Flight centers around Denzel Washington’s alcoholic airliner pilot who flies better when he’s had a few, which allows him to safely land an otherwise doomed flight. Anheuser-Busch is taking exception with a scene that features Capt. Chugsburp enjoying a cold, frosty Budweiser while driving his car, and has asked Paramount to remove their logo from the film. It’s still totally okay to feed Bud to dogs and have horses blow farts in the faces of naggy women*. Those moving images are completely acceptable to Anheuser-Busch. (THR)

* because naggy women are whores, you see.

Few other details are either known or given, though Zemeckis is working closely with Alan Silvestri who did the original score for Back to the Future, so we won’t likely be seeing a Trent Reznor re-imagining or anything.

I’m ambivalent, mostly because I don’t care for musicals, so I likely won’t be seeing this unless they give away Hoverboards and Nike McFlys to everyone in attendance. But anything that causes Zemeckis to step away from those mo-cap ping-pong balls should be seen as a blessing.

I mean, it would hard to be an undignified heroic pilot, but it’s possible if you had a mustard stain on your uniform or something. Anyway, if Zemeckis gave Gump dignity, than Denzel as a hero pilot shouldn’t be too hard.

You know what? It’s Friday afternoon. Let’s have the press release do the heavy lifting for this piece:

Written by John Gatins (“Dreamer: Inspired By a True Story,” “Real Steel”), FLIGHT tells the redemption story of “Whip” (Washington), a commercial airline pilot who pulls off a heroic feat of flying in a damaged plane, saving 98 lives on a flight carrying 106 people. While the world begs to embrace him as a true American Hero, the everyman struggles with this label as he is forced to hold up to the scrutiny of an investigation that brings into question his behavior the night before the doomed flight.

There ya go. Have a good weekend.

Not a lot of details on plot, except that it’s a “live-action family film about space adventure.” Oh, and it’ll be in 3D because of course it will be. Given that it’s a space adventure starring Tom Hanks based on an action figure, it seems to me that Toy Story comparisons are inevitable – more specifically, Buzz Lightyear comparisons. A quick Google tells me that Major Matt is from 1966, so he predates Buzz Lightyear by about 30 years, and I think it’s safe to say probably served as an inspiration for Buzz. It’d be pretty neat if Tom Hanks could end up voicing both Buzz Lightyear’s BFF, Woody, and one of the characters to inspire him, Major Matt Mason. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Zemeckis and Bob Cooper will produce Animated American, which takes place in a Who Framed Roger Rabbit-esque universe. (Ah, the good Zemeckis’ years…) A live-action family raises an animated boy, who grows up and goes on a quest to find his real family. The script is being written by Rob Edwards, who wrote The Princess and The Frog. That means you can expect characters to say the word “gumbo” a bazillion times.

Edwards has also been tapped to write Amulet for Warner Bros. Produced by Will Smith, and based on a graphic novel (of course) by Kazu Kibuishi, it’s the story of a brother and sister who find out they’re from a family of supernatural gatekeepers, who must keep monsters and demons in check with a powerful amulet. Kids + Amulet > Monsters + Demons. Got it. (Variety)

After just flat-out pissing people off with The Polar Express, A Christmas Carol, and Mars Needs Moms, he’s hitched his “star” to Replay, a thriller about a man who dies in 1988, but, upon his death as a 43 year-old, he awakens in 1963 as his 18 year-old self, but with all the wisdom he’s accrued up until his death in 1988. And every time he reaches 1988, he dies and circles back to 1963 with more and more wisdom guiding the choices he makes from there, with the endgame being saving his daughter’s life.

Vulture reports that he’s in final talks with Warner Bros., though the studio might just be distracting him so he doesn’t end up motion-capturing Gone with the Wind or something.

The screenplay was written by Jason Smilovic, who has Lucky Number Slevin and NBC’s Christian Slater thriller”My Own Worst Enemy” to his credit, so there’s precisely zero chance this story won’t be outstanding.

The story has actually been a hot property around Hollywood, but it has had trouble getting traction, and if Zemeckis is able to find his former glory with this project, it might lead people to be less angry with him for Beowolf.

Paramount would like Zemeckis to direct Flight, about an airline pilot named Whip Whitaker (the only profession you can have with that name is pilot), who saves a plane of passengers from crashing. He’s a hero, but the truth is that he was flying under the influence of drugs and alcohol, a dirty secret that now must be kept under wraps by Whitaker, the airline company and the pilot’s union. The moral: don’t drink and fly… Marty McFly… because, you see, Zemeckis directed Back To The Future, Back To The Future 2, and also… wait for it… Romancing The Stone.

The Flight script is by John Gatins. The plan is for production to take off later this summer. (Deadline)

Disney has canceled Zemeckis’ latest motion capture project: a high-profile remake of The Beatles‘ Yellow Submarine. Yes, because the story is really the best part of Yellow Submarine, and it’s a story that’s just begging to be retold today. I’m sure there’s some parallel between the bad economy and whatever it is that happens in the film, which I either sleep through, or don’t remember because I get very high when watching it. Anyway, Disney harpooned Yellow Submarine because Zemeckis produced the epic flop Mars Needs Moms for the studio, which cost $150 million and only made $6.0 million this past weekend. Yikes.

It’s been rumored that Zemeckis went back home to Montana to regroup. Hopefully he’s thinking about live action again, and not how to revive the S.S. Motion Capture. (Hollywood Reporter)

My Hollywood travels took me to a screening of Mars Needs Moms so I might as well review it. This will not be one of the animated movies you enjoy in spite of being grown up.

Milo (Seth Green) is a bratty kid who wishes his mom (Joan Cusack) would go away. When Martians abduct her, he hitches a ride and realizes he wants to save her after all. Kids may enjoy Milo’s adventure through Martian headquarters, but it’s nothing more than a light show.

This kid really is an obnoxious brat. Milo refuses to eat broccoli, which really? Are we still on “kids hate broccoli?” Maybe I can’t understand because I always liked broccoli, but I thought kids were all vegan now anyway. Milo’s an obnoxious smartass. This isn’t Home Alone where the kid is really better off without his abusive family until some Hollywood propaganda dictates he misses them.

The Robert Zemeckis Image Movers motion capture animation is worse than ever here. The facial reactions look like robots from the flesh fair in A.I. When Mom realizes she’s on Mars and freaks out, it doesn’t look like a face. It doesn’t look like a human face or an animated face. The computer approximation of Joan Cusack’s face looks like nothing. I don’t get how anyone can look at that and think, “We’re onto something. Next time we’ll tweak the cheeks a little more.”

A rebel Martian, Ki (Elisabeth Harnois), moves her arms around way too much, like Jar Jar Binks. Her translator gets English grammar wrong, just like the dogs in Up. At least Ki provides a romance for Gribble (Dan Fogler), the other earthling stranded on Mars since the Regan era. He references Top Gun for the kids.

The 3D really irritated me from the beginning. To be fair, I think it’s the theater. I saw this at Universal Citywalk’s Imax theater, which has really old style glasses and I’ve had problems there before, even with Toy Story 3 which is top of the line. But strobing lights and lasers are pretty mean to your eyes, and fuzzy satellite screens, ugh. I actually took the glasses off because blurry 2D gave me less of a headache.

There’s a healthy amount of trauma with flashbacks to dead moms. Not the elegant kind of trauma like Bambi’s mom or Mufasa, just blatant tear whoring. But it ain’t Disney without a dead parent.

The only thing I liked was that they show motion capture sessions in the credits, so the kids can see what it looks like in a white room with jumpsuits. Then you can compare it to how bad the finished product looks and learn a valuable lesson about filmmaking — what not to do.

“When John Ford made The Searchers and it was one of the very first Technicolor movies,” Zemeckis said at the Mars Needs Moms press junket. “Inside the cabin it’s sunset and there’s this ridiculous bright red light coming through the windows. It was an early Technicolor movie that the technicians were finding the way. They were finding the way and they thought they were doing their best to light a sunset effect coming through the window which kind of looked like a gaudy carnival red light. Should John Ford have made that movie in black and white? Should he not have tried something? This thing’s going to be perfected.”

Because you always hear people complaining about the color in The Searchers, right? “I always go back to music,” Zemeckis continued. “Okay, so we have the capability in the digital world to create any sound that an instrument can make absolutely digitally and perfectly. We’ve been able to do this for 15 years. We haven’t replaced a single musician. When we talk about replacing actors or creating an artificial actor, that’s not what this is. This is makeup. This is digital makeup. The thing that has always been at the core of the performance capture art form has been the performance of the actor. The emotional warmth and the emotional performance is what that performer has done, exactly if a musician sits at a keyboard and plays but then a processor takes those keystrokes and turns them into an entire orchestra. That’s how it works.”

Also, if you don’t like Polar Express, Zemeckis doesn’t believe you.

“Well, look, Polar Express is the number one movie on ABC Family every Christmas. It’s made 100s and 100s of millions of dollars around the world. Major critics have gone back with the 3D reissue of the movie and said, ‘Oh, gee, you know I kind of like the movie now.’ You know, the audience has never had the problem with Polar Express that certain aspects of the media have.”

So stick around. ImageMovers isn’t going anywhere. Zemeckis believes the technology will get so good that one day in the future, you’ll look back at Mars Needs Moms and admire how far it’s come since now. “What’s interesting about anything in the realm of visual effects is these movies become these historical documents at the moment of time that they’re made which I think is really fascinating. You’ll be able to go into the early 2000s and say, ‘Hey, look at the quaint digital cinema that was being done.’ I believe that movies should live in their time and I don’t like the idea of going back and re-tweaking them and changing them because I do think they’re made for that moment in time with the tools that we had.”

The space-time continuum is safe for now. Robert Zemeckis has wisely passed on the opportunity to remake the beloved classic The Wizard Of Oz. I’m really excited by the prospect of another live-action film by Zemeckis, but I feel that Oz was not the right project for him (or anyone) to do. Apparently he felt the same way. Either that or a vicious gang of Judy Garland lovers threatened his well-being. Those guys can be pretty dangerous if you get them in a large enough group. Like zombies. Or Critters. (The Wrap)

Warner Bros. is looking to remake The Wizard of Oz, and wants Robert Zemeckis to direct, Deadline is reporting. The studio is aware that such a move will piss off every living creature on the planet, and may rip apart the space-time continuum. In order to ease these fears, they are stressing that their remake will be based on the original script, not the heavily modified version that became one of the most beloved films of all time. And having Zemeckis on board will help, since he knows a thing or two about the space-time continuum.

If you ask me, going back to the original script is a great idea. Hopefully it’s chalk-full of references to William Jennings Bryan and the gold standard, which is sure to bring the Ro Paul demographic out to the theaters. Plus, the remake will appeal to anyone who has ever had the urge to piss on Judy Garland’s grave. “Over the rainbow,” my ass, Judy. (Deadline via Latino Review).

Thanks to the Blu-Ray release of Back To The Future, long-rumored footage of Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly has finally surfaced. What are you doing in there, Eric Stoltz? You are not a Marty McFly. You are an Eric Stoltz.

A bit of background, Stoltz was originally hired for the lead role but then replaced by Michael J. Fox after five weeks of filming. Fans have talked about the existence of this footage, but few have seen it. It’s bizarre yet awesome to see after all this time. Now that this is out of the way, can we get back to work on making Hover Boards real?

Check out the bizarro universe footage after the jump…

Oh, happy day. Robert Zemeckis is finally ready to take a step away from directing creepy dead-in-the-eyes motion capture features, and return to what he does best — live-action movies about time travel. The director will get behind the lens for Timeless, a project we don’t know jack about. Other than the news that it’s scripted by Mike Thompson, is about time travel and will have a lot of money pumped into it by Warner Bros. As a huge fan of the Back to the Future films, I’m already psyched for it. If Zemeckis can get used to working with flesh and blood, non-creepy actors again (or Crispin Glover), we should be in for a treat. (Deadline)

It’s been 25 years since director Robert Zemeckis and producer Bob Gale hatched the plot for one of the greatest sci-fi franchises of all time: Back to the Future. In honor of the anniversary, all three films are being released on Blu-ray, complete with all the bonus features you’ve come to expect even though you usually never watch.

In this clip procured by Cinema Blend, Zemeckis and Gale discuss the idea behind the film, and how a chance look through an old yearbook lead to the formation of the plot. It’s something, huh? Who would’ve thought? 100 to 1 shot! I wish I could go back to the beginning of production, put some money on Zemeckis. I said I wish I could go back to the beginning of production, put some money on Robbie.

Watch Zemeckis go Back to the Future after the jump…

_{Tom Hanks minus a soul.}

Robert Zemeckis’ obsession with motion capture has reached its glorious end! At least as far as Disney is concerned. After Zemeckis is finished with his film Mars Needs Moms (it’s like he was asking for it), ImageMovers Digital will close in 2011. Walt Disney Studio president Alan Bergman says:

Bob and the entire IMD team successfully built a state of the art studio and produced an amazing film, A Christmas Carol, at a time when the dynamics of the industry are rapidly changing. But, given today’s economic realities, we need to find alternative ways to bring creative content to audiences and IMD no longer fits into our business model.

a.k.a. your characters are creepin’ kids out, Bob. I for one am extremely happy to hear this news. Why did the man who brought us Forrest Gump and Tales from the Crypt go apesh*t over sticking dots to professional actors and turning them into animated cyborgs? Never underestimate the importance of pupils on screen. They make us believe the characters have a conscience, even if it’s Gary Busey up there. (Deadline)

While talking to Robert Zemeckis about his upcoming film A Christmas Carol, MTV slipped in a question about a Who Framed Roger Rabbit? sequel, and it appears one is in the works. Sure, one’s been in the works for two decades now, but now one is really in the works, and with the original writers. Check out what Zemeckis had to say below.

If you’re not familiar with the Dickens classic, then don’t watch, because for some reason the studio decided to put the ending online before the movie hits theaters. 

If you are familiar with it, then I encourage you to watch, if only to see how far Zemeckis’s animated filmmaking has come since Polar Express, in which all the characters looked like they hailed from the Village of the Damned. But this time around, Scrooge and company actually seem like they have soul. Not James Brown level, or even on the level of your fat uncle when he busts out the soundtrack to The Commitments and tries to sing along, which only ends up getting the cats all hot and bothered. But it’s a step in the right direction.