News Week in Review 18th June – 24th June 2007

It seems to have been a fairly quiet week this week compared to last week. Nonetheless there are some cool sounding things on the horizon mentioned below.

* Zack Snyder's Watchmen adaptation has started to have casting rumor's circulate. Keanu Reeves apparently turned down the role of Dr Manhattan and Patrick Wilson is connected with the role of the Night Owl and Jude Law connected to Ozymandias. Thomas Jane is rumored to be playing The Comedian and Jason Patric is now connected with the Dr Manhattan role. By Far the most interesting casting is that of Oscar nominated Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach. Anyone who has read Alan Moore's masterpiece and seen Little Children knows that this is a perfect choice for the pivotal role in the story. More news as it rolls in, There has still been no mention of a few of the other roles to be cast.

* After Dreamworks ended their partnership with Aardman animation following Flushed Away, Sony have now snapped up a deal with the British animation house. The first film of this deal is set to be a gangster comedy film; The Cat Burglars which concerns stray cats who steal milk. The film will be traditional claymation which made Aardman's name and is described as 'Family Friendly Tarantino'.

* Jack Black had a rough ride last year by starring in the box-office disappointments Nacho Libre and Tenacious D: In the Pick of Destiny, both are likely to be future cult successes though. Now he has signed on for Man-Witch from Road Trip director Todd Phillips. Black will play a grown up wizard who teaches the dark arts. He is then given a job at a new school where he find all the students are girls. Hmm sounds like School of Rock crossed with Harry Potter by way of Mean Girls. Could be great or could be awful.

* The director of Finding Neverland and the underrated Stranger than Fiction, Marc Forster was announced as the director of Daniel Craig's next 007 film this week. This is an odd choice, there is nothing in Forster's filmography to suggest he would be a good action director. There must be some reason that he has been hired so I guess we will have to wait and see.

* Mamoru Oshii the director of Ghost in the Shell and Avalon has announced that his next film will be The Sky Crawlers for his production company: Production I.G. The plot based on a series of novels concerns a future earth where 'Kildren' fight a war of entertainment for adults. Like his previous projects the visuals are sure to be stunning whilst presenting some intriguing philosophical musings.

* Frank Miller has announced that his next adaptation following The Spirit will be Raymond Chandler's Trouble is My Business starring Clive Owen. This is Miller's type of tale, classic hard-boiled detective noir and Clive Owen is on a roll of good films. Where this leaves the film fans really want to see Sin City 2 is not clear.

* Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer are bringing comic book Cowboys and Aliens to the big screen. The film will be adapted by the writers of Children of Men and the forthcoming Iron Man film. The plot is set in the 1800's and is about what happens when an alien spacecraft crashes in the middle of the fight between the Cowboy's and Apache Indians. The alien leader sets out to conquer the old west and the cowboys and indian's must team up to fight off the alien invader's. It is not clear if this is supposed to be a comedy or completely serious. This sounds like they will need to be very careful with the tone or it could be embarrassing!

* This week it was announced that JJ Abrams the director of the unfairly maligned Mission:Impossible 3 and forthcoming Star Trek reboot has been working on a film called Cloverfield. Apparently there is a trailer on the way and the film concerns a giant Godzilla style monster attacking New York. The film will be shot mostly on video camera as if the attack is caught by the tourists in New York. Sounds intriguing and a novel approach to a big monster film. Lets just hope its not another film like the empty Godzilla remake from 1998.

* The coolest announcement for comic fans this week was that none other than Samuel L Jackson has filmed his role as Nick Fury in the Iron Man film also starring Robert Downey Jr. For those of you who have read Mark Millar's The Ultimate's you know how cool this announcement is. The character was drawn to look like Jackson in the comics. Lets hope that this means we are closer to getting a film version of The Ultimate's or The Avengers.