The first footage from the adaptation of Stephen King’s novel Under the Dome has been released.  As probably the most anticipated new show coming out this summer, the first look includes scenes from the episodes as well as some behind-the-scenes interviews with King, the creative team, and several of the actors.  Not too much has been revealed about the adaptation, but from what could be gathered during their WonderCon  panel and this first look, it looks like this could very well be a riveting, suspenseful, and imaginative interpretation of the novel.

King himself has been very involved, but also vocal about his support for the show to deviate from the novel and explore other avenues with the characters and the story.  With Brian K. Vaughan (Lost) at the helm of the show and a talented cast that includes Rachelle Lefevre, Mike Vogel, Dean Norris, Britt Robertson, and Keith Harris, I’m expecting a solid and gripping thirteen episodes.  The series will premiere sometime in June.  Hit the jump for the first look.

The cast and crew of Under the Dome, the latest in the seemingly endless slew of Stephen King adaptations, was on hand today to give fans a sneak peak at what the new CBS show has to offer. The story kicks off after the town of Chester’s Mill is inexplicably encased in an invisible and impenetrable dome. As an avid reader of King’s novels I have to admit that Under the Dome is not my favorite of his works, but the premise has great potential for episodic adaptation, particularly with “Y: The Last Man” and Lost scribe Brian K. Vaughan at the helm.

Under the Dome, which premieres June 24^th on CBS, stars Rachelle Lefevre, Dean Norris, Mike Vogel, R. Keith Harris, and Britt Robertson. Hit the jump for highlights from the panel.

The television adaptation of Stephen King’s novel Under the Dome has undergone a bit of a tune-up.  The series was originally being developed by comic book/TV writer Brian K. Vaughan (Lost) for Showtime with Steven Spielberg onboard as a producer, but now it appears that the TV adaptation will be moving to CBS.  For those unfamiliar, the supernatural thriller pits local folks against each other when they discover that their vacation town in Maine has been cut off from the rest of the world by a mysterious force field.  Hit the jump for more on the CBS iteration of the series. 

Award-winning comic book/television writer Brian K. Vaughan (Lost) has signed on to adapt iconic author Stephen King’s Under the Dome as a series for Showtime. King’s 2009 novel is a supernatural thriller that pits local folks against each other when they find their vacation town in Maine (obviously) cut off from the rest of the world by a mysterious force field. The story rights were secured by DreamWorks’ Television’s Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider shortly after publication.

Known for his work on some of the more memorable episodes of Lost (“Meet Kevin Johnson”), Vaughan is also the writer behind comic book series “Y: The Last Man,” “Ex Machina,” and “Runaways.” Hit the jump for more on Under the Dome.

When we last reported on the planned adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan’s fantastic comic book series Y: The Last Man, we heard that director Louis Leterrier (Clash of the Titans) may be interested in taking the helm.  MTV’s Splash Page recently spoke with Leterrier about the project and he confirmed that he was interested.  However, the project is apparently mired stuck in limbo due to disagreements over how best to adapt the 60-issue comic series.  Said Leterrier,

“I still want to do it. I’m passionate about it. But it’s stuck. People don’t know what to do with it. I’d love to do it, but I need people to finance it, and the people financing it don’t know if it’s a TV show a movie, or what it should be.”

Hit the jump for why Leterrier thinks Y would work best as a TV series.

We just found out Sam Raimi is developing a new film about an Earth Defense Force, but Raimi has also been busy on the small screen too. In addition to his current work on Oz, The Great and Powerful, Deadline reports the filmmaker has just sold three brand new hour-long TV series to three of the major broadcast networks. ABC, FOX, and CBS have all respectively picked up a legal drama, a police procedural and a sci-fi series from Raimi’s Stars Road Entertainment.

Details on each series can be found after the jump.

Earlier today, Hayley Atwell was cast as the female lead in The First Avenger: Captain America.  When geek news like this breaks, I’ll often talk to Peter from Slashfilm on the phone and we’ll tell each other what we think.  It’s conversations like these that originally led to us to record our first video blogs.  After a few minutes of talking today, we realized with the recent announcement of Joss Whedon on The Avengers movie, we both had a lot to say about not only Captain America and The Avengers, but the future of Marvel movies and the choices the studio has made and might make in the future.

Cut to us recording an extended video blog.

Some of the things we discussed were Marvel casting choices, who should direct Marvel movies, the pros and cons of Joss Whedon, casting unknowns versus movie stars, what’s up with Ant-Man and is Edgar Wright going to direct it, is Marvel being cheap with their actors and directors, did Jon Favreau get offered Avengers, Thor talk, Runaways talk, will the merger of Marvel and Disney lead to a Pixar Marvel movie, why hasn’t someone hired Brian K. Vaughan to direct a movie, and I try and pitch a show called “The Marvel Universe” and how it would be a perfect fit on ABC.

If you’re a fan of Marvel movies, or just like watching two geeks talk, check out our epic video blog on the future of Marvel movies.

Director Louis Leterrier may be the one to finally bring Y: The Last Man out of development hell and onto the big screen.  Based on the brilliant comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan (who is currently shopping around a script for his apocalyptic-heist story, The Vault), Latino Review reports (via their source “Pinche Taco”, who is clearly a smart guy but for some reason writes like a mentally retarded Mexican) that the Incredible Hulk director is circling the project.  Earlier this week, we reported that Leterrier was also on the short list for The Avengers, but Latino Review says that was just self-promotion on the director’s part.

It’s hard to say whether or not Leterrier is a good choice at this point.  I like The Incredible Hulk, but it doesn’t make me think, “This guy must direct Y: The Last Man.” I’m seeing Clash of the Titans so I’ll have a more informed opinion of the guy then.

Hit the jump for a brief history of trying to adapt Y: The Last Man thus far.

Brian K. Vaughan, one of the best comic/TV/movie writers out there, is shopping around a script for a post-apocalyptic film called The Vault, which involves a real-world Doomsday vault located in Norway.  Reported by Production Weekly’s Twitter, /Film provides more details:

“A post-apocalyptic heist movie involving the real-world Doomsday Vault in the Arctic, The Vault is Ocean’s 11 meets 2012/Children of Men. When a terrifying plague destroys crops and causes starvation on a global scale, the world’s greatest thief must break into the extremist-controlled Doomsday Vault to steal the one seed that could prevent the extinction of the human race.”

Vaughan’s previous work includes the comic series Y: The Last Man, Runaways, and Ex Machina.  He was also a writer for Lost. Hit the jump to read how Vaughan made me a fan of comic books and learn about an unproduced screenplay he has that needs to be produced now.