I guess whether we like it or not, viral campaigns are hot, hip and here to stay. Universal pictures has launched the viral site for Timur Bekmambetov's Wanted, and it all revolves around a shadowy group known as the Fraternity of Weavers. Now for the tricky part: to crack the code on the website you must enter five secret words to earn a peek at the handbook for the fraternity -- plus you get a little bit more info behind Angelina's bad-ass hand tattoo. So if you're the kind of person who likes puzzles, then feel free to figure it out on your own. But, if you're like me and a little impatient, you can click over to Coming Soon and they have the solution -- I won't spoil it here.

Wanted is based on Mark Millar's graphic novel about an everyday schmo (as played by James McAvoy) who turns out to be the heir to a secret society of assassins. Angelina Jolie stars as Fox, the second in command and mentor to McAvoy. Morgan Freeman plays the elder statesman and co-founder of the group, while hip-hop artist Common stars as the weapons expert, The Gunsmith.

The viral site provides plenty of background info on the history of the ancient fraternity, but for the most part it's a bunch of spiritual mumbo-jumbo about fate, destiny, the Cathars, and ancient weaving cults -- oh, and plenty of Wikipedia links. There's also a sign up page if you're interested in becoming a member of the fraternity (hazing optional?). One imagines more viral goodies will most likely show up at some point before Wanted opens in theaters on June 27th.

Warning: This post contains excessive grasping at straws.

Most knowledgeable folks seem to think that the upcoming Wanted looks like a piece of junk. I can understand their position: the trailer was kind of a sensory assault, and didn't exactly make the film seem original. For my part, I'm not ready to write it off. I like James McAvoy, director Timur Bekmambetov is a fellow Russian, and I tend to enjoy the wildly implausible brand of action that the film seems to be going for. So I'm happy to report a piece of news that kind of surprised me: Wanted has been rated R by the MPAA for "strong bloody violence throughout, pervasive language and some sexuality." That elaboration makes it seem like they won't be trying to trim the bad parts to earn a PG-13.

Now, okay: obviously that doesn't mean much. I mean, the similarly (identically?) themed Hitman was rated R too, and look how that turned out. But for me, the R rating speaks not directly to quality, but to the kind of film Wanted is likely to be. Seeing the trailer (and not knowing the source material), I thought that while it looked kind of cool, it also looked like a broad, inoffensive, second-rate action romp -- my first association, probably due to the presence of Angelina Jolie, was with Lara Croft Tomb Raider. But maybe it won't be. Maybe it'll turn out to be harsh, and sexy, and over-the-top in ways that are actually interesting. Maybe it'll be more like Running Scared or Shoot 'Em Up than like Ghost Rider. You might think that those comparisons don't help and that it still looks like crap, but it seems to me that an R rating for a movie like this increases the odds of it being worthwhile. Or am I off my gourd?

Universal was out in full force over the weekend, hosting panels for The Incredible Hulk (see our report here), Wanted and Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Though less attention has been given to Wanted and Hellboy II so far, both films will provide, perhaps, some of this summer's most spectacular visuals.

Wanted

We mentioned it the other day, but prior to the Wanted panel at NY Comic Con, Cinematical was invited to Universal's suite high on the 52nd floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to hang with director Timur Bekmambetov and watch the Wanted Comic Con footage a drop early. Following the brief screening (on a monstrous flat screen TV), I caught up with Timur and spoke to him about the film. One thing, in particular, was whether he planned on a Wanted franchise, or if this would be a one-off film. Timur laughed when I asked, and said we'd have to wait to see if people go to see this one first. Also of note, when I asked if he planned to continue his very successful Night Watch/Day Watch series of films, Timur shot back: This [meaning Wanted] is it! This is the third film. Even though it has different story, the tone is the same from the other films."

Oh, and then came the footage ...

Above you can see a photo of the Exclusive Comic Con poster for Wanted (click on the image to enlarge). Wanted is just one of the films that will host a panel tomorrow during New York Comic Con, with the film's director Timur Bekmambetov on hand to answer questions ... and a little birdie told me there might be some new footage screened as well. I was able to meet Timur tonight during a private function at Universal's fatdaddy suit in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel here in New York City. I could sit here all day and talk about this friggin' suite -- remember the apartment they rocked out in Cloverfield, way up overlooking Central Park? Yeah, this was the exact same view. Unreal.

I'm not allowed to talk about what went down in this suite, but I believe we're allowed to show you this poster and urge you all to head out to Comic Con tomorrow to check out Timur and Wanted. Screw it ... based on what I saw, this movie looks pretty damn ridiculous. Action. Lots of it. Crazy car chase. Jolie with marks all over her body. Lots of red. I'll shut up now. .

Wanted hits theaters on June 27th.

(Note: Above image was chosen totally at random. Yup. We'll go with that.)

It's beginning to look a lot like summer blockbuster season everywhere you go.

I've heard the words "calm before the storm" mentioned more times in the past week than I have all year. That's because it's almost April, which means the official start to the summer movie season is only one month away. One month! That's it! Are all of you as excited as we are? (Don't all stand up and cheer at the same time.) Anyway, pretty much all of the big summer flicks have released trailers by now (with the exception of The Mummy 3 ... and maybe something else that I'm forgetting -- it is Monday after all).

We've seen trailers for The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Speed Racer, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Incredible Hulk, WALL-E, Prince Caspian, Hellboy II, The X-Files, Wanted, The Happening, Hancock ... and so on. Of course, some films have been a little more aggressive than others -- like Iron Man (which comes out first), WALL-E (a few trailers, teasers and a very early viral campaign) and The Dark Knight (one teaser, one trailer and 50 billion viral sites). Indy's shoveled out a bunch of videos, as well as a trailer, and The Incredible Hulk has given us one trailer and a few images. One imagines all of these films will ramp up their marketing as their release dates draw closer.

But here's our question today: Which summer blockbuster trailer pumped you up most to see the film? Feel free to answer the poll below or write in your favorite in the comments section. (Me? I'm going with The Dark Knight.)

Deja vu time once again. Today's gaggle of trailers all, for varying reasons, have a ring of familiarity to them. All together now: Once more with feeling.

Wanted
I've seen this before, haven't I? Not exactly. This is a brand spanking new trailer for the Angelina Jolie film based on the graphic novel by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones. A young man with the rare gift of being able fire a bullet along a curved trajectory is asked to join a secret society of good guy assassins ("kill one so a thousand can survive"). Morgan Freeman plays, well, Morgan Freeman with a slightly gruffer edge to his usual fatherly demeanor. Jolie is hot to the point of being incendiary here (nice tats, and no that isn't a typo), but the "I'm cooler than God" shtick gets pretty annoying. The new trailer gives a better feel for the film than the teaser that's been out for awhile, and it looks like it might be a fun ride if you're in the mood for over-the-top action. Here's Elisabeth's take.

100 Feet
This one definitely looks familiar. Didn't this used to be called Disturbia, and it looks like Shia Labeouf has had a sex change. Oh wait, that's Famke Janssen. She's playing a woman sentenced to three years of house arrest, nifty ankle bracelet included, for killing her abusive cop husband. Christopher Campbell first posted about this one a little over a year ago. I'm no lawyer, but doesn't it seem odd to place someone on house arrest for that long? Prison starts to look pretty good, though, when the ghost of her dead S.O.B. husband starts looking for some payback. In addition to the echoes of Disturbia, the scene where Janssen screams "What do you want?" to the unseen entity reminded me a lot of George C. Scott in The Changeling, and the house arrest for killing a cop part recalls a decent little indie flick called Cherish. Still, this looks like it might be good for a few scares.

Is there another woman on the planet who can look as beautiful with semi-automatics as Angelina Jolie? It's just not fair. (Does anyone find it slightly ironic that a woman who is so dedicated to humanitarian aid has such a fondness for spraying bullets on film?)

The new Wanted trailer has debuted online over at MySpace (it's still not on YouTube, so I can't embed it for you), and it's one of those things you shouldn't like. Like Twinkies or Skittles. But then Angelina Jolie defies physics and scoops up poor James McAvoy in a furious red sports car.

You may roll your eyes at the slow-motion "Goodbye" bullet at the end, but ultimately, this is going to be one of those films to crash to on a hot summer night with a few friends -- a decent thrill ride you'll probably feel silly about going to later. (And it certainly has Timur Bekmambetov's stamp all over it.)

There are also a bunch of new pictures, mostly stills from the trailer. There's James McAvoy's washboard abs for the ladies, Angelina looking coy and suggestive for the boys. . .and well, let's be honest, everyone else. My taste favors Scotsmen, and I still can't look away.

And, if you're a diehard fan of the graphic novel, prepare to be disappointed. I'm hearing that it has only the basic premise in common.

Wanted opens on June 27, 2008.

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Above: New Iron Man poster from Wondercon, courtesy of ScreenRant.

We're at Wondercon in spirit ...

Our friends over at Film School Rejects claim they know who's been cast as The Blob in next summer's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I'm sorry, but how many friggin' characters will there be in this film? There's just too many. Now it sort of feels like an episode of A Different World -- ya know, you have Denise from The Cosby Show, but everyone around her is different; almost to a point where it takes away from having that familiar character because there's so many new characters to get to know. But anyway, FSR says Kevin Durand was "live-scanned" for the part of Blob, and will shoot his scenes in Canada. Since the actual film is shooting on the other side of the world, we're not sure if Durand will be shooting his scenes via satellite or what. Either way, chalk up the casting of another character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

ReelzChannel recently caught up with J.J. Abrams and managed to ask him a bit about Cloverfield 2, as well as his upcoming Star Trek flick. We've included the video interview after the jump, but essentially Abrams said they have an idea for a Cloverfield sequel that they're currently tossing around, but are not sure what's going to happen. (As if Abrams would ever be truthful about anything -- dude probably hides his real name from us as well.) Good news: Abrams admits the shaky cam that annoyed practically everyone who watched the first Cloverfield might not make it into the sequel. (Video after the jump.)

Finally, Wondercon 2008 is in full swing over in San Francisco this weekend. Cinematical is not there this year, but several other websites are -- so we'll let them do all the work. You've already seen the new Iron Man poster above, and AICN also has up a pretty long report from yesterday's Wanted and Forgetting Sarah Marshall panels, including a rundown on the scenes screened, as well as what the cast in attendance had to say about the film(s). Not the most exciting stuff you've ever read, but if you're itching for anything Wondercon-related, head over there to check it out.

Judging by the amount of work being offered to the Scottish actor James McAvoy, it looks like Hollywood might have found a new 'It' boy -- plus two Oscar nominated films in just under two years is one hell of a calling card. Variety reports that James McAvoy has signed to star in the comedy thriller Perrier's Bounty. The story centers on three unlikely fugitives who are forced on the run from a mobster bent on revenge for the death of one of his top lieutenants.

Bounty was written by Mark O'Rowe, an award winning novelist and sometimes screenwriter. Ian Fitzgibbon is in the director's seat; Fitzgibbon is a relative newcomer with a few TV credits to his name for both acting and writing. He also has another comedy thriller in production, A Film with Me in It, but so far it doesn't look he has had the same luck with casting as he had this time around. Bounty is going to be produced in the UK through Number 9 Films. There is no other cast confirmed right now, but Anne-Marie Duff is in negotiations to star alongside McAvoy.

McAvoy seems to be keeping his options open by choosing a variety of projects. The first will be the comic book adaptation Wanted with Angelina Jolie, which is probably about as far from the refined period romance of Atonement as you can get -- although I think we are going to have to wait for the box office receipts for Wanted before McAvoy's Hollywood status is cemented. Now that he is throwing in some comedy it looks like McAvoy has all his bases covered. Perrier's Bounty is scheduled to start production later this year.

We've put up the Superbowl trailer poll, however it dawned on me that some of you may have missed some or all of the trailers last night. So, in an effort to please our loyal readers, in this post you'll find a few of the trailers from last night -- with the exception of Wanted and Prince Caspian, since we posted those two the other day (and you can check them out over here). Above, you'll find the spiffy Iron Man commercial -- a film that finds Robert Downey Jr. in the role of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. I dug this one a lot, and I'm sure most of you did too. One trailer I forgot to mention in my last post was The Incredible Hulk. Now that's a movie we should've gotten a trailer for. The fact that we're in February now, and only two pictures from the film have arrived online is pretty pathetic. I'm not sure what the marketing plan is with Hulk, but the folks behind it need to get into gear and give us a friggin' poster, a teaser, more photos -- something, anything. Like, yesterday.

Below you'll find the trailer for Pixar's Wall-E, which played more like a cute short film ... and it was, well, cute. The addition of the Toy Story characters gave the film some good street cred, and even though Wall-E feels like Short Circuit meets E.T., I'm sure the folks at Pixar will once again find a way into our hearts come later this summer. Check out the Leatherheads Superbowl trailer after the jump ...

For those who don't know, I've lived in New York my entire life and have grown up in a family full of die hard Giants fans. So I think it's fair to say we all partied like it was 1990 last night. While I don't have a voice this morning, and didn't pay much attention to the commercials (too tough when your team is playing), I did catch most of the trailers. And, unlike previous years, there were quite a few previews to devour. From what I could tell, we saw commercials for Iron Man, Wall-E, Wanted, Prince Caspian and Leatherheads (though I'm probably missing one or two smaller films as well).

Personally, I liked Wall-E and Iron Man the most, though part of me also enjoyed the Wanted trailer. That film looks flashy, and it's full of sexy Angelina Jolie poses, but it definitely has the eye candy factor -- and when we're talking big summer popcorn fluff, aren't we always looking for that eye candy factor? Unfortunately, we didn't get a trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which I'm sure is the one trailer everyone wanted to see the most. Word is that will be coming real soon, but it would've been a treat to be surprised with an Indy teaser at some point during the game. In your opinion, did they leave any trailers out? And out of the ones they did show, which was your favorite -- and/or which films shows the most promise?

The first two Superbowl trailers have arrived online, and before the big game hits you can now see new previews for both Wanted and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. First off, the trailer above is the new spot for Wanted, which looks to have a Matrix kind of vibe ... but with cool cars. James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman star in this film based off the popular graphic novel series. McAvoy plays some office drone who, following the death of his father, learns his family is part of a secret society of assassins. The film looks slick and fast; definitely a fine dose of popcorn entertainment. I'm digging it. Check out the new trailer for Wanted (which hits screens on June 27) above, then let us know what you think.

Additionally, we've provided the Superbowl spot for Prince Caspian after the jump. The highly-anticipated sequel to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe follows the Pevensie clan back to Narnia thousands of years later (in Narnia time) where they must ward off an evil king and restore the rightful heir to the land's throne, Prince Caspian. Prince Caspian hits theaters on May 16.

Pictured Above: Augie (CHRISTOPHER MINTZ-PLASSE), Danny (PAUL RUDD), Wheeler (SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT) and Ronnie (BOBB'E THOMPSON) in a comedy about two likable losers forced to do community service-Untitled Mentor Project.

As we told you earlier, Universal Pictures has released their upcoming 2008 film slate, including a ton of photos to go along with what looks to be a pretty solid list. Above you can check out the first image from the Untitled Mentor Project (aka Little Big Men on IMDb), starring Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, following up his superb debut as McLovin' in Superbad. Below, check out an image of Angelina Jolie from Clint Eastwood's The Changeling, which comes with the caption: "Christine Collins (ANGELINA JOLIE) is introduced to a boy claiming to be hers by Captain J.J. Jones (JEFFREY DONOVAN) in a provocative thriller that tells the shocking tale of a mother's quest to find her son, and those who won't stop until they silence her-Changeling, from director Clint Eastwood.

Lots more after the jump ...

With the official trailer for The Dark Knight finally arriving online, now seems like a good time to revisit the topic and debate which 2008 comic book flick will turn out the best. The big four, of course, are all slightly different from one another -- one is a sequel from a reboot (The Dark Knight), one is a straight-up reboot from scratch (The Incredible Hulk), one is a straight-up sequel (Hellboy II: The Golden Army) and one marks the first time we're seeing this hero on the big screen (Iron Man). Additionally, we have films on the lower tier, like The Punisher: War Zone, which is sort of a reboot reboot sequel ... we think. Then there's Wanted, which heads into graphic novel territory, but we'll include it here because there's tons of hype behind it.

The big three moneymakers, in my opinion, are The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man. Out of the entire lot, we've seen trailers for Knight, Iron Man and Wanted. Punisher released a photo and Hellboy II has released a bunch of photos, concept art and I wouldn't be surprised if we get a trailer real soon. On the other hand, The Incredible Hulk has been real silent on the marketing front. Rumor has it a trailer for Hulk will debut during the Superbowl, but you'd think we'd at least get a few photos by now. We've seen set photos, but those have shown us nothing really. Chances are The Dark Knight will make the most money, but will it be the best film? Will any of these films be good? Will they all be great? Will 2008 make up for the cruddy 2007? Tell us which comic book film you think has the best shot at ruling 2008 ...