Warner Bros./New Line Cinemas 2009 Sneak Preview in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy

Posted by dominie in Films, News on December 31st, 2008

2008 is coming to a close, but that just means a whole new year of scary stories, creepy creatures, ghastly ghosts, (need I go on?) are upon us. And that’s exactly what we here, from Warner Bros. Pictures, a 2009 preview featuring a hefty slate of films that will keep your fingers tingling, including a re-release of 2008’s biggest picture, The Dark Knight. What films are you looking forward to most in 2009? Check out the individual synopses, release schedule, cast info, and click to watch available trailers below (courtesy of ComingSoon.net).

The Dark Knight (re-lease conventional theaters and IMAX January 23, 2009)

Director: Christopher Nolan
Screenwriter: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman

Synopsis: The Dark Knight reunites director Christopher Nolan with star Christian Bale, who returns to continue Batman’s war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman sets out to destroy organized crime in Gotham for good. The triumvirate proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a rising criminal mastermind known as the Joker (Heath Ledger), who thrusts Gotham into anarchy and forces the Dark Knight ever closer to crossing the fine line between hero and vigilante. Visit TheDarkKnight.com

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Inkheart (January 23, 2009)

Director: Iain Softley
Screenwriter: David Lindsay-Abaire
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Andy Serkis, Sienna Guillory, Eliza Hope Bennett, Rafi Gavron
Synopsis: Mortimer ‘Mo’ Folchart and his 12-year-old daughter, Meggie, share an extraordinary gift for bringing characters from books to life when they read aloud. But there is a danger: when a character is brought to life from a book, a real person disappears into its pages. On one of their trips to a secondhand book shop, Mo locates a book he’s been searching for since Meggie was three years old, when her mother, Resa, vanished into its mystical world. But Mo’s plan to use the book to find and rescue Resa is thwarted when Capricorn, the evil villain of Inkheart, kidnaps Meggie and, discovering she has inherited her father’s gift, demands that she bring to life his most powerful ally, the Shadow. Determined to rescue his daughter and send the fictional characters back where they belong, Mo assembles a small group of friends and family–some from the real world, some from the pages of books–and embarks on a daring and perilous journey to set things right. Visit Inkheartmovie.com

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Friday the 13th (February 13, 2009)

Director: Marcus Nispel
Screenwriter: Damian Shannon, Mark Swift
Starring: Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Aaron Yoo, Amanda Righetti, Travis Van Winkle, Derek Mears
Synopsis: From Platinum Dunes and director Marcus Nispel (”The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”) comes a re-imagining of the classic horror film “Friday the 13th.”
Searching for his missing sister, Clay heads up to the eerie woods of legendary Crystal Lake, where he stumbles on the creaky remains of rotting old cabins that lie in wait behind moss-covered trees.
And that’s not the only thing hiding under the brush.
Against the advice of police and cautions from the locals, Clay pursues what few leads he has, with the help of a young woman he meets among a group of college kids up for an all-thrills weekend. But they are about to find much more than they bargained for.
Little do they know, they’ve entered the domain of one of the most terrifying specters in American film history—the infamous killer who haunts Crystal Lake, armed with a razor-sharp machete… Jason Voorhees. Visit Fridaythe13thmovie.com.

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Watchmen (March 6, 2009)

Director: Zack Snyder
Screenwriter: David Hayter, Alex Tse
Starring: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson
Synopsis: A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, “Watchmen” is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the “Doomsday Clock” - which charts the USA’s tension with the Soviet Union - is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed-up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion - a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers - Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity…but who is watching the Watchmen? Visit Watchmenmovie.com

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A not so ghastly ghosts (depends on your view of ex-girlfriends)
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (May 1, 2009)

Director: Mark S. Waters
Screenwriter: Scott Moore, John Lucas
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Lacey Chabert, Michael Douglas, Emma Stone, Anne Archer, Robert Forster
Synopsis: Celebrity photographer Connor Mead loves freedom, fun and women…in that order. A committed bachelor who thinks nothing of breaking up with multiple women on a conference call, Connor’s mockery of romance proves a real buzz-kill for his kid brother, Paul, and a houseful of well wishers on the eve of Paul’s wedding. Just when it looks like Connor may single-handedly ruin the wedding, he is visited by the ghosts of his former jilted girlfriends, who take him on a revealing and hilarious odyssey through his failed relationships–past, present and future. Together they attempt to find out what turned Connor into such an insensitive jerk and whether there is still hope for him to find true love…or if he really is the lost cause everyone thinks he is.

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Terminator Salvation (May 22, 2009)

Director: McG
Screenwriter: Michael Ferris, John Brancato, Paul Haggis, Jonathan Nolan, Shaun Ryan, Anthony Zuiker
Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard, Moon Bloodgood, Common
Synopsis: In the highly anticipated new installment of “The Terminator” film franchise, set in post-apocalyptic 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind. Visit TerminatorSalvation.com

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 17, 2009)

Director: David Yates
Screenwriter: Steven Kloves
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Jim Broadbent, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall, David Thewlis, Julie Walters, David Bradley, Jessie Cave, Frank Dillane, Tom Felton, Matthew Lewis, Evanna Lynch, Helen McCrory, Natalia Tena, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Bonnie Wright
Synopsis: Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hadn’t counted on Romilda Vane’s chocolates! And then there’s Hermione, simpering with jealously but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again. Visit HarryPotter.com.

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Orphan (July 24, 2009)

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Screenwriter: David Leslie Johnson
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder
Synopsis: The tragic loss of their unborn child has devastated Kate and John, taking a toll on both their marriage and Kate’s fragile psyche as she is plagued by nightmares and haunted by demons from her past. Struggling to regain some semblance of normalcy in their lives, the couple decides to adopt another child. At the local orphanage, both John and Kate find themselves strangely drawn to a young girl named Esther. Almost as soon as they welcome Esther into their home, however, an alarming series of events begins to unfold, leading Kate to believe that there’s something wrong with Esther–this seemingly angelic little girl is not what she appears to be. Concerned for the safety of her family, Kate tries to get John and others to see past Esther’s sweet facade. But her warnings go unheeded until it may be too late…for everyone.

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Final Destination (August 21, 2009)

Director: David R. Ellis
Screenwriter: Eric Bress
Starring: Shantel VanSanten, Bobby Campo, Haley Webb, Nick Zano, Krista Allen, Andrew Fiscella, Richard T. Jones, Mykelti Williamson
Synopsis: On what should have been a fun-filled day at the races, Nick O’Bannon has a horrific premonition in which a bizarre sequence of events causes multiple race cars to crash, sending flaming debris into the stands, brutally killing his friends and causing the upper deck of the stands to collapse on him. When he comes out of this grisly nightmare Nick panics, persuading his girlfriend, Lori, and their friends, Janet and Hunt, to leave… escaping seconds before Nick’s frightening vision becomes a terrible reality. Thinking they’ve cheated death, the group has a new lease on life, but unfortunately for Nick and Lori, it is only the beginning. As his premonitions continue and the crash survivors begin to die one-by-one–in increasingly gruesome ways–Nick must figure out how to cheat death once and for all before he, too, reaches his final destination. The film marks the latest in the highly popular “Final Destination” series, and its first 3D installment, giving horror fans an especially visceral thrill ride.

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Whiteout (September 11, 2009)

Director: Dominic Sena
Screenwriter: Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht, Columbus Short, Alex O’Loughlin, Shawn Doyle, Tom Skerritt
Synopsis: Carrie Stetko, the lone U.S. Marshal assigned to Antarctica, is investigating the continent’s first murder, which draws her into a shocking mystery. Now, with only three days until winter, Carrie must solve the crime before Antarctica is plunged into darkness and she is stranded with the killer.

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Where the Wild Things Are (October 16, 2009)

Director: Spike Jonze
Screenwriter: Spike Jonze, Dave Eggers
Starring: Catherine Keener, Max Records, Mark Ruffalo, Lauren Ambrose, James Gandolfini, Catherine O’Hara, Forest Whitaker
Synopsis: Maurice Sendak’s classic book Where the Wild Things Are comes to the big screen in an adventure tale for every generation.

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The Box (November 6, 2009)

Director: Richard Kelly
Screenwriter: Richard Kelly
Starring: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella
Synopsis: Norma and Arthur Lewis are a suburban couple with a young child who receive an anonymous gift bearing fatal and irrevocable consequences. A simple wooden box, it promises to deliver its owner $1 million with the press of a button. However, pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world…someone they don’t know. With just 24 hours to have the box in their possession, Norma and Arthur find themselves in the crosshairs of a startling moral dilemma and face the true nature of their humanity.

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Sherlock Holmes (November 29, 2009)

Director: Guy Ritchie
Screenwriter: Michael Johnson, Anthony Peckham, Guy Ritchie
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Kelly Reilly, Eddie Marsan
Synopsis: In a dynamic new portrayal of Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous characters, “Sherlock Holmes” sends Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson on their latest challenge. Revealing fighting skills as lethal as his legendary intellect, Holmes will battle as never before to bring down a new nemesis and unravel a deadly plot that could destroy the country.