French director Louis Leterrier’s latest film, the magician heist thriller Now You See Me, is poised to hit theaters in a couple of weeks, but it appears that the filmmaker is gearing up to commit to his next project.  Variety reports that the Incredible Hulk director is in early discussions to take the helm on a secretive project called Sea at War that was penned by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Taken).  Besson is also producing through his EuropaCorp banner, but plot details are being kept very firmly under wraps—Leterrier couldn’t even read the script outside of Besson’s office.

Nevertheless, the pic is rumored to be a mermaid adventure film, which would put Leterrier back in the fantasy realm that he explored with 2010’s Clash of the Titans.  Should he firmly commit to the project, we should start hearing more about Sea at War soon.

A couple of release date shifts for two Relativity Media films have been announced today.  First up, Relativity will unveil Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut Don Jon (previously titled Don Jon’s Addiction) in wide release on October 18th.  Gordon-Levitt stars in the comedy as contemporary, porn-addicted Don Juan-type who attempts to reform himself.  I caught the film at Sundance and it’s a lot of fun (read Matt’s review here).  Gordon-Levitt has a great eye for visuals and the performances from his excellent supporting cast (Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, and Tony Danza) are spot-on.

The pic should have plenty of general audience appeal when it opens in October, but it faces stiff competition in the form of the Chloe Moretz-fronted Carrie remake, Lee Daniels’ period drama The Butler, and the fantasy epic The Seventh Son starring Jeff Bridges.  Interestingly, Don Jon, Carrie, and The Seventh Son all feature Julianne Moore.  Hit the jump for release date news concerning Luc Besson’s (The Fifth Element) star-studded comedic actioner Malavita.

Opening this weekend is director John Moore’s A Good Day to Die Hard.  The fifth Die Hard film has John McClane (Bruce Willis) teaming up with his estranged son, Jack (Jai Courtney), to settle their differences and take down the bad guys.   The film also stars Yulia Snigir, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Sebastian Koch, Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Megalyn Echikunwoke, and Anne Vyalitsyna.

During the recent Los Angeles press day I got to speak with Bruce Willis.  We talked about how John McClane is one of the most popular characters in movie history, what McClane is up to in the fifth installment, how the first Die Hard had one of the best movie villains and that they never should have killed him, and more.  In addition, Willis talked about Sin City 2 and what it will take to get him to work with Luc Besson again.  Hit the jump to watch.

Along with a new batch of release dates comes a title change to a significant picture.  Check out the details below:

• Jack the Giant Killer will be formally retitled to Jack the Giant Slayer (because it’s more family-friendly…) and will now open March 1st, 2013.  Pic stars Nicholas Hoult, Stanley Tucci and Ewan McGregor.
• Malavita, Luc Besson’s comedic actioner, gets a new release date, opening almost a year to the day on October 18th, 2013. Relativity pic stars Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Dianna Agron.
• Also from Relativity, 21 and Over will move up two weeks to open opposite Jack the Giant Killer Slayer on March 1st, 2013. The picture stars Justin Chon, Skyler Astin and Miles Teller.

Hit the jump for much more on each picture. 

New set photos from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Lee Daniels‘ The Butler, and Luc Besson‘s Malavita have gone online.  The photo from Catching Fire shows the construction of the justice building, but since it’s in a dystopian future, it’s really the injustice building.  Oprah Winfrey instagram’d the photo of her and co-star Terrence Howard in their “goodbye love scene.”  Finally, the official set photo from Malavita doesn’t give away much about the film, which is about a mafia family living in witness protection in France.

Hit the jump to check out the set photos.  The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens November 22, 2013.  The Butler and Malavita will likely open in 2013.

Back in August, we learned that McG and Kevin Costner were looking to possibly team up on an untitled action thriller (previously titled Three Days to Kill)produced by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Taken).  It appears that things have officially come together, as Variety reports that Costner has closed a deal to star in the film while McG is set to direct.  Besson co-wrote the film with Adi Hasak (From Paris with Love), which centers on a dying secret service agent who retires in order to reconnect with his family.  The Secret Service offers him the chance to use an experimental drug that could save his life in exchange for one last assignment, and Costner finds himself “trying to juggle his family, his mission, and the drug’s hallucinatory side-effects.”

It’s a twist on the familiar “one last job” premise, and while I think Costner’s a fine choice to lead the project, I’m less convinced of McG’s skills as a filmmaker.  The set-up provides for some exciting possibilities, so hopefully we’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Recently, Liam Neeson threatened you into submission so you would watch his new trailer for Taken 2.  Then, the first featurette went online that showed off retired CIA operative Bryan Mills’ “skills and kills.” Today, we’ll continue the rhyming scheme with a new behind-the-scenes stunt featurette that highlights the sequel’s “thrills and spills.”  Imagine my surprise when I found out Neeson wasn’t actually killing all the people in the movie.  I still wouldn’t want to piss him off though.

Taken 2, from director Olivier Megaton, also stars Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace and  Rade Serbedzija.  The sequel hits theaters October 5th.  Hit the jump to watch the new stunts clip.

Principal photography has commenced on director Luc Besson’s (The Fifth Element) comedic actioner Malavita.  The film stars Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tommy Lee Jones and centers on notorious mafia family who gets relocated to Normandy as part of the witness protection program.  Though they’re seemingly out of harm’s way, the family finds it hard to let go of some of their more colorful old habits and soon find themselves “handling things the ‘family’ way.”  The ensemble cast also includes Glee star Dianna Agron and Wanderlust’s John D’Leo.

Filming is underway in Normandy, with additionally shooting set to take place in New York.  A firm release date has yet to be set, but Malavita is expected to bow sometime in 2013.  Hit the jump to read the full press release.

Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves) is being courted for substantial roles in a pair of upcoming films.  While Costner’s recent work was on the small screen in the History channel’s Hatfields & McCoys, he’ll next be seen on the big screen as Pa Kent in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel.  Now, reports have Costner being courted for Kenneth Branagh’s Jack Ryan film reboot which stars Chris Pine, as well as a Luc Besson production, Three Days to Kill.  Hopefully this is a kickstart to seeing more of Costner in features again.  More on both of these projects after the jump.

Director Luc Besson is lining up an impressive cast for his darkly comedic actioner Malavita.  The film follows a mafia family who seeks witness protection in France, but they bring their criminal habits with them and start dealing with things the old fashioned way.  Robert De Niro is set as the patriarch, with Michelle Pfeiffer recently joining the project as his wife.  Now Variety reports that Tommy Lee Jones is in final negotiations to play De Niro’s “stern handler in the FBI-sponsored program.”  He’s tasked with checking in on the family and helping them assimilate to their new life in France.

The tone seems reminiscent of something along the lines of Analyze This, but with Besson on board I’m sure we’ll see our fair share of gunplay and grittiness.  The notoriously prickly Jones appears to be a left-field choice for the role, but I’m more than willing to see him and De Niro square off.  Hopefully we see the two take part in a super-serious-face off so we can settle this whole “who’s more super serious?” thing once and for all.  Jones will be seen later this year in the dramedy Hope Springs and Steven Spielberg‘s Lincoln, and he’s poised to write, direct, and star in The Homesman.

It looks like Michelle Pfeiffer (Scarface) might be joining Robert De Niro (Goodfellas) in returning to their mafia roots in Luc Besson’s crime comedy, Malavita.  Based on Tonino Benacquista’s novel, “Badfellas”, Malavita follows a mafia family who seeks witness protection in France.   The problem is that they brought their criminal habits with them and start to deal with things in the old-fashioned way.  De Niro is set to star as the head of the family, who was also head of the local crime family until he turned rat.  Pfeiffer is in talks to star as his wife, who has a soft spot for using arson against those who cross her.   Besson, who wrote the script and will also produce, is eyeing a production start this August.  Hit the jump for more on Malavita.

From Uli Kunkel in The Big Lebowski to Slippery Peter in Seinfeld to Gaear Grimsrud in Fargo and Jeff in Dancer in the Dark, the versatile Peter Stormare has turned in many unforgettable performances while working with some of the world’s top directors. In his latest movie, the futuristic sci-fi action thriller Lockout, he plays Secret Service chief Scott Langral who offers a falsely convicted ex-government agent (Guy Pearce) a chance at freedom if he will undertake the dangerous mission of rescuing the daughter (Maggie Grace) of the U.S. President when things go horribly wrong during a humanitarian mission to an experimental maximum security prison in outer space.

We sat down with Stormare at a roundtable interview to talk about the unusual film co-written and produced by Luc Besson. He told us what it was about the script that drew him to the project, why he prefers the old school style European filmmaking that Besson exemplifies to the Hollywood paint-by-number action formula Michael Bay is best known for, and how he believes good storytelling is all about building characters, using the imagination and inviting an audience to fantasize. He also discussed what it was like working with master filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, how he would like to do a film with Terrence Malick, and why Close Encounters tops his list of all time favorite films.

Featuring producer Luc Besson (the writer behind Taken) and Maggie Grace (the daughter who was Taken), the high-octane outer space thriller Lockout made an appearance at WonderCon 2012 today. This time, the man with a particular set of skills is no longer Liam Neeson, but Guy Pearce (Memento), playing Snow, a man wrongly accused of conspiracy to commit espionage. His one chance at a pardon comes when he is tasked with rescuing the president’s daughter from a maximum security outer space prison facility when the inmates take control. Lockout also stars Peter Stormare (Constantine) and is the feature directorial debut of James Mather and Stephen St. Leger. The film opens April 13th. Hit the jump to check out our WonderCon panel recap.

The domestic trailer has debuted for the sci-fi prison break film Lockout. The first half of the trailer is pretty rote, with lines like “He’s the best there is, but he’s a loose cannon.” It picks up when Guy Pearce appears, but altogether the tone here is wildly different from the international trailers we’ve seen previously. The action looks great, but Pearce’s charisma is almost entirely absent here. It’s a shame, because the movie actually looks really, really good in the other trailers. It’s cool and strange, and Pearce is hilarious as a wisecracking badass. Hopefully we’ll get a differently cut trailer soon, but for now US audiences will have to settle for this generic actioner.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. Produced by Luc Besson, the film stars Pearce, Maggie Grace, and Peter Stormare. Lockout opens April 20th.

Last week we reported that Angelina Jolie was looking to star in an untitled sci-fi thriller set to be directed by Luc Besson. At the time the project was without a studio, but now Deadline reports that Universal has closed a deal to distribute the pic. Plot details are currently under wraps, but the feature is described as a “large-scale dramatic thriller” and is said to be rooted in true scientific elements. Besson wrote the script and will direct. The film is said to be in the vein of Besson’s earlier work like The Fifth Element and The Professional. The director recently helmed the drama The Lady, and Jolie is readying the release of her directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey. Production on the untitled pic is set to get underway in April.