Aaron Taylor-Johnson has been officially confirmed to star as Quicksilver in Marvel's sequel
"The Avengers: Age of Ultron". Although it wasn't a secret that he was in negotiations for the part, there was no official word about his role from the studio, until now. Taylor-Johnson will play Pietro Maximoff aka Quicksilver alongside
Elizabeth Olsen who will star as the character's sister Scarlet Witch.
James Spader has been cast as the film's villain, the robot Ultron. They will star alongside the established actors from previous films in the franchise, including
Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson etc.
"The Avengers: Age of Ultron" opens in theaters on May 1, 2015.
Channing Tatum (
"Magic Mike",
"21 Jump Street") is in talks to produce and star in MGM's
"Bad Romance". The film will be written and directed by
Jonathan Levine (
"Warm Bodies",
"50/50"). There are very few details available at this point, so it's hard to tell what kind of film it will be, but the choice of director suggests a bittersweet romantic dramedy or something.
Channing Tatum is currently working on the sequel
"22 Jump Street" and can also be seen in
Lana and Andy Wachowski's new sci-fi
"Jupiter" and
Bennet Miller's drama
"Foxcatcher" alongside
Steve Carell.
Sigourney Weaver has joined the cast of
Neill Blomkamp's sci-fi comedy
"Chappie" about a robot (voiced by
Sharlto Copley) who is stolen by two gangsters and used for their nefarious purposes. The cast also features
Hugh Jackman,
Dev Patel,
Yolandi Visser and
Ninja. The film will be released in theaters on March 27, 2015. Here is the film's short official synopsis:
"After being kidnapped by two criminals during birth, Chappie becomes the adopted son in a strange and dysfunctional family. Chappie is preternaturally gifted, one of a kind, a prodigy. He also happens to be a robot."
Judy Greer (
"Carrie" remake) is in talks to star in
Jason Reitman's new film
"Men, Women & Children". The story centers on
"family with junior high school students [that] deals with the navigation of sexual awakenings in a digital age where the internet has made pornography, blogs and social networking just a few clicks away." Greer will star as
"Joan Clint, a mom who posts alluring photos of her daughter online." The film also stars
Adam Sandler, Rosemarie DeWitt and
Jennifer Garner.
Judy Greer can also be seen in next year's sequel
"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" and
Brad Bird's sci-fi mystery
"Tomorrowland".
And because almost every news cycle includes something about sequels, remakes or reboots, here are some fresh ones.
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (
"28 Weeks Later") has signed on to direct the new adaptation of
Stephen King's
"Pet Sematary". The story about a family that moves in a house located next to a cemetery that has the power to bring back the dead has been adapted before in 1989 and despite being a pretty terrible movie, it is regarded as a faithful adaptation of King's novel. Fresnadillo has been attached to reboots like
"The Crow" and
"Highlander", but has dropped out of each one.
And speaking of the
"Highlander" reboot, it's not quite dead, at least not as dead as
"The Crow". Although Fresnadillo left the project about a year ago, Summit eventually managed to find a replacement. And so, the studio hired visual effects supervisor and second unit director
Cedric Nicolas-Troyan to direct the reboot. This will be Nicolas-Troyan's directorial debut and the script has been written by
Art Marcum &
Matt Holloway (
"Iron Man"). Although
Ryan Reynolds was attached to star at some point, he too has left the project, so Summit is still looking to cast the lead role.
And in what I would call a surprising decision, it seems that Focus Features is moving forward with a sequel to this year's
"Olympus Has Fallen". The new installment will be called
"London Has Fallen" and will continue the story of President Benjamin Asher (
Aaron Eckhart) and his favorite Secret Service agent Mike Banning (
Gerard Butler). The action, as the title suggests, moves to London where terrorists will attempt to strike during the funeral of the British Prime Minister. Butler and Eckhart will be joined by
Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett and
Radha Mitchell. Screenwriters
Katrin Benedikt &
Creighton Rothenberger will return to pen the screenplay, but director
Antoine Fuqua probably won't be back as he is busy working on the
Denzel Washington thriller
"The Equalizer".
" in which Robert Langdon becomes entangled in a mystery involving "Dante's Inferno", dealing once more with sophisticated classic art riddles. Although it was initially believed that "The Last Symbol" will be the third installment in the Langdon series, Sony decided not to move forward with that book and instead picked up "Inferno