Earlier tonight, the viral ad campaign that has been going on for Iron Man 2 for the past week culminated in a ticking timer on www.starksecretconfessionrevealed.com. And what was waiting on the other side of the clock? The new trailer for Iron Man 2.

The trailer’s now up at Apple in full HD glory, but you can also check it out below the jump. The trailer teases a lot of what we can expect from the new film — namely, plenty of high tech battlin’. Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash makes a significant and splashy debut, while Don Cheadle’s War Machine also squeezes in his hero shot. All in all, a fairly epic trailer. But it’s no fun listening to me talk about it, hit the jump to see it for yourself!

Looks like Tony Stark’s going to have to face some demons by coming to terms with the fact that after years of running a weapons manufacturer, there are going to be a lot of people whose lives have been ruined by the weapons his company once peddled. And as if that wasn’t enough, he’s got the government breathing down his neck for his weapons technology, a smokin’ new assistant in Scarlett Johansson, and battle suits chasing him around. I can’t wait to see how it all turns out.

Iron Man 2 is an agonizing 142 days from release — it comes out on May 7, 2010.

Despite losing intended star Robert Downey, Jr., DreamWorks Animation’s Oobermind has added three more-than-capable cast members in his wake. Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, and Jonah Hill have signed on to join the animated superhero comedy being directed by Madagascar co-director Tom McGrath. Tina Fey remains signed on to voice the female lead.

The story follows an evil mastermind (Ferrell, replacing Downey) who realizes his wildest dreams when he defeats his archnemesis, Metro Man (Pitt). Instead of finding happiness, however, the titular villain grows bored with life and decides to create a new hero named Titan (Hill) to fill the void. When Titan decides he wants to be evil too, Oobermind must switch sides to battle his creation. Fey will voice a reporter trying to make sense of all the superhero hijinks.

While it would have been fun to hear Downey in this role, I’m more than happy with Ferrell taking his place. The premise sounds like it could be tons of fun, and with Fey, Pitt, and Hill involved as well, Oobermind should spice us DWA’s 2010 after a slow 2009 (when they only released Monsters vs. Aliens).

Here are some bits that we missed from this past week’s news:

David Mamet is writing a screenplay about Anne Frank, based on The Diary of Anne Frank, the 1950’s play by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, and Mamet’s own take on the material.

AMC has acquired the rights to Robert Kirkman’s popular and excellent zombie comic series The Walking Dead, with Frank Darabont slated to write, direct, and exec produce the potential series. Yowza, AMC could be giving HBO a run for its money in terms of quality TV programming.

The big-screen adaptation of Marvel’s The Sub-Mariner is apparently still in the works, though it hasn’t moved out of the early stages at this point. Universal owns the rights and has Surrogates director Jonathan Mostow attached to direct, who said they’re still working on getting the script right. Check out Collider for more info and the video interview with Mostow.

Warner Bros. will be making a live-action/CGI Lego movie that “centers on the subject of childlike imaginations and examines themes of creativity and teamwork in the manner of Toy Story.” Seriously, this toy-craze has got to stop.

Oh, by the way, Variety officially confirmed Bryan Singer’s attachment to the Battlestar Galactica big-screen adaptation that HitFix broke earlier this week (our report on it is here).

A bunch of character design concept images have surfaced online for I, Frankenstein, the Kevin Grevioux-scripted (based on his comic), Patrick Tatopoulos-directed re-imagining that casts Frankenstein’s monster as a hard-boiled PI and pits him against Dracula, a crime kingpin. If the Shelley-meets-Chandler mash-up gets you all sorts of excited, you’re not alone. Check out the images below via IESB.net, ShockTillYouDrop, AICN, and Bloody-Disgusting (click each one for the full image):

Also, Bloody-Disgusting has worked their tail off to confirm that Robert Downey, Jr. is in talks to take on the character of Lestat du Lioncort (previously played by Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire and Stuart Townsend in Queen of the Damned) for the reboot of Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles. Check out their article for all the bloody details.

Alison Pill has replaced Ellen Page in Jack & Diane, the story of two teenage girls who fall in love but struggle against the mounting tides keeping them apart, including the fact that one of them is turning into a werewolf. Olivia Thirlby remains attached. I remain intrigued. [AfterEllen via /film]

And finally, ComingSoon.net has some spy photos from the set of The Losers. The shots show Idris Elba and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Roque and Clay, respectively. Click the photo below to see the whole gallery:

Aaaand it’s gone. Hope you were able to catch it while you could, but if not, I’m sure an official/clean version will come around soon enough.

The footage that Marvel showed for their Iron Man 2 panel at this year’s Comic Con is online (for now) over at MySpace. Check it out below:

It’s recorded from an audience member, so the quality isn’t great, but it’s still pretty exciting. We get scenes with Tony Stark and Nick Fury at Randy’s Donuts, the congressional hearing scene with Garry Shandling’s aptly named Senator Stern, a quick montage that gives us looks at Black Widow, Whiplash, and Justin Hammer, as well as our first peek at War Machine. It definitely looks like the comedy-action ratio from the first film has been retained, with the fun factor going through the roof. Who knows how long this’ll stay up, so catch it while you can!

Robert Downey, Jr. will star in Due Date, Todd Phillips’ next comedy that co-stars The Hangover breakout Zach Galifianakis. Downey will play an expectant father who finds himself across the country from his wife on the day his first child is set to be born. Forced to race home on an impromptu road trip, he winds up stuck in the company of a “mismatched partner,” to be played by Galifianakis.

Phillips and Galifianakis’ The Hangover just recently became the highest-grossing R-rated comedy ever, so it’s no surprise that they’re rushing to get back to work together. Downey, Jr.’s signing gives them a little more star power and offers RDJ a little more variety to the kind of stuff he’s been doing recently (though the majority of his roles involve some comedic aspect anyway). Phillips describes the project as “a buddy comedy without the buddies.” With these talented folk involved, I could care less about the buddies as long as we get the laughs.

Due Date starts filming in September.

This is another look at an enraged Stark at the race track, with the aftermath of a Whiplash encounter burning behind him.

I believe this is our first good look at Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Stark’s former aide-de-camp who has been promoted to CEO of Stark Industries in the sequel.

And who doesn’t love a good behind-the-scenes shot? Here’s director Jon Favreau working with Robert Downey, Jr. and Don Cheadle in that presumed Congressional hearing scene we’ve already seen some shots for.

With Comic Con ramping up in San Diego, you can expect some more goodies to surface over the weekend. The first Iron Man’s 10-minute presentation at 2007’s Comic Con has now become lore at the convention, and I’m sure Marvel will be aiming to reproduce the frenzied success of that sneak peek. Stay tuned!

It’s only a glimpse, but the image seems to suggest that Rhodey and Hammer are in some sort of Congressional hearing (to discuss Iron Man’s autonomy perhaps?). Rockwell is in the background and out of focus as the billionaire arms dealer, but you can get a pretty good idea of the look they’re going for. /film had the image sent in from a reader, which bows in Entertainment Weekly’s Comic Con 2009 Preview issue. Head on over to /film to catch a couple more images, including one of Robert Downey, Jr. as Stark and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, or to EW for one more of Stark in his racing suit.

The Comic Con preview that EW offers actually gives us a bunch of new looks at other films showcasing their wares in San Diego too, including Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Zombieland, and Kick-Ass. Be sure to give it a look if that sounds like something you’d be interested in.

Iron Man 2 is slated to hit theaters May 7, 2010.

In part of their Comic-Con preview, EW gives us a sneak peek at next summer’s Iron Man 2, including our first look at Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow. Their cover of the upcoming issue has Johansson, Robert Downey Jr., and Mickey Rourke all lined up in their respective costumes, which gets the geek juices all a-flowin’. Check out a still of Johansson below, as well as a higher-res version of the cover:

ScarJo is lookin’ good with the ruby tresses! The EW article goes on to confirm Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer in the movie, a billionaire weapons manufacturer and Tony Stark rival. There’s also a Rourke quote that may raise some eyebrows, as he says director Jon Favreau let him take his character of Ivan Vanko, aka Whiplash, in a rather far-out direction:

“I told Favreau, ‘I don’t want to just play him as a one-dimensional p—-,’” [Rouke] says. “He let me have a cockatoo, who I talk to and get drunk with while I’m making my suit.”

Guess we’ll just have to wait and see how that translate to the screen… Iron Man 2 is scheduled to hit theaters May 7, 2010.

Guy Ritchie’s unique take on the film definitely will be fun and a little crazy, if nothing else. I do wish we’d get to see more of how Rachel McAdams’ character ties into the story (or, you know, just a line or two), but I guess we’ll have to settle for her sassy antics with that cad Robert Downey, Jr. for now. This is certainly shaping up to be one of the must-see’s of the year. If only Christmas would come sooner!

Sherlock Holmes hits theaters on December 25, 2009.

[via Empire]

The last one here, Oobermind (which we talked a little about it in our Dreamworks Animation preview), actually sounds like a lot of fun. It stars Robert Downey, Jr. as the voice of Oobermind, a supervillain who accidentally kills his superhero nemesis, Metro Man. Instead of celebrating, Oobermind finds that his life is suddenly without purpose, so he creates another superhero to take his place. However, when his creation wants to be a super villain too, someone must rise up to stop him. Can it be… Oobermind? The film also features the voice talents of Tina Fey and Ben Stiller, the latter of which is also producing.

Jeffrey Katzenberg was in New York Thursday to announce Dreamworks Animation’s upcoming slate to investors, and what a packed slate it is. The studio will not only be ramping up its output to five films every two years, but all of its movies will now be shot in 3D. They kick things off with two brand new properties as well as a fourth Shrek film in 2010. The two original properties are titled How to Train Your Dragon and Oobermind. The first stars Jay Baruchel as an awkward Viking teen who befriends an injured dragon. Gerard Butler, America Ferrara, and Jonah Hill also lend their voice talents.

The second will have Robert Downey, Jr. and Tina Fey in starring roles, and will center on a super-villain (Downey) who grows bored with life after vanquishing his archnemesis, Metro Man (what a, erhm…macho name). Shrek Forever After will hit theaters between those two movies and be helmed by Sky High director Mike Mitchell.

2011 will see the release of Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom, the sequel to the excellent 2008 flick. Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman will reprise their roles, and longtime story exec Jennifer Yuh Nelson will direct. Hopefully she can do as good a job as Mark Osborne and John Stevenson. The second DWA flick that year will be an original film, titled The Guardians and centering on renditions of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and other mythical characters who band together to fight a Bogeyman-like villain.

Which brings us right along to 2012, when the project count will be bumped back up to three. Shrek spinoff Puss in Boots, about the Antonio Banderas-voiced character before his introduction in Shrek 2, will see theaters that year. A third Madagascar film is also set for release, and will follow the escaped zoo animals as they tour Europe in a traveling circus. The last film has yet to be chosen, but will pick from three original properties currently in development. The most interesting of the bunch is Truckers, based on Terry Pratchett’s “The Bromeiad Trilogy” and written by Simon Beaufoy. The story follows miniature creatures who are stuck living in a department store.

So it looks like DWA has some big things in store for audiences over the next few years. Hopefully the increased output doesn’t result in a decline in quality (they already trail Pixar in that department). But thus far, I like the sound of several of their original movies, so I have high hopes for the studio in the coming years.

The action-comedy romp is on full display here, with the obvious Ritchie touch. Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law play off each other wonderfully and to often hilarious effect here, and what little we see of McAdams in the trailer does seem to hint at quite a, ah, formidable foil. Mark Strong looks deliciously evil, and it looks like we’re going to be in for a swashbuckling adventure here. Maybe not exactly what people have in mind when they think Sherlock Holmes, but exciting nonetheless. Check out the trailer below (or catch it on Yahoo in HD):

Sherlock Holmes hits theaters on December 25, 2009.