Russell Crowe, who's last film Robin Hood was released in June, has vowed not to leave Australia for the whole of 2010. The actor lives in his home country with with his wife Danielle Spencer and their two sons, and says that he worries that he's spending too much time away from them making movies. "I don't want to get on a plane again this year," he said. "I want again to take a step back and put a normal rhythm back into the kids' lives. I know what it is that turns me on in my job and I know if... something comes up that I want to do then I'm usually allowed to do it. I do the things that drive me from a pure place."

Steven Spielberg's newest film project, War Horse, starts filming next week. It's Spielberg's first project since 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The film stars newcomer Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson and David Thewlis. The script is set during World War I and follows a young farmhand, Albert (Irvine), who shares a special bond with Joey, a horse. When Joey is bought by the cavalry and sent off to battle, Albert runs off to France to rescue him.

According to Deadline, Russell Brand will star as real-life swashbuckler John Hawkwood in the action-comedy Hawkwood. John Hawkwood is described as, "a morally challenged but gifted swordsman paid to lead various European armies during the Renaissance wars." Jared Stern will write the script, making it his second collaboration with Brand as he did the rewrite on Arthur.

According to Deadline, Steve Coogan (Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian) has joined the cast of My Idiot Brother. My Idiot Brother is already shooting in New York, and stars Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Rashida Jones, Hugh Dancy, Kathryn Hahn, Shirley Knight and Janet Montgomery. Coogan will play the role of "a self-righteous documentary filmmaker". In the film, Paul Rudd plays a man trying to get away from his overbearing mother. During that time, he stays with each of his three sisters (played by Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel and Emily Mortimer).

Ali Larter recently spoke about Resident Evil: Afterlife, here are the highlights…

On How The Movie Relates To The Video Game: "Some our stunts were choreographed beat-by-beat from the video game," Larter said. "I'm wearing the outfit that I wore in the video game. That is kind of fun stuff that [Paul] brings to it."

On Shooting In 3D: "It takes a lot more patience," Larter said. "It is a new technology and you have to figure out the learning curve. We got the cameras from James Cameron's Avatar and we got some of the tech guys but these guys are learning as they go along. It is really about being patient and if you have to do it again you have to do it again."

On Introducing Her Character's Brother: "By introducing her brother, you take a character like Clare that has a really rough edge to her and is selfless, who has found a way to survive in all situations…you get to watch her crack a little bit when she meets her brother," Larter says. "It is not a family reunion where you say 'Oh it's so good to see you.' No, it is ‘I'm going to kick your ass if you say you're my f**king brother but you are not.' It's a family reunion Resident Evil style."

Who knew that selling Old Spice could get you movie gigs? Former football player Isaiah Mustafa has made a name for himself in a series of Old Spice commercials, commercials that have been very successful as sales of Old Spice body products are up 107% in the past month. And now, Mustafa has landed two movie roles. The first is a role in Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf. The second is a small role in Horrible Bosses, a Warner Bros. film starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman. Mustafa has also signed a deal with NBC, and will be filming for an episode of Chuck, playing the role of an official CIA guy named Greta.

TMZ is reporting that the IRS is after Chris Tucker for $11 million he owes in back taxes, dating back to 2001. That amount is added on to the $3.5 million he owes California in state taxes for the same time frame. For the IRS, Chris owes $4 million for 2001, $5 million for 2002, $55,000 for 2004, $660,000 for 2005 and $1.8 million for 2006. Interesting to note that Tucker made Rush Hour 2 in 2001 for $20 million and Rush Hour 3 in 2007 for $25 million, yet appeared in no movies in between.

According to Heat Vision, Paramount has purchased an "alien-related pitch" from writer Bobby Glickert. The film is said to be Cloverfield meets Paranormal Activity, and will get the "Area 51" treatment. Michael Bay will produce along with Paranormal Activity 2 executive producer Steven Schneider.

Paramount is also working on a similar project, titled Area 51, which is by Paranormal Activity's Oren Peli.

Here is the teaser poster for Yogi Bear. Yogi Bear opens on December 17th and features the voices of Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake, Tom Cavanagh, Anna Faris and Andy Daly. Here is a brief synopsis of the film…

Everyone's favorite pic-a-nic basket-stealing bear comes to the big screen in "Yogi Bear." Jellystone Park has been losing business, so greedy Mayor Brown decides to shut it down and sell the land. That means families will no longer be able to experience the natural beauty of the outdoors -- and, even worse, Yogi and Boo Boo will be tossed out of the only home they've ever known. Faced with his biggest challenge ever, Yogi must prove that he really is "smarter than the average bear" as he and Boo Boo join forces with their old nemesis Ranger Smith to find a way to save Jellystone Park from closing forever.

Edi Gathegi, who played Laurent in Twilight and New Moon, has signed on to X-Men: First Class to play Darwin, real name Armando Munoz, a mutant who has the power of adaptive evolution. His power automatically gives him various abilities based on his environment.

Gathegi joins a cast that includes James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Alice Eve, Nicholas Hoult, Caleb Landry Jones, Lucas Till, and Kevin Bacon. The movie is due out on June 3, 2011.

To avoid a repeat of last year's drubbing, Lionsgate has delayed the release of Saw 3D by a week, to October 29. Paranormal Activity 2 is set to release on October 22. Last year Saw VI and Paranormal Activity both opened on the same weekend, and Paranormal grossed $21.2 million to Saw's $14.1 million.

Eva Longoria recently spoke about the rumors that she is playing The Wasp in The Avengers

Q: We keep hearing about you playing The Wasp.

Eva Longoria: I keep hearing about that, too! I think it's an Internet rumor as of now.

Q: Are you interested?

Longoria: I love comic stuff. I do! I think it's fun. I don't know anything about that character, that's the thing. So I don't know what that would be. ... But yeah, I had taken a meeting about a different movie at Marvel and that's where the rumor started. Someone saw me when I was walking out and thought I was meeting for that. But I think it's a fantastic rumor! I'm just gonna go with it!

Brett Ratner's Rat Entertainment has acquired the film rights to the Femme Fatales Comic The Unknowns. Mark A. Altman (DOA: Dead Or Alive), Steve Kriozere (NCIS) and model/actress Monica Olsen created the comic. No director has been selected for the project at this time, but Ratner will produce the project. Here is a brief synopsis of the comic…

The story follows Alexis Davenport, who while living a seemingly ordinary life discovers she was actually once the highly skilled and deadly leader of a mysterious team called The Unknowns and must learn the secret of why her memories were erased and by who.

According to Variety, Rihanna will make her film debut in Peter Berg's Battleship. She will star alongside Taylor Kitsch and Alexander Skarsgard. The film is scheduled to open on May 18th, 2012. Battleship will focus on a massive Naval adventure across the seas, in the skies and over land as the planet fights for survival against a superior force. Taylor Kitsch stars as a Naval officer who leads the fight, Alexander Skarsgard plays his brother

Michael Parks (From Dusk Till Dawn) is the first actor to join the cast of Kevin Smith's Red State. Red State is a horror film, and the story is described as a button-pusher loosely inspired by the Westboro Baptist Church. The full plot is unknown at this time.

According to The Wrap, producer Ed Pressman has confirmed that Nick Cave is rewriting the script for the reboot of The Crow. Cave previously worked on The Proposition back in 2005, which was a violent western. The film is set to take place in an urban setting and in the southwest. An announcement as to who will play The Crow is expected very soon.

The man behind Tron: Legacy, Joseph Kosinski, is now pitching a new movie, based on his graphic novel Oblivion.

Oblivion is not yet out in print, as Kosinski and Rex Mundi creator Arvid Nelson are still working on the book. It is due out later this year. Here's the official synopsis:

"In a future Earth, civilization lives above the clouds and scavengers collect ancient artifacts from the polluted surface below. But when one young scavenger finds a crashed spacecraft planetside, little does he realize that his discovery will lead him on a journey filled with romance, adventure and unimaginable danger."

If Kosinski gets working on Tron sequels, it could delay the making of Oblivion. Tron: Legacy opens December 17.
 

The planned remake of Robocop, which Darren Aronofsky was set to direct, has now been cancelled. It had been on hold with the financial difficulties at MGM, but is now canned. Says an industry source:

"(RoboCop is) gone. Kaput. Cancelled. It was one of the first casualties. (Aronofsky) has lost interest anyway, I believe. (I) think we're all just going to have to be happy with the three RoboCop movies that are out there."

Good news, or bad news?

Season of the Witch, the latest Nicolas Cage thriller, has reportedly failed to impress Lionsgate execs and is heading for re-shoots in September.

The film sees Nic Cage as a 14th century crusader who returns home from battle to find that a young witch (Claire Foy) stands accused of ravaging his homeland with the black plague. Ron Perlman (Hellboy) and Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings) both have supporting roles in the film. Dominic Sena is directing from Bragi Schut's script.

The film was originally scheduled for release in March of this year, but no new date has been announced.

It has been confirmed that Daniel Craig will star in David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as well as two sequels, based off of The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is set for a December 21st, 2011 release date. Here is a synopsis of the film…

The film describes the mystery surrounding the long-unsolved disappearance of an heiress. Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Craig), recently dinged by a libel case, and young female hacker Lisbeth Salander try to resolve it, stirring up bundles of personal and industrial corruption along the way.

Director Niels Arden Oplev's Swedish adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has made $101.7 million worldwide. The Girl Who Played with Fire has made $54 million thus far. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has not been released in the US as of yet.

At last night's Marvel Comic-Con panel, the entire lineup of The Avengers was introduced, with every one of the actors in attendance. First, the ones we knew about: Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, ScarJo as Black Widow, Chris Evans

Bruce Willis revealed recently that there will be a Die Hard 5. Bruce said the movie was "imminent" and that "the coin is about to drop in the slot machine."

Skip Woods has already started working on the screenplay, but when Bruce was asked if director Len Wiseman would take the helm again, he replied "Don't know. Don't know if we've gotten that far…"

Comic-Con is over, and there are now two possible candidates to direct Wolverine 2. 20th Century Fox's top candidates for the job are Tony Scott (Man on Fire) and Matt Reeves (Cloverfield). Several other directors, including The Hurt Locker's Kathryn Bigelow and Wanted's Timur Bekmambetov were in the running before it was narrowed down to Scott and Reeves. Shooting was set to begin in January 2011, but word is that shooting may be delayed. If they delay, that would allow Scott to finish filming Potsdamer Platz, but if they do not push shooting back, Reeves could end up with the job.

Wolverine 2 is set to follow the Frank Miller and Chris Claremont story arc, where Logan visits Japan.

While at Comic-Con over the weekend, Guillermo del Toro spoke about his departure from The Hobbit.

He said that his exit was not particularly surprising to the other filmmakers on the project, least of all to Peter Jackson, who is producing and co-screenwriting the film. "Peter was incredibly understanding. ... I'd kept Peter abreast of everything that was going on. I was saying, 'Guys, we'd better go because we have this, we have that. I have pressures from this side, I have pressures from that side,'" del Toro said.

"With Disney, we'd announced Double Dare You and we were ready to do Double Dare but because the time kept lapsing, Double Dare You went away from Disney and that is not there anymore. And that's one example of many, and I think that Peter was incredibly understanding when we had the talk. And he said, 'Look, if that's what you have to do.' No, it didn't come as a surprise to them."

Regarding his next project, del Toro was a little less forthcoming. "That is to be determined. Very soon. It's gonna be good."

At the panel discussion for Resident Evil: Afterlife yesterday, director Paul W.S. Anderson seemed to suggest that a fifth film in the series was entirely possible. But will one of the popular characters from the game franchise, Leon S. Kennedy, make an appearance on the big screen?

Anderson said that there were no official plans for a fifth film right now, but said that he would like to have Kennedy show up in the next instalment. He considered putting Leon in Afterlife, but left him out due to story concerns.

Chris and Claire Redfield and Jill Valentine have all shown up in the movie series so far.

Tom Felton, who plays Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter franchise, has signed on to Caesar: Rise of the Apes to play the son of Brian Cox, who is a co-owner of one of the ape facilities.

James Franco, John Lithgow and Freida Pinto are already attached to the film, which will be directed by Rupert Wyatt. Andy Serkis will be motion-captured as Caesar.

The film, due to be released on June 24 next year, is set in current-day San Francisco and tells the story of how genetic engineering of apes lead to a war for supremacy.

Hammer Films has now confirmed that Daniel Radcliffe has been cast in The Woman in Black. Director James Watkins commented on the casting, stating the following…

"When I met Dan, it was quite uncanny how closely our thoughts on the story mirrored each other: I can't wait to get down to work with him to fashion a compelling character and a classy ghost story that tugs at the heart and chills to the bone. I am incredibly excited to be part of The Woman In Black. Jane Goldman's script is beautifully written - both tender and terrifying in equal measure. It is thrilling to be working with James Watkins. From his brilliant work on Eden Lake and also having met him and heard his vision for the film, I know he will make a fantastic film."


ORIGINAL: Daniel Radcliffe is reportedly coming back to film to star in the 3D thriller The Woman in Black from Hammer Films. The movie is based on a novel by Susan Hill.

According to the report, Radclffe has been looking at a part in the film, which is expected to start filming this fall. James Watkins (Eden Lake) is directing the film with Jane Goldman (X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass) doing the script. As of now, this is just a rumour.

There is a lot of speculation in regards to what role Kevin Bacon will play in X-Men: First Class. Rumored roles for Bacon include Mister Sinister and Shadow King. Forces of Geek is claiming that Bacon will play the role of super villain Sebastian Hiram Shaw. Sebastian Hiram Shaw is the leader of the Hellfire Club, who are a secret society of X-Men adversaries. Shaw's powers allow him to absorb the kinetic energy around him and turn that into brute strength. As of now, this is just a rumor.

X-Men: First Class is scheduled for a June 3rd, 2011 release date and stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Alice Eve, Nicholas Hoult, Caleb Landry Jones and Lucas Till.