SEQUEL NEWS ROUNDUP 3/5/12

It’s a new month in this post-leap year world, let’s see what’s been happening in the world of sequels, prequels, remakes and premakes.  Whatever those may be.

Jason Siegel won’t be joining The Muppets sequel.  According to Collider Disney has already greenlit the sequel but Jason Siegel has decided he will not write nor star in the film.  The Muppets re-boot was directed by James Bobbin and Siegel co-wrote the screenplay with Nicholas Stoller.  The sequel will be written by both Bobbin and Stoller, but Siegel will have nothing to do with that nor be appearing in the film due to a busy shooting schedule with his TV show and various film developments.  Fear not!  The split is not over any drama or bad blood, but entirely amicable.  In Siegel’s own words:

“It’s true but it’s totally amicable. My goal was to bring The Muppets back and I did that leaving them in very good hands, my writing partner and James Bobin the director. I did what I set out to do, and now I wanna pursue more human-related projects. .. All I wanted to do was to set the stage for them to do whatever they wanted. I’m sure I’ll return in some capacity here and there, but that was half a decade of my life. Five years of hard work. I’m ready for a little puppet break.”

So there you have it.  Siegel out, but sequel a go.  Think it will work out in the hands of other talent?  Will have to see who they get on board to star in the next one. As long as they don’t make a trip into space I’m sure it’ll work out fine.

Joel Kinnaman from The Killing is confirmed to play Robocop.  Deadline reports that the Robocop remake by Jose Padilha has locked down Kinnaman for the starring role.  Kinnaman’s most recent adventures on the silver screen have been in Safe House but is most likely known for his work on the AMC series The Killing.  The 1987 original by Paul Verhoeven is being remade by Strike Entertainment by Eric Newman and Marc Abraham in the roles of the producers (both collaborated before as producers on Children of Men and Dawn of the Dead) while Josh Zetumer is in control of the script.

Scarlett Johannsson and James D’Arcy on board for Making of Psycho.  So this one is a bit of a stretch to fall into sequel news but hang in there for a minute.  So Fox Searchlight have a film called Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho.  The film has drawn comparisons to My Week With Marilyn and follows Hitchcock and his cast through the production of one his most iconic films.  The film is being directed by Sacha Gervasi who previously directed Anvil!:  The Story of Anvil.  So far the film has Anthony Hopkins as Hitchcock, Helen Mirren as his wife Alma, and now Scarlett Johansson will play the starring role of Janet Leigh and D’Arcy is in for Anthony Perkins.  The film is also written by John McLaughlin (Black Swan).

The film is based on a book of the same now and shows how difficult it was for Hitchcock to get the film made.  No studio wanted to produce it and he ended up shooting it on a fairly modest budget, the relationship between the director and his wife is crucial to the film according to screenwriter McLaughlin.  Count this as one that could go either way, the cast and pedigree is there but who knows how this story will turn out?  (via Variety)