Cinematical has just received a batch of exclusive images from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (see gallery below for more). The first poster for this sequel hit the other day, and I imagine a trailer will be knocking on all our doors real soon. In this third Mummy installment (technically fourth if you include The Scorpion King), father-and-son duo Rick (Brendan Fraser) and Alex O'Connell (Luke Ford) find themselves in the Far East where they unearth the mummy of the first Emperor of Qin. Needless to say, said Emperor (as played by Jet Li) is your basic, run-of-the-mill shape-shifting entity, cursed by a wizard centuries ago, and out to wreak some havoc. The beautiful Maria Bello and Michelle Yeoh round out the cast.

Rob Cohen directed this one, and if you like what you see in the gallery below, make sure to head on over to Rob's official Mummy production blog. Dude's been keeping that loaded with all sorts of tasty goodies ever since production first began, so definitely check that out, as well as the film's official website (which just went live). The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor arrives in theaters on August 1.

It is a regular Stephen Sommers reunion on G.I. Joe. Latino Review reports that Brendan Fraser has been cast as Gung Ho, the Cajun gunnery sergeant. But don't get too excited to see Fraser sporting that Village People outfit -- word has it that it's a cameo. He's already finished filming his scene, a training sequence at The Pit.

LR says an offer has also been made to Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson to play Hector Delgado, aka Shipwreck. He hasn't yet accepted, but what red-blooded male is going to turn down a role in G.I. Joe? Despite the difference in ethnicities, the Rock would be a good fit for the popular character -- and he has the right humor to have a pet parrot making wisecracks at him.

You know, as I type this, it occurs to me that for most people, The Rock is probably a bigger name than Fraser these days. I think the latter is on the way to a comeback -- but will he actually stay working this time, or vanish off into the private life again? Perhaps he won't have a choice, the Gung Ho costume may force him into seclusion. As we wait for the Rock to commit, let's speculate on which Sommers veteran we will see next. I think Rachel Weisz is a no go, but surely someone from Van Helsing should appear before too long. What's Richard Roxburgh up to? They better nab him soon, G.I. Joe opens August 7th, 2009.

OK, so we all jumped the gun a little when the first image of what was being touted as the poster for The Mummy: Tomb of The Dragon Emperor hit the net. But, now Coming Soon has snapped a photo (that's only a little blurry) of the honest to goodness one-sheet for Rob Cohen's addition to the successful franchise.

By the looks of things, it was possibly an unfinished version that was released. So while it might look somewhat similar, there has been a big change. Now the poster has the entire cast on it. Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) is front and center, along with Maria Bello as Evey, John Hannah as the bumbling brother Jonathan and son Alex (Luke Ford). Surprisingly, bad-guy Jet Li's photo is pretty far down on the poster, but I guess Universal wants to remind us about all the stuff we like about The Mummy in the first place right up front.

Stay tuned to Cinematical for the official poster release and hopefully we'll be getting a trailer sometime in the near future. Let's just hope we get the real thing this time. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor opens in theaters on August 1st.

Before anyone accuses me of being too hard on the latest installment of The Mummy, you should know that it is coming from someone who really liked the first movie. So you would think that I would be happy with the news of a fourth film -- but here we are. MTV news reports that according to the brand new Evey (Maria Bello), "[There will] absolutely be The Mummy 4." She also went on to tell MTV that she has signed for not one, but three more sequels.

We all know by now that The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is a bit of a departure for the franchise. Not only do we get a new bad guy and exotic locale, but we also have Bello taking over where Rachel Weisz left off. Sure, Brendan Fraser and John Hannah have returned, but this is not The Mummy that most of us know and love.

On the upside, at least Evey is going to get the chance to kick a little butt of her own. Bello told MTV, "In the beginning of the movie I do a sword fight with an invisible mummy, I had to be on wires and do sword work. It took days to do, and it was so much fun. I would do flips on the wire and I'd land down and be like a little kid." It's about time Evey got to handle a little more of the rough stuff.

Bello wasn't quite sure when movie number four will happen. Although she did hint that the next film might take place in South America -- or maybe she's just angling for a vacation. Universal might want to see what the box-office returns are for Emperor first. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor arrives in theaters on August 1st.

You know, I am really trying not to be too hard on the latest installment of The Mummy franchise. I want to give the film a fair shot and all that, but it's getting pretty hard to keep the snark at bay when Universal insists on doing stuff like this. Over at Horror Movies.ca, they have posted what is said to be the first poster for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (courtesy of Filmz.ru). You can see a small version to the right.

Over the last few months, there have plenty of production updates and a stray photo here and there. But other than the glowing praises of director Rob Cohen on the official production blog, most of the details of the film have been kept under wraps. What we do know is that this time Jet Li stars as an immortal emperor, and that Maria Bello is taking over the role of spunky Evelyn. Both Brendan Fraser and John Hannah have both returned in their original roles, and for the most part, it looks like the same old thing -- a movie chock full of cursed relics, plenty of 'adventuring,' and some kicking special effects.

But if we were to just look at this leaked poster, it would appear that this time the action is centered on a cursed take-out menu. Seriously, couldn't they have come up with something a little better than a Mortal Kombat rip-off? For the sake of everyone involved, I just hope this poster turns out to be a fake. If it isn't, I'm afraid this is just a sign of crappiness to come.

So while I haven't read Journey to the Center of the Earth in years, after watching the new trailer for the 3-D kid's flick, I doubt it would matter even if I did remember the source material. Cineplex is now hosting the first trailer for the digital kiddie flick based on Jules Verne's classic novel. The film was directed by Eric Brevig (who has the dubious credit of Captain EO on his IMDB resume) and stars Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, and Anita Briem.

Besides being the first wide-release film to be released exclusively in the Real D Cinema format, Journey is an update on Verne's original story about three adventurers in, well, a journey to the center of the earth. Michael Weiss' script does away with a lot of the original plot; Fraser now stars as Trevor, a scientist who is the laughing stock of the academic community and who likes to teach his son (Hutcherson) about Jules Verne's book. It turns into the field trip of a lifetime when Trevor proves to the kid that these stories are very real.

Erik had brought us the poster for the film back in January, and there have been a few photos, but this is the first trailer to hit the net. After watching the trailer once or twice, I'm afraid to tell you that there isn't all that much to recommend (I guess you really do need the 3-D). Luckily, I don't have any little ones that I have to take to the movies, so I think I will be skipping this one. Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D opens July 11th, 2008.

[via Empire]

USA Today has a piece up today about 16 "hot" movies to watch for in 2008. Here's the list:

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Sex and the City: The Movie
The Dark Knight
Mamma Mia!
The X-Files
Quantum of Solace (aka the New James Bond Flick)
Star Trek
Iron Man
Speed Racer
The Incredible Hulk
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Madagascar: The Crate Escape
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Day the Earth Stood Still

It is interesting to learn that filmmaker Jieho Lee has a fondness for the ending of Fellini's Nights of Cabiria. However, it is not so interesting to realize that he can't let go of this fondness enough to create a genuine film moment of his own. For instance, there is one significant scene in Lee's The Air I Breathe that plays so much like an homage to the final shot of Cabiria that it takes away from the actual film it is a part of. The scene involves a major character's death, so it's hard to go into detail without spoiling it for you, but I can say that recognizing the blatant tribute may cause you to feel less for that character than you should otherwise during that scene. After all, it is difficult to care about a character that comes off as simply a tool for Lee's unnecessary acknowledgment, or re-creation, of a part of a favorite film.

Maybe I just shouldn't read a film's press notes prior to watching it (I don't usually), as I might not have caught the homage without noting Lee's mention of Cabiria in his director's statement. And perhaps I wouldn't have been thinking about Lee's other influences, from The Wizard of Oz to Samuel Fuller's The Naked Kiss, and unfairly comparing The Air I Breathe to them. But it doesn't matter, because The Air I Breathe would still feel completely derivative without knowledge of the exact works that inspired Lee. To me, despite what I learned from the press notes, the film was mostly reminiscent of Inarritu's Amores Perros, and not only because of where it was filmed, how it interconnects multiple stories or the fact that it features a bank robbery, a female celebrity confined to an apartment and an obligatory car accident of some kind.

Here's a strange twist to the writer's strike, and a postponement excuse we haven't heard before: New Line has pushed back Inkheart from March 2008 to January 2009 because of what the strike is doing to the television industry. Huh? According to Variety, the studio figures that without first-run programs on TV, it can't reach enough viewers through commercials, which is apparently the only way to market a movie these days.

OK, I kind of get it, but I hardly ever watch TV, and I've seen about 1,000 TV ads for Cloverfield this week, so there has to be a way to reach an audience by the original release date of March 18. They could have bought some time during the Super Bowl or the Oscars or, since its a family fantasy, any children's program. Seriously, kids don't care if their show is in repeats or not. I'm not going to go the usual route and accuse Inkheart of having production troubles. Judging by the trailer and Erik's visit to the film's set last year, the movie looks and sounds like it's a lot of fun, and anyway, it's reportedly all finished and ready to deliver to theaters. But since the TV marketing excuse seems odd, I'll assume that New Line is simply trying to figure out how to market a movie that could be accepted as just another fantasy movie and go mostly ignored by the same public that didn't go to see The Golden Compass or The Seeker: The Dark is Rising.

Those of you who need your Brendan Fraser fix need not cry for too long. The actor can still be seen in New Line's Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, which comes out July 11, and Universal's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, out August 1.

In other release date news, New Line has also pushed back Pride and Glory, which stars Edward Norton and Colin Farrell (which I remember them filming in Brooklyn back in Summer 2005), from March 14 to sometime in 2009, though the reasoning behind this one may have had more to do with Norton and Farrell having other new releases coming out soon, than it had to do with the writer's strike effect on TV ads. Meanwhile, Universal has moved up its Judd Apatow-produced comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall so that it doesn't have to go up against Sex in the City (which New Line will have no problem advertising on television) and Starship Dave (which I can't imagine really being a threat to anyone). Forgetting Sarah Marshall will now bow on April 18, which should perfectly fit in with some college kids' spring break. The same studio also pushed back its Baby Mama one weekend, from April 18 to April 25.

So in spite of everything, I have always enjoyed watching Brendan Fraser on screen. There have been highs, and God knows there have been plenty of lows, but I have stuck with the fellow Canuck through thick and thin -- up until now anyway. CinemaBlend is hosting a gallery of images from the update of Jules Verne's sci-fi classic, Journey to the Center of the Earth. The story has been updated ever so slightly and now centers on Fraser "as a science professor whose untraditional hypotheses have made him the laughing stock of the academic community. But on an expedition in Iceland, he and his nephew stumble upon a major discovery that launches them on a thrilling journey deep beneath the Earth's surface, where they travel through never-before-seen worlds and encounter a variety of unusual creatures". Joining Fraser are Josh Hutcherson as his nephew and Anita Briem as a fairly glamorous-looking mountain guide helping Fraser find his lost brother.

Rumor has it that originally the indie director Paul Chart had been slated to direct, but once the 3D technology was part of the production, Chart bowed out. His loss was visual effects artist Eric Brevig's gain, and Journey is Brevig's first foray into directing a feature film. Erik brought us the exclusive first look at the poster for the film a few days ago, and it's kind of funny that a film that is going to rely on the visuals has released not one but two sets of relatively blah images -- I guess you really need the glasses to make it pop. Well, at least the film still has the distinction of being the first wide-release to be released exclusively in the emerging technology of Real D Cinema. Journey is set to arrive on over 1500 screens on July 11th, 2008.

New Line was cool enough to send Cinematical this exclusive first look at the new poster for Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D (click on the image above for a larger version), starring Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem. Based on the classic Jules Verne story, Journey follows a scientist on a quest to find his missing brother. Joined by his nephew and a mountain guide, the three soon discover a fantastic and dangerous world at the center of the earth. The film was directed by visual effects wiz Eric Brevig, and was shot using 3-D technology. The first trailer for Journey apparently screened before IMAX prints of Beowulf recently, and fan reaction was pretty positive. If there ever was a story that could use a good re-tooling for a new 3-D generation, this is definitely it. Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D is set to arrive in theaters on July 11.

Well to be honest, my expectations for the latest installment of The Mummy aren't too high, so if I look on the bright side then maybe I will get a pleasant surprise after all. Director Rob Cohen has announced on his production blog that The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor has wrapped shooting in China. Starring Brendan Fraser as Rick O'Connell, this time, the O'Connells (Maria Bello, Fraser, and Luke Ford as their son, Alex) are bound for China to battle an immortal emperor (Jet Li). Rounding out the cast are John Hannah, who returns to play Evy's brother Jonathan, and Michelle Yeoh as a "double-crossing sorceress".

Cohen has made this particular announcement on his blog a veritable love fest for his cast. Cohen gushes over his new stars, Maria Bello as the 'new and improved' Evy, saying, "Her beauty and intelligence, wit and courage were something I appreciated each and every day". Jet Li wasn't left out either, and Cohen says that he was everything that "epitomizes graciousness, spiritual depth, and physical grace". Just because shooting has finished, there is still a lot of work ahead on the film, including somewhere around "800 visual effects shots" to be completed.

Considering no one was all that anxious for a third film in the series, the blog has maybe managed to improve things just a little. I know my opinion on the film has fluctuated wildly based on the few pictures that have been released so far. Just for the record: those opinions varied from everything from "Well, maybe this won't be so bad after all" to something with a lot more expletives in it that I probably shouldn't get into here. The Mummy 3 is set for release on August 1st, 2008.

As The Golden Compass hits theaters, the trailer for New Line's next big fantasy flick, Inkheart, has arrived online alongside a website. When Cinematical flew to London earlier this year to visit the set of Compass, Inkheart was the other movie we got to check out ... and we (meaning I) dug it. Based on the novel by Cornelia Funk (which, like Compass, is the first in a trilogy -- with Inkspell and the soon-to-be-released Inkdeath following behind), Inkheart follows the story of a man named Mo (Brendan Fraser doing his best Mummy lite) who has the ability to read stories aloud and bring fictional characters to life. When he brings three characters from the book Inkheart into the real world, Mo and his daughter Meggie (Eliza Bennett) soon find they've bit off more than they can chew.

The greatest thing about Inkheart: The Movie? Andy Serkis plays the villain! Ah, but this time he's not covered in CGI (Gollum from Lord of the Rings) or ape hair (King Kong); yes, this time, Serkis gets to play a real-life guy (or, well, a character from a book who's brought to life). And based on the trailer, he looks great. Also starring in the film are Helen Mirren, Paul Bettany and Jim Broadbent. We'll have a full report from the set of Inkheart shortly before its March 19 release date. Until then, enjoy the trailer and let us know what you think.

When you woke up this morning, tell me you weren't thinking the following: "I'm still alive and that's great, but it'd be better if at some point throughout the day I could take a look at a pic of some guy flying through the air with a knife." Above is one of several new pics from the upcoming third Mummy installment currently titled The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. They popped up over at the Russian site Filmz.ru, as do a lot of movie pics (which makes me wonder what the Russians are doing that allows them access to all this great stuff). I could be wrong, and I passed this by a few Cinematical writers before drafting this post up, but I believe that's Brendan Fraser doing his best "I'll cut you fool" impression. Either it's Fraser, as Rick, or Luke Ford, as Rick's son Alex. And if it's neither of them, then I don't know what to tell you.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor shall follow our favorite Mummy adventurers Rick (Fraser) and Evelyn (this time played by Maria Bello), along with their son Alex (Ford) as they travel to the Far East where they uncover a mummy of the first Emperor of Qin (Jet Li). Only problem is this mummy is some sort of shape-shifting entity that was cursed by a wizard (Michelle Yeoh) centuries ago. I take it things will get messy for our heroes from there. Additionally, you can keep tabs on the film by checking out director Rob Cohen's Mummy blog which he frequently updates with all sorts of tidbits from the set. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is due out in theaters on August 1, 2008.

Almost two years ago, back in January of 2006, Cinematical first posted about the upcoming film called The Air I Breathe. While it went away for a bit, the film is finally gearing up for limited release in January, and a trailer has made its way online, courtesy of Aglet Productions. Coming from writer/director Jieho Lee (and co-written with Bob DeRosa), Breathe is a drama based on the Chinese proverb that says life is based on four emotional elements -- happiness, pleasure, sorrow, and love. Sure, this sounds like a film with four unrelated vignettes, but it's actually looking to be a rather dark story where each emotion intertwines with the others.

Lee uses them to tell the stories of a businessman who bets his life on a horse (Forest Whitaker as Happiness), a gangster who can see the future (Brendan Fraser as Pleasure), a popstar who falls victim to a crime boss (Sarah Michelle Gellar as Sorrow), and a doctor trying to save the love of his life (Kevin Bacon as love). As if that wasn't enough for a solid starter cast, the film also boasts the likes of Andy Garcia, Emile Hirsch, and Julie Delpy. All of these people are interconnected through a dark and seemingly desperate backdrop. The only thing that's funny about all of this is that Gellar is playing a woman famous for her singing and dancing (she sings when she has to, but as Once More with Feeling will attest, she's no an American Idol). Still, it's a good trailer, and if these clips are any indication, it should be one heck of a film. And at the very least, it's got to be better than Southland Tales!

[via Empire Online]