Media Bits: Stephen King, 'Grimm', Dr. Suess & 'Percy Jackson' casting

Filmmaker Mark Pavia, who in 1997 helmed a low-budgeted version of the Stephen King short-story The Night Flier, will behind The Reaper’s Image, an anthology film using four of King’s stories that include the title story, along with Mile 81, N, and The Monkey.

On the heels of CBS announcing early renewals for 15 of their scripted series, NBC announced they’ve given an early pick-up to Grimm for a second season. While the fantasy show has not been the break-out hit ABC’s Once Upon Time (which is anticipated to be picked-up as well) is, the show has done respectively well in its Friday Night Death Slot.™

File this under Things That Don’t Need to be Brought Back: Lionsgate is teaming up with WWE Films to reboot the Leprechaun franchise. Yes, just when we thought the mythical figure from Irish lore was done belittling teenagers with bad puns and more outrageous killing, we get to do it all over again. While the first one –and supposedly the best in the franchise- featured the debut of Jennifer Aniston, apparently they’ll not bother with finding someone who can act this time around. I guess when you’re aiming for the lowest common denominator, hiring a wrestler seems more practical. While Warwick Davis played the title character through all 5 films, its unknown if he’ll reprise the role.

 

The surprise box-office hit that was Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment have decided to tackle another tale from the Dr. Seuss catalog. The surprise is that they’ll turn The Cat in the Hat into a 3D CGI-animated film. While Cat is arguably Suess’ most famous story, it sort of regulates Universal’s own 2003 Mike Myers live-action starring version to the dust bin of disappointing adaptations. I guess the consensus is that based on the success of The Lorax and 20^th Century Fox/Blue Sky's Horton Hears a Who, Dr. Suess tales work better in this animated format. 

Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Sea Monsters may have just got a bit more interesting, as fan favorite Nathan Fillion has been cast as the Greek God Hermes, replacing Dylan Neal who played him in the first film. Logan Lerman returns in the role of Percy, along with Alexandra Daddario and Brandon T. Jackson as his friends as they follow in the footsteps of Jason and the Argonauts as they head out in search of the mythical Golden Fleece.