They have probably just finished cleaning up the San Diego Convention Center and we already have our first casting rumor for an upcoming Marvel film–one that is sure to delight many a comic book fan out there.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog is stating that Anthony Mackie (8 Mile, The Hurt Locker) is in negotiations for a role in the forthcoming sequel, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The blog believes that Mackie is being earmarked to play Sam Wilson, the man many comic book fans know as The Falcon.

The Falcon was created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan in Captain America #117 (September 1969) and was first African-American superheroes in comic books (Marvel created the Black Panther in the pages of Fantastic Four three years before, but he was the potentate of the fictional African country of Wakanda and not an American). He was so popular that he held co-billing with Captain America in the latter’s comic book from 1971 to 1978, and most recently co-starred with Cap in a 14-issue series in 2004.

It remains to which version of the Falcon will make it into the movie. In the mainstream Marvel continuity, Sam Wilson was a reformed criminal who was stranded on a remote island that was home to Nazi war criminals. When Captain America came to the island, Wilson joined him in fighting the Germans and protecting the native population. He would eventually return to the United States, reform his evil ways, and become one of Cap’s most trusted allies.

In the Ultimate line of Marvel Comics, Sam Wilson is a scientist and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who had previously served with Nick Fury in the army. He has shared adventures with the Ultimate version of Captain America, but has not become as close a partner as his mainstream Marvel counterpart.

Both Falcons are able to fly through the use of cybernetically controlled wings. The mainstream Marvel version of the character was also a mutant (Shhh! Don’t tell Fox!) who could telepathically communicate with birds, including his pet falcon, Redwing.

Of course, Heat Vision couldn’t get anyone at Marvel to confirm Mackie was in talks to play the Falcon, so this could all be speculation over nothing. But I really hope it is true. Mackie is a great actor and the Falcon is one of my favorite characters.

Alan Rickman has signed to play Hilly Kristal, the owner of the legendary New York City rock club CBGB’s for a film that will chronicle the venue’s storied history. The film, titled appropriately enough CBGB, is set to be directed by Bottle Shock helmer Randall Miller working from a script he has co-written with Jody Savin.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Kristal’s daughter Lisa Kristal Burgman is involved as a co-producer and Miller is hoping to start shooting next month.

If for some reason you’ve never heard of CBGBs, then you should know that shortly after it opened on the Bowery in 1973 it became ground zero for the punk movement in America where such bands as The Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, Television, the Patti Smith Group and the Cramps first rose to prominence. The club would continue to serve as an incubator for acts up until its closing in October 2006.

The Hollywood Reporter is announcing that 20th Century Fox has “closed deals” with director Matthew Vaughn his cast from X-Men: First Class to return for its sequel.

The 2011 film would be considered a disappointment if you just look at domestic grosses ($146,408,305 against a $160 million budget), but it more than made its money back overseas (to the tune of $207,215,819 more).

The report takes pains to point out that the two actors most likely to bolt from the franchise–Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence–have definitely signed on to return. Both expressed interest in reprising their roles from the first film in the past past, but Fassbender, who is just coming out of a year where he was in serious contention for an Oscar nomination, and Lawrence, who has a potentially lucrative franchise in The Hunger Games on deck, could just as easily decided to move on to other projects. It’s good to seem them back, especially Fassbender. I couldn’t see a sequel working without him as Magneto.

As to what the plot would be about, Vaughn spoke about what he would like from a sequel before the first film was even in theaters:

 ”I’ve got some ideas for the opening for the next film.  I thought it would be fun to open with the Kennedy Assassination, and we reveal that the magic bullet was controlled by Magneto.  That would explain the physics of it, and we see that he’s pissed off because Kennedy took all the credit for saving the world and mutants weren’t even mentioned.  And we could go from there, and I’ve got some fun ideas about what other mutants to bring in.  I don’t want to tempt fate, though.  If the film’s a hit, of course I’d be interested.  I really enjoyed making it.”

Of course, not everything is rosy with the sequel. Simon Kinberg, who wrote the less than well received X-Men: Last Stand, will be writing the sequel, and one assumes that January Jones, the weakest link in the original cast, will also be returning as Emma Frost. I don’t know if I can stomach another film of her “acting.”

Check back for more news on this sequel as it becomes availiable.

Twentieth Century Fox has secured a deal today for actor Andy Serkis’s services should they decide to move forward on any potential sequels on this summer’s hit Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.

Serkis’s motion capture performance of the chimpanzee Caesar was the lynchpin of the film’s success and it makes sense that the studio would want to ensure that they have him back if they decide to make a follow up film. Although director Rupert Wyatt and screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver’s deals for Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes came with sequel options, Serkis’s contract did not, giving his reps the leverage with which they secured what Deadline has reported as a “healthy seven-figure deal.”

Whether James Franco or Freida Pinto will be back for future installments will depend on how the sequel’s story develops. The film’s ending certainly leaves avenues open that might not necessarily require their participation.

As of now, Fox has not made an official announcement stating that they are definitely developing a sequel though there have been reports that Jaffa and Silver have some ideas as to what direction a sequel might take. But when you couple today’s news with the fact that Rise pulled $453 million worldwide at the box office and is selling well on home video, it is seems like a no-brainer that the studio is going to bring us another chapter in the newly revived franchise.

Deadline is also reporting that Fox will be giving Serkis a major push for an acting Academy Award nomination. And honestly, I think it’s about time that motion capture be recognized not just as some visual effects gimmick but as a legitimate too used for acting, no different than any other actor’s use of makeup or wardrobe to help create a character. Serkis has already assembled a rather impressive body of motion capture just between his work on The Lord Of The Rings and King Kong. Later this year, he’ll adding the role of Captain Haddock in Steven Spielberg’s all motion capture The Adventures Of Tintin to his motion capture resume.

George Clooney has closed Channel D.

It is being reported that the actor is in the process of bowing out of participating in Steven Soderberg’s big-screen adaptation of the 1960s spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

The reasons are unclear in the report from Deadline, who broke the story, but Clooney will no longer be playing ace spy Napoleon Solo, the role that Robert Vaughn filled for four years on NBC. It seems odd though, considering that Clooney and Sonderberg have teamed as actor and director for six films – the three Ocean’s pictures, Out of Sight, Solaris and The Good German.

Screenwriter Scott Z. Burns has recently finished the script for the film which reportedly keeps the show’s original 1960s setting.

Reportedly, Warner Brothers still wants the film to begin production next spring, so Soderberg has a bit of time to find a replacement. Will he he perhaps cast another actor whom he has worked with before, like Brad Pitt or Matt Damon? Or perhaps someone fresh. I think John Hamm might make a good fit with the part.

Deadline: New York is reporting that Marvel has announced that not only will they be going ahead with a sequel to this year’s Thor, but also that the film is scheduled to arrive in theaters on July 26, 2013. The good news is Chris Hemsworth is back as the title character. The bad news is that director Kenneth Branagh will only be back in a “producing capacity.”

Thor has done more than half its $437,003,116 take from overseas ticket sales (which account for $259,561,239 of that total). You can probably chalk this up to the popularity of the concept in Europe and its truly international cast, but part of the reason might be due to Irish-born Branagh’s popularity overseas as an actor and director (he’s recently appeared on British TV in Wallander)

This is the second Marvel franchise to change directorial hands as Jon Favreau stepped down from directing Iron Man 3, handing the reins to the relatively unproven Shane Black. Coincidentally, Iron Man 3 is set to be released in May 3,2013. Favreau apparently will return as Happy Hogan in the new film.

No replacement has been named and no candidates have been mentioned. If I was a betting man, however, I’d expect an announcement, oh, sometime between July 21st and July 24th, at a little get together they hold each year in San Diego called Comic-Con.

Say what you will about Sean Young’s long history of public kookiness, she did some amazing work in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner.And through her website, she’s giving us a peek backstage at the production of the science-fiction classic via a series of photographs she took on-set with an old school Polaroid camera. Many of them are her mugging with her co-stars and the crew, but there’s also some that look like costume and hair tests. And if you’re a fan, it’s just one of many photo galleries the actress has posted.

Via Badass Digest.

Tonto finally has his kemosabe.

After a long search, and a few false alarms, Disney’s planned The Lone Ranger film finally has it’s title role filled. Slipping on the famous black mask will be none other than The Social Network‘s own Winklevoss twins, Armie Hammer.

Hammer will be saddling up alongside Johnny Depp, who has been attached to the project to play Tonto ever since Disney first announced their intentions of making the film back in 2008.

It had been reported last month that Hammer had been in talks for the role, but Variety has reported that the studio and the actor have finalized a deal. Variety is also reporting that the film could be ready for release as early as Fall 2012 if production commences after Depp finishes his current job on Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows big screen adaptation.

Hammer is a pretty good fit for the role, I would say. He has a solid jaw and an all-American look about him that fits the part but isn’t too much of a pretty boy to look out of place in a western. I’d say that this project was shaping up fairly well. Hopefully, it will erase the bad taste left in our mouths by 1981′s The Legend Of The Lone Ranger.

Aaron Eckhart, Sean Bean and AnnaSophia Robb are set to headline Pan, a dark variation on J M Barrie’s classic Peter Pan, for Essential Entertainment.

Eckhart will be playing Hook, a tormented former London police detective brought out of his forced retirement to track down a mysterious child kidnapper known only as Pan. Bean will be Smee, the current chief detective on the force while Robb will play Wendy, a former victim of Pan who is now confined to an asylum.

Directing the film will be Ben Hibon, who was responsible for the animated sequence in last year’s Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part One.

Screen Daily were the first with the news of the casting and their report stated that the film’s screenplay is by Ben Magid. They make no mention of any other writers on the project, however the story synopsis is remarkably similar to a spec script written by Aaron Henry and Kirk Kjeldsen with the identical title that was on the 2006 Black List. It is unclear as to whether Magid has done a rewrite on the Henry and Kjeldsen draft or if the two screenplays are just eerily alike.

Alan Tudyk has been cast in Timor Bekmambetov’s upcoming adaptation of of Seth Grahame-Smith‘s novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. He’ll be playing a skewed version of politician Stephen Douglas.

If you remember your middle school history American history classes, Douglas and Lincoln held a series of public debates over the issue of slavery as part of a Senate campaign in 1858. While Lincoln lost the Senate election, the debates raised his profile on the national level to the point where he was a viable candidate for President in the 1860 election.

And who did Lincoln defeat in the presidential election of 1860? Yes, you in the back with your hand raised? That’s right – Stephen Douglas.

In the book and film’s ersatz take on history, vampirism is used as a metaphor for slavery. As Lincoln is obviously anti-vampire, this casts Douglas being pro-vampire.

Now if you’re thinking that Tudyk doesn’t look anything like Douglas, you’d be correct. Then again, Mary Elizabeth Winston doesn’t look anything like Mary Todd, Lincoln’s future wife, but that didn’t stop her from landing the role in this film either.

Via Variety.