Amazing news that Martin Scorsese will be directing the film version of The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  Shooting is scheduled to start in June.

I will be interested to see how his style works in a family film.

According to FirstShowing.net, the adaptation of The Graveyard book has been declared by dead project by Neil Gaiman.  On top of the demise of Miramax, the lack of funding for films right now has ended the project.

Perhaps sometime in the future?  We will see.

Brace yourself.  The film version of the book Beezus and Ramona, which will be titled Ramona and Beezus, will star Selena Gomez as Beezus.  She’s the lead in Disney’s The Wizards of Waverly Place. They are obviously cashing in on her rising star status.

The 17-year-old Gomez will be playing a character who is supposed to be ten in the book.  And the actress playing Ramona, who is 4 in the book, is 10 years old. 

This makes no sense to me.  Surely there was a more appropriate vehicle for her?  Though of course her squeaky-clean Disney image should be clung to as long as possible.  My, I’m snarky today!  But really, don’t mess with Ramona!

Anyone else mortified at this?  Cinematical certainly is!

The Internet is rumbling with a rumor that director Peter Jackson will be adapting Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engine series for film.  Jackson has yet to confirm or deny this, but what exciting news for fans of the series!

Via Cinematical.

Studio Ghibli, the animation studio behind Ponyo, has announced that their next project will be an adaptation of The Borrowers.  The story will be reworked from 1950s England to a modern Japanese setting.  It will also be renamed The Borrower Arrietty after the character of the Borrower daughter.  It is to be released in Japan in the summer of 2010.

Via TotalFilm.com

The second trailer for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland has been released.  You can see it in the following formats:

Original video source (AIW_Trailer5_720.mov)

Original video source (AIW_Trailer5_1080.mov)

Original video source (AIW_Trailer5_480.mov)

/Film has a series of stills from the trailer because all of the images fly past so quickly.  The film will be released in both 2D and 3D on March 5th.

Fallen, the first in a four-part series of teen novels, has been picked up by Disney.  The novel by Lauren Kate has just been released. 

According to the article, angels may just be the next big thing after vampires and werewolves.  We will see…

Via FirstShowing

Beautiful Creatures comes out in book form today.  I have been reading all of the praise for this novel and look forward to starting it.

/Film covers the announcement that Warner Brothers has acquired the film rights to the book which is the first in a five-book series.  Richard LaGravenese will be writing the script and directing the film.