The Weinstein Company has released the first trailer for director Lee Daniels’ (Precious, The Paperboy) historical drama The Butler.  Based on a true story, the film stars Forrest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines, a butler who served at the White House from 1952 to 1986.  The trailer plays up the film’s awards prospects as we see a flash of famous faces playing the many notable persons who walked the halls of the White House throughout this period (Alan Rickman is particularly striking as President Reagan), and that’s balanced with an overview of Gaines’ life in a racially tense America.  While the film certainly looks like it has the potential to be powerful, cautious optimism is key whenever Lee Daniels is involved.

Hit the jump to watch the debut trailer.  The film also stars Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Mariah Carey, John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Minka Kelly, Lenny Kravitz, Melissa Leo, James Marsden, Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Redgrave, Liev Schreiber, and Robin Williams.  The Butler opens on October 18th.

Lionsgate has released a couple of new “look at our characters sitting in chairs” posters for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  Yesterday we got a look at Capitol Portraits for Elizabeth Banks’ Effie and Stanley Tucci’s Caesar, and today Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch and Lenny Kravitz’s Cinna get their day in the sun.  I assume these portraits will be unveiled for all distinguished members of the Capitol society, so hopefully we get a close look at Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Head Gamesmaker Plutarch Heavensbee in the next day or so.

Hit the jump to take a look at the posters for Haymitch and Cinna.  The film also stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Sam Claflin, Liam Hemsworth, Donald Sutherland, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, and Amanda Plummer.   The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens in traditional theaters and IMAX on November 22nd.

Marvin Gaye is an obvious choice for a music biopic.  Cameron Crowe worked on a Gaye movie for years with Terrence Howard as the latest candidate for the lead role.  As Crowe’s project toils in development, Julien Temple may swoop in to make his own Gaye biopic, Midnight Love.  Many are picking up Deadline’s report tonight, but the Evening Standard reported earlier in the week that Lenny Kravitz is Temple’s choice to play the Prince of Soul.  Midnight Love starts in 1981 London and tracks the final years of Gaye’s life, particularly how music promoter Freddy Cousaert helped Gaye as he struggled with alcohol and tax problems. The singer found renewed success with the release of Midnight Love and Top 10 Hit “Sexual Healing,” capped off by two Grammy wins and a U.S. tour.  After the troubled tour, Gaye retreated to his parents’ house in Los Angeles, where his father shot him dead in April 1984.  More after the jump.

Director Lee Daniels is currently at work on his period drama The Butler, and some images of his star-studded cast taking on famous historical figures are starting to trickle out.  The film tells the true story of Eugene Allen, a butler who served at the White House from 1952 to 1986.  Forest Whitaker plays Allen, Oprah Winfrey is set as his wife, and David Oyelowo will star as Allen’s son.  Butler has cast a number of familiar faces to play the notable persons who walk the halls of the White House throughout this period, and now we have our first look at Alan Rickman and Jane Fonda as First Couple Ronald and Nancy Reagan.  I wasn’t quite sure how Rickman would physically pull off Reagan, but the resemblance here is striking.

Hit the jump to take a look at not only Rickman and Fonda alongside Daniels, but also Winfrey and co-star Lenny Kravitz in old-age makeup.  Click here to see James Marsden and Minka Kelly as John and Jackie Kennedy.

Recently, Robert Pattinson (Twilight) put rumors to rest and confirmed he would not be jumping franchises to join The Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire.  The role in question was that of Finnick Odair, a fellow contestant in the games of the second book from Suzanne Collins’ bestselling trilogy.  It’s now looking like the frontrunners for the role may be Taylor Kitsch (Battleship), Garrett Hedlund (TRON: Legacy) and Armie Hammer (Mirror Mirror).  While the casting might seem a bit premature at the moment, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is on a bit of a short schedule owing to star Jennifer Lawrence’s prior commitments and a screen debut of November 22nd, 2013.  Presumably returning for the sequel to Lionsgate’s newest moneymaker are Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz and Donald Sutherland with director Francis Lawrence.  Hit the jump for more on the casting of Catching Fire.

In a somewhat unsurprising move, Summit Entertainment announced today that the Hunger Games follow-up has now officially been titled The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  The pic is based on author Suzanne Collins’ second book in the Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire.  Brand recognition is everything when it comes to tentpoles, and audiences are consistently treated as though they’re unable to put two-and-two together when the exact same cast returns in a new movie with a different title.  Nevertheless, Summit added The Twilight Saga moniker to all the Twilight films, so the move was almost inevitable.  Hit the jump for more.

Two bits of casting news today for some lovely leading ladies (although only one of the roles is actually a lead).  Here are the headlines:

• Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) is set to join Tracks for director John Curran (The Painted Veil).  The Australian-set picture is based on Robyn Davidson’s trek across the heart of the island continent.
• Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights) will join Precious director Lee Daniels‘ historical drama, The Butler, based on the life of Eugene Allen, who served on the White House staff from 1952 to 1986.

Hit the jump for more.

Lionsgate may have finally settled on a director for the sequel Catching Fire, but The Hunger Games is still busy doing gangbusters at the box office.  It was the number one film for the fourth weekend in a row (the first movie to do that since Avatar and The Dark Knight), and now fans will get another opportunity to see Gary Ross’ adaptation on the big, big screen.  Starting April 27th, the film will open again for a one-week limited run in select IMAX theaters.  Only about 100 IMAX theaters are participating in the engagement, but if your town is one of the lucky ones and you missed the film in the large-screen format the first time around, now’s your chance to catch it before the pic out of theaters.  Moreover, Lionsgate has released a new poster specifically designed to mark the occasion.  Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group Co-Chair Rob Friedman had this to say about the re-release:

“It’s wonderful that so many fans have expressed interest in seeing The Hunger Games in the immersive IMAX format, and many of these are repeat viewers. We’re delighted that IMAX has been able to accommodate them through this special one week re-engagement.”

Hopefully those checking out the IMAX version of The Hunger Games are going to actual IMAX theaters instead of reformatted regular theaters (it really does make a difference).  Hit the jump to check out the poster.

During the recent Los Angeles press junket for The Hunger Games, I landed an exclusive interviews with the cast and director Gary Ross.   While I already posted my conversations with Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth, I decided to wait to post Lenny Kravitz figuring the movie would do well and fans would love to get some fresh content after the film had opened.  However, while I thought Hunger Games would do well, I never figured it would be one of the biggest openings of all time and make $155 million dollars in three days!  Needless to say, due to the box office, fans are definitely getting sequels.

Anyway, since Kravitz had been doing a lot of press before the film opened, I tried to ask some new questions like what’s his favorite movie, director and actor, how did he decide the look of Cinna, what made him want to play this role, what did his friends and family think when he got cast, how many takes does he like to do, and a lot more.  In addition, Kravitz tells a great story involving Mick Jagger and karaoke.  Hit the jump to either read or listen to the interview.

In The Hunger Games, adapted for the big screen from the best-selling novel by Suzanne Collins, actress Elizabeth Banks plays Effie, the elaborately dressed escort and PR handler for the Games, rock star Lenny Kravitz plays Cinna, the personal Stylist for the Games who becomes a confidante and supporter of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) from District 12, and actor Wes Bentley plays head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane. The trio definitely provide much of the color and many of the moments of humor in the film.

At the film’s press day, the co-stars talked about what attracted them to the project (neither Kravitz nor Bentley had read the book before), the process of deciding on the look for each of their characters, and what each of them personally took from the experience of making the movie. Check out what they had to say after the jump:

With director Gary Ross‘ The Hunger Games opening March 23, Lionsgate has just released the EPK (electronic press kit) and it includes two clips and over six minutes of behind-the-scenes footage.  While you’ve probably already seen the clips, the on set footage is definitely new and it includes Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Lenny Kravitz, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson and a lot more of the cast either rehearsing or filming their scenes.  If you wish you could have been on set watching Suzanne Collins’ characters come to life, this is the next best thing.  Hit the jump to watch.   You can also click here for over thirty images from the film. [Update: We've added an excellent, just-released clip featuring Peeta's (Josh Hutcherson) crucial interview with Caesar Flickman (Stanley Tucci)].

Just the other day Lionsgate released the first clip from Gary Ross’ highly anticipated adaptation of The Hunger Games, and a new clip has just gone online. This one shows us the first meeting between Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss and Lenny Kravitz’s Cinna, and as a fan of the books I have to say that Kravitz looks to be spot on as Katniss’ stylist. The scene comes straight from the book, and I’m eager to see more of how Katniss and Cinna’s relationship plays out onscreen. I remain impressed by the footage we’ve seen thus far and I’m really pulling for Ross to knock this out of the park.

Hit the jump to check out the images. The film also stars Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, and Donald Sutherland. The Hunger Games opens on March 23rd.

I hope you’ve got your tickets for The Hunger Games because they’re disappearing quickly. Making the tickets available a month in advance seems like a great move on the part of Lionsgate, considering The Hunger Games pre-sale just beat the previous Fandango record holder for the first day of sales, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. The buzz around the project is really starting to rev up and we’ve got some new TV spots and images to show you after the jump.

The Hunger Games, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth and directed by Gary Ross opens March 23rd. Hit the jump to check out the new looks.

Calling all Hunger Games fans: we’ve got a good deal of Panem-related material to wade through today. A batch of new images and an IMAX banner from the film have been released, and Lionsgate announced that advanced tickets for the film go on sale tomorrow. Additionally, the studio is planning a national mall tour to give fans a chance to meet the actors from the film at their local shopping mecca. Director Gary Ross, stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth and more will be popping up at malls across the country to participate in fan Q&A’s. I’m not exactly sure The Hunger Games needs a mall tour in order to drum up awareness (it feels very 80s pop star), but I guess it gives superfans a chance to interact with the cast.

Hit the jump to check out the images and banner, as well as the full list of participating mall tour cities which includes information on which actors will be at which events. The Hunger Games opens March 23rd.

The marketing for Gary Ross’ upcoming adaptation of The Hunger Games has been kind of non-stop, with various types of advertising and viral campaigns raising awareness of the highly anticipated pic. Today three motion ads from the Captiol have popped up, giving us new looks at Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickman, Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, and Wes Bentley as Seneca Crane. They’re actually pretty ingenious, as they advertise products that would be found in the image-conscious world of the Capitol such as liquid skyliner and evil-beard trimmers.

For those unfamiliar, The Hunger Games takes place in the post-apocalyptic country of Panem. As a means of reminding Panem’s 12 districts that the country’s government holds all the power, one teenage boy and one teenage girl are randomly selected from each district to participate in a televised fight to the death called “The Hunger Games.” Hit the jump to check out the motion posters. The film also stars Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, and Elizabeth Banks. The Hunger Games opens March 23rd.