News Roundup: Avatar 2 and The Wolverine!

• Jon Landau talks about Avatar 2.
• Easy A is leading to some easy answers, Emma Stone will reunite with her director from Easy A to recreate the magic.
• Angela Lansbury has signed on to play mother in Adaline, a story in which a young woman is struck by lighting and is stuck in her 20s.  What a horrible fate! Not!  Although there is no Adaline anymore, Katherine Heigl left the project as she was not ready to come to work from maternity leave.  The movie is being directed by Andy Tennant.
• Is it true? Will Bill Clinton be cameoing in Hangover 2?  What could he possibly be doing in Bangkok?
• The next movie about fan favorite X Men character Wolverine starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Darren Aronofsky is called The Wolverine.  How boring!
• In news that interests no one but me, William Monahan, Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Departed, will adapt and direct Jean Anouilh's play Becket.  Henry II is one of my favorite historical figures and if you haven't yet seen The Lion in Winter starring Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn, you're missing out.  This one has potential written all over it.

OMG NEWS: Batman 3 gets a title and more Avatar?

Yeah, that's right.  I'm leading with OMG news because it's official and technically from the horse's mouth in both cases and it qualifies.

Christopher Nolan spoke to the Hero Complex blog over at the LA Times and he confirmed a few facts.  First up, the title, The Dark Knight Rises, showing that it is indeed continuing where the last film left off.  And the article contains some big news, the Riddler won't be the villain in the feature as assumed by the entire Internet.  No reveal on who though.  Let's be patient on this, it'll be very hard to top Heath Ledger's Joker.  The movie will not be in 3D but will be shot in HD using IMAX cameras.  Great choice!

Moving on to features where 3D actually counts and is needed, James Cameron has said that his next two films will be Avatar 2 and Avatar 3.  There are release dates that come along this announcement.  The second sequel is scheduled for December 2014 and the third in the trilogy will be released a year after on December 2015.  Think of the gap between Titanic and Avatar, this is genuine progress!

Bonus Link of the Day:  Excellent interview on Michael Caine over at TIME who will, incidentally, be in the next Batman.  Love his succinct interpretation and take on Inception.

News Roundup: The Great Gatsby and Worst Titles Ever

• The Star Wars prequels can rest easy.  They no longer hold the title for Worst Movie Name.  No, that honor now goes to Transformers: Dark of the Moon.  What?  Yes, seriously, you couldn't make this up.  And never fear Transformers 3, you won't hold the title long, the Piranha sequel is coming up next, Piranha 3DD.  What is this world coming to?
• He is.  He isn't.  No, not anymore.  But wait, yes, he is.  I'm going to be known as the blogger who cried wolf again.  Peter Jackson is on again to direct The Hobbit.  I think I'm going to hold off on any new Hobbit information unless it comes neatly tied up in a press release.
• James Cameron is talking about some Avatar sequels.  Promising, but knowing the way he works be prepared for a long wait til you see the world of Pandora again.
• Baz Luhrmann recently held a workshop for The Great Gatsby in New York.  Who were the actors who read the parts?  Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Rebecca Hall as Jay, Nick and Daisy respectively.  This casting may not stick until filming but I like it already and besides when is the last time the two friends Leo and Tobey have acted together? Not since the 90s, I think.  
• Finally some hope, albeit a tiny sliver, for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  Because who doesn't want to see Elizabeth Bennett kick some zombie ass?  

Avatar Extended Collector's Edition deets!

November 16th, that's when James Cameron is rolling out the new Extended Collector's Edition of Avatar. I'm sure glad I didn't shell out money to buy the plain old standalone movie DVD.  Collector's Edition DVD, you were what I was waiting for.  But what's this about releasing more stuff for the Blu-Ray edition and not for the regular edition and the biggest omission is it's not in 3D folks.  Don't tell me that release is for next year.  For now, I will just be distracted by the 45 minutes of deleted footage that will be included on the DVD set.  

Here's some detailed info of what the discs will contain:

AVATAR Extended Collection's Edition: 3-Disc Collector's Edition Blu-ray:

Disc One

· Original Theatrical Version

· Special Edition Re-Release

· Collector's Extended Cut

o 16 more minutes and exclusive alternate opening

Family Audio Track (All Objectionable Language Removed)

· Original Theatrical Release

· Special Edition Re-release

Disc Two

· "Capturing Avatar" An in-depth feature length documentary with James Cameron, Jon Landau and cast and crew

· Deleted Scenes – including over 45 minutes of new never-before-seen deleted scenes

· Production Materials

Disc Three

· Open "Pandora's Box" and go deeper into the filmmaker process

· Interactive Scene Deconstruction: Explore the various stages of production through 3 different viewing modes

· Production Shorts: 17 featurettes covering performance capture, scoring the film, 3D fusion camera, stunts and much more

· Avatar Archives including original scriptment, 300 page screenplay and the extensive Pandorapedia

· BD-live Portal with additional bonus materials