There amongst the sporting action (which saw the New York Giants clinch victory over the New England Patriots) was a new extended advertisement for John Carter, the film that sees Taylor Kitsch play a former American Confederate captain who is transported to Mars and finds himself in the middle of a war. He must get involved as it looks as though he is the planet’s only hope. From this new trailer (below), it looks as though there will be plenty of drama and motivational talking, not to mention various aliens and a beautiful princess played by Lynn Collins. John Carter will be released in the UK on 9th March.

Battleship, out in the UK 11th April, also had a new trailer broadcast during the Super Bowl, and it was one that suggests it will be about more than just the board game. This film sees Taylor Kitsch make the jump from battling aliens on Mars (above), to battling aliens on his own planet alongside Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgard and Rihanna. After watching the trailer, “fire everything” rings in your mind and you know the film is going to feature a perilous journey. Of course, you would also be very likely to “fire everything” if you are on the only ship in the world that is inside the protective force-field of an alien vessel, a vessel that seems intent on destroying the human race.

Lightening the mood quite a bit, we also have The Lorax, which had its own exclusive spot for a new trailer. Featuring the voices of Danny DeVito, Taylor Swift and Zac Efron and based on the zany Dr. Seuss creation, this animated film updates the story significantly and features a fantastic-looking dose of comedy. If you want a film with an environmental message lit up with bright colours, imagination and down-right weird scenes, then look out for this creation that comes out on 27th July.

The Super Bowl television also played host to others including a new Avengers offering which you can see here, G.I. Joe: Retaliation and The Dictator.

The supernatural film, starring Dane DeHaan (The Front) and Alex Russell (Wasted on the Young) scooped the top spot, earning a staggering $22m during its opening weekend.

However, the spine tingling chiller The Woman in Black, starring Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe, took in an impressive $21m during its three-day opening, from Friday to Sunday.
The film, based on Susan Hills’ classic novel, was shown in 2855 screens and topped the record for the highest earning opening film in Hammer history.
Radcliffe’s period ghost story even beat the likes of Paranormal Activity, which grossed $19,617,650 in 2009, and The Grudge 2, which earned $20,825,300 three years before.
The CEO of Hammer was pleased with the record breaking result and was reported saying; “The fact that a gothic horror has attracted such a large audience on opening weekend shows the demand for elevated and intelligent genre films which Hammer aims to produce.”

Ghosts aside, in third place came Liam Neeson’s latest thriller, The Grey, which earned $9.5, dropping just one place from last week. Pulling in $8.5m, was the heart-warming, family fun film, Big Miracle, featuring John Krasinski (It’s Complicated , Leatherheads).
But a league behind Big Miracle came Underworld: Awakening, which earned just over $5m – a quarter of The Woman in Black’s intake.

One For The Money – starring Knocked Up’s Katherine Heigl – slid from third to sixth place earning $5.5 million, while Red Tails ranked seventh. George Clooney’s, The Descendants, remained in eighth place, making just $4.6 million. The Man On A Ledge has plummeted from fifth to ninth place making $4.5 million, and scraping in at number ten was Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close raking $3.9m last weekend.

Russell Crowe and Liam Neeson are mooted as highly likely, and they have previously starred together in The Next Three Days, a 2010 film about a married couple who must deal with life when the wife is accused of murder. They are not quite confirmed for Noah yet, however it does look likely that Russell Crowe will be cast in the lead role, as the man whom God deems righteous enough to build the Ark.

This rumour has stemmed from reports that the Black Swan director himself has been eyeing up Crowe for the part, which would see him play the man who builds the ark that can survive the flood. This is all still speculation, as the role of Noah has looked like it would fall to other actors before Crowe. Both Christian Bale and Michael Fassbender have previously been linked to the role of Noah, however Crowe is now the most likely man for the job.

Who will Liam Neeson play? While it seems unlikely that he will take on the part of Noah’s wife, there are not many other options available in a story that is mostly about one man and lots of animals. Perhaps he will play the voice of God? One of the animals? A baddie? We will have to wait and see what the final decisions are, but we think that Crowe is a good choice for Noah and think it would be awesome if he played it Gladiator style…

Last year it was announced that George Lucas has been a busy man, digitally enhancing all six films in the franchise, ready to bring them back to theatres next month.

The move is yet another example of Hollywood’s attempt to make more money out of former releases. The Lion King 3D and Beauty and the Beast 3D have already been released, while James Cameron’s Titanic is coming to the big screen again in April.

The trouble with Lucas releasing all six films is, he’s releasing them in order. And I don’t mean the order of their original releases. If only that were true.

First up are the prequels, beginning with 1999′s Episode One: The Phantom Menace, which so happens to be the least popular of the entire franchise.

Yes, we have to sit through the first three in order, before we can enjoy the original classics in even greater glory. And while yes, Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith was a decent film, The Phantom Menace and Episode Two: Attack of the Clones, were not.

Despite the prequels being widely agreed to be inferior to the originals, Star Wars fans will no doubt flock in their thousands.

At the very least we can admire the posters, which are admittedly rather cool. The Phantom Menace promotion has placed emphasis on the best moments in the film: Darth Maul, the big race and the characters we know and love.

Perhaps they hope we will forget the existence of Jar Jar (who is noticeably absent from all advertising) and the slow moving plot?

The Phantom Menace opens 10th February 2012. The release dates of the other five films are yet to be announced.

So which release are you most looking forward to? Let us know!

Here is one of the posters! Click to view full size:

It has also been announced that a prologue for The Dark Knight Rises will be shown before Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol in IMAX. Christopher Nolan has confirmed that this will basically show the first six or seven minutes of the film, including an introduction to the villain, Bane. Also, a full-length trailer will be shown before the new Sherlock Holmes film, Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows.

When the final film in the trilogy comes out on July 20th 2012, we will rejoin an older Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), who is no longer at the top of his game. It is likely that this will leave numerous questions for viewers, such as what has Bruce Wayne been doing since we last saw him? What state will Gotham City be in and who will be the new villains that Batman will have to face?

Well, at least we can answer the latter of these questions as Tom Hardy will play Bane, who you may recognise as the huge, muscly brute that we saw in the 1997 film Batman and Robin. Hardy has said that Bane will test Batman’s physical as well as mental strength and that this will be a new kind of challenge for him.

The Dark Knight Rises will see Michael Caine return as Alfred, Liam Neeson as Ra’s Al Ghul and Cillian Murphy as the creepy scarecrow man, Dr Jonathan Crane. Gary Oldman also keeps his old character of Jim Gordon and Morgan Freeman is Lucius Fox again. New additions to the cast include Anne Hathaway who will be slipping into the skin-tight costume of Catwoman and will no-doubt do something bad-ass,  Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play Gotham cop, John Blake and Marion Cotillard will play Wayne Enterprises board member Miranda Tate.

This film is supposed to be the closing of the Batman story and with it being set eight years on, this may well work. It will be interesting to see how it all ends, as the writers are keeping the details close to their chests. Will Batman be able to defeat the villains once again? Will he even be able to fight well after eight years? And how will the new characters of Catwoman and Bane fare? We will have to wait until next year to find out the answers to some of these questions, but we will keep you posted if we hear anything. Until then, take a look at the teaser trailer to whet your appetite:

If you’ve not seen Batman Begins (what is wrong with you? Go and watch it now), then don’t read the rest of this article, because the character who’s just appeared in Rises as a much younger version of themselves is going to somewhat spoil the ending.

So, all the people worried about Begins spoilers are gone. Don’t want any potential Dark Knight Rises spoilers, either? You head off too.

Gone? Brilliant. It’s Ra’s Al Ghul. Yeah, the man who trained Bruce Wayne in the art of combat, who is very much dead, in Christopher Nolan’s version of the Batman universe at least. But a younger version means either flashbacks, a successor, or even a clone – anything’s possible, but a clone would be a little too out-of-bounds for Nolan’s realism-focused take on Gotham’s hero and its many villains.

There’s not much else to say, bar that Liam Neeson’s been spotted potentially acting in Rises, and that Josh Pence, the face of the Winklevoss Twins in The Social Network has been cast as the young Ras. Interesting stuff, and I look forward to figuring out how Ras Al Ghul, Bane and Catwoman are somehow going to fit into one film. Sadly, they’ll never come close to Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker, but it could be a climactic finish to Nolan’s ties to the Batman franchise nonetheless.

Spielberg acquired the rights to the best-selling Lincoln biography, Team of Rivals, written by Doris Kearns Goodwin, way back in 2001. He then went on to announce that Liam Neeson would be taking on the leading role, with Neeson himself stating that he had undertaken extensive research in preparation for the part.

Sally Field, who you’ll recognise from the likes of Mrs Doubtfire and Forest Gump, was later cast in the role of Mary Todd Lincoln. John Logan, Paul Webb and Tony Kushner worked on the Lincoln script, which reportedly focuses on conflicts among Lincoln’s cabinet during the abolition of slavery and the American Civil War.

However, back in July of this year, this slow-moving project was further delayed when Neeson revealed that he would no longer be starring in the film, and stated that he was “too old to play the former commander-in-chief”.

Thankfully, it appears that Spielberg has found a replacement for the leading role, with Gangs of New York actor, Daniel Day-Lewis. Known for his commitment to his roles and award-winning performances, Day-Lewis is clearly a keen choice for Spielberg, who has released a statement saying he was “grateful and inspired that [their] paths will finally cross with Lincoln.”

Meanwhile, Spielberg has a number of films scheduled for release before shooting begins next Autumn, including The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, War Horse and Super 8, but we’ll certainly be keeping you posted!

Based on the third novel in C.S. Lewis’s epic fantasy series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader sees Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley return as Edmund and Lucy Pevensie in a journey to the mysterious Eastern Islands. This time around they are joined by their cousin, Eustace Scrubb, played by Son of Rambow‘s Will Poulter.

Ben Barnes reprises his role as Prince (well, King) Caspian, Tilda Swinton returns as as Jadis, the White Witch and Liam Neeson once again will provide the voice of Aslan. Although Bill Nighy originally revealed that he would be replacing Eddie Izzard as the voice of Reepicheep, it is, in fact, Simon Pegg who has taken over the role.

This will be the first Narnia film to be directed by Michael Apted, who is best known for his work on the Bond film, The World Is Not Enough. He has also signed on to direct the next in the Narnia series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair. It will be Apted’s fourth collaboration with composer David Arnold, who has written the score for this film.

This is the first of The Chronicles to be released in 3D, as well as the first to be distributed by 20th Century Fox, instead of Walt Disney Pictures.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is due to reach UK cinemas on 10th December – just in time for Christmas. Check out the trailer below!

The pair star as husband and wife in this dramatic thriller – this is, until Neeson’s character, Dr Martin Harris, awakes from a coma after a taxi crash to find that Jones no longer recognises him and has shacked up with someone else. This new man, played by Aidan Quinn, now claims that he is the real Dr Harris. In an effort to dig up information about the crash, the old Harris then sets about tracking down his former cab driver, Inglorious Basterds Diane Kruger, and begins the battle to claim both his sanity and his identity.

The trailer is none too subtle about the themes of delusion and conspiracy, which are all a bit Shutter Island if we’re honest, and focuses on the concept of replicating memories, which might be seen as somewhat Inception-esque. Having said that, Unknown is based on Didier Van Cauwelaert’s mind-bending French thriller Out of My Head, which was described as being able to “surprise even the most jaded fan of thrillers” by Kirkus Reviews, so it could astound us yet.

Set in Berlin, Unknown (which was previously titled Unknown White Male) is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who is best known for the 2005 remake of House of Wax. Even if this snippet does suggest a certain predictability, the impressive cast credentials could make this one to watch all the same.

Unknown is currently without an official release date, but we can expect to see it in UK cinemas early next year. Meanwhile, you can check out the trailer below!

So, if you’re looking at this film and wondering what exactly they were thinking when they got this new foo’ in to replace the old foo’, then you’ve come to the right place. Simply, this has taken the hugely successful TV series of the 1980s, focusing on a group of four ex-Special Forces men doing mercenary work whilst on the run from the US government. Not too far-fetched then, right? It was a massive success because of its array of humorous and over-the-top characters, violence, and bizzare storylines, and this should suit any audience willing to pump money into anything directed by Ridley Scott (though I do warn you, he’s also down to do a Universal adapation of the Monopoly board game. You have been warned.

The film, at this point, has been in development for around fifteen years (we’re serious), going through many different ideas and, logically, writers as it it was finally worked into a watchable narrative. How watchable is yet to be seen, but I’m estimating that a rather large van, smooth-talking special-agenty types and a colossal amount of pyrotechnics mean that no one’s going to walk out of the cinema too upset if the narrative isn’t Shakespearian.

Replacing B.A. Baracus has, most would wager, been the most difficult task – especially as the original (played by the now sell-out advert man Mr. T, who endorses everything from chocolate to games he’ll never play) is still working in front of cameras. We’re hoping for a cameo, as you never know – even Marvin the Paranoid Android’s original robotic form was given a small part in the remake of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. However, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, a mixed martial arts fighter, seems an apt replacement, though if he doesn’t pity a single foo’ then most will be disappointed.

Most importantly though – judge the remake for what it is – a modern re-envisioning of a classic TV show about a quartet of mercs in a van. Even though we’re likely to have more “modern” aspects slipped in for today’s audiences (cue the geezer-pleasing use of Jessica Biel and an absent narrative), it’s likely to stir up interest in other 80s TV shows, much like the recent surge in comic adaptations has. The trailer for the A-Team, released in the UK next Friday, is below. Let us know what you think.