Angry Birds can rightfully be classified as a phenomenon. Between the countless downloads and the merchandise that sells like gangbusters the game has reached the top pop culture status.

Rovio likes to keep the game fresh, with constant seasonal updates and other new level packs to keep the fans coming back for more. While these updates do present some minor new additions to the Angry Birds experience, there hasn’t been any major advance in the game play since day one.

That is all changing with the impending release of Angry Birds Space, the next installment in the series, and the first to revolutionize it’s game play. Space will showcase gravity free physics, and force players adjust while sending their mad avian buddies through small gravity fields set up around the environment.

Up until now the game play was a bit of a mystery, it was hard to imagine what that meant compared to the standard Angry Birds action. With the help of an astronaut, actually in space no less, Rovio has revealed exactly how this new physics will work in your pig hunting adventures.

Beyond the massive cool factor of having an actual space inhabiting astronaut play with Angry Birds plushes to demonstrate gravity free physics, the game play on display in this new video is awesome. We can’t wait to get our hands on Angry Birds Space when it is launched March 22nd.

Check out the physics showcase video after the jump.

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Angry Birds may be a simple game, but with over 12 million downloads on the App Store alone, it’s the biggest name in mobile gaming. Which is why I’m really excited to learn that the newest version of the high-flying poultry puzzle game will be in space.

That’s right, Angry Birds Space. SPACE. I LOVE space.

The game’s developer, Rovio, has posted a website for the game, with an image of a slingshot on the moon and the words “One small fling for a bird, one quantum leap for birdkind” underneath.

Thinking about it, Angry Birds is a game about physics and gravity. Knocking down different pieces of the environment is key to finishing levels and obtaining high scores. So introducing zero-gravity into a game based around gravity is going to put an entirely new spin on it, and I think it’s a great way to take this already fantastic game to new heights (literally).

Angry Birds Space launches March 22nd. While you wait, you can check out Rovio’s website where you can download a new wallpaper and watch the teaser trailer after the jump.

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There hasn’t been a genuine outer space sci-fi drama flick on the horizon since last year’s Pandorum, which is why I’m really excited about Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity. With films like Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Children of Men under his belt, Cuaron has certainly proved to be an excellent director and one to keep an eye on. While Gravity, his latest venture, was on the back burner for some time, it looks like the project is full-steam ahead.

Gravity will be about a woman fighting to return to Earth after being separated from the Hubble. While casting for the lead role is unknown, Blake Lively and Scarlett Johansson are rumored to be fighting for the part. Though his role is currently unknown, Robert Downey Jr. is a confirmed cast member in the film.

The film is planned to be released in 3D, and will feature one of Cuaron’s amazing long takes, with a rumored 20-minute opening shot similar to the amazing scene at the end of Children of Men. The movie will also be almost entirely CGI, as it sounds like it’ll take place almost exclusively in outer space.

After Azkaban it’s clear that Cuaron can handle a film with a lot of CGI and imagined landscapes, and Children of Men proved him to be a master of taking a futuristic premise and creating a very realistic film. I think he’s the best person to undertake this project, and it’ll be exciting to see what the film becomes as casting is decided and production begins.

For any fans of the sci-fi genre or any kind of survival dramas, this certainly sounds like a film for you. We’ll keep you posted on Gravity and any other exciting flicks on the horizon.

For some reason it seems Hollywood has gone a bit farther into the deep end of lameness in the last couple days than it normally does. First, we brought you news of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie being made without Joss Whedon or any of the original characters. Now comes word, via The Hollywood Reporter, that Disney is planning a remake of one of the best coming of age stories involving a young boy who learns to fly a spaceship. I’m talking about, of course, Flight of the Navigator.

In case you’re not familiar (and my description didn’t jog your memory) the original 1986 film concerned a 12-year-old who is abducted by an alien spacecraft in 1978 and reappears eight years later, still the same age but with no memory of what happened. NASA scientists discover a connection between the boy and a crashed spacecraft and, in true evil scientist fashion, try to exploit him. Fortunately, the boy ultimately escapes with the ship and attempts to reunite with his family.

Brad Copeland is writing the remake, which is being produced by Mandeville partners David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman — who have a few films coming up including The Proposal, with Ryan reynolds and Sandra Bullock and The Surrogates with Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell. They’re also in pre-production on The Fighter, a boxing film directed by David O. Russell and starring Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg.

Mmmm, Christian Bale and David O. Russell. That should be an interesting set. No word yet on a script, cast or a release date for the Flight of the Navigator remake. But when there is, we’ll bring it to you — even if we don’t like the idea of a remake.