Stuff You Need to Know: “Norman Bates Begins” and More…

Pop culture news. There’s a lot of it and before you can say Jack Robinson and wonder who the hell Jack Robinson is…there’s more of it. Here we try to give you a week’s worth of updates in a single post so you can read it all at once and get it out of the way. This week we have a large amount of home video updates…so we’ve given them their own section at the bottom. Enjoy.

They’re trying Bates Motel again? Yes, apparently so. I’m referring to the 1987 TV movie which had Bud Cort as the new owner of the Motel…but in this case, we’re talking a TV series prequel to the original film. In this case we’re also talking it showing up on A&E. This is in development, so a pilot hasn’t been greenlighted yet. I have a suspicion it won’t go any further. Pictured there is a bit from a TV Guide issue promoting the TV movie. Yes, that’s Lori Petty. Yes, it also says “Guest Starring Jason Bateman.” Yes. Article source. Image source.

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Looks like the helmer for the new Fantastic Four film could be Josh Trank, who has Chronicle coming out next month with Fox. The reboot has a script pending. The article at Variety states that they’re looking at the same old roster of Marvel films with two interesting exceptions. First, no mention of another X-Men film to follow First Class. Second, they still count Deadpool as not-dead.

Of interest to late night fans: Letterman and Craig Ferguson are both in chats with CBS about contract renewals. Letterman is expected to renew through 2014. Ferguson is expected to renew as well, but is he going to get Letterman’s spot once Dave decides to retire? The Variety article points out this “may be a negotiating point.” Ya think?

Game of Thrones comes back with its second season starting April 1st. Source: Variety.

Goosebumps is to be a feature film at Columbia, with Darren Lemke (Jack the Giant Killer) set to scribe. Columbia has had the rights for going on four years now and they are throwing all the previous scripts out and getting Lemke to start over. Source.

Green Arrow may be coming to the CW. Think what you want of that…but that would at least kill the head-scratching Let’s Put Green Arrow in a Supermax Prison feature film that they had in mind. I mean…is it just impossible to not screw up a super hero when he wears green or something? Source.

Interesting: Kill Your Darlings is a thriller that is sort of an origin pic for the Beat movement with Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire) as Kerouac and Daniel Radcliffe as Ginsberg. Production starts in March. Source: Variety.

Frank Darabont is staying busy: he’s got a pilot on tap for L.A. Noir, based on the book and not the game. Cops vs. mob in the 40s and 50s. Again, period drama seems to be gaining momentum. Wonder why? Source: Variety.

In a move that sounds for some reason a bit like Boardwalk Empire, Starz will premiere new series Magic City on April 6th. It centers around a Miami hotel in 1959 and all of the potentially questionable things that go on there. It’s classified as a “period mob drama.” Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays the owner of the hotel. Danny Huston and Olga Kurylenko are also in the show. Source.

Marco Polo is getting the series treatment with Starz and the Weinsteins. That will hit next year. Expect a “character-driven, martial arts epic.” Like you would. Source: Variety.

It’s been a while since I got interested in a Wes Anderson film. He lost me with Life Aquatic. I know I’m in the minority on this and I’m fine with that. But this gives me hope. It’s the trailer for Moonrise Kingdom.

Direct link for the feedreaders.

One final note: Bill Murray is a genius. It’s not news. It just needed to be restated.

They’re remaking Police Academy. The only reason you need to know this is so you don’t get surprised by it–it might make you choke on your food or something. And now I’ve just lost five minutes trying to come up with a joke about how they might make it worthwhile. As you can see, it didn’t work. Source.

Chris Evans is in talks to join Snow Piercer for Bong Joon-ho (director of The Host), which will be his stateside helming debut. According to the Variety article, “Set in a world covered in snow and ice, the story follows a train full of travelers who struggle to co-exist.” Park Chan-wook (director of Oldboy) is producing and co-wrote the script with Joon-ho. Has the potential to be mental. I’m in.

Warehouse 13 fans, be happy. Your fourth season is going from thirteen episodes to twenty. Source.

You can pre-order copies of these for yourself by clicking on the media type if nothing else. When you do so, you help pay for Need Coffee’s server costs. Thanks!

March 20th, Battle Royale hits stateside officially from Anchor Bay. It and its sequel are being released as “The Complete Collection” on both Blu-Ray and DVD. If you just want the no-frills version of the first film, that’s hitting Blu-Ray and DVD as well.

The Bond 50 boxed set, containing all twenty-two films, is available for pre-order. One disc of the set is to be new content. And nine of the films are hitting Blu-Ray for the first time in it.

Chinatown makes its Blu-Ray debut on April 3rd from Paramount.

Columbus Circle, with Selma Blair, Giovanni Ribisi, Jason Lee, Amy Smart, Beau Bridges and Kevin Pollak, hits March 6th from Universal on Blu-Ray and DVD. Here, have a trailer:

Direct link for the feedreaders.

Harvey with James Stewart hits Blu-Ray for the first time on March 6th.

Hitchcock Blu-Rays hitting: Notorious, Rebecca and Spellbound. They all hit on January 24th from MGM.

Immortals hits March 6th in DVD, Blu-Ray and 3D Blu-Ray versions. That’s out from Fox. Expect an alternate opening, alternate endings, deleted scenes and maybe something in there that will fix the film. Would be nice.

Like Crazy with Anton Yelchin hits DVD and Blu-Ray on March 6th.

South Park‘s fifteenth season is hitting DVD and Blu-Ray on March 27th from Comedy Central and Paramount.

Rejoice, for Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales: The Complete Collection hits from Shout! Factory on March 6th. All seventy episodes plus bonus bits. Nice.

Also, the complete series of Underdog is hitting with a Complete Collector’s Edition that actually has bonus material–including commentaries! Excellent. That’s from Shout! Factory on February 21st.

Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention is hitting Blu-Ray and DVD on March 13th from Lionsgate.

Wizards by Ralph Bakshi is hitting Region 1 Blu-Ray for the first time from Fox on March 13th. No pre-order link yet.