When Elisabeth Rappe brought us the teaser poster for Punisher: War Zone a couple of weeks back, she correctly supposed that the teaser trailer might be attached to this weekend's Marvel property, The Incredible Hulk.

IGN Movies has the exclusive trailer, and it's all bangs and booms as vengeance-minded Frank Castle - played by Ray Stevenson of 'Rome', in place of Thomas Jane - wreaks more havoc on the criminal and corrupt.

I can't speak for fans of the comic, but I'm really not sure how many of them wanted to see a sequel to the 2004 actioner (which, mind you, barely broke even at the box office), and how many will actually turn out for one sorely lacking in Jane, not to mention the article 'The'. And whether or not it's better left swept under the rug, it's always hard to ignore various signs of a troubled production.

Good, bad, loud or in between, Punisher: War Zone is scheduled to open on December 5. Maybe it's looking to rake in all the fanboy bucks that Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem and Hitman managed around last year's holiday season...

Lately it seems that everyone loves a bloodsucker. Variety reports that David Goyer has signed to direct the adaptation of the graphic novel, Baltimore, or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire. Phew, that title certainly is a mouthful. Baltimore was written by Hellboy creator, Mike Mignola (and finally after what seemed like an eternity to Hellboy fans; we are getting our sequel, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, this summer) and Christopher Golden. It looked like Goyer was going to take a break from comic books for a while when he was attached to The Invisible Man this summer, but it seems he just can't stay away.

The story centers on one Lord Henry Baltimore, turned into a vampire on the battlefields of Europe during WWII. The curse eventually causes the death of his loved ones and he assembles a team to hunt down and destroy evil. Both Golden and Mignola will be on hand to write the script for the big-screen version. This will be the third adaptation deal for Golden, according to Variety, who has some previous experience in scripting the undead after writing dialogue for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds video game back in 2003.

Regency Pictures brokered the deal for the adaptation as part of their new strategy to make films that will appeal "to a young male demographic" -- is there any other kind lately? Some of Regency's other titles this year will be the Virgin Comics title Virulents, directed by John Moore, and an action thriller titled The Darkest Hour. Goyer is set to start work on Magneto as soon as budgets and locations have been finalized (if you can't wait for 2008 though, there are always the spoilers that Chris reported on earlier this month). So, I'm guessing that production on Baltimore will probably be a long time coming.

OK, so this wouldn't be the first time that fans of Megan Fox were duped into thinking the Transformers babe had landed her next high-profile role. I mean, we all saw how that Half to Death deal turned out. Creature Corner is reporting that sources are confirming Fox was "incredibly interested" in the lead for the big-screen version of the graphic novel Hack/Slash. The comic was originally published back in 2004 for Devil's Due Productions and centered on a 'slasher' hunter named Cassie on a mission to rid the world of evil with her trusty partner Vlad. The casting rumor has been around for a while now, but it seems talk of Fox's involvement with the film just won't die (and even though I have never read the comic, just from the few stills I've seen so far, I have to say that Fox is a dead ringer for the lead). Since news of Fox's involvement has hit the official MySpace page for the comic, I wouldn't be surprised if we get some kind of answer from the production in the near future.

Hack/Slash was picked up by Rogue Pictures back in December. Here we are almost one year later, and there hasn't been a peep out of the production until now. When word of the project first emerged, director Todd Lincoln told Movieweb the film was going to have "a sprinkling of humor to balance the scares, but this will be a lean, vicious, blood-soaked, Hard-R fright fest. The goal is to create the ultimate slasher film." Fox has already proven that she can hold her own with giant f**king robots, and the promise of her in some of those outfits is probably enough to pack theaters night after night -- at least with adolescent boys. Until we hear something official, though, you guys will just have to rely on your imagination.

Although the paparazzi are some of the most hated people in the movie business, you have to admit -- they do come in handy sometimes. Flynet is hosting some surreptitiously taken video and photos of Angelina Jolie on set during the recent filming of the comic book adaptation, Wanted. They even scored some footage of Jolie shooting a driving sequence for the film. So it seems that those test-drives back in April were a rehearsal for the real thing, since it does appear to be Jolie behind the wheel. And as we all know, Jolie has never been adverse to a little stunt work. There is also some of your more run-of-the-mill celebrity footage of Jolie walking to and from trailers, but I think we have all had our fill of tabloid shots of the actress -- Jolie included.

Wanted is based on the graphic novel by Mark Millar and J.G Jones, and the story centers on a young man who learns his recently deceased father was a founding member of an ultra-elite group of international assassins. The film is being directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Night/Day Watch), who will also be making his English-language debut before he starts filming his next Russian feature, Twilight Watch. Joining Jolie are James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland) and Morgan Freeman -- not to mention the cavalcade of casting announcements over the last few months, adding hip-hop artist, Common and Terrance Stamp to the cast. It appears that everything is on track for production since this was when Jolie had been expected to start filming in Chicago. Wanted is set for release on March 28th, 2008.

[via A Socialite's Life]

With ComicCon right around the corner, we're about to be bombarded with news of upcoming wheeling and dealing for all things comic book, and it looks like Roger Avary might be getting started a little early this year. ShockTillYouDrop has reported that Avary, who is scheduled to make a ComicCon appearance on the 26th, is hoping to breathe a little life into his plans for a big-screen version of the comic book The Nocturnals. Avary also made the announcement that he is off the Silent Hill sequel saying, "If Christophe's not gonna do it, I'm not...". (Avary wrote the first Silent Hill, while Christophe Gans directed.) So while that might be good news for some, it definitely opens up some free time in Avary's schedule. While speaking with Shock, Avary seemed enthusiastic about The Nocturnals project noting, "I'd love to see that made. I actually gave the comics to [Beowulf producer] Jeff Rapke and was like, 'Check this out, this is the s**t!'". Expletives aside, I have to admit the comic sounds like it definitely has some box office potential.

Created by Dan Brereton, The Nocturnals ran from 1994-1995 as part of a six-part miniseries for Malibu Comics. The story focused on a fictional California town overrun by a supernatural phenomena, with leader Doc Horror and his gang battling your usual assortment of supernatural baddies. Some of the main characters include a gun-slinging scarecrow, a Komodo Dragon-boy and a bad-ass tadpole called Starfish. So if nothing else you have to give Brereton credit for originality. Avary has wrapped up work on Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf, and he'll next be moving on to a big-screen version of the video game Driver. So even if Avary manages to put a deal in place for Nocturnals, it could still be some time before a feature film makes its way to theaters.

Well, we should probably just get used to sorting through the latest casting rumors for Zack Snyder's big-screen version of The Watchmen. Latino Review, who've scooped big news in the past to various success, has reported that Malin Akerman is set to play Laurie Juspeczyk (aka Silk Spectre) in the film. The last actress rumored to be up for the role was Kate Winslet, but if Latino Review's source can be trusted, it looks like Akerman has scored the part. Akerman is probably most familiar to fans of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, as the wife of "Freakshow". But lately Akerman has been landing some high profile roles in the upcoming remake of The Heartbreak Kid from the Farrelly brothers, and Nicole Kidman's The Invasion.

Last month, Warner Bros. had released a brief synopsis of the film, and while most of the original story seemed to remain intact, it looks like there will be a few minor changes on the way. As fans of The Watchmen graphic novel well know, the story is set in an alternate version of America; one that's on the verge of nuclear war with The Soviet Union. Superheroes are now outcasts, and when one of their own is murdered, a greater conspiracy is revealed. There have been rumblings that Jason Patric was also being considered for the role of Dr. Manhattan, but the latest buzz has Billy Crudup as the frontrunner for the part (that has yet to be confirmed). According to the source at Latino Review, WB will be making some casting announcements at this week's San Diego ComicCon. There is bound to be plenty of Watchmen talk at the convention, so stay tuned to Cinematical's upcoming coverage for any news that comes our way.

UPDATE: Latino Review also confirms that Jackie Earle Haley has officially been cast as Walter Kovacs (aka Rorschach). Look for formal announcements to come during this week's ComicCon.

Since I am hardly an expert on the matter, it's no surprise that I had never heard of the latest comic book to earn the big-screen treatment. Variety reports that rights to the indie-comic The Living Corpse have been secured by Shoreline Entertainment. The series, created by Ken Haeser and Buz Hasson, centers on a zombie who suffers from flashbacks of his former life while staying busy making sure that his fellow "living challenged" friends stay dead and buried.

Haeser provides the illustrations, while Hasson writes the story, but there is no word on whether either of them will be involved with the feature film version. Already slated to write and direct the live-action film is Justin Ritter, who's only other credit is the horror flick KatieBird *Certifiable Crazy Person, about a serial killer who discovers she is part of a long standing family tradition. The film was released back in 2005, but, Ritter has mostly worked in television since.

Recently, Shoreline was behind the Douglas Copeland adaptation Everything's Gone Green, but they also have some experience with the horror genre. Their last, The Signal has been garnering some buzz since its premiere at Sundance back in January. The film was picked up by Magnolia and is set for release this September -- and after reading Scott's review, I'm already hooked. Considering Corpse's indie beginnings, the film version is probably not going to be a big budget affair either. But, the amount of undead the story requires will probably account for a pretty hefty special F/X budget. When you consider the sheer volume of comic book movies on the way, Shoreline is going to have to make sure that Corpse doesn't get lost in the shuffle.

Having never seen the Thomas Jane's incarnation of The Punisher, you can't blame me for failing to gather much enthusiasm for Marvel's vigilante after what Dolph Lundgren did with the character. Back in May, Scott had brought us the news that John Dahl could be taking over directing duties for The Punisher 2. Well, here we are almost a month later and Dahl is no longer interested in going ahead with the film, despite some early enthusiasm for the project. In an interview with UGO with Dahl while he was out promoting his latest film, You Kill Me with Ben Kingsley, the topic of Punisher 2 came up. Dahl said: "I actually thought I could make a better movie. But then when I really started thinking about what it was and the fact that the studio kind of didn't want to spend a whole lot of money, it was like "Do I want to do an action movie in 40 days? With a massive second unit?" Dahl goes on to state that the script "was not that good" -- Which is probably bad news for fans that were worried the studio was toying with the idea of turning the film into a straight to DVD cash grab.

Talk of a sequel to the 2004 film began to heat up back in December, with promises of a new direction for the movie that was going to correct the mistakes of the past. But the loss of Dahl is the second hit the project has taken since Jane dropped out back in May. Dahl seems happy to be off the hook for the film and instead is going to focus on independent projects. For now, it looks like The Punisher 2 is not only in the market for a new star and director, but they might have to go back to the drawing board all together.

It seems like lately, every time you turn around, another person working on Alien Vs. Predator 2 is promising that it's going to be better this time around. Having missed the first film, it's probably not likely that I will be lining up opening day for this one either -- plus enough fans of the original comic book series telling me the film was blasphemous isn't helping. AVP2 star Steve Pasquale, who plays Dallas in the film, recently spoke with MTV movie blog and says that‚ "We are trying to get back to the basics [with] the suspense and the gore," and confirmed that the film was going to be "considerably scarier than its predecessor." The sequel has our two villains descending on a small town for another Battle Royale. and Pasquale plays an ex-convict and a part of the band of townsfolk trying to avoid the cross-fire.

According to Pasquale, The Strause Brothers, who are new to the franchise, seem to be ready to bring on the blood. "Directors] Colin and Greg Strause really know what they're doing in terms of a sort of true-blue monster movie," he said. Pasquale also confirms that this time around, there is going to no shortage of screen time for the two aliens, saying‚ "Aliens and predators will be fighting to the death, there's a little secret surprise that I can't tell you about that the sci-fi fans are going to go bananas over. It's going to be awesome." AVP2 is set to open on Christmas Day -- until then I'm sure this won't be the last proclamation from the production that this time they've "gotten it right."

If you're not a fan of magic then the name Criss Angel probably doesn't ring a bell, but since '95 he's starred in a handful of TV specials and for the last three years has had his own series on A&E. In a recent interview with TV Blend, the magician had some news to report -- he has just signed for a film version of the depression-era comic strip Mandrake The Magician. Written by Lee Falk, the story centers on a magician with hypnotic powers and a penchant for fighting mad scientists and criminal king-pins. Angel has a deal with the Luxor Hotel for 4000 performances over the next ten years, so the movie career probably won't be more than a part-time occupation for him.

He's planning on a hands-on approach to the role though, saying, "Being involved from the beginning in the creation of the script, and of the characters and effects, really gives me an opportunity to work with the director to make sure that it really seamless with how they coexist and work hand in hand, and how one supports the other and it's not contrived and it's not cheesy." That's hard to do when your protagonist has a pencil mustache and a top-hat. Some of Angel's changes include a limited use of CGI and a re-working of the story into, "a kind of cool realm of The Crow," which won't be much of stretch for him since he seems to have a thing for leather pants and Christ-poses anyway. Angel has been doing press for his latest "illusions" which include being suspended over Times Square in a concrete box and levitating 500 feet over the Luxor hotel. Barring any magical mishaps, Mandrake will start shooting later this year.