There have been lots of rumors flying around about two potential films on Marvel’s upcoming Phase Three slate: a standalone Hulk film and a Doctor Strange origin story.  Marvel’s Kevin Feige recently talked about plans for a number of upcoming films, including these two standalone projects.  In short, Feige said that there are no current plans for a solo Hulk movie, but they are talking about it and he isn’t opposed to keeping Mark Ruffalo in the role.  For Doctor Strange, the property is expected to be a top priority for the studio and will feature the first film fully devoted to “a world of pure magic.”  Hit the jump for much, much more from Feige. 

Summit Entertainment has released eight character motion posters for Now You See Me.  I’ve enjoyed the posters for the film since they’re employing trippy optical illusions that fit in well with the plot about four magicians who use their tricks to rob banks.  This looks like a fun movie, and I hope it’s good because it would be a shame to waste a cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine, Melanie Laurent, and Morgan Freeman.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  Now You See Me opens May 31st.

With director Louis Leterrier’s (The Incredible Hulk) magician-centered thriller Now You See Me opening May 31st, Summit Entertainment has provided us with six clips.  For those unfamiliar, the story follows an FBI squad on the heels of a team of bank-robbing magicians who share their profits with the audience, and the pic boasts an impressive ensemble cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine, Melanie Laurent and Morgan Freeman. 

Hit the jump to watch the clips, and if you missed any of my set visit coverage, here’s my video blog recap, and on set interviews with Ruffalo, Eisenberg, Fisher, and Leterrier.

Last weekend I finally had the chance to check out director Rodney Ascher‘s The Shining analysis doc Room 237 on Xbox Live. The film garnered a rave review from Matt when he screened it at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and for the most part I share his enthusiasm for the pic.  On one hand, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen and I admire it for that exact reason. The extensive scenic analysis Room 237 employs, the hypnotic score, and its refusal to show the faces of those presenting their theories makes it an absolutely captivating ride that never lets you come up for air. On the other hand, I now have to live the rest of my life looking for Stanley Kubrick‘s airbrushed face in the clouds during The Shining‘s opening scene. And when/if I ever find it, what am I supposed to do with that information? Sigh.

I could go on about the film’s individual parts, but suffice to say that I consider it required viewing for anyone with even a fleeting interest in film analysis, Kubrick, and/or The Shining. And with that I’ll move on to the reason we’re all here. In this week’s Top 5 you’ll have the pleasure of checking out a stellar new trailer and a slew of other assets from Man of Steel, our set visit recap for The Hangover Part III, the first trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, more set visit goodness for Now You See Me, and all of our CinemaCon 2013 coverage. The “Continue Reading” button below is your ticket to a brief recap and link to each of the above.

In director Louis Leterrier‘s Now You See Me, Mark Ruffalo plays an FBI agent trying to hunt down and capture a group of magicians who pull off bank heists during their death-defying acts.  However, while Ruffalo plays a tough guy on screen, he’s anything but that in real life.  In fact, in the few times I’ve gotten to speak with him, he’s always making people laugh and trying to have fun.

About a year ago, I got to participate in a group interview with Ruffalo on the set of Now You See Me when the film was shooting in New York.  He talked about why he wanted to be involved, working with Leterrier, filming on location in New Orleans and NYC, magicians, what kinds of scripts is he drawn to, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

Summit Entertainment has released a batch of new images from director Louis Leterrier’s (Clash of the Titans) upcoming film Now You See Me.  The story centers on a group of magicians who pull off bank heists during their death-defying acts, and the FBI squad tasked with catching them.  Leterrier has put together a great ensemble cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Mark Ruffalo, and Morgan Freeman, and the film’s most recent trailer promises that Now You See Me will be a very fun ride.

Hit the jump to check out the new images.  The film also stars Michael Caine and Melanie Laurent.  Now You See Me opens on May 31st.

Summit Entertainment has released a new trailer for Now You See Me.  The story centers on a group of magicians who pull off bank heists during their death-defying acts, and the FBI squad tasked with catching them.  It appears that Morgan Freeman is tasked with being the expository character as he spends most of this new trailer explaining things, but we do get a closer look at the technical side of the group’s magic tricks in this clip.  The premise is admittedly a bit outlandish, but director Louis Letterier (The Incredible Hulk) has put together a great cast and this trailer hammers home the promise that Now You See Me should be a lot of fun.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film stars Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, and Melanie Laurent.  Now You See Me opens May 31st.

Summit has released a few new images from director Louis Letterier’s (The Incredible Hulk) magician-centered thriller Now You See Me.  The film follows an FBI squad on the heels of a team of bank-robbing magicians who share their profits with the audience.  The impressive ensemble cast is lead by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Morgan Freeman, and Mark Ruffalo, and judging by the trailer the pic looks to be a lot of fun.

Hit the jump to take a look at the images, and click here to check out the film’s debut poster.  The pic also stars Melanie Laurent, Dave Franco, Common, and Michael Caine.  Now You See Me opens on May 31st.

Rumors have been flying around that there are/aren’t plans for Marvel to make a stand-alone Hulk movie some time in the near future.  Marvel’s own Kevin Feige put two potential source materials for a Hulk film on the table last year.  Then we got news on possible plot details for not only a stand-alone Hulk film after The Avengers 2, but what may turn out to be a Hulk-centric plot for The Avengers 3.  About a month after that, writer/director Joss Whedon (The Avengers) put the kibosh to the rumors.  Now, the face behind the Hulk himself, Mark Ruffalo, has taken to the Tweets to comment on the state of Hulk.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

We’ll dedicate more time to this topic after the jump, but in just a few sentences I want to share a quick thought I had while watching Netflix’s House of Cards last weekend. It’s not just that I think the show is great. When you involve talents like Kevin Spacey and David Fincher, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where quality work is in short supply. It’s that this level of material was birthed by and is only consumed via the Internet. I’ve been in debates where the question was whether or not the web would foster an age of amateurs. A future in which the training and dedication required to further perfect one’s craft would fall by the wayside leaving audiences with less than stellar work produced by those made lazy by the eased production and distribution technologies afforded by the Internet. While the fact that I’m writing to a considerable audience today via this site is evidence to that very argument, the overall quality of HOC is a strong rebuttal against those concerned about the quality of entertainment work in a digital age.

All thinking out loud aside, this week’s Top 5 features an editorial response to Disney’s announcement that Star Wars spinoff films are in the works, Side Effects interviews with Steven Soderbergh and more, a word about Hulk’s movie future, Matt’s editorial on Netflix and the affect time shifting has on viewing habits, and the latest news out of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 camp. As you’re probably expecting, a brief recap and link to each waits after the jump.

The Avengers was the highest-grossing film of 2012, so it’s no surprise that some of its cast would be presenting at this year’s Academy Awards.  The film is nominated for Best Visual Effects (although the momentum seems headed in the direction of Life of Pi), and the Academy has sent out a press release announcing that most of the superhero team will be presenting this year’s awards.  Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, and Mark Ruffalo will be presenting together, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re presenting for the technical categories (Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, and Sound Editing).  I assume Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson were unavailable.  In any event, I hope the guys will have some witty banter, and even if they don’t, I’m sure Downey will make it entertaining anyway.

Hit the jump for the press release.  The Academy Awards will be held on February 24th at 7pm (EST) on ABC.

Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk in last year’s The Avengers was certainly a highlight of the superhero assembly movie, but fans were left wondering what Marvel’s plans are for the green meanie going forward.  We already know that sequels to Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers are slated for release over the next two years (Marvel’s Phase Two) as well as new properties Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange and Ant-Man.  So where’s the Banner love?  We’ve previously reported that Marvel’s Kevin Feige has stated that no new Hulk standalone movie will take place until after The Avengers 2 has opened and that popular comic arcs Planet Hulk and World War Hulk are not off the table.  Now, some intrepid reporting from a reliable source has shed some possible details on the future of the Gamma Giant.  Hit the jump for more, but consider this your spoiler warning. 

It’s been awhile since we’ve had an update regarding Glee and American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy’s feature film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning play The Normal Heart, but some firm news has surfaced today.  The autobiographical drama written by Larry Kramer, who also wrote the feature script, chronicles the rise of HIV/AIDS among New York’s gay community in the 1980s and features an impressive cast lead by Julia Roberts, Mark Ruffalo, and Matt Bomer.

HBO announced today that the film will debut as an HBO movie, with production set to get underway later this year for a 2014 debut.  Alec Baldwin and Jim Parsons were previously attached to the project, but they don’t appear in this latest press release.  This isn’t Murphy’s first foray into features, as he previously helmed Eat Pray Love and Running With Scissors.  Murphy follows in the footsteps of Steven Soderbergh, who opted to debut his upcoming Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra, starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, on HBO rather than going the theatrical route.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

Director Bennett Miller’s Moneyball was one of the best films of 2011, so it’s with great anticipation that we look toward his follow-up feature, the real-life drama Foxcatcher.  The pic tells the true story of John du Pont, a paranoid schizophrenic who built a wrestling training facility on his 800-acre Pennsylvania estate where he subsequently shot and killed Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler David Schultz in 1996. Heir to his family’s chemical fortune, du Pont locked himself in his mansion for two days after murdering his friend, and spent the time on the phone with negotiators.

Miller has assembled a fantastic ensemble cast that includes Steve Carell as du Pont, Mark Ruffalo as Schultz, and Channing Tatum as Schultz’s brother.  Some set photos have surfaced today that feature a nearly unrecognizable Ruffalo as the Olympian alongside a very in-shape Tatum.  Hit the jump to take a look at the images.  Foxcatcher is set to hit theaters sometime next fall.

Just yesterday the first trailer for the magician-centered pic Now You See Me was released online, and now a large batch of images from the film have surfaced.  The movie follows an FBI squad on the heels of a team of bank-robbing magicians who share their profits with the audience.  Directed by Louis Letterier (Clash of the Titans), the film boasts an impressive ensemble cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Melanie Laurent, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine.  The trailer played a bit like a “fun” version of The Prestige with a dash of Ocean’s Eleven thrown in for good measure, and I’m interested to see what the full has in store.

Hit the jump to peruse the images.  The film also stars Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, and Common.  Now You See Me opens on June 7, 2013. [Update: We've been asked by the studio to take the images down as they were not part of an official release.]