As promised, a trailer for the Robert Rodriguez produced and Nimród Antal directed reboot, Predators, has been unleashed online.

The trailer is pretty awesome and it begins by showing us the group of humans after they’ve first been brought to this mysterious jungle planet. After that, you’ll get to peek at each of the cast and see a lot of tense moments as the humans fight to survive, as well as a few peeks at the vicious Predators who are hunting them. Overall, it’s a very effective trailer; it looks like they nailed the tone of 1987′s Predator while adding some nasty new creatures and a hell of a lot more of them than the one deadly alien from the original film.

Remain in the shadows and cautiously make your way over to the other side to watch the first trailer for Predators!

The great cast includes Academy Award winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist, King Kong); Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix, Mystic River) Danny Trejo (Con Air, Desperado); Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3, That ’70s Show); Alice Braga (City of God, I Am Legend); Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (The 4400, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button); Walt Goggins (The Shield, Shanghai Noon); Oleg Taktarov (Bad Boys 2, 15 Minutes); and Derek Mears (Friday the 13th). [...]

Entertainment Weekly has learned of some new names that have been cast in the upcoming live-action/CGI hybrid adaptation of the animated television series, The Smurfs.

The most amusing of these is Hank Azaria, who has been cast in the role of the evil Sorcerer, Gargamel. Initially, reports indicated that Azaria would be simply voicing the role, which seemed strange for a human character in a partially live-action film; but co-star Neil Patrick Harris confirmed via his Twitter account that the role would in fact be live and in the flesh.

Similar confusions seem to come from the casting of Neil Patrick Harris as well; when first reported, it sounded as if he’d be voicing the lead Smurf, but that has since changed to the live-action lead character. Harris will play husband to Glee‘s Jayma Mays, who is pregnant with the couple’s first child when they stumble upon the Smurfs in New York City’s Central Park. [...]

Ben 10 Alien Force, Season
Vol. 3 DVD | Vol. 4 DVD
Created by Man of Action
Featuring the voices of Yuri Lowenthal, Ashley Johnson, Greg Cipes
Rated Y7
Warner Home Video

Ben 10 Alien Force Vol. 3 and 4 continues the journey of teenage hero Ben Tennyson, the bearer of the DNA changer Ominitrix. With his super powered cousin Gwen and Frienemy Kevin Levin, Ben continues on a mission to track down his Grandpa Max and fight off a new breed of alien invaders known only as the Highbreed. Volumes 3 and 4 collects the end of season one of the hit series and first five episodes of season two of the exciting kids cartoon.

Created by comic book alums Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, and Steven T. Seagle (AKA Man of Action Studios), each episode is pretty much a by the books cartoon geared toward young boys. The heroes encounter a problem. Ben uses the Omnitrix to turn into a new alien to combat said problem. Someone gets hurt or captured or both. Gwen and Kevin flirt in a family friendly way. Ben uses another alien to save the day. It is pretty much a rinse repeat process. [...]

HBO has been busy setting up their future in television lately.

The network recently ordered an entire season of the highly-buzzed about adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series called Game of Thrones, and just this week they debuted their new Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks produced World War II drama, The Pacific. To go along with these things, they’re also preparing the return of their most popular show ever, and the debuts of future series.

HBO has announced that their ultra-popular series True Blood has an official start date for Season 3. The show, which is about vampires who live amongst us and is set mostly in the Louisiana deep South, will return to the air on June 13, 2010.

Continue on over to the other side for more on HBO’s upcoming new shows and to see their trailers.

Along with the continuation of True Blood, HBO has two new shows about to debut. The first of them is called Treme, and it comes from the creators of The Wire, David Simon and Eric Overmyer. [...]

According to Ian McKellen‘s official website, director Guillermo del Toro is getting ready to begin filming his epic two-part adaptation of The Hobbit in July.

McKellen, who is set to return to his role of the powerful wizard Gandalf, says that casting has begun in many different parts of the world and del Toro is now living in New Zealand near producer Peter Jackson and the studio where the movies are set to film. The Hobbit is of course based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, and is a prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy that Jackson turned into a massively-successful set of films in early this past decade.

Here is the full statement from McKellen’s site:

THE HOBBIT’s, two films, start shooting in New Zealand in July. Filming will take over a year. Casting in Los Angeles, New York City and London has started. The script too proceeds. The first draft is crammed with old and new friends, again on a quest in Middle Earth.

The director Guillermo del Toro is now living in Wellington, close to the Jacksons’ and the studio in Miramar. [...]

Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom
Paperback
Writer: Bruce Brown
Penciler: Renzo Podesta
Colorist: Renzo Podesta
Arcana Comics
Release date: February 10, 2010

Are you looking for an adventure into a fantastical world with unique creatures you have never seen before? Well if you are you, then should definitely read Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom. If you are at all interested in HP Lovecraft stories, than this is definitely the trade for you. It is a dark story with a lighthearted nature about its characters and dialogue and is a very interesting new take on the HP Lovecraft theme.

The adventure starts off as Howard’s mother is unsure as to whether or not Howard should meet his father in the Arkham Sanitarium. Her decision is cut short when Howard is too curious and finds he has to look into the cell and tell his father how much he misses him. Then his father, very clearly disturbed by what he has experienced, warns Howard never to read his journal or go to the world where he visited [...]

If you’re not watching the first season run of Caprica, then you are truly missing out on a great new TV show. Folks who want or expect it to be Battlestar Galactica — the beloved series for which Caprica is a prequel to — will for the most part be disappointed, but for anyone open to a new kind of show set in that world, it’s really starting to stand up on its own two man-made legs.

Due to the undying popularity of Galactica and the growing popularity of Caprica, not to mention the spinoff movies that have been produced so far, it comes as no surprise that SyFy has a desire to create yet another spinoff series, and is exploring any possible options that there may be with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore (and probably David Eick).

SyFy’s Executive VP of Development, Mark Stern, had this to say:

We’re looking for other ways to spin off Battlestar beyond Caprica.

That world is so rich. We’re sitting down with (executive producer) Ron Moore and his team. It would not necessarily be a traditional series. [...]

No one knows exactly how many times we’ve heard talk of a Sin City 2 happening by now. Clearly directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller — who also created the graphic novel — want to make this movie, but the big question has always been when they would actually stand up, buckle down, and get this bad boy going full-steam ahead.

The answer to this question is still unknown, but while speaking to MTV, Rodriguez made it pretty clear that it’s all about when everyone will have the time. We know Miller has gotten into directing his own films and that he’s been working on a story for a sequel to 300; while at the same time, Rodriguez has been plenty busy with Machete, producing Predators, and surely working on his own pile of prospective films.

Not only do Miller and Rodriguez need to find a window to fit this in, but the many new or returning big name stars who will be in the movie will have to find time right along with them, of course. [...]

We’ve been hearing a lot about this new Muppet movie that’s on the way, and it started with word that Forgetting Sarah Marshall star and director Jason Segel and Nick Stoller were writing the script.

There’s been a lot of back-and-forth on the Walt Disney Company project since then, including the hiring of Flight of the Conchords creator and writer James Bobin to direct the film. Now comes word of the first major non-Muppet casting for the movie, and it will be none other than Segel himself.

Segel is the perfect casting for the human lead of a Muppet movie — which we’ve heard would be called The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made, but it’s unclear whether this is still the case or not. He’s made it very clear in the past that in writing this movie, he wanted to revisit the Muppets of old; the Muppets of the ’80s that many of us grew up with. With a love of the characters like that, you know he’ll have the most fun in helping to really bring out the best movie. [...]

Over the years, there’s been plenty of talk about the direction of Mark Hamill‘s career after his famous turn as Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy. Since the trilogy Hamill has gone on to do several unmemorable action-thriller films, tons of voice work (most notably as The Joker in the Batman animated universal), and a few turns guest-starring as himself in television shows like Just Shoot Me.

But does anyone remember Hamill’s roles pre-Star Wars: A New Hope?

I do! I do!

In late 1976, Hamill guest-starred on an episode of the sitcom One Day At A Time, where he played Harvey, the thieving nephew of building custodian Schneider, in an episode titled “Schneider’s Pride & Joy.” In the episode, he was visiting his uncle, helping him out with maintenance work in the apartment building, but it turns out he was actually stealing pricey items like tape recorders (ha ha, tape recorders!) and cameras from the residents.

You can watch the Minisode (a truncated version of the half-hour episode) right here below [...]

The Fourth Kind, the alien abduction thriller starring Milla Jovovich, is out on DVD and Blu-ray today, and boy oh boy do we have a nifty little prize pack to giveaway to one (1) lucky reader!!!

One (1) winner will receive:

– One (1) The Fourth Kind Blu-ray edition
– One (1) Flip Video Cam [that's right, people!!!]

Yes, a Flip Cam, which you use to document your own alien encounters and sightings, then spread it all over the Internet!

Structured unlike any film before it, The Fourth Kind is a provocative thriller set in Nome, Alaska, where — mysteriously since the 1960s — a disproportionate number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered. Set in remote Alaska, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) began videotaping sessions with traumatized patients and unwittingly discovered some of the most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented. Using this never-before-seen archival footage alongside dramatizations, The Fourth Kind exposes the chilling truth behind these disappearances [...]

So you want to make movies but have no resources? Here’s a look at what 90 or so friends and family, six on-and-off months of work, a video camera (owned or borrowed — not stolen; that’s mean…and also illegal), obtainable programs like Final Cut Studio, and about $100 can get you.

A bunch of friends in Arizona with this particular list of ingredients got together as often as their schedules would allow them to, and what did they come up with? Well, they decided to film a shot-for-shot remake of a scene from Walt Disney’s 1995 animated flick, A Goofy Movie. The scene that they reproduced comes from the beginning on the movie where young Max Goof and the rest of his school break out into a sweet little musical number called “After Today.” The only negative is that we do not get a live-action Goofy himself, sadly.

Sing and dance your way on over to the other side to check out the video immediately! [...]

In January we found out that Jason Momoa would become the next Conan the Barbarian in the Marcus Nispel remake, Conan. We also found out that Mickey Rourke might play his father, which after some rocky roads, was confirmed a month later. (Read: Mickey Rourke To Play Barbaric Father In Marcus Nispel’s ‘Conan’ Reboot).

Apparently things hit another wall after this announcement and Rourke was once again out, but Lionsgate didn’t waste any time in finding someone to replace the actor. Vulture has reported that Ron Perlman will now step into the shoes of Conan’s father, Corin.

According to reports from Deadline Hollywood, Rourke was also in talks to star in Tarsem Singh’s War of Gods, which was filming right around the same time. If this is the case, then he may have simply decided to work with Singh instead of Nispel.

The Conan cast looks to be coming together nicely so long as these names stay put and this mix-and-change stuff doesn’t become a habit. [...]

Collider recently spoke to actor John Cho on the set of his television show, Flash Forward. During their conversation, both Harold and Kumar 3 and Star Trek 2 were touched on.

Unfortunately, the next Trek doesn’t have much going on as they wait for a script to be completed, but it would appear that another Harold and Kumar could indeed be closer than we thought.

Cho says that all is moving ahead smoothly, and that they could begin filming the movie by June. He indicates that it would take place a couple of years later and that this time around the holidays will be the main backdrop for the movie. In fact, it sounds like they want to make a legit holiday Harold and Kumar flick, which would actually be pretty awesome.

The only real problem is that co-star Kal Penn now has a job working in Washington D.C.; Penn, whose real name is Kalpen Suresh Modi (which I had no clue about), assumed the role of Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement under President Barack Obama in 2009. [...]

Triangle
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Christopher Smith
Starring Melissa George, Michael Doorman, Liam Hemsworth, Henry Nixon, Rachael Carpani
First Look Pictures
Released date: March 2, 2010

In 2004 Creep, a British horror movie in which Franke Potente gets chased through the tunnels of the London Underground, showcased the talents of newbie writer/director Christopher Smith. He followed that up a couple of years later with Severance where a group of work colleagues go out to the country for a weekend trip of team-building — and death. Severance showed that Smith was on a roll; it was scarier, gorier and sleeker than its predecessor. Its biggest surprise however was that it was funny and Smith juggled the jokes and scares very well. Here was a new, young English director making exciting horror movies. So I have to say I was a little surprised when Smith mapped a slightly new course into the thriller genre for his third feature.

Triangle is the story of a group of friends on a sailing trip off the coast of Florida. All seems well as they set off into the ocean, the harbour reducing to a speck before they are surrounded by nothing but blue water. But no sooner do they get the main sail up the wind suddenly drops to zero and a huge storm cloud quickly heads towards them. On the boat’s radio, Greg (Michael Doorman) receives a shocking distress call but the electrical storm wipes out the radio signal and a huge wave capsizes the boat [...]

Choker #1
Written by Ben McCool
Art by Ben Templesmith
Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Released date: February 24, 2010

If you’ve been longing for the return of Warren Ellis’ Fell this is probably the closest thing that will fill that hole until the long fabled tenth issue comes out. This is of course largely due to artist Ben Templesmith, who puts his always moody style to work here. Of course, saying that Chocker is similar to Fell does it a disservice. Outside of the visual style, the story is very different.

Johnny Jackson is your typical down on his luck private eye, until he is given the chance to rejoin the police force by capturing an escaped criminal he helped put in jail. The first issue is largely concerned with setting up the futuristic world and the main character, and it does that very well. I didn’t know much about the series coming into this issue, but enjoyed what was here, and I hope there will be more story in the next issue. New writer Ben McCool has a good handle on how to introduce the characters and even though there’s a lot of things to introduce — the futuristic setting, the background of the main character, and even an odd twist ending to the issue — I never felt confused by what was going on [...]

The Anchor
Vol. 1: The Five Furies
Written by Phil Hester
Art by Brian Churilla
BOOM! Studios
Release date: February 10, 2010

The Anchor is an interesting tale about a being who is the wall between Hell and Earth. While his soul battles demons in Hell, he also battles evil beings on Earth. Very little can hurt him, but whatever damage is done to him in Hell will manifest itself on his earthly body. He has very few memories of the past, dresses and speaks in an outdated manner, and has the anchor-shaped cross of Saint Clement on his belt. The first trade, The Five Furies, introduces the Anchor, his supporting cast, and his unusual mission.

Anchor first appears in Reykjavik, Iceland, after a giant monster has attacked the town. His purple skin, large frame, and constantly appearing wounds make him a bit of an enigma. He quickly befriends a nurse named Hofi Eriksdotter and she winds up accompanying him on his mission to defeat the Five Furies, a group of monsters spread around the globe that cause massive amounts of destruction and death. Along the way, the Anchor slowly gains his memories back, learning the truth about himself and his origins [...]

Hollywood has produced countless war films over the decades. From some of the earliest of wars shown in movies like Braveheart and Kingdom of Heaven, to more modern wars depicted in movies like Platoon, Black Hawk Down, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, and Saving Private Ryan. These movies have shown us the chaos of war, the dangers of even the simplest tasks, and the immense amount of damage that can be done to a soldier, both mentally and physically.

Severe Clear is not one of these movies. It is very, very real.

The documentary features First Lieutenant Mike Scotti, who, after volunteering to extend his service, finds himself with 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, which is one of the first groups sent into Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Their mission is to get to Baghdad to stop Saddam Hussein, and to find out whether he has weapons of mass destruction or not. Scotti decides to fully document this important mission first-hand using his brand new video camera (after losing 3 others to various mishaps). [...]

Longtime actor Peter Graves passed away Sunday at the age of 83.

Reports indicate that Graves went out to brunch with his wife and kids, and when they returned, the actor suffered a heart attack while walking to his door. His daughter attempted to perform CPR on him, but was unable to resuscitate her father.

Graves is perhaps best known as James Phelps on the Mission: Impossible television series. He appeared as the character in 143 episodes from 1967 to 1973, and then in another 35 episodes on a return of the show that ran from 1988 to 1990 before going on to become a major motion picture franchise. Those of us who are a bit younger will surely remember Graves for his role as Captain Clarence Oveur, the hilarious pilot in 1980′s Airplane!. He also starred in Airplane II: The Sequel. Later in his career, he appeared in 11 episodes of the popular show, 7th Heaven.

Overall, Graves appeared in over 130 different movies and TV shows. [...]

There’s been talk of a Sandman movie for over a decade, and that’s about how long a big-screen adaptation of the popular Neil Gaiman comic book series has been in development hell.

More recently, Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn expressed interest several times in adapting the Vertigo Comics series, which had a 75-issue run from 1989 through 1996.

Now, Vaughn said he thinks Sandman would be better off an an HBO series than as a theatrical film.

“I think it would make an amazing HBO series, you know, where you can just really create that world,” Vaughn told MTV News. “There’s too much to get into an hour and a half, two hours.”

Vaughn said he spoke to Gaiman about the prospect of doing a Sandman series, but didn’t mention what the author’s reaction was to his idea.

The director already brought one of Gaiman’s creations to the big screen with 2007′s Stardust, which he co-wrote and directed [...]