Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

The Cabin in the Woods

7/21/11 – TheWrap reported that Lionsgate has acquired the rights to distribute the long-delayed horror film The Cabin in the Woods, co-written by Joss Whedon and starring Chris Hemsworth.  The film will be released on Friday, April 13, 2012.  The convention-twisting horror film was originally scheduled to be released as early as 2009, but was sidelined by a 3D conversion and the financial troubles at MGM, which had planned to release it.

4/15/09 - Joss Whedon, producer and co-writer of the upcoming horror movie The Cabin in the Woods, said the film looks great, but it's a struggle to get there. The film, a new take on the traditional forest-set horror thriller, marks the directorial debut of Whedon protégé Drew Goddard.  "I think it's going to be gorgeous," Whedon said. "I think it's going to be quite a movie, but it's also a little out of control. We're not quite halfway through filming, and it's utter chaos, but mostly the good kind. Apparently, as producer, I'm the guy who's supposed to be controlling it, so I have to figure out how to do that."  Still vague about the top-secret premise of the film, Whedon assured fans it would not be the usual slasher picking off teenagers. "It is not just a slasher in the woods," he said. "It's a little more complicated than that."  MGM is scheduled to release The Cabin in the Woods on Feb. 5, 2010.

3/10/09 - Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard have recruited Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz and Jesse Williams to join them in The Cabin in the Woods, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford had already signed in for the United Artists horror film.  The genre-tweaking screenplay was written by Whedon, who is producing, and Goddard, who is directing. The plot and character descriptions have been withheld by the filmmakers and the studio.  "Finding this ensemble has been very hard and very rewarding," Whedon said. "Each of the 'kids' is unique, fascinating and talented, and like true friends, the group is more than the sum of its parts. These are people you care about, able to go toe to toe with the amazing actors we've corralled thus far, and not unpretty in the bargain. I can't wait to harm them."

1/21/09 - Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford are in line to join the cast of Joss Whedon's upcoming horror movie The Cabin in the Woods, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Jenkins is on board and Whitford is in final negotiations to star in the mystery-shrouded MGM/UA horror project, written by Whedon and Drew Goddard, who also is directing. Whedon is producing.  Much like Cloverfield, which Goddard scripted, the Cabin storyline provides a new twist on a classic scenario: in this case, the young-people-stranded-in-the-woods horror movie.  While the studio and filmmakers were reluctant to provide character details, it is understood that Jenkins and Whitford will play white-collar co-workers with a mysterious connection to the cabin.  The United Artists production is preparing for a spring shoot and will open wide Feb. 5, 2010, with MGM distributing.

1/7/09 – SCIFI Wire reported that Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon sat down with Tom Cruise to talk about horror movies.  Whedon, who wrote the upcoming horror movie Cabin in the Woods with former Buffy writer Drew Goddard, met with Cruise as head of United Artists.  "We met with him to hear his suggestions, sort of his take on it," Whedon said. "But it was already sort of in the pipeline when they bought it; that was the idea. We're in preproduction. We start shooting in March, so the train has left the station, and so we're just sort of, well, we're filling up the train."  Goddard will helm the movie, which Whedon has previously said will be the horror movie to end all horror movies. Look for casting news soon.

7/9/08 - MGM gave a green light to a spec script from Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard called The Cabin in the Woods.  Goddard will make the film his directorial debut; Goddard's Buffy the Vampire Slayer mentor Whedon will produce.

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