Fox Searchlight has released the first trailer for the coming of age comedy/drama The Way, Way Back.  The film marks the directorial debut of The Descendants co-writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash and centers on a 14-year-old boy (Liam James) who spends his summer vacation bonding with the manager of a water park (Sam Rockwell) while staying with his mother (Toni Collette) and her overbearing boyfriend (Steve Carell).  The Adventureland-esque pic looks to be a nice little summer film with a healthy mix of comedy and drama, and there’s a refreshing lack of cynicism in this trailer.  Rockwell and Allison Janney are always swell, and the two are most definitely the comedic highlights here.  Matt caught the film at Sundance and was rather mixed in his review, but I find this debut trailer to be promising.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Maya Rudolph, Rob Corddry, Zoe Levin, AnnaSophia Robb, and Amanda Peet.  The Way, Way Back opens on July 5th in limited release.

There’s a reunion of sorts happening for Steve Carell and Toni Collette, who last starred together in 2006 Oscar-winner, Little Miss Sunshine.  Carell and Collette will join Jim Rash (Community) and Nat Faxon’s (Bad Teacher) directorial debut, The Way, Way Back.  Their script landed on 2010′s Black List, and after earning an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay of their effort for The Descendents, I’m sure we can look forward to much more from the duo.  The Way, Way Back is an indie drama about a dysfunctional family, but that’s where the similarities to Little Miss Sunshine seem to stop.  The plot centers on a teenage boy on summer vacation who is coming to grips with his emotionally-distant mother and his cheating step-father.  The parental roles will be played by Collette and Carell, while the film also stars Sam Rockwell, Allison Janney and Annasophia Robb. Hit the jump for more.

We’ve got some new images of a few familiar faces from some of your favorite (and soon to be favorite) TV shows. Here they are at a glance:

• Leonard Nimoy is currently shooting a guest spot on CBS’ The Big Bang Theory as the voice of Star Trek’s Spock.
• Jenna-Louise Coleman will join Doctor Who as the doctor’s unnamed companion, replacing Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) when she leaves the series this season.
• The first look at AnnaSophia Robb as a young Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) in the CW’s Sex and the City prequel, The Carrie Diaries.

Hit the jump for more on each project and to check out the images.

With Alcatraz and Person of Interest both alive and kicking on Fox and CBS currently, it’s been a decent year for Bad Robot. Now the company already has its sights set on next season with Jon Favreau directing his Revolution pilot for NBC, a potential series about a group of people trying to survive “in a world where all forms of energy have mysteriously ceased to exist.” Now the pilot has at least one leading man as Vulture has learned that Breaking Bad villain Giancarlo Esposito has been cast. He’ll play a character named Lieutenant Neville, a southern gentleman and steely military man with a secret. Details on the rest of the pilot are slim but stay tuned as this project develops for more information.

Details on AnnaSophia Robb landing The Carrie Diaries on The CW after the jump.

Emma Roberts (Scream 4) and AnnaSophia Robb (Soul Surfer) are set to star in the music-driven love story Anything but Ordinary.  According to THR, the film is about “a seventeen-year-old diving phenom who suffers a tragic accident during her final Olympic trials. When she wakes from a coma four years later, as a 21-year old, she is considered a medical miracle. But what no one else knows is that the young woman has become a synesthete, processing words and numbers through color, the third dimension and sound.”  So it’s like she’s on a continual acid trip?  I wonder how many people would trade four years of their life for that.  I hear colors taste great.  Charlie Craig wrote the original story and co-wrote the screenplay with Liz Garcia and Lisa Barrett.  Sanaa Hamri (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2) is set to direct.

Earlier this year, Roberts signed on to co-star in the indie dramedy Celeste and Jesse Forever while Robb is set to play Wendy in a dark re-imagining of Peter Pan.

There are various Peter Pan re-imaginings scooting their way through development.  There’s the terrible-sounding prequel Pan that stars Channing Tatum and sets Peter and Captain Hook as brothers.  Disney is considering the a promising adaptation of Dave Berry and Ridley Pearson’s Peter and the Starcatchers, which has Peter and the Lost Boys as the pirates.  And then there’s my favorite among the adaptations—an action-thriller, also titled Pan, directed by Ben Hibon.  If you’re not familiar with Hibon, he directed the beautiful animated sequence in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.  Pan was originally set up as a directing vehicle for Guillermo del Toro, but Hibon came on board to helm the picture last November.  The story is a dark re-imagining of J.M. Barrie’s tale which has Captain Hook as a haunted former police detective in pursuit of a childlike kidnapper.

Now the first cast members have been revealed and it’s an exciting line-up: Aaron Eckhart, Sean Bean, and AnnaSophia Robb.  Hit the jump for more details on their characters.

In the real-life drama Soul Surfer, inspired by teen surfer Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a shark attack, country superstar Carrie Underwood makes her feature acting debut as Sara Hill, the youth group leader who helped Bethany realize she could make a difference in the lives of others. When Sara took Bethany (AnnaSophia Robb) to Phuket, Thailand just after the devastating tsunami there, the teenager discovered a greater purpose that filled her with a new sense of hope and direction, and gave her a renewed determination to become a champion again.

At the film’s press day, Carrie Underwood talked about why she wanted to be a part of this inspiration story, how she could identify with looking to her faith to help get her through tough times, how encouraging AnnaSophia Robb was, as a co-star, and how her love for music is as strong as the Hamilton family’s love for surfing. Check out what she had to say after the jump.

The inspiring drama Soul Surfer tells the true story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton (AnnaSophia Robb), who lost her arm in a shark attack and courageously overcame all odds to become a champion again. What could have been a devastating lose for her and her family quickly became a headline-making story. Through determination and faith, Bethany refused to allow the life-changing event that took her arm also take her dream of becoming a professional surfer and, with the love and support of her parents (played by Helen Hunt and Dennis Quaid), she discovered that she could make a difference in the lives of others, all over the world.

At the film’s press day, actress AnnaSophia Robb did this exclusive interview with Collider, in which she talked about the pressure of playing someone who actually requested you for the role, overcoming her own fear of sharks, falling in love with surfing and the ocean, and how becoming friends with Bethany has given her a new perspective on life. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

A trailer for veteran television director Sean McNamara’s (personal favorite Even Stevens) Soul Surfer has landed online.  Starring AnnaSophia Robb (Bridge to Terabithia), Dennis Quaid, and Helen Hunt, the sports drama tells the true story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton who lost her arm in a shark attack in 2003 only to return to the top of the competitive surfing world by 2005.

To check out the trailer for yourself, hit the jump.  Soul Surfer opens April 8th.

Sony Pictures has released the first image from the upcoming sports drama Soul Surfer.  The film tells “the true story of competitive teen surfer Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a shark attack and courageously overcame all odds to become a champion again, inspiring millions worldwide through her sheer determination and unwavering faith.”  Soul Surfer stars Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, AnnaSophia Robb, and Carrie Underwood.

Hit the jump to check out the first image from the movie.  Soul Surfer is slated to open on April 15, 2011.

Actresses Leslie Mann and Kate Bosworth along with Chris Coy (Greenberg) and Kyle Gallner (Jennifer’s Body) have come on board Elgin James’s semi-autobiographical drama Goodnight Moon.  They’ll join AnnaSophia Robb and Juno Temple who play “young girls who find themselves in trouble after they run away to Los Angeles and hook up with skaters and street kids.”  Those skaters and street kids are always up to no good.

According to THR, “Mann plays Temple’s mom, a woman who works at a secondhand clothing store but whose best years are behind her. Bosworth will be Mann’s sister.  Coy will play an opportunistic, sociopathic street kid, and Gallner is a skater; both use the girls to run a scam that goes bad.”  So basically it sounds like a spiritual sequel to Catherine Hardwicke’s Thirteen.  That’s unfortunate since Thirteen is an unbearable feature-length after-school special.

Past American Idol winner and current best-selling country singer Carrie Underwood is set to make the jump to movies by co-starring in the indie drama Soul Surfer, the story of teen surfing champ/shark attack survivor Bethany Hamilton.  According to Variety, the film is based on Hamilton’s biography and stars AnnaSophia Robb (Race to Witch Mountain) as the young surfer who “defied all odds to compete and win professional championships after losing her arm in a shark attack at age 13.”  Underwood plays the role of a church youth leader.  Out of curiosity, who was the ass-hole making odds and taking bets against the one-armed girl trying to become a surfing champion?

Directed by Sean McNamara (Bratz), the film co-stars Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Lorraine Nicholson and Kevin Sorbo.

Many of the more recent film remakes have stayed pretty truthful to their original counterparts – 2009′s Race to Witch Mountain was the exception.  This film veered very far away from the original, and the similarities were very slight.  Though the film does offer some entertaining family fun and had some general similarities, fans of the original will most likely be left wanting more. My review after the jump: