No, we don't mean literally. It seems that Sarah Michelle Gellar is set to take on the starring role in the indie drama, Veronika Decides to Die. She would be replacing Kate Bosworth who recently announced her departure from this film.

The film follows the title character Veronika who, being severely depressed, attempts suicide. The attempt fails however it has caused irreparable damage to her heart. It's only after learning this news that she truly begins to appreciate life.

Sounds kinda cliche but that isn't always bad. Gellar was great as Buffy (and developed quite the following in the role), but it never really seemed to test her abilities as an actress and she hasn't done much since then to show that she can handle such a meaty role. Maybe she'll blow us all away.

Empire has a great interview with Louis Leterrier, the director of the upcoming update to The Incredible Hulk. Basically, he justifies the trailer which has been met with mixed reviews this week since its release. He goes from one scene to the next and explains a little about his thoughts for the film and ends up revealing some pretty cool stuff too. Here's the link.

I feel like I'm in the minority, but I really enjoyed the trailer. Definitely got me interested but didn't give away too much. Can't wait for this one to hit theaters.

We've known about the film trilogy of The Adventures of Tin Tin for a while now. We've also known that both Spielberg and Peter Jackson have been connected and would be directing. We're just now finding out however that Steven Spielberg will in fact be directing the first installment of the franchise which will begin principal filming in September of this year.

The films are set to be 3-D performance capture and are based on the popular comic book series The Adventures of Tin Tin. The comic book centers on a reporter named Tin Tin as he navigates through a world similar to ours set in the 1930's or thereabout. The comic placed the protagonist in a variety of situations and ended up introducing a large number of colorful characters by the end of its run. The stories always feature humor along with a hefty dose of satire and political commentary.

Actor Andy Serkis, best known as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings films and as the titular ape in King Kong, has been cast as Captain Haddock in the series and is set to begin work on the film immediately.

Looks like the muppet franchise may be getting an update from some of the most up and coming talent in Hollywood right now. It seems that since Forgetting Sarah Marshall has been screening so well at SXSW, two members of that films writers have signed on to bring the muppets back to the big screen. Jason Segel (who's also on the hilarious How I Met Your Mother) and Nick Stoller.

Evidently in the movie (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) there's a scene with puppets designed by Jim Henson's workshop which is pretty hilarious. That may have had some role in securing them the gig. I guess we'll find out when the movie hits theaters April 18th and we can see their puppet work for ourselves.

I think this could be pretty cool. I mean, the last few muppet movies kinda sucked and this might be a way to infuse some fresh ideas from some truly funny guys into the franchise.

I think it's really, really cool. Ed Norton is awesome. The Hulk looks awesome. I even think that Abomination looks awesome (contrary to what the rest of the blogosphere seems to think).


The movie looks to have a lot of action and hopefully it'll be a big improvement over the Ang Lee offering a few years ago. No word yet on the current slugfest between Norton and Marvel over the final cut of the movie but hopefully it'll work out and we end up with a totally kick ass Hulk this summer.

I know I'm in the minority on this one, but I've really enjoyed all of the Speed Racer trailers that we've seen so far. This one is even cooler than the rest. You can check it out in high definition over at Yahoo! Movies.

This trailer gives a much better glimpse at what the Wachowski brothers have been up to and I can really begin to see their vision. The whole live action film as a cartoon is such a unique idea and has a look unlike any movie I can think of. I can't wait for this movie to hit theaters this year.

There was a screening of some clips from the upcoming Ben Stiller comedy, Tropic Thunder, at ShoWest in Las Vegas this week. AICN has a great description of the full trailer as well as the two clips that were shown but he doesn't give too much away. I highly recommend reading this article. It seems like everything I read about this film lately has me totally psyched to see it.

For those who don't know the plot, here's the studios official summary:

"When a group of actors shooting a war movie includes Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), an over-the-top Australian-born method actor who has gone to extremes to get into character, novice thesp Sandusky (Jay Baruchel), gross-out comedy star Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte), the real-life inspiration for the film, pampered action superstar Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) and rap star Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson). DreamWorks Pictures Presents A Red Hour Production A Ben Stiller Film "Tropic Thunder" starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Brandon T. Jackson, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Steve Coogan, Bill Hader and Nick Nolte.  The film is directed by Ben Stiller from a screenplay by Ben Stiller & Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen based on a story by Ben Stiller & Justin Theroux. "

 

Have you guys seen any of the trialers for Pixar's big summer release Wall-E? They've all been pretty sweet and now we have the full length trailer. It is nothing short of stupendous! 

Every trailer thus far has just been adorable but this one reveals some of the films other characters and gives a little insight into the plot. 

And here's the original:

A new trailer can also be viewed at Apple.com in HD.

Evidently all is not well with The Incredible Hulk. Early on in the production of this film Norton was basically given creative control as well as the right to re-work Zack Penn's script. Now there are issues with the editing and final cut of the film. No word on exactly what the conflicts involve but this could go either way.

If you'll recall, this isn't the first time that Norton has had disagreements with filmmakers over the final cut of a film. The last time this happened was with American History X when he won out over director Danny Kaye (which led him to remove his name from the film) - and that film turned out awesome. Because of this I tend to side with Norton although that's not really fair given that we have no idea what the conflict is even over.

Monsters vs. Aliens is the upcoming Dreamworks animated feature set to be released in 2009. The film is set to be released in 3-D which, is either cool or just kinda eh depending on your take on the whole "let's make every movie 3-D" trend.

Today at ShoWest the studio revealed a lot about this movie (which I've been excited about). First of all, they released the first still for the movie and then they released the cast which is definitely A-list.
 
According to Cinematical, the heroine Susan is "a regular California girl who gets hit by a meteor and becomes 49' 11" tall (Attack of the 50-Foot Woman!), gets taken by the military, and renamed Ginormica. She's also being voiced by Reese Witherspoon. But that's not the only big name attached -- Rainn Wilson will handle the evil alien Gallaxhar, and Ginormica will be joined by Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. voiced by Hugh Laurie, jelly-like B.O.B. handled by Seth Rogen, and the half-ape/half-fish Missing Link voiced by Will Arnett. Plus, there's Kiefer Sutherland as the aptly-named Gen. W.R. Monger and Stephen Colbert as the "plays it on steroids" president."

The folks over at IESB were at ShoWest today and do a great job of recapping a featurette which was screened there.

Something interesting (and not totally positive) about this film is that by the time it hits your local theater you'll be paying premium prices. That's right. The studio says that since the film is being filmed in more costly 3-D (instead of being converted after the fact) movie-goers will be paying a little more than they're used to. No word on exact pricing yet.

The New York Times posted this article on their site yesterday. The article talks about something that I think is pretty cool. It's all about a website called Massify  which is basically a way for people with ideas for movies to brainstorm with others and possibly get movies (that otherwise wouldn't have been) made. Very cool I think.

From the article:

"Massify members (membership is free and anyone can join) are offered a platform to promote themselves and whatever current projects they are involved in, and are also eligible to vote on other users' film ideas through online competitions in which members vie for financing and distribution from Massify and its partners."

The site is the brainchild of Kenneth Woo and Brett Icahn whose father, financier Carl C. Icahn, is financing the site isn't totally selfless. They're obviously in it to make some cash by attracting advertisers as their membership increases.

Currently the site is running a competition in partnership with After Dark Films who will make the movie for their 8 Films to Die For series. Once pitch is chosen (by members on the site), they'll then get to vote on the actors and actresses who will compose the cast.

So, is this the next generation of filmmaking or just a passing whim of two guys trying to make a little cash. I guess we'll see.

Well, it's a teaser for the actual trailer (not a teaser for the film which I guess is just semantics, but there you go) which is set to premier on MTV this Thursday at 9:56 pm Eastern Standard Time. Looks like it's gonna be on between episodes of America's Best Dance Crew which I know I watch religiously (I'm REALLY only kidding with that one).

Personally I'm doubtful we'll get to see much of anything in this first trailer. I mean, everyone just wants to see the Hulk and Abomination and maybe a sneak at the transformation but my guess is we'll have to wait a while longer for the cool stuff. Besides, I'm still of the mindset that this movie would be way cooler if I knew nothing about it when I walk into the theater this summer. Check out the teaser below.