The 3D revolution (or fad, depending on how you see it) has finally engulfed the classics. Specifically, the format has reached out to Alexandre Dumas’ swashbuckling adventure story The Three Musketeers, which Paul W.S. Anderson has co-scripted and will direct as a 3D feature.
On the same day we heard about this news, Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News relayed a rumor that Iron Man 2– and possibly the first Iron Man– could also get the 3D treatment, through a retrofit conversion process. Provided he didn’t simply mishear some kind of reference to Dumas’ The Man in the Iron Maskthis would be another big step in the development of 3D cinema.
But is it still too early for all these 3D movies to be getting the greenlight? Sure, The Final Destination 3Ddid great business over the past weekend, but its 3D effects were terrible. And we’re still unsure whether or not Avatarwill be the success that Hollywood hopes it will be.
Since TFD3D topped the box office, though, we’ve been hearing about more sequels and more old movies that we can expect to hit theaters in 3D over the next few years and beyond (provided they continue doing well). So, many a film blog has begun suggesting other movies to be fitted and retrofitted with the technology. Some of them are sampled after the jump and we encourage you to submit your own pitches in the comments section below.
It’s a pretty slow news day for movies, with everyone’s concentration on last night’s Tony Awards (congrats to Billy Elliot for making up for the Oscar snub eight years ago), but there is one bit of geek movie news that I’m really intrigued about: the hint of yet another Marvel comic book adaptation due in 2012. Among much information concerning the upcoming films Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Thorand The First Avenger: Captain America,Alex Billington atFirst Showingbrought word this morning from a conference at the Sony Pictures lot that Marvel Studios will be announcing this secret title within the next few months.
What could it be? And what do you want it to be? Personally, I’m hoping that Scarlett Johansson has impressed the studio so much with her portrayal of Black Widow in the Iron Mansequel that she’s been given her own solo film. That is pretty unlikely, though, considering all the other ideas Marvel has floated over the years. So, will it be Doctor Strange? Luke Cage? Black Panther? S.H.I.E.L.D.? Another Hulkreboot tied to the Avengers movie? Let’s see what the film blogs think, after the jump:
Celebrity death cult where were you? Soul Men, featuring the final performance from Bernie Mac, underperformed over the weekend, placing only sixth with $5.6 million. I guess you preferred his other final film, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, which achieved the best debut of 2008 for an animated film with $63.5 million. The other big opener was Role Models, which did better than expected with a second-placing $19.3 million. All thanks to Jane Lynch’s bagel dog trick, I’m hoping.
Despite YouTube video being possibly the worst format in which to watch movies online, MGM is licensing some of its titles (no 007 movies, unfortunately) to the site for full-length streaming.
Joe Johnston, who has a Best Visual Effects Oscar for work on Raiders of the Lost Ark, has been hired by Marvel to direct First Avenger: Captain America. And I’m probably the only one who’s now hoping the comic book adaptation is reminiscent of the Johnston-directed The Rocketeer.
Marvel Studios has signed a three-year deal with Raleigh Manhattan Beach Studios to shoot Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers at the Southern California facility’s soundstages. But hopefully it’s only the interiors of the latter two movies that will be filmed there. Despite my support for Hollywood productions to shoot locally in the Los Angeles area, particularly in these hard economic times, The Avengers better be set in New York City or else feature a team led by Hawkeye.
Steve Carell will officially be back as Maxwell Smart in a Get Smart sequel for Warner Bros., where the actor has just signed a first-look deal to develop projects he’ll produce, write and/or star in under the name Carousel Productions. Partnering with him are a couple of old friends and collaborators, including fellow former Daily Show correspondent Vance DeGeneres.
For those Americans becoming impatient with the wait for Election Day, the president of Lionsgate suggests they “vote with their box office dollars three weeks before they vote at the actual ballot box” by seeing Oliver Stone’s W when it opens October 17.
After disappointing at the box office, TV’s episodic continuation of Star Wars: Clone Wars seems to be a hit for Cartoon Network. Yet the viewership for the series was technically less than the amount of people who saw the movie (not taking into account all the multiple tickets purchased by hardcore fanboys) and contrary to what Variety’s headline seems to indicate, it didn’t even give Cartoon Network its best ratings ever.
Even though some of last year’s Comic-Con secrets were leaked to the web ahead of time, the 2007 SDCC was a huge deal as far as revelations go. Whether it was the unveiling of Karen Allen’s involvement in Indiana Jones and the Then-Still-Not-Subtitled Fourth Installmentor cast updates for Watchmenand Star Trek or a bit of clarification on what the hell that Cloverfieldmovie was, Comic-Con 2007 left us super excited and highly anticipatory for the next year of movie releases.
But after a quick glance, the 2008 convention doesn’t seem like it will have as many big announcements. There should be plenty of new footage shown from movies like Watchmen (making its second Comic-Con round) and The Spirit(hopefully there’s some better looking stuff than the most recent trailer gave us), but what secrets are set to be let out of the bag?
Here’s 10 things I hope they reveal over the next few days:
Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in Terminator Salvation- If this really happens, I’ll be flabbergasted. But a guy can hope, at least for official word on a cameo. And there’s no better place than Comic-Con for a confirmation to happen. Well, I guess if Warner Bros. could keep it a secret until the movie opens next May, then that would actually be better. But that’s impossible nowadays. …Read more
In case you were like me and didn’t stick around after the credits of Iron Manthis weekend, you may be in luck. If one of a number of YouTube clips is still up by the time you read this post, then you can kind of see (in a bad quality video capture) Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. approaching Tony “Iron Man” Stark about something called “The Avengers Initiative.” (If the clip above is down, try this one, or try Movieweb’s video, or else find one I’ve missed … or, of course, go see the movie again).
Some non-comic fans who may have stuck around may have wondered who this guy is and what he’s talking about. So, just in time to coincide with the box office news this morning, Marvel Studios officially announced its lineup of adaptations through the next few years. And The Avengers is among the titles, coming to theaters in July 2011.
But hey, if the strike doesn’t end soon — the WGA and moguls meet informally again today — Hollywood can just release 3D versions of old movies in 2010. That’s what Disney has planned so far (even if not directly because of the strike) with at least Toy Storyand Toy Story 2. I’m fine with it; I love digital 3D, and I think The Incrediblesshould be next.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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The 3D revolution (or fad, depending on how you see it) has finally engulfed the classics. Specifically, the format has reached out to Alexandre Dumas’ swashbuckling adventure story The Three Musketeers, which Paul W.S. Anderson has co-scripted and will 
It’s a pretty slow news day for movies, with everyone’s concentration on last night’s Tony Awards (congrats to Billy Elliot for making up for the Oscar snub eight years ago), but there is one bit of geek movie news that I’m really intrigued about: the hint of yet another Marvel comic book adaptation due in 2012. Among much information concerning the upcoming films Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Thor and The First Avenger: Captain America, Alex Billington at First Showing brought word this morning from a conference at the Sony Pictures lot that Marvel Studios will be announcing this secret title within the next few months.
Twenty days after Lionsgate 
