Wow. You know, this sounds cheesy, but it’s true: They couldn’t have picked a better band to do the theme for the new “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” movie.

Cheap Trick is one of those bands that has been around through so many fads and popular music trends that it has only strengthened their sound. They can’t be classified as a 70s band or an 80s band (although people who only know “I Want You to Want Me” and “The Flame” will do just that out of ignorance), and they put out two of their best records, “Cheap Trick” (1997) and “Rockford” (2006), in the last two decades and completely under the radar. Lots of bands get crappier and wimpier in time (I’m looking at you, Vince Neil), but Robin Zander’s voice is still top-notch and the new stuff rocks as hard as the old stuff AND has better production to boot.

Anyway, this theme has “Dream Police”-like keyboards, a huge bass sound, and hilariously straightforward lyrics about giant robots from the sky that you can’t hide from. I mean, that’s what the freaking movie’s about, right? Why not sing about it? I love that the Trick still has a sense of humor after all these years. Anyway, this may be my favorite theme song since Queen’s “Princes of the Universe” for the”Highlander” soundtrack (which took itself way more seriously and was equally as much fun)!

Play this one in your car with the top down and have a cool one. Just don’t forget to turn it up!

Tags: Cheap Trick, mp3, new, remix, rocks, sequel, song, The Fallen, Theme, Transformers, transformers 2

Just got this in my inbox about 10 minutes ago. I hope he does something different with it this time because his “Halloween” remake was about half good.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK (December 16, 2008) — Dimension Films - the successful genre and specialty arm of The Weinstein Company - is pleased to announce that the company will make “H2,” the sequel to Rob Zombie’s 2007 reinvention of the horror classic “Halloween.”  Once again, Rob Zombie has been tapped to write and direct.  Malek Akkad of Trancas International Films, who also produced 2007’s Halloween with Dimension, will produce the sequel, along with Andy Gould of Spectacle Entertainment Group, Zombie’s long time manager and producing partner.  The announcement was made today by Bob Weinstein, Co-Chairman of The Weinstein Company.

Dimension’s “Halloween” scored the highest Labor Day weekend opening ever with a record-breaking $30.6 million in its first four days of release and went on to gross nearly $60 million at the domestic box office in 2007.

Zombie’s “H2” will pick up at the exact moment the first movie stopped and follow the aftermath of Michael Myers murderous rampage through the eyes of heroine Laurie Strode.

“H2” will be Zombie’s fifth written and directed feature.  Prior to the success of Halloween, Zombie released the critically-acclaimed film “The Devil’s Rejects” (2005), the follow-up to his cult classic “House of 1000 Corpses” (2004).  Zombie just wrapped production on his animated feature film “The Haunted World of El Superbeasto” due to be released in 2009.  Zombie, also an accomplished recording artist, has sold over fifteen million albums worldwide, making him one of Geffen Records’ top selling and longest running artists.

Bob Weinstein stated: “Following the success of 2007’s ‘Halloween,’ we are thrilled to be back in business with Rob Zombie, bringing a sequel to theatres.  The fans have made it clear – and we agree - that they feel the franchise is in great hands with Rob Zombie.”

Rob Zombie said, ”I am very excited to be working with Bob Weinstein again and returning to the world of ‘Halloween.’ The remake laid the groundwork, now it’s time to really take Michael Myers to the next level. I believe we’ve just barely scratched the surface of where we can take this series.“

John Carpenter’s “Halloween” launched the Halloween franchise in 1978 and Moustapha Akkad, founder of Trancas International Films, executive produced the original classic. Akkad’s son Malek has continued with the franchise, producing “Halloween” (2007), “Halloween H20: 20 Years Later” (1998) and now, “H2.”

“I am thrilled to be making ‘H2’ at Dimension, the home of the ‘Halloween’ franchise for the last 15 years,” commented Malek Akkad.  “I look forward to working again with Bob Weinstein, as well as a filmmaker of Rob Zombie’s talent and stature.”

Tags: 2007, direct, H2, halloween, Rob, sequel, to, will, zombie

Update: Looks like Chris Weitz will be directing “New Moon.” OK, I’m the first to admit that the box office juggernaut “Twilight” was not a groundbreaking movie or anything. But what surprised me about it was how convincing the love story was. Yes, it was shot on a woefully low budget and it was missing a largescale conematic vision. But for a movie based on a teen-oriented book, the relationships between characters were surprisingly well-formed.

I chalked that up to the direction of Catherine Hardwicke, who navigated the tricky waters of teen alienation so well in “Thirteen,” and who was just fired from directing the next installment of the popular vampire series by Summit Entertainment. I guess that’s how they treat someone who made a $37-million-dollar movie that has so far grossed over $138 million. Nice.

This story on Deadline Hollywood broke the news last night, and from the looks of things, they fired Hardwicke because she was “difficult.” What director isn’t? Filmmaking is a series of compromises and they gave her no budget to speak of to work with. There’s a bunch of other inside industry soap-opera action in that article, and I hate reading about that stuff, but if you want the scoop there it is. I wish all movies could be made with the creative intent as the number-one priority, but obviously, that’s not the way Hollywood works.

They’ll probably bring in some hack-for-hire who’ll do whatever they say and will spend more time on special effects than character, and the series will decline until the fourth installment finally sputters out and nobody cares anymore. Oh well, at least Hardwicke has her upcoming gig as the director of “Spider-Man” on Broadway to look forward to.

Tags: catherine, fired, form, hardwicke, moon, new, new moon, sequel, stephenie meyer, twilight, Twilight sequel

“The Incredible Hulk” director Louis Leterrier’s remake of “Clash of the Titans” will be filmed on backlots with lots of greenscreen digital backgrounds like Zack Snyder’s “300,” and will star Sam Worthington in the Harry Hamlin-originated role of Perseus. The only cause I see for celebration is that the movie is written by Lawrence Kasdan (”The Empire Strikes Back,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Body Heat”).

The original “Titans” was the last movie featuring the stop-motion genius of Ray Harryhausen and featured a hideous Medusa, a mechanical owl named Bubo, and the giant Kraken (found recently on my Top 10 Giant Monster Attacks! list). Zeus’ son Perseus is on a quest to save Princess Andromeda and he must jump through several hoops, including capturing Pegasus and slaying the snake-haired One.

Part of what made it so creepy and unreal was the stop-motion creatures, so I don’t know if straight-up CGI will be that interesting. Maybe there is a digital way to approximate the same jittery, otherworldly feel that Harryhausen’s creations had. That would be cool. Leterrier’s “Hulk” was just fine, a workmanlike combo of the TV show and comic, so I’m not expecting too much here, but Kasdan’s presence is reassuring.

Other Greek epics in production? Tarsem Singh’s “War of the Gods,” in which Theseus, a warrior from Greek mythology, leads a fight against the imprisoned titans. One thing that makes this story unique is that unlike some mythological tales, the Gods fight alongside mortals. with Tarsem (“The Fall”) on board, this could be visually stunning. Let’s hope it’s not also incoherent, like his earlier “The Cell.”

Brett Ratner’s “God of War” is based on a popular videogame and takes place in ancient Greece where the warrior Kratos, who tackles mythological beasts such as Medusa, Cyclops and the Hydra, is on a quest to find Pandora’s Box and destroy Ares, the God of war. with the recent announcement of the above two pictures, though, Ratner is going to have an uphill climb. This seems like the one that will benefit the most from being released first, if only because the others will probably be more visually stunning and cutting edge.

And then there’s the rumored “300″ sequel. (Which is really weird, considering that the 300 Spartans are all dead.) Well, it’s kind of a prequel. But not really. It will take place somewhere between the Battle of Thermoplyae, which was fought during “300″ and the Battle of Platea, which is the battle that was started at the end of the film. But before any of this can be filmed, Frank Miller (who’s still finishing up directing duties on “The Spirit”) has to complete another graphic novel. Can you say overkill?

Tags: 300, brett, Clash, frank, gods, harryhausen, kasdan, lawrence, Leterrier, Louis, miller, of, prequel, ratner, ray, remake, sequel, singh, Tarsem, the, Titans, war, wars

Michael Caine has got loose lips apparently, becuase no one else at Warner Brothers (certainly not “The Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan, who’s on vacation) is talking about a recent Caine interview that supposedly reveals the studio’s plans for the next installment in the now red-hot “Batman” franchise. They may not even have a script yet, but supposedly, they have two stars in mind.

Here’s the quote from Caine, over at MTV:

“I was with [a Warner Bros.] executive and I said, ‘Are we going to make another one?’ They said yeah. I said, ‘How the hell are we going to top Heath? And he says ‘I’ll tell you how you top Heath — Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.’ I said, ‘S–t, they’ve done it again!’”

But then the next day after Caine’s quote, Hoffman was approached at the Toronto Film Festival and denied that he’s been approached by anyone at the studio to play the Penguin:

“No one has talked to me about it ever — never,” he said. He added that he’s a huge fan of comic book movies and he would rather watch them as a fan than be in one.

Here’s the deal: If WB is serious about this, and Nolan comes up with another terrific script, Hoffman will do it. You know he will. It’s all about the script, which hasn’t even been written!

One thing is for sure. The DVD is coming out in time for Christmas, but Warners is doing a big Oscar push anyway, rereleasing the “The Dark Knight” into IMAX theaters in January. Presumably, this is also to push theatrical ticket sales, which look as if they will fall just short of the big $600 million mark achieved by James cameron’s “Titanic” all those years ago.

Here is a big thread with lots of fans sounding off about possible “Dark Knight” sequel villains.

Tags: batman, Depp is the Riddler, Hoffman the Penguin, sequel, The Dark Knight villains