Here’s the latest casting news:

• Rufus Sewell (Dark City) will join Dwayne Johnson (Snitch) in Brett Ratner’s fantasy epic, Hercules.
• Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise) is in talks to star alongside Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) in the raunchy road trip movie, Tammy, along with Kathy Bates (Misery).
• Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids) will reteam with Anchorman 2 filmmakers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay for the indie comedy, Welcome to Me.

Hit the jump for more on each casting announcement. 

Earlier this week I literally dreamed about The Dark Knight Rises. Not that I was in the movie. Not that I was Batman. Just that I was in the theater watching it for the first time. And I woke up with a sense of joy that followed me around for hours. Even now I can’t decide exactly what this says about me or whether it’s a good or bad thing that I’m so excited for a single moviegoing experience. Part of me is a little disappointed in my subconscious for dreaming on such a micro level. Another part is encouraged that it finds such joy in the “little things”. Regardless, those precious two hours and forty-five minutes or so on midnight of July 20th can’t get here soon enough.

All personal issues aside, this week’s iteration of the Top 5 includes the new trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson‘s The Master, Brave interviews with John Lasseter, director Mark Andrews and more, Brendan’s latest Cinemath feature, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World interviews with Steve Carell, Keira Knightley and more, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter interviews with Tim Burton and co. The search for a brief recap and link to each concludes after the jump.

Now playing is director Timur Bekmambetov‘s (Wanted) Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  Based on the book of the same name from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies author Seth Grahame-Smith and produced by Tim Burton, the film imagines that Lincoln’s mother and grandfather were killed by a vampire and that the president’s resolve to end slavery was due in part to the “fact” that vampires were involved with the slave trade.  Playing Lincoln is newcomer Benjamin Walker and he stars alongside Rufus Sewell, Anthony Mackie, Dominic Cooper, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. For more on the film, here’s all our previous coverageand three clips with twenty minutes of behind-the-scenes footage.

Last weekend I got to speak with Dominic Cooper, Rufus Sewell, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead in New York City.  We talked about their reaction when they first heard the title and how their characters changed from when they first got the script to the finished film.  Hit the jump to watch.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter attempts to walk the line between solemn grit and bombastic action.  The film stumbles around the line, falls off of it, gropes in the dark to find the line again, give a big goofy smile at no one in particular, regains a wobbly balance before taking a proud stride forward only to constantly repeat this bizarre range of motions.  The film is an exercise in pushing the limits of going big while keeping a straight face.  In its action scenes, there’s not a shred of doubt that director Timur Bekmambetov is trying to find laughs in lunacy to make up for the dearth of humor in the “serious” scenes.  But what appears to be an attempt at balance simply comes off as measured schizophrenia, and what should be a fun twist on half-remembered American history instead becomes a dark twist on historiography.

We’ve been provided with three clips and 20 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage from Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  Based on the Seth Grahame-Smith novel of the same name, the film delves into the “secret” past of our nation’s 16^th president and documents his quest to cut as many vampires in half as possible after they murder his mother.  Wanted helmer Timur Bekmambetov directs with producer Tim Burton onboard to make sure things stay strange, which is crucial when your film’s title is Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Hit the jump to watch the clips.  Be sure to check out Steve’s set visit coverage including 30 things to know plus a video blog, and interviews with Bekmambetov, Benjamin Walker, and Dominic Cooper.  Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter opens in 3D on June 22^nd.

Some quick casting bits today.  Here they are in brief:

• Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) is set to join Haley Joel Osment (Sixth Sense) in the sci-fi mystery, I’ll Follow You Down.
• Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation) will join Shia LaBeouf in the noir romance film, The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman.

Hit the jump for more.

A new green band trailer for director Timur Bekmambetov’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has landed online.  While I’ve been pretty iffy about the stylized historical reimagining thus far, the most recent red band trailer and this green band one show promise.  In lieu of the jarring, quick-cut action sequences from the first few trailers, this clip slows things down a bit and features some nice sweeping shots and more character-driven dialogue.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film stars Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Rufus Sewell, Anthony Mackie, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter opens in 3D on June 22nd.

I’ve been running cold on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, but Fox has now released a new red-band trailer for the film, and I’m starting to warm up to the flick.  While it looks like half of the movie will be speed-ramped, I can now make out the action on screen, and characters are actually talking to each other.  I’m also surprised at how bloody this looks, and I’m starting to wonder if Fox will release two R-rated blockbusters this summer (the other is Ridley Scott‘s Prometheus).  Keep in mind that director Timur Bekmambetov‘s previous film, Wanted, went out in the summer of 2008 with an R-rating and raked in $341 million worldwide, although having Angelina Jolie in your movie doesn’t hurt.

Hit the jump to check out the “Red-Band” (unrated would be a more accurate description) trailer.  The film stars Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Rufus Sewell, Anthony Mackie, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter opens in 3D on June 22nd.

Production has completed on the neo noir caper Hotel Noir, and the first image from the film has been released.  Snakes on a Plane screenwriter Sebastián Gutiérrez tries his hand as a director at the noir genre in the 1950s-set film that centers on a detective holed up in a downtown hotel waiting for assassins to kill him.  We follow the detective through the night as he meets and converses with various characters who have haunted pasts of their own.  This being a Gutiérrez film, it’s described as a “sexually charged” crime film.  The cast is fairly impressive and includes Rufus Sewell, Carla Gugino, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Malin Akerman, and Robert Forster.  The pic is currently without distribution, but it will be shopped to international buyers in Cannes.

Hit the jump to read the press release and to check out the first image from the film.

In addition to showing off their footage (and a new trailer!) for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, 20th Century Fox also premiered some new footage for producer Tim Burton and director Timur Bekmambetov’s (Wanted) Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Part of the new footage was this recently released trailer (Mr. Lincoln, you had me at “gun-axe”). But they also showed an extended section of a big action set piece that featured all the principal cast, Bekmambetov’s signature action style and a helluva good fight. Unfortunately, Burton could not be present because he was gravely ill, but did check-in via satellite in a delightfully Burtonesque clip. Details after the jump.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, starring Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell, and Anthony Mackie opens in 3D on June 22nd. Hit the jump for more from the presentation.

A new trailer for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has gone online. The film posits that one of our nation’s greatest Presidents spent his spare time slicing and dicing vampires. I was a bit surprised by the first trailer in that the whole “Abraham Lincoln kills vampires” thing is played super serious, so I went into this new trailer with a different mindset. We get a better sense of the story, but I’m still not entirely enthused by the film. The trailer excels when it shows off the scenes that highlight the epic scope, but the rest of the time it’s basically Lincoln spinning his axe around all fancy-like. Timur Bekmambatov directed the film, and I’m assuming that if you were a fan of his action pic Wanted, the style of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter will be right up your alley.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer, and check back for our full report on the film’s WonderCon panel later today. The film stars Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell, and Anthony Mackie. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter opens in 3D on June 22nd.

The marketing campaign for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter kicked off this week with both the first trailer and an international trailer, and now a featurette for the film has been released. I’m still getting used to the fact that the conceit is being played super duper serious. They have to acknowledge the fact that Abraham Lincoln fighting vampires is ridiculous, right? It’s becoming creepily serious in this new featurette, as director Timur Beckmambatov and producer Tim Burton talk about the film with the utmost conviction. I’m still hoping the film is a fun ride, but I remain wary.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette. The film stars Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell, and Anthony Mackie. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter opens in 3D on June 22nd. [Updated: We've added an intro by Tim Burton after the jump.]

The teaser trailer for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has gone online.  The film re-imagines our 16th President as a statesman by day and a vampire slayer by night.  This trailer proves three things: 1) Johnny Cash‘s reading of Revelations 6:1 (from “The Man Comes Around”) can dignify just about anything; 2) Abraham Lincoln knew axe-fu; 3) Fox is selling this movie as totally serious.  Not a hint of a joke.  Also, the action goes by so fast, that you can’t really appreciate most of the moves or even tell what’s happening.  Ultimately, audiences will look at this teaser and think, “That’s not a real movie, right?”

The film stars Benjamin Walker, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Anthony Mackie, Dominic Cooper, Alan Tudyk, Jimmi Simpson, and Rufus Sewell.  Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter opens in 3D on June 22nd.

In the climate of budget conscious studios hesitant to gamble money on anything that doesn’t have a “2” in the title, more and more ambitious projects are having trouble crossing the finish line. Universal passed on Guillermo del Toro’s At the Mountains of Madness, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are struggling to get their blended, multi-part film/TV adaptation of The Dark Tower off the ground, and most recently we saw Warner Bros. put their fantasy pic Arthur & Lancelot on hold in order to work out budget issues.

Now you can add Paradise Lost to the list of blue balled titles, as Legendary has pulled the plug. The ambitious adaptation of John Milton’s classic epic poem was to begin shooting in January, but Legendary decided in December to push production back in order to reduce the budget. Now the studio has scrapped the project all together. Hit the jump for more, including why Legendary backed out.

Five new images have been released for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  I’m still waiting for someone to pop out and say, “Ha ha!  We’re just kidding.  This isn’t a real movie.  It’s an Asylum title that was made over the weekend and the cast was paid with promises of Blimpie subs.”  But for the moment, it’s being set up as a summer blockbuster with a goofy title.  I’m eager to get a look at this thing because right now it sounds like a gimmick, and these new photos don’t give much of an indication otherwise.

Hit the jump for the images along with some quotes on the movie from star Benjamin Walker.  Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter opens in 3D on June 22nd.