At the beginning of March we had reported George Miller of the Mad Max franchise was planning a 4th installment to be a 3D animated film. While there has not been confirmation the anime project has been cancelled, industry reports and the Aussie newspaper The Herald Sun are reporting that scouting locations are underway for a live-action film.

Many of us here were hoping for the 3D anime to be green lit. With the possible cancellation of the animated feature and Mel Gibson being deemed “too old” for the live-action role, many questions now arise. First and foremost if Mel isn’t Max, who will take his place and how can they be mad?

[Digital Spy]

[Herald Sun]

Explosions coming from every corner of the frame? Check. Torched cars barreling through the air? Check. Dozens of bullets blanketing the screen? Check. Could this perhaps be the latest action-packed film from Michael Bay?! No, surprisingly its not. Its Gamer from directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. You know, Neveldine and Taylor. The gentlemen who brought us Crank and Crank: High Voltage.
Didn’t see them huh? Don’t sweat it, neither did I. That’s not to say they weren’t any good…I just never got around to seeing ‘em.

The duo’s latest film, Gamer, takes place in the not too distant future and follows Kabel (300’s Gerard Butler), one of many death-row inmates forced into participating in “Slayers”: an ultra-violent multi-player online game created by the reclusive twisted billionaire, Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall).

In Slayers inmates are controlled remotely through by high-paying participants using a pseudo-virtual mind control interface. To Kabel’s highly-skilled controller Simon, and the other paying customers, the inmates are nothing but disposable sacks of flesh that serve as a form of entertainment. Not only for them, but for the millions who tune in to watch Slayers online each week. However, to Kabel, Simon’s skill might be the key he needs to put a stop to Slayers and eliminate Castle.

Now if the core premise of inmates being forced to run a gauntlet of death and destruction in exchange for huge ratings sounds at all familiar to you, that’s because its been done before. You may recall a little film from 1987 called The Running Man which is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.

Rather than sit around twiddling your thumbs while you wait for Lionsgate to release Gamer into theaters later this year on September 4th, perhaps you can ponder some of the following questions:

Pending Gamer warrants a sequel, I’ll bet dollars for donuts that they use a videogame-related term(s) in the film’s title. I can see the possibilities now: Slayers: Time Extended. Or Gamer: Powered-Up.

[FirstShowing.net]
[Gamer - official site]

GameDaily reports that the console version of Capcom’s Street Fighter IV will launch in the US in March of 2009, to coincide with the late February release date of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-li. Producor Patrick Aiello seems a little confused, as he believes this to also be the series’ 20th anniversary, which came and went last year. I suppose it would be the 20th anniversary of Final Fight, the Street Fighter-based beat-em-up, but that seems a bit esoteric.

Well, there you have it. Justin Chatwin, as Goku. Doesn’t look too bad if you ask me, but time will tell. We can also look forward to the next issue of Weekly Young Jump for a full article about the upcoming movie, which premiers in Japan next March, and April here in the U.S. If nothing else, this is most certainly a step in the right direction. What do you guys think?

[dragonball-live.fr]

You may have read a post a few months back from Nahu about the Resident Evil CG movie and how then there was no info on it, but now there is a trailer!

Featuring the Leon Storyline, and Advent Children Quality graphics, we hope this is a winner! I have a few fans in the family, and for my sake I hope its good!

[Joystiq]