It's a big day for next summer's release schedule, with three big Warner Bros. movies getting dates in the dog days of summer in 2013.  First up, there's a new date for an original, then there are two release dates for continuations of existing properties.  The former is Pacific Rim, and the latter are 300: Battle of Artemesia and The Hangover Part III, which the Brothers Warner have officially announced will close out the trilogy on May 24, 2013.

Add Paradise Lost to the list of big-budget endeavors that won't be getting made any time soon due to a cost-conscious aversion to event movies that aren't sure things in these tough economic times.  The adaptation of John Milton's 345 year-old poem has was scheduled to begin production in Australia last month, but in December, Legendary Pictures put the project on hold in order to bring the budget down to a more palatable figure.  It seems that didn't work out, as the film, which was to star Bradley Cooper as Lucifer and tell the story of his hubris and fall from grace, has now been abandoned outright.

Before The Hangover became the biggest R rated comedy of all time and grossed almost half a billion dollars worldwide in 2009, its three central actors, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis, were all known to smaller audiences, but not one was a bona fide movie star.  Turns out, Warner Bros hadn't been expecting a franchise back when all three signed on to the first film, meaning they were able to obtain a big compensation jump for last summer's The Hangover Part II. 

With the sequel having grossed a massive $581 million globally, the studio is eager to complete a trilogy, eager enough that Cooper, Helms, and Galifianakis are nearing final deals for an even bigger payday on The Hangover Part III.

In the 17th Century, John Milton spent literally years composing one of the greatest English poems ever written, laboring well into his own blindness to create a properly grandiose epic retelling of Satan's war with God and fall from grace, as well as the creation of the human race.  So it was probably hubris to expect that Paradise Lost, a 3D action movie inspired by Milton's text, would make it to theaters without a hitch.  Under the direction of Alex Proyas, the film was set to begin production next month in Australia, but Legendary Pictures has temporarily postponed the start date in an attempt to get an escalating budget under control.

After The Fighter became a huge critical and commercial success last year, director David O. Russell found himself in a good position for his next project, but what that project would be took a little while to pin down.  The man behind Three Kings, Flirting With Disaster, and Spanking the Monkey was attached to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but he departed that shamblefest and is currently making The Silver Linings Playbook, a dramatic comedy centered on a broken man who moves in with his mother after spending a few years in an institution.  An official synopsis has made its way online, along with the first official images from the film, featuring Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, and Jacki Weaver.

Last year, Derek Cianfrance earned a whole lot of accolades for Blue Valentine, a drama that devastatingly juxtaposed the sweet beginnings of a relationship with its inevitable deterioration.  It's the sort of film that does exactly what it wants to, providing a cinematic approximation of the emotional clusterfuck that accompanies the cessation of a formerly loving relationship.  The leads were perfectly played by Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, and for his follow-up,The Place Beyond the Pines, Cianfrance is reteaming with former Mouseketeer Gosling.  The first images from the film have made their way online, and they provide the first look at Gosling rocking bleached blond hair, and fellow lead Bradley Cooper getting his run on in a police uniform.

Ken Jeong must be the funniest doctor on the planet! In addition to being one of the funniest actors in Hollywood, Jeong is also an actual doctor having attained his medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completing his residency at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans. While practicing medicine, Jeong began pursing stand-up comedy and eventually appeared on several popular TV shows including The Office, Entourage, and Curb Your Enthusiasm before landing his big screen debut in Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up. Since then the actor has appeared in over a dozen successful films such as Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, Role Models, Couples Retreat, and Despicable Me, but it was his breakout performance as Mr. Chow in The Hangover that has made Jeong a household name.

2011 has been a very big year for Ken Jeong. In addition to starring on NBC’s hit comedy series Community, the actor appeared in the films Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, and Zookeeper, as well as once again playing Mr. Chow in The Hangover Part II. But Jeong’s most surprising role this year came from his appearance in Michael Bay’s incredibly successful Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. In the film Jeong plays Jerry “Deep” Wang, Sam Witwicky’s (Shia LaBeouf) eccentric co-worker who tries to provide him with information about the Ark, which is a Cybertronian spacecraft carrying an invention capable of ending the war between Autobots and Decepticons. But the Decepticon Laserbeak eventually assassinates Jerry before he has a chance to pass along the information to Sam.

I recently had a chance to speak with actor/comedian/physician Ken Jeong about his role in Transformers: Dark of the Moon and the success of The Hangover franchise. The actor spoke candidly with me about his role in Transformers, how he got the part, working with Michael Bay, improvising with Shia LaBeouf, being killed by a Decepticon, the success of The Hangover and it’s sequel, and where he would like to see the characters go in a third installment.

Even John Milton, who dictated one of the finest works of poetry ever composed in the English language after literally years of serious work, would probably agree that Casey Affleck knocked it out of the park in his Oscar nominated leading turn in Gone Baby Gone, as directed by his older sibling Ben Affleck.  So assuming he's still alive almost 350 years after the poem's publication, Milton's probably pretty stoked that Affleck is in negotiations to play an angel loyal to god in Paradise Lost, a 3D action epic based on his truly classic work.  Not only that, but the gorgeous Camilla Belle is also likely to join the project as a certain apple-loving young lady who causes humanity's expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

Seventeenth Century poet John Milton aspired to write an epic poem, in English, which would rival the likes of the Aeneid and Odyssey.  To do this, he meticulously created a unique, humbling syntax to approximate reading the language of angels and god, dictating his poem well after he himself was completely blind.  Of course, what he probably had in mind was that, four hundred years down the line, someone would make a 3D action movie out of it.  So it is that Alex Proyas is developing Paradise Lost, and now Djimon Hounsou has joined a cast that so far includes Bradley Cooper and Benjamin Walker.

Bradley Cooper is all set to play Lucifer in Paradise Lost, an effects-filled blockbuster based on one of the finest epic poems ever written in the English language.  Since the prideful fallen angel is, at best, an anti-hero, though, he'll be butting heads with the Archangel Michael, a reciprocal other who is more obedient to God the Creator and less gung-ho on the whole hubris thing.  Deadline reports that Benjamin Walker, who just finished filming his role as the titular 16th President/supernatural avenger in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, is in talks to play Michael.  Not only that, but Mike Fleming managed to get plenty of new insight from Paradise Lost director Alex Proyas.