THE HOBBIT: DESOLATION OF SMAUG (Lilly Pics)

• THE HOBBIT: DESOLATION OF SMAUG

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, is the second part of The Hobbit’s tale. In a recent online Q&A Jackson revealed images of Evangeline Lilly as the Elf Tauriel, a new character.

This character was created just for the movie by Jackson and his co-writers Guillermo del Toro, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens and is not based on any of J.R.R. Tolkien's characters. We don’t know much about the character expect for the fact that Tauriel is related to Legolas.

Jackson was quoted as saying:

“We’re quite excited about the storyline we have created for Tauriel. As you can see, she’s not an Elf Guard to be messed with.”

In a previous interview with Lilly she discussed the character saying,

“Yeah! I am very concerned to this day that people will watch the film and I’ll be the black mark on the film. I know how adamant the purists are and I’m one of them! That said, upon reading The Hobbit again, as an adult, I can see why additional characters were needed to round out the story as an adaptation – especially female characters! The Hobbit didn’t include female characters at all and was a very linear story, a book for children, really. What Peter, Fran (Walsh) and Philippa (Boyens) have done is all in perfect keeping with Tolkien’s world, while adding a third dimension to an otherwise very two-dimensional story.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opens up in theaters on December 13th, 2013.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (Cast News)

• CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

The guys over at Latino Review are reporting that Georges St-Pierre, a Canadian mixed martial artist and UFC Welterweight Champion, has been cast in the role of Batroc the Leaper in Captain America: The Winter Sold

Georges St-Pierre as Batroc the Leaper

ier.  He will ne joining an ensemble cast which includes, Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Frank Grillo and potentially Robert Redford who is in talks to join the cast as well. 

Here’s a little info about the character that GSP will be playing:

“Batroc has no superhuman powers, but he is one of the most formidable unarmed combatants in the world. He has mastered numerous martial arts and is perhaps the world’s leading master of savate, the French art of foot-fighting. He is an accomplished thief and smuggler with extensive military training. He currently carries a pair of whip-canes, which he uses with great skill.”

Batroc posses’ immense leg strength that allows him to leap great distances (hence the name) and is also an Olympic weightlifter.

Production on Captain America: The Winter Soldier is poised to get underway in May in anticipation of the film’s April 4, 2014 release date.

FAST AND FURIOUS 6 (Johnson Speaks)

•  FAST AND FURIOUS 6

Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock, has been making his rounds promoting the latest franchise that he looks to reignite, G.I. Joe Retaliation. Johnson has been answering many questions ranging from Fast and Furious, to Hercules.

Vin Diesel & Dwayne Johnson 

He was asked what other franchise would he like to join:

"'Star Wars,'" Johnson smiles. "And that’s not to say that they need it. Obviously they’re doing very well. J.J. [Abrams] is just gonna crush it. I’m so excited. There’s a guy, by the way, who’s not just a brilliant director, but who honors and respects mythology. You’ve seen that with 'Star Trek' and you’re going to see that with 'Star Wars.' I’m very excited about that."

Set for release in 2015, Abrams' Star Wars: Episode VII hasn’t even begun casting and we not even sure how far are they along with the story, but Johnson putting himself out there wont hurt his chances of entering that world. Hell, that’s exactly how Samuel L. Jackson wound up being written in as Mace Windu in the prequel trilogy.

Dwayne Johnson in Pain & Gain

Johnson will be reprising his role as Luke Hobbs in the May 24th release Fast & Furious 6 and recent reports suggest that the Hobbs character could even get his own feature.

"That’s a character that people have really enjoyed seeing," says Johnson of a spinoff. "I think it could work. I think though, too, we need to wait and see how 'Fast Six' does. It looks as though a lot of people are going to like it. I was excited to make it."

I think a Hobbs film between Fast 6 and Fast 7 will be a good move for the studio, as the Fast and Furious Franchise come to end, a Hobbs film will allow fans to see more of this character without having to compete for screen time against Dom and Crew as well as get fans pumped up to see how it all ends.

He goes on to confirm that the plan is to again have Hobbs return for a Fast & Furious 7.

"With Luke Hobbs, it feels like there might be one more," he says. "There’s one more Butch and Sundance journey to go on with Luke and Dom."

Johnson was the asked about the likelihood of seeing him delve into Lobo and Shazam! two DC comic properties that he was attached to in the past.

"[Lobo] kind of came and went," he explains. "It came. I thought it was interesting. Then it kind of went away... 'Shazam' was more interesting. And really interesting to me. I would have loved that, especially the idea of playing Black Adam. Again, though, studios start to look at other properties and other superhero properties, what makes sense and what doesn’t."

NINJA TURTLES (Cast News)

• NINJA TURTLES

Ninja Turtle gets cast

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been cast in Jonathan Liebesman‘s Ninja Turtles. 

Alan Ritchson

According to Deadline, Alan Ritchson (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) will be playing Raphael via motion capture.

Raphael is usually the wise-cracking rebel of the group, which tends to bring him into direct conflict with the group’s by-the-book leader, Leonardo.  Last month, Megan Fox was cast as reporter April O’Neil.

Deadline has now revealed the names of the other actors set to join the crime-fighting quartet. Jeremy Howard (Galaxy Quest will star as Donatello, Pete Ploszek ("Parks and Recreation") will play Leonardo and Noel Fisher ("Shameless", The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2) will play Michelangelo.

Despite dropping “Teenage” and “Mutant” from the title, Liebesman and producer Michael Bay have said that this reboot will build off the original comic books by Kevin Eastman.  Fans raised on the animated series were a bit miffed when Bay announced that the characters would be created by aliens rather than radioactive “ooze”. 

Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard and Pete Ploszek

However, Eastman says the movie will have “Raid: Redemption-style fight scenes” and “epic Rise of the Planet of the Apes sort of effects,” though it must be noted that he never actually said that the Story would be any good!

The casting doesnt seem to be great at all but who knows this just might turn out great.

Ninja Turtles is due out June 6, 2014