After Journey 2: The Mysterious Island proved to be an international box office smash, New Line Cinema was quick to get all the behind-the-scenes folks back on board for a third go-round in the franchise.  Reports indicated that they were quite keen on getting the front-of-camera contributors back under contract as well, and now, it looks like Dwayne “Don’t call me ‘The Rock’, because I’m an actor now” Johnson is in talks to reprise his role as Hank, stepfather to Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson); Johnson first came aboard the franchise to replace Brendan Fraser, who was felled by a tragic case of not wanting to do the second film.  Hit the jump for more.

After a strong debut on Friday, Act of Valor went on to win the weekend with an estimated $24.7 million from 3,039 locations.  Considering that this is an R-rated feature without any major stars, that’s a pretty remarkable start. Then again, with the fistfuls of cash Relativity devoted to marketing this Navy SEALs drama, anything less than first place would have felt un-American.

There was good news to go around this weekend as each of the four major studio releases opened to over $20 million.  That is an almost unheard of feat on any weekend, let alone a non-holiday-enhanced weekend in February. Overall, the box office looks to finish up 25% from last year’s post-Super Bowl frame to provide 2012 its sixth win in a row.

Apparently New Line Cinema is pleased with the team behind the scenes of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island because they’ve decided to keep the same group on board for a potential third installment. If plans for Journey 3 move ahead, director Brad Peyton will carry over, along with writers Brian Gunn, Mark Gunn and Richard Outten, and producers Beau Flynn, Charlotte Huggins and Tripp Vincent. This bodes well for the sequel (which releases on February 10^th) since we can assume it tested well over the weekend. The film, based on Jules Verne’s “Mysterious Island” follows Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) as he searches for his missing grandfather (Michael Caine) on an island crawling with dangerous wildlife. Hit the jump for more.

With the release date of February 10, 2012 quickly approaching, Warner Bros. has rolled out a new trailer for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D. The sequel to the 2008 original starring Brendan Fraser, Journey 2 sees the return of Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) as he sets off in search of his grandfather (Michael Caine). Accompanied by his stepfather, Hank Parsons (Dwayne Johnson) and guided by the helicopter pilot Gabato (Luis Guzman) and his tough daughter Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens), the group sets off to find “Mysterious Island.” Hit the jump to check out the trailer.

This afternoon, Warner Bros. hosted the press day for their upcoming comedy Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, featuring the voices of Christina Applegate, James Marsden, Bette Midler, Michael Clarke Duncan, Neil Patrick Harris, Sean Hayes, Nick Nolte, Joe Pantoliano and Katt Williams.

While there will be a full interview to post later – with Applegate, Marsden and Midler – director Brad Peyton took a bit of time after the press conference to talk about his next project, the sequel for Journey to the Center of the Earth, which he’s in prep for now, and his thoughts on whether The Doubtful Guest, adapted from the Edward Gorey story, might ever make it to the screen. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

A few days ago I got to interview Josh Hutcherson for the soon to be released movie The Kids Are All Right.  While I’ll have a lot more on that movie soon (because it’s awesome and I spoke to almost the entire cast), I wanted to post what Hutcherson said about Journey to the Center of the Earth 2 and what it’s like to be in the running for the next Spider-Man movie.  In case you didn’t know, New Line is moving forward with a sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth with Hutcherson as the lead and he’s one of the people Sony is considering to play Peter Parker.  Hit the jump for more:

Brad Peyton is close to making a deal to direct New Line and Walden Media’s Journey to the Center of the Earth 2, and Brendan Fraser will reportedly not be starring in the sequel.  Deadline reports the studio is moving ahead with the film, with Josh Hutcherson as the star.  Hutcherson played the nephew of Fraser’s character in the original.  The original film made $242 million worldwide, and without Fraser, New Line would have to back the film with a much lesser-known actor.  Fraser left the film due to scheduling conflicts that made original director Eric Brevig unavailable and forced New Line to replace him with Brad Peyton, the director of Warner Bros.’ upcoming Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.  Brevig’s next film will be Yogi Bear.  New Line is planning on a Fall 2011 release for the Journey to the Center of the Earth sequel.

Of course with the project still being put together and Fraser’s recent movie Furry Vengeance not exactly lighting up the box office, there is still a chance he could return for the sequel.  More as we hear it.

After grossing $390 million worldwide (and counting), it should come as a surprise to no one that Warner Bros. is moving ahead with a sequel to Clash of the Titans.  Deadline reports that director Louis Leterrier will not return to helm the sequel.  However, Sam Worthington will reprise his role as Perseus and almost every actor whose character survived will return as well.  The studio is now rushing to get the film into production as it wants to make a spring 2012 release and get Worthington before the actor goes to shoot Avatar 2.

Hit the jump for my speculation on how Clash 2 will approach 3D this time around as well as news regarding a sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth.