AviArad 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.

Ang Lee is officially old and busted, as far as Marvel executives are concerned, and Transporter director Louis Leterrier is new hotness. Avi Arad and other producerial staff were apparently so blown away by Leterrier's "passion" for the Marvel universe they couldn't help but offer him the Hulk film. From what we are told, Leterrier was so excited he ran right back to his studio and sketched out (with the help of an artist, of course) two storyboard action sequences and a stylistic take on the Big Green. And it was good enough to land him the job. Leterrier will join the team of Arad (producer) and Zak Penn (screenwriter) in an attempt to breath new life into a property which showed rather lackluster performance last time around.

I continue to fully support this decision, despite the general feeling this is far too soon to reboot a movie. The Hulk is a valuable character to Marvel, with solid franchise potential. We don't know how much longer this golden age of superhero movies will last, so they need to get mileage out of him while the market is still fresh. It'll be interesting to see how the movie-going public reacts to this experiment, however. It is hard to imagine this becoming a regular practice, but who knows ... we may be looking at a precedent setting flick.

I really want to address this whole issue about the upcoming Incredible Hulk film not actually being a true sequel to the Ang Lee production a few years back. If you missed the story, Chris wrote a great little piece on it which you can read here; what it really boils down to is Marvel resetting the story on the Hulk. Instead of picking up where the last film left off, they'll be starting again (much like Batman Begins). Avi Arad, Marvel guru, says this is because although Ang Lee made a great film, he didn't really make a MARVEL film. It failed to accomplish the comic book pizazz, and so they're going to try it again.

This story pricked my ears as soon as I heard it because The Geek Beat wrote an article about this very concept not so very long ago. The thrust of that article was campaigning for a new version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and I laid out a discussion asking for some studio to pick it up and try again. To push the reset button, if you will. It has been done before, with great success, but I thought it might be too short of time since the last one for a studio to try such. It now looks like Marvel may be laying a precedent with The Hulk, and I'm personally all in favor of it.

Wow, the news just doesn't stop pouring in when it comes to the X-Men film franchise. Maybe that whole big national blockbuster thing they've got going on right now is behind it, eh? Anyway, it seems like we'll never put the rumors of a fourth X-Men film to rest -- or at least not anytime soon. It was beginning to look like everyone who had an official say was declaring the rumors to be absolutely, unequivocally false, but now the one man at the top of it all has thrown everything into doubt yet again. Avi Arad has been the man when it comes to Marvel on film, and although he just stepped down to start his own production company, he is still heavily involved with everything Marvel. If nothing else, his company figures to handle most of the upcoming Marvel flicks, and he's personally arranged all of the deals happening currently.

When asked about a sequel possibility Arad said the following:  "There's always a chance of an X-Men sequel. It's more of an issue of what is the next X-Men story, and when to do it ... there are so many more characters that we didn't deal with yet. I would not preclude anything."* If that's not blunt and to the point I don't know what is. Arad has basically admitted up-front the possibility for further X-Men movies is indeed wide open. I, for one, am happy to hear this said, although I don't know if I actually expect further X-Men titles; the whole spin-off thing seems far more likely. These guys really ought to get together on their stories, though ... the conflicting statements are really starting to make them all look a bit silly.

*Special Bonus Note: This seems to run directly contrary to what Arad said mere days ago. Read about it here.