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When "John Wick" blasted into theaters on October 24, 2014, moviegoers lost their minds over the film's inventive amalgam of hand-to-hand combat and gunplay. It was doubly impressive due to Keanu Reeves' seemingly effortless facility for performing many of his own stunts. Obviously, no one was surprised that the star of "The Matrix" franchise could brawl and shoot convincingly, but the degree of difficulty appeared to be off the charts. Just when you think you've seen every possible iteration of martial arts combat on screen, along comes stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski to show action junkies that there's still plenty of room for throwdown innovation.

If you're a hardcore fan of the genre, you know that filmmakers have blended these gunplay and hand-to-hand combat before. The Wachowskis first introduced the idea in "The Matrix," which inspired Kurt Wimmer to go utterly gonzo by inventing "gun kata" in his ludicrously entertaining "Equilibrium." Wimmer was so...

There's always problems that arise when a movie is based off of a popular book. Readers often dismiss a movie when it can't cover everything that the book did in a few hours, and there are often pretty big changes that happen along the way for storytelling purposes or plain artistic license. This is definitely the case with the first trailer for The Meg, starring Jason Statham, which is based on the popular Steve Alten book, Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror.

Fans of Steve Alten's original book noticed some pretty big changes in the first trailer for The Meg, even in a few minutes. Angry readers took to social media to share their displeasure with The Meg trailer, some even going as far as to call Steve Alten a "sellout." Fans of the original book noticed that the coloring of the prehistoric shark were inaccurate from the source material...

Earlier this week, Warner Bros. uncaged the first trailer for Jon Turteltaub’s The Meg. Scheduled for release towards the end of the blockbuster season, the very thought of watching Jason Statham go toe-to-toe with a prehistoric super-shark on a blistering summer night is enough to get a cinephile perspiring.

An adaptation of Steve Alten’s Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, Turteltaub’s rendition, like most book-to-film translations, will be an experience that differs, if only slightly, from the adventure found on the pages written by the New York Times Bestselling author.

While the trailer for The Meg received mostly positive feedback, fans of Alten’s source material aren’t too pleased with Warner Bros.’ deviations from the book. They’re so exasperated, in fact, that the author’s now penned an extensive Facebook post to address those who’ve been grousing about the “few minutes of trailers.”

In his open letter,...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for film fans, with some of the best films of the year in theaters and lots of elaborate and thoroughly-researched books to read. This rundown has real variety, with new and recent texts covering cinema history, TV greats, and, of course, Star Wars. Note that one of this year’s finest books, The Oliver Stone Experience (Abrams Books), was covered by The Film Stage in September via an interview with author Matt Zoller Seitz. Make sure to check out Experience, and see below for another fine selection from the prolific Seitz.

Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual History, Updated Edition by Daniel Wallace (Dk Publishing)

It’s a fantastic idea: a book that offers a timeline not of the Star Wars story, but of the Star Wars phenomenon. This newly updated edition of the 2010 release now includes recent works like...

Right around the time that the defunct video game publisher began to slide toward bankruptcy, it’s been revealed that Thq had mapped out early plans for a live-action Saints Row movie that almost featured Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a starring role.

Word comes by way of a Fandom post by Nick Nunziata and Peter Aperlo – producer and screenwriter, respectively – who shed new light on the canned project that was officially shelved circa 2012. Boasting all of the irreverent sensibilities that the series is celebrated for, Thq’s doomed Saints Row film was billed as “a modern-day Escape from New York, only bigger and with that Saints Row attitude.” That’s quite the elevator pitch, and Johnson was likely high on the calling card following his appearance in Andrzej Bartkowiak’s middling Doom movie.

Indeed, out of the franchise’s zany legacy, Nunziata and Aperlo pointed to Saints Row 2 as...

Simon Brew Sep 5, 2016

Dwayne Johnson was interested in the movie version of the Saint's Row videogames - and that it all went wrong...

The Saint’s Row series of videogames wear their movie love on their proverbial sleeves, to the point where an inevitable film version went into development. Nick Nunziata became a producer on the project, and in a new post over at Fandom, he’s explained why the Saint’s Row movie never made it to the screen.

He revealed that a screenplay had been panned by Peter Aperlo, and that Lloyd Levin and Andrew Cosby were on board to produce (between them they’d helped bring the likes of Watchmen and 2 Guns to the movies). “We had interest from huge directors. A-list stars were on the menu. The script was a perfect video game adaptation, faithful to the source material but with a swagger and big screen...

Eli Roth is in talks to direct the giant shark movie “Meg” for Warner Bros., an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap. Warner Bros. executives smelled blood in the water when Sony’s shark movie “In the Deep” lost director Louis Leterrier, and moved quickly to resurrect “Meg,” which is a project that has been in development for more than a decade around Hollywood. At one point, noted film blogger Nick Nunziata was involved as a producer, though that incarnation of the project never quite came together. Dean Georgaris adapted the novel by Steve Alten, which follows two men who.

Matt Lucas (Alice In Wonderland, Bridesmaids) leads a hilarious allstar cast in the new comedy Small Apartments, available February 19th from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Directed by award-winning film and music video director Jonas Åkerlund (Spun, Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi”), the film premiered at the 2012 South by Southwest Film Festival. Nick Nunziata of Chud.com hailed the film, saying “They don’t make them like this anymore. Actually they’ve never made them like this before.”

Lucas appears in his first leading role as “Franklin Franklin,” a clumsy recluse who embarks on a hapless cover-up after accidentally killing his landlord. Also starring in the film is Billy Crystal (When Harry Met Sally), Juno Temple (The Dark Knight Rises), James Marsden (X-Men: The Last Stand), Peter Stormare (Fargo), Amanda Plummer (Pulp Fiction), Dolph Lundgren (The Expendables), Rosie Perez (Pineapple Express), and Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect), with James Caan (The Godfather) and...

Paramount Eddie Murphy in “A Thousand Words.”

“A Thousand Words” can be described in one: stinker.

Eddie Murphy’s latest film has the dubious distinction of currently having a 0% approval rating on RottenTomatoes.com, a website that tracks movie reviews to see if they are overall positive or negative. So far, RottenTomatoes has tracked 37 reviews of “A Thousand Words. Not a single critic has said that it is a worthwhile film.

To put that 0% rating in perspective, recent stinkers such...

Everett Jason Momoa and Rachel Nichols in “Conan the Barbarian”

This weekend brought remakes of two movies many filmgoers may have forgotten: “Conan the Barbarian” and “Fright Night.” Their release begs the age-old question: why is Hollywood so addicted to remakes, reboots and re-everythings?

“It is much easier to get a remake made,“ says Nick Nunziata of the film development website Chud.com. “It takes a little extra gymnastics to get people in the seats for something original and creative.

Everett Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint

What is next for Daniel, Rupert, and Emma now that the Potter gravy train is over?

They are three young actors who have come from nowhere to be the centerpieces of one of the great franchises in Hollywood history. They starred as the hero, his sidekick, and the woman who fell in love with the sidekick. They were nobodies and now are household names. They each have legions of fans. Their futures...

Buena Vista Pictures A scene from “Cars 2″

11 for 11.

Do you know how hard it is to go 11 for 11?

Everyone in Hollywood has a stinker at some point in their career. Steven Spielberg was 4-for-4 including “Jaws” and “Close Encounters” when he made a film called “1941.” It bombed and the critics hated it.

Perhaps the most reliable entity in Hollywood for the past two decades has been Pixar, the animation studio that made the “Toy Story” films, “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles,...

Warner Bros. Scene from “Green Lantern”

There’s no doubt that this is the summer of the superheroes.

Here’s a list of recent summer superhero movies:

2011: Thor, Green Lantern, Captain America: The First Avenger, X-Men: First Class

2010: Iron Man 2

2009: X-Men: Wolverine

2008: The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk

2007: Spider-Man 3, Fantastic Four: Rise of Silver Surfer

2006: X-Men: The Last Stand, Superman Returns

2005: Batman Begins, Fantastic Four

2004 Spider-Man 2

2003: X2: X-Men United,...

There is currently a leaked The Dark Knight Rises script on the internet. It’s of questionable origin and authenticity, but if you really wanted to hunt it down, you could. In other words, if you’d like to know what might possibly be happening in a film that won’t come out for another year and a half, you have that power. The caveat of the power in this specific case is that the script is most likely a fan creation or the moronic idea of some aspiring screenwriter who thinks getting buzz for a fake script can get him or her recognition. What’s fascinating about the way we see movies (and the way the internet has forced us to see them) is that we are seeing far more than just the movie itself. We’re seeing trailers, posters, interviews, featurettes, behind-the-scenes pictures, t-shirts, mash-up videos, speculations, rumors, outright...

Critics have a hard time forgetting 'Let the Right One In,' the Swedish film on which it's based.

By Eric Ditzian

Kodi Smit-McPhee in "Let Me In"

Photo: Overture Films

2010 has welcomed the twinkly vamps of "Eclipse," the infected flesh-noshers of "Daybreakers," the satiric teens of "Vampires Suck" and all manner of supernatural bloodsuckers in "True Blood," "The Vampire Diaries" and other small-screen productions.

Vampires, apparently, come in all varieties: some with a taste for blood, others perhaps more interested in sharing doe-eyed love. But you may have seen the vamps in "Let Me In" before, in "Let the Right One In," the Swedish film on which the new flick is based. Matt Reeves ("Cloverfield") has undertaken a remake of that Nordic horror hit, and if you believe the majority of critics, he's succeeded in his efforts to construct a worthy, English-language companion to the original.

While "Let Me In...

Critics have a hard time forgetting 'Let the Right One In,' the Swedish film on which it's based.

By Eric Ditzian

Kodi Smit-McPhee in "Let Me In"

Photo: Overture Films

2010 has welcomed the twinkly vamps of "Eclipse," the infected flesh-noshers of "Daybreakers," the satiric teens of "Vampires Suck" and all manner of supernatural bloodsuckers in "True Blood," "The Vampire Diaries" and other small-screen productions.

Vampires, apparently, come in all varieties: some with a taste for blood, others perhaps more interested in sharing doe-eyed love. But you may have seen the vamps in "Let Me In" before, in "Let the Right One In," the Swedish film on which the new flick is based. Matt Reeves ("Cloverfield") has undertaken a remake of that Nordic horror hit, and if you believe the majority of critics, he's succeeded in his efforts to construct a worthy, English-language companion to the original.

While "Let Me In...

Edgar Wright's new hero is feted in the Us, but can his film get out of the youth culture ghetto and find mainstream acclaim?

Scott Pilgrim vs the World is opening on the same day as Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables in the Us, which is a little ironic. Both films have been at the centre of the geek universe since their conception, and both seem custom-made to appeal to the sensibilities of fans. The difference is that where Stallone's action extravaganza took the easy route by signing up a platoon of faded but much-loved beefcakes to win over audiences, Pilgrim's Edgar Wright has opted for a far tougher path to victory.

With the film set to debut Stateside in a week, there are now numerous reviews on the web, and the consensus seems to be that the creator of Spaced and Shaun of the Dead has delivered a...

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

The remake of the 1973 TV movie surprised with a robust display of solid footage. The panel began with an atmospheric teaser trailer of sinister voices leading into quick cut scenes including a seriously creepy shot of multiple little arms and hands pulling at a vent grille. The ending with a girl exploring under her sheets and being attacked scored a major jump amongst the crowd.

Later on the film's opening sequence was shown with veteran Aussie actor Garry McDonald playing the owner of a rundown mansion who attacks his chambermaid in the basement with a hammer and chisel to her teeth. He then gets pulled into an ash pit, which seems to go down into the bowels of the Earth, by something very fast moving.

Producers Guillermo del Toro and Nick Nunziata along with director Troy Nixey were on hand to talk about the film,...

I could say a lot of things about the footage shown today at the Miramax panel for Troy Nixey's debut film Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. But I'll let co-writer and producer Guillermo del Toro have his say: "the movie is serious as a fucking attack of gonorrhea!" Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is a remake and update of a 1973 TV movie that quickly became one of del Toro's favorite films when he was young. As an adult he bought the rights and in the late '90s scripted a new take with Matthew Robbins. That script was eventually directed by former comic book artist Troy Nixey, and today's panel in Hall H at the San Diego Comic Con marked the first time any footage has been seen by the public. And it was pretty great stuff. Guillermo del Toro and Troy Nixey were on stage with Nick Nunziata,...

The panel for Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark was one of the best of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. I know there are hundreds of panels over the four days of the convention. I know we’re only one day two. It doesn’t matter: this panel succeeded on every level. The footage they showed was incredible. The panelists were charming and funny. Most shocking: every question asked by an audience member was terrific. Comic-Con provides the first looks at some of the biggest Hollywood movies. But what can make the presentations in Hall H more than just a marketing onslaught are panels like this one: an effective attempt at building word-of-mouth on a film that doesn’t have a gigantic marketing budget.

Hit the jump to find out how everything went right for Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.

Moderated by Chud.com owner/editor-in-chief/co-producer Nick Nunziata,...

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark I haven’t seen the original film that this remake is based on (I hear it’s quite cheesy and dated), but I’d watch an updated version of Howard The Duck if Guillermo Del Toro was involved. The geek director extraordinaire, who is producing alongside Chud.com webmaster Nick Nunziata, will be at the panel with stars Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce, and director/friend of JoBlo.com Troy Nixey, to show us some footage from the...

ShockTillYouDrop.com is attending the Hall H panel for Miramax Films' Don't Be Afraid of the Dark directed by comic artist Troy Nixey and produced by Guillermo del Toro, both who will be attendance. Starring Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce, it opens on January 21, 2011. We'll try to keep you posted on the panel as it happens live. One of the film's producers and Chud owner Nick Nunziata is moderating the panel. He starts by introducing director Troy Nixey, who wrote and drew "Trout" and "Jenny Finn" with Mike Mignola. Of course, the crowd goes wild for Guillermo del Toro, who is beloved by anyone who has ever attended Comic-Con. Guillermo points out the chocolate at the panel and lets out an expletive almost immediately. They started off by showing a creepy...

Chud has debuted the Comic-Con poster for horror-thriller Don't Be Afraid of the Dark . The site's owner, Nick Nunziata, is associate producer on the film, which was co-written by Guillermo del Toro. Troy Nixey is directing the January 21 release, starring Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce and Bailee Madison. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark centers on a young girl (Madison), sent to live with her father and his new girlfriend, who discovers sinister creatures that live underneath the stairs. She is fascinated by them -- until they prove dangerous. Pearce will play the father, an author frustrated by his daughter's tales of monsters, not believing her even when his girlfriend (Holmes) backs her. Click the poster for a bigger version!

Chud mastermind and co-producer of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark , Nick Nunziata, unveiled the Comic-Con exclusive teaser poster for his film which was directed by Troy Nixey and co-written by Guillermo Del Toro. It opens in theaters on January 11, 2011 with Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce and Bailee Madison starring. There's a panel for the film on Friday - you can get this poster then! Click here to see it in hi-res! Keep tabs on all of our San Diego Comic-Con coverage Right Here !

Variety reports that Mel Gibson will next star in the action drama How I Spent My Summer Vacation, which is based off a screenplay he wrote. The film, “centers on a career criminal who gets caught by Mexican authorities and is sent to a drug- and crime-filled prison, where he learns how to survive with the help of a 9-year-old boy.” The secret to survival? Never drop the soap and no cookies in bed.

Gibson has only written two other screenplays in his career and they’re both films he directed: Apocalypto and The Passion of the Christ. However, he has no plans to direct Summer Vacation, but will direct Leonardo DiCaprio in a Viking movie we reported on yesterday. Adrian Grunberg, Gibson’s First Assistant Director on Apocalypto, will take the helm on Summer Vacation with Stacy Perskie, Apocalypto’s Second Ad, producing.

I’m really happy that another...

Phoenix Pictures (upcoming Shutter Island ) has bought Troy Nixey's family fantasy Simple Machines for Nixey to direct after he has finished shooting Don't Be Afraid of the Dark this summer. Variety says Mike Medavoy, Arnie Messer and Brad Fischer will produce, with Chud.com creator Nick Nunziata co-producing. The story centers on a reclusive young inventor who must save his beloved creation from an evil industrialist before he uses it to corrupt the world. The deal marks the second collaboration between Phoenix and Nixey. Phoenix previously acquired Nixey's graphic novel "Trout," which Laeta Kalogridis is adapting for the screen.