Fede Alvarez's remake/reboot/reimagining of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead and Evil Dead II respects its source material in a manner that feels perfunctory at times. It flashes to references like it's ticking off a list. Sentimental necklace, check. Chainsaw, check. Necronomicon, check. Flying camera, check. Mirror scare, check…
Sam Raimi's greatest contribution to the land of Oz is the very modern act of tribute through mockery. Though his prequel Oz the Great and Powerful takes place about 20 years before 1939's The Wizard of Oz, James Franco's Oscar Diggs floats in a hot air balloon from Kansas (of course) and regards the foreign soil of…
After many, many stills and one freakin' awesome poster, Walt Disney Studios has finally gotten around to releasing the first full theatrical trailer for its upcoming Sam Raimi-directed Wizard of Oz prequel, Oz: The Great and Powerful.
Starring James Franco as a circus magician named Oscar Diggs who is transported by way of a twister to the merry old land of Oz, Evil Dead director Sam Raimi's Oz: The Great and Powerful is a prequel of sorts to the iconic 1939 big-screen adaptation of L. Frank Baum's classic children's novel, The Wonderful Wizard of…
There isn't a whole lot to look at here: A James Franco fanpage managed to get a hold of a teaser image for Sam Raimi's Wizard of Oz prequel, Oz: The Great and Powerful, featuring Franco in a top hat as Oscar Diggs — AKA the man who would be Wizard.
The new movie has a director, a good director, so maybe Downey'll finally sign on. Also today: Some TV casting both interesting and depressing, another internet thing gets made into a TV show, and the return of an old crush.
Oh, you know, she's always been around, but she coulda been a contender! But she isn't, for some reason. Also today: a new HBO show about theater finds its potential cast, plus a new Wizard of Oz movie.
This week the Roundup covered the most indie film ever. "Spider-Man" is like the opposite of that, right? What if we told you that Marc Webb, director of Indie rom-com "(500) Days of Summer," will direct the new Spidey flick?
The most terrifying woman on cable news, Nancy Grace, turns 50 today. Director Sam Raimi and "Weird Al" Yankovic are both turning 50 today, too. Actor Ryan Reynolds is 33. Oscar-winning director Ang Lee is 55. Writer Augusten Burroughs is turning 44. ABC News correspondent Brian Ross turns 61. Jessica Stroup of 90210…
Today we hear news about the biggest computer game movie in a while, about an old cartoon that will live again, about Jami Gertz and Johnny Depp, who both survived the 80s in completely different ways, and about Kendra.
• Why did Janice Min leave Us? It was about money, reports WWD, which explains that given the economy, Jann Wenner wasn't prepared to offer her the $2 million a year she's been collecting. Min is denying it. [WWD, NYDN]
• Dan Rather’s $70 million lawsuit against CBS is back on track. [NYT, WSJ]
• McKinsey has been…
Maniacal cable news host Nancy Grace turns 49 today. Also celebrating: Oscar-winning director Ang Lee turns 54. Memoirist Augusten Burroughs is 43. Novelist Michael Crichton turns 66. ABC News correspondent Brian Ross is 60. Spider-Man director Sam Raimi is turning 49. Retired soccer legend Pelé is 68. And "Weird Al"…
While regular Nikki Finke readers know she don't do geek, you'd be forgiven for assuming from today's column that she occasionally dabbles in dweeb: Watch as she churns a Spidey Wiki's worth of Peter Parker biographical material cross-referenced with the latest villain indexes into the mother of all Spider-Man 4…
After the unfortunate reception for The Love Guru, it's just too easy to write off New Line's prospective Austin Powers revival (which Mike Myers is reportedly working on for New Line with former series collaborator Mike McCullers) as yet another ill-advised folly belching the black smoke of Myers's career. In…
Awesome news out of San Diego Comic-Con. Spider-Man director Sam Raimi announced that he's getting back together with actor Bruce Campbell for a fourth installment of their stellar Evil Dead franchise. Though the zombie-filled series has been dormant since 1992's Army of Darkness, Raimi-who was promoting his upcoming…
I know, I know, better things could have happened than Spider-Man 3 after the first two installments kicked so much ass. But director Sam Raimi is suddenly saying that he would indeed like to direct the inevitable Spider-Man 4 and keep all the original cast members. "'James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) is writing the script…
Your Dad will likely be thrilled to hear this morning that Paramount plans a Jack Ryan revival starting in 2010, while the rest of us are intrigued to see Sam Raimi recruited as the studio's go-to helmer for the reborn franchise. A glorified genre director if ever there was one, Raimi's stewardship of Sony's $2.5…
The weekly edition of Variety officially awards its Showmen of the Year honor, the most coveted recognition in all of showbiz trade journalism (and yes, that includes Var's Billion Dollar Director Day celebration), to Sony's Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal, an occasion necessitating the purchase of full-page tribute…
We at Defamer realize that not every momentary disagreement between actor and director ends with the star storming off to his trailer to call his agent, with the optional stop to gun down a smirking grip in cold blood on the way there. Accordingly, we are happy to share The Slug blog's account of the hat-related…
