Voltage Pictures, the production company that produced this year’s Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker, have followed through on their threats to launch a lawsuit against people who illegally downloaded the movie.

Five thousand internet users who used BitTorrent file-sharing programs to download the film are being sued by the producers, who accuse the downloaders of violating their copyright. The Hurt Locker was leaked to the internet a full six months before its US release date last year.

Contact Music reports that the suit names the defendants by their IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. Lawyers plan to subpoena various service providers (ISPs) so they can begin to figure out who the IP addresses belong to.

The defendants will reportedly be asked to pay $1,500 “to be released from their liability.” If they don’t, they could be on the hook for up to ten times that much should the case reach the courtroom.

The producers had announced their intention to file the suit less than a month ago and haven’t wasted any time. The suit reads in part, “A Defendant’s distribution of even one unlawful copy of a motion picture can result in the nearly instantaneous worldwide distribution of that single copy to a limitless number of people. The Plaintiff now seeks redress for this rampant infringement of their exclusive rights.”

Despite winning the Best Picture Oscar and five other trophies at this year’s Academy Awards, The Hurt Locker grossed only $16 million at the American box office.

Donald Glover, one of the stars of NBC’s sleeper comedy hit Community, wants to play Spider-Man in the new reboot of the superhero franchise. Now the comedian is getting serious and taking his campaign to Twitter.

All Glover is asking is an audition for the role in director Marc Webb’s upcoming 3D Spider-Man 4 and he’s asking his fans and followers on the popular social networking site to get behind his efforts. Glover started the hash tag #donald4spiderman and he’s asking supporters to use it to show their support and get Webb’s attention.

Just last week rumours circulated naming the five young actors considered to be on the short list for the role. Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell was at the top, alongside relative unknowns Alden Ehrenreich, Frank Dillane, Andrew Garfield and Josh Hutcherson.

If Glover gets his wish and an audition, he’ll be the only African-American among the group of white faces. Glover’s efforts come just after geek culture blog io9.com published an editorial questioning why the new Spider-Man has to be white.

“So why couldn’t Peter Parker be played by a black or a Hispanic actor?” wrote Marc Bernardin. “How does that invalidate who Peter Parker is? I’m not saying that the producers need to force the issue; that they need to cast a minority just for the sake of it — but in the face of such underwhelming options like Billy Elliot and the kid who played young Voldemort, why not broaden the search?”

Glover currently plays loveable jock Troy on Community, the wonderfully subversive Thursday night comedy. Slashfilm reports that, as of Sunday night, Glover’s #donald4spiderman tag was “popping up on over 100 new tweets every 60 seconds.”

The cast for the upcoming Scream 4 just keeps growing. Last week Emma Roberts signed on to star in the horror sequel and now Heroes star Hayden Panettiere and Culkin brother Rory have joined up as well.

Trade magazine Variety reports that the two young stars are on board to join the ever expanding cast of the first Scream film to be released since 2000. Panettiere, who recently found herself with a lot more time on her hands now that NBC has cancelled Heroes, will play the best friend of Roberts’ lead character Jill.

For those of you keeping track of the genealogy of the Scream characters, Jill is the cousin of Sidney Prescott, the lead character of the first three Scream films, played by Neve Campbell. Campbell is back for the new film, as are Courteney Cox and David Arquette, who also starred in the original trilogy.

Sources say Scream 4 is intended to be the first of a new trilogy. The writer and the director of the original movies – Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven – are both back to kick off the reboot.

The film is set to begin shooting in Michigan this summer, with a release date planned for April 2011.

Guillermo Del Toro will not be directing The Hobbit. The director announced this weekend that he’s quitting his gig as the man set to film the prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Del Toro, along with producer and LOTR director Peter Jackson made the official announcement on JRR Tolkien fansite TheOneRing.com. Though the Mexican auteur has promised he will still write the scripts for the two planned Hobbit films, delays in shooting have forced him to make a difficult decision.

“In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming The Hobbit, I am faced with the hardest decision of my life,” says Del Toro in a statement sent to the website. “After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures.”

Del Toro goes on to explain his reasons for exiting the films, saying “the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project.” In other words: ‘this is taking too long and I’m a busy man.’

The Hobbit, fantasy writer Tolkien’s lead-up to the Lord of the Rings books, is planned as a pair of films. Jackson is overseeing production of the potential blockbusters from his headquarters in New Zealand. According to him, there are no hard feelings about the break-up.

“The bottom line is that Guillermo just didn’t feel he could commit six years to living in New Zealand, exclusively making these films, when his original commitment was for three years,” Jackson says in the same statement. “Guillermo is one of the most remarkable creative spirits I’ve ever encountered and it has been a complete joy working with him.”

Jackson promises fans that despite the delay getting before cameras, Del Toro’s exit won’t slow things down any further. “New Line and Warner Bros will sit down with us this week, to ensure a smooth and uneventful transition, as we secure a new director for The Hobbit. We do not anticipate any delay or disruption to ongoing pre-production work.”

The two Hobbit films are scheduled to premier in December 2012 and December 2013.

Another new face has joined the cast of the upcoming Scream reboot. Emma Roberts has signed on to run for her life as one of the heroines of Scream 4.

Emma, daughter of Eric, niece of Julia, was the star of last year’s family hit Hotel for Dogs. She’ll play the character Jill in the new slasher satire, alongside series regulars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette.

The script by the series creator Kevin Williamson (who also created Dawson’s Creek and, more recently, developed The Vampire Diaries) is being kept hush-hush, but EW.com says Roberts’ role is a big one and the young actress is thrilled to be on board. “I’m so excited to be part of this ground-breaking franchise,” says Roberts. “It’s the perfect opportunity for me to do something completely different than I’ve ever done before.”

Completely different is right. Along with Hotel for Dogs, Roberts has also starred in the ABC Family movie Wild Child and as Nancy Drew in the 2007 film and its upcoming sequel.

Scream 4 director and horror movie legend Wes Craven told EW he thinks that Roberts is the perfect addition to the star-studded cast, saying “Emma’s talent, beauty, and range will add immensely to the sophistication, intensity, and fun of the Scream franchise as it returns to the screen once more.”

Shooting on the first of what are expected to be three new Scream films will begin in Michigan in June.

(Photo by PR Photos)

When the X-Men come storming back into theatres in the upcoming X-Men: First Class, the team of crime-fighting mutants will all be looking a little younger than they have in previous installments of the series.

That’s because Fox and Marvel Studios have made the decision to use the next film in the franchise to go back in time and explain the origins of the superhero clique (hence the title). For obvious reasons, this plan precludes 69 year-old Patrick Stewart from reprising the role of Professor X.

Which is why director Matthew Vaughn has hired young Scottish actor James McAvoy to star as a young Charles Xavier, according to a report from the Hollywood Reporter. The Atonement star will play the Professor as a young man unaware of what the fates have in store.

According to Fox, the new film will “chart the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Eric Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were the closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.”

Vaughn, who directed this spring’s superhero pic Kick-Ass, signed on to direct the First Class earlier this month, which means he won’t have a lot of time to prepare before shooting begins later this summer.

(Photo by PR Photos)

Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation

Critics may be tearing it apart at the seams, but Sex and the City 2 still promises to be the biggest movie of the upcoming weekend. This is due in no small part to the unrelenting tabloid buzz generated in the months, weeks and days leading up to its release.

Because of all the tabloid attention, star Kim Cattrall says that she and director Michael Patrick King went out of their way to fool the paparazzi and fans by creating fake storylines for her character Samantha.

Starpulse reports that after Cattrall was photographed carrying a copy of her script by tabloid shutterbugs, plot details were leaked to the press. “We were shooting on the street and the first day it was the four of us back together again and the paparazzi were everywhere,” the actress recalls. “We had to be so careful with plot lines. One day I went to the set with my script in my hand, and some paparazzi blew up the script and gave away the storyline.”

The actress says the incident gave her and the director the idea to start messing with people’s heads. “I said to Michael Patrick King, ‘They’re gonna ruin it for the fans!’ He said, ‘I think we should play a little trick on them.’ I said, ‘OK, what are we gonna do? What about pregnancy, they’ll freak out if Samantha is pregnant!’ He said, ‘No, no, no, let’s marry her.’

The idea set the wheels in motion and soon a conspiracy was afoot to fool the fans. “(Designer) Patricia Fields went to a bridal shop and bought three wedding dresses,” Cattrall says. “I tried them on and then it was all around the world: ‘Samantha’s getting married!’”

The ruse may have worked, but there’s still no fooling critics who have not been kind to the latest installment of the SATC franchise. Reviews have ranged from negative to ferocious, with Lindy West of Seattle’s The Stranger writing perhaps the harshest assessment yet, calling the film “essentially a home video of gay men playing with giant Barbie dolls.”

Producers of a planned remake of the classic teenage rebellion flick Footloose have been struggling for years to find the young male actor who can step into Kevin Bacon’s dancing shoes. Now, finally, it appears they may have done so.

Heroes and A Nightmare on Elm Street star Thomas Dekker is said to be very close to signing on for the role according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. The 22-year-old star is the latest in a long line of handsome young men who have been considered for the part.

Up until recently it appeared that Gossip Girl dreamboat Chace Crawford would be shimmying his way into the role, but he dropped out, reportedly due to scheduling conflicts. Before that, High School Musical star and Zac Efron was the leading contender until he decided he was tired of dancing in movies.

But Dekker, whose Kaboom just premiered to a great reception at Cannes, may be just the guy to take on the part originated by Bacon in the 1984 original. The story of a city boy who moves to a small town where dancing’s not allowed was a smash hit 26 years-ago.

The revolving door on the lead role isn’t the only shake up for the production. Director Craig Brewer recently stepped in to replace HSM’s Kenny Ortega. Shooting was supposed to start in the spring, but that date, obviously, has been pushed back.

Hollywood director/producer Michael Bay has his fair share of critics, those who say his films are all spectacle and no heart. But when it comes to breathing life into properties long thought dead, no one seems to do it better.

By reviving horror franchises such as Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre through his Platinum Dunes production company, Bay has demonstrated an ability to give fans what they want from an old favourite. Which may be why Paramount and Nickelodeon have brought Bay on board to reboot the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Those radioactive karate-chopping ninjas first hit the silver screen way back in 1990. Two live-action sequels followed in the 90s, including the now legendary TMNT 2: The Secret of the Ooze starring Vanilla Ice. And a fourth film released in 2007, TMNT, turned the Turtles’ world into total CGI.

Now Deadline reports that, after snagging the rights to the Turtles last October for a cool $60 million, Nickelodeon have announced their intention to return the franchise to live-action. Bay, along with his Platinum Dunes partners Brad Fuller and Andrew Form will oversee the relaunch of the iconic characters and begin meeting with writers in a few weeks.

The Ninja Turtles began life as crudely drawn tough guys in black and white comics created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird back in 1984. The four wise-cracking martial arts masters went on to became an 80s pop-culture phenomenon.

(Photo by PR Photos)

Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation