Universal’s been unambiguous about its desire to see a Snow White and the Huntsman 2, but it’s been less clear about the direction it wants that sequel to take. After the studio fast-tracked the follow-up in June, news broke in August that Snow White (Kristen Stewart) could but cut out of the equation altogether — only for the studio issue a denial and insist that they were still “exploring all options.”

Now it looks like they’ve finally made a decision. Stewart is following up last month’s comments about the “strong possibility” of her return with an actual confirmation.

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Wondering what you might want to see this weekend? We’ve got several new releases as well as some popular films still in theaters that will make great options for you.

Let’s dive in.

New Films

The Guilt Trip
Looks terrible. Possibly funny at time, but terrible.

Monsters, Inc. 3D
Coming back to theaters in 3D ahead of Monsters University. Personally I’ll pass because, while Monsters is a find film, I just don’t like 3D.

Jack Reacher
I’ll be seeing this tonight. it looks awesome to me! We’ll soon find out.

This is 40
Please avoid this one at all costs — ALL COSTS!

Zero Dark…

This looks really really stupid. I don’t think I am interested at all. I’d be happy to be surprised.

Frankly, Dreamworks doesn’t usually put out good animated films. There are notable exceptions (like Shrek for instance), but I’m not seeing this as one of them.

With less than a week to go until the release, we’ve got a new featurette and it is definitely recommended watching.

In this featurette, it looks like Jackman has thrown his all into the role, and when not on set singing, often lived the life of a monk on a vow of silence to rest his voice. Fun stuff.

So bringing Jack Reacher to the screen means Cruise has a lot to measure up to, but instead of swinging for the fences, he bunts. His Reacher is like every other character Cruise has ever played: Tough, cocky, and the smartest guy in the room. It’s the Tom Cruise paradox; he’s a great actor who’s stopped acting. He can’t vanish into a role, but then he doesn’t have to. Audiences show up to his films just to see his latest ass-kicking adventure, which makes Cruise the inverse James Bond — instead of different actors playing the same character, he’s one actor who plays the same character…

Third installments in superhero trilogies tend to be somewhat awful, but Robert Downey, Jr. seems to think Iron Man 3 will be the exception to the rule.

Downey spoke at length about the film during a recent interview, reaffirming new director Shane Black‘s history with the franchise by reminding viewers, “When we were doing the first Iron Man, Jon Favreau and I used to call up Shane Black. We had two lifeline calls; one was to J.J. Abrams, which was about the third act. And for the other call, we went to Shane’s house.”

Now, says Downey, “To get him to do Iron Man 3, it has just been…

Here is the new synopsis from Paramount…

SYNOPSIS:

In Summer 2013, director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes Star Trek Into Darkness.

In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice.

As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be…

Aside from the broad strokes (i.e. lots of ‘splosions) we still don’t really know what’s going to happen in Into Darkness. It might be Wrath of Khan? It might be a sequel to “Where No Man Has Gone Before” or a prequel to “Space Seed”? We don’t know.

Except… I think we do.

First off, Into Darkness is not going to be Wrath of Khan, but it’s going to borrow heavily from the conflicts and themes that inform it. The crew of the Enterprise is going to find itself up against an embodiment of genetic perfection as played by Benedict Cumberbatch. We see him smack enough people around in the…

Nick Fury is one of the more prominent characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having appeared in five out of the six titles to date. Yet he’s never actually appeared in his own standalone film. For a while, it seemed like a S.H.I.E.L.D. movie might be coming out after The Avengers, but as we’ve since learned, that project has since evolved into a TV series. So as of now, it looks like the closest thing to a Nick Fury movie we’ll be getting is Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

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His latest comments are a sharp contrast to remarks he made in 2010, when he claimed that a…