The digital video deal of the day over at Amazon today is Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, the Mike Newell-directed fantasy-action flick starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ben Kingsley, which is available for rental for only $.99.

This deal is valid only for today, Tuesday, January 18, 2011, until midnight PST. Once you activate the rental through Amazon’s Video On Demand service, you’ll have access to the movie for 48 hours. This digital version is not yet available for purchase, so for now, you can only rent it through VOD.

If you’d like to own a physical copy of the movie, the Blu-ray is on sale for $20.99 while the DVD is priced at $16.99.

A rogue prince named Dastan reluctantly joins forces with the mysterious princess Tamina and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time – a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Directed by Mike Newell
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina
Rated PG-13
Release date: May 28, 2010

Quick, name me a good movie based on a video game. Okay, we all know the cliché that there are no good movies based on video games (Resident Evil and its sequels may be the exception to that rule), but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible, or that Hollywood is going to stop trying. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, is just the latest attempt to translate a popular video game series into a film, and it largely succeeds in capturing what makes the game fun, and turning it into a fun action-adventure movie.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Dastan, an orphan boy who is adopted by the king of Persia and grows up to be a somewhat roguish but loving son. He and his older brothers attack a holy city after evidence arises that the city is supplying enemies of Persia with weapons (the first of many questionable modern world allusions). As it turns out, the city isn’t really making weapons, but they do have one weapon of possible mass destruction, in the form of a dagger that can turn back time for its user. Dastan comes into possession of the dagger, and is forced to use it after he is framed for the murder of his adopted father. Tagging along with him is Tamina (Gemma Arterton), the princess of the holy city, and the latest in a line of guardians of the dagger. Dastan and Tamina must stop evil forces from trying to use the dagger for their own dastardly plans, while also trying to clear Dastan’s name.

The Walt Disney Company was in full attendance yesterday at WonderCon 2010 in San Francisco, CA, and one of the films they were showing off is Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. On hand for the panel was star Jake Gyllenhaal, director Mike Newell, a one Mr. Jerry Bruckheimer (producer, this being his first convention appearance ever), and Jordan Mechner, who created the original video game and is acting as an executive producer on the movie.

The highlight of the panel was, however, the unreleased clips from the film they brought with them to show off, which is what fans always want to see at these conventions. Forget the talk, show off never-before-seen footage, and you’ll win hearts. And we’ve got that footage description right here for you!

A Q&A session was held with the cast and crew, but no bombshells were dropped or anything of that sort. They talked about playing the characters, and how Gyllenhaal did some major Parkour training to prepare, which basically means he learned all of the skills of those city runners who can navigate any obstacle with ease.

Jordan Mechner and John August posted a cool little video on their blogs recently. The video is a collection of clips from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time that were specially edited together back in 2003. The purpose of this was to convey his vision of what a movie version of the game should be like, and was used in his pitch to Jerry Bruckheimer and The Walt Disney Company. Most just paint a picture with their words when making a pitch, but Mechner figured what better way to paint a picture than to use key elements from the actual game, and he was right — Bruckheimer bought the pitch and six years later, the movie is set for official release on May 28, 2010.

Mechner is the creator of the Prince of Persia video game series and August is best known for his work as writer on Tim Burton movies like Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Corpse Bride. The duo wrote the script for The Sands of Time movie together.

Click over to watch the video.

Just yesterday, we got our first look at Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow in Jon Favreau‘s Iron Man 2. The images came from this weeks issue of Entertainment Weekly, which is a preview to Comic Con special. The issue has now been officially released and as it turns out, there were many more great images inside!

To go with the pictures of Black Widow, a few more tiny peeks at Iron Man 2 were offered. Among them is a look a Don Cheadle — who is stepping in for Terrence Howard as James Rhodes — sitting in front of Sam Rockwell, who will be playing Tony Stark rival Justin Hammer. There’s also a couple of new images of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark: One is of him taking part in some seemingly highly-competitive competition of sorts; the other shows him speaking to new CEO of Stark Industries: Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).

It doesn’t end there, either. A bunch of other big movies with previews featured in the issue as well, including Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland, Matthew Vaughn‘s Kick-Ass, Mike Newell‘s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Shane Acker‘s 9, Roland Emmerich‘s 2012, Ruben Fleischer‘s Zombieland, and Chan-Wook Park‘s Thirst.

Click over to check out all of these images, and head over to EW for even more.