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Any time you've got an alien life form that mimics and then kills some poor unsuspecting victims and their dogs in Antarctica, you know you're in for a treat. "The Thing," a prequel and quasi-remake of John Carpenter's 1982 horror classic, hits theaters today starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead ("Scott Pilgrim vs. The World") and Joel Edgerton ("Warrior"). The new movie sticks closely to the formula from the original, while exploring what happened to the Norwegian team featured in the beginning of the Kurt Russell film.

MTV News' Vanessa WhiteWolf thinks you should definitely see "The Thing," and here are five reasons to check it out in theaters this weekend.

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FROM MTV MOVIES: It's a horror-movie question almost 30 years in the making: What the hell happened to the Norwegian researchers discovered toward the beginning of the 1982 John Carpenter cult fave "The Thing"?

Kurt Russell and his crew do end up stumbling into some terrifying answers, but Carpenter's flick concentrates on the alien horrors the Americans endure. The 2011 fall movie season, however, is set to uncover what really happened before Russell touched down in the Antarctic, as director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. delivers a prequel story, also called "The Thing," to theaters on October 14.

As part of MTV News' Fall Movie Preview, we're not only debuting an exclusive clip and photo from the horror flick about an alien able to mimic the likenesses of other life forms, but we sat down for a chat with star Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays a young researcher confronting the extraterrestrial danger. She spoke about the pressures of remaking a classic, the criticism from some corners about introducing a central female character to the action, and the challenges of reinventing an alien creature while staying true to its original form.

Read the full story at MTV Movies!

Tags Mary Elizabeth Winstead, the thing

It's shaping up to be quite a week for both trailers and horror movie news. Focusing on the latter first, rumors centering on an "Evil Dead" remake have been building to a fever pitch all week long, and now, we've got some concrete news.

Deadline reports that, yes, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell are indeed remaking "Evil Dead" — again — with Fede Alvarez directing and, get this, "Juno" writer Diablo Cody doing revisions on the latest draft. Pretty cool team! Still no word on whether or not Campbell is playing Ash again, though we all know there's only one king we hail to, baby. We'll keep you posted on the remake as more news comes in.

In the meantime, check out two new trailers that just arrived online that are sure to get your pulses pounding.

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Tags Contagion, evil dead, the thing

It was an excellent year for theatergoers in 2010, and by all accounts, 2011 is shaping up to be just as exciting. From high octane action thrillers and comic-book adaptations to gut-busting comedies and family fare, there's no shortage of highly anticipated films coming our way in the New Year.

We're offering a detailed look at 30 of the most exciting movies that 2011 has to offer, starting chronologically with this January's slate of flicks and culminating with next December's holiday releases. Monday, we revealed the first 10 must-see movies of 2011 ("Green Hornet," "Sucker Punch," etc.), yesterday we unveiled 10 more awesome '11 flicks (including summer blockbusters "Thor," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" and "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"), and today we've got the final 10 films on our list (including superhero tentpole "Captain America" and surefire holiday-season hits like "Sherlock Holmes 2" and "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"). So hit the jump for the scoop on these movies, and click on the photo below to see pics from 2011's most eagerly anticipated flicks. Read more...

Tags breaking dawn, captain america, Cowboys & Aliens, mission impossible ghost protocol, moneyball, Sherlock Holmes 2, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Muppets, the thing

The new year is here, and with it a time for reflection on the past year and things we resolve to do better in the coming 365 days. The New York Times talked to some studio executives last week about whether Hollywood had learned its lessons from the flops in 2010 and was going to lead us into a great year for movies in 2011. Amy Pascal, Sony's co-chairwoman shared: "We think the future is about filmmakers with original voices. Original is good, and good is commercial."

Original voices maybe, but original film stories not so much. Despite the fact that some of this year's most-loved films were new ideas ("Black Swan," "Despicable Me" and "Inception"), the biggest moneymakers followed the too-familiar trend of sequels, reboots and remakes ("Toy Story 3," "Iron Man 2" and "Alice in Wonderland"). And while studio execs might be professing that change is in the air for 2011, looking at a list of next year's films shows a whole lot of the same.

Here's a breakdown: Of the 93 films hitting theaters next year, 29 are original; 28 are either adaptations or based on true events (but not twisted into thrillers like "Apollo 18" and "The Rite"); 34 are either reboots, remakes or sequels; and two are documentaries (hi there, "African Cats" and "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never"). After the jump we'll take a look at them and see if studios really have learned lessons from 2010's biggest flops. Read more...

Tags alice in wonderland, arthur, battle los angeles, black swan, breaking dawn, captain america, cowboys and aliens, Despicable Me, Fast Five, green hornet, green lantern, Hall Pass, hanna, harry potter and the deathly hallows, how to train your dragon, inception, iron man 2, no strings attached, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, priest, rango, Rio, Rise of the Apes, Scream 4, Source Code, sucker punch, Super 8, the dilemma, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Muppets, The Sitter, The Smurfs, the thing, the tourist, thor, tintin, toy story 3, your highness, Zookeeper

Let's clear a couple things up about the upcoming horror flick "The Thing." Firstly, it is NOT a remake of John Carpenter's 1982 sci-fi horror classic; in fact, it's a prequel that follows an international group of scientists who, while at a Norwegian outpost in Antarctica, discover an alien that is able to assume the physical identity of anything it touches. Secondly, while promoting the film at New York Comic Con, stars Joel Edgerton and Eric Christian Olsen told MTV News that purists can rest easy: The film won't be "the spring break version of 'The Thing.'"

MTV asked Edgerton and Olsen whether the film's two -- count 'em, two -- female cast members, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Kim Bubbs, were intimidated by the male-to-female ratio, and the actors replied by laughingly boasting of their own overabundance of masculinity. "This facial hair just screams testosterone," said Olsen, while Edgerton said his hair "just keeps going [all the way down my body]." That visual -- and a couple more jokes about their "feminine side" and on-set "crying and whimpering" -- aside, the two got semi-serious enough to talk about how the film will stack up to the expectations of fans of the original "Thing." Read more...

Tags eric christian olsen, Joel Edgerton, kim bubbs, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, nycc 2010, the thing, Video

The blistering heat wave barreling through the American Northeast region has left many of us here at MTV News headquarters -- well, hot. With temperatures breaking through to the triple digits, your friendly neighborhood Movies Blog contributors could sure use a nice, cold lemonade right about now.

Those of you spending your day in similarly brutal weather conditions might find yourselves pining for colder weather, perhaps even a downright arctic climate. But on that last count, let's just take a step back and reflect upon what we've learned from the movies: as nice as cold weather sounds right about now, I think we can all agree that overwhelming heat is better than terrible death by vampires, Stormtroopers and menacing aliens.

After the jump, find five arctic cautionary tales to keep in mind as you fantasize about colder weather during this heat wave. Read more...

Tags 30 days of night, Ice Age, The Day After Tomorrow, the empire strikes back, the thing

-- Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse won't explain the ending of "Lost" after it airs. Lindelof says: "We're going to be as definitive as we can be and say this is our ending, but there's no way to end the show where the fans aren't going to say, 'What did they mean by this?' Which is why we're not going to explain it." [The Live Feed]

-- It is necessary for Shia LaBeouf to die in "The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman," his upcoming "romantic actioner" about a man who falls in love with an irresistible but potentially lethal woman. [Collider]

-- Dwayne Johnson is rolling up his sleeves and getting back into the action game with "Protection," a new thriller directed by Simon West about a Mexico City security operative's attempts to smuggle a high-ranking judge's daughter across the border while being chased by dangerous assailants. [The Hollywood Reporter] Read more...

Tags Carlton Cuse, damon lindelof, Drew Barrymore, dwayne johnson, Here Comes The Boom, Joel Edgerton, john krasinski, Ken Kwapis, kevin james, kristen bell, lost, Protection, shia labeouf, simon west, the dailies, The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, the thing, veronica mars, Whales

Earlier we reported that Sam Mendes or Adam Shankman may direct Robert Downey Jr. in a sort of prequel to "The Wizard of Oz" called "Oz, the Great and Powerful." The Joe Roth-produced, Mitchell Kapner-scripted origin film detailing the backstory of the titular Wizard resides at Disney.

Unlike a lot of recent prequels, "Oz" won't be dealing with the origin of a villain in an attempt to explain or humanize the character (see the "Star Wars" prequels, "The Scorpion King," and "Hannibal Rising" for examples). For one, the Wizard comes from meager beginnings, a former resident of Kansas just like Dorothy Gale. What's more, he's not exactly a villainous figure.

What he is is a potentially compelling story for the big screen. Fans would like to see where the Wizard comes from, in the same way they'd like to see the origin tales for these other well-known franchises. Read more...

Tags alien, Bourne, Oz The Great and Powerful, Planet of the Apes, the thing, Wicked

-- Sacha Baron Cohen has allegedly been offered the leading role in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," the long delayed remake of the 1947 comedy of the same name. Cohen would star as the title character, a writer whose overactive imagination leads to some intriguing fantasies. [Pajiba]

-- Garrett Hedlund of the upcoming "Tron Legacy" is in talks to star as Dean Moriarty in "On The Road," Walter Salles' adaptation of the classic Jack Kerouac novel. Filming is slated to begin this summer. [Production Weekly] Read more...

Tags garrett hedlund, Hobo With A Shotgun, Jonathan Lloyd Walker, machete, On The Road, Oren Moverman, Paddy Considine, Rampart, Rutget Hauer, Sacha Baron Cohen, the dailies, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the thing, Tyrannosaur