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.

If you only make one resolution for 2010, make sure it’s to do all the Van-Damage you can!

On Jan. 5, action heroes Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren will annihilate the straight-to-DVD market with their highly anticipated reunion vehicle Universal Soldier: Regeneration. To read details about the film, click here.

To get a peek at the Muscles from Brussels kicking ass, watch the trailer (that’s an order!).

James Cameron’s (Terminator, Aliens) highly anticipated smurfs-at-war epic Avatar is set to arrive in theaters and IMAX screens on Dec. 18. The sci-fi actioner boasts groundbreaking 3-D technology and an estimated $230 million budget.

"See that extra over there? I banged her. Twice."

Sam Worthington (Clash of the Titans, Terminator: Salvation) stars in the film as Jake Sullly, a crippled ex-Marine chosen to participate in the government’s Avatar program on the planet of Pandora. As humans aggressively mine the planet for resources, a native species known as the Na’vi plot a revolt to save their blue asses from extinction. Sully, who regains use of his legs while plugged into the Avatar system, soon finds himself forced to choose between his own kind and the love of a young Na’vi female and her family (think Dances with Wolves).

Of course, this being a Cameron film, many of you are wondering if you need to pack meals, medicine, and a toothbrush before heading off to the multiplex. Avatar runs 150 minutes (2 1/2 hours). Cameron, whose Titanic ran a whooping 194 minutes, kept the film’s length down to ensure that it would play on all IMAX screens, including those that have not yet been converted to digital projection and, therefore, can only support a 170 minute run time.

"But, if Jack sets off the bomb, they'll all die. What do you think, Anna Lucia?"

Lionsgate has released new images from its upcoming sci-fi/bloodsucker hybrid Daybreakers. The film is directed by Peter and Michael Spierig and stars Ethan Hawke as a scientist researching a plague that has turned the world’s population into vampires. Click here to see a trailer.

Check out the new stills (I left out the boring ones).

[View with PicLens]

Warner Brothers has acquired the rights to director Abel Ferrara’s (Bad Lieutenant) Jekyll and Hyde, a re-imagining of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Oscar winner Forest Whitaker (Where the Wild Things Are) and rap heavyweight 50 Cent star in the lead roles, with Fiddy, of course, playing the homicidal Mr. Hyde.

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The film’s synopsis reads:

Dr. Jekyll is a rich doctor of great generosity who lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Mr. Hyde is a sadistic murderer with a reputation that strikes fear in the hearts of people throughout New York. Peter Utterson, Dr. Jekyll’s lawyer and friend, investigates the mystery of who Mr. Hyde is and why he is the sole beneficiary of Jekyll’s will.

The devastating answer is that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same person, and the urgent problem is how to kill the beast without destroying the man

Earlier this year, Universal Pictures announced that it too would produce a film adaptation of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tale with Keanu Reeves (The Matrix) playing double duty as the story’s titular characters.  Simply entitled Jekyll, the film is being directed by Nicolas Winding Refn from a script by Revolutionary Road scribe Justin Haythe.

Two Jekyll's? Whoa.

If this turns into a Jekyll standoff, someone is gonna end up shot to death in an SUV in Vegas. Just saying.

A genuine eight-legged freak was discovered in the jungles of Central America. It’s name is Bagheera kiplingi and it is a vegetarian jumping spider. As big as a pinkie nail, the Bagheera feeds on the leaf tips of acacia shrubs. It must, however, maneuver around and defend against the ants that patrol the acacias.

Researcher Christopher Meehan of Villanova University in Pennsylvania says:

This is really the first spider known to specifically ‘hunt’ plants; it is also the first known to go after plants as a primary food source. Most of the big spider text books almost outright claimed there are no herbivorous spiders. It’s on par with the flying pig in terms of novelty.

"Atkins Is So 5 Minutes Ago," Said the Spider