One step forward, three steps back with these new release dates:

• Warner Bros. will push All You Need Is Kill, led by Tom Cruise, from March 7 to June 6, 2014.
• 300: Rise of an Empire will take its place on March 7, 2014, seven months after the planned August 2, 2013 release date.  The original 300 was released on March 9, 2007.
• The Aubrey Plaza comedy The To-Do List is moving up from August 16 to July 26, 2013.
• Sony Animation is delaying Genndy Tartakovsky‘s animated Popeye movie to a date to be named later in 2015.

Hit the jump for more on each project.

Mere moments after a new trailer dropped for director Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, the multi-hyphenate took to Twitter to debut the first poster from another of his upcoming projects, 300: Rise of an Empire.  Snyder will be producing the sequel; at the helm is Noam Murro (Smart People).  We know that the sequel to 300 will feature a sea battle between the Greeks and the invading Persians.  Sullivan Stapleton (Animal Kingdom) steps into the sandals this time as Greek general Themistocles, who leads his soldiers against the vast army of the self-proclaimed god, Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his own general, Artemisia (Eva Green).

300: Rise of an Empire, also starring Lena Headey, opens August 2nd.  Hit the jump to check out the poster and be sure to take a look at these previously released images from the film if you haven’t already.

Feast your eyes on the latest images from the following films opening later this year:

• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Yesterday’s new image featured the Everdeen sisters, but today’s focuses on Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth).  Starring Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens November 22nd.
• 300: Rise of an Empire – We got our first look at the 300 sequel just a few days ago and today brings our first glimpse of Eva Green as the film’s antagonist, Artemisia.  300: Rise of an Empire opens August 2nd.
• R.I.P.D. – Today’s first look at the comic adaptation about two undead gunslingers features Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds and their weapons of choice.  R.I.P.D. opens July 19th.

Hit the jump to view all of the new images.

The first images from director Noam Murro’s 300: Rise of an Empire are now available. We get a close-up of Sullivan Stapleton (Animal Kingdom) who stars as Themistocles, a Greek general who battles against the invading Persian army.  The sequel to Zack Snyder’s 300 takes place at roughly the same time but will visit a variety of different locations (including the sea) and showcase appropriate tactics as the outnumbered Greeks attempt to defend their homeland.

Also starring Rodrigo Santoro, Eva Green and Lena Headey, 300: Rise of an Empire opens August 2nd.  Hit the jump to check out the pictures and quotes.

The official Facebook page of the comic book sequel 300: Rise of an Empire was updated with a new image showcasing the film’s title in typical Spartan fashion.  The title image shares many similarities with its predecessor, the Gerald Butler blockbuster 300, but fails to offer any new information aside from indicating that they intend to stick to this title (the follow-up was previously called 300: Battle of Artemisia).  300: Rise of an Empire is set to hit theaters August 2^nd 2013 and stars Rodrigo Santoro, Eva Green and Sullivan Stapleton, and is loosely based on the comic ”Xeres” by Frank Miller.  Hit the jump for the full res image and for more information on the spin-off/sequel.

Though they don’t have a lot of screen time together, Rodrigo Santoro and Forest Whitaker play two characters on opposite sides of the law who band together to fight a common evil in The Last Stand.  The Kim Jee-woon action picture sees a rag-tag bunch of sheriff’s deputies go up against a ruthless drug lord and his well-armed militia bent on crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.  In a recent video interview, Santoro and Whitaker talked about their approach to playing their characters, what it was like to work with action star Arnold Schwarzenegger and teased a little about The Butler and 300: Rise of an Empire. 

Also starring Johnny Knoxville, Jaimie Alexander, Luis Guzman, Eduardo Noriega, Peter Stormare and Zach Gilford, The Last Stand opens on January 18th.  Hit the jump to watch our video interview with Santoro and Whitaker.

Rodrigo Santoro (300) is set to star as a trouble maker-turned-town hero in director Kim Jee-woon’s The Last Stand.  Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the town sheriff who deputizes Santoro’s character, The Last Stand centers on the last ditch effort of a rag-tag bunch of local law enforcement attempting to stop a powerful drug lord from coming through their town to cross the border.  Also starring Johnny Knoxville, Jaimie Alexander, Forest Whitaker and Eduardo Noriega, The Last Stand opens January 18th.

During a recent interview for The Last Stand, Santoro gave us updates on the status of Senna, as well as positive feedback from the studio for 300: Rise of an Empire, an update on his voice-work in Rio 2 and the status of his recent Brazilian picture, Heleno.  Hit the jump for the latest news. 

Today only, Amazon is offering 22 movies you can download to own for $5 each in HD, and $4 each in SD.  Per Amazon, “Purchased videos will be stored in Your Video Library where you can access them whenever you want; watch on your PC, Kindle Fire, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, or more than 300 HDTVs, Blu-ray players, and set-top devices.”  Hit the jump for the list of films (which includes titles such as The Dark Knight, Casablanca, The Goonies, 300, The Town, The Departed, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Matrix) or click here for the full list on Amazon.

Because it would be silly and confusing to name the sequel to Zack Snyder’s 300, 301 or 300: 2, the follow-up has now been given the official title of 300: Rise of an Empire.  Previously, the Noam Murro sequel/spin-off was titled 300: Battle of Artemisia, but perhaps that was too confusing and so we’re now left with this generic title that continues the theme of recent movies (The Dark Knight Rises, Rise of the Guardians, etc). Deadline reports that the Legendary Pictures film will keep its release date of August 2nd, 2013 intact.  300: Rise of an Empire stars Eva Green, Rodrigo Santoro, Sullivan Stapleton and Andrew Tiernan in a story based off of a Frank Miller comic.  Be sure to catch up with all of our previous coverage on the 300 spin-off here.

While not as well known in America as some of his counterparts in What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Rodrigo Santoro is absolutely the bigger star in places like Brazil.  That’s because while Santoro has acted in some Hollywood movies and TV shows like Love Actually, 300, I Love You Phillip Morris (which is severely underrated) and Lost (he played Paulo), in Brazil he’s acted in countless movies and he’s a big time movie star.

At the recent Los Angeles press day for What to Expect When You’re Expecting (he plays Jennifer Lopez‘s husband), I landed an extended interview with Santoro.  During our wide ranging conversation we talked about how he got into acting, his favorite movies, how he got cast in What to Expect, the success of Love Actually, and the 300 sequel/spin-off 300: Battle of Artemisia . In addition, Santoro addresses the rumor of him playing famed Brazilian Formula One racer, Ayrton Senna, in a feature film.  If the project comes together it sounds like it could be really cool, and he definitely looks the part.  Hit the jump to watch. 

While attending the press junket for What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Steve got to sit down with actor Rodrigo Santoro, who talked about reprising his role as the God-King, Xerxes, in the upcoming 300 spin-off, 300: Battle of Artemisia. Originally based on the Frank Miller comic, “Xerxes,” the script has evolved to focus on an Athenian protagonist taking on the Persian king in a setting that parallels that of the original 300.  Santoro commented on the progress of the shoot, how it might be filming in Bulgaria, the overall story and the challenge of returning to play Xerxes again.  Check out our previous coverage of 300: Battle of Artemisia here.

Directed by Noam Murro (Smart People) and also starring Eva Green (Dark Shadows) and Sullivan Stapleton (Animal Kingdom), 300: Battle of Artemisia opens August 2nd, 2013.  Hit the jump to see what Santoro had to say.

Sure, the whole Google Maps 8-bit for NES thing might haven been an April Fool’s gag, but there’s something wonderfully timeless about the 8-bit era, when there was a limited color palette and characters moved around realms without bending their knees.  Not only is it still quite fun to pop in a Nintendo cartridge (in my case, with a Game Genie still attached), but 8-bit gaming has evolved into an art form and artist Eric Palmer is embracing it, using the 8-bit style to put a new spin on some iconic films.  Some examples are Jurassic Park, 300, Harry Potter, Office Space, Star Wars and The Matrix. Hit the jump to check them out.

Warner Bros. has announced release dates for The Hangover Part III and 300: Battle of Artemisia, and rescheduled Pacific Rim.  Here’s the line-up:

• Todd Phillips‘ The Hangover Part III, starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis, is set for May 24, 2013
• Noam Murro‘s 300 sequel, 300: Battle of Artemisia opens August 2, 2013
• Guillermo del Toro‘s monster movie Pacific Rim has been moved from May 10, 2013 to July 12, 2013.  The film stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Willem Dafoe.

Hit the jump for more on each of these films and what they’ll be facing on their opening weekends.

During the international press tour for his new movie Heleno, actor Rodrigo Santoro sat down with out partner site Omelete, and he talked about possibly returning to play Xerxes in Noam Murro‘s upcoming 300 sequel, 300: Battle of Artemisia.  While the script was originally based on the prequel comic Xerxes, written by 300 author Frank Miller, the sequel has morphed into a story with an Athenian protagonist taking on the Persian king.  Santoro says he’s still in talks to return as Xerxes, and that the sequel will show a bit more of his character’s backstory.

Hit the jump for more.  300: Battle of Artemisia stars Sullivan Stapleton and Jamie Blackley.  Santoro will next be seen in What to Expect When You’re Expecting.

While Dominic West has been acting for two decades, I’ll admit that he only got on my radar when I started watching HBO’s amazing series, The Wire.  Over the course of the series, West did an amazing job portraying the complicated life of detective James ‘Jimmy’ McNulty.  While the show was never a ratings bonanza for HBO, it will go down as one of the best TV shows ever produced, and it provided a launching pad for its excellent cast to take bigger projects.  For West, that bigger project is John Carter.  In Andrew Stanton‘s film, West plays the leader of an alien race who is obsessed with taking over Barsoom (Mars).

The other week, Disney held a big press junket in Arizona, and I landed an exclusive video interview with West.  During our extended conversation we talked about how he got involved in John Carter, the challenges of the production and working with green screen, his reaction to the finished film, the reshoots, how he might do an upcoming HBO series, and more.  In addition, as a huge fan of The Wire, I made sure to ask about his work on the show and how it opened the door to other things.  Finally, we talked about West’s little-known but crucial part in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.  Hit the jump to watch the interview.