Category: Films

Warner Bros. Pictures has confirmed that Helena Bonham Carter has joined the all-star cast of HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. Bonham Carter will play Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius Black's cousin and a Death Eater, who is one of Lord Voldemort's followers.

Sony Pictures Animation has announced that HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA will be the companys third animated project, following Sony Pictures Animation, OPEN SEASON, on Sept. 29, 2006, and SURFS UP!, on June 8, 2007. All three films will be released by Columbia Pictures.

Nicole Kidman has signed on to play the villainous and glamorous Mrs. Coulter in New Line's adaptation of Phillip Pullman's HIS DARK MATERIALS: THE GOLDEN COMPASS, reports VARIETY. The $150-million budgeted film is scheduled to start lensing in September at London's Shepperton Studios.

Chris Weitz will direct from his own script. British actress Dakota Blue Richards will make her major screen debut in the lead role of Lyra Belacqua, who must travel to a parallel universe to save her best friend from the forces of evil.

Brad Pitt has agreed to star in the long-in-development Paramount/Warner Bros. production, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, reports VARIETY. The film will reunite Pitt with FIGHT CLUB director David Fincher and BABEL co-star Cate Blanchett. The project has been developed for more than a decade in several different incarnations.

MONSTER HOUSE director Gil Kenan is developing a live-action adaptation of THE CITY OF EMBER, based on the 2003 book by Jeanne DuPrau, reports SCI FI WIRE.

"It's science fiction, and that's all I'm going to say," Kenan said in a recent interview. "It's a post-apocalyptic children's film. It's going to be closely based on the novel."

EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and CORPSE BRIDE screenwriter Caroline Thompson will pen the script with Playtone and Walden Media producing.

Exodus Film Group announced that Magnolia Pictures has acquired North America distribution rights to its CG-animated feature THE HERO OF COLOR CITY. The film is the tale of a colorful and diverse band of crayons as they strive to protect their magical, multi-hued homeland from an evil tyrant that threatens to rid their world of joy and color. The crayons of Color City each have personalities that humorously complement their color: Red sports a fiery attitude, Blue is cool, calm and collected and Yellow, the heroine, is the most timid and fearful crayon in town.

Eva Longoria (DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES), Paul Rudd (THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN) and Lake Bell (SURFACE) are set to star in the supernatural comedy, HOW I MET MY BOYFRIEND'S DEAD FIANCE, VARIETY reports. The Gold Circle Films project will start filming Aug. 24, 2006, in Hollywood, with Jeff Lowell making his directorial debut. Lowell's script follows a female psychic (Bell) who falls in love with a skeptic (Rudd), while the ghost of his dead fiance, played by Longoria, tear them apart.

In an animation panel, Kevin Koch, head of the Animation Guild, said that a new 2D film, titled, THE FROG PRINCESS, is in development at Disney. Moreover, Eric Goldberg, who has returned to Disney to work on animated shorts, said that LITTLE MERMAID directors Ron Clements and John Musker will be helming the film. Additionally, Chuck Williams will be heading up a shorts programing at the Mouse House.

Continuing its strategy to independently develop and produce a new slate of feature films, Marvel Studios has signed director Louis Leterrier (TRANSPORTER 2, UNLEASHED) to helm a new big screen adaptation of THE INCREDIBLE HULK.