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We're still a few weeks away until that March 21 start date on "The Hobbit," but that doesn't mean we have to wait that long to see the merry band of dwarves for the first time.

Check it out for yourselves, folks: at a press conference held in New Zealand yesterday, all thirteen members of the company of dwarves and Bilbo Baggins himself gathered together in public for the very first time since their casting was announced.

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Tags the-hobbit

FROM SPLASH PAGE: You've been waiting all day for it and now it's here.

As promised yesterday, the debut trailer for "X-Men: First Class" arrived on Facebook today.

This is no brief tease, either. You get almost a full two minutes of footage, most of it highlighting the complicated relationship between Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) that lies at the heart of the story. The preview unfolds while archival audio of former President John F. Kennedy plays, establishing the film's place in history at the dawn of the atomic age.

Read more about the "X-Men: First Class" trailer on Splash Page!

Tags x-men: first class

It's the battle of the titans versus the District rebels, or at least it will be on March 23, 2012.

Lionsgate nabbed that release date for "The Hunger Games" last month and it seemed like a smart decision at the time, but now Warner Bros. has bumped up their release of "Wrath of the Titans" from March 30 to March 23, Coming Soon reports. As Liam Neeson would say, "Release the Kraken!"

Hopefully one of the studios will cave and choose to release the film on a different day, because no matter what the box office results are that weekend, one or both of the film franchises could suffer. Click past the jump for our reaction to the news.

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Tags hunger games, The Hunger Games, Wrath of the Titans

"Avatar" director James Cameron is known for raising the special-effects bar with every project, and 1989's underwater adventure "The Abyss" only further cemented his reputation as a filmmaker with an eye for, well... eye candy. However, while "Avatar" set a new standard for computer-generated effects, "The Abyss" was created at a time when effects were a much more practical (read: non-CGI) affair.

Our pals over at io9 just posted a clip from "Back Into The Abyss," a new, two-disc DVD that explores the work of veteran FX artist Steve Johnson on the celebrated film, which he took on when he was, as he puts it, a "23-year-old-moron." It's a great piece of video that illustrates how much hard work, attention to detail, and amazing levels of creativity go into designing physical FX for actors to interact with (the closeup of the alien's lungs inflating around the 1:32 mark is especially cool).

Check out the clip over at io9, and you can pre-order "Back Into The Abyss" over at Eon Entertainment.

What do you think of the clip? Let us know in the comment section or on Twitter!

Tags back into the abyss, james cameron, steve johnson, The Abyss

Well, I guess now we know why Joel Silver was so confident about "Logan's Run" the other day. The producer recently told MTV News that the long developing sci-fi film was "in a place that we're really happy with," and he certainly wasn't kidding.

Deadline reports the breaking news that Ryan Gosling is finalizing a deal with Warner Bros. to star as Logan 5 in the forthcoming remake. Gosling will reteam with his "Drive" director Nicolas Winding Refn for the project, which is based on a screenplay written by frequent Danny Boyle collaborator Alex Garland.

And that's not all: according to Deadline, production on "Logan's Run" begins this fall.

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Tags Logan's Run, Nicolas Winding Refn, Ryan Gosling

Finally, after many exciting teaser images and much fanfare over the course of the past year, it's nice to get a good look at what "Arthur" has in store for us.

And, as expected, the trailer far exceeds our expectations. As leading man Russell Brand promised, there are many homages to Dudley Moore and the original film, but it's clear that this latest version is coming into its own as well. Everything that was great about the original -- the lovable rich drunk, his dour old sidekick, his easy-going fiance and spitfire love interest -- have been included and amplified for the trailer and that couldn't make us happier. And there are "Star Wars" and "Batman" references, so how can this go wrong?

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Tags arthur, Greta Gerwig, Helen Mirren, jennifer garner, luis guzman, russell brand

To Hollywood, James Franco may be a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in an occasional soap opera actor. But, the multi-tasking star isn't taking Tinseltown standards too seriously, even when it comes to its biggest night of the year.

The Best Actor nominee ("127 Hours") will serve as co-host alongside Anne Hathaway for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards, but he isn't feeling much pressure about the gig. Speaking with Vanity Fair for their "Screening Room" segment, he bluntly explained: "If it's the worst Oscars show ever, who cares? It's like, it's fine. It's one night. It doesn't matter. If I host the worst Oscar show in the history of the Oscars, like, why do I care?"

Franco said he feels that expectations aren't as high for himself and Hathaway as they would be for, say, Billy Crystal or Chris Rock. "They're not asking us because they're expecting that, the show is going to be designed for what we can do."

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Tags Banksy, exit through the gift shop, james franco, Oscars 2011

Today is a good day for the Nolan brothers. First up is Christopher Nolan, whose 2001 psychological thriller "Memento" is getting a rerelease in theaters to honor its 10th anniversary.

The Hollywood Reporter has the news that the Guy Pearce-starring flick will be in theaters again for one night only on February 17. The screenings will feature a recorded never-before-seen Q&A with Nolan talking to Guillermo Del Toro from a February 4 screening in Los Angeles.

Only 11 theaters in 11 cities will be showing the film: New York City, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington DC, Toronto and Vancouver, with Seattle in the works as well. For full information on the screenings, check out the press release here.

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Tags christopher nolan, Jonah Nolan, Memento, Person of Interest

Optimus Prime once uttered the words: "All we need now is a little energon and a lot of luck." Megatron's retort -- "More than you can imagine, Optimus Prime" -- more than applies to "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," Michael Bay's third and final installment in the robot-smashing trilogy.

Now, luck isn't required when it comes to the commercial side of things; based on the box office performances of the past two "Transformers" movies, there's little doubt that "Dark of the Moon" is going to be huge. But not everyone was satisfied with the creative side of "Revenge of the Fallen," least of all Bay himself -- and the director knows just how important it is to get it right for his final round in the "Transformers" series.

"I think it takes a while to get it right," Bay told MTV News about the creative process on the third "Transformers" film. "We did not want the third one to suck. We worked extra hard."

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Tags michael bay, transformers, transformers dark of the moon

If you've been wondering why more songs from "Annie" haven't been featured over the past two seasons of "Glee," we might have your answer.

You'll remember last month when we reported that Will Smith is rebooting "Annie" as a starring vehicle for his daughter Willow Smith, and now Deadline has a new scoop on the project. According to them, "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy is being courted to helm the film.

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Tags Annie, Eat Pray Love, julia roberts, Ryan Murphy, will smith, willow smith