Pictured above: Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle aka "The Punisher." (Click on the image for a larger version)

Cinematical was lucky enough to attend a conference call earlier today with The Punisher: War Zone director Lexi Alexander in which we talked about the new film, the characters and the exciting Punisher universe. Above you will find the first image from the film, featuring Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle (aka The Punisher), a former FBI agent who wages war on the criminal underworld following the death of his family. The film arrives in theaters on September 12th, 2008. Here's a bit of our conversation:

Does this movie take place more in the Marvel universe or in its own world?

Lexi Alexander: Well I think in the sense of the other Marvel characters, it's definitely in its own world in terms of location, though, we call it the Marvel New York because, you know, rather than setting it in the real New York, we wanted it to have a little bit of a surreal feeling.

What one thing do you think distinguishes your take on The Punisher compared to the last Punisher movies that fans of the comic will truly appreciate?

LA: Well, the last Punisher movie really wasn't relevant to us. There's a lot of comparison to it, but none of the people on my team ever looked at that and said how can we be different or better -- we just kind of made our own film. The one thing I concentrated on was to really really make it as close to the MAX series as possible. I think we really achieved it as far as the look, as well as the tone. When I look at the dailies that I'm getting, I seriously feel like I'm looking at a MAX comic book right in front of me.

Related question: I think one thing the comic fans will realize immediately is that the world we created feels like the comic book in terms of the look as well.

Will this be a Hard-R Punisher?

LA: Well, it definitely will be a Hard R, and luckily Lionsgate's been great about it. They haven't given me any guidelines in terms of violence. I think they're a real good studio to make a violent movie, and I really like violent movies. So it's definitely going to be a Hard R.

Photo credit: Jonathan Wenk/Lionsgate

Geek news I found while packing spices for a weekend cooking trip:

• Oh baby, is there a lot of news about The Punisher's extended DVD at Newsarama. Read it all here, but be warned, if you're a Marvel fan it is going to make you want to shell out some extra bucks for the DVD. I, personally, am very excited to have a look at it.
• For those among us who like reading novelizations for their favorite movies, you can pre-order your copy of Spider-Man 3, the movie novelization, at Amazon. The only movie novels I tend to read are the Star Wars ones, but I'm sure the Spidey books are fun, too.
• Guillermo Del Toro answers some questions at EW. In his fanboy dreams, he wants to cast Bruce Campbell for a role in Hellboy 2. While this is admittedly unlikely to ever occur (at least for more than a cameo), it still makes Del Toro all the more awesome.
• Neat looking storyboards from a deleted X3 scene. Really, they look like a lot of the rest of the movie -- cars flying through the air, people with shocked expressions on their faces, and things breaking into pieces. If I had to title the flick, I would have given it the same subtitle my friends and I bestowed on the X-Men: Legends video games ... X-Men 3: X-Men Break Your Stuff.
• Hey, Ghost Rider minimates are coming. These toys promise to "deliver all the action-packed excitement of the film with every 2 inch figure." I know that's supposed to suggest the figures will be packed with action, but I can't help but interpret it to say "there's so little action in this film, we could fit it in two inches."

Although he is technically departing Marvel to create his own production company, Avi Arad is still up to his elbows in Marvel film work. In a recent interview, Arad addressed both the long-delayed Ghost Rider flick and the (eventually) upcoming Punisher sequel. Here's the news:

Regarding Ghost Rider, Arad admits that earlier reports of special effects work being very involved are only part of the issue behind the delay of the film. He says the insanity of summer movie releases make it difficult to work in a title; most of the weekends are already filled up with at least one major flick. So in interest of creating both a better looking and more financially successful flick, they pushed back the release date. I'm perfectly okay with this decision if it truly results in a better film. We geeks very much need for Marvel films to be financially rewarding if we hope to see more of them in the future.

Punisher 2 is on the move, although admittedly slower than desired. Arad says: "We are working on it, and I think we are close to a take that makes sense." This still doesn't deal with the issue production and funding, but at least it is a step in the right direction. DVD sales included the film certainly made enough to warrant a sequel in today's Hollywood.