Start practicing the name Benedict Cumberbatch (SHERLOCK, WAR HORSE, voice of Smaug in the forthcoming THE HOBBIT). According to Joblo.com, JJ Abrams and Paramount have announced that the fellow has been cast as Khan and will have a part in a Klingon heavy STAR TREK 2. The movie is set for May 17th, 2013, and also has Leonard Nimoy on board for another go round, sure to be awesome news for the ole faithful.

Benedict is an interesting but inspired choice. The guy is a terrific actor, if you’ve seen TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY or SHERLOCK or any of the myriad appearances he’s made in the past couple years. Abrams and crew claim to be taking a different tack than mimicking “Space Seed” (Khan’s original appearance from the original show), and I’m really excited to see where that leads.

According to Variety, at the top of the list are actors Edgar Ramirez (THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM) and Jordi Molla (COLOMBIANA).  Ramirez is said to be the frontrunner.  Whichever ends up in the role will join series newcomers Alice Eve and Peter Weller as well as Chris Pine and the rest of the Enterprise returnees.

Rumors came out last week that Benicio del Toro was slated to play Kahn, which director J.J. Abrams promptly denied.  However, that statement has led fans to speculate that Abrams was merely denying del Toro’s involvement, not the identity of the villain in question.  To many, actively pursuing a variety of actors of Latin descent for the role seems to confirm the belief that Abrams is on the lookout for someone who could fill the shoes of original Khan Ricardo Montalban.

Regardless of who ends up with the coveted role, STAR TREK 2 will beam into theaters May 17, 2013.

Veteran actor behind the mask of ROBOCOP Peter Weller has joined the cast of the next J.J. Abrams STAR TREK film, reports TheWrap. The actor has previously appeared in the franchise back in 2005, appearing in two episodes of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE.

Weller will be joining Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin and fellow newcomer Alice Eve. The sequel to the 2009 film is written, directed and produced by J.J. Abrams. The film will release in theatres May 17, 2013.

The first big casting coup has taken place for J.J. Abrams’ upcoming “STAR TREK 2.”  Alice Eve (SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE) has joined the cast as a new character, although little else is known about her role.  Such is typical for the highly secretive Abrams.

The casting announcement comes courtesy of Variety.  Abrams has previously said that he would like Benicio del Toro to play the film’s villain, leading many to speculate that Khaaaaaaan would be making a welcome return to the franchise.  However, del Toro”s involvement is still in the negotiation stage.

Principal cast members such as Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are expected to return as Captain Kirk and Spock, respectively.  The script was written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Damon Lindelof.

The as-yet-untitled sequel is scheduled to hit theaters May 17, 2013.

After indicating that he was up in the air regarding the second STAR TREK movie, J.J. Abrams is now officially committed to directing the sequel to the stellar reboot! Insiders familiar with Abrams’ plans told Vulture that the script will be done by month’s end and shooting will begin this winter.

The sequel was scheduled for release in June 2012, but Paramount pushed it back, partially due to the fact that Alex Kurtzman, one of the writers, was preoccupied with his directorial duties on WELCOME TO PEOPLE. While we deal with this uncomfortably long wait, we can find solace in the fact that, in addition to Abrams, the main cast are all set to return, as is producer Damon Lindelof and, obviously, writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.

Abrams’ first STAR TREK film skyrocketed, hitting $257 million domestically and $385 million worldwide, surpassing expectations for the film. Now it’s time to see if the sci-fi guru – the man behind LOST, ALIAS, FRINGE, CLOVERFIELD, SUPER 8 – can do it again.

Engage!

Gary was born in Illinois in 1920. He was an aspiring actor before taking a job as a script supervisor on John Ford’s 1956 western classic The Searchers. He also served as script supervisor for the films The Magic Sword (1962), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), The Strangler (1964), Hush… Hush… Sweet Charlotte (1964), and The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). He also worked frequently in television on such shows as Perry Mason, The Outer Limits, and Highway to Heaven.

Gary died in Los Angeles on May 3, 2010 at age 90.

She was born Phyllis Callow in Hollywood on July 24, 1936, the daughter of leading second unit director Ridgeway Callow and Ziegfeld showgirl Margaret Watts.

She was featured in a small role in the 1961 film Atlantis, the Lost Continent, and was Josie Miller in a 1967 episode of Batman with Cesar Romero as the Joker.

Douglas died in Palm Springs, California on May 12, 2010 at age 73.

Currently running, the Egyptian’s Lust and Larceny: Noir City, the 12th Annual Festival of Film Noir will wrap up on April 18. Friday, April 16 beginning at 7:30pm will be a double feature of 1955′s thriller Crashout, followed by 1954′s brutal revenge melodrama Cry Vengeance. Neither of these films are currently available on DVD. Saturday will see a double feature of horror director Lew Landers’ The Power of the Whistler from 1945 and starring Richard Dix (Val Lewton’s The Ghost Ship), as well as its follow up of the same year, Voice of the Whistler, directed by horror legend William Castle! In attendence will be Robert Dix, son of star Richard Dix.

Running from April 29 through May 2, the Egyptian presents A Wrinkle in Time: The Best of Time Travel Films. This crash course in the time-tested sci-fi subgenre will feature some of the greats, with themes ranging from post-apocalyptic dystopia, to threats to our future utopia.

First up on April 29th is a Planet of the Apes double feature, beginning with the original 1968 Planet of the Apes, starring Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowell, Kim Hunter and Maurice Evans. Heston’s astronaut Taylor crashlands on a seemingly alien world, where the laws of evolution are reversed, and a bigoted society of intelligent, yet hypocritical apes rule over a mute, savage population of wild humans. The presence of Taylor, a thinking, speaking man, threatens to turn this “upside down civilization” inside out. Mixing insightful social commentary, quirky humor and truly nightmarish spectacles, this film was a landmark of its genre, spawning four sequels, both live action and animated television series, a legion of merchandising, a muddled 2001 remake directed by Tim Burton and still another franchise reboot coming from Fox in 2012, Planet of the Apes was in many respects the proto-Star Wars and one of the first science fiction films to find truly mainstream success and recognition.

Following this will be 1971′s Escape from the Planet of the Apes, the third film in the series and what many consider to be the best of the four sequels. In a clever reversal of the original film, future apes Cornelius (McDowell), wife Zira (Hunter), and scientist Milo (Sal Mineo), crash land on then-present day Earth, where they struggle to survive the threats of a society terrified by what the existence of these apes says about the future of mankind. Filled with gentle humor, mind-bending temporal implications and examples of both tragic and terrifying fate, Escape is perhaps the most family friendly in the series, but not without a great deal of punch (can anyone imagine a big studio picture these days ending like this one does?).

Friday, April 30th offers a double feature of Star Trek: First Contact and James Cameron’s blockbuster sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

1996′s First Contact – the eighth film in the venerable Star Trek franchise and the second of four Next Generation outings – is a harrowing action/adventure pitting traumatized Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) against dreaded foes The Borg, whose diabolical plot involves traveling back in time to the stop the “first contact” between mankind and benevolent aliens that will lead to the formation of the Federation. Featuring wondeful supporting turns by James Cromwell (Babe, RKO 281) and Alfre Woodard (True Blood), and directed by series regular Jonathan Frakes and co-written by Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica, Virtuality), First Contact is considered by most to be the best of the films featuring the cast of the Next Generation.

1991′s Judment Day is Cameron’s first, and so far only, sequel to one of his own films, bringing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s unstopable cyborg back to defend John Connor (Edward Furlong), the foretold savior of mankind from a coming robot apocalypse. Co-starring Linda Hamilton in her immortal role as the very definition of female strength, as well as Robert Patrick in his signature role as the deadly, liquid-metal assassin T-1000, everything about Terminator 2 is bigger and bolder than its predecessor, featuring ground-breaking visual effects and deftly combining action with themes of destiny, free will and surprising heart.

Saturday May 1st will play host to a triple feature, the entire Back to the Future trilogy! This series helped define a generation of moviegoing, mixing witty humor with stunning visuals and complex storytelling. Starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd in the roles that would make them immortal, the series finds ’80′s “slacker” teen Marty McFly (Fox) thrown backward in time by way of a time machine in the shape of a Delorean built by daffy genius Dr. Emmett Brown (Lloyd). Marty finds himself stranded first in 1955, before his adventures take him to the future of 2015, a parallel dimension version of 1985, and finally back to the Old West of 1885 — all along struggling to right the injustices of the past and get back home before getting killed or, even worse, managing to erase his own existence.

Finally, Sunday May 2 will wrap up the festival with a double feature of two of the time travel genre’s greats, produced and directed by some science fiction cinema’s best and brightest: 1960′s classic The Time Machine and Beyond the Time Barrier.

Based on the seminal novel by H.G. Welles, The Time Machine follows explorer George (Rod Taylor) into the distant future of the year 802,701, where humanity has diverged into two races: the peaceful, intellectual-deficient Eloi, who live on the surface of a lush, verdent, post-civilization paradise, and the shaggy, carnivorous Morlocks, who dwell in an underground, industrial labirynth and who prey upon the helpless Eloi like cattle. Produced and directed by legendary fantasy filmmaker George Pal (Destination Moon, War of the Worlds), The Time Machine is a slick, MGM production with class, fantastic visuals and a true sense of wonder, a film that inspired generations of kids that thrilled to its warm spectacle.

Edgar G. Ulmer is a genre filmmaker known mostly for his wonderfully perverse The Black Cat (featuring the first teaming of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi), as well as what is considered to be the first true science fiction film of the 1950′s, The Man From Planet X, as well as for his notable film noir output. Relagated to B-budgets for almost his entire career, Ulmer none-the-less crafted atmospheric, thought-provoking genre cinema, and his career has gained serious academic attention in recent years. 1960′s Beyond the Time Barrier was produced in Texas in just 10 days (!), starring Planet X alum Robert Clarke as an Air Force Test pilot who finds himself thrust in a future filled with babes and mutants, who eventually rise up against their oppressors. With make-up by the legendary Universal monster creator Jack Pierce, and rushed out into theatres by American International to precede MGM’s big budget The Time Machine, Beyond the Time Barrier is a gem of this low-budget style Cold War sci-fi thriller, and a lot of fun.

Visit the official website of the American Cinematheque for a master calendar of events, as well as ticket information and more! 

In a recent interview with Empire, the British actor provided some info about that project, as well as the status of the Star Trek sequel.

Burke and Hare features Pegg and Andy Serkis as Edinburgh corpse-peddlers William Burke and William Hare. “It’s about two guys who murder for money but you’re encouraged to like them and be on their side,” Pegg said. “It’s interesting morally because it challenges the audience’s perception of who they are. It’s light-hearted but there’s a very dark, unsettling truth at the heart of it.”

When asked about the level of gore on display in the pic, Pegg revealed that it “comes more from the medical side, when they hand over the bodies, but yeah, you see some pretty gruesome stuff.”

Pegg performing in a seemingly dramatic film is rife with potential, as he’s sure to inject his trademark sharp wit into the proceedings.

Oh, and about that aforementioned Star Trek sequel…

“I bug J.J. [Abrams] on a regular basis and he just fobs me off,” said Pegg. “But I saw Zoe Saldana recently and she reckons that it’s going to be soon. I would imagine it’ll be toward the end of the year, but I can’t guarantee it.”

So there you have it, we probably shouldn’t expect the sequel until mid-2011 at the very earliest, but luckily Pegg is keeping himself busy with other interesting and different roles until then. We’ll be watching.

The Oscar’s are, and always have been, all about prestige. Normally, genre films and filmmakers are marginalized or, even more often, ignored. But as the industry continues its decades long shift towards making science fiction, fantasy, and other genres at ever bigger and more advanced levels, what was once considered a B movie ghetto by ‘serious’ filmmakers is become more and more recognized.

This is another breakthrough year for genre cinema, as far as the Academy Awards are concerned. Rare is it for such films to be nominated outside of technical categories.

This year however, there are notable exceptions in almost every category.

This year, ten slots were open for Best Picture nominees, a controversial move by the Academy, in that its been 67 years since that many films were considered for the nod. With that many slots open, some films that may have otherwise been out of the running are now up for Hollywood’s biggest prize.

It’s no surprise that James Cameron’s mega-blockbuster Avatar has a shot at Best Picture. The Academy, even with five Picture nominees, tends to tip its hat to a popular favorite at the nomination phase. The Exorcist, Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., The Sixth Sense, and The Lord of the Rings films have all occupied this slot in the past, but very few (one in fact), have taken home the prize. With its Golden Globe win, and Cameron’s sway, it’s certainly possible that Avatar could upset the competition.

But a genuine, and very pleasant, surprise is that Neill Blomkamp’s sensational District 9 has earned a spot among that honored ten. A taut, surprising and above all moving film, District 9 is among the best science fiction of the decade, and this is a truly progressive nom.

I wonder if anyone will question nominating Up for Best Picture as well as Best Animated Feature? It’s such a great film I certainly won’t gripe.

No one should be surprised that Inglorious Basterds is up there, and yes, it absolutely deserves to be. And speaking of, Christoph Waltz owns Supporting Actor.

Cameron’s up for Directing for Avatar, of course. He’s certainly a master craftsman; every one of his films is him, all the way through, can’t fault him on that, and on a purely technical and visually artistic level, Avatar is an incredible achievement. On a visceral, storytelling level, Cameron is a very precise technician, very, very aware of how to get the audience right where he wants them. These might not be terribly original, deep, or meaningful places to put them, but he herds them there better than Lassie.

Tarantino gets a nod for Basterds, as it should be. Will he win? Can’t say, but it might be his most confident film, and that’s really saying something.

God bless the animation category, as we’re rolling in stop motion bounty. Both Fantastic Mr. Fox and Coraline told lovely stories and looked absolutely beautiful. Up’s a shoe-in for this one, and, again, it’s such a spectacular picture no one can complain. (Unless you consider the fact that it’s also nominated in the mainstream picture category a spoiler, which you shouldn’t.)

District 9 lovingly gets a nomination for Adapted Screenplay, and who can’t be all over that?

Science fiction and fantasy always cleans up in the Art Direction category. To wit, Avatar and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Avatar has a big ‘ol chance of taking this prize, and it is hard to argue that – creating a whole world in a computer (or hundreds of ‘em) from the ground up is a startling achievement. It’s good to see Parnassus get a nod here, since, as always, a Gilliam film is breathtaking to look at. Parassus also gets a similarly justified Costume Design nom.

As far as Cinematography goes, Mauro Fiore’s work for Avatar is up there, but does anyone find it odd to think that a film that’s so dominated by entirely computer generated characters, locations and whole scenes is up for a cinematography award? Where’s the camera most of the time?

Meanwhile, here comes Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince out of nowhere, it did look quite lovely. Robert Richardson’s luminous work on Inglorious Basterds couldn’t earn this more.

Now we hit the technical awards, where these films tend to live – and this year they’re surely well represented.

Avatar, Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen all pull Sound Mixing noms. No surprise on the first two, but Transformers? Avatar and Star Trek return for Sound Editing, plus Up. Both Avatar and Up have incredible soundwork, again, both for worlds that don’t physically exist. Star Trek‘s sound design was one of the best parts of a wonderful, fun flick, so kudos.

The biggie here is Visual Effects, with Avatar, District 9 and Star Trek. District 9′s Prawns, robot-suits and looming space ships were incredible, tactile and all for $40 million. Trek’s effects were the best the franchise has yet seen. But we all know where this is going, and, yes, Avatar’s effects are it’s entire reason to exist.

Star Trek‘s got a Make-Up nom, and why not? Who doesn’t love pointed ears?

Avatar, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Up all ahem, score, Best Original Music nods. Michael Giacchino’s score for Up is just one more great piece of work by one of the medium’s greats.

And, finally, in the Best Film Editing category, Avatar, District 9 and Inglorious Basterds are present. Avatar is a huge one, and it’s been called either “slow” or “deliberately paced.” The action beats are rolicking enough. Every scene in Basterds is a rollercoaster of rising tension, punctuated by delirious frenzy. District 9′s complex mockumentary-to-narrative-to-capture-footage structure is not only effective, but seamless.

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, will be broadcast Sunday March 7th on ABC.