If you got the chance to catch Gareth Evans’s Indonesian martial arts film, The Raid: Redemption, at any point over the last year, or even happened to read any reviews of it, then you know that it was pretty much the most butt-kickingly bad-ass movie that’s come around in a long time, and action fans the world over must be keeping themselves up at night wondering what awesome project Evans is going to add his stylish flare to next. Good news: we don’t have to wait for the info any longer. Deadline Tual is reporting that Universal has acquired a drama called Breaking the Bank in the hopes of using it as a directing vehicle for the filmmaker. Originally developed by Darren Aronofsky and most recently written by Kerry Williamson, Breaking the Bank is based on the life of former MMA fighter Lee Murray, who went from choking people out for money to masterminding the biggest cash heist in history back in 2006. The details of Murray’s life that the film’s script co-opts are said to come from both Howard Sounes’ book “Heist: The True Story of the World’s Biggest Cash Robbery” and a Sports Illustrated article written by L. Jon Wertheim called, funnily enough, “Breaking the Bank.”

Perhaps the first real movie star, Mary Pickford got her start in the moving pictures back in 1909. She was 17 at the time, and the rest of her life would be dedicated to the crafts of acting, writing and producing. She’s probably best remembered for her starring role in Coquette, for which she won the Oscar in 1929. Of course, it helps that she was a founder of the Academy. According to Collider, Poverty Row Entertainment is going to give this titan her due. The production house acquired rights to “Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood” by Eileen Whitfield, and they’ve put together a team of director Jennifer DeLia (Billy Bates, I Am an Island) and writer Josh Fagin. It’s fantastic to see something like this being made, and it fits perfectly into a new mode where filmmakers are highly interested in other filmmakers. Now, who do you get to play her?

Little Shop of Horrors is a story about a man-eating plant that’s been around for quite a while. It started off as a silly Roger Corman movie from the early ’60s, but even before that, Corman’s work is thought to have been inspired by a John Collier story called “Green Thoughts” from the ’30s. What most of us probably think of as Little Shop of Horrors comes from the ’80s, however. In 1982 Alan Menken and Howard Ashmen wrote a stage musical based on Corman’s black comedy, and then in 1986 Frank Oz directed a film version of their musical. As strange and campy as it is, Oz’s version of Little Shop still has quite a few fans to this day, so would it be considered an atrocity for someone to remake it? Maybe not, because, according to THR, the someone who’s newly responsible for trying to get a remake of Little Shop together is none other than Internet darling Joseph Gordon-Levitt. That guy’s so cute and talented, we can’t be mad at him, can we?

When it was announced that Brad Bird would be directing Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the question everyone was asking was, “Can Bird make a successful transition from directing animated movies to directing live action epics?” When Ghost Protocol was finally released, Bird answered all of our questions with a resounding, “Of course I can you idiots, I’m Brad F’n Bird. What can’t I do?” Now that Deadline Celebration has broke the news that Bird’s live action followup to Ghost Protocol is going to be a movie called 1952, there’s a different question on everyone’s lips. That question being, “What the heck is 1952?” The short answer is that Bird and his collaborators aren’t telling. The long answer is that 1952 is a big project that Disney has had in the works for a while now. While it’s known that Disney intends for it to become one of the tentpole type features that’s designed not just to sell theater tickets, but also to push merchandise, inspire theme park rides, launch Internet startups, and who knows what else, nothing is yet known about its premise. The only bit of information out there is that Lost producer Damon Lindelof was hired last year to come on as producer and write the script, the contents of which are supposed to be a closely guarded secret around the House of Mouse. And, as Lost fans can attest, Lindelof is a man who’s very familiar with secrets.

I’m pretty that question is from an old Zen Koan or Buddhist saying or something. Of course, it might be from Eastbound and Down. According to The Hollywood Reporter, that show’s creator, Jody Hill,  is attached to an untitled Warners action movie that might morph into a reboot of Dukes of Hazzard. Hill also directed Observe and Report and hails from North Carolina with a special connection to southern filmmaking. Yes, the eternal name of Peckinpah was evoked in the piece, but the underlying truth here is that the studio won’t know whether they’re rebooting The Dukes of Hazzard or not until Hill finishes the script. Let that sink in. There’s a magic, confusing moment right now where Hill is either going to write a movie that will be an original piece of southern action, or Hill will write a movie that will be an original piece of southern action that has a 70s sitcom title slapped on it. This is where we’re at creatively. The fear of anything original is palpable, but at Warners? Then again, Danny McBride does have a Tom Wopat feel to him.

The world was shocked when, after directing the biggest financial success of his career with The Hunger Games, Gary Ross decided to pass on making the sequel, Catching Fire. Does he hate money? No, it turns out he just hated the too-tight schedule the film has to work under due to its star Jennifer Lawrence’s other commitments. But, do you know who has no such qualms with churning out a Hunger Games sequel on a truncated timeline? I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence. It wasn’t long after Ross dropped out that he stepped in. Only time will tell if Ross was right and Lawrence is stepping into a poisonous situation with Catching Fire; once the second film comes out, we’ll just compare who did the better work. But news that broke today hints at the possibility that Ross and Lawrence might soon be competing for our hearts and minds with more than just their individual takes on Hunger Games material; they might soon be earning comparisons to one another because of dueling Houdini biopics as well.

Sound City Studios in Van Nuys has had a hand in creating 7 of the 500 greatest albums on Rolling Stone’s list. It’s a legendary spot, one rich with sonic history and a sense of American Rock ‘N’ Roll when it was far purer than it is today. It’ll no doubt make an engaging doc subject, and Foo Fighter/Nirvana member Dave Grohl plans to make sure that his directorial debut celebrates that musical birthplace in Sound City. According to Aint it Cool, Grohl is making himself mayor of Sound City after buying their Neve 8028 recording console (that was used to lay down tracks for everyone from Neil Young to Nirvana to Nine Inch Nails to bands that didn’t start with the letter N). The press release from Roswell Films calls the movie “a film about America’s greatest unsung recording studio.” Another phrase for it? A damned cool project.

Have you ever thought that the horrors and anxieties of childhood piano recitals have just never been appropriately captured on film? Ever thought that Speed would have been better if Keanu Reeves had to keep playing “Chopsticks” rather than keep driving a bus? Then Grand Piano is definitely the movie for you. Written by The Last Exorcism 2 scribe Damien Chazelle and to be helmed by Spanish director Eugenio Mira, Grand Piano tells the tale of a formerly famous concert pianist who hasn’t performed in front of people for five years due to crippling stage fright. When he finally does work up the nerve to perform in front of people again, he sits down to his piano to find that a note has been left on his music sheet by a vile terrorist. You see, if he doesn’t play the most perfect concert that he’s ever played in his life, both he and his wife will be killed!

Though he achieved perhaps his biggest Stateside success last year when a BBC miniseries he starred in got edited into the acclaimed big screen release The Trip, Steve Coogan is a comedic actor who’s been around for quite a while. And one of his biggest claims to fame in the worldwide sense comes from his portrayals of the Alan Partridge character. Partridge is an egomaniacal and insecure take on sports commentators and chat show hosts that Coogan has portrayed in numerous British radio and TV shows like Knowing Me Knowing You, The Day Today, and I’m Alan Partridge, and the character is so popular that there’s long been rumors about a potential movie being in the works. Up to this point that hasn’t amounted to much more than rumors and development hell, but an interview that co-writer Armando Iannucci (I’m Alan Partridge, Veep) did with Empire Magazine claims all that is about to change.

Hot off the announcement that Adam McKay and crew are finally going to make Anchorman 2 comes word that the director has another project in the works, this one a strange choice for a filmmaker mostly known for absurdist comedies starring Will Ferrell. Deadline Coconut Grove is reporting that, after McKay finishes up shooting on the next Anchorman film, he’s negotiating to begin work on a remake of the 1974 Sydney Poitier film Uptown Saturday Night. For those of us whose memories don’t go all the way back to 1974, Uptown Saturday Night was a comedy that Poitier starred in himself, alongside Bill Cosby, that saw the two of them playing in over-their-head everymen faced with the task of hunting down some shady criminal types. On a whim, the duo go to a seedy nightclub where their wallets are promptly robbed by some thug types. Problem is, one of the wallets contains a winning lottery ticket, so the freaked-out friends have to do whatever it takes to get their property back.

Jay and Mark Duplass cut their teeth in the film world writing and directing weird, super-indie movies like The Puffy Chair and Baghead, and have only more recently started tipping their toes ever so slightly into the mainstream with works like Cyrus and Jeff, Who Lives at Home. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that Deadline Metairie is reporting the brothers have taken a job writing a film for Todd Phillips, king of the mainstream comedy. Especially since the brothers are famous for writing loose scripts that are heavy on improvisational acting, and this particular job requires that they adapt a novel. Let’s back up a bit. Back in February it was announced that Todd Phillips had renewed his first look agreement with Warner Bros., and there were a number of projects mentioned that he might be developing for the studio. One of them was called Mule, and was an adaptation of a Tony D’Souza novel of the same name. Amazon describes D’Souza’s book by saying: “James and Kate are golden children of the late twentieth century, flush with opportunity. But an economic downturn and an unexpected pregnancy send them searching for a way to make do. A friend in California’s Siskiyou County grows prime-grade marijuana; if James transports just one load from Cali to Florida, he’ll pull down enough cash to survive for months. And so begins the life of a mule.”

Back last summer when Robert Rodriguez was talking about the projects he was cooking up for the future, most of the focus was on his prospective Sin City and Machete sequels. And, since then, both Machete Kills and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For have been officially announced as his next two projects. Those weren’t the only movies he was expressing an interest in making back then, however; he was also into the idea of remaking the animated 1983 film Fire and Ice, which was directed by Ralph Bakshi and inspired by the artwork of Frank Frazetta, who also served as co-writer on the film. If you don’t know who Frank Frazetta is, he’s a science fiction and fantasy illustrator whose work you’ve undoubtedly seen at some point in your life. He’s done all sorts of book covers, comics, paintings, and whatnot, and usually his work involves alien landscapes, muscle-bound warriors, scantily clad women, and some sort of stabbing weapon. You know, it’s the sort of stuff that you’d get airbrushed on the side of an awesome panel van.

According to Deadline Pawnee, there’s good news coming down the pipe for everyone’s favorite big-haired club promoter. The outlet reports that Ben Schwartz (better known to everyone who enjoys hilarious things as Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Recreation) has just sold a pitch for his romantic comedy, No Hearts Club, to Universal. Schwartz will write the screenplay for the film, which will be produced by Brian Grazer for Imagine Entertainment and executive produced by Kim Roth. No much else is known about the film as of now, but THR reports that it’s “a rom-com from the male perspective.” Despite his consistently quotable performance as lovable douchebag Jean-Ralphio on Parks, there is much more to Schwartz than just that epic role – he also co-stars on Showtime’s House of Lies, just finished up the feature Coffee Town, wrote the sure-to-be-hilarious Black List script for the remake of Soapdish (called El Fuego Caliente), and he’s written three comedic books. Oh, and he’s been nominated for two Emmys for his work on the 81st Annual Academy Awards. Oh, and won one of those Emmys. The kid is a-flush with…talent. Looks like Schwartz won’t need to rely on getting run over by a Lexus for his next payday. Bounce bounce bounce indeed.

Taking a decidedly dark turn in project choices after the success of the uber-charming Midnight in Paris and his recently-signed deals for comedies like Freezing People Is Easy and You Are Here, actor Owen Wilson will soon star in the Dowdle Brothers’ The Coup. A dark thriller from the team at Crime Scene Pictures, The Coup appears to be Wilson’s most emotionally demanding role in years, since something like 2001′s Behind Enemy Lines. The press release announcing the project describes the film as “an intense thriller centered on an American family that moves to Southeast Asia and finds themselves embroiled in a violent coup where rebels mercilessly attack the city.” Wilson will play the family’s patriarch. John Erick Dowdle will direct the film from a script he co-wrote with his brother, Drew Dowdle. John Erick previously directed Devil, and the brothers wrote The Poughkeepsie Tapes and Quarantine together, with John Erick also directing those features.

With their recent blockbuster smash, The Hunger Games, Lionsgate has gone from being a lesser studio, funding niche genre pictures and picking up the scraps that other studios throw away for distribution deals, to having the capital and cache to move up in the movie-making world. And you better believe that they’re feeling pretty grateful to The Hunger Games’ star, Jennifer Lawrence, for their new-found success. So, it should come as no surprise that the studio is trying to do everything they can to prop Lawrence up as an even bigger star and milk all of the money out of her fame that they can. To that end they’ve optioned a book for a film adaptation, with the intentions of developing it as Lawrence’s next starring vehicle. According to Deadline Lindytown, Lionsgate now has the rights to The Glass Castle: A Memoir, which is the autobiography of gossip columnist and regular MSNBC.com contributor Jeanette Walls.

The team of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa just keep on trucking. The pair, best known for scripts like Bad Santa and Bad News Bears, have lately turned their attentions to writing and directing films, such as I Love You Phillip Morris (which they scripted and helmed) and Crazy. Stupid. Love. (which they directed from Dan Fogelman’s script), and now they’re set to again write and direct a production. Deadline Thousand Oaks reports that Ficarra and Requa have made a deal with Warner Bros. for their newest script, called Focus, and the pair already know who they want to start in the film – Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, who exhibited such delightful chemistry and comic timing together in Crazy. Stupid. Love. The film is a fair bit different than their latest team-up, but perhaps many of the same tones from Crazy. will pop up in this one. Focus is described as “the story of a veteran conman who gets involved with a newcomer to the grifter business. They get involved romantically but that becomes perilous in a business where they lie and cheat for a living. The complications of the encounter haunt them when they meet up again in the future.” Based on what we saw from the pair in Crazy., this actually sounds like quite the fun fit.

Director Brad Peyton had a nice little career going for himself, making movies that the whole family (read: anyone under 6) could enjoy like Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island; but being around all of the testosterone produced by The Rock on the Journey 2 set must have done something to his head, because his next project is looking decidedly less nice. Deadline Czarnia has word that the director has been hired by Warner Bros. to launch the next big DC Comics franchise. Which franchise would that be, exactly? The lightning-fast, Crank-inspired adventures of The Flash? Maybe a Game of Thrones-inspired look at the royal politics of the lost city of Atlantis, starring Aquaman? Nope, wrong on both counts. For some reason, Warners has decided to make a movie about DC’s foul-mouthed, drunken, murderous, intergalactic bounty hunting, 90s-era superstar Lobo.

Marvel, as it’s own studio, has been the production team that’s dreamed the impossible dream. In a few weeks, they’ll unleash a movie with more superheroes per capita than any before which also assembles a cast that will probably never be in the same room all together again. The inevitable sequel to The Avengers is not as inevitable as other blockbusters considering the schedules involved. On that same front, the geek chorus of getting Edgar Wright‘s Ant-Man out of the paper and ink prison and onto the big screen has been justifiably getting louder over the past two years. It’s easy to imagine Marvel head Kevin Feige leading that chorus, and now he’s claiming that it’s “as close as it’s ever been.” In an interview with Hey U Guys’ Ben Mortimer, Feige said, “we are gonna take some forward steps in a few months that will bring it closer than ever.” There’s still no concrete information here, but alongside the studio’s new focus on lesser-known characters, it looks like Wright might need to carve out some big time for a small hero. Plus, Feige wouldn’t needlessly tease fans. The studio has dreamed impossible dreams, but they’ve managed to make a lot of them come true.

After working with hairy primates, director Rupert Wyatt is using the success of Rise of the Planet of the Apes to move up the food chain. According to Variety, he’s cast Charlize Theron in his latest sci-fi flick, Agent 13. There are no details about the story, written by T.S. Nolan, but it’s unlikely that it will be made any time soon. Wyatt is attached to more than a handful of projects, but more Apes are on the way with him locked in for at least one more go. Plus, this particular movie is more like a script with two well known players stapled to it. It still needs to find a home. At the very least, the spy thriller nature of the title and the promise of science fiction with Theron in the lead and Wyatt calling the shots is not a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all. As long as the title isn’t the codename for Aeon Flux 2.  

George Clooney may have earned a Best Actor nomination for his work in last year’s The Descendants, but the truly eye-opening performance in that film came not from the king of Hollywood, but from the little known actress playing his teenage daughter. Simply put, Shailene Woodley was the bee’s knees in that film. Her work fleshed out a role that would have played like a cliché of teenage rebellion in most other hands, and she’s going to have quite a few opportunities coming her way in the upcoming year. It’s newsworthy, then, that Variety has word on what her next job is going to be. According to the trade, the actress is attached to star in Smashed (which was reviewed by Allison Loring here) director James Ponsoldt’s next film, which is an adaptation of the Tim Tharp novel “The Spectacular Now.”