Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures are actually moving ahead with the sequel to mixed-reviewed Clash of the Titans, which could be expected as early as spring 2012.

Louis Leterrie will not direct this time, instead sitting in the Executive Producer’s chair. Most critics blamed Leterrie for the problems in the first film (there’s a reason it’s only scored a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes), so this seems to be for the best. Greg Berlanti (creator of tv series Everwood and Eli Stone) is working on the story line, and studio execs are looking for writers and directors to hone the project.

Sam Worthington is slated to return, as is every character who happened to still be alive at the end of the first film. Plans are to start filming before Worthington is busy with Avatar 2.

The plot for the sequel remains unknown.

The Hangover is easily the biggest surprise hit of 2009. The R-rated comedy, with a 35-million-dollar budget, was loved by audiences and, all-told, raked in almost $500 million at the box office, as well as over $150 million on home video. The film also won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy. After such a success, a sequel is guaranteed, right? It’s not that easy.

Although Warner Bros. had already commissioned a script for a sequel before the first was released, getting the cast to come back was not easy. After being paid roughly $300,000 each for the original, stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis made sure they were going to be well compensated for the next movie. Warner Bros. originally offered $3 million each, plus 1% of the gross, but the actors stood firm.

After six months of negotiations, Deadline reports that all three stars, as well as director Todd Phillips have signed on for the sequel. The actors will get around $5 million each, in addition to 4% of the gross, while the director will receive $10 million plus 10%, as well as a guarantee that he will earn at least as much as he did for the first – $50 million and still counting.

Principal photography is set to start November 1st, although it must work around both Helms’ “Office” and Cooper’s films’ schedules.

Right now, details are scarce, but, in an interview with Collider, Phillips denied rumors that the sequel would take place in Mexico or Thailand. He also said about the sequel that:

Sometimes movies do well but it’s just this huge flood of people go see them and then you know… this movie just kept going because people kept going back. That tells me that they love those characters and that tells me, not that the movie’s going to financially do better, but just that there’s love out there for these four guys. We can now put them through a whole new set of paces and people will want to see it. So for me, it’s really exciting.

Do you think The Hangover 2 can have the success of its predecessor? I’m sure many will go simply because they loved the first, but can the sequel really compare with the original? Most of The Hangover‘s success was people spreading the word, and going back to the theater with their friends. It will be successful, of course, but I don’t think that it can come to meet such a high precedent.

PHILIP BARRETT: What’s ironic about Where the Wild Things Are happens to involve a conversation I had with fellow critic Anders Wright of San Diego’s City Beat before the film. I kindly asked him what his expectations for the film where. “You know, Philip,” he said, “I’ve learned not to set the bar too high or too low for anything to avoid being disappointed.” After Spike Jonze’s latest venture ended, I started to wish I’d listen to him. While an admirable effort, Where the Wild Things Are is missing something that makes it worthy of the pre-buzz it received.

MATTHEW SNIDER: My expectations were set so high on this film to begin with, nothing could of met them. I wanted something to change the way I viewed the world around me, the way I relived my childhood from time to time. The movie flopped, ONLY due to my expectations being so high. As Philip said, I should of gone in with a set of lower expectations and been suprised, rather than wanting to say 7 out of 5 and in reality being disappointed. While the movie was somethings pecial, it was missing a few key things to make it exceptional. But how does one take 10 sentences of a children’s book and stretch it into a 91 minute movie without missing something?

PHILIP: And that’s the thing, they do honor the book well. This isn’t a cheaply made cash-in, in fact you can tell there’s a lot of love going on here. The heart is in the right place, but there’s something missing. Is it boring like some have claimed? I wouldn’t say that, but the film does drag and follows it’s own structure. Again, that’s fine but it offsets the pacing of the entire film. Yet that’s not my biggest complaint. There’s something else at work that’s really keeping me from proclaiming “BEST MOVIE EVAAAAR!!!***!!!!”

MATTHEW: The pacing is my biggest issue. Minus the last twenty minutes, I was wanting more. I wanted more from the film based on the beloved book. I wanted this film to become a beloved film based on a beloved book. This is not the case in my eyes. This movie IS something special, the Wild Things are an awesome feat from Jonez. But the story lacks what the Wild Things bring. The portion of the story NOT surrounding the Wild Things is dull and lacking any substance. The portion of the film with the Wild Things drags on in what they are trying to accomplish with Max as the king.
Sitting here I have no idea how to fix a 91 minute movie and its pacing, but that is my biggest issue. I wanted to leave the theater asking for more, but was ready to leave when it was over.

Mind you what was in front of us IS something special. The Wild Things are done very very well and they jump to life right from the pages of the book. The directing, the cinematography, the sets/locations are all done very very well. It’s only downfall is the pacing. Something I can’t see a fix for.

PHILIP: It’s certainly one I’ll come back to in IMAX (and eventually Blu-ray) because the story is there. Ironically, the film could have shaved off a few minutes and maybe the pacing would have been fixed. Yes it would have brought the runtime down to around 85-88 mintues but great films don’t need to be six and a half hours if they’re told right. I disagree with Matthew and say that the portions before the Wild Things help to build Max’s character and his relationship with his mother and sister. In fact, it’s touching yet heart-breaking to see Max destroy his sister’s room and break something he made her. It also doesn’t hurt that Max Records is absolutely perfect as a kid trying to find his place in life.

MATTHEW: Blu-ray will be a must purchase for me. I honestly will need to see this movie a few more times before a final verdict is put in. I have had issue from the start of the movie till now on what I wanted to say about the movie and it still is odd for me to make decisions on only seeing it once.

I do agree that the story of max and his family issues is necessary, I thought it was jumpy and sometimes strong and other times very week in actual story telling. The destroying of the Sister’s room was necessary and well done, but the story behind his costume, his outbursts, the way he treats his mother, the story behind the stories he tells and more could of been visited ever so breifly to round out the story more.

PHILIP: I actually feel they give us enough, as the themes of family continue one he gets to the island with the Wild Things. Afterall, all of the Wild Things are really an extension of Max, which is the right way to take Maurice Sendak’s story. As for the start of the film, I loved how it had writing over the studio cards as well as just a straight cut to “WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE” with a close-up on Max.

I also want to say that this isn’t a kids film, although kids may enjoy it. This is an adult film that has a kid as it’s leading character.

MATTHEW: Overall I would recommend this movie to most adults. No children at all. This ia deep, darker movie than what is portrayed via the trailers and even the TV Spots. This movie is somethings pecial in many ways, it just falls flat in some areas that may make it less appealing to more than the average moviegoer.
I look forward to seeing it again and hopefully admit I was wrong in some areas.

PHILIP: I still recommend the film to everyone as well. Reactions are all over the map which has to say something about what this film is. It’s an admirable effort no doubt, and there’s much that it’s going to mean. The film is shot incredibly well and I was really taken with the visual style and overall story. At the risk of hyperbole, don’t be surprised if Max Records receives an Oscar nod for his performance. Yet still, something was lost, be it the pacing or something that keeps this from being the ‘instant classic’ we all wanted it to be.

Philip’s Rating –

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

This October’s Empire Magazine comes out with their latest issue that includes brand new pics of Sam Worthington and all of his manliness from Clash of the Titans. This film joins the list of many remakes of the same title, with its original being a 1981 live action and stop motion animation feature. The Greek action fantasy stars Terminator Salvation’s Sam Worthington as the mythical human Perseus who travels at great lengths and battles all sorts of beings in order to save the Princess Andromeda (Alexa Davalos). Get your swords and shields ready for this March 26th, 2010 release date. Here are the pictures from this upcoming Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures feature:

Bryan Singer is ready to take on giants in his own film version of Jack the Giant Killer. The Superman Returns director hops on board underneath New Line Cinemas and Legendary Pictures. The script is being penned by Darren Lemke (Shrek Forever) and Mark Bomback (Race to Witch Mountain). Ori Marmur, Michele Weiss and Michael Disco producing.

The story kicks off when a princess is kidnapped, threatening a long-standing peace between men and giants. A young farmer is given an opportunity to lead a dangerous expedition to the giants’ kingdom in hopes of rescuing her (THR). At the moment Bryan Singer is in the middle of development with Killer but also the remake of the fantasy drama Excalibur. Singer also has his teeth sunk right into the feature film version of the popular series Battlestar Galactica.

The Hangover falls victim to having it’s best laughs in the trailer, something most comedies walk right into. Todd Phillips’ new film also lets a few gags run on too long and it features subplots that are unnecessary. Yet with all of this, it’s hard not to laugh at it when it hits the right notes with jokes or be swept up in the command Bradley Cooper has as the lead. Unlike the recent What Happens in Vegas, The Hangover has the ingredients needed to make a good and often hilarious comedy and actually takes place in Vegas for longer than five minutes. Dare I say, The Hangover is the best Vegas comedy and certainly is the best comedy of the year.

The list of positives starts with the script by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore who did impressive work on Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. This is certainly the better of the two as they treat this tale more like a detective story. In fact, the film opens in the middle of the narrative and retraces the steps to how we get to the predicament our leads are in now. Along the way the trio goes from place to place searching for clues on how to find their friend and along the way get into some hilarious shenanigans that involve the now infamous tiger, a chicken who comes out of nowhere, and best of all, a police car. Todd Phillips’ direction though is what keeps things afloat even if a joke or gag doesn’t belong or feels like it’s overstayed it’s welcome. While some of the antics these boys get into feel outlandish, Phillips’ reminds us that after all this is Vegas and that wild things can happen. As crazy as it is, I can buy that most of these events could plausibly happen, even the gag with the police car. Anyone who’s been to Vegas knows that you’re a different person there than you are in real life and Phillips understands this. Most of the time, he never lets things get too overblown or stupid unlike most comedies that would rather their heroes unwittingly be chased by firemen.

Speaking of the heroes, all of these gentlemen knock it out of the park. Zach Galifianakis steals the show as Tracy’s brother Alan. It’s been a good while since we’ve had a character that can guarantee laughs and Galifianakis is more than willing to answer the call. The man just has this delivery that’s been lacking in the ‘goofball’ character present in all these films. He’s crude, funny, and just plain out there and Galifianakis never plays him as annoying or obnoxious even if the characters treat him like that. Bradley Cooper is the ring leader of the group looking for their lost compadre and the man has a natural screen presence. This should be the first of many leading parts for Bradley who is subtle in his approach of playing the alpha male Phil (nice name by the way.) Ed Helms portrays “Dr. Douchebag” Stu Price as the reserved nerd of the group. Like the rest, he’s not unlikable and is the character that takes the most in terms of gags and jokes. Helms accepts it and plays it normal, never coming off like someone you’d want launch off the top of the MGM. Rounding out the leading four is Justin Bartha’s Doug who is the reason for the quartet being in Vegas. He’s unfortunately given the least to do even if his predicament is ironically hilarious. Bartha doesn’t do a bad job but he just doesn’t seem to really know what to do with the little he’s given.

The supporting cast is surprisingly good starting with Heather Graham. Her character Jade is a stripper that Stu “accidentally” marries and actually helps him learn more about himself. Yes, she still looks gorgeous and that’s likely why she was cast but she actually does a fine job as a stripper who, ironically, cares about Stu even after one night. Stu’s real girlfriend is played by Rachael Harris and the woman embodies the ultimate bitch like she did in her Quaker Oats commercials. If the intent is to hate this character more than life itself then Phillips, Harris and company should be applauded. Interestingly enough, Mike Tyson is the one who surprises the most. True his best bit in the film is in the trailer, but he doesn’t feel like he’s reading lines off of a cue card anywhere and actually feels natural. Basically there’s no need to cringe if he ever pops up in another film. Mike Epps though, is a different story. Between the loathe for Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Next Day Air, one could make the arguement I have it out for him. I don’t but the man just chooses bad projects to be a part of. This film runs circles around any movie he’s done in the past few years but here he feels unnecessary.

One can’t blame Epps though, as the film adds a pointless plot about an Asian crime lord named Mr. Chow that the quartet supposedly stole $80,000 from. It’s here where the film showcases it’s biggest weakness. The Hangover has established that it’s already the most twisted Vegas story ever and even without the gay Asian crime lord it would have been a hilariously great film instead of just a hilariously good comedy. Instead Phillips, Lucas and Moore feel they have to get too obscure with this story and include something that feels it belongs in Miss March rather than a smarter, better film. While The Hangover is often times hilarious, there are some dead lulls in between the laughs. That’s not to say the audience won’t be crying with laughter at some spots but portions of the film continue without any laughter until the next big joke comes twenty minutes later. Thankfully though, the characters are interesting enough and the story is fun enough to keep the audience hungry. It’s still solid writing, but the film could have benefited from at least a chuckle here and there to whet the audience’s appetite for jokes.

The Hangover is the best comedy of the year and one that should improve on repeat viewings. It’s successes far outweigh it’s downfalls and the greatest thing about is how well the leads and Todd Phillips handle one of the wildest nights in Vegas. The dynamic between the quartet is the best in a comedy all year and the jokes, even if spoiled by the trailer, still kill every time they pounce up on screen. The script is a lot smarter than it has any right to be but some great comedy direction and great chemistry make this thing chug along. Will it be a comedy classic? Well, it certainly has the potential to become one but for now it should rest easy knowing it’s going to please those waiting for the first great comedy of the year.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Jumping from a Terminator to Perseus, Sam Worthington is definitely filling up his days. Who is Perseus you say? Why he’s the main character in the 2010 remake of the eighties film Clash of the Titans. Straight off the set of the in-the-middle-of-filming production is the first small batch of production photos (special thanks to Crave Online). From seeing Worthington’s underwear to what appears to be Jason Fleming standing around on set, the film from Warner Bros, Legendary and Thunder Road pictures is something this reporter is interested to see develop. Want to sneak a peek? Go for it:

Clash of the Titans will swim its way into theaters on March 26, 2010.