Walt Disney Studios made some big announcements yesterday at their D23 Expo. One of which is the reveal that they have entered into a collaboration with none other than visual genius Guillermo del Toro, and will be launching a special new production label called Double Dare You. The goal for this new label: create a slew of new animated feature films for people of all ages, that are a lot more on the dark and scary side of things. The projects will all be overseen and produced by del Toro — who originally came up with the concept and design of the label — with some even being directed by him personally.

This is fantastic news for fans of animated movies. Guillermo del Toro is the absolute king of visually sensational cinema, and to have his hand and his style going into some darker animated films could be truly wonderful. It would be expected that the movies will have something of a Monster House feel to them.

If you’re not familiar with the story, for a long while now, the plan to build a gigantic new movie and TV studio on the East Coast has been fast in motion. The goal was to have this huge facility similar to that of a the legendary Hollywood production studios that would allow the big time film and television producers out there a legitimate option to always shooting out West. It took quite a while to get things lined up, and changes had to be made in the state’s former tax and financial set-up to make it appealing enough, but all hurdles were cleared and the massive project was approved. The development is currently moving right along at its Plymouth, Massachusetts location, and the $500 Million Plymouth Rock Studios is heading straight for a Fall 2010 opening planned.

So what exactly will this brand new high-tech, completely “Green,” eco-friendly LEED studio complex offer to those who set up shop there for big projects? The studio is being constructed on 240 acres of land, and will become the largest production facilities in the entire Northeast, which will create 2,000 new job opportunities. It will contain 14 sound stages, with 10 acres set to become back lots. Included among these shooting locations, will also be all of the other major areas to production: offices for production and post-production, casting agencies, and even an amenity village with a bunch of convenient on site services, like a coffee shop, dry cleaners, retail and grocery/convenience stores, hotels, restaurants, and a post office, among many others. With all of these things, people won’t have to worry about coming and going — everything will be right there for them in what they call a “studio as city concept.” All of this paired with the 25% film tax credit and a more calm, tranquil, and beautiful location that’s only an hour from Boston and multiple airport options, makes Plymouth Rock Studios an incredibly attractive new option.

Click on over to see a great virtual tour video, and a few images, including some concepts of what the studio will look like when completed.

Daniel Craig has been around for quite some time, but didn’t really catch eyes until 2002’s Road to Perdition. Since then, he’s appeared in movies like Layer Cake, Munich, The Golden Compass, and of course, as the latest and greatest James Bond in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Craig has now added a new job to his schedule with the announcement that he’ll star in the Universal Pictures and Morgan Creek psychological thriller, Dream House.

The movie will be directed by Jim Sheridan, the celebrated writer and director of critically acclaimed films like My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown, In the Name of the Father, The Boxer, and In America — three of which featured Daniel Day-Lewis, who’s well-known for choosing his roles very cautiously. He’s currently working on the film Black Mass, which tells the story of the infamous and elusive fugitive mafia godfather, Whitey Bulger. Sheridan has been nominated for an impressive six Academy Awards, but has yet to win one.

Click on over to the other side for the official synopsis.

UPDATE: MTV spoke to Guy Ritchie, who did confirm that the character of Moriarty will be in the movie somehow. It’s still very doubtful that it will be Brad Pitt in the role, but Ritchie did say the actor would be uncredited. This means we have a Kevin Spacey in Se7en situation which will see some sort of big reveal in the very brief moments we see the character in. No complaints here, those are always fun.

A huge rumor set fire to the ‘net yesterday, claiming that Brad Pitt had joined the cast of Guy Ritchie‘s Sherlock Holmes as suspiciously-missing Moriarty. The report came from London’s not-so-trustworthy tabloid, The Daily Mirror, and within hours, Warner Brothers had issued a statement denying the report.

No word yet on if the well-known villain will be cast at all in the movie. Considering it’s an origins movie and they have a villain in Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), one would assume that if Pitt (or someone like him) was cast as Moriarty, they would likely show up in Nick Fury fashion, at the end or after the credits, in order to set up the sequel. We already know that this has every intention of becoming a franchise, so it would make sense to do. Better yet, the statement issued by Warner Bros. confirms that they will be shooting some extra scenes for the movie, though they are still planning a Christmas Day 2009 release. So while the Brad Pitt report is completely false, it wouldn’t be shocking if they were putting together some kind of Moriarty introduction cameo.

Click on over to the other side to read WB’s statement.

Just this past weekend at San Diego Comic Con 2009, James Cameron made the mega-announcement that August 21, 2009 would be Avatar Day, and that fans would be able to head out to participating IMAX theaters to see 15 whole minutes of glorious 3-D footage from the upcoming movie (Read: SDCC 09: See 15 Minutes of James Cameron’s “˜Avatar’ In 3D Imax For Free On August 21), which will be released on December 18, 2009. This gives movie-goers the chance to really see what the movie is all about and how it hopes to change the cinema experience as we presently know it.

Now comes details via a press release that there will indeed be a whole lot more to Avatar Day than just the 15-minute preview that was announced — in fact, a multitude of Avatar goodies are on the way on August 21!