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Apparently teens have short attention spans, evidenced by this year's nominees for the 2008 Teen Choice Awards, which were announced this morning. Looking at the first two movie categories, Best Action Adventure Movie and Best Actor: Action Adventure, all the contenders (including Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Forbidden Kingdom) are from either May or late April of this year. I guess this summer's other movies, like The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk and Hancock will just be ignored, since they're too late for this year and won't be remembered next year.

Another related thing that was revealed: actresses were not too prominent in action movies of that same period, because the category for Best Actress: Action Adventure looks back a little farther to Abigail Breslin in Nim's Island, Rachel Bilson in Jumper and (whoah, December? that was so long ago) Diane Kruger in National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

Is there a Joe Hill story that isn't optioned right now? I think even the ones unfinished on his laptop are optioned. Combine his name with that of his famous father, Stephen King, and it probably doesn't even have to have more than an opening sentence.

According to Variety, Throttle, the novella Hill co-authored with King, has been optioned by Nick Wechsler. It won't be published until 2009, in an anthology titled He Is Legend that will be dedicated to Richard Matheson. The story follows a father and son, members of a motorcycle gang, who are being chased by an 18-wheeler tanker truck.

I was determined to see Banlieue 13, or District 13, as soon as I saw David Belle fly feet-first through a transom. (That little ditty, in the middle of one sweet parkour scene, is above.) Action scenes usually don't prompt me to watch a movie, but the fluidity of the action was just too much to pass up. No, the film is not the greatest cinematic achievement; however, it did make me a huge Belle fan, itching for another Belle/parkour-based film.

And now it looks like we're getting it. Twitch noticed a casting call for Banlieue 14 on the official parkour website, and Allocine.fr reports that Patrick Allesandrin will direct the film, from a script by Luc Besson, when production starts next month.

While there was a casting call, I'm really hoping that this will be another Belle-starring feature. You can't really get better parkour than from the man who created it. Maybe Leito becomes a part-cop, or renegade hero, and sets out to help out other districts in France? Are you ready for more parkour?

Would you be surprised to hear Sam Raimi and Oscar nominee in the same sentence? Well, it could happen in the near future. Variety reports that Raimi has nabbed the director's chair for the big-screen adaptation of Dennis Lehane's novel The Given Day.

Two of Lehane's novels have already hit the big screen with critical success -- Clint Eastwood's Mystic River, and Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone. Martin Scorsese will no doubt make it a threesome when he releases Shutter Island.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gears of War is on a fast-track to the big screen, thanks to New Line. Len Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard) has been given the directing job, and will be developing the story alongside Chris Morgan.

Based on the hugely popular video game, Gears of War tells of an elite Delta Squad who are charged with the task of saving the planet Sera from the vicious Locust Horde. Of course, the question on everyone's mind is whether or not this video game adaptation can succeed where so many have failed? Gears of War will probably be even more problematic than most, as the appeal stems from being plunked into the action, not because of the storyline. (Though, to be fair, it has no thinner a plot than Commando.)

Chris Bleszinski, one of the brains behind the video game, is optimistic as long as Hollywood takes it seriously. "Disney made a great movie out of a theme park ride, and somebody is sooner or later going to make a great one out of a video game. Having someone like Len really helps the odds. I think we're going to create something special here."

Sadly, Len Wiseman is only marginally more popular with fanboys and girls than Brett Ratner, so his name alone could sink this project when it comes to the geeks. However, he has a knack for over the top action, so perhaps this could be the ideal film for him. Sound off, Gears fans -- do you think this has potential, or is it destined to be another Doom?

A brand new clip from The Dark Knight has landed over at WhySoSerious.com (see it above or over on that site), and in it we get to watch Two Face make what I imagine will be his first appearance in the film. Don't worry spoiler-nerds, they don't actually show you his face (like they'd ruin that one on a random Monday night in June) -- but we see him from a side angle and briefly hear his voice. I truly hope this isn't some sort of very very short tease over to the third film and that Two Face is an actual character in the movie for a little while. Then again, perhaps it'd be better if he wasn't in it; cut down on the number of villains and all that. However, Christopher Nolan has said that this is Harvey Dent's story and not the Joker's. The latter maniac just happens to be wreaking havoc on Gotham while the real plot develops around Dent (Aaron Eckhart).

Look, all I know is that I really want to see this sucker, like, yesterday. 32 days till July 18th. Sweet!

[Thanks Tom]

"There's a lot of talk about my ass." -- Steve Carell on becoming an action star in Get Smart.

What does Jethro Tull have to do with the most embarrassing moment in Steve Carell's life? Which question is Anne Hathaway sick and tired of being asked ... and does it involve a princess? Find out the answers to those questions and much, much more on another fabulous installment of Moviefone's Unscripted series -- where stars interview each other using your questions (left right here on this very blog) as well as some of their own. Of course, Carell and Hathaway are featured this week because, well, they have a little film called Get Smart hitting theaters this Friday, June 20.

Above you can check out a bonus clip from their Unscripted chat that can only be accessed here on Cinematical. In it, the two discuss the difficulties of being away from family (specifically Carell's young children) when shooting a film. When you're done, feel free to skip on over to Moviefone and watch the whole damn thing. With Carell, you know you're in for more than a few laughs ... and Hathaway is just so damn cute. (New secret movie crush! Shhhh!) Oh, and Cinematical already has a nice, positive review up of Get Smart over here for additional reading entertainment, as well as a Get Smart-related Insert Caption game where we're giving away all sorts of nifty prizes. Enjoy.

Despite a resume full of fantasy and action flicks, Lawrence Kasdan will forever be synonymous with 'Boomer' movies like The Big Chill and Grand Canyon. But, this is the man who wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark and Return of the Jedi, so it's not like a script about giant robots and alien invasions is that big of a stretch. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Kasdan has signed to write the script for a live-action adaptation of the Japanese anime, Robotech, for Warner Bros.

The story of Robotech centered on a not-too-distant future where mankind has discovered alien technology called 'protoculture' on a deserted South Pacific island. Using the tech to build giant robots (well, what else would you do with it?), humanity is forced to fend off alien invasions looking to steal a little of that 'protoculture' for their very own.

Robotech marks Kasdan's second big fantasy project this year, after being tapped to write a remake of the 80's fantasy flop, Clash of the Titans. It's still early days for Robotech, but WB seems eager to fill up their fantasy slate for the coming year, so stay tuned to Cinematical for any updates that come our way.

First off, I need to apologize because I was supposed to provide our second Incredible Hulk review late last week, but life got in the way and I never produced it for you. I know, I'm a horrible person and I've given myself 27 lashings as punishment, though I'm sure Scott's review of the film helped you decide whether to see it or not. Truth be told, I wasn't that crazy about it -- but I'm also not a huge fan of Bruce Banner or the Hulk as characters. Banner, to me, is too depressing; how do you root for a guy who wants to hide in the corner? Sure, there are other loners like Batman and Spider-Man, but both of those guys have some fun toys to play with (like a car and a web). Banner has the Hulk, who, well, smashes things. Yay!

But anyway, Marvel gave fans a good flick with tons of action, crazy special effects and more than a few geeky nods to the comics and to The Avengers. Following the successful opening weekend of Iron Man, all we talked about was the sequel. Now that The Incredible Hulk seems to have won back more than a few fans, what are your feelings on a sequel? I've heard some say they'd rather Hulk return as a villain in The Avengers film (tentatively due out in 2011), but would you rather the guy get another solo flick too? Where are you at with this character? Do you want a franchise? Can you picture one?

The teaser trailer for Punisher: War Zone caught us all by surprise late last week -- even the movie's director, Lexi Alexander. She updated her blog talking about the reaction to the trailer, as well as her own feelings about it. She's surprisingly mixed about the cut of the teaser!

"I'm not sure what kind of impression I would get from this trailer if I didn't actually know the film. I am utterly impressed, though, they managed to find that much PG rated action footage at all. It had to be a challenge to cut a trailer from our action stuff without showing any gore and blood." She is quite keen for us to see the exploding heads that result from Frank Castle's bullets, and hopes that an eventual red band trailer will let us see one.