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.
Paramount will continue to distribute films produced by Marvel Studios, including 2010’s Thor, which Kenneth Branagh is now confirmed to be directing. The deal was expected, especially after Paramount’s handling of Iron Man. Also in the news: that film’s first sequel has been pushed back a week from April 30, 2010 to May 7, 2010. Iron Man 3 is also being planned, but hasn’t yet been given a planned release date.
Meanwhile, Paramount and Dell have teamed up to offer Iron Man preloaded into newly purchased computers. For $20, the Iron Man add-on will include exclusive bonus footage. I can’t wait to see if there’s an “I’m a Marvel, I’m a DC” video related to this.
Now that digital and 3-D projection systems are finally to receive an increase in numbers (see yesterday’s TR), short-attention Hollywood is already thinking about another moviegoing incentive: large-format projection. Thanks to the success of the Imax sequences in The Dark Knight, more and more filmmakers are shooting Imax segments for upcoming blockbusters, including Transformers 2, Iron Man 2 and Y: The Last Man. Hopefully this new trend will encourage someone to build a second Imax theatre for NYC. One screen per 20 million people is not cutting it.
Very appropriate casting: actress Danielle Panabaker (Sky High), who graduated from high school and was valedictorian at age 14, and who got her bachelor’s at 19, will be the female lead in Prodigy, a sci-fi film about a prep school that creates geniuses through questionable means.
It’s not definite yet, but it looks like Oscar-nominated actor/director Kenneth Branagh will be taking the helm of Marvel Studios’ comic book adaptation Thor. Most young moviegoers know Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart (from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), but he’s otherwise better known for primarily directing films of Shakespeare’s works. He also tends to cast mostly trained Shakespearean actors, although he has been known to include an Alicia Silverstone or a Matthew Lillard in his ensembles. Additionally, he’s been known for odd casting choices, such as Robert De Niro for the Monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Who will he cast this time in the Asgardian ensemble that will make up the film? It might not actually be totally up to him, but if it is, it might look a little like this:
I know what you’re thinking. He’s old. But he’s only five years older than Iron Man’s Robert Downey Jr. and only 3 years older than Brad Pitt, who recently was rumored to be at the top of Marvel’s wish list for the role. Anyway, he’s cast himself as Hamlet, Dr. Frankenstein and Henry V. So, it would be fitting if he cast himself in the lead here, too. The only issue, of course, is that the script now apparently features Thor’s alter ego, Donald Blake, and he’s reportedly written as a med student, not a full-on doctor. Oh, and for Thor, Branagh will have to beef up tremendously. Or not. If he actually got away with playing the character, he could probably also get away with not giving in to the whole height and muscle problem.
As expected, Eagle Eye came in at #1 at the box office over the weekend with $29.2 million, and as speculated, adult moviegoing was down Friday because of the presidential debate. The real box office news, though, is the success of the Christian-themed Fireproof, which came in at #4 with $6.5 mil. despite playing on fewer than 1,000 screens. Especially interesting because another seemingly red-state-geared (though definitely more blue-state-friendly) limited release, The Lucky Ones, opened to a tiny fraction of that amount ($209,000) on only half as many screens.
In one of the best ideas from Hollywood ever, Kenneth Branagh has been offered the gig to direct Thor for Marvel Studios. An appropriate move given that Stan Lee originally wrote the character as speaking in a Shakespearean manner.
Still on the subject of comics, Hollywood continues its feeding frenzy on the work of Mark Miller (Wanted; the upcoming Kick-Ass), whose super-soldier tale War Heroes (created with Tony Harris) will be made into a film by Columbia Pictures.
A majority of the major studios has apparently finally agreed on a suitable virtual print fee. In the next two weeks, Universal, Paramount, Disney and Fox will announce the long-overdue, billion-dollar-financed plan to put 15,000 digital projectors in theaters owned by Regal, Cinemark and AMC. Interestingly enough, as the deal will allow more screens to be 3-D-equippable, Warner Bros. is not reportedly involved, despite the fact that it could have done better with its Journey to the Center of the Earth had there been more 3-D screens. Also, it has the fourth installment of Final Destination, which has been shot for 3-D, out next year.
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
It’s not always worthwhile to jump on rumors like this, but the idea that Brad Pitt could be cast as The Mighty Thor in Marvel’s upcoming movie adaptation (due June 4, 2010) is too good an idea to be left alone. The word comes from Latino Review that Marvel is simply tossing the actor’s name around, though apparently the role hasn’t even been suggested, let alone offered, to Pitt.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to imagine that Pitt would be interested in playing a superhero. He’s still a big enough star and a talented enough actor that he might feel he’s above such a thing. However, if he wants to continue making great films like The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which don’t make him much cash, he’s going to need some mainstream hits, and he could do much worse for a paycheck than wear a cape and helmet and fight evil as the Norse God of Thunder.
So, I’ve come up with five reasons for Pitt to grab Thor’s hammer. Hopefully he’ll find the list convincing.
Lucrative Franchise Potential - Without the security of more Ocean’s movies and the chance that your star power will wane (it’s happened to your friends and peers), now is the time to suit up for a comic book movie. It’s not like this would be that different from your only other recent hits, Troyand Mr. and Mrs. Smith, neither of which can be proven to have been successful because of you.
Now that we’re sure there’s an Avengers movie on the way, and that it will be tied into the movies Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Ant-Man and Captain America (full title: The First Avenger: Captain America), it’s time to begin speculating on what other characters will be cast to fill out the team’s roster.
In addition to the four characters starring in their own preceding titles, as well as cameo-man Nick Fury, there’s a good chance we’ll see Vision and Black Widow rounding out an even six team members. Yet I speculate on the basis that I haven’t picked up an issue of any Avengers title in at least a decade.
Still, I’m excited about the film and have hopes of seeing at least one of my favorite, deserving superheroes end up on the big screen in The Avengers since none of them will likely get their own movie. Plus, a bunch of them allow for more Marvel movie tie-ins. So, I ask that Marvel Studios feature a lucky seven teammates and showcase at least one of the following come 2011:
Ms. Marvel – Neither a favorite nor too familiar a character for me, but seeing as comic book movies are so lacking in female superheroines these days, I feel The Avengers needs at least one other woman besides Black Widow. And as a bonus, there could be a post credits cameo from Anna Paquin, as X-Men’s Rogue. Then, if there’s ever an X-Men 4, or if Rogue gets to appear in a Gambit movie — or god forbid her own solo release — the girl could finally fly (at Ms. Marvel’s expense, of course). …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.
Twenty days after Lionsgate 
