Opening in theaters on May 25th is the third installment of the extremely popular science fiction comedy franchise Men in Black, this time entitled Men in Black 3. The new film once again stars Grammy-winner Will Smith (Ali) and Oscar-winner Tommy Lee Jones (Captain America: The First Avenger) as Agents J and K, respectively, and was also directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (Get Shorty) who helmed the first two installments. In addition to the return of Smith and Jones, the new movie also features Oscar-nominee Josh Brolin (Milk) as a younger version of Agent K, as well as performances from two-time Oscar-winner Emma Thompson (Love Actually), Alice Eve (ATM), Jemaine Clement (HBO's Flight of the Conchords), Nicole Scherzinger (Fox's The X Factor), David Rasche (United 93).

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had the pleasure of sitting down with director Barry Sonnenfeld to discuss his latest film Men in Black 3. The director talked about his new movie, the art of making a time travel film, using Back to the Future as a template for the project, why they decided to introduce time travel to the Men in Black series, setting the movie in 1969, not shying away from the racism of the era, the film's over publicized script trouble, why they took a much needed break halfway through production, the brilliant idea of casting Josh Brolin as a young Tommy Lee Jones, the possibility of Jaden Smith appearing in MiB4, and the future of the popular franchise. 

Since he reinvigorated the Mission: Impossible franchise with the nigh-universally lauded Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, a big question has been just what Brad Bird would direct next, as his second live-action feature film. Anyone hoping that the animation maestro-turned-blockbuster-live-action helmer would get his passion project 1906 off the ground next might have to wait, as Brad Bird has signed on to Disney and Damon Lindelof's super-secret 1952.

Now that there's a new The Dark Knight Rises trailer and The Avengers is just over the horizon, how about a moment for this summer's other superhero blockbuster, The Amazing Spider-Man.  Today we have two new stills from the  theatrical reboot of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's fifty-year old comic book icon, and both feature Spidey himself.

Well that was dramatic.  After co-writing and directing The Hunger Games, easily the biggest movie in Lionsgate's history and his career, Gary Ross has decided not to return for the sequel, Catching Fire.  Ross himself, who made the first film a critical hit in addition to a commercial juggernaut, released a statement making it official.  While early reports cited difficult negotiations, the director explicitly denies that this was not the case, and instead says, "I simply don’t have the time I need to write and prep the movie I would have wanted to make because of the fixed and tight production schedule.'

When audiences think of The Mummy, they either think of a black and white Boris Karloff in crumbly makeup or Arnold Vosloo unhinging his CGI jaw.  The point is, audiences think of something, meaning that The Mummy remains a viable franchise for Universal Pictures.  The character of Im-Ho-Tep, one of the studio's perennially identifiable stable of cinematic monsters, is back in development with a project that's being described as a reboot rather than a remake.

Fans of the Paranormal Activity franchise will soon be able to possess their own copy of the third film in the series as Paranormal Activity 3 becomes available on Blu-ray and DVD beginning January 24th. In honor of this monumental event, the creator of the series, and several actors from the franchise assembled at Hollywood’s legendary Roosevelt Hotel recently (on Friday, January 13^th in fact) to discuss the success of the series and drop a few hints about the unenviable Paranormal Activity 4.

Along with several other members of the press, IAR attended the “Tea with Toby,” which is of course named after the demonic entity featured in the films. Tea, coffee, cheese and dessert were served while we all sat down at a table that had seating cards with our individual names printed on them. A special spot at the table was reserved for our host – Toby, but he never made his presence known.

On hand was series creator Oren Peli, as well as actors Katie Featherston, Micha Sloat, and Chris Smith. Also in attendance were Chloe Csengery and Jessica Tyler Brown, the young actresses that play Katie and Kristi, respectively, as children in the most recent film.

A year ago, it looked unlikely that World War Z would get made.  The adaptation of author Max Brooks's fictitious oral history of a nearly-apocalyptic global zombie infestation was stuck in development with a price tag big enough that Paramount Picture wasn't willing to roll the dice, even with bestselling source material, Brad Pitt attached to star and produce, and Marc Forster set to direct.  Now, with the film in post-production for a release in December of this year, it looks like Paramount is keen on turning the film it almost didn't make into a franchise, with the World War Z story spanning three films.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is now in theaters, and it's the first big, studio-backed American adaptation of an international bestseller by the late Stieg Larsson.  Naturally, Sony Pictures planned the film as the starting point for cinematic adaptations of all three novels in Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, but in the two weeks since The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo hit theaters, the film has, fairly or not, been carrying the faint whiff of  commercial disappointment.  Despite that perception, the studio intends to go ahead with The Girl Who Played With Fire and trilogy-capper The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

Joel Silver is without a doubt one of the most successful Hollywood producers of all-time. His career goes back over thirty-years and he is responsible for some of the most popular movies ever including 48 Hrs., Predator, Die Hard, the Lethal Weapon series, and The Matrix franchise.

Producer Susan Downey first worked with Silver on the 2002 film Ghost Ship, and their collaboration continued on such films as Cradle 2 the Grave, and House of Wax. But it was the movie Gothika that probably had the biggest impact on Susan Downey personally, as that is where she met her now husband, two-time Oscar-nominated actor Robert Downey Jr.

Silver had first worked with Downey Jr. in the early ‘80s on Weird Science, and was no stranger to the actor’s brilliant, yet unusual body of work. Silver and the Downeys would eventually go on to make the 2005 cult classic comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang together, but after the actor’s inexplicable success in a series of films based on a certain Marvel Comics superhero (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and next summer’s The Avengers), Silver and the married couple wanted to create their own movie franchise at Warner Bros. They began with ‘2009s smash hit action-mystery Sherlock Holmes, and now hope to continue that success with Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which opens in theaters on December 16^th.

Available on Blu-ray and DVD on December 13th is last summer's blockbuster hit film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a prequel/reboot of the classic Charlton Heston sci-fi series. The film is directed by Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist) and begins to tell the story of how our Earth was eventually taken over by super-intelligent primates and became the futuristic, Ape-controlled Earth that Heston discovers in the original film. The movie features an all-star cast of actors that includes Academy Award-nominated actor James Franco (Spider-Man), Frieda Pinto (Immortals), Tom Felton (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1), Brian Cox (X2: X-Men United), John Lithgow (Shrek), and motion-capture actor Andy Serkis (King Kong, The Adventures of Tintin) as Caesar, the future leader of the apes revolution. 

IAR is proud to present an exclusive behind-the-scenes featurette about the making of Rise of the Planet of the Apes and just how the filmmakers were able to digitally create the apes using performance capture technology. In the clip, director Rupert Wyatt, and motion-capture actor Terry Notary, who played Rocket and Bright Eyes in the film, discuss the technology they used to create all of the primates for the movie.