Cinematical

You and I may not have seen anything beyond the carefully chosen-for-release production photos and teaser trailers, but the people at Warner Bros. have surely seen it all, and are apparently exceptionally impressed with the storytelling and directorial talents of just-emerging director Zach Snyder and his 300 flick. Granted, Snyder is off to a great storytelling start simply by choosing Frank Miller's 300 as his source material, but we've seen more than enough good comics go terribly awry when the movie world gets ahold of them, so credit must of course go to Snyder if this film turns out to be as impressive as all early indicators lead us to think.

So impressed, in fact, are the people at Warner Bros. who have hooked Snyder and his brand-new Cruel and Unusual Films into a two year first-look deal. And, of course, Warners is behind Snyder's next major comic book project as well -- that is, if you actually believe people anymore when they tell you they're turning Alan Moore's Watchmen into a movie.

How many of you out there hate it when studios go and switch around the actors/actresses playing main characters in a good TV or movie series? I think it is something nearly all fans can agree on. I understand sometimes that it is necessary for one reason or another, but most of the time, I'd rather they just write the character out of the plot, if at all possible.

Enter Rachel Dawes, the love interest from Batman Begins. Despite general knowledge telling us she'd return, there have long been whispered concerns about the increasingly inscrutable Katie Holmes. And now, LatinoReview adds some fuel to those whispers by indicating Katie Holmes will not return for the long-awaited sequel to the film, but the part of Rachel Dawes will be a part of the story. So we can go ahead and crank up the rumor mill in regards to who will take her place. In the meantime, LatinoReview also says Matt Damon has passed on Harvey Dent, but Ed Norton and Josh Lucas are still being considered (among others, of course), while Oswald Cobblepot has disappeared from the script.

In related Holmes news, she's just signed on to star opposite Queen Latifah and Diane Keaton in Mad Money, the "Ocean's 11 ... but with females" flick we told you about the other day. Yup, she's gone from Batman to Latifah. And are we happy about this?

Sometime around Columbus Day we talked about potential Stargate SG-1 movies as a swansong for the long-running television series. Then last month, my buddy Chris Ullrich gave you a great update courtesy of Beau Bridges, who confirmed talks of the films, but indicated nothing was official yet. Well, here we are in mid-January, and we now have official confirmation. Fans, you may officially start your (likely to be bittersweet, due to the impending end of the series) rejoicing now -- two movies are indeed coming your way.

Today, MGM officially announced the production plans for two Stargate SG-1 movies titled Stargate: Arc of Truth and Stargate: Continuum. As we suspected back in October, the first film will close the big storyline from the final two seasons, while the second will have an independent plot with new time travel adventures. Expect both to be TV and DVD marketed, with no major big screen releases. With continued rumors of yet another Stargate series, the success of these movies will likely play a major role in the studio's internal debate about the potential for future Stargate properties.