According to Variety, United Artists has set Tom Cruise to star in Bryan Singer’s untitled World War II thriller that the director intends to film before starting work on the Superman Returns sequel The Man of Steel.

The thriller is based on actual events, as German generals hatch a scheme to assassinate Adolph Hitler at the height of WWII. Chris McQuarrie wrote the script with Nathan Alexander. Singer and McQuarrie will produce, while Alexander will be co-producer.

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After years of being in limbo, the screen adaptation of The Green Hornet has now been optioned by Columbia Pictures. The news was announced today by Matt Tolmach and Doug Belgrad, presidents of production for Columbia Pictures.

Commenting on the announcement in a press release, Moritz said, ‘I couldn’t be more thrilled to be developing this world renowned property with the people who brought Spider-Man to the screen. I can’t imagine a studio better equipped or more prepared to handle this kind of material than Sony. With the radio show, television program, comic books, and novels, there is ample source material to bring this classic crime-fighter to life.’

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Paramount Pictures has activated the official website for Matthew Vaughn’s Stardust, the adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s short and happily sequel-less fantasy novel. The page features a synopsis of the film, information on cast and crew, wallpapers and lots of high-quality imagery (including many brand new shots). Enter the site by clicking here.

Stardust follows the adventures of Tristran Thorn, the young inhabitant of the village of Wall. To win the love of a girl, he promises to retrieve a fallen star from the bordering country of Faerie. But he’s not the only one looking for it, and when the star turns out to be an ill-tempered girl who’s not too happy about being dragged along to be presented to someone’s girlfriend, things start getting rather complicated for the young hero.

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New Line Cinema won the film rights to Microsoft and Epic Games’ immensly successful Gears of War X-Box 360 video game, according to Variety. The rights were bought at an auction which featured a 21-page treatment by Collateral, 3:10 to Yuma and 30 Days of Night scribe Stuart Beattie, who will pen the full screenplay.

The plot, which is only modestly developed in the game, concerns a world reeling from an invasion by aliens known as the Locust. A small group of elite soldiers, including main character Marcus Fennix, who is rescued from prison at the beginning of the game, fight to retake the planet Sera for its surviving humans. Apparently Epic developed an extensive backstory in hopes of utilizing it for a film as well as potential novels. The video game has sold over 3 million units and is the most popular game on the X-Box Live service. A sequel game is set to be produced, with Epic and New Line hoping to tie it in with the release of the movie.

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British rising star Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) has landed the title role in the Martin Scorsese/Graham King produced The Young Victoria, reports Variety.

King said Blunt is ‘perfect to play this feisty, passionate young woman who went on to have nine children with the love of her life, Prince Albert.’ C.R.A.Z.Y. director Jean-Marc Vallee will helm the historical film which will chronicle the turbulent early years of Queen Victoria’s rule and her romance with Prince Albert.

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Clashing with rumours that Hairspray star Zac Efron was in line to play the lead in the Wachowski bros’ upcoming Speed Racer film, Variety now reports that Emile Hirsch (The Girl Next Door, Alpha Dog) is in final negotations for the role.

Based on the 1960s Japanese cartoon series by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida, the film will follow the adventures of the youthful Speed - played by Hirsch - as he tries to obtain victory in his tricked-out Mach 5 racecar, built by his father. Speed is often bailed out of danger by Racer X, a rival with a mysterious connection to Speed. This part has not been cast yet.

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The South Korean monster picture The Host won four Asian Film Awards (AFA) at the ceremony held last night as part of Hong Kong’s Entertainment Expo, reports Variety. The AFAs are a groundbreaking effort to recognize cinematic achievement among films produced in Asia.

Joon-ho Bong’s film, which scored a five star rating in our movie review, won the awards for best film, best actor (Song Kang-ho), best cinematography (Kim Hyung-goo) and best visual effects (San Francisco-based the Orphanage). The jury consisted of 17 programmers, critics and industryites from Asia and beyond. The full list of AFA winners is available here.

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New rumours surrounding the plot of Chris Nolan’s upcoming Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight have surfaced over at Batman on Film, mainly regarding a subplot involving Gotham’s mob scene.

According to them, Nolan is looking to beef up the character of gangster Sal Maroni to a bigger supporting role (perhaps much like Tom Wilkinson’s mobster Carmine Falcone in Batman Begins). In the comics, Maroni is the one who originally throws acid at D.A. Harvey Dent, scarring his face and leading him to become the gangster Two-Face. Aaron Eckhart will play Dent in the film, and there has been talk that the face-scarring would happen near the movie’s end. Sopranos star James Gandolfini and Aussie actor Alan Dale are rumoured to be in contention for the role of Maroni.

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Danny Boyle’s (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) new film Sunshine, a sci-fi drama, debuts in theaters almost everywhere except the United States next month, and apparently the film has made it certain for the director that he will never again to another space movie, says Dark Horizons:

‘I’ll never go back into space - it kills you. The standards set by the classics - 2001, Aliens, Solaris - are so high you have to at least match them and it’s bloody hard work.’ Boyle also revealed how he was forced to cut one of the film’s subplots: ‘There are things that just don’t work in space, like romance. We tried it for Sunshine and it just didn’t work. If you don’t get everything absolutely right it just punctures the film.’

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According to The New York Times there is a fight going on over the upcoming psychedelic love story (set to Beatles music) Across the Universe between the director and the studio.

The report states that Julie Taymor (Frida, Titus) delivered her 128-minute cut of the film to Revolution Studios a while back. Revolution head Joe Roth then proceeded to create his own 98-minute version which he screened for a test audience. Taymor is apparently so distraught about Roth’s actions that she is considering removing her name from the movie, while Roth just claims she is ‘overreacting to a normal Hollywood process’. Roth apparently vowed never again to allow a director final cut after Martin Brest’s Gigli was released to disastrous reception in 2003. Roth is hoping that a compromise can be reached, but associates of Taymor remain sceptical.

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