Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman has just joined the cast of Last Vegas, a movie that sounds like The Hangover for old guys. Michael Douglas plays a man about to marry a woman half his age, and three of his childhood friends throw him a blowout bachelor party in Las Vegas as a final hurrah. De Niro plays one of the friends, Freeman will play another one, and National Treasure director Jon Turteltaub is at the helm. More after the jump.

Despite the fact that this movie is obviously looking to cash in on the success of The Hangover franchise, I’m actually a bit optimistic about this one. It’s got a phenomenal cast, and the script was written by Dan Fogelman, who wrote Crazy, Stupid, Love . Freeman has been on a hot streak during the past few years, and Last Vegas has gotta be better than the “old guys in Miami” plot of 2000′s The Crew, right? I really hope Christopher Walken ends up signing on as the fourth friend. (I have no inside information that he’s even considering the role, that’s just fan speculation on my end.)

Freeman’s done “old guy action” before, most recently in RED, so doing “old guy comedy in Vegas” makes sense as a next step. Who would you like to see join the cast as the fourth member of this ragtag group of friends?

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Looks like Melissa Leo is capitalizing on her Oscar fame to get some more high profile roles. The Best Supporting Actress winner for The Fighter has just signed on to star in Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion opposite Tom Cruise.

In case you’re just joining us, Oblivion is set “in a future where the Earth’s surface has been irradiated beyond recognition and the remnants of humanity live above the clouds, safe from the brutal alien Scavengers that stalk the ruins. But when surface drone repairman Jak discovers a mysterious woman in a crash-landed pod, it sets off an unstoppable chain of events that will force him to question everything he knows.”

Deadline has the report, but they’re not quite sure which role Leo will play in the futuristic thriller. Leo joins a strong cast that also includes Jessica Chastain, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, and “Game of Thrones” star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. It’s fitting that Leo won the Oscar for The Fighter, since both she and co-star Christian Bale are two of the most versatile actors working in the business today. Seriously – if you haven’t seen much of her work yet, give it a shot.

Kosinski is coming off a visual success with TRON: Legacy, and this script is based on a 2009 comic he produced for Radical Publishing. The Departed screenwriter William Monahan wrote a draft of the script, and both Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt rewrote the film before it went before the cameras. Production just started, and Oblivion hits theaters on April 26th, 2013.

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It’s been quite a rough start towards production, but it looks like Tron Legacy director Joseph Kosinski’s next project Oblivion is finally getting back on track. The sci-fi thriller has had Tom Cruise locked in to star for quite a while now, and has recently secured supporting roles in the form of Morgan Freeman, Andrea Riseborough, and Olga Kurylenko.

The newly added member of the cast, according to Deadline, is none other than Game of Thrones Star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who will join the production next month in Louisiana.

Oblivion is based on a graphic novel written by Kosinski and is set on a war torn Earth in a dystopian future, where most of mankind has found salvation in the clouds, but those who still remain on Earth must battle an alien race of scavengers living within the ruins of Civilization.

The story centers on Cruise as a drone repairman forced into an interesting world after discovering a women among the destruction (Riseborough). Coster-Waldau plays a military weapons and technology expert named Sykes who crosses paths with the mechanic.

Military strategy shouldn’t be new to the Danish actor, who’s proved himself worthy of providing a cunning yet deadly flavor to the mix as Jamie Lannister in HBO’s Game of Thrones. What we’ve seen him pull off in the series definitely makes him more than qualified to take on the role of Sykes, making this yet another casting addition that makes Oblivion something worth keeping an eye on.

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Rapper/actor/producer Common was at the Sundance Film Festival with his newest film LUV, and in an interview with Movieline, he revealed that he’s joined Louis Letterier’s magician heist thriller Now You See Me. “I’m about to film this movie called ‘Now You See Me,’ which stars Jesse Eisenberg and Isla Fisher and Michael Caine and Mark Ruffalo - I’d say it’s an action movie, about these magicians. It’s dope.” This is one of my most anticipated movies of 2013 – read on for the full synopsis.

Collider got the synopsis from the American Film Market late last year, but this one slipped through the cracks for us. Described as “The Prestige meets The Town as a team of FBI agents hunts down a group of illusionists who perform miracle heists during their shows and shower the booty on their audiences,” this movie sounds amazing. Here’s the full breakdown from Collider (and click over there to see an early poster for the movie):

The Four Horsemen, a magic super-group led by the charismatic ATLAS (Jesse Eisenberg), perform a pair of high-tech magic shows, first astonishing audiences by robbing a bank on another continent, and then exposing a white-collar criminal and funneling his millions into the audience members’ bank accounts.

FBI Special Agent DYLAN (Mark Ruffalo) is determined to make the magicians pay for their crimes—and to stop them before they pull off what promises to be an even more audacious heist. But he’s forced to partner with ALMA (Melanie Laurent), an Interpol detective about whom he is instantly suspicious. Out of desperation he turns to THADDEUS (Morgan Freeman), a famed magic debunker, who claims the bank heist was accomplished using disguises and video trickery. One thing Dylan and Alma agree on is that the Horsemen must have an outside point person, and that finding him (or her) is key to ending the magicians’ crime spree. Could it be Thaddeus? Or Alma? Or could it really be…magic?

As pressure mounts and the world awaits the Horsemen’s spectacular final trick, Dylan and Alma race to find an answer. But it soon becomes painfully clear that staying one step ahead of these masters of illusion is beyond the skills of any one man—or woman.

Even though Letterier was critically reviled for Clash of the Titans, I still love what he did with the second Transporter movie, so I’ll give him a free pass when it comes to a cool concept with great actors like this. How about you? Are you excited for Now You See Me?

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Anarchy ensues on the streets of Gotham City, at least that’s what we get out of the recent batch of videos coming from the set of The Dark Knight Rises, now filming in New York. Three videos showing different takes from what looks like an important scene in the movie found their way onto YouTube and thanks to IGN, we have them here for you. As always, if you want to go into The Dark Knight Rises spoiler-free, I recommend you skip this.

In the last video we see Batman going up against Bane in the middle of the street, surrounded by people beating the crap out of each other. SPOILER, if you ask me, it doesn’t seem like he’s winning that fight. Also, with so many extras on the set, this looks really expensive, not to mention they are filming on Wall Street no less. This could end up costing easily $250 million when done. But considering The Dark Knight made over $1 billion in box office receipts worldwide, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. spared no expenses on this one.

There’s also a video showing some photos of Batman and Bane from the set:

Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises stars Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine and Liam Neeson. Set to open July 20th 2012, The Dark Knight Rises is easily one of the most highly anticipated movies of next year and videos like this only serve to send the hype meter into overdrive.

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SHH has received word from “a trustworthy source” that the teaser trailer for The Dark Knight Rises will be attached to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 when it is released next weekend. Not only that, Warner Bros. will also be releasing a teaser poster in the near future.

The site says the teaser trailer is a minute and 33 seconds long and will play in 3D theaters, 2D theaters and IMAX 3D screens. Trailers are usually released during the week, around Wednesday, but so far there has been no confirmation as to when the teaser will appear online.

The Dark Knight Rises is set for release on July 20th, 2012 and is currently filming. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman will reprise their roles alongside Anne Hathaway (Catwoman), Tom Hardy (Bane), Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

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As well as introducing Tom Hardy (Bane), Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anne Hathaway (Catwoman) Christopher Nolan has also got to fit in substantial roles for returning cast members Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine in The Dark Knight Rises.

Morgan Freeman recently spoke about working with Nolan on his third and final Batman film, and said the director has some “really good stuff” planned for Lucius Fox.

From ComingSoon:

CS: What are you most excited about for “The Dark Knight Rises,” for you and the film?
Freeman: The most exciting thing about it is watching the openings, I’m telling you. Doing it, it’s fun to work with Chris Nolan. He’s really a terrific writer, a terrific director. One of those highlights of your career.

CS: Is there interesting stuff planned for you as Lucius Fox in the film?
Freeman: Oh, yeah – really good stuff!

Towards the end of The Dark Knight Batman asked Lucius Fox to find the Joker using a signal tracking device that required spying on the entire city. Fox reluctantly agreed to help, but said he would resign from Wayne Enterprises immediately afterward. Freeman hasn’t revealed any details on what Lucius gets up to in the next film, but he’ll probably return to Wayne Enterprises (that’s if he even left in the first place).

The Dark Knight Rises is set for release on July 20th, 2012 and filming is set to begin in Pittsburgh later this year.

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If you’re a Morgan Freeman fan, chances are pretty good you’re familiar with the actor’s work as Alex Cross, the detective protagonist from James Patterson’s novels. Freeman portrayed the character twice on the big screen: first in 1997′s Kiss The Girls, and again in 2001′s Along Came A Spider. And though it’s been ten years since a Cross story has been adapted for film, it looks like we might be getting another dose of the detective pretty soon.

In August of 2010, reports surfaced that pegged actor Idris Elba (“The Wire”, RockNRolla) to be the heir to the Alex Cross throne, taking over the character from Freeman while director David Twohy (A Perfect Getaway) took the reins of the project. Great, right? Now, Deadline says that specific incarnation has fallen through and Tyler Perry (Madea Goes to Jail) will be now starring in the franchise reboot. And that’s not the worst of it: Twohy is no longer directing. He’ll be replaced by xXx and The Mummy 3 director Rob Cohen. The movie is currently searching for a distributor.

Any goodwill I had for this project (which probably shouldn’t be rebooted in the first place – just come up with an original character!) – has vanished with these announcements. Perhaps I’m the only one, though: what do you think? Are you a fan of the Alex Cross character? Sound off in the comments section below.

Follow us on Twitter: @benpears and @Filmonic

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Collider reports that Summit Entertainment has re-hired Jon and Erich Hoeber to write the screenplay for a Red sequel. The duo also wrote the upcoming Battleship movie and Sam Worthington’s Man on a Ledge.

Red was released back in October and made $164 million worldwide, which isn’t a whole lot compared to most movies, but with a budget of $58 million it made a nice profit for the studio. The movie is also Summit’s most successfull non-Twilight movie so you can see where the incentive comes from to make another.

A sequel would really only work if Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and the rest of the main cast return, which is unknown at this point. The fact that Summit are working on the script doesn’t mean we are definitely getting a sequel, but if things work out we may end up getting one.

Director Robert Schwentke was considered to direct The Wolverine for 20th Century Fox following the success of Red, and he is currently waiting to see what’s happening with Ryan Reynolds before moving ahead with cop comedy R.I.P.D., so he may be free to return.

Would you be interested in a Red sequel? If so, which outrageous weapon should Helen Mirren wield next?

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Update: Amazon has made Red available to pre-order on DVD and Blu-ray.

Summit Entertainment has announced that they will be releasing Red on DVD and Blu-ray on January 25th.

The movie was released back in October and follows the story of Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), a former black-ops CIA agent, who is now living a quiet life. That is, until the day a hi-tech assassin shows up intent on killing him. With his identity compromised and the life of the woman he cares for endangered, Frank reassembles his old team (Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren) in a last ditch effort to survive.

Red, directed by Robert Schwentke (Flightplan and The Time Traveler’s Wife), managed $150 million at the worldwide box office on a $60 million budget which, combined with positive reviews, means Summit officially has a hit.

The DVD and Blu-ray features include:

- Audio commentary with retired CIA field officer Robert Baer
- Deleted and extended scenes
- Access: RED – Activate a variety of “scene-specific” features including interviews with cast members, real-life CIA expert commentary, animated documentary shorts on controversial CIA operations and more

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