Director Jay Roach has been gearing up for The Campaign for years now, even if it wasn’t a conscious decision:  the Will Ferrell/Zach Galifianakis-starring politi-comedy (arriving August 10^th) might—at first glance—seem like the sort of thing that any comedy director might be able to tackle, but look closer and you’ll see a film that needed the touch of someone familiar with the world of politics.  After his last two films (Recount and Game Change), Roach was the perfect guy for the job.

Along with some other online press, I traveled to The Campaign set back in February.  While there, we had a chance to speak with Roach about working with Galifianakis and Ferrell, where Roach’s career path almost took him, and to find out just how much of The Campaign is based in reality.  Wanna know what he had to say for himself?  Meet me after the jump.

Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for the political comedy The Campaign.  The film centers on an incumbent candidate (Will Ferrell) who doesn’t expect to be opposed in his run for a fifth-term, but he finds an unexpected challenger in the unassuming and dim-witted Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis).  Ferrell and Galifianakis showed up for a surprise Hall H panel at Comic-Con last week, and this trailer has bits of footage from the hilarious reel that was shown.  There are a ton of alternate takes from the “dinner table scene” that are really, really funny, so hopefully those show up in the finished film.

Along with the trailer, YouTube video from the Hall H panel has also appeared online.  There’s really not much information from the film to be gleaned during the Comic-Con panel, but it’s funny as hell to watch Ferrell and Galifianakis respond to audience questions.  Hit the jump to watch the new trailer and Comic-Con panel.  The Campaign opens on August 10th.

We’ve got some new posters to share with you today.  Check them out in brief below:

• The Campaign – Starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis, the Jay Roach film pits the actors against each other as opponents in a political race for a seat in North Carolina.  The Campaign opens August 10th.
• Lawless – Starring Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska, the John Hillcoat film is a throwback to the Prohibition era.  Lawless opens August 29th.

Have a look at the full-size posters after the jump.

Today’s poster round-up features comedy, action and horror.  What more could you want?

• The Campaign, starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as political opponents, opens August 10th.
• Goats, based on the Mark Jude Poirier novel and starring David Duchovny and Vera Farmiga, also opens August 10th.
• Premium Rush, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a bike messenger with a volatile delivery, opens August 24th.
• The Tall Man, a horror mystery starring Jessica Biel and Jodelle Ferland, opens August 31st.

Hit the jump to check out the posters and synopses.

Two new posters for director Jay Roach’s (Meet the Parents) political comedy The Campaign have been released.  The film centers on an incumbent candidate (Will Ferrell) who doesn’t expect to be opposed in his run for a fifth-term, but he finds an unexpected challenger in the unassuming and dim-witted Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis).  The trailers have been pretty funny, but what’s most enticing to me about The Campaign is the prospect of seeing Galifianakis’ frequent stand-up character Seth Galifianakis on the big screen.  Anyone who’s seen the comedian’s stand-up or select episodes of Between Two Ferns will instantly recognize that Marty Huggins is essentially just the character of Zach’s “twin” brother Seth with a different name.  Seth Galifianakis’ sweet, Southern attitude towards anything and everything should make for some hilarious moments between Galifianakis and Ferrell.

Hit the jump to check out the two posters, which include eagles and puppies.  The film also stars Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott, Brian Cox, John Lithgow, and Dan Aykroyd.  The Campiagn opens on August 10th.

We’ve got a few new posters to share this afternoon.  Briefly:

• The Campaign – The first one-sheet for the political comedy starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis.  The film opens on August 10th. [Update: Another poster for The Campaign has now been added after the jump]
• Magic Mike – A new poster for director Steven Soderbergh’s “male stripper” pic, starring Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer and Matthew McConaughey.  The film opens on June 29th.
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Fresh off the trailer debut for the feature film adaptation, this first poster highlights stars Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, and Ezra Miller.  The film opens on September 14th.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.

This week on The Collision, we talk about Tim Burton‘s Dark Shadows and how none of us really liked it all that much.  We also give our thoughts on the new trailers for Argo, Gangster Squad, and The Campaign.  But that wasn’t the big news this week.  The big news is this: we’ve fixed the audio problem! We are now using new recording and mixing software, and I think you’ll be pleased by the results.  We have words of sage wisdom and now you can hear them in full stereo.  As for the iTunes thing….we’re still figuring that out.

Click here to listen to the new episode of The Collision, click here for last week’s episode, and click here to add us to your RSS.  Be sure to follow The Collision on Twitter for updates, and you can follow us on Twitter at @MattGoldberg, @AdamChitwood, and @DrClawMD (Dave Trumbore).  Hit the jump to check out the trailers for this week’s recommendations.

Earlier this week, we showed you a couple of fake campaign ads for Jay Roach‘s comedy The Campaign starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis.  Today, Warner Bros. has released the first trailer and poster.  The film centers on an incumbent candidate (Ferrell) who doesn’t expect to be opposed in his run for a fifth-term, but he finds an unexpected challenger in the unassuming and dim-witted Marty Huggins (Galifianakis).  I was hoping that the trailer would deliver more laughs than the campaign ads, but no dice.  Yes, there’s some baby-punching at the end, but overall this looks like another weak comic effort from Roach.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars The film also stars Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott, Brian Cox, John Lithgow, and Dan Aykroyd.  The Campaign opens August 10th.

Warner Bros. has set up two Facebook sites to promote Jay Roach‘s upcoming comedy The Campaign.  Will Ferrell plays politician Cam Brady, who is squaring off his political rival, Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis).  Each candidate now has a Facebook site along with campaign ads that provide the first clips from the movie.  Sadly, these glimpses are pretty disappointing.  In a year where we’ve seen staggering stupidity from Republican presidential candidates, The Campaign seems to traffic more in malapropisms and predictable political sparring.  Hopefully, future glimpses of the film will feature better jokes.

Hit the jump to check out the campaign ads.  The film also stars Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott, Brian Cox, John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd. The Campaign opens August 10th.

When Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov took the stage at CinemaCon today, the big debate was over what footage he would showcase.  While rumors were flying that he’d show ten minutes of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit in 48fps, and that Christopher Nolan would show something from The Dark Knight Rises, no one was sure of anything.  But when he stepped off the stage after the presentation had ended, he had shown clips from some of the biggest films of 2012 and he also made history by world premiering the rumored Hobbit footage.

During the presentation we saw footage from Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows, Jay Roach’s The Campaign, Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby in 3D, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, Adam Shankman’s Rock of Ages, and it ended with 10 minutes of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit in 48fps.  Hit the jump for more:

We’ve got some new, high resolution images to share from a couple of anticipated 2012 releases to share today.  First up, a new batch of pics from Steven Soderbergh’s male stripper movie Magic Mike has been released.  Loosely based on star Channing Tatum’s early days as a stripper, the Haywire actor plays mentor to a young protégé played by Alex Pettyfer.  Joining in on the shirtless fun is a swell supporting cast that includes Matthew McConaughey, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Olivia Munn, Riley Keough, Cody Horn and Adam Rodriguez.  The film opens on June 29th.

Additionally, we’ve got two high resolution images (one of them new) from the political comedy The Campaign (previously titled Dog Fight).  We’ve already seen some fairly ridiculous set photos featuring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as two North Carolina politicians who each have Presidential aspirations and are vying for a congressional seat in their district.  The new image here gives us a look at supporting players Jason Sudeikis and Dylan McDermott.  The film opens on August 10th.

Already renewed for Season 2, the hit Showtime comedy series House of Lies closes out its first season with unexpected twists and surprises, as Marty Kaan’s (Don Cheadle) management consultant team at Galweather & Stearn fight the MetroCapital acquisition. Actor Josh Lawson plays Doug Guggenheim, the brilliant, Harvard-educated member of the team, who is also a quintessential math geek with mad analytical skills, but no skills in the dating department.

During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, Josh Lawson talked about how strong he felt the ending of the season was, how much the cast loves each other, what it’s like to work with the super-talented Don Cheadle, how much of his character was initially on the page versus what developed over the course of the season, his favorite moments on the show, that he’s rooting for Doug to meet a nice girl in Season 2, and how the fan support is inspiring them to push the boundaries even further. He also talked about the role he recently wrapped as Zach Galifianakis’ brother in The Campaign, also starring Will Ferrell, what it was like working with that cast and director Jay Roach, and why he also loves writing and directing his own projects. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

About a month ago, we brought you these set photos from The Campaign (previously known as Dog Fight), starring Will Ferrell (Old School) and Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover). Now, we have the first official image from the movie which features Ferrell and Galifianakis’ characters as political opponents posing for a photograph. The plot of The Campaign follows Cam Brady (Ferrell) and Marty Huggins (Galifianakis), two North Carolina politicians who each have Presidential aspirations and are vying for a congressional seat in their district. This image isn’t as colorful as the previous set photos, but Galifianakis’ awkwardness is shining through loud and clear.

Directed by Jay Roach (Meet the Parents), The Campaign also stars Jason Sudeikis, Dylan McDermott, Brian Cox, John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd. Look for The Campaign to appear in theaters on August 10th. Hit the jump to see the image and a bonus quote from Ferrell. [Update: We've updated the image with a hi-res version]

Opening this weekend is Will Ferrell’s Spanish language comedy Casa de mi Padre.  The film centers on Ferrell as Armando Alvarez, a Mexican rancher who must save his family’s farm while simultaneously fending off the drug lord, Onza, played by Gael Garcia Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries) and winning the hand of the lovely Sonia, played by Genesis Rodriguez (Man on a Ledge).  As Dave said, to sum it up in just a few words: passion, adventure, intrigue, betrayal, sex, danger, romance, guns, cigarettes, special effects and slaps.  The film also stars Diego Luna, Efren Ramirez and Nick Offerman.  For more on the film, here’s fourteen clips, Matt’s review, and a fifteen-minute making of featurette.

Recently, I got to speak with Will Ferrell.  During the interview he talked about the genesis of the project and why he decided to do a Spanish-language film, how the Spanish affected his improv process, karaoke, and future projects like Step Brothers 2 (they’re going to start writing a script really soon with the hope of filming it in the fall), Anchorman 2 (it’s still dead), and The Campaign with Zach Galifianakis.  Hit the jump to watch.

This morning, we have the most interesting of all news stories: release dates and title changes!  How else will you know when things are coming out or what they’ll be called?  These are fundamental changes and you should appreciate them.  First up, Deadline reports that Walter Hill‘s action flick Bullet to the Head, starring Sylvester Stallone, has been kicked off the release calendar.  The film was set to open on April 13th against The Cabin in the Woods and The Three Stooges, but now it’s floating in limbo.  Bullet to the Head follows a New Orleans hitman who teams up with a Gotham cop to hunt down those responsible for the deaths of their respective partners.

Hit the jump for the new title of the Will Ferrell-Zach Galifianakis political comedy.