This week, I'm going to discuss a recent story and a story that has been around for a couple weeks. First up, some sequel news.
It was confirmed Tuesday that Disney had hired new writers for the sequel to their 2007 hit Enchanted. The first movie, while not as successful as Tangled or Frozen, was still a critical success and earned three Best Song nominations at the 2008 Oscars. But, is this really moving forward? In 2010, Disney had confirmed they were moving forward with a sequel but never made any additional announcements until now. Guess the stunning success of Idina Menzel (who played Nancy in the first film and Elsa in Frozen) reinvigorated interest somehow. But, Enchanted isn't Menzel's movie, its' Amy Adams. And her starpower has gone up over the last few years as well. It won't be easy bringing the cast back together, but fingers crossed they'll have something up their sleeves soon. Anne Fletcher (The Proposal and The Guilt Trip) is directing.
More along in progress is a third G.I. Joe film, which Paramount is aiming for 2016. Jon Chu isn't returning to direct, but as far as I know, the cast may be interested in a third run. Retaliation retained majority of Rise of Cobra's domestic gross, while doing much more worldwide ($400 million). They got new scriptwriters as well recently.
Now onto a movie who hasn't had a trailer yet (surprisingly, and hopefully soon). Disney's highly-anticipated adaptation of Into the Woods, which is releasing Christmas Day. Boasting huge names such as Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, Chris Pine, Emily Blunt and Anna Kendrick, the musical adaptation came under fire for possible script changes by the Mouse House. The musical, which contains some sexual innuendo, originally was edited for a more family-friendly audience. At least according to the musical's creator Stephen Sondheim, who said to some teachers that Disney wanted changes.
But, another story came up a few days later with Sondheim stating that "no such changes" were made. This is both good and bad news. While being true to original source material is a good things, betraying some of Disney's usually offensive content-free material might be the riskiest move yet. It also will turn off some families at the box office. Hopefully the trailer will be impressive.
Speaking of delayed trailers, its also funny/surprising that there hasn't been a trailer for the final Hobbit movie yet (the second movie had a trailer in mid-June in front of Man of Steel). Five months up to its release, they really should do something by now.
