Due to his experience writing on beloved genre shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Lost, and the fact that his debut as a feature film director, The Cabin in the Woods, was completely awesome, geeks all over the world view Drew Goddard as the next great hope when it comes to their chances of getting more genre-based products that are actually smartly written and funny. Most horror movies and the like are honestly kind of vapid and cheesy, and are the sorts of things that get described as being guilty pleasures, but not Goddard’s work. He’s the sort of talent who makes one proud to be a fan of nerdy things. So for movie fans whose particular brand of escapist poison tends to come from the science fiction side of things, the news that he’s currently negotiating with Fox to write and direct a movie about a man stranded in space should come as a reason for celebration.

Seeing as he’s one of the senior partners at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce ad agency, John Slattery’s Mad Men character, Roger Sterling, is very used to being in charge of a crew of people. And now that Slattery himself has directed four episodes of the acclaimed show on which he acts, he too is starting to get a feel for being in charge. It makes sense, then, that he would eventually want to put his leadership skills to the test and make the step up to directing a feature film, and Deadline is reporting that he’s all set to do just that. The film is called God’s Pocket, and it’s an adaptation of a Pete Dexter novel about a blue collar neighborhood that Slattery co-adapted alongside Alex Metcalf. More than even its director or the content of its story though, God’s Pocket is notable because of the outstanding cast that it’s already assembled.

In “hey, I’ll give these guys a shot at this” news, Deadline reports that 28 Weeks Later and Intruders director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, newbie screenwriter Joshua Zetumer (he just penned the new Robocop remake), and Even Stevens and Holes star Shia LaBeouf are set to team up on Zetumer’s Villain. Fresnadillo will direct (uh, of course) the psychological thriller that “follows two brothers who mysteriously re-connect in an unforgiving wilderness.” LaBeouf will play one of the brothers (the villain?), with the other brother role reportedly set to be cast soon. For now, that’s all we know about the project, but that tantalizing bit of plot information is certainly rich with possibility. Obviously, there’s still a lot that could go wrong with this one, and much of the film’s success will depend on who they get to star opposite LaBeouf (perhaps his Orphans replacement Ben Foster?), an actor who seems to be screaming out for a juicy role that reminds people that he can more than just act alongside robot aliens and piss off Alec Baldwin. We haven’t seen anything out of Zetumer just yet, and Fresnadillo hasn’t lived up to his post-28 Weeks Later promise, but this could very much be the type of feature that works out well for all of them. Also important to the film’s success? Well, a plot worthy of that one sentence slug. Any film can sound great when it’s distilled down so finely, but here’s hoping that this one works out and capitalizes on the talent involved. We’re not usually the type to get over the moon about simple marketing bits, but

Fun fact: if you write a Mission: Impossible screenplay, it doesn’t have to be on self-destructing paper. That may seem counter-intuitive, which is why David Koepp wrote 4 drafts of the 1996 film that all exploded before he could deliver them to Brian De Palma, but you can use totally normal printer stock. That’ll be good information for Drew Pearce to have because according to The Hollywood Reporter, the writer with credits for Iron Man 3 and Pacific Rim will be tackling Mission: Impossible 5. Pearce first caught Marvel’s eye with his cult series No Heroics, which featured superheroes in a sit-com setting. Now, while Iron Man 3 is on its way to making all the money and a healthy bit of the critical love, Pearce is leveraging his new position smartly. The interesting thing here is that, as we reported earlier, Christopher McQuarrie is rumored to be in the mix for the directing gig. That means after collaborating with writer-turned-director Shane Black on Iron Man 3, Pearce very well might work with writer-turned-director McQuarrie for another franchise sequel. And then? Pearce himself is all set to become a writer-turned-director, prepping an original story that he plans to helm. Mission: Impossible 5 will attempt to film this fall, which means it could repeat Ghost Protocol‘s release by dropping in December of 2014. Don’t be too surprised if that happens because they’re moving quick on this one.

So, there’s no way to ignore the fact that this bit of news is going to make a lot of people unhappy. As much as movie nerds like to pretend that they’re the sort of folks who are always looking for new voices and new ideas, like anyone else, we’re really just the sorts of little greed monsters who want to keep getting more of the stuff we like. That’s why film geeks have been calling for a third film in legendary director Joe Dante’s Gremlins series for years. Unfortunately for those who’ve been beating the Dante drum all this time, today the news broke that a Gremlins 3 isn’t likely going to ever happen. There has been a development for the property that’s either going to play like a consolation prize or a slap in the face though, depending on your perspective.

While we suspect that we’re not the only people who have always found that eating with our hands, getting drunk off cheap beer in goblets, and screaming bloody murder at total strangers to be the real draw of visiting a Medieval Times “tournament,” it seems like production companies Benderspink and Broken Road are counting on movie audiences to be far less rowdy and drunk when it comes to their newest endeavor. Deadline Hollywood reports that the two companies have paired up for a rights deal to craft a feature film around the glorified dinner show, one that they’re readying to shop around to various studies. Details on the planned film are hilariously scarce – we don’t know exactly what it will be about (is this thing going to be more Game of Thrones or A Kid in King Arthur’s Court?), who we are going to be cheering for (will there even be six knights?), who will write it, who will direct it, and what kind of casting it will require. Will there even be crowd-based yelling? We’ll just have to sit tight and perhaps visit the actual dinner tournament to sate us (paper crowns included). Hungry for more details? Yeah, we don’t have them, but here, go look at the Bill of Fare at your closest Medieval Times. Ribs you eat with your hands! Soup without a spoon! Glory!

A few years ago, director Jalmari Helander made a movie called Rare Exports where thousands of Santas got naked and ran through the frozen tundra while chasing after a young boy. It was a special moment, and he followed it by announcing a future project that he described as Home Alone meets Rambo. It’s been a long time since that announcement, but it’s possible that we’re finally going to see it. According to Deadline Hollywood, we’ll at the very least get to see a new Helander movie — whether or not it involves Kevin McAllister carrying around a semi-automatic and a grudge remains to be seen. The new project is called Big Game, and it’ll focus on a young boy sent to the woods to prove himself on the same evening that Air Force One is shot down nearby. The kid finds the president (Samuel L. Jackson (no kidding)), so they naturally pair up to battle bad guys. Hopefully with paint buckets and broken Christmas tree ornaments. This sounds like it could be Home Alone meets Rambo, right? Young child, guns, forest setting, likely bandana use. It makes sense, but even if this isn’t the same concept Helander was developing back in 2010, it still sounds ridiculous enough to work.

Back in July of last year it was reported that, following the big acquisition of Marvel Comics by the Disney Corporation, the first collaboration between Disney Animation and Marvel Studios on any sort of superhero cartoon was going to come in the form of an adaptation of Marvel’s semi-obscure team of Japanese heroes, Big Hero 6. At the time it seemed like kind of a strange choice. Wouldn’t you want to kick off a partnership this important with something a little bit bigger, something with a little more name recognition? Well, it looks like the guys in the suits must have had their reasons for wanting to go forward with Big Hero 6, because today Disney Animation officially announced [via the LA Times] that the film is in production—and they even gave us a glimpse of what their animators have come up with. Hit the jump to see what they’ve created, but be prepared, because it’s a little weird.

Klown from Casper Christensen and Frank Hvam is a special kind of demented. It’s the kind of comedy that could make perverts clutch their pearls in disgust, so it’s not surprising that it caught the eye of Sacha Baron Cohen. According to Variety, Borat himself traveled to Denmark to secure the pair’s commitment to his new project at Paramount. They agreed, so before they develop a sequel to their hit, they’ll be writing the script for The Lesbian, a story born from the real-world oddity where a Chinese billionaire offered $65m to any man who could successfully marry his lesbian daughter. Joyously bizarre. Two Danes are writing a head-scratcher inspired by a wealthy man from Hong Kong for a British actor who rose to fame playing a fake Kazakhstani. It’s “The Taming of the Shrew” for our global, modern times. Shakespeare would love this.

This is the kind of news that’s always thrilling to hear despite how unsurprising it is. Michael Shannon has acted in all of Jeff Nichols‘ movies, and according to Variety, the streak continues with a sci-fi flick called Midnight Special. Regarding the project, Nichols recently told The Playlist that he “wanted to make a government chase movie. And see if I could make that not suck. Make that not cliché.” So either Shannon will be running from the government, chasing someone for the government, or helping out somehow along the way. The film is set up with Warner Bros. for distribution, and it’s great to see 1) Nichols getting that kind of studio recognition that could lead to broader audiences and 2) that Warners still has faith in some mid-budget projects made by filmmakers with strong voices. Take Shelter is one of the best movies of the last few years — the kind of film that sets up shop in your veins and ignores your eviction notices. Yet, it remains something of a sleeper despite how powerful it is. Nichols was just named by many critics as one of the best directors under 40 (along with some stunning young talent), so hopefully all of this gives him a bigger stage to share his vision. More Jeff Nichols movies are always a welcome development.

Doc Savage was one of the most popular pulp magazine heroes of the 30s and 40s. So much so that his fictional fame lasted for decades as he inspired countless radio, television, and film programs, as well as several comic book adaptations. As we’ve seen from past aborted attempts at bringing other pulp heroes like The Shadow or The Spirit to the big screen, however, being popular in the 30s and 40s isn’t a guarantee that a hero is going to have the right stuff to make for a successful modern film franchise. In spite of the semi-recent failures that still linger in the memories of the filmgoing public, Sony Pictures has decided that the package they’ve put together for Doc Savage is worth taking a risk on. The reason they’re so confident is because the guy they’ve got co-writing and directing the new take on this classic hero is Shane Black, and Shane Black just made Marvel over $700 million in a week by directing Iron Man 3.

What exactly can $625m in worldwide box office receipts buy you? A sequel script from a Black List screenwriter, if a new report from The Wrap is to be believed. The outlet shares that Oren Uziel (whose The Kitchen Sink made the 2010 Black List and is expected to go into production later this year) has been tapped to pen the “quietly” in development sequel to Sony’s 2012 Men in Black 3.  Details on the Men in Black 4 are being (predictably) “kept under wraps,” but it’s probably safe to assume it will somehow involve Will Smith and some incarnation of Agent K (either Tommy Lee Jones or Josh Brolin, or maybe even both, imagine that fun) fighting aliens with wit and nifty tools. While you may not know Uziel’s name just yet, the writer is something of a hot commodity around Hollywood, as the scribe has also been tasked with co-writing the new Mortal Kombat movie and adapting the big screen take on Chuck Klosterman’s first novel, Downtown Owl. Not enough variety for you? He’s also working on God Particle for Paramount and Bad Robot. Wait, you want more from the guy? The outlet also reports that Sony has set Uziel to rewrite the script for their upcoming 21 Jump Street sequel, which he will complete before turning his attention to MIB4, so it’s fair to say that the scribe is going to be up to his neck in buddy comedies, video games, and literary adventures in the coming months.

Briefly: Well, this is a nice surprise. THR reports that Steven Spielberg has quietly lined up his next directorial outing, a real feat considering the heat the film already has on it. The outlet shares that Spielberg will next helm an adaptation of American Sniper,  the true life tale of U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle that Bradley Cooper has long been developing as producer and star. While the film was already compelling enough when Cooper signed on back in May of last year, with Kyle’s career distinction of  recording more career sniper kills in United States military history than anyone else (160 confirmed kills out of 255 claimed kills), the story toook a decidely tragic turn when Kyle was shot and killed at a shooting range by a fellow veteran back in Februrary of this year.

Yes, that headline comes with a caveat. While fans of David Gordon Green‘s early work have bristled at his turn into more mainstream comedies (count me as one of those bristlers), the filmmaker has never denied that said comedies (like Your Highness and The Sitter) are more in line with his personal tastes and preferences. So, no, while Green might be “returning to form” after his comedic outings, that form is really the one we made for him. Let’s not fence Green in. But let’s also not try to hide our glee when he starts work on the type of film that sounds like it will fit in quite neatly next to Undertow and All the Real Girls. That possible next film? Manglehorn. What’s a “manglehorn”? Only a love story with a dark twist that could star Al Pacino. Not too shabby, eh?

There are few films that I’ve come around on as much as I’ve come around on Mike Cahill‘s Another Earth. When the film bowed at Sundance 2011, it was as one half of the buzzed-about “arrival” of star and co-writer Brit Marling, who quite memorably debuted yet another film at the festival that she also co-wrote and starred in (the still far superior Sound of My Voice). While SOMV instantly captivated me (and continues to do so), Another Earth frustrated and, quite frankly, angered me. Its unique plot – a twin Earth is discovered heading towards our own Earth, and it soon becomes obvious that said twin Earth also contains a twin of everything else, including Marling’s unlucky Rhoda Williams – seemed utterly wasted, with Cahill and Marling more concerned with mining the non-drama of Marling’s inappropriate relationship with a guy whose family she accidentally killed. Another Earth only came, well, down to Earth in its final scene, and that scene’s masterful use of mystery and revelation made the rest of it all the more frustrating. We knew what the film could have been, and it simply wasn’t that. (Then again, the film did win both a Special Jury Prize and the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the festival, so what do I know.) And yet. Over the years, my disdain for Another Earth has given way to curiosity and respect. If it’s on TV, I am going to watch it. I want more from Cahill, even if I am not sure if I actually liked his first film (I think I

Given the sweaty, squealing reactions everyone witnessed during screenings of Steven Soderbergh’s male stripper movie, Magic Mike, it doesn’t take much of an expert in human behavior to realize that there are a huge group of flesh-obsessed folk out there who would more than welcome a second go-around with the taught and toned gang from Tampa. Really, a Magic Mike 2 is something of a foregone conclusion. But given Soderbergh’s constant claims that he’s now retired from directing movies, how would another Magic Mike come together? We’ve already heard the film’s star, Channing Tatum, hint at the fact that—seeing as Magic Mike was largely based on his real-life experiences as a male stripper—he’d like to use the sequel as an opportunity to step behind the camera and try out directing a movie for himself, and some new comments from Soderbergh reveal that this might be exactly the direction a sequel would take, and that development on the film might be further along than any of us anticipated.

Jon Favreau seems to be the type of guy who’s pretty into food. No, that wasn’t a fat joke—he who lives in glass houses and whatnot—it’s just an observation coming after he hosted a talk show called Dinner For Five that was based on a crew of interesting people gathering around a table full of food, and now he’s reportedly taking a break from making wildly profitable (when not involving cowboys *and* aliens) blockbuster tentpole pictures in order to put together a little independent project that will see him doing a lot of cooking. The project, according to a scoop that came out of Variety, will see Favreau writing, directing, and starring in a film called Chef, which is said to be a comedy about an emotional chef who runs a Los Angeles-based restaurant.

As far as we’re concerned, directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller are three for three on their high profile projects, as both their television series Clone High (R.I.P.) and their two feature films (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street) are hilarious, clever, and scarily watchable entertainment diversions. Now the pair is attached to helm their very first sequel to their funniest film yet (sorry, Cloudy fans), as the pair are reportedly back in the saddle for 21 Jump Street 2: More Jumpier (perhaps not the actual title). When the sequel got finalized back in July, we only knew a few scattered facts – like that star Jonah Hill and screenwriter Michael Bacall were set to draft a new screenplay, that Channing Tatum and Hill would return to star, and that it would send the boys to college – and now we’ve got lots more to get excited about when it comes to this project (seriously, who knew we’d all be salivating for a sequel to a modern reboot of an ’80s TV show). In a delightfully comprehensive interview with Neal Mortiz over at Collider, the producer spilled a ton of details about the upcoming sequel and, as is often rare with this type of thing, they all sound awesome.

If there’s anything better at creating mixed feelings than the recent return to the comedy well, it doesn’t exist in the movie universe. Is it great to see Anchorman 2 coming our way? Definitely. Would it have been better without the middling years in between for Will Ferrell? Absolutely. Is it sort of cool to see Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson pair up Wedding Crashers-style at Google? Yeah, sort of. But a feature commercial for Google? Ersh. Even the sequel for Zoolander seemed promising despite the hope/urge that we’d also get to see something new and just as exciting as earlier hits from these world-class comedians. And now a Dodgeball sequel? It’s a great universe to return to, and this time around I won’t be surrounded by frat guys endlessly quoting it, but it’s just, you know, really? Is this where we’re at? Is this what the biggest players in comedy are having to do? We get Hangover on repeat, Tyler Perry and rehashes of stuff from a decade ago? According to The Hollywood Reporter, Stiller’s production company Red Hour has hired Clay Tarver (the writer/director of Joy Ride and director of a few Upright Citizens Brigade episodes) to write a script where Stiller’s and Vaughn’s character team up to conquer a bigger enemy. Theoretically on the dodgeball court. Fox is on board, and although they’ve just hired a writer, it’s unclear whether director Rawson Thurber will return. Or whether the fanbase — now inundated by decades-later comedy sequels — will be able to build anything more than mild enthusiasm

Whether you think of him as a cocktail-slinging flair bartender, a hotshot fighter pilot, or a highly trained secret agent, there’s no question that Tom Cruise is one of the biggest movie stars the entertainment industry has ever seen. Heck, his new sci-fi blockbuster, Oblivion, has already made over $61 million, and it hasn’t even opened in the United States yet. So, seeing as movie producers like to make money, and movie audiences seem to like watching Cruise doing sci-fi action stuff, everyone has decided that the next logical step is to have the veteran actor star in another sci-fi action film, this one called Yukikaze. If that title sounds Japanese to you, that’s because it is. The scoop of Cruise’s casting comes from Deadline, who reports that Universal is putting together this adaptation of Japanese author Chohei Kambayashi’s modern classic science fiction novel of the same name. Not only is this project notable because of the respect that Kambayashi’s work gets in the science fiction community, but also because it combines two of the subjects that Cruise has historically tackled very successfully: piloting aircraft and dealing with alien invasions.