The first clip from Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2 is now online.  While I’m surprised that this massive fight scene between costumed heroes and villains is the first clip we’re getting, I’m not complaining!  Some of our old favorites are back but there is a host of new characters on both sides of the battle.  Battle Guy, Night Bitch and Doctor Gravity get in on the action and it’s not just Kick-Ass and The Mother Fucker who square off.  Hit-Girl takes on a big challenge when she goes up against Mother Russia by herself.

Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Clark Duke, Donald Faison, John Leguizamo, Jim Carrey and Olga Kurkulina, Kick-Ass 2 opens August 16th.  Hit the jump to watch the clip. [Update: Unfortunately it looks as if this clip has been taken down.  Sorry if you missed it!]

Three breakout comedy stars have added new projects to their rosters:

• Dave Franco (21 Jump Street) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad) were just added to the impressive cast of Townies, also featuring Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, and possibly Rose Byrne.  The comedy will be directed by Nicholas Stoller (The Five-Year Engagement).

• Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids) is in talks to join Melissa McCarthy and Bill Murray in Ted Melfi’s St. Vincent De Van Nuys  After impressive turns with Girls and This is 40, this would see him re-teaming with his Bridesmaids costar McCarthy.

Hit the jump for more on each casting.

Universal has released the first red-band trailer for director Jeff Wadlow‘s sequel Kick-Ass 2.  The trailer opens with a fight/dialogue scene between Aaron Johnson‘s Kick-Ass and Chloe Moretz‘s Hit Girl that brings us right back into the Kick-Ass world, and it sure does feel good to be back.  The plot appears to revolve around the preparations for a showdown between Kick-Ass/Hit Girl and Christopher Mintz-Plasse‘s newly minted “The Motherfucker,” as both sides are building up their own armies of heroes/villains.  Mintz-Plasse looks to have gone delectably full-evil in the follow-up, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how his character progresses throughout the film.  The CGI is pretty iffy in places, but the fight scenes and performances look great, with Jim Carrey essentially unrecognizable as Colonel Stars and Stripes.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Clark Duke, Donald Faison, John Leguizamo, and Olga Kurkulina.  Kick-Ass 2 opens on August 16th.

This weekend, we’ve been showing you toys from Toy Fair 2013 including action figures for Thor: The Dark World, Iron Man 3, and more. It’s all about the merchandising, and if you’re going to get reasonably-priced action figures, you can’t do much better than NECA.  The toymaker has released images for some of their big 2013 toys with a look at their figures for The Lone Ranger and Kick-Ass 2.  The figures look good, but they also provide our first look at Kick-Ass 2‘s villain, “The Motherfucker” (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), formerly Red Mist.  It’s a wild costume, I’m curious to see what it looks like in real life.

Hit the jump to check out the toys.  The Lone Ranger opens July 3rd.  Kick-Ass 2 opens June 28th.

This collection of images from comedy anthology Movie 43 gives a good look at the actors involved in the movie…and there are a lot of them:  Emma Stone, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts, Terrence Howard, Halle Berry, Jason Sudeikis, Gerard Butler, Kristen Bell, Chloe Moretz, Josh Duhamel, Johnny Knoxville, Elizabeth Banks, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Richard Gere, Anna Faris, Justin Long, Liev Schreiber, Uma Thurman, Seann William Scott, Kieran Culkin, Leslie Bibb, Jimmy Bennett, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Kate Bosworth, Patrick Warburton, Tony Shalhoub, Chris Pratt, Jack McBrayer, Aasif Mandvi and Bobby Cannavale.  Movie 43 opens January 25, 2013.  Hit the jump to check out all of the above in image form.

The comedy omnibus Movie 43 has something for everyone with its enormous, star-studded cast: Emma Stone, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts, Terrence Howard, Halle Berry, Jason Sudeikis, Gerard Butler, Kristen Bell, Chloe Moretz, Josh Duhamel, Johnny Knoxville, Elizabeth Banks, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Richard Gere, Anna Faris, Justin Long, Liev Schreiber, Uma Thurman, Seann William Scott, Kieran Culkin, Leslie Bibb, Jimmy Bennett, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Kate Bosworth, Patrick Warburton, Tony Shalhoub, Chris Pratt, Jack McBrayer, Aasif Mandvi, Bobby Cannavale.

Movie 43 opens on January 25, 2013, so Relativity sent over an exclusive TV spot.  If you can handle jokes about homeschool incest and inappropriate uses for hot sauce, watch it after the jump.  And make sure to check out the red band trailer.

The amount of behind-the-scenes work that went into creating ParaNorman should be worth an award by itself. New featurettes for the Chris Butler and Sam Fell film are reminding the academy voters that the animated feature is the “most ambitious stop-motion film ever made.” Using cutting-edge technology in the form of fully-articulated puppets and 3D printing, just to name a few, the creative army behind ParaNorman is still a devoted group of craftspeople at their core. Even for those of you who enjoyed the film, these featurettes reveal a lot of hidden details in certain scenes and will give you a whole new appreciation for the work that went into bringing ParaNorman to the screen.

Featuring the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Anna Kendrick, John Goodman, Leslie Mann and Tucker Albrizzi, ParaNorman is now available on DVD/Blu-ray. Hit the jump to check out the featurette.

If you like your movie trailers short on plot, heavy on the ad-libbing and redder than a Romney state, then you’ll love this new red-band effort from Movie 43.  The Peter Farrelly ensemble comedy stars everyone you’ve ever heard of in Hollywood and even some you haven’t.  Movie 43 has released another red-band trailer previously, but the new one mostly focuses on a stream of improv from Jason Sudeikis who is admiring Kristen Bell’s crotch.

Starring Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Bell, Halle Berry, Leslie Bibb, Kate Bosworth, Gerard Butler and everyone else, Movie 43 opens on January 25th, 2013.  Hit the jump to see the new red-band trailer.

We’ve already seen countless photos and videos from the set of the in-production sequel Kick-Ass 2 (many courtesy of director Jeff Wadlow himself), but now the film’s official synopsis has been released, giving us a peek at the film’s plot.  When the sequel’s story picks up, the bravery of Aaron Johnson’s titular hero has inspired a wave of superheroes led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey).  When the group becomes the target of Red Mist’s (Christhoper Mintz-Plasee) fury—now going by the name of “The Mother F%&*^r”—only the incredibly deadly Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) can save them.

Hit the jump to read the full synopsis which includes some further details, and if you missed it check out Steve’s video interview with Moretz from last week’s New York Comic-Con.  The promising ensemble cast also includes Clark Duke, Donald Faison, John Leguizamo, and Olga Kurkulina.  Kick-Ass 2 opens on June 28th, 2013.

Anna Kendrick is becoming an actress I trust instinctively.  I love watching her on screen, so if I am not sure about a movie, her presence will nudge me to go see.  Pitch Perfect is a good test case.  It’s a snarky college movie, which can be good but often isn’t.  The Kendrick Factor makes me want to check it out though, and it helps that the movie has been getting great early buzz.  Even if you haven’t fallen for Kendrick as hard as I have, you can check out 7 clips from Pitch Perfect to get a sense of the movie after the jump.

Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Alexis Knapp, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Adam Devine also star in the acapella comedy.  Directed by Jason Moore, Pitch Perfect opens October 5.

Another day, another batch of blurry set photos featuring some of your favorite barely recognizable stars.  Today, we have our first look at Kick-Ass 2 star Christopher Mintz-Plasse in costume as The Motherfucker.  He doesn’t appear to be dressed in the same black-and-orange duds we saw him in at the end of Kick-Ass, but it’s hard to get a decent look in these lo-res images.  We’ve also got first looks at Michael Fassbender and Javier Bardem in Ridley Scott’s The Counselor.  I didn’t think it possible, but Bardem looks even stranger here than he does in Skyfall.  Maybe it’s just the pocket-fan.  Hit the jump to check out the set photos.

Production is officially underway on Kick-Ass 2 in Toronto, and writer/director Jeff Wadlow is making great use of his Twitter account to give fans an inside look at the film.  Last week he shared a tantalizing image of the Christopher Mintz-Plasse and the actress set to play villain Mother Russia, but her face was covered so we still had no confirmation as to who had nabbed the part.  Now confirmation has finally come courtesy of Iron World (via Bleeding Cool) that bodybuilder Olga Kurkulina has landed the role of Mother Russia, who serves as Red Mist’s bodyguard in the follow-up to Matthew Vaughn’s first film.

Hit the jump to take a look at Kurkulina and to see what images Wadlow has shared from the set thus far.  Kick-Ass 2 also stars Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz, John Leguizamo, Donald Faison and Jim Carrey. The film is set for release on June 28th, 2013.

The debut red-band trailer for the R-rated comedy The To Do List (previously titled The Hand Job) has landed online, and it’s wonderfully filthy.  The film stars Aubrey Plaza as a sexually inexperienced teenager with a type-A personality who decides to engage in numerous sex acts before she goes to college.  The trailer is very explicit about said acts, but never veers into “too awkward to watch” territory.  Plaza is spot-on as the lead, and she’s buoyed by a ridiculously amazing supporting cast that includes Donald Glover, Rachel Bilson, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Alia Shawkat, Mae Whitman, Johnny Simmons, Connie Britton, Clark Gregg, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Scott Porter.  Seriously, this ensemble is stacked and they all look to be bringing their A-game.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer, then make your Valentine’s Day plans accordingly.  Written and directed by Maggie Carey, the film opens on February 14th, 2013.

After yesterday’s news that Universal was courting Jim Carrey for Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2, now Lindy Booth (Dawn of the Dead) is in talks to star as yet another hero.  Carrey was sought to play Colonel Stars,  who forms the heroic team, Justice Forever.  While Carrey may not take the role, Booth is currently in negotiations to star as the Night Bitch, a member of Justice Forever.

Kick-Ass 2, which features the return of stars Aaron Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, stars filming next month in Toronto and New York.  Hit the jump for more on Booth, Night Bitch and a recap of the casting so far.

Universal reportedly wants Jim Carrey to join the ass kicking in director Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2.  The sequel to Matthew Vaughn’s 2010 original film adaptation of the Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. comic already features returning cast members Aaron Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Nicolas Cage and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.  Carrey is being sought to play the role of Colonel Stars, a founding member of Justice Forever who recruits heroes to the crime fighting group.  Deadline reports that, though Carrey is a fan of Vaughn’s original film, no deals are in place yet.  Do you think Carrey would be a good fit for the Colonel? Let us know in the comments!