Macabre Oldman
Gary Oldman and Steve Buscemi will team up for the third remake of movies originally produced by Gimmick King William Castle. Macabre is the next in line after the recent House on Haunted Hill and 13 Ghosts and the Hollywood stars will play murderous kidnappers who go on a rampage. The 1958 film starring William Prince and Jim Backus used a publicity gimmick to draw in patrons by insuring audience members against death from fear while watching the movie. The plot follows the two men on a small-town killing spree before they kidnap a doctor's daughter, played by Rachael Leigh Cook, and convince her father that they have buried her alive.

Dawn of the Dead 2
They never learn, do they? Hoping to revive the flesh-eating zombie as a film staple in the light of Resident Evil: Ground Zero, Beacon Communications will remake writer/director George Romero's 1978 Horror classic Dawn of the Dead. To be written by James Gunn, who brought a hip take to the recently wrapped fantasy comedy Scooby-Doo starring Freddie Prinze Jr and Sarah Michelle Geller, the movie's sly social statements about the consumer culture of the time will remain intact.

"The social commentary underlying George's original film in terms of shopping as a way of life is still very relevant," said Richard P Rubinstein, who produced the original film and owns the rights. He also produced Pet Sematary and Creepshow. Gunn, who began his career writing low budget Horror films, sparked to the idea of the redo because "It combines my two all-time favourite things, flesh-eating zombies and shopping."

Stephen's Kingdom
Best-selling Horror writer Stephen King is coming to television. The Kingdom is set to début in 2003 and will begin with a two-hour instalment followed by 13 one-hour episodes. Despite the obvious similarity in names between the show and its primary creative force, The Kingdom is actually based on the Danish miniseries by Lars Van Trier, the director of Breaking the Waves. The new show will include ‘shocking and frightening tales’ that occur in a haunted hospital built over an ancient graveyard.

King has worked on television before with such miniseries as The Stand, The Tommyknockers and Storm of the Century, but The Kingdom will mark his first foray into prime time series television, said Stu Bloomberg, co-chairman of the ABC Entertainment Television Group. “This has been a passion of his. He is writing the first two hours. He might write all of the remaining 13 hours. He loves this project.” Bloomberg said the direction the show will take after the initial two-hour opener has yet to be determined. And despite the show’s basis in the Danish original, the series will bear King’s distinctive imprint. Bloomberg added, “He’s going to make it very much his own.” King is also the creative force behind Rose Red, an ABC miniseries set to air in 2002.

Also...
Director F Gary Gray (Friday) has signed on to shoot Mage, an urban drama based on a comic book series about a reluctant superhero. Adapted from the Matt Wagner-created comic book, Mage is the story of an average guy who discovers that he is a major player in the struggle against dark forces. Gray most recently directed New Line's 2002 release El Diablo starring Vin Diesel...

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