No, they still don’t close the state of Florida, but creative differences have left the Vacation remake stranded on the side of the road for the time being.  Writers/debut directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein (The Incredible Burt Wonderstone) had the reboot all set up with Ed Helms (The Hangover) set to star as Rusty Griswold, Christina Applegate (Anchorman) as his wife and even cameos from the original parental couple, Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo.  Unfortunately, the picture has hit a snag, even though it was in active pre-production with plans to shoot in Atlanta this July.  Hit the jump for more.

Rusty Griswold’s wife has been found.  Ed Helms is set to star as the grown-up version of the Vacation character in Horrible Bosses screenwriters John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s upcoming sequel/reboot Vacation, and now the excellent Christina Applegate has entered talks to take on the New Line pic’s female lead.  The story finds Rusty taking his own family on a road trip to Wally World, and THR reports that Applegate is poised to star as Rusty’s wife, described as “strong-willed” and “losing interest” in her husband.

During a recent interview with the scribes, Daley and Goldstein told me that they hope to bring back some of the franchise’s original castmembers in this new film (ie. Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo).  Applegate is a fantastic comedic actress and seems a swell fit to lead the pic opposite Helms.  She is currently filming the sequel Anchorman: The Legend Continues.  Production on Vacation begins this June in New Mexico and Atlanta.

In case you’re still in shock over yesterday’s fantastic news that Harrison Ford has joined the cast of the sequel Anchorman: The Legend Continues, some photographic proof has popped up online proving that Ford is indeed starring in the comedy.  A couple of new photos from the Atlanta set have surfaced, giving us our fist look at Ford’s “legendary anchorman” character as well as new looks at Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy and Christina Applegate’s Veronica Corningstone.  It’s nothing too mind-blowing, but it’s most definitely neat to see Ford in character walking alongside the one and only Ron Burgundy.

Hit the jump to take a look at the images.  Directed by Adam McKay, the film also stars Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Christina Applegate, Meagan Good, and Dylan Baker.  Anchorman: The Legend Continues opens on December 20th.

Filming on Anchorman 2 is underway, but the flick continues to add great actors to its cast.  THR is reporting that Harrison Ford has signed on to play “a legendary newscaster a la Tom Brokaw.”  Ford has settled comfortably into playing supporting roles lately, and he’ll be sharing the screen this year in the upcoming films 42, Paranoia, and Ender’s Game.  The size of his role in Anchorman 2 or how it will factor into the plot is unknown as details on the story remain scarce.  However, we know that James Marsden will play Ron’s (Will Ferrell) nemesis, and that Ron is angling to go to New York City, which “is the holy grail for all newsmen,” according to director and co-writer Adam McKay.  We can also look out for Kristen Wiig to play a love interest for the lovably legally-retarded Brick Tamland (Steve Carell).

The film also stars Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Christina Applegate, Meagan Good, Dylan Baker, and John C. Reilly.  Anchorman: The Legend Continues opens December 20th. [Update:  The first set photos have leaked online.  Hit the jump to check them out.]

We interrupt your regularly-scheduled Mayan apocalypse plans to bring you a very important announcement: Paramount has set a release date of December 20, 2013 for Anchorman: The Legend Continues. The sequel to 2004′s Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy will feature the return of director Adam McKay and principal actors Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner. The story will once again center on some of San Diego’s zaniest newspeople, but will now see them amid the culture of the 24-hour news cycle. Oh and there will totally be a fully-choreographed musical number. Hit the jump for more. 

A couple of interesting TV-related tidbits were announced today.  First up, good/strange news for Up All Night fans.  NBC has extended the comedy’s season two order to 16 episodes, but the network is switching the show’s format to multi-camera.  Per Deadline, when the Christina Applegate and Will Arnett-fronted show returns in the spring it will be with a live audience and laugh track in tow.  It’s an odd move halfway through the show’s second season, but it’s not unprecedented.  Happy Days was a single-camera series until it switched to three cameras in its third season.

Hit the jump for more, including news on a new series from ex-Community showrunner Dan Harmon.

Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention?  I’ve just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story.  I need all of you, to stop what you’re doing and listen: Christina Applegate has been confirmed to return in Anchorman 2!  So maybe my delivery isn’t as good as Ron Burgundy’s cannonball, but the punchline makes me happy just the same.  The male leads, including Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner were previously confirmed to return, as seen in these teaser trailers.  As recently as today, Celebuzz confirmed that Applegate would return as Veronica Corningstone, in a sequel set around a 24-hour news channel.  Look for Anchorman 2 to drop sometime in 2013.

In other sequel news, Victoria’s Secret model, Anne Vyalitsyna will be making her big screen debut in A Good Day to Die Hard when it opens on February 14th, 2013.  Hit the jump to check her out.

20th Century Fox has released the first trailer for Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, the third movie in the series, and it’s absolutely painful. Really and truly. It’s basically Lost with annoying pop song-singing Chipmunks. The story finds Jason Lee and his Chipmunks “chipwrecked” on a desert island after a luxurious cruise. Lee is split up from his chipmunks, and said chipmunks wonder how they’re ever going to find their master in between singing Lady Gaga songs. I guess kids will enjoy it, but this is one of those kids movies that has zero appeal to the parents that are dragged along.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The voice cast features Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Amy Poehler, Anna Faris, and Christina Applegate.  Jason Lee, David Cross, and Jenny Slate will reprise their live-action roles.  Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked is scheduled for release on December 16th.

It was obvious that Warner Bros. was hoping for Hall Pass to be the Farrelly Brothers’ long-awaited comeback.  Starring Owen Wilson, up-and-comer Jason Sudeikis, Christina Applegate, and The Office‘s Jenna Fischer, Hall Pass failed to become the box-office juggernaut that some of the siblings’ other films became (see also:  the massive $176m domestic gross for There’s Something About Mary), but was their latest unfairly ignored upon release?  Now that Hall Pass is available on Blu-ray and DVD, everyone who passed on the film earlier this year can find out if the Farrelly Brothers’ latest is more Dumb and Dumber…or more Stuck on You.  Find out what we thought after the jump, folks…

After last night’s huge influx of news from Fox about series pick-ups, renewals and cancellations, it’s now NBC’s turn to announce some of their new series that we can look forward to in the fall. As of now there seems to be some dissension amongst the news outlets online as to whether or not Wonder Woman will actually get picked up, and other potential series like The Playboy Club are rumored for a pick-up but we haven’t heard anything official yet.

After the jump, check out the four new series that have definitely been picked up to premiere sometime this fall including a new sitcom from stand-up comedian Whitney Cummings, another comedy from Christina Applegate, a Broadway musical series from producer Steven Spielberg, and the stateside remake of the British crime drama Prime Suspect.

The Farrelly Brothers have exhausted any goodwill they built up during the 90s.  They once were modestly successful with gross-out humor that was disgusting but also slightly clever.  Most gross-out comedies don’t go for a bull semen joke, but Kingpin just casually threw one into the mix.  Unfortunately, the glory days of that film and There’s Something About Mary are well behind them and their 2007 remake of The Heartbreak Kid was unbearable.  With their latest effort, Hall Pass, they regain some of their footing, but the laziness of the humor combined with the inability to find what works makes for a film that’s barely passable.

In the new comedy Hall Pass, married best friends Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) both love their wives, but just can’t help checking out every other woman they come across. Fed up with their behavior, their wives, Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Grace (Christina Applegate), decide to grant their husbands a hall pass, giving them one week of freedom to do whatever they want with no questions asked. At first, Rick and Fred think it’s  a dream come true, but they quickly realize that the single life is not all they had built it up to be.

At the film’s press day, Bobby and Peter Farrelly did this exclusive interview with Collider, where they talked about why they loved the concept of Hall Pass, assembling this great ensemble of actors, having to cut out a scene featuring The Social Network’s Armie Hammer that will later appear on the DVD, trying to determine the point where you go too far and lose your audience, and their desire to do a comedy with Tom Hanks. Check out what they had to say after the jump.

As early as a few nights ago, I was seeing TV spots for Hall Pass that said “This Film Is Not Yet Rated”.  Well, a new red-band trailer for the film has gone online and Hall Pass may not yet be rated, but it’s definitely going to be rated R.  However, like all of the trailers for the film, it continues to coast on the reputation of The Farrelly Brothers’ There’s Something About Mary.  There’s Something About Mary came out in 1998.  Since that time, the Farrellys have used up all that goodwill with Shallow Hal, Stuck on You, Fever Pitch, and the unbearable remake of The Heartbreak Kid.  I want to hope that Hall Pass will be a return to raunchy form, and this trailer looks like they definitely have a firecracker in Jason Sudeikis and a secret weapon in Richard Jenkins.  The question is whether it all comes together or if their decade-long dry spell will continue.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Hall Pass stars Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, and Christina Applegate.  It opens February 25th.

The UK trailer for the Farrelly Brothers comedy Hall Pass has gone online.  The film stars Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis as a couple of married guys whose wives (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) give them a week to try and cheat consequence-free.  I don’t have much faith in the Farrellys delivering a solid comedy (There’s Something About Mary was a long time ago and The Heartbreak Kid was wretched), but this looks like it could be a nice opportunity to Sudeikis to shine.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Hall Pass opens in the US on February 25th and in the UK on March 11th.

Warner Bros. has released their preview kit for 2011 and along with it they’re providing the first look at Sherlock Holmes II, The Hangover Part II, and Horrible Bosses. There’s also images for The Rite, Unknown, Hall Pass, Red Riding Hood, Sucker Punch, Born to Be Wild, Something Borrowed, Apparition, Final Destination 5, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.  Hit the jump to check out the high-resolution synopses and images from these films plus synopses  for Crazy Stupid Love, Green Lantern, Dolphin Tale, Contagion, Happy Feet 2, and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.