Steven Spielberg Commits to 'Robopocalypse' As His Next Film

Deadline has confirmed that Steven Spielberg will next direct Robopocalypse for his DreamWorks banner. The film will be the second to be distributed by Disney, following the period action-drama War Horse.

Drew Goddard (Cloverfield) scripted the adaptation of the epic Daniel H. Wilson novel about the human race's attempt to survive an apocalyptic robot uprising.






He'll first wrap The Adventures Of Tin Tin and War Horse before starting on Robopocalypse, which should start production in January 2012 for a 2013 release.

'Avatar 2 & 3' Next For Cameron; 2014, 2015 Releases Targeted

20th Century Fox has closed deals for director James Cameron to make Avatar 2 and 3 his next films. The Oscar winner will begin scripting early next year with an eye to begin production in late 2011, but those plans are not set in stone.







One thing is certain: Avatar 2 will be released in December 2014, while the plan is - if Cameron decides to shoot the films back to back - to release the third a year later in December 2015. Cameron and Jon Landau will again produce for their Lightstorm Entertainment.






Read on for the quotes from Fox brass, Cameron and Landau:

"'Avatar'is not only the highest grossing movie of all time, it is a created universe based on the singular imagination and daring of James Cameron, who also raised the consciousness of people worldwide to some of the greatest issues facing our planet," said Rothman and Gianopulos. "We had no higher priority, and can feel no greater joy, than enabling Jim to continue and expand his vision of the world of 'Avatar.' This is a great day in the history of our company, and we thank Jim, Jon Landau, Rae Sanchini and all of their team and all of our Fox colleagues throughout the world, who have made this possible."






Commented Cameron: "It is a rare and remarkable opportunity when a filmmaker gets to build a fantasy world, and watch it grow, with the resources and partnership of a global media company. 'Avatar' was conceived as an epic work of fantasy – a world that audiences could visit, across all media platforms, and this moment marks the launch of the next phase of that world. With two new films on the drawing boards, my company and I are embarking on an epic journey with our partners at Twentieth Century Fox. Our goal is to meet and exceed the global audience's expectations for the richness of 'Avatar's' visual world and the power of the storytelling. In the second and third films, which will be self contained stories that also fulfill a greater story arc, we will not back off the throttle of 'Avatar's' visual and emotional horsepower, and will continue to explore its themes and characters, which touched the hearts of audiences in all cultures around the world. I'm looking forward to returning to Pandora, a world where our imaginations can run wild."






"It is very exciting to be teaming again with our partners at Fox to give audiences the opportunity to return to Pandora," said producer Jon Landau. "With the first movie, Jim only scratched the surface of the stories he wants to tell and the creatures and world he wants to create. Now we will continue his vision."

BREAKING NEWS: Batman Sequel?!?!?!??!?!

Director Christopher Nolan. Best known for Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Inception.

Although he's probably best-known as the visionary writer/director behind some of the most highly regarded movies of the last decade, Christopher Nolan's true talent has always been his remarkable, nearly uncanny abilility to grant interviews, then refuse to answer all questions. In a recent interview with the LA Times, Nolan is typically reticent -- indeed, most of the article is about how interviewing him is like pulling teeth -- but he does reveal at least three interesting things:


1) The third Batman movie will be called The Dark Knight Rises. While this is obviously an improvement over, say, Batman Begins 3 or The Dark Knight 2 or Batman Forever 5, not everyone is satisfied. According to Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere, the new title "really sucks eggs."


2) The villain will NOT be The Riddler. Considering that most of the activity on the Internet during the last year or so has been devoted to Riddler-related casting rumours (Joseph Gordon-Levitt? Johnny Depp? Michael C. Hall? Paul Bettany?), this news is particularly devastating. At least 10 million hours of collective manpower went into this endeavor -- what was it all for?


3) The movie will not be in 3D, but a combination of IMAX and hi-def. This is good news for movie-goers, bad news for the manufacturers of Tylenol -- the primary beneficiary of the 3D craze.


The tentative release date for The Dark Knight Rises is July 20, 2012. In the meantime, expect Nolan to grant a series of interviews in which he divulges one or two minor details, then responds "no comment" or "I can't answer that at the moment" to everything else.