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Many skeptics have been asking how the "Potter" series can possibly live on now that the final movie, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2," is less than a month away from its release... and J.K. Rowling has provided one heck of an answer in the form of her new online social experience, Pottermore. We explained all the exciting details in an earlier post, but the announcement got us wondering what other series that we love could use the "Pottermore makeover."

Call us selfish, call us greedy, but we'd love to see these other properties get the same type of expansive treatment that Rowling gave "Harry Potter."

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Tags Game of Thrones, lost, Pottermore, steven spielberg, the lord of the rings, the matrix

When it comes to the biggest, baddest villains in movie and literature history, Sauron and his Mordor hoard from "Lord of the Rings" are easily in the top 10. First off, Sauron is the ultimate evil, and secondly, there just doesn't seem to be anything redeeming about any of his minions.

Yet one Russian novelist felt otherwise. In 1999, paleontologist Kirill Yeskov wrote a novel called "The Last Ringbearer" which revisited the climactic final battle of "The Lord of the Rings" from the perspective of Sauron's underlings. In this version, Gandalf is a war-monger whose sole purpose is to crush the scientific and technological initiative of Mordor while Sauron is forward-thinking by passing a "universal literacy law." It's certainly a different take on the story, to say the least.

Salon recently reviewed the novel in its new English translation, and though they debated whether it qualifies as fan fiction or something greater, the online mag felt the book was a soaring accomplishment all the same. And that got us thinking -- are there other stories begging a retelling from the villains' perspective? The answer is a resounding yes, and we've got our wish list after the jump!

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Tags alien, Harry Potter, star wars, the lord of the rings, the matrix, the twilight saga

The Wachowskis have had two films in the works for a while now, but since "Cobalt Neural 9" is still having trouble finding funding and "Cloud Atlas" is also slow to gain traction, it looks like the filmmaking duo has decided to look to new material for their next project. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that "Matrix" co-directors Andy and Lana (formerly Larry) Wachowski have teamed up with Warner Bros. for a modern urban retelling of the Robin Hood tale called "Hood."

They've already written the script and, unsurprisingly, will direct the film, though they aren't letting slip the particulars of the plot. However, insiders did say that the Wachowskis are already reaching out to some actors, including Will Smith, to star. Read more...

Tags Hood, the matrix, wachowskis, will smith

Joel Silver's got the right idea. What, you don't believe me? Just listen to the man in the below video, an excerpt from our chat with him during the press tour for "Splice." He understands the pitfalls of this still-developing 3-D technology. He sees a future in it for cinema, but not necessarily any need for revising history.

"I think the conversion to 3-D is not as effective as the movies that are created and invented and devised in 3-D," he said. "We have a few projects that could go that route and I think that's interesting." Projects like "Logan's Run" and "Lobo," both of which he mentioned in the same interview. Read more...

Tags joel silver, the matrix, Video

Don't worry, it's all just a dream. Certainly, the teens in this week's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" remake would love for that classic storytelling trope to be true. No such luck this time for the victims of Freddy Krueger, however. Regardless, dreams still play a major role in the re-imagining of the horror classic—as they do in countless other films and television series'. Whether part of a big plot twist or just a quintessential element in the overall story, dreams and nightmares continue to have just as much presence in the fictional world as they do in real life.

After the jump find five prime examples of movies in which the brain's subconscious world of make-believe plays a role, for better or worse. Spoilers abound obviously, but hit the jump to find out what dreams may come. Read more...

Tags Next, nightmare on elm street, the matrix, total recall, Vanilla Sky, Wizard of Oz

Not too long ago, we interviewed Peter Jackson and he broke the news that he was planning to bring back only three key “Lord of the Rings” actors for his upcoming “Hobbit” films: the stars who played Gandalf, Galadriel and Elrond. Over the weekend, we caught up with the veteran actor who portrays one of the beloved Tolkien three, and he told us how he’ll fit into the high-profile films.

“Elrond is in ‘The Hobbit,’ in the book,” explained Hugo Weaving, the “Matrix” breakout actor who portrayed the Lord of Rivendell and ancient, wise elf in Jackson’s three “LotR” films. “And yeah, I would love to work on that, with Guillermo del Toro directing.” Read more...

Tags Hugo Weaving, lord of the rings, peter jackson, the matrix, the wolfman, the-hobbit, Video

Super Bowl Sunday has come to be known as a holiday for football fans, but it’s also a memorable time for movie buffs. Over the last few decades, it’s no secret that million-dollar ads have nearly eclipsed the game itself, but high-profile film commercials are a relatively new phenomenon that has erupted over the last decade or so. With that in mind, and as we look forward to Sunday’s blockbusters, here are some flicks that unveiled crucial footage at Super Bowls past:

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (2009)

Last year’s biggest ad , a Variety survey showed that 83% of the people polled remembered seeing the trailer during Super Bowl – the most of any of the movie ads, which is unsurprising since it then went on to gross the most of any of the films advertised. Ultimately, the proof of that advertising power was in the pudding as the “Transformers” sequel would go on to make over $400 million in the U.S. despite the fact that… well, it kinda sucked. Read more...

Tags Independece Day, iron man, jon favreau, Robert Downey, star trek, super bowl, the matrix, transformers

Over at MTV Movies main, we posted an article exploring whether the Oscar nominations for “District 9” and “Avatar” could finally snap the Academy’s long-held sci-fi stigma. While writing it, I took a look at the list of the greatest sci-fi films of all time on IMDb -- ranked by hundreds of thousands of votes from moviegoers -– and was floored by some of the titles that earned little or no Oscar recognition.

Below are some particularly egregious crimes against the genre – with the actual Best Picture winner listed in parenthesis. You tell me – all these years later, which film is better remembered? Read more...

Tags 2001: a space odyssey, avatar, blade runner, district 9, fight club, king kong, star wars, terminator, the matrix

Everybody makes mistakes, even a three-time Super Bowl winning football coach like Bill Belichick. If a man like Belichick can cause a series of fatal game-changing events due to one bad coaching call — as he did during the fourth quarter of last night's game pitting his New England Patriots against the Indianapolis Colts — then you shouldn't feel too bad about breaking your mother's favorite vase or skipping out on "Drag Me To Hell" while it was in theaters. Alright, maybe you should feel bad about that last one.

But the Patriots head coach isn't alone in his ability to turn a single blunder into a catastrophic calamity — it's a storm that comes into port quite often in the hills of Hollywood. In fact, the following five film franchises have all seen similar collapses due to a fourth quarter fumble. Read more...

Tags Batman and Robin, indiana jones, star wars, the matrix, x-men

During last night's primetime press conference, President Barack Obama elevated his "hip" factor even further by dropping a somewhat indirect reference to "The Matrix" into his defense of health care reform. Here's the quote: "If there's a blue pill and a red pill, and the blue pill is half the price of the red pill and works just as well, why not pay half price for the thing that's going to make you well?"

Of course, any "Matrix" fan will tell you that the blue pill is the wrong choice. That one is Neo's (Keanu Reeves) out, his last chance to remain blissfully ignorant of real-world realities. The red pill makes his "blinders come off," teaching him the truth of what the world has become. Is the President trying to tell us that we should chillax in our blissful ignorance? Or am I just picking nits? Check out the video below and decide for yourself; the reference comes in at around 2:22.

Tags barack obama, keanu reeves, the matrix