We all remember the scoffs Universal got when news hit that they were doing a fourth sequel to the Fast and the Furious franchise, but when the film opened to an astounding $70 million in the first weekend, the only people laughing were at the studio. So why wouldn’t they continue that trend with another film?

So here it is, the fifth film in the series, titled simply Fast Five. Worry not, fans won’t get another Tokyo Drift, as Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, and a bunch of the originals are all returning. Here’s the breakdown of the film.

Since Brian (Walker) and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) broke Dom out of custody, they’ve blown across many borders to elude authorities. Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro, they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom. As they assemble their elite team of top racers, the unlikely allies know their only shot of getting out for good means confronting the corrupt businessman who wants them dead. But he’s not the only one on their tail. Hard-nosed federal agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) never misses his target. When he is assigned to track down Dom (Diesel) and Brian, he and his strike team launch an all-out assault to capture them. But as his men tear through Brazil, Hobbs learns he can’t separate the good guys from the bad. Now, he must rely on his instincts to corner his prey…before someone else runs them down first.

The flick is set to hit on April 29th, and you can check out the full trailer after the jump.

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This week’s pick is the 1979 least known and only comedy from director Steven Spielberg, 1941 which stars Saturday Night Live originals Dan Aykroyd (Sgt. Frank Tree), and the incomparable John Belushi (Capt. “Wild” Bill Kelso, U.S. Army Air Corp.) Other supporting actors include Bobby Di Cicco (Wally Stephens), Ned Beatty (Ward Douglas), Lorraine Gary (Joan Douglas), Murray Hamilton (Claude Crumm), Christopher Lee (Capt. Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt), Tim Matheson (Capt. Loomis Berkhead) and Toshiro Mifune (Cmd. Akiro Mitamura).

Also on hand are Warren Oates (Col. Maddox), Robert Stack (Maj. Gen. Joseph W. Stillwell), Treat Williams (Cpl. Chuck “Stretch” Sitarski), Nancy Allen (Donna Stratton), John Candy (Pvt. Foley), Slim Pickens (Hollis P. Wood), and Count Floyd himself, Joe Flaherty (Raoul Lipschitz).

The opening of the film informs the audience about the infamous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 which hurtled an unsuspecting America into World War II. The West Coast of the United States was fearful that the Japanese would attack California next. These were actual fears that were quickly realized by its citizens, and that extreme caution and observation was needed to thwart any attempt which made invasion possible. The film is set just six days after the Pearl Harbor attack.

In the first few opening minutes of the film, Spielberg, and writers Bob Gale, John Milius, and future director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future trilogy) fantastically lampoon Spielberg’s Jaws opening by using the very same actress to re-create her skinny dip scene in the early morning hours. Veteran Spielberg composer John Williams even re-creates his famous theme music. The female swimmer is instantly caught on the periscope of a Japanese submarine which is prowling the California coastline for a worthy military target.

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This past weekend at New York Comic Con, we got the opportunity to sit in on the panel for director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.’s prequel of John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing. Carpenter’s 1982 classic was a remake of Howard Hawk’s 1950′s classic The Thing From Another World which was based on a short story entitled “Who Goes There” by John W. Campbell.

Heijningen’s film covers the three days prior to Carpenter’s version. A Norwegian research team discovers an alien body frozen in Antarctica. Much like the Carpenter film, the alien is thawed and soon begins to wreak havoc on the  research team who discover that it is a shape shifting being that now wants to copy life on Earth.

Very quickly, the team doesn’t know which of them is human or the thing. The film stars Joel Edgerton as the main hero, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World), Eric Christian Olsen (Community), and Ulrich Thomsen also make up the cast.

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This year at Comic-Con, one of the cooler features of the show didn’t actually take place on the con floor, but just outside of it, as Universal set up a machine outside that released several people-shaped bubbles into the heavens. Nobody had any idea what this meant, or what the movie even was, until now.

The first trailer for Skyline directed by The Brothers Strause, visual effects masters involved with such films as Iron Man, Jonah Hex, 2012, Bedtime Stories, Avatar and more, has hit the Interwebs. And we, of course, have it for you to watch.

Basically the film is about two guys who, hungover, walk outside after a late night party to see their world overrun by alien spacecrafts. People are drawn outside of their homes by a light that then sucks them up into the air.

The imagery itself is quite impressive, so we’ll see if the rest of the film can carry the weight. Even though the brothers have little directing experience, at the very least, you know the film will look pretty.

Check out the first full trailer of the film after the jump. Be sure to catch Skyline in theaters everywhere on November 12th.

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We’re all pretty big fans places and things where technology and Hollywood meet, so we felt it was pretty necessary to bring attention to this brand new mobile app from Best Buy. It’s called Movie Mode, and it’s a new way to enjoy films in the theaters, starting with this Friday’s release of Despicable Me.

The app syncs directly with the audio of the film, and will enhance the experience by giving you a little something to do during the end credits, aside from waiting for the expected post-credits sequence. From a Best Buy:

Available as a free download, Best Buy Movie Mode comes to life via “The Minionator,” created as part of an exclusive collaboration with Universal Pictures and tied to the July 9 release of its must-see RealD 3-D CGI feature “Despicable Me” produced by Chris Meledandri.

“The Minionator” is Movie Mode’s first film enhancing experience and offers fans a deeper connection to “Despicable Me” by translating for audiences what the film’s mischievous little yellow characters, the Minions, are saying. The app acts as a translator during the 3-D theatrical end credits for the special language of the Minions. The app will also translate the Minion language throughout the entire movie on Best Buy’s exclusive “Despicable Me” DVD released later this year.

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Diane here and fresh off  the red carpet premiere of Universal Studios’ Hollywood latest attraction, King Kong 360 3D.  If you have a chance to swing on by this summer, it is worth the wait.

Yesterday while walking among a 360lb Bengal Tiger, a 13 foot Python, a feisty monkey, and tribal dancers who kept on telling me to touch their dinosaur bones I became entranced with the world of Skull Island and a gorilla who’s eaten one too many Big Macs.

I was not alone, The Office’s Craig Robinson, Oscar Nunez, and Kate Flannery, along with Kevin Smith, Yvette Nicole Brown of Community, Wayne Brady,Wanted and King Kong’s Thomas Kretschmann, and a very shy Christopher Lloyd were all there sampling the gourmet apps and reveling in a filmed introduction to the experience by none other than a slimmed down Peter Jackson in 3D.

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With all the movies coming out these days its easy to get lost in all the promotions by the studios. In an effort to get audiences interested in their particular film, they often deluge potential movie goers with a whole bunch of promotional stuff that due to the sheer amount, is often overlooked or just plain ignored. Sometimes, however, something comes along that’s kinda fun and deserves a bit of attention.

One such promotional tie-in is Universal’s current Get Him to the Greek song contest. To enter is simple, especially for all you budding rockstars out there.

Just record your cover version of Infant Sorrow’s (Russel Brand’s fictional band in the film) hit song “Bangers, Beans & Mash” and enter for a chance to win a trip to the world premiere of Get Him to the Greek at L.A.’s famous Greek Theatre. 20 runners-up will win limited edition Infant Sorrow merchandise, so don’t feel bad.

Get Him to the Greek features Jonah Hill and Russell Brand and is directed by Forgetting Sarah Marshall‘s Nicholas Stoller. It tells the story of a record company executive (Hill) with three days to drag an uncooperative rock legend (Brand) to Hollywood for a comeback concert. It also stars Sean Combs, Elisabeth Moss, Rose Byrne and Colm Meaney. It hits theaters June 4.

Remakes and sequels are a dime a dozen. While Repo Men is neither of those, it bears incredible similarities with Repo! The Genetic Opera, a rock musical released in 2006. The films are very much the same in content and style, while the stories that they tell are very, very different.

Remy (Jude Law) seems like a normal guy. He’s got a wife and child, lives in a house in the suburbs, drives a fancy Volkswagon SUV. What isn’t so normal is Remy’s job. He repossess people’s artificial organs when they can’t afford their payments to The Union, the company that makes and finances the organs to people in need.

Anyone who becomes late with their payments is hunted down by The Union’s “repo men” and their artificial organs are repossessed, usually resulting in their immediate death. Remy and his partner Jake (Forest Whitaker) don’t mind being repo men, in fact they quite enjoy it. But when Remy’s wife decides maybe her husband should consider a career change, everything changes.

It’s hard to discuss this film’s plot without giving away the two major twists that make this film interesting, but I’ll just say that the Remy you meet in the beginning of the film is very, very different from the Remy at the end of the film. Think of Christian Bale’s character in Equilibrium as a comparison. Jude Law does a great job with this transformation, and Whitaker isn’t too shabby either.

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If you were debating whether or not you wanted to see Benicio Del Toro in Wolfman because it was too folky and epic, how would you like it if the film was set to a generic rock tune?

Well, Universal Pictures answered your prayers with the newest trailer for Wolfman. It’s got more Benicio, more Wolf, and a Marilyn Manson soundtrack.

The film itself has had quite a tumultuous post-production. Originally, the film was set to have Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) as director, who later stepped down. Then, the studio met with names like Brett Ratner, Frank Darabont, James Mangold, and Martin Campbell, until finally deciding on Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer).

Once finished, the film bounced around with three separate release dates, two being in 2009, and then finally sticking to a release of February, 2010. It’s on record that January and February is where movies go to die.

Either way, check out the cool new trailer after the jump, and catch Benicio and the gang in theaters on February 12, 2010.

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