Do we now know the identity of a Captain America: The Winter Soldier villain? Just when will Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity be released? Is Iron Man 3 still going to China? How long is the first Hobbit movie? And what about Mark Wahlberg and Transformers 4?
All those questions will be answered — it's all spoiler ahead!
Top image from The Hobbit.
Iron Man 3
Although it's been mentioned previously that the third Iron Man movie will be a Chinese co-production, it wasn't until the recently released trailer confirmed that DMG Entertainment is still co-producing along with Marvel Studios. More concretely, the latest reports indicate that the movie will indeed be filming scenes in China, which was mooted a few months back but didn't necessarily seem as though it was still part of the plan, considering there have been no indications that much of any filming has happened in China thus far. [Deadline]
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Marvel's Kevin Feige says the Mandarin's rings won't be shooting ice rays and fire beams, and he didn't get them from a crashed alien spaceship, like in the comics. The Mandarin will have a very different backstory in the film — but he didn't get those rings from a cereal box. [EW]
You can also check out the video from a recent Entertainment Tonight set visit here.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Judging by some since-deleted tweets, Warrior and The Grey actor Frank Grillo might be up for the part of Crossbones, a non-superpowered but skillfully brutal mercenary and assassin. This might be one of the two "physical" roles previously connected to Lost's Josh Holloway, Game of Thrones actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Real Steel's Kevin Durand, or this could be a separate role entirely from those two. Either way, Crossbones likely wouldn't be the movie's main villain — even leaving aside the question of whether the Winter Soldier would be considered the main villain, at least initially — and is more likely a henchman for whoever ends up as Captain America's primary antagonist. [Film School Rejects]
Star Trek Into Darkness
Heather Langenkamp, best known for appearing in the original Nightmare on Elm Street, says she has a small role in the upcoming Star Trek sequel. She also suggests that she and her husband, who previously worked together on Cabin in the Woods, did some of the makeup effects for the film. [Horror News]
Gravity
There's still no release date set for Children of Men director Alfonso Cuaron's stranded astronauts epic, in which Sandra Bullock and George Clooney must make their way to the International Space Station before their oxygen runs out. But it would appear the movie is complete, or at least close enough to it that the MPAA felt ready to give it a PG-13 rating, reportedly due to "intense perilous sequences, some disturbing images and brief strong language." But that doesn't Warner Bros. will release the movie anytime soon, with /Film suggesting the film could even be held back all the way to next Oscar season — in other words, November 2013 — to improve Bullock's chances of an Oscar nomination. That's admittedly speculation, but it's hard to see this film being released much before then — perhaps in the September range populated this year by similarly challenging fare like The Master and Looper, but this probably isn't a summer kind of movie. [Rope of Silicon]
Mass Effect
Legendary Entertainment has reportedly hired a new writer for the long-planned big-screen adaptation of the epic video game saga. Morgan Davis Foehl's previous credits include work as an assistant editor on Rescue Me and I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry, of all things, although he has earned considerable acclaim for his unproduced screenplays, which have made the annual Black List of Hollywood's best unmade scripts. Foehl is himself a Mass Effect fan whose previous scripts have apparently involved a mix of action and espionage, broadly similar to what's in the games. [Variety]
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Director Peter Jackson has confirmed that the first Hobbit movie will be 2 hours and 40 minutes, making it shorter than any of the Lord of the Rings movies but still quite a bit longer than you'd really expect one of three Hobbit movies to be:
"It's looking like it's going to be about ten minutes shorter than Fellowship was. So it's going to be officially our shortest Middle-earth yet. I mean, Fellowship was just under three hours and this is about 2 hours 40 minutes at the moment."
Noah
Fringe
Here's a sneak peek for tomorrow night's episode, "The Bullet That Saved The World." [Fringe Television]
The Walking Dead
Star Andrew Lincoln discusses how Rick Grimes is getting more ruthless and less heroic with every episode:
"I think his humanity is pretty intact but his ruthlessness, his decision making, has moved into a Shane point of view. There is an uncompromising nature that I think has happened over time to Rick. The other thing to bear in mind is that he is the most isolated, both in his group and in his relationship. I don't think he is in the most stable-certainly when I was playing it, I wanted it to be this instantaneous, almost Pavlovian reaction to the situation. Certainly, in season one and season two, I don't think he would have been so quick to make that judgment call. That's one of the joys of playing Rick. The moral ambiguity of the show is the most interesting part for me-certainly as an actor-because in any other world, any other situation that wasn't Hell you wouldn't make these kinds of calls. You wouldn't be pushed into this corner to make these calls. The thing that dignifies him and helps to justify the situation is the fact that he always has their safety as a priority, so it becomes this sort of selfless act even though it's incredibly evil. His humanity is never fully taken away from him, although as we go through this season it diminishes and diminishes and that's all I will say."
He also discusses where the character is headed over the rest of this half of the third season:
"I want, certainly over these episodes, to see this deterioration and maybe paranoia happening. He's one of these people who is constantly beating himself up with this impossible decision making. He is aware of a certain unrest within the group and-it's very difficult and I'm hesitating because I don't want to give anything away that happens in the next few episodes but yes, I wanted to sow the seeds of doubt in the first two episodes. There is some decision making that is quickly irrational and choices that he makes that, like in a classic Greek tragedy, come back to haunt him. He is sort of coming apart but doing this very good impersonation of someone who is holding it together at the moment. I'm interested in seeing where his breaking point is."
There's more at the link. [Fangoria]
Mockingbird Lane
Here's a behind-the-scenes featurette on Bryan Fuller's Munsters reboot, which airs its first and almost certainly only episode tomorrow night.
Once Upon a Time
Here are some sneak peeks for this Sunday's episode, "The Doctor." [TV Line]
The Vampire Diaries
Here are some promo photos for the fourth episode, "The Five", which airs next Wednesday. [SpoilerTV]
Rick Worthy, whose previous roles include the Cylon Simon on Battlestar Galactica and a whole crapload of Star Trek aliens, will appear as Bonnie's estranged father later this season. He will appear in the tenth episode and reportedly try to protect Bonnie from all the supernatural terrors of Mystic Falls, which is probably something he should have started doing a little before now if he really wanted to make much of a difference, but still. [TV Guide]
American Horror Story: Asylum
Here are some promo photos for the next episode and third overall, "Nor'easter." [SpoilerTV]
And here are a couple promo photos for the fourth episode, "I Am Anne Frank (Part 1)." [SpoilerTV]
Additional reporting by Amanda Yesilbas and Charlie Jane Anders.