So it's no secret I have an unhealthy obsession with Mark Wahlberg. Therefore you can only imagine my delight when I read a letter written to Mark Wahlberg by Dan Goodswen at one of my favourite blogs - theEMPIREblog. Although I will support Marky till death, or an AVO, do us part I found this post very endearing and reflective of how a lot of fans are feeling at the moment. You can read the letter in its entirity here: http://www.empireonline.com/empireblog/post.asp?id=308
Summit Entertainment are the studio behind the Twilight film and no doubt the execs are hoping for a massive hit given the company's shaky success rate. In it's 18-month history Summit has only released five movies with nothing grossing over $25 million and efforts such as Sex Drive being flat out failures. If Twilight is going to be a hit it's going to need to lure fans other than hardcore followers of the series. To break even and make a 
If you don't know what Sin City is about you don't deserve to live. Okay, a little harsh maybe but it's that brilliant everyone should know. Adapted from a graphic novel written and drawn by the 
There have been rumours circulating since Marvel created their own studio to independently produce their creations and those rumours appeared to have some substance when Downey Jnr had a cameo in The Incredible Hulk. Marvel Studios today confirmed The Avengers movie is in pre-production and Jon Favreau is on board to direct. Favreau did a stellar job of directing the first Iron Man film and is also set to direct the rest of the franchise. Sounds like a hefty work load for the writer/director/actor but he’ll be backed up by an awesome support team in the form of Louis D'Esposito, Stan Lee, David Maisel and Denis Stewart. Phew. Admittedly I’m getting really sick of comic book to film adaptations and it seriously feels like every second movie was originally a comic or graphic novel. Be original folks and create some new shit! But (and there is a but) I’m looking forward to The Avengers mainly because it’s a classic and one of the most recognised comics of all time. Those of you unfamiliar with The Avengers, here’s a quick run down. First created in 1963 by the legendary Stan Lee, The Avengers features some of Marvels key characters who unite to create a unique crime fighting unit. Originally founded and majorly funded by Tony Stark other characters in the unit include The Hulk, Captain America, Thor, The Black Widow, Spider Man, The Fanatstic Four and more. Whether some of these characters will appear in the film adaption is yet to be known but other team members in The Avengers have included Wolverine, Storm, Daredevil, Electra, The Punisher and tonnes of other lesser known characters. Only Edward Norton’s version of the Hulk, Captain America and Thor have been confirmed to be in the film version which is scheduled for release on July 15, 2011. The Iron Man sequel will be in theatres on May 7, 2010. Both will be distributed by Paramount Pictures.
Hugh Jackman will be back to reprise his role as Wolverine and
TASMANIANS hope a new Australian horror film about cannibals will attract more tourists and movie makers to the Apple Isle.
The film, Dying Breed, portrays a remote Tasmanian community as flesh-eating savages.
But Tasmania Tourism Council chief executive Daniel Hanna said the movie, mostly filmed near the Pieman River, western Tasmania, should help lift the state's profile.
"Any film that shows some of the key parts .. like the rugged wilderness, is going to be a good thing and will hopefully spark some interest," Mr Hanna said today.
"Obviously as long as visitors don't expect there really to be cannibals in Tasmania."
Starring Leigh Whannell and Nathan Phillips, the film, to be released on November 6, is about four people searching for the Tasmanian Tiger when they happen on a cannibal tribe descended from escaped convict Alexander `the Pieman' Pearce.
Pearce was a real life convict who escaped a brutal penal colony in the 1830s and survived by eating other people.
West Coast Mayor Darryl Gerrity said the story's background was real and locals were happy to promote the area.
"Cannibalism did happen here, you can't ignore history although it's a bastardisation of that story," Mr Gerrity said.
Mr Gerrity joked that locals should have been used as the actors.
"Most of us would have fitted the bill admirably and true to life.
"Because we're all descendants of the Pieman."
Mr Gerrity said the area had "lots of stories here that would make good movies".
Director and writer Jody Dwyer said filming the movie, which had a $3m budget, was difficult as a lot of equipment had to be shipped to Tasmania.
Some scenes were also shot in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges.
Dwyer said the Tasmanian wilderness and isolation played the role of a character in the film, he said.
"I would have loved to have shot the whole thing in Tasmania, but I'm afraid Tasmania don't really have any back-ups in terms of film industry," Dwyer said.
Dwyer said he wanted to make a movie that would appeal to people worldwide and was commercially viable.
He believed other horror films such as Saw and Wolf Creek were changing the way Australian films were viewed internationally.
"There is a move to be more commercially aware by a new wave of filmmakers that is actually getting tired with the cliches of drug ridden suburbia or flat red heat haze outback movies, we've seen a lot of them," Dwyer said.
"You are going to still make those the Rowan Woods films, – the Little Fish films because they're beautiful films but they won't do well internationally they will be respected but not do well economically.
"A lot of films are being funded that nobody wants to see and it's a shame because people want to support the industry but if something doesn't excite me I won't spend my 15 bucks."
Dying Breed opens on November 6.
. . . . then Atonement . . . .
. . . . . then Silk . . . .
. . . .then The Edge of Love . . .
. . . .and now The Duchess. 
Come on 
