Gemma Arterton (Clash of the Titans) and Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey) are poised to pair up for a new romantic comedy.  The Wrap reports that the two will star in The Pre-Nup for writer/director Jonathan Lynn (Clue, The Whole Nine Yards).  The story revolves around an American groom who, the night before his wedding, suggests to his British bride that they get a pre-nup.  The groom’s father is a former rock star who threatens to cut him off if he doesn’t get his fiancée to sign the document.  The report doesn’t specify which roles these two actors will play, but given the age difference I’m inclined to believe that Arterton will play the bride while Bonneville might portray the rocker father.

Hit the jump for news of Arterton possibly joining Steven Spielberg’s Robopocalypse.

Just in time for Halloween, a new red band trailer and poster for Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters have been released.  The action-fantasy film stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the titular fairy tale characters, though in this story they’re all grown up and out for some very bloody witch payback.  The pic actually looks like it could be a fun ride, with plenty of gore and inventive kills to keep genre fans happy.  I’m a little disheartened by the reliance on CGI effects vs. practical work as the story provides the perfect opportunity for some great physical effects.  It’s also a tad disappointing to see the “damsel in distress” role that Arterton appears to be thrown into while Renner is painted as the “sexy hero,” but we’ve only seen brief glimpses of the characters in the trailers so hopefully she holds her own in the full film.

Hit the jump to check out the red band trailer and poster.  Directed by Tommy Wirkola, the film also stars Famke Janssen and Peter Stormare.  Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters opens in 3D on January 11th, 2013.

The possibilities of the vampire story have become increasingly limited.  The story has been around for so long, and has been done so many ways, especially of late, that it’s difficult for a storyteller to come in and find a new spin within the predefined parameters of what we all agree is a “vampire”: a bloodsucking immortal.  In his new film Byzantium, director Neil Jordan has seized upon the “immortal” part and how a vampire would always be, in a sense, frozen in the past and unable to move forward.  Consequently, Byzantium has trouble gaining any momentum.  As its protagonist moans about telling a story hundreds of times but never finding anyone to listen, the film struggles to find a rhythm and gets bogged down in some cringeworthy dialogue.  But the most frustrating aspect of Byzantium is how it fails to pursue a thoughtful, gender-related idea that holds far more potential than another exploration of how vampires are accursed creatures sentenced to wander the earth alone forever and ever anon.

An international trailer for Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters has gone online, and gives us our first look at the movie.  The action-fantasy flick stars the eponymous fairy tale characters all grown up (played by Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton), and looking to take down witches everywhere.  Part of me really wants to give this movie the benefit of the doubt and hope it will be some goofy dumb fun, but the trailer just makes it look dumb minus the fun.  The film was supposed to come out this past March, but was delayed to January 2013, and this trailer kind of explains why.  The effects look shoddy, the dialogue is cringeworthy, the story sounds rote, and it just seems like it’s trying way too hard to be cool.  Yeah, your movie has gatling guns even though it takes place before gatling guns were invented.  My mind remains intact.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Famke Janssen and Peter Stormare.  Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters opens in 3D on January 11, 2013.

[Update: The film's official U.S. trailer is also now online along with a poster, both of which are now included after the jump.]

Earlier today, TIFF announced that they were adding new films to their spectacular line-up.  Among the new additions are:

• Song for Marion (directed by Paul Andrew Williams) Starring Terence Stamp, Vanessa Redgrave, Gemma Arterton, and Christopher Eccleston.
• Emperor (directed by Peter Webber) Starring Matthew Fox, Tommy Lee Jones, and Eriko Hatsune.
• Arthur Newman (directed by Dante Ariola) Starring Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, and Anne Heche.
• Disconnect (directed by Henry Alex Rubin) Starring Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Frank Grillo, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Andrea Riseborough, Alexander Skarsgård, Max Theriot, Jonah Bobo, Colin Ford, and Haley Ramm.

Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses.  The 2012 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 – 16th.

Originally scheduled for release in March of this year, Paramount made the decision back in January to push the fantasy actioner Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters all the way to January of 2013.  We heard relatively little about the film in the meantime, but yesterday reports from IMDb users popped up suggesting that the studio was testing both R-rated and PG-13 versions of the film. Reactions to both versions differed, with most users preferring the supposed R-rated cut to the PG-13 iteration.

It appears that the IMDb users were mistaken, as trusted sources now tell us that both versions of the film used in test screenings were the R-rated versions, and Paramount absolutely plans on releasing Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters as R.  Hit the jump for more.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters got a big knock back on the release schedule when Paramount moved the 3D fantasy-action film from March 2, 2012 to January 11, 2013.  The movie stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the eponymous characters who are all growed up and looking for a little payback against the witch community.  In an interview last December, Arterton said the flick was “as much Pulp Fiction as fairy tale.”  The studio has been test-screening the picture, and it seems like they’re not sure what they have on their hands.  According to recent reports from IMDb users, the studio is showing two versions of the film: one is R-Rated and the other is PG-13, and the R-rated cut is getting the positive feedback.

Hit the jump for more.  Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters also stars Famke Janssen and Peter Stormare.

The jaw-dropping lineup for the upcoming Toronto Film Festival was announced this morning, and a number of images and synopses have been released for films that will be screening at the prestigious fest.  Briefly, here’s a batch of new images:

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Directed by Stephen Chbosky) Starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Nina Dobrev, Melanie Lynskey, Paul Rudd, and Dylan McDermott.
• Jayne Mansfield’s Car (Directed by Billy Bob Thornton) Starring Thornton, Robert Duvall, Kevin Bacon, and John Hurt.
• The Impossible (Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona) Starring Naomi Watts, Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin, Oaklee Pendergast, and Ewan McGregor.
• Byzantium (Directed by Neil Jordan) Starring Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Sam Riley, and Jonny Lee Miller.

Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses.

Director Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) has settled on his female lead in the gambling drama Runner Runner.  Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake are set to star in the pic, and now Variety reports that Gemma Arterton (Clash of the Titans) has joined the cast.  Timberlake stars as a Princeton student who is cheated out of his tuition money playing online poker and ends up indebted to the site’s corrupt boss (Affleck).  Arterton will play Timberlake’s love interest, but further character details are unknown.

Anthony Mackie and Oliver Cooper (Project X) recently joined the cast, and production is slated to get underway in Puerto Rico late next month.  Timberlake more than proved his acting acumen in The Social Network and I’m interested to see where his career goes from here.  Arterton stars opposite Jeremy Renner in next March’s Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and she’ll appear in the vampire pic Byzantium.

We’ve got a few new posters to share with you today.  Briefly:

• The Dictator – A new poster for the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy plays up the character’s visit to New York City.  The film opens on May 16th and also stars Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley, and John C. Reilly.
• Piranha 3DD – A new poster for the gore and breast-filled genre sequel takes a page out of the horror posters from the 80s.  The film opens on June 1st and stars Katrina Bowden, Ving Rhames, and David Hasselhoff.
• Byzantium – The first poster for director Neil Jordan’s (Interview with the Vampire) new vampire film.  The story focuses on a daughter (Saoirse Ronan) and mother (Gemma Arterton) vampire pair who arrive in a small 18th century British town.  No release date has been set, but the film also stars Sam Riley and Jonny Lee Miller.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.

Here’s a quick look at the highlights of our most recent movie casting roundup:

• Gemma Arterton (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) will star in Relativity’s dark comedy/thriller, The Wright Girls.
• Ryan Merriman (Final Destination 3) joins the Jackie Robinson biopic, 42.
• Leven Rambin (The Hunger Games) stars opposite Logan Lerman in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters.
• David Henrie (Wizards of Waverly Place) joins Taylor Lautner opposite Adam Sandler and company in Grown Ups 2.

Hit the jump for more on each project.

New images from The Hunger Games and Byzantium have gone online along with a new set photo from Riddick.  The image from The Hunger Games gives us another look at Donald Sutherland as the villainous President Snow.  Reading the books, I thought Sutherland was a fine choice because A) he can convey the heartlessness of the character; and B) the role will probably keep to the unofficial rule that after the year 2000, Donald Sutherland can’t be in a movie for longer than 15 minutes.

Hit the jump to check out the image along with more on Byzantium and Riddick.  The Hunger Games is due out on March 23rd; no release date has been announce for Byzantium and Riddick.

We’ve got a bunch of new images for you from the following projects:

• Safe, starring Jason Statham, opens April 27th.
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, starring Benjamin Walker, opens June 22nd.
• Casa de mi Padre, starring Will Ferrell, opens March 16th.
• Aftershock, starring Eli Roth, opens next year.
• Byzantium, starring Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton, opens later this year.
• The Lords of Salem, from writer/director Rob Zombie, opens later this year.
• The Croods, starring Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone and Nicolas Cage, opens March 22nd of 2013.

Hit the jump to check them out.

Well this is a doozy of a scheduling change. Paramount has pushed back the release of Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters from this coming March to January 11th, 2013. The film stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the titular fairy tale characters, and as one can surmise the plot involves their hunt for women in pointy hats. Having seen no trailer and only one image of the film thus far, it’s not all that shocking that Paramount is pushing the release back. This scheduling shift comes on the heels of the studio’s The Devil Inside bringing in over $30 million on the first weekend of the month despite a terrible reputation from critics and the general public alike.

Renner stars in this May’s The Avengers and will get his shot at the lead with this fall’s The Bourne Legacy, so the studio may want to capitalize on his stardom by placing Hansel and Gretal after these two major releases. Harvey Weinstein recently admitted to doing the same with The Wettest County, which stars Tom Hardy. The release date was moved to after The Dark Knight Rises comes out in order to capitalize on Hardy’s recognition following his turn as Bane. Hansel and Gretel currently has no competition on the January 11th date, but the Arnold Schwarzenegger actioner The Last Stand, the 3D re-release of Monsters Inc., the Russell Crowe drama Broken City, and the star-studded magician heist flick Now You See Me all open the following weekend.

The first image from fairy tale re-imagining Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters has gone online. The movie stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the eponymous characters who are all growed up and looking for a little payback against the witch community.  Arterton tells Entertainment Weekly that the movie is “as much Pulp Fiction as fairy tale.”  So how do you defeat witches?  Do you burn their gingerbread houses to the ground?  Judging by this image, witches are terrified by the black leather.

Hit the jump for the full image plus more on what Arterton had to say about the movie.  The film also stars Famke Janssen and Peter Stormare.  Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters opens March 2, 2012.