Chris Hemsworth is currently throwing down with Mjolnir as Thor in The Avengers, but next month he'll be kicking ass and presumably taking names with a hatchet as the titular woodsman in Snow White and the Huntsman.  He's neither kicking ass nor taking names in a new clip from the fairy tale movie, now available to view online.

First time feature film director Rupert Sanders brought his highly anticipated re-imagining of the Classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale Snow White to WonderCon 2012 in Anaheim, California this year and the film received an enthusiastic response from fans and critics alike. Snow White and the Huntsman, which opens in theaters on June 1^st retells the iconic tale in what has been described as “Lord of the Rings-style” starring actress Kristen “Don’t call me Bella” Stewart (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1) in the title role.

The film’s impressive cast also includes Academy Award-winner Charlize Theron (Young Adult) as the Queen, Chis Hemsworth (Thor) as the Huntsman, and actors Ian McShane (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), Johnny Harris (Atonement), Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Toby Jones (The Hunger Games), Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows), Brendan Gleeson (The Guard), Ray Winstone (Edge of Darkness), and Nick Frost (Attack the Block) as the Dwarves, which there are now eight of.

After the Snow White and the Huntsman presentation and panel, which featured some of the first footage to be seen from the film, as well as stars Kristen Stewart, and Charlize Theron, director Rupert Sanders had a chance to speak with IAR and several other members of the press about the upcoming film, the classic story it is based on, the cast, magic, and the possibility of a sequel.

Universal Pictures has unveiled a second domestic trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman.  Not only that, but there's also a five-minute overview of the story floating around online now.  Both feature a whole more of what we've seen from the film so far.  Mostly, that means more Lord of the Rings-style armies, Charlize Theron as the psychotic Evil Queen, medieval combat, Kristen Stewart going from hunted girl to Joan of Arc, Chris Hemsworth chopping stuff, and lots of darkness.

Up until now, we've seen nothing official from Jack the Giant Killer, director Bryan Singer's 3D action adventure that uses the beanstalk-climbing fairy tale as the basis for an epic journey.  Today, Warner Bros. has gone ahead and dropped the teaser trailer online, complete with thumping giants and what looks to be in-process effects work.  Anyone seeing Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows this weekend will see the trailer in theaters, along with the second trailer for a little picture called The Dark Knight Rises, but why not check it out right here and now?

With yesterday's unveiling of a banner for Snow White and the Huntsman, the internet was basically given a heads up that today would bring a whole mess of material from the epic, Lord of the Rings-style take on the fairy tale.  And accurate that heads up has turned out to be today, with the trotting out of four new character posters featuring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, and Charlize Theron as Snow White, the Huntsman, and the Evil Queen.  More importantly, Universal Pictures has also dropped the first official trailer for the film, and if the sight of Snow White in Middle Earth-like armor didn't succinctly inform crowds that this is a different take on the fairy tale, then the thoroughly modern music, soul sucking, and Hemsworth making like Thor (but with axes, not a hammer) should get the job done.

It's been almost a decade since The Lord of the Rings first showed up on movie screens with The Fellowship of the Ring, and surprisingly few subsequent endeavors have attempted the same large-scale fantasy, at least with any success.  Universal Pictures will use a familiar fairy tale as the narrative spine for a big, battle-filled action fantasy taking place in a world resembling Middle-Earth with next summer's Snow White and the Huntsman.  The influence of Peter Jackson's trilogy is evident in a new banner for the film, featuring Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth as the title characters, along with Charlize Theron as The Evil Queen.

You might not know him by name, but you would definitely recognize actor Greg Ellis if you saw his face. Ellis has appeared on dozens of popular television shows such as X-Files, Nip/Tuck, Trust Me, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and season three of 24 as biological weapons dealer Michael Amador. He’s also had roles in several successful feature films including the Academy Award-winning Titanic, Beowulf, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek where the actor had the honor of being the new franchise’s first official “red shirt” (a stock character who dies soon after being introduced). But Ellis is best known for his role as Lieutenant Theodore Groves in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, including last summer’s mega-hit Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which is available now on Blu-ray and DVD.

Ellis first played Groves in the original Pirates movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and while he did not appear in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, he did return to the series for the third chapter, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. But the actor’s largest role in the series came with the most recent edition to the franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. In the film, Groves is promoted to Lieutenant Commander while working with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) aboard the H.M.S. Providence to find the Fountain of Youth. He aids Barbossa and Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) on their quest to find the Fountain and claims it for the British Empire before ultimately battling Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and the Spaniards.

I recently had a chance to speak with actor Greg Ellis about Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The actor spoke candidly with me about the film, his character’s evolution, playing sidekick to Geoffrey Rush’s Barbossa, the differences between working with the film’s director Rob Marshall and former Pirates director Gore Verbinski, his reaction the first time he saw Johnny Depp play Jack Sparrow, playing the first “red shirt” in Star Trek, and the loophole that J.J. Abrams has come up with so that Ellis can possibly appear in Star Trek 2.

As an audience, we're grown increasingly jaded regarding visual effects in our modern blockbusters.  The sheer number of blockbuster movies with show-stopping visual effects sequences has given us a shorthand, an easy and often unconscious understanding of what works and what doesn't.  The arrival of every new huge spectacular movie brings with it the expectation that the figurative bar will be raised, particularly when that would-be blockbuster is the latest installment in a franchise known for its envelope-pushing digital creations.

Such was the case for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth film in a franchise that has included undead pirates, fish-men, massive maritime battles, and even an ocean goddess.  For the first film in the series not directed by Gore Verbinski, the story saw the introduction of zombies, and more importantly, some truly memorably mermaids.  Aaron McBride has been crucial to the visual effects on all four Pirates films, serving as the art director on the first three and visual effects art director for On Stranger Tides.

In his time at Industrial Light and Magic, McBride has built up a resume that includes the likes of Minority Report, Iron Man, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.  In a roundtable interview with entertainment writers from around the world promoting tomorrow's release of Pirates of Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, McBride discussed the unique challenges and accomplishments of the sequel.  It's an interview that sheds some light on the intricacies involved in creating those visual effects that often flash by in no time at all.

At San Diego Comic-Con, Universal hosted a panel promoting Snow White & the Huntsman, which begins production in the United Kingdom next week.  As our panel coverage established, director Rupert Sanders was on hand, along with producers Joe Roth and Palak Patel, along with stars Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, and Sam Claflin.  Since shooting hasn't yet started, the panel presented a first look at the four stars in costume, as well as a conceptual image of the eight dwarfs who, in this iteration, look like gruff, battle-hardened warriors.  Now, the four images of the costumed principal cast are available for your viewing, and the influence of Peter Jackson's take on The Lord of the Rings is on display, particularly in the case of Snow White herself.

This weekend, we'll be able to see Nicholas Hoult transform from affable scientist hank McCoy to furry blue X-Man Beast in Matthew Vaughn's prequel X-Men: First Class.  Right now, though, Hoult is filming a starring role as the titular giant killer in Jack the Giant Killer, a fairy tale adventure from Bryan Singer, who also helmed X-Men and X2, and also serves as a producer on First Class. 

The film has been in production for awhile now, as evidenced by set photos of Ewan McGregor in costume as a knightly royal guard back in April, but now New Line and Legendary Pictures have officially announced that filming is underway in London.