Guillermo Del Toro announced today that he is no longer directing the two movies based on J.R.R Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”, but will continue to co-write the screenplays.
“In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming “The Hobbit,” I am faced with the hardest decision of my life”, says Guillermo. “After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures. I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New Zealand. I’ve been privileged to work in one of the greatest countries on earth with some of the best people ever in our craft and my life will be forever changed. The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project. Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wlsh the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director”.
Read producer PETER JACKSON’s response and more HERE.
Crisis Management: BP AMOCO attempts to save the Gulf of Mexico coastline
Source: NYTimes.com THRALL WORLD loathes dipping into the gutter to talk about oil or politics as it just seems to filthy up everyone and everything in sight. But it’s hard to ignore the chaos in the Gulf of Mexico..
At a time when every political pundit, anonymous blogger, and social network drama queen are offering their “Expert Analysis and Solutions” on the current situation; we here at THRALL WORLD just want to see the oil leak stopped. Here’s the latest:
In another serious setback in the effort to stem the flow of oil gushing from a well a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico, BP engineers said Saturday that the “top kill” technique had failed and, after consultation with government officials, they had decided to move on to another strategy.
A technician who has been working on the project to stem the oil leak said Saturday that neither the top kill nor the “junk shot” came close to succeeding because the pressure of oil and gas escaping from the well was simply too powerful to overcome. He added that engineers never had a complete enough understanding of the inner workings of drill pipe casing or blowout preventer mechanisms to make the efforts work.
The new strategy is to smoothly cut the riser from which the oil is leaking and then place a cap over it. Pipes attached to the cap would take the oil to a storage boat on the surface.
Though a first effort at a containment dome failed, Mr. Suttles said BP had learned from that experience and now believed that this cap, which is custom fitted to the riser, would be more successful.
Source: AeroForceOne.com
AEROSMITH 2010 North American tour dates:
Jul. 23 – Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena
Jul. 26 – Paso Robles, CA @ California Mid-State Fair
Jul. 29 – Irvine, CA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Jul. 31 – Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden Arena
Aug. 03 – Dallas, TX @ Superpages.com Amphitheatre
Aug. 05 – Woodlands, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Aug. 07 – Tampa, FL @ Ford Amphitheatre
Aug. 09 – Fort Lauderdale, FL @ BankAtlantic Center
Aug. 12 – Wantagh, NY @ Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
Aug. 14 – Boston, MA @ Fenway Park
Aug. 17 – Toronto, ONT @ Air Canada Centre
Aug. 19 – Omaha, NE @ Qwest Center
Aug. 22 – Tinley Park, IL @ First Midwest Bank Amphitheater
Aug. 24 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNJ Bank Arts Center
Aug. 26 – Syracuse, NY @ New York State Fair
Aug. 28 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Boardwalk Hall
Aug. 31 – Detroit, MI @ The Palace at Auburn Hills
Sep. 02 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
Sep. 04 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
Dimension Films has confirmed that Hayden Panettiere (HEROES) and Rory Culkin will star in Scream 4 as well.
They join original “Scream” cast members Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courteney Cox Arquette, as well as newcomer to the franchise, Emma Roberts [NANCY DREW, UNFABULOUS, HOTEL FOR DOGS].
To be directed by Wes Craven from a Kevin Williamson script, the anticipated follow-up starts shooting in June for a release in theaters on April 15, 2011.
GARY WAYNE COLEMAN was cast in the role of Arnold Jackson on Diff’rent Strokes, portraying a child adopted by a wealthy widower. The show was broadcast from 1978 to 1986, and was a huge success.
Coleman became the most popular fixture of the show, enhanced by his character’s catchphrase “What’choo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” At the height of his fame on Diff’rent Strokes, he earned as much as $100,000 per episode. It is estimated he was left with a quarter of the original amount after paying his parents, advisers, lawyers, and taxes. He later successfully sued his parents and his ex-advisers for misappropriation of his finances and was awarded $1.3 million.
Guillermo del Toro responded to questions about the state of The Hobbit, saying that the film does not have a start date, nor will it until MGM sorts out its financial troubles.
“It’s not greenlit,” said del Toro, “That’s categorical… We’ve been caught in a very tangled negotiation…There cannot be any start dates until the MGM situation gets resolved.
“We have designed all the creatures,” he said, “We’ve designed the sets and the wardrobe. We have done animatics and planned battles sequences….We are very, very prepared for when it is finally triggered.”
James McAvoy (ATONEMENT, WANTED) has signed on to play a young Charles Xavier, aka Professor X, in “X-Men: First Class,” which Matthew Vaughn is directing for Fox.
Plot synopsis: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, following the classic Marvel mythology, charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.”
Source: LATimes.com
Early report on success of “top kill” procedure to stop the BP AMOCO underwater oil leak:
Engineers have stopped the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico from a gushing BP well, the federal government’s top oil-spill commander, U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said Thursday morning.
The “top kill” effort, launched Wednesday afternoon by industry and government engineers, had pumped enough drilling fluid to block oil and gas spewing from the well, Allen said. The pressure from the well was very low, he said, but persisting.
Once engineers had reduced the well pressure to zero, they were to begin pumping cement into the hole to entomb the well. To help in that effort, he said, engineers also were pumping some debris into the blowout preventer at the top of the well.
Tommy Lee Jones [has been cast] in ‘CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER’ in a still-unknown role. Hayley Atwell, who plays Peggy Carter in the Joe Johnston-directed comic book adaptation, confirmed the news [in the interview below].
Chatter about the CAPTAIN AMERICA movie begins at about the 2:20 mark:
Rumors place the “Men in Black” star in the part of General Chester Phillips, the military officer who chooses Steve Rogers for the super soldier program and who aided in his training soon after the serum took effect.
In addition to Atwell, Jones is joining Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Sebastian Stan, Toby Jones, Samuel L. Jackson and Dominic Cooper in the July 22, 2011 release.
