Damon Houx
After this summer's surprise success of 'Ted,' it was no surprise that Universal was looking to make a sequel as quickly as possible, and if what Mark Wahlberg is saying is true, we may get it sooner than you'd think.
Though we're still a ways out from the release of James Mangold's 'The Wolverine,' this week has been populated with next summer's biggest films announcing themselves through trailers. Though the Hugh Jackman 'X-Men' spin-off film doesn't seem to be unleashing a trailer this week, they have put out a motion poster.
"There come a time when good man must wear mask." So intones Johnny Depp to Armie Hammer in 'The Lone Ranger' trailer, which reveals that director Gore Verbinski is up for being a little weird in his big budget blockbuster.
Though it's an early report, we're hearing word that Michael Bay has lined up his younger leads for 'Transformers 4.' The names of the non-robots in disguise? Brenton Thwaites and Nicola Peltz.
Though the trailer won't hit the web until December 17, and the film doesn't hit theaters until May 2013, 'Star Trek Into Darkness' has just released their teaser for the trailer that's coming. Yup, this nonsense again, but at least this one's a minute long.
'Tron: Legacy,' like 'Tron' before it, was hyped and hoped to be the next big thing. With 'Legacy,' Disney spent years prepping audiences for the return of the light cycle and deadly discs to the big screen, even though the first film was viewed as a cult hit that tried and failed to be the next 'Star Wars.' But even though 'Tron: Legacy' was not the runaway success hoped for, Disney may be going back for more.
Was it that long ago that 'Family Guy' was dumped by Fox, and it looked like creator Seth MacFarlane had his shot, and that shot was over? That period from 2003-2005 when 'Family Guy' almost went away seems like a lifetime ago, as now MacFarlane has three cartoon shows going on Fox, just had a hit movie with 'Ted,' is about to host the Oscars and has just lined up his next feature film, in which he'll star and direct.
We're nearly twenty five years removed from the release of the first 'Die Hard' movie, and 'A Good Day to Die Hard' release coincides with the first film's silver anniversary. And though the connective tissue may be strained, we're down for a Bruce Willis action fest, so this featurette for the new film gets us a little excited.
Samuel L. Jackson has been the anchor for Marvel's movies ever since he appeared in the end credit Easter Egg in the first 'Iron Man.' But now that the universe is established, now that 'The Avengers' is one of the biggest hits of all time, will Jackson continue his trend of showing up for a scene or two in the next couple Marvel movies? It looks like the answer is no.
Though we're still months away from 'Iron Man 3's release, that doesn't mean we aren't going to get a trickle of steady publicity from now until May 3, 2013. The film has just released four new stills, including our first look at Rebecca Hall.
We're still a little confused about which film 'Texas Chainsaw 3D' is a sequel to. The first film spawned three sequels, with only one helmed by the original's Toby Hooper. Then there was the Michael Bay-produced remake, and it's prequel. But this seems drawn more from the original films than the reboots, even though it's sort of labeled a third film. At the end of the day they're all basically remakes of the first film anyway. Now there's a new trailer and TV spot for the film.
We're looking forward to Judd Apatow's 'This is 40' for a number of reasons, and one is Jason Segel. In the film he plays Jason, a personal trainer that Leslie Mann's character Debbie is going to partly for the exercise and partly because he constantly hits on her. In this new featurette, we see more of Segel's time in the film.