Yahoo! Movies has the first look at the trailer for Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, and yes, all those sassy creatures that moviegoers dug to the tune of $193.5 million in the summer of 2005 are back, and this time... the penguins still seem to be stealing the show (I don't really have anything against the first movie, but the penguin-centric holiday short spin-off was itself far more amusing and, as such, has been included after the jump.)

From the look (sound?) of things, the entire voice cast is back, as lion Alex (Ben Stiller), hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith), giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer), and zebra Marty (Chris Rock) try to return home to New York City from the eponymous island on which they were last stranded. Sacha Baron Cohen also appears to be returning to his role as the nutty Julien, king of the lemurs. Those working on the production have been tight-lipped as to whether or not hijinks and/or pop culture references ensue.

With original directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath at the helm, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa - although they're technically already in Africa - is scheduled to open opposite the latest from James Bond on November 7.

I always kind of thought that Tim Meadows deserved to be way more famous than he is; but, I guess his brand of humor just never really caught on. Instead, Meadows just keeps steadily working on projects that, for the most part, seem kind of beneath him. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Meadows is set to star in They Came from Upstairs with High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale.

The family-friendly film centers on a group of teens who fend off an alien invasion that seems to be originating from the second floor of their vacation home -- sure it sounds silly, but then again, it is a kid's movie. Meadows has slummed it before in plenty of family-friendly flicks, so it's not a big surprise to see his name in the credits of another kiddie movie. At least with some of his work in teen comedies, he has the chance to be a little more 'risqué'.

The original spec script for Upstairs was written by Mark Burton (Madagascar and Wallace and Gromit) and was purchased back in 2006 by 20th Century Fox for $1.75 million. So, I guess they are banking on the film to pull in a tidy profit at the box-office. Luckily for them, securing Tisdale in the lead guarantees legions of tweens on opening day, so I think that their investment is going to pay off. Meadows will play Sheriff Doug Armstrong, but I doubt most of the audience for this movie will get to truly appreciate the comic mind that created Leon Phelps. They Came from Upstairs is set for release on January 16th, 2009.

Mark Burton has been hired by Warner Bros. to write the feature film adaptation of James Turner's comic book Rex Libris. The comic is about "an everyday guy who becomes part of a secret sect of librarians who battle forces of darkness in chasing down overdue or stolen books." Seriously! The "comedic action-adventure" will focus on head librarian Rex Libris, a man "who must protect the world's knowledge and most dangerous secrets from falling into the wrong hands." When a squad of punks storm the library and remove a certain card from the catalog, the library's walls collapse and a secret stack of books is revealed, which apparently leads the crew on a string of global and intergalactic adventures. I've said it before and I'll say it again: You don't mess with the Dewey Decimal System.

Rex and the other librarians have a huge array of high-tech weapons, but they are also helped by an ancient god who lives underneath the library. Geez, haven't we seen this story enough? Variety doesn't mention whether the film will be animated or live action, but Burton wrote Madagascar and worked on Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, so using context clues I'm assuming it'll be a cartoon. Hopefully they don't try to sneak in some message about how kids should read and use their imaginations and crap like that. I've got to tell you, reading the synopsis, I thought of the perfect man to join Rex's team: Bookman, the Library Cop from Seinfeld! "I don't judge a man by the length of his hair or the kind of music he listens to. Rock was never my bag. But you put on a pair of shoes when you walk into the New York Public Library, fella!"

After a bad year at the box office, which resulted in a major financial blow, DreamWorks Animation is anxiously awaiting the release of Shrek the Third. The sequel will be out in a month and it is sure to put the studio back in the black, though I have to point out how appropriate the movie would have been in the new 3-D format. Aside from 3-D being so hot right now, it would have been great for the film to be released as Shrek 3-D (when I was a kid it seemed all franchises went to part three just for that gimmick.) Now the studio must wait and put out the planned fourth installment of the green ogre as Shrek 4, in 3-D. And we can be sure it will actually be in the format because as of 2009 all of DreamWorks Animation's features will be in 3-D.

If a 3-D Shrek title sounds familiar, you may remember the short film shown at Universal Studios and then released on DVD a few years back (even before Shrek 2 came out.) The IMDb actually labels the thing as Shrek 4-D, but I'm pretty sure the video is titled Shrek 3-D. Of course, it was made before the current Real D 3-D technology was being utilized (it still used the red and blue glasses.) Actually, if you follow all the trends closely, you may even remember that the first Shrek was supposed to be shown on IMAX in digital 3-D (again, the old kind.)

AMC Theatres is continuing its lead in exhibitor promotions by giving out more free movies this summer. Perhaps you remember last summer when the cinema chain offered a money-back guarantee for Cinderella Man. Then last month it gave out free Akeelah and the Bee tickets to teachers. This time, the deal includes 12 different movies, is open to anyone and goes through the season.

In select cities (listed after the jump), G- and PG-rated films will be shown for free on Wednesday mornings. The films are not new, of course, but they are all popular family fare that are undeniably good deals. They include Shark Tale, Shrek, Shrek 2, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Racing Stripes, Because of Winn-Dixie, Ice Age, Dreamer, Madagascar, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, March of the Penguins, and, the movie I will go see free any time, Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit. In addition, The Cartoon Network is producing the pre-show entertainment, which will include bonus cartoon shorts.

It doesn't get any better than free movies, and the only catch is that the program's sponsors will likely be showing commercials during the pre-show. Like that is any different than when we pay, right? AMC's plan is brilliant, especially if they have their concession stands open at 9am. Since the movies aren't first-run, the theatres don't have to pay a lot to the studios to show them. In fact, the program's sponsors might be paying for the titles by themselves. And as packed as any of these shows is likely to be, seeing as they're free, they should be guaranteed to sell out on any rainy wednesday morning. If they sell popcorn to a good percentage of the audience, AMC will be making a ton of money (If they would sell better popcorn, they'd get some of the money from me, as well).

Mad Cow Disease -- which changed its name from Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) when it got famous in the late 1990's -- is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle, spread by the host consuming animal by-products infected by this protein mutation. The disease is zoonotic -- meaning it can be transmitted to humans (and vice versa) -- so this forced cannibalism resulted in the deaths of over 150 Europeans through 2004 who had consumed tainted beef. While only five BSE-infected cattle were identified in the U.S. through 2005 (due to their largely soy diet), the panic was enough to cause widespread bans on U.S. beef.
 

As you may have heard, Disney's The Wild is a movie about a bunch of zoo animals who find themselves running free in New York City. A lion and a giraffe lead the crew, and they're on the loose in a desperate effort to save one of their friends, who was cruelly taken from the zoo. Ha, great concept! No, no - wait a minute. It actually sounds very familiar...it'll come to you, give it a second. Yes, that's right: you already saw this movie, back when it was called Madagascar. And, according to a Cinematical spy, the similarity isn't an accident - it was understood among those who worked on The Wild that, early in their developments, The Wild and Madagascar (which was made first, not just released quickly) were actually based on the very same script. Hollywood? Out of ideas? Naw.

So, yeah, the trailer - which was previously released on some sort of temporary Disney site, but has now been unleashed on the wider internet world - is still just like Madagascar, except for a couple of small factors. The first difference is the presence of Eddie Izzard, who voices a koala bear. Putting aside the fact that there aren't any koala bears from Britain, he's hilarious, and brings a bit of dignity to a production that otherwise seems average at best. The second difference - one that comes down very firmly in Madagascar's favor - is an incredibly uncomfortable scene involving a sexually suggestive squirrel. I mean, honestly. Who at Disney thought it was a good idea to include a squirrel slapping his own ass and talking about riding pigeons "bareback"? The realistic flesh-slapping noise is downright creepy.

With the upcoming DVD release of Madagascar, Dreamworks looks for you to make a weekend out of it – literally.  Beginning next month with an explosive marketing campaign, perhaps this will bring us a gigantic taste of what to expect from the future of home entertainment.  Apart from the usual food-themed advertisements and television commercials, things get real interesting once the box office monster hits shelves.

"The real highlight is a menu option that takes kids to a virtual playground in which they can play various games, learn to draw the film's characters, play a new version of "Whack-A-Mole" and, through a DVD-ROM element, print iron-ons, download photo frames and create personalized invitations, decorations and posters."

Still looking for that babysitter?

No one's going to call this weekend's box office winner until tomorrow, but Saturday numbers are in, and the stats are incredibly close. Star Wars made $20.8 million yesterday, bringing it to $36.3 over two days; that's against about $32 million for Madagascar, and $33.8 for The Longest Yard. The Adam Sandler flick started out strong on Friday, but failed to pick up much business on Saturday and came in third for the day. The studios won't release actual numbers until Tuesday, but we should have estimates up tomorrow as soon as they come in.

• The Longest Yard: Don't pay any attention to the reviews! That Burt Reynolds is craaayyyzeeee! You saw what happened when we asked him to promote the movie - he cannot be contained!
• Madagascar: Tony Scott calls it "at least in part, a movie about what a bad idea it is to leave New York City." By the second paragraph he's wistfully referencing Bringing Up Baby - always a sure sign that the critic is bored. David Denby says it's a film "mismanaged pretty much from start to finish."
• Saving Face: "As a romantic dramedy, Saving Face sort of, kind of works, despite the fact that it’s basically a roundelay of recurring cliches and ancient movie conventions that have been recycled countless times." Ryan Stewart reviewed the Chinese-American lesbians-in-crisis indie earlier this week.
• Bomb the System: Teenagers, graffiti, Manahttan. According to Stephen Holden, it "might be described as soulful pulp; cult recognition awaits it."
• The Fearless Freaks: "An all-access fan's valentine" to the Flaming Lips - but, says Dennis Lim, it's "as artfully scrappy and likably wide-eyed as its subjects".