From time to time I like to use the opening paragraph to discuss my latest screenprint investments and/or dream items. This week I’m playing a similar note as I recently picked up Olly Moss‘ “Batman’s Rogues Gallery” set on eBay for very close to what the timed edition went for originally. Those of you who follow posters and prints know how redeeming it can be to finally get an item you originally missed out on without having to pay exponentially more than its original asking price. Now, if only Ken Taylor‘s Halloween print would stop being so rare/expensive, I could officially run out of room on my walls.

I’ll stop gushing and leave any more in-depth poster/print talk to our own Limited Paper. For my part, this week’s Top 5 includes the first trailer and a video blog recap of 10 minutes of footage from Neill Blomkamp‘s Elysium, our White House Down set visit recap, an exclusive interview with Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull, the first trailers for Ron Howard‘s Rush, and an extended interview with Mondo CEO Justin Ishmael. As is customary, a brief recap and link to each is ready and waiting for your attention after the jump.

Opening tomorrow director Brian Helgeland’s Jackie Robinson biopic 42.  Starring Chadwick Boseman in the lead role, 42 tells the story of Robinson, the first player to break Major League Baseball’s color barrier by signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers.  Harrison Ford co-stars as Branch Rickey, the MLB exec who signed Robinson into the minors and ushered him along to the pros.  42 also stars Nicole Beharie, T.R. Knight, Christopher Meloni and Toby Huss.  For more on the film, here’s the trailer, 45 images, 7 clips, and everything we’ve posted.

With Legendary Pictures producing 42, I recently landed an exclusive interview with Legendary’s CEO Thomas Tull.  During our wide ranging interview we talked about the films authenticity, Ford’s performance, how he got involved with the project, how baseball’s status as an American pastime influenced the budget (might be a tough sell in other parts of the world), why they decided to focus on only two years of Robinson’s life, how much of the film was “Hollywoodized,” and a lot more.  In addition, we also talked about his Oscar worthy performance as the Gotham Rouges owner in The Dark Knight Rises, the coolest movie swag he’s got in his office, Nerdist Industries, Godzilla, Pacific Rim, his reaction to watching Man of Steel, his relationship with Guillermo del Toro, future projects, and more.

Will there ever be a great movie based on a video game?* I have my doubts.  The problem is two-fold: if you stray too far from the material, fans get upset.  If you’re too faithful, then you’ve basically recreated the game except the interactive aspect has been removed.  But it’s important to keep in mind that most of the videogame movies we’ve seen so far are protagonist-based: Mario, Lara Croft, the Prince of Persia, etc.  And then there are movies like Silent Hill and Wing Commander that just aren’t very good.  But what if you took a talented director like Duncan Jones (Moon) and let him build a story out of a gigantic video game world?  Legendary Pictures plans to do just that by having him adapt World of Warcraft.

Steve recently interviewed Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull, who explained how WoW is going to be a successful video game movie.  He also talked about the studio’s other upcoming projects including movies from Michael Mann and the directors of Kon-Tiki.  Hit the jump for more, and click on the respective links for what Tull had to say about Man of Steel and Pacific Rim/Godzilla.

As I have said many times, while this summer is loaded with huge movies like Iron Man 3, Fast and Furious 6, Pacific Rim, Star Trek Into Darkness, World War Z, White House Down, and so many others, the one at the top of my list is Zack Snyder‘s Man of Steel.  Written by Davis S. Goyer and produced by Christopher Nolan, I really believe this is the Superman film we’ve been waiting for and everything I’ve seen and learned tells me it’s going to be one hell of a ride.  In addition, I’ve spoken to a few people that have seen the film and everyone is raving.  June 14th cannot arrive soon enough.

A few weeks ago I spoke to Goyer for his new Starz show Da Vinci’s Demons, and asked for his reaction to seeing the film for the first time and if it was everything he hoped it would be.  He told me, “Yes, yes. I was very happy.”  In addition to Goyer, I recently spoke to Legenday Pictures CEO Thomas Tull for their new film 42.  With Legendary producing Man of Steel with Warner Bros. I knew Tull must have also seen the film, so I also asked his reaction.  He told me, “It’s the Superman movie I’ve always wanted to see.”  Hit the jump for more.

Led by Thomas Tull, Legendary Pictures has co-produced some great films including The Dark Knight Trilogy, 300, Observe and Report, Watchmen, Inception, The Town, The Hangover, and Where the Wild Things Are.  And they aren’t slowing down.  In 2013 alone they’ve got Pacific Rim, 300: Rise of an Empire, Man of Steel, Seventh Son, 42, and The Hangover Part 3.  And this list doesn’t include all the other cool projects they’re currently developing.

With 42 arriving in theaters this weekend, I landed an exclusive interview with Tull where we discussed a wide variety of subjects.  However, rather than post the entire conversation today, I’ll be offering selected parts over the next few days with the full interview online later this week.  Up first, we discuss Legendary’s remake of Godzilla, the first test screening of Pacific Rim, and why they’re making two really big monster movies at the same time.  Hit the jump for more.

At last weekend’s WonderCon, I was able to land an exclusive video interview with Guillermo Del Toro.  As you may have noticed, all week we’ve posted parts of the interview (Pacific Rim 2 news, Justice League Dark news, his thoughts on a Pacific Rim vs. Godzilla movie) but it’s now time to offer the entire conversation.

During our extended conversation, we talked about the fans’ positive reaction to the Pacific Rim footage, what the test screenings have been like, how he directs every single detail you see on the screen, his preference for visual sense of depth over 3D gimmicks, the Pac Rim comic book with cover art by Alex Ross, the status of his FX series The Strain, all of his upcoming projects, and so much more.  If you’re a del Toro fan, I promise you will love this interview.  Hit the jump to watch.

Artist Alex Ross has the rare gift to take superheroes—the gods of the modern day—and make them appear godlike.  His artwork is absolute stunning and sells in the thousands of dollars.  If you walk around the exhibitors’ floor at Comic-Con, his booth is as noticeable as the booths for Marvel and DC Comics.  At the WonderCon panel for Pacific Rim, writer-director Guillermo del Toro announced that Ross would be doing the cover art for the film’s prequel comic.

Speaking with Steve at WonderCon, del Toro talked about his involvement in the creation of the Pacific Rim prequel comic, and how he geeked out when he spoke with Ross to the point of being unable to give the beloved artist a note about the cover.  Hit the jump for the more, and click on the respective links for what del Toro had to say about Justice League Dark and his other upcoming projects like Pacific Rim 2.

Director Guillermo del Toro’s “monsters vs. robots movie” Pacific Rim is surely one of the most anticipated titles set to hit theaters in 2013, and fans were treated to a tease of what’s to come at this summer’s Comic-Con.  The gist of the presentation was the word “massive,” as everything we saw told us that this is a story that’s truly being displayed on an epic scale.  For those unaware, the story finds humans towards the end of a losing battle against giant monsters called Kaiju.  In order to combat the creatures, humans have developed their own giant human-controlled robots called Jaegers.

Steve recently spoke with del Toro during a phone interview in anticipation of DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming film Rise of the Guardians, on which del Toro served as an executive producer (read Steve’s thoughts on the film here).  During the interview, del Toro also discussed when we’ll see the first trailer for Pacific Rim, his ideas for Pacific Rim 2, how does 3D looks, whether he would make the sequel immediately after Pacific Rim, and more.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

If you’re a fan of director Guillermo del Toro, you’re about to be very happy.  I recently sat down with the filmmaker for an epic hour-long video interview and every day this week I’ll be posting part of it.  Over the course of sixty minutes we talked about his past projects, Pacific Rim, what he has coming up, and everything in between.  Trust me, this is one of those special interviews that you’re all going to love.

In this first part del Toro talks about how their amazing Comic-Con presentation in Hall H came together (it was the best Hall H presentation I’ve ever seen), when the teaser trailer will get released, how he got involved with Pacific Rim, what it’s like to work for Legendary Pictures and Thomas Tull, what kind of notes he got from the studio, what changed during production, the physical nature of the shoot, and so much more.  In addition, while you often hear about studios interfering with a director, del Toro said that he once got a note from Tull that said, “can you make it more kick-ass?”  Hit the jump to watch and check back tomorrow night for part two.

Last weekend, shortly after Pacific Rim‘s awesome panel in Hall H at Comic-Con, I got to sit down with Charlie Hunnam for an extended video interview.  As a huge fan of Undeclared (he played Lloyd) and Sons of Anarchy, I’ll admit to being pretty excited to finally get a chance to talk with him.

During our wide ranging conversation, we talked about what’s coming up on Sons of Anarchy, how long he thinks the show will last (he’s signed for seven seasons), what it was like to work for Guillermo del Toro on Pacific Rim, who he plays, if the script changed a lot on set, the practical effects, how he prepares for a role, and a lot more.  In addition, Hunnam revealed he was almost a lead in Hellboy II and that he’s a giant Game of Thrones fan and he hoped to meet Khaleesi (Emilia Clarke) at Comic-Con.  Hit the jump to watch.

Guillermo del Toro is an established, Comic-Con favorite, but that doesn’t mean watching him participate in a panel gets any less entertaining.  The guy is incredibly affable, genuinely funny, and he curses like a sailor.  It’s been four long years since his last directorial effort (Hellboy II), but he’s finally back with a new film, and it’s a biggie.  Pacific Rim is a true monster movie, as the pic centers on a battle between gigantic, human-manned robots called Jaegers and massive creatures called Kaiju.

We got our first look at the truly epic footage Saturday in the 6,500 seater Hall H at Comic-Con 2012.  Hit the jump to read my full recap of the panel.

Director Edward Zwick is going to China. The Last Samurai director is set to helm the inaugural film for Legendary East, The Great Wall. Zwick and his longtime writing partner Marshall Herskovitz will pen the screenplay for the flick that “reveals the legend behind a great mystery of our age: why this magnificent structure came to be.” The script will be based on a story by Legendary Entertainment Chairman and CEO Thomas Tull and World War Z author Max Brooks. Tull is also producing alongside Jon Jashni, Alex Gartner, Charles Roven (The Dark Knight Rises) as well as Zwick and Herskovitz.

The wall itself was originally constructed in the 5^th century BC to keep out nomadic groups from the Chinese Empire, but has a storied history as it has been rebuilt, added to, and maintained throughout multiple culturally significant periods in China’s history. Hit the jump for more, including the full press release.

Folks who have seen or read 300 know that a sequel probably isn’t in the cards.  However, Frank Miller is putting together a prequel to his 1998 comic.  Entitled Xerxes, the comic would center on 300‘s antagonist (played in Zach Snyder’s film by Rodrigo Santoro).  In an interview with Hero Complex, Miller talked at length about the upcoming six-part miniseries, which is due to hit stores next year.  Said Miller:

“The story will be the same heft as 300 but it cover a much, much greater span of time — it’s 10 years, not three days.  This is a more complex story. The story is so much larger. The Spartans in 300 were being enclosed by the page as the world got smaller. This story has truly vast subjects. The Athenian naval fleet, for instance, is a massive artistic undertaking and it dwarfed by the Persian fleet, which is also shown in this story. The story has elements of espionage, too, and it’s a sweeping tale with gods and warriors.”

Sounds pretty sweet.  Hit the jump for more on the project including whether its due for a film adaptation.

On his official website, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) put out a call for geeks to tell their story in his upcoming Comic-Con documentary, Comic-Con Episode Four: A Fan’s Hope.  As we previously reported, Spurlock is directing with Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Thomas Tull, and Harry Knowles on board to produce.  The film will center on “seven different people from across America, and around the world, as they descend upon and the veritable Mecca of fandom and experience the rapture that is Comic-Con.”

I don’t want to say that this is a casting call for people to be in the documentary even though it looks likely.  There is the possibility that Spurlock will include a person’s story, but they won’t be one of the seven people chronicled in their journey to this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.  The only prerequisite appears to be that you need to be going to Comic-Con already.  So, if you think you you’re the paragon of your fandom, then hit the jump for the details.

The 2010 San Diego Comic-Con will run from July 21-25.

With a June 18 release date fast approaching, Warner Bros. has released a second trailer for Jonah Hex.  While the first trailer focused on the story of Jonah Hex, the second trailer is all about selling the action and letting you know the film has a supernatural element.  And you know what…it works.  While I agreed with Matt’s assessment that the first trailer was all over the place, by not trying to do too much in the second trailer, I think more will be interested in the film.

For more on Jonah Hex…here’s my set report and on set interviews with Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Director Jimmy Hayward and a ton of images.  Hit the jump for the new trailer.