Relativity Media and Reel FX have announced that they will be joining forces to co-finance and produce a new animated comedy titled Turkeys.

The movie stars the vocal talents of Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers, Cars) and Woody Harrelson (Zombieland, The Hunger Games), and is directed by Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears A Who!). It’s currently scheduled for a release at some point in 2014.

Jonah Hex
Blu-ray | DVD
Directed by Jimmy Hayward
Staring Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, John Malkovich, Will Arnett
Warner Brothers Home Video
Release date: October 12, 2010

Jonah Hex is a film that deserves to be much better than it ends up being. The film is based on the western comic from DC, created in the 1970s by John Albano and Tony DeZuniga, revived in 80s and 90’s in more hybrid styles (notably post-apocalyptic western and horror western), and returned to his straight western roots in 2005 by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti. It’s the Gray and Palmiotti series that serves as the main inspiration for the movie, although there is plenty of the horror and supernatural aspects from the 90s thrown in. The film probably would have been better served by just focusing on the traditional western elements. If you’ve seen the movie, but haven’t read the comic, I highly suggest giving it a shot. Certainly don’t hold the movie against the comic.

Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) is a former confederate soldier and current bounty hunter. He is the very definition of bad ass. He makes the Man with No Name look like a fresh on the trail farm-boy. He kills without mercy, and he’s not afraid to do what ever it takes to get paid. He’s set on the track of the man who killed his family, General Turnbull (John Malkovich). The General has some plan to ruin the country’s centennial celebration, which conveniently ties into Hex’s desire for revenge. So Hex starts tracking him down. And that’s pretty much the whole plot. It’s not what you would call a complicated story.

Jonah Hex– *
Directed by Jimmy Hayward
Starring Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, John Malkovich
Release date: June 18, 2010

The bloodlust gains infinitely as the comic book adaptation of Jonah Hex expands to its inevitable conclusion. Moral values, social codes, or respect are all tossed out the window because director Jimmy Hayward doesn’t think it necessary to shed light on things that aren’t so aggressive. Violent films work when morality and humanity are at stake and when they are emphasized and demonstrated thoroughly (see No Country for Old Men and The Proposition). In Jonah Hex all of that is obsolete, making it a picture obsessed with intolerable cruelty, single mindedness, and unfathomable new-aged weaponry. Western films made their living on respectable themes and characters that showcased value and more than a one-track mind. This neo-neo western shows extreme contempt for all of that, making the splendor of the western even more distant from the public as it already is. Younger folk have a better opportunity of beholding the exhilaration and immersing themselves deeply into the atmosphere of the Wild West when they turn on their video game consoles and insert Red Dead Redemption.

Director Hayward, whose body of work only contains the animated Horton Hears a Who, makes the first botch as he puts his film in considerable jeopardy when he tries to encompass and explain the life of Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) in a rushed manner that is displayed in comic-book animation. But this is ill-conceived as far as plot is concerned. If this quick montage would have been shown in its fullness the entire film would have been strengthened because it shows us Hex as a man content with his life, his experiences with Indians (is this why he can talk to the dead?), and then as a man who has become derailed. The entire film is devoted to Hex, who is in a one-dimensional mode the entire time.

A brand new image from the adaptation of graphic novel Jonah Hex has been released online. We had seen a couple of images from behind the scenes, and we’ve seen the first not-so-well-designed one-sheet from the movie (seen at right — we don’t want Gone in 60 Seconds; we want gritty, dark old west graphic novel goodness), but this is the first large and clear look at star Josh Brolin as the deformed 19th century anti-hero in full Civil War gear.

The movie follows Hex, a veteran of the Confederate army whose face is terribly deformed. After the war, he concentrates his talents into a life of work as a bounty hunter. No exact details are known on what storyline the movie will take, but there is a synopsis below, though it does hint at things that have been denied like John Malkovich as Quentin Turnbull unleashing “Hell.” This could refer to a rumored storyline where Turnbull goes voodoo and forms an army of the dead which director Jimmy Hayward denied at Comic Con.

Click on over to check out the first image and possible synopsis.

Jonah Hex was part of the Warner Bros. presentation on Friday at the San Diego Comic-Con and unlike the other major presentations in Hall H, the security for the WB properties was insanely tight. Those of us covering the panels were not allowed to keep our laptops open to take notes of the footage shown (other studios didn’t have a problem with this, as long as we turned the backlight off). Because of this, it was hard to take detailed notes of the footage, so a few of us did a Check out the video blog over at footage-reaction video blog as soon as the panels were over for Jonah Hex, as well as the reboot of A Nightmare On Elm Street.

Check out the video blog over at /Film of Dave3 and me, along with Peter from /Film, Alex from First Showing, Vic from Screen Rant, and Dan from Totally Rad Show discussing the footage of Jonah Hex and Elm Street.

At right is the new poster that debuted for Jonah Hex; below are photos from the panel. See SDCC 09: Jackie Earle Haley Nails Freddy Krueger In New “˜A Nightmare On Elm Street’ Footage for my full coverage of the Elm Street panel and of Jackie Earle Haley’s portrayal of Freddy Krueger.

The Jonah Hex panel included director Jimmy Hayward, along with stars Josh Brolin, Michael Fassbender, and Megan Fox.

The Jonah Hex film, based on DC Comics series of the same name, is a spaghetti western action flick that includes elements of sideshow and absurdity, as well as the supernatural and fantastical. Hayward stressed that although there’s a supernatural element in the film, there’s no voodoo practitioner raising an army of the undead, as has been reported.