Opening in 3D and 2D, the film follows five young people who “find themselves stranded in Moscow, fighting to survive in the wake of a devastating alien attack,” according to Summit Entertainment.

Timur Bekmambetov produces the film, which will be directed by Chris Gorak. And we’ve got the first official trailer, which made its debut on Apple’s trailer site. Check it out below.

The film looks like “Cloverfield” and “Skyline” meets “Independence Day,” “Predator” and “District 9.” What do you think? Original enough? It opens everywhere on Dec. 23.

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The Focus Features stars Robert De Niro, Julianne Moore, Paul Dano, Dale Dickey (“Winter’s Bone”), Lili Taylor and Olivia Thirlby. It tells the story of Nick Flynn (Dano), a young writer who takes a job at a homeless shelter where he discovers his long-absent father Jonathan (De Niro) seeking a bed. Moore portrays the writer’s mother Jody, while Thirlby portrays Denise, a worker at the shelter.

“Nick’s memoir was emotional, ruefully funny, and powerfully moving. Paul’s movie looks to honor Nick’s experiences – and his father’s. We are privileged to be working with these filmmakers and talent to tell this story,” said Focus CEO James Schamus.

Weitz commented, “I’ve been working on this script for seven years, gone through 30 drafts, and I feel extremely lucky to be making this draft, with this cast, at this studio.”

More from the release:

Mr. Weitz and Andrew Miano, both of the production company Depth of Field, are producing the film with Corduroy Films and with Mr. De Niro’s Tribeca Productions. The executive producers are Tribeca’s Jane Rosenthal and Meghan Lyvers, Caroline Baron, and Depth of Field’s Kerry Kohansky.

Declan Quinn (Rachel Getting Married) is the cinematographer on the film, and Emmy Award winner Sarah Knowles (Warm Springs) is the production designer. Focus executive vice president, production and development Kahli Small and creative executive Christopher Kopp are supervising the project for president of production John Lyons.

Mr. Weitz was an Academy Award nominee, with his brother Chris, for adapting Nick Hornby’s novel About a Boy into the film of the same name, which they co-directed. Paul Weitz’ other films as writer/director include In Good Company and American Dreamz.

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Photo courtesy of PRPhotos.com.

Jason Statham will headline “Safe,” which is currently in production. Written and directed by Boaz Yakin, the film co-stars Danni Lang, James Colby and Tim Carr. There’s no release date right now.

Meanwhile, Simon West’s “Protection” will go into production in March, with a New Mexico shoot. Dwayne Johnson will star in the action thriller, which casts the former wrestler as a disgraced former American Special Forces operative who must rescue a judge’s kidnapped daughter from a Mexican cartel, according to IMDb.

But the most anticipated title in the bunch has to be “Dredd,” a retry of the graphic novel that once was adapted into a Stallone vehicle. This new one stars Karl Urban (“Star Trek,” “Red”) and Olivia Thirlby (“Juno”), and will be directed in 3D by Pete Travis. It begins production on Nov. 12 in Cape Town, South Africa.

We’ll follow each project and report back new details as they surface.

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BY ROBERT W. WELKOS

When Daryl Wein informed Zoe Lister-Jones that he was thinking of writing a screenplay about a 20-something New York Jewish couple who experiment with an “open relationship,” she didn’t exactly warm to the idea.

In fact, Wein recalled, “Zoe did not like that at all.”

And who’d blame her? What young woman (perhaps besides one of Tiger Woods’ flings) would want her love life splashed all over the big screen?

In real life, Zoe had come to Daryl one day with a proposition: she wanted a “break” from their two-year serious relationship. Not a break-up, she said, but a break. Fearful and unsure where this would end up, Wein said they agreed to take days off from each other, see other people, and see where it goes?

The more he thought about it, however, the more Wein saw cinematic possibilities in their suddenly free-to-be-with-someone-else lifestyle.

The result is “Breaking Upwards,” a smile-inducing romantic comedy with clever, Woody Allen-like dialogue and characters you actually care about.

Directed by Wein, the indie film was produced on a shoestring $15,000 budget and has garnered 70% positive reviews on the Rotten Tomatoes movie review web site, including this snippet from a New York Times critic: “Like many relationships, ‘Breaking Upwards’ starts in bed and ends on the street. The journey in between, however, feels as new as anything a tiny budget and a boatload of talent could produce.”

The film premiered last weekend at New York’s IFC Center and, Wein is quick to point out, was the top-grossing indie film in NYC ($15,467, according to Box Office Mojo). It did so well, he added, that its run was extended another week.

On Friday (April 9), the film opens at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in West Hollywood.

“We’re hoping to do as well in L.A.,” Wein told HollywoodNews.com.

‘Breaking Upwards’ is the first time Wein and Lister-Jones have appeared on screen together and there is a chemistry between them often not found in modern-day romantic comedies. Before that, she was associate producer on his 2008 documentary “Sex Positive” and she has co-written other screenplays with him that their agents at Gersh are currently circulating through Hollywood. They both have acted in films and television. Lister-Jones, for example, has a small role in Angelina Jolie’s next big film, “Salt.”

Wein said he began writing “Breaking Upwards” with his pal and fellow writer, Peter Duchan, in 2007 when Wein and Lister-Jones were in their open relationship.

“Zoe, at first, worried it would be exploitative,” Wein said of the project. “She didn’t know what the nature of the script was and how it compared to real life. But I didn’t want to transcribe our relationship, I wanted (the script) to be an inspiration from the real story.”

A year later, he said, “Zoe got back with me and warmed to the idea of the script and the three of us went back to writing.”

Although they considered casting two other actors in the lead roles, Wein said, they eventually chose to cast themselves using their real names to give the film a feel of authenticity. The couple also produced the film.

The biggest challenge making the movie, Wein said, was working with such a tiny budget. “We had to wear so many hats,” he said.

The film was shot over 3-and-a-half months because many of the actors were appearing in Broadway shows and the production needed to work around their schedules.

“Most of those actors Zoe had worked with,” Wein explained. “That’s how we were able to get them on board. We told them, ‘We’d love to work around your schedules because we love you as actors.’”

The cast includes Andrea Martin as Zoe’s mother, Helaine, a single, pot-smoking Brooklyn sculptor; Julie White as Daryl’s mother, Joanie, a Southern Belle turned Jewish ball breaker, who sees marriage as the only option for happiness; Peter Friedman as Daryl’s father, Alan, an introverted Upper West Side dentist; Olivia Thirlby is Erika, a knockout Daryl meets at a synagogue meet-and-greet and eventually has an affair with; and, Pablo Schreiber as Zoe’s fling, Turner, who is co-starring with her in an Off-Broadway play.

The film was shot at real-life NYC locations, Wein noted, including an Upper East Side townhouse where Zoe’s ex-boyfriend’s mother lived (she and the mother remained friends). One day, the ex-boyfriend showed up to find Wein in his room which was being used as a production office.

For the most part, their own apartment served as the film’s production office with Wein spending 12 to 16 hours a day, often in his underwear in his living room, editing hours upon hours of footage while Lister-Jones would come home after doing an Off-Broadway play, examine what he had done that day, and give notes before going to bed.

They are overwhelmed by the public response to their little gem of a film.

“The reaction has been amazing,” Wein said. “It’s been a very, very personal experience for us. Everyone is relating to it because it’s a very universal subject.”

BY SEAN O’CONNELL

HollywoodNews.com stays on top of the latest DVD and Blu-ray releases so you know which films are worth your time and money. This week, we recommend:

‘New York, I Love You’

Producer Emmanuel Benbihy gets credit for the concept: Choose a major metropolis, then turn loose teams of creative filmmakers and hope to create movie magic.

The charmingly reminiscent “Paris, Je T’Aime” started this fast-and-loose franchise. Now the City of Light gives way to the City that Never Sleeps for “New York, I Love You,” a like-minded anthology of star-studded short films set in – and inspired by – the Big Apple.

As with its predecessor, “New York” is a mixed bag of direct hits and near misses. Hayden Christensen, Rachel Bilson and Andy Garcia dance through a cleverly edited clip on con men and thieves. Natalie Portman writes and directs a short about a bi-racial couple after starring in a different chapter regarding strict religious practices (directed by Mira Nair and co-starring the excellent Irrfan Khan). But Brett Ratner’s vacant chapter, “Prom,” with Anton Yelchin trying to get lucky with a handicapped Olivia Thirlby after the titular dance, lacks the finesse of the collection’s best bits. Why hand the game ball over to a freshman when the varsity championship is on the line?

Luckily, if one segment starts to drag, another one arrives minutes later. And if you like what you see, “Shanghai, I Love You” currently is in production, and due in theatres next year.

Until then, rummage through supplements on Vivendi’s “New York” Blu-ray disc, which boasts – in addition to the crisp visual transfer – a bonus segment written and directed by Scarlett Johansson, a trailer, and five director interviews.

The movie – **1/2 out of 4
The Blu-ray – *** out of 4