"Uncanny X-Men" Ending in October 2011

Marvel has announced that Uncanny X-Men #544, out this October, will be the last issue of the longest-running X-Men title. The ending flows out of the X-Men Schism storyline, which Marvel has compared to Civil War in its far-reaching effects.The title will wrap up at the same time as Fear Itself, which Marvel says is no coincidence. The final issue will be written by Kieron Gillen with pencils and covers by Greg Land.

X-Men Schism launches in July.

ThunderCats Original Series on DVD

Warner Home Video has announced the July 12th release of ThunderCats Season 1, Part 1 (MSRP $19.97), which includes the first 12 episodes of the original Rankin/Bass ThunderCats series that aired in 1985. The original series, which chronicled the adventures of the feline exiles from the planet Thundera who bravely fight the vicious mutants intent on destroying them, was a huge hit in the 1980s inspiring a Marvel comic book series as well as numerous toys and action figures.

A new ThunderCats series produced by Studio 4C (Tekkon Kinkreet, Batman: Gotham Knight, Transformers Animated), is due to debut on the Cartoon Network this year. The new series has a more conscious anime look than the original ThunderCats, though the original series was also animated in Japan.

So far the Cartoon Network has not released a date for the debut of the new ThunderCats series, but in its press release announcing Season 1 Part 1 of the Original Series, Warner Bros. said it would be available “just ahead of the premiere of the all-new ThunderCats on the Cartoon Network," and Mezco Toys is releasing the first of its new series ThunderCats action figures, a new Lion-O figure in July as well.

"Powers" Casting Begins

Charles S. Dutton has been cast as Captain Cross in the FX pilot based on Powers, according to Deadline. Dutton is the first actor cast for the pilot, which was greenlit in February.

The Powers comics are by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming.

Leonard Nimoy to Voice Sentinel Prime

It must be “add some illustrious vocal credits to your summer blockbuster" week. Just a day after Warner Bros. announced that Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush would be providing the voice of Tomar-Re in Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern movie, Paramount let it be known that the iconic Leonard Nimoy would handle the vocal chores for the robot Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Sentinel Prime is the “ancestor” of Transformers “good guy” autobot Optimus Prime. In Dark of the Moon the wreckage of Sentinel Prime is found on the moon by the Apollo 11 Astronauts and brought to Earth where he adopts the vehicle disguise of a Rosenbauer fire truck. Nimoy, who is most famous for his role as Mr. Spock in Star Trek, is no stranger to the Transformers universe. In 1986 he provided the voice of Galvatron in Transformers: the Movie.

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.