Bad guys out for revenge? Yeah, Liam Neeson doesn't even break a sweat. 

It's been more than a month since the first trailer for "Taken 2" came out, the sequel to Neeson's 2008 action thriller sensation. 

Now, we're getting a look at the theatrical trailer for the film.  

The first half of the trailer rehashes much of the International trailer from late June: Neeson's Bryan Mills executed more than a dozen men in the first film and now their surviving family wants his blood.

However, the second half shows Mills going to work, enlisting his daughter as he once again uses his particular set of skills to get back what's his—in this case, his wife. 

"Taken 2" is in theaters October 5. Watch the trailer below: 

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After a few teasers and TV spots, the full domestic and international trailers for the new James Bond film "Skyfall" are finally online and, well, it's time to get excited. 

Scorpions! Stubble! Swimming! 

All is not well and good for Bond (Daniel Craig) or MI6. We get our first good glimpse of Javier Bardem's villain, whose bleach blonde locks give Anton Chigurh a run for his money.

'Splosions! Shaving! Shower sex!

The new Q (Ben Whishaw) seems more Doctor Who than John Cleese, but that's probably a good thing. And he's primarily there to provide flashy gadgets and guns, so we're confident he'll do just fine. 

Thankfully, Judi Dench's M keeps her post for another 007 film. No sign of the Queen, though.

Oscar winner Sam Mendes ("American Beauty") is in the director's chair for this installment, and while certainly an interesting choice, he appears to have done a fantastic job.

"Skyfall" debuts stateside November 9.

Check out the trailers below:

SEE ALSO: The 'Skyfall' teaser trailer that debuted during the Olympics >

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Independent Film Companies Raise $275 million To Finance More Indies: Emmett/Furla Films and Envision Entertainment collaborated in establishing the fund last fall for "high-end, star driven commercial features" together with wider distributors. Emmett/Furla has films due out next year starring a number of A-list actors including Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington, and Sylvester Stallone.

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Pixar keeps finding new ways to tug at heartstrings. 

A letter just popped up online written by Pixar filmmaker Pete Docter ("Monsters, Inc.," "Up") in which he encourages middle schoolers not to give up on their dreams and do what they love. 

See the letter and a transcript below: 

Dear Mr. Kelsey, 

What would I tell a class of Middle School students?

When I was in Middle School, I liked to make cartoons. I was not the best artist in my class — Chad Prins was way better — but I liked making comic strips and animated films, so after High school it was no surprise that I got into The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), a school that taught animation.

CalArts only accepts 25 students a year, and it attracts some of the best artists in the country. Suddenly I went from being one of the top artists in my class to being one of the absolute worst. Looking at the talented folks around me, I knew there was no way I would make it as a professional. Everyone else drew way better than I did. And I assumed the people who were the best artists would become the top animators. 

But I loved animation, so I kept doing it. I made tons of films. I did animation for my friends' films. I animated scenes just for the fun of it. Most of my stuff was bad, but I had fun, and I tried everything I knew to get better. 

Meanwhile, many of the people who could draw really well kind of rested around and didn't do a whole lot. It made me angry, because if I had their talent, man, the things I would do with it!

Years later, a lot of those guys who probably still draw really well don't actually work in animation at all. I don't know what happened to them. As for me, I got hired at Pixar Animation Studios, where I got to work on Toy Story 1 and 2, direct Monsters, Inc., and Up (due out May 29th this year).

So, Middle School Student, whatever you like doing, do it! And keep doing it. Work hard! In the end, passion and hard work beats out natural talent. (And anyway, if you love what you do, it's not really "work" anyway.)

Good luck,  

Pete Docter

In case you needed more convincing of what an awesome person Docter is, check out this other handwritten letter the director wrote to a fan.

SEE ALSO: New trailers for 'Skyfall' >

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After the literary mash-ups "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" and "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," as well as the stunning success of "Fifty Shades of Grey," we should have seen this coming. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Clandestine Classics is creating a new kind of literary mash-up, adding sex scenes that were merely implied before to classic novels. The list of literary works getting sexed up include "Jane Eyre," "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," and what is becoming a mash-up staple, "Pride and Prejudice. 

The reworked version of "Sherlock Holmes" even presents Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson as gay lovers. 

"The old-fashioned pleasantries and timidity have all been stripped away, quite literally," said the publisher in a statement on the Clandestine Classics website:

You didn’t really think that these much-loved characters only held hands and pecked cheeks, did you? Come with us as we embark on a breathtaking experience -- behind the closed bedroom doors of our favorite, most-beloved British characters. Learn what Sherlock really thought of Watson, what Mr. Darcy really wanted to do to Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and unveil the sexy escapades of Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre. We’ll show you the scenes that you always wanted to see but were never allowed.

If this is what it takes to keep the classics alive, so be it. 

The company released the new versions as ebooks on July 30.

See what Jimmy Kimmel has to say about it below.

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It took just 12 days for "The Dark Knight Rises" to reach $300 million at the domestic box office, the third-fastest movie ever to do so.

That's still two days slower than its predecessor "The Dark Knight" which reached the milestone in just ten days. The record holder is May's "The Avengers" which hit the mark in nine. 

It's widely believed that "Rises'" numbers have been hurt by the Aurora theater shooting. Still, while not a record breaker, the conclusion of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is a bona fide hit, already the third-highest grossing film of the year behind "The Avengers" and "The Hunger Games."

Its total after 12 days is $304 million, compared to the $334 million of TDK after the same amount of time, indicating the gap between the two will continue to grow in the coming weeks. 

Check out the list of fastest films to reach $300 million below, as well as the mark it will have to fight to hit, $500 million. 

All Time Fastest To $300 Million (Domestic)

1. The Avengers - 9 days
2. The Dark Knight - 10
3. The Dark Knight Rises - 12 
4. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - 14 
5. (tie*) Avatar - 15
5. (tie*) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - 15
*Avatar had $309 million on day 15 while Harry Potter 8 had $303 million

All Time Fastest To $500 Million (Domestic)
1. The Avengers - 23 days
2. Avatar - 32
3. The Dark Knight - 45
4. Titanic - 98 

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• Sofia Vergara's wedding proposal was captured on her son Manolo's YouTube show, "Vida Con Toty" on a trip to Chichen Itza for the actress' 40th birthday. Manolo explains Vergara received special permission to go to the top of the pyramids.  "Once they were to the top of the pyramid, my mother's longtime boyfriend, Nick, proposed to her," said Manolo. 

• Ashton Kutcher is the latest actor to launch his own web series, "Prank Lab," on YouTube's Machinima Prime channel. The program will showcase hijinks that ring familiar to his old MTV show, "Punk'd." The first five episodes are currently live here.

• Christopher Eccleston will play the villain Malekith the Accursed in "Thor 2."

• Larry David is returning to HBO in an untitled film directed by Greg Mottola. David will write,  produce, and star in the project. 

• "Two and a Half Men" creator Chuck Lorre is publishing a book titled, "What Doesn't Kill Us, Makes Us Bitter." 

• Katy Perry may be dating John Mayer. The two were spotted together in L.A. last night having dinner and holding hands.  

• TV executives can't wait to lock Michael Phelps as a sports announcer after his run at the Olympics are over. Phelps claims this year's London Olympics shall be his last. 

• The trailer for "Killing Them Softly," starring Brad Pitt as a hitman was just released. The film comes out October 19th. 

Watch the trailer below: 

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Marvel has hired an interesting choice to re-write Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy."

The studio has selected three-time Hollywood Black List member Chris McCoy to rewrite Nicole Perlman's initial treatment for the film.

“Galaxy” is the only new property in Marvel’s “Phase 2” of films (with the possibility of being joined by “Ant-Man”), to be capped by “The Avengers 2.”

While yet to receive a produced writing credit, McCoy is a three-time member of Hollywood’s Black List, reserved for the best scripts that haven't been adapted to the big screen.

He landed on the list for “Get Back” in 2007, “Good Looking” in 2009, and “Good Kids” in 2001.

McCoy’s comedic scripts all have “high-concept” aspects that hint “Galaxy” could be very different in tone then any Marvel movie before it. "Get Back" takes its lead characters time-traveling back to England 1966. “Good Looking” concerns a company that guarantees it can match clients with their soul mates. “Good Kids” is his most traditional script and centers on a group of high school overachievers who attempt to change their image after graduating. 

His scripts have been praised for their "quirky comedic bent,” which sound like the right tone for a film with rocket-launching raccoons.

It’s an interesting choice for Marvel to go with such an inexperienced writer, but his unproduced scripts clearly show promise. The studio has certainly made bigger gambles than this, most notably hiring Robert Downey Jr. to star in the original “Iron Man.”

They also likely hired McCoy for relatively cheap, in line with their business model of keeping costs low, a good decision for a movie concerning an intergalactic man-tree.

SEE ALSO: Nelly sued by the bank, must be the money >

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While the age of robots still may be some time away, one man has brought us a step closer to having our own automaton. 

Computer programmer, Mike Senna spent the last two years building a life size WALL-E, the title character of Pixar and Disney's 2008 film, from scratch. 

The California resident told Yahoo's "The Yo Show" he began working on the project after seeing the animated film. 

This isn't Senna's first project. Previously, he designed a replica R2-D2 in 2003, which he takes out on the street. 

Meet Mike Senna.

He spent 25 hours a week starting in 2010 ...

... laying out plans ...

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Ryan Lochte, Gabby Douglas… Katniss Everdeen?

“Hunger Games” fever spilled over into the Olympics when archery was announced the #1 cable ratings winner with an average of 1.5 million daytime viewers.

In the novels and movie, title character Katniss trains herself to be a skilled archer, using her talents to provide for her family and survive in the Hunger Games arena.

NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus credits “Hunger Games” with attracting interest in younger demographics.

No surprise, considering both the popularity of the series and the increase in archery sales since the release of the film.

However, some strategically placed tweets during the games surely helped as well. 

The archer who trained Jennifer Lawrence, Khatuna Lorig, competed for the United States, and NBC Sports Network capitalized on the connection. 

NBCSports directly promoted Olympic archery using the #HungerGames hashtag and referencing title character, Katniss in its tweets.

Lorig eventually lost the gold to South Korea's Ki Bo Bae. 

SEE ALSO: The top grossing trilogy finales >

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Spectators don't receive film programs anymore, except when attending a Broadway show. So, seeing one from the early '20s is quite a treat. 

Earlier, we showcased one of four posters for the 1927 movie "Metropolis" that was set to sell for more than $1 million at auction. The silent film by Fritz Lang revolves around a dystopian future set in the year 2000.

Now, we're getting a look at a rare film program for the same movie offering much more than just a look at the cast and crew.

The 32-page program made for the London premiere at the Marble Arch Pavilion on March 21, 1927 features interviews with the cast and director, beautiful collages of movie stills, and pieces on the making of the movie. One of the most interesting bits was a break down of costs to produce the film. 

Below we've shared a few of the most interesting pages along with a downloadable PDF of the program.

You can view the entire 1927 "Metropolis" film program here.

This breakdown shows the costs, labor, and number of people–along with wigs and shoe count–that went into making the 1927 film. according to the chart, it cost an estimated $15,523.10 to cover costumes and upwards of 3,500 shoes were in the film.

Page 11 displays scenes from the film. More collages can be seen on pages 9, 16 and 17.

The above page discusses the poverty of children used in the film.

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With two new films out this past weekend, it was almost a sure bet Batman may bow out of the box-office lead after a short two weeks.

That wasn't the case at all. 

The caped crusader easily took the third week straight at theaters away from new films "Total Recall" and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days."

Until we saw the trailers, many thought "Total Recall" was an unnecessary remake.

Farrell was a risk as the lead–yes, he just pulled in some attention appearing as a balding, bulging employer in "Horrible Bosses," but his last major standalone role was in 2008's "In Bruges." However, with actresses Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale as his lead ladies, the film looked like a joyride, mixing "Blade Runner" with the original film. 

After initial poor reviews, calling the film "instantly forgettable," word of mouth spread that the total remake wasn't totally awesome. With a few blockbusters yet to come this month ("The Expendables 2," "The Bourne Legacy"), fans rather wait for one that's worth its ticket value.  

Though the film grossed slightly more than its predecessor opening weekend, that's nothing to brag about after remembering the original film opened in 1990 when the average ticket price was $4.22.

Instead, kid flicks "Ice Age" and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" took stage at the box office this weekend. 

Out of the top ten this week are "Savages," and "Moonrise Kingdom." Originally, a limited release, Bill Murray's drama grossed $54.6 million worldwide in 924 theaters.

10. "Magic Mike" dips two spots this week to round out the top ten. The film earned $1.3 million, nearly a 50 percent drop from last week.  

9. "Brave" also drops two spots, but only about 33 percent earning $2.8 million. In seven weeks, Pixar's 13th film has grossed $341.3 million worldwide.  

8. "The Amazing Spider-Man" is quickly dropping out of the top ten. In week five, the film grossed $4.3 million, nearly ten million short of the original Sam Raimi adaptation. 

7. "Step Up Revolution" drops to the bottom of the latter in week two with $5.3 million. The dance film has earned $17.5 million overseas, bringing its worldwide total to $40.5m, a number that shall rise if it does as well foreign as its previous films. 

6. "Ted" continues to be the R-rated comedy that keeps on giving at the box office with $5.4 million. The unruly teddy has earned $280 million worldwide in its six weekends. In comparison, "The Hangover" earned $9.9m in its sixth weekend, but was also ranked six at the box office.  

5. "The Watch" only drops two spots during its second week in theaters earning $6.3m. The Ben Stiller comedy has earned a total $25.4m in its ten-day release. 

4. "Ice Age: Continental Drift" is holding steady in week four. Despite dropping two spots, Fox's hit franchise grossed $8.4m. The film has made a huge amount overseas bringing its worldwide total to $715m. 

3. New this week, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days," the second in the popular book series by Jeff Kinney, opened with a strong $14.7 million. 

2. "Total Recall" remake comes in at second breaking $26m even. The original "Recall" featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger grossed $25.5m opening weekend.  

1. "The Dark Knight Rises" can't be touched this weekend with a healthy $36.4m. In three weeks, the film has earned $733m worldwide. At the same point, "The Dark Knight" earned $42.6m.

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It has never cost more to see a movie. 

According to the National Association of Theatre Owners, the average movie ticket now costs $8.12, an all-time high.

The price of tickets actually dropped in the first quarter of 2012 from $7.93 to $7.92, but rose 2.5 percent once summer blockbusters like "The Avengers" hit theaters. 

Ticket prices have been on the rise since 1995 when tickets jumped from $4.08 the year before to $4.35, and never leveled off. 

The recent inflation of ticket prices can be largely attributed to 3-D and IMAX surcharges, but its far from a recent trend. 

Check out the evolution of the price of a single movie ticket, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners:

• 1948: $0.36
• 1958: $0.68
• 1967: $1.22
• 1977: $2.23
• 1987: $3.91
• 1997: $4.59
• 2002: $5.80
• 2007: $6.88
• 2011: $7.93
• 2012: $8.12

This is something to consider when one hears about a new movie breaking a box office record. "Gone With The Wind's" $190 million domestic gross in 1939 is a lot more impressive than "Avatar's" mammoth $750 million domestic total. 

While yearly box office revenue appears to be holding strong (between $10.17 billion and $10.60 billion in the last three years), actual ticket sales have steadily dropped in the last 10 years, from 1.58 billion tickets in 2002 to 1.28 billion in 2011.  

Perhaps what's keeping some potential ticket buyers away is the price hike. For a family of four wanting to see "The Amazing Spider-Man" in 3D IMAX and get a large soda and popcorn, they could have to shell out $100. It's no wonder some choose instead to watch movies at home, or not at all.

Home video dollars are declining as well. In 2007, 13 movies made over $100 million in DVD sales, as opposed to zero in 2011. Even Redbox, which provides daily rentals for one dollar, recently saw a 20 percent price increase. 

SEE ALSO: 'Total Recall' fails to escape 'Dark Knight's' shadow and the rest of the weekend box office report >

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"The Master" director Paul Thomas Anderson's first movie in five years is garnering rave reviews after some unsuspecting movie-goers were treated to a secret screening of the full film, In Contention's Kristopher Tapley first reported.

The audience at Aero Theatre in Santa Monica last week just came to see an evening showing of the Kubrick classic "The Shining," when theatre staff invited them to stay after for a "secret screening." The screening turned out to be the world premiere of "The Master" and was attended by Anderson and his wife, comedian Maya Rudolph.

"The Master" stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a disillusioned scientist and writer who decides to create his own religion and help an unstable drifter played by Joaquin Phoenix. Amy Adams also stars.

The vast majority of those lucky enough to be at the secret screening have heaped loads of praise on the actors, the director and the whole movie itself giving rise to predictions of a large Oscar presence come awards season. One audience member was completely overcome after the screening and took to Twitter to note that it was "possibly the best film watching experience I’ve ever had."

The movie, which is set to be released September 14th, has been highly anticipated not only because it is Anderson's first movie since 2007's "There Will Be Blood," but because it is said to be based on L. Ron Hubbard's development of Scientology.

As can be seen from the trailer below, the constant criticisms that Hoffman's character is "making all this up as he goes along" and creating a cult are pretty reminiscent of common Scientology attacks. The Church of Scientology has already faced loads of bad press this summer, so it will definitely be interesting to see how it responds to this slam.

We've included some tweeted reviews courtesy of Cigarettes & Red Vines, as well as the recently released and very cool trailer.

Reviews:

@michaelwhittle  "Possibly the best film watching experience I've ever had. PTA's best. Not a doubt in my mind. #THEMASTER70MM"

@TotallySketch "Just saw 'The Master'. A movie has never made me feel quite like this one did. I can't describe it or even rate it. I am speechless."

@aaldere1 "The Master was amazing. Oscars all over this one."

@LoganDoe  "@prfessorbigsock Hoffman is one of the finest actors alive. The Master is (more) proof. #themaster"

@pillowfightin "@cigsandredvines Saw The Master in 70mm at the Aero Santa Monica. Surprise screening after The Shining. Its like nothing yvever seen before."

SEE ALSO: "The Dark Knight Rises" Wins Again—Here's This Week's Box Office Roundup >

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The first trailer for "Zero Dark Thirty," the highly-anticipated movie about the mission to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, is now online. 

Directed by "Hurt Locker" Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow, this film was actually in development before bin Laden was killed by SEAL Team Six in May 2011, and its plot has been shrouded in mystery. There are even rumors that filmmakers were given classified information from the CIA for the movie.

At this point, "Thirty" could be an Oscar-winning drama that takes us behind the scenes of one of the biggest moments of the last decade, or it can be an action flick starring a very eclectic cast. It's probably a bit of both, just like Bigelow's "Hurt Locker."

Aside from the obvious ending, not much about this film is known, and this teaser doesn't clear anything up, though "Thirty" is setting itself up to be one of the must-sees movies of the holiday season. 

We did manage to screen grab an image spliced into the trailer that appears to be SEAL Team Six crashing into bin Laden's compound (see above). 

Pushed from its original October 12 release date until after the presidential election, "Zero Dark Thirty" reaches theaters on December 19 and stars Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler, and Chris Pratt. 

Check out the trailer below:

SEE ALSO: Last week's best movie trailers > 

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Warner Bros. announced its decision to move the Baz Luhrmann-directed film starring Leonardo DiCaprio from a Christmas release date to next summer where it won't compete with fellow DiCaprio vehicle, Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained." This could be a vote of confidence from the studio in the 3D film's box office potential or an admission that its Oscar chances aren't as great as initially thought.

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'Great Gatsby' Pushed To Summer 2013

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Great Gatsby' Pushed To Summer 2013
Warner Bros. announced its decision to move the Baz Luhrmann-directed film starring Leonardo DiCaprio from a Christmas release date to next summer where it won't compete with fellow DiCaprio vehicle, Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained." This could be a vote of confidence from the studio in the 3D film's box office potential or an admission that its Oscar chances aren't as great as initially thought.

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'Great Gatsby' Pushed To Summer 2013
Warner Bros. announced its decision to move the Baz Luhrmann-directed film starring Leonardo DiCaprio from a Christmas release date to next summer where it won't compete with fellow DiCaprio vehicle, Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained." This could be a vote of confidence from the studio in the 3D film's box office potential or an admission that its Oscar chances aren't as great as initially thought.

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Join the conversation about this story »

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Join the conversation about this story »