Joss Whedon Will Write/Direct Avengers 2, 30 Great Behind-The-Scenes Photos, What To Expect From The X-Men: First Class Sequel, Bourne And Brave Interviews, Bane Origin Scenes Deleted?

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This Week... It's been a busy week. We've been spending all day every day with one eye on the Olympics, one eye on big film news like the delightful word that Joss Whedon is returning for Avengers 2, one eye on upcoming releases like Brave and The Bourne Legacy - hitting cinemas on a Monday; the world's gone mad! - and one eye wondering when we got so many eyes. But we have still found time to bring you features on everything from the use of Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper in pop culture (surely the title of someone's dissertation) and what we can expect from the X-Men: First Class sequel, Days Of Future Past. Now if you'll excuse us, there's a horse on TV dancing to The Lion King, so we must turn both eyes in that direction... Helen O'Hara Deputy Editor, Empire

The Hobbit Exclusive When Gollum met Bilbo! The finest Middle-earth coverage continues... You wait ages for a Hobbit movie and then two come along at once. As Peter Jackson's latest Middle-Earth opus inches ever closer, we talked to the two stars at the heart of its pivotal Riddles in the Dark scene, Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis, to get their take on the Unexpected Journey. Also in our new-look issue!: Dredd, Taken 2, Riddick, Oliver Stone, Frankenweenie, Paranorman and much more. Subscribe today! 12 issues of Empire for only £30! Download the iPad Edition today Get the latest issue of Empire magazine on your iPad now - plus every single iPad back issue! Featuring exclusive interactive content, movie trailers for every film reviewed and unseen material that we couldn't fit into the magazine, make sure you download Empire's iPad edition every month! Get the latest issue or subscribe now!

New Arrested Development Underway Jason Bateman reveals first set pic Joss Whedon Will Write/Direct Avengers 2 Also working on a Marvel TV series Bane Origin Scenes Deleted? The Dark Knight Rises bonus bits

Zero Dark Thirty Teaser Trailer Lands For her follow-up to 2009's Oscar-winning Iraq war movie The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow has moved her sights to Afghanistan for her take on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty - and the first teaser trailer has just arrived. More new videos to watch: New Trailer For Deadfall Eric Bana and Olivia Wilde get nasty. Trouble With The Curve Trailer Arrives Now with added poster. Playing For Keeps Trailer Arrives Gerard Butler, football, Jessica Biel... Judd Apatow's This Is 40 Gets A Trailer The 'sort-of-sequel' to Knocked Up. Two New Clips From The Campaign Arrive Politically incorrect? You betcha! New On The Road Trailer Swings In Sam Riley gets hip to the Beats. Red Band Cockneys Vs. Zombies Trailer Now what rhymes with zombie? New Resident Evil Trailer Online Milla tells the story so far.

The Great Showdowns by Scott C, a collection of the happiest dramatic confrontations of all time. Love it!

I always object to equestrian events, because I love horses. And if you like horses, why would you want them to carry us around? James takes issue with the Olympics.

Our Favourite Bob Hoskins Moments The sad news of Bob Hoskins' retirement got us - and you - casting our minds back over some of the North Londoner's greatest moments. We asked our Twitter followers to list their favourite Hoskins snippets, and we've assembled the results here. Read on and pay tribute to Blighty's finest...

30 Great Behind-The-Scenes Photos It's a truism to say that making movies is a tricky business. Toil and stress is often in direct proportion to the quality of the final cut as the men behind Apocalypse Now, Gone With The Wind and Jaws would all testify. But it's not all stress and worrying about the weather on set. We've collated some great behind-the-scenes snapshots from classic films showing the lighter (and tougher) side of moviemaking. The Empire Podcast #23 Good news, everyone! Your weekly Empire Podcast has arrived, and you can download it / stream it / share it with your friends below. If you do, you'll be able to hear the Empire Podcast team discuss such important things as Joss Whedon returning to direct Avengers 2, the on-going Justice League project as well as reviews for Brave and The Bourne Legacy. Jeremy Renner Talks The Bourne Legacy Just when your toaster thought it was safe to venture out of the cupboard, the Bourne franchise has returned with a rolled-up magazine in one hand and a pint of brutal remorselessness in the other. There's no Jason Bourne this time - he's off the grid - but Jeremy Renner's agent Aaron Cross offers plenty of thrills and spills in Tony Gilroy's first big summer blockbuster. Empire spoke to them both, as well as the man who plays its shady agency operator, Edward Norton, to find out what we need to know about The Bourne Legacy. 12 Examples Of The Last Supper In Pop Culture There are many Old Master paintings that show a masterful use of composition: Rembrandt's The Night Watch, El Greco's The Burial Of The Count Of Orgaz, Velazquez' Las Meninas, to name just a few. But for some reason it's Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper, a 29ft fresco on the wall of the dining room of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, that is endlessly riffed on in pop culture. Don't believe us? We've gathered a few of the best examples of these re-imaginings after the click... Days Of Future Past: What To Expect From The X-Men: First Class Sequel X-Men: First Class proved a retro-hit last year, bringing the story of the mutants back to the '60s with groovy results. Now, producer Bryan Singer has announced that the inevitable sequel will be subtitled and at least partly inspired by Days Of Future Past, a comic book story from 1981 that involves time travel and a future that's disastrous for mutants. Here's everything you need to know about the original comic, and how director Matthew Vaughn and his co-screenwriters Jane Goldman and Simon Kinberg might adapt it for the screen. A Spotter's Guide To Modern Dance Movies When Step Up 3D came out a while back, we published this guide to the recent spate of dance movies. With this week's release of Step Up 4: Miami Heat, we thought we'd update the guide to include this new contender and other recent offerings. Since many of these films share a considerable amount of creative DNA, and since not everyone can remember which is which, we bring you a cut-out-and-keep guide for when you just gotta (watch) dance. Alison Klayman On Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry Ai Weiwei is an extraordinary figure in Chinese society: a respected artist, an accomplished sculpter, the architect behind the famous 'Birds' Nest' stadium in Beijing and arguably the most outspoken critic of the current government. As such, he's a lightning rod for journalists, political activists and artists alike, and after following him for over two years, first-time filmmaker Alison Klayman has produced a documentary on the man, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry. Pulling back the curtain in front of the master media manipulator, it's an exceptional insight into the mystery that is Weiwei - so when we got the chance to speak to Klayman by the Serpentine Gallery recently, we had a few questions about how it all happened... Brave: The Cast And Crew Interviews Pixar's latest effort, Brave, tells the story of the rebellious princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald) in a sort of imaginary medieval Scotland. It's the first period piece for Pixar, and their first female lead, but still a rather contemporary story in many ways. We talked to director Mark Andrews, art director Tia Kratter and producer Katherine Sarafian, and stars Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson and Kevin McKidd to get the lowdown on their latest... Alternative Silent Film Scores To Knock Your Socks Off Now The Artist has given everyone a grounding in the joys of silent film - intertitles, flapper girls, cute dogs and all - the next step has to be to watch loads more silent films. These days it's easily done, with YouTube brimming with them and silent classics regularly getting a lick of restorers' paint or a new score to revive them. This week, thanks to the BFI and Nitin Sawhney, Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger gets both. As a companion to Empire's guide to silent movies, here's a look at that and some of the others to search out. Olympics Movie Poster Mashups We challenged our movie poster masher-uppers with the task of combining The Olympics with the world of film and they did not disappoint. Jessica Ennis in a Hollywood film? We can but dream...

Jessica Ennis calls her coach Tony Minichiello "Mini cheddars" because he's cheesy and speaks in metaphors Nathan Fillion's number plate frame reads, "Other car is Serenity". In the future, people will have phones built-in to their hands. Michael Douglas pronounces the word 'helicopter' 'heeliocopter' -- as heard on Alec Baldwin's podcast 'and here's the thing'. Mo Farah went to the same school as our Amar.

For the Bat-fan with a LOT of money. Geeky eye make-up. Spot the Photographer! Call Batman, maybe. If you have any timewasters to share, then e-mail them in to us.

Jackpot Casually gruesome and corpse-littered, it's a shaggy dog story with an almost buried emotional core about friendship, betrayal, temporary alliance and craftiness. Also Out 360 Meirelles misfire. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry China crisis. The Lodger Hitchcock's Shallow Grave. Step Up 4: Miami Heat A step too far. The Dinosaur Project Found footage finds a way. The Forgiveness Of Blood Terrific Maria Full Of Grace follow-up. In The Dark Half If you go down to the woods tonight... Offender Prison fake. Harold's Going Stiff Forlorn of the dead. Truth Or Dare British horror, not starring Madonna. This week's video trailers and clips. Every week, our video player will update to show trailers and clips from the week's movie releases listed above.

Le Havre It may not be up there with his very best, but Aki Kaurismaki offers a reminder that he's a still one of the freshest voices in cinema. Also Out Orlando Sumptuously shot stroll through the centuries. Casino Royale Long on laughs, short on testicle whipping.

Win Jo Nesbo's Headhunters To Celebrate the August 13th Blu-ray and DVD release of Headhunters. Click here to enter Win A Step Up 1-3 Box Set! Step Up 4: Miami Heat is in UK cinemas from August 10. Click here to enter

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