I first read Edgar Rice Burroughs A Princess of Mars when I was a very young man. After reading it, I devoured the entire series of books in a matter of weeks. They were just that good.

I’ve always thought the books would make great movies and now that thought has been turned to reality by Disney with its upcoming big screen adaptation of the series: John Carter. The film, which is directed by Andrew Stanton, features what looks to be a good cast including Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins and William Dafoe.

The trailer was released on Apple’s iTunes this morning and we’ve got it for you today. In case you’re not familiar with the story, here’s a bit of the official synopsis to get you in the mood:

“The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom (Mars) and its people rests in his hands.”

Check out the trailer after the break. John Carter arrives in theaters on March 9, 2012.

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It’s not particularly surprising that Mad Men and Mildred Pierece had the most nominations today when Melissa McCarthy and Joshua Jackson made the 2011 Primetime Emmy announcement. Jane Lynch will be hosting the 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, September 18.

For the complete list of nominees, head over to the Emmys website. We’ve just got the ones we really care about for you here. (aka The Big Ones).

Of course, the fact that Community isn’t nominated in the Outstanding Comedy category just makes these awards that much less special. Plus, I wouldn’t want to be nominated in a category against Peter Dinklage for Game of Thrones. He’s pretty much got that one in the bag

Check out the nominations below.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Louis C.K., Louie
Steve Carell, The Office
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
Hugh Laurie, House
Timothy Olyphant, Justified
Jon Hamm, Mad Men

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After doing the seemingly impossible and breathing life back into the Batman film franchise after Joel Schumacher had his nipple-loving mitts on it, David Goyer is setting his sights on another failed film franchise to make it cool once again.

It looks like Legendary Pictures has tagged Goyer to help them out of a bind and write the script for their upcoming Godzilla reboot. Here’s the scoop from Deadline.

David Goyer has worked with Thomas Tull’s Legendary Pictures on both Chris Nolan’s Batman trilogy and the new Superman reboot Man Of Steel. Now the in-demand writer will pen the screenplay, from a draft written by David Callaham, for Legendary Pictures’ new version of Godzilla. The project will fall under Legendary’s overall agreement with Warner Bros while Toho Company, which own the rights to the oversized reptile, will distribute the film in Japan.

The film is also set to be directed by Monsters director Gareth Edwards, who managed to make an epic monster adventure with a minimum production budget. Let’s hope that Goyer can help us forget Matthew Broderick, Godzilla eggs, and Puff Daddy’s Led Zeppelin cover.

With Con season in full swing Big Bang Theory star Kelly Cuoco helps girls who have that embarrassing moment of realizing they’re the 1,000th Slave Leia at the party.

While it may not make any sense to people outside of the greater Los Angeles area, this trailer explaining the doom that will set in during Carmageddon this weekend is pretty spot-on.

Mob Wives is a pretty ridiculous show concept, but this Funny or Die spoof spells it out in 3 minutes better than we ever could.

Patton Oswalt has managed to find time in his schedule to star in a series of 5 second films. His newest one is both priceless and thought provoking.

Getting ready for the final Harry Potter film this Friday? Then you’re going to want to catch up with Every Harry Potter Film in 7 Minutes.

Pixar guru John Lasseter is a busy guy. How busy? Here’s a short film on exactly what it takes to be the man himself.

Some great new trailers out this week, including Cuba’s first horror film ever, titled Juan of the Dead, and it looks as good as the title is clever.

Who doesn’t love a good lightsaber battle? The only thing that could make it better is if the sound effects were completely done a capella.

There is one major rule when it comes to casting a TV series that one plans on continuing past 3 years: stay away from creating “ageless” child characters. In just about every series, that character type seems to be the main downfall of the realism of a series, from LOST to Saved by the Bell.

That’s where Glee showrunner Ryan Murphy has decided to pull some strings. It seems that the decision has been made to not have the show’s stars, Chris Colfer, Lea Michele and Cory Monteith, return for the fourth season. Here’s the breakdown from THR.

Murphy tells THR: “You can keep them on the show for six years and people will criticize you for not being realistic, or you can be really true to life and say when they started the show they were very clearly sophomores and they should graduate at the end of their senior year.”

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Even though he’s said he’s going to retire from film directing soon, that hasn’t stopped Steven Soderbergh from continuing to make some pretty great films. From his first effort Sex, Lies and Videotape through one of my favorites The Limey, the Oceans 11 trilogy, Traffic and more he’s constantly demonstrated his skills as a storyteller.

This time around he’s turned his attention to something that scares the crap out of many people: a virus that can kill all humans. In his latest film Contagion, Soderbergh tells the story of a virus that mutates quickly and starts killing the world’s population faster than we can find a way to stop it.

The film features an amazing ensemble cast including Matt Damon, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Marianne Cotillard, Kate Winslet, John Hawkes and Gwyneth Paltrow who, sadly, doesn’t seem to have a happhy ending in this one. We’ve got the brand new trailer for the film to share with you right here.

Gotta say this looks pretty good. Also, it looks pretty scary.

Check out Contagion on September 9th. See the trailer after the break.

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Even as Netflix raises its prices and changes its plans, networks are continuing to make new deals with the service. Today, NBC/Universal announced it is re-upping its deal with Netflix and making more episodes available from programs such as 30 Rock, The Office, Parenthood and more.

Although you will see more episodes of shows on Netflix for streaming, you still won’t be able to see current season episodes for some dumb reason. Check out all the details from the official press release:

NEW YORK and LOS GATOS, Calif., July 13, 2011 — Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) and NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution today announced a multi-year renewal of their licensing agreement expanding the selection of non-exclusive NBCU film and TV library titles available to watch instantly streaming from Netflix.

Programming under the deal includes prior-season series across multiple NBCU networks, including NBC hits “The Office,” “30 Rock” and “Parenthood.” All future seasons of these shows will be available on Netflix on a one season delay basis. Under the deal, Netflix members will also be able to enjoy prior season episodes of “Law and Order: SVU” and “The Event.”

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With Comic-Con only about a week away expect lots more announcements of events, panels, signings and more over the next several day. This time around its the folks at Dark Horse Comics with the announcement.

They’ve got a whole bunch of events planned for Comic-Con including stuff at their booth, panels in various Con rooms and a green screen full of exciting showings.

To make things easier, we’ve included the full press release so you can make sure to include Dark Horse in your Comic-Con planning. Check out out right here:

DARK HORSE ANNOUNCES SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2011 SCHEDULE! SIGNINGS, PANELS, AND GREEN SCREENS, OH MY!

July 13, MILWAUKIE, OR—It’s here! San Diego Comic-Con 2011 is upon us, and Dark Horse Comics is telling you all the goods ahead of time! Plan accordingly!

SIGNINGS
Wednesday, July 20
7:30 p.m.—Preview Night Reveal

Thursday, July 21
11 a.m.— Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
11 a.m.—Tara McPherson (The Art of Tara McPherson)
12:30 p.m.—Eric Powell (The Goon)
2 p.m.—Bruce Campbell (My Name Is Bruce) *Ticketed by Lottery
3 p.m.—Morgan Spurlock (Supersized)
3:30 p.m.—Jerry Robinson (Jet Scott)
4:30 p.m.—Jill Thompson (Beasts of Burden)

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It’s a great world we live in when talented people like YouTube’s Pbonanno can take two videos and combine them together to create something funny. In this case the two videos in question are footage from the 1979 George C. Scott film Hardcore, about a man searching for his daughter in the seedy underbelly of society, and the upcoming Adam Sandler “comedy” Jack and Jill where he plays himself and his wacky sister.

Adam Sandler playing both roles? I know, funny right? Um, no. Not. At. All.

To be honest, I pretty much felt the same way as Mr. C. Scott when watching the Sandler trailer. To see what I mean, take a look at the video after the break.

In it, you’ll see the exact reaction to the trailer I’m talking about. I would bet you’ll feel pretty much the same way after seeing it too.

As far as the movie goes, it’s pretty obvious someone lost a bet or something or Sandler has pictures of them with farm animals or children. That’s the only explanation for this kind of crap getting made.

Anyway, click on through for the video. If you care, Jack and Jill comes out later this year.

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Just the other day I was complaining that the cool and accomplished actor Callum Keith Rennie has seemingly been relegated to guest starring roles on many series including Battlestar Galactica, The Killing and most recently, Syfy’s Alphas. Fortunately, it now seems he’s moving away from guest status into leading territory.

Rennie will join Juliette Lewis in a new Legal Drama for NBC called The Firm. The new show is based on the feature film and bestseller by John Grisham. These two actors will join Josh Lucas who has already been cast in the show as Mitchell McDeere, the role originally played by Tom Cruise in the film.

On the show Lewis will play Tammy, Mitch’s “feisty, sexy receptionist, whose work life is made all the more tumultuous by her on-again, off-again relationship with Mitch’s brother, Ray.” Rennie is will play Ray McDeere, Mitch’s “charming yet volatile older brother whose work as an investigator in Mitch’s office is uniquely informed by his past stretch in prison for manslaughter.”

So, he’s playing kinda a bad guy but with a heart . . .in the right place. I see no reason why he can’t pull that off with no problem whatsoever.

Production on The Firm starts soon in Toronto for a mid-season debut on NBC.

As promised, Peter Jackson is delivering on some great goodies and sneak peeks on his upcoming return to the world of J.R.R. Tolkein with The Hobbit. First we got a great look at the dwarves Nori, Ori, and Dori, and now we’re getting a few more great dwarves revealed, as the first image of Kili and Fili surfaces.

Played by Dean O’Gorman (Fili) and Aidan Turner (Kili), these two dwarves will aid Bilbo in his upcoming journey across the globe. Here’s the official description.

Two of the youngest Dwarves, Fili and Kili have been born into the royal line of Durin and raised under the stern guardianship of their uncle, Thorin Oakensheild. Neither has ever travelled far, nor ever seen the fabled Dwarf City of Erebor. For both, the journey to the Lonely Mountain represents adventure and excitement. Skilled fighters, both brothers set off on their adventure armed with the invincible courage of youth, neither being able to imagine the fate which lies before them.

A bit familiar, these characters all look like they belong in the world Jackson helped create on film a decade ago with The Lord of the Rings. That’s more than something another famed trilogy director could pull off (looking at you, Lucas!).

Take a look at the full image after the jump and keep your ears and eyes open for more glimpse at The Hobbit in the coming months leading up to the film’s release.

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Now that just about every new device, be it a TV, computer, game console, or Blu-Ray player, comes with Instant Netflix programmed into the device itself, the rules have to change to accommodate just about everyone on the planet watching Netflix either through streaming or the original DVD plan. That means the company is making changes in the way you use the service, and exactly how much you spend monthly.

Now, instead of having that fancy DVD and streaming plan together, the company is making you choose or pay for both at double the price. Here’s the breakdown from the horse’s mouth.

First, we are launching new DVD only plans. These plans offer our lowest prices ever for unlimited DVDs – only $7.99 a month for our 1 DVD out at-a-time plan and $11.99 a month for our 2 DVDs out at-a-time plan. By offering our lowest prices ever, we hope to provide great value to our current and future DVDs by mail members. New members can sign up for these plans by going to DVD.netflix.com.

Second, we are separating unlimited DVDs by mail and unlimited streaming into separate plans to better reflect the costs of each and to give our members a choice: a streaming only plan, a DVD only plan or the option to subscribe to both. With this change, we will no longer offer a plan that includes both unlimited streaming and DVDs by mail.

So if you have the current $9.99 unlimited streaming/DVD plan, you’ll have to pick between paying for JUST unlimited DVD’s at $7.99 or unlimited streaming for $7.99. Or both if you’re so ambitious. Unfortunate, but it was bound to happen with this service becoming more and more popular.