Though director J.J. Abrams is undoubtedly deep in development on the very highly anticipated Star Wars: Episode VII, we still have yet to hear any official word about the film’s plot or its characters.  Rumors have swirled that Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford will be reprising their roles in the sequel, and the actors have hinted at, confirmed, denied, and walked back their involvement in the follow-up numerous times.  Understandably there are some potentially very lucrative contracts to be drawn up with the trio should they sign on, and it sounds like they’re currently in some stage of negotiations for their return but can’t really confirm as much until the terms are settled.

The notoriously prickly Ford has been lambasted with Star Wars questions recently while on the press tour for 42, and he stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live last night to promote the film.  During his appearance, he took part in a pretty funny bit in which he agreed to answer questions from audience members only if they didn’t ask about Star Wars.  As one can imagine, things didn’t exactly go as planned.  Hit the jump to watch Ford be a surprisingly good sport.

Every year, Jimmy Kimmel Live follows the Oscars with a star-studded sketch.  Last year, audiences were treated to a trailer for Movie: The Movie, which featured dozens of movie stars parodying every film genre and cliché.  Naturally, every hit needs a sequel, and JKL has delivered with Movie: The Movie 2V.  I’ll let you be the judge between which trailer is better, but I would say the sequel surpasses the original when it comes to the obligatory Matt Damon joke.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Movie: The Movie 2V opens Arbor Day.

A momentous occasion happened last night on late night television: Matt Damon finally reached a breaking point and hijacked Jimmy Kimmel Live.  Damon has been the brunt of a long-running joke on the show in which Kimmel ends each night’s broadcast by apologizing for bumping Matt Damon when they run out of time.  Damon has appeared in a few sketches here and there that tie-in with the gag, but fresh off Kimmel’s timeslot change that puts him up against Letterman and Leno, Damon hosted the entire show last night as he had “kidnapped” Kimmel.

It was a hilariously fun 90 minutes, as Damon must have picked up the phone and called all his closest friends since the broadcast was filled with the likes of Ben Affleck, Gary Oldman, Nicole Kidman, Robin Williams, Reese Witherspoon, Andy Garcia, Amy Adams, Sheryl Crow, Demi Moore, and plenty others.  Hit the jumps to watch a few highlights from the show.

ABC is moving Jimmy Kimmel into the thick of late night television.  The network announced today that Jimmy Kimmel Live is being moved to the coveted 11:35pm timeslot, while Nightline will be pushed to 12:35am.  This move puts Kimmel directly against late night staples David Letterman and Jay Leno, and given the show’s momentum and Kimmel’s growth as a late night host over the years, I think the guy is a genuine contender.  Kimmel has a knack for creating funny content with celebrity guests that doesn’t feel trite or familiar, and sidekick Guillermo is comedy gold.

The move comes on the heels of Kimmel extending his contract with ABC for two more years, and the network made the timeslot decision based on “ratings momentum, advertising demand, and increased revenue potential.”  Per THR, Kimmel will make his debut in the new time period on January 8th, the day after ABC airs the BCS National Championship Game (Boomer Sooner).  Kimmel recently hosted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and he’ll emcee the upcoming 64th Primetime Emmy Awards next month.  Hit the jump to relive some highlights from Jimmy Kimmel Live over the years.

It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen anything from Jack Black and Kyle Gass’ greatest rock band of all time, Tenacious D, but the dry spell has now come to an end. The duo has released a video chronicling their return and teasing their new album, Rize of the Fenix. The video begins with an Extra special covering the demise of Tenacious D following the box office failure of Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, then brings on a slew of celebrity cameos (Val Kilmer! Dave Grohl! Josh Groban?) that help bring the band back to its former glory. It’s pretty funny and definitely worth your time, especially for the Val Kilmer awesomeness.

Hit the jump to watch the video. The band’s new album, Rize of the Fenix, will be released on May 15th.

Like it does every year, Jimmy Kimmel Live followed the Oscars with a bit that packed in every Hollywood actor they could find.  This year, they poked fun at epic movies by creating Movie: The Movie and throwing in every genre possible.  Of course, the premise of trying to sell a movie by overloading it with famous faces is absolutely ridiculous.  Still, it’s an amusing way to try to start your Monday.

Hit the jump to check out the 9-minute trailer.  The fake film’s cast includes George Clooney, Charlize Theron, Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Alba, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, and Bryan Cranston as the world’s unluckiest hot dog vendor. Movie: The Movie opens Thanksgiving, Christmas, and summer 2012.

Tom Hanks was guest on Jimmy Kimmel’s post-Oscar show last night and he brought along the first clip from his new film Larry Crowne.  The story centers on a laid-off middle-aged man (Hanks) who goes back to college and strikes up a relationship with one of his professors (Julia Roberts).  Larry Crowne is the first film Hanks has directed since 1996′s That Thing You Do, and he co-wrote the script with Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding).  The clip looks charming and he almost always succeeds when it comes to light-hearted fare.

Hanks also did a fun spoof of the TLC’s horrific Toddlers & Tiaras, a show which attempts to capture the elusive pedophile/abusive parent demographic.  Hit the jump to check out the clip from Larry Crowne and Hanks’ Toddlers & Tiaras spoof.  Larry Crowne opens July 1st.

As he does every year following the Oscars, Jimmy Kimmel had some star-studded sketches for his post-Oscar episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live.  While this year wasn’t quite as good as the Handsome Men’s Club, it’s tough to argue with watching gorgeous actresses like Scarlett Johansson and Sofia Vergara engage in a new work-out regimen called “Humpilates”.  Basically, Kimmel and his writers found an excuse to have some of Hollywood’s most beautiful actresses hump exercise balls bearing the word “hobo”.  I have no problem with that.

Kimmel also ran a fake trailer for an American adaptation of The King’s Speech called The President’s Speech, where Sir Mike Tyson helps George W. Bush overcome his constant verbal gaffes.  Hit the jump to check out both sketches.

Robert Downey Jr. was on Jimmy Kimmel last night to introduce the new Iron Man 2 trailer and talk about the film.  While we posted the amazing second trailer last night, I figured you might want to see what he had to say about filming the movie.  Also, he came out in full Tony Stark mode with a women on each arm.  Regarding the film, in the second video Downey Jr. talks about how method Mickey Rourke was on the set and how Jon Favreau would hold pictures of some of his pets that have died to get him ready before the cameras started to roll.  Hit the jump to check it out:

Lost co-creators and showrunners Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse were on Jimmy Kimmel last night and they talked about the season premiere.  What’s interesting is while they are usually quite guarded about anything to do with the show, Kimmel was able to ask about the premiere and what was “a coincidence” and what was “not a coincidence”.  Since many of you have not seen the premiere…I’ll say more after the jump:

Jay Leno has taken A LOT of flack from the late-night community for muscling his way back into The Tonight Show and thereby thoroughly screwing Conan O’Brien.  Pretty much the only place he hasn’t been lambasted is The Jay Leno Show…until last night, that is. On Thursday, Leno ill-advisedly decided to interview his ABC counterpart Jimmy Kimmel (who recently did a biting show-long impersonation of him on Jimmy Kimmel Live!) in his “10 at 10″ segment. As you might expect, things got ugly. Armed with nothing but his standard list of softball questions, the once and future Tonight Show host was effectively KO’ed on his feet.

I can understand Leno’s reasons for doing it; he wanted to show that he wasn’t hiding from his critics, maybe exact some modicum of revenge (but, you know, in a safe way that wouldn’t offend anybody). And he thought he’d have the advantage, or at least that things couldn’t get too out-of-hand, given that it was his show and Kimmel would be on the hotseat. Unfortunately for Jay, that really wasn’t the case. Kimmel came to throw down and he unquestionably got the best of every exchange, consistently landing comedic blows on his clearly uncomfortable inquisitor even when the line of questioning turned away from the late-night debacle. At the beginning, it’s satisfying to see him squirm. But, by the end, after watching Jay awkwardly try to deflect the barbs for 5 minutes, you’ll probably just want it to end.

Hit the jump to see Leno get his ass handed to him and to hear what the newly minted Conan cult “I’m with Coco” is doing to voice their displeasure.