…At present, it’s yet to be confirmed whether Hugh Jackman will make his eighth appearance as Logan in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, but the star has been talking about his Wolverine future this week, including 2017’s third Wolverine solo movie: “I have been speaking to the guys, and I’m not at liberty to tell exactly what’s going on, which is largely framing my answer here. But there’s still a lot unknown about that, actually. There are some very exciting things about integrating the whole X-Men world, including the Wolverine movie. There’s some really cool things going on.” So, if they’re integrating the whole X-Men universe, does that mean we’ll see Jackman making an appearance in Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool movie? Well, based on Fox’s previous X-Men movies, the answer is surely yes (which would of course allow Fox to mark his tenth outing in 2017 with the title Wolverine: Weapon X)…
…Moving on to the DC Cinematic Universe now and Zack Snyder’s production company Cruel & Unusual Films posted a (barely) colourised version of the first image of Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, while some new plot rumours have surfaced suggesting that the destruction witnessed in Man of Steel will play a major role in the plot for the DC ensemble; if you’re interested, and don’t mind potential spoilers, you can read more details here…
…A couple of weeks ago it was reported that Jason Fuchs (Ice Age: Continental Drift, Pan) had signed on to write the script for 2017’s Wonder Woman movie, but now a rumour has emerged via sciptwriter Arash Amel (Grace of Monaco), who has claimed that Warner Bros. and director Michelle MacLaren have actually tapped six writers, to pen six seperate scripts for the Gal Gadot’s first solo outing…
…The Sony hack hasn’t just revealed details about upcoming Marvel movies, with one of the many leaked emails seemingly revealing that Warner Bros. has found a director for 2018’s Aquaman movie starring Jason Momoa, with Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud) having reportedly secured the gig…
…On the small screen and FOX has put out a casting call for Dick Grayson’s parents John Grayson and Mary Lloyd for an upcoming episode of Gotham, while a synopsis and batch of images from the January 5th midseason premiere have arrived online, along with a featurette entitled ‘The Season So Far’, which looks back over the previous ten episodes of the Batman prequel series…
…It looks like another Rogue is set to join The CW’s The Flash, with Peyton List (The Tomorrow People) set for an appearance in the sixteenth episode of the show, entitled ‘Rogue Time’, as Lisa Snart – a.k.a. the Golden Glider – who happens to be the younger sister of Leonard Snart / Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller). The official description for the character reads: “While Leonard is cold and calculating, Lisa is a wild child and anxious to prove to her older brother she’s got what it takes to be in his criminal gang. She is sly, charming, and even a little sadistic. She’s also not afraid to use her sexuality to get what she wants, which will put her on a collision course with S.T.A.R. Labs employee and friend of The Flash (Grant Gustin) — Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes)…”
…NBC has announced that Constantine will return for the final five episodes of its first (and only?) season from January 16th, with the supernatural DC show occupying the earlier Friday timeslot of 8pm ET / 7pm CT…
…Ahead of its release on January 27th, Warner Bros. has debuted a new clip from the DC Universe Animated Original Movie title Justice League: Throne of Atlantis featuring Cyborg (Shemar Moore) and Steve Trevor (George Newbern), which you can watch right here…
…During a promotional interview for his new film Big Eyes, Tim Burton has shared his thoughts on the current state of the superhero genre, calling for a “happy” superhero: “Marvel, they have their thing and there’s a certain formula to it all which seems to still be working. But how many times can you say ‘you’re wearing a funny costume’ with the tights and stuff? That’s been going on for 20 years now. Yes, we all know that superheroes are damaged individuals. Maybe we need to see a happy superhero? I remember Batman getting so much flak and criticism at the time for being too dark. And now 20-30 years later, it now looks like a lighthearted romp. It’s such a strange thing to go through…”
…Two of this year’s comic book movies have made the Oscar nomination shortlist for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy set to fight it out with Foxcatcher, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Maleficent, Noah and The Theory of Everything for one of the five nods…
…Now that Peter Jackson has finished up in Middle-earth, attention is starting to turn towards the director’s next project(s), but it seems that we can rule out him ever helming a superhero movie, with the filmmaker revealing that he’s not a fan of the genre, or comic books in general: “The industry and the advent of all the technology, has kind of lost its way. It’s become very franchise driven and superhero driven. I’ve never read a comic book in my life so I’m immediately at a disadvantage and I have no interest in that. So now it’s time for us to step back. We’re heading towards something of that scale. So, yes, I’m not going to head off and do a Marvel film. So if I don’t do a Marvel film, I don’t have any other choice — I’ve got to go make a small New Zealand movie…”
…And finally, this week’s superhero-themed op-eds both relate to Spidey, which isn’t a surprise given how the web-slinger has been grabbing most of the headlines lately. Check out Thomas Roach’s Should Marvel Studios Give Up On Spider-Man?, and Anthony Stokes’ The Amazing Spider-Man Is A Beautiful Disaster.
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&list=PL18yMRIfoszFJHnpNzqHh6gswQ0Srpi5E&v=zzYUW1bfw34
