Set in contemporary New York City, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones tells the story of Clary Fray (Lily Collins), a seemingly ordinary teenager who discovers that she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret organization of young half-angel warriors in an ancient battle to protect our world from demons. Adapted from the book by Cassandra Clare, action-adventure fantasy also stars Jamie Campbell Bower, Kevin Zegers, Jared Harris, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Lena Headey, CCH Pounder and Aidan Turner.  For more on the film, watch the new trailer or watch our interview with Campbell Bower.

While at WonderCon, author Cassandra Clare, who created The Mortal Instruments world that the film is based on, spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about initially being a little hesitant about a film version, what finally reassured her, why she wanted to be involved with casting, how lucky she feels that Lily Collins is in the lead role, what made Jamie Campbell Bower the perfect Jace, how weird it is to have the last book in the series coming out in 2014 while the film based on the first book is coming out this August, and what inspired The Dark Artifices series, which takes place five years after the end of The Mortal Instruments books.  Check out what she had to say after the jump.

A new trailer for director Harald Zwart’s The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones has gone online.  I got to check out this particular trailer at the WonderCon panel and I was impressed by the caliber and amount of action on display.  I’m sure that fans of the source material will pick up on a lot more of the mythology than a novice like myself, but it’s got a cool aesthetic that actually looks rather inviting.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, based on the Cassandra Clare novel, stars Lily Collins, Lena Headey, Robert Sheehan, Jamie Campbell Bower, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Kevin Zegers, Kevin Durand, Jared Harris and CCH Pounder. The film opens on August 23rd, 2013.  Hit the jump to view the trailer. 

Before I dive headfirst into what could be considered overselling to the “nth degree”, I have a disclaimer: I’m a total sucker for nostalgia-inducing, high school-centric, coming of age films. With that out of the way, I cannot recommend enough that you watch author/writer/director Stephen Chboksy‘s adaptation of his own novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, as soon as possible. The pic hit Blu-ray/DVD this past week and over the course of 24 hours I rented it, watched it, loved it, returned it (yes, somehow late fees are still a thing…), and purchased it for my own collection. I could go on and on about the emotional note the movie hit for me at every turn but I’ll spare you the fanboy torment. Suffice to say that I’ll be looking back fondly on this one for quite a while.

My “Blu-ray/DVD pick of the week” aside, this week’s installment features a week of Die Hard that includes Matt revisiting the entire franchise and A Good Day to Die Hard interviews with Bruce Willis and more, coverage from Steve’s visit to the set of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, a slew of video interviews from this year’s VES Awards including talks with Ang Lee and Wally Pfister just to name a few, Beautiful Creatures interviews with Emmy Rossum and more, and a healthy amount of images from the floor of Toy Fair 2013. Yep, you guessed it, a brief recap and link to each of the above can be found on the other side.

In the newest clip released for Sam Mendes’ James Bond flick, Skyfall, Bond (Daniel Craig) is up to old habits: namely gambling and womanizing.  This thirty-second spot shows Bond playing cavalier with his hard-earned winnings and introduces him to Severine (Berenice Marlohe).  They must have hit it off since they later meet up for a refreshing Heineken on a passenger train.  We also have the first look at Harald Zwart’s The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones in a behind-the-scenes featurette with cast interviews.

Skyfall, also starring Judi Dench, Ben Whishaw, Helen McCrory, Ralph Fiennes and Naomie Harris, opens November 9th stateside. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones stars Lily Collins, Lena Headey, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Kevin Durand and opens August 23rd, 2013.  Hit the jump to check out the clip and featurette.

Although the release date for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is still about a year away, we have a production update to share with you.  Along with a new promotional image, we have a fully updated cast listing for the Harald Zwart-directed adaptation of the best-selling Cassandra Clare novel. The fantasy series follows a teenage girl who discovers that she’s descended from a sect of half-angel warriors who protect the world from demons.  Hit the jump for the most up-to-date casting info and a new promotional image.

 Check out the latest casting news in brief below:

• Kevin Zegers (Dawn of the Dead) has been cast The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, the first in a series of adaptations of the best-selling Cassandra Clare books.  Directed by Harald Zwart, the film also stars Lily Collins, Lena Headey and Jamie Campbell Bower.
• Terrence Howard (Iron Man) and Dawn Olivieri (The Vampire Diaries) are in talks to join Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sam Worthington in Breacher, formerly known as Ten.  The picture, directed by David Ayer, follows ten DEA agents who begin to die off one by one after pulling a heist.

Hit the jump for more casting details.

Back in March of last year, director Adam McKay (The Other Guys) spoke about the difficulty of making a Hard R-rated anti-superhero movie. Turns out that McKay is prophetic. Columbia Pictures has put the adaptation of the Garth Ennis/Darick Robertson comic The Boys into turnaround. The Boys, an informal moniker for a CIA squad tasked with keeping tabs on (and occasionally putting down) superheroes, was apparently not to the studio’s liking. The reports don’t cite any specific reason for the drop, but McKay himself did mention the pic would be a hard sell and compared it to a “current day Watchmen.” Probably not what you want to tell a movie studio. In other news, Columbia Pictures’ sister slate Screen Gems has also backed out of the adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s YA fantasy series, Mortal Instruments. Hit the jump for more.

Screen Gems has partnered with Constantin Film and Unique Features to adapt Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones into the first film in a potential franchise based on her Mortal Instruments book series.  In Bones, “seemingly ordinary teenager Clary Fray discovers she is the descendent of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of warriors dedicated to driving demons out of our world.”  Greenhorn Jessica Postigo scripted the adaptation, which sets a variety of mystical creatures (fairies, warlocks, werewolves, etc.) loose on New York City.  Hit the jump for the official announcement.