Before I dive into the main topic of this week’s opening paragraph, just a quick disclaimer that the Top 5 will be taking a week off next Saturday to accommodate the first, and perhaps only, trip to Hawaii I will ever take. Here’s to hoping it’s less awkward but equally as life-changing and Kristen Bell/Mila Kunis-filled as Forgetting Sarah Marshall depicted. That said, while it fell just short of the cut this week, I still want to draw attention to the first trailer for director Adam Wingard‘s You’re Next that debuted on Thursday. As a horror fan, I’m always excited when a new entry in the genre gets lauded from both sides of the aisle (horror fans and those who aren’t as giddy about movies that make them think twice about turning out the lights). As far as I’m concerned, August 23rd can’t get here soon enough.

All Hawaii and horror fanboy talk aside, this week’s list offers up the first trailer(s) for The Wolverine, interviews with Dwayne Johnson and more for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the first trailer and posters for White House Down, a new red-band trailer for Pain & Gain, and The Host interviews with Saoirse Ronan and more. As you’re probably expecting, a brief recap and link to all of the above can be found after the jump.

Opening this Thursday is director Jon M. Chu’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  The sequel’s story finds the Joes disbanded and outnumbered as they must square off against not only the Cobras, but also threats within their own government.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation stars Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum,  D.J. Cotrona, Elodie Yung, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Stevenson, Walton Goggins, RZA and Adrianne Palicki.  For more on the film, here’s clips, images, on set interviews, and all our previous coverage.

A few days ago at the Los Angeles press day I spoke to Chu.  We talked about Paramount’s decision to delay the film for a 3D conversion, the 9 minute action sequence with no dialogue, deleted scenes, what will be on the eventual Blu-ray, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Paramount has released a hefty reel of behind-the-scenes footage from director Jon M. Chu’s sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  The follow-up’s story finds the Joes disbanded and outnumbered as they must square off against not only the Cobras, but also threats within their own government.  Dwayne Johnson is front and center as Roadblock, and he’s flanked by newcomers Adrianne Palicki as Lady Jaye, D.J. Cotrona as Flint, and Bruce Willis as the OG Joe.

Hit the jump to watch the footage, and if you missed any of Steve’s set visit coverage be sure to check out 25 things to know & video blog recap, along with his interviews with Dwayne Johnson, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Park, Elodie Yung, D.J. Cotrona, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, and Jon M. Chu.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens in 3D on March 28th.

Paramount Pictures has released a batch of new high-resolution images from director Jon M. Chu’s upcoming sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  The follow-up’s story finds the Joes disbanded and outnumbered as they must square off against not only the Cobras, but also threats within their own government.  These images highlight the ensemble cast sporting an array of weapons, as well as lots and lots of ninjas.

Hit the jump to view the images, and if you missed any of Steve’s set visit coverage be sure to check out 25 things to know & video blog recap, along with his interviews with Dwayne Johnson, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Park, Elodie Yung, D.J. Cotrona, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, and Chu.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens in 3D on March 28th.

Paramount has released a new four-minute extended clip and featurette for Jon M. Chu’s upcoming sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  The clip showcases the an action sequence with a shit ton of ninjas that takes place on the side of a mountain, while the featurette focuses on the numerous vehicles and weapons that are used in the film.  The sequel’s story finds the Joes disbanded and outnumbered as they must square off against not only the Cobras, but also threats within their own government.

Hit the jump to watch the clip and featurette, and if you missed any of Steve’s set visit coverage be sure to check out 25 things to know & video blog recap, along with his interviews with Dwayne Johnson, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Park, Elodie Yung, D.J. Cotrona, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, and Chu.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens in 3D on March 28th.

I’ve patiently waited for the opportunity to include Veronica Mars in the Top 5. As one of my favorite pop culture artifacts, I’m thrilled that this past week has finally afforded me the chance. That said, I’ll reserve any and all debate regarding the impact and merit of its now famed Kickstarter campaign for after the jump. For now, I’ll just say that, as much as I loved the show, I didn’t feel shortchanged by its somewhat abrupt finale. Moreover, I never felt like I needed a movie to bring some sort of closure to that world and its characters. Don’t get me wrong, by series end I wanted more VM in my life. But maybe that’s a good thing. Looking back I’d much prefer a series leave me wanting more than continually ask me back every week when it can barely muster even a shadow of its former self (cough…The Office…cough).

In addition to more Mars talk, this week’s collection also includes our G.I. Joe: Retaliation set visit, the first red-band trailer for Kick-Ass 2, Jurassic Park 4 naming its director, and all of our SXSW 2013 coverage to date. Keep reading for a brief recap and link to each.

While many wondered if Jon M. Chu was the right choice to direct G.I. Joe: Retaliation, after spending the day on set while the production was filming in New Orleans, I became extremely confident that he was going to deliver a kick-ass G.I. Joe movie.  I say this because not only did he say all the right things during a group interview, he did the most important thing: he showed us some of the movie!  The sizzle reel we watched demonstrated that he’s got a great handle on the material and I really believe this is the G.I. Joe movie fans have been waiting for.

During the interview Chu talked about how he got involved with the project, the silent fight sequence, the new cast, working with Hasbro, the tone, the soundtrack, what he’d like to see in future installments, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

Two character featurettes for director Jon M. Chu’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation are now available. One centers on the Joe’s namesake, Joe Colton (Bruce Willis) who re-enlists to join the team in their fight against Cobra.  While it’s fun to listen to Willis talk about playing with the titular toys as a kid, the really entertaining featurette centers on Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee).  We get to see a revisit of the origin story between Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes (Ray Park), plus commentary from Lee, Chu, Park and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. Definitely worth a watch, especially since we get a previously-unheard bit of dialogue from RZA.

Also starring Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson and Adrianne Palicki, G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens March 28th.  Hit the jump to watch the featurettes.

A new international trailer and TV spot for director Jon M. Chu’s delayed sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation have made their way online.  The spots feature bits of new footage, and they’re both pretty focused on showcasing the film’s wall-to-wall action and stunts—now in 3D!  Hit the jump to check out the new spots, and click here to read Steve’s set visit preview.  The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Adrianne Palicki, Walton Goggins, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Elodie Yung, RZA, Ray Stevenson, and D.J. Cotrona.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation  opens in 3D on March 27th.

A rather highly anticipated Young Adult feature film adaptation is undergoing a director change.  Last September we reported that David Slade (30 Days of Night, Twilight: Eclipse) had been set to direct Disney’s adaptation of Ally Condie’s futuristic novel Matched, but now it appears that Slade is out and G.I. Joe: Retaliation director Jon M. Chu is in.  The book is the first in a trilogy that centers on a young girl living in a highly-controlling society (ie. people are told what to read, watch, believe, etc.) who makes a rebellious decision to reject an arranged romance and follow her own heart.  Hit the jump for more details.

Even though we’re nearly three months removed from Halloween, I want to use this week’s opening paragraph to throw some support behind director Michael Stephenson‘s touching documentary, The American Scream. I recently caught the film via Netflix where it’s available to “Watch Instantly” and I was impressed to say the least. Stephenson’s previous entry, the indelible Best Worst Movie, quickly became one of my all-time favorite docs for the unexpected emotional punch it packed in following the lives of those impacted by Troll 2. Scream delivered on a similar level with its themes of family, community, and the pursuit of one’s passion (in this case, home haunting). If you haven’t seen it already, I recommend either checking it out on Netflix or picking up a copy for yourself from the film’s website.

All recommendations aside, much to the surprise of no one, this week’s Top 5 is headlined by the announcement that J.J. Abrams will direct/produce Star Wars: Episode VII with accompaniment by our Bullet to the Head set visit, Warm Bodies video interviews with Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer and more, a G.I. Joe: Retaliation set visit preview and interviews with director Jon M. Chu and more, and all of our coverage out of Sundance 2013 to date. A brief recap and link to each is hidden in plain view after the jump.

If you needed extra incentive to go see Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters when it opens this week, perhaps the bonus of seeing a preview of four minutes of footage from G.I. Joe: Retaliation will convince you.  Audiences will be treated to four minutes of 3D footage from the Jon M. Chu-directed sequel starring Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum and ALL the ninjas! G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens March 29th.

Make sure to get caught up on all of our recent G.I. Joe: Retaliation coverage, including interviews with Chu, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Adrianne Palicki and a recent Japanese trailer for the film.  Hit the jump to watch a preview of the G.I. Joe: Retaliation footage that will screen in front of Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters starting January 24th.

A four-minute preview of the highly anticipated G.I. Joe: Retaliation will be shown in IMAX, RealD and digital 3D theaters with Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, beginning on January 24^th.  To debut the footage from the sequel and give a glimpse of what audiences can expect from the 3D conversion, Paramount invited a handful of online press, including Collider, over to the studio lot.

Following the footage, we participated in a roundtable interview with director Jon M. Chu, who talked about the 10-minute homage to “Silent Interlude” (of which the preview shows an abbreviated version), how much of the film was shot on stage versus location work, his favorite theory about the film’s delayed release date (from last summer to March 29^th), that no reshoots were done as a result and no extra footage of Channing Tatum was shot, what he thinks the 3D adds to the film, maintaining ties to the first movie while doing his own thing with this one, how the conversion turned out to be a lot more legwork than he expected, what he was most excited about bringing to the film from the G.I. Joe mythology, and how daunting it is to take on this franchise.  Hit the jump for what he had to say, as well as my thoughts on the footage.

Doing its best to remind the world that G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens (for real this time) this year, a new Japanese trailer has surfaced.  It shows off a few new action sequences involving all of our favorite Joes, including Dwayne Johnson, Ray Park, Adrianne Palicki and Bruce Willis.  Lee Byung-hun also gets a good amount of additional screen time in this go-round.

Also starring Channing Tatum, RZA, Elodie Yung, Walton Goggins and Ray Stevenson, G.I. Joe: Retaliation (or as the trailer says, G.I. Joe: Back to Revenge!) opens March 29th.  Hit the jump to check out the new trailer.

This past summer wasn’t exactly lacking in blockbuster material, but many will remember that it was originally supposed to have one more actioner on tap: the sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  With its release date a little over a month away, Paramount abruptly pushed the film’s release date back a whopping nine months.  The official reason given for the move was that they wanted to post-convert the pic to 3D, but many surmised that the reshoots were being done to un-kill the suddenly popular Channing Tatum.

Steve recently spoke with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura about a number of upcoming projects (read what he had to say about Red 2 right here), and during their conversation, di Bonaventura talked about the nature of the 3D conversion of G.I. Joe, the last-minute release date change, and more.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.