And we have our winner!

• Alejandro Olivo -  Lompoc, CA

Thanks to everyone who entered – we have more cool contests on the way before the year is out!

Lots of contests going on here after we laid low for a while… Next up we have a G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra DVD Prize Pack to give away.

G.I. Joe comes out today (November 3rd) on DVD and Blu-ray and thanks to the folks at Paramount Home Entertainment we have not only the two-disc DVD, but also some cool goodies to go along with it.

Here’s the official G.I. Joe DVD/Blu-ray announcement:

Happy Friday everyone! For our first Friday of November 2009, we’ve again gathered the latest posters to come out for this week’s poster round-up. So, before you head out to see this week’s opening movies, namely The Men Who Star at goats, A Christmas Carol, The Box and The Fourth Kind, check out the latest promo sheets below.

Screen Rant’s wall this week now includes new one-sheets for Kick-Ass, The Wolfman, Conan, The Twilight Saga’s Eclipse, Clash of the Titans, Scream 4, A Single Man, Avatar, Machete, Green Zone, Let Me In, Tell Tale and The Men Who Stare at Goats.

We also have a few bonus items for this year’s Pixar movie, Up.

Let’s get to it.

Short Version: There are already so many great adaptions of the classic Dickens story – this one adds nothing but CGI and gimmicky 3D effects.

Screen Rant reviews A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol is one of my all time favorite Christmas stories. Maybe because most of the year I feel like a somewhat cranky Ebenezer Scrooge but once Thanksgiving is over my mood lightens over the spirit of the upcoming holiday. It seems that every few years someone feels the need to do an update on the classic tale, and sometimes it works. Heck there have certainly been a lot of versions over the years (over two dozen on TV and in movies according to IMDB), and I’ve enjoyed many of those myself.

Paramount asked the public to demand that Paranormal Acitivity be played in their hometowns and the public did just that by not only pushing the supernatural thriller to the number one position against Saw VI, but also helping it become the most profitable independent film ever made.

As of now, Paranormal Activity has earned almost 6,000 times its original production budget of $15,000; as a expression of gratitude to moviegoers around the world, Paramount wants to make sure that you, the fans, are personally thanked for all your support by allowing you to submit your name to be featured in the “Thank You” section of the film’s credits when it’s released on DVD.

Short Version: Do yourself a favor and find the original 30 minute Twilight Zone episode of The Box and watch that instead.

Screen Rant reviews The Box

Well this is going to be a short review because I don’t want to spend any more time on this movie than I have to. The Box is based on Button, Button – a very short story written by Richard Matheson that was used for an old episode of the classic TV series The Twilight Zone. It was written and directed by Richard Kelly, the man behind the cult classic Donnie Darko and the poorly received Southland Tales.

BTW, personally I think it’s obvious, but this review does tell you whether or not they push the button.

The Halo franchise is going the Animatrix route by releasing a series of anime short films in a collected anthology entitled Halo Legends. The collection will feature seven stories told across eight episodes, all serving to expand the mythology of the Halo universe, much in the same way that the recently-released Halo 3: ODST sought to do.

For those of you still waiting on your live-action Halo movie, it seems as though you’ll have to make due with Legends for now, so, if “universe expansion films” like The Animatrix or Batman: Gotham Knight haven’t turned you off completely to this sort of thing, check out these highlights from the Halo Legends official press release:

Last week, Steve “Frosty” Weintraub over at Collider ventured over to über-producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s office in Santa Monica to get an early look at the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time trailer. After viewing the trailer, Weintraub ran into Bruckheimer and took the time to ask him some questions regarding the upcoming fourth addition to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, entitled, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

The three questions Weintraub chose to ask were:

What’s up with the script?
When are they going to shoot the film?
Did the regime change at Disney cause any problems?

Probably THE spectacle movie of 2009 is going to end up being Roland Emmerich’s latest big-budget disaster flick, 2012, which focuses on the Mayan prophecy that the world will end in December of the year 2012. The $200 million, special-effects laden, film stars the likes of John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Woody Harrelson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton and Danny Glover, and is set to crash into theaters in a week’s time.

However, with a film of this size, you know the buck rarely stops at one. In this case, Emmerich is already looking ahead at making more out of his latest disaster tale. Recently news surfaced that there was a 2012 sequel spin-off  TV series in the works (yes, they’re thinking about furthering this seemingly finite disaster story). But wait, how can there be a sequel, in any form, of 2012… isn’t it supposed to be about the end of the world? That’s what I thought, but apparently that’s not exactly the case. Thanks to Cinemablend we have some info on what the spin-off show might take:

[SPOILERS ahead]

Ever since a live-action, 3D Yogi Bear movie was announced back in February this year, there hasn’t really been any movement on the news front regarding it. However, fast forward to now and we may have our main cast in the form of Dan Aykroyd, Anna Faris and Justin Timberlake.

Aykroyd is in negotiations to voice the titular character in Yogi Bear, with Faris set to play a nature documentarian who follows the antics of Yogi in the fictional Jellystone Park. Timberlake is also in talks to join the project, possibly playing Yogi’s sidekick, Boo-Boo. The film is being directed by Eric Brevig (Journey To The Center of the Earth), and produced by Donald De Line and Karen Rosenfelt as a live-action/CGI hybrid in the vein of Alvin and the Chipmunks and Garfield (aim high, why don’t you?).

Ever since Watchmen came out we’ve heard tale of an “ultimate cut” that would offer fans the TOTAL Watchmen experience, including the full-length director’s cut of the movie, with the added bonus of having animated segments from the Tales of the Black Freighter tie-in film spliced in with the live-action footage, much in the same vein as was done in the original Watchmen graphic novel.

Back in July we gave you some early details about the extras Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut would offer, but now you can find out for yourself as this super-special edition is slated to hit stores everywhere next week!

Last time we checked in on the progress of The Green Lantern the shoot had pulled out from down under in Sydney, Australia (thanks to inflating costs of production) and was looking for a new locale in which to conduct its principal shoot, which WAS set to begin in January.

Now, thanks to The Geek Files, we have updates from director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale), letting us know where the Green Lantern shoot has moved to and what kind of challenges they’re facing in bringing the intergalactic adventures of the emerald warrior to the big screen.

In recent weeks, there’s been some chatter as to what characters, or more specifically, villains, we will see in the upcoming fourth installment to the Spider-Man franchise.

First, we heard arguably crazy speculation that Bruce Campbell’s larger role in Spider-Man 4 would see him playing a villain such as Mysterio. Unlikely in the eyes of many fans, but we followed that up with a report on director Sam Raimi discussing the Spider-Man 4 villains where he admitted he favored the idea of The Lizard but wasn’t keen or familiar with the idea of Carnage.

Then, we finally got one confirmation on the topic of potential villains: Dylan Baker would in fact be returning as Dr. Curt Connors in the next movie but that didn’t necessarily mean he’d be transforming in the scaly green two-armed lizard, especially not if you can take Baker’s words as complete truth (he says he’s a background character). Of course, this was followed with more rumors where it was said that The Lizard could be Spider-Man 4’s only villain.

Short Version: IF you let it draw you in with its factual approach, The Fourth Kind will creep you out more than Paranormal Activity.

Screen Rant reviews The Fourth Kind

After the extreme split in opinions on Paranormal Activity (I liked it), I was curious to see The Fourth Kind to see which side of the fence I fell on. I can understand how you can either love or hate the former, and I have a feeling something similar will happen with this film: Either you buy into the whole premise and let it suck you in, or you stand back and call B.S. on the whole thing.

A few days back we got a look at the new three-and-a-half minute international trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar and it was incredible.

Not only did it vastly improve over the first theatrical trailer, it provided a much deeper glimpse into the story of the film, its characters and its many awesome action sequences – all wrapped up in one big beautiful 3D colorful experience.

With the launch of Avatar’s Full-on marketing, we now have two more videos to share with you: The Japanese Avatar trailer and a brand new 30-second TV spot that aired during the final World Series game last night.

This is one of those ideas I’d say is very bad but at the same time, it’s pretty damn cool.

Everett Bradford put up a YouTube video to demonstrate what he calls “The Prometheus Device” and since then, it’s been popping up on geek and tech sites all over the web.

The device emulates what we see from the character of Pyro in X-Men 3: The Last Stand, sans his power to manipulate the fire once launching it out of his palm. Check out the demo video for the neat-but-incredibly-dangerous device below.

Columbia Pictures recently released two more clips from the upcoming disaster movie, 2012. These clips, while not as long as the five minute clip we previously posted, still have yet to show anything that makes me feel like this film will be anything more than a money-grab at the end of the world. (Which, I guess, would be the perfect time to do it).

In the first clip we find a zombie-free Woody Harrelson playing “crazy” internet blogger Charlie Frost who knows everything there is to know about the end of the world and warns Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) that, in typical movie fashion, the destruction will start in Hollywood, California. (It’s movies like this that always make me feel better about living in Michigan. So far it looks like I’m surviving Independence Day and when Skynet becomes self-aware on Judgement Day).

Don’t act like you’re surprised. You knew this announcement was coming from the moment we first heard that director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future) was making a sequel to his 1988 smash hit, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? It was just a matter of time, really. With three Mocap (that’s the new slang for “motion-capture”, FYI) films already under his belt – Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol – it was a natural leap of thought to assume Zemeckis would use his favorite new toy in a Roger Rabbit sequel.

However, it appears that the Toon characters (Roger, Jessica, Benny the Cab) will not be the ones making the leap into the 21st century. According to his interview with MTV, Zemeckis doesn’t plan on using Mocap for those characters, just the human ones (as if that makes it any better). Read what he had to say below:

Deadline Hollywood tells us that Sony Pictures bought the rights to make a movie based on Risk, the classic board game produced by Parker Brothers (a division of Hasbro™).  No details yet on who would direct, write the script or star in such a film, so we can jump right to speculation and opinion before we get to the press release.

Sony only has to look to TMNT, Transformers, G.I. Joe or Pirates of the Carribean for evidence that films based on toys/games/rides that have been popular with children can make big, big money at the box office – despite the fact that out of that same list, only Pirates received significant critical acclaim (at least the first film did)  Risk doesn’t exactly stir up the same memories TMNT/Transformers/G.I. Joe does for twenty and thirty-somethings, but then, neither did Pirates.  I’m no expert, but it’s hard to imagine teenagers these days stooping to the low-tech level of a board game, so Sony probably won’t get a lot of recognition-based excitement from THAT crowd. 

There are only a couple of reason why you clicked through to read this article. A) You have kids and they still enjoy reading the books and watching the cartoons made popular by Jan and Stan Berenstain or B) You have a morbid sense of curiosity and just had to see what all the hubbub is about.

Either way, the news is true; Coming Soon points to a report from USA Today stating that Walden Media has bought the movie rights to produce The Berenstain Bears movie adaptation. The film will be a comedy with a mix of live-action and CGI (of course it will). No 3D has been announced yet, but just wait, it won’t be far behind, I’m sure.

Remember when word of a mysterious project called Cloverfield first surfaced? Before we knew it, we were getting a movie about a mostly unseen giant monster causing chaos in New York. Well, it seems that J.J. Abrams might be bringing us something in the same top-secret vein with a project that is being referred to as 500 Rads.

The guys over at Pajiba (thanks to /Film for pointing us to this) have an inside source (who they’re keeping nameless, for good reason) that has given some details on 500 Rads, a project that Abrams and his production company, Bad Robot, are apparently developing in secret.

These Sherlock Holmes trailers just keep on coming, don’t they? An action-packed fourth one has appeared online over at MTV, and we have it here for your viewing pleasure. We’ve seen plenty of action in all the other trailers for the movie – including explosions, chases and hand-to-hand combat – but this latest trailer really turns up the action significantly.

Just as a reminder, Sherlock Holmes stars Robert Downey Jr. as the titular detective, and it co-stars Jude Law as his faithful assistant, Dr. Watson. Mark Strong plays the villain, Lord Blackwood and Rachel McAdams is the beautiful love interest, Irene Adler. Directed by Guy Ritchie (Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), this fresh take on the classic detective character makes use of some things not seen in most Holmes tellings, namely his often-forgotten martial arts skills.

The Hangover star Zach Galifianakis is certainly making a name for himself as of late: after starring in the $461 million comedy smash hit this summer, he has garnered himself a slew of roles (which is unsurprising – he was hilarious in The Hangover), the latest of which is voicing children’s nursery rhyme character, Humpty Dumpty, in the upcoming Shrek spin-off movie, Puss In Boots.

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Galifianakis is in talks to voice Humpty Dumpty, and if cast he’ll be joining the voice of Puss In Boots himself, Antonio Banderas, as well as Salma Hayek who’s voicing “Kitty.” The spin-off will be written by Tom Wheeler, and will be a prequel (an origin story, we’ve heard) leading up to the feisty feline’s meeting-up with Shrek and Co. in Shrek 2.

When does the movie business ever go as planned? Rarely, it seems, as evidenced by the change-ups with the upcoming thriller The Tourist, the remake of the 2005 French film, Anthony Zimmer.

We recently reported that Angelina Jolie had replaced Charlize Theron in the movie, with Jolie joining the already-cast Sam Worthington (who originally replaced Tom Cruise). Then a week later came news that after previously attached director Bharat Nalluri had stepped away from the project, The Lives of Other director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck was being eyed to helm the film instead.

All seemed to be in place and The Tourist was set for an early 2010 shooting start. However, although the latter is still true, there appears to STILL be major change-ups happening, as not only is yet another new director being looked at to now replace Donnersmarck, but Worthington may be getting replaced by Johnny Depp!

After the outstanding success of his Star Trek reboot, director J.J. Abrams has found himself fielding questions about the film’s sequel on a near daily basis. Who will be the villain? Does Chris Pine have as hard a time with Tribbles as William Shatner? Etc, etc. Luckily, Abrams is one of Hollywood’s more nerd friendly directors, so you can always count on him giving you a decent answer.

Recently, MTV caught up with Abrams for an exclusive interview about Star Trek 2. In the interview, Abrams discusses some possibilities  for the sequel and the relative leeway the screenwriters have in bringing old characters back to the big screen. Care to guess which name brought up the most excitement? You guessed it, KHANNNNN!!!!, a.k.a Khan Noonien Singh, the genetically engineered superhuman played by Ricardo Montelban in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan.

This isn’t too much of an update, but it definitely follows that path of Ed Norton that we’ve become accustomed to in reference to his future with Marvel Studios as Bruce Banner/The Hulk.

Capone at Ain’t It Cool News had a chance to interview the talented and hands-on actor/producer for his work on the documentary, By the People: The Election of Barack Obama, where he was specifically asked to talk only about that project. However, Capone was able to get in a few questions for the fans and that meant a question or two about The Incredible Hulk 2 and The Avengers.

Like I said above, we seemingly get an update from Ed Norton every few weeks about his involvement with Marvel’s future films, alternating between positive and hopeful, to negative and unlikely. This week’s update fall under the latter.

You Transformers fans know what I’m talking about when you see the name “Unicron.”

That’s right. If you thought Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen was a massive convoluted mess of nonsense and wasted… well, everything, coated in a big pile of explosions and sometimes-awkward visuals, then you’ve seen nothing yet. How can you introduce and misuse even bigger characters for Transformers 3 after what happened with Devastator and many others in Revenge of the Fallen?

Well, you introduce the Death Star Transformer!

I love salt, all types of salt really – Sea salt, table salt, rock salt and Evelyn Salt. Not familiar with that last one? She’s next summer’s female action spy played the ever so pouty-lipped Angelina Jolie. At one point, Tom Cruise was rumored to be attached to the Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games, The Bone Collector) directed secret double agent yarn but ultimately, Noyce and company decided to go with a more feminine touch. Good move guys!

Jolie has proven time and again that she is the go-to woman in Hollywood for lead female action roles. Say what you want about the Tomb Raider movie, but as Lara Croft there can be no other woman playing the part. Same goes for her roles in Mr. and Mrs. Smith and last summer’s Wanted. In Salt, she appears to be just as convincing while playing a wrongly accused woman on the run.

The sequel to Ghost Rider is going to happen. Just deal with the reality and move on. You can whine all you want about how poorly done the first one was, in acting, script and direction, but that won’t change the fact the Ghost Rider 2 is on its way like a flame- skulled demon riding a motorcycle. All that fan boys can hope for now is a faithful retelling of the popular second tier Marvel/Disney property. I’m just hoping for a story that doesn’t include a flaming skeleton horse.

Last month, David Goyer (Super Max, FlashForward), who is producing his half a score old script (that’s ten years for you non-math majors), talked about his story a bit and confirmed he was attached to the project. Today, MTV has an interview with Goyer and addressed concerns about the sequel pulling off a PG-13 rating. So will it or won’t it be a reboot?

Oh Hollywood, you would make me laugh if you didn’t make me want to cry.

A couple of days ago we wrote about an upcoming British horror film called The Possession of David O’Reilly, which is a “shockumentary” (guess that’s the new buzz term for found-footage horror flicks) about a demonic spiriting terrorizing a young couple in a London flat. That same post foretold of a movie industry gold rush attempt to recreate the smashing success of Paranormal Activity, a small film from director Oren Peli made for $11K, which has gone on to gross $86 million domestically. The decision NOT to remake Paranormal Activity into a big-budget film turned out to be a wise choice for Paramount, which is now swimming in unexpected (and substantial) profits.

But was that brief flash a wisdom a fluke? I ask because now comes word that Paramount is now moving ahead with Paranormal Activity 2.

Whether fans of the original Swedish language film Let The Right One In like it or not, the American remake, entitled Let Me In, is firmly going ahead, with filming already started a couple of days ago in New Mexico. But just as that news appeared, another piece surfaced that three more actors have joined the cast: Elias Koteas (playing a policeman), Cara Bruono (playing the main character’s mother) and Sasha Barrese (playing a character called “Virginia”). They join the previously announced Kodi-Smit McPhee, Chloe Moritz, and Richard Jenkins.