Sure Shots: X-Men First Class; Abduction; The Hobbit

* It's Fall of the Mutants all over again. Ok, not quite, but Ben Walker, who recently was signed on to play Hank "Beast" McCoy in X-Men: First Class has apparently been dropped by the studio, and has decided to continue starring in the theater production of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.  Rumors are that Fox got a little hesitant regarding Walker due to their many recent box office failures, and wanted to acquire a bigger name for the part, somebody more Taylor Lautner-esque.  Keep in mind that Fox just recently had Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz stink up the box office in Knight & Day. How much bigger does it get than that?

* Speaking of Taylor Lautner, Elisabeth Rohm has signed on to his upcoming action flick, Abduction. The John Singleton directed flick stars Lautner as a guy who sees his own picture in a missing person's website, discovering that his parents had abducted him as a child. Most will recognize Rohm from her stint on Law & Order, but to me she'll always be Detective Kate Lockley on Angel. Guh.

* Is it possible that The Hobbit is about to lose its Gandalf? Maybe so if the production doesn't get underway pretty darn quick, as Ian McKellan, who played the venerable old wizard, revealed that time is running short. He's not under contract, and has a stage play he's completing plus other ventures afterwards. If MGM is going to get this thing moving, they better do it now otherwise they're going to lose a major component to LOTR's success. My opinion? If McKellan goes, the entire production goes under too.