Avi Arad Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Most of us didn't ask the Studio Powers That Be for a Ghost Rider 2, but it doesn't matter, because we'll be getting one. Back in January, the whispers began at Bloody-Disgusting that Columbia was gearing up another Ghost Rider run, and today it has come true. Variety reports that the studio is talking to none other than David S. Goyer to pen a new installment. Nicolas Cage is expected to return as Johnny Blaze, and former Marvel Studios' head Avi Arad will be producing.

Goyer was quick to say (via a spokesperson) that he wasn't officially signed, but that talks were underway to base Ghost Rider 2 on a script he did many years ago. If you'd like to know a little something about that script, you can read a review IGN did of it in 2000. Nothing ever dies thanks to the Internet and if nothing else, you can laugh at the rumors we once believed a decade ago. (Johnny Depp as Ghost Rider!)

At such early stages of fiery fuel injection, there's not much else to say. Since Mark Steven Johnson penned and directed the last one, it's probably safe to assume that if they want new writers, they'll probably want a new director. Variety hints that Columbia is keeping the property alive in order to retain its rights from Marvel, but it doesn't say whether or not they were up against a deadline. So, I'll quit talking and hand it over to the true Ghost Rider fans. Is there any hope for this one if Goyer gets involved? Anything you want to see from a particular Ghost Rider run? Speak up now, and maybe you can influence its pre-production.

Okay, try and stay with me on this: it's a movie about six children who are genetically engineered to fly. Now, what if said kids escaped from those experimenting on them and were subsequently pursued by a pack of human-wolf hybrids?

I know what you're thinking -- that this could either be the best movie ever made or anything but. Variety has reason to think that Columbia is tipping towards the former, as they've picked up the rights to James Patterson's young adult book series, Maximum Ride. It seems like quite the change of pace for Patterson, he of Alex Cross mystery fame, but as far as the adaptation is concerned, perhaps Don Payne can rein things in, what with two straight-up superhero scripts already under his belt. Oh, and did I mention that frequent Marvel movie producer Avi Arad is also on board?

(Dare I make a suggestion, though: the title makes me think of a guide to Jean-Claude Van Damme's all-time favorite rollercoasters more than a mutants-on-the-lam saga. Just sayin'.)

Can any of our trusty readers vouch for the novels, or at least for their offspring who might have picked up at least one of the four published to date? Are those as new to the concept as I am game for this potential franchise in the making? Goodness knows that we'll need something to fill that supernatural-teen gap post-Twilight...

With all the bad Iron Man news floating around this week, it seems fitting that we take a glance back and remember when all the rumors circling around his debut were fun.
If you remember, there was a flurry of interest surrounding Iron Man cameos, and one of the confirmed names was Hilary Swank. Speculation was rampant as to who she would be, the guesses ranging from She-Hulk to Black Widow. And then Iron Man came and went, with no Swank to be seen. I assumed she had been left on the cutting room floor, and would show up on the DVD.

I've never played around with any of these online role-playing games like City of Heroes or World of Warcraft, but the idea sounds pretty cool. Frankly, most of what I know about the phenomenon comes from the "Make Love, Not Warcraft" episode of South Park, which was pretty awesome. EverQuest, a 3-D massively multiplayer online role-playing fantasy game that has been around since 1999, is slated for a feature film adaptation according to Variety. IGN, who first picked up the scoop, reported that the film will probably be released in 2009 or 2010. Michael Gordon, one of the screenwriters on 300 and the upcoming To Live and Drive in L.A., will pen the script.

Acting as producer will be Avi Arad, former Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment and former Chief Executive Officer of Marvel Studios. Arad produced the likes of Spider-man, Fantastic Four and Ghost Rider, for Marvel. His most recent non-Marvel production was Bratz, based on the popular line of fashion dolls. The game takes place in the mythical world of Norrath which is populated by humans, ogres, elves and animal/human hybrids. Players get to slay monsters, go on quests and acquire treasure, pretty much everything you need to get your game geek on. No word on what the EverQuest plot will be, but it's based on a pitch from Gordon and will feature seminal characters familiar to players.

Sure, it is obvious that Bratz: The Movie is a big-screen commercial for the popular line of dolls. But now the obvious is also the official -- sort of. The head of Bratz-makers MGA Entertainment hasn't exactly come out and admitted that the forthcoming movie is a blatant attempt to sell more dolls, but he pretty much insinuated it. The CEO, Isaac Larian, told Reuters that the movie " should clarify widespread misconceptions about his toy line" and "will cast [the dolls] in a 'wholesome' light through themes like friendship and education." The quotes belong to Reuters, paraphrasing Larian, but nonetheless they make it sound like the movie was made specifically for those purposes. The context of Reuters' article places Larian's statements, and therefore also the movie, as a response to criticisms that the Bratz dolls are inappropriately sexualized and too provocative for their demographic. In the only verbatim quote, Larian counter-criticizes his competitors as being afraid to promote diversity, which is another favorable trait the Bratz dolls apparently have.

Bratz: The Movie isn't the first feature-length commercial, and it does actually seem like a wholesome movie for the kids, so I guess it shouldn't matter if the product peddling is so obvious, intentional or outright declared. I have to wonder, though, what Robosapien, the next toy adaptation from producer Avi Arad, will be clearing up for us -- that hacking is bad, perhaps? Too bad Transformers, the most popular and most successful feature-length toy ad (is it just me, or were the original Transformers toys much cooler than the ones of today?), has already told us that hackers are good guys. Anyway, Bratz: The Movie has to be good because Oscar-winner Jon Voight (also seen in Transformers) is in it. Lionsgate will release the wholesome commercial to the delight of preteen moviegoers on August 3.

It's not unusual to see toy lines adapted for the big screen. When I was a kid, there were plenty of these commercials-in-disguise, though most of them were animated features and they were typically spun-off from already successful television programs. But now with the live-action Transformers, Hot Wheels and Bratz coming our way, not to mention a second live-action He-Man movie, it makes sense for newer toys to just bypass the small screen and go directly to the multiplex. One of the producers of Bratz, former Toy Biz CEO (and current Marvel Studios exec) Avi Arad, apparently believes the logic; he has announced that he and producer Steven Paul are now developing a live-action feature based on the popular Robosapien toys.

The movie, which will be simply titled Robosapien, already has a script by Arad and Max Botkin (fitting name), and it is set to begin shooting this November with Bratz director Sean McNamara at the helm. As far as I know, the Robosapien toys do not have any narrative text or mythology, as many toys do, but Arad seems to have had no problem creating one. Of course, the concept he's come up with isn't too original. According to Variety, Arad has based the movie's story on the tale of Pinocchio, which was also the inspiration for Steven Spielberg's recent robot film, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. Both ideas feature an inventor who creates a substitute child, and both feature the adventures of a boy and a robot (well, A.I. had a robot boy and a robot teddy bear), so it will be interesting to see just how similar Arad's creation actually is to the earlier pic. Even if there are enough differences between Robosapien and A.I., though, considering a master filmmaker like Spielberg couldn't please audiences with his movie, it is hard to imagine that McNamara will have greater success. Anyway, aren't most fans of the Robosapien hackers who will just end up pirating the movie off the internet rather than going to see it in theaters?

Not long ago, producer Avi Arad let slip an interesting little tidbit regarding The Incredible Hulk during a press junket for Spider-Man 3. Amidst what I assume was a roundtable discussion, Arad told a group of online journalists that the Hulk will have a different color in the new film, due out next summer. I immediately assumed the Hulk would go from green to fuchsia with a hint of maroon, but others felt the Hulk would revert back to his original shade of grey. When Arad was pressed on the topic, he spit out an on-the-spot "who knows," before whipping out a semi-automatic oozi uzi -- screaming "I'll show you maniacs some new colors!" -- and then shooting paint pellets at the wall; paint pellets which, when it was all said and done, formed the shape of a blossoming flower. Okay, that didn't happen ... but it would've been hella cool.

After speaking in Los Angeles, it appears Arad then hopped across the pond where Empire caught up with him to ask about all these bodacious Hulk rumors. On whether or not the Hulk will be green, gray or pineapple (is that even a color?), Arad said, "It's a different shade of green. But the colour is not like the old Hulk. And no, there's no grey Hulk." But what about the junket in LA? What was that about? Arad admits, "It was a joke! I had just got back from Japan and I was trying to talk about Spider-Man and this guy was pushing me on The Hulk so I thought I'll be coy. I don't know what colour it is, and all of a sudden it's headline news." And yet, he does know what color he is. Go figure. From there, Arad went on to describe this new "different shades of green" Hulk: "He'll be instinctive, like a primal creature. That's what's interesting. There's no smarts. My dog is the gentlest animal out there, but he hates the plumber. He won't fight with anybody, hates the plumber!" There you have it folks! The Hulk versus Joe the Plumber -- coming to theaters near you next summer.

Though Cinematical was not mentioned (no worries, it's just more food for my therapist), I have to give props to Time Magazine for, well, giving props to all those movie blogs out there in a new piece called Boys Who Like Toys. Essentially, the article (written by Rebecca Winters Keegan) talks about how fanboys (and the websites they visit each day) have become "one of the most powerful taste-makers in Hollywood," perfectly capable of either making or breaking a movie in a matter of hours. Heck, there's even an entire film (appropriately titled Fanboys) devoted to these folks heading our way soon. Hence, the studios have noticed; recently, they've created entire divisions whose main responsibility is to remain in close contact with the online world, invite bloggers to their movie sets, hand out exclusive online-only content and, generally, try to steer buzz in the right direction.

According to Spider-Man 3 producer Avi Arad, "Hard-core fans represent a small piece of the viewing public, but they influence geek culture, journalists, Wall Street. You don't want them to trash your project." Among the sites mentioned in the article, I feel JoBlo, The Movie Blog and Cinema Blend consistently deliver honest, opinionated movie news with a ton of humor and a whole lot of fun. And hey, I'd like to think we here at Cinematical do the same thing ... except, I probably shower a lot less than John Campea. Look, let's be real: It's easy to show up online, present your audience with a bunch of flashy graphics -- combined with copy-and-paste posts from Variety and/or the Hollywood Reporter -- and call yourself a movie blog. Some folks make a very successful living doing that, and the studios (who are always afraid you'll say something bad) love them for it. But I tend to feel the moviegoing public (myself included) want more. They want honesty. They want opinion. They want to debate. Most of all, they want to have fun. And that's what going to the movies is all about. So, support your movie blogs ... you'll be glad you did!

While speaking at the Spider-Man 3 press junket in Los Angeles, producer Avi Arad let spill some interesting new details about the upcoming Incredible Hulk flick that just cast Edward Norton in the lead role. When asked whether they were going to incorporate any of the CGI or effects used in Ang Lee's Hulk, Arad replied: "No. It's a new Hulk, new direction, new size, new color, new attitude. Anything that was done before is not in this movie. It's a very different kind of Hulk. It's more of a love story; it's more of a heroic Hulk. It's a kind of Hulk we loved in the show, so it's kind of more influenced by the show than anything else. It's very human, very touching, and huge action. Louis Leterrier has a unique filming style that will be great here and it's going to be spectacular."

Wait, did he say the Hulk will have a new color? You mean, he won't be green? Personally, I think a red, white and blue Hulk would just be spectacular, but fans are already suggesting that Arad and his team might be reaching back for a more classic gray Hulk, like the one used in the comic book character's first ever appearance on the page. In The Incredible Hulk #1, the Hulk was gray, not green. At the time, Stan Lee went with gray so that the color wouldn't suggest any particular ethnic group. However, gray wasn't especially eye-catching, and so with issue #2 and on, the Hulk became green. When asked whether the Hulk would indeed be gray, Arad replied, "We'll see, I don't know." But here's what I don't get: If Arad said the movie will draw most of its inspiration from the TV show, then one would assume the Hulk would be green, not gray -- and yet, in the very same description, he says the Hulk will have a new color. Yeah, so I'm confused. What do you think: green, gray or rainbow? The Incredible Hulk is set to arrive in theaters next summer.

Cinematical was invited to Sony Pictures on Saturday for a top-secret screening of several scenes from Spider-Man 3. Needless to say, they didn't have to ask me twice. I would have spent several days after I'd gotten the invitation building web-shooters if I needed to. Although Peter now uses organic webbing in the movies, so I'd have to try and genetically splice spider-DNA onto my own, which would have been too time-consuming. Thankfully, they weren't that demanding. OK, before we proceed any further, I should wave the giant spoiler alert flag. If you don't want to know anything about the plot of Spider-Man 3, then you should read no further. You especially don't want to find out from me that Aunt May is actually Galactus. Whoops. Sorry, but you've been warned. Just wait until you see a 300-foot tall May stomping on New York. It's not pretty. Although imagine the size of the cookies she could bake.

Anyhow, onto the screening and into the swanky Cary Grant theater. Sony, if you're not using that theater all the time, mind if we use it for movie watching and playing video games? OK -- here's what happened. Sam Raimi himself (dressed in his ever-present suit) came out and introduced the footage to us and called it a "super ... sneak .... preview ... scenelet." He told us the footage was brand-new, hadn't been seen outside of Sony, had a temporary score, and that some things had been shortened a bit for this preview. He then had to run off to do some audio recording with Stan Lee, who was next door, so we begrudgingly let him go. I mean, no one makes Stan "The Man" Lee wait, even if he does have yet another scene in this Spidey flick.