Jennifer Lopez has been all over streaming over the past couple of years, starring in both Marry Me and The Mother in 2023, before her musical This Is Me... Now: A Love Story that accompanied the February release of her ninth studio album. Now she’s headed back to Netflix for the sci-fi action thriller Atlas. The newest flick, in which she must trust artificial intelligence in order to save the world from a rogue A.I. terrorist, is available to stream now with a Netflix subscription. Critics were able to get a look before its release, and they all seem to agree the new movie lacks depth.

Starring alongside JLo is Simu Liu — who absolutely shut down a journalist who tried to ask the Hustlers actress a question about the state of her marriage to Ben Affleck during press for the movie — with the Marvel hero switching over to the villainous side. So let’s see what the critics are saying about Atlas, starting with GamesRadar. Matt Looker gives the film just 2 stars out of 5, saying that similar to other movies dealing with the dangers of A.I., it isn’t all that clever beneath the surface. The critic writes:

Brian Truitt of USA TODAY seems to like the movie a bit more, rating it 2.5 out of 4 stars and calling Jennifer Lopez’s effort “scrappy.” Like the previous review, Truitt credits Lopez for what she adds to the role, especially when she’s paired up with the A.I. Smith (voiced by Gregory James Cohan). Atlas is definitely more interesting that a lot of JLo’s rom-coms, the critic says, writing:

Having a big star yell expletives at evil robots does sound somewhat entertaining; IndieWire’s Kate Erbland, however, muses that’s not enough to base a whole movie around. The closer you look at the weak narrative and cheap aesthetics of Atlas, the critic says, the more the flaws become too much to overcome. Erbland grades the movie a D+, saying:

Andrew Webster of The Verge agrees not even JLo can save this one, though the cranky and sarcastic barbs traded by the actress and Smith the A.I. almost make the movie worth the watch. What dooms it, according to the critic, is how seriously it takes itself. Webster writes:.

Angie Han of THR writes that Atlas joins the Netflix actions that came before as a movie best half-watched on a plane or while doing laundry. While the banter between Atlas and Smith elevates the movie a little, there’s a notable lack of exploration when it comes to the very topic of the movie. In Han’s words:

While there seems to be some redeeming value in the relationship between Jennifer Lopez’s Atlas and Smith, the voice in her A.I. suit, the critics all seem to think Atlas is middling at best. Still, if you like JLo, Simu Liu or artificial intelligence-related action, always feel free to check out the movie for yourself and draw your own conclusions! Atlas is available to stream now, and be sure to check out what else is new and coming soon to Netflix.

When Dwayne Johnson’s San Andreas came out back in 2015, it made a splash on the big screen and a slew of money worldwide. So much so that it seemed very likely Johnson and director Brad Peyton would team up for a sequel. Instead, they made Rampage and San Andreas never became a franchise. So, what’s stopping it? Well, two things.

Director Brad Peyton is coming off of directing a couple of episodes of the now cancelled Netflix series Daybreak. He has a TV mini Albedo coming up, but his schedule is seemingly open to helm San Andreas 2. Unfortunately, Dwayne Johnson’s isn’t and Peyton says that’s the first part of the problem, noting,

Obviously, this component of Brad Peyton’s comments to The Beat makes sense. First, Dwayne Johnson always has myriad projects in the works and in fact one of them Red Notice actually had to halt for a time due to recent global events. So, his schedule is, I would assume, in disarray in this point and there’s going to have to be some mastermind figuring out how to reorder the pieces as the world opens back up.

The Rock has Red Notice to finish; he has DC’s Black Adam movie to work on and promote; in addition, there’s the already-filmed Jungle Cruise he’ll need to do press for down the line. Those are just the big projects, too. Plus, at this point given it has been five years since San Andreas came out, we’re probably more likely to see the next Jumanji sequel before we see Brad Peyton’s vision come to fruition.

Speaking of, the director’s vision is the other potential obstacle keeping San Andreas 2 from hitting the big screen at this point, though he did say he has ideas, which would some square with some rumors about the sequel possibly being about The Ring of Fire a few years ago.

Still, is there interest in San Andreas 2? Other lead actress Alexandra Daddario recently said she would still be excited about making the movie, also remarking that the first one did well. So, really, there's no reason not to, in my opinion, but maybe that's wishful thinking.

Meanwhile, Jungle Cruise will feature a San Andreas reunion of sorts. So, I guess we’ll just have to content ourselves with that when the flick comes out next year as we continue to wait for the elusive San Andreas 2.

This poll is no longer available.

He has been dubbed "Franchise Viagra" for his ability to boost (and in some cases, flat out rescue) film franchises from Fast & Furious to G.I. Joe. So why doesn't every director move Heaven and Earth to work with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Well, many do. But the busiest man in Hollywood only has so many hours in the day. His most recent movie, Rampage, recently topped the global box office charts, and to celebrate the victory, Rampage director Brad Peyton joined CinemaBlend's ReelBlend podcast. We got to talking about Rocky, and the attributes he brings to a production, so Peyton -- who has directed The Rock three times now -- broke down exactly why every filmmaker needs this guy on their team. Peyton said:

This likely comes from Dwayne Johnson's own history with professional sports, having played football in college and -- of course -- dominating the WWF and WWE before breaking into films. Rock knows how a team should operate, and he seems to have brought that ensemble-based mindset to his film sets. Also, the man loves a challenge. And he'll never back down from a challenge. Brad Peyton has a very funny way of describing it, telling ReelBlend:

The Rock is on a roll. And a good deal of his success can be contributed to the fact that he does have complete awareness of what his audience wants from him. But it did take years for him to figure it out, and that growing process led to movies like Scorpion King, The Game Plan and Doom. His collaborations with Brad Peyton have been hits, so it was great to hear from Peyton himself how they operate as a team.

To listen to the complete conversation with Brad Peyton, give this week's ReelBlend a spin down below:

Rampage is in theaters as we speak. ReelBlend is a weekly podcast hosted by Sean O'Connell, Kevin McCarthy and Jake Hamilton. Follow the show on Twitter, and subscribe to the show on iTunes if you like what you hear!

As it turns out, The Rock + Large-Scale Chaos + Towering CGI Creatures = Box Office Success! Over the weekend, Brad Peyton's Rampage squeaked out a box office win over John Krasinski's terrifying A Quiet Place, becoming the number 1 movie in the U.S. and around the globe. So it thrills us to report that, as part of his victory lap, Peyton hopped on the ReelBlend podcast as a very special guest to discuss shooting Rampage, collaborating with The Rock on their third action adventure, advancing the art of motion-capture, and much more. We are so happy to have Brad Peyton on ReelBlend this week, so give it a listen above.

In addition to our exclusive sit down with Peyton, ReelBlend co-hosts Kevin McCarthy, Jake Hamilton and Sean O'Connell are gearing up for the debut of Joe and Anthony Russo's Avengers: Infinity War, which will hit theaters on April 27. Kevin is on his way out to the junket in L.A., and Sean and Jake are seeing it early next week. So this is the final episode that they can record before seeing the movie for themselves. Knowing that, they decided to pick three Marvel Rumors that they think actually WILL happen in Infinity War. Give a listen, then tell us in the comments if you agree or disagree.

Kevin also wanted to dig back into A Quiet Place, the horror thriller that keeps packing audience members into theaters. He didn't like it as much as Jake and Sean did, but we never had the opportunity to discuss the things that bothered him about Krasinski's direction. We take care of that in this week's episode.

And finally, our game! This week was dedicated to the films of Wes Anderson, and in a rare feat, #WesBlend produced three different answers from the boys. AND, the people playing at home via social media had a different pick, as well. Four different Wes Anderson movies! Listen and see which ones we chose for #WesBlend.

ReelBlend is a LIVE podcast that we do on CinemaBlend's Facebook page. As soon as we are done on Facebook, you can download the latest episode (and all of our past episodes) for FREE on our iTunes page! Visit. Subscribe. Like and comment. Review! Apple loves when you have star ratings and reviews, so if you listened, and you liked it (or even if you didn't), let us know. We also are on Spotify. And Google Play. And basically everywhere that you download podcasts. So download us!

Meanwhile, follow the guys on Social Media! We have an official Twitter feed for the show, so follow @ReelBlend. In addition, follow the guys at @Sean_OConnell, @JakesTakesand @KevinMcCarthyTV. We will be back at it next week, LIVE on CinemaBlend's Facebook page. See you then!

There is nothing wrong with a silly movie -- provided that it actually knows that it is a silly movie. There are few cinematic experiences more taxing than seeing a film approach a totally ridiculous concept with absolute seriousness, as it sucks out all of the entertainment value. If it's operating with a few winks and elbow nudges, however, a silly film can create an atmosphere suggesting that the filmmakers are trying to have just as much fun as they want the audience to have -- and that can be effective stuff. It's easy to enjoy a big, knowingly dumb blockbuster, and that's exactly how you can categorize Brad Peyton's Rampage.

The film carries the baggage of every single video game adaptation before it ranging somewhere between "not great" and "garbage," but Rampage is the feature to break this curse. Finally! It's crazy dumb, but it knows it, and that awareness plus the insane charisma of both Dwayne Johnson and Jeffrey Dean Morgan elevate Rampage to being a surprisingly enjoyable time at the movies.

The original video game -- which let users play as a giant gorilla, wolf or alligator destroying cities -- doesn't really have much of a narrative, but the combined work of writers Ryan Engle, Carlton Cuse, Ryan J. Condal, and Adam Sztykiel creates something that loosely hangs together. Dwayne Johnson stars as Davis Okoye, a primatologist studying apes in San Diego, California. He has spent years forming a close bond with an albino silverback gorilla named George (performance capture done by Jason Liles), but finds their relationship start to change when a mysterious canister falls from space late one night and sprays George in the face with a strange chemical.

The next day, George is discovered to not only be a whole lot bigger, but filled with enough rage to kill an enormous predator in a neighboring enclosure. Davis wants to help his friend, and gets much needed information about the origins of the chemical from scientist Dr. Kate Caldwell (Naomi Harris) -- but it begins to look like any effort may be pointless. Not only is George growing bigger and ever more out of control, but he is actually only one of three different creatures across the country that have been going through the crazy transformation.

Rampage is essentially an excuse to let Dwayne Johnson save the city of Chicago from a group of monsters, but you can also legitimately appreciate its commitment to the crazy simplicity of the source material from which it sprang. The perfect example of this is the entire mission of the film's antagonists -- played by Malin Akerman and Jake Lacy. They are the sibling owners of the conglomerate that created the DNA-altering substance dubbed Rampage, and it actually was their full intent to spawn giant animals. Of course, exactly what they plan to do with the animals once they've reached full size is never really fully explained... but the film also delivers the sense that it doesn't really matter. Claire and Brett Wyden are basically Saturday morning cartoon villains, committed to causing chaos because that's just what they do.

The film on the whole has a weird amount of fun with its ensemble full of recognizable faces, some of whom don't last very long at all, but the biggest takeaway from Rampage is the increased urge to see Dwayne Johnson and Jeffrey Dean Morgan make many, many more movies together. The former continues proving to be one of the most effortlessly charismatic action stars in the game, able to slot into any role and do his thing; but it's the latter who actually gets some of the biggest laughs and best moments in the blockbuster, playing a federal agent and self-described asshole who gets caught up in the monster mess. It's as though Morgan heard Brad Peyton use the word "swagger" and intensely honed in, becoming an over-the-top, shit-kicking cowboy dressed up as a spook. It would be a ridiculous performance in any other context, but it's perfectly at home in Rampage, and leaves you wanting more.

Aesthetically, the film is the kind of blockbuster that makes you wonder just how many scenes were put together on the same green screen-filled stage -- but doesn't look bad all things considered. A lot of the action is set during the day time, allowing the audience to get a real look at the creatures, and what's more the character designs are actually really great (in particular the performance capture work to bring George to life is about the level of what was done for the recent Planet of the Apes trilogy). The CGI is more noticeable in some sequences than others, but ultimately isn't enough of a distraction to take too much away from the movie.

Rampage is a movie that does require some open-minds and an acceptance of its silliness, but it really presents an open invitation for audiences to lean in. It's easily the best of the Dwayne Johnson/Brad Peyton collaborations (including Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and San Andreas), and breaks what has been deemed a curse on video game adaptations. You may shake your head at its ridiculous, but you'll be smiling at the same time.

Given the star power of Dwayne Johnson and the box office success of the original, San Andreas 2 was a project that entered development very quickly after the first one... but it hasn't made a ton of headlines in recent months. There are many reasons to explain why this is, but part of it may be the fact that director Brad Peyton isn't sure how it currently fits into his priorities. He recently told me,

Brad Peyton has worked with Dwayne Johnson on three straight movies - Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, San Andreas, and Rampage - and while he's open to collaborate again, he has no idea what the project should be right now. I sat down with the filmmaker during the Los Angeles junket for Rampage this past week, and it was at the end of my interview that I specifically asked about San Andreas 2. His answer wasn't exactly, "It goes into production next week," as it seems the thing is currently just hanging in the ether.

In the original San Andreas, based on a screenplay by Carlton Cuse, Andre Fabrizio, and Jeremy Passmore, Dwayne Johnson starred as Raymond Gaines, a first responder helicopter pilot. These skills come in quite handy when his home state of California is rocked by the biggest earthquake the planet has ever seen, and he has to vertically cross the state to save his wife (Carla Gugino) and daughter (Alexandra Daddario). Reports about the sequel suggest that it will involve what's known as the Ring of Fire, which is a circle of fault lines around the Pacific Ocean that is home to the vast majority of the world's quakes.

You can watch Brad Peyton talk about the current development status of San Andreas 2 by clicking play on the video below!

While we currently have no idea when San Andreas 2 might come together, fans won't have to wait long at all to see the most recent collaboration between Dwayne Johnson and Brad Peyton. Rampage will be arriving in theaters nationwide this weekend - so be on the lookout. Between now and then, be on the lookout for my review of the movie as well as more from my interviews with the director and stars. And to see the full slate of major films hitting the big screen this year, check out our 2018 movie release calendar.

Rampage is yet another attempt by Hollywood to finally solve the supposed video game curse that has seen the likes of Warcraft, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Hitman, House Of The Dead, Doom, and Max Payne roundly chastised by critics instead of embraced. But while there's no denying that the Dwayne Johnson-led Rampage is an adaptation of the 1986 arcade game that saw players taking control of gigantic monsters that reduced cities to rubble while trying to survive the constant attacks from military forces, the movie version does deviate from the source material quite a bit.

Last year, CinemaBlend had the opportunity to visit the vast and impressive set for Rampage in Atlanta alongside a group of other journalists. During our trip we sat down to talk to Rampage's director Brad Peyton, who has previously directed Dwayne Johnson in the likes of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and San Andreas. When Peyton was asked if there was ever a point in the development process of the film that they considered sticking with the premise of the game, and making one of the monsters both human and the main protagonist, the filmmaker immediately insisted that was "a solid no" from the get out. Peyton then added:

The first trailer for Rampage certainly suggests that the film has the same blend of comedy, action, sci-fi and destruction that has served Marvel so well in recent years. While the sight of Dwayne Johnson trying to subdue a giant and rampaging gorilla, werewolf and lizard should be preposterously entertaining. You can check out the trailer for Rampage below for proof.

Rampage is released into cinemas on April 13. to keep track of all the movies opening in theaters this year, bookmark our handy 2018 Movie Release calendar.

Over the years, we've seen Dwayne Johnson team-up with a number of notable co-stars, including Kevin Hart, Vin Diesel, Mark Wahlberg, and Zac Efron, but are you ready to see him work side-by-side with an ape the size of a skyscraper? If your response to that question was any variation of "Hell yeah!" you're definitely going to want to hit the play button on the new Rampage trailer featured below.

As we've gotten closer and closer to the release of Rampage, each of the various trailers have given us bigger part of the plot. The marketing team at Warner Bros. slowly rolled out the reveals of the three main monsters in the video game film, and now that that's done, we're now learning about a certain shift that seems to happen late in the movie. While there definitely seems to be at least one major sequence where George the ape, Ralph the wolf, and Lizzie the alligator unite for some destruction, the tide will turn and see George and Dwayne Johnson's character, Davis Okoye, fighting on the same side.

Based on the classic 1980s arcade game, Rampage features Dwayne Johnson as a primatologist who shares a special bond with a rare albino silverback gorilla. Things start to go a bit haywire when the animal is exposed to a genetically-altering substance that makes him start to grow at an incredible rate. Before long the gorilla and a pair of other giant creatures are on the loose and unleashing chaos, and it becomes Davis' responsibility to shut the rampage down - apparently with the help of his now-humongous buddy.

Rampage marks the third time that Dwayne Johnson has collaborated with director Brad Peyton, having previously made Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and San Andreas together. This film weirdly looks like a hybrid of those two features - though while those two titles wound up being kind of disappointing, this one looks like a lot of fun. With any luck it will be the first ever video game film that is widely recognized as actually being legitimately good... provided that the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot doesn't get that job done ahead of it.

In addition to Dwayne Johnson, Rampage co-stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman, Joe Manganiello, and Naomie Harris. The film will be coming to a theater near you on April 20th, and to see the full slate of releases coming out in 2018, be sure to check out our release schedule guide.

Video game movies don't have the best track record in Hollywood. While there have been a few that have performed decently over the years, be it critically or commercially, overall there have been more misses than hits with these kind of adaptations. That's led to the idea of there being a "video game curse," but Rampage director Brad Peyton is hoping to avoid succumbing to said curse with his cinematic adaptation of the monster-filled video game series. As he sees it, the main reason many video game movies have failed is because they were supposed to deliver the same kind of stories told in the original video games, leaving little room for taking creative liberties. As Peyton explained:

Brad Peyton also mentioned that he didn't even know what the "video game curse" was until two weeks after finishing Rampage, but he acknowledges that there's a lot of pressure to deliver on "spectacle" in the movie. Fortunately for the director, Rampage didn't require closely adapting an intricate storyline, as has been the case for features like Assassin's Creed and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The most important part of making a Rampage movie is having three giant creatures wreaking havoc, and once those core elements were identified, Peyton was able to construct a larger story.

Later in his interview with IGN, Brad Peyton noted that his ultimate goal for Rampage is to remind audiences that monster movies are supposed to be fun, even though the monsters themselves need to be scary. Through balancing this kind of action with the classic features of the Rampage games, perhaps he'll not ensure that the Rampage movie doesn't feel "repetitious to what already exists," but also succeed where many other video game movies have failed.

The Rampage movie stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as primatologist Davis Okoye, who looks after an albino silverback gorilla named George. When George, a crocodile named Lizzie and a wolf named Ralph mutate to enormous sizes due to a mysterious genetic experiment, it will be up to Davis and his allies to stop these monsters and revert them back to normal. The main cast also includes Naomi Harris as Dr. kate Caldwell, Malin Akerman as Claire Wyden (the main antagonist), Jeffrey Dean Morgan As Agent Russell and Joe Manganiello as Burke.

Rampage... well, rampages into theaters on April 20, and don't forget to browse through our 2018 release schedule to find out what other movies are coming out this year.

Horror, perhaps more than any other genre, tends to produce icons both onscreen and off. John Carpenter is one of those people, having written, directed and scored Halloween in 1979. Not only did the film introduce the white faced killer Micheal Myers, but it also cemented the career of Carpenter, who would go on to direct films like The Thing and The Fog. After a long hiatus from the franchise, Carpenter is returning as executive producer and creative consultant for the new Halloween movie from Blumhouse Productions, but that might not be his only job. According to one producer, they are currently also trying to nail Carpenter down to provide the score for the film.

In a live Facebook interview with Fandango, producer Jason Blum and director Brad Peyton discussed their new film Incarnate. Blum, who is a producer on the new Halloween, was asked about John Carpenter's role in the production. Blume confirmed that Carpenter would be executive producing the film. but he hoped that he could also get Carpenter to compose the score as well.

It's anything from a done deal, and a great score for the film depends on Jason Blum's negotiating skills. In addition to writing and directing the original Halloween, John Carpenter also composed the score. Said score has since gone on to become a cinema classic, and one of the most iconic themes out there. Getting Carpenter onboard for the new Halloween is a big win, but getting him to once more write iconic themes? That's some fanboy-ism this movie is going to need.

John Carpenter has been away from the Halloween franchise for three decades, and this new film will mark his return to series- if only in a behind-the-scenes role. After writing and directing the first and best of all the Halloween's, Carpenter wrote the screenplay for Halloween II, and Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Carpenter officially left the franchise before Micheal Myers returned in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, because it went against his idea of Halloween being an anthology series.

No director or writer is currently attached to the new Halloween, nor does the film have an official release date. Stick with CinemaBlend and we'll keep all the Halloween updates coming as soon as information becomes available.

Ever since it was announced that Warner Bros. is currently working on an adaptation of the video game Rampage audiences have been trying to figure out exactly what it will entail. That's because its source material simply revolved around gigantic monsters trying to reduce a city to rubble while the military attacked them. But, director Brad Peyton has now given us an indication of how Rampage will build this video game into a fully fledged cinematic adventure, revealing that the plan is to take a look at the laboratory that would make the lizard, the ape, and the wolf so enormous and aggressive in the first place.

Brad Peyton explained how Rampage will evolve the video game to We Got This Covered while promoting his latest film Incarnate, a supernatural horror film starring Aaron Eckhart. At the same time, he couldn't help but have a little dig at previous video game adaptations. Brad Peyton explained:

Seems to make sense to me. Helping Brad Peyton in his quest to bring Rampage to the big screen is Dwayne Johnson, which is rather handy as he's the biggest movie star on the planet at the moment, both figuratively and physically. Brad Peyton and Dwayne Johnson previously worked together on both 2012's Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and last summer's San Andreas, which grossed $474 million and was stupid but fun. Brad Peyton admitted that reteaming with Dwayne Johnson was just one of a number of reasons why he's excited to be working on Rampage :

Brad Peyton and Dwayne Johnson better get used to each other, as the duo are also developing Journey 3: From The Earth To The Moon and San Andreas 2 on top of Rampage together. Meanwhile, Incarnate will hit cinemas at the end of this week on December 2, while Rampage is set to beat the other two to release as it's due out in April, 2018, with production set to begin early next year.

Dwayne Johnson has already had a degree of success thanks to his partnership with director Brad Petyon, previously teaming up on both Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and, more recently, San Andreas. Now the duo are apparently going for the hat trick, as new reports say that they will once again be reteaming for the video game adaptation Rampage.

Deadline says that Brad Peyton is now in talks with the folks over at New Line Cinema, and should they come to agreeable terms the filmmaker will helm the upcoming monster movie. The film will also serve to reunite the director with producer Beau Flynn, who worked with Johnson and Peyton on their last two projects. Should he sign a deal, Peyton will also come aboard as a producer on the movie.

Based on the 1980s video game of the same name, the movie will see three monstrous creatures, a giant gorilla, a Godzilla-like creature, and a huge werewolf, simultaneously destroying landmarks in major cities across America. The only force that can stop them will be the films hero: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. Given that the point of the source material game was to cause as much destruction as possible, it's strange that the film adaptation is taking the exact opposite approach - but it certainly is a lot easier narratively to make the feature this way. Ryan Engle, who wrote the script for the recently-released Liam Neeson-starring thriller Non-Stop, is writing the screenplay for the project.

It's not a huge surprise that New Line would be excited by the prospect for reteaming Dwayne Johnson and director Brad Peyton. Working together on the $79 million-budgeted Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, the duo were able to create a worldwide hit that ultimately brought in $335 million and is expected to produce a sequel. San Andreas was a bit more expensive, costing a reported $110 million, but to date the summer blockbuster has pulled in an impressive $460 million. These projects have not received any real critical acclaim - in fact, the trend has been the opposite - but there's obviously money to be made when the actor and filmmaker are working together.

If this news excites you for the new Rampage movie, it's now time to drop the other shoe: the movie isn't scheduled to come out for a while. Warner Bros. has penciled the project in for a release some time in 2017 - which means that the movie won't even be going into production until next year. As of now, the plan is to have Dwayne Johnson make the movie next summer after he's completed him commitments on Fast & Furious 8. We'll surely be hearing more details about this project as it makes its way through pre-production over the next few months, so stay tuned for more updates.

A couple years ago, the dream of creating a Lobo movie all fell apart. There was no definitive answer as to why it happened, and it was mostly assumed that Dwayne Johnson was too busy to see it to fruition. But then Johnson reteamed with director Brad Peyton for a different project and DC’s intergalactic anti hero was pushed aside. Now, as the duo’s project, San Andreas is about to hit screens, the question of Lobo has been brought up once again. And this time around, Peyton shares what really happened to interstellar mercenary.

Over the weekend at the San Andreas junket, Peyton explained the problem of seeing smaller characters in the DC Universe getting screen time. There are just too many major characters to cover, before DC can get into the lesser known realms. Peyton told ComingSoon.net:

Lobo, who had previously been rumored to show up in Justice League has had quite the run in DC Comics. Originally created in the 1980s, Lobo went on to get his own comic in the early 90s and the Czarnian became somewhat of an anti-hero biker, often considered an over-the-top parody of Marvel’s Wolverine. Lobo had a short run as one of DC’s most popular characters in the 90s, so there are surely many fans out there who would love to see his standalone movie come to life. But unfortunately, the studio has delayed it, indefinitely.

Peyton, when asked if the success of Guardians of the Galaxy could help get the ball rolling with Lobo (as the two share similar space-traveling themes). But Peyton didn’t seem to have much hope:

So if and when DC sets up its team, is there a future for Lobo? It doesn’t sound like the cards are completely off the table. Though, since Dwayne Johnson first signed up for the character, he has committed to playing Black Adam in Shazam. Not sure that playing two roles in the DC Universe would make much sense if they are starting to connect them. DC has movies scheduled all the way up through 2020 too, so it will be some time before we hear about any forward progress on Lobo. For now, you can catch Peyton and Johnson’s latest project, San Andreas hitting theaters May 29.

Who knew that the one man we can rely on during a catastrophic earthquake is Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson? San Andreas’ final, enthralling trailer proves that the former WWE star and now bona-fide Hollywood darling won’t let a little thing like a mammoth natural disaster break up his family. An earthquake strikes California in a rollicking fashion in San Andreas' clip, which suggests that it's going to be a fun, brutal summer flick. You can check out the third and final trailer for the disaster epic below.

I’m going to put it out there and admit that I really, really liked that. While the relationship between Dwayne Johnson’s rescue helicopter pilot, his estranged wife (Carla Gugino), and their daughter Alexandra Daddario looks a little lame and hackneyed there’s no denying that the scenes of devastation look truly spectacular.

In the film, Dwayne Johnson will zip up the state of California in his chopper after the magnitude 9 earthquake leaves his daughter in peril in San Francisco while he’s in Los Angeles. And by the looks of the below image she better have her snorkel and wetsuit ready because The City by the Bay is about to confront a nautical apocalypse.

Dwayne Johnson is reteaming with Journey 2: The Mysterious Island’s director Brad Peyton and its producer Beau Flynn for the action thriller, while its script has been worked on by the likes of Allan Loeb, Carlton Cuse, Carey Hayes, Chad Hayes, Jeremy Passmore, Andre Fabrizio. Admittedly the number of writers makes me worry that the blockbuster could wind up being an uneven mess, ultimately suffering from "too many cooks in the kitchen" syndrome, but Peyton did a decent enough job with Journey 2, and his supremely talented ensemble cast should be able to paper over any of the cracks. Especially since the acting talent featured below is part of that posse:

Paul Giamatti’s presence means that San Andreas is already at least a two star film, and if its action scenes live up to the potential of the trailer, then it could be the surprise guilty pleasure of the summer. We’ll see if that’s the case when San Andreas is released on May 29th.

When Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson takes on his next opponent, which consists of actual rocks in the upcoming earthquake epic, San Andreas, he’ll flex "The People’s Elbow" to rescue people as an emergency helicopter pilot. In a brand new clip released for The MTV Movie Awards Takeover, the world’s most electrifying helicopter rescue pilot tells the laws of physics to know its role and shut its mouth.

With San Andreas, The Rock won’t be portrayed as he’s typically been on the big-screen, as a beefy bounty hunter, some super-soldier, or even a quasi-historical sword-swinger. Instead, he’ll glorify the real life heroes that are rescue workers…at which point, he’ll build them up to ridiculously superhuman standards that no one can ever meet, thereby completely depleting their collective self-esteem.

As we see in this clip, Johnson’s character, Ray, makes such a badass helicopter rescue pilot that he takes his bird out solo amidst what appears to be a continent-crushing catastrophe with zero f**ks given about the danger. Hell, he even steps away from the control stick, leaving the harangued helo parked in mid-air, in the middle of a crumbling, apocalyptic City of Angels. Of course, his motivation for this particular rescue is understandable, seeing as the damsel in distress happens to be his wife, Emma, played by Carla Gugino.

It seems that Ray’s motivation to keep Emma from being crushed by all of Los Angeles is so strong that some kind of forceful chi keeps his helicopter completely still, despite the fact that a giant skyscraper just collapsed to rubble just a few feet away. Perhaps the clip conveniently omitted the moment where The Rock looked at the colossal collapsing structure with an intimidating grimace and told it to "know your role," at which point the until-now unknown survival instincts of the Earth’s gravitational pull decided to make a life-preserving decision and heed his words, toppling the building somewhere else.

The big-budget bonanza sees the Brad Peyton, who directed Dwayne Johnson in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and its upcoming sequel, looking to revive the tried-and-true genre that is the disaster flick. From a visual standpoint, the effects look stunning, and the various trailers and clips we’ve seen seem to point to this being a fun, accessible popcorn flick that both reinforces the unfathomable dangers of putting a major metropolis directly on a fault line, and the overarching message that natural disasters are no match for bulging biceps and witty one-liners.

Joining the world’s most badass rescue worker and Carla Gugino in this cast are Alexandra Daddario, Paul Giamatti, Colton Haynes, Archie Panjabi, Ioan Gruffudd, and, for some reason, Kylie Minogue. San Andreas could be set to tell the story of how Nevada becomes beachfront property when it hits theaters on May 29.

Last week, in the wake of the box office success of Blumhouse Productions’ Insidious Chapter 2, microbudget feature producer extraordinaire Jason Blum announced that he would be exorcising another horror plot from someone’s head and turning it into its own potential franchise. And it turned out to be an exorcism movie called Incarnate, with Aaron Eckhart to star. Instead of changing their mind after looking around at the billion terrible exorcism movies in recent history, Blum and director Brad Peyton have added Rosario Dawson to the cast, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

While I’m sick of movies about possession, this is pretty strong casting, especially for a flick that’ll probably only cost a few million to make. Dawson, like Eckhart, is a strong performer the majority of the time, even when the movie she’s in isn’t particularly memorable.

Eckhart will play “an unconventional exorcist with the ability to tap into the subconscious of the possessed, who meets his match when a 9-year-old boy is possessed by a demon from his past.” Keeping it to the afflicted child motif that runs through Blum productions like Paranormal Activity, Insidious and Dark Skies. Unfortunately, they’re keeping a tight lid on the role that Dawson will be playing. I’m hoping for Satan, but it’ll probably just be a nun or the kid’s mom or something.

The fact that this will be directed by Peyton, whose only two films were Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, is more confusing than foretelling what kind of a movie this might look like. And it was written by Ronnie Christensen, who wrote the 2008 Anne Hathaway mystery Passengers and last year’s Dark Tide, a Halle Berry film nearly as terrible as Catwoman. (Not really.) I just hope Incarnate offers something a little different story-wise, and stays far away from the found footage treatment. It’s really just the actors and Blum’s track record that have me interested.

Dawson recently starred in Danny Boyle’s Trance and has a slew of films coming out in the next year or so, with the Diego Luna’s Cesar Chavez biography and Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For as the highlights, though Brian Horiuchi’s offbeat romantic drama Parts Per Billion sounds intriguing. She’s also in Atom Egoyan’s kidnapping thriller The Captive with Ryan Reynolds and Scott Speedman, but that just sounds like a walk in the park compared to Prisoners, which is now in theaters.

Since Insidious Chapter 2 made over $60 million in two weekends on a $5 million budget, production companies would probably sell their souls to get on board with this one. Blum has a first-look deal with Universal, but no deals have been made just yet. A Los Angeles production is being planned to start in November.

Since they’re already tossing the word franchise around, you can bet this movie has an open ending. But it can’t possibly be any worse than The Devil Inside’s ending, can it?

Dwayne Johnson isn’t keeping it a secret. He wants to star in a comic book franchise (even though the Fast & Furious series is cartoonish and he’s already joined G.I. Joe). He even once mentioned that he’s inching closer to playing a DC Comics character, and now we know that the figure he has been circling is Lobo.

Johnson was participating in the Twitter-based fan chat #RockTalk, an ingenious way for the action star to interact with his followers. One person asked about the persistent rumors that Rock was going to play Lobo in a feature film, to which Johnson replied:

Indeed. In doing so, Johnson confirms an earlier story we had about Rock’s Journey 2 director Brad Peyton helming the potential project. The involvement of Silver as a producer means it’s more likely than not that this will be pushed through to fruition. Silver gets things done behind the scenes. So Rock could be Lobo on screen, soon.

What does that mean? Lobo has been a part of the DC universe since 1983, when the company first introduced this alien bounty hunter. He has been referred to as DC’s version of either The Punisher of Wolverine, violent characters who started off on the wrong side but find themselves occasionally fighting for the good guys. In the books, he has crossed paths with the likes of Superman and Batman, so it’s possible DC wants him (and The Rock) in the mix if we ever start combining characters on screen in an Avengers-inspired mash up. For now, this is the next step in a lengthy process. But Rock is keeping his name associated with Lobo, so stay tuned.

Life is good for a director who helms an international hit, and that life is being lived by Brad Peyton right now. When Journey 2: The Mysterious Island was released back in February it not only managed to pull in $103 million domestically, but $222 million internationally (and all on a miniscule $79 million budget). Since then the filmmaker has been hired to helm the third movie in the series - which will be taking a trip to the moon a la Jules Verne- and has even been hired by Warner Bros. to write and direct a live-action movie based on the DC Comics character Lobo. And the jobs just keep on coming.

THR is reporting that Peyton is now in talks to helm San Andreas 3D, a disaster movie set in California that is being developed by New Line. As the title would suggest, the movie is about an earthquake on the west coast and, presumably, a race for survival of some sort. The script was written by Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore, but Allan Loeb (Rock of Ages, The Dilemma, Just Go With It) was brought in to do a re-write. The trade says that the movie will have a budget of approximately $100 million.

If you're making a disaster movie like this I really don't understand the point of hiring Peyton. As I mentioned in my review of the film, Journey 2 was a really ugly movie with shoddy visual effects, sets clearly made out of green screen, and fake-looking monsters. Why would you want someone who made a movie like that to helm a project like San Andreas 3D?

Thus far in his feature career, director Brad Peyton has found himself making movies for little kids. The filmmaker started in 2010 with the dreadful Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, and just a few months ago, his sophomore effort, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, found its way into theaters. Having seen both of those films, I must admit that I'm scratching my head over the news that Peyton has been brought on to both helm a film based on the DC Comics character Lobo.

Deadline says that Warner Bros. is giving the project another go and in addition to having Peyton direct, he will also re-write an existing script. A few years back Guy Ritchie was hired to guide the project into development, however, he was forced to abandon his plans so that he could make Sherlock Holmes 2. Though first created in the early 80s by Roger Slifer and Keith Giffen, Lobo didn't become a popular character until the 90s when he was revived as an interstellar, anti-hero biker mercenary. Both Joel Silver and Akiva Goldsman are on-board to produce the project, though the new report doesn't mention what they are targeting in terms of production start or release dates.

Given Lobo's darker edge - he's been said to basically be DC's answer to Wolverine - Ritchie would have been a solid fit for the character, but the choice of Peyton is kind of a mystery. The filmmaker did just manage to make Warner Bros. a ton of money (Journey 2 made over $300 million at the international box office), so perhaps that played a role in the decision. But what do you think? Are you happy that Brad Peyton will be the guy to bring Lobo to the big screen? Let us know in the comments section below.

A couple weeks ago, we brought you the trailer for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, the sequel to the 2008 3D adventure film Journey To The Center of The Earth. While watching the preview did you ever think to yourself, “Wow, I’d like to see how they made that movie!” then you’re in luck as we have a brand new behind-the-scenes featurette to show you. If you thought, “Man, this looks stupid and I don’t care about how they made this movie,” stop being a smartass and watch the featurette below anyway.

Check it out!

So I’m not exactly counting down the days until this movie comes out, but there are two things that I took away while watching this video: 1) this is the first behind-the-scenes featurette I’ve ever watched that didn’t have a talking head with the director (who in this case is Brad Peton) and 2) Michael Caine has one of the coolest voices on the planet.

Bringing back Josh Hutcherson to reprise his role as Sean Anderson and brining Dwayne Johnson, Vanessa Hudgens, Luis Guzman, Kristen Davis and the aforementioned Michael Caine into the mix, Journey 2 takes a young pack of explorers to the mythical Mysterious Island first written about by Jules Verne. The film is set to hit theaters on February 10th, and for more from the movie be sure to head over to our Blend Film Database.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was doing so well with his recovery. After years of doing awful films he finally returned to the action genre where he belongs, starring in movies like Faster, Fast Five and the upcoming G.I. Joe: Retaliation. But rarely do we see a full career recovery without a little backslide, and for Johnson that backslide is Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, the sequel to the 2008 Brendan Fraser film Journey to the Center of the Earth. Now the trailer for the film is online. "Maybe it won't be that bad," I thought to myself. Then I saw Johnson perform the "Pec pop of love." Oh boy.

Check out the preview below or in HD over on Yahoo!

In Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Sean Anderson - played by the returning Josh Hutcherson - and his mom's boyfriend (Johnson) go on an adventure looking for the Mysterious Island written about by Jules Verne, where he believes his grandfather (Michael Caine) is stranded. To assist in his journey is a helicopter pilot (Luis Guzman) and young, beautiful new romantic interest (Vanessa Hudgens). Directed by Brad Peyton, the movie also stars Kristin Davis as Sean's mother. The movie will arrive in theaters on February 10th, 2012 in both 3D and 2D.

We've known basically since the first movie came out that New Line was anxious to make a sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth and that Josh Hutcherson was going to reprise his role, even though star Brendan Fraser was going nowhere near it. For a while it looked as if Hutcherson was going to take over as leading man-- he's the kid who was almost Spider-Man after all-- but now the studio has brought in another actor with family-friendly credentials to anchor the film. THR reports that Dwayne Johnson is set to star in the film, now titled Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and filming in October.

Brad Peyton, most recently of Cats & Dogs : The Revenge of Kitty Galore, will be taking over as director, making Hutcherson pretty much the only link between the two films. Well, Hutcherson and Jules Verne-- the sequel will be based on another of the sci-fi author's stories, The Mysterious Island, which will probably be tweaked heavily for the kid-friendly film (the book is set during the Civil War, for starters). In this story Johnson will play a boyfriend of Hutcherson's mom who tags along when the kid travels to the mythical island to find his long-lost grandfather. In the book the island turned out to be the secret home of Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; wanna take any bets on there being a tie-in there?

The new movie will also be filmed in 3D, which would normally make me roll my eyes, but I unabashedly loved the 3D in Journey to the Center of the Earth and would count on it being just as fun this time around. Johnson is basically a placeholder as an actor, but I like Hutcherson a lot too, so I'm going to hold out some hope for this one. That doesn't mean I'll admit it when I inevitably see it twice in the summer of 2012, though, so don't even try.

I just got off the phone with Josh Hutcherson to talk about his remarkable performance in The Kids Are All Right, the new comedy coming July 9 which I'm pretty nuts about. All the news about Hutcherson lately has been about his audition to play Spider-Man, and while he didn't have any updates for me on that, he did confirm another big-budget sequel coming his way.

Hutcherson confirmed that, as reported back in May, he'll be taking over as leading man in a sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth. The original film was released in 2008 starring Hutcherson and Brendan Fraser, but with Fraser out and Hutcherson all grown up, he'll be the lead explorer and kind of a badass:

Filming starts this fall in Hawaii and Australia under the direction of Brad Peyton, who's responsible for this summer's Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. Given that an adventure in the lost city of Atlantis was teased at the end of the first film and by original director Eric Brevig, I wouldn't be surprised to see Hutcherson and company diving underwater at those tropical shooting locations.

Much as I really would like to see Hutcherson tackle the Spidey role, though, I'm afraid his commitment to the Journey sequel makes the Spider-Man job seem a little iffier. Sony has already set the superhero film for a July 2012 release date, which means shooting needs to get started very, very soon in order to leave time for all the necessary effects work. Yes, they could definitely put things off until early next year in order to let Hutcherson do both, but I worry they might opt for an actor who doesn't already have a major action franchise getting in the way. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the kid, but then again, given how much I unabashedly love the cheesy first Journey film, I'm totally looking forward to the Hutcherson-led sequel.

New Line Cinema has been pushing for a sequel to their surprisingly fun (and surprisingly lucrative) Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D for awhile now. Unfortunately their star hasn’t been interested. It was back in April that we first heard Brendan Fraser might bail on Journey 2 if they went forward with it, and now it’s happened.

Deadline says Journey to the Center of the Earth 2 is happening with Brad Peyton in the director’s chair and Brendan Fraser anywhere but on the set. Fraser won’t be involved at all, sort of baffling when you consider his recent career path. It’s not like he has standards or anything and Journey was pretty much the only halfway decent thing he’s done in more than half a decade. It seems Fraser was loyal to the film’s previous director Eric Brevig, and Brevig was too busy with Yogi Bear to do the sequel.

Apparently there’s still some slim but unlikely chance that Brendan could still put on his 3D glasses and join in the fun, but for now it’s safe to assume Journey is moving on. If he’s out, Josh Hutcherson will become the movie’s lead. In the last film he was the annoying little kid who got into all sorts of 3D trouble. Recently he’s grown up and New Line will hope a young adult Hutcherson can carry a movie.

They’re also betting on mostly unproven director Brad Peyton who has 3D experienced, having recently directed the post-converted Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. I know, who’d have thought that would be a plus on anyone’s resume? Apparently it is.

Back in 2008 Journey to the Center of the Earth was one of the first digital 3D films I had ever seen, and I thought it was a blast. Full of cheesy action sequences in which things flew out of the screen for no reason, and a typically hammy Brendan Fraser performance, it was like going to an amusement park in your theater-- an experience very, very few 3D films have matched since.

Quite honestly, I had kind of forgotten about the movie in the intervening years, but New Line didn't-- the studio is still planning a sequel, and apparently caught up in the 3D gold rush, they're trying to move fast. Deadline Hollywood reports that the production is aiming for a fall 2011 release date, which is so fast that original director Eric Brevig wouldn't be able to come back-- and with him goes Brendan Fraser too. New Line is trying to bring in someone like Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore director Brad Peyton, but without Brevig Fraser will bounce, leaving Josh Hutcherson, who played Fraser's son in the film, to take over the lead role.

The first film really only felt a step or two above totally cheesy 3D exploitation, and it now seems inevitable that the sequel will be exactly that. Fraser is probably smart to bail, but then again, he made Furry Vengeance too, so I'm not sure exactly where his head is right now.