The first official full length trailer for Disney’s adaptation of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time released back in November and highlighted the special effects driven scenery and action that moviegoers will witness in the summer blockbuster.

IGN has just released the second Prince of Persia trailer today and it’s quite a bit better than the first. Featuring more story elements and a little bit more “epic” if you’re a fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean and The Mummy type epics and Jerry Bruckheimer’s trademark style, then you should definitely watch this.

The trailer doesn’t reveal too much new overall but it does feature more story elements through Gemma Arterton’s exposition/narration intertwined with quick action shots. We also get to see a bit more of the use of the dagger to slow and reverse time which I hope is used for some cool action sequences.

Prince of Persia stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace & the upcoming Clash of the Titans), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2 & the upcoming The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) and Ben Kingsley (The Assignment, Shutter Island).

If you’re a fan of the game for which the movie is based on and/or are interested in checking it out, game developer Ubisoft is releasing Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands just prior to the release of this movie. It is a sequel to The Sands of Time series featuring the Gyllenhaal version of the prince from the movie. Check it out at our sister site, Game Rant.

I’m a big fan of the game and from what I’ve see so far from the trailers and features, there’s not enough cool sword fighting and parkour (i.e. what made the game a success). Hopefully more will come.

Does this trailer gain your interest?

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is directed by Mike Newell and opens in theaters May 28, 2010.

Source: IGN

Just before the end of 2009 we posted a featurette that went behind-the-scenes of the upcoming video game adaptation, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. That video focused on the coveted dagger of time and the power that it holds within the story (why everyone wants it and all that), but today we have another one – courtesy of IGN – which focuses on the scale of the movie from the location to the special effects. And we have it hear for your enjoyment.

Prince of Persia is based on the video game of the same name and is about a Prince who comes across a mystical and powerful dagger that allows him to manipulate time. The movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina. It’s directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and produced by mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean).

Check out the latest behind-the-scenes featurette below:

If you want to watch the video in higher quality you can head over to IGN.

I know that with the background of video game movies generally sucking that Prince of Persia is likely to follow suit. But I just can’t help but look forward to this one – all the special effects, the sets and the action look impressive and it’s always been one of those games that I thought would make an entertaining movie. I guess only time will tell (get it?) whether it’ll break the video game curse. Fingers (and toes) crossed.

Thoughts on the latest featurette? Do you think Prince of Persia can be the first truly good video game adaptation? Or is it fated to stink like most?

Prince of Perisa: The Sands of Time hits theaters on May 28th, 2010.

Source: IGN

Super Bowl XLIV‎ is over and the Saints were able to shut down Peyton Manning and the Colts, but we’re not here to talk about that. It’s often said that the majority of viewers tune into the big game just for the commercials, so on that note we have some TV spots for upcoming movies for you.

We already had a chance to see the Super Bowl ads for M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender as well as Ridley Scott’s take on Robin Hood but now that the game has aired, we can show you the latest commercials for The Wolfman, Prince of Persia and Alice in Wonderland.

We’ll go through this in order of when the movies debut so starting us off is Joe Johnston’s remake of The Wolfman which stars Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins and Hugo Weaving

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGK-Zs0nY-s

The Wolfman opens next weekend, February 12th.

Next up is Tim Burton’s re-imagining of the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland. The film utilizes Burton regulars Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, and stars young Mia Wasikowska as the title character.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jth9BjoquqA

Alice in Wonderland opens March 5th, 2010.

Last but not least is the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced video game adaptation Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Directed by Mike Newell, this special effects dependent film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as the title character alongside Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PmtHI9fAeY

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time opens May 28, 2010.

There wasn’t that many studios forking out the big bucks this year for time during the big game but out of them all, my favorite high above the rest is for The Last Airbender which is my most anticipated film of the year.

What’s your favorite?

Follow me on Twitter @rob_keyes

With the mega-sporting event of the Superbowl rolling around once more, for us movie fans it means that the biggest studios in the business will be paying money (A LOT of it – $3 million to be exact) to run 30-second TV spots during the event.

Adage has the info on which studios have bought ad space and which movies they will be advertising, so read on below to find out.

During Superbowl XLIV on February 7th this year, you’ll be seeing ads from three of the biggest studios: Universal, Paramount and Walt Disney.

First, Paramount has bought the most amount of spots with a total of three and they will be advertising Iron Man 2, Shutter Island and The Last Airbender, all of which are highly anticipated around these parts (all three made Screen Rant’s 2010 most anticipated list). For Paramount’s ads you should look out during the first and second quarters to catch them.

Both Disney and Universal have bought at least one spot but both declined to comment on their “Superbowl activity.” However, Disney will most likely be raising awareness for Alice in Wonderland, Toy Story 3 or Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and Universal will most likely choose The Wolfman or Robin Hood.

Those are all movies I’m highly anticipating, and let’s hope the footage shown is new and not just old footage set in a different order. I’m particularly hoping for new stuff from Iron Man 2 and Toy Story 3 because I’m looking forward to those two the most.

Thoughts?

Superbowl XLIV airs on February 7th, and we know you footage-hungry movie fans will be paying attention… either that or you can catch them here at Screen Rant when they inevitably make their way online .

Sources: Adage (via Collider)

One of the major releases of summer 2010 is Disney’s adaptation of the popular video game, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The action-adventure film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as the title character and is produced (in his trademark style) by Jerry Bruckheimer.

The Prince of Persia trailer released in November to a slightly mixed reaction here at Screen Rant and part of that is due to the history of the genre lacking in quality and not staying true to the key elements of the games.

In addition to the teaser, we’ve seen some behind-the-scenes footage including the first Prince of Persia featurette which focused on the character of Dastan (Gyllenhaal), his background and his journey within the film. This second video we have below focuses on The Sands of Time itself in the form of the magical dagger that represents the plot device of the video game and this movie.

As with the first video from two weeks back, there are scenes from the movie intertwined with interview segments from director Mike Newell, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and the star, Mr. Gyllenhaal.

Watch and enjoy:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F_9a8fKElM

I think the dagger is perfect in design and the effects of it being used are cool, but I want that time and effort re-focused into making the movie feel more like the game and have more of that parkour and fighting style which made the game what it was, and worthy of a big-budget feature film.

That aspect has been lacking in the promotional material we’ve seen so far but we’ll have to wait and see if we get more of that in the final product.

What do you think?

Starring alongside Jake Gyllenhaal are Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Alfred Molina, Reece Ritchie and Toby Kebbell.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time opens in theaters May 28, 2010 and the Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (video game) hits shelves May 10, 2010. The game is a sequel to the Sands of Time game and you can read all about it at Game Rant.

As we come to the end of 2009, it’s time to look forward and put together our list of our most anticipated movies of 2010.

Last year could have been worse – 5 of our 10 most anticipated movies of 2009 turned out to live up to our expectations (including Watchmen, Up, and Star Trek), while the other five ranged from mediocre (Public Enemies) to downright disappointing (Terminator Salvation, Wolverine, Transformers 2). Of course “most anticipated” does not necessarily mean “movies we think are going to be awesome” – it’s “movies we hope are going to be awesome.”

This year the task was made a lot easier thanks to our senior editor Kofi Outlaw putting together Screen Rant’s 2010 movie preview, giving us a one-stop list from which to gather the biggies. While last year was a group effort, this year I’ve decided to pull rank and come up with the list myself, with some fine tuning help from editors Kofi and Rob Keyes.

So, without further delay…

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Screen Rant’s 20 Most Anticipated Movies of 2010:

20. The Green Hornet – December 22

Green Hornet made it onto the list just on morbid curiosity. I’m a big fan of the 60s TV series and was hoping to see a serious take on it on the big screen. However the production has not been smooth to say the least with apparent differences of opinion between Seth Rogen, director Michael Gondry and Stephen Chow (who eventually left the production altogether), production delays, script changes, etc. We’ll see what the final product looks like at the end of 2010.

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19. Edge of Darkness – January 29

An older Mel Gibson as a father set on avenging the death of his daughter? Consider my ticket purchased and my seat reserved.

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18. The Last Airbender – July 2

M. Night Shyamalan has been a victim of his own success (and his ego) with each of his films getting pretty much worse than the one that came before. However here he will be tackling something completely different from anything he has ever done before, and based on the one trailer we’ve seen so far it looks like it may turn out to be impressive. We’ll see.

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17. The Wolfman – February 12

Benicio del Toro is a great actor and I’m looking forward to seeing him as the tortured soul cursed by the, uh, curse of the werewolf. It looks like they’ll be trying to do as much as they can with practical visual effects (although I’m sure there will be CGI as well) and that suits this film.

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16. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – May 28

Is this going to be any good? I have no idea – but it looks like a helluva production. And Jake Gyllenhaal as a buffed out action hero? Curiosity factor alone is enough to put this on the list.

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15. The Book of Eli – January 15

Denzel Washington as a righteous, post-apocalyptic bad-ass? Check. Gary Oldman as the bad guy? Check. A trailer that emphasizes both of those to utter awesomeness? Check. See you there.

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14. Robin Hood – May 14

While some were disappointed (myself included) that director Ridley Scott decided to drop a couple of unique concepts for the story from the final product (Russell Crowe playing both Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham, the sheriff as the good guy and Robin as the villain), this still looks like a great, reality-based update of the story.

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13. Alice In Wonderland – March 5

If there was ever a film that was suited to the twisted vision of Tim Burton, this is it. I’m not the biggest Burton fan and some of what I’ve seen in the trailer doesn’t quite work for me (the Red Queen’s head is so huge it looks cartoonish), but overall this is bound to be a feast for the senses and probably the closest a screen version will get to the source material.

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12. A Nightmare On Elm Street – April 30

The original Nightmare on Elm Street is a horror classic and we’re all curious to see how this reboot/remake turns out. From what has been shown it seems like they may tone down the humor and dial up some of the more realistic aspects of the story. Really looking forward to Jackie Earle Haley’s take on Freddy Krueger.

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11. The A-Team – June 11

With some interesting casting choices (Liam Neeson as “Hannibal” Smith, Bradley Cooper from The Hangover and Sharlto Copley from District 9) and director Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces) behind the camera, this could turn out to be a fun hat-tip to the original series.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Click here to see our 10 most anticipated movies of 2010

As 2010 approaches, it’s time to bid farewell to the cinematic happenings of 2K9 – but what does the near-future hold for movie lovers? Luckily for you guys, we here at Screen Rant are dusting off our crystal ball and looking ahead… all the way to the year 2010.

Be sure to read through our entire 2010 movie preview (of over 70 movies!) to get the scoop on when you’ll be able to catch big flicks like Iron Man 2, Christopher Nolan’s Inception, Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Shutter Island, Freddy Krueger’s return to Elm Street, a comic book adaptation that’s sure to Kick-Ass, an animated showdown between Dreamworks’ Shrek Forever After and Pixar’s Toy Story 3 – and for the ladies, a second helping of Sex In The City and an obscure little film called The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

…And that’s just the preview of the preview. Let’s get to the full list of 2010 movies.

You can click on any one of the movie titles to see our archive of coverage on that film.

If you’re impatient and want to skip around, here’s where you can find:

• 2010 Spring movies
• 2010 Summer movies
• 2010 Fall/Winter movies

Enjoy…

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JANUARY

Daybreakers

January 8th

Synopsis: In the year 2019, a plague has transformed most every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher  (Ethan Hawke) works with a covert band of vamps on a way to save humankind.

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Youth In Revolt

January 8th

Synopsis: Nick Twisp (Michael Cera), a unique, but affable teen with a taste for the finer things in life falls hopelessly in love with free-spirited Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday). But family, geography and jealous ex-lovers conspire to keep these two apart. With Sheeni’s encouragement, Nick abandons his dull, predictable life and develops a rebellious alter ego who leads him on a path of destruction with uproarious consequences.

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The Book of Eli

January 15th

Synopsis: A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man (Denzel Washington) fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind. Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis co-star.

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The Lovely Bones

January 15th

Synopsis: Based on the critically acclaimed best-selling novel by Alice Sebold, and directed by Oscar-winner Peter Jackson, The Lovely Bones centers on a young girl (Saoirse Ronan) who has been murdered and watches over her family and her killer from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.

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Legion

January 22nd

Synopsis: After a terrifying biblical apocalypse descends upon the world, a group of strangers stranded in a remote truck stop diner in the Southwest unwittingly become humanity’s last line of defense when they discover the diner’s young waitress is pregnant with the messiah.

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Tooth Fairy

January 22nd

Synopsis: A bad deed on the part of a tough minor-league hockey player results in an unusual sentence: He must serve one week as a real-life tooth fairy.

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Edge of Darkness

January 29th

Synopsis: As homicide detective Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) investigates the death of his activist daughter, he uncovers not only her secret life, but a corporate cover-up and government collusion that attracts an agent tasked with cleaning up the evidence.

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FEBRUARY

From Paris with Love

February 5th

Synopsis: In Paris, a young employee in the office of the US Ambassador hooks up with an American spy looking to stop a terrorist attack in the city.

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Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

February 12th

Synopsis: A young boy discovers he’s the descendant of a Greek god and sets out on an adventure to settle an on-going battle between the gods. Based on the book by Rick Riordan.

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The Wolfman

February 12th

Synopsis: Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro), a haunted nobleman, is lured back to his family estate when his brother’s fiancée (Emily Blunt) tracks him down to help find her missing love. Reunited with his estranged father (Anthony Hopkins), Talbot learns that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector named Aberline (Hugo Weaving) has come to investigate.

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Shutter Island

February 19th

Synopsis: Up-and-coming U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston’s Shutter Island Hospital. Teddy’s shrewd investigating skills soon provide a promising lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he suspects would break the case wide open. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous criminals “escape” in the confusion, and as the puzzling, improbable clues multiply, Teddy begins to doubt everything – his memory, his partner, even his own sanity.

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Cop Out

February 26th

Synopsis: A comedy about two cops (Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan) whose adventures include locating a stolen baseball card, rescuing a woman, and dealing with gangsters and their laundered money. Kevin Smith directs. Formerly titled “A Couple of Dicks” and then “A Couple of Cops”. Now it’s called Cop Out.

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The Crazies

February 26th

Synopsis: The inhabitants of a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply.

Click to continue reading our 2010 Movie Preview

The Prince of Persia franchise is making a major splash in recent weeks in both the film and video game industries. With the first full official trailer for the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (the film) releasing at the top of November surrounded by rumors of a tie-in game by Ubisoft, the company that revitalized the franchise in 2003 with the game the movie is based on.

A few weeks later, the new Prince of Persia video game was (officially) announced unsurprisingly, although not a direct tie-in with the film (a good thing), it’s a sequel to the original Sands of Time game and universe, titled The Forgotten Sands with its lead character looking much more like Gyllenhaal’s on-screen version.

The first footage for the The Forgotten Sands game and a clip from the film were premiered at the Spike Video Game Awards this weekend by the Prince himself, Jake Gyllenhaal, and now we have even more to share in this two-and-a-half minute featurette loaded with action.

This new behind-the-scenes featurette shows off plenty of scenes with Jake working his combat skill as Prince Dastan cut between little interview snippets with those involved with the project. Watch and enjoy:

I’ve not seen one action shot of Prince Dastan fighting like he does in the game so while I hope we do get a few (or one) cool-angled slow-mo sword action scene against multiple opponents, I’m doubtful we’ll see it, and it’ll be more of the fast-paced close-up adventure.

Starring alongside Mr. Gyllenhaal are Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace & the upcoming Clash of the Titans), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2 & the upcoming The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) Ben Kingsley (The Assignment & the upcoming Shutter Island).

What do you think of the footage?

Stay tuned for more on the Prince of Persia movie at Screen Rant, and on The Forgotten Sands game on Game Rant.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is directed by Mike Newell and opens in theaters May 28, 2010.

Source: Yahoo

At the beginning of last month we got our first look at the official trailer for the upcoming Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) directed video game adaptation, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. It looked like a lot of fun, with some particularly striking visuals and special effects, all the while paying tribute to the great Ubisoft game that it’s based on.

And now we have some new footage from Prince of Persia, a teaser trailer of sorts that continues the same vibe we got from the first trailer, with maybe a little less of the jokey tone (I’ve heard complaints from folks about the dialogue being too silly and “on-liner-ish” -- which is a valid complaint, admittedly).

The “First Look” footage comes from the Spike TV 2009 Video Game Awards that were held recently, presented by the film’s star himself, Jake Gyllenhaal. It’s only about a minute long but if you liked the look of the first trailer, it only builds on it.

Take a look:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vdaFOIDKTg

I don’t know about you but that looks like a load of popcorn fun to me. There will probably be nothing more to it when we see the finished product (as Gyllenhaal says above, the movie is not finished yet), but sometimes that’s all you need to have a good time at the movie theater (that’s sometimes, not ALWAYS ).

However, as fellow Screen Rant writer Rob Keyes pointed out when the first trailer struck -- we have yet to see two of the crucial elements of the video game: the slow-mo fighting and the Prince running up and jumping on walls. However, I’m sure that will be included in there somewhere (perhaps the “not finished yet” status declared by Gyllenhaal refers to the post-production special effects?).

I just wanna’ say that I find the poster ads for Prince of Persia very odd and intriguing: the trailers make it look like the popcorn entertainment film that it will no doubt be, but the posters we’ve seen for it -- featuring Gyllenhaal and co-stars Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley -- look like something out of a fashion magazine. Mixed messages to the average movie goer, no?

What do you make of the latest footage/teaser trailer for Prince of Persia? Do you think this movie will break the trend of bad video game adaptations? Or will it be another entry to add to that list?

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time hits theaters on May 28th, 2010.

Source: YouTube (thanks to /Film)

Happy Friday everyone!

Welcome to the second half of this week’s Poster Friday feature.

Part one of our biggest Poster Friday collection ever (separated into two parts) went up a few hours earlier featuring a pile of posters from last week and now it’s time for the more recent one-sheets to be added to Screen Rant’s wall.

These include: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Exam, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Solomon Kane, Kick-Ass, Iron Man 2, [REC2], Tenderness, Warlords, From Paris With Love and Buried.

Let’s get to it.

To start, here’s a new poster for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time featuring the film’s star Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time opens May 28, 2010.

Source: Planet Disney

Finally! Our first real look at Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has arrived in the form of this HD trailer courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes. Based on the popular video game series which made it big with the release of Sands of Time back in 2003 and its pair of sequels the following two years, the video game adaptation is hoped to help bring a change to a movie genre that has traditionally suffered from low quality movies based on known video game franchises.

Prince of Persia stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan (unnamed in the video game) as he tries save the world using the an ancient time-manipulating weapon and the help of a foe/love-interest.

Check out the action-packed and visually appealing trailer after the jump.

For those unfamiliar with the story of the movie, here’s the synopsis:

From the team that brought the “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy to the big screen, Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films present PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME, an epic action-adventure set in the mystical lands of Persia. A rogue prince (JAKE GYLLENHAAL) reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess (GEMMA ARTERTON) and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time—a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

Watch and enjoy:

As Screen Rant master Vic points out, this trailer sure has the feel and aesthetic of Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy. With the team behind the movie, we can see that this is a classic summer blockbuster for everyone along the same lines of The Mummy and Pirates of the Caribbean.

There sure are some extreme and epic visuals, and I dig the shout out to Ubisoft’s (the game developer) other game franchise which followed in the footsteps of their modern Prince of Persia a series: Assassin’s Creed (the scene where he’s on the tower near the beginning about the jump off).

I can’t deny that the trailer looks like a lot of fun but I’m a little disappointed we didn’t get to see two of the things most important and visually stunning about the games: the Prince running and jumping of walls and epic multi-enemy sword fights mixed with a little Zack Snyder-style slow-mo. I have a feeling there’s some of that to come though.

Starring alongside Mr. Gyllenhaal are Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace & the upcoming Clash of the Titans), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2 & the upcoming The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) Ben Kingsley (The Assignment & the upcoming Shutter Island).

If you missed it, check out the pitch trailer that Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner and writer John August used to sell the movie idea to Disney. It’s footage taken from the game, strung together to show what kind of movie and visuals they could employ in live-action.

What do you think of the first official Prince of Persia movie trailer? Could this break the trend of awful video game movies and open the industry up to the next big thing after comic book movies?

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is directed by Mike Newell and opens in theaters May 28, 2010.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes

There are plenty of video game movies coming out over the next couple of years and oddly enough none of them are being directed by Uwe Boll. Some like World of Warcraft and Call of Duty are making progress; others like Asteroids are merely in the developing stages. One that is almost finished shooting is Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. While a few stills from the film have been released, there has yet to be a teaser trailer released.

However, Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner and writer John August have released what they called a “pitch trailer”. Essentially, when they were trying to pitch the idea of making Prince of Persia into a movie, they came up with a unique way to convince the studios that the game would translate well into big screen adaptation. Instead of the usual storyboards and concept art, they went and grabbed some of the more exciting scenes from the game itself and edited together a trailer to help pitch their idea.

It must have worked because Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney took the bait, bought the rights and hired Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) to direct Jake Gyllenhall as Prince Dastan. Somewhere along the way they also convinced Alfred Molina (Sheik Amar) and Sir Ben Kingsley (Nizam) to join the cast (although I’m sure Disney had some help from more than one Benjamin Franklin.)

So below we have the “pitch trailer” for Prince of Persia: Sands of Time courtesy of our friends at JoBlo, enjoy:

You’ll notice that a lot of crucial elements from the game are missing (freezing, monstrous sand beasts, and such) and that was intentional on the part of Mechner and August. They wanted to sell the idea based on what the studios like the most: action, adventure, romance and marketability to children everywhere.

That last part is majorly important because with the recent acquisition of Marvel by Disney to help them tap into the male teen market, video games are a natural doorway to that demographic. I wouldn’t doubt if we see some Prince Dastan characters walking around Disney World soon.

What do you think about Prince of Persia: Sands of Time as a movie and would you pose with Prince Dastan for a picture outside of Tomorrowland?

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time opens in theaters May 28, 2010.

Source: JoBlo

It’s a miracle! Amidst the recent glut of movies that are in the 3D works, today we get news that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time will NOT be jumping on the 3D bandwagon.

A whole slew of news items have been coming out of the Disney D23 Fan Expo, one of which was that the upcoming video game adaptation, Prince of Persia, was going to be in 3D. The possibility was first brought to our collective attention when the guys over at Coming Soon noticed a poster for the movie on a display highlighting all of the 3D Disney movies in the pipeline. That 3D status of PoP was supposedly confirmed by on-site reps for Disney, and it was noted that since the movie wasn’t shot for 3D, the process would be done entirely in post-production.

However, the folks over at FirstShowing have received an e-mail directly from a Disney rep confirming that Prince of Persia will NOT be coming to us in 3D. There’s no word on why the film’s poster appeared at the expo alongside a slate of other 3D movies, nor why on-site reps confirmed the 3D possibility. Either it was a plain old mix-up (I’m sure the expo was a busy place), or those on-site reps/those who put the film’s poster on display didn’t know what they’re doing…

I’m very happy that Prince of Persia won’t be in 3D, especially since it wasn’t filmed for that format. If they decided to convert it into 3D during post-production, it would mean that certain things would be coming out of the screen at the audience without any real reason to. That’s not my idea of good 3D.

I’m looking forward to Prince of Persia, despite the poor (to say the least) track record of Hollywood video game adaptations. Maybe It’s just wishful thinking, but I’m getting the feeling this may be one of the first truly decent video game flicks there is. I hope I’m not being too naive…

What do you think of Prince of Persia being regular ol’ 2D as opposed to 3D?

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time hits theaters on May 28th, 2010.

Source: ComingSoon and Firstshowing

We’ve had a few looks at the upcoming Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time video game adaptation over the last year or so. The first images were unofficial with the first official one getting released a couple of weeks ago which showed Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan.

Not long after that came a couple of new posters for the movie, one again featuring Gyllenhaal (which isn’t surprising since he’s the lead and one of the main draws for the film) and the other featuring Gemma Arterton as the female lead. Then came Ben Kingsley’s poster as Nizam.

The images so far have been mostly reassuring that the movie will be somewhat decent…

Today we get another slick look at Prince of Persia courtesy of Empire (who have nabbed the exclusive), continuing that kind of style of the first posters (which looked more like fashion magazine covers than movie posters).

A couple of the images appear to be mid-scene, where our Prince and Princess Tamina (an alluring Gemma Arterton) look to have been at first soaked from head to toe, and then attempting to escape on horseback. The other two are behind-the-scenes, showing director Mike Newell, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Check out one of the images below:

For the full size version, plus the rest of the exclusive images, you can head over head over to Empire.

With regards to the two mid-scene images, it seems like strange ones to promote Prince of Persia. Not that they don’t look cool and all (something about water as a still image is weirdly nice to look at), but you’d think the promotion stills would be more… staged.

It’s a nice change, though…

What do you make of these latest Prince of Persia images? Are you looking forward to this video game adaptation?

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina and Toby Kebbell. It is slated for a May 28th, 2010 release.

Source: Empire

A few days back, we got out first official look of Jake Gyllenhaal in character as Prince Dastan in the upcoming Disney production of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. While there’s debate over whether or not Gyllenhaal is the right man for the part, his costume was undeniably cool.

Today, we now have a first look at another major player of the video game movie, Nizam, who is played by Sir Ben Kingsley.

Nizam is the villainous brother King Shahrman of Persia whom he assassinates, placing blame on the hero of the story, Prince Dastan. After taking out his bro, he claims the throne and is after the Sands of Time to help him on his quest to take over the world.

Take a look and see what you think:

[Click for larger version at ComingSoon.net]

This image comes from Coming Soon who nabbed the exclusive – Head there for the full image in high resolution.

I wonder with the sudden release of first-look promotional material (including two new posters) for this movie days before Comic-Con, if we’ll be treated to something bigger for Prince of Persia later this week from the convention itself…

Stay tuned, Screen Rant will be there to keep you in the know.

What do you think of Kingsley’s character image?

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time opens in theaters May 28, 2010.

Source: Coming Soon

Empire has just premiered two new posters for the upcoming Jake Gyllenhaal video game adaptation, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean, Armageddon) produced action-adventure is set to be one of 2010’s biggest blockbusters, with both a big-budget and an existing video game fan base to help it do well at the box office.

The Prince of Persia video game series was (and still is) extremely popular, so much so it’s kind of a shock that it’s taken them this long to get it firmly on the way to theaters (a film has been in the works as far back as before the 2003 video game reboot of the original 1989 Prince of Perisa video game).

The big-screen adaptation of POP follows “rogue prince” Dasdan (Gyllenhaal) and a mysterious princess called Tamina (Gemma Arterton), who together (reluctantly) safeguard an ancient dagger that could unlock what is known as the Sands of Time, a force which allows its possessor to manipulate (or reverse) time and thus rule the world.

Today we have two new international posters for Prince of Persia, courtesy of Empire. Check them both out below (click either for a larger version):

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I don’t know about you, but those are not what I expected to see advertising a Prince of Persia movie. They look more like fashion magazine covers than movie posters! Does this mean we can expect something more than your standard action franchise fare? Surely not! Surprise factor aside, I really like the look of the posters – they’re sleek and sophisticated, giving off an epic feel that I suspect the film is going for.

Gyllenhaal looks awesome as Prince Dasdan – I was skeptical about him being cast in the role when it was first announced, but the more I see of him in the get-up (check out images here and here), the more he looks to be a fit for the character. And it goes without saying Arterton (who’s starting to make a real name for herself) is… appealing.

I will always be wary about any and all video game adaptations until one finally comes along that proves they can actually be good. I have every hope that Prince of Persia will be the one to do that. Is that hope in vain?

What do you think of these latest posters for Prince Persia? Are you looking forward to this video game adaptation?

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is scheduled to hit theaters on May 28th, 2010.

Source: Empire

This isn’t our first look at the buffed up lead in costume however, as last summer we got a glimpse of Jake in costume behind the scenes with some crew members and back in March of this year we got another two images of him again topless on one of the sets.

Unfortunately for the filmmakers, these images were all unimpressive. But now we finally have an officially released image and it looks good:

This image looks good as does the character’s costume. Did he tie that leather strap to his bicep himself?

I hope the movie emphasizes the cool action sequences and style that the game it is based on employs – that’s really the main selling point behind this and a big part of the game’s success and evolution into a feature film project.

Alongside Gyllenhaal, the cast includes Sir Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Alfred Molina and Toby Kebbell.

What do you think of his look? Can this video game-based movie break the trend of bad movies in the genre?

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is directed by Mike Newell and opens May 28, 2010.

Source: EW

Over the weekend, video interviews for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and The Surrogates found their way online and both reveal scenes from their respective movies.

The first interview, with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, talks about the Prince of Persia movie and its lead actor Jake Gyllenhaal. Interlaced throughout the short video, we see some footage of training sessions and scenes from the movie.

Take a look and see what you think:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUnoO17ZJgM

It sure looks like a big budget action epic. I really hope this movie is good; the genre really needs it to be, to give hope to the other forty or so video game movie adaptations in development.

Next up is an interview for The Surrogates with director Jonathan Mostow. Similar to the Prince of Persia video, we get to see quite a few little pieces of footage from the movie including many of Bruce Willis with hair (well, his surrogate avatar) and some creepy robot stuff.

Most of what we see is pretty action-oriented and it looks very cool. A lot of the video plays like a trailer for the movie so I’d expect the official full trailer and more marketing for Surrogates to debut soon. We did get a cool viral poster for the movie two weeks back, so the marketing should soon gear up with the movie releasing later this summer.

I’m interesting in seeing both films although I don’t expect much from Prince of Persia. While the video game it is based on is great, the movie added lots of stuff not in the game, and that usually doesn’t bode well for any video game movie. Oh, and it’s a video game movie…

What do you think of our first video glimpses of these two movies?

Surrogates hits theaters September 25, 2009 and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time opens May 28, 2010.

Source: WorstPreviews

In short, the Prince of Persia ones are an example of bad marketing and the Deadpool shot makes a cool actor and a cool character look cheap.

First, we have the two of Mr. Gyllenhaal who plays Prince Dastan, a name created for the movie as it was unknown in the video game for which the film is based. The first thing you’ll notice are his goofy facial expressions and the second is that this picture shows off nothing from the game.

Is Jake Gyllenhaal topless and dumbfounded what they’re trying to sell? I have no idea how they could take these pictures and use them as promotional images – They appear to be set photos as opposed to stills. Either way, this does not make me want to see the movie.

Here they are:

At least the background looks decent.

The movie is directed by Mike Newell and is  based on the successful remake of the 1989 side-scroller video game. The remake came out in 2003 and was dubbed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for which this movie takes its title. I have low expectations for this film and it’s not just because it’s based on a video game.

The next image we have, courtesy of SuperHeroHype.com, is a still of Deadpool for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It depicts Ryan Reynolds in a very extravagant costume which includes a red undershirt, cargo pants and a sidearm holster that’s held on by string.

Much better than the ones above. If only the Prince of Persia pictures were like this (him with swords in action) then we’d have something to look at!

There’s quite a bit of confusion and controversy occurring online about the Deadpool character and how he’ll appear and be adapted for this movie. For more details on that, click here. And for the more recent follow-up discussion about the characters in the Wolverine movie, click here. I hope they do the character justice. I’m a big supporter or Ryan Reynolds and he’s perfect for the role.

What do you think about the images, the characters portrayed and their respective movies?

X-Men Origins: Wolverine hits theaters May 1, 2009 and Prince of Persia debuts May 28, 2010.

Source: The Huffington Post

If you’re keeping track, or looking for any tidbits, the much anticipated translation of the Ubisoft game, Prince of Persia, has reportedly started filming on the 16th of September.

As we’ve noted previously, Jake Gyllenhaal of Brokeback Mountain fame, stars in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Also starring in the flick are Gemma Arterton, Sir Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina and Toby Kebbell.

The project is an effort between Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films and is slated for a 2010 release. It’s about a prince who teams up with a rival princess to stop an angry ruler from doing some evil deeds.

So why am I not jazzed about the upcoming new video game-to-movie effort?

At the moment it seems to me that Prince of Persia has some serious industry backing with Disney and Bruckheimer. This combination alone gives me the sense that it has potential.

But what tempers my anticipation for Prince of Persia are the writers.

• Carlo Bernard: Very limited experience of writing credits.
• Jordan Mechner: Limited experience in writing credits, and most of them are related to video games.
• Doug Miro: Three credits: One of them is Prince…, another is still to be released.
• Boaz Yakin: Boaz has the most experience, and a few flicks I’ve actually heard of. Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, From Dusk Till Dawn 2. Hmm… vampires and dancing. That should mix well with Persian prince politics. (I said “heard of”… I missed these two fine literary contributions to the annals of film.)

Besides filming having commenced, the only other news that’s come out of the project is about the new 22-year-old Bond girl, Gemma Arterton, moving in with the 19-year-old stuntman Eduardo Munoz, who was hired to teach her to ride horses for Prince. They said horses Eduardo. Horses! It must be chemistry because he’s already moved in with Gemma and she hired a translator to teach them each others language so they can understand each other… verbally. Kids. Sheesh. I give it till he end of filming, at best. Maybe they’ll learn enough vile language to learn how to break up properly.

The only salvation that keeps my eye in this direction is the director, Mike Newell. Newell has a history of success behind him, including putting the fantasy genre to screen. (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) But he just may have his job cut out for him.

How Many Video Games Must We Suffer Through?

I have to confess that with my digital, 5-speaker surround sound computer system I like gaming. When I’m pinned by two armored vehicles and only 2 rockets and a couple of satchel charges to my digital name, it’s fun. Or when I’m driving my NASCAR simulator, the place shakes, windows rattle and the animals run for their lives in my place – hehe. But my motivation, my story is to destroy the other guy and not be destroyed or just move that other car… who cares what happens or why. Just go go go. My first online win came from a move sort of like that. Hehehe.

The aspect I ponder is how video games translate as a story into a movie? What’s my motivation? It’s a single emotion, maybe two. Escape some of my daily woes, destroy the enemy. But yet, on that premise alone, it seems that many games have been made into movies.

Many game-to-movie efforts have floundered, heck there were many I didn’t even know were translated to movies. Sometimes it seems that they hire actors who look like the game characters, hand them props from the game and thell them to run that way, and pull the trigger. Go go go!! That’s a wrap! Now jump through the window. That’s a wrap! If he survives, we’ll have him jump over a car! Dialog… Oh yeah… forgot that. Propmaster!!?? What do you think he might say here?

At the front of my brain is Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson in the translation of one of my old favorite first-person shooters, Doom! Despite the fact that I tend to gravitate to action oriented, lead splaying movies that just make me feel better after a rough day, it was just OK. Even I need some story behind the bullet distribution patterns.

The video game-to-movie rendition I’ve enjoyed was Resident Evil. I never played the game. I was too busy with Doom and all the add-ons, add-ins and add-to’s, but I liked the premise of Resident Evil, not to mention really enjoying watching Milla Jonovich kick butt.

Speaking of watching, I think when you “cross a Playboy Bunny with Bruce Wayne” archeologist type character in the Lara Croft films with Angelina Jolie, and add semi-Ok writing, it’s bound to be a hit and is one of my perennial favorites on the tube as repeats when nothing else is competing for my writers eye. (I hope my wife isn’t reading this.)

A lot of the time I can’t imagine trying to create a story out of a first person shooter that is a compelling tale to tell. To further complicate the situation is not committing the money and nabbing up-and-coming actors that may not have the draw of big names. The one flick I am not even holding my breath on is Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li starring Smallville’s Kristen Kreuk. Without a Clark to pine about, what will she do? Oh… did I just say that?

One movie that I think has a lot of anticipation is Max Payne. It stars Mark Wahlberg, and written by Shawn Ryan, whose latest endeavor includes The Shield. This flick is due to come out October 17th. The previews look like it doesn’t suck and it’s got me interested, unlike most previews of game-to-movies previews.

Yes, I’ve left out a lot of game-to-movie names. And there are a lot. So like I said, or recommend to the game / movie makers: If you don’t have the bucks, and can’t hire the big names, maybe it would be best if you just waited a bit to get the mula. I’d rather have a movie I’ve made to have a lasting impression than something that only gets remembered because it’s added to a list somewhere.

Just ask Bruce. He’ll tell ya’ like he sees it.

DISCLAIMER: When I say I enjoyed a game-to-movie translation, I did not say it was a fantastic, earth shattering story captivating movie. I just enjoy it for what it is. I thought I’d say that before you started slamming me for calling something good. It is good for the moment. Kind a’ like candy or beer.

Sources: Metro.co.uk, Daily Mail.co.uk, IMDB