Anthony Hopkins joins Arabian Nights.

Anthony Hopkins is keeping himself busy on the back of Thor, according to Heat Vision Blog he is in the final reels of negotiations to sign on to Chuck Russell’s Arabian Nights.

The film is a period epic [is this the new 3D fad] written by Russell and Barry P. Ambrose, it centres on the already cast Liam Hemsworth, a young commander who joins forces with Sinbad, Ali Baba and the Genie in the lamp in a bid to rescue their queen, Scheherazade, after the king is murdered in a coup.

Hopkins will return to his villainous roots as Pharotu, an evil sorcerer who killed Sinbad’s love of the path to amass more magic.

Cameras are set to roll at the end of the summer.

MATT RICHARDSON

Colin O'Donoghue Has The Rite

Colin O’Donoghue star of The Tudors’ is set to launch his career on the big screen and he is among good company, starring opposite Anthony Hopkins in The Rite. He will play a seminary student mentored by Vatican exorcist, Hopkins. But O’Donoghue must combat his own uncertainties of faith when he faces dark forces.

The film will be helmed by 1408 director Mikael Hafstrom and will shoot from Michael Petroni’s (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Dawn Treader) script. It has been sourced from Matt Baglio’s book The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist. However, while the book aims to dispel myths surrounding exorcism concentrating on reaffirming faith, it is likely, from the synopsis at least, that the picture will take another direction.

Do not be confused. This is not an extension The Exorcist franchise. It is simply another one. Though we would say the market was cornered, but that’s just us. No start date has been mooted as of yet, with production unlikely to begin until Hopkins has finished his duties on the upcoming Thor.

MATT RICHARDSON