It looks like Rob Cohen is still managing to wrangle in some projects, despite having had less than stellar turnouts for his recent ventures with Alex Cross and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.  Word now comes that Cohen will direct the action/adventure film Crash Bandits.  The pic comes from a script by Michael Stokes and is being made by Nu Image/Millienium, and will tell the story of a rivalry between two competing treasure hunters.  While the premise sounds somewhat interesting and Cohen does have a history of exploring similar projects that mix the hyper-real with a streak of action and adventure, I still remain skeptical as to whether or not this is going to actually be pulled off well.  Hit the jump for more on the project.

Alex Cross follows the homicide detective/psychologist from the best-selling novels by James Patterson, as he comes up against psychopathic serial killer Picasso (Matthew Fox). This time, the story takes a younger version of Alex Cross (Tyler Perry) back to the origins of the character while the two men face off in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse that will push Cross to this edge of his moral limits. The film also stars Edward Burns, Cicely Tyson, Carmen Ejogo, Giancarlo Esposito, John C. McGinley and Jean Reno.

At the film’s press day, director Rob Cohen (The Fast and The Furious, xXx) spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about what made him want to reboot the franchise, the changes he wanted to make to the script, his process of collaborating with Matthew Fox on the Picasso character, what author James Patterson was like to work with, and keeping the PG-13 rating in mind for the subject matter. He also talked about the found footage action film he’s developing, as well as a feature about Isaac Newton and his time as a detective. Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Alex Cross follows the homicide detective/psychologist from the best-selling novels by James Patterson, as he comes up against psychopathic serial killer Picasso (Matthew Fox). This time, the story takes a younger version of Alex Cross (Tyler Perry) back to the origins of the character while the two men face off in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse that will push Cross to this edge of his moral limits. From director Rob Cohen (The Fast and The Furious, xXx), the film also stars Edward Burns, Cicely Tyson, Carmen Ejogo, Giancarlo Esposito, John C. McGinley and Jean Reno.

At the film’s press day, actress Rachel Nichols – who plays Monica Ashe, one of Cross’ co-workers at the Detroit P.D. – spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how she came to be a part of the film, why she loves playing strong women, going through training with Tyler Perry and Ed Burns, how natural the chemistry with her co-stars was, and how intense Matthew Fox’s transformation for his role was.  She also talked about her Canadian TV show Continuum, which will be airing on Syfy, that they start shooting Season 2 in January 2013, how she’d like to squeeze in another film first, and how she hopes her 2005 Fox TV show The Inside will be made available on DVD.  Check out what she had to say after the jump. 

Alex Cross follows the homicide detective/psychologist from the best-selling novels by James Patterson, as he comes up against psychopathic serial killer Picasso (Matthew Fox).  This time, the story takes a younger version of Alex Cross (Tyler Perry) back to the origins of the character while the two men face off in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse that will push Cross to this edge of his moral limits.  From director Rob Cohen (The Fast and The Furious, xXx), the film also stars Edward Burns, Rachel Nichols, Cicely Tyson, Carmen Ejogo, Giancarlo Esposito, John C. McGinley and Jean Reno.

At the film’s press day, actor Matthew Fox talked about how he prepared for such a dark role, coming out of character once filming was done, getting injured while shooting the big fight sequence, the first thing he ate once he was done with the character, the roles he was offered after Lost, his experience shooting Alex Cross and World War Z at the same time, and playing General Bonner Fellers in the WWII historical drama Emperor.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Alex Cross follows the homicide detective/psychologist from the best-selling novels by James Patterson, as he comes up against psychopathic serial killer Picasso (Matthew Fox).  This time, the story takes a younger version of Alex Cross (Tyler Perry) back to the origins of the character while the two men face off in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse that will push Cross to this edge of his moral limits.  From director Rob Cohen (The Fast and The Furious, xXx), the film also stars Edward Burns, Rachel Nichols, Cicely Tyson, Carmen Ejogo, Giancarlo Esposito, John C. McGinley and Jean Reno.

At the film’s press day, actor Tyler Perry talked about what drew him to this role, what it was like to be an actor for hire, how it was to be so stripped down for a character, how he enjoyed learning Krav Maga, whether he’d consider doing more role like this in the future, doing the fight sequences with co-star Matthew Fox, and what his Madea fans might think of him in this film.  He also talked about his partnership with Oprah Winfrey for original programming on OWN, how he feels about being a mogul, if he’d ever want to direct a big-budget movie, his biggest fears, and the fact that he’s recently met with J.J. Abrams about a possible project, but he will not appear in the Star Trek sequel.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Seven clips from the upcoming thriller Alex Cross have been released.  The James Patterson adaptation sees Tyler Perry taking over the titular role that was previously inhabited by Morgan Freeman in Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls.  This time the police detective/psychologist faces off against a muscle-laden serial killer played by Matthew Fox, under the direction of xXx helmer Rob Cohen.

Hit the jump to check out the clips.  The film also stars Rachel Nichols, Jean Reno, Edward Burns, John C. McGinely, and Giancarlo Esposito.  Alex Cross opens on October 19th.

Today, we’ve got a poster round-up for you, featuring some new domestic and international looks:

• Liberal Arts, stars writer/director Josh Radnor (Happythankyoumoreplease) as a thirty-something  loser who falls for a 19-year-old college student (Elizabeth Olsen) when he returns to his alma mater.  Look for Liberal Arts in wide release starting September 21st.
• Zero Dark Thirty, the Osama bin Laden picture from director Kathryn Bigelow, stars Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt and Jessica Chastain in the revealing story of the Navy’s elite SEAL Team Six operation.  Zero Dark Thirty lands December 19th.
• Alex Cross, the adaptation of the James Patterson novel, stars Tyler Perry in the title role opposite Matthew Fox as the antagonist.  Alex Cross debuts October 19th.
• Looper, a sci-fi time-traveling actioner from writer/director Rian Johnson (Brick) and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt, opens September 28th.

Hit the jump to see the posters.

The first trailer for the James Patterson adaptation Alex Cross has landed online.  The film sees Tyler Perry taking over the titular role that was previously inhabited by Morgan Freeman in Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls.  Though I tried to go into this trailer with an open mind, if it weren’t for the movie stars you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a Lifetime Movie of the Week.  Perry tries way too hard at being the toughened detective, director Rob Cohen (xXx) shows off his penchant for explosions, and I have no idea what’s up with Matthew Fox but he’s going way over the top for the villain role.  It’ll be interesting to see how this plays for Patterson fans, as Summit is hoping that Alex Cross kicks off a string of franchise films for Perry.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Rachel Nichols, Edward Burns, Jean Reno, Giancarlo Esposito, and John C. McGinley.  Alex Cross opens on October 19th.

Producers Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious) and Gene Kirkwood (Rocky) are looking to turn the life of Sir Isaac Newton into an action film for the new studio BiteSize Entertainment, which was unveiled during the Cannes Film Festival this year.  Though known primarily through his work describing universal gravitation and the three laws of motion (and apocryphally as the man who had an apple fall on his head that lead to these discoveries), what is less known about Sir Isaac Newton is his time spent both as chief detective and head of the British Mint, a position the famous scientist held for the last 30 years of his life.

It is this latter period that Cohen is looking to base his original screenplay on.  The movie will be paired with a graphic novel detailing Newton’s life, which will also be overseen by Cohen to help booster the film’s profile.  For more on the little-known eccentricities of Sir Isaac (such as his pirate-like personal coat of arms) as well as the future of BiteSize films, hit the jump.

The first images of Tyler Perry not wearing a dress in the James Patterson adaptation Alex Cross have gone online.  Directed by Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious) the film is based on Patterson’s book I, Alex Cross, and Perry stars as the titular detective who was previously played by Morgan Freeman in the Patterson adaptations Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider.  More interesting, though, are the first images of Matthew Fox as the film’s villain.  He looks absolutely insane and ripped out of his mind.  I literally stared at one image for 10 seconds before I realized it was Fox who was putting someone in a Hulk-ed out choke hold.  It’s honestly kind of disturbing.

Anyway, hit the jump to check out the images, which also feature Edward Burns as Perry’s partner.  Alex Cross opens on October 26th.

Rob Cohen has signed with Grapevine Entertainment the South Korea-based CJ E&M Pictures to direct 1950, a film about the Korean War.  Producers Brett Donowho and Paul Hudson developed the story about New York Herald Tribune correspondent Marguerite Higgins, who traveled across the the Korean peninsula with a platoon of Marines, “ending with the mass evacuation on Christmas Eve of nearly 200,000 South Korean civilians escaping the oncoming Chinese and North Korean armies.”  Rachel Long and Brian Pittman will pen the screenplay.  Cohen remarked:

“The Korean War has often been referred to as ‘the forgotten war’ and I think it’s time it was remembered. Telling the story of this harrowing conflict through the eyes of pioneering journalist Marguerite Higgins makes it a very different war film on every level.”

And the director of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is just the man to make you remember!  Variety notes the $100 million project is the largest in the history of the Korean film industry, which is absolutely something Cohen is qualified to handle.  Shooting will begin next May with eyes to a spring 2013 release; casting talks are underway.  Cohen’s next film is I, Alex Cross starring Tyler Perry.

Rob Cohen has signed with Voltage Productions to direct the revenge thriller Bullet Run.  Variety provides an outline for the Andrew Hilton script:

[Bullet Run centers] on the head of an elite private protection team and his ex-CIA agent wife attempting to avenge their daughter’s murder by infiltrating Iran to bring the killer to justice. When the operation to extract their target goes awry, they must battle through 200 miles and 20,000 bullets while keeping alive the one man they want to kill.

Nicolas Chartier, Craig Flores, and Zev Foreman of Voltage will produce alongside Hilton.  Now that Cohen is on board, he will work with Hilton to develop the script after production wraps on I, Alex Cross.  I must confess I love 1) husband-and-wife spy teams and 2) the title Bullet Run.  With the right casting, this could be right up my alley.

This afternoon we have some casting and some un-casting to report.  In un-casting news, THR reports that Alec Baldwin has dropped out of Adam Shankman’s musical Rock of Ages.  You may recall Baldwin dropped out of Men in Black III to do Rock of Ages back in March.  Baldwin was set to play “Dennis Dupree, the owner of the Bourbon Room, the Sunset Boulevard nightclub at the center of the movie.”  No reason has been given for Baldwin’s departure, although it’s possible there was a scheduling conflict with Woody Allen’s upcoming comedy.  While it’s an unfortunate loss for the project, Rock of Ages isn’t lacking for stars since the cast features Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Malin Akerman, Bryan Cranston, Mary J. Blige, Julianne Hough, and newcomer Diego Boneta.  Rock of Ages is set to open on June 1, 2012.

Hit the jump for casting news regarding I, Alex Cross.

If you’re a fan of James Patterson’s novel I, Alex Cross, the disappointments are starting to pile up.  The adaptation is being handled by Rob Cohen (Stealth) and Tyler Perry is playing the titular detective.  Now there’s another piece of perplexing casting as Deadline reports that Lost‘s Matthew Fox will play the villain, serial killer Michael Sullivan.  This is the same Matthew Fox who looks like he’s about to cry every five seconds.  Here’s how Deadline describes the character: “one bad dude”, “kills both for money and thrills”, “known as the Butcher of Sligo”.  Well, Fox will certainly be playing against type.

The story centers on Cross trying to catch Sullivan only to have Sullivan brutally murder Cross’ wife as retribution (that’ll teach ‘em!).  Ed Burns will play Cross’ partner, Tommy Kane.  Three studios are reportedly vying for the domestic distribution rights to the project.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of the novel.

Geez, what can’t Madea do? It looks like Tyler Perry has landed the role of Alex Cross in the adaptation of the James Patterson book I, Alex Cross. The novel finds Cross investigating the death of his pregnant wife. The role was previously played onscreen by Morgan Freeman in two other Patterson adaptations: 1997’s Kiss the Girls and 2001’s Along Came a Spider. Actor Idris Elba was originally chosen to star in the reboot of the Alex Cross franchise with David Twohy (The Chronicles of Riddick) directing, but it appears that the project has undergone a bit of an overhaul. Variety reports that Rob Cohen (xXx) will direct, with Madea—er—Perry signed on for a trilogy of films. I know it’s early, but I think this film takes the cake as the strangest project to take shape in 2011 so far. Hit the jump for a synopsis of the novel.