Wow is this a busy week. After the runaway success of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" last week -- and other shoe-in blockbusters in the weeks before it -- it's nice to see a little bit of variety for Friday's releases. "G-Force," with showings in two and three dimensions both, is an easy weekend win for families, provided they're not making a repeat (or first-time) trip to Hogwarts.

The CG animated adventure about a secret agent force of talking guinea pigs is a big-ticket item for a number of reasons. It is Disney's first (non-concert) live-action release shot in Digital 3-D. It is also produced by blockbuster-meister Jerry Bruckheimer in his 3-D debut. Then there's the knockout ensemble cast, which includes Nicolas Cage, Penélope Cruz, Steve Buscemi, Tracy Morgan, Will Arnett, Bill Nighy and Zach Galifianakis. Yeah, wow. Read more...

This has been a rumor-ific day for Middle Earth fans. The fanboy Internet was ablaze last night when word hit that a possible Bilbo casting announcement for director Guillermo del Toro's adaptation of "The Hobbit" would be coming next week at San Diego Comic-Con. Also attached to the rumor was word that James McAcoy, David Tennant and "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe are all in the running for the role. Producer Peter Jackson later put the smackdown on those rumors in an interview with Empire.

Okay, that's really the only "Hobbit" rumor to speak of today, but you have to admit it's a pretty big one. And with all of this "Hobbit" chatter buzzing around the Internets, I feel compelled to share this little bite from Bill Nighy, who sat down with MTV's Josh Horowitz to promote his appearance in the upcoming animated comedy "G-Force." The short answer is: Nighy has not been contacted for any "Hobbit" role, though he was Sam Gamgee in the 13-hour radio adaptation of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

The “Harry Potter” franchise hasn’t just launched the careers of young stars like Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson. It’s also given a swath of venerable British elder statesmen a chance to flex their witch-and-wizard muscles. Over the years, “Potter” films have featured the heavyweight talents of Kenneth Branagh, Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, Julie Christie, Julie Walters, Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Jim Broadbent and others.

However, English-born acting legend Bill Nighy didn’t slip into Hogwarts during the first six films, and he was starting to think he never would. “I was beginning to settle on the idea that I would be the only English actor of a certain age who wasn’t in ‘Harry Potter,’” he told MTV News while promoting the animated guinea pig adventure story, “G-Force.”

Recently, Nighy was cast as Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. Check out the video hear the actor talk about the role and the “serious crash course” he’s embarked upon to get up to speed on “Potter” lore.

Not much is known about Gore Verbinski’s latest collaboration with Johnny Depp, a CG animation/motion-capture hybrid movie about household pets on a dangerous cowboy adventure. Turns out that lack of knowledge extends to the title itself, which MTV News has learned might not even be called “Rango,” as had been previously reported.

“It was called ‘Rango,’” Bill Nighy told MTV Movies Editor Josh Horowitz while promoting the 3D Disney movie, “G-Force.” “I think it may be called ‘Rango,’ it may be called ‘Cheap as Dirt.’”

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In "Harry Potter" news that wont shock the fandom, Bill Nighy confirmed yesterday he will be playing new Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour in the upcoming two-volume adaptation of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

Although Scrimgeour has a fairly big presence in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," Nighy told BBC that we wont be seeing him on the big screen until the first installment of "Deathly Hallows" hits theaters in November 2010. "I will be Rufus Scrimgeour, who is the Minister of Magic and he is a very very important man." Read more...

Earlier this year, Bill Nighy was lamenting the fact that he, of all the actors in Britain, had yet to be cast in a "Harry Potter" installment. He put on a good show of bitterness that his friend and "Potter" director David Yates hadn't called him up to appear in "Half Blood Prince." “I’ve worked David Yates three times. He never writes. He never calls. He’s lousy,” Nighy joked.

Nighy's persistence has finally paid off. Potter fansite The Leaky Cauldron has alerted the Internet to a little piece in British newspaper The Independent where Nighy announced that he will at last be joining the wizarding world. Read more...

The announcement that there was to be a fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean" installment took no one by surprise. It was pretty much a given when Captain Jack Sparrow unrolled the map to the Fountain of Youth, and set off in pursuit of Captain Barbossa and the Black Pearl.

They may have to keep a weather eye on the horizon because if Bill Nighy has his way, Davy Jones will weigh anchor, and be sailing right behind them.

“I am technically dead but then again, who cares?" Nighy said to MTV News. "Everybody dies in the pirates movies. They killed Johnny [Depp] and Geoffrey [Rush]. Death is not permanent in the pirate world. I have a serious desire to come back.” Read more...

The casting rumors that swirl around Harry Potter films are nearly as thick as the books themselves – and some of them are so ideally suited for the characters that it’s a mystery why it doesn’t happen.

When “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” was being cast, rumors swirled that Bill Nighy would be cast as Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour. There were even fan petitions trying to get him the part – but all in vain, as “Half-Blood Prince” filmed without an appearance from Nighy. So when MTV News caught up with Nighy, we asked him what became of his rumored part. Read more...

In films like "Notting Hill," "Bridget Jones's Diary," "Four Weddings and a Funeral," and "Love, Actually," writer/director Richard Curtis used the familiar tropes of romantic comedy to hopefully say something a little deeper about who we are and what we’re looking for.

Forget all that, star Bill Nighy said of Curtis’s next movie, "The Boat That Rocked." The only reason the film exists at all is so Curtis could get his hands on some kick-ass music. Seriously.

"It's shameless, really," Nighy laughed with MTV. "It has no other purpose but to make you laugh, and also to play all those records that charted between '66 and '67. It was a pretty good period. We've got the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones, and Diana Ross and all kinds of people."

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- Robert Downey Jr. in negotiations to star in "Cowboys and Aliens." Plot self-explanatory (but you can read the entire comic here) (THR & Drunk Duck)

- Director Lexi Alexander talks about exploding heads, graphic violence in anticipation of "Punisher: War Zone." (Lexi Alexander)

- "Hulk" director Louis Leterrier eyes eco-thriller "Strays" as next project. (THR)

- Finally, something the Pope and I agree on. "The DaVinci Code" an "offence against God." Sequel starring Tom Hanks prohibited from filming in any Roman church. (Times Online)

- Say cheese! Pictures of new Wallace and Gromit short surface online. (Io9)

- Nic Cage, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, and Bill Nighy among voice cast announced for "Astro Boy." (Coming Soon)