Movie Sequels

Peter Parker can catch all sorts of villains in his webs, but the one thing Spider-Man couldn't bring to Sony Pictures was a workable script -- and budget -- for the $2.5-billion franchise's fourth installment, derailing one of the most lucrative movie series in Hollywood history. Less than a week after the studio said it was postponing production on the fourth web-slinger movie over story problems, Sony on Monday pulled the plug on the project as it was being conceived with director Sam Raimi after he told the studio he wasn't comfortable moving forward with the sequel, originally scheduled for release in May 2011.

If the film business is akin to playing poker, two Hollywood studios are making bets on a hand they haven't yet been dealt. Lionsgate and Sony Pictures have announced release dates for sequels to "The Hunger Games" and "The Amazing Spider-Man," two highly anticipated movies that will be released in March and July 2012, respectively. "Hunger Games" sequel "Catching Fire" has been scheduled for November 2013, while the sequel to the "Spider-Man" reboot will hit theaters in May 2014.

Harvey Entertainment Co. announced that it expects to return to profitability in the second quarter this year as a result of an agreement with Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment to produce a motion picture sequel to "Casper." The Universal City-based company also predicted it would post profits in its third and fourth quarters from the upcoming release of its direct-to-video feature "Casper, A Spirited Beginning," which will be distributed by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Bob and Harvey Weinstein are back in business with Miramax Films. The independent film-mogul brothers, who this year lost out on a bid to buy back from Walt Disney Co. the specialty label they founded, have signed a deal to partner with the new owners of Miramax to produce sequels and spin-offs to 10 movies that they made in the 1990s and early 2000s. Initially, Weinstein Co. expects to produce new installments of the Oscar-winning romantic comedy "Shakespeare in Love," the dark comedy "Bad Santa" and the 2005 remake of "The Amityville Horror.

It seems that the "Honey, I . . ." movies are fast becoming a series. No sooner has "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid" opened than a third installment is in the works from the Walt Disney Co. After shrinking the Szalinski kids in the first film and blowing up baby in the current one, sources say the latest twist will be to shrink the parents--who'll then watch in (mock) horror as their kids get the run of the house.

Hell hath no fury like an actor scorned. Anyone who's talked to Terrence Howard recently knows that the actor is still fighting mad six months after being replaced in the upcoming "Iron Man 2." "It was a very, very bad choice," fumed Howard, who played Iron Man's Army buddy Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes in the first film, to Parade magazine about Marvel Studios' decision to reboot the part with Don Cheadle in the role. "You don't make $800 million and then try and shake everyone down.

Literary agent Mort Janklow was in his office here last week when the call came from a familiar voice: "It's finished, Mort," the caller said, "and it's going to be in your office tomorrow."

"Synchronize your watches," proclaims the massive billboard hovering over the Sunset Strip, keeping a vigil on the number of hours, minutes and seconds remaining until the release of "Back to the Future Part II," a follow-up to the top-grossing film of 1985. Similar billboards have been counting down in Universal City and in New York City's Times Square. There is no name identification. Just the familiar image of Michael J.

When "Race to Witch Mountain" director Andy Fickman wanted to track down Kim Richards, the former child star who appeared in the original 1975 version "Escape to Witch Mountain," he sought an unlikely ally: Paris Hilton. As it turns out, Hilton is the niece of Richards, who had all but disappeared from the Hollywood scene 20 years earlier. "My first crush was on Kim Richards. She had long blond hair. It was 90 feet long," the director recalled.

"I watched him for 15 years. Sitting in a room, staring at a wall, not seeing the wall, looking past the wall, looking at this night -- inhumanly patient -- waiting for some secret, silent alarm to trigger him off." -- Dr. Loomis in "Halloween" (1978) -- And so here we are, almost 30 years later, with the ninth iteration of the venerable "Halloween" franchise landing in theaters this week.

Hollywood is obsessed with producing reboots and sequels to its hit movies. But Walt Disney Co. is trying something more audacious this week ? releasing a sequel to a 1982 sci-fi fantasy film that was a box office disappointment and that most of today's moviegoers have never seen. On Friday, "Tron: Legacy" will arrive in theaters as one of most intensely marketed films of 2010, but it represents an investment that goes well beyond the box office. The movie sits at the center of a massive multiplatform push with high stakes for Disney, which is counting on the mercury-glow of the film to light up toy and apparel sales, spark purchases of related video games and lure viewers to an upcoming animated series on cable television.

Perry wedded to success Tyler Perry is doing just fine without 3-D, thank you. The writer, director and producer's latest effort, "Why Did I Get Married Too?," took in a most impressive $30.1 million in its first weekend. The sequel to his 2007 hit "Why Did I Get Married?" not only beat the opening of that movie by almost $10 million, but it was also Perry's biggest start for a movie that didn't feature his Madea character. With nine hits in the last five years, none of this should come as a surprise.

Lions Gate Entertainment has taken a lead in the bidding for "Terminator," but competition for rights to the 26-year-old science fiction franchise is likely to heat up in the next month. In a federal Bankruptcy Court filing Wednesday, Halcyon Group, the independent production company owned by Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, asked a judge to approve naming Lions Gate as "stalking horse" bidder for the "Terminator" rights. The two producers put the film rights up for sale in September to raise cash as they work their way out of Chapter 11 reorganization.

Peter Parker can catch all sorts of villains in his webs, but the one thing Spider-Man couldn't bring to Sony Pictures was a workable script -- and budget -- for the $2.5-billion franchise's fourth installment, derailing one of the most lucrative movie series in Hollywood history. Less than a week after the studio said it was postponing production on the fourth web-slinger movie over story problems, Sony on Monday pulled the plug on the project as it was being conceived with director Sam Raimi after he told the studio he wasn't comfortable moving forward with the sequel, originally scheduled for release in May 2011.

Halloween's fans are legion, so its no wonder that local theaters can't wait until the 31st to celebrate the ghoulish holiday. On Sunday and Monday, the venerable New Beverly will show "Spine Tingler!," an excellent biopic on legendary horror-meister William Castle. And on Saturday, the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale will do more than just screen the 1963 classic "The Haunting," starring Claire Bloom and Julie Harris, at both 2 and 8 p.m. Before each screening, it will present Michael J. Kouri, described as the theater's "resident psychic medium," to talk about the place's haunted history.

If there were ever a movie that shouldn't end up making as much as $190 million around the world, it is "The Final Destination," a homely horror thriller that is the fourth and least-loved film in New Line's low-budget "Final Destination" horror franchise. The first three movies, released from 2000 to 2006, were modest successes, each one earning around $50 million in the U.S. and only slightly more overseas. It's a sign of the franchise's below-the-radar consistency that "FD3," released in 2006, had virtually the same exact box-office numbers as the original film, earning $54 million domestically and $58.7 million overseas.

Babe, we hardly knew ye. Before Universal released "Babe: Pig in the City" three weeks ago, the heartwarming porker seemed a good bet for knighthood as a pop culture icon--maybe not on the magnitude of a Miss Piggy or Mickey Mouse, but a sweet figure bearing a message of tolerance and goodwill toward all living creatures--just the sort of safe, somewhat innocuous image you could project onto any and all manner of media.

Sequels are swell things. Humans love them. How many wars have we had to end wars? But we return to the premise of armed conflict over and over again. So excuse our midsummer suspicions when movie studio execs start wringing their hands and moaning over the "failure" of certain movie sequels this summer. Sounds like rehearsal for a tax audit meeting. Let's examine the alleged problem: Just because the public has fallen for -- what?

The rights to "Terminator" are up for sale yet again. Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, who acquired the science-fiction franchise in 2007 for $25 million and produced this year's sequel "Terminator Salvation," are looking to sell the rights as several companies owned by the two producers work their way through Chapter 11 reorganization. Anderson and Kubicek's Halcyon Holding Group has engaged financial advisory firm FTI Capital Advisors, pending approval by U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles, to "evaluate strategic alternatives," according to a statement.

Forget the garlic, the crucifixes, the security of daylight. Nothing is holding the vampires at bay these days. With the wild popularity of movie, TV and literary properties including "Twilight" and HBO's hit series "True Blood," the bloodthirsty undead are dominating the pop culture landscape in ways Count Dracula could have never imagined, and the trend seems unlikely to abate any time soon. "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," the second film adaptation of the popular series of novels, is set for release in November, with the third installment to follow in June 2010.