Skimming close to a billion dollars worldwide after a mere 14 days, Marvel, Disney and Paramount are proving that you can indeed make a movie mashup with other characters and pull it off. With that in mind, and that massive payroll coming into the Marvel Studios bank account, you had better believe there are already plans for a sequel to The Avengers.

Deadline has the official quote:

Disney CEO Bob Iger just announced that the company is developing a sequel. The film’s success “is a great illustration of why we like Marvel so much.” Demand for Avengers merchandise has been strong, he added.

While there is no official word, you can expect that Disney is courting Joss Whedon to return to the pen and/or direct for the second film, but we all know it’s going to be a bit far out. The next batch of sequels you can expect to take off will be Shane Black’s Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger.

I may be in the minority here but I don’t find Sacha Baron Cohen all that funny. His previous films including Bruno and Borat, did little for me and seemed pretty one-note.

However, my feelings on the subject don’t seem to prevent Cohen from getting more work. He’s currently filming Quentin Taratntino’s Django Unchained as one of the cast and also has his latest writing/starring effort The Dictator hitting theaters soon.

To get you ready fo the film’s release, We’ve got the first scene from The Dictator to share with you today. In it we get a good look at just who Cohen’s character, the evil but misunderstood General Aladeen, is.

Check it out after the break. Look for The Dictator in theaters on May 16.

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Stephen Sommers first GI Joe film was a spectacular miss. It had a lot of the right elements in place, but they just failed to come together in any meaningful way. Thankfully some one still sees the potential in what direction Sommers was taking the franchise.

The sequel GI Joe: Retaliation is on the way and it looks like it excised many of the original movie’s problems, as well as many of the original movie’s characters. Here is the official synopsis:

In this sequel, the G.I. Joes are not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence.

Notice how that synopsis is not very long? This film looks to not be burdened by over complicated plots, and as the new trailer suggests it instead relies on some potentially awesome action. GI Joe works best as a franchise when the action is first and foremost.

In addition to better action the film also boasts a much improved cast, anchored by Dwayne ‘The Rock’  Johnson, who typically excels in these types of roles, and Bruce Willis who is Brice Willis.

Check out the full new trailer after the jump.

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The rebooted Star Trek was a massive success. I walked the fine line of total restart and series continuation and ended up with a totally familiar, but all together new universe for us to explore. One of the first new explorations into this new universe will be the upcoming Star Trek game.

The game, which was announced at last year’s E3, is currently slated for an early 2013 release date. For those unfamiliar with the upcoming game here is what we know:

Star Trek continues the story from the recent J.J. Abrams film. Players take control of Kirk and Spock in what is being called an “unprecedented co-op experience.” 

“Star Trek challenges the boundaries of co-op gameplay with a galactic adventure that gamers and fans have never experienced,” said Tom Lesinski, President of Paramount Digital Entertainment. 

The new teaser doesn’t give much up on the ‘unprecedented co-op’, but it does showcase a very pretty looking game that should have Trek fans everywhere eager to play. Alongside this new teaser were three new concept art pieces that give some clue to the types of environments we should be expecting in the new game.

You can check out the new teaser and the concept art after the jump.

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There are few franchises that garner the fan support quite like Star Trek. Trekkies, or Trekkers to some, are a loyal group of fans who have embraced the franchise in it’s many incarnations. Most of the stars of the shows and movies become fixtures at Star Trek conventions, but never before have the five television Captains appeared together onstage at a convention.

Well according to a Reuters report that is all about to change in London:

Organizers for “Destination Star Trek London” said on Monday that their fan convention would be the first official “Star Trek” live event in the UK for 10 years.

To mark the occasion, actors William Shatner (Captain Kirk), Sir Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Avery Brooks (Commander Sisko), Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) and Scott Bakula (Captain Archer), who have commanded operations in each of their respective series based on the iconic TV franchise that began in 1966, will appear on stage together.

Recently William Shatner wrote and directed a documentary called The Captains, where he tracked down and interviewed each of the Trek captains. If the gathering in London is half as intriguing as that was this will be a tremendous experience. There is a really compelling allure to the idea of these iconic actors coming together to discuss the roles that came to define most of them (Bakula being the notable exception, he will always be Dr. Sam Beckett first).

Hopefully this event will be recorded and made available for those of us who can’t make it to London for this rare occasion. If for no other reason than to see what that kooky Avery Brooks will do live on stage.

Chris Pine rode a pretty big wave in the wake of Star Trek. He has great on screen presence, looks like a leading man and can even be pretty funny. So he started to pile up some more potential franchises to lead, one of which was a new Jack Ryan movie.

Jack Ryan, for those of who who don’t remember, is the hero of the Tom Clancy novels that were the basis of The Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games, and The Sum of All Fears. He was sort of like James Bond, if Bond were an american CIA analyst.

Unfortunately, according to Variety, the project has lost it’s director:

With his TV commitments piling up, director Jack Bender has fallen out of Paramount and Skydance Pictures’ untitled Jack Ryan project.

Bender is currently the exec producer on Fox’s “Alcatraz” and is set to helm the Syfy pilot “Rewind.” Par was hoping to get this project into production sometime later this summer, and Bender’s TV workload was making it difficult for him to find the time.

This puts the untitled Jack Ryan film on shaky ground, but there is still hope that this won’t delay the start of filming. The producers have until Star Trek 2 wraps before their movie was intended to shoot, so they have to work quickly to find a replacement.

If Oren Peli has made his mark in one place, it’s been the attention that he’s brought to the “found footage” subgenre of horror films. He has made Paramount’s Paranormal Activity a massive, billion dollar franchise. Now he’s taking on a different myth with the legend of the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear plant.

Here’s the synopsis.

“Chernobyl Diaries” is an original story from Oren Peli, who first terrified audiences with his groundbreaking thriller, “Paranormal Activity.” The film follows a group of six young tourists who, looking to go off the beaten path, hire an “extreme tour” guide.

Ignoring warnings, he takes them into the city of Pripyat, the former home to the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, but a deserted town since the disaster more than 25 years ago. After a brief exploration of the abandoned city, however, the group soon finds themselves stranded, only to discover that they are not alone…

The first trailer is now here, to give you the same chills that worked so well with Paranormal Activity. Check it out after the jump, and see it in theaters on May 25th.

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After an arduous search for the actor who could play John McClane’s son in the newest installment of the Die Hard franchise, 20th Century Fox has finally settled on Jai Courtney.

Courtney is best known for playing Varro in the Starz series Spartacus: Blood And Sand. In the series, Courtney played a close friend and confidante of Spartacus until they were forced into a battle to the death. Courtney has had a bit of a big screen surge as he will next be seen starring opposite Tom Cruise in Paramount’s One Shot, the Christopher McQuarrie directed adaptation of the Lee Child bestseller. He is also attached to star opposite Aaron Eckhart in I, Frankenstein.

A Good Day To Die Hard, the fifth installment of the Die Hard franchise, puts McClane on unfamiliar ground, taking the hard-ass  New York City cop to the streets of Moscow. The flick introduces McClane’s estranged son Jack (Courtney). The McClane’s butt heads due to their similar personalities. Despite their differences, they must work together to keep each other alive and keep the world safe for democracy. This film positions Courtney to become a recurring character alongside Willis, and possibly take over for Willis as the lead as the sequels continue.

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Rumors are swirling that have the Academy a bit concerned. The rumor is that on Sunday, Sacha Baron Cohen will come to the Oscars and walk the red carpet. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but he will most likely come dressed as the title character from his upcoming Paramount comedy The Dictator.

Baron Cohen’s people have proposed the publicity stunt to the Academy members, but it seems everyone involved with the Oscars event is adamantly against it.  It makes sense that the Academy would be against it, as it could be perceived that it makes a mockery of Hollywood’s most prestigious event. It is rumored that Baron Cohen may sneak his character in either way.

The plan would be to come dressed as the dictator and then change into a tux and attend the Oscars. Even though he isn’t not scheduled to present an award, he would be welcome as part of the Paramount contingent. The studio has a Best Picture nominee in the Martin Scorsese-directed Hugo.

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Living with the immediate “ADD” audience that exists today, it’s hard for major studios to believe that kids today can follow the plot of any single movie, let alone a multi-film franchise like what Michael Bay has done with Transformers. It seems like that argument has gotten to Bay and his producing partner Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, as they are currently planning on rebooting the Transformers series to a brand new audience in 2014. From THR:

Bonaventura said that he and Bay were still in early stages of development process, but they wanted to reinvent the saga to pave the way for a new mythology. Bay showed a willingness to shake up the ensemble in Dark of the Moon, when he replaced Megan Fox with Rosie Huntington-Whitely as Sam’s love interest.

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Ed Harris is currently in talks to join Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain.  Michael Bay has been developing Pain and Gain  for a few years now and it seems he is finally getting it off the ground.

Pain and Gain is being described as “Michael Bay’s Fargo“.  The story centers on a group of bumbling bodybuilders in Miami who plot to kidnap and rob a wealthy businessman. Unfortunately,  the crime goes awry. The wealthy businessman is left for dead, but returns to exact revenge on the bodybuilding thugs with the help of a private investigator.

According to Vulture, even though no formal offer has been made, Harris is very likely to sign on to play the private investigator.

Pain and Gain has been put on hold repeatedly because of Bay’s prior commitments to the Transformers franchise. Both Paramount and Spielberg want Bay to return for a fourth Transformers film. It’s believed that they could offer help with getting Pain and Gain off the ground if he does return to the franchise.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is also set to star in Bay’s Pain and Gain. During a press junket for Journey 2 , Johnson stated that Pain and Gain was “on the right track.”

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We like to stay on our A-Game when it comes to new films hitting theaters and what to expect from studios on a regular basis. Then a trailer for a film like G.I. Joe: Retaliation hits the web and completely takes us by surprise.

The film picks up the hints from the first film, in which Zartan infiltrates the White House. Remember that? Neither do we. It seems that Paramount, however, does. Here’s the premise to the new film.

Little has been revealed about the plot other than that it will feature the G.I. Joe Team coming into a conflict with Zartan, Storm Shadow and Firefly. Zartan (who is last seen in disguise as the President of the United States) has now got the world leaders all under his thumb, warheads headed towards innocent populaces, and some new heavies on the payroll to keep G.I. Joe at bay.

This time around, we’re getting some new old characters to join the fight, such as Dwayne Johnson as Roadblock, Ray Stevenson as Firefly, and Adrienne Palicki as Lady Jaye. Oh, did we mention that Bruce Willis shows up as John Colton? Yea, we’re as confused as you are.

Take a look at the trailer after the jump, and catch the film in theaters on June 29th.

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