Newsies

• Both the Watchmen and The Hobbit have lawsuits filed against, which could delay the films respective releases. Watchmen is in a battle between 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers, because Fox claims that they still had the rights to the film, when the Warner Brothers production got underway. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is being sued by the Tolkien Trust claiming that the trust is owed at least $150 million in gross profits from the films. In addition to the money, the trust wants film rights for The Hobbit to be taken away from New Line.
• The 3+ Month WGA Strike has officially ended. WGA Members voted tonight (2/12) on whether the strike should end or not and 92.5% voted to lift the strike order. Writers will be going to work tomorrow (Wednesday 2/13) and show-runners had already returned to work this past Monday.
• Martin Scorsese is going to make a documentary about Bob Marley. Academy Award Winning Director Scorsese has already made documentaries on The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. The Film is set to be released on February 6th, 2010 which would have been Marley's 65th birthday.
• An Arrested Development movie may be in the works. Jason Bateman as well as other cast-members have expressed interest in a movie about the dysfunctional Bluth family. The show originally ran on Fox from 2003-2006 and series finally left fans wondering if there would be an AD movie. Here's hopping that the studios are willing to give the cast and crew what they want, so that this movie can become a reality.

Casting News: 

• Christopher Eccleston has signed on to play the villain in the new G.I. Joe film. Eccleston is well known for playing the Ninth Doctor on Doctor Who.
• Hank Azaria has joined Night at the Museum 2: Escape from the Smithsonian and will by playing an Egyptian Pharaoh. 
• Amy Adams has also joined the cast of Night of the Museum 2.
• Kristen Bell has signed on to star in Mark Steven Johnson's new comedy When in Rome. Johnson has mainly been making comic book films such as Daredevil, Elektra and Ghost Rider.
• Ellen Page has signed on to be in Sam Raimi's first horror film since Army of Darkness. The film is called Drag Me To Hell and is about a girl who is afflicted with a supernatural curse.
• Ben Foster is going to star in The Messenger which is a military drama being helmed by first time director Oren Moverman who wrote the Screenplay for I'm Not There.
• The indie film The Open Road, which tells the story of a young man returning home to reconnect with his father and spend time with his ailing mother, has casted its principle players, including Justin Timberlake, Jef Bridges, and Mary Steenburgen.
• Casey Affleck has signed to star in The Kind One. The film is about criminals and is a noir thriller. Affleck had a very successful 2007, with his Academy Award Nominated performance as Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and his brilliant performance in Gone Baby Gone. Hopefully his 2008 will turn out even better.