n terms of hype, Precious is the only film in months that has managed to come close to the endless Avatar onslaught. This is in part due to the number of people that were genuinely affected by the film’s story – that of a 16-year-old girl lived in Halem, horribly abused and hopeless scrabbling through life with only dead ends in front of her. And it is in part (perhaps the more significant part) due to the massive impact that Oprah Winfrey’s opinion has on the American public.

For all of those who loved Disney’s live action Noo York take on a full scale fairytale (and we’re not ashamed to admit that we’re among that number), hold onto your glittery, magic pants! Enchanted 2 is offiically set to go, though there have been a few changes to the production line-up.

It looks like Patrick Stewart is hanging up his metal brain-hat, and wheeling that chair into pastures new. He has stated that he will not be reprising his role as Charles Xavier in the X-Men franchise, after a good run of three pretty mutant-tastic films (four if you count his cameo in Wolverine).

Hollywood has decided to turn Dan Brown’s third book The Lost Symbol into another block-busting race against time. Though this decision was a bit inevitable, it’s still a brave move considering the last film, Angels And Demons, barely made half what The DaVinci code made at the box office, raking in a mere $486 million.

In an interesting turn of fate, it looks like the original owners of Miramax are interesting in buying back the company from current owners Disney.

The gloves are on for the showdown we’re all waiting for at this year’s Oscars. The big contenders for Best Director are Avatar’s James Cameron and The Hurt Locker’s Kathryn Bigelow. So who should bag the Oscar? Let’s review the contenders, shall we?

Oh dear. Another franchise bows its head in grudging respect to the new world run by James Cameron and his voodoo. After being adamant last year that the Transformers films wouldn’t go 3D, director Michael Bay has been under major pressure from Universal to change his mind following the never-ending success of Avatar. Another one bites the beautifully pixilated dust.

Nothing says “ha, you’re alone and I’m not” like the plastic joys of Valentine’s Day. Shops have suddenly been innundated with bears holding bows and arrows (in a non-terrifying way, apparently), DVDs starring Hugh Grant are half-price and if the chocolate you’re eating isn’t red and shaped like one of your organs, you probably don’t deserve to liveD

Hurrah! It’s the golden event of the cinematic calender, where dreams are crushed, legends are made and celebrities get very, very, inappropriately drunk. What’s not to look forward to?

….In his next film, at least. Having turned down the role of Will ‘as boring as a dead crab’ Turner in the new Pirates Of The Caribbean film, we’ve been wondering what will fill the void. And apparently it’ll beplaying a pyschopathic doctor in a new indie film written by Veronica Mars creator John Embom. At least it’ll give him a chance to be upstaged by someone other than Johnny Depp.