Universal Pictures announced today that it will be releasing director Peter Berg’s (The Rundown) Navy SEAL film Lone Survivor on January 10, 2014.  Based on the bestselling non-fiction book of the same name, the film tells the story of four Navy SEALs on an ill-fated covert mission to neutralize a high-level Taliban operative who are ambushed by enemy forces in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan.  The film’s impressive cast includes Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch, and Eric Bana.

Berg and Kitsch are coming off of last summer’s bomb Battleship, but both have proven themselves to be quite talented in the past, so hopefully Lone Survivor is a return to form.  The film will likely open in New York and Los Angeles at the end of December to qualify for awards season, and will face off against the Sylvester Stallone/Robert De Niro boxing film Grudge Match and the Lionsgate horror pic Jessabelle when it opens wide on January 10th.

Another Pain & Gain reunion is already in the works.  Deadline reports that Dwayne Johnson is set to star in and executive produce a half-hour dramedy pilot for HBO about the lives of athletes, with his Pain & Gain co-star Mark Wahlberg also onboard to executive produce alongside Steve Levinson.  The project takes place in Miami and “chronicles the lives of athletes—some retired, some still active.”  Johnson will play one of the athletes, but at this time it sounds like Wahlberg is only producing.  Levinson—who wrote many episodes of the Wahlberg-produced HBO series Entourage—wrote the pilot, which will be directed by Friday Night Lights helmer Peter Berg.  Production is slated to begin this fall.

This marks another move for the very busy Johnson, who is next set to shoot his starring role in Brett Ratner’s Hercules.  The actor is also in talks to return for Fast & Furious 7 should his schedule allow.  This also marks the second HBO pilot that Berg is helming this season, as he will also direct the pilot for Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof’s potential series The Leftovers.

Last summer, Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof talked about his collaboration with Tom Perrotta (Election) in adapting Perrotta’s 2011 post-Rapture novel The Leftovers for HBO, which the premium network picked up in February.  It was announced today (via Production Weekly) that Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, Hancock, Battleship) is now on board to direct the pilot, continuing a trend of movie directors making a move to the small screen.  Filming will take place in New York and should start in mid-June, so expect a 2014 premiere date should HBO pick the pilot up to series.

The Leftovers marks Lindelof’s first return to television since the end of Lost (however you feel about that), but as has been pointed out, him being so in demand for big-screen projects may see him reduce his involvement with the series a tad, although he did co-write the Leftovers pilot with Perrotta and appears to be on-track to serve as showrunner.  Hit the jump for more on The Leftovers.

This coming Sunday, TV viewers the world over will be inundated with a hefty amount of football advertising during the Super Bowl.  While the majority of the pricey spots will premiere that evening, one such ad has been released online a tad early.  Dwayne Johnson stars in a clever “Got Milk?” commercial that was directed by Johnson’s The Rundown helmer Peter Berg.  It’s a neat spot that plays on Johnson’s tendency to  “save the day” in many of his feature film roles, and it also speaks to a problem that many of us face every single day: getting fresh milk takes priority over literally everything else in life.

Hit the jump to watch the spot, and check back here on Collider Sunday evening for a roundup of the big commercials and movie trailer spots from the Super Bowl broadcast.

Director Peter Berg (Hancock) is adding yet another impressive actor to the cast for Lone Survivor.  Based on the non-fiction book by Marcus Luttrell, the film tells the harrowing story of a Navy SEAL team’s fight to stay alive during a Taliban ambush in the midst of their 2005 mission to kill a terrorist leader in Afghanistan.  Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster are already set as members of the Navy SEAL team, and now Heat Vision reports that Eric Bana has entered negotiations to play a SEAL lieutenant.

Production on the film is set to begin next month in New Mexico, and Lone Survivor should make for a nice change of pace for Berg (and Kitsch) following Battleship.  Bana will next be seen later this year in Deadfall alongside Olivia Wilde.  Hit the jump to read a synopsis for Luttrell’s book.

Director Peter Berg looks to finally have found that last piece of the puzzle for his Lone Survivor cast.  Based on the non-fiction book by Marcus Luttrell, Lone Survivor tells the harrowing story of a Navy SEAL team’s fight to stay alive during a Taliban ambush in the midst of their 2005 mission to kill a terrorist leader in Afghanistan.  Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, and Ben Foster are already set to star, and now Variety reports that Emile Hirsch is in early talks to take the final lead role in the pic.

Though I didn’t dislike Berg’s latest directorial effort (Battleship) near as much as many others, I’m hoping that Lone Survivor gives him the chance to really flaunt his skill for capturing drama in an incredibly realistic manner.  Hit the jump to read a synopsis for the book.

Director Peter Berg is plotting a reunion of sorts with Friday Night Lights author Buzz Bissinger (who also happens to be Berg’s cousin).  Variety reports that Berg is attached to direct an adaptation of Bissinger’s memoir Father’s Day.  Unlike Bissinger’s other sports-centered books, Father’s Day chronicles the author’s relationship with his son who has a serious intellectual handicap.  The book recounts a road trip Bissinger took with his 24-year-old son to visit all the places they’ve lived together during the boy’s life.  The pic would be a tonal shift for the Hancock and Battleship director, but Berg’s dramatic experience with the critically acclaimed Friday Night Lights TV series inspires confidence in his ability to handle more weighty material.

Universal is said to be looking to finance the project, but Berg is first expected to direct an adaptation of the Navy SEAL book Lone Survivor.  Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch and Ben Foster are attached to star, and production is expected to get underway later this year.  Hit the jump to read a synopsis for Father’s Day.

For the third week in a row, The Avengers dominated the box office. Marvel’s superheroes added another $55 million to their domestic total – putting the film over $450 million in a record-breaking seventeen days. Meanwhile, the three new releases that lined up to challenge The Avengers all struggled in the blockbuster’s wake.

Opening this Friday is director Peter Berg’s adaptation of the board game Battleship.  The action-adventure pic takes place on the seas and centers on a group of Naval officers who must fight to keep an alien force from destroying our world.  Taylor Kitsch leads a cast that includes Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna, and Liam Neeson.

Our partners at Omelete recently got the chance to speak with Berg about the film, and the director talked about how the project was actually his idea in the first place, how he drew from a lifetime of being a history buff to develop the film, what approach he took to the alien designs, his next film Lone Survivor (also starring Kitsch), and he revealed that his biggest challenge in making the pic was keeping Rihanna from being eaten by a shark.  Hit the jump to watch the interview.

At WonderCon2012 earlier this year, Friday Night Lights writer and Battleship director Peter Berg spoke about why he wanted to craft a story around military heroes.  As the son of a Marine and Naval historian, Berg knows full well that the real heroes are not the actors playing out a role in front of a camera, but the flesh-and-blood service men and women who make sacrifices for their country every day.  In this PSA, Berg speaks on behalf of the USO, a private, non-profit organization that serves to lift the spirits of American troops and their families.  You can find out more about the USO by going to their website, where you can find ways to show your gratitude for our nation’s troops.  Hit the jump to see the PSA.

The first clip from Battleship has gone online.  If you didn’t know a Battleship movie existed, and I told you this clip came from a Transformers spin-off, you would believe me.  It’s sad how much director Peter Berg wants to make a Michael Bay movie.  Berg has the talent to be more than just an imitator, but now this film has two strikes against it.  People were already rolling their eyes at how the notion of adaptating a board game (a game which seems to have so little to do with the plot, you wonder why they even bothered with the license), and now folks can write the film off as a poor-man’s Transformers.  No one can out-Bay Michael Bay.  That’s what makes him Michael Bay.

Hit the jump to check out the clip.  The film stars Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker, Alexander Skarsgard, Rihanna, Asano Tadanobu, Liam Neeson, and Spiky Alien Yo-Yos of Death.  Battleship opens May 18th.

A new featurette for Battleship has gone online, giving us a better idea of the story and of what to expect from the action pic. Some new footage is sprinkled throughout, with Taylor Kitsch, Rihanna and director Peter Berg talking about the basic idea behind the film. The more I see of the aliens from Battleship, the more I’m convinced that this movie will actually be kind of fun. We’re not exactly gonna get high minded art from a board game adaptation, but Berg’s involvement gives me hope that he’s crafted a fun action/sci-fi film that isn’t as visually exhausting as Michael Bay’s eye raping Transformers series. The director describes this batch of aliens in Battleship as on a “sort of recon mission,” so it’s safe to assume that even if Tim Riggins and Co. blow this group all to hell, a full-scale invasion might be in store for Battleship 2: We’re Fucked.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette. The film also stars Liam Neeson, Brooklyn Decker and Alexander Skarsgard. Battleship opens May 18th.

The epic action-adventure Battleship, from director/producer Peter Berg, is about a fleet of ships forced to do battle with an armada of alien origins, in order to discover and prevent their destructive goals for the planet. Kicking off the summer blockbuster season, the movie opens on May 18^th.

After their panel presentation at WonderCon 2012 (click here for our recap), model-turned-actress Brooklyn Decker and Peter Berg talked about the decision to start revealing more glimpses of the aliens and the machinery in the film, the fact that the aliens don’t act unless acted upon, the balance between the action and the love story with Taylor Kitsch and Decker’s characters, the Naval warfare aspect and what went into the decision of which ships to use, the process of designing the aliens, how much the board game is actually an inspiration for the film, Steve Jablonsky’s score, and the mini Friday Night Lights reunion, with both Kitsch and Jesse Plemons in the film. Check out what they had to say after the jump.

Here at Wonder-Con 2011, Universal Pictures was kind enough to stop by with some new footage from their upcoming action film, Battleship. The recently released new trailer was just the tip of the iceberg as director Peter Berg came loaded with two new clips highlighting drastically different tones of the film. We got to see another side of Taylor Kitsch’s character as well as a good look at the alien menace in Battleship known as the Regents. We also got a very fine look at Brooklyn Decker and man how I’ve been waiting for that (she’s a supermodel, for God’s sake. Use her in your marketing!) Alexander Skarsgard also told a funny story about being shot in the face with a 25-foot-long air cannon. Just another day at WonderCon.

Director Peter Berg’s Battleship, starring Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker and Rihanna opens May 18th. Hit the jump for more.

A new trailer for Battleship has arrived. This is the third such trailer for the feature film adaptation of the popular board game, and it features the most footage we’ve seen yet. The movie still looks fairly ridiculous, but this latest clip highlights the massive amount of explosions/destruction/havoc that graces the screen; at this point, Battleship could easily pass as Transformers 4. We also get a look at some action on land, as it appears we won’t be spending the entirety of the movie on the ocean (paving the way for the sequel Battleship: Land Ho!). Oh, and they tease the alien creatures quite a bit too.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer. The film stars Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Rihanna, Brooklyn Decker and Alexander Skarsgard. Battleship opens May 18th.