Usually when a popular name is cast in a movie that has a solid buzz behind it, there’s a nice official announcement in the trades or via press release. In an interesting turn of events, it appears that this particular announcement was made in subtle passing.

In an article by The New York Times about how big of a boost it is to directors, writers, and actors after they grab themselves an Academy Award nomination, The Hurt Locker star Jeremy Renner became the focus. While talking about how great his nod for Best Actor has been, and how it will allow him to get comfortable and pick the roles that he wants, it was revealed that Renner will be appearing in James McTeigue‘s The Raven.

Universal Pictures is making some big moves with two upcoming titles based on toys by Hasbro: Stretch Armstrong and Battleship.

The biggest announcement comes in the form of Taylor Lautner, star of The Twilight Saga, who has yet again been cast as a superhero of sorts with incredible abilities: Stretch Armstrong. Just in the past few months, we’ve discovered that Lautner was being cast in the title role of teen hero flick, Max Steel, and also that he might be showing up in the not-so-superhero-based remake of 1985’s Vision Quest.

Aside from this casting announcement and the shocking reveal that the movie will be in 3D, not much has been said of the Stretch Armstrong movie. It, like so many other toy-based movie projects, was simply announced and then ventured off to do whatever it has been doing. All we do know is that Steve Oedekerk (Bruce Almighty, Kung-Pow) has written the screenplay, and that mega-producer Brian Grazer is one of the names behind the production.

A remake of the 1984 David Lynch film Dune has been on the way for a while now. The movie was beginning to take some steps when The Rundown and Hancock director Peter Berg was hired to helm the remake. These steps ended when Berg stepped away after he was offered the opportunity to direct a movie based on the popular Hasbro game, Battleship, which he felt that he simply couldn’t turn down. Now comes word via Entertainment Weekly that Paramount Pictures has found and hired Berg’s replacement for Dune, and his name is Pierre Morel.

Morel is fairly new to the directing game, but he has showed promise so far. He directed the popular Liam Neeson angry father film Taken, and the upcoming John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers action flick, From Paris With Love. Before starting his career as a director, he also worked as a cinematographer on movies like Jason Statham’s The Transporter and War.

Turning toys and games into movies is no new deal. Dodgeball: An Underdog Story, Transformers, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra have come and gone, with movies based on Battleship, Stretch Armstrong, Clue, Candy Land, Ouiji, Monopoly, and others still on the way. Adding to the party, Universal Pictures has announced that they have plans to take the legendary Barbie and turn her into a live-action movie, as well.

As crazy as these announcements always sound, this decision is a no-brainer, really. As her maker Mattel states, the toy celebrity has 99% worldwide brand awareness. You don’t have to be Good Will Hunting to know that’s pretty strong. The question here really is: what do you actually DO for a Barbie movie? The current plan to get going on finding some writers to take it on, but producer Laurence Mark isn’t worried, explaining that Barbie has had over 120 jobs over her 50-year existence, which opens the door to countless choices.

Universal Pictures has announced that Peter Berg will be the man to direct the next movie based on a toy or game from Hasbro, and that movie is Battleship. They also announced that the movie will be released on July 1, 2011.

At first, the announcement that a Battleship movie was even being made was confusing, but now that we’ve seen fellow Hasbro product G.I. Joe have a moderately successful theatrical showing, nothing seems too crazy. In a way, this will of course just be a Naval movie with the toy brand behind it, as no actual storyline exists from the game. Berg describes his vision of the movie as “a contemporary story of an international five-ship fleet engaged in a very dynamic, violent and intense battle.”

As it turns out, Berg’s father was a Naval historian, and the director’s childhood was coated with all things Navy, so he has been searching for a movie where he could use that untapped knowledge. The deal also came with the chance to direct a movie after Battleship that he personally wrote called The Lone Survivor, which follows a Navy Seals team who is attacked in Afghanistan.