'Harry Potter,' 'Hugo,' 'Dragon Tattoo' win at Art Director Guild awards

The Art Directors Guild (ADG) presented its awards Saturday night helping to set two clear front runners for the Art Direction Academy Award.

"Harry Potter" was among the winners.

The guild splits its feature awards into three categories: period, fantasy and contemporary.

"Hugo" took home the award for period films, while "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" was awarded in the fantasy category and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" in the contemporary category.

"Hugo" and "Harry Potter" are among the five nominees for Best Art Direction at the Academy Awards along with "The Artist" as well as "War Horse" and "Midnight in Paris," neither of which were nominated by the guild.

In addition to Saturday night's win in the fantasy category, this year’s Art Directors Guild Cinematic Imagery Award was presented to the principal team behind the Harry Potter films as a whole, including producers David Heyman and David Barron; director David Yates; creator and author J.K. Rowling; screenwriter Steve Kloves; production designer Stuart Craig; art director Neil Lamont; and set decorator Stephenie McMillan.

In the realm of television, HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" was awarded for One-Hour Single Camera Television Series and ABC's "Modern Family" for Episode of a Half Hour Single-Camera Television Series. HBO's "Mildred Pierce" took home the prize for Television Movie or Mini-Series.

The black-tie ceremony announcing winners took place at the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills with Paula Poundstone serving as host for the third consecutive year.

A Lifetime Achievement Award went to Emmy Award winning production designer Tony Walton. In addition, the ADG inducted the following legendary production designers from the past into its Hall of Fame: Robert Boyle, William Darling and Alfred Junge.

See below for a full list of nominees and winners.

'Rango' the big winner at the Annie Awards

While traditionally Dreamworks Animation has ruled the Annie Awards while Pixar takes home the gold at the Academy Awards, it was Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies which drew first blood this year with Gore Verbinski's "Rango" the big winner at the 39th annual Annie Awards, which were held Saturday evening at UCLA's Royce Hall.

"Rango" was the big winner Saturday.

"Rango" took home the awards for Animated Feature, Writing in a Feature Production, Editing in a Feature Production and Character Design in a Feature Production.

While Verbinski shared the writing award, he lost out in the directing category to Jennifer Yuh Nelson for Dreamworks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda 2." That film was also awarded for Production Design in a Feature Production.

"Tintin," which recently took home Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes, was awarded twice Saturday for Music in a Feature Production for John Williams and Animated Effects in an Animated Production. Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg's first foray into feature animation was snubbed and will not be among the nominees for the Academy Awards later this month.

In the television categories, "The Simpsons" took home the top prize for Best General Audience Animated Television Production.

See below for a full list of this year's winners.

'The Hunger Games' to get one-week IMAX release

IMAX Corporation and Lionsgate on Thursday announced that Lionsgate’s "The Hunger Games," the first installment of the trilogy based on Suzanne Collins’ bestselling novels, will be digitally re-mastered into the immersive IMAX format and released in IMAX digital theatres in North America day-and-date on Friday, March 23. The film will have a limited one week engagement in IMAX theatres.

The film hits theaters March 23.

Written and directed by Gary Ross and produced by Nina Jacobson’s Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik, "The Hunger Games: The IMAX Experience" stars Academy-award nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth.

Suzanne Collins’ best-selling novels have already developed a massive global following, with more than 23.5 million print copies in the United States alone.

“With this news, the release of 'The Hunger Games' has truly become an epic event,” said Lionsgate’s Joe Drake. “'The Hunger Games' and IMAX are a match made in heaven--fans love this book because its world is so vividly imagined and seeing the film in IMAX will make them feel as if they have landed right in the middle of the action. It is the ideal way for fans to experience this film for the first time.”

“'The Hunger Games' is one of the most popular properties in recent memory and we’re excited to offer this passionate fan base the opportunity to experience this exciting adventure in the most immersive way,” said Greg Foster, chairman and president of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. “We’re proud to kick off our relationship with Lionsgate around this highly anticipated film that will make a strong addition to our 2012 film slate.”

The IMAX release of 'The Hunger Games' will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience with proprietary IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) technology

Al Pacino will voice 'Despicable Me 2' villain

Actor Al Pacino ("The Godfather") will make his animated film debut in the upcoming "Despicable Me 2," the sequel to the hit 2010 film.

The first film grossed $543 million.

Deadine is reporting Pacino will play Gru's (voiced by Steve Carrell) new nemesis.

The first film, produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, grossed $543 million worldwide. It followed villainous Gru as he unexpectedly becomes the adopted father of three orphaned girls. No details about the sequel's plot have been released to date.

Original directors Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin are returning for the sequel as are screenwriters Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio.

Renaud and Daurio were both involved in Universal's and Illumination's "The Lorax," which debuts March 2.

"Despicable Me 2" is set to hit theaters on July 3, 2013.

Alcon adapting 'Beautiful Creatures' with Viola Davis in key role

Alcon Entertainment announced Thrusday it will finance and produce the supernatural thriller “Beautiful Creatures,” based on the New York Times best selling novel of the same name--the first in the popular series written by authors Kami Carcia and Margaret Stohl.

The series includes three novels.

The announcement, made by Alcon co-founders and co-CEOs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, also noted that two-time Academy Award nominee Viola Davis, most recently nominated for her leading role in “The Help,” is in negotiations for a key role.

The film will be released by Warner Bros via Alcon’s output deal.

Alcon, which has film rights to all three books in the series published by Little Brown Books--including "Beautiful Darkness" and "Beautiful Chaos"--is looking at “Creatures” to kick off a possible franchise at WB.

Viola Davis

Richard LaGravenese will direct from his own adaptation of the novel. Erwin Stoff (“The Matrix,” “I Am Legend”) will produce along with Kosove and Johnson (“The Blind Side, “The Book of Eli”), and Molly Smith (“Something Borrowed,” “P.S. I Love You”).

LaGravenese, director of Alcon’s “P.S. I Love You,” “Freedom Writers,” among others, is the screenwriter of such features as “Water for Elephants,” “The Bridges of Madison County,” and “The Fisher King,” for which he received an Oscar nomination for original screenplay. LaGravenese’s screenplay is an adaptation of the first of the three books in this best-selling franchise that has been translated into 30 languages worldwide.

Octavia Spencer joins sci-fi project 'Snow Piercer'

Octavia Spencer, who is considered the front runner for Best Support Actress at this year's Academy Awards for her work in "The Help" has signed on to star in Bong Joon-Ho's sci-fi project "Snow Piercer."

Octavia Spencer

Acording to Heat Vision, Spencer will join Chris Evans ("Captain America"), John Hurt ("Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy"), Tilda Swinton ("We Need to Talk about Kevin") and Korean actor Kang Ho Song, who starred in Joon-Ho's "The Host."

Joon-Ho co-wrote the script, which is an adaptation of the 1970s French graphic novel "Le Transperceneige." In the future a failed attempt to stop global warning ushers in a new ice age, killing off all life on the planet. The only ones left live on the Snow Piercer, a train traveling around the world powered by a perpetual-motion engine.
The film will follow a revolution which breaks out on the train and Spencer will portray one of the passengers who joins in to save her son.

Kelly Masterson ("Before the Devil Knows You're Dead") wrote the most recent draft of the script.

'Hunger Games' social media game to launch simultaneously with the movie

Funtactix, a worldwide developer and publisher of social games based on the world’s premiere entertainment brands, in partnership with Lionsgate, a leading global entertainment company, announced Wednesday that "The Hunger Games Adventures" will launch day and date with the highly anticipated film adaptation of Suzanne Collins' bestselling novel on March 23.

The film hits theaters March 23.

 "The Hunger Games Adventures" is an adventure-based social game where fans can explore the world of Panem--the setting for The Hunger Games trilogy, the companies said. Players will explore Panem and complete missions that will take them to each of the Districts and the Capitol where they will interact with the familiar characters from the book. With each mission they complete, they will advance their own storyline within the world.

As the official game of the series, "The Hunger Games Adventures" will be the first place fans can see the official map of Panem, and how the districts are laid out. Details for the Map of Panem will be rolled out in the game with a steady stream of chapter expansions as the game, and the world, reveals itself over time.