Jackie Earle Haley Officially Unveiled as Freddy Krueger

Mere hours before the San Diego Comic-Con fires up this year, MySpace has scored the exclusive "first-look" at Watchmen's Jackie Earle Haley as the new Freddy Krueger in next year's Nightmare On Elm Street remake/reboot/rewhatever.

Now mind you, the film is expected to make a presence at the Con. So this is most likely the first of a number of items we'll be seeing from our pal Fred this weekend.

Sam Raimi Joins World of Warcraft

If you'll remember, Sam Raimi was on the short-list to direct The Hobbit a few years back. By his own admission, he went as far as meeting with Peter Jackson over the project. Sure, the job ultimately went to Guillermo del Toro. But it sounds like he's been bit with the fantasy-bug ever since.

Aint-It-Cool-News big-cheese Harry Knowles got the exclusive (which was quickly "officially" confirmed in the trades afterwards) that Raimi has been tapped by Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures to direct a film version of the World of Warcraft video-game series - here simply titled Warcraft. Adding even more "nerd-cred" to the project (like that matters) is the participation of producer Charles Roven. You may remember him from such films as Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

Details remain under-wraps including what screenwriter will be brought on-board to work with Raimi and Roven as well as start and release dates. In fact, the only real nugget of information at this time are plans for Raimi to jump right on Warcraft immediately after he finishes Spider-Man 4 for Sony.

The thing is though details are also sketchy on the web-slinger's fourth cinematic outing even though production is expected to commence at the beginning of next year. I've long been of the opinion that Raimi would ultimately jump ship from the franchise instead of helming another film. And one can't but wonder if his new commitment to the (potential) Warcraft franchise could be his way out.

Magdalena Gets Director and Screenwriter

Jenna Dewan will star as the title character in the live action adaptation of the Top Cow comic-book Magdalena with Luke Goss is set to play the villain. For those who have followed the production, that much has been known since July 22 of 2008. Now, a year to the day later, Variety has reported that Ryuhei Kitamura (Midnight Meat Train) has signed on to direct.

Set to script the adventures of the ultimate warrior nun is Holly Brix. I don't know much about her as a writer. But according to her IMDB page, her credits include The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations, Lost Girls, and Mile Zero - along with a few others currently in development.

For me, Magdalena is one of those properties that can come out of nowhere and knock people's socks off. With the gorgeous, charismatic and talented Jenna Dewan as the lead, I have high hopes. Not only can a movie make the character well known, but if done to it's potential, I'd expect Dewans star to skyrocket.

To learn more of the Magdalena character's origin and powers, check out her wikipedia page here.

Scarlett Johansson as The Black Widow!

Ahem!.......*gains composure*......Yahoo! has gotten a brand new still from "Iron Man 2" of the gorgeous and talented Scarlett Johansson as The Black Widow, the Russian spy/assassin plus lover/enemy of Tony Stark/Iron Man. See it below and mop up after gentlemen!

'Iron Man 2' Video Game Trailer Debuts Online

While we wait to see what this weekend's Comic-Con brings in terms of "Iron Man 2," IGN has a new trailer for the movie's video game.

The site also has an interview with the game's creative director, who pulls no punches when discussing the poor reception to the first movie's video game.

"The primary failings of that game in the eyes of players and reviewers can be boiled down to three things: repetitive gameplay, erratic difficulty, and counter-intuitive controls. There are plenty more, but those are the big ones."

Regarding the movie's relationship to the game, he says: "You'll be playing a new story, not reliving the movie, and you'll do it in the world of the movie."

Nicolas Cage Joins (Another) Comic-Book Film

Nicolas Cage loves comic-book movies. He supposedly got his stage name from Luke Cage and has been attached to various properties over the years ranging from Iron Man to Astro Boy. And of course, he was Ghost Rider two years ago (and now talking up a storm for a sequel) and will soon appear in Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass. Oh, there was that little thing of him almost being Superman!?! Somewhere...deep within the vaults of Warner Brothers is footage of Cage in the suit. And like the cursed tape in The Ring, you die soon after watching said footage.

Anyway, Cage is now in talks to join the cast of The Green Hornet for director Michel Gondry and Seth Rogen who will play the title superhero as well as co-wrote the film with writing-parter Evan Goldberg.

Say you will about his (odd) choice of roles in the last couple of years. But I will give Cage this. Unlike some (De Niro immediately comes to mind), it's not like Cage is ever "phoning it in!"

Harry Potter Is Box Office Magic

Weekend Actuals (July 17th - July 19th)

1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince $77,835,727
2 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs $17,561,406
3 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen $13,691,487
4 Bruno $8,318,385
5 The Proposal $8,289,707
6 The Hangover $8,177,272
7 Public Enemies $7,748,235
8 Up $3,172,014
9 My Sister's Keeper $2,828,367
10 I Love You Beth Cooper $2,766,863

Morgan Freeman gets "Red" with Bruce Willis

Our very own Sean posted an article earlier.........well it might have been yesterday actually, time difference is a bitch.....but anyway, he posted an article about upcoming DC comics projects and on that list was a spy thriller written by Warren Ellis called "Red" which is set to star action icon and all round legend Bruce Willis.

Well today Empire bring news that another legend in Morgan Freeman has joined the cast, here's what the good folks at their site have to say!

Morgan Freeman, lately in SouthAfrica playing Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood's Invictus, has signed up for something a little more action-packed next, with the news that he's going to star opposite Bruce Willis in spy thriller Red.

Based on the graphic novel byWarren Ellis, Red is the story of retired CIA operative Paul Moses (Willis), who's now living quietly following a career where he was sent around the world on all manner of 'wet' work. When a new CIADirector learns about what Paul did back in the day, he panics and sends assassins to remove the ex-agent once and for all, just to be sure that no one ever finds out what happened.

It's not clear yet what role Freeman would play, but given that the script by Erich and Jon Hoeber apparently includes a 'getting-the-old-gang-back-together-to-fight-back thread, we're guessing that Freeman may be a former ally.Either that, or he's the principal bad guy.

All sounds like gravy to me, for some guys it's dragons and sorcerers, for others it's men in costumes and for others it's any manner of sci fi, but for me it's espionage, I love those TV shows and movies where guys can walk into a room and know everything that happened in the blink of an eye, where they use phrases like "wet work" or "Back Channels" and you never once think of something sexual.

As mentioned there is no director so in case Brucie and Morgs are reading this, give Len Wiseman a holler, I mean Motorcade is moving so slowly through development I am beginning to think the terrorists have gotten it, so he'd be well up for this kind of tale, or if you want to go cheap there is probably some guy in Hong Kong that can nail this down for about a grand and the price an ace stunt team's catering.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - Posters!

Empire got the drop on the first posters for uber producer Jerry Bruckheimer's next big summer blockbuster "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time." The film isn't released until next summer (May 28, 2010) but you can check out the decidely un-Persian Jake Gyllenhaal doing his best wafty hair epic pose on the poster below. In the second you have Gemma Arterton doing some sultry staring, you may remember her from such epic roles as the oily girl in Quantum of Solace, or if you are a Lady a bunch of period piece stuff made for TV.

DC Comics Properties Lining Up (Minus the 'Big Three')

A lot of DC superhero movies are getting under way, but the "Big Three" may be getting left behind. (This photo manip was done by JMC.)A new article in The Hollywood Reporter shows that Warner Bros. and DC Comics may be doing a better job at lining up some movie franchises than many have feared.

The article confirms some rumblings we have heard behind the scenes, and also introduces some brand-new developments.

The good news:

* Warner Bros. hired Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison and Marv Wolfman (three top comic book writers) to serve as "consultants and writers for its superhero line of movies."

* The studio took back the reins on "The Flash" and "Teen Titans" from a pair of producers. 

* Johns created a treatment for "The Flash," with the script to be written by Dan Mazeau. Johns will be a producer on the project.

* The studio is taking pitches on Adam Strange and Aquaman, with the latter character slated to be produced by Leonardo DiCaprio.

* Also in the pipeline: "Bizarro Superman"; a "Constantine" sequel; two Green Arrow projects, an origin story and "Super Max"; and "Shazam," with Pete Segal attached to direct.

The bad news:

* Warner Bros. and DC have no idea how to translate "Wonder Woman" to the big screen.

* Superman remains in limbo.

* A sequel to "Dark Knight" is a long way off.

* The Justice League movie franchise is inactive.

The full article can be found here. It's well worth reading.

It's also worth noting that for as much progress as the studio is making on its DC projects, the "Big Three" of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman may be off the silver screen for longer than we all would like.