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.

Once upon a time, Spider-Man director Sam Raimi was set to direct the adaptation of Blizzard’s uber-successful MMORPG, World of Warcraft. It was a time for celebration amongst movie fans and gamers alike as Raimi seemed like a bold, exciting choice for the project which promised to rival the scope of films such as The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. And then, with the wave of a wizard’s staff, Raimi was off the project. While World Of Warcraft is now getting back on track with Duncan Jones (Source Code) in the director’s chair, we never quite knew what was the cause behind Raimi’s departure.

Until today that is. Hit the jump for the full story, including further details on why he also left Spider-Man 4, and what he thinks of Marvel’s wonder boy, Joss Whedon.

Prior to last Sunday, Zero Dark Thirty was my favorite pic of 2012 by a considerable margin. However, after my matinee viewing of Silver Linings Playbook, that margin has been replaced with a draw. Whereas Zero provided me with a tension that left me on the verge of breathless at moments, Playbook‘s spectacular performances and head-on portrayal of mental illness and our ability to help each other cope/prevail proved not only hugely entertaining but also quite cathartic.

My 2012 movie scorecard aside, this week’s Top 5 includes our set visit coverage of Oz the Great and Powerful, Duncan Jones being tapped to helm the World of Warcraft movie, more visit coverage from the set of Jack the Giant Slayer, a slew of news from X-Men: Days of Future Past, and a Sundance 2013 wrap-up. A brief recap and link to each of the above is promised after the jump.

A major development is taking place on the long-in-the-works feature film adaptation of the popular video game World of Warcraft.  The project has been in the works for a number of years, with Sam Raimi attached to direct for quite some time.  Raimi finally dropped off last summer so that he could focus full-time on Oz the Great and Powerful, and Legendary Pictures subsequently brought on screenwriter Charles Leavitt (Blood Diamond) to rewrite the screenplay, which was initially penned by Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan).  Now the studio is getting serious about making the movie happen, as Moon and Source Code director Duncan Jones has been tapped to take the helm for a planned fall 2013 production start.  Hit the jump for more.

[Update: The Tracking Board [via Bleeding Cool] hears that Warner Bros. wants Johnny Depp to star.  Tracking boards are not the most reliable source, so treat this as a rumor for now as you note that Depp’s name is being mentioned in certain circles that chase such insider info.  More official casting reports should arrive soon.]

With Gamescom wrapping up in Germany this weekend, a ton of new content has come out over the past week.   So today we’ve got a new trailer for Until Dawn (which looks like it could easily have been called The Cabin in the Woods), a new cut from The Last of Us featuring a haunting track by Hank Williams, and a look at the new adversaries for Team Fortress.  Marvel fans will be happy to hear that the comic company is getting ready to roll out a new mobile game, while a new trailer for Avengers: Battle for Earth has also dropped.  Oh, and we have a new trailer for Star Trek: The Game, plus a look at the newest expansion from World of Warcraft called “Mists of Pandaria.”  And we’ll wrap it all up with a video of Penelope Cruz dressed as Super Mario.  Yeah.  Hit the jump to get caught up!

Though we recently learned that Sam Raimi is no longer involved with the World of Warcraft film, Legendary Entertainment is still very much moving full speed ahead with the project.  Variety reports that Blood Diamond screenwriter Charles Leavitt has been brought in to rewrite the script, which was originally drafted by Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan).  Apparently the studio was keen on Leavitt’s take on the material, “which could move the project forward in the coming months.”  Raimi had to vacate the director’s chair due to his commitments to Oz the Great and Powerful, but it’s clear that Legendary is eager to finally get this thing in front of cameras.  With Leavitt on the script, the search now turns to finding a director.

Leavitt recently wrote the upcoming fantasy pic The Seventh Son, starring Jeff Bridges, for Legendary so he has a relationship with the studio.  He also penned K-PAX and The Mighty.  Still no word on exactly how Legendary plans on adapting the massive game for the big screen, but their upcoming slate of Pacific Rim, Man of Steel, and the Godzilla remake inspires hope that they’ve got a quality tentpole on their hands.

At the Comic-Con panel for Oz the Great and Powerful, we learned that director Sam Raimi was no longer involved with an adaptation of The Shadow because he couldn’t find a script he liked.  A couple years ago, Raimi was also linked to an adaptation of the mega-popular Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft, but it appears he’s now left that project as well.  For those unfamiliar with WOW, it takes place in a fantasy setting where player can take on the roles of orcs, humans, elves, etc., boost the levels of their characters to gain new abilities, raid dungeons, fight monsters, and basically never leave their homes again.

Hit the jump for what Raimi had to say about the project, and what the future may hold for World of Warcraft.

Here’s an odd story: Sam Raimi’s Oz, The Great and Powerful starring Robert Downey Jr., is apparently set to begin filming in June 2011.  At least that’s what Production Weekly is tweeting (for those who don’t know, they’re a reputable source).  The reason this news is odd is because it looked like Raimi was moving forward on his other project: an adaptation of the popular online video game World of Warcraft.  It looked like that because that’s what Raimi told Steve at the Saturn Awards last month.  Not only that, Raimi seemed really excited for WoW, and wasn’t even sure if he was going to do Oz, let alone make it his first project.

Hit the jump for more on Oz, The Great and Powerful and my theory as to why it may be going ahead of Warcraft.

At tonight’s Saturn Awards here in Los Angeles I had the chance to talk to Sam Raimi on the red carpet.  While he’s been rumored to be doing Oz as his next project, when I spoke to him, all he wanted to talk about was World of Warcraft.  From the way he spoke, the man is really into the game and it sounded like that’s the project he really wants to do as his next film.  I also asked him about the rumors that he could be directing The Hobbit.  He seemed to think those were just online rumors and nothing more.

Since I have so much to post, for more info you should watch the interview after the jump.  I’ve time indexed the entire interview so you can read the questions.  For fans of the World of Warcraft game, make sure to watch his answer six minutes in.  You’ll love it.  Also, make sure to check back for a ton of other red carpet interviews. I have so many it’s crazy.

I’ve never played “World of Warcraft” but it’s a game whose reputation precedes it.  It is the standard bearer for all MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) and also the standard bearer for the stereotype of the anti-social gaming loser who forsakes human contact to live in a world of fantasy.  With over 11.5 million subscribers, the game is slightly popular and would probably rake in some big box office.  But the appeal of an open-world game like this is to craft your own character and tell your own story.  With that in mind, I say “good luck” to Oscar-nominated screenwriter Robert Rodat who now has the task of writing a single, non-playable plot line for director Sam Raimi’s adaptation of “World of Warcraft”.  Take a break from grinding up your avatar’s level and hit the jump for what Raimi and Rodat have in store for the horde(s) of devoted players.

AICN and Variety are reporting Sam Raimi has signed on to direct Warner Bros. live-action film adaptation of the popular video game “World of Warcraft”. The plan is for Sam to develop the property while he completes “Spider-Man 4″, that way he can shoot the film soon after production wraps.

While some have wondered when we’d get the first great video game movie, I think we may have finally found the answer. You want more…it’s after the jump: