While at the the Las Vegas ShoWest convention, Josh Duhamel confirmed that he would be returning as Major Lennox in Transformers 3. He also said that he met with Michael Bay, and that the script is done and that they are preparing to start filming in the summer. Transformers 3 is set for a July 1st, 2011 release date.

The ultimate guy flick, The Expendables, has released its first poster. The film stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews and Mickey Rourke and will be directed by Stallone (he also wrote the script). The film is about an elite squad of mercenaries who set out to overthrow a South American dictator. Eventually the team realizes that the governments that sent them on their mission have left them to their own fates, and they decide to not just complete their mission but also seek revenge against their own overseers.

According to Vulture, Columbia Pictures wants to make Ghostbusters 3 without Iva Reitman, but it may not be that easy to do. The studio's plan is to revitalize the franchise for next year by having the original 'busters train a dramatically younger crew in, and along with that have a younger director handle things.
But not so fast. Reitman has what is described as "extensive creative control," including director approval. Also, the deals that Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis have allow them to "single-handedly veto and kill the project if they don't like something." The studio wants them onboard with the project, a second draft of the script will be turned in to the studio in May from Office writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky.  Columbia was actually hoping that Reitman's new project, Friends with Benefits, would cause a conflict with Ghostbusters 3 to make things easier, but Reitman thinks he can do both.

According to The Heat Vision Blog, Sigourney Weaver is set to play the vampire queen in Vamps. Vamps is a romantic horror comedy by director Amy Heckerling (Clueless). The film will focus on beautiful young vampires (played by Alicia Silverstone and Krysten Ritter) living the good nightlife in New York until love enters the picture and each has to make a choice that will jeopardize their immortality. Sigourney Weaver plays the role of Ciccerus, the bloodthirsty vampire who turned the two ladies into creatures of the night. Filming is set to start in April.

Sony will want a role in the James Bond movies once the sale or restructuring of MGM is complete, Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Lynton told Bloomberg. Sony, which distributed and co-produced Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, is interested in distributing new 007 films or becoming a production partner to MGM or its new owners. Lynton said Sony hasn't held formal discussions with potential buyers. "We would like to be as involved with 'James Bond' as we're permitted to be," Lynton said. Not all of MGM's suitors are equipped to handle global marketing and distribution of the films. Lionsgate, for example, couldn't distribute Bond movies worldwide by itself, Vice Chairman Michael Burns said last week. Other potential MGM bidders include billionaire Len Blavatnik's Access Industries, Time Warner Inc. and Liberty Media Corp.

According to Variety, Katy Mixon (Eastbound and Down) has joined the cast of Drive Angry. The film stars Nicolas Cage, William Fichtner, Amber Heard, David Morse, Billy Burke, Simona Williams, Christa Campbell and Tom Atkins and began filming this week in Louisiana. The film follows a felon named Milton (Cage) who goes up against a group of vicious cult fanatics. Drive Angry hits the big screen on February 11th, 2011.

According to Variety, Rose McGowan has joined the cast of Conan. McGowan will play an evil half-human/half-witch. Filming for the movie started on Monday in Bulgaria, and stars Jason Momoa, Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang, Bob Sapp, Leo Howard, Ron Perlman and Said Taghmaoui.

Only yesterday, we heard that Channing Tatum and Ryan Phillippe were being screen tested for the title role, and that Keira Knightley was being considered for his love interest Elizabeth "Betsy" Ross.  It seems however that Knightley will face stiff competition for the part, with Deadline New York reporting that Emily Blunt and Alice Eve are also both in the running (although they are calling the character 'Peggy'). Blunt - who almost nabbed the role of Black Window on Iron Man 2 - appeared in The Wolfman which was directed by Captain America director Joe Johnston. Weirdly, she is also the fiancee of John Krasinski who tested for the title role. The mind boggles. Eve meanwhile doesn't have as many Cappy connections, but is currently on our cinema screens as the lead in She's Out of My League.

If you saw Grindhouse, you'll remember the collection of fake trailers played between the two halves of the feature. One of those was for a film called Machete, which starred Danny Trejo as the ass-kicking Mexican assassin. The story that played out in the trailer suggested that Trejo was double-crossed by a bunch of well-connected white guy, but gets revenge with the help of a heat-packing priest (Cheech Marin). It also only existed in the mind of Robert Rodriguez...until now.  Trejo said in a recent interview that the film would be in theatres by September, and also revealed some details about it.  "It is going to be awesome," Trejo claims. "We duplicate scenes from the trailer in the movie. What that movie has is the three B's, what I like to call the three B's. And what that is is babes, bullets and blood. And then it's got machetes, too. The film takes off from the trailer and then it just gets so over the top. I think the movie really lives up to the trailer. I'm really, really proud of it." He goes on to explain one of the stunts in the film. "I dive out of a window on a guy's guts. It's really just unbelievable."  The cast for the movie is what you might call "star-studded," with Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal and Don Johnson all appearing. Trejo had this to say about that lineup: "What a cast. I asked Robert, 'How did you get that cast?' He said, 'My wishing rock.' You know, like in Shorts. Everybody wanted to work with Robert Rodriguez."  Finally, Trejo spoke about the following the film has just from that short trailer. "Machete has a huge cult following, just from the trailer," he says. "I mean, in London, I was signing this guy's back because he'd gotten that picture of Machete tattooed on his back. I mean this big. I said, 'Boy, I hope you like the movie.' He says, 'We really like the trailer.' But after this comes out, he might have to go get another tattoo."

According to Deadline New York, Sir Ben Kingsley and Sacha Baron Cohen have joined the cast of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which will be directed by Martin Scorsese. The film will be an adaptation of the Brian Selznick's children's book, which follows a 12-year-old orphan who lives in the walls of a Paris train station in the early '30s. Kingsley will play silent filmmaker George Melies, while Cohen will play the station inspector. Graham King's GK Films is producing, and also working out the distribution plans.

According to Deadline, Robert Downey Jr. is currently in talks to star in Gravity. Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men) is set to direct the film for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. Downey will reportedly play the leader of a team posted at a remote space station. While he and a female colleague are traveling outside the space station, the other team members are decimated by debris from an exploded satellite. At one time, the film was with Universal Studios, and Angelina Jolie was attached to play the female lead. She then passed on the role, and Universal then passed on the film. The film will shoot in London in the summer, and according to reports, the project may finish just as Downey begins work on Sherlock Holmes 2, which will also shoot in London in the fall.

- Writer/Director Patrick Melton recently spoke with DreadCentral.com, here are the highlights…Where Are They On Saw VII?: "We are about half through," Melton told us over the phone on Wednesday of Saw VII's principal photography. "It's going to go into early April. We just starting shooting the traps on Monday. We always shoot those last in order to give the crew more time to build them and put them together."  On Shooting In 3D: "There's a knee-jerk reaction when a movie like Avatar makes so much money, and the studios can charge fourteen dollars a ticket as opposed to ten, so they see it as a way to make more money and to combat piracy without really thinking of if (whether or not) a film is necessarily catered to be in 3D. But people really do seem to like it, and it makes going to the theatre a little bit more of an event. It can work really well, though," Melton continued. "Marcus and I worked on My Bloody Valentine3D, which lent itself to a sort of an over-the-top story, and it was quite conducive to the 3D experience of being fun and wild, like the five-minute naked sequence. With Saw VII, it's more of using 3D for the visceral nature of it."  What Are The Plans For The Film: "In this one we have bigger traps and more traps and more characters – especially characters from the past (films) – than we've had in probably any other Saw movie. It's definitely the most expensive and ambitious Saw movie that we've done. Some of it is in response to last year's Saw VI, which, while being the most critically acclaimed Saw film in a while, didn't do particularly as well (at the box office) as everyone would have hoped, so we are going pretty far with this one in terms of the scale and intensity of the traps and the amount of twists, especially into the third act, which is just a plethora of twists and reveals." Will There Finally Be Some Resolution?: "I can't speak much of what the film is, but once you see it, you'll understand that there is quite a bit of resolution (to the series). There is a place where it can go, but it's been undecided at this point if the series will continue. If we end it with this one, then the entire franchise and story will be wrapped up in a nice pretty package."

-Alice in Wonderland kept the top spot this week, earning $62 million and raising its two week total to $208.6 million. The movie had the highest per theater average of any film in the top 10, earning $16,631 per theater. Alice now has the sixth biggest second weekend ever.
-Green Zone debuted #2 at the box office, earning $14.5 million. The film had a budget of $100 million.
-She's Out of My League debuted #3 at the box office, earning $9.6 million.
-Remember Me debuted #4 at the box office, earning $8.3 million.
-Shutter Island dropped two spots this weekend to #3, earning $8.1 million and raising its four week total to $108 million. The film had a budget of $80 million.
-Our Family Wedding debuted #6 at the box office, earning $7.6 million.
-Avatar dropped two spots this weekend to #7, earning $6.6 million and raising its thirteen week total to $730.3 million. The film has now made a total of $2.6 billion.
-Brooklyn's Finest dropped six spots to #8, earning $4.29 million and raising its two week total to $21.3 million. The film had a budget of $17 million.
-Cop Out dropped five spots to #9 this weekend, earning $4.23 million and raising its three week total to $39.4 million. The film had a budget of $30 million.
-The Crazies drops four spots to round out the top 10, earning $3.6 million and raising its three week total to $33.5 million. The film had a budget of $20 million.

1. Alice in Wonderland - $62 million ($208.6 million)
2. Green Zone - $14.5 million ($14.5 million)
3. She's Out of My League - $9.6 million ($9.6 million)
4. Remember Me - $8.3 million ($8.3 million)
5. Shutter Island - $8.1 million ($108 million)
6. Out Family Wedding - $7.6 million ($7.6 million)
7. Avatar - $6.6 million ($730.3 million)
8. Brooklyn's Finest - $4.29 million ($21.3 million)
9. Cop Out - $4.23 million ($39.4 million)
10. The Crazies - $3.6 million ($33.5 million)

Director Matt Reeves recently discussed the possibility of Cloverfield 2. Here is what he had to say…What Can He Tell Us About The Possible Sequel?: "I can tell you nothing, [but] there are these spikes in activity," he said when asked about a second "Cloverfield" movie. "There are things that we keep talking about and things spike up. It very well may happen." What is JJ Abrams' Status?: "There's a personal project that J.J. is about to do," he said. "J.J. is in the early stages of what he's doing and he's getting consumed by it. The amazing thing about J.J. — when I get into something, I get tunnel vision. He's amazing at focusing but also amazing at multitasking."

Variety (via IGN) is reporting that Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight), Malin Akerman (Watchmen), Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes) and Michael Clark Duncan are set to star in the forthcoming independent gangster film Criminal Empire for Dummies. The film, which focuses on a "charismatic young man (Ventimiglia) who relates the rules of running a criminal empire through flashbacks to his own rise from a tragic childhood and the ghetto to multinational kingpin," is written by Cliff Dorfman (Warrior, episodes of Entourage), who will also make his directing debut. Filming will begin this month in New Orleans.

Do you believe in a hooker with a heart of gold? Well if you don't, now is the time to start believing. Jennifer Love Hewitt is set to play a prostitute in a new TV movie. JLH had the following to say on the role…"It's (film) sort of like Erin Brockovich in a brothel."

According to Deadline Hollywood, Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist) is now in position to direct the upcoming Planet of the Apes: Caesar for 20th Century Fox. The film will be about how apes became so smart, with human experiments on monkeys leading them to overtake humans on the evolutionary scale. Caeser, the genetically altered leader of a simian rebellion -- will take the apes into war with humanity. Deadline Hollywood also reports that Drew Goddard (Cloverfield) has been hired to write the script for Robopocalypse. Robopocalypse looks at the fate of the human race following a robot uprising. The project is said to be a serious candidate for Steven Spielberg's next directing job.

Comingsoon.net is reporting that Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the Rings) is reportedly in talks for Captain America. He is negotiating to play the role of the main villain, Red Skull. Marvel is currently looking to cast Steve Rogers/Captain America, with the film expected to hit the big screen on July 22nd, 2011.

John Cho recently spoke with collider.com about A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas and Star Trek 2. A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas may film in June, with a possible release this year, and Neil Patrick Harris is expected to return. The film would take place a few years after the events of Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. On Star Trek 2, he states that they are still working on the script.