HBO has released character posters for the upcoming season of The Newsroom.  As we previously reported, season two will focus on the 2012 Presidential campaign, but EW reports that the season will begin on August 23, 2011 (the day Muammar Gaddafi’s Tripoli compound was captured by rebel forces) and also cover major events including “the Tea Party/American Taliban, the general election including the primaries and conventions, Trayvon Martin, the Affordable Care Act, and drones,” because Aaron Sorkin wants to throw in his two cents but use a TV series instead of a blog.  The new posters cleverly play up Sorkin’s impeccable one-liners, but also use the very serious reporters staring pensively.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  The Newsroom returns July 14th.

Here’s the latest casting news:

• Jason Sudeikis (Horrible Bosses) and Rose Byrne (Bridesmaids) are set to star in indie romantic comedy Tumbledown.
• 42 star Chadwick Boseman is closing in on a key supporting role in Ivan Reitman’s football-oriented drama Draft Day, starring Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner.

Hit the jump for more on both projects.

Edgar Ramirez (Zero Dark Thirty), and Olivia Munn (Magic Mike) have signed on to join Eric Bana in Screen Gems’ upcoming horror-thriller Beware The Night.  The film, being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, centers around a police officer working on a case that deals with demonic possession and other paranormal occurrences.  Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose helmer Scott Derrickson signed on to direct last fall, and he will be using a script he co-wrote alongside with Emily Rose partner Paul Boardman.  If well-received, the studio is said to be aiming for a franchise.  Hit the jump for more details.

Channing Tatum came close to being an also-ran, but this year turned him into a star. Between The Vow, 21 Jump Street and Magic Mike, he went from being a lunkhead into a likeable lunkhead. He got the joke. Magic Mike was directed by Steven Soderbergh, and the story was that Soderbergh was so intrigued by Tatum’s life as a male stripper, he saw potential for a movie there. He was right, there is a good movie in his story, and Magic Mike was one of the best mainstream films of the summer. Our review of the Blu-ray follows after the jump.

The scariest horror story I can think of is a world without breasts.  Olivia Munn (The Newsroom) brings my fears to life in Ghost Tits as a woman blessed with bountiful breasts who mysteriously loses them overnight.  Her boyfriend, enamored with her mammaries, awakes the next morning to find the twins have disappeared and, even stranger, all evidence of their existence has been erased.  There are some great one-liners and a fantastic cameo by…I won’t spoil it.  Hit the jump to watch Ghost Tits and see for yourself!

Check out our round-up of the latest posters below:

• Resident Evil: Retribution – The fifth installment of the Resident Evil franchise from director Paul W.S. Anderson stars Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Sienna Guillory, Oded Fehr, Boris Kodjoe, Johann Urb, Kevin Durand and Bingbing Li.  Resident Evil: Retribution opens September 14th.
• The Possession – From producer Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) director Ole Bornedal (Nightwatch) comes this horror film based on real life events.  The Possession, starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kyra Sedgwick, Madison Davenport and Natasha Calis opens August 31st.
• The Babymakers – The heist/adventure/comedy directed by Jay Chandrasekhar (Super Troopers) stars Olivia Munn, Paul Schneider, Noureen DeWulf and Aisha Tyler. The Babymakers opens August 3rd.

Hit the jump to check out the new posters and synopses.

It hasn’t even hit theaters yet, but Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike may soon be headed to Broadway.  Magic Mike: The Musical is currently in development by Soderbergh and star Channing Tatum, whose early life as a male stripper led to the genesis of the film.  The duo plans to have the musical performing and on its way to Broadway by the summer of next year.  John Buzzetti of WME is bringing the project together, while Soderbergh and Tatum are producing alongside Gregory Jacobs, Nick Wechsler and Reid Carolin. Deadline reports that Carolin, who scripted the feature film, will also pen the musical adaptation.  Magic Mike, starring Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer, Joe Manganiello, Kevin Nash and Olivia Munn opens June 29th.

Magic Mike is the best male-stripper comedy-drama I’ve ever seen.  Granted, it’s the only male-stripper comedy-drama I’ve ever seen, but it’s still an enjoyable and thoughtful movie that explores issues of sexual objectification, artistic integrity, and gender roles.  These weighty topics come about organically through the majesty of well-choreographed and imaginatievely-designed stripping performances.  The film also features surprisingly effective performances from Channing Tatum and Alex Pettyfer along with one of the best roles in Matthew McConaughey‘s career.  Director Steven Soderbergh‘s film mostly keeps to fresh territory, and it only goes astray when it has to move through stale, undeveloped conflicts.  But until it reaches those points, you’ll want to throw dollar bills at the screen.

12 clips from director Steven Soderbergh’s male stripper pic Magic Mike have been released.  The film is loosely based on Channing Tatum’s early days as a male stripper, and the actor stars as a stripping mentor to a young up-and-comer played by Alex Pettyfer.  With Soderbergh onboard, we can reasonably assume that this won’t simply be a straightforward, flashy stripper movie.  Early word has been strongly positive, and I’m eager to see what kind of story Soderbergh intends to tell against the backdrop of this kind of world.

Hit the jump to watch the clips.  The film also stars Matthew McConaughey, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Olivia Munn, Kevin Nash, Riley Keough, Cody Horn and Adam Rodriguez.  Magic Mike opens on June 29th.

Hot off the one-two punch of The Social Network and Moneyball, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin made his return to television last night with the debut of his new HBO series The Newsroom.  The premiere came with lofty expectations from The West Wing creator, and early screener reactions were passionately mixed-to-positive.  I’m an out and out Sorkin fan and, despite the show’s familiarity to the scribe’s other series (specifically the super similar “stock” characters), I really enjoyed the pilot.  Yes, everyone speaks in eloquent soliloquies with insanely profound and accurate statistical arguments rolling off their tongues as if they were reciting a recipe, but Sorkin’s romanticism and wit is just too damned enticing for me to be bothered.

The pilot sparked quite a bit of lively conversation on Twitter last night, and now HBO has put the full 73-minute episode online for free.  Whether you’re a Sorkin fan or not, I highly suggest you give the pilot a whirl and decide for yourself what you think of the show rather than buying into the pre-lash sight unseen.  Hit the jump to watch, then head to the comments with your reaction.

Here’s a look at the new schedule of release dates for some upcoming movies:

• The Bourne Legacy, starring Jeremy Renner, Edward Norton and Rachel Weisz, will be pushed back a week to August 10th.
• The Babymakers, starring Olivia Munn, Paul Schneider and Aisha Tyler, will open August 3rd.
• Alex Cross, starring Tyler Perry, Rachel Nichols and Matthew Fox, will open a week earlier on October 19th.
• The Big Wedding, starring Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton and Katherine Heigl, will take Alex Cross’s previous spot, opening October 26th.

Hit the jump for more on each movie, including why Universal is delaying the opening of their fourth Bourne movie, The Bourne Legacy.

A new red band trailer for the raunchy comedy The Babymakers is online.  Paul Schneider and Olivia Munn star as a married couple who want a baby, but cannot due to the husband’s low sperm count.  To save his marriage, Schneider rounds up his friends to rob a sperm bank that he donated to in his more fertile days.  I do not find anything in the trailers funny, and Matt did not care for the movie at SXSW.  But Jay Chandrasekhar of Broken Lizard directed and co-stars, which is still worth something in the comedy community (his TV resume is more impressive than I realized), so your mileage may vary.

Kevin Heffernan, Wood Harris, Nat Faxon, and Aisha Tyler also star.  The Babymakers opens on August 3.  Watch the NSFW trailer after the jump.

A new trailer for Aaron Sorkin‘s The Newsroom has gone online.  This new trailer hits the point that the show will use real news events as the basis for the episodes.  The audience will know more than the characters, and I’m not sure if that will be an advantage or disadvantage for the show (in a recent interview, Sorkin says it will be “fun” for viewers).

Hit the jump to check out the trailer along with 16 images. The show stars Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, John Gallagher Jr., Thomas Sadoski, Dev Patel, Olivia Munn, and Sam Waterston.  The Newsroom premieres June 24th on HBO at 10/9c.

A couple of new red-band clips for director Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike have gone online.  Though there aren’t any gratuitous full-frontal shots, there’s plenty of shirtlessness, pantslessness and ass-shots to put the rest of us members of the male species to shame.  I’m beyond eager to see what Soderbergh has put together with this “stripper movie” and based on general buzz, the unofficial Year of Channing Tatum should continue full speed ahead on the heels of Magic Mike.

Hit the jump to watch the NSFW trailer and TV spot, and if you missed 53 high-resolution images from the film click here.  The film also stars Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Olivia Munn, Kevin Nash, Riley Keough, Cody Horn and Adam Rodriguez.  The film opens on June 29th.

Ladies, you’ve been patient with our non-stop nerd postings related to all-things-superheroic (which I’m sure you enjoy, too), but we have a little treat for you.  We recently posted images of stars Matthew McConaughey, Channing Tatum and Alex Pettyfer in the stripper story, Magic Mike, but now we’ve got over fifty high resolution images.  You can also listen to what Tatum had to say about the project in this recent interview with Steve.  Directed by Steven Soderbergh and also starring Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Olivia Munn, Kevin Nash, Riley Keough, Cody Horn and Adam Rodriguez, Magic Mike opens on June 29th.  Hit the jump to check out the images.