New Body of Lies Trailer Hits

Warner Bros. Pictures has debuted the new trailer for the Ridley Scott-directed Body of Lies, opening in theaters on October 10. The thriller, written by William Monahan, stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh Farahani, Oscar Isaac and Simon McBurney.

You can watch the trailer using the player below or in High Definition QuickTime here.

Based on Washington Post columnist David Ignatius' 2007 novel about a CIA operative, Roger Ferris (DiCaprio), who uncovers a lead on a major terrorist leader suspected to be operating out of Jordan. When Ferris devises a plan to infiltrate his network, he must first win the backing of cunning CIA veteran Ed Hoffman (Crowe) and the collegial, but perhaps suspect, head of Jordanian intelligence. Although ostensibly his allies, Ferris questions how far he can really trust these men without putting his entire operation - and his life - on the line.

Shia Returns to Transformers 2 Set Today?

Last week it was reported that Shia LaBeouf’s hand injury would put the first unit of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen out of production for a month. Rejects passes along word that Shia might actually be returning to the set tomorrow, this according to Entertainment Tonight’s sources. If true, this news must come as a relief for the many crew members involved in the first unit production of the Michael Bay sequel.

'Valkyrie' Returns to '08

MGM Pictures and United Artists have decided to release Bryan Singer's Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise before the end of the year after all, announcing today that it will be released on December 26 after the political thriller tested well with audiences.

Based on a true story, Cruise plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a proud military man who serves Germany while hoping to stop Hitler before he destroys Europe and Germany, and it reteams Singer with his Academy Award-winning screenwriter for The Usual Suspects Christopher McQuarrie. It also stars Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Carice van Houten, Thomas Kretschmann, Eddie Izzard, Christian Berkel and Terence Stamp.
Source:Comingsoon.net

Conan fast on Track

A new Conan movie is coming faster than we thought it might. With the popularity of the new online game and with all the buzz about a spinoff character prequel Thulsa Doom and the loosely related Red Sonja (I said loosely!) Lionsgate is eager to get the ball rolling on this.

Filmjunk Says:

we now have confirmation this week that Lionsgate are definitely fast-tracking the project. They’ve hired Dirk Blackman and Howard McCain to do a rewrite on the script, and are currently in search of a director.

Paradox Entertainment CEO Fredrik Malmberg had this to say: “We all want this movie to go into production as soon as possible. It’s a fast-tracked movie. Lionsgate felt the process was enhanced by having a second team come in and do a script.” He also said: “There’s no reason there couldn’t be a Conan movie every two years. He’s almost like Batman: He’s a dark hero. He’s a hard hero. He has to be badass, but we also have to like him.”

Who knows if this remake will be any good, but the excitement around it is ripe right now, and if they can make some announcements to keep people interested by the time this comes out it could be huge.

Jolie to take Cruise movie role

Angelina Jolie is to play the lead role in an action thriller which was previously earmarked for Tom Cruise, according to a report.

The film will be a screen return for the star, who recently gave birth to twins, says Variety.

The script of espionage action flick Edwin A Salt will be reworked and the title changed, it adds.

Universal made Jolie's role in the film more high profile and focused its promotion on her, reports Variety.

Russian spy

Cruise had a long-standing connection to Edwin A Salt and several other male actors wanted to replace him before Jolie expressed an interest in the script.

The newspaper added that the screenplay would not require radical rewriting to fit Jolie.

She will play a CIA officer who is accused of being a Russian spy and goes on the run until she can prove her innocence.

The actress is close to a deal to secure the role, while another forthcoming film, Atlas Shrugged, is also being touted as a return vehicle for the actress.

Jolie, 33, gave birth to Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon in France last month.

The new film has yet to go into production and is not expected to be released until at least 2010.

Gore Verbinski to Adapt Bioshock

Gore Verbinski is set to direct an adaptation of Take-Two's hugely popular videogame title Bioshock. According to Variety, this is the first project in the recent three-year first-look deal that the director signed with Universal Pictures.

The Aviator screenwriter John Logan is adapting the story for the big screen. The events in the film will revolve around a mysterious event that happens to the underwater world known as Rapture. Verbinski stated, "The people here have a genuine passion for filmmaking and a deep appreciation of the cinematic experience. I look forward to taking my own productivity up a notch both as a producer and director, by building a brand that will focus on my core business while synergizing multiple forms of entertainment."A sequel to the videogame is being produced for release in 2009, and will make its appearance before the film is finished shooting. The film is looking at a potential 2010 release date.

The Dark Knight defeats The Dragon Emperor

It was touch and go for a day or so, but according to estimates, Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) has won the weekend, narrowly defeating the third installment of the "Mummy" franchise, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Universal) starring Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello.

Racking up its third weekend at #1, The Dark Knight added an estimated $43.8 million to its staggering $395 million take after just seventeen days, putting it in line to cross the $400 million mark tomorrow, the first movie to ever make that amount in just 18 days. (Shrek 2 was previously the fastest movie to hit $400 million, which it grossed in 43 days, so "Dark Knight" did the same two and a half times faster.) Currently, The Dark Knight is the eighth-highest grossing movie of all-time and Warner Bros.' top grossing movie, but by this time next weekend, it's likely to be the fifth or sixth highest grossing movie domestically as it starts targeting Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. From there, it's only $70 million away from becoming only the second movie in over 80 years of filmmaking to gross $500 million domestically, not accounting for inflation.

Internationally, The Dark Knight added $37 million for a total of $202.5 million overseas and a worldwide total of $597.5 million.

Directed by new helmer Rob Cohen, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor brought in an estimated $42.5 million in its opening weekend in 3,759 theaters, an average of $11,300 per site. To put those numbers in perspective, the third "Mummy" movie grossed less its opening weekend than the original movie in 1999, while The Dark Knight made more in its THIRD weekend than Tim Burton's Batman made its opening weekend 19 years ago.

"Dragon Emperor" opened in first place internationally with $59.5 million at 3,559 theaters.

Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.

New Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li Set photos

A handful of new photos from the set of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li have just been posted on the Legend Films website. Not only do we get to see additional photos of Kristin Kreuk as Chun-Li, but we get our first look at Michael Clarke Duncan as Balrog and a few of the locations they're shooting at.
There's not enough in these photos to actually start making judgments about the direction of this movie, because looking at these alone makes me think it could be pretty good. My only hesitation is with Michael Clarke Duncan, but maybe it's just a bad photo. Thoughts?

We've posted six of the photos below, but you can take a look at a few more over on the official website. These photos look pretty cool, but that's probably just because the filmmaking process is mesmerizing. However, I don't think any of these are going to convince anyone that Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li could actually turn out good? I'm still crossing my fingers, though…

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is being directed by ex-cinematographer Andrzej Bartkowiak, of Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds, Cradle 2 the Grave, and Doom. The script for this was penned by up-and-coming screenwriter Justin Marks, who also penned screenplays for Masters of the Universe and Voltron. Hong Kong fight choreographer Dion Lam, who previously worked on The Matrix Trilogy, Spider-Man 2, and all of Bartkowiak's previous films, is handling the fight sequences. Fox currently has Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li set to arrive in theaters on February 27th, 2009.

Source: FirstShowing

Disney's The Princess and the Frog Teaser

Disney has unveiled a short but sweet teaser trailer for their upcoming hand-animated feature The Princess and the Frog. As wonderful as this short teaser looks, the movie won't hit theaters until December of 2009, so we've got a while to wait. Not only does the animation look fantastic yet again, but the song is incredibly catchy too. And did they just poke fun at the Louie the Lightning Bug?! Or I think maybe the lightning bug character is part of the whole thing anyway. Either way, this looks truly wonderful, despite being 17 months away from release. This is really like watching a teaser for James Cameron's Avatar and being told we have to wait another 12 months to see anything else! Why do you torment us Disney?



A musical set in the legendary birthplace of jazz - New Orleans - The Princess and the Frog will introduce the newest Disney princess, Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose), a young African-American girl living amid the charming elegance and grandeur of the fabled French Quarter. From the heart of Louisiana's mystical bayous and the banks of the mighty Mississippi comes an unforgettable tale of love, enchantment and discovery with a soulful singing crocodile, voodoo spells and Cajun charm at every turn.

The Princess and the Frog is co-directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, whom previously worked together to bring us the Disney classics Aladdin, Hercules, and Treasure Planet. The script for the film was also written by Clements and Musker as well as other Disney regulars. Disney's The Princess and the Frog is currently set for release on Christmas Day, December 25th, 2009.

Source: FirstShowing.net

The Fallen Will Show Up in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen?!

MTV talked to IDW Publishing, which is working on a five-part prequel miniseries to Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen titled "Transformers: Destiny" that will bridge the gap between the first and second movie. What IDW Publishing says confirms the rumor that "The Fallen" in the title is indeed the villain:

"[We're going to] explore the background of The Fallen — the main villain of the movie — as well as expand on the 'Reign of Starscream' story that we're doing and tie everything in to what this next movie is going to be," explained writer Chris Mowry, who partners on the book with artist Alex Milne. "The next movie starts out with just tons of action and there’s obviously going to be a lot of questions, so we’re hoping to answer some of those beforehand."

Warner Brothers Developing Marvin the Martian Movie

What have we done to deserve this?! Warner Brothers is officially developing a Marvin the Martian movie as a family feature along the same lines as Racing Stripes or My Dog Skip. The film will be a blend of live action and CGI, similar to something like Alvin and the Chipmunks, I imagine. The story focuses on Marvin coming to Earth to destroy Christmas but he is stopped from doing so when he is trapped in a gift box. Unfortunately I don't think Bugs Bunny is going to have anything to do with this. Is it just me, or is this a little bit of a wacky decision for them? I don't even think I know anyone who loves Marvin the Martian? Do we really need an entire movie? Please tell me they know what they're doing!

Marvin was created by Chuck Jones and made his first appearance in a Looney Tunes cartoon in 1948. No other writer or director has been hired yet, although the studio is currently searching for suitable choices. Whenever I hear about projects like this, I think of Jim Carrey's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, one of my all-time most hated movies. I can't stand how frickin' awful that movie was and although I know Marvin the Martian has absolutely nothing to do with the Grinch, it's just that similar family film feeling that gets under my skin. This movie could potentially go down that path, too, with the Christmas aspect already in place, so let's just hope they don't screw it up. Is anyone excited by this announcement?!

I Am Legend Prequel on the way...

Director Francis Lawrence revealed at Comic-Con this past weekend that he is, in fact, thinking seriously on a prequel to the Will Smith vehicle that collected nearly $580 million worldwide. The inexperienced movie director - Lawrence scored pretty big with I Am Legend, having only Constantine and a slew of pop-music videos under this belt — said of the prospect, "Yes, yes, absolutely, we're actually trying to crack that. We're trying to figure out some ideas for it."In my mind, this is some pretty cool news. I definitely count Legend among the better movies in my collection, due equally to the storyline and Smith's performance. The abandoned shots of New York City and the genre-bending monsters is simply some kickass subject matter. If Lawrence can take us back a bit and color in the events and virus that led up the 2007 film, that will be fantastic. He feels pretty confident that Smith will return as Dr. Robert Neville, as well, which pretty much completes the financial equation. Smith seems assured box office gold, evidenced recently by the $380+ million worldwide earned on Hancock already, despite a lacking 38% on Rotten Tomatoes.

It seems Lawrence and crew might even have a head start on particular aspects of the prequel, given their build-up to the first movie. "In the prequel, it's slightly different because it's earlier. We were three years later so we did a lot of research into the way nature would have sort of overtaken the city, with the cracks in the streets and the weeds." And even though the director brushes off the concern, I'd still be crazy worried about shutting down parts of one of the busiest cities in the world; that feat, after all, is big part of what makes Legend so compelling. "The first time you got out there and shut down 6th Avenue, it's like, 'How are we going to do this day after day after day?' but by the end, it's just like you know how to do it. You got the P.A.'s who know how to shut it down, how to let the traffic through in between set-ups and you just sort of get the routine down, so that's not the issue."

We'll definitely keep an eye on this project and bring you the latest developments. However, as with my circle of friends, I've encountered really mixed opinions of I Am Legend. Are you interested in a prequel?

Source:Shock Till You Drop, FirstShowing.net

George Lucas Talks Fifth Indiana Jones

With Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull having earned a massive $743.7 million worldwide (#27 on the all-time worldwide list), The Sunday Times asked George Lucas if he, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford would be up for a fifth film:

"We were hoping for box-office figures like that, which is, ultimately, with inflation, what the others have done, within 10%," Lucas explains. "So, we squeaked up there. Really, though, it was a challenge getting the story together and getting everybody to agree on it. Indiana Jones only becomes complicated when you have another two people saying 'I want it this way' and 'I want it that way', whereas, when I first did Jones, I just said, 'We'll do it this way' — and that was much easier. But now I have to accommodate everybody, because they are all big, successful guys, too, so it's a little hard on a practical level.

"If I can come up with another idea that they like, we'll do another. Really, with the last one, Steven wasn't that enthusiastic. I was trying to persuade him. But now Steve is more amenable to doing another one. Yet we still have the issues about the direction we'd like to take. I'm in the future; Steven's in the past. He's trying to drag it back to the way they were, I'm trying to push it to a whole different place. So, still we have a sort of tension. This recent one came out of that. It's kind of a hybrid of our own two ideas, so we'll see where we are able to take the next one."

One suggestion? A shorter title! Check out the full interview at the link above

The Dark Knight > $314.2M in 10 Days!

Warner Bros. Pictures' The Dark Knight earned an estimated $75.6 million from 4,366 theaters in its second weekend, surpassing Shrek 2's $72.2 million for biggest second weekend ever. Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins follow-up has reached $314.2 million in just 10 days, another record. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest held the previous record in the amount of days it took to cross the $300 million mark - it needed 16 days to do so. On Monday, The Dark Knight will surpass Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to become the biggest movie of 2008 domestically. It is already up to #23 on the all-time domestic blockbuster list and has a good shot at surpassing Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope's $460.998 million (not counting inflation) to become the second-biggest domestic earner of all-time, trailing only Titanic's $600.788 million. The Dark Knight, budgeted at $185 million, stars Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.

Source: ComingSoon.net

Eight Watchmen Posters from Comic-Con 08!

I'm not sure whether these are official posters or not, but I expect Warner Brothers to be debuting a lot more different posters over the next few months anyway, so stay tuned for more! Thoughts on these eight?

Watchmen is directed by Zack Snyder (of Dawn of the Dead and 300) and written by David Hayter (The Scorpion King, X-Men, X-Men 2) and Alex Tse. The movie arrives in theaters everywhere on March 6th, 2009.

Peter Berg brings back hercules

When you've made a very modern tale of a troubled man struggling to live with his super powers, what's left but to tackle a mythical yet tormented Greek hero? Peter Berg, who directed Will Smith to box office success in Hancock, will reboot one ot the original superheroes, Hercules, according to Variety.

Hercules is a character that has been around for ages, but has only recently been seen again in this new comic book series published in May through Radical Publishing. As you can see from the publisher's official website, this comic has a much different story than the Hercules we're all familiar with. Either way, it looks like a very brutal and bloody comic that I hope can be adapted with as much intensity as the comic. I really was not impressed with Berg's Hancock, but I blame the script, because I otherwise enjoyed The Kingdom quite a bit. I will say that Hercules, whether adapted from this comic or otherwise, is not a character that I'm the least bit excited to see return to the big screen. I'd rather watch the 1981 Clash of the Titans or even Disney's animated 1997 Hercules than see Berg try and bring a PG-13 live-action Hercules back to life.

Lakeview Terrace Poster

Cinematical received this poster for Lakeview Terrace, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington, and Patrick Wilson.

Jackson plays one of the creepiest types of bad guys -- a cop who can't be stopped. While a neighborhood like Lakeview Terrace sounds great and all, it becomes anything but when an interracial couple (Washington and Wilson) move next door to Jackson's racist cop. The man in blue starts off subtly -- an annoying light here, an awkward scare there, and then goes into full-on creepy neighbor to get the couple to hit the road. But Wilson will have none of that and crazily decides to take on the imbalanced cop.

Monsters Vs Aliens Promo Cards

Dreamworks Animation has released eight promotional trading cards showcasing the creatures and characters of their upcoming 3D computer animated film Monsters vs. Aliens.

I haven’t been that impressed by Dreamworks Animation unless it has had the word KungFu Panda in the title, so I don’t instantly get butterflies in my stomach when I hear they are working on something new.

There is a big difference between a Kid’s Movie and a Family friendly movie and studios like Pixar have nailed that formula to the wall! Dreamworks tends to lean a little more to one side or the other, and this one looks to be leaning towards Kid.

The characters look silly, but its animation. I don’t think they were going for “gritty real” here. And there is little to differentiate what makes a monster and what makes an alien. Are monsters just alien types that live on earth? Some predictable “we are all different in our own special way” type moral will be tagged on here.

This is just a first glimpse for me, so maybe my opinion will change, but for a first impression all I can say is that it made me chuckle that the President looks like Ronnie Regan. The voice cast looks pretty impressive too, but that is expected.

You can see an enbiggened look at the cards by Going Here.

What do you expect from this????

'Yes Man'... Its a Trailer

I know Jim Carrey's track record has a few blemishes on it, but I have a good feeling about this one. Yes Man has a simple premise -- a no-fun, take-no-chances guy decides to say yes to everything for a year -- and the trailer feels like the ol' Jim we fell in love with back in the '90s.

Plus, the director is Peyton Reed, who will always hold a place in many people's hearts for Bring It On and the under-appreciated Down with Love. Maybe he can keep Carrey's more buffoonish tendencies in check?

We'll find out when the film is released on Dec. 19. In the meantime, watch the trailer and let us know what you think. Can the premise work? Will it wind up being overly wacky or too cartoonish? Do you agree that Zooey Deschanel should appear in more movies?

The Dark Knight #1 movie of all time

Not only The Dark Knight beat Spider-Man 3's opening weekend box office total, but the public has currently ranked it the #1 movie of all time. Well, unofficially, 46,915 people have ranked the film 9.5 on IMDb. This is very impressive! Actually, this is beyond impressive, this is truly phenomenal. A lot of people believe that IMDb's Top 250 is one of the most accurate lists ranking the greatest films in history. It's far superior to AFI's Top 100 and is based on the popular public opinion instead of snobby critics. If anything, The Dark Knight is one of the only movies in the last few years that really deserves to be that high up on the list.

Do you think TDK deserves this position?