Best of the Week: Britney Spears Turns Down $10 Million Offer, Mockingjay Pin Giveaway and 'Breaking Dawn II' First Look

Elle Fanning has signed on to join the cast of Maleficent. The Disney re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty has already snared Angelina Jolie to play the villain. Fanning will play Princess Aurora, the tale's titular sleeping beauty.

 

You know that Gnomeo and Juliet sequel you were clamoring for? Well, Rocket Pictures is granting your wish with Gnomeo and Juliet: Sherlock Gnomes. Bad Conan Doyle puns aside, the sequel will feature new songs from Elton John, who scored a Golden Globe nomination for his efforts in the first film. Gnomeo and Juliet has made $194 million worldwide.

 

Viacom CEOs Sumner Redstone and Philippe Dauman addressed a few upcoming movies during an annual meeting yesterday morning. Dauman said that Paramount had greenlit a concert movie starring Katy Perry to be called Part of Me that will be released this summer. He also said that a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series would be launching on Nickelodeon later this year and would be followed by a Paramount film due out by the end of 2013. He then confidently added, "It'll be a big hit."

 

Piranha director Alexandre Aja is in talks to direct a film adaptation of the Image Comics graphic novel, Undying Love for Warner Bros. The story revolves around an ex-soldier who falls for a vampire, though in order to be with her, he must take on her creator who is protected by an army of monsters in the Hong Kong underworld.

 

From The Expendables 2 and The Last Stand to The Tomb and his collaboration with the Act of Valor directors, Arnold Schwarzenegger talked about his next four movies during a panel at The Arnold Sports Festival.

 

Plenty of news in the sequel front. Warner Bros is keeping the party going with a sequel to Project X that Michael Bacall will write. But that's not the only project Bacall is working on. Thanks to strong critical buzz, he's also been given the go-ahead to draft a sequel to 21 Jump Street. On the complete opposite end of the MPAA ratings scale, New Line is moving forward with plans for a third Journey movie, with Josh Hutcherson and Dwayne Johnson reportedly entering talks to return.

 

Chronicle was one of the sleeper hits of early 2012 and true to Hollywood m.o., it's getting a sequel. Writer Max Landis has been given the green light to script another movie. Will this be a follow-up or will it focus on a new group of high school students?

 

Speaking of Chronicle, it's director Josh Trank is in talks to direct a Spider-Man spin-off movie, Venom. Ok, sure, the buzz about a Venom movie has been around for over a decade, but maybe this time it'll actually happen.

 

Take a look at the first image from The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer.

 

Dwayne Johnson is set to play Hercules in Brett Ratner's adaptation of the graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars.

 

A few actors turned down roles in sequels. Angelina Jolie turned down a script for Salt 2 while Jason Segel confirmed that he will have no involvement in The Muppets sequel.

 

MGM has cast the lead for their RoboCop reboot and it's none other than The Killing star Joel Kinnaman.

 

 

Buzz for Disney's John Carter remains lukewarm. Midnight screenings brought in a soft $500,000, though the film is performing well in international markets like Russia, Hong Kong and Thailand. With box office projection pegging the movie to open with about $20 million and well below The Lorax (projected at $40-$50 million), Disney has decided to slap on the latest trailer for The Avengers to the sneak previews. Will it be enough to get more people to check the movie out? We'll have to wait until Sunday evening to find out. In the meantime, here are three scenes that you definitely want to check out in IMAX 3D.

 

Speaking of The Avengers, a new German trailer surfaced featuring some added footage. We've translated the new bits of dialogue for you. While you snicker at Captain America being dubbed in German, check out this Friends/Avengers parody that hit YouTube.

 

In a move that baffles the mind (or perhaps raises a caution flag), the upcoming movie adaptation of Les Miserables starring Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe has been bumped back a week to December 14 where it will not contend with The Hobbit for both screens and moviegoers.

 

 

Calling all Hunger Games fans!! We're giving away 10 sets of mockingjay pins and you have until March 11 to enter to win! While you're at it, jump on over to our Hunger Games Guide, hit the Like button and stay tuned next week. We've got something special planned.

 

If you ask someone if they've seen Metropolis nowadays, you'll probably get a blank stare in return. Or a mention about something Superman related. The Metropolis we're talking about here is a super rare restored poster from the 1921 classic, which is poised for a record sale. This one of four existing (Leonardo DiCaprio has one and two more are properties of museums) is being offered up for $850,000. Looking to splurge this weekend? Click here.

 

WonderCon details are beginning to bubble up. While Fox, Universal, Sony and Open Road Films will all showcase panels next weekend in Anaheim, Ridley Scott broke word that he'll screen the first full-length trailer for Prometheus down the street at AMC Downtown Disney. For details on how to participate in the event, click here. And if you miss out, don't worry. The new trailer will be available online immediately following the live event… and we don't mean in a shaky YouTube cell phone video.

 

It has begun folks. The marketing push toward the final Twilight movie starts with this first look image of Robert Pattinson in Breaking Dawn - Part II.

 

 

A man in Michigan is suing AMC for overcharging for snacks and soda and no his name isn't Michael Moore. Justin Thompson decided he was fed up after his local theater posted a sign prohibiting outside food and beverages. AMC refused to comment on pending litigation.

 

Universal has decided to give adapting the board game Ouija into a feature film another go, though this time instead of a bloated $100 million budget, the new Ouija movie will be budgeted at $5 million and slated for a 2013 release. Whether audiences will want to watch this new low-budget movie remains to be seen.

 

Animal House is headed to Broadway and will feature Barenaked Ladies… the band, not actual, well, yeah. No cast, dates or venue have been set for the developing musical. The original film starred the late John Belushi, Donald Sutherland and Kevin Bacon in his first movie role.

 

Some most excellent news for Bill and Ted fans. Alex Winter (aka Bill S. Preston, Esquire) confirmed that a script has most definitely been completed and that both he and Keanu Reeves are on board for another excellent adventure. He does say that the third film in the franchise has not been given a green light yet, but with the undying support of Wyld Stallions' most loyal fans, it's only a matter of time before these dudes embark on another adventure… **air guitar **

 

Human Centipede 3 is happening, whether you like it or not. Planned from the outset, Human Centipede 3: Final Sequence will bring back the villains from the first two films for a final disgustingly provocative movie.

 

Remember a while back when news of Nicolas Cage's copy of Action Comics No. 1, featuring the first appearance of Superman, was reported stolen? The mint-condition issue worth as much as $1.5 million was missing until last year when it was found in an abandoned storage locker in the San Fernando Valley. Now Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (Night at the Museum and authors of the entertaining Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too!) have penned a script titled Action No. 1 that covers a fictionalized version of the theft. Lionsgate has picked up the film.

 

Finally, no big surprise here as studios look to scrape every bit of dollar they can off of blockbuster films. Prometheus and Frankenweenie are the latest films that will receive an IMAX 3D release. Neither film was shot in IMAX and both will be digitally re-mastered to fit the format.

 

 

Vibrating movie seats have debuted in the UK... I'll leave the dirty joke punch line for you guys to fill in.

 

A new German research reports that Hollywood films encourage teens to binge drink. The study found that teens in six European countries who watched scenes where actors appeared to drink alcohol were more likely to engage in similar behavior. No word on if the researchers discussed these findings over a frosty pint of Weizenbeir.

 

Finally, the SXSW Music and Film Festival kicks off today in Austin, Texas. You can get updates and interview video from the festival in our Indie Guide as well as follow our reporters on Twitter, Peter Hall and Sean O'Connell, our sister site Movies.com and of course, Fandango.