BBC - Movies -news article - High Noon

		Oz: Now 25 Percent Nastier Warner Bros and Village Roadshow Pictures are teaming up for a dark and revisionist take on the all-time children's classic The Wizard of Oz. The idea for a new Oz movie was pitched by Josh Olson, the screenwriter of, erm, A History of Violence. According to Variety, he and producer Todd McFarlane wants to shoot a grittier, more PG version of of the world created by children's author Frank L Baum. "How do we get people who went to The Lord of the Rings to embrace this?" McFarlane said. "You've still got Dorothy trapped in an odd place, but she's much closer to Ripley from Alien than a helpless singing girl". Nutty as this sounds, we're kind of stoked by the image of Dot mowing down Munchkins with a flamethrower.

		Bay's Blu-Ray Backdown There was much amusement on the internet this week when Transformers director Michael Bay weighed into the DVD format war on his own web forum. Prompted by Paramount and Dreamworks' decision to back HD DVD over the pricier but more capacious Blu-ray, Bay threw his toys out of the pram in spectacular fashion. "I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For them to deny people who have Blu-ray sucks!" wrote the Bayminator, finishing off with a grumpy avowal: "No Transformers 2 for me!" However, it seems that the suits at Paramount may have had words, because the post was quickly removed. In its place, an apologetic sounding Mr B explained that he had been influenced by a dinner with angry Blu-ray owners. "I overreacted. I heard where Paramount is coming from and the future of HD and players that will be close to the $200 mark which is the magic number. I like what I heard. As a director, I'm all about people seeing films in the best quality possible, and I saw and heard first-hand people upset about a corporate decision. Today I saw 300 on HD, it rocks! So I think I might be back on to do Transformers 2". Glad we got that one sorted out, Michael.

		Bourne Bashes Box Office Powered by glowing reviews and lousy weather, spy thriller The Bourne Ultimatum crashed the top spot at the UK box office this week, taking a kerchingtastic $13 million in its first weekend. The film, which stars Matt Damon as amnesiac super-spy Jason Bourne, seems well on track to best the box office figures of its two predecessors. Though less well reviewed (to put it mildly), the tweeny toy franchise movie Bratz had a healthy showing too, according to Variety, landing fourth place with a respectable $2.5 million.

		Isaacs' Back Perennial British bad guy Jason Isaacs will star opposite John Cusack in Jan "Speed" De Bont's new action thriller, according to Hollywood Reporter. Called Stopping Power, the film will see Cusack as a man racing to save his kidnapped daughter. Melissa George gets to play Cusack's girlfriend in the movie, which starts shooting in Berlin next month. And Isaacs? He's playing the villain, of course. Dah.

		Allen Buddys Up Following the inexplicable success of Wild Hogs, Tim Allen has signed up for another Disney comedy vehicle. Called Brothers, it's the story of two racially mismatched adopted siblings who are framed for a crime and have to team up to prove their innocence. Meanwhile Allen has just finished shooting a more leftfield project - David Mamet's martial arts actionfest Redbelt. Allen? As a kung fu master? Pfff. We could take him.