Sure, everyone loves Hugh Jackman. And everyone loves it when Hugh Jackman plays Wolverine. Sadly, not everyone loved the last movie where Jackman played Wolverine.

Yes, X-Men Origins: Wolverine wasn’t all it could have been, so this time around the producers and director of The Wolverine are trying to make sure fans are satisfied. Based on this new international trailer, it looks like that effort might just pay off.

In this new movie, bad news Wolverine goes to Japan where he faces his ultimate nemesis in a life-or-death battle that will leave him forever changed. Brian Tee, Will Yun Lee and Hiroyuki Sanada co-star.

Check out the trailer after the break. Look for The Wolverine to hit theaters on July 26th.

With X-Men: First Class blowing people’s expectations out of the water, there has been some more movement in other X-Men film properties, because Fox just loves to strike while the iron is hot.

For a while, the Wolverine sequel was held up in pre-production hell because they couldn’t seem to lock in a director. Darren Aronofsky was originally set to direct, but he dropped out back in March. Now, Fox is announcing that 3:10 to Yuma and Walk The Line director James Mangold is a lock and the film will continue into production. From Deadline:

Negotiations are about to get underway, but I’m told that Mangold will take the helming job on the sequel to the X-Men spinoff film, a post that became vacant when Darren Aronofsky dropped out of the film in March. I’d heard that Mangold was on a very short list coming into this week, along with Warrior director Gavin O’Connor and Brooklyn’s Finest helmer Antoine Fuqua.

I’ve heard that Fox will look to start principal photography in the fall. Scripted by Christopher McQuarrie, The Wolverine takes place mostly in Japan.

The main problem that Aronofsky had when going into the film was that he’d have to leave his family and work it Japan for up to 6 months. It seems that Mangold is more into the idea. We hope to hear more and get a glimpse at the film’s look and feel as we enter production later this year.

This was just too good to be true. A few months ago, it was announced that Darren Aronofsky had made his Sophie’s Choice between directing the upcoming Robocop reboot or working on the sequel for 20th Century’s X-Men spin-off X-Men Origins: Wolverine, titled simply, The Wolverine.

As amazing of an idea as it was to have an Oscar nominated director taking on one of Marvel’s most beloved characters, it was definitely too good to be true. It seems that Aronofsky has parted from 20th Century Fox and stepped down as director of The Wolverine. From EW.

In a statement issued by the studio, Aronofsky said, “It became clear that the production of The Wolverine would keep me out of the country for almost a year. I was not comfortable being away from my family for that length of time.” (The film was reportedly going to be set in Japan.) “I am sad that I won’t be able to see the project through,” continued Aronofsky, “as it is a terrific script and I was very much looking forward to working with my friend, Hugh Jackman, again.”

It looks as if this was a mutual break, however, as Fox is also pretty bummed.

Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something interesting. Otherwise, on to the links!

• South Park tears The Jersey Shore a new one . . .and we laugh like idiots.

• It was speculated for a while, but now it’s confirmed that Rhys Ifans will be playing The Lizard in Sony’s Spider-Man reboot.

• In a stroke of brilliance, Sesame Street spoofed the popular Old Spice commercials. What will they think of next?

• Confused by this season of Mad Men? Well here is the entire season broken down into 10 animated GIFs.

• Nathan Fillion has streamlined a Twitter campaign to play the lead in the upcoming Uncharted film adaptation. He’s got our vote.

• Michael J. Fox donned his life jacket and Nike’s in a spot for Spike’s Scream Awards and their tribute to Back to the Future. We’re still trying to figure out if this is awesome or a little sad…

• Darren Aronofsky is inching closer and closer to directing the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Don’t toy with our emotions, Darren!

• OK, so it may not be a list, but here’s a pretty awesome collection of some of the best last words ever uttered in film.

As summer dies down with explosive fire power and spiritual journeys to other lands, I recall the glorious action fest that was The Expendables. In turns out Julia Roberts has nothing on protein packed men with a mission on their minds. My female counterparts have voiced their love of meaty men in droves and unexpectedly taken away business from Julia’s love fest. Nearly 40 percent of The Expendables‘ audience was women. X-Men Origins: Wolverine‘s audience raked them in as nearly 50 percent of the audience was female. It seems women have tired of the boys akin to Michael Cera and instead jones for something with a little more muscle. Stallone should have learned the key to Hugh Jackman’s success to driving women in throngs- taking off his shirt.

I hear Hugh gave up his lead in Avon Man to start his insane work-out to become the ferocious mutant once again. If you take months upon months to beef up like these 80‘s action legends did, you’d think they’d want to show it off. Plus, wasn’t it super hot in Louisiana and Brazil where The Expendables shot? It was like 100 degrees with 100 percent humidity. Stallone couldn’t have been the only one who was feeling the heat.  Take off those shirts and up your female movie-going audience to 51 percent.

Though Green Lantern is prepping to be one of the larger superhero flicks of 2011 (in spite of the possible awesomeness of Thor and Captain America), Ryan Reynolds is still sticking to his word and planning on going back to his role as Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool. In a recent interview with Hero Complex, Reynolds delves into the emotional trauma of the Merc with the Mouth and how much of a mess it will be to get into that character.

Many fans became smitten with him in that role after his performance in the poorly received X-Men Origins: Wolverine last year. Now, Reynolds has wrapped GL, is promoting Buried, and can’t wait to start killing people for money on film.

Here’s what he had to say about Deaadpool:

“It goes in such a different direction than a superhero movie usually goes. It’s a nasty piece of work. It’s just based in so much emotional filth, completely. It’s like ‘Barfly‘ if it were a superhero movie. It sort of treads into the world of an emotionally damaged person.  I always say that Deadpool is a guy in a highly militarized shame spiral…. It’s so different than the superhero movies to date, it departs so far from that.”

You know you’ve hit a milestone as a fan when you hear serious directors are fighting over the chance to direct a sequel of a spin-off. No longer will mainstream media scoff at the idea of super hero films. With Martin Campbell helming DC’s Green Lantern and Nolan’s Batman franchise making more money than sliced bread, there is finally some legitimacy to the genre.

With that comes an even more interesting story, as directors Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) and David Slade (Hard Candy) are currently in the running to direct the sequel to 2008’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. From Deadline.

20th Century Fox is between David Slade and Darren Aronofsky, I’m told. Slade, who just directed the summer hit The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, met over the weekend with Hugh Jackman on location where he is shooting Real Steel for DreamWorks. Aronofsky has also been talking with Jackman, and they have a good relationship that dates back to The Fountain.  Aronofsky has some momentum of his own because of Black Swan, I’d say Slade has the edge.

As exciting as it is to think that Wolverine 2 will be Aronofsky’s first super-hero film, and even first sequel, we aren’t holding our breath. It seems more believable that Fox will go with Slade, considering the success of his work on Twilight: Eclipse, and of course every executive think that those fans will translate over to a film about a furry Canadian with claws.

What this news does mean, however, is that Aronofsky is actually interested in doing a flick in this genre. That means that if he doesn’t end up working on Wolverine 2, we could see him attached to something more original, and maybe something that doesn’t have Gavin Hood’s stink all over it.

The sequel to Origins is set to send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to Japan, with heavy Asian and Ninja themes throughout the film. We just hope it will set something up for Ryan Reynolds to return as Deadpool in the future.

Among Marvel characters Deadpool ranks pretty high in popularity. Sure, he’s probably not as famous as Wolverine or Spider-Man, but he’s found a place on the list of many a comics fan’s favorites.

Plus, he’s already had the big screen treatment as a character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and may soon have his own movie franchise and be represented again by star Ryan Reynolds. Until the, we will just have to content ourselves with the comic version.

A great example of that looks to be the upcoming comic Deadpool: Pulp #1. Written by Mike Benson and Adam Glass with art by Laurence Campbell, this comic features Deadpool as the CIA’s deadliest, and craziest, agent.

But for better or worse, crazy is what it will take as Deadpool hunts down a rogue CIA agent to recover a stolen nuclear suitcase she’s carrying before she hands it over to America’s enemies. Who is she and is Deadpool crazy enough to stop her? We’ll just have to wait for the comic to find out.

Deadpool: Pulp #1 hits store shelves on September 1. Until then, check out the preview gallery of this comic after the jump.

It’s ironic how we were just having the discussion on this week’s podcast that Sam Worthington feels like a forced “action star” in Hollywood today, as news is now hitting that Taylor Kitsch has been cast to star in Peter Berg’s film adaptation of the timeless board game Battleship. From Heat Vision:

Pete Berg is directing the action adventure movie, whose story has drawn heat from some quarters for adding an “alien invasion” element to what has been traditionally seen as a grounded Naval game. The script, by Jon and Erich Hoeber, sees an international fleet come together to battle a water-bound armada of otherworldly origin.

In “Battleship,” Kitsch is playing a Naval commander named Alex Hopper, described as “wildly spirited” and “a great seaman but a lousy politician.”

Kitsch was a relative unknown a few years ago, but since being cast as Gambit in last year’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he’s already been cast as the titular lead in Pixar’s upcoming John Carter of Mars as well as being the lead in the TV adapatation of Friday Night Lights. Much like how Worthington was put over the top by getting roles in Avatar, Terminator: Salvation, and Clash of the Titans.

With this new role, it could seem that Kitsch is going to be the next “Worthington”, but what could that mean for the first “Worthington”? Is there room in Hollywood, amidst the stack of reboots and remakes as far as the eye can see, for two actors that Hollywood is forcing down our throats?

C-Net News recently reported that the FBI has made an arrest in the case of the work-print of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, that was leaked and available for download a month before the movie was to be released theatrically. There apparently was nothing saying whether Gilberto Sanchez, 47, the man arrested, was responsible for the initial upload of the film, or how he might have acquired a copy to upload.

FBI Spokesperson Linda Eimiller said that the Bureau has not ruled out the possibility of more arrests, but didn’t comment further. If convicted, Sanchez could face up to three years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.

The workprint that was released, as most will remember, was an unfinished version of the movie with wires still shown on performers and unfinished, or not-yet inserted effects. By the time Wolverine was released in theaters, it had been estimated that the pirated version had been downloaded over 4 million times. This didn’t seem to hurt the box office too badly, as it still opened to a nice $85 Million domestically and has earned nearly $375 Million since it’s release in May.

With Ryan Reynolds becoming a hot commodity in the world of Comic Book films, between getting signed as Green Lantern and Deadpool, it looks like things are still heating up for a Deadpool film over at Fox. CHUD recently got word that Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are allegedly penning a script for Deadpool.

“While nothing is official just yet, it looks like Fox could be hiring Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the writers of Zombieland, to script the adventures of the Merc With A Mouth. I did my due diligence and asked around but couldn’t get a solid confirmation, so regard this one as a strong rumor… But if it’s more than a rumor – and my source tells me there could be a trade break announcing this within days – it’s actually a very good sign for Deadpool.”

Most of the film and comic fan community was torn on the thought of a Deadpool film after seeing what the studio did with the character in May’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but Reynolds himself stated that the film will be “just like the comics”, including the mask, schizophrenia, and demolition of the fourth wall.

Up next for the Zombieland scribes is actually a sequel to the highly successful undead comedy. Word is that Zombieland 2 will start production next year, and will be shot in 3D.

At the Pusan International Film Festival held in South Korea, director Bryan Singer had most fanboys’ ears perking up when he mentioned: “I’m still looking to possibly returning to the X-Men franchise. I’ve been talking to Fox about it.” Singer was the director for both X-Men and X2: X-Men United, but decided to pass on what would eventually be X-Men: The Last Stand so that he could helm Superman Returns instead.

Rush Hour director Brett Ratner handled the third mutant installment while Rendition director Gavin Hood oversaw the spin-off X-Men Origins: Wolverine in Singer’s absence; the latter of which will birth another spin-off revolving around Ryan Reynolds’ character, Deadpool. Box office success was never a problem with these comic-themed movies, but both X3 and the Superman reboot didn’t stand up critically to some other feature films from the same genre.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Singer likes to “trick audiences into thinking they’re seeing fireworks, but they’re learning about themselves and listening to what I have to say.” He further stated: “The excitement about working in science fiction and fantasy is – the stories, if they are good, are about human condition.” This, combined with how the first two X-Men chapters were received, would seem to indicate that Singer has a good grasp of what the backbone of Marvel’s mutant population is all about, but at this time there has been no announcement or confirmation of Singer telling Wolverine what to do.