NTSC User's News Page

One of the stars of Swedish thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Michael Nyqvist, has joined the cast of Mission: Impossible 4.

Nyqvist will play the film’s lead villain, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The actor joins Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, Vladimir Mashkov and franchise veterans Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg in the sequel.

JJ Abrams is producing the picture, which will be directed by Brad Bird.

Mission: Impossible 4 is scheduled for a December 2011 release in US cinemas.

Kate Beckinsale has signed up to star in Underworld 4.

The 37-year-old agreed to reprise her role as Selene in the action-horror franchise, according to Deadline.

The movie has been penned by The Shield writer John Hlavin and rewritten by J. Michael Straczynski. No director is currently attached.

Filming is expected to begin in Vancouver in March, and distributor Screen Gems has set a release date of January 20, 2012.

It was previously rumoured that the film would be shot in 3D.

Eliza Dushku is to make a guest appearance on CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.

Fancast reports that the Dolhouse star will play an FBI agent in the seventh episode of the new season.

The character will apparently begin investigating the background of Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) when he needs high-level clearance for a new project.

Dushku previously played Faith in Buffy The Vampire Slayer and also starred in supernatural Fox drama Tru Calling.

The Big Bang Theory continues on Thursdays at 8/7c on CBS.

The Producers Guild of America has announced that it plans to honour James Cameron with its 2011 Milestone Award.

The prize recognises individuals or teams that make great and historical achievements to the entertainment industry.

The Avatar director will be presented with the award during a ceremony next January at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

Previous winners include Alfred Hitchcock, Clint Eastwood and Walt Disney.

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The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn will reportedly not be filmed in 3D.

Speaking to Gossip Cop, a representative for studio Summit Entertainment confirmed that the final two films in the series would not be produced using 3D cameras or technology.

Rumours that director Bill Condon was shooting the movies in 3D surfaced several months ago.

“Neither film is being shot in 3D,” the rep said about the “fabricated” rumour.

However, the films could potentially be released in 3D with a post-production conversion, but Summit has yet to confirm if it plans to release 3D versions of the final chapters in the Twilight franchise.

Universal is reportedly planning to revive Jean-Claude Van Damme’s 1994 movie Timecop.

According to What’s Playing, the studio has been trying to retool the time-travelling blockbuster for the past four years and now wants to begin production to make a release date within “the next 12 to 18 months”.

Van Damme has allegedly expressed an interest in coming back to the franchise, although Universal is adamant about casting a new star in the title role.

Timecop starred Van Damme as Max Walker, an agent for the Time Enforcement Commission (TEC). A short-lived spinoff series followed in 1997 and a Jason Scott Lee-led direct-to-video feature, Timecop: The Berlin Decision, was released in 2003.

Rachel Weisz has agreed to appear in forthcoming “psychosexual drama” 360.

According to Deadline, Constant Gardener director Fernando Meirelles is helming the picture from a script by Peter Morgan.

Austrian producer Dor Film is producing the project with financing from BBC Films and its Austrian TV counterpart ORF Fernsehfilm.

The movie is reportedly inspired by Reigen, a play by Arthur Schnitzler about promiscuity which features different couples shown before and after a sexual liaison.

David Linde has signed to executive produce.

Ben Affleck’s The Town has topped the US box office on its first weekend on release.

The Boston-set crime drama, co-starring Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner and Rebecca Hall, sees off competition from new releases Easy A and Devil to land in first place with a $23.8 million haul.

Last week’s number one movie Resident Evil: Afterlife falls to fourth place, while children’s animation Alpha And Omega is a new entry at five.

Both Takers and George Clooney’s The American drop four spots to numbers six and seven respectively, while Inception climbs up to eight.

Machete is the biggest box office faller, sliding down six places to number ten.

The US box office top ten in full:
1. (-) The Town – $23,800,000
2. (-) Easy A – $18,200,000
3. (-) Devil – $12,584,000
4. (1) Resident Evil: Afterlife – $10,100,000
5. (-) Alpha And Omega – $9,200,000
6. (2) Takers – $3,000,000
7. (3) The American – $2,756,000
8. (10) Inception – $2,015,000
9. (6) The Other Guys – $2,000,000
10. (4) Machete – $1,700,000

Warner Bros has announced plans to make a live-action Pinocchio movie.

Producer Dan Jinks will head up the project, bringing in Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller to write the screenplay. Jinks has revealed that Tim Burton’s recent 3D re-working of Alice In Wonderland will provide inspiration for his Pinocchio.

“I think we’ve found a fresh approach that’s going to be very entertaining,” Jinks told Variety.

Pinocchio, a wooden puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy, first appeared in Carlo Collodi’s 1883 story The Adventures Of Pinocchio. Walt Disney produced the most famous big-screen incarnation of the story in 1940, while the last adaptation starred Roberto Benigni and was released in 2002.

Gemma Arterton has reportedly claimed that women are often left in the “background” in the film world.

The actress admitted that she has been close to walking off set because of the way she’s been treated in the past.

She told GQ: “I’ve nearly walked off very big films before, and I would, because I don’t want that in my life. I want to enjoy the work I do.”

Arterton added that since creating a name for herself, she expects to be respected.

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