Opening this weekend in limited release is director Gus Van Sant’s Promised Land.  The film stars Matt Damon and Frances McDormand as natural gas salesmen who try to prey on an economic town in decline only to have their mission complicated by the citizens they encounter and an environmentalist played by John Krasinski.  Damon and Krasinski wrote the screenplay, and the film deals heavily with the consequences of fracking.  The film also stars Rosemarie DeWitt, Hal Holbrook, Scoot McNairy, and Titus Welliver.  For more on Promised Land, here are seven clips and the trailer.

During the recent Los Angeles press day I got to speak with Damon.  He talked about what surprised him when researching fracking, how the issue is very divisive, how lucky he’s been as an actor, and more.  Damon also spoke about his reaction to seeing a rough cut of Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium, confirms he’s doing George Clooney’s Monuments Men, and says he was happy to work with Terry Gilliam again on The Zero Theorem, but he only has a very small part.  Hit the jump to watch.

While news is going to be slow over the next few days, thanks to Empire Magazine, we have something cool to post: the first look at Sharlto Copley as the villain Kruger in Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium.  The film is set in 2159, and two classes of people are divided: the wealthy live on a man-made space station called Elysium, while the rest of the humans inhabit an overpopulated and ruined Earth.  Elysium was on track for a March 2013 release, but then the movie was pushed back to August 2013, which is the same weekend Blomkamp’s District 9 was released in 2009. 

While Sony has yet to release a trailer for Elysium, I’d imagine we’re going to see one very soon.  The film also stars Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Diego Luna, Alice Braga, and Wagner Moura.  Hit the jump for the full image and you can watch my comic-con video interviews with Foster and producer Simon Kinberg by clicking the links.  Here’s all our previous Elysium coverage which includes our comic-con recap and images.

As 2012 winds down to a close, it’s tough to see us having another year filled with so many good movies anytime soon. Nevertheless, looking to 2013 there’s certainly reason to be excited, and what better way to kick off the new year than to take a look at what 2013 has in store for us by way of blockbuster filmmaking?  We’ve compiled a list of 20 “blockbusters” to look forward to in the coming year, and the resulting preview teases some promisingly diverse fare.  Naturally there’s no lack of superhero movies headed our way, but we’ve also got a great mix of exciting entries in horror, comedy, sci-fi, and drama to look forward to.  Hit the jump to take a look at our 2013 Blockbuster Preview.

Neill Blomkamp‘s Elysium was one of the best-looking films I saw at Comic-Con this year.  The film is set in 2159, and two classes of people are divided: the wealthy live on a man-made space station called Elysium, while the rest of the humans inhabit an overpopulated and ruined Earth.  Elysium was on track for a March 2013 release, but then the movie was pushed back to August 2013, and that’s probably the smart decision.  March has become insanely crowded, and Elysium feels like a big summer movie anyway (it’s also coming out the same week as District 9 did back in 2009).  Today, a new image of star Matt Damon has been released.  Damon plays a man who’s forced to become a cyborg and travel to Elysium in order to retrieve a cure that would save his life.

Hit the jump to check out the image.  The film also stars Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, William Fichtner, and Diego Luna.  Elysium opens August 9, 2013.

Let’s all do the release date shuffle, courtesy of Sony!

• RoboCop, the Jose Padilha-directed remake starring Joel Kinnaman, has been bumped from its August 9th, 2013 spot to February 7th, 2014.
• Taking over the former RoboCop spot will be Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium, starring Matt Damon.  The picture moves from March 1st, 2013 to August 9th, 2013. (Fun fact: Blomkamp’s District 9 was released that same week in 2009.)
• Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers will move up from its previous spot of February 7th, 2014 to September 27th, 2013.  The animated feature will land on roughly the same weekend as this year’s hit, Hotel Transylvania.
• Pixels, the Happy Madison production based on an 8-bit French short, is listed as “in development” and won’t make a 2014 release, though it was previously pegged for May 17, 2013.

Hit the jump for more on each of these pictures. 

Over the last few weeks, Sony has finally started to reveal details about director Neill Blomkamp’s (District 9) sci-fi pic Elysium.  Just as District 9 tackled issues of segregation and xenophobia, the first synopsis for Elysium reveals that the sci-fi, future-set story will be delving into the immigration debate.  Set in 2159, two classes of people are roughly divided: the wealthy live on a man-made space station called Elysium, while the rest of the humans inhabit an overpopulated and ruined Earth.  For more on the film, here’s Matt’s recap of the Comic-Con panel, the viral campaign, and Comic-Con interviews with Blomkamp, producer Simon Kinberg, and Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and Sharlto Copley.

Shortly after the panel, I got to speak with Jodie Foster.  We talked about being at Comic-Con for the first time, what she collects, how she got involved in Elysium, who she plays, the relationship between Blomkamp and the studio during production, how she prepares for a role, future plans, her thoughts on doing a TV series, Contact, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Over the last few weeks, Sony has finally started to reveal details about director Neill Blomkamp’s (District 9) sci-fi pic Elysium.  Just as District 9 tackled issues of segregation and xenophobia, the first synopsis for Elysium reveals that the sci-fi, future-set story will be delving into the immigration debate.  Set in 2159, two classes of people are roughly divided: the wealthy live on a man-made space station called Elysium, while the rest of the humans inhabit an overpopulated and ruined Earth.  For more on the film, here’s Matt’s recap of the Comic-Con panel, the viral campaign, and Comic-Con interviews with Blomkamp and Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and Sharlto Copley.

Shortly after the panel, I got to speak with producer Simon Kinberg.  We talked about how he got involved in the project, how they decided what footage to bring, the recent test screenings, why they didn’t do 3D, and more.  In addition, with Kinberg writing the X-Men: First Class sequel with Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman, we talked about how that’s been going and what fans can look forward to.  Hit the jump to watch.

While at Comic-Con to do a big Hall H presentation, Elysium co-stars Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and Sharlto Copley spoke to press about the highly anticipated but very mysterious sci-fi film, from writer/director Neill Blomkamp. The filmmaker described it as being “about an orbital space station that has the rich living on it, while Earth is diseased and has been left behind.”

During the interview, the actors were clearly guarded in their responses, so as not to reveal too much, but they talked about who their characters are, the key to finding their performances, the themes that they’re addressing with the rich versus the poor, and what they think the world might really be like so far into the future. Check out what they had to say after the jump. Also, check out our recap of the Comic-Con panel.

While at Comic-Con to do a big Hall H presentation, Elysium director Neill Blomkamp (District 9) spoke to press about the highly anticipated but very mysterious sci-fi film, for the first time. The filmmaker described it as being “about an orbital space station that has the rich living on it, while Earth is diseased and has been left behind.”

During the interview, Blomkamp talked about the themes he’s addressing in the film, what he thinks the world might really be like so far into the future, working with a bigger budget this time around, and why it’s taken three years for him to get another film out. He also talked about another film that he’s written, which is a sci-fi comedy called Chappie, about a robot character, and how he feels about higher frame rates and 2D versus 3D. Check out what he had to say after the jump. Also, check out our recap of the Comic-Con panel.

Neill Blomkamp‘s District 9 was an amazing feature film debut, and whatever he chose to do next would demand the attention of all the fans he amassed in 2009, myself included.  His new film, Elysium, had been cloaked in mystery until a synopsis recently appeared online.  I was even more intrigued after reading the synopsis, and Elysium was easily one of my most-anticipated movies of Comic-Con 2012.  And the presentation didn’t disappoint.

Hit the jump to check out the recap, and click here for all of our Comic-Con coverage.

Walking the floor here at Comic-Con 2012 can be a daunting task, but there are many worthwhile booths and cool finds scattered throughout.  Though the flashier parts of Sony’s set-up feature vehicles from Total Recall and Looper, one of the pieces that I found most intriguing was a piece of viral marketing for Neill Blomkamp’s upcoming sci-fi film Elysium.  The story takes place on a futuristic Earth that’s overpopulated and ruined.  The wealthy live on a man-made space station called Elysium, and as with District 9 Blomkamp is obviously tackling larger social issues against this sci-fi backdrop.

At the Sony booth, there’s an “automated” border checkpoint agent that’s available to answer questions regarding relocating to Elysium.  They also have brochures that advertise your ability to purchase property on Elysium for the low, low price of $250,000,000!  It’s a really cool tie-in to the film, and you can check out images of the border agent as well as the brochure after the jump, as well as images of a vehicle from the film here.  Starring Matt Damon and Jodi Foster, Elysium opens on March 1st, 2013. 

Though Comic-Con 2012 doesn’t officially begin until tonight, plenty of posters, banners, props, etc. are already blanketing downtown San Diego.  We’ve already shared a bunch of random images from around the city, a vehicle from Elysium, and a bevy of images of all the Batmobiles from movies past and present.  Steve recently ran down to the convention center itself and snapped some pictures of some really cool poster banners that are hanging up.  Included after the jump is our first look at the Evil Dead remake (produced by Sam Raimi), the Carrie remake starring Chloe Moretz, and posters for HBO’s Game of Thrones, Showtime’s Homeland (not without a sense of humor), Rian Johnson’s Looper, and Elysium, as well as a viral teaser poster for the Robocop remake.

Hit the jump to check out the images, and be sure to keep an eye on Collider over the next few days for our full coverage from Comic-Con. [Disclaimer: Sony has informed us that the Omnicorp Robocop artwork is not official]

The Collider team is currently assembling here in sunny San Diego for Comic-Con 2012, and downtown’s transformation into Geek Heaven is well underway.  Studios are plastering every free surface with marketing for their upcoming films, as evidence by Steve’s batch of photos from around the area yesterday.  Today he was able to snap some images of a set up for District 9 director Neill Blomkamp’s highly anticipated sci-fi film Elysium, including the first poster we’ve seen thus far and a really cool vehicle from the film.

Starring Matt Damon and Jodi Foster, the film is set in the year 2159. Two classes of people are roughly divided: the wealthy live on a man-made space station called Elysium, while the rest of the humans inhabit an overpopulated and ruined Earth.  As with District 9, Blomkamp is again tackling issues of greater importance than explosions and lasers, as the synopsis hints at a look into the immigration debate.  Hit the jump to check out the Comic-Con images, and check back for our full recap of the Elysium panel on Friday.  The film opens on March 1st, 2013.

We’ve known very little about director Neill Blomkamp’s follow-up to 2009’s District 9, the sci-fi pic Elysium, until recently.  The only images we’ve seen are a few set photos of a bald Matt Damon wearing some device on his chest from last year, but now the first official image of Damon in the film has landed online.  Just as District 9 tackled issues of segregation and xenophobia, the first synopsis for Elysium reveals that the sci-fi, future-set story will be delving into the immigration debate.  Set in 2159, two classes of people are roughly divided: the wealthy live on a man-made space station called Elysium, while the rest of the humans inhabit an overpopulated and ruined Earth.

I have no clue as to what this gun and Damon’s garb could be hinting at plotwise, but with the first footage set to be unveiled next week at Comic-Con we’ll hopefully have a much clearer picture of what to expect from Elysium soon.  The film also stars Jodi Foster, Sharlto Copley, William Fichtner and Diego Luna, and opens on March 1st, 2013.

Comic-Con has released the schedule for Friday, July 13th, and it provides further proof of how the convention is moving away from movies and towards TV series.  On Friday, three major TV series will be occupying Hall H: The Big Bang Theory, The Walking Dead, and Game of Thrones.  However, there will still be plenty of presentations for movies including ParaNorman, Resident Evil: Retribution, Total Recall, Looper, and most exciting of all—a first look at Neill Blomkamp‘s District 9 follow-up, Elysium.

Outside of Hall H, there’s plenty of other great stuff including the panels for Community, Breaking Bad, The Legend of Korra, Firefly, and more.  Hit the jump for highlights from Friday’s schedule, and click here for Thursday’s schedule.  The 2012 San Diego Comic-Con runs from July 12 – 15th.