Anime News is announcing that the kick-ass director of Sky Crawlers, Ghost in the Shell and the hotly anticipated Assault Girls film, Mamoru Oshii, is taking on a live action retelling of this classic robot. Which means it will most likely be massively better than the Imagi CG film we've been waiting for, which sadly just looked creepy in this teaser trailer.

The director has already adapted the material once before, mounting a stage production just earlier this year. The show featured a 6-metre tall (i.e., one-third scale) stage robot that was reportedly capable of free standing movement.

The story's hero is little Shotaro Kaneda, whose scientist father dies after spending his life building the ultimate weapon, a giant robot. After his passing, the robot is then given to the son, who uses it exactly the way you or I would: to fight crime and other evil robots. Originally titled Tetsujin 28-gō, this manga was created by Mitsuteru Yokoyama in the 50s. Then it was adapted to an anime series, and later translated to the states as Gigantor.

Superhero Hype has the latest news about Martin Campbell's, from Casino Royale, Green Lantern.

The entire thing will be shot by cinematographer Dion Beebe, who not only shot the amazing-looking Equilibrium, but won an Academy Award for Memoirs of a Geisha.

He'll be working with production designer Grant Major, who worked on The Ruins and King Kong and took home an Oscar for his work on Lord of The Rings. And costume designer Ngila Dickson, who also received an Academy Award for LOTR.

And finally Art Director François Audouy who helped bring the gorgeous scenes from Watchmen to life, is joining the crew. So it seems that Warner Brothers isn't screwing around with this picture, and is investing big money for big turn out. Gone are any campy expectations we had for this film, we're now expecting something much more epic.

Also, our insider sources tell us that production is readying in New Orleans, and should be expecting up to a thousand construction workers for sets and special effects at peak production. Rumors on the internet would lead us to believe that filming would then start in March, ending in either July of August 2010.

[Image Via Geek Tyrant]

According to ShockTillYouDrop Summit Entertainment has acquired Ben Magid's spec script Invasion which starts off with like this:

The film opens with a wicked subway accident in Los Angeles in which the survivors (the film's protagonists) climb from the wreckage to find the, now "snowy," city in ruins. What they encounter topside is bodies, mobs of people in a state of panic and acidic "goo."

So, not entirely like Héctor Germán Oesterheld's El Eternauta, but similar. Let's hope that if it is inspired they will take a page from the heroes' scrappy resourcefulness and engineer a scuba suit hero!

Eli Roth and Eric Newman are producing the project, which will be Roth's second alien film, if the rumors about his next movie Endangered Species are correct.

Star Magazine claims that Dunst will be written out of the next Spider-Man film:

"The plan is for her character to be written out, probably by dying. Anne will take over as Peter Parker's new love interest for this project and for Spider-Man 5 and 6 which are being written now. Anne's in L.A. doing a lot of meetings on the movie, because filming is right around the corner."

But Hathaway's representative told Gossip Cop there's no truth to rumors Hathaway will be Spidey's new girl. Nor has there been any confirmation that Hathaway's even in the film, in the rumored "Vultress" role or any other. Still, we can always hope the part about Mary Jane dying off is true.

In an interview with Collider actor Mark Strong discussed how Avatar made everyone at Pixar sit up and take notice, mere days before they go into production in January.

Strong, who plays Matai Shang, the God-like ruler over the Fern people who spends his time being ripped and keeping tabs on the Universe, shared his thoughts on how Pixar's Andrew Stanton is ready to dominate James Cameron's Avatar with their own mo-cap/live action scifi film.

I mean it's "Avatar" type territory, and I think the point I was making before [is that] these Pixar guys are always wanting to be in the vanguard. They want to be leading from the front. They're giving the public stories that the public don't even know they want. I mean a story about a fish? A story about an old guy keeping his house? On paper, these must seem like, you know, how on earth are you going to carry those things off. Talking toys? Come on. But they... I think Andrew said they're in the business of giving the public what they want before they know they want it. So I can totally imagine he's gone to see "Avatar" and that'll just set the cogs whirring in his brain and the twinkle in his eye because he'll just want to surpass it, no question.

James Cameron Versus Pixar — it doesn't get much better than that. Sure Pixar, will have to upgrade their live action assimilation, since the Toy Story humans still reside deep in the uncanny valley. But story wise? Pixar, hands down. It should be interesting to see what they pull out.

As for Strong, he's signed on to make the entire John Carter movie trilogy that Pixar has planned as the heroes nemesis, if it beats Avatar, that is.

Hollyscoop is reporting that producers of the remake of Supergirl: The Love Story, a movie we haven't heard a thing about, are very interested in Taylor Swift for the title role.

Unfortunately we hear differently. Our own insider source in Swift's camp says, "Nothing is planned." This is how rumors get started, folks. A bunch of "Hollywood types," i.e. people who live in LA, are sitting around talking about movies they'd like to make and who'd they like to see in them, probably moved by Swift's generally humorous SNL appearance, and all of a sudden it's a cold hard fact.

As far as we know, Swift is not Kara Zor-El.

Mark Millar talked to Comic Book Resources about the "making of" book, Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie, coming in February from Titan Books:

Having already seen the finished "Kick-Ass" movie six times, Millar shared some details that will be found inside the Titan title with CBR News, like the fact that Daniel Craig and Mark Wahlberg were also considered for the part of Big Daddy and that Kick-Ass wasn't even the original star of the comic.

I can't even imagine Mark Wahlberg being able to take the role of Big Daddy seriously. And on balance, we're still pretty glad it's Nic Cage. Who else blends human psychosis and fatherly love ever so perfectly?

Millar also explained what the second volume of Kick-Ass (and possibly the second movie, if the first one does well enough) will be called, and when to expect it:

The working title is "Balls to the Wall," and we're thinking about launching it round about San Diego time, right around August. But to avoid delays, we'd like to stockpile a few issues, I think.

Plus they have a load of new Kick-Ass concept art from the new movie book, as seen above and below. More images at CBR.

[Comic Book Resources]

Variety announced Rene Russo would be playing the role as Frigga, whose husband Odin, to be played by Anthony Hopkins. Frigga is the stepmother to both Thor and Loki, and Loki will become the central villain in this tale, played by Tom Hiddleston.

In other Thor news, the folks over at IGN noticed that Joseph Gatt has a special announcement on his personal website, that he is

"prepping for his most prominent job to date: a (secret) role in the forthcoming Marvel Studios film Thor, slated for release in 2011."

He doesn't say who he is playing, but already the internet is guessing it's for the role of Skurge the Executioner, which he does have the build for. And at least now we know there will most likely be more than one bad guy.

Variety announced that Universal Pictures is in early talks with well known commercial director, Carl Erik Rinsch, to bring back the Creature from The Black Lagoon.

Carl Erik Rinsch was originally picked by Ridley Scott to helm the much buzzed about Alien prequel, but now Scott has taken over that director's chair himself. The script is by Gary Ross, who previously stated that is will have, "scientific underpinnings."

[Picture via inknerd by Alfie Lamberger at Mark of the Sparks Tattoos]

Movieline is reporting that if all negotiations go as planned, John Malkovich will be playing the bald and pissed off Vulture in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4. All right, fine, another bad guy in the mix. But wait they're not done yet. According to the site, Anne Hathaway is not in negotiations to be the Black Cat, as we'd previously heard. Instead it's much, much worse.

The 27-year-old actress is currently the top choice for Felicia Hardy, who'd been long-rumored as one of the new characters in this installment. (Other names bandied about for the role included Julia Stiles, Rachel McAdams, and Romola Garai.) However, unlike in the comic books, this Felicia Hardy doesn't transform into the Black Cat. Instead, Raimi's Felicia will become a brand-new superpowered figure called the Vulturess.

Well, I think it's safe to say "no thanks," to that idea. While we like the idea of getting Anne Hathaway in a comic book movie, turning the Felicia Hardy character into the Vulture's distaff counterpart is a sacrifice we're just not willing to take. But take solace in this fact, it's still merely a rumor at this point. And the rumors for this film have been spreading like untamed symbiotes.

In an interview with Collider, Peter Jackson crushed the rumors about a 2012 release, and confirmed that the plan still is 2011 in December, which is soon, really soon. Methinks he may be singing a different tune come July.

Meanwhile, who's going to play Bilbo? IGN asked Jackson about the many actors that have been rumored to be in line [Daniel Radcliffe, Martin Freeman, James McAvoy and David Tennant]. Are any of them actually in the running? Jackson wouldn't rule any anyone out, because some of the names mentioned were not under consideration, and he didn't want fans to figure it out based on the process of elimination. Plus, he's still looking for an unknown that may be able to fill the role of Bilbo. (And presumably, handle his accelerated filming schedule, without any conflicts.)

Next, ultimate Tolkien site The One Ring, has the news that there's casting calls going out for — gasp — a woman to appear in this film. And since they probably wouldn't be casting bit parts and extras at this point, the fans speculate that maybe there's a she-dwarf in the mix. Or maybe it's the voice for something. And there are a lot of somethings lurking about in the woods and hills in this book. So your guess is as good as ours.

And finally, AICN Downunder is reporting, on top of their Brian Cox dwarf rumors, that Tom Waits may be joining the film as well. Both are still unconfirmed, and no one is sure what Waits would be cast as, so the whole thing is mere talk at this point. Still the man was amazing in Dracula and Dr. Parnassus, so nether he nor Cox would be a tough sell.

In a press release to Variety Halycon announced the auction would be closing:

"Over the past few weeks, Halcyon and its professionals have engaged in in-depth discussions and negotiations with numerous serious potential buyers, including several major movie studios," Halcyon said. "In addition, a number of attractive refinancing alternatives have also been presented. In order to maximize the value of a transaction for all of the company's creditors and stakeholders, we are fully analyzing all these options."

Haylcon, which has filed for bankruptcy, explained in November that they would find their "stalking horse" bid, or one bid which they pick as representing a minimum bid price for the assets. But apparently, they have done away with this part of the process. Many people believe that this is a bad sign for the future of Skynet.

Over at Nikki Finke's blog the comments are pretty telling:

From: Fan of the First Three Terminators, Not This One:
Look at it logically. These dopes paid 25 million for the franchise (well, they defaulted on the payments, and got sued by the hedge fund that loaned them the money but why get technical?) They got sued by their producing partner for 160 million bucks for fraud before the film even opened because they were already welching on money they owed people. They filed for bankruptcy before the DVD even came out. This Terminator grossed 60 million less than the last one, despite the rise in ticket prices. And since DVD sales are in the toilet everywhere, and that's where a high-budget tentpole actually goes into profit, whoops, no profit. Oh, and the TV show from the franchise tanked too. Also the video game and the Six Flags ride, because Six Flags went bankrupt.

Maybe the Pizza Hut Terminator Salvation Pizza was good, that I don't know, but if it was like the movie it cost too much to make, came in a flashy package, but was ultimately flat and tasteless. Therefore this franchise is worth:

From Warner Borg:
I'll tell you what the problem is here. They are expecting someone to offer a big money for the rights and no one has. And frankly, no one will.

Why? Because the Terminator brand is played out at this point. It needs to go away for a few years and then reappear with some hot new talent behind the camera. No one is going to pay a premium for a franchise they can't get started ASAP. If someone like Fox or WB does snap up the rights to the franchise then expect them to get it for a bargain and sit on the rights for a few years.

The numbers that were being floated around by Halcyon ($75m+ !!!!!!!) for the rights were absolutely laughable.

It's sad, but we tend to agree. James Cameron should just buy this up on the cheap, and decide who should be in charge of resurrecting this series. But if this goes the way people are predicting, it could be many, many years until we see another Terminator film — and don't hold your breath for a worthy installment.

According to Vin Diesel's Facebook page, the Riddick crew is headed to New Zealand to look for locations. Which is totally different than any Riddick world we've seen thus far.

I wonder if New Zealand will be the hostile planet Riddick will be stuck on, "surrounded by hostile beasts." I hope so, because it's gorgeous. And while I'm happy to have Riddick back, I'm hoping that they attempt to explain the Necromonger world that was introduced in the Chronicles of Riddick — but so far the new Riddick sounds more space action and less space opera. Still, always good to have the Furyan back.

Publisher's Weekly noticed this little gem on Amazon. Both complete series will be available soon, along with The Best of Rocko's Modern Life but when, we're not sure. There is no date as of right now, but we'll keep checking. Maybe this is the holiday miracle we've been dreaming about. Now all we need is the complete DVD set of Liquid Television, and we're set.

You can watch the first episode of the The Maxx, which was adapted from Sam Kieth's comic book below, along with the first episode of The Head.

In an interview with InContention, Bridges explained that the Marvel superhero movie rushed into production to make its release date, with the director and star making up scenes as they went along:

"They had no script, man. They had an outline. We would show up for big scenes every day and we wouldn't know what we were going to say. We would have to go into our trailer and work on this scene and call up writers on the phone, 'You got any ideas?' Meanwhile the crew is tapping their foot on the stage waiting for us to come on."

Bridges, director Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. would literally act out sequences during primitive rehearsals, Downey taking on Bridges's role and vice versa, to find and essentially improvise their way to full scenes, the actor recounts. Bridges says that the entire production was probably saved by the improv prowess of the film's director and star.

"You've got the suits from Marvel in the trailer with us saying, 'No, you wouldn't say that,'" Bridges continued. "You would think with a $200 million movie you'd have the shit together, but it was just the opposite. And the reason for that is because they get ahead of themselves. They have a release date before the script, ‘Oh, we'll have the script before that time,' and they don't have their shit together.

"Jon dealt with it so well," Bridges continues. "It freaked me out. I was very anxious. I like to be prepared. I like to know my lines, man, that's my school. Very prepared. That was very irritating, and then I just made this adjustment. It happens in movies a lot where something's rubbing against your fur and it's not feeling right, but it's just the way it is. You can spend a lot of energy bitching about that or you can figure out how you're going to do it, how you're going to play this hand you've been dealt. What you can control is how you perceive things and your thinking about it. So I said, ‘Oh, what we're doing here, we're making a $200 million student film. We're all just fuckin' around! We're playin'. Oh, great!' That took all the pressure off. ‘Oh, just jam, man, just play.' And it turned out great!"

First off, that's amazing that he called them "suits." He really is The Dude. And second, this is just hilarious. I can't believe they let Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau just run with this stuff. But, thank goodness they did, because what came out was a pretty great action flick blended with biting humor. Still I can't imagine what it must have been for everyone else on set. [InContention via Worst Previews]

Thanks to Latino Review we now have a full report on what director Peter Berg is planning for his Battleship movie. It sounds wondrously epic and Independence Day terrible/awesome.

This is what we learned from Berg...

The aliens, called The Regents, came here looking for something, but they are not wholly evil bent on world domination. We did nothing to provoke them, but they still have an ecological interest in our world. Also they fire ballistics, not ray guns and will be half-CG half-"man in a suit" technology. But sadly, their ship is damaged somehow and that becomes another part of the plot:

"the enemy does come from another planet... We tried to keep it a secret, but it's our goal to make that as intelligent and logical, certainly as 'District 9' was able to do. But to provide a real intelligence to our opponent, a logic, a rationale for being there and not purely hostile, violent creatures bent on global destruction. They've got a much more logical agenda planned that happens to come into conflict with us. Then there's a chance for two relatively equal opponents to go at each other and you get a sense of some of the equipment you saw, the level and intelligence of that character of what modern sailors are today."

"There's a group of life forms from some other planet have come to our planet for something. They've got a very specific agenda. That agenda is not global domination. It's an agenda and that agenda puts them into conflict with members of our military. Their technology is relatable. It's not incredibly far out and unbeatable. It's comprehensible. Hopefully it'll make for good fun and an intense ride."

There will be a battleship-esque screen in the game similar to the movie:

"This is a key set in the film. You put this screen on, it's very easy to imagine this as a much more sophisticated Battleship screen from the board game. What they're doing with this screen is identifying threats or identifying objects whether it be in the air, on the sea or underwater. Much the same way you would try to identify or locate your enemy in the game."

And finally the film will be heavily research based when dealing with modern day Naval technology, and what happens when all of their high tech gadgets stop functioning:

"One of the things the film inspires is it takes us into this incredibly complicated world of communications, of radar, of GPS locators, of weapons systems, to show all of this state of art as cool as we possibly can. Somebody asked about backups? (If the computer systems go down) That's another thing we're going to sort of explore. Taking away some of the technology we have.... for example, you'll see there's a light out here [on the battleship the reporters were on]. This is an old fashioned Morse Code signal light. All of this state of the art technology in the world, if everything else goes, if you can't get a cell phone or walkie talkie signal, this can signal Morse code. And obviously in the game Battleship, being able to identity in the game where your enemy is, and locate and identify, is something, that is the core component of the game. Well, one of things we hope to do in this film successfully, is to take away some of this really incredible state of the art technology and have people communicating, and this is just one example, there's others, of using some sort of old-school communication."

To find out more — and there's lots more — check out Latino Review's entire report.

KGNB news is reporting that stars Adrien Brody, Alice Braga and Danny Trejo were all Texas setting up a big shot at Canyon Lake Gorge, pictured above. And "apparently the filmmakers thought the gorge was the perfect look to create an alien landscape." This makes us a little happy to see a bit of variation being thrown into the otherwise Hawaii jungle-dominated or green-screened film. Plus, it's very beautiful, let's hope someone dies on it with buckets of blood.

In other news the director, Nimród Antal, told Coming Soon that he was all but done with fans unhappy with his casting decisions. Namingly, replacing Arnold's bulk with the stick-figure Adrien Brody and tiny Topher Grace:

I think when we cast Adrian, there were a lot of people going, 'What?' but at the same time, if we cast a Vin Diesel in that role or if we cast anyone who is Arnold-esque, we would have been attacked for doing that. So we decided early on to go in a very different direction as far as the casting process, but it turned out fantastic. He plays a mercenary in the film and if you look at the guys in Iraq and Afghanistan today, they're not 'yolked-out' Schwarzenegger-looking guys. They're all very wiry and thin guys, and I think it's going to play well."

Read the rest of the interview at Coming Soon, and while we understand what he's saying, we'd still like to see an action hero with a little meat on his/her bones go up against the Predators. The movie is still being filmed but will be released in theaters on July 7th, 2010.

[picture via edwards aquifer]

In this French hamster villa guests put on furry hamster hats, run on their own exercise wheels, nibble on hamster food, and sleep on stacks of hay. This is madness — $150 a night to sleep on hay? If this is the minimalist movement, I'm terrified for the kennel clubs that are bound to open up in the states.

[Telegraph]