April Fools Day is usually a day that brings tons of fake news, including trailer releases (like that Legend of Zelda trailer that will never be made into a movie *sadface*). But this year, April 1st was the release date of the red band trailer for the unbelievably star-packed action comedy This Is The End starring James Franco (who has had an already packed 2013 with the release of Spring Breakers and Oz The Great and Powerful), Seth Rogen, Emma Watson, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, and that’s just the supposed “main cast.” From just watching the trailer, expect appearances by Michael Cera, Rihanna, Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, Mindy Kaling, and more. Holy freaking casting!

The main plot of the movie is simple: James Franco is throwing a kick-ass party and invites all his friends (because celebrities always party with tons of other celebrities) to have a crazy good time. Until the apocalypse happens. Los Angeles is engulfed in fire and brimstone, monsters and aliens are running rampant, people are looting and killing, mass hysteria basically.

Eventually, the main cast barricade themselves in what’s left of Franco’s house and try to survive. At one point, Emma Watson breaks in with an ax (a freaking AX) to try her hand at some looting, which looks to be successful based on the apparent self-testimonial video that is shot by the guys who are documenting what’s going on during the end of days.

On May 2, 2011, special forces from the United States stormed Osama bin Laden’s compound at Abbottabad, Pakistan. That I had to look up the precise dates and location and confirm that they were our own special forces (and not, say, some coalition) testifies to my ignorance. However, I don’t think I’m alone in not knowing the full details of Operation Neptune Spear (yeah, looked that one up, too), and Kathryn Bigelow’s (The Hurt Locker) Zero Dark Thirty offers a glimpse into the operation and an overview of what’s been called “The Greatest Manhunt in History.”

We know the details of 9/11 – what happened, where it happened, and who was responsible – the how and why are still debated, but they’re fairly established – and Bigelow begins with this common ground, opening the film with some of the calls made on that day. There’s no image – no footage of the planes crashing or anchormen reporting or families weeping or rescue workers toiling or world leaders speaking or terrorists threatening. Just the calls.

Quentin Tarantino is a filmmaker most cinephiles adore. He is a film fan a heart, so his films are a celebration of the many cinematic influences inside of him, which usually makes for a fun time at the cinema. His newest film, Django Unchained, is filming right now, but the first official poster has found it’s way online for us all to ogle at.

The poster has an incredibly simplistic design that is a throw back to the Saul Bass posters of yesteryear. This subtle, retro design is a perfect way to sell this slavery era exploitation film to us Tarantino fans, but we can’t help but shake the notion that Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio will figure heavy in the main marketing push of the film.

A star like Brad Pitt was able to help Inglorious Basterds become one of Tarantino’s most successful films.  So the studio must be licking their chops to see what star power of this film can add to the bottom line.

Speaking of the stars of the movie, a little casting tidbit for Django also came in today. The great Walton Goggins, currently of Justified fame, has joined the cast as one of DiCaprio’s slave wranglers. That is one of the best sentences I have ever had the pleasure of writing.

Check out the full new poster after the jump.

Ok, what the heck happened! Why are there suddenly official teasers for upcoming teasers. Seriously, we are getting official commercials for commercials now. It really begs the question ‘what’s the point?’.

Of course the flip side of that is we do get to see our first glimpse of the updated, re-adapted version of Total Recall a week ahead of the first actual teaser. For those of you new to the movie, here is the synopsis:

For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid, even though he’s got a beautiful wife who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life – real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police – controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen, the leader of the free world 

This new version of Total Recall is exactly how you handle a modern remake. You taken the source material, and give your creative team’s the chance to adapted it in their own way, in their own style. We will no doubt get a film that feels in some ways similar to the ’80’s classic, but it should also feel new and alive in it’s own way.

Check  out the teaser for the trailer after the jump.

There is some good, some awesome, some sad and some well excepted news in this weeks box office results.

Coming in at number one for the weekend, 21 Jump Street makes a splash with $35 million, and it’s very good news. To see a successful TV adaptation that proves you can be R-rated, have a completely unexpected tone and still work is a wonderful trend starter for the industry.

Hollywood is a copy cat industry and if remakes and reboots have to happen, the only way you can maintain some artistic credibly is to bring something fresh to the table. Hopefully this success can grease the wheels with other creative folks and deliver something unexpected with these name brands. It will be interesting to see how the zany Dark Shadows is received in the wake of this win.

The well expected news comes in the form of our second place finisher, The Lorax. This Suess adaptation is performing well above initial expectations and is proving to have strong legs as it fell another soft 40ish percent to nearly $23 million. The Lorax will take a hit next week, but is well on it’s way to crossing the $200 million bar.