Arnold Schwarzenegger announced yesterday that he would be returning to The Terminator franchise.  Rumor is that he would play a human character.  Arnold also revealed his plans to also star in the new Conan the Barbarian movie as well as a new Twins movie. Terminator 5 will start shooting in January.

Today comes news that Arnold would return to The Expendables 3.  Other Casting rumors for the new Expendables movie have Mel Gibson as the villain and Jackie Chan, Nicolas Cage, Wesley Snipes, and Milla Jovovich joining the cast.  Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, and Mickey Rourke are rumored to be reprising their roles from earlier movies. The Expendables 3 begins shooting in August.

I’ve shared my love for the epic-ly bad Resident Evil movie series in the past. These movies from Paul W.S. Anderson are so bad, that I can’t help but love them and be amazed that they just keep coming and coming every year- this will be the 5th movie in the series since 2002.

While not following the story of the games, the movies have interwoven the familiar characters in and out of the sequels. New for Retribution are Johann Urb as Leon Kennedy and Bingbing Li as Ada Wong (pictured right with Milla Jovovich as Alice). A surprise return to the series are Michelle Rodriguez as Rain, whose character (SPOILER ALERT) died in the original movie. Another deceased character making a return is Oded Fehr’s Carlos Oliveira, who appeared in both Apocalypse and Extinction. While I could care less about Rodriguez’s annoying character returning, I’m really glad to hear that Fehr’s Olivera is back as he was one of the most likeable characters introduced in the first four movies. Also returning characters from past films are Sienna Guillory as Jill Valentine, Colin Salmon as James One Shade, Shawn Roberts as Albert Wesker, and Boris Kodjoe as Luther West.

Click to enlarge the images. The left image features Jovovich as Alice, and the right image features both Jovovich and Li.

Resident Evil: Retribution will be hitting theaters on September 14th, 2012. Are you excited for more zombie killing action?

With hit movies able to surpass the $100 million mark and video games being all the rage, is it any wonder that the two often go together?  Ever since the release of the film adaptations of such games as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, the film world has been searching for that next great franchise.  To help give you a better idea of what’s to come, we have gathered the five video games which were turned into the Top Video Game Movies of all time.

1. Resident Evil
When this horror game about killing your way out of a mansion full of zombies first debuted, no one thought it would be the highest grossing video game franchise of all time.  There are four cinematic film entries starring Milla Jovovich, which have totaled over $500 million in box office sales, and another big screen adventure in the works.  There are also various animated films of the game that are available on DVD.

2. Tomb Raider
Angelina Jolie is perhaps most recognized for her role as Laura Croft from the various Tomb Raider games.  Much like the above, the game often involves fighting your way out of haunted tombs and features a female lead character. The two feature films with Jolie as Croft grossed over $430 million in ticket sales. While they will not be completing a trilogy with Jolie, studios are itching to continue the franchise on the big screen with a new lead actress.

3. Prince of Persia
The old PC game found new life as a movie and in several other gaming platforms.  However, with top notch action producer Jerry Bruckheimer leading the way and Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role, the movie made over $312 million at the box office. This makes it the single highest grossing video game movie of all time.

4. Mortal Kombat
Although the first entry to this film franchise debuted over 15 years ago, it remains one of the top video game films of all time.  The first film made over $122 million at the box office, while the sequel Annihilation made $51 million. This puts its total at over $173 million box office dollars. In addition to the movies, the video game spawned multiple live action series, including a recent web series that starred Jeri Ryan and Michael Jai White.

5. Hitman
While some might guess that big name stars, such as The Rock in 2005’s Doom or Mark Wahlberg as Max Payne, might get the fifth spot, it didn’t happen that way.  This 2007 film starred the lesser known Timothy Olphant as Agent 47, who is an assassin for hire.  The film’s total is just under $99 million and barely beat out 1994’s Street Fighter for the fifth spot.  Hitman has had four video games in its series.

This guest article was written by Sara McDowell. She is an avid Gamer and owns and operates the gaming centric site Video Game Design Schools.

Welcome to another edition of The Pit. Lots of stuff is happening in the world of entertainment, here is a sampling.

• The good news? Damages (one of the best shows on TV) has been renewed for two more seasons! The bad news? It will only be shown on Direct TV. I’ll have to wait for DVD to see the new seasons. But on the plus side, I usually let Damages episodes build on Tivo and watch them back to back anyway.

• EW has a first look at the Lost DVD short that focuses on Hurley and Ben’s time running the island after the finale. Check it out here. I can’t wait for the DVD box set and this short film. So excited for even just a little bit more of Lost!

• OMFG! Lindsay Lohan begins her jail time today… Really, who the F cares? *rolls eyes*

• In another eye rolling story, the talentless cast of Jersey Shore is threatening to strike days before they are supposed to begin shooting their third season. It looks like MTV is going to give them huge raises to stay on the show, instead of doing the smart thing and replacing them all. I can’t wait until the world gets past the “being an a-hole” makes you a celebrity phase.

• Have you checked out A&E network’s The Glades? The new series follows Matt Passmore as Jim Longworth, a homicide detective from Chicago who relocates to the sleepy middle of nowhere town of Palm Glade, Florida. While it appears like a easy/low key job, murders begin popping which forces detective Longworth to prove his worth. If you missed it’s premiere, it has been added to 141tv’s Free Video Guide.

• There is a new trailer for Resident Evil: Afterlife. This one gives us a better idea of the story and a ton of different versions of Milla. This movie is going to be so epic-ly bad that it will be awesome! Check out the film’s poster and first trailer here.

Two months ago we got the trailer for Resident Evil: Afterlife, and now we have an all new poster for the 3D horror flick.

Would it be too much to ask for a Resident Evil movie that doesn’t fully focus on Milla Jovovich’s Alice? A character that wasn’t even in any of the games. At least she is pretty badass on the poster.

The official trailer for Resident Evil: Afterlife has been released (and can be viewed below). I can’t think of another awesome video game franchise that has had the misfortune to be butchered for four (count them, four) horrible film adaptations.

In Afterlife, writer/director Paul W.S. Hack Anderson continues the journey of Alice (aka his wife Milla Jovovich), who attempts to help survivors find a safe haven. This time they try going to Los Angeles, which is (you guessed it!) overrun by horrible looking CGI zombies. Will they survive?

I give Anderson’s Resident Evil film series a lot of shit, but they have entered the class of being so bad that I enjoy them. Will I see Afterlife in theaters? Hell no. But I’m sure I’ll enjoy it some day via Netflix or HBO.