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Hobbit Update: Martin Freeman May Still Be Bilbo

By Joe Barton (Subscribe to Joe Barton's posts), Posted Sep 9th 2010 10:54AM
Filed under: Movie News
Yesterday we wrote about the breaking news that Martin Freeman had turned down the role of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit due to a schedule clash with the filming of his role as Doctor Watson in the BBC adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.

Having poured a bit of scorn over the story (we have trust issues) it seems this one may have legs as Entertainment Weekly is reporting that MGM have come back with a revised schedule that will allow Freeman to do both.

'According to sources close to the Hobbit production, it's not over yet.' say EW. 'New Line and MGM, the studios backing the Hobbit films, have since come back to Freeman with a proposed schedule that would allow him to shoot both projects. All parties are currently negotiating a deal.'

Find out more after the jump...
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Pixar Release Artwork From Their Abandoned Film Project (IMAGES)

By Joe Barton (Subscribe to Joe Barton's posts), Posted Sep 7th 2010 12:57PM
Filed under: Movie News
Pixar have released details and artwork of a film idea that they scrapped before production. The film, called Newt, told the story of an endangered blue footed Newt who realises that, for his species to survive, they must enter a breeding programme much to the chagrin of Brooke, the last female Newt.

The film was set to be directed by Gary Rydstrom who had previously impressed with his Pixar short film, Lifted. However, although Newt was confirmed to have been halted this May, the good folk at Empire drew our attention to some of the artwork from the project which Pixar have made available for the public to see.

No reason is given for the film's demise, although perhaps Pixar's owners, Disney, baulked at the idea of building a whole film around the idea of forced mating?

Keep reading after the jump to find out more and see the artwork...
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The Office Star Turned Down Lead Role in The Hobbit?

By Joe Barton (Subscribe to Joe Barton's posts), Posted Sep 7th 2010 7:38AM
Filed under: Movie News
Martin FreemanMartin Freeman, still perhaps best known as Tim from The Office, has reportedly turned down the role of Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Ring's prequel, The Hobbit, due to his filming commitments on the next series of the BBC adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.

Apparently, Freeman has committed himself to a 20-week filming schedule as Doctor Watson alongside Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes. A 'source' told The Sun:
"It was one of the most difficult decisions of his career. MGM, who are making the film, only got a formal offer over in the last couple of weeks. It was too late for Martin because he had already signed up for another series of Sherlock. It was agonising but he had no other choice."

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Kate Winslet Convinces Actress To Go Nude

By Joe Barton (Subscribe to Joe Barton's posts), Posted Sep 7th 2010 7:19AM
Filed under: Movie News
Kate Winslet and Evan Rachel WoodEvan Rachel Wood is set to do her first nude scene in upcoming TV drama, Mildred Pierce, and we have Kate Winslet to thank after the Oscar-winner convinced Wood that she would regret not disrobing.

The show is about divorced single mother Mildred Pierce, played by Winslet, who opens a restaurant, with her new culinary expedition putting a strain on her relationship with daughter Veda, played by Wood. The miniseries is set to premiere on US channel HBO in Spring 2011.

22-year-old Wood initially had some reservations about going naked until the notoriously clothes-shy Winslet persuaded her otherwise, telling Elle Magazine: "I was quite nervous about it and Kate looked at me and said 'Listen to me, alright. I've done everything, alright. And one day you're going to look back on this and you're going to be so happy you've done it. And it'll be great, just do it. OK?"

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Disney Release New 'Star Tours' Ride Trailer (VIDEO)

By Joe Barton (Subscribe to Joe Barton's posts), Posted Sep 4th 2010 3:50AM
Filed under: Movie News
One of the better Star Wars spin-offs has always been the Star Tours ride at Disneyland.

It's a simulator ride that takes you on a 'star tour' to the forest moon of Endor (the one where the Ewoks live). With a rookie robot as your pilot, the tour soon goes bad as he takes a wrong turn and you are flung into the middle of a space battle with X-Wings and Tie Fighters and all your favourite Star Wars pals. At least, I think that's what is happening, I went to the one at Disneyland Paris and the little robot pilot only spoke French. It was still fun though.

But now the old tour is no longer available as Disney have updated the ride to give you a new adventure which takes you to locations from both the old and new Star Wars films and a teaser trailer has just been made available which gives us a glimpse of what to expect.

Watch the new Star Tours trailer after the jump...
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Kick-Ass Creator Promises Sequel

By Joe Barton (Subscribe to Joe Barton's posts), Posted Sep 1st 2010 6:12AM
Filed under: Movie News
The sequel to Superhero-film-with-a-difference Kick-Ass could be on the way if the creator of the comic book the film was based on Mark Millar is to be believed.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live Millar talked about possibility of a sequel after the film's healthy DVD sales:

"The estimate is [Kick-Ass] will do 100 to 150 million on DVD based on the American sales so it'll end up making a quarter of a billion on a 28 million investment... So the sequel's greenlit, we can go ahead and do the follow up now, you know. The first made so much compared to what it cost it would be crazy not to."

We'd like to think he's right; Kick-Ass was a great film and who wouldn't want to see Hit Girl and Red Mist back on our screens? However it's safe to say we'll wait until there's an official statement from the studios before we get properly excited, with writer Jane Goldman and director Matthew Vaughn busy on X-men: First Class we may be waiting a while. There's also the chance that the public is going to get superhero fatigue with the upcoming Captain America, Thor, X-Men and Avengers movies, not to mention James Gunn directed flick Super which has been touted as an even more insane take on the Kick-Ass theme of ordinary people trying to be Superheroes.

Find out more after the jump.
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The Girl Who Played With Fire Movie Review: We Give Our Verdict

By Joe Barton (Subscribe to Joe Barton's posts), Posted Aug 27th 2010 3:01AM
Filed under: Reviews
The Girl Who Played With FireHacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nygvist) are back on the big screen in this follow-up to the roundly praised Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

When a young journalist working for Mikael's publication Millennium is killed just as he is about to uncover a huge people trafficking network, Lisbeth finds herself in the frame for murder and she and Mikael must use all their talents to clear her name and solve the case.

Find out what we thought of the film after the jump...
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