Sean Astin To Voice Raphael In "TMNT" Reboot

Sean Astin ("The Lord of the Rings") has joined the cast of Nickelodeon's all-new CG-animated "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" as Raphael, one of four teenage brothers dedicated to a life battling evil denizens. Rounding out the cast are Jason Biggs ("American Pie") as Leonardo, Greg Cipes ("Teen Titans") as Michelangelo and Rob Paulsen ("Planet Sheen") as Donatello. Paulsen also voiced the original Raphael from 1987-1996 in the first series. Currently in production at the Nick Animation Studio in Burbank, Calif., the show is set to premiere in fall 2012. Executive produced by Ciro Nieli, Joshua Sternin and J.R. Ventimilia, this half-hour action-comedy series breathes new life into the wildly popular band of reptile brothers.

"I'm excited to be joining the ranks of the newest 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' team," said Astin. "This franchise and these characters are beloved around the world, and I'm proud to be the next Raphael. I plan to bring the kind of passion and dedication to the role that TMNT fans have the right to expect."

"We're thrilled to have such a talented group of actors to voice the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' in this new series," said Brown Johnson, President, Animation, Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group. "This cast will bring great humor and intensity to our new action comedy take on the band of turtle brothers."

Raphael (Astin) is the biggest and toughest of the brothers, and has little patience for stealth operations, hiding in the shadows or keeping his voice down. Leonardo (Biggs), considered to be the leader of the turtles, aspires to be the perfect hero around his three smart-aleck brothers. Donatello (Paulsen) is the reclusive, yet utterly brilliant team inventor who is able to cobble together fantastic weapons from things scrounged from a trash heap. And Michelangelo (Cipes) is enthusiastic, easily distracted, loves pop culture and is always trying to get in on the latest fad.

Nickelodeon's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" begins as the turtles emerge from their hidden lair in the sewers for the very first time, ready to confront the wondrous and hostile world of New York City and face enemies more dangerous and pizza more delicious than anything they could have imagined. Funnier and with more Ninjitsu than ever before, the show will explore the camaraderie of four teenage brothers learning to rely on themselves and one another as they unravel the mystery of their existence and grow to become the heroes in a half-shell that they are destined to be.

Considered one of the most popular kids' television programs of the 1980s, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is a classic, global property created in 1984 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It first debuted as a successful comic book series and then became a hit animated TV show, a live-action television series and later spawned four blockbuster theatrical releases. The property also has translated into a significant consumer products business – with DVDs, video games, toys and more – that has generated billions of dollars at retail.

Nickelodeon Consumer Products will continue to work with its original and long-standing toy partner, Playmates Toys, which has been the creative force behind the successful TMNT master toy program over the last two decades. Playmates is already developing a product line based on the new "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series which will cater to kids and consumers all around the world.

Next up for TMNT, this coming July at Comic-Con in San Diego, Calif., select fans will get an exclusive sneak peek at the re-imagination of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," preview all-new never-before-seen content, and meet special guests who are working on the new property.

"Despicable Me 2" Teaser Poster

It's back again, The Licensing International Expo in Vegas Baby Vegas. Since we're just a small niche site at this point specializing in commentary on film, we're going to whore out our bigger friends as they pimp their findings at "LX11".

Coming Soon has the first look at a "Despicable Me 2" teaser poster which has one of those little Lemming dudes proudly on display. Remember that game for NES? Lemmings? Bunch of yellow dudes just walking around falling off cliffs. I might have been the only one who played it.

Clip From Disney/Pixar's "La Luna"

La Luna is the timeless fable of a young boy who is coming of age in the most peculiar of circumstances. Tonight is the very first time his Papa and Grandpa are taking him to work. In an old wooden boat they row far out to sea, and with no land in sight, they stop and wait. A big surprise awaits the little boy as he discovers his family's most unusual line of work. Should he follow the example of his Papa, or his Grandpa? Will he be able to find his own way in the midst of their conflicting opinions and timeworn traditions?

Courtesy of Animation World Network via ComingSoon.Net.

Healthy Batch Of "Transformers 3" Screenshots

Yahoo! Movies has a plethora of new "Transformers 3" photos for your viewing pleasure. As I've said time and time again with all of the films in the Transformers series, you can say what you want about Bay, the story, or the acting, but this sucker will be pleasing to the eye.

The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, are back in action, taking on the evil Decepticons, who are determined to avenge their defeat in 2009’s Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. In this new movie, the Autobots and Decepticons become involved in a perilous space race between the U.S. and Russia, and once again human Sam Witwicky has to come to the aid of his robot friends. There’s new characters too, including a new villain in the form of Shockwave, a longtime “Transformers” character who rules Cybertron while the Autobots and Decepticons battle it out on Earth.

Yet Another "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows-Part 2" Poster

In Part 2 of the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the Wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort. It all ends here.

New "Cowboys & Aliens" Trailer

First debuted on Spike TV at the "Spike Guys Choice Awards" but has now made it's way online and all across the interwebs. New trailer for "Cowboys & Aliens".

1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don’t welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde. It’s a town that lives in fear.

But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known.

Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he’s been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella, he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents – townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors – all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.

New "Captain America" Trailer Description

Now some news from a flick I am really looking forward to. A spanking new trailer is on it's way for "Captain America: The First Avenger" and it was already screened at LA Times Hero Complex Film Festival on Sunday.  SuperHeroHype/ComingSoon was kind enough to round up some descriptions of the trailers from our fellow movie outlets in attendance.

Newsarama:

It’s a much more linear trailer than past Cap footage, starting off with a skinny Steve Rogers in a car with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), interspersed with footage of him courageously getting beaten up by neighborhood toughs in an alley. The military scenes show him herorically jumping on an (inactive) grenade during a drill, with Colonel Chester Phillips — played by Tommy Lee Jones — remarking “He’s still skinny.”

Things move to Steve undergoing the Super-Soldier treatment, with Stanley Tucci’s Abraham Erskine telling him to not lose sight of being a good man first. Steve: “Is it too late to go to the bathroom?” Quick action shots follow, including Steve getting the Cap costume (voiceover: “You’re going to get so many chicks with that”), Captain America on a motorcycle and a brief shot of Sebastian Stan as Bucky.

The trailer also provides a direct introduction of Red Skull; naming him Johann Schmidt, the head of Hydra, with shots of him both as the Red Skull and in his less ghoulish cover with, y’know, Hugo Weaving’s face. The end of the trailer is the same as the TV spot released last week — Red Skull asking Captain America who he thinks he is, and Cap responding that he’s just a kid from Brooklyn.

Ain't It Cool News:

The new trailer focused on the character of Steve Rogers, particularly the spirit of scrawny Steve desperate to sign up, feeling like it’s his duty and he’s letting his country down by not getting in.

The best new addition is a scene that happens between Tommy Lee Jones’ Col. Philips and Stanley Tucci’s Dr. Erskine on the grounds of their training camp. Jones says, “When you let a 90 pound athsmatic onto my base, I let it slide” to which Tucci replies, “I am looking for qualities beyond the physical.” A few shots of skinny Steve trying his damnedest through obstacle courses play over this dialogue.

Then Jones grabs a grenade and says, “You win wars with guts,” before pulling the pin and throwing it at the ground of the recruits. The big, tough guys scatter to the four winds, but Steve Rogers jumps on top of it, sure he’s about to be blown to pieces, but wanting to protect his fellow soldiers.

After a tense few seconds nothing happens and Rogers uncurls himself on the ground. “Is this a test?” he asks. Tucci smiles and Jones looks surprised for a beat, then turns to Tucci and says, “He’s still skinny.”

As Erskine prepares Rogers to receive the serum, he warns him not to let it change the man he is; not just a soldier, but a good man.

Post-serum injection, Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter tells us a little about Hydra, calling it “the Nazi deep science division.”

The rest of the trailer plays out more in quick cuts, with small moments between Chris Evans and Dominic Cooper’s Howard Stark (Evans has some ideas about the uniform, apparently), some voice-over of Hugo Weaving’s Red Skull saying “We are very much alike”, Tommy Lee Jones promoting Evans, a badass shot of Cap and The Howling Commandos running along the top of a moving train in snowy mountains, some Hydra tech, Peggy Carter blasting down a hallway with a machine gun, Cap throwing his shied at camera and a little moment of Skull asking Cap “What makes you so special?” He replies, “Nothin’. I’m just a kid from Brooklyn.”

Major Studios Tell Comic Con To Screw

A lot of news outlets are running this story as if it is a giant surprise even though some of us knew this to be the case years ago, the studios don't need to appease fanboys to make money. The NY Times is reporting that major studios are going to skip Comic Con 2011. Among them are money making juggernauts Warner Bros, Disney, and Dreamworks, with Marvel debating on whether or not to bring "Avengers" full force.

Comic Con is becoming less and less important to the success of a film and in some cases fans wearing hobbit feet or shiny black helmets are hurting the product. Remember when fans loved "Scott Pilgrim" and "Tron" at Comic Con? Then the general public decided that they don't care what fanboys think either and didn't show up to the theaters like they needed to. On the flip side, fanboys complaining about the tint of red on a cape or the curvature of a jaw line doesn't help a product, if anybody was actually listening to begin with.

"The Amazing Spider-Man" will have a huge ass showing at Comic Con 2011 but I noticed forum dwellers and websites were kind of up and arms that "Man of Steel" and "Dark Knight Rises" was going to be heroically represented at this years Con. Why? "Man of Steel" isn't coming out until December 2012 at the latest. Comic Con 2012 is where you're going to see Superman make an impact. Also, Nolan never uses Comic Con as push for Batman as far as I can remember.

Rest easy. Unless there is some kind of major surprise and we get a "Dark Knight Rises" teaser with "Green Lantern" or "Harry Potter: Eleventeen"  I would imagine that you'll get a "Dark Knight Rises" teaser/trailer with "Contagion" in October at the very lastest. "Man of Steel" hasn't even started filming yet. Patience.

WB To Pimp Superheroes Over The Next 36 Months

UPDATE: Although I have DC Universe Online...I guess I might suck at it. Apparently this is a different version of a banner with Superman floating over earh to promote the Fortress of Solitude expansion mission for DCU Online

Thanks to Kal-El.9859 of the SuperHeroHype Forums for pointing it out to me.

As we've seen over the past several months, The Brothers Warner & DC Comics have been pushing everything Green Lantern on multiple levels in preparation for "The Green Lantern" which will be glowing on the big screen June 17th.

For Warner Bros. Consumer Products, this is only the beginning. The team has come up with a 36 month plan that will involve Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern flying full force into all of your senses at once. 

Here is what Bruno Schwobthaler, SVP sales and business development for WBCP EMEA had to say about the approach courtesy of Licensing.Biz

"Over the next 3 years there will be no escaping from the DC Universe as we deliver on our commitment to produce new content. We will be investing significant resource in further developing the iconic Batman and Superman franchises whilst also strategically introducing some of the other key characters from the huge and largely untapped DC portfolio starting with Green Lantern.”

This push has started with Green Lantern, but will continue into the upcoming International Licensing show in Vegas early next week with a massive presence featuring the "Caped Crusader" himself, Batman. This will only be the beginning for the Batman push, and is the first step in marketing the character on all fronts leading up to the release of "The Dark Knight Rises" in 2012.

The question is, has WB/DC already started the marketing engine for "The Man of Steel" as well? A loyal reader sent TMT some photos from this past weeks E3 Expo. Not sure if they were taken by him/her or they found them via the interwebs, but the photo captures a banner which features Superman flying from the Fortress of Solitude. Looks like early marketing for a new Superman video game to me. Not sure if it will tie in with the new Superman film dropping in late 2012.

"Our Idiot Brother" Poster

Every family has one: the sibling who is always just a little bit behind the curve when it comes to getting his life together. For sisters Liz (Emily Mortimer), Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) and Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), that person is their perennially upbeat brother Ned (Paul Rudd), an erstwhile organic farmer whose willingness to rely on the honesty of mankind is a less-than-optimum strategy for a tidy, trouble-free existence. Ned may be utterly lacking in common sense, but he is their brother and so, after his girlfriend dumps him and boots him off the farm, his sisters once again come to his rescue. As Liz, Emily and Natalie each take a turn at housing Ned, their brother's unfailing commitment to honesty creates more than a few messes in their comfortable routines. But as each of their lives begins to unravel, Ned's family comes to realize that maybe, in believing and trusting the people around him, Ned isn't such an idiot after all.