Universal Pictures has released a new trailer for director Ron Howard’s racing drama Rush.  The film takes place in the world of Formula 1 racing and chronicles the 1970s rivalry between Austrian driver Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) and British driver James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth).  This trailer plays much better than the previous U.K. trailer, as we get a better sense of the individual character struggles in addition to Howard’s impressive visuals.  The racing sequences certainly look to be intense, but the highlight of this trailer for me is hearing some of Hans Zimmer‘s fantastic-sounding score.  As Matt noted previously, the key to the film’s success will be whether we care about the characters, so here’s hoping Rush is more Apollo 13 than The Da Vinci Code.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer.  The film also stars Olivia Wilde and opens on September 20th.

A batch of new images from Universal Pictures’ upcoming racing drama Rush has been released online.  Directed by Ron Howard, the film takes place in the world of Formula 1 racing and chronicles the 1970s rivalry between Austrian driver Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) and British driver James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth).  We got our first glimpse at footage by way of a U.K. trailer last week, but Universal is poised to drop the domestic trailer tomorrow and they’ve unveiled these images as an appetizer.  Hemsworth looks sufficiently handsome as notorious playboy Hunt, while Brühl appears to bring a fair amount of intensity to the Lauda role.

Hit the jump to take a look at the images and check back here tomorrow afternoon to watch the new trailer.  The film also stars Olivia Wilde and opens on September 20th.

The first trailer for Ron Howard’s Rush is now online.  The film takes place in the world of Formula 1 racing and chronicles the 1970s rivalry between Austrian driver Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) and British driver James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth).  It’s tough for me to get excited about Howard’s films since he hasn’t made a great one since Apollo 13.  He does have the talent to tell a good story, but after watching the trailer for Rush, the question remains: will we care about the rivalry between Lauda and Hunt, or will we just talk about the excellence of the racing scenes?

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Olivia Wilde.  Rush opens September 20th. [Update: We've added a track from Hans Zimmer's score for the film.  You can list to it after the jump.]

In case you missed the recent news, the first image from Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2 debuted, featuring Jim Carrey as Colonel Stars and Stripes, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular tough guy and the Colonel’s sidekick, Sophia.  A new hi-res version of the image is now available after the jump.  Kick-Ass 2, also starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Nicolas Cage opens June 28th.

Another new image that recently popped up is from the newly titled Julian Assange/WikiLeaks film The Fifth Estate.  A hi-res version of the first image, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as Assange with Daniel Brühl as Daniel Domscheit-Berg, is now available.  Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate will open November 15th.  Hit the jump to view both images in hi-res.

The previously untitled WikiLeaks film directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) will now be titled The Fifth Estate.  The first image from the film has also debuted.  It features Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) as Julian Assange with Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds) as Daniel Domscheit-Berg.  The Fifth Estate centers on the polarizing figure of Assange from the rise of his WikiLeaks website to the eventual controversial explosion over leaked government documents.  The film is now slated to release on November 15, 2013.  Hit the jump for the full press release and to see the first image from The Fifth Estate.

Though director Ron Howard dabbled in lighter romantic comedy fare for his last film (2011’s The Dilemma), he’s getting back into the period groove with his next feature, Rush.  The film takes place in the world of Formula 1 racing and chronicles the 1970s rivalry between Austrian driver Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) and British driver James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth).  Production wrapped earlier this year, but we have to wait until next September before the pic hits theaters.

Steve recently interviewed producer Eric Fellner in anticipation of the release of Tom Hooper’s musical adaptation Les Miserables, and Fellner talked a bit about Rush.  He revealed that he’s seen a nearly completed cut of the film, teased a standout performance from Brühl, and talked about the film’s promising test scores.  Hit the jump for more.

We recently reported that James McAvoy (X-Men: First Class) was in negotiations to star opposite Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) in director Bill Condon’s Julian Assange/WikiLeaks movie, but it looks like that role has fallen to Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds). With Cumberbatch set to play WikiLeaks founder Assange, Brühl will play his right-hand man, Daniel Domscheit-Berg. Domscheit-Berg was a German tech activist who became a spokesman for the organization and wrote the book Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website, the rights of which were picked up by DreamWorks. Hit the jump for more. 

While walking the floor of the American Film Market (AFM) this morning, Steve was able to grab some images and synopses for a few upcoming films.  Briefly:

• Rush – Director Ron Howard’s 1970s drama focuses on the rivalry between Formula 1 racers James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl).  The film opens September 20th, 2013.
• Can a Song Save Your Life? – This uplifting music-centered drama comes from Once director John Carney and centers on the relationship between a struggling musician (Keira Knightley) and a music producer (Mark Ruffalo) in New York City.  The cast also includes Hailee Steinfeld, Adam Levine, and Catherine Keener.
• Thérèse – This adaptation of the classic novel stars Elizabeth Olsen as a young woman trapped in an arranged marriage who conspires with her lover (Oscar Isaac) to dispose of her sickly cousin husband (Tom Felton).  Jessica Lange also stars.

Hit the jump to check out images and detailed synopses for all three films.

Principal photography has begun on Anton Corbijn‘s adaptation of John le Carre‘s A Most Wanted Man.  The plot revolves around a near-dead half-Chechen, half Russian man on the run in Hamburg’s Islamic community, and looking to recover his father’s ill-gotten fortune, which attracts the attention of German and U.S. security agencies.  We previously reported that Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, and Robin Wright were on board, and the press release has announced that Willem Dafoe is attached as well.  The press release also lists the German actors co-starring in the production.  Among them is rising star Daniel Brühl, who is starring opposite Chris Hemsworth in Ron Howard‘s upcoming Formula One racing drama, Rush.

Hit the jump for the press release.

Just yesterday, we brought you the word that director Ron Howard’s Formula 1-inspired Rush had gotten a new release date.  Now we can bring you the first official images and synopsis from the picture.  Starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl as F1 racers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, Rush centers on the real-life rivalry between the two.  Rush, also starring Olivia Wilde, Natalie Dormer and Alexandra Maria Lara, opens September 20th, 2013.  Hit the jump to see the new images and check out the official synopsis.

Formula One racing season is in full swing, and so is production on Ron Howard‘s F1 drama Rush starring Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, and Olivia Wilde.  The film chronicles the 1970s rivalry between Austrian F1 driver Niki Lauda (Brühl) and British driver James Hunt (Hemsworth).  I’m not into racing here in the states since I’m more interested in the sport of paint-drying than watching cars go around a track 500 times.  But in Europe, F1 is far more exhilarating since the cars travel around twists and turns rather than going left for 18 hours.  Last year’s documentary Senna made me more interested in the sport, and a new behind-the-scenes featurette for Rush has me hoping that Howard has captured that same sense of excitement.

Hit the jump to check out the featurette.  There’s currently no release date for Rush, but I wouldn’t count on seeing it until 2013.

Ron Howard is currently at work on the Formula One racing drama Rush.  The movie is based on the true story of the 1970s rivalry between Austrian driver Niki Lauda (played by Daniel Brühl) and British driver James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth).  Howard recently spoke about how he’s going to try to sell Formula One to an American audience, which prefers NASCAR.  My pitch would be, “Hey!  Do you want to see what happens when the cars don’t have to go in a circle for ten hours?  Do you want to see racing that’s far more dangerous?  Then come see Rush!”  Howard has a slightly more sophisticated approach and it’s one that I find slightly encouraging.

Hit the jump for what Howard had to say about Rush as well as an update on his epic adaptation of Stephen King‘s The Dark Tower.

It looks like the sudden stoppage on The Dark Tower hasn’t gotten Ron Howard down too much. He moved right along to pre-production on the Formula One racing drama Rush, and now he’s set to shoot some scenes for the flick this weekend at Nurburgring Race Track in Germany. The film centers on the 1970s rivalry between Austrian driver Niki Lauda and British driver James Hunt, with Inglorious Basterds star Daniel Brühl playing Lauda and Chris Hemworth taking on the role of Hunt.

Principal photography on the film doesn’t officially get underway until later this year, after Hemsworth has wrapped on The Avengers and Snow White and the Huntsman, but Howard is taking advantage of a race at Nurburgring this weekend to get some key shots. Hit the jump for more, including the significance of the track to the film.

The UK trailer for the horror flick Intruders has gone online.  The story focuses on two families, on in Britain and the other in Spain and a child from each family being haunted by a dark specter.  Clive Owen plays the father of the British girl who sees the shadowy figure and his skepticism turns to the horror when he discovers that the malevolent creature is real.  I really hope that Intruders isn’t going to be “Trust but with a menacing apparition instead of a rapist.”  They certainly seem to share theme of a father struggling with his inability to protect his child.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Carice van Houten, Daniel Bruhl, Pilar Lopez de Ayala, and Kerry Fox.  Intruders opens in the UK and the US on October 7th.

It looks like Ron Howard’s next directorial project is getting some major traction. The other day we reported that Chris Hemsworth was in talks to take on the role of James Hunt in Howard’s Formula 1 racing drama Rush, and now Inglorious Basterds star Daniel Brühl is circling the role of Hunt’s rival Niki Lauda. The film follows the heated rivalry between Austrian driver Lauda and British driver Hunt in the 1970’s.

Screen Daily (via The Playlist) reports that the plan is to start filming later this year in Germany and the U.K. once Hemsworth has wrapped Snow White and the Huntsman. Howard will direct from a screenplay by Peter Morgan (The Queen). This is certainly shaping up to be an increasingly intriguing project; Brühl was fantastically sinister as Fredrick Zoller in Basterds and it’ll be nice to see Hemsworth take on a straight drama.