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In November we got word that the Hollywood remake machine was pumping out a new remake of the 1942 classic Arabian Nights courtesy of director Chuck Russell (The Scorpion King). The story follows a young commander (played by Liam Hemsworth, brother of Thor’s Chris Hemsworth) who, after his king is killed in a coup, joins forces with Sinbad, Ali Baba and the Genie from the magic lamp to rescue the queen.

Though Russell’s involvement left something to be desired, Hemsworth makes things a little bit more interesting as does news from Heat Vision today that Anthony Hopkins is in negotiations to play the villain in the film.

Hopkins will play Pharotu, an evil sorcerer who killed Sinbad’s love, a mermaid, and is now amassing more magic for himself. First it was liver, fava beans and a nice chianti and now it’s just magic. Is there anything Hopkins doesn’t want (besides his involvement in The Wolfman)? Russell co-wrote the script with Barry P. Ambrose, and production is slated to begin sometimes towards the end of summer. It’s trivially interesting to note that Hopkins also stars in Thor with Liam’s brother Chris Hemsworth, and if that first image from Marvel’s comic book film is any indication, Liam is going to have to kick some serious ass in Arabian Nights to keep up with his brother.

Source: FirstShowing.

Although Will Smith and Martin Lawrence may both be busy with their respective threequels (Men in Black 3 and Big Momma’s House 3), there might be another threequel that will bring them both together again. We’re talking about Bad Boys 3. While we heard last August that screenwriter Peter Craig, who wrote The Town for Ben Affleck, was going to take a crack at the script, we haven’t heard much since, other than Lawrence’s hopes that it would come together sooner than later. Well, now it looks like super producer Jerry Bruckheimer is also up for a third go round but it’s something that they’re building to gradually.

Whilst promoting his other film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Bruckheimer spoke with ComingSoon and this is what he had to say about the potential of a Bad Boys 3, “It’s a wish and a hope and a dream. We’ve been working on a screenplay, which is excellent. It’s an idea Will gave us, so hopefully, it will come to fruition, we would love it to.” Since Lawrence said he’s waiting for Bruckheimer to tell him it was “really real,” it seems like we only have to wait for Will Smith’s schedule to open up. If all goes well maybe Michael Bay will have an opening after Transformers 3 wraps shooting, then maybe we’ll see some real movement.

Source: FirstShowing.

Now that you’ve seen it, what did you think? Its been 29 years since Ray Harryhausen and Desmond Davis unleashed the original Clash of the Titans upon the world and now the Greek gods are all back again for another battle. Louis Leterrier’s new Clash of the Titans remake hits theaters this weekend. But is it any good? How does it compare to the original? Do the effects look better in contrast to Ray Harryhausen’s work? How is the story?

How are the characters and performances, including Sam Worthington and Gemma Arterton? If you’ve seen it, leave a comment below, and let us know what you thought of Clash of the Titans!

To fuel the fire, actually really enjoyed this Clash of the Titans remake. I don’t think that it’s better than the original Ray Harryhausen movie and it’s not one of my favorites of this year, but I actually had a good time. There’s a lot of really badass elements to it that I loved seeing. Hades looked awesome and kicked ass, the tall desert creatures (seen above – I forget their name) were awesome, one of my favorite new characters in any “fantasy” movie in a long time. However, the story felt a little dull, like it needed more to make it a little edgier. It was hard to watch this when the original is one of my all-time favorites, but I was able to still enjoy it, and I don’t think it’s a bad movie, despite what others may be saying. Note: I saw this in 2D, not in 3D.

Although we’re probably going to hear plenty more throughout the summer about this, since WonderCon was this weekend, it was the perfect place to bring this up. Chris Evans made his first big appearance at WonderCon since officially landing the role of Captain America in Marvel’s upcoming movie. He was there to promote The Losers and Warner Bros tried as hard as they could to prevent anyone from talking about Cap.

Somehow, SuperHeroHype finally got Evans to talk very briefly about why he took on the role and why he decided to play another superhero after playing Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four. Find out!

“I think Marvel is doing a lot of good things right now, and it’s a fun character. Even if it wasn’t a comic book. I think the story of Steve Rogers is great. He’s a great guy. Even if it was just a script about anybody, I would probably want to do it. So it wasn’t necessarily about the comic itself. He’s a great character. He’s a great character to play. He just happens to be a comic book character.”

Damn straight. It’s about time Hollywood stopped looking at comic books as a lesser medium. The stories and characters in comics are a lot better than most of the Hollywood crap that gets churned out all year long anyway. Quint of AICN snapped that photo you see above of Evans at WonderCon yesterday. The joke of the day was that Evans was looking pretty damn buff already and if only we didn’t know he was officially playing Cap, this would be real confirmation that he was getting ready for the role. He’s definitely been beefing up and I’m already starting to warm up to Evans as Cap. Can’t wait to hear more from him in the near future!

Source: FirstShowing.

After a recent casting addition that brought Rose McGowan aboard the brand new Conan film, rampant speculation began that she might be playing Red Sonja, a well-known character from the Conan universe. After all, she has been attached to play the character for a couple years in a Robert Rodriguez produced adaptation, despite endless delays getting the project started which Rodriguez recently confirmed himself. Though he cites a desire from other producers to get Conan off the ground first, Pajiba has discovered that all previous developments on the project have been nixed, and an offer is now out to Megan Fox to star.

This sounds like a better idea, not only because McGowan isn’t really young enough to take on a potential franchise like this, but because Fox is going to need a new franchise where she’s not just the love interest. With Red Sonja, she can still be stunningly hot, potentially badass and rake in the money from fanboys who just want to see her fight in the skimpiest outfit that PG-13 will allow. And let’s be honest, McGowan is to Rodriguez what Helena Bonham Carter is to Tim Burton. We get it. Stop working together on everything.

So this news coupled with Rodriguez’ somewhat disassociating words about the project makes a Red Sonja cameo from McGowan all the less likely, but it sounds like the feature project is still moving along in some capacity. Though McGowan and apparently director Douglas Aarniokoski are off the project, producers are looking for someone to take another pass at David N. White’s script as this new incarnation of the project takes form. Fox hasn’t shown much actual talent yet, but she might be able to pull this off. McGowan is one kick ass chick, but I’m just not sure she was right for Red Sonja from the start. What do you guys think?

Source: FirstShowing.

The official website of the hit movie Paranormal Activity just released an announcement from director Oren Peli that Kip Williams, better known as Tod Williams, will direct the sequel. “We are thrilled to have Kip working with us,” Peli states. “He is the guy we want at the helm, because he knows exactly what we want to deliver to the fans… and I can’t wait to be a part of what he’s putting together.” Let’s hope he does a good job with this still unnecessary sequel, as I don’t want it to suck.

Williams previously directed The Adventures of Sebastian Cole and The Door in the Floor and is attached to a drama called Jar City, but it looks like Paranormal is now top priority, that is if Paramount is still trying to get it shot and ready by October 22nd this year, as originally planned. Peli also says, “I don’t want to spoil the story but I promise it’ll surprise you.” To be honest, although I know nothing about Williams, I’m glad they didn’t choose any of the more mainstream directors, as this needs someone with that indie low-budget sensibility to deliver a proper sequel. We’ll keep you updated as this continue to move forward.

Source: FirstShowing.net

Finally after endless speculation and rumors it looks like the search is over as Heat Vision has followed up their initial scoop and confirmed with several sources that Chris Evans is officially The First Avenger: Captain America. Apparently the deal moved super fast over the weekend and the trade blog says now it’s “all about dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.” So there you have it ladies and gentlemen. Though I would’ve loved to see Ryan McPartlin or Mike Vogel suit up as Captain America instead, Evans is certainly better than John Krasinski and most of the other candidates. Now there’s only one thing left to say: Avengers assemble!

Neither Marvel or Evans’ representatives have commented on this news, so it’s not exactly 100% official, but this is pretty solid confirmation. I don’t know, this could turn out to be a great breakthrough for Evans, who has shown some potential in previous endeavors. After all, in a mostly tragic adaptation of Fantastic Four, I thought (unlike Alex) that The Human Torch was the best part because his character and portrayal was pitch perfect since his was really the only one who felt natural in both comedy and action. In addition, his work in the more gritty superpower driven flick Push (even if the movie wasn’t all that great) and in Danny Boyle’s sci-fi thriller Sunshine showed that he’s more than just a hot rod douchebag delivering sarcastic one-liners.

Although we’ve all been chatting about Evans’ in this role in our last article, it’s time to ask again what you really think of Evans playing Cap. There’s nothing we can do to change their decision, so it’s time to accept what we’ve got and hope for the best.

A couple of weeks back it was reported that Angelina Jolie was “ditching” the Wanted sequel to supposedly move on to Alfonso Cauron’s new sci-fi project Gravity (even though it turns out she’s no longer attached to that). Some reports were saying this might mean the death of that sequel, but author Mark Millar recently spoke with MTV and confirmed that Universal and director Timur Bekmambetov are planning to move on without Jolie and put together the film anyway with a new character from the comic book in place of Jolie.

“What they’re talking about is just moving on with the story and doing it properly,” Millar said. Read on!

Hopefully you’ve seen Wanted if you’re reading this, because Millar drops one hell of a big spoiler. “They killed off the most recognizable character, but I thought it was great to do that,” Millar told MTV. “It was so ballsy to kill off the one person you didn’t expect to die.” What a great way to get rid of Angelina Jolie from this series, but Universal was hoping she’d return because I’m sure they don’t think this sequel will be a success without her. Now they’re writing in new characters. “Just bringing in another cool character as this world opens up with all the different fraternities out there all across the world. This could change at any moment, but the last I heard two weeks ago, was that was the plan moving forward.” There you have it!

I haven’t actually read the Wanted graphic novel, but I’ve been told it’s actually better than the movie, so I’m sure it does have a rich world to pull more characters from. And honestly, I think most fans are happy seeing Jolie’s character Fox not return anyway because, well, she died, as we all know, and it would be weird to see them come up with some bullsh*t plot device to bring her back from the dead. Since I’m not so familiar with the graphic novel I can’t suggest other characters we might see in place of Jolie, but I expect to see another strong female lead, maybe as a new love interest. Any idea who we could see in this sequel instead?

Way back in 2007 in the same exact story announcing that Tim Burton would be bringing us Alice in Wonderland in 3D, was news that Burton would also be turning early his short film Frankenweenie into a feature stop-motion animation project in 3D as well. For a while we didn’t hear much about Frankenweenie, mainly because the focus was on all things Alice, but not anymore. We reported just last week that Burton may potentially direct an Addams Family movie in 3D, but his very next animated project may actually be Frankenweenie instead, or so says AICN, who also spoke with Disney producer Don Hahn about the project.

Although there aren’t any quotes, Harry says that Hahn told him “that the puppets are ready, the script is done and now that Tim Burton is clear of Alice in Wonderland, he’s set to helm Frankenweenie in 3D.” As a refresher, Frankenweenie was originally one of Burton’s first short films from 1984 that tells the story of a pet dog brought back to life by his loyal owner. It’s the perfect story to adapt into a full-length stop-motion feature and I’m glad it’s moving along swiftly, not only because it will take a few years to complete the work on it anyway, but also because there can never be enough stop-motion movies. Stay tuned for more updates!

Not that this is casting confirmation, but Heat Vision is now reporting that Chris Evans has been “offered” the big role. So what does this mean? Well, pretty much nothing, because Evans has to first accept it and deals have to be made, but it sounds like Channing Tatum may have passed on the role if Evans has been offered it instead. Earlier today it was reported that the new “shortlist” for Cap had been trimmed down to three actors: Evans, Tatum, and Gossip Girl’s Sebastian Stan.

Heat Vision that Evans’ offer includes starring in up to three Captain America movies, plus The Avengers movies, and appearances in other Marvel movies. Sounds similar to how Samuel Jackson got contracted for nine upcoming Marvel movies as S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury. We’ll obviously let you know if Evans gets the role or not, because this still isn’t finalized and we don’t know when it will be. I’m actually much happier with Evans than Tatum. He’s not perfect, but he could do a great job as Steve Rogers. Although I wasn’t fond of him in the Fantastic Four films, I think he really showed his potential in Danny Boyle’s Sunshine.

Joe Johnston is directing The First Avenger: Captain America, which will shoot in England sometime later this year. Paramount has set the big Marvel movie for release on July 22nd, 2011 next summer, that will eventually lead up to The Avengers in 2012. Would you be satisfied with Chris Evans playing Cap?