It’s hard to blame the movies themselves for the less-than-ultimate “ultimate collection” containing them. That goes double for Harold & Kumar , the Cheech and Chong of the 21^st century, whose amiable stoner antics don’t invite the sort of double-dipping this set was meant for. The movies are fine… only the packaging leaves something to be desired. Hit the jump for my full review of the Blu-ray featuring Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, and A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas.

The future of Adult Swim, Cartoon Network’s weird older brother, just got a little bit clearer, as the cable network has announced a bevy of new pilots that will compete for a schedule spot in 2012-2013. The most prominent of the bunch are an untitled animated continuation of the pot-fueled adventures of Harold & Kumar and Rick & Morty, a comedy from Community creator, Dan Harmon. The former is being scripted by franchise writers (and directors of Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay) Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg and will see stars John Cho and Kal Penn giving voice to animated versions of themselves. Rick & Morty, meanwhile, follows the adventures of an inventor and his dimwitted grandson. Hit the jump for more.

With the latest installment in the Harold & Kumar franchise, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (now playing in theaters), I got to sit down with Harold & Kumar creators Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg.  The duo wrote all three Harold & Kumar movies and they directed the second installment.  They’re also the writer/directors of the upcoming American Pie sequel American Reunion, and they’re working on a Harold & Kumar animated series (click here for what they had to say about the latter).

During the interview, Hurwitz & Schlossberg talked about the critical reaction to the franchise, if they fought with the studio over any aspect of the movie, how involved were they when the production was filming, the origins of Wafflebot, the future of Harold & Kumar movies, could a 4th film be in 4D with Smell-O-Vision, and how the 3rd film come together.  Hit the jump to watch and look for what they said about American Reunion in the coming days.

With director Todd-Strauss-Schulson’s A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas now playing, I recently got to speak with him at the Los Angeles press day.  During the interview, he talked about how he landed the project as this is his first feature, was their a line he was unwilling to cross, and deleted scenes (which sound great).  In addition, for fans of extended edition’s on DVD/Blu-ray, Strauss-Schulson tells me there will be an extended cut with seven minutes of extra footage and the claymation scene is 3 times longer.  Hit the jump to watch the interview.

The latest installment in the Harold & Kumar franchise, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas just opened in theaters to an enthusiastically warm reception from audiences and critics alike. Just as the film was about to open, news broke of a possible animated series iteration of the characters. If you’re familiar with the franchise, it’s not hard to imagine a pretty great animated iteration of the White Castle-loving friends. Steve recently got the chance to sit down with Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz, the writers of all three films in the Harold & Kumar series.

The two are behind the animated series version of everyone’s favorite multi-cultural duo, and talked pretty extensively about their plans for the series. They speak about what led them to the idea of an animated series, if the series would impact the feature film franchise, reveal that they’ve met with Comedy Central regarding the show, and talk about the involvement of Neil Patrick Harris in the half-hour animated series (John Cho and Kal Penn are already attached to voice their characters). Hit the jump for the full interview.

Happy Saturday, folks. I’m writing to you this week surrounded by a mountain of used facial tissue (that’s right, I’m not endorsing Kleenex on the site without some sort of kick back…wait, dang it). Cold season has officially set in which means I’m on a daily regimen of Dayquil (which I have no problem endorsing), warm tea, and self-pity. In case you’re a longtime reader of the “Top 5″ and you’re wondering to yourself, “Wasn’t Jason just complaining about the summer heat?”, the answer is yes. Out of the 52 yearly weeks, I’m generally not complaining about the weather for approximately 2 or 3 of them. It’s sad, I know.

In this week’s “Top 5″ you can find our video interviews with the cast of A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, press conferences with Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and more from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 junket, the red band trailer for Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum’s  21 Jump Street, a sit-down with the great Albert Brooks, and our coverage to date of this year’s American Film Market. Find a brief recap and link to each after the jump.

The Harold & Kumar franchise is a cult hit at its best.  The Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle was a modest hit in theaters but it found a rich life as a word-of-mouth DVD hit.  Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay was an earned sequel, and while it wasn’t quite as good as the first, it was still enjoyable.  But there’s always a danger when good movies go Christmas.  Christmas has been done to death, it has rules, and it’s meticulously designed to engender warm feelings based on jingles and iconography.  A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas embraces not only Christmas movies but brilliantly combines it with the gimmick of 3D, and the result is a painfully funny R-rated X-mas flick that will be worth watching every holiday season.

With director Todd-Strauss-Schulson’s A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas opening this weekend, I recently got to speak with the cast. Each day this week we’ll have a new interview up, kicking things off yesterday with Thomas Lennon and continuing today with NPH (Neil Patrick Harris).  For fans of the Harold & Kumar franchise, you may remember that Harris was shot and killed in the last film.  Don’t worry.  Everything is explained in the 3rd chapter and you’ll understand why he’s still alive and girl crazy.

During the interview, Harris talked about if there was anything that he couldn’t believe made it into the release, if he ever thinks the dialogue is a bit too much, what pranks he’s been involved with on-set, and he reveals his favorite karaoke song.  In addition, Harris touches on how the first Harold & Kumar was his ticket back into pop culture and thinks during his next How I Met Your Mother hiatus they could make the Smurfs sequel.  Hit the jump to watch.

With director Todd-Strauss-Schulson’s A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas opening this weekend, we’ve been given a bunch of movie related swag to giveaway to some of our readers.  We’ve got a “Holiday Munchies” red 12-can cooler, a windup toy WaffleBot, snow globes, an actual waffle maker, and a lot more.  After you see the movie, you’ll really wish the WaflleBot was real.

Speaking of the movie, I caught a screening a few days ago and thought it was batshit crazy.  In a good way.  I also cannot believe what they were able to get away with.  While Harold and Kumar 3 will clearly not win any awards, I laughed a lot and am glad the franchise is still going strong.  Hit the jump for what you can win and how to enter.

Earlier today the first image from A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas 3D was released, and now the first trailer for the fllm has hit the web. It’s pretty much everything you’d expect from a Harold & Kumar movie, but with Christmas. The story finds the duo trying to replace Harold’s father-in-law’s Christmas tree by day’s end, but you can probably surmise that all doesn’t go according to plan. While I didn’t find the second entry in the franchise as amusing as the first, hopefully the holiday setting of this one will punch things up. They look to be having fun with (and poking fun at) the 3D, and it appears that we’re in for a sure-to-be-great musical number. Speaking of awesome, Neil Patrick Harris looks to have a bit of an expanded role in the flick, which is very good news.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The movie stars Harris, John Cho, Kal Penn, Paula Garcés, Danneel Harris, Bobby Lee, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Danny Trejo, Amir Blumenfeld, David Burtka, Fred Melamed, and Richard Riehle. A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas 3D opens November 4^th.

The first official image from A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas has gone online.  As you can see, Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) have dressed up as nutcrackers for some reason, but I’m even more amused that the center of the image is Neil Patrick Harris.  He’s only a cameo in the previous two films and I imagine he’ll only have a small role in the new movie.  But you put the focus of the image on the NPH because the NPH can sell anything.  Even his commercials for Comcast make me hate that company a little less (once the commercial is over I go back to hating them).

Hit the jump to check out the image and be on the lookout for the first trailer in the not-too-distant future.  A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas opens in 3D on November 4th. [Update: We've now posted a high resolution version of the image]

We reported that the latest entry in the Harold & Kumar franchise started filming on June 21st with set photos to prove it, which New Line confirmed today via press release.  The studio conveniently included a full cast list.  We knew that John Cho and Kal Penn would reprise their starring roles, and the indispensable Neil Patrick Harris would likewise return with new faces Patton Oswalt and Thomas Lennon hopping on the H&K line.

That already impressive lineup will be joined by returning characters played by Paula Garcés, Danneel Harris, Bobby Lee, and Eddie Kaye Thomas as well as newbies Danny Trejo, Amir Blumenfeld, David Burtka, Fred Melamed, and Richard Riehle.  Check out all the details in press release form after the jump.

What’s more important, a job in the Obama White House or making sure the world get a third Harold & Kumar movie?  Well, thankfully for all fans of great stoner comedies, Kal Penn has apparently chosen the latter.

Deadline is reporting that filming on the third film in the franchise that began with Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle will begin filming by summer, with New Line about to hire a director and considering making the movie 3-D (I can’t say I’m terribly thrilled about that last part, but maybe 3-D pot smoke can give you a contact buzz.)  And since the duo has already gotten high with W. in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, it’s a pretty solid bet that Santa and the boys will be toking up in the third movie, which will be a “holiday” flick for release in 2011 or 2012.

Co-star John Cho revealed the title of the third movie, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, and what it’s about in a Collider interview you can watch here.