Sure The Avengers was great and The Dark Knight Rises has a couple of people interested in checking it out, but the real big boy of the 2012 movie year is The Hobbit. Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films have managed to become the most successful franchise ever in terms of Box Office, Critical Reception and Award Recognition.

So when the first of two prequel movies hits theaters this winter it will be a very big deal. Especially when you consider Peter Jackson using the exposure of the Hobbit films to push a new revolution in picture clarity, shooting both films in a staggering 48 frames per second.

So with that in mind take a gander at these beautiful stills from the upcoming first part of The Hobbit. These debuted over at Entertainment Weekly for their upcoming Comic-Con heavy issue. You can’t deny that Peter Jackson has the look of Tolkien’s world down.

These images should fill any Lord of the Rings fan with excitement, everything about these movies look like a return to form for Jackson and his New Zealand based crew. Expect The Hobbit to have a big presence at Comic-Con this year, so like always keep your eyes peeled to The Flickcast for any thing juicy out of San Diego.

After the jump you can take a look at all the new pictures.

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Fairy Tales are all the rage these days, and it seems like Hollywood finally realized that these very old tales are built on the fact that they can be told in different ways. Recently we saw two different takes on Snow White, each that stretched the concept of the character to new places, both of which were fun in their own right.

Disney is the brand name when it comes to modern storytelling, but even they have gotten into the re-telling game, most notably the excellent TV show Once Upon a Time and the upcoming film Maleficent. The latter started shooting recently, and Disney decided it was time to show off their lead in costume.

Maleficent, for those not still familiar with their fairy tale mythos, is the villain from Sleeping Beauty who has the rather awesome ability to turn into a dragon. This upcoming film swaps the traditional perspective of the Sleeping Beauty tale and lets us see things from the evil side of the story.

Angelina Jolie plays Maleficent and if you didn’t think she was perfect for the role on paper, this new picture has to cement it for you. Jolie has a chance to really dig deep into the role and deliver something akin to what Charlize Theron did in Snow White and the Huntsman, a pitch perfect, bug-nutter crazy bitch with a cold, calculating evil streak. AKA, Cinema gold!

Check out the full image after the jump.

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Taken is one of those films that just works in every way. From concept, to casting, all the way to the score and even the title, it just all works so very well. Good movies do not go unsequelized in this day and age so of course Taken 2 is coming, and the first UK poster has just hit the web.

The first film revolved around Liam Neeson’s character going after his kidnapped daughter, there was some concern that the sequel might just be some sort of re-hash on the original concept. Based on the poster’s tagline we might be seeing a far more interesting take on the idea:

First they took his daughter. Now they’re coming for him.

It would have been really easy, and lazy, for the writers to have the baddies from the first film exact their revenge by taking more members of Neeson’s family. It makes much more sense to see those baddies go directly after Neeson himself.

As the film is called Taken 2, I’m sure there will be some layer of kidnapping somewhere in the story, but if the focus is less on Neeson using his skills to retrieve another loved one and more on him being the target we could be a in for a quality action sequel on the way.

Take a look at the full UK poster after the jump.

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Action Stars? Check. Explosions? Check. More Action Stars? Check. Foreground Flames for no reason? Check. Still more Action Stars? Check, check, check.

Yep, the new Expendables 2 poster hits on just about every note you could possibly expect in an action movie poster. It exudes masculine, muscle-bound machismo more so than any poster for an actual feature film I can recall. Which is exactly the right tone they should be setting in their marketing.

Looking at this poster reminds me of a thought that crossed my mind while watching The Avengers. Projects like these ought not to exist, when we were growing up the concept of an all out action franchise staring just about every icon of the genre was a pipe dream. Now it is a reality.

People still want to worry about the rating, but with the way the MPAA has softened their stance on violence in the last decade I am sure the ‘spolsions and shootin’ wont be too neutered. It is also key to remember Stallone shot the first Expendables to be PG-13 as well, most of the R-rated content was the result of re-shoots.

Take a look at the full poster after the jump, and be prepared to be blown away by pure awesomeness August 17th.

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Andrew Stanton might have taken a blow with the commercial dud that was John Carter, but he is still responsible for two of the greatest animated films of all time, Finding Nemo & Wall-E. If anyone deserves a do over pass, it is that guy.

Recently the director shared something rather fun with the guys over at LA Times Hero Complex:

The two-time Oscar winner was the guest after our Sunday matinee screening of the most cosmic of Pixar films and he mentioned that the editorial department at Pixar had a bit of fun by taking a reference model of M-O over to the Sears Portrait Studio where warm family memories are preserved forever, um … tasteful flair?

PIXAR has long been known for adding mountains of humanity to animated inanimate objects, and Wall-E might have been their pinnacle. It is amazing how much personality and soul they managed to put into these, mostly, speechless robots.

Clearly that humanity was fostered behind the scenes too, as evidenced by these silly pictures. It is amazing that these characters make so such of an impact that even reference models paraded around in a series of family portraits can provoke an emotion.

Take a look at these adorable pictures after the jump, and don’t forget to catch the next PIXAR film, Brave, in theaters June 22nd.

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It is never to early to get excited about one of next summer’s tent pole films. So with that in mind we turn our gaze to the first official image from Pacific Rim, Guillermo Del Toro’s love letter to Japanese giant monster movies. That last sentence alone should have you contemplating lining up now for the best possible seat for the film.

One of the stars of Pacific Rim is the endlessly cool Idris Elba who is on the fast track to out dueling Samuel L. Jackson to the most bad ass mother in Hollywood title. Further establishing that claim is this image in question from Pacific Rim.

Cool is a word thrown around a lot these days, so much so that it has kind of lost some luster. Allow me to stress fully how cool this is, Elba just standing there in his giant robot flight suit, presumably about to go lay some smack down on giant monsters in the streets of Hong Kong. This exists!

Giant monster movies are cheesy, but there is something innocent about them, something pure. Seeing something as innocuous as a lizard or a moth one hundred times its normal size and being terrifying is the nightmare of children, the fears you have when normal life concerns can’t even compute in your mind. Del Toro is the perfect director to take that type of story and make it gratifying on the largest scale.

This is, no doubt, the first of many gleeful Pacific Rim updates from us here at The Flickcast, stay tuned.

This is a big week for the video game industry. Everyone has their eyes on Los Angeles as the next few years in Video Gamedom are laid out in very elaborate fashion. So with all of the buzz surrounding the industry, Disney decided now would be the perfect time to unveil Wreck-It Ralph officially.

For those of you woefully unaware of what Wreak-It Ralph is all about, here is a synopsis to get you up to speed:

Wreck-It Ralph longs to be as beloved as his game’s perfect Good Guy, Fix-It Felix. Problem is, nobody loves a Bad Guy. But they do love heroes… so when a modern, first-person shooter game arrives featuring tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun, Ralph sees it as his ticket to heroism and happiness. He sneaks into the game with a simple plan — win a medal — but soon wrecks everything, and accidentally unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens every game in the arcade.

The movie has the chance to be this generation’s Who Framed Rodger Rabbit, only instead of rival cartoons co-existing in their own world it is established video game characters. Just the support group in this trailer alone evokes the same sort of feeling of watching Daffy and Donald Duck play dueling pianos.

Wreck-It Ralph hits cinemas this winter and check out the trailer and the full official image after the jump.

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Iron Man 3 will be the first Marvel Studios movie post-The Avengers, so expectations will be higher than ever for a Marvel movie. People have never been more excited about the Marvel Brand and with Marvel Studios blazing a new trail in franchise film-making, every new film is an exciting prospect.

Early word on Iron Man 3 is that Shane Black is pulling back on the shared universe concept and making sure his movie focuses primarily on Iron Man, and not a bigger picture. A dangerous, but ultimately smart choice intended on strengthening the character and his own franchise, much like solo series do in the comic world.

With that internal focus it is appropriate that the first official image from the film is very specific and very iconic to the Iron man franchise, the suits. Tony Stark looking over his seven previous suits, showing just how far he has come since that clunky Mark 1.

We might be reading too much into this, but with the film leaning heavy on the Exremis story line, there is a nice symmetry to this being the first official Iron Man image. Depending on how closely they follow Warren Ellis’ story the 8th suit will be an interesting conceptual departure from what we have seen thus far.

Take a look at the at the full size image after the jump.

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The Dark Knight Rises looms. As The Avengers makes ungodly sums of money and other potential blockbusters come and go, the true tenor of the season wont be determined until Batman has his say.

Warner Bros. has released a new one sheet for the anticipate super hero conclusion, and it really plays up the ‘fire rises’ motif that has been a constant in the marketing. The ad campaign for the sequel has thus far been much less interesting than for The Dark Knight.

The viral aspects seem to cause less of a fervor among fans, there is nothing like those variant Joker tagged posters that popped up in theaters after a few months of the regular ones hanging on those walls. Just on the whole the marketing for this movie just seems to have less impact. Of course this could be on purpose, you don’t need much impact when everyone and their mother saw the last film.It is still interesting to see the different tactics in play.

As for the quality of this particular poster, it is rather nice. Getting a splash of color in there is a good touch, and I like the symmetry of this design and some of the earlier teasers.

Check out the full poster after the jump.

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Most of us will be seeing The Avengers in a few days and The Dark Knight Rises trailer is still on everyone’s mind. So Sony wants to remind you all that they have a pretty big deal super-hero movie coming out too.

The new posters for Amazing Spider-Man are nothing particularly exciting, although the standing Spidy one ditches that all too familiar blue-tinted cityscape for a far more intriguing and realistic color scheme. In fact I think that one now ranks as my favorite of the posters for this flick.

The second of the new posters actually reminds me of those classy Dark Knight posters with Batman standing watch over a blue-tinted Gotham from inside an office building. The Spider-Man poster has what looks like a very similar blue-tinted city, but it looks more like he is busting through the glass. Might it be a subtle dig at The Dark Knight, or might I be reading way to much into a similar image? I vote the latter.

You can check out these two new posters after the jump, and don’t forget to catch The Amazing Spider-Man in theaters this summer.

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Of the 42 massively anticipated films coming out over the next year, only one of them is a new Tarantino film. Django Unchained is one of the most exciting concepts to come down the pike in a long time, and the addition of such an amazing cast only cements the expectations.

Entertainment Weekly has unchained the first official shots from the film showcasing three of its high class stars. The first shot looks incredibly western-y with Christophe Waltz and Jamie Foxx looking fantastic in some period gear.

The second image is far more exciting. Leonardo DiCaprio as evil plantation owner Calvin Candie, who makes his strongest slaves fight each other to the death. This cruel basterd has Foxx’s wife, and the plot of the movie will generally revolve around his attempts to save her.

With a Christmas release date, hopefully we should be seeing some actual footage soon. Inglorius Basterds and Kill Bill were high water marks for Tarantino’s visual style, so there is great excitement to see what he does with a western sandbox. The possibilities are staggering when a filmmaker is on a career high, his concept is solid gold and has the cast to pull it off.

Check out the full pictures after the jump.

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One of the most intriguing films currently filming is Hitchcock. The movie that tells the tale of the making of Psycho, arguably Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous work. Sir Anthony Hopkins plays the titular director and before now it was hard to really envision the famous actor as the equally famous director.

Then People Magazine released this picture.

Wow, that has to be the penciled in favorite for best make-up at the 2013 Oscars. He looks amazing in one of the most recognizable silhouettes in cinema history. Hitchcock is fast becoming one of the must see films of next year with an all star cast that includes Hopkins, Jessica Biel, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Danny Huston, Toni Collette, Kurtwood Smith and Michael ‘flipping’ Wincott!

That is a must see cast, and considering they are telling the story of how one of the most iconic and important films ever made came to be, it is easy to get excited. Of course as famous as Hitchcock’s visage is, his voice is also very specific, so it will would still behoove us all to wait on the first trailer before we set our final expectations.

The film is directed by Anvil! The Story of Anvil director Sacha Gervasi, and is set for release some time in 2013.

With the release of Christoper Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises inching ever closer we can expect to see more and more information about the film start to come out. This time around we’ve got new images from the film which appeared in Entertainment Weekly and were generously scanned by the folks at Batman News.

In them we get a look at our major players including a very good opportunity to see just what Anne Hathawy’s Catwoman outfit is all about. Like we’ve heard from others around the Interwebs (and around The Flickcast’s water cooler), we’re not completely in love with the look.

That said, we’re more than willing to give Nolan the benefit of the doubt here. He’s proven time and again that he’s a guy who knows exactly what he’s doing.

Plus, Tom Hardy’s Bane looks pretty badass and so does, not surprisingly, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character. He looks pretty at home with that firearm. Wonder how he’d look in the Batsuit?

Anyway, check out some more pics after the break. Look for The Dark Knight Rises in theaters and IMAX on July 20.

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Yes, you read that right. Facebook is apparently closing a deal to buy super cool photo sharing service Instagram for a Billion dollars.

Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg announced the deal on, where else, his Facebook page. Here’s the gist of the deal from Zuck himself:

I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook.

We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.

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Spider-Man cartoons have always been among the very best in Super-Hero animation. Most recently the series Spectacular Spider-Man managed to be the fourth or fifth iteration of the character that actually worked as an animated series.

So there is high hopes for the new Ultimate Spider-Man series. In anticipation of the series premiere, Marvel has released a few stills from this upcoming season with certain guest stars cut out. Time to play the guess who’s coming to Ultimate Spider-Man guessing game!

These little teases are nothing new in the comic world, with covers often released with cutouts to ramp up anticipation. Doing this for an upcoming animated show, on the other hand, is downright inspired. This is the perfect way to drum up interest in a new series few people even knew was coming.

The show will hopefully join The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as the new watermark for Marvel animation. DC has long held the title of best hero cartoons, but now that Marvel has the backing of Disney, there is no reason we can’t see JLU quality programming set in the Marvel universe.

You can check out the full set of pictures after the jump, and don’t forget to catch the series premiere this Sunday.

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