Conan The Barbarian
Directed by Marcus Nispel
Starring: Jason Momoa, Leo Howard, Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang, Rose McGowan, Ron Perlman
Release Date: August 19, 2011

Director Marcus Nispel has most undoubtedly taken on quite the challenge in the new Conan The Barbarian film. Consider to begin with, the original Robert E. Howard stories, followed by the additional work by subsequent authors over the years. Moreover, there’s the legend of Conan depicted in comics, perhaps most memorably in The Savage Sword Of Conan. But the biggest challenge facing Nispel is probably the unforgettable film version portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by John Milius. The 1980′s Conan pervaded mainstream pop culture and left quite an impact, and the original film is still considered by some fans with reverence.

Having said all that, Nispel along with the writers of the latest Conan The Barbarian have released a film that will most likely please the fans of the Conan books and comics, but may disappoint those whose only experience with the Cimmerian warrior has been through Schwarzenegger’s depiction. The new movie, for all intents and purposes, is an origin tale and begins with narration from (believe it or not) Morgan Freeman. Conan is born on the battlefield, in a gruesome birth sequence that would easily be the fastest Caesarian procedure by sword captured on film. He is raised under the watchful eye of his father, Corin (Ron Perlman), learning the ways of the warrior and the tradition of the Cimmerian Barbarians [...]

Disney‘s D23 Expo is in full swing, and plenty of juicy morsels are finding their way out to the masses.

Of the many announcements made, two come from the folks at Pixar Animation, who revealed two upcoming movie projects. Neither of the two have titles at the moment, but they will be the next two films to follow Brave (June of 2012) and Monsters University, the Monsters, Inc. prequel that’s set to arrive in June of 2013.

While not much is known yet about the movies, there are a few details to be shared. The first movie—set for release on November 27th, 2013, just five months after Monsters University—will take place in a world where that devastating asteroid never hit Earth, and dinosaurs never went extinct. It will be directed by long–time Pixar animator and artist Bob Peterson, who more recently wrote Finding Nemo and Up, which he also co–directed with Pete Docter. Peterson has also lent his voice to numerous Pixar roles, including Roz from Monsters, Inc., Mr. Ray from Nemo, and Dug the dog from Up. [...]

For those who don’t know, director Tim Burton made a short film back in 1984 about a boy who loses his dog and brings it back to life called Frankenweenie.

Now Burton is working on an adaptation of that very same short film (which can be seen here), this time using the stop–motion animation techniques used in other films Burton has directed or produced, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride. And at the ongoing Disney D23 Expo, an official logo, synopsis, and special notes about the movie have been released.

You can see the official logo above, and you can read the synopsis and notes by continuing on below now.

The voice cast for the movie was set back in 2010, and includes a group of Burton veterans in Martin Landau (Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow), Winona Ryder (Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice), Catherine O’Hara (Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas), and Martin Short (Mars Attacks). [...]

The $10 t-shirt deal of the day over at RIPT Apparel is the Star Wars-themed shirt “Amazing Space Opera” by artist Ninjaink.

The sale at RIPT began today, Sunday, August 21, 2011, at midnight CST, and will continue for 24 hours from then, and once it’s over, it will not be sold on the site anymore [...]

The $10 t-shirt deal of the day over at TeeFury today is a Star Trek-themed shirt called “Scotty’s Starship Repair” by artist Chuffy.

The sale began at Teefury today, Sunday, August 21, 2011, at midnight EST, and will continue for 24 hours from then, and once it’s over, it will not be sold on the site anymore [...]

Well, isn’t this a nice piece of information? The folks at Gravitas Ventures have blessed us all with a free look at 2010′s Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods. The doc is now streaming for free online at Hulu; you can watch it here below.

The documentary on the popular comic book writer takes an inside look behind the scenes to show us more about the life of the man behind the creation of All Star Superman, The Invisibles, We3, and more. One of the greatest things about this documentary is that you actually feel like you get to know Morrison better.

In the film, Morrison talks about his childhood in Scotland, growing up with the threat of the nuclear bomb, and how he let his mind escape away from the threat. The documentary focuses mostly on his life and experiences, which in turn gives us a more in depth understanding of a lot of his comic book creations, but mostly his work on The Invisibles, Animal Man, All Star Superman, and Final Crisis [...]

Talk about a reason to stay on a project.

With A-lister Will Smith being looked at to star in the long discussed remake The Fantastic Voyage, THR is reporting that the film’s potential helmer, Shawn Levy, is eyeing the exit door with regards to the film. Funding appears to be hard to come by, as casting has been difficult.

Levy and Smith will be taking meetings in the next couple of weeks, meaning that this news may all be for naught, but it looks as though things in Fox’s camp appear to be a bit on edge. Levy is one of the hotter names around Hollywood, and would likely have a cavalcade of projects worthy of his time should this film fall apart [...]

Before starting a new game in The Elder Scrolls series, you get to make your very own special character, choosing what race and sex you want to play as before customizing facial features, hair, eyes, attributes, and all that good stuff.

With the can’t–get–here–quickly–enough fifth title in the series, Skyrim, only but a few months away now, die hard fans of the series might just be wondering: “What will the various races look like in this huge new sequel?” Well, we have some screenshots straight from Bethesda to answer that question for you.

Click on over to the other side to see what the Nords and the Wood Elves, the Argonians and Redguards, the Orcs and the Khajiits and the Dark Elves all look like in Skyrim! [...]

As time has moved forward, many words have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary—some relevant, and some not so much.

But now you can’t really help but scratch your head at the amount of ridiculous words being added lately and wonder if we’re all just that screwed when it comes to the future of this planet, or if this is all just acceptable evolution.

Just added to the dictionary are words like “sexting” (to text message sexual material); “retweet” (to share something others have said or shared on the Twitter); “jeggings” (a horrific combination of jeans and leggings, best shown off by Conan O’Brien); “woot” (an internet–age indicator of excitement, or a joyful cheer); and “cyberbullying” (one of the acceptable new words, which is the title for bullying over the internet).

But the words aren’t just randomly chosen as they appear to be popular—they’re entered into a database of over 2 billion words, showing whether they’re basically just a one–hit wonder, or if they’re used so commonly that it becomes apparent the words aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. [...]

While his brother, Ridley, may be the better known and more respected of the two, it appears as though Tony Scott has nabbed him one hell of a project to call his own. Well, kind of.

Deadline is reporting that Scott will helm a remake of the classic film The Wild Bunch for WB. The Sam Peckinpah classic follows the story of a group of aging outlaws who “try for one last score on the Texas-Mexico border.” The film starred William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, and Warren Oates.

The film is one of three projects Scott is currently hard at work on including a project called Hell’s Angels, which will be his next, as well as a sequel/reboot of his beloved film, Top Gun. Now, two films, his long talked about remake of Potzdamer Platz and the John Grisham adaptation, The Associate would appear all but dead, as they’ve been waiting in the wings for what feels like years now [...]

That’s right, that dream–haunting mascot that Burger King has been using in their commercial for years, has finally been slain.

After low numbers and falling significantly behind rival McDonalds, new ownership and a new marketing team are taking notes from their golden arches nemesis with plans to concentrate more on the actual product than amusement and laughs (or in this particular case, fear and horror), and will not be using “The King” anymore…at least not anytime soon.

I don’t know about you, but BK has had a string of rather unsettling commercials as of late—the small hands dude, the awkward extra set of hands via someone standing behind you, and of course, the King…who absolutely has to be a serial killer.

I don’t eat there, nor do I plan to in the near future, but this decision is one that simply had to be commended, despite the lacking “geek” association. [...]

Fright Night
Directed by Craig Gillespie
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, David Tennant, Imogen Poots, Toni Collette, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Release Date: August 19, 2011

Horror fans are well aware of the gloom associated with many remakes of well-known films, but despite this, I was pleasantly surprised with Craig Gillespie‘s take on Fright Night. The new film certainly pays tribute to the original film, but definitely brings it into the contemporary age, with a faster pace and some solid performances from the lead cast members.

Fright Night follows a great deal of the same plot elements as its original namesake. Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) begins to have a sneaking suspicion that his new neighbor, Jerry Dandrige (Colin Farrell) is a vampire. Brewster seeks the assistance of famous “vampire hunter” Peter Vincent (David Tennant) in the fight against Dandrige, to protect his mother, Jane Brewster (Toni Collette), and his girlfriend, Amy Peterson (Imogen Poots).

The principal strength of the remake is in the substantial performances from both David Tennant and Colin Farrell, and even Anton Yelchin puts in a very convincing role that truly makes you want to cheer on his character as the film heads to its climax. However, having said that, it is Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin!) who truly steals the show in his rendition of the character of “Evil” Ed Lee. In the original film, Ed was a lovable highlight who was depicted as a hilarious weirdo. Yet in the new movie, Mintz-Plasse brings the character into the 21st century, providing that “weirdo” element but adapted to his demeanor [...]

Part of Amazon’s Blu-ray Deal of the Week is The Hannibal Lecter Collection Blu-ray box set for only $26.99 (that’s 61% off the list price of $69.99).

The Blu-ray box set contains all three films in the Hannibal Lecter series: Manhunter, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal, the latter two of which starred Anthony Hopkins as the title serial killer.

Note, this deal is valid through Saturday, August 20, 2011 at midnight EST while supplies last [...]

Amazon is currently running a deal on the Wonder Woman: The Complete Collection DVD box set for only $35.49 (that’s 69% off the list price of $114.82).

Note – this deal is valid through Saturday, August 20, 2011, at midnight while supplies last.

This 11-disc DVD box set contains every episode of the 1970s television series that starred Lynda Carter as the title superhero. The set also comes with several bonus features, including audio commentary [...]

The first trailer for the upcoming Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance has been released. You can check it out here below this article.

The film marks the first time star Nicolas Cage has played the iconic Marvel Comics hero since 2007′s Ghost Rider, Mark Steven Johnson’s much-derided and reviled cinematic adaptation of the character that overcame near-universal derision to become a modest box office hit. This time around Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the deranged masterminds of the Crank series as well as Gamer (and the screenwriters of last year’s atrocious Jonah Hex movie, but that film underwent so many rewrites and reshoots prior to its release that it’s doubtful much of their original script even made it into the final product), are assuming directing duties. Television writers Scott M. Gimple and Seth Hoffman (House, Flash Forward) make their feature screenwriting debut based on an original story by David S. Goyer (Blade, Batman Begins) that is rumored to have been taken from an unproduced script Goyer wrote for the first Ghost Rider film [...]

The upcoming release of Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, the third and likely final film in Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky‘s award-winning HBO documentary series chronicling the strange case of the West Memphis Three and the circumstances that resulted in their wrongful imprisonment nearly two decades ago, just got a radically different ending.

Today all three members of the group — Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr., and Jason Baldwin — were released on suspended sentences with time served after spending seventeen years behind bars. They were convicted in 1994 for the brutal slaying of three 8-year-old Boy Scouts — Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers — in the wooded Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis, Arkansas. The killing was said to have been committed as part of a Satanic ritual. Echols, who was 18 years old at the time, was given the death penalty, while Misskelley, 17, was given life imprisonment plus 40 years, and Baldwin, 16, was given life. Due to the lack of DNA testing available at the time and the questions that arose surrounding the police investigation and the three teenagers’ subsequent conviction, the case became a focal point of controversy across the country. It wasn’t until 2007 that testing proved that none of the DNA collected at the scene of the murders belonged to the defendants [...]

Back in Summer 2009, Rambo V was officially greenlit by Nu Image/Millennium Films, the studio behind The Expendables, that would see franchise star Sylvester Stallone back behind the machine gun.

Since then, rumors and reports have surfaced periodically regarding the film’s plot and the possibility of it being a prequel. Also, at one point, Stallone said he wouldn’t be returning for a fifth Rambo movie.

Fearnet recently spoke with Conan The Barbarian screenwriter Sean Hood who told the site that he’s just finished the first draft on a fifth Rambo movie, which he called Rambo: Last Stand [...]

Believe it or not, yet another Hellraiser movie is making its way to theaters soon. No, not the remake Dimension Films is planning. This is one of those famed Hellraiser sequels that typically go direct-to-DVD (and was supposed to according to reports back in 2010), yet somehow, Hellraiser: Revelations, the ninth film in the series, is getting a limited theatrical run.

The guys over at Bloody Disgusting have the exclusive on the trailer and theatrical one sheet. Click the banner here above to see the full poster; watch the trailer here below.

This new sequel, directed by Victor Garcia, opens its limited run in theaters on September 2, 2011 with a Video On Demand launch on September 1. Then this gem will come to DVD on October 18 [...]

Cameron Crowe‘s Pearl Jam Twenty, a documentary about the rock band Pearl Jam, will premiere in September at the Toronto International Film Festival before making its way later that month to select theaters.

A 384-page hardcover book will be released on September 13 in conjunction with the film, as well as, of course, a 2-disc soundtrack, which will include 29 unreleased tracks (see full track listing here below). The soundtrack comes out on September 20, 2011, but you can take a listen to one song from it, “Crown of Thorns,” right now in the player below.

You can also check out the trailer for the film here below. The doc is said to contain tons of rare video, interviews, and music of the Seattle band, who’s now celebrating 20 years together, as well as many hours of recent footage shot by Crowe. If you’re a fan of the band, this is going to be a real treat [...]

Two creepy new clips from the upcoming remake of Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark have been released. You can check them out below this article.

The first has young heroine Bailee Madison being quietly menaced by unseen forces while taking a bath. The second finds Guy Pearce encountering the film’s malicious critters while in his garage. Both clips run under a minute but pack a great deal more atmosphere and fright than you can find in most horror films these days.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, directed by newcomer Troy Nixey, will be released on August 26, 2011 [...]