David Slade has been hired to direct the third film in the Twilight series: Eclipse.  It is slated to be released on June 30, 2010.

He has previously directed 30 Days of Night and Hard Candy.

Chris Weitz is currently shooting New Moon, the second in the series which is due out in November.

The film version of  the first Percy Jackson book has cast the majority of its Gods.

Uma Thurman will be playing Medusa, Pierce Brosnan is Chiron, Sean Bean is Zeus, Kevin McKidd is Poseidon, and Melina Kanakaredes is Athena.  Aries, Hades and Persephone are yet to be cast.

USA Today has a great article on the Where the Wild Things Are film that is accompanied by breathtaking photographs from the production.  Lovely stuff.

And to make us all feel better, the following is in the article:

Jonze and his co-screenwriter, novelist Dave Eggers, regularly turned to Sendak for advice as they expanded upon his Wild Things universe.

"He was adamant that I make my own thing," Jonze says. "He had strong opinions, but he would ultimately defer to us. He said, ‘Make something personal to you.’ "

Jonze won’t reveal much, but script additions include details about Max’s home life that shed light on why he felt the need to run off to a magical place.

/Film has news about two children’s books brought to film.

Let’s first go with the incredibly gorgeous poster for Where the Wild Things Are. 

Gets your heart beating a little faster, doesn’t it.  That my friend is actual hope that this will be made!  Feels good, doesn’t it?  And it does say Fall 2009, yes it does! 

/Film also has a Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs trailer for you to see.  The movie is based (and from what I can tell very loosely based) on the picture book.  The style is modern rather than the vintage feel of the picture book and the trailer doesn’t sound anything like the book until the very end.  Interesting, but I am definitely more thrilled with Wild Things.

Lionsgate has acquired the rights to Suzanne Collins’ incredible teen science fiction novel, Hunger Games. 

In even better news, Collins herself will be doing the adaptation!  Yes! 

Following casting speculation, director choices and such may just get me through until I can get my hands on a copy of Catching Fire.

Previews of the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film have fans very concerned.  Quotes like "severe disappointment" and "pointless" scenes do not bode well.  To make matters worse, the romance of the book seems to be played up while surprises later in the series are partially revealed. 

On a bright note, viewers did respond well to a fight scene…

Variety has the news that the Chronicles of Narnia film series will continue onward now with 20th Century Fox instead of Disney.  The Variety article also has the interesting news that Prince Caspian ranked No. 10 in global box office performance in 2008!  Whoa!  I would never have guessed that.

They are still looking to select a writer for Voyage of the Dawn Treader but are planning a summer start date if possible.