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.

As the Jack Ryan reboot, starring Chris Pine, inches closer towards production, director and star Kenneth Branagah is still looking for someone who could play Jack Ryan’s wife. A report from Deadline says that Keira Knightley, Evangeline Lilly, and Felicity Jones are among the actresses on a shortlist for the lead role.

It has also been confirmed that Total Recall co-stars Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel are no longer being considered for the role.

Director Peter Jackson revolutionized fantasy cinema with his epic adaptation of J. R.R. Tolkien‘s Lord of the Rings trilogy, a monumental task, in spite of the author’s insistence that it could never be filmed. Given the phenomenal success with which Jackson pulled that off, how well would he tackle Tolkien’s earlier saga of Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit? San Diego Comic-Con Hall H fans found out earlier today with the panel for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Moderator Chris Hardwick(The Nerdist podcast) kicked off the Warner Brothers/Legendary Pictures panel with a surprise, by pulling open curtains across the back of the hall to unveil projection screens double standard size, larger than I’d ever seen in Hall H history. Over these screens they displayed a collage of images from the film, which gave fans a hint to the epic scale of the panel to follow. Then, they screened a behind-the-scenes reel of footage documenting the exhaustive 266-day production shoot, including some of the amazing epic sets and characters of Tolkien’s Middle Earth.

Real Steel
Directed by Shawn Levy
Starring Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goya
Release Date: October 7, 2011

Let’s clear the air right now, readers. Real Steel is on the surface an homage to the popular kids’ game Rock’em Sock’em Robots. It is hard to dispute that fact and I don’t think that the creators can even deny that there are similarities. What you don’t notice is that under the metal exterior lies a rather human story.

Real Steel‘s focuses on Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman), an ex-boxer down on his luck. Once, he went toe to toe with the champ, but as the world changed, so did boxing. Now, only robots compete in the squared circle, but even Charlie’s robot can’t cut a break. Things go from bad to worse when his ex-girlfriend passes away leaving him to care for his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo). Charlie wants nothing to do with the kid and only takes him in exchange for some cash, but eventually he warms to the kid and fights to keep him.

Director Peter Jackson has made the last major casting announcement for his t adaptation of The Hobbit, and one of the new announcements is causing a bit of a stir.

Jackson announced that LOST star Evangeline Lilly has been cast as Tauriel, a Woodland Elf whose name means “daughter of Mirkwood.” Jackson shares his excitement in Lilly being the one who will “bring our first true Sylvan Elf to life,” but says the character is a new one, leading many to wonder why the director would add a new character to J.R.R. Tolkien‘s classic tale.