MOVIE NEWS JAN 7TH: PERCY JACKSON, LEGION, WOLFMAN, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, AND MORE

New Percy Jackson Character Art Online
Six new posters from Columbus’ latest

We know it’s snowing outside (for most of you, anyway; for Empire, all the snow was washed away from Oxford Street by the time we got in, upsetting our plans to arrive three hours’ late, armed with snow shoes and flimsy excuses about the Victoria Line), but here’s something that should cheer you up: six new character one-sheets from Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief.

Look at them. Just look at them. Pretty, aren’t they? Well, kinda – we like the actual character shots, but there’s a fundamental flaw here: none of the characters are actually named on the posters, which might scupper chances of increasing Percy Jackson’s name and brand awareness by the time the Chris Columbus movie comes out in just over a month.

POSTERS AND MORE HERE

New ‘Legion’ Clip and TV Spot

Legion is an upcoming action/supernatural horror film starring Paul Bettany and Dennis Quaid. The film centers around a diner full of people who attempt to fight off an apocalyptic army of angels sent by God to destroy humanity. That’s a pretty bold plot and from what we’ve seen so far it looks pretty badass.

Today we have a couple of more looks at Legion by way of a new clip, courtesy of Yahoo (via Coming Soon), and the first TV spot courtesy of Shock Till You Drop.

The clip is the more interesting of the two, featuring a kick-ass fight between Bettany and no-messing angel Gabriel, played by Kevin Durand. The TV spot is standard fare but worth a look anyway for those anticipating the movie.

TV SPOT AND MORE HERE.

The Violent Kind of One-Sheet

The official artwork for The Butcher Brothers’ latest foray into the horror genre, The Violent Kind, has just made its way online, and we have every blood-speckled pixel right here for your perusal.

The film starring Cory Knauf, Christina Prousalis, Taylor Cole, Tiffany Shepis, Bret Roberts, Nick Tagas, Joe Egender, Joseph McKelheer, and Samuel Child has made it to Sundance while some buzz is steadily making its rounds around the Web.

Synopsis
One night at a secluded farmhouse deep in the Northern California woods, a small group of hardened young bikers and their girlfriends are tormented when one of the girls becomes savagely possessed and a gang of “Rockabillies” seemingly from the 1950’s descend upon them to collect what is growing inside her.

POSTER HERE.

Willem Dafoe Gears Up To Start Making John Carter, Next Week!

Willem Dafoe revealed to us that next week he’s headed off to London to start filming Disney’s John Carter of Mars. But how do you go about portraying a 10-foot tall, four armed green Martian?

We caught up with Dafoe doing press for his next film Daybreakers, and squeezed in a few roundtable questions on Disneys giant fantasy undertaking, adapting Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Cater Of Mars.

INTERVIEW AND MORE HERE.

The Wolfman Photo Gallery

Our photo gallery has been updated with the new pics and wallpapers from upcoming film “The Wolfman”. You can check out bigger versions of each by clicking them below.

Based on the 1941 classic of the same name, “The Wolfman” tells of Lawrence Talbot, an actor who returns to the home of his estranged father after the death of his brother. Familiar awkwardness becomes the least of his problems when he is attacked and bitten by a wolf and quickly takes on hairy, toothy qualities whenever the moon rises.

Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III) directs “The Wolfman,” and six-time Oscar®-winning special effects artist Rick Baker brings his design and makeup talents to transform Benicio Del Toro into the fearsome title character.

The film, starring Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving and Art Malik, is set to hit theaters on February 12, 2010.

MORE PHOTOS HERE.

Disney’s cool Alice promo book within a book within a …

Sometimes we get really cool promotional stuff, like today’s Alice in Wonderland press kit from Disney, which is in the form of a giant book that holds another book, which holds another book, which holds another …

It’s in keeping with the whimsical nature of the film, based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories, that the promo material is contained in nesting volumes: locations, characters, etc. In the smallest book, there’s a key: Not to Wonderland, but a USB drive with more images and the trailer below.

Enjoy it as much as we did! The movie, starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, opens March 5.

PHOTOS HERE.

Spidey 4 problems mean you’ll see Thor 2 weeks early

With Sony’s Spider-Man 4 on hold and crew encouraged to find other work, Variety is reporting that Paramount and Marvel Entertainment have pushed up the release of Thor by two weeks, to May 6, 2011, staking out Spidey’s former release date.

Disney, meanwhile, set a May 20, 2011, release date for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth installment in the franchise, staking out Thor’s original date:

Sony said it wasn’t abandoning the date, a highly-coveted frame since it is the first weekend of summer. Studio said it is still hoping to complete the film in time.
However, Paramount decided to act aggressively and not wait for the outcome, in case another studio acted first and put one of their films there.

If by some miracle Spider-Man 4 makes its original release date, it’s possible everything could move again. Stay tuned!

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Should Will Smith Play Captain America?

It’s a rumor that’s been circulating within the back channels and undertows of the internet for a couple of years now. Discussed and endlessly debated on message boards, argued back and forth by comic book fans, it’s caused so much distress and excitement within fan circles that you’d think they were arguing about a film that had already been shot and released into theaters. And the rumor is this: That Captain America, Marvel’s iconoclastic leader of the Avengers whose due for his own film in 2011 by director Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park 3, The Rocketeer) is going to be played by none other than Will Smith.

In some circles, Smith is believed to have been at least offered the title role in The First Avenger: Captain America. If true, it’d be one of the most bold and daring casting decisions undertaken by Hollywood in recent years. And also, by the sound of the voluminous fits being thrown by fan-boys all across the country, one of the most contentious. MORE HERE.

“Dune”: Paramount’s Latest Plans for a Remake

French director Pierre Morel has signed on to direct a new adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel “Dune,” according to Paramount Pictures, the studio behind the project.

Morel has signed “a holding deal,” according to a Paramount spokeswoman. Kevin Misher and Richard Rubenstein are producing the film. Josh Zetumer has written a draft of a script, which has been sent out to other writers for further work, according to the spokesperson. There is no word yet on when the film might go into production.

Morel was the director of the 2008 movie “Taken,” which starred Liam Neeson as a former spy looking to rescue his kidnapped daughter. (Tagline: “They took his daughter. He’ll take their lives.”) His next movie is the action-thriller due out this year called “From Paris With Love,” with John Travolta. MORE HERE.

News briefs: Let Me In debuts in Oct.; ‘Sam Winchester’ engaged

Let Me In—the upcoming American remake of the Swedish vampire movie Let the Right One In—has been given an Oct. 1 release date; currently shooting in New Mexico, the film is directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) and stars Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road), Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass) and Richard Jenkins (The Visitor).

Speaking of Kick-Ass, it will have its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival’s 2010 opening night; based on the comic written by Mark Millar and John S. Romita Jr., Kick-Ass was directed by Matthew Vaughn. The festival runs March 12-20 in Austin, Texas.

Sorry, ladies: Jared Padalecki, who plays Sam Winchester on The CW’s Supernatural, is engaged to marry his former co-star Genevieve Cortese, who played the hot but very evil demon Ruby, E! Online reported; Jensen Ackles, who plays Padalecki’s onscreen older brother Dean Winchester, got engaged in fall 2009 to Danneel Harris.

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I am excited to see Percy Jackson! That snake hair is wicked awesome and freaky!

How cool was that fight scene for Legion? I cannot wait to see it with the rest of the film.

What do you think of the Alice in Wonderland goodies? Do you tend to get memorabilia like that for movies you enjoy?

I think Will Smith does amazing in all of his roles and I think they should give him a chance to play Captain America. I think it is a newer role for him and I would love to see the outcome.

What did you think about today’s Movie News? Join us in the forum to discuss!!