Thor Comic-Con Trailer Hits!

I know I’ve talked about this a few times in the past – mostly on the Movie Moan podcast. But I remember when Jon Favreau first presented Iron Man to the Comic-Con crowd back in 2007. Yes, the panel and accompanying footage killed.

More importantly Paramount/Marvel did something I found to be a stroke of genius – they let all those YouTube videos taken from laptops, camcorders, etc. stand. So confident they were in the film they'd made (at that time in post-production), they didn't start wavering legal red-flags ordering people to pull it. Also Iron Man was going to be a tough-sell. Needless to say, it paid off.

An equally (if not more so) hard-sell will be Kenneth Branagh's Thor, something less than in the realm of superheroes and more in fantasy. Like Iron Man before it, the five-minute trailer/sizzle-reel made quite the splash this past weekend – what with all those Twitter remarks proclaiming "Thor WUZ AWESOME!!!!!!!!!"

Luckily for many of us who missed the Con, said footage is online. It'll be interesting to see if Marvel repeats their actions on Iron Man and lets the footage sit there or orders it get pulled. It looks…OK. Not bad, but something off. Maybe it's that our lead Chris Hemsworth barely utters a word over the course of five-minutes.

Update: Yogi Bear Teaser Poster & Trailer Hits

UPDATE: As promised, Yahoo! Movies now has the Yogi Bear trailer up. Follow the hyperlink or check out the video below. If you're under eight years-old, you'll eat this up. But everyone else out there better resign themselves to the fact said kid(s) will drag your ass to see this.

Alas for the all the great things they're doing, Warner Brothers didn't take my Yogi Bear pitch to heart. *Sigh*

To be honest, we can't even laugh anymore after two Alvin & the Chipmunk movies earned $200 million each. Cut to rival studios search for cartoons from our childhood they can "shepherd" into a live-action franchise. Sony has The Smurfs for next summer, Fox, of course, has a third Alvin movie next Christmas and WB is doing a film based on that picnic-basket obsessed, clip-on tie wearing bear.

Yahoo! Movies has a "First Look" at the teaser poster, and we should be getting the trailer later today. You've been warned.

First Look at Penelope Cruz in Pirates of the Caribbean 4

If you thought the filmmakers behind Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides would radically alter Penelope Cruz's (rather nice) appearance, you're mistaken.

Radar Online has the "First Look" at the Oscar-winner on set as well as co-stars Geoffrey Rush, Kevin McNally and Johnny Depp.

While we're at it, let's get some snap-shots of Ian McShane as Blackbeard online! Pronto!

Michael Bay Producing Alien Abduction Project

Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes have eaten up an extraterrestrial-related project according to Heat Vision.

All that's been discussed aloud of the just bought pitch is its working title Confidential Alien Project. It comes courtesy of rookie writer Bobby Glickert and is set up with Paramount. The studio is quickly searching for screenwriters to elaborate further from Glickert's presentation – in this case, an outline and teaser he made.

Honestly, there's nothing else to add. This just gave me an excuse to post an alien-probe cartoon.

Sex & the City Film Franchise R.I.P. - 2008-2010

That first Sex & the City movie was money in the bank the moment Warner Brothers announced it for May 2008.

The large fan-base was dying to see Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda return since the HBO series called it a day in 2004. Plus there was the "drag your boyfriend/husband" factor. Thus it smacked down $420 million. No brainer when WB executives greenlit a sequel for 2010.

Tiny little problem though arose. Most of those same fans absolutely hated that movie. Gone was the charm of seeing those characters on the silver screen the second time around. Only the loyalist of the loyal would see Sex & the City 2 and, not surprisingly, it seriously under-performed. It earned about half of what the freshman movie did. Not to mention, it didn't even break the $100 million mark stateside. Ouch.

So if you're genuinely surprised to hear this, you shouldn't. Kristen Davis all but confirmed the franchise is DOA to E! Online:

"I don't think so, not that I know of. I wish it was so that we were continuing but I don't know."

She tries to sound optimistic of their chances. To be fair if she and her co-stars would take a pay-cut, then yes a third movie would happen in my never-so-humble opinion. But I can't imagine them (or most actors for that matter) willing to waver such a high price-tag.

Steve Carell Attached to Raised by Wolfs

If NBC was wise, they'd take a cue from Steve Carell's forthcoming exit and wrap The Office up this year. Since that network is still in the shitter and there's no indication their overhauled schedule of new programming will work out, that's a pipe-dream. Fuck me for wanting a great show (that's been showing its age this past season) to end on a creative high-note with its original cast intact.

Don't weep for Steve though, folks. 2010 has already been kind to him with the successes of Date Night and Despicable Me. True, Dinner for Schmucks opens this Friday and it looks like that will most likely kill an otherwise bomb-free year. But that won’t be a hindrance. Hell, he survived Evan Almighty after all.

Risky Business says the comedian is attached to the just-purchased pitch Raised by Wolfs from writer Les Firestein. DreamWorks will spear-head the comedy – the details of which are being kept under-wraps at the moment. Additional information like director, co-stars and a start-date are also too early to determine.

Edi Cathegi Joins X-Men: First Class

It looks like someone from Twilight scored an X-Men: First Class role. Unfortunately for Fox, it isn't Taylor Lautner.

Matthew Vaughn & Co. will just have to settle with Edi Cathegi, according to "TOLDJA!"

The actor (who played one of the baddie blood-suckers in the first two Twilights) has been cast as Darwin, who's notable for being the first bi-racial mutant introduced in the comics. His muttie ability involves the "power of 'reactive evolution.'" My first thought was he was introduced during the Chris Claremont years. A quick Wikipedia search tells your never-so-humble correspondent it was only four years ago.

Production should be starting anytime now in London. Fox has the Bryan Singer-produced prequel locked in for June 3, 2011 release.

Goodbye, Sam Worthington, Hello, Tom Hardy for This Means War

This Means War just lost and gained its remaining uncast leading role – all in one article!

Vulture reports Sam Worthington (who’d been offered the chance to co-star in the McG-directed action/comedy next to Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon) said "Thanks, but no thanks." The Aussie actor is already booked as is with Avatar and Clash of the Titans sequel in the near-future. Plus, it just doesn't that good. Something collecting dust since the late 90s can’t be the best project, can it?

In his place, the studio has closed a deal with Tom Hardy or as many of you know him as Eames, the "cool guy" from Inception. He'll be better known by audiences as the new Mad Max once the first of the planned two-new films hits in 2012. Great character character-actor, of course, but can he do comedy?

The film sees two spies/roommates/BFFs (Pine and Hardy) waging war against one another over the affections of their new tenant (Witherspoon).

Considering that Pine is also booked (He’ll film the Star Trek sequel next summer and last we heard on the Jack Ryan reboot Moscow, production might commence this Spring), I'm assuming production should be starting up in the next couple of months.

Rihanna Boards Battleship

Some are reacting to this in a "What the fuck?" fashion. Let us remind everyone, we've got Peter Berg adapting Battleship, the Hasbro board-game into a $200 million summer tentpole and injecting aliens into the mix. When one reflects on that, this is arguably the least-crazy decision made so far.

The trades report R&B recording artist Rihanna will make her acting debut in the feature. No word on who she's playing – a fellow Naval officer along with co-stars Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard and Tom Arnold or maybe one of the aliens.

Honestly don't have a gage on Rihanna, her potential acting abilities (or lack thereof) and her music. I approach her in this flick the same as I would an unknown.

Production is expected to start up fairly soon.

Daniel Craig Confirmed to Star in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

There's been a bit of uncertainty as of late regarding The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Daniel Craig had been in early talks to star in Sony's adaptation with David Fincher at the helm and Steve Zallian behind the typewriter. But prospects appeared gloomy when schedules from competing projects (at rival studios, no less) made things complicated for the actor.

Obviously, there's the James Bond franchise at MGM. Who are we all kidding? As much I'm looking forward to the proposed Sam Mendes-directed, Peter Morgan-penned third go-around for Craig, it's not happening anytime in the near-future. So that shouldn't have honestly been a problem to begin with. I guess the bigger fish to fry was over at Universal with the currently-lensing Cowboys & Aliens. The same one directed by Jon Favreau, co-starring the likes of Harrison Ford and was widely considered one of the high-lights of this past weekend's Comic-Con.

Thankfully for Craig, that crisis appears to have been averted. "TOLDJA" reports he's inked a three-picture deal starting with Dragon Tattoo and its follow-ups The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest. That's assuming the first film (scheduled for a high-profile Christmas 2011 release) is a hit which everyone is hoping will be the case.

It looks like everyone has cleared out a do-able timeline for Craig for the next Bond, a Cowboys & Aliens sequel, and the afore-mentioned Millennium Trilogy.

You gotta know this is especially gratifying for Craig considering all that bullshit press he got when he was first announced the latest 007.