While we recently learned that Galaxy Quest director Dean Parisot would be taking the helm of Red 2 (the sequel to the 2010 hit Red), we still didn’t know which original cast members would be returning for the follow-up.  Well Summit has made one big casting announcement today, confirming that Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, and Mary-Louise Parker will be reprising their roles from the first film alongside newcomers Catherine Zeta-Jones and Byung-Hun Lee.

The story for the follow-up will find the team of retired CIA operatives taking on a new set of enemies all across Europe.  The nature of Zeta-Jones’ role isn’t disclosed, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she plays the film’s villain.  I have yet to see Red, but I love the hell out of Galaxy Quest and this is certainly an impressive cast so I’m definitely going to have to rectify that sooner rather than later. Hit the jump to read the full press release.  Red 2 opens on August 2nd, 2013.

An incredibly solid cast has been lined up for the crime thriller Cut Bank.  Deadline reports that Armie Hammer, Sir Ben Kingsley, John Malkovich, Michael Sheen and Teresa Palmer (I Am Number Four) will lead the thriller, based on a Black List script by Roberto Patino.  Television director Matt Shakman (Mad Men, House) will make his feature directorial debut on the project, which takes place in Cut Bank, Montana.  The story centers on “a young auto mechanic and former high school football star who wants to get the hell out of this tiny town frozen in time.  His attempt to do so sets in motion a series of events that will change his life, and the life of Cut Bank, forever.”

Presumably Hammer will be playing the protagonist, but no details are given on what roles the other actors will take on.  I have to say, though, that this cast is incredibly encouraging and I look forward to hearing more about the project.  Hammer is currently filming The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp, and Sir Ben Kingsley has nabbed himself a handful of high profile roles as of late including Ender’s Game and the villain in Iron Man 3.  Production on Cut Bank begins this fall.

About a month after getting confirmation from producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura that Red 2 (the sequel to Summit’s 2010 hit Red) is a go, it looks like the project has found a director. Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest) is in final talks with the studio to helm the follow-up to the $90 million domestic grossing original. Starring Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich, the original Red (Retired. Extremely Dangerous.) followed a retired black-ops agent (Willis) as he reassembled his former team in an effort to flush out an assassin. While the original writers Jon and Erich Hoeber are back for the rewrite, there’s no word on when (or if) the original cast could reunite for the sequel. Hit the jump for more on Red 2.

One of the projects I was most looking forward to this year was 50/50 director Jonathan Levine’s zombie love story Warm Bodies. The pic stars Nicholas Hoult as “R” a zombie who falls in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer) after he eats her boyfriend’s brains and absorbs his memories. Besides the intriguing love story aspect, the film also features a military revolt led by John Malkovich. The film was slated to open this August, but Summit has decided to push the release date back to February 1st, 2013, per Box Office Mojo.

It’s disappointing that we’ll have to wait longer for the film, but maybe a pre-Valentine’s Day release makes more sense given the romance aspect. Either way, I’m excited to see Levine’s next directorial effort as I thought 50/50 was one of the best films of last year. Warm Bodies currently has no competition on the February 1st date, but the Tom Cruise action pic One Shot hits theaters one week later. Hoult isn’t having the best luck with starring roles lately, as Warner Bros. recently pushed Bryan Singer‘s big-budget fantasy Jack the Giant Killer back to 2013 as well. Nevertheless, the guy’s poised to have a very good 2013.

There are probably some movies that would not be improved by the presence of John Malkovich*.  Warm Bodies is not one of those movies.  Nicholas Hoult stars as R, a self-aware zombie who falls for the girlfriend of one his victims, played by Teresa Palmer—R protects her from the other zombies as he starts to regain his humanity.  According to Variety, Malkovich is in final negotiations to play General Grigio, “who’s obsessed with the destruction of the zombie threat.”  Rob Corddry is on board play M, the only other zombie like R… at first.

I love the premise, this cast is great, and I trust young writer/director Jonathan Levine (50/50) to bring it all together.  Please, Mr. Malkovich, sign on and make Warm Bodies that much better.  Levine’s script is based on the novel by Isaac Marion—read the synopsis after the jump.

John Malkovich has signed on to star in Siberian Education, an adaptation of the Nicolai Lilin autobiography of the same name.  Lilin grew up in Transnitria, a lawless community between Moldova and Ukraine that still maintains a strict moral code.  According to Variety, Malkovich will play “Grandfather Kuzja, who teaches his grandson Kolyma (played by Lithuanian actor Arnas Fedaravicius) the morals of  “honest criminals.’”

Stefano Rulli, Sandro Petraglia, and director Gabriele Salvatores (I’m Not Scared) collaborated on the screenplay, set in 1985-1995.  The international production starts shooting in Lithuania at the end of August — a few scenes will film in Italy.  Read the book synopsis after the break.

A Michael Bay movie cannot be measured by the same standards as a normal movie.  A Bay movie cares not for compelling characters, narrative cohesion, or realistic emotions.  Instead, a Michael Bay movie must be judged on its “Bay-ness”.  How gigantic are the special effects?  What levels of homophobia, sexism, and racism can the humor reach without being outright offensive?  How long can the camera linger over the curves of the sexually-charged lead female character without starting to feel like really expensive porn?  Transformers: Dark of the Moon is about as Michael Bay as Michael Bay can get within the confines of a PG-13 movie (his gold standard in the R-rated realm is Bad Boys II).  The movie is far more successful in its action sequences and its humor (homophobic, sexist, and racist as it may be) than 2009′s abysmal Return of the Fallen), but lacks the charm of the first film in the franchise.  But since “charm” can’t be digitized and bought for millions of dollars, Bay is all about the set pieces and judging by that metric, the final hour of Dark of the Moon is his masterpiece.

A last-minute trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon has been released, along with a couple of new posters. There’s quite a few new shots to be seen here, and this one really ramps up the action. With Michael Bay doing all he can to ensure that the 3D prints are projected at the highest quality possible, this is gonna be one hell of a visual experience.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and posters. The film stars Shia LaBeouf, John Turturro, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, John Malkovich, and Frances McDormand.  Transformers: Dark of the Moon opens in 3D on June 29th.

Paramount has sent over some video and a bunch of images from the Transformers: Dark of the Moon premiere in Moscow.  So if you’d like to see Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, John Malkovich, the band Linkin Park, and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura on the green carpet, hit the jump.  In addition, the video the studio sent over mixes footage from the premiere with cast interviews.

As I said when I posted the clips earlier today, I can’t wait to see TF3 next week.  Everything I’ve seen tells me it’s going to be a really fun ride.

Eight new images from Transformers: Dark of the Moon have been released.  This proves yet again that the movie exists and that it will feature actors and giant robots.  Thank goodness.  I’m glad we could clear that up.

Hit the jump to check out the images. The film stars Shia LaBeouf, John Turturro, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, John Malkovich, and Frances McDormand.  Transformers: Dark of the Moon opens in 3D on June 29th.

The new trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon has gone online. If you want to see the trailer in 3D, it’ll be playing in front of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides starting today.  This new trailer is very similar to the first one. It’s just as impressive, and the epic nature of the flick is very prominent. As much as I want to look forward to this, I’m still wary given how cool the trailers for Revenge of the Fallen looked compared to how terrible the actual film was. Nevertheless, the Chicago set-piece looks positively massive. The clip features Josh Duhamel’s character and a bunch of guys jumping out of an aircraft, which is much more exciting than the first clip that consisted of a pissing contest between Shia LaBeouf and Patrick Dempsey.

Hitting 3D theaters on June 29th, Michael Bay’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon stars Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Josh Duhamel, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tyrese Gibson, Patrick Dempsey, and voice work from Hugo Weaving, Peter Cullen, and Leonard Nimoy. And if you missed it, be sure to check out Steve’s report from Michael Bay and James Cameron’s recent presentation on 3D here. Hit the jump to check out the trailer.

The theatrical trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon has landed online. We see some pretty fantastic looking footage on the moon, followed by some really impressive stuff back on Earth. We’re talking full-on invasion this time around. We get our first look at Frances McDormand as well. However, as we all know from the second flick Revenge of the Fallen, simply watching robots fight for 2+ hours does not a good movie make (understatement). This one has to be better than Revenge of the Fallen, right? Hitting 3D theaters on July 1st, Michael Bay’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon stars Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Josh Duhamel, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tyrese Gibson, Patrick Dempsey, and voice work from Hugo Weaving, Peter Cullen, and Leonard Nimoy.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer along with the first “synopsis” and a new still from the movie.  I put “synopsis” in quotations because it’s more of a logline and not a particularly illuminating one at that.

Director Jesse Peretz  met the high expectations that awaited his My Idiot Brother at Sundance, and is already hard at work on his next film, What’s This S%^@ Called Love?.  The cast of S%^@ may even rival the impressive My Idiot Brother ensemble, as John Malkovich and Catherine Keener are in talks to star.  Fans of the truly bizarre may recall that Keener and Malkovich last appeared together on screen in 1999′s Being John Malkovich.

Peretz’s script is set in the era and town in which he was raised: 1980s Cambridge, Massachusetts.  According to 24 Frames, the plot centers on a teenage boy who is on the verge of coming out: “His ultra-progressive family actually wants to celebrate the boy’s newfound sexuality, while all the boy wants is to be left alone.”  Sounds a bit precious, but Keener specializes in selling me on this kind of emotional comedy.

Tim Perell (Last Chance Harvey) will produce What’s This S%^@ Called Love?, which I can only hope is a tentative title.  The Weinstein Company picked up My Idiot Brother for a November 25 release.

In May we heard Emma Watson (the Harry Potter series) and Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson & the Olympians) are teaming up for an adaptation of Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower.  John Malkovich is independently producing the feature, but Perks was unable to land a studio home before the end of 2010 — even with this package.  That should change.  And soon.

Vulture hears Summit Entertainment is in talks to pick up the coming-of-age film with plans for a June shoot.  Chbosky plans to write and direct the adaptation.  The Perks of Being a Wallflower tells the story of a teen who assumes the alias “Charlie” (Lerman), and describes the various events of his high school life in letters to an anonymous person.  Watson would play Charlie’s friend Sam.  Hit the jump for the full synopsis and a look at the two stars’ upcoming projects.

Summit Entertainment landed a hit last year with the action-comedy Red.  The Bruce Willis film was the highest-grossing picture for the studio outside of the Twilight franchise and has currently raked in $164 million worldwide.  Also, while you and I know that the Golden Globes are meaningless, the nomination for “Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical)” helped raise the movie’s profile.  With all that in mind, sources have told us that Summit has hired screenwriters Jon and Erich Hoeber to write a sequel.  It’s worth noting that commissioning a script is not the same thing as a giving a green light.  However, it is an important first step and if Summit is happy with the Hoebers’ screenplay, then I would expect the studio to hit the gas on what they’re probably hoping will be a new franchise.

Hit the jump for more on the Hoebers and my thoughts on a potential sequel.