Get Ready for New Year

Clearly besotted with the idea of multi-star casts popping in for quick anthology storylines as with the upcoming Valentine’s Day, New Line and Warners is pushing ahead with development on a semi-follow-up titled New Year’s Eve.

Though Warners will naturally hold off on flashing the green light until Valentine’s has its day at the box office, the companies have already commissioned a script from the film’s writer, Katherine Fugate, based on ideas generated during shooting.

Fugate has delivered a draft which Valentine’s Day director Gary Marshall is expected to return to handle and apparently some of the characters – played by the likes of Anne Hathaway, Bradley Cooper, Jamie Foxx, Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher and Taylor Lautner – will cross over in the new film, set, unsurprisingly around the stroke of midnight.

The secret to the films’ relatively low budget is having the various talent show up for small chunks of the story, allowing them to work cheap for a few days before getting back to bigger, costlier projects.

It remains to be seen if the formula works, but since the first movie is targeted to launch just before cupid’s favourite holiday (12 February here and across the pond), it’s certainly in with a shot. Anyone for Shrove Tuesday starring Julie Walters, Ricky Gervais and the dog from the Churchill ads?

Anne Hathaway Profile | Bradley Cooper Profile | Valentine's Day Film Page

Source: Empire Online