Rising star Sam Worthington continues to build quite a career for himself: he’s already starred in Terminator Salvation, and has both James Cameron’s Avatar and the remake of Clash of the Titans on deck, two huge properties I think you’ll agree. Now, adding to that ever-growing list of Worthington movies is The Last Days of American Crime, an adaptation of an upcoming comic book/graphic novel of the same name from Radical Publishing.

Comic creator Rick Remender created and wrote The Last Days of American Crime, and Mania reports that he will also pen the script for the big-screen adaptation. The comic is described as, “a heist thriller told against a sci-fi backdrop.” From Radical’s website, here’s the synopsis:

Back in September we reported on the financial troubles of movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (or MGM for short). The studio has racked up a debt of a whopping $3.5 billion (yowza!) and, at the time, it was, “teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.” The company has two big properties currently in its possession, those being the Bond franchise and the upcoming Hobbit adaptation.

Luckily, but not surprisingly, both those properties are quite safe, with Warner Bros. stepping in to foot the bill for production on The Hobbit, while also handling domestic distribution for the film (which will be split into two parts). As I said, no surprise there that the two franchises are safe (guaranteed box office bank if ever there were any), but it was nice for that to be made official.

Today we get yet another piece of news that another classic video game is being adapted… Okay, that’s not true, but I couldn’t resist…

Actually, this isn’t news that the classic arcade game, Space Invaders, is being brought to the big-screen – it’s actually the announcement that actor-turned-screenwriter, Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder, Iron Man 2), is on board to write a romantic comedy called Space Invader (no affiliation with the video game), with Will Arnett attached to headline.

It’s okay, you’re forgiven for assuming the worst …

The mega-successful and critically acclaimed Dark Knight had hardly hit theaters last year and already there was high anticipation (at least in the geek/online movie circles) for Batman 3. We have heard rumor after rumor after rumor about the third installment, including everything from Christopher Nolan not returning to Eddie Murphy playing The Riddler (I would have given up on life if that latter one was true), all turning out to have a distinctive lack of truth to them.

One of the biggest desires of Batman fans is that Nolan comes back to direct, since he did such a good job with the last two Bat-films, breathing fresh life into an effectively dead franchise with Batman Begins and knocking just about everyone’s socks off with The Dark Knight. But will he come back to direct the third? Well, we’re still not sure, but “a solid and longtime source” over at the usually reliable Batman-On-Film says that Warner Bros. will finalize plans for Batman 3 in January of next year.

Wow, I didn’t see this one coming. According to Variety, Warner Bros. has halted moving forward with their remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. On top of that, McG, who was set to direct, is off the project, and will now concentrate on other things such as the Warner Bros. drama, Dead Spy Running.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea seemed to be moving ahead pretty well, with a tentative shooting start of February, 2010. McG even said not that long ago that they’d already looked at different shooting locations including Japan, France and Canada. The Terminator Salvation director sounded pretty enthusiastic back in August when he talked about such things as how he was planning on contemporizing the story while still maintaining the spirit of adventure from the original 1870 story and 1950’s movie.

We got word at the end of July this year that Pirates of the Caribbean 4 may have found its director in Rob Marshall (Chicago, Nine). Since then we’ve found out the name of the film ( On Stranger Tides); what it’s probably going to be about; that it’s going to be based on a book; and even that Johnny Depp may not be coming back (although Disney promised we’d see him in the fourth one, at least).

However, now we get the news that Marshall is confirmed to be directing Pirates of the Caribbean 4. According to a tipster over at AICN who attended a DGA screening of Marshall’s latest, Nine, Marshall replied to a question about what his next project would be by name-dropping Pirates of the Caribbean. Here’s what he said:

“‘Y’know, it’s something that I was offered and never in the world thought I would do but then I was like ‘why not?’… I’m doing ‘ Pirates of the Caribbean….”

So even though it was rumored, and looked pretty damn likely back this summer, it’s still nice to hear confirmation come from the Marshall himself. On top of that, another nice little piece of info that might be of interest to you Captain Jack Sparrow/Depp fans out there is that Marshall said he, “had a wonderful meeting [with Depp] and that they’re both excited to work together.”

Pirates of the Caribbean 4 is to be based on a 22-year-old book also called “On Stranger Tides” by author Tim Powers, using the plot of the search for the Fountain of Youth. It’s a very fitting thing to build a story around for a Pirates movie, and with Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley unlikely to be back for the fourth (we’re slightly more confident about Knightley not returning), it means they can use that plot to concentrate on Captain Jack and perhaps Captain Barbossa, who IMO are the two best characters in the franchise.

As for Marshall, I’m not going to lie and say it’s an excellent choice just for the hell of it. He’s most definitely not the first name I would think of to pick up the reigns after Gore Verbinski left. His theatrical directing debut back in 2002 was the multi-Oscar winning Chicago, and he has upcoming the Daniel-Day Lewis, Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman-starring Nine (also a musical) – neither film is exactly overflowing with hidden treasure or drunken pirates (or maybe the latter IS - time will tell …)

However, as I said when he was rumored back in July, it’s refreshing to see Disney think outside of the box and get a director who you wouldn’t immediately think of (although I’m sure they’ve pondered asking Steven Spielberg at one point). I really hope Marshall can bring something new to the table and drag this franchise out of the confusing and uninspired pit it wallowed in with the second and third movies.

What do you think of Marshall apparently being the one to definitely direct Pirates of the Caribbean 4? Would he be your first choice or have you got a long list of other directors before you’d get to him?

Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides is supposedly to start shooting next Spring, and has a general release date set of Summer 2011.

Source: AICN (thanks to /Film)

[Update: Not so fast!  Awaken the Dragon screenplay writer Kurt Sutter is questioning claims of Rain's involvement!]

A few months ago we gave you an update on the planned remake of the classic Bruce Lee martial arts flick, Enter the Dragon, this time renamed Awaken the Dragon. The main part of the update was that Latino Review had a “confirmed source” which said that Korean pop-star-turned-action-star, Rain (currently starring in the awesome-looking Ninja Assassin), was going to be filling Lee’s shoes in the lead role.

Fast forward a few months, and it appears that Latino Review’s scoop was right on the money, as a video interview over at Cinemablend featuring Rain himself confirms that he’s at least considering the Awaken the Dragon role. Of course, he doesn’t give much away, but does hint that he’s talked to the studio about it and would be up for playing the role if he’s officially offered it. I share Katey Rich from Cinemablend’s thoughts that WB is probably holding off to see how Ninja Assassin does at the box office before they commit Rain to another big action flick.

A little over three months ago we reported on the news that the mindlessly fun 2008 movie, Death Race, was going to be getting a sequel – or rather, as was reported at the time by Shock Till You Drop, a prequel that would lead up to the first Death Race and Jason Statham’s antics as top driver Jensen Ames.

And now, thanks to SpoilerTV we get some info on both what the plot and the characters will be , by way of casting call info. Nothing has changed in terms of it being a prequel, in fact this news is kind of a confirmation of that. It will indeed take place before the first film, this time being called Death Race: Frankenstein Lives (Frankenstein is the name of the top driver, FYI, they’re not just trying to turn it into a horror movie for no reason…).

The reports obviously keep on coming in about the continuing box office success of two popular movies, the super-low-budget Paranormal Activity and Michael Jackson’s This Is It. However, it’s come to a point to take note of the milestones achieved by each film: Paranormal Activity has crossed the $100 million mark domestically, and This Is It has made $200 million worldwide.

We reported last month that the reason we haven’t seen a sequel to the mega successful sci-fi blockbuster, Independence Day, is because 20th  Century Fox is apparently stalling because of money. Personally, even if the first film’s star, Will Smith, would demand a hefty paycheck to return, I still see an Independence Day sequel making insane bank, even after the cost of a crazy marketing campaign (see director Roland Emmerich’s latest disaster flick, 2012).

Having said that, on the creative front at least it seems that Emmerich would love to do another one. And to further that, he recently spoke with MTV about doing an Independence Day 2, and said that it might even be split into two films (or perhaps he means just two separate films, one following the other’s story). Emmerich told MTV:

No matter how it silly it may seem that the Saw franchise has gone on for this long, it doesn’t stop them from making money and (I stress this word) consequentially making more. We reported back in July that Saw VII was already in the works before the sixth one came out (they’re pretty much automatic cash for the studio so they have no problem putting that kind of faith in it).

However, what wasn’t known at the time (either that, or it flew passed us quicker than we could catch it) was that the seventh installment of Saw would be in 3D. Yes, even the franchise that effectively kicked off the torture-porn phenomenon less than 10 years ago has jumped aboard the 3D bandwagon. And something tells me the technology isn’t going to be employed subtly (read: correctly)…

Back in March Screen Rant reported on yet another horror remake to be put into the works with Dreamworks’ Fright Night. At the time the producers had been put in place but no writer. Jump forward 8 months and a writer has been found in the form of Marti Noxon, who’s a regular writer on AMC’s classy Mad Men, as well as having worked on the hit vampire series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The original Fright Night was written and directed by Tom Holland (Child’s Play, The Langoliers) back in 1985, and was about a teenager (William Ragsdale) who discovers his new next door neighbor (Chris Sarandon) is a vampire. However, he’s the only one who knows it, as no one will believe him.

One of most fun-looking martial arts movies to come along in awhile is Ninja Assassin. It stars Korean mega pop star, Rain (in his first leading action role) and comes to us from director James McTeigue as well as The Wachowski brothers, the team who brought us the excellent comic book adaptation, V For Vendetta.

Ninja Assassin is about a ninja who defects from the orphanage where he was trained, only to be hunted by his ninja clan brethren whose very existence is considered a myth. But, as with a lot of these types of movies, the plot doesn’t really matter – all that matters is that the action is kick-ass and that certainly looks to be the case with this film.

I think just about every fan of Park Chan-wook’s 2003 Korean masterpiece, Oldboy, can breathe a lot easier now and for the foreseeable future. Back in July we told you that an Oldboy remake (or new adaptation of the source comics) directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Will Smith was sadly back still in development. A complicated mess of legal turns meant that any original troubles that may have hindered the project had disappeared, and at that time it looked like we’d all have to face a world where an Oldboy remake existed.

Well, not anymore!

Back in 1995, director David Fincher and screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker (The Wolfman) collaborated on what is now touted as a “crime classic” and “a blueprint for modern serial killer movies.” That movie was Se7en, and I totally agree with all the praise that’s been heaped upon it (it recently featured in our “Horror Plus” series).

Now, 14 years later, Fincher and Walker are going to be collaborating once more, this time on an adaptation of the novel The Reincarnation of Peter Proud for Columbia. THR’s Heat Vision Blog reports the news of their involvement, along with producer Michael De Luca (Blade, Ghost Rider). The author of the book, Max Ehrlich, adapted it into a movie in 1975 of the same name, so I guess in a way this movie is a remake by Fincher (there’s that “remake or new adaptation” question again). According to THR:

We learned early this summer that Universal is planning a Battleship board game movie, then a couple of months ago Peter Berg (Hancock) was tapped to direct, and a release date was set for July 1st, 2011 (apparently it’s been changed to August 5th, 2011). Berg has described the Battleship movie as, “an epic naval action adventure,” that is, “a contemporary story of an international five-ship fleet engaged in a very dynamic, violent and intense battle.”

That was enough to go on at the time, but what Berg DIDN’T mention was who the enemy was going to be…that is, until now. On Friday, Latino Review got a scoop that confirmed (their words, not ours) from a source that the foes the “hero” battleships were presumably going to be battling against are… wait for it… aliens! That’s right, extraterrestrials presumably attacking earth for our wonderful resources (what’s left of them, that is…).

Probably THE spectacle movie of 2009 is going to end up being Roland Emmerich’s latest big-budget disaster flick, 2012, which focuses on the Mayan prophecy that the world will end in December of the year 2012. The $200 million, special-effects laden, film stars the likes of John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Woody Harrelson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton and Danny Glover, and is set to crash into theaters in a week’s time.

However, with a film of this size, you know the buck rarely stops at one. In this case, Emmerich is already looking ahead at making more out of his latest disaster tale. Recently news surfaced that there was a 2012 sequel spin-off  TV series in the works (yes, they’re thinking about furthering this seemingly finite disaster story). But wait, how can there be a sequel, in any form, of 2012… isn’t it supposed to be about the end of the world? That’s what I thought, but apparently that’s not exactly the case. Thanks to Cinemablend we have some info on what the spin-off show might take:

[SPOILERS ahead]

Ever since a live-action, 3D Yogi Bear movie was announced back in February this year, there hasn’t really been any movement on the news front regarding it. However, fast forward to now and we may have our main cast in the form of Dan Aykroyd, Anna Faris and Justin Timberlake.

Aykroyd is in negotiations to voice the titular character in Yogi Bear, with Faris set to play a nature documentarian who follows the antics of Yogi in the fictional Jellystone Park. Timberlake is also in talks to join the project, possibly playing Yogi’s sidekick, Boo-Boo. The film is being directed by Eric Brevig (Journey To The Center of the Earth), and produced by Donald De Line and Karen Rosenfelt as a live-action/CGI hybrid in the vein of Alvin and the Chipmunks and Garfield (aim high, why don’t you?).

Remember when word of a mysterious project called Cloverfield first surfaced? Before we knew it, we were getting a movie about a mostly unseen giant monster causing chaos in New York. Well, it seems that J.J. Abrams might be bringing us something in the same top-secret vein with a project that is being referred to as 500 Rads.

The guys over at Pajiba (thanks to /Film for pointing us to this) have an inside source (who they’re keeping nameless, for good reason) that has given some details on 500 Rads, a project that Abrams and his production company, Bad Robot, are apparently developing in secret.

These Sherlock Holmes trailers just keep on coming, don’t they? An action-packed fourth one has appeared online over at MTV, and we have it here for your viewing pleasure. We’ve seen plenty of action in all the other trailers for the movie – including explosions, chases and hand-to-hand combat – but this latest trailer really turns up the action significantly.

Just as a reminder, Sherlock Holmes stars Robert Downey Jr. as the titular detective, and it co-stars Jude Law as his faithful assistant, Dr. Watson. Mark Strong plays the villain, Lord Blackwood and Rachel McAdams is the beautiful love interest, Irene Adler. Directed by Guy Ritchie (Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), this fresh take on the classic detective character makes use of some things not seen in most Holmes tellings, namely his often-forgotten martial arts skills.

The Hangover star Zach Galifianakis is certainly making a name for himself as of late: after starring in the $461 million comedy smash hit this summer, he has garnered himself a slew of roles (which is unsurprising – he was hilarious in The Hangover), the latest of which is voicing children’s nursery rhyme character, Humpty Dumpty, in the upcoming Shrek spin-off movie, Puss In Boots.

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Galifianakis is in talks to voice Humpty Dumpty, and if cast he’ll be joining the voice of Puss In Boots himself, Antonio Banderas, as well as Salma Hayek who’s voicing “Kitty.” The spin-off will be written by Tom Wheeler, and will be a prequel (an origin story, we’ve heard) leading up to the feisty feline’s meeting-up with Shrek and Co. in Shrek 2.

When does the movie business ever go as planned? Rarely, it seems, as evidenced by the change-ups with the upcoming thriller The Tourist, the remake of the 2005 French film, Anthony Zimmer.

We recently reported that Angelina Jolie had replaced Charlize Theron in the movie, with Jolie joining the already-cast Sam Worthington (who originally replaced Tom Cruise). Then a week later came news that after previously attached director Bharat Nalluri had stepped away from the project, The Lives of Other director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck was being eyed to helm the film instead.

All seemed to be in place and The Tourist was set for an early 2010 shooting start. However, although the latter is still true, there appears to STILL be major change-ups happening, as not only is yet another new director being looked at to now replace Donnersmarck, but Worthington may be getting replaced by Johnny Depp!

Whether fans of the original Swedish language film Let The Right One In like it or not, the American remake, entitled Let Me In, is firmly going ahead, with filming already started a couple of days ago in New Mexico. But just as that news appeared, another piece surfaced that three more actors have joined the cast: Elias Koteas (playing a policeman), Cara Bruono (playing the main character’s mother) and Sasha Barrese (playing a character called “Virginia”). They join the previously announced Kodi-Smit McPhee, Chloe Moritz, and Richard Jenkins.

Last week we reported on the fact that the all-singing, all-dancing host of the 2009 Oscars, Hugh Jackman had turned down the opportunity to return in 2010 because he didn’t want to host two years in a row. At the same time, there was a rumor flying around that Neil Patrick Harris was going to be picking up the reigns, after doing such a great job at the Emmys in September. Although not my first choice for an Oscar host (I still maintain George Clooney is the perfect choice), NPH would have been a fine runner-up, IMO.

However, as happens a lot with these pesky little things we call rumors, NPH hasn’t gotten the gig. So who has? Well, I’m glad you asked – none other than Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. That’s right, the Academy has decided to double-up this year and bring on a comedic acting duo.

Of all those involved in the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit, Ian McKellen seems to be the most vocal. The last time he “spilled the beans” about the pre-Lord of the Rings adventure (along with him talking a little bit about the standalone Magneto movie),  McKellen talked about when we could expect the script, which, he stated, would be “very soon.”

That was last month – fast forward a few weeks and it appears The Hobbit script has surfaced (or at least a draft of it) and lucky Sir McKellen has apparently had a read of it. However, it’s early days yet for the film (Part 1 doesn’t come out until the end of 2011), and sadly but not surprisingly, McKellen is staying tight-lipped about what’s in the script. Here’s what he told SciFiWire about it during an interview last week promoting AMC’s The Prisoner:

How did this news slip past us all? According to a source that the guys over at Pajiba have, Robert Rodriguez won’t be directing the long in-development live-action Jetsons movie. It was only this summer that we got word that The Jetsons was firmly on its way, with an early draft of the script having been written, and Rodriguez himself sounding enthusiastic after he said he’s been working on ideas for the adaptation for a long time.

However, Rodriguez has his fingers in a lot of pies right about now: He has his full-length Machete movie (currently in the editing stages); he’s heavily involved in the Predators reboot; apparently he has Spy Kids 4 in the works (it was only a matter of time…); and, of course, there’s the much-anticipated, long gestating Sin City 2 (which could be filming next year, last we heard). So it’s kind of understandable, but nonetheless saddening to find he’s (apparently) dropped out of The Jetsons.

Alongside what seems like every second toy or board game on the shelf, a Ouija board movie is apparently on its way to the big screen. Over time, Michael Bay (or at least his company, Platinum Dunes) has been attached to the project, which did give it some legitimacy. But for some reason I never thought they would go ahead and make one. Well I was wrong.

According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision Blog, not only is Michael Bay going to be producing Ouija through Platinum Dunes (who were responsible for horror remakes such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th and the upcoming A Nightmare on Elm Street, FYI) alongside Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, but they have signed writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (Tron Legacy, Lost) to pen the script. Hasbro’s Brian Goldner and Bennett Schneir will also produce.

Since I’m a huge fan of his cult film Donnie Darko, I’m automatically looking forward to anything writer/director Richard Kelly puts out. And the upcoming Cameron Diaz, James Marsden starring thriller, The Box, is no different.

The Box stars Diaz and Marsden as a married couple in financial trouble who are one day visited by a mysterious, facially scarred stranger (Frank Langella) who makes them a strange and bold offer involving a box: if they push the button on the box they will receive a payment of one million dollars, but the catch is someone, somewhere in the world who they don’t know will die.

Happy Halloween everyone! If you’re a regular Screen Rant reader you’ll have noticed (and hopefully read) our Halloween lead-up series called “Horror Plus.” If not, just so you know it’s a feature which sets out to showcase one film that combines horror with another genre. Each instalment will basically serve as a review of the film at hand, explaining why it’s such a good example of genre merging.

So far we’ve had Horror Plus Comedy: Shaun of the Dead, Horror Plus Sci-fi: Alien, Horror Plus Thriller: 28 Days Later and Horror Plus Crime: Se7en. And finally we come to our final installment which is Horror Plus Action.

Back in April we reported on news from the Sony ShoWest presentation that the studio was developing a script for a third Men in Black movie, something which built on the rumors from over a year ago that franchise stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones were interested in suiting up for some alien escapades once more. Fast forward to now and an update has come out that Men In Black 3 has found its writer in the form of Tropic Thunder screenwriter, Etan Cohen (not to be confused with one half of the famous Coen brothers, Ethan).

Variety is reporting that Columbia Pictures (which Sony owns) has tapped Cohen to pen the script, but beyond that no deals have been made for either Smith or Jones to reprise their roles. Although I’d be very surprised if the studio didn’t have talks going on with the two stars to come back for another if they’ve already got the screenwriter sorted out. Unfortunately the studio is currently staying tight-lipped as to the direction they’re going with the story of MIB 3. Let the speculation begin .