Toys and other merchandising or marketing items being made for a big upcoming movie are a good way to catch your first glimpse of what a certain character will look like or how an actor will look playing a character.

We’ve already had one early geek peek when it comes to Peter Jackson‘s massive three-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit—that first shot of what’s assumed to be the evil Goblin King—and now comes another noteworthy first look.

An image has made its way to the web of LOST star Evangeline Lilly as the elven warrior Tauriel. It’s not the best first peek you’ll get, but, as we all very much expected, you can see that Lilly makes a mighty fine elf. Check out the image below.

Due to the amount of work and the continual search to find the right project, Matt Damon‘s directorial debut continues to be put on hold. But audiences still want to see the acclaimed actor on the screen, and come early next year we will see him reunite with Gus Van Sant for another potentially award-winning piece.

The two come back together for a film called Promise Land. In it, the controversial use of fracking, a method for extracting oil and natural gas, takes center stage. Damon plays as a salesman who comes to a small town asking the residents if he could drill on their land. This dangerous practice has proven to have its negative effects on the land and the people living on it, and one man named Dustin (John Krasinski) convinces the townspeople to rally together to put a stop to it.

Check out the first trailer for Promise Land below.

A little over a decade ago, moviegoers started to see a surge of films based on video games grace the silver screen. For the most part these films failed to deliver a good story or stay true to the property. Some films that were supposed to go into production did fall through the cracks though. When Universal owned the rights to Spy Hunter, they had Dwayne Johnson attached to star as the lead, a spymaster who owned a tricked out weaponize car that would jettison damaged parts to reveal a motorcycle or transform into an amphibious vehicle.

However, numerous delays prevented the production from commencing, and as a result the film never saw the light of day. Now Vulture is reporting that Spy Hunter has found new life over at Warner Bros., and that Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) is in talks to direct the film.

Steven Spielberg has an idea on whom he would like to see take the two lead roles in his long-gestating adaptation of Robopocalypse. It’s been reported that Spielberg would like to see Chris Hemsworth play the male lead in the upcoming film and now there is word that Spielberg is looking to Anne Hathaway to play the female lead. In addition to these possible castings, there is confirmation that former 20th Century Fox chairman and CEO Tom Rothman will be a producer for Robopocalypse.

According to Deadline, the studio is tightlipped about any news concerning the casting of lead roles in Robopocalypse. But the fact that Hathaway and Hemsworth could share the silver screen is an exciting thought. We will be likely to hear confirmation of the two being cast in the weeks leading up to the start of principle photography, which is scheduled to begin early 2013.

Following the success of The Expendables 2, producer Adi Shankar and his 1984 Private Defense Contractors production company announced that they would be making an action film comprised of some of the most memorable female action stars. A month after Shankar made the announcement, Haywire star Gina Carano is the first to sign on for the untitled female version of The Expendables. Dutch Southern will write the script.

Variety, which was the first to report on the news, said that talks with other female action stars are ongoing. The report doesn’t mention whom Shankar may have been talking to or who is on his shortlist. Some of the names that have been thrown around are: Linda Hamilton, Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis, Uma Thurman, Milla Jovovich, Kate Beckinsale, Lucy Lawless, Lucy Liu, Maggie Q, and Cynthia Rothrock.