Firstly, the live-action movie version of Jem. It was announced about a month ago that Hasbro was looking to do a live-action movie version of this classic cartoon and fashion doll line from the 1980s. Hasbro lined up Jon M. Chu to direct. I guess Hasbro and Chu got along well together when Chu directed G.I. Joe: Retaliation. And Jem seems to be right up Chu's alley, as he also directed a couple of the Step Up films and the Justin Beiber concert film Never Say Never.
Things seem to be moving very quickly on Jem, as just one short month later, Chu took to the Internet to announce the cast. Ladies and gentlemen...Jem and the Holograms:
Aubrey Peeples as Jerrica/Jem - Peeples currently has a recurring role on the prime time soap Nashville, where she plays an up-and-coming country music star. Oh, and she was one of the stars of Sharknado.
Stefanie Scott as Kimber - Scott is a Disney kid, having starred in the Disney channel tween sitcom A.N.T. Farm.
Hayley Kiyoko as Aja - Another Disney kid, as Kiyoko starred in the Disney channel movie Lemonade Mouth. She also played Velma in the live-action straight-to-video Scooby-Doo movies.
Aurora Perrineau as Shana - She doesn't have a lot of credits on her IMDB page, just a smattering of TV guest appearances.
Along with the announcement came this first teaser poster.
Quite frankly, I'm still gobsmacked that this is actually happening. Way back in my college years, when my friends and I would reminisce about the cartoons of our youth, we all talked about how cool this would be, but we never actually believed it would actually happen. Looks like that got a cast with good singing credentials, too, so it looks like they'll be doing their own singing.
Now, the big question, who'll be playing the Misfits?
No word yet on a release date, but based on the original announcement, they hope to be filming by the end of the year.
And while we're at it, a bit of a shake-up was announced with the development of The Hobbit trilogy. They've decided to change the name of the third and final film.
The Hobbit: There and Back Again will now be known as The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
Peter Jackson explains the change in that There and Back Again no longer makes sense as the name of the final film. When it was originally just going to be two films, it made sense because the whole second film was going to be about Bilbo and the the dwarves getting "there" and then going "back again." But now that it's three films, the third film is going to open with our heroes already "there," so you can see the logic.
Jackson also said that he may hang onto the title There and Back Again for the eventual ultimate home media release of the trilogy.
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