Steven Soderbergh seems to have found his new Clooney, as Matt Damon has helped the man snag a #1 spot twice now with The Informant! and as of this weekend, Contagion.

Hard to believe a film about a virus wiping out the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, and Laurence Fishburne could bring in $25 million worldwide in the first weekend, but that’s just what it’s done. Not terrible, considering the film’s budget was a measly $60 million (most of which likely went to the ensemble cast).

Following up in the top 5, The Help finally got knocked from its #1 spot for the first time in 3 weeks and finally hit the $140 million mark. In third, another new release, as the “Rocky of UFC” movie, Warrior, opened to a quiet response, with only $5.6 million.

In fourth place, political thriller The Debt managed to drop off significantly from last week and only pull in an estimated $5 million this weekend.

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Since we first started getting casting news about Zack Snyder’s upcoming reboot/sequel to the Superman franchise titled Man of Steel, questions have been flying in from every direction about what the possible story could be.

With names like Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishburne, Diane Keaton, and Russell Crowe tying up the cast, we could only imagine how these A-listers would make their way into the film. The official synopsis has made its way onto the web, so maybe this will clear things up:

In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time. Clark Kent/Kal-El (Henry Cavill) is a young twentysomething journalist who feels alienated by powers beyond anyone’s imagination. Transported to Earth years ago from Krypton, an advanced alien planet, Clark struggles with the ultimate question – Why am I here?

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Coming on the heels of some rather eyebrow-raising news that Laurence Fishburne has been cast as Perry White, Warner Bros. is making sure you stay excited about their newest Superman film, Man of Steel, with a brand new pic of star Henry Cavill in the super suit.

The film, directed by Sucker Punch visionary Zack Snyder, is said to be a fresh new take on the classic Superman tale, while finally giving us the Superman that we have wanted in theaters for decades. Now that just about the entire cast is in place, here’s the official press release from WB:

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures have provided the first look at the new “Man of Steel,” revealing star Henry Cavill as Superman in the film from director Zack Snyder. The film also stars three-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams (“The Fighter”) as Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane, and Oscar nominee Laurence Fishburne (“What’s Love Got to Do with It”) as her editor-in-chief, Perry White. Starring as Clark Kent’s adoptive parents, Martha and Jonathan Kent, are Oscar nominee Diane Lane (“Unfaithful”) and Academy Award winner Kevin Costner (“Dances with Wolves”).

Squaring off against the superhero are two other surviving Kryptonians, the villainous General Zod, played by Oscar nominee Michael Shannon (“Revolutionary Road”), and Faora, Zod’s evil partner, played by Antje Traue. Also from Superman’s native Krypton are Lara Lor-Van, Superman’s mother, played by Julia Ormond, and Superman’s father, Jor-El, portrayed by Academy Award winner Russell Crowe (“Gladiator”).

Check out the full sized image of Cavill ripping apart a bank vault after the jump. Keep an eye out as more Man of Steel info and photos hit the web soon.

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As a journalist, it becomes daunting to constantly report on a film with a “WTF?” attitude, but that’s exactly the reaction we have every time we get casting news about Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman reboot/sequel, titled Man Of Steel.

With the exception of Michael Shannon and the lead Henry Cavill, every other piece of casting news has been quite questionable for a film like Superman. Between Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Diane Lane as Martha Kent, how much weirder could this film get? How about Matrix star Laurence Fishburne as Daily Planet Editor-in-Chief Perry White? That’s right. EW has the scoop.

The casting resolves the question of what Laurence would be up to following his departure this May from CBS’ long-running CSI after just over two seasons. (Ted Danson will take Fishburne’s place on the show this fall.)

White has traditionally been a hard-charging, old fashioned newspaperman, who relies on his ace reporters, Clark and Lois, to get the big scoop. Jackie Cooper played White in the Christopher Reeve-era Superman films, and Frank Langella took on the role in director Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns in 2006.

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Even though he’s said he’s going to retire from film directing soon, that hasn’t stopped Steven Soderbergh from continuing to make some pretty great films. From his first effort Sex, Lies and Videotape through one of my favorites The Limey, the Oceans 11 trilogy, Traffic and more he’s constantly demonstrated his skills as a storyteller.

This time around he’s turned his attention to something that scares the crap out of many people: a virus that can kill all humans. In his latest film Contagion, Soderbergh tells the story of a virus that mutates quickly and starts killing the world’s population faster than we can find a way to stop it.

The film features an amazing ensemble cast including Matt Damon, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Marianne Cotillard, Kate Winslet, John Hawkes and Gwyneth Paltrow who, sadly, doesn’t seem to have a happhy ending in this one. We’ve got the brand new trailer for the film to share with you right here.

Gotta say this looks pretty good. Also, it looks pretty scary.

Check out Contagion on September 9th. See the trailer after the break.

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Hard to believe it took this long as it seems most every movie arrives on Blu-ray quickly these days but director John Singleton’s Boyz N The Hood is finally getting the HD treatment. It will be released on July 19th by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

for those of you not familiar with the film (although, not sure how that’s possible), Boyz N The Hood is “the critically acclaimed story of three friends growing up in a South Central Los Angeles neighborhood, and of street life where friendship, pain, danger and love combine to form reality.”

It also features some career-launching performances by Cuba Gooding, Jr., Ice Cube and Morris Chestnut as well as great turns by Lawrence Fishburne and Angela Bassett. The Blu-ray will include a host of special features such as Director’s Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Audition Videos featuring Ice Cube, Angela Bassett and Morris Chestnut.

In addition, the Blu-ray will also include the documentaries “The Enduring Significance of Boyz N the Hood,” “Friendly Fire: Making Of An Urban Legend” and the music video from Compton’s Most Wanted called “Growin’ Up in the Hood.”

This movie spawned the careers of many actors and helped propel Singleton into the top echelon of directors. Sadly, he hasn’t done as well with his career as some of his actors. Who knows, perhaps he and Cuba Gooding, Jr. will get together and make another movie? It might help both of their careers.

Among my favorite movies, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now ranks very high. It’s a brilliant and disturbing look at war and its effect on the men who fight it. Plus, it’s full of great performances from an amazing cast, action and also makes you think. What more could you ask from a film?

Nothing, really, except for all of the film’s brilliance and cinematic power, it never got the Blu-ray release it deserved. But now, it seems, that’s going to be remedied as Lionsgate is releasing the film on Blu-ray. Not only will the film be on Blu-ray, the release will come in two different versions, the standard and “full disclosure” edition, which will contain a host of impressive features.

Among these are both versions of the film, never seen before interviews with Coppola and other involved in the production, production stills, script notes, the Hearts of Darkness documentary and so much more. For the full list of features in both editions, check out the full press release after the jump.

Also, be sure to check out the Blu-ray trailer for the film after the jump as well. The Apocalypse Now Blu-ray will hit store shelves on October 19th.

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Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something interesting. Otherwise, on to the links!

• The Fantastic Four reboot is still happening, and now with a completely CG Thing.

• We can’t wait for Stone’s Social Network, but these parody posters are pretty damned entertaining as well.

• Because we love lists, Adult Swim brings us a list of the Most Invasive Surgeries on the network. Mind you, this is before Children’s Hospital aired.

• Leonardo DiCaprio has passed on Mel Gibson’s viking picture. We can only imagine what that phone call sounded like.

• Want do get women like Don Draper? The Mad Men School of Seduction can help.

• The second half of Caprica‘s first season gets a trailer, and it looks pretty cool.

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While its 1987 predecessor Predator took its sweet time setting up the action, Predators starts off at breakneck speed, with a man hurtling through air,  frantically trying to get his parachute open.  The wind whips around him, and as he plummets toward a certain death, he appears to be a goner.

Of course, at the last second, he gets it to open, and it breaks his fall enough to allow him to survive.  All around him, other people are falling out of the sky, but some of them are not as lucky,  and die upon impact. It’s a thrilling action sequence, and immediately sets this film apart from the original.

The first thirty minutes of this movie has a distinct Lost-like vibe to it. The survivors start rounding up one another, and it becomes apparent that nobody knows how they got to this jungle, or where they are.  One man even asserts that they must be in hell.

They discover that they are all combatants of some sort.  Most are military mercenary types, one is wearing a prison jumper, and one claimed he worked for a drug cartel.   It’s a bad-ass assortment of individuals, that much is true.

Everyone has landed with appropriate weaponry and ammunition strapped to their bodies.  The lone exception is Edwin, a bookworm type who claims he is a doctor, and seems woefully out of his element among the soldiers.

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I have to admit that we were all pretty excited to hear about the Robert Rodriguez reboot of the Predator franchise known as Predators and directed by Nimrod Antal. Sure, the original Predator has a lot going for it, including such memorable Arnold Schwarzeneggar lines as “Get to the chopper!” and “You are one ugly motherf***er.” Still, with all that great stuff, a new movie with even more awesome predator action could be a good thing.

In the past we’ve brought you some cool info about this new Predators film including casting info and the first look at the trailer. Now, curtesy of the fine folks at CinemaBlend, we’ve got a new featurette to share with you today.

I admit I was a bit skeptical about Adrian Brody and his ability to be a convincing action hero. But after seeing the recent trailer and now this new video, I’ve changed my mind and think he will be able to pull it off. After all, he’s a gifted actor who should be able to play pretty much any role so fighting predators should be a walk in the park, er, jungle for him.

Judge for yourself and check out the featurette after the jump. Predators hits theaters on July 9th. What do you guys think? Does Brody make a convincing action star?

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Last week during Austin’s South By Southwest film festival, producer and co-writer Robert Rodriguez unveiled the first footage from his upcoming film, Predators. We got to see lots of chatter from the cast, including stars Adrien Brody and Laurence Fishburne. Unfortunately, there was very little seen of the titular alien race.

Now, a brand new trailer has hit the web, this time giving us just the right amount of violence, Predators, and Danny Trejo that we could possibly ask for. The new film is set as a reboot/prequel to the original Predator franchise, which first gave geek-cred to stars like Schwarzenegger, Danny Glover, and Gary Busey.

Check out the official trailer after the jump, and be sure to catch Nimron Antal’s Predators, starring Topher Grace, Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo, and Alice Braga, in theaters on July 7th.

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Even with SXSW Film being just over a week away, more events are still being added to the already impressive program. This time around it was revealed today that Robert Rodriguez and Director Nimród Antal will present a “first look” at their upcoming movie Predators during the fest, which is a reboot of the film originally starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Said Rodriguez about the event: “My director Nimród Antal and I are excited to bring this first look at Predators to Austin’s SXSW Film Festival, an event that’s become vital to the filmmaking scene. Austin is my home and I’m proud that Predators was conceived and filmed here.”

In addition, it was also announced that the world premiere of Géla Babluani’s 13 would take place during SXSW as the previously announced Super Secret TBA screening. The event is part of the SX Fantastic midnight section.

The Predators “first look” will take place on Friday, March 12th at the Alamo Ritz Theater in Downtown Austin at 10:15pm and will also include a Q&A session after the event. The screening of 13 will take place at Midnight on Saturday, March 13 at the Alamo South Lamar Theater. We advise getting in line early for both of these events.

Also, be sure to check back here at The Flickcast for our extensive coverage of this years SXSW Fest.

For more info on these events, check out the full press release after the jump.

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