It was a very animated morning at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood on Wednesday as filmmakers, actors, executives and press gathered for DreamWorks Animation’s 2012 Film Preview. The studio was prepared to show sneak peeks of two of their most anticipated upcoming 3D computer animated films including Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, and Rise of the Guardians. The studio is coming off of an incredible year in 2011 with both of their animated projects, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots, being nominated for Best Animated Film at this years Academy Awards. The studio is hoping to repeat that success in 2012 with its new slate of animated projects.

The future of sportsmanship depicted in the upcoming science-fiction sports movie Real Steel is a bright one for any draft-dodgers and dandies too fearful or fragile to step into a boxing ring and have the piss properly beaten out of them.  In this near-future, human boxing has been replaced by the world's most popular sport: robot boxing, with two eight-foot metallic combatants beating each others' circuits out.  That's good news for the pantywaists operating boxing-bots via remote controls, but bad news for former prizefighter Charlie Kenton, played by Hugh Jackman.  DreamWorks Pictures has released five new clips from Real Steel, and they depicts, variously, Jackman being a charming, down on his luck underdog, Evangeline Lilly being stunningly beautiful, and, of course, robots pummeling each other.

Back in the days before the internet had become the pulse on which studios could place a figurative finger to measure the public's interest in upcoming projects, one occasional metric of anticipation for new films was the rate at which posters were stolen from bus shelters.  Now, of course, times have changed, but bus shelter posters are still a part of a major marketing campaign, and now the science-fiction robo-boxing tale Real Steel has some character posters at which users of public transportation can stare while waiting for the next bus.

You won't find the pretty faces of human leads Hugh Jackman or Evangeline Lilly on these posters.  Instead, you'll find the real stars of Real Steel: eight foot tall robot boxers with their fists in the air, ready to beat the hell out of their equally robotic competition.  The first is Atom, the shadowboxing underdog robot adopted by Jackman and his young son, played by Dakota Goyo.  Atom's followed by Noisy Boy, a considerably fancier-looking model.

A new poster has effectively gotten across the central idea of Real Steel.  In the future, just nine years from, the classic sport of boxing, with its sweaty humans beating the hell out of each other, has been replaced by robo-boxing, in which metallic opponents take the place of flesh-and-blood pugilists.  Hugh Jackman stars in the family friendly science fiction tale as Charlie Kenton, a former contender who lost his shot at the title when the robot-based version of boxing took over the world.  As the more-or-less deadbeat dad is reconnecting with his young son, played by Dakota Goyo, the two discover an old model robot named Adam, and though Adam-bot was never meant to box, its ability to mimic human movement allows a shadowboxing Charlie to once again take a crack at the championship.

The new one sheet, which is here thanks to DreamWorks, conveys the relationship between Jackman and the boxing-bot quite simply, with both striking the same, "I'm ready to stomp some ass" pose.

In 1985's Fright Night, writer-director Tom Holland worked a clever twist on Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, only instead of Jimmy Stewart believing his neighbor to be a murderer, a high school student was convinced that his seemingly normal new neighbor was actually a creature of the night.  The new 3D remake is built around the same scenario, but looks to feature its own unique tone and style, both of which are on display in three new official clips.  First there's a vampiric Colin Farrell trying to get invited into the Brewster household, since his species has a hard time going anywhere univited.  Then there are two clips demonstrating that, like the original, this film will have a sense of humor, even if it's only courtesy of David Tennant's Peter Vincent, a Vegas magician enlisted to help Anton Yelchin's Charley Brewster bust some bloodsucking skulls.

In this fabulous modern, robot slaves do some of what used to be humanity's best jobs, including auto manufacturing, interstellar exploring, and bomb-dropping, but these robots have not yet conquered the game of kings.  In the future of Real Steel, traditional human boxing has been replaced by Rock 'Em Sock 'Em-style robot fisticuffs.  Most everybody seems happy about that, with exception of a former championship-level pugilist played by Hugh Jackman, who must now scrape by as the manager of mechanical fighters.  A Japanese trailer for Real Steel features no shortage of new boxing footage, some heartwarming father-son bonding, and some really appropriate Japanese subtitles and voiceover.

By the time Puss in Boots made doe-eyes in Shrek 2, the kitty swashbuckler voiced by Antonio Banderas had already enjoyed many an adventure of his own.  The new DreamWorks animated spin-off/prequel appropriately titled Puss in Boots depicts the early exploits and derring-do of everybody's favorite sword-fighting feline, out to prove his mettle.  Both a new poster and trailer dropped today, with the trailer in particular suggesting that the character could very well support his own fairy tale-inflected adventure.

What if magician Harry Houdini and Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle joined forces to solve a mystery in 1920's New York?  That's the concept behind Voices of the Dead, an original screenplay by writer J. Michael Straczynski.  DreamWorks has purchased the script, saysThe Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog. 

DreamWorks Animation will be providing viewers with a nice handful of features to please the kiddies (and some adults of course) over the next two years.

Kung Fu Panda 2 will lead the charge when it sees a May 27, 2011 release. As it stands, DreamWorks is looking to turn Po into a household name, aiming to turn Kung Fu Panda into a six film franchise.

Madagascar 3 will hit theaters on May 18, 2012. And, like Panda, more features are planned. Well, at least a fourth film is being considered. According to Jeffrey Katzenberg the fourth film will likely act as the final chapter.

Saddle up ladies and gents! Cowboys & Aliens is riding into town and here is the one-sheet to prove it. And in less than two days at current press time, Dreamworks will be premiering the trailer for the film on Yahoo!

Way back at Comic Con, iamROGUE.com had the chance to talk to the film’s cast and crew, including Jon Favreau. You could feel the excitement back then! Whether you dug Iron Man 2 or not, you can’t deny the man has a flair for action and adventure, he also has a knack for telling a good story.