The first trailer for Universal’s The Bourne Legacy has finally been released. There’s no doubt that skeptics surfaced once it was announced there would be another Bourne movie without Matt Damon, but the trailer definitely convinces you that Jeremy Renner is a force to be reckoned with. We’ve got the same vibe as the franchise is known for but there is a sense of a darker and brutal story with some new elements in the midst.

It’ll be interesting to see how Renner’s character interacts with some familiar Bourne characters, but the addition of Edward Norton as the villain looks to be a perfect match. So be sure to check the trailer out and see why you should definitely add this to your already overflowing list of summer blockbusters.

The narrative architect behind the Bourne film series, Tony Gilroy, takes the helm in the next chapter of the hugely popular espionage franchise that has earned almost $1 billion at the global box office. The writer/director expands the Bourne universe created by Robert Ludlum with an original story that introduces us to a new hero (Jeremy Renner) whose life-or-death stakes have been triggered by the events of the first three films.

For The Bourne Legacy, Renner joins fellow series newcomers Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach and Oscar Isaac, while franchise veterans Albert Finney, Joan Allen, David Strathairn and Scott Glenn reprise their roles.

The Bourne Legacy hits theatres on August 3, 2012.

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You may remember last month Paramount released the first image of Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters, which stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the fairy tale siblings who have evolved into vengeful bounty hunters dedicated to exterminating witches following a traumatic incident involving a gingerbread house.

There was promise of a trailer soon after but more than a month on we still haven’t got one, and now we know why. Paramount has pushed the release date back from March 2012 to January 2013.

The reason for the delay is apparently due to Jeremy Renner. This time next year he will have been seen in The Avengers and The Bourne Legacy, and the (potential) success of both may spur audiences to see Renner hunting witches. While Renner can currently be seen in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol which is doing great business, that’s a Tom Cruise movie, so waiting until Renner has appeared in two more big action films may be a wise move.

Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow) is directing, and Anchorman director Adam McKay is producing. As well as Renner and Arterton the movie also stars Famke Janssen (Jean Grey from X-Men) as the leader of the witches.

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Earlier this month a German trailer for The Avengers hit the web and gave us some new snippets of footage. Now a Russian trailer has been released which is a mix of both the German and US trailers, but contains more shots Loki, the villain of the film once again played by Tom Hiddleston.

Watch below:

The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, will star Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Evans (Captain America), Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and will be released May 4th, 2012.

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So all it took was a veteran animation director in Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and The Iron Giant) to resurrect the Mission: Impossible franchise to greatness. Why couldn’t someone track him down two installments ago?

The 133 minute fourth edition, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is simply the best in the series. Tom Cruise is in top-form and the team he surrounds himself with (Paula Patton, Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner) are with him stride-for-stride. Michael Nyqvist is also one of the better antagonists the franchise has seen, despite barely saying a word (to be fair, Phillip Seymour Hoffman was not given enough to do in the third flick).

Our espionage foreign adventure (travels through Russia, Dubai and India) sees Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) once again being recruited for his most important mission to date. His intelligence agency that signs his pay check, IMF, believes someone is attempting to start a nuclear war between Russia and the United States. Although there’s a legitimate chance to prevent all of this from unfolding, the elusive villain, going under the name Cobalt (Michael Nyqvist), is able to trigger tragic events that forces the U.S. President to shut down the IMF agency; leaving Hunt and his team (mentioned above) on their own, using very limited resources to stop a nuclear war.

Trust me; the synopsis is a bit more in-depth than the paragraph above. What is great about having Bird at the helm is that he finds the perfect speed to pace this action-caper. And he knows the exact point to explain what’s going on as the plot thickens through a variety of techniques (action, dialogue, killer new gadgets, etc.) that everyone in the audience can comprehend.

And the action is captivating! Not only is Cruise pushing himself to unbelievable limits, the rest of his cohorts are all jumping in on the ass-kicking fun. Well, except for Simon Pegg; his weapon of choice is his brilliant timing of all his sarcastic/funny lines while serving as the group’s techie. Plus, the camera – IMAX camera – is positioned so the entire scope of where the action is taking place can be viewed by the audience. Whether its fisticuffs or an assortment of chase sequences (ranging from the prototypical car jaunts to on foot in a sandstorm) they’re all clean even though their chaotic. A novel way to describe this piece is it has intense classy action; and there’s always something new around the corner. Many of the things they do here have never been seen in these types of flicks.

Besides the obvious hook of big-budget action spots, the interlude of dialogue and emotion is just as engaging in this extended thrill ride. When Bird has to slow down to make the next turn on this journey, he does it in a manner that is relaxing and exciting all at once. He basically sets the table properly and then serves one of hell of a five-course meal. Surprisingly, this spy-mystery chase is more appealing, and told more concisely than the recent Sherlock Holmes release.

And while this is still Tom Cruise’s show, he finds the ideal compliments – his supporting cast – and allows them to take over at the wheel when appropriate.

Overall, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is scary good. Tom Cruise is in the zone once again and this is by far the best directed piece in the series. Not to mention, the best directed action piece since…dare I say it? The Dark Knight.

Put it this way, yours truly had to desperately use the bathroom about 45 minutes in…And let’s just say my bladder suffered until the closing credits.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5

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Next Thursday Paramount will be releasing the first trailer for Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters, which stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the fairy tale siblings who have evolved into vengeful bounty hunters dedicated to exterminating witches following a traumatic incident involving a gingerbread house.

In the meantime the studio has released the first official image from the movie, giving us a look at their costumes, and Gemma Arterton has taken part in a new interview where she says the film has a “Quentin Tarantino feel” to it.

From Entertainment Weekly:

How does this movie incorporate the original Brothers Grimm tale? Is that story kind of a prologue?
Yes, it continues it. You see a series of flashbacks with their experience of killing that first witch, which is brilliant. I remember being on set for the final few days of that. The candy house, and the witches are really repulsive and quite frightening. The make-up is out of this world. It’s this bone-chilling scene. Very dark. The girl who plays my character is brilliant, with the horrified expression she has.

Folk-tales like this have been told over and over again, changing every time. What’s the constant that your movie picks up?
They resonate with your fears, that’s how these fairy tales worked. They scared you into behaving. This one in particular is about abandonment and being lost and parents leaving you. The heart of it is that these kids grow up to be bloodthirsty witch hunters. It’s a bit tongue in cheek, really. What would Hansel and Gretel be in 15 years time?

Though it’s comedic, deep down it’s about abused kids becoming kind of hyper-responsible?
But it’s also very, very dark, and bloodthirsty and there’s a lot of cursing. It’s kind of got a [Quentin] Tarantino feel, really.

What differentiates the brother and sister?
Gretel is much more in tune with her spiritual side. Hansel is a typical action hero, cheeky, funny, a womanizer. She’s much more of a thinker, intense, internal and bit more open-minded than he is.

You can read the full interview here.

Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow) is directing, and Anchorman director Adam McKay is producing. Paramount has scheduled the release date for March 2, 2012, and as well as Renner and Arterton the movie also stars Famke Janssen (Jean Grey from X-Men) as the leader of the witches.

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Paramount have unveiled the second official trailer for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. No Eminem backing track this time, but we see plenty of well polished action scenes and special effects money-shots, along with some throwbacks to the previous films.

Watch below:

When a terrorist bombing destroys the Kremlin, the United States government activates “Ghost Protocol” and disavows the entire Impossible Mission Force. Ethan Hunt and his team are blamed for the attack, but are allowed to escape as part of a plan to enable them to operate outside their agency. Hunt is warned that if any member of his team is captured or compromised, they will be charged as terrorists planning a nuclear strike. He is forced to work with fellow IMF agent Brandt, who knows much more about Hunt and his past than Hunt himself.

The Incredibles helmer Brad Bird is making his live-action directorial debut with the fourth film and Tom Cruise is once again joined by Simon Pegg, along with newcomers Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton (Precious) and Josh Holloway (Lost). Michael Nyqvist (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire) and Lea Seydoux (Inglourious Basterds) will play villains.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol will be released December 16th, 2011.

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Just when it seemed as if Jeremy Renner was being bombarded with a overwhelming deluge of franchises, from suiting up as Hawkeye in the upcoming Avengers movie to taking on a new imagining within the iconic Bourne universe in The Bourne Legacy, Deadline has reported that Renner is signed on to take on banks and the law, a sense of familiarity for him since The Town, in The King of Heists.

The movie, which is an adaptation of J. North Conway’s novel of the same name, takes a look at the true account of a $3 million dollar bank robbery performed in 1878. Renner will ensue the role of the mastermind, George Leslie, who is described as “a well mannered gentleman.” Albeit a much milder version then the hotheaded tough guy Renner portrayed in The Town.

The film, which is currently in the process of finding a director, has Will Staples attached to pen the script and Renner in the producer’s seat, along with Teddy Schwarzman and Don Handfield. While the approach The King of Heists plans on taking with the bank heist genre is unknown, it’s safe to say it‘s a role Renner will easily make his own, with his break-out performance in The Hurt Locker being a signature example in how far this young star has come.

With a busy schedule of big name franchises coming to the foreground, it seems that Renner’s career isn’t losing steam anytime soon, and a chance to create a totally new character in The King Of Heists will further prove that potential.

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Since appearing in The Incredible Hulk in 2008 Edward Norton has stayed away from big studio movies, however according to Variety the actor is set to return as he is currently in negotiations to play the villain in The Bourne Legacy.

No details on his character or the plot have been released, but he’ll be joining Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz in the film.

Last year director Tony Gilroy (Duplicity, Michael Clayton, writer of previous Bourne films) made clear what The Bourne Legacy was in relation to Matt Damon’s films.

“It’s a completely original screenplay.” Secondly, “This is not a reboot or a recast or a prequel. No one’s replacing Matt Damon. There will be a whole new hero, a whole new chapter…this is a stand-alone project.

“The easiest way to think of it is an expansion or a reveal,” Gilroy says. “Jason Bourne will not be in this film, but he’s very much alive. What happened in the first three films is the trigger for what happens. I’m building a legend and an environment and a wider conspiracy…the world we’re making enhances and advances and invites Jason Bourne’s return [down the road].

Universal is targeting an August 2012 release for The Bourne Legacy with filming expected to begin in September.

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Paramount today released the first official trailer for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and it looks fantastic. Putting an Eminem song over a trailer filled with exploding buildings, dust storms and gun fights doesn’t work on paper, but strangely it works here.

Watch below:

When a terrorist bombing destroys the Kremlin, the United States government activates “Ghost Protocol” and disavows the entire Impossible Mission Force. Ethan Hunt and his team are blamed for the attack, but are allowed to escape as part of a plan to enable them to operate outside their agency. Hunt is warned that if any member of his team is captured or compromised, they will be charged as terrorists planning a nuclear strike. He is forced to work with fellow IMF agent Brandt, who knows much more about Hunt and his past than Hunt himself.

The Incredibles helmer Brad Bird is making his live-action directorial debut with the fourth film and Tom Cruise is once again joined by Simon Pegg, along with newcomers Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton (Precious) and Josh Holloway (Lost). Michael Nyqvist (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire) and Lea Seydoux (Inglourious Basterds) will play villains.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol will be released December 16th, 2011.

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Just last week we were hearing that Oscar winning actress Rachel Weisz was in talks to join Sam Raimi’s Oz: The Great And Powerful as villainess Evanora, a powerful and evil witch who intends to rule the land and eventually becomes the Wicked Witch of the East.

Now according to Deadline Weisz may have a dilemma on her hands as she is also in talks to star opposite Jeremy Renner in The Bourne Legacy, Universal’s continuation of the Bourne franchise which is set in the same universe as Matt Damon’s trilogy, just with a new operative.

Oz: The Great And Powerful, which follows a circus wrangler (James Franco) who is transported by a tornado to the mysterious world of Oz, is set to being filming this summer. Meanwhile cameras will roll on The Bourne Legacy in September, so there may be schedule conflicts.

No details on her role in The Bourne Legacy have been revealed, but I imagine it would be larger than her role in Oz: The Great And Powerful as she plays one of 3 witches. On the other hand Oz could be a big hit at the box office and would give Weisz the chance to play a villain. It’ll be interesting to see which Weisz goes for (if she has to decide between the two), and who’ll replace her if she drops out of either.

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