Warner Bros. Bumps Up Harry Potter Release

(NEWSER) - Summer may not always yield the best movies, but it never fails to deliver the year’s best trailers. Wired celebrates this sacred art by picking out the trailers that managed to throw the most hype onto the screen in 3 minutes or less. We’ve helpfully compiled them in our gallery to the left. More»

Blockbusters that will make the summer even hotter

(NEWSER) - In Hollywood, May flowers don’t bring Pilgrims; they bring summer blockbusters. The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the season’s most promising flicks:

• May 21: Christian Bale stars in Terminator Salvation, a prequel that tries to hew closer to the first two hit films instead of taking cues from the third, a real clunker.

His camp tells TMZ he has no anti-Semitic leanings

(NEWSER) - So why would Mel Gibson decide to produce a movie about a famed Jewish warrior given his, er, Jewish problem? Easy, explains TMZ . Gibson doesn't think he has a Jewish problem. It quotes sources "very close" to Gibson as insisting that he doesn't hate Jews and that, wait for it, he has many Jewish friends and business associates. Gibson feels that he's made enough mea culpas for his infamous anti-Semitic rant in 2006 and that the movie should not be seen as a bid to mend ties because none need mending. Jewish groups beg to differ. More»

People like known surprise twists early, says study

(NEWSER) - Next time you inadvertently spoil the end of a TV show or movie for someone who hasn't seen it yet, bust out this study in defense: Spoilers don't spoil anything, say researchers at UC San Diego. In fact, they say people enjoy a story better if they know plot twists or surprise endings in advance, reports Science Daily . The scientists had separate groups read the same stories with different degrees of tip-offs—sometimes spoiling a mystery at the get-go and sometimes not—and measured satisfaction afterward. More»

Sorry, Transformers fans

(NEWSER) - The summer blockbuster: proof that, when it comes to movies, budget is often inversely proportional to quality. In Time , Everett Rosenfeld and Gilbert Cruz reflect on the worst of the worst:

1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Director Michael Bay’s only priority: explosions.
2. Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace: “This is the story of a man with too much power and the terrible things he did”—that is, George Lucas.
3. Sex and the City 2: Our heroes go to the Middle East and “proceed to act closed-minded and condescending.”