Huge news: Academy expands Best Picture nominees to 10!

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The Academy Awards are doubling the number of best-picture nominees from five to 10.

Academy President Sid Ganis said at a news conference that the academy's board of governors made the decision to expand the slate. Ganis said the decision will open the field up to more worthy films for the top prize at Hollywood's biggest party.

The change takes effect with next year' Oscars on March 7.

The move is a return to Oscar traditions of the 1930s and '40s, when 10 nominees were common.

Ganis said the board looked at last year's slate of films and decided there was room for more in the top category. "We nominated five, but there were many other great films last year," he said.

Among last year's most acclaimed movies was the Batman blockbuster "The Dark Knight," which wound up snubbed.

Ganis said the broader field also might make room for documentaries, foreign-language films, animated movies and even comedies, which typically do not fare well at the Oscars.

"Everybody says the academy will never nominate a comedy," Ganis said. "Well, maybe we will."

Having 10 or more was common in Hollywood's golden age 60-70 years ago. Ganis noted that 1939's 10 best-picture nominees were "Gone With the Wind," which won, "The Wizard of Oz," "Stagecoach," "Wuthering Heights," "Love Affair," "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Of Mice and Men," "Dark Victory" and "Ninotchka."

All are generally considered classics today.

3rd Quarter Preview: July, August, September

By tonight, I'll be out of the country for roughly 12 days, meaning that July will be well underway by the time I get back. And seeing as there are several high profile releases that will arrive while I'm gone or shortly after I return, I thought it might be best to put out the list of the...

14 Films to Watch out For: July-September

But first, I need to make amends from my previous installment, where I left off one of my most anticipated films of the last quarter (though it won't reach most cities until July...):

- Moon: A return to less action driven, more character centered sci-fi tales like "2001", "Moon" opens in the future circa 2030.

Astronaut Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is part of the Hydrogen mining plant on the Moon, which sends individual astronauts in 3-year long shifts. With only two weeks left in his contract, Sam suddenly finds a body...but why does it look so much like him? Early reviews have been nothing short of stellar, with positive notice going to Rockwell's one-man show, along with Clint Mansell's haunting score. This is one trip to the Moon you won't want to miss.

Anticipation Level: 10/10

And now back to the main list:

14. The Invention of Lying (September 25th, Wide): Outside of the Apatow brotherhood, comedy has been struggling recently ("Year One", anybody?). So, who else to save the day, but some of the best comedic talent in Hollywood, along with *gasp* a unique concept. Set in a parallel future where no one has ever lied, one man (Ricky Gervais) "invents" it, and begins using it for his own personal gain. Rounding out the cast are Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, Christopher Guest, Jennifer Garner, Jeffrey Tambor, and Patrick Stewart as the narrator. With Gervais directing and co-writing, this could be the surprise comedy of the fall. The only thing missing? A trailer...

Anticipation: 6/10

13. Julie and Julia (August 7th, Wide): What happens when you combine two real life stories, a rising, twice Oscar-nominated mega star, and a two time Oscar winner enjoying newfound box office appeal? Hopefully comedy magic.

Based on two stories separated by decades, the films cuts between Julia Child's rise to fame in France and modern day writer Julie Powell, who decides to try and complete every recipe in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" over the course of a year. It will be interesting to see Amy Adams and Meryl Streep sharing the screen (sort of) again in a totally different movie, following the dark drama "Doubt". Will it earn Ms. Streep another Oscar nomination? Hard to say, but the film does look like fun.

Anticipation: 6/10

12. The Boat that Rocked (August 28th, Limited): Another real life story, this one from "Love Actually" director Richard Curtis. It's the 1960's, and British radio stations only allow two hours of rock n'roll on the airwaves per day. What to do?

The answer: set up a radio station on a ship in the North Sea and play rock music 24/7, going against any and all British radio regulations. Featuring a stellar British cast (plus Phillip Seymour Hoffman) led by Bill Nighy, this one has potential to be one of the year's indie surprises.

Anticipation: 6.5/10

11. Taking Woodstock(August 14th, Limited): Ang Lee directing a comedy? There have been stranger ideas. Here, Mr. Lee sets out to tell the mostly true story of how a young man (Demetri Martin) managed to turn his backyard into a generation defining concert. Featuring Emile Hirsch, Imelda Staunton as Martin's hilariously tough mother, and Liev Schreiber as a drag queen (the mere sight of him in the trailer is hilarious in its own right).

Despite a good trailer, reviews from Cannes were mixed. However, Cannes is notoriously famous for its extra snarky critics (even "No Country for Old Men" got lukewarm reviews there), so there's a solid chance that "Taking Woodstock" is quite good, even though it might not be great.

Anticipation: 6.5/10

10. Ponyo (August 14th, Limited): Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki returns with his first feature since "Howl's Moving Castle" (2005). It's said to be a loose adaptation of The Little Mermaid: a small sea creature is sent to somehow save an increasingly out of balance world. In the process, the creature befriends a human boy.

The animation in the trailer is gorgeous, and the American voice cast is filled with brilliance (Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Betty White, Lilly Tomlin). The only thing that worries me is that Miyazaki's films sometimes become a bit cold, rendering them easier to admire, but difficult to enjoy. Regardless, this and "9" are the only real threats to Pixar winning another animated film Oscar.

Anticipation: 7/10

9. Adam (July 29th, Limited): Fox Searchlight has been on something of a winning streak, both critically and comercially. It started in 2006 with "Little Miss Sunshine", continued in 2007 with "Juno" and "Sunshine" (which was good, but which no one saw), and hit its peak in 2008 when "Slumdog Millionaire" captured audiences and critics alike, racking up tons of awards, including 8 Oscars this past February.

So what's their latest release that could prove to be gold? That would be Max Mayer's "Adam", a charming story about a man with Asperger's syndrome (Hugh Dancy) who falls in love for the first time with his new neighbor Beth (lovely Rose Byrne). Early reviews have been good, and the trailer promises a movie that is both funny and touching.

Anticipation: 7/10

8. 9 (September 9th, Wide): An animated film not made by Pixar, Dreamworks, or the Japanese that actually looks...good? That would seem to be the case with "9", produced by Tim Burton and directed by proclaimed visionary Shane Acker.

Set in the future, mankind has been overrun by its own machines, and it's up to 9 little rag-doll type creatures to save us. The animation is great, the voice cast stellar, and the tone suitable dark (though will it be too dark for the younger set?). With fascinating and creepy robot adversaries, and combat that isn't scared of become truly violent, "9" looks like "The Nightmare Before Christmas" meets "Alien". And that's a good thing...right?

Anticipation: 7.5/10

7. Bruno (July 10th, Wide): Not satisfied with the amount of outrageousness in recent comedies? Then "Bruno" is here to help. The follow-up to the 2006 smash "Borat", "Bruno" follows another one of Sacha Baron Cohen's twisted, socially inept creations. This time it's a gay Austrian fashionista, who is trying to take his show to America.

No one stays in character better than Baron Cohen, which is remarkable considering the situations he gets himself into: crashing Milan fashion week, pretending to have an adopted African baby, trying to seduce Ron Paul, etc... Rumors have it that "Bruno" may actually top "Borat" in insanity, resultingin what could be the funniest (yet also most disturbing) movie of the year.

Ancitipation: 7.5/10

6. The Hurt Locker (sometime in July...): If the past two years have shown us anything, it's that audiences aren't flocking to movies about the war in Iraq. So what makes Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" worth looking at?

Well, nail-biting trailer aside, there's the considerable buzz. Early reviews have thrown heaps of praise, claiming that it's the best film that Bigelow has ever made. The film apparently tries to focus its story more on soldiers in Iraq (specifically, bomb defusers) instead of setting up situations by which a character can spout pro/anti war propaganda. By keeping the story grounded in the troops themselves, Bigelow may have given us the first truly great movie about the Iraq war.

Anticipation: 8/10

5. District 9 (August 14th, Wide): Originality. We don't see it much in Hollywood these days. And this is why Neil Blonkamp's "District 9" is such an eye-catcher. Instead of telling a story about aliens and humans fighting, "District 9" does something truly marvelous: the aliens accidentally landed on earth, have been cornered by human forces, and are now forced to live in massive slums as refugees and mankind tries to figure out how their technology and weapons work.

Meanwhile, humans talk about the refugees in terms that are eerily close to racial statements:"they don't belong here", "there's been more violence since they got here", "the government is wasting so much money protecting them", etc... Though it is possible that there could be some big explosions later in the story, it's nice to see a sci-fi movie that appears to really focus on story, and exploring issues, albeit in a fanciful setup.

Anticipation: 8.5/10

4. Inglourious Basterds (August 21st, Wide): Quentin Tarantino and World War II aren't two things that go hand in hand. And that's all the more reason to see "Inglourious Basterds", Tarantino's 100% fiction tale about a group of Jewish American soldiers (led by Brad Pitt's Lt. Aldo Rain) who go behind enemy lines to terrorize Nazi forces and ultimately kill the Fuhrer.

Helping them is a double agent (Diane Kruger) and helping them indirectly is Melanie Laurent's character, a Jewish theater owner hosting a premiere for the Furhrer, where she plans to kill him. The trailer promises total insanity, mixing violence with Tarantino's superb dialogue and off-the-wall characters. And who doesn't want to surrender to a little insanity now and then. And then there's Christopher Waltz as the villain, the self proclaimed "Jew Hunter". Waltz won the best actor prize at Cannes, and could be a breakout star when the film opens.

Anticipation: 8.5/10

3. 500 Days of Summer (July 17th, Limited): Another promising entry from Fox Searchlight, this one focusing on an even more unconventional love story. In fact, it's barely a love story at all. Opening with a breakup between Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel), the film then retraces their 500 day relationship.

The trailer provided plenty of laughs and charm, and Deschanel and Levitt appear to have great chemistry together. But don't be fooled. As the trailer informs us: "You should be warned, this is not a love story".

Anticipation: 9/10

2. Public Enemies (July 1st, Wide): Michael Mann has been in a bit of a slump. His past two features (Collateral and Miami Vice) were "okay" and "appalling" respectively. Gone was the director who gave us great films like "Last of the Mohicans", "Heat", and "The Insider". Hopefully this will be Mann's return to form.

The (mostly) true story of John Dillenger, features Johnny Depp as Dillenger, Christian Bale and Det. Purvis, and Marion Cotillard as Dillenger's squeeze, Billie Frenchette. The interesting camera work (it was shot in HD digital video, before being remastered as film...or something like that) and lighting, something that hasn't been done much before, is certainly an aspect to watch out for. It will also be interesting to see Depp in a role that doesn't require any over-the-top traits, unlike other recent work (Sweeney Todd, Pirates of the Caribbean), as well as seeing him interact with his two talented co-stars.

Anticipation: 9.5/10

1. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (July 15th, Wide): After that infuriating delay last fall, the sixth installment of the mega franchise is finally upon us, and it looks pretty damn marvelous. Though the film is rated PG and reportedly will include a lot of "lighter" moments, there's only so much that can be put in the Half Blood Prince, considering that it has one of THE darkest and most heartbreaking moments in the entire series.

The visuals in the trailer certainly promise plenty of darkness (could this be the first Potter film to garner a cinematography nod?),, and with David Yates back at the helm (who made, in my opinion, the best Potter film with the underappreciated "Order of the Phoenix"), there's plenty of potential. Half Blood Prince was always my least favorite book in the series, so here's hoping that Yates and crew work their magic and bring out the best parts of the story.

Anticipation: 10/10

Well that's all for now. 14 (technically 15) excuses to go to the movies this summer.

First stills from "Avatar" the MOVIE, and not the videogame...

Wow. Just...wow. I'm assuming the first shot is an actual still from completed footage, and that the second is closer to concept art or unfinished footage, but either way, both of these are absolutely gorgeous. I'm going to be pissed if the trailer is shown before "Transformers", because I'll have to wait until July 7th before I'll have internet access again...

US trailer for "Ponyo"!

First teaser for M. Night Shyamalan's "The Last Airbender"

Based off of the hit Nickelodeon cartoon epic. Well, it's nice to see M. Night directing something that doesn't rely on a ridiculous twist, and the visuals and effects seem cool. Could this be a return to form? We'll have to wait until next summer to find out...

2nd trailer for "Inglourious Basterds"

EDIT: *two new pics* A true first look at Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" (2010)!!!

All I can say is: WOW. The animation looks gorgeous, and the renderings of Depp and Bonham Carter are spectacularly weird. However, I am slightly confused, because I thought that Michael Sheen was playing the Chesire cat, instead of the White Rabbit. Either way, I can't wait to see what this film looks like in motion...

Source: Slashfilm.com

Walt Disney Pictures has released the first promotional photos from Tim Burton’s 3D re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland. Above you can see the first official photos ofJohnny Depp as a freakish-looking Mad Hatter, Helena Bona Carter as the Red Queen (”Off With Their Heads”), and Anne Hathaway as The White Queen, looking very pale. After the jump we’ve included newly confirmed details about the film’s plot (did you know its a kind of a sequel?) and new concept art that shows the White Rabbit(Michael Sheen), the egg-shaped Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas) and more.

The USA Today article (where the images premiered) confirms our previous report that the movie is actually a sequel in some ways. The film begins at a party where Alice, now 17, finds out that she is about to be proposed to in front of hundreds of snooty high society types. She makes a run for it, and of course, ends up following a white rabbit down a hole, back to Wonderland — a place where she visited a decade prior. The White Rabbit is convinced that he has the right girl but Alice doesn’t remember her past visit to Wonderland. The creatures of Wonderland are ready to revolt and are hoping/waiting for Alice to help them, but will she? Can she?

Other details revealed in the article include: The Red Queen has “a moat filled with bobbing noggins”, The White Queen is beautiful but eccentric, and floats around instead of walking, and that Depp employs an accent for the Hatter that producer Richard Zanuck can only describe as “indescribable”.

I’ve seen most of this art before at previous Disney industry events, and as I’ve stated in the past, I’m loving the Burton-styled look. I know some people will complain that this film looks too dark, but I actually wish some of it was darker. I’m not sure what to think about Depp of Carter’s digitally enhanced appearances. It will be interesting to see what they look like in motion. Head on over to USA Today to see non-cropped, much higher resolution versions of the above concept art. Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland will hit theaters on March 5th 2010.

New "Inglourious Basterds" footage

One last "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" trailer

"Sherlock Holmes" character posters

Quick thoughts on "The Taking of Pelham 123"

Ah, Tony Scott. It must be hard being the lesser brother of Ridley. Where your brother has directed numerous box office hits and Oscar winners, you've given audiences numerous average and even sub-par action films, year after year. Domino, Deja Vu, and now "The Taking of Pelham 123", a remake of a 70s action thriller. Though most of the heavy lifting is placed on more than capable leads Denzel Washington and John Travolta, the dialogue between the two either fails to be truly intriguing, or becomes rather routine. So despite expert sound crafting and some vivid lighting and camera work, "Pelham" is overall just too routine to build much suspense. We've seen a lot of these story arcs before, and despite a funny supporting turn from James Gandolfini, there just isn't enough here to truly electrify us. It's certainly loud enough to keep you awake, but that's about it. Better luck next time Mr. Scott.

Grade: C

Theatrical trailer for "2012"

Bizarre head line of the day: Von Trier's "Antichrist" is getting a video game tie-in...

Never in a million years would I even think of associating anything that Von Trier has ever done with video games. However, the idea is an interesting one. It just seems odd to have a game based off of an indie film, as opposed to a big studio production.

Source: Slashfilm.com

Antichrist, the new movie from Lars Von Trier, was perhaps the most talked-about movie at Cannes this year. It continues to make headlines as it slowly winds towards theatres outside the Croisette and Scandanavian countries. And now, evidently, it is going to spawn a video game. A post on the video game message board NeoGAF led to some wild Googling, which turns up a Politiken.dk article (Google translation, which may contain movie spoilers) announcing the game’s development. What’s the deal? It’s after the jump.

According to the article, development on the game is being led by Morten Iversen, who wrote the Hitman games, and subsequently formed his own company, Zeitguyz, which created a game called Recoil: Retrograde. The article mentions Zentropa Eden Games as the developer of the title. Indeed, Iversen is listed as ‘game developer’ on the main Zentropa website. Lars Von Trier will approve (or not, one supposes, as it may happen) the final design.

Eden, as the game will be called, will be a first-person thriller/adventure game that invites players to confront their fears. Willem Dafoe will reportedly reprise his role in voice-over, though the game will not replicate the film, picking up afterward instead. (Not having seen Antichrist, I can’t surmise what that means for Dafoe’s performance.) Iversen says the experience will be “strong and very personal,” “controversial” and that it “…must be your own personal hell - a bit like a nightmare version of ‘Mystere’.” First one to help I.D. exactly what ‘Mystere’ he means there (the Cirque de Soleil show? seems weird) gets a no-prize. Iversen evidently was interviewed on Danish radio this week; if you heard that broadcast and have more details, let us know.

The game actually sounds quite ambitious. In addition to challenging your fears, staying true to the spirit of the film and potentially referencing other Trier films (as menioned here) there will possibly be some real-world interaction via the Internet. This is from the Google translation of the Politiken source:

Then the game will adjust its action according to similar responses including know that via the Internet news media downloads bizarre news clips and videos from the real world into the game universe.

Eden will be a PC title, and while early in development is planned for a release within a year, potentially either on the Antichrist DVD or as a download. A throwaway line in the Politiken article also mentions a graphic novel, which I would almost assume to be a joke if I didn’t imagine that was the source of the Willem Dafoe image above. Seriously, what the hell is going on here? (OK, according to a couple emails, the article doesn’t mention a separate graphic novel, but graphic novel-like cutscenes. Which makes more sense.)

EDITS: That should likely be ‘Myst’, not ‘Mystere’, making this a nightmare version of Myst, which sounds about right. And bjaelke, the NeoGAF poster who mentioned this in the first place, offers clarification about the material pulled from the ‘net: “They are based on what fears you have (part of the questions you answer before starting the game). So if you suffer from arachnophobia the articles are likely to contain something about spiders and what not.”

Casting news: Olivia Munn joins "Iron Man 2" (2010)

Source: Slashfilm.com

Back in April, Attack of the Show co-host Olivia Munn revealed on Twitter that she has been cast in two upcoming movies: One is the upcoming Steve Carell/Tina Fey comedyDate Night, and the other is some project that she was working out for but wasn’t “legally” allowed to publicly discuss yet. It turns out that she has a role in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2. No word on how large of a role she might play. I assume that she’ll probably be in one or two scenes, possibly as a television announcer. Munn said on Twitter that her role is “definitely” bigger than her one minute appearance in Rob Schneider’s Big Stan.

Action-packed "Public Enemies" clip

As long as the camera work isn't TOO shaky (ie: Quantum of Solace/The Bourne Ultimatum), I think everything should be fine. The sound quality is amazing, by the way. Could this be Michael Mann's next "Heat"? I definately hope so....

Two new TV spots for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

First pictures from "Le dernier vol de Lancaster"(2009) starring Marion Cotillard

IMDb gives the following premise: A woman goes on a journey to find her missing husband after his plane disappears in the Sahara.

New poster for "Inglourious Basterds"

"Summer Hours" - REVIEW

It's hard to pigeonhole "Summer Hours", my first foreign language viewing of the year. It isn't exactly good, but I can't find the energy to rip it apart either. In some ways, it just....is. The premise can basically be summed up in one sentence: three siblings decide what to do with their mother's home and belonging's after her death. Not exactly room for lots of "dramatic moments", but as other such films have shown, this doesn't have to be a problem. Nothing overtly important 'happened' in Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise", but that film succeeded on its revealing and engaging dialogue. And that's exactly what "Summer Hours" is missing. Most of the conversation is constrained to discussions of 'are we selling the house? do we donate this to the museum that was interested?' and there's never much revealed about the three siblings. The opening sequence (a family reunion) doesn't suffer from this because the selling process isn't even in the works, and it's the most commanding part of the film. But after this opener, it's all downhill into nothingness. Sure, Adrienne (Juliette Binoche) is attached to a silver serving trey, and Frederic (Charles Berling) is the only one in defense of keeping the house, but it's never explored in any way. We learn next to nothing about these people in the past; only details about their current situations. All this does is inform us as to why two of the siblings want to sell the house, but we never get their feelings from the past. Not helping matters is the mystifying ending, which seems like a weak attempt to provide the 'aha!' moment that perhaps the house shouldn't have been sold. Are these people that detached from their childhoods? Or maybe they're secretly androids (I have to take issue with any movie that makes Juliette Binoche seem boring). That would certainly be a better explanation than anything that the movie offers us.

Grade: C

FIrst review of "Bruno"

Source: The UK Sun

SACHA BARON COHEN managed to put Kazakhstan on the map with Borat.

He even made Staines a surprise tourist destination thanks to Ali G.

Now Austria is about to suffer the dubious pleasure of the comic’s latest colourful movie creation — gay TV presenter Brüno.

As if the country didn’t have enough to worry about thanks to their last infamous export, Hitler.

Unhappy eyeful ... this isn't what Bruno wants to see

PLANET PHOTOS

And Brüno is far from shy of a Führer reference himself.

In fact, the Nazi leader gets a mention every five minutes.

All a big joke ... camp Bruno in a wacky outfit

PLANET PHOTOS

To say Brüno makes uncomfortable viewing is an understatement of Battle of Britain proportions.

When I wasn’t giggling like a 14-year-old, I was cowering behind my hands. And I wasn’t just hiding from the acres of kugelsack, Brüno’s word for the lunchbox, shown during the 90 minutes.

The term will become the new “Booyakasha” or “Jagshemash”.

I also saw enough “arshenhaller” bleaching to last a lifetime.

The film follows the camp presenter’s bid for fame in LA after he is sacked from his beloved fashion show on Austrian TV for bringing a Milan catwalk show to a standstill with his all-in-one Velcro outfit.

The scene is utterly brilliant and wipes the smiles from the faces of the snooty fashion world.

Brüno has only been in love twice. Once for just seven minutes with Eighties pop act MILLI VANILLI and the second time with his pygmy boyfriend who dumps him when he loses his TV show.

And here lies a warning — the pygmy sex scene is one of the most horrific incidents ever committed to celluloid.

Amazing scene ... Bruno's 'adopted baby' is confiscated

PLANET PHOTOS

I’m talking fire extinguishers, champagne bottles and mechanically adapted fitness equipment. Teenage boys should under no circumstances watch this with their parents.

Just like with Ali G and Borat, Sacha as Brüno tricks famous faces into doing ridiculous interviews.

This includes singers PAULA ABDULand LATOYA JACKSON, who both leave within minutes after being served sushi on a naked Mexican.

Brüno decides to become heterosexual — “like TOM CRUISE, JOHN TRAVOLTA and KEVIN SPACEY”. And an interview with a pastor, who specialises in turning gay men straight, is priceless.

A JERRY SPRINGER-style talk show scene in Dallas, when Brüno has his “adopted” African baby confiscated, will go down in Baron Cohen’s top three best scenes.

The character does lose a bit of steam towards the end but the musical climax, with cameos from CHRIS MARTIN, BONO, SIR ELTON JOHN and SNOOP DOGG is a fitting finale.

Natalie Portman signs on for Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan"

Source: Slashfilm.com

Aronofsky became attached to Black Swan in early 2007, but the film was put into turnaround by Universal. The project is apparently making the rounds to studios and specialty divisions, with Portman as part of the CAA package. Mark Heyman, co-producer of The Wrestler, has done a rewrite of the original script by John McLaughlin.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Portman would play a veteran ballerina who finds herself “locked in to a competitive showdown with a rival dancer, with the stakes and twists increasing as the dancers approach a big performance.” But it isn’t as simple as that — the big twist is that Portman’s character is not sure whether her rival is a supernatural apparition or if she is having delusions. Sounds like a genre-thriller with award potential.

I’m not immediately sold on the short logline, but with exceptional talent like Portman and Aronofsky involved, I’m sure it will be great. Aronofsky could make a film about an empty white room, and I’d be in line opening day to pay $15. And hey, I’m sure a lot of people had no interest in seeing a film about an aging professional wrestler…

I find it hard to imagine that a studio won’t jump immediately at this project, especially with Aronofsky coming hot off a critically acclaimed and award nominated film, complete with Portman locked in as part of the package. If a sale happens soon, Swan could be in production by year’s end.

Aronofsky was also developing a reboot of Robocop for MGM, which the studio originally hoped to have in theaters for 2010. MGM recently moved expectations to 2011. And maybe one of the reasons I’m not so-sold on the project is because I’ve been waiting to see what Aronofsky could do with a big high concept project likeRobocop, or one of his more original stories. I very much hope he gets the chance to make Noah’s Ark one of these days.