A new teaser poster for The Spirit was unveiled today to coincide with the New York Comic Con. The movie is being directed by Frank Miller (the creater and co-director of Sin City) and from the looks of what I have seen so far, it will continue the Sin City vibe of harsh contrasts mixed with very purposeful color.

Adapted from the legendary comic book series created by Will Eisner, The Spirit is a classic action-adventure-romance. It’s the story of a former rookie cop who returns mysteriously from the dead as the Spirit (Gabriel Macht) to fight crime from the shadows of Central City. His arch-enemy, the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) has a different mission: he’s going to wipe out Spirit’s beloved city as he pursues his own version of immortality. The Spirit arrives in theaters on January 16th, 2009.

Walden Media has released a full trailer for the upcoming Journey To The Center Of The Earth starring Brendan Fraser. The movie hits theaters Jully 11th.

Brett Ratner (Rush Hour 3, X-Men: The Last Stand) is in talks with Universal Pictures for their remake of the ‘57 film. It’s about a magician who is put under a curse that makes him shrink. He has to find a way to fix the curse before he disappears. Sounds a lot like the recent crapfest 88 Minutes.

Brian Grazer has signed on to produce, and Eddie Murphy is set to star.

Does this sound interesting, at all? Uhh…no. I guess I should be keeping an open mind, but seeing Eddie Murphy run around as he starts to shrink isn’t really my idea of fun. Hopefully I’ll be proven wrong.

We’ll keep you posted.

ComingSoon.net has an exclusive new clip from The Fall, opening in theaters on May 9.
It’s directed by Tarsem.

Set in 1920’s Los Angeles, the story is a bout a little immigrant girl who ends up in hospital after a fall. She starts up a relationship with a bed-ridden man who begins to enchant her with a fairy-tale story which removes her from her current situation. The man also adds in members of her family and friends into the tale to keep her interest.

The clip can be viewed at ComingSoon.net, they’ll have an exclusive interview with Tarsem up soon.

Entertainment Weekly has published an article which covers the apparent dispute between Edward Norton and his director Louis Leterrier with Marvel over the length and direction of the movie. Marvel wants a 120 minute action-packed hit, and Norton and Leterrier want a 135 minute thoughtful epic. Marvel won and stories of the dispute leaked.

Here’s Norton’s official statement (in part) :

“Every good movie gets forged through collaboration, and different ideas among people who are all committed and respect the validity of each other’s opinions is the heart of filmmaking.

Regrettably, our healthy process, which is and should be a private matter, was misrepresented publicly as a ‘dispute,’ seized on by people looking for a good story, and has been distorted to such a degree that it risks distracting from the film itself, which Marvel, Universal and I refuse to let happen.

It has always been my firm conviction that films should speak for themselves… our focus has always been to deliver the Hulk that people have been waiting for and keep the worldwide love affair with the big green guy going strong.”

Read the full story here

According to the AP, the investment group who own 138 acres behind and to the left of the iconic sign have put it up for sale for $22 million dollars. This has caused some fear that the almost perfect backdrop will be ruined by mansions, or other building projects that would likely be started there.

According to city rules, Los Angeles could purchase the land, but the problem…they can’t pay more then $6 million dollars. Expect to see a lot about this in the next few weeks.

Don’t worry too much, if needed, the Hollywood bigwigs will probably pitch in to save the area, like they did in the 1970’s when the letters had to be replaced.