James McAvoy is Young Professor X!

With production nearing on the X-Men prequel X-men: First Class we can expect a lot of casting news to be revealed in the coming months. Well now we know who will take on arguably one of the most important roles in the film.

According to HeatVision James McAvoy has signed on to play a young Charles Xavier, aka Professor X, in the Matthew Vaughn directed prequel for Fox. Now the question is who will replace Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto.

According to Fox, First Class will “chart the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Eric Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were arch-enemies, they were the closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-Men.”

The production is moving along quite fast. They're planning a summer start in London, and the movie is being planned for a June 3, 2011, release.

Bryan Singer, who conceived the story for “First Class,” is producing along with Lauren Shuler Donner and Simon Kinberg. 

With this bit of casting I guess we can assume that Wanted 2 is now officially not happening, and once again Mark Millar is full of shit, I'm not surprised though.

Michael bay Producing Ninja Turtles reboot

Not all that long ago a picture of a would be Ninja Turtle leaked via LatinoReview, but was later revealed to be fake. I personally hated it, but I know there's a lot of people who really liked it. Part of me wanted to like it just for the fact that I'm a huge turtles fan and I'm dying to see them return to the big screen, especially in a live action adaption, again. As happy as I was to find out that it wasn't actually the new look for the turtles, I was bummed at how much longer we might still have to wait.

Well according to Deadline we shouldn't have to wait much longer.

Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon have brought Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes partners Brad Fuller and Andrew Form on to produce Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the live-action film that reboots the film series launched by New Line in 1990. Bay, Fuller and Form will  produce with Galen Walker and Scott Mednick.

The producers will begin meetings with writers in the next few weeks. TNMT, a co-production between Paramount and Nickelodeon, is an outgrowth of the $60 million acquisition made by Nick last October for global rights to the entire Turtles franchise. Right around the same time, Paramount made a first look deal with the Platinum Dunes partners, who will generate genre projects but also want to expand their scope.

It should come as no surprise that Paramount would turn to their golden boy Bay for a franchise of this status, seeing as he's already made them truck loads of money with the Transformers franchise. What did surprise me however was that Bay chose to produce the film with his Platinum Dunes partners as opposed to doing it on his own, like he does with Transformers which he also directs.

Platinum Dunes have been responsable for raping the entire 80's horror genre with continuous remakes, but it seems the well may have finally run dry. Lucky for us depending on who your asking, we get the team that brought us the Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday the 13th remakes, working on yet another classic, but this time within an entirely different genre, the hugely popular comic book genre.

I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but I seriously hope they don't screw this up. Who knows how long it'll be before there's yet another reboot to the franchise if this flops.

kane & Lynch Gets New Director?

Initially, Stunt Coordinator turned Director Simon Crane was attached to direct the upcoming Kane & Lynch based upon the video game by Eidos.  The film is slated to start production this August.

Scripted by Kyle Ward, Bruce Willis is attached to play Adam "Kane" Marcus, a mercenary who makes an unlikely alliance with the schizophrenic killer named James Lynch, to be played by Jamie Foxx. The duo is forced to go on a mission to retrieve a stolen microchip.  Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter are producing.

Well now according to LatinoReview things have changed. The studio and Crane have decided to part ways.

The studio then offered the project to Gary F Gray who passed, but is now currently in talks with Wayne Kramer (Running Scared) to take over as director.

As much as I hate video game adaption's, as they tend to be shit. This actually sounds promising and if anyone can do this right I'd say Kramer is the guy to do it. I loved Running Scared, so hopefully this works out for him to take over.

Bruce Willis is a very busy man right now. He's set to star in not only this, but also potentially The Tomb which was just announced as well as Die Hard 5 which I'm looking forward to the most But will likely have to wait for some time now, with this going into production in a few months, and The Tomb reportedly also being fast tracked by Summit.

Bruce Willis Joins 'The Tomb'

Deadline is reporting that Bad-Ass action star Bruce Willis is in early talks with Summit Entertainment to star in the prison escape drama The Tomb.

Willis is in talks to play Ray Breslin, the world’s foremost authority on structural security.  After analyzing every high security prison and learning a vast array of survival skills so he can design escape-proof prisons, his skills are put to the test. He's framed and incarcerated in a master prison he designed himself. He needs to escape and find the person who put him behind bars.

The script was written by Miles Chapman and rewritten by Jason Keller, and Robbie Brenner and Mark Canton are producing, while Antoine Fuqua is set to direct.

Fuqua made his directorial debut in 98' with The Replacement Killers, but his best work to date could easily be considered 2001's Training Day. Some of his other efforts includ King Arthur, Shooter, and his most recent flop Brooklyn's Finest.

The studio has plans to fast track this into development, so it's likely this will be Willis' next project before beginning production on Die Hard 5 which was also previously announced.

WB Confirms Superman' Christmas 2012 and More!

As first reported by IESB last month the long awaited reboot to the Superman franchise will hit theatres during December 2012. This means Warner Bros will have not only The Chris Nolan directed Batman 3 on July 20, they'll also have the Nolan produced Superman reboot six months later. Wow, talk about a fanboys wet dream.

Now WB chairman and CEO Barry Meyer has confirmed the info with Heat Vision. You can expect to see Superman return (again) for a "holiday season" 2012 release.

In addition to that great news He added that the studio is also "nearing" a greenlight for a "Flash" movie, with films featuring Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Mad magazine characters also in development. Take that Marvel!

Also one last thing I'm sure everyone's already assumed, we will in fact be getting the Sherlock Holmes sequel during Christmas 2011. The sequel is set for a December 16 2011 release. That will set it two years after the release of the first film starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, which went on to make 516 million world wide at the box office.

Tommy Lee Jones Confirmed for 'Captain America'

A few weeks ago we reported via a story from UGO that Tommy Lee Jones was rumored to appear in the forthcoming Captain America film due out next year.

Now an interview with actress Hayley Atwell, who plays Peggy Carter in the film, has confirmed Jones’ appearance.

Atwell spoke on camera to press at the BAFTA television awards, saying,

"I have yet to meet Tommy Lee Jones…Although I think I have a scene with him, which I’m really looking forward to doing. And Samuel L. Jackson, who, I’m sure, he’s got better things to do than come and meet me for five minutes, but I’m sure I’ll get a chance to later."

It still hasn't been confirmed as to which role Jones will take on, but rumor has suggested General Chester Philips as the most likely.

General Phillips hand picked 4-F army reject Steve Rogers to become a part of the 1940 Operation Reborn experiment. In particular, he admired Rogers patriotic spirit. Later, Phillips was a part of picking Rogers as the eventual Super-Soldier Captain America. Phillips also oversaw Rogers initial training as well as some of his early missions.

New International Trailer 'Knight and Day'

20th Century Fox has released this 3-minute international trailer for Knight and Day, opening June 25th and starring Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Viola Davis, Paul Dano, Maggie Grace and Marc Blucas.

In the James Mangold-directed action comedy, a chance encounter thrusts a woman and a charming but lethal operative into a series of adventures across the globe. As if dodging assassins and uncovering world-changing secrets weren't enough, she must now figure out if he is a good guy, a traitor – or just plain crazy.

I don't care if Tom Cruise is a crazy Scientologist that loves to jump on Oprahs couch, because this looks awesome! I've said it before, and I'll say it again Tom Cruise is back! Seeing this trailer actually has me interested in MI:III, even though I didn't bother with the third installment. Oh and I guess Cameron Diaz looks good in this too, but I think it's obvious who steals the show here.

Five new Spider-Man candidates!

May I have your attention please. Will the real Peter Parker please stand up, I repeat, will the real Peter Parker please stand up. We're gonna have a problem here...

With the cancellation of Spider-Man 4 earlier this year came the news that Sony was rebooting the franchise and had hired Marc Webb to direct. The real question on everyone's mind though, has been who will play Spider-Man this time around. We've heard names such as the Percy Jackson star Logan Lerman, to Zac Efron, but now THR has what they're calling the five most likely candidates to play teenage Peter Parker.

THR has the following five candidates as the most likely to play Spider-Man:

-- Jamie Bell: The 24-year-old English actor, repped by WME and Artists Independent Management, who made his film debut playing the title character in “Billy Elliot,” has been doing the proper British actor thing in period movies such as “Nicholas Nickleby” and “Jane Eyre” (he’s also appeared in Hollywood movies such as Peter Jackson’s “King Kong” and Ed Zwick’s “Defiance”). More important, he’s already stepped into the comics world by portraying Tintin in Jackson and Steven Spielberg’s “The Adventures of Tintin” movie, which won’t hit screens until December 2011.

-- Alden Ehrenreich: The Los Angeles-born 20-year-old has a juicy backstory, having been “discovered” by Spielberg, who saw a comedy video starring Ehrenreich at a bat mitzvah of his daughter’s friend. A couple of TV appearances followed, but the actor’s next big leap came when he was cast by Francis Ford Coppola in 2009’s “Tetro.” He is repped by WME.

-- Frank Dillane: The 19-year-old Brit’s main credit is last year’s “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” where he played a young Tom Riddle. Is a minor role in a “Potter” film a good springboard for a mega-franchise? It worked for Robert Pattinson.

-- Andrew Garfield: The L.A.-born actor had a short stint on a BBC TV series called “Sugar Rush” but gained notices for playing a young reporter in a gritty British TV movie trilogy titled “Red Riding.” The 27-year-old appeared in “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” and will be seen in David Fincher’s movie about Facebook, “The Social Network.” He is repped by CAA and the Collective.

-- Josh Hutcherson: The youngest actor of the bunch -- he turns 18 this year -- is also the one with the most experience. The past six years alone have seen the Kentucky-born kid rack up credits with key roles in Jon Favreau’s “Zathura,” drama “Bridge to Terabithia” and the upcoming “Red Dawn” remake. He appears in the Sundance hit “The Kids Are All Right,” which insider buzz suggests could be an Oscar contender, and starred with Brendan Fraser in “Journey to the Center of the Earth.”

My guess is Hutcherson nabs the part. He's the best suited for the part and he has the adavntage of actually being able to act. The only thing making me think He's not the guy could be his recurring role in Warner Bros Journey to center of the Earth sequel due out next year.

Toy Story 3's "Great Escape"

Less than a month to go until the movie I am most looking forward to seeing this summer:  Toy Story 3.  Disney/Pixar has released a behind-the-scenes featurette called "The Great Escape," revealing some details and clips on the story of the third and final Toy Story film:

Don't forget to check out the new clip from the movie too!

Toy Story 3 Exclusive Clip - Buzz Flies

 Toy Story 3 arrives in theaters on June 18th.  Can't wait.

Carl Rinsch Directing 'Logans Run'

Carl Rinsch is in talks to direct Warner Bros long-in-development sci-fi film Logans Run being produced by Joel Silver and Akiva Goldsman. 

Rinsch who is well know in the world of commercials has been looking to make the jump into features for quite some time. He was set to make his debut with the “Alien” prequel before producer Ridley Scott decided to take over himself.

Interest in Rinsch was hugely spiked in April when “The Gift,” the short he made for electronics company Phillips, hit the internet and made its rounds around hollywood.

The sci-fi oriented “Gift” blended realistic robots, a Moscow setting, and a city chase, not to mention caught the attention of many execs, who were looking to adapt it into a feature. Due to the fact that Philips owns the rights to the short it was never put into development, but the short was still able to create other job opportunities for Rinsch.

Logan's Run was already adapted once in the 1976 film starring Michael York, Jenny Agutter and Farrah Fawcett, it was based on a 1967 novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Theres been numerous attempts to re-adapt the property in recent years, including a version that began preproduction with Bryan Singer at the helm.

The plot is set in a utopian future where no one is allowed to live past 30. The lead character, Logan is a "sandman", the "sandmen" are a special group of operatives that stops people known as "runners" from trying to escape when approaching their 30th birthday. Logan is a Sandman who is forced to go on the run.

Even with Warner hiring their director, it's not likely we'll be seeing this hit the big screen anytime soon. They'll still need to hire a writer to pen the new script, and get a cast in place as well.