One more casting addition has been made to Seth MacFarlane’s second live-action directorial project, the Western comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West.  Universal Pictures and Media Rights Capital announced the film’s official release date today, and within the press release is the film’s release date and news that Neil Patrick Harris has joined the cast.  MacFarlane leads the ensemble, which also includes Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, Sarah Silverman, and Giovanni Ribisi.  Here’s the official synopsis:

After a cowardly sheep farmer backs out of a gunfight, his fickle girlfriend leaves him for another man.  When a mysterious and beautiful woman rides into town, she helps him find his courage and they begin to fall in love.  But when her husband, a notorious outlaw, arrives seeking revenge, the farmer must put his newfound courage to the test.

MacFarlane co-wrote the script with his Ted scribes Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, and in addition to starring he will also produce and direct.   A Million Ways to Die in the West opens on May 30, 2014, opposite Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur.

Fred Savage has come a long way since The Wonder Years.  The actor first started directing in TV in the early 2000s and has been steadily helming episodes of shows like Modern Family, Happy Endings, and 2 Broke Girls for years.  He directed the straight-to-DVD spinoff film Daddy Day Camp in 2007, but now he’s been tapped to helm a high profile feature film with an Oscar winner in the leading role.  Savage is reportedly in talks to direct the comedy Ladies Night, with Charlize Theron attached to star.

The film is described as “Bridesmaids-esque” and centers on a woman who, “when confronted with her longtime boyfriend’s inability to commit, decides to have one last night on the town with her girlfriends before uprooting her life and moving to New York.”  Hit the jump for more.

When last we reported on the development of author Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places adaptation, Amy Adams was in negotiations to star.  Now it appears that Charlize Theron (Prometheus) is circling the role instead.  Gilles Paquet-Brenner (Sarah Keys) wrote the script and is set to direct the decidedly dark drama that centers on a woman who survived the brutal murder of her family when she was seven.  Twenty-five years after testifying against her brother as the murderer, a group obsessed with investigating notorious crimes  draws her out for more information.  Hit the jump for more on Dark Places.

Actor/writer/director Seth MacFarlane is roping in some Oscar-caliber talent for his second directorial feature film. Charlize Theron is in talks to star in the western comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West, which MacFarlane will both direct and star in.  The story centers on a farmer whose girlfriend leaves him after he chickens out of a gunfight.  “When he meets the wife of a notorious outlaw who offers to teach him how to shoot, the farmer at first sees a chance to win back his love but slowly falls for the woman. Complications ensue when the outlaw returns and reclaims his woman.”  Hit the jump for more details.

We’ve got some media from two long-in-development pictures today, as follows:

• Riddick – The third film in the Riddick franchise starring Vin Diesel from writer/director David Twohy.  This new image shows off the brooding anti-hero who someone left out in the rain.  The long-awaited film, also starring Karl Urban (Dredd 3D) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica), will finally land in theaters September 6th.
• Mad Max: Fury Road – The fourth film in writer/director George Miller’s post-apocalyptic action franchise.  The latest iteration features Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) as Max Rockatansky along with Charlize Theron (Prometheus) and Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class).  New video shows behind-the-scenes footage of the film’s crazy vehicles in action.

Hit the jump to check them out.

A few days ago we reported screenwriter William Monahan (The Departed, Kingdom of Heaven) was going to adapt Park Chan-wook’s fantastic 2005 film Sympathy for Lady Vengeance with Charlize Theron set to star and produce along with Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures.  For those unfamiliar with the original, Lady Vengeance “is the story of a woman who for reasons of her own completes a prison term for a murder she did not commit, reemerging to punish the killer, and avenge the dead.”  The film is the final chapter in Park’s “Vengeance Trilogy” following Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy.

Shortly after the news broke, I reached out to Monahan to see if he could offer us any additional information about how the project came together.  In addition, we talked about whether he’s started writing it yet, if Sympathy could take place in Boston, whether it would be watered down for American audiences, when did he first see Park Chan-wook’s movies and does he have a favorite, his adapting process and much more.  Finally, as we reported earlier this year, Monahan is set to get behind the camera again with Mojave.  He told me he starts to shoot early next year and we’ll hear about casting in the coming weeks.  Hit the jump for more.

With Spike Lee‘s remake of Oldboy well underway, Hollywood is turning its eye to remaking another Park Chan-wook film.  Annapurna Pictures has sent out a press release announcing that it will remake Park’s excellent 2005 film Sympathy for Lady Vengeance with Charlize Theron set to star and produce.  For those unfamiliar with the original, Lady Vengeance “is the story of a woman who for reasons of her own completes a prison term for a murder she did not commit, reemerging to punish the killer, and avenge the dead.”  The film is the final chapter in Park’s “Vengeance Trilogy” following Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy.  While Oldboy is my favorite of the three, Lady Vengeance is a close second.  Theron is a strong choice for the lead role, and I’m curious to see what Oscar-winner William Monahan (The Departed) will do with the script.  The press release says he’s “adapting” the original, but that could mean he’ll serve as both writer and director or as the writer only.  He previously directed London Boulevard and will next direct Mojave.

Hit the jump for the press release along with the trailer for Park’s Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (a.k.a. Lady Vengeance).

One of the biggest surprise hits of this year was The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, about seven cash-strapped seniors who decide to retire to a resort in far-off India, where they find friendship and romance in the most unexpected ways.  In fact, the film did so well at the box office, that there have been recent talks about developing a possible sequel.  From director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) and screenwriter Ol Parker, the film stars Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and Dev Patel.

With awards season gearing up, and Fox Searchlight hoping for something in one of the major categories, director John Madden spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how it felt to have the feel do so well at the box office, how slow the industry has been to notice that older audiences are viable, whether or not a sequel could really happen and if he’d want to be involved, and what all of the awards season hoopla is like for him.  He also talked about how excited he is that Showtime has ordered Masters of Sex to series (he directed the pilot) and that he hopes to stay involved, and that Murder Mystery, with Charlize Theron in the lead role, will be his next film, once he finishes casting.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Ridley Scott’s Prometheus was a geek’s dream. Scott, who directed Alien in 1979, was one of the great science fiction filmmakers, but hadn’t done anything in the genre since 1982 – since Blade Runner. And though Alien spawned a franchise, Scott had never made his own sequel. Prometheus was sold as a semi-prequel, an “in universe” film that takes place before the events of the first film, but may not tie into them directly. After a series of great trailers, there was hope that the film (which was also rated R, rare for a huge summer movie) would be awesome, would be a great Scott film. Alas, it’s more of a mess. Our review of the Blu-ray of Prometheus follows after the jump.

A new overseer has been assigned to the Namibia-based filming location of director George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road.  Concerns about the film falling behind schedule and beginning to go over budget (not to mention the cost of flying executives to and from Africa) have necessitated the placement of Warner Bros. producer, Denise Di Novi on location.  While she won’t have producer credits on the film, Di Novi will be responsible for supervising the production as a “studio representative.”  The film, which started shooting in July, is reportedly still expected to wrap by the end of November.

Mad Max: Fury Road starring Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Nicholas Hoult and Zoe Kravitz, is due out next year. Hit the jump for more.

Snow White and the Huntsman is part – and in some ways a culmination – of the worst instincts of big budgets Hollywood fantasies. It tries to combine the appeal of the Lord of the Rings films with a known property, Campbellian archetypes and a more dark and serious take on fantasy material. It’s garbage, easily one of the worst films of 2012. Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron lead the cast in this botched adaptation of the children’s classic. Our review of the film on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Charlize Theron and producer Basil Iwanyk (The Town) have optioned the Vanity Fair article “Marie Colvin’s Private War.”  The article by Marie Brenner tells the story of determined war journalist Marie Colvin, who got herself smuggled into Syria last winter to cover the civil war.  Colvin and photographer Rémi Ochlik were killed by an improvised explosive device while fleeing an unofficial media building that the Syrian army bombed.

The project is viewed as a possible starring vehicle for Theron, but as of this writing she is only confirmed as a producer.  The producing team is currently on the search for a writer to adapt Brenner’s article.  Hit the jump for more background on Colvin.

Filming on the fourth Mad Max film, Mad Max: Fury Road, has been underway for a couple months now, but Kennedy Miller Mitchell Productions have now released an announcement that principal photography has begun.  These production start announcements usually don’t mean much except they usually contain the first synopsis for the movie, and this press release is no different.  We’ll also give the release a pass since Mad Max: Fury Road looked like it might never happen since it was constantly delayed, and the production hit a serious snag when their original location was hit with flooding and turned into an oasis, which doesn’t really lend itself to a post-apocalyptic wasteland.  Shooting is now taking place in Africa.

Hit the jump for the press release, which contains the synopsis along with the names of all the major roles (and there are some great character names).  Mad Max: Fury Road stars Tom Hardy as the new Mad Max, and also stars Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Hugh Keays-Byrne, and Nathan Jones.

Once cast as the Amazon warrior princess Wonder Woman in what was to be George Miller’s failed Justice League film, Megan Gale will finally get to team up with the director in Mad Max: Fury Road.  Her role is unspecified at the moment, but we do have character names for a host of other roles, including that of Hugh Keays-Byrne, who was tapped to star as the Martian Manhunter alongside Gale.  Mad Max: Fury Road features Tom Hardy in the title role along with Charlize Theron as Furiosa.  Hit the jump for more casting info.

We’ve got some early set photos from George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road to share with you today.  From on location in Africa, they feature model/star Abbey Lee Kershaw and some suped-up vehicles that continue the signature look of the Mad Max franchise.  It’s hard to believe that it’s been 27 years since the last Mad Max movie came out, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome starring Mel Gibson. The fourth installment features new additions Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Zoe Kravitz. Hit the jump to check out the first set photos from Mad Max: Fury Road.

[Update: A few more set photos have surfaced, including one of Huntington-Whiteley, Kravtiz, and a few other cast members.  They're included after the jump.]