Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for the film Space Chimps (click to enlarge), fresh from one of the primates that brought you Shrek. Featuring a voice cast that includes Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Stanley Tucci and Patrick Warburton, Space Chimps follows Ham III (Samberg), the grandson of the first ever chimp in space, who's recruited by a scheming senator (Tucci) for a dangerous mission to help thwart a powerful tyrant (Daniels) from taking over an alien world. Of course, Ham III will have a little help from his friends along the way. You can scope out the first trailer for Space Chimps over on Moviefone, then buckle yourself in and prepare to go bananas for Space Chimps when it touches down in theaters on July 18.

UPDATE: We've been asked to take down the trailer as it hasn't been approved for distribution yet.

Note: You might want to kick up the speakers a bit here; this one comes in a tad low.

Above you will find the first trailer for the film Traitor, starring Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce and Jeff Daniels. The wild thing about this film is that Steve Martin (yes, THE Steve Martin) came up with the idea for Traitor, though he left scripting duties to writer-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff. Based on what we see above, Traitor seems like one of those "have fun figuring it out" types. Pearce plays a straight-edge FBI agent who heads an investigation on international conspiracy, where all clues lead back to former U.S. Special Operations office, Samir Horn (Cheadle). Thus begins what appears to be a dangerous cat and mouse game between the two -- with Daniels playing a veteran CIA contractor with his own agenda.

What I'm liking about this one is that Cheadle looks pretty rough, tough and ready to rumble -- and we don't get to see him much in roles where he can beat the living hell out of anyone within shouting distance. Go Don Cheadle! That guy always gives a tremendous performance, so no matter what I believe Traitor will be worth the watch just to see Cheadle in action. But let us know what you think.

Traitor hits theaters on August 29.

Great day in the morning! Two of my favorite actors on the planet are joining the cast of Sam Mendes' increasingly promising 2009 comedy, which has yet to find a title. According to a Focus Features press release that landed in my inbox, Jeff Daniels and Catherine O'Hara will round out an ensemble that already includes John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Toni Colette, Cheryl Hines and Allison Janney. The screenplay was co-written by McSweeney's founder and Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius author Dave Eggers and novelist Vendela Vida. The film "follows the journey of an expectant couple as they travel the U.S. in search of a place to put down roots and raise a family."

O'Hara is probably the funniest woman on the planet, and Daniels can bring heart and humanity to any film, so this is good news indeed. With Christopher Guest taking a break from making the movies that have been her bread and butter over the years, O'Hara can use the high-profile work; her only screen appearance this year or last has been in the underrated Penelope.

Mendes also has the DiCaprio-Winslet reunion movie Revolutionary Road in the works -- it will headline the 2008 Oscar season -- but this new project will be his first stab at comedy. Eggers co-wrote the adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are with Spike Jonze, which should finally see the light of day next year as well.

Sometimes when I see a bit of casting news, I imagine a film not with the cast of actors, but with their previous roles. So, imagine what kind of ensemble can be put together with the upcoming romcom The Dream of the Romans. Variety reports that Jeff Daniels, Lauren Graham, Lou Taylor Pucci, Olivia Thirlby, and Kat Dennings have signed on for roles in the film, which will be the feature debut of writer/director John Hindman.

Romans stars Daniels as some sort of Rhonda Byrne -- a reclusive author who penned a book that "redefined spirituality for a generation." Unfortunately, his writing interferes with his desire to be left alone as many of his fans hunt him down, convinced that "he has all the answers." Two of them are Graham, who plays a struggling single mum, and Pucci, who plays a guy straight out of rehab. This is a romantic comedy, so most likely Ms. Gilmore will get to fall for Mr. Berkman. Or, maybe the backbone-lacking jerk from Chumscrubber will get some romance with Juno's friend or the 40-year-old virgin's stepdaughter.

iDeal's (the film's financer) Jana Edelbaum says: "This is a sparking piece of writing with vivid, wonderful characters." At the very least, it looks like a fresh jump into romcom territory, rather than the usual retread. The project just kicked off production in Philly.

There are two reasons I find this (as yet unconfirmed) story interesting. One is that I'll soon be writing my review of Brett Morgen's new documentary Chicago 10, which comes out next week. The other is that I've been thinking about the 2009 Oscars (I like to jump ahead), which I presumed would include a number of nominations for Steven Spielberg's next film. For a few months now, we've believed that film would be, like Morgen's, about the trial of the "Chicago 7" and would be fittingly titled The Trial of the Chicago 7. First we heard the director was interested in the script, written by Charlie Wilson's War scribe Aaron Sorkin. Then we got that crazy news that Sacha Baron Cohen would play Abbie Hoffman. Finally we heard more people, specifically Colin Hanks, Jeff Daniels and Philip Seymour Hoffman, were joining the cast. However, now we have word from Collider that Spielberg "has decided to move on and will not be making the movie."

Note: It has since come out that the film has been delayed, not completely dumped.

It's kind of funny if you think about it, but Steve Martin really does have two entirely different careers. First, there is the goofy family friendly guy who stars in middling comedies like Bringing Down the House and Cheaper By the Dozen; and then there is the acerbic wit who writes abstract New Yorker pieces and stars in David Mamet films. Plus, occasionally he comes up with an idea for a movie of his own. RowThree.com is now hosting two new stills from the political thriller, Traitor. Martin will not be starring in this film, although he will serve as an executive producer. Originally Disney had lined up to produce the film back in 2002, but after a few staff changes at "mouse headquarters," the project was dropped.

Traitor stars Guy Pearce, Don Cheadle, and Jeff Daniels. Jeffrey Nachmanoff directed the film and the plot is is described as a "topical, politically relevant story dealing with international terrorism and U.S. traitors." Pearce plays FBI agent Roy Clayton; a straight arrow type who is drawn into a political conspiracy when everything points to a Special Operations officer (Cheadle). From there on it sounds like your usual espionage fare and, "obsessed with discovering the truth, Clayton tracks Horn across the globe as the elusive ex-soldier burrows deeper and deeper into a world of shadows and intrigue."

Nachmanoff isn't exactly a household name, but you might recognize him as the man who wrote The Day After Tomorrow (which isn't exactly good news, now is it?). But, I'll rely on the reputations of Pearce and Cheadle to guarantee me at least a decent popcorn movie if nothing else. Nachmanoff also wrote the script for Traitor before heading off to work on pre-production for Jerry Bruckheimer's video game flick, Prince of Persia. Traitor is still in post-production so a release date has not been set. Stay tuned to Cinematical for any updates that come our way.

While it might be interesting to see Guy Pearce and Don Cheadle run around in an espionage thriller without any other characters, that isn't very realistic. Variety is reporting that more have been added to the cast of Traitor -- the big names being Jeff Daniels and Neal McDonough. The former is coming off some higher-cred films like Infamous and The Lookout, and recently completed a role in Mama's Boy -- the slacker romcom with Diane Keaton and Jon Heder. The latter was last seen in LiLo's latest flop -- I Know Who Killed Me, but also flicks like Flags of Our Fathers. (This also reunites McDonough with Pearce -- both were in Antonia Bird's Ravenous.)

As for the rest of the names added to the cast -- there's Archie Panjabi (A Mighty Heart), Aly Kahn (Osama) and Said Taghmaoui (Hidalgo). While it would be nice to see these actors as fellow CIA or FBI agents, methinks you can guess what sort of roles they are getting. If you're foggy on the plot -- Steve Martin (yes, that one) came up with an idea that Jeffrey Nachmanoff has since written and will direct -- a CIA operative (Cheadle) is undercover in a terrorist group and becomes a terror suspect. Pearce plays an FBI agent who investigates terrorist activities. You can imagine where things go from there. The feature will head into production this Monday as TIFF zooms into high gear.

The man who brought us The Addams Family, Get Shorty and Men in Black is leaving live action for a bit to take a test drive in his first bit of animation. The latest news from Variety is that producer/director Barry Sonnenfeld is going to produce an animated comedy called Space Chimps through Vanguard Animation and Starz Media, for 20th Century Fox to distribute. Apparently, production on this movie began last fall, and he was then helping out as a creative consultant. The project was written, and is being directed by, Kirk De Micco (Racing Stripes), and it's simply about a group of astronaut chimps who are on a mission in space -- accompanied by music from Dave Stewart and the Blue Man Group. This news is eh, whatever. It could be cute, it could be Space Jam, it could be terrible, it could be any number of things!

That being said, there's a chance for some sort of goodness considering the voice cast for the 2008 production. First, there is Jeff Daniels, the guy in everything from Terms of Endearment to Sonnenfeld's RV -- and I imagine the producer is also responsible for the other RV alum -- Cheryl Hines and Kristin Chenoweth. Then there's the SNL guy whose popularity is skyrocketing -- Andy Samberg -- who I can only hope will lend some of his music video humor to the movie, and his television cast-mate Kenan Thompson. To art things up a bit, there's the Tooch, Stanley Tucci, and then there's the quintessential man-voice. The roar of The Tick, the power behind Brock Sampson -- Patrick Warburton.

One of the oddest films in the history of motion pictures got a new DVD release last week, although they must have just run out of the old supply, because this new DVD doesn't contain so much as a trailer in the way of extras. The film I'm talking about is Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael, a low-budget dramedy that Winona Ryder unwisely embarked on right around the same time that she was making Edward Scissorhands and Heathers. The premise of the film -- a fifteen year-old girl in a small town comes to believe that a famous woman who hails from the same town, but left it abruptly fifteen years ago, is her long-lost mother -- isn't what makes it so odd. You could make anything out of that premise. No, the insanity of Roxy is in the details. The film would have us believe, for example, that the title character has made such a craterous impact on humanity in those fifteen years since she left that guided tours are now given of her old house, like as if Abe Lincoln lived there.

And that's just the beginning. The people around town reference Roxy in any conversation, for any purpose, like she's the God of their tribe. They get into fights over 'what Roxy would do.' They amuse themselves with Roxy trivia and busy themselves with preparations for a humongous 'welcome home' ceremony, which Stephen Tobolowsky will emcee and at which Roxy shall deign to actually walk amongst the mortals she left behind. So what's so astounding about Roxy that inspires such mania? She must be a stratospheric movie star, the Marilyn Monroe of her day, right? The first female president? A doctor who cured cancer? Well, no. She's some gal who some singer wrote one song about. And, according to the movie, she somehow got crazy rich off the royalty payments from this song she didn't write -- that's a new one -- and now she lives in a big mansion. We see Roxy from behind at the beginning of the movie -- we don't deserve to see her face -- diving into her mansion's big swimming pool, like something out of a perfume commercial.

Jon Heder, the man everyone in Hollywood apparently wants to work with, is in yet another movie. He actually signed on to star in Mama's Boy last fall, but the movie sort of fell through the cracks after that, and there was some concern/hope (depending on your feelings about Mr. Heder and his talents) that it had made its way to the pile of titles that never get past the "announced" stage. Never fear, though, because he's now got a couple of costars and a director; it's safe to move on to the next crisis on your list [insert tired old Tom Cruise joke here].

The magnificent Diane Keaton will, rather inexplicably, play Heder's mother in the film. When she starts dating a "self-help guru" (he'll be played by Jeff Daniels, which is easily the most perfect bit of casting news I've heard all week), the man stars trying to get sad loser Heder to move out of her house, thus "prompting a mano-a-mano confrontation." I'm assuming this is a comedy, but it does sound like it might have a bit of an edge to it and, just possibly, some depth. Dare we hope?

Tim Hamilton is directing the film for Warner Independent Pictures; the IMDb indicates that it's filming, but since no start date is listed in Variety, I'm taking that with a grain of salt.