Paul Bettany is set to star alongside Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in upcoming Miramax drama Here.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Eric Roth, Here is based on the interactive graphic novel of the same name by Richard McGuire. 

According to Deadline, the film is "centered around a single geographic location in New England — starting as wilderness and later becoming the site of a home – where a story of love, loss, struggle, hope, and legacy play out between couples and families over generations." Here first premiered as a six-page comic strip in 1989, depicting the unadorned corner of a room in a house. The panels go on to show the space at different points in time, and how living beings come it interact with it.

This is the first film for Hanks and Wright in over 30 years, since the pair starred in Zemeckis's Forrest Gump. Character names and plot details have not yet been disclosed, though it's supposed to echo the "innovative" nature of the original comic and graphic novel.

Bettany most recently reprised his role as synthezoid superhero Vision in WandaVision alongside Elizabeth Olsen, for which he received an Emmy nomination for Best Actor. He's set to star alongside Cary Elwes in Harvest Moon, directed by Mark Waters from a screenplay Bettany co-wrote with Dana Brown.

For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2022 and beyond, or skip right to the good stuff and check out our list of movie release dates.

Kevin Smith has revealed that The Weinstein Company has passed on Clerks 3 , citing budgetary issues as the studio's objection to the project.

Miramax had given Smith his big break with the release of the original back in 1994, and the Weinsteins still own the rights to the series, but according to Smith, they aren't willing to stump up the necessary cash.

"They passed," reveals Smith. "I went in with a $6 million budget and they were like, ‘Oh no, Kevin. This is too high.’ Bob offered us distribution, but they weren’t going to finance it."

Earlier this year, Smith had told fans that, " Clerks 3 is still coming… I love the script so much, I’ll make it happen, I promise," although where the film goes from here remains to be seen.

Smith has self-released films in the past, so we'd be surprised to see the director give up easily on a project that clearly means this much to him. Surely the Kickstarter campaign begins now…

The Weinsteins are returning to Miramax, thanks to a new deal struck between Colony Capital, Qatar Holding and the Weinstein Company, with sequels planned for Shakespeare In Love and Rounders .

Qatar Holding and Colony Capital purchased the entirety of the Miramax library back in 2010 for close to $660 million, and are now looking to start creating original content off the back of those properties.

That's where the Weinsteins come in, with Harvey and Bob returning to their old stomping ground to help develop new creative directions for the properties they left behind.

Kicking things off will be big screen sequels for the aforementioned features, while Good Will Hunting is also slated for a television adaptation.

"It’s like unlocking a kingdom full of gold," says Harvey Weinstein of the agreement. "There is so much intellectual property, and we’re in an age where, for however long it lasts, content is king."

"I’ve discussed making Rounders 2 with Matt Damon and I would say that’s going to be instantaneous," he continued.

"There might be a certain beautiful Parisian actress involved in it, and then we’re off to the racetrack and Vegas with Matty and Edward Norton, and a new supervillain to replace John Malkovich."

The deal will last for 20 years and will cover multiple titles for films, TV series and live stage productions.

Martha Marcy May Maylene (2011)

The Film: Elizabeth Olsen made an instant impression - and escaped the shadow of her celebrity sisters - in Sean Durkin's intense drama about an escapee from a cult.

Only In America: If the movies are to be believed, there are crazy cults in every secluded forest across the States.

Hannah Takes The Stairs (2007)

The Film: Unheralded at the time, but Joe Swanberg's mumblecore drama - starring the movement's fellow directors Andrew Bujalski and Mark Duplass alongside Greta Gerwig - looks like the genre's archetypal movie.

Only In America: In a society where filmmaking is so ingrained, it was probably inevitable that eventually the Americans would create a style that simply involved actors and a cameraman turning up on the day.

Kids (1995)

The Film: Photographer Larry Clark's film debut, about a bunch of predatory boys deflowering underage girls despite the risk of HIV, presented a grimy, unsanitised vision of teenage life. Disney, it ain't.

Only In America: Proof that 'indie' could still raise hackles, the film's provocative look at teenage sex proved so controversial that Harvey Weinstein had to release it uncertified and through a bespoke distribution label rather than his usual Miramax.

Meek's Cutoff (2010)

The Film: Kelly Reichardt's deliberately uneventful anti-Western drops its cast, like its characters, into the Oregon wilderness to see how they react. The budget was so low the actors didn't even have a change of costume.

Only In America: Print the legend? Not any more, as Reichardt's film systematically dismantles decades of 'wagon train' movie iconography.

Primer (2004)

The Film: Shane Carruth's head-scratcher makes a virtue of a tiny budget (its time machine is, literally, a box) to deliver what is probably cinema's most authentic - as in, totally confusing - exploration of time travel.

Only In America: Beneath the hardcore geekery, Carruth's film is a sober, satirical dissection of two entrepreneurs' American dream.

Drugstore Cowboy (1989)

The Film: There are two Gus Van Sants. One makes Oscar-winning hits like Good Will Hunting and Milk . The other fashions laidback hymns to the counterculture like this story of over-the-counter drug addicts.

Only In America: This is what happens when you don't have free healthcare.

Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai (1999)

The Film: Jim Jarmusch was one of the pioneers of modern American indie, and rarely flirted with the mainstream. His take on the gangster movie is probably his most accessible movie, albeit oddball by everybody else's standards.

Only In America: The 'melting pot' in action - an African-American into Japanese culture, and an Italian Mafioso obsessed with hip-hop.

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

The Film: In the 1990s, you could throw a stone and hit a Tarantino clone. Writer/star John Cusack's off-grid masterpiece about a hitman going back to school is what you'd hit if you were aiming for the bullseye.

Only In America: A clash of two great American themes - the high school reunion, and the Reaganite dream of conscience-less private enterprise.

Lone Star (1996)

The Film: Veteran John Sayles was indie before the term really existed. By the time complex Western Lone Star came along, he was an elder statesman capable of old-school classicism on a tight budget.

Only In America: A redneck border-town sheriff is murdered for his racist views.

THX-1138 (1971)

The Film: In which George Lucas satiated his art-house fix so he could get on with being mainstream... but still managed to make a cool sci-fi film with robots.

Only In America: Sex is banned, pre-empting the outcry over Janet Jackson's Superbowl nipple by over three decades.

Black Swan (2010)

The Film: With its Oscar win and big box-office, this might not be as obviously 'indie' as Aronofsky's lo-fi debut Pi , but the budget was so tight Natalie Portman gave up her trailer to keep a nurse on set to treat all of the ballet injuries.

Only In America: Again, it's not as obviously American as Aronofsky's The Wrestler ... but consider this: the two films have the same plot.

Take Shelter (2011)

The Film: Indie's bright hope for the future, Jeff Nichols, whipped up a storm at Sundance and Cannes with his character study of a man plagued by apocalyptic visions, played by perennial scene-stealer Michael Shannon in a rare leading role.

Only In America: The film's central question - is Shannon crazy or a prophet? - gains resonance from the States' interest in evangelical Bible-bashers.

Half Nelson (2006)

The Film: Ryan Gosling earned an unanticipated Oscar nomination in Ryan Fleck's drama, a raw, ragged antidote to Hollywood's "inspirational teacher" genre.

Only In America: There are probably crack-addicted teachers in lots of countries, but be honest: USA would be the top answer if that question got asked on Family Fortunes .

Killer Of Sheep (1977)

The Film: Charles Burnett's episodic, moody account of a slaughterhouse worker and his strained family relationships is a touchstone for African-American independent cinema that doesn't have a hint of blaxploitation.

Only In America: Rights issues over the soundtrack kept the film largely unseen for thirty years. Wouldn't have happened to a studio pic.

Pink Flamingos (1972)

The Film: John Waters' growing reputation as a purveyor of taboo-busting filthy-encrusted comedy exploded in this chicken-sex, dog poo-eating extravaganza.

Only In America: You know the term trailer-trash? This pretty much defines the 'trash.'

Swingers (1996)

The Film: The definitive 90s dating comedy is a classic example of how low-budget verve and ingenuity can provide the calling card for future A-listers in this case director Doug Liman, star Vince Vaughn and writer/actor Jon Favreau.

Only In America: Penniless actors making impromptu road trips to Vegas. You don't really see RADA students driving up to Blackpool in the same way.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

The Film: Charlie Kaufman - the most self-consciously indie 'brand' around - goes semi-respectable with Michel Gondry's Oscar-winning (but still incredibly experimental) head-fucking romance.

Only In America: The higher the therapy bills get, the more likely it is that a quick fix like Lacuna will become a reality.

Sideways (2004)

The Film: After the Jack Nicholson vehicle About Schmidt , Alexander Payne could have gone A-list. Instead, he kept things low-key and bittersweet, in the process turning independent icon Paul Giamatti into the Noughties' least likely movie star.

Only In America: People actually listened to wine snob Miles' disparaging view of merlot; sales nosedived after the film's release.

Lost In Translation (2003)

The Film: Sofia Coppola escapes her father's shadow - not to mention THAT performance in The Godfather Part 3 - by eloping to Tokyo to make a tender tone-poem with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson.

Only In America: Only 30% of Americans hold a passport, so it's hardly surprising that those who do go abroad tend to stick together and hardly meet any locals.

Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer (1986)

The Film: Made in 1986 but not released until 1990, John McNaughton's harrowing, realistic 'portrait' is proof that, whatever indie's ability to probe the darkness, it still has to get past the censors.

Only In America: Serial killers have been found worldwide, but the idea of Henry teaching protégé Otis to become one cuts to the idea of the American serial killer as a lifestyle choice.

Brick (2005)

The Film: Indie's status as a laboratory to mix and match genres is exemplified by Rian Johnson's debut, an innovative blend of hard-boiled noir and high school.

Only In America: There's enough crime to justify high school kids acting like Philip Marlowe.

Paranormal Activity (2007)

The Film: Extreme even by the limitations of 'found footage,' Oren Peli's debut simply switched on the CCTV and let it record things going bump in the night.

Only In America: Distributors who bought the rights to Peli's no-budget film wanted to reshoot the entire thing, until test screenings revealed how scared audiences were by the original.

The Passion Of The Christ (2004)

The Film: Mel Gibson, torturing Jesus in lingering detail and Aramaic dialogue. Indie only because no studio would touch it and he had to finance it himself.

Only In America: The film's astonishing success - the highest-grossing R-certificate movie ever - is testament to the purchase power of evangelical Christians.

Rushmore (1998)

The Film: Wes Anderson redefined American indie as a hipster's whimsical paradise, with the help of Adrian-from-Rocky's son and Bill Murray being funnier when he's not trying to be funny.

Only In America: Max Fischer's school plays are full-blown recreations of classic Hollywood movies, notably Apocalypse Now .

Blue Valentine (2010)

The Film: Derek Cianfrance's jagged, time-hopping rise-and-fall is like Cassavetes jamming with Tarantino, backed by best-of-their-generation stars Gosling and Williams.

Only In America: A sex hotel with ultra-futuristic, but creepily asexual, metallic fixtures and fittings. What happened to romance?

King Of New York (1990)

The Film: A decade on from notorious debut Driller Killer, Abel Ferrara showed age hadn't mellowed him with this corrosive, violent tale of Christopher Walken's New York drug lord, Frank White.

Only In America: Ferrara's subversive morality means that, by default, White is a more honest, likeable man than his despicable rivals or the hypocritical lawmen on his tail.

Winter's Bone (2010)

The Film: "Indie" all too often means urban and cosmopolitan. Debra Granik reminded us that America is a big place with her taut thriller, which is also a portrait of the rural Ozarks community.

Only In America: Flame-grilled squirrel as an appetiser.

Slacker (1991)

The Film: Austin auteur Richard Linklater started his impossible-to-pigeonhole career as he meant to go on, by weaving a plotless mosaic of the lives of his city's fellow citizens.

Only In America: The slackers' topics of conversation include those perennial favourites of the country's counter-culture, UFOs and the JFK assassination.

Being John Malkovich (1999)

The Film: Charlie Kaufman: "It's about a puppeteer who finds a portal into the head of John Malkovich hidden behind a filing cabinet on the 7-and-a-half floor of a Manhattan office building." Studio exec: "Get out."

Only In America: The idea of charging people money to see the world through Malkovich's eyes.

The Evil Dead (1981)

The Film: Sam Raimi had an eye for horror but a taste for comedy, turning the archetypal 'cabin in the woods' movie into a genre hybrid driven by full-pelt hysteria.

Only In America: Raimi financed his low-budget film by making an even-lower-budget short, Within The Woods , to show to investors.

Drive (2011)

The Film: Nicolas Winding Refn's leftfield thriller is a throwback to the kind of lean, mean movies Hollywood used to make, but which nowadays only get made independently.

Only In America: The central premise of a stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver. Over here, Ryan Gosling would probably be a parcel courier.

Do The Right Thing (1989)

The Film: Spike Lee proved that debut She's Gotta Have It was only a hint of his talent, in a combustible hothouse drama that defined his status as America's leading African-American director.

Only In America: We sadly have riots over here now, but it's doubtful ours would ever be set off by such powderkeg hot weather.

Halloween (1978)

The Film: Already an indie veteran, John Carpenter stripped things to essentials in his third film - shadows, Steadicam and a William Shatner mask.

Only In America: The whole dressing up and going Trick or Treating thing.

Hoop Dreams (1994)

The Film: The flag bearer for modern American independent documentary, as Steve James follows two college basketball hopefuls over five years of highs and lows.

Only In America: The sheer complexity of sport as a crucible for race, class, education and wealth, as revealed from over 250 hours of footage.

Memento (2000)

The Film: The inevitable destination for indie after Tarantino's jigsaw-puzzle narratives - a thriller that starts at the end and then works backwards.

Only In America: Christopher Nolan is half-British, so this one could travel without too much tweaking. That said, it'd probably have fewer guns had it been made over here.

Clerks (1994)

The Film: By day, Kevin Smith worked in a New Jersey convenience store. By night, he bit the hand that fed him by making this foul-mouthed classic about a guy who hates working in a New Jersey convenience store.

Only In America: The 'hockey on the roof' set-piece looks too much like hard work to anybody on this side of the Atlantic.

The Terminator (1984)

The Film: Before James Cameron sought mega-bucks studio budgets to finance his sci-fi spectaculars, he did it with timey-wimey ingenuity and an Austrian bodybuilder.

Only In America: The Terminator walks into a gun shop and comes out with an arsenal.

Fargo (1996)

The Film: After big-budget, mainstream comedy The Hudsucker Proxy tanked, the Coen brothers went back to their roots, with a story of kidnap and ransom so small-scale they pretended it was a true story. It wasn't.

Only In America: All of this chaos and bloodshed over used automobiles. Tsk.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

The Film: An indie film by default, as Coppola raided his personal fortune to prevent his Vietnam epic collapsing under the weight of nervous breakdowns, on-set typhoons and Marlon Brando's ego.

Only In America: Coppola's most biting anti-war statement arrives in his most spectacular, rousing "yee-haw" set-piece - the Ride of the Valkyries helicopter assault.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Film: Yes, you can blame this for the past decade's invasion of 'found footage' movies, but this one is genuinely found - the directors sat back and made the cast do all of their own filming.

Only In America: It'd frankly be difficult for British backpackers to get lost in a wood without eventually stumbling across a Tesco Express.

Blue Velvet (1986)

The Film: David Lynch tried big-budget spectacle in Dune . It didn't take. So he persuaded that film's maverick producer Dino De Laurentiis to let him do it the Lynch way.

Only In America: Lynch's dream-like evocation of suburbia, with its emphasis on those white picket fences, is uniquely American.

Donnie Darko (2001)

The Film: Richard Kelly's debut was the kind of film no studio would ever green-light but its mix of 80s nostalgia, teen romance and time-warped weirdness was perfect American indie.

Only In America: Another film that hinges on Halloween traditions. If it was a Britflick, Frank the Rabbit would probably be a bloke in a tracksuit.

Mean Streets (1973)

The Film: Martin Scorsese's breakthrough, a semi-autobiographical account of New York's Italian-American gangland that is frisky with kinetic camerawork, raw performances and great tunes.

Only In America: This most authentic and lived-in of Noo Yawk movies was mostly shot - where else? - in Los Angeles.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The Film: While Hollywood horror lurked in the big city ( Rosemary's Baby , The Exorcist ) Tobe Hooper dragged his victims into a backwoods, backwards hillbilly hell.

Only In America: The whole 'middle of nowhere' premise needs big open spaces to work in. As writer Robert Rankin once surmised, the British equivalent would be The Texas Chainstore Massacre .

The Usual Suspects (1995)

The Film: Bryan Singer's neo-noir classic hinged on two typically independent moves - one; a really intricate screenplay and two; a reliance of character actors over big stars in order to keep THAT ending a secret.

Only In America: The film's poster was conceived before a single line of dialogue had been written.

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

The Film: Quentin Tarantino's debut made the American independent scene cool, and made the lives of casting directors easy for the next decade - get Buscemi.

Only In America: The opening argument about the merits of tipping waitresses doesn't have quite the same impact in Britain, a country where tipping isn't a cultural standard.

Easy Rider (1969)

The Film: The year of Woodstock and Altamont, Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda took to the road to prove that film could be just as rock and roll.

Only In America: The hippies' freewheeling odyssey is cut short by rednecks.

sex, lies and videotape (1989)

The Film: Steven Soderbergh's Palme D'Or winning, Oscar-nominated, surprise hit debut didn't so much sneak under the radar, as smash the dish into pieces. A million independent filmmakers suddenly thought: "that could be me ."

Only In America: The obsessive cataloguing of sexual dysfunction could only have come out of a country obsessed with therapy.

Night Of The Living Dead (1968)

The Film: George A. Romero's zombie movie was made in the cast and crew's spare time with local butchers supplying the entrails. With no execs to answer to, they made the bleakest, bloodiest American horror to date.

Only In America: The shocking ending - in which militia mistake the film's (black) hero for another zombie - must have felt like a hammer blow in a country reeling from Martin Luther King's assassination.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

The Film: The face of modern indie - backed by a major studio (Disney), but branded as edgy and leftfield. Its commercial and critical success changed the way Hollywood worked.

Only In America: The obsession with food, from small talk about McDonald's metric conversions to the choice of steak at Jack Rabbit Slim's: "burnt to a crisp or bloody as hell."

Disney Connection: This sequel to pool shark classic The Hustler was directed by Martin Scorsese for Touchstone Pictures, the new live-action arm of Disney launched in 1984.

Disney Influence?: Twenty-five years after he was ruined by the tables, Paul Newman’s sparkly-eyed old-timer Fast Eddie finally gets his happy ending. “I’m back!”

If It Was A Cartoon: Tom Cruise’s cocky kid Vincent would learn a hearty life lesson about honesty, the wisdom of his elders, and not laying odds on himself to throw games.

Disney Connection: Quentin Tarantino’s searing postmodern masterpiece was the first film given the greenlight by Miramax chairman Harvey Weinstein after the company was bought by Disney in 1993.

Disney Influence?: The film’s structure gives a nod to the famous ‘no-one ever really dies’ maxim of Disney movies, with John Travolta’s dead hitman Vincent Vega brought back to life via the magic of flashback narration.

If It Was A Cartoon: Jules’ wallet would have a nice picture of Mickey Mouse on it instead of ‘Bad Motherfucker’ and instead of getting medieval on anyone’s ass Marsellus Wallace would take them on the Pirates Of The Caribbean ride at Disney World.

Disney Connection: Wes Craven’s era-defining metatextual takedown of the horror genre was funded and released by Dimension Films, the exploitation side-arm of the Weinstein brothers’ Miramax which Disney bought along with the main company in 1993.

Disney Influence?: Is there a link to be made between Disney’s princess fairytales and the slasher genre’s stock endangered heroine routine? Probably, though there is definitely less stabbing and garage-door murder in Sleeping Beauty.

If It Was A Cartoon: Neve Campbell would have a big pink frock and an anthropomorphic dog which can sort of talk, and at the end her beaming parents would both be alive and ushering her into their castle for a banquet.

Disney Connection: This forceful coming of age drama from Australian director Peter Weir was made for Disney’s Touchstone Pictures.

Disney Influence?: The story is a little on the suicidally tragic side for any real influence to shine through, though Robin Williams - Oscar-nommed for his performance here - would appear in mainline Disney cartoon Aladdin three years later.

If It Was A Cartoon: Given the link, we’d have the prep school boys taught by Williams’ blustering, thousand-words-a-minute Genie, with poor sad dead Neil brought back to life by the power of wishes.

Disney Connection: In 1989 Disney chairman Michael Eisner launched Hollywood Pictures to bring more live action productions to Disney. Its poor record - starting with Arachnophobia and including the likes of California Man and Super Mario Bros - coined the phrase ‘If it’s the Sphinx, it stinks’, referring to the Egyptian-themed logo. But Robert Redford’s broadcasting drama bucked the trend.

Disney Influence?: More fairytales - many of the details of the quiz show fixing scandal which the film features were shifted and tweaked to make them more dramatic. “Otherwise you might as well have a documentary,” argues Redford. Well...

If It Was A Cartoon: John Turturro’s nervous rabbit character would become best friends with Ralph Fiennes’ tittering, modest lion and the pair would stroll into the sunset and away from network television producers forever at the end.

Disney Connection: Wes Anderson’s knowing indie high school comedy was made for Touchstone after a deal with more likely home New Line Cinema fell apart over budget concerns.

Disney Influence?: Rushmore is a sardonic undermining of the bright perfection painted by Disney’s cartoon output. Still - it has one dazzling happy ending.

If It Was A Cartoon: Jason Schwartzman’s Max Fischer would definitely, definitely, definitely be a tiny chipmunk, and Bill Murray’s Mr Blume would be a sad scruffy bear.

Disney Connection: This cop-and-canine buddy comedy was released by Disney’s live-action outfit Touchstone Pictures in 1989.

Disney Influence?: It’s a very sentimental affair, with Tom Hanks’ initially grumpy dog-cynic detective gradually falling for the slobbery charms of his star witness, Hooch.

If It Was A Cartoon: Then Hooch wouldn’t die at the end and a generation of ‘80s children wouldn’t tear up at the mention of his name. Interesting there was a Turner & Hooch television series planned for Disney TV, but it never got past the pilot stage.

Disney Connection: Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s half crime flick, half tit-heavy vampire armageddon was made for Dimension films after both directors had previously worked for Miramax.

Disney Influence?: Between Tarantino’s sexual deviant murderer/rapist and the fact the only nice guy in the movie - Harvey Keitel’s wobbly-faithed preacher - gets turned into a Godless bloodsucker, it’s really, really hard to see where.

If It Was A Cartoon: The film would last around two and half minutes, and would involve Harvey Keitel taking his children to a park and having a nice ice cream.

Disney Connection: The Miramax mega-hit which earned the Mouse House over $200 million and launched the careers of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck so high they still haven’t come down. Even after Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back.

D isney Influence?: By the late ‘90s Miramax had moved into more middle-ground territory, and was making the sort of Oscar-bating quality dramas that fit more snugly with the Disney brand. Damon and Affleck’s script is essentially a Cinderella story with maths and lots of casual ‘fuck’s thrown in.

If It Was A Cartoon: Instead of a poignantly absent off-screen departure, Will Hunting’s leaving scene would be a balls-out musical number with frat boys and townies joining hands around Matt and Ben as everyone hit the high notes and reached for the sky.

Disney Connection: Like Pulp Fiction, Clerks was a defining film for post-Disney buyout Miramax. Kevin Smith’s ultra-indie 16mm debut was an affirmation of the company’s commitment to niche cinema.

Disney Influence?: “I need one each of the following tapes: ‘Whispers in the Wind’, ‘To Each His Own’, ‘Put It Where It Doesn't Belong’, ‘My Pipes Need Cleaning’, ‘All Tit-Fucking Volume 8’, ‘I Need Your Cock’, ‘Ass-Worshipping Rim-Jobbers’, ‘My Cunt and Eight Shafts’, ‘Cum Clean’, ‘Cum-Gargling Naked Sluts’, ‘Cum Buns III’, ‘Cumming in Socks’, ‘Cum On Eileen’, ‘Huge Black Cocks with Pearly White Cum’, ‘Girls Who Crave Cock’, ‘Girls Who Crave Cunt’, ‘Men Alone II: The KY Connection’, ‘Pink Pussy Lips’, oh, yeah, and, uh, ‘All Holes Filled with Hard Cock’”

If It Was A Cartoon: It was a cartoon. Just not a very good one .

Disney Connection: This heavyweight Michael Mann exposé on the tobacco industry starring Russell Crowe and Al Pacino was a $90 million production for Touchstone Pictures.

Disney Influence?: There’s a fairytale element to some of the film’s events - Michael Mann has admitted that scenes of Crowe’s star witness Jeffrey Wigand being chased on a golf course, among other things, were fictional dramatisations.

If It Was A Cartoon: All references to smoking would be removed and replaced with another vice, like an addiction to cookies or hugs.

Disney Connection: The dark John Cusack-led hitman high school reunion satire became the second good film released by Hollywood Pictures, ever, when it was released in 1997.

Disney Influence?: Amid the professional killer hero, a brutal bare-hands killing against the school lockers and a happy ending that has smirking Cusack get away with it all and score the girl, we’re saying no.

If It Was A Cartoon: Given the real-life shape of Minnie Driver’s head, it’s frightening to think what an exagerrated cartoon version would look like. Needless to say, Martin Blank would be a chirpy working class chump rather than a killer for hire.

Disney Connection: This Scream-shredding slasher spoof was in fact produced by Dimension Films itself - the studio parodying its own self-aware horror trilogy, pop culture eating itself. In a sad reflection on everything, ever, it made more money that Scream.

Disney Influence?: Aside from the fact the average Disney straight-to-DVD sequel has better acting and more believable characters, no.

If It Was A Cartoon: It would be pretty hard to tell the difference.

Disney Connection: Post-Weinsteins Miramax (the brothers had a long-running dispute with Disney boss Michael Eisner which saw them leave their own company) the distributor went back to its early days objective - smart, low budget quality dramas, which included Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s amnesiac noir The Lookout.

Disney Influence?: The film does have a happy-ever-after close, and Isla Fisher would make an excellent big-eyed princess.

If It Was A Cartoon: Matthew Goode and his pack of ne’er do well mates would be cartoon jackals, puffing on cigars in ‘30s gangster costumes and trying to persuade Gordon-Levitt’s forgetful labrador to let them inro his kennel.

Disney Connection: This blasphemously kick-ass Christopher Walken showcase has the raging thesp as a super-angry archangel Gabriel waging war on humankind, and was released along with four sequels by Dimension.

Disney Influence?: Not really. In fact, it’s the kind of touchpaper controversy that can sometimes cause a problem for Disney studios - just four years later, in 1999, Miramax was forced to sell Kevin Smith’s religious satire Dogma to Lionsgate after sustained Catholic lobbying proved embarassing to the family-friendly parent company.

If It Was A Cartoon: All mention of God, the war in heaven and Gabriel would have to be removed. Instead you’d have Christopher Walken voicing a really angry guy called Gabe who can fly, for some reason.

Disney Connection: Tim Burton - famously once an artist at Disney in the 1980s before his directing career - returns to Mickey’s Empire with this black and white biopic of trash legend Ed Wood.

Disney Influence?: Despite on the surface being a total misfit for the Disney image - the movie shows tranvestitism, drug abuse and terrible, terrible filmmaking - it’s told with a tenderness and emotional punch that most Disney flicks would kill for.

If It Was A Cartoon: Actually, Johnny Depp’s Wood is a relentlessly enthusiastic optimism working through a storm of setbacks and weirdness. Ditch the cross-dressing and that might just work.

Disney Connection: The Oscar-snaring cowboy epic was a huge return to form for both the producer-director team of the Coen brothers, and for Miramax, who co-financed the film with Paramount.

Disney Influence?: Absolutely none whatsoever. The Coens are at their most wry and philosophical, and the film is full of fateful indifference and the chaos of existence.

If It Was A Cartoon: Javier Bardem’s character would look like one of the Indians from Peter Pan. Same hair. Though it’s difficult to see what they’d do with, uh, everything else in the movie.

Disney Connection: Dimension picked up Clive Barker’s ‘tear me a new one’ sadist nasty from fellow horror indie New World Pictures after the second instalment. This was the first sequel released under Disney ownership.

Disney Influence?: Not so much a Disney influence as a trash-horror American one. After the ghastly CD and camcorder cenobites in Hellraiser III, this time the series goes into space, and explodes into awfulness.

If It Was A Cartoon: Pinhead would make an excellent cartoon villain, though even the hacks who ran Disney’s animation studios in the late ‘90s would have balked at the ‘black magic in orbit’ plot.

Disney Connection: Another post-Weinstein Miramax belter, bringing a dark drama of kidnapped children and their anguished parents to the House of Mouse.

Disney Influence?: Always sensitive to the values of it core family market, Disney bosses delayed the release of the film in Britain following widespread coverage of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

If It Was A Cartoon: The little girl wouldn’t be kidnapped or even in danger, but somehow shrunk to the size of a Weetabix and having a whimsical adventure in a sink or a hamper or something.

Disney Connection: Long-time Dimension favourite Robert Rodriguez took his adaptation of Frank Miller’s ultra-noir comics to the studio when Miller agreed to the movies in 2005.

Disney Influence?: The hyper-real cartoon visuals of the movie are born from faithfulness to the source material rather than as a nod to Disney’s animation heritage.

If It Was A Cartoon: It would look roughly same, except even in cartoon monster form Mickey Rourke would probably look more human.

Disney Connection: What brought Robocop director Paul Verhoeven to Disney? This bug-hunting interplanetary war blockbuster, which was a co-production between Touchstone and TriStar in 1997.

Disney Influence?: There’s a disturbing lightness and brightness to Verhoeven’s satirical, verging on dystopian sci-fi thinker (Do you want to know more?) but it has nothing to do with Disney.

If It Was A Cartoon: Casper Van Diem’s chin would be even squarer , and at the end it would turn out that the bugs were all just misunderstood and that.

Disney Connection: Miramax produced this typically gritty, talent-packed New York crime drama from director James Gray, which remains criminally underrated.

Disney Influence?: Disney might not have had an influence, but Harvey Weinstein sure did. The notoriously hands-on producer “made every major decision from beginning to end” according to Gray, boldly speaking out in the press. Harvey buried The Yards, and Gray didn’t direct another film for eight years.

If It Was A Cartoon: Instead of a dark thriller about corruption and industrial sabotage and murder, the cartoon would have Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix as train drivers in a smiley race across New York, waving and smiling to everyone they see and at no point accidentally killing Charlize Theron.

Disney Connection: Like its awards rival and frontier-minded twin No Country For Old Men, the spiteful, dark, revolutionary drama There Will Be Blood was a co-production between Miramax and Paramount

Disney Influence?: Uh...

If It Was A Cartoon: Instead of his head coming apart like a china bowl full of meaty chilli, when Eli is beaten repeatedly with a heavy bowling pin his eyes would rattle in his skull and his teeth would crack and fall out of his mouth hilariously.

Filmed: 2000/2001

Released: 2005 (on TV in US, DVD here)

We Apologise For The Delay: Miramax trumpeted buying the rights to a zeitgeisty, critically applauded book based on author Elizabeth Wurtzel’s struggle with life, drugs and love, attached hot starlet Christina Ricci to the lead. And produced a steaming turkey.

The movie was swiftly buried in the vaults and quietly leaked out years later with almost zero promotion.
''As you should have figured out by now, it's a horrible movie,'' Wurtzel told the New York Times in 2003. ''It's just awful. If they thought it was good, they'd have released it long ago.''

Filmed: Between 2003-2005

Released: 2008

We Apologise For The Delay: Animated movies always take a fair amount of time produce, so a few years isn’t necessarily a shocker.

But with limited resources, tech trouble and tragedy (production company Fathom Studios saw their founder die before the film was finished, then MGM, which had signed on to distribute, had to sell its assets), the ‘toon took far longer than usual.

So long, in fact, that at least one cast member (Anne Bancroft) passed away before it saw the inside of a cinema.

Still, at least James Cameron is honouring it with a big-budget remake thanks to Av… STOP THAT!

Filmed: 1959

Released: 1987

We Apologise For The Delay: Edward D Wood Jr originally shot what he called Revenge Of The Dead In typically cheap, quickie style as a sequel to his 1955 release Bride Of The Monster.

Trouble was, by the time that Dead was finished, he didn’t have the cash to pay the lab fees to process the negative and the movie was doomed to the vaults.

Then, in 1983, millionaire Wade Williams was informed of the lost title by Wood’s widow, paid the late fees and pumped the thing out as Night Of The Ghouls, garnering a brief cinema run and simultaneous video release.

Filmed: 2004

Released: 2006 (barely)

We Apologise For The Delay: Mike Judge, figuring that 20th Century Fox would be more inclined to treat him with respect after dumping Office Space and seeing that film become a cult hit, trusted them with this loony, ace, futuristic satire.

Whoops… Unsure about how to market the thing, terrified by the negative representation of several mega-corporations (Starbucks gives hand jobs, sister company Fox News is essentially the WWE), the studio refused funding to finish the effects properly and delayed the thing for a couple of years.

When it finally arrived across the pond, it was still listed on some ticket sites as Untitled Mike Judge Movie.

We bet film-within-the-film gag Ass would get a better chance of release these days.

Filmed: 2007

Released: 2009 (DVD)

We Apologise For The Delay: Writer Mike Dougherty, riding high on having worked on the likes of X2 and Superman Returns with Bryan Singer, got his shot behind the camera for this linked foursome of Halloween tales.

But despite funding from Warners and Legendary Pictures, the film was due to be released in October 2007. But then the delays started, seemingly without reason.

“I think, ‘Yo, go ask Warner Brothers”" No, I take that back. It's a quirky horror movie. It's not an easy sell. ... It's not a remake. It's not an adaptation. It is probably a dangerous mix of all the elements a film studio typically shies away from. You have anthology format, which has been a dead format for 15 years at least,” is how Dougherty explained it to Sci Fi Wire.

“You have horror comedy, you know, two genres that studio people tend to get very nervous about mixing, because the results are always unpredictable. So, you know, it's not a sure bet. It's not five ... twentysomethings pretending to be 17-year-olds going out in the wilderness and getting slaughtered one by one. It is a very different beast.”

It’ll finally arrive this month on DVD.

Filmed: 2001

Released: 2005

We Apologise For The Delay: Why did this Ray Bradbury adaptation take so long? Try the fact that it’s utter rubbish. Okay, we’ll be a little less harsh.

The production suffered problems when flooding in Prague destroyed the film’s sets. Oh, and they then ran out of money to finish the effects.

A small company in LA offered to help out and do the work cheap, which led to a 2005 release, derisive laughter from critics and crickets in the cinema.

Finally, when the star slates it, you know you’re in trouble. “I made one of the worst films ever made, called Sound Of Thunder, but Ben Kingsley was in it, so I said, "Hey, Ben Kingsley’s in it, so this thing might be good,” laughed Ed Burns when Total Film talked to him a couple of years later. “We were both very wrong.”

Filmed: 1998-1999, 2000

Released: 2001

We Apologise For The Delay: What should have been a starry, light romantic comedy with the likes of Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton became mired in funding issues, disputes and ego.

Originally budgeted at $44 million, costs thanks to production delays, script changes and other issues bloomed up to $90 million. Word circulated that Beatty was re-cutting the film and the schedule dragged to such a degree that extra re-shoots had to be set for when everyone was available again.

New Line ended up losing about $100 million on the movie, and probably wished it had canned the thing.

Filmed: 2003

Released: 2007

We Apologise For The Delay: A small thriller directed by first-time helmer Wayne Beach, Slow Burn was hoping to quietly arrive and make it out into cinemas, boosted by a cast that included Ray Liotta, LL Cool J, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jolene Blalock, and hopeful that the massive similarities to The Usual Suspects might help its cause.

Unfortunately, it was not to be – the movie lingered on the shelf for years (mostly because Lionsgate was waiting for people to, er, forget that The Usual Suspects connection) before the organisers of the Toronto Film Festival finally took pity and screened the thing, to awful reviews.

It eventually arrived in the US in 2007, showed for a couple of weeks and quickly vanished.

Filmed: 1986

Released: 1992

We Apologise For The Delay: William Friedkin’s dark little thriller actually did get screened (once) in 1987, at the Boston Film Festival.

But then financial wobbles – the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, which had produced the film, went into bankruptcy proceedings – saw the Michael Biehn-starring tale of a district attorney hunting a serial killer – dropped into limbo.

Eventually, it was bought by Miramax, who finally released it in 1992, but by then it was old news, even though it got some favourable reviews.

Filmed: 2006

Released: 2008

We Apologise For The Delay: Fanboys is notable less for the length of time that it spent lingering on the shelf (a mere couple of years) than for the tortuous development it suffered.

It was supposed to be an easy money-maker – a geek-friendly comedy of four friends trying to sneak an early look at The Phantom Menace before one of them carks it from cancer.

Trouble was, despite a bevy of genre-happy references and a Star Destroyer-load of cameos (Kevin Smith, Seth Rogen – twice), The Weinstein Company, and Harvey in particular, weren’t satisfied with the death subplot.

So it was re-edited, then protested, then left to linger and finally given a smallish release last year, whereupon it made less than a million around the world.

Filmed: 1999

Released: 2002

We Apologise For The Delay: Sylvester Stallone’s thriller suffered a case of release date limbo for a couple of reasons.

First off, Universal decided to get it out of the way of his misfiring Get Carter remake, then decided it hated the title and held it back while focus groups were asked about new monikers – Eye See You and The Outpost among them.

Finally, the studio realised it had a stinker on its hands, let it loose around the world, and dumped it on DVD in the States.

Filmed: 1998

Released: 2003 (TV premiere)

We Apologise For The Delay: Bill Bob Thornton was still being feted for Sling Blade when he switched genres (to “white trash rom com”) for this film.

Unfortunately, Miramax had no idea what to do with it, leaving it on the shelf for so long that it stands almost as a historical record (Thornton was engaged to Laura Dern when he made the film, and divorcing Angelina Jolie when the film finally got dumped on TV after a couple of festival screenings).

The main problem came when the studio gave it a test release in five Georgia cinemas – and it earned $430 total. Ouch.

Filmed: 1999

Released: 2002 USA, Straight to DVD here

We Apologise For The Delay: Knockaround Guys, the tale of four mobsters’ sons who get caught up in chasing a bag of cash, isn’t a particularly great film, but it’s definitely no turkey.

What really held it back was New Line, which during the Lord Of The Rings hoopla, pretty much shoved everything else on to the back burner so it could focus on wringing cash – and, later, awards from the hobbits.

Filmed: 2006

Released: Still waiting – Jan 2010

We Apologise For The Delay: Renee Zellweger stars as a social worker desperately trying to rescue a girl from what she thinks is an abusive parent situation. Little does she know that the case is a little… stranger than that.

Frankly, we’re about ready to call in social services over this one, which has been trapped in Paramount’s clutches for nearly three years. And it’s not doing much good for Zellweger’s career, which has taken a serious nosedive in the years since she scooped her Oscar.

Director Christian Alvart has had the time to write and direct an entire other movie – Pandorum – while waiting for the Case to be opened.

It has been promised a release in January 2010 and while the month is no longer quite the dumping ground it once was, it’s still not a good sign.

Filmed: 2008

Released: 2010 (hopefully)

We Apologise For The Delay: This hairy horror has had problems from the start – script issues started way back in 2006 and it’s been through at least one director (Mark Romanek was going to make it before leaving for “creative differences” and Joe Johnston took over).

It was supposed to be finished in 2008, but disagreements over the effects, and dodgy test screenings held it back.

An announced April 2009 release date came and went and a November opening has been scrubbed. The fact that it skipped Comic Con 2008 was also a bad sign.

It’s currently on course for February next year. But don’t hold your breath…

Mike Nichols has signed on to direct a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s High And Low for Miramax.

David Mamet has written the script – Martin Scorsese originally hired him for the job back in 1999, reports Variety .

But the rights have taken a long time to sort out, with producer Scott Rudin finally locking then down.

Detective thriller

Kurosawa’s 1963 detective thriller starred Toshiro Mifune and was based on Ed McBain’s King’s Ransom.

The story finds a businessman whose career is ruined when he pays off kidnappers who mistakenly snatched his driver’s son.

Talk about yer classic paradox – this one is remake frustration mixed with quality filmmaker hope. While we’re not thrilled by the idea of Kurosawa remakes, the talent attached is hardly a pack of low-rate former music video types.

And with Scorsese shepherding as executive producer, this might be another Departed. We stress might.

Aiming to prove that divorce can be high-larious in the right hands, Miramax has bought the spec script A.C.O.D (Adult Children Of Divorce) from former Daily Show head writer Ben Karlin and co-scribe Stu Zicherman.

The satirical film finds a man discovering that he was unknowingly part of a study during his parents’ divorce 15 years ago. He signs up for a new project based on the research that wreaks havoc with his life.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Zicherman will direct the movie with Karlin acting as one of the producers.

Validation

"We're very glad to get the validation from Miramax, especially since we've been working on the script longer than any of our parents were married,” said the writers.

While divorce is hardly a laughing matter (and the film about adults coping with their parents sounds a little like Step Brothers to us), we expect funny things from Karlin.

With the original Scary Movie proving a golden goose for Miramax, it was inevitable that they'd soon come knocking at the Wayans brothers' door demanding a sequel. And so it arrives - - it's just a shame that what's produced comes from a slightly different goose-orifice...

Both movies go for the more-is-more approach, spraying their comedy at the screen and hoping some of it will stick. But in the case of Scary Movie 2, very little does. And whereas the first outing had, if not exactly originality, then plenty of shock value and crowd-pleasing antics, this struggles to generate those jaw-carpet interfaces. What's more, when a sequel repeats certain jokes almost verbatim (such as Cindy's encounter with a particularly strong stream of gene gravy), you have to start worrying. But wait - that's not the end of it.

For while there are more pop-cultural references in one minute of Scary Movie 2 than most films manage in one hour, some of them are so confusingly new and American that they'll fly straight over British audiences' heads. Yes, it's understandable that the Miramax higher-ups wanted their sequel fast, but their haste is just part of the problem - - not enough time has passed for us to assimilate all the necessary adverts and catchphrases. Scary Movie had Scream and its slashing cohorts to work from, plus the annoying "Wassup" Budweiser ads which were reaching epidemic levels in this country. To follow up, we're expected to sit through a minute's worth of basketball commercial spoofery that means nothing and is deathly unfunny.

So are there any bright spots? Three, to be exact. James Woods manages to squeeze a few laughs from an Exorcist-lampooning opener and the scenes featuring a foul-beaked parrot and possessed cat are amusing. The rest? Forget it. The cast runs through the motions, but this was never going to be about performance. Anna Faris screams and looks quizzical as Cindy, yet most of the time you get the feeling they've just CG'd her in from the first movie. Ditto Shorty and Ray, still wheeling out their respective schticks as giggling stoner and confused gay man... In fact, it's worrying when Tim Curry offers the least annoying turn of the lot.

And beyond all that, isn't it time we gave this sort of film the well-earned eternal rest it deserves? If even the Farrelly brothers can't produce a decent gross-outer, the signs are all there: the barrel of slop has run dry. It's time for this genre to go to its grave. And stay there.