We’ve got a few release dates to share today.  Briefly:

• Labor Day – Writer/director Jason Reitman’s drama starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin will hit theaters in limited release on December 25th of this year (just in time for awards season, natch), before expanding wide on January 31st.
• Exodus – Director Ridley Scott’s Biblical epic about the life of Moses has been dated for a prime holiday release of December 12, 2014, confirming that this will indeed be Scott’s next project.  Christian Bale may star.
• Assassin’s Creed – The feature film adaptation of the popular video game series has been dated for Memorial Day weekend of 2015, with a firm May 22, 2015 release date.  Michael Fassbender is producing the film and will also star.

Hit the jump for much more on all of the aforementioned projects.

While some people like heavy articulation on their action figures, others just want something cool to sit on a desk.  Enter McFarlane Toys.  While they’re essentially just small statues, they have great attention to detail, and they always look cool wherever you display them.  At this year’s Toy Fair, McFarlane showed off some new toys for The Walking Dead, Spawn, and Assassin’s Creed.  Hit the jump to check them out.

Ubisoft has hired acclaimed English playwright Michael Lesslie to pen the script for the upcoming film adaptation of the hit video game, Assassin’s Creed.  As we previously reported, Michael Fassbender will play an average guy in the present day who is kidnapped by a mysterious organization and forced to relive his “genetic memory” of a being an assassin in various eras.  The games have taken place during the Third Crusade, the Renaissance, and the American Revolution.  There’s currently no word on when the film will take place.  Although the first game took place during the Crusade, the Assassin’s Creed II series (which also included Brotherhood and Revelations) is when the series really caught fire, so Ubisoft may opt to send the protagonist into that time period.

Sound off in the comments about when you’d like to see the Assassin’s Creed movie take place. [THR]

With just a few short weeks to go until the Revolutionary War-centric third title in the Assassin’s Creed video game series is released, the feature film adaptation is moving closer to reality.  We learned this past July that Michael Fassbender had signed on to star in and co-produce the project with Ubisoft, and now the film has found a financier and distributor in New Regency.  Hit the jump for more.

It’s been a busy week in the world of video game news.  On the disappointing side of things, it looks like Nintendo’s new console, the Wii U is going to have a delayed release in Europe due to some manufacturing difficulties (though it should still land stateside before Thanksgiving).  On the bright side: we have new looks at the weapons of Halo 4, a multiplayer trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops II and some in-game combat action for Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed III.  Hit the jump for all that and more!

Last fall, we reported that Sony Pictures was set to adapt Ubisoft’s popular video game, Assassin’s Creed, but that the project was stalling due to Ubisoft’s demands for control.  The negotiations between the studios were put on hold as Ubisoft looked to develop the film independently.  However, the assassination looks to be back on in a big way as Michael Fassbender is set to star in and co-produce the flick.  And just like that, I’m interested in an adaptation of Assassin’s Creed.

Hit the jump for more.  Fassbender will be seen next year in Steve McQueen‘s Twelve Years a Slave and Ridley Scott‘s The Counselor.

The trailers coming out of the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo have been blowing my mind and promise to blow a hole in my wallet when the new games become available.  If you missed our previous batches of trailers, you can check them out here and here (and don’t miss our villainous update on the new Star Trek game!).  The next round of trailers and demos features the much anticipated Star Wars 1313, in which players control a bounty hunter on one of the many levels of the city-planet, Coruscant.  We’ve also got the next installment in the epic Assassin’s Creed franchise, as well as a contemporary take on assassins from Ubisoft,  a new game from the makers of Heavy Rain which features the voice and likeness of Ellen Page and more!  Hit the jump to check them out.

When we reported that Sony Pictures had planned to adapt Assassin’s Creed, we told you that “Ubisoft has set the terms of the deal to be a more active participant in the movie’s development.” Mark that as the understatement of the year, because details have emerged suggesting that Ubisoft now exercises an unheard of amount of control over the project. Says one insider: “As a director, even Steven Spielberg cannot get this kind of deal.”

Sony apparently has granted Ubisoft control over the budget, casting, script and release date, in a deal that sets a dangerous precedent. Though, in the history of video game franchises made into movies, there have been more busts than blockbusters. Perhaps Ubisoft and Sony think this is the answer to the problem. Or perhaps Ubisoft’s Yves Guillemot threatened the studio execs with a hidden blade. Hit the jump for more details.

Sony Pictures is already hard at work trying to turn the popular video game series Uncharted into a movie (even though it kind of already is), and now they’ve cast their eye to another “Grab all the Walls” game.  Variety reports that the studio is in final negotiations with game developer Ubisoft for the screen rights to Assassin’s Creed.  The games center on an a secret order of assassins operating in past centuries (the first game is set in the 12th century, the next two games are in the 15th century), but are framed within a sci-fi context of being the memories of a hapless everyman* who’s at the center of a present-day secret war.  The game features lots of parkour and trying to covertly pull off assassinations before you blow it and have to run the target down in the most attention-grabbing fashion possible.

Ubisoft has set the terms of the deal to be a more active participant in the movie’s development rather than provide a one-off licensing agreement.  Ubisoft chief Yves Guillemot says he also wants movies of Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon.  Hit the jump to see a trailer for the first game and start your fan-casting in the comments section.