1.) Principal photography for Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit movies already went on for a lengthy 250 days, but the director is now trying to talk Warner Bros into a few more weeks of filming next year. He says the additional shoot would focus on the 125 pages of appendices found at the end of “The Return of the King.” The added footage could be used for an “extended edition” of the The Hobbit: There and Back Again (aka “The Hobbit 2”) or split the second movie in two, turning the series into a trilogy. [Coming Soon / HitFix]
2.) Jessica Biel has been cast as Viper in The Wolverine. The character has a long-standing role in the Marvel universe, ranging from one of Wolverine’s love interests to an enemy of both the X-Men and the Avengers. [Deadline]
3.) Daniel Radcliffe will star in Horns for director Alexandre Aja (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes). The supernatural thriller based on the novel from Joe Hill (son of Stephen King) focuses on a man who awakens one morning after a hard night of drinking to find horns starting to grow from his head. He’s also the lead suspect in the rape and killing of his girlfriend, but his horns give him a power that will lead him to the truth — and revenge. The project has been stuck in development for a while, with Shia LaBeouf attached to star over a year ago, but it now looks set to go with additional casting underway and principal photography slated for the fall. [Hollywood Reporter]
4.) Sitting side-by-side at Comic-Con, Guillermo del Toro and Ron Perlman took a break from talking about Pacific Rim to reveal that they’re trying to make Hellboy 3 happen. “Everything that was done in both movies was leading up to this destiny, written in stone, of what Hellboy has been summoned to Earth to do,” said Perlman. “To not do it, particularly in light of the scope that Guillermo is thinking of for the resolve, would be in my mind a little bit of a shame.” Perlman recently suiting up to bring Hellboy to a six-year-old boy battling leukemia for the Make a Wish Foundation gave them some added motivation. [Entertainment Weekly]
5.) Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot continues to move quickly. A few days after Josh Trank (Chronicle) was hired to direct, they found their screenwriter in up-and-comer Jeremy Slater. Slater also wrote the spec for the teen spy comedy My Spy, which is currently set up at Universal with Jake Kasdan (Bad Teacher, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) attached to direct. [Heat Vision]
BONUS: Look for a heavier dose of Ken Jeong in The Hangover: Part III, as reports have Mr. Chow playing an expanded role. The film shoots this fall. [Heat Vision]
And finally, Seth Macfarlane told fans at Comic-Con’s “American Dad” panel, “I’d be open to making Ted 2.” He also confirmed that his busy schedule has forced him to put his planned Flintstones reboot on the backburner. [Deadline]
