Movies

2012 is not only set to be the end of the world, but perhaps the greatest box office showdown in modern times as THE AVENGERS and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES are both coming out...both movies have a chance at rewriting box office history. THE DARK KNIGHT is already #2 on the all-time list and has now won the first battle: the new trailer was downloaded 12.5 million times in its first 24 hours on iTunes, breaking the record of 10million downloads set in October by THE AVENGERS. What do you think? Which movie has YOU ruining a perfect good pair of jorts?

We've had a Hobbit trailer. We've had Dark Knight Rises trailers. We've had John Carter trailers. But Craig Ferguson's favorite geek-to-film adaption is getting the short shrift. Behold: the new trailer for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (Ghost Rider 2, if you prefer).

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY trailer is up. We need to watch it about 39 more times before we can really render judgement, but Empire has a nice breakdown, including this guide to the dwarves, and already some how they did it info. The tone is pure LORD OF THE RINGS, none of this kid's tale stuff. And obviously the story is going to borrow liberally from the appendices -- Dol Gulder! Galadriel and Gandalf (The White Council!) The shards of Narsil!

Thor, Iron Man and Cap are shown doing what they do best in these new stills released today.

Michael G. Wilson is the current producer for the James Bond film franchise. He's a Daniel Craig fan. Most people like Daniel Craig's 007 performances, so that isn't a surprise. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Wilson's been talking about signing Craig to a five-film extension.

Apple has posted the official one, so if the above embed doesn't work, go here.

These are being removed left and right -- but luckily the trailer will be officially released on Tuesday. Until then we'll have to make do with these handheld versions.

I'll confess I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from a Brad Bird-directed installment in the Mission: Impossible film franchise. Bird, as you probably know, comes from the world of animation. Most notably over at Pixar, where he was the writer/director for The Incredibles. Honestly, there wasn't a lot to improve on in his live action debut.

In a piece called The Ten Best and Worst Movie Posters of the Year Vulture lays out some analysis of the year's movie posters—why yes, that BRIDESMAIDS poster was pretty cool. They also single out two comics movie campaigns for some brickbats, including Worst: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, describing it thusly:

With rising excitement for next year's THE DARK KNIGHT RISES trilogy-ending Batman adventure, WB has announced that the full six-minute prologue to the film will be shown in 42 IMAX theaters in the US and the UK starting Friday, December 16. The footage is expected to be shown with MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL. Although going to see a Tom Cruise film may sound like an onerous proposition, it's also the first live Action film directed by Brad Bird -- who made THE INCREDIBLES and THE IRON GIANT -- so hey, this may be an enjoyable field trip after all. In a statement, director Christopher Nolan said, "Our experience on 'The Dark Knight' shooting and projecting IMAX 15 perf 65mm/70mm film was inspiring. The immersive quality of the image goes beyond any other filmmaking tool available, and in revisiting Gotham, we were determined to shoot even more of the movie in this unique format. Giving the fans an early look at an IMAX sequence is a great way to draw attention to what I believe will be an incredible way to experience our story when it comes out next summer." The prologue is expected to feature the bad guy Bane, played by Tom Hardy. Win, win, win!

YouTube has a new promotion for its new streaming service where you can watch recent movies for 99 cents -- among them GREEN LANTERN. If you've been waiting for a budget-conscious way to watch Hal Jordan save the universe from an angry cloud, this is your chance. You can also watch Harry Potter, Conan and that movie where Ton Hanks lives out his biker fantasy by riding a scooter with Julia Roberts on the back.

While Twilight-mania lapped it at the box office over the holiday weekend, The Muppets relaunched their film career. "The Muppets" (As opposed to "The Muppet Movie") is a little bit of a departure from previous Muppets flicks in a number of ways. First off, the classic Muppets were not the main characters of the story. It was a very self-referential film, filled with in-jokes for adults who grew up with the franchise. It had more political overtones than one would expect from the Muppets. It also was a lot of fun.