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Does Mattel’s Katniss Barbie Do The ‘Hunger Games’ Heroine Justice? By Angie Han/April 10, 2012 5:00 pm EST I’ve talked before about the awkwardness of marketing a multimillion-dollar movie that rallies against overblown consumerism and mindless entertainment, but since no film as big as The Hunger Games gets made these days without an onslaught of tie-ins, the merchandise push continues. The latest Panem-themed product poised to hit shelves is Mattel’s Katniss Everdeen Barbie, who looks not at all like star Jennifer Lawrence but is dressed a lot like her....

By Peter Sciretta/April 29, 2010 3:21 pm EST We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. For those of you who didn’t read the six-issue comic book limited series when it was published last year, it follows a former super villain named Zack Overkill, who is in the Witness Protection Program after giving testimony against his former boss The Black Death. Overkill is required to take a drug that eliminates his super abilities, given a new identity and a job delivering mail in an office....

Geek Deals: 2012 Blu-Ray $12 And More By Peter Sciretta/Dec. 17, 2010 3:07 pm EST We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. 1:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. PST

Marion Cotillard Starring In ‘Rust And Bone,’ From ‘A Prophet’ Director Jacques Audiard By Russ Fischer/Sept. 7, 2011 6:38 pm EST Also in the film are Matthias Schoenarts, Celine Sallette, and Bouli Lanners. Pascal Caucheteux, who produced A Prophet and Audiard’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped (his remake of Fingers), will produce this one as well. The film is set to shoot in France and Belgium starting this fall, making it Cotillard’s next film after The Dark Knight Rises....

By David Chen/May 19, 2010 7:29 pm EST Seems like a dubious but understandable attempt at damage control by Fox. Deadline has a pretty good rundown of the history of Fox’s PR tussles, but I think the most incisive point is that Fox’s post-Transformers career hasn’t exactly lit the world aflame. Jennifer’s Body only took in $16 million domestically, while Jonah Hex looks like it could be a hit or miss, probably the latter....

Movie Trailer: Devil By Peter Sciretta/July 13, 2010 4:00 pm EST Universal Pictures have released the first teaser trailer for Devil, which is being dubbed as coming “From The Mind of M Night Shyamalan.” The first released under “The Night Chronicles” banner, Devil is directed by Quarantine helmers the Dowdle Bros from a story by M. Night Shyamalan and script by Brian Nelson. The story reported involves a group of people who are trapped in an elevator, and one of them is the devil....

Movie Trailer: Doug Liman’s Fair Game By Peter Sciretta/Aug. 18, 2010 7:56 pm EST Summit Entertainment have released the movie trailer for Doug Liman’s political drama Fair Game. The film stars Naomi Watts as real-life undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame and Sean Penn as her husband Joe Wilson. We all know the story which captured the news headlines, but the movie tells the tale from a more personal perspective. I had a chance to screen this film at the Cannes Film Festival and very much enjoyed it....

Never Let Me Go’s Mark Romanek To Direct Ben Stiller In ‘A Parking Ticket’ By Adam Quigley/Sept. 17, 2010 10:55 am EST Early this year /Film broke news of a potential collaboration between director Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo, Never Let Me Go) and Ben Stiller on The Voices, the 2009 Black List film about a man who takes advice from his cat and dog on how to cover up a murder....

Reading And Writing Screenplays On The Apple iPad By Peter Sciretta/April 12, 2010 3:03 pm EST While I don’t normally have time to read screenplays, it would be nice to read them on my new Apple iPad. And as a former aspiring screenwriter (you could say I’ve been on a five year hiatus), I’m also interested to know how writers might be able to write a screenplay on the iPad....

Ryan Murphy To Make ‘One Hit Wonders’ With Paltrow, Witherspoon, Diaz, Beyonce And Samberg By Germain Lussier/Feb. 28, 2012 3:30 pm EST Four of the most famous, beautiful women in the world – plus Andy Samberg – are planning on making a movie with the creator of Glee. Ryan Murphy, who also created American Horror Story and directed Eat Pray Love, is set to co-write and direct a film called One Hit Wonders for Sony which will team Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz and Beyonce in a film about pop singers of the ’90s who come back today to form a supergroup....

Terry Gilliam’s Arcade Fire Webcast Featured Andrew Garfield And Automatons By Russ Fischer/Aug. 6, 2010 8:52 am EST Last night Terry Gilliam directed the live webcast of the band Arcade Fire’s performance at Madison Square Garden. Prior to the event, Gilliam said he’d mostly just be following along and trying to keep up. But you know he couldn’t simply do that. The webcast opened with a fun little skit in which Gilliam is revealed to be more of a controlling director than he’d previously let on....

Three CGI Images From An Alternate Version Of ‘Prometheus’ Action Scene By Germain Lussier/Aug. 27, 2012 2:58 pm EST After the jump. we’ll describe the scene, which is from the second act of the film so it’s only a minor spoiler, and show photos from each version of the film. Going to talk about the scene in question now so spoiler alert from here on out. The scene in question is when Fifield (Sean Harris) gets infected by the virus/alien/thing and comes back to the Prometheus to wreak havok....

Trey Parker And Matt Stone Want To Direct ‘The Book Of Mormon’ Movie, But Not Anytime Soon By Angie Han/Sept. 12, 2012 2:40 pm EST Given Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s experience as TV- and movie-makers, it seems inevitable that their first stage musical (with Robert Lopez) The Book of Mormon will get turned into a film at some point. Especially given that it’s now a bona fide hit. The show picked up an impressive nine Tonys at the 2011 ceremonies, including Best Musical, and has proved popular enough to spawn a North American tour and upcoming produtions in Chicago and London....

Video Game Bits: Han Solo & Princess Leia Die, ‘Back To The Future’ Release Date And Video And More By Germain Lussier/Dec. 16, 2010 2:30 pm EST In our desensitized world, it’s becoming more and more difficult to shock people. Occasionally, you’ll be shocked at the movies or on TV but to shock someone in a video game seems impossible. Until you look at the photo above. IGN has some videos from The Force Unleashed 2 downloadable content Battle for Endor that not only show Princess Leia being murdered, but Chewbacca and – yes - Han Solo too....

Watch The Harry Potter Trio Shoot Their Final Scene By Germain Lussier/March 22, 2011 10:00 am EST When Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint first met each other in 2000, they never could have imagined that a decade later, they’d still be portraying the same characters. And while audiences still have one final Harry Potter movie to look forward to, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 on July 15, the three Gryffindor’s have long since finished filming....

Will Eisner’s Classic Graphic Novel ‘A Contract With God’ Being Adapted To Film By Russ Fischer/July 28, 2010 11:14 am EST One of the enduring examples of the graphic novel as a form is Will Eisner’s A Contract With God, a collection of short stories that is often called the first graphic novel. It isn’t that, but it is a wonderful book, and a great example of why Eisner is considered a master of comic book storytelling....

‘Apollo 18’ Will Be Released This Summer; ‘Final Destination 5’ Moves Up Too By Germain Lussier/April 28, 2011 10:00 am EST Most space shuttle launches have a countdown to blast off but Apollo 18 seems to be counting up towards its release. The Timur Bekmambetov-produced, Moon-based, found footage horror film is now the proud owner of four release dates and counting. It was first supposed to be released in March. From there it was moved to April, then January 2012 and now it’s back in 2011....

‘Breaking Bad’ Creator Considering A Saul Goodman Spin-Off By Germain Lussier/July 19, 2012 7:00 am EST We’re only one episode into the first half of the final season of Breaking Bad and, if you’re like me, you’re already dreading the end. Vince Gilligan’s show is so good, so tense and so fun that every episode is like Christmas morning. With meth and murder. Still, every great show has to end and Breaking Bad has eight total episodes this year and then eight total episodes next year before hanging up the lab coat....

‘Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away’ Trailer: James Cameron And Andrew Adamson Train 3D Cameras On The Circus By Russ Fischer/June 29, 2012 10:30 am EST Dance films have become big once more, and while the Cirque du Soleil troupe may not be a dance troupe, per se, there may be no single collection of more able and adventurous physical performers in the world today. Traditional Cirque performances are staggeringly popular, but now that Andrew Adamson (Shrek, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) and producer James Cameron have trained 3D cameras on a group of Cirque performers, the resulting movie might be the ultimate dance film....

‘Homework’ A Comfortable Indie Coming Of Age Movie Starring Emma Roberts And Freddie Highmore [Sundance Review] By Peter Sciretta/Jan. 27, 2011 9:00 am EST Homework tells the story of George (played by former child star Freddie Highmore), a lonely underachieving teen who is about to fail high school in the end of his senior year. He is befriended by his crush, a girl named Sally, but he is unable to express his feelings for her....