Wow. Who would have expected a reboot of ‘Predator’ to look this damn good? Apparently, it does. And here is Robert Rodriguez (the producer) with a sneak peek and some of the goodness.

A bold new chapter in the Predator universe, “Predators” was shot on location under Rodriguez’s creative auspices at the filmmaker’s Austin-based Troublemaker Studios, and is directed by Nimród Antal. The film stars Adrien Brody as Royce, a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors who come to realize they’ve been brought together on an alien planet… as prey. With the exception of a disgraced physician, they are all cold-blooded killers – mercenaries, Yakuza, convicts, death squad members – human “predators” that are now being systemically hunted and eliminated by a new breed of alien Predators.

How bad-ass does that look? And I completely agree with Rodriguez. Instead of going the ‘action hero fighting predators’ route (that can’t be topped more than Schwarzenegger did in the original), he opted for an ‘anti-action hero fighting predators’ which seems to be working much better thanks to Adrien Brody. The look is slick and so are the locales. This just climbed up the radar for the most anticipated films of the year.

Watch the sneak peek below.

Don’t you guys love the ‘Harold and Kumar’ movies? They got a great cast and hilarious situations everytime. One of the stars, John Cho, says that the next film in the series could very well shoot this June.

Speaking to Collider while promoting the (great) show ‘FlashForward’, he says that the next film titled ‘A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas’ could be shooting this June while the show will be on a hiatus. As surprising and bizarre as it may sound, Kal Penn who plays Kumar currently works with Obama in the White House Administration. Not sure how they will get around that but I’m sure they’ll find a way.

The film was set to be released on November 5, 2010 and it will be interesting to see how they can handle a holiday theme with the characters that are so anti-holiday. Do we have another ‘Bad Santa’ on our hands?

Big news today and not a great one. Robert Zemekis’ ImageMovers Digital, the motion capture studio that brought you ‘The Polar Express’, ‘Beowulf’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’ is now closing its doors very soon.

LA Times reports that after post-production on its latest ‘Mars Needs Moms’ is finished, up to 450 employees will be let go as operations will wind down. The reason? Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman sums it up here:

“Bob and the entire IMD team successfully built a state of the art studio and produced an amazing film, A Christmas Carol, at a time when the dynamics of the industry are rapidly changing. But, given today’s economic realities, we need to find alternative ways to bring creative content to audiences and IMD no longer fits into our business model.”

In other words, their last two films had disappointing returns. Beowulf flopped domestically (although it was a great film) while ‘A Christmas Carol’ hardly broke even. You don’t get more chances in Hollywood. It’s too bad for motion capture though – it was a big studio and produced tentpoles every year.

Full press release below.

‘Matt Helm’ and ‘Harvey’ are two projects that were linked as director Steven Spielberg’s upcoming directorial projects but never proceeded. Now, it looks like Speilberg might be headed to blockbuster territory of robotic proportions.

Deadline reports that his next project might be ‘Robocalypse’ and screenwriter Drew Goddard (Cloverfield) has been tapped to adapt the novel by Daniel H Wilson about the human race’s struggle to survive against a massive robot urprising. My guess is this has the highest chance to be actually made thanks to the epic scale and the director’s mastery with it. DreamWorks optioned the unfinished novel which is getting serious buzz.

Personally, a proper movie about a robot uprising could be massive in scale and should be amazing considering Speilberg is involved. Just don’t let Michael Bay come near 100 feet of the project. Please.

Even though ‘Avatar’ made a gazillion dollars worldwide, looks like Fox is not content and wants some more.

THR reports that Fox is considering bringing back ‘Avatar’ to theaters in the fall with an extended release that will incorporate some scenes that had to be cut in order to make its release date. Another reason is that theater owners are convinced that ‘Avatar’ had the potential to make considerable more bucks if it hadn’t been pushed out of cinemas to make way for ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

For some respective, ‘Avatar’ has made $2.6 billion globally to date. And they still need more.

Will you watch ‘Avatar’ in a possible re-release?

I’ll be the first to say that if one movie got insultingly subbed at the Oscars, it was ‘Inglourious Basterds’. More specifically, it was Quentin Tarantino who deserved all the glory but was denied of it. Well, looks like he’s moving on to something no one would have expected.

MTV News reports that actor Alan Cummings himself says that Tarantino has been cast in the big screen adaptation of ‘The Smurfs’. He will be playing Brainy Smurf in the film.

There’s no official confirmation but we tend to see the character as suited to Tarantino and it would be very fun to see him voice an animated character.

While the drama is still on about who will play Captain America, looks like the upcoming Marvel project already has a nemesis.

HeatVision reports that Hugo Weaving (The Matrix, The Wolfman, LOTR) is in final negotiations to join the film as the villain Red Skull. Actually named Johann Shmidt, he is appointed by Adolf Hitler himself for dirty deeds. From Marvel itself:

“Hitler gave Schmidt an unique uniform with a grotesque red skull mask, and he emerged as the Red Skull. His role was the embodiment of Nazi intimidation, while Hitler could remain the popular leader of Germany. … He was spectacularly successful, wreaking havoc throughout Europe in the early stages of World War II. The propaganda effect was so great that the United States government decided to counter it by creating their own equivalent using the recipient of the lost Project Rebirth, Steve Rogers, Captain America. The two counterparts soon clashed in what would be a series of engagements throughout the war, ending with a final battle that left the Skull buried under the rubble of a bombed building. Because he was immediately exposed to an experimental gas there, he remained in suspended animation for decades. Johann was eventually rescued in modern times by the terrorist organization, HYDRA. The Skull quickly subverted a cell to his own ambitions of world conquest and the death of Captain America. “

No word as to who can play Captain America. Will it be John Krasinski (The Office)? Or Garrett Hedlund (Tron Legacy)? Or someone totally out of the blue? Keanu Reeves, maybe? (A stretch, I know).

‘Valentine’s Day’ proved that bringing together an ensemble cast for a movie can be a successful (at least commercially) endeavor. Now, looks like sketch comedy will follow.

Relativity Media announces that director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour), Peter Farrelly (There’s Something about Mary) and actress Elizabeth Banks (Role Models) has joined the cast of an untitled comedy film which will comprise of a number of sketches stringed together by a united storyline.

Want to know the rest of the cast? Here you go – Gerard Butler, Kieran Culkin, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Liev Schreiber, Sean William Scott, Tony Shalhoub, Emma Stone, Matt Walsh, Patrick Warburton, Naomi Watts, and Kate Winslet.  More directors and actors are to be announced soon. Sketches have a larger chance of working than romantic cliches disguised in a romantic cliche of a movie. So let’s see how this one goes.

Full press release after the jump.

One movie that had no kind of hype and looked as generic as possible was the upcoming Ridley Scott epic starring Russel Crowe – ‘Robin Hood’. The problem? It looked like a ‘Gladiator 2′. The solution by Universal? Releasing a trailer that highlights the story and what makes it so epic and unique. Here it is.

Oscar® winner Russell Crowe stars as the legendary figure known by generations as “Robin Hood,” whose exploits have endured in popular mythology and ignited the imagination of those who share his spirit of adventure and righteousness. In 13th century England, Robin and his band of marauders confront corruption in a local village and lead an uprising against the crown that will forever alter the balance of world power. And whether thief or hero, one man from humble beginnings will become an eternal symbol of freedom for his people.

Finally we get to see what it’s all about and Scott’s brilliant direction is highlight here. My only quip? The movie is rated PG-13. Gladiator was R Rated and so was Kingdom of Heaven and both were Scott’s best work. How violent and epic can your film be in the bounds of a PG-13? I’m really hoping the answer is ‘Lord of the Rings’ than ‘King Arthur’.

Full trailer below.

There’s been a lack of posters for this film and now we have a final one that combines the best of the other ones.

From the team that brought the “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy to the big screen, Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films present “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” an epic action-adventure set in the mystical lands of Persia. A rogue prince (Jake Gyllenhaal) reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess (Gemma Arterton) 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.

I’m putting all hopes on this film to change the outlook we have on video-game adaptations. But doesn’t Ben Kingsley look a little odd in the poster?