We’ve got some shuffling of release dates for two Warner Bros. distributions and a new release date for one of our favorite films from this year’s Sundance.  Here’s a glance:

• Warner Bros. pushes back The Seventh Son from February 15th, 2013 to October 18th, 2013.
• Another Warner Bros. film, Beautiful Creatures, has taken Seventh Son’s place by moving back two weeks to open on February 15th, 2013.
• Starring Frank Langella, James Marsden, Liv Tyler, Susan Sarandon and a robot (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard), Robot and Frank will open on August 24th of this year.

Hit the jump for more on each film.

Some quick casting news to pass your way: Jeremy Irons, last seen debauching it up on Showtime’s Tudors replacement The Borgias, is closing in on the role of the mysterious uncle in Richard LaGravenese’s adaptation of Beautiful Creatures, the first book in a critically lauded young adult fantasy series. Beautiful Creatures centres on two mystically charged teens (O’Connell and Englert) who are mysteriously drawn to one another despite never having met, and uncover some unsettling secrets about their families and the small southern town in which they live. Irons will join previously-cast leads Jack O’Connell (UK’s Skins) and newcomer Alice Englert, as well as Emmy Rossum, Emma Thompson, and Viola Davis.

Hit the jump for more on Beautiful Creatures as well as news on veteran character actor Dylan Baker’s directorial debut, 23 Blast.

If we give a piece of our lives and our souls to our art, then plagiarism is murder.  Just as murder steals a life, the theft of another person’s personal creative expression is akin to killing part of another’s soul.  But plagiarism also leaves a mark upon the thief.  It reveals their limitations, and a self-recognition that their art will never be as full or as rich as another’s.  The Words explores how this theft goes far beyond fame and fortune, and how our lives are no longer our own when we take credit for another’s work.  Writer-directors Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal have pulled together a strong script, rich performances, and an incredible score to craft a compelling and captivating film full of deception, remorse, and guilt.

Though there’s no touching the early wave of classic Disney animated features, when the studio reinvented its animation department in the late 1980’s they had a run of successful and impactful films that deserve to be shelved near those great works. 1994’s The Lion King is the best of that run (which arguably goes from 1989’s The Little Mermaid through to 1999’s Tarzan) and a film that captures much of the same terrain of those classics, but reimagines those stories in a way that feels fresh. It’s a crowning achievement, and the Diamond Edition Blu-ray presents the film in a pristine transfer. Our review of The Lion King on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

The 2008 economic collapse is one of the major events of our lifetimes and some filmmakers have rushed to turn the events into A Very Serious and Important Movie.  J.C. Chandor’s Margin Call would like to be that movie.  It dresses up its respected cast in fine suits, puts them in the financial world, and then has them look at computer monitors and say “Fuck me…” in astonishment about 80-90 times throughout the course of the film.  Chandor wants to bury the audience in the world of financial intrigue and corruption without doing the hard work of explaining the machinations of that world in any kind of detail.  He gets away with it for the first half-hour as the audience becomes wrapped in a propulsive, plot-driven drama, but by the end the only saving grace is Kevin Spacey playing against type.

The first trailer for the financial thriller Margin Call has been released. The film debuted at Sundance, and judging from the trailer it looks to be a fairly intense morality piece. The cast is great, and Steve caught the film at the festival and said it was really good. I like the tone here, and the idea of the film’s events playing out over a single day and night is definitely intriguing.

The story centers on the key people at an investment bank during the 24-hour period before the recent financial crisis. The cast includes Demi Moore, Simon Baker, Penn Badgley, Zachary Quinto, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci and Kevin Spacey. You can check out Steve’s interview with all of the above here and here. Margin Call opens October 21^st. Hit the jump to watch the trailer.

Yesterday, we reported some casting news for The Words and The Wachowski Siblings/Tom Tykwer’s adaptation of Cloud Atlas.  Turns out those films weren’t quite finished in the casting department.  Producer Cassian Elwes has tweeted [via The Playlist] that Zoe Saldana will star alongside Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, and Dennis Quaid in The Words.  The drama centers on a celebrated writer (Cooper) who must pay the price for stealing the work of another author (Irons).  I imagine the price is somewhat higher than the lawyer’s fees for the litigation that would most likely occur in a less-interesting movie.

In other casting news, ScreenDaily reports that Susan Sarandon and Jim Broadbent are in talks to join Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving, Ben Whishaw, and Halle Berry in Cloud Atlas.  The movie is based on David Mitchell’s acclaimed novel that spans the progress of a soul across six separate existences across several centuries.  Shooting is planned to begin this September.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of the novel.

As the Cannes Film Festival heats up, plenty of casting deals are getting done.  We’ve combined some of the latest casting stories into one handy article for your viewing pleasure.  First up, Colin Firth and Emily Blunt have signed on to star in a dark comedy from director Dante Ariola and written by Becky Johnston.  According to Deadline, “Firth plays a man who hates his job and is hated by his ex-wife and son. Feeling he missed his one shot at living the dream, he fakes his death and buys a new identity. Along the way he meets a woman (Blunt) who is also trying to leave her past behind. The pair break into empty homes and pose as the absent owners. The two find a kindship despite all the lying.”  I’m a little giddy at the thought of Firth and Blunt playing off each other so hopefully we’ll see this project sooner rather than later.

Hit the jump for more casting news regarding Katie Holmes, Chase Crawford, Dennis Quaid, Orlando Bloom, Nick Nolte, Stanley Tucci, and Cristiana Capotondi.

Jeremy Irons (Appaloosa) and Kim Cattrall (Sex and the City) and Tom Sturridge (Pirate Radio) have signed on to star in The Treehouse.  Originally titled The Master of Farnow, the film is set in “in pre-World War I Germany detailing the story of a failed student, his glamorous cousin, her mother and the student’s father.”  According to THR, Lajos Koltai (Evening) will direct the $10 million production from a script by Paul Mayersberg (Croupier), based on a novel by Eduard von Keyserling.

Irons will next be seen in Margin Call, which was recently picked up from Sundance for an October 2011 release.  Sturridge’s next big project positions the actor opposite Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, and Kristen Stewart in Walter Salles’ highly anticipated adaptation of On the Road.

Bradley Cooper will star in the drama The Words.  The film is the directorial debut of writers Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal (TRON: Legacy).  Words centers on “a writer (Cooper) who, at the peak of his literary success, discovers the price he must pay for stealing another man’s work.”  Variety reports that Jeremy Irons is in talks to costar.

Cooper will next be seen in Neil Burger’s Limitless where he’ll also be playing a writer.  The in-demand actor is also circling The Silver Linings Playbook, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and an untitled action-comedy with Ryan Reynolds.  Oh, and this May he’ll be in a little movie called The Hangover Part II.  As for Irons, he’ll next be seen in the financial crisis drama Margin Call and the new Showtime series The Borgias.

While at Sundance, I was able to sit down with Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Spacey and writer/director J.C. Chandor for a quick interview about Margin Call.  Premiering at this year’s Festival, Margin Call is a really well done economic thriller that revolves around the key people at an investment bank during the 24-hour period before the recent financial crisis. As the film unfolds, we learn who knew what and when, and what lines are you willing to cross to stay ahead.  While it often takes Hollywood years to tell a story about something that just happened, Margin Call has already done it and the results are fantastic.

During the interview, the cast talked about what drew them to the project and what does it mean for each of them to be at Sundance.  As usual, you can either read or listen to the interview after the jump.

We haven’t heard much about Showtime’s forthcoming series The Borgias since it was greenlit with Jeremy Irons (Die Hard with a Vengeance) leading the series back in January. But today the cable network released the first official trailer for the series which follows Rodrigo Borgia (Irons), head of the infamously corrupt Renaissance family and a man who, despite his unsavory reputation, became pope in 1492. Likely looking to capture the audience who loved The Tudors, this historical series seems to be full of erotic romance, corruption, period drama and elaborate costumes. After all, cable can never have too much sex, murder, betrayal and all those things that make humans a lovely little species. Check out the lengthy trailer after the jump.

Continuing our coverage of the images being released from films premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January, we now have the first official images from the financial thriller Margin Call. We previously brought you images from this film via last month’s American Film Market (AFM), but were asked by the studio to take them down. But now from Sundance, we’re able to bring you completely legal and hassle-free images for Margin Call!

In all seriousness, writer/director JC Chandor’s flick actually sounds pretty cool. Featuring an all-star cast including Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Paul Bettany, Zachary Quinto, Jeremy Irons, and Penn Badgley, the film revolves around the key people at an investment bank during the 24-hour period before the recent financial crisis. Apparently the key people at this bank have knowledge of the impending disaster, and encounter some serious moral questions. Hit the jump to check out all of the images, as well as the brief synopsis from Sundance.

Continuing our coverage of the slew of new images and synopses from the American Film Market (AFM), we’ve got some great images and an official synopsis from the upcoming financial thriller Margin Call. The film marks the feature debut of writer/director J.C. Chandor and features an impressive cast that includes Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Mary McDonnell, Zachary Quinto, Simon Baker, and Penn Badgley.  The film strikes a familiar note, as it centers on the key people at an investment bank during the 24-hour period during the financial crisis.  We recently sat down with Badgley and he told us a bit about the project, so I recommend you check that out. To get a look at the first official images from the film, a promo poster, as well as the official synopsis, hit the jump.

Update: We’ve been asked by the studio to take down the images….sorry if you missed them

Penn Badgley, one of television’s hottest young actors, dons blue paint and a woodchuck costume in his latest role as Woodchuck Todd, the school mascot, in Will Gluck’s hilarious new comedy, Easy A. Badgley’s irreverent character provides the emotional grounding for Emma Stone’s Olive, a self-assured senior whose life begins to parallel Hester Prynne’s in The Scarlet Letter when she’s thrust into the rumor mill after a little white lie elevates her to the status of high school slut.

For Badgley, best known for his role of Dan Humphrey in The CW’s hit series Gossip Girl, playing the part of Woodchuck Todd was so tempting, he arranged to fly between the west and east coasts to accommodate the shooting schedules for both the film and his series. The 23-year-old actor recently completed production on Margin Call, a thriller based on the events surrounding the country’s financial collapse, directed by J.C. Chandor and starring Stanley Tucci, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto and Simon Baker.  More after the jump: