The Weinstein Company has released the first trailer for director Lee Daniels’ (Precious, The Paperboy) historical drama The Butler.  Based on a true story, the film stars Forrest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines, a butler who served at the White House from 1952 to 1986.  The trailer plays up the film’s awards prospects as we see a flash of famous faces playing the many notable persons who walked the halls of the White House throughout this period (Alan Rickman is particularly striking as President Reagan), and that’s balanced with an overview of Gaines’ life in a racially tense America.  While the film certainly looks like it has the potential to be powerful, cautious optimism is key whenever Lee Daniels is involved.

Hit the jump to watch the debut trailer.  The film also stars Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Mariah Carey, John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Minka Kelly, Lenny Kravitz, Melissa Leo, James Marsden, Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Redgrave, Liev Schreiber, and Robin Williams.  The Butler opens on October 18th.

[This is a re-post of my review from the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.  The Company You Keep opens tomorrow in limited release.]

Chase films probably shouldn’t feature septuagenarians. Robert Redford‘s The Company You Keep is two movies: one is a surprisingly entertaining investigative thriller, and the other is the most casual, least threatening chase flick I’ve ever seen. Redford has lined-up a tremendous cast, yet spreads them around in weak bit parts, leaving the majority of the picture to himself and Shia LaBeouf. Mixed between their characters’ two stories are confused messages about the value of the truth and rallying for your beliefs (provided it’s not too much of an inconvenience).

For a movie with two characters pursuing separate revenge stories, Niels Arden Oplev‘s Dead Man Down, manages to find a way to turn vendettas into plodding and tedious chores.  The film lacks the courage of its convictions, and when it writes itself into a corner, it simply refuses to acknowledge the shortcomings of the script, and trudges on to the next bland scene.  Oplev does seem to enjoy the cunning and violence his protagonist inflicts on the bad guys, but the revenge is so cliché that there’s no weight to any of the actions.  Vengeance has never been so dull.

FilmDistrict has released a batch of new high-resolution images from director Niels Arden Oplev’s (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) upcoming thriller Dead Man Down.  The film stars Colin Farrell as Victor, the right-hand-man for a New York crime lord (Terrence Howard) who seeks revenge against his boss following the death of his wife and daughter.  When a victim (Noomi Rapace) blackmails Victor into getting some revenge of her own against the crime lord, the two get caught up in the fallout.  These images highlight the intense nature of the pic, as we see the cast in some particularly stressful situations.

Hit the jump to take a look at the images.  Dead Man Down opens on March 8th.

FilmDistrict has released a new featurette and clip from director Niels Arden Oplev’s (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) crime thriller Dead Man Down.  The film stars Colin Farrell as Victor, the right-hand-man for a New York crime lord (Terrence Howard) who seeks revenge against his boss following the death of his wife and daughter.  When a victim (Noomi Rapace) blackmails Victor into getting some revenge of her own against the crime lord, the two get caught up in the fallout.  The clip shows a Rear Window-esque view of Farrell involved in some sort of fight, while the featurette highlights Rapace’s character.  It’s a great introduction to Rapace as an actress and her character, as Oplev, Farrell, and Howard talk about what she brings to the film.

Hit the jump to watch the clip and featurette.  Dead Man Down opens on March 8th.

Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. have announced the start of production of director Denis Villeneuve’s (Incedies) dramatic thriller Prisoners.  The film stars Hugh Jackman as a working-class Boston father who sets out to track down the man he believes is responsible for kidnapping his daughter and her friend. Along the way, he runs up against the big city detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) assigned to the case.  Filming is underway in Georgia, with an impressive supporting cast that includes Paul Dano, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, and Viola Davis.

The screenplay was written by Aaron Guzikowski (Contraband), and Mark Wahlberg is onboard as one of the film’s executive producers.  Moreover, genius cinematographer Roger Deakins (Skyfall, No Country for Old Men) is handling the camera work.  Hit the jump to read the full press release.  Prisoners opens on September 20th of this year.

A new trailer for director Robert Redford’s thriller The Company You Keep has been released online.  In addition to directing, Redford also stars in the film as a civil rights lawyer who must go on the run when he’s outed by a young reporter (Shia LaBeouf) as being a former 1970s Weather Underground militant.  The trailer teases an engrossing thriller with a stellar ensemble cast that includes Susan Sarandon, Anna Kendrick, Chris Cooper, Terrence Howard, and Brit Marling.  LaBeouf looks to be in fine form as well as the film’s lead, and I’m eager to see how Redford expands on the plot’s themes in the full feature.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer, and click here to read Matt’s review of the film from last year’s Toronto Film Festival.  The pic also stars Julie Christie, Sam Elliott, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Jenkins, Stanley Tucci, and Nick Nolte.  The Company You Keep opens on April 5th.

A new featurette has been released for Niels Arden Oplev‘s action-thriller Dead Man Down.  Colin Farrell stars as Victor, the right-hand-man for a New York crime lord (Terrence Howard) who seeks revenge against his boss following the death of his wife and daughter.  When a victim (Noomi Rapace) blackmails Victor into getting some revenge of her own against the crime lord, the two get caught up in the fallout.  Dead Man Down is the American debut of Opley, who previously directed the Swedish adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  This featurette does a great job of introducing Oplev to people who haven’t seen his version of Dragon Tattoo, and I really like what I’m seeing from his new film, especially in terms of the visuals.

Hit the jump to check out the featurette.  The film also stars Dominic Cooper.  Dead Man Down opens March 8th.

There are so many big movie stars in Movie 43 that it’s borderline ridiculous, so a new featurette aims to clarify some things with a little game of “Six Degrees of Separation.”  You can check out 55 images from the movie here and see how Emma Stone, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts, Terrence Howard, Halle Berry, Jason Sudeikis, Gerard Butler, Kristen Bell, Chloe Moretz, Josh Duhamel, Johnny Knoxville, Elizabeth Banks, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Richard Gere, Anna Faris, Justin Long, Liev Schreiber, Uma Thurman, Seann William Scott, Kieran Culkin, Leslie Bibb, Jimmy Bennett, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Kate Bosworth, Patrick Warburton, Tony Shalhoub, Chris Pratt, Jack McBrayer, Aasif Mandvi and Bobby Cannavale are all connected after the jump.  Movie 43 opens January 25, 2013. 

FilmDistrict has released a batch of new images from the upcoming revenge film Dead Man Down.  We recently caught a look at the film’s first trailer, and the footage promises a rather intense thriller led by Colin Farrell and Noomie Rapace.  Directed by Niels Arden Oplev (the Swedish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Farrell stars as Victor, a right-hand-man for a New York crime lord who seeks revenge against his boss following the death of his wife and daughter.  When a victim (Rapace) blackmails Victor into getting some revenge of her own against the crime lord, the two get caught up in the fallout.  In addition to the release of these new images, FilmDistrict has announced that another trailer for the pic will be released on January 2nd, so check back here on Collider on Wednesday to take another gander at the film.

Hit the jump to check out the new images.  The film also stars Dominic Cooper (Captain America: The First Avenger).  Dead Man Down opens on March 8, 2013.

The first trailer has snuck online for Dead Man Down, an action thriller from writer J.H. Wyman (Fringe) and director Niels Arden Oplev (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – 2009).  Dead Man Down stars Colin Farrell (Seven Psychopaths) as Victor, a right hand man for a New York crime lord who seeks vengeance against his boss for the death of his wife and daughter.  When a victim (Noomi Rapace - Prometheus) blackmails Victor into getting some revenge of her own, the two get caught up in the fallout.  The trailer, if overlong, is a balanced presentation of a dramatic character story and a Hollywood shoot em up.  Dead Man Down might have just nudged its way into my “Most Anticipated” list of early 2013.

Also starring Dominic Cooper (The Devil’s Double) and Terrence Howard (Iron Man), Dead Man Down opens theatrically March 8th.  Hit the jump to watch the first trailer.

Director David Ayer’s (End of Watch) upcoming action thriller Ten just nabbed a release date, but those itching to get a look at the film anytime soon will be sorely disappointed.  Open Road Films announced today that Ten will be released on January 24, 2014, which for you mathematicians out there is about 13 months away.  The film is loosely based on Agatha Christie’s classic mystery Ten Little Indians, as it centers on a DEA task force who heists a drug cartel safe house, only to start getting picked off one-by-one by an unknown assassin.  The impressive ensemble cast is lead by Arnold Schwarzenegger, with Sam Worthington, Joe Manganiello, Harold Perrineau, Terrence Howard, Josh Holloway, Max Martini (Revenge), Olivia Williams (Anna Karenina), and Mireille Enos (The Killing) rounding things out.

Currently no other film is slated for that same weekend in January 2014, but Open Road has also released a slightly new image from the film.  It’s incredibly similar to the first image of Schwarzenegger that was previously released, but this photo shows the actor striking a different (though no less intimidating) pose.  Hit the jump to read the press release and to take a look at the new image.

If you like your movie trailers short on plot, heavy on the ad-libbing and redder than a Romney state, then you’ll love this new red-band effort from Movie 43.  The Peter Farrelly ensemble comedy stars everyone you’ve ever heard of in Hollywood and even some you haven’t.  Movie 43 has released another red-band trailer previously, but the new one mostly focuses on a stream of improv from Jason Sudeikis who is admiring Kristen Bell’s crotch.

Starring Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Bell, Halle Berry, Leslie Bibb, Kate Bosworth, Gerard Butler and everyone else, Movie 43 opens on January 25th, 2013.  Hit the jump to see the new red-band trailer.

Thanks to social networking, we now have the first image of Arnold Schwarzenegger in director David Ayer’s new film, Ten.  Schwarzenegger tweeted the image earlier today, one that shows off a new look for the former Governor as he’s sporting a new haircut and a variety of new tattoos.  He’s also armed to the teeth and ready for battle in a police-issue bullet-proof vest, complete with knives, ammo and at least three guns.  Back when it was titled Breacher, Ayer said he wanted to “reinvent Arnold” during an interview with Steve.  You’ll have to decide for yourself whether or not he succeeded.  Hit the jump to check out the first image and for more on Schwarzenegger’s character.

New set photos from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Lee Daniels‘ The Butler, and Luc Besson‘s Malavita have gone online.  The photo from Catching Fire shows the construction of the justice building, but since it’s in a dystopian future, it’s really the injustice building.  Oprah Winfrey instagram’d the photo of her and co-star Terrence Howard in their “goodbye love scene.”  Finally, the official set photo from Malavita doesn’t give away much about the film, which is about a mafia family living in witness protection in France.

Hit the jump to check out the set photos.  The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens November 22, 2013.  The Butler and Malavita will likely open in 2013.