The quartet join returning talent Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross and James Hong in the film which is scheduled to open Memorial Day weekend next year. The sequel will follow Po, the world’s biggest kung fu fan, as he continues his journey as the chosen one who fulfills an ancient prophesy while mastering the art of kung fu.

If you haven’t seen the first one yet I suggest you go see it now! It’s good stuff – even if it’s animated. I promise.

“I think Rambo’s pretty well done. I don’t think there’ll be any more. I’m about 99% sure,” said Stallone, which comes as something of a surprise. After all, “Rambo V” was considered to be something of an inevitability after the last movie, the ultra-violent “Rambo,” made $113 million worldwide in 2008. But “The Expendables” has made Sly think long and hard about his future; and Rambo doesn’t feature in it.

“I was going to do it,” he said. “I said I’d never talk about this, but with I feel that with Rocky Balboa, that character came complete circle. He went home. But for Rambo to go on another adventure might be, I think, misinterpreted as a mercenary gesture and not necessary. I don’t want that to happen. I’m very happy with the last Burmese episode, because I didn’t pull any punches on it,” he continued. “I wanted it to be what civil war really is – rough. You can’t candy coat it, and where do you go from there?”

Stallone’s not done with Rambo completely, though. He told Empire that he’s at work on a director’s cut of Rambo which will restore twelve minutes to the movie, including a surprising outburst of loquaciousness for the mumbling man of action at the movie’s beginning.

“He does a speech at the beginning of the movie to Julie Benz where he lays out why his life has been a complete disappointment and why war is natural and peace is an accident,” added Stallone. “And how he just feels that his life has been a waste. It’s very important to hear that and I didn’t think so at the time. I’m going to go back and put in some stuff.”

Paramount has already locked in a release date for the pic, which is set to open January 7, 2011.

The storyline is being kept under tight wraps, although generally revolves around the ease with which men and women become sexually involved, but have a far more difficult time establishing emotional bonds. “It’s an issue ripe for discussion,” Reitman told Daily Variety.

Portman is in theaters this fall with the adventure-comedy “Your Highness.” She recently wrapped production on Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan,” and also is set to star in Kenneth Branagh’s “Thor.” Kutcher was most recently seen in Gary Marshall’s “Valentine’s Day,” and will next be seen in Robert Luketic’s action-comedy “Killers” opposite Katherine Heigl.

The first two, maybe three films were OK, but after that it just went south. Very south… Most of the actors (except for maybe Sharon Stone and Kim Cattrall) never really made an impact after “Police Academy.” They will forever be associated with the series. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, New Line is looking for recruits for a relaunched “Police Academy” movie. Original producer Paul Maslansky is back for the new iteration, which has no writer or director attached.

The first film, released in 1984, starred Steve Guttenberg as Mahoney, a repeat offender who is forced to enter the academy and emerges as the group’s leader. Other notable characters included Moses Hightower (Bubba Smith), gun-crazy Tackleberry (David Graf), mousy Hooks (Marion Ramsey) and sound effects-spewing Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow).

Bobcat Goldthwait joined the cast for the second movie in 1985. The series, which included Kim Cattrall and Sharon Stone as romantic leads, ended with the 1994′s “Mission to Moscow.” All told, the franchise took in about $240 million worldwide and inspired a pair of TV series.

“It’s going to be very worthwhile to the people who remember it and to those who saw it on TV,” Maslansky said. “It’s going to be a new class. We hope to discover new talent and season it with great comedians. It’ll be anything but another movie with a numeral next to it. And we’ll most probably retain the wonderful musical theme.”

The early entries in the series featured sexual humor, but later films became more kid-friendly. Details of the tone of new movie, which would take the story to its beginnings with new characters, were unavailable.

There were actually very few surprises with most categories won by the favorites. No thrills at all. That lack of surprise continued over into Best Actor and Actress, with “Crazy Heart’s” Jeff Bridges and “The Blind Side’s” Sandra Bullock both taking home a golden statue.

The broadcast has some “technical problems” with really bad choice of clips and audio dropouts. The whole show, unfortunately,  lacked much of the polish of last year’s Academy Awards.

Anyway, here’s the list:

Best Picture: “The Hurt Locker”
Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges (“Crazy Heart“)
Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz (“Inglourious Basterds“)
Actress in a Leading Role: Sandra Bullock (“The Blind Side“)
Actress in a Supporting Role: Mo’Nique (“Precious“)
Animated Feature Film: “Up”
Art Direction: “Avatar”
Cinematography: “Avatar”
Costume Design: “The Young Victoria”
Directing: “The Hurt Locker”
Documentary Feature: “The Cove”
Documentary Short: “Music by Prudence”
Film Editing: “The Hurt Locker”
Foreign Language Film: “The Secret in Their Eyes”
Makeup: “Star Trek”
Music (Original Score): “Up”
Music (Original Song): “Crazy Heart”
Short Film (Animated): “Logorama”
Short Film (Live Action): “The New Tenants”
Sound Editing: “The Hurt Locker”
Sound Mixing: “The Hurt Locker”
Visual Effects: “Avatar”
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): “Precious”
Writing (Original Screenplay): “The Hurt Locker“

The original had Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie playing a married couple who were both assassins from rival agencies who simultaneously receive orders to kill each other.

The new incarnation changes the name, its now entitled “Mr. and Mrs. Jones”, and essentially plays out like an origin story – following a pair of twenty-something spies set up as a fake married couple when they graduate agency training. Fox opted for the reboot rather than a sequel due to the cost and sequel/spin-off potential of  “Mr. and Mrs. Jones.”

And now we want to throw some eggs at Fox ’cause of all the bad ideas, this one… “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” wasn’t even that good to start with (the action was OK but the story, the characters…), and how could this be any better? Let me guess – Zac Efron and… Emma Watson! Yeah, because all young models joins the police force.

But, sometimes Hollywood throws you one and maybe, just maybe, this could be… entertaining?

Based on Sara Gruen’s best-selling historical tome of the same name, story centers on a Cornell U. veterinary student who leaves his studies after his parents are killed and joins up with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, working as a vet for the circus. Witherspoon will play Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August (Penn), the charismatic but twisted animal trainer.

Studio, which is eyeing a June start date, wouldn’t confirm details of the project. “Twilight” star Pattinson has been on every studio’s wish list. His deal is expected to close. Penn, who is in Haiti on a humanitarian mission, is the bigger question mark. He has an offer from the studio but is still mulling the role.

If Penn decides to join in, Pattinson really should proceed with the project. When you get the chance to work with talent like that you shouldn’t hesitate.

Deadline.com reports that Tom Hanks has written a film called “Larry Crowne,” starring himself and the beautiful Julia Roberts. Apparently he’s also going to direct it. It’s a comedy that will begin production April in Los Angeles. The financing and distribution details are still coming together, and I’ll provide those as soon I confirm how CAA has packaged it. Gary Goetzman, Hanks’s Playtone partner, is the producer.

I’m told that Hanks will play the title character, a man forced to reinvent himself and find a new career as he navigates the second act of his life. “Larry Crowne” is the first feature Hanks has directed since 1996’s now classic music pic “That Thing You Do!” He also wrote that film, and it was enough of a seminal event for Hanks and Goetzman that they named their company after the record label in the film, the one that signed the one-hit wonders.

So this ends the guessing game of which film will be next for Hanks, whose last starring role was this past summer’s “Angels & Demons,” as well as for Roberts, who recently completed the adaptation of the Elizabeth Gilbert memoir “Eat, Pray, Love” for Columbia Pictures.

TMZ

A 911 call was made at 8:00 AM from a home in Los Angeles that is listed as belonging to her husband, Simon Monjack. Murphy was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where she was pronounced dead on arrival. Her time of death was listed as 10:04 AM.

Brittany Murphy’s mom discovered her unconscious in the shower. When paramedics arrived, they quickly determined Murphy was in full cardiac arrest and immediately administered CPR. They continued CPR in route to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center — several miles away — and Murphy was unresponsive.

Murphy collaborated in such films as “Clueless,” “8 Mile,” “Just Married,” “Sin City” and “Don’t Say a Word.”

Our thoughts and sympathies goes out to her family and friends.

Actor Rob Riggle, who plays taser-happy Officer Franklin, thought the film was funny while doing it but could not have predicted its success. He credits this to Phillips’ casting of Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis. “I think that’s why it worked. Their performances, their comedic genius and talents. It all just kind of came together.”

Actress Rachael Harris‘ portrayal of caustic, abrasive Melissa is an example of just one of Phillips’ many brilliant casting decisions for this film. “It really was carefully crafted,” says Harris. “They really worked on making all these characters very specific. I’m this castrating b*tch. Heather is the sweet-as-pie prostitute. Ed is a complete pushover. Phil got married and got trapped. Wants to get out, wants to see something outside of his marriage. Then you’ve got Zach, who is a complete wing nut and represents the little boy or little girl in all of us. I think that because these characters are so specific is why it works.”

ComingSoon.net tells us that “The Hangover” will be released on Blu-ray Disc in addition to the Single-Disc and 2-Disc Special Edition DVD. The discs will be loaded with special features including the “Gag Reel,” “The Dan Band!” and Phillips’ personal favorite, “The Madness of Ken Jeong.” “Ken is just the craziest guy on the planet,” Phillips says. “We let Ken do a ‘free one’ I call it. Let him just go off. ‘The Madness of Ken Jeong’ is sort of an uncut take of him just trying stuff. It was pretty much free form Ken Jeong stream of consciousness which is some of the weirdest stuff.”

Justin Bartha, who plays groom-to-be Doug Billings, recalls being on set the day after “The Madness of Ken Jeong” was shot. “Literally this is a movie where so much crazy stuff happens and you have crew members in shock still. They were like, ‘you won’t believe what happened. I don’t know if I can work on this movie any more.’”

“He offended everybody,” Phillips adds laughing.

Fans will be getting a second helping of The Hangover when “The Hangover 2” hits theaters Memorial Day Weekend 2011. Phillips is working on the script right now with plans to start shooting this summer, but don’t expect these four guys to head back to Vegas. “I don’t think it’s necessarily going to tie as closely to this evening as maybe some people want or think,” Phillips explains. “I think when you have created four really fun characters that have really good chemistry, you can take those guys and put them somewhere else and go through a new set of situations and circumstances and hopefully it’s just as interesting.

True that!