One of the many films being promoted at this year’s New York Comic-Con was director Richard LaGrevenese’s Beautiful Creatures.  Based on the three-book series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the story centers on two mystically charged teens who are mysteriously drawn to one another despite never having met, and uncover some unsettling secrets about their families and the small southern town in which they live.  The film stars Alice Englert, Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis and Emma Thompson.  For more on Beautiful Creatures, here’s the first trailer, a featurette, our set visit preview, and Matt’s recap of NYCC.

Shortly before the panel, I got to sit down with Emmy Rossum for an exclusive video interview.  We talked about her experiences with Comic-Con, whether there’s anything she collects, her preferred version of the board game Risk and how she’s looking for a first edition, how she got involved in Beautiful Creatures and her accent, the third season of Shameless, her plans for hiatus, Twitter and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

On a conference call to discuss third-quarter earnings, Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner gave updates on a number of movies. While much of what he said we’ve previously written about, this was the first time anyone had given an update on the status of Transformers 4 and when it might be officially announced.  Here’s the highlights of his conversation:

• Goldner hopes to be able to announce Transformers 4 next quarter as they are talking with Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay and Paramount.
• The Ouija script is “in good shape and is being polished now, meaning that the film could be back with a studio shortly.”  via THR.  We previously posted how Universal dropped the project but maybe with a lower budget the film could move ahead.
• A Micronauts movie script is being written with J.J. Abrams producing and it’s set up at Paramount.  We’ve know this for awhile.
• Goldner doesn’t see Hasbro producing their own films like Marvel.
• Hasbro is still developing movie scripts for Monopoly, Risk, Clue, Stretch Armstrong and Candyland.

With every kid growing up playing Hasbro board games and name recognition being so important in marketing, it’s no surprise the studios are trying to make these projects work.  However, many of these board games seem like long shots to ever hit the screen.  The big info is Transformers 4.  With Bay saying the 3rd Transformers movie would be his last, who will Hasbro get to replace him?  Matt wrote about the six directors who could take over the franchise.  I think a few of them would be great choices.

If you’ve been waiting with bated breath for a film version of Hasbro’s never-ending board game Risk, well today’s your day. Columbia Pictures has tapped John Hlavin (Underworld: New Dawn) to pen the screenplay for the adaptation of the strategy game. Risky Business reports that the film version will be an action thriller set in modern day. I’m not entirely sure how a film can be resemble the game, unless you cut-away from battle scenes set on Earth to giants in space moving pieces around and yelling at each other over accusations of cheating. That’s a movie I would see. Hlavin wrote a couple of episodes of FX’s The Shield and also penned the Western revenge thriller The Gunslinger which James Mangold is directing.

What do you get when you cross Transformers, Play-Doh, Mr. Potato Head, G.I. Joe, My Little Pony, and the Easy-Bake Oven?  Well, if you’re Hasbro, you get an Avengers-style movie.  Hasbro has found crazy success with Transformers, moderate success with G.I. Joe, and likely will find varying degrees of success with forthcoming films based on Battleship, Micronauts, Risk, Stretch Armstrong, Ouija, Monopoly, Candy Land, and Clue.  (For more on those projects, check out this video interview with Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner)

It turns out the ubiquitous toy company is developing Hasbro Factory, a cinematic grouping all your favorite Hasbro toys.  Details are still scare, and there is no word yet on which specific toys will be called on to make an appearance, but Pajiba reports the project is “out to writers”.  Note that in an interview with Steve, Stretch Armstrong writer Nicholas Stoller claimed that Stretch wouldn’t be part of some expansive Hasbro universe (“It’s going to be totally its own thing”).  Never say never, I suppose.

I haven’t played “Risk” in quite some time so all I really know about it is the “Seinfeld” episode where Kramer and Newman are playing it on the subway and Kramer says the Ukraine is weak and then a Ukrainian man smashes their game.  I was still puzzled how you could bring a game with such tiny pieces with you.  I guess that’s TV magic.  Sony is now attempting some movie magic and will adapt Hasbro’s “Risk”.  Hit the jump and roll the dice so your troops can attack or something.