Screen Talk: Back down to earth

Bad news for fanboys. Zack Snyder's take on the Superman legend, Man of Steel, has been temporarily grounded by Warner Bros.

Originally slated for a December 2012 release, the film is now pencilled in for summer 2013. Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey is now set for a December 2012 release. Not even Superman can challenge the anticipation for that movie and Warner Bros won't do anything to interfere with the box-office gold it will bring. The Warners/Legendary Pictures production starts filming this summer with Brit Henry Cavill playing Clark Kent/Superman. The cast also includes Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner and Russell Crowe. The screenplay is by David S Goyer based on a story by Goyer and Christopher "Batman reboot" Nolan.

Katz purring again

When the Film Dept closed its doors in May this year due to financing issues, several high-profile Hollywood names were left wondering what to do. Now the closed company's president of production Robert Katz has landed a new plum role. Katz will work for one half of the Weinstein brothers, Bob, as president of Dimension Films, based in Los Angeles. Before he landed the Dimension job, Katz worked at the Yari Film Group, helping bring The Illusionist, Crash and The Painted Veil to the big screen. His skills with genre material will now be in the spotlight in the company, which has released Scream 4, Piranha 3D and Spy Kids: All the Time in the World recently.

Scary treat's in store

CBS Films, the film division owned by CBS Corp, is looking to get a foothold in genre pictures. The division has picked up Hellfest, an original script by William Penick and Chris Sey and veteran genre producer Gale Anne Hurd has signed up too. The movie is set in a theme park at Hallowe'en as myriad actors dressed as ghouls, zombies and other such scary folks wander about frightening the paying customers. Then a real killer begins killing unsuspecting patrons who think it's all part of the show.

Gamble pays off

Kristen Wiig's passion project Imogene has had a boost after landing the services of Annette Bening. The actress and four-time Oscar nominee has signed up to play a gambling-addict mother in the movie co-written by the Bridesmaids star Wiig and Michelle Morgan and directed by the American Splendor team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. Wiig plays a New York playwright who stages a fake suicide attempt to win back her ex-boyfriend only to end up in the custody of Bening's character. Sting's wife, Trudie Styler, is one of the producers on the project.