Audiences down under have been familiar with Australian actor Sam Worthington for a few years now, but for the rest of the world it's almost as though the guy appeared out of nowhere. This year he's already starred in Terminator Salvation (some critics suggesting he was the best thing about the film), and will soon headline 2010's amped-up remake of Clash of the Titans. Then, of course, there's his pivotal role in arguably 2009's most anticipated film -- James Cameron's 3-D sci-fi epic Avatar. So just how did this little-known actor become the planet's go-to action guy? Maybe it's got something to do with his taste in movies...

It has taken Being John Malkovich and Adaptation director Spike Jonze more than five years to bring Where the Wild Things Are to the big screen. Maurice Sendak, the writer and illustrator of the best-selling children's book (which has sold upward of 20 million copies), identified Jonze as the only man he trusted enough to render his story on film. That story focuses on Max, the boisterous boy in wolf pyjamas who, when sent to his room for bad behaviour, journeys in his imagination and travels to the realm of the Wild Things, a gaggle of hairy monsters who proclaim him king. The book contains only a few hundred words, and yet Jonze has created a full feature film, as wild as the source and as dark and brooding as any ancient fairy tale. The director joins Maurice Sendak and some of his key collaborators to explain exclusively to RT how they shaped the world of Where the Wild Things Are on the big screen.

Five or six years ago, the Sundance Film Festival was more famous for showing dozens of worthy, politically correct movies that instantly disappeared than the odd breakout hits that it spawned, which previously included the likes of The Blair Witch Project, Reservoir Dogs and El Mariachi. Recently, however, the festival has become an excellent launching ground for low-budget movies from across the world, with the 2009 event showcasing the likes of British indie hits Moon and In The Loop and starting the awards momentum for two very different rites of passage movies: An Education and Precious, both tipped for Academy Award/BAFTA success. This year, under the stewardship of new artistic director John Cooper, Sundance shows no sign of slowing down, as its 2010 choices seem to suggest. RT investigates Buried, starring Ryan Reynolds, The Extra Man, Christopher Morris's controversial Four Lions, Joseph Gordon-Levitt starrer Hesher, Howl, Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me, Jeffrey Blitz's Lucky, Vincenzo Natali's Splice, Sympathy for Delicious and Kristen Stewart's rumoured nude scene in Welcome to the Rileys.

Oren Peli's debut feature 'Paranormal Activity' -- an ingenious horror movie set in a house as a young couple attempt to capture a spectre on camera -- was made on video for a tiny budget of just $15,000. But with a smart marketing campaign and viral word-of-mouth from audiences that propelled it from limited release into wide theatrical distribution, the shoestring fright flick has now taken more than $107 million in the US alone. What's more, it marks an all-time record return on initial investment. As the film finally arrives (on a wave of hype) in the rest of the world, we decided to take a look at 10 other profitable horror films throughout history. After all, it's the genre to be in if you really want to make a low-budget killing.

There are so many movies in the zombie genre that it would seem almost impossible to make something that feels fresh -- yet that's just what Ruben Fleischer has done with his debut feature, 'Zombieland'. Though it has antecedents in Romero and 'Shaun of the Dead', the film is its own beast: a zom-com, sure, but also a road movie, a buddy comedy, and an off-kilter indie film that somehow wandered into the land of the dead. It's also a hit with audiences and critics, having taken more than $74 million at the US box office and rating 89% Fresh on RT. With Zombieland out in Australia this week, we spoke with Ruben about the film.