Jennifer Hudson continues to amaze. For starters, thanks to her role in Dreamgirls, she’s the only person to ever go from a reality TV show (American Idol) to winning an Academy Award (in her debut role no less). Now, despite being an actress with no leading roles to her credit and with her latest film, Fragments, being released straight-to-DVD, she has scored one of the best roles in Hollywood.  Hudson will be portraying Winnie Mandela, the former wife of South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela, in the titular bio-pic, Winnie. For more on this project, hit the jump.

It is time to save the whales. In Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Today, the development of a film treatment detailing the early years of the Greenpeace movement was announced. Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) has been signed to direct the movie which will be produced by Jerry and Janet Zucker in conjunction with Aurelius Films. Perhaps taking a page from the critically-acclaimed The Cove (and its thrilling black-ops filmmaking) Janet Zucker envisions the film as a large-scale, elaborating, “Jon likes to make big adventure movies. And we’ve found that the best way to reach people’s hearts and minds is through entertainment. For details on the project, hit the jump.

Apparently, David Koepp likes the directing chair. Although this year’s Ghost Town broke a four-year hiatus from directing, Koepp is getting behind the camera again, this time for Premium Rush. Unfortunately for music fans, it will not be a behind-the-music look at everyone’s favorite Canadian rockers. Instead, Premium Rush will tell the story of a twentysomething bike messenger who innocently picks up an envelope from Columbia University. Of course, a dirty cop wants the envelope and will stop at nothing to get it. Though Koepp has written fantastic movies like Jurassic Park and Spiderman he has directed bad films like Stir of Echoes and Secret Window. Which will Premium Rush be? It’s too soon to tell but Variety is reporting that it will be a big-budget action flick so at the least it will have things that go boom.

J.J. Abrams finally said no to a project.  Unfortunately, MTV Movies is reporting that project was an adaptation of Stephen King’s wildly popular The Dark Tower series that he and Damon Lindelof were previously attached to.  While Abrams cited his reluctance to delve into a new story immediately after finishing Lost, Lindelof mentioned the difficulty of adapting an immensely popular work.  “Having seen Zack [Snyder] go through what he went through on Watchmen in terms of saying where can I digress from the material, I just get headaches from changing anything,” he said.  Hear that fanboys and fangirls?  Your reputation for intense scrutiny has gotten so bad it’s scaring people away from good projects.  Keep it up and you can kiss that Wheel of Time adaptation goodbye.

You can’t keep a good battleship down. As our partners at Omelete are reporting, 26 years after Final Yamato was released, a new chapter is finally being written in one of the most popular space operas ever to come out of Japan. On December 12, Space Battleship Yamato: Rebirth will premiere in Japan. Released in America as Star Blazers, the Space Battleship Yamato saga began in 1974 out of a collaboration between Yoshinobu Nishizaki and Leiji Matsumoto. The film has been in pre-production as far back as 1992 but was cast into development hell following a lengthy copyright lawsuit between Matsumoto (he of Galaxy Express and Daft Punk fame) and Nishizaki.  Nishizaki’s arrest and incarceration on drug and weapons charges did not help matters either.  And you thought Gene Roddenberry had street cred. In any event, the copyright lawsuit was eventually settled in Nishizaki’s favor in 2004, he was released from prison in 2007 and now audiences can finally find out what happened to our heroes (and heroines) following the defeat of the Deingili and the subsequent detonation of the Yamato in the last movie. Hit the jump for more details as well as the Japanese trailers.

Gwyneth Paltrow is leaving Pepper Potts and becoming Greta Wegenar. Having just wrapped “Iron Man 2,” Paltrow is now signed on to appear in “The Danish Girl,” the story of the world’s first post-operative transsexual. Co-starring Nicole Kidman as the titular character and directed by Thomas Alfredson (”Let the Right One In”), the movie is back on track after the sudden departure of the original Greta, Charlize Theron. Hit the jump for more.

Citing the (how to put this politely?) languid economy, Walmart.com cut prices on its pre-order DVDs down to $10. With free shipping. And not just on the Criterion Blu-Ray Release of “Cool Runnings.” All the summer’s big hits-”Angels & Demons,” “Terminator: Salvation” and “Julie & Julia” are all available for bargain bin prices. Target and Amazon quickly followed suit and added titles like “Harry Potter,” “Night at the Museum 2″ and “Star Trek” to the list. Be advised, however, because Variety is reporting this pricing is only available online and only until the movies are officially released on DVD. But you don’t know that because you have already left this site, haven’t you?

That rumbling sound you hear is the stampeding of a million fangirls already lining up for Robert Pattinson’s latest project. Staying across the pond, the British star is confirmed to star with Nicole Kidman in the film “Bel Ami.” Helmed by renowned UK theater directors, Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, the film will start shooting next February in London and Budapest. Hit the jump to find more about this “erotically charged story of ambition, power and seduction.”

Action junkies are about to have a new favorite television show. The writing-directing team behind “Crank” and “Gamer,” Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, are developing a new series for NBC. “Zeroes” will focus on the operations of an elite team as it tries to prevent imminent disaster using, according to Taylor, “absolutely ruthless” force. Hit the jump for more.

It’s been a few months since we’ve broken a Jerry Bruckheimer producing story. No need to worry, he’s back and this time he’s setting his sites on a civil war epic. Bruckheimer has acquired the rights to “Shattered Union,” a video game published by 2K Games, a division of Take-Two Interactive, which is also try to get “Bioshock” made at Universal. In the game, Washington D.C. is destroyed by a nuclear blast and, predictably, things get a little “Mad Max.” What, you were expecting “Gettysburg 3?” Hit the jump for more details.

The Tokyo International Film Festival closed today with a screening of “Cranky Grandfather ’s Flying House.” After the Japanese premiere of Pixar’s “Up” was over it was time for the awards. Similarly to the opening events, the closing ceremony was efficient and to the point. No drawn out speeches, stilted jokes or time wasted. Sadly, however, there was no Hugh Jackman either. And while the absence of the sexiest Aussie this side of Naomi Watts was keenly felt, the awards went off with out a hitch. Highlight of the night-the winning film in the environmentally themed competition winning a Green Globe. And said enviro-competition being sponsored by a car company, Toyota. For the full awards rundown and a mini-review of the Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix winning film hit the jump.

“A Single Man,” fashion designer Tom Ford’s striking debut, has been slowly gathering buzz as it travels the film festival circuit. At the Venice International Film Festival, the movie which stars Colin Firth, was nominated for the Golden Lion and Firth was awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. Shortly, thereafter, following its screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, it was the subject of an intense bidding war ultimately won by The Weinstein Company. Though TWC secured the US distribution rights for a hefty $1-2 million sum, there is no doubt in my mind that the money was well spent. “A Single Man” is likely to attract a lot of attention this upcoming awards season. Hit the jump for my review.

“Oceans” and “The Cove” took decidedly different paths on their way to being screened at the 2009 Tokyo International Film Festival (Here’s my first article on the Fest). “Oceans,” from French directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud, a film which is at turns a breathtaking nature documentary and an exhortation to protect the beauty and majesty of the sea, was a natural choice to open the world’s only environmentally minded film festival. “The Cove,” on the other hand, almost did not make the cut despite its previous festival successes, including the Audience Award at Sundance. The film, directed by famed National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos, also stresses ecological responsibility but does so by exposing the shady slaughter of dolphins by fisherman in the Japanese fishing town of Taiji. Hit the jump to explore the deep blue.

The green carpet iss hard to miss. Last year, in a deviation from traditional protocol, the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), became the first film festival in the world to make ecology awareness its major theme. After an overwhelmingly positive response to the unrolling of the green carpet, TIFF’s chairman, Tatsumi Yoda, decided to do it again this year. With the environmentally conscious slogan of “Action! for Earth,” the 22^nd annual TIFF began this past Saturday in Roppongi, one of Tokyo’s most upscale and cosmopolitan districts. Over the next week Collider will be providing an exclusive, inside look into the festival as well as movie reviews and awards announcements. Hit the jump! for Earth.

Roger Corman is back. True, he’s been producing up a storm in recent years but movies like “Dino Croc,” “Scorpius Gigantus” and “Death Race” (yes, the one with Jason Statham), are not of the same quality as his earlier work. However, the man who first introduced the voracious Audrey Jr. in “The Little Shop of Horrors” is once again ready to show audiences a good time. Corman, in association with Netflix, has produced a three webisode long series, “Splatter,” for the movie rental giant. Joining him on the project are co-producer Julie Corman (”The Westing Game”), director Joe Dante (”Gremlins,” “The Howling”) and…wait for it…actor Corey Feldmen (”The Lost Boys”) in the titular role of rock ‘n roller Johnny Splatter. If you want to know what goes “bump” in the night, hit the jump.

J.J. Abrams list of productions grows ever longer.  On top of “Lost,” “Fringe,” the inevitable “Star Trek” sequel and the long-gestating “Cloverfield 2″ and “Mission Impossible 4″ films, Abrams production company, Bad Robot, will also be handling a script from new collaborators Aline Brosh McKenna (”The Devil Wears Prada,” “27 Dresses”) and Simon Kinberg (”Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” “Sherlock Holmes”).  Paramount purchased the script, still untitled, for a sweet $2 million, taking advantage of its first-look deal with Bad Robot.  For more details, hit the jump and begin the year-long secrecy-fueled roller-coaster of anticipation that comes with an Abrams produced film.