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Barring some sort of miracle, Maggie Gyllenhaal's (and Katie Holmes') Rachel Dawes, the only major female character from Christopher Nolan's first two Batman films, will not be returning for "The Dark Knight Rises." And so, Nolan's third and supposedly final flick about the Caped Crusader is in need of some good old-fashioned girl power... or at least a lady to tame some of that out-of-control testosterone that's surely in store.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "The Dark Knight Rises" will be getting just that in the form of not one but two beautiful leading ladies: one a villain and the other a love interest.

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Tags anne hathaway, charlotte riley, christopher nolan, Gemma Arterton, jessical biel, Kate Mara, keira knightley, the dark knight rises

The Golden Globes are just a precious few days away, which means we'll soon find out which flicks, performances, songs, screenplays and musical scores tallied the most votes from the Hollywood Foreign Press. MTV News' Josh Horowitz will be on the red carpet on Sunday, January 16, to interview the throngs of celebs; Hollywood Crush will be providing live-blog coverage of the stars' fashion triumphs and miscues before the ceremony; and Movies Blog will be spewing out minute-by-minute live-blog coverage of all the winners, highlights and unfortunately timed bathroom breaks during the ceremony.

Before then, however, we want to know who you think should win all the movie awards. Should Natalie Portman snag one of those badboys for her turn in "Black Swan"? Should "The Social Network" trump "Inception" for Best Picture - Drama? And should Johnny Depp beat out Johnny Depp in the Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy category? Hit the jump to vote in our poll, and remember to come back here on Sunday, January 16, for all our Golden Globes coverage! (The poll closes Friday, January 14, at 2 p.m., and results will be posted shortly thereafter.)

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Tags black swan, Golden Globes, golden globes 2011, inception, johnny depp, natalie portman, Poll, The Social Network

James Bond fans will have 007 reasons to be grateful next Thanksgiving: MGM has given the suave superspy an official date of November 9, 2012, for his big-screen return, according to Deadline.

MGM had stated this fall that audiences could expect the next Bond adventure in November 2012, but this is the first time the company has given a firm date for the film. Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions, together with Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, the co-chairmen and chief executive officers of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, announced the film's release date, also confirming what has long been suspected: James Bond 23" film will unite Daniel Craig -- playing Bond for the third time following stints in 2006's "Casino Royale" and 2008's "Quantum of Solace" -- with director Sam Mendes ("American Beauty," "Road to Perdition"). Read more...

Tags daniel craig, james bond, james bond 23, sam mendes

The two feature films director Debra Granik has made are markedly similar in many ways. There's "Winter's Bone," a likely Oscar contender this year, that follows a 17-year-old Ozark Mountain girl who has to track down her meth-dealing father to protect the lives of her depressed mother and her siblings. And then there's "Down to the Bone," released in 2004, that follows a working class, cocaine-using mother of two who checks into rehab and has to try to resist the temptations of drugs and deal with an affair she's having with her nurse.

So when The Los Angeles Times reported that Granik's next planned film is a reboot of "Pippi Longstocking" (pictured), were were just a wee bit surprised. But as the Times goes on to point out, the transition makes perfect sense. Longstocking is one of "fiction's original tomboys," and the choice to make a film about her continues Granik's streak of creating strong female heroines who rise above the tropes of typical Hollywood roles for women.

Still, Granik isn't the first director to follow up one film with another that's drastically different in both tone and theme. After the jump, see five other directors who've done just that -- to varying results.

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Tags 500 days of summer, Cop Out, darren aronofsky, Debra Granik, four christmases, kevin smith, lord of the rings, Marc Webb, Pippi Longstocking, red state, Seth Gordon, spider-man, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, The Lovely Bones, The Wolverine, winter's bone

Well folks, it's official. Ian McKellen will reprise his "Lord of the Rings" role as benevolent wizard Gandalf in Peter Jackson's two-part "LOTR" prequel "The Hobbit."

It's not really a shocker, but good to know just the same. McKellen confirmed the news himself in a lengthy message posted to his official website. After addressing the various reasons that kept him from inking a deal, McKellen wrote: "The deciding negotiation was not about money but about dates. Gandalf is needed on set over the next 18 months but with sizable breaks when I can work on other projects. My worry that I could not easily escape from Middle-Earth was lifted. I am happy to say I start filming in Wellington on February 21 2011." So are we, dude. Read more...

Tags andy serkis, elijah wood, Ian McKellen, lord of the rings, the-hobbit

There are some movie moments that are so unforgettable, so amazing that they become imprinted on our brain. But just in case our memories fade or get a little fuzzy from time to time, one man is immortalizing these iconic movie moments... by recreating them with Lego building blocks.

Twenty-two-year-old USC student Alex Eylar has put his 30,000-block Lego set to good use, constructing eerily on-the-money recreations of scenes from such flicks as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" and "Inception."

Click here or on the photo above to see Lego recreations of Harry Potter's Quidditch showdown against Slytherin nemesis Draco Malfoy, a spot-on rendering of Edward, Bella and Jacob in the "Twilight: New Moon" poster, and a Arthur's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) gravity-defying fight scene in "Inception." Kind of gives new meaning to the term "block-buster." Read more...

Tags Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, inception, Photo, the twilight saga new moon, Twilight

Tina Fey and director Paul Weitz have dealt with the pitfalls of high-school life in "Mean Girls" and "American Pie," respectively, and now they're graduating and heading to college.

According to Variety, "30 Rock" actress Fey is in discussions to star in Universal's "Admission," where she would play an admissions officer at Princeton.

"Admission" is based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Jean Hanff Korelitz. It follows admissions officer Portia Nathan, a woman who is overly dedicated to her job and finds purpose in her gatekeeper role. She lands herself in a difficult situation when she meets a talented but rough-around-the-edges 17-year-old from a poor New England town named Jeremiah who might not be "Princeton material" despite his talent. It forces her to confront issues in her own past and leads her into a career-endangering fight with Princeton admissions. Read more...

Tags Admission, Paul Weitz, Tina Fey

Bestselling author Brad Meltzer loves a good conspiracy.

Whether exploring the nation's unsolved mysteries in his History Channel show "Brad Meltzer's Decoded," or crafting the political thrillers at the heart of celebrated novels like "The Tenth Justice" or "The Book Of Fate," the award-winning writer has a nose for sniffing out the stories lurking just behind the historical facts. His latest conspiracy tale, "The Inner Circle," hits shelves this week, telling of a young archivist who accidentally discovers a 200-year-old dictionary that once belonged to George Washington and becomes entangled in a dangerous mystery.

With that in mind, we asked Meltzer to tell us about his favorite conspiracy stories from the big screen — and he was happy to oblige with a list of seven films he counts as his favorite conspiracy movies. Why seven? Apparently, it's a mystery. Read more...

Tags brad meltzer, the inner circle

It's no secret that we here at MTV News are dying to see an "Arrested Development" movie climb out of arrested development and onto the big screen. (As proof, we included it on our list of 11 in-development movies we'd love to see made in 2011.) The show's cast, creator Mitch Hurwitz and exec producer Ron Howard have been talking about making the film since the Fox series was canceled in 2006, and we've taken every opportunity since then to mercilessly hound them about it.

So when we sat down with Howard at the press day for his new comedy "The Dilemma," conversation eventually gravitated toward the status of the "AD" movie. And -- thank you, Jeebus! -- it appears that there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

"What happened is that [Hurwitz] became such an important television superstar that he began developing a lot of pilots and he really wanted to follow through with that," Howard said. "So he put in a couple years doing that -- always letting the 'Arrested Development' movie percolate -- and now he's done that. I think this is really now front-and-center in his mind." Read more...

Tags arrested development, Mitch Hurwitz, ron howard, the dilemma

Here's some good news and some bad news for those of you excited for Clint Eastwood's latest flick, "J. Edgar." Bad news first: Charlize Theron is actually not involved in the film, despite earlier reports that said otherwise.

According to New York Magazine, Theron's reps at William Morris Endeavor jumped the gun a bit when they started saying she was on board for "J. Edgar," when she really had no intention of accepting the role of J. Edgar Hoover's personal secretary Helen Gandy. It got to the point where she had to personally apologize to Eastwood for the misreporting, but all is well between them now. According to Deadline, Eastwood is now looking at either Amy Adams or Naomi Watts to replace her.

On to the good news: "Gossip Girl" star Ed Westwick has officially come on board for the project as clean-cut FBI operative Agent Smith. Read more...

Tags Alien prequel, amy adams, Charlize-Theron, Clint-Eastwood, Dustin Lance Black, Ed Westwick, j. edgar, naomi watts