Over a decade ago, Bryan Singer’s adaptation of the “X-Men” comic book franchise gave the modern superhero genre a kick in the pants, seeding action thrills with deeper ethical conflicts, and laying the groundwork for both the grander commercial success (think “Spider-Man”) and some of the more artistic-minded noodling of a wide variety of genre followers (see also: Ang Lee’s “Hulk”). A prequel to the original trilogy, director Matthew Vaughn’s ”X-Men: First Class” is a slick piece of pop entertainment marked by smarter than average characterizations and some solid performances, and it confirms that mainstream Hollywood studio films can indeed – with some effort, and the oversight of a savvy producer – still…

While Hugh Jackman was at Comic-Con to promote his upcoming boxing drama ‘Real Steel,’ he confirmed he’ll be appearing in the new musical adaptation of ‘Les Miserables’ and revealed who the new villain will be in ‘The Wolverine,’ ReelzChannel is reporting. In ‘Les Miserables,’ which is being helmed by ‘The King’s Speech’ Academy Award-winning director Tom Hooper, Jackman will portray ex-convict Jean Valjean. He also said that ‘The Wolverine’ villain will be Silver Samurai, which came as no surprise to ‘X-Men’ fans. Jackman confirmed that ‘Les Miserables’ will begin shooting in February 2012. His character was portrayed by Liam Neeson in the 1998 non-musical film version of the popular play….

Last weekend was devoid of $80 million+ earners and it looks as though the same will be true this time around. The only two new wide releases hitting theaters are Super 8 and Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer and while Super 8 does have quite a bit of hype around it, it’ll likely find itself on par with another top-secret JJ Abrams project, Cloverfield. Back in January of 2008, Cloverfield opened to the tune of $40.1 million. As for Super 8, it’ll certainly benefit from its June release date, but likely won’t beat out Cloverfield by much, perhaps only $10 million, giving Super 8 a $50 million start….

Yes, it’s Sunday, but aren’t you getting that summer vibe? Soon enough school will be out and offices will readjust their hours and rules to fit the new season. Regardless, Shockya.com will still be here to bring you the best of the best in film news every Sunday night. The latest movie updates are still useful beach and poolside, right? It should come as no surprise that this weekend’s Cheat Sheet is brimming with, well, for lack of better terms, unoriginal material. We’ve got sequels, book-to-film adaptations and role reprisals as we’ve got updates on The Hobbit, The Hunger Games, a new Dumb and Dumber potentially in the works and…

We’ve hit June; is it starting to feel like summer yet? Clearly the box office is getting in the mood because we’ve already had three $80 million+ openings. Will X-Men: First Class make #4? I’m betting on it. Not only is First Class the only new wide release hitting theaters this weekend, but it’s backed by fantastic reviews and a dedicated fan base. Back in 2000, X-Men opened to the tune of $54.5 million while X2: X-Men United boosted that number to a whopping $85.6 million. Then, in 2006, X-Men: The Last Stand blew both out of the water, kicking off its 18-week run with $102.8 million. First Class will…

Title: X-Men: First Class Directed By: Matthew Vaughn Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, Álex González, Jason Flemyng, Zöe Kravitz, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult, Caleb Landry Jones, Edi Gathegi, Lucas Till Don’t have the time or money to travel around the world? Just see X-Men: First Class. Within the first third of the film we jump from Poland to Switzerland to England to Vegas to Miami and more. But, of course, a little something is happening between jet setting. Well, actually, a lot of something. After catching a glimpse of Erik Lehnsherr’s tortured childhood and Charles Xavier’s first run-in with Raven, ultimately Mystique, when he was just…

Happy Sunday Shockya readers and happy Mother’s Day to all of the loving mothers out there. We’re back with a brand new installment of your weekly Movie News Cheat Sheet and we’ve got some big items to report. Not only is Paul W.S. Anderson putting together a historic disaster film, but the cast of Piranha 3DD is getting bigger and bigger and prettier and prettier. We’ve also got a handful of brand new trailers to show you, one of which proves Zoe Salanda still kicks butt even off Pandora and another that suggests Conan might just be more of the same. Meanwhile Thor is tearing up the box office and…

With the 2011 summer movie season upon us, an abundance of previews and predictions are starting to hit outlets all over the country. Now with all due respect to the authors who write these preview pieces; the truth is, none of us can accurately predict how entertaining a big-budgeted blockbuster is going to be. And that works both ways; for even the ones that we think may bomb, can actually turn into a nice surprise. So in the effort to offer an alternate preview – and to kind of contradict myself – here’s a look at the 2011 summer flicks that yours truly believes will venture into the coveted $300…

Of course we’re always here to bring you cast and filmmaker interviews from the latest movies, but why not get in on some of the action yourself? For their upcoming film X-Men: First Class, 20th Century Fox has set up a little program they call X-Perts through which you can use the film’s Facebook and Twitter page to ask your own questions. All you’ve got to do is Tweet your question to @XMenMovies or post it on the film’s Facebook wall. You can first start submitting your questions in March and each week a special First Class guest will answer some on the X-Perts page. Director Matthew Vaughn and producer…

20th Century Fox let us know that a movie trailer for “X-Men: First Class” will be released on Facebook in an effort to build a larger X-Men movie fanbase on the social networking site; the film already has over one million fans worldwide on its fan page. Entertainment Weekly also released an exclusive image from the trailer featuring Magneto, played by Michael Fassbender. It looks as if Magneto is in some type of practice room, since there’s a ton of metal bars everywhere, but we’ll just have to wait and see tomorrow when the trailer’s released. The film, as the trailer will show, follows the early lives of Magneto and…