Johnny Depp Shrugs Shoulders - Nears Deal for Pirates of the Caribbean 5

Johnny Depp holds a special title as of this past weekend. He's the only actor to headline three $1 billion grossing films. The fact that all three (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Alice in Wonderland and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) are crap is irrelevant. Also interesting to note how Disney is handling the domestic under-performance of Pirates 4. By ignoring that factoid and focusing solely on its worldwide gross.

As where Depp appeared wary of slapping on the eye-liner and speaking his Jack Sparrow hybrid language of British, pirate-slang and gibberish for a fifth time during the On Stranger Tides press-rounds, The Wrap reports he's singing a different tune post Pirates 4 $1 billion cherry-busting.

Barring his approval of the script (like that was ever a concern with him and this franchise before), Depp is nearing a deal for Pirates of the Caribbean 5.

Anyone want to place bets the plot will involve everyone's favorite asexual pirate getting mixed up with Captain Ahab, Nemo, Dracula or landing on Conan Doyle's the Lost World?

Thor 2 Hammers On For July 2013 Without Kenneth Branagh

Thor could have easily been one giant ass-clogging piece of cinematic cheese. But thanks to the skills of its director Kenneth Branagh and its great leading performances from Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, it surprised many and became one of the better-liked releases this summer.

With summer 2011 in its half-time, Marvel's starting to think of a world after The Avengers opens and, reports Heat Vision, readying a sequel to Thor for July 26, 2013. Hemsworth will be back (No shit). Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Branagh.

As fans have witnessed successfully with Thor and not-so-much with Green Lantern this summer, these big effects-driven comic-properties are just as dependant on finding the right director to handle the material as they are with getting the right actor in the lead role. Even with the onscreen world of Asgard established, there's no guarantee the next guy rocking the bullhorn behind camera (and Marvel, let's not forget) won't fuck up Thor 2.

Since there's reportedly no story or writers committed yet, may I suggest the House of Ideas commission the writing/producing of Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat. These are the guys responsible for the brilliant BBC series Sherlock. Just as with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, they took the world he created for Victorian-era England, brought into our reality and made it work oh-so-well.

I'm fully aware that indeed studio executives aren't listening. But to their credit, Marvel's had a habit lately of thinking outside the box with choosing their directors, writers and actors. So...I can dream they'll listen, can't I?

Christopher Nolan Back Into Producing Game - Hires Keith Gordon For Supernatural Thriller

Christopher Nolan never struck me as the kind of guy to branch himself off into producing side projects during his downtime from directing. We've seen it occur time and again with filmmakers once they've established themselves and sitting fat and happy with studios they call home. But one never got the impression that was Nolan's thing.

That's why to hear he was "Godfathering" The Man of Steel was a surprise. In that particular case, it felt like a move calculated more to solidify his relationship with Warner Brothers and help them out in a bind with the rights than it was specifically due to his love for the character.

But with the ball rolling on that one, maybe he likes the sample taste and is ready for seconds. Or perhaps it's merely a coincidental "I'll help the guys out" situation repeating itself. Either way, he's right back into producing for Warner Brothers according to "TOLDJA." He's just hired Keith Gordon to tackle the writing and directorial duties on an as-yet-revealed supernatural thriller.

Gordon's an interesting guy himself. Started off as a child actor appearing in late 70s/mid 80s fare ranging from Dressed to Kill (where he played an exaggerated teenage version of its writer/director Brian De Palma) to Rodney Dangerfield's son in Back to School before moving behind the camera full time. Nowadays he's directing episodic television and his last feature-length effort was 2003's The Singing Detective with a post-rehab, pre-Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. and Mel Gibson before he lost his mind in the eyes of the world.

This being something of a film with considerably less "make or break" status, hopefully Gordon will be left to his own devices instead of Nolan playing a big hand in the decision-making as he did on the Superman reboot.

Tinker Tailor Solider Spy Trailer Promises High-Quality Thriller

Usually when you have a cast of this extraordinary talent (Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy and Ciarán Hinds to name a few – trust me, there's more), a highly-skilled director calling the shots (Tomas Alfredson coming off Let the Right One In) and the source material is a revered novel, there's a part of you that can't help but be cynical and think, "This sounds like something too good to be true!"

Based solely on this trailer (courtesy of The Guardian), that doesn't appear to be the case for Tinker Tailor Solider Spy.

Prepare to be Awestruck by War Horse Teaser Trailer

A story about the bond between a horse and its owner during WWI on paper sounds silly, I'll admit. But War Horse has drawn nothing but praise since it premiered on stage back in 2007.

Judging by the teaser-trailer, the Steven Spielberg-directed, feature-length version appears to be in capable hands as well. For as much shit as he gets for being too manipulative with the audiences' emotions, there remain few others who do it better than the Beard.

I was already prepared to see War Horse based strictly on it being a Steven Speilberg film. But I didn't expect to be taken back by this teaser.

Immortals Trailer #2 - Same Bad Taste But With Improved Henry Cavill!

Let this logic settle in for a second before we go any further. Relativity Media and the filmmakers of Immortals last week announced they were going to premiere their brand-spanking-new trailer...on a radio show. Yep, they don't pay me the big bucks for those genius ideas.

Then again, it's Ryan Seacrest's show and, from what I'm told, a lot of people listen since he juggles two dozen hosting gigs at any given moment. So perhaps there are some smarts at work. For those without access to his show, it's also been posted on his official site.

That, however, doesn't change that the actual footage they're presenting isn't much of an improvement from the first trailer we got a few months ago. About the only positive note I can give is Henry Cavill (aka the new Superman) comes off considerably better here than before, i.e. that awful speech got castrated here. There's always the chance the Comic-Con footage is an upgrade next month?

Get Ready to Yell "FUCK YEAH!" to New Captain America Trailer & Poster

Lots of doom and gloom going down over the "OK, but not great!" box-office of Thor, the under-performance of X-Men: First Class and, by all accounts, the outright failure of Green Lantern.

"That's it! Everyone is sick of comic-book superhero movies!" we're hearing.

Not so fast there, bud. The last remaining release of that genre for this summer, Captain America, remains a month away and, of all four films, it always stood the best chance of success. So far, every step Marvel has taken with the Joe Johnston-directed, WWII-set epic shows off the same confidence in their product the House of Ideas displayed so openly as they did with Jon Favreau's Iron Man three years ago.

This morning we got a new poster (posted at the top of this article) and mere minutes ago, the new trailer dropped via Yahoo! Movies. There's not much else to add that I didn't say when the first trailer was released back in March.

Other than to say, people are ready to cheer for America as the good-guys again. Something that Sam Raimi wisely played up in his Spider-Man films and Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, and from the looks of it Zack Snyder's The Man of Steel, missed the boat on. What seals the deal, for me, continues to be the underlining "ugly duckling" story with Chris Evans. That is what will get girls interested if you ask me.

But you can just feel it. This movie is going to work.

Yeah...That Looks Like The Hobbit

Two months following the first video production diary (and we haven't seen one since) and countless Facebook updates (Way to bring the marketing budget down, Warner Brothers!), we have our first look at The Hobbit.

Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly (in a move similar to them having Henry Cavill's first public interview since his casting as the new Superman because they're owned by the same parent company), here's Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, Sir Ian McKellen stepping into a time machine as Gandalf the Grey and nice little "Director in Action!" look at Peter Jackson with Freeman.

Jamie Foxx IS Django

As been the case for so many, something felt off about Jamie Foxx upon winning his "Best Actor" Oscar for Ray. It wasn't immediate. Hell, he continued to deliver good, solid turns in Jarhead, Dreamgirls and Peter Berg's underrated The Kingdom. But after awhile, everything seemed to be cooling down for Foxx judging by his filmography as of late.

But to say that's changed with this announcement is an understatement.

First reported by Jeff Goldsmith and confirmed by Variety, Foxx will play the title character in Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino's latest epic. This comes after a few weeks worth of bantering over actors including biggest movie-star in the known galaxy Will Smith who passed (so much for trying to work with directors willing to push you) and Idris Elba (who's instead starring in Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim).

Foxx will portray a freed-slave on a journey to rescue his wife from a plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio; finally collaborating with Tarantino after an attempt to play Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds didn't work out) with the help of a German dentist/bounty-hunter played by who else but Christoph Waltz. Samuel L. Jackson, having recently told children across the world to Go the Fuck to Sleep, is also set to appear.

I've truthfully been putting off reading the script, but with this secured it's about time I get off my ass and take a read, don't you think?

Rise of the Planet of the Apes UK Trailer Zeroes In On Caesar With Surprisingly Solid Results

Sometimes all it takes is just one good trailer to turn the tide for a movie.

Courtesy of The Sun comes the UK trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and I'd be lying through my teeth if I said this didn't make me want to see it. While I stand firm in assessment in its lack of box-office potential (A monkey uprising is inherently silly sounding), we might be in for something good here judging by the strength of this new trailer.