Walden Media Fans

Here’s a first look at Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal in the film ‘Won’t Back Down’ which will be in cinemas this September.

Originally scheduled for release in March, Won’t Back Down is now scheduled for release on 28 September 2012.  That is all.

Walden Media has optioned screen rights to Ungifted, a Gordon Korman novel that will be published fall 2012 through the Balzer + Bray imprint of HarperCollins.

Korman is the author of two installments of the 39 Clues series that DreamWorks is developing as a film. Ungifted is the story of a 14-year-old kid of average intelligence who’s accidentally placed in a school of gifted students and tries to hide among the brainiacs to escape punishment for a prank he pulled at his old school. He eventually shakes up the uptight, socially awkward advanced students and learns something about his own capabilities.

Walden’s Amanda Morgan Palmer and Michael Bostick brought in the book and will hire a writer shortly.

In what I consider to be one of the most unexpected news items of the year, Because of Winn-Dixie, the hit 2005 film, is set to hit the stage as a new musical.  The movie, which starred Jeff Daniels and musician Dave Matthews, will be to converted into a theatre production by Avenue Q director John Tartaglia.  In a way, this makes sense, as I believe that Walden Media has created a few other stage shows in the past.

The production will follow the exploits of a young girl who befriends a stray dog she finds at a Winn-Dixie supermarket.

Producers have tapped Tony Award winner Duncan Sheik and Nell Benjamin to compose the songs and lyrics, and an Irish wolfhound called Taran will lead the cast.

The programme will begin workshop readings this spring and producers ultimately hope to take the show to Broadway.

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Check out this trailer for Chris Rylander’s The Fourth Stall Part II, which will be published by Walden Pond Press in February 2012.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, the sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, is coming to theaters on February 10, 2012.  We have four new posters for the film, each featuring a different cast member.  Journey 2: The Mysterious Island stars Dwyane Johnson, Vanessa Hudgens, Luis Guizman, Josh Hutcherson and Michael Caine.

In what has been the most confusing thing I have ever seen, Walden Media has been renaming this one movie over and over again.  The last time something like this happened, it was with a film that started out called Will, and was renamed Rock On and then finally released as Bandslam.

The film Still I Rise was renamed as Steel Town and then Learning to Fly.  Now the title is being reported as Won’t Back Down.  The film will be released in March 2012, regardless of what title it eventually goes by.  The latest two titles are also titles of songs by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which is interesting.  The name of the film was called into question months ago when it was called Steel Town for a while.  This is an original story about two strong women, both mothers, who channel their frustration into action and join forces to transform an inner-city school. They want to make a difference in education and the lives of their children.

Like the Won’t Back Down Facebook Page

After experiencing health complications from a recent heart surgery, director Curtis Hanson is getting help to finish the principal photography on Of Men and Mavericks, the Walden Media drama about big wave surfer Jay Moriarity.

Michael Apted (Amazing Grace, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) is going to step in and complete the final 15 days of principal photography for Hanson, starting on Monday. They are shooting in Northern California, where Moriarity became known for riding treacherous waves called Mavericks. The film stars Gerard Butler, with newcomer Jonny Weston playing Moriarity. (via)

Nearly two years ago, Walden Media president Micheal Flaherty told me the story of a script that he had, which he considered a dream project.  As he told me and others the story, everyone was captivated by it, and I could see it being a truly great film.  That was back in January of 2010.  Today, I am excited to announce, a director has been hired to bring the script to life.

Get Low director Aaron Schneider has been set to direct The Conscientious Objector for Walden Media.

The film tells the true story of Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector in American history to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. Doss served in WWII, joining the army as a medic. He was ostracized by his fellow soldiers because of his refusal to kill or even carry a gun. He proved his courage, saving 75 men at the Battle of Okinawa.

The script was written by Robert Schenkkan, who wrote the Pulitzer-winning play The Kentucky Cycles and whose script credits include The Pacific and The Quiet American. The film is a co-production between Pandemonium and Permut Presentations, and is being produced by Bill Mechanic, David Permut and Terry Benedict (who directed the 2004 documentary bearing the same title). Steve Longi is co-producer.

Schneider, the veteran cinematographer who won the Oscar for his short film Two Soldiers, made his feature debut on Get Low, and he has been very picky about choosing a followup. The Conscientious Objector is the first thing he said yes to direct. He’s repped by CAA and Anonymous Content. (via)

I’m a fan of the first Journey to the Center of the Earth with Brendan Fraser, though I was a bit skeptical of the sequel after he didn’t return. That said, I enjoyed most of the trailer for the sequel. There were only a couple of things in the trailer that I wasn’t too fond of, but at the very least it should prove entertaining. It definitely looks like it’ll be better than Zookeeper, but that doesn’t say much. I think it looks like it could be on par with the first, and that’s good enough for me.

The new adventure begins when young adventurer Sean (Josh Hutcherson) receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist–a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret. Unable to stop him from going, Sean’s new stepfather (Dwayne Johnson) joins the quest. Together with a helicopter pilot (Luis Guzman) and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter (Vanessa Hudgens), they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.