Robert Downey Jr. is no longer set to star in Disney’s Oz, the Great and Powerful. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Downey was never officially set to star, but he had been circling the project. His replacement could be none other than Hollywood’s other busybody, Johnny Depp.
Anne Hathaway will be playing Catwoman in Christopher Nolan’s third and supposedly final Batman film The Dark Knight Rises. Aside from that little tidbit given in the official Warner Bros. press release this morning, we don’t know much else. But that’s not all for “Dark Knight Rises”-related casting news: Tom Hardy has long been attached, but now we know that he’ll star as Batman nemesis Bane.
The Daily Blam has the first official, albeit leaked, image of the ensemble to appear in Matthew Vaughn’s (Kick-Ass, Layer Cake) upcoming X-Men First Class. Produced by Bryan Singer (director of the first two films) the official synopsis is as follows:
It is another week of DVD and Blu-ray releases and it is a mix of indie films, B-Movies, a straight-to-DVD feature, a documentary and from the international front, an art-house film and an epic. Ryan Reynolds fans will be happy with two of his films being released this week and there is a array of acting talent on display with this week’s releases.
The film awards were largely predictable. The only big “upset” occurred when The Social Network took the award for Motion Picture Drama. While the film is no doubt the front-runner to win the Oscar for Best Picture, it’s not the kind of film that the Globe voters usually prefer. Voters more often than not jump to award period pieces like The King’s Speech but instead opted to follow the critics groups that almost unanimously named it 2010’s best film, though Colin Firth’s performance in The King’s Speech did earn him Actor in a Motion Picture Drama.
The film commonly called “the Alien prequel” now has a name: Prometheus. According to Deadline Hollywood, though, this will be “more original” than just your average, run-of-the-mill prequel churned out for a quick buck. This upcoming epic is currently set for release across the globe on March 9, 2012, and will mark director Ridley Scott’s long-awaited return to science-fiction since 1982’s Blade Runner.
The Green Hornet managed to make some real green over the three day weekend. Topping the charts with $34 million, Seth Rogen’s incarnation of the original radio show was a hit with audiences despite critics. The Dilemma made a slight but respectable $17 million. Vince Vaughn is normally capable of more but a critical beating didn’t help him much. Art house movie remained in top positions beating out mainstream faire.
The new issue of Entertainment Weekly has a new, first look of Chris Evans in full Captain America garb. Opening July 22 this year (in 2D and 3D), the Joe Johnston-directed comic book adaptation will also star Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Hugo Weaving (Red Skull), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Toby Jones (Arnim Zola), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark), Tommy Lee Jones (Col. Chester Phillips), Stanley Tucci (Dr. Abraham Erskine) and Neal McDonough (Dum Dum Dugan).
Timur Bekmambetov’s upcoming adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is one of the hottest projects in development right now. With a script penned by Smith himself (who also adapted his novel Pride & Prejudice & Zombies), Tim Burton on board to produce and Bekmambetov gaining recognition stateside for his debut American film Wanted, casting has been abuzz over who would play the 16th U.S. President.
Paramount Pictures could nab the distribution rights for James Bond 23, which was recently confirmed to be in the making. The studio is in a good position for these rights because of Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum of MGM and their friendship with Paramount’s “top brass”, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
