Click image below to view full poster

Cinematical has just received this exclusive new poster for The Wolfman, due in theaters February 12, 2010. As you can tell from above, this latest bit of marketing for the Joe Johnston directed resurrection of Universal's classic shows off the gentler side of the moon-fearing creature feature. It's a simple image of Emily Blunt, who plays Benicio del Toro's romantic interest in the film, hiding with baited breath behind a tree in the mist-filled forest from del Toro's titular man cursed with an ancient affliction.

What works so great about the poster, other than the fact that Emily Blunt is always easy on the eyes (and even easier on the eyes when in a corset), is how it denies us a glimpse of the actual lycanthrope at the center of the movie. I find it a testament to how fantastic the character of the wolfman is that no amount of beauty is going to distract us from wanting to catch a look at the doomed soul who loses control of himself whenever the moon is full.

In addition to this poster, Ain't It Cool News has debuted a second Wolfman poster a little later on today, so make sure to hop on over there to catch another insight into the mystical, Victorian world brought to life by the likes of Benicio del Toro, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, and Anthony Hopkins. After that, you may return to staring at the wonderful Emily Blunt, longing for February 12th to somehow get here sooner.

Check out the latest Wolfman trailer after the jump, and view the full poster by clicking the image below.

Richard Matheson's original short story, "Button, Button," was a nifty little morality tale about a couple faced with a peculiar opportunity -- if they push a button in a box, they'll get a sum of money but kill a stranger in doing so. That version of the story ended with the wife pushing the button and killing her husband, a man she didn't really know. As an episode of "The Twilight Zone" in 1986, the story ended with the couple paid off and assured that the device would then go to another couple to whom they qualify as strangers. Now, Richard Kelly's The Box takes that same basic premise and spins it into a mind-bender of the most baffling degree, starting out as another "Twilight Zone"-worthy variant but eventually reaching the outer limits of both patience and reason.

By Todd Gilchrist (reprint from 10/28/09 -- L.A. Screamfest)

I'm not sure exactly what quality it is that real people possess and actors lack, but any time a film pretends to document real behavior, either literally or as a reenactment, something is almost always missing. Sometimes the problem is a deliberate decision to enhance events with artificial emphasis or drama, and sometimes it's simply too great a sense of self-awareness in the actor, who knows he or she is performing. But while there are a precious few movies that nail that authenticity, notably the recent underdog-blockbuster Paranormal Activity, such is certainly the case in The Fourth Kind, a film that purports to build an argument for alien abductions using "actual" footage from case studies.

While much of the movie's so-called source material carries the convincing roughness and deficiencies of homemade, handheld recording, too much of it seems far too calculated, both in its technical proficiency and the performances contributed by its "real" people. Further, its accompanying reenactments by recognizable actors undermine the possibility that audiences can take its case seriously, all of which adds up to thriller that unravels easily even if it nevertheless occasionally qualifies as a scary good time.

Hasbro continues their steamrolling of Hollywood with the announcement that J.J. Abrams (Star Trek) is in negotiations to produce a film based on their Micronauts property. The Japanese science-fiction action figure line from Takara was brought to the States in the 1970's by Mego (with some items replicated for the collector's market in 2002 by Palisades), but has kept a pretty low profile since the line's cancellation in 1980.

Most fans are familiar with The Micronauts from the officially licensed Marvel Comic series, which ran throughout the 1980's, long after the toys had vanished from shelves. Image Comics and Devil's Due Publishing both tried their hand at a Micronauts comic book revival during the last decade, but were met with little success.

The original Micronauts figures were an odd-looking assortment of strange heroes and bizarre aliens, and many of the toys featured interchangeable parts. While no over-arching story was created for the toys upon release (marking it as one of the few action figure assortment at the time with no built-in storyline), the comic versions of the Micronauts have positioned the characters as defenders of a microscopic universe, attempting to overthrow the evil Baron Karza.

More over at SciFi Squad

I don't know how many moons orbit Cameron's fantasy planet Pandora, but I'm just going to assume they're currently all heading for alignment. Screen Daily tells us that Avatar's two-months away release in China has caused no less than four of its own would-be blockbusters to hide from the giant shadow the blue cat-people will inevitably cast when they debut there January 1st. Zhang Yimou's remake of the Coen Brother's 1984 directorial debut Blood Simple has now decided to bow closer towards the beginning of December. Same goes for the road movie Wu Ren Qu, The Pang brother's fantasy/action sequel The Storm Warriors, and the sci-fi western Treasure Hunter (starring Jay Chou, who America will soon know as Kato in The Green Hornet).

Now I understand that few people who read Cinematical are going to be affected by the release date shift of those four films, but what makes this news worth paying attention to is the fact that these changes slot Avatar into a position in which it could conceivably earn its budget back from Chinese cinemas alone. The biggest time of the year for the Chinese box office is the three month window that covers Christmas, New Year, and the Chinese Lunar New Year and now that these four domestic films have made way for an international usurper, it means Avatar will be taking over a whopping 80% of China's screens during its most crucial box office season.

I am a bubble burster, always have been. My first experience with The Fourth Kind was writing up the trailer for SciFiSquad with the slug "Trailer for 'The Fourth Kind' Might be Lying to You". I have no innate grudge against the film, but I am aware that we live in the year 2009 and that I am surrounded by magical Interweb-enabled devices that can tell me whether or not I should believe a movie that purports to be "based on actual case studies". Immediately after watching the trailer I set out for confirmation as to whether or not its claims about alien abductions in Nome, Alaska had any basis in this world. I found nothing.

However, I have since then seen The Fourth Kind and I can tell you flat out that it is fascinating. Not because the film is, in fact, fact, but because of how intentionally delusional it is in its approach. It's interesting that people assume/remember The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity both sold themselves as being "real footage" because neither did. Both just played with conventions of the first-person perspective to create an illusion of truth. The Fourth Kind is not content with such a linear ploy, though. It not only contains the same 'found footage' gimmick as those two films, but it pretends the footage is real. It has its star actress literally walk right up to the camera and tell us that the movie is unadulterated truth.

And while that tactic annoyed me at first, I've since come to respect it. I cannot think of any film that has ever used the Door-in-the-Foot technique so brilliantly. I'll explain.

Read the rest over at SciFi Squad

Watching the trailer for 2012 I couldn't help but get the feeling that Roland Emmerich was trying to tell me something. There was a lot of camera shaking and screaming and really big objects rolling over, but I think it was seeing the entire state of California lift into the air like the climax of Titanic before sinking into the depths of the Pacific ocean: Roland Emmerich hates civilization. Sure, 2012 is bound to be full of roaring musical cues that signal the triumphant survival of a tiny, tiny percentage of people on Earth, but I think it's pretty clear that his movie is going to literally rip our world apart at the seams.

But apparently that's not all that big of a deal, because Emmerich has revealed to Entertainment Weekly that a sequel to 2012 is already being plotted. Yes, a sequel to the end of the world; kind of redefines the whole 'end' part of his film's synopsis. Tentatively titled 2013, he tells EW that the follow up to his story won't be a film, but rather a television show:

"It is about the resettling of Earth. That is very, very fascinating. (2012 writer/producer) Harald Kloser and I came up with the idea and we have the luxury of having a producer on the film who is a big TV producer, Mark Gordon. We said to Mark, 'Why don't you do a TV show that picks up where the movie leaves off and call it 2013?' I think it will focus on a group of people who survived but not on the boats ... maybe they were on a piece of land that was spared or one that became an island in the process of the crust moving. There are so many possibilities of what they could do and I'd be excited to watch it."

Halloween slowed down box office figures, but Michael Jackson's This Is It still managed the top honors for the weekend. Here's the top five:

1. Michael Jackson's This Is It: $23.2 million (total of $34.4 million)
2. Paranormal Activity: $16.3 million
3. Law Abiding Citizen: $7.4 million
4. Couples Retreat: $6.4 million
5. Where the Wild Things Are: $5.9 million

With only one wide release last week studios are making up for it with four new flicks this week.

The Box:
What's It All About: A couple in a tough financial situation are given a box that will grant them riches, except every time they use it someone somewhere will die.
Why It Might Do Well: Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly is at the helm, with a script based on a Richard Matheson story.
Why It Might Not Do Well: 55% at Rottentomatoes.com.
Number of Theaters: 2,500
Prediction: $16 million

A Christmas Carol:
What's It All About: Jim Carey stars in several roles in this 3D animated version of the classic Dickens Christmas tale.
Why It Might Do Well: This Robert Zemeckis guy has got some decent flicks on his resume.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Good lord, how many times has this been adapted before?
Number of Theaters: 3,500
Prediction: $42 million

Are sandstorms and magic lamps going to become the next swashbuckling trend? I think it's possible. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time lurks on the horizon (and is receiving a very mixed reception) and now Variety reports that Scheherazade and her thousand and one tales are about to get a 3D makeover. Chuck Russell is set to direct a reworking of 1001 Arabian Nights from a script he co-wrote with Barry P. Ambrose. It's not clear whether this will be live action 3D or animation, but I'm guessing live action due to the emphasis on "action adventure" in the trade article.

In Russell's Arabian Nights, Scheherazade will become a damsel in distress instead of a brainy, tale-spinning bluestocking.Apparently it's a young commander who is the hero, as he joins forces with Sinbad, Aladdin, and his genie to rescue Scheherazade and her kingdom from unspecified dark forces. I see shades of Russell's The Scorpion King.

Now, I like the idea of adapting Middle Eastern tales. It's good for kids to be exposed to world cultures, and to encounter other races and religions even if it's through animation. But there are a thousand tales worth telling that are undoubtedly more exciting and interesting than something cobbled together out of the most recognizable characters. As a kid, I was always very taken with The Sisters Who Envied Their Younger Sister because it was full of magic objects and starred a princess who took matters into her own hands. But Russell's deserts are where girls aren't muscle-bound enough for adventure, though I'm sure we'll see a very scantily clad Scheherazade in 3D. Maybe 3D skin is the next trend, not Middle Eastern settings ...

Given the topic at hand, I'd like to make it clear up front that neither I nor Cinematical are taking sides in this story about Roland Emmerich's forthcoming All Landmarks Must Die opus, 2012; I just find it a curious insight into the mind of the man who knows how to make a building fall over but good.

The trailer for 2012 plays like a highlight reel of civilization falling apart all over the world, but it's religion that gets the brunt of Emmerich's digital pounding: A Buddhist temple gets hit by a tidal wave. The Sistine Chapel crumbles to pieces as a split tears right down the middle of Michelangeo's painting of God touching Adam's finger. St. Peter's Basilica rolls over onto a crowd of devoted worshipers. Rio de Janeiro's iconic Christ the Reedemer statue falls to earth as its wracked by shockwaves. The White House is even crushed by, of all things, an aircraft carrier. But eagle eyed fans of watching organized religion get its disaster porn comeuppance will have noticed that there are no Islamic landmarks on the CGI chopping block.

That wasn't always the plan, however. Emmerich explained to SCI FI Wire that he had originally hoped the Kaaba, one of the holiest sites in the Islamic religion, would join the visual wrath of 2012, but that his co-screenwriter Harald Kloser talked him out of it:

The rights to the Terminator franchise have only been up on the auction block for about as long as it takes Arnold Schwarzenegger to emerge naked from a time bubble, but a veteran Hollywood mogul has already expressed interest in taking the brand off the hands of the now-bankrupt Halcyon; and that vet is none other than Toy Story, Alien: Resurrection, and Titan A.E. screenwriter Joss Whedon (oh, and he created Buffy the Vampire Slayer and "Firefly"/Serenity, but I don't think anyone has ever heard of those).

Mr. Whedon took the time out of his busy schedule running his latest TV show, the Eliza Dushku starring "Dollhouse", to write an earnest letter to Halcyon making the case for why he's the right man for the job. And as with all things Whedon, his proposal has its fair share of the funny.

In it, he outlines the six possible directions he'd take the franchise, which range from simply adding more Summer Glau ("There's a reason they're called "Summer" movies.") to sending a Terminator to Middle Earth ("because he's a cyborg and he doesn't give a s#&% about the ring -- it has no power over him! And he can carry it AND Frodo AND Sam AND f@%& up some orcs while he's doing it. This stuff just comes to me. I mean it.").

Now his opening bid of $10,000 may be a smidge lower than the estimated $200,000 Halcyon is asking for the rights, but with a formal business plan as detailed as Whedon's, I'd be flabbergasted if they turned it down. Read on to check out the full letter, which may or may not contain similar offers to also buy Batman and Lord of the Rings.

Back in August, we reported that the Terminator franchise was in some serious legal and financial trouble. The rights are currently owned by the Halcyon Company, who have managed to make more court appearances than they have films. They were in danger of losing the rights to their hedge fund, Pacificor, who was poised to claim them if Halcyon defaulted on their loan.

But according to The Financial Times, Halcyon has now filed for bankruptcy after their lawsuit with Pacificor, and is selling off the rights to Terminator. It would appear that filing for Chapter 11 afforded their precious franchise some protection from the hedge fund, and they can now sell it to bail themselves out. The sale will be conducted by FTI Capital Advisors, and does not cover rights to the earlier Terminator films.

The Times notes that this auction is coming at a particularly tough time for Hollywood, who is feeling the economic crunch just like everyone else. But it notes that Terminator is one of the rare "blockbuster brands" not controlled by a big studio, and that alone has may drooling at the chance to control future properties. Summit is said to be particularly interested (they can probably pay for it just out of Twilight proceeds), as is Sony and Media Rights Capital. But remember, this is America! Everyone has a chance at destroying mankind, and if you have millions (estimates put the sale beyond $60 million, the benchmark set by the sale of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), you can buy them for yourself. I would have faith in something other than John Connor if a Cinematical reader took the reins of this franchise.