Can you hear that? That’s the noise of anticipation rising as May 4 draws ever closer for the release of The Avengers. Marvel Studio has released seven new photos for Movie Fanatic and we proudly present them to our readers who have shown such great support for this film. The stills include new looks at Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye, Robert Downey Jr. in the Iron Man suit and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor ready for battle in the woods, plus Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner.

We knew it would be huge, but The Hunger Games is already exceeding our expectations. Although our box office report comes out each Sunday, Movie Fanatic can already say that the number one film will be the Suzanne Collins page-to-screen epic. Ticket seller Fandango is reporting that the film has sold more pre-release tickets than any non-sequel movie… ever.

More than 2,000 showings of the film that features Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) battling 23 other kids to death is already sold out. This statistic is the most fascinating: 92 percent of all ticket sales on Fandango are for The Hunger Games. That is astounding -- but, hardly surprising. Unlike the Twilight films, which the book-to-film series has been frequently compared to, THG appeals to a much wider audience. Yes, both franchises are technically based on young adult books, but the Collins books are read by both men and women, old and young.

Considering the uncanny interest in the film, Movie Fanatic wants to know: When will you see the film?

Are you ready to meet the beast from Wrath of the Titans who seems to live for completely ruining your day? A mythological creature, the Chimera, is presented as the most terrifying of them all. Although the stars of the sequel to Clash of the Titans are Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Rosamund Pike and Bill Nighy, the scene stealer is this terrifying beast. Meet the Chimera in a new featurette from Warner Bros. in the video player below.

Wrath of the Titans: Meet the Chimera Video

So far, the only news out of The Wolverine is that the film has a release date of July 26, 2013. Star Hugh Jackman is currently filming Les Miserables in Europe and as he told us in our interview, he will start filming the next Wolverine movie right after that wraps. 20th Century Fox cannot confirm that the following is the first poster from the film, but it sure works. Given the film’s locale of Japan and those iconic blades that emit from the hero’s hands… we think it very well could be the first one-sheet from the next chapter in the X-Men series. What do you think?

If The Hunger Games scores, star Liam Hemsworth believes a large part of it is due to Jennifer Lawrence. “Jennifer is an amazing actress and so much fun to work with. She's always keeping you on your toes and you never really know what she's going to do,” Hemsworth said. That charm, ease and command of her craft is on every frame of film. “She is the real deal and carries this film on her shoulders. All of my stuff with Jennifer was amazing.”

Hemsworth is talking to Movie Fanatic about his role as Gale, part of the "love triangle" with Lawrence's Katniss and Josh Hutcherson's Peeta. The actor is honored to be part of the production, one as an actor he hails as one of the best he's made. “I think it was literally one of the most powerful films that I've seen,” he added.

The Australian knew all too well the pop culture explosion that is The Hunger Games and seems to be prepared for the blinding spotlight about to be put on his career. “I'm just taking it day by day and seeing what happens. It's very exciting to be a part of it and we'll see how crazy it gets!”

He first heard of the books over a year before the film started production. “I originally heard about it about a year before they actually went into production. Someone at Lionsgate told me that they were going to make these books called Hunger Games into movies,” Hutcherson said. “Many years went by and I heard they're going into production, so I finally read the books and became a fan. Then, I met with Gary Ross and then came back a week later and read with Jennifer.”

The rest is history. Now that he’s in the throes of all things Hunger Games, we asked him which of the books left in the series he is most eager to tackle: The second book Catching Fire or the third, Mockingjay. “I would be very excited to shoot the third book,” Hemsworth said. “There's a big uprising in that one and rebellions. There's a lot of fun stuff. My character grows a lot more in that book.”

The Hunger Games Trailer: Countdown

Where Josh Hutcherson had to bulk up to play the part of Peeta, Hemsworth had the opposite problem. “I lost a lot of weight for it. My character is living in a depression in District 12 and hunting for his food every day and for his family,” he said. “He's not eating a lot and I wanted to feel what it’s like to feel hungry and definitely wanted to be slimmer than I usually am for it.”

Hemsworth has seen the film several times and still cannot get enough. Although heading into that first screening, his heart was racing. “It’s nerve-racking,” he said and smiled. “There was so much expectation. I knew it was going to be good and I was blown away.”

When Seth Grahame-Smith sat down to write the book Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, he never could have imagined he’d be sitting talking to Movie Fanatic exclusively about the feature film. Even less likely, was how it all came together. “Even if I had been crazy enough to imagine it, I couldn’t have imagined it all coming together as quickly as it did,” Grahame-Smith said of the film that arrives June 22.

"Tim (Burton, producer) bought the book before I was finished writing it. This whole package of Timur (Bekmambetov, director and producer) and Tim came together before I even turned in the manuscript!”

It was because of the buzz from his previous book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, that the Dark Shadows director knew who he was and when Burton discovered Grahame-Smith was penning a new book, he was contacted. “It was a weird experience,” he said.

We’re meeting the author, who also wrote the screenplay for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, for our exclusive chat at the annual fan fest Wonder Con. Even being on the other side of things is a surreal experience for the writer. “I’m usually the guy who is waiting in line for these panels, walking the floor with my swag bag, going to masquerade balls and things like that. It’s weird being here presenting something to who I feel like are my fellow fans, the people who I really identify with the most,” he said.

The idea for mashing up one of our greatest presidents with the pop culture phenomenon that is the world of vampires works, he said, because of the fictional vampire slayer’s place in people’s minds. “I think there’s something in the DNA of Americans that they see Lincoln as this really heroic figure,” Grahame-Smith said.

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter Trailer 2

“I think that when you go back and you look at Lincoln’s real origins story, how dark it was, how challenging it was, how he had to persevere and lift himself out of an impossible situation and then become not only the chief executive of the country, but save that country, it is in many ways a superhero origins story. So all you really have to do is add the vampires and you’ve got yourself a hero.”

George Stacy (Denis Leary) is hot on the trail of who he believes is the city’s worst vigilante in The Amazing Spider-Man. The webbed wonder has been wreaking havoc, he believes, across his community that the police captain is charged with protecting. In a new viral video from the upcoming film that arrives July 3, we get an “exclusive” interview from the Daily Bugle with Captain Stacy talking about the progress of his investigation. It seems he doesn’t see Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) as a hero at all.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Daily Bugle Report

Is it us, or is it interesting that in the past the Daily Bugle was solely a newspaper where Peter Parker took photos? In Marc Webb’s cinematic version of Spidey’s story, looks as if the publication has added a video element as well!

The new trailer for The Three Stooges actually has us getting a little excited to see the Farrelly brothers’ latest feature. At first, we were a bit skeptical about how a non-biopic would turn out. The director's fictionalized account of the three comic icons goes from their birth to their living amongst us in modern times, complete with their own reality show. The film features Chris Diamantopoulos, Will Sasso and Sean Hayes as the comic trio with supporting players Jane Lynch (as a nun!), Larry David, Sofia Vergara and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson.

The Three Stooges Trailer 2

The film lands April 13 and follows the guys as they try to save their childhood home, an orphanage.

The Prometheus viral campaign has kicked into high gear. The film lands in theaters June 8 and we’ve already seen Guy Pearce’s character give his keynote TED address, the Weyland Industries commercial featuring Michael Fassbender and now we have a wallpaper image for you, director Ridley Scott fans, from his beautiful looking new film.

You also do not want to miss the latest full-length Prometheus trailer.

Casa de mi Padre broke star Will Ferrell out of what he told Movie Fanatic was a movie rut. His Spanish language comedy is a tribute to Telenovelas and Spaghetti Westerns. It works on so many levels and is one of the actor’s best. As it is a Ferrell comedy, you can count on the quotable lines to be aplenty!

The film features Ferrell as Armando Alvarez, a Mexican rancher’s son whose father Miguel believes is more fit to serve as a backup to his brother Raul running his farm than as the one who leads it.

In honor of Ferrell’s going Spanish, here are the best Casa de mi Padre quotes. Check back as we compile more as they arrive!

Miguel Ernesto: You’re just like your mother, a big heart but simple. You cannot help me, I need someone smart, and if you were smart you would know that you are dumb. | permalink

DEA Agent Parker: Do. You. Speak American?
Armando Alvarez: No sir. I don't speak American. | permalink

Armando Alvarez: My woman, Miss Lopez, must love the land as I do. | permalink

Raul Alvarez: I'd like to propose a toast and thank those who have come from so far. But I would like to especially thank someone -- someone who many of you have often called stupid, imbecile, fat head, but... he's a guy with a big heart. I propose a toast for my brother. For your happiness Armando.
Armando Alvarez: Yes, to Raul's happiness. May you enjoy all of life's pleasures. Even if it means the destruction of the family! | permalink

Onza: Sonia, why are you sleeping with this dirty rancher?
Armando Alvarez: Stay away, or I'll beat you with these hands! | permalink

Armando Alvarez: I am Armando Alvarez! | permalink

Battleship director Peter Berg and his film’s star, Brooklyn Decker, recently met Movie Fanatic at the annual pop culture fest Wonder Con to talk about their new film. From Berg’s work on Hancock, Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom and Collateral, he has clearly learned the most important thing about filmmaking. “You have to really listen to your audience,” Berg said.

In that capacity, while he was getting his head around bringing the iconic Hasbro game to life, at the game company’s suggestion, he met with a game psychiatrist. You read that right!

“Brian Goldner, the president of Hasbro, called me when I was getting ready to do some work on the script. He said, ‘I want you to meet with one of our game psychiatrists.’ I’m like, ‘Game psychiatrist? What’s a game psychiatrist?’ Really, they have these game psychiatrists that work for the toy companies and their basic job is to figure out what it is about a certain game that hooks you,” Berg said.

“Battleship is a very easy game obviously to make fun of and say, ‘Okay, this is preposterous.’ But the reality is that Battleship has been around for 85 years. We will all be dead and Battleship will be around. There has to be a reason behind that.”

He sat down with the woman charged with psychoanalyzing the ins and outs of Battleship and the experience proved revolutionary. “This woman came and she gave me this lecture about Battleship and what the whole idea of a blind reveal is. I didn’t really buy it. She said, ‘Let’s play the game.’ So we’re playing the game and I say, ‘B 5.’ She says, ‘Miss.’ ‘D 5.’ ‘Miss.’ ‘B 8.’ ‘Miss.’ She says, ‘D 12.’ I say, ‘Hit!’ She says, ‘How do you feel right now?’ I said, ‘I feel (expletive) horrible.’ ‘What do you feel?’ ‘I feel like I’m in danger.’ ‘What do you mean in danger?’ ‘Why? Because you’re trying to kill me!’ ‘What do you want to do?’ ‘I feel anxious and I feel an imperative to find you and I need to kill you. I want to kill you.’ She goes, ‘Exactly. You want to kill me and I want to kill you.’ The thing about a blind reveal where two people don’t know where each other are and are trying to locate each other, when they do locate each other, there’s no talk, there’s no negotiation. There’s lethal violence.”

Battleship Trailer 3

It was in that moment that Berg found his film. “If you think about it, that’s great DNA for a movie. That’s a very simple, very real concept -- a concept that can drive a film and that’s something that we definitely used,” Berg said.

For Decker, she found the Battleship experience one to treasure for a young actress building a career after her debut in Just Go With It. It all has to do with the fact that her second feature is helmed by a guy who keenly understands actors, as he is one.

“I didn’t have a lot of experience with directors. He’s known for having a way with directing actors and that’s something that I heard prior to meeting him. That’s something I heard going into filming. He’ll put himself on the line to make sure he gets what he wants from you in a scene,” Decker said. “There were times when he’d be screaming along with me. There were times when he would fire a machine gun off in the bushes to get a reaction he wanted. He’ll do anything it takes to get what he wants from an actor.”

That familiarity with what Decker was experiencing went beyond the craft that goes on display when a director yells, “Action.”

“He knows the nerves and the emotion and everything that’s going on underneath, to showing up to work every day,” she said. “To have somebody there that can tap into all that, I felt lucky to be under his direction.”

There was something that grabbed film producer Nina Jacobson when she first read Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. She and her partners optioned the book when it had barely sold 150,000 copies, long before it was a sensation. Now that she has shepherded it to the big screen, to say Jacobson’s excitement is palpable is a gross understatement. The force behind The Hunger Games coming to the silver screen is sitting down for an exclusive interview with Movie Fanatic to talk about the entire filmmaking process, what sets this book series apart from all others and how the director and cast is sure to make every THG fan even more fanatical.

Movie Fanatic: What do you think it is about this book and this series that has so resonated with people?

Nina Jacobson: I think that the book speaks to the one percent and the 99 percent. As a culture, it’s a conversation that we are having and ought to be having and that the books speak to that, to the way in which celebrity, consumerism, the gloss of fame and production value covers our larger social ills which people are suffering under. It speaks to the anxiety that young people have about the world that awaits them. It actually speaks to how savvy young people are too about what they consume and knowing that what they consume is produced for their benefit.

Movie Fanatic: Jennifer Lawrence, an Oscar nominee for Winter’s Bone, really hit it out of the park. What was it about her besides her amazing raw talent that you really saw fit Katniss?

Nina Jacobson: Winter’s Bone was in many effects an incredible audition for this movie because she’s fierce but she’s nurturing. She’s in over her head. She’s vulnerable. And Suzanne had also seen that and really responded to that performance. But when Jen came in and auditioned, she really stole the role. She made the casting director cry at the audition. Debra Zane (casting director) was playing Prim and Jen did this thing in the audition -- it’s the scene where she’s saying goodbye to Prim, her mother and Gale -- and she did this scene in the audition where she says to her mom, “Don’t cry.” In these two words she’s saying so much to her mom. She’s saying basically don’t cry in front of Prim, you can’t fall apart. You can see there’s this kind of love but a lot of baggage and history in their relationship. It was unbelievable. It’s in two words! I was thinking, “I can’t believe she got that much out of those two words in addition to the goodbye to Prim.” The casting director started to cry in the goodbye scene, it was so devastating.

Movie Fanatic: What about director Gary Ross made you think he could make that leap from the page to the screen so successfully?

Nina Jacobson: I think the fact that Gary is fundamentally a character-based storyteller and that all of the action, the drama, the conflict in his work comes from character. The story doesn’t happen to the characters, it happens from them. I think actually very few people are capable of telling stories that are rooted in authentic character foundations. Gary has done that in all of his writing, in all of his directing. I think that as a director he brings a different style to each movie. It’s not like one size fits all. He just understood this material at a thematic level and he had a great connection to the characters. He had teenage kids and the way it impacted them was important to him. From the beginning he always felt like he understood what the movie needed to be.

The Hunger Games TV Spot 2

Movie Fanatic: How has this process changed you at all or what have you learned about yourself during this creative process?

Nina Jacobson: I’ve been so mindful of how important it has been to me for Suzanne to feel that we captured the essence of her book. It’s the books that have resonated with people and we’ve had the good fortune of making a movie which has created a dialogue back and forth between the book and the movie. So people got excited about the movie, maybe new people read the book, people who were excited about the book got excited about the movie. There’s been this sort of ping pong that’s gone back and forth. When Suzanne saw the movie and embraced it and felt it was complimentary to the book, that was so important to me… What I’ve learned about myself through the movies that I’ve made as a producer is that the issue of authorship means a lot to me. And in a case like this movie, we had two authors, Gary as a writer/director who has an incredible vision and a very specific vision and then Suzanne who is the author of our source material. It’s been very fortunate to have those visions coalesce the way that they have because I think the movie without a voice, in which it’s decision by committee, I think audiences want and deserve something better than that. And yet you have these two voices that have to both emerge, the voice of the original author and the voice of the filmmaker, and as a producer it’s been my greatest concern to protect both of those.

If Robert Pattinson is trying to break out of his Twilight persona, hooking up with visionary director David Cronenberg is certainly one way to go. As evidenced by the teaser trailer for Cosmopolis that has debuted, their collaboration is just what the actor needs for people to forget about that Edward guy. The synopsis for the film and a new poster is below, but for now… enjoy this clearly NSFW teaser for a frightening and fascinating film foray.

Cosmopolis Trailer

The film’s synopsis:

New York City, not-too-distant-future: Eric Packer, a 28-year-old finance golden boy dreaming of living in a civilization ahead of this one, watches a dark shadow cast over the firmament of the Wall Street galaxy, of which he is the uncontested king. As he is chauffeured across midtown Manhattan to get a haircut at his father's old barber, his anxious eyes are glued to the yuan's exchange rate: it is mounting against all expectations, destroying Eric's bet against it. Eric Packer is losing his empire with every tick of the clock. Meanwhile, an eruption of wild activity unfolds in the city's streets. Petrified as the threats of the real world infringe upon his cloud of virtual convictions, his paranoia intensifies during the course of his 24-hour cross-town odyssey. Packer starts to piece together clues that lead him to a most terrifying secret: His imminent assassination.

Pixar has really scored from the looks of things with their latest film Brave. The story of a Scottish Highland princess who cares more for adventure than finding a prince stars Kelly Macdonald as Merida. As you can see from the film’s latest TV spot, the girl is more adept at wielding a bow and arrow than many of her male counterparts.

Brave TV Spot

The film lands June 22 and features an all-star ensemble of UK talent including Grey’s Anatomy star Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane, Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson.

As Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Nick Fury, says in the beginning of the IMAX trailer for The Avengers, “The world has changed.” That statement is prophetic considering the power the new Disney and Marvel Studios film possesses. Combining all their big superheroes in one movie? That could change things in Hollywood forever. Thanks Sam, for pointing that out. The IMAX trailer doesn’t necessarily give us any new footage, but anything Avengers… we’re down!

The Avengers IMAX Trailer

The film lands May 4 with midnight screenings on May 3 and stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgard and Mark Ruffalo.

We recently reported on the big screen reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But, in the last several days, a small scandal has broken out in terms of comments made by producer Michael Bay. The uber-producer announced that in his film, the normally Earth-born Turtles would be aliens. Bay had said that he saw the film as an “alien race” origins story and immediately the backlash started from passionate fans of the series.

Now, the franchise co-creator has spoken out in favor of Bay’s vision. Perhaps this will quiet the haters? Honestly, don’t count on it.

Peter Laird is one of the comic book’s co-creators and took to his blog to issue his blessing for the filmmaker’s take on his story. “Chill” and “Relax” were amongst the words he posted, thoughts geared at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan nation.

“It’s possible that with enough truly creative brainpower applied to this idea, it might actually work,” Laird said. “I’m not saying it’s probably, or even somewhat likely… but it is possible. However, as I have pondered this further, I have realized that in one way it is truly a genius notion.”

Well, how about that? If Laird’s statements are not a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what constitutes one.

The first clip from Wrath of the Titans is here and it features two UK acting heavyweights: Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson. It showcases their characters, Hades and Zeus, working a few things out.

Wrath of the Titans Clip: Hades and Zeus Fight

The film lands March 30 and takes place a decade after Clash of the Titans. Sam Worthington returns to his role as Perseus and Rosamund Pike has been added as Andromeda.

The gang’s all back in American Reunion and that cast chemistry hasn’t lost an ounce of fantastic fun in the thirteen years since they first charmed us. Movie Fanatic has seen the film (more in our review April 6) and it is by far the best since American Pie rocked our world in 1999. The film is written and directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg (A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas), who were huge fans of the first film and that reverence shows on every frame. A new clip has been released by Universal that takes us inside the Reunion.

American Reunion: A Look Inside

In the second part of our Jennifer Lawrence interview, Movie Fanatic delves deeper into The Hunger Games mania that is sweeping the world. The actress gives details on how much author Suzanne Collins met with her to adequately capture the role of a lifetime in Katniss as well as her worries about how her participation in the film would impair her ability to make more intimate, indie films in the future.

“I love my life and there's not a lot of times in a person's life where a yes or no decision can change your life forever. And it will never, no matter what, go back to the way it was before,” Lawrence said of her internal debate about whether to play Katniss. “That was terrifying to me. Even on a professional standpoint, I wanted to continue to make small passion projects that I love. I still want people to be able to lose themselves in my characters. I don't want people to watch something and go, 'Oh yeah, look at what Katniss is doing. Oh, Katniss is wearing a dress.' I didn't want that and I realized that all of the no’s just had to do with me being scared. I didn't want to miss out on something just because I was scared.”

It is surprising, but Collins had little advice for Lawrence in capturing her heroine. Their discussions were more about story than anything else. “We mostly talked about how she came up with the idea,” she admitted. “We talked on the phone a lot about the script and about things like this and that, but there were never any secrets or tips.”

One of the actress’ most cherished days of filming was when they filmed Katniss' debut as the “Girl on Fire.”

“That was my favorite part. That dress was unbelievable! It was most of our budget! I'm dead serious,” Lawrence said. “When I walked on set, Gary was like, ‘That's our budget!’ The line producer was going crazy over this dress. I say it was most of our budget and I actually mean it. It was beautiful and really heavy and honestly, I think they might have used a touch of CG to make it, but they didn't really even need it. It was unbelievable. And it wasn’t Dancing with the Stars. When you read everything in the book you are kind of like, ‘Oh right, like what they wore on Dancing with the Stars.’ But [costume designer] Judianna did such an amazing job of making everything beautiful."

Director Gary Ross clearly left in the “Girl on Fire” dress, but the creative team was careful about what to film and what from the books could be left out -- all keenly aware The Hunger Games nation would be watching. “We took everything that we needed and that we loved from the books… that was in the script. Then we had to focus on the script. That was what we were making -- not the books,” Lawrence said. “From an actor’s standpoint, having your character’s inner dialogue is incredibly valuable and not something that you get a lot. Normally you have to make that up yourself. So it was incredibly helpful to have the books as backup.”

The Hunger Games Spot: Event

Lawrence believes that Ross was not only the perfect person to helm the first film in the series, but also to pen the screenplay. “Reading the script was incredible. I called Gary right afterwards and I was like, ‘You did it!’ It was nerve-racking. I was a huge fan of the books and I went into it, like any fan of the book, completely skeptical,” she admitted. “I was looking for every single flaw. I thought that it was absolutely beautiful and just marvelous. It was just a beautiful war drama.”

Ross captured the story in the screenplay, but when Lawrence arrived on set to film with co-stars Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson, she was astounded at how impeccable he was leading the page-to-screen effort. “He's just one of those directors that genuinely knows everything,” Lawrence said, smiling. “First day on the set, he just blew me away.”

As part of a viral campaign to get audiences psyched for What to Expect When You’re Expecting, we’ve got a new video of Cameron Diaz’s character participating in a Dancing with the Stars-type contest. The fictional Celebrity Dance Factor recruited some stars to join Diaz, including NBA standout Dwyane Wade and former The Hills star Whitney Port.

What to Expect When You're Expecting: Cameron Diaz Discos

Diaz plays fitness expert Jules Baxter, who it appears in the clip has made it into the final three on the nation’s biggest celebrity dance show. She hooks up with her pro dance partner (played by Glee's Matthew Morrison), which leads to her being pregnant and joining the ranks of the other pregnant women whose stories are explored in the film including Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks and Anna Kendrick. Look for the movie May 18.