When it comes to the first photos and synopsis from upcoming films, Collider has reaped great rewards from this year’s American Film Market (AFM).  For those who don’t know, AFM is where film buyers from around the world come once a year to buy movies and also pre-buy films in development.  Simply put, this is where a lot of money changes hands in the film industry and it’s where many decisions about what you and I get to see are made.  In an effort to try and raise a film’s profile or attract film buyers, many of the studios distribute full synopses and still images for their movies.

With that in mind, we have grabbed some of those synopses and images for Manolete (starring Adrien Brody and Penelope Cruz), Mona Lisa, Pearblossom, Small Town Saturday Night (starring Chris Pine), and The Long Good Friday.  Hit the jump to check it all out.  Please note that the synopses are copied down exactly as printed.  I have made no editorial changes.  Furthermore, some of these synopses are complete as describe the entire film.  For those wary of spoilers, read carefully.

If Robert Downey Jr. has taught us anything, it’s that no actor should be trapped by just one franchise.  An actor can be the star of any series that will likely require a three-picture deal and that doesn’t mean they won’t get to do any smaller projects.  Through the magic of cloning, any actor can be in at least three or four major movies every year.  Chris Pine has apparently discovered this cloning as he is in talks to star in Paramount’s attempt to once again reboot Tom Clancy’s “Jack Ryan” franchise.  Hit the jump to boldly go where no one has gone before AND save America from freedom-haters.

You can never go wrong making a movie about counterfeiters or gangsters. They could make a hundred of these movies a year and studios would still make money. The reason is simple: people love to watch others reap financial rewards through illegitimate means as long as the criminals don’t take the money directly from average, good-hearted Americans.

Making the latest entry in the popular counterfeiter/gangster subgenre, Chris Pine (Captain Kirk) and director D.J. Caruso (”Eagle Eye”, “Disturbia”) are in negotiations with Paramount Pictures to make “The Art of Making Money” next year. The movie would be based on a 2005 Rolling Stone article by Jason Kersten, who turned his reporting into the book “The Art of Making Money: The Story of a Master Counterfeiter”. More after the jump:

Someone at Paramount must like me. I didn’t have time to see “Star Trek” on IMAX, when it came out May 8, but now I just might. The franchise reboot is getting another run on around 100 IMAX locations this Friday. The reason for the title coming back to the big big screen is pretty simple: it broke IMAX records in May, opening with $8.5 million domestically in its first weekend and continued strong. Unfortunately, it was shelved after only two weeks due to previous commitments with Fox to release “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.” Most films get a four week theatrical run, and now that the summer season has cooled, “Star Trek” will pick up its remaining weeks. More excitement after the jump.

Back in June, we posted the trailer to Paramount Vantage’s “Carriers”, a two year old horror film starring Chris Pine that got the old dust-off after the success of “Star Trek”.  The films theatrical run will begin September 4^th, but only in limited markets.  The markets in which the film will actually be shown seem pretty random, as not even New York or LA are getting the film.  Synopsis and list of markets after the jump.

Rosario Dawson has now joined the cast of Tony Scott’s latest film, “Unstoppable”. She will now be starring alongside Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. To find out more about this film which is amazingly inspired by a true story hit the jump.

After years of sitting on Paramount Vantage’s shelf collecting dust, “Carriers” is finally getting a theatrical release this September. You may be wondering what motivated the studio. I’ve got two words for you…Chris Pine.

You see, years ago, before he was cast as the new James Tiberius Kirk, Chris Pine made “Carriers” along with Lou Taylor Pucci, Piper Perabo and Emily VanCamp. With the skyrocketing success of “Star Trek”, Paramount Vantage is clearly trying to capitalize of his new found fame with this release. And you know what, it’s probably going to work. If you’d like to learn more about the movie and see the first trailer, it’s after the jump:

If The Hollywood Reporter is to be believed, then director Tony Scott is about to get much better than he deserves.  The guy already has some sort of weird hold on Denzel Washington (my guess: explicit photos of Washington curbstomping infants which is really unfair because those photos lack context) and now it looks like he’s going to get Chris Pine onboard his terrible-looking train movie, “Unstoppable”.  According to THR, Pine would play a newbie train conductor (stay with me) whose brought onto replace the veteran train conductor played by Washington (stay with me) due to company cutbacks.  I don’t really understand how replacing one guy with another guy saves the company money but okay.  They find themselves in a race against time to stop an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train carrying enough combustible liquids and poisonous gas to wipe out a nearby city.

So…someone put all the combustible liquids AND the poisonous gases on the same half-mile train?  What was the alternate title for this movie, “3:10 to Are You Fucking Kidding Me?”  I don’t know where “Unstoppable” will fit in with scheduling for “Star Trek 2″ but at least Pine has that film in his back pocket and can afford to do what is, at best, a paycheck movie.  That or Scott had damning photos of Pine also curb-stomping infants.  Why would these celebrities do that if they know it’s so frowned upon?

Few blockbusters arrive in theatres with more expectations, than a film with the words “Star Trek” in its title.  Early week estimates were all over the map for JJ Abrams’ re-imagined Trek, a contemporary spin on the “Classic Trek” canon, so it was hard to get a real handle on how things would shake out by Sunday.  So what’s the financial final frontier looking like for “Star Trek”?  Though the film could not top last weekend’s $85 million take for “Wolverine”, Abrams’ did manage to best the last three “Trek” entries opening days combined with a $76.5 million domestic total.  Plus, “Star Trek” has something going for it that Wolverine’s claws couldn’t crack - this movie is actually good…