Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for The Hangover Part III.  The first trailer almost made the movie look like an action flick, but now we’re getting a look at the comedy and the plot.  In the series’ final installment, Stu (Ed Helms), Phil (Bradley Cooper), and Doug (Justin Bartha) are taking Alan (Zach Galifianakis) to a psychiatric hospital, but the gang is side-trekked when a mysterious man (John Goodman) kidnaps Doug and forces the wolf pack to track down Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong), who stole $21 million from Goodman’s character.  There are some good laughs in here, so hopefully the trilogy will go out on a high note.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer and to check out a few new posters.  The film stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, Heather Graham, John Goodman, Mike Epps, Mike Tyson, and Jeffrey Tambor.  The Hangover Part III opens on May 24th.

New images for The Hangover Part III have gone online courtesy of writer/direct Todd Phillips’ Instagram account.  They feature behind-the-scenes shots of stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong and John Goodman in various states of repose.  If the images are any indication, Phillips will use a number of hipster-approved filters and shoot the movie at risky angles (and a scene at a funeral?).

The Hangover Part III follows the guys on a road trip to Tijuana this time around and also stars Heather Graham, Jamie Chung, Mike Epps, Mike Tyson, Jeffrey Tambor and Melissa McCarthy.  The Hangover Part III is slated for May 24th, 2013.  Hit the jump to check out the new images.

The Hangover‘s success has lead to plenty of imitators and spin-offs, but it became such a juggernaut in its own right that it has expanded into a trilogy (but will we also get a Hobbit-esque origin story eventually? Stay tuned …). Principle photography is underway for the finale of the Hangover trilogy, which will reunite its steadfast cast (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha) as well as their on-screen wives (Gillian Vigman, Sasha Barrese and Jamie Chung) and other familiar faces (Ken Jeong, Heather Graham, Jeffrey Tambor) as well as a new one (John Goodman).

Todd Phillips is also returning to direct the Warner Bros. picture as well as co-write it along with his collaborator from the second movie, Craig Mazin. Hit the jump for more on the production, as well as a hint to what the new film will be about.

We have a few casting notices for you tonight:

• Justin Bartha will play Stiv Batros, lead singer of the Dead Boys, in CBGB
• Shannon Woodward is the title character in Claire’s Cambodia
• Kris Polaha, Collette Wolfe, and Justin Castor joined the cast of Atom Egoyan‘s Devil’s Knot

Hit the jump for details on each project.

Though we’re all currently focused on the promising summer movie season at hand, production is scheduled to get underway on another high profile film later this year.  We learned back in January that director Todd Phillips and stars Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, and Justin Bartha were all game to return for one last entry in The Hangover franchise.  Deals were closed a few months later, with production set to get underway this coming September for a May 24^th, 2013 release date.  Plot details have been slim save for Galifianakis’ claim that The Hangover Part III would find the guys breaking Alan out of a mental hospital, but now reports have surfaced that suggest the film may not only find the Wolf Pack returning to Las Vegas, but also heading down south to Tijuana.  Hit the jump for more.

The networks will be unveiling their fall schedules next week at the upfronts, but a few high-profile NBC pilots have already been picked up to series.  Briefly:

• The New Normal – Ryan Murphy’s blended comedy pilot centering on a same-sex couple and their surrogate.
• Revolution – The J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke-produced action/drama takes place in a world where all forms of energy have mysteriously ceased to exist.
• Go On – Matthew Perry stars as a sportscaster trying to move on from a loss with the help of his fellow group therapy members.
• Save Me – Anne Heche plays a woman who, after letting herself go while in a broken marriage, goes through a transformation in which she becomes the best version of herself and creates miracles.

Hit the jump for more on each project.

We’ve got a couple of TV casting stories to share with you this evening. First up, Superman Returns star Brandon Routh, Elizabeth Regen (The Professional), and Lucy Davis (Shaun of the Dead) have joined the CBS half-hour comedy pilot Partners. The multi-camera show comes from Will & Grace creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan and centers on two lifelong friends and business partners Charlie, who’s straight and Louis, who’s gay. Michael Urie plays Louis and Deadline reports that Routh will play Louis’ partner, “a former alcoholic, club hopping model, now a sober, vegan nurse.” Sadly, the nurse is devoid of any vegan-infused superpowers.

Regen will play Ro-Ro, Charlie and Louis’ colorful assistant while Davis (who starred on the original British version of The Office) will play a bookkeeper for Charlie’s fiancé, played by Sophia Bush. Routh is no stranger to the small screen as he had a memorable recurring character on NBC’s Chuck, and I think his infectious charm suits him well for this role. Hit the jump for casting news concerning The Hangover star Justin Bartha joining Ryan Murphy’s high-profile comedy pilot.

The Hangover Part II was inevitable in our current modern cinema. No film can gross over $250 Million domestic and not have a sequel, and the first Hangover was not only hugely profitable, but a cultural phenomenon that made movies stars out of Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper. But where sequels for genre films tend to advance their characters and tell a different story in a sequel, comedies both have to but can’t totally repeat themselves. That was director Todd Phillips’s biggest challenge with this movie, and the main angle was taking the characters to Bangkok – which makes Vegas look relatively benign – for much of the same results. Our review of the Blu-ray of The Hangover Part II follows after the jump.

The original Hangover hit like a bolt from the blue.  Good R-rated comedies are few and far between (although this summer we’ll be getting a bunch of R-rated comedies, but there’s no telling how many will actually be good) and the 2009 comedy brought enough surprises into its fast-paced narrative that the concept of blending a detective story with raunchy laughs worked like a charm.  It’s ironic that The Hangover Part II bases so many of its jokes on shock value and yet clings so dearly to the exact same formula of the original, right down to the plot beats and character actions.  More of the same isn’t necessarily a bad thing and the sequel still manages to deliver laughs, but the stale stench of been-there, done-that pervades the entire film despite the vibrant background of Bangkok.

Warner Bros. has provided us six new TV spots for The Hangover Part II to promote the May 26 release.  This set of  TV spots feature new footage not previously seen in the trailer or prior TV spots for those who want that extra taste.  It will be difficult to recapture the lightning in a bottle that made the original so great, but everything we’ve seen so far is promisingly very funny.

Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galfianakis, Justin Bartha, and Ken Jeong reprise their roles for the comedy sequel directed by Todd Phillips.  Watch the TV spots after the break.

Warner Bros. has released a slew of images from The Hangover Part II. A few of them we’ve seen before, but a number of them are brand new. While I like the idea behind releasing a bunch of images, I hope they’re not spoiling a good deal of the film.

Hit the jump to check out the bevy of images. Directed by Todd Phillips, The Hangover Part II stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Jamie Chung, and Ken Jeong. The film hits theaters on May 26th.

For The Hangover Justin Bartha’s Doug was the impetus for the story, but he spent much of the movie sidelined as his disappearance fueled the story. For the sequel, The Hangover Part II, Bartha returns as Doug and from his own words has a bit more to do this time out. We got a chance to talk to him as the movie was filming – he wasn’t on set the day we visited, and he talked about his character in the film, The Hangover’s cultural resonance and what it’s like to return to a character. Check out our interview after the jump.

New images from J.J. Abrams’ Super 8 and Todd Phillips The Hangover Part II have been released.  Don’t expect to see anything shocking or new in the images (and be thankful for that because who wants to be spoiled?) but they provide another look at two of the summer’s biggest movies.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  Super 8 opens June 10th while The Hangover Part II gets released on May 26th.

Warner Bros. has released six character posters for director Todd Phillip’s The Hangover Part II.  If you remember the character posters from the first Hangover movie, these are going to look very familiar.  Saying that, if you ran a marketing campaign and your movie was the highest grossing R Rated film in history, I’d probably run the same campaign as well.  After all, I wouldn’t want to be the one to fuck it up.

While all the posters are good, the monkey poster that says “we love to party” is definitely the best.  It reminds me of the chicken and tiger posters from the first movie.  This is a good thing.  Hit the jump for the posters, click here for the trailer, and here’s all our Hangover coverage.  The Hangover Part II gets released May 26.

New images from Todd Phillips’ The Hangover Part II have gone online.  Also, Justin Bartha explains how his character Doug will factor into the shenanigans this time around:

“Doug isn’t lost in this one. There are similar circumstances, but he’s a little bit more involved.”

Hit the jump to check out the images as well as Paul Giamatti providing minor details on his character.  The film stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis.  The Hangover Part II opens May 26th.