Hugo Weaving to Portray The Red Skull

Marvel Studios has announced that veteran character actor Hugo Weaving will play the key role of The Red Skull in The First Avenger: Captain America, which begins production next month in London. Introduced in Captain America #1 in 1941, the original Red Skull was George John Maxon, an American industrialist turned Nazi saboteur, but the character in the movie has been identified by Marvel Studios as Johann Schmidt, who was actually the second Red Skull in the comic continuity. Schmidt, a German orphan who survived a harsh upbringing, was working as a bellhop in a Berlin hotel when he was chosen by Hitler for special training that the Fuhrer supervised himself.

Weaving joins a cast that so far includes Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell. Weaving is perhaps best known for his work in the Matrix Trilogy (Agent Smith), V for Vendetta (V), and Lord of the Rings (Elrond). Weaving has also provided the voice of Decepticon leader Megatron in Michael Bay’s two live-action Transformers movies.

"Dark Crystal" Sequel Set

Omnilab Media and The Jim Henson Company will produce Power of the Dark Crystal, the sequel to the original, in 3D. The feature will be a combination of live action, puppetry, and visual and special effects. Fantasy artist Brian Fround will be the conceptual designer of the film.

Brothers Peter and Michael Spierig (Undead, Daybreakers) have been hired to direct from a screenplay by Craig Pearce (Moulin Rouge) based on a script by Annette Duffy and David Odell.

Archaia has announced a Dark Crystal comic for later this year.

Dempsey in "Transformers 3"

Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy) has joined the cast of Transformers 3 as Megan Fox’s boss, according to Variety. Fox and LaBeouf return to their roles from the first two films in the series.

Director Michael Bay will begin shooting the film this month, according to the report, to be ready for a July 1, 2011 release.

Will There Be a 'Magic 8-Ball' Movie?

Paramount, which scored a major success with Hasbro’s Transformers, has extended its deal with toy company Mattel by acquiring the rights to make a live action adventure movie based on the Magic 8-Ball, a predictive toy, which contains a die with 20 pre-set answers.

Hollywood’s headlong pursuit of “toyetic” properties, which is evident in numerous projects currently in development including Battleship, Stretch Armstrong, Risk, and Major Mason, made it likely that a studio would try to make a Magic 8-Ball movie, especially since Universal is already prepping a film based on Hasbro’s Ouija Board Game.

Deadline New York is reporting that Paramount, which is already working with Mattel on a Max Steel movie, has hired Jon Gunn and John Mann, who have written Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians for Dreamworks Animation, to write the screenplay for the Magic 8-Ball movie.

Smaller Marvel Movies Could Get Made Too

Marvel is meeting with writers and directors to discuss inexpensive movies based on less widely known characters, according to Chud. Among the properties being discussed are Dr. Strange, Ka-Zar, Luke Cage, Dazzler, and Power Pack, with the movies expected to be made for $20 to $40 million, a very small amount by today’s standards.

Marvel’s history would indicate that it might have some chance for success with the strategy. The first Blade movie, based on a relatively minor character, cost a reported $45 million to make and ended up grossing $131 million worldwide (plus video and TV sales), and spawned two sequels.

Vampire Knight DVD Launch Set for July

Viz Media will launch the Vampire Knight anime in the U.S. with the release of the first DVD, Vampire Knight Vol. 1, on July 20th at an MSRP of $19.97. This will be the first U.S. release of the original, uncut episodes.

The Vampire Knight anime launch will be supported with large scale marketing events at San Diego Comic-Con, Anime Expo, and select Twilight conventions nationwide.

Viz will cross-market the anime with the manga, which was the#2 shojo manga of 2009 and the #3 manga over-all . The DVD Volume 1 will include a manga mini-sampler; and the anime will be advertised in future Vampire Knight manga releases.

Batman : Under the Red Hood

DC Comics and sister companies Warner Premiere and Warner Bros. Animation will release Batman: Under the Red Hood on DVD and Blu-ray on July 27th. The PG-13 animated feature was written by Judd Winick, who wrote the 2005 comics on which the feature is based. It’s directed by Brandon Vietti (co-director of Superman Doomsday) and exec produced by Bruce Timm.

Voice talent includes Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek) as Batman, Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) as Red Hood, Neil Patrick Harris (everything) as Nightwing, John DiMaggio (Futurama) as The Joker, and Jason Issacs (Harry Potter) as Ra’s Al Ghul.

Three SKUs will be offered: a single disc with a $19.98 MSRP, the Special Edition Two-Disc DVD set at a $24.98 MSRP, and Special Edition Blu-ray at a $29.98 MSRP.

The Special Edition DVD set will include two hours of bonus features, including a “Robin’s Story” featurette; two episodes from Warner Animation’s history, chosen by Timm; and an extended preview of the next DC OAV.

In addition to those extras, the Blu-Ray Special Edition will include another featurette, “Death in the House of Batman;” two more Batman toon episodes; and a digital copy.