After The Wrap here in about an hour, MovieByte will officially be on Christmas hiatus until the day after Christmas. It’s hard running a website by myself, and I’ve got a lot of work to wrap up, packing, traveling, spending time with family — you know, all that good holiday stuff. So, MovieByte is officially taking some time off.

I want to thank you guys for reading, interacting, and generally being awesome! I really enjoy running the site and I’m glad you all like reading it. I want to take this time to wish each of you a Merry Christmas! However you spend the holiday, I hope it’s a good…

I missed the first one but I hear it was amazing. I suppose I’ll have to find time to watch it because this looks like a film I want to see and it feels like I need to have seen the first one before I see this one.

Here’s the synopsis:

The thrilling second chapter of the epic HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON trilogy brings us back to the fantastical world of Hiccup and Toothless five years after the two have successfully united dragons and vikings on the island of Berk. While Astrid, Snoutlout and the rest of the gang are challenging each other to dragon races (the island’s new favorite contact…

Can you believe it’s been ten years since “X-Men 2” hit theaters? To say that the cinematic comic book landscape has changed dramatically in that time would be a massive understatement. We’re now in the era of world building, and as we detailed yesterday, pretty much every studio is attempting to construct massive, linking universes for their comic properties, because bigger may not mean better, but it does generally equals lots more cash. And right in the mix isBryan Singer who, though he still has yet to deliver “X-Men: Days Of Future Past,” is already starting to percolate ideas for the…

One of the films I’ve been looking forward to expands to a wide release this weekend. I don’t know if I’m going to have time to see it before Christmas but I’m going to try. But one thing I want to do is watch Mary Poppins again before I see it. It has been many years and it seems like it’d be worth my time to watch again.

New This Weekend

Saving Mr. Banks — PG-13

I don’t really harbor the best of feelings toward Marry Poppins, but I suspect that’s because I watched about 50 bazillion times as a kid, and then the 50 bazillionth and one broke the camels back. I have not watched the film…

I am entirely uncertain where we are with this franchise, or even if I care. I saw the one with Wahlberg and I hated it so much I couldn’t bring myself to watch any since then. Someone tell me in the comments, is that newer one with Franco a complete reboot? And is this one following up on that? Further, should I give this franchise my attention? Is my experience with the Wahlberg film an isolated incident and will I like the newer stuff? So many questions I have need answering.

Well in any event, while I’m waiting to get my questions answered, here’s the trailer for the latest in the…

Hugh Jackman is in negotiations to play the villainous pirate Blackbeard in Warner Bros.’ forthcoming Peter Pan origin film “Pan.”

Joe Wright is directing the adventure tale from a script by Jason Fuchs.

WB had gone to Javier Bardem for the role but the actor passed and the studio pursued Jackman shortly after that.

While the Australian actor isn’t known for playing villains, Jackman has shown the ability to take on the darker roles. His recent perf in WB’s “Prisoners” got high praise from critics and though he’s not the bad guy in the film, the part is much edgier than his previous…

After already reaping notice for his performance in “Her,” Joaquin Phoenix could be working with Warner Bros. again on the studio’s biggest property.

Sources tell Variety that the studio wants the Oscar-nominated actor for a role in the upcoming untitled Batman-Superman pic. However, it’s very early in the process and even if Warners offers Phoenix a role, it’s not clear he would accept as the actor has steered clear of big-budget pics in the past few years, leaning towards movies with a more prestige feel.

I’d turn it down if I were him. I wouldn’t want to attach myself to the sequel of…

Ricky Gervais has been set to reprise his role as Dr. McPhee in Night At The Museum 3, which Shawn Levy is directing from the  script written by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant and David Guion and Michael Handelman for Fox. Ben Stiller is reprising his lead role, and Gervais is back as his boss. Robin Williams also is returning as Teddy Roosevelt in a film Fox has slotted for Christmas 2014.

I quite enjoyed both installments in The Night At the Museum franchise thus far. I have no idea where they can go from here but I’m quite looking forward to it and hope I’m not disappointed. Part…

Ever since the release of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a conflict has brewed between the author’s estate and Warner Bros., New Line, and Jackson, both over the creative content of the movie and the financial distribution. Years and years of dispute suggest that the future of Middle-earth movies is bleak. 

Like many quarrels in Hollywood, the Tolkien/Warner Bros. spat can be narrowed down to an argument about money. Part of the author’s estate’s contract with the film studio said that a percentage of the profits from any adaptation of Tolkien’s work would go back to them, and it became a…