In the news this week:

Harry Potter announced as biggest-grossing film of 2011

Warner bros. Pictures's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 has been named the top-grossing release of 2011. Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution, Dan Fellman, and Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President of Internal Distribution, made the announcement early Tuesday, 9th August.

The last instalment of the JK. Rowling's Harry Potter series has broken many box-office records since its release in July, earning a titanic worldwide box-office gross of 1.146 billion dollars. It is ranked the third-highest film by gross profit of all time.

Fellman commented on the achievement, calling it 'an incredibly milestone for [..] this historic film series.' Rubinek gave similarly glowing praise, suggsting that the film 'can truly be called a global phenomenom.'

Bruce Willis to act as G.I. Joe

As expected, Bruce Willis has been named as the actor who will play Joe Colton in Paramount's G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

This news comes as no surprise, since Deadline suggested over a month ago on July 1st that Paramount were considering Willis for the role.

Paramount sets date for the release of Max Brooks's 'World War Z'

Paramount have announced the release date for zombie apocolypse movie World War Z - as the 21st December 2012.

Here's to hoping we'll all be alive to watch it, on such an apt release date for a movie of its genre!

Rise of The Planet of the Apes proving a US hit

Rupert Wyatt's Rise of the Planet of the Apes gave competition a run for its money for the weekend of 5-7th August, raking up an impressive 54 million dollars at the US box-office.

Coming a pale second to the Apes with 20 million dollars is The Smurfs, whose competition last week was Cowboys and Aliens. The true winner of the US audience's hearts was proved this weekend when Cowboys and Aliens made only 15 million dollars.

New release, The Change-Up, came fourth in this week's box office charts with $13 million dollars - a disappointing success, since its budget was 52 million dollars.

Week number 4 of Harry Potter's chart domination, still placing number 6 on the charts with 12 million dollars, but dropping 2 places since last week when it was solidly at number 4.

More Marvel Madness

Marvel are pushing for a moved based on Guardians of the Galaxy, according to Twitch.

If a Guardians film is in the pipeline, it will join the recent boom in Marvel movies - with a massive 29 Marvel comic movies in production, including Men In Black 3 and Iron Man 3.