tim burton

Tim Burton + ‘WALL-E’ ÷ Goggle-Eyed Knit Dolls = ‘9′

4:12AM STV | As creative partnerships go, the one teaming Tim Burton with Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov and a half-dozen or so animated post-apocalyptic rag dolls isn’t one we had on our 2009 wish list. More »

9:30AM Defamer Hollywood | Is Johnny Depp Set to Celebrate His Unbirthday? Those casting rumors just continue to pile up for the actor, with unconfirmed reports that director Tim Burton has selected him to play the Mad Hatter in his forthcoming 3-D (!) adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. So far, only In Treatment’s Mia Wasikowska has been confirmed to star in the megabucks live action/CGI film, but we expect an imminent announcement of Burton’s wifely muse Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen of Hearts (even though we’d much rather see the wild-haired actress essay the Cheshire Cat). [The Herald] More »

On The Fifth Day, ‘The Dark Knight’ Made $200 Mil. And It Was Good.

5:00AM Seth | · The Dark Knight has now become the fastest movie in history to earn $200 million: it made that in five days, three days faster than previous record-holder Spider-Man 2. Do you know how much guyliner that could buy the Mayor of Gotham? Tons! [THR] · Russia has purchased the format for The Office, making the necessary regional tweaks (”Hey—who suspended the phone-bugging equipment in my borcht-flavored gelatin!”) for full comic effect. [Variety] · Because what the TV landscape really needed was another dance competition reality show, Chris Brown and Mark Burnett have teamed up to bring you Chris Brown Presents: Untitled Hip-Hop Dance Project, which should pair nicely with the David Archuleta’s Totally Fly Weep-Off Jam currently being pitched around town. [Variety] · ABC is close to committing to a pilot for Middle, “the story of a middle-class Midwestern family seen through the eyes of the mother,” so long as they can secure Patricia Heaton to star. Heaton said she’d check with the Albertsons people, but that it shouldn’t be a problem. [THR] · Tim Burton has found the girl to play Alice in his adaptation of Alice in Wonderland: relatively unknown Australian actress Mia Wasikowska. [THR] More »

7:10AM Defamer Hollywood | Pow! That’s the sound of a pneumatic cattle bolt flying into our awards-crazy melons, officially marking the start of Oscar Season: The National Board of Review has named No Country for Old Men their best film of 2007. Other big wins: George Clooney for best actor in Michael Clayton, Tim Burton for best director for Sweeney Todd, and Emile Hirsch and Ellen Page won breakthrough performances for Into the Wild and Juno, respectively. [Reuters] Categories/Tags: Awards, Ellen Page, Emile Hirsch, George Clooney, Joel Coen, Juno, No Country for Old Men, Oscars, sweeney todd, Tim Burton More »

Trade Roundup: Kevin Smith Lures Seth Rogen Into A Life Of Pornography

8:00AM Defamer Hollywood | · Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks are cast in Kevin Smith’s Zach and Miri Make a Porno, the story of two platonic friends who try to use the power of hardcore pornography to solve their debt problems. As the actors previously appeared together in The 40 Year Old Virgin, this film represents the kind of re-teaming effort that drives us so wild with delight. [Variety] · WGA strike picket line ubiquity Katherine Heigl will star in the romantic comedy The Ugly Truth for the re-teamed writers and director of Legally Blonde. [THR] Tim Burton partners with Disney for two 3-D films, Alice and Wonderland and Frankenweenie, sure to become instant classics for fans of hallucinogenic substances. [Variety] More »

Trade Roundup: The Rock Returns To ‘Witch Mountain’

6:30AM Defamer Hollywood | We don’t even know where to begin with this one: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is set to star in Disney’s Witch Mountain, a follow-up to one of the most formative moviegoing experiences of our distant youth, Escape to Witch Mountain. Don’t mess with Tony and Tia, Rock: They fuck you up good. [Variety] Tim Burton’s “could you turn the human-intestinal-pudding shots down a smidge?” Sweeney Todd gets a December 21st release date. [Variety] George Lucas hired white-hot screenwriter John Ridley to write the script for Red Tails, a WWII drama about the color-barrier-shattering Tuskegee Airmen, feared by the Germans for their deadly, X-wing-mounted laser rifles. [Variety] Social networking websites gone public! Analysts suspect sites like Classmates.com could do well on the stock market, backed by irresistible marketing campaigns like, “Can you believe SHE married HIM?” [THR] Innovative agents Michael McConnell and Ben Press are suing the agency for being “unfairly chained to their jobs.” Both suits cite the heavy, iron chains soldered to their ankles and tethered to their desks as irrefutable proof. [THR] More »

‘Sweeney Todd’: Not, Apparently, The Snuggly Schnookums Of Fleet Street

7:00AM Defamer Hollywood | It’s hard out there for a studio exec. One day, you’re innocently blowing your nose into the pages of unmade scripts stained with the hopes and dreams of anonymous writers, and screaming at your assistant to just please get someone to make you a fat-free Big Mac; the next, you’re rudely confronted with the fact that the movie you greenlit about a murderous barber making mincemeat of his clients