After all these years, it’s surprising Colin Farrell has yet to lend his voice to an animated character, but turns out, waiting served him well because his character, Ronan, is featured in the “achingly beautiful” world that drew Farrell to Epic to begin with. Ronan is the leader of the Leaf Men and when Mandrake (voiced by Christoph Waltz) and the Boggans threaten to destroy the forest, he joins forces with the formerly human-sized Mary Katherine (voice by Amanda Seyfried), a renegade young Leaf Man, Nod (voiced by Josh Hutcherson), and a slug and a snail, Mub and Grub (voiced by Aziz Ansari and Chris O’Dowd), to ensure a very special little pod stays safe, giving them a chance to keep the terrain lush with greenery and life.

While in New York City celebrating Epic’s May 24^th release, Farrell sat down to talk about how director Chris Wedge and his team of animators first reeled him in, the challenge of working in a sound booth for the first time, Ronan’s backstory, and about how he felt seeing his voice coming out of a completely different body. And before wrapping up, Farrell also spoke a bit about Saving Mr. Banks and Winter’s Tale. Catch it all in the video interview after the jump.

Epic is a 3D family adventure comedy that reveals a fantastical world hidden from the human eye.  In the forest, there is an ongoing battle between the forces of good, who keep the natural world alive, and the forces of evil, who wish to destroy it.  When a teenage girl (voiced by Amanda Seyfried) finds herself magically transported into this secret universe, she teams up with the Leafmen, led by Ronin (voiced by Colin Farrell), and a cast of odd-ball characters, who must work together to save both their world and ours.  From Ice Age director Chris Wedge, the film also features the voices of Beyonce Knowles, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, Chris O’Dowd, Jason Sudeikis, Aziz Ansari and Armando “Pitbull” Pérez.

At the recent L.A. press day, Collider got the opportunity to chat with superstar music artist Pitbull about what made him want to voice a character in an animated movie, what made Epic the right project, and what kind of a frog his character is.  He also talked about his upcoming concert tour with Ke$ha and what he loves about performing live.  Watch the video or read the transcript after the jump:

20th Century Fox has released six new clips from the upcoming animated film Epic.  The story tells of a hidden land deep in the forest where the battle between the forces of good and evil continues under our very noses.  A teenage girl is magically transported into their secret universe by shrinking down to their size, where she must combine forces with an assortment of colorful characters in order to save both worlds.  The pic boasts an impressive voice cast led by Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, and Christoph Waltz, and promising to be a thrilling adventure ride that’s sure to transport kids to a wholly different world.

Hit the jump to watch the cilps.  The film also features the voices of Aziz Ansari, Colin Farrell, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler, Blake Anderson, Judah Friedlander, and Beyoncé Knowles.  Epic opens in 3D on May 24th.

Some new TV spots for Fox’s latest animated effort Epic have made it to the web. Based on William Joyce’s children’s book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, the 3D pic follows a teenager (Amanda Seyfried) who is shrunk down to insect-proportions while exploring a magical forest and finds herself caught up in a battle between the virtuous Leaf Men and the dastardly Boggans. Christoph Waltz, Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Beyoncé Knowles and Jason Sudeikis are a few of the other high-profile celebs voicing this one to life.  The film was directed by Chris Wedge, who helmed the first Ice Age (in addition to doing the “voice” of Scrat throughout that franchise’s run).

The four one-minute spots feature Hutcherson, Knowles and fellow stars Steven Tyler and Pitbull talking about their characters, the experience of voice-acting and what to expect from Epic (apparently, it’s pretty “epic”). Hit the jump to check them out. Epic hits theatres on May 24.

Hollywood has been trying to get a Gears of War movie off the ground for quite some time.  While a number of studios, writers, and directors have thus far been unable to crack an adaptation of the popular video game series, there was renewed interest late last year when video game company Epic began taking meetings with producers to try and find a new home for the property.  After a prolonged process, producer Scott Stuber has been tapped to produce the Gears of War movie, as development of the script will now begin with Epic.  Hit the jump for more.

New posters for a few upcoming films have made their way online.  Briefly:

• The Conjuring – The first poster for director James Wan’s insanely creepy-looking horror film teases the fact that the story is based on true events.  The film stars Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, and Lili Taylor and opens on July 19th.
• Planes – The debut poster for Disney’s Cars spinoff teases the many anthropomorphized aerial vehicles that will be featured in the film.  The voice cast includes Dane Cook, Val Kilmer, and Anthony Edwards and opens in 3D on August 9th.
• Epic – A new batch of character posters for the upcoming animated film introduces the colorful cast of characters.  The film features the voices of Amanda Seyfried, Christoph Waltz, and Aziz Ansari and opens in 3D on May 24th.

Hit the jump to check out the posters and synopses for the aforementioned films.

With director Chris Wedge’s animated adventure comedy Epic set to debut at the end of May, we were recently granted a behind-the-scenes preview of the Blue Sky and 20th Century Fox production.  While the trailer gives a nice idea of the world the film exists in, the footage we were shown – some of it still a work in progress – was absolutely beautiful.  On a storytelling note, many have drawn comparisons between Epic and that of 1992′s FernGully: The Last Rainforest and 1989′s Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and those comments are certainly not unfounded.  Though Epic is aimed at audiences too young to have seen either of those films when they opened, there is much more to the story here than just a rehashing of familiar elements.

Featuring the voices of Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz, Beyonce Knowles, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler, Aziz Ansari, Blake Anderson, and Judah Friedlander,  Epic opens in 3D on May 24, 2013.  Hit the jump for more on our behind-the-scenes preview and here’s the new trailer. 

A new trailer has been released for the animated film, Epic.  The story tells of a hidden land deep in the forest where the battle between the forces of good and evil continues under our very noses.  A teenage girl is magically transported into their secret universe by shrinking down to their size, where she must combine forces with an assortment of colorful characters in order to save both worlds.  This trailer doesn’t give me much hope for the movie.  The main focus is “Look at all the celebrities we gathered to do voice work!”  Instead, that voice work comes off particularly distracting at points since I’m not seeing characters but seeing Aziz Ansari and Christoph Waltz in a recording booth.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also features the voices of Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Colin Farrell, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler, Blake Anderson, Judah Friedlander, and Beyoncé Knowles.  Epic opens in 3D on May 24th.

A new international trailer for Blue Sky Animation’s new film Epic has made its way online.  The story tells of a hidden land deep in the forest where the battle between the forces of good and evil continues under our very noses.  A teenage girl is magically transported into their secret universe by shrinking down to their size, where she must combine forces with an assortment of colorful characters in order to save both worlds.  The movie still looks like a cross between Ferngully and Honey I Shrunk the Kids, but this trailer highlights quite a bit of the film’s action.  If nothing else, young children are likely to have a blast with it.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer.  The film features the voices of Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz, Beyonce Knowles, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler, Aziz Ansari, Blake Anderson, and Judah Friedlander.  Epic opens in 3D on May 24, 2013.

From acclaimed Danish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and screenwriter J.H. Wyman (Fringe), the crime drama Dead Man Down tells the story of two strangers who are bound together by their mutual obsession with revenge.  Victor (Colin Farrell) is a mysterious man who has infiltrated the crime empire run by ruthless kingpin Alphonse (Terrence Howard) for his own very definite reasons, while his neighbor Beatrice (Noomi Rapace) wants Victor’s help to carry out her own plans for retribution.

At the film’s press day, actor Colin Farrell talked about relating to his character, the environment on set, how much he enjoyed working with Noomi Rapace, chatting about work on their shared hotel balcony the night before they would shoot, and how he got cleaner than he’s ever been to play this character.  He also talked about his roles in the upcoming films Saving Mr. Banks and Winter’s Tale, as well as voicing a character for his first animated feature, Epic.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

We’ve got a number of new posters to share this evening.  Briefly:

• Fast & Furious 6 – A new character poster for the action sequel focuses on franchise-staple Paul Walker and, of course, a car.  The film opens on May 24th.
• Epic – A couple of character posters for the upcoming animated film from Blue Sky Studios.  The pic features the voices of Amanda Seyfried, Colin Farrell, and Josh Hutcherson.  The film opens in 3D on May 24th.
• The Blue Umbrella – The debut poster for the gorgeous-looking upcoming Pixar short film.  The pic will be attached to Monsters University on June 21st.
• Drew: The Man Behind the Poster – The first one-sheet for the documentary chronicling the life and work of renowned poster artist Drew Struzan.
• The Reluctant Fundamentalist – The new one-sheet for Mira Nair’s adaptation of the acclaimed novel.  The film stars Riz Ahmed, Liev Schreiber, and Kiefer Sutherland.

Hit the jump to check out the posters and synopses.

We’ve got a round-up of some of the latest posters from the following movies:

• Beautiful Creatures – A French poster for the Richard LaGravenese film starring Alice Englert, Alden Ehrenreich, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum and Jeremy Irons.  Beautiful Creatures opens February 14th.
• Spring Breakers – An alternate poster to the ones that we posted earlier for Harmony Korine’s film starring Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez and James Franco.
• Epic – The animated film from Blue Sky and the creators of Rio and Ice Age is directed by Chris Wedge and features the voices of Amanda Seyfried, Jason Sudeikis, Pitbull, Beyonce Knowles, Josh Hutcherson, Colin Farrell, Steven Tyler and Judah Freidlander.  Epic opens May 24th.
• Dead Man Down – The revenge thriller from director Niels Arden Oplev and Fringe writer J.H. Wyman stars Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace, Dominic Cooper and Terrence Howard.  Dead Man Down opens March 8th.

Hit the jump to see the posters and synopses.

A new trailer for the 20th Century Fox animated film Epic has been released.  The story tells of a hidden land deep in the forest where the battle between the forces of good and evil continues under our very noses.  A teenage girl is magically transported into their secret universe by shrinking down to their size, where she must combine forces with an assortment of colorful characters in order to save both worlds.  The pic still looks a little like Ferngully 2013, but I’m not entirely sure that’s a bad thing.  There’s more humor in this trailer than in the first, and the “miniaturized” story device should provide for some fun set pieces in the forest.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer.  The film features the voices of Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz, Beyonce Knowles, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler, Aziz Ansari, Blake Anderson, and Judah Friedlander.  Epic opens in 3D on May 24, 2013.

New images have been released for the animated film Epic and the raunchy comedy 21 and Over.  Both films seem to loudly echo previous flicks.  Epic seems to be very much following in the footsteps of FernGully: The Last Rainforest and Avatar where an outsider learns that the forest is important to people who live in a forest.  As for 21 and Over, writer/directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore have returned to the film that made them, The Hangover, with another story about how serious intoxication can lead to chaotic and hilarious consequences.  Judging by the trailer, I’m hoping we get another surprisingly great college comedy like Van Wilder.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  Epic opens in 3D on May 24, 2013 and features the voices of Beyonce Knowles, Colin Farrell, Jason Sudekis, Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, and Johnny Knoxville.  21 and Over opens March 1, 2013 and stars Miles Teller, Skyler Astin, and Justin Chon.

New promo posters have appeared for the gambling drama Runner Runner, the animated film Epic, and Ben Stiller‘s remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  Since they’re promo posters, they’re nothing more than an announcement, which is why the designer didn’t do more than simply write down the title and put it over a bland background.  There’s also a new international poster for Skyfall, which is like the recent posters except Bond is actually doing something.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  Runner Runner opens September 27, 2013.  Epic opens May 24, 2013.  The Secret Life of Walter Mitty opens December 25, 2013.  Skyfall opens November 9th.