We can now confirm what we reported yesterday, that Daniel Craig will return for the next two James Bond films.  Craig will star in the 24th and 25th installments, making him the third-longest tenured actor to play Bond (after Sean Connery and Roger Moore).  Deadline also confirms that Sony Pictures will also return to co-finance those two films, as it has with Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and the upcoming Sam Mendes picture, Skyfall.  Speaking of Skyfall, we’ve got new word on just how long the film will run along with a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of the opening sequence.  Hit the jump for all of that and more!

Skyfall, also starring Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ben Whishaw, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe and Ola Rapace opens October 26th in the UK and November 9th in the US.

The summer movie season is beginning to wind down, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be lacking for explosions and gunplay come this fall.  Director Sam Mendes will put his stamp on the James Bond series with Skyfall, and fresh off our first look at Ben Whishaw as Q last week, three more new images have landed online.  Daniel Craig is seen doing his Bond thing as he cooly rides a motorbike and effortlessly reloads his gun, but we also get a brief image of Ola Rapace riding a motorbike of his own.  Details on the film have been scarce, but during Steve’s set visit interview Rapace revealed that he’s the person Bond is after at the beginning of the movie.

Hit the jump to check out the images, and if you missed Steve’s set visit coverage check out his video blog recap and interviews with Mendes, Craig and producer Barbra Broccoli, Berenice Marlohe, and Naomie Harris.  Skyfall opens on November 9th.

With this weekend’s domestic release of some little flick called The Avengers, the summer movie season is officially off and running. Although it’s easy for the comic book fan in me to rank The Avengers, The Amazing-Spider Man, and The Dark Knight Rises as my top three most anticipated summer pics, I thought it might be a nice exercise to quickly list what else the Summer of 2012 is offering that will likely tickle my moviegoing fancy. That said, because absolutely no one asked my opinion, here are five of my other most anticipated summer films (listed in chronological order by release date): Ridley Scott‘s Prometheus, Steven Soderbergh‘s Magic Mike, Seth MacFarlane‘s feature debut Ted, Fernando Meirelles‘ 360, and John Hillcoat‘s Lawless. As always, I’d love to hear from you, the reader, about what you’re looking forward to seeing on the big screen in the coming months. By all means, use the comments section liberally.

In this week’s Top 5 you’ll find a ton of interviews, Matt’s review, and other ancillary bits for the aforementioned The Avengers, Steve’s coverage from his visit to the Istanbul set of Skyfall, the third trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, a new trailer, images, and posters for The Amazing Spider-Man, and the first full-length trailer for The Expendables 2. A quick recap and link to each ensues after the jump.

It’s hard to believe just a few days ago I was on the set of the upcoming James Bond film, Skyfall, in Istanbul, Turkey.  As a lifelong Bond fan, getting to see Daniel Craig film part of a huge action scene near the famous Istanbul Spice Market was something I’ll always remember.  For more on the set visit – including a video blog recap – click here.  You can also read or listen to my interviews with director Sam Mendes, Daniel Craig, producer Barbara Broccoli, Berenice Marlohe, and Naomie Harris by clicking the links.

While in Istanbul, I was also able to participate in a roundtable interview with Ola Rapace.  Even though he was very guarded with his answers, we were able to find out that he’s the person that Bond is after at the beginning of the movie, and he may or may not be in business with Javier Bardem.  During the interview, Rapace talked about whether the script changed once he was cast, his training for the role, what it’s like to work with Bardem, filming around the world, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to read or listen to the interview.

James Bond is under fire and pinned down.  He’s stuck behind a fruit stand wearing a form fitting gray suit with his gun drawn.  About fifteen feet to his left, Naomie Harris is in the front seat of a damaged Land Rover.  As he looks around the crowded outdoor Istanbul market filled with hundreds of bystanders, he notices an older motorcycle attached to a cart.  When the gunfire slows down, Bond runs to his right and kicks the bike free.  He gets on and speeds off after his assailant.

Let me back up a second.

For those just learning a new James Bond movie is being released this year (October 26 in the UK and November 9 in the US), Daniel Craig is back as James Bond and it’s being directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Away We Go).  The film also stars Javier Bardem (as the villain Silva), Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe, Ola Rapace, Ben Whishaw, Albert Finney and Judi Dench as ‘M.’  Skyfall Director of Photography is Roger Deakins (one of the best in the business) and it was written by John Logan (Hugo, Gladiator, Rango).  Neal Purvis & Robert Wade also contributed to the script.  Continued after the jump.

We have some brief casting news to report this morning.  First up, David Morrissey (The Red Riding Trilogy) and Hayley Atwell (Captain America: The First Avenger) are set to co-star The Return Of Captain Nemo, a $10 million 3D sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  Per Deadline, “Atwell will play Sara, while Morrissey plays her uncle, chief adviser to President Ulysses S. Grant, who frees Nemo (Downtown Abbey‘s Hugh Bonneville) from prison to try and discover what the mysterious ‘sea monsters’ are sinking ships up and down the Atlantic Coast.”  The production will set up in Romania and take the 300 route by shooting entirely on green screen in order to cut costs.  Atwell will reportedly leave the project if she gets offered the female lead in the Tom Cruise sci-fi action flick, Horizons.  Production on Nemo is set to begin January 16th.

Hit the jump for casting news on the upcoming James Bond flick, Skyfall.

For those who aren’t familiar with Oscar rules, every country is only allowed to submit one film for the Best Foreign Film category.  It’s an idiotic rule with a good intention (demonstrate worldwide filmmaking talent) that excludes the possibility that a country may have more than one amazing film.  But that’s the rule, there’s no indication it will change any time soon, and with that in mind, Sweden has chosen Pernilla August’s Beyond (“Svinalängorna“) as its submission to this year’s Oscars.  That doesn’t mean it will be nominated, but this is what Sweden thinks is its best shot.

And it’s not a bad gamble if it stars rising star Noomi Rapace.  Rapace plays a “woman confronting her broken and traumatic past. As she visits her hometown and dying mother, a parallel story follows Lena as a child growing up with alcoholic parents in 1970s Swedish suburbs.”  Hit the jump to check out the trailer and poster.  Rapace will be introducing herself to mainstream American audiences this December in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and next summer in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus.

Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) is set to direct a long-in-the-works biopic of the romance between Swedish singer Anita Lindblom and boxer Bosse Högberg. Screen Daily (via Thompson on Hollywood) reports that Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and her ex-husband Ola are set to star in the film. Ola has apparently been training as a boxer for four years to prepare for the role. Peter Birro wrote the script, which Hardwicke says attracted to her to the project:

”I immediately fell in love with the script – it throws us back into Swedish celebrity culture of the 1960s, where the name is more important than the person.”

Following her turn in the Swedish film adaptations of Steig Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, Rapace nabbed roles in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. Filming on the untitled Lindblom/ Högberg drama is set to commence this fall.