Ryan Reynolds and director Tarsem (Mirror Mirror) are in talks with Endgame Entertainment and FilmDistrict to make Selfless.  The script by Alex and David Pastor made the 2011 Black List of Hollywood’s best unproduced screenplays.  Here’s the logline:

An extremely wealthy, elderly man dying from cancer undergoes a radical medical procedure that transfers his consciousness to the body of a healthy young man but everything may not be as good as it seems when he starts to uncover the mystery of the body’s origins and the secret organization that will kill to keep its secrets.

It is certainly a rich premise, one that could lead to a classic mind-bender or quickly go off the rails.  That is doubly true if Reynolds and Tarsem sign on—both have shown flashes of greatness over an uneven filmography.  I know I would like to see them try, so here’s hoping the talks pan out.  According to Deadline, James D. Stern, Peter Schlessel, and Ram Bergman will produce (they previously teamed on Looper).

Universal Pictures has released first trailer for director Robert Schwentke’s (Red) adaptation of the Dark Horse comic R.I.P.D.  The supernatural actioner stars Ryan Reynolds as a newly deceased cop who joins a group of undead officers in the “Rest In Peace Department” to help combat a rising force of nefarious corpses.  The trailer has a very strong Men in Black vibe, as Reynolds’ “new to death” rookie is introduced to this new supernatural world by his partner, a colorful veteran R.I.P.D. member played by Jeff Bridges.  There’s a nice mix of humor and action on display in this debut trailer, and the chemistry between Bridges and Reynolds—which one imagines is the make or break aspect of the film—looks quite promising.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer and see the new images.  The film also stars Kevin Bacon, Mary Louise-Parker, Stephanie Szostak, Marissa Miller, and James Hong.  R.I.P.D. opens in 3D on July 19th in the U.S. and on August 30th in the U.K.

At this point, it’s surprising when DreamWorks Animation doesn’t make a sequel out of one of its properties.  While the studio was decidedly more nervous than usual for the release of last month’s prehistoric pic The Croods following the commercial disappointment of Rise of the Guardians, audiences flocked to the cavepeople-centric animated film.  The Croods’ worldwide box office total now stands at over $385 million, and THR reports that DreamWorks Animation has officially greenlit a sequel.

Writers/directors Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders will return for The Croods 2, and the studio is currently in negotiations with certain key voice actors to return as well.  The first pic boasts a voice cast that includes Emma Stone, Nicolas Cage, and Ryan Reynolds, and we can reasonably expect a fair amount of the actors to come back.  Next on the DWA release docket is the snail racing pic Turbo this July, which also features the voice of Reynolds.

With Robert Schwentke’s (Red) adaptation of the Dark Horse comic R.I.P.D. arriving in theaters June 28th, Universal has released the first poster for the film at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.  For those unaware, CinemaCon is a convention put on for theater owners in order to get a look at what the studios have to offer for the rest of the year.  It’s essentially Comic-Con for theater owners.

R.I.P.D. centers on dead cops who work for the “Rest in Peace Department,” with Ryan Reynolds playing a newly deceased cop and Jeff Bridges taking on the role of his partner, a seasoned R.I.P.D. veteran.  The film also stars Mary Louise-Parker, Kevin Bacon, Stephanie Szostak, Marissa Miller, and James Hong.  R.I.P.D.’s been on my radar since it was first announced, and I’m hoping Universal will show some footage this week in Las Vegas.  I’d imagine with the poster being released, the first trailer should be online really soon.  Hit the jump to see the poster/display.

Update: I’ve learned the first trailer for R.I.P.D. is attached to Oblivion next weekend, so I’d imagine it’ll be online later this week.  Update 2: Universal has released the high-quality official version.  Check it out after the jump.

Feast your eyes on the latest images from the following films opening later this year:

• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Yesterday’s new image featured the Everdeen sisters, but today’s focuses on Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth).  Starring Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens November 22nd.
• 300: Rise of an Empire – We got our first look at the 300 sequel just a few days ago and today brings our first glimpse of Eva Green as the film’s antagonist, Artemisia.  300: Rise of an Empire opens August 2nd.
• R.I.P.D. – Today’s first look at the comic adaptation about two undead gunslingers features Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds and their weapons of choice.  R.I.P.D. opens July 19th.

Hit the jump to view all of the new images.

I want to see the Deadpool movie.  Ryan Reynolds is perfect casting, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland) are the perfect writers for it, and it’s just a fun character whose tendency to break the fourth-wall could be a welcome spin on the superhero genre.  Reynolds is still on board, and he recently said that Deadpool would address X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which would help avoid getting bogged down in continuity, and give the character a fresh start.  He also noted that it’s a hard sell to 20th Century Fox because the film would be hard-R (therefore cutting into the profits pulled from the wallets of teenage boys), and not fit the mold of other superhero movies.  Reese and Wernick are also somewhat frustrated with the lack of progress, and they recently spoke with Steve about the project.

Hit the jump for what they had to say including the hurdles in getting it made, taking a chance on an unconventional superhero, and how you can find the script.

The nationwide expansion of Harmony Korine‘s Spring Breakers meant that I had the opportunity to catch the film last night at my local theater. We’ll talk a more specifically about our coverage of the film after the jump. For now, I’d like to make a futile attempt at encapsulating my feelings on the pic in the next few sentences. There’s a lot to like about Breakers whether it be the performances (James Franco‘s especially), the music, the slick editing and use of foreshadowing, etc. Nevertheless, for me this isn’t a movie that I “liked” as much as it’s one I respect. It’s beautiful, surreal, challenging, abhorrent, and vapid all at the same time. In other words, it’s art.

I could go on for days about the pic but that’s not why we’re here. In this week’s Top 5 we’ll take a look at our Breakers coverage, some Transformers 4 plot details, Olympus Has Fallen interviews with Gerard Butler and Antoine Fuqua just to name a few, a new trailer and poster for Star Trek Into Darkness, and The Croods interviews with Nicolas Cage and more. As is standard, a brief recap and link to each awaits after the jump.

Though the sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past is gearing up to begin production next month, another long-promised X-Men spinoff film continues to linger in development hell.  Fox has been working on a Deadpool movie for what feels like an eternity now, and the last thing we heard about the project was a rumor that the studio had shot 8-minutes of test footage for the proposed pic.  That was over a year ago and we haven’t had any significant updates in the interim.  Ryan Reynolds remains attached to star, but the hurdle for the studio is greenlighting a hard-R superhero movie in which the protagonist frequently breaks the fourth wall.

Reynolds recently gave a bit of an update on the project, saying that “it’s sitting there” and discussing the difficulty of getting the go-ahead from Fox for such a unique film.  The actor also addressed how the Deadpool spinoff would handle the character’s appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

“Crude” is a half-appropriate description of DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods.  The word couldn’t apply less to the gorgeous animation, which not only paints a broad, beautiful canvas for the setting, but also revels in meticulous detail.  But the film’s sense of humor and thinly-drawn characters are rarely worthy of their magnificent surroundings.  Although the film doesn’t resort to fart humor (which DreamWorks Animation has never been hesitant to employ), it’s mostly slapstick that renders the characters’ need to survive less than compelling when they can be tossed 80 feet in the air and land with nary a scratch.  The story may preach about looking to tomorrow, but the tired story and themes are rooted firmly in the past.

A new trailer and poster have been released for DreamWorks Animation’s Turbo.  The story follows a snail (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) who dreams of being able to go fast, and gets his wish after a freak accident.  He then goes to pursue his dream of racing in the Indy 500.  The trailer looks cute, but I’m not sure if the movie has an antagonist.  I hope it’s salt.

Hit he jump to check out the trailer and poster.  The film also features the voices of Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena, Luis Guzmán, Bill Hader, Richard Jenkins, Ken Jeong, Michelle Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph, Ben Schwartz, Kurtwood Smith, Snoop Dogg, and Samuel L. Jackson.  Turbo opens in 3D on July 19th.

Opening this weekend is DreamWorks Animations’ The Croods. Directed by Kirk De Micco (Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon), The Croods centers on a prehistoric family embarking on the world’s first  road trip through an uncharted, fantastical and dangerous world.  The film features the voice talents of Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Nicolas Cage, Clark Duke, Catherine Keener and Cloris Leachman.  For more on The Croods, you can watch 8 clips here.

At the New York City press junket, I was able to speak with Ryan Reynolds and Emma Stone.  We talked about how the story and their characters changed during production, what surprised them both during the recording process, favorite video games, Reynolds Ted cameo, R.I.P.D., and I tried to get Stone to talk about The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  Hit the jump to watch.

We’ve got eight clips from DreamWorks Animations’ The Croods to share with you today. Directed by Kirk De Micco (Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon), The Croods centers on the titular prehistoric family embarking on the world’s first  road trip through an uncharted, fantastical and dangerous world.  Featuring the voice talents of Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Nicolas Cage, Clark Duke, Catherine Keener and Cloris Leachman, The Croods opens March 22nd.  Hit the jump to watch all eight clips.

The first teaser trailer and poster for DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming racing movie Turbo have been released.  The story centers on a snail who, after miraculously attaining the power of super-speed, decides to fulfill his dream of racing in the Indy 500.  I got a kick out of the fact that The Chromatics’ “Tick of the Clock,” which was memorably used in last year’s decidedly violent Drive, opens this trailer, followed by another appropriately titled song from Cake.  This is very much a teaser trailer so we don’t see much by way of plot, but the brief bit of racing sequences look pretty impressive and Ryan Reynolds does a fine job with the snail’s comedy.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer, and click here to read Dave’s recap of the recent DreamWorks Animation presentation which included footage from Turbo.  The film also features the voices of Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena, Luis Guzmán, Bill Hader, Richard Jenkins, Ken Jeong, Michelle Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph, Ben Schwartz, Kurtwood Smith, Snoop Dogg, and Samuel L. Jackson.  Turbo opens in 3D on July 19, 2013.

A new trailer for DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming film The Croods has been released online.  Written and directed by Kirk De Micco (Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon), the film takes us back to “a previously undiscovered era in the history of our planet” and centers on the culture clash between a family of cavemen and a more evolved young man named Guy (Ryan Reynolds).  This trailer is much more DreamWorks-y than the first teaser in that it relies heavily on physical comedy and gags.  That said, there are a couple genuine laughs to be found and the animation looks great.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer, and click here to read Dave’s recap from DreamWorks Animation’s recent sneak peek at their upcoming slate.  The film also features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman and Clark Duke.  The Croods opens March 22, 2013 in 3D.

Today, DreamWorks Animation presented a sneak peek at the three films set for release in 2013: The Croods, Turbo and Mr. Peabody & Sherman. While the films are in varying stages of completeness, clips from each movie were screened to give the audience a sense of tone, story and aesthetics. Not familiar with the movies in question? Here’s a look at the relevant directors and voice casts:

• The Croods – Directed by Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco, and featuring the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman and Clark Duke, The Croods opens March 22, 2013 in 3D.
• Turbo – Directed by David Soren and featuring a voice cast including Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Peña, Luis Guzman, Bill Hader, Richard Jenkins, Ken Jeong, Michelle Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph, Ben Schwartz, Kurtwood Smith, Snoop Dogg and Samuel L. Jackson, Turbo opens July 19, 2013 in 3D.
• Mr. Peabody & Sherman – Directed by Rob Minkoff and featuring the voices of Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Ariel Winter, Allison Janney, Stephen Colbert, Stephen Tobolowsky, Mel Brooks, Leslie Mann and Stanley Tucci, Mr. Peabody & Sherman opens November 1, 2013 in 3D.

Hit the jump for a recap of the sneak peeks.