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'Ice Age' director for 'Monster Dogs'

Ice Age director Chris Wedge has signed to direct an adaptation of fantasy novel Lives of the Monster Dogs.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, screenwriter Adam Kline is adapting the book by Kirsten Bakis.

The novel centres on a pack of genetically engineered intelligent dogs that walk on their hind legs and communicate with people using voice boxes. The dogs also have a penchant for dressing in 19th century formal wear.

The story follows the dogs as they travel to modern-day New York City, meet a film student and begin reverting to their natural states.

The novel was published in 1989.

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'Avatar' sequel 'planned for 2014 release'

James Cameron has reportedly admitted that the sequel to Avatar will not be released until 2014.

According to the New York Post, it could be up to four years before audiences see the next instalment in the sci-fi trilogy.

The Titanic director recently revealed that he plans to film the second and third films together.

Cameron said: "Right now, the thinking is that [films] two and three are going to be done together. They'll be released separately, probably a year apart or maybe even two, but they'll be done in a bunch."

He added: "I'm mapping out the storyline right now, so there's a proper arc that plays out over two films, but [it] buttons nicely at the end of two, so you don't get this horrible second act Matrix feeling – you know, 'I've just sat through a three-hour movie and f**k all happened at the end!'"

Cameron began writing Avatar in 1994.

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Radcliffe, Kwanten for 'My Fair Lidy'?

Daniel Radcliffe and Ryan Kwanten are reportedly in discussions to star in an upcoming drama entitled My Fair Lidy.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, the movie - which would begin filming this winter - centres on a gay man who struggles with "unemployment" issues and the ideals surrounding succeeding in America.

A press release stated: "MB Casting, Inc, in conjunction with Sand Woman Productions, Orlando, Florida is in pre-production talks with reps for Ryan Kwanten and Daniel Radcliffe, for the feature film My Fair Lidy, to be shot in Florida sometime this winter."

Exec producer Sandi Bell said: "This film is timely and broaches many subjects, which include unemployment and how Americans use their wits and self-determination to find a way to not only support themselves, but to live the American dream. Through comedy, this film will make the audience take notice of a very unlikely hero, who just happens to be gay."

The screenplay is said to be written by unknown writer Roodi Sims and directed by The Brownstone's Ken Eulo.

Radcliffe and Kwanten have not commented on the rumour.

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Jessica Alba cast in 'Spy Kids 4'

Jessica Alba will lead the cast of the revived Spy Kids franchise.

The actress will reunite with her Sin City and Machete director Robert Rodriguez to play a mother of a baby and two pre-teen stepchildren who is reactivated for secret agent duties, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Alba's two oldest children will be the new Spy Kids, taking over from original stars Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara, who are expected to appear in supporting roles alongside Antonio Banderas.

The movie revolves around a plot hatched by a villain called the Time Keeper to freeze time.

Rodriguez will begin production on Spy Kids 4: All The Time In The World next month in Austin, Texas with a $30 million budget. It will be the second movie in the series to be released in 3D.

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Sienna Miller cast in Cassavetes's 'Yellow'

Sienna Miller has been cast in The Notebook director Nick Cassavetes's latest movie Yellow.

According to Production Weekly, Miller will be joined by Lucy Punch, Ben Foster, Melanie Griffith, Heather Wahlquist and Gena Rowlands in the cast of the ensemble drama.

The film, which Cassavetes penned with his wife Wahlquist, centres on a young woman dealing with a drug habit and a host of other personal problems.

Miller last appeared on screen in GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra, while Cassavetes recently directed My Sister's Keeper.

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Piranha 3D' sequel confirmed

Dimension Films have confirmed that a sequel to Piranha 3D is in the works.

The Alexandra Aja-directed movie entered the US box office this week at number six, taking in just over $10 million (£6.5 million), and was greeted with generous reviews from critics.

Now Dimension has given the go-ahead to Piranha 3D: The Sequel, and hopes to have the movie in cinemas by 2012.

The film's producer Mark Canton said: “We are thrilled that audiences are not just loving Piranha 3D, but cheering for it. And it’s fantastic that so many critics are really getting the movie and recommending it. We can’t wait to get to work on the sequel.”

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Efron gets 'Lucky One' female lead

Taylor Schilling has joined the cast of Zac Efron's new drama The Lucky One, says The Hollywood Reporter.

The actress allegedly held off competition from Abbie Cornish and Katie Cassidy to secure the coveted role in Shine director Scott Hicks's film.

Based on a Nicholas Sparks novel, the story centres on a young marine who survives three tours of Iraq and counts his good fortune down to a photograph of an unknown woman (Schilling) he carries around with him. When he returns home from duty to North Carolina, he attempts to track down the mystery woman.

Lucky One will be the seventh Sparks book to make it to the big screen following Message In A Bottle, A Walk To Remember, The Notebook, Nights In Rodanthe, Dear John and The Last Song.

The 26-year-old Schilling's credits include cancelled NBC series Mercy and the upcoming Atlas Shrugged adaptation.

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Black Widow to be lone female Avenger

Joss Whedon has revealed that Black Widow will serve as the only female member in his Avengers lineup.

Speaking to the Sunday Herald Sun, the helmer quashed rumours that the Wasp and other Marvel heroines are to appear in the film.

However, Whedon added that Scarlett Johansson's Russian spy will not be the only female character in the movie. "It is true that the movie is only going to have one female Avenger," he said. "But she will not be the only female character."

The director's comments have sparked rumours that Pepper Potts (Iron Man), Betty Ross (Hulk) or Jane Foster (Thor) could appear in the comic book adaptation.

He went on to tease details of the film's storyline. "It will be a new story that has many things from different arcs of the comics in it," he explained.

"There is no-one Avengers story that you can just do the way that you can do the origin of Spider-Man. You really have to cull from the original and The Ultimates, which is one of The Avengers' titles."

Avengers arrives in theatres on May 4, 2012.

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Ghost Rider' sequel to film in Romania

Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance will begin production in Romania this autumn.

According to Hot News, the comic book sequel will become the first major American movie to shoot in the country since Cold Mountain in 2002. It will be shot in 3D.

Written and directed by Crank duo Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the film sees Nicolas Cage reprise his role as former stunt man Johnny Blaze. It was previously reported that Eva Mendes - who played the character's love interest in the original - will not return for the sequel.

Further casting details and information on the film's storyline are expected to be revealed soon.

Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance is slated for release in 2011.

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Sam Worthington signs for 'Drift'

Sam Worthington has reportedly signed to star in upcoming surfing drama Drift.

The Avatar actor will move back to his homeland of Australia to take part in the production, reports The West Australian.

"I'm a WA boy at heart and to go back there and put something back into my hometown is something I am really looking forward to," he said.

The movie was inspired by the true story of a photographer and journalist who helped surfing become a global industry.

Worthington added: "There's something pure and true about surfing, and there is something pure and true about this script."

Production is scheduled to begin next year in West Australia.

Worthington has a number of films in development, including Dracula Year Zero, Quartermain and Dan Dare.

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Lindelof: 'Star Trek 2 inspired by Knight'

Producer Damon Lindelof has said that the upcoming Star Trek sequel is inspired by The Dark Knight.

Lindelof is writing the follow-up with fellow Lost producer Carlton Cuse, as well as Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

"We're looking at a movie like The Dark Knight, which went one step beyond Batman Begins," Lindelof told E! about the project.

He added: "It was really about something, and at the same time it was a superhero movie. We don't want to abandon all the things that made the first movie work... but we also really want the movie to thematically resonate."

J.J. Abrams is directing the update.

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Jolie 'to write, direct Bosnian war film'

Angelina Jolie has announced plans to write and direct her first feature film.

The project centres on a love story between a Serbian man and a Bosnian woman set during the Bosnian War.

"Based on an original screenplay written by Jolie, the actors will be solely compromised of various ethnicities from the region of the former Yugoslavia," read a press release.

"The film focuses on a Serbian man and a Bosnian woman who meet on the eve of the war and the effect the war has on their relationship."

GK Films' Graham King and Tim Headington will produce the film alongside Jolie, though US Weekly reports that the actress will not appear.

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Hoffman confirmed for 'Fockers' return

Dustin Hoffman will reprise his role as Bernie Focker in Meet The Parents: Little Fockers, Entertainment Weekly has confirmed.

Hoffman had previously turned down the chance to return to the comedy series, but Universal began re-negotiating with the actor when a week of reshoots were scheduled into the production.

After watching a finished cut of Little Fockers, Hoffman decided that he wanted to make an appearance in the sequel and will shoot four additional scenes. Some of Hoffman's scenes will be with Barbra Streisand, who plays his on-screen wife Rozalin Focker.

A source has claimed that Hoffman's initial refusal to return wasn't due to a salary dispute.

Meet The Parents: Little Fockers, starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo and Jessica Alba, opens in cinemas on December 22.

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Katie Holmes for Sandler's 'Jack And Jill'

Katie Holmes is in talks to play Adam Sandler's wife in comedy Jack And Jill, says The Hollywood Reporter.

The movie centres on Sandler's family man Jack as he has to deal with his sister Jill, who visits for Thanksgiving then refuses to leave. Sandler will play both the brother and sister.

Al Pacino has also signed up to appear as himself in the Dennis Dugan-directed movie.

Holmes can next be seen in horror Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark and is currently filming miniseries The Kennedys playing Jackie Kennedy Onassis.

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'Angry Birds' to become a movie?

Plans are reportedly afoot to make a movie adaptation of the hit iPhone game Angry Birds.

Rovio, the Finnish firm behind the property, wants to expand Angry Birds into new platforms such as movies, animated TV shows and comics and has been meeting with various Hollywood studios and agents in the last few weeks.

Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio Mobile, told Variety that the company is keen to capitalise quickly on the popularity of the Angry Birds brand.

He said: "It doesn't make sense [to produce a slate of different games] when you have a hit of any calibre. When you create brand equity, to do that again would be a difficult task rather than nurture and build around what you have."

The full game has so far sold more than 6.5 million times, while a free version has been downloaded 11 million times. A $4.99 iPad version has posted 200,000 sales.

Rovio's ideas for long-form animated features are said to be inspired by Aardman, who produce the stop-motion-animated Wallace & Gromit adventures. Hed also acknowledged the influence of Pixar's approach to filmmaking.

"The challenge is to make sure the brand is relevant when the movie comes out," he said. "Time and time again, [Pixar] take an unknown brand and make it big."

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Zegers, Mackie rumoured for 'M:I 4

Kevin Zegers, Anthony Mackie and Chris Egan will screen test for roles in Mission: Impossible 4, reports The Wrap.

The trio have reportedly auditioned for parts in the Brad Bird-directed spy sequel and will move further into the casting stages hoping to secure a role opposite Tom Cruise.

It is unclear if the actors are competing against each other or in line for different roles in Ethan Hunt's IMF (Impossible Missions Force) team.

Mackie had a starring role in Oscar-winning war drama The Hurt Locker, Egan recently appeared opposite Amanda Seyfried in Letters To Juliet and Zegers can soon be seen in thriller Frozen.

Cruise, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames are the only returning franchise cast members confirmed so far, while The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo star Noomi Rapace has been linked with a part in the movie.

Paramount plans to release Mission: Impossible 4 in December 2011.

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Jolie's Bosnia script 'is fantastic'

Croation actor Rade Serbedzija has called the Bosnian War-set script Angelina Jolie plans to direct "fantastic".

Serbedzija - who will play Gregorovitch in the upcoming Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - told newspaper Blic that he initially refused to take part in Jolie's love story, fearing that it would be anti-Serbian, but was won over by the quality of her screenplay.

He said: "When she was told why I had rejected her offer, Angelina contacted me by phone and asked me to read the scenario. The text is fantastic. It is a love story about a young Serb and a Muslim woman who fell in love several evenings before the beginning of war in Bosnia.

"The action follows war events with [the] young Muslim woman ending up in a Serbian concentration camp from where she is somehow saved by the young Serb. Their love becomes passionate but impossible."

Serbedzija added that Jolie based her directorial debut on a true story she had heard and filming will take place in Sarajevo and Budapest.

Of his role in the movie, the 64-year-old said: "I am playing [the] father of the main hero, a Serbian patriot. That is a very good character. He is a nationalist, but not a negative character.

"The story about him is very complex. He is a man with traumas from World War II whose whole family was killed. He has that tragedy in himself and his nationalism is arising from it."

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Studio boss "sure" over 'Bond' future

The boss of Pinewood Studios, where the Bond films are shot, has said that he is "sure" there will be another instalment in the future.

Producers of the 23rd film had hoped for a release in 2011 or 2012 but the franchise is currently on hold due to uncertainty over the future of MGM.

According to WENN, the delay had caused fears that Daniel Craig's Quantum of Solace would be the final film.

However, the studio's chief executive Ivan Dunleavy said: "I am sure there will be another Bond movie in future."

He added of the planned closure of the UK Film Council: "That decision has been made and there are a number of functions that the UK Film Council performs and they will be ongoing."

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Paquin, Bell to cameo in 'Scream 4'?

Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell will reportedly appear in Scream 4.

According to USA Today, True Blood's Paquin and Veronica Mars star Bell are to cameo in Wes Craven's horror sequel, currently filming in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The duo's roles have not been revealed, although it has been speculated that in the tradition of previous Scream outings, they will be killed off in the opening minutes.

Drew Barrymore was Ghostface's victim at the start of the first Scream, Jada Pinkett Smith and Omar Epps died in the Scream 2 intro and Liev Schreiber, Kelly Rutherford and Jenny McCarthy were killed at the beginning of Scream 3.

Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin, Adam Brody and Marley Shelton are among the cast for the latest Scream.

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Jolie to star in 'Unforgiven' movie

Angelina Jolie will star in a movie adaptation of ITV1's recent miniseries Unforgiven, says Deadline.

The Salt actress is eyeing the part of Ruth Slater, a woman who has to rejoin society after serving a 15-year prison sentence for murdering two police officers. When she is released, she finds herself the target of a revenge campaign from the sons of one of her victims.

Former Coronation Street star Suranne Jones played the lead role the original Unforgiven, which aired in three parts in January of last year.

The Jolie version will be scripted by Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and produced by Graham King (The Departed).

Jolie recently announced plans to make her directorial debut with a love story set during the Bosnian War.

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