x3 Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Bryan Singer Feels Shame and Wants to Return to 'X-Men'
Filed under: Action », RumorMonger », Celebrities and Controversy », Fandom », 20th Century Fox », Newsstand », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
Poor Bryan Singer. He may have X-Men and X2 under his belt, but a lot of fans will never forgive him for selling out the mutants in favor of Superman ... and we won't go into the Superman thing again. But Singer is sorry. Very sorry. In fact, he told Total Film that he made a terrible mistake and that he regretted not directing X3 "before I was watching it, during watching it, after watching it." (Join the club, Singer.) He was quick to amend his longing with praise for a little praise for Brett Ratner, though. "It's weird for me to watch it, because I'm so close to the universe. And also Brett is a good friend of mine. But, of course, I would love to return to that universe." How to return is a problem now that the series has devolved into spin-offs and prequels, and he's understandably reluctant to return through one of the avenues open to him: a Magneto origin story. "The only thing that concerns me about Magneto is that if the prequel were to follow the track I used in X-Men, which is Magneto's history in the concentration camp, then I've lived in that world. Apt Pupil, X-Men and now Valkyrie ... I've lived in that Nazi universe for quite a while. I just might need to take a little break before I do something like that."
The Geek Beat: A Reboot From the Flames
Filed under: The Geek Beat »
After four columns about Watchmen, I hope you're ready for a change of pace – and a bit of fantasy fulfillment. Keep in mind the last time I begged for a character comeback, it actually happened. Such is the power of the Geek Beat. (Not really, but let's pretend.)
Now, it's no secret Fox is looking at every single character in their arsenal and pondering how best to reboot or stage a spin-off. When they're reportedly looking at reviving the Fantastic Four, you know they're just desperate for more of that Marvel gold. (Here's where you can jump to the comments and just slag off Fox if you want, I won't mind.) Well, I have a Marvel character that was grievously mishandled, one that's perfect for rebooting by the very nature of her being, and whose return would earn the studio some major geek girl cred. I'm talking about Jean Gray, the Phoenix.
Here I should back up and say that if you've never read The Dark Phoenix Saga, you owe it to yourself to get a copy. It's dated, but it's pretty special, unique for the time it was penned and all that. Follow it up with a little Grant Morrison New X-Men and Phoenix: Endsong, dodging all the Madeleine Pryor and clone retcons that popped up in between. The Jean Gray story that lies at the heart of all these is a rich one -- a nice normal X-Girl who ends up possessed by an alien entity she can barely control.
Now, it's no secret Fox is looking at every single character in their arsenal and pondering how best to reboot or stage a spin-off. When they're reportedly looking at reviving the Fantastic Four, you know they're just desperate for more of that Marvel gold. (Here's where you can jump to the comments and just slag off Fox if you want, I won't mind.) Well, I have a Marvel character that was grievously mishandled, one that's perfect for rebooting by the very nature of her being, and whose return would earn the studio some major geek girl cred. I'm talking about Jean Gray, the Phoenix.
Here I should back up and say that if you've never read The Dark Phoenix Saga, you owe it to yourself to get a copy. It's dated, but it's pretty special, unique for the time it was penned and all that. Follow it up with a little Grant Morrison New X-Men and Phoenix: Endsong, dodging all the Madeleine Pryor and clone retcons that popped up in between. The Jean Gray story that lies at the heart of all these is a rich one -- a nice normal X-Girl who ends up possessed by an alien entity she can barely control.
Mark Beall's Geek Beat: Eight Things I Learned From The X-Men
Filed under: Action », Fandom », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels », The Geek Beat »
Ready for your lessons from geek movies? Following up on last week's Ten Things I Learned From the Fantastic Four, we're going to pick out a few general pointers for life from the X-Men film trilogy. Without further ado, I give you: The Geek Beat -- Eight Things I Learned From the X-Men (again, movies only, not the comics):
1. Wear hats frequently, particularly ones crafted from special materials. If you are an evil villain, all you need to do to escape the dangers of Charles Xavier, leader of the X-Men and most powerful telepathy on earth, is wear a nice hat. Not only will it keep Professor X out of your brain, it will also keep your head warm during the winter months and dry during unexpected rainfall. If you design it well, it can even be a fantastic addition to your villain ensemble. Nothing says super powers like a matching cape, costume and helmet.
2. Avoid city living, as it is far too complicated and laden with troublesome people. Again, a good note for evil villains -- if you want to conquer the world, try starting someplace other than New York. The crazy city is home to half of the known superheroes in America. I know there are a lot of cool buildings around to serve as labs/headquarters/hanger bays, but country living has a lot to offer you as well. For starters, you won't find the X-Men chilling out in Montana. Granted, your enormous headquarters will probably stand out a bit, but that's why we invented underground bunkers, right?
New X3 DVD Info
Filed under: Action », Deals », Home Entertainment », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
Still upset that the Fox folks are bleeding you for extra cash with their single-disc, un-special edition of X-Men: The Last Stand before they'll release the shiny special edition they promised us earlier? Was the Wal-Mart exclusive not enough to slake your mutant thirst? Well now you've a few more options (read: excuses to blow extra cash) before the special release:Not to be outdone by their prime competition, Target will also be releasing an exclusive X-Men DVD, this one billed as a "deluxe" edition and costing about twenty-three bucks. In a fancy collectors tin you'll get ... well, the DVD, an issue of X-Men in comic book form (Giant #1, if you are curious), and four (*gasp*, a whole four) collectible trading cards.
In slightly cooler news, it looks increasingly likely that we'll see a blu-ray disc of X-Men: The Last Stand. A new listing of Fox's upcoming blu-ray slate apparently shows the flick ready to debut -- but no release date is attached. I don't really intend to be a blu-ray guy myself, but I imagine this is fun news for those of you who are interested in such.
Wal-Mart Gets X3 Exclusive
Filed under: Action », Deals », Fandom », Distribution », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
Before I start this post, I just want you to notice that I avoided using the "X-Clusive" pun in the title. It was tough, trust me, but I managed to dodge the bullet. You're welcome. Okay, there has been general murmurings of discontent since Fox announced that, while they have indeed put together a fancy two-disc feature set for the DVD release of X-Men 3: The Last Stand, it will not be shared with American audiences until they've had time to bleed some extra cash from us by releasing a crappy single disc feature first, in a classic "double dipping" move. However, you can console yourself, if you so desire, by purchasing your DVD at Wal-Mart, where you will be given an extra bonus DVD with 50 some minutes of exclusive behind the scenes footage. It isn't the fancy special edition you know they'll be selling to you later, but hey, it is a chance to spend twenty bucks on a movie you can spend thirty more bucks on in a few months. Aren't you the lucky one?
Da Vinci Code Continues Int'l Success
Filed under: Action », Drama », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Mystery & Suspense », Box Office », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
While we here in the US saw our first repeat box office champ for the first time in quite a while this weekend, watchers of the international box office don't even bother looking at the charts anymore -- they're know The Da Vinci Code is going to be on top. Despite the fact that our smart foreign friends are choosing, en masse, to watch soccer (Forza Italia!) rather than movies, those who did go to the cinema preferred Tom Hanks and his bad hair over the competition for the fifth weekend in a row. In total, the movie has now made $480 million overseas and $678.5 million world-wide, numbers that those of you who like lists will be pleased to know rank 13th and 23rd respectively all-time.X-Men: The Last Stand, too, continued to do well internationally, thanks in large part to very successful Asian opens. The movie topped the national charts in both Taiwan and Korea, and its $4.9 million take in Korea is the most a Fox film has ever made on its debut there, due mostly to the fact that the wildly-supported Korean soccer team was idle over the weekend.
Fox Crosses Billion Dollar Threshold, Thanks Animated Squirrel
Filed under: Action », Animation », Comedy », Box Office », 20th Century Fox », Family Films », Newsstand », Remakes and Sequels »
Thanks primarily to the massive appeal of both Ice Age: The Meltdown and X-Men: The Last Stand, Fox International on June 9 became the first studio to pass $1 billion in international sales this year, reaching that mark in record-breaking time. Industry-watchers are mucho impressed by the studio's strength -- crossing that threshold only six months into the year is a sign of serious strength, apparently, particularly "in today's highly competitive international marketplace." Fox won the race to $1 billion last year as well, but that success came nowhere near this fast. Of course, when you've got one movie -- Ice Age 2 -- pulling in $441 freaking million, that gives you a pretty good push towards that billion dollar goal.In addition to Ice Age 2, major profit-drivers for the studio thus far have been X3 ($160.1 million), Walk the Line ($64.8 million) and, troublingly, The Pink Panther and Big Momma's House 2, which made $74.4 million and $64.3 million respectively. Yikes. Yet to come from Fox this year are such potential moneymakers as My Super Ex-Girlfriend, The Devil Wears Prada, Night At The Museum and, sigh, Garfield 2.
Simon Kinberg Explains Why We Didn't Get Gambit in X3
Filed under: Action », Casting », Deals », Fandom », Scripts », Politics », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
Regular readers will know I was greatly disappointed by the severe lack of Gambit in the most recent X-Men movie ... or in any X-Men movie to date, for that matter. This most recent film seemed to pack in mutants at every possible opportunity, including some pretty crazy ones, and still didn't manage to bring me Remy LeBeau. Gambit is not my favorite mutant, but he ranks reasonably high on the list (when he's not busy being Death, anyway). Simon Kinberg, one of the primary script authors for X-Men: The Last Stand recently made some comments explaining why they chose not to bring Gambit on board, and they at least make some sense. Kinberg basically said "We wrote a cameo for him, and then really felt like it was better to save Gambit and give him a major role in a future X-Men movie, rather than give him a cameo where fans would be saying " ... that's all I get of Gambit?"" And he's correct in this matter, I think. Had they chose to cram him in somewhere without giving him a place on the team I probably would have been just as disappointed as I was by his not existing at all. The question now seems to be... future X-Men movie? I thought we were all pretending the franchise ends here. ...
Marvel's Main Man Says X4 a Possibility
Filed under: Action », RumorMonger », Fandom », Scripts », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
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.
Ratner Promises "Mind Blowing" X3 DVD
Filed under: Action », Documentary », Fandom », Distribution », Home Entertainment », Movie Marketing », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
Brett Ratner is promising fans a fantastic special edition DVD, even though The Last Stand has only been in theaters for a week. Of course, in the fast world of DVD production it's never to early to get moving, so it makes sense plans are already in place. For the sake of this post alone let us put aside all arguments of how good or terrible the film was, and instead simply focus on the details of what Ratner is offering us -- because frankly, it sounds good. And if you thought the movie was crap odds are you won't be buying the DVD anyway, so it is a non-issue.Ratner has said the disc will include a full length behind the scenes documentary (not particularly unusual but always a nice feature) filmed by Ratner himself. It's not a press kit put together by studio grunts or a production feature made for a TV debut; it's just Ratner with his camera showing us anything he thinks is cool. According to the director the documentary itself weighs in at a hefty two hours, which means a double DVD special edition, something I always personally enjoy. Of course, I'm a big fan of "making of" features, so this is right up my alley. Ratner promises the DVD will be "mind blowing," but no other real features have been discussed to this point. Here's hoping its as impressive as he makes it sound.
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