Ridley Scott's Prometheus Heads for June 2012

When it was announced Ridley Scott's Alien prequel morphed into Prometheus, 20^th Century Fox also set a March 9, 2012 release. That would put it in direct competition for us paying movie-goer's smackeroos against Disney's John Carter of Mars – itself previously set for June 8^th.

ERC Box-Office got the info out there first – thus we'll credit them. Fox has yanked Prometheus outta March and firmly planted it in Carter's initial June 8^th slot.

Don't know how to interpret this call. Is it a sign of confidence on Fox's end or merely a case of stocking up on their inventory? The only other summer releases they have, so far, are Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Stop giggling - it's said to be a popular book!) and Ice Age: Continental Drift.

What's eerie is how I was noting to my TMT partner-in-crime Peter Georgiou a few days back how that June 8^th opening was unoccupied and assuming the Darren Aronofsky-helmed Wolverine sequel would take it. Here we are today and not only has another Fox production taken it, but I don't know the last time we legitimately heard anything on the X-Men prequel/sequel front.

Weird, is something up or am I just over-thinking this one?

Bursting that Tron 3 Bubble

Just because Disney shot a Tron 3 teaser (ahead of the theatrical release of Tron: Legacy) doesn't automatically translate to a third go-around with the light cycles getting made, contrary to what some would like to believe. The box-office receipts stateside, and especially overseas, say another sequel is highly doubtful. Let's be honest here, the fact that they went forward with a follow-up to the 1982 original is a miracle in its own right.

Jim Hill Media has an excellent post blending together their theories and what they've been whispered to by insider peeper regarding this alleged Tron 3:

"Jut to recap here: If Disney was able to keep that two-minute-long 'Tron' test under wraps under wraps for months, then why did word of this 'Tron 3' teaser leak out just weeks after it was shot?

Well, from what I hear, this wasn't a coincidence. Someone at the Studio supposedly put the word out about this 'Tron 3' teaser because there'd been talk recently about possibly NOT including this footage on the 'Tron: Legacy' DVD & Blu-ray. In essence putting development of a 'Tron: Legacy' follow-up on ice for a while.

This news did not reportedly thrill a number of key creatives at the Studio. Which is why a decision was made to prematurely get the word out about this 'Tron 3' teaser trailer which was supposed to be on the Blu-ray & DVD. With the hope that -- once this news leaked  -- the 'Tron' fan community would become electrified. More to the point, this leak would then put The Walt Disney Company in the position where they'd have no choice but to include this ‘Tron 3’ teaser as part of the 'Tron: Legacy' DVD & Blu-ray release. Which would then (in theory, anyway) give the 'Tron: Legacy' sequel project additional exposure and some increased momentum."

Also interesting to note their inclusion of a teaser trailer for an ultimately cancelled Dumbo sequel as evidence to counter the inevitable "NU-UH!" reaction(s).  For me, Tron 3 fits in the "I'll believe it when I see it" category.

Paramount Releasing The Dictator May 2012

Not one to let losing The Avengers get them down, Paramount has set The Dictator, the next Sacha Baron Cohen/Larry Charles comedy, for May 11, 2012. Noticeably a week after the afore-mentioned big-dick Marvel superhero combo epic. A bold move, but a sign the studio is confident this will click with the masses.

Cohen will play the two leads both of whom are stuck here in the U.S. - a dictator (and quite the delusional one, to boot. Eh, strike that. What dictator isn't? The Saddam Hussein-penned novel Zabibah and The King is said to be their influence) and a goat herder.

An ingenious li'l way of letting the actor have the best of both worlds, I take it. Play the asshole, such as he did in Bruno, and the (presumably) sympathetic protagonist, like Borat. The latter, of course, is strange to say considering how racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic that character was.

Only thing I'm not aware they've made clear is if they're continuing in the "mockumentary" style? If so, haven't they fished that lake dry by now and don't enough people in the U.S. know who he is by now?

Clint Eastwood To Direct A Star Is Born

You gotta respect Clint Eastwood. His track record may be hit and miss. But when he commits to something, there's no two ways around it. The movie is getting made, and generally speaking, pretty fast.

Rather telling considering their history of scoopage, "TOLDJA" rather surprisingly reports Eastwood is onboard to produce/direct Warner Brothers' long-gesturing A Star Is Born remake from the Will Fetters script.

Beyoncé Knowles (whose been attached to this for quite some time) will star. The male lead, with names ranging from Russell Crowe to Robert Downey Jr. to Will Smith in the past, hasn't been determined. But since Downey just backed out of Oz: The Great & Powerful and Gravity (both are expected to shoot this year), maybe he's clearing his schedule for the Man with No Name?

Production is being eyed to start this fall just as Eastwood wraps up J. Edgar, which is about to start filming in a few weeks. Like I said, he works fast.

More X-Men: First Class Pictures Flood the Internet!

Since that ensemble shot from X-Men: First Class leaked, 20^th Century Fox and the filmmakers are (wisely) going out their way to assure fans their prequel/reboot/whatever the Hell it is won't be a camptastic schlock-fest. More and more official photos are making their way to the interwebs, and it shan't be too long before we get some real life footage in motion.

Director Matthew Vaughn called up /film and had a chat on the matter while simultaneously premiering two more pics from First Class with the newly youthful Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) in action.

Overall I'm digging the retro 60s look. But...that helmet on Fassbender...Sorry, kiddos. But it looks silly as shit. And before you spout out about how Sir Ian McKellen's helmet looked silly in the first three X-Men movies, stop right now. It looked fine. The production team rightfully took the basic design and tweaked it so it'd appear more film appropriate, and it worked.

I'd say the best call made on that first movie a decade back was the decision to design Magneto as a Nazi especially coming off that haunting opening sequence.

Robert Downey Jr. Says "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road!"

And with that, goes my curiosity for this one.

Reports Heat Vision, Robert Downey Jr. bowed out of Disney's planned "reimagining" Oz: The Great & Powerful with Sam Raimi set to direct. No reason was given, and this makes it now four projects Downey was originally attached to star only to exit – Megamind, Cowboys & Aliens, Gravity and this.

Either he's realized his career (hitting red-hot status thanks to Iron Man three years ago) is at the breaking point of overexposure or something much better is on the horizon yet to be announced. The only things Downey has scheduled for this year is wrapping up Sherlock Holmes 2 and The Avengers and recent reports I've read around have conflicting info on when it starts up. Some say this spring, others say this fall.

Speaking of eccentric character actors-turned-matinee idols, the Mouse has turned around and offered the part to their Golden Boy Johnny Depp. Altogether now, folks...1...2...3... "REALLY?!"

I like Depp; don't think you'll find many who don't. But this is just too expected. Hell, it's turned into a cliché at this point to hire him as your odd-ball protagonist. These roles will pay for his great-grandkids' college education, sure and he's great at it to be fair. But come on, dude. Haven't you had enough of your fill for that "type?"

John Carter Versus Prometheus

If this was being read out loud, I'd totally do it as William Dozier!

Disney has decided shift the release date of John Carter of Mars, the Andrew Stanton-directed adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' pulp novels starring Friday Night Lights alum Taylor Kitsch. Instead of its June 8, it's now been placed on March 9, 2012. That slot was originally occupied by Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, also from Disney, which is now set for October 5, 2012.

Its direct competition will be none other than the just announced Prometheus, the Ridley Scott-helmed science fiction epic. You remember the one that was supposed to be that pair of 3D Alien prequels until wiser heads prevailed. Yeah, those two uber-budget geek-friendly properties are going up mano-a-mano next March.

As we approach that date, one of them will surely move. We can't have us nerds picking sides after all! Shit will get real...

The move on John Carter isn't a surprise per say – I'd expected it considering how fierce next summer will be. But my assumption was that it'd be moved closer to the Christmas holidays where its sole competition (so far) is Warner Brothers' Superman reboot. Movie-news colleague and Twitter bullshiter Jack Giroux suggested maybe the Mouse isn't totally confident in what they've seen?

The Dark Knight Rises Has Its Villains!

When that list of potential leading ladies was released for The Dark Knight Rises last week, one of the last of them I imagined getting hired was Anne Hathaway. Not a slight against her in the least, just figured she was better suited for Lois Lane in the Superman reboot Christopher Nolan is producing for next Christmas.

Shows what I know! Warner Brothers has officially announced Hathaway will play Selina Kyle (noticeably not saying the words "Catwoman") for the greatly-anticipated Batman threequel. In addition, Nolan alum Tom Hardy has been confirmed to play Bane, the baddie notoriously known for breaking Bats' back in the comics in the early 90s.

This also "shockingly" confirms those script leaks with Hugo Strange and the like were 100% Grade-A Internet bullshit.

Josh Lucas Joins J. Edgar

You kids remember Josh Lucas? He was one of those perfectly-acceptable supporting actors who got a big career bump, and a lot of "next big thing" press, headlining Stealth and Poseidon. Only both would-be blockbusters bombed and Lucas disappeared from the public eye for awhile.

Now he's back joining the cast of Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar, reports "TOLDJA!" He'll play aviator Charles Lindbergh whose infant son was infamously kidnapped and murdered.

Filming starts next month. An opening this fall isn't out of the question even though it's listed for an unspecified 2012 release. Eastwood's productions typically tend to go fast.

Ben Affleck Considering American Bullshit

Gone Baby Gone was, hands down, the finest film of 2007, and a major revelation that popular actor-turned-public punching bag Ben Affleck had serious directorial chops. The problem is few people gave it a shot at the time. So it didn't burn through box-office receipts nor did it cause a ripple effect during that year's awards-circuits.

But thanks to The Town and its success last September, generally a dumping ground for studio's prestige crap, Affleck is now one of the hot directors floating in moviedom marking one of the great comebacks this side of John Travolta and Robert Downey Jr.

So what's next? Warner Brothers wants to make him one of their MVP helmers next to Clint Eastwood and Christopher Nolan and unsuccessfully offered him Superman: The Man of Steel and Tales from the Gangster Squad. While WB also has Replay and The Trade, both of which Affleck is still mulling, Sony wants a piece of Chuckie Sullivan too.

As per "TOLDJA," Affleck is also eyeing American Bullshit, the recent Black List-inducted script by Eric Warren. It's described as, "the true story of Abscam, the FBI's 1980 undercover sting operation of Congress to root out corruption which was the brainchild of the world's greatest con man."

I'm sure we'll hear of a few more projects before Affleck makes his decision.