MarvelEntertainment Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Sometimes movie stories are just too good to be true. A few days ago, Scott Weinberg brought us the delicious rumor that Edgar Wright's Ant-Man could be the first product to come of Pixar and Marvel having sweet access to each other.

Unfortunately, it is not to be. Wright set the record straight on CHUD, squashing the rumors, but giving fans hope that he might team up with Pixar for something, someday: "The news that Pixar is involved is not wholly accurate and a little premature to comment on. I love Pixar's work more than anyone and indeed would love to collaborate with them. I'm not sure though that they would want to do a 'shrinking' film as a Pixar animation -- since Toy Story and A Bug's Life already cover this territory to some extent. Am guessing that someone just speculated on the 'bug' angle and tried to put two and two together. My spin on Ant Man is very different than a straight superhero origin -- and very much live action."

But lest you think this means Ant-Man languishes in scriptwriting or pre-production, not so. "I am still attached to Ant Man and indeed am still working on a second draft with Joe Cornish. That had to take a back seat while I worked on Scott Pilgrim, but am keen to get back into it once I get into post. I just spoke to Kevin Feige for the first time since I wrapped and we are meeting this week to discuss the next phase." Hopefully, the next phase involves our antennaed friend accompanying Thor and Captain America to the big screen very, very soon.

I believe I've had to type 3D more times this week than I have in my Cinematical career thus far, and it's only Wednesday. I'm also seeing the birth of a new trend towards 3D rumor mongering and speculation which I want to say began with The Hobbit, but I would probably be very wrong. But I digress. Today, Ain't It Cool News is reporting that we might see Iron Man 2 converted into 3D.

According to Harry Knowles: "Right now, there is a 1 minute demo of Iron Man 2 converted to high quality digital 3D ... Right now the suits at Marvel & Paramount & now also Disney are considering this 1 minute. At the same time that this is happening, they are fishing for bids with 3 different companies to see what the cost and time it would take to convert Iron Man 2 to a complete 3D film." There's also talk that if they actually pay to convert Iron Man 2 to 3D, they might also do the same to the first Iron Man and rerelease it into theaters next May. Watch Jon Favreau's Twitter to see if this comes true or not.

As Knowles points out, if it does come to pass it would certainly be a game-changer for the upcoming Marvel slate. You might see Captain America, Thor, or The Avengers behind a pair of dorky glasses. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that, as I find the format too distracting to be enjoyable. But it would be a hell of a lot of fun to see Iron Man rereleased in 3D, and revamping an existing film seems better suited to this ongoing novelty than designing a film around some pop-out effects. I seem to be in the cranky minority when it comes to the 3D style though, and those who are enthusiastic for it are certainly winning the war for it.

This is why it does pay to keep track of whispers and rumors on our great Internet. Back in March, IESB.net reported that Fox was toying with the idea of a Fantastic Four reboot. I thought it was too soon, many of you did too, although the general consensus seemed to be that we'd all like them to return after a bit of a breather.

Well, we're getting the reboot, and probably in very short order. Variety reports that Fox has hired producer Akiva Goldsman to oversee the project, and brought on Heroes alumni (and co-writer of Warner Bros' The Green Lantern) Michael Green to pen a screenplay. Fox wouldn't comment on the project further, but Variety notes that the studio owns the Fantastic Four in perpetuity, and that they're still keen on making a Silver Surfer movie. Last we heard, J. Michael Straczynski's script was in the dead zone, but given what all is being resurrected at Fox, perhaps there's still hope for it.

So, it begins again. Prepare for a year or two of Fantastic Four casting and script rumors (feel free to start your own in the comments), and resign yourself to the fact that the Disney-Marvel behemoth will never, ever get the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, or any of the X-Men characters away from 20th Century Fox.

It's a shocking deal no one saw coming in a million years. According to an official press release from the Walt Disney Company, Disney has bought Marvel Entertainment for the hefty price of $4 billion. Under the deal, Disney gains control of more than 5,000 Marvel characters, and Marvel gains their massive marketing infrastructure.

"This transaction combines Marvel's strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney's creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories," said Robert A. Iger, President aof The Walt Disney Company. "Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney."

So, there you have it. Marvel is now a Disney brand in all senses of the word. Obviously, this has just been announced, but the big question looms: What will this mean for all those upcoming Marvel movies? We've all marveled at the creative networking Marvel Entertainment has been doing, and the way Kevin Feige has been building little bridges of creative continuity throughout their cinematic universe. So far, they seemed to be doing everything right by fans, and creating movies that could draw in newcomers and hardcore geeks. What is it going to mean for the films when a behemoth like Disney takes control? Family friendly, mythology-be-damned, direct-to-DVD offerings? Or will it just mean a lot more Slurpee cups and action figures? Time will tell, but something tells me the future of the Marvel cinematic universe might have become a little less bright.

The Spider-Man franchise might just be heading down the road for a divorce from Sam Raimi and all his players, if I'm interpreting Variety and its sources right. Sony has "quietly" hired screenwriter James Vanderbilt to pen the fifth and sixth installments of the web-slinger franchise. Nothing wrong with that at all, of course. Vanderbilt has good work to his name, and a superhero franchise could do a lot worse than hiring the Zodiac screenwriter. However, Raimi didn't care for Vanderbilt's take and replaced him with David Lindsay-Abaire. He's currently having Gary Ross rewrite that script. However, Sony / Columbia and Marvel Studios loved Vanderbilt's ideas, in part because they form a big, interconnected storyline. (I can see Marvel all over that, can't you?) In fact, that was the original plan for Spidey films 4 and 5 which were to be shot back to back, but the idea was scrapped.

But here's where things could get really ugly. Raimi, Tobey Maguire, and Kirsten Dunst are reportedly not signed to installments 5 and 6, and with Raimi boarding World of Warcraft, the studio is even more uncertain that he'll return. So Vanderbilt's scripts are being eyed not as sequels but as a blueprint for a franchise "reboot." Obviously, there's no further details on what that would mean beyond a new cast and crew.

But Sony is that anxious for more Spider-Man, and they feel the franchise is moving too slowly. Now, I'm sure a lot of fans feel the same way, but at what cost do we want more Spider-Man? I'm cool with them bringing another director on board, as it could breathe some fresh life into the series, but new actors? If Spidey was a character that had numerous incarnations, that'd be one thing, but he's only ever been Peter Parker, and Parker and Maguire are one and the same in my mind. This is going to be one web that'll be very interesting (and possibly very disappointing) to see Sony weave ...

A few weeks ago at ComicCon, Marvel Studios' president Kevin Feige and Jon Favreau gave some hints as to what we could expect from the movie Marvel universe. Now, I bet you want to hear from a director who gets a little left out in all this crossover talk: Louis Leterrier.

Leterrier sat down with the LA Times and talks all about what it's like to play in the onscreen Marvel universe. Turns out, he was once in talks to direct Thor but declined (he's just not a fan of early Thor), and would love to have helmed Iron Man or Captain America. "But, c'mon, a Frenchman doing Captain America? They would burn my passport." But Leterrier has seen the designs for Joe Johnston's Cap, and what he describes is pretty intriguing. "I have seen some of the design work they're doing for Captain America and it looks amazing. It's a period piece and it's like Raiders of the Lost Ark and with more gadgets ... It's Raiders meets Rocketeer and Saving Private Ryan. It's going to be so cool."

Superheroines like Wonder Woman and Wasp aren't the only ones getting the short end of the adaptation stick. There hasn't been a real rush to offer up a little racial diversity either, despite that there are Marvel and DC heroes who are people of color. I mean, Luke Cage, Black Panther, Amazing Man, and the Silver Samurai would make fine films, but they're either languishing in talks, or excluded from the conversation altogether.

But there's some hope that we might see a Black Panther movie, and if we do, the credit might just go to the intense Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. In an interview with Blackfilm, he revealed that the rights to the character have reverted back to Marvel. "It's now up for grabs and I'm doing the grabbing. I've always had a passion to play a superhero, and now it appears to becoming real. We're in talks with Marvel to playing one of my favorite superheroes, which is obviously Black Panther. There is truth to that, the fact that we are talking. It would be a boyhood dream to have that materialized. I was at Comic Con this year and the timing for such a character to come to life couldn't be more appropriate. I would love to be the one to wear the suit and go out and represent."

There's no doubt he'd represent very well , and just in case anyone from Marvel is reading, Agbaje would like stress why he's right pick for the role. "I'd like to convey an element of him that is real and raw ... I can make this guy real ... I would bring some elements from my culture, which is Nigeria. I'm from an area which is known for its regality. In fact, my name, Adewale, means the crown has come home, the crown is here. Together, with that rawness, and the regality because he is an African prince, I would love to bring out the cultural elements of my background to it." Sounds like a perfect fit to me ...

Do you know what it's like to have the new War Machine just appear before you at a table? It's really kind of startling. Because I wasn't at the panel, I had no idea who (beyond Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau, of course) was actually at ComicCon. But wham, suddenly there was Don Cheadle who just seemed to apparate into the chair from an unspecified location. It was like an Iron Man 2 parade which would have only been cooler if they'd been fresh off the set, and still in their costumes. Oh yeah, and obviously he was really nice, too ... and tall. Tall like War Machine!

Check out what Mr. Cheadle has to say on spin-off possibilities, on wearing the suit, on the relationship between Rhodey and Tony, and much more ...


So, that War Machine suit is pretty f--cking cool.

Pretty cool, yeah. I've got a couple of them in back. [laughs] On Ebay so, if anyone wants to jump in on that ...

What's the reserve?

I can't go too much into detail, but check them out!

[Reporter asks about the real chemistry Robert Downey Jr. discussed a few minutes before]

You know it's great, especially in a movie that has so much about it that isn't real, that has so [much] that you can't see, or touch, or feel, or understand -- to have an actor like Robert who is steeped in acting tradition, where we really are trying to go after real stuff, and feeling very similar to what I like to do. So it was very encouraging to be able to grab onto something that felt real in that whole huge thing that was Iron Man 2.

Go below the jump for the rest ...

If there's a Marvel man you want to get drunk and pump for information, it's Kevin Feige. This is the man who has all the answers of cinema's Marvel Universe, and while his enthusiasm occasionally lets a spoiler or two slip, he generally just grins knowingly. Seriously, if you run into him, ply him with strong alcohol and see if you can get him to confirm whether or not the Skrulls will be the Big Bad of The Avengers. (Devin Faraci thinks so -- and so do I!) Now, onto the chat -- unfortunately, it's missing some quotes of "what a comic book movie is" at the end because I simply can't hear it behind the background noise. I got the good stuff though, don't worry.


KF: Hello! What are you going to ask me?

Are you going to make Green Lantern Vs Black Widow ... ?

Do you mean Marvel Comics Deadpool? [laughs] Anything? You got all your answers?

Coming into this, where you guys at Marvel are right now after Iron Man blew up so big, and the Marvel Universe became much more of a reality .... as you're finishing up Iron Man 2 how much of an eye are you keeping towards future projects?

It's a combination. Clearly, the four films that we've announced -- Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers -- which are are all happening and are all in various stages, not just of development but of prep, clearly we're sowing seeds within them. I've always been very vocal about saying we're not just going to cram in Easter eggs that, you know, 1/10 of the audience will understand at the expense of the experience of watching the movie. That's all that really matters -- the movie itself.

Head below the jump for the rest!