Spidey 4 production halted indefinitely?

IESB is reporting that the Spider-man 4 (or reportedly, Spider-M4n) script is incomplete, due to director Sam Raimi and Sony Pictures butting heads about who the major villain for this outing should be. As of last Thursday, production has been stopped.

Raimi wants the Vulture; Sony doesn't. The article also mentions that Sony doesn't seem to know what is it that they actually want, just not the Vulture. Apparently, Raimi had also wanted the Vulture in Spider-man 3; the Vulture and Sandman were supposed to be partners-in-crime, with the Vulture being the more aggressive of the two.

Looks like it's Spidey 3 all over again. To recap, Venom was only included in the villain mix due to Marvel head honcho Avi Arad's insistence, and we all know how that one turned out. Now, we all know that Raimi knows best, but really, TWO movies is enough foreshadowing.

Let the poor Lizard have his day out in the sun.

EDIT: MTV just reported that Sony has denied the rumors, and that the so-called 'hiatus' is just a break for the upcoming Christmas season. However, the source did agree that the script is still underway.

300 follow-up gets title!

Previously thought to be a sequel, GeekTyrant reports that the now-titled Xerxes is actually a prequel, set 10 years before the events of 300. Zack Snyder is still on to direct, while Frank Miller, who wrote 300, is just starting on the artwork.

Good way to include Gerard Butler in the movie. No word yet as to when the prequel will start production.

New Spidey 4 rumor!

I haven't been reporting much on Spider-man 4, since every other article is still on the Black Cat conundrum.

But this one takes the cake.

Instead of the hackneyed Anne Hathaway = Black Cat news, Hathaway apparently will be the Vulturess, a villain not of comic book canon to be introduced in Spidey 4. She'll still be Felicia Hardy, though, only she won't turn into Black Cat.

If this is true, Spidey 4 will turn out to be more of a massive fail than Spidey 3.

Movieline also states that John Malkovich is up for the Vulture, which I can totally see, but personally feel that the Vulture is too minor a villain for the likes of Malkovich.

I mean, come on, it's JOHN MALKOVICH.

[I'd say Gobby, but that's already taken. Awesomely.]

Really, March '10 cannot come any sooner.

Sam Jack movie!!

YESYESYESYES!!!

Frederator Films has just announced that they were granted the animated movie rights to Samurai Jack, one of the best cartoon series to grace our television screens. Even better news was that creator Genndy Tartakovsky will be "intimately involved" in the production. Tartakovsky is best known for creating Dexter's Laboratory and Star Wars: Clone Wars (the 2D one, not the one with the lifeless eyes).


[Also, J.J. Abrams will be co-producing, but no one really cares about that.]

Samurai Jack is about a samurai sent to the future by an evil wizard named Aku. Christened 'Jack' by the locals upon his arrival, he sets out in his quest to defeat Aku, so that he can return to his own time and undo the evils Aku has wrought. Sam Jack lasted only three seasons, and Cartoon Network didn't even bother letting them finish the series properly. There was no epic battle between Jack and Aku; Aku wasn't even IN the final episode.

There was always talk of a SJ movie (live-action also) to tie up the MAJOR LOOSE END of Who Wins, but apparently, the deal with New Line Cinema fell through. It's unfortunate the deal with Frederator was not drawn up earlier; Mako's vocal presence as Aku will be sorely missed.

I am so psyched about this, and the fact that everything will be animated instead of live-action will mean that the producers will have to stay true to the source material. I mean, imagine how it'd be like if the live-action Samurai Jack had a cast like The Last Airbender or Dragonball: Evolution. 


Here is the opening sequence to Samurai Jack. Man, I miss that show.

Black Cat in Spidey 4?

In a move that seems oddly familiar, *cough*Iron Man 2*cough*, Rachel McAdams is rumored to be up for the role of Felicia Hardy / Black Cat, who in the comics, has an on-off relationship (depending on story-arc) with our Peter. Black Cat is like Catwoman, except that she's actually DATED the hero for a while, and she's not exactly a villain (although, Catwoman's a bit of an anti-heroine as well).

If this turns out to be true, then great. More conflict and love triangles for the bunch. Can't they just marry Peter off to MJ and get it over with? I mean, the only reason why anybody watches comic book movies is to see the villains. Character and emotional development is always secondary.


[I'm still stumped on why I liked Iron Man.]

Off-topic, is it just me, or does Rachel McAdams look a lot like Elizabeth Banks?

UPDATE: Julia Stiles is also in talks for a role in Spidey 4; I'm guessing it's this one.

UPDATED UPDATE: Now it's Anne Hathaway. Oh dear... the rumor mill is out of control...

Prince of Persia trailer!

The trailer is finally out, after many, many behind-the-scenes commentaries (of which most of the scenes are repeated) from Jerry Bruckheimer or something. Anyway, it looks great, and the jumping-from-one-building-to-the-other scenes bring back memories.

Sigh.

All we need now is a grey-stoned dungeon with pits and a bunch of retracting spikes at the bottom. Plus, turbans and many poisonspotions.

And also, they all have English accents! I have no idea why I find it weird that Jake Gyllenhaal doesn't sound American, I just do!

Oh well, enjoy! :)

Dylan Baker in Spider-man 4!

At a post-screening Q & A for Trick 'r Treat, Baker confirmed that he will reprise his role as Dr. Curt Connors, Peter's one-armed physics professor in both Spideys 2 and 3, who eventually turns into the Lizard in the comics.


[Note how he has two arms in the above picture. His regeneration abilities is instrumental to his transformation. Or is it the other way around?]

Baker also mentioned that he will be in the background (as usual), but not sure whether 'background' meant the usual 10-15 minutes onscreen, or 'secondary villain'. Since production will be starting in March 2010, hopefully they'll have a few more press releases by then so we'd know where we stand when it comes to the villains.

Spider-man 4 is slated for a May 5th, 2011 release.

Justice League live-action movie on the horizon?

Hopefully!

MTV.com reports that next year's Green Lantern will be the first in a trilogy of films that will lead up to a Justice League movie. The other two movies planned will be on the Flash and Wonder Woman, and obviously, all three superheroes will join up with Superman, Batman and Aquaman in the JL movie.

[What, no J'onn and Hawkgirl?]

No word on the release date / year of the other movies yet.

Rather than making two or three movies on the same superhero/es (which seems to be the trend nowadays), DC seems to be taking the fast track in competing with Marvel. Personally, I'm stoked, and it's good to see DC finally being proactive with its other heroes (besides Batman, that is).

Imagine if the JL movie is released in the same summer as the Avengers movie.
Damn you, wishful thinking!

Rorschach = Freddy Krueger = Sinestro??

Talk about iconic characters all the way!

Ain't It Cool is reporting that Jackie Earle Haley is in the lead to land the part of villain Sinestro in the upcoming Green Lantern movie. Sinestro was Hal Jordans' (Ryan Reynolds) mentor, before he went rogue and became the Lantern Corp's arch-nemesis (because he uses yellow, and for some reason, green can't pwnbeat that).

Initially I was thinking on passing on GL (or at least till the trailer comes out), but JEH was Rorschach personified in Watchmen, and he's basically the ONLY reason I'm considering checking out the Nightmare on Elm Street remake.

Hope this turns out in his favour. Can't wait :)

Green Lantern is set for release in 2011.

Roland Emmerich wants ID4 2!!

Emmerich already has the script done, but still lacks a deal, as the studios still haven't figured out how a deal that would make himself, ID4 writer Dean Devlin, and Will Smith happy. Emmerich also says that it'll most likely be with Fox, but apparently, Fox has even suggested that they LEAVE Smith out of this one, since he'll be quite expensive.

Luckily Emmerich refused to budge. There's nothing worse than a spin-off.

I have no idea how the story for the sequel will turn out, although it'd be extremely lame if aliens attacked Earth on a holiday that ONLY America gets to enjoy. Maybe the Brits will get it this time, and Smith and Jeff Goldblum will go and save them and stuff, on account of having prior experience.

Toy Story 3 TRAILER!!

Embedding's disabled, so I can only provide the link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhmdsXBq6-Q

The quality isn't very good, either, so when a proper one comes along, I'll update and embed ^^

Spider-man 4 writer to helm Venom spin-off!

RopeOfSilicon.com states that the Venom movie will be directed by Spider-man 4 cowriter Gary Ross, with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland) working on the screenplay.

Initially intended to be a prequelspin-off from Spider-man 3, the Venom movie will ignore that crapfest and most likely recast Venom, effectively making it a stand-alone Marvel movie. ROS also reports that Venom "will be transformed into an anti-hero who becomes a defender of the innocent," which would kind of work so long as Spider-man doesn't come into the picture.

[For a little extra reading, try Venom: Sinners Take All. It actually doesn't suck.]

As much as I like Topher Grace, Venom is supposed to be HUGE, and even though he bulked up considerably for the part, physically, that's still a 'no'. I hope they don't cast a wrestler as Brock for this. That'd be so lame.

It'd be pretty cool if Ross could tie Spidey 4 with Venom. Then...

 ...it will lead to CARNAGE!!

Transformers 3 = 2011!

Despite saying that he'll be quitting the Transformers franchise, Michael Bay will be returning to direct the next Transformers movie, set for release on July 1st, 2011.

With the death of a main character and definite mayhem on the way, here's to hoping that third time's the charm for him with the critics.

and that he doesn't insert a ching-chong chinaman joke in this one.

Spider-man 4: May 5th, 2011.

Also, this:

If only this poster was real... would've made my year :)

Spider-man 4 starts shooting in January 2010!

...so says Bruce Campbell, frequent cameo-maker and long-time best friend of director Sam Raimi.

Pah-DON.

Having been in each Spider-man movie (I've been keeping an eye out for him ever since I saw him in the second and found out he was in the first), it seems that he may be playing a bigger role this time around. Campbell told AccessHollywood that he's been told he has a major part – but has no news on who the character is yet.

Early fan rumors go that Campbell may be playing Mysterio, master of illusion, but up till now there has been no confirmation or news about the villains OR the storyline in the upcoming movie. Past rumors on villains include the Lizard (foreshadowing on Dylan Baker's part in the past two movies, so finally!), as well as Kraven the Hunter, Morbius the Living Vampire and even the Sinister Six.


[If Campbell DOES turn out to be a villain, it'd be totally cool if Peter went, "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" when they meet for the first time in the movie.]

Will someone release a statement or something already. Despite the fail that is the third movie, I'm still interested in Spider-man series, and can't help the speculating and the getting excited.

Spider-man 4 is slated for release in May 2011.

Alice in Wonderland teaser trailer!

And it looks awesome! For a teaser, it's pretty long, and shows quite a bit of the movie (as in, not the same thing *cough*LastAirbender*cough*). A bit too much emphasis on the Mad Hatter here, although that could be because Johnny Depp is a big star / totally thick with Tim Burton. I hope that won't be the case in the movie.

[Isn't Tweedledee and Tweedledum ADORABLE?! xD Creepy, yes, but...]

Sam Jackson no action in Iron 2?

[Sorry for the lack of updates, work's been killer.]

According to MTV.com, Nick Fury won't be pulling any punches with the villains in Iron Man 2; instead, he'll just be talking. And stuff. Yeah.

But no worries, Jackson says that he's looking forward to expanding more on Fury (in terms of action) in The Avengers.

Now, THAT's one movie that I cannot wait for.

2012!!!

It's still early...

...but this picture made my week.

Comic book cross-overs translated onto screen.
With their ORIGINAL actors portraying the heroes, to establish continuity in the series, who (probably) won't be bitches and hold up production.
We already know ONE who's not likely to be.
Robert Downey, Jr.
Because he's already signed onto the Avengers movie in 2012, and hasn't acted like a self-righteous money-grubbing bitch so far.

*cough*EdNorton*cough*

Eric Bana might be game for it this time around.

Superhero movies leading up to one, MAJOR, major event: A big-budgeted Ensemble Movie.
Movie. History.


[I hope the end of the world doesn't happen before May 4th.]

TOY STORY 3 TEASER!!

AND IT'S OPENING JUNE 18TH 2010~!!

[Sigh. I'm so nostalgic for these now :p]

Does Marvel have its Thor already?

Yes, according to Deadline Hollywood Daily.

Chris Hemsworth, last seen as the ill-fated George Kirk (James T. Kirk's father) in Star Trek XI, has been selected to play the Viking God of Thunder in the upcoming Kenneth Branagh-directed film.

Now, while he definitely looks good, as far as I can remember, he doesn't look as broad as he should, although that can be rectified. Hmm.


[PRODUCTION PICS!! Can't wait!]