Just yesterday MGM Studios let the press in on all the goings on over at the revitalized studio as it readies its 2006 and 2007 slate of films for theatrical distribution. The studio also named Clark Woods as its new President of Domestic Theatrical Distribution. Woods is a 25-year veteran of Paramount Pictures and will supervise all aspects of theatrical distribution. During his tenure with Paramount Pictures, he was involved with and spearheaded the distribution for such blockbuster and award-winning films as Titanic, Braveheart, Forrest Gump, Ordinary People, Raider’s of the Lost Ark, Terms of Endearment, Beverly Hills Cop, Mission: Impossible, and War of the Worlds.
But enough about the past, how about what is coming up for the studio? Well, I have that for you as well.
Below you will see the complete 2006/2007 slate for MGM Studios as it was announced along with planned release dates as of March 8, 2006. For more information on any of the film simply click on the GET MORE INFO links and enjoy!
LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN
Release Date: April 7, 2006
Set in the world of New York City gangsters, the film follows a case of mistaken identity that lands Josh Harnett’s character in the middle of a murder plot. Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley and Stanley Tucci headline the cast. Directed by Paul McGuigan.
HARSH TIMES
Release Date: June 2, 2006
The film stars Christian Bale (“Batman Begins”) as an ex-Army Ranger who finds himself slipping back into his old life of petty crime after a job offer from the LAPD evaporates. Freddy Rodriguez (“Six Feet Under”) plays his best friend and Eva Longoria (“Desperate Housewives”) plays Rodriguez’s girlfriend. It marks the film directing debut of David Ayer, who is the creator of “Training Day” and the writer of “The Fast and the Furious.”
I COULD NEVER BE YOUR WOMAN
Release Date: July 29, 2006
A romantic comedy about a mother (Michelle Pfeiffer) who falls for a younger man (Paul Rudd) and her teenage daughter (Saoirse Ronan) who falls in love for the first time. Directed by Amy Heckerling (“Look Who’s Talking,” “Clueless”), Tracey Ullman plays the acerbic Mother Nature who meddles in their fates.
FRAGILE
Release Date: August 4, 2006
Calista Flockhart toplines as a nurse who takes a new job at a desolate children’s hospital during its closing days. She struggles to keep the kids safe and uncovers the mystery behind apparent attacks of an unknown origin that hurts the kids so that they cannot leave the premises. Directed by Jaume Balaguero.
CLERKS II
Release Date: August 18, 2006
The sequel to writer/director Kevin Smith’s 1994 Sundance favorite, “Clerks II” continues the intersecting stories of laterally mobile Dante and Randall and their career slacker shadows Jay and Silent Bob as they face their 30’s and the responsibilities and consequences of adulthood. Directed by Kevin Smith, the film stars Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, and Rosario Dawson with cameo appearances by Ben Affleck and Wanda Sykes.
STORMBREAKER
Release Date: September 1, 2006
Based on the best selling young adult adventure series of books by Anthony Horowitz, “Stormbreaker” is a family movie about a kid who becomes a young James Bond. Alex Rider (Alex Pettyfer) is 14-year-old orphan who has been unwittingly trained all his life by his uncle (Ewan McGregor) with the skills to become a secret agent. After his uncle dies, Alex finds himself forced against his will to take on a dangerous mission for the British secret service and attempts to stop the evil mastermind Darrius Sayle (Mickey Rourke) from releasing a biological weapon via his brand new, high tech Stormbreaker computers. Directed by Geoffrey Sax, the film also stars Bill Nighy, Sophie Okonedo, Alicia Silverstone, Damian Lewis, Missi Pyle, and Stephen Fry.
AWAKE
Release Date: 3rd Quarter 2006
A psychological thriller that tells the story of a man (Hayden Christensen) who suffers “anesthetic awareness” and finds himself awake and aware, but paralyzed, during heart surgery. His young wife (Jessica Alba) must wrestle with her own demons as a drama unfolds around them. Directed by Joby Harold.
BREAKING AND ENTERING
Release Date: TBA 2006
A story about theft, both criminal and emotional, “Breaking And Entering” follows a disparate group of long-term Londoners and new arrivals whose lives intersect in the inner-city area of King’s Cross. When a landscape architect’s (Jude Law) state of the art offices in a seedy part of town are repeatedly burgled, his investigations launch him out of the safety of his familiar world. “Breaking And Entering” is Academy Award-winning director Anthony Minghella’s first original screenplay since his 1991 feature debut, “Truly Madly Deeply.” Minghella, Sydney Pollack and Timothy Bricknell are producing for Minghella and Pollack’s Mirage Enterprises. Also starring: Juliette Binoche, Robin Wright-Penn, Ray Winstone, Martin Freeman and Vera Farmiga.
THE FLOCK
Release Date: November 3, 2006
The story of a hyper-vigilant federal agent (Richard Gere) who, while training his young female replacement (Claire Danes), must track down a missing girl whom he is convinced is connected to a paroled sex offender he’s investigating. Working against the clock they unravel the twisted details to track the potential killer. The film is directed by Andrew Lau, who is best known as the director of the fabulously successful Hong Kong crime thriller “Infernal Affairs” and its two sequels. “The Flock” is his first English language movie.
VAN WILDER DEUX: THE RISE OF TAJ
Release Date: December 1, 2006
“Van Wilder Deux: The Rise of Taj” is the sequel to the successful 2002 release, National Lampoon’s “Van Wilder.” Taj (Kal Penn) from the first film, heads to England’s prestigious Oxford University to further his studies while in the process, showing the uptight student body how to party.
KILLSHOT
Release Date: 3rd Quarter 2006
From Academy Award® nominated director John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love”) comes Hossein Amini’s wry adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s best-selling crime novel. The beautiful Carmen Colson (Diane Lane) and her husband Wayne (Thomas Jane) become entangled in a scam with a bumbling, small time con artist (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and his over-the-hill hit man partner the blackbird (Mickey Rourke). Ultimately, it all comes down to one wife, one husband, two killers…and one lethal killshot.
YOUNG HANNIBAL
Release Date: TBA 2006
This is the story of the monster Hannibal Lecter’s formative years. These experiences as a child and young adult led to his remarkable contribution to the fields of medicine, music, painting and forensics. We begin in World War II at the medieval castle in Lithuania built by Dr. Lecter’s forebear, Hannibal the Grim. The child Hannibal survives the horrors of the Eastern Front and escapes the grim Soviet aftermath to find refuge in France with the widow of his uncle, mysterious and beautiful Japanese descended from Lady Murasaki Shikibu, author of the Tale of Genji. Her kind and wise attentions help him understand his unbearable recollections of the war. Remembering, he finds the means to visit the outlaw predators that changed him forever as they battened on helpless during the collapse of the Eastern Front. Hannibal helps these war criminals toward self-knowledge even as we see his own nature become clear to him. Directed by Peter Webber (“Girl With The Pearl Earring”), the film stars Gong Li, Rhys Ifans, Richard Brake, and Kevin McKidd.
MR. BROOKS
Release Date: 1st Quarter 2007
Kevin Costner stars in “Mr. Brooks,” a psychological thriller which also features Oscar nominated actor William Hurt. The film was written by Bruce A. Evans & Raynold Gideon (“Stand By Me”) and is to be directed by Bruce A. Evans. Principal photography will commence on April 17.
DARWIN AWARDS
Release Date: February 2007
A forensic detective and an insurance claims investigator trek to investigate a potential Darwin Award winner. From www.darwinawards.com: “The Darwin Awards” salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who creatively remove themselves from the human gene pool in the most outrageous ways. Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, David Arquette, Juliette Lewis, Julianna Margulies and others star.
