Director Adam McKay (Anchorman, Eastbound & Down) might not be the first person you would expect to be pushing to get an adaptation of an ultra-violent Garth Ennis comic up on the big screen, but nonetheless the comedy veteran has been involved in putting together a film version of the creator’s anti-superhero yarn “The Boys” for quite a while now. For the longest time the director was set to put the project together for Columbia Pictures, but those plans hit a snag in February when the studio suddenly dropped it. Nonetheless, the director assured us that the film was not necessarily dead, and that he had multiple studios chomping at the bit to come on board and see that development of the property continued. Though, in the process of kicking the project around from place to place, it had unfortunately gone from being a faithfully hard-R recreation of Ennis’ work, to one that would have to be PG-13. Or, as McKay put it, “It’s now PG-13. But I found cool ways to keep it edgy. Nolan does so much with that rating. I want this movie to have the conceptual floor of MIB: the police for the superheroes, with the bad ass action groove of The Matrix or Oldboy.”

Once upon a time the name Tom Clancy meant something to both the suits in Hollywood and the seats in theaters across America. The Hunt for Red October, an adaptation of Clancy’s first novel, was a commercial and critical hit, and it set the stage for three follow-up films featuring the author’s most famous character, Jack Ryan. The four movies averaged $200 million each at the worldwide box-office, but they stopped with 2002′s The Sum of All Fears (because there was a time when Ben Affleck’s name killed everything it touched). That same year saw the debut of Splinter Cell, a 3rd-person view stealth shooter that put players in the silent but deadly shoes of CIA operative Sam Fisher (voiced by Michael Ironside). Like Clancy’s Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon games this featured his name and advisement but no direct link to his fiction. The game series has been a big success, and talk of a movie adaptation has been evident throughout the past decade. Per Deadline Langley, studios are once again batting around the idea of a Splinter Cell adaptation. Publisher Ubisoft was in talks with WB in recent weeks, but it looks like Paramount may be the ones close to signing a deal. The studio is already in pre-production on a reboot of the Jack Ryan franchise starring Chris Pine’s forehead, so another collaboration seems likely.

While we all eagerly await the next production from Paramount Pictures and J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot (that would be Star Trek 2, if you’re living under a rock), the studio and the filmmaker’s production shingle have picked up not one, but two brand-new scripts from fresh screenwriters that look to fit right into their wheelhouse. Hey, it’s not everyone’s wheelhouse that includes both Nazi hunters and sci-fi movies that rely on hard-core psychics to make sense, and that’s a credit to the partnership. First up, on the more official side of things, Paramount has sent out a press release (via Deadline Livermore) announcing their acquisition of a spec script from screenwriter Patrick Aison called Wunderkind that they will be producing alongside Bad Robot. The film is described as “an elevated two-handed action/thriller set in the 1970′s following a young Nazi hunter with the CIA and an older Nazi hunter working for the Mossad. The two become reluctantly intertwined in their hunt and shocking twists result.” Nazis! Action! Twists! While Aison is a new name in the screenwriting world, he does come with some solid interest attached to his name already. He’s co-written the upcoming Spierig Brothers film, Echo Station, with Brad Kean and his first spec script, Takedowns, was purchased by GreenStreet Films with Kevin Rodney Sullivan attached to direct. But as cool as Aison and his Wunderkind may be, it’s the other new possible pick-up for Paramount and Bad Robot that’s wetting my whistle…

When it comes to stories about Hollywood, Martin Scorsese is a solid choice as storyteller because of how obsessed he is with the town’s history. Also, you know, because he’s a ridiculously talented director. According to Deadline Wensleydale, Paramount is developing an adaptation of the Sam Kashner book “Furious Love,” alongside known history and the personal records of (hopefully) both Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton for Scorsese. As most know, the pair met on the set of Cleopatra and developed a heated affair (they were both married at the time) which became a full blown marriage. Unfortunately, the passion was too hot to be stable, and the pair divorced, remarried, and then re-divorced around a decade after. There’s a ton of intimate drama here alongside the glamour of glitzy Hollywood in a time where people first realized that stalking celebrities could be considered a career (by those who don’t consider it solely bile-slathered). It’s obviously fertile ground for a master filmmaker to play around with. The only issue is who could play Taylor and Burton. Taylor famously didn’t want anyone to play her, but it’s unclear if there’s any known talent that could really handle the job with any degree of realism.

There’s nothing like seeing a super hero fire a gun. It breaks all the rules but still makes sense, especially if that hero is firing a weapon against Nazi(-like) scum. There are a few things that stand out in this first trailer for Captain America: The First Avenger, but you should watch it for yourself first:

Paramount Pictures and IMAX have made a business agreement with each other (heretofore known as “the contract”) that will see four Paramount flicks splayed out on those giant canvas-like screens the kids love so much. Those four films? No surprises there. Except maybe one. Transformers: Dark of the Moon and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn will be converted into the IMAX format (which I assume means completely) so that the explosions and computer generated dogs can be seen with crystal clarity. J.J. Abrams’s mysterious Super 8 will also be at IMAX theaters, but even they aren’t releasing how it’s being shot or whether the entire film or just a few segments will be formatted to be size extra enormous. The one semi-surprise is Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, which will have several of its sequences converted, but won’t be entirely in IMAX.

There’s nothing quite like a quiet summer day, rocking back and forth on the front porch, watching the parade slowly pass by, waiting to see which one of your neighbors will end up brutally murdered. Mark Carter has been shopping around Serial Killer Days for a while now. In fact, it looked as though Jason Reitman was going to direct it back in 2008 after Juno came out, but he found his way to another project and another Best Picture nomination. However, a producer of both Thank You For Smoking and Up In The Air, Dan Dubiecki, is on board alongside Paramount to finally make the horror satire. The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name which focuses on a town that has a serial killer at large that strikes on the same day every year. Of course, the town responds by throwing the murderer lavish parades, nominating the Scream Queen, and getting in a generally festive spirit for death.

One doesn’t have to do with the other, but both are happening. The extra who was injured when a cable ripped through her vehicle and her skull last month is now suing Paramount Pictures for negligence. Gabriel Cedillo might also want to think about suing them for the name they’ve changed the movie to. It was inevitable, following the pattern of Revenge of the Fallen that we’d see a Noun of the Noun name, but why they saw fit to cause hundreds of Pink Floyd references crop up is unclear. The new title, of course, is Transformers: The Dark of the Moon. [Cinematical]

Paramount Pictures wants to kill you — in 3D — with yet another sequel to the imported horror franchise The Ring. Writer David Loucka, who wrote the powerhouse script for the Whoopie Goldberg vehicle Eddie, has been hired to write the thing.

Throughout the week, Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment have been slowly releasing little clips from their upcoming tentpole Iron Man 2. Most of them have been rather boring. Not this one, though.

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment have released the official plot synopsis for their upcoming film Thor, the big screen adaptation of the popular comic featuring that guy with the hammer. I know that this isn’t the most exciting bit of news in the world, but I’m sure there are some of you out there who will find this to be interesting.

Heartfelt documentary released to show fans the power of a fallen artist or blatant profiteering? You be the judge!

What begins as a standard sales visit about car insurance renewal, slowly builds piece by piece into a tale of infatuation, intrigue and murder.

There has been a lot of chatter around the topic of strong female characters in film lately. And as Paramount gears up its lady-led actioner Honey Pot, we ask whether this is more eye-candy service or if the girls of America will get their Indiana Jones. Or something like that.

Producer, director, eye glass wearing super entertainment machine J.J. Abrams decided this week to extend the deal the keeps his production company, Bad Robot, and Paramount Pictures in bed together making movies. And that is important.

Paramount Pictures has announced this evening that a third trailer for J.J. Abrams’ upcoming film Star Trek will be hitting theaters on Friday, March 6th attached to Watchmen.

Recent marketing materials — both official and otherwise — from two of Paramount Pictures’ highest profile 2009 movies tell us one thing: they are really into the whole black and white poster aesthetic.

First order of business is to let you know that we did not make the following Oscar advertisements. They are, however, quite funny.

Back in July I had the chance to watch the first thirty minutes or so of DJ Caruso’s newest thriller, Eagle Eye. First off, I have to say that what I saw of Eagle Eye…I loved. It was a fun, fast and intense ride that will make you think twice about syncing your iPhone. Caruso’s Disturbia was a big surprise for me, and his followup film seems to be ready to surprise fans once again.

As if Johnny Depp wasn’t cartoonish enough in Gore Verbinski’s Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, the actor is re-teaming with the director for the animated film Rango.