Film News: Beetlejuice 2 and Firefly rumours, first trailer for Jodorowsky's Dune, and more

THE RUMOUR MILL: COULD JOSS WHEDON'S FIREFLY RETURN TO TV? BLACK WIDOW BOUND FOR SOLO FILM, DAVID FINCHER TO ADAPT C4'S UTOPIA FOR US TV, TOM HARDY JOINS PEAKY BLINDERS, TIM BURTON ON BOARD FOR BEETLEJUICE 2
Perhaps one of the most sadly missed and unjustly cancelled TV shows of the last two decades, Joss Whedon's Firefly lasted less than a full season before being given the boot by dubious network executives. It went on to find life as a cult classic on home release, going on to round out its 'verse-building with the successful movie sequel, Serenity. Last week, one of the show's main producers, Tim Minear, said fans shouldn't rule out the idea of a return to the Firefly-verse on the small screen, giving hope to the legions of 'browncoats' who worship the original series. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Minear echoes earlier comments from Whedon, who said that the cast's other commitments would limit his ability to reunite them for a long-form series. But Minear, who also co-produces American Horror Story, pointed to BBC's Sherlock as an example of a TV show that can completely immerse the viewer in just three episodes.

Asked directly if Firefly could return to TV, Minear says: " I would never foreclose the possibility. The fact that it was even a feature film after it spectacularly failed on Fox was a miracle. And of course it lives on in other forms. In terms of getting the band back together to make a new adventure, who knows? I would love it. It would be great. But first everybody has their respective projects that limits them from crossing over into other things. It’s just trying to coordinate everybody’s obligations so they could somehow participate...  A limited series would do very well, I bet."

Moving to another corner of the Whedon-controlled fanboy universe, it seems that Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow, from the Avengers movies, could be in line for her own solo outing. Speaking to Total Film for their print edition, Marvel architect Kevin Feige revealed that the Widow has an important part to play in Avengers 2: Age of Ultron. "We learn more about her past and learn more about where she came from and how she became in that film. The notion of exploring that even further in her own film would be great, and we have some development work with that."

David Fincher has been confirmed as the director to helm an adaptation of chilling Channel 4 SF drama Utopia for US TV. The project will be adapted by Fincher and Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, according to Coming Soon. HBO will give the series a home, with original creator Dennis Kelly acting as an executive producer. The show has skipped the pilot process, and has been green-lit for a full series.

Back in Britain, Tom Hardy has been announced as the latest addition to the cast of the BBC's Peaky Blinders, according to Total Film. He joins an already-impressive list of big-name actors on the show, including his The Dark Knight Rises and Inception co-star Cillian Murphy. The story of gang war in pre-1920s Birmingham, the first series featured Murphy and Sam Neill, among others.

Our final rumour of the day concerns the long-mooted Beetlejuice 2. Speaking to MTV, potentially-returning star Michael Keaton confirmed that Tim Burton will in fact be involved with the project. David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith have written a script, but Keaton confirmed that the project "kind of required Tim to be involved some way or another." Giving MTV a fairly big hint that Burton is now in, he said: "Now it looks like he is involved. And without giving too much away, we've talked to each other, and e-mailed each other, and if he's in, it's going to be hard not to be in."

TRAILERS: GAME OF THRONES, THE PURGE: ANARCHY, JODOROWSKY'S DUNE
First up, another extended look at Game of Thrones Season 4, following last week's behind-the-scenes clip. Pint-sized refugee Arya Stark is on the road with The Hound, thinking about revenge; Tyrion is in chains in the King's Landing dungeons; Daenerys must rule with an iron fist in the slave kingdoms; Stannis is burning, well... everyone; Joffrey's getting hitched; and Jon Snow's back in the Night's Watch, but surrounded by enemies. We literally cannot wait to go back to Westeros!

The Purge was flawed, but still one of 2012's better mainstream horror movies in a year choked with substandard fare, and now, its director James DeMonaco has turned around a sequel in double-quick time. With a new cast ready to face 24 hours of lawlessness and murder, we're looking forward to revisiting what was undeniably a great concept, if handled in a slightly underwhelming fashion, when The Purge: Anarchy hits screens.  

And finally, a first look at the new documentary Jodorowsky's Dune. Like Terry Gilliam's compelling Lost in La Mancha, this is a film about a film which never got made – back in the 1970s, the cult Chilean-French film director, comics writer and actor Alejandro Jodorowsky (Holy Mountain, El Topo) was contracted to make a version of Frank Herbert's seminal 1965 SF saga. He developed concept art alongside H.R. Giger (prior to his work on Alien), a shot-by-shot storyboard, advanced production notes and more for his epic, hallucinatory take on the classic space opera. His dream cast included David Carradine, Mick Jagger, Orson Welles and Salvador Dali. "I wanted to make a film that gave LSD hallucinations, without taking LSD," Jodorowsky comments in the trailer. His Dune never got made, and this new film looks at the reasons why. If completed, it could have been one of the greats of 70s screen SF – so we can't wait to find out more about Jodorowsky's vision for the piece.