Flix-Ticker

A little of this and a little of that...

- Director Rob Cohen says that filming is almost completed for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor." You can also read the official plot synopsis for the sequel taken from the helmer's own blog.

- Photos and video of Shia LaBeouf from the Los Angeles set of the thriller "Eagle Eye" has been posted.

- Emile Hirsch confirms all of the recent Internet chatter: Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski upcoming "Speed Racer " adaptation has no sets and is all green screen. I figured they would use green screen for the racing stuff--But the whole thing?

IESB reports that Maggie Q (pictured,"Live Free or Die Hard") is the front runner for the role of the Silver Fox in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and in fact may have already been cast. The site had not been able to get confirmation from the studio or her representatives

In the comic book, Wolverine meets her and believes they were romantically involved for quite some time in his past.

Q is certainly foxy enough for the part...Adding in her fighting skills--she was great in LFoDH-and its a perfect match

-Zac Efron is going to grow up looking like actor Matthew Perry (pictured).



A story from Reuters. has the former television star playing a grown-up version of Efron (pictured) in the teen dramedy "Seventeen"



The script follows a middle-age father who wakes up to find he's 17 again. In order to be closer to his children, he enrolls in the same school as them.

Both Perry and Efron have a few similar features. Good casting call Production begins early next month..

-Lots of Bat-chatter about the Joker-pulled together by Dark Horizons

*Empire Online has a cool new photo of The Joker in the upcoming "The Dark Knight".



Meanwhile, Heath Ledger talked to SFX Magazine about the make-up for the character:

It's made up of three pieces. It's a new technology. It's not a prosthetic. This guy created these silicone pieces and they stamp them on. It's a lot quicker and super flexible. You hardly even know it's on your face. If it were a prosthetic, I'd have to have my whole neck and jaw done."

Finally Sir Michael Caine talked to Batman On Film a bit more about Ledger's work in the film:

"The problem was, how do you top Jack Nicholson as The Joker? Heath Ledger plays the Joker and he is fantastic. I couldn't see how Jack could be topped but he's at least equal to him. It's extraordinary. Jack's Joker was a very nasty old uncle, this Joker is a maniacal, murderous psychopath... When you see the make-up -- he looks like he's mentally gone. He puts the make-up on to disguise himself and then goes and never takes it off again, or washes, so gradually it looks like leprosy."

It sounds, at least, like Ledger's got a handle on the character. Whatever you thought of the way Jack Nicholson played it almost 19 years ago--he's a tough act to follow

The site IESB have an informant who’s seen the new, redesigned version of the Enterprise being used for J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot, and despite news to the contrary it sounds like nothing ha really been changed. According to their scooper, they’ve kept the classic, iconic design of the original Enterprise, NCC-1701 and only made minor adjustments to it.

The biggest difference, says the yaker is the ship’s skin, which has been given a “grittier metal texture.”

Maybe James Cawley saw a bogus set of designs...

-- Russell Crowe will replace Brad Pitt-who is also making news by saying "No more nude scenes for me"in the political thriller "State of Play" from a story in Reuters.

--- The next "Friday the 13th:"flick is not a remake so much as a reinvention of the third film in the series, says an insider.

Does that include the use of crappy 3-D effects as well?

-Sam Raimi confirms for us that the scribe who writes "Spider-Man 4" will determine the villains of the film all on his own.

On Friday, Variety had bad news for Tom Cruise one day after he was honoured in Germany, about the poor box office for the United Artists feature Lions for Lambs-which he helped bring about.

“Lions” could lose as much as $25 million, although UA and parent company MGM won’t comment on any figures. They said that “Lions” could even be profitable once it gets into its home entertainment and television runs..

Duh! What spin...Every film turns a profit at some point. That's not the issue. With that much star power behind Lambs--for it to have such a poor domestic run-is quite a bad start at the new and improved UA. Maybe it's as simple as this. THE FILM JUST WASN'T THAT GOOD AND THE PUBLIC KNEW IT...

Later Today: The Chicago Bears take on the New York Giants as they try to stay in the playoff hunt. FOXSports.com has a preview...