— Coming Soon spoke to producer Mace Neufeld at the press conference for “Invictus,” where he spilled the beans on the reboot of the ‘Jack Ryan’ franchise, set to star Chris Pine. The new film, currently being rewritten by Adam Cozad (behind the Black List action thriller “Dubai”), won’t be based on an existing Tom Clancy novel, and will serve as a prequel, picking the character up on Wall Street, and following his entry into the CIA – Neufeld says “He’s a teacher. He’s a historian. He’s a linguist. And he’s really smart.” All four of the Ryan films so far have been pretty good, but we don’t quite see the value of the franchise – it’s not like Ryan is a particularly compelling character, is he?
— We’ve been looking so long at this “Pictures of You,” that we almost believe that it’s real: The spec script by Joshua Friedlander was on the 2007 Black List, but hasn’t made any progress towards development. Until now, that is, as “Youth in Revolt” producer David Permut has picked it up, and is intending to go into production next year. The story follows a teenage boy who finds a camera on a Florida beach, and who falls in love with a girl in the pictures.
— Illumination Entertainment, who are behind next year’s animation “Despicable Me,” have acquired a pitch from writer Jason Micallef, which Jack Black will produce, set in the world of cryptozoology – the study of mythical creatures like Bigfoot. Interestingly, Black will serve as a producer, and not provide a voice. Here’s hoping it’s closer to “Kung Fu Panda” than to “Shark Tale.”
— Did you like “The Fast & The Furious?” Did you think the only way it could be better is if it had planes, instead of cars? Then you’ll love “War Birds,” an independent action movie set to film in Michigan next year. The story will follow a washed-out Air Force veteran who is now a pilot at airshows, who “gets pulled into the underground culture of illegal, real-life aerial combat.” We really hope the script manages to explain how you keep enormous aerial dogfights like the one seen in this test clip for the movie ‘underground’…
— “Superbad” and “Adventureland” director Greg Mottola is in London editing “Paul,” and is the latest friend-of-Edgar-Wright to see some of “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.” In fact, Wright completed his first cut last week, so Mottola has seen the whole thing. He tweeted, “Be very jealous of me. I’ve seen an entire cut of “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.” Edgar Wright has made a classic (again)! It’s amazing. I would say that Scott Pilgrim is the wittiest action movie you’ll ever see, but that’s just the half of it. Needless to say, Michael Cera is perfect. In fact, every single performance is incredible. You’ve got something special to look forward to… the filmmaking is so insanely good, I retired halfway through the movie.” We’re as jazzed about it as anyone else, but we think we’re going to have to moderate our expectations a little, otherwise it risks turning into an indie-rock version of “Avatar”…