With J.J. Abrams Star Trek Into Darkness opening soon around the world, we recently landed an exclusive phone interview with Zoe Saldana.  During the interview, she talked about making the sequel, how nice it is to finally be able to talk about it, whether Klingon or Na’vi is more difficult to master, filming the bridge scenes first, who the biggest joker on set is and who tries hardest to make the cast break on camera, script changes, and so much more.  We also talked about Nina, Out of the Furnace, Guardians of the Galaxy, and more.  Hit the jump for what she had to say.

Star Trek Into Darkness also stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, and Alice Eve.  The film opens in IMAX 3D on May 15th and in 2D and 3D on May 17th.

Marvel’s biggest challenge in Phase Two is Guardians of the Galaxy.  All of the other films are direct sequels, so not only does Guardians have to bring in five new characters, but it’s also the oddest assortment yet.  Led by half-human, half-alien Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), the team is comprised of humanoid aliens Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), a gun-wielding, talking Raccoon appropriately named “Rocket Raccoon”, and Groot, a giant, walking tree.  Marvel has earned the faith of audiences, and this is where it will be tested.  But President of Production Kevin Feige isn’t worried.  “We can take it to all those crazy places as long as all the characters respond in an emotionally truthful way,” he tells EW.

Hit the jump for what else Feige about the film had to say as well as a new piece of concept art.  The film also stars Michael Rooker, Ophelia Lovibond, and Lee Pace.  Guardians of the Galaxy opens in 3D on August 1, 2014.

Marvel: Phase Two hasn’t even started to hit theaters, but sometimes you just want to rush to desert.  While walking the red carpet at the Iron Man 3 premiere, writer-director Joss Whedon was asked a couple questions regarding The Avengers 2.  First up, since it sounds like Robert Downey Jr. is considering retirement from the Marvel Universe, some may be wondering if we’ll see Iron Man flying around in Whedon’s film.  Whedon responded, “I am not the guy who has to worry about him being replaced. He is Iron Man at this point. When I heard that he was cast I knew that something had just changed, and I usually don’t know stuff like that.”  It sounds fairly certain that Downey is on board for The Avengers 2, but beyond that, Whedon doesn’t know if the actor will continue with the series.

Hit the jump for more including what Whedon had to say about Thanos’ presence in Phase Two.

One of the last major pieces of Marvel’s upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film appears to be falling into place.  Director James Gunn has already secured Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), David Bautista (Drax the Destroyer), and most recently Michael Rooker (Yondu) to play his titular Guardians in the film, and just yesterday we learned that Ophelia Lovibond (No Strings Attached) has signed on to play a mysterious character that’s rumored to be an aide to the villainous The Controller.

Well, now it appears that one of the actors that previously tested for the protagonist role of Star-Lord has subsequently been set as the film’s villain, as Pushing Daisies star Lee Pace is in final talks to play the antagonist in Guardians of the Galaxy.  Hit the jump for more.

We’ve got some new casting news for you:

• Ophelia Lovibond (No Strings Attached) has just joined the upcoming Marvel superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy alongside cast members Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and Dave Bautista.
• Tom Hiddleston (The Avengers) and Hayley Atwell (Captain America) joined director Paul Andrew Williams’s (Song for Marion) Close Enough, the upcoming romantic war drama about lovers in France during the height of the Spanish Civil War.
• James Caviezel (Person of Interest) and Michael Chiklis (The Shield) have just signed onto Sony Pictures’s inspirational high school football film When the Game Stands Tall, and they will star alongside Laura Dern and Alexander Ludwig.

Hit the jump for more information on each new casting bit.

As filming is currently underway on Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the next film on the studio’s docket is Guardians of the Galaxy.  Casting has been ramping up lately on the space-set film, with Chris Pratt onboard as Star-Lord, Michael Rooker set to play Yondu, and Zoe Saldana and David Bautista in negotiations to fill the roles of Gamora and Drax the Destroyer, respectively.  Writer/director James Gunn recently took part in a lengthy interview in which he spoke about his plans for Guardians of the Galaxy. In addition to revealing that filming begins at the end of June, he talked about the importance of the character Rocket Raccoon, how he put his cast together, and he addressed comparisons to Star Wars.  Hit the jump to read on.

This shouldn’t really come as a massive surprise, but actor Michael Rooker has now joined the cast of Marvel’s upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy. Rooker has a close working relationship with Guardians writer/director James Gunn, having appeared in Gunn’s previous films Slither and Super.  He’s probably best known to the general public for playing Merle on AMC’s The Walking Dead, and while most pegged Rooker for the role of Rocket Raccooon in the space-set Marvel film, he’ll actually be tackling the role of Yondu.  Hit the jump for more.

Marvel has found its female lead for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Casting on the anticipated space-set comic book adaptation had been mum for quite some time until we learned in February that Chris Pratt had been cast as the film’s male lead, Peter Quill aka Star-Lord.  While there appeared to be a bit of a heated negotiations battle taking place between Jason Momoa and David Bautista for the bulky Drax the Destroyer role in the James Gunn-directed film, Bautista eventually landed the gig last month.  As the remaining three members of the Guardians team were Gamora, the talking raccoon Rocket Raccoon, and the giant tree Groot, all eyes were on who would land the final humanoid role of Gamora.

That anticipation ends today, as word now comes that Star Trek Into Darkness actress Zoe Saldana is poised to tackle the part.  Hit the jump for more, including the appearance of a villainous comics character in the film.

Earlier today, we were treated to some images of concept art from Marvel’s Phase Two slate of films, courtesy of the release of Marvel’s Phase One box set today on Blu-ray.  Now, there is a sneak peek video for Marvel’s Phase Two available along with concept artwork and images that provide a look at Iron Man 3, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy and even Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man.

Hit the jump to take a look at the video, concept art and images from Marvel’s Phase Two films.

With Marvel finally releasing their Phase One box set today, we’re starting to get a look at some of the extras included on the Blu-ray collection.  Earlier we got a sneak peek at a Phase Two featurette, and now some possible concept art has landed online that may or may not be included in the set.  The artwork provides us with a look at Cap and a transformed Bucky Barnes doing battle in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and also gives us a number of glimpses at director James Gunn’s absolutely massive-looking Guardians of the Galaxy.

Hit the jump to take a look at the possible concept art from Marvel’s Phase Two.  Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens in 3D on April 4, 2014 and Guardians of the Galaxy opens in 3D on August 1, 2014. [Update: A few more concept images from Captain America: The Winter Soldier have made their way online and are now included after the jump, including a first look at The Falcon.]

Reports now have Dave Bautista (The Man with the Iron Fists) signed on to play Drax the Destroyer in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.  Bautista was in the mix for the role with Isaiah Mustafa and Patrick Wade, as well as Jason Momoa, who many considered the frontrunner.  Bautista will now become the second team member to join Marvel’s Guardians after Chris Pratt (Zero Dark Thirty) signed on as Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord earlier this year.  While Quill is a human-alien hybrid, Drax began life as a human but was reborn in a powerful new body which granted him extreme strength, flight, and energy blasts.  Hit the jump for more.

The fantasy romance Upside Down, from writer/director Juan Solanas (The Man Without A Head), tells the uniquely original story of an interplanetary dystopian romance, in which opposite gravities literally keep the young lovers apart.  Adam (Jim Sturgess) lives on the poverty-stricken planet below while Eden (Kirsten Dunst) is on the wealthy, exploitative world above, and even though their planets are so close that their highest mountain peaks almost touch, the numerous obstacles they much overcome to be together seem insurmountable.

At the film’s press day, actor Jim Sturgess spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how he came to be a part of the film, what interested him about the story and character, the director’s vision for the fantasy landscape, how stunning and beautiful he found the finished product, and what it’s like to have to react to your own imagination.  He also talked about the audition process he went through when he was vying for the lead role (which ultimately went to Chris Pratt) in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and that he never even got to read any of the material, as well as his hopes to make the indie film The Big Shoe (which is also set to star Kristen Stewart and Elizabeth Banks), about an overbearing mom who hires a therapist to work with her shoe-designing son.  Check out what he had to say after the jump. 

Pretty much everyone seems to be on board with Marvel’s major superheroes getting their own stand-alone films and then reuniting for The Avengers films.  The real question as to audiences’ acceptance for comicbook fare will be tested when the space-based Guardians of the Galaxy opens in theaters on August 1st of 2014.  It may be easy to warm up to Star-Lord, aka Peter Quill, since he’s a human hybrid played by the charming Chris Pratt.  The test comes with characters such as Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Groot (a giant tree) and Rocket Raccoon (an anthropomorphic raccoon).  Marvel knows that, which is why they’re releasing four free digital comic issues that each center on one of the lesser-known characters.  Familiarize yourself with the heroes in question using our handy-dandy character guide and then hit the jump to find out more about Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite comics.

While DC and Warner Bros. are still trying to figure out what to do with their superheroes, Marvel already has the path laid out for “Phase Two”: Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Granted, all of the films except Guardians are sequels, but Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige says we shouldn’t be expecting more of the same.  Fans should anticipate new approaches, different sides of the characters, and trying to build it all to The Avengers 2.

Hit the jump for more.

I’m opening myself up to complete public failure here, but in the spirit of Oscar weekend I thought it might be fun to share with peers and readers alike my picks for tomorrow’s 85th Academy Awards. Worst case scenario, I figure, is that my picks are so woefully off base that I’m quickly offered a well-compensated position within the Republican Party as a polling analyst. High hopes, I know, but ultimately it’s all in the name of fun. Here’s to hoping you the reader will enjoy comparing your predictions against my own and sleeping better at night as a result of your superior Oscar guessing power.

My half-witted Oscar picks aside, this week’s edition features category previews plus Adam and Matt’s own predictions, Snitch interviews with Dwayne Johnson and more, a character guide to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, a roundup of recent Star Wars: Episode VII talk, and Sony’s PlayStation 4 announcement. Something that resembles a brief recap and link to each is starved for your attention after the jump.