Walt Disney has released the trailer for Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie and it’s nice to see the visionary filmmaker go back to his roots. He made a film as a young man by the same title that not many have seen. Now, with a big budget and decades of stellar work under his belt, Burton has crafted a full-length, stop-motion animated movie sure to please his millions of fans.

Frankenweenie Trailer

The film lands in theaters October 5, available both in 3D and 2D. Burton, as he usually does, has landed a stellar cast in Winona Ryder, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Catherine O’Hara and Atticus Shaffer.

Fresh from winning an Oscar for Best Original Song, The Muppets have some stellar news for fans. The successful 2011 film will be getting a sequel. The original creators will be back as James Bobin has committed to directing and screenwriter Nicholas Stoller has signed on to pen the script.

The film is in its earliest of pre-production stages and at this time, Movie Fanatic cannot report on what level of participation Jason Segel will have in the sequel. Segel co-wrote and starred in the original. His absence and enthusiasm for all things Muppets would be missed.

For fans who cannot get enough of their Jim Henson creations, look for The Muppets when it lands March 20 on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Adam Sandler has released the red band trailer for his upcoming comedy That’s My Boy, which features the most unusual of premises. Then again, knowing the comedic actor, no premise is too wild. This time out, Sandler portrays a man who had a child as a teenager. Now that he is down on his luck, he must seek out his successful son (Andy Samberg) to help him get his own life back on track.

That's My Boy Red Band Trailer

The film, premiering July 15, also stars Leighton Meester, James Caan, Susan Sarandon, Milo Ventimiglia, Will Forte, Colin Quinn, Vanilla Ice and Ian Ziering.

The Hobbit director Peter Jackson’s set videos are legendary. The helmer has released another and this time out, he’s taking us on a full-on tour of his New Zealand set. The clip is the first of 2012 and clocks in at over 12 minutes long. For fans of the J.R.R. Tolkien series, that’s 720 seconds of Middle Earth bliss.

Peter Jackson The Hobbit Set Video

The first of Jackson’s return to the Lord of the Rings world, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, arrives in theaters December 14.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are getting it handed to them by Ice Cube in a new red band clip from 21 Jump Street. The film is based on the 1980s TV hit that gave Johnny Depp his start. We can say, because we’ve seen it, that the cameo by the current blockbuster star is beyond stellar. Warning: The following clip contains strong language.

21 Jump Street: Red Band Clip

The film lands in theaters March 16 and also stars Brie Larson, Rob Riggle and Ellie Kemper.

Tatum and Hill are charged with going undercover in a revitalized program that takes young-looking cops and puts them in high schools. Our two stars have to infiltrate a drug ring before its new product spills over into neighboring schools.

Stay with Movie Fanatic for our review and exclusive interviews with the cast the week of March 12.

The red band trailer for the wildly comedic looking God Bless America is here and from its initial moments, you would never guess that it would become a shoot ‘em up piece of cinema. Freddy Rumsen is Joel Murray and as we see in the teaser, he’s a bit of a sad sack. He’s on the verge of doing something horrible to himself when a spot on the TV gives him a light. Well, his lightness could be construed as someone else’s darkness! He proceeds to go on a murderous shooting spree aiming his ire at anyone who dares bother him.

God Bless America Red Band Trailer

The film arrives May 11 and believe it or not, is from Bobcat Goldthwait -- who wrote and directed it.

The first three films featuring the iconic character Indiana Jones, as perfectly played by Harrison Ford, are considered classics -- while the fourth film is hotly debated by fans and critics. All four of the Steven Spielberg and George Lucas-created films are now set to arrive on Blu-Ray for the first time as one package. No specific release date has been set, except for “fall 2012,” but we do have a trailer for the entire set.

Indiana Jones Blu-Ray Trailer

The Complete Indiana Jones Blu-Ray Collection will feature all four flicks in the highest quality picture and sound. The package will also feature a “best of” collection of documentaries, featurettes, interviews and even a few surprises from Paramount Home Video. Stay tuned for more on this hotly anticipated set.

Todd Phillips knows a thing or two about throwing a cinematic party to hilarious results. The producer of Project X and writer-director of Old School, The Hangover movies, Road Trip and Due Date has pushed the comedic envelope to great success. When it came to his latest movie, directed by first time helmer Nima Nourizadeh, he sought to set his past successes aside and increase the ante of film fun.

Phillips has taken the mantle of party movie king and sent that moniker to the moon with the extraordinary madness that is the soiree at the center of Project X. “The interesting thing to me was making it for this generation. You look at movies that I grew up on, like Risky Business for example, and it’s like, how would you tell a high school story differently nowadays using the way kids grow up on YouTube and things that they find, clips they send to each other and things that make them laugh. In a weird way it was a reinvention, or attempted reinvention, of a high school movie,” Phillips told Movie Fanatic.

The thing that Project X shares with past teen party movies is that while our protagonist is breaking all sorts of rules, we want him or her to get away with it. “Whether it’s Ferris Bueller who you’re rooting for the whole time or Risky Business, you’re always rooting for them to pull it off because ultimately their intentions were pure. And that’s the only thing that ever matters, with all these movies, even in Old School and The Hangover -- they actually just wanted to have a nice thing and it spirals into something way more than they bargained for. It’s not just high school comedies that that’s done for,” Phillips said. “But yeah, I think that’s the goal is that when you’re watching this movie, you’re going, ‘Oh my God, I just hope he gets away with it. I hope that this just all gets cleaned up somehow and he gets away with it.’”

However extreme, on the set there was a line that went from perfunctory to profane. “We definitely had so many outrageous things we wanted to bring to the movie,” director Nima Nourizadeh added. “I think the style lends itself to sort of feeling so real and fresh and new but there’s always a line you want to try and not cross. We don’t want to go into anything that’s so vulgar.”

Phillips, after years towing a line between funny and far out, in the end listens to his audience. “There is a line but you don’t go into that getting into it. It’s not even so much about, ‘We can’t cross this thing here.’ The audience ultimately tells you what the line is,” he said. "So when you start screening the movie for people it’s as much to find out where the joke is as it is to find out where the line is. You don’t want to necessarily rein yourself in while you’re shooting it. That’s the magic of editing. You basically discover that line as you go along in the process.”

The idea for it to be a “found footage” type film was there from the movie's inception. The fact that many of this ilk, such as the recent Chronicle, are hitting theaters lately hardly concerns Phillips. “I don’t know that the found footage aspect of this, or any of those other movies, is really the allure. I really think it’s ultimately a gimmick quite honestly. It’s just a way into the story,” Phillips said. “Every movie is looking for a way into the story. This way in is these kids are documenting this kid’s 17th birthday. We wanted to do a high school movie that’s totally caught by the kids in the movie. Outside of that, the movie takes on its own life and quite frankly most audiences that are out there with a critic eye are watching and aren’t thinking anymore, ‘This is a found footage movie.’”

Project X Full Trailer

For the director, he found the process of shooting a welcome challenge. “It can be a freeing thing, we can shoot lines that aren’t in the script and put it in the movie because it works at that moment. It can only help us on any given day,” Nourizadeh said. 

The film method provides roadblocks that Phillips thinks make filmmakers better. “Every time you put a restraint on yourself in the process, it always helps,” he added. “Putting these little obstacles in front of you… that’s a fun part.”

One of the most impressive aspects of the entire film Project X is the demand placed on the hundreds of extras. Above all else, how does a director keep that type of electric energy going take after take, for two months? “It’s the choice of extras. There are so many components,” Nourizadeh said. “Having music playing -- we had a DJ playing for four and a half weeks of nights -- it was like, ‘keep everything up.’”

“You set the tone on the set that you want on the film,” Phillips added. “You had to make everyone there absolutely believe that they are part of something, not treating them like cattle. There are 200 kids showing up there every night for quite honestly not a lot of money. It’s about making them feel part of the process.”

Jason Segel and Ed Helms star as brothers in the upcoming comedy Jeff, Who Lives at Home. The duo are at opposite ends of the responsibility spectrum in the movie from filmmaking brothers Jay and Mark Duplass (Cyrus). Paramount has just released a new clip from the movie that features Helms driving his Porsche with Segel along for the ride… and the crash.

Jeff Who Lives at Home Clip

Meanwhile, the film has launched a contest called “Discover Your Destiny.” Since Jeff (Segel) is trying to move out of his mother’s basement, he may need a little inspiration. We all need an uplift, and the studio has the answer as it is giving away a “Seduction of Spirit” retreat with the renowned Deepak Chopra.

All you have to do is head over to the film’s Facebook page and enter now.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home lands in theaters March 16. Stay with Movie Fanatic for our interviews with the entire cast and filmmakers.

Tim Burton has been busy with teasing us of late. What with his premiere of the Frankenweenie trailer and now a new photo of his muse Johnny Depp from his upcoming feature, Dark Shadows, Burton is on fire.

The film is based on the prime-time supernatural soap opera and is coming to the big screen with the vivid imagination of Burton. Joining Depp in the cast is Michelle Pfeiffer, Eva Green, Helena Bonham Carter and Jonny Lee Miller.

Burton has also released a synopsis of the movie to fill in all those blanks of curiosity for the film landing May 11!

Dark Shadows Synopsis:

In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet--or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy...until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive. Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) has called upon live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help with her family troubles. Also residing in the manor is Elizabeth's ne'er-do-well brother, Roger Collins, (Jonny Lee Miller); her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn Stoddard (Chloe Moretz); and Roger's precocious 10-year-old son, David Collins (Gulliver McGrath). The mystery extends beyond the family, to caretaker Willie Loomis, played by Jackie Earle Haley, and David's new nanny, Victoria Winters, played by Bella Heathcote.

Project X takes the party movie premise laid forth by Animal House, Risky Business and Dazed and Confused and turns it entirely on its head. The film is from producer Todd Phillips (Old School, The Hangover) and features a first-time director, Nima Nourizadeh, mining the fruitful subgenre of the found-footage movie.

The premise is simple enough. Thomas Mann portrays a high school kid celebrating his seventeenth birthday in his Southern California hometown. His parents are heading out for the weekend, and his friends, Costa and JB, have done everything they know to do in order to guarantee a party that will not only mark their friend’s b-day, but also put them on the social circle map at school. Throwing a party that makes a P. Diddy bash seem tame will tend to do that.

Established early, a friend who adores the art of filmmaking is around to capture every second of the big day. From school uneasiness to nighttime debauchery, our cameraman is our eyes and ears. We salute Project X for its taking the challenge of giving a wide scope that is required of a party movie, particularly where said fete is held at a vast home that includes a pool. Yet, Nourizadeh manages to capture the quiet moments amongst the mayhem that drives the story and gives it its heart.

There are a few moments in the film that cause pause and no they’re not about how far the party goes. It is with the terms some of the characters use to put down other people. There’s plenty in the alphabet of assault that can be used to solicit laughs and insults. But, there is no reason in 2012 that a film should feature anyone saying anything derogatory about someone’s lifestyle choice. Good jaw-dropping moments do abound as things get so out of control that even the President of the United States and all his power could not stop it.

There is pushing the envelope and there is this movie. To quote our favorite How I Met Your Mother character, the Project X fest on film is “Legen… wait for it… dary!” Imagine organized cinematic chaos where everyone is having the time of their lives. Then, put yourself firmly in the picture and there is the beauty of the latest Phillips-inspired party movie.

Project X Full Trailer

The alternative take on the found-footage film movement moves us with Project X. Who cannot identify with the feelings of a teenager whose parents’ are calling while a raging party goes on around us? Mann captures those moments perfectly and the talent that was first shown off in It’s Kind of a Funny Story flourishes with his latest effort. He also has to perform a balancing act between the girl he knows he should adore and the one whom everyone adores, who now suddenly have their sights on him.

Mann and the filmmaking team behind Project X offer lessons and redemption that balance the yin of the depravity with the yang of the core emotional need required to drive a film.

On the page, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is a piece of work that essentially feels like a dire warning. The big screen version doesn’t pack that kind of punch, but that doesn’t mean it’s not Seussian.

Although Danny DeVito voices the title character, the real stars of the film are Ed Helms as the Once-ler and Zac Efron as Ted. The center of the story truly is about the Once-ler and his invention of a multipurpose item that only can be made from the tops of the trees in an astoundingly colorful Dr. Seuss-type forest.

As readers of the Seuss book can attest to, the screen story bears little resemblance to the literary one. In the film The Lorax, we meet Ted whose teenager is on a mission to find a single tree to impress a girl. See, they live in a perfectly manicured, albeit plastic world that contains not one natural tree. Everything arbor is gone, forever lost from what… we don’t know. When Ted’s grandmother (Betty White) tells him of the Once-ler, Efron’s character heads out on an adventure attempting to seek the mysterious soul.

After some back and forth, the audience is finally treated to the story of Helms’ character -- how, as a young man, he went out to seek his fortune, never realizing the doom he would produce with greed.

Enter the Lorax, a short creature with an orange colored body and flaming yellow mustache. He is charged with protecting the trees and, therefore, the animals and nature that thrive because of them. When the Once-ler chops down his first tree, there appears the Lorax. He is full of message, but little might and cannot stop Once-ler from doing his damage.

The Lorax TV Trailer

The Lorax also moves its story through many musical numbers. They are extremely catchy and a few quite sensitive. Although we enjoyed them, it felt like the film was a budding blueprint for a potential Broadway musical -- not that that is a bad thing. And why cast Taylor Swift as the girl who catches Ted’s eye and not have her sing?

But the exposition through song got us away from the story that Seuss initially wrote. The Lorax has been criticized by conservative groups for being a message for the left. In fact, Movie Fanatic feels that if the film was literally based on the book, the tone would have felt much sharper in its extolling the virtues of thinking globally and living locally.

The first real clip from The Hunger Games has arrived and it’s a doozy. We’ve all seen the trailer and how Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss is more than adept at a bow and arrow. In this new clip, we see Katniss training that expertise in her official Hunger Games training gear in the Capitol.

The Hunger Games Clip: Katniss Practicing Archery

The film’s arrival is merely days away now, March 23, and yes -- the world will be watching.

Chris Butler, who helped bring Coraline to the big screen, is back and his latest vision is ParaNorman. He’s joined in the directing duties on this stop-motion, animated story by co-director Sam Fell, who brings with him the experience of helming The Tale of Despereaux. Now we get a look at their hard work as the trailer for ParaNorman has debuted, along with a new poster.

ParaNorman Trailer

The film premieres August 17 and features a stellar camp of voice actors in Casey Affleck, John Goodman, Anna Kendrick, Leslie Man, Tempestt Bledsoe, Jeff Garlin, Christopher Mintz-Please and Jodelle Ferland.

The story follows what happens to a small town when they come under attack by zombies. Who can reason with the crazed walking dead? Why, the town’s misfit, Norman. The child’s task of helping the zombie problem is only made worse by his challenge of also fighting back witches and ghosts as his town has fallen to a centuries-old curse.

Sure, there are those of you that think they have everything possible when it comes to Harry Potter on home video. Well, get ready to be amazed. Warner Bros. Home Video has announced the release of the Harry Potter Wizards Collection on Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack in a nifty box set (photo and video below). Not only does the set feature all the magical films, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2 in both 2D and 3D. Oh, and then there’s the 13 special feature discs. Yes… 13!

Harry Potter Wizards Collection Trailer

We’re looking forward to the over five hours of material that has never been shown. Plus, tell me that box set isn’t delicious in its originality in design!

The set will cost $350 per (if you pre-order), but considering everything you receive in the set, and the fact that this will probably be the last time anything like this is offered for some time… for Potterheads, this is a must.

Robert De Niro embodies a character in John Flynn that is unlike any he has played prior. His haunting portrayal is unshakable. But as amazing as he is, he's not the top draw in Being Flynn.

The film is the Paul Dano show. He shows depths as an actor playing Nick Flynn that find him not only going toe to toe with the Oscar winner, but scoring the rare feat of stealing our attention from a legend in every scene they share.

Part of the power of Being Flynn is that generational passing of the torch. Although we’ve taken the baton and are running ahead, we still see parts of ourselves firmly in our parents. For souls such as Dano’s Nick, that can be especially difficult. As we meet these two characters, they are living separate, but clearly parallel lives. John has his troubles with alcohol and Nick does as well. Both are writers, although the younger Flynn is fighting that, as it reminds him of his father who has been absent for the last 18 years.

The full force of the film kicks into gear when Nick takes a job at a Boston homeless shelter. One evening while he is checking in those who seek shelter, his father is suddenly standing in front of him seeking help. The power emanated solely from Dano’s face is heartbreakingly brilliant and speaks to that thespian triumph that is this role for the young actor.

After his charming About a Boy, In Good Company and let’s not forget American Pie, filmmaker Paul Weitz has done it again with his latest. The man has a knack for creating and cultivating characters over the course of his films that not only serve as mirrors to ourselves, but provide the inspiration to cull our inner depths that allows us to be altered by a single motion picture.

Being Flynn Trailer

You can tell that Being Flynn is based on a book in how it manages to be evenly and thoughtfully plotted out. The real Nick Flynn penned the memoir based on his own experiences. And the brilliance of the film is how Weitz has captured the essence of what was clearly a painful story to write for the author, and given it such life on the screen.

Although it is seriously heavy at times, immediately Being Flynn heads to the top of our Best of 2012, albeit early in the year!

A Dr. Seuss classic, a party movie from the guy who brought us Old School and The Hangover, and a film that features a Robert De Niro performance for the ages fill out this weekend’s new movies.

Project X: Todd Phillips serves as producer of this found-footage party movie that immediately heads to the top of the class in that festive film genre. Three teens gather at a friend’s house to celebrate his seventeenth birthday. They invite the entire school, figuring a few might show up. Thousands appear to party through the night and the debaucherous adventure will blow your mind. We extol the virtues of this flick in our Project X review.

Project X Full Trailer

The Lorax: Danny DeVito voices the title character as the latest Dr. Seuss book heads to the big screen. The vocal cast is stellar, particularly Zac Efron, Ed Helms and, believe it or not, Taylor Swift. The Seuss book’s environmental message still stands tall, although the film falters at points as we describe in our The Lorax review.

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax Trailer 2

Being Flynn: De Niro astounds with Paul Dano as a father and son who haven’t spoken for eighteen years. When Dano take a job at a local homeless shelter, one evening his father walks in out of the blue seeking a bed for the night. The film is astoundingly powerful and is another great work from director Paul Weitz. Check out our five-star Being Flynn review.

Being Flynn Trailer

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax killed it at the weekend box office, earning $70.7 million. The film took the honor of the highest-grossing debut of the year. The second place film Project X, also a debut, made almost $50 million less. The found-footage party film grossed $20.8 million in its first week of release. Toss in third place’s Act of Valor with its $13.7 million and the top three films of this first weekend in March made over $100 million for Hollywood. To say box office has improved over this point last year is a gross understatement.

Fourth place belonged to a former weekend box office winner, Denzel Washington’s Safe House. The film that co-stars Ryan Reynolds added another $7.2 million to its haul. Tyler Perry and his Good Deeds continued to do solid business with their fifth place finish and a $7 million weekend. 

Movie Fanatic wondered if any of the Oscar winners would get a bounce in business due to scoring Academy Award gold. In fact, they did… as The Artist returned to the top ten, finishing in tenth place with $3.9 million.

Box office top 10:

1. The Lorax, $70.7 million
2. Project X, $20.8 million
3. Act of Valor, $13.7 million
4. Safe House, $7.2 million
5. Tyler Perry's Good Deeds, $7 million
6. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, $6.9 million
7. The Vow, $6.1 million
8. This Means War, $5.6 million
9. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, $4.7 million
10. The Artist, $3.9 million

Disney’s John Carter lands in theaters March 9 and to further get audiences ramped up for the first true page-to-screen effort of author Edgar Rice Burroughs’ reluctant hero, the studio has released ten minutes of the film.

John Carter: 10 Minutes of the Movie

The film arrives in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D and stars Taylor Kitsch as the titular hero, Lynn Collins as a Martian princess, Mark Strong does devilish evil so well and Willem Dafoe portrays the leader of a Martian species who befriends Carter when he mysteriously lands on Mars from his native Civil War-era U.S.

Stay with Movie Fanatic all week for our daily exclusive video interviews with the cast and director of this thrill ride of a new film.

How I Met Your Mother fans, have you wondered what one of your show's fave cast members, Cobie Smulders, did on her sabbatical from the hit show? Why, she starred in the upcoming The Avengers. Marvel.com has released two new photos of Smulders as SHIELD agent Maria Hill.

Smulders is part of one of the most well-known casts of 2012: Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man, Chris Evans plays Captain America, Chris Hemsworth stars as Thor, Samuel L. Jackson is Nick Fury, Tom Hiddleston is Loki, Scarlett Johansson is Black Widow, Jeremy Renner is Hawkeye and Mark Ruffalo is the Hulk.

Fresh off the debut of the latest The Avengers trailer arrives these new pictures. Prepare for a lot more to look at as the release date of May 4 gets ever closer.