Creepy new film Ouija has everyone talking, with the casting of Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel), Douglas Smith (Big Love, Percy Jackson 2) and Matthew Settle (Gossip Girl) to join Daren Kagasoff (SLOTAM). The story follows a group of teens who, while playing with a Ouija board, make contact with an evil spirit and must desperately try to close the door they’ve opened before meeting their own fate.
Freddie Stroma has joined the cast of THE INBETWEENERS 2. The story is being kept under wraps but he’ll be joining returning actors James Buckley, Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas and Simon Bird. Stroma will play Ben, who is described as a “handsome, rich and entitled young man.” Stroma was last seen in Pitch Perfect and will soon appear in The Philosophers.
Neil Gaiman fans will soon have another reason to rejoice, with the rumors that Hollywood fave Joseph Gordon-Levitt is attached to star in as well as direct Sandman, based on the celebrated fantasy writer’s comic/character.
Emilia Clarke has been set for the female lead in TERMINATOR: GENESIS alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jason Clarke (no relation!) who’s in talks to join. The plot is being closely guarded but it will supposedly revolve around a young(er than the first Terminator?) Sarah Connor. Emilia is best know for HBO’s Game of Thrones and will soon appear in Dom Hemingway.
Courtney Eaton has joined the cast of the GODS OF EGYPT alongside Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Geoffrey Rush, Gerard Butler and Brenton Thwaites. The story follows a thief (Thwaites) and a God on a magical quest. Eaton will play the female lead, a slave girl and love interest to Thwaites’ thief character.
Adorable Zac Efron has been busy of late, with two new films due out in early 2014. Next, he is attached to star in Fire, based on the graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis. The story follows a college student who’s recruited by the CIA for a project that tests whether training ordinary citizens to be agents can be successful. Zac will also co-produce!
Lionsgate has announced that Robert Knepper, of Prison Break fame as well as a featured role in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, has joined the cast of both MOCKINGJAY films as Antonius, the minister of President Snow. He joins The Hunger Games ‘family’ alongside Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Claflin and Natalie Dormer. Side note: since the final book in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy only has 400 pages for Lionsgate to reap content from, we would not be surprised if scribe Danny Strong (Recount, Game Change) throws in some goodies of his own to make two complete features happen.
Hugh Jackman is in talks to star in PAN for Warner Bros. The story is a grittier, adventure version of the Peter Pan tale and follows an orphan who is taken to Neverland where he leads the natives in a rebellion against the pirates. Jackman is up for the role of the villainous pirate Blackbeard, which was previously offered to Javier Bardem. This is almost certainly going to be more Pirates of the Caribbean than any previous Peter Pan movies.
Finally, in no-brainer TV casting news: Pitch Perfect cutie Skylar Astin will guest star on Fox’s Glee, as the leader of a competing group at Nationals, while Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin will play a judge on the show.
And for those exciting new projects announced that don’t yet have stars attached, you heard it here first! Find out about new YA-interest films and TV shows below!
MTV has given SHANNARA a script-to-series commitment. Based on Terry Brooks’ fantasy novels, the series will follow the Shannara family’s adventures. Popular back when The Lord of the Rings trilogy was circulating, modern day audiences tend to stay away from Brooks’ series as the plot is found to be too 
similar to that of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels. Anyway, with Jon Favreau (Iron Man) directing and Smallvile creators Al Gough and Miles Millar writing, it will be interesting to see how The Shannara Trilogy fairs on the small screen.
Life of Pi scribe David Magee has been hired to adapt sequel THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE SILVER CHAIR based on the book by C.S. Lewis. The story follows Aslan the Lion, who sends two children from England to Narnia in search of King Caspian X’s missing son Prince Rilian.