Internet users are invited to speak with The Hobbit producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro in a live internet chat.

Fans anticipating the release of the Lord of the Rings prequel will have the chance to ask their questions about the latest adventure in Middle-Earth in the one-hour chat taking place May 24 on the WETA website (registration required).

The exact starting time of the chat by timezone is as follows: Los Angeles 1pm, New York 4pm, London 9pm, Paris, Berlin, Rome 10pm, Sydney (May 25) 6am, Wellington 8am.

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Posted in Movies, The Hobbit / LOTR •

Jan De Bont (Speed, Twister) will direct the sequel to 1991 action-classic Point Break, The Hollywood Reporter writes.

RGM Entertainment and Essential Entertainment will exec produce Point Break: Indo, the Asia-based follow-up to director Kathryn Bigelow’s original, which starred Keanu Reeves as an FBI agent casing a gang of surfer bank robbers. The new film will take place 20 years after the disappearance of one of the criminal surfers (Patrick Swayze).

Both the original and sequel are written by W. Peter Iliff. Plot details and possible character reprises have not been disclosed, but the film will shoot in Singapore and Southeast Asia.

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Posted in Movies •

Jonah Hill, the star from Superbad who recently missed out on a role in Transformers 2, is set to write and executive produce Sony’s big screen version of 80’s teen series 21 Jump Street according to Entertainment Weekly.

The original TV series ran from 1987 to 1990 on Fox and starred Johnny Depp in what was one of his first major roles. Depp played officer Tom Hanson who was assigned to an elite squad of young undercover cops - Judy Hoffs (Holly Robinson Peete), Doug Penhall (Peter DeLuise) and Harry Truman Ioki (Dustin Nguyen) - to infiltrate high schools and fight crime.

Whether Hill himself will also star in the movie is still up in the air, but it’s been confirmed that series co-creator Stephen J. Cannell will produce.

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Posted in Movies •

Director David Cronenberg (A History of Violence, Eastern Promises) is one of the leading candidates to direct a remake of Nacho Vigalondo’s Timecrimes, BlogDeCine reports.

The Spanish original Los Cronocrimenes is a noir-thriller about a man who travels back in time half an hour to prevent a serious crime.

Timothy J. Sexton penned the screenplay for the new version. Apparently, Vigalondo would like to see Adam Brody (The Pianist, The Darjeeling Limited) in the lead role.

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Posted in Movies •

Isobel Lucas was rumoured to be up for a role in Transformers 2 a couple of days ago, but amid successive denials of other names (Jonah Hill, Teresa Palmer) the validity of this information was always very much in doubt.

Director Michael Bay however has come forth himself to confirm the casting of Lucas on his official message board. The Australian actress, best known for her involvement in the TV show Home and Away, will play the role of “Alice”.

Meanwhile, Rachael Taylor (who played signal analyst Maggie in last summer’s Transformers) has confirmed to Moviehole that she will not reprise her role in the sequel, which is scheduled for release in summer 2009.

Discuss Transformers 2 on the X-Boards

Posted in Movies, Transformers •

Another Marvel character set to get his own movie before joining up with other superheroes (Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America) in The Avengers in 2011 is Thor.

Latino Review claims that Marvel’s actor of choice for the leading role is none other than Brad Pitt, although no formal offer has been made as of yet. Pitt’s superstar status, his acting credibility and his physical appearance (which bears significant resemblance to the character in Marvel’s original comics) make this preference a no-brainer, really.

A first script draft written by Mark Petrosevich is currently being trimmed down for budgetary reasons.

Discuss Thor on the X-Boards

Posted in Movies •