Marquand’s directorial debut Dead Man’s Cards apparently impressed George Lucas so much that the Star Wars creator asked Marquand to direct some episodes of the upcoming live-action Star Wars television show, which will start production sometime after the animated Star Wars show The Clone Wars premieres this autumn.
What’s interesting about this is that Jim Marquand is the son of Richard Marquand, who back in 1983 directed Return of the Jedi. Unfortunately, the article doesn’t tell us how Jim Marquand responded to Lucas’ request.
Freddie Highmore has landed the lead role in Imagi Studio’s CG-animated AstroBoy, ComingSoon.net writes.
Highmore will provide the voice for the title character. The young actor first rose to prominence playing alongside Johnny Depp in both Finding Neverland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. His most recent credits include the lead role in The Spiderwick Chronicles and voicing the daemon Pantalaimon in The Golden Compass.
Set in futuristic Metro City, AstroBoy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist to replace the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving father’s expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the man who had rejected him. The film is due for release in 2009.
Empire - the coolest English-language film magazine on the market - scored exclusive new shots from anticipated blockbusters The Incredible Hulk and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
The pictures will appear printed in their newest issue (out today) but can also be viewed on Empire Online:
Click here for the pair of stills from The Incredible Hulk, which show Edward Norton’s Bruce Banner wired to a machine and about to go Hulk, and our first look at William Hurt as General Ross. The movie smashes into cinemas June 13.
Click here for a claw-focused glimpse at Hugh Jackman as Wolverine from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Gavin Hood’s X-Men spin-off premieres May 1, 2009.
The trailer for Edward Neumeier’s Starship Troopers: Marauder (aka Starship Troopers 3 or ST3) has been released (see below).
The film is a sequel to Starship Troopers and Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation. The movie stars Casper Van Dien, reprising the role of Johnny Rico and is headed to DVD July 15th, 2008.
Following our earlier report that suggested Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures execs are considering reshooting Spike Jonze’s cinematic take on Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s picture book Where The Wild Things Are, the studio have now agreed on a release date of October 16th 2009.
This will mean that the $75 million project, dubbed too subvertive and art house for kids flick after a test screening, will now come out nearly three years after it was shot.
Jonze has control of the final cut of the feature, so if the studio pushes for reshoots without his agreement it’ll have to can Jonze and Dave Egger’s script altogether.
DC Comics, Warner Premiere, Warner Home Video and Warner Bros. Animation have issued a press release detailing the specifications for the upcoming Batman: Gotham Knight direct-to-DVD anthology movie.
The all-new, original movie will arrive July 8, 2008 on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The original movie will also be available OnDemand and Pay-per-View as well as available for download on the same day as release date, July 8, 2008.
Click here to read the press release and see three new pictures.
Kate Beckinsale has told IESB at the press junket for her new film Snow Angels that she won’t be making a cameo appearance in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Beckinsale played the character of Selene in Underworld (2003) and Underworld: Evolution (2006), both directed by her husband Len Wiseman.
The British actress didn’t rule out a return to the series entirely though, joking that she might ‘pull a Bruce Willis’ and return to her character at 50.
Variety writes that Women’s Murder Club executive producers Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain have defected to join the staff of Joss Whedon’s Fox project Dollhouse.
The original drama series sees Whedon reunite with former Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Eliza Dushku (who will star and produce), and has received a seven episode commitment from FOX.
Dushku will star as Echo, a member of an elite team of secret agents who have the ability to be imprinted with custom personalities and abilities for special assignments. When they return, their newly acquired memories are wiped. Beyond Dushku’s character, the show will also revolve around the people who run the mysterious dollhouse laboratory and two other ‘dolls’, a man and woman who are friendly with Echo. In pursuit of the trio is a federal agent who has heard an urban myth about the dolls, and is trying to investigate their existence.
According to Fox News, representatives of Steven Spielberg are trying to secure Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal as the opening film of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, which starts May 15th.
The event would mark the worldwide premiere of the film with the entire cast and crew set to walk the red carpet at Cannes’ Palais.
Dark Horizons reports that Paramount is rumored not to be planning any press screenings or junkets from the film, making any Cannes screening the first and only public unspooling of the film before its May 22nd release. Read into that what you will.
USA Today has published a set of stills from upcoming dark fantasy The Box.
Click here to take a look in the X-Realms gallery.
The Box, from director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) is the tale of a housewife (Cameron Diaz), the wife of a down-and-out loser (James Marsden). One day, a smartly-dressed stranger (Frank Langella) comes to their door and hands them a special box. He says that if they press the button, they will receive a large sum of money - but someone elsewhere in the world will die; someone they don’t even know.
The film is based upon a story by Richard Matheson which was adapted for an episode of the Twilight Zone called Button, Button. The episode, which was first aired on March 7, 1986 was personally adapted by Matheson and credited under a psuedonym.
Hulk Is Hero. It has been a long and hard two years for director Louis Letterier. To bring The Incredible Hulk to the screen was not only only a huge task in terms of scale but also in terms of a media and fanbase who were protective over a character they felt had been misconstrued […]
I am a little leary of the situation. The truth will come out when, and if the US economy, and the dollar begins to strengthen. If prices remain high, you’ll know someone is lying. Either OPEC doesn’t have the supply they claim they have, or Analysts are incorrect when they say demand has decreased. Personally, I don’t buy the claim that demand has decreased. Population is ever increasing, so, the the demand should always be increasing.
StarWars-Union pointed out an article in the Liverpool Daily Post, which conducted an interview with director Jim Marquand.
Freddie Highmore has landed the lead role in Imagi Studio’s CG-animated AstroBoy, 
Empire - the coolest English-language film magazine on the market - scored exclusive new shots from anticipated blockbusters The Incredible Hulk and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Following our 
DC Comics, Warner Premiere, Warner Home Video and Warner Bros. Animation have issued a press release detailing the specifications for the upcoming Batman: Gotham Knight direct-to-DVD anthology movie.
Kate Beckinsale has told 
According to 
I am a little leary of the situation. The truth will come out when, and if the US economy, and the dollar begins to strengthen. If prices remain high, you’ll know someone is lying. Either OPEC doesn’t have the supply they claim they have, or Analysts are incorrect when they say demand has decreased. Personally, I don’t buy the claim that demand has decreased. Population is ever increasing, so, the the demand should always be increasing. 