Film News: Preacher TV series gets green light from AMC; extended look at Game of Thrones season 5

AMC CONFIRM PREACHER TV SHOW WITH SETH ROGEN & EVAN GOLDBERG
The ultra-violent story of a vampire, a deadly assassin and a preacher with supernatural powers who set out on a quest to hold God responsible for the state of his creation, Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's controversial, critically acclaimed DC Comics series Preacher has been in 'development hell' for over a decade, with attempts to bring it to both the big screen and network television falling at various hurdles. A planned HBO pilot even went so far as to create a makeup test for one of the series' best-loved characters, tragic wannabe-superhero Arseface, but nothing ever made it to film – back in 2006, the network still considered the source material to be too controversial. Sam Mendes was rumoured to be attached to a film version, which also ended up being shelved. 

Now, The Hollywood Reporter confirms that AMC, the network behind global hits like Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead, have confirmed that Preacher is being developed for TV by Seth Rogen and his Knocked Up and Superbad producer Evan Goldberg, with Breaking Bad producer Sam Catlin acting as showrunner. 

The series' original writer, Garth Ennis, released a statement about the news, confirming that he trusts the team of Rogen, Godlberg and Catlin with the project's reins: "Steve Dillon and I are very happy to see Preacher being developed for TV, which seems a much more natural home for the story than a 2-hour movie," Ennis is quoted as saying on website Comics Alliance.

"I’m particularly impressed that Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Sam Catlin understand Preacher fully –meaning they get it for what it is, not some vague approximation. All in all, it looks like Preacher can now be brought to TV in a way that I’d previously not have thought possible, and I very much appreciate that Steve and I have been included in the conversation in the way that we have." Here's Garth Ennis talking about the genesis of the original series with Monkey Do Monkey Be.

15-MINUTE TRAILER FOR GAME OF THRONES: SEASON 4
It's the most hotly-anticipated season premiere of the year so far – swords, sorcery and sex-fest Game of Thrones returns to British screens on 4 April, and eager fans are keen to learn the fate of beleagured Night's Watch double-agent Jon Snow, dragon-rearing queen-in-exile Daenerys Targaryen, and scar-faced diminutive sarcasm generator Tyrion Lannister. 

Having been thoroughly lampooned by South Park, shamelessly imitated by every show from the forthcoming Outlander to the BBC's rather limp The Musketeers, and with its 'Red Wedding' episode proving to be perhaps last year's biggest and most hilarious Tweet-in, there's little doubt in our minds that Season 4 of Game of Thrones will prove to be just as big a sensation as the 3 seasons which took it to the top of most people's 'must watch' list for 2013. Here's a 15-minute appetiser for the series, featuring cast interviews, behind the scenes footage, and a whole host of hints about the characters, locations and storylines coming up. 

THE RUMOUR MILL: THE RETURN OF ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, NO WILL SMITH FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY 2, MARVEL'S RUNAWAYS & AKIRA ON HOLD
Brace yourself - the classic John Carpenter post-apocalypse franchise which started with Escape From New York looks set for a return to the big screen, but this time, it won't be Carpenter holding the reins (which is perhaps for the best, given the mess he made of Escape From LA). So who's helming the new incarnation of this dystopian classic? It's Joel Silver, the man behind Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, and, er, Road House. Joking aside, Silver has serious chops as a producer – his first film credit was producer on the Walter Hill classic The Warriors, and he was also one of the main producers behind the Matrix trilogy – so perhaps he's a safe pair of hands for a possible Plissken re-boot?

"It has been floating around LA or at least in the development world for a long time," Silver told Collider in a recent interview. "I always liked Kurt’s character, the Snake Plissken character, so I’ve always liked that idea, but we kind of figured out a way to do almost a trilogy of [the original] story." Silver goes on to reveal his inspiration for this re-telling: "There was a videogame that came out a few years ago called Arkham City, which shows how Gotham became this kind of walled prison... they never deal with that in the story of Escape From New York, so [that is] part of our story. And then, in the middle of the story would be the movie that we previously saw about how the President’s daughter goes down, [and Snake] has to go in and get her... I would like to then kind of find a way to have New York go back to a place that we’d like to see today. So there is a way to tell the story in three ways,” he concludes, “but we haven’t got there yet and we’re just starting." We'll keep you updated as this one unfolds.

It appears Will Smith will not be appearing in Independence Day 2. Deadline reports that the jug-eared actor and alleged Scientlogist has turned down the offer to reprise his starring role, although co-stars Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum will return as the President of the United States, and the wacky scientist who finds out how to hack the alien ships' operating systems. The film is currently slated for a July 2015 release, putting it up against Avengers: Age of Ultron. 

Speaking of Marvel movies and comics adaptations in development hell, Marvel's Runaways, based on the comic by Brian K. Vaughn and Adrian Alphona, has been a mooted project for a while now – last week Drew Pearce, the creator of ITV sitcom No Heroics, confirmed to Total Film that he still wants to bring the project to the big screen. Pearce recently helmed the Marvel short Hail to the KIng, which featured Ben Kingsley reprising his role from Iron Man 3, which Pearce also co-wrote. "I wish I knew if Runaways had a place in [Marvel's] Phase 3," Pearce commented. "I'm not close enough to the core. I don't work for Marvel, so I don't have a sense of the Master Plan other then when tiny crumbs are passed to me!" He went on to say that Marvel movie architect Kevin Feige is "still a big fan of the script that's there in the vault. Whether it finds its way onto the runway for Phase 3, I have no idea, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed."

Also still stuck in no man's land, but with a director keen to push it forward, is the long-awaited live action version of anime classic Akira. Speaking to Collider, Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan, House of Wax) commented that he is still trying to steer this particular ship home, after Warner turned down his $90-million dollar pitch for the movie. "I’m focusing on Akira, so hopefully that’s the next one," he commented. "I’ve done two movies since I put this little pause on that project, but now the powers that be are interested." Warners are saying nothing, so we'll keep you posted if and when this goes from rumour to reality.

TRAILERS: VAMPIRE ACADEMY, POMPEII
Are you sick of vampires yet? Not just the sparkly, teen romance, I'd-rather-hold-hands-than-bathe-in-your-blood types, but all of them? Haven't we seen enough vampire-related movies now, ever since Twilight replaced Harry Potter as the franchise of choice for tween losers? Is there another way that the vampire myth could possibly be shoehorned into a pre-existing genre without it seeming like a bit of a stretch? Why does it have to always be 'vampires at high school'? Why has no-one tried the vampire buddy cop movie, or the vampire Western lately? What's that? You're not sick of vampires, or high schools? Lucky for you – no need to go back to your Buffy box-set, here's the trailer for Vampire Academy. Pass the garlic, the stakes, the holy water and the crucifixes, please.  

And finally, as if nicking Game of Thrones tropes – swords, sandals, intrigue at court – wasn't enough, Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil, Pandorum) has actually nicked Kit 'Jon Snow' Harrington for his new film, Pompeii, which showcases a rather fruity English accent from Kiefer Sutherland, and sword-fighting with the added drama of imminent death from liquid hot magma. Prepare for the stabby-stabby!