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By Kristen Shalbinksi

Last night, 600 lucky fans in New York City got the chance to see "Paranormal Activity 2" a full 24 hours before its official release tonight at 11:59 p.m. Nineteen other cities across North America were also treated to free midnight screenings after emerging victorious in the film's "Demand It" contest. I was among those at the NYC showing.

When I arrived, the line to get into the theater already took up almost the entire block, and the air was abuzz with anticipation. Many fans brought their own chairs to make the wait less painful, and I even met one fan who'd been waiting there since 10:30 a.m., a full 12 hours before we were even allowed into the theater. Don't worry though, ponchos were given out to keep the fans dry in case of rain, and refreshments and some nifty "Paranormal Activity 2" posters were provided as well.

Inside the theater, a raffle was drawn and two lucky fans won brand new iPads (I wish they did this more often at theaters). Then "PA2" T-shirts were distributed (and put on), as the anticipation grew to a fever pitch. Read more...

Tags Paranormal Activity 2, Tod Williams

MTV News has always had a soft spot for M. Night Shyamalan, so we're heartened by the news that he's is getting right back in the saddle after his last big-screen venture, "The Last Airbender," failed to connect with U.S. audiences. According to Heat Vision blog, Night is looking to direct a super-secret sci-fi film he isn't writing ("The Book of Eli" screenwriter Gary Whitta is) called "One Thousand A.E.," which would be a starring vehicle for newly minted "It Kid" Jaden Smith.

Smith proved with this summer's surprise $176.6-million hit "The Karate Kid" that he can be just as big a box office draw as his dad Will, and Shyamalan is due for a hit after the back-to-back-back box-office disappointments of "Lady in the Water," "The Happening" and "Last Airbender." If "A.E." is a success, it could cement Smith's celebrity power and potentially revitalize Shyamalan's career. While the film is still looking for a studio home, Shyamalan is developing it at Will Smith's Overbrook production company and will likely end up at Sony. Read more...

Tags Jada Pinkett Smith, jaden smith, M. Night Shyamalan, One Thousand A.E., will smith

Don't say we didn't call it. Barely a week after MTV's Josh Wigler suggested that a "Zoolander" cartoon series follow one being made about "Napoleon Dynamite," The New York Times reports that's exactly what's happening. Ben Stiller and his Red Hour Films production company are bringing the egocentric male supermodel from the 2001 comedy hit out of retirement for a series of animated digital shorts for the Web.

"It's just a way to say, 'Hey, let's go do a couple of little five-minute episodes as opposed to saying, 'Hey, let's pitch it to the studio and then let's have a fight over the budget for six months,'" Stiller told The New York Times. Read more...

Tags ben stiller, jonah hill, justin theroux, owen wilson, will ferrell, zoolander, Zoolander 2

After running down Robert Downey Jr.'s very busy schedule leading up to "Iron Man 3," it appears that we've spoken too soon — because he just got even busier.

The venerable RDJ is producing a feature film adaptation of "Emergency!: This Book Will Save Your Life," a non-fiction novel written by Neil Strauss. Columbia Pictures secured the rights for the developing film, which will be produced by Downey, his wife and producing partner Susan Downey, and Michael DeLuca.

"Emergency!" tells the true story of Strauss, who moved his entire life off-shore and learned how to survive in the wild after growing paranoid about the future of mankind. Strauss reinvented himself as "a gun-toting, lock-picking, plane-flying, government-defying survivor," according to a press release. "It's a tale of paranoid fantasies and crippling doubts, of shady lawyers and dangerous cult leaders, of billionaire gun nuts and survivalist superheroes, of weirdos, heroes and ordinary citizens taking their families off the grid." Read more...

Tags Emergency!, Emergency!: This Book Will Save Your Life, robert downey jr.

Matt Damon will not be in "The Bourne Legacy," the fourth installment in the critically acclaimed, financially amnesiac assassin series. Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote the first three films and is co-writing and directing the fourth, confirmed this distinct lack of Damon/Bourne a couple weeks back. Now, Gilroy is talking again, this time dishing to Deadline about the film's plot and how it most definitely paves the way for Damon's eventual return as Jason Bourne.

"Matt was completely not an option, and personally I couldn't imagine trying to replace him," Gilroy told Deadline. "All the conspiratorial politics aside, these are very un-cynical, honest movies, and I don't know another actor who brings more integrity and dignity, and a lack of cynicism to his work than Matt." He continues: "I'm not going to get into the plot, but you saw the other three films, you know everything that happened, and it's not a dream sequence. What I can say is, you thought that was the whole world, but it was a small piece of what was going on. 'Ultimatum' exploded at the end with people arrested. We deal with that as a reality, it has ramifications that echo out into the larger world. And of course, Jason Bourne is still alive and out there in the world. I don't want to go beyond that, because the last thing I need is for every blogger to be second guessing." Read more...

Tags matt damon, the bourne legacy, tony gilroy

Even though the threat on Middle-Earth has been lifted, "The Hobbit" may still evacuate New Zealand for greener pastures.

Both the Screen Actors Guild and New Zealand's Actors Equity released statements yesterday notifying actors that any advisories against "The Hobbit" have been lifted, freeing them to accept employment on the two prequels to Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Sounds like everyone is free and clear to keep "The Hobbit" and Middle-Earth at large right at home in New Zealand, right?

Wrong.

Alas, the lifting of the blacklist may have come too late, as Jackson and his producing partner and wife Fran Walsh released a joint statement of their own saying that "the damage inflicted on [New Zealand's] film industry by NZ Equity/MEAA is long since done." Read more...

Tags peter jackson, the-hobbit

By Kristen Shalbinski

Calling all TRONerds! Yesterday, Walt Disney Pictures released a new poster for "TRON: Legacy," the sequel to the 1928 sci-fi classic "TRON," on Yahoo! yesterday... and it's giving us a little spat of déjà vu: You see, it not-so-subtly pays homage to its '82 predecessor.

Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde are the center of attention in this poster, with Hedlund’s hands reaching toward an identity disc. Sound familiar yet? Well, that's because it's the same iconic imagery showcased in the original "TRON" poster.

Of course, there are some differences, with the new "Legacy" poster illustrating just how much technology has advanced since 1982. The original "TRON" one-sheet is all black and we only see the silhouettes of TRON (Bruce Boxleitner) and Sori (Cindy Morgan) reaching for the identity disc. The "Legacy" poster, by contrast offers a crisp, up-close-and-personal view of the easy-on-the-eyes stars and a stunning visual of the entire ENCOM universe in the background. Thank goodness for advancements in CGI. Hit the jump to see both posters for yourself. Read more...

Tags bruce boxleitner, cindy morgan, garrett hedlund, olivia wilde, Photo, tron, Tron Legacy

Even if you don't like 3-D glasses, you still may be able to enjoy "Jackass 3D," at least that's what David Spade thinks. He seemed to have had a bad experience getting his glasses to agree with his nose, but in the end he still gave the movie high marks.

In other critical assessments, James Gunn believes "Piranha 3D" belongs on "best of the year" lists rather than "worst of the year" shout-outs, and Richard Kelly sounds like he has lower expectations for the world after seeing the documentary "Inside Job." Feel free to agree or disagree with them after the jump, where you'll also see what Jesse Tyler Ferguson did instead of wearing purple today and who said they almost hit Megan Fox with their car.

I'm @brianwarmoth, and this is Twitter-Wood for October 20, 2010. Read more...

Tags David Spade, edgar wright, frankie muniz, james gunn, jesse tyler ferguson, kevin nealon, kim kardashian, richard kelly, Twitter-Wood

The time is almost nigh for "Paranormal Activity 2" to scare the everliving crap out of audiences everywhere; the movie officially hits theaters in the U.S. and Canada Thursday October 21 at 11:59 p.m. And since we know that if you're reading this you're going to buy a ticket anyway, why not head over to http://www.ParanormalMovie.com to get yours? When you do, you'll receive a free (yes, as in zero dollars and zero cents) iTunes download of the original "Paranormal Activity" so you can get fully primed and pumped for the sequel. Speaking of which, we've got a new clip below that should get your paranormal juices flowing.

A previous video had already showed a mother being dragged from her baby's bedroom. But this one adds a nice touch, depicting the mom tenderly tucking her little toddler in for the night. Then BAM! -- out the door and down the stairs she goes. Read more...

Tags Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Paranormal Activity 2, Video

Hmm, what could possibly come between good ole Boston boys Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and a movie about the New York Yankees ("The Trade," on which the two are set to collaborate)? Only another NYC-based project that has been stuck in development since 1988. According to The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog, Affleck is considering following up his critically acclaimed sophomore directorial effort "The Town" by directing an adaptation of Ken Grimwood's '88 fantasy novel "Replay."

In addition to moving beyond the Boston setting of both "Gone Baby Gone" and "The Town," Affleck is ditching the crime drama genre for dramatic fantasy. "Replay" follows a 45-year-old Brooklyn man who suffers from a fatal heart attack while trying to prevent the murder of a jogger in Central Park. Instead of dying in the traditional sense, the man is stuck in a "Groundhog Day"-esque "replay" of his life beginning at age 18, where he uses his knowledge of the future to build a financial empire. But money can't buy him a long life, and he dies again at age 45, forced once again to replay his life. Finally, he and the murdered jogger fall in love and struggle to stop the literally vicious cycle. Read more...

Tags ben affleck, casey affleck, matt damon, Replay, The Trade