One of the studio-based horror projects that I've got my eye on is The Ruins, which is based on a very fine novel by Scott B. Smith. If they hew closely enough to the source material, I'm thinking The Ruins could make for one ferociously memorable little terror flick -- but we'll have to wait until April 4 to find out.

Helmed by first-timer Carter Smith and starring folks like Jonathan Tucker, Laura Ramsey, Shawn Ashmore and Jena Malone, The Ruins tells the tale of an ill-fated trip into the jungle ... but it's NOT your typical hack 'n' slash affair. Trust me on that. Two new posters for the flick gives away a little bit of who/what the antagonist is, but not enough to ruin the fun. Check out that one-sheet right here at Shock, and then head on over to JoBlo's for a peek at the second poster. (Starting to sense a theme in these posters?)

The official site also has a new "red-band" trailer up, and it's even better than the "all ages" teaser that appeared a few weeks back. Ooh, and best of all: The Ruins has been rated R by the MPAA for "strong violence and graphic images," in addition to some other adult-oriented stuff. So to those who were worried that Smith's story would be toned down for a PG-13 crowd, feel free to offer some thanks to Paramount and DreamWorks.

Clowns and robots ... need I say more?

• That Dark Knight teaser website has been updated with a slew of clown photos; all of which can also be accessed through a new site, Rent-a-Clown.com. Readers can now scroll through seven pages of regular folk with their faces painted like the Joker, while listening to that annoying circus music. If I had to take a wild guess, it looks like the photos were taken during ComicCon, and they're now being used as part of yet another viral promotion for next summer's The Dark Knight. A message above the images reads: "Hire any of these clowns to entertain you at the public gathering of your choice. They will do almost anything for a laugh." Anything? Really? Oh, I can think of some things ....
• And speaking of viral marketing, Pixar has already started building hype for next summer's WALL•E by releasing a few character posters during ComicCon. You can scroll through five of them here. Once you're done with that, head on over to Buynlarge.com -- apparently this is the website for the fictitious robotics manufacturer that created the robots featured in the film. There's plenty of detail stuffed into the site, but you can scope out pics (as well as read about their individual specialties) of four different robots: SALL•E, GAR•E, NANC•E and WEND•E. You can read much more about Pixar's next flick in our ComicCon coverage of the Disney/Pixar Presentation.
• Since I just got finished telling you about clowns and robots, it's only fitting that I leave you with one story that involves both. Some dude posted a short film up on YouTube which follows director Michael Bay (portrayed by a hilarious actor) around town while he attempts to convince people to go see Transformers. I've watched it three times now, and the thing just keeps cracking me up. These guys are so out of their minds. For those of you in the office, there's a bunch of foul language included within, so keep that in mind. My favorite line: The actor playing Bay runs up to the camera and says, "I just got done banging my assistant in a giant pile of cash." Yeah, that about gives you an idea of where this one is heading. Enjoy. [via Defamer]

Does the choice of colors used in movie posters really mean anything? I never paid attention before now. Recently, someone with far more knowledge than me has taken a look at movie posters, wondering if there is some correlation between color, content and box office success. Starting with the iconic poster image of Showgirls in mind, Armin Vit at Speak Up has written a fascinating article entitled "Dark and Fleshy: The Color of Top Grossing Movies."

Vit is an experienced graphic designer, so he approached the subject from that angle: "I love black backgrounds more than anything else in the design business, and yet I was still very surprised to acknowledge how dark theatrical posters are and that, specifically, in this context, the top 25 grossing movies of all time across all ages didn't run a very wide gamut." He broke down the colors of 25 posters, representing the top five box office earners in each MPAA category: G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17. The graphic results certainly surprised me and may depress you with the bland similarities. The entire article is well worth reading, though, as are the comments.

Having read Vit's article, I find myself looking at posters in a whole new light. Even one that stands out as "badass" -- as Erik Davis aptly described the 3:10 to Yuma poster -- is predominantly composed of dark colors. As Vit acknowledged, there are always exceptions to the rule -- he cited The 40 Year Old Virgin, and Wedding Crashers is another that comes to mind -- but next time you visit the multiplex, check out the posters for the most popular films and see what colors predominate.

Despite the disappointing box office returns for Grindhouse, that ode to yesteryear's trash cinema has obviously sparked a few imaginations. Over at Somethingawful.com they're celebrating what they call "Photoshop Phriday" with over 40 mainstream movie posters done over in the grindhouse tradition (and thanks to Boing Boing for pointing this out). In the truest grindhouse tradition, some of these cross the line of good taste, like the nazisploitation take on Schindler's List, so be warned. For some the transition seems natural; if you didn't know Dr. Strangelove was a dark cold war comedy you could just as easily expect it to be a sexploitation flick, which is how it's presented here. Little Miss Sunshine is now a trashy (and rather disturbing) exposé of child beauty pageants.

The graphics guru who did the Sleepless in Seattle poster gets extra points for aping the style of trash films of the 1940s for this tale of "victims of a new sex craze!", and the person behind the Gosford Park poster goes so far as to call this story of "sapphic lusts and debauchery" a product of the old Hammer Studios while doing some nice digital wear and tear. The 42nd Street presentation of the amazing Shaw Brothers kung fu double bill of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers (picture above) looks like it was clipped from an old newspaper.

Not all of the posters score home runs. The Dead Man Walking poster I think goes a little too far by showing Sean Penn as a zombie and actually changing the content of the film rather than how it is sold. The Toy Story poster doesn't work at all, even after slapping the copy "demonic toys come alive" over a picture of Buzz and Woody, it's still Buzz and Woody. Except for those examples and the overuse of one particular font, I think this stuff is genius.

Universal has unveiled the first three posters for Judd Apatow's Knocked Up -- a follow-up to his giganto comedy The 40 Year Old Virgin -- which is set to hit theaters on June 1. AICN managed to nab three different looks at this bad boy, including two domestic posters and one international. Pic, of course, stars Seth Rogen (Apatow's "Golden Boy") as a guy who accidentally "knocks up" his one night stand, as played by the beautiful Katherine Heigl.

Yeah, you're probably thinking the same thing I am: Based on that picture to the right, how in the world did Rogen's character manage to score with someone as gorgeous as Katherine Heigl? Surely they don't expect us to believe that Rogen -- with his good looks and hot body -- has no problem taking home the prettiest girl in the room, right? Ah, then again, perhaps that's part of the plot? Regardless, it should be interesting to see how Apatow does with this film -- more specifically, will it make Seth Rogen a huge star? Hey, if anything, Ryan Seacrest plays himself in the film ... so, just watching him make the usual ass out of himself should score at least a few laughs.

With so many movies crowding the box office these days, distributors have to try to produce marketing for their films that will cut through the cacophony of TV, radio, iPods and ringing cell phones. It can be hard to produce a poster that is eye-catching enough to make you stop and give it a second look. What's the last poster that really caught your eye? The blog Sam's Myth has a nice collection up of his favorite five posters from the past year. While we don't agree with all of his choices (Nacho Libre, really?) -- for the most part they're nice picks from the absurd amount that were seen plastered around a town near you.

Check out the poster for Dave Chappelle's Block Party, which proves that a movie doesn't have to be great to have a fantastic poster. This is basically a concert film, but the poster really pops and has a 60s/70s feeling to it. Plus, a film like Hard Candy, which was barely a blip on the radar, has what is probably the most visually arresting poster from the entire year. I'm a huge fan of retro art and magic, so naturally I rushed out to see both films that were set in the world of turn-of-the-century magic. I thought The Illusionist was extremely engaging, but The Prestige fell a bit flat for me. The same is true for their posters, as well. In fact, The Illusionist is probably my favorite poster from this year, besides the Superman Returns poster that pays homage to the amazing artwork of Alex Ross.

However, this year has also produced some posters that weren't worth the adhesive they were hung with. What's with The Good German directly ripping off Casablanca? That's a classic movie poster that shouldn't be imitated, and there's a fine line between homage and copying.

Look for my inner Grinch to come out as I post the Worst Movie Posters of 2006 just before Christmas. Bah, humbug!

While I wasn't aware they were doing this, Fox aired a bunch of clips from Spider-Man 3 last night during their showing of Spider-Man 2. Of course, those clips have since popped up on YouTube -- and, conveniently, they've all been smashed together into one long preview of sorts. What do you get? Well, there's certainly a lot of Venom black Spider-Man suit thingy, a bunch of shots from both the real and the leaked Spider-Man 3 trailers, as well as some more from James Franco (aka Harry Osborn) as the Green Goblin, part deux.

If that's not enough to satisfy your thirst for more Spidey, two new teaser posters have also been released. Both show that familiar image of Spidey up against a glass building, his reflection being that of Venom. The other poster (as seen to the right of your screen) reverses that. The good thing about Spidey 3 is that it's arriving in theaters on May 4, which is way better than, say, having to wait until the middle of July for this sucker. Imagine you fanboys faced with a decision to either see Transformers (which debuts on July 4) or Spider-Man 3? Thankfully, you won't even have to go there ... though something tells me Spidey would win that one by a mile.

The good folks over at 20th Century Fox just released a new poster for Eragon, an adaptation of the popular novel due to hit theaters this December 15. Essentially the first part in the Inheritance Trilogy, pic tells the story of Eragon, a young man, swept into a world of magic and power, who discovers it's his destiny to ride a dragon and help save the Empire ... or destroy it. I haven't read the book, but folks tell me it rocks and the kids love it. Will Fox discover some of their own Lord of the Rings box office magic here? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty stoked about it.

I'm not sure there are many people who can capture the awkward side of adolescence as well as Paul Feig. Those of you who are giant fans of Feig's canceled (biggest mistake ever!) TV show, Freaks and Geeks, should definitely read his book, Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence. Personally, it's one of my favorites. (Then again, my childhood was filled with awkward, embarrassing moments, so yeah -- I can relate.) Anyway, after doing a bit of directing for shows like Arrested Development and The Office, Feig's big-screen directorial debut, Unaccompanied Minors, is set to crash into theaters this December. Pic, which revolves around a group of kids snowed in at an airport, now has its first poster up online for all to see. And yes, I will be there opening night. You?

Keith Phipps has a cool post on the Onion AV Club's blog this morning about the sameness of movie posters. He is right, movie posters tend to look the same, and it's been quite some time since I've seen a movie poster which I would consider a work of art in and of itself. I'm not talking about arty conceptual stuff, but movie posters for Nuclear Age fare like Them where the monsters were rendered with such realism that they couldn't even compare to their onscreen doppelgangers. He also chides trailers for revealing too much about a movie and not teasing audiences like they should. My problem with trailers isn't that they reveal to much, it's that they need to become more insidious. I've developed an immunity to trailers which make crappy movies look good (Saw being a recent example. Did I see it? No I did not, because despite how hard the trailer tried, I could tell it wasn't going to be a good movie). Listen filmmakers: if you want me to see your movie, you need to do a better job of fooling me.