New Moon Breaks Records, But When Will Fanboys Strike Back?

Uh oh. The Twilight Saga: New Moon finally hit theaters this weekend to an estimated $140.7 million total, putting it in 3rd place behind The Dark Knight ($158.4 million) and Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million) on the opening weekend box office chart. But it did break other records. First it set the midnight record earning some $26.3 million on Thursday night and it also set the biggest Friday one-day box office record, raking in some $72.7 million on that day alone. But then all the Twihards decided to get some sleep and it died off to settle in 3rd place just below two other big blockbusters for the weekend overall. Phew! But what's next?

Of course, we've got one more (or maybe two, counting Breaking Dawn) big Twilight openings still coming up. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is already set to hit theaters next June 30th. And if the Twilight franchise can do ...

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Indie Trailer Sunday: Corneliu Porumboiu's Police, Adjective

IFC Films debuted the US trailer for Corneliu Porumboiu's Police, Adjective earlier this week on Apple. This is one of those films that I missed at Cannes and have heard good things about ever since. It won two awards in Cannes and has since played well at a few other major festivals around the world. That photo you see above is not from the film itself, but is the image used on the poster for Police, Adjective and is the same photo that caught my attention when I first saw it in Cannes program. It doesn't really look like a comedy, but apparently it's a "whip-smart, dryly funny comedy." I'd say I'm definitely interested in checking it out.

Watch the official US trailer for Corneliu Porumboiu's Police, Adjective:

[flv:http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/policeadjective-tlr1_h480p.flv http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/policeadjective-tlr1_h480p.jpg 598 316]

You can also watch the Police, Adjective trailer in High Definition on Apple

A young, undercover police officer refuses to arrest another ...

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New Colonel Quaritch Featurette for Avatar !

Coke Zero has debuted this new featurette on Stephen Lang's character, Colonel Quaritch, in James Cameron's Avatar , opening in conventional 3D theaters and IMAX 3D on December 18. The clip, which you can watch below, includes never-before-seen footage!

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New Kull Movie in the Works

Paradox Entertainment's CEO Fredrik Malmberg told Fantasy.fr that a new "Kull" movie is in the works. Here is the translated article, courtesy of the site:

Paradox Entertainment is currently working on a new movie adaptation for Kull the Conqueror.

Fredrik Malmberg, Paradox Entertainment's CEO, used the occasion of an exclusive interview to reveal his company was working on a new Kull movie.

Fredrik Malmberg also told us about Conan and other ongoing adaptations. You'll hear of it soon.

Robert Ervin Howard created a hero called Kull in 1929 for the Weird Tales magazine. Howard would draw some inspiration from this character to create Conan, but he dwells in an era predating the cimmerian's one.

Native to Atlantis, Kull grows up with his family in Tiger...

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New Video Interview: Ninja Assassin Director James McTeigue

Hitting theaters next week for Thanksgiving is the most badass action-packed ninja movie you'll see this year - Ninja Asssassin. It's directed by James McTeigue, who got his start working as the Assistant Director for the Wachowski Brothers on The Matrix, then spun off and directed V for Vendetta on his own. Now he's back with his second movie, Ninja Asssassin, and it's awesome (I've seen it a few times and love it). A few months back, Warner Bros invited me to interview McTeigue while he was in Austin at Fantastic Fest. In promotion of the release next week, here's my interview with James, which went incredibly well.

Watch my video interview with Ninja Assassin director James McTeigue:

I've been a big fan of McTeigue ever since I first saw V for Vendetta (which is one of my all-time favorite movies) and have been excited to talk to him for a long ...

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Check This Out: The Evolution of the Superhero Movie Graph

There's really no denying that superhero movies are in their prime right now. Years ago, no one thought comic book adaptations would become the mainstream mega-hits that they are today. And to show us the history and evolution of that genre, we've got another great graph to feature today called The Evolution of the Superhero Movie. This comes from the guys who made the Sequels That Bombed, $400 Million Club, and Harry Potter Directors graphics previously. This is one of my all-time favorites though, just because it's dealing with an area of cinema that I'm very familiar with. And so with that, check this out fullsize below.

This graphic originally comes from KoldCast TV, although I was given permission by the creators to run it here. There are a lot of fascinating stats found on this chart. For example, 68% of all superhero movies are from Marvel, which is an impressive ...

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Michael Bay Promises Megan Fox Will Be Back in Transformers 3

Yes, I know you're trying to forget about Transformers 2, and this isn't helping. If you followed the big back-n-forth between Michael Bay and Megan Fox earlier this year, you might've been left wondering if she would actually return, considering it seemed the two were not on good terms. However, Bay talked to USA Today at the recent Victoria's Secret show (he directed some of their commercials) and he's not mad at her after all. "I love her," Bay said. "It's just, she's young. Everyone's got to give her a break, she's only... 23? It's just hard. I've traveled around the world with her and she's just like this world symbol now, ya know?"

Uh, right, we know, but thanks for clarifying. But that's not all. For better or worse, he also confirms she's set to return in Transformers 3, which he's already been working on since its due out in ...

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Watch This: Flashy Full-Length Season of the Witch Trailer

Lionsgate has debuted the full-length trailer for Season of the Witch starring Nic Cage and Ron Perlman on Fandango today. We previously featured a very short teaser trailer for this back during Halloween. If it weren't for Cage being so damn cheesy, I would say this actually looks pretty damn cool. I mean, its got Ron Perlman and it's about a witch who summons evil to attack this group of guys trying to transport her across Europe. It looks pretty badass, like some good, dark cinematic entertainment, let's just hope it holds up and Cage doesn't ruin it. I'm not sure I have faith in Dominic Sena yet, but we'll find out in March. Take a look!

Watch the first teaser trailer for Season of the Witch:

[flv:http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/seasonofthewitch-full-trailer.flv http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/seasonofthewitch-full-trailer.jpg 598 336]

You can also watch the Season of the Witch trailer in High Definition on Fandango

A 14th century knight (Nicolas Cage) transports a ...

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20 Minutes of Legion Seen

ComingSoon.net's horror arm ShockTillYouDrop.com got a chance to watch 20 minutes of footage from Screen Gems' Legion , directed by Scott Stewart and starring Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Tenney, Charles S. Dutton, Lucas Black, Kate Walsh, Doug Jones, Adrianne Palicki, Kevin Durand and Willa Holland.

In the supernatural action thriller, opening January 22, an out-of-the-way diner becomes the unlikely battleground for the survival of the human race. When God loses faith in Mankind, he sends his legion of angels to bring on the Apocalypse. Humanity's only hope lies in a group of strangers trapped in a desert diner and the Archangel Michael (Bettany).

You can read a description of the footage here !

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ABC Announces Lost Premiere!

ABC announced today that the sixth and final season of "Lost" will kick-off with a special all-night event on Tuesday, February 2. A recap special will kick off the night from 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET, followed by the much anticipated two-hour premiere from 9:00-11:00 p.m.

The series will then air in its regular time period Tuesday nights from 9:00-10:00 p.m., ET beginning the following week, on February 9.

"Lost" stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Emilie de Ravin as Claire, Michael Emerson as Ben, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Ken Leung as Miles, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Terry OQuinn as Locke and Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana....

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Watch This: Remember Me Trailer Starring Robert Pattinson

On the eve of the release of New Moon, Summit has debuted the trailer for Remember Me, starring their money-making hunk Robert Pattinson. However, don't write this off so quickly, it also stars Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, and Emilie de Ravin as the love interest. And honestly, this was looking really good until all of the cheesy lines like: "I'm undecided." "About what?" "Everything..." I think the father-son story will be a lot more interesting than the love story, but you never know, it could be a good movie overall. I'll probably see it anyway, it looks like a good indie, why not give it a a chance? Anyway, watch the official trailer below!

Watch the first trailer for Allen Coulter's Remember Me:

You can also watch the Remember Me trailer in High Definition on MySpace

A drama centered on two lovers, Tyler (Robert Pattinson) and Ally (Emilie de Ravin) whose newfound relationship ...

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Brad Pitt's Plan B Developing Dark Void Video Game Movie

Have video game movies finally started to get to a point where a high profile star like Brad Pitt can lead them? Variety announces that Pitt's company Plan B and Reliance Big Pictures have purchased the rights to the video game Dark Void from Capcom. They will be developing a feature film based on the game as a potential franchise and starring vehicle for Pitt. The game isn't even out - it'll hit shelves in January for all systems (Xbox, PS3, PC). “As a game, Dark Void was developed with a wide-screen mentality â€" a world full of adventure presented in cinematic scope and scale,” Capcom senior VP Germaine Gioia said of the game.

Dark Void centers on a a cargo pilot named Will who, after crashing in the Bermuda Triangle, ends up in a parallel universe where a band of humans must fight an alien threat they had long been ...

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Must Watch: Impressive International Trailer for Percy Jackson

Fox has quietly debuted yet another new trailer for Percy Jackson & the Olympians, making this the third trailer we've seen for this movie so far. Up until this point, we haven't really known what this would be like, what would happen in it and what the story would be. But this trailer finally gives us a glimpse of all that and I've got to say I'm a little more than curious now. In fact, I'm actually very impressed, this looks great, I'm totally in. The effects look good, even though they're probably far from being done, and the story looks pretty entertaining. My only complaint is that this means we'll see two different Medusa's next year!

Watch the international trailer for Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief:

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is directed by Chris Columbus, of everything from Adventures in Babysitting to Home Alone ...

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Interview: Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant Producer Alan Polsky

If you go see Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans this weekend and walk out of it thinking, how the hell did this movie get made and come together this way, well, here's the story. A few weeks ago I met up with producer Alan Polsky (seen to the left with Herzog) at a lunch joint in Beverly Hills to talk about how he got into the business (Alan and his brother Gabe recently started producing) and how this version of Bad Lieutenant got made with such heavyweights as Nicolas Cage and Werner Herzog. Not only is the Bad Lieutenant story great to hear, but he's got big aspirations for the future. So read on!

And before we start, I saw Herzog's Bad Lieutenant at Telluride (read my review) and absolutely loved it. Despite hating the promo trailer, I actually loved the movie, it was crazy and hilarious ...

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Universal Near Deal for 47 Ronin Director

Variety reports that Universal Pictures is near a deal with Carl Eric Rinsch to make his feature directing debut on 47 Ronin , the epic period samurai swordsmen tale that will star Keanu Reeves.

Rinsch, who shoots commercials for RSA, has been on HollywoodÂ's radar. RSA-owners Ridley and Tony Scott previously had discussions with Rinsch to direct the Alien prequel until Ridley Scott decided to return to the franchise he launched.

Written by Chris Morgan ( Wanted ), 47 Ronin tells the famous fact-based story of a band of samurai swordsmen who avenge the death of their master in 18th Century Japan.

The trade adds that the movie will mix the fantastical elements of films like "The Lord of the Rings" with battle scenes on the order of Gladiator and 300 .

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French Poster for The Wolfman

FilmsActu.com has debuted the French poster for Universal Pictures' February 12 release, The Wolfman , directed by Joe Johnston and starring Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving and Art Malik. The poster features famous cane Larry Talbot (the Wolfman) carries in the film.

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Must Watch: New Trailer for Rob Marshall's Sexy Musical Nine

As a huge fan of Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini, it's great to see such a vibrant trailer for Rob Marshall's Nine, a musical based on the original musical of the same name, which was derived from an Italian play by Mario Fratti which itself was inspired by Federico Fellini's autobiographical film 8½. Much like Marshall's Chicago, this new trailer is chock full of singing, dancing and scantily clad women including the prominently featured Kate Hudson, and the laughable appearance of Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson as Fellini's iconic slutty, crazy, dancing character Saraghina. Now all that remains to be seen is if Daniel Day-Lewis really can sing.

Watch the newest trailer for Rob Marshall's Nine:

You can also watch this new trailer for Nine in High Definition on Yahoo

Famous Italian director Guido Contini struggles to find harmony in his professional and personal lives, as he engages in dramatic relationships with his wife, his mistress, ...

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Dead Arrivals: Linklater's Liars (A to E) & McG's 20,000 Leagues

Two project have both been confirmed as dead on arrival today. First, Richard Linklater's very next project, Liars (A to E), has been canned, the first victim of Miramax's downsizing. Back in early October, the indie studio was forced to cut most of their employees and reduce the number of films they put out to only three or so per year. Movieline reports today that Liars (A to E), about a newly single girl who takes a roadtrip to Obama's inauguration, which was supposed to be next from the studio, is no longer happening. "It didn't really work out. It's tough," Linklater told them. He had even cast Rebecca Hall and Kat Dennings as leads.

The second new DOA project is Disney's Captain Nemo: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which was going to be directed by McG. Either some Disney execs finally got the chance to see Terminator Salvation and wondered ...

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Check This Out: Teaser Poster for Angelina Jolie's Salt

You've already seen the teaser trailer for Salt, but this is the first teaser poster to hit. JoBlo has debuted the teaser poster for the Phillip Noyce directed action thriller starring Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Zoe Lister Jones. I'm looking forward to this not necessarily because Angelina Jolie is in it, but rather because there's so much mystery to it and the story. "Who is Salt?" is the tagline they're using in this marketing campaign and I like that they're trying to build up as much mystery and intrigue as possible. The face on this also seems off-center and I'm not sure if that's part of the design or what? Anyway, check it out!

If you haven't seen it, or want to watch it again, you can watch the teaser trailer for Salt online right here.

Salt is directed by veteran Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce, of Echoes of Paradise, ...

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Author Jonathan Ames Adapating His Novel 'Wake Up, Sir!'

Author Jonathan Ames has written in almost every format under the sun from novels to stage plays and memoirs to comics, but recently he made the jump to writing for TV and cinema. Not only is he the creator of the HBO series "Bored to Death" (starring Jason Schwartzman), but an adaptation of one of his novels, The Extra Man, starring John C. Reilly and Paul Dano is already in post-production. The Gothamist reports (via SlashFilm) that Ames is in the midst of adapting another of his novels, Wake Up, Sir! for hopeful production in 2010 and there's interest in a possible film based on his comic strip The Alcoholic as well.

Ames didn't offer any specifics on the two upcoming projects other than that he is looking to do one more revision on the Wake Up, Sir! script which follows New Jersey resident Alan Blair who failed to follow his ...

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Emmerich's 2012 Destroys at the Box Office

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.

Roland Emmerich kicked off the holiday season in earnest with the biggest single movie weekend box office take since July, as his latest disaster flick 2012 (Sony Pictures), starring John Cusack and Chiwetel Ejiofor, brought in an estimated $65 million over the weekend, making it the seventh biggest November opener ever. Produced for $200 million, Emmerich's latest simultaneously brought in $160 million outside the United States for a 3-day worldwide gross of $225 million.

In its second weekend, Disney's A Christmas Carol , Robert...

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Trailer for the Animated Dante's Inferno

Starz and Visceral Games have revealed the first trailer for the animated Dante's Inferno , based on the immortal epic. From the producers of Dead Space: Downfall , the feature-length movie expands on the story in EA's new game coming out for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Just as the poem and game take players on a stunning journey through the nine circles of Hell, the Dante's Inferno animated feature will also follow Dante as he travels through limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery in search of his true love, Beatrice. Both are based on part one of Dante Alighieri's classic poem, "The Divine Comedy," better known as "Dante's Inferno."

The DVD, Blu-ray and video game hit stores in February. The game itself was optioned...

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Indie Trailer Sunday: Shake Hands with the Devil Trailer

Today's trailer is for an indie that has been on hold for quite a few years. Shake Hands with the Devil first premiered at the Toronto Film Festival way back in 2007. In fact, director Roger Spottiswoode actually directed another film (The Children of Huang Shi) while waiting for this to be released. Regent Releasing is finally bringing Shake Hands with the Devil to theaters in 2010 and has debuted a trailer for it on Apple. I'm featuring it for a few reasons. First, while some of the dialogue looks rough, the story looks incredible. Second, the cinematography and locations look gorgeous as well. It stars Roy Dupuis and Deborah Unger.

Watch the trailer for Roger Spottiswoode's Shake Hands with the Devil:

[flv:http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/shakehandswiththedevil-trailer.flv http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/shakehandswiththedevil-trailer.jpg 598 248]

You can also watch the Shake Hands with the Devil trailer in High Definition on Apple

The story follows Emma, a journalist, as well as the personal journey ...

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Author Cormac McCarthy Thinks Blood Meridian IS Filmable

Another great, supposedly "unfilmable" novel (besides Watchmen), is Cormac McCarthy's break out 1985 novel Blood Meridian. If you're not familiar with McCarthy, he's the author who wrote the novels that were turned into All the Pretty Horses, No Country for Old Men, and now The Road. Blood Meridian is a critically acclaimed novel, set in the 1850s, about American mercenaries hunting Indians in the Mexican borderland. McCarthy recently talked with the Wall Street Journal (it's actually a fantastic interview) and was asked about why people think Blood Meridian is unfilmable. And his answer might surprise you.

WSJ: People have said "Blood Meridian" is unfilmable because of the sheer darkness and violence of the story.

CM: That's all crap. The fact that's it's a bleak and bloody story has nothing to do with whether or not you can put it on the screen. That's not the issue. The issue is it ...

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MGM Officially Considering Selling, If Things Don't Get Better

Back in September, we reported that MGM (aka Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) was "on the verge of bankruptcy" and was asking for emergency funds to say alive. The studio has finally made announcements that indicate that they are actually going up for sale. Variety and Nikki Finke confirmed the news. "MGM also said today it is beginning a process to explore various strategic alternatives including operating as a standalone entity, forming strategic partnerships and evaluating a potential sale of the Company." It looks like it's the end of an era for MGM once and for all. So will The Hobbit be caught in crossfire, too? We're not entirely sure.

The announcement came following a meeting of MGM debtholders, who agreed to extend forbearance on debt payments until January 31st, the second extension that they've been given. Apparently MGM owes some $3.7 billion in debt and brought in Stephen Cooper to replace Harry Sloan as ...

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Check This Out: Official Poster for Jeff Bridges' Crazy Heart

Seen below is Fox Searchlight's official poster for Crazy Heart from the LA Times. The trailer arrives on Monday, but I thought I'd feature this anyway. If you haven't heard yet, Crazy Heart is the latest big Oscar contender, and it already has a lot of support. Jeff Bridges plays a broken-down, hard-living country music singer in a kind of Wrestler-like story. Apparently it's a "performance of a lifetime" from Bridges with critics like Kris Tapley of In Contention and Jeffrey Wells supporting him. "Jeff Bridges is definitely in the Best Actor derby... [His] best since The Big Lebowski but tonally opposite and much harder hitting, of course."

Bad Blake is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who's had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet, Bad can't help but reach for salvation with the help ...

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Filming Starts on Gus Van Sant's Untitled Project

Filming has begun on location in Portland, Oregon on an untitled project from two-time Academy Award®-nominated director Gus Van Sant, starring Mia Wasikowska (upcoming Alice in Wonderland ) and Henry Hopper. The film's screenplay was written by first-timer Jason Lew, based upon his original stage play "Of Winter and Water Birds." The film is produced by Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, and Bryce Dallas Howard and Gus Van Sant. The supporting cast includes Ryo Kase, Schuyler Fisk, and Jane Adams.

In the film, two outsiders, both shaped by the circumstances that have brought them together, forge a deep and lasting love. Van Sant will present a take on friendship and young love as engaging and true as it is provocative and stirring. The screenplay is by...

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Silent Hill 2 to Start Filming in 2010?

Silent Hill special makeup effects designer Paul Jones gave ShockTillYouDrop.com an update about the sequel today on the Toronto set for Resident Evil: Afterlife .

"I was working on storyboards for that around the same time last year," Jones revealed. "It's going to be pretty crazy. There's a lot of cool stuff in there. Roger (Avary) has some awesome ideas and hopefully we're going to bring that to fruition sometime next year."

He would not comment on whether the script was complete, but he said that with a smile.

The first film, released in 2006, was directed by Christophe Gans and earned $97.6 million worldwide.

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Fantastic Mr. Fox Has Universal Acclaim from Critics So Far!

Inspired by this amusing post on Awards Daily titled "How to Build a Sturdy Foxhole", I thought I'd point out that Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, which hits limited theaters (in New York and Los Angeles) this weekend before expanding on Thanksgiving, is getting positive reviews. Over on Metacritic, Fantastic Mr. Fox currently has a score of 87, which earns it the "universal acclaim" tag. Ryan points out that 7 of the 9 reviews tracked have a score of 80 or above, which is pretty damn impressive. In comparison, Where the Wild Things Are only has a score of 71 on Metacritic, but it also has quite a few perfect 100 reviews, too.

Yesterday it was officially confirmed that Fantastic Mr. Fox was one of 20 movies in the running for Best Animated Feature Film at the Oscars, which bumps up the nominees in that category to five instead of just ...

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Emmerich Says He Has Two Independence Day Sequels Lined Up

Roland Emmerich's latest world-destruction movie, 2012, hits theaters this weekend (I've seen it, it's totally awesome, by the way), which means most people are going to be talking about Emmerich's illustrious career once again. Say what you will, but my favorite Emmerich film is still Independence Day from 1996, and most people I know agree with me. So how about a sequel? Well, we reported in October that Emmerich has been developing one, but that it probably wasn't going to happen. However, MTV has a new interview with Emmerich and he seems much more enthusiastic, even revealing that the story would span two movies.

"What we want to do in the next â€" it's actually two movies â€" we want to do a bigger arc," he explained to MTV. "Independence Day was always like the king who leads his troops into battle against an evil force, and that stays like that." ...

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Beddor Reveals Monopoly Story Details

Producer/author Frank Beddor ("The Looking Glass Wars") revealed details of the story he pitched for the Monopoly movie that got Ridley Scott interested in directing. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times , Beddor gave a lot of info on what you can expect. Here's an excerpt:

I created a comedic, lovable loser who lives in Manhattan and works at a real estate company and heÂ's not very good at his job but heÂ's great at playing Monopoly. And the world record for playing is 70 straight days – over 1,600 hours – and he wanted to try to convince his friends to help him break that world record. They think he is crazy. They kid him about this girl and they're playing the game and thereÂ's this big fight. And heÂ's holding a Chance card and after theyÂ've left he says, Â'Damn, I wanted...

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A Kick-Ass New Poster for Kick-Ass

Lionsgate has released a new character poster for Kick-Ass featuring Aaron Johnson as Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass. You can check out the poster in full by clicking here or on the image below. You can also check out the previously-released posters here and teaser trailer here .

Opening April 16th, the Matthew Vaughn-directed comic book adaptation also stars Nicolas Cage, Lyndsy Fonseca, Mark Strong, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Chloe Moretz.

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Rumor: Zemeckis Following Christmas Carol with The Nutcracker

Robert Zemeckis' latest CGI feature, A Christmas Carol, is currently playing and seems to be bringing in the cash, as expected. Whereas Zemeckis used to be an amazing filmmaker, he's now become our bi-yearly deliverer of a fantastical 3D CGI version of some beloved holiday story. First it was The Polar Express, this year it's A Christmas Carol, so what's up next after that? Pajiba claims that Zemeckis will eventually be adapting The Nutcracker as well, but it's not clear if that'll come before or after he remakes The Beatles' Yellow Submarine. Whatever the case, I'm not excited, despite my love for these wonderful holiday stories.

They also say that similar to A Christmas Carol (which was a direct adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel), Zemeckis' Nutcracker won't be an adaptation of the Tchaikovsky ballet, but rather an adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffmann's original 1816 novel, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, remaining ...

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Check This Out: Another Awesome Teaser Poster for Kick-Ass

"I can't fly. But I can kick your ass." Yesterday evening the teaser trailer for Kick-Ass hit the web, finally introducing everyone to Mark Millar's awesome comic book "super" hero. In addition to that trailer, a new poster has popped up on MySpace, a one-off teaser poster not like the four connected ones we featured last week. As you can tell, Lionsgate is obviously going with the spray paint motif in their marketing campaign for Kick-Ass, as it was used heavily in the trailer and now it's part of the logo on this poster. Not sure I dig that idea entirely, but I otherwise do like this poster a lot. Check it out and let us know what you think?

Kick-Ass is both written and directed by British filmmaker Matthew Vaughn, of Layer Cake and Stardust previously. The screenplay was co-written by Vaughn and his writing partner Jane Goldman, of Stardust ...

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Francis Lawrence Taking DC Comics' Sgt. Rock Into the Future

A movie based on DC Comics' WWII hero Sgt. Rock has been stuck in development hell for quite some time and last we heard was Guy Ritchie might be at the helm until he became attached to Lobo. But that was over a year and a half ago, and THR's Heat Vision now says that Francis Lawrence (who last directed I Am Legend) is attached to direct a script from newcomer Chad St. John with super-producers Joel Silver and Akiva Goldsman guiding the project for Warner Bros. However, Sgt. Rock will be lifted from the period fight in World War II into the future to avoid feeling dated and out of tune with contemporary issues.

While hardcore fans of the comics might be aghast at this shift into the future, this is probably best for the film to reach a bigger audience. Heat Vision points out, "Inglourious Basterds notwithstanding, period war ...

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New Extended TV Trailer for Jason Reitman's Up in the Air

Paramount played this new extended TV trailer for Jason Reitman's Up in the Air during the "Mad Men" season finale yesterday, so you might've already seen it, but if not, here's your chance. It's a short 'n sweet new trailer with most of the footage we've seen before in either of the first two trailers. But since Up in the Air deserves some more love and since this trailer has great quotes from various critics, it's worth featuring anyway. I hope everyone is planning to see this when it hits theaters in December, it's easily one of the best films of the year. And if all goes well, it might end up winning some Oscars, too. Anyway, check it out!

Watch the new TV trailer for Jason Reitman's Up in the Air:

[flv:http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/upintheair-tvspot_h480p.flv http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/upintheair-tvspot_h480p.jpg 598 316]

You can also watch the new TV trailer for Up in the Air in High Definition on ...

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Paquin and Holmes Spotted Filming The Romantics

Splash News has posted photos of Anna Paquin and Katie Holmes filming The Romantics on Long Island.

The Romantics revolves around eight friends from college who reunite for a wedding. Holmes plays Laura, the maid of honor to Paquin's Lila, the bride. Laura and Lila are best friends who both have a past with the groom (Josh Duhamel). Written and directed by Galt Niederhoffer, the romantic comedy also stars Malin Akerman, Elijah Wood, Adam Brody and Jeremy Strong.

Click the photo to view more pics!

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Exclusive From Paris With Love Posters

CraveOnline has your exclusive first look at two new posters for Lionsgate's From Paris With Love , opening in theaters on February. Directed by Pierre Morel, the film was based on a story by Luc Besson.

In From Paris With Love , a low-ranking intelligence operative (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) working in the office of the U.S. Ambassador in France takes on more than he bargained for when he partners with a wisecracking, fast-shooting, high-ranking U.S. agent (John Travolta) who's been sent to Paris to stop a terrorist attack.

You can view the posters here !

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Will Smith Interested in Picking Up Some Flowers for Algernon?

We've seen Will Smith fight aggressive aliens, infectious bloodthirsty humans, and self-righteous robots, but when all is said and done, it's really awe inspiring to see him put away the guns and "Aw, hell no!" attitude when he buckles down for a serious drama. So it pleases me to see that Pajiba has a scoop about Will Smith taking on the lead role (as well as producing) a contemporary adaptation of the Daniel Keyes' short story and subsequent novel Flowers for Algernon, the story of Charlie, a mentally retarded man, who is the first human test subject for an experimental surgery that artificially increases intelligence.

After a successful experiment on the titular lab mouse Algernon, the surgery is then applied to Charlie, raising his IQ from 68 to 185. But his newfound intelligence comes at the cost of his ability to socialize normally as he becomes alienated from those who are ...

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Watch This: Extended Family-Focused TV Spot for Avatar

"Where wonder lives, and adventure rules!" You have got to see this crazy new TV spot! Fox put together a more family friendly TV spot for James Cameron's Avatar that sells it much more like Star Wars or an animated space adventure for kids (or something like that). At first I thought this was kind of cheesy, but actually, it's kinda fun to see. So far all the marketing for Avatar has been very epic and focused towards the Cameron fanboys, but I love seeing a whole different side of Pandora this time. I doubt it'll convert anyone, except for kids and their parents, but still. I just hope this is truly the "greatest adventure of all-time!"

Watch the family-focused TV spot for James Cameron's Avatar:

Avatar is the story of an ex-Marine on the planet Pandora who, as an Avatar - a human mind in an alien body - finds himself ...

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Duncan Jones to Direct Source Code Starring Jake Gyllenhaal

Most people probably haven't heard of Source Code yet, but everyone should hopefully be familiar with director Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon on Twitter), who broke out earlier this year with his sci-fi indie flick Moon. Variety announces today that Jones is next set to direct a sci-fi thriller called Source Code with Jake Gyllenhaal in negotiations to star as the main character Colter. Mark Gordon (The Messenger, 12 Rounds, 2012) is producing with Vendome Pictures' CEO Philippe Rousselet and Jordan Wynn. Production is slated to begin during the first quarter of next year, making this Jones' very next project instead of Mute.

Source Code centers on a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown commuter and is forced to live and relive (over and over) a harrowing terrorist train bombing until he can determine who is responsible for it. I actually read the script a few months back before ...

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Indie Trailer Sunday: Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me

This trailer has been out for a few days now, but I thought it was the perfect trailer to feature today, not only because no one is at work on a Sunday, but because it's a great indie trailer. The Killer Inside Me is the latest film from British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom about a West Texas deputy sheriff who is slowly unmasked as a psychotic killer. Casey Affleck stars as the sheriff and is joined by Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, Simon Baker, Elias Koteas, and Bill Pullman. I also need to warn everyone that this is a full-on 5 minute promo trailer which means it contains nudity, violence, sex, you name it. So don't watch it with the kids!

Watch the extended promo trailer for Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me:

Sheriff Lou Ford (Casey Affleck) has a lot of problems. Woman problems. Law enforcement problems. An ever-growing pile of murder victims ...

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Joe Johnston Talks Jurassic Park 4

Ain't It Cool News got a chance to talk to The Wolfman director Joe Johnston and the interview briefly turned to the possibility of a Jurassic Park 4 . Johnston directed the third film in the franchise, which was released in 2001.

"There is a great story for the fourth one that I would be interested in getting involved with and it's nothing like the first three," Johnston told the site, "It sort of takes the franchise off in a completely different direction, which is the only way I would want to get involved."

He added that it likely won't be another storyline about a group of people struggling to survive a dinosaur attack. "We've done that and it's been done three times..."

The site commented that they should stay away from an island setting...

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Twisted Pictures Takes Sorrow Screen Rights

ShockTillYouDrop.com has learned exclusively that Twisted Pictures ("Saw" franchise) is developing the horror graphic novel "Sorrow" for the big screen.

The company has secured the rights to Rick Remender, Seth Peck and Francesco Francavilla's tale which was published through Image Comics.

Michael Hidalgo, who penned upcoming The Butcherhouse Chronicles , will write the script.

Click here for more on the story!

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Must Watch: Gorgeous Trailer for Tom Ford's A Single Man

The Weinstein Company has premiered the trailer Tom Ford's A Single Man, the critically acclaimed film which has been receiving extraordinary praise since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. A Single Man stars Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, and Ginnifer Goodwin and will be hitting theaters in mid-December for a brief Oscar qualifying run. I've been waiting to see a trailer for it because I have no clue what it's about. And I've got to say, this looks phenomenal, and it's frustrating that I still haven't seen it yet. The cinematography looks gorgeous, I really can't wait to experience this on the big screen. Take a look!

Watch the official trailer for Tom Ford's A Single Man:

A romantic tale of love interrupted, the story centers on an English professor (Colin Firth) who, after the sudden death of his partner, tries to go about his typical day, struggling to find ...

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It's Aliens, I Tell You! It's Aliens Who've Sunk My Battleship!

But seriously. We already know that the classic Hasbro board game, Battleship, is being adapted into a live-action feature film to be directed by Peter Berg. We know that Universal is planning on releasing it on August 5th, 2011. We know that the film will be shooting next Spring. What we didn't know, until now, however, is just who the international five-ship fleet (discussed by Berg) would be fighting. Well, according to Latino Review, we do now. Aliens. Sorry. Let me have another go at that. ALIENS! Oh yes. Sweet Zuul, yes. There's no word on what type of aliens, where they'll be from (aside from OUTER! SPACE!), or which leader they'll demand to see, but, again... we're talking about aliens here. Who cares about the logistics.

Now, in this next paragraph, I could do a couple of different things. I could choose to brutally eviscerate Universal and Peter Berg and ...

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Unexpected 'Howling Reborn' Project Comes Out of Nowhere

While perusing the halls at AFM this week, ShockTillYouDrop came across a rather interesting new poster for a sequel that we've never heard of until today. It's called The Howling Reborn and is, supposedly, a sequel or remake or reboot of The Howling, the classic werewolf movie from 1981 that was directed by Joe Dante. That original film spawned some six sequels and created the Howling legacy. The last one, titled Howling: New Moon Rising, arrived on DVD in 1995. This is the first time we've heard of this, though that poster looks quite a bit like the original poster. Is this some straight-to-DVD rip off or something more?

The poster says that Joe Nimziki, a first-time director with only one credit on "The Outer Limits", is writing and directing The Howling Reborn. The film was being sold at AFM by Moonstone Entertainment, a production/distribution company with a filmography that includes ...

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First Poster for The Wolfman Without Any Wolfman On It!

So who or what is on it, if it's not the Wolfman himself? Just Emily Blunt, who plays Gwen Conliffe, that's all. Cinematical has debuted the first teaser poster for Joe Johnston's The Wolfman, which we've seen two trailers for so far. I think this is a clear sign that Universal does not know how to market this movie. Its been plagued with production problems, even reshoots, and they release two very different trailers. The decision to release a poster without even Benicio Del Toro or Anthony Hopkins on it just shows that they really don't know what they're doing. I'm sure we'll see more posters, but they won't be much better. But who cares?

Lawrence Talbot, a haunted nobleman, is lured back to his family estate after his brother vanishes. Upon his return and after being reunited with his estranged father, Talbot is bitten and cursed by a werewolf.

The Wolfman ...

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New Trailer for Jim Sheridan's Brothers

Lionsgate has premiered a new trailer for director Jim Sheridan's Brothers , starring Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal. In the film, opening December 4th, a decorated Marine (Maguire) goes missing overseas. His black-sheep younger brother (Gyllenhaal) cares for his wife (Portman) and children at home—with consequences that will shake the foundation of the entire family.

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CS Video: Richard Curtis on Pirate Radio

The history of rock 'n' roll was forever changed in the '60s by the British Invasion, and the influence of bands like The Beatles and The Stones and The Who and The Kinks and others are still felt today. And yet, in England, the government-run radio stations only allowed an hour of popular music on air a day, forcing music DJs to take their show to the sea, broadcasting rock music from boats off the coast of England 24 hours a day for anyone who wanted to listen.

That's the musical history at the center of Pirate Radio , the new ensemble comedy from Richard Curtis that features an illustrious cast including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Rhys Darby ("Flight of the Conchords") and Rhys Ifans and others playing DJs on just such a ship. The story is told...

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Sundance Film Festival USA Coming to Eight Cities in January

Sundance is coming to you! Yesterday, the Sundance Institute announced that they would be launching Sundance Film Festival U.S.A., a groundbreaking initiative in which the 10-day Sundance Film Festival will expand nationwide on the night of Thursday, January 28th, 2010 to local theatres in eight cities. On that day, eight filmmakers and their films will be dispatched from Park City to cities across America, for the first time providing audiences the opportunity to experience screenings direct from the Festival in their home town art houses and to engage in live conversation with Festival artists. Now this is a really cool idea!

"The concept behind Sundance Film Festival U.S.A. is to ignite dialogue as people across the country engage in a collective film experience. It is an extension, really, of the work we have done for decades: supporting the independent voice, bringing artists to the table and inserting art more and more ...

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Intense New Trailer for Jim Sheridan's War Drama Brothers

Bam! First line: "Sam's dead!" Wow, Lionsgate is really throwing everyone head first right in to the thick of this. Yahoo has debuted another new trailer for Jim Sheridan's Brothers starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, and Natalie Portman. We featured the first trailer for this back in July, but they've now released a newer, more dramatic cut (that plays like a sequel to Obsessed) to try and persuade moviegoers to see this movie in December. There's lots of screaming in the later half, but it still looks pretty good. I'll probably see this because of the cast more than anything. I just hope it's a great movie as well. What do you guys think?

Watch the second trailer for Jim Sheridan's Brothers:

You can also watch this trailer for Brothers in High Definition on Yahoo

In a small, snowy Pennsylvania town, a young man (Jake Gyllenhaal) comforts his older brother's wife (Natalie Portman) ...

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J.J. Abrams' Next New Super Top Secret Project: 500 Rads?

Can you remember back to July 3rd, 2007? You were probably sitting in a theater, and some random trailer started playing that had footage from a surprise birthday party for some guy named Rob. That was the start of Cloverfield. They hadn't even shot any real footage, it was a super secret project, and that first trailer captured everyone's interest. Jump ahead a few years and now J.J. Abrams is done with Star Trek. We don't yet know if he's directing the sequel and his go-to guys from Cloverfield (Matt Reeves, Drew Goddard) are both off doing other projects. So could he be working on another secret project? One called 500 Rads?

Pajiba (via SlashFilm) claims to have some information regarding this secret project. "J.J. Abrams and his production company, Bad Robot, are secretly developing a movie called 500 Rads." They go on to say the budget is supposedly around $25 ...

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Sony Adapting the Classic Board Game Risk as a Feature Film

What the? How the hell are they going to do this? Sony Pictures has announced today that they've acquired the rights to the classic board game Risk, which was first invented in 1957 by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse as "La Conquête du Monde" (Conquest of the World). Two years later, in 1959, Parker Brothers published the game we all came to know as Risk. Since then, nearly a dozen different variations of Risk have mapped out epic battles in the Star Wars universe, Middle Earth, Narnia, the moon, and various periods in world history. And now Sony is planning to bring the game itself, maybe the entire world, to the big screen.

"The strategic thinking and the tactical gambles that players must take in the game are what make Risk a classic, thoroughly engaging game. Those elements translated into an action-packed, thrilling story are what will make this a uniquely exciting ...

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International Trailer for Prince of Persia

An international trailer for Disney's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is now also online and can be watched using the player below. Opening in theaters on May 28, the Mike Newell-directed video game adaptation stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Alfred Molina and Toby Kebbell. In the fantasy-action-adventure, a rogue prince (Gyllenhaal) reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess (Arterton) and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time—a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

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DreamWorks and Doubleday Acquire Robopocalypse

DreamWorks Studios and Doubleday have acquired, in a pre-emptive deal, the rights to Daniel H. Wilson's unpublished manuscript, "Robopocalypse," it was announced today by Mark Sourian and Holly Bario, Co-Presidents of Production at the studio, and Jason Kaufman, Executive Editor and Vice President, at Doubleday.

DreamWorks acquired the film rights from literary manager Justin Manask and is putting the project into accelerated development. Kaufman acquired world publishing rights to "Robopocalypse" from Laurie Fox at the Linda Chester Literary Agency and a tentative 2011 publication date has been set for the book.

"Robopocalypse" explores the fate of the human race following a robot uprising.

"Daniel H. Wilson's cautionary tale of man versus...

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Interview: The Box Director Richard Kelly - Part 1: Spoiler Free

Just yesterday, at a quaint hotel in Beverly Hills, I sat down to interview Richard Kelly, the mastermind behind the upcoming film The Box and one of my all-time favorite films, Donnie Darko. We spoke at length about developing The Box and his fascination with science fiction, but because his new film has some big surprise twists, I decided to record a second part talking specifically about spoilers (that will be posted next week after this hits theaters). This half of the interview is completely spoiler free and is about everything The Box and how he got to this point in his career. If you're a fan of Richard Kelly, you need to watch this!

Watch my interview with The Box writer and director Richard Kelly:

This interview was shot using my Flip Mino camera. In terms of my thoughts on The Box, I actually liked it a lot. I can't talk ...

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Watch This: Better International Trailer for Prince of Persia

Let's give this another shot. Yesterday afternoon the official trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time hit the web. For reasons I can't understand, most people hated it, or at least said it wasn't what they expected and look terrible. Another different international trailer for Prince of Persia has popped up today (via Trailer Addict) that is shorter, but better, than that first one. For an adaptation of a video game, I think it looks awesome. It looks like it'll have plenty of badass action and I really don't mind Jake Gyllenhaal. Hopefully in time, and with better footage like this, the rest of you will warm up to Prince of Persia as well.

Watch the international trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time:

Follows a prince who must stop an angry ruler from unleashing a sandstorm that could destroy the world.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ...

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No District 9 Sequel Until Jackson & Blomkamp Are Ready

Isn't weird that even though a movie makes lots of money and is considered a huge success, no one wants to see a sequel. And yet movies that barely make any money somehow get sequels that no one wants (e.g. Ghost Rider)? Well, the good news is that we probably won't see a District 9 sequel for a few years. That's good because I don't want a sequel to be rushed into production. But it's also bad because I'd actually like to see them make District 10 at some point. Over on Deadline Hollywood, Nikki Finke has a new update saying, basically, that Neill Blomkamp and Peter Jackson won't come back unless (or until) they figure out a story.

But those close to producer Peter Jackson and director Neill Blomkamp say only it may happen "at some point" when the duo "figure out what the story is and organize their respective schedules". (Peter is ...

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Check This Out: xkcd's Brilliant/Confusing Movie Narrative Charts

I love xkcd. It's one of my favorite webcomics and is daily reading for me. It's very geeky, mainly for tech and math geeks, but it's brilliant. Simple style with big ideas. The latest comic created by Randall Munroe on xkcd.org features a series of Movie Narrative Charts that map out characters throughout an entire trilogy (specifically Lord of the Rings and Star Wars). It maps their relation (are they near or far from each other) over the horizontal axis of time. Take a look, it's pretty damn cool, you'll understand once you see it. And to top it all off, he threw in charts for 12 Angry Men and Primer as well, for a laugh. You've just got to see this!

At first I tried to follow this and make some sense of it, but eventually I realized it gets very confusing very quickly. I guess I'm trying to process ...

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Michael Jackson Concert Doc Isn't Quite It

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.

With only one new movie opening in wide release over the Halloween weekend, it was thought by many that Kenny Ortega's concert doc Michael Jackson's This Is It (Sony) would bring in a lot of the King of Pop's diehard fans as well as the morbidly curious, but despite reports of huge advance ticket sales and sell-out shows, it opened rather moderately on Wednesday with $7.4 million in just under 3,500 theaters. It managed to pick up some steam over the normally slow holiday weekend, bringing in an estimated $21.3 million, roughly $6200 per...

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Martin Campbell Talks Green Lantern Effects

Green Lantern director Martin Campbell ( Casino Royale , GoldenEye ) told Empire magazine (via Coventry Telegraph ) they've got their work cut out in bringing the comic book to life.

"It's daunting," he said. "Just the process, something like 1,300 visual effects shots, it's mind-blowing, quite honestly."

Campbell said that a lot of the effects shots work will concentrate on the Green Lantern's power ring. "It's energized by a battery on the planet of Oa, which taps into the willpower of everyone in the universe. From that ring you can form constructs. So if you got into a fight, you could form a giant fist. Or a fighter plane."

Ryan Reynolds will play the title role in the action-adventure, which Warner Bros. Pictures will release on June...

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Exciting New Avatar Featurette on James Cameron's Vision

Are you ready to dive head first into the mind of James Cameron and the world of Avatar? You've read about him, seen the world he's created, now you can get a glimpse behind his vision in this new featurette released by Fox. This video was released in coordination with the new trailer to continue to build hype and excitement for Avatar and show us a little behind-the-scenes of it all. There's lots of new footage (almost too much) as well as a few good interviews with actors and so much more. If you're still excited for Avatar (or need more to get you pumped), then just watch! It shows the world of Pandora like you've never seen before.

Watch this behind-the-scenes featurette for James Cameron's Avatar:

Avatar is the story of an ex-Marine on the planet Pandora who, as an Avatar - a human mind in an alien body - finds ...

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Indie Trailer Sunday: Zhang Yimou's Amazing Tales: Three Guns

This trailer is only for hardcore fans of Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers) and those who don't need any English subtitles! Twitch has dug up the first trailer for Zhang Yimou's Amazing Tales: Three Guns, his remake of the Coen Brothers' first film Blood Simple. It may not have subtitles yet, but it looks quite fun anyway. And its got everything you'd expect from a Coen Brothers remake - double-crossings, cheating, lying, death, and plenty of good humor. I'm actually looking forward to this, even if it looks a bit wacky, primarily because it's Zhang Yimou and he always delivers very visually stunning films. Check it out!

Watch the first trailer for Zhang Yimou's Amazing Tales: Three Guns (in Mandarin):

[flv:http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/amazingtales-threeguns-chinese.flv http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/amazingtales-threeguns-chinese.jpg 560 420]

Set at a noodle shop in the middle of the desert in Gansu Province, Ni Dahong plays a stingy tavern owner who hires Sun Honglei's character to ...

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