Back in early May, I got to visit the set of Underworld: Awakening when the production was filming in Vancouver.  While on set, I got to participate in a group interview with Stunt Coordinator/Second Unit Director Brad Martin.  Here’s some of the highlights:

• There are three big set pieces: one in a stairwell when Kate is fighting in her prime, one in The Coven where the vampires are attacked underground by the werewolves, and one in a parking structure.
• In the opening battle of the film, which shows us what happens before Selene wakes up in the future, we see her take on humans for the first time.
• For Beckinsale’s fighting style, he says there are certain kinds that don’t work, like Kung-fu and Wu-Shu. Her fighting style has a bit of Aikido and some Bourne Identity-type stuff in an anime way.
• To account for the 3D, they found that it’s not good to have a lot of quick-cutting, so they opted for longer movements and shots.
• With the wire-work, he kept it more reality-based and didn’t want a lot of “floating.”
• There’s a CG uber-Lycan, so Beckinsale had to interact a lot with the stunt guys.

Hit the jump for the full interview.

Back in early May, I got to visit the set of Underworld: Awakening when the production was filming in Vancouver.  While on set, I got to watch Kate Beckinsale and Michael Ealy film a few scenes that take place towards the end of the film, watch the brand new RED EPIC 3D cameras in action (which looked amazing and they’re also being used on The Hobbit and The Amazing Spider-Man), learn the interesting and unique way that directors Mans Marlind & Bjorn Stein work together, and I also got to participate in group interviews with producer Richard Wright, Stunt Coordinator/2nd Unit Director Brad Martin, as well as Beckinsale, Ealy, and directors Marlind & Stein.  It was a really fun day on set that I’ll recap after the jump.

Earlier this year, I got to visit the set of Underworld: Awakening while the production was filming in Vancouver.  While I’m embargoed for a few more days from writing about the visit, I’m putting the articles together in our backend and just pulled a ton of screengrabs from the teaser trailer that hit a few days ago.  Since Screen Gems has barely released any images from the 4th Underworld, after the jump you can check out 18 new ones.  I was able to get a few of the creatures, and a number of images of Kate Beckinsale.  For more on Underworld: Awakening, I suggest checking back on Monday morning.  Until then…

The first trailer for Underworld: Awakening has been released. The fourth film in the Underworld franchise features the return of Kate Beckinsale to the series as her character “escapes imprisonment to find herself in a world where humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycan clans and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species.” If you liked the previous Underworld movies, it looks like you’ll be getting more of the same: blue filter, slow-mo fighting, Kate Beckinsale in a skin-tight black leather outfit.  I don’t much care for these movies and they only cause me to wonder if the director knows that the blue filter adds nothing to the movie.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. If you missed our Comic-Con coverage, check out Steve’s interviews with directors Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein, and producer Len Wiseman. Underworld: Awakening opens in 3D on January 20, 2012.

At this year’s Comic-Con, I had the chance to talk with Underworld: Awakening directors Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein.  Here’s a few of the highlights:

• The Comic-Con trailer will not be shown anywhere else.  They were committed to not show any Lycans at Comic-Con.  But there will be Lycans in the sequel, including several kinds that have never been seen before.
• Stein twice teases a “very important new character that will turn everything upside-down.”
• They are halfway through the editing process, which includes 750-800 effects shots to render in 3D.
• There is a 7-minute car chase that took five days to shoot and two-and-a-half weeks to edit.
• Stein and Marlind have a unique working relationship.  They switch roles every day: one person in charge, one person is the director’s “best buddy.”
• 3D changes how they film.  Because of the camera size, it’s harder to throw the camera over your shoulder for an aggressive shot.  But it has led Stein to pursue longer takes because the 3D looks better.
• The first trailer should be released soon.

Hit the jump to watch the full interview.  You can also watch my interview with Underworld producer Len Wiseman here.  We’re going to have a lot more Underworld coverage once the trailer is released.  Underworld: Awakening hits theaters in January.

At this year’s Comic-Con, I had the opportunity to sit down with director Len Wiseman to talk about producing Underworld: Awakening and directing the remake of Total Recall.  While interviews at Comic-Con are usually a bit rushed, one of the reasons I’m excited to post this interview is that I had over twenty minutes to talk to Wiseman.  During the extended conversation, we talked about being back at Comic-Con and what does he geek out over, why should fans be excited about the 4th installment of Underworld, how he got involved with Total Recall and the differences between his movie and the original.  Trust me, I spent a huge amount of time asking him about Recall and if you’re curious about the remake, you’re going to learn a lot watching this interview.  Some of the things he mentioned:

• They’re not going to Mars and it’s not going to be in 3D.
• Says the movie has a different tone than the original and when I asked if his movie would use any of the classic one-liners, he said, “they have them in different forms.”
• Regarding any Easter Eggs to connect it to original film, says the three-breasted woman will be in it and a few other surprises.
• I asked about big action sequences and he says they have a few of them.  One of them is a huge hovercraft action scene that will take 15 days to shoot.  Says it’s being done practically with limited CGI. Here’s a few photos from when they were filming it.
• The shoot is scheduled for 80 to 85 days. They started in May and it shoots until September.
• Asked if they are doing anything the he would categorize as “pushing the boundaries?” He says he thinks they are. They filmed a fight sequence using a bunch of super slider rigs that are usually used for car chases and football games. The cameras goes 35 mph and they covered the fight sequence like a car chase.

Hit the jump for the full interview.

Underworld: Awakening marks the return of Kate Beckinsale to the popular genre franchise. Shot in 3D, the vampire Selene escapes imprisonment to find that humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycan clans and are waging an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species. With Len Wiseman as a producer, and directing team Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein at the helm, the fourth installment is taken in a different direction, in order to keep things fresh and avoid the usual connotations that come with the fourth film in a series.

Prior to their Comic-Con panel in Hall H, Kate Beckinsale did a press roundtable interview to talk about how she never planned to do a fourth film, what fans of the popular franchise can expect from this latest installment, how her character Selene fits into things now, working with two directors this time around, whether she’d consider a fifth film, and how proud she is to play such a strong, tough and interesting female character. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

The latest installment in the Underworld franchise, titled Underworld: Awakening, is headed to theaters soon and we got our first look at the film at today’s panel in Hall H. The 3D action-horror film stars Kate Beckinsale, with a script by franchise staple Len Wiseman. Hit the jump for my full recap of the panel, where we were treated to the first footage from the film (in 3D), a Q&A with the directors, and Wiseman addressed future entries in the Underworld franchise.

With the studios always looking to grab attention at Comic-Con, Sony has unveiled the first official promotional art/posters for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Total Recall, Underworld 4, and The Amazing Spider-Man.  Even though the Total Recall poster is nothing more than the logo and the word 2012, the posters for Ghost Rider are pretty cool and definitely worth checking out.

With the Convention not yet open, I’d imagine this is just the tip of the iceberg of the new posters that will be on display.  In a few hours the floor opens and I’ll be walking around taking plenty of pictures.  Make sure to check back in a few hours for a huge picture recap.  Until then, hit the jump for the posters.  If you’re at Comic-Con, these pictures were taken outside the Hard Rock Hotel.  You won’t miss them.

As Frosty loves to say, when it has a release date, it’s going to be made. For Sony’s Underworld: Awakening, Warner Bros. Seventh Son, Lionsgate’s The Possession, and Universal’s The Five-Year Engagement, things are looking bright. Briefly, Kate Beckinsale will return for the fourth film in the Underworld franchise, this time in 3D. Seventh Son is an adaptation of a popular young adult wizardry novel series that stars Ben Barnes, Jeff Bridges, and Julianne Moore. Sam Raimi’s upcoming horror film The Possession (formerly known as Dibbuk Box) stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick. Finally, we have The Five-Year Engagement, which reunites Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller from their great partnership on Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Here is when you can pencil (release dates shift… a lot) each of these films into your calendar:

• Underworld: Awakening – 1/20/12 – Stars Kate Beckinsale and Michael Ealy
• Seventh Son - 02/15/13 – Stars Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, and Ben Barnes
• The Possession – 1/6/12 – Stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick
• The Five-Year Engagement - 4/27/12 – Stars Jason Segel and Emily Blunt

For more on the pics, hit the jump.

If you thought Thursday was crazy at Comic-Con, then the schedule for Friday will make your brain break apart. There were some high profile panels on Thursday, but Friday it’s non-stop. Sony is looking to own the day with their 90-minute panel for Total Recall, 30 Minutes or Less, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and The Amazing Spider-Man. Hall H will also be hosting presentations for The Adventures of Tintin, Raven, Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire, Underworld 4, Batman: Year One, Pacific Rim, Seventh Son, Paradise Lost, Mass Effect, and Fright Night.

The TV side is also on overdrive with a pilot screening of Locke & Key, and panels for The Walking Dead, The Big Bang Theory, Children’s Hospital, Bones, Green Lantern: The Animated Series, The River, Black Dynamite, Eureka, Bob’s Burgers, Falling Skies, ThunderCats, Robot Chicken, Ugly Americans, Warehouse 13, and True Blood. Hit the jump for a list of schedule highlights for movies and TV.

Screen Gems and Lakeshore Entertainment have signed Michael Ealy (Takers) and his beautiful eyes to play the male lead opposite franchise star Kate Beckinsale in Underworld 4: New Dawn.  In the script by J. Michael Straczynski (Ninja Assassin) and John Hlavin (The Shield), vampiress Selene (Beckinsale) wakes from a coma-like state after fifteen years to learn she has a 14-year-old vampire/Lycan hybrid daughter: “they must stop BioCom from creating super Lycans that will kill them all.”  Ealy plays a police detective who first hunts Beckinsale, then teams up with her.  Underworld 3D just started shooting in Vancouver under the direction of Swedish team Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein (Shelter); the film is scheduled for release on January 20, 2012.

Hit the jump for news on the true nature of Robin McLeavy’s involvement with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, plus details on the indie thriller A Single Shot.

The plot for the fourth installment in the Underworld franchise has been revealed.  The film, currently titled Underworld 4: New Dawn, is getting ready to start shooting next March in Vancouver and Bloody Disgusting has scored the first plot synopsis for the film:

“After being held in a coma-like state for fifteen years, vampire Selene (Kate Beckinsale) learns that she has a fourteen-year-old vampire/Lycan hybrid daughter, Nissa, and when she finds her they must stop BioCom from creating super Lycans that will kill them all.”

Hit the jump to read what we know about Underworld 4 so far.

Underworld 4 has found its director(s).  Heat Vision reports that the Swedish team-up of Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein will take on directorial duties for the film.  Underworld 4 will mark the second English-language feature for the pair who also co-directed the 2009 UK thriller Shelter starring Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Showtime’s The Tudors).  Marlind and Stein will helm the project for Screen Gems and Lakeshore Entertainment from a script by John Hlavin.  Multi-platform scribe J. Michael Straczynski (Changeling & one of my personal favorite comics, Rising Stars) performed rewrite duties for the film.

With the news of Marlind and Stein’s hiring in the bag, the fourth installment of the Underworld franchise continues to take shape.  Almost two months ago, we confirmed that Kate Beckinsale would return to her rightful place as the unequivocally bad-ass vampire warrior, Selene.   At that time we also reported that the film would begin production in Vancouver during March 2011, with a January 20th, 2012 release in mind.

We have a few important updates regarding the next installment in the Underworld franchise.  All that we’ve known so far about the upcoming fourth film in the series is that John Hlavin (The Shield) was writing the film, that it would be released on January 20, 2012, and that Kate Beckinsale wasn’t sure if she would return to reprise her role in the series.

Now, we’ve just gotten a press release that confirms that Beckinsale will indeed be returning to the franchise that made her an action star.  The press release also tells us that screenwriter J. Michael Straczynsk (The Changeling) has come on board to do some revisions to Hlavin’s script and they’re looking to cast someone as Beckinsale’s daughter.  There is still no director attached to the project but Len Wiseman, who directed the first two Underworld films, will be producing the film.  Hit the jump for what we were sent: