World War Z is probably the most solid zombie flick we’re going to get for a while. The characters are well-defined, the acting is better than it needs to be, the look is good, and the story is constructed as a pretty compelling mystery. That’s both a plus and a minus for the film. The detective aspect is an innovative take on a genre that already has, within its endless sub-genres, the romantic comedy (this year’s Warm Bodies), and the movie wastes no time getting straight to it. On the other hand, its commitment to the mystery narrative makes the action sequences feel like they were brought over from another movie.

When Gerry (Brad Pitt), the ex-UN agent (his original job function is never made explicitly clear) gets a lead that takes him to Israel, he meets up with an official who apparently foresaw the zombie outbreak and constructed a massive wall around Jerusalem. The guy’s reasoning is simple: “We ignored warning signs before and suffered because of it, this time, I figured, ‘What the Hell?'”

As soon as Gerry’s finished asking questions, someone in the crowd starts performing an impromptu song. No reason, just because. And the static from her microphone alerts the zombies outside the city, who form a massive pile and (SPOILER, though it’s in the trailer) spill out over the wall and overtake the city.

Despite a divided reception among fans and critics, Prometheus still managed to be a mild financial success for Fox this summer. So much so that the studio is actively working on a sequel to the prequel-ish film.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned directly from Fox that the potential continuation of this new branch of the Alien universe is in go mode:

Scott and the studio actively are pushing ahead with a follow-up (stars Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace are signed) and are talking to new writers because Prometheus co-scribe Damon Lindelof might not be available. “Ridley is incredibly excited about the movie, but we have to get it right. We can’t rush it,”… A Prometheus sequel would be released in 2014 or 2015.

People give Fox a lot of gruff for how they have been handling their genre franchises in the last decade, but recently they have shown a commitment to those franchises that goes beyond the new standard of reboot. It is almost refreshing to see a studio stubbornly standing behind the good and bad of what came before.

In the case of Prometheus, even though some people didn’t like the film, few people disagree that heady sci-fi like that should be encouraged. So this news is met with cautious optimism, if for no other reason than the hope that we get the definitive Fassbender as a decapitated head film.

Keep it tuned to The Flickcast for any new updates on Prometheus 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Max Brooks’ World War Z is a masterpiece of modern zombie fiction. Successfully merging the traditional zombie tropes with a grand scale and an eerie realism that makes the story of the great Zombie War come alive. So at the height of Zombie popularity it is a natural that the book would be getting the big screen treatment.

On the surface everything seemed good for the film, it had a major movie star, a solid director and studio support. Yet something happened along the way, the movie started to fall apart. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that the studio is bringing in some help try to right the ship:

Screenwriter Damon Lindelof has been brought in to save Paramount’s zombie movie World War Z… Its release has been pushed from December 2012 to June, 21 2013, and is awaiting significant reshoots. Lindelof, the Lost co-creator and co-author of Ridley Scott and Fox’s Prometheus, is said to be focusing on World War Z’s third act. The production hopes to begin reshoots in September or October.

The book has a pretty non-film friendly structure so it is no surprise that they are having difficulty on the writing end of things. It is just unfortunate that the problems are only just now being addressed after the main production and not much earlier in the process. Linedlof is a big idea guy, so hopefully he can crack the code.

The Flickcast will retain optimism on the project, keep posted for any new updates as they develop.

He may have his hands in half a dozen TV projects, and Zach Quinto may want to quit acting, but that isn’t stopping J.J. Abrams from continuing in his reimagined world of Star Trek with a second film.

First, Abrams announces that he wants She’s Out of My League starlet Alice Eve to have a juicy role in the upcoming sequel. This is the first hard confirmation of new casting news, seeing as the deal with Benicio del Toro has yet to solidify. From Variety.

As is common with Abrams, secrecy has surrounded the pic since the helmer officially announced he would be back — including which characters the new actors will play. Sources say Eve’s character is new to the “Star Trek” universe, unlike del Toro, would insiders believe will be playing someone familiar to Trekkies.

As if that isn’t juicy enough for all you diehards out there, an official date has also been announced, which will make it hard for actors like Quinto to continue to drag their heals.

As one of the great modern TV writers of the current time, Damon Lindelof has certainly gotten into the hearts and minds of science fiction fans everywhere with both LOST and several other projects with J.J. Abrams. That coveted spot didn’t come without work, however, and that’s just what we have today.

Back before the show was a hit, Lindelof wrote a short play about a young time traveling boy genius and his awkward dinner with Nazis who were setting out to kill him and his family. The screenplay was then turned into a short last year, and had some pretty impressive guest appearances. Here’s the premise:

When Dade Klublershturf (Samm Levine) brings home his new girlfriend Daniella (Rachel Nichols), it’s as awkward as you’d expect any meet-the-parents dinner to be. However, events take an unexpected turn when Dade’s brother Ollie (Super 8‘s Zach Mills) reveals that Daniella, along with a couple of other last-minute dinner guests (Chris Hemsworth and Norman Reedus) are actually secret Nazis trying to steal Ollie’s time travel machine for sinister purposes. Jack Axelrod, Lainie Kazan, and George Segal also star.

Check out the full short after the jump, in all of it’s dialogue-heavy drama, and be sure to comment below as to how you can see why showrunning partner Carlton Cuse decided to pick up this young writer Lindelof after a simple play about a dinner party.

As if yesterday wasn’t a big enough day for trailers, between Green Lantern, Your Highness, and Red Riding Hood, but it looks like the best was yet to come, as the first trailer for Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens, starring both Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, hits the web.

Based on the 2006 graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, the story is both classic and awesome. Here’s the official synopsis.

1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger (Craig) with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don’t welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford).

It’s a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation.

As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he’s been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella (Olivia Wilde), he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents–townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors–all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.

Check out the full trailer after the jump and check out Cowboys & Aliens in theaters on July 29th.

This week on The Flickcast Chris and Matt are joined once again by recurring guest host Elisbeth Rappe. This time around the trio takes on a handful of new and returning topics including the Lost series finale, finales of other TV shows like 24, what it takes to produce a weekly television program, news on various upcoming feature film projects and a whole lot more.

The trio also makes some great picks this week including Elisabeth’s pick of Captain Ron, another film featuring Kurt Russell with an eye patch, Matt’s pick of the Michael Cera starrer Youth in Revolt and Chris’ pick of the 1960 Stanley Kubrick classic Spartacus.

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.

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For those of you who watched last night’s 2 and a half hour Lost finale, you know that these things happened (spoiler free): We get some kind of finality for some of the characters, but we still have plenty of unanswered questions about the mysteries of the island.

It turns out that even though writer/creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse still got 2.5 hours (not to mention two hours of recap and a special farewell episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live), they still had more story to tell. In fact, they have roughly 20 minutes more. And no, as funny as they are, those Jimmy Kimmel alternate endings don’t count.

In an attempt to keep you invested even longer, Lindelof and Cuse are giving you the answers you’ve waited 6 years for. To get them, you only have to wait 3 more months.

Said to be attached to the upcoming DVD and Blu-Ray release of the complete series is an additional 20 or so minutes of content that didn’t make it into the series finale. This will allegedly give us answers to questions about the light in the tunnel, as well as finally give us the name of the Man in Black.

Be sure to keep your eyes out for marketing, as Lost: The Complete Collection comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray on August 25th.

In case you’ve been living under a rock or, perhaps, on an island somewhere, you are probably aware that ABC’s Lost finally came to a conclusion last night. The show’s series finale met with a whole range of feelings, opinions and emotions which is often the case when shows with a rabid and outspoken fan base come to an end.

Whatever your feeling about the ending, audiences everywhere most likely will have their own opinions and would offer their own alternative scenarios as to how the ending should have gone. The shows executive producers, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, are no exception. Even though they finally settled on an ending for the show, they also had several alternative endings in mind prior to making their final decision.

Fortunately, through the miracles of modern technology and The Jimmy Kimmel Show, we are able to bring you those alternative ending right here. So, sit back, relax and experience what might have been after the jump.

Now that we’re counting down to the finale of Lost in just hours, it’s fair to say that everybody is throwing their hat into the ring of Lost fanaticism. Jimmy Kimmel is at the top of that list with new Lost material just about every night, and he’ll have even more as he hosts a final goodbye to the cast in a special episode Sunday night.

In the meantime, he’s still cranking out some pretty solid skits and packages with some great cameo appearances by actors from the show. We already brought you a hilarious clip of the Parker Bros’ version of the game that Jacob and the Man in Black play, and now Jimmy explains how Jacob (Mark Pellegrino) has touched his life.

Check out the clip after the jump of when Jacob visited a young Jimmy Kimmel in high school, and be sure to keep an eye on ABC starting at 7pm EST Sunday night, as the block of Lost and Jimmy Kimmel Live will be enough to satisfy even the biggest of Lost fanatics.