Ain’t It Cool News is reporting that inside sources working on the post production of The Dark Night have confirmed that Heath Ledger had indeed finished all of his post production work before his death. The reason Ledger had already completed his work for the film before the other principles was due to scheduling constraints related to the Terry Gilliam film Ledger was working on when he died. No word yet on what Gilliam plans to do with the production of his film.

Three major critic associations have named the Cohen brothers’ latest epic ‘No Country for Old Men’ the top film of 2007. The National Board of Review, Boston Society of Film Critics, and the New York Film Critics Online association rated No Country above other 2007 critic favorites ‘Atonement’, ‘Sweeney Todd’, ‘The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford’, and ‘There Will Be Blood’. No Country is also on pace to become the highest grossing Cohen brothers’ film to date. The brothers’ previous best was the 2000 hit ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ which pulled in $45m domestically. No Country is currently at $30m and had double the average take per theatre on opening weekend than O Brother . However, Miramax still hoped to see a bigger box office after putting much more in the marketing end than earlier Cohen brothers’ efforts. Expect to see less enthusiasm from distributors on future Cohen projects.

Slowly, but surely, media companies are figuring out how to market they’re products in the non-traditional digital world. Sony has posted online the first 10 minutes of ‘Walk Hard’ as a long trailer here. The star of ‘Walk Hard’, John C. Reilly, is also launching ‘Cox Across America’, performing live as Dewey Cox, the comedies lead character. More studios should take a lesson from Sony and learn to take advantage of the unique marketing landscape that is the world wide web.

Action flick fans will be pleased to learn that a third film in the Vin Diesel “Riddick” franchise could be on the way. From latefilm.com, David Twohy, director of both Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, has written on his personal web site that we may see Riddick on the big screen again. Don’t get too excited, Diesel fans, the film is far from certain. The project is only in the discussion phase and whether a big studio will produce isn’t settled yet. Here’s the full quote from Twohy:

Okay, okay, now on to the really important stuff like “What the fuck is happening with RIDDICK?”  Yes, I get your emails demanding another movie; yes, I keep bumping into you guys in airports and at conventions and I take your pleas to heart.  All I can say now is “We’re talking about it.”  The DVD numbers were really good – we know that, and some potential financiers know that.  But if another movie surfaces, it probably won’t be a Universal movie and probably will be an independent movie.  Which means we’ll have to make it for substantially less than the last installment.  But that’s okay.  PITCH BLACK was $22 million all in.  Maybe it’s time to go back to our roots – as we go on to The UnderVerse.

I’m not really into these films, but for those that are, here is the latest trailer for SAW IV. Scheduled for a 10/26/07 release, the latest installment is helmed by young director Darren Lynn Bousman who also directed Saw II and Saw III. All together, the first three Saw films only cost $15 million to produce. Worldwide, the Saw franchise has pulled in over $400 million in box office receipts. With returns like that for distributor Lions Gate, who knows when we’ll see the last Saw film.

I almost didn’t publish this post because it’s really not surprising, but Advertising Age is reporting that Michael Moore’s forthcoming documentary, ‘Sicko’, is already showing up on peer-to-peer networks. Scheduled for a June 29^th release, the film is a scathing attack on the U.S. health care system and the difficulty so many people have affording the high cost of coverage. Of course, it’s nearly impossible to determine how this will affect box office receipts since its difficult to determine if downloaders would have payed to see the film if it wasn’t available on the net. My personal feeling is that it won’t affect the film’s gross since Moore’s audience largely consists of educated, upper middle class thirty-somethings who have already decided to see the film in theaters. But either way this isn’t good news for The Weinstein Company or Moore. After poor showings from their last couple of productions, the Weinstein brothers are hoping for a big return on their investment, ala Moore’s record-holding ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’. As for himself, Moore is under investigation by the U.S. government for a trip to Cuba he took with 9/11 survivors shown in the film. Many speculate the investigation is politically motivated, fueled by anger over the drubbing the current administration received in ‘Fahrenheit’.

First off, yes, that is Tim Allen (then, Timothy Alan Dick) posing for the Sheriff’s Department in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I’ll get back to that story in a second, though. The Tim Allen News-of-the-Day is that he has signed on to be in David Mamet’s upcoming martial arts drama. I never thought I would put Tim Allen, David Mamet, and martial arts drama all together in the same sentence. It is a crazy world indeed.

Variety is reporting that David Mamet will be directing Tim Allen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Joe Mantegna, and a bunch of professional martial artists and fighters in his next film, Redbelt. The story, written by Mamet, follows a Jiu-jitsu master (Ejiofor) who jeopardizes his integrity after being seduced by the movie business and influenced to compete in ultimate fighting matches. Ejiofor, an exellent actor, is currently training with members of the Gracie family who are known worldwide for their Brazilian-style Jiu-jitsu. Tim Allen plays a troubled action star who meets the master after getting his ass kicked in a street fight.

Don’t be put off by Tim Allen starring in a drama. The last time Mamet cast a comic actor in a dramatic role it turned out pretty good. Remember Steve Martin in The Spanish Prisoner? Everything about this film sounds pretty cool. The key to it all will be if Mamet can direct fighting scenes. Apparently, he has some of the best martial artists and fighters in the world in the film, so it can’t be that hard. Sony Pictures Classic is putting the money up for Redbelt which starts production next month in Los Angeles.

Now, back to that mugshot. In 1978, Tim Allen was arrested in a drug bust and spent three years in jail because of it. It was in jail that Allen developed his comedy routines for protection because as he put it, “Humor was the best defense I had.” After he got out of jail, Allen started doing the comedy stand-up circuit which led to the career he has today. When I read about all of this, I developed a new respect for Tim Allen that I never had. I’m looking forward to see what he can do in a more serious role. Guess we’ll find out next year when Redbelt is released.

Read the Variety article here.
Learn more about David Mamet here.
Learn more about Tim Allen here.

Variety is reporting that Senator Entertainment (not exactly a studio) has hired Gregor Jordan to direct an adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, The Informers. The Informers is a tale of sex, drugs, and violence set in 1983 Los Angeles that weaves together stories of rock stars, movie executives, and a vampire among others. Three other Ellis novels (American Psycho, Less Than Zero, and The Rules of Attraction) have already been adapted to the screen. However, The Informers is the first that he has written the adaptation. Gregor Jordan directed 2003’s Ned Kelly that had a great cast of Heath Ledger, Naomi Watts, and Geoffrey Rush. Orlando Bloom was also in the film, but I don’t consider his inclusion in a film’s cast make it great. Shooting will start sometime this summer.

Read the Variety article here.
Read about The Informers here.