A new U.K. trailer for director Mike Newell’s (Four Weddings and a Funeral) adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic Great Expectations has landed online.  The film stars Jeremy Irvine as Pip, a young man who comes into a fortune, but whose heart is continually broken by Estella (Holliday Grainger), who was taught to do so by her pathetic mother Miss Haversham (Helena Bonham Carter).  Though Dickens’ story has been retold countless times, Newell has assembled a fine cast for this latest iteration that includes Ralph Fiennes, Robbie Coltrane, Jason Flemyng, and Sally Hawkins.

Hit the jump to watch the latest U.K. trailer.  The film is slated for release in the U.K. on November 30th and was recently picked up for domestic distribution.

Let’s take a look at some acquisitions today, shall we?

• Mike Newell’s Great Expectations, starring Jeremy Irvine, Holliday Grainger, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes and Robbie Coltrane, has had domestic rights picked up by Outsource Media Group.
• Funeral Kings, from Kevin and Matthew McManus, stars Dylan Hartigan, Alex Maizus and Jordan Puzzo and was recently acquired by Freestyle Releasing.
• Michel Gondry’s The We and the I, starring Michael Brodie, Teresa Lynn and Raymond Delgado, has been picked up by the partnership of Paladan and 108 Media.

Hit the jump for images, posters and full press releases. 

The most successful film franchise of all time will be available on home video in one nifty box set early next week with the release of the Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection, and a devoted fan has put together a rather impressive video retrospective to mark the occasion.  Titled “Mischief Managed,” the video goes through all eight film adaptations of J.K. Rowling’s wondrous series, with scenes accompanied by the franchise’s various scores.  It’s a great watch for Harry Potter fans, but it’s also interesting to see the different directors’ visions back-to-back.  The story gets dark quite fast, but it’s neat to see it progress from the colorful, faithful touch of Chris Columbus on the first two films, to Alfonso Cuaron’s inventive and playful twist on Azkaban, to the bombastic Britishness of Mike Newell’s Goblet of Fire, and finally David Yates’ grounded yet haunting stamp on the final four films.

Hit the jump to watch the fan-made video retrospective.  The Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection will be available on September 7th.

Already set to play Liberace in the Steven Soderbergh biopic Behind the Candelabra as well as star in the upcoming comedy Last Vegas, a busy Michael Douglas has added a third major role to his slate by signing on to play the former actor who became the 40th U.S. President, Ronald Reagan in Reykjavik.  Director Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) is likely to take on the film that was once a Ridley Scott-led project.

Reykjavik takes place in 1986 during the time Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev went to the Icelandic capital to work out a peace deal, with the devastating backdrop of Chernobyl.  (Gorbechev has not yet been cast).  For more on the film, hit the jump.

The first international trailer has debuted for Mike Newell’s Great Expectations.  The adaptation of Charles Dickens’ literary classic will make its world premiere at TIFF this September, but the trailer gives quite an extensive look at the film.  Great Expectations stars Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham, Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch, as well as Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) as Pip, Holliday Grainger (The Borgias) as Estella, with Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter), Jason Flemyng (X-Men: First Class), and Sally Hawkins (Happy Go Lucky).  Hit the jump to watch the new international trailer.

As a true supergenius who revolutionized electricity and died as a penniless recluse, the life of Nikola Tesla is so cinematic that I long for the definitive biopic.  If I can trust a recent report from Wild Rooster [via Bleeding Cool], that movie is on its way.  The report suggests Christian Bale and Nicolas Cage are in talks to play Tesla and Thomas Edison, respectively, in Tesla, Ruler of the World.  Director Mike Newell (Prince of Persia) has been approached, and could take the reins after he finishes Great Expectations.  The screenplay by Serbian writer Vladimir Rajčić purportedly links “events from Tesla’s life to a modern day story of technological crisis.”  Wild Rooster suggests more big names are in talks to play other notable folk like J.P. Morgan, George Westinghouse, and Sara Bernhardt when the film shoots in Chicago.

Most of this corresponds to previous reports that have floated around the internet over the past couple years, wherein Cage has scouted for locations or Rade Serbedgia and Lolita Davidovich are also attached.  But until news of Tesla, Ruler of the World comes through a more official pipeline, we will treat this as a very exciting rumor.  Hit the jump for background on Tesla.

Filming on Mike Newell’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations will begin its ten-week UK shoot on October 10th, and more casting on the film has been announced.  In addition to confirming Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) as Pip, Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham, and Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch, the film will also star Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter), Jason Flemyng (X-Men: First Class), and Sally Hawkins (Happy Go Lucky).  Additionally, Holliday Grainger (The Borgias) will play Estella, the young woman trained in the art of breaking Pip’s heart over and over again even as he receives a great fortune from a mysterious benefactor.

Hit the jump for the full press release.

Ralph Fiennes is in talks to join Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) and Helena Bonham Carter in Mike Newell’s adaptation of Great Expectations.  Daily Mail reports that Fiennes is up for the role of the mysterious Magwitch, but also notes that Fiennes is currently set to play Prospero in Trevor Nunn’s version of The Tempest at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.  Because Newell plans to shoot in London starting in August, if Fiennes takes the role, he would have to shoot his scenes during the day and then do his stage performances in the evening.

As we reported back in February, Fiennes is also in talks to join Sam Mendes’ untitled James Bond flick and those negotiations are still ongoing.  He’ll next be seen in theaters this July playing some guy named “Voldemort” in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of Great Expectations.

In February, we reported that director Mike Newell (Prince of Persia) had signed on to direct a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.  Today, Showblitz reports that Jeremy Irvine and Helena Bonham Carter are in talks to play Pip and Miss Havisham, respectively.  The role of Pip could be another huge opportunity for Irvine who is making his feature debut in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming drama War Horse.

For those unfamiliar with the novel, Great Expectations is about a poor orphan who is tormented by the manipulations of Miss Havisham’s niece Estella before being elevated to the upper class by an anonymous benefactor.  Filming on Great Expectations is slated to begin in fall for a 2012 release, which will mark Dickens’ bicentennial.Hit the jump for a full synopsis of Great Expectations.

Writer-director Rowan Joffe (Brighton Rock) will pen the adaptation of the non-fiction novel Agent Zigzag for director Mike Newell (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time)  Per Deadline, “Agent Zigzag tells the true story of Eddie Chapman, a suave thief/seducer who became a double agent during WWII working for both Germany and Britain.”  I love that “seducer” is on the same job title as “thief” and “double-agent”.  I hope Mr. Zigzag put that on his resume.

In addition to Brighton Rock, Joffe also wrote the screenplay for The American and 28 Weeks Later.  In September, we reported that he has been hired to adapt Steve Watson’s debut novel Before I Go to Sleep. Last week, Newell signed on to direct a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of the novel.

Director Mike Newell (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) will direct an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.  From what I gathered about the tale when South Park adapted it, it’s about an old woman who uses the tears of men to power her Genesis device.  Of course, the more famous adaptation is David Lean’s 1948 film and the book was adapted again in 1998 with Alfonso Cuaron at the helm and starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Ethan Hawke, Anne Bancroft, and Robert De Niro.  Strangely, neither Lean nor Cuaron’s versions featured the Genesis device.  THR reports that Newell will have a “fresh take” on the material, but doesn’t specify if Newell will go classic like Lean’s version, modern like Cuaron’s, or absurd like South Park.

Newell’s Great Expectations will be part of the Dickens’ bicentenary in 2012.  Hit the jump for a real (read: no Genesis device) synopsis of Dickens’ classic novel.

The list to direct the adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s horror-comedy parody novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is growing after David O. Russell left the project at the beginning of the month.  As we previously reported, David Slade (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse) is on the list.  Deadline updated their original story by reporting that Mike Newell (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) and Neil Marshall (Centurion) are also in the running.  TheWrap is also throwing out some interesting names circling the project: Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), Matt Reeves (Let Me In), Mike White (The Year of the Dog), and the directing team of Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs).  Hit the jump for more details on these potential helmers.

Every summer studios produce weekends full of “A” titles, summer blockbusters that are meant to wow us and make piles upon piles of money. These are the prestige titles of the day, and though they may be stupid, no expense is sparred in the making of them. Of course this doesn’t mean the people behind or in front of the camera are the best in the business, but they have the potential to deliver an audience by their star appeal, and their knowledge of what works. Hopefully.

On Paper, Disney’s Prince of Persia sounds like it could be something. It’s produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, it stars Jake Gyllenhaal – who hasn’t set the box office on fire, but is a respected actor – with Bond Girl turned it girl Gemma Arterton. The director is Mike Newell who directed one of the best of the Harry Potter franchise, and the film is based on a successful video game, one that serves only as a basis for an action adventure story. But all those details add up to one terrible movie, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a pretty terrible film. My review of Prince of Persia on Blu-ray after the jump.

For fans of the video game Prince of Persia, this is a really big week.  That’s because next weekend, Walt Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is finally getting released. And unlike every other movie based on a video game, I think this is finally going to be the one that breaks the video game movie curse.  The reason I think this is the one is Disney spent a small fortune bringing Prince of Persia to the screen and it’s loaded with great action set pieces and a lot of moves and moments gamers will love.

Anyhow, a few days ago I got to sit down with screenwriters Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard and they talked about how they got involved in the project, what they did to prepare for writing the movie, how much did the game play into the script, working the sands of time effect into the movie, is a sequel on the boards, what it was like to film in Morocco, and a lot more.  If you’re an aspiring screenwriter or just curious how Prince of Persia got made, it’s a great interview.  Hit the jump to check it out:

Disney has released 6 clips from producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and you can check them out after the jump.  Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, and Alfred Molina in a Mike Newell film, Disney is clearly trying to mimic the success of their Pirates of the Caribbean franchise with Prince of Persia.  Also, Disney is trying to break the video game to movie curse, as most would agree no video game has been successfully adapted into a great movie.  But with mega producer Jerry Bruckheimer on board, this might be the one that finally gets it right.

So if you’d like to get a glimpse of Prince of Persia, hit the jump for the clips.  And if you missed all the new images we posted, click here.  Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time gets released May 28, 2010.