Remember how for the longest time whenever anyone talked about Samuel L. Jackson it was usually followed by the description of Jackson as one of the hardest working actors in the business? Well, it is not like he didn't earn that reputation -- Jackson currently has one film already headed to theaters and three other films in production. Variety reports that Jackson will add the spy thriller Unthinkable to the pile.

Gregor Jordan (The Informers) has already signed to direct the story of a "major threat to the United States when the locations of three nuclear devices are shrouded in secrecy by a single terrorist. With only two days before they are deployed, a black-ops interrogator and a female FBI agent have to decide how far they will go to find them" -- knowing Jackson's flair for interrogation I can only assume he will play the interrogator in the film.

Jackson is still filming the musical comedy Soul Men with Bernie Mac, so production on Unthinkable won't start until this fall in Minneapolis. But remember, Jackson likes to keep busy, so stay tuned for those Nick Fury updates -- because let's face it, Unthinkable will likely not be the Jackson film everyone is talking about in 2009.

Whether you're a fan of comics, or just happen to watch superheroes on the big screen now and then, you've probably heard of Marvel. They've got almost all the biggies: Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Daredevil and Iron Man. And if you regularly read Cinematical, you know that at least a few movies are in production with these characters. Marvel Entertainment has now released their second quarter earnings for 2007, and have included the company's list of projects, which you can find over at SuperHeroHype.

We know all about some of them. Of course, under their character feature line-up, they've got my much-anticipated Wolverine, which we last blogged about a few days ago, and Punisher 2, which is going to be a do-over. Under the flicks in development, we've got Iron Man (which was very present in our ComicCon coverage) and The Incredible Hulk. But there's also a whole bunch of writers gearing up other super projects like Ant-Man by Edward Wright and Joe Cornish, Captain America by David Self, Nick Fury by Andrew Marlowe, Thor by Mark Protosevich and The Avengers by Zak Penn. There are also a few animated TV projects in the works -- Spider-Man, Wolverine and the X-Men and Iron Man, some direct-to-DVD projects -- Doctor Strange, Teen Avengers and Hulk Smash and video game projects for Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.

And here's the kicker: Spider-Man the Musical. Yes, our webbed friend is going to hit the stage, and somehow I've missed the buzz that has been lurking around. Woops. It's not a terrible surprise that Spidey is jumping out of the screen, especially after all the success of Sam Raimi's last flick to get theatrical: Evil Dead: The Musical. Julie Taymor (Titus and Across the Universe) is going to direct the production, and the music will come from U2's Bono and The Edge -- that pretty much guarantees us some funky music and stunning sights. Unfortunately, there's no word on when we can expect to see the web stick to the stage.

With production wrapped on one of next summer's biggest films, director Jon Favreau stopped by his MySpace page to answer a few Iron Man questions and talk up the film's presence later this month at San Diego ComicCon. First off, he apologizes for there not being an Iron Man trailer in front of Transformers. However, he does promise to "reveal something very cool very soon." On his Iron Man ComicCon plans, Favreau notes: "We've secured a prime slot Saturday afternoon [July 28] in the big room at SDCC. We will split an hour with Marvel and Hulk and plan to cut something together to reward the fans for their interest, support and patience. In addition to our Saturday afternoon presentation, we will be doing a signing and poster giveaway at the Marvel booth on Saturday. Paramount is also doing a rundown of its slate on Thursday which I will do my best to attend as well."

By "cut something together," I assume that means he will unveil the first Iron Man trailer. Unfortunately, you'll have to be in San Diego to see it. But don't worry, we've got you covered -- Cinematical will be on the ground, scoping out any and all ComicCon exclusives. While we don't yet know if we'll be able to share actual video with you, we'll do everything in our power to make sure you're just as informed as that guy who's sitting in the first row sporting a "Vegas, baby!" t-shirt for all the world to see. Following his ComicCon announcements, Favreau next moves on to some questions about the villains in the film; essentially, how many are there and what sort of role Iron Monger/Mandarin/Obadiah Stane plays. Favreau stated that they are "essentially using the books to inspire our story" and that "fans should have no problem piecing together what's what." He also says that they've left plenty of room open for sequels (that make sense), but as always it will depend on how well Iron Man does when it's released on May 9 of next year.

Finally -- and this should certainly incite a debate -- Favreau addressed those rumors that have suggested Samuel L. Jackson, Hilary Swank and Favreau himself play roles in the film. As you may or may not know, Jackson was said to be shooting scenes as fellow Marvel superhero Nick Fury, while Swank was supposedly a Shield agent and Favreau, a Vegas security guard. Are they true? Favreau says, "There is no truth to any of these rumors." Then, at the bottom, he writes: (Well, maybe one is true.) Ah, but which one? Hopefully we'll find out sooner rather than later ...

Although Zak Penn has said that he won't start writing an Avengers script anytime soon, that might be changing. According to AICN, Marvel is taking the first step toward integrating the superhero universe on the big screen by potentially laying down the foundation for an Avengers movie during next summer's Iron Man. That's right, apparently Nick Fury will be introduced as a character in the film, and he'll be played by none other than Samuel L. Jackson. Are you drooling yet? While it's still in the rumor stages, all signs point to this being a reality -- in fact, on Fury's Wikipedia page, it already mentions the fact that Sam Jackson is playing the character in the upcoming Iron Man film. So there's two sources, both with the same information -- and AICN claims Jackson is shooting his scenes this week.

Also on the Wikipedia page (and this is something I did not know), it says that the Ultimate Nick Fury was modeled after Samuel L. Jackson, with the actor's permission. So it would totally make sense for Jackson to be interested in the role. Additionally, Iron Man is one of the Marvel-related films that is being developed from scratch by Marvel Enterprises (and not some random studio), which means it's more likely that they'll not only take chances, but also give the die hard fans want they want. We're not sure if Fury's involvement here means there won't be an entire Nick Fury movie at some point, or if the character will only appear once before showing up in an Avengers movie. Jackson is cool and all, but the dude is not getting any younger -- so I imagine an Avengers flick would have to happen within the next five years.

Seeing as it looks like they're going with the Ultimate version of Fury, they'll most likely use the storyline of him being a Gulf War veteran and spy. I'm not sure how they'll work in a meeting between Fury and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), but at some point Fury becomes the General of S.H.I.E.L.D. and leader of The Ultimates, or Avengers. Will all that be set up in Iron Man? Will they officially announce Jackson's participation at the upcoming San Diego ComicCon? Guess we'll have to wait to find out. In the meantime, what do you think about all this?

In the flurry of announcements coming from Comic-Con, there were a lot of movie announcements. Pretty impressive, for what started as a little old comic book convention. During their time at the Con, Marvel certainly had many fun announcements for us, including the confirmation/official announcements for three long rumored Marvel comic movie projects:

1. Captain America will finally be returning for a feature length movie after a long hiatus. I was going to write something about hoping this one would be better than the last go around, but really, there is almost no way it could be worse. They could just film a slide show of a few Captain America comic books with somebody reading us the dialog and it'd be a major improvement.
2. Nick Fury will be showcased in a S.H.I.E.L.D. flick. No word on whether it'll be traditional Nick Fury or Ultimate Nick Fury, but both are awesome and both would make for a fantastic movie. Fury's character should allow for a film outside the traditional cape and tights superhero flicks. Andrew Marlowe will be doing the script writing.
3. Finally, Thor of the mighty Viking pantheon will be hitting the silver screen. No details on this one yet, but it is clear to see Marvel is gearing up for an enormous Avengers picture, with Iron Man and Ant-Man movies already announced and Captain America and Thor on the way as well. This all sounds fantastic to me.
   

When some studio announced its intent to turn Red Sonja into a film again, I got to thinking. We all know Red Sonja has been a film before, but the likelihood is of course very high the studio will ignore this previous (and very failed) attempt and start all over again, rather than pulling a direct sequel 20 years later. Everyone involved, especially the fans, are happy with this idea. We have no problem ignoring the first incarnation of the story on film and treating the new version as a stand alone -- something akin to a restart of the story. And this concept is not at all unusual to comic book movie fans who've survived some pretty crappy attempts through the years and patiently waited for the current age of the comic book movie.