In case you were curious what Sam Raimi was up to these days, wonder no more because Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures just signed him to direct the upcoming movie based on the hugely popular game Warcraft. Raimi, of course, is the director of the blockbuster Spider-Man series and will now bring the forces of the Horde and the Alliance to life in an epic live-action film. He will also produce the pic in association with Charles Roven’s Atlas Entertainment.

“At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story,” said Raimi. “I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen.” In case you’re not familiar with Warcraft, its set in a rich fantasy universe that revolves around the epic conflict between the opposing forces of the Horde and the Alliance.

World of Warcraft, the subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in the Warcraft universe, is the most popular game of its kind in the world. Its most recent expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, is the fastest-selling PC game of all time, with more than 2.8 million copies sold in its first 24 hours of availability and more than 4 million in its first month.

No other details on the movie such as cast, writers or a release date are available as of yet. But rest assured, when details emerge, we’ll bring them to you right here.

Here’s a list of some of the new DVD and Blu-ray releases this week we’re particularly interested in. Plus, some old favorites (and not so favorites) coming out this week for the first time on Blu-Ray.

Movies:

• Watchmen (Director’s Cut) ~ Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson, Malin Ackerman, Jackie Earle Hailey (DVD and Blu-ray)

• Coraline ~ Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, and Jennifer Saunders (DVD and Blu-ray)

• 300: The Complete Experience ~ Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West (Blu-ray)

• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ~ Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Angelina Jolie, and Giovanni Ribisi (DVD and Blu-ray)

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Ever want to be a part of football history for free, even if it’s only for five minutes? Come July 23rd, anyone who pre-ordered Madden NFL 10 for XBox 360 or Playstation 3 from Gamestop will be given a download code for exclusive access to a limited Superbowl XLII demo of the game. The latest in EA’s best selling annual NFL franchise is scheduled for release on August 14th but these Madden loyalists will be given the chance to play as the Superbowl Champion Steelers against the Cinderella story Cardinals in a five minute quarter game.

If you haven’t pre-ordered yet and are still considering it, good luck finding a store that hasn’t sold out yet of this top tier title. But not to be outdone and always focused on giving value to its paid customers, XBox Live just announced that its Gold members will be getting their own one week exclusive demo featuring 1 minute quarters with the New York Giants against the Dallas Cowboys, also on July 23rd.

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Sony Pictures has released three new viral videos for Neil Blomkamp’s upcoming sci-fi drama District 9. The film, which is Exec. Produced by Peter Jackson, is one of the upcoming releases we’re really looking forward to here at The Flickcast. In these new videos, we’re given some more information about the aliens who inhabit the quarantined sector of District 9 and the men and women who keep watch on them to protect humanity.

I particularly like the fact that these videos are so well done and obviously indicate the care and attention being paid to the film by the filmmakers and the marketing team at Sony. They obviously feel they’ve got a winner on their hands — and I do to. Actually, I think District 9 will be this years Cloverfield and maybe even better. There, I said it.

Of course, I was one of the people who was skeptical when Peter Jackson initially thought Blomkamp was the right choice to direct the Halo movie, which as we know ended up going nowhere — at least not yet. Who knows, if District 9 does end up a huge success, we may see the Halo movie project resurrected.

Check out the three videos after the jump, courtesy of the folks at Trailer Addict. District 9 hits theaters on August 14.

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There are plenty of movies being made these days that break $100 million in their budget, but sometimes it’s the films that are made for far less that end up turning many more heads. Such is the case with a film like this year’s Mystery Team. There is now a new trailer for the film, which shows exactly how funny a movie can be, regardless of budget.

The film is the first from the internet comedy team Derrick Comedy, and the premise is about a team of kids who were Oakdale’s Mystery team, a spunky band of kid detectives dedicated to solving child-sized mysteries, a la the Scooby Squad. Seven years later, the team is about to graduate high school and move onto the real world, but they’re still storming the playground, hoping to solve their puerile crimes.

The story feels very much like that of a Venture Bros. or an James Gunn’s Scooby Doo films (that’s a compliment) in it’s satire of child mysteries. You can check out the trailer after the jump.

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Not many people are ready for David Tennant, the current Doctor Who, to leave the show and pass the baton to youngster Matt Smith, but people have to embrace change, and with it comes a new picture of Smith and a fun new set video. One of the big changes is the new look of The Doctor: a tweed jacket, bow tie, rolled up trousers and black boots, which seems a bit timely for a character that is supposed to be thousands of years old.

Alongside Smith is Karen Gillan, who will be playing the 11th doctors traveling companion. With Gillan only 21 and Smith 26, there is a lot of harsh feelings that the new doctor/companion relationship will be more like Twilight rather than the series that has been airing on and off since the 50s. Check out the set video from BBC News after the jump.

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Lots of news has been coming out recently about the Seth Rogen project about a green-wearing crime fighter who wears a mask. First, Kung Fu Hustle star and director Stephen Chow was set to play Kato and take the helm as director of the film. Later, Chow backed out and now the eccentric director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michel Gondry, has stepped in and taken over the project.

No word on who will fill the shoes of kung fu kickery, but last week Cameron Diaz became attached as Rogen’s love interest and now word comes that Nicolas Cage will be taking the role of the main “gangster villain.” Plenty can be said about Nicolas Cage and his over-the-top acting style, or even his ability to act at all.

But if there’s one thing he is, it’s a self-proclaimed nerd. He named one of his sons Kal-El after Superman, and the other after Luke Cage. He was in the lead contention for the part of the Man of Steel when Tim Burton was attached, and he’s currently filming in the role of Big Daddy for the big-screen adaptation of Mark Millar’s Kick Ass. Also, who could ever forget his turn in Ghost Rider? Not this writer, sadly.

With Nic Cage being cast in this pulp/satirical film, does this mean we will see more over-the-top acting like in The Wicker Man? Or will this be another attempt by Cage at a serious role like in Next — which was pretty terrible. No wa to know yet, but with Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the creative team behind Superbad, involved, you can probably expect this film to be more on the comical side.

Writer and producer Jane Espenson has written, or co-written, episodes of some of the most popular and successful TV shows in recent memory. Getting her start on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Espenson also worked on hugely popular shows such as Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Angel, and one of the most celebrated series ever on TV, Battlestar Galactica.

More recently, Espenson has written for Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, wrote the BSG TV movie The Plan and she is now Executive Producer on the upcoming BSG prequel series Caprica. Recently, I had an opportunity to talk with Espenson about, among other things, The Plan, Caprica, Dollhouse budget cuts and the move to the internet from traditional media.

CHRIS ULLRICH: What can you tell us about The Plan? It supposedly shows Battlestar Galactica entirely from the Cylon perspective, correct?

JANE ESPENSON: Technically, that’s correct, but perhaps misleading. It shows events from the series from the POV of two very specific Cylons, not from the point of view of them as a group.

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By way of its Inside BlackBerry blog, RIM has put the world on notice — BlackBerry Desktop Manager is coming to OS X in September. Yes, its finally happening after many, many years. I know you never thought it would happen but it is. We had our doubts also but glad they were finally put to rest.

Here’s some highlights of the new features:

* Sync your iTunes playlists, calendars, contacts, notes and tasks.

* Add/Remove applications.

* Update your device when new software becomes available.

* Backup and restore your device data with such features like automatically scheduled backups and optional encryption.

* Manage multiple devices.

When this software finally comes out at least Mac users finally won’t have to resort to less-than-perfect solutions to sync their Blackberry with their Mac. Make sure to check out www.blackberry.com/mac and sign up to get notified when the software is available, and stay tuned for more info on this software as we get closer to the release date.

Can video games actually be good mature comic properties? Very few have been able to in the past with World of Warcraft and the miniseries promoting Hellgate: London being the most notable exceptions. The sad truth about video game comics is they are often shameless promotion tools that end up showcasing the lack of overall story quality in the games that is often made up by graphics and gameplay fun, Gears of War being the prime example of a story so flimsy that a strong sneeze could burst through it but still considered great because of its gameplay mechanics.

But if there is anyone who can bring the classic epic poem turned video game, Dante’s Inferno, in to a quality comic read, it’s The Flickcast favorite Christos Gage, scribe of recent hit G.I. Joe: Cobra and his up and coming Absolution. DC Comics will be pairing him up with Incredible Hulk artist Diego Latorre. A first peek at the comic will be available this week at Comic-Con where EA will also be debuting the trailer for the upcoming Starz channel animated spin-off. Other than that, details have been slim about the comic project.

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Today, Activision released an awesome new 360 degree screenshot from their upcoming game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, sequel to their very popular game from last year. This one features the characters of Juggernaut and Songbird and shows you the detail and work that’s obviously going into the design and execution of this game.

In case you’re not familiar, the game features the largest array of super heroes and villains assembled in a game. You and your team of Marvel heroes help Nick Fury launch a secret pre-emptive strike against your enemies to protect New York.

Once that happens, lines are drawn and you must pick a side to help determine the fate of the Marvel Universe and all of humankind. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 hits stores in the Fall.

Until then, check out the 360 screenshots after the jump.

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Today, Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for Office 2008. This update brings several improvements and fixes to the office suite, including improved speed and stability to Word and Excel, new features in PowerPoint and improvements when connecting to SharePoint servers.

According to Microsoft: “There’s never been a better time to try Office 2008 for Mac — with SP2 we are not only delivering on top customer requests midcycle, but also taking a first step in bringing Microsoft software plus services to Mac users,” said Mike Tedesco, senior product manager for MacBU at Microsoft. “This connection unlocks the door for Mac users to Microsoft services for easier collaboration and file sharing with colleagues, customers and classmates.”

Here’s a brief summary of the highlights:

• PowerPoint 2008: Custom Path Animation, which adds the ability to author motion-path animations and Default Theme, which lets users define their default theme, including fonts, color scheme and slide layouts.

• Word 2008, Excel 2008: Increased speed (particularly when launching and scrolling).

• Expanded Mac browser support in Microsoft Office Live Workspace to include Safari 4.

• Microsoft Document Connection. Document Connection is a new application that improves the SharePoint experience for Mac users, allowing for easier collaboration within a SharePoint environment by simplifying how users can browse, access and manage files online and offline.

For a complete lists of changes, go here. To get the update, run Microsoft AutoUpdate on your Mac or go to the Microsoft Mac Downloads page. It’s there now so go get it!