EVEN MORE NAMES BANDIED ABOUT FOR CAPTAIN AMERICA

it appears that now Chris Evans (Yes you read that right! The guy who played Human Torch in the Fantastic Four movies) is now one of the frontrunners for Captain America. What do you think? Is Chris a good choice for Cap?

CAPTAIN AMERICA ANIMATED SERIES!?

Funny how some things never materialize!

Check out the youtube clip that shows that Saban (The company that did the X-Men 90's animated series) was prepping a Captain America animated series! Lucky for us this thing never took off! I say that because even though the show featured the RED SKULL, they were under orders from Fox at the time that NO NAZIS or swastikas would ever be shown! Doesn't make sense does it?

see for yourself and be the judge!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd7VinvTfiw

John Stewart most likely is in GREEN LANTERN!

check out the site below for details (Some good stuff!)
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/Poniverse/news/?a=15929

Ryan Reynolds spotted onset of Green Lantern and sporting.... THE RING

check out the site below...
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/green_lantern/news/?a=15901

CAPTAIN AMERICA CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT IMMINENT! WHOSE IN THE RUNNING?

According to Collider, Jensen Ackles is still in contention to play Captain America.

They are reporting that there are seven, not six actors on the short list.

John Krasinski, Scott Porter, Garrett Hedlund, Chace Crawford, Michael Cassidy, and Mike Vogel have already been reported all over the net. Collider adds Jensen Ackles to the list.

Collider reports that the problem with both Hedlund and Ackles is scheduling. His commitment to Supernatural seems to conflict with the Captain America shooting schedule. I find it hard to believe something could not be worked out.

I have by no means been an advocate of Ackles for Captain America but with the other choices available, I hope he can find some time in his schedule for the role. I can't believe I'm saying this but of the names mentioned, he is far and away the best choice.

I am also hearing that John Krasinski (The Office) all but has the role. Sorry i just can't see him pulling Cap Off.

What I find shocking is that the actor who lands the role will only be getting $300k for the first film but the contract will stipulate a 9 picture deal (To cover The Avengers and it's sequels and any other guest appearances in other Marvel films!)

SUPERMAN MAN OF STEEL UPDATE!

UPDATE:
Variety have confirmed the story...

"David Goyer will help Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures get Superman off the ground again.
The writer-director-producer has been tapped to pen the next bigscreen adventure of the Man of Steel, the working title of the next pic."

UPDATE 2: IGN have an exclusive update on this story and claim not only is Goyer on board, but his The Dark Knight co-writer Jonah Nolan will also be scripting Superman: The Man of Steel along with him. Nolan's brother Christopher is expected to only executive-produce, and not direct, the film. That said, he will be "hands-on" as a producer. Since the Superman film is under the gun because of the ongoing legal entanglements involving the property, Warner Bros. wants the pair to get started on their script on the double.

Their sources add that Warners is confident in the early work that Goyer and Jonah Nolan have done so far on Batman 3, and that as a result Superman has now taken on a higher priority status at the studio than it had since Superman Returns was released.

CONFIRMED! DAVID GOYER IS WRITING SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL!!!

According to Latino Review and their "notorious trusted source" David Goyer, co-writer of Nolan's Batman movies will be writing a script for the new Superman movie entitled: Man Of Steel. Here is the scoop sent to them by said trusted source, the quite annoying Pinche Taco...


Hola Chicos, Pinche Taco here with the latest blatherings de nada de los Ninos de Hollywood!

So you will believe un hombre can fly! Te Juro. The talented David S. Goyer, the man who made sure Nolan stuck to the legend of The Dark Knight, has been hired to write the next chapter. Here is what El Taco can tell all of you:

1)Thomas Tull, the head of Legendary, got tired of all the discussion and decided chingate, let's do it. So he went to Goyer and Goyer had an idea that actually takes the movies back to the John Byrne incarnation. Modern. Believable. FUN! So Tull got Goyer hired.

2)The film will not be called Superman and will be called THE MAN OF STEEL.

3)Brandon Routh will not star in the film.

4)Nic Cage will NOT star in the fllm (lol)

5)Bryan Singer is not expected to direct.

comic book legend (In his own mind!) Mark Millar walks around acting like he was going to write it? El Taco discovered that this was always BULLSHIT. Paul Levitz hated the guy and he was never even discussed to write it. He made all that "almost" stuff up. I can tell you that Goyer's story involves Luthor and Brainiac. It is NOT an origin and assumes audiences already know about Lois, Clark, Jimmy and Perry. I know the Daily Planet is struggling due to the internet. And I know it sets up a huge Kryptonian mythology.

Brian Michael Bendis Meets With The Spidey Reboot Team!!

Brian Michael Bendis is one of the most well known, respected, and successful comic book writers of our generation. He's won five Eisner Awards in his life, and is the man behind the comic book Spider-Man reboot, Ultimate Spider-Man, which he still continues to write after ten years.

Spider-Man film reboot director Marc Webb has said that he loves the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book stuff, and now it looks like Webb and Sony Pictures are reaching out to Bendis for some advice. In fact, he's actually already met with them. Bendis tweeted today the following:

Just spent a very interesting morning at Sony with the entire spidey movie team!! Very very cool stuff!!

It would make sense that they would want to bring on Bendis to help out, possibly as a consultant. After writing over 130 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man I'd say Bendis is the most qualified man to go to for advice about Spider-Man.

Sony really needs to nail this next Spider-Man film, there are a lot of people who could care less about it, but ifthey actually make a great movie, then I'm sure fanboys and fangirls will gladly jump on board the bandwagon again.

What do you think about Bendis' possible involvement with the next Spider-Man film?

More Batman: Under The Red Hood Details!!

It may not be coming out until this summer, but CBM has your first look at the animated DVD adventure "Batman: Under the Red Hood," featuring interviews with Bruce Timm, Judd Winick, Bruce Greenwood and Jensen Ackles.
Dark, brooding adventure is nothing new in the world of Batman, but from all indications, his latest animated journey – this fall’s Batman: Under the Red Hood – could be the darkest of all.

“It’s simply the darkest Batman movie we’ve made yet, and that’s including Mask of the Phantasm and Return of the Joker,” offers producer Bruce Timm, who has been involved in Batman’s 2D world since the 1990s’ Batman: The Animated Series. “This is a really gritty, pretty darkly emotional story, and if it all comes together as I’m expecting it will, it’s going to be something really special.”

Following a line of films that includes Superman: Doomsday, Green Lantern: First Flight, Batman: Gotham Knight, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and, most recently, Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths, Under The Red Hood is adapted by Judd Winick from a story arc presented in the Dark Knight’s comic book adventures, part of which Winick himself had written. For his part, the writer thought the tale was a natural for animation.

“What I loved best about it is that it had a really amazing beginning and a really strong ending, which pretty much most movies ride on,” Winick notes. “The movie starts with Batman’s failure, which resonates throughout.”

That “failure,” the full details of which he won’t go in to, occurred some years ago, and its impact is felt in the present with the arrival of the Red Hood, a costumed vigilante and criminal whose actions reflect what Batman himself would be should he ever decide to step over the line from hero to villain.

“This is absolutely a Batman story,” he emphasizes. “It’s about Batman facing his greatest fear, and it’s a fear he was unaware of: failure. All Batman is trying to do is win a war. All he’s trying to do is right wrongs, beginning with the death of his parents and followed by another seminal event in his life, the loss of his partner, Jason Todd [who replaced Dick Grayson as his sidekick, Robin]. It was a major mistake in his life, bringing another kid into this war. So for Batman, it seems like one horrible mistake after another.”

Those mistakes, and a few others made in his career, come home to roost in the form of the Red Hood. “Batman is the Dark Knight, he has strange means and he’s tortured, but the bare essence of the man is that he’s trying to do right; to stop the bad in the world,” Winick explains. “In this story, his failure has increased ten-fold. He’s almost at a loss, because something unspoken about Batman is his emotional side. This ‘mistake’ is trying to undo everything that Batman does, trying to beat him at his own game, trying to be better than he is. So Batman has to battle this on two fronts: one, just this criminal, who’s coming in and trying to take over the city by force and being what he is, the villain. The flip side of this is that this is something from Batman’s past that has returned from beyond, which is maddening, confusing and horrible. And what does he do when he stops him, if he can stop him? These are wonderfully complex issues, which is why I just fell in love with the idea that this is Batman at his most unbalanced. What the Red Hood represents is Batman’s Achilles heel, and he tortures himself over it. The situation he is being forced to deal with is his fault, and it’s something he never lets himself forget.”

VOICES UNDER THE RED HOOD
One of the most impressive aspects of the various DC made-for-DVD animated projects is the sheer spectrum of voice talent involved in bringing the characters to life. Particularly distinct about Batman: Under The Red Hood is that the project brings into the fold a couple of vocal newbies.

Bruce Greenwood, most recently seen on the big screen as Captain Christopher Pike in last year’s Star Trek, takes on the role of Batman, whose gravelly voice he spent a lot of time experimenting with. “We just toyed around with different timbers for 20 minutes or so,” he explains. “We read the script the whole way through while we were looking for the tone of the voice. And by the time we’d sort of finished the first read through, we were kind of saying, ‘Okay, it’s got a little bit of smoke in it, but not too much.’ It became smokier as we went along.”

As to working in animation, he says, “I didn’t come in with too many preconceptions. I read the script beforehand, and the emotional through line of the story is what I’m trying to connect to. So when the director asks you to give it a certain tone, then you just go for that. But it was interesting to work this way. [Vocal director] Andrea Romano provided the visual – she’d describe everything. So you just kind of close your eyes and she’d set the scene and you could really imagine it very clearly, and then you do your thing.”

The other newcomer to animation acting is Jensen Ackles, who voices the villain of the piece, the Red Hood. Ackles, of course, is best known for his portrayal of Dean Winchester on the CW series, Supernatural.

“There really wasn’t any heavy acting choices to make,” says Ackles regarding Red Hood. “It pretty much just bounced off the page, and I just tried to do it justice. With working in this medium, once you get clear on all the specific pronunciations and how the tone of the voice needs to rise and fall, it was really about focusing on the more emotional elements of the script, especially in the intense moments and trying to envision the scene with the characters. And envisioning yourself in that scenario. A lot of times if you can do that, if you can put yourself there, I think the voice follows suit.”

Between his work on Supernatural and now the world of Batman, Ackles obviously has had some experience working in what has affectionately been called the “fan boy genre.”

“The positives of working in this genre are that the fans are extremely devoted,” he offers. “People really invest themselves in these stories and characters, and the mythology behind them. To be a part of something that so many people really get behind and want more of is extremely gratifying.” It looks to me like Bruce Timm definitely meant it when he said this would be darker than anything he's done before. If these images are anything to go from Under the Red Hood could very well surpass Return of the Joker and perhaps even challenge the Mask of the Phantasm. Only time will tell. One question remains though, if this movie is as stellar as all that what's next for Timm? Where do you go after bringing a Death in the Family and Under the Hood to the screen? Batman;Under The Red Hood gets released on Blu Ray & DVD in October

Batman Under The Red Hood animated film Details!!

Released today, right here, is information that is sure to have us waiting with baited breath for another half a year or more. A few months back DC released the contents of the Crisis DVD, and among the many usual and expected bonuses there was one title that got every one talking: Batman: Under the Red Hood.

With that small phrase speculation spread through out the various comic sites and message boards of the internet like wild fire. Would DC's next animated installment be about the origins of the original Red Hood, the Joker? Or was DC ballsy enough to do the return of the wayward Robin; the hitherto never before mentioned in the animated universe Jason Todd? And if it was Todd would they feature his death as well?

The answer is this: the next DCAU feature will indeed be, as the title suggests, based on the 2005 Batman story "Under the Hood" which featured the resurrection of Jason Todd. For the uninitiated "Under the Hood" deals with the return of the second Robin, Jason Todd, who died at the hands of the Joker...by popular vote from comic readers every where. Jason returns to life and dons the title Red Hood and leaves a wake of dead bodies in behind him in his quest for vengeance against anyone who lead to his death. This naturally brings him into conflict with his former partner and mentor Bruce Wayne/Batman, who struggles to solve the mystery of Red Hoods killings.

Animated guru Bruce Timm executive produces this violent look into crime on the streets Gotham, and it's directed by "Superman Doomsday" co-director Brandon Vietti, with a cavalcade of stars as voice talent. Starring Bruce Greenwood ("Star Trek") as Batman, "Supernatural" star Jensen Ackles as Red Hood, Neil Patrick Harris ("How I Met Your Mother") as Nightwing, John DiMaggio ("Futurama") as the Joker and Jason Isaacs (the Harry Potter films) as Ra's Al Ghul this movie is sure to please.

BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD WILL BE AVAILABLE ON DVD AND BLU RAY THIS OCTOBER

Avengers & Thor storyline revealed!?

***CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!*****Y Contains Spoilers)
Two of the most anticipated films right now from Marvel has to be Thor and The Avengers. And lately we’ve been hearing a lot of casting news for Thor. But, the most we’ve been hearing about The Avengers is just rumors. Well, AICN posted an article contains POSSIBLE spoilers for both films(SPOILER WARNING):

“Thor

The film starts with the 6 warriors (Thor, Loki, the Warriors 3 and Sif) in Asgard, OdinHopkins on the throne, etc.

* Loki is adopted, hence the black hair.

* Loki kills his dad, usurping the throne, Thor is cast out to Earth.

* Thor lands in a desert, and is promptly run over (literally) by Natalie Portman and Stellan Skarsgard, a PhD cosmology student and her Norwegian professor, who have gone out to study though telescopes a strange cloud in the cosmos.

* When they realize that Thor is who he says he is, Stellan, who has grown up with Norse mythology, can’t quite deal with it and goes out on a drinking binge.

* The script closes with a 5-page battle. The fighting styles for Thor and Loki are, as you’d expect, markedly different, Thor being very much about raw strength, Loki being much more about motion, grace and intelligence. The closing battle will be the first thing they film.



***THE AVENGERS***

* Loki is one of, if not the key [“Avengers”] bad guy.

* The [“Avengers”] film opens with 20 minutes of Loki basically entrapping/brainwashing Banner, and in so doing gaining control of the Hulk for his own nefarious deeds. This spurs the Avengers into existence.”

Odds are the part about The Avengers will turn out to bullshit, but who knows?

I do like that last part about a 5-page battle and how the fighting style of the characters were described.

I really like the idea of Loki controlling The Hulk, however this story was somewhat done in the direct to DVD animated feature HULK VS THOR. I am curious as to who the other villains are, if any. If Hulk is the villain, I wonder if Edward Norton will reprise his role?

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!! (Sorry had to say it!) lol

Zak Penn talks "The Avengers" Movie!!

somewhat dated article from craveonline but it's a great read!!!
Avengers movie update with Zak Penn

Screenwriter Zak Penn talks about his work on Marvel films.

The Los Angeles Film Festival included a panel discussion about comic book movies this year. Among the participants was Hollywood screenwriter Zack Penn, who wrote the latter two X-men movies and The Incredible Hulk. He’s currently working on The Avengers. Here are some highlights from the talk, including some honest, self-critical takes on some of the lesser Marvel films, and some Avengers tidbits.

CraveOnline: Are you pigeonholed as a comic book writer?

Zak Penn: I might be F’ed it they become unpopular because you never know how people are going to judge you. I wrote a lot of films that were not comic book films before I wrote a couple of comic book films, but I think it’s worth just for the sake of discussion making a distinction. Really when we talk about graphic novels and comic books, what gets really confusing is clearly nobody means History of Violence. Nobody means Road to Perdition when they complain about comic book movies.

CraveOnline: Or when they praise them.

Zak Penn: Right, either way. Nobody’s saying, “Oh, those were giant, really fun popcorn movies” because they’re not. The point is, why has sequential art become such a dominant force for making movies? To me, that’s the real question that’s worth getting at. Yes, there’s the obvious, for the big comic book franchises of course it has to do with these are characters that are built up, these are things people know and that’s incredibly important for marketing. But I also think that sequential art is the closest formally to cinema of any of the art forms. The storyboarding process, the animation process particularly, which I think a lot of the best movies that Hollywood has made in the last 25 years have been animated. The reason why that lends itself to good storytelling, which is in animation you can retell the story over and over again until you get it right. You can keep recutting your film. You don’t have to be Stanley Kubrick to get 50 reshoots on your film. That’s how the Pixar guys [do it]. It’s not a mystery, it’s a bunch of really smart guys working on it over and over and over again until they get it right. That’s why something like 300 is easier to translate, because you’re all talking about the same thing. If you say, “We want the frame to look like this,” the studio can look at it and say, “Oh, I get it. That’s what it’s going to look like.” It’s not the same as reading a novel and trying to interpret it. I hope my career doesn’t get hurt by it.

CraveOnline: How do you start writing The Avengers before Captain America and Thor are done?

Zak Penn: My job is to kind of shuttle between the different movies and make sure that finally we’re mimicking that comic book structure where all of these movies are connected. It used to drive me crazy at Fox not being able to interweave. Why couldn’t we have Fantastic Four in this movie? Why couldn’t we do this? Now we will. Thor and Captain America will lead right into the Avengers movie, and Iron Man 2 as well.

CraveOnline: Do they give you a place to start or do you have to wait to find out where you pick up?

Zak Penn: We are learning it as we go and it’s pretty complicated. I have a meeting at Marvel this week to catch up on continuity. There’s just a board that tracks “Here’s where everything that happens in this movie overlaps with that movie.” It’s just what they do in the comic books. Think how complicated it is when you’ve got all the titles those companies do. Someone’s got to keep track of all that. What’s Wolverine wearing this week? Are his claws bone or [adamantium]? Yeah, it’s going to be really difficult. The only thing I can say is I’m pushing them to do as many animatics as possible to animate the movie, to draw boards so that we’re all working off the same visual ideas. But the exigencies of production take first priority
CraveOnline: How is working for autonomous Marvel different from working under the studio collaborations?

Zak Penn: Pretty much night and day. Marvel, everyone there has read every comic. They’re big fans of it. We’ve kind of moved past the normal fights that you have and just talk about what would make a cool movie. Here’s the thing though. Once you get into the process of making a movie, compromise is like your life. Everything is a compromise. Even if everyone has the best intentions setting out on a movie, you can make a total piece of sh*t. I’ve learned this the hard way. It is really damn hard to make a good movie. If you ever manage it, be proud of yourself. It’s so damn hard. Even though we all have the best intentions, it still might suck but it is at least a relief to not be fighting with people as much. We’re all kind of on the same page.

CraveOnline: But you’ve also done basically original stories based on comic book mythologies, not adaptations of standalone stories.

Zak Penn: Well, I actually think there’s two. There’s superhero movies which are often quite different than what generally get referred to under the umbrella of comic book movies. Some of the comic book movies, and I do think Bryan Singer deserves some of the credit for pushing whatever phase we’re in now where comic book movies are not only dominant, but where movies like Dark Knight are getting nominated for awards and the top directors are drawn to comic book material. Part of that is that Bryan Singer brought a very science fiction film orientation towards material. Instead of treating it the way my parents think of comic books, which is comic strips and that campy sensibility, I think a lot of the comic book movies getting lumped together are actually science fiction movies that just happen to be based on comic books. I think that’s an important distinction because that’s what we do well in Hollywood. We do a lot of things badly, but nobody else makes The Matrix like we make The Matrix. Nobody else makes The Fly. That’s what we’re actually good at. Dark Knight was 10 steps away from a snuff film. Sincerely, it’s kind of a torturous movie to watch. It’s completely violating the conventions of family entertainment. One of my pet peeves, and I’m not saying X-Men 3 doesn’t have its faults, but I remember reading this review saying, “It’s just another piece of mindless popcorn entertainment where there’s no stakes and it’s just a bunch of guys in tights running around fighting crime.” It’s crazy. It’s a movie who gets too much power and tries to murder everybody and then commits suicide. This is mindless popcorn entertainment? A kid even tries to cut his wings off. I’m not trying to say that to make the movie better. The movie should be judged on whether it succeeds or fails but I really think there’s a notion in people’s heads of what comic book means. They’re literally 25 years behind the discussion. That was settled 20 years ago when Frank Miller was having The Dark Knight kill people in the future. That conversation was done. That tome has expanded just in the way other media expanded.

CraveOnline: What about the fans who say you’re not getting close enough to the original comic books?

Zak Penn: To me one of the canards that’s kind of bullsh*t about the fanboy aspect of it and the faithfulness to the source material. That whole dialogue about how faithful you are to the source material is a con job. People who say they’re completely faithful to the source material, and you’ve seen them online talking about how faithful they are, including myself when I do it, that’s part of the marketing. We don’t want to piss off these people here. It’s not that there’s some sort of thing written in stone near the Hollywood sign that says, “If you find good source material, be faithful to it.” You try to make the best movie you can no matter how it gets you there, whatever story translates. Some material clearly translates better than others. This whole thing that fans get into a lather about, and I understand it, about who was faithful and who wasn’t, who went online and talked to us and who didn’t? What they don’t realize is if there weren’t a lot of them, nobody would give two sh*ts about what they think. It’s all about what opens the movie.

CraveOnline: If it’s so important though, why do the studios change anything?

Zak Penn: Let me give you an example. Dark Phoenix is an excellent example. One of the first things I read that really hit me was the Dark Phoenix saga. I was like eight or nine when I read it and it just blew me away. In the comic book, she’s possessed by an endless fiery bird of death that has lived in the universe forever. I don't know why it didn’t bug me when I read it. It didn’t. There’s no way that that crazy fiery cosmic bird fits in the universe that Bryan Singer created in X-Men 1. What I keep trying to tell people when we’re working on it is forget about being faithful to the comic book. We just need to be faithful to the last movie. It’s enough of a struggle to fight the studio executives about not making stupid changes just from one movie to the next, much less from the comic book. I think that’s something people get all caught up in is how faithful is it, who’s doing what and why? I just think you know what? The movie doesn’t change the comic book. The comic book is still sitting there. You can still read it. It’s never going to be truly faithful. The only thing you should judge it by is you did a sh*tty job of it. That is definitely true. We blew Elektra. That blew chunks. It should’ve been an R-rated movie and it should’ve been done like Sin City. CraveOnline: Well, you went there. Who was in charge of those decisions? Whose fault was Elektra?

Zak Penn: It’s the people who hire me for all my jobs. No, you know what? I don't know who to blame honestly.

CraveOnline: Maybe start with Daredevil?

Zak Penn: Well, the only difference I think is Daredevil is about a guy who, once again, pulls on tights and fights crime. Elektra is about a woman who is an assassin. Elektra could have been La Femme Nikita. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if La Femme Nikita was based on that character. That’s kind of what I pitched them. The reason why it might be my fault is that I should have known that Fox was never going to make an R-rated movie. That’s just not in their DNA and that this would turn into kinda of a denuded version of it which doesn’t work. It doesn’t work to have a PG-13 movie about an assassin.

CraveOnline: So they should go harder core.

Zak Penn: But let’s be honest. If you’re making a $200 million movie that has to, in order to not bankrupt your company and put everybody who works there out of work, to make an R-rated movie for $200 million is borderline. It’s definitely tough. You’re making everything a lot harder for yourself. Whereas, making a $70 million R-rated movie… Even the venal studio executives who I don’t like, I understand their point of view. They shouldn’t make an R-rated movie for $200 million because I don’t want to see the people who work on that studio lot get fired because I had a vision that Wolverine needs to have blood spurt out. I would prefer to see that version but there’s nothing inherent about that having to be done that way. I do think though, about why take all this source material from this area, there is a lot of good source material in comics. I think actually it’s not a big secret. Comic books make for much better movies than old sitcoms or novels that are written not appropriate for the screen.

CraveOnline: Should Wolverine have been R?

Zak Penn: That was our frustration. He’s got razor sharp claws and you can’t show blood. So what does he do? In every scene, he’s running around blocking, hitting you with the claws and not cutting you. Where do you go with that? There’s no way to do it.

CraveOnline: Do you think you need to be deeply familiar with the comic book to write the script.

Zak Penn: I wish that that was the only requirement because I know a lot about comic books and video games. That’s what I spend my time doing. I wish that were the rule but it is crazy when it’s not like it’s that hard to catch up on the mythology of some of these characters. It’s no harder than adapting anything else. By the way, you know who wasn’t? Bryan Singer was not a fan of any of those comic books. He admits it I think. Sometimes the people who are the biggest fans of it are the people who screw it up the most and vice versa. I had somebody start screaming, “You killed Cyclops” at me. First of all, it’s just an actor and he’s wearing a costume and he’s fine. Second of all, I didn’t kill him. It’s crazy but you know what? I more often find myself on the other side of that which is sitting with some people who don’t actually give a sh*t. For the most part, there’s a lot of people who are making these movies who are fairly cynical, who don’t actually care about characters. My big argument is if there’s something that’s actually good, why are we arbitrarily changing it? There’s a lot of that in Hollywood. That, to me, is the real argument, when you’re trying to say, “Okay, look, there’s a reason why all these fans are apesh*t for certain elements of it. They like the core idea of X-men tremendously. Let’s not mess with that.” When you get into the crazy “Cyclops’ visor has to be 4 inches” or whatever, I kind of say that’s part for the course. That’s what they pay you for. It’s not worth complaining. It is sad sometimes that people get so worked up about it but they are the people who are going to go to the movie so many times so you try to make them happy as best you can. What else can you do?

CraveOnline: Have you fought with directors of your other comic book movies?

Zak Penn: Yes, and almost everything. Honestly, I get very passionate about it, probably too much so. I’m trying to chill out in my old age. I’ve been doing this a long time. I started very young. I had to learn the hard way that if you fight with people about everything, you’re just not going to be around through to the end. I was very candid I think with Fox about my frustrations with the direction on X-Men 3. Just forget about all the problems with adapting the comic. I just felt we set up this Jean Grey story and then they just didn’t let us finish telling it. The first half of the movie starts it and the second half of the movie doesn’t really pay it off. That was a big fight, a lot of yelling. Usually if you’re fighting with the director, you’re usually fired pretty quickly after that. That’s my experience. I’ve been on those kinds of movies. They don’t keep you around if you’re telling them that they’re ruining the movie.

CraveOnline: Was the X3 fight between you and the director vs. the studio?

Zak Penn: Very often. With Bryan that was quite often trying to help Bryan see his vision through.

CraveOnline: Have you ever been surprised how well something turned out?

Zak Penn: I actually thought X-Men 2 was better than I ever thought it would be. When we were working on it, I thought it’s too many characters. Fox is never going to let him do this. It’s too meditative. How are we going to get these scenes of these guys talking in a movie where they want action. I saw the final product and I was like, “Bryan, sh*t, I’m sorry. You were right about all that stuff.” Look, I’ve had far worse experiences on the spec scripts. I wrote Last Action Hero and I was fired the day they bought it. I wrote a script called Suspect Zero which is the only movie I’ve worked on that I’ve never seen just because it was so butchered. It hurts like sh*t and it’s really hard to deal with. It’s particularly hard when people criticize you for the exact thing. You’ll beg them to change some scene and they won’t do it and then all the reviewers will gang up on you saying, “This terrible scene written by Zak Penn.” If they didn’t pay well, it wouldn’t be worth it but that’s the thing. It’s a damn good career and who are we to complain. It’s the price of doing business. The only movies I feel 100% about are the ones I’ve directed myself. If you’ve seen Incident at Loch Ness, that’s the movie I wanted to make. If you don’t like it, that’s fine but I don’t have any excuses.

Behind the scenes of ..... KICK ASS!!

over at empireonline they have an exclusive video of the making of Kick Ass! it's a cool clip check it out!


http://www.empireonline.com/

Is it true? YES James Cameron is involved with the Spider-Man Reboot!!!

from the fine folks at collider.com
it seems as though behemoth auteur James Cameron will get to live his Spider-Man directorial dreams after all, albeit vicariously through (500) Days of Summer’s Marc Webb. Jon Landau, Cameron’s friend and associate, told MTV that he and Cameron met with Webb last week to help bring the project into the third dimension. Now this development is interesting for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that, until recently, Cameron himself wanted his grubby little paws on the Marvelfranchise. For more of Landau’s words, and the significance of this meeting of the minds, follow the jump.


Those who recall the recent frenzy over who would helm the Spider-Man reboot will remember hearing James Cameron’s name; after all, the Academy Award-winning director did write an extensive, story-boarded treatment (dubbed a “scriptment”) back in 1991. However, in another interview with MTV at the Critics Choice Awards, Cameron called the Spider-Man reboot Sam Raimi’s “sloppy seconds.” And those sloppiest of seconds now belong to…

…Marc Webb, director of 2009’s beloved (500) Days of Summer! It seems Cameron is willing to put aside his disdain for the all-too-soon revived franchise for an upstart director he’s got his eye on. “Jim loved (500) Days of Summer,” according to Landau. “It’s not something that you would think is necessarily in his wheelhouse, but he really enjoyed that.” Well, I wouldn’t have guessed Spider-Man‘d be in Webb’s “wheelhouse,” but that’s just how this story goes.

Apparently James Cameron and Jon Landau are further in favor of Webb’s call to use 3D now, in pre-production, as more and more projects scramble to add 3D in post:

“Other movies are turning to it now, some of which I agree with, some of which I don’t agree with. Clash of the Titans is coming out in 3D; they’re converting it very hastily into 3D. I’m not in favor of that … If you want to shoot a 3D movie, shoot it in 3D.”

There’s no word now on how involved Cameron will be on the Spider-Man project down the road, but my guess is he’ll stick around. Nobody devotes that much time and effort into fleshing out a project so completely and not retain a passion for it — even if his idea was ditched almost 20 years ago.

Columbia hopes to release Spider-Man in 3D in July 2012.

LATEST CAPTAIN AMERICA RUMOR

The latest Captain America rumor (God i hope its true) is that Chris Pine, no other than Mr. Captin James T. Kirk, is the front runner for America's shield slinger! What do you guys think? Pine clearly pulled off the role of Captain Kirk, could he do it for Captain America as well?

WHO SHOULD PLAY THE NEW SUPERMAN?!

Check out these actors who could possibly be up for the new Superman!











































































































































MTV Has a great video that shows each of the following actors and asks the quesiton: Who should play the new Superman? The actors are in numerical order: Brandon Routh, Jon Hamm, Henry Cavill, Matthew Bomer, or John Barrowman.

Personally, I like Matthew Bomer.... Jon Hamm is much too old and although i would prefer Brandon Routh, I'm assuming the studio wants nothing to do with Superman Returns and as such wouldn't ask him back. What do you all think? Who makes the best Superman?

20 CENTURY FOX PLAN FOR A DAREDEVIL AND FANTASTIC FOUR "REBOOT" ARE UNDER WAY AND WHY WE SHOULD BE WORRIED!

Before you go and read the below articles, I just wanted to mention that the idea of Fox "rebooting both these franchises has NOTHING to do with getting the characters or stories right or better this time around. This is clearly a contractual issue that Fox has with Marvel before the Disney acquisition. So before you get too excited..... DON'T! Fox has such a spotty record at this point they are trying to reinvent anything that could work for them! Good luck!

Sources: Deadline & IGN

20th Century Fox has confirmed rumors from earlier this year that it will reboot its Fantastic Four franchise by announcing the hiring of Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman to oversee the project. Before he became a producer on Jonah Hex, Goldsman won an Oscar for scripting A Beautiful Mind, but Goldsman was also responsible for what destroyed the Batman franchise: Batman & Robin! (UGH!) Variety reports that Fox has also set Heroes and Green Lantern scribe Michael Green to pen the screenplay. Fox wants to completely retool and recast the franchise and replace director Tim Story, whom I think was a terrible director for the first two films!

Variety points out, "Fox controls Fantastic Four in perpetuity -- as long as it continues making the films. Fox has the same arrangement on Marvel Comics properties X-Men, Daredevil and Silver Surfer. Marvel is a producer and financial participant through a licensing agreement."


and finally the Daredevil reboot!


Deadline.com has recently reported a brief update on the status of a reboot to the 2003 film Daredevil. Regency is tackling the project with former News Corps number two Peter Chernin as a producer.

The screenwriter attached to the film is David Scarpa, who scripted The Day The Earth Stood Still for Fox. The new film has yet to be assigned a title and no word has been released from the studio whether the original actors will reprise their roles.

Deadline.com's reasoning for this is simple and accurate: 'Hollywood studios with Marvel superheroes need to keep reinventing these Marvel movie franchises or the rights revert back to Disney-based Marvel.'


Information courtesy of Deadline.co

The Spectre 10 Minute Movie is Online! (Probably not for long!)

The folks over at comicbookmovie have posted the new 10 minute short movie that comes attached to the new Direct to DVD/Blu Ray feature Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths (Out 2-23-10) It looks great! You can wait for the DVD release to watch this or see it now before Warners Legal Department finds out! Higlight and copy the URL address listed below and enjoy!


http://www.comicbookmovie.com/animated_features/news/?a=14840

WARNER BROS DC ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS IMMINENT!

A great article today from the folks over at IESB regarding Warner Bros plans for a myriad of their long gestating projects! Some new info on another Superman movie, as well as the long dormant Wonder Woman film! Here is the statement:


It was only yesterday that the fanboy equivalent of an atomic bomb was dropped upon the land of geekdom when it was revealed that Christopher Nolan would guide a new Superman film over at The Brothers Warner. It was only a matter of time before somebody threw some more fuel on to the heat vision inspired fire and we're glad to be the first to do so.

The information involving Nolan becoming the Brainiac behind WB's re-mastering of Superman was obviously leaked on purpose from the studio. Fantastic marketing ploy on the part of WB. The news trumps a Spider-Man reboot and even overshadowed the fact that Christopher Nolan is indeed sitting in the director's chair for "Batman 3". Although nerdgasming could be found all over forums, blogs, and websites, the announcement had people asking questions. "I think it's only fair that I answer...those people."

One of the questions is how involved is Christopher Nolan in the process? It's a great question and almost unanswerable at this point. I would imagine that he is going to receive a producer credit and his production company Syncopy Films will be involved on some level.

What about the story? Screewriter(s)? I've noticed a lot of people mentioning David Goyer and Jonah Nolan, ie Christopher Nolan's Creative Posse. They might actually have some time since we've heard rumblings from inside the studio that Jonah has already handed in the first draft of "Batman 3", if so things are certainly moving along on the Caped Crusader front.

Jonah and Goyer wouldn't be bad choices to pen the next Superman film, but they won't be starting from scratch. We've also been told from a studio insider that WB already has a story and a script that they are really hot for. So there IS a story. Now the question is, who wrote it and when can we read it? Maybe after we read the "Batman 3" script.

Although this lawsuit mess will eventually be settled, WB can’t get around the "2011 or else!" court ruling. They’re doing a Superman movie because they have to or else Kal-El would be collecting Kryptonian dust around Burbank. If it was up to Jeff Robinov the studio most likely wouldn't be making another Superman flick. Heck, he's not a fan. He is all for anything involving The Dark Knight, but hasn't really taken to the Man of Steel. The only reason that fans were able to enjoy, or in some cases despise, "Superman Returns" in 2006, was because Bryan Singer met with Alan Horn. During the shit-show that followed "Superman Returns" the Wachowskis were in very serious talks with WB to bring Superman back in some capacity. The studio wanted them to direct but the duo only wanted to write and produce a new film and give the camera to James McTeigue. The studio said direct or no deal, so the Wachowskis took their "Speed Racer" Blu-Ray and went home. Well, not all the way home, they still have their helty multi-million dollar first look deal with WB and offices on the lot.

Where does this all leave WB's other superheroes? An announcement is forthcoming on "Wonder Woman", "Flash", "Superman", and "Batman 3". This could be revealed via press release, interviews, leaked information, or all of the above. "Wonder Woman" and "Flash" are going to be made "internally"; no hands from outside the confines of WB/DC will be touching these characters hence the removal of Chuck Roven and Joel Silver off both projects.

You combine these four solo ventures with Green Lantern already flying into production and the newly formed DC Entertainment looks like they have an actual slate on their hands. To recap; Jonah Nolan has turned in a 1st draft on "Batman 3", WB has a Superman script they are happy with, and an announcement is around the corner on "Wonder Woman" and "Flash" with additional info for "Superman" and "Batman 3

Warner Bros Jeff Robinov talks Batman 3, Wonder Woman and The Flash!!!!

While interviewing Warner Bros president, Jeff Robinov, The New York Times get quotes from Christopher Nolan and mention what DC Entertainment may have planned next...
Some sites are citing this as confirmation of the next movie but until we see an official press release I'm treating it as further speculation. Anyway, here are the excerpts from the article in which, while interviewing Nolan about working with Robinov, they seem to confirm the next Batman picture and later let it slide that Flash or Wonder Woman might be one of the next DC characters they focus their lenses on.

"He is trying not to cling to the things that have worked in the past," said Christopher Nolan, who directed "The Dark Knight" and is working on another Batman sequel....

The Walt Disney Company's $4 billion purchase of Marvel Entertainment just over a month ago has increased the pressure on Warner to succeed this time. Warner is expected to announce a DC slate in the coming months populated by characters like the Flash and Wonder Woman."

This sounds to me like it could just be speculation on the interviewer's part after yesterdays announcements that the third Batmanfilm was in the works with Jonah Nolan and David Goyer on board to cowrite the script, and that Christopher Nolan would be over seeing the latest Superman movie. But, either way, with all of these stories popping up, expect official confirmation soon.