THR has confirmed Idris Elba has joined the cast of “Thor,” Marvel Studios’ upcoming superhero film about the norse god of thunder.

The film’s cast is shaping up very nicely. Kenneth Branagh is directing, Chris Hemsworth is playing Thor; Tom Hiddleston is Loki, and Natalie Portman is portraying the main love interest, Jane Foster.

Elba will play Heimdall. For those unfamiliar, Heimdall is the brother of the warrior Sif. He is the all-seeing and all-hearing guardian sentry of Asgard, he stands on the rainbow bridge, Bifrost and stands watch for any attacks to Asgard. For ages, he stood as the guardian of Asgard, defending the city’s gates from any intruders, and was one of the most trusted servants of Odin.

Shooting is due to begin in mid-January in Manhattan Beach, California with Kevin Feige producing.

I’m exctied about this news, I think Elba brings a higher caliber of acting to the project and should fit in nicely as Heimdall.

What do YOU think?

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Trouble-prone teen Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of school – but that’s the least of his problems. The gods of Mount Olympus and assorted monsters seem to have walked out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology texts and into his life – and they’re not happy. Zeus’ lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Now, Percy and his friends must embark on a cross-country adventure to catch the true thief, save Percy’s family, and unravel a mystery more powerful than the gods themselves.

We haven’t been following this film that much but after watching the trailer it looks like it could be a lot of fun. Sort of a modern day retelling of Clash of the Titans. Percy or Perseus? man I am good at connection. The film is based on a popular series of young adult novels written by Rick Riordan. The film is being directed by Chris Columbus who kicked off another series of popular fantasy novels known as Harry Potter, in case you never heard of it.

The film stars Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson alongside an ensemble cast which includes Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Abel, Rosario Dawson, Steve Coogan, Uma Thurman, Catherine Keener, Jason McKidd, Sean Bean and Pierce Brosnan.

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So as we know Lost: Season 6 will not be airing any new footage in the promos as we are told the first 4 eps have so much spoilerage material that it would kill the last season’s mystery and intrigue if they showed us anything. I can deal with that so in the mean time we have the promo posters to tie us over. Unfortunately this poster doesn’t do much for me in any way, fashion or form. In fact it looks a lot like the teaser poster we posted not to long ago. In order, those listed are: Faraday, Boone, Miles, Michael, Ana Lucia, Charlotte, Lapidus, Shannon, Desmond, Mr. Eko, Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Locke (or Locke’s back, to be more precise), Ben, Sayid, Libby, Sun, Jin, Claire, Hurley, Juliet, Charlie, Richard, Bernard, Rose and even Vincent, the dog! Missing is Whitmore, Penny and Walt (interesting…).

So a few months ago we posted that Stargate star and genre actor, Michael Shanks would be portraying Hawkman for an all out Justice episode of Smallville. The episode is said to feature the complete Justice Society and is being written by famed comic book writer Geoff Johns. Originally he was to appear in two episodes called Society and Legends but the CW as decided to make a tour hour movie event out of it called Smallville: Absolute Justice. The site is also reporting that the two-hour event has switched airdates from January 29 to February 5.

Besides this information we also have a first look at Shanks as Hawkman courtesy of TV Guide.

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The latest samurai project to hit Hollywood, 47 Ronin, finally has a director in Carl Rinsch. We first heard about this film last year and that Keanu Reeves was attached. Rinsch, who shoots commercials for RSA, has been on Hollywood’s radar for awhile. RSA owners Ridley and Tony Scott has even previously had discussions with Rinsch to direct the prequel to Aliens, until Ridley Scott decided to return to the franchise he launched.

The film is based on famous fact-based story of a band of samurai swordsmen who avenge the death of their master in 18th century Japan. The script is being written by Chris Morgan who is even going to address Keanu Reeves’ half Asian, half American nationality.

In 47 Ronin, Reeves will play one of the swordsmen; the group and their master are revered in Japan for their revenge attack on Dec. 14, 1702. The film will tell a stylized version of the story, mixing fantasy elements of the sort seen in “The Lord of the Rings” pics, with gritty battle scenes akin to those in films such as “Gladiator.”

It seems unusual for a first-timer to get a big budget and a film with franchise potential but with clout like the Scott brothers in his corner I guess its not that hard. I am looking forward to this film because I am sucker for good martial arts movies.

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Awards Daily had this really cool “for your consideration’ ad for Disney’s UP. I got the ad via out friends at First Showing who were also psyched to see the ad. I my opinion the tone of the ad really focuses on the heart and the beauty of the film. Disney really wants to get this film a Best Picture and rightfully so as they were snubbed on Wall*E (rightfully so). I have never been a big Oscar follower as i always think its too political in more ways than one for its own good. That being said with 10 slots for Best Picture I think the award show got good.

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Just the other day as i was killing Opfor baddies and cussing out 10 year olds over multiplayer mode on the latest and greatest video game ever Call of Duty; Modern Warfare 2 I mentioned how a film for the Modern Warfare series would be a lot of fun. Surely enough a rumor has now been circulating that there will be especially with all voice talent the sequel has acquisitioned for the game.

The New York Post recently spoke to Kevin McKidd (Rome, Grey’s Anatomy, Journeyman) who voices one of the games’ main characters Captain “Soap” McTavish character and he revealed that a Call of Duty movie is picking up steam. Here’s an excerpt from the article.

“They were looking for a rough, Scottish actor in Hollywood they probably couldn’t get Gerard Butler, so they got the No. 2 Gerard Butler, me. I had no idea it would be so huge, and now there are talks of a feature film,” he revealed to PopWrap. Then came the kicker, when asked if he would be bringing Soap to life in the movie, he said, “if the script is good, and Gerard isn’t available [laughs], then absolutely.”

“There is a script that is being shopped and it’s supposedly very good, I haven’t seen it, but I am definitely going to be a part of the movie,” Kevin told PopWrap. He then went on to say that his character, soldier/politician Lucius Vorenus, is not dead despite what happened in the show. “He very much alive, so that should be a fun story to tell.”

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FilmsActu.com has just posted a brand new international poster for The Wolfman, which is set for release on February 12, 2010. A Redux of the classic monster film this is one that has been shuffled around multiple times on the release date list. The story revolves around a man and upon his return to his ancestral homeland, an American man (Del Toro) is bitten, and subsequently cursed by, a werewolf. The movie has a great cast though consisting of Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving and Art Malik.

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So it makes perfect sense that you would want to make a sequel to The Dark Knight, i mean it made so much money and the demand, buzz and want for the story to continue is so immense. However it has taken sp much time to hear anything about the next installment only to have it still up in the air.

Batman On Film, one of the premiere Batman fan sites reported last week that Warner Bros. should complete their plans for Batman 3 January 2010.

Here’s an excerpt from their article which also talkregarding Christopher Nolan, who might not be signed on for the film as of yet.

“Our guy told BOF that in his opinion, the longer we don’t hear a Nolan/B3 announcement in 2010, the less likely it is that the director will return. (I don’t know if I necessarily agree with that since I’m of the belief that Chris has already signed on.)”

It was also said that Batman 3 would be moving forward with or without Nolan, but we’ll have to wait and see how this new film develops.

Just because this is a fan site doesn’t mean they have an in. I mean I am sure they are connected better than we are but still. I can’t imagine they would want to move forward without Nolan involved in some way. If he doesn’t direct I hope he produces. That being said, realistically I think Nolan will commit once he has finished his post-production and press tour for Inception. Remember that Nolan didn’t fully commit to The Dark Knight until after he did The Prestige. I just think WB needs to take their time, they will be better off for it.

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Back in July, it was let out that Rob Marshall was one of the front runners to direct the next installment of the Pirates franchise at Disney. It was said he was meeting with Bruckheimer and Disney execs. Now it has been confirmed by an Ain’t It Cool News reader who reviewed Rob Marshall’s latest film musical Nine In the review there was a Q&A session afterwards where Marshall confirmed he will be directing Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

“When asked about his next project (by Nora Ephron, who hosted the Q&A), he replied ‘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: On Stranger Tides. That’s right– Rob Marshall is directing the next installment of the ‘Pirates’ franchise. The only additional thing he mentioned about it was that he had a wonderful meeting with Johnny a little while ago and that they’re both excited to work together.”

While this news hasn’t been officially confirmed by Disney, this appears to be the first time that Marshall had publicly spoken about his involvement on the sequel. I am really excited about this as in fact i think he is a nice change of pace for the series. Verbinski did a fantastic job with the first three films but i think Marshall will bring a new creative element to the franchise. If you watch his other work like Chicago or Memoirs of Geisha, there is a lot of detail in the environments as well as the little details that just pop out at you. I am really excited about this.

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