While Martin Scorsese prepares his adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s Silence AKA Chinmoku, a couple other items regarding films about Jesuit missionaries and Christian martyrs in 17th-century Asia popped up in my news feed this morning. First, Doug Cummings at FilmJourney.org says he has just finished writing the liner notes for an upcoming DVD release of the previous adaptation of Endo’s novel, which was written by Endo himself and directed by Masahiro Shinoda in 1971. The DVD will be released as... Read more

I am not familiar with Thomas Wheeler’s novel The Arcanum, but this description in Variety sounds at least a little interesting: Gold Circle Films has picked up feature rights to Thomas Wheeler’s fantasy-adventure “The Arcanum” out of turnaround from Miramax. “The Arcanum,” Wheeler’s debut novel, is set in 1919 and follows the titular secret society comprising the era’s leading occult investigators — Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini, H.P. Lovecraft and Marie Laveau — as they battle demons descending on New... Read more

Last month, inspired by the kerfuffle over the rating for Live Free or Die Hard, I started a list of movie franchises which began on an R-rated or X-rated note and then shifted down to the PG-13 or PG-rated level as the sequels came out. So far, I cannot think of a single case in which the PG or PG-13 sequel was all that good. Now, I am wondering something slightly different. How many franchises have begun on a PG-13... Read more

Variety reports that Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End has been heavily edited for its release in China: Chinese auds will get to see a trimmed version of “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” when it opens here Tuesday after censors cut back on a number of scenes featuring Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat. According to local media, more than half of the scenes featuring Chow as a Singapore pirate, have been cut, including his recitation of a... Read more

I’m slipping! I forgot to mention last week that Hostel Part II — which turned out to be a flop — was coming out last Friday without being shown to critics beforehand. At any rate, I heard of no screenings, and all the reviews I’ve read so far were published in the Saturday or Sunday papers — which is usually a sign that the critics couldn’t see the film until the paying public could. It is not uncommon for horror... Read more

Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest. Away from Her — CDN $827,281 — N.AM $3,714,000 — 22.3%Spider-Man 3 — CDN $32,590,000 — N.AM $325,680,000 — 10.0%Shrek the Third — CDN $24,210,000 — N.AM $281,892,000 — 8.6%Knocked Up — CDN $5,390,000 — N.AM $66,241,000 — 8.1%Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End — CDN $20,170,000 — N.AM... Read more

Does the latest news on the Indiana Jones IV front confirm that those rumours about a scene taking place at Area 51 are true? Maybe, maybe not. Las Cruces Sun-News reported on Friday and Saturday that scenes involving a U.S. Air Force base will be shot in Deming, New Mexico — but New Mexico will apparently be doubling for Morocco, instead of Nevada. The Sun-News also says the film’s working title is “Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods”... Read more

This trailer for The Invasion, the upcoming much-reshot Nicole Kidman-starring sci-fi remake, is giving me a total Stepford Wives vibe, on several levels. All it’s missing is a strong sense of camp. Powered by AOL Video Click here if the video file above doesn’t play properly. Read more

It’s been a long, long time since the last batch of news quickies. 1. Julian Farino is attached to direct The Year of Living Biblically from a script by Jay Reiss, based on the A.J. Jacobs book. 2. Battlestar Galactica producer Ronald D. Moore is working on a sequel to I, Robot (2004; my review; another version). 3. Disney has set a release date — namely May 1, 2009 — for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. That will be... Read more