It’s a grab bag of items on the radar this week. Wolverine and Sabretooth have dinner together, Bruno himself could be the next Man in Black, and in honor of The Flickcast crew attending SXSW some Predators love (of which they may get a taste).

Predators get dark and scary…finally!

Robert Rodriquez’s Predator reboot, Predators, is starting to get some buzz.  While the first film of the series was a great sci-fi/action hybrid subsequent films have been less than stellar.  Predators star, Alice Braga talked a little about the new film and what we can expect:

“The new Predators are dark. They are really, really scary. So I think the fans are really going to be happy with it. I hope so. The director Nimród Antal, he’s a fan of the Predator films. So it’s like a fan directing this, [it was] like a kid on set, and having that energy was very special. I wish I could tell you more.”

Here’s hoping “dark” and “scary” means an R-rated film and not a watered down PG-13 movie.

Conan will square off against Avatar villain

As an update to our last ‘On The Radar’ article, it has now been confirmed that actor Stephen Lang will indeed play Conan’s villain, Khalar Singh.  Speaking with MTV, Lang stated:

“I have no idea how I’m going to do it,” Lang laughed. “First I’m going to find out how I’m going to sound. I’m going to get back on a Mongolian pony and ride like the wind. I’m going to flash my scimitar. I’m going to cut the nuts off Conan and his father.”

That last threat may seem really out there, but after seeing Lang’s bad ass side in Avatar I have no doubt he can make good on it.

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Building on the success of Avatar, the seemingly everywhere Sam Worthington has apparently already picked his next role: Dracula. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Worthington is currently in negotiations to star in director Alex Proyas’ vampire epic Dracula Year Zero for Universal and producer Michael De Luca.

The film, written by Matt Sazama and Buck Sharpless, will explore the origins of Dracula and his ties to Vlad the Impaler. It will reportedly portray the titular vampire as both demonic evil and tragic, flawed hero. The film currently has no start date and is still in development.

As a fan of Proyas’ previous work with The Crow and Dark City, I’m hopeful his take on Dracula will be equally as visually compelling and also feature interesting characters and situations. That said, the movie does sound a lot like Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 version of Dracula, which featured Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder.

As for Worthington, I’m still not convinced that he’s the “next big thing” even as studios shove him in our faces more and more. I just don’t find him that interesting. No matter what, I guess we’ll find out how he handles Dracula when this film eventually hits theaters.

The Book of Eli is an overly stylized movie that takes itself way too seriously, features hammy acting and laughable dialogue.  You could drive an eighteen-wheeler through its gaping plot holes, but despite all this, I rather enjoyed the film. If I’m going to have to eat some cheese, this is the type of movie I prefer to dole out my rations.

Brothers Allen and Arthur Hughes (From Hell, Menace II Society) are the directors of the post-apocalyptic tale of Eli (Denzel Washington), who traverses a bombed out tundra while traveling westward with a precious undisclosed cargo. For the first 20 minutes or so, The Book of Eli looked to be an exact retread of The Road, which was just out in theaters a few months ago.

The movies share the exact same vision of a dystopian future. Color is bleached from the scenery, light ash appears to constantly fall, and all humans are bedraggled, filthy, and desperate. Both films feature cannibalism as a major threat to their protagonists, and both show how precious throw-away commodities from modern society become in this world.

Cigarette lighters and individual wet wipes from KFC are bartering fare, not money. If you are a shoe whore, you should be set, because apparently shoes are one of the most valuable and hard to come by possessions when everyone has to walk everywhere.

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Charles Dickens purists, fear not. Robert Zemeckis remains faithful to the beloved tale, all the while putting his own spin on the story. This version is a little more exciting,  and a lot more sinister than previous outings (it also happens to be in 3D),  but I loved it.

I don’t think I really need to spend much time on the plot. Everyone knows the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, the original curmudgeon who hates everyone and everything and is just downright unpleasant. One Christmas Eve, he is visited by four ghosts;  his former business partner Marley;  the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas future.

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Chris and Matt have been back from Comic-Con for a few days now and have had time for a little reflection about the Con, its highlights, lowlights and what it all means. Joined by special guest Elisabeth Rappe, the three try to explain the magic of the Con, its shortcomings, what they loved and hated about it and why you never, ever, piss off Gary Oldman.

The three also make their picks of favorite moments from the Con and talk about what the Con can do better to make it more enjoyable for attendees and exhibitors alike. Its a no-holds barred hour of discussion that leaves no topic unturned. If you missed the Con or even if you did attend and just want to make more sense of it, you don’t want to miss this.

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

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According to Gary Oldman, the next installment of the Batman franchise will begin filming next year. The news was broken at the Book of Eli panel this morning, according to Coming Soon. When a fan asked him about a follow up to last year’s smash hit The Dark Knight, Oldman replied, “We start shooting next year. You didn’t hear that from me.”

This is huge news, as we had previously reported that Nolan wasn’t even sure they had a story for Batman 3. And while we won’t know for sure until Nolan or Warner Brothers confirms the announcement, this is huge news for Batman fans everywhere.

With the rise of alien movies only shadowed by the rise of family CGI-animated films, it only made sense to do yet another family CGI-animated movie about aliens, right? With that said, Planet 51 is a backwards version of conventional alien invasion movies from the 60s, where this time a human astronaut lands on an alien planet, only to be considered a hostile creature, and hilarity insues.

The film stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who doesn’t sound like himself at all. It’s almost as if he’s effecting his voice for the character, which means he must not know how to voice an animated movie (YOU control the character, the character doesn’t control you!). Also along for the ride is Jessica Biel, Justin Long, and Gary Oldman. The film has everything a 6-12 year old will love: screaming, someone falling on their genitals, and a cute robot dog that pees when it’s scared. Check out the trailer after the jump.

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Over at USA Today they’ve posted the first pictures from the Denzel Washington starrer The Book of Eli. In case you’re not familiar, the film, which is directed by The Hughes Brothers and co-stars Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman, Ray Stephenson and Jennifer Beals, concerns a man who’s fighting his way across a post-apocalyptic America to protect a book that hold the key to saving humanity.

In addition to the photos, USA Today also posted some questions and answers with the film’s directors. Some of the tidbits that the brothers reveal include the fact that Washington shed 55 pounds for his role in the film and that shooting conditions in Albuquerque, New Mexico were less than ideal, but did provide a great location that really helped enhance the depiction of post-apocalyptic America.

“You occasionally ask yourself why you’re shooting a movie in these conditions,” says Allen Hughes, who co-directs the film with his brother Albert, in the article. “When the wind is really blowing, it looks like the earth is meeting the sky. It looks like the end of the world.”

The desolate landscape also helped set the mood of the film as well. “We had one scene where Denzel had to kill off one of his enemies,” said Albert Hughes in the article. “Right after he kills the guy, a little dust storm picks up and blows right over them. It was eerie. We’re going to have people thinking an effect was computer-generated, when really it was just from shooting out here.”

The Book of Eli hits theaters January 15, 2010. Check out the larger version of all the pictures after the jump.

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