The first trailer for the Tim Burton-produced film, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, has finally been released and we have to admit — it looks pretty great! Based on the popular book of the same name, it stars up and comer Benjamin Walker as America’s 16th President Abraham Lincoln, who just so happens to slay vampires when he’s not freeing slaves.

Check out the trailer above!

stills from 'vampire hunter'

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According to IMDB, the plot is as follows:

“President Lincoln’s mother is killed by a supernatural creature, which fuels his passion to crush vampires and their slave-owning helpers.”

Historical inaccuracies aside, we think we’re going to have to check it out! It hits theaters on June 22.

Also, did you know that the actor who plays Honest Abe is Meryl Streep‘s son-in-law? That’s right, 29-year-old Benjamin is married to Meryl’s daughter (and fellow actress) Mamie Gummer.

female bafta attendees

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We wonder if Meryl will be checking this film out!

The 47-year-old Sweeney Todd heartthrob—who’s currently filming Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (that is, when he isn’t busy giving British schoolchildren the thrill of a lifetime)—will reportedly begin filming his next project, a big-screen adaptation of the vampire soap opera Dark Shadows, in February. 

As previously reported, Depp will take up the role of 175-year-old vampire Barnabas Collins, who in the original series found himself living in Collinwood, Maine, with his extended family after being sealed in his coffin by his father since 1795. Helming the movie will be longtime Depp collaborator Tim Burton, who’s worked with the actor on the aforementioned Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands.

Depp has said of the project, 

“Tim and I have tossed the idea for Dark Shadows over the years. It was a TV program in the States in the late 60s and early 70s that I remember watching as a kid. I was obsessed with this character, Barnabas Collins, who was a vampire. I came to find out many years later that when he was a kid, Tim ran home like I did to watch that Gothic soap opera. It was a very strange thing back then.We looked at ways to go, story-wise. We’ve started to come up with something interesting.”

Do you think that Depp will be able to stand out in an already crowded field of sexy vampires? Let us know in the comments section. But first, check out Jonathan Frid in the role of Collins in a clip from the original Dark Shadows series below.

Mia Wasikowska—who plays the title character in the sure-to-be-mindbending retelling of Lewis Carroll‘s surreal classic—prettied up the event, along with her co-stars Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter.

Go ahead and take a leap down the rabbit hole by clicking through our photo gallery.

A little bit of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter would have been nice, but all in due time, we suppose…

Check out the clip and sound off in the comments section: Do you think Burton can pull off Alice in Wonderland, or do we have another Planet of the Apes on our hands?

Check out the video and share your thoughts in the comments section: Do you think Burton, Depp and the rest can pull off the best version of Alice in Wonderland yet?

Frequent collaborators Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are gearing up to film a big-screen version of the mid-’60s soap opera Dark Shadows, featuring Depp as the vampire Barnabus Collins, and the two have been letting details about the project drip out in various interviews lately.

Depp tells Collider.com that playing 175-year-old vampire Collins has been “a lifelong dream for me,” ever since he became infatuated with the show as a child. “I was obsessed with Barnabas Collins,” Depp recalls. “I have photographs of me holding Barnabas Collins posters when I was five or six.”

Burton, meanwhile, dished to the Los Angeles Times about his own impression of the original series. “It had the weirdest vibe to it. I’m sort of intrigued about that vibe,” Burton noted.

As for the public’s enduring interest in vampire stories, Burton theorizes, “It’s like any great fable or fairytale, it’s got a power to it…There’s something symbolic about it that touches people in different ways.”

At this year’s Comic-Con, Burton said that he hopes to begin work on Dark Shadows as soon as he’s finished working on his Alice in Wonderland remake—which also stars Depp, as the Mad Hatter. If the timing works out, who knows? Dark Shadows might even go up against Breaking Dawn, the final installment in the Twilight saga.

That would definitely give vampire fanatics something to sink their teeth into.

Let us know in the comments section: Do you think Johnny Depp will make a sexier vampire than Robert Pattinson?

The trailer for Tim Burton‘s upcoming re-envisioning of the Lewis Carroll classic Alice in Wonderland has been released.

The cast includes Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, and Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen.

Looks absolutely wild, just like we thought! Too bad we have to wait till March 10 of next year to check out the whole thing.

Have your say in the comments section: How excited are you to see this movie after checking out the new trailer?

She seems absolutely heavenly in her white dress and dark red lipstick.

It also seems like Anne has a new friend: a Dormouse. 

Between this pic and the other photos that have been released, it looks like this is going to be a fantastic movie.

We can’t wait to see more photos revealing what Burton has in store for us in his remake.

Let us know in the comments section: Are you excited to see what Burton, Hathaway and Johnny Depp will do with Alice in Wonderland?

Pretty cool, if you ask us. Can’t wait to see what Anne Hathaway looks like as the White Queen and what Michael Sheen looks like as the White Rabbit.

The movie is currently set for a March 5, 2010 release date.

Have your say in the comments section: Are you looking forward to seeing what Tim Burton does with Alice in Wonderland?

The film also stars Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, and Crispin Glover as the Knave of Hearts.

Creepy? Sure. But the 45-year-old actor has spookified his good looks for Burton on a number of their collaborations, including Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd: The Barber of Seville, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

And given the fact that he’s now making $55 million a film, Depp isn’t likely to care if you’re a little freaked out.

Even so, take the poll on the right and let us know: Which macabre Depp look do you like best?

The event honors the horror, comic book, sci fi and fantasy elements of Hollywood productions.

The awards were held Saturday night at L.A.’s Greek Theater, and attendees included Kristen Bell, AnnaLynne McCord, Gary Oldman, Liv Tyler, Seann William Scott, Stan Lee, Tim Burton, George Lucas, Marilyn Manson, Wes Craven, Billy Corgan, the Osbournes and Rob and Sheri Moon Zombie.

Burton, Craven and Lucas were given lifetime achievement awards. Winners will be announced during Tuesday night’s telecast beginning at 9 p.m.

Hathaway will be playing the White Queen. The cast also includes mega-bucks actor Johnny Depp, who’ll play the Mad Hatter, and Burton’s longtime companion and fellow fashion renegade, Helena Bonham Carter.

Congratulations, Anne! With your recent experiences, you shouldn’t have any trouble stealing the show.

Or rather, Tim was walking. Helena was pogo-ing on her Z Coil shoes. Who knows—maybe the English thespian is suffering from foot pain?

Or perhaps she and Burton just get up to some freaky jazz, and she forgot to take off all the naughtywear before leaving the house.

Anyway, the black-clad couple were on

their way to pick up their son Billy Ray from school. That kid just oughtta be happy mom and dad didn’t look like this again.

It must have been a rough morning for Helena, who hit the town in what looked like a fright wig and pants made seemingly from IKEA curtains.

Of course, there are always worse ways for a parent to dress.

Luckily the bizarrely-outfitted couple got their acts together enough to prepare the children for a rainy London day. Still, they should try to remember to leave the costumes to the to the kiddies.

Since stars, much like normal people, tend not to appreciate it when strangers come up and sniff them, we’ll have to judge by looks and reputation alone.

Sure, calling people stinkers is petty and superficial, but we’re dealing with a shallow business in a shallow world.

With that in mind, click on the gallery at right to view the top 10 stars least likely to pass the sniff test.