Looks like author Seth Grahame-Smith is going to be one rich bastard. His new novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Grand Central Publishing) arrived in bookstores today and is already set to be adapted for the big screen by producers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, the visionary team behind last year’s criminally underrated 9.

Tim Burton: Vampire Producer

Smith’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter re-writes history by pitting the 16th U.S. president against an army of vampires in a secret battle set against the backdrop of the Civil War. The 34-year-old author will adapt the screenplay from his novel.

A trailer for the book, directed by Adam Reid, debuted earlier this week.

Take a look:

Also on the horizon for Smith is an adaptation of his Jane Austin-meets-the-living-dead New York Times bestseller Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, produced by and starring Natalie Portman and distributed through Lionsgate.

The friendly degenerates at Grindhouse Releasing would like to remind all you shut-ins about the extremely groovy theatrical re-release of Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead, playing at midnight on Friday, March 5 at the Nuart Theater (11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles, CA).

Grindhouse’s theatrical director David Szulkin writes:

Grindhouse Releasing has been blazing a bloody trail across the country with midnight screenings of director Sam Raimi’s THE EVIL DEAD. The company has now struck a brand-new 35mm print of the horror classic to debut this Friday, March 5 at Landmark’s Nu Art theater (11272 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Los Angeles, CA).

“We’re expecting a sold-out crowd for EVIL DEAD in Los Angeles, following our successful openings in New York, Seattle, Dallas, Houston, Portland, and other cities,” says David Szulkin, Grindhouse Releasing’s theatrical director. “Demand for the movie led us to make a new print, which includes our all-new horror trailer show. Our plan is to keep EVIL DEAD playing in theaters throughout 2010.”

Grindhouse has teamed with the Austin, Tx.,-based Alamo Drafthouse franchise for upcoming dates in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Alexandria, Va., and has struck deals with arthouses and other indie venues to keep the EVIL DEAD tour rolling through major cities in the coming months.

Raimi and producers Robert Tapert and Bruce Campbell gave the go-ahead for the EVIL DEAD revival to Grindhouse Releasing partner Bob Murawski, the Academy Award-nominated film editor of THE HURT LOCKER, Raimi’s SPIDER MAN 1, 2 & 3, DRAG ME TO HELL, and the EVIL DEAD sequel ARMY OF DARKNESS.

For more info, visit GrindhouseReleasing.com.

Harrison Ford confirmed to the BBC that he, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg have whipped up a premise for a fifth Indiana Jones adventure.

The 67-year-old actor said:

Steven [Spielberg] and George [Lucas] and I are sort of agreed on a germ of an idea and we’re seeing what comes of it.

The process works like this … We come to some basic agreement and then George goes away for a long time and works on it. Then Steven and I get it in some form, some embryonic form. Then if we like it, we start working with George on it and at some point down the line it’s ready and we do it.

Let’s hope the fifth Indy movie makes up for the disappointing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Sucks Balls in the way that Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade totally redeemed the series after the cinematic jerk-off that was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. For starters, maybe kill off the Transformers kid and replace him with a hot daughter ala Kelly Brook.

The Indiana Jones franchise has made close to $2 billion worldwide.

Nearly 2000 fans were in attendance for the the “LOST” symposium held last Saturday during the 27th annual Paley Television Festival in Los Angeles. Show runners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse fielded questions concerning the show’s final season and its many mysteries.

Sharing the stage with Lindelof and Cuse were go-to-director Jack Bender, cast members Terry O’Quinn John Locke), Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus), Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert), and Zuleikha Robinson (Ilana) and a few of the program’s writer/producers.

As “LOST” fans have come to expect, very little was actually revealed during the panel, with Lindelof and Cuse warning fans not to expect answers to every mystery presented during the show’s six seasons.

That said, the evening did provide plenty of teases, the most notable being:

1. We will see the Man-in-Black again,

2. Richard Alpert and Ilana may share a common trait (more will be learned about the two when they exchange words during a future episode).

3. Charlie and Widmore will return.

4. Desmond and Penny will be seen again. We’ll aslo find out if Desmond was really on the plane during the flash-sideways in the season six premiere episode.

5. Hurley and Libby’s connection will be addressed.

6. Walt may or may not return (though his dog Vincent will).

7. Jacob’s proclamation that people are coming to the island will prove to be true.

8. Lindelof said that the word he would use to describe the final three hours of “LOST” is “water.”

IGN scored some pretty fun and insightful interviews with the show’s creators and writers during their coverage of PaleyFest 2010. Take a look:

The Paley Television Festival runs through March 14 at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills, CA.

Anchor Bay Entertainment presented MTV with an exclusive look at the new one-sheet (pictured above) for their upcoming psychological thriller After.Life. The poster is less creepy than the first and showcases its three lead actors: Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson, and Justin Long.

(UPDATE: To see first official After.Life trailer, click here)

After.Life, which held its premiere back in November as part of the AFI Fest in Los Angeles, is director Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo’s long-awaited feature film debut. The film’s plot centers on a young woman (Ricci), the victim of an automobile accident, who awakens to find that she is being prepped for burial by a mysterious mortician (Neeson) who insists that she is ready to crossover to the hereafter.

After.Life will have a limited theatrical run starting on April 9. The film is rated R for its disturbing images, language, and generous helping of Christina Ricci nudity.

Director Zack Snyder’s 3-D animated feature debut Guardians of Ga’Hoole is undergoing a name change to appeal to moviegoers who may think a Ga’Hoole is a terrorist sleeper cell. Warner Bros. is now calling the film Legend of the Guardians.

(UPDATE: To see images from the movie, go here. To find out about Ga’Hoole’s first official trailer, go here)

Guardians of the Ga’Hoole is the best-selling 14-book series by children’s author Kathryn Lasky. It tells the story of a young orphaned barn owl named Soren and his quest to escape a group of war-mongering owls by seeking refuge on the island of Ga’Hoole among wise and virtuous owls. The film adaptation is based on the first three volumes in the series: The Capture, The Journey, and The Rescue.

Voices for the project are provided by Jim Sturgess, Sam Neil, Hugo Weaving, Miriam Margolyes, Helen Mirren, Geoffrey Rush, Abbie Cornish, Emilie De Ravin, David Wenham, Ryan Kwanten, Jay Laga’aia, and Emily Barclay.

Legend of the Guardians is slated for release on Sept. 24.

Seth Grahame-Smith took the publishing world by surprise last year with his clever Jane Austen-meets-the-living dead mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (a film adaptation is in the works). The New York Times bestselling author is now sinking his teeth into American history with his new novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, available March 2 from publishing house Grand Central.

A trailer for the book has been circulating the web. Check it out:

The book’s official synopsis reads:

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

Man, I really hope someone writes The Diary of Ann Frankenstein next. That might actually make me leave my 60″ Bravia to seek out a library card.

Looks like screenwriter Michael Cooney has been brainstorming with the voices in his head to dream up his latest split-personality thriller Shelter.

The man behind the 2003 gem Identity, has once again penned a suspenseful mind-fuck that centers on a schizophrenic murder suspect (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and the religious psychiatrist (Julianne Moore) working his case.

Check out the trailer:

The film’s synopsis reads:

Dr. Cara Jessup has made a career out of defying the notion of multiple personality disorders.  In the courtroom, her views and testimonies as an expert witness against multiple personality disorders have resulted in the death sentence of more than half a dozen murderers. Cara is devoted to science, but even her husband’s horrific murder did not cause Cara to lose her faith in God. Not so for her young daughter Samantha, a committed unbeliever.

After a particularly troubling court case, Cara’s father Dr. Harding introduces her to his new patient – Adam. The more she unearths about Adam, the more her life and those closest to her are endangered. As she explores Adam’s past, Cara’s world begins to fall apart and she is forced to question her strong beliefs in science and in God. Racing against the clock to solve the mystery surrounding Adam, Cara must not lose faith or it could have grave consequences for her and her family.

U.K. moviegoers can seek Shelter on April 9. Sadly, a U.S. release date has not been announced.

Julianne Moore can also be seen in the erotic-thriller Chloe. Click here to see an interview.

Abbie Cornish (The Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga’Hoole) and Oscar-winner Robert De Niro (Machete) are set to star opposite Bradley Cooper (Midnight Meat Train) in director Neil Burger’s (The Illusionist) new mind-bending thriller Limitless.

Based on the book “Dark Fields” by Alan Glynn, Limitless is the story of a struggling copy-writer (Cooper) who finds financial success after stealing an experimental pharmaceutical drug called MDT-48 that makes people smarter, but slows down their perception of time.

Cornish will play Cooper’s character’s ex-wife, while De Niro takes the role of the powerful financial mogul out to get him.

A drug that makes people smarter would probably make folks realize they shouldn’t be taking drugs. Sounds like a market-killer to me. I’ll stick to pushing meth, thank you.

Vanessa Hudgens and Mary-Kate Olson star in CBS Film’s re-imaging of the classic “Beauty and the Beast” tale Beastly.

Based on author Alex Flinn’s book of the same name, Beastly tells the story of an arrogant high school pretty-boy (Alex Pettyfer) whose face is made to look like R&B artist Seal after he pisses off the school’s goth-chick (Olson) who happens to be a witch. To break the spell, he must make nerdy-hipster classmate Lindy (Hudgens) fall in love with him before the year is through.

To learn more, check out the featurette:

Beastly is directed by Daniel Barnz (Phoebe in Wonderland) and costars Neil Patrick Harris, Peter Krause, Lisa Gay Hamilton, and Dakota Johnson (daughter to Don Johnson & Melanie Griffith).

Witchy Woman: Mary-Kate Olson

Beastly arrives in theaters on July 30.