Our weekly round up of the biggest news stories from the world of movie superheroes…
With Warner Bros. and Marvel Studios hosting their San Diego Comic-Con panels on Saturday and big things expected from both camps with regards to their respective comic book properties, we’re a little early again with ‘The Week in Spandex’. Fortunately it helps that this past week has thrown up more superhero goodness than you can shake a stick at, so here’s plenty for you to wade through while we wait to hear what’s in store from Comic-Con…
…Well, we’re just a week away from the arrival of The Dark Knight Rises now, and as excitement reaches fever pitch, so too does Warner Bros.’ promotional campaign. Along with an interesting (and spoiler-free!) thirteen-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, the past few days have also seen the release a new ‘Journey’ trailer featuring footage from each instalment of Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy [check it out here, along with a poster, TV spot and clip of Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne and Morgan Freeman’s Lucius Fox], three short clips featuring Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) [see here], a couple of Comic-Con exclusive Mondo posters [see here], and a streaming version of Hans Zimmer’s official movie soundtrack [see here]…
…As you’d expect, there’s also been an absolute tonne of interviews as the cast and crew do the press rounds in advance of the film’s release. Some of them are pretty generic, but you may be interested in some of the following: Christopher Nolan comparing The Dark Knight Rises to Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities [here]; Nolan on his chances of winning an Oscar with TDKR [here]; Nolan elaborating on David S. Goyer’s quote that the ending to The Dark Knight Rises left him with a lump in his throat [here]; Christian Bale on saying goodbye to Batman [here]; special effects supervisor Chris Corbould discussing Batman’s ‘toys’ [here]; costume designer Lindy Hemming on the look of Batman, Bane and Catwoman [here]; and, last but not least, audio of the entire Los Angeles press conference, which took place last week [here]…
…With the curtain about to fall on the Dark Knight trilogy, Warner Bros. Pictures’ President Jeff Robinov has revealed that “over the next month or so we’ll be ready to lay out the plan for the next DC movies.” However, they’ll have to do so without any input from Christopher Nolan, who has reaffirmed his commitment that TDKR will mark the end of his Batman story, as well as distancing himself from the proposed Justice League movie: “We’re finished with all we’re doing with Batman. [The Dark Knight Rises] is the end of our take on this character… I’ve got no plans to do anything more, and certainly, no involvement with any Justice League project…”
…Of course, Warner Bros. do have one DC adaptation lined up post-TDKR in the Zack Snyder-directed Superman reboot Man of Steel, and it’s been confirmed that the first teaser trailer will be attached to The Dark Knight Rises in cinemas next week – which also means that fans attending the Man of Steel panel at Comic-Con will likely get a sneak peek when Snyder and Henry Cavill take to the stage on Saturday. In other Man of Steel-related news, it’s also been revealed that the reboot will undergo the 3D post-conversion process, which isn’t too much of a surprise really, is it..?
…On the subject of reboots and lack of surprises, Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man has topped the box-office on both sides of the Atlantic, and is currently hovering around the $360m mark world-wide. However, with fierce competition imminent from The Dark Knight Rises, Andrew Garfield and company have their work cut out to avoid becoming the lowest-grossing instalment in the Spider-Man franchise (they’re currently around $400m short of Spider-Man 2 with $783.8m). Meanwhile, some concept art for The Amazing Spider-Man has been posted by artists Ed Natividad and Josh Nizzi, along with storyboards from Warren Drummond and a couple of VFX featurettes – one centring on the creation of The Lizard and the other providing a breakdown of the sewer battle between Spidey and his nemesis…
…Moving on to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and as we await the big announcements coming out of Comic-Con (i.e.. Guardians of the Galaxy), Britain’s daily rag The Sun claims that Marvel are planning to shoot The Avengers 2 next year and that the studio will make Scarlett Johansson the highest paid actress in Hollywood with a huge $20m payday. Despite the fact The Sun have probably made the story up, there is a good chance that Marvel Studios will begin filming on The Avengers sequel next year, particularly if they’re aiming for a 2015 release…
…Given The Avengers’ mid-credits scene, the next time Earth’s Mightiest Heroes get together it will likely be to square off against Thanos, and creator Jim Starlin was at the London Film and Comic Con last weekend, where he told one of ComicBookMovie’s sources that “he believes Thanos will play a major role in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie and may even make an appearance in Thor 2.” Starlin – who is allegedly planning to launch a lawsuit against Marvel for his share of The Avengers’ box-office – also said that he’d heard Marvel were considering Arnold Schwarzenegger for the voice of the villain: “The Titan Cometh!”…
…One Marvel casting rumour that has been confirmed is that Chuck star Zachary Levi will replace Josh Dallas as Fandral in the cast of Thor 2, although Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) – who was rumoured for the role of the as-yet-unrevealed main antagonist – has said that he won’t be appearing in the sequel due to other commitments…
…Elsewhere in the MCU, Raw Leiba (Conan the Barbarian) spoke to World of Superheroes about meeting with Marvel last year with regards to the role of Erik Killmonger in the bound-to-happen-sooner-or-later Black Panther movie, while Edgar Wright discussed the long development process on Ant-Man during a Q&A at the premiere of the web-series The Random Adventures of Brandon Generator, as well as hinting that the end credit scene of Iron Man 3 could pave the way for Hank Pym’s big screen debut. Finally, you might also want to check out a poster for the upcoming ‘Marvel One-Shot’ Item 47, along with a (very brief) clip featuring Maximiliano Hernández and Titus Welliver’s S.H.I.E.L.D. agents…
…Chronicle director Josh Trank has officially signed on to direct Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot, which is expected to become the studio’s next superhero offering after The Wolverine (2013) and the as yet Untitled X-Men Sequel (2014). According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox has also turned to up-and-coming screenwriter Jeremy Slater (My Spy) to pen the reboot, with a deal expected to be finalised any time now. However, the studio are also running the risk of losing the rights to Daredevil, with David Slade opting to vacate the director’s chair on the proposed Man Without Fear reboot due to his commitments to the TV pilot for Hannibal. Fox has until the fall to start production on Daredevil in order to prevent the rights reverting back to Disney and Marvel Studios, which seems like an impossible deadline at this point in time…
…First out the blocks for Fox is the aforementioned X-Men spin-off The Wolverine; with just a few short weeks to go before filming gets underway, Hugh Jackman’s adamantium-clawed mutant has found himself a love interest in newcomer Tao Okamoto, who will portray the character of Mariko, while Will Yun Lee (Total Recall) has been cast as the primary villain Kenuichio Harada, better known as the Silver Samurai. Also joining the cast are Hiroyuki Sanada (The Last Samurai) as Shingen, Hal Yamanouchi (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) as Yashida, Brian Tee (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift) as Noburo Mori and another newcomer, Rila Fukushima, as Yukio. Meanwhile Twitch are also reporting that Jessica Biel (Blade: Trinity) has been offered the role of Viper – “a complex character who at one point was a peer of Logan’s as well as an enemy…”
…Screenwriter Arne Olsen (Red Scorpion, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie) has signed on to pen a script for a feature film adaptation of the Canadian comic book superhero Captain Canuck, which is currently in development at the production company Mind’s Eye Entertainment. There’s no word yet on any potential actors being lined up for the role, nor a potential release date…
…During Comic-Con’s Cup ‘O Joe panel, Marvel Television’s Jeph Loeb touched upon the decision to replace The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with the upcoming Avengers Assemble: “We love the [Earth’s Mightiest Heroes] show so much that one of the first things we did was…take a look what the plans were and expanded from 24 episodes to 52 episodes. [Avengers Assemble] better reflects the cast that’s in the movie… but we’re not saying Earth’s Mightiest Heroes never happened. We took this giant epic story, it has a conclusion we always meant to get to… and when we get out of that you’ll see what Avengers Assemble will take it to…”
…Ahead of the San Diego Comic Con, Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. Animation released a promotional poster for the DC Nation programming block, which features a new look at the Caped Crusader from the upcoming CG-animated series Beware the Batman, as well as characters from Young Justice, Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Teen Titans Go! and DC Nation Shorts. Meanwhile, it’s also been revealed that Guy Gardner will soon make his debut in Green Lantern: The Animated Series – check out a shot of him over at TV Guide…
…And finally, the CW’s live-action TV series Arrow premiered at the SDCC on Thursday and Entertainment Weekly gathered together some audience reactions, with the general consensus being overwhelmingly positive. The full pilot screened at Comic-Con on Friday, followed by a Q&A with stars Stephen Amell (Private Practice) and Katie Cassidy (Supernatural), executive producers Marc Guggenheim (Green Lantern) and Andrew Kreisberg (Fringe), and pilot director / executive producer David Nutter (Smallville). Highlights included confirmation that Katie Cassidy’s Laurel Lance will eventually slip into the fishnets of the Black Canary, as well as the casting of Kelly Hu (X2: X-Men United) as the villain China White. Be sure to check out a new clip from Arrow, along with four promotional images, some behind-the-scenes shots and a featurette focussing on the creation of the show’s musical score.
Holy Franchise, Batman! – Available now via Amazon.
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