The man behind television hits The O.C., Gossip Girl, and Chuck, has been given the opportunity to write the next X-Men flick, in an effort to infuse the franchise with a “next-gen sensibility”, according to Variety. Tentatively titled X-Men: First Class, the series will likely focus on a number of the younger X-Men, but it’s not clear which ones or if it will tie into existing X-movie continuity. There is currently an X-Men comic being published with the same name, but it’s a re-imagining of the early years of the original X-Men, which included Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman, and Angel. These characters, cast with younger actors, would probably not work within the current X-movie continuity, as Iceman and Angel were introduced to the school much later than in the comics. The only other option, other than re-booting into a completely different continuity, would be to continue with the younger characters introduced in the previous films (Kitty, Iceman, Rogue, Pyro, Colossus, etc) without doing an Origins film, as they are doing with Wolverine and Magneto. Of course, the fact that they aren’t including the word “Origins” in the title probably means that they aren’t going the old school route.

As for me, I’d be glad to see a Schwartz-penned teen mutant action adventure if it launched from the existing films and cut away all of the big name Halle Storms and Hugh Wolverines. There’s nothing that says they can’t create a unique franchise that isn’t beholden to replicating X-Men mythology or using the big guns to draw in audiences. Hey, if they want insane buzz, maybe they could get Twilight’s Robert Pattinson to play a mutant that makes girls scream. Although it’s probably best to keep him away from Syrin…

The brand new, highly anticipated trailer for the new JJ Abrams Star Trek film is now online at startrekmovie.com, just in case you didn’t catch it this week in front of Quantum of Solace.

It took 4 attempts on Friday night for me to finally see it. One of the screens had projector problems - twice! - (at 8:30 and 11:20) and skipped over all of the trailers. Another screen (12midnight) played everything but the trailers that were meant to be seen in front of QoS. And the last screen (12:30am) finally played it, possibly only after I spent some time chatting with the senior manager and telling him why I was hanging out at his theater all night, hopping from screen to screen (I got a free pass for a future movie because the movie cut out twice during my first attempt).

I had hoped to see the new Watchmen trailer, but that didn’t happen. And one more thing: Hey, McG! You said at Comic-Con that the first Terminator: Salvation trailer would be attached to QoS! What the hell happened?

Sorry. I had to get that off my chest. Enjoy the new Star Trek trailer. It looks like it’s going to be astoundingly fun. (I could link to a bootleg theater recording that’s currently floating around youtube, but odds are that the moment I link it, it’s going to go away. And, besides, you really should see it with great picture and sound at the official site to really appreciate it.)

Star Wars geek? John Williams fan? Ummm… A cappella aficionado? This is the video for you. It’s nice to see actual talent and originality in a youtube viral video instead of the usual voyeuristic wedding reception nut punch or office worker nervous breakdown #527. (Okay, sure, the song’s been around for awhile, but it was only recently uploaded to youtube. So whether you’ve seen it a dozen times or not, you have to admit it’s still pretty funny. Just enjoy it. It’s Friday.)

Newsarama has posted the first pictures from the set of Kick Ass, the adaptation of the Mark Millar/John Romita Jr hit Icon comic about a boy who decides to become a costumed hero despite not having any powers or special abilities. The movie stars Aaron Johnson, Nicolas Cage, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Chloe Moretz, and is directed by Matthew Vaughn. For those of you who haven’t heard of Kick Ass, it’s worth checking out at your local comic shop because this will be one of the most talked about movies of next year, both good and bad, once the rest of the world finds out what happens in this film.

The site promises more exclusive on-set pictures in the coming days. Check them out here.

I don’t think there’s really much I need to say about this. I’m guessing this will be attached to Quantum of Solace tomorrow. As I write this, I have not watched the trailer shown below. I really want to wait until I see it on the big screen, but I have a strong feeling I’ll give in before then. But, hey, if you had my high standards, I don’t think you’d do any better…

Pixar fans rejoice! Up, the next Disney classic, is on its way, although from first look, it might be Pixar’s strangest, most ambitious project yet (of course, everyone said that with Wall-E too). From what I saw at Comic-Con, it’s definitely not easily categorizable, but I can’t imagine Pixar letting us down. As evidenced by the all-new trailer below, it’s going to be very colorful and very funny (Ed Asner voices the cranky old man). Without spoiling anything, I can tell you that what you see here barely scratches the surface of the astounding adventure that follows.

Best known for directing the movies the Rocketeer and October Sky, Joe Johnston has been picked to direct the First Avenger: Captain America movie for Marvel Studios. Movie buffs may also know that he’s the same guy who designed a number of vehicles for Star Wars and storyboarded the convoy chase scene for Raiders of the Lost Ark. There is currently no screenwriter, no script, and no actor cast to portray the star-spangled Avenger, but the film is on track for a May 6, 2011 release date.

Chevy Chase will star with Burt Reynolds, Vinnie Jones, and Michael Madsen in a spoof of those oh so trendy spoof films called Not Another Not Another Movie.

Chase will portray a studio exec that quits the company and leaves his ex-con sibling in charge. The aforementioned ex-con hires a gangster friend, played by Jones, to direct a spoof of spoof movies. Reynolds plays an actor cast in the aforementioned spoof spoof.

This could either be a complete disaster or a JCVD-esque comeback for Chase. Lets hope for the latter.

Youtube has partnered with MGM and will soon be offering streams of the studio’s content. The catch, though, is that the first titles being offered are somewhat sub-par. We get old episodes of American Gladiator, Legally Blond, and Bulletproof Monk. Hopefully the first run is a success so that better offerings will follow.

It has begun. Ever since Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse was announced, fans have been sending messages to Fox, begging the network to not cancel the show, even before a single frame of film was shot. Why? Because it’s going to air on Fox. At first, such an act seemed a little excessive and unnecessary. But with the announcement that Dollhouse will now premiere on FRIDAYS starting in February, our fears seem to be well-founded.

Friday nights, particularly on Fox, is known as the dead zone for any show scheduled there. It’s where Fox sends it’s shows to die, either brand new ones they don’t have faith in or existing ones that are under-performing, allowing them to sputter out their final episodes in peace, unwatched by the masses, but filling an available schedule slot. The only notable series to ever survive that slot was the X-Files, but that was during the early days of Fox, when they were hungry for original programming… before they were considered a “real” network (something the CW still struggles with). But even the X-Files moved onto a better, safer slot on Sunday nights when it became a bonafide hit. Other shows, like Lone Gunmen, Harsh Realm, Sliders, Dark Angel, Millennium, and Whedon’s own Firefly all met early graves when shoved to the Friday graveyard.

Dollhouse, starring Buffy vet Eliza Dushku, was originally scheduled to air back-to-back with 24 on Monday nights, but with the Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles getting a last minute reprieve despite its flagging ratings, something had to go. Surprisingly, both Dollhouse and Terminator will lose their Monday home come 2009, because Terminator will be joining Dollhouse on Friday nights. Oh boy. This allows House to move to Mondays when American Idol returns to needlessly take over 66% of the network in January.

So Dollhouse and Terminator both need to attract more than die-hard Firefly fans (Terminator’s Cameron is played by former Firefly cast member Summer Glau) on Friday night in order to survive. Sure, there’s a chance that both could bolster each other’s viewership and create a week-ending juggernaut, but it’s highly unlikely. People go out on Friday nights… to the movies… maybe on dates. Even Joss Whedon fans. (Hey, it could happen.)

Assuming both shows last beyond May without getting cancelled due to low ratings (hmm, I wonder why?), here’s hoping that they find a more stable slot come Fall 2009. (There’s no more strikes scheduled for next fall, right?)

Dollhouse premieres Friday, February 13th on Fox (that bodes well, doesn’t it?)

Take a peek at an all-new Dollhouse promo here:

Prolific author Michael Crichton, best known for his widescreen epic storytelling style, died November 4th in Los Angeles after a long, private battle with cancer. Crichton made a name for himself by writing just-beyond-science-fact novels such as the Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Timeline, Prey, and Congo, selling more than 150 million copies worldwide. Always grounded in reality, but never afraid to tell daring, human stories filled with real bleeding-edge science, Crichton garnered a massive fanbase either through the books he wrote or the big scale movies that were adapted from them (Jurassic Park is an all-time favorite of mine in both formats).

The official Michael Crichton website has a better tribute to the author than I could possibly muster here. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

His final, as yet untitled novel will be released posthumously on May 4th, 2009.

Some never thought it would happen… and, of course, the existence of a trailer doesn’t really mean that Fanboys really will be released, but it’s one more step toward the possibility of the movie that almost never was to actually appear in theaters. It doesn’t mean it will be adequately promoted beyond this online trailer or that it will last more than a weekend in the theaters, but at least it will unspool long enough for me to see it on opening night with an enthusiastic crowd of geeks.

Click here for the all-new Fanboys trailer.

There’s been a lot of controversy tied to the film over the years, so much that until I saw this trailer I believed the project to be truly dead. From what I understand, the edits that were placed upon the original cut by the Weinstein Company have been removed, retaining the core storyline that prompts the friends to travel across the country just to break into Skywalker Ranch in hopes of seeing Star Wars Episode 1 before it was released. It’s not going to be just a low-brow scatalogical humor road trip movie that mocks geekdom. Sure, what I saw of it 2 years ago was plenty crude, but it’s more than that. It has heart and it’s a love letter to Star Wars geeks everywhere.

The only thing I’m sad that they didn’t mention was the fact that the movie also stars that chick from Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) and that dude from Knocked Up (Seth Rogen in more than one scene-stealing role).

Fanboys is (for now) scheduled to hit theaters on February 6th, 2009. Keep your lightsabers crossed, geeks.

And now that the election is over, may this be the last political ad we see until 2012…

According to Variety, Heroes co-executive producers Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander been axed from the staff as of Sunday. Both writers have been with the show since the beginning and it’s believed that they were let go due to the network’s dissatisfaction with the show’s creative direction, overblown budgets, and the consistent low ratings so far this season.

Other than creator Tim Kring, I’ve always associated Heroes with Jeph Loeb as he was always the host of the Heroes panels at Comic-Con and he could usually be seen hanging around the Heroes booth, especially the first year when nobody knew what it was. I’m concerned at what this means for the show. It’s not even close to as bad as some say (I’m looking at you, Entertainment Weekly), but I guess it’s all about the ratings. Here’s hoping that everyone benefits from the departure, but something tells me that such a desperate move by NBC/Universal does not bode well for the show’s future.

David Lindsay-abaire, the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright responsible for Rabbit Hole, has been hired to write the script for Spider-Man 4. This isn’t the first literary hoity-toity literary type to be attached to a Spider-Man film. The second installment of the series was co-authored by Michael Chabon, who one the coveted prize 2001.

Sam Raimi’s back, Toby Maguire’s back, and a respectable writer has been hired. Perhaps this sequel will make up for the travesty that was Spider-Man 3.

It is with great sadness that I today deliver the news that David Tennant has announced he’d be stepping down as Doctor Who prior to the 2010 season. Tennant will be a part of the four specials which will air throughout 2009 beginning with the annual Christmas special this December.

Who-vians will remember that the reason behind the decision not to have a full season in 2009 was made due to Tennant wishing to work in the theater. Makes one wonder exactly how enthralled the behind-the-scenes staff was with his departure notice.

It’s not clear as to who will be filling the role post-2010 but there have been several names mentioned. Robert Carlyle, my favorite choice, seems to be out of the running. Russell Tovey and James Nesbitt are the two most recent names linked to the role. Hopefully we’ll find out soon!