Good news, everyone!  Focus Features has moved the release of writer/director Edgar Wright’s next film, The World’s End, up nearly two months from October 25th to the nice summer date of August 23rd.  This is excellent news, as anticipation is high for the third and final entry in the “Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy” from Wright, co-writer/star Simon Pegg, and star Nick Frost that began with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.  The story for The World’s End centers on five childhood friends (played by Pegg, Frost, Eddie Marsan, Paddy Considine, and Martin Freeman) going through an epic pub crawl in order to reach the fabled pub, “The World’s End”.  But as they make their way to the pub, they discover that the fate of humankind is on the line.

The film will presumably still be opening in the U.K. on August 14th, but U.S. audiences now don’t have to wait two full months to see it.  The move to summer is a vote of confidence from Focus Features, and on the new release date the pic will face off against the YA adaptation The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and the critically hailed horror film You’re Next.

Though Marvel Studios is incredibly secretive when it comes to developing projects, we’ve known about director Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man for quite a long while.  Wright has been working on the script alongside co-writer Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) for the past few years, but he’s understandably been busy with his other directorial projects.  The studio finally announced a release date for the film late last year, and at last summer’s Comic-Con Wright unveiled a test reel that demonstrated his fantastic visual approach to the character’s unique fighting style (ie. switching between normal size and ant-size within the blink of an eye).

With a 2015 release date approaching, Wright is gearing up to begin production on the film fairly soon.  He recently provided a bit of an update on the film, talking about its relationship to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and why it took so long to come together.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

It’s unofficial “The World’s End Day,” and that’s very much a good thing.  Earlier today we got a look at some new images from director Edgar Wright’s new film along with some quotes from star/co-writer Simon Pegg about the pic.  The World’s End closes out the “Blood & Ice Cream” trilogy that Wright, Pegg, and co-star Nick Frost started with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, and this time around the story concerns five friends who attempt to make it through an epic pub crawl.  Yet another new image has now been released online alongside some fascinating comments from Wright about the film’s theme (nostalgia and “looking backwards”), its relationship to Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, skewering American manchild comedies, and Pegg’s goth look for his character.

Hit the jump to read on.  The World’s End will be released in the U.K. on August 14th, followed by its U.S. release on October 25th.

Principal photography has wrapped on Edgar Wright‘s upcoming film, The World’s End.  Co-written with Simon Pegg, The World’s End marks the final chapter in the informal “Blood & Ice Cream” Trilogy.  The story centers centers on five childhood friends (played by Pegg, Nick Frost, Eddie Marsan, Paddy Considine, and Martin Freeman) going through an epic pub crawl in order to reach the fabled pub, “The World’s End”.  But as they make their way to the pub, they discover that the fate of humankind is on the line.  To mark the end of shooting, Pegg has tweeted the first image from the film, which shows the lead cast members, and how Pegg’s character may not be the most successful of the bunch.  You can also see how the costumes line up with these set photos that show the child-versions of the characters.

Hit the jump to check out the image.  The World’s End will be released in the U.K. on August 14, 2013 and in the U.S. on October 25, 2013.

The first teaser poster for director Edgar Wright’s The World’s End has been released.  The film reunites Wright with stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and acts as the third installment in the trio’s “Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy” after Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.  Written by Wright and Pegg, the story centers on five childhood friends going through an epic pub crawl in order to reach the fabled pub, “The World’s End”.  But as they make their way to the pub, they discover that the fate of humankind is on the line.  This poster teases, well, the end of the world, as a devastating event looks to be headed Earth’s way.  Wright and Pegg previously admitted that the film’s genre could be classified as “social sci-fi,” so this poster certainly fits that description.  I’m not sure if it hints at some otherworldly antagonist or if it’s just a play on humanity’s impending doom, but if the fate of the world lies in the hands of Pegg and Frost, at least we know we’ll go down laughing our asses off.

Hit the jump to check out the poster.  The film also stars Rosamund Pike, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine (Hot Fuzz), and Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes).  The World’s End will be released in the UK on August 14th, 2013 and in the US on October 25th.

Rejoice!  Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost are finally back together.  Production has commenced on The World’s End, the third installment of the trio’s “Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy.”  The film follows the incredible one-two punch of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz with a script by Wright and Pegg that centers on five childhood friends going through an epic pub crawl in order to reach the fabled pub, “The World’s End”.  But as they make their way to the pub, they discover that the fate of humankind is on the line.  Wright again directs, with Pegg and Frost starring alongside Rosamund Pike and Hot Fuzz co-star Paddy Considine.

Along with the news of the start of production comes the welcome announcement that Sherlock and The Hobbit star Martin Freeman and Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes) have also joined the cast.  Production is underway in the U.K. with an eye towards a 2013 release.  Hit the jump to read the full press release.

One of the highlights of Comic-Con this year was finally getting a tease of what writer/director Edgar Wright’s long-gestating Ant-Man film might look like.  He and co-writer Joe Cornish have been developing the script at Marvel for a couple of years, but they took a big step closer to production by putting together a live-action test reel that visualized how Wright would bring the miniature superhero to life.  The footage was short and unfinished, but it was pretty damn exciting.  Wright’s signature style and comedic tone was wholly intact, but the reel also teased some seriously inventive and cool action sequences that we could see in the full film.

We’ve heard that Marvel may be releasing the finished footage to the public soon, but a fan and Deviant Artist has impressively put together a storyboard recreation of the footage that skews pretty close to what we saw.  Hit the jump to take a look.

Production is underway on The World’s End, Edgar Wright‘s conclusion to the “Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy” (the previous installments being Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz), and the first set photos have gone online.  The plot centers on five childhood friends going through an epic pub crawl in order to reach the fabled pub, “The World’s End”.  But as they make their way to the pub, they discover that the fate of humankind is on the line.  These set photos, taken on set at Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, show the younger versions of the characters.  The young actor in the glasses plays the younger version of Nick Frost‘s character, while the one in the black trench coat is the young Simon Pegg. [If anyone knows the names of the younger actors, let us know, and we'll give them their proper credit]

Hit the jump to check out the set photos.  The World’s End also stars Rosamund Pike and Paddy Considine.

Of the many cool things that Marvel did at Comic-Con, I was most intrigued by the Ant-Man test footage.  The basic premise of Ant-Man (a man who can shrink to the size of an ant fights crime) is not guaranteed to work on film.  But the word on the street says director Edgar Wright nailed out the big/small transition effects, and I want to see for myself.  Marvel executive Victoria Alonso implies that I will probably get my wish.  Alonso told our partners at Omelete (roughly translated):

“What we showed at Comic-Con was a work in progress.  We’re working on finishing it, and I think you might see it.  Not sure where, but we always listen to the fans.  And if the fans demand it we make sure they get it.  I don’t know if we are going to post it online, but I don’t have [any reason] to believe we may not.”

So please demand it.  For my sake.  Hit the jump for more from Alonso, including confirmation that Wright will direct and a comment on the Viggo Mortensen/Doctor Strange rumor.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories to share this afternoon.  First up, Hot Fuzz scene-stealer Paddy Considine is set to reteam with director Edgar Wright and stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost for the comedy The World’s End.  The plot centers on five childhood friends going through an epic pub crawl in order to reach the fabled pub, The World’s End.  But as they make their way to the pub, they discover that the fate of humankind is on the line.  Rosamund Pike is set as the film’s female lead, a woman who shares a romantic past with Pegg’s character, and Variety reports that Considine will play “a former ladies man and musician who has grown up to be a divorced architect.”

Considine has appeared in Submarine and The Bourne Ultimatum and made his directorial debut to much acclaim with last year’s Tyrannosaur.  Production on The World’s End begins next month.  Hit the jump for casting news concerning The Social Network’s Max Minghella teaming up with Daniel Radcliffe for a truly crazy-sounding fantasy thriller.

The first trailer for Kill List director Ben Wheatley‘s dark comedy Sightseers has gone online, and it’s pretty damn nutty.  The film stars Steve Oram and Alice Lowe as a seemingly nice couple who are taking a trip through the British Isles in his Abbey Oxford caravan.  As gleaned in the trailer, the journey soon turns into a killing spree/sex romp, the likes of which you’ve probably never seen before.  An appropriately creepy use of Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love” plays over this wondrously weird trailer that makes the film look like a really fun ride. Edgar Wright is an executive producer on the pic, and fans of his work should get a kick out of this hilariously strange story.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  Sightseers will screen at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival which runs from September 6 – 16th, and opens in the UK on November 30th.

This past week presented me with a couple of unique moviegoing opportunities. In addition to the ParaNorman showing I previewed the last time we met, I was also able to check out one of my all-time favorites, Jaws, on the big screen thanks to Cinemark’s “Fall Classic Series”. For as much as I enjoyed the pic long before this week’s showing, I have to say that viewing it as an audience member in a packed theater for the first time opened my eyes to a whole new appreciation. Not only was I genuinely startled in a few scenes that repeat television and DVD viewings had long left me numb to, but I also came to respect Robert Shaw’s timeless turn as Quint even more than I previously had. In short, my adoration for Spielberg‘s masterpiece was not only reaffirmed, it somehow found a way to expand.

But enough about my love of all things Jaws related. This week’s Top 5 includes the news that James Gunn is in talks to direct Marvel’s intergalactic tale, Guardians of the Galaxy, Sight & Sound’s personal Top 10 lists from some of cinema’s most revered directors (Spoiler Alert: that shark movie I drooled about in the opening paragraph appears on Tarantino‘s), a new red-band trailer for John Hillcoat‘s Lawless, Disney’s plans to reboot The Rocketeer, and an animated look at how The Dark Knight Rises should have ended. A brief recap and link to each can be found after the jump.

Earlier this month, a new “official” best film of all time was announced with the unveiling of the results of Sight & Sound’s most recent poll.  Every ten years, the film magazine polls a number of critics, academics, and professionals and then tallies up the results for an ultimate list.  The magazine also has a poll of directors for a second Top 10 list, and now they’ve unveiled the individual directors’ lists in an effort to occupy all the free time you have today.

After the jump you can peruse personal Top 10 lists from the likes of Edgar Wright, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Guillermo del Toro, Woody Allen, David O’Russell, Sam Mendes, Matthew Vaughn, Francis Ford Coppola, Marc Webb and more.  Hit the jump to take a look.

Though we’ve watched a number of Marvel films move through the development stages over the years, culminating in their theatrical release, writer/director Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man has yet to actually move to the production phase even though it’s been “in the works” for quite a few years.  This wasn’t exactly a surprise, as Wright is an understandably busy guy (he referred to his development process on Ant-Man as “the Terrence Malick approach”), but fans of both Marvel and the filmmaker have been eager to see Ant-Man come to the big screen.

The project took a big step forward when Wright shot some test footage earlier this summer and then debuted it at Marvel’s Hall H panel at Comic-Con, and now it looks like we could be seeing Ant-Man finally come to fruition much sooner than previously expected. 2014, to be exact.  Hit the jump for more.

Paramount has teamed up director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) with screenwriter Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend) for Collider, which is easily the best title in the history of film.  The sci-fi film will be directed and co-written by Wright, who will also share producing credits along with J.J. Abrams and Nira Park of Bad Robot.  Any plot details are non-existent at the moment, but it could very well involve an intrepid group of web journalists who unite to save the world…or maybe the recent news surrounding the Large Hadron Collider at CERN; either way.  Hit the jump for more on Wright and Protosevich’s upcoming projects to see where Collider might land.