Now that Rob Marshall has settled in and Disney has confirmed that Johnny Depp will be returning for the fourth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean, currently entitled On Stranger Tides, the studio is now looking to fill the cast with other well-known actors to keep the financial ball rolling.

First news on that front was that Penelope Cruz would be joining as Jack Sparrow’s new squeeze. More news is coming in that Ian McShane, the man who made swearing an art form on the series Deadwood, is currently in negotiations to play the pirate Black Beard.

The actor is best known for Deadwood, but has also been seen in other great projects such as NBC’s short-lived Kings, and the Andy Samberg comedy Hot Rod. The British actor was last seen in the film 44-inch Chest.

No word yet when we will get official word on McShane’s involvement with the film, but with other great actors such as Geoffrey Rush and Bill Nighy taking parts in the film, this seems to be right in line with that pattern.

What are your thoughts on Ian McShane as Black Beard? Who else would you like to see in the next Pirates film? Sound off in our comments below.

Hollywood has been remaking old television shows into big screen adventures for years now. It’s been a trend with limited success, and every time you think it’ll die off with something like The Mod Squad,  we get news of another Charlie’s Angels or a big screen McCloud.

Lately, there’s been a weird interest in reviving tv westerns.  Last August, CBS Films announced they were developing a feature film based on Gunsmoke, the legendary series that ran for an exhausting 20 seasons.   Prior to television, it ran for nearly ten years as a radio serial.  No one could get enough of Marshall Matt Dillon back in the day, and apparently he’s due for a modern makeover.

Despite having its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, Gunsmoke was quite edgy for its time. Long before John Ford or Sergio Leone,  Norman MacDonald and John Meston sought to dismantle the cutesy, archtypical Old West that had been seen up until then. They wanted a harder, cruder hero and a more realistic and brutal West. Their Marshall Matt Dillon was no hero in a white hat, and the Dodge City he patrolled was full of shady and violent characters.

It was aimed at adults, and was one of the first radio shows to depict scalping, prostitution, opium addiction, and massacres. Dillon killed a heck of a lot of people, and his creators proudly said that he was as scarred and dangerous as the villains of Dodge City.

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The Internet was abuzz last week with reports of a possible Watchmen sequel.  There was some suggestion that in the wake of DC President Paul Levitz stepping down Senior VP Dan DiDio was championing a sequel to the “unfilmable” film directed by Zak Snyder. Further, speculation had DiDio planning multiple spin-off projects based on one of DC’s most profitable comic book runs.

Adding to the confusion, and controversy, was the somewhat untimely use of art by comic book authority Wizard magazine. A portion of the picture depicted Batman laying some smack down on resident Watchmen psychopath Rorschach.

Let me say at this point I loved Watchmen. In fact, I loved it so much I never want a sequel to be made.  Thankfully, it seems, that will never happen…at least from what we’re hearing now.

Deadline.com looked into the Watchmen 2 rumor and a well placed insider stated: “There is no truth to anything related to a movie sequel. Not a chance by a long shot. With regards to the comics, well, I guess anything is possible. I’ll keep my opinion to myself as to whether it’s a smart idea to do so.”

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Despite Tobey’s dropping that he knows who will be replacing Sam Raimi as director for the planned Spider-Man4 movie reboot, the bigger news surrounding the Golden Globe nominee has been a rumor fueled by the entire internet that he’s currently signed on to play Bilbo Baggins in Guillermo del Toro’s The Hobbit.

But word has come from the Headgeek over at Ain’t It Cool News, via email from del Toro and Peter Jackson who is stepping back to the role of Producer for the two films being made from J.R.R. Tolkien’s lead-in to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, that the rumors aren’t true and that the production is still about a month or two away from making any announcements. Peter Jackson, in his email response even said that they’re  ”currently auditioning for Bilbo.”

Will this mean that in a month or so we’ll be completely shocked at who gets the role? Or might Maguire actually have a shot at it and the filmmakers are just playing coy? Let us know what you think of this idea, or who you’d like to see as Bilbo, in the comments below.

Hollyscoop has reported on a rumor going around that 2009 Grammy winner Taylor Swift is in talks to put on the blue and red costume in an upcoming remake/reboot of the 1984 film Supergirl, that once starred Helen Slater and Faye Dunaway. Their sources say that Warner Bros. is looking to create a new film, and/or possibly a TV series, for the character, despite the original film being a financial failure.

Since this is merely a rumor as of now, the more interesting part was what the source’s said about the scarcity of female superheroes at the moment, “Hollywood is short of female heroes and the time is right for a new Supergirl.” This part seems logical enough – despite the mandate from a couple years ago when studio head Jeff Rubinox supposedly said, “Warner Bros. will no longer feature movies with female leads.”

This comes after a number of financial flops featuring some of the biggest female names in acting (Jodie Foster, Nicole Kidman, and Hilary Swank all from 2007 in The Brave One, The Invasion, and The Reaping, respectively). However, this may be shown to be false by the number of movies released since 2007 with leads that are women, such as Sex in the City, Whiteout, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 along with the 2011 Zack Snyder film, Sucker Punch and the Sex in the City sequel. So take that as you will.

Taylor Swift, who will next be appearing in February’s Valentine’s Day (along with most of Hollywood), has only other acting credit to date; an episode of CBS’s CSI. What do you think about the idea of a new Supergirl movie, and/or with Taylor Swift in the role?

With Ryan Reynolds becoming a hot commodity in the world of Comic Book films, between getting signed as Green Lantern and Deadpool, it looks like things are still heating up for a Deadpool film over at Fox. CHUD recently got word that Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are allegedly penning a script for Deadpool.

“While nothing is official just yet, it looks like Fox could be hiring Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the writers of Zombieland, to script the adventures of the Merc With A Mouth. I did my due diligence and asked around but couldn’t get a solid confirmation, so regard this one as a strong rumor… But if it’s more than a rumor – and my source tells me there could be a trade break announcing this within days – it’s actually a very good sign for Deadpool.”

Most of the film and comic fan community was torn on the thought of a Deadpool film after seeing what the studio did with the character in May’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but Reynolds himself stated that the film will be “just like the comics”, including the mask, schizophrenia, and demolition of the fourth wall.

Up next for the Zombieland scribes is actually a sequel to the highly successful undead comedy. Word is that Zombieland 2 will start production next year, and will be shot in 3D.

The Apple Tablet, a device that Apple has neither announced or confirmed, has reportedly been delayed and will go into production later than expected. This means that you can line up for the mythological device sometime in late 2010 now instead of the rumored and unconfirmed early 2010. Don’t you feel better knowing that information?

The release delay, according to DigiTimes, is reportedly being caused by last minute design change, specifically, the use of a 9.7″ OLED LG display. The article also speculates that the delay is a strategic move by Apple due to the current cost of the OLED panels, which run around U.S. $500.00 wholesale. The price of LG’s panels are expected to drop quite a bit in late 2010 as they revamp production with newer facilities and equipment.

Of course, this whole Apple Tablet is still just a rumor, so delays in manufacturing a product that doesn’t actually exist should not be much cause for concern. Although, you might want to tell that to publisher Conde’ Nast, who are reportedly already grearing up to feature their magazine content on the device, starting with their flagship publication Wired. Hey, maybe there is something to this Apple Tablet thing? Guess we’ll find out sometime late in 2010. That is if it isn’t delayed again by a shortage of something like pixie dust.

Roland Emmerich is getting a lot of attention right now for his upcoming end-of-the-world-blow-absolutely-everything-up movie 2012.  I’ll admit it, I’m a fan of Emmerich’s work, especially the ones in which he gives us unprecedented levels of destruction. Honestly, 2012 makes The Day After Tomorrow look like a warm up.

However, there was a television show that prophesied about the end of the world long before Emmerich planned the wanton destruction in 2012.  The show was Millennium, created by The X-Files visionary Chris Carter. The show followed Frank Black (Lance Henrikson) as an ex- FBI agent with the ability to see into the minds of killers and track them down.

All this while dealing with the enigmatic Millennium group who tried to prevent the world from coming to an apocalyptic end in the year 2000 (hence the name). The show was pretty dark for its time but brilliant all the same. So brilliant it was inevitably canceled. Such is the life of thought-provoking television (e.g. Dead Like Me, Firefly).

In fact, Millennium may take the record for biggest cancellation upset ever as Fox pulled the plug in 1999. Yes, the network couldn’t even bring it back to conclude its own prophetic doomsday plot. While Carter tried to finish Black’s story in a subsequent X-Files episode, appropriately titled “Millennium”, the cross-over fell flat. The episode was a complete disservice to the series but hopefully Fox is looking to make up for that mistake.

Screen Rant is reporting that Henrikson has been approached by private investors to make a Millennium movie.  Moreover, Fox is apparently interested in doing something with the property.  This prospect may or may not include Chris Carter.

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Earlier this week, The Flickcast reported that the Nintendo Wii may be getting a price drop.

Now, according to Kotaku, Target AND Toys R Us are advertising a new price of $199 in upcoming circular ads. While this seemed to be just rumor before, these ads make a price drop more and more of a possibility.

A price drop for the Wii couldn’t come at a better time.. Since its release in 2006, the console has never dropped in price. At $250, the Wii is only $50 cheaper than a PS3, which has far more advanced graphics and a Blu-ray player. A $50 drop in price will surely help this small console compete with its much bigger and bulkier adversaries this holiday season, as well as convince gamers who don’t already have the console that it’s worth buying for new holiday titles like New Super Mario Brothers, Spybots, and Wii Fit Plus.

Be sure to check back here at The Flickcast, since we’re likely to hear something from Nintendo at next week’s Tokyo Game Show.

After reporting to you that Sony had dropped the PS3 price a few weeks ago, it looks like the Nintendo Wii may be following suit. According to Kotaku, the Wii price drop will happen around the first week in October. Several retail listings, including a future Walmart ad, “loosely date, but not price” a new price for the Wii.

Nintendo’s official response to Kotaku? “Nintendo does not respond to rumors and speculation.” Nintendo had recently said they weren’t dropping the Wii’s price. “Right now,” Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said at a recent investor Q&A, “there aren’t a lot of discussions going on about what exactly to do about hardware pricing.”

The new PS3 Slim came with a new price tag, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has gone through several price drops, as well as more economical versions of the console. As the Wii enters its fourth holiday season having never dropped its price from $249 and the economy continues to suffer, a price drop would make sense at this point.

We’ll keep this in our rumor file for now. We’ll also report more to you as the holiday season grows closer with big Nintendo releases like Wii Fit Plus and New Super Mario Bros.