Universal has released the first trailer, poster, and a few new images for director Baltasar Kormakur‘s (Contraband) actioner 2 Guns.  The film is based on the graphic novel of the same name and stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg as operatives from competing government bureaus who are disavowed and forced to go on the run together after a mission goes wrong.  I’m happy to see that the pic doesn’t take itself too seriously, as there’s a nice sense of humor blended in with the more action-geared aspects of the story.  Washington and Wahlberg have some very promising chemistry, and 2 Guns looks like it could be a nice breath of fresh air in a sea of gritty, dark, and unrelenting action films that populate the marketplace.  Also, Bill Paxton as the villain?  Yes please.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer, poster, and some new images.  The film also stars Paula Patton, James Marsden, and Edward James Olmos.  2 Guns opens August 2nd.

Back in December, Steve spoke with director Baltasar Kormakur (Contraband) about his upcoming project, Everest.  “It’s a very, very big movie with a medium budget,” said Kormakur.  He also said that they wanted to try and get as high up the mountain as possible, and also spend three months shooting on a glacier.  According to Deadline, Christian Bale should get his crampons ready.  The film is based on the disastrous 1996 expedition that left eight climbers dead, and Bale is in talks to play the lead role.  Jon Krakauer chronicled the event in his must-read first-hand account of the tragedy, Into Thin Air. However, Everest will not be an adaptation on that book, and instead draw from multiple sources including interviews with survivors.   Kormakur’s film is not to be confused with Doug Liman‘s project of the same name, which is set to star Tom Hardy as Sir George Mallory, the first person to reach the peak of the world’s tallest mountain.

Kormakur is currently up for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film for his survival picture, The Deep.  He also directed the upcoming action flick 2 Guns starring Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington.  Bale will be seen later this year in Out of the Furnace.

We’ve got two new images for you today from the following films:

• 2 Guns – The first image from director Baltasar Kormákur’s actioner features stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg as two undercover operatives from different branches who work together without knowing each other’s secret identities.  2 Guns opens August 16th.
• Riddick - A new image from David Twohy’s third installment in the trilogy starring Vin Diesel as the fan-favorite anti-hero.  Riddick debuts September 6th.

Hit the jump to see both new images.

While director Baltasar Kormákur (The Deep, Contraband) is busy in post production on next summer’s 2 Guns starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, that doesn’t mean he’s not planning future projects.  As we’ve previously reported, Kormakur is going to direct the HBO pilot for The Missionary, which would take place during the 1960s and center on an American missionary (Benjamin Walker) who gets caught up in Cold War intrigue while helping a young woman escape East Berlin.   He told me the plan is to film this April in Hungary and a few days in East Berlin, and after the project wraps, he hopes to make Everest (which is a working title).

According to Kormakur, the film recounts the story of an accident on Mount Everest in 1996.  When I asked him the size and scope of the project, he said, “It’s a very, very big movie with a medium budget.”  To make it look as real as possible, he plans on filming on Mount Everest, traveling as far up the mountain as he can with actors.  They will also film on a glacier for three months.  For more on the project hit the jump.

One of the many films opening next summer is director Baltasar Kormákur‘s (The Deep, Contraband) 2 Guns.  Based on the Boom! Studios Graphic Novels by Steven Grant, 2 Guns is an action flick that stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg as operatives from competing government bureaus who are disavowed and forced to go on the run together after a mission goes wrong.  The film also stars Paula Patton, Bill Paxton, James Marsden, Fred Ward and Edward James Olmos.

Recently I sat down with Kormákur for an extended video interview and he gave me an update on the project.  He says he’s trying to get Clinton Shorter to do the score, he’s in the middle of editing (he’s turning in his director’s cut around Christmas) and the current cut is about 2 hours 10 minutes, trimmed down from 2 hours 25 minutes.  When I asked him to describe the film, he pitched it as a pulpy comic adaptation that’s “probably closer to 48 Hrs. than Bad Boys.“  He also told me his contract says 2 Guns will be R-rated, but he will only make it R if it makes the movie better.  He doesn’t mind cutting an F-word.  In addition, when I asked him to compare it to Contraband, he said 2 Guns relies less on big action, “hopefully there is more fun in the action than necessarily big explosions.”  Hit the jump for more.

One of the many projects HBO is developing is a cold war series called The Missionary.  If the pilot gets picked up, the series would take place during the 1960s and center on an American missionary (Benjamin Walker) who gets caught up in Cold War intrigue while helping a young woman escape East Berlin.  Malcolm Gladwell, Stephen Levinson, and Mark Wahlberg will executive produce the pilot, Charles Randolph will pen the script, and Baltasar Kormákur will direct the pilot.

Recently I sat down with Kormákur (Contraband, 2 Guns) for an extended video interview and he gave me an update on the project.  He said the plan is to film the pilot in Hungary in April.  In addition, they’ll also shoot a couple of days in East Berlin, but he says Hungary looks most like East Berlin from the time period.  We also discussed casting, how he got involved in the pilot, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

One cold night in Iceland in March 1984, a man accomplished the impossible: he survived five hours in the freezing ocean after the fishing boat he was on sank and then managed to swim ashore.  Yes, I said five hours. If you’re not aware, most people can only last a few minutes in the winter ocean, with some able to endure ten or fifteen minutes.  But lasting an hour is unheard of, let alone five!  This is the true story of director Baltasar Kormákur’s film The Deep, and it’s also Iceland’s official Academy Award selection for Best Foreign Language Film.

Recently I sat down with Kormákur (Contraband, 2 Guns) for an extended video interview and every night this week I’ll be posting part of it.  Tonight covers The Deep.  During this portion Kormákur talked about how he first became aware of the story, how much was fictionalized, what the success of the film in Iceland means to him along with it being the national submission for the Academy Awards, deleted scenes, the challenges of filming with a small budget, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Universal Pictures has released synopses for their upcoming films 2 Guns and Identity Thief.  Briefly, 2 Guns is an action flick that stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg as operatives from competing government bureaus who are disavowed and forced to go on the run together after a mission goes wrong.  As for Identity Thief, the comedy stars Jason Bateman as a man who goes to great lengths to get his identity back from a con artist (Melissa McCarthy).

Hit the jump to check out the synopses.  2 Guns opens August 16, 2013.  Identity Thief opens February 8, 2013.

We’ve quite a bit of release date news to share this fine morning, as Universal has announced a slew of schedule changes.  Briefly:

• With production set to begin in a matter of weeks, Kick-Ass 2 has been slated for a June 28th, 2013 release.
• The Denzel Washington/Mark Wahlberg thriller 2 Guns has been given an August 16th, 2013 release date.
• Director Richard Curtis’ (Love Actually) romantic time travel pic About Time, starring Rachel McAdams, has been dated May 10th, 2013.
• The Keanu Reeves samurai pic 47 Ronin, originally set for a November 2012 release, has now been pushed back even further to Christmas 2013.
• The re-release Jurassic Park 3D has been moved to April 5th, 2013.
• The supernatural actioner R.I.P.D. starring Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds has been shifted to July 19th, 2013.
• The Jason Bateman/Melissa McCarthy comedy Identity Thief has been moved up to February 8th, 2013.

Hit the jump for all the details, folks.

The first unofficial images of Denzel Washington, shiny of tooth and spiffy of hat, on the set of 2 Guns have made it to the Web.  Based on the pulpy Steven Grant comic, it stars Washington as Trench (a DEA agent) and Mark Wahlberg as Steadman (a naval officer), who team up to rip off the mob.  Neither realizes the other is undercover nor that they’re actually being set up to steal from the CIA.  Wahlberg’s Contraband director Baltasar Kormakur is helming the pic, which is described (in the novel, at least) as “a light-hearted crime romp in the vein of Ocean’s Thirteen and The Italian Job.”  The solid supporting cast includes Edward James Olmos as a villainous drug lord, Paula Patton as Washington’s fellow DEA agent and love interest, Bill Paxton as a high-ranking CIA operative and James Marsden as a naval commander. The script comes from Blake Masters (Showtime’s Brotherhood). Hit the jump to check out the pics.

Here are some recent casting additions at a glance with more information after the jump:

• James Marsden (X-Men) will board Universal’s 2 Guns, joining Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington.
• James Woods (Casino) and Ron Eldard (Sleepers) join the Steve Jobs indie biopic jOBS, starring Ashton Kutcher.

Hit the jump for more on each picture.

Director Baltasar Kormakur has found his villain for the graphic novel adaptation 2 Guns.  The film stars Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington and centers on a DEA agent and an undercover naval intelligence officer who unknowingly investigate each other as each is stealing money from the mob.  Variety reports that Commander Adama Edward James Olmos is in talks to play the film’s villain, a dangerous Mexican druglord who runs up against the two protagonists.  Bill Paxton recently joined the cast as a high-ranking CIA operative and Paula Patton is set as a DEA agent who also happens to be Washington’s potential love interest.

Olmos is coming off a 10-episode stint on the most recent underwhelming season of the Showtime series Dexter.  The graphic novel 2 Guns is described as a light-hearted crime story in the vein of Ocean’s Thirteen, but I’m guessing Kormakur’s version will be decidedly grittier.

It’s nice to see a down and dirty action movie, and Contraband offers a number of things that are fun. It’s got Mark Wahlberg in the lead, and a supporting cast that includes Kate Beckinsale, J.K. Simmons, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, and Lukas Hass.  It’s got a no-nonsense plot about smuggling, and at least one good shootout. But it’s also imminently forgettable. Our review of the Blu-ray of Contraband follows after the jump.

Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg are poised to star opposite one very, very good-looking lady in the graphic novel adaptation 2 Guns.  Deadline reports that Paula Patton (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) is in talks to join the cast of the actioner as Washington’s love interest (she previously appeared opposite Washington in Déjà Vu).  Based on the graphic novel by Steven Grant, the film centers on a DEA agent and an undercover naval intelligence officer who unknowingly investigate each other as each is stealing money from the mob.  Wahlberg’s Contraband director Baltasar Kormakur is onboard to direct from a script by Blake Masters.

Though I’m interested to see the chemistry between Wahlberg and Washington play out, I’m not exactly in love with the idea of another handheld, hard boiled actioner from Kormakur.  The tone of the source material is quite playful and in the vein of Ocean’s Eleven, but it’s unknown how much of that will end up on screen.  There’s plenty to be optimistic about (including Patton’s addition), so hopefully Kormakur will is planning a lighter tone and has a different visual style in mind.  Hit the jump to read a synopsis for the graphic novel.

It’s not official yet, but Denzel Washington is considering starring in a movie not directed by Tony Scott. Deadline reports that Washington—who’s been on an action drama bent for the past few years—is in negotiations to star in the action pic 2 Guns. The film has been in development with Mark Wahlberg for quite some time, with David O. Russell circling the director’s chair at one point. Wahlberg’s Contraband director Baltasar Kormakur recently signed on to direct, and now production is moving forward as Washington seems poised to become Wahlberg’s co-star. Based on the graphic novel by Steven Grant, the film centers on a DEA agent and an undercover naval intelligence officer who unknowingly investigate each other as each is stealing money from the mob.

When Russell was onboard and working on the screenplay, he described it as a romantic western. There’s no word on what the current tone might be, but with the addition of Kormakur and now Washington, I’m guessing we’re in for another hard-boiled action thriller. Washington will next be seen in the actioner Safe House, but we’ll get to see him stretch his dramatic chops once again with Robert Zemeckis’ drama Flight. Hit the jump to read a synopsis for the graphic novel.