Very few styles of film making are more impressive and more grueling than the art of stop-motion. The meticulous and painstaking work requires the patience of ten saints, and not one person had this gift mixture of virtues more so than Henry Selick. Selick is best known for his directorial debut with the Tim Burton produced Halloween (and sometimes Christmas) classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. He also did James and the Giant Peach, and most recently an adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s children’s book, Coraline.

Selick recently spoke with HitFix (head there to read a lot more with the director) about what he has coming up next, and surprisingly, three projects were revealed. As impressive as stop-motion movies are, we live in a world where animated movies are mostly made using computer technologies, and these movies make insane amounts of money; so why put the money and the effort into something as tedious as stop-motion when it can be so much easier? Well, sillies — because there is a certain charm that comes from stop-motion that is completely unique and impossible to replicate. [...]

One of the more unexpected announcements to come along in recent memory was that Seth Grahame-Smith was re-working Jane Austen‘s classic novel Pride and Prejudice by adding a storyline that featured a zombie infestation. The title of the book would of course be Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and whether you liked the book or not (Read: Book Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), it was one of the more entertaining ideas that we’d heard in a long, long time. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before this fun new idea was turned into a fun new movie, and that moment is approaching.

To kick things off right, the trades are reporting that Natalie Portman will not only star in the movie, but that she will also be producing it. Portman will produce through her own Handsomecharlie company, and she will appear in the role of Elizabeth Bennet, a firecracker of a woman who’s stuck in between fighting off zombies and a budding love with Mr. Darcy. [...]

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today are the Scene It? interactive board games for only $7.99 each (that’s 73% off the list price of $29.99).

Included in today’s deal are six popular Scene It? editions:

Scene It? Twilight Deluxe Edition
Scene It? “The Simpsons” Deluxe Edition
Scene It? 80s Deluxe Edition
Scene It? Disney 2nd Edition
Scene It? Disney Channel
Scene It? Star Trek Deluxe Tin Edition

This deal applies only to products sold by Amazon.com. (Does not apply to products sold by third-party merchants and other sellers through the Amazon.com site.) Offer valid today only while supplies last from Amazon.com. Limit 3 per title per customer. Visit the Scene It? Sale page for direct links to qualifying titles [...]

A veritable slew of new posters have been released today, including Iron Man 2, a few from Clash of the Titans, and even Sex and the City 2 for our lovely lady geeks. If you’re a fan of Sex and the City, you’ll probably enjoy the pretty basic teaser poster, but naturally, the real prizes here are in Titans and Iron Man 2, which all offer some very cool poster eye candy.

Clash of the Titans is offering three new posters. One shows Perseus (Sam Worthington) holding the decapitated head of Medusa, which alone should be worth checking out. The next poster once again shows Perseus, this time riding his beloved horse Pegasus. The final poster may not be a poster at all, but it is a collection of three images together.

As for Iron Man 2, their new poster is all about the Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), and it is very cool looking. The poster is similar to the image that we saw recently of Whiplash in a small room with many Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) newspapers articles posted up around him. The background of the one-sheet is littered with said articles, while the foreground has Whiplash showing off his white-hot toys. [...]

Recently it was reported that Summit Entertainment was making a new movie based on the original Dracula called Vlad, and we all rejoiced as we might see the studio bring us some real vampires instead of the ones that we’ve seen in The Twilight Saga. Apparently, this was a tad premature, and we’ve now discovered that the movie will not be about Dracula or vampires at all; it will simply be about the man himself, Vlad the Impaler, in all of his historical glory.

Entertainment Weekly was able to have a chit chat with actor Charlie Hunnam, who wrote the script for Vlad. The Sons of Anarchy and Green Street Hooligans star talked about how much work he put into the concept, how he wants to see it turn out, and what it’s actually about.

The thing that really stands out is how fascinated Hunnam is with the history of Vlad the Impaler. While filming Cold Mountain in 2003, the actor traveled Romania and was swept away in the history and the myths that formed from the man. [...]

One of the most exciting things to receive as a gift on Christmas is video games. For me personally, nothing beats the morning I was given the Sega Genesis system I never thought I would possibly get, and playing Sonic’s elusive blue hide right into the ground. And even though that childlike joy will never be experienced again for me, and video game systems are a whole lot different and more expensive these days, it’s still exciting to open up a new video game you haven’t played yet.

To try and help some of you create this joy for your video game playing loved ones, we wanted to create a list of 2009′s best and most-desired game titles. These are the games that most people are going to want if they don’t have them yet, and these are the games that have made the most impact. Obviously you’ll want to make sure they don’t have specific titles in mind, but for the most part, this is where to start reading up on and shopping for video game gift ideas.

Click on over to the other side to check out our very own Holiday Gift Guide: Video Game Edition ’09 for selections to play on Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 game consoles, as well as on your PC [...]

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth installment in the Harry Potter franchise, is out on DVD and Blu-ray this week, and we here at Geeks of Doom have two (2) Blu-ray editions to give away to some lucky readers!

Two (2) winners will each receive:

— One (1) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Blu-ray

Synopsis: Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Even as the decisive showdown looms, romance blossoms for Harry, Ron, Hermione and their classmates. Love is in the air, but danger lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same [...]

An interesting bit of news has developed over the course of the day. it was originally spotted in a Twitter post by Production Weekly that stated “James Cameron is developing a Shane Salerno-scripted sci-fi action script for Fox, described as an ‘event’ film set in the future.” After that, /Film remembered an old trade subscriber-only post that announced Fox purchasing a Salerno script that seems to fit the description and went to dig it up. Theoretically, these two connecting forces creates a foundation, possibly setting up Doomsday Protocol as a future Cameron project.

The 2008 trade post went a little something like this:

Today’s Goldbox spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon is Seinfeld – The Complete Series on DVD for only $84.99 (that’s 66% off the list price of $250.95).

The long-running show infamously known to be about “nothing” starred comedian Jerry Seinfeld as himself, along with Jason Alexander as his conniving best friend George, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as his ex-girlfriend turned gal pal Elaine, Michael Richards as his eccentric next door neighbor Kramer, and Wayne Knight as his neighbor/nemesis Newman. Jerry and his pals live in New York City and somehow manage to turn the mundane into a laugh riot, making the show — created by Curb Your Enthusiasm‘s Larry David one of the funniest in sitcom history.

This 32-disc two-volume DVD set contains all 180 episodes of the nine-season series along with The Official Coffee Table Book, a 226-page, bound anthology filled with photos, quotes, trivia from every episode, and personal reflections from Jerry Seinfeld. The collectible book comes with a bonus disc featuring “The Roundtable,” an hour-long feature that’s a reunion of the entire cast along with Larry David on the ninth anniversary of the series finale.

Note, this deal is only good for today until midnight PST or until supplies last before then, so grab this well you can. It’s absolutely a worthy investment. Check out the DVD bonus features [...]

Walt Disney Pictures has been busy today, releasing a poster and image from Tron: Legacy, and also unveiling this brand new trailer for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Not too much was known about the project aside from the fact that it was directed by Jon Turteltaub and starred Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel as a Sorcerer and his confused and reluctant apprentice.

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, you can see the effects shining in this trailer. Actually, if you had to compare this with Bruckheimer’s other recent blockbuster trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, it would be hard not to say that The Sorcerer’s Apprentice looks like it has a lot more promise and some really fun special effects. Cage does a lot of questionable movies these days, but every once in a while, he’s in one that ends up being a pretty good time. Some would say National Treasure was one, we know Kick-Ass will be one, and this now has a chance to become one. [...]

Walt Disney Pictures has released some good for their upcoming sequel Tron: Legacy. They’ve given HeyUGuys a brand new poster, image, and official synopsis from the movie, and things are definitely looking good, especially if you’re a big Tron fan.

The sequel will take place many years later with the son of the original movie’s Kevin Flynn going to try and find his missing father and ultimately finding himself also pulled into the digital Tron world.

Click over to check out the official synopsis and to check out the cool new poster and new image!

Official Synopsis
Tron: Legacy is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that’s unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the digital world of Tron where his father has been living for 25 years. [...]

We all know the routine: every once in a great while, a rumor surfaces that a brand new Star Wars movie could be in the works. The first thought is that George Lucas has finally decided that he wants to do the mythical last trilogy that would show us what happened after the original saga. After that, there’s thoughts of movies that just take place in a different part of that world, but that’s what the live-action television series we’ve heard about is supposed to be doing. So…just for the fun of it all, if they were making a brand new Star Wars movie, what could they be doing and what would YOU want them to do?

Now, I have no idea how this was even discovered, but Ain’t it Cool News went on an archaeological excavation and found a very brief, random bit encased within a blog written by Thomas Dolby, the man who co-wrote the Howard the Duck theme song. [...]

Bruce Wayne has had a rough couple of years in the DC Universe. He was brainwashed, which caused his mind to switch to Batman auto-pilot mode, adopted a green and purple costume, apparently got killed, got replaced, and later misplaced in time.

But Bruce is on his way back, according to writer Grant Morrison, who will pen Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, a six-issue mini-series due out in 2010 with a rotating cast of artists.

Morrison did an interview with USA Today about the character’s return to regular story continuity in which he explains that the series will chronicle Bruce’s journey through different periods in time so that he can reach the present day [...]

Disney will be releasing their latest 2D animated feature, The Princess and the Frog, this Friday in theaters. The movie will introduce us to a very new Disney princess and include plenty of new songs, composed by Randy Newman.

In conjunction with the film’s release, we here at Geeks of Doom have five (5) copies of Disney’s The Princess and the Frog Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD autographed by Randy Newman! (See image of prizing here at right.)

Five (5) winners will each receive:

– One (1) The Princess and The Frog Soundtrack CD autographed by composer Randy Newman

Walt Disney Animation Studios presents the musical, THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, an animated comedy set in the great city of New Orleans [...]

Hero Complex has received word that Sony is considering Josh Brolin for a role in Men in Black III. No word yet on who the No Country For Old Men and Milk star would be playing in the movie, but whispers say that he could play a new recruit that one of MiB’s finest would have to train OR that he could be a younger Tommy Lee Jones character, though this is all speculation.

Men in Black III has not officially been greenlit yet, but they did hire Etan Cohen (Idiocracy, Tropic Thunder) to get the script written. All signs so far point to Will Smith being prepped and ready to return to the franchise if the ignition is fired up, but the return of Jones is still a big question mark.

As a big fan of these movies, this is exciting news. On the negative end of things: none of these possible roles sound all that great. If this movie is going to tear up the box office, it needs its original cast. [...]

Nerd Trekkers rejoice!

There’s a brand new way to annoy friends on Twitter with what you’re eating by translating your 140-character weakling human message into a barely pronounceable battle cry.

Simply type your message into the web app on Tweet In Klingon and it’ll be translated into the language of the wrinkly-headed race of aliens from the Star Trek universe.

However, if you’re at a loss for what exactly one would want to tweet in Klingon, there is a list of pre-packaged messages like “When a warrior goes into battle, he does not abandon his friends” and “Your mother has a smooth forehead.” [...]

A year ago we found out that a remake of the 1984 classic Romancing the Stone was in the works with Daniel McDermott (Eagle Eye) hired to write the script. No one enjoyed hearing this news, and no real updates ever came of the project leaving us all to hope it had been scrapped. It’s not so easy; reports from Pajiba state that the remake is still moving forward, and that Robert Luketic has been brought on to direct.

Luketic has a major resume for those who are fond of what we know as “Chick-Flicks” that includes Legally Blonde, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, Monster In-Law, and most recently, The Ugly Truth. He also directed the card math movie 21, and he is currently slated to be the man directing the limbo-trapped Barbarella remake. He even did a little short film in 1997 called Titsiana Booberini. Yeap.

With this information, you can basically just take all of those movies (with the exception of Booberini, of course) and watch the entire Romancing the Stone remake in your mind right this very moment, though I’m not sure this is a good thing. [...]

Just a quick reminder that Disney’s new animated holiday special Prep & Landing will premiere tonight on ABC at 8:30/7:30c.

Also, if you can’t catch it tonight, you can watch it on Disney.com starting tomorrow along with an additional original short film Tiny’s BIG Adventure at disney.com/prepandlanding.

Prep & Landing is ABC’s first television special produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. The half-hour holiday special reveals the never-before-told tale of an elite unit of Elves known as Prep & Landing. Every Christmas Eve, this high-tech organization ensures that homes around the world are properly prepared for a visit from the Big Guy (aka Santa Claus) [...]

We haven’t heard too much about the progress of turning the ultra-popular video game Gears of War into a major motion picture since hearing that Len Wiseman would be the man directing the project. Recently, Making Of had the chance to have a little chat with producer Wyck Godfrey, who was able to share a tiny little bit of information on where the film may be heading, including a decision which could make or break the project before it even begins.

Godfrey explained that they were working with Wiseman and that they had spoken with the gentlemen over at Epic Games who developed the series. It would appear that their big hurdle right now is whether they should jump right into the madness that we saw in the games, or if it would be better for them to do something of an origins story and show what things were like before the war with the Locust began. [...]

Every year, we scatter looking for the best gifts and the best prices to complete our holiday shopping needs as soon as humanly possible. For some strange reason, many people still actually head out into the chaos that is the holiday shopping season, though it’s obvious that just hanging out at home is so insanely better, even if you have to pay a little more. Many sites online like to do their own holiday gift guides each year to help you find what you may be looking for, and we at Geeks of Doom are no different. Our own Tom Cheredar recently put together a fantastic guide for those of you looking for the best Wii sports accessories, and if you stay tuned, we will have a large gift guide with all of 2009′s best movies, games, and other goodies that translate into the best gifts!

Until that guide is complete, here is yet another to tide you over. This is a guide that really digs to the core for some of the best gifts out there for the true geek in all of us. The gifts in this guide come from perhaps the best website on the planet for strange and wonderful goodies, ThinkGeek. [...]