Rawson Marshall Thurber was previously attached to direct the story of a tribe of elves trying to find others of their kind while avoiding humans and trolls. Comic co-creator Wendy Pini gave the following statement on the title’s Facebook page:

“After close to four years of suspense – and longer than four years of your much-appreciated interest and support – the word has come down from Warner Bros. And the word is “no.” Their simple explanation is that they don’t want to compete with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This was a possibility, among several, that we were prepared for. It is a relief, at last, to know.”

Meanwhile another project that began life back in 2008, a CG animated adaptation of Eric Powell’s “The Goon” comic which David Fincher optioned, looks like it might have died on the vine.

Paul Giamatti and Clancy Brown voiced the characters of Franky and The Goon in a test footage reel in 2010. IFC spoke with Giamatti at Sundance this week and asked him how the film was progressing.

“I have no idea what the hell happened. I asked and no one knows. I guess they just ran out of money” he says. This matches comments from Fincher last year who suggested getting a project like this financed was extremely difficult.

“Fox has been talking about (it) and it looks like it’s going to happen. We’re going to have a meeting I think next week and Carlos [Saldanha, Director] is coming to town to tell us the story, and it looks like it’s a go” he tells The Press Association.

Saldanha may also want to tie in the sequel to the 2014 World Cup which will take place in Brazil. No script or deals however are in place.

The UK’s BBC One greenlit a third season a few months ago, the question remains when in 2012 they will actually get around to filming them.

Though she was a major character in the first and had a small appearance in the second, Ruth Wilson isn’t expected to return as Alice for this season. The actress is currently committed to Disney’s “Lone Ranger” film.

Following the success of Once Upon a Time, ABC is turning to Beauty and the Beast for a potential television run. No, it’s not a reboot of the series featuring Linda Hamilton and Ron Pearlman. Instead it’s a series based on the classic fairy-tale.

Written by Jericho co-creator Jonathan E. Steinberg, the drama project is described as is a period/fantastical reimagining of the classic fairy tale set in a mythical, dangerous world wherein a beautiful and tough Princess discovers an unlikely connection with a mysterious beast. It is eyed as a potential companion for Once Upon A Time in the Sunday 9 PM slot.

The reboot pilot for the 80s TV series is still in the works for the CW. No word yet on if the series might be picked up.

If you don’t want to know, stop reading now…

Actor Jon Bernthal—who plays Shane—is in talks with TNT to star in their new 1940s crime drama, L.A. Noir. The news comes from “sources close to the situation,” who made sure everyone knows that these negotiations are very, very new and nothing is certain yet. But the job is a starring role on a brand-new drama series, which would leave no spare time for zombie battling.

L.A. Noir has a pilot order from TNT, which doesn’t guarantee that it gets to be a full series, so even if Bernthal does end up with the gig the timeline for Shane’s departure is rather fuzzy. Still, he’s also got a new movie—Snitch, with co-stars Dwayne Johnson and Susan Sarandon—on the way, which could mean that even if he doesn’t take this show, another offer could be right around the corner.

“It was the first time that I played Ghost Rider. Blaze was easy; I knew he was a man who had been living with a curse for eight years of having his head light on fire, and the tone that would take,” Cage said. “I compared him to a cop, or a paramedic who develops a dark sense of humour to cope with the horrors he has seen. But Blaze has also caused the horrors, so he’s hiding out because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone else.”

“Ghost Rider was an entirely new experience, and he got me thinking about something I read in a book called The Way Of Wyrd by Brian Bates, and he also wrote a book called The Way Of The Actor,” said Cage. “He put forth the concept that all actors, whether they know it or not, stem from thousands of years ago—pre-Christian times—when they were the medicine men or shamans of the village. And these shamans, who by today’s standards would be considered psychotic, were actually going into flights of the imagination and locating answers to problems within the village. They would use masks or rocks or some sort of magical object that had power to it.”

“It occurred to me, because I was doing a character as far out of our reference point as the spirit of vengeance, I could use these techniques,” said Cage. “I would paint my face with black and white make up to look like a Afro-Caribbean icon called Baron Samedi, or an Afro-New Orleans icon who is also called Baron Saturday. He is a spirit of death but he loves children; he’s very lustful, so he’s a conflict in forces. And I would put black contact lenses in my eyes so that you could see no white and no pupil, so I would look more like a skull or a white shark on attack.

“On my costume, my leather jacket, I would sew in ancient, thousands-of-years-old Egyptian relics, and gather bits of tourmaline and onyx and would stuff them in my pockets to gather these energies together and shock my imagination into believing that I was augmented in some way by them, or in contact with ancient ghosts. I would walk on the set looking like this, loaded with all these magical trinkets, and I wouldn’t say a word to my co-stars or crew or directors. I saw the fear in their eyes, and it was like oxygen to a forest fire. I believed I was the Ghost Rider.”

Leslie Charteris penned the book series starting in the late 1920′s. They followed Simon Templar, a thief who sees himself as a modern day Robin Hood as he steals from only other criminals – corrupt politicians, arms dealers, drug runners, white slavers and so on.

The property has been adapted many times before, most famously as a long-running 60′s British TV series with Roger Moore in the title role. Phil Noyce directed a film adaptation in 1997 starring Val Kilmer and Elisabeth Shue, while Ian Ogilvy and Simon Dutton portrayed the character on the small screen in the 70′s and 80′s respectively. Even Vincent Price voiced the character for radio serials.

RKO’s version however will be based on three of the nine ‘Saint’ films in their library from the 30′s and 40′s. George Sanders, Louis Hayward and Hugh Sinclair played the role in those films. Which three films specifically is unknown.

Rick Porras, a second unit director on “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, is producing with Vanessa Coifman.

The comic follows a New York surgeon who suffers injuries in a car crash, awakening to find himself endowed with great psychic powers.

Marvel are said to be now moving forward and actively searching for a director and key cast to take on the project for a hopeful release sometime in 2013.

The film will reportedly be shot on a comparatively modest budget, certainly one smaller than the $150 million or so the likes of “Thor” and “Captain America” were done for.

“I still have to go back for five more months of filming. (I’ve been there) on and off for the past six months. It’s a two-year shoot in total for both films, and my contract had me blocked off for about a year. I come in and out of New Zealand throughout that year” she tells Entertainment Weekly.

As for the role itself, she says “Yes, she is a warrior. She’s actually the head of the Elven guard. She’s the big shot in the army. So she knows how to wield any weapon, but the primary weapons that she uses are a bow and arrow and two daggers. And she’s lethal and deadly.”

The role also sounds like it has been expanded on from what it was originally – “She’s not in the first film very much. She comes into the first film near the end, and has a very small part to play. Her role in the second film is much more involved. Although, I have to say, when I first read the scripts and took the job, she had a lot less going on in the second film.”

Michael Green and Stuart Hazeldine penned the script which aims to tell the entire story of Moses’ life, all the way from birth to death and covers everything from the freeing of the Hebrew slaves and the plagues in Egypt, to the ten commandments and the decades wandering the wilderness.

The tone is expected to be less Cecile B. De Mille and more “Braveheart” with Moses portrayed as one of history’s great warriors. It will also be filmed with a gritty and realistic tone akin to Spielberg’s own “Saving Private Ryan”.

Dan Lin and Matti Leshem were originally attached to produce with shooting to begin March/April 2013. Spielberg just finished directing “Lincoln” and is already at work on “Robopocalypse”.