Thor starts shooting today. Stuart Townsend doesn't. The actor has dropped out of the film due to "creative differences". Townsend, who was set play Fandral, one of the Warriors Three, will be replaced by Joshua Dallas (who appeared in The Descent Part 2).

Kenneth Branagh's epic, which stars Chris Hemsworth, Ray Stevenson and Tadanobu Asano, suffers a similar fate to that of Lord of the Rings - Townsend also departed that production at the last minute, only to be replaced by Viggo Mortensen.

Whether Dalllas will live up to that record is anyone's guess, but it sure is true that every role in the industry could be improved by replacing everyone with Viggo Mortensen. Give it a few weeks and maybe Branagh will agree.

Friday 6th May 2011 meant Spider-Man 4 to many fans and investors. But with production officially delayed, Paramount and Marvel have taken the chance to push their Thor release date forward to then, taking the day once owned by Spidey. Although Sony haven't officially put back the release date, other studios are jumping all over the chance to get ahead in the summer stakes.

With Thor's previous date now empty, Disney have parked Pirates 4 into the gap on Friday 20th May. Summer 2011 then continues with The Hangover 2 (28th May), Green Lantern (17th June) and Transformers, Potter and Captain America all turning up July. So if Spider-Man does continue as planned, it'll be a squeeze for Sony to fit it in. Paramount have said they'll give the date back if it does happen, so one of them will have to find a new spot somewhere.

Amidst all the rescheduling for next year's sequel-fest, it's clear that there's a very important lesson to take away from all this: next time Sam Raimi wants John Malkovich in his film - a flying John Malkovich, nonetheless - don't disagree with him. Just give him the damn money.