In headline order, we’ll start this fantasy film update with a Twitter message from Production Weekly regarding Guillermo del Toro’s The Hobbit that reads as follows:
Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” is due to begin a 14 month production schedule this June in New Zealand.
Recently Spoiler TV posted a casting breakdown for the film as we are still without a Bilbo Baggins, the role played by Ian Holm in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Holm, obviously won’t fit the age requirements of the younger Bilbo as the casting is looking for someone between 25-35 years-old. Several names including Tobey Maguire and James McAvoy have been rumored for the role, but all have proven false so we will have to just sit and wait.
Speaking of Tobey Maguire, he won’t have to worry about putting those webbed tights on any time soon as news arrives that will stir the fanboy pot. Variety has confirmed earlier reports from Deadline.com and IESB.net that Spider-Man 4 is on indefinite hold as a result of script issues. Finke goes as far as to say a Sony source told her director Sam Raimi “hated” the script from writers Jamie Vanderbilt, David Lindsay-Abaire and Gary Ross.
So, while Alvin Sargent has been brought in to take another stab at the story that May 5, 2011 release date looks a bit daunting. A source at Sony told Variety, “We’ll try, but I think making May is a real question. We will not start until we have it right. The feeling is we are not going to rush it to make the date.” If they had only taken that tactic with Spider-Man 3.
Finally, more comicbook movie news arrives as Variety‘s Tatiana Siegel reports Zombieland scripters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick will pen the feature film adaptation Deadpool, which will feature Ryan Reynolds as the wise-cracking mercenary he originated in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Word is Reese and Wernick will stay true to the mythology of Marvel’s “Deadpool” comic given that Reynolds is a huge fan and protector of the property.
Apparently there is no rush to get the film into production with Reynolds wrapping production on Green Lantern this summer once it begins filming next month under the direction of Martin Campbell for a June 17, 2011 release.
