Source: Empire Online | Posted By: Dan Geer

One of the greatest aspects of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings is composer Howard Shore’s score for the films. The music of The Lord of the Rings functions as much more than just filler to get us from one scene to the next without awkward silence. Memorable themes and musical cues were meticulously crafted for specific characters and fantastical environments, giving the soundrack that rare ability to immediately take you back to an iconic fictional world without having to even re-watch the trilogy, something that few composers achieve. John Williams (Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter) is really the only other film composer that comes to mind that has that gift.

So the question is, will Shore’s new score for The Hobbit Trilogy live up to what he created for The Lord of the Rings? Well, fans can now preview the entire soundtrack to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey over at Empire Online and decide for themselves. As a fan myself, I can say with confidence that the film’s score will live up to the legacy of The Lord of the Rings, more specifically The Fellowship of the Ring. Cues from various Lord of the Rings themes are scattered throughout, and the rest, while completely new, still feels like a part of Middle Earth. Head on over to Empire Online and have a listen!

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Source: Access Hollywood | Posted By: Dan Geer

Now that Star Wars creator George Lucas has handed over Lucasfilm to Disney, and given the green light for Star Wars: Episodes VII-IX, the biggest question on everyone’s mind is who will step into the director’s chair, now that Lucas has stated he will not direct.

Countless websites have compiled their wishlists, and posted various rumors of who will now direct. Probably the biggest name to come up is Steven Spielberg, who has been a long time friend of Lucas, and of course directed the four Indiana Jones movies that Lucas developed. Kathleen Kennedy, now President of Lucasfilm, has produced quite a number of Spielberg-directed films as well. So it really does make him the obvious choice to take over Star Wars, given his relationship with both Kennedy and Lucas.

However, according to Access Hollywood, this will unfortunately not be the case. Read on for what Spielberg had to say!

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Source: Michael Bay | Posted By: Dan Geer

Lately, rumors were going around stating that actor Mark Wahlberg, who is currently starring in director Michael Bay’s upcoming film, Pain and Gain, was in talks to star in Bay’s other little film coming up, Transformers 4. Bay was quick to shoot down that rumor, but then started to have a change of heart and saw fit to dream up a role for the actor in his new giant alien robot flick.

As of yesterday, Wahlberg has been officially confirmed to star in the new Transformers film, and you can read the official press release below!

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Source: Deadline | Vulture | StarWars.com | Posted By: Dan Geer

Star Wars has been the top story topic for the last week now, ever since Disney and Lucasfilm announced their recent partnership, as well as their intent to release the long-awaited, always rumored Star Wars: Episodes VII-IX, starting in 2015. So, if you see tons of news articles on this website regarding the upcoming films, you shouldn’t be surprised, since this is literally the biggest news in recent movie history, and tidbits are flying in just about every day.

The latest comes from Deadline, which states that Oscar-winning writer Michael Arndt is the man responsible for the treatments of Episodes VII-IX. Read on for further details!

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Source: Entertainment Weekly | Posted By: Dan Geer

According to a highly-placed source close to the recently announced Star Wars: Episodes VII–IX, Harrison Ford is indeed open to the idea of reprising his role as Han Solo for at least Episode VII, slated to hit theaters in 2015. Read on for more info!

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Source: Vulture | /Film | Posted By: Dan Geer

The new film version of Rod Serling’s classic TV series, The Twilight Zone, has been struggling to get off the ground for years now, going through various writers, and now directors, with Cloverfield director Matt Reeves recently dropping out of the project in favor of directing Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. So it’s probably no wonder why not much has been made public regarding the plot, when the production seems to constantly have hurdles to leap over.

However, recent information has emerged online that gives us more to go on in terms of the story, which could mean things are finally coming together for the project. Read on for a very brief summary of the film!

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Source: Entertainment Weekly | Posted By: Dan Geer

Two days later, fans are still pinching themselves over the news that George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Walt Disney Company for $4.5 Billion, and that Star Wars: Episodes VII, VIII, and IX are now in the works. Even Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, was surprised by the news, according to an interview conducted by Josh Rottenberg of EW.

However, while Hamill did not know about the Disney deal with Lucasfilm until two days ago like everyone else, both he and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) have known of George Lucas’ decision to shepherd the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy since this past summer during Star Wars Celebration VI.

What does this mean? Could they reprise their classic Star Wars roles in the new films? Hit the jump to see what Hamill had to say!

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Source: Collider | Yahoo Finance | Official Star Wars Website | Posted By: Dan Geer

Yes, it is in fact NOT April Fools Day, and you have indeed read the headline correctly. It has been confirmed that Disney has purchased Lucasfilm for approximately $4 Billion and is planning to release Star Wars: Episode VII by 2015 – the first of an entirely new trilogy!

Read on for details, as well as a video with George Lucas announcing the news!

Update: A new video has just emerged with Bog Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company, and George Lucas announcing in greater detail the future of Star Wars. Hit the jump for all the goodies!

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Source: Empire | Posted By: Dan Geer

Ever since Peter Jackson’s plan for adapting J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit into a film was revealed as being more than one film, we all wondered if it was even necessary. After all, it’s only one book instead of three, and written with a younger audience in mind than what The Lord of the Rings was intended for. But once we were informed that Jackson and company would be drawing from the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings to flesh out the story, things made a whole lot more sense.

However, when the announcement came earlier this year that Jackson’s two-film adaptation of The Hobbit was being turned into a trilogy, fans wondered if this adaptation will now end up becoming very bloated, and seem too exhausted by the time the third film comes to a conclusion. We were offered an explanation that there’s really more to draw from the Appendices than people think, but even that seemed like a stretch to some.

My initial theory was that, in order for this to work properly, the films would actually have to be shorter than any of The Lord of the Rings films, which is something that I think many people hadn’t even considered. As it turns out, this is basically the case, as the running time for the first film in the trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, has been revealed, and it is indeed somewhat shorter. Hit the jump to find out the running time!

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Source: LA Times | Posted By: Dan Geer

After winning a legal battle against the heirs of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster, Warner Brothers is now able to proceed with making a Justice League film, which is now being pushed for a Summer 2015 release. Much like Marvel’s The Avengers, Justice League will team up famous comic book heroes to battle evil, but from the DC Comics universe, with Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman being among the group. More on this story after the jump!

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