Latest rumours emerging suggest that a deal with Benico Del Toro to appear in the upcoming Star Trek film is now dead in the water.

Previously, rumours claimed that Del Toro had been approached to be cast as the next villain – speculated to be Khan.

However, news has now surfaced that although Khan is going to be the next villain, Del Toro will not be the man for the job.

The plot thickens. For more details, head over to FilmSchoolRejects.

According to star Neil Patrick Harris, plans are afoot to have Dr. Horrible and his rather fantastic Sing-Along Blog return as a feature film.

Speaking to MTV, Harris said, "Apparently they’re making a ‘Dr. Horrible’ sequel — a feature film, I hope… I hope they cast me in it — we’ll see."

"I don’t know of what scale. They’re talking all options, because they made the first ‘Dr. Horrible’ in five days on no budget at all — that was its intention."

Joss Whedon of Buffy, Firefly, and Dollhouse fame is teaming up with documentarist Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) for the San Diego Comic-Con International, and they want your help!

The two directors want to follow “a still-to-be-cast group of convention-going superfans” for three months leading up to this year’s Comic-Con, as well as at the event.  They are looking for all types of people for this documentary about the mecca of geek culture.

No word yet on how to apply for this opportunity of a geek’s lifetime, but we’ll keep our Watchers on the lookout.

Source: E! Online

In terms of franchises which interested me at the beginning, but now seem utterly tedious, the X-Men film franchise is one of them.

Quite why they think Wolverine 2 needs to be made is beyond me.

Nonetheless, Hugh Jackman has announced (well, sort of) in an interview at the People’s Choice 2010 awards that he expects filming to begin in a "Wolverine’s going to be back. He’s going to Japan. We shoot that probably in a year, year-and-a-half, something like that."

He sounds as enthusiastic about the whole film idea as I do.

So, with a 2011 shoot in mind, we can probably expect to see the film hitting the screens sometime in 2012. 

Personally, I think I’ll see Star Trek 2 (or is it 12?!) instead.

Reports are spreading across the web that Star Trek XII (or is it just II?)– the sequel to J.J. Abrams 2009 blockbuster – has been given a release date of June 29, 2012 by Paramount Pictures.

There’s no actual confirmation that Abrams will direct again, but Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are attached as writers, alongside Damon Lindelof.  No plot details have yet been released.

If I remember correctly, the crew of the Enterprise had a sequel-obligation written into their contracts, so I presume they will all return.

So 2010 marks the 25th Anniversary of Back To The Future and what better way to mark the anniversary than releasing the trilogy on Blu-Ray. I know a lot of fans have been chanting at the bit for the film to be released onto the high definition format, but it looks like the wait is over.

A Spanish DVD site released the following image just after Christmas of 2009 claiming it to be the official sell sheet from none other than Universial Studio’s;

When I first saw this image I squeed slightly with excitment, as many of you do not know that the Back To The Future Trilogy is my all time favourite set of movies, so with the excitment building I found another website called digitalbits who must also share my enthusiasm for Back To The Future has already dug around and found the sell sheet to be fake… crap… but don’t lose all hope with that revelation because they also report;

The reason it was thought to be authentic is that it was based on an authentic sellsheet for the recent DVD re-release, so the formatting was authentic. Regardless, we’re made to believe that the title IS currently planned for Blu-ray Disc release later in 2010 – another factor that added to the confusion.

So my fellow Doc Brown fans, buckle up those seat belts and prepare to go Back To The Future in high definition later this year.

“Roads? Where we are going we don’t need roads”

ScoreKeeper over at AICN is running with the story that David Heyman answered a recent question on the subject of John Williams’ returning to the franchise’s final outing with:

If we can make it work, and that’s a big if, for his schedule and ours, then yes.

Williams, obviously a movie composing classic, would be a big-name composer for the final Potter flick. 

But with so many lesser-known composers now creating magnificent scores, and the Potter franchise as established as it is, does it really need Williams back again?

Sci-Fi Slice have claimed that ‘once “Dollhouse” is over, Joss Whedon is leaving TV for good…to pursue creating on-line content along the lines of “Dr. Horrible.”’.

Now, there claim has not been sourced, but let’s assume for the moment that it is true:  genre television would surely have lost one of its finest writers, and if ever there was to be a tragedy written about the demise of one of television’s talents at the hands of the executives, surely Joss’s battles with FOX would be right up there.

Those unfamiliar with Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog should check its Wikipedia entry for further details, as it does strike me as the sort of thing Joss would be interested in moving towards.  Now that he has his fan following, does he really need the pencil-pushing network television executives telling him how to edit his content?  No goram way.

Then again, Sci-Fi Slice might not have a source, and might have just made it up.  In which case, disregard this post.

Just hours after news broke that Dollhouse may well be cancelled, E! Online took steps – possibly the most vague, unhelpful steps imaginable – to clarify the situation.

The official line from E! is as follows:

OK, brace yourself, guys, because there’s going to be math in this story.

Fox the television network will not be airing the "13th episode" of Dollhouse. However, there appears to be some debate about what qualifies as a 13th episode and what qualifies as a season finale.

Fox the television network ordered 13 episodes of Dollhouse. As everybody knows, they scrapped the original pilot, "Echo." So that is 13 less one, which brings us down to 12. The 12th and final episode that Fox the television network ordered and paid for and will air is called "Omega," was written and directed by Tim Minear (who has told us he "can’t wait" for us to see it). Focused on the Alpha storyline, sources say that "Omega" apparently "closes some doors and opens other ones," and was always intended to be and serves effectively as the season one finale.

Now, let’s go back to the equation, and add in a episode called "Epitaph One." "Echo" the original pilot + 12 episodes through "Omega" + "Epitaph One" brings us to a total of 14 episodes.

The 14th episode, "Epitaph One," was produced and paid for by Fox the television studio. It was not ever ordered/requested/paid for by Fox the television network, and Fox the television network will not be airing "Epitaph One." Working on getting you more details about "Epitaph One," but it’s said to be more of a "standalone" episode.

So, to summarize, Fox the television studio made 14 episodes of Dollhouse, and Fox the television studio is airing 12 of them, and paid for the 13 that they originally ordered.

A last, and very important note: According to sources on the network side, them not picking up and airing "Epitaph One" has no bearing whatsoever on whether or not they pick up the series for a second season, a situation which, I’m told, is "100 phase in the decision phase." You can obviously believe them or not as you choose, but I take them at their word. I may be a sucker like that.

Felicia Day has also semi-retracted her claim on Twitter, now posting:

Psh what a can of worms! E Online clarifies:  Dollhouse is NOT cancelled, Ep #13 is confusing, I’m gonna go write now :)

Things are never simple with FOX, are they?  They can’t even cancel something expectedly anymore, they have to do it the hard way.

More heartache for the fans out there.  Clarification is always welcome, if not often forthcoming from the American network.

Time will tell.  Still don’t see it getting picked up for a second season with its current ratings.  This final episode thing is probably merely a technicality.  And besides, I’ve heard some nonsensical mumbo-jumbo in my time, but if anyone can explain to me what "100 phase in the decision phase” means, then you’ll receive a free Sands of Oblivion DVD.

Nothing is yet confirmed or official, but there are murmurings that we’ve seen the last of Dollhouse.

It came to the attention of internet followers that Felicia Day (linked to Joss Whedon through Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) today wrote on her Twitter account:

Man, day getting worse and worse. Found out my Dollhouse ep. #13 isn’t gonna air. Only on DVD. Such a great part, too. Thx Fox

Whilst this isn’t confirmed, it isn’t surprising, with Dollhouse suffering from mediocre ratings and FOX cancellationitis.  Crucially, the show seems to have failed to capture the support of many Joss Whedon fanatics who have criticised the show as being ‘confused’, and devoid of the trademark Whedonesque humour that made his previous creations so vibrant.

The show premiered less than two months ago.

If true, and I do fear that it is, expect an official announcement soon.