1.<\/a> It has been public knowledge for years<\/a> now that the studios behind the film version of The Hobbit<\/a><\/i> want to make it a two-movie series that will connect in some way to Peter Jackson\u2019s The Lord of the Rings<\/a><\/i> (2001-2003) \u2014 but there has been much speculation as to what sort<\/i> of two-movie series it will be. Will one movie be devoted to The Hobbit<\/i> proper, followed by another movie that \u201cbridges\u201d the gap between the two stories? Or will The Hobbit<\/i> itself be spread out over the two films? Jackson and Hobbit<\/i> director Guillermo Del Toro have now announced their decision, and the answer is: the second option. Says Del Toro: \u201cWe\u2019ve decided to have The Hobbit span the two movies, including the White Council<\/a> and the comings and goings of Gandalf to Dol Guldur<\/a>.\u201d Adds Jackson: \u201cWe decided it would be a mistake to try to cram everything into one movie . . . The essential brief was to do The Hobbit, and it allows us to make The Hobbit in a little more style, if you like, of the trilogy.\u201d \u2014 Empire<\/a><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n 2.<\/a> Speaking of The Lord of the Rings<\/i>, each film in that series was released to DVD three times: once<\/a> in its shorter theatrical version, once<\/a> in its longer \u201cextended\u201d version, and once<\/a> in a format that included both<\/i> versions. Now it is time for the trilogy to come out on Blu-Ray<\/a> \u2014 and apparently the series will go back to square one, with a shorter-version-only edition; the \u201cextended\u201d versions will not come out on Blu-Ray until closer to the Hobbit<\/i> release date. \u2014 High-Def Digest<\/a>, Digital Bits<\/a><\/p>\n 3.<\/a> 20th Century Fox has revealed that it will release three films in 3D in 2010. They have not yet said which films they have in mind, but one of their biggest movies that year will be The Chronicles of Narnia:<\/a> The Voyage of the Dawn Treader<\/a><\/i>, so some of the online speculation has pointed in that direction. \u2014 CinemaBlend.com<\/a>, NarniaWeb<\/a><\/p>\n 4.<\/a> Rhys Ifans has joined the cast of Harry Potter<\/a> and the Deathly Hallows<\/a><\/i>. Meanwhile, producer David Heyman has confirmed that some of the actors who began this series as prepubescent children will look more grown up than they have ever looked before in the final film. (Let the reader understand.) \u2014 ComingSoon.net<\/a>, MTV Movies Blog<\/a><\/p>\n 5.<\/a> Emma Thompson may have skipped the last Harry Potter<\/i> movie in order to make a sequel<\/a> to Nanny McPhee<\/a><\/i> (2005), but she\u2019s bringing some of her fellow Potter<\/i> alumni \u2014 such as Ifans, Maggie Smith and Ralph Fiennes \u2014 along for the ride. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Asa Butterfield have also joined the cast of Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang<\/i>, which will take place during World War II, several decades after the previous film. \u2014 Variety<\/a><\/i>, ComingSoon.net<\/a><\/p>\n 6.<\/a> Michael Sheen, who is perhaps best-known for playing Tony Blair in The Deal<\/a><\/i> (2003) and The Queen<\/a><\/i> (2006), has been cast as a vampire in The Twilight Saga:<\/a> New Moon<\/a><\/i>, which recently began shooting in Vancouver. Prior to this, Sheen had played a werewolf in the Underworld<\/a><\/i> series (2003-2009). There is no word yet on who will direct Eclipse<\/a><\/i>, the next<\/i> film in the Twilight<\/i> franchise, but Drew Barrymore<\/a> recently stated that she is no longer in the running for that job. \u2014 Variety<\/a><\/i>, ComingSoon.net<\/a>, Entertainment Weekly<\/a><\/i>, MTV Movies Blog<\/a> (x2<\/a>)<\/p>\n 7.<\/a> Catherine Keener has joined the cast of Percy Jackson<\/a><\/i>; she will play the title character\u2019s mother. His father, the Greek god Poseidon, is being played by Kevin McKidd. \u2014 Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n 8.<\/a> Watchmen<\/a><\/i> co-writer Alex Tse is working on an adaptation of the graphic novel Battling Boy<\/i>, which concerns \u201cthe son of a god who comes down from the top of a mountain at his father\u2019s urging to rid the giant, continent-sized city of Monstropolis of a plague of beasts.\u201d \u2014 Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n 9.<\/a> The sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth<\/a><\/i> (2008) will be based on a spec script that is, in turn, \u201cbased on the fantasy conceit that the literary tales \u2018Gulliver\u2019s Travels<\/a>,\u2019 \u2018Treasure Island\u2019 and [Jules] Verne\u2019s own \u2018Mysterious Island\u2019 all occurred on the same island.\u201d \u2014 Variety<\/a><\/i>, Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n 10.<\/a> Twenty-five years ago, Brian Grazer produced Splash<\/a><\/i> (1984), the story of a mermaid who falls in love with a human being. (It was also the first Tom Hanks movie to be directed by Ron Howard; they have since done Apollo 13<\/i>, The Da Vinci Code<\/a><\/i> and Angels & Demons<\/a><\/i> together as well.) Now, Grazer has picked up a script called Merman<\/i>, which \u201cfollows a merman who comes to land so he can win back his mermaid fiancee, who has left him for a real man.\u201d And no, it\u2019s not a sequel. \u2014 Variety<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n 11.<\/a> Catherine Hardwicke, whose last film was the original Twilight<\/i> (2008), now has at least two more fantasies on her plate: Maximum Ride<\/i>, based on the James Patterson series about \u201csix teens, known as the Flock, who are genetically altered so that they are part human and part bird\u201d; and If I Stay<\/i>, based on Gayle Forman\u2019s novel about \u201ca gifted classical musician and her indie rockstar boyfriend who\u2019s forced to choose between life and death when she\u2019s in a car accident with her family.\u201d \u2014 Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i>, Variety<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1. It has been public knowledge for years now that the studios behind the film version of The Hobbit want to make it a two-movie series that will connect in some way to Peter Jackson\u2019s The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) \u2014 but there has been much speculation as to what sort of two-movie series […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n