Whoa! Now this looks frickin' awesome, that's for damn sure! Twitch has posted a French trailer for Tony Jaa's Ong Bak 2, the long-awaited sequel to Jaa's 2003 martial arts cult classic. This was shot a long time ago - we actually ran a promo trailer for it over a year ago. Now we finally get to see a polished trailer and it definitely looks better than ever. Apparently he fought an actual real, live alligator in this (and there is a glimpse of that scene in the trailer). And I'm guessing all those elephants were real, too. I can't wait to see this, hopefully sooner than later. Damnit, those lucky French get to see it later this month. Fire this up!

Watch the French trailer for Tony Jaa's Ong Bak 2:

A young Thai boxer learns the skills and inner meaning of martial arts. Does this just look badass or what?

Ong Bak 2 is directed by and stars Thai martial artist Tony Jaa himself as his feature directorial debut. The script was written by stunt coordinator and filmmaker Panna Rittikrai who previously wrote the screenplay for Ong Bak and Born to Fight. This was shot in late 2006 and early 2007 and it already hit theaters in Thailand last December. The Weinstein Company has the distribution rights for the film and is expected to release Ong Bak 2 in the US hopefully sometime later this year. We'll keep you updated on its US release!

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Remember that Ryan Reynolds project called Buried that we talked about just a few weeks back? The concept was that Reynolds awakens buried in a coffin in the desert in Iraq, armed only with a cell phone, a candle and a knife. Now some new quotes pop up over on The Playlist that reveal that it's literally an entire movie with just one person in it - the entire movie takes place inside a coffin. "Paul, an American truck driver in Iraq, has just woken up in a coffin. It's burning up. Hot as balls. Lack of oxygen makes it hard to breathe. And let's not forget the coffin, which only allows him a few inches of room in every direction."

Reynolds talks further about the role: "It's the only movie I've ever heard of with only one person in it. So it's just me, I'm the only person in the whole movie so, I don't know, we'll see. It's either going to be, you know, the greatest, most experimental cool movie ever made or god knows what." That is definitely going to give him a chance to "stretch his acting chops," which is apparently the reason why he took on this indie thriller next instead of some studio project. My interest in this is already peaked. An entire frickin' movie in a coffin? When the hell can I see this, because if it's not by the end of the year, I'll be quite upset.

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So says Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com. I'm not supposed to tell you what I think of the new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince just yet, but I can tell you I completely agree with what Paul said in his article. If you read my Twitter, then you probably already know what I thought of it. But let me use some of his quotes to explain. "The Potter-loving beast in me has been unleashed having witnessed a film that was not only exquisite in its production values, but was also charming, funny, scary, enchanting, moving (stop me, the adjectives could go on and on) and dare I say, sexy." Did I tell you that I wholly agree with him?

"Brilliantly directed by David Yates (he directed 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a tour-de-force that combines style and substance, special effects and heart and most importantly great performances from all of the actors young and not-so-young."

Paul speculates that with 10 Best Picture nomination slots, Harry Potter might have a chance. I absolutely loved Half-Blood Prince, potentially as my new favorite HP movie, but it's too early to tell (it needs time to soak in). And in case you think Paul is just another Potter fanboy, he actually says that before this one, they "just were not my cup of tea." I really do feel the exact same way as he does. "The cinematography, music, set design and costumes are all amazing, and the film has a truly rich look to it reminiscent of the best of the old-school Hollywood epics." So there you have it. On July 15th, you know exactly where you should be!

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This is aiming for one of those five extra Best Picture nomination spots. I can already tell. The first trailer for Jim Sheridan's Brothers has finally showed up on YouTube (via The Playlist) courtesy of ET even though it's already showing in theaters in front of Public Enemies. Brothers stars Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Tobey Maguire and is yet another Iraq / Afghanistan movie like every other one we've seen come and go in the last few years. Sure, it looks emotional, it looks like a tough story for many reasons, and it has a good cast, but is it going to actually be any good? We'll find out in December whether it is or not.

Watch the trailer for Jim Sheridan's Brothers:

In a small, snowy Pennsylvania town, a young man (Jake Gyllenhaal) comforts his older brother's wife (Natalie Portman) and children after her husband (Tobey Maguire) goes missing in Afghanistan.

Brothers is directed by Oscar nominated filmmaker Jim Sheridan, of In the Name of the Father, The Boxer, In America, and Get Rich or Die Tryin' previously. The screenplay was written by David Benioff of 25th Hour, Troy, The Kite Runner, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine previously. This is also a remake of Susanne Bier's 2004 Danish film Brødre. Lionsgate is bringing Brothers to theaters on December 4th this winter.

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You probably already forgot that this movie even existed, because I know I did. Back in December of last year we announced a cast for the new movie from brothers Jay and Mark Duplass tentatively titled Safety Man. Jonah Hill would play the son of a single mother, played by Marisa Tomei, who begins a relationship with a 40-something guy, played by John C. Reilly. It actually seemed the perfect cast for a crazy indie comedy. MTV recently spoke with Jay Duplass who revealed that it has actually been entirely shot and that he really, really loves Jonah Hill. "He is so one of us, I just can't even tell you… He's got it."

Jay goes on to explain a bit more about the story. "[Tomei’s character] is very much out of [John C. Reilly's] league," he explains. “They light up an incredible relationship but she doesn't really let him in and he finds himself on the other side of the coin, like wanting the snuggle and he can't get it." He soon figures out that she's hiding that she has a grown up son. Then the three end up having "a very bizarre, codependent relationship," he says. "It almost develops into some obtuse love triangle, as John and Jonah wrestle for the feelings of Marisa." Sounds pretty crazy and with the Duplass style humor, I'm sure it'll be hilarious.

You can be sure that this will probably play at some upcoming film festival - either Telluride or Toronto or maybe even Sundance next January. I became a big fan of the Duplass Brothers after seeing Baghead at Sundance a few years ago, but I haven't ever gone back to watch The Puffy Chair, their feature directorial debut and the film that made Jonah Hill a big fan of theirs as well. Fox Searchlight is already planning to distribute their new movie, which doesn't have an official title yet, but you can be sure we'll be keeping a close eye on it. For now, well, just head over to MTV to read more from Jay, because that's all we've got!

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This just keeps getting better! When I featured that gorgeous Italian poster for Inglourious Basterds a few weeks ago, I didn't expect we'd ever see an English version of it. But lo and behold, not only is there an English version, but we have four individual character posters based off that same design! Great character choices (glad to see both Mélanie Laurent and Christoph Waltz featured in this series), great quotes for each of them, this marketing campaign is kickin' some ass. I've got to say one thing though - screw Diane Kruger, the quirky French beauty Mélanie Laurent is my favorite actress from this. She's awesome, trust me!

Thanks to our friends across the pond at Empire for providing us with these beauties today. Take a look!

During World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "the Basterds" are chosen to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds soon cross paths with a young French girl named Shosanna who runs a movie theater in Paris that is frequented by soldiers.

Inglourious Basterds is both written and directed by the infamous Quentin Tarantino, of everything from Reservoir Dogs to Pulp Fiction to Kill Bill to Death Proof previously. The Weinstein Company and Universal have partnered to bring us Tarantino's WWII masterpiece in all of its brilliant glory. After first debuting at the Cannes Film Festival, Inglourious Basterds will now hit theaters worldwide on August 21st this year.

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Early this morning I was sent a link to an article on the Brazilian movie site Omelete where they had a few new quotes from Brandon Routh who they caught up with on the set of Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. We've heard plenty of unconfirmed details about the status of Superman inside of Warner Brothers, but not all of it was accurate. Routh (via a rough translation) says that he knows nothing about what's currently going on and, most importantly, that his contract to play Superman has since expired. "But if they call me again, back to the character without thinking twice [sic]!" But does it really matter though?

Okay, before I continue, let me first say that I did actually think Routh was the best modern day Superman they could find and he did the best he could with the role. I really liked his performance and would've been happy seeing him return for sequels. But as we all know, Warner Brothers just doesn't know what the heck to do with the Superman franchise — well, they know that Bryan Singer killed it and they're not continuing on with anything he did (sadly). So what I mean to say is that it doesn't really matter that Brandon Routh's contract is no longer in effect because that's just part of the logical progression of the franchise anyway.

While this is purely speculation on my part, I do think Warner Brothers is eventually looking to completely reboot this from scratch someday in the future. And that means getting rid of Brandon Routh and either getting someone new or doing something different altogether - like using a CGI Superman and just getting an actor to play Clark Kent. When and if this ever does continue, who else could play a good Superman?

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We all know that a Deadpool movie is in development with Ryan Reynolds at the helm. But after X-Men Origins: Wolverine, we're going into a bit cautiously, since no one knows how it will turn out. We've heard a lot about where the story might go and other ideas from Reynolds, but one point he hasn't addressed yet is if Wade Wilson will break the "fourth wall" as he has done in the comics. “Break the fourth wall? Oh yeah, he’s got to. I want to see him break the Great Wall," Reynolds told Empire today. And as for his decapitated head at the end of Wolverine, well, “that we won’t speak of." Well it looks like this is headed in the right direction!

As for more updates on the Deadpool spin-off from Reynolds, he adds: “The studio's working on a script and trying to find a director. The main goal is to make sure it stays close to the source material." But fans are wondering exactly how close to the source material? Because one could claim that Wolverine was close to the source material, too. "I'm one of them. I've always been a fan, at least for the last eight or nine years. I feel a bit of validation because I knew going into Wolverine that there's a huge fanbase for this and I don't think anyone else did." Now he just needs to make sure this doesn't get screwed up. We know you can, Ryan!

Update: For reference, breaking the fourth wall essentially means talking to the audience. "The term applies to the boundary between any fictional setting and its audience. When this boundary is 'broken', it is called 'breaking the fourth wall.'" In the comics, Deadpool is often aware that he is a comic book character.

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And you thought that Asteroids movie was a far-fetched idea? ComingSoon has discovered that "Fringe" co-producer and writer Brad Caleb Kane will be writing a movie based on Fisher-Price's View-Master toy. If you don't know what that is, just check out that photo above to jog your memory, I'm sure you'll know exactly what they are. These little plastic gimmicks first came out in 1939 and are designed to allow people to see a photo in 3D simply by looking through the viewfinders. Kane later confirmed the news on his Twitter adding that, "it'll be like the old 80's Amblin movies: Goonies, Young Sherlock… In that vein."

Brad Caleb Kane is currently writing an alien script called Uprising for Sony and Wolfgang Petersen. After that, he will be moving onto this View-Master movie, which is being developed by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci over at DreamWorks. I don't really understand how this would work, in any way, shape, or form. Though after further consideration, the View-Master is such a classic toy by now that it's at a point where I wouldn't actually mind seeing it used for a movie, somehow. I mean, I had one of these when I was a kid, but haven't seen one in forever. It seems odd, but if they come up with a good idea, then why not.

A few people are confusing his current project, Uprising, with this new project, in that this View-Master movie will involve aliens. To entertain that idea, I could actually see something like that working, such as looking through the View-Master allows you to see them (a la They Live) or there is a special View-Master that contains some intergalactic map or something. But if it's not about aliens, then what about horror? He references Goonies, so probably not. So is it just a kids movie about a magical or whimsical View-Master that takes some kids on an adventure? If so, then you know what, that could actually be pretty damn fun.

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Just because it's a holiday weekend and there's nothing else worth sharing besides these. Just Jared has put up a batch of new photos featuring young actresses Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning in their retro 70's outfits for the currently shooting film The Runaways. We ran another photo back in June of Stewart with her jet black mullet as rocker Joan Jett. This is, however, the first time we get to see the 15-year-old Dakota Fanning looking much older than she should as Runaways lead singer Cherie Currie. This little film is obviously gaining a lot of early buzz as photos like this are showing up in gossip mags all over. Check it!

Click that photo above to see some more paparazzi shots of the two. In other related news, Halloween star Scout Taylor-Compton was recently cast in The Runaways as lead guitarist Lita Ford. Stella Maeve will play drummer Sandy West and actress Alia Shawkat will play a fictional bass player named Robin. The biopic is being written and directed by Italian music video director Floria Sigismondi. I like seeing these photos only because they give us a fun look at what these actresses will look like - and considering the amount of buzz this film is getting early on, I expect to be following it all the way up to its release in theaters. Thoughts?

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Exactly one year from today, M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender will hit theaters. Today, however, we've got a rundown for you covering all-things-Airbender — everything we know up until this point about Shyamalan's feature film adaptation of the hugely popular, critically lauded, award winning Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Here's what you need to know: Avatar aired from February of 2005 to July of 2008 and spanned three seasons. While on air, the series won 2 Pulcinella Awards, 5 Annie Awards, 1 Emmy, a Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Award, and a Peabody. So, to say the least, it's kind of a big deal.

Created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, Avatar: The Last Airbender tells the story of Aang, a twelve-year-old who, with the help of his new friends Sokka and Katara, must save the world by defeating the Fire Lord and ending the destructive, worldwide war with the Fire Nation. In order to do this, though, Aang must master the remaining three bending styles: waterbending, earthbending, and firebending — think Captain Planet, where mastering each style affords the ability to control, manipulate, and use each element at the master's whim. Aang, being born an Airbender and the Avatar, is already a master of airbending and is the only person in his world who can master all four elements at once.

A few weeks ago we were all privy to our first live-action peek at airbending with the release of the teaser trailer for The Last Airbender. The Last Airbender (the title having dropped the word "Avatar" so as to minimize confusion with some little sci-fi film by James Cameron) is to be the first film of a massive trilogy. The series, itself, is already very much structured as a cinematic trilogy — with each of the three seasons following Aang as he masters a new bending technique: waterbending, earthbending, and firebending.

Though, according to this recent update on Starlog, the trilogy will not be filming its three parts back-to-back, a la Lord of the Rings. Instead, producer Frank Marshall said that the film may very well take as long as six years to complete. Shyamalan is currently working on the script for the second film, as well as mapping out the trilogy's greater mythology. I know what you're thinking out there — M. Night in control? Writing and directing, again? How can this — just stop right there. It's widely known that creators DiMartino and Konietzko are very much involved in the entire process, from script to screen. Hopefully that can give you some solace. I know it does me.

As far as who we'll be seeing breathe life into these characters, newcomer Noah Ringer will star as Aang (seen in the photo above), Dev Patel (of Slumdog Millionaire fame) will play Prince Zuko, Aang's antagonistic pursuer, and Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone will play Katara and Sokka. Ringer had this to say about the film adaptation: "The movie is definitely different [from the TV series], but if we would've done the same thing as the cartoon, what would be exciting about that?" While I can't help but agree with his sentiment, I do hope that the overall themes of the TV series remain, as well as most of the always-stellar characterization. Themes of honor and respect, impressing and staying true to one's family while still being one's own person, friendship and racism, acceptance and first love.

Shyamalan spoke a bit about his goals for The Last Airbender, saying, "[it] will be a very entertaining movie, a really fun summer film. But underneath that, it's serious and talks about genocide, balance, our connection to the planet and all those things that interest me if you've seen the other movies that I've made. It felt like an important film.” This quote both excites me (because I really feel that he's going to take the material seriously) and scares me (because I can't help but think of The Happening and his lack of growth as a storyteller). It's also been reported that the "white-washing" of the cast is more than frustrating considering the original series had such an international influence. Though, conveniently, all of the villains remain brown. While, yes, this is disappointing (but not surprising), it is not at all a deal-breaker — as long as the theme of acceptance and brotherly/sisterly love remains at the forefront.

All-in-all, I've watched and re-watched that The Last Airbender teaser countless times. Shyamalan's visual style, his direction, and young Noah Ringer's martial arts certainly bolster my anticipation. But there has yet to be any indication of character. And, at its heart, Avatar: The Last Airbender was always about its characters. The series was never dumbed-down, even while targeting a demographic aged 6 to 11 of Nickelodeon. It gracefully juggled serious morals, fun action, goofy humor, and characters that stood as real role models for its viewership — both male and female. Its representation of its female characters as strong, intelligent, self-sufficient equals, Katara especially, set it admirably apart from most other kid's properties.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is the first television show that I want to show my daughter, or son, for that matter. Even before Star Wars. I know. I just hope that The Last Airbender will retain that brilliance amidst whatever plot changes Shyamalan has made. This decade's first great martial arts film from an American filmmaker, as Dan Trachtenberg of the Totally Rad Show puts it, will hopefully be as impacting on the world of kid-targeted cinema as its catalyst was on the world of kid's television. I hope. I really do.

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There are plenty of horror movies out there that we never hear much about. Take this one, The Collector, that MTV debuted a poster for today. I'd never even heard about it until recently, but now I'm interested in checking it out. Apparently it's a "hyper-violent, giallo-esque" home invasion thriller. That "snake parts" jar above is just a still from the movie. Producer Mickey Liddell explains: "Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton have come up with a unique twist on the home invasion thriller that we think will have people gripping their seats," says Liddell. "With its stylized blend of action and horror, the movie delivers on every level."

The Collector, directed by Feast, Saw IV and Saw V writer Marcus Dunstan, follows the story of handyman and ex-con Arkin (Josh Stewart), who aims to repay a debt to his ex-wife (Daniella Alonso) by robbing his new employer's country home. Unfortunately for Arkin, a far worse enemy has already laid claim to the property – and the family. As the seconds tick down to midnight, Arkin becomes a reluctant hero trapped by a masked "Collector" in a maze of lethal invention – the Spanish Inquisition as imagined by Rube Goldberg – while trying to rescue the very family he came to rob. Sound like something a few of you may check out?

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Wait, what? Didn't this franchise come to an end with Resident Evil: Extinction in 2007? Or have we just entered the era where trilogies are no longer the "in" thing? ShockTillYouDrop is reporting that a new live-action Resident Evil sequel called Resident Evil: Afterlife is in development for a September 2010 release. They've actually gotten confirmation from Sony that it is indeed happening. And that Paul W.S. Anderson is at least writing the script and that Capcom is on-board. As for other details, well, no one knows, but at least it's confirmed that the CG Resident Evil: Degeneration wasn't the real sequel to Extinction.

A year ago, in June of 2008, Anderson had said that, "there's a possibility it might happen," though no one thought it ever would. "If we could find a good Resident Evil 4 to make, then we would do it. But I wouldn't just do it for the sake of it, that's for sure." Our writer Kevin pitches some interesting ideas for where it could go in that piece, although it's likely they're to take it somewhere that no one expected, just because they can. I think we have enough zombie movies in the works as is, though I will argue that the Resident Evil franchise stands on its own. With that said, is anyone looking forward to Resident Evil: Afterlife?

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Anchor Bay Films has debuted a trailer for the Ashton Kutcher indie comedy Spread. I know that quite a few people hate Kutcher, but even so, I hope they'll give this indie a chance. Spread premiere at Sundance in January which is where I first got to see it. Let me to tell you, this movie has lots of sex, I mean a lot of sex in it. After seeing it, I wasn't sure what to think, and I wasn't sure if I even liked it. But as time has gone on, I've found myself thinking about it more, not just for the sex, but for the iconic Hollywood story that it tells. It also seems like a story about Kutcher's actual life in Hollywood. You'll see what I mean. Check this out!

Watch the official trailer for David Mackenzie's Spread:

You can also watch the official trailer for Spread in High Definition on Yahoo

Set in present Los Angeles, Spread is an iconic look at the lure of sex, money, and access that Hollywood offers to the beautiful people, and the karmic price that Nikki must ultimately pay to live that lifestyle.

Spread is directed by British filmmaker David Mackenzie, of The Last Great Wilderness, Young Adam, Asylum, and Mister Foe previously. The screenplay was written by first-time screenwriter Jason Hall. This had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year where it was bought by Anchor Bay Films for upwards of $3 million. Spread arrives in limited theaters starting on August 14th this summer.

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Finally some confirmation! A few weeks ago, a rumor hit that The Descent director Neil Marshall would be directing Robert Rodriguez' Predators reboot. The very next day Rodriguez told everyone (through Harry Knowles) that the news wasn't true because he hadn't actually chosen the director yet (but had narrowed down the list). After some weeks of silence, we now have confirmation from Robert Rodriguez (via Ain't It Cool News) that Nimród Antal, of Kontroll and Vacancy, is set to direct Predators for Troublemaker Studios and 20th Century Fox. Don't worry, Rodriguez is making sure this is a very "non-studio" movie.

Rodriguez did also answer some questions for Harry regarding the project. Before we get more into his choice of Nimród Antal, this is what he had to say when asked to go into the story a bit more. "I can't go too much into the story right now, because we're still writing. But it still involves a very intense group of people stranded on a Predator planet discovering unspeakable horrors (that are not always from outside their group). So like the original movie, the title does have a double meaning." Very interesting statements. If you're looking for more details, we ran an article in April about what to expect or you can head to AICN.

As for choosing Nimród Antal, Rodriguez explains what is was that convinced him. "When I saw Armored, I could tell he's also great with action and has a keen eye for casting. He reminded me of Quentin [Tarantino] with how he was able to work with a group of very strong, singular actor talents and make it look effortless. I know he'll be able to get the most out of what we want to be an outstanding cast. We really want to go with a character driven action movie, because that's what we all remember about the original Predator, and we want to take it even further with this." I trust that Robert Rodriguez made the right choice. Do you?

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This is just messed up. No seriously, this movie is f**ked up! Bloody Disgusting has scored a very red band full-length trailer for Deadgirl, an indie horror flick I saw with Peter of SlashFilm last year in Toronto (read my review). We actually featured a short teaser for this last September, but it doesn't even compare to this trailer. I would suggest you watch this trailer only if you can stomach most horror movies and if you're not already revolted at the concept. Basically, two teens find a zombie-ish dead girl in an abandoned mental hospital basement and realize that if they keep her locked up, she makes for a great sex toy. Enjoy this!

Watch the red band bootleg trailer for Deadgirl:

For more info on this film, visit the official website: DeadGirlMovie.com

Deadgirl is co-directed by up-and-coming filmmakers Marcel Sarmiento (Heavy Petting, It's Better to Be Wanted for Murder Than Not to Be Wanted at All) and Gadi Harel (Nights Like These, Operation Midnight Climax). The script was written by actor Trent Haaga, of Raving Maniacs and other horror films previously. This first premiered at the Toronto Film Festival late last year and has played at other fest like the Alamo Drafthouse's Fantastic Fest. Dark Sky Films is finally releasing Deadgirl in limited theaters on July 24th.

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I don't know why everyone is so anxious to find out casting on Joe Carnahan's The A-Team. This isn't the first time we've heard rumors about who might be playing the contemporary B.A Baracus. At one point it was rapper-turned actor Common who had emerged as the frontrunner. Now, according to our friend Wilson at BlackFilm.com, another rapper-turned-actor is being considered - The Game. I'm not sure where they even got this scoop, but they do mention that other possible candidates include Ice Cube and MMA fighter Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. So it doesn't look like The Game has been given this role just yet.

The Game, also known as Jayceon Terrell Taylor, made his acting debut opposite Tyrese Gibson in Waist Deep in 2006. He also appeared alongside of Common in Street Kings but hasn't done much other acting. Okay, so here's the thing, I know he's not the greatest actor, but first off, at least he's better than 50 Cent. Secondly, it's obvious with the other "candidates" that they want to pick someone who is a gritty, thug-like guy who may not be a good actor but has some "brute force" to him. I mean, look at Mr. T! We don't need a great actor to play this role. So if it is The Game in the end, then who really cares, this will still be badass!

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They're really scraping the bottom of the barrel this time. Universal won a bidding war to pick up the film rights to the classic Atari video game Asteroids that first debuted in 1979. Yep, that very simple, arcade game involving a triangle shooting various asteroids. Newcomer Matthew Lopez will write the script for the feature adaptation, which will be produced by Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. This line from the THR article is the best part. "As opposed to today's games, there is no story line or fancy world-building mythology, so the studio would be creating a plot from scratch." Is that really a good thing?

No director is attached and the screenwriter, Matt Lopez, only has the most recent draft of The Sorcerer's Apprentice to his name so far. The sad part about this news is that it's not that I don't know a story they could come up with for a movie, it's just that it'll be stretched out to such a painful amount that it's destined to a giant piece of crap. For the longest time, it was always a joke that one day someone would adapt Asteroids. Now it's really happening. I'm sure this means movies based on Tetris and Frogger and Pac Man won't be too far behind either, right? God damn you Hollywood! Is there any hope for this movie?

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Although we already confirmed last week that no other studios had decided to pick up where Sony left off on Moneyball, meaning it would be shelved for now, I thought it would be appropriate to provide one more final update. The LA Times finally talked with Sony Pictures' exec Amy Pascal, the very same person who developed the project from the start and put a stop to it just a week ago. They're not scrapping it entirely, but Steven Soderbergh is off of the project, and they're searching for a replacement director. As for her side of the story, Pascal pretty much explains what we all already knew - that she didn't like where he was going.

Patrick Goldstein explains: "Studios get nervous when directors say 'Trust me.' Sony was especially concerned, wondering if the end result would be one of Soderbergh's 'experimental' films, like Bubble or The Girlfriend Experience, not one of his more polished gems, like Out of Sight or Ocean's Eleven." That's a viable concern, especially because even as big fan of Soderbergh, I still don't like his experiemental films. Soderbergh's mantra on the film was that "If it didn't happen in real life, it wasn't going to be in the movie." He decided to add in interviews with real baseball players and turn it into a "dramatic reenactment."

"I've wanted to work with Steven forever, because he's simply a great filmmaker," Pascal admits. "But the draft he turned in wasn't at all what we'd signed up for. He wanted to make a dramatic reenactment of events with real people playing themselves. I'd still work with Steven in a minute, but in terms of this project, he wanted to do the film in a different way than we did." When no studio stepped up last week, it seemed as if this movie would end up dying in Sony's hands, but according to Pascal, they still do want to make it. "We love this movie, we always have and we still want to make it. It's a completely innovative way to tell a baseball story. It's about wanting to believe in magic, which is what baseball is all about."

As of now, who really knows what will happen with Moneyball. But we know that Steven Soderbergh is off the project, the script is certainly going to be tweaked, and Sony is looking for a new director. Unfortunately they don't know if they can find a good director or even get Brad Pitt, who was set to star, to sign off on the director once they found one. I don't care if it was more experimental than Sony would've liked, I was looking forward to seeing Soderbergh's version of Moneyball. And it's a bit sad that all we're going to see in the end is a watered-down Hollywood-ized version of it. For more on the story, head over to the LA Times.

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Aw, damn! Jon Favreau is currently finishing up the last few weeks of principal photography on Iron Man 2. We expect to see a lot of exciting footage at the San Diego Comic-Con, but I'm certain we won't be seeing any of Samuel Jackson in that footage. MTV talked with Jackson recently and asked him how big his role as Nick Fury is in Iron Man 2. When asked if we get to see him in any action scenes at all, he unfortunately admitted, "Not this time, not yet." Jackson adds, "We still haven't moved Nick Fury into the bad-ass zone. He's still just kind of a talker." So then maybe action in The Avengers? "Looking forward to that, yeah."

Okay, so we know that Nick Fury barely showed up in the first Iron Man at the very end of the credits, and he wasn't even in The Incredible Hulk at all. But Samuel Jackson is signed on for 9 frickin' Marvel movies! And I know this guy kicks some ass in the comics, I've seen him fight. Maybe it's better that they don't rush into it, you know, don't show all your cards at once. Alas, we won't have any Nick Fury action in Iron Man 2, which will just make his action debut in The Avengers all the more sweeter. Though Jackson did confirm that he has scenes with Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson. It looks like S.H.E.I.L.D. is growing.

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