Of all the news coming out of this year’s CinemaCon, the revelation that Universal Pictures is launching a sequel to their surprise hit Pitch Perfect is the one most worth singing about (it’s just convenient that this pun works so well in this context). Details are scarce on the follow-up, but we do know that the film will arrive sometime in 2015 and that original screenwriter Kay Cannon is set to return to pen this new feature. There is no word on other returning cast or crew (please, please, give us more Rebel “Fat Amy” Wilson). As Entertainment Weekly reports, the first film was a massive hit for the studio, pulling in $112m at the box office (with just a teensy $17m budget) and going on to “earn over $90 million across all home market platforms…it currently stands as the studio’s third highest-grossing VOD title ever behind blockbusters Ted and Bridesmaids. On top of that, the Pitch Perfect soundtrack has sold over 636,000 copies and spawned a hit single — complete with its own music video – with Anna Kendrick’s ‘Cups.’” Basically, this thing is money, so of course Uni is going to go the sequel route.

Considering that we live in a world that has multiple animated Smurfs movies, it’s not shocking that DreamWorks Animation is reportedly setting up a sequel to their own unexpected hit The Croods. The recent riff on cavemen, evolution, and the progression of historial eras (fun!) has banked a solid $385m for DreamWorks and Fox and, still better, it’s actually not a bad family film. Deadline Hollywood reports that the studio is “expected to announce” a sequel, and with Fox’s Cinema Con panel scheduled for Thursday, this week is certainly looking like a good time to do so. Evolution is cool again, you guys. With voice talent from Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, and Cloris Leachman, the animated adventure centers on the world’s first family unit as they attempt to survive a changing world around them. Filled with actually funny lines and classic comedic gags, fantastic animal creatures (including a bunch of things that look as if they jumped right off a Lisa Frank folder), and a sweet family-friendly message, we could all do far worse when it comes to kiddo movies, so a Croods sequel sounds rock solid to us.

As we all know, Michael Rooker is fantastic. The man who got his filmic start as a murderer in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer has gone on to redefine intensity in a ton of roles and has most recently anchored The Walking Dead with a bizarre brand of lovable racism. According to Deadline, he’s now re-teaming with director James Gunn for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Slither reunion! Get excited. He’ll be playing the alien Yondu Udonta who rocks blue skin, a bitchin’ red mohawk and both of his original hands (until he, no kidding, gets his right one replaced by a device that converted into several different weapons). So this past season of The Walking Dead may have been one big audition tape. The character is also one with nature and kills with a bow that features arrows that can change direction at the archer’s command. Yet again, Marvel shows its superiority in casting.

Wayfare Entertainment is still a relatively young production company with only three films under its belt (Sanctum, It’s Kind of a Funny Story and Ondine), and so far they haven’t made anything particularly dangerous. According to Deadline Hollywood, that may change. The production house has picked up a spec script called Inquest which revisits Princess Diana’s tragic 1997 vehicular death by framing it as a potential political conspiracy and viewing it through the eyes of a private investigator hired to uncover the truth. The script comes from first-timer Sam Cohen (which is apparently a pen name for Josh Simon, a development executive who used to be at Disney). No matter how polished, this project is undoubtedly going to cause some furor. Not only was Princess Diana beloved, her death was a modern touchstone that’s still felt by many. There were questions raised at the time, and like all modern, high-profile horrors, conspiracy theorists came out of the woodwork. To even appear to give those ideas credence will bother more than a few people, but it might just make for a thrilling plot. Wayfare might just develop a reputation after this one.

The Fast and the Furious, successful as it was, probably never really struck anyone as the sort of film that would spawn a franchise that would make it to its seventh feature. But here we are, many years later, talking about Fast and Furious 7 anyway. The seventh installment in the franchise is a movie that’s going to see the series reaching a crossroads though. Much of the property’s longevity can probably be credited to director Justin Lin, who not only helmed the last four Fast films (including the yet-to-be-released Fast & Furious 6), but who gave the whole endeavor new life when he cast Dwayne Johnson in Fast Five and created a surprise hit that provided this money machine with a second wind. Lin has said that he needs a break from the series and that he isn’t going to helm Fast & Furious 7 though, so what is a studio to do now that they’ve got a franchise on their hands that is once again a big money maker, but that is about to lose the man who gave it its second life? Well, according to Deadline, they’re negotiating to bring on Saw director James Wan in hopes that he can keep the momentum going.

Point Break could use a remake. It’s a fun, ridiculous action movie laced with 80s excess, but beyond nostalgia glasses, its hardly sacred ground. Plus, what is Point Break at its core anyway? A heist movie punctuated by adrenaline and a cop who gets too close to the wrong side of the law. Inasmuch, it gets remade several times every single year (except without the extreme sports angle). We’ve known that Alcon and Warners have been plotting to remake the 1991 movie since 2011 with a script from Kurt Wimmer (after bailing on a truly bizarre sequel concept from Jan De Bont), and now Deadline Hollywood is reporting that they’ve secured Ericson Core to direct. Despite having a name that sounds like a cell phone, Core has done some strong work as a DP (Payback, The Fast and the Furious) and his one previous shot as a director, Invincible, was notable for its design and its character work. So, no, he’s not the biggest name out there, but he’s absolutely shown the potential as a technician to create a buddy action film with a little depth to it. Plus, despite a few highs and lows (usually caused by directors), Wimmer will always be the writer behind Equilibrium and The Thomas Crown Affair – which happens to be one of the few modern examples of a remake that’s arguably better than the original. Rallying for the promise of a remake isn’t popular, but the opportunity for a new Point Break seems cut and dry: a high concept action movie

After the massive success of Josh Trank‘s Chronicle (a success so profound that the director has now been entrusted with the new Fantastic Four, a Venom film, and possibly The Red Star and Shadow of Colossus adaptations), it was only inevitable that a sequel to the found-footage teen-superheroes-gone-wild feature would shoot to the top of Fox’s wish list, but Chronicle 2 is still getting some big kinks ironed out. Speaking with IGN at the Middle East Comic-Con, screenwriter Max Landis was surprisingly candid on just what is going on with the script in general and the new film at large. Right out of the gate, Landis cleared up some on confusion regarding a few comments his dad John Landis made about the new film (sigh, parents), saying that “there was this whole announcement that they wanted to just do the same thing again because my father said that. My father is not involved in Chronicle 2. He doesn’t know the process. It was not his place to say that.” Ugh, stay out of my room, dad!

With his 2001 feature, In the Bedroom, and his 2006 feature, Little Children, longtime actor Todd Field established himself as a director worth watching. It’s now been seven years since we’ve gotten a feature film from him though, which kind of feels like a gip. What’s the deal, man? Whatever the deal over the past seven years has been, the deal now is that the wait for another Field film is over, so all may rejoice. Cross Creek Pictures has announced [via Coming Soon] that they’ve hired him to helm an adaptation of the Jess Walter novel ‘Beautiful Ruins.’ The official plot synopsis the production company gives is a little vague, but a more thorough rundown of the novel’s plot from Good Reads describes it by saying:

Much ado has been made lately about how Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has seen both his own career and the fates of several movie series revived due to the seemingly magical formula of adding him to floundering franchises whose original installments he wasn’t a part of. Yes, due to his involvement in Fast Five pulling that series from the brink of death and his inclusion in G.I. Joe: Retaliation forcing everyone to give that film a chance even though the original was DOA, many in the media have gone as far as to anoint the man as being “franchise Viagra.” Of course, all of those Viagra adds warn us that if our erection lasts for more than 4 hours we should call a doctor, so does that mean that if Johnson’s current momentum leads to 4 or more sequels getting added to a franchise, we should start to become worried? That possible future could be coming sooner than you think, because recent reports make it look like it’s full speed ahead for the Fast & Furious and G.I. Joe franchises.

Crowdfunding was made for guys like Alex Cox. Similar to Ralph Bakshi, whose successfully Kickstarter-ed project we profiled recently, The Sid and Nancy and Repo Man director is a cult filmmaker who doesn’t fit in Hollywood and who therefore has had a hard time getting his movies off the ground. Even when working with his old titles, as he did with the sorta-sequel Repo Chick and the re-cut release of Straight to Hell (called Straight to Hell Returns), he’s had trouble getting notice. Hopefully he’s able to turn things around with Bill, the Galactic Hero, a low-budget sci-fi comedy adapted from the same-titled novel by Harry Harrison (who wrote the basis of Soylent Green – the novel “Make Room! Make Room!” — and co-wrote the script for Bill with Cox before his death last August). Cox has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the movie at $100,000, and after a week he’s already halfway there.

Lately, when we hear the words “new Adam Sandler movie,” they ultimately prove to be followed by some horrifying, bottom barrel plotline that makes us regret ever considering ourselves a fan of the funny man (sorry, Sandler, I still remember That’s My Boy), but for all the Just Go With Its and Grown Ups (and its upcoming sequel), Sandler can still charm the hell out of an audience with stuff like Fifty First Dates and The Wedding Singer. The continuing thread between such fare? Co-star Drew Barrymore. So, it is with some excitement that we reveal news about a new Sandler/Barrymore pairing that actually sounds charming, romantic, and – get this - mature. Moviehole passes along a ton of information about the film (via /Film), including that it will reunite the pair with Wedding Singer director Frank Coraci, that it features a script by Ivan Menchell and Claire Sera, with revisions from Sandler and Tim Herlihy, and that is will film in Georgia and South Africa. Wait - South Africa? That’s right, because with Blended, Barrymore and Sandler are going on safari…with kids.

Unlike the bulk of child actors who generally grow into having unfortunate adult lives full of addiction and infamy, Fred Savage has transitioned from being the adorable little tyke in things like The Princess Bride and The Wonder Years into being a television director who works regularly and keeps himself out of the tabloids. You’ve got to think that anyone who can handle being handed money and fame at that young of an age without going off the rails probably has a pretty good head on his shoulders, so it makes sense that Savage should now be getting the opportunity to helm his own feature film. What kind of feature film is he getting the opportunity to direct? Glad you asked. THR is reporting that he’s currently in negotiations to take over a comedy called Ladies Night that has Charlize Theron attached to star as well as produce. Seeing as we’re living in a post-Bridesmaids world, Ladies Night is, of course, being described as a Bridesmaids-esque comedy about a woman who, deciding her boyfriend is never going to commit, has one last night of drunken debauchery with her lady friends before she uproots her life and starts over in New York City.

There has already been a tremendous amount of back and forth when it comes to finding a director who will stick with the Denzel Washington-starring The Equalizer adaptation, as both Nicolas Winding Refn (who seemed like a particularly inspired pick) and Rupert Wyatt have backed out on the project, even with a highly bankable star like Washington locked to lead. Now Deadline Hollywood reports that Olympus Has Fallen and Training Day director Antoine Fuqua is in “early talks” to helm the film, which would re-team him with his Training Day star (and Oscar winner) Washington. The outlet reports that the pair have wanted to work together since their success and that The Equalizer is viewed as a proper project for the two to reteam on. Deadline also reports on some of the changes made to the film from the original TV series, sharing that it has been “tailored to Washington’s skills. He’ll play a solitary, monastic figure who hates injustice and devotes himself to helping people who are being victimized.” If The Equalizer can actually hold on to a director, it will likely start filming in Boston later this spring.

Do you remember back in 2002 when Kevin Reynolds—the guy who made Waterworld—made a movie called The Count of Monte Cristo? It starred Luis Guzmán and some other dudes? The one about the guy who breaks out of prison and then uses a treasure he gets told about to pose as someone else and exact revenge on those who wrongly imprisoned him? Well, it’s a little known fact that this story didn’t actually originate with the 2002 film. It was actually written by a guy named Alexandre Dumas (sounds Italian) quite a bit earlier than 2002. An even more obscure fact is that Dumas is the same guy who wrote that Three Musketeers movie that Paul W.S. Anderson made in 2011. Or something, I dunno, all of these Hollywood guys are tough to keep track of. The point of this helpful and informative history lesson is that we’re about to see another retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, one that’s going to have very little to do with Kevin Reynolds or Luis Guzmán. THR is reporting is that David Goyer, the guy who wrote The Dark Knight (but he didn’t actually create Batman, that was another guy, I think Stan Lee?), has just signed on to hop into the director’s chair and give us his take on Dumas’ story from 1844 (that’s earlier than I thought, was his script written pre-Code?).

Ben Affleck’s latest effort as a director, Argo, saw the burgeoning filmmaker stepping a bit out of his wheelhouse and making a period piece set in 70s Los Angeles and Iran instead of making another one of the contemporary, Boston-set crime films that had brought him to the dance. Seeing as he was rewarded for his efforts with a Best Picture win at this year’s Oscar ceremony, it’s not surprising to see him once again looking at projects that are a little bit different from the style of film everyone assumed he was on his way to becoming known for. Deadline reports that the latest project he’s looking at is an adaptation of Nathaniel Philbrick’s upcoming novel, “Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution.” According to the trade, Warner Bros just closed a high six figure deal to get the film rights to the book, which are being given to Affleck and Matt Damon’s Pearl Street Films and are intended to be used as a directing vehicle for Affleck. Early word has the director bringing back his Argo scribe, Chris Terrio, to pen the adaptation. While Bunker Hill would be taking Affleck back to his hometown roots of Boston, it would also see him expanding his experience as a maker of period films, as the story is set two hundred years before the feathered hairdos and mutton chops of Argo, in 1775—and it’s something of a war movie to boot. Amazon’s description of Philbrick’s novel states:

If you want a sure sign of what the global market looks like, Hollywood has got you covered. Even though Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters only earned $55m domestically, the movie scored over $150m internationally, and those numbers are prompting Paramount and MGM to partner on a potential sequel. According to Variety, the studios want a second helping of the Tommy Wirkola-directed film, but it’s unclear as to whether they’ll be able to get Gemma Arterton and Jeremy Renner back. Pure gut-reaction guess? The pair won’t be back, and it won’t matter. They’ll made Hansel and Gretel 2: Witchier with two new faces, trade off the name recognition of the first to make back diminished returns and leave Terry Gilliam to scratch his head over what happened with The Brothers Grimm.

With The History Channel’s mini-series about the bible gaining headlines and pulling in big ratings over the past couple of weeks, the time seems right for Hollywood to be readying a new volley of biblical epics to put into theaters. And, sure enough, Deadline is reporting that there’s new movement on the two movies about Moses that Fox and Warner Bros. have been trying to put together for a while. First off comes the news that the Warner Bros epic, Gods and Kings, which has been described as being a large-in-scale retelling of Moses’ entire life, is no longer being looked at as a project that’s going to be directed by Steven Spielberg. Seeing as there’s another Moses project gearing up over at Fox, this has left the studio in something of a panic, so they’re looking at another director who’s recently seen success from making a highly visual and religious-themed film, Ang Lee, to take his place. The Life of Pi director reportedly hasn’t had any official meetings regarding the film, but appears to be interested. And what of that other Moses movie that Fox is doing? It’s called Exodus, and it’s something they’ve been putting together alongside Prometheus director Ridley Scott for a while. Ironically, the pressures stemming from this one already being in the works that have led to Warner Bros. giving the hard-sell of their movie to Ang Lee might now be leading to Exodus getting put on the fast track as well.

Back in July of 2011, our own Rob Hunter rejoiced with the news that New Line and Warner Bros. had let their option on the rights to that Escape From New York remake no one really seemed to want expire and thus, there would be no remake! Ha! We spoke too soon! Now Deadline Hollywood reports that Joel Silver, along with his Silver Pictures and Studio Canal have teamed up to remake the Kurt Russell-starring, John Carpenter-directed cult classic with all manner of attached buzzwords. The first film will be a “retelling” of the story that will somehow also be “an entirely new take on the material” with an eye to kicking things off with an “origin story” that will launch a new franchise, most likely a trilogy. And that, my friends, is a Hollywood remake bingo. Back when Warner and New Line were making their new Escape with producer Neil Mortiz and director Breck Eisner, a number of names were bandied about to take on Russell’s epic Snake Plissken role, including Gerard Butler, Jeremy Renner, and Tom Hardy. Weirdly, Deadline Hollywood also seems to think that Liam Neeson could make a good Snake – probably because Silver and Studio Canal produced his Unknown and the upcoming Non-Stop, and certainly not because he’s in any way age appropriate (he’s just two years younger than Russell).

It’s true that a lot of Star Trek’s praise came from its stellar cast and the visual flare of its director, JJ Abrams, and that most of its criticisms came from the holes and coincidences in its plot, but one can’t discount the role that the story Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman’s script told had in taking a property that was traditionally thought of as being a niche thing for sci-fi geeks and turning it into a summer blockbuster that appealed to mainstream audiences. So it might be interesting to hear what else they have up their sleeves when it comes to ideas for science fiction movies.

The last time we spoke of your mother’s favorite filmmaker, Nancy Meyers, she had lined up two new projects (The Intern and The Chelsea) that both sounded a bit out of the box for the director, but now it looks as if the Something’s Gotta Give and The Holiday creator will return to her more traditional, Pottery Barn-infused roots.