Production has begun on Craig Gillespie‘s Million Dollar Arm.  Based on a true story, Jon Hamm plays a washed-up sports agent who travels to India, and sets up a televised, national game show “Million Dollar Arm” to see if any cricket players might cut it in the major leagues.  The press release provides the full synopsis, and while it sounds a little corny at points, such as “Ultimately, what began as a purely commercial venture becomes something more and leads JB to find the one thing he was never looking for at all—a family,” I have full faith in screenwriter Tom McCarthy.  He’s 3-for-3 with The Station Agent, The Visitor, and Win Win (although he also directed those movies).  Also, Hamm is long overdue for the lead role in a feature film.  Finally, the flick boasts a terrific supporting cast that includes Suraj Sharma (Life of Pi), Madhurt Mittal (Slumdog Millionaire), Bill Paxton, Lake Bell, Aasif Mandvi, Pitobash, and Alan Arkin.

Hit the jump for the press release and synopsis.  Filming is set for India, Georgia, and Los Angeles.  Million Dollar Arm will be released in 2014.

Director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl) is in negotiations to helm Million Dollar Arm, a sports drama for Disney that is based on real life events. Starring Jon Hamm (Mad Men) as sports agent J.B. Bernstein.  Million Dollar Arm tells the story of how two Indian cricket players, Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh became finalists Bernstein’s titular reality show and landed Major League contracts.  Bernstein, burnt out from too many high-stress dealings with top-level talent, watched a cricket game on TV late one night and decided that the pitching motion was similar enough to baseball that there might just be a potential for some cross over.  Where could a stunt like this possibly work? Why, with the Pittsburgh Pirates, of course! Hit the jump for more.

When last we reported on the adaptation of Susan Trott’s novel, Flamingo Thief, it was to announce that Will Ferrell (Old School) was set to star.  Now, we have word that Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl) is in negotiations to direct the bittersweet comedy.  The Michael LeSieur (You, Me and Dupree) script made its way onto the 2011 Black List.  Faced with the impending loss of his wife and his business, Ferrell would play a lawyer who steals novelty flamingos as a coping mechanism.  There’s no timeline being reported for Ferrell’s involvement yet as he’s set to star in Anchorman 2 later this year and will topline Three Mississippi, a football comedy for Warner Bros.  Gillespie most recently directed the remake of Fright Night starring Colin Farrell and the TV movie, Trooper. Hit the jump for the synopsis of the Trott novel, Flamingo Thief.

The ratings are in, and Super Bowl XLVI just barely edged out last year’s game to rank as the most watched program in television history. Nearly 111.3 million people tuned in to watch the Giants vs. Patriots match-up and, subsequently, a whole lotta advertising. Last night we brought you a compilation of all the movie-related spots that ran during the game (including an extended version of The Avengers ad, which is fantastic), and today we’d like to bring your attention to the actual commercials. While most of us are looking for the cleverest or most laugh-inducing spot when judging these super-sized budgeted ads, quite a few notable filmmakers were actually behind many of last night’s spots.

After the jump you’ll find a compilation of ads directed by Peter Berg, Todd Phillips, David Gordon Green, Craig Gillespie, Bobby Farrelly, Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., Lance Acord, Joe Pytka, Jake Scott, Fredrik Bond, Chris Smith, Miguel Arteta, Wayne McClammy, and Noam Murro.

With many of the major bases covered (Freddy, Michael, Jason), there’s not a lot of great and/or successful horror movies from the 1970’s and 1980’s left to be remade. Oh, there are still tons of films from that era of genre, but it seems that name recognition is a greater driving factor than the films themselves. So it’s no surprise they got around to remaking 1985’s Fright Night, a film that did for vampires what Scream did for slasher films by gently playing with the conventions while reinventing it for a new generation (albeit much more subtly).

And with True Blood, etc. there’s a lot of vampirism in modern culture, so on that level it’s a fitting time for the remake. Craig Gillespie directs the 2011 version, which takes the premise of the original in some interesting and not so interesting directions. Anton Yelchin stars as the boy next door who sees his neighbor (Colin Ferrell) as something of a threat, only for him to be a real life vampire. Imogene Poots, Toni Collette, David Tenant and Christopher Mintz-Plasse co-star. Our review of the 3-D Blu-ray follows after the jump.

When it’s this hard to get a movie made, one has to wonder if it’s even worth making in the first place. The adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has cycled through a number of directors, many actresses have passed on the leading role, and now the current director has called it quits as well. Fright Night director Craig Gillespie has exited the project in what’s described as an amicable split with Lionsgate, as the two apparently disagreed on who to cast. Gillespie replaced Mike White on the project, who himself replaced original director David O. Russell. Actresses who have been offered the lead and passed include Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Scarlett Johansson, Emma Stone, and most recently Blake Lively. Hit the jump for more including who could possibly come on to replace Gillespie.

Despite the living dead being hotter than ever, zombies are having a tough time coming to the silver screen. The film adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s bestselling mashup, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, once seemed like a sure thing. Yet that simply isn’t the case anymore. The project has started and stalled repeatedly over the last few years, beginning in December 2009 when Natalie Portman first announced she would both produce and star in the film. Enter a long list of potential directors, and Portman dropping out of the role last October, and things started to become hazy. Then Craig Gillespie (Fright Night) came on board as director in April and things finally seemed to be heading in the right direction. Now, all of that seems to be in question again. Sigh. Hit the jump for full details and more.

[Update: Reps for Lionsgate have emailed us saying that Gillespie is still attached to direct.]

There’s plenty to like about the original 1985 version of Fright Night: the performances from Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowall, the great practical horror effects, and the thoughtful subtext about teens coming to grips with their burgeoning sexuality and the familiar inadequacies that come with it.  The remake of Fright Night ditches almost all of these aspects but still manages to be an entertaining creature feature filled with excellent performances, plenty of humor, and some nice surprises as it tries update the film for a new audience.

Given our current cultural fascination with vampires, and the huge popularity of the Twilight Saga films, the timing seems appropriate for a re-imagining of the beloved 1985 horror classic Fright Night, marking a return of the vicious, murdering vampire. When intriguing stranger Jerry Dandrige (Colin Farrell) moves in next door to Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin), he seems like a great guy, but something is clearly not quite right. At first, only Charley’s estranged best friend, Evil Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), is convinced of the nefarious goings-on. As a result, Charley must take action to protect his mother (Toni Collette) and girlfriend Amy (Imogen Poots), and get rid of the monster himself, with a little advice and help from popular Las Vegas illusionist and self-proclaimed vampire expert Peter Vincent (David Tennant).

At the film’s press day, actor Colin Farrell and director Craig Gillespie talked about the hesitation of taking on what could have been an unoriginal remake, but instead is so much more fun, being a fan of the vampire genre, the complications of developing a backstory for a character that’s lived 400 years, working with Chris Sarandon (who played the original Jerry Dandrige), and playing with the vampire voice. Farrell also talked about his desire to maintain an eclectic career to keep himself guessing, and Gillespie talked about the appeal of his next project, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Check out what they had to say after the jump:

With Comic-Con set to begin in San Diego tomorrow night, tens of thousands of geeks (myself included) are about to travel to “Nerdapalooza” to watch footage from some of the biggest upcoming movies and TV shows and to interact with some of the best actors and directors on the planet.  If you’re a fan of pop culture, comic books, TV shows, movies, Cosplay, or spending too much money on convention food, Comic-Con is an event you have to attend at least once in your life.

However, I know most of you reading this are not going to be able to attend.  Luckily, I have a solution…at least for the movie Fright Night. On Friday, at noon pacific time, we’re going to be hosting a live video chat from Comic-Con with Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, Christopher Mintz-Plasse & director Craig Gillespie.  No matter where you live, you will have the chance to ask them questions and if you have a web cam, you can ask it on camera!  More info after the jump:

A number of images from director Craig Gillespie’s Fright Night remake have been released. The film centers on a teenager (Anton Yelchin) whose neighbor (Colin Farrell) turns out to be a vampire. We’ve seen some of these images before, but a few of them are new. When Farrell’s in the right movie, he can be great, and the supporting cast isn’t too shabby. I’m interested to see the actor’s take on the vampire craze.

In addition to Farrell and Yelchin, Fright Night also stars Toni Collette, David Tennant, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Dave Franco and Imogen Poots. The film hits theaters in 3D on August 19^th.

DreamWorks Pictures is bringing their 3D reimagining of Fright Night to Comic-Con this year in a big way. The studio announced today that in addition to a Hall H panel featuring stars Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Imogen Poots, as well as director Craig Gillespie and screenwriter Marti Noxon, a special advance screening of the film will take place at the convention. If that’s not enough, they’re also throwing a “fan appreciation party,” which I can only assume involves people dressing up as vampires. Oh and punch. Lots of punch.

In celebration of the event, the studio is offering two fans the chance to win a VIP trip to San Diego for the convention. As a tie-in to their “Fright Night Feeding Frenzy” social media campaign, the fan that “spreads the frenzy the farthest” each week wins a prize. Hit the jump to read the full press release. Fright Night opens August 19th.

After testing the waters with Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, and Scarlett Johansson, Lionsgate has offered the female lead in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to Emma Stone. Heat Vision reports on the offer to play Elizabeth Bennet, a zombie-killing heroine who sees her quest to save England from the undead made more difficult by the arrival of Fitzwilliam Darcy. The role was originally filled by Natalie Portman and has been vacant since the Oscar-winning actress decided to act solely in a producing capacity on the pic. Craig Gillespie (Fright Night remake) will direct Pride from an updated script by Fright Night scribe Marti Noxon.

For more on the project, hit the jump to check out a synopsis of Seth Grahame-Smith’s book which the film will adapt. If Stone accepts Lionsgate’s offer, Pride would be another high-profile pic for the actress who recently wrapped director Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man. She can also be seen alongside Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell in Crazy, Stupid, Love. due out July 29th and stars in The Help which is slated to hit theaters on August 12th.

It looks as if scribe Marti Noxon (I Am Number Four) will reunite with director Craig Gillespie on Lionsgate’s adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s bestselling parody novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Having recently teamed-up for the upcoming Fright Night remake starring Colin Farrel and Anton Yelchin, TheWrap reports that Noxon has written a new Zombies draft for Gillespie who took the helm back in April. At that time, it was believed that the director would use a script by David O. Russell (The Fighter). It now looks as if Russell’s effort will fall to the wayside to make room for Noxon’s draft.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has yet to cast any roles after Natalie Portman dropped out of the lead to act solely as a producer. For those unfamiliar, Grahame-Smith’s book tells the story of Elizabeth Bennet, a zombie-killing heroine who sees her efforts to save England from the undead interrupted by fellow hunter Fitzwilliam Darcy. For more on the project, hit the jump to check out a more detailed synopsis of the book.

As you’ve probably noticed, we’ve been posting a lot of Fright Night stuff this afternoon.  It’s because DreamWorks has finally released a trailer, and last week I got to watch about twenty minutes of the movie and the studio has lifted the embargo.

In addition to everything else, shortly after watching the footage, I got to sit down with director Craig Gillespie and Colin Ferrell for a roundtable interview.  They explained why they wanted to make the movie, what were the most important things from the original film that they wanted to bring to the remake, do we get to see Jerry’s (Farrell) back story, the look of the film, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to either read or listen to our conversation.