Splitsider

We’re only a week into summer movie season, and it’s already overloaded with superheroes. More excitement is coming too, as Hollywood rolls out what are expected to be its biggest hits this time ever year. There's no shortage of comedies this summer, as Batman and Spider-man will be duking it out at the box office with the likes of Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, and, um, Wes Anderson.

What's in store for us comedy wise? The return of the Men in Black! A movie based on a pregnancy guidebook! A comedy based on a novel by Saddam Hussein! And a comedy that had to change its name because of the [...]

From the They're Adapting Everything These Days Department comes news that Steve Carell is in talks to star in a live-action adaptation of beloved children's book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. He'd play Ben, which you'll forgive me for not knowing who that is as I haven't read the book in years. But who knows, it could be an interesting adaptation; The Kids Are All Right writer/director Lisa Cholodenko is on board to direct. We'll see!

Adam Sandler's Happy Madison production company is set to remake 1987's Summer School, a Carl Reiner-directed comedy about a gym teacher stuck teaching English all summer long to a pack of "oddballs and rebels." Originally starring Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley, Courtney Thorne-Smith, and a dog wearing sunglasses, this doesn't seem like the kind of remake that's going to upset too many people in love with the original. I mean, I'm just judging by the amazing DVD art and 6.1 IMDB rating; I haven't seen it. Should I have? Is Summer School a classic comedy that I've somehow missed out on? Is Sandler about to ruin Mark Harmon's finest [...]

Did Will Ferrell pay for that fancy-ass SAT tutor so you could not get into college, son? No sir. Did he spend all those hours working on American History flashcards with you and pick up trash outside the old folks' home for you not to put that on your application? I don't think so, buddy. And is he starring in the movie adaptation of Andrew Ferguson's Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College so that you'll stay out late watching it with your no-goodnik friends instead of conjugating your French verbs when you know perfectly well the AP test is TOMORROW morning at [...]

Movie of our dreams Sleepwalk With Me, based on Mike Birbiglia's one-man show of the same title, has been acquired by IFC Films for a North American release. It's great news for Birbiglia and the moviegoing public, of course, but perhaps the most important consequence of this news is that we all have an excuse to make lots of awful sleep-related puns. I'll start us off: Don't sleep on this one, guys, 'cause I think it's going to be REM-tastic. I'm napsolutely gonna go zzzzsee it in theaters. (Your turn.)

Deadline is reporting that a script by SNL Head Writer Seth Meyers, entitled Alone For The Holidays, is set for production. It's being directed by Step Up/27 Dresses director Anne Fletcher and is being produced by both James Franco and Michael Stipes's production companies. Few details of the story have been released other than it's set around Christmas time in New York City (good thing he got all that practice in New Years Eve). Still, with that cast of characters behind it, anything is possible. This doesn't really mean anything about his SNL future, as it's common for SNL writers to write screenplays over the break. However, it does reveal [...]

Have you ever wondered how the low-budget Mystery Science Theater 3000 was able to afford the rights to so many movies? Probably not, but just humor me here. Take the film Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, for instance. You’d assume it cost MILLIONS for Tom Servo to make fun of the American classic — but you’d be wrong. The movie fell into the public domain, and therefore, was (and still is) free to use. (That’s why you rarely hear “Happy Birthday to You” in TV shows; it’s copyrighted and costs a shit ton of money to use.)

A movie, like any piece of art, can enter the public domain, [...]

In what's either super-exciting news about the return of two beloved characters or further evidence of Hollywood's yellow-bellied resistance to new ideas — I honestly don't know! — Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels have signed on to reprise their roles of Harry and Lloyd in Dumb and Dumber 2, which will be directed by the Farrelly brothers just like the original. It'll be like that really weird half-sequel featuring guys who sort of looked like Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels never happened! Shooting starts this September, with an expected release next year.

Interestingly, the Farrelly brothers won't be writing this one — that duty is going to Sean [...]

Dan Aykroyd announced on his Facebook page last night that he and Chevy Chase are "about to start work on a script concept for a comedy movie." He didn't say anything else about, you know, what the concept is, but as long as it isn't "Chevy Chase stealing Bill Murray's identity and face and making Ghostbusters 3," I'm on board. On second thought, Chevy Chase stealing Bill Murray's face to make Ghostbusters 3 sounds like it would definitely be entertaining. Kind of a Ghostbusters meets Face/Off meets Old Dogs sort of thing.

Will Ferrell is giving an advance "lo siento" for his Spanish performance in Casa de Mi Padre. His co-star Gael García Bernal does promise that Ferrell's nailed the "Spanish pronunciation, comprehension and vocabulary of swear words," however. And isn't that really the most important thing? The article also paints a funny picture of Casa as an incredibly low-budget experiment (shot for the paltry sum of $6 million) that studios "wouldn’t touch…with a 10-foot pole." I guess it's technically true when you compare it to Will Ferrell's last big movie The Other Guys, which grossed $119 million at the box office. Next to that, Casa de Mi Padre is [...]

With 3 Mississippi, former high school football kicker Will Ferrell adds football to his ever-expanding list of sports-related movies. Joining him is former Other Guys co-star and former pretend football player, Mark Wahlberg. It’s being reported that Sean Anders and John Morris, the guys behind the soon-to-be-released Adam Sandler vehicle That’s My Boy and the soon-to-be written Dumb & Dumber sequel, have be chosen to rewrite the playbook (the script) and coach the game (direct the film). Here’s hoping they are able to lead this team to victory and other sports sayings.

"I hope people are inspired by the movie because it's a violent movie about kindness. If people were a little more kind after watching this movie I'd be happy. If you could take rational people and turn then into killers by showing them movies, the military would be in the business of producing movies. If we're going to start banning violent works of fiction because we're afraid of how they may influence people, we should start with the Bible."

Bobcat Goldthwait did an AMA on Reddit yesterday afternoon, and it's full of some really great answers to some pretty good questions. His new (incredibly violent) movie [...]

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner has cast Zach Galifianakis and Owen Wilson to star in his upcoming dramedy film You Are Here, and Amy Poehler is potentially on board too. The movie's about a weatherman who's "forced to get his own life in order" when his best friend does the same, and while not set in a 60s advertising agency, it will likely inspire many hazy midday imaginings of Amy Poehler and Owen Wilson in gorgeous outfits making snappy remarks about how little they care for civil rights. I mean, Zach Galifianakis is already even Draping in this photo. Talk about MEANT TO BE.

Woody Allen's new comedy with Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, and Ellen Page is now called To Rome With Love, and it's coming to theaters June 22. (It seems the powers that be decided Nero Fiddled would be a confusing title for international audiences. Go figure.)