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Comic-Con's "Preview Night" is a bit of a joke. The idea is that only registered professionals (and how they consider me professional is beyond me) are supposed to get access to an exclusive sneak peek of the show floor the evening before the show officially starts. In theory you'd be able to easily walk through the massive San Diego Convention Center and check things out in a leisurely fashion.

However, in practice it's an entirely different story. Crowds of people crammed everywhere, moving at near-cattle speeds. It's almost enough to drive you nuts ... until you remember it'll be much worse when the show is actually in full swing. So I headed inside in search of interesting photos, and my favorite has to be this shot of a $130 V.I.N.C.E.N.T. vinyl robot toy from Disney's The Black Hole. I am really craving that sucker.

Anyhow, check out all of our opening night photos in the gallery below, and head beyond the break to watch on video what it's like entering preview night. We'll be bringing you a lot more from the show floor throughout the show, so stay tuned.

It's not like my love of British comedian Ricky Gervais is a secret around these parts. No worries, though I'll be keeping my inner fangirl at bay, and you don't need to worry about this turning into a 'gush-fest'. The first trailer for The Invention of Lying has debuted over at Yahoo! Movies UK and we have our first glimpse at the story of an alternate universe where human beings have never learned the art of deception. Gervais plays a man working in the film industry who becomes the inventor of lying, and quickly uses his newfound skill for romantic and financial gain.

Gervais seems to have no trouble inspiring praise from his peers, and the cast list for Lying is proof of that comedy clout. Just some the names in the Lying cast are; Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., John Hodgman, Tina Fey, Christopher Guest, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jason Bateman. Gervais has even gotten his first advance review for Lying from J.J. Abrams, who said, "The Invention of Lying' is as funny as it is biting, wholly original, and surprisingly moving. Is there such thing as an important comedy? Turns out there is, and this is it." It's an unlikely source of praise, but after watching the trailer, I guess the big question is: could Abrams be right? The Invention of Lying arrives in theaters on September 25th, 2009.

After the jump: Gervais' working class 'dramedy', Cemetery Junction, goes into preproduction and Gervais stalks the paparazzi...

In the midst of battling Coco Chanel biopics, the first image of Audrey Tautou (Amelie) as the legendary fashion figure has just emerged over at Vanity Fair. I'll admit that after getting my first look at Tautou in that famous 'Coco recline', it is starting to make perfect sense that an entire biopic was shaped around the French actress. If nothing else, you have to admit the the lady is a dead ringer for the style icon.

Coco Avant Chanel was partly based on Edmonde Charles-Roux's book, L'Irrégulière: Ou, Mon Itinéraire Chanel, and was adapted for the screen by Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons) and Anne Fontaine, who is also directing. The film will not attempt to tell the entire life story of Chanel, probably because it would be impossible to contain that much fabulousness in one film. Instead, Fontaine will be focusing on some of the highlights of Chanel's youth, and what would any biopic be without a little dirt? Some of the juicier bits in the story will include Chanel's time as a cabaret singer, and her love affairs with the influential and powerful men that helped her break into the fashion world.

After a long delay, the project finally kicked into high gear last summer, and shooting began back in September. Now that Tautou is officially the first Chanel we have seen, you can't help but wonder if the rest are going to suffer by comparison -- I mean, I still haven't gotten my head around the casting of Demi Moore. So much like the label that shares the lady's name, it looks like Fontaine and company are also going to have to put up with their fair share of 'knock-offs'.

Coco Avant Chanel should arrive in theaters later this year.

No matter what I say, I think most of us out there are never going to believe that the follow-up to Neil Marshall's The Descent could ever live up to the original. But, these latest stills from the sequel certainly make me feel a little better about the whole idea -- well, that and the fact that Marshall acted as a 'hands-on' producer for the flick. Still photographer Ollie Upton recently released a whole whack of still photographs from the flick on his website (check them out below) and it looks like things certainly haven't gotten any better for our heroine since we last saw her.

James Watkins' (My Little Eye) script centers on Sarah Carter (Shauna Macdonald), who has emerged from the Appalachian cave covered in her friend's blood, and borderline catatonic. When she is forced to go back down in the caves to help locate her missing companions, she is haunted by visions of what had happened, and as the rescue party ventures further into the caves, Sarah starts to lose her grip on reality. Of course, you can count on the 'Crawlers' making another appearance, and from then on you know things are going to go bad ... very, very, bad.

The Descent: Part 2 will be released in the UK on May 15th, but so far there have been no dates announced for North America. Stay tuned to Cinematical for any updates on a US release, otherwise, those of us on this side of the pond might have to wait for the DVD.

Considering how much Kevin Smith hates having his surprises spoiled online, he got really lucky with the new on-set photos from his latest comedy, Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Slashfilm is now hosting a couple photos taken on set at a local mall, as well as some shaky camera footage of the man at work. Nothing groundbreaking, but hey, Smith always brings a smile to my face, so I'm not complaining.

Zack and Miri is the story of two childhood friends who are brought together again at their high school reunion. The two then come up with the idea of making a porn flick together. Seth Rogen stars as Zack and Elizabeth Banks plays Miri. Originally the role had been written for Rosario Dawson, but she backed out to work on Eagle Eye with Shia LaBeouf.

Rehearsals for the film started back in January, and judging by Smith's posting on his personal blog, things seem to be going well. Smith wrote that, "I've got a guy whose inflections I wrote for/to reading the scenes and sounding like he's not acting at all, as much as being the character. I've got a chick who could read the Bible aloud and make it seem charming. They're naturals. They're excellent". OK, so Smith has never been known to be less than totally committed to his films for better or for worse. Luckily, it looks like this one is going to be one of the better ones. Zack and Miri Make a Porno is scheduled for release later this year.

Pictured Above: Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro star in Things We Lost in the Fire.

And I don't know about you, but it looks like Benicio Del Toro lost some of his hair gel in this fire. Cinematical has just received four exclusive photos from the upcoming drama Things We Lost in the Fire, directed by Susanne Bier and starring Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro. The film centers on Audrey (Berry), a woman whose life was shattered following the death of her husband. While attempting to pick up the pieces, she decides to help out her husband's good friend (Del Toro), a lawyer, who's hit some hard times, by inviting him to live with her and her two kids. Together they navigate their ups and downs, while forming a bond that will ultimately set them both on the right path. Personally, I find this on-screen pairing to be a fascinating one, and with the fabulous acting talents of Del Toro by her side, I'm expecting Berry to up her game and churn out a winner. You can check out the pics in the gallery below -- Things We Lost in the Fire arrives in theaters on October 19.

Is it bad that part of me doesn't care whether Righteous Kill turns out to be the crummiest, most overly-hyped piece of garbage this side of the equator? Is it wrong for me to say that I'll probably enjoy it for the simple fact that Robert De Niro and Al Pacino will finally -- after all these years -- be able to share some quality screen time? And is it horrific of me to believe that these two guys could play hop-scotch for an hour and a half, and I'd still leave the theater with a smile on my face? Probably not, since I have a feeling a lot of you are in the same boat as I. I think. Yup, thanks to some dude named Sean Henri, we get a first look at De Niro and Pacino together on the set of Righteous Kill. As of now, Henri only has two pics up on his blog (although he does promise more), in which both De Niro and Pacino can be seen walking up to what appears to be an apartment door, as well as one showing them standing in front of a Tow Away Zone sign (which is the pic you see to the right of your screen -- click on it for a larger version, courtesy of Sean Henri).

Directed by Jon Avnet (who helmed the still-unreleased Pacino flick 88 Minutes), and written by Inside Man scribe Russell Gerwitz, Righteous Kill follows two veteran detectives (De Niro, Pacino) who team up to track down a serial killer. The film also stars John Leguizamo, 50 Cent, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy and the very adorable Carla Gugino (who I just happen to have a major crush on). Martin Scorsese is also rumored to have a cameo in the film as Lt. Winnfield, although nothing official was ever announced. But it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he showed up for a brief scene just to have the opportunity to square off in a room against his old pal and a guy who, surprisingly, has never starred in one of his films. Go figure there, huh? Anyway, enjoy the pics and look out for Righteous Kill to hit theaters sometime next year.

[via JoBlo]

It might just be me, but every time I turn around it seems like The Invasion has released another batch of photos, a trailer, or a new poster in the hopes of drumming up some business for the production. Now ComingSoon.net is hosting a brand new gallery of images from the film. Actually, I'm sure we have seen some of these before, but at least this grouping has some more action-packed images to choose from. It's no secret that the film has been making headlines for over a year, with news of massive re-shoots being undertaken by the WB's sci-fi/action duo, The Wachowski Brothers, as well as James McTeigue (V for Vendetta), reportedly to liven up some of the film's action sequences. All of this without the involvement of original director Oliver Hirschbiegel.

The film is a loose update of the 1955 classic, The Body Snatchers and even 52 years later, if it's done right, the tale of conformity and paranoia should probably resonate with audiences. This version stars Nicole Kidman as a psychiatrist living in D.C. when a mysterious space shuttle crash seems to be turning local residents into mindless drones. Along with her doctor friend (Daniel Craig), she tries to unravel the mystery of what has happened while trying to locate her son, who "may hold the key to stopping the devastating invasion." This latest gallery will probably be the last we get from the film until it hits theaters on August 17th, and considering that the photos do not give too much away, there is still plenty of room for surprises.

This time with more blur! The problem with this mysterious Cloverfield movie is that after the hype machine blew through for a period of about a week and a half, things have calmed down and no one seems to care much anymore about figuring out what the hell J.J. Abrams has up his sleeve. Folks like to play games for a little while, but there comes a time when they tire of the mind-fu**ing and simply want to know the deal. While the film's official website, 1-18-08.com, was fascinating and peculiar at first, it's slowly become rather busy and uninteresting. Oh wow, another photo to toss around with your mouse for twenty minutes! What will they think of next? It's cool; feel free to call bullsh*t on me -- after all, I am single-handedly helping to push the marketing machine forward by continuing to write about the film and its online trickery. But that's my job. And if I didn't vent from time to time, then how the hell would I fill up an entire post?

By now I'm sure you've guessed that another photo has popped over at the Cloverfield site. This one is pretty difficult to make out, but it looks like people are running in the streets and some dude in a military outfit is there to make sure folks flee to the appropriate areas. I'm not sure who's actually taking these pictures, but hopefully they'll remember to use their flash for the next one. Like the other three photos on the site, you at home have the option to move it around the page and swap it out for one of the older images. I'm not sure what the whole "photo movement" has to do with anything, except that it gives people a reason to stay on the site longer and pretend to be figuring out a clue that no one else has solved yet. As I said before, the site is becoming rather busy with all these photos, and so I imagine they'll introduce a new gimmick soon (possibly at ComicCon or shortly thereafter). Other than that, we're told this will be some sort of monster movie (Muppets Take Manhattan 2?), and it shall arrive in theaters on January 18, 2008.

We're calling this one Pirates of the Caribbean: The Germans Are Coming! No, Tom Cruise is not replacing Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow; this is a pic of the actor -- as German officer Col. Claus von Stauffenberg -- from Bryan Singer's upcoming drama Valkyrie. RopesofSilicon bring us this first look, and they also have up a fairly interesting comparison shot of the real Stauffenberg and Cruise. To say these guys looked similar would be an understatement -- is there something about Tommy boy we don't know? In the film -- which is based on real-life events, Cruise plays a German officer who led the daring July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. This is a weird role for Cruise, and I'm curious to see if he throws on one of them English-German accents for the film. Also starring Patrick Wilson, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, Eddie Izzard and the very beautiful (as well as potential future Bond girl) Carice van Houten, Valkyrie is currently scoping out August 8, 2008 as a possible release date. So whaddya think -- would you bring this guy home to mom?