WWE has issued the following press release announcing “The Chaperone,” a new WWE Studios film project set to star Triple H:

WWE GETS CHAPERONE

LOS ANGELES May 24 — WWE Studios has acquired “THE CHAPERONE,” by playwright turned screenwriter S. J. Roth. This is the first screenplay sale for Roth who is mostly known for his work on stage, including his off-Broadway and West Coast productions of “SUTTON,” the story of legendary bank robber, Willie Sutton, and comedies “BEN THE PRINTER,” and “BONNIE’S WANTED MAN.”

“THE CHAPERONE” is a kids action comedy about a just released, ex-con dad who unwittingly becomes a chaperone for his teen daughter’s class trip to New Orleans, while he is on the run from his old cronies who are trying to kill him.

Alan Shafer of Careyes Entertainment and attorney Michael Overn represented Roth in the sale.  Steve Barnett, Senior Vice President, Development of WWE Studios handled the deal for studio.  Shoot is tentatively scheduled for Summer 2010, in New Orleans.

We have the first trailer for the new Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson comedy “The Other Guys,” co-starring Mark Wahlberg, Will Ferrell and Samuel L. Jackson.

The IMDB.com synopsis reads, “Two mismatched New York City detectives seize an opportunity to step up like the city’s top cops whom they idolize — only things don’t quite go as planned.”

The movie is scheduled for an August 6, 2010 release in the US.

Let’s go to the video:

– WWE Studios will begin working on a movie called “Killer Karma” soon. The movie has a $10 million budget and will be released in theaters, starring WWE Champion Batista. The movie is about a guy being released from prison (presumably Batista) who is trying to get his life in order with fate, friends and enemies getting in his way.

– WWE began filming the movie “Big Red” in New Orleans this week. It stars actors Ed Harris and Amy Madigan with RAW’s Randy Orton. The movie is based in the mid 1960’s and focuses on a smart 12-year-old boy whose teacher makes him work with a social outcast on a project and the outcast has an incident with a bully at school. Orton will star as the father of the bully who tries to get Harris fired him his job as teacher. Madigan will play the school’s principal. Big Red is an example of a new strategy being employed by WWE Studios, which is to cast big name Hollywood actors in their films and use WWE superstars as supporting characters.

(Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

Dwayne Johnson stars in The Tooth Fairy

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s new “Tooth Fairy”had a rough start at the box office over the weekend, opening in fourth place with $14.5 million.

By comparison, here are the opening weekend ticket sales for his previous three movies, from BoxOfficeMojo.com:

• Planet 51 (09): $12,286,129
• Race to Witch Mountain (3/09): $24,402,214
• Get Smart (6/08): $38,683,480

Movie critics haven’t been to kind to the Tooth Fairy either. RottenTomatoes.com, which compiles movie reviews from critics and moviegoers, gave the site a 15/100 review and had the following consensus:

Dwayne Johnson brings the full force of his charm (and his appropriately pale chompers) to the title role, but flat direction and a committee-written script render The Tooth Fairy unacceptably dull.

You can’t win ’em all. The Rock still has enough star power where he can put out a crappy kids movie, make another $5 million and be alright, but he’s not bulletproof and should pick his roles more carefully in the future.

– The Hollywood Reporteris reporting that several Hollywood names have joined the cast of WWE Films’ next project, Brothers Keeper, starring John Cena. THR writes:

Patricia Clarkson, Devon Graye, Madeleine Martin, Danny Glover and wrestling champ John Cena have been cast in “Brother’s Keeper,” a PG-rated family drama from WWE Films. Mel Damski (“Mischief”) will direct a screenplay by John Posey about a teenage boy (Graye) who tries to reunite his mother (Clarkson) and estranged older brother (Cena) 10 years after the death of their father, a state college wrestling legend. A brilliant student with no apparent athletic talents, the teenager decides to join the high school wrestling team as a way to pull the family together.

– Politico.com has an article up that paints former WWE CEO and United States Senate hopeful Linda McMahon in a very negative light. The article includes quotes from several former WWE employees, who say it would be downright wrong for McMahon to reach such a high position of power in the United States government. Here are some quotes:

Joanie “Chyna” Lauer: “If there is a race to Capitol Hill, I hope she gets knocked off before she even starts.”

Bruno Sammartino: “I would not vote for her because I know what she contributed to the wrestling world with her husband. The vulgarity, the nudity, the profanity, all that kind of crap — it bothers me.”

Llarry Zbyszko: “If the people in Connecticut are stupid enough to elect Linda, that’s their problem.”

Superstar Billy Graham: “This campaign is the height of hypocrisy. I believe the voters and citizens in Connecticut deserve to be told the truth. In no way does she have a rightful place in the U.S. Senate. The fact that we were out there experiencing trauma and drawing in untold millions for the company [means] we should have at least had some sort of health insurance.”

The Blue Meanie: “We’re the guys out there sacrificing ourselves. You’d think they’d throw us a bone. Sometimes you wondered if they saw their employees as humans or farm animals It was like being in the circus. You’re shipped here, perform there; it’s almost like you’re disposable.””

WWE’s lack of health insurance is at the heart of the wrestlers’ grievances. They allege that McMahon and her husband, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, ran a billion-dollar company that provided no health insurance for the wrestlers who put their bodies on the line to help turn the WWE into an international phenomenon.

Early reviews are coming in for the latest WWE Studios release, “The Marine 2,” starring WWE Raw superstar Ted DiBiase and the reviews are surprisingly positive. IGN.com gave a surprisingly favorable review (6/10) saying:

While we wouldn’t expect Shakespeare any time soon, Ted DiBiase obviously has sufficient acting chops to carry the film. That said, the wrestler-turned-action star lacks the kind of distinct and intimidating visual presence of somebody like Cena. In truth, for as tough and capable as the man appears, there’s something all too vanilla about DiBiase. He looks like a normal, Mid-Western good-old-boy in prime physical condition, more likely to hold open the door for the lady at the market than single-handedly assassinate a group of highly trained killers. Regardless, his athletic skills are hardly in question as he does so with a good deal of command.

Overall, The Marine 2 isn’t exactly a great film – honestly, it’s barely a good film – but it’s significantly better and more creatively crafted than anything we’ve seen hit direct-to-video shelves in quite some time. If you liked the original or if you’re just a WWE fan looking for a fun, action-packed night at home, you’d do well to check this out.

To read the full review, visit IGN.com.

– Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s new animated movie “Planet 51” opened at No. 3 at the box office this weekend with $12.6 million. While this is a disappointing number, the movie went up against the opening of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” which opened at over $140 million.

— It was reported this past September that the lawsuit Warrior (a.k.a. Ultimate Warrior) had filed against World Wrestling Entertainment in January 2006 regarding its DVD release on him, Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior, was thrown out. Judge Douglas L. Rayes ruled that Warrior could not sue for damages over the company’s comments towards him on the title because he had made “publicly disparaging claims” against WWE (on his website). It was also ruled that Warrior would have to pay WWE’s attorney costs and expenses in defending themselves against his breach of contract lawsuit — a total of $18,967.46. In an update on the situation, both sides later came to the judge and said the case had been resolved, with World Wrestling Entertainment waiving Warrior’s near $19,000 legal bill. (source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

– Kaval (the former Low Ki) has returned to WWE developmental action and defeated Donny Marlow in one match and Eric Escobar in another match at this past Thursday’s FCW TV tapings.

– Former “Edgehead” Curt Hawkins is still working in WWE developmental in a team called The Dudebusters with Caylen Croft and Trent Beretta. They are currently the FCW Tag Team Champions after defeating Bo & Duke Rotundo at this past Thursday’s FCW tapings. It looks as if the team will be holding the titles under “Freebird Rules” where any combination of the team can defend the belts.

– WWE has announced that principle photography wraps this week in New Orleans on their next movie, Knucklehead. The movie stars Big Show, Mark Feuerstein from Royal Pains and Melora Hardin from The Office. Fight promoter Memphis Earl (Feuerstein) is in debt and thinks his luck is about to change when he comes across the 7-foot lifelong orphan, Walter Kronk (Big Show). He tries to convince Kronk to wrestle professionally and Kronk finally agrees to wrestle on behalf of his fellow orphans, setting up a road trip. The movie is currently scheduled for a theatrical release in the Spring of 2010. Click here to see a picture from the set.

– As reported here last week, boxer Ricky Hatton will be the guest host of next week’s WWE Raw from Sheffield, England.

– Tonight’s edition of ECW on Sci Fi will feature ECW champion Christian & Yoshi Tatsu teaming together against Vladimir Kozlov & Ezekiel Jackson. Also, the Hurricane will take on Paul Burchill.

– Batista vs. Matt Hardy has been announced for Friday’s SmackDown.

– This week is “WWE Week” on MyNetworkTV. In addition to Friday’s SmackDown, the network will be featuring two WWE-themed episodes of the “Deal or No Deal” gameshow on Tuesday night and will air John Cena’s action movie “The Marine” on Thursday night.

WWE superstar the Big Show is currently down in New Orleans filming scenes for his new WWE Studios project, “Knucklehead.”

Actress Melora Hardin, perhaps best known as Jan Levinson on the hit NBC show  “The Office,” has a part in the movie and posted a picture from the set of her with the Big Show and co-star Mark Feuerstein (from USA Network’s “Royal Pains”).

Check it out:

The first trailer for Dwayne Johnson’s upcoming movie “The Tooth Fiary” has been released. 20th Century Fox’s synopsis for the movie reads:

Dwayne Johnson is The Tooth Fairy, also known as Derek Thompson, a hard-charging minor league hockey player whose nickname comes from his habit of separating opposing players from their bicuspids. When Derek discourages a youngsters hopes, hes sentenced to one weeks hard labor as a real tooth fairy, complete with the requisite tutu, wings and magic wand. At first, Derek cant handle the tooth bumbling and stumbling as he tries to furtively wing his way through strangers homesdoing what tooth fairies do. But as Derek slowly adapts to his new position, he begins to rediscover his own forgotten dreams.

The movie will hit theaters in the U.S. on January 22, 2010. The cast includes several big Hollywood names, including Billy Crystal, Ashley Judd and Julie Andrews.

Here’s the trailer .. Notice anything, missing from The Rock’s body?

— According to Philadelphia’s CityPaper.net, WWE lawyers have sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Wine School of Philadelphia for an event they’re holding called “Sommelier Smackdown,“ where a professional sommelier’s food and wine pairings are matched against those of a member of the Wine School, with students voting for the winner. Keith Wallace, the school’s founder and director, says he has no plans to stop using the smackdown phrase. “They don’t have a leg to stand on. I am not going to bow down to a bully,” he said in a press release. “They claim that they own the term “smackdown” but they don’t.” In response to the WWE threat, Wallace is calling out Mr. McMahon Chris Jerico to a wine-tasting double-team cage match.

— Jim Ross wrote in his latest JRsBarBQ.com blog that Steve Austin’s new movie “Damage” did strong sales in its first week in the United Kingdom. “Damage debuted at #5 on the i-Tunes store chart in the U.K. and #3 in DVD sales through major retailer HMV,” Ross said. The movie went straight to DVD in the UK and is scheduled for theatrical release in the U.S. on January 28, 2010.

— HecklerSpray.com has posted an interview with Steve Austin, who talks about his various movie projects.

— Ric Flair is said to be engaged to be married once again. According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com, Flair has been seen around with his girlfriend, who is sporting a new ring on his finger. This would be Flair’s fourth time down the aisle.

The WWE Studios feature film “Suckerpunch” starring the Big Show has been renamed to “Knucklehead” and has some new additions to the cast, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Big Show will be joined by Mark Feuerstein (USA Network’s Royal Pains) and Melora Hardin (HBO’s Hung).

In “Knucklehead,” fight promoter Memphis Earl (Feuerstein) is in debt and thinks his luck is about to change when he comes across the 7-foot lifelong orphan, Walter Kronk (Big Show). He tries to convince Kronk to wrestle professionally and Kronk finally agrees to wrestle on behalf of his fellow orphans, setting up a road trip. Filming kicked off this week in New Orleans.

The Hollywood Reporter article also notes that Big Show recently finished shooting the SNL feature film “MacGruber.” Last month, Chris Jericho wrote on Twitter that he and the Great Khali were also filming scenes for the MacGruber movie, so it looks like WWE will be well-represented there.

Kurt Angle has landed another acting gig and will be starring in a straight-to-DVD independent zombie movie, titled “River of Darkness.” It gets better.

Set to be released some time next year on DVD, the synopsis at DreadCentral.com reads:

Unspeakable evil has fallen on a quiet river town. Sheriff Logan [Angle] is thrust into a chilling nightmare of death and mayhem that paralyzes the town. He then learns of the community’s seedy past and the evil that has risen from purgatory to exact revenge on the town. He is confronted by the spirits of old river squatters, “The Jacobs Boys,” who possess the very essence of evil.

The zombie Jacobs boys will be played by none other than Kevin Nash and Psycho Sid Vicious. WOW.

The movie will also feature an appearance by Ray Lloyd, better known to WCW fans as Glacier.

Source: PWInsider.com

John Cena will be starring in his third WWE Studios movie later this year titled, “Oxley’s Road.”

Cena will play Cal Oxley, the youngest son of a wrestling family who decides to join his high school’s wrestling team. That decision is made against the wishes of his mother Sharon (played by Patricia Clarkson) in an effort to get her and the oldest Oxley brother to reconnect. Cal Oxley’s mother and older brother have been estranged for 10 years ever since a car accident claimed the life of Cal Oxley’s father.

Filming begins on December 8th in the New Orleans area.

The budget for Oxley’s Road has been set at $10 million, which means its going straight to DVD.

Sources: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, PWInsider.com

Here is the latest on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s upcoming movie ventures.

His next movie project will be “The Other Guys,” alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Wahlberg, Will Farrell and Michael Keaton. Johnson and Jackson play two standout New York police officers while Farrell and Wahlberg play the “loser cops” who finally get a chance to outshine the heroes. Filming for the movie began this week and it is tentatively scheduled for release in August.

Johnson will begin promoting his next Disney flick, The Tooth Fairy, in December. Johnson plays Derek Thompson, a minor league hockey player who has the nickname “Tooth Fairy” because he knocks opponents’ teeth out. The movie’s plot line has Thompson becoming the real Tooth Fairy as a result of his bad deeds. Sounds plausible. His character in The Tooth Fairy is quite similar to the character he played in The Game Plan; a cocky athlete put into bad position, misbehaves constantly at the beginning, but learns his lesson and becomes a hero in the end. The The Tooth Fairy will hit theaters on January 22, 2010.

Lastly, Johnson lent his voice to the animated movie Planet 51, which is slated to be released on November 20, 2009.

Check out the movie posters for Planet 51 adn The Tooth Fairy:

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has joined the cast of the Columbia Pictures comedy “The Other Guys,” according to Variety.com. He joins Samuel L. Jackson, Will Ferrell, Mark Wallberg, Eva Mendez and Steve Cooganin what looks to be a pretty solid cast. Johnson and Jackson will play “an elite cop tandem whose exploits are the envy of the department and the second-tier fellow cops,” played by Ferrell and Wahlberg. Coogan is set as the villain.

The movie has begun shooting in downtown Albany, New York.  TimesUnion.com has an article that talks about the several streets in Albany getting closed off for a scene involving a car chase.  On Wednesday, “a man with a machine gun can be seen firing blanks from the back of the Cadillac Escallade as it moves up the street.”

Directed by Adam McKay, “Other Guys” will hit theaters on August 6, 2010.