This past April, we reported that Relativity had bought the Black List script Ness/Capone to rival Warner Bros.’ Al Capone story Cicero. Harry Potter director David Yates has been developing Cicero for quite some time, with Tom Hardy attached to star, but he recently committed to a multi-film adaptation of The Stand, so it may be a while before Cicero gets going. Well, Relativity looks to be taking advantage of Yates’ busy schedule as they’re turning to V for Vendetta director James McTeigue to helm to crime drama.

Deadline reports that McTeigue is in negotiations to helm the pic, which chronicles the Elliott Ness/Al Capone saga in more detail than Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables. McTeigue, who recently completed the Edgar Allen Poe flick The Raven, is currently readying his next film Message From the King which centers on an outsider who travels to L.A. to investigate the disappearance of his sister.

28 Weeks Later director/co-writer Juan Carlos Fresnadillo has been tapped by Relativity Media to direct a “re-invention” of 1994’s The Crow. Per the release, Fresnadillo is expected to co-write the project’s script with an as-of-yet unnamed scribe. Although casting details announcements are still forthcoming, the release confirms that Fresnadillo’s film will focus on the character Eric Draven and that production is aiming to begin this Fall. In discussing the reboot, producer Edward Pressman says:

“The original Crow was groundbreaking cinema; its gothic visual and musical ideas influenced a generation and cinema itself. With Juan Carlos, we have every confidence that his new Crow will have a similar impact on the contemporary audience.”

For more on the project, hit the jump to check out the full press release.

Earlier this week, we reported that director Phillip Noyce (Salt) was in talks with Relativity Media to helm the international action-thriller/submarine flick (yep, it’s a real genre) Hunter Killer. Today, we have confirmation on that report as Noyce has officially signed on to the project. Per THR, Noyce is looking to begin shooting the picture later this year.

In case you missed it last time, Hunter Killer is based on the upcoming novel Firing Point by George Wallace and Don Keith. The film, penned by Jamie Moss (X-Men: First Class), Arne Schmidt (Chain Reaction), and John Kolvenbach (Coney Island), conjoins an American submarine commander and a Navy SEAL in an attempt to rescue the Russian president from a renegade admiral. Neal Moritz and Toby Jaffe of Original Films will team-up with Relativity’s Ryan Kavanaugh and Tucker Tooley to produce Hunter Killer.

Every once in awhile a movie comes out of left field and completely floors you.  Usually this happens at a film festival, because no one has seen the movie before its first screening and you walk in ready for anything.  But it’s rare for this to happen when you’re talking about a big Hollywood release.  The reason is by the time it’s ready to be seen, there is usually a lot of advance buzz letting you know one way or the other if the film works.  But for some reason, when it comes to David O. Russell’s The Fighter, which is based on the true story of boxers Dicky and Micky Ecklund, people around town have been oddly silent.

But with The Fighter getting ready to be released December 10th in select cities and on the 17th everywhere, Paramount has started showing the movie and I can tell you it’s one of the best films you’ll see this year.  Filled with award caliber performances from every cast member and great direction from David O. Russell, The Fighter has come out of nowhere to completely shake up my top ten of the year.  Also, while all the acting is incredible (even Mark Wahlberg), Christian Bale rips through the film like a tornado and he’s easily the front runner to win an Oscar.  More after the jump – including 3 movie clips and 19 images from the film.

Rogue Pictures have released the first trailer for the Brothers Strause (Alien vs. Predator: Requiem) Skyline.  This is one of those movies that came out of nowhere to win over the finicky crowd at this year’s Comic-Con.  As Germain wrote in his write-up of the panel, the Brothers Strause decided to make Skyline when they saw the success of Paranormal Activity. The difference, however, is that these brothers also own the special effects house Hydraulx, so the film looks just a tad bigger, even if it was produce with the same dogma.  He went on to say:

The entire movie was made with only a crew of about 20 people, which made for a very rewarding and intimate situation.  Skyline was shot with the new Red camera and, because you don’t need to light as much, it made the production much smaller and let everyone take more risks.  Even the actors took risks. Because there were only 5 people in charge (the directors, a producer and 2 writers) there was no one to report to or to say “no” when they rigged up the leads to hang over a building.

After watching the short teaser trailer, I’m definitely curious to see the full film. Judge for yourself after the jump:

At the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, everyone was talking about a movie they couldn’t really talk about. That film, a documentary called Catfish, was later picked up by Rogue Pictures and the trailer just went online.

This is definitely one of those movies that you should know as little about as possible, except this. A New York photographer named Nev Schulman became friends with a family from Michigan when their youngest daughter painted a photo that Nev took. Through the internet, Nev became friends with the mother, dated the sister and was so impressed with the youngest daughter’s paintings that his brother Ariel and friend Henry Joost decided to film the whole thing. Jaw-dropping and heart-wrenching, Catfish was easily one of my favorite films I saw at Sundance this year.

Hit the jump to check out the teaser-iffic trailer, poster, some images and a synopsis, then avoid all spoilers until September 17 when Catfish will finally be released.

When Rogue Pictures first announced they were making a MacGruber movie, I’ll admit to thinking it might not work.  After all, MacGruber is based on a very short Saturday Night Live sketch and I wasn’t sure he could make the transition to the big screen.  But based on the reviews out of SXSW where the film premiered, my nervousness was unfounded, as people loved the film and it’s currently at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes!  What I heard was it’s incredibly stupid but incredibly funny.  With a May 21st release date, we’ll all know if the film is as great as people are saying soon.

But if you’d like to get a look at a few scenes now, we’ve been given 5 clips and you can watch them after the jump.

Robert De Niro has signed on to join the cast of the upcoming suspense-thriller The Dark Fields.  Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) has already been cast as the lead, as was previously reported here.  The film will be directed by Neil Burger (The Illusionist) and produced by Scott Kroopf, Leslie Dixon and Ryan Kavanaugh.  Dixon (The Heartbreak Kid) also wrote the screenplay.

The film is about ‘a down-and-out Gotham writer (Cooper) who comes into possession of a designer drug that gives him newfound intelligence and success‘.  According to Variety, De Niro will be playing the role of the brilliant financial mogul that’s chasing after Bradley Cooper’s character.   The film will begin shooting in May in Philadelphia.