Alien Prequels Haven't Been Delayed?

So, after all this talk of the Goddamn Alien prequels, not only are those reports of it being pushed back a year (with signs it could be shitting the bed altogether) wrong. But the movies themselves actually, oh dear Lord, reboot the franchise instead?!?

Vulture reports production on Paradise, yep that's the title, will commence in March. Those delayed reports stemmed from an ill-fated attempt to woo Leonardo DiCaprio into the fold, and waiting till he finished work on Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar. But since that didn't work out, they're back in an early 2011 start.

Ridley Scott is currently hunting down other actors to star. We were already aware of Noomi Rapace up for the lead role (although still uncast), but her character has a name: Elizabeth Shaw.

Also up for roles are Michael Fassbender for the android David (although that appears unlikely as he wanted too much money) and Michelle Yeoh as the "fortysomething, tough-but-sexy" Vickers if Scott gets his way. Most interesting is the character of Engineer 1, to be portrayed by an unspecified 6'5" actor and, in the finished product, will be entirely CG in the vein of Gollum.

Armie Hammer In Talks To Join Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar

As his equally lesser-known co-stars Andrew Garfield and Rooney Mara were heading to bigger and better things, it was clear Armie Hammer, in his impressive dual role as the Winklevoss twins, was also going to be seen in his fair share of high-profile projects post-Social Network.

What his follow-up would be none of us particularly knew, with many a whispers of his candidacy for Zack Snyder's Superman reboot. Judging by this development, he might be out of contention as the new Man of Steel. But it's, by no means, a bad thing.

Entertainment Weekly reports he's in talks to co-star in Clint Eastwood's forthcoming J. Edgar Hoover biopic, now titled J. Edgar, with Leonardo DiCaprio. He would play Clyde Tolson, Hoover's right-hand man at the FBI, and, as speculated by many, his lover.

He's certainly come a long way from the days when fanboys made fun of his name because he was set to play Batman in George Miller's Justice League: Mortal.

Liam Neeson Confirms Clash of the Titans Sequel

Man, how quickly did "Release the Kraken!" rise and fall from random conversation and everyone's Twitter accounts? Nevertheless, Titans clashed, the Kraken was released and Louis Leterrier's Clash of the Titans update scored near $500 million box-office despite an aggressively toxic reaction to its 3D post-conversion and folks being just, "Meh!" towards the choppy finished product.

But as you all know, Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures enjoyed all that money they bathed in and want more. So it’s a sequel we're a getting for 2012.

Co-star Liam Neeson (set to return as Zeus) confirmed to the Belfast Telegraph production on the Jonathan Liebesman-helmed follow-up begins next March:

"I've only read half of the script and there is still some work being done - they're on script 10 – but I think it's going to be some kick-ass stuff and a very human story to it."

It also sounds like Wrath of the Titans is, in fact, the title. It's certainly better than just slapping a "2" at the end like the Sherlock Holmes sequel.

The Wachowskis Take Aim at Hood

Not surprisingly, the Iraq War-set, gay love story with Dubya assassination plan film CN-9 is hitting a road-block getting its finances in order.

While that project lingers, Heat Vision reports the Wachowskis are back at Warner Brothers for their latest Hood. Described as a "modern, urban" angle of the Robin Hood legend (and in typical fashion, nothing else regarding the plot is revealed), the sibling writing-directing duo will reunite with longtime producing partner Joel Silver, and have already taken aim at several actors for the lead.

Chief among them is only Movie Star in the known galaxy Will Smith, although it's too early to know where his royal Willie-ness will go.

They do need a hit (especially after the enjoyable, but costly, Speed Racer bombed two years back), but it's odd that they passed a property with more commercial prospects like Superman in favor of this ultimately.

Alien Prequels Delayed

More troubles ahead for that pair of 3D Alien prequels.

20^th Century has pushed back their release dates a full year to 2013 and 2014, according to Script Flags. Even despite casting underway (Noomi Rapace and Olivia Wilde as top contenders with James Franco, Anne Hathaway and Natalie Portman said to be in the mix), a February 2011 start date and sets rumored to be in construction.

Nobody from either Fox or director Ridley Scott's camp is talking. But it appears those issues over budget and tone remain unresolved, even after Damon Lindelof's rewrites reportedly pleased both parties. It must not have been enough.

I won't shed any tears if (or most likely, when) this whole thing falls apart. For those interested in this, I send my apologies. But this just isn't a good idea. Do you really need to know the origins of the space-jockey? Let Scott do something else with his time while it's left - yes, even a project as batshit crazy as Monopoly.

Cate Blanchett Returns to Middle Earth for The Hobbit

Today came additional casting announcements on Peter Jackson's 3D two-movie The Hobbit.

Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett is now set to reprise the role of Galadriel, as portrayed in Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's worth noting the character as written actually didn't make an appearance in J.R.R. Tolkien's book. But considering we're getting two films (most likely, although unspecified) with near-three hour running lengths adapted off a book with just over 300 pages, Jackson and co-screenwriters Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and originally-intended helmer Guillermo del Toro probably took from his other Middle Earth works.

In addition, new Middle Earth recruits include the previously rumored Sylvester McCoy (aka Doctor Who #7) as the wizard Radagast the Brown, Jed Brophy (who appeared in The Two Towers and The Return of the King) as the dwarf Nori, Ryan Gage (from a BBC produced Hamlet last year, interestingly enough, co-starring David Tennant who's rumored to be up for a role) as Frodo's daddy Drogo Baggins, Ken Stott (not a virgin to mega-budget fantasy epics, having appeared in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) as Dwarf Lord Balin, William Kircher (from Legend of the Seekers) as the dwarf Bifur and Mikael Persbrandt (Day and Night) as the shape-shifter Beorn.

Filming starts this February back in New Zealand. Although I still can't see the first half making its targeted December 2012 release. They're lensing under the new RED Epic 3D cameras also being used for the Spider-Man reboot, which just started yesterday, and that won't be out till July 2012 and doesn't have anywhere near the lengthy 14-16 month shooting schedule. Then there's all that post-production to be done with visual effects and rendering to 3D, of course. Just saying...

Emma Stone Shows Off Her Gwen Stacy Look

Not too much to add here, folks.

Emma Stone stepped out in public for the first time in her Gwen Stacy locks, and Just Jared has the snap-shots. Didn't even recognize her at first, to be perfectly honest. So Marc Webb & Co. has that nailed down so far. How long 'till they show off Andrew Garfield in the new Spidey suit?

Filming on the Spider-Man reboot (Still no official title – Jeez, Sony) starts this week.

Neill Blomkamp & Sharlto Copley Reuniting for Elysium

Without, this is the coolest news-item of the day.

Although we're not going to find out any time soon what Elysium is about (Not bitching, mind you, I'm a patient nerd!), Neill Blomkamp has lined up a familiar lead for his directorial follow-up, according to "TOLDJA"  – his District 9 leading man Sharlto Copley. If there was any justice in the world, he would have been nominated this year in the Best Actor Oscar race, but alas. At least, we wised up and nominated the film itself for Best Picture.

Like District, Elysium is said to another politically-charged film mixed together with a sci-fi action film. Hey, the man knows not to mess with success, and is wise enough to avoid a District 9 sequel, for now, at least. Blomkamp is currently taking meetings with distributors (The money to make the film is already, and easily after District 9 was a smash, there and accounted for) and has even gone as far to present a graphic novel as part of his presentation.

Who doesn't want to get their hands on that thing?

More Gunbarrel Shots Point to November 2012 For Next Bond Film

So, we actually might get the new James Bond film for November 2012? As if that year wasn't already stuffed with enough big genre tentpoles? If that's the end of the world, at the very least we'll have been entertained – unless they all suck.

Following up on those David Arnold "We're back on" statements, Kate Winslet, of all people, confirms her estranged husband Sam Mendes is back on-track to direct Bond 3 (not Bond 23, kiddos – Are you calling The Dark Knight Rises "Batman 7?" Exactly!) to the Daily Mail:

"Sam is doing the next Bond film, all being well, and we’ll all be in England if that happens. It’s such a massive commitment for him and it’s not fair for him to commute backwards and ­forwards to New York from ­London. It would be impossible. The children will be there with me."

Normally, you'd cut to me pinching my nose of the foul stench of bullshit from UK tabloids. But the quote...sounds legit, and furthermore, the always-giving-credit-to-others cats from "TOLDJA" say they're also hearing from their "007 insiders" that production on the next installment is expected to start this time next year.

And yes, starring Daniel Craig once again, thank God.

Latest Superman Updates

Let's throw in a couple of Superman items into the pot and make a tasty broth, shall we?

First up, Zack Snyder is still searching for his Man of Steel for the December 2012 reboot of the same title, last we checked. While it appears we'll get another "I'm sorry, who?" unknown actor, that hasn't stopped the enthusiasm of one of the biggest advocates for the role – Joe Manganiello.

Via the Press Association, the True Blood star reiterated his desire to sport the red-and-blue suit stating he'd be "honored." Gotta love his passion, and it's not in the same vein of any fucktard comic-book writer's "Look at me! Look at me! I'm just making shit up for the attention!" bullshit claims.

Meanwhile, Hans Zimmer is crying foul to Heat Vision of those reports last week that he was locked in to compose the new film. He says he's never met Snyder and doing a new theme after John Williams' iconic score would be like "rewriting Beethoven's ninth!" Funny, his hypothetical approach he gave a few weeks back sounded pretty convincing. Perhaps he let the cat of the bag too soon, and wasn't supposed to? Or yeah, maybe he's telling the truth. Time will tell.

And lastly, FX wizard Steve Johnson has unveiled (via Facebook) even more aborted Superman designs he worked on over the years. This latest entry is labeled "Bryan Singer Superman Concepts." Although there's a big fat writing to the side stating "Flyby" and I believe that was the code name for the Brett Ratner incarnation, and what appears to be (eh...maybe, it's unclear) Doomsday, one of several proposed "alien threats" for Singer's unmade Superman Returns sequel. None of them look bad (quite the contrary, in fact). But it doesn't look right for Kal-El.

OK. Breather now and we wait until the new guy's identity is revealed. Most likely, we'll hear another bullshit Internet rumor first.