This week we’re pleased to have guest reviewer Jane Almirall join us at The Flickcast. Here’s her review of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief — Editor

Until very recently, I hadn’t even heard of Percy Jackson.  I have not read any of the books and managed to not read or see anything about the movie until I saw the film trailer a few weeks ago. Now, having seen the film, an adaptation based on The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, I couldn’t help but notice similarities between Percy Jackson and another literary figure who has successfully segued onto the big screen.

I am speaking, of course, of Harry Potter.  Both young men resemble one another physically, grew up with absent (or dead) fathers and struggle to find acceptance within the context of the real world. Each discovers at a young age that they are powerful and special and are introduced to a magical world in which they are especially gifted and (for the most part) are made to feel welcome.  Both Harry and Percy are accompanied on their adventures by their two best friends – a boy and a girl.

That Percy Jackson & the Olympians:  The Lightning Thief is directed by Chris Columbus, who also helmed the first two – and my least favorite - Harry Potter films (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), is bound to invite comparisons between the two series – in which Percy Jackson will certainly fall short.

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With Avatar getting nine Academy Award nominations yesterday, it seemed to put the final nail in the coffin for any films on the bubble between 2D and 3D. Word is now coming in that Warner Bros. has confirmed both Clash of the Titans and the final two Harry Potter films will be in 3D.

This isn’t that big of a deal for the Potter films, but unfortunately sets the entire marketing plan for Titans upside down. This news means that the studio has to go back and convert the original film stock into something that can handle 3D, while still looking state-of-the art.

This conversion will set the release date of Clash of the Titans back to April 2nd, from it’s original date of March 26th. The studio seems convinced that this is the best plan of action, according to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:

“We are experienced and have been successful in the conversion of 2D to 3D going back to such hits as ‘The Polar Express,’ select scenes in ‘Superman Returns’ and the last two Harry Potter films,” Warners domestic distribution boss Dan Fellman said.

“We’re excited about 3D and look forward to bringing a rich, involving visual experience to audiences around the world,” Warners film group president Jeff Robinov said.

The production on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2 are still ongoing, which means that the respective release dates of November 19th and July 15th, 2011 will probably remain unchanged.

With the screen adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows getting split into two films, the first of which hits theaters next November, we’re just now getting a glimpse at the first scenes from the film.

The book was claimed to be too epic in size by Warner Bros. to be released as one film, so it will be split between two films on November 19 of 2010 and July 15 of 2011. This is the final chapter in the book’s series, and according to IMDb, the premise alone is pretty heavy.

Voldemort’s power is growing stronger. He now has control over the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to finish Dumbledore’s work and find the rest of the Horcruxes to defeat the Dark Lord. But little hope remains for them, so everything they do must go as planned.

Check out the first featurette and teaser for the film after the jump, in which producer David Heyman and director David Yates discuss working on the project. The next films also star John Hurt (Alien, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) reprising his role as Mr. Ollivander.

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With New Moon making over $230 million in the US and nearly $500 million worldwide, it was only a matter of time before the studio decided to try and milk the franchise for even more, and you really can’t blame them. There are two more books left in Stephenie Meyer’s series, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.

The film adaptation for Eclipse was shot alongside New Moon, Donner and Jackson style, and will hit theaters next year. Now it looks like Summit Entertainment will be splitting Breaking Dawn into two separate films. Some may or may not know what goes down in Meyer’s final book, but things get pretty intense.

In nearly 800 pages, the entire story gets tossed on it’s head, with characters falling in love with offspring, and a few more characters dying off. It makes sense to split a book that large into two films, in order to stay true to the source.

This strategy isn’t completely unheard of in Hollywood. The most recent example would be J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter films. The final book was 759 pages long (4 more than Breaking Dawn) and will be split into two films, one to be released in November of 2010, and the second in July of 2011.

Breaking Dawn won’t get a release until well into 2011, but before then Eclipse will be in theaters on June 30, 2010.

This week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt welcome special guest Shannon Hood and launch into a whole slew of new topics including the rise of fangirl power, the huge success of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the relative merits of Sandra Bullock and her film The Blind Side, some more interesting Thor casting news, what holiday movies they are looking forward to seeing, how the entertainment business is changing, and needs to change more, to stay competitive and a whole lot more.

Chris, Matt and Shannon also made some cool picks this week including Shannon’s pick of The Road, Matt’s pick of the new British series Misfits and Chris’ pick of the recent Blu-ray release of J.J. Abrams Star Trek.

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.

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If you’re one of the millions waiting impatiently to catch a glimpse at James Cameron’s Avatar, then you may want to clear your schedule. Starting next Monday (August 17th) you’ll be able to get a free ticket for an 16-minute IMAX trailer on August 21. From The Hollywood Reporter:

The extended trailer, featuring an on-camera intro by director James Cameron, hits 101 Imax venues in the U.S. and Canada on Aug. 21 in a promo push announced at the recent Comic-Con International confab in San Diego. On the same date, theaters worldwide will begin showing more conventional 2D and 3D “Avatar” trailers.

Last time on on The Flickcast, your favorite trio discussed topics include Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern, Natalie Portman in Thor, AMC’s reboot of the classic The Prisoner TV series, the potential Smallville Superman movie and much much more!

This week, Chris and Matt go it alone and jump into full Comic-Con preview mode to discuss all the great things coming up at the Con like the Twilight Zone movie, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, the Tron reboot, Willem Dafoe in John Carter of Mars, Torchwood: Children of Earth and how fun it is to say the word “Hufflepuff” while doing a British accent.

Chris and Matt also made some picks this week including Matt’s pick of Justice League: New Frontier and Chris’ pick of the novel A Princess of Mars, the first book in Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter of Mars series.

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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In the world of young adult fantasy, you could make the argument that Harry Potter, and his cinematic incarnation Daniel Radcliffe, still reign supreme. However, in recent years, another young man has made great strides up that hill of tween fandom and has become a major player and a force to be reckoned with. I’m talking, of course, about Twilight’s Edward Cullen, as played by Robert Pattinson.

So, who’s more popular? Who do thirteen-year-old girls love more? Its hard to say. But one thing you can say about these two actors is that they don’t seem to like each others movies very much — at least according to this video from last night’s Jimmy Fallon Show.

Even with all the apparent bad feelings, rest assured both franchises will still be around for many years to come. Because no matter what actors, critics or the man on the street feels about a movie, the fact that both franchises make a ton of money is enough to insure their continued presence on bookstore shelves, in theaters and in the hearts of fans everywhere.

Check it out after the jump.

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Warning: This review CONTAINS SPOILERS. Seriously. Don’t read if you haven’t seen the movie or read the books.

I grew up with Harry Potter. Alongside him, is more appropriate actually. I picked up the first book from Barnes and Noble at the age of 9, and I remember the anticipation as each book came out. Each midnight release as my friend Emma’s mom, Ann, bought us root beers and cookies at the Barnes and Noble café while we trooped around in big rimmed glasses with lightning bolt scars drawn on our heads, awaiting 12 AM when the book would finally be in our hands.

As Harry grew and adventured and experienced, I did too. I felt the pangs of first love, the loss of old friends, the joys of new ones with a fictional character who was as real as anything to me. As I read the seventh and final book cover to cover last year, I felt like a piece of my childhood was gone. I was finally grown up.

The movie franchise, however I might feel about them, has been a bit backwards. As each film has been released I’ve been less and less excited. I thought they started out splendidly. I remember tearing up in the theater at the age of thirteen when I heard Sir Richard Harris mutter the line, “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” I was terrified of the basilisk, and in love with Kenneth Branaugh as Gilderoy Lockhart. But as the kids grew up in the films and the CGI was relied on more and more, the magic was slowly lost for me. Especially in Movie 5, Order of the Phoenix.

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Back in 2001, legendary director of “family friendly” films Chris Columbus teamed up with Warner Bros. to bring the works of J.K. Rowling to the silver screen with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. They managed to do so with such amazing prestige and results that the rest of the films were sure to follow in line. This trend stayed true for a few more years with Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban. The movies were getting better and darker as the titular character grew older. Sadly, with the latest installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the only thing the audience gets this time is awkward emotions and a sense of loss.

With The Half-Blood Prince, which is based on the sixth book in the Harry Potter series, the viewer is treated differently. Rather than open their minds to a secret world of magic and wizardry, they are already inundated with such things We have all just gotten over the loss of Harry’s “uncle”, Sirius Black, and the very first battle is waged between good and evil. This movie should carry on the excitement and those feelings, right? Sadly, not in this case.

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