If you like stop-motion animation and claymation movies, but wish that they came in the flavor of bloody, adult horror features, then you’re going to like today’s Indie Spotlight.  From Lee Hardcastle, the director “T is for Toilet” from The ABCs of Death, comes Spook Train 3D, the world’s first feature-length claysplotation [sic].  The movie is comprised of ten unique nightmarish stories that vary in length from 15-minute narratives to 30-second groin punches.  The project has a trailer to showcase the filmmaker’s style, but they’re reaching out via Kickstarter to help crowd-fund the production.  Hit the jump to check it out.

On the heels of the news that Fox set a release date for The Wolverine sequel, a new report has the studio tapping screenwriter David James Kelly to pen the script.  His resume is a little light, with only his 2010 short Straw Man making it to production, but he is also behind a rewrite of the planned Daredevil movie reboot.

Perhaps the more interesting tidbit from this write-up is that it confidently asserts that both director James Mangold and star Hugh Jackman will return to their respective roles.  We don’t have official word of either being signed on yet, but since their last effort made over $400 million world-wide (and Jackman’s pretty much become synonymous with the title character), it’s a safe bet that Fox will work to get them both back.  Hit the jump for more.

It’s not exactly The Hunger Games reborn, but Divergent, the latest heir to the YA throne of Katniss and Bella, has pulled in an impressive first day nonetheless.  From 3,936 locations, Divergent earned an estimated $22.8 million, including $4.9 million from its Thursday night previews.  The Lionsgate/Summit release should pull in at least $53 million through Sunday.  That’s on par with studio expectations for the film, but it’s only a third of what The Hunger Games earned on the same weekend in 2012.

Coming in second on Friday was Muppets Most Wanted, the follow-up to Disney’s 2011 Muppet reboot.  The sequel earned an estimated $4.6 million from its 3,194 locations, which should add up to an opening close to $18 million this weekend.  There’s a surprise in third place, in the form of God’s Not Dead.  An independent faith-based feature, God’s Not Dead pulled in a reported $2.8 million from its first day in just 780 venues.  That beat more mainstream holdovers like Mr. Peabody and Sherman and 300: Rise of an Empire on Friday, though God is expected to fall out of the top five this weekend.  Check back for details tomorrow.

Here’s the latest casting news for the following films:

• Ellen Page is in talks to star opposite Emile Hirsch in Steve Conrad’s untitled John Belushi biopic.
• Dakota Johnson is in negotiations to play the love interest of Johnny Depp’s Whitey Bulger in Scott Cooper’s Black Mass.
• Kathryn Hahn and Ed Oxenbould will star in M. Night Shyamalan’s latest effort, Sundowning.
• James Caan has signed on for Jacob Tierney’s Preggoland, scripted by and starring Sonja Bennett.

Hit the jump for more on each picture.

Judging by the enthusiastic response thus far, Captain America: The Winter Soldier might be the best Marvel movie yet.  Personally, I couldn’t be more excited.  Captain America: The First Avenger is my favorite movie of Phase One, I think Chris Evans is perfect as the character, and I just love his honest, moral compass, which was so easily boiled down to “I don’t like bullies” in the first film.  But now the stakes have been significantly raised as he’s not only in a new time period, but also working with an organization that doesn’t quite share his values.  I’m not surprised the film’s getting a lot of love, and I can’t wait to see it for myself.

I’m pleased to announce we’re giving away 10 pairs of passes to the Atlanta screening of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  Hit the jump to find out how you can see the movie early and for free.  The film also stars Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Georges St-Pierre, Frank Grillo, Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, Emily VanCamp, Maximiliano Hernández, Robert Redford, and Samuel L. Jackson.  Captain America: The Winter Soldier is in theaters in 2D, 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D on April 4th.

Russell Crowe’s title character has enough problems on his hands in Darren Aronofsky’s Noah without adding in Ray Winstone’s character, Tubal Cain.  A new featurette for the Biblical epic goes behind-the-scenes of Noah’s nemesis and introduces audiences to his character (or lack thereof).

Hit the jump to check out the featurette.  Also starring Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Douglas Booth, Logan Lerman, and Anthony Hopkins, Noah opens in theaters on March 28th.

We’ve got some new posters from the following small screen shows:

Rosemary’s Baby – NBC’s four-hour miniseries featuring Zoe Saldana as Rosemary in an adaptation of Ira Levin’s best-selling 1967 suspense novel.

Orphan Black – Season two, starring Tatiana Maslany, Tatiana Maslany, and Tatiana Maslany, returns to BBC America on Saturday, April 19th at 9/8c.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.

If you thought you’d seen everything that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has to offer, think again.  We have new images and a new behind-the-scenes featurette to share with you today that pulls back the covers from the secretive entity known as Oscorp.  This first featurette in an upcoming series delves into the film’s superhuman characters, their origin stories, and the ultimate goal of the evil corporation.

Starring Andrew Garfield, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Emma Stone, Paul Giamatti, Felicity Jones, Chris Cooper, B.J. Novak, Colm Feore, and Sally Field, Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opens in 3D on May 2nd.  Hit the jump to check out the images and watch the new featurette.

Universal Pictures has bumped the survival drama Everest from February 27, 2015 to September 18, 2015.  Directed by Baltasar Kormakur (2 Guns), the movie focuses on two different expeditions that struggle to survive while climbing the world’s tallest mountain.  The film stars Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, and Jake Gyllenhaal as well as Martin Henderson, Emily Watson, Michael Kelly, and Thomas M. Wright.  Even though we’ll have to wait a little longer, the date change is encouraging since Universal might think they have an awards contender if they’ve moved the picture to the fall.  The studio will release Everest in 3D and IMAX 3D.

Right now, there’s no competition on September 18, 2015, but a week later Sony will have the family flick Hotel Transylvania 2 and Warner Bros. is releasing the comedy The Intern.  Hit the jump for the official synopsis for Everest.

Yesterday, we posted the first look at Donal Logue as Detective Harvey Bullock in the upcoming TV series Gotham.  the series doesn’t focus on the early days of the Dark Knight, but instead looks at the young Jim Gordon (played by Ben McKenzie) as well as familiar characters such as Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee) and Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor).  Today’s image focuses on Camren Bicondova as the young Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman.  She’s officially described as “a teenage orphan, who is suspicious and wholly unpredictable. A street thief and skilled pickpocket, she’s dangerous when cornered.”  And by the looks of this image, she also dresses like a tiny biker chick.  That’s how you know she’s tough or something.

Hit the jump to check out the image.  The series also stars Zabryna Guevara, Erin Richards, David Mazouz, and Jada Pinkett Smith.  Check back in the days ahead to get a first look at some of the other characters.

We’ve a few casting stories for you today.  First up Adam Scott is planning to reteam with Bachelorette director writer-director Leslye Headland for her upcoming comedy Sleeping with Other People.  The movie stars Jason Sudeikis as “a womanizer who befriends a serial cheater; ultimately, the two develop a romantic attraction to each other.”  According to THR, Alison Brie is in talks to replace Kirsten Dunst, who had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict.  Headland notes that neither deal is done, and that “‘It’s not set in stone, kids.’ I’ve seen shit fall apart over less.”  As Harvey Weinstein‘s former assistant, she should know.  Hopefully, Scott and Brie will sign on; they’re both immensely talented and are terrific on two of TV’s best sitcoms, Parks and Recreation and Community, respectively.

Hit the jump for casting news on the fantasy feature The Moon and the Sun and the adaptation of the Irish novel, The Secret Scripture.

Netflix is a pretty great and incredibly powerful service.  Our queues (I’m sorry, “lists” now) fill up with movies and TV shows, and it can be overwhelming.  A good approach is narrowing it down to maybe one or two new additions that you can watch this weekend, and save other movies from your list for weekdays.  This week, our partners at Complex Media are recommending the coming-of-age films Mud, Fish Tank, and Paranoid Park.  I strongly agree with their choices of Mud and Fish Tank (I haven’t seen Paranoid Park).  If you’re looking for other new additions to check out, you should also make time for Gattaca, Archer: Season 4, and this year’s Oscar winner for Best Documentary, 20 Feet from Stardom (its fellow nominees—The Act of Killing, Cutie and the Boxer, Dirty Wars, and The Square—are also available on Netflix).

Hit the jump to check out Complex Media’s video explaining why Mud, Fish Tank, and Paranoid Park are movies you should add to your Netflix list.

In what will likely be the most obvious piece of news you read today, Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff aren’t going anywhere for the next two seasons.  The show has been their baby, they spent years trying to get it on the air, and they know the overall arc of the story even though author George R.R. Martin hasn’t finished the last two books.  They even recently said that the show will end after seven or eight seasons (and maybe with a movie).  It’s odd that EW would even bother exclaiming this story as an “exclusive”.  If I tell you the sun is going to come up tomorrow, it’s a bit silly to claim that as exclusive information.  EW does note that a fifth season hasn’t officially been ordered, so I eagerly await that “exclusive” about something that’s in no way surprising.

The show stars Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Charles Dance, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, Aiden Turner, Iain Glen, Rose Leslie, Carice Van Houten, Alfie Allen, Diana Rigg, Natalie Dormer, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, and Isaac Hempstead Wright.  New cast this season include Pedro Pascal, Michiel Huisman, and Indira Varma.  Game of Thrones returns on April 6th at 9pm on HBO.

French actor Omar Sy had a breakthrough role with the French film The Intouchables and landed the part of Bishop in the upcoming blockbuster X-Men: Days of Future Past.  Now he’s joined another tentpole feature by signing on to co-star in the fourth Jurassic Park movie, Jurassic World.  Unsurprisingly, since we don’t know much about the plot, we don’t know much about his role, but it’s good to see another talented actor join the cast.  The movie also stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Irrfan Khan, Nick Robinson, and Ty Simpkins.

Hit the jump for tweets from Sy and director Colin Trevorrow about the actor joining the film.  Jurassic World opens June 12, 2015. [Update: THR reports that Idris Elba and Jake Johnson have also joined the cast.] [2nd update: THR has quietly removed Elba from their listing of the cast members, and @slashfilm is tweeting that the rumor is "NOT true. I have this 100% confirmed".]

20th Century Fox announced a bunch of release dates tonight:

• The Fantastic Four reboot is still casting for a 2015 release, but Fox is ready to plan The Fantastic Four 2 for July 14, 2017.
• The sequel to The Wolverine hits theaters March 3, 2017. [Update: Deadline reports that Fox has set David James Kelly to pen the sequel, which returns James Mangold to the helm with Hugh Jackman starring.]
• An untitled Marvel film is scheduled for July 13, 2018.
• Liam Neeson returns for Taken 3 on January 9, 2015.
• An unspecified Ridley Scott feature is dated for March 4, 2016.
• Matthew Vaughn‘s The Secret Service (now October 24, 2014) and an untitled Vince Vaughn vehicle (now March 6, 2015) switched release dates.
• Frankenstein starring Daniel Radcliffe is pushed back from January 16, 2015 to October 2, 2015.

More on the Marvel stuff after the jump.