Extras! Jackie Chan sings about police, Knights of Badassdom finally rides in, Fox kills people on a train and Jon Favreau picks up the sword of Shannara! Plus much more!

Welcome to The Extras! A daily dose of all the smaller movie related news, clips and just plain cool stuff that you might have missed!

We kick off today with the first trailer season 2 of Netflix’s House of Cards, because you can never have too much cool Kevin Spacey in your life.

Iron Man 1 & 2 director Jon Favreau will be swapping the big budget, high-tech action for some swords ‘n sorcery fantasy action on the small screen. MTV have given a script-to-series commitment to adapt Terry Brooks’ popular “Sword of Shanarra” series, and Favreau has been tapped to direct the pilot, which will be written by Smallville creators Miles Millar and Alan Gough. If MTV likes what they see, they’ll give it a straight-to-series order, with the three men acting as producers.

The Shanarra series follows an Elven family of the same name, whose magical adventure help shape the world of the Four Lands, which is hinted as being a far-off future, post apocalyptic United States where magic has replaced technology. The first season of the series is set to adapt the series’ popular and critically acclaimed second book, The Elfstones Of Shannara.

Did you know that yesterday and today is Hate Joffrey from Game of Thrones Day? If you’re wondering how this is different from any other day where you just want to PK the stupid off that kid’s face, well this time it’s official. HBO have asked their fans as well as the cast of the popular show to participate in a “roast” of the boy King on all major social media platforms. Just keep an eye out for the hashtag #roastjoffrey to join in on the fun.

Here are the first pics from Child 44, which is actually a new Stalin era set thriller starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and Gary Oldman, and not just the name of the latest runt in Nick’s hillbilly family litter.

Looks like its once again not safe to take trains across Asia. No, there are no terrorist attacks, but 20th Century Fox is looking to do a remake of Murder on the Orient Express. Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery novel was adapted in 1974 with Albert Finney playing the lead character of detective Hercule Poirot, who had to solve – yep, you guessed it – a murder on the Orient Express. The film would go on to garner six Academy Award nominations.

Now Ridley Scott, Mark Gordon and Simon Kinberg are looking to produce a new version of the tale for Fox, after the studio recently acquired the story’s film rights.

Here’s a synopsis of Christie’s original novel:

Just after midnight, a snowstorm stops the Orient Express dead in its tracks in the middle of Yugoslavia.  The luxurious train is surprisingly full for this time of year.  But by morning there is one passenger less.  A ‘respectable American gentleman’ lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside . . . Hercule Poirot is also aboard, having arrived in the nick of time to claim a second-class compartment—and the most astounding case of his illustrious career.

Ever wondered why people call you a geek or nerd. No, I’m not talking about your lack of social graces or highly advanced mathematical skills, I’m talking about why they actually use those words. Where did the actual words come from? i09 has some answers for you, and I have a feeling you’ll think twice about calling people geeks ever again.

We need some festive decorations around here, so how about this great Wreath of Khan?

The King of the Jungle just got some companionship/competition in the form of one bad-ass motherf$%#er. Samuel L. Jackson is looking to co-star in director David Yates’ Tarzan, which sees Alexander Skarsgard as the titular pulp hero. There are no details on exactly what Jackson’s role will be, not what narrative direction this version will take. What is known though is that Warner Bros first approached Jamie Foxx for the role, but due to numerous delays on production, Foxx passed on the gig giving Jackson, who had shown interest in the project’s infancy, the opportunity.

Are you one of those people who the moment the first pixel for the first letter of the first word of a movie’s credits appears on screen, you make a mad dash for the cinema exit, and then a week later when you’re chatting to your friends, they all laugh at you because you missed some big plot revelation that was in the film’s after credits scene? Well, then this list over on Reddit is for you, as they list all those movies that boast all those scenes.

We’ve written a lot about director Joe Lynch’s Knights of Badassdom, mostly about how years after shooting had finished, the film has still not been released. Well, now it looks like it’s finally seeing the light of day, as a new announcement trailer has been unveiled indicating that the film will be out in the early part of 2014. Unfortunately though, sources indicate that this is not Lynch’s cut of the film which was shown at Comic Con a few years ago to much fanfare, but rather the 70-minute cut which was slapped together by the film’s production studio after they wrested control from Lynch and shelved it years ago.

Up and coming Aussie actress Courtney Eaton may soon be eating some of those “word burgers” with Mad Max on his Fury Road, and after that she’s apparently going to upset North African deities as Eaton has landed the female role in Alex Proya’s Summer fantasy epic, Gods of Egypt. The film follows the events after mad god Set, kills his brother, Osiris. Osiris’ son, Horus, seeks revenge but fails in his attempt, and has his eyes plucked out in the process, leaving him to rely on a young thief to continue his quest for him. Eaton will play a young female slave with whom the thief, played by Brenton Thwaites, falls in love. Gerard Butler has been cast as Set, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays Horus, and Geoffrey Rush will play Ra, father to Set and Osiris.

I’ve listed plenty of reasons over the years as to why Jackie Chan is just an incredible bundle of awesomeness, and now you can add one more: He’s quite the singer. Chan has released a music video/trailer for Police Story 2013, the latest film in his long running, fan favourite franchise, and I have to admit that I was seriously humming along by the end of this, despite not knowing a word of what was being said.

If you have anything you would like to contribute to Extras, whether it be interesting stories, funny videos, or artistic photos of yourself in morally questionable poses, feel free to drop a mail to kervyn@themovies.co.za.

Last Updated: December 13, 2013