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An actor who appeared in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery has been convicted of rape and torture charges.

Joseph Hyungmin Son, who played Dr Evil’s henchman Random Task in the spoof, faces life in prison for a 1990 attack on a woman in California, according to Los Angeles station KTLA.

The woman was reportedly walking her dog on Christmas Eve in Huntington Beach when she was attacked by Son and an accomplice, who abducted her at gunpoint.

Son has been accused of repeatedly raping the victim before setting her free.

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Civil rights comedy-drama The Help has topped the US box office for the second weekend in a row.

Despite a large number of East Coast theaters being forced to close ready for Hurricane Irene, the Emma Stone-led adaptation still took an estimated domestic total of $14.3m.

Oliver Megaton’s latest action film Colombiana, starring Zoe Saldana, opened in second place with $10.3m, followed by the Guillermo del Toro-penned horror Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark with $8.7m.

Former box-office topper Rise of the Planet of the Apes fell to fourth place this week with $8.65m, while comedy Our Idiot Brother rounded out the top five films of the weekend with $6.6m.

This week’s US box office top five in full (studio estimates):
1. (1) The Help – $14,300,000
2. (-) Colombiana – $10,300,000
3. (-) Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark – $8,700,000
4. (2) Rise of the Planet of the Apes – $8,650,000
5. (-) Our Idiot Brother – $6,600,000

Columbia Pictures is reportedly working on a remake of 1990 supernatural drama Flatliners.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio has tasked Source Code writer Ben Ripley to pen a script for the remake.

Veteran producer Laurence Mark, who produced 2007 crime film The Lookout, is also on board the project.

The original Flatliners was directed by Joel Schumacher and received positive reviews as well as an Academy Award for ‘Best Sound Editing’.

The film starred Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland opposite the likes of Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin and Oliver Platt.

Flatliners tells the story of a group of medical students who induce near-death experiences in themselves to discover whether there is an afterlife.

Scary Movie 5 has hired writers and is hoping to bring back previous cast members in the comedy horror series.

Anthony Anderson (Scary Movie 3, Scary Movie 4), Regina Hall (Scary Movie 1-4) and Kevin Hart (Scary Movie 3, Scary Movie 4) have all been asked to return, according to Bloody Disgusting.

It is unknown whether Anna Faris – who recently won the female lead role in Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator – plans to make an appearance in the spoof sequel, which had originally been planned as a reboot.

The Comebacks writers John Aboud, Michael Colton and Stephen Leff have been hired to write the script.

Their 2007 film starring David Koechner and Carl Weathers spoofed inspirational sport films.

Scary Movie 5 is expected to release on April 20, 2012.

Disney’s The Help managed to climb one spot to top the US box office this weekend.

The Emma Stone-led comedy-drama took $20.4m for its second weekend of release, helping it best the $16.3m taken by former box-office topper Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Robert Rodriguez’s family action sequel Spy Kids: All The Time in the World opened in third place with $12m, followed by action epic Conan the Barbarian which opened to only $10m.

The final new release of the weekend, horror remake Fright Night, rounds out the top five with $8.3m.

This week’s US box office top ten in full (studio estimates):
1. (2) The Help – $20,479,000
2. (1) Rise of the Planet of the Apes – $16,300,000
3. (-) Spy Kids: All the Time in the World – $12,020,000
4. (-) Conan the Barbarian – $10,000,000
5. (-) Fright Night – $8,300,000
6. (4) The Smurfs – $8,000,000
7. (3) Final Destination 5 – $7,705,000
8. (5) 30 Minutes or Less – $6,300,000
9. (6) One Day – $5,127,567
10. (8) Crazy, Stupid, Love – $4,950,000

Pixar director Dan Scanlon has teased what fans can expect from the company’s upcoming film Monsters University.

Serving as a prequel to the 2001 film Monsters Inc., Monsters University will follow best friends Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan as they go through a troubled adolescence.

“They look familiar but, like all of us, they’re a little thinner and a little shaggier,” Scanlon told Coming Soon, at this weekend’s D23 Expo. “It was super fun making them look young but still familiar. That was sort of the big design challenge.”

Scanlon also promised that because of advances in technology over the past decade, the new film will feature even more exciting monsters than the original.

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Ridley Scott has signed on to produce and direct a new Blade Runner movie.

The acclaimed filmmaker will partner with Alcon Entertainment, producers of The Blind Side, for the next Blade Runner instalment, Deadline reports.

It is not yet known whether the movie will be a prequel or sequel to 1982’s Blade Runner. The original movie’s star Harrison Ford‘s involvement in this new project also remains unclear.

Ford famously played Blade Runner hero Rick Deckard, a retired police officer tasked with hunting down a group of renegade robots.

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