Though the news that 20th Century Fox was moving forward on a sequel to Chronicle came rather quickly after Josh Trank’s film performed very well at the box office, development on the follow-up has been fairly slow.  Screenwriter Max Landis returned to pen the script, but it seemed unlikely that Trank would return to direct given that he’s next helming The Fantastic Four and is also attached to a Venom movie and Shadow of the Colossus.  Last we heard re: Chronicle 2, Landis’ father John Landis claimed that Fox wasn’t happy with Max’s script and wanted “more of the same.”

Now Max Landis himself has spoken up regarding the status of Chronicle 2 and also directly addressing his father’s comments.  Hit the jump to read on.

Hollywood re-imaginings of classic stories are nothing new; in fact, one is hitting theaters this weekend.  Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein has been adapted into just about every form you could think of, with the story being twisted and turned into a multitude of genres, expressing a number of different themes.  A couple of new takes on the classic story are in development at the moment, but the one that appears to be moving forward first belongs to 20th Century Fox.

Paul McGuigan (Sherlock, Lucky Number Slevin) is onboard to direct and just yesterday we learned that Daniel Radcliffe is in final negotiations to star in the lead role of Igor.  The pic boasts a script from Chronicle scribe Max Landis, and the screenwriter recently spoke at length about his take on the tale, revealing that he hopes to stay true to a version of the Frankenstein story that, in his mind, only exists in the zeitgeist.  Hit the jump to read on.

It looks like Max Landis (Chronicle) will transition from writer to director with Me Him Her, a sexual identity comedy funded by Big Beach Films (the banner behind Safety Not Guaranteed).  The film is set in Los Angeles where three young leads, at least one of whom struggles with sexual identity, who are all going through a quarter-life crisis.  Me Him Her explores the themes of friendship, love and sex, while ultimately concluding that conceptions of ourselves should be more flexible.  Hit the jump for more on Me Him Her, including comments from Landis himself.

One of the more pleasant surprises of 2012 was director Josh Trank’s low-budget “superhero” film Chronicle.  The pic was a hit with audiences and critics alike, and Fox naturally tapped the first film’s scribe Max Landis to start work on a sequel earlier this year.  Shortly thereafter Landis teased the return of star Alex Russell in the follow-up, but since then word on Chronicle 2 has been quiet.  Now we may have an idea of why, as Landis’ father, filmmaker John Landis, recently revealed that Fox isn’t too keen on what Max Landis has cooked up for the sequel.  Hit the jump for more. 

Chronicle scribe, Max Landis, is bringing his own brand of superheroics to the small screen.  Landis is set to pen Vigilant, a police drama series that revolves around a twenty-year-old woman who takes on the persona of a crime fighting vigilante in order to take down criminals and flush out corruption from within the police department.  Landis will also executive produce his creation alongside Hugh Fitzpatrick through Teakwood Lane. Homeland’s Howard Gordon landed the sale of Vigilant at Fox with a script plus penalty order.  Hit the jump for more on Vigilant.

After it was first announced that Shawn Levy (Real Steel) had come aboard to direct a new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein nearly a year ago, development on 20th Century Fox’s redo slowed considerably.  Levy told Steve earlier this year that he planned on using motion-capture for the monster, but he and screenwriter Max Landis (Chronicle) were faced with a competing Frankenstein film by way of the the Aaron Eckhart-fronted I, Frankenstein, which has already wrapped production and is due for release next year.

Now it appears that Levy is off the project completely, as Lucky Number Slevin helmer Paul McGuigan has entered talks to direct.  Hit the jump for more.

The found footage film and the superhero movie are both formulaic to a fault, so it’s odd that the combination of the two bring new life to both.  Josh Trank’s Chronicle tells the story of three kids who gain powers, but does so in a way that’s refreshing and engaging.  The movie was a surprise hit, and we can’t wait to see what Trank does next.  Our review of the Blu-ray of Chronicle follows after the jump.

With the guaranteed blockbuster superhero movie The Avengers opening in less than a week, let’s turn our attention briefly to an unexpected heroic hit: Chronicle.  Screenwriter Max Landis gave an extensive interview recently at the Middle East Film and Comic Con 2012 in Dubais in which he discussed the sequel to his found-footage superhero film, Chronicle 2.  Whereas the first film gave us the origin story of the world’s first super-heroes, the follow up will apparently focus on the world’s first super-villain.  Landis had a lot to say on the script, which he is currently writing and also commented on the possibility of director Josh Trank returning for the sequel.  Hit the jump to see some of Landis’ choice quotes as well as the full video interview.

Steve sat down with 20th Century Fox CEO recently at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and we’ve been bringing you highlights from their wide-ranging conversation.  We already shared what Rothman had to say about a New Mutants movie and the rating for Prometheus, the Rise of the Planet of the Apes sequel, and now we wanted to share the CEO’s updates on a few highly anticipated Fox properties.  Rothman talked about the status of the studio’s Fantastic Four reboot, Daredevil, and a sequel to this year’s hit superhero pic Chronicle.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

Max Landis’ Chronicle was one of Collider’s Most Anticipated Films for the first quarter of 2012 and was a nice little box office surprise for Fox. The studio is hoping that lightning strikes twice as Landis has been tapped to write the sequel to the found-footage superhero film. Chronicle’s plot line followed three teenagers (Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan) as they acquired superhuman powers and attempted to gain control over them. Without giving too much of the plot away, let’s just say that not all of them were able to walk the straight and narrow path. Chronicle played out in such a way that a direct sequel involving all of the principal characters would be difficult, but fans of comics know that, in the world of superhuman powers, quite literally anything is possible. Hit the jump for more on Chronicle.

Coming off the success of Date Night and Real Steel, director Shawn Levy has a number of high-profile projects on his plate. He’s been attached to a 3D remake of Fantastic Voyage for quite a while, with James Cameron onboard as producer, and he’s set to take on a new iteration of Frankenstein. While Levy became involved in both of these projects last year, we haven’t heard much about their status as of late. Steve recently got the chance to sit down for an exclusive interview with Levy regarding the Best Visual Effects Oscar nomination for Real Steel, and the director talked quite a bit about what he has coming up. Yesterday we ran the portion of the conversation where Levy discussed the visual effects in Real Steel and the status of the Real Steel sequel, and today we’ve got updates on a few more of his upcoming projects.

Levy revealed that he’ll be using motion-capture SimulCam for the monsters (plural) in Frankenstein, and he also talked about how they’re tweaking the development status of the film in response to the competition project I, Frankenstein starring Aaron Eckhart. In addition, Levy talked about his ambitious practical effects approach to Fantastic Voyage, and revealed that he may actually film the comedy Interns with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson this summer. Hit the jump for much more.

With Max Landis’ movie Chronicle opening in theaters this weekend, you might be wondering to yourself just how the young writer became interested in superheroic origins or why he chose to give one of his protagonists supervillain tendencies. Well it just so happens that we’ve come across a short directed and narrated by Landis himself that might explain some things. In The Death and Return of Superman, Landis (along with some famous friends like Elijah Wood, Mandy Moore, Ron Howard, Simon Pegg and Chris Hardwick) takes viewers through an NSFW recap of the infamous DC comic series that saw the fall (and rise) of the last son of Krypton. Hit the jump to check it out.

The cinéma vérité style can easily go astray. It can be used more as a lazy way to put the viewer closer to the action without worrying about thoughtful cinematography or good performances.  Chronicle avoids the pitfalls by coming up with a good reason why its story should take a found-footage approach instead of a half-assed reason why a character should carry around a camera.  Rather than throw non-actors into the fray for “raw” performances (i.e. sloppy), the film places its trust in lead actors who give good performances.  There are times when the movie can no longer hold its fake documentary conceit together and at the climax it loses the character drama in favor of a big action scene, but Chronicle manages to be not only a good found-footage movie, but a good movie period.

Walt Disney Pictures has been busy as of late: they recently landed Dan Harris (X2: X-Men United) to pen the sci-fi adventure adaptation Hover Car Racer, landed directors for both Matterhorn and Maleficent, and have secured Seth Rogen as a producer and possible star in the spy comedy, The B Team. Now we have word that the Mouse House has picked up an untitled space adventure from Max Landis, the scribe behind the upcoming superhero found-footage flick, Chronicle. The project will center on a brother and sister and their emotional journey as they undertake an adventure through space. Andrew Panay (Wedding Crashers) is set to produce. Hit the jump for more on this project.

Last week, we reported that director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) was in talks to helm 20th Century’s Fox new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.  Today, Variety confirms that Levy has gotten the gig and beaten out talented directors like Paul Greengrass and David Yates.  Levy’s film will work from a script by Max Landis (Chronicle) and will compete with the six other Frankenstein films currently in the works at other studios.  I hope that Levy’s adaptation is so full of slapstick and bad jokes that it inadvertently becomes a backdoor Frankenberry movie.

Hit the jump for a recap of the other Frankenstein flicks in development.