2012 is a big year for Ringers, obviously the first part of The Hobbit hits screens, but now they have the arrival of Lord of the Rings LEGO sets and games to look forward to. LEGO has announced that starting the summer of 2012 they are going to be in the Lord of the Rings business.

“Only LEGO, with their expertise in the construction category, is capable of doing justice to the incredibly imaginative environments depicted in the world of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the two films based on THE HOBBIT… These films give life to amazing worlds and characters and we are thrilled to bring fans these products that deliver an imaginative play experience befitting of these beloved properties.”

LEGO has been working with Warner Bros. properties for the last few years with the successful LEGO Harry potter and LEGO DC Universe lines, now one of the most respected film franchises of all time will get their LEGO due. The most exciting aspect of this news is the confirmation of LEGO Lord of the Rings video games. The first game announced is based on the upcoming Hobbit film due out next year.

Check out more details about what to expect from new partnership after the jump.

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It may seem like an odd choice for a company famous for its books with all the pictures, but Marvel has announced they will be taking their most famous superhero creations and putting them into a brand new format: prose novels. The first of these novels will tell the story of Civil War, Marvel’s “event” from a few years back.

From the official press release:

“Releasing our most acclaimed graphic novels as prose fiction not only allows us to reach a different audience with these stories, but also gives us a chance to bring those readers back to the comics that started it all,” said David Gabriel, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marvel Entertainment.

“Civil War is easily our best-selling graphic novel of the past decade and certainly one of the most influential in recent memory, so it was the perfect launch title for this new line. Not only will you get all the action that Mark Millar and Steve McNiven delivered in comic form but no fan will want to miss the new wrinkles we’ve added in this novel. ”

Well then, there you go. You really can’t blame Marvel for trying to find a way to make more money off of its comic book properties. After all, the comic book business is not doing that well and they already have these stories just sitting there so, why not?

Anyone got a problem with it? Sound off in the comments.

Looks like HBO is doing some house cleaning before the new year as the network has decided to cancel several of its shows and give at least one another chance. That’s right, if you’re a fan of Hung, How to Make It in America or Bored to Death, you’re probably not going to like what I’m about to tell you: HBO has canceled all three of those shows.

The network has decided to give the Laura Dern comedy Enlightened at least one more season, however. So, if you’re a fan of that show, at least the day isn’t a total loss for you.

Of the three getting the axe today, I’m particularly sad to see Bored to Death go. I really liked it and its quirky blend of humor and drama. Plus, the three leads: Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis really worked well together. Bummer.

I’m also a bit disappointed to see How to Make It In America go as well, mostly because it had the awesome Luis Guzman and the fetching Lake Bell in it. Plus, I was really interested in finding out, you know, how to make it in America. Now I’ll never know.

I gave the Enlightened pilot a chance, but it din’t grab me. Oh well, kudos to Mike White and star Laura Dern. You’ve got another season to make it sing. Break a leg.

It’s rare that a truly original film comes through the system and actually make us take note. The upcoming animated film from Dreamworks, Rise of the Guardians (formerly Guardians of Childhood) is just that.
With an all-star cast an a premise we haven’t liked this much since Nightmare Before Christmas, this flick could be our new favorite from Dreamworks. Here’s the premise:
 
More than a collection of the well-known childhood legends, Rise of the Guardians tells the story of a group of heroes — each with extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world. This epic 3D adventure stars Chris Pine as Jack Frost, Alec Baldwin as North (Santa Claus), Hugh Jackman as Bunnymund (Easter Bunny), Isla Fisher as Tooth (Tooth Fairy) and Jude Law as Pitch (The Boogeyman).
 
With a scheduled release of November 21, 2012, you can expect this one to be the big hit of the 2012 holiday season (provided The Hobbit doesn’t steal our hearts). Take a look at Santa looking bad ass after the jump.

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It’s a close race as to which comic book adaptation I despise most. Daredevil and Elektra are right up there with the worst comic book movies ever made, but in many ways the first Ghost Rider movie is just as bad.

Fortunately, at least from what we’ve seen so far, it looks like Directors Neveldine and Taylor have realized the problems with the first one. With their version of things and their crack at a sequel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, they’ve taken things in a new direction — as in they’re actually trying to make it good.

Judge for yourself as Sony has released a new tailer for the film today and we’ve got it for you. In this one, we get a bit more of the story and, of course, lots of Nic Cage doing his “acting” thing.

Although, I don’t dislike him as much as our own Matt Raub does. In fact, he’s been good in some movies. Watch Adaptation if you don’t believe me. Plus, his middle name is Kim, so he’s also had that to deal with.

Check out the new Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance trailer after the break. Look for it in theaters on February 17 of 2012.

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Fans everywhere who were grinding their teeth during the reboot of the classic Clash of the Titans back in 2010 will finally have another reason to have the studio system as the trailer for Wrath of the Titans has hit the web.

Sure, it had a bad wrap the moment we found out a reboot to such a classic was even getting made, but the trailer doesn’t do much to show us otherwise. Here’s the unnecessarily massive synopsis, so you don’t get lost.

A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus (Worthington) –the demigod son of Zeus (Neeson)–is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius. Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans.

Dangerously weakened by humanity’s lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades (Fiennes) and Poseidon (Danny Huston). The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld.

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This week’s Monday Pick is the John McTiernan holiday action classic Die Hard. It stars Bruce Willis as tough New York cop John McClane who arrives in Los Angeles during the Christmas holidays to reconcile with his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) who works as an executive with the Nakatomi corporation.

As McClane and his wife try to patch up their troubled marriage, the Christmas party is crashed by a group of thieves demanding that the CEO of the company open the vault which houses over six hundred and forty million dollars in barrow bonds. Alone and outgunned, McClane maneuvers through the building bumping off as many terrorists as he can while he tries to find out what their real plans are.

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Walter Hill makes fantastic men movies. The kinds of films that exude all of the best aspects of macho glory. From The Warriors to 48hrs and even the first episode of Deadwood, Hill just has what it takes to capture a man’s attention.

His newest film, Bullet to the Head, will be Hill’s first theatrical feature in a decade, and with 80s icons being resurrected left and right, the time is ripe for a return to his style of machismo. The movie stars Sylvester Stallone, Christian Slater and Jason Momoa and concerns a cop and a hit man teaming up together to fight a common adversary.

Bullet to the Head promises to be exactly the kind of no holds barred, knock down, drag out slug fest of a film that we don’t really see anymore. The first image released on Aint It Cool News shows off Stallone embroiled in an axe battle, and it just excites to no end. The Expendables 2 promises to bring all the familiar faces of 80s hard core action to the screen next year, but Bullet in the Head could deliver us the actual 80s style action spectacle.

Walter Hill’s Bullet to the Head is scheduled to his April 13th, 2012.

The James Bond franchise is bigger than one actor. It is all about the character of James Bond. However, the most recent iteration of that character, actor Daniel Craig, is extremely popular. So much so that producer Michael G. Wilson has come out publicly with his wish to keep Daniel Craig on board for a record number of films.

MI6 reported the producers comments:

“Daniel’s been a terrific Bond, a superb actor and a terrific man. The fans love him and I don’t think there’s a better actor to play the part… Filming has gone very well so far and I’d love Daniel to surpass Roger’s record and do eight pictures. Daniel’s been an absolute pleasure to be around because he takes the role so seriously. There’s really no one more passionate about making these films work than him – he’s a film maker’s dream.

A lot of people have said Daniel’s been their favourite Bond since Sean Connery and I can’t argue with them. He’s doing a great job.”

No deals are in place and all of this is likely conditional on the success of the next two Bond films, but it is great to hear the filmmakers have so much confidence in their current Bond.

Skyfall is due in theaters in November of 2012.

Presented without much in the way of comment (well, just a little) is the first trailer for Christopher Nolan’s third, and presumably final, installment in the Batman franchise. This time around the new film is called The Dark Knight Rises and based on this new trailer it looks, in a word, awesome.

We know people use that word often and sometimes it tends to lose its meaning. However, in this case, it fits completely.

The movie looks awesome and like any good trailer you get a lot of info about the movie but don’t really know what’s going to happen in it. If only other trailers could do this, and be as good as this, and not give everything away.

Of course, you can be sure the folks responsible for this film know what they’ve got and know, with absolute certainty, the movie will do huge box office and people will flock to see it over and over again. So, they don’t really have to do that much to promote it. The movie pretty much sells itself.

July 20, 2012 can’t get here fast enough. Check out the trailer after the break.

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We feel bad for the people in charge of Will Ferrell’s next career moves. Between random commercials for the town of Davenport, Iowa, or his newest film, which is done entirely in Spanish, we can’t seem to pinpoint where the comedian is coming or going these days.

His upcoming film, the aforementioned Casa de mi Padre, stars Ferrell as a gun-slinging Mexican hero, who needs to save the day, while speaking poor Spanish and looking good. Here’s the synopsis.

Armando Alvarez (Ferrell) has lived and worked on his father’s ranch in Mexico his entire life. As the ranch faces financial strains, Armando’s younger brother Raul (Diego Luna) shows up with his new fiancee, Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez) and pledges to settle all his father’s debts. It seems that Raul’s success as an international businessman means the ranch’s troubles are over, but when Armando falls for Sonia, and Raul’s business dealings turn out to be less than legit, the Alvarez family finds themselves in a full-out war with Mexico’s most feared drug lord, the mighty Onza.

Starring alongside Ferrell are a collection of famous Spanish-speaking actors, who are probably best known outside these states. Take a look at the head-scratching new teaser after the jump and bring your laughing bone to the flick on March 16th.

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This summer at San Diego Comic Con, we got a first look at Prototype 2. Then at New York Comic Con, we got hands on with it. But now that we have gotten to check out the basics of the game in action, the developers are letting us take a look at some of the new features of the game including hunting, infiltration and mutations.

Instead of just being given a big bright arrow to follow, players must use a radar system new to the Prototype series for James Heller to track down targets. Once they have found their target, they can either be eliminated or absorbed. If absorbed, the player can then use that person’s security clearance to unlock new missions with mutation rewards for completing them.

These mutations are part of the appeal of the sandbox super powered game. Players don’t swap powers. Instead they get to add more and more powers on top of each other, giving the powers in Prototype 2 an almost Venom-like feel to be able to use tendrils to tear opponents apart or create additional defenses.

Check out the developer diary below and let us know what you think of the new Prototype 2 powers.

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