At first 2012 was suppose to be Nicholas Hoult’s breakout year. The actor was headlining the Bryan Singer directed Jack the Giant Killer and Jonathan Levine’s Warm Bodies. But it would seem that Hoult will have to wait until next year for his breakout. According to Box Office Mojo, Warm Bodies has been pushed back to February 1st, 2013.

The movie is a fantasy love story about a zombie who falls in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer) after he eats her boyfriend’s brains and absorbs his memories. There may be a twilight aspect to the movie, but it does have 50/50’s Jonathan Levine at the helm. While his movies may have been pushed back to next year, it should not the actor’s capabilities. The movie also had John Malovich in a starring role, he would of played as a leader of a military revolt.

The premise of Beautiful Creatures may be something to scoff at first for some mature moviegoers, but the movie adaptation is quickly assembling some big names. Academy Award nominee Viola Davis was the first the to sign on to the project, which was then followed up by Jack O’Connell and Alice Englert’s casting. Now Emma Thompson is the latest name to join the cast of Beautiful Creatures.

Beautiful Creatures is written and directed by Richard LaGravanese and is based on a series of Young Adult novels written by Kami Garcia and Margaet Stohl. These novels follow a young couple who investigate a curse that has taken over their home town. According to THR (via cinemablend) Thompson will be pulling double duty in the movie as she will play as Mrs Lincoln, the small town’s outspoken religious leader – and Sarafine, the witch that possesses her. Should the movie be successful, there is no doubt that we will be seeing sequels to The Caster Chronicles. The fourth book is due out this year.

Despite the young adult premise, there is no doubt that Emma Thompson’s casting means that Beautiful Creatures is heading in the right direction.

As for Emma Thompson future line up, she is set to appear in Barry Sonnenfeld’s Men in Black 3, Terrence Malicks’s Voyage of Time, Pixar’s Brave, and Richard Laxton’s Effie.

Russell Crowe’s name has been popping up many times the first two months of the year. The actor has been attached, rumored, or confirmed to appear in a couple of movies. We already know he will star opposite Hugh Jackman in Tom Hooper’s movie adaptation of Les Miserables, and that he will not appear in MGM’s reboot of Robocop. Crowe is also in talks to appear in Darren Aronofsky’s Noah and Akiva Goldsman’s adaptation of the Mark Helperin’s novel Winter’s Tale.

Now Russell Crowe is in negotiations to appear in Jaume Collet-Serra’s version of Harker. This retelling of the Dracula tale is to be followed up by Akira, which should have a reduced budget by the time Serra has completed his work on Harker. According to Vulture (via slashfilm), the script was written by Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevy. The movie would take place in England where Jonathan Harker is tracking the infamous vampire on behalf of Scotland Yard.

Russell Crowe is still in the early stages of neogitations, so there is no word on if he will appear in the movie. But the actor is set to appear in RZA’s directing debut The Man with the Iron Fists, Allen Hughes’ Broken City, Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot, Man of Steel, and the aforementioned Les Miserables later this year.

Love them or hate them, The Twilight Saga has been the cash cow that every movie studio wished they could have gotten their hands on. Summit Entertainment was lucky enough to claim the rights to the property, which has grossed over $1 billion worldwide, and that number is expected to go up with the final movie set for release this November. But now that they are a part of Lionsgate Entertainment, there is the possibility that we could be seeing another Twilight Movie.

Lionsgate has announced that if Twilight author Stephenie Meyer writes another Twilight novel, that they will adapt it into another feature length film.

Lionsgate Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer said:

“We’re very excited about the opportunities created by our recent acquisition of Summit Entertainment. The February 11 home entertainment release of ‘Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn 1,’ the March 23 theatrical release of ‘Hunger Games’ and the November 16 theatrical release of ‘Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn 2′ lead a strong combined slate that we believe will enable us to deliver increased consistency, profitability and value to our shareholders.”

Considering how much these Twilight movies have made, it should come at no surprise that Lionsgate is willing to make more Twilight movies. But seeing that Stephenie Myers is currently writing The Host series, it could be a while for a new Twilight book comes out, if one even comes out at all.

Tonight will mark the DVD and Blu-ray release of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and a trailer for Breaking Dawn Part 2 will premiere in front of The Hunger Games when that film opens on March 23.

[comingsoon.net]

I have and will always remain hesitant about any remakes for any film good, bad, or otherwise. So when I heard that DreamWorks is planning to remake one of Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest movies, I didn’t know what to think. According to Variety (via slashfilm), the movie studio is planning to make a contemporary version of Hitchcock’s one and only winning best picture, Rebecca. According to the trade Dreamworks and Working Title are planning use the original source and that Eastern Promises scribe Steven Knight will be writing the script.

I can’t say that I am completely on board for this movie. For one thing Gus Van Sant’s vision for Psycho, may not have been the best contemporized Alfred Hitchcock movie, in fact its one of the only major titles on Alfred Hitchcock’s resume that has been reworked. Rebecca , even with its Oscar win, isn’t a title most people would recognize considering Hitchcock is known for his work on Pyscho, Birds, Rear Window, and Vertigo.

Cormac McCarthy’s novels have served as the basis for some of the best movies this past decade, and now the author has sold a screenplay titled The Counselor to the very people who helped produce The Road. Ridley Scott was just one of the many names on a short list of possible directors to helm the movie and now Deadline (via Collider) confirms that he will indeed be the one to bring McCarthy’s script to life on the big screen. In addition to the new hiring, word is that Scott wants his Prometheus star Michael Fassbender as the lead in the movie.

The Counselor has been described as a no holds bar No Country for Old Men, so if you love contemporary westerns on steroids, then this movie should be on one of your must watch lists. The movie will center on a well-respected lawyer who gets into deep into the drug running business. As aforementioned, Ridley Scott is already considering Michael Fassbender playing the top role, but there are a number of other headlining actors that are also considering having a part in The Counselor. THe movie is expected to begin production in May. Fassbender’s has already established himself as an actor every director needs, so the possibly that he could star in a Cormac McCarthy penned screenplay is very exciting. I certainly hope he accepts the offer.

George Lucas is giving his fans the chance to relive some of the best moments in Stars Wars, by rereleasing his six-episode epic in 3D. Sure we may start off chronologically with the worst of the bunch, but I consider Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace to be mere popcorn fun, and nothing more. With the 3D rerelease happening today, journalists will no doubt be asking the Star Wars director about the Star Wars mythos and how the movies have impacted his life and his fans. Oh yeah and his upcoming career and eventual retirement from big-budget blockbusters.

However a recent interview challenges the idea that Han shot first. But before I get into what I think, you can read his quote below. Thanks to the people over at The Hollywood Reporter for the quote.

The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down.

So George Lucas deliberately created confusion and now you are mocking everybody for it. What’s happening here is that he admits he is getting credit for a mistake he made. Worst of all, Lucas is just destroying our first image of Han not just for the fans, but also for those who have yet to watch the movie.

But the thing is, what Lucas says is and will always be the final word as he is the creator of the Star Wars canon. He has the ultimate say on the property, and whatever he says; he deserves the criticism or praise in spades. But what Lucas is doing isn’t improving the quality of the story its destroying it for those who have grown up with the movies, specifically the first Star Wars. Next thing you know, Darth Vader isn’t Luke’s father, Luke and Leia end up together, and frozen carbonite is actually cement. Everything Lucas changes or updates isn’t for the better, its just him pissing on the once and great Star Wars. Simply adding updates to the film ruins the originality of it. No doubt the director wanted to stir up some sort of controversy and drive people into the theaters with this quote

Here’s the original version where Han shoots first:

Now here’s the version where Greedo shoots first:

There will be different versions of the following story from both parties considering one report from EW has Miley Cyrus dropping out of Hotel Transylvania on her own and another report from E! saying she was forced out of the project. Either way you wont be seeing Cyrus’ name attached to the movie. While neither can confirm what happened to Cyrus, both sources are confirming that Selena Gomez will be taking her place in the animated movie set to be directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. Gomez will play as Mavis, Dracula’s rebellious teenage daughter. Gomez joins David Koechner, David Spade, Kevin Smith, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, Cee Lo Green, and Andy Samburg.

The film is officially described as follows:

Welcome to the Hotel Transylvania, Dracula’s (Sandler) lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free from meddling from the human world. But here’s a little known fact about Dracula: he is not only the Prince of Darkness; he is also a dad. Over-protective of his teenage daughter, Mavis, Dracula fabricates tales of elaborate dangers to dissuade her adventurous spirit. As a haven for Mavis, he opens the Hotel Transylvania, where his daughter and some of the world’s most famous monsters – Frankenstein and his bride, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, a family of werewolves, and more – can kick back in safety and peace. For Drac, catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem – but his world could come crashing down when one ordinary guy stumbles on the hotel and takes a shine to Mavis.

John Cusack and Evan Peters are the latest names to join Adult World, they will appear opposite Emma Roberts in the Scott Coffey-directed movie. Based on a script by Andy Cochran, the movie follows Amy (Roberts) is fresh out of the Ivy League and has dreamed of being a great poet since childhood. However, she discovers that adult life is not conducive to achieving her dreams. After exhausting all of the help-wanted ads in the newspaper, she ends up working as a clerk in an adult bookstore after her parents boot her out of their house.
[Deadline]

Coming off one of his best performances in his career, Patton Oswalt is now joining The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The movie is a remake of the original film of the same name. Ben Stiller is set to both direct and star in the film that will use a script written by Steve Conrad.

In the story, a henpecked husband (Stiller) copes with the frustrations of his dull life by imagining he is a fearless airplane pilot, a brilliant doctor, and more. Wiig would play a co-worker to Mitty and also an alternate version of that character in the fantasy sequences. [Variety]

Finally Clint Eastwood’s son, Scott Eastwood, will be joining the cast of The Trouble with the Curve. According to Variety, Scott will play Billy Clark, a minor league player. For those who haven’t been following the story, the movie will focus on an aging baseball scout (Clint Eastwood) who is losing his eye sight and heads off on a roadtrip with his daughter (Amy Adams) to check out a hot prospect. Trouble with the Curve also stars, Matthew Lillard and Justin Timberlake, and John Goodman, who recently joined the cast.

Check out the first trailer for Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.

Watch the trailer for the movie in HD on Yahoo!

While most would suspect some sort of big budget explosions and terrifying earth opening scenarios, the movie seems to take plenty of jabs at the world ending event. So after watching the movie trailer a couple of times, I’ve come to the conclusion that I have to see this movie asap. Both Carrell and Knightley are able to express their talents on both ends of the genre spectrum. While we have seen plenty of that from Carrell, its rare to see Knightley in a comedy, but she is able to spit out a few one-liners that had me laughing.

The movie also stars also stars Adam Brody, Derek Luke, Melanie Lynskey, T.J. Miller, and Melinda Dillon. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World opens June 22nd.

Here’s the official synopsis for the movie:

Set in a too-near future, a man searches for a meaningful connection as humanity’s last days are at hand. Can he find his greatest love at the worst possible time? As the respective journeys of Dodge and Penny converge, the two spark to each other and their outlooks – if not the world’s – brighten.

And here is the official one-sheet for Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Oblivion is Joseph Kosinski’s graphic novel come to life and his follow up movie to the mildly successful Tron Legacy. The movie already has Tom Cruise, Andrea Riseborough, and Olga Kirylenko in the cast, and now Deadline is reporting that Morgan Freeman is now on board to have a starring role.

The movie will follow Tom Cruise as a service repairman assigned to work on a post-apocalypitic earth which is now desolate, bleak, and uninhabited thanks to aliens that prowl the surface of the Earth. During a routine check Jak discovers a mysterious woman (Andrea Riseborough) in a crash-landed pod, it sets off an unstoppable chain of events that will force him to question everything he knows. Olga Kirylenko will play as Jak’s wife, while Morgain Freeman will play as a leader of a resistance group. But while the casting continues, Toy Story 3 and Little Miss Sunshine writer Michael Arndt has been brought in to rewrite a script that William Monahan wrote. Seeing that the movie doesn’t quite have a production date, Universal has yet to announce a release date for Oblivion.

But with the movie finally coming together, expect all of that to change.

Henry Cavill has been slowly introducing himself to major audiences before dons the big red cape. And depending on how successful Man of Steel is at the box office, we could be seeing a lot more of him in sequels and other movies as well. Now the actor is preparing for such an occasion. Variety has word that Cavill will star in Ed Zwick action epic movie The Great Wall. As you might have guessed, the movie will follow the story of the erection of one of the greatest man made defensive barriers in history.

Now The Great Wall will be distributed at Legendary East, the newest branch of Legendary Pictures. As aforementioned, the movie will be directed by Ed Zwick, who co-wrote the script alongside Marshall Herskovitz.

Since this movie will fly under the Legendary Banner, there is no doubt that Zwick saw some footage of Henry Cavill in action in Man of Steel. The footage he saw must have been really super considering no one outside the Legendary Offices has taken a peek at it. The Great Wall has the potential to make Cavill much more than a household name, and if both The Man of Steel and The Great Wall are succesful at the box office, there is no doubt that Cavill will appear in more and more roles in the future.

When it was announced that Legendary Pictures had temporarily shut down production for Alex Proyas’ adaptation of Paradise Lost, it was assumed that the movie would head straight back into the filming process after the budget was worked out. Even Bradley Cooper, who would have played Lucifer, said that Paradise Lost would begin filming this summer. But it appears that Legendary Pictures has scrapped the project entirely. The movie would have been based on the biblical epic war between warring archangels Lucifer and Michael. Joining Cooper would have been Diego Boneta, Benjamin Walker, Casey Affleck and more in a movie that would have featured epic aerial battles the likes of which no one has ever seen.

With a hyperbole like that and a talented cast to back it up, many had hoped that Paradise Lost would come into fruition. But now that the movie was officially been scrapped. The cast and crew are forced to look else were for a job. The budget for Paradise Lost was around $120 million, which is considerably reasonable given the size and scope of the movie. Paradise Lost was expected to begin in Australia this year. But if the budget can be reworked and the cast and crew still have room left in their schedules for this movie, then there is no doubt we will get to see the Paradise Lost that Alex Proyas wanted us to see. [Deadline]

Check out the new photos from Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths stars Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, and Christopher Walken. CBS Films will release Seven Psychopaths. The movie has yet to announce an official release date. Thanks to EW for these photos.