Asa Butterfield is a Math Genius in New Trailer for 'X+Y'

With movies on Alan Turing and Stephen Hawking clogging up the awards race this season, it makes sense that a third film on an intellectual heavyweight would be lost in the shuffle. Or maybe it's the terrible title, X+Y, which sounds so much like a math equation it may only draw fans of first period Algebra. The fictional story stars Asa Butterfield (Ender's Game) as Nathan, an autistic math prodigy who sees his world opened up to new possibilities due to an influential teacher played by Rafe Spall. The story follows Nathan as he learns to cope with his disorder's challenges and earns trip to Taiwan for the International Mathematics Olympiad.

BAFTA award-winning director Morgan Matthews makes his feature debut, and the early buzz has seen a lot of praise for his crowd-pleasing work but also for Butterfield's performance.  Also starring Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan, X+Y opens in the UK next March but has yet to gain a US date.

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'Miss Peregrine' Enrolls Asa Butterfield, Ann Dowd Joins 'Our Brand is Crisis', Sarah Gadon meets 'Louis Drax'

 Tim Burton may find himself in the Oscar with his art world drama, Big Eyes, but his next film is already beginning to take shape. Eva Green has long been attached to star in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an adaptation of Ransom Riggs' best-selling book. Now The Wrap reports she may be joined by Asa Butterfield, who was last seen in Ender's Game. If he does come aboard he would play Jacob, a young boy investigating the murder of his grandfather at the hands of a creature known as a "hollow". Jacob eventually meets a group of kids with special abilities and their guardian, Miss Peregrine.

The cast of David Gordon Green's Our Brand is Crisis keeps getting better. Ann Dowd (Compliance, The Leftovers) has joined Sandra Bullock, Anthony Mackie, and Scoot McNairy in the George Clooney-produced political film about American political strategists and their influence on the 2002 Bolivian presidential election.

Sarah Gadon (Cosmopolis) is the latest to join The 9th Life of Louis Drax, which already has Jamie Dornan and Aaron Paul set to star. Alexandre Aja will direct the film about "a young boy who suffers a near-fatal fall on his ninth birthday. A psychologist probing into the accident is drawn into a mystery that tests the boundaries of fantasy and reality." Max Minghella is making his screenwriting debut on the adaptation of Liz Jensen's novel.

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Famke Janssen Joins 'Kickback'; Asa Butterfield is 'King of the Kastle'; Lance Armstrong Biopic Adds Lee Pace

* Famke Janssen, last seen as a vision of Jean Grey in The Wolverine (but won't be back for X-men: Days of Future Past, mysteriously) has come aboard the crime thriller, Kickback. Written and directed by Raza Mallal, the film stars John Cusack, Sean Astin, Sean Young, Rutger Hauer, Mischa Barton, John Hannah, and Tom Sizemore in the true story of a renegade Moscow private eye investigating the murder of a female war  journalist.

* He's already saved the universe in Ender's Game, and now Asa Butterfield will try to scam Clive Owen in the comedy, King of the Kastle. Butterfield has joined Owen and Jacki Weaver in the film, which marks the directorial debut of writers Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka, best known for penning David Gordon Green's (terrible) The Sitter. Owen plays a womanizing lothario who is blackmailed by a teenager. [TheWrap]

* Filming has already begun on Stephen Frears' untitled Lance Armstrong biopic; we know this because photos of Ben Foster as the infamous cyclist are already out there. There's still room to add more to the impressive cast, however, as Lee Pace (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) has come aboard in an unspecified role. He joins co-stars Chris O'Dowd, Jesse Plemons, and Guillaume Canet in charting the Tour de France champion's meteoric rise and scandalous fall from grace.

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Ender Gets an Army in First Clip from 'Ender's Game'

As with any adaptation of a beloved classic, longtime fans are going to have concerns about what may get changed for the big screen. The concern with Ender's Game, which I expressed yesterday on the Next Issue Podcast, is that the bulk of the footage we've seen has focused solely on the technical aspects and the alien invasion piece of the storyline. Those who have read Orson Scott Card's novel know there is a much headier element of the story, and fortunately the first official clip gives us our best taste of it yet.

Asa Butterfield is Ender Wiggin, a kid plucked from his life on Earth and enrolled in Battle School where he and others like him will train to defend humanity from an inevitable alien threat. But Ender isn't like the other students; he's exceptionally bright and gifted, specializing in battle tactics and strategy, skills that make him wildly unpopular with his peers. Harrison Ford is Commander Graff, who has no problem manipulating events to make life as rough as possible for Ender in order to make him a more hardened battlefield leader. In this clip we see Graff offering to give Ender his own unit, Dragon Army, since it's obvious he can't function under the command of another. There's some clever, dry wit here that hopefully carries over to the rest of the film, and the scene gives a solid impression of the dynamic between Graff and Ender.

Directed by Gavin Hood and starring Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Viola Davis, and Moises Arias, Ender's Game opens in IMAX on November 1st. Enjoy the new poster, as well.


Ender's Game "Ender's Army" Clip by FanReviews

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The Final Trailer for 'Ender's Game' Starring Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford

After teasing us with one of those annoying previews yesterday, Summit Entertainment has released the final trailer for Ender's Game, Gavin Hood's adaptation of the sci-fi classic novel by the controversial Orson Scott Card. Hugo star Asa Butterfield ventures into the future as Ender Wiggin, the brightest recruit at Battle School, where children are trained to fight a war against bug-like alien invaders known as the Formics. Moreso than the previous trailers, this one delivers on the scope of the film and the intense action, while also selling the performances by grizzled veterans Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley. What it doesn't do is suggest at the darker emotional beats contained within the story, which are likely to be what audiences take with them when all is said and done.

Directed by Gavin Hood and co-starring Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Moises Arias, and Viola Davis, Ender's Game opens on November 1st.


ENDER'S GAME - Trailer 2 by dmagianet

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Final Poster and Trailer Tease for 'Ender's Game'

With Summit Entertainment making the final push to hype Gavin Hood's adaptation of Ender's Game, the last thing they probably want is for the headlines to be dominated by controversy surrounding author Orson Scott Card's homophobic comments. At Comic-Con producers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman attempted to get ahead of it by essentially throwing Card under the bus and dismissing his statements, and now they're hoping good will for the new trailer will remind people that the novel is truly a beloved sci-fi classic.

Tomorrow sees the release of the final trailer for the film, but today we have the new poster and a preview of the upcoming footage. We haven't had one of these trailer teases in awhile, and frankly they weren't really missed. Asa Butterfield stars as Ender Wiggin, the most promising recruit at Battle School, where young kids are trained to be great military commanders in order to defeat an alien invasion. Wisely, the aim seems to be the sell the impressive visuals and the cast of screen legends including Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley.

So look out for the full trailer tomorrow, and check out the tease below....

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Chloe Moretz and Asa Butterfield reunite for 'The White Circus'

When Hugo was released a couple of years ago, Chloe Moretz was already well on her way to becoming one of today's top stars, largely thanks to cracking a few skulls in Kick-Ass and dispensing some sage advice in (500) Days of Summer. Her co-star Asa Butterfield was practically unknown at the time, but now he and Moretz are headliners, so it's kind of cool to see them reunite at a very different stage of their young careers.

Moretz and Butterfield will star in The White Circus, a dark fantasy dreamed up by writing/directing pair Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, known collectively as Clyde Henry. Also signing on are Christian Friedel (The White Ribbon) and the red hot Andrea Riseborough (Oblivion), with Terry Gilliam executive producing. Described as a dark fairy tale with touches of black comedy, the story follows “a young pilot who crashes his plane in a war-torn town where he befriends a talking circus bear, falls in love with a cabaret singer and challenge a maniacal despot.”

Moretz is set to burn the house down later this year in the Carrie remake, while Butterfield will save humanity in Ender's Game.  Filming on The White Circus begins in February 2014. [ScreenDaily]

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Trailer drops for 'Ender's Game,' starring Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield

I keep forgetting the Ender's Game movie is happening, maybe because I think the book is insanely jingoistic and kind of racist? Umm, just saying. But this trailer, honestly, isn't making me excited, either. It's all Inception horns and Star Trek visuals and there doesn't seem to be very original here, not really, even though the novel is one of sci-fi's greatest classics. Perhaps I'm just hating? Perhaps.

Well, here's a short rundown of Ender's Game for you: Originally a book by Orson Scott Card published in 1985, the book takes place in a future where our world is threatened by Buggers, an alien species. Earth's only hope is child soldiers, specifically genius Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), who gets taken to Battle School and is challenged by teachers like Col. Graff (Harrison Ford) and Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), and befriended by Petra Arkanian (Hailee Steinfield). And then there's a war and some aliens and some other stuff.

Anyone else think the trailer for the film, which will hit theaters on Nov. 1, 2013, gives a pivotal action sequence away? Hmm. Click through to find out!

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Sneak peek at the new 'Ender's Game' trailer; plus first look at Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham

Since Ben Kingsley is currently making Tony Stark's life miserable as the global terrorist Mandarin in Iron Man 3, it makes sense that the producers behind Ender's Game want to highlight him as much as possible. Yesterday, the film's Facebook page revealed that the first full-length trailer would debut during a Google + Hangout with director Gavin Hood and star Asa Butterfield, and to get fans ready for it they've released some sneak peek footage which ends on Kingsley as the tattooed Mazer Rackham.

The first look at Kingsley in the film emerged a couple of days ago, and now this trailer tease also gives us a look at Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff, the leader of the Battle School designed to train special children to be the greatest military commanders in the universe. Humanity is on the verge of extinction due to a costly war with the bug-like alien Formics, and they need these kids to be the next Mazer Rackham, a legendary field general who single-handedly stopped the previous invasion. Ender Wiggin is regarded as the best and brightest recruit, and is put through the physical and emotional wringer to make sure he lives up to his potential.

Also starring Hailee Steinfeld, Moises Arias (The Kings of Summer), Viola Davis, and Abigail Breslin, Ender's Game hits theaters on November 1st. 

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Hugo's Asa Butterfield offered the lead role in Ender's Game

More than 25 years after Orson Scott Card released his seminal sci-fi novel, Ender's Game, the long gestating film adaptation is finally rounding into shape. In the works for nearly a decade, the project floundered under the guidance of Wolfgang Peterson. Multiple scripts, and Card's rigid view of how the film should go proved to be road blocks for awhile, but with the addition of Gavin Hood(Tsotsi) earlier this year to both write and direct, things appear to moving full steam ahead. So much so that it appears Hood has made his choice for the critical role of Andrew "Ender" Wiggin.

Deadline notes that an offer has been made to fast rising talent, Asa Butterfield, the star of Martin Scorsese's 3D adventure film, Hugo. After a small part in 2007's momentary hit, Son of Rambow, Butterfield has since shown his ability to work with some pretty heavy material as star of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. He'll need to bring his A-game if he's going to please fans who have helped keep Ender's Game so popular for the last two decades. Card's novel has led to multiple sequels, a video game, and a highly acclaimed series of Marvel comics.

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman(Star Trek) are producing, and the plan is clearly to turn this into another huge franchise that can compete with the similar(at least on the surface) The Hunger Games. Ender's Game is set in a future Earth where an intergalactic war with an invading alien force rages. Child soldiers are recruited and trained to become military commanders in the fight. The first novel in the series follows Ender's training in Battle School through the use of simulations and anti-gravity scenarios. Children being drafted to fight and kill must be in style now. How soon before somebody starts plotting to remake Battle Royale again?

Ender's Game has been set for a March 15th 2013 release.

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