DreamWorks is getting into reimagining-legends business.  According to Deadline, the studio has closed mid-six figure against seven figure deal for the Robin Hood reimagining Merry Men with Scott Waugh (Act of Valor) attached to direct.  Brad Ingelsby (Out of the Furnace) wrote the script, which will reportedly be “an ensemble piece centered around the supporting characters Little John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian and Will Scarlet. There is a high-concept revenge angle that tonally is reminiscent of The Dirty Dozen and Ocean’s Eleven.”  I really like the sound of this approach, and I hope they stick to it.  For those who don’t know, Ridley Scott‘s forgettable Robin Hood was originally a script entitled Nottingham, which was a detective story told from the perspective of the Sheriff of Nottingham.  We don’t need another Robin Hood story that’s too afraid to play with a centuries-old character.

Waugh is currently attached to direct the adaptation of the video game Need for Speed starring Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Imogen Poots, and Michael Keaton.  As for Ingelsby, he also wrote the script for Jaume Collet-Serra‘s thriller, Run All Night starring Liam Neeson.

Michael Keaton will be seen on screen almost a year to the day when José Padilha’s RoboCop reboot blasts into theaters, but Keaton has signed on for another high profile action film with the same release date.  Reports have Keaton joining DreamWorks’ Need for Speed adaptation starring Aaron Paul and Dominic Cooper.  The Scott Waugh picture is based off of the Electronic Arts streetracing game.  Also starring Imogen Poots, Kid Cudi, Ramon Rodriguez, Rami Malik andHarrison Gilbertson, Need for Speed (and RoboCop) opens February 7, 2014.  Hit the jump for more details on Keaton’s role.

After Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) and Imogen Poots (28 Days Later) signed on for the Need for Speed adaptation, it looks like Dominic Cooper (Captain America: The First Avenger) will be the next addition.  Cooper is reportedly in negotiations to star opposite Paul as the other male lead in the DreamWorks picture.  Scott Waugh (Act of Valor) will direct the Electronic Arts video game from a script by George Gatins, who developed the story with John Gatins (Flight).

The story centers on an underground racecar driver (Paul) who owns and operates a garage that modifies expensive cars.  Wrongly convicted but recently released from prison, he’s out for revenge on whoever framed him and killed his best friend.  Variety reports that Cooper will play Dino, an ex-NASCAR driver who sets up a business suping up high-performance vehicles with the help of his wealthy connections.  Poots will play an exotic car dealer who does business with the duo.  Look for Need for Speed February 7th, 2014.

DreamWorks’ adaptation of the popular video game franchise Need for Speed has found one of its two leads.  EW reports that Breaking Bad star and two-time Emmy winner Aaron Paul has been set to topline the racing film.  Act of Valor helmer Scott Waugh is set to direct from a script by George Gatins, but very little is known about the film’s story.  Presumably Need for Speed will center on street racing of some sort, though the pic isn’t based on a particular title in the game series.  DreamWorks hopes this is the first in a franchise of films, so this is very big news for Paul.

Paul has shown tremendous talent opposite Bryan Cranston on AMC’s Breaking Bad, but that show will sadly come to an end next year as the final batch of episodes air.  He’ll be seen this fall in the drama Smashed opposite Mary Elizabeth Winstead and is also starring in the adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel A Long Way Down, but it’ll be fun to see him tackle the action genre with Need for Speed.  The film is set for release on February 7th, 2014.  Cars, yo!

Former Suits showrunner Sean Jablonski is currently working with TNT to develop React, an original military series.  Barry Josephson (Bones) and Scott Waugh (who served as producer, director and editor of Relativity Media’s recent Act of Valor) are also signed on to the project.  Waugh will handle the same duties on React as he did with Act of Valor, at least for the pilot.   He will be joined by some of his Bandito Brothers partners should the series get picked up for a full run.

TNT is hoping to capitalize on the popularity of Act of Valor, which, despite being critically panned, won a Teen Choice Award (kids these days …) for best action film.  React would be based on the reality of life in a black ops task forces.  For more on the project, hit the jump.

Last month we learned that Electronic Arts and DreamWorks were teaming up to bring the popular video game franchise Need for Speed to the big screen.  Real Steel scribe John Gatins was tapped to develop a pitch for the film, and now Variety reports that Act of Valor director Scott Waugh is in talks to take the helm.  Gatins developed the pitch alongside his brother, George, who is the sole credited writer on the screenplay.  The film is planned as a potential tentpole in the vein of the Fast and Furious franchise, and with that series switching to the heist genre with the upcoming Fast and Furious 6, Need for Speed should fill the void for street racing fanatics.

You’d be forgiven for mistaking Act of Valor for Call of Duty: The Movie, so Waugh seems an appropriate choice to adapt the Need for Speed video game series.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he brings the POV camera style from Act of Valor to Need for Speed, in which case I’ll most likely be in need of a vomit bag when watching the film.  Waugh is also attached to direct Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Unknown Soldier.

It appears that Arnold Schwarzenegger is going non-stop to revive his film career after taking a brief hiatus to play governor of California.  He’ll be seen later this year in The Expendables 2, he shot The Last Stand last fall for a January 18, 2013 release, he’s re-teamed with Sylvester Stallone for the prison break flick The Tomb, and now the action star says his next film will be The Unknown Soldier.  Act of Valor directors Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh are set to helm the feature, which was previously titled “Black Sands” (in December we reported that the movie had been re-titled to “Black Sunday“, but Schwarzenegger fansite The Arnold Fans tells us that the title has always been Black Sands until now).  According to Schwarzenegger, filming on The Unknown Soldier is set to begin in June.

Hit the jump for more.

The production team behind the successful Navy SEAL film Act of Valor have reteamed with co-director Mike “Mouse” McCoy to set up a new project. God’s Gulch, written by Brooks McClaren, who came up with the idea with McCoy, will be funded by Bandito Brothers. Here’s the logline for the film:

In the wake of the entire computer network shutting down and the ensuing economic and societal collapse, a group must come together to fight for their survival.

Collider got to sit down with co-directors McCoy and Scott Waugh to talk about Act of Valor, which continues to roll at the box office (but will come up against some heavy hitters soon). There’s no word yet on if any of the SEALs from Act of Valor have been bitten by the acting bug and will try to transition to God’s Gulch. Hit the jump for more.

The action thriller Act of Valor (opening in theaters on February 24^th) tells a fictionalized account of real-life U.S. Navy SEAL operations with a group of heroic, active-duty U.S. Navy SEALs in the lead roles. When a mission to rescue a kidnapped CIA operative (played by Roselyn Sanchez) unexpectedly uncovers a chilling terrorist plot on America, a team of the most elite, highly-trained warriors is dispatched on a top-secret operation, the result is a gripping story that takes audiences on an adrenaline-fueled, edge-of-the-seat journey through a dangerous and unpredictable world.

At the film’s press day, Collider spoke to directors Mike “Mouse” McCoy and Scott Waugh, in both a roundtable and a 2-on-1 interview, about what led them to this unusual blend of filmmaking, how their background as stuntmen enabled them to do what was necessary to make the film, adapting the story to suit the real SEALs who would be taking on these roles, what surprised them the most about the men that they worked with, making sure that they didn’t reveal how any of the tactics are actually done, why this movie also appeals to women, and where they go from here. Check out what they had to say after the jump.

After taking on an action drama with Act of Valor, the production team Bandito Brothers is now set to tackle underground racing. Deadline reports that Scott Waugh, who co-directed Act of Valor, will helm High Speed. The “gritty, stylized car chase film” centers around high-speed pursuit drivers who are “assembled as a unit to stop an elusive, high-end underground racing circuit hellbent on running deadly point-to-point races through major American Cities.” Greg Russo is writing the script, but production isn’t expected to begin until 2013.

High Speed will be financed and entirely self-generated, just as the team did with Act of Valor. I haven’t seen the action drama yet, but given that the trailers feel like Call of Duty: The Movie, I can’t help but think that High Speed may come off as a feature film adaptation of the Need for Speed video game series. No other story details are given, but the team is expected to show off a short demo reel at Cannes in order to raise financing.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is back, ladies and gentlemen. After announcing a return to acting following his tenure as Governor of California, Schwarzenegger chose the action film The Last Stand as his comeback project. Soon thereafter, he agreed to reprise his role in The Expendables 2 with pals Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis, and now he’s chosen his follow-up project. Deadline reports that The Governator is set to star in the action pic Black Sands, which is said to be a cross between Man on Fire and High Plains Drifter. The stunt coordinator-turned-director duo of Scott Waugh and Mike McCoy are onboard to direct, with a script from Skip Woods (The A-Team).

Schwarzenegger will play “a loner who wages war against a ruthless weapons manufacturer and his private army in the Southwest.” Coincidentally (or not, depending on how you look at it), Schwarzenegger also plays a loner taking on a bunch of bad guys in The Last Stand. Waugh and McCoy recently directed Act of Valor, the action film starring active-duty Navy SEALs. You can watch the Call of Duty-esque trailer for that film right here to get a sense of their style. Production on Black Sands is set to begin April 1st, 2012.

Act of Valor is a curious little picture, borne of the militaristic boom surrounding the assassination of Osama Bin Laden by Navy SEAL Team 6.  The movie features a cast of active duty Navy SEALs, and in fact began as a recruitment video for the U.S. military’s Naval Special Warfare Command.  Relativity Media has since picked it up for a multimillion dollar theatrical release, now slated for February 17, 2012, where the Seals will face off against Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, This Means War, and Arrietty.

Mike “Mouse” McCoy and Scott Waugh directed Act of Valor from a script by Kurt Johnstad (300).  Professional actors Emilio Rivera and Roselyn Sanchez play the foil to the real-life SEALs.  Hit the jump for quotes from the filmmakers and the official synopsis.

Not wanting to be left out of the sudden interest in Navy SEALs following the takedown and assassination of Osama Bin Laden by the elite special operations force, Relativity Media is close to acquiring the rights to a SEAL-centric flick called Act of Valor. Deadline reports that Relativity will pay a $13 million guarantee, with a $30 million P&A commitment to the flick, arguably the largest amount paid for a film featuring a cast made up entirely of unknowns. Scripted by Kurt Johnstad (300), the film was backed by the military and actually stars active duty Navy SEALs in the lead roles.

No word on the plot [Update: Relativity has sent out a press release providing a brief synopsis; check it out after the jump], or even if it involves the Bin Laden raid, but the film is described as “very patriotic” and “heavy on action.” Mike “Mouse” McCoy and Scott Waugh, from the media company The Bandito Brothers, directed Act of Valor, which has already completed production. Act of Valor is one of a few Navy SEAL-centric flicks currently in development, chief among them is director Kathryn Bigelow’s Kill Bin Laden. That film is expected to shoot this summer, with Columbia Pictures eying a late 2012 release. Act of Valor is slated for release either Veterans Day weekend this November or Presidents Day in February. [Update: We've updated this story with more information and set photos which you can check out after the jump.]