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Producer Deborah Snyder has said that Warner Bros urged the makers of Watchmen to update the story to reflect the War on Terror.

Speaking to DS at the world premiere, Snyder admitted that she and her director husband Zack were eager to go against the studio's wishes and retain the period backdrop.

"The studio wanted us to make it present-day, the War on Terror, and we felt that's us just commenting on what's going on today," she said. "It was more important to make it more of a metaphor, so setting it back in 1985 was the critical thing for us."

Directors Terry Gilliam, Darren Aronofsky and Paul Greengrass have all been attached to a movie adaptation of the comic book over the years, with the latter pair overseeing scripts that shifted the setting from 1985 to the modern day.

When asked about a potential Watchmen sequel, the Snyders quickly dismissed the idea. "Hell no!" remarked Deborah. "There's no sequel to Watchmen," Zack added. "That's crazy!"

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Columbia Pictures is in final negotiations to remake 1990 action movie Total Recall, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Neal H. Moritz and Original Films are developing the project, which would reprise the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi hit.

The original Paul Verhoeven-directed film was based on Philip K. Dick's short story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale. Schwarzenegger played Doug Quaid, an average Joe who suffered from recurring dreams about Mars. After having memories implanted by a company called Rekall Inc., Quaid believes he is a secret agent and ends up fighting a Martian colony lead by a tyrannical leader.

It grossed $261 million at the box office.

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Sean Penn has criticised the homophobic protesters who took issue with his Oscar win for the portrayal of openly gay politician Harvey Milk.

Penn beat Mickey Rourke to the best actor award for his performance in the lead role of Milk, which also won best screenplay at the ceremony.

The actor was met by a number of anti-gay individuals when he arrived at the Kodak Theatre, WENN reports.

He said: "It's becoming such an archaic, childish and cowardice (sic) position that they really start to look like clowns without the makeup on.

"It's something that's really easy to get angry at but you start to feel sad for them, and it's time to quiet them for the damage they do to others.

"It's kind of mind-boggling, the sophomoric level of thinking."

When he won his award, Penn jokingly thanked the "commie, homo-loving sons-of-guns" who voted for his performance.

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Chris Pine has promised fans that he will bring a new take to the role of Captain Kirk in J.J. Abrams's forthcoming Star Trek.

The actor has revealed that he stopped watching William Shatner's portrayal of the character in the original series because he wanted to approach the role with a fresh outlook.

"I wasn't doing myself any favours by trying to pick up on [his] mannerisms and the minutiae of the Star Trek world," he told fans at a South Korean convention.

"I would have created a character that was more impersonation than an original incarnation. J.J.'s prescription for realising the role - and this goes for all of us - was to create our own and not worry too much about obeying the laws of the original Star Trek world."

However, Pine admitted that he had contacted Shatner "by way of apology [to tell] him I wasn't trying to usurp his status because he is the [original] Captain James Kirk".

He added: "I was just simply taking over the mantle of the character and was doing my part to expand on the original."

Star Trek opens in the UK in May.

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Princess Beatrice's cameo role in upcoming movie The Young Victoria has been cut to only a few seconds, it has been claimed.

The Royal plays a lady-in-waiting for the young queen in the film, which is due for release on March 6.

A movie insider told The Sun: "It has been cut, as is the case with a lot of smaller parts. It's all a bit blink-and-you'll-miss-it. She goes past very quickly."

After filming the scene in 2007, Beatrice said: "It was tiring and I was freezing cold but I absolutely loved it. I am so excited about it."

Rupert Friend plays Prince Albert in the movie, while Emily Blunt takes the lead role of Queen Victoria, Princess Beatrice's great-great-great-great-great grandmother.

Blunt recently said that the heavy crown she had to wear for the film "left a dent" in her head that had to be covered with makeup.

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Warner Bros is looking to turn the DC comic book Suicide Squad into a movie franchise, reports Variety.

Debuting in 1959, the series centres on a group of imprisoned supervillains. It was revamped in 1987 with a mix of well-known and unknown DC villains taking on government assignments thought to be too dangerous for superheroes.

Justin Marks will write the screenplay with Sherlock Holmes producer Dan Lin overseeing for the studio.

Marks is the writer behind the upcoming Street Fighter and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea remakes, while Lin has blockbuster sequel Terminator Salvation and Ricky Gervais's directorial debut This Side Of The Truth scheduled for release this year.

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Samuel L. Jackson has signed a deal with Marvel to appear as spy Nick Fury in nine of its upcoming blockbusters, says The Hollywood Reporter.

The actor, who made a cameo as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent at the end of Iron Man, earlier said that talks to reprise the role had broken down due to "an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world".

The unique agreement will mean that Jackson is likely to appear as Fury in Iron Man 2, Captain America, Thor, The Avengers and their potential sequels. He may also lead the cast of a S.H.I.E.L.D. movie, about the espionage agency appearing in Marvel's books.

The Iron Man sequel has been plagued by casting problems since it was announced last year. Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard in the role of Jim Rhodes, while Mickey Rourke has been trying to negotiate a larger paycheque to star as villain Crimson Dynamo.

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A Pan-Asian television network has been criticised for censoring two Oscar winners' speeches during a repeat of the awards ceremony.

Satellite channel STAR omitted the words "gay" and "lesbian" from the speeches made by Milk star Sean Penn and the film's writer Dustin Lance Black, despite them having been broadcast in full earlier.

Accepting his gong for best actor, Penn made reference to legalising gay marriage, while best screenplay winner Black paid tribute to "all the gay and lesbian kids out there".

Prominent Malaysian arts critic Pang Khee Teik blasted the move, saying: "As a gay man, I am truly offended. Stop censoring the words that describe who I am."

He added that cutting the words had "sent a message... that gays and lesbians are still shameful things to be censored from the public's ears".

STAR representative Jannie Poon insisted that there was no intention to upset viewers, but said that the network had a "responsibility to take the sensitivities and guidelines of all our markets into consideration".

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J.J. Abrams has revealed that his new Star Trek film was "not made for Trekkies".

Speaking at a convention in South Korea, the director insisted that his forthcoming take on the sci-fi franchise is intended to embrace potential followers rather than satisfy existing fans.

"We made this film not for Trekkies but for future fans of Star Trek," he said. "The studio wanted to give the film a fresh start."

The Lost creator added that he had originally come on board as a producer but had decided to be "greedy" and enhance his role after reading the script.

"I saw so much potential and possibility that the original had failed to realise due to technological constraints so I got very greedy and I decided to direct it myself," he said.

Star Trek opens in the UK in May.

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Warren Beatty has reportedly offered Lindsay Lohan a new film role, but only on the condition that she lives in one of his homes while the movie is made.

Beatty is said to have a script that he wants to star in and direct and is keen to cast Lohan as his daughter, Fox News reports.

It is claimed that Lohan sees the offer as a chance to reignite her film career.

Earlier this month, the actress denied reports that she will star in the planned remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street.

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Kate Bosworth has revealed that she will be making her debut as a producer on the forthcoming film Lost Girls And Love Hotels.

The 21 actress, who optioned the rights to Catherine Hanrahan's novel last year, has confirmed that work has begun on a big screen adaptation.

"I've just had a wonderful writer adapt it. Now we're in the stage of finding a director and building it up from the ground up. It's a lot of work but we're going to do it," WENN quotes her as telling the New York Daily News.

Lost Girls tells the story of a young woman who is trying to escape reality in the seedy excesses of Tokyo but is haunted by the disappearance of a Western girl.

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US actor Bill Pullman has described Ant & Dec's relationship as "mythic" and "transcendent".

Speaking to DS, the Independence Day star, who appeared with the pair in 2006's Alien Autopsy, said that he was taken aback by the enthusiasm Brits shared for the TV duo.

"I always loved asking everybody when I arrived in England, from the drivers who picked me up to the people at the hotel to people I met when I was walking in the park, almost everyone at some point would say, 'Everyone loves Ant & Dec!' From eight to 80," he said.

"I think it's true, there's something youthful about them and something mythic about their relationship that makes it really transcend a lot of different ages."

Pullman said that his experience filming Alien Autopsy was "great fun" and "a little bit of a lark".

"We shot it at Ealing [Studios] and I've always been intrigued seeing that in the credits of good English comedies from the '30s, so to actually be at that studio was a real treat," he added.

Pullman's new movie Surveillance opens in UK cinemas on March 6.

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A film adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear, which was due to star Anthony Hopkins and Keira Knightley, has been cancelled.

The Ruby Films production would have marked Knightley's first film performance in a work by Shakespeare, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Hopkins was cast in the lead role, while Knightley was to play his youngest daughter Cordelia.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Naomi Watts had signed to star as Lear's older daughters Regan and Goneril respectively.

A spokeswoman for the film company said: "Ruby are no longer doing it - the film will no longer go ahead. It has not really been announced."

The firm did not comment on whether the ongoing recession is behind the cancellation.

Earlier this month, it was announced that Al Pacino and director Michael Radford will reunite to make their own adaptation of King Lear following their collaboration on The Merchant Of Venice in 2004.

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The final Harry Potter film has been given a release date of 2011.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part II is expected in cinemas from July 15, reports the BBC.

The seventh book in JK Rowling's series will be filmed in two parts because of its length.

Part I will be out on November 19, 2010, while fifth instalment Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince is scheduled for release this July.

Representatives of the Health And Safety Executive visited the Deathly Hallows set last month after stuntman David Holmes suffered a back injury while working on an aerial sequence. The set was closed for a week before film bosses were told that filming could resume.

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The young cast of Slumdog Millionaire have been given a heroes' welcome on their return to the Indian city of Mumbai.

Large crowds gathered to welcome the child stars as they touched down on home soil following their visit to Los Angeles to attend the Oscars, reports the BBC.

The Danny Boyle-helmed film was the big winner at the 81st annual ceremony, a triumph which was later hailed as "the finest hour" of Indian cinema.

Composer A.R. Rahman, who won two Oscars, received a similar welcome as he arrived in his home city of Chennai.

Indian authorities have apparently promised to rehouse Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismali from the Mumbai slums for bringing "laurels to the country".

The pair, who played younger versions of the film's two main characters, are to be moved to more secure, free homes.

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Peter Baynham has been announced as the writer of the remake of Arthur.

Comedian Russell Brand has already been cast in the title role of the Warner Bros film.

The movie will be a reworking of Steve Gordon's classic starring Dudley Moore, which won Academy Awards for best song and best supporting actor for John Gielgud.

Arthur will be produced by Benderspink and Larry Brezner, a veteran of the 1981 original.

Baynham appeared in British comedy shows The Day Today and Fist of Fun.

He was nominated for an Oscar as a co-writer of Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan alongside Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines and Dan Mazer.

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Microsoft has agreed a deal with film studio Universal to make a range of movies available to Xbox Live members in Europe.

The firm has collaborated with NBC Universal International Television Distribution to offer new and classic films to Xbox owners.

Under the deal, movies such as Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Wanted, Scarface and Carlito's Way became available yesterday via the Xbox Live Marketplace.

David Gosen, Xbox Europe's vice president of marketing, said that the move is part of the company's "ongoing strategy to make Xbox a major entertainment hub".

The full list of available movies runs as follows:

Baby Mama
Billy Madison
The Blues Brothers
The Bourne Supremacy
Carlito's Way
Cheech and Chong's Next Movie
Child's Play 2
Child's Play 3
The Chronicles of Riddick
The Fast and the Furious
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The Frighteners
The Game
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
How High
Incredible Hulk ('08)
The Jerk
The Mummy Returns
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
National Lampoon's Animal House
Out of Sight ('98)
Red Dragon
Scarface ('83)
The Scorpion King
The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior
Shaun of the Dead
Village of the Damned
Wanted
Waterworld
Weird Science

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A language monitoring group has revealed that the terms "Slumdog" and "Jai Ho!" are among the most influential of the 2008 Hollywood awards season.

The Global Language Monitor uses an algorithm to track the frequency of words in both print and electronic media and said that it was rare for two phrases from the same film to make the HollyWords of the year list, reports Reuters.

"Jai Ho!", Hindi for "Let There Be Victory", is the title of the Oscar-winning best song from Slumdog Millionaire, while "Slumdog" is the term used in the movie to describe people who live in the Mumbai slums.

Third place in the list went to the term "Nuke the Fridge" from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, while "Hmong" from Clint Eastwood movie Gran Torino was fourth.

Also in the top ten was the line "What doesn't kill you makes you... stranger" from The Dark Knight, as well as Kung Fu Panda statement "There are no coincidences".

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Ondi Timoner has been named as the director of Eliza Dushku's biopic of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.

Dushku had purchased the rights to co-produce the movie and has already cast her brother Nate in the lead role.

The film, entitled The Perfect Moment, will be the first feature directed by Timoner, who is best known for her Brian Jonestown Massacre documentary DIG!, Variety reports.

Timoner said: "A pariah to some, a hero to others, Mapplethorpe's talent combined with his irreverence toward social norms made him a cultural lightning rod.

"He is an artist who could not help but express his vision of the world, despite the tempest it spawned."

The Mapplethorpe Foundation said that it was "impressed" with Timoner's vision for the project.

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Zac Efron has been named ShoWest's breakthrough performer of the year.

The 21-year-old, who shot to fame in Disney's High School Musical franchise, will accept his award at an event on April 2.

"When Zac Efron made his debut with the cast of Hairspray at ShoWest 2007, many in attendance took notice of this young actor's incredible talent," said co-managing director Mitch Neuhauser.

"His undeniable on-screen presence and charm have connected with fans around the world."

Efron will accept his honour alongside Star Trek actor Chris Pine, who was previously named this year's ShoWest male star of tomorrow.

Efron's next movie 17 Again opens in the UK on April 17.