via IESB.net: New Images from PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS! Check out Uma Thurman’s Medusa and Her Snakes!

Chris Columbus (“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” “Home Alone”) directed the epic fantasy-adventure starring a trio of rising young stars — Logan Lerman (“3:10 to Yuma”) as the film’s title character, the brave, fearless young warrior, Percy Jackson; Brandon T. Jackson (“Tropic Thunder”) as the Satyr Grover, Percy’s protector who attempts to earn his very first horns while keeping the young demigod out of harm’s way; and Alexandra Daddario (“Bereavement”) as another demigod, Annabeth, daughter of Athena, who joins Percy on his quest to prevent a devastating war.

Author Rick Riordan, who taught Greek Mythology for a many years in middle school in California and Texas, came up with the idea for the first Percy Jackson book, which led to four additional novels and a huge fan base numbering in the millions, after reading the sagas of the ancient Greek heroes as bedtime stories to his son, Haley.

“When I ran out of myths, my son became disappointed,” the author relates on his website. “He asked me if I could make up some new stories with the same characters. I remembered a creative writing project I used to do with my sixth graders, which allowed them to create their own demigod hero, the son or daughter of any god they wanted, while having them describe a Greek-style quest for that hero.

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via Sci Fi Wire:

Relatively unknown actor may take over as Spider-Man

Logan Lerman, the 18-year-old actor who stars in the upcoming Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief as a teen who discovers he’s the descendant of a Greek god, may soon discover himself to be the next friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

According to Latino Review, Lerman is in talks to be Peter Parker in Sony’s Spidey reboot.

“Conversations are starting,” said Lerman. “It’s a long process with the studio and the producers and everything. But it’s definitely a project that I’m really interested in, of course. I’d love to focus on the human element a little bit more. It’d be such a fun experience.”

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New Dune movie could be made in 3-D

That new Dune director sure gets around! Last week, we shared an interview in which Pierre Morel told how he loved the novel as a teenager, read it at least 10 times and intended his film to be faithful to the book. But now he’s spilling even more details about his plans—and those plans could include 3-D!

In an interview with our friends over at IGN, the director of Taken and From Paris With Love talked about how he was intimidated by the project, and that he had to “erase the image that David Lynch did” in order to proceed. But he also said that—

“I’d love it to be 3D, of course. It’s the kind of movie that has the scope to be 3D.”

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By Charlie Jane Anders at io9: The Complete History Of Pandora, According To Avatar’s Designers

Avatar didn’t sweep the Oscar nominations just because of its amazing special effects — it captured the hearts and imaginations of Academy voters because of its world-building. Here’s the complete history of the movie’s intricate world, from the designers themselves.

We’ve also got some incredible original concept art, much of which hasn’t been seen anywhere else yet.

This is the third installment of our irregular series of interviews with designers and artists who worked on James Cameron’s Avatar.  After we did the first article, we kept hearing from more designers who worked on the film and were eager to talk to us, and then they put us in touch with other designers who’d worked on the film too. At this point, we’ve talked to 17 or 18 people who helped realize James Cameron’s vision of Avatar.

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While it might be true that not everyone knows his real name, I think “relatively unknown” was the worst way to describe the actor playing Percy Jackson. The ad campaign for Percy Jackson has featured him since the beginning…last summer. I’d say he’s pretty recognizable. And the articles on Avatar are fantastic!

What do you think of Percy Jackson also becoming Spiderman? What do you think of Medusa’s snakes?