As we previously reported, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson was in the running to helm Brett Ratner’s Hercules. Now Johnson has officially signed on for the titular role of Ratner’s Hercules film and has also signed on to do an adaptation of the graphic novel Ciudad.

Many fans are excited about the change in career choices that Dwayne Johnson has been making as The Rock is choosing more action films rather than Tooth Fairy 2. With Faster and Fast Five under his belt, as well as the upcoming G.I. Joe:Retaliation and Pain and Gain, Johnson is going back to his action roots for these 2 films.

Ciudad is an action-thriller adaptation of the upcoming Oni Press graphic novel of the same name.

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Brett Ratner has already signed on to direct Hercules and has his heart set on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to fill the titular role of the film.  The film will be an adaptation of the Steve Moore graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian War. The screen play is adapted by scribe Ryan Condol.

The Thracian Wars is a pretty dark take on the character, as it paints Hercules as a mercenary who turned his back on the gods following the loss of his family, “finding solace only in battle.” He joins up with six other men who are similarly bloodthirsty, and the band of warriors are hired by the King of Thrace to train his men into warriors.

Johnson would be a great choice to play Hercules as this type of warrior. He can do badass better than anyone else on the market and his charm gives his characters wide appeal.The real question would be whether Ratner would keep the story’s tone as dark as the original graphic novel.

Johnson, who will next be seen as Roadblock in the upcoming G.I. Joe: Retaliation, will next star in Michael Bay’s crime comedy Pain and Gain with Mark Wahlberg, followed by another Fast and Furious film, and has been tied to the role of Goliath in the aptly named Goliath. With Johnson in such demand, his availability for the role is in question.

No timetable has currently been  given for Hercules.

Read a full synopsis for Hercules: The Thracian Wars after the jump.

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The best performance in Tower Heist comes not from its most bankable stars Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy, rather it’s the nervously underplayed schlub Mr. Fitzhugh, an out-of-work stockbroker played by Matthew Broderick, who’s channeling parts of Bob Newhart and parts of Bert Lahr’s Cowardly Lion. Director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour) tends toward broad comedy, but the funniest bits by far are Broderick’s subtle squeaks of concern.

There’s a scene early on when he’s being evicted from his apartment. The living room is completely empty save for two tents. Broderick explains to the building manager that he’s sold all the furniture. “I told the kids we’re going green,” he gives a resigned shrug, “my kids aren’t very smart.”

The manager is Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller), who’s been working at the building for years and is the golden boy of its owner Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), a Madoff-inspired Wall Streeter who, we learn, has taken the employees’ pensions and either stolen them or made some really bad investments (the movie never really makes it clear, but since he’s rich, he’s automatically bad, I guess). The Feds, led by the sexy Claire Denham (Tea Leoni) naturally swoop in to cart off Shaw for some SEC violations, leaving little hope for the tower employees to recover their life savings.

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Just when you thought things couldn’t go much further past films like Battleship, The Smurfs, or a third Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, one more film gets thrown into the mix that has everyone asking one question: Why?

That’s the first and only question we asked when news came through that the classic cartoon Hong Kong Phooey was getting a new animated film (likely in 3D). We didn’t bother asking “Who?”, as we were still stuck on the first question. As it turns out, star of such classics as Norbit and Meet Dave, Eddie Murphy will be stepping into the recording studio to give Hong Kong a shot. Here’s what Deadline had to say:

Eddie Murphy will give voice to the animated lead character in Alcon Entertainment’s live action/animated big screen adaptation of the of the 1970s Hanna-Barbera animated TV series HONG KONG PHOOEY, it was announced by Alcon co-founders and co-CEO’s Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove.

Alex Zamm (“Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts,” “Tooth Fairy 2”) will direct. Kosove and Johnson will produce with Jay Stern and Brett Ratner. Steven P. Wegner will executive produce.

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At the Pusan International Film Festival held in South Korea, director Bryan Singer had most fanboys’ ears perking up when he mentioned: “I’m still looking to possibly returning to the X-Men franchise. I’ve been talking to Fox about it.” Singer was the director for both X-Men and X2: X-Men United, but decided to pass on what would eventually be X-Men: The Last Stand so that he could helm Superman Returns instead.

Rush Hour director Brett Ratner handled the third mutant installment while Rendition director Gavin Hood oversaw the spin-off X-Men Origins: Wolverine in Singer’s absence; the latter of which will birth another spin-off revolving around Ryan Reynolds’ character, Deadpool. Box office success was never a problem with these comic-themed movies, but both X3 and the Superman reboot didn’t stand up critically to some other feature films from the same genre.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Singer likes to “trick audiences into thinking they’re seeing fireworks, but they’re learning about themselves and listening to what I have to say.” He further stated: “The excitement about working in science fiction and fantasy is – the stories, if they are good, are about human condition.” This, combined with how the first two X-Men chapters were received, would seem to indicate that Singer has a good grasp of what the backbone of Marvel’s mutant population is all about, but at this time there has been no announcement or confirmation of Singer telling Wolverine what to do.