1. A couple rumours have been floating around about that Green Lantern movie. First, it was claimed that Anton Yelchin – the not-quite-20-year-old actor who plays Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation and Pavel Chekov in the new Star Trek – was in the running to play test-pilot-turned-superhero Hal Jordan. Many fans dismissed the idea immediately because Yelchin is too young for the part, and Yelchin himself agrees with them. Meanwhile, it is also being reported that Gil Kenan was attached to direct Green Lantern until his last movie, City of Ember, flopped at the box office and all but shuttered Fox-Walden; the film is now set to be directed by Martin Campbell, whose last film was Casino Royale (2006). – Latino Review, Hitfix, The Playlist
2. One of the most acclaimed animated films of last year – cinephiles as varied as Doug Cummings and Cartoon Brew’s Amid Amidi have named it the best animated feature of 2008, and critics like Roger Ebert have also sung its praises – is now viewable in its entirety online. Sita Sings the Blues tells the story of a Hindu goddess who is separated from her husband, and because it makes heavy use of 1920s jazz songs, the film has been lost in copyright limbo and unable to secure a theatrical release. – Reel 13
3. Five clips from the upcoming Pixar film, Up, were shown at WonderCon 2009 in San Francisco, and they prompted an impressed Daniel Fienberg to say that the film should probably be titled “Pixar’s Gran Torino”. He says the film, which revolves around “a grouchy old widower” and a “friendly, obsequious Asian kid”, should be able to “feed into that wave of Geriatric Chic” that made Clint Eastwood’s latest film a surprise hit. – Hitfix
4. Cars 2 and Toy Story 3 are already in the works; could Pixar have any other sequels up its sleeve? Quite possibly: one or two close followers of all things Pixar say they have reason to believe that Up director Pete Docter may be working on a sequel to Monsters, Inc. due for release in 2013. – Blue Sky Disney, The Pixar Blog
5. Last year’s Blu-Ray release of Sleeping Beauty (1959) came with an extra copy of the film on a regular DVD, and the marketing trick worked so well that Disney plans to do it again, on several upcoming releases, including this year’s Blu-Ray releases of Bolt (2008), Pinocchio (1940) and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Other studios plan to follow suit with the Blu-ray releases of films like Marley & Me (2008) and The Princess Bride (1987). – Variety
6. Disney-Pixar chief John Lasseter is reportedly taking a long, hard look at how Disney markets its movies, following the lower-than-expected box-office results for Bolt. – Jim Hill
7. John Williams will score The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn and thereby mark his 24th collaboration with director Steven Spielberg, not counting television and short films. In fact, the only Spielberg films that Williams hasn’t scored are Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) and The Color Purple (1985). – MTV Splash Page
