It’s been reported by Entertainment Weekly, that Pierre Morel – director of last year’s Taken, and the fun, French Parkour film, District B13, has signed on to direct the new adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. The movie, which was originally to be helmed by Peter Berg, kind of fell to the wayside when Berg seemed to become more interested in the (clearly higher quality) property of Battleship: The Movie. The good news is that this means Dune could get many more scenes of throat-punching.

Paramount, the studio backing the new film, is also supposedly looking for a new writer to work on incorporating the sensibilities of the French director. Morel is apparently is looking to make a much closer adaptation than the previous version of the script by Quantum of Solace screenwriter, Josh Zetumer. In case you’re not familiar, Dune is the story of Paul Atreides, and the futuristic inter-galactic feudal system involving his family’s rule of the desert planet Arrakis.

The story explores the politics, religion, technology and ecology of it’s incredible in-depth universe. The book was previously made into a movie in 1984 by David Lynch, and been brought to television through a couple of mini-series on the Sci-Fi Channel.

NBC seems to be pulling out all the stops promoting its new Fall shows. Well, at least some of them because they keep sending us new promos for the shows pretty much weekly and, of course, we’ll keep putting them up so you can get a look at them. This time around we’ve got a couple looks at both Trauma and Mercy — two of the networks freshmen medical dramas — for you today. In these clips, more sneak peek at actual things going on in the shows than traditional promos, we get further information about the characters and situations that we can expect when watching them.

Its been a while since I really liked a medical drama having given up on shows like Grey’s Anatomy and ER long ago. But after seeing all the promos and such for these two shows I’m still kinda interested in both of them. Each has its strengths to be sure such as interesting casts — Taylor Schilling and Michelle Trachtenberg in the case of Mercy and Cliff Curtis, Derek Luke and Jamey Sheridan in the case of Trauma — and somewhat unique perspectives on the medical drama. But in the long run I guess before I can really make a determination, I’ll just have to watch them. Of course, I will — especially if the kind folks at NBC send over some screeners.

Trauma hits the air on Monday, September 28th and Mercy on September 23rd. Check out the new sneak peeks after the break.

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With great comic-to-film news coming from left and right this week, there was bound to be one or two stories that make us cringe just a bit. Sadly, that story has to do with director Peter Berg talking up a sequel to last year’s successful foul-mouthed superhero film Hancock. Not only is there a sequel being planned, but it looks like Berg wants another A-lister alongside Will Smith and Charlize Theron.

According to our buddies at MTV Splashpage, the director has confirmed that the full cast is back, and that we may even see a new player:

The big reveal at the end of “Hancock” was that [Spoiler Alert!] both Smith and Theron’s characters are immortal gods who become vulnerable when near each other. For the sequel, Berg said we can expect the appearance of at least one more all-powerful god. What’s more, he’s got his eye on a well-known name to play a third superhero. “We have [someone in mind],” Berg said. “I’m not gonna tell you who, but we have!”

There hasn’t been much speculation on who the third “god” could be, but Will Smith and Charlize Theron are definitely considered to be A-list stars, so putting someone up on a poster alongside them and calling them a “well-known” player may be a pretty tall order. Our suggestion? Harrison Ford as the grizzled veteran god who just wants his family back. Thoughts?

Update: In addition to Smith and Theron, it seems Jason Bateman will also be returning as well. Good news for the film because any movie benefits from his participation.

Our fine friends at NBC have sent us some video and we, being the cool people that we are, are eager to share it with you. First up is a brand new episode of NBC’s “controversial” reality show The Wanted, which concerns an elite group of crime fighters who have no real affiliation and are just private individuals, who join together to hunt down people known to be part of terrorist organizations.

Next up is a promo for a new show, Trauma, which hits the airwaves on September 28th at 9/8C, is Executive Produced by Peter Berg and is an intense, action-packed look at one of the most dangerous medical professions in the world: first responder paramedics.

To be honest, I’m kinda on the fence about The Wanted. I think the “reality” elements of the show at times feel scripted and not real at all. Plus, its just sorta hokey and lame in some parts as well. Trauma, on the other hand, seems like a pretty interesting show and one I will tune in and check out.

Click through to check out both shows after the break.

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Sadly, not very many of you ended up watching Ron Moore and Michael Taylor’s “back door” pilot Virtuality on Fox last Friday. The numbers were not very high at all, which pretty much ensures the show will never become a series. That’s unfortunate because the pilot was very well done and would have made quite a good series.

Well cast, well directed (by Peter Berg) with engaging characters, clever dialog, some action, suspense and a mystery plot twist at the end would have made me tune in each week to follow the continuing story of the Phaeton crew on its mission to save earth. My one major problem with the show isn’t really a problem with the show exactly, its with Fox billing it as a “TV Movie.”

This is not a movie because a movie has an ending that finishes a story and explains most of the questions raised during the story. This was a pilot that assuredly ended with the beginning of a story, which is exactly what a pilot is supposed to do. For whatever reason, Fox has consigned Virtuality to the scrap heap of discarded quality shows that never really got a chance and decided to cut its losses and air the show on Friday to see what happens.

Fortunately, you can now catch this terrific pilot on Hulu and Fox on Demand. Go watch it and enjoy it as much as I did. Then, if you do, let Fox know you would really like to see it become a series. Who knows, maybe they’ll actually listen? Although, I wouldn’t suggest holding your breath.

Be sure to check out the show on Hulu or feel free to watch it right here after the jump.

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Yes, you read that headline correctly. With at least one costly yet tepid mini-series and a decent, if somewhat misguided, feature film already out there based on Frank Herbert’s classic novel Dune, it looks like producer Kevin Misher and director Peter Berg are giving a big screen version of the novel another go. According to an interview over at io9, Misher confirmed that he and Berg are indeed working on a script for a “reboot” of the Dune franchise and expect to deliver said script shortly.

According to Misher in the article, Dune is “one of my favorite books of all time, and I made a movie with Pete (Berg) called The Rundown. . . so we decided to get back together. Pete had loved the book as well. It’s a great opportunity for us.” As for the progress they’ve made so far, Misher said: “We’re working on the script right now. We’re going to turn it in shortly. The script is coming in, we’re hoping to get a green light shortly.”

So, apparently all systems are go for a reboot of the Dune franchise. However, as much as I loved the novel and would be interested in  a new, updated feature film version, I’m not sure the guy who directed Very Bad Things and Hancock and the producer who made The Interpreter and The Scorpion King are the right guys for the job.

In my world where I run the studios, I think I would assign this task to a different team. Who would I pick? How about Christopher Nolan and Charles Roven or Zack Snyder and Lawrence Gordon?

I think either of those teams would do a bang up job. Peter Berg and Kevin Misher? I guess we’ll see.