Up until now, we had only seen a mediocre teaser trailer for Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, but now the first full trailer is online and it definitely gives you a better idea of what the movie is looking to become.

The movie is directed by Chris Columbus, who also directed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. This is fitting, as The Lightning Thief has a definite Harry Potter vibe to it, only instead of wizardry, we have Greek mythology. It’s definitely aimed at a teen/family audience, but also looks like it could be a lot of fun for all ages. The story follows a teenage boy who discovers that he is the son of god of the sea, Poseidon, and has to help to locate the lightning bolt of Zeus before a war breaks out amongst the gods.

Whether this looks like your cup of tea or not, you can’t deny that Percy Jackson & the Olympians has a fantastic cast. Names include Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) as Zeus; Steve Coogan (Tropic Thunder) as Hades; Ray Winstone (The Departed) as Ares; Uma Thurman (Kill Bill) as Medusa; Pierce Brosnan (The Matador) as Chiron; Rosario Dawson (Alexander) as Persephone; and Catherine Keener (The 40 Year Old Virgin) as the Jackson’s mother, and Kevin McKidd (who has been in the news a lot lately) as Poseidon and Jackson’s father. [...]

ABC has officially announced that its ultimate milk and honey show, Lost, will begin its final season on February 2, 2010. The station will attempt to make an event out of the evening by airing one of their hour-long recap episodes right before the two-hour Lost premiere airs. The final season is set to air 18 episodes, with the premiere and likely two-hour finale counting as four of the total episodes. There have been talks of the show possibly taking a short break when the upcoming Winter Olympics take place, but that is still unknown for sure.

The sixth season has the ultimate of challenges ahead of it. The show has consistently delivered some of the best writing and most compelling television in the history of the medium, but with so many questions left to answer, the task at hand is for them to remain as flawless as they’ve been while still answering most of the mysteries that remain. And with one of the mysteries being the random “sightings” of deceased characters, expect to see many familiar faces within the final run. [...]

OK, so this isn’t exactly the geekiest of news, but it is potentially one of the more earth-shattering entertainment news stories to break in a long time, and so here it is. Oprah Winfrey’s label Harpo put out the press release today, officially announcing that on September 09, 2011, the very last episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show would air, which will cap off the universally popular talk show’s 25th season. It looks as if Oprah plans to concentrate on her network, OWN, when the show reaches its closure point.

Rumors of the show’s end have risen and faded, risen again and faded again, but never have they ever come to this kind of finality that her seven million daily viewers feared so dearly. As those of us who are not fans and do not watch know, Oprah is about as close to a god on Earth as there is when it comes to her loyal following, so expect many a hearts to be broken by the news. Lives have been changed, perspectives and paths and physical appearances altered, and books — good and bad — have been made into super-hits all by this woman’s hand. Love her or hate her, the end of Oprah is an occurrence of epic proportions. [...]

For as long as the Jackass crew has been doing what they do, fans have had to assume it was only a matter of time before they just couldn’t handle that kind of damage anymore. Even so, after the success of Jackass: Number 2, it was all but guaranteed that if they could take the hits, there would be a third film eventually, and it appears that that time is now. Cinematical is reporting that a list of Paramount Pictures’ 2010 slate of movies includes not only a third movie in the franchise, but specifically a Jackass 3-D!

Since the last movie, the gang moved on to many different projects of their own. Bam Margera has had a few TV shows added to his resume with regulars like Ryan Dunn appearing often. Steve-O and Party Boy Chris Pontius had their show Wildboyz for a while, and Pontius has unexpectedly moved on to more serious acting roles, recently snagging a part in a future Sofia Coppola film. Johnny Knoxville hasn’t appeared in nearly as many movies as it looked like he was building toward, but he and some other members of the cast and crew have begun other TV shows like MTV’s Nitro Circus, which is just like Jackass, but with professionals, and just as entertaining if you’re into that kind of “humans doing incredibly stupid things” kind of humor. [...]

In the same interview with the NY Post that revealed the possibility of a Call of Duty movie being made, Scottish actor Kevin McKidd also talked about HBO’s Rome and the rumored feature film that its producers are hoping to make of it.

Since Rome was canceled WAY too soon, not much has been spoken of it; but within the past year or so, Ray Stevenson began speaking of a possible movie that producer Bruno Heller wanted to make that would be based on the show. The very thought of this is immensely exciting for fans like myself who thirst for more of this merciless, graphic, semi-historically accurate series, but the situation would also be a tricky one as Rome was one of the most expensive shows ever made (the reason why HBO killed it so quickly), and most of its sets were destroyed (supposedly). Another tricky aspect would be the content — as I’ve said before: the content on HBO included countless things that you would NEVER see in a theatrical production, so it would be difficult indeed. [...]

Kevin McKidd is one of those actor who is incredible in all that he does, but isn’t really known among those who haven’t seen his works. The Scottish actor is best known as the main character of HBO’s Rome, Lucius Vorenus, but he’s been making a decent mark on more mainstream television series like Grey’s Anatomy and the canceled Journeyman. Next year, he will play Poseidon in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, but right now, he’s appearing in a less-visual role: Captain “Soap” MacTavish in the video game mega-hit Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Recently, McKidd spoke to the NY Post about his current prospective projects, and Call of Duty came up. He confessed that he had no idea that the game would be so popular, and that now they’re apparently toying with the idea of a movie based on the title. This comes as no surprise to anyone considering how popular the games are, and considering the genre, it could absolutely work well in movie form. [...]

Bloody-Disgusting is reporting that Stephen Susco (The Grudge) has been hired to write the script for Hack/Slash, the upcoming movie based on the Tim Seeley comic book. Back in April of 2008, the project had Justin Marks writing the script that was to be directed by Todd Lincoln. Lincoln was also replaced back in July when Fredrik Bond was brought in to helm the movie (Read: ‘Hack/Slash’ Gets A New Director In Fredrik Bond)

Hack/Slash follows Cassie Hack, a girl who never had it easy growing up. When her evil Lunch Lady mother — who was murdered after it was discovered that she had been killing children and processing them into the food — comes back from the dead and resumes her murderous habits, Cassie takes her own mother out. After that, she begins her life as a slayer of Slashers, the vicious living and dead beings who walk the Earth, slaughtering all who cross their paths. She is joined by a giant named Vlad who acts as her bodyguard and strength. [...]

Not much was known of the new Captain Nemo: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea movie that was well on its way to us, but one might imagine that Disney had plans of bringing another massive water-filled adventure much like their Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. They had gotten so far as to hire Terminator Salvation director McG to helm the flick, and names like Will Smith were rumored for the role of Captain Nemo. None of this matters anymore now, as Disney has slammed the brakes on with force and stopped all forward progress on the project.

The movie was set to tell an origins tale of the fabled Captain Nemo and the building of his ship, the Nautilus. It was actually on the fast track at one point, but it appears that the controversial firing of popular chairman Dick Cook may have knocked it off its course for the time being. The original 1954 film starred Kirk Douglas and it was Disney’s very first live-action film production. [...]

Do not ask how it happened, but for some reason, this news — which seems to have broken in late October — never ever reached our ears, and this pains us. In true “better late than never” fashion, here’s the good news for those of you who also have yet to hear.

On the Playstation blog, Product Marketing Manager of SCEA, Anthony Caiazzo, announced that the realms of video games and movies would finally cross paths in a fashion that did not involve one of them making a terrible adaptation of the other or vice-versa. The big reveal was that when Neil Blomkamp’s ultra-popular science fiction drama District 9 was released, a playable demo for God of War III would be included exclusively on the Blu-ray edition of the film.

Not that anyone needed more of a reason to go out and buy District 9, but rabid fans of the God of War series will certainly be even more inclined to rush out and buy it now. [...]

Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming adaptation of the Norse god comic book superhero Thor is showing up in the news more and more often these days, and with each and every new morsel, the excitement for the movie builds up steadily. The latest news announcement from Marvel is that Thor’s Asgardian god friends the Warriors Three — Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun — have now been cast!

Branagh has contracted the talents of Stuart Townsend to play the role of Fandral, Tadanobu Asano for Hogun, and the fantastic Ray Stevenson for the part of Volstagg. Townsend is best known for his work as the vampire Lestat in Queen of the Damned and as Dorian Gray in The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. Stevenson recently ended many lives in Punisher: Warzone, but is best used as a brutal warrior, as he has played in King Arthur and on HBO’s Rome. Asano is a Japanese actor who hasn’t done an American film yet, but he appeared in the Oscar nominated Mongol. [...]

Recently we were treated by the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) himself to a brand new poster for Alice in Wonderland via his Disloyal Subjects of the Mad Hatter Facebook page. He promised that with 7,500 likes, he would release a second “treat,” which he did, and then promised a the third treat would come after 9,000 more likes. These final two posters have now been released and you can check them out right here. They didn’t exactly reach 9,000 to unlock the final poster, but as we said in the first post, the “likes” didn’t likely matter much, and these were being put out no matter what.

One of the posters features Alice and the White Rabbit at one of the Hatter’s lovely tea parties, while the other features the Hatter and the Caterpillar with a suspiciously familiar castle on the horizon. Looks just a little bit like the iconic Walt Disney castle, does it not?

Click on over to check out these new posters! [...]

Broken Lizard became an instant legend amongst the 18-29 age range when their brilliant 2002 indie comedy Super Troopers was unleashed in 2001. Since then there have been many whispers of a possible sequel, but Broken Lizard moved on to movies like Club Dread and Beerfest — both of which continued their wacky comedy style, but never quite reached the Super Troopers plateau. It is safe to say that the team could never make a sequel and everyone would be okay with that, but you, you, and I all know we would take it in an instant!

While speaking to Movie Cultists about their brand new movie The Slammin’ Salmon, the gang was wooed into spilling some details on the possible Troopers sequel. To their surprise and to our very great joy, they shared that the movie was much further along than we were currently aware of! They confirmed that not only do they have multiple drafts of the script completed, but that they already have money in place and some cast ready and willing to return. [...]

Schwarzenegger Collector’s Set
Directors: Walter Hill, Paul Michael Glaser, James Cameron, Paul Verhoeven
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Belushi, Laurence Fishburne, Peter Boyle, Maria Conchita Alonso, Jim Brown, Jesse Ventura, Richard Dawson, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick
Lionsgate Home Video

You could make a case for Arnold Schwarzenegger as the greatest action movie superstars of all time. This is a case you would win every single time, because there is no one that tops this man when it comes to the genre. Regardless of what you think of him as a Governor, there is no arguing that his presence in movies has been missed for some years now; and thus, we retreat back to his best works to get our Schwarzenegger fix.

On the bright side, there’s sets like this one being released from time-to-time to help your binging needs. This particular set includes Red Heat, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Running Man, and Total Recall.

When I got the chance to review this new four-movie collector’s set of Schwarzenegger flicks, I jumped at the chance for a couple of reasons: One was because I shockingly had not seen two of them; and also because I even-more shockingly didn’t own any of them. [...]

One of the greatest authors ever to live and master of the fictional realms, Ray Bradbury is set to begin shopping around a new mini-series pitch to television networks. The plan is to make a six-hour, six-part series based on six of his classic short stories, and to get six different directors to construct them.

Bradbury, who is now 89-years-old, embarks on this new journey after an agreement was reached with the newbie movie company White Oak Films. If a network decides that they want to be a part of the project, negotiations will begin and directors will be scouted. Supposedly, the directors brought onto the project will get to choose their favorite Bradbury story to adapt into one of the segments.

Now word on what stories will be turned into the hour-long episodes at this point. Bradbury has crafted so many timeless collections of short tales in works like The Illustrated Man, The Martian Chronicles, The October Country, and even TWO separate releases that contained two completely different sets of 100 of his short stories like The Day it Rained Forever, The Fog Horn, and The Small Assassin. [...]

If you’ve yet to hear the good news — yes, a third movie in the Focker franchise is on the way, and it is called Little Fockers…like you didn’t know this was going to happen. Stars Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, and Owen Wilson are all set to return to complete the trilogy which will obviously deal with the children of Stiller and Polo’s characters.

Now comes word that The Wolf himself, Harvey Keitel, has signed to join the project as a contractor working for Stiller. He joins other newcomers Jessica Alba and Laura Dern who arrived at the party a short time ago. Alba will be spreading her acting wings a bit by playing a super-hot pharmaceutical rep who…distracts the male character just a bit. Dern will be the headmistress of the school that little Focker is attending.

There is no word yet on whether or not the elder Fockers in Barbara Streisand and Dustin Hoffman will be returning, but so far, it’s not looking like they will. With Hoffman being the best part about Meet the Fockers and Babs being the worst, I’m a little torn on whether this is good news or bad news. [...]

We all should know the story by now: Matthew Vaughn — director of Layer Cake and Stardust — decided that a movie based on Mark Millar’s ultra-violent graphic novel Kick-Ass needed to be made, and brought it to the money. Unfortunately, none of the studios had any interest in making a movie that would include an 11-year-old girl who is deadly surgical with a Katana blade. Instead of giving in, Vaughn went down another path and pulled the unthinkable: he went and got the money all by himself…all $75 Million of it. Since this bold move, Kick-Ass has been growing into a very popular project with many itching to see this “outside-the-box” superhero movie. After some footage at Comic Con was universally praised, the studios that had passed were now battling each other for the very right to distribute the film.

Now, finally, we the regular folk of the world are able to get our first peek at this curious and intriguing little flick with the release of the very first official trailer, and it was surely worth the wait. Kick-Ass promises to be a funny, fully-entertaining movie for adults, and it is fair to assume that it won’t take long to acquire a massive fan-following. [...]

From the very moment that Joss Whedon’s latest show, Dollhouse, debuted on Fox, people wondered how long it would be before the show was canceled. This is the crystal example of expectations when it comes to fan-favorite shows on the network, and it is really quite unfortunate. However, to many shocked eyes, the show beamed through its freshman season, gaining a solid core of fans along the way; and even more surprisingly, was able to acquire its very own second season order.

Sadly, on this day, the news is much more grim. It has been confirmed that Twentieth Century Fox has officially canceled Dollhouse, cutting off its head at around the half-way mark of its sophomore effort. This will surely infuriate the show’s many fans, especially if those fans were also lovers of Dollhouse’s older brother, Firefly, which wasn’t even able to finish one season before the axe was dropped. Fox still hears an undying plea from the fans to bring back that show, even five years later…so expect fans of Dollhouse to fight the same fight. [...]

No one on this planet can make one argument against Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan being the greatest World War II movie of all time. You may like others more than it, but there is just simply no other title that is better than it or more graphically realistic and accurate as it is. Very few movies can affect a human being as that movie has, especially for those who lived that hell in their youths. After Ryan, as we all know, Spielberg and Tom Hanks followed the movie up with one of those most respected and acclaimed mini-series of all time in the HBO special Band of Brothers, which returned them to the war fronts.

Now the duo is revving up for their long-awaited new WWII mini-series entitled The Pacific, which will also air on HBO. It will obviously have a very similar tone to the stories of Band of Brothers, but the two are not related at all, and are both based on separate real-life accounts. A couple of videos have been released so far that you can check out at HBO, but below is a brand new video that takes us behind-the-scenes for some information on the show, complete with words from Hanks and Spielberg themselves. [...]

For some reason it feels like this is earlier than expected, but without any one complaint from anyone, Yahoo! Movies has been given the honor of sharing with us the very first official teaser trailer for Louis Leterrier’s brand new vision of the 1981 mythological fantasy classic, Clash of the Titans.

The movie follows Perseus (Sam Worthington), a man born from the gods, but who was raised as a regular mortal. He eventually discovers his true pedigree and finds out that Hades (Ralph Fiennes), God of the Underworld, is preparing to forcefully take over his brother Zeus’s (Liam Neeson) power and kingdom so that he can wreak havoc on the heavens and the Earth. Being Zeus’s child and with nothing else to solidify his legacy, Perseus volunteers to lead a mighty band of warriors through the unholiest of lands to fight some of the most evil beings known to man and try and stop Hades and his plans. [...]

In case you’re not already aware — a special Facebook page has been created by the marketing team behind Tim Burton’s 3-D new vision of Alice in Wonderland. The page is called The Disloyal Subjects of the Mad Hatter and it’s a place for fans read and see new bits of fun from the movie as they are released and described by the Hatter (Johnny Depp) himself.

As per his own description, the Hatter has three new things that he will be releasing, but as you can see, they will not all be released with each other. The first of the three that is now out to see is a brand new poster for the film. It features the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) book-ended by Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas), and standing opposite of the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) with the giant head of the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry) floating in the sky. [...]