It’s been a while since we saw the last instalment of The Ring series but news has reached me of a third movie that’s going to be coming our way.

According to HeatVisionBlog, the new movie will be in the ever so popular 3D format and will be aimed at a teenage audience. Apparently the producers are trying to reinvent the franchise but I don’t see how they’re going to do that if the basic premise will be the same as the previous movies – people watch a cursed tape and then die horribly.

The Final Destination movies suffered the same fate and lost the plot the further into the series it got. Having said that, it quickly became clear that no one cared about the plot in those films because we just wanted to see people die in more horrific and wildly unpredictable ways. But does The Ring have the same franchise appeal? Wasn’t part of the movie’s draw the mystery behind the tape?

According to HVB, ‘One potential scenario involves teens finding a VHS player that still works.’ It’s an interesting angle to approach the story from and maybe writer David Loucka could prove that there’s life in the old story yet.

There’s a ready-made audience for this movie and I’m betting that fans will come back just to see a 3D Samara crawl out of the screen at them. I probably won’t though.

James Cameron has announced his plans for the sequel to box office juggernaut Avatar. Speaking to the LA Times, Cameron revealed how he plans to explore the fictional planet of Pandora, home of the Na’vi people and a variety of other Cameron-created creatures.

Drawing on the documentary work he’s already done on the subject (Aliens of the Deep and Ghosts of the Abyss) it comes as no surprise that Cameron will be diving into the Oceans of Pandora.

I’ve already announced this, so I might as well say it: Part of my focus in the second film is in creating a different environment – a different setting within Pandora. And I’m going to be focusing on the ocean on Pandora, which will be equally rich and diverse and crazy and imaginative, but it just won’t be a rain forest. I’m not saying we won’t see what we’ve already seen; we’ll see more of that as well.

It seems like he’s got a plan brewing in that big brain of his, but are we going to be waiting years for the next movie?

…The challenge on the next “Avatar” picture is to do what we did before at half the price and in half the time. Again, that’s an impossible goal, we won’t accomplish that, but if we can reduce by 25% in both categories, we’ll have really accomplished something. We know our methodology works. We also know it took two years to come up with. It didn’t even become efficient until the last two months of the production.

The environment is obviously something Cameron feels deeply about and told the LA Times that he’s unhappy about the portrayal of climate change in the media.

Here’s my philosophy in life: If there’s a fire, you put it out. If there’s a flood, you fill sandbags and you build a dike. You roll up your sleeves and you get to work. I think we’re facing that kind of crisis and I’m not going to stand around and leave it to someone else to deal with it.

And the never-ending parade of toy movies continue to roll off the assembly line with the latest coming in the form of Stretch Armstrong.

The super stretchy toy was first introduced in 1976 but there’s never been a storyline that surrounds him as such, so God only knows what the script will be like. Steve Oedekerk’s original screenplay is getting an overhaul anyway by Forgetting Sarah Marshall writer Nick Stoller so who knows, it might be funny at the very least.

Producer Brian Grazer said in a previous statement that,

“Stretch Armstrong is a character I have wanted to see on-screen for a long time. He’s an unconventional kind of super hero with a power that no one would want. It’s a story about a guy stretching – if you will – the limits of what is possible to become all that he can be.”

Right. So basically Stretch Armstrong is Mr. Fantastic except that he actually had a story to tell? Well regardless of how crappy this project could be, Taylor ‘Twilight‘ Lautner has signed on for the movie and Monsters vs. Aliens director Rob Letterman has also come aboard to direct.

Oh and naturally it’s going to be in 3D so expect lots of stretchy limbs flailing around in your face for an hour and a half.

With Hollywood buzzing over Wizard of Oz scripts like hungry vultures, news has reached me that Robert Downey Jr. is circling one of the projects.

According to the LA Times, Joe Roth is producing Mitchell Kapner’s script The Great Powerful, previously titled Brick, which shows the life of the Wizard before he arrived in the magical land. Downey is apparently very interested in the role of the Wizard which would actually be a great casting decision, but of course it could go the way of Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka and nobody wants that.

Kapner is basing the script on parts of Frank L. Baum’s ‘Oz’ books and his own original material but no word on specific plot details yet. Out of all of the Oz projects that are being discussed, this one actually could have some legs now that Downey’s interested, not to mention the fact that Roth recently met with Disney production president Sean Bailey.

There is also some industry talk of two big name directors expressing interest in the film: Sam Mendes (American Beauty) fame and Adam Shankman (Hairspray) both have very different artistic styles but Mendes could be a shoo-in now that Bond 23 is on hold indefinitely.

Though it’s not out until Harry Potter, every scrap of news gets me more and more excited about the penultimate instalment of the series.

Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson spoke to Yahoo! Movies and spilled the beans on what it’s been like filming The Deathly Hallows Part I.

The films always differ from the books but we do know that we’re going to be seeing Harry, Ron and Hermione running across the English countryside looking for the elusive horcruxes.

Here’s what Radcliffe had to say about the movie.

“The main thing is we’re not at Hogwarts. It makes a huge difference. It gives the film a totally different feel. It might take people a while to adjust to this one. Part One is a road movie. And the action is going to be pretty extraordinary.”

The dynamics between the main trio are strained in the next movie and Harry’s leading his friends into an uncertain future.

“Harry is like a Roman Emperor in his last days and everyone is turning on him. Harry is completely paranoid about what Ron and Hermione are saying about him. He thinks they’re doubting his leadership, but while he is asking people that, he himself is doubting his leadership. He has no plan, so he is pretty useless.”

Emma Watson seemed to enjoy a little break from Hogwarts,

“It was so nice to be outside, in the forest and out of the studio – running about. It was so much fun. Because it’s such an emotional, heavy film, it was nice to get out and do some action stuff.

They were very fun scenes to film. Being out of Hogwarts just makes it really different. It just gives the audience a whole different experience. I’m so excited to see it together.”

It sounds like they were off on a jolly holiday but Watson thinks otherwise.

“It’s challenging in every way – physically, emotionally. They’re away from home. They’re isolated, they don’t have any news. They don’t know what they’re doing. They’re pulling at shreds. Dumbledore had hardly left them anything to go on.”