For our final Toy Fair image article, we’re doing a huge roundup of NECA toy images.  While they’re making figures/toys for all the regular movies and TV shows you’d expect, the highlight of NECA’s 2013 lineup is the 60′s Batman featuring Adam West!  The reason it’s taken so long to get an Adam West Batman is lawyers.  From what I’ve been told, Warner Bros. owns Batman, while 20th Century Fox owns the show.  For years the two companies have been trying to work out an agreement to release DVDs/Blu-rays and new merchandise with little success.  However, late last year, the two companies finally worked out a deal and 2013 should see a lot of new toys and hopefully a home video release.  Which is great news for the fans.

In addition to checking out the first 60′s Batman toy in quite some time, you can also see new toys for Aliens, A Christmas Story, Captain America, Michael Keaton’s Batman, Carrie, Gremlins, E.T., Harry Potter, Hulk, Iron Man, Pacific Rim, Predator, Prometheus, Scarface, Rambo, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games, Thor, and a lot more.

Some pretty damn cool-looking collectible figures are now on sale for The Amazing Spider-Man and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, and we’ve got a batch of images from both.  These figures come from Hot Toys, the same company that put out that incredibly life-like Joker collectible from The Dark Knight and they also did Loki from The Avengers.  There’s really not much to the Spidey collectible besides some webshooting and crouched stances, but the Wolf Predator Polystone Statue is pretty neat.  The terrifying hunter carries a trophy from his prey in one image, and shows off his deadly chompers in another.

Hit the jump to check out images of the collectibles.

At the risk of inflating expectations, I have to say that this week’s “Top 5″ includes one of my all-time favorite stories on the site: the “Alamo Texter Voicemail.” In less than two minutes, the Drafthouse puts a voice to “that person” who all too often sees the movie theater as a great place to get the most out of their unlimited monthly text plan. Joining Alamo’s contribution in this week’s installment is producer John Davis’ sit-down with Steve where he discusses the Predator franchise and what kept Arnold Schwarzenegger from doing Predator 2, our Horrible Bosses set visit, and a pair of Super 8 pieces coming in the form of Matt’s film review and Steve’s video interview with writer/director/producer J.J. Abrams.

Hit the jump to find a quick recap and link to each.

A few days ago I sat down with producer John Davis for an extended interview.  While the main purpose of our sit down was to talk about his new family film, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, starring Jim Carrey, we also covered his early career, his thoughts on VOD, his relationship with Eddie Murphy, what he has coming up, and many other subjects.  Since the conversation was so wide ranging, I’m breaking it up into smaller parts, like I did with my interviews with producers Dan Lin and Neal Moritz.

While I debated what to post first, I’m going with Predator.  Davis served as a producer on every Predator film including the two Alien vs. Predator movies. As a big fan of what producer Robert Rodriguez and director Nimrod Antal did last year on Predators, I was curious if we’d get a sequel, and what was up with the franchise.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like anything is happening right now.  However, I did learn that Schwarzenegger almost did Predator 2 and the deal broke down over $250,000.  Hit the jump for more.

Now that Arnold Schwarzenegger is returning to acting and considering offers, the question becomes: what roles are out there for a 63-year-old action star who hasn’t starred in a movie since 2003?  According to Arnold: plenty.  The Arnold Fans [via AICN] spoke to Schwarzenegger at his annual bodybuilding competition, The Arnold Classic.  When asked about what scripts he was considering, Schwarzenegger told his fans:

“Well, first of all it’s more 15 films, obvious ones from The Terminator to remakes of Predator and The Running Man and all of those things.  Then also a lot of original stuff too.  But I am also packaging a Comic Book character right now. I’m going to announce that sometime by the end of March or the beginning of April.”

Hit the jump for my thoughts on Arnold’s future.

“You’re ghostin’ us, motherfucker. I don’t care who you are back in the world, you give away our position one more time, I’ll bleed ya, real quiet. Leave ya here. Got that?” Watching Predator again it’s always amazing how much of the film is intensely quotable. But perhaps it’s that if you were alive and near a playground, twelve year old boys ate this film up, and watched it repeatedly on HBO. The film is about  a bunch of tough hombres (including Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, Shane Black, Sonny Landham, and Carl Weathers) headed up by Arnold Schwarzenegger who are sent into the Latin America jungles to rescue some hostages, but end up being targeted by an alien who’s come to the jungle to hunt men. It’s a simple premise, precisely executed by John McTiernan, and has become an action classic since release. My review of the new and controversial Blu-ray edition of Predator (labeled the Ultimate Hunter Edition) after the jump.

A batch of behind-the-scenes pics from Nimród Antal’s upcoming Predators has popped up on avpgalaxy.net.  A brief refresher: the Robert Rodriguez-produced film is a reboot of the cult sci-fi action series, which began with the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Predator.  It will center on a Blackwater-esque mercenary unit that’s hunted by a group of the warrior aliens…so basically, the original movie with more bad guys.

For the most part, the pictures are just shots of the cast and crew sitting around between takes and posing together for the camera. However, we do get a look at the sets, the new Predators, and a few of the actors in costume. I know some of you have been concerned about Adrien Brody playing a bad-ass commando; well, here’s your first chance to critique. I can tell you that while we don’t see any shots of him in action, he does totally manhandle some kind of wrapped sandwich. Hit the jump for the pictures.

If you’re a fan of Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix) and the Predator franchise, I’m about to tell you some awesome news.  That’s because I’m in Austin right now, as I got to spend all day on the set of director Nimród Antal’s Predators movie – along with a number of other online journalists.  While I can’t tell you anything about what I saw or thought of the movie until my embargo lifts, I’m allowed to report Laurence Fishburne has just joined the cast and he’s playing a character named Noland.

While I would really like to tell you a lot more…since Predators doesn’t get released until next July, it’s going to be awhile before you can read my set report.  Saying that, here’s the synopsis that’s on IMDb:

A group of elite warriors are hunted by members of a merciless alien race known as Predators.

Predators stars Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Danny Trejo, Alice Braga, Derek Mears, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, and Louis Ozawa Changchien.  Predators is being produced by Robert Rodriguez.

ComingSoon recently spoke with Predators director Nimrod Antal about his upcoming sequel to the classic 1987 action film, and his controversial decision to cast Adrien Brody as the leader of a bunch of bad-asses who fight the Predator aliens.  Antal says that it was too predictable to go with Schwarzenegger-type and how the role demanded someone of Brody’s physique: “He plays a mercenary in the film and if you look at the guys in Iraq and Afghanistan today, they’re not ‘yolked-out’ Schwarzenegger-looking guys. They’re all very wiry and thin guys, and I think it’s going to play well.“  Blackwater is the most infamous group of mercenaries fighting the “War on Terror” and here’s a link to a photo with some of them.  Yes, some of them are wiry but that’s an over-generalization and while I appreciate the unconventional casting, the original Predator is set up that you have a group of the toughest, meanest motherfuckers around and they’re getting picked off like they’re nothing by one creature.  Aliens works the same way.  It’s going to be tough to convince audience members that Brody is a man feared enough that we would consider him a worthy challenger against just one Predator, let alone many.

At least as far as the visual effects are concerned, Antal seems to be on the right track by opting for practical effects even though producer and screenwriter Robert Rodriguez wants everything to be CG because hey, ain’t that neat.  Antal also said that Predators will be an R-rated film so at least there’s nothing to worry about on that front.  For those who don’t know, Antal is best known for his 2003 film Kontroll and is currently doing press for his new film Armored, which hits theaters on December 4^th.