News Round-Up: Paul Rudd Cast in ‘Ant-Man’; ‘Fast and Furious 7’ New Release Date; and More

Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of News Round-Up. In case you missed it, we took a bit of a hiatus over the holidays, but we’re back now! That means even more to get to, and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of narrowing the news breaks down to the most important ones. Among them, you’ll find Marvel casting news about Paul Rudd in Ant-Man and Vin Diesel in Guardians of the Galaxy. Speaking of Diesel, a new Fast & Furious 7 release date is included as well as news about Paul Walker’s character following his tragic death. As for other release dates, Trainwreck and Berandal both announced premieres. The rest of the news includes a possible second villain in The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Matt Reeves’ confirmation as Planet of the Apes 3 director.

Check it all out below and make sure to click over to this week’s trailers, posters, and photos.

There’s been a lot of talk about Paul Rudd (Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues) as Ant-Man in Edgar Wright’s (The World’s End) film adaptation for awhile. However, it hadn’t been confirmed until semi-recently. This news is particularly exciting for fans of Rudd and fans of the Marvel comics (unless you have reservations of course). The rest of the cast hasn’t been rounded out yet, but we can expect to hear more before July 31, 2015, when it releases. (Source: Deadline)

Speaking of Marvel superhero movies, Vin Diesel had also been long rumored as Groot for Guardians of the Galaxy. With the film hitting theaters relatively soon (compared to Ant-Man) on August 1st, it was only a matter of time before we got confirmation. That confirmation finally came and we couldn’t be more excited (or at least, I couldn’t be more excited). James Gunn (Thor: The Dark World) directs the movie that also stars Chris Pratt. (Source: THR)

After the passing of Paul Walker, one of the (rightfully less important) fallouts was the production of Fast & Furious 7. After ceasing production for a bit, it appears they are going forward with the movie. This includes a new release date, April 10, 2015, and the decision to “retire” his character (rather than killing him off). The 7th movie with be directed by James Wan (The Conjuring) and return Vin Diesel, Tyrese Gibson, and more. (Source: THR)

Trainwreck, Judd Apatow’s (This is 40) next film, finally received a firm release date as well. The comedy, which will star Barry Mendel (Bridesmaids), will release on July 24, 2015. (Source: THR)

The last release date is for Berandal (or The Raid 2), the follow-up to the truly fantastic Indonesian action film The Raid, and it’ll come out in the U.S. on March 28th. It’ll hit Sundance first, but it’s nice to know we won’t have to wait too long if we don’t make it to Utah later this month. The sequel returns director Gareth Evans and star Iko Uwais. (Source: Variety)

Although nothing is official yet, I did want to mention some news coming out of The Avengers: Age of Ultron camp. James Spader (NBC’s The Office) was cast as Ultron awhile ago, but it looks like a second villain will be joining the cast. Be on the lookout for more information about Joss Whedon’s follow-up that’ll release on May 1, 2015. (Source: MTV)

Even though Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has yet to release, it looks like Matt Reeves already has the job for the 3rd move in the rebooted franchise. Details other than that are very sparse, but Reeves will help write Planet of the Apes 3 with Mark Bomback. Check back for more details later. (Source: Deadline)

Thanks for stopping by. Check in tomorrow for the latest clips! Have a good one.

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