Happy Birthday, Asa - From Your "Ender's Game" Family!

The clock just chimed midnight in England and Asa Butterfield is now officially 16 years old. Happy birthday!

To celebrate Asa's 16th, we asked a few of his Ender's Game friends to send in a birthday greeting and they rose to the occasion, more than happy to help celebrate the day of the guy we will all soon know as Ender Wiggin.

We'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


Stunt coordinator Garrett Warren and stunt fight choreographer JJ Perry

Brandon Soo Hoo (Fly Molo) -- Fun fact: Asa's nickname at Space Camp was Tea Bag. Brandon's was Soooshi.

Aramis Knight (Bean)

Cameron Gaskins (Pol Slattery)

Khylin Rhambo (Dink Meeker)

Suraj Partha (Alai)

Conor Carroll (Bernard)

Michael Provost (Asa's acting double)	Cassandra from Ender's Ansible

Crystal from EnderWiggin.net	Kelly from Ender News

"You don't have to command anybody," said Dink, "but you're always our commander."

 Happy birthday, Asa. We can't wait to find out what the rest of 2013 has in store for you.

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The best part of the teaser poster...

... was finding out what "those triangle things" actually were.

Stars. Who knew?

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Pick up an "Ender's Game" Teaser Poster at WonderCon!

Can't wait to get your hands on your own copy of the recent Ender's Game teaser poster? Lucky fans attending WonderCon in Anaheim this weekend (March 29-30) don't have long to wait -- the studio has made mini-posters available throughout the convention!

Here some info from the studio regarding where you can pick one up:

"The posters can be found at the Wondercon Freebie table throughout the show. KROQ will be giving them away on on-site Saturday (March 29th) from 4pm - 7pm. Additionally, they can look for the Ender's Game team that will be wandering in areas outside of the convention center. "

Any lucky Launchies attending WonderCon this weekend? Feel like sending us some photos? You can reach us anytime at endernews@gmail.com.

Good luck, guys. Let us know what you find!

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Harrison Ford: "I think [Ender's Game] could be great."

Harrison Ford sat down with ET recently to talk about his upcoming projects, Ender's Game included. When asked how his experience on the movie was, Ford replied:

Very interesting. It's a very ambitious movie and I was very interested in the opportunity to be part of it. The character I play is interesting to me... I haven't seen anything much. I think it could be great.

View the full video below.

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Official Site IF-Sentinel: Now With Splash Page

Last week, a few observant Ender's Game fans noticed that Summit had added links to both the official movie Twitter (@EndersGameMovie) and site (IF-Sentinel.com). While the latter previously only redirected visitors back to Summit-Ent, it looks like some updates have been made as there is now a super cool splash page, complete with the tagline we've all been waiting to see: The Enemy's Gate is Down:

Right now, apart from some social media links (Facebook, Twitter, G+, and Tumblr), all we get is a bit of a tease: "The next invasion is imminent. Stay informed." We'll certainly be doing so, as it looks like something is coming our way fairly soon -- something exciting if this promotional page is anything to go by.

What do you guys make of it? Is there anything in particular you hope to see from IF-Sentinel.com once it launches? Theorize in the comments!

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EnderCast Episode #07: The Enemy's Gate

 

 Hey Launchies! Yesterday Crystal and I recorded and released another episode of EnderCast titled The Enemy's Gate. In this episode we covered:

-- The poster! There's a lot of poster talk, actually.
-- Gavin Hood's Yahoo! Movies interview
-- Bob Orci’s trailer tweet
-- Trailer release rumor
-- CinemaCon 2013

We hope you enjoy! And don't forget, you can also subscribe to us on iTunes and listen to EnderCast whenever and wherever you like.

Thanks for tuning in!

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"Ender's Game" on Beyond the Trailer

Ender's Game was featured today on the popular YouTube-based entertainment news show "Beyond the Trailer." The host, Grace Randolph, gives a super quick and spoiler-y rundown of Orson Scott Card's story and what we know about the Ender's Game movie so far.

It's a pretty good watch, and she brings up some fun points. It's interesting that she describes Bean as "Ender's biggest competition at the school" since in the novel they never really competed in anything. However, it's rather possible that the character shows up very early in the film's storyline and thus exists initially more as Ender's competitor than his protégé.

What do you guys think -- has Bean's storyline been altered due to time constraints so that he's acquainted with Ender well before Dragon Army? If so, do you think it's friendly competition or a real Battle School rivalry?

It's super exciting that entertainment bloggers are starting to cover the movie -- and we'll only be seeing more of this sort of thing as promotion for the movie picks up!

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Hi-Res Teaser Poster and New Synopsis

Hey guys! Summit was kind enough to send around a higher resolution version of the poster so everyone can get a much better view of the Battle Room in all its glory! (Click here to download)

We've also been given an updated synopsis, one with a few more details than the one floating around previously. Check it out:

"In the near future, a hostile alien race called the Formics have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young minds to find the future Mazer.

Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy but strategically brilliant boy, is recruited to join the elite.  Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult challenges and simulations, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military’s next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School.  Once there, he’s trained by Mazer Rackham himself to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.

Based on the best-selling, award winning novel, ENDER’S GAME is an epic adventure which stars Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, with Abigail Breslin and Harrison Ford."

Don't forget to follow the official movie Twitter and Facebook page to stay up-to-date with everything Ender's Game!

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"Ender's Game" Trailer Coming in May?

Now that we have seen this truly spectacular first movie poster, we are even more eagerly waiting to see the Battle Room in action, to see the first trailer for Ender's Game! But it looks like we may have to wait until early to mid May for this treat.

Producer Roberto Orci confirmed today on Twitter that we are getting a trailer for Ender's Game with Star Trek Into Darkness. The film opens on May 9 in Germany, May 10 in the UK, and on May 17 in the U.S. and many other countries. As Bob Orci is a producer for both Ender's Game and Star Trek, he surely knows what he is talking about.

As I was speculating a couple of days ago, "if we assume an Ender's Game poster to be released next week we could expect a trailer for early to mid-May. And that points to Iron Man 3 or Star Trek 2 as the most promising titles if the studio decides to stick to its successful marketing schedule from The Hunger Games." Believe me, I'd rather had been wrong and we'd get a trailer much earlier than mid-May.

But keep in mind, even with Roberto Orci's tweet, this is still speculation until a date has been announced officially. There is still a chance that a trailer will debut earlier, maybe for CinemaCon or online. I can't wait to see some live Battle Room action and you can be sure that if nothing happens before that date, I will be sitting in a theater on May 9.

Update: Summit has confirmed we can take Orci's word for it: the Ender's Game trailer will be seen in front of Star Trek Into Darkness this May.

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Director Gavin Hood Talks Battle Room

For today's release of the first teaser poster which you can check out here, Gavin Hood participated in a phone interview with Yahoo! Movies and spoke extensively about the creation of the Battle Room.

Did you guys know that it was the first aspect of the film that Hood and his production team worked on?

"We put together a 45-second teaser based around the idea of a character jumping out of a gate into zero gravity and just floating into this amazing space,” Hood said in the interview. (Yahoo)

An amazing space -- and a very large one:

So how big is the interior of the Battle Room? Hood said, "This is the high school football field, only it's in three dimensions. It's the size of a football field in all directions: up, down, left, right. And the idea is teams jump out from opposite ends of this amazing space and play this amazing game of 3D paintball, almost."

In order to "convey the size and dimensionality of the space," Hood also admitted that he wanted to change the shape of the Battle Room from square to spherical. He also suggested making the massive curved walls transparent so the soldiers could see outside while the space station slowly turned and orbited Earth.

"What if we could see through? What if we could see out of the space, and we’re moving around the Earth and turning at the same time?" He said he felt that would create "a really strange, disorienting experience," that would better capture the notion in the book that in space there really is no up or down.

Curved, transparent walls add a whole other element to the Battle Room. Not only would the space be affected by the changing of the light, but the visibility of the Earth and moon would make the soldiers  feel as though they really are floating around in space.

And what better way to motivate the young recruits than giving them a beautiful bird's-eye view of the planet they have been called upon to protect?

220 days until Ender's Game hits US theaters.

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First Teaser Poster Unveiled!

Here it is, guys!

Thanks to Yahoo! Movies, we get a look today at the first official Ender's Game teaser poster: an exciting shot of Ender in his flash suit standing in the gate, the rest of the Battle Room spread out in front of him.

In the poster, you can see the stars around which the soldiers maneuver during the battles - as well as a spectacular view of Earth and the setting sun. Does this mean the Battle Room is transparent? Awesome!

In case you missed it, Gavin Hood updated the production blog yesterday, giving us tiny glimpse of the newest poster along with a few tidbits about filming and how they prepared for the Battle Room. Make sure to check it out!

What do you guys think about the poster? We think it looks incredible.

Ender's Game hits theaters November 1, 2013.

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Teaser Poster Preview: Hey, Gavin Hood!

Exciting news, guys! Ender's Game director Gavin Hood sat down recently to share a few thoughts in anticipation of the first teaser poster which is being released tomorrow at 9 a.m. PT via Yahoo! Movies. He also posted a small peek of what we're going to see in its full glory tomorrow, so jump over to the official production blog and have a look!

"Without exception, every person who works on this wonderful film brings more than just skill to the table. They bring passion." (Read more)

We're really loving the poster preview and we can't wait to see the full version tomorrow! And long time no hear from the production blog, right? It's great to see that it's once again being put to use!

Check back tomorrow to see the teaser poster in full!

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Battle School Food: Contest Winners!

Congrats to Hannah Craswell and Kevin (enderslot) for winning the Make Your Own Battle School Food contest! Send me your mailing address, guys -- I have something cool for you both!

Here are Hannah's recipes:

Peanut Bar
- 1 pack of gelatin
- Lots of peanuts
- 1 cup of water

Boiled the water. Mixed the gelatin into the water until it dissolved  Dumped a LOT of peanuts into the mixture. Put wax paper in a glass bread dish. Dumped the mixture into the dish. Dumped more peanuts in. Set it in the fridge for about 2 hours. Cut out a piece from the side. It pretty much just fell apart. I would suggest not making the peanut bar how I did, it was messy!

Carrot Bar
- Fresh carrot juice
- 1 packet of orange jello

Boiled about 3/4 cup of carrot juice and but another 3/4 cup in the freezer with some ice cubes. Dumped the jello powder into the boiling carrot juice and stirred until it had probably dissolved. It's a little hard to tell when the water is orange! Dumped to ice carrot juice into the mixture. Pulled what was left of the ice cubes out. Dumped the mixture into a Tupperware dish. Set it in the fridge for about 2 hours. Once it seemed solid enough, I cut out a piece from the side to see how it looked. Looked good to me! I cut a nice piece out of the middle.

I had run out of plain gelatin, so I had to use the orange. I ended up being happy I did because the result actually tasted ok!

Pea Bar (smells as bad as it sounds.)
- 1 can of peas
- 1 packet of lime jello

Mashed an entire can of peas in a small hole strainer. I didn't drain the can because I wanted the green liquid. This made just over 1 cup of liquid. I boiled about 3/4 cup and iced the remaining aprox. 1/2 cup. Again, I was out of regular gelatin, so I used lime. I mixed the jello into the boiling liquid and then added the cold liquid. I was super disappointed because the lime jello made the mixture way too bright. I decided to add the mashed peas. I wouldn't recommend doing that, it made cutting out the piece much more difficult. I poured the mixture into a Tupperware container and let it sit in the fridge for about 2 hours. I then took it out. I used a cup to cut a circle in the middle. The jello kind of just mushed, mostly due to the peas in the mixture.

Desert
- 1 egg white
- 3 tbl splenda
- 1.5 cups water
- 1 pack of gelatin
- Marmalade
- Coconut
- Vanilla

Beat the egg white and splenda until it's about the consistency of whip cream. Add the water and tapioca into a sauce pan on medium until it boils. As soon as it boils, remove from heat and add the egg mixture and pack of gelatin. Stir and make sure it's mixed completely. Add about 1 tsp vanilla, a couple spoon fulls of marmalade, and a good amount of coconut. Mix well. I poured this into a silicon tray I had that it a bunch of small ovals. In one, I put down some plastic wrap and then poured the mixture into it. The plastic wrap oval was the only one I was able to remove completely, so I highly recommend doing that! - This turned out SUPER tasty!

Bread
I followed this recipe: http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/breads/easy-peasy-bread-sticks/ 

Here are Kevin's recipes:

 

"My thinking was two-fold. First as a set-design mindset and second as what would be in Battle school if it existed. So, I wanted it really simple, it would have to be mass produced. The ingredients would probably have to last. Because it’s being sent into space, so I was thinking sort of army food. It would also have to be low fat.  In space even with artificial gravity, I don’t think anyone’s getting the same amount of exercise they would on Earth.

First the Carrot Jello
- carrot juice (store bought_
- gelatin
- honey

Honey was a thing I used in all the foods because it’s a natural preservative and I wanted to use it in place of sugar. The portions are 1 cup juice for every packet of gelatin. The honey I just added in a bit when I was heating up the carrot juice.

I’m glad the food wasn’t supposed to taste good, because, well...

Pea Gelatin
- frozen peas

- water

- gelatin

- honey

This actually reminded me of a cross between the Japanese bean paste you put in monju and Kanten except it’s not a sweets thing.

The portions are the same as above. I boiled the peas, and drained them. Then in a little water I mashed them up and added a little honey. Bean paste you add a lot of brown sugar, which I wasn’t going to put in, but I think it would have made this taste... better.

3/4 cup mashed up peas to gelatin in ¼ cup of water

I don’t like peas. 

Peanut Thing

- ½ cup peanut butter
- honey

- Over 1 cup peanuts

- 2 packets of gelatin

This was sorta a failure to me. The idea in my head was better than the outcome.

Originally I was going to add oats to make it more like a peanut granola bar, but I stuck with a gelatin-type thing that could be eaten with a spoon. I think I would use less peanut butter next time.  Coincidentally, this was the best tasting of the three.

I heated the peanut butter and honey, put the gelatin in ½ cup of water, mixed them together and added the peanuts in the pan.

--

Congrats, guys! Thanks to you both so much for participating. Again, if you send me your mailing address, I will get your prize in the mail for you ASAP. 

Also, if you want to check out the rest of Hannah's photos -- I really applaud the effort she made with her costume -- you can check them out over on Facebook!

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"Ender's Game" Marketing: What to Expect!

Marketing for Ender's Game is about to start now, and I mean for real! Remember that this is one of the hottest films of the 2013 season with a $100M+ budget, a world star cast with highly decorated actors and actresses (Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis), as well as the best of Young Hollywood (Asa Butterfield, Abigail Breslin, Hailee Steinfeld).

And also don't forget that this project is run by Lionsgate and its Summit Entertainment subdivision who have a vast experience with young adult franchises (Twilight series, The Hunger Games, soon: Divergent).

This is going to be huge!

We are now 224 days away from the movie's November 1st release date which means we are already slightly overdue with the marketing campaign. Promotion for the first Hunger Games film started 237 days ahead of its first day in theaters with the release of an official poster. I will use The Hunger Games marketing schedule as a grid for what to expect from the Ender's Game campaign, which makes sense as The Hunger Games was Lionsgate's biggest box office success to date. With likely a similar team behind the Ender's Game campaign, there is little reason for them to change anything if they hope to duplicate this success story.

Keep in mind: this is all speculation from my side! Nothing has been confirmed with the studio, and naturally they are very tight-lipped about their marketing schedule as creating a buzz and surprises are a core part of any movie promotion.

The Hunger Games Marketing Schedule

2011-07-19: First Poster (237 days ahead of theatrical release)
2011-07-20: Official Website launched (236 days)
2011-08-28: Teaser Trailer (197 days)
2011-10-28: Character Posters (136 days)
2011-11-14: First Full Trailer (119 days)
2012-01-19: Final Poster (53 days)
2012-02-01: Second Full Trailer (40 days)
2012-03-12: Theatrical Release

First Movie Poster

This is the first thing we should expect for Ender's Game. Granted, due to some twitter posts which surfaced recently, we know already that a movie poster exists but it hasn't been yet been officially released. That can and should happen any day now! And the poster is going to be spectacular, no doubt about that. With the colour schemes shown in previously released images and graphics (stills, army badges), and the sci-fi tech theme of the story that requires all the VFX work for the movie, we shouldn't expect anything less than spectacular!

Official Website for the Movie

A website dedicated to the Ender's Game movie should be launched shortly after the poster release. With The Hunger Games it was the next day. There is a good chance that the domain will be IF-Sentinel.com, as this address is currently listed on the movie's official Twitter and showed up briefly on Summit's website before the link was removed. But we can't know for sure until the site has actually been launched.

However, if you go to another of Summit's domains with an Ender's Game title, endersgame-themovie.com ... see for yourself what happens.

IF obviously stands for "International Fleet", the organization that protects Earth from alien invasions and runs the Battle School academy where most of the movie will take place. And the term "sentinel" is commonly used for publications (periodicals or newspapers) and you find dozens of "sentinel" named newspapers in the U.S. alone. This should get very interesting as the website seems to intend to do more than just showing off press releases, stills and trailers!

CinemaCon 2013

Both Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld will be honored in a big awards ceremony at this year's CinemaCon convention which will be held from April 15-18 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Just a couple of hours before this ceremony, on April 18 at 2:30 PM, an exclusive product presentation from Lionsgate is scheduled at this location, and as it focuses on the studio's "2013 release schedule featuring several special guests," you can bet your house on the fact that Ender's Game will be prominently featured.

It is very possible that new materials - posters, banners, displays, stills, maybe even a trailer - will be released along with CinemaCon. Many studios have used that opportunity in the past to make movie imagery available to the public, although a mid-April date seems a bit early for Lionsgate to start pushing character posters or so, but you never know... so be alert in mid-April! And the April 18 date of the presentation is 197 days ahead of the Ender's Game theatrical release, exactly when the first teaser trailer for The Hunger Games was published.

Trailers

If we don't get a trailer for CinemaCon, the studio has likely decided to release it along with a movie start that attracts a similar or related audience. Usually this strategy is used for a full feature trailer but sometimes the studios can surprise us. The first teaser trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was released with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 in November 2012 already, a full year ahead of its movie start. But this was just a 50-second-clip with a logo and a tagline and no footage at all. Ender's Game fans would be severely disappointed if the teaser trailer would contain no actual footage, so I doubt the studio will hold back on exciting imagery when our trailer comes out.

Let's have a look at movie starts that fit into the time frame and genre for an Ender's Game trailer release: Oblivion (April 19, Sci-Fi with Tom Cruise). The Big Wedding (April 26, Lionsgate release), Iron Man 3 (May 3, big budget blockbuster), Tyler Perry (May 10, Lionsgate release), Star Trek 2 (May 15, Sci-Fi blockbuster), After Earth (June 7, Sci-Fi feat. Will and Jaden Smith), Now You See Me (June 7, Summit Entertainment).

I believe it is more likely that Lionsgate would choose big blockbuster movie premieres over the studio's own releases when placing an Ender's Game trailer. The Hunger Games trailer was released 40 days after the poster, so if we assume an Ender's Game poster to be released next week we could expect a trailer for early to mid-May. And that points to Iron Man 3 or Star Trek 2 as the most promising titles if the studio decides to stick to its successful marketing schedule from The Hunger Games.

That's it for now with my speculation. But there's one more thing: Lionsgate officials have repeatedly stressed how much they value online marketing and the online community in general. I fully expect them to be imaginative and come up with something special for Ender's Game fans that is beyond a studio's usual marketing strategy. Just like they did for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire when they announced a sweepstakes competition where 12 fans will have their name listed in the film's credits.

To contact the author: rames@endernews.com

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EnderCast Episode #06: Pity Party Games

 

Hey guys! Crystal and I were feeling a bit blue about not getting to see the Ender's Game trailer in Las Vegas this week, so we recorded an EnderCast episode to cheer ourselves up. Did it work? You'll have to listen to find out.

This episode we talked about:

-- The trailer: We discuss the Cryptozoic reveal and what we do and do not expect to see when the teaser is made public.
-- The poster: This will definitely show up before we see a trailer, right? Where’s the poster?
-- Abigail Breslin’s newest movie The Call
-- The Butterfield family’s iPad game Racing Blind (Check out the music here on Soundcloud.)
-- Moises Arias and his new MSFTS clothing line with Jaden Smith. (MSFTS Tumblr)

Hope you guys enjoy it! We know our readers are anxiously awaiting the trailer as well, but at least we can all be bummed together. Right? ;)

Don't forget to check out EnderCast on Facebook and Twitter — or download and subscribe to us on iTunes!

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Follow the Official "Ender's Game" Twitter!

Eagle eyes who have been regularly checking the official site of Summit Entertainment might have noticed yesterday that a few official accounts have been added to the sidebar:

Twitter: @EndersGameMovie
Site: IF-Sentinel.com

No tweets from the Twitter yet (there are only 5 followers!) and the domain is currently redirecting back to Summit, but we're sure to see some action fairly soon - especially when promotion for the movie really starts to pick up.

And what's up with the official site name? Google defines a "sentinel" as:

A soldier or guard whose job is to stand and keep watch.

Sounds like an organization we're familiar with! This definitely looks like something we're going to have to keep an eye on. Anyone care to speculate what we might be seeing there in the coming weeks?

Make sure you head over and follow the movie's official Twitter and the account of the official Ender's Game production blog.

Exciting! And thanks to Darian for the heads up. :)

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Sneak Peek of "Ender's Game" Trailer Seen at GAMA Trade Show

Lucky press members at the GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas had the opportunity to check out the Ender's Game trailer today -- and the reviews we've seen so far are very positive!

Cryptozoic Entertainment, who we recently found out would be releasing a trading card and possible board game based on the Ender's Game film later this year, debuted the trailer at the trade show.

Exciting! We'll update this post with more information as it comes in.

Thanks to @EnderSpeaker for the tip!

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Asa Butterfield to be Honored at CinemaCon

Asa Butterfield is set to receive the CinemaCon "Rising Star of 2013 Award" at a special ceremony to be held on April 18 in The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. CinemaCon is "the largest and most important convention for the motion picture theatre industry," and Asa's honors are part of its annual "Big Screen Achievement Awards." The convention's Managing Director Mitch Neuhauser announced the decision full of praise for Asa:

"With a stunning turn in the title role of 'Hugo,' Butterfield has already proven himself as one to watch in Hollywood. In a short time, he has already [endeared] himself to audiences and critics alike with his captivating on-screen performances, and I cannot think of a young actor more deserving to be this year's CinemaCon Rising Star."

Previous winners of the Rising Star Award include Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) for 2011, and Diego Boneta (Rock Of Ages) for 2012.

On the same day at CinemaCon, Lionsgate will be holding a presentation highlighting their 2013 releases and have announced that several special guests will be in attendance. It definitely seems possible that Asa Butterfield will be one of them -- we'll keep you updated.

Congratulations, Asa!

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Aramis Knight Joins "Welcome To The Family"

Bean actor Aramis Knight has signed up to co-star in Welcome To The Family, a single-camera comedy pilot for NBC.

The pilot is written by Mike Sikowitz (Rules of Engagement) for Sony Pictures Television and "chronicles how cultures collide when a white family and a Latino family are bonded together by their children who fall in love followed quickly by an unplanned pregnancy." (Hollywood Reporter)

Mike O'Malley, best known for his role as Kurt's (Chris Colfer) father Burt Hummel on Fox's Glee, will play Dan Yoder, an orthodontist, loving husband to Katrina, and father to a teenage daughter, Molly. Katrina will be portrayed by Mary McCormack, star of USA Networks' In Plain Sight, and Ella Rae Peck, known from Gossip Girl as Lola, has been casted as Molly.

Joseph Haro, another Glee alumni (one of the Warblers), will play Molly's boyfriend Junior Hernandez, and Aramis Knight is set to portray his younger brother Demetrio. Their parents will be Ricardo Chavira, who starred as Carlos Solis in Desperate Housewives, and Justina Machado, who can be seen in the current season of Private Practice.

With Sinkowitz as an experienced showrunner and a fabulous, experienced cast, this project could really take off.

Congratulations, Aramis!

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Asa Butterfield Attached to "X + Y" Drama

Screen Daily announced today that Asa Butterfield is attached to the upcoming Morgan Matthews drama X + Y.

Inspired by the director's documentary Beautiful Young Minds,  X + Y is described as "a rites of passage drama about a teenage prodigy’s journey to the Mathematics Olympiad, and his quest to find a formula for love."

Butterfield's role in the project is unclear at this time, but going off on the information in the article, it seems likely he'll be portraying the young math prodigy Nathan. The character's mother and love interest have both yet to be cast.

“The film has shades of Billy Elliot, which I was involved in commissioning," origin head David Thompson told Screen. "It is a very uplifting and affirmative love story about two hyper-clever and extraordinary teenagers from very different worlds.” (Screen Daily)

The film is due to shoot this summer largely in England, with possible locations also in Taiwan and China.

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Abigail Breslin: The movie "does stay true to the book."

If our set visit preview reports didn't convince you, listen to someone who definitely knows what she's talking about!

Valentine Wiggin actress Abigail Breslin spoke with CNN recently about her role in Ender's Game, assuring fans of the novel that there is no reason to be concerned. "It does stay true to the book, which I'm excited about," she admitted.

Her own character, too, hasn't strayed far from the Valentine we know from the books, according to Breslin: "I love the character in the book as well, so it stays pretty true to the character in the movie." (CNN)

Ender's Game is set to hit theaters November 1, 2013.

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Happy Birthday to Suraj Partha and Garrett Warren!

Look who shares a birthday! Two of our favorite fellows here on Ender News are now another year older. We're hoping that both Suraj and Garrett have the happiest of days!

You can read more about stunt coordinator Garrett Warren,  Suraj Partha, and others by checking out the I.F. Files, our very own Enderverse directory. We also have a calendar to help you keep track of all the Ender's Game actor and crew member's upcoming birthdays - so make sure to check it out!

Happy birthday, guys!

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EnderCast Episode #05: The End of the World

Hey guys! The newest episode of our Ender's Game podcast, The End of the World, is now up and available for download! And don't worry: if you've no time to sit and listen and would rather tune in while on-the-go, you can download this and all future episodes on iTunes. Don't forget to subscribe!

This week's episode is a little bit different than what you may be used to hearing from us. Instead of our usual myriad of topics, we're focusing mainly on the controversy currently surrounding Orson Scott Card and DC Comics -- and how that may or may not affect Ender's Game. The episode is more serious than some of our others, but we feel it is a topic that warrants discussion.

Hope you guys enjoy! If you tune in, leave us a note either here or over on EnderCast. And don't forget to let us know if you are interested in being a guest -- our quiz show Pop Quiz, Fart Eater will definitely be back next episode.

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Happy 1 Year Anniversary to Ender News!

 

I'm not sure what to say! It's hard to believe it's already been a year -- and that it's only been a year -- since Ender News went from being a tiny Tumblr with no followers to what it is today. We've had so much fun running the site these past 12 months and hope you guys have enjoyed hanging out with us.

Ender News has been around since the beginning of filming... and lucky for us, so have some of you. We hope you all stick around well past the movie's release this fall, because the most exciting stuff is yet to come!

We definitely couldn't have kept this site going without all of you sending in news, re-tweeting our tweets, following us on Facebook, and trusting us to bring you accurate Ender's Game news. Thank you all so much for the support you've shown this site. We promise not to let you down!

245 days to go. :)

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Hailee Steinfeld: "Ender's Game" Book and Photo Signing

Last night, Hailee Steinfeld was out with her brother Griffin, an up-and-coming NASCAR driver, in support of Our Military Kids in Phoenix, AZ. An Ender's Game fan sent her cousin Sarah to the event, hoping Hailee would sign a copy of her book and the recent still. Look how lucky she got!

Shoot straight! Here's a close-up of the still Hailee signed:

"Hannah, Hope you like the film. Can't wait for you to see it! ♥ Hailee Steinfeld - Petra xx"

A super big thanks to EnderWiggin.net for getting the word out and to Hannah and Sarah for sharing the photos!

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