Movie Rumors (Page 5)

Johnny Depp is at the center of two intriguing movie rumors these days.

First, he's supposedly being considered as the next Batman villain. Reports have connected him to The Riddler in the eventual follow-up to The Dark Knight.

Now, Entertainment Weekly is leaking word that Depp may portray the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's upcoming take on the fairy tale, Alice in Wonderland.

A 3-D movie of that classic slated for release in 2010. It will star Mia Wasikowska in the title role.

The source said the film will be live action until Alice jumps down the rabbit hole and meets the odd tea party host. The question is whether Depp himself will don a Hatter outfit, or lend his voice to the computer-generated version.

There's been no comment yet from Disney or Depp on the rumor. But allow us to say: sounds awesome!

Despite the luke warm reviews for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, director George Lucas doesn't sound afraid to make another installment of this beloved franchise.

He does wanna clear up rumors that the next film would center on Shia LaBeouf's character of Mutt Williams, though.

"Indiana Jones is Indiana Jones," Lucas told MTV. "Harrison Ford IS Indiana Jones. If it was Mutt Williams it would be Mutt Williams and the Search for Elvis or something."

As for plot of another Indiana Jones movie, Lucas said finding a subject was crucual to getting the project off the ground.

"We are looking for something for him to go after. They are very hard to find. It's like archaeology. It takes a huge amount of research to come up with something like that."

Despite the fact that Doom - released in 2005 and starring Dwayne Johnson - was neither a critical nor commercial success, the video game's developer is still calling for a sequel.

"Personally I'd like to do another Doom movie - I thought working with it was a blast, software CEO Todd Hollenshead said. "There are some lessons we learned. The best way to do things better is to get the experience."

Despite the presence of Dwayne Johnson, viewers didn't exactly line up for Doom.

Universal Pictures currently owns the film rights to the game, but Hollenshead believes that the forthcoming Doom 4 edition will help inspire a sequel.

"We'll see what happens when we get further along in development of the game and there's more buzz and we share more about what the game will be about. As the buzz meter starts to go up, that may kind of kick-start the guys over at Universal."

As The Dark Knight continues to shatter box office records, and Heath Ledger continues to garner Oscar buzz, rumors are already circulating about what big-name actors will take on the villainous roles in next Batman movie.

According to Great Britain's The Daily Telegraph, two new A-list stars are being talked about for a pair of iconic roles. 

The paper, quoting "unnamed sources," reports that Warner Bros. has targeted Johnny Depp to play The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman to take on the role of The Penguin.

"Producers are convinced that the role of The Riddler is perfect for Depp. Johnny's a pro. He'll be able to take direction and still make the character his own," the souce said. "And what better Penguin is there than Philip Seymour Hoffman?"

Are we looking at the next Batman baddies?

As film fans know, Jim Carey was the last actor to portray the Riddler (in Batman Forever), while Danny De Vito played the portly penguin in Batman Returns.

It's not hard to imagine Depp or Hoffman in these roles. But do you think the Batman franchise is in danger of its villains overshadowing its hero?

Sam Raimi may be best known for his directorial role in the Spider-Man movies, but his dedicated Evil Dead fans will never forget where he got his start.

What impressed the director most at Comic Con?  According to MTV Movies, that people still dress up as Ash from Army of Darkness.

When asked if we'll see an Evil Dead 4, the director responded "Yes."  So what are we waiting on?

“If the financing ever fell in place right,” Raimi explained and then further taunting us, “But first, I’d have to work on the script with my brother [Ivan Raimi]. And that’s something I’m hoping to find the time to do.”

Are you guys ready to see Bruce Campbell return to fight the Deadites?

We recently treated you to a sneak preview of the X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer courtesy of Comic-Con.

However, that may not be the only X-Men prequel in the works. In addition to the rumored Magneto movie, Production Weekly reports that X-Men: First Class is also coming our way.

First Class was a Marvel comic mini-series about the first class of X-Men which included Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Marvel Girl and Angel.

However, since the movie series had Iceman as a student, we're guessing a slightly different lineup. Either way, we'll take all the X-Men movies we can get!

While High School Musical 3 will mark Zac Efron's last foray into that franchise, the actor is being recruited to star in a sequel to Hairspray.

According to Variety, New Line Cinema has made a deal with Hairspray writer John Waters to write a script for a follow-up to the 2007 movie.

Will you line up for a Hairspray sequel?

Look for director-choreographer Adam Shankman, producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron to all return for the film. Also reported to come back ar Tony-winning songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman; they'll write new songs for the sequel.

"I never thought of musicals as franchises, but it certainly worked with High School Musical, and the idea of working with that cast again, and creating new material and music, is a dream come true," sais Shankman. "John (Waters) has such an original and extraordinary voice; we all can’t wait to see what he has come up with."

Take this with a grain of salt the size of Tom Cruise's ego.

But Great Britain's The Sun reports that Mr. Katie Holmes has been asked to reprise his role as Maverick for a Top Gun sequel.

Would you line up to watch Top Gun 2?

A script outline has supposedly been written, as the sequel just depends on Cruise giving his approval.

“The idea is Maverick is at the Top Gun school as an instructor — and this time it is he who has to deal with a cocky new female pilot,” said an insider.

The Dark Knight has only been released for a few days, yet talk of the next Batman installment has already begun.

Specifically, rumors are circulating about who might portray the next enemy of the Caped Crusader, assuming The Joker is not resuscitated by a new actor (an incredibly unlikely possibility, in our opinion).

You can most likely count out extreme, caricature-like baddies such as Mr. Freeze. But that still leaves a wide open field of options. Just don't ask director Christopher Nolan to name his favorite yet.

"I'm clueless right now," he told MTV. "All I can think about is taking a vacation — for a month!"

Other cast members from The Dark Knight did weigh in with their views, however.

"I always liked the Riddler," Gary Oldman said. "I liked the whole Riddle aspect. I loved the suit."

Who will replace The Joker as Batman's main rival in the next installment of this franchise?

Nestor Carbonell, who plays the mayor of Gotham City in the current movie, would go with a sexier villain.

"Catwoman, you can always bring her back," he said. "You can never see enough of her."

Except when she's the star of her own awful movie, that is (no offense, Halle Berry).

Remember, Carbonell added, like his relationship with Harvey Dent, Batman and his new foe might not always start out on opposite sides.

"What I really like is when you turn people into villains, when you see them flip," the actor said. "That's a great twist. And there's certain people you see in this one, certain characters who you didn't realize could go the other way, who could show up in the next one in an unexpected way."

During an interview with TV Week, Seth MacFarlane acknowledged the strong possibility of a Family Guy movie.

“We do want to do it and we will do it at some point. It’s just time," the show creator said. "We in the past 6 months started talking seriously about it. So my hope is that we’ll get going in the next year. Doing the show is a seven day a week process and finding the time to squeeze in a movie is… I don’t know how we’re gonna do it, but we’ll figure it out.”

As for the plot, MacFarlane said:

“I have an idea of what it’s gonna be. It’s definitely something that you could not do on the show, which to me is the only reason to do a movie.”