James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosting Oscars 2011

And they’re off! The Oscars 2011 hype machine has kicked itself into gear after a few months of hibernation, with news that James Franco and Anne Hathaway will be hosting this year’s ceremony.

After last year’s comedy duo Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin kept the laughs coming, it seems the Academy want to go younger in 2011 with bright young things Franco and Hathaway.

“James Franco and Anne Hathaway personify the next generation of Hollywood icon,” say Oscar producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer, “fresh, exciting and multi-talented.

“We hope to create an Oscars broadcast that will both showcase their incredible talents and entertain the world on February 27. We are completely thrilled that James and Anne will be joining forces with our brilliant creative team to do just that.”

This will mark Hathaway’s fifth appearance at the Oscars (she even contributed to one of Hugh Jackman’s opening numbers), while it’s the second time out for Franco. Considering they’re both charismatic stars, we’re sure they’ll pull it off with aplomb.

The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony will take place on 27 February, 2011.

Kirsten Dunst joins Chloe Moretz in Hick

Kirsten Dunst and Chloe Moretz will star together in an adaptation of Andrea Portes’ novel Hick.

Moretz is tipped to play the lead character of a 13-year-old Nebraska girl who runs away from home for the bright lights of Las Vegas – and gets more than she bargained for.

Though Dunst’s role has yet to be confirmed, it seems likely that she’ll play Glenda, a concaine-snorting pick pocket who takes the young runaway under her wing.

Which will be a nice shake-up to the routine for the usually squeaky clean former Mary Jane. Dunst can next be seen in All Good Things with Ryan Gosling, and has just shot the adap of Jack Kerouac’s novel On The Road with Garrett Hedlund.

Irvin Kershner passes aged 87

Come on, God, give us a break. Just as we were reeling from the news that Leslie Nielsen had passed, we're now hearing Irvin Kershner has died, aged 87.

Best known for directing the greatest Star Wars film ever made - The Empire Strikes Back - Kershner also directed Never Say Never Again and RoboCop II meaning that he told Han Solo, James Bond and Officer Alex J Murphy what to do, making him infinitely cool, forever.

We agree with Simon Pegg's moving tribute: "RIP Irvin Kershner director of The Empire Strikes Back. For me, yours was the best of all."

Harry Potter’s spell on box office holds strong

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 saw none of its magic wane at the box office this weekend, as it claimed the number one spot for the second week running.
Beating off competition from Disney’s Tangled, Cher’s Burlesque and The Rock’s Faster, the wand-happy sequel took a further $50m.

Which brings its total haul to $220m, just shy of the $250m that was spent on the budget of both parts of the franchise closer. We’re sure the WB are very happy indeed.

Disney’s well-received new CGI fairytale Tangled settled for second place ($49m), just ahead of other CG vehicle Megamind ($12m), while saucy Burlesque opened in fourth ($11.8m) and runaway train movie Unstoppable closed out the top five ($11.7m).

Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway’s shagathon Love And Other Drugs tumbled around in sixth place ($9.8m), Dwayne Johnson’s revenge thriller Faster got seventh ($8.8m) and Due Date slipped from fourth to eighth ($7.3m).

The final two places in the top ten went to Russell Crowe’s prison break drama The Next Three Days in ninth ($4.8m) and Rachel McAdams comedy Morning Glory ($4m).

Next week, Black Swan and The Warrior’s Way open. Can they topple Harry Potter?

Leslie Nielsen dies aged 84

The Canadian actor, who had us crying with laughter with his many varied comedy roles, passed away after suffering from a case of pneumonia.

Nielsen spent the past 12 days at the Ft. Lauderdale Hospital, and his condition took a turn for the worse over the weekend.

“With his friends and his wife, Barbaree, by his side, he fell asleep and passed away,” said Doug Nielsen, the actor’s nephew.

Nielsen is perhaps best known to an entire generation as bumbling detective Frank Drebin in the Naked Gun movies, though his turn in Airplane! earned him the moniker “the Olivier of spoofs”.

Starting out in the 1950s, Nielsen also earned acclaim as a serious actor with his role in The Poseidon Adventure.

Rest in peace, buddy.