This week on The Flickcast Chris is back and the duo get right to it with a whole bunch of new topics. Some of these topics include the success and relative merits of Iron Man 2, Captain America in 3D rumors, Logan Lermann potentially as the new Spider-Man, J.J. Abrams upcoming sci-fi thriller Super 8, other upcoming 3D titles and Betty White hosting Saturday Night Live.

The boys also made some picks again this week including Matt’s pick of the movie Legion and Chris pick of the Mel Gibson film Edge of Darkness.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook and MySpace or via email.

While most of the civilized world will be heading to the theaters to see Favreau and Downey, Jr. knock out another killer super hero flick with Iron Man 2, there is a good portion of the fan community that can’t wait to get the first glimpse at J.J. Abrams’ newest secret project, tentatively titled Super 8.

The first we even heard about the trailer was earlier this week, as Abrams announced that it will be attached to the front of Iron Man 2 prints, and that he expects more people to be talking about the trailer than the film itself after the walk out of the theater.

He rumored that it could be a prequel to 2008′s Cloverfield, which he produced, but after viewing this trailer, we now know that this film is the project that he and Steven Spielberg have been collaborating on.

We won’t spoil any of the content in the trailer for you, in case you’re waiting it out for the theater. Otherwise, check out the handicam version of the trailer after the jump, and we’ll be sure to keep you informed on Abrams and the upcoming Super 8.

(Thanks to reader Caley for the heads up on this)

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Though Disney should consider their upcoming sequel to the smash hits Toy Story and Toy Story 2 an immediate success, it’s still nice to see that they aren’t pulling any stops with marketing. Even more surprising is that they’re actually going viral.

Nothing can really compare to some of the great viral marketing campaigns of past films like The Dark Knight, Cloverfield, or District 9, which all did pretty well in the box office. It seems that Disney is taking a different approach with two new trailers for the film.

In both trailers, you’re misdirected until the last 15 seconds of each promo into believing that you’re seeing a trailer for a new horror film or a commercial for some sleek new car. Ironically, you’re actually seeing two new trailers for Toy Story 3, which hits theaters in IMAX and Disney 3D on July 23rd.

Check both out after the jump and let us know what you think.

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In the latest The First Avenger: Captain America news, HeatVision is reporting that Hugo Weaving (Matrix, Lord of the Rings) is Marvel Studio’s first choice to star as the film’s villain, Red Skull. In the comic books, Red Skull is Captain America’s archenemy, engaging in espionage and sabotage as Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man.

If Weaving is tapped, it would reunite the star with director Joe Johnston, whom he worked with in this year’s The Wolfman. In other casting news, the list of Captain America contenders appears to have thinned.

We recently reported that five actors were in the running. However, HeatVision and Deadline New York have both reported that John Krasinski is no longer in the race for the coveted role. According to the sites, Marvel is now considering Wilson Bethel (Generation Kill), Mike Vogel (Cloverfield), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four) and Garrett Hudlund (Tron Legacy), who have all either read, tested, or received test offers.

The First Avenger: Captain America is slated for a July 11, 2011 release.

Even though filming is still some time away, recently director Joe Johnston told MTV Splashpage a casting decision on who would portray Captain America in The First Avenger “was weeks away.” Well, weeks have gone by and according to Deadline Hollywood, the list of actors for the titular role has been narrowed down to five finalists.

The five front-runners for the role of Captain America are, according to the site, Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl), John Krasinski (The Office), Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights), Mike Vogel (Cloverfield) and Michael Cassidy (Smallville). All five actors have reportedly agreed to test deals with Johnston and Marvel Studios to try out for the role.

Not only must these actor agree to test for the role, if eventually cast, they must also sign for nine other options, including potential sequels to The First Avenger. This makes sense considering the upcoming Marvel movies and their desire to team them all for a potential Avengers movie in the future. Still, that’s a lot to negotiate.

Of course, fans everywhere have their personal favorites and I we have ours. Picking from this list as if these were the only choices, our first choice would be Smallville‘s Michael Cassidy. He’s able to do the action as well as being a pretty good actor as well, so he’d be good for the part.

Sadly, our favorite choice of all and not on this list, Joel Gretsch (The 4400, V), is probably too old now, even though he would be great in the part. No matter who they choose, let’s hope they take this movie as seriously and do as great a job on it as Marvel did with Iron Man. Cap deserves no less.

Who do you think should play Captain America in The First Avenger?

As described on their site Penney Design, video games based on movie franchises can be seen going as far back as E.T. (which supposedly has a warehouse dedicated to housing all the unsold copies of the ill received game). While Hollywood and the video game industry have attempted to merge with video game to movie tie-ins like Street Fighter or Super Mario Bros., the real moneymakers come from frequently rushed movie games which attempt to stretch out plots of a two hour movie over a ten hour game, usually to dismal results.

Taking all this knowledge and cynicism to heart, Penney Design has crafted some custom video game box art if recently released properties like Avatar had been released in the Atari 2600 era. Take a look below at some of the stylized designs which, though simplistic, do a great job of capturing the essence of the properties they pay homage too.

Also, take the time to appreciate the subtle nuances to the works like the “Instructions missing” from the Cloverfield box or the fact that they think anyone would ever pay $4.00 for a The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift game on any generation console.

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MGM Studios has decided to push back Joss Whedon’s The Cabin in the Woods by nearly a year. The horror film was set to open Feb. 5, 2010 but will now open Jan. 14, 2011.  Don’t worry though, this scheduling adjustment is for good reasons instead of bad.

First off, the film has been testing very well with audiences. No surprise there, Joss Whedon wrote it. This in turn lead MGM to the second reason for the delay, spending six months converting  The Cabin in the Woods to 3D. As an added bonus this puts the film on track to open during a four day weekend which could help ticket sales.

Given MGM’s recent struggles financially it’s good to hear they may have a hit on their hands.  While delaying the film is not the best situation better for them to take the time and do The Cabin in the Woods right instead of rushing it out the gate. This may also afford the studio some extra time to get The Hobbit or next Bond film on the fast track.

The Cabin in the Woods is being directed by Cloverfield’s Drew Goddard. Considering how well he captured the events of a giant monster rampaging through New York I’m anxious to see how he handles the horror genre head on.  I’m not a real fan of horror but even I want to see this movie. Consider that a win MGM.

The world of viral marketing has become quite it’s own beast over the past five years. Many remember 2007′s Dark Knight viral marketing and how clowns took over dozens of cities in the U.S., and how the Cloverfield marketing had everybody stirring for weeks on what the movie was actually about. It looks like James Cameron and his team at Fox have now started up the viral machine for his newest film, Avatar.

The site, which is aptly named AVTR.com, follows the government program that puts humans into their AVATAR bodies, allowing them the edge they need to fight on the alien planet Pandora. AVTR.com is pretty bare-bones at this point, leaving us with some set designs of Pandora, a “recruiting” page where you can sign up for the program (or just a mailing list), a viral video convincing you to enlist, and links to the Twitter and Facebook.

As far as viral marketing goes, this site isn’t breaking ground. There is only one video on the page, and just because you throw some static at the beginning and end of a trailer, doesn’t make it “viral”. Fox hasn’t been the best at marketing to begin with, considering their work on X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li.

The attempt at going viral is only proof that gorilla or viral marketing shouldn’t be left in the hands of gigantic studios or companies like Coca-Cola. Instead, leave this side of movie promotion to independent studios and films like District 9 and Paranormal Activity.

With director Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 making just over $37 million at the domestic box office this weekend ($7 million more than the production budget), it only makes sense that the studio and crew would be gearing up to return to the project for more. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Blomkamp mentioned that he would love to return to the franchise in a sequel.

”I would do anything to go back to the world of District 9 again,” Director Neil Blomkamp says. ”Or District 10.”

It makes perfect sense for the studio to do a sequel as well, being both cheap to make and lucrative. Also, with the story, the Robocop-style ending leaves the film open for many directions, and possibly many more films. We are even guilty of comparing this film to last year’s Cloverfield in our review, but the film has a similar tone.

The difference in this situation is that Cloverfield ends with pretty much no room for a sequel, unless you were to tell the story again from a different point of view. This would work out in the D9 universe perfectly. No word yet on how or if this will effect production on Jackson and Blomkamp’s Halo film.

What would Comic-Con in San Diego be without some new things like posters dubuting during the Con? And what would Comic-Con be without something from Joss Whedon? Fortunately, we get to combine those two things into one right now by bringing you the brand new posters for Whedon’s upcoming film Cabin in the Woods, directly from the folks at MGM.

The film, written by Whedon and directed by Drew Goddard, is what could commonly be described as a horror/comedy, at least judging from the rather funny tag lines on the three posters. Still, as this film has been shrouded in secrecy, its not quite clear what the exact plot will be.

Fortunately, Whedon and Goddard have pretty good track records when it comes to bringing the action, the horror and the funny, so I’m pretty sure we will be in good hands here. Cabin in the Woods, which features Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford and Brian White, hits theaters in February 5, 2010.

Check out the full posters after the jump.

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Sony Pictures has released three new viral videos for Neil Blomkamp’s upcoming sci-fi drama District 9. The film, which is Exec. Produced by Peter Jackson, is one of the upcoming releases we’re really looking forward to here at The Flickcast. In these new videos, we’re given some more information about the aliens who inhabit the quarantined sector of District 9 and the men and women who keep watch on them to protect humanity.

I particularly like the fact that these videos are so well done and obviously indicate the care and attention being paid to the film by the filmmakers and the marketing team at Sony. They obviously feel they’ve got a winner on their hands — and I do to. Actually, I think District 9 will be this years Cloverfield and maybe even better. There, I said it.

Of course, I was one of the people who was skeptical when Peter Jackson initially thought Blomkamp was the right choice to direct the Halo movie, which as we know ended up going nowhere — at least not yet. Who knows, if District 9 does end up a huge success, we may see the Halo movie project resurrected.

Check out the three videos after the jump, courtesy of the folks at Trailer Addict. District 9 hits theaters on August 14.

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You’re writer/director Matt Reeves and you’ve just finished your first big monster movie for the next generation Cloverfield. The movie was pretty well received and ended up making a decent amount of money, which is good. Now, you’ve got to figure out what to do next. Apparently, according to the LA Times, it didn’t take Reeves very long to make that decision.

According to an interview with the paper, Reeves is gearing up to make an English language version of the Swedish vampire thriller Let the Right One In. The film, which is the story of a lonely 12-year-old boy who realizes the kind girl who moved in next door is actually a vampire, was shown to Reeves before it was released with the intent of gauging his interest in a remake. According to the paper, he had a lot of interest.

“I was just hooked,” Reeves said in the interview. “I was so taken with the story and I had a very personal reaction. It reminded me a lot of my childhood, with the metaphor that the hard times of your pre-adolescent, early adolescent moment, that painful experience is a horror.”

As for reaction from fans of the original film who are concerned about the “Americanization” of it? “There’s definitely people who have a real bull’s-eye on the film,” Reeves said in the interview, “and I can understand because of people’s’ love of the [original] film that there’s this cynicism that I’ll come in and trash it, when in fact I have nothing but respect for the film. I’m so drawn to it for personal and not mercenary reasons, my feeling about it is if I didn’t feel a personal connection and feel it could be its own film, I wouldn’t be doing it. I hope people give us a chance.”

Reeves recently finished a second draft of the script, now known as Let Me In, and is also scouting locations. He expects to begin filming later this year for a 2010 release.