Other than a half-hearted attempt at a little viral marketing, the comic book thriller Wanted is sticking to the advertising basics until their release in just a couple of weeks -- probably for the best if you ask me, because that weaving site wasn't cutting it. Cinematical has received a slew of additional photos from the action flick, giving us more shots of Angelina Jolie hanging out of cars, and co-star James McAvoy wandering around without his shirt off (which earns Universal a personal thanks from me). When the official site was launched, there wasn't much to start with, but Universal has since added character bios, a couple of flash games and an invite into the 'fraternity'.

By now there probably isn't much we don't know about the movie --but for those who might have missed it, the story centers on an office drone that discovers he is the heir to an ancient society of assassins. Russian director Timur Bekmambetov is at the helm, and rounding out the cast are Morgan Freeman, Common, and Terrence Stamp.

Wanted may not be at the top of my list of must-see summer flicks, but I feel like I have a personal stake in the success of this movie. Let me explain: ever since Tomb Raider, I've been quietly hoping that Jolie was going to be the action heroine that's missing from movies today. But, it hasn't quite worked out that way. Instead, I have walked out of each flick more disappointed than the last. So for me, Wanted is Jolie's last chance to be the badass I've always wanted her to be -- and this time I mean it. Check out the new photos in the gallery below.

Wanted arrives in theaters on June 27th.

Why We Can't Wait to See It: Because in pretty much every film he's made -- big, boring, insipid not-quite-sequels excepted -- Steve Carell brings the funny. The trailers look surprisingly solid, and the cast -- including Anne Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin and Terence Stamp -- is top-notch.

Why It Might Do Well: Because people just plain like Carell -- and the film's plot pitch where a secret agency's having their top people exposed forces them to shove unknown agents out into the field is, in fact, a solid story-driven reason for an incompetent like Max to placed in harm's way. ...

Why It Might Not Do Well: We may be a little tired of Baby Boomer-era nostalgia TV getting splashed up on the big screen; anyone else remember how well I Spy turned out?

Fun Fact: Get Smart was created by Buck Henry and Mel Brooks -- yes, the men behind The Graduate and Young Frankenstein.

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The release dates, they are a-changing! Universal just moved the release of the action flick Wanted, which stars Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy, from March to June 27th, 2008. That June release date was also held by Pixar's new one, WALL-E, and the Tom Cruise "Hitler assassination plot" flick -- Valkyrie. According to Coming Soon, Valkyrie has officially budged (though I think it would have absolutely crushed Wanted and it's courting a different audience than Wall-E). United Artists will now release the film on October 3rd of 2008 -- a date also held by less intense competition -- Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Guy Ritchie's Gerald Butler drama RocknRolla.

Valkyrie is directed by Bryan Singer and written by Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and Nathan Alexander. Tom Cruise has become everyone's favorite punching bag lately, and reaction to the trailer, particularly Cruise's lack of a German accent, was pretty hostile. (Although probably not as hostile as it would have been had he...attempted a German accent!) But the plot sounds awesome, Singer is a great director (Superman Returns aside), and it's got a hell of a cast -- including Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Stephen Fry, Eddie lzzard, Terence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson, and Black Book's stunning Carice Van Houton. How bad could it be? It's got to be better than Wanted -- have you seen the trailer for that thing? Haven't I seen that movie, oh, a thousand times already?

You've seen the sexy photos of Angelina Jolie in Wanted (if you haven't, check 'em out), and you've watched the behind-the-scenes video. Now it's time to see the action-packed trailer that goes with them. The movie, another in a long line of assassin/hitman movies coming out these days, stars Jolie as a gun-toting, fast-car-driving woman called "Fox", who must team up with a novice called "Wesley" (played by James McAvoy), who has been dragged out of his cubicle to be trained as an assassin. Why? Because that's what his estranged father did for a living -- in fact, his father was the best in the world until he was recently killed. And like father, like son, even without experience, Wesley must have the goods. Well, even if he hasn't, he's at least got Morgan Freeman, always playing the God-like, wisdom-filled mentor, to guide him.

So, what makes this different from any other movie you've seen? I mean, it's got Jolie looking straight out of Mr. and Mrs. Smith (though maybe a bit skinnier), Freeman from anything he's ever been in, McAvoy acting clueless as if he were still in Uganda, some comedic scenes involving a greenhorn with a gun, and the always-recycled gag of having a shoot-out in the toilet paper aisle of a supermarket. With all that, do you even need something new? Well, there does appear to be a cool sequence involving the destruction of a train. And that sideways-shooting machine gun is pretty neat. Is that enough? Oh, and a strange kiss between the extremely mismatched Jolie and McAvoy (he looks so small next to her). You've never seen that before.

Wanted is the English-language debut of Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov, who is still in the midst of giving us his Night Watch trilogy. Based on a comic book, it was adapted by 3:10 to Yuma's Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, with a rewrite from Dean Geogaris (Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Crade of Life), In addition to those named, it co-stars Terence Stamp, Common and the versatile German actor Thomas Kretschmann (he was in The Pianist and King Kong and Baby Geniuses 2!). It hits theaters March 28.

For over a year and a half, we've been bringing you news about the graphic novel adaptation, Wanted, since Timur Bekmambetov was picked to direct. Since then, James McAvoy nabbed the lead role, Morgan Freeman signed on to play lead-assassin Sloan, Angelina Jolie jumped at the chance to be a Fox, then she cruised the windy city in a Dodge Viper, hip-hop guy Common then signed on to be the Gunsmith and finally Bekmambetov brought Konstantin Khabensky (Night Watch) to the otherwise-Hollywood list. As if all these other tasty morsels weren't enough, Variety now reports that Terence Stamp is now a part of the cast.

For some reason, however, they're not saying who he is -- does that mean he's the evil, fatherly villain who dies, leaving McAvoy to take over? Perhaps. In the series, Sloan was the father's partner, and they're almost the same age. Whatever the case, Stamp definitely has the acting chomps, since he's played almost every role on the spectrum -- a bandit named Blue, General Zod, a global traveler who discovers monsters, an art dealer named Victor Taft, a man who civilizes Young Guns, a desert-traveling cross-dresser, a controversial sex therapist and even the voice of Jor-El. If there are any Wanted fans out there who think they know who Stamp will be, please speak up!

For those that haven't kept up: Wanted switches up the whole comic story. Instead of a band of heroes, it is about the world's super-villains, who have come together to get rid of superheroes and re-create the world. (Guild of Calamitous Intent with more success?) Now Wesley Gibson (McAvoy) is a man who discovers that his recently-killed father was a villain named The Killer, and that he's inherited his dad's weapon skills. So, he enters the ranks of evil.

Right around the time The 40-Year-Old Virgin hit the scene and had everyone (including producers and casting directors) rolling in the aisles, Mr. Steve Carell found himself attached to a whole bunch of comedy projects, one of which was a big-screen adaptation of Get Smart. The mid-'60s spy comedy was created by professional laugh-makers Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, and it helped to turn the bumbling Don Adams into a comedy star ... for a few years, anyway.

So a while back we heard that Carell was tenuously attached to this Get Smart movie, and now we know for sure that the thing's moving forward. Anne Hathaway signed on a little while ago, and today comes word that not only will the regally nasty Terence Stamp be playing the Get Smart villain, but also that Dwayne "The Rock " Johnson will be playing a good guy -- which means there might actually be some high-end action scenes in this comedy flick! Cool.

Whether you want it or not, director Bryan Singer is confirmed to be working on a Superman Returns sequel (which I've gone ahead and titled Superman Returns With Less Make-Up ... Hopefully). Ever since Singer suggested we may be seeing an "alien villain" in that follow-up, folks have been passing around a rumor about General Zod returning to exact revenge upon the Man of Steel.

Well, according to Star Pulse, a tipster told The Daily Express that Singer does indeed plan on using General Zod as his main villain in the sequel. Not only that but, apparently, he's looking to throw Jude Law into the role. (Originally, Terence Stamp played a wicked General Zod in Superman 2.) Says the tipster, "Some say they should use an unknown but the director Bryan Singer is looking at Jude. The similarities between him and Stamp are clear."

Now, you may remember Jude Law turned down the role of Superman when it was offered to him two years ago for fear it would typecast him forever. It's also the same reason he would never step into the shoes of James Bond. However, this is a completely different scenari,o as Law would probably only have to come on for one film. Personally, I like the choice, though I expect a slew of other names to hit the streets before anything is official. What say you?

[via The Movie Blog]