TV on the Bigscreen

They're at it again. Another popular television series from yesteryear, in this case 1964-68, is being remade, reworked and revamped into a big screen movie. 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E,' one of the iconic spy shows spawned by the James Bond craze, has been tapped by Warner Brothers as a theatrical. The Hollywood Reporter reports that David Dobkins, best known for 'Wedding Crashers,' will direct 'The Man from UNCLE' and Max Borenstein is writing the script.

The big question now is not when or why, but who. Who will Warners choose to play Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, the two super secret agents of United Network Command for Law Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.), and even if the casting is perfect, as a follow up, how will they inevitably screw it up? The track record for well-loved TV shows being rejiggered for the silver screen is awful.

The 'MacGruber' movie may be nearly two months away from hitting the big screen -- it arrives in theaters May 21 -- but that hasn't prevented a full-out marketing blitz. There's a new NSFW trailer of the 'SNL' adaption, which you can watch after the jump.

We get to see MacGruber (Will Forte) putting together his team to fight the so-called world's most dangerous man (Val Kilmer), along with Kristen Wiig as a master of disguise.

If the trailer is any indication, 'MacGruber' is going to be a slapstick festival of double-entendres (if you're looking for subtle, move on). Probably a good excuse to turn your head off for an hour and a half and sit in an air-conditioned room on a hot spring day.

...and so do I, except I'm pretty sure Mrs. Carter is referring to a new incarnation of her famous TV show.

TV's original red, white and blue-clad beauty told a morning talk show in Los Angeles that she wants Mrs. Bullock to play the title role in a big screen remake of 'Wonder Woman,' the TV show that made her famous.

Carter said she believes Bullock is perfect for the role because she has "exactly the kind of personality" and that she's also "strong and feminine. And Wonder Woman has to be accessible". She also dismissed rumors that claimed she said Bullock was too old for the role.

Me? If she gets the role, I just want to see her kick the ever-living snot out of some Jesse James bad-guy look-a-like. Jesse James is such a dead man now.

[via Fark]

Here's more proof that Tim Burton has transitioned from creating original films to grafting his signature freaky style onto well-established franchises: Burton is directing a 3D stop-motion movie based on 'The Addams Family.'

We've seen countless iterations of Charles Addams' all together ooky clan since the classic 1960s TV series left the air. My favorites are Barry Sonnefeld's clever '90s Addams flicks starring Raul Julia and Anjelcia Huston as Gomez and Morticia (let's not talk about the straight-to-DVD sequels). There were also two animated shows, a second live-action TV series in the late '90s, and a Broadway musical starring Nathan Lane and 'Frasier's Bebe Neuwirth (previewed by our very own Brad Trechak).

Part of me wants to smile when reading this news but the other part of me wants to scratch my head. Nikki Finke says that Warner Brothers is doing a big-screen remake of the late '50s/early '60s hit show '77 Sunset Strip.'

*crickets*

How many people actually remember this show? I certainly do, but even at my age I only remember it from reruns. This seems to me to be yet another example of Hollywood taking something for the nostalgia value and bringing it to today. I mean, here's the problem. Those who do remember the show are going to be irritated that there are different people in it and it's not done the same, and the people who don't remember the show don't care! What audience are they going for with this?

Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider is reporting that the film version of the HBO series 'Rome' is pushing forward. The series creator Bruno Heller has written the script, and Morning Light Productions is on board to produce. EW says HBO won't be involved, but thinks two of the series stars, Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson, will be back.

There have been rumors kicking around for a while that there would be a movie version, (Stevenson talked about the script development in an interview with MovieWeb.com last year), but these are the first concrete details to emerge.

The move to the big screen makes sense. The series was still popular with fans and critics when it was canceled. But it was expensive to produce, which made it a hard series for HBO to commit to. The budget for a couple of episodes was probably similar to the budget for a feature film.

Heller can probably tell the story he wants to tell in one long movie, with less of a financial commitment, and, who know, possibly put himself in position to make more 'Rome' sequels. Which would be great for the series' fans.

That ticking countdown clock that has been a device of countless action explosion movies has just gotten a few more minutes on the clock. Don't you just love it when life imitates art?

The big screen 'MacGruber' movie, based on the popular 'SNL' sketch, has earned a later release date due to scheduling conflicts with other Warner Bros. properties.

The movie, directed by 'Lonely Island' member and 'SNL' writer Jorma Taccone, will hit a theater near you on May 21 instead of April 9.

[via Comedy News]

As the folks at Moviefone.com point out, blue is the hot color for movies these days, especially if your name is James Cameron. Well, it's not going to be a sequel to 'Avatar' or another Cameron pic or even an updating of 'The Blue Lagoon,' but Neil Patrick Harris has agreed to be in 'Smurfs: The Movie.' (Not to be confused with 'Smurfs: The Opera.')

Actually, Neil will be all voice for the role. Sony's concept for the big screen version of 'Smurfs,' the popular '80s Saturday morning cartoon series, is live action mixed with animation, under the direction of 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua' auteur Raja Gosnell.

Exactly which of the smurfs Neil will play remains shrouded in mystery. I suspect he's getting his pick, as long as it's not Papa Smurf. That role's already been claimed by Jonathan Winters.

The mining of old TV shows for new movie ideas continues with this latest news: they're turning 'Gilligan's Island' into a big-screen movie.

How is this seen as a good idea in the executive offices at Warner Brothers? How exactly will they make a one-time 90 minute movie out of a dumb (but in a lovable way) show from the 60s? As we've been saying here for the past several years, big-screen adaptations of old TV shows usually don't work ('Bewitched,' 'The Beverly Hillbillies,' 'Charlie's Angels,' the list goes on and on) because it's not that those shows necessarily had brilliant plots, it's because they existed in a certain time and had a specific cast that we love and remember. Bob Denver is Gilligan. I'm not going to go see a big-screen version just because they cast, say, Christopher Mintz-Plasse in the role (no casting yet, but I can picture him being considered).

Did you ever want to own the 'A-Team' van but the missus wouldn't let you blow Junior's college fund on a GMC van, the fancy paint job or the ton of golden neck jewelry? This may be the closest you'll ever get.

Universal Home Entertainment will release the entire series run on DVD on June 8th, just a few days before the big screen remake from director Joe Carnahan hits the screens.

Just look at it! It's the shape of the freakin' 'A-Team' van, quite possibly the coolest van in the history of vans. If Universal would be willing to sell just the box, I would gladly buy it just so I can store my bootleg 'Spaced' DVDs in it.

Since Hollywood is content with destroying the majority of my greatest TV memories, they are now reaching to the far corners of my brain for beloved childhood icons to forever scar me.

TV actor and comedian George Lopez has been tapped to provide the voice for the beloved Speedy Gonzales in a new big screen movie adaptation of the beloved Warner Brothers 'Looney Tunes' franchise.

Now I understand that big names bring big bucks to the box office, but this really the first time in my mind that a famous Looney Tunes character is being re-voiced by a star instead of a trained voice actor who can mimic the immortal voice of the late Mel Blanc. Voice actor Billy West, an outspoken critic of celebrity voice over characters, once described it in an earlier interview I did with him for Arriviste Press magazine as "most artless, bloodless, Godless idea I've ever heard."

Admiral Adama himself, Edward James Olmos, visited my hometown of Brownsville, TX on Tuesday to promote 'Kings of Brownsville', a documentary about the border town's champion student chess players.

Olmos' passion for the film was obvious during a press conference with city officials. Of course, I couldn't resist the urge to ask him a few questions about one of his other passion projects, and one of my favorite shows of all time, 'Battlestar Galactica'.

We talked a little about the show's legacy, his initial thoughts on 'Caprica' and what he thinks about that planned 'Battlestar' movie project from director Bryan Singer and producer Glen Larson.

I'm never quite sure what to make of big screen versions of TV shows. Sometimes they work ('The Brady Bunch,' 'Mission: Impossible'), but more often they don't (too many to list here), because it's as if a show's plot or theme is necessarily great, it's the actors that were in the show and the time when the show aired. You can't recreate that with a big name star and some "nostalgia" factor.

The latest show to get that big screen treatment is 'The Big Valley,' the western that aired on ABC in the mid-60s. It starred Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Long, Linda Evans, and Lee Majors. Kate Edelman Johnson, daughter of show co-creator Louis, is planning to do a movie based on the show and The Hollywood Reporter reports that Sarandon is in talks to play Victoria Barkley, the role Stanwyck played in the show.

If there is a 'Big Valley' movie and she does star in it, then she has to be credited on screen as MISS Susan Sarandon.

Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Are you ready to see America's most beloved Milwaukee girls on the make on the big screen? According to director Garry Marshall, creator of 'Happy Days,' he has hopes to put the spinoff from that show, the successful 'Laverne & Shirley' to the movies. As with all the other hopes for silver screen adaptations, this one comes with some fanciful casting attached, too.

Garry was on 'Extra' promoting his new romantic comedy 'Valentine's Day' and revealed the 'Laverne & Shirley' dream casting: Jennifer Garner and Jessica Biel. That's right. This pair of Shotz Brewery factory employees -- who live in a basement apartment in 1960 Milwaukee and struggle to find the men of their dreams -- would be played by two of the most beautiful women in Hollywood. Is that a cynical way of looking at it? Yes, it is.

I'm not talking about a TV movie a la '24: Redemption,' I'm talking about an adventure that Jack Bauer will have on the big screen. TV Guide is reporting that a screenwriter has been hired to write the '24' movie. Billy Ray, who wrote the movies 'Shattered Glass,' 'State of Play,' the remake of 'Westworld' as well as many episodes of the mid-90s sci-fi series 'Earth 2,' is going to do the screenplay for the movie.

Of course, since this is a big screen movie of a small screen show, they have to do something a little "larger," so Jack won't be saving Los Angeles or New York or even Ottumwa, Iowa. This movie will be set in London, which means Jack will have to get used to saving the world in 24 hours several hours ahead of when he did it here in the United States. Also, any car chases or car explosions will now take place on the other side of the road.

[Watch '24' and other shows at SlashControl.]