Just two weeks  before filming was to begin,  Nicholas Cage has pulled out of Joel Schumacher’s Trespass. According to reports, Cage is on vacation and will stay in the Bahamas.

Rather than waiting for the star, the studio plans to keep the film on schedule and will move forward without Cage. The studio is currently scrambling for a replacement. The rumored forerunner for the role is Liev Schreiber.

In the film, Cage was set to play opposite Nicole Kidman as a husband who is kidnapped with his wife by a group of thugs looking for ransom. The problems began when Cage decided that he rather play one of the kidnappers instead of the lead male role.

One thing is for sure, Cage isn’t known for pulling out of projects or turning down roles. Even with a recent streak of wins such as Knowing and Kick-Ass, Cage has taken on some horrible roles in films like The Wicker Man, Next, Ghost Rider, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Astro Boy, Bangkok Dangerous and the upcoming Season of the Witch.

How bad could a role be that the man who was the “star” of The Wicker Man remake decided to drop out? Could it be that Schumacher is past his prime and is making a film that even Cage knows is horrible? Or is it another bad move by Cage who may end up regretting it? Only time will tell.

When it comes to horror,  for the last several years October has been monopolized by the persistent and prolific offerings of a one Saw series. Jigsaw might be smarting a bit this Monday, because he was decidedly trounced by “the little demon that could,” otherwise known as Paranormal Activity.

Based on early estimates from Box Office Mojo,  Paranormal Activity finally claimed the top spot at the box office in its fifth week of release.  This makes it only the second movie this decade to do so after that many weeks in release, the other being Gran Torrino (2008).   Scaring up another $22M, the film played on 1,956 screens and brought its cumulative total up to $62.4M.

Despite playing on over 1,000 more screens than Paranormal, Saw VI brought in only $14.8M for second place.  This is the worst opening weekend for the franchise since the original Saw.

Where the Wild Things Are had a fairly steep dropoff of 55.9% from its opening week, which indicates few repeat attendees, and less than stellar word of mouth.  Still, it made $14.4 bringing its cumulative total to $53.9M for its first two weeks.

My former colleagues over at Cinematical have an exclusive look at the reported final poster for the CGI-animated adaptation of Astro Boy. You can head over there for a better look at the poster. In the meantime, in case you’re not familiar, Astro Boy, based on the manga and anime franchise of the same name, takes place in the futuristic Metro City. Dr. Tenma, a brilliant scientist, creates a young robot boy in his deceased son’s image.

The robot is, of course, the super powerful Astro Boy. Once alive and kicking, he has to contend with other much more dangerous robots and unfortunately, some not so trustworthy humans as well. The film features the voices of Freddie Highmore as Astro Boy, Kristen Bell as Cora, Nicolas Cage as Dr. Tenma, Bill Nighy as Dr. Elefun and Donald Sutherland as the President.

It should come as no surprise that Freddie Highmore’s Astro Boy is front and center on the poster, closely followed by Kristen Bell’s Cora. Also included in the poster are Dr. Tenma and Dr. Elefun. In addition to the poster, which looks really cool and fun, I also had a chance to see the trailer for the film while watching a movie last weekend. It also made the film look really fun and also made it seem suitable for kids (of all ages) as well.

Astro Boy hits theaters on October 23rd.

At the Astro Boy panel, Kristen Bell and Freddie Highmore were in attendance to give fans their first look at the manga hero’s origin story. IGN reports that the footage, created exclusively for Comic-Con, sets up a movie that is largely geared toward younger comic fans.

The trailer begins with a slick montage and voiceover depicting Astro Boy’s construction, races into an action montage that sets up Nicolas Cage as Astro Boy’s dad, and concludes with Astro Boy’s confrontation with the Peacemaker. The trailer also featured Astro Boy unloading machine guns from his butt, so that might make it worth the price of admission.

The biggest surprise at the panel was the announcement that both Samuel L. Jackson and Oscar-winner Charlize Theron will lend their voices to the film. Astro Boy is slated for an October 23, 2009 release, is directed by David Bowers and also stars Donald Sutherland, Bill Nighy, Moises Arias, Matt Lucas, Eugene Levy and Nathan Lane.

At the San Diego Comic-Con, IDW Publishing revealed several major digital comic book expansions for the iPhone and iPod Touch. IDW’s newest offerings include the G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra prequel comics, Transformers and CSI. An expanded electronic catalog of the G.I. Joe and Transformers tales, as well as Danger Girl, Astro Boy, Groom Lake, John Sable Freelance and GrimJack will also be available in the weeks ahead.

“The digital medium represents a huge opportunity for the comics industry, and we’re proud to be leading the way,” states IDW CEO, Ted Adams. “Through e-publishing, we can introduce an entire new audience to comics and the joys of comic books.”

IDW launched the first digital Transformers comics in May, and rapidly became a popular paid iTunes application. The Transformer catalogue also includes the prequel and adaptation graphic novels for the original movie. IDW’s entire G.I.Joe: The Rise of the Cobra prequel comics are now available, with the movie adaptations coming soon. The fan-favorite series G.I. Joe: Origins and the CSI comic series are now available for download on iTunes.

In addition to new material and story lines, IDW will also bring the classic 1980s Transformers and G.I. Joe series to the iPhone, iPod Touch and the Internet, beginning with Classic Transformers, which can be found online at classic-transformers.com.

IDW’s classic comic expansion will begin J. Scott Campbell and Andy Hartnell’s sexy spy comic, Danger Girl. Danger Girl #0 is currently available as a free application on iTunes, and features an eight-page preview of the comic.