Everything about this sentence is awful: Yogi Bear director Eric Brevig will reunite with his Journey to the Center of the Earth star Brendan Fraser for William Tell 3D.  This sounds like a disaster in the making—let’s break it down.  Brevig parlayed his solid run as a visual effects of supervisor on such films as Total Recall, Men in Black, and The Day After Tomorrow into a directing career that, after two films, is the definition of uninspired.  Fraser’s recent work is making it hard to maintain my policy of rooting for all Brendans.  And these two are joining forces for William Tell 3D, which is kind of title you make up to mock the 3D fad.  Gah.

Brevig replaces Nick Hurran in the director’s chair; the $27 million production is relocating to Romania and Switzerland for a March 2012 start date.  Chad and Evan Law (Hero Wanted) are tweaking their script with a family audience in mind.  Hit the jump for more on their take.

Warner Bros. has released 8 movie clips from their upcoming live-action/CGI feature Yogi Bear.  While the trailers haven’t exactly won me over, I also realize I’m not the target demo and kids will probably love this movie.  Hit the jump the clips of Yogi (voiced by Dan Aykroyd), Boo Boo (voiced by Justin Timberlake), Anna Faris as visiting nature documentary filmmaker Rachel Johnson, Tom Cavanagh as the diligent Ranger Smith, T.J. Miller as Smith’s over-enthusiastic deputy, Ranger Jones, Andrew Daly as the conniving Mayor Brown; and Nate Corddry following behind as Brown’s Chief of Staff.

Warner Bros. has released 44 high resolution images from their upcoming live-action/CGI feature Yogi Bear.  While the trailers haven’t exactly won me over, I also realize I’m not the target demo and kids will probably love this movie.  Hit the jump for images of Yogi (voiced by Dan Aykroyd), Boo Boo (voiced by Justin Timberlake), Anna Faris as visiting nature documentary filmmaker Rachel Johnson, Tom Cavanagh as the diligent Ranger Smith, T.J. Miller as Smith’s over-enthusiastic deputy, Ranger Jones, Andrew Daly as the conniving Mayor Brown; and Nate Corddry following behind as Brown’s Chief of Staff.

The teaser trailer for the live-action adaptation of Yogi Bear has gone online.  When we reported on the project last November, I was negative about it.  This teaser trailer makes me feel completely justified in that negativity.  There’s crummy animation, slapstick jokes, and nothing approaching the charm of the original cartoon.  Just because you quote the show, doesn’t mean you’re honoring it.  Of course, as I said then, I’m sure the soundbites will be about how everyone involved with the movie loved the show and want to bring it to a new generation.

Directed by Eric Brevig (Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D) and stars Anna Faris, Tom Cavanagh, and T.J. Miller as well as the voices of Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake as Yogi and Boo Boo, respectively. Hit the jump to check out the teaser trailer as well as the the poster that we put up yesterday.  Yogi Bear opens in 3D on December 17^th.

Brad Peyton is close to making a deal to direct New Line and Walden Media’s Journey to the Center of the Earth 2, and Brendan Fraser will reportedly not be starring in the sequel.  Deadline reports the studio is moving ahead with the film, with Josh Hutcherson as the star.  Hutcherson played the nephew of Fraser’s character in the original.  The original film made $242 million worldwide, and without Fraser, New Line would have to back the film with a much lesser-known actor.  Fraser left the film due to scheduling conflicts that made original director Eric Brevig unavailable and forced New Line to replace him with Brad Peyton, the director of Warner Bros.’ upcoming Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.  Brevig’s next film will be Yogi Bear.  New Line is planning on a Fall 2011 release for the Journey to the Center of the Earth sequel.

Of course with the project still being put together and Fraser’s recent movie Furry Vengeance not exactly lighting up the box office, there is still a chance he could return for the sequel.  More as we hear it.

Madmedia Entertainment has announced Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Frank Pierson (Dog Day Afternoon, Cool Hand Luke, Presumed Innocent) will write the Korean War drama, 17 Days of Winter, and it’ll be directed by Eric Brevig (Journey to the Center of the Earth).  According to the press release:

17 Days of Winter is a story of personal triumph, courage and universal humanity set against the backdrop of the brutal, 17 day battle where 12,000 U.S. Marines and soldiers, known today as “The Chosin Few,” faced overwhelming odds and deadly sub-zero temperatures, while outnumbered by 120,000 Chinese troops behind enemy lines in a battle for the soul of a nation.

The film is set for a 2012 release date.  The movie has support from the Korean Minister of Culture and the Korean Veterans Association and will be filmed on location in Korea.  No word if they’re shooting in 3D, but with the huge surge in 3D movies, it’ll be interesting to see if this is the first war movie done in the format.  Hit the jump for some quotes from Pierson and Brevig.

Update - We have been informed the movie will be shot in 3D!

After grossing $390 million worldwide (and counting), it should come as a surprise to no one that Warner Bros. is moving ahead with a sequel to Clash of the Titans.  Deadline reports that director Louis Leterrier will not return to helm the sequel.  However, Sam Worthington will reprise his role as Perseus and almost every actor whose character survived will return as well.  The studio is now rushing to get the film into production as it wants to make a spring 2012 release and get Worthington before the actor goes to shoot Avatar 2.

Hit the jump for my speculation on how Clash 2 will approach 3D this time around as well as news regarding a sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth.

I’m usually the snarky one, but the following statement is all Entertainment Weekly: “A remake of ‘Yogi Bear’ seems to be an incredibly unnecessary project but with these inspired casting choices perhaps a good movie will prevail.” I couldn’t agree more except for the part about inspired casting choices because I never spent time thinking, “Gosh, who would be good in a movie I don’t think should exist.”  But it looks like Anna Faris, Dan Aykroyd, and Justin Timberlake will take a trip to Jellystone Park to tell the tale of a bear wearing a hat and a bowtie who steals pick-a-nik baskets.  Hit the jump for details.