Danny Boyle puts us in a Trance

After 127 Hours 82, Danny Boyle put his filmmaking career on hold to direct a little thing called the Olympics opening ceremony, but now he has returned with a thriller that harkens back to his first feature, Shallow Grave 67. The Scottish actor in the lead this time is James McAvoy. He plays an art auctioneer who steals a valuable painting with the help of a gang of criminals led by Vincent Cassel. When McAvoy takes a blow to the head, he forgets where he stashed the painting (or does he?), so Cassel hires a hypnotist, played by Rosario Dawson, to extract the information. The score is by Underworld’s Rick Smith, and the slick camera work is by Boyle’s collaborator on his last two films, Anthony Dod Mantle, an Oscar winner for Slumdog Millionaire 86. A U.S. release date for Trance has not been set, though it could arrive here this spring.

A very right trailer for Wrong

Quentin Dupieux’s follow-up to Rubber 59 premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, where the majority of critics found it to be a disappointment, though there were still a few strong proponents. Wrong stars Jack Plotnick as Dolph Springer, a man searching for the love of his life, his lost dog. Along the way he encounters numerous odd characters including William Fichtner as a scarred, rat-tail wearing guru, a pet detective (Steve Little from Eastbound and Down), and a nympho pizza-delivery girl (Alexis Dziena). Look for it on VOD beginning February 1st and in limited release on March 29th.

A second look at 21 & Over

The birthday saga of Jeff Chang continues in this second trailer for 21 & Over. Justin Chon plays Jeff Chang, and Jeff Chang’s friends are played by Miles Teller (continuing to enjoy partying like he’s still in Project X) and Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect). John Lucas and Scott Moore, who previously penned The Hangover 73, write and direct this blaze of boozy glory. Look for it in theaters beginning March 1st.

Christopher Nolan picks his next project

Many fans wondered what Christopher Nolan would do after completing his Dark Knight trilogy, and THR got the answer this week: Interstellar. The script comes from the pen of Nolan’s brother and frequent collaborator Jonathan and is based on a treatment by Caltech theoretical physicist, gravitational physicist and astrophysicist Kip Thorne and producer Lynda Obst. Steven Spielberg was originally attached to the project, which involves a group of explorers time-traveling through wormholes and visiting alternate dimensions. Deadline adds that Nolan will merge an original idea with his brother’s existing script, and that the “ambition for the project is a film that will depict a heroic interstellar voyage to the farthest borders of our scientific understanding.”

Another look at Pacific Rim

The first trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s robots vs. monsters spectacle premiered in our last Film Friday of 2012. This week, an alternate version was revealed during Qualcomm’s opening presentation at CES. There’s some new footage of the Jaeger pilots preparing to battle the Kaiju, so check out the new trailer below. The director also made news this week when he admitted to The Playlist that he had been approached to direct Star Wars: Episode VII, but that he had to turn it down due to the number of projects he already has in development. One of those upcoming projects is a DC Comics movie called Dark Universe. Talking to IGN, del Toro revealed that the film will assemble some of his favorite characters including Swamp Thing, Constantine, the Spectre, Etrigan the Demon, Deadman, Zatanna and Zatara. Hopefully it will happen, and he still plans to have another go at Mountains of Madness with Tom Cruise. Pacific Rim opens in 2D, 3D and 3D IMAX theaters July 12, 2013.

Demoted from governor to sheriff

In this new red-band trailer for The Last Stand, the emphasis is still on the guns, bullets, explosions, car chases, and fist fights in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return as a leading man. He plays the sheriff of a small border town and is the only thing standing between drug kingpin Eduardo Noriega, his special Corvette, and his return to Mexico. To fight Noriega’s henchmen (led by Peter Stormare), Arnold enlists the help of Luis Guzman, Johnny Knoxville, and Jaimie Alexander. Forest Whitaker, Genesis Rodriguez, Harry Dean Stanton, and Zach Gilford round out the cast for director Kim Ji-woon (I Saw the Devil 67), who makes his English language debut. Check it out in theaters next Friday.

InAPPropriate Comedy: A title that's half right

It’s only January, but the early leader for worst film of the year has to be Vince Offer’s InAPPropriate Comedy, the new red-band trailer for which screens below (but, it should be noted, only if you press the play button). The infomercial king, known for the ShamWow!, Slap Chop, and Schticky, somehow convinced Adrien Brody to star in a series of comedy sketches alongside Michelle Rodriguez, Rob Schneider and Lindsay Lohan. Maybe Brody should have stuck to selling razors. It’s actually not Offer’s first foray into film; that would be The Underground Comedy Movie. See it, if you dare, or just wait for this new masterpiece to hit theaters on March 22nd.

Girls Against Boys (not the '90s rock band)

In this revenge thriller from writer/director Austin Chick (XX/XY 52, August 33), Danielle Panabaker plays Shae, a college student who is tormented by several men in the span of a few days. Driven to her breaking point, Shae joins her coworker Lu (Nicole LaLiberte) in a twisted plan of revenge that quickly gets out of control. Plan your date night for February 1st when Girls Against Boys hits theaters.

A new trailer and featurette for the Jackie Robinson biopic 42

It is surprising that the story of Jackie Robinson, the man who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball by signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, has taken this long to get to the big screen considering all the baseball movies that have come before. But the wait is finally over with 42. Written and directed by Brian Helgeland (The Order 21, A Knight’s Tale 54), the film stars Chadwick Boseman, in his first feature-leading performance, as Robinson, Harrison Ford as Dodgers exec Branch Rickey, Christopher Meloni as Dodger manager Leo Durocher, John C. McGinley as announcer Red Barber, and Nicole Beharie as Robinson's wife. Check out the new trailer and featurette before 42 hits theaters April 12, 2013.

So it wasn't the last exorcism after all

Poor Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell) is still possessed in The Last Exorcism Part II, a sequel to Daniel Stamm’s 2010 film, The Last Exorcism 63. Taking over for Stamm as director is Ed Gass-Donnelly (Small Town Murder Songs 66) who drops the first film’s found-footage style for a more traditional approach. Look for more impressive body contortions when the film arrives in theaters on March 1st.

A glimpse at Pixar's new short

Here’s a quick clip from Pixar’s upcoming short, The Blue Umbrella. The six-minute film will appear before Monsters University when it comes to theaters on June 21st. The story follows a blue umbrella who falls for a red umbrella, before nature drives them apart. Newcomer Saschka Unseld, a camera and staging artist, directs. The Wall Street Journal has more on the director and the film (with a few spoilers).

Quick notes: Rumors, release dates, casting news and more

• As you no doubt already realized, the Oscar nominations were announced yesterday; check out our full coverage for a complete list of this year's nominees.
• Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers will hit theaters in New York and L.A. on March 22nd before expanding the next week. - Vulture
• Charlize Theron could join Robert Downey Jr. in Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice. - Showbiz 411
• Bob Balaban is the latest star to book a room in Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. He joins Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, Saoirse Ronan, Jeff Goldblum, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, and Willem Dafoe. - EW
• Ben Affleck’s next directorial effort will be an adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s novel Live by Night about a Boston police captain’s son tempted by the criminal underworld during Prohibition. - MTV
• Godzilla is back from legal trouble with a new writer (Frank Darabont) and possibly a new lead (Kick-Ass star Aaron Johnson). - Deadline
• Jurassic Park will play in IMAX 3D for one week starting April 5.
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play Johnny, a cocky gambler, in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. His new character will join returning players Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, and Jaime King. Christopher Meloni has also joined the cast, as has Josh Brolin, who will replace Clive Owen as Dwight. - Coming Soon & Deadline
• Tina Fey is in talks to play a Russian prison guard in Disney’s Muppets sequel. - Heat Vision
• Nicolas Winding Refn will not direct The Equalizer starring Denzel Washington. - Collider
• Ang Lee is interested in directing Angelina Jolie in Cleopatra. - THR
• Steve Spielberg’s adaptation of Daniel H. Wilson’s novel, Robopocalypse, starring Chris Hemsworth and Anne Hathaway, has been delayed. - EW
• Human Centipede 3 will begin filming in May, and Dieter Laser will star alongside Human Centipede 2 star Laurence R. Harvey (though they will be playing new characters). - EW
• Connie Nielson will join Kevin Costner, Amber Heard, and Hailee Steinfeld in McG’s untitled, Luc Besson-penned action film.
• Ben Mendelsohn is in talks to join Jake Gyllenhaal in Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Mississippi Grind, the story of a gambler trying to change his luck.- Variety
• Mark Romanek will not direct Disney’s live-action take on Cinderella. - Deadline
• Brad Pitt as Pontius Pilate? Uh, okay. - Deadline
• Jack Reynor will star opposite Mark Wahlberg in Transformers 4. - Michael Bay
• Tim Robbins and Will Forte will replace Ty Burrell and Dennis Quaid in the Jackie Brown prequel, Switch, joining John Hawkes, Yasiin Bey, Jennifer Aniston, and Isla Fisher. - Variety
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 leads this year's Razzie nominations with 11.
• THR has Daniel Day-Lewis’ letter to Steven Spielberg in which he turns down the role of Abraham Lincoln (thankfully he changed his mind).