To triple dip or to wait? That is the question facing Dude-loving fans of the Coen Brothers' cracked comedy The Big Lebowski, which is due out on September 9 in a Tenth Anniversary Edition from Universal Home Video. Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, and Julianne Moore star. The announcement was made without details on bonus features; DVD Active has now posted pictures of the menu screens, so we know what's new.

The Big Lebowski was initially released on DVD in 1998, and then was remastered for the 2005 Collectors' Edition. That edition included a "making of" feature, photos by Jeff Bridges, and a brief, jokey introduction. Those extras were included on the HD-DVD edition, released in June 2007 (and reviewed at High-Def Digest). The Tenth Anniversary Edition features those extras plus more: "The Dude's Life," "The Dude Abides: The Big Lebowski Ten Years Later," production notes, theatrical trailer, "The Lebowski Fest: An Achiever's Story," "Flying Carpets and Bowling Pin Dreams: The Dream Sequences of the Dude," interactive map, and photo gallery.

A standard Tenth Anniversary Edition will reportedly retail for $19.98, while a Limited Edition "in special bowling ball packaging" (pictured) will also be available. No news on a Blu-ray edition, though, so the question remains: will you triple dip or wait for Blu-ray? Or will you roll this sucker into your alley? The Dude wants to know.

I'm slightly mistrustful of titles that include exclamation points. They always remind me of the musical version of The Elephant Man, Elephant!, in The Tall Guy ("... there's an angel with big eeears..."). But in the case of Mamma Mia!, I'm actually surprised the title only included one exclamation point -- you can imagine the filmmakers or the creators of the stage version embracing even more emphatic punctuation, just to let you know that This! Is a Musical! And also Wacky!! As if chorus lines of men in flippers, Meryl Streep waving a feather boa, and enough ABBA music to sate the leads of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert wouldn't have clued you in.

The movie, like the stage musical it's adapted from, is essentially and unabashedly an extended gimmick -- an excuse to sing and perform songs that originated from the Swedish musical group ABBA. Characters spontaneously burst into song not because they're aspiring performers (Chicago), or because their singing is meant as a melodious soliloquy (Sweeney Todd), but because the situation or their emotional state reminds them of an ABBA song (sometimes more tangentially than others), and they decide to share it with everyone. I've had friends like this in real life, although that seems to have been a college-age thing.

If you're a fan of the 1999 BBC series that turned Clive Owen into a movie star, I've got some good news. If, however, you're just an average American who has never heard of Second Sight, then I simply have some news. And here it is:

Universal has decided to turn the series into a movie. Producers Don Murphy and Susan Montford have tapped screenwriter Craig Rosenberg to do the adaptation duty. According to Variety, it's about a cop "who leads an elite unit that tackles high-profile murder cases while suffering from a rare degenerative eye disease that causes hallucinations and increasing blindness." Wait, the whole unit suffers from a rare degenerative eye disease? Because that's either one amazing coincidence or one really inept personnel manager.

For the sort of movie we might expect, let's note that Don Murphy was a producer on Transformers, Shoot 'Em Up, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and (the very underrated) From Hell. For Mr. Rosenberg's part, he's a relative new guy who's done a lot of work on Lost (and he also penned After the Sunset), but he also has The Uninvited on the way.

No word yet on who'll be starring as the optically-challenged policeman, but I'm sure nobody would mind if Clive Owen signed up for the job.

Special Note: This project is in no way related to this film. Shame on you for even remembering this film.

Much like the characters in the best-selling game, Castlevania is the movie that will not die. So far the film has undergone personnel changes and became one of the many causalities of the writers strike; but you can't keep a so-so idea down, and it looks like the project is up and running again. Talk of the film has surfaced again now that a script review for Paul W.S. Anderson's screenplay has appeared over at CC2K -- But I should warn you, it's not looking good.

Early previews on Kotaku, described the script as the story of an, "adult Trevor Belmont who, with his fellow "battle-hardened" brother Christopher, is ordered by his king-through man of god Lucius-to dispatch you-know-who." But, according to CC2K's tipster, the latest incarnation of the story is more of a rip-off of Bram Stoker's Dracula with very few similarities to the Belmonts that fans know and love.

Originally, Anderson was going to direct as well as handle the script, but as we all know, he later dropped the project to work on Death Race. Enter Sylvain White (Stomp the Yard) to take over directing duties, and who is still committed to the project despite the lack of a solid start date.

Having never played the games, I can't say I'm all that worried about the changes Anderson has potentially made to the Castlevania 'canon'. But I know that fans probably feel a little differently; so get it all off your chest, believe me, you'll feel better.

[Thanks: Ain't It Cool News]

When it comes to Hollywood movies, Chinese censors have always been a little strict. Case in point: The State Administration for Radio, Film and Television tells Variety that the upcoming release of The Mummy 3 Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is still pending until Universal makes unspecified changes to the flick. The censors didn't give any details about what would have to be cut from the film, but speculation has it that the source of the problem is "usually themes involving ghosts are taboo in China".

Emperor sets the new and improved O'Connell family (Brendan Fraser, Luke Ford, and Maria Bello) smack dab in the middle of another adventure battling a tyrannical emperor (Jet Li) and his legion of undead armies. Universal already made some concessions to the Chinese government in exchange for permission to shoot on location. According to Variety Universal was urged to make the film, "less political and more focused on fantasy than real history" -- Less political? Now that's a word I would have never associated with the Mummy franchise.

A flack for Universal has already released a statement saying, "Universal does not anticipate any obstacles to clearing the film for China and looks forward to releasing "The Mummy: Tomb of The Dragon Emperor" in the country where it was set and shot." Translation: We just spent $145 million bucks on this movie, and we want some of those Chinese box-office dollars. Emperor is just the latest Hollywood production to get a rough deal from Chinese censors, but at least they are in good company. On the upside, I guess the Chinese will never know what they're missing.

The Mummy 3 Tomb of the Dragon Emperor opens on August 1st, 2008.

Speaking with the press in Beverly Hills, Guillermo del Toro casually tossed off a line that sums up the spirit of his most recent film, Hellboy II: The Golden Army and the tone he and his cast achieved: "When you go see a movie called "Hellboy," already there's an implicit, assumed certain sense of goofiness; you have to then say 'Look, we know we're pulpy, we know we're different, but we take ourselves seriously, and we want to entertain." Mike (Mignola, creator of the Hellboy comics) said it: He's not the Hell Knight, he's not the Hell Spawn, he's not the Hell Lord, he's the Hellboy. ... "

Much of the pleasure in the Hellboy series comes from the mesh and mix of the sensibilities of del Toro and Hellboy's creator Mike Mignola; I asked del Toro about the challenge of adapting someone else's material. How much of it is a struggle, and how much of it is a pleasure, to find ways to make someone else's creation yours? "I said in the past that, obviously, no matter how respectful you are of the material there's a moment ... I made the analogy that it's like marrying a widow; you have to be very respectful about the late husband, but at some point, you're going to get in bed, and the late husband is not gonna matter anymore, or it better not. And I think it's the same with material; there's a point where you go "I have only my instincts to guide me through this section ..." But, it's co-exploring. In the case of Hellboy, I've been blessed with a guy like Mike (Mignola), who is the most generous landlord of the Hellboy real estate; he says, essentially, move in, decorate as you want and make it yours."

Imagine one of the Star Trek crews transported to Tolkien's Middle Earth, or Buffy and her Scooby gang whisked away into the heart of Narnia. That's how Hellboy II: The Golden Army can feel, as you watch a cartoonish-looking, cigar-smoking demon fight gorgeous creatures right out of ancient folklore (and one Miyazaki-esque nature deity). Your reaction to such a contrast -- as fascinating, jarring or downright repellent -- will likely influence your feelings about the latest film from Guillermo del Toro, a sequel to his 2004 adaptation of Mike Mignola's graphic novels. The writer-director's previous film, Pan's Labyrinth, was a favorite of mine, and while Hellboy II doesn't quite measure up to that film's richness of character and story, it is still visually extraordinary.

I came into this film entirely ignorant of the Hellboy universe ... much like with Sex and the City, although it seems bizarre to compare Mignola's characters to Candace Bushnell's. I haven't read the graphic novels and I hadn't even seen the first movie (it was impossible to find a rental DVD of Hellboy in Austin last week, which may bode well for the popularity of the sequel). And yet, unlike Sex and the City, I didn't feel as though I must have missed something in order to fully appreciate the film. Hellboy II gives us virtually no backstory on its main characters, but that's not necessary, as the setup becomes obvious almost immediately. Sure, there were a few scenes where the comic-book fans were laughing and I didn't get the joke, but it didn't bother me and I never felt lost or confused.

One of the best things about life here on Cinematical is that I receive a crash course in comic books that I'm unfamiliar with. The world of graphic novels and comic books is a pretty daunting one, especially when every other title is being optioned by a big studio.
There are so many of these characters that I've known in passing or via their movie adaptations that I don't even know where to begin reading.

And that's coming from someone who's (somewhat) in the know! I can't imagine how it looks from the outside. I try to imagine these poor souls going into a comic book shop and saying "So, um, which comic was the movie based on?" and getting laughed at. And with Hellboy, that's a lot of people, including yours truly.

That's why I love the guys at ComicMix -- they know their superhero stories, and they're eager to share them. You can go there, quietly print their lists up, and take them to Amazon.com without needing to talk to a single judgmental soul. Now, to coincide with the release of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, they've put together a best of Hellboy list for those unfamiliar with his comic incarnation. And I know after you've seen the movie, you're going to want to pick up Seed of Destruction and The Corpse. They sound like the perfect beach reading to me!

[Thanks to Rick Marshall, who always keeps us in the loop]

Speaking with Cinematical in Los Angeles, director and writer Guillermo del Toro was enthused and excited to talk about the challenges and triumphs of his latest film. "The biggest challenge (for Hellboy II: The Golden Army) was to say "Let's remain loose and interested and happy and crazier and more free in the second movie. ... And the second-biggest challenge was to make a 200-million dollar movie with 85 (million). ..." Del Toro also spoke about the film's mix of slapstick and the supernatural, the pleasures and pitfalls of practical effects and what he'd say to someone concerned that his upcoming task of directing The Hobbit would mean too much time spent away from him crafting his own unique visions for the big screen. (Warning: Brief snippets of foul language included within.)

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I've lost count of how many times these movies have been released on DVD, but (wow) I don't own any of 'em yet, so here's a perfect excuse. DVDActive has the (very thorough) information on Universal's upcoming "Legacy Series" editions of (ready?) Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, Vertigo, and Psycho! Each package is a two-disc affair, complete with all sorts of goodies both old and new. (Yes, I love film historian audio commentaries. Sue me.)

Street date for all three releases is October 7, and if you'd like a complete listing of what each disc offers you can click one of these: Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho. Also from Universal Home Video on October 7 ... it isn't Hitchcock, but it sure is awesome: Orson Welles' 1958 mega-classic Touch of Evil, which is a whole lot more than one impressive tracking shot, believe me. Like the Hitch titles, Touch will come complete with all sorts of new bells and whistles. Plus all four of the DVD covers are all sorts of retro-cool. Can't wait to dig through these discs.

While the film lover in me might be happy to see Matt Damon branching out with roles that don't trade on his looks, the red-blooded girl in me is happy to see Damon back in fighting form. Empire has the first still from the Iraq drama, The Green Zone, and he's back to the Matt Damon that we all know and love.

Zone is based on the 2006 book Imperial Life in the Emerald City, by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Damon stars as Chief Officer Roy Miller, a soldier stationed in Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein charged with the task of locating weapons of mass destruction. During the investigation, Miller begins to suspect that the WMDs may not exist, and then things really get dangerous. Amy Ryan also stars as a NYT correspondent, along with Jason Isaacs and Brendan Gleeson as fellow military men.

Studios might have a 'complicated relationship' with Iraq war films, but there is no chance that Zone is going to fall into the same trap of preaching to audiences. Damon made it pretty clear to Empire that Zone is strictly a Hollywood affair: "[We're] not trying to make a statement, particularly with a movie that costs $80 or $90 million. Hopefully this will feel like an accurate portrayal of what things were like for these guys. You can't do a polemic – you should be blogging if that's what you want to do." Maybe it's for the best, but I happen to think there is nothing wrong with mixing a little politics into your entertainment -- how about you?

Green Zone is expected to arrive in theaters in 2010.

Empire has been given an exclusive new photo from the highly anticipated remake of The Wolf Man. Click the photo to the right to see the whole thing, and then feel free to begin eagerly anticipating April even more than you already are. (Woohoo, April!) The pic respresents the first official non-lupine look at Benicio del Toro as Lawrence Talbot. And, costume nerd that I am, I'm in love with his Gothic cloak. This movie promises to make me drunk on Victorian drapery.

It also provides the first look at Emily Blunt and Anthony Hopkins, both of whom are nearly unrecognizable. Blunt is so stripped of make-up that she looks straight out of a tintype. She plays Gwen Conliffe, the fiancee of Talbot's recently deceased brother, whom the werewolf-to-be begins developing an affection for her. Hopefully, it's for her personality, and not as a late night snack. Wait, that didn't sound right.

Hopkins, of course, plays the senior Talbot, who is estranged from Lawrence long before he turns lycanthropic. If Empire and IMDB didn't tell me otherwise, I would argue that it was Richard Briers in the photo and not Sir Anthony. Really, everyone but del Toro is unrecognizable in this photo, so kudos to the make-up and hair department.

The Wolf Man is set to be released April 3rd, 2009. I still wish they would release this in the fall, but perhaps a copious amount of bloodshed is just what springtime needs.

I stumbled out of Hellboy II: The Golden Army feeling as if my imagination had eaten too much. In terms of sheer spectacle and visual invention, Hellboy II is an absolute knockout, frames stuffed with bizarre creatures and mystic runes and arcane weaponry and wondrous design. And yet, Hellboy II has more than a little heart to it; it's scrappy and self-aware, and never out of touch with what it is. Adapting Mike Mignola's post-superhero retro-styled comic series Hellboy for the second time, writer-director Guillermo del Toro corrects some of the mistakes of the first Hellboy, makes a few mistakes of its own, picks itself up, keeps going. And, on the way, knocks the back of your eyeballs for a loop. As our British friends say, Hellboy II: The Golden Army does what it says on the tin: It is a sequel about a character named Hellboy (Ron Perlman), and yes, an army of golden warrior-robots is involved, the mystical weapon of mass destruction that the elf-prince Nuada (Luke Goss) hopes to seize control of so as to wage war against humanity ... I know I'm getting ahead of myself. Then again, so does Hellboy II, right from the jump, and it doesn't slow down.

This week, I don't want to talk about anything new. I don't want to discuss the good news about studios and European exhibitors finally agreeing on a virtual print fee. I don't want to comment on Nielsen's research showing the strong consumer appetite for 3-D films (I'll be talking enough about 3-D next week in anticipation of Journey to the Center of the Earth). I don't want to even get people's hopes up about Microsoft's supposed "manners device" that silences cell phones instead of blocking them (signal blocking was recently found to be illegal in the U.S.). I really don't want to comment on Mark Gill's "The Sky is Falling" speech from the L.A. Film Festival loosely concerning the state of art house cinema (the speech is more related to film making and financing, plus I already played Chicken Little last week).

Disney has Pixar. Fox has Blue Sky. Paramount has, for now, Dreamworks. As seemingly the last studio to get into animated features, Universal has offered up the trailer for their maiden effort, The Tale of Despereaux, over at Yahoo! Movies.

Based upon the 2003 Newbury Award-winning novel by Kate DiCamillo, the film follows the adventurous antics of Despereaux (voiced by Matthew Broderick), a mouse with large ears and - I'm just guessing here - an even bigger heart, as he bucks the status quo of cowardice that seems to have imprisoned his kind to a fearsome existence.

Besides being an animated tale of a brave rodent with a tongue-tricky title and thus fated to merit comparison to those which have recently set lofty standards for similar fare, this project genuinely looks and sounds pleasant enough for all its yay-for-being-yourself familiarity. Besides, there's only more hope to be had when we're looking at a voice cast that includes the likes of Broderick, Kevin Kline, Dustin Hoffman, Sigourney Weaver, Stanley Tucci, William H. Macy, and Tony Hale, not to mention a Harry Potter veteran or two.

With its eye on the year-end holiday season, The Tale of Despereaux is scheduled to hit theaters on December 19th.