A new International red-band trailer has been released for Kick-Ass 2.  Jeff Wadlow takes over from the first film’s director Matthew Vaughn this time around, and the story finds Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kick-Ass and Chloe Grace Moretz’s Hit Girl inspiring a new wave of masked superheroes that join in their fight against evil.  On the flipside, Christopher Mintz-Plasse has now become a supervillain named The Mother Fucker and is assembling his own masked evil league.  Judging by the trailer, I don’t know if Kick-Ass 2 will be quite as good as the first movie, but it still looks like it could be a lot of fun.

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

The comedy A.C.O.D., which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to positive reviews, has been picked up for distribution by The Film Arcade and Paramount Home Media.  The title stands for “Adult Children of Divorce” and the Stuart Zicherman-directed film centers on a guy (Adam Scott) who has been caught in his parents’ (Richard Jenkins and Catherine O’Hara) ugly divorce for the past twenty years, and matters become even worse when his brother gets engaged.  Then the details of the feud are revealed in a definitive new book on children of divorce.

I caught the film at Sundance (read Matt’s review here) and it’s a solid comedy with a big heart, and as a fellow A.C.O.D. it hit really close to home for me in quite a few parts.  It also features scene-stealing performances by Catherine O’Hara and Richard Jenkins, with other nice turns from Clark Duke, Amy Poehler, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  The Film Arcade will be handling theatrical distribution in North America, while Paramount Home Media will manage domestic home entertainment, television licensing and digital distribution, as well as international distribution.  Hit the jump for the press release.

As Brendan said last month, Hot Tub Time Machine had the reputation of being a flop based on a mediocre $14 million opening weekend, but the movie had legs, reaching $50 million domestic and it is exactly the kind of R-rated comedy that finds a second life on DVD and cable reruns.  This explains why MGM has been developing a sequel with director Steve Pink.  While we previously reported that Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and Clark Duke were set to reprise their roles in the sequel, the big story was that John Cusack might not be coming back.

However, when I spoke to Robinson earlier today at WonderCon for Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg‘s This Is The End, he told me “negotiations are still going” with the cast and he made it sound like Cusack might be coming back.  In addition, he said filming begins this June and he’s seen an early version of the script.  Since the first film featured a tremendous amount of improv, I’d imagine whatever script he’s seen will have a lot of changes on set.  Hit the jump to see what Robinson had to say about the sequel and to watch the trailer for the first film.  Look for more of my interview with Robinson soon.

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.

We’ve got eight clips from DreamWorks Animations’ The Croods to share with you today. Directed by Kirk De Micco (Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon), The Croods centers on the titular prehistoric family embarking on the world’s first  road trip through an uncharted, fantastical and dangerous world.  Featuring the voice talents of Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Nicolas Cage, Clark Duke, Catherine Keener and Cloris Leachman, The Croods opens March 22nd.  Hit the jump to watch all eight clips.

In his feature directorial debut, A.C.O.D., Stu Zicherman has taken the premise for the episode of a sitcom, and turned it into a film that’s not only funny, but also surprisingly relatable for audience members represented by the title’s acronym, “Adult Children of Divorce”.  Speaking as an A.C.O.D., my parents never had the comical, over-the top fights featured in the movie, but Zicherman and co-writer Ben Karlin manage to work in a strong, emotional center to a comedy that works in broad strokes.  The movie may share the same plotline as sitcom episode, but thanks to its excellent cast and willingness to push its protagonist to emotionally unpleasant places, A.C.O.D. works for kids from broken and unbroken homes alike.

Hot Tub Time Machine has a reputation has a flop based on a mediocre $14 million opening weekend.  But the movie had legs, reaching $50 million domestic.  And it is exactly the kind of R-rated comedy that finds a second life on DVD and cable reruns.  Add everything up, and there is apparently enough incentive for MGM to enter into “exploratory talks” with Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and Clark Duke to reprise their roles for a sequel, according to Heat Vision.  John Cusack, the lead in the original, is curiously not involved at this stage.

Steve Pink is also in talks to return as director.  Pink would work out the story with Corddry.  No details are available yet, but a hunch: The gang goes back in time to the wacky 1990s this time.  There is no guarantee that a deal will come together, but if one does, production will reportedly be fast-tracked.  As a fan of the cast and time travel, sounds good to me.  Hit the jump to revisit the nostalgia of 2009 and watch the trailer.

A new trailer for DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming film The Croods has been released online.  Written and directed by Kirk De Micco (Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon), the film takes us back to “a previously undiscovered era in the history of our planet” and centers on the culture clash between a family of cavemen and a more evolved young man named Guy (Ryan Reynolds).  This trailer is much more DreamWorks-y than the first teaser in that it relies heavily on physical comedy and gags.  That said, there are a couple genuine laughs to be found and the animation looks great.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer, and click here to read Dave’s recap from DreamWorks Animation’s recent sneak peek at their upcoming slate.  The film also features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman and Clark Duke.  The Croods opens March 22, 2013 in 3D.

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.

The first trailer for DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods has been released.  Written and directed by Kirk De Micco (Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon), the film takes us back to “a previously undiscovered era in the history of our planet” and centers on the culture clash between a family of cavemen and a more evolved young man named Guy (Ryan Reynolds).  We don’t see much of the plot in this trailer, but the visuals look absolutely gorgeous.  We learn that the family The Croods live by the rule of “never try anything new,” so naturally the film will focus on their journey of leaving the cave for the first time.  It’s interesting to see DreamWorks playing up the more dramatic and awe-inspiring aspects of this and Rise of the Guardians compared the comedy-heavy trailers for their previous films.  I’m sure The Croods will still have plenty of jokes, but I’m encouraged by what we see in this teaser.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also features the voices of Emma Stone, Nicolas Cage, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman and Clark Duke.  The Croods opens in 3D on March 22nd, 2013.

We previously brought you some early set photos of Aaron Johnson and Chloe Grace Moretz in costume to reprise their roles of Kick-Ass and Hit Girl in director Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2.  Today, we’ve got more looks at Kick-Ass alongside Donald Faison as Dr. Gravity, plus a couple other members of the superhero team Justice Forever.  The images show what appears to be Insect Man, plus Clark Duke reprising his role as Marty and taking on the mantle of Battle Guy.

Kick-Ass 2 also stars Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jim Carrey, Lyndsy Fonseca, Yancy Butler, John Leguizamo, Lindy Booth, Andy Nyman, Olga Kurkulina and Nicolas Cage in a cameo. The film hits domestic theaters on June 28, 2013 and will be in UK theaters July 19, 2013.  Hit the jump to take a look at the new set photos.

We’re about six months out from the release of DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods, the studio’s tale about a prehistoric family unit trying to adapt to a changing world.  We brought you coverage on The Croods earlier this year from Comic-Con 2012 where DreamWorks Animation chief creative officer Bill Damashke and supervising animator James Baxter talked about the backstory and progress of the film.  Now we have some new polished images of the family members as well as more meat to fill out each character.

The Croods, written and directed by Kirk De Micco (Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch) and featuring the voices of Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Nicolas Cage, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman and Clark Duke, opens March 22nd, 2013.  Hit the jump to check out the new images and character descriptions. 

We’ve got a few casting stories to share with you this evening.  Briefly:

• Identity Thief – John Cho and Clark Duke join the comedy toplined by Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy.
• Hitchcock – Ralph Macchio is set in a real-life role in the story of the making of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.
• Bird People – Josh Charles is set to star in the English and French-language drama with supernatural elements.

Hit the jump for more on each project and who the aforementioned actors will play.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories to share with you this evening. First up, Clark Duke (Kick-Ass) and SAG President (and frequent 30 Rock guest) Ken Howard are the latest to join the comedy A.C.O.D. The title stands for “Adult Children of Divorce”, and the plot centers on a guy (Adam Scott) who has been caught in his parents’ ugly divorce of the past twenty years, and matters become even worse when his brother gets engaged.  Then the details of the feud are revealed in a definitive new book on children of divorce.

The already stellar ensemble cast includes Scott, Amy Poehler, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jane Lynch, Jessica Alba, Catherine O’Hara and Richard Jenkins. Variety reports that Howard will play Scott’s amicable stepfather and Duke will play Scott’s younger brother whose engagement forces the parents to meet once again. Duke is incredibly funny and Howard brings down the house on 30 Rock, so the two are very much welcome additions to an incredibly exciting project. Hit the jump for casting news concerning the next Percy Jackson film.

Remember that brief moment where it looked like Eddie Murphy was going to turn his career around and go back to being that guy we all liked in the 80s?  Then he dropped hosting the Oscars after his moron Tower Heist director Brett Ratner resigned, and now there’s a new trailer for another one Murphy’s high-concept “comedies”, A Thousand Words.  In all fairness, Murphy made this movie almost a year ago, but it’s a strong reminder of why we all want to forget about him. The movie is about a guy who only has a thousand words left before he dies, which seems like a strong premise for a drama, but instead it looks like everyone involved said, “Let’s make Liar, Liar 2“.  At least it’s a nice reminder that we should all heed the warnings of Cliff Curtis.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Kerry Washington, Clark Duke, and Allison Janney.  A Thousand Words opens March 23, 2012.