Straight talk from the Straight Talk Highway: Prometheus is at least a little bit of a prequel to Alien, in that explores the mysteries of the big dead Space Jockey and the derelict spacecraft where the crew of the Nostromo encountered the xenomorph eggs in Ridley Scott's 1979 classic.  We know this based on many things, including the teaser trailer and a new image that shows star Noomi Rapace in yet another exceedingly H.R. Giger-esque setting that includes not one, but two Space Jockeys making like sentries or maybe empty suits of armor.  So why, then, have Fox and the filmmakers distanced Prometheus from Alien?  Probably because, unlike most of the prequels we're used to, this one won't go out of its way to very specifically link up to the first film, showing how Ripley got her job at Weyland Yutani and whatnot.

Hey, here's a treat: Two official images, one each from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Prometheus, two of the biggest, most anticipated event pictures of 2012.  The images are all kinds of different, with Noomi Rapace wearing her stylish spacesuit in a dark, Giger-y set, and Martin Freeman in full Bilbo Baggins mode on a sunny day in Middle Earth. 

Prometheus and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey have a lot in common, though.  Both are technically prequels to beloved, hugely successful properties, both find crazy-popular directors returning to the properties with which they're most associated, and both see those directors filming features in 3D for the first time in their long careers (Get your Rogue 3D Eyewear right here, folks).  So hey, check out the image from the new movies directed by Ridley Scott and Peter Jackson.

Synopsis: Ridley Scott, director of “Alien” and “Blade Runner,” returns to the genre he helped define. With PROMETHEUS, he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

As a three-day countdown featuring teasers for a teaser trailer have promised, the first trailer for Prometheus is now online.  In a week stuffed to the gills with excellent, high-profile trailers, this one is probably the best of the bunch.  For the last year or so, Ridley Scott and 20th Century Fox have played awfully coy about the extent to which Prometheus is a prequel to Scott's seminal 1979 hit Alien, but this teaser makes it abundantly clear how how much this is stylistically and spiritually connected to its predecessor.  It's designed just like a trailer for that film, and even includes a space jockey shot.

There's very little indication of plot and even less of character.  Instead, the trailer maintains the mystery that has so far defined the film and ladles on thick spoonfuls of dread.  While we've all been excited to see Scott return to science fiction after a three decade break, Scott apparently remembered to make Prometheus scary as hell.  So that's good.

This week has basically been the trailer-pocalypse, with a cavalcade of them arriving one on top of the other starting Monday, and it's not over yet.  Fox is counting down Thursday's reveal of the first trailer for Prometheus in style.  On Monday, the studio released two trailers for the trailer, little thirty-second teases featuring footage from the film, behind the scenes snippets, and director Ridley Scott loquaciously discussing his return to science fiction for the first time since 1982's Blade Runner.  With one day to go until the trailer arrives online to what should be the delight of many, Fox has eschewed the teases and instead debuted a new image from Prometheus.

Over the last several years, I have found it odd how, increasingly, we see ads for ads for movies in the form of quick previews for trailers, but I can't keep from getting giddy at this new thirty-second tease designed for prime the pump for the first official Prometheus trailer.  The whole shebang will arrive on Thursday, December 22nd, but for now, this quick bit of business, which combines footage from the film with glimpses behind the scenes and Ridley Scott waxing verbose, will have to suffice. Well, that and some words from an interview with Scott about whether or not we'll see that slimy xenomorph from Alien spilling acidic blood.

Earlier this week we saw a new official one sheet for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and now, in time honored fashion, a full theatrical trailer has followed in that poster's flaming footsteps.  Based on this trailer, the sequel to Mark Steven Johnson's Ghost Rider would seem to be focused squarely on ridiculous action, just as you'd expect from Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the aggro-duo behind both Crank movies and Gamer.  The trailer also gives our first idea of the Spirit of Vengeance storyline, such as it is, which finds Nicolas Cage's Johnny Blaze playing the hero in order to protect a young boy from becoming the human vessel for the Anti-Christ.

One of the biggest question marks for next summer is Prometheus, the first science fiction film from director Ridley Scott since 1982's Blade Runner.  While pretty much every major summer 2012 movie has released a teaser trailer, we've seen no actual footage from Prometheus aside from the Comic-Con footage that made it clear, visually at least, that the film does indeed take place within the universe of Alien.  A teaser trailer should be arriving shortly, but today we may have a look at the film's teaser poster.  There's no confirmation that the image you'll find below is, in fact, the official teaser poster, but is very much in line with the images we've seen from the film, with a tiny little spacesuited explorer before a giant, creepy face.

Last month, perhaps in order to get into the Thanksgiving spirit, Sony Pictures unveiled four aggressively stylized pieces of poster artwork for the upcoming semi-rebooted sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.  Refresh your memory by taking a gander at those here and here.  Now, though, the studio has rolled out (no pun intended, I swear) a more conventional one sheet, one that features everything you'd expect out of a Ghost Rider poster.  Namely, a leather outfit, a charred-up motorbike spitting hot fire from its wheels, and, of course, a flaming skull.  There's also a swinging chain serving to visually illustrate that Spirit of Vengeance is in 3D, as well as the words "Nicolas" and "Cage," serving to remind us that Nicolas Cage once again plays Johnny Blaze.

Last week, magazine scans provided our very best official look at Prometheus, the terribly mysterious Alien quasi-prequel from Ridley Scott.  20th century Fox has now kindly provided bigger, better versions of those same images, without all the text and whatnot from Entertainment Weekly.  Being larger and clearer, these versions provide a better look at the cast in their stylized space togs, as well the familiar and thoroughly spooky production design, which, though not overseen by H.R. Giger (Scott's regular collaborator Arthur Max served as production designer), overtly recall the derelict spacecraft from 1979's Alien.  Peer into the mysteries of Prometheus and cross your fingers for a trailer sometime soon.