Friday Quick Caption is a weekly update of quick links and blurbs from the world of entertainment news. Expect your fast pace, A.D.D. dose of movie trailers, comic news, celebrity updates, and video game announcement from throughout the week.


How Long Is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Peter Jackson has become very known for making very long films ever since 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring, which ran 2 hours and 58 minutes in theaters. Two Towers managed to beat that by a minute, Return of the King held fans in theaters for 3 hours and 21 intense minutes and all three Lord of the Rings films had extended cuts that tested viewer’s ability to hold their bladder whilst watching a movie. Even in his 2005 take on King Kong, Jackson kept movie goers in their seats for 3 hours and 7 minutes. So now with the first of The Hobbit trilogy on its way to theaters this December 13th there is a question just how long the runtime will be on this new epic. Thanks to this week’s issue of Empire Magazine, with 5 3D lenticular covers, fans now know. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is currently 2 hours and 40 minutes prior to the finalization of all the effects shots and credits being added. All in all this should mean the movie will run for 160-something minutes, roughly ten minutes shorter than Fellowship, making this the shortest running Middle Earth film, yet still quite a long time to hold that extra large coke inside you at the theater. I wonder how next year’s The Desolation of Smaug or 2014’s There And Back Again will compare. If you haven’t already seen the second trailer for the film, we have it below to remind you why this will be worth the near 3 hours in a theater this winter.


Mass Effect Film Gets A New Writer – Optioned for a film back in the fall of 2008, Mass Effect has grown even more popular as a video game, while the film found itself fumbling around in production hell with writer Mark Protosevich unable to produce a script. But now fans might see a new glimmer of hope as Legendary Entertainment and Avi Arad have found the film a new scribe in Morgan Davis Foehl. Foehl was a former assistant editor on the FX show Rescue Me and Adam Sandler’s I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and has written the script for the film adaption of Marc Silvestri and Jeff Katz’s comic, Crosshair. Now Foehl will be tackling something much larger and more expensive, but being a fan of the Mass Effect games we might just see a great script from him.

 

More Mass Effect Film News With Mass Effect: Paragon Lost Footage – Now those of you waiting for the forementioned live action version of Mass Effect will obviously be waiting for sometime. However, if you just want to see a Mass Effect movie, remember that Production I.G. and T.O. Entertainment have been working on an animated Mass Effect film for a good while now. Set for release on DVD and Blu-ray this December 28th (a little too late for Christmas gifting), Funimation will be bringing the video game based anime to the US. Paragon Lost will be a prequel to Mass Effect 3, and follow the early career of Alliance Marine, James Vega. Vega leads an elite Special Forces squad into battle against a mysterious alien threat known as The Collectors. Stationed at a colony in a remote star system, Vega and his soldiers must protect the civilians from a ruthless invasion determined to capture the population for unknown purposes. Freddie Prinze Jr. will be providing the voice for Vega as he did in the game. Check out the trailer for the film below, and then a 9-minute sneak preview below that:

 

 

The King Of Sparta Becomes The God of War in Ascension – Skins are quickly becoming a new way of playing awesome games in a slightly different way. Commonly given as pre-order or paid for DLCs, they allow players to change the look of their protagonist or other characters in the game, making them more bad ass, sexier, or an all together different character. But normally these skins still tie pretty heavily to the game itself. Gamestop is looking to change that with a surprising twist in their newest pre-order exclusive DLC. If you pre-order the upcoming God of War: Ascension for Playstation 3 at Gamestop not only will you receive an exclusive 22”x28” double-sided God of War poster, but you’ll get a skin of King Leonidas! Yes, King Leonidas I, the Spartan King who died fighting the Persians way back in 480 BC and portrayed by Gerard Butler in 300 will replace Kratos as your playable character in the game. Depicted as Butler portrayed him in 300, King Leonidas will have his iconic red cape, helmet, and armor while also wielding his Spartan spear. Perhaps this Greek warrior king will do better than a Greek god in his war against Ares. God of War: Ascension hits stores March 12th, 2013.

 

Shailene Woodley Cast As Mary Jane – Hidden in a recent Hollywood Reporter article about Shailene Woodley, George Clooney’s daughter in The Descendants. attempting to close a deal on a role in the upcoming film Divergent (based off the Veronica Roth novel) was a real gem for comic book fans. It appears that Woodley has officially booked the role of Mary Jane in the Amazing Spider-Man sequel. HR states “the Mary Jane role is proving to be only a very small part in Amazing Spider-Man 2 but blossoms into an integral lead for the planned third movie as the studio seeks to build to the classic “Death of Gwen Stacy” story”. If any of this is true, this could make the Amazing Spider-Man trilogy quite the tragedy, but also might hint at plans for the film series to expand beyond just 3 movies.

 

 

Year 2 of The New 52, Trinity War, and The New Age of Comics – At this year’s New York Comic Con, DC’s Co-publishers, Jim Lee and Dan Didio, had a laid back interview with Preview World’s Vince Brusio. The short interview covered a wide range of topics in just 2 minutes, and is well worth enjoying for any DC fans out there as they discuss The Trinity War and other upcoming New 52 topics.

 

 

The Evil Dead Rise Again In A Gruesome Trailer for the 2013 Remake – Fans in attendance of this month’s New York Comic Con were treated to a stomach churning sneak peek at the Evil Dead remake’s trailer. Now it is your turn to see the evils of the Naturan Demanto, if you think you can handle it. The film may not be out until 2013, but people are about to become quite scared of just the minute and a quarter shown in this red band trailer we have for you below.