2012 has already seen its share of high-quality movies and the summer has just begun. We were anticipating the release of more great films as the year goes on, and we’ve got a bit of mixed news on that front. Deadline has a schedule update from Warner Bros. regarding two of their big releases, Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad and Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity. Gangster Squad is getting a September 7th, 2012 release date, and Gravity has been pushed back from a November 21st opening to sometime in 2013. More below.

As Deadline points out, WB’s calendar is pretty full near the end of the year with The Hobbit, The Great Gatsby, Argo, and Gangster Squad itself are all poised to grab the attention of adult moviegoers. I’m looking forward to Gravity, Cuaron’s sci-fi thriller that stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, but if this delay means they have a bit more time to tighten it up and make a better movie, then I’m all for it. Fans have been waiting for Cuaron’s return to filmmaking since Children of Men back in 2006, and if this turns out half as good as that film (which all signs indicate it will, complete with Cuaron’s signature long takes and style), we’re all in for a treat. 2012 seems to be hogging all of the glory, anyway; we’ve gotta have something to look forward to in 2013, right?

Gangster Squad has a fantastic cast, and I’m glad that one is getting moved up from its previous October release so we can see it as soon as possible. Check out the new trailer here if you haven’t seen it yet. Are you looking forward to either of these films? Sound off in the comments section and let us know!

Read similar posts to Warner Bros. shifts release date for Gravity, sets one for Gangster Squad on Filmonic

There’s something about the concept of dinosaurs that really fascinates us as a society. Perhaps it’s that we live on a planet where these giant beasts walked the same ground that we tread today, but whatever it is, dinosaurs have captured our imaginations on film from the earliest days of filmmaking all the way up to Malick’s The Tree of Life. Now Warner Bros. is looking to get into the dino business, because Deadline reports the studio has picked up an untitled sci-fi pitch which will be about “a rapidly evolving species of dinosaurs who attack modern Los Angeles.” More after the jump.

The project will be written and directed by longtime James Cameron employee John Clisham, who worked in the technical department on various productions for Lightstorm Entertainment (Cameron’s company). The concept of the film began as a web series for Break.com, but Warner executives were so impressed with the early footage they saw, they decided to develop it as a feature instead. I can only imagine that this was pretty mind-blowing stuff, since I’m guessing these people see a new hotshot YouTube director every week that’s touted as the next big thing; the fact that they were blown away by this means that we should have something pretty exciting to look forward to.

Mike Bayman will co-write the script with Clisham and produce the film, but there’s no production start date or casting announcements as of yet. We’ll definitely keep you posted on this one as we find out more about it. I doubt it will be the next Jurassic Park in terms of overall quality (that’s setting the bar pretty high), but are you interested in seeing dinosaurs come back to modern times and wreak havoc in one of the world’s largest cities?

Read similar posts to Dinosaurs will attack Los Angeles for WB on Filmonic

I honestly never thought I’d be typing these words, but it looks like a Lobo movie is actually going to happen. Comic book fans will recognize the character as foul-mouthed, hyper-violent alien bounty hunter who saw his peak back in the 90s, but I doubt the general public has any idea who this character is. In any case, Deadline reports that Journey 2: The Mysterious Island director Brad Peyton has signed on to direct.

For any Lobo fans out there, this has got to be a case of getting good and bad news at the same time. The good news is that after more than ten years of development struggles, this character is finally going to be heading to the big screen. But the bad news is that Peyton is directing it. I’ve never even read a Lobo comic in my life, but I can tell you that based on his previous filmography, this isn’t the right guy to handle this character (read all about Lobo here). What is WB thinking giving one of DC’s most grizzled, badass characters to the guy who directed Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore? Are you kidding me?

Sherlock Holmes helmer Guy Ritchie was in talks to direct a Lobo movie for a long time, and that’s a much better fit for what we need to see in a movie like this. I’d love to ultimately be proven wrong by the choice of Brad Peyton as a director, but right now, this strikes me as one of the worst matches of director with material that I can remember.

Read similar posts to Brad Peyton to direct adaptation of DC Comics character Lobo on Filmonic

When it comes to action films, Liam Neeson has become almost a standard to the “bad-ass” archetype. Well it doesn’t seem like it’s losing steam anytime soon, as Variety confirms that Neeson is currently in talks to star in the new thriller appropriately named Non-Stop.

It’ll be yet another collaboration for him with Joel Silver’s Dark Castle Entertainment since last year’s thriller Unknown. strong>Non-Stop will center around Neeson as an air marshal confronted with a threat on an international flight, which on paper sounds like your standard escapist, albeit B-movie, fare, but of course what matters is how it’ll be executed.

While the personnel involved with the project doesn’t necessarily match those who are responsible for Neeson’s powerhouse thrillers, be it writer/director Joe Carnahan on The Grey or screenwriter/producer Luc Besson on Taken and, later this year, it’s sequel, but it still has the makings for a tense thriller/Neeson showcase that will surely bring in an audience.

Warner Brothers will be distributing the film based on a script written by John Richardson and Chris Roach, and Jeff Wadlow (Never Back Down, Cry_Wolf) is attached to direct.

No matter how the film turns out, you’ll still have a countless of other films to see Neeson do what he does best, including the currently playing Wrath of The Titans, this summer’s Battleship, and the aforementioned Taken sequel, among many others.

Read similar posts to Liam Neeson to take on airplane thriller Non-Stop on Filmonic

Robert Downey Jr. isn’t exactly known for family dramas, but that’s exactly what he’s setting up with The Judge. Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin will get behind the camera, and while Downey was once only slated to produce, it seems he’ll now be taking the lead role of “a big-city lawyer who returns home after the death of his mother to learn that his estranged father, a judge, is suspected of murder. He sets out to discover the truth and along the way reconnects with the family he walked away from years before.” More after the jump.

The Judge is actually being billed as a “dramedy,” so I can only guess that Downey’s character’s estranged family members must be pretty comical because this premise sounds like a pretty straightforward drama to me. It’s written by Bill Dubuque, who had a script called The Accountant hit the Black List last year. Downey has got Iron Man 3 coming up, as well as a rumored Pinocchio film with Tim Burton on his plate, so it’ll be quite some time before this gets going. David Dobkin is hard at work on Arthur and Lancelot for Warner Bros., which just saw Colin Farrell drop out of the lead role.

What do you think about Downey in The Judge? Interested?

Read similar posts to Robert Downey Jr to star in The Judge for director David Dobkin on Filmonic

Warner Bros. has purchased the rights to the popular The Fourth Realm trilogy of books by reclusive author John Twelve Hawks. The studio hasn’t set a screenwriter for the development of the first book, The Traveler, but the Warner executives clearly see massive potential in this series because they’re fast-tracking the development of the project. The dystopian story revolves around a group of individuals called Travelers who rebel against the Brethren, people who support a Big Brother-esque monitoring system established all over the world that allows for easy access to power and control. It’s a fairly standard concept, but the book’s author is the most intriguing part of this whole story.

Though he goes by John Twelve Hawks, that’s not his real name. Much like the Travelers in his stories, Hawks (or J12H as he’s sometimes known) prefers to live off the grid, and has reportedly never even met the editor of his book series. He communicates via email and untraceable satellite phones, going so far as to use a voice scrambler to hide his identity, and he’s only done a few interviews. Since I’ve never read his work, we can only hope that his distinctive personality shines through in this series and that it will also translate to the big screen version when it eventually hits theaters. (Fox once had the rights, and Watchmen scribe Alex Tse was attached, but obviously nothing came of that version.)

Read similar posts to WB acquires Fourth Realm trilogy, but the real story is the series author on Filmonic

Here’s a quick update from WB regarding their Summer 2013 release slate. The Hollywood Reporter tells us that the studio plans on kicking off Memorial Day Weekend by releasing The Hangover 3 on May 24th, 2013, with Todd Phillips returning to direct Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis once again. (No word on the plot just yet.)

300: Battle of Artemesia, the long-gestating sequel to Zack Snyder’s 2006 hit, will open on August 2nd, 2013. That one features Eva Green, Rodrigo Santoro, Sullivan Stapleton, and is directed by Noam Murro.

And finally, fans of Guillermo del Toro will have to wait just a tiny bit longer to see his new action/monster movie Pacific Rim, since they’ve bumped it from May back to July 12th, 2013.

And we thought 2012 was going to be a big year. Aside from those mentioned above, the summer of 2013 will see releases of Star Trek 2, Man of Steel, Iron Man 3, The Lone Ranger, Fast Six, The Wolverine, and Robopocalypse. Better start saving your cash now – there are a ton of potentially great films in that list.

Read similar posts to Warner Bros. sets lineup for summer 2013 on Filmonic

Late last year, Warner Bros. had to pull the plug on Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin’s script for Arthur & Lancelot because the budget was more than the studio wanted to pay for a movie with no big stars in lead roles. (The film was to be led by “Game of Thrones” actor Kit Harington and new Robocop Joel Kinnaman.) Now the WB has set their sights on Colin Farrell, and his star power might be just what they need to get this movie back in business. More after the jump.

The story is a “contemporary style re-imagining” of the classic Sword and the Stone tale. Deadline says that Gary Oldman was offered the role of Merlin during the film’s earlier incarnation, but will likely be approached again now that Farrell is taking on the juicy role of Lancelot. (They’re still searching for an Arthur.) The studio had once set the release date for March of 2013, but there’s no word yet on when things are getting underway this time around.

Oldman sounds like a perfect Merlin. I was on the fence about Farrell until I saw In Bruges, but he was really great in that movie so now I’m much more interested in his future projects. I’d love to see him take on something that has the likelihood to be really high profile. Even though he’s starring in the upcoming Total Recall remake, that movie doesn’t seem to have the mainstream attention that such a classic story might garner. How about you – do you think Farrell is right for the role of Lancelot?

Read similar posts to Colin Farrell in talks for Arthur & Lancelot at WB on Filmonic

Let the Project Y jokes begin. Project X made $21 million at the US box office this past weekend, and in a move that should surprise no one, Warner Bros. has commissioned co-writer Michael Bacall to write a treatment for a sequel.

The Hollywood Reporter has the story, which says the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World writer has been hard at work on ideas for a Project X sequel since before the first film opened. He came up with the story for the first film and co-wrote the screenplay with Matt Drake. Apparently, the fate of the sequel rests in the hands of producers Todd Phillips and Joel Silver, though I can’t imagine either of them turning down an opportunity to cash in on the success of this low-budget moneymaker. The trade isn’t certain if the lead trio has been optioned for further films, but they speculate that it shouldn’t be too difficult to lock them down for round two.

There’s no inkling yet about what the next film’s story could be about, though common sense would dictate it will involve another party of epic proportions. In the meantime, Bacall has 21 Jump Street coming out next weekend, which just released an extended red band trailer that you can check out right here.

Read similar posts to Writer Michael Bacall working on Project X sequel on Filmonic

Over the past few years, various iterations of a Hugh Hefner movie have been in development. All of these versions were set up at Universal, the most prominent of which had Brett Ratner to direct and Robert Downey Jr. wearing the iconic robe of the Playboy mogul. Now Deadline says the film has found a new home with the folks at Warner Bros. and a producer in the form of living legend Jerry Weintraub. More after the jump.

Weintraub previously promoted Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and Frank Sinatra, and eventually moved into the film industry and became a prolific producer. His work includes Soldier, The Karate Kid series, the Ocean’s Eleven franchise, and more. Now it seems he’ll bank on that old school experience to shepherd the story of how Hugh Hefner led the sexual revolution with his magazine. Weintraub refused to comment on what time of Hef’s life would be covered in the movie, and he also denied that Harry Potter writer Steve Kloves was attached, so we know almost as much about what’s NOT happening in this one as what IS happening. We’ll keep you updated with casting updates and such as they come along.

Read similar posts to Hugh Hefner movie going forward at WB on Filmonic