John Carpenter’s 1981 post-apocalyptic thriller Escape from New York is the latest property to get a face-lift.  The original starred Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, an eye-patching wearing, bank-robbing convict tasked with venturing into the maximum security prison that has become Manhattan in order to rescue the President (Donald Pleasence) and gain his freedom.  A reboot was attempted a few years ago but New Line let the rights lapse.  Now, Joel Silver’s Silver Pictures and Studio Canal are teaming up to bring a new look (and a new face) to the franchise with plans of an origin story and eventual trilogy.  Hit the jump for more.

It’s difficult to do military-related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) films because they almost always seem to boil down to “Support the Troops”.  It’s a message that doesn’t really work with War on Terror movies because this isn’t Vietnam; everyone is supporting the troops.  While there’s certainly not enough attention paid to soldiers returning with PTSD, films like Stop-Loss and In the Valley of Elah become statements rather than stories where we don’t care about the characters and their struggles.  PTSD feels like it’s being used as a dramatic crutch rather than being honestly explored.  More damning, it feels like a safe way to explore the Iraq War—commentary without controversy.  Hopefully, Greg Williams‘ upcoming film Samarkand will avoid the pitfalls of other PTSD films.  According to Deadline, Tom Hardy has signed on to star in the film, so that’s a good start.

Hit the jump for more details.

Tom Hardy is set to lead the real-time thriller, Locke.  Written and directed by Steven Knight (writer of Eastern Promises), the 90-minute film “follows a man on the road to success who must race to save his life from unraveling after he receives a mysterious phone call.”  The greatest of all real-time thrillers is High Noon (it’s a western, but it’s also a thriller), but recent attempts like Nick of Time and Phone Booth have never really lived up to their hook.  At the very least, Locke has a compelling actor with Hardy, so hopefully Locke will be able to live up to the potential of its premise.

According to Screen Daily, filming begins later this month in London.  Hardy recently signed on to co-star with Noomi Rapace in both Child 44 and an adaptation of Dennis Lehane‘s Animal Rescue.  Since shooting begins soon on Locke, Hardy should still be able to do his films with Rapace.

Back in December, we learned that Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace were looking to team up for the Dennis Lehane adaptation Animal Rescue.  Well now it appears that the duo may be planning back-to-back projects, as Heat Vision reports that Hardy and Rapace are in talks to star in Child 44.  The film is based on the book of the same name by Tom Rob Smith and takes place in the 1950s where it centers on a security officer in the Soviet Union who finds himself demoted and exiled while investigating a string of murders.

Safe House helmer Daniel Espinosa is set to direct the thriller, with Hardy looking to play the Soviet officer and Rapace eyeing the role of his mysterious wife.  Ridley Scott and Michael Costigan are onboard to produce, and filming is hoping to get underway in May in Budapest, after Hardy and Rapace complete Animal Rescue which shoots in March.  Hit the jump to read a synopsis for Smith’s novel.

After a tongue-in-cheek tacky movie, a clever casting twist with Michael Keaton, and a slow, nipple-suited downfall further plagued by the crack of Catwoman’s whip, Christopher Nolan reinvigorated Batman.  Fantastical absurdity was replaced with practical reality and the comic edges were smoothed until a bat hero almost seemed like a real-world possibility.  Now the final installation of the trilogy has hit shelves, and you can check out a review of The Dark Knight Rises Blu-ray after the jump.

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.

Filming on the long-delayed Mad Max: Fury Road finally wrapped several weeks ago, and now we might have our first look at the eponymous road-warrior.  In the new movie, Mad Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) gets caught up with a group of people fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by the Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron).  Although George Miller, who directed the previous Mad Max movies, has returned for the fourth installment, we don’t know if the new film is a sequel or a reboot.  The leather outfit may be considered a little outdated (although this set photo from Bleeding Cool showed Hardy rocking the leather pants), so perhaps this is Mad Max for the 21st century?

Hit the jump to check out the full image.  The film also stars Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Hugh Keays-Byrne, and Nathan Jones.

It looks like Tom Hardy is getting some company in the Dennis Lehane adaptation Animal Rescue. We previously reported that Hardy was being eyed to star in the pic as a lonely bartender who rescues a puppy from a garbage can and “becomes the target of the dog’s abusive and mentally unstable former owner, while simultaneously getting caught in the middle of a criminal conspiracy playing out in his mob-controlled bar.”  Now Deadline reports that Hardy is in final talks to topline the project, while Noomi Rapace is being offered the female lead.

Bullhead’s Michael R. Roskam recently stepped in to replace Neil Burger as the film’s director, and Fox Searchlight is eyeing a March start date in New York for production.  Lehane is the author of the previously adapted novels Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River, and Shutter Island, and he penned the script for Animal Rescue based on his own short story.  The film’s action has been moved from Boston to New York.

We previously brought you 45 images of the epic fight scene between Batman (Christian Bale) and Bane (Tom Hardy) in The Dark Knight Rises, but now you can see them in action in this new behind-the-scenes Blu-ray extra. Featuring commentary from director Christopher Nolan and editor Lee Smith as well as Bale and Hardy themselves, the clip shows just how much physicality went into making the fight look realistic and an explanation behind the decision not to use stunt doubles.

The Dark Knight Rises, also starring Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Marion Cotillard, is available on DVD/Blu-ray and VOD starting December 4th. Hit the jump to watch the clip. 

When it comes to period pieces, I am a shallow man.  Put beautiful women (Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska), strapping men (Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman), and Shia LaBeouf in Prohibition-era costumes, and I am 80% sold on your movie.  Thankfully, director John Hillcoat took care of the other 20% with Lawless and delivered a taut, beautifully bloody crime drama.

To promote the November 27 Blu-ray/DVD release, Anchor Bay and The Weinstein Company sent us a set of stylish publicity photos.  I would call them effortlessly cool, but I respect the attention to detail too much.  Check out the images after the jump.

Just this morning, we posted 45 images of Bane (Tom Hardy) beating up on Batman (Christian Bale) in The Dark Knight Rises. Now, a new featurette found on The Dark Knight Rises DVD/Blu-ray discs is available that explores the physical transformation Hardy underwent in order to bulk up to Bane size. Bale, no stranger to undergoing drastic fluctuations in weight for movie roles, is also featured in the clip reflecting on Hardy’s achievement. We’ve also got concept images for earlier imaginings of Bane’s mask. Hit the jump to check it all out. The Dark Knight Rises DVD/Blu-ray hits stores December 4th.

It takes a lot of hard work to break the Bat.  While I had issues with the plot, The Dark Knight Rises excelled when it came to crafting its action scenes.  One of the most memorable was Bane’s painful beatdown of Batman in the Gotham sewers.  Even though the scene didn’t rely on high-tech martial arts, it still required a significant amount of fight choreography, and 45 images have been released showing what went into Bane punching the Dark Knight into oblivion.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The sequence will also be part of the special features on the upcoming Blu-ray/DVD of The Dark Knight Rises, which hits stores on December 4th.

Two Black List-approved scripts found studio homes today:

• The Weinstein Company is in final negotiations to finance and distribute St. Vincent De Van Nuys, which stars Bill Murray as a war veteran who has taken to such hobbies as drinking and gambling in retirement before befriending a 12-year-old neighbor.
• Silver Pictures has acquired the Andrew Baldwin script The Outsider, set in post-WWII Japan in the Yakuza underworld.  Tom Hardy is rumored for the lead role.

Hit the jump for details on both projects.

Just because the movie has already come out in theaters and is on its way to Blu-ray/DVD, that doesn’t mean the posters will ever stop for The Dark Knight Rises.  Warner Bros. always releases about 437 posters for every blockbuster they make, and those are just the ones we see.  Advertising firms draw up plenty of posters for studios, and then the studios choose and release the ones they want (WB just chooses more than others).  Ad firm Trailer Park, Inc. has released three unused posters for The Dark Knight Rises.  Two show the characters being smothered in Rise debris, and the other plays off Bane’s iconic mask.  While I like the one with the mask, it’s almost too minimal for the casual moviegoer to make the connection.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  The Dark Knight Rises will be available on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download on December 4th.

After reporting that screenwriter Eric Singer (The International) would be adapting the Ubisoft game Splinter Cell for the big screen, word has come out that none other than Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) is attached to star. Hardy will play special operative Sam Fisher, the character who kicked off the video game franchise that will release its seventh installment next spring. The project is not yet set up at a studio, but Ubisoft has talked to Warner Bros. and Paramount. Moving forward, Ubisoft presumably looks to retain a majority of control over creative development as has become characteristic of the company since its Prince of Persia feature adaptation. Hit the jump for more.