Guillermo del Toro is bringing Disney’s Haunted Mansion attraction to the big screen. But, don’t expect the man behind Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy to produce just another family franchise. After announcing the project—which he will write and produce—at Comic-Con last week, del Toro revealed that his vision for The Haunted Mansion film is terrifying and completely different than Disney’s 2003 effort starring Eddie Murphy.

“We are not returning Eddie Murphy’s calls,” del Toro quipped to convention attendees.

del Toro further explains to MTV:

The movie I see in my head of ‘Haunted Mansion’ is not what I believe anyone is imagining it would be. It’s not just a regular world with a haunted mansion plopped in the middle.

I’m really thinking of a movie with a heightened reality, which is super designed, incredibly innovative, narratively and visually.

We are taking sort of the core mythology that you can tap into and saying that there are many mansions around the world and they’re all part of a sort of web. The spider sitting at the center of the web is what the fans of ‘The Haunted Mansion’ would know by the nickname the Hatbox Ghost.

It’s more or less where the bride is in the attic on the way out of the mansion, but it’s such a great character that there is literally a cult for the Hatbox Ghost amongst hardcore ‘Haunted Mansion’ fanatics, and I’m one of them.

When people think of ‘The Haunted Mansion,’ they think they know [what it's about]. But I really want to push a lot of stuff that they have not seen ever.

Hmm. I’ll believe it when I see the R-rating.

Also on the horizon for del Toro is his and director Troy Nixey’s remake of the 1973 made-for-TV creature-feature Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, starring Katie Holmes, and Guy Pearce. The film arrives in theaters on Jan. 21.

Elisabeth Shue is set to join Jennifer Lawrence in director Mark Tonderai’s (Hush) new thriller House at the End of the Street. The film marks Shue’s quick return to horror after starring in Alexandre Aja’s fish-&-chicks frightener Piranha 3-D, in theaters Aug. 20.

House at the End of the Street revolves around a teen girl (Lawrence) who discovers that the house across from her new home was the scene of a double homicide. Things complicate further when she befriends the murdered family’s surviving son (Thieriot).

Shue will play mother to Lawrence’s character. Production on the film begins next month in Ottawa.

Shue’s horror creds include Paul Verhoeven’s Hollow Man, the Robert De Niro/ Dakota Fanning thriller Hide and Seek, and the indie-release First Born.

Lawrence, hot off her critically acclaimed performance in the award-winning indie-drama Winter’s Bone, has been cast as a young Mystique in director Mathew Vaughn’s X-Men origins reboot X-Men: First Class.

There’s been a lot of excitement brewing over Marvel Studios’ superhero mash-up film The Avengers since Iron Man first came out in 2008 and featured Nick Fury hitting up Tony Stark to join his elite team of costumed crime fighters after the credit roll.

When geek-messiah Joss Whedon (”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) was rumored to have signed on to direct the project, mouth-breathers everywhere high-fived their moms and eagerly awaited for the news to be confirmed and for the cast to be set.

Well, the wait is over.

Marvel announced at their Comic-Con panel last night that Whedon will indeed be behind the camera and that actor Mark Ruffalo would be replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner the Hulk in the film. And, that wasn’t all.

Samuel Jackson (Nick Fury) then took the stage and introduced all of the avengers: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Clark Gregg (SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson), and Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow).

Personally, I find this to be a pretty sorry group of superheroes. I mean Downey’s Iron Man is cool and, while I have no idea what the Black Widow’s deal is, Johansson in latex is a good thing. I’m even down with Ruffalo as the Hulk. But, what the fuck is a Hawkeye and a Nick Fury? Phil Coulson?

I must have been out getting laid when those comics came out. And, by laid I mean playing with my Star Wars action figures.

Looks like director Zack Snyder (Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga’Hoole) is ready to dine in hell with graphic novelist Frank Miller (The Spirit) once more. The minds behind 300 have sealed a deal to adapt the story of Xerxes for the big screen.

Snyder tells 24 Frames:

We closed the writing deal on Xerxes.  We started writing about a week ago.  So we’re doing it.  It’s happening.

This movie follows Themistocles and the Battle of Artemisium, which coincidentally happens on the exact same three days as the Battle of Thermopylae [which was the basis of 300].

This one starts off with a quick retelling of the why of the Persian wars.  It starts off at the Battle of Marathon and then it goes back to Themistocles finding out that Persians are invading again, and off we go over to learn a little bit about why Xerxes is the way he is.

Xerxes succeeded his father Darius the Great as ruler of the Persian Empire in 486 BC, four years after the defeat at Marathon. He was portrayed by Rodrigo Santoro (“Lost”) in the film 300.

Snyder wouldn’t confirm if he would direct the project, but appears ready to take the reigns (most likely as soon as Warner Bros. backs up a truckload of cash at his door).

Says Snyder:

It’s really going to depend on what the studio wants to do and what we do when we finish; I don’t have a directing deal in place but we are writing it, so call it intent.  If there was a crime they could probably convict me.

Released in 2007, 300 has grossed over $450 million worldwide and given Scottish actor Gerard Butler a huge career to squander away with lame rom-coms and an all-burrito diet (dude is getting plump).

British actress Jaime Murray has joined the cast of Starz’s “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena,” a new six-part prequel series to the network’s runaway hit “Spartacus: Blood and Sand.” Murray will play Capua socialite Gaia, a friend to Lucretia, wife of scheming ludus owner Batiatus.

Murray is best known for her turn as psychotic arsonist Lila Tournay in season two of the Showtime serial-killer drama “Dexter.” The 32-year-old actress currently plays “the real” H.G. Wells on the Syfy network’s quirky “X-Files” meets Raiders of the Lost Ark series “Warehouse 13.”

“Gods of the Arena” follows the House of Batiatus as it struggles to make a name for itself pre-Spartacus. Australian actor Dustin Clare headlines the series as gladiator champion Gannicus. John Hannah and Lucy Lawless reprise their “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” roles as sinister spouses Batiatus and Lucretia.

Also returning are Peter Mensah and Manu Bennett as gladiators Doctore and Crixus, respectively. Andy Whitfield, who plays Spartacus on the original series, will also make an appearance on the new show.

“Spartacus: Gods of the Arena” will begin shooting next month in New Zealand and premiere on Starz in January. The second season of “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” goes into production later this year.

Those attending Comic-Con this week can see Lawless, Whitfield, Hannah, and Viva Bianca at the “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” panel on July 23.

Unlike your unemployed father, British actors Daniel Radcliffe and Tom Felton won’t be sitting around in their boxers tossing beer cans at at their loved one’s heads now that their gigs on the insanely lucrative Harry Potter franchise have come to an end. The wizarding duo have wasted no time conjuring up high profile projects.

Hammer Films announced today that Radcliffe will headline their adaptation of author Susan Hill’s best-selling novel The Woman in Black. James Watkins (Eden Lake) will direct the film from a script by Kick Ass writer Jane Goldman, who aims to introduce a J-horror vibe to the Victorian ghost story.

Daniel Radcliffe says (via press release):

I am incredibly excited to be part of The Woman In Black. Jane Goldman’s script is beautifully written – both tender and terrifying in equal measure. It is thrilling to be working with James Watkins. From his brilliant work on Eden Lake and also having met him and heard his vision for the film, I know he will make a fantastic film.

The Woman in Black follows lawyer Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe) as he arrives in a small U.K. town to settle the estate of a deceased old widow only to discover a village held captive by a vengeful ghost.

Felton, meanwhile, has signed on to star in 20th Century Fox’s eagerly anticipated Planet of the Apes prequel Rise of the Apes. The 22-year-old actor is playing the son of a cruel primate sanctuary owner (Brian Cox).

Felton is the latest addition to a cast that includes lead James Franco (Spiderman), John Lithgow (”Dexter”), Brian Cox (Trick’r Treat), Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings), and the gorgeous Freida Pinto (Immortals).

Directed by Rupert Wyatt, Rise of the Apes follows a San Francisco-based scientist’s (Franco) attempt to protect an ape named Caesar (Serkis) from the doctors using him as a test subject in Alzheimer’s research. What follows sets the stage for a simian revolution.

The film goes into production this month and is slated for release on June 24, 2011.

Felton also stars in Dark Castle’s supernatural thriller The Apparition, opposite Twilight babe Ashley Greene and Friday the 13th’s Julianna Guill, and in Eyeline Entertainment’s werewolf-frightener 13HRS with British actress/glamor model Gemma Atkinson.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last entry in the beloved blockbuster saga, is being split in two with the first part set to hit theaters on Nov. 19 and the second on July 15, 2011.

Colombian actress Sophia Vergara (”Modern Family”) is one of the world’s most beautiful women. But, regrettably, there may come a time when the voluptuous 38-year-old stunner will need to be put out to pasture with the likes of Kim Cattrall, Julia Roberts, and Madonna.

But, don’t worry. There is another.

Sandra Vergara is Sophia’s 24-year-old sister and the newest face in DreamWork’s upcoming remake of director Tom Holland’s classic vampire-thriller Fright Night. The aspiring starlet will play magician-turned-vampire-killer Peter Vincent’s (David Tennant) girlfriend and assistant.

This casting couch ain't much of a couch

Directed by Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl) and penned by Marti Noxon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), Fright Night is set in Las Vegas and stars Anton Yelchin (Terminator: Salvation) as protagonist Charley Brewster, Imogen Poots as his girlfriend Amy, Colin Farrell (Ondine) as the vampire Jerry Dandridge, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Kick Ass) as Charlie’s BFF “Evil” Ed Thompson, and Toni Collete (The Sixth Sense) as Charley’s mom.

Fright Night gets rolling this summer in New Mexico. It will arrive in theaters on Oct. 7, 2011.

The original Fright Night made Clatto’s list of 15 Vampire Movies That Won’t Make You Gay.

Jennifer Lawrence, the insanely attractive 19-year-old star of the award-winning indie-drama Winter’s Bone, has been cast in Mathew Vaughn’s eagerly anticipated X-Men origins reboot X-Men: First Class. Lawrence will play sexy shape-shifting mutant Mystique (played by Rebecca Romijn in the original X-Men trilogy).

Lawrence joins a cast that includes Alice Eve as Emma Frost, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Caleb Landry as Banshee, Michael Fassbender as Magneto and James McAvoy as Prof. Charles Xavier. Kevin Bacon has also signed on to star as the film’s villain (possibly Mister Sinister according to internet rumors).

X-Men: First Class will go into production next month in London. Twentieth Century Fox has scheduled the film for release on June 3, 2011.

Lawrence is also set to headline A Bigger Boat’s new frightener House at the End of the Street. She plays a teen girl caught up with a boy whose family was murdered.

Amanda Seyfried (Jennifer’s Body, Chloe) will headline Gattaca director Andrew Niccol’s new dystopian sci-fi thriller I’m.mortal.

The film is set in the future where people physically stop aging by 25 and must then purchase time to determine life expectancy. Those with lots of money can live forever. Those without are totally fucked.

Seyfried will play a rich woman taken hostage by a man accused of having stolen time from some wealthy bastard. The two will fall in love and attempt to make the most of their time together.

Hmm. Sounds like Logan’s Run meets The Island. I’m.there.

I’m.mortal will go into production this year. Twentieth Century Fox will distribute.

If you’re a horror/sci-fi fan in your thirties, you’ll recognize actress Virginia Madsen from a number of genre classics including the 1984 big screen adaptation of Dune, Clive Barker’s 1992 frightener Candyman, Dimension’s 1995 rogue-angel thriller The Prophecy, and last year’s supernatural hit A Haunting in Connecticut.

Madsen is now set to star in director Catherine Hardwicke’s (Twilight) upcoming werewolf-thriller Red Riding Hood, a romantic re-imaging of the Brothers Grimm’s classic fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood.” The 48-year-old milf will play mother to Amanda Seyfried’s character.

Red Riding Hood (formerly entitled The Girl with the Red Riding Hood) is written by Orphan scribe David Leslie Johnson and costars Lukas Haas, Shiloh Fernandez, Julie Christie and Gary Oldman.

The film is produced by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way for Warner Bros and is slated for a March 11, 2011 release.

Madsen's bust out role was in 1983's 'Class'

Madsen’s other notable genre creds include Electric Dreams (1984), Highlander II: The Quickening (1991), The Haunting (1999), and The Number 23 (2007). Your penis (if it’s in its 30’s) will also remember her from the 1983 teen-sex comedy Class, in which she made her major motion picture debut.

Madsen currently stars on ABC’s soon-to-be-canceled TV series “Scoundrels.”