After his Oscar-hopeful Seven Pounds landed flat on its face in 2008, The Pursuit of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino has stayed behind the curtains just as much as his star Will Smith. They are both returning next year, with Smith in Men in Black III and Muccino with a new film. Starring Gerard Butler, Playing the Field follows the actor playing an ex-soccer player turned coach who seems to be in a Desperate Housewivesesque situation with all the soccer moms in his town.

The ensemble cast also includes Jessica Biel, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman, Dennis Quaid, and we have the first photos today from Blackfilm. I’m interested to see what kind of tone this film carries, as it it looks wildly different from Muccino’s films, but for now we only have these stills, which can be seen above and below.

Synopsis:

PLAYING THE FIELD kicks off with the homecoming of George (Gerard Butler), a retired soccer pro whose glory days are behind him. Burnt out on his playboy lifestyle and bankrupted by a string of bad investments, George moves back to Virginia to reconnect with his estranged ex-wife (Jessica Biel) and neglected son (Noah Lomax). Making up for lost time, George starts to coach the boys’ soccer team. But can he keep his eyes on the goal when the bleachers are stacked with sexy soccer moms and desperate housewives?

We also have a new batch of stills from Jim Field Smith‘s She’s Out of My League follow-up, Butter. We’ve already seen Jennifer Garner in the political satire, but this new photos give us our first glimpse of Olivia Wilde, playing a stripper and mistress to Ty Burrell, husband of Garner. The film premiered to mostly positive reviews at Telluride and Toronto this year, although I missed out on it. Check out all the new photos below via The Playlist with the ensemble also starring Hugh Jackman, Ashley Greene, Alicia Silverstone, Rob Corddry and Kristen Schaal.

Synopsis:

Set in the highly competitive world of championship butter carving, Butter blends social commentary, outrageous comedy and heartfelt drama in telling the story of the ambitious Laura Pickler (Jennifer Garner), the self-anointed First Lady of Butter Carving. Refusing to accept that her husband (Ty Burrell) wants to step down after his 15-year run as the “Iowa State Butter Carving Champion,” and therefore end the Pickler family‟s reign in the spotlight, Laura takes a stab at the title herself. But her bid for glory is complicated when two unlikely contestants enter the race – one, her husband‟s hard-living mistress (Olivia Wilde), and the other a 10-year-old foster child named Destiny (Yara Shahidi). Enlisting the help of her high school sweetheart, Boyd (Hugh Jackman), Laura will stop at nothing to be crowned champion, even if it means resorting to sabotage. Part political satire, part Capra-esque comedy, Butter is a story about what it means to win at all costs and against all odds.

Butter hits theaters March 16th, 2012, while Playing the Field arrives a week earlier on March 9th, 2012.

Which film are you most looking forward to?

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