With the first Sherlock Holmes movie featuring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law not even out in theaters until this Christmas, it looks as if Warner Bros. is already hard at work developing a sequel. This second installment is reportedly bringing writers Kieran and Michele Mulroney, currently working on the studio’s Justice League: Mortal, on board to pen a draft of the new script. In addition to that news, it seems the studio has its eye on a very well known actor to portray Holmes’ arch nemesis Moriarty in the film: Brad Pitt.

In case you’re not familiar with this updated take on Holmes, its more of an action-heavy rendition of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle creation and features Downey, Jr. as the title character, Jude Law as Watson and Rachel McAdams as love interest Irene Adler. The film is directed by Guy Ritchie who may return for the sequel as well as most, if not all, of the original cast.

Developing sequels to films not yet released seems to be more of a trend these days in order to shorten the time between installments of a new franchises. Plus, developing sequels early is also relatively low cost for the studio because only writers need to begin work at this stage while other deals for talent and director are being worked out. It makes sense, especially for a film like Holmes, which based on the trailers released so far and what we saw of it at the recent Comic-Con in San Diego, looks to be a monster hit.

The first Sherlock Holmes hits theaters on December 25th. The next chapter? Maybe sooner than we think.

Our friends at NBC have provided us with even more sneak peeks at their upcoming shows Trauma, Mercy and the returning juggernaut Law & Order, back this year for its landmark 20th season. We’ve got seven new videos to share with you today. The first ones come from Trauma and feature an action packed look behind the scenes giving you a first hand look at the role of the first responders. The second provides a closer look at the men and women who are first on the scene and run into the danger to help you.

The third Trauma video talks more about the “raw emotion” of the show and how its stories unfold with emotion and depth. Moving on to Mercy, the videos from that show give you more insight into the characters on this drama. First, the cast talks more about their characters and their stories. Next are interviews with Jamie Lee Kirchner and Taylor Schilling who explain their characters and why they love them so much. Finaly, we’ve got a video from Law and Order where the cast and series creator Dick Wolf talk about the legacy of the show now that its starting its 20th season.

All in all lots of great info on some new shows and a new insight into a show that’s been around for quite some time. Be sure to check out all the videos after the jump. Trauma premieres on Monday, September 28th, Mercy on September 23rd and Law & Order returns on September 25th.

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Love Happens is a steaming  pile of mediocrity. It is so bland, that it took me ten minutes to think of a second sentence to write about it. Despite having star power that most romantic comedies can only dream of, the story falls flat on its face.

Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) plays Burke, a widower. He has parlayed his grief into a career as a self-help guru who helps people survive the grieving process.  He is sincerely interested in helping the people who attend his seminars, and seems genuinely touched by their stories. Seems like the perfect chap to set a gal’s heart a-flutter.

Jennifer Aniston is Eloise, a quirky florist. Hollywood dictates that all quirky ladies wear hats, and this movie is no exception. Rule of thumb:  hats = zany free spirit. She has just ended a bad relationship (lipstick on a wine glass helpfully confirms that her boyfriend was misbehaving) and she provides floral arrangements for the hotel where Burke is holding his latest seminar. He catches a gander of her across the hotel foyer, and is immediately intrigued (by her hat, no doubt). When he approaches her to introduce himself, she feigns deafness. Why go to the trouble of telling someone to buzz off when you can pantomime a disability?

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The DC Animation department looks to be hitting the world with another DVD smash next week as they release Superman/Batman: Public Enemies on DVD and Blu-Ray on September 29th. We got the chance to talk to some of the cast and crew of the DVD movie and we’ll be bringing you those interviews all week long.

Our first interview was with the man who had the pleasure of adapting Jeph Loeb’s original script for Public Enemies into a 90-minute feature. Stan Berkowitz has worked with DC for quite some time now, from his work on Batman: The Animated Series to Justice League Unlimited, he’s made his way across the DC Animated Universe.

Check out our interview with Stan after the jump, where he spills the beans on many things including what (and who) got cut during the move from comic panel to video frame. Also, Berkowitz was kind enough to let us in on a bit of casting news about an old friend of The Flickcast’s who takes on a new, busty hero. Public Enemies hits DVD and Blu-Ray shelves next Tuesday.

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Even though many people don’t like Mondays, at least there’s something that happens on Monday you can get excited about. I’m talking about, of course, Monday being the day we find out what comics are dropping from Marvel for “new comic day” on Wednesday.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch so I can find something good about Monday. But still, it is Monday, I do have a list of the new comics this week and it looks like there’s a lot of good ones. So that’s a good thing, right? Come on, give it a shot and take a look at all the comics coming out via the official Marvel press release. Also, as we always do, there’s cool comic book cover art for you to take a look at after the jump.

Hey there True Believers, here’s your official list of comic books, collections and posters arriving in comic stores on September 23rd, 2009. For more information on any of these titles, and on upcoming mighty Marvel releases, please visit http://www.marvel.com/catalog/?date=2009-09-23 or contact your local comic book retailer at 1-888-comicbook. Stay tuned each week for a brand new list of Marvel releases so that you’ll never miss your favorite heroes in action!

Comics On-Sale:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #602 2ND PRINTING VARIANT

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #606

ANITA BLAKE, THE LAUGHING CORPSE – NECROMANCER #5

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At Disney‘s recent D23 conference the company announced that Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides would be going into production. Perhaps more importantly, the film would set sail with the man who really made the franchise what it is, Johnny Depp. Depp even went so far as to attend the announcement in character as his Pirate alter ego Jack Sparrow. Staggering out on stage Depp joked about drinking and having a light snack, Kermit, who ”probably tasted like chicken. ” Classic Sparrow.

Of course, the audience went wild when Depp arrived. That’s simply the effect the actor, and character, have. It’s also one of the main reasons the franchise has grossed over two billion dollars worldwide. Unfortunately, Disney may have ruined their chances for continuing the very lucrative franchise with the departure (some would say ousting) of Dick Cook, now former chairman of Walt Disney Studios.

Depending on what you read, there are different theories as to what happened. Read the official Disney press statements and Cook’s resignation sounds like it was his decision. In contrast, other sources say he was fired by Disney’s chief executive Bob Iger, who cited dwindling profits for his decision:

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The world of viral marketing has become quite it’s own beast over the past five years. Many remember 2007′s Dark Knight viral marketing and how clowns took over dozens of cities in the U.S., and how the Cloverfield marketing had everybody stirring for weeks on what the movie was actually about. It looks like James Cameron and his team at Fox have now started up the viral machine for his newest film, Avatar.

The site, which is aptly named AVTR.com, follows the government program that puts humans into their AVATAR bodies, allowing them the edge they need to fight on the alien planet Pandora. AVTR.com is pretty bare-bones at this point, leaving us with some set designs of Pandora, a “recruiting” page where you can sign up for the program (or just a mailing list), a viral video convincing you to enlist, and links to the Twitter and Facebook.

As far as viral marketing goes, this site isn’t breaking ground. There is only one video on the page, and just because you throw some static at the beginning and end of a trailer, doesn’t make it “viral”. Fox hasn’t been the best at marketing to begin with, considering their work on X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li.

The attempt at going viral is only proof that gorilla or viral marketing shouldn’t be left in the hands of gigantic studios or companies like Coca-Cola. Instead, leave this side of movie promotion to independent studios and films like District 9 and Paranormal Activity.

Following John Travolta’s film career is like watching a screaming child on a roller coaster. He looks like he’s having a lot of fun, but after a while, you begin to realize he’s just screaming to get your attention. We all remember when he was having fun in Grease, and then years later when he wasn’t in Battlefield Earth.

On that note, a new trailer for From Paris With Love has hit the webs and looks to be a bit of everything. There’s the girl-candy Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, there’s fight scenes for the dudes, explosions for the kids, and lots of innuendo for people who like that kind of thing. And then there’s John Travolta, who for some reason looks quite a lot like Denzel Washington. Could it be that this role was originally meant for Denzel and Travolta has that good of an agent? Or is he that good of an actor to make us believe that he, in fact, is Denzel Washington.

Check out the trailer after the jump and be the judge. From Paris with Love, written by Luc Besson (The Transporter) and directed by Pierre Morel (Taken), hits theaters in all of it’s almost-Denzel glory on February 9th, 2010.

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Hey, remember the Emmys last year when five different reality show hosts tackled the duties of hosting the show?  Yeah, me either. Dismal ratings required a change of course, and this year the Emmys were…dare  I say it…entertaining! Thanks in large part to Neil Patrick Harris’s impeccable charm and wit, the 2009 Emmy Awards were enjoyable start to finish.

A dapper Neil Patrick Harris (let’s call him NPH for brevity’s sake) was the perfect host.  He started off the show with a musical number that was not awful, and kept the show going at a steady clip throughout the night. His performance garnered accolades from Ricky Gervais and John Stewart, along with millions of us watching at home.  A few highlights from the evening:

Awards were presented in categories.  A genre had all its awards given out before moving on to the next.  Comedy, Drama, Miniseries, Reality and Variety were all represented.  The show producers definitely pushed a comedic theme this year. Hilarious pre-taped clips of  nominees showed them  giving advice or answering a question.

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Score: 7.0 – XBox Live Arcade – 800 Microsoft Points ($10.00)

If you’ve been following weekly XBLA announcements on XBox Community Manager Major Nelson’s site you’d know that on a weekly basis he has been plagued by requests for when Bubble Bobble would come to XBox Live Arcade since the game’s announcement. The anticipation was palpable for the re-release of the classic 1986 NES game where two little dinosaurs Bub and Bob jumped through levels catching their enemies in bubbles and popping them all while eating fruit and bubblegum. In addition to updated graphics, Bubble Bobble Neo also came with new play styles, new dinosaurs and four player multiplayer for the first time.

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Don’t be so quick to write this movie off as conventional kiddie-fare. Smart, beautiful and prescient, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is bound to become an animated classic. It tackles the timely topic of obesity and our insatiable appetite for consumption with grace and wit. The story is adapted from the children’s book of the same title that was originally published in 1978.

Flint (Bill Hader)  has been an aspiring inventor his entire life. More often than not, his whimsical inventions go awry, irritating the put-upon inhabitants of Swallow Falls. They have plenty to be irritable about, as they subsist mainly on sardines,  the town’s only claim to fame. They understandingly don’t embrace his rat/bird hybrid or other misbegotten inventions. Flint’s father (James Caan), a fisherman, is disgusted that his son doesn’t fall in step and help run his tackle shop. He can’t express himself without using fishing metaphors, and his eyes are hidden behind a bushy unibrow.

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Typically film remakes come with a lot of changes. As new creators step into production roles they have their own vision for the content and make full use of their creative license. This being the case, it’s a refreshing change to see something stay the same. Case in point, the van in the upcoming The A-Team movie.

Photos of the van were taken on set in British Columbia, Canada and it looks great. That is to say, the “new” van is nearly identical to the old van. Even down to the red racing stripe. This gives me hope that director Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces) is preserving at least some of the essence of the original series, while bringing a more mature tone to the once campy show.

I’m taking this a good thing considering some other directors (I could cite names but will refrain) would have certainly changed the iconic van. Fortunately, Carnahan didn’t, which means we’re spared from seeing a pimped out black Hummer with gatling guns and rocket launchers on it. Now that I mention it, that sounds kind of cool but it just isn’t The A-Team. Getting ready to see the van in action next June when The A-Team comes to theaters.