With a couple of small stories hit the web over the weekend all relating to producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming, two film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, here’s an omnibus roundup of what is being reported.Despite some buzz that had been circulating late last week, producer Jackson told Empire that there would not be an announcement at San Diego Comic Con this week as to who will be taking the lead role of titular hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

No, we won’t be announcing Bilbo for a little while. We’re starting to think about casting, but we’re knee-deep in the script right now. And when we do go to actors, they’re probably going to ask to see a script, so we’re powering ahead with getting the first draft done.

In the most recent rumors, Daniel Radcliffe, James McAvoy and David Tennant were all being mooted as possible choices for the part of Bilbo. Lord Of The Rings cast members Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis and Hugo Weaving are confirmed as returning to the franchise to reprise their roles for the two-part prequel.

TheOneRing, work has begun in restoring the New Zealand exterior location used in the Lord Of The Rings for the Baggins’ family homestead of Bag End with the planting of some hedgerows and fruit trees. Although actual shooting is probably still months away, this is not too surprising a move on the part of Jackson and del Toro. For the production of Rings, Jackson had Hobbiton “built” months before he used the outdoor set for shooting in order to give much of the plant life that was brought in time to grow and look more natural.

Meanwhile, all these preparation may be for naught, if a lawsuit filed by the Tolkien estate is successful. The Guardian is reporting that the heirs to the Tolkien estate have filed suit against Rings-studio New Line, claiming that they are still due $220 million in profit sharing from the nearly $6 billion that the three films have brought in through theatrical exhibition and home video. The suit also requests that the film rights revert back to the Tolkien estate as New Line’s lack of payment constitutes a breach of contract.

You would think that New Line would have learned its lesson by now. They have been sued over profits on the films twice before- in 2005 they had to pay out $168 million to former Rings film rights holder Saul Zaentz and in 2007 they reached an undisclosed settlement with Jackson over his share of the profits from the trilogy.

Tony Jaa, the Thai martial arts master and actor who stunned audiences with his 2003 debut film Ong Bak, has been missing since June, placing the future of his nearly completed directorial debut, Ong Bak 2, in jeopardy.

The producers of the film, Sahamongkol Films, state that they have not had any contact with Jaa in almost three months and that the film, which he has already spent three years working on, is about 70% to 80% complete. Panna Rittikrai, Jaa’s longtime martial arts instructor and mentor who has also served as the action choreographer for the film, has been unable to locate him either.

However, conflicting reports have Jaa requesting time off to recover from the stress of the production, which has been plagued with difficulties. There are also conflicting news stories concerning the films finances. Some sources state that Jaa has been spending his own money to ensure the film’s completion, to the point where he is nearly broke. Other sources state that Sahamongkol Films has been shoveling nearly three times the film’s original budget into the production.

In the meantime, Sahamongkol Films has brought in Prachya Pinkaew, Jaa’s director on the original Ong Bak and for Tom-Yum-Goong (The Protector), to complete the film in time for its scheduled December 5 release. Ironically, Jaa and Pinkaew had a falling out in the early stages of pre-production of Ong Bak 2 over how much creative control Jaa would have. Pinkaew left the film to shoot the martial arts action flick Chocolate.

A promotion reel for the film screened at Cannes earlier this year. Although the Weinstein Company picked up North American distribution rights in March, 2006, they returned them in May 2007. Currently the film has no United States distribution.

Via Variety Asia and Kaiju Shakedown.

Normally, we do not cover rumors here at FilmBuffOnline, but this one has a little meat to it.

CHUD ran a story about a supposed German radio interview with producer Joel Silver in which he made the announcement that the Wachowski siblings will be writing and directing the long in development Plastic Man film. What’s more, the siblings will be reuniting with their Matrix star, Keanu Reeves, for the project.

What gives this rumor weight is that in 1995, before Assassins, the Wachowskis’ debut screenwriting effort, hit the screen, they submitted a script for Plastic Man to Warner Brothers. Silver claims in the interview that this is the script that they will be bringing to the screen.

Of course, since this supposed interview occurred on German radio, it is hard to verify its veracity. So this news should be taken with a grain of salt.

Plastic Man dates back to the Golden Age of comics. Created by comic legend Jack Cole, he first appeared in Police Comics #1, published by Quality Comics. Plastic Man is Patrick “Eel” O’Brien, a criminal whose robbery of a chemical plant goes wrong. Shot by a night watchman and doused in an experimental acid, O’Brien gained the power to stretch and contort his body into any form. He had a change of heart about his criminal life style, and used his new found abilities to fight crime as Plastic Man.

My take? Well, I might be easier on Keanu that certain other members of the FilmBuffOnline staff, I have to agree with Valerie D’Orazio of Occasional Superheroine  that is a major piece of miscasting. Plastic Man is not a character that Keanu can coast by using his typical laconic acting style. Plastic Man is a living cartoon–animated and larger than life. Not something I see Keanu doing well.

Another thing about this is that the Wachowskis’ script varies from the comic origin in such a way that it is bound to infuriate hardcore fans of the character. As per a script review in Back Issue #3, the concept takes on an eco-friendly tact. The most inflammatory change was in Eel O’Brien backstory. Instead of a criminal with a heart of gold, O’Brien is an environmentalist whose extreme tactics got him in trouble with the law. He becomes Plastic Man not after being splashed with acid, but by having a “polymerization solution” shoved down his throat by the main bad guy.

Again, this is just a rumor at this stage. Until the Wachowskis are formally announced as directors and Keanu signs on the dotted line, this is all speculation.

Via Cinematical

Comic book writer Mark Millar, whose Wanted is in cineplexes now, announced to the Scotland Daily Record that the beleagered Superman film franchise is going to get a new writer and director. The director? A big Hollywood name. The writer? Millar himself.

This is what he said in an interview with the paper.

“Since I was a kid I’ve always wanted to reinvent Superman for the 21st century. I’ve been planning this my entire life. I’ve got my director and producer set up, and it’ll be 2011. This is how far ahead you have to think.The Superman brand is toxic after that last movie lost 200million, but in 2011 we’re hoping to restart it. Sadly I can’t say who the director is, but we may make it official by Christmas. But fingers crossed it could work out, that would be my lifetime’s dream.”

Wow, sound pretty exciting, doesn’t it? I mean, outside of the fact that he is wrong about Superman Returns losing money (it’s budget, which includes numerous abortive attempts at bring a Superman movie to the screen, was $270 million. The film made $391 million worldwide. So unless promotion and advertising for the film cost $321 million, its losses weren’t anywhere near $200 million, if it lost money at all), this is news coming from the horse’s mouth, right?

Well, you know how they say with some people that you have to take what they say with a grain of salt? With Millar, you have to take what he says with an entire salt factory. He had gone on the record while Wanted was being shopped around that rap star Eminem was all but committed to playing the lead in the eventual movie. Thing is, Eminem was never even in talks to do the movie.

Millar also previously claimed to have pitched an idea for the Superman Returns sequel back in 2007. He states he was denied by Warner Brothers because he was under an exclusive writing contract with Marvel Comics at the time. Supposedly, Warners, parent company of DC Comics, had a policy where they would not hire writers who worked for the competition.

So, is this an enthusiastic Superman fanboy’s letting the cat out of the bag? Or a savvy self-promoter spreading half-truths to try and force his wishful thinking into reality? Only time will tell, but I am leaning towards the latter.

“We’ll always have La Isla Bonita”?

Madonna wants to remake the venerable classic Casablanca, according to a story published in England over the weekend. Allegedly, the pop singer wants to reset the classic’s World War Two setting to “in a modern war zone such as Iraq.”

There’s no need to worry that this will actually ever come to pass, though. Since the story only quoted an anonymous source and appeared Saturday in the British tabloid The Daily Mail, I think we can safely write off the whole thing as a fiction invented by a bored “journalist” looking to file some copy before heading out the door for the weekend.

The idea of Madonna wanting to play the Ingrid Bergman Casablanca role, a part considerably younger than the singer’s own nearly 50 years, is a bit of hubris that I don’t think that even the singer herself could reach. Besides which, we’ve already had two movies in the last several years that could be viewed as remakes of Casablanca- 1996’s Barb Wire, with the highly siliconed Pamela Anderson and 2006’s The Good German with George Clooney. Don’t believe me? Go back and watch them again.

This does, however, give me the opportunity of forwarding my own theory of Madoona as Talent Vampire. While, I can’t say how Dennis Rodman’s NBA record fared when he was involved with the singer, I do know that during the time Sean Penn was married to her, he made some really bad movies. Shanghai Surprise (Co-starring guess who?) and We’re No Angels ring any bells out there? And British director Guy Ritchie turned out the entertaining Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, but then meets and marries Madonna and –WHAMMO! He makes Swept Away. Someone needs to put a stake through this woman’s career.

Making the rounds today is a purported teaser poster for the upcoming X-Files 2 movie. I say purported as it comes from an anonymous source over at AintItCool and a few other sites are expressing doubts.

Personally, I like the design, so it would be a shame if it was fake. But bravo to the faker.

It is about time that we start seeing promotional materials for the film, with its late-July release getting closer. Of course, there could be a delay as Chris Carter, creator of the original X-Files television series and director of the new film, has stated that he and studio Twentieth Century Fox are at loggerheads over what the film’s title should actually be. Then again, with a design along the lines of what’s below, you don’t need to have a final title ready.

Director Terry Gilliam has confirmed today what had been speculated for some time now- that Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell will be stepping into the shoes of Heath Ledger to complete the late actor’s work on The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus.

According to a report from Reuters, production has resumed on the $30 million fantasy film in Vancouver. Ledger’s work was captured during the production’s location shooting in London late last year.

A statement merely attributed to the film’s producers seems to confirm the online speculation that the trio of actors would play various parts of Ledger’s character after he steps through a magical mirror. The statement also nixed rumors that a portion of Ledger’s role would be completed using computerized digital effects technology.

Since the format of the story allows for the preservation of his entire performance, at no point will Heath’s work be modified or altered through the use of digital technology. Each of the parts played by Johnny, Colin and Jude is representative of the many aspects of the character that Heath was playing.

The story also quotes Gilliam as saying that the production is continuing forward “with the blessing and support of Heath Ledger’s family”.

I am delighted that Heath’s brilliant performance can be shared with the world. We are looking forward to finishing the movie and, through the film, with a modicum of humility, being able to touch people’s hearts and souls as Heath was able to do.

This past weekend, a report that a sequel to the 1984 science-fiction classic The Last Starfighter was all set to begin filming in just a few weeks time swept across the internet. We even reported the story here.

But now, a few days and a few phone calls, later, it looks as if that particular rumor may have been a bit premature.

According to the report that originally appeared over at Cinema Blend, the film was being produced by a company called George Paige and Associates. A follow up story also named Relativity Media as being involved. Warner Brothers and Universal were also said to be involved, due to complicated rights issues stemming from the dissolving of Lorimar Pictures, the producers of the original film.

Yesterday, however, during a call made to George Paige and Associates, an unnamed spokesperson for the company stated that although the project was indeed listed on the company’s website as being in development there was no truth to the Cinema Blend story that the film was ready to begin principal photography. He then deferred all further questions to a contact at Relativity Media, who so far has not returned our phone calls.

So as things stand now, in contradiction to Cinema Blend’s anonymous source, a sequel to The Last Starfighter is not less than four weeks away from becoming a reality. However, that doesn’t preclude the fact that such a project may still be in development and that one day we will get to see the further adventures of a kid so good at a video game that he gets “recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada.”

We are considering this an ongoing story and will report more as soon as we have more to report.

It seems that while most of us were sleeping, a poster purporting to be the teaser for the new James Bond adventure Quantum Of Solace, and yes the title is starting to grown on me a bit, has begun to surface. You can see it here at the right, click on it to make bigger.

I say purported poster because I don’t think it is legitimate for two reasons, besides the fact that the poster just looks ugly and cluttered for a teaser poster.

First and foremost is the possessive credit for the film’s director Marc Forster. No director in the past has ever received such a credit on a Bond film and I don’t see producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli starting to hand them out now. The only time there has been a possessory credit on a Bond film has been in relation to Bond’s creator, author Ian Fleming- “Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale or Ian Fleming’s James Bond in Casino Royale.”

Second, the font used is for the title is obviously different from the one used at the film’s official website and at last week’s press confrence announcing the title-

It appears as if the poster first showed up over at ToxicShock, but it looks as if they’ve been had.