GEORGE LUCAS USING MODERN TECHNOLOGY TO BRING CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD STARS FROM THE DEAD. NEIL BLOMKAMP TO DIRECT NEW SF FLICK "ELYSIUM". DJIMON HOUNSOU WANTS TO BE "BLACK PANTHER"

Since Marvel is planning a number of small budget films with their less popular super heroes, Djimon Hounsou has expressed interest for playing BLACK PANTHER in a movie adaptation. He has already given his voice in the animated series, which has sparked his interest in the character. Black Panther or T'Challa is the super genius warrior king of the African nation Wakanda, the most technologically advanced nation on Earth. Beside having panther-like senses, he is also a trained gymnast and acrobat and is resistant to any magic.

According to "Deadline" it seems that actor Sharlto Copley and director Neill Blomkamp will work again after their success in sf hit DISTRICT 9. Their new collaboration will be another sf film called ELYSIUM. The only known thing about the project, so far,  is that it will take place on a distant planet in the future and, like DISTRICT 9,

will feature social and political themes embedded in a sci-fi action movie setting.

Now this is weird - according to "The Daily Mail" George Lucas has been gathering the film rights to some of cinema's most famous deceased movie stars of Hollywood's golden years and plans to use digital effects to feature them in a film with actors and actresses of today. One of his collaborators, Mel Smith, has accidentally revealed that Lucas "has been buying up the film rights to dead movie stars in the hope of using computer trickery to put them all together in a movie, so you’d have Orson Welles and Barbara Stanwyck appear alongside today’s stars". How strange is that? It's not like going retro worked for his STAR WARS saga :)

SUPER HEROINE "RAVEN" GETS HER TV SHOW ON CW. "THE AVENGERS" MIGHT FEATURE BARON ZEMO AMONG ITS SUPERHEROES.

Heh, it seems that beside WONDER WOMAN, we shall get another female superhero in a television series. CW is planning a RAVEN TV show based on DC Comics' super heroine who is a half-demon and is best known on earth as Rachel Roth.

According to "MovieWeb" the new show will follow Raven, the daughter of a human and a demon born with the ability to read people's emotions and learn their innermost secrets. She can also teleport herself, and enter the mind of others, often using her super powers to keep bad guys in check. RAVEN will replace SMALLVILLE if the pilot episode proves successful.

In another super hero news the 2012 Marvel film project THE AVENGERS which will have all their biggest super heroes in one movie (Robert Downey Jr as IronMan, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Chris Evans as Captain America and Chris

Hemsworth as Thor) will also have Baron Helmut Zemo as a supporting character and it seems that Robin Atkin Downes will lend him his voice if the producers decide to make it a CGI character. Atkin Downes has already given his voice to the purple masked villain in the animated THE AVENGERS series.

FIRST PICTURES FROM TERRENCE MALICK'S INTIMATE DRAMA "THE TREE OF LIFE" WITH BRAD PITT

Here are the first pictures from THE TREE OF LIFE, an unusual intimate drama coming out next May with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn in the lead roles. As far as I've understood, the film will be based on the magical and mystical atmosphere and unusual visuals as a kind of a hymn to life. It will trace the evolution of an eleven-year-old boy in the Midwest, Jack, one of three brothers. At first all seems marvelous to the child. He sees as his mother does, with the eyes of his soul. She represents the way of

love and mercy, where the father tries to teach his son the world's way, of putting oneself first. Each parent contends for his allegiance, and Jack must reconcile their claims. The picture darkens as he has his first glimpses of sickness, suffering and death. The world, once a

thing of glory, becomes a labyrinth.

I, myself, have always found the work of its director Terrence Malick (THE NEW WORLD, THE THIN RED LINE) rather blank and grayish, without a profound directorial vision and approach, but I know a lot of you love him. I'm still not sure whether I'll watch it since I've never liked Sean Pean's one-dimensional, overly dramatic, repetitive and self-centered acting. The trailer for the film  should come out this weekend.

NEW ROLES FOR BRUCE WILLIS, RYAN PHILLIPE, BEN FOSTER, KATE BECKINSALE, CATE BLANCHETT, BEN STILLER, JAMES FRANCO, EMILY BLUNT, JOSEPH GORDON LEVITT ...

Now this is an interesting cast: Bruce Willis, Ryan Phillipe, 50 Cent and Jenna Dewan (Channing Tatum's wife) will star in the action thriller SETUP, which finds a group of friends accidentally getting mixed up in a diamond heist that soon turns deadly.

Another interesting cast is in CONTRABAND a thriller about a security guard who, after running into some financial troubles, decides to go on one more smuggling run. The cast includes Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi and Kate Beckinsale.

The film which will also offer and interesting mix of actors is WHILE WE'RE YOUNG, the film about a free-spirited Brooklynite twenty-something couple ((James Franco and Greta Gerwig) who inspires an uptight documentarian (Ben Stiller) and his wife (Cate Blanchett) to loosen up - with comedic consequences.

Emily Blunt is the latest star to cameo in THE MUPPETS new movie in which the Muppets will reunite to put on a show in order to save their movie studio from a developer. Blunt joins an already star-studded cast: Ricky Gervais, Alan Arkin, Jack Black, Billy Crystal, Jean Claude Van Damme, Jason Segel, Lady Gaga, Amy Adams ...

Cool actors will be seen in LOOPER as well, a futuristic time travel thriller about a group of killers, who send their victims' dead bodies back in time, and the detectives who are chasing them. Young Paul Dano has just joined the cast which already includes Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt.

FOX TO ADAPT THE DYSTOPIAN SAGA "THE MAZE RUNNER" INTO A FILM. ALEX PROYAS MIGHT DIRECT SF ACTION "AMP" . EPIC ADVENTURE "SCORPION KING III" STARTS SHOOTING IN ASIA

Young writer Daniel H. Wilson, who has sold the film rights for his book ROBOPOCALYPSE to Spielberg even before the book has been released, has got himself a new deal for a film adaptation of yet another of his unfinished novels - AMP. Alex Proyas (I, ROBOT, THE CROW)

will probably produce and direct this near-future science fiction thriller set in a world where the technology designed to make the disabled whole, turns them into supermen. Part sci-fi action and political allegory, the film will explore what it means to be human.

Catherine Hardwicke (TWILIGHT, RED RIDING HOOD) has been offered the helm behind the film adaptation of the dystopian novel THE MAZE RUNNER by 20th Century Fox according to "MovieWeb". The first part of the sci-fi trilogy by James Dashner follows a boy named Thomas who wakes up in a strange place called the Glade with no memory aside from his first name. The Glade is an enclosed structure populated by other boys, and is surrounded by tall, stone walls that

protect them from monsters called Grievers that live in the Maze, which surrounds the walls around the Glade.
Every day, some of the kids who are Runners venture into the labyrinth trying to map the ever-changing pattern of walls in an attempt to find an exit.As soon as Thomas arrives, unusual things begin to happen and the others grow suspicious of him. The Maze seems familiar to Thomas, but he's unable to make sense of the place despite his extraordinary abilities as a Runner.When the first girl arrives in the Glade, she brings a message that she will be the last one to ever arrive in the Glade, as the end is near.

Here's the part when I post some news just as an excuse for publishing some hot pics for my girls and my boys: the shooting of the popular epic adventure THE SCORPION KING III has just begun over in Thailand. The straight to DVD film continues the story of Mathayus, now the deposed leader of an ancient desert empire, as he faces the most terrifying challenge of his life. Handsome Victor Webster plays the lead role, joined by gorgeous Krystal Vee as the beautiful princess Silda, Billy Zane as the conniving King Talus and Ron Perlman as the powerful King of Egypt.

"THE WALKING DEAD" LOSES ALL ITS WRITERS. CHANNING TATUM WILL PATROL "21 JUMP STREET". BRYAN SINGER WANTS AARON JOHNSON OR NICHOLAS HOULT AS "JACK THE GIANT KILLER"

After many rumors, it's finally official - Channing Tatum will be a cop. He will take the lead role in the movie adaptation of 21 JUMP STREET alongside Jonah Hill. If you remember, the original with Johnny Depp has

focused on young cops with youthful appearances who work undercover in high schools and colleges.

Although the show scored a huge success and has already been renewed for the second season, Frank Darabont has fired all the writers of his THE WALKING DEAD series.  This isn't so surprising when you come to think about it. Darabont himself wrote the pilot and the second episode, which were the best in the whole series, while the rest of the much weaker episodes were written by the fired staff. His plan is to assign scripts to freelancers for the 2nd season.

It seems that Bryan Singer has started searching for the actors in his new fantasy project JACK THE GIANT KILLER, and according to current rumors the main contenders for the lead role of the young farmer who leads a rescue mission to save a princess from the giants' land are young actors and top models Aaron

Johnson and Nicholas Hoult. Lilly Collins or Juno Temple might play the princess. According to "Heat Vision"  actors will be asked to sign eight or nine-month hold deals, which is quite a long time  even for a huge fantasy tale.

Now this sounds charming. According to "MovieWeb", the production has just begun on THE CLOCKWORK GIRL, the first in a series of animated films based on graphic novels published by Arcana Studios. It is a coming of age story of Tesla (she obviously got her name from Nikola Tesla, the famous Serbian scientist who basically gave the world electricity, remote control, radar and computer science), a robot girl, and Huxley, a monster boy, who embark on a journey to save their world from destruction. The stars which will give their voices to the characters in the film include Jesse McCartney, Carrie-Anne Moss, Alexa Vega...

JOHN CUSACK, LUKE EVANS & ALICE EVE SHOOTING "THE RAVEN" IN SERBIA. 3RD SEASON FINALE OF BBC'S "MERLIN". JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE WANTS AN OSCAR. GREAT POSTER FOR SF FILM "I AM NUMBER FOUR"

Here's the first poster for next year's action packed fantasy film I AM NUMBER FOUR which stars a bunch of super gorgeous young people including Alex Pettyfer, Diana Agron, Teresa Palmer ... Premiering next February,

this film follows a human-like alien from another planet who blends into a high school on Earth to escape from a rival species looking to destroy his race. As your remember, HOLLYWOOD SPY has shown you the super exciting and surprisingly thrilling teaser for the film earlier this year. Timothy Olyphant and Kevin Durand will also join the group of nine earthbound alien teens who escaped their home planet just before it was destroyed by a hostile species. While the high school-aged kids assimilate, one of them discovers that he is being hunted by the enemy that blew up his planet.

The pre-awards season is about to begin, and the stars are starting their campaigns. According to rumors, music super star Justin Timberlake has his eye on the Best Supporting Actor Oscar next year for his critically acclaimed role in THE SOCIAL NETWORK. The charming singer/actor has apparently consulted with Oscar winners Tom Hanks and Kevin Spacey asking for some campaigning advice. HOLLYWOOD SPY would love to see him nominated alongside Geoffrey Rush for THE KING'S SPEECH and Christian Bale for THE FIGHTER.

Super popular historical show MERLIN from BBC is finishing its successful third season this weekend with the final episode. In the exciting finale Morgana has been crowned Queen of Camelot,

and brings about its downfall. Meanwhile, Arthur forms a resistance against the new monarchy, while Merlin believes he'll struggle and goes to retrieve Excalibur. Can the new monarchy be stopped? Lead actor, charming Colin Morgan has revealed to DIGITAL SPY that  we will also see the formation of the knights of the round table and the whole kingdom being taken over by a dark force. The viewers in USA will be able to watch MERLIN on SyFy from January. And the show has been confirmed for the 4th season as well.

John Cusack has arrived to Serbia on Saturday, and the shooting of his new film THE RAVEN continues every night at the streets of

Belgrade. In a few weeks the crew should move to Serbia's PFI studios as soon as Luc Besson's sf project LOCK OUT with Guy Pearce finishes its production there. As you know, directed by James McTeigue,  THE RAVEN  will feature Luke Evans as a detective who partners with Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack) to search for a serial killer who has kidnapped the author's fiancee (Alice Eve) and has gone on a murder spree that mimics the author's work. Serbian capital city Belgrade is acting as 19th century Baltimore in the film.