Kenneth Branagh has one of those careers that every struggling actor waiting tables in Los Angeles dreams of having. He is an extraordinary actor who has mastered The Bard and eventually turned himself into a well-respected director.

He is in his ‘tent pole’ era as a director right now, coming off of Thor his next project is a reboot of Jack Ryan for Paramount. Variety is reporting that Branagh might have finally found himself a villain for the project:

Paramount didn’t have to look far for the villain in its untitled Jack Ryan reboot, as the studio is in negotiations with Kenneth Branagh — who’s also directing the film — to star opposite Chris Pine in the action thriller that aims to reinvigorate the blockbuster franchise.

Directing a major blockbuster-to-be and being able to insert yourself as the main bad guy of the piece? Like said, the career every aspiring actor dreams of having.

As a wonderful, British, actor Branagh is a uniquely qualified for the bad guy role. In my estimation this reboot is shaping up rather nicely.

Expect the next Jack Ryan adventure to hit theaters some time next year, and stay tuned to The Flickcast for any other news about Branagh deciding to write the score of the film himself too.

It was hard to get behind the RoboCop reboot, it was passed around between a few good creative people and eventually landed in the hands of Jose Padilha who is a relatively unknown entity here in the states. However, once the ball started rolling with the cast the project has been gaining momentum.

We already told you about a few nice cast additions last week, which brings the supporting cast up to Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson and Abbie Cornish who join the solid Joel Kinnaman in the film. Already we have a solid cast with some geek cred and plenty of acting chops.

Things get much better though, The Hollywood Reporter has announced who will play one of the key villain roles in the movie:

Hugh Laurie is in negotiations to play the villain in Robocop, MGM and Sony’s remake of the classic 1987 sci-fi action movie… Laurie will play the evil and ultra-rich CEO of Omnicorp, the company that makes Robocop

Dr. House himself! Hugh Laurie is a fantastic actor and will really bring a lot to the table as a swarmy CEO who looks to use RoboCop for his own nefarious reasons. One other aspect of bringing in Laurie to the cast that evokes a lot of excitement is that this news might be another clue that the satirical nature of the original is not going to be left by the wayside.

Disney’s big holiday animated project likely hits close to home for many of The Flickcast’s readership. A tale of an 8-Bit villian who tires of his repetitive life of villainy and struggles to find a place for him to be a hero. No it is not the biography of Donkey Kong, it is Wreck-It Ralph.

In the wake of the Pixar merger a few years ago, Disney has had a very successful run of animated films NOT produced by the famed animation studio. While not quite the high water mark of the second golden age, the last handful of years has been a welcome return to quality animation for the mouse house. Hopefully Wreck-It Ralph keeps that newly forged streak alive.

The newest poster for the upcoming film has hit the web today, and its simplistic, 8-Bit design fills us with confidence. Clearly this film knows it’s roots and is being made by people with a genuine love of the video game world. 8-Bit design has found a resurgence in the geek community in recent years, and to see a major motion picture studio plastering the style in theater hallways nationwide is heartening.

You can see the full poster after the jump.