Joe Dante is in The Hole

Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling) was at the San Diego Comic Con where he debuted a trailer for his latest feature The Hole in 3-D. It's his first film since Looney Tunes: Back in Action although he has done a couple of Masters of Horror episodes and a zombie-themed CSI:NY.

The Hole stars Teri Polo, Haley Bennett, Nathan Gamble and Quinn Lord. Written by Mark L. Smith (Vacancy), it concerns a family that moves into a new home. There they discover a hole in the basement that feeds off of their darkest fears and manifests them. It sounds a bit like a cross between The Gate, Sphere and Poltergeist. STYD managed to speak to the director about his new film.

"I read a lot of scripts, seldom do they strike me on a character level," says Dante. "This is not a big movie, it's a modest picture. I managed to convince them to do it in 3-D because I thought of the visuals and also the drama. It's not a gore-fest. It's more in the line of The Others or The Devil's Backbone. It's creepy and sneaks up on you, and it's not filled with eyeballs on sticks poking out at you in the third row. Not that there's anything wrong with that, that's just not what this is, there are plenty of those movies out there. So the idea was to try and make the kind of movie they stopped making in the '80s when you can take your family to a scary picture and they were not traumatized, they were scared."

I like the sound of the creepiness rather than all out gore.

Regarding the 3D technology Dante had this to say. "We found a way to do it that only added a modest amount to the budget an we went ahead and did it. I think it was a great idea. It's an unusual 3-D movie in the sense that it's not what you expect from a 3-D movie. It's still got all of the stuff - breaking the frame - but to me it's immersive. You feel a little more like you're in the room with the people and what their problems are. I think you find that in some of the current 3-D movie, the animated ones at least."

He also said shooting went smoothly and that his fans will "find this to be a Joe Dante movie. It has its silly aspects, of course, as I do. But it's pretty straight-forward, a character picture. The kids are very good. I have Bruce Dern. It's a small cast and not a lot of locations, but people who are movie fans will get a lot of the references."

The Hole is still in post-production and doesn't have a release date yet.

"The trick is to not repeat yourself, but then again, what is Small Soldiers but Gremlins 3, so you can't escape that stuff."

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The Random - The Forgotten, Humpty Dumpty, Wall Street 2, McG vs Bay, Clash of the Titans, Gremlins 3, Flanimals, Star Trek,

- Producers John Wells and Don Murphy have optioned the rights to indie comic The Forgotten says The Hollywood Reporter. The comic centers on a man who, no matter what he does or whom he meets, is forgotten five minutes later. While it gives him great power and leeway as far as investigations and problem-solving, it leaves him incredibly alone. When the son of a long-lost friend is charged wrongly with murder, he uses his powers to get to the bottom of a conspiracy.

- Snakes on a Plane helmer David R. Ellis is in reports to direct the 3D sci-fi horror Humpty Dumpty reports Variety. The story follows a half-human, half-alien creature who embarks on a murderous rampage after his alien mother is abused by two rednecks in the Deep South. Billy Majestic penned the script and filming kicks off in September. Mark Ordesky is producing.

- Oliver Stone has officially signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to direct a sequel to the 1987 film Wall Street, according to Entertainment Weekly. Michael Douglas is also set to return as Gordon Gekko, a role which earned him an Academy Award. Shia LaBeouf is in talks to play a young wall street trader.

- The Michael Bay and McG fued escalates to schoolboy heights according to Men's Style. "Michael Bay has a big cock," McG says to Men's Style. "But I'd like to believe mine is bigger." McG smiles. "If he's up for it, we can both reveal ourselves on the Spartacus steps at Universal and put the question to rest."

- Danny Huston (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 21 Grams, The Aviator, Children of Men, The Number 23, and 30 Days of Night) is down to play Poseidon in Louis Leterrier's Clash of the Titans.

- Gremlins director Joe Dante tells Bloody Disgusting that while a third Gremlins movie or remake might happen someday, he won’t be involved.

- Universal Pictures’ Illumination Entertainment have announced that they are developing a 3D animated feature film based on the Ricky Gervais children’s book series Flanimals. Simpsons writer Matt Selman is working on the script based on the four volume series illustrated by Rob Steen. The books take readers to a “far, far away to a distant planet” inhabited by 50 species of “ugly and misshapen” creatures. Gervais will voice the lead character, a “pudgy, perspiring purple creature, goes on a mission to change the world.”

- J J Abrams explains to io9 why there is so much lens flare in his Star Trek reboot.

- Roger Donaldson ("The Bank Job") is set to direct a screen adaptation of Seymour Reit's novel The Day They Stole the Mona Lisa for Phoenix Pictures says Variety. The book centers on the theft of the world's most famous painting from the Louvre in 1911. It was missing for more than two years before an Italian carpenter named Vincent Perugia showed up with the painting in Florence. The film will center on the conman who masterminded the theft.

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Gremlins vs Batman, The Goonies, The Exorcist & Indiana Jones

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