Director: John Williams
Cast: Hirotaro Honda, Noriko Eguchi, Yoji Tanaka
Showtimes

A Japanese sci-fi rock musical version of The Tempest. Now there’s a sentence you don’t here every day. But Sado Tempest is just that: a bonkers idea for a film that screams ambition, creativity and shiny haircuts. The really impressive bit (apart from the hair)? It actually pulls it off.

Director: Gary King
Cast: Christina Rose, Joe Schermann, Mark DiConzo, Debbie Williams
Showtimes

How do you write a Joe Schermann song? That's the question Joe Schermann's asking himself as he struggles to finish a musical. A veteran of the off-Broadway scene, he's been touring audition rooms for years, accompanying women hoping to be the next big lead. Among them is girlfriend Evey (Rose). She's got talent - and ambition to match - so why hasn't Joe ever penned a song for her?

Joe would answer - but he's too busy falling in love with Summer (Williams), a singer whose voice leaves his eardrums head over heels. That’s when the theatrics really start.

Cast: Diego Boneta, Julianne Hough, Tom Cruise, Russell Brand, Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Malin Akerman
Certificate: 12A
Trailer

 

Sherrie’s (Hough) a small town girl
Livin’ in a lonely world
She took the midnight bus goin’ to L.A.

Met a city boy (Boley)
Discovered that they both enjoy
Miming to 80s songs almost anywhere

On buses or in smoky rooms
Looking for any excuse
Like Mamma Mia with rock tunes
- it goes on and on and on and on…

"There's a metronome here. Someone find it!"

That's the sound of inspiration in Ola Simonsson and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson's musical crime thriller.

That's right. Just when you thought the murder-filled world of Wallander and Lisbeth Salander couldn't get any cooler, the Swedes have come up with a whole new take on the genre: the world's first musical cop movie.

Murder. Snow. Drums. This is one of the best ideas for a movie I've seen in a long time. Watch the video below. And try not to tap your feet.

 

 

Sound of Noise stars Bengt Nilsson, Sanna Persson Halapi, Magnus Borjeson and Johannes Bjork and is out in the US very soon (tip of the hat to First Showing). Now will someone PLEASE buy it and bring it to the UK?

If not, I'll go mad and kill someone with a bongo.

 

Loved Mamma Mia? Wished you could see another movie based on a popular pop group without containing any factual content whatsoever? Enter The Beach Boys. And Fox 2000.

Fox 2000 managed to outbid Universal to nab the rights to the Beach Boys back catalogue attached to a script from Erin Brockovich writer Susannah Grant. What the plot will be is anybody's guess. According to Deadline, "the story takes place in Southern California over a summer in the 60s."

So, to take the lead from that ABBA musical monstrosity, it'll presume revolve around something Sloop John B said about California Girls and how they give him Good Vibrations, which caused God Only Knows what terrible consequences for everybody going Surfin' USA.

Who knows who will direct this one. Hopefully not Pierce Brosnan. Maybe Zack Snyder will want in.

 

If John Cleese approached you to write songs for the musical version of A Fish Called Wanda, you wouldn't say no. Which is why Bill Bailey is now helping to compose the songs for the new show based on the 1988 comedy.

Cleese has been writing the book with his daughter Camilla, hoping for an eventual Broadway and West transfer following a debut in San Diego. After the success of Spamalot, Cleese is clearly confident, saying:

"I'm pleased that Camilla hasn't completely stolen all of my dignity in writing so brilliantly. She's left me a few scraps to hang onto to keep me warm at night... Soon, we'll start to work on the songs for the show with Bill Bailey, who, among his many achievements, is an honorary member of the Society of Crematorium Organists. This musical is destined to be a hit amongst funeral directors."

So, a musical based on one of the funniest films of all time? I never saw Spamalot out of pure fear, but this might be even more terrifying. Except for the fact that Bailey's songs might be quite interesting. Book and music aside, the casting would be impossible. Could anyone really recreate Otto's presence other than Kevin Kline?

... and they're singing. Yes, George Lucas, who it has now been confirmed is away with the fairies, will soon be filming them. With computers. And they will be singing.

Little more is known about this animated musical, which has entered pre-production at LucasFilm (George's ill-named secret headquarters). Kevin Munroe, who's just finished his live-action debut, Dead of Night, will be at the helm of this CGI song-fest. He'll be bringing his animated experience from the return of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a few years back to work on Lucas's vision.

The screenplay has come from David Berenbaum, who wrote Elf and The Spiderwick Chronicles; not a bad back catalogue to carry about, especially if fairies are on the cards. But a musical? Really? The songs won't be original compositions - we all remember Life Day as sung by Carrie Fisher (read on for that) - but this is still something of a surprise. George better get on with practising his jazz hands.

Director: Rob Marshall
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren, Fergie
Certificate: 12A

Nine is the film adaptation of a Broadway musical, derived from a play, inspired by the Federico Fellini film 8½. 8½ was itself a film about a director trying to make a film. Confused yet? Daniel Day-Lewis is Guido Contini, a successful director trying to pull together his latest film. He has no script and no inspiration. What he does have is a bare soundstage and eight women dominating his life.

As the Christmas season approaches, the nights close in, the skies darken, and the only chance for glamour is an M&S advert. Not anymore. Now you can get as much glitz as you like with yet another trailer for Rob Marshall's Nine over at Yahoo Movies.

This one features Kate Hudson (a LOT of Kate Hudson, if you catch my drift), as she sings the number Cinema Italiano - a song, surprisingly enough, about her much she loves Italian cinema. Nine, adapted from the broadway show which follows on from Fellini's 8 1/2 (greatest idea ever), sees Daniel Day-Lewis strutting across stage as film director Guido. Troubled by his next project (which still has no script), he's plagued by memories of women throughout his life, from Penelope Cruz and Judi Dench to Marion Cotillard and, erm, Sarah Ferguson. Oh, and Kate Hudson, of course.

Hudson's musical number was added to the film especially for her character, and it's definitely not the strongest of songs, but with a line-up and concept as brilliant as this, I really can't help but be excited. Check out the last trailer (also made of awesome) over here, or read on for the brand spanking new video - and yes, there probably is some spanking in there somewhere.

Director: Penny Woolcock
Cast: Dylan Duffus, Yohance Watson
Certificate: 15
Trailer

Flash (Duffus) is a dealer with a good life. He has a family, several babymothers, and connections all round. But when Angel (Watson), lead man of the Old Street crew, comes out of prison early, Flash has a problem - he owes Angel £100k. He doesn't have it. What he does have is 24 hours.