The Morning Roundup: Japanese Watchmen Trailer, 1UP bought out by UGO, Mickey Rourke on the up

Written by: Mike Leader, Special to CC2K

This morning we've got depressing media news, uplifting Mickey Rourke 'comeback' news, adaptations and adaptations, plus a sweet new Japanese trailer for the Watchmen.

– Hey, did you hear? Mickey Rourke is BACK! Hey, forget all those cool roles he's had since 2003's Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and just call it a come-back, dammit. Not only has Rourke signed on to be in Stallone's upcoming bicep-studded action flick The Expendables (alongside genre royalty and general bigwigs such as Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Forrest Whittaker, Jason Statham and maybe Sir Ben Kingsley), but he is also down to star as the villain in Iron Man 2 .

– Lena Headey, the tasty star of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, is set to direct her own upcoming feature, called Kill Drug. Read about it here at Empire .

– McG, the director of Charlies Angels and T4, will be directing an adaptation of the Jules Verne story 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

– Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have signed on to star as the detectives Thompson and Thompson in the Spielberg-Jackson big-screen adaptation of the Belgian Tintin comics. Don't know how they're going to get around the whole not-identical-twins thing.

– Just when you thought all comics were being turned into movies, we hear that the planned Shazam movie has been cancelled . It's a shame, as the story of Billy Batson and his magic buzz-word could be turned into quite a good, light-hearted, high-concept family movie. Like Big meets Superman. Best leave it for a less overly-saturated time, perhaps. You can read more about the project at writer John August's blog.

– The gaming media world had a collective moment of silence this week as the news came that long-standing magazine EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly) was closing down, after almost 20 years of publication. The mag was one of the casualties suffered in the buyout of the 1UP network by the Hearst Corporation-owned UGO network. 1UP.com, which is one of the most popular and well-respected gaming sites on the net, also suffered layoffs in the transition, as around 30 of its staff have been fired. Read more about this over at Kotaku.

– To cheer you up after that. Here's the latest trailer from the Watchmen movie, all the way from Japan. This features quite a bit of new material, filling in the political and historical quirks of the story's alternate world. Interesting stuff, also featuring the best prosthetic nose this side of Nicole Kidman in The Hours! Give that bit-part player an Oscar, I tell you.