In-Production

Vexing news for Harry Potter fans!  Just arrived in my inbox is a press release that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is going to hit theaters on July 17, 2009, not November 21, 2008 as originally scheduled.  In the press release, Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros., says, "Our reasons for shifting Half-Blood Prince to summer are twofold: we know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first installment.  Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers’ strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films—changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of.  We agreed the best strategy was to move Half-Blood Prince to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer."  There's no announcement yet on the Harry Potter site, but their trailer page does show "In Theaters July 17, 2009."  --David

Muggles are celebrating everywhere! This trailer has been LONG overdue--especially after that silly teaser before The Dark Knight.

If you are a hard-core Harry Potter fan like me, then your head is probably about ready to explode right now. Some of the coolest "scenes" in the stories are when Harry and Dumbledore go back and magically explore Tom Riddle's (aka Lord Voldemort) memories--and we find out how a young orphan turns into the darkest wizard of all time.

That's what this trailer focuses on--and it's bloody awesome! Highlights from these magical 100 seconds include the child Tom Riddle being discovered by Dumbledore, and Dumbledore conjuring a wall of fire (probably to fend of the inferi). See for yourself. Accio November!

--Jordan Thompson

Got Terminator fever with the upcoming release of the TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles?  Here's the teaser trailer from the upcoming movie Terminator Salvation, starring Christian Bale and scheduled to open in theaters in May 2009. This trailer was apparently released to coincide with tomorrow's opening of another Bale movie you may have heard about, The Dark Knight.  --David

Disney has released the first trailer for High School Musical 3, the final(?) installment of its blockbuster franchise which leaps into the big screen for the first time. Surely this won't really be the last one ever, although the original cast will have graduated and it seems unlikely that they will be filming anything called  College Theater Department Musical. (Plus, won't Troy have gotten a groovy basketball scholarship that takes him elsewhere?) As I write this, of course, disneysociety.com has posted a rumor that the studio is thinking about High School Musical: The College Years. (Let's think about that title for a bit.)

So enjoy Troy, Gabriela, Sharpay and the gang as they cuddle in the rain, dance in a junkyard (very "Greased Lightning" of them), and duet across a basketball court. What do you think? Will this cable hit work on the big screen? -- Ellen

First impressions of upcoming movies, based on trailer (Click on the title to watch the high-resolution trailer: You may need QuickTime for most). Release dates are subject to change. --Ellen

Quantum of Solace (dir. Marc Forster): Yeeeeeee-haw, and the countdown begins to the next Daniel Craig Bond movie (Pierce who?), which can only mean more abs and more grit. Now that our favorite MI-6 agent has been betrayed by the woman he loved, he's on a trail of vengeance to find out about the man responsible for her deceit. Rumor has it Quantum is the name of the shadowy organization that connects Mr. White (featured at the end of Casino Royale) and Le Chiffre (Casino's villain), which could explain the title; otherwise we're at a loss, surmising that the new Bond women (Gemma Arterton and Olga Kurylenko) are the ones helping to give a "quantum of solace" our heartbroken agent. Whatever that means. But back to the trailer, which... oh never mind, we can't wait. (Nov. 7)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (dir. David Fincher): Brad Pitt stars as a man born as an old geezer (but tiny like a baby, which makes for one odd-looking infant) who ages backwards, further complicated when he falls in love with Cate Blanchett and proceeds to go from the older man to the younger man. With David Fincher directing and Tilda Swinton and Julia Ormond also in the cast, the curiosity factor (excuse the pun) is high. But the last shot of the trailer (an old lady, presumably Blanchett, walking an infant down the street) makes us wonder: Will she seriously change his diapers? And if you look carefully at the shot of Pitt with a baby, that's none other than Ms. Shiloh Jolie-Pitt. (Dec. 19)

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (dir. Rob Cohen): Jet Li really needs to stop playing third banana to funny white guys. Is this really what he crossed over into American films for? For every Hero, there seems to be three Lethal Weapon 4s, Forbidden Kingdoms, and now The Mummy, where his battles with Michelle Yeoh--which sound great in theory--are overshadowed by Brendan Fraser's bulgy-eyed panicked expressions. And in place of Rachel Weisz (who dropped out because she'd just had a baby and didn't want to bring him to China for production) we have Maria Bello, whose British accent is a little jarring to see after her usual tough-Philly brogue. Still, No one predicted the success of the first two Mummys, so there's no reason why this would be any different. (Aug. 1)

Twilight (dir. Catherine Hardwicke): There have been many fantasy stories who laid claim to the Harry Potter throne: Lemony Snicket, Spiderwick Chronicles, and now Twilight, which is for a slightly older crowd than the others but still has a chomp-size following. It's about vampire-nonvampire romance, you see, but what do you do when you're afraid your desire for your girlfriend borders on hunger? This teaser trailer isn't filled with much more than longing glances and some pretty kickass vampire powers, but it does have one thing in common with Mr. Potter: Its vampiric star, Robert Pattinson, played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. (Dec. 12)

Swing Vote (dir. Joshua Michael Stern): As smooth as Kevin Costner used to be in the '80s, he's even more likeable as the beer-slugging, belly-scratching, backwards-cap-wearing losers he's played in The Upside of Anger, Tin Cup, and now Swing Vote. Only this time he's the one guy whose vote will decide the presidential election. Leave it to his daughter (Madeline Carroll), who falls into the requisite "precocious" category, and a reporter (the gorgeous Paula Patton, Deja Vu and also known as Mrs. Robin Thicke) to teach him to care about his country.  (Aug. 1)

--Ellen

First impressions of upcoming movies, based on trailer (Click on the title to watch the high-resolution trailer: You may need QuickTime for most). Release dates are subject to change. --Ellen

Australia (dir. Baz Luhrmann): Aussies Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman's first time collaboration is also Kidman's second go-round with fellow countryman Baz Luhrmann, and despite the dreamy pair's musical background (Jackman is a musical-theater veteran with a Tony Award under his belt), there's no singing to be found in this 1930s frontier epic leading up to the Japanese air raid during World War II. However, the cinematography is lush, the leads are beautiful, and let's face it, anything Luhrmann does has the curiosity factor. Extra props for using Patrick Doyle's score from Henry V to give it that extra inspirational kick. (Nov. 14)

Righteous Kill (dir. Jon Avnet): When was the last time you were actually excited to see a Robert De Niro or Al Pacino film? (crickets.) OK, how long have you waited for the two to make a movie together? (hands shoot up). OK, how about a movie they make together where they're... cop buddies? The pair play detectives on the trail of a vigilante killer who's putting away the bad guys, and are accompanied by Carla Gugino, Donnie Wahlberg and Fiddy Cent (wait, I mean Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. I just like saying Fiddy better). Seeing De Niro and Pacino, two of film's greatest actors, click drinks and back each other up in what appears to be a formulaic film (although produced by the smallish outlet Overture films) makes you kinda wish they were adversaries, as they were in Heat. Unless one of them turns out to be the killer. Now that'd be kinda cool... (Sept. 12)

The X-Files: I Want to Believe (dir. Chris Carter): Ten years (and a few lawsuits) after The X-Files movie, the sequel quietly went under way. The trailer doesn't have much except a raving Billy Connolly (Mrs. Brown) digging frantically in the snow with FBI surrounding it with guns. Way too much action, not enough supernatural, and definitely not enough dialogue between Mulder and Scully (despite one tender glance and a couple slo-mo stares of Discovering Something Unexplainable). We want to believe this will be good... but we're not sure yet. (Jul. 25)

Burn After Reading (dir. Joel and Ethan Coen): This is the red band trailer, which only means that there's swearing in it. The Clooney-Pitt love affair continues, with Brad as a gym employee who finds a CD with memoirs from a CIA agent (John Malkovich) and George as... well, I can't tell from the trailer, but he's back with Michael Clayton co-star Tilda Swinton. Frances McDormand (aka Mrs. Joel Coen) is also on board, and there are many laughs and pratfalls, which tell us the Coens are back on the lighter side after No Country for Old Men got them their long-awaited Oscar. (Sept. 12)