Sometimes the first official image from a movie can drastically change the public’s perspective of an upcoming film. It can show you an exciting new look from a main character, or it can give you hints to the story or plot. Then some times the first official still is just a man sitting by a pool in the dark.

Empire has debuted the first official image from Skyfall. A lonely and sullen looking Bond playing footsie with a swimming pool after hours. Maybe that watch is a new Q gadget, or perhaps there are sharks with laser beam head gear just out of frame!

Yeah, not exactly the most exciting first still in the history of movies, but it is still notable for a few reasons. One, it is James Bond, and with the recent strife with MGM, seeing him officially in Skyfall is nice to see. There was real concern that the movie would never get made, but it is really happening.

Also this is the 5oth anniversary of James Bond, which is a huge deal. The Golden Anniversary for a cinematic icon is important to recognize, and any opportunity this year to talk about Britain’s most dashing spy will be used. Hopefully they will be more meaty in the future.

The James Bond films are one of the longest and most storied film franchises in the history of cinema. Despite over twenty films and nearly five decades of action, the series has been rather consistent in the score department. For well over three fourths of the James Bond films music dudties have been held by two men, the late great John Barry and excellent David Arnold.

It was assumed that Arnold would be returning for his sixth Bond film with Skyfall, but it seems the delays caused by MGM have actually caused Arnold’s schedule to be too full, he will be spending much of the next six months being the musical director for the summer Olympics. MI6 is reporting that in Arnold’s absence, director Sam Mendes is calling on a long time collaborator to fill his shoes.

American composer Thomas Newman will be scoring the new James Bond film, “Skyfall”, due out later this year. It will be his first 007 adventure.

Newman has been a long time collaborator with “Skyfall” helmer Sam Mendes, having scored four of the directors other films: “American Beauty” (1999), “Road to Perdition” (2002) [which also starred Daniel Craig], “Jarhead” (2005) and “Revolutionary Road” (2008).

Newman is an interesting choice for a big budget action film, but in many respects so is director Sam Mendes. One thing is for certain, Newman always brings his A game, so you can expect to hear an exceptional Bond score once Skyfall hits theaters later this year.

That’s right folks, the often delayed and occassionally in trouble next James Bond adventure is now a reality. In fact, it even has a title: Skyfall.

The announcement was made today at a London press conference by producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, who confirmed that stars Daniel Craig and Judi Dench will indeed return in the Sam Mendes-directed 23rd James Bond adventure. Also confirmed were actors Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes, who will join the previously announced Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe, Albert Finney and Ben Whishaw in the film.

“We’re so delighted to have Sam Mendes direct Skyfall and be working once again with Daniel Craig,” Wilson and Broccoli said in a joint statement. “We’ve a great script, an extraordinary cast and an incredibly talented creative team for this latest James Bond adventure.”

In Skyfall “Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.” Mmm, tested loyalties and Bond stopping at nothing to save the world?

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Great news for Jams Bond fans everywhere. Deadline is reporting that a deal has been made and beleaguered studio MGM has announced a new Bond film, dubbed Bond 23, is set to go into production later this year with an eye to a November 9th, 2012 release.

In more good news, Daniel Craig will be returning as the legendary British secret agent, with Sam Mendes directing a screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan. That script is being kept under wraps, of course, but we do know the story begins after the events of Quantum Of Solace.

In addition, there’s no word on who might play the next Bond villain or, in more important news, who will be the next “Bond Girl.” While those are being hashed out I would also like to recommend to Sam Mendes that he give Felix Leiter a bit more to do this time around as I would like to see Jeffrey Wright keep getting work. Also, I would not mind if Olga Kurylenko came back for this one either. She’s always welcome.

Of course, given Daniel Craig’s “friendship” with Rachel Weisz, there’s always a chance she might make an appearance. That would be ok with me as well. We probably won’t see Kate Winslet in this one though, for obvious reasons.

As for other villains or Bond Girls, who would you like to see make an appearance in Bond 23?

Since the dawn of the Internet, everybody with a handheld camera and an imagination has been throwing together testaments to their favorite piece of fiction in what we love to call “fan films.” Since then, the term has gotten a bit of a bad rap, which conjures up this gritty, poorly shot piece with worse acting and editing than your uncle’s home videos. However, this newest piece is an example of how, in some cases, those rules have completely gone out the window.

From the people who brought us Inglourious Plummers, a Tarantino-esque spoof of both Inglorious Basterds and The Super Mario Bros., comes this brand new trailer for God Of War. The best part is that it’s nothing like the God of War you’re used to. This trailer is done in the same vein of a Sam Mendes or Wes Anderson film. Purely indie, even down to the use of the song Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros.

We can’t figure out what it is we love about this trailer. Whether it’s the fact that our hero rocks an Adidas track jacket and tennis rackets (his “Blades of Chaos”) or the fact that the song makes the whole thing. Either way, it’s pretty awesome, and definitely worth a watch for both fans of movies and video games.

Check out the trailer after the jump and of course this begs the question when we’ll get to see another trailer. Perhaps Gears of War done as a romantic comedy?

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MGM is one of those staple studios that has been around since the beginning. To this day, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is one of the oldest studios that is still producing films, but sadly it looks like that won’t be for very long. The studio has been hemorrhaging money for some time, and when put up for sale, it hasn’t gotten large enough bids from other studios to consider a deal.

At this point, MGM obtained to sole distribution rights to one major franchise in James Bond. They teamed up with Sony to produce and distribute Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, but that didn’t seem enough to keep the studio afloat long enough to produce the next film.

In a recent press release from EON Productions Ltd., a production company who has worked with the franchise since Dr. No back in 1962, they seem to think this is the end of production for Bond 23.

“Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on ‘Bond 23′ indefinitely,” the duo said. “We do not know when development will resume and do not have a date for the release.”

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This week on the radar we’ve got news on Steven Spielberg’s potential return to dinosaurs, the status of the third Mortal Kombat film, NBC gets a Gold in the ratings competition, and what comic book legend may show up on one of our favorite shows, The Big Bang Theory.

Let’s see what blips are on the radar this week.

Boba Fett, finally the deadliest action figure in a galaxy far, far away

If you’re like me, you grew up on the first generation of Star Wars toys and action figures. You know the ones, they had a massive (sarcasm) five points of articulation. Well, one figure that was sort of an urban legend was the missile-firing Boba Fett.  We all heard of it, but rarely saw it.  Well, now it can be yours with the purchase of five other figures!  Offer expires 3/31/2011, while supplies last, only valid in US and Canada…and a whole lot of other legal fine print I’m sure.

Tron: Legacy viral campaign starts to gear up

Disney teased everyone at last year’s Comic Con about a Tron viral campaign. With the highly anticipated film set to open this December online viral goodness have started to trickle out.  The first is a new site with a somewhat enigmatic theme to it.  Can you figure out what it is?  I don’t want to ruin it, but if you must know check this link out.

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Recently, news was traveling around the Internets that the new ‘Bond’ film was being put on hold due to the financial woes of MGM, there is now news that Sam Mendes – the director of American Beauty, Road to Perdition, and Revolutionary Road – is signing up to direct the still untitled movie. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie is now being fast tracked, despite the issues with the movie studio.

Sam Mendes, whose closest action film effort has to be either Jarhead, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, and Road to Perdition, starring Tom Hanks and current ‘James Bond’ Daniel Craig, has been a celebrated director since his debut with 1999′s American Beauty. Bond 23, which is being written by Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon) and ‘Bond’ series writers, Neil Purvis and Robert Wade is currently scheduled for filming sometime this year, with a hopeful release date of 2011.

As you probably know from last week’s episode of The Flickcast, I’m a fan of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillion’s Preacher comic book. It was one of my picks of the week. I’ve also followed it through its various television and cinematic incarnations to its present home at Columbia Pictures in the hands of director Sam Mendes and writer John August.

During last week’s show, I mentioned that the script for the film was in progress and now, thanks to an article over at MTV Spashpage, we know even more about the script and that progress. According to the article, Mendes was being interviewd about his other upcoing film and also decided to take a few questions about Preacher. About the current state of the script and August, Mendes said: “He’s doing pretty well. “He’s about halfway through. There’s a long way to go yet, but I’m very, very hopeful. I think it could be amazing.”

When asked about the possibility of sequels or a franchise, Mendes was quick to point out his desire to make the first film a complete story. “You have to try and get one really good and then, if you’re lucky, you can make a second or a third,” said Mendes. “You can create something that’s going to run. But I think that there’s certainly more than enough for one good movie and plenty left over.”

No casting has been announced for the film as yet nor does it have a release date. But when there is more on this movie, rest assured we’ll bring it to you.