One of my personal favorite 1980s movies is Bloodsport, the Jean Claude Van Damme movie about Frank Dux, a martial artist who competed in a highly secretive, highly dangerous underground fighting tournament known as the Kumite. Basically MMA before anyone knew what MMA was. The movie is a quintessential ’80s action-fighting flick, and features one of the very best ’80s movie songs you’ll ever hear. What more could one ask for?

Now comes word that Relativity Media is getting ready to remake the movie, with a writer, director, premise, and filming plans already in place. And another one bites the dust.

On this day 162 years ago, famed author and poet Edgar Allan Poe died.

In celebration of his life and his works, as well as the upcoming new Poe movie starring John Cusack in the lead, titled The Raven, an event was held in Baltimore, Maryland including director James McTeigue (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) and co-star Luke Evans (Immortals, Robin Hood) meeting with press and members of the Poe House and Museum.

Also in conjunction with the anniversary and event, the official trailer for The Raven has been officially released online after debuting last night on G4’s Attack of the Show.

You can check out the trailer as well as some unusual facts about Poe by continuing on over to the other side now.

James McTeigue, director of The Raven, made an appearance at the Relativity Media panel today at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 to debut the trailer for the upcoming thriller. Also on the panel were stars John Cusack, Alice Eve, and Luke Evans. They all talked about filming the movie in Serbia during winter and also about their research regarding Poe’s life and his stories. Alice Eve talked about getting mouthfuls of dirt while filming her “buried alive” scenes.

The film revolves around the last five days of author Edgar Allan Poe‘s life in the mid-1800s in Baltimore. In real life, little is known about those days, so the filmmakers took the liberty of turning that time into a murder-mystery based on Poe’s actual stories. In The Raven, Poe (played by John Cusack) must team up with a young inspector detective (Luke Evans) to find a serial killer who’s murdering his victims based on events from Poe’s macabre tales.

Relativity Media has released the official first look from their upcoming film The Raven.

Check out the image above of the film’s star John Cusack as the tormented Edgar Allan Poe. The movie, directed by James McTeigue, also stars Luke Evans, Brendan Gleeson, Alice Eve, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Official synopsis is below.

The Raven, which is actually the movie’s working title, opens in theaters on March 9, 2012.

Check out Episode 9 of the Flix of Doom podcast, the official movie podcast of Geeks of Doom, recorded August 29, 2010 with special guest Markus Seaberry from Geeks of Doom and The Seaberry Experience podcast!

In this episode we touch on Box Office results, talk movie news, live to tell about 2012, discuss Avatar sequels and theatrical re-releases, and finally, everyone gathers around the Home Tree to review the re-release of Avatar.

Full Episode Guide is here below, along with player.

Listen now!

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