After seven years and a small case of cancellation, Arrested Development will return in two weeks.  Netflix has released the first trailer for Season 4, and the show looks as hilarious as ever.  As excited as all AD fans are, there was always the fear of “What if the show can’t meet expectations?”  I always felt that Season 3 went out on a high note, and that a fourth season could jeopardize the strong finish.  But judging by this trailer, Arrested Development fans have nothing to fear.  The weirdness, sight gags, wordplay, and more are back.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The show stars Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, David Cross, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jeffrey Tambor, and Jessica Walter.  All 15 episodes premiere on Netflix at midnight on May 26th.

Last night I turned to Xbox Live to check out Shane Carruth‘s Upstream Color for the first time. While not quite as impenetrable after one viewing as its predecessor, 2004′s Primer, Upstream still demands the utmost attention of its viewers in exchange for the slightest hint of clarity. The dialogue is sparse, the setting is ever-changing, the editing is heavily dependent on juxtaposition as a way of creating meaning, and the sound design/foley work is turned up to “11″ at times. Whereas Primer played more to the intellect behind making time travel a reality, Upstream is an extremely visceral experience that is more interested, or at least more successful, in eliciting an emotional response than explaining how a rare organism can be harvested, used as a method of mind control, and ultimately link humans to pigs. The exact degree to which it succeeds will vary from viewer to viewer but it’s ultimately an experience I recommend taking in.

Of course a movie like Upstream lends itself to more than a few lines of my humble analysis, but that’s not actually why we’re here. In this week’s Top 5 you can check out the first trailer and poster for Alfonso Cuaron‘s Gravity, a generous number of set pics from director Jonathan Liebesman‘s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, Steve’s exclusive phone interview with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, the first trailer for Ender’s Game, and a look at Iron Man by the Numbers. A brief recap and link to each will greet you after the jump.

A new batch of images from the set of director Jonathan Liebeseman’s (Battle: Los Angeles) reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has landed online, giving us our first look at the actors playing the turtles.  As previously reported, the titular characters will be created using performance capture technology, and in these images we see the film’s cast wearing turtle-shaped mo-cap suits complete with mo-cap shells.  We also get a new look at Megan Fox as April O’Neill and Will Arnett as…a character we don’t know just yet.  It’s admittedly unfair to judge a film like this without seeing what the finished turtles look like, but everything about this reboot just seems really sad.  The prospect of William Fichtner as Shredder is certainly promising, so here’s hoping TMNT is a pleasant surprise.

Hit the jump to check out the set images.  The film also stars Danny Woodburn, Alan Ritchson, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, and Noel Fisher.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opens on June 6, 2014.

When the first bit of footage from the set of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot is star Megan Fox jumping on a trampoline, you’d be within your rights to throw all credibility out the window.  But for those of you who like that sort of thing, we now have video of said same event, plus new images that reveal the logo for director Jonathan Liebesman’s remake and Fox in her more April O’Neil-appropriate attire.

Also starring Will Arnett, Danny Woodburn, Alan Ritchson, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, and Noel Fisher,  Ninja Turtles opens on June 6, 2014.  Hit the jump to check out the new set images and video.

The first clip from the new batch of Arrested Development episodes has landed online, and it appears that the relationship between Tony Hale’s Buster and Jessica Walter’s Lucille hasn’t changed a bit.  The clip provides a tiny hint as to what Lucille has been up to since the events of the season three finale, but mainly it just showcases the series’ wonderful sense of humor that’s been sorely missing from our lives for far too long.  Additionally, Netflix has released a new batch of character posters for the new episodes that features the entire cast along with some rather familiar taglines.

Hit the jump to check out the clip and posters, and if you missed the EW covers and new images from yesterday, click here.  Netflix will release all 15 new episodes of Arrested Development at once on May 26th.

New episodes of Arrested Development are now just a month away (so close yet so far!), and in anticipation of the Bluths’ return, the show’s cast graces the covers of this week’s Entertainment Weekly.  We get a peek at everyone’s favorite dysfunctional family back together again, as three separate covers feature Gob, Michael and George Michael, Tobias, Lindsay and Maeby, and George Sr. and and Lucille respectively.  The publication has also released two new images from the upcoming batch of episodes, which show Tony Hale’s Buster returning to Army and Michael Cera’s George Michael getting his Segway on at what looks to be a college campus.

Hit the jump to check out the new images and EW covers.  15 new episodes of Arrested Development will be released at the same time on Netflix on May 26th.

Will Arnett (Arrested Development) appears to be the latest addition to Jonathan Liebesman’s Ninja Turtles, the reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property that’s expected out on June 6, 2014.  We know that Megan Fox (Transformers) will play April O’Neil and that the Turtles themselves have been cast, but Arnett’s role is under wraps at the moment.  The major roles yet to be cast, at least if we’re staying in canon, are the team’s mentor and trainer, Splinter, and the main antagonist, Shredder.  Turtle-friend Casey Jones also needs to be cast, but reports have excluded Arnett from that role.  Hit the jump for more.

A brief roundup of a few TV casting reports:

• Will Arnett has signed on to star in the untitled CBS sitcom created by Greg Garcia (Raising Hope).  Not a great sign for Arnett’s current obligation, Up All Night.
• Steve Zahn will star in Influence, the latest drama from Kyle Killen (Awake)
• Rachel Lefevre is now the female lead in the CBS series adaptation of Stephen King‘s Under the Dome.

Hit the jump for details on each project.

I fully appreciate the irony of this sentence, but the fourth season of Arrested Development has paused production on the revived series’ new episodes. Though Netflix had originally ordered a ten-episode run for the comedy, creator Mitch Hurwitz ended up shooting additional footage and dreaming up enough material for more scenes and storylines. Deadline reports that Netflix agreed to expand the order to somewhere between 12 and 15 total episodes. Production has paused to allow Hurwitz to review the footage that’s already been shot and work the new arcs into the season. It will also take some time to wrangle the actors for the additional shoots, so plans are for production to start up again in late January. This should still allow time for the show’s debut in April, when Netflix plans to make all of the episodes available at once.

Director Peter Lepeniotis has landed a solid voice cast for his upcoming animated feature, The Nut Job. Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy), Will Arnett (Arrested Development) and Brendan Fraser (The Mummy) are among the actors that will lend their voices to characters in the film. The Nut Job will be based on Lepeniotis’ 2005 short film, Surly Squirrel. Disney veteran Lorne Cameron (Over the Hedge) scripted the film, “an action-packed comedy set in the late 1950s in fictional Oakton [that] follows the travails of the mischievous squirrel Surly and his rat pal Buddy as they plan a nut store heist that gets out of hand.” Hit the jump to see who else is joining the picture’s voice cast and to check out Surly Squirrel. 

A couple of interesting TV-related tidbits were announced today.  First up, good/strange news for Up All Night fans.  NBC has extended the comedy’s season two order to 16 episodes, but the network is switching the show’s format to multi-camera.  Per Deadline, when the Christina Applegate and Will Arnett-fronted show returns in the spring it will be with a live audience and laugh track in tow.  It’s an odd move halfway through the show’s second season, but it’s not unprecedented.  Happy Days was a single-camera series until it switched to three cameras in its third season.

Hit the jump for more, including news on a new series from ex-Community showrunner Dan Harmon.

Fans are eagerly awaiting the resurrection of Arrested Development when the show returns with new episodes on Netflix early next year, and creator Mitch Hurwitz is making damn sure the wait hasn’t been in vain.  In addition to the return of the entire cast, we already have confirmation that series favorites Judy Greer, Henry Winkler, Scott Baio, Mae Whitman, Jeff Garlin, Liza Minnelli, and most recently Carl Weathers (baby you got a stew going!) are returning.  Now comes word that a couple of welcome newcomers will pop up in the new batch of episodes: Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter [Edit: I somehow forgot that Richter appeared in the episode "S.O.B.s" during the show's third season].

AD star Will Arnett appeared on Conan last night, and during the segment he revealed that O’Brien and Richter will appear in the new season.  No word on whether they’ll be playing themselves or characters, but either way this is very good news.  Hit the jump to watch Arnett’s appearance on Conan.  The new season of Arrested Development will premiere on Netflix in Spring 2013.

Production is currently underway on a new batch of episodes of the brilliant comedy series Arrested Development, and while they won’t debut on Netflix until 2013, an official image of the reunited cast has landed online to assure fans that this is really, truly happening.  Entertainment Weekly gathered the actors together as part of their upcoming “Reunions” issue, and images of the whole cast decked out in some super fancy attire will have you yearning for those new episodes now more than ever.

Hit the jump to check out the images of Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Jeffrey Tambor, Alia Shawkat, Michael Cera, Jessica Walter, Tony Hale, and David Cross all back together again.  The new episodes of Arrested Development will debut on Netflix sometime in Spring 2013.

When you drive around in stairs, you’re gonna get some walk-ons.  Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz is now giving fans the chance to literally win a walk-on role on the revived series with a new contest.  Netflix, which thankfully rescued the series and will be the home to its fourth season, is offering six walk-on opportunities to creative fans who submit their original Arrested Development-related artwork by October 16th! I think I just blue myself… Hit the jump for details on how you can enter the contest, along with a message from Hurwitz and star, Michael Cera.

It looks like the Bluth family is still going to need a lawyer, as Henry Winkler is set to return to Arrested Development in the revived series which will appear on Netflix.  The movie rental company went a long way to restore good will with the public when they picked up the cult favorite for what will be the fourth season with at least ten new episodes.  Perhaps they had some legal counsel from Barry Zuckerkorn (Winkler) on how best to handle their previous faux pas.  No word yet on if Bob Loblaw (Scott Baio) will lob any law bombs.  Hit the jump for a quote from Winkler on rejoining Arrested Development.