Mikkelsen for ‘Thor 2,’ Oldman in ‘Robocop,’ Favreau in ‘Iron Man 3’ and Saldana for ‘Machete Kills

Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) is in talks to star as the villain in Thor 2 with details on what character still unclear as Tom Hiddleston will still have a big part as the franchise antagonist, Loki. Production on the pic is set to get underway this summer with Alan Taylor (“Game of Thrones”) directing for a November 15, 2013 release. [source]

Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight Rises) is set to join the cast of Jose Padilha‘s RoboCop remake as Norton, the scientist who turns Officer Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) into Robocop and finds himself torn between the ideals of the machine trying to rediscover its humanity and the callous needs of a corporation. The film is expected to begin filming in September in Toronto for an August 9, 2013 release. [source]

It would appear Red 2 is attempting to become the even older version of The Expendables 2 as Anthony Hopkins is now in talks to join the returning cast which includes Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker and Helen Mirren. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Byung-Hun Lee are already confirmed to play new characters in the upcoming sequel, which brings back the team of retired CIA operatives as they use their old-school style to take on a new set of enemies all across Europe. Dean Parisot is directing for an August 2, 2013 release. [source]

In an interview with Moviehole, Danny Trejo revealed Zoe Saldana has joined the cast of Machete Kills. Trejo told the site, “The sequel to Machete, Machete Kills is going to be a lot more over-the-top than Machete. We’ve got Sofia Vergara, who is a star in her own right, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, and Zoe Saldana — and guess what? I get to kiss all of ’em.” Machete Kills will be getting underway soon in Austin, Texas. [source]

It seems there may be yet another villain in Shane Black‘s Iron Man 3 as virtual unknown actor (and son of George Hamilton) Ashley Hamilton is said to be up for the role of Firepower, the pilot of an experimental armored suit under the secret mission dubbed Project: Firepower. He eventually uses the suit to battle Iron Man. Iron Man 3 gets underway this month for a May 3, 2013 release and even though Jon Favreau won’t be back directing he will be back as Happy Hogan as he posted the picture to the right on Twitter. [source]

It’s hard to call this “news” per se, but Catching Fire will officially be going into theaters as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Some new release dates have been announced with Seth MacFarlane‘s Ted now hitting theaters on June 29; Ang Lee‘s Life of Pi will now arrive a month earlier on November 21; and the re-teaming of Wedding Crashers stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in The Internship will now officially be released on June 28, 2013.

The official synopsis for Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim was officially announced as the film will hit theaters on July 12, 2013:

From acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro comes Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ epic sci-fi action adventure Pacific Rim.

When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes-a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)-who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

The film stars Charlie Hunnam (TV’s Sons of Anarchy), Idris Elba (Thor), Rinko Kikuchi (The Brothers Bloom), Charlie Day (Horrible Bosses), and Ron Perlman (the Hellboy films). The ensemble cast also includes Max Martini, Robert Kazinsky, Clifton Collins, Jr., Burn Gorman, Larry Joe Campbell, Diego Klattenhoff, and Brad William Henke.

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