Shadowhunters And Mockingjays And Oz, Oh My! (OR Books Into Movies News)

In the past few week, oodles of Books Into Movies news has hit the internet. So let's catch up, shall we?

i'll start with (in my opinion) the most important Books Into Movies news. That would be Catching Fire, of course. 
*A while back there was a rumor that Philip Seymour Hoffman might be cast as Plutarch Heavensbee. Well, now it's official. Welcome to the madness, sir.
*Also cast, Amanda Plummer will play Wiress. i've never heard of her but based on her pic alone, i'm all for her. So DON'T disappoint me, Amanda! 
*Add this one to the rumor pile, Tony Shalhoub is reportedly hoping to nab the role of Beetee. It doesn't seem like anything's official yet.
*Nooooooooo! It seems that Jenna Malone as Johanna Mason is gonna happen. i just noticed that they have the same initials. NOT that that means anything. It's certainly not fate. And so i repeat, Noooooooooooooo!
*Now for the MOST IMPORTANT of the most important news: We finally have our Finnick! Maybe. But let's not celebrate just yet. Put down your confetti, guys. Cos i just don't know about this one. The role has "allegedly" been offered to some guy named Sam Claflin. Who IS Sam Claflin?!?!? Well, according to imdb, which i quickly looked up just now, he played in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (which i still haven't seen) and Snow White and the Huntsman (which i also still haven't seen.) So i'm at a loss for who this cat is. So the next logical step would be: Google Search!!! So i got a butt-ton of images and decided on this one:

Is this the face of Finnick Odair?

What do y'all think? Is this dude who you were envisioning when you were introduced to Finnick? Me neither. But i wasn't envisioning Lenny Kravitz as Cinna either and that one turned out pretty well. So let's try to reserve our judgment for his performance and not just his face. 
*And lastly in Hunger Games movie news, it seems your next 3 Novembers will be spent with Katniss & Co. The release dates for the final 3 movies hit the internet a few weeks ago. Catching Fire will arrive in theaters November 22nd, 2013. Mockingjay Part 1 (yeah, it's being split into two movies. Boooo!) will be out November 21st, 2014. And Part 2 of Mockingjay will be heading to theaters November 20th, 2015.

*Another popular YA series that's had a lot of movie news lately is The Mortal Instruments.
First, check out a glimpse of the teaser poster (which is apparently a thing now, i guess?)  
Next we've got some casting to discuss. The role of Simon has finally been cast and it goes to someone named Robert Sheehan. i've never heard of him (i'm sensing a theme here. Are these Books Into Movies purposefully casting little-knowns? Hmm.) So what do you guys think? Simon material?
*In other casting news, Kevin Durand and Robert Maillet will be playing Pangborn and Blackwell, the disgraced Shadowhunters and Valentine's bitches.
*And in EVEN MORE casting news, the role of Magnus Bane goes to Godfrey Gao, Jocelyn Fray will be played by Lena Headey and Hodge will be played by Jared Harris. Three more peeps i've NEVER heard of.

There's a new Wizard of Oz movie coming soon! And it looks sooooooooo good! It stars James Franco as the great and powerful Oz before he was all great and powerful. i think James Franco is a good choice to play Oz. He's got just the right amount of oddball-osity to pull it off. Joining him in the movie, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz and Mila Kunis will play the 3 witches. Glenda, the Wicked Witch and the one the house fell on, i guess, respectively. 
Check out the trailer:   



i love how the trailer starts out small and in black and white and then the screen moves out and goes to color. It's supposed to be out sometime in March of 2013.

So what do you think about all this new news? Which movies are you excited about the most? Are you happy with any/all of the new casting decisions? Sound off in the comments and tell me what ya think.