JackBlack

It's been a while since Jack Black has been involved in something really worth getting excited over. And while this announcement isn't exactly of the "Wow, I'll be counting down the days until this one comes out", there's something to be said about interesting sci-fi family entertainment.

Illumination Entertainment has acquired a pitch made by scribe Jason Micallef (who wrote Black List script Butter and rewrote The King of Kong script, based on the documentary) for a Cryptozoology-based animated film concept which Jack Black would produce. For those not completely familiar with Cryptozoology, it is the study or search for animals not officially recognized by mainstream biologists, such as your Loch Ness Monsters, Big Foots and what Wikipedia refers to as phantom cats or ABC's (stands for Alien Big Cats). The project does not yet have a title.

As someone who enjoyed Monsters vs. Aliens more than I ever thought I could, I'm all in favor of some more sci-fi themed kid-appropriate material, so long as it has more promise than Planet 51 or Aliens in the Attic. Next summer, the Universal Pictures-based Illumination will have its first major animation project hitting theaters -- that's Despicable Me with the voice talents of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig and many more, so we can appropriately adjust our excitement for this Cryptozoology deal at that later July 9, 2010 date.

(via Variety)

Ah, gotta love those rumors. As folks slowly begin to stop geeking out about the Star Trek film that's still in theaters and start geeking out about the next Star Trek movie (already being planned), you're going to see a whole bunch of characters from the Trek universe pop up alongside different actors and actresses. The latest character to go through rumorville is Harry Mudd, who was a villain in the original series played by the late Roger C. Cormel in episodes "Mudd's Women" and "I, Mudd". Random? Yes. And since the guy kinda looks a little like Jack Black, the rumor that Black might play Mudd in the sequel was born out of thin air.

Well, Trek director J.J. Abrams recently sent an email to AICN to address all the Mudd/Black issues, as well as to give a status update on where they are in terms of planning the much-anticipated sequel that writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have already signed on to write. He says, "Yes, talking to Jack Black about doing something -- but not Mudd. Bryan, Damon, Alex and Bob and I have not had MEETING ONE about a sequel. Brief, casual, blue-sky conversations, of course. But "okay, what's next for The Crew?" Not a meeting. So any character decisions, let alone actor discussions, feel like a ways away. I can tell you one thing. For the sequel? I think we should have a shitload more lens flares."

So there you have it. But I wonder ... what is Abrams working on with Jack Black?

Discuss: So then who would you want to play villain in the next Star Trek film if not Jack Black?

From Cinematical

Sunday afternoon seems like the perfect time to check in on our friends from Worth1000, whose latest movie-related photoshop contest has to do with taking any celebrity image and transforming it into a Star Wars character. You can find an example above; that's Wall-E and Eve as R2-D2 and C-3PO. And they definitely get wackier -- with President Obama showing up as Yoda multiple times, and Princess Leia merging with folks like Angelina Jolie and Kevin Spacey (probably the oddest and most random image of the lot). Ever want to see Elvis as Han Solo? It's in there. And ever wonder what Goofy mixed with General Grievous would look like? No? Well it's in there, too ... with the Please Let Them Never Do This In Real Life award going to an image of Han Solo (as Jim Carrey), Chewbacca (as Jack Black), Luke Skywalker (as Owen Wilson) and Obi-Wan (as Jackie Chan) onboard the Millennium Falcon. Creepy.

Read the rest (and see more pics) at Cinematical