Oh, how it gives us pleasure here at Movie Morsels to report on not one, not two, but three upcoming Star Wars movies! But in addition to the latest casting report on Episode VIII, today we’ve got the latest word on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice from two of the film’s stars, a new trailer for the epic Chris Hemsworth starrer In the Heart of the Sea, and word on Ice Cube starring in a new film version of… A Christmas Carol?! Read on, Morselers! But beware… spoilers abound.

Star Wars: Episode VIII

The Force Awakens doesn’t arrive until December, and Rogue One until next year. But because we Star Wars fans are the greediest people EVER, we’re already combing the internet for any scrap of info we can find on director Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII. Fortunately, one very important piece of news on the film’s casting has just been confirmed for us.

***Spoiler alert***

None other than Original Trilogy star Mark Hamill will be reprising his role in the sequel to J.J. Abrams’ continuation of George Lucas’ saga, with the actor reportedly seen on the film’s set in Ireland. While Hamill’s participation was suspected, this brings a huge smile to my face nonetheless, since no single entity says Star Wars like Luke Skywalker. Star Wars: Episode VIII is set for release on May 26, 2017.

[Coming Soon]

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

While Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will live or die on the performances of Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill in the title roles, a strong supporting cast is a must as well. Fortunately, director Zack Snyder’s follow-up to his own Man of Steel has two terrific actors in Jesse Eisenberg and Jeremy Irons, as Superman’s arch-enemy, industrialist Lex Luthor (pictured above), and Batman’s faithful friend and assistant, Alfred Pennyworth. Both actors recently spoke of the film, and hinted at the direction it takes for them and their characters…

“Zack Snyder,” Irons tells The Toronto Sun, “the director, wanted to create a completely different Alfred. So I felt I didn’t have to carry any baggage from previous ones. It’s sort of a reincarnation if you’d like. I had a feeling I was creating my own Alfred, more of a man who can actually do anything if he has to.”

Meanwhile Eisenberg, who proved in The Social Network that he can do sniveling-and-sinister like nobody’s business, had this to tell Observer… “In a lot of ways Luthor is more of a stretch than any character you would do in an independent movie, which is normally the place you stretch. So in that way it was not at all compromised. If anything it was the best, most advantageous role I’ve ever been given… the opportunity to do an interesting character on a movie of that scale is incredibly rare.”

Also starring Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Holly Hunter, and Gal Gadot, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opens in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D on March 25.

[Coming Soon]

In the Heart of the Sea

Is any actor today more qualified to play an able-bodied nineteenth-century seaman than Chris Hemsworth? The man’s arms are bigger than most boat oars! Anyway, the latest trailer for Ron Howard’s In the Heart of the Sea, is here, featuring the Thor star as a mighty sailing man whose ship is destroyed by a bull sperm whale. (So many jokes…) The film is an adaptation of Nathaniel Philbrick’s non-fiction book, co-starring Cillian Murphy and Tom Holland, and arrives on December 11.

[Warner Bros.]

Humbug

Finally today, Ice Cube rides his latest wave of fame, courtesy of Straight Outta Compton, into Humbug, a new film adaptation of Charles Dickens’ immortal holiday classic A Christmas Carol. The project reteams him with director Tim Story, with whom he first worked on 2002’s Barbershop. Cube will play a contemporary version of Ebenezer Scrooge, “a wealthy real estate mogul shown a path to redemption by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.”

[Deadline]

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