Newsbites: Australia! McPhee! Narnia! Monopoly! Magneto!

1. Rumours have been circulating for the past few days that Baz Luhrmann has been forced by 20th Century Fox to change the ending of his upcoming epic, Australia. Now Fox is insisting that the rumours are simply not true. The real question, of course, is whether the film will break Fox's surprisingly long streak of critically-reviled movies, or Nicole Kidman's surprisingly long streak of box-office flops. -- Patrick Goldstein

2. Emma Thompson had to choose between appearing in the final Harry Potter film and working on the next Nanny McPhee movie. Since she actually writes the Nanny McPhee movies, the choice, for her, was obvious. McPhee it is. -- MTV Movies Blog

3. Producer Mark Johnson, who once said that he was hoping to release a new Chronicles of Narnia movie every year until 2013, now says that the plan is to release a new Narnia movie every two years -- partly to give the filmmakers time to ensure, with each installment in the franchise, that the series is continuing to make money. -- Movies.ie

4. Sir Ridley Scott has officially signed on to direct a movie based on the Monopoly board game, "with an eye toward giving it a futuristic sheen along the lines of his iconic 'Blade Runner.'" Who wants to bet he'll use this movie to make some sort of socially-relevant comment on the recent real-estate woes? -- Hollywood Reporter

5. The movie about Magneto, the villainous mutant played by Sir Ian McKellen in the X-Men series (2000-2006), now has a plot synopsis. -- MTV Splash Page