This week, things are getting a bit weird on Fringe, which is an understatement if you’re a regular viewer of the show. This week, things get turned around as we’re told a story of our favorite Fringe characters in the style of a classic crime noir–with a musical twist. From Fox:

While Walter (John Noble) deals with some very upsetting news, he tells Olivia’s niece, Ella, a fairy tale in which the entire gang gets caught up in a mysterious new adventure that includes musical performances by Olivia (Anna Torv) and Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick).

So in order to set itself apart from previous musical episodes of supernatural dramas, this one in particular will take place in a 1940′s noir film. A nice touch. Check out two different sneak previews of Thursday night’s episode, entitled “Brown Betty” after the jump, and be sure to catch the episode on Fox at 9/8C.

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Every once and a while, a film comes along that looks like just plain, unadulterated fun. Kick-Ass had potential to be that, but had to give us a happy ending…and Nic Cage, which ruined it. It looks like fans of camp will get a second chance at happiness this summer with Piranha 3D.

Of course, the plot itself isn’t nearly as important as how the film is going to look, but for those who need closure, it’s about a race of evil prehistoric piranhas who surface and go to town on unsuspecting Spring Break teens vacationing at Lake Victoria. It’s a film like this that deserves it’s 3D conversion far more than something like Clash of the Titans.

The film reads like a who’s who of people who love to take light of their work, such as Party Down’s Adam Scott, Hamlet 2‘s Elisabeth Shue, Eli Roth, Christopher Lloyd, Starship Trooper’s Dina Meyer, Jerry O’Connell, Ving Rhames, Richard Dreyfuss, and Steve McQueen’s grandson. Alexander Aja is the man in the director’s seat, who is best known for getting Kiefer Sutherland to emote like a mofo in the supernatural thriller Mirrors.

Check out the first full trailer for the flick after the jump, and be sure to pay attention to when the frame “expands” to give it that extra 3D look. Catch Piranha 3D in theaters on August 27th.

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Yesterday, we were elated to bring you news that TNT had more guts and faith than NBC to renew Southland for another season. While we were so excited about the news, we neglected to notice that where a cable show gets a stay of execution, the fantasy series Legend of the Seeker gets the axe.

The series, based on the Sword of Truth book series by Terry Goodkind, had a good run, making it 40 episodes in 2 seasons, but it wasn’t pulling in the numbers that a network like The CW needed for it to survive. From EW:

The outlook had been bleak since last March, when many of Tribune Station Group’s markets dropped the syndicated series, which had been developed by Hercules/Xena producers Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert. ABC Studios, which produces it, kept shopping it around. But, I’m told, they found no takers. So, after two action-packed seasons, Legend is history.

The premise was much like many other stories we’ve heard before, including Star Wars in that a young farm boy learns that he has a destiny to take down the evil lord who threatens their world, alongside a kind old wizard and a beautiful princess. Add two droids and George Lucas may just sue somebody.

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It’s a little hard to look fashionable in a t-shirt, especially one that spells out your nerdy geekdom for all the world to see. Unless, of course, it’s a Threadless t-shirt. Threadless is a great website that takes user-designed t-shirts about everything from space to movies to the environment and prints them for the masses. They just recently revealed this bad boy, and if you’re a Lord of the Rings fan you’d better check this out.

This new shirt from designer Reagan H. Lee turned one of J.R.R. Tolkein’s incredibly detailed maps of Middle-Earth into a map similar to a New York Subway Map, and threw it onto a t-shirt. The great thing about this shirt is how great it looks, while not completely spelling out “I’m a super duper geek” on your chest. Someone’s going to have to get up close and personal to read the thing, and if they do and they get it, you’ll become instant best friends.

“There and Back Again” is available on Threadless’ website for $18 bucks. Pick one up, but before you do, check out what we’re talking about after the jump.

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It’s that time again as new comics are close to hitting the streets. Or, at least the shelves of your local comic book store. This week, the comics that look good to us include Deadpool #22, Secret Warriors #15, X-Force #26 and the premiere of Ultimate Comics Avengers #1.

Remember, comics go on sale this Wednesday (tomorrow) so get to your nearest comics store early for best selection. Don’t know where your nearest comic store is? Use this handy guide to find one.

Comics On-Sale:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #629
CAPTAIN AMERICA #605
CAPTAIN AMERICA #605 IRON MAN BY DESIGN VARIANT
CIVIL WAR MGC #1
DEADPOOL #22
DEADPOOL #22 IRON MAN BY DESIGN VARIANT
FALL OF THE HULKS: RED HULK #4
FANTASTIC FOUR #578
FANTASTIC FOUR #578 IRON MAN BY DESIGN VARIANT
HULK #20 2ND PRINTING VARIANT (FOTHS)
HULK #21 2ND PRINTING VARIANT (FOTHS)

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Back in 2002, Rob Marshall took the Broadway film Chicago and turned it into a big-budget Hollywood musical with names like Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere. A few years later, Marshall tried to capture lightning in a bottle again by adapting Maury Yeston’s Nine.

The film was a major critical success, getting nominated for four Academy Awards and five Golden Globes. Rob Marshall had done it once again, with the help of his immense crew and the blessing, as well as the guiding hand of the show’s original creator, Maury Yeston.

We were lucky enough to speak with Yeston about his work on both the original Nine and it’s silver-screen adaptation, as well as possible film work in the future, and an interesting credit on his first published piece of music.

Check out the interview after the jump, and be sure to pick up Marshall’s Nine on DVD and Blu-Ray everywhere today.

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It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Jim Cameron’s mega-grossing box office flick, ‘Avatar’ is destined to sell a considerable number of DVD and Blu-Rays. With a release date coinciding with last week’s ‘Earth Day,’ sales numbers did not disappoint, handily topping the previous sales champ, ‘Dark Knight.’

As of Sunday afternoon, 6.7 million copies were gobbled up by consumers in just four days in North America alone, according to retailers and sources close to the studio. Even on day one of the release, ‘Avatar’ left ‘Dark Knight’ in the dust with 3.2 million DVDs and Blu-rays, compared to 2.7 million discs for ‘Knight.’

Fox decided to release a so-called “no-frills” disc, a strategy that probably helped boost sales considering big retailers like Target and Wal-Mart were able to price the movie at $16 for DVD and $20 for the Blu-Ray combo pack. This more palatable price-point will be followed by a feature-loaded, but pricier version in November. Certainly, one can imagine a 3-D version cannot be far behind.

Outside North America, Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ managed to score some impressive sales figures as well. Variety reports that in France, sales totaled 557,000 discs in two days, blowing by previous record-holders ‘The Chorus’ and ‘Welcome to the Sticks.’ In Germany, 450,000 discs were sold on day one, crushing the fifth ‘Harry Potter’ film, ‘Order of the Phoenix,’ the country’s prior DVD sales champ.

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With the release of George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead only a few days away, it’s about time for a trailer to drop and it has. In this video we get our first real look at the latest installment of Romero’s zombie saga that started with Night of the Living Dead way back in 1968.

In case you’re just joining us, Survival immediately follows the events of Diary of the Dead and concerns an island off the coast of Deleware called Plum. On the island are two families, the O’Flynn’s and the Muldoons, who are ocked in a struggle for power and approach the zombie plague with two very different attitudes.

The O’Flynn’s are forced to exile family patriarch Patrick (Kenneth Welsh) by boat to the mainland, where he meets up with a band of soldiers, headed by Guardsman Sarge (Alan Van Sprang). They join forces and return to the island, to find that the zombie plague has fully gripped the divided community.

Check out the trailer after the jump. Survival of the Dead is available on VOD, XBOX Live, Playstation and Amazon this Friday and in theaters on May 28th.

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Who reading this has passed the multi-colored Wii-motes at your local electronics store and thought, “Man, when are they gonna make a black Wii?” We definitely have. While you can send your console off for an expensive paint job, or just do it yourself, rumor has it that an official black Nintendo Wii may actually be happening.

It looks like tips from Gamestop, Future Shop, FYE, and Target are all reporting that a new Wii-bundle will arrive in the U.S. and Canada next month. A shopper has even reported that it’s available for pre-order at FYE. Priced at $199.99, the bundle will include Wii Sports Resort and a Wii-Motion Plus controller add-on.

Japan already has a black Nintendo Wii, and with all the different color options for the Nintendo DS and DSi it’s high time that the United States get to color coordinate this console. We’ll keep this rumor on the back burner for now, but it sounds probable that the new Nintendo Wii in black will be released May 9th in the U.S., as rumored.

The Magic Castle. A place of mystery and enlightenment. A secret academy of the magical arts. A place of hidden caverns, moving bookcases, and many, many owls. Traditionally, only those invited by a magician may enter. So when I received an invite, delivered to me by an undisclosed source, I unraveled the parchment, and jumped at the chance to visit this mysterious kingdom. What follows is a journey through a supernatural realm few have seen, and even fewer have lived to talk about.

Many muggles have not heard of the legacy that is the Magic Castle, due in part to its secret nature. So for those muggles, let me give you a little background. In the words of the establishment itself, “The Magic Castle is the private clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts, Inc, a very special organization devoted to the advancement of the ancient art of magic.”

The academy sprang from the ruins of a worn-down apartment building. Milt Larson, a television writer and son of a magician, saw the treasure that seeped in the mortar. He bought and restored the building back to it’s Victoria grandeur. Its doors were opened to a select few on January 2, 1963. Since then its members number around 5,000, yet it remains a “secret” social order.

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If you were one of the many people waiting for Google’s Android powered Nexus One smartphone to hit Verizon so you could finally get your hands on one, you’re not going to be very happy after reading this post. Sadly, it seems, Verizon has decided to get out of the Nexus One business and instead, will stick with HTC and the pending release of the DROID Incredible.

While this move may not come as a surprise to some, particularly the folks over at Tech Crunch, it did seem to come out of left field a little. After all, up until the last few days, the release of the Nexus One was trumpeted as coming soon by Google at the site where they sell the phone. Now it directs potential customers back to Verizon’s website to buy a competing product in the Incredible? Again, seems a bit out of left field.

As highlighted over at Tech Crunch, it seems Verizon is choosing to offer the latest and greatest device to its customers and doesn’t seem to think the Nexus One is that device. When it came out, it was the best Android phone on the market. Then, Motorola released the DROID, which has reigned supreme. Now, the Incredible looks to be the top Android phone, at least for now.

Competition is a good thing and often leads to great innovations as companies strive to come to market with better and cheaper products. I the end we may not understand Verizon or Google’s reasons for making certain decisions, but in this case at least, it looks like Verizon’s decision will benefit consumers who want the best Android phone they can get.

Previously on The Flickcast we brought the first preview taking you behind the scenes for Marvel’s latest motion comic Iron Man Extremis. The comic sold well and now they are back with another installment and we’ve got another preview to share with you again this time.

This time around we get more of a traditional trailer approach to the motion comic with exciting visuals, action and lots of blood. After all, it’s not called “Extremis” for nothing. Additionally, as we agree to do when we run video like this, here’s what Marvel has to say on the subject.

Experience Iron Man in a whole new way – IRON MAN: EXTREMIS Motion Comic. From the story by Warren Ellis & Adi Granov, this incredible epic blends seamless motion, dynamic voice acting, and stunning special effects, bringing to life the story that redefined Iron Man for the 21st Century. Now you can get a sneak peek at the second episode of this breathtaking visual breakthrough in motion comics!

The second episode of IRON MAN EXTREMIS goes on-sale Wednesday, April 28th!

Check out the video after the jump.

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