Henry Selick, the genius behind THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and the Oscar® and BAFTA nominated CORALINE, is moving forward with Academy Award nominated producer Josh Penn (BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD) and K5 International on his latest feature THE SHADOW KING.
THE SHADOW KING is a deliciously magical tale about nine-year-old New York orphan Hap who hides his fantastically weird hands with long fingers from a cruel world. But when a living shadow girl teaches him to make amazing hand shadows that come to life, his hands become incredible weapons in a shadow war against a ravenous monster bent on killing Hap’s brother Richard and ultimately destroying New York.
THE SHADOW KING is written and directed by Selick. His team includes an impressive array of renowned artists such as Director of Photographer Peter Sorg, (Frankenweenie, Coraline), Eric Leighton, Animation Director on Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’hoole, Production Designer Lou Romano (The Incredibles), Editor Wyatt Jones (Immortals, Rango, TRON: Legacy, Zodiac), and composer Bruno Coulais (Coraline).
THE SHADOW KING, until recently in hiatus after Disney exited the project, is already a good way into production.
K5 International is bringing Henry Selick to the European Film Market at Berlin to conduct special presentations to selected buyers with exclusive clips from the film screened behind closed doors as part of the presentation.
“K5 is the perfect presenter for THE SHADOW KING – they appreciate the film’s exciting blend of the fantastic and personal with its mix of humor, scares, and moments of sweetness. We can’t wait to get back into production,” stated Henry Selick.
“We immediately realized that THE SHADOW KING is a fantastic and exciting prospect that needed to find the support. To offer our help to Henry’s brilliance as a storyteller is an absolute pleasure for us. And it also demonstrates K5’s commitment to bringing bigger and bolder projects to the market,” say K5’s Co-Founders Oliver Simon and Daniel Baur.
“Henry Selick is the best in the business. His films are all instant classics and they delight family audiences all over the world over and over again,” adds Partner Sales Carl Clifton.

As the "Expendables" franchise continues to add action icons to its line-up, the question of who will join next becomes more and more intriguing. There have been some rumors floating around about who could join "Expendables 3" and Jackie Chan supposedly wants in, but MTV News felt the need to set the record straight about who’s in and who’s out. So we went to leader of the gang, Sylvester Stallone at the red carpet premiere of his newest film "Bullet to the Head," to get the definitive word.
His answer was surprising to say the least.
"Maybe President Clinton wants to be in it," Stallone said before walking away. "You think I’m joking, right?"
Watch our full interview after the jump!

Could President Clinton really make an appearance in an "Expendables" movie? The series, afterall, is built on the premise of bringing together the heroes of the 80s and 90s onto the big screen, but we haven’t seen anyone quiet like Bill Clinton make a cameo yet. (Though, Schwarzenegger was governor of California when he filmed his part for the first movie.)

Stallone being Stallone, he wanted to leave us with that presidential-sized tease, but he did give a brief update on changes to the team for the third go around. "There’s going to be a lot of new blood in that," he said. "I just have to kill off some of the others guys to make some room."
But what about all the talk of Jackie Chan, Wesley Snipes, and Nicolas Cage? "We’re going to reach out to all of them for sure."

Vice President Joe Biden today reiterated the administration’s call for studies on violent video games and possible links to real-life violence during a Google video chat, TheHill.com reported. Biden, who met two weeks ago with representatives of the entertainment industry, pointed out there is no concrete data on video games and possible links to violence. The CDC is prohibited from conducting research on gun violence because of a congressional ban on spending funds on studies that may advocate gun control. In addition to reimposing the federal ban on assault weapons and requiring universal background checks on firearms buyers, the White House plan released last week asked Congress to appropriate $10 million for the CDC to study gun violence, including possible links to violent video games and media images. Biden said he thinks special interest groups “are afraid of facts”, adding “let these people go out and look at the pathology that’s behind this, if there is a pathology related to gun violence” — and “let the facts lead where they will”.

The single-camera The McCarthys landed at CBS in October in a competitive situation with a put pilot commitment. Written by Happy Endings staff writer Gallivan, it is loosely inspired by Gallivan’s life. The big family comedy revolves around an Irish-Catholic, sports-crazed Boston clan and the gay son whose greatest sin is not his sexuality but his desire to spend less time with his family. Will Gluck executive produces and Gallivan and Olive Bridge’s Richie Schwartz co-executive produce. CAA-repped Gallivan grew up in the Boston are where he taught middle school language arts before embarking on a comedy career at Boston’s Improv Asylum, Chicago’s Second City Chicago and now Upright Citizens Brigade.
The drama pilot, Cullen’s The Ordained, is about the son of a Kennedy-esque family who leaves the priesthood and becomes a lawyer to prevent his politician sister from being assassinated. Cullen and Robert Zotnowski co-executive produce, while Marshall, and the Shuman Co.’s Larry Shuman and A.B. Fischer exec produce.

CBS is determined to get a comedy from My Name Is Earl and Raising Hope creator Greg Garcia on the air next season, handing out pilot orders to both of his scripts, one single- and one multi-camera. They were among four CBS pilots ordered tonight as the network kept its odd pilot season tradition of greenlighting a slew of pilots after hours on a Friday night. The other two pickuos went to the Will Gluck-produced comedy The McCarthys, from writer Brian Gallivan; and The Ordained, a drama from a novice TV writer, Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, which is produced by Frank Marshall. These mark the first pilot orders for Garcia and Marshall in the first development cycles under their deals at CBS TV Studios, while The McCarthys hails from Sony TV where Gluck’s Olive Bridge Entertainment is based.
Garcia’s single-camera pilot Super Clyde centers on a meek, unassuming fast food worker who decides to become a super hero. The untitled multi-camera one centers on a recently divorced man whose life is complicated when his parents decide to move in with him. Both projects are written and executive produced by CAA-repped Garcia, who moved from long-time home 20th TV to CBS Studios last May in a very rich four-year overall deal. The double pickup almost assures Emmy winner Garcia’s return to CBS’ primetime seven years after the end of the network’s comedy series Yes, Dear, which he co-created. Garcia’s commitment to Fox’s Raising Hope, now in its third season, concludes at the end of this season. The family comedy has done well enough to earn another renewal but Garcia’s departure would certainly reflect on the show’s chances.

Apple TV has added access to Vivendi’s streaming video subscription service Watchever in Germany. The move could open the door to more region-specific deals “where there is a strong localized offering that delivers content appealing to Apple TV owners there,” according to Next Web. Watchever offers access to whole seasons of U.S. series, movie blockbusters and international art house films for €8.99 ($11.99) per month. Purported “thousands” of available titles include AMC’s Mad Men and Breaking Bad, early seasons of HBO shows such as The Sopranos and Sex and the City and films like Slumdog Millionaire and There Will Be Blood. Netflix is not available in Germany. Amazon-owned Lovefilm, which offers both streaming and physical DVDs, is available but as with Amazon Instant Video in the U.S., it’s not available on Apple TV.

Contingent On Cuts, Singapore Reverses Ban On Film

Singapore’s Media Development Authority’s ban of writer-director Ken Kwek’s film triptych Sex.Violence.FamilyValues has been reversed on appeal. Kwek and producer Tay Eu-Yen appealed to the Films Appeal Committee which said it would give the film an R21 rating as long as a racially offensive references in the English-language movie’s Porn Masala segment are removed. “An R21 with cuts is hardly an ideal outcome,” Kwek tells Deadline. “But it’s better than a total ban and between a kick in the groin and a poke in the eye, I’ll take the poke in the eye.” He’ll re-edit the movie and says local exhibitor Cathay remains keen to book it. “Interest in the film has spiked since the ban — maybe those guys who complained to the authorities did me a favor.” Kwek also says the producers can consider international distribution with legal issues resolved. Parts of the movie have played at festivals in the U.S. and elsewhere. -Don Groves

The premise – and trailer – of Warm Bodies hints that this whole zombie malarkey may have some life in it yet. If ‘life’ is the right word, which obviously it isn’t. They’re all undead, see.

A veritable gallery of new stills has come to light, including some nice sight gags involving a cunning zombie Blu-ray identification guide. You can either (a) feast your eyes on a few of them below, or (b) head here for the whole bally lot. Or both.
{New Warm Bodies Pictures}
Jonathan ’50/50′ Levine, whose so-so varsity horror All The Boys Love Mandy Lane has germinated into a highly promising career, has assembled a very promising cast for the zom-com. Nicholas Hoult – here more likely to be eating ducks than feeding them – is R, a young zombie in a post-apocalyptic America who is smitten by the lovely Julie (Teresa Palmer).

The only drawback, aside from his undead status, is Julie’s dad (John Malkovich) who has made it his mission to single-handedly wipe out the zombie hordes. This, we think, could make the whole meet-the-parents thing a tad awkward.

ere’s episode 16 of our audio podcast Deadline Big Media With David Lieberman. This week, Deadline Executive Editor Lieberman and host David Bloom ponder what are likely to be some of 2013′s biggest questions in the business of Big Media: Are we headed for a fundamental restructuring of the pay-TV business? Will DirecTV and Dish merge? Will Pay-TV providers declare open season on pricey and underperforming channels? Will a cabler get out of the TV programming business altogether? Will there be an Apple TV and what does it mean for Hollywood? And can Netflix corner the streaming video market or will it risk overextending itself?
Deadline Big Media Episode 16 (MP3 format)
Deadline Big Media Episode 16 (MP4A format)
The M4A version of this podcast is designed to run on any device using Apple’s iTunes software, and includes enhanced graphics and links to stories and other resources. The MP3 version of this podcast is designed to play on virtually any device capable of playing digital audio.

        It’s been a banner week for Mark Wahlberg. Yesterday, we got a glimpse at the trailer for his upcoming actioner "Pain and Gain," co-starring Dwayne Johnson, in addition to a look at his 2013 opener "Broken City" by way of our exclusive set visit.
From all appearances, the draw of this thriller is in getting to watch Wahlberg go toe-to-toe with co-star Russell Crowe, an experience which the "Ted" star told us was as challenging as it was satisfying.

"It was intense, but it was intense in a great way," Wahlberg told MTV News of working with Crowe. "When he showed up we had already shot most of the movie except for his scenes, and he just showed up and we didn’t have any time to really talk or anything. [Director] Allen [Hughes] asked us, ‘Do you guys want to rehearse?’ and we both said, ‘No let’s do it,’ and we dove into the biggest scene in the movie. It’s really two guys going at it, and it was great for us as actors because we weren’t trying to outdo each other as actors, but the characters were, so you had that freedom to really push each others’ buttons.

Wahlberg went on to say that he was the most impressed with Crowe’s preparation and professionalism.
"I’ve never seen a guy as prepared or more prepared as me and focused," he said. "I’m a preparation freak and it was just such a nice thing to see. You work with so many people and you think, "Oh people forgot that they’re professionals and they’re being paid to show up on time and be prepared,’ that was not the case with Mr. Crowe. And when you’re working with people that talented, I always love the opportunity because it just raises your game. He is the kind of actor I want to be," he said.
Adding to the star power behind Wahlberg and Crowe are a noteworthy group of supporting players: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kyle Chandler ("Friday Night Lights"), Jeffrey Wright ("Source Code"), Barry Pepper ("True Grit"), and Justin Chambers ("Grey’s Anatomy"). Look for "Broken City" in theaters everywhere January 18.