After years of waiting, "Star Trek Into Darkness" has finally hit theaters. The original gang’s all there, along with a shady new villain played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Is this baddie, as is claimed, a generic nobody named John Harrison? Or is he really a certain somebody whose name rhymes with swan? Who can say? But since Cumberbatch the actor will be literally everywhere this year ("August: Osage County," "The Fifth Estate," "The Hobbit – The Desolation of Smaug" (and look! There he is outside my window), we’ve put together six fun facts you may not have known about the "Sherlock" star. Go boldly where no man has gone before and read on!

1) He was kidnapped and held at gunpoint in South Africa: And he actually talked his way out of it, much like his television counterpart Sherlock Holmes would have. "I argued my way out," he told the Daily Mail. "I said, ‘If you leave me in here, it’s not the lack of air, it’s the small space. There’s a problem with my heart and my brain.’ I just tried to explain to them: ‘I will die, possibly have a fit, and it will be a problem for you. I will be a dead Englishman in your car. Not good.’"
2) He can do a mean Alan Rickman impersonation: By which, we obviously mean excellent. His David Tennant is not bad either. Check out the video below:

3) He’s quite the smarty pants, but like all intelligent men, he has his vices: "I did sort of blow my GCSEs out of the water," he told Metro recently. "I couldn’t believe it and neither could my teachers. And then there was a lot of pressure on me to achieve an Oxbridge level of brilliance at A-levels. But then adolescence came late and I discovered girls, pot and all sorts of other things, so I got a bit lazy."
4) If he hadn’t become an actor, he would have been a neurosurgeon: "I’d have liked to have been a neurosurgeon—I’m thinking that because of the character in "Saturday" [by Ian McEwan, one of Cumberbatch's favorite authors]," he told What’s On Stage in 2005. "It would have been nice to have done something useful, responsible, that required a mind-blowing skill, where something really important hangs in the balance."
5) His mother wanted him to change his name when he became an actor: "It sounds like a fart in a bath, doesn’t it?" he’s said of his strange moniker. "What a fluffy old name. I can never say it on a Monday morning. When I became an actor, mom wasn’t keen on me keeping it."
6) He finds the fact that he’s a sex symbol "hysterically funny": "I hate the fact that I’m a sex symbol," he joked to the Radio Times. "God damn my beauty and success. No, I find it hysterically funny, I really do. It’s a giggle. I wield it with a massive smile." Wield it however you like, Cumberbatch, so long as you keep wielding it.

The recent decision to revamp the image of Merida, the young Scottish heroine of Pixar’s “Brave,” into a glamorous Disney princess has faced harsh backlash, and now the character’s creator is also speaking out against the change.

Brenda Chapman, who wrote and co-directed “Brave” and took home an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her efforts, sent a scathing response to the decision to her hometown newspaper, the Marin Independent Journal. Chapman, who modeled Merida on her then-middle school-aged daughter, called the makeover “atrocious” and “a blatantly sexist marketing move based on money.”

The uproar comes over multiple changes to the character’s image: her long, unruly red curls have been made fuller and sleeker, her waist is noticeably smaller, her dress now exposes her shoulders, and her eyes and lips have been enhanced with makeup. In some promo stills of her new look, she’s no longer holding her signature bow and arrow.

brave princess merida

Changing an innocent-looking girl into an apparent sex symbol is “irresponsible” and “appalling for women and young girls,” Chapman wrote to the paper. “ … When little girls say they like [the makeover] because it’s more sparkly, that’s all fine and good but, subconsciously, they are soaking in the sexy ‘come hither’ look and the skinny aspect of the new version. It’s horrible! Merida was created to break that mold — to give young girls a better, stronger role model, a more attainable role model, something of substance, not just a pretty face that waits around for romance.”

Chapman went on to note that Merida’s original image was already a proven seller for Disney — “Brave” went on to gross more than $550 million — and while the studio had the chance “to give their consumers something of more substance and quality … they have a total disregard for it in the name of their narrow minded view of what will make money.”

In response to Chapman’s outrage, Disney cited many of the same qualities that Chapman touted in its decision to crown Merida its newest princess.

    “Merida exemplifies what it means to be a Disney Princess through being brave, passionate, and confident and she remains the same strong and determined Merida from the movie whose inner qualities have inspired moms and daughters around the world,” the statement said.

Disney held an official coronation ceremony for Merida this weekend at Walt Disney World.

The dinosaurs are going back on ice.

After hiring a new director and hurtling toward a Summer 2014 release date, Universal is delaying “Jurassic Park 4.”“In coordination with filmmakers, Universal has decided to release Jurassic Park 4 at a later date giving the studio and filmmakers adequate time to bring audiences the best possible version of the fourth installment in Universal’s beloved franchise,” the studio said in a statement.

“We could not be more excited about the vision that Colin Trevorrow has created for this film, and we look forward to watching as he and the producers create another great chapter in this franchise’s storied history.”

Just last month, “Safety Not Guaranteed” director Trevorrow came on board to helm the new installment of the mega franchise. And there was excited rumblings that “Jurassic Park 4” would return to the original movie’s setting, Isla Nublar.

But then, this week, Ain’t It Cool News posted tweets from crew members (now deleted) that indicate the project is facing, if not extinction, at least a delay. A concept artist posted “JP4 on hold,” while a digital assets manager wrote, “Hollywood makes and crushes dreams. Goodbye JP4.”

Fan site Jurassic Park 4 News confirmed with a source that the movie was facing delays, mostly due to creative differences. “Simply put, the studio doesn’t necessarily see eye-to-eye with some of those involved in the film’s development and this has lead to some conflict.”

The studio is reportedly pushing for an even more “epic” scale. “It seems Universal wants to pull out all the stops and go above and beyond what they had initially set their goals to be,” the site says.

He’s stolen scenes in the likes of Midnight In Paris and The Bourne Legacy and he was one of the standout stars from David Fincher’s Netflix series House Of Cards. Now Corey Stoll is getting his shot at full on TV leading man status, lining up the starring role in The Strain.Adapted by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan from the trilogy of novels they wrote, The Strain follows Dr Ephraim Goodweather (Stoll), the head of the Centre For Disease Control team stationed in New York.When his crew is called out to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak, Goodweather discovers that it means an ancient, evil strain of vampirism is surging back into the world. With the curse spreading quickly, the good doctor and an assembly of civilians must fight back.“To me, having the right lead for The Strain series was perhaps the most important creative task,” del Toro tells Deadline. “To be able to secure the perfect actor in Corey Stoll sets the project on the right track. To embody a character like Ephraim Goodweather – who transitions through every emotion and situation imaginable, and which anchors the narrative of the series – requires amazing talent and craft. Corey has both in spades as he has demonstrated it over and over again.”Del Toro plans to direct the pilot and US network FX is inching ever closer to picking the show up as a series, with word that Carlton Cuse already has the writing staff  in place and working on scripts. Given that this is the network behind the likes of Sons Of Anarchy and Justified, we’re hopeful this could be something great.Stoll will next be seen on the big screen in Sundance pic C.O.G., with Liam Neeson in Non-Stop and alongside Jason Bateman and Tina Fey in dysfunctional family comedy This Is Where I Leave You.

You know how it always seems as though Guillermo del Toro has a gazillion projects racing through his noggin and spewed out across various formats and production companies? Well, try a gazillion and one. Yes, the ever-prolific writer/producer/director/raconteur is at it again, setting up an adaptation of Monster, Naoki Urasawa’s respected Manga.Monster, told over 18 volumes and already adapted into an anime, follows a young doctor on an obsessive quest to find an evil sociopath who will unleash genocide upon the world unless he’s stopped. The twist is that the monster in question is a 12-year-old boy whose life the doctor saved, making him partly responsible for what might happen.Del Toro, working with Sherlock/Doctor Who scribe Steve Thompson (he wrote episodes such as The Curse Of The Black Spot for Who and The Reichenbach Fall for Sherlock) is set to adapt the story for HBO, with the pair crafting the pilot for del Toro to direct during, we assume, downtime from the 500 other things he’s doing at once.Originally, the idea was to turn the story into a film for New Line, but the concept proved too sprawling for the confines of a movie’s running time. Game Of Thrones home HBO has commissioned a pilot and, if successful, Thompson would run the eventual series.In case you’d forgotten, del Toro has his latest monster project, Pacific Rim, due to land in UK cinemas on July 12. Check out the trailer below.

After a quiet period during the last few years where, except for showing up to make Men In Black 3, he’s been content to work as a producer, guide his kids’ careers and develop new possible movies, Will Smith appears to be gearing back up. He’s already circling Warner Bros.’ con drama Focus and may be reviving Hurricane Katrina tale American Can.

The true-life tale of heroism chronicles what happened when Gulf War veteran John Keller saved many lives during the natural disaster. Keller, a tough, tall former Marine, helped keep the 150-odd residents of his apartment complex – American Can, which is where the project gets its title – safe when they were cut off by 11-foot-high floods of fetid water. Many of those living in the building were elderly and infirm, and hadn’t been able to evacuate. Keller got them moved to the roof and coordinated the distribution of airdropped supplies while also guarding the place from looters.Can has been in development at Smith’s Overbook company since at least 2009. In 2011, Denzel Washington was pondering the lead, and John Lee Hancock wrote a script and was planning to direct. But it didn’t come together and now, according to Deadline, Smith is looking to star with Ed Zwick taking over the megaphone.While it appears Can may follow Focus in Smith’s future, another possibility is also floating around, though there are conflicting reports as to whether he’ll take it on. The Accountant, written by Bill Dubuque, sees a government bean counter living a double life as an officially sanctioned assassin. Mel Gibson wanted to direct it ages ago for Warners, but it since drifted off into limbo.As for actual Smith films, he’s co-starring with son Jaden in M Night Shyamalan’s After Earth, which is due out here on June 7, and has filmed a small role in Akiva Goldsman’s Winter’s Tale.

UK indie production company Warp Films is looking to increase its TV output and has signed a first-look development deal with ITV Studios Global Entertainment. The BAFTA-winning Warp previously produced This Is England ’86 and the This Is England ’88. It’s currently producing drama serial Southcliffe for Channel 4. Warp will ramp up its TV development activity with ITVSGE in the coming weeks and the latter will handle the slate internationally. On the feature side, Warp recently produced Richard Ayoade’s Submarine and has the upcoming The Stone Roses: Made Of Stone and Yann Demange thriller 71 on its slate.

You have to hand it to the French for their summertime moviegoing initiatives. There’s the open-air cinema at the Parc de la Villette and the Fête du Cinéma in June during which ticket prices are slashed across the country. Exhibitor MK2 is adding a new layer this summer by morphing Paris’ Grand Palais museum into a drive-in movie theater from June 10-21. The historic monument that’s just off the Champs-Elysées will welcome up to 1,000 moviegoers per showing in a 1,300 square foot space filled with old and new model Fiats and surrounded by a diner, a gaming arcade and a roller rink that becomes a dance floor at night. Among the movies screening over the 11 day event that’s dubbed Cinema Paradiso are Pulp Fiction, Grease, The Big Lebowski, Taxi Driver, Psycho and Annie Hall. Tickets go on sale April 26.

Jamie Foxx knows horror. After all he was in Valentine’s Day. Ahahahahahhaaaa.. Ahem. Sorry. Anyhoo, he’s diving back into TV, producing a new horror anthology that lacks a title but certainly has promise.Working through his Foxxhole production company, he’ll write, direct and produce five episodes of the horror series for the US SyFy channel (which is announcing plenty of deals with big name creative types today). Taking after the likes of The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone (and, more recently, the Showtime channel’s Masters Of Horror series), the episodes will tell original, terrifying tales during the 31 Days Of Halloween programming marathon in the States.“This is a project that I’ve wanted to do for a long time and I’m so happy to see it come to life,” Foxx says in a statement picked up by Deadline. “Get ready to lose it when some special friends and I bring the scares this October, and who knows… maybe I’ll make a guest appearance or two along the way!” So between scripts, shot calling, producing and possibly acting, he’s pretty much only leaving Key Grip and the catering staff jobs available.Film-wise, Foxx will next show up as the president in White House Down (due September 6) and is shooting The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which swings on to our screens on April 18 next year.

Producer Jon Landau revealed today at the 2013 NAB Technology Summit on Cinema that Jim Cameron “will do performance capture in water” on the sequels to his 2009 Fox megahit. “We want to take advantage of the technologies brilliant people are putting out to make the next two movies even more emotionally engaging and visually tantalizing, and to really wrap up the story arc of our two main characters”, Landau said in his keynote chat today. The filmmakers are currently exploring technologies to allow for underwater capture of actors’ performances “because we can simulate it visually but can’t simulate it experientially for them”.

Landau also addressed the flailing VFX industry and recent bankruptcy of Rhythm & Hues. High overhead costs, fixed bidding, and staffing demands make for precarious financials for VFX houses. Landau urged them to be more competitive and clients to be more flexible. “The question becomes, how do we create more efficiencies? It might be a reduction of jobs to stay competitive… there are other ways to do it without taking advantage of people you’re working with”. The NAB show continues Monday through Thursday.

American Football comedy drama Draft Day looked like it was on its way up the film leagues when Paramount nabbed the rights to the script and Ivan Reitman stepped aboard to produce and direct. But then things took a turn for the worse, as the studio threw it into turnaround. Summit ran to the rescue and now Jennifer Garner is in negotiations.She’s set to co-star with Kevin Costner in the tale of a struggling team called the Buffalo Bills whose manager wants to nab the number one draft pick for his team to help them scoop up some new talent.Garner is busy making a deal to play Costner’s secretary in a movie that seems like it could be Jerry Maguire meets Friday Night Lights, which gives us hope even if we’ll have to see if this works out as well as either of those.Reitman will work from a script by Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph, and they’re all breathing a sigh of relief after the script ended up on the Black List shortly after being rejected by Paramount. The new acclaim meant Summit and Costner became interested. Now Reitman is busy sorting out the rest of the ensemble.Garner will next be on our screens in The Odd Life Of Timothy Green, which finally arrives in the UK this week. She’s also worked on Dallas Buyers Club opposite Matthew McConaughey.