so the overall profits weren’t as sizable as with some other franchises, such as Transformers or Iron Man.

Sony still has a shot at distributing Bond 23 as everything is still in the early stages, as well as the fact that the Broccoli family are said to be on very good terms with Sony chairman Amy Pascal, who oversaw Casino Royale, the grittier reboot of the franchise. For now however, Paramount looks to be the frontrunner since preliminary talks have already begun.

Whoever ends up distributing Bond 23 it’s pretty much guaranteed to make a ton of money at the box office. Not only do they have the existing fanbase and knowledge of the previous Bond installments to help build anticipation – by the time Bond 23 hits theaters it will have been a full four years since the release of the last film, Quantum of Solace. That’s more than enough time to get people salivating for more action from the most famous spy character of them all.

Bond 23 is now scheduled to open on November 12th, 2012. Stay tuned for who snags the distribution rights – Paramount, Sony or maybe another studio entirely.

Source: THR

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