Singer to helm 'Days'; TV pick-ups; Gaiman brings back 'The Cybermen'

After Matthew Vaughn dropped out of X Men: Days of Future Past, the sequel to X Men: First Class, 20th Century Fox has confirmed that Bryan Singer will return to helm the movie. Singer, who directed the first two films in the franchise, has remained with it during the tears of X Men III and Wolverine films, showing up as a producer or executive producer. He also was part of the Team of Writers that hashed out the First Class script. When I reported this a few weeks ago, I felt that Fox was not going to bump the production, schedule to go before the cameras in January and miss the July 18, 2014 release date, due to Vaughn’s abrupt departure. So with Singer’s long involvement with the franchise, it was no surprise that he was announced as his replacement.

George Clooney is circling Disney’s 1952, a film to he helmed by Brad Bird.  The plot, with a screenplay by Damon Lindelof, is being kept under wraps, but the picture is said to center on the journey of a middle-aged man and his contact with alien life. Shades of Close Encounters of the Third Kind as well.

Syfy has picked up Haven for a fourth season and The CW has given their Beauty and the Beast TV series redo a full season pick-up as well. ABC has given the back nine order to The Neighbors, which has turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

Mark Walhberg is confirmed for Transformers 4. Oh boy.

Jamie Foxx may be playing Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Also a maybe is J.K. Simmons returning as J. Jonah Jameson, though even director Marc Webb denies it. Somewhat.”That’s an interesting idea. My mom is from Montana … I used to see him on stage [there]. I’ve never met him, but I think … it’s tricky, because it’s a different universe. But, you never know.”

After writer Neil Gaiman left his script for the penultimate episode of season seven of Doctor Who in a taxi and a fan found it and returned it to him unread, the BBC confirmed the episode deals with the Cybermen. While this had been rumored for a while, the person who found the script did take a picture of the title page, which had the title to be The Last Cyberman. The script title page also confirmed the new companions name is Clara and that veteran actor Warwick Davis will guest star in the episode. Also, the cybernetic bad guys will go through another update in looks, with the image above showing the five versions seen since they made their first appearance in 1966 to 2011.With the one on the right showing the 2013 version.