Star Wars Episode 1 could be the only 3D converted film

Psyched at the prospect of seeing the Star Wars converted to 3D for a big screen re-release? Well, if you are then you better hope Lucasfilm's master plan works because otherwise we might just get one of them -- and not the one that anybody likely wants.

Here's what CzechPosition.com learned about the conversions during an interview with producer Rick McCallum: "'We're doing 3D versions of all six films, one a year, starting in February of next year. We start with [episode] one and go all the way through six, totally chronological,' he said. But the first one is a somewhat of a test. 'One a year, if they work. If they don't, then there will be just one [episode converted to 3D].'"

That's right. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 3D could be the only conversion fans get should their "test" fail.

Russell Crowe in negotiations to be Jor-El in Superman Reboot

Variety reports that Oscar winner Russell Crowe is in negotiations to portray Superman's (Henry Cavill) Kryptonian father in the Zack Snyder-directed reboot. The trade adds that Warner Bros. refused comment on the report.

Kevin Costner will portray Supes' earthly dad Jonathan Kent opposite Diane Lane as his wife, Martha. Amy Adams will play Lois Lane and Michael Shannon has been cast as General Zod. No word yet on who will play Perry White and Jimmy Olsen.

"With production set to start next month, Jor-El was one of the last roles to cast, though they also are looking for a big name to play Superman's biological mother [Lara]," according to Variety.

Sound off on Crowe's casting in the Comments below!

James Cameron, Sam Worthington and Will Staples teaming up for MYTH

James Cameron is planning to team with Will Staples, a writer from the Call of Duty games, for a "sci-fi action project." They'll be joined by Cameron's Avatar star Sam Worthington and Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.

Heat Vision reports that 20th Century Fox is in early talks with Staples to acquire his pitch, which is called Myth. Cameron is already attached to executive-produce and di Bonaventura and Worthington are attached as producers. 

Cameron won't direct the film -- he's spending the next 15 years making Avatar sequels at the Earth's core, don't you know? -- and at this point in the proceedings Worthington won't star either. Might depend on how Clash of the Titans 2 turns out!

"Nothing is known about Myth other than it's big, it's sci-fi, and it's got lots of action," says HV.
 

Fast and Furious 6 is coming in 2013

Seeing as Fast Five has made $585.5 million worldwide and counting, it's no big surprise that Universal Pictures wants to make another installment of its The Fast and the Furious franchise.

Coming Soon snapped a photo of advertising art for Fast & Furious 6 at the Licensing International Expo, which is now underway in Las Vegas.

The banner reveals that the film is slated for a 2013 release.

No word yet on who will direct, but stars Vin Diesel and Paul Walker have expressed their desire to return for another ride.

Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis could reteam for Major Matt Mason

Tom Hanks still intends on turning the 1960s Mattel toy Major Matt Mason into a live-action feature film -- and in 3D at that -- and is trying to get his pal Robert Zemeckis onboard to direct.

The Hollywood Reporter says Hanks' production company Playtone is in talks with Zemeckis -- who directed Hanks in Forrest Gump, The Polar Express and Cast Away -- to direct Major Matt Mason.

The project, scripted by Hansk and Graham Yost (a scribe on the Hanks-produced From the Earth to the Moon, Band of Brothers), is reportedly budgeted at over $100 million. 

Matt Mason and his "Men in Space" lived in a space station and worked on the moon, where they often encounter the giant alien Captain Lazer. 

Shia Labeouf has announced he won't be back for another Transformers.

In a new interview, Shia LaBeouf has stated what we all pretty much knew anyway: He's done with Transformers.

MTV's inestimable Kara Warner has the report on Bumblebee's best pal, who has said that once Transformers: Dark of the Moon is released this summer, he's finished with the giant robots in disguise.

"I'm not coming back to do another one," says the actor. "I don't think [director Michael Bay] will either. It still is a hot property, I think, especially coming out of the third one. So I imagine they'll reboot it at some point with someone else." 

Not that it will be easy to see a young up-and-comer hanging with the Autobots.

"You have an onus in it. I'll enjoy it. I'll go [see it] opening night, I'll be there. But there is a disconnect," continues LaBeouf, before joking that, "It's mine, dude. … It's mine."

He's also high on Dark of the Moon, saying it's the best of the three Transformers films.

"It's the best action, in terms of the geography," he says. "In the second one, you get confused as to who's fighting who and where you are, because it's such a big landscape. This one is Black Hawk Down-ish. It's one location, and the geography is simple to understand. … [Bay] did the 3D in a different way than anyone has ever done it before. James Cameron has seen the movie; he said it's the best 3D since Avatar, so there's all that. Also, this is our best story. It's the most solid screenplay we've had since we started."

Plus, John Malkovich is in it. So it's gotta be good, right? 

Bill Nighy will be joining the Total Recall remake

Bill Nighy will reunite with his Underworld director Len Wiseman and co-star Kate Beckinsale in the remake of Total Recall.

Colin Farrell leads the cast of the now Mars-less Recall redo, which also stars Jessica Biel and Bryan Cranston. According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Nighy will play Quatto, the leader of the resistance."

Nighy will also be seen in the forthcoming Jack the Giant Killer and Wrath of the Titans.

Original Cast return for American Reunion...as well as some added extras

30 Rock's resident beauty Katrina Bowden has joined the cast of American Reunion, the fourth feature film installment in Universal's American Pie franchise.

Variety reports that Bowden "will play [Chris] Klein's girlfriend who is an L.A. party girl type." Bowden was also recently cast in the horror sequel, Piranha 3DD.

The film stars Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tara Reid, Seann William Scott, Mena Suvari, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Jennifer Coolidge and Eugene Levy. Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg scripted and will direct. Here's the official plot synopsis: 

"In the comedy American Reunion, all the American Pie characters we met a little more than a decade ago are returning to East Great Falls for their high-school reunion. In one long-overdue weekend, they will discover what has changed, who hasn't and that time and distance can't break the bonds of friendship.

It was summer 1999 when four small-town Michigan boys began a quest to lose their virginity. In the years that have passed, Jim and Michelle married while Kevin and Vicky said goodbye. Oz and Heather grew apart, but Finch still longs for Stifler's mom. Now these lifelong friends have come home as adults to reminisce about—and get inspired by—the hormonal teens who launched a comedy legend." 

Sony acquires Bigelow's Osama Movie

Columbia Pictures has acquired United States distribution rights to the forthcoming motion picture from Oscar winners Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, director and screenwriter, respectively, of the Best Picture-winning film The Hurt Locker, it was announced today by Amy Pascal, Co-Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The untitled film focuses on the black ops mission to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, which culminated in his death earlier this month during a high-stakes raid on his compound in Pakistan. Bigelow and Boal have been developing the project since 2008 and plan to incorporate recent events into the film.

Boal and Bigelow will produce the project, along with Annapurna Pictures' Megan Ellison, and executive producer, Greg Shapiro, with production slated to commence in the late summer of 2011. The film will be released in the United States in the 4th quarter of 2012.

Commenting on the announcement, Pascal said, "With the death of Osama bin Laden, this film could not be more relevant. Kathryn and Mark have an outstanding perspective on the team that was hunting the most wanted man in the world. . Mark is second to none as an investigative journalist, and Kathryn will bring the same kind of compelling authenticity and urgency that distinguished The Hurt Locker and made that film so memorable and special."

Third Riddick Movie in the Works

Vin Diesel loves a bit of social networking, and this week he's been talking up plans to shoot a third Riddick film this summer.

Here's what he posted on Facebook about the proposed follow-up to Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick.

"DT [David Twohy] the writer/director just landed in New York with the good news. We can start filming this summer. However, there is a catch... in order for us to make a true R-rated film, I must work for scale upfront."

Then rather more cryptically he added "Money is always second to art, integrity and spirit... but the real issue is deeper. Can I suspend my life, to momentarily venture to that dark place... called Riddick."

He followed that post with an update revealing that he was meeting with Twohy to talk schedules and concept art.

So if Diesel can make a deal with the money-men, we could be seeing Riddick return for an ultra-violent flick in 2012.

Matt Reeves will direct a Frankenstein Movie

Cloverfield and Let Me In director Matt Reeves has signed on to direct This Dark Endeavour, which reimagines the early years of Victor Frankenstein.

Based on a proposed series of novels by Kenneth Oppel - the first of which is due out this summer - the film will follow the brilliant young Frankenstein in search of the Elixir of Life to save his mortally ill twin brother Konrad.

According to Deadline, the movie has a screenplay by Mean Creek writer Jacob Aaron Estes, and is being produced by Karen Rosenfelt (Twilight Saga). Unsurprisingly this version of Frankenstein features a familiar love triangle between Victor, his friend Elizabeth, and Konrad.

Yesterday, it was announced that Peter Ackroyd's novel The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein - which explores the Victor's student days - was in the works at Sam Raimi's Ghost House Pictures. And with Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein hopefully still in the works at Universal, there'll be no shortage of the mad scientist ahead.

No release dates or cast details have yet been announced.

Dark Knight Rises Adds two more to the cast

Variety reports that two actors with genre movie credentials have joined the cast of The Dark Knight Rises in minor roles.

Two veterans of Apollo 13 have been cast in the film. Brett Cullen (who also played Johnny Blaze's dad in Ghost Rider and played Goodwin Stanhope on Lost) will play a judge in the Christopher Nolan-directed threequel, while Chris Ellis (Transformers, and the DC TV series Birds of Prey) has been cast as a priest.

The Dark Knight Rises is now filming in England. 

First Picture of Bane from Dark Knight Rises

The below picture of Tom Hardy as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises was revealed today, following a series of viral stunts.

The hunt began on the film's official website, where a loop of chanting could be heard. The wave form of the chant was analysed to yield a hashtag, #TheFireRises. When someone tweeted using this hastag, their Twitter profile picture was added to a mosaic, slowly forming the picture of Bane below.

However, before the mosaic was finished, the completed picture was posted on facebook. 

And Bane looks more than a formidable opponent for Christian Bale's Batman.

While not grotesquely pumped as in the comics, Hardy's engorged muscles and muzzled face still retain iconic elements of the character combined with Nolan's moderating realism.

The Dark Knight Rises hits cinemas on July 20, 2012.