The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Delivers Five New Character Banners

Five new character banners are now online from Peter Jackson's upcoming The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Check out new designs below that feature Martin Freeman's Bilbo Baggins, Ian McKellen's Gandalf the Grey, Richard Armitage's Thorin Oakenshield, Luke Evans' Bard the Bowman and the Elven pair of Orlando Bloom's Legolas and Evangeline Lily's Tauriel. The second in a trilogy of films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece "The Hobbit," by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug continues the adventure of the title character Bilbo Baggins as he journeys with the Wizard Gandalf and thirteen Dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield on an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opens in 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on December 13.

Machinima Adapting Comic Book Enormous as Online Series

Initially announced over a year ago, it now appears that the comic series "Enormous" is headed for your computers and televisions. Variety reports that Machinima will be branching out their original programming and will adapt "Enormous" as their first comic book based series. Producer Adrian Askarieh has teamed up with the YouTube channel to make a ten-minute pilot based on the series. BenDavid Grabinski will direct the pilot from a script he wrote with Troll Hunter's Andre Ovredal. Casting has already begun with shooting set to begin in December. Created by Tim Daniel and Mehdi Cheggour, the original comic is described as follows: "You are the bottom of the food chain. A fading point of light in the course of evolutionary history. A dying species. You are human. You are a child – and Ellen Grace is coming to collect you. The ‘Enormous’ have ravaged the planet. In their wake of destruction, mankind has fallen. The race to stave off extinction has begun." The initial graphic novel of "Enormous" was published last year by Image Comics, but publisher Fifth World Studios has announced they will be releasing subsequent issues for the series.

First Images of Grant Gustin as Barry Allen in Arrow

Fresh off the heels of the latest announcement about his own TV series, The CW have released the first images of actor Grant Gustin as Barry Allen in his upcoming debut on Arrow. Set to be featured in the eighth episode of the new season, Gustin will appear in two episodes of the hit series before spinning off into his own potential series, "The Flash." Titled "The Scientist," the episode is described as follows: "A seemingly impossible robbery at Queen Consolidated’s Applied Sciences Division brings Central City police scientist Barry Allen (guest star Grant Gustin) to town. Citing a similar case back home, Barry offers to help Oliver and team with the investigation. Oliver senses there is more to Barry than meets the eye, but he’s distracted by the similarities between this current case and something that happened on the island. Meanwhile, Felicity takes a liking to Barry, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Oliver. Sin (guest star Bex Taylor-Klaus) asks Roy for help when a friend of hers goes missing. Roy is surprised when Thea not only encourages him to help, but joins the search. Unfortunately, Sin’s friend is connected to Brother Blood (guest star Kevin Alejandro), and their search ultimately gets one of them seriously injured."

Thor: The Dark World Hits $480 Million Worldwide

While the big story at the weekend box office was the success of Malcolm Lee's ensemble comedy sequel The Best Man Holiday, released by Universal Pictures, it wasn't able to dethrone last week's #1 movie, Thor: The Dark World, starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins and Christopher Eccleston. The hit superhero sequel dropped 55% to remain on top with $38.4 million, its domestic total of $147 million already at 81% of the total gross of the original Thor after just ten days. Internationally, the movie added another $52.5 million so its international gross of $333 million is still surpassing domestic by 2:1. With a worldwide gross currently at $480 million, it's already surpassed the amount made globally by its predecessor.

Cameron Diaz as Miss Hannigan in 'Annie' remake

Cameron Diaz has released a picture of herself as Miss Hannigan in the remake of Annie.The actress will be playing the role of the woman who runs the orphanage where Annie lives in the upcoming movie reboot. Diaz tweeted the picture from the film's set with the caption: "I want you to meet someone. Her name is Ms.Hannigan. She ain't nice and she ain't pretty."The remake of the 1982 film is produced by Will Smith and Jay Z, and stars Quvenzhané Wallis in the title role.Jay Z is also said to be writing some original music for use in the movie.Jamie Foxx will also be starring as billionaire Benjamin Stacks, the film's modern-day equivalent to 'Daddy' Warbucks.Diaz's co-star Bobby Cannavale, who plays the political adviser to Stacks, previously praised her performance.He said: "Cameron Diaz and I have a big dance number… She's pretty good, you know."The film is scheduled for release at Christmas 2014.

Mission: Impossible 5 to Hit Theaters December 25, 2015

Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions have set Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible 5 for release on December 25, 2015. Iron Man 3 scribe Drew Pearce is providing the screenplay this time around with Tom Cruise set to reprise his role as Ethan Hunt. The project will be produced by Cruise through Tom Cruise Productions, Paramount and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, who served as producers on previous films in the hit series. Skydance Productions, who served as co-financers and executive producers of the last installment, will work closely with the team in the development and production process. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, the fourth and most recent installment in the franchise, earned nearly $700M around the world and became Cruise’s highest grossing film to date. The December release has the new film opening opposite Kung Fu Panda 3 and just one week after Abrams' Star Wars: Episode VII.

Independence Day 2, Fantastic Four, Assassin's Creed release dates

Independence Day 2 has been delayed until 2016.Originally slated for 2015, Roland Emmerich's sequel will now arrive in cinemas on July 1, 2016, almost 20 years to the day since the release of the original movie. The news comes amidst a host of release shifts and announcements.Fantastic Four has slipped from March 2015 to June 19, 2015, shifting 20th Century Fox's Assassin's Creed from that date to August 7, 2015.Matthew Vaughn's The Secret Service has been moved from a release in late 2014 to March 6, 2015.Melissa McCarthy's Susan Cooper has been announced for release on May 22, 2015.Jason Reitman's Labor Day will arrive on January 31, 2014.The shifted dates are suspected to be in response to the arrival of Star Wars Episode VII on December 18, 2015 rather than the franchise's traditional May releases.

'Noah': Russell Crowe in first poster from Darren Aronofsky's epic

The first poster for Darren Aronofsky's Noah has been released. The upcoming biblical epic stars Russell Crowe as Noah and Emma Watson as his adopted daughter Ila. Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Connelly, Douglas Booth, Logan Lerman and Ray Winstone are also among the cast.Penned by Aronofsky and regular collaborator Ari Handel, the movie centres around the Old Testament story of Noah and his family after they are cast out into the wilderness, and become the sole survivors of a flood sent by a vengeful God. The film has sparked controversy during test screenings with predominantly Jewish and Christian audiences, and Aronofsky is reportedly resistant to the changes suggested by studio.