SplashPage found a charity auction by CharityBuzz which gives rich people with lots of disposable income the chance to have a walk-on role in an upcoming X-Men film. The auction doesn’t specifically say which X-Men film, although it’s probably Wolverine 2 since we heard recently that filming is gearing up for January. The opportunity was also given by X-Men Origins: Wolverine producer John Palmero who is co-partner of Seed Productions with Hugh Jackman.

As I type this the highest bid is currently $3,583, although it says the experience is worth $25,000. So what will the winning bidder receive?

Share the excitement of film making with a walk-on role in the next installment in the highly successful film series, X-Men. Although cast information has not been announced, the next X-Men film will likely find the series’ previous stars returning for more action-packed thrills. This once-in-a-lifetime experience will also give the winner a chance to meet some of the actors who may be on set that day. Filming is anticipated to begin in 2011, location to be determined.

The proceeds for this item benefit Worldwide Orphans Foundation

Terms: Valid for one person. This is a non-speaking walk-on role with no guarantee that the winner’s scene will be included in the final cut. Location and shooting schedule is to be determined. Does not include travel or accommodations. Not valid for children under the age of 18. This item cannot be resold or reauctioned. Winner subject to security screening.

The site also has an auction where the highest bidder gets the chance to meet Daniel Craig on the set of Jon Favreau’s Cowboys and Aliens. If I were rich I’d probably buy my way onto every movie set possible.

According to Box Office Mojo the official release date for Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn in North America is December 23rd 2011, which also happens to be my birthday. Tintin will be released in countries such as Sweden, Netherlands and Germany in October 2011 as Tintin is rather popular in that part of the world. To date the graphic novel series has sold over 200 million copies worldwide and most of those sales were in Europe, so the studios (Sony/Paramount) have the right strategy even if the US has to wait an extra 2 months for it.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn stars Daniel Craig, Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and will be using the same performance-capture technology James Cameron used for Avatar, so expect a visual treat.

Over the past few weeks Universal has been busy hiring the leads for Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens, eventually signing Daniel Craig following Robert Downey Jr’s departure, and Tron Legacy actress Olivia Wilde. Now Universal has set a release date for the film: July 29, 2011.

Filming is expected to begin in June, which means Favreau will have hardly any time off after finishing up Iron Man 2. In the film we see what would happen if the traditional Old West enemies – cowboys and Native Americans – found the prairie attacked by aliens in mid-1800s Arizona. Craig will be playing a gunslinger who is joined by a woman named Ella (Wilde), and together they attempt to take on the alien invasion.

Last week we heard that Daniel Craig had officially signed on to star in Jon Favreau’s Cowboys and Aliens, and now we have news of another cast member who will be duelling extra-terrestrials in the Old West. According to Heat Vision House and Tron: Legacy actress Olivia Wilde is in negotiations to play the female lead:

Wilde will play a character named Ella who joins up with a mysterious gunslinger in an unlikely uprising against an alien invasion.

Craig is playing the gunslinger, taking over the role from Robert Downey Jr., who dropped out in January.

Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are producing and wrote the script with “Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof. Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are also producing along with Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, who created the graphic novel upon which the movie is based.

Filming is expected to begin in June, and the sci-fi Western explores what would happen if the traditional Old West enemies — cowboys and Native Americans — found the prairie attacked by aliens in mid-1800s Arizona.

A few weeks ago it was reported that Daniel Craig was in talks to star in Jon Favreau’s Cowboys and Aliens, replacing Robert Downey Jr. who needed to keep himself avaliable for Sherlock Holmes 2. At the time we didn’t know how these negotiations would go, as Bond 23 found itself a director in Sam Mendes and work could have potentially begun as soon as MGM sorted out their finances.

Well according to Deadline Hollywood Craig closed a deal with DreamWorks and Universal this week, and he will begin filming his role of cowboy Zeke Jackson in June. In the film we see what would happen if the traditional Old West enemies – cowboys and Native Americans – found the prairie attacked by aliens in mid-1800s Arizona.

This news also means Bond 23 will probably start filming at the end of 2010 as we heard from Craig himself last year.

After Die Another Day Pierce Brosnan was expecting and hoping to return for another round as 007, however apparently negotiations broke down between the actor and the producers and in February 2005 Brosnan announced on his website that he was no longer going to play James Bond. We know the story from there. Daniel Craig hired, people were skeptical, Casino Royale was awesome, reboot a success.

Earlier this week Brosnan revealed that he has yet to see any of Craig’s Bond films, both by choice and due to Gods intervention.

“I haven’t seen Daniel in the role. I tried watching [Casino Royale] on an airplane,” he says. “I thought 37,000 feet was a good distance to watch it from and it broke down right at the beginning. The attendant came and changed it and it broke down a second time, so I figured ‘OK. The Gods must be saying something . . .’

“So I never went near it! I just thought, ‘let sleeping dogs lie.’ I got the Academy screener for the last one [Quantum of Solace] and I turned it on for my boys and I left them to it. I didn’t go near it.”

It mustn’t be much fun for an actor to firstly, be replaced, and then to have the following movies be superior to your own. I can understand why he didn’t want to watch Craig’s movies, I probably wouldn’t if I was him.

Pierce Brosnan will next be seen in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief which will be released next month.

Earlier this week we got news that Robert Downey Jr. had dropped out of Jon Favreau’s Cowboys and Aliens because he has too many franchises on the go as it is, and apparently Sherlock Holmes 2 may be gearing up. This means they need a new leading man to play gunslinger Zeke Johnson, and according to Collider that man may be Daniel Craig.

Let me stress: “In negotiations” means that Craig has not been cast in the role. What it means is that they’re trying to work out a deal for him to star, but sometimes things don’t work out. Maybe the schedule for Bond 23 moves up or he decides to do a different project. Whatever the reason, let me stress once more: Daniel Craig is in negotiations for the role, but he has not been cast.

Favreau hopes to shoot Cowboys and Aliens in July, although we recently heard that Bond 23 may end up filming sometime this summer too. I guess we’ll have to wait until MGM sort out their financial situation over the upcoming weeks to find out their plans for Bond 23, and also whether Craig is free to film Cowboys and Aliens.

Just yesterday we got quotes from the producers who didn’t really know when filming on Bond 23 would begin (that’s what they said anyway) as MGM were in the process of selling themselves, however now according to Heat Vision they’ve got a director and the film is being fast-tracked!

It’s Mendes. Sam Mendes. The British helmer is in negotiations to direct the 23rd installment of the venerable James Bond franchise.

Production is being fast-tracked and could begin as early as June with an eye toward a 2011 release. Plans for the film are moving forward despite a possible sale of MGM. Sony co-produced and distributed the most recent installment of the 007 series with MGM.

It looks like the producers have gone for another artsy director following Marc Forster with Quantum of Solace. Mendes, who is married to the wonderful Kate Winslet, has directed films such as American Beauty (for which he won an Oscar for Best Director), Jarhead, Road to Perdition and Revolutionary Road.

Now they’ve got a director I suppose the next big announcement everyone will be waiting for is the title. Following the news that Mendes was in talks to direct, Twitter came up with a few suggestions:

“Bag. Plastic Bag.”

“The Spy Who Bickered With Me At Length”

“Thunderbawl”

“Revolutionary Rogue”

“Cry Another Day”

“From Russia with Wrong Feelings About My Daughter’s Best Friend”

“The Spy Who Made Me Watch a Discarded Plastic Bag”

“Dr. Know-It-All”

From what we have heard from various people involved with Bond 23 such as Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and writer Peter Morgan, it seems the plan is to begin pre-production in February with a late 2010/early 2011 filming start. However MGM (the lion studio) didn’t have a very good 2009 money-wise and are in the process of selling themselves, with takeover bids expected over the upcoming weeks. This is obviously impacting the studios future line-up, which includes Bond 23.

Longtime Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli recently gave Total Film an update on the status of the film, and they said they don’t have a solid timeline set for the next Bond instalment.

Asked what the current status of the project is, Wilson said: “Well, our timeline’s a little up in the air what with the situation at MGM, so we have to be flexible. We just don’t know enough about the situation to comment, but we know it’s uncertain.”

“Well… we’ve hired the writers and we’ve been working with them but it’s just too early to say anything,” he said. “You know, often at this stage, I find myself saying, ‘Oh, we’re gonna do this and that’, then six months from now you’ll say, ‘That isn’t in the film at all – you told me it was…’ I think we’re at the stage where a lot of ideas are floating around that sound very good, but whether they make the final cut, who knows?”

Hopefully MGM get a good buyer in the near future so they can start making concrete plans for Bond 23. Their first plan should be to find a director!

We haven’t heard anything on the next Bond film since June when The Queen and Frost/Nixon writer Peter Morgan was brought on-board to work on the script. Daniel Craig is currently half way though the run of his Broadway play A Steady Rain alongside Hugh Jackman, and it was while signing autographs for the fans outside where he revealed that they will “start at the end of next year”.

You can watch him saying it below, although it’s not that interesting.

This means there will probably be a late 2011 release for Bond 23, which will be 3 years after the release of Quantum of Solace. No director has been announced yet, although they’ve got roughly a year to find one.