Paramount Ends "Dune" Efforts

Paramount’s option to make a movie based on Frank Herbert’s Dune has expired, and the studio’s four year efforts with the property have come to an end, according to Deadline. Efforts to reach a new agreement between the rights holder and Paramount were unsuccessful.

There’s a script by Chase Palmer that may survive in some new incarnation, according to the report, and Paramount’s last director for the project, Pierre Morel (Taken), could also end up working on the film for another studio if the project goes into turnaround.

Alcon Acquires "Bladerunner" Rights for Prequels & Sequels

The Warner Bros.-based production company Alcon Entertainment is in final negotiations to acquire film, television, and ancillary rights to produce prequels and sequels to the iconic 1982 iconic science fiction thriller Blade Runner.

Although it will be able to produce films based on situations introduced in the original film, Alcon will not have the right to remake Bladerunner, which was based on Phillip K. Dick’s classic novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

Bladerunner, which was directed by Ridley Scott, was not a box office success, but the film, which has a wonderfully dense and rich mise-en-scene, has grown in stature over the years and is now an accepted science fiction classic.

Diane Lane Will Be Supes' Mom

Warner Bros. has announced that the Oscar-nominated actress Diane Lane (A Walk on the Moon, Unfaithful, Secretariat) will play Martha Kent, Clark Kent's adoptive mother in the new Superman film directed by Zack Snyder. Deadline reports that Lane will star opposite Henry Cavill, the 27-year-old English actor, who will play Superman/Clark Kent.

Rumors continue swirl around other casting decisions for the film, which is slated to debut in December of 2012. Diane Lane’s co-star in A Walk on the Moon, Viggo Mortensen has been mentioned in several reports as being at the top of the list to play the villain General Zod, who was portrayed memorably in the 1980s by Terrance Stamp in Superman II. And a number of actresses are supposedly vying for the role of Lois Lane .

Snyder needs to get his Superman film underway by this summer, which means there will be more Superman casting announcements in the near future.

Elizabeth Hurley Is Wonder Woman Villain

English actress Elizabeth Hurley, who is perhaps best known for her role as Vanessa in the Austin Powers movies, will play Wonder Woman’s antagonist in the pilot for the new David E. Kelley-created Wonder Woman TV series. Hurley posted on Twitter today, “Thrilled to be doing the NBC pilot Wonder Woman. I’ll be playing the evil villain. Can’t wait.”

In the Wonder Woman pilot Hurley will most likely be playing Veronica Cale, a founding partner of Cale-Anderson Pharmaceuticals and a major rival of Wonder Woman. Greg Rucka created Veronica Cale, who made her first appearance in Wonder Woman #196 in 2003, as a “Lex Luthor for Diana.” Cale is jealous of Wonder Woman’s powers and rejects her quest for peace as simplistic and unattainable.

The Red Skull Revealed

Although Johann Schmidt, the Nazi weapons developer also known as “The Red Skull,” was glimpsed in the Captain America: The First Avenger trailer , no close-up full frontal shots of the Nazi villain have been released until today.

But

Entertainment Weekly has now posted a shot of Hugo Weaving in full Red Skull drag along with a short interview with Captain America: The First Avenger director Joe Johnston. Johnston talks about what he likes about Captain America—“he’s not a superhero in the true sense of the word. He becomes a superhero, but doesn’t really have any super powers.

He’s just the best possible human specimen. Imagine the fastest, strongest Olympian athlete. Add 30 percent. That’s Steve Rogers…I’ve had other offers for movies like this and usually turned them down. To me there’s something less interesting about a guy who can fly, and throw tanks around and stuff like that. The reason I wanted to do this one is he (Steve Rogers) is so relatable. I can relate to him”