Do you recall that one scene in Return of the Jedi when Luke and the gang rush to board the Millennium Falcon to get out of the sandstorm? Yeah, me neither. But you may have seen a glimpse of this scene in an original trailer for the film! There are many such things in movies that are nixed from the final cut that appear in movie trailers.

Sometimes a trailer just plain old doesn’t have the scene in question, and The Telegraph reports that this led a customer known only as “J Congdon” to post a complaint to New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Authority in regards to one split-second…

The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. banned together to bring to you the most marvel-ous Blu-ray set in epic home entertainment. (No, they didn’t really, But Marvel/Sony has, and it sounds great for super-hero fans.) 

After much delay, Marvel’s big Phase One Blu-ray set finally comes out this week. Featuring both Iron Man and Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers itself, this box set not only brings together all of Marvel’s Phase One films, but does so with the heightened style they deserve (most of them anyway – I’m looking at you, The…

Disney is making a different version of some movies, such as Iron Man 3, for the Chinese theater-going public. The changes include such things as China landmarks, celebrity Chinese stars, omitted lines of dialogue, etc. These details are meant to make the film more appealing to the ever-growing number of Chinese moviegoers — something Hollywood isn’t ignoring.

Many blockbuster smashes, like the Marvel super-hero films, get more than half of their revenue from international box offices. So making a movie that strongly appeals to Chinese moviegoers just makes good business sense.

But not…

Picture this:
Star Wars Episode VII: Geriatrics of the New Republic

Yes, jump forward in time to when J.J. Abrams and Disney release their next Star Wars motion picture. What do you think the posters will look like? Bringing back the old cast — and likely introducing new faces to the Star Wars saga — this film’s posters promise to… show off elderly Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo, and Lando Calrissian. Mm. Are we ready for this? Are you ready to see your childhood heroes as you have never imagined them before?

A very talented illustrator, Adam Schickling, follows in the design…

G.I. Joe: Retaliation has already paid the bills, so Paramount is readying the next installment.

Variety is reporting that Paramount is quite pleased with how G.I. JOE: RETALIATION has performed so far and are planning on adding another film to the franchise. Although many of us questioned Paramount’s decision to push back G.I. JOE: RETALIATION in order to tweak the film, it looks like in the end they may have made the right call (at least financially) and they must feel at least a little vindicated after taking a beating from most people about the film’s delayed release.

Keep in mind…

DC Comics is still competing with Marvel to see which of their movie studios can produce the most insane number of super-hero films for the decade. A director very popular with geeks, Guillermo Del Toro has reported big things for another super-film in the works that introduces the “dark side” of DC’s Justice League:

After being prodded about his attachment Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment’s “Justice League Dark,” Del Toro announced the next film he’ll likely shoot is “Crimson Peak,” a turn of the century supernatural thriller.

That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been working on “JLD”…

I promise you the following is no joke.

In honor of April Fool’s Day, Paramount released G.I. Joe: Retaliation. The flick easily earned $41,200,000, stealing the lead from The Host, the movie many Twi-Hards went to see out of loyalty to Stephenie Meyer.

In all likelihood, Host will gain on Retaliation in ticket sales over the course of its wide release. I think G.I. Joe will fizzle out in the box office when fewer and fewer fools are left to watch it. Stephenie’s followers are exceptionally loyal.

But this past weekend’s surprise was the blockbuster of The Croods coming in at first in…

We have another edition of the fun MovieByte Podcast planned for you this evening at 6:30 Central Time.

TJ and I are discussing Olympus Has Fallen, the hottest action flick starring Gerard Butler (King Leonidas, Clyde Shelton), Morgan Freeman (God, another U.S. president) and Aaron Eckhart (Two-Face, Rethrick). A little about this film:

When the White House (Secret Service Code: “Olympus”) is captured by a terrorist mastermind and the President is kidnapped, disgraced former presidential guard Mike Banning finds himself trapped within the building. As our national security team…

Gerard Butler is all-American presidential security guard Mike Banning. In this epic terrorist attack action flick, he uses all his dedication, manhood,¹ and skill to save the president of the United States and America itself. Dude…

The trailers for Olympus Has Fallen say it all: this is a crazy-dangerous movie with loads of ambition to deliver the greatest action film of 2013 to date.

Storyline

On a ride from Camp David on a bitter winter’s night, tragedy strikes the U.S. president’s limo convoy on an icy bridge. Presidential security guard, Mike Banning (played by Gerard Butler),…