George Clooney turned out to be both the biggest winner and the biggest loser at this year’s Golden Globes Sunday. Despite a win for Best Actor in a Drama for “The Descendants” — the film that also took home Best Drama — Clooney’s own film, “The Ides of March,” was shut out completely in all four categories for which it was nominated.

The other big winner of the night was Academy Award Best Picture frontrunner “The Artist.” The silent film didn’t win any accolades for writer/director Michel Hazanavicius, but instead took home Best Musical/Comedy, Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy for star Jean Dujardin and Best Original Score.

In the writing and directing categories, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was able to award two of the all-time greats with statuettes, Martin Scorsese (“Hugo”) and Woody Allen (“Midnight in Paris”).

See all the winners below.

Best Picture – Drama

• The Descendants
• The Help
• Hugo
• The Ides of March
• Moneyball
• War Horse

My Thoughts: With “The Artist” being in the musical/comedy category, it’s tough to say whether “The Descendants” has a chance at the Oscar. Still, considering it competed with more mainstream feel-good films in “The Help,” “Hugo” and “Moneyball,” it’s a pretty big victory for Alexander Payne’s film.

Best Picture – Musical/Comedy

• 50/50
• The Artist
• Bridesmaids
• Midnight in Paris
• My Week with Marilyn

My Thoughts: Having emerged as the clear frontrunner for the Oscar in recent weeks, this win wasn’t a big surprise at all. The real competition (if it exists) comes from the Best Drama nominees.

Best Director

• Woody Allen for “Midnight in Paris”
• George Clooney for “The Ides of March”
• Michel Hazanavicius for “The Artist”
• Alexander Payne for “The Descendants”
• Martin Scorsese for “Hugo”

My Thoughts: The win definitely puts Scorsese ahead in the race, even if the HFPA likes to give big names the recognition. The the Directors Guild Award will be the true indicator for the Oscar as it always is.

Best Actor – Drama

• George Clooney for “The Descendants”
• Leonardo DiCaprio for “J. Edgar”
• Michael Fassbender for “Shame”
• Ryan Gosling for “The Ides of March”
• Brad Pitt for “Moneyball”

My Thoughts: Although Brad Pitt will get nominated for the Oscar, it’s clear Clooney has the leg up on him. Whether or not he’s way ahead of Jean Dujardin remains to be seen.

Best Actress – Drama

• Glenn Close for “Albert Nobbs”
• Viola Davis for “The Help”
• Rooney Mara for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
• Meryl Streep for “The Iron Lady”
• Tilda Swinton for “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

My Thoughts: Viola Davis seems to be the people’s choice, but it appears the HFPA couldn’t resist Streep. The two will probably duke it out for the Oscar though I think Michelle Williams might be the best of them.

Best Actor – Musical/Comedy

• Jean Dujardin for “The Artist”
• Brendan Gleeson for “The Guard”
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt for “50/50″
• Ryan Gosling for “Crazy, Stupid, Love”
• Owen Wilson for “Midnight in Paris”

My Thoughts: The Cannes winner pulls off the Globe and considering the rest of that list, it’s not a surprise.

Best Actress – Musical/Comedy

• Jodie Foster for “Carnage”
• Charlize Theron for “Young Adult”
• Kristen Wiig for “Bridesmaids”
• Michelle Williams for “My Week with Marilyn”
• Kate Winslet for “Carnage”

My Thoughts: Williams’ competition will be completely different in the Oscars, but a deserving win no less.

Best Supporting Actor

• Kenneth Branagh for “My Week with Marilyn”
• Albert Brooks for “Drive”
• Jonah Hill for “Moneyball”
• Viggo Mortensen for “A Dangerous Method”
• Christopher Plummer for “Beginners”

My Thoughts: Plummer was always one of the big competitors for this Oscar, but this helps his stock, especially after all the critics awards that Albert Brooks won.

Best Supporting Actress

• Bérénice Bejo for “The Artist”
• Jessica Chastain for “The Help”
• Janet McTeer for “Albert Nobbs”
• Octavia Spencer for “The Help”
• Shailene Woodley for “The Descendants”

My Thoughts: The lone win for “The Help” and probably the film’s most deserving. Spencer is certainly the Oscar frontrunner.

Best Screenplay

• “The Artist” – Michel Hazanavicius
• “The Descendants” - Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
•  ”The Ides of March” – Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
• “Midnight in Paris” – Woody Allen
• “Moneyball”  - Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian

My Thoughts: Without two separate categories like with the Oscars, this was a loaded list. Respect for Allen could help him win out.

Best Animated Film

• The Adventures of Tintin
• Arthur Christmas
• Cars 2
• Puss in Boots
• Rango

My Thoughts: With “Rango” sweeping most critics awards, the win for “Tintin” would seem a surprise, but considering the international nature of the HFPA, it really isn’t.

Best Foreign Film

• The Flowers of War
• In the Land of Blood and Honey
• The Kid with a Bike
• A Separation
• The Skin I Live In

My Thoughts: One of the few hands-down Oscar nominations and wins.

Best Original Song

• “Lay Your Head Down – Brian Byrne and Glenn Close (from “Albert Nobbs”)
• “Hello Hello”  – Elton John and Bernie Taupin (from “Gnomeo & Juliet”)
• “The Living Proof” –  Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason Jr., Damon Thomas (from “The Help”)
• “The Keeper” –  Chris Cornell (from “Machine Gun Preacher”)
• “Masterpiece” –  Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry (from “W.E.”)
• 
  

Best Original Score

• “The Artist” – Ludovic Bource
• “W.E” - Abel Korzeniowski
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
• “Hugo” – Howard Shore
• “War Horse” - John Williams

After the succes of the “Lord of the Rings,” we knew we’d get J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” eventually. What was truly unexpected was that Peter Jackson would in fact return for this prequel, though it did take the departure of Guillermo del Toro and MGM’s financial woes to get him back in the big chair.

So needless to say, the first trailer for the first film of a two-part series, entitled “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” looks and feels incredibly familiar. Despite a whole new cast of characters (though there are a few mainstays such as Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Andy Serkis as Gollum), it feels as if this series never left us nine years ago.

The trailer sticks to setting up the story and putting it in the context of “The Lord of the Rings.” We get glimpses of all the major characters and some familiar faces, settings and props, but very little action. I wouldn’t be too concerned, though anyone familiar with the story knows most of the action comes at the end (shocker).

The film stars Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, leader of the party of dwarves that accompany our hero on a quest to retrieve a treasure from a dangerous dragon.

Don’t get too excited, however, as you won’t get to embark on “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” for another 360 days. The film arrives on December 14, 2012.

After the all the critics awards are doled out, we Oscar watchers look in great part to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for clarity, and while much is delivered, all the more is always blurred.

Here are the film nominees for the 2012 Golden Globes and my thoughts on them. Silent film “The Artist” tops the list of total nominations with six. “The Descendants” and “The Help” were right behind with five a piece. A surprise resurfacing occurred here for “The Ides of March” with four nominations, but we don’t seem to have any egregious gun-jumping errors like last year with “The Tourist” and Halle Berry in “Frankie and Alice.”

Best Picture – Drama

• The Descendants
• The Help
• Hugo
• The Ides of March
• Moneyball
• War Horse

My Thoughts: All of us had assumed “The Ides of March” could make the list — back over the summer. George Clooney’s film seemed to fade out of the picture as November/December rolled around, but here it is and in the place of a film such as “The Tree of Life” or “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” though I’m beginning to think the latter must be just okay if it got no recognition from the HFPA. This category has one more nominee than last year.

Best Picture – Musical/Comedy

• 50/50
• The Artist
• Bridesmaids
• Carnage*
• Midnight in Paris
• My Week with Marilyn

My Thoughts: Ah, the all-inclusive spirit of the Globes. This category is much larger than laster year (and better) though I’m not sure how “Marilyn” ended up on. *”Carnage” was included on the HFPA website but not announced this morning, so expect a formal correction either way. This is a classy category this year and suggests comedy has a place at the Oscars, at least in its traditional definition.

Best Director

• Woody Allen for “Midnight in Paris”
• George Clooney for “The Ides of March”
• Michel Hazanavicius for “The Artist”
• Alexander Payne for “The Descendants”
• Martin Scorsese for “Hugo”

My Thoughts: Considering this is the Globes, no Terrence Malick makes perfect sense as his film was far from a crowd pleaser. All the rest are deserving though Clooney is a stretch. I would’ve predicted the voters of the HFPA to get Steven Spielberg in there instead. The other three should be Oscar locks.

Best Actor – Drama

• George Clooney for “The Descendants”
• Leonardo DiCaprio for “J. Edgar”
• Michael Fassbender for “Shame”
• Ryan Gosling for “The Ides of March”
• Brad Pitt for “Moneyball”

My Thoughts: If I’m a lady, consider my panties dropped. Damned if this isn’t a popularity contest. Fassbender keeps his Oscar hopes alive after a snubbing from the Screen Actors Guild. The biggest omission here would be critic favorite Michael Shannon. Gosling arguably deserved the nomination for “Drive,” but obviously the HFPA likes “Ides” a lot this year.

Best Actress – Drama

• Glenn Close for “Albert Nobbs”
• Viola Davis for “The Help”
• Rooney Mara for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
• Meryl Streep for “The Iron Lady”
• Tilda Swinton for “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

My Thoughts: Pretty spot-on, with Rooney Mara able to sneak in thanks to Michelle Williams counting for Best Actress – Musical/Comedy. Mara must feel pretty humbled/honored to be in a category with these incredible women though.

Best Actor – Musical/Comedy

• Jean Dujardin for “The Artist”
• Brendan Gleeson for “The Guard”
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt for “50/50″
• Ryan Gosling for “Crazy, Stupid, Love”
• Owen Wilson for “Midnight in Paris”

My Thoughts: So much better than having two nominations for bad Johnny Depp movies. The last three picks are popularity ones, but all good performances anyway, so it can’t even be considered that much of a stretch.

Best Actress – Musical/Comedy

• Jodie Foster for “Carnage”
• Charlize Theron for “Young Adult”
• Kristen Wiig for “Bridesmaids”
• Michelle Williams for “My Week with Marilyn”
• Kate Winslet for “Carnage”

My Thoughts: Some love here for actresses in films not competing with the top dogs such as “Young Adult” and “Carnage,” though Williams seems the only likely candidate for an Oscar nomination of the bunch. Wiig is way out of her territory, which wouldn’t be a problem if co-star Melissa McCarthy hadn’t been snubbed in Best Supporting Actress.

Best Supporting Actor

• Kenneth Branagh for “My Week with Marilyn”
• Albert Brooks for “Drive”
• Jonah Hill for “Moneyball”
• Viggo Mortensen for “A Dangerous Method”
• Christopher Plummer for “Beginners”

My Thoughts: Jonah Hill now has a vote from the Screen Actors Guild and the HFPA. Could he get an Oscar nod? Sure seems possible though I’m not sure he’s worthy, especially with someone like Nick Nolte left out. Mortensen was also down and out until this one for playing Sigmund Freud. The other three seem destined for a chance at the Oscar statuette.

Best Supporting Actress

• Bérénice Bejo for “The Artist”
• Jessica Chastain for “The Help”
• Janet McTeer for “Albert Nobbs”
• Octavia Spencer for “The Help”
• Shailene Woodley for “The Descendants”

My Thoughts: Melissa McCarthy? She’d been sweeping awards and nominations until now, and you’d think the Globes of all ceremonies would include her over Woodley. Otherwise, I think we are looking at almost the exact ballot for the Academy Awards.

Best Screenplay

• “The Artist” – Michel Hazanavicius
• “The Descendants” - Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
•  ”The Ides of March” – Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
• “Midnight in Paris” – Woody Allen
• “Moneyball”  - Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian

My Thoughts: Once again, “Ides” surprises, though with the Oscars splitting original and adapted, you can guarantee the other screenplays a spot on the Academy lists. Sorkin deserves to be on the list again with another revered writer in Zaillian and Allen gave us one of his best with “Paris.”

Best Animated Film

• The Adventures of Tintin
• Arthur Christmas
• Cars 2
• Puss in Boots
• Rango

My Thoughts: I haven’t gotten to some of these later-year animated films yet, but “Cars 2″ seems like the only disappointment that made the list. To see it there over “Rio” or “Kung Fu Panda 2″ is surprising, but DreamWorks got its nod with “Puss” and Disney had not other love.

Best Foreign Film

• The Flowers of War
• In the Land of Blood and Honey
• The Kid with a Bike
• A Separation
• The Skin I Live In

My Thoughts: Big films to note are Angelina Jolie’s “Blood and Honey” though it was produced in America … go figure. The revered Pedro Almodovar gets recognition for “Skin.” Christian Bale’s Chinese adventure “Flowers” also got recognized. “A Separation” comes from Iran of all places and “Bike” from Belgium.

Best Original Song

• “Lay Your Head Down – Brian Byrne and Glenn Close (from “Albert Nobbs”)
• “Hello Hello”  – Elton John and Bernie Taupin (from “Gnomeo & Juliet”)
• “The Living Proof” –  Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason Jr., Damon Thomas (from “The Help”)
• “The Keeper” –  Chris Cornell (from “Machine Gun Preacher”)
• “Masterpiece” –  Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry (from “W.E.”)

Best Original Score

• “The Artist” – Ludovic Bource
• “W.E” - Abel Korzeniowski
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
• “Hugo” – Howard Shore
• “War Horse” - John Williams

Of all the “darker” young adult series to emerge in the wake of the “Twilight” novels, none has caught on like Suzanne Collins‘ “Hunger Games” trilogy. And unlike “Twilight,” these novels have actually received praise outside of the teenage girl demographic. As such, “The Hunger Games” is one of 2012′s most anticipated films, so right on schedule we have a trailer premiere the week of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1.”

“The Hunger Games,” directed by Gary Ross (“Pleasantville,” “Seabiscuit”) stars Oscar nominee and rising star Jennifer Lawrence (“Winter’s Bone,” “X-Men: First Class”) as Katniss Everdeen, a teenage girl living in the nation of Panem, a dystopian world said to have emerged from the ruins of North America. The nation is divided into districts and every year each district has two “tributes” chosen to fight in the Hunger Games, an annual reminder of the iron grip the Capitol has on its people in the form of a battle to the death. When Katniss’ little sister is chosen for the games in only her first year of eligibility, Katniss volunteers to fight in her stead. She must leave her family and best friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth) behind and prepare to survive with fellow tribute Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), though only one tribute can survive and win the games.

The trailer sets up this scenario rather well and leads right up to the moment the games begin, so as much as it shows, so much is left to our imagination and that’s what a trailer of a book adaptation should do. As a reader (and fan) of the books, I was genuinely interested/excited for the film, but now I’m amped up. I suspsect Lionsgate will finally score big with this one.

Jennifer Lawrence already looks like she’s brought so much credibility to the film. The potential for melodrama is high in this series, so someone like her who can make it real was an important casting decision. She might be “too pretty” for Katniss, but I’m over it.

My bigger question for this adapation was how they would choose to blend the down-trodden gritty feel of Panem with the flashy futuristic pageantry (and absurdity at points) of the Capitol. It seems Ross and his team have done exceptionally well imagining both from the look of it so far.

“The Hunger Games” begin on March 23.

After the “Saw” franchises bowed out last year, few people doubted that “Paranormal Activity” and its sequel last fall marked the arrival of what would fill that annual horror void. But unlike the father of the torture horror genre, which peaked at about $33 million, producer and original “PA” director Oren Peli’s baby has climbed into the record books; this weekend it scored $54 million, the largest opening for both a fall movie and a horror movie, ever.

“Paranormal Activity 3″ topped previous fall record holder “Jackass 3D,” which shocked everyone with $50.3 million last year. Horror films in 2011 had posted disappointing numbers prior to this weekend, suggesting that most genre fans had their calendars marked for quite some time.

Many had specifically circled Friday, as the three-quel took in nearly half its opening weekend on Friday alone. A similar effect occurred last year with “Paranormal Activity 2,” and though it might seem like a slightly alarming trend, but the momentum for the series going forward is tremendous, and one must assume that the $25-plus million for Friday guarantees the series will continue to make at least that much once (if) audiences ever grow tired of franchise. At this rate, we are probably talking 2014 at the earliest before this would happen.

Although found footage-style horror films have not done well this year (“Apollo 18″ opened with $8 million), and a similar haunted home film in “Insidious” made just $13 million, expect the copycat trend to ramp up production.

Meanwhile, “PA 3″ stands to do well among horror films all time as surprisingly no horror competition enters the picture on Halloween weekend.

Whoever had the Twitter handle “Qwikster” with the pot-smoking Elmo picture better have cashed in while he could; Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has announced on the company blog that Netflix will retain the DVD-by-mail service under the original brand name and not launch the separate by-mail site Qwikster. 

Hastings wrote, “It is clear that for many of our members, two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.”

The short post also says the site is “now done with price changes.”

The only question remaining is why the site seems to be so out of touch with its subscriber base that it could not figure out on its own that forcing streaming and DVD-by-mail into two separate accounts would make things more difficult. This only further proves the theory that the move was not driven by convenience, but by the hopes of phasing out DVD-by-mail entirely.

Netflix should simply focus on adding more streaming titles and leave everything else alone.

This morning, if you are a Netflix subscriber you were apologized to, so let me start off by apologizing for not covering the big Netflix news this summer, which now matters all the more after the most recent announcement.

The company’s announced change in pricing structure, which takes effect this month (for me on Wednesday in fact), charges significantly extra to retain both its flagship DVD-by-mail service along with Watch Instantly streaming service. The move angered the subscriber base to say the least. As much as many enjoyed the complimentary streaming service, many were cognizant that it was just that — complimentary — and that something would give: either fewer streaming titles or a higher cost. But as any businessperson knows, taking  something away from your customers or charging them for something once free doesn’t go quietly.

As such, CEO Reed Hastings sent all subscribers a personalized letter of apology for not explaining the changes earlier that attempted to now explain the company’s motives and more importantly improve its image. It basically says Netflix has been trying to identify what the demand is, and the demand is shifting to streaming services, so rather than get too protective of its flagship DVD-by-mail service and die with the likes of Borders, AOL dial-up and (the unmentioned) Blockbuster, the company put the first stepping stone in place to make a full transition to a streaming-first company. You can watch Hastings explain the changes in detail below.

Now, a second stepping stone has been put in place. The company has introduced Qwikster, the re-branded name of its DVD-by-mail service and a terrible name considering the similarities to movie social media site Flixster, but the company plans to make PS3, XBox and Wii games available. If you’re more interested in that and how it might affect Gamefly, check out Player Affinity’s article here.

The Qwikster service will be a sibling site of Netflix to some extent: the interface will be the same for smooth transitioning, but you pay with a different credit card, manage the queue separately and Netflix and Qwikster will not be integrated. That means you will have to rate movies on both sites for them to process recommendations using the site’s notorious algorithm.

As I alluded to, I was among the most affected of the demographic with my 1 DVD-at-a-time plan that included Watch Instantly. Those of you in my shoes all had a similar question to answer: dump the mail service or accept the price hike?

Unlike many of you, and I say this to clarify my perspective only, my Netflix was presented to me four years ago as a generous gift which rather than having other gifts in coming years, I opted to renew year after year, so over the summer I made no changes to my account. Now, however, I have to reconsider.

I don’t blame Netflix for rebranding the DVD-by-mail service, but I feel the bad move here that could hurt them is the lack of integration. Unless the company has something sick up its sleeve for the streaming service that will bring in tons of new streaming customers and render the folks clinging to snail mail irrelevant to the company’s growth and overall profit, having two separate sites could hurt Qwikster in the long run.

I have absolutely no interest in visiting two sites to manage two queues. It’s pain enough to do it on one site. I also don’t want to have to check Netflix to make sure that something isn’t streaming before I order it through the mail. Knowing Netflix, however, when you hover over a movie on Qwikster if it’s streaming on Netflix they’ll have a link to Netflix sign up so you can “watch this movie right now!” — but that’s still annoying. I also don’t want to rate movies on both sites to get optimal recommendations.

As far as payment, there’s a big difference to me on a credit card statement that reads one charge from Netflix for $15.99 compared to two side-by-side charges of $7.99. Seeing them as separate makes one seem expendable, which of course would be the mail service. My Netflix benefactor and I will likely have to have a conversation now …

With these two services separated, Netflix has shown it’s more interested in streaming and cares little for the mail customers and their service. Why? Because as Netflix finds new ways of getting better through securing more titles and content, the more irrelevant in renders the mail service. I still subscribe to the mail service not because I prefer it to streaming, but because the title selection is infinitely wider. If I decide today that I want to watch “Forrest Gump” because on Wednesday the bar I go to for trivia will dedicate an entire round to that film, if that’s not available on instant and all the brick-and-mortar stores near me are dead, mail service is my only option. Hopefully I get it in time, but that’s another matter.

So, my conclusion? If you’re still clinging to both, jump the mail ship and go to streaming. It’s the future and Netflix has just made it clear that’s where it’s focused. Unless you would be interested in the video game options, there’s nothing to benefit you on Qwikster. I know, it’s tough, I prefer to have the mail service as a safety net too, but unless they change the price model of Qwikster to a per DVD basis (a la Redbox), subscribing to something Netflix is trying to render obsolete sounds like a waste of money. I’d much rather pay a dollar a piece to rent the 4 DVDs each month that I want to watch that I can’t get anywhere else but through mail than bay $8 for as many as I can watch, especially if streaming accumulates more and more titles.

When Hathaway officially joined the cast, the press release referred to her as Selina Kyle, leading many to believe that she might not become Catwoman in the film. As word got out about her costume with insiders describing it as “less sexy” and “tactical, like the comic book,” it seemed Selina Kyle would be making some kind of transformation in the film.

Now that we have our first glance at a very tactical-looking Kyle with high-tech glasses mounting the Batpod, what do you think? Will she just be Selina Kyle the expert thief or will we see, not unlike Harvey Dent becoming Two-Face, a late-act transformation into something more cat-like?

Bring on your scrutiny, Superman fans. Warner Bros. has released the first official image/promotional still of the Kid from Krypton, played by Henry Cavill (“Immortals”), in costume no less. 

Although it appears fans have slowly embraced Cavill since his casting was announced (he’s a good-looking dude), what is Superman without the costume? “Man of Steel” director Zack Snyder appears to have gone with a more textured look for the classic blue and red rather than straight-up spandex, which gives it a more “alive” look that, in my opinion, better fits the fact that it’s Kryptonian-made. You can see that better in the close-up we’ve also included.

The interesting piece for me is the choice of context. If that’s a vault, we know Superman didn’t break into it, because he’s a good guy, right? Hmm, maybe Zod’s (Michael Shannon) doing? That or this is just a promotional image and the vault has nothing to do with the film.

I also have to agree with /Film, which pointed out that at least Snyder and Co. had the brain to give us a first-look image to build proper buzz for the film as compared to “The Dark Knight Rises,” which inadvertently gave us our first look at Bane and Batman’s costumes in stunning 8 megapixel fashion.

Hugh Jackman showed up unexpectedly (or expectedly, depending on how you look at it) near Comic-Con this morning to help promote his upcoming film “Real Steel,” which (most unexpectedly) doesn’t have a panel. In a Q&A, he revealed some details about what he called “Wolverine 2,” including when he’ll shoot the film and who his nemesis will be.
In the promotional interview held at nearby Petco Park (home of the Padres), Jackman told the audience (via Screenrant):

“I’m filming ‘Les Miserables’ in February, but before that I will be filming ‘Wolverine 2′ in October. Chris McQuarrie has written a fantastic script and it should turn out really good. I’ll fight the Silver Samurai in it so that should be exciting. Most of the filming will take place in Japan.”

We knew the film would take place in Japan, but not that it had a shooting schedule in mind. Last we heard, James Mangold (“3:10 to Yuma,” “Walk the Line”) was the top choice to replace Darren Aronofsky as the film’s director, but nothing had been confirmed. Expect the film to begin casting next month if this is the case.

With a Japanese backdrop, it makes sense that the Silver Samurai would enter the picture. According to all-knowing Wikipedia, Kenuichio Harada, aka the Silver Samurai possesses the ability to charge things (namely his kitana) with a tachyon energy that can cut through anything — except adamantium, of course. He first appeared in an issue of Daredevil, but has been seen all throughout the Marvel universe. He’s a complicated character, having fought both with and against Wolverine.

When it comes to badass Samurai, it’s hard not to put Ken Watanabe as your No. 1 for the role. That, or if you really know your Japanese-Hollywood crossovers, perhaps Hiroyuki Sanada of “The Last Samurai” who appeared on the final season of Lost.

The film would be on target for release as early as Holidays 2012, but Universal has the similarly themed Keanu Reeves film “47 Ronin” coming out around Thanksgiving already. We just saw Summer 2013 get crowded with superheroes now that “Man of Steel” comes out that June, but 20th Century Fox might still try and squeeze the film into May or even July. May 31, 2013 is open and would be a slot similar to “X-Men: First Class” this year: nearly a month after the first superhero film of the year and two weeks before the second. Those films would be ”Iron Man 3″ and “Man of Steel.” Wolverine, however, has certainly proved able to hold his own at the box office, so I doubt Fox is too concerned.

Hopefully more “The Wolverine” or “Wolverine 2″ details are to come!

No way that “The Dark Knight Rises” gets to have all the fun. Sony Pictures has just released its own teaser trailer for next summer’s “The Amazing Spider-Man,” and they’ve even one-upped Christopher Nolan’s film by keeping things distinctly less cryptic. Get ready to revisit Spidey’s origins, friends.

The trailer begins rather dramatically and puts a much bigger emphasis on whatever happened to Peter Parker’s parents (presumably, it wasn’t that they picked a peck of pickled peppers). We meet most of the characters including Aunt Mae (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen), Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and her father George (Dennis Leary) and even Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), pre-Lizard of course, who alludes to “playing God.”

There’s a sense of annoying dejá vù with the fact that we see the spider bite scene and watch Peter’s discovery of his powers again, something that will really test this reboot with audiences who feel like they already know where Spider-Man came from. Thematically, there’s an emphasis on secrets, “the one that we keep and one that are kept from us.” Looks like Peter Parker’s parents have a lot to do with the mystery.

“The Amazing Spider-Man” is directed by Marc Webb (“(500) Days of Summer”) and stars Andrew Garfield (“The Social Network”) as Peter Parker. Spidey slings into action on July 3, 2012.

Pardon the ad in this embed found via /Film, posted by The Movie List

Millions of people have already seen it as it played before “Harry Potter” this weekend, but now you can watch the teaser for “The Dark Knight Rises” over and over and over and over again and pause at those quick flashes of Tom Hardy as Bane.

I think the teaser begins to more fully paint the context for the film. Gotham has seen its greatest threat ever (it’s caused severe injury to Commissioner Gordon played by Gary Oldman) and Batman, who exiled himself at the end of “The Dark Knight” must fully become the hero Gotham needs. This would complete Christopher Nolan’s trilogy in the right way, establishing Batman as a complete symbol, “more than a man” as Liam Neeson’s lines from “Batman Begins” reiterate in the beginning of this clip.

Also worthy of note is how this teaser, much like Warner Bros. did with “Harry Potter,” is emphasizing “the end.” Sure it’s the last of Nolan and Bale working together, but we’re bound to see more Batman after this. I’d imagine they’re already trying to set up a campaign to break the “Deathly Hallows, Part 2″ opening record.

The embed props go to The Film Stand via /Film.

After “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1″ made the most of any film in the fantasy series, there was no question “Part 2″ would fly higher. Turns out that moviegoers decided to give the Boy Who Lived a record-breaking curtain call to the tune of an estimated $168 million in its first three days, which is about $10 million more than the previous record holder, “The Dark Knight.”

But that’s not the only way that “Potter” went down in infamy. The finale made $43.5 million in midnight screening sales, (trouncing “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” by $20 million) and set a single-day record with $92.1 million on Friday. Consequently, the film saw the biggest drop-off from Friday to Saturday ever; in fact, the film made about the same at midnight as it did all of Saturday.

“Harry Potter” as a franchise now stands at approximately $2.177 billion, according to Box Office Mojo ,which means its now poised to pass “Star Wars” ($2.218 billion) for the highest-grossing franchise ever, although adjusting for inflation and examining attendance figures still suggests “Star Wars” is the more astounding success.

“Deathly Hallows, Part 2″ marks the first and last “Potter” film to be released in 3D. Although the film had the widest 3-D release yet, 3-D screenings accounted for just 43 percent of ticket sales compared to 60 percent for “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” 43 percent of $168 million, however, means the opening was good enough for second all time on the list of 3-D openings behind “Alice and Wonderland.” Still, with the biggest opening ever and widest 3-D release on record, how this film did in 3D will speak the loudest to studios considering conversion or filming in 3D in the future.

Internationally, the film stands at about $307 million, which means it’s made $475.6 million thus far. The question remains as to whether devoted fans are sad enough to see it end that they’ll re-patronize theaters, possibly for the purpose of seeing it in IMAX as well. If it can hold up better than previous entries it should easily beat “Sorcerer’s Stone,” the current worldwide record holder for the franchise. A place in the top five internationally all time seems likely, especially since “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” already stands at No. 6.

Here’s a simple question for you: do you think Christopher Nolan likes skyscrapers? After the posters for “The Dark Knight,” “Inception,” and now “The Dark Knight Rises,” one can only answer emphatically — yes.

The teaser is quite simple: a view of Gotham City falling apart as seen from the ground, with the only visible sky forming the shape of a bat. I will ‘fess up and say it took me 45 seconds or thereabouts to notice the bat, which I think says less about me and more about the genius of this poster.

Yes, I’m a dork and yes I think everything Nolan does is brilliant, but the poster already has some artistic/poetic hints to give about the final film of the trilogy. For one, I think there’s a definite notion here that Gotham’s been turned upside down. The chunks of debris seem to be moving upward toward the sky as opposed to falling down, yet the sky holds that one symbol of hope of course — Batman. I think the fact that I saw the city image first and then the bat image suggests a little of the context here in terms of how the city views Batman. Remember “The Dark Knight” ended with Batman on the run and this assuming of the mantle of “the Dark Knight,” that of the vigilante that will never be seen as a true hero.

Get ready to have your world turned upside-down on July 20, 2012.