Hunger Games Actor Joins Terminator: Genesis

Dayo Okeniyi may currently be best known for playing Thresh, the tribute from District 11, in The Hunger Games, but his new role in Terminator: Genesis might overtake that. Variety reports he’s set to play Danny Dyson, Miles Dyson’s son, in the new installment of Terminator. His role is reportedly the last lead role to be cast, and he’s joining Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, and Jai Courtney.

The franchise will be returning with three films, and Genesis will be the first of the standalone trilogy to hit theaters. No plot specifics have been released nor have details about Okeniyi’s role, but given that his father invented the neural-net processor, it seems like he could have a significant part to play. Terminator: Genesis is being directed by Alan Taylor and will be released on July 1, 2015.

Universal Unveils Our First Look at Lloyd and Harry in Dumb and Dumber To

Fans have been waiting for 20 years, and this November, Jim Carrey’s Lloyd Christmas and Jeff Daniels’ Harry Dunne come stumbling back into theaters in Dumb and Dumber To. Directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly return to helm a film that sends the best friends on a road trip to discover the child that Harry never knew existed. Universal unveiled extended footage from the film at CinemaCon, and it looks to be everything that those who loved the uproarious ’90s comedy will want. The sequence opened on Harry coming to visit his dear friend Lloyd in a mental facility, where he’s apparently been drooling away, near catatonic in a wheelchair for the past two decades. Harry, distraught at the site of his buddy’s continued pain, begs and pleads for him to speak, say anything, just give some sign of life, at which point Lloyd looks up and yells, “Got ya!”

Harry is delighted to discover that Lloyd’s institutionalization has been one long and elaborate “Got Ya”. The reveal was followed by a highly uncomfortable sequence featuring the pair trying to remove Lloyd’s catheter, which they finally do with the assistance of a flatbed truck. Oh, the humanity…From there, the the footage really got into the meat of the story. Harry discovers a lost letter from 1991 in which his lover, Fraida Felcher (played by Kathleen Turner), tells him that she’s pregnant. A confused Harry races to see Fraida, and his now adult daughter, only to discover that she’s been given up for adoption. Lloyd and Harry quickly leave on a wild chase to find his child, but not before Lloyd discovers if Fraida had a C-Section or went au snatchural. The remainder of the footage was a series of often hilarious dumb-dumb and gross out jokes, the most memorable of which featured Lloyd being duped into pleasuring and elderly woman who promised that “big diamonds” lay right beneath her. Not to be crass, but there was v-jay dusk involved. So. If you’re a fan of the first film, this one looks to deliver on the same Lloyd and Harry brand of humor. Often sequels can disappoint, but from what we’ve seen, Dumb and Dumber To seems to have found a way to strike the right balance between delivering something new and hitting the notes that people enjoyed in the first film. Oh course, we’ll all know for sure once the film is released this November.

Schwarzenegger on How He Will Return in Terminator: Genesis

It’s been more than 20 years since Terminator 2 and 11 years since Terminator 3, which begs the question: how will Arnie reprise his role as a robot that technically shouldn’t age in Terminator: Genesis? During an interview with MTV, Schwarzenegger explained that while he still has his T-800 metal skeleton in Genesis, his flesh is – and presumably always has been –  human. ”The way that the character is written, it’s a machine underneath,” Schwarzenegger explained. “It’s this metal skeleton. But above that is human flesh. And the Terminator’s flesh ages, just like any other human being’s flesh. Maybe not as fast. But it definitely ages.” Schwarzenegger also revealed we’ll be seeing a younger model of the T-800 in Genesis, alongside his older model. “Terminator deals a lot with time travel, so there will be a younger T-800. and then what that model does later on when it gets reprogrammed, and who gets a hold of him. So it will be all kinds of interesting twists in the movie, but I feel so good.” Pitching two T-800s against one another is an interesting prospect, considering Schwarzenegger’s Terminator has traditionally been up against more advanced models – perhaps we should start preparing ourselves for some very evenly-matched brawls.

Dr. Henry Wu Returns in Jurassic World

Ever since the belated sequel was announced, speculation has been rife that original cast members Sam Neill, Laura Dern or Jeff Goldblum would return. But according to Trevorrow, there will be no place for their characters – Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler or Ian Malcolm – in the movie. “I know a lot of fans want to see the original characters back,” he explained. “They’re iconic. But I respect those actors too much to shoehorn them into this story for my own sentimental reasons. Jurassic Park isn’t about the bad luck of three people who keep getting thrown into the same situation. The only reason they’d go back to that island is if the screenwriters contrived a reason for them to go.” However, Trevorrow revealed that one of the original cast members will be returning…

“There is a character from the first film who makes sense in our world” he continued. “This hasn’t been announced yet, but BD Wong will be returning as Dr. Henry Wu. He had a much larger role in the original novel – he was the engineer of this breakthrough in de-extinction. He spent two decades living in Hammond’s shadow, underappreciated. We think there’s more to his story.”

Star Wars: Episode VII Will Be Set 30 Years After Return of the Jedi

We kind of figured this out already — actually, some of us are old enough to have been waiting for this announcement for the past three decades — but Lucasfilm has confirmed today that Star Wars: Episode VII will be set about 30 years after Return of the Jedi. Additionally, StarWars.com has the reveal that the film will star “a trio of new young leads along with some very familiar faces.” Again, we basically knew that more or less, but there is such a scarcity of solid, confirmed news on the Episode VII front that we’ll take any tidbit we can get. And by the way, that’s getting weird, that lack of news, considering another confirmation from the studio today — the film will start principal photography this May at London’s Pinewood Studios. So in like two months, and we still don’t even know who’s going to be in the movie. Hmmm… what up, J.J. Abrams?! You can also head over to StarWars.com for a rundown of all the first days of shooting in Star Wars live-action movie history. Here’s a sample: March 22, 1976 — The first day of principal photography in Tozeur, Tunisia, for Star Wars. A crew of 130 ventures into the desert in 42 trucks and cars, including eight army trucks full of equipment. The first shot was completed at 9:35 a.m. Star Wars: Episode VII will hit on December 18, 2015… with a cast or not.

LEGO Movie Directors Reportedly Eyed for Ghostbusters 3

Ivan Reitman, director of the first two Ghostbusters movies, recently dropped out of helming Ghostbusters 3. But who could succeed Reitman at the helm? According to a tweet from Nikki Finke, formerly of Deadline, Sony is “in talks” with The LEGO Movie’s Phil Lord & Chris Miller to direct Ghostbusters 3. Lord and Miller have previously made two hits for Sony with 21 Jump Street and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Ghostbusters 3 is reportedly on track to finally begin production in early 2015

Doug Liman to Direct Splinter Cell with Tom Hardy

Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) is in final negotiations with New Regency and Ubisoft to direct Splinter Cell, based on the popular video game franchise of the same name. Tom Hardy is attached to star as Sam Fisher, a highly-trained operative that works for a fictional government organization called Third Echelon. Eric Singer (American Hustle) wrote the screenplay. Liman will also produce Splinter Cell, along with Basil Iwanyk of Thunder Road Pictures and Jean-Julien Baronnet of Ubisoft Motion Picture Group. The film is targeting an August production start and 2015 release, according to THR.

Pirates of the Caribbean 5 Still Awaiting a Green-Light from Disney

Even as Disney finalizes its plans for a Pirates-themed land, “Treasure Cove,” to open at Shanghai Disney Resort in late 2015, the studio has yet to pull the trigger on the fifth installment in its wildly successful Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise.

Johnny Depp is expcted to reprise his role as Jack Sparrow in Pirates 5.

Variety film reporter Marc Graser tweets that Disney CEO Robert Iger revealed during a shareholders’ conference today that the studio has yet to green-light Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which has Kon-Tiki directors Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg attached to helm.
Disney had already postponed the release of Pirates 5 from July 10, 2015 until sometime in summer 2016 because the script wasn’t in shipshape. Johnny Depp is expected to reprise his role as series star Captain Jack Sparrow, although the actor has a few other projects lined up to star in first.

Which Quicksilver Look is Better?

Now we’ve got our very first glimpse at Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Quicksilver in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, we’re able to broadly compare the look of his Quicksilver with Evan Peters’ version in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Confused? Somewhat awkwardly, Joss Whedon’s Age of Ultron and Bryan Singer’s Days of Future Past will both feature the Marvel speedster, played by Taylor-Johnson and Peters respectively. While we’ve only got concept art to work off, it appears Taylor-Johnson’s costume will be much more streamlined than Peters,’ who will be decked out in a silver jacket, shoes, goggles and a somewhat extreme utility belt. Take a gander at both looks below.

Empire Magazine cover featuring Evan Peters as Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Concept art of Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

X-Men: Days of Future Past will open in cinemas May 14, 2014, while Marvel’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron is scheduled to open May 1, 2015.

Terminator: Genesis Script “Fantastic”, says Schwarzenegger

Debate continues to rage among Terminator fans as to the relevance of the murkily-positioned reboot/sequel Terminator: Genesis, but series stalwart Arnold Schwarzenegger has given the script an enthusiastic thumbs-up. “The movie preparation is going well. The script is fantastic so I’m really looking forward to this film,” Schwarzenegger told TheArnoldFans.com during a fan event at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio. “I’m really looking forward to that because as you know, the last time when they did the Terminator, it was when I was Governor and so I couldn’t be in that movie but now I’m back again and they are very excited about having me in the film.” Schwarzenegger also confirmed the roughly four-month-long shoot is set to begin in April. It’ll be shot primarily in New Orleans, which syncs with unconfirmed reports back in January the project was headed to Louisiana. Schwarzenegger will be joined by Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor and Spartacus: Blood and Sand’s Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese in the film. Helmed by Thor: The Dark World and Game of Thrones director Alan Taylor, Terminator: Genesis is set to open on the US July 4th weekend, 2015.