This week ten years ago… 

The Hughes Brothers struck a deal with Universal to direct a biopic of Howard Hughes, which their From Hell star Johnny Depp was lined up to lead. They also attached screenwriter Terry Hayes to adapt the script based on the book Empire: The Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes but fate was against them.

They were never to make the movie, just two of many directors who were interested in bringing Hughes’ life to the big screen but ultimately for one reason or another couldn’t get it off the ground. After seeing From Hell, all of us should be very thankful that it was Martin Scorsese who eventually ended up with the project though I would have loved to have seen Depp’s take on the obsessive character. [Variety]

A huge bidding war over the rights to the Spider-Man character was coming to a close with Fox, Sony, Universal and MGM all battling for the series right to the wire (and you can see why the character was so wanted looking at the box office receipts of the three films to date). Fox were said to be the front runners, hoping to translate Spidey into a James Cameron vehicle after losing out on the opportunity of delivering a Terminator 3 with Arnie, Cameron & Linda Hamilton.

In fact rumors suggested that Fox were so close to striking a deal that they intended to attach a teaser trailer with their 2000 Summer tentpole movie X-Men.

Of course what eventually happened was Sony won the rights, Spider-Man became one of the most successful trilogies of all time (and still has so much money making potential for further sequels) and James Cameron wasn’t to direct another film for nearly a decade. [Variety]

You can read one of the James Cameron scripted Spider-Man scripts HERE. I’ve never actually gone through myself, should be an interesting read.

Up and coming British actress Rachel Weisz, at this point best known possibly for parts in Stealing Beauty and Chain Reaction was cast opposite Brendan Fraser in Universal’s remake of the classic 1930’s horror movie The Mummy. A couple of days later John Hannah was cast as her brother. A decade on, only two of the three are still on board the franchise, whilst the then unknown Weisz is now a huge movie star. [Variety]

Paramount Pictures struck a massive six figure deal with Eidos Interactive to bring the ultra popular (6 million copies sold at this point) female adventurer Lara Croft to the big screen. Seen as a female Indiana Jones and in a movement mirrored by The Mummy, the studio president cited the project as character orientated and strong on story, which wasn’t exactly what ended up on screen in 2001 though I’m sure Paramount didn’t care when it cashed in a $274 million worldwide paycheck. [Variety]

Stephen Frears entered final talks to direct John Cusack in an adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel High Fidelity. Donnie Brasco and future Harry Potter director Mike Newell was originally attached to direct but he was busy helming Cusack already in Pushing Tin, so he stepped aside to let Frears jump on board. The resulting film was a huge success and one of the best comedies about fan culture I’ve ever seen. [Variety]

Robert Patrick and Elijah Wood joined a mysterious and at that time untitled sci-fi project, scripted by the hot screenwriter Kevin Williamson (Scream, Dawson’s Creek) and to be helmed by Robert Rodriguez. Dimension were heavily pushing the marketing and buzz of the film which eventually became known as The Faculty, a $40 million domestic success (it was made for $15 million). [Variety]

Tew films released that weekend:

Primary Colors – A Mike Nichols political comedy starring John Travolta as Bill Clinton in an adaptation of the controversial “Anonymous” scribed book about the real life events of the 1992 Presidential campaign. Emma Thompson (as Hilary Clinton), Billy Bob Thornton and an Academy Award nominated performance from Kathy Bates co-starred in the satire which beat out Nichols’ own Charlie Wilson’s War by a decade. [Siskel & Ebert Review]

Wild Things - The embarrassing sexy thriller/erotic crime movie featuring a very infamous threesome between Denise Richards, Neve Campbell and Matt Dillon. An awful movie which should never have seen the light of day and was forever a black mark against the career’s of all those involved (including Kevin Bacon and Bill Murray). [Siskel & Ebert Review]

Mr. Nice Guy – Jackie Chan once again delights us with his incredible energetic performances and stunt work in a fun but light on story Hong Kong action/thriller. [Siskel & Ebert Review]

source – box office mojo