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After waves of speculation and mass musing, Scott brought us the news we've been wondering about for months last week: Guillermo del Toro is going to the land of The Hobbit. Since then, we've got questions about whether or not this news is actually welcome, and just this morning, rumored word that Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis are on board -- "all bureaucracy pending."

Del Toro plans to use Peter Jackson's films "as canon," but there will be changes afoot. As Eugene noted earlier, there will be a different color palette for the world of the hobbits, and instead of inundating us with a film full of stunning CGI, Guillermo is anxious to make a lot more use of animatronics.

Will this change only be subtle, or will it look like an entirely new film that only has a few familiar faces? It's certainly possible to make a film that visually fits -- each Harry Potter director has added touches to their films to make them stand out while still creating a cohesive series. However, we've got to keep in mind that the seas haven't been smooth where Peter Jackson and this fantasy world is concerned. Eric Kohn brought up the "smells of George Lucas" thoughts in his post, and you have to wonder if Guillermo will be free to build his world in peace, and if behind-the-scenes issues could tarnish this whole affair.

Brace yourselves, genre geeks, because here's some fantastic news: It's official. Dark fantasy master Guillermo del Toro has been officially signed to direct the Hobbit adaptation(s). Obviously we halfway knew this was coming, but it's great to have the news confirmed: We have a few years to wait, but the two-movie MGM/New Line adaptation of The Hobbit ... will both be "del Toro films." That's just awesome.

According to Variety, Guillermo will actually MOVE to New Zealand for four years to work on the two films. How's that for commitment to a project? Although it's not a done deal, it's expected that producers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens will co-adapt the Tolkien tale together. No word yet on which Lord of the Rings cast members will be invited back for the prequels, but I'm betting we'll soon see Sir Ian donning that wizard's hat again!

And if I could just editorialize for a quick second: Guillermo del Toro has never made a bad movie. And don't say Mimic because that's a really underrated horror flick.

For starters, I had no idea that a fourth Austin Powers film was even on the horizon. So imagine my surprise when the Boston Globe reported that Gisele Bündchen was in talks to star in the latest installment of Mike Myers' spy franchise. According to the Globe, Bündchen has already been given a script and her agent is arranging meetings with Myers and producer Jay Roach.

Myers first spoke about another Austin Powers film back when he was still prepping The Love Guru with Jessica Alba. Myers had told MTV, "We're developing a fourth [movie], entirely from Dr. Evil's point of view." Myers also said that he would only be working on a Powers film in his spare time. Judging by Myers' slate for 2009 it doesn't look like he is going to have much free time; the actor is still attached to star in the Keith Moon biopic, See Me Feel Me: Keith Moon Naked for Your Pleasure, as well as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (both films are scheduled for release in 2009).

I said we would get news before long. I just thought it would be more exciting than this.

Entertainment Weekly sat down with Del Toro and managed to get a few quotes from him on his involvement with The Hobbit. It sounds like nothing is definite, not even his involvement as director. (Which explains all those "So, Del Toro is directing then?" comments I keep hearing.) On where production stands now, the hopeful director is only slightly more informed than we are. "There have been a lot of discussions of cast and crew, agreements on the direction the movies would go, and if and when I come on board. But other than that, frankly it's all immaterial until everything is signed and put on paper."

As expected, the death of New Line Cinema put a kink in the works, but not as much as anyone would think. "I think it played a role for a few days; being dramatic, I would say a couple of weeks. But the fact is [the movie is] a huge endeavor. It's about a half-a-decade of commitment. It's two movies back-to-back that are massive. So a lot has to be sorted out. All I can say is, creatively we are all in sync and eager to commit and move forward."

So it looks like all is not lost for the big-screen Gears of War. Coming Soon recently spoke with Twilight producer Wyck Godfrey about the feature film version of the best- selling video game. According to Godfrey, "We've got our script on and a director we're about to attach. We'll hopefully make that early next year for the summer of 2010." New Line had purchased the rights back in 2007, but it's not exactly a secret that they had a bit of a rough year. As a result, the future of the big-budget video game flick had a big question mark hanging over its head.

Gears was the story of your usual rag-tag group of soldiers known as the Delta Squad. When the planet Sera (a stand-in for Earth) is attacked by an alien force called the Locust Horde, Delta Squad is forced to defend the planet from this unstoppable enemy. Most of the story focused on Marcus Fenix and the rest of the Delta Squad, so I would imagine that the film would take their cue from the game and do the same.

A few years back I was lucky enough to spend a few days on the set of The Hills Have Eyes 2. I hate to say that I thought the final product was pretty ... meh, but the 2.5 days I spent on the set in Morocco were something pretty special. Among the many actors, stuntpeople, FX technicians and general crew members I met, one of the very coolest was a giant guy called Derek Mears. Everyone on the set was very nice, but Mears was the one who made sure to invite the "horror geek press" back to his hotel lounge so we could have a few beers and give the guy the scoop on American sports, recent horror movies, new video games, comic books, etc. (The man had been cooped up in Ouarzazate for a few months by this point.)

Anyway, Derek was a sincerely gracious dude (and he DID make for a pretty creepy freakin' mutant in Hills 2), so I'm happy to share the news (via BD.com) that he's landed the role of mad slasher Jason Voorhees in Platinum Dunes' upcoming remake of Friday the 13th. So while you might not recognize the face, you've probably seen some of Derek's work in flcks like Cursed, Zathura, Men in Black 2, and The Haunted Mansion. (Plus a whole lotta TV work.) Odds are you won't see a whole lot more of Mears once he dons the legendary hockey mask -- but the Jason character has always been played by a huge, likeable lug, and I think Mears fits the bill quite nicely. Plus he's really freakin' huge, and that's a big plus. The new Friday is due early next year.

After doing a surprisingly good job on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake -- and then taking five steps back with the misguided Pathfinder -- it looks like Marcus Nispel has been signed to direct the Friday the 13th remake for Platinum Dunes, Paramount, and New Line Warner Bros. Not only that, but actor Jared Padalecki has been signed for a lead role. According to The Hollywood Reporter, "the remake will focus on the serial killer, who will wear his now-iconic hockey mask. Padalecki will play the lead, who investigates what happened up at Crystal Lake."

Seems like a strange direction for a "remake" to take, but obviously I'm more than happy to see the flick before I get all excited or all furious. We'll be waiting until February 13 of next year (yes, it's a Friday) to see what Nispel and screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon have in store for us. More casting news as it comes in -- and if the Dunes guys opt to go PG-13 on this project, I may just lose my mind.

Despite all the awards attention it received, Joe Wright's Atonement still sounds too much like a lushly romantic period melodrama for my personal taste. Still, it's one of those movies you probably need to experience yourself before deciding if the praise was too lavish (Ryan Stewart thought it was a "stunning achievement") or the criticism too harsh. The DVD from Universal Studios includes deleted scenes, two "making of" features, and an audio commentary by the director.

From all that I've read, Southland Tales sounds like an astonishing train wreck. Nick Schager began his review for Cinematical by writing: "Let me present Exhibit A in the case against granting talented young filmmakers extensive creative autonomy." Given my perverse nature, that makes me want to see Richard Kelly's futuristic epic even more. The DVD from Sony Pictures includes a "featurette" and an animated short.

Steep presents thrilling footage of big mountain skiers who swoosh down incredibly steep slopes. As I noted in my review, though, I felt it raised more questions than it wanted to answer. The DVD from Sony Pictures includes an audio commentary by director Mark Obenhaus with some of the skiers, photo montages, and an additional interview with one of the sport's masters.

Though it was ignored during last fall's awards season, Mike Newell's Love in the Time of Cholera might be ripe for discovery. (On the other hand, Jeffrey M. Anderson really didn't like it.) Javier Bardem and Benjamin Bratt star in an adaptation of the novel by Gabriel García Márquez. The DVD from New Line includes an audio commentary by Newell, a "making of" feature, and deleted scenes.

When I refer to David Schwimmer's Run Fatboy Run as "a modern-day screwball farce," that's a nice way of saying it's outrageously predictable, unabashedly sappy, and completely formulaic through and through. You know where the movie is going from frame one, and it sure doesn't take a lot of detours getting there. But the phrase "screwball" probably wouldn't have come to mind if Run Fatboy Run wasn't at least a little bit funny. Which it is. So if you don't mind an amiable-yet-seriously familiar 90 minutes -- and you're a big fan of British actor Simon Pegg -- I'd have no problem recommending the flick. Even if I'd never come close to calling it something brilliant.

The effortlessly likable Simon Pegg stars as one of those lovably lazy sad-sack types that you only come across in comedic films: Despite the fact that he left his pregnant fiancee (Thandie Newton) at the altar five years earlier, Pegg's "Dennis" is one of those losers we love to root for. (How a doofus like this ever scored a catch like Thandie Newton -- and then abandoned her! -- is one of the film's sillier conceits.) So when his former flame's smarmy new boyfriend (Hank Azaria) mentions that he'll be running in an upcoming marathon, Dennis senses a shot at redemption.

It was known as the house that Freddy built ... and now it's gone. Vanished. Absorbed whole into the corporate borg that is Warner Bros. It was announced yesterday that New Line Cinema, as we know it, is now dead. According to former chief Bob Shaye, it seems that WB will still use the New Line name for certain productions and / or pick-ups, but it probably won't be long before that idea is swallowed whole by Warner Independent Pictures.One can only assume that New Line subsidiary Picturehouse (formerly Fine Line) will also be absorbed, which is a shame because they've had a really impressive track record so far.

So while I'll always be grateful to New Line for giving me Freddy Krueger, Blade, Critters, Austin Powers and (of course) The Lord of the Rings, I thought it might be interesting to track back over ALL of the New Line, Fine Line, and Picturehouse releases and maybe even see what doomed the studio. Aside from withholding all those LOTR profits and inspiring a half-dozen very expensive lawsuits, of course. (And let's not forget: They distributed The Evil Dead, funded almost all of John Waters' films AND they bankrolled Boogie Nights, Pleasantville, Seven, and Dark City, so let's not talk too ill of the recently-deceased.) New Line celebrated its 40th anniversary last November, which means they set the "founding" year as 1967. At that point New Line was simply distributing old flicks to college campuses, but that all changed in the early '80s.

As a production company that we know and (sometimes) love, New Line was probably born in 1982, with the production and release of Jack Sholder's Alone in the Dark, a strangely amusing horror flick starring Jack Palance, Martin Landau and Donald Pleasance. From that small success, the die was cast; 1984 saw the arrival of A Nightmare on Elm Street and 1985 saw ... A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge. This would prove to be New Line's m.o. for many years to come: One novel idea followed by several uninspired sequels.