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Hayden Panettiere is 21 and Nikki Reed is 22, but they just can't seem to get enough of high school. According to Variety, the actresses are set to star in the thriller "Downers Grove," based on the Michael Hornburg novel about a cursed high school in a Chicago suburb where each year one senior dies a bizarre death right before graduation.

Here's the truly interesting part: "Less Than Zero," "American Psycho" and "Rules of Attraction" novelist Bret Easton Ellis has adapted the screenplay for the film. Judging by the aforementioned log-line, the movie would seem to be along the lines of the "Final Destination" flicks -- a strange fit for a man like Ellis, who's know for novels generously laden with social commentary, violence, perversity and satire. Read more...

Tags Bret Easton Ellis, downers grove, hayden panettiere, Nikki Reed

The red-band trailer for the new Justin Timberlake-Mila Kunis romantic comedy "Friends With Benefits" requires no introduction -- the title basically explains the premise -- but we're going to provide one anyway, just for yuks. JT and Mila play two pals who realize that they're completely wrong for each other romantically (which, in movie terms, means that they're completely right for each other), but they still want to make the beast with two backs together. And so they agree to become -- you guessed it -- friends with benefits.

Of course, they soon discover that there's no such thing as "no strings attached"... which reminds us of this Natalie Portman-Ashton Kutcher rom-com that recently got a trailer and is also about best pals who decide they can do the nasty while keeping things platonic... but soon discover they may have been mistaken. So what was that flick called again? Oh yeah, "No Strings Attached."

Anywho, the trailer for "Friends With Benefits" sells itself: It's basically two-and-a-half minutes of Timberlake singing that Semisonic song "Closing Time" and having sex with Kunis, usually both at the same time and often while the two of them are naked. Read more...

Tags ashton kutcher, Friends with Benefits, justin timberlake, mila kunis, natalie portman, no strings attached

Director Steve Pink has already handled one delightfully ludicrous concept and film title in the form of "Hot Tub Time Machine," and many would argue that he lived up to the challenge quite well. But how is he going to fare against a different delightfully ludicrous concept, especially when this one beats its enemies with a mop?

We'll find out fairly soon, as Pink has officially signed on to direct the remake of "The Toxic Avenger." Deadline reports that Pink is co-writing the screenplay for the stinky green hero's big screen revival alongside Daniel C. Mitchell.

"The Toxic Avenger is exactly what the country -- wait, that's not big enough -- what the world needs right now," Pink said of his latest assignment in a statement. Read more...

Tags Steve Pink, The Toxic Avenger

"Call of Duty: Black Ops" got some help hyping itself from Metallica at Activision's launch party last night, and at least one actor from "Mad Men" was there. Ice-T, meanwhile, is trying to figure out what he needs to do to swing an early copy of the game, so if you have pertinent information and don't want to keep the game for yourself, you know where to tweet him.

In other happenings, Keith Olbermann made news instead of reporting it today by getting suspended indefinitely by MSNBC over political campaign contributions he was found to have made, not for the actions James Urbaniak mentioned. Check out what that was about down below along with Felicia Day's big concern about "The Walking Dead" and who someone thought Ludacris looked like at an airport.

I'm @brianwarmoth, and this is Twitter-Wood for November 5, 2010. Read more...

Tags felicia day, ice-t, james urbaniak, john august, ludacris, miranda cosgrove, rich sommer, Twitter-Wood

"Due Date" is ready to be delivered into theaters this weekend, and this is one birth we don't want to miss. The comedy starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis got us thinking that road tripping across the country to see your child's birth is a pretty good reason to spend that much time in a car with a strange bearded man. In fact, it's probably one of the best reasons behind a road movie we've seen. So we decided to take a look back to figure out whether our other favorite big-screen road trips were for good reasons or purely for bad behavior. Read more...

Tags Due Date, Fanboys, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Little Miss Sunshine, road trip, The Blues Brothers

Want to know why we're covering the trailer for "Just Go With It" on Movies Blog instead of on Hollywood Crush? Because, for the first time ever, Jennifer Aniston is starring in a romantic comedy but she's not the romantic interest (or at least that's what this trailer is selling).

The Adam Sandler flick also stars Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker in her big screen debut. Not surprisingly, she is the romantic lead in the film, the plot of which is a bit questionable: A man (Sandler, naturally) pretends he's married to get laid, but then when he finds the girl of his dreams (Decker) he enlists the help of his "homely" (read: she wears glasses, not makeup) friend (Aniston) to continue the ruse just long enough for them to get fake-divorced. While the trailer works hard to make it look like Sandler will ultimately end up with Decker and not Aniston, we're going to go out on a limb and say that somewhere along the way Adam and Jen will become more than just "Friends." Read more...

Tags adam sandler, Brooklyn Decker, jennifer aniston, Just Go With It, Video

The cast for director Marc Webb's "Spider-Man" reboot is starting to come together in earnest. We already knew that Andrew Garfield ("The Social Network") would play Peter Parker and his red-tights-clad, web-spinning alter-ego Spider-Man, that Emma Stone ("Zombieland") had been tapped for the role of his love interest Gwen Stacy (and not Mary Jane Watson), and that Rhys Ifans ("Notting Hill") would provide the film's scaly, tongue-flicking villainy as Dr. Curt Connors, a.k.a. the Lizard.

Now comes word that Martin Sheen is in final negotiations to play Peter's ill-fated wisdom-spewing Uncle Ben and Sally Field is in early talks for the role of the Aunt May. Read more...

Tags Andrew Garfield, emma stone, Marc Webb, Martin Sheen, Rhys Ifans, sally field, spider-man

By now, you've probably heard all about how the woeful financial struggles of once-powerful studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer have been holding up the works on future James Bond movies (it owns the rights to the 007 franchise). Well, good news -- on Wednesday, MGM rejected a takeover bid by Lionsgate and billionaire Carl Icahn... and instead filed for bankruptcy! That may not sound like the peachiest news, but in doing so MGM has effectively wiped $4 billion in debt off its plate and set in motion a complicated financial restructuring that will allow it to continue to make movies, including the soon-to-be-in-production "The Hobbit"... and more James Bond flicks!

According to Bloomberg, in submitting the bankruptcy claim, MGM charted its plans for the coming years, and chief among them was assigning a release date to the long-awaited follow-up to 2008's "Quantum of Solace." The next 007 film -- for now let's call it "James Bond 23" -- is slated to hit theaters in November 2012. Read more...

Tags casino royale, daniel craig, james bond, james bond 23, quantum of solace, sam mendes

The eighth time is the charm. At long last, Deadline is confirming that Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton will be teaming up for the big-screen adaptation of the '60s vampire-themed TV show "Dark Shadows" that both have been tentatively attached to for a while. And, as an added bonus, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" writer Seth Grahame-Smith is going to be penning the script for the flick.

Depp will be playing the vampire Barnabas Collins, a role he's always been thirsty to tackle. The TV show was most popular when the 200-year-old vampire villain was introduced to its mythology, so it can be assumed that the film version will follow his story line. This will be both Burton and Depp's first time making a vampire film ("Ed Wood" was a film about making a vampire film). Read more...

Tags Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, dark shadows, johnny depp, mark wahlberg, Seth Grahame-Smith, Snow White and The Huntsman, tim burton, Triple Frontier

The Farelly brothers' gigantic cast for "Hall Pass" didn't stop anyone from cutting the new comedy down into a traditional trailer. That trailer is now ready to walk out into public and see if the guys who made "There's Something About Mary," "Kingpin" and "Dumb & Dumber" can return to form with a movie that fundamentally feels like they set out to make a version of "The Hangover" where everyone's already married.

Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis handle the two lead roles in this tale about husbands whose wives give them a temporary "hall pass" to do whatever they want (i.e. bed as many women as possible) before resuming their regularly scheduled married lives. Jenna Fischer, Richard Jenkins, Christina Applegate and Alyssa Milano join them on screen, and the new trailer doesn't spotlight many success stories. Check out the trailer after the jump. Read more...

Tags alyssa milano, Christina Applegate, Hall Pass, jason sudeikis, Jenna-Fischer, owen wilson, richard jenkins