News from the personal Twitter account of D.J. Caruso that he will be directing a big screen adaptation of the Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon comic series Preacher will probably be taken as both good and bad by the more hard core fans. On the one hand, its nice to see that perhaps Preacher will finally be making its way to the big screen after many stilled attempts at adaptation as a movie or a TV series.

The cynics out there will probably have a problem with Caruso as the choice to take on the project. Sure, his track record might not install confidence that he’s the right man for the job. However, if you’ve ever seen his first film Salton Sea, you will know he has talent and therefore, I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt here.

To be honest, I’m more concerned how screenwriter John August is going to fit all of Preacher into one two and a half hour movie. My guess is he won’t even try and will probably just use the first major story arc as the basis for the film. Whatever he does end up doing, I’m also a fan of August so I’ll be very interested in how he pulls it off.

No word on if this deal is completely done or pretty much anything else. Still, when we see things like this we feel compelled to bring them to you. So, we did. Now, what do we think of this and if it does go forward, who shall we pick to play the important roles?

I Am Number Four is a movie based on a young-adult novel written by James Frey (of A Million Little Pieces fame.) It is an action/thriller about a teen (played by Alex Pettyfer) who is running for his life, frequently changing identities and bouncing from town to town to elude his would-be assassins.

Official Synopsis: John (Alex Pettyfer) is an extraordinary teen, masking his true identity and passing as a typical high school student to elude a deadly enemy seeking to destroy him. Three like him have already been killed…he is Number Four.

D.J. Caruso (Disturbia, Eagle Eye) directs the film, which also stars Timothy Olyphont. It is produced by Michael Bay.

The movie I Am Number Four will not be coming out until February, but we have a new featurette from Dreamworks to share with you.

In this clip, Caruso explains how nine children were sent to earth from another planet and hidden amongst the general population. The nine have special powers, but they do not know exactly what those are.  You can see the clip after the jump.

A few months ago, we first got word that director D.J. Caruso, who brought us such sci-fi thrillers as Eagle Eye and Distrubia was working on a brand new film based on the Pittacus Lore (aka James Frey & Jobie Hughes) book I Am Number Four. The film’s script comes from Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, and brings together an interesting cast of up and coming actors.

Now, we’re getting the first taste of the film’s look and feel as the very first teaser trailer has hit the web. It definitely looks like something a bit different for Caruso, giving a bit of an Island meets Twilight vibe. Here’s the official synopsis, for those who want it spelled out.

Nine infant aliens, who closely resemble humans, flee their home planet, Lorien, to hide on Earth. An invading species, the Mogadorians, have destroyed their planet, and follow them to Earth to hunt them down. Each of the nine aliens is given a guardian and will develop superhuman powers as they become adults. They are each assigned a number. These last children of Lorien can only be killed in the sequence of their numbers.

Number Four, also named John Smith, moves to Paradise, Ohio, disguised as an American high school student. He makes a friend, Sarah, a sweet Midwestern girl who is a photographer. After being on the run his whole life, Number Four falls in love and now has something to stand up and fight for.

The film joins Beastly star Alex Pettyfer, Glee’s Dianna Agron, Timothy Olyphant, and Legion’s Kevin Durand. Check out the full trailer after the jump, and catch I Am Number 4 in theaters on February 18th, 2011.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, DreamWorks has picked up The Defenders, a kid-friendly adventure story conceived by Heroes star Masi Oka, who plays Hiro on the show. The pic, to be produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, also has D.J. Caruso in negotiations to take on directing duties. Writer Gary Whitta is on board to pen the script.

The story centers on a group of mostly teenagers from around the world who are involved in a multiplayer video game, each unaware of who they really are behind the anonymity of their avatars. When trouble arises, they are forced to come together for a real world adventure and become accidental heroes in the process.

According to THR, DreamWorks will also develop a video game simultaneously with the feature. Oka had met Kurtzman and taken a couple of meetings with them, hoping to land a role in one of their movies. The pair was looking for “the kinds of movies that Amblin used to do, that combined an innocence with the adventure,” Orci said in the article.

Oka, also a fan of those types of movies, which for him are epitomized by Richard Donner’s 1985 hit The Goonies, pitched Kurtzman and Orci his idea and they loved it. And the rest, as they say, is cinematic history. Gotta love Hollywod. Gives hope for the rest of us — especially if “the rest of us” are also on hit tv shows and have access to big-time writers and producers.