Every week, I stick my fingers into the dark and varied crevices of the internet tubes to pluck out nuggets of geeky news. Every weekend, I share the gems with you, the fortunate reader.

MOVIES

• Exec producer Peter Jackson announced that Guillermo del Toro will direct The Hobbit and its sequel.
• del Toro says he’d like to do a third Hellboy film if the upcoming sequel does well, but no more. He revealed life-size creature models from Hellboy 2 at the New York Comic Con.
• Some theaters will screen Iron Man before its May 2 release at 8p on May 1.
• Iron Man’s Robert Downey Jr. will appear as Tony Stark in this Summer’s The Incredible Hulk.
• Hottie Moon Bloodgood (Journeyman) is in final negotiations to star in next Terminator film.
• Producer Mark Johnson is lining up a director for the fourth Chronicles of Narnia film, The Silver Chair. MySpace has the full-length HD trailer for this Summer’s Prince Caspian.
• Wolfgang Petersen is no longer attached to direct the adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game.
• MTV has the HD teaser trailer for Frank Miller’s The Spirit.
• In other Frank Miller news, he’s in talks to direct the adaptation of his graphic novel Hard Boiled.
• The first full trailer for Will Smith’s Hancock has hit the intertubes. And it doesn’t suck.
• Script reviews of G.I. Joe have revealed tidbits like “accelerator suits,” “futuristic killer ninjas,” and other cartoonish, cheesy bullshit. Speaking of cartoonish, cheesy bullshit, Brendan Fraser confirmed his cameo in the film.
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I will be released on November 19, 2010. Part II will arrive in Summer, 2011.
• Charlie Wen, previously the Visual Development Director for the video game God of War II, is being hired as the concept artist for the CGI Thundercats film.
• Wonder Woman is moving forward. Joel Silver has writers working on a new script. (Most geeks know that Joss Whedon submitted a script for the film that was rejected.)
• Yancy Butler (Witchblade) has been cast in the follow-up to 1982’s The Sword and the Sorcerer.
• Eli Roth, director of the gruesome Hostel films, is working on a script for a PG-13 sci-fi action script inspired by Cloverfield and Transformers. Gag.
• Seth Green all-but-confirms there won’t be an Austin Powers 4. Thank the gods.
• Mekhi Phifer will produce and star in the live-action adaptation of BOOM! Studios’ graphic novel, Hunter’s Moon. (Twenty-two comics-to-film adaptations have been announced in a six-week span.)

TV / DVD

• Spoilers have been leaked for Caprica, the upcoming prequel to Battlestar Galactica.
• Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been renewed for a second season, and Brian Austin Green (a.k.a., David Silver) has joined the cast as a regular.
• Sky One is revamping the 1978-1981 sci-fi BBC series Blake’s 7.
• Quentin Tarantino is working on at least one anime companion film to Kill Bill.
• Battlestar Galactica’s Tricia Helfer will appear on a multi-episode arc of one of my favorite Summer treats, USA’s Burn Notice.
• Fan-favorite Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Slither) is in final negotiations to star in the ABC “comedic procedural” pilot Castle.
• Philip Winchester has been cast as the lead in NBC’s pilot, Crusoe, which is a drama based on the classic novel.

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COMIC BOOKS

• Marvel has revealed the cover art for Marvel 1985 #1, written by Mark Millar (Kick-Ass).
• Neil Gaiman is planning a Sandman 20th Anniversary poster, featuring many of the pencillers and inkers who have worked on the title.
• This Fall, Marvel Comics will publish a comic-book series based on Ender’s Game.
• BOOM! Studios announced a deal with the Jim Henson Company to create multiple four-issue series adapted from the Farscape TV show.
• Marvel hired a former Sony Pictures exec to run its digital distribution strategy.

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VIDEO GAMES

• A new video reveals the lightsaber and force mechanics on the Wii version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. And… I’ve wet myself.
• Best Buy and Gamestop have released lists of their stores opening at midnight for the April 29 release of Grand Theft Auto IV.
• Guitar Hero 4 will look a lot like Rock Band, featuring new instruments and vocals.
• Gears of War 2 will ship without a demo, and so will Fallout 3. Coincidentally, a recent study suggests that demos are not effective marketing tools.
• Activision confirmed that Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 will arrive in 2008, dispelling rumors of a delay.
• An exec from Epic hinted at new Gears of War 2 content appearing on the Unreal Tournament 3 disc.
• Nintendo reported net income for the year of $2.48B, up 47.7%. In a surprise to no one, Nintendo does not expect to drop prices on the Wii or DS this year.
• Microsoft’s entertainment division posted a quarterly operating profit of $89M on revenues of $1.58B, thanks in large part to strong Xbox 360 sales.
• Analysts expect Sony to break even on Playstation 3 costs in August, when it get smaller processing chips.
• Eighteen percent of new HDTV buyers last year purchased HD sets to make the most of gaming consoles.
• Sega’s upcoming Iron Man video game uses visual-effects assets developed for the movie.

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