April 14, 2008

The filmmaker behind the successful Greek warriors action drama "300", Zack Snyder, is going to shift his filming genre to animated motion picture as he is reportedly going to tackle "Guardians of Ga'Hoole". According to Variety, the 42-year-old has been tapped to direct the animation film adapted from Kathryn Lasky's children book series.

In bringing the animation to the big screen, Snyder will be teaming up with Village Roadshow and Warner Bros. Pictures since Roadshow will produce the film and Warner is set to distribute. Apart from working with the two studios, the helmer of George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" is going to direct the cast using a script written by "A Mighty Heart" scribbler John Orloff and "Master and Commander" writer John Collee.

In an interview with TVGuide.com, country star Billy Ray Cyrus stated that he is working on some songs for his daughter's movie, "Hannah Montana", plus writing for his studio album too. The father of teen star Miley Cyrus said that he will write some scores for the 2009 film and actually perform them himself.

Billy is also a cast in the feature movie, playing Miley's on-screen dad. When asked by TVGuide whether they have started the filming, Billy said "No, we're in preproduction. I'm writing some songs for the movie. And I'm writing and recording for my new album. Last week, I cut a Sheryl Crow song called "Real Gone," from the Cars soundtrack. It's a real smoker. And then I wrote a song two weeks ago called "Back to Tennessee."

Responding to the earlier speculation that a particular Joker scene in the highly anticipated superhero film "The Dark Knight" will be removed due to its close connection to Heath Ledger's sudden passing, the updated reports clearly denied the rumor. According to MovieHole.net, the circulating rumor was a false one.

The movie news site claimed that an insider has insisted that the film has yet to undergo any changes, in fact none of the late actor's scene will be eliminated from the Christopher Nolan-directed film. "I KNOW for a fact that that scene is in the film," the source explained. "I also know that WB has made no such mandate and that Chris [Nolan] is honest when saying that he will not change what was intended with The Joker."

The upcoming comedy film "Tropic Thunder" apparently offered more than simply a funny story as the film brings the comedy to the higher extend. Slash Film reported that the DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures' film featuring Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. will present three mock trailers inside the film itself.

According to the site, Anne Thompson has reported that the existence of the fake trailers has been revealed by an exhibitor who has seen about 15 minutes portion of the Stiller's feature film project. Allegedly, one of the trailers is named "Satan's Alley". It begins with the shot of Fox Searchlight logo and then features Downey Jr. and Tobey Maguire.

The Sun reported that Mika is taking a counter attack against a Belgian songstress, also named Mika, who filed a lawsuit against him last year over similarity of their names. The "Lollipop" singer and his record label, Universal Music are suing the lesser known Mika who claimed that she registered the stage name in 1980s.

The famous Mika is seeking a 20,000 pound sterling damage in compensation of her filing a "provocative and reckless lawsuit". No further details have been unveiled other than the whispers that the Belgian Mika who lost in the first battle, has announced that she plans to file a counterclaim at a civil court in Brussels.

Amy Winehouse is experiencing a major set back after her third studio album is scheduled to be delayed and her appearance in U.S. has been axed. The British import, also famous for her erratic behavior, has been singled out of a charity event in New York on May 5 with a reason from the organizers that they have "moved on from her".

Organizers of Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual Costume Institute gala said that she is no longer part of the show even though she's been granted a business visa to enter the States following a denial earlier this year. A spokesman for the gala told Daily Mail, "She was asked if she would be interested, and she was considered, but then we moved on from her."

As casting rumors and confirmations on the fourth installment of the "The Fast and the Furious" franchise have been circulating in the past few months, it is bound to be that Universal Pictures are going to let out details of the street car racing film. According to ComingSoon, the studio have given out the updated story line and some of the cast of the sequel as well as revealing the film's title.

Reportedly, the film that is once again starred by Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Michelle Rodriguez will be called simply "Fast and Furious". Further, the new synopsis for the film revealed that Jordana Brewster has indeed joined the cast to reprise her role. The synopsis partly read, "Heading back to the streets where it all began, they rejoin Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster to blast muscle, tuner and exotic cars across Los Angeles and floor through the Mexican desert in the new high-octane action-thriller."

The star of drama thriller "Disturbia", Shia LaBeouf, is going to take the lead role of another thriller film "Dark Fields". According to Variety, the actor of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" has been tapped to star in the Universal Pictures' film.

In the Neil Burger-directed film, LaBeouf will be portraying a young loser who incidentally obtains a secret smart pill. Allegedly, the rising star is the first actor to be signed in. Aside from this project, the 21-year-old actor is still having other feature film projects under his sleeves, including action film sequel "Transformers 2" and anthology film "New York, I Love You".

Another fresh video has been released by Yung Berg, a rapper who will soon release his debut album under a joint venture by Koch and Epic Records. Berg has recently premiered a video for "Do That There" and he is now releasing another for his single "What It Do" featuring J.F.K..

Like "Do That", "What It" is also slated to be included in his upcoming album, "Look What You Made Me" along with another track called "One Night". The set is expected to be released on July 1, featuring guest appearances by Twista, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Eve, Shawnna, Rich Boy, Jim Jones and DMX.

Jodie Sweetin's house is getting fuller with the arrival of a new addition to her nuclear family. The former child actress has on Saturday afternoon, April 12 given birth to a baby daughter, People reports.

The infant, named Zoie, was delivered via C-section. She's weighing in at 8 pounds, 7 ounces and measuring 21 inches long.

Animal rights come as a priority for Matchbox 20. The rock band, which is fronted by Rob Thomas, has canceled a concert at Cheyenne Frontier Days, Wyoming which is scheduled for July 18 after realizing that making a performance at the rodeo venue will contradict Thomas' mission statement.

Thomas' bandmates are pro to his decision and issued a statement on the band's official site. They said, "Regrettably, Matchbox Twenty will not be able to perform at Cheyenne Frontier Days on July, 18th. After careful consideration, it was decided that participating in this event would directly contradict the mission statement of SIDEWALK ANGELS FOUNDATION, our non profit organization."

This just in. A spokesman for Cate Blanchett has just issued a confirmation that the Australian actress has given birth to her third child with husband, playwright/screenwriter Andrew Upton, on Sunday, April 13.

The newborn baby was boy and named Ignatius Martin Upton. He was born at a Sydney hospital and weighed 7.94 pounds (3.6kg). "All are well and very happy," said Tim McKeough, media relations manager at the Sydney Theatre Company, where Blanchett and Upton are co-artistic directors.

Is a popular celebrity socialite who rose to stardom as one piece of the all-girl group Spice Girls, Victoria Adams' career invasion into the world of fashion apparently is a failure. It's been claimed that her fashion range, DVB, has been dumped from a string of U.S. stores following complaints of poor sales and a lack of promotional work from her.

Top outlets Fred Segal and Kitson are among the stores who dropped Posh Spice's denim collection. They accused her of not doing enough to help sell her products.

Is no stranger to acting, John Cho apparently finds first-time fatherhood as an overwhelming experience. The Korean American film/television actor/musician told People that he and his actress wife Kerri Higuchi are expecting their first child together.

Also revealed to People that he and Kerri are having a boy, Cho furthermore added that he's "really excited - and scared" about becoming a father for the first time. "They're just going to give you the baby, and then you have to take it home. There aren't any doctors around telling you what to do," so he said. "That thought is really scary to me."

Danny DeVito, the depicter of Batman's archenemy, Oswald Cobblepot a.k.a. The Penguin, in "Batman Returns" reportedly will be starring in romantic comedy "When in Rome" opposite Kristen Bell, the star of television series "Veronica Mars". According to Hollywood Reporter, the 63-year-old actor has been signed to play in the Walt Disney Pictures' film.

The two-time co-star of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger in comedy films "Twins" and "Junior" is said to be taking the role of one of Bell's aggressive suitors. However, details about the character DeVito will be portraying has yet to be unveiled. The "Be Cool" actor will be joining the supporting cast that include Will Arnett, Josh Duhamel, Jon Heder, Anjelica Huston and Dax Shepard.

With the delay of Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" came a new fresh single which has not been leaked before from the set. A song called "Lisa Marie" has circulated on-line, allegedly is a new addition for the much-delayed album.

"Lisa Marie" is a rap song, allegedly written for an adult star who uses the stage name Lisa Marie. Wayne rapped inside that Lisa who said that she's "a model" encourages him to write a song about her and this would be the result.

Having her divorce to hubby Carey Hart is still in the impending stage couldn't stop Pink from having fun. The pop star, who recently confirmed her separation from Hart, was snapped frolicking with a new mystery man at the beach in Malibu on Saturday afternoon, April 12.

Was wearing a red and white polka-dot bikini, Pink was seen enjoying her time very much as she was all smile through the day in the companion of the tattooed mystery man, TMZ claimed was Todd Morse of the rock band Juliette and the Licks. Tedd himself apparently also enjoyed their time together as he and Pink played wrestle in springtime sunshine.

Screen Gems' teen horror thriller flick "Prom Night" proved to be the best on the North American box office this weekend as it debuted strongly at the number one slot. According to studio estimates, the remake of the 1980 slasher thriller movie pulled in approximately $22.7 million from 2,700 theaters during its opening three-days weekend which ended Sunday, April 13 and it also has beaten its strong competitor "Street Kings" as well as dethroned last week champion "21".

Regardless of the lack of reviews, the film starring Brittany Snow and Johnathon Schaech has managed to score big and became the best scoring horror film since the release of "Saw IV" in October 2007 which took in $31.7 million. By landing on the top spot, the film about high school teenagers who are terrorized by a sadistic killer on their prom night continued Sony Pictures' domination on the box office as the film marked the third weekend the distributor nailed the #1 spot following the success garnered by "21" in the last two weeks.

Lupe Fiasco has generously posted his new video for single "Paris, Tokyo" on his official YouTube account. The song is the fourth single from his 2007 album, "The Cool" and probably the last from the set before he puts up another album titled "LupEnd" this year.

The video is employing a 1940s theme where the rapper hops on a classic train and at one point rides a camel. Lupe will embark on a tour, supporting Kanye West and accompanied by N.E.R.D and Rihanna beginning this Wednesday, April 16 in Seattle. Kanye has given a little peek into the concept and the stage of this tour which will be dubbed "Glow in the Dark Tour Ignited by Absolut 100".

While the news media were inundated with reports on Britney Spears' minor highway accident, occurred on Saturday evening, April 12 in the Los Angeles area, new claim has just surfaced that the pop star passed the field sobriety test the CHP officers performed on her soon following the fender bender. TMZ cited a CHP representative as saying there was "no odor, nor any kind of erratic behavior" that could have suggested Britney was under the influence during her three-car collision.

Britney, according to various reports, was driving her 2008 white Mercedes northbound on the 405 connector to the 101 freeway when the collision occurred at just after 8 P.M. Saturday night. According to the accident report, "The collision occurred when the driver of the Mercedes, driving in the #3 lane, in stop and go traffic failed to observe the vehicle directly ahead of her come to a complete stop. She attempted to brake but failed to stop her vehicle prior to colliding into the rear of the Nissan [in front of her]." And so, the Nissan collided into another car, which was not damaged.