Here’s a list of some of the new movie and TV shows coming to DVD and Blu-ray this week that we’re looking forward to seeing. Also, there’s some classic, and not-so-classic, movies hitting Blu-ray for the first time this week as well.

Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray versions of movies and TV shows such as J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, Gone with the Wind, Thirst, Rome: The Complete Series and the Blu-ray debut of David Fincher’s awesome Fight Club (shown above with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton). We are Jack’s excitement at this release finally coming out.

Check them out:

Movies

Bruno ~ Sacha Baron Cohen, Paula Abdul (DVD and Blu-ray)

Clerks ~ Brian O’Halloran, Kevin Smith (Blu-ray)

Downhill Racer (The Criterion Collection) ~ Robert Redford, Gene Hackman (DVD)

Fight Club ~ Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter (Blu-ray)

Galaxy Quest ~ Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman (Blu-ray)

Gone with the Wind (Ultimate Collector’s Edition) ~ Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh (Blu-ray)

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As you have probably noticed, we here at the Flickcast are hugely excited about the upcoming DC Universe Online game headed to Playstation 3 and the PC. Our hands-on time with the game and the interviews we have gotten with the creators have both been impressive and have gotten our mouths’ watering for the game’s eventual release. Now, DC Universe Online has combined with Mass Animation to actually give the game’s fanbase a chance to be a part of its creation process.

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and Mass Animation today announced the DC Universe™ Online (DCUO) Animation Contest. The DCUO Animation Contest is version 2.0 of the acclaimed Mass Animation Facebook® application and will give DC Comics fans, gamers and animators a chance to animate heroes and villains from the DC Universe Online game currently in development by Sony Online Entertainment, and to collaborate in creating a CGI trailer and in-game character animations. The DCUO/Mass Animation contest is scheduled to launch on December 7, 2009.

‘The DCUO/Mass Animation contest takes a part of the game out of the development studio and puts it in the hands of fans, an empowering opportunity for our community,’ said John Smedley, president of SOE. ‘Players will have a chance through qualified contest submissions to be involved with the game’s development at a deeper level than ever before by animating actions for in-game heroes and villains.’

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Before you get too excited let me say that this post is not about a new Buffy TV series or about the movie that others are making without Joss Whedon’s participation. No, this particular bit of news concerns yet another way in which the characters we all know and love from Buffy can live on in another form. In this case, it is via a series of motion comic webisodes based on Whedon’s highly successful series of Buffy Season Eight comics from Dark Horse.

Based on casting notices highlighted by Sci-Fi Wire, we know that the series will be based on the comics and feature the characters Twilight, the Big Bad of Season Eight, and evil British socialite Slayer Lady Genevieve Savidge, who wants to take Buffy’s place atop the Slayer food chain. The webisodes are also looking for actors to voice some other more familiar Buffy TV series characters as well including Faith, Kennedy and Robin Wood. Plus, they’re looking for a bunch of other new characters including a James Bond type.

Over at the Sci-Fi Wire site, they’ve got the full breakdown of exactly what the producers of this project are looking for. So, if you’re interested in getting involved and pursuing those voice acting aspirations, better get your headshots and tapes ready. Or, if you just want to watch, these webisodes go live sometime early next year.

Announced at E3 2009 by everyone’s favorite geek goddess, Felicia Day, the arrival of popular social networking sites Last.fm, Facebook, and Twitter to Xbox Live has been much anticipated by gamers and socialites alike. But these sites, as simple as they are to use, have their own style and reasons for being easy and fun to use. Did that ease of use translate well onto the Xbox? The Flickcast took a look, and here’s what we found.

Facebook

After the recent addition of the News and Live Feeds on the Facebook website, Facebook on the Xbox feels pretty refreshing. It comes with all the standard Facebook staples: your News Feed, your profile, your pictures, your friend’s pictures, etc. Each new update to the News Feed comes up in its own box, and within that box you have the option to like, comment, or read the comments of your friends, just like the website.

You can update your status, but that’s the only change you can make to your profile. Friend’s profiles show up in boxes similar to the news feed, but will just show their status, photos, and information. The only thing this version of Facebook seems to be missing is wall posts and the chat feature, both of which would be complicated on the Xbox and are.

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Each week we’ve been highlighting all the great comics that come out from Marvel. People have asked us why we don’t also include comics coming out from other companies as well. So, this week we’re starting a new thing here at the site and trying to bring you more comics from other companies. This time, we’ve got some new work from a company you might have heard of: DC.

They’ve got some cool books coming out this Wednesday and we’ve highlighted some for you right here so check ‘em out. Also, as we usually do, we’ve got some cool covers for some of these comics after the break so be sure and check those out too.

Comics on Sale:

ADVENTURE COMICS #4
AZRAEL #2
BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #37
BATMAN: BATTLE FOR THE COWL
BATMAN: STREETS OF GOTHAM #6
BATMAN: UNSEEN #4 (OF 5)
BLACK LIGHTNING YEAR ONE
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #29
THE FLASH: REBIRTH #5 (OF 6)
GREEN LANTERN CORPS: EMERALD ECLIPSE

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Even though NBC may not want to extend the life of some of its shows such as Trauma, it still seems to like Mercy and wants to keep it around. So, with that in mind, we’ve got some clips for you from this week’s episode, which airs Wednesday.

To help and because we care, we’ve included a bit of info with each clip to sort of set them up for you. According to our friends at NBC, we’re supposed to pay special attention to the second clip, where Veronica’s mother is able to guess a secret that will change Veronica’s life. And in the final clip, you get to go on the set with the cast and this week’s guest stars, the Real Housewives.

In the clips you’ll be able to “find out what the ladies thought about the Mercy cast and which cast member spearheaded the effort to get the housewives on.” Now that sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Check out all the video clips after the jump. Mercy airs Wednesdays at 9/8C on NBC.

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In a crazy, mixed-up world where something like New Moon Underwear and New Moon Chocolate has enough of a demand for mass production, it was only inevitable that the ticket pre-sales for the movie itself, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, would be astronomical. According to Fandango, that is, indeed, the case.

Though the film doesn’t open until November 20th (This Friday), tickets are already on sale. As of Saturday, November 14th at 8:00PM, the film had already broken the record for most pre-sales of the last 10 years. Here’s the list of the top five, for comparison.

Fandango’s Top 5 Advance Ticket-Sellers:

1. New Moon (2009)
2. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
4. The Dark Knight (2008)
5. Twilight (2008)

Though this is no surprise to the ticket-selling empire, as they already have a New Moon fan site embedded in their network, this is still a bit of a shock to those who have yet to jump onto the “Twilight” bandwagon. At the rate that advanced ticket sales went, it’s quite likely that New Moon will break $100M this weekend, and could very well be on the way to taking on, and perhaps surpassing, such other heavy-hitters as Spider-Man 3 and The Dark Knight.

As we reported a few weeks back, the gang on Smallville will be getting another big surprise from the DC Universe, after Metallo and General Zod already made appearances this season. It was announced that members of the Justice Society, Hawkman, Dr. Fate, and Stargirl would be making appearances, with DC superstar Geoff Johns writing the episode.

Later, it was announced that Hawkman will be played by Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson of TV’s Stargate franchise), Brent Stait (Stargate Atlantis) will play Doctor Fate, and Britt Irvin (ABC’s V) will play Stargirl. We’re now getting our first glimpse at the costume for Michael Shanks’ Hawkman, and it’s quite impressive.

From Impulse’s red hoodie to Green Arrow’s green hoodie, Smallville has been quite infamous for taking beloved costumes and “updating” them for their universe. That theory has been put to shame this season with Brian Austin Green’s Metallo make-up and Clark becoming even closer to wearing his blue and red spandex.

Check out the full Hawkman screen cap after the break and catch Smallville on The CW every Friday at 8/7C.

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We may be miles away from getting a solo superheroine movie on the big screen, but at least one graphic heroine is getting close. The popular horror comic Hack / Slash has been in development with Rogue Pictures ever since 2006, and the movie inched a little closer this summer when Relativity hired Fredrik Bond to direct. But even a lass as fetching as Cassandra Hack requires a rewrite or two, and Bloody Disgusting reports that Stephen Susco is the latest to take a crack at adapting her gory chronicles.

If you’re a horror fan that’s unfamiliar with Hack / Slash, you owe it to yourself to become acquainted with the series. It centers Cassandra Hack, a survivor of a serial killer, whose mission in life is to wipe out all manner of monsters and slashers.  She comes in contact with some of horror’s most famous villains, and they come in contact with her baseball bat. It’s win win all around.

Susco is probably best known for penning the American version of The Grudge and its poorly received sequel, The Grudge 2. While it’s easy to cry havoc, doom, and weep for the Hack / Slash movie,  let’s hold off our knee jerk judgments. It’s not fair to hold an ill-advised sequel against any screenwriter, and Hack / Slash could be the movie that Susco knocks out of the park. If he doesn’t, well, Hack’s fervent fans will be scarier than any criticism we could devise.

This is great news for any of you jealous of your friends who’ve had the opportunity to play Call of Duty: World at War with the additional zombie map packs. Now, if you’re one of the people who has an iPhone or iPod Touch but doesn’t have an XBox 360 or PS3, you too can enjoy some cool zombie killing action along with the rest of us because COD: World at War: Zombies is now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

According to the official word from our pals at Activision, this mobile version of the game “offers both single player and (Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies) highly-addictive co-op gameplay experience in full 3-D, allowing up to four players to join a game via Wi-Fi, locally or across the Internet, and up to two players via Bluetooth.” In addition:

“This is a great opportunity for fans of Call of Duty: World at War to take the fight against the Zombie masses wherever they are,” said Mark Lamia, Studio Head of Treyarch. “Zombies is a single player and co-op gameplay mode that people from all over the world have enjoyed playing and have spent countless hours conquering limitless waves of Zombies.”

The Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies app, developed by Ideaworks Game Studio for the iPhone and iPod touch, is available for $9.99 from the App Store right here.

Late last week, the NPD Group who is in charge of tracking, compiling and interpreting sales numbers for the video game industry released their console and game sales figures for the month of October with some surprising results. These numbers do not include Walmart sales or digital distribution of games. Let’s take a look.

Console Sales

1. Nintendo Wii: 506,900 (up from 462,800)

2. Nintendo DS: 457,600 (down from 524,200, includes all Nintendo DS SKU’s and Nintendo DSi)

3. Playstation 3: 320,600 (down from 491,800)

4. XBox 360: 249,700 (down from 352,600)

5. PSP: 174,600 (up from 146,000, includes all PSP SKU’s and PSP Go)

6. Playstation 2: 117,800 (down from 146,000)

So what does this mean for the video game industry? A few things. Nintendo takes back their top non-portable spot after losing it last month to the price reduced Playstation 3. Back over the half million a month mark, the Nintendo Wii price reduction to $199 had been a long time coming and has shown it was enough of a stimulus to even beat out the Nintendo DS as the top selling console of the month. While Sony made a huge campaign out of their price drop back in September, Nintendo has been more subtle about theirs, only posting in circulars instead of the TV adds Sony has used to attempt to make up ground.

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We’ve been pretty excited for Warner Bros.’ newest action film, Ninja Assassin around the office, and we just came across a few clips that got us even more excited. The film hits theaters a week from Wednesday, but we thought it would be okay if we gave you on a sneak peak now.

The film, co-written by comics’ “Who’s Who” J. Michael Straczynski, is about a cult of ninja killers who raise a boy to become a superior ninja. Later, he learns that the ways of his clan need to be stopped. Straczynski has been the man behind such other fan favorites as Spider-Man and Silver Surfer in comics, and Babylon 5, Jeremiah, and even The Real Ghostbusters on TV.

In both 3D and Digital theaters, the film is said to be visually stunning. With James McTeigue (V For Vendetta) behind the wheel, you can believe that the film won’t be boring. We’ll be sure to have plenty more coverage of the film, including a review next week.

In the meantime, check out these new clips (totaling nearly 7 minutes!) from Ninja Assassin, in theaters November 25th.

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