If you’ve never seen the 1982 horror/sci-fi film The Thing then you should do three things. Firstly, slap yourself. Secondly, buy yourself a clean pair of pants. Finally, go buy it, rent it, borrow it or blag it.

Once you’ve completed all three steps you’ll thank us, especially for step two. You might wonder what all this is in aid of, well courtesy of BloodyDisgusting.com, we now have the synposis of the upcoming prequel. Usually the word prequel sets off our spidey senses but we’re actually quite optimistic about this one.

Set just before the action of the Kurt Russell classic of ‘82, the new movie will focus on the Norwegian base where an alien parasite has been wreaking havoc by shapeshifting. Check out the synopsis:

“Antarctica: an extraordinary continent of awesome beauty. It is also home to an isolated outpost where a discovery full of scientific possibility becomes a mission of survival when an alien is unearthed by a crew of international scientists. The shape-shifting creature, accidentally unleashed at this marooned colony, has the ability to turn itself into a perfect replica of any living being. It can look just like you or me, but inside, it remains inhuman. In the thriller THE THING, paranoia spreads like an epidemic among a group of researchers as they’re infected, one by one, by a mystery from another planet.

Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish.”

As excited as I am, I’m going to have to wait till April 2011 to see The Thing in action again.

Meryl Streep, as much as we love her, isn’t the first name that comes to mind when casting the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher.

She’s played some tough, ballbreaking ladies with icy demeanour (see Doubt) but we think the role requires someone…English. Call us racist but we always get annoyed when English actors are overlooked for iconic British roles. Remember The Other Boleyn Girl? Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Eric Bana – good accents but no Brits. It seems that Americans don’t care about the nationality of the actor as long as they’re a star.

Anywho, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Streep is in talks to play Thatcher in an upcoming biopic set in 1982 that follows the controversial leader in the run up to the Falklands War. The war turned out to be a huge turning point for Thatcher and her high approval ratings led to her winning a second term.

She was a divisive lady and there was no shortage of drama while she was in office but in an English political period piece will Meryl be able to pull it off?

Brit favourite Jim Broadbent is also in talks to appear as Thatcher’s husband Denis but is not confirmed. If Streep does sign on, it will reunite her with Mamma Mia! director Phyllida Lloyd but can lightning strike twice for these two?

Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges are in talks to appear together in Great Hope Springs, according to Production Weekly.

The dramedy will see the two play a couple who attend a marriage counselling weekend to see if their 30 year marriage can be salvaged.

TV writer Vanessa Taylor is behind the script having worked previously on shows like Alias and Everwood. The script originally called for a middle-aged couple but we imagine this is hastily being rewritten now that slightly older Streep and Bridges have expressed interest.

Phillip Seymour-Hoffman had also shown interest in the project but due to a scheduling conflict with an unknown project he is unable to appear.

I Am Sam director Jessie Nelson looks set to helm the project.

Horrid Henry is to make his big screen debut next year when a 3D film based on the children’s book character is released.

Based on the popular children’s books by Francesca Simon, Horrid Henry has also become a long running cartoon series and a live show so I suppose a film is kind of inevitable.

Henry is essentially a giant pain in the arse to his family and everyone he meets and is a more realistic version of Dennis the Menace.

Shooting starts in October with Wild Child director Nick Moore helming the project.

He can jump on as many sofas as he likes (no he’s never going to live that down) but if you choose to make a movie like Knight and Day then even mega-star Tom Cruise should expect consequences.

The movie sees Tom star as Roy Miller, a secret agent who isn’t supposed to survive his latest mission. Cue lots of bullet dodging with co-star Cameron Diaz and most likely an inevitable romance.

Well, the film has already opened in the US and isn’t performing too well at the box office, at least not to the standards that a Tom Cruise action movie used to.

This poor return has got 20th Century Fox thinking about whether or not audiences connect with Cruise anymore. According to Deadline Hollywood, this situation in Tinseltown isn’t helped by the fact that Paramount have just received the screenplay for Mission: Impossible 4. So with a Cruise dilemma on the table sitting next to the script to his next movie, cogs are whirring in the minds of Paramount executives.

The budget for the next movie is their main concern though as Mission movies aren’t exactly made on the cheap. So they could scale it back and do a little penny-pinching rather than scrap what is probably a decent entry into a franchise that has been a good money-spinner for the studio.

The producer of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Don Hahn, has revealed to Empire that there are plans in motion to bring back the Lion King in 3D.

Hahn said that,

“I’m actually trying to work out a 3D conversion of The Lion King. I’ll be doing that when I go back to the States in a couple of weeks.”

And then I wet myself.

“It’s going to be spectacular – we will do a good job for ya! The technology is tremendous. We did A Nightmare Before Christmas a few years ago and Tim thought it was better than the original because it allows you to walk onto the set.”

If that weren’t enough, Hahn also confirmed that Beauty and the Beast will also return in glorious 3D and there’s a definite sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? which was released under the Touchstone banner.

“Yeah, I couldn’t possibly comment. I deny completely, but yeah… if you’re a fan, pretty soon you’re going to be very, very, very happy.”

So that’s a yes then. There’s also an excellent chance that it’ll be in 3D too but I’m sure he couldn’t possibly comment on that. But are these plans for good or ill? Would Roger be amazingly wacky in 3D or will it make us want to jump into a vat of toon dip?

Hahn couldn’t really dish the dirt on the project that I’m most interested right now – the live action version of Maleficent.

“That’s another one I can’t talk about! All I can say is that it’s in active development and will be pretty fun.”

He wouldn’t say if the director is or isn’t Tim Burton as many hope it will be but Hahn did comment on Burton’s current baby, a remake of his original short Frankenweenie.

“It is great working again with Tim on Frankenweenie, though: I love that he’s back to doing puppets. But Maleficent is a way off and it’s a little too early to talk about it, except to say that it’s happening.”

The film be going back to Burton’s roots using stop-motion puppetry which made him a household name after his success with A Nightmare Before Christmas. Even though Henry Selick was actually the director, Burton got all the credit. Poor Henry Selick.