Where is My VAMPIRELLA Movie?
So let me get this straight. Aeon Flux gets her own big-budget, crappy movie; Painkiller Jane gets her own crappy TV series; and they’re starting on a Wonder Woman and Supergirl movie; but all Vampirella gets is a crappy 1996 made-for-video movie starring Talisa Soto and Roger Frakkin Daltry? The horror! The shame! The revulsion! I mean, come on, guys, before comic book scribe Kurt Busiek ret-conned her history, the original Vampirella was from a planet called Drakulon, who came to Earth to drink blood, but ended up fighting evil instead as a “good” vampire. Surely, that’s an awesome movie in the making!
Edward Norton to Play the Hulk in HULK Sequel
Variety reports that Edward Norton (”Fight Club”) has come onboard to star in the “Hulk” sequel, or as director Louis Leterrier (’The Transporter” films) like to call it, a “reboot” of the franchise. (I have no idea why no one seems to like Ang Lee’s version. I for one loved it. I mean, how can you not like anything with Jennifer Connelly? Fanboys are so weird.) Anyways, Norton will be replacing original star Eric Bana as Bruce Banner, the mild-mannered human alter ego of the Incredible Hulk, which is incidentally what the sequel/reboot/whatever will be called.
Laurence Fishburne as the Voice of Galactus, Test Screening for FANTASTIC FOUR 2 Goes Bad
AICN is reporting some tidbits about the upcoming “Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer”. The first bit is that Laurence Fishburne, Morpheus himself, will be giving voice to the (one presumes) all CGI character of Galactus, the Eater of Worlds, and the man who sends the Silver Surfer to Earth in the upcoming superhero sequel in preparation for his coming. Also, AICN says they’ve heard about test screenings for the movie, and that “the word on the screening that has reached me is that the film was ’sooo bad that they felt dirty and wanted to write letters of complaint.’” Ouch. If this is true, I can’t say that I’m surprised the movie is bad, because, frankly, the first one wasn’t so hot to begin with.
The Grey IRON MAN Armor Image!
Speaking of Jon Favreau’s “Iron Man”, ComingSoon has snagged a groovy surprise — the first-ever image of the Grey Iron Man armor, the “Mark 1″. In the comics, Tony Stark, the civilian guise of the superhero Iron Man, created the bulky, grey Iron Man armor while in captivity. He used it to escape, but also to save his life because of a serious injury. Later, he would create the red-and-golden armor that has been the character’s signature ever since. But this is the first image from the movie, and it’s the Grey bulky armor, and it looks damn good.
Leslie Bibb Joins IRON MAN
The Hollywood Reporter reports that “Talledega Nights” star Leslie Bibb has joined the cast of “Iron Man” of Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow, as “a fast-talking reporter”. They should have added, “hot and fast talking reporter”. Seriously, did you see her Stuff spread? Anyways. Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and inventor, is kidnapped and forced by his captors to design and build a weapon. Secretly, Stark instead creates a mechanized suit of armor and escapes. Returning to the U.S., he discovers a dangerous plot and becomes Iron Man to stop it.
David Goyer’s SUPER MAX to be Green Arrow Movie?
Via AICN, here’s a very strange article about David Goyer coming off the now-dead Flash movie to do a Green Arrow movie. Except it won’t be called Green Arrow, but instead the awful B-movie sounding “Super Max”. The article in question appears in Wizard, where Goyer explains that “Super Max” will be about Green Arrow getting framed and sentenced to a superpowered prison, where he’ll have to face superpowered villains, some he was responsible for sending away. Arrow then has to team up with some of these villains to escape to clear his name.
FANTASTIC FOUR 2 Gets a New Poster
It’s funny how “under the radar” the “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” movie is. Summer is almost here, and all the media attention has been on “Transformers”, “Grindhouse”, “Spider-Man 3″, and all the other rest. But “Fantastic Four 2″ is just sliding underneath everyone’s notice. Which is strange, because it’s a big Summer movie with a big budget, and is a sequel to a successful original. But anyways, in case you still care about the adventures of a non-acting Jessica Alba and her superpowered first family, here’s a new poster for “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”, this one featuring all five main characters, via SuperheroHype.
Beau Garrett is Frankie Raye (aka Nova) in “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”
Get ready to be bowled over by Beau Garrett. Get it? Bowled over by Beau Garrett? Because “bowl” and “Beau” sounds exactly the same? Oh man, sometimes I’m flabbergasted by my massive creativity. Anyhoo, take a look at “Turistas” star Beau Garrett. Granted, “Turistas” was a major piece of crap of a movie, but that didn’t stop model Beau Garrett from looking really good in it. You can next see her in the geek movie “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”, playing Frankie Raye, the girlfriend of the Human Torch, who eventually became the Galactus herald called Nova, who went on to have cosmic sex with the Silver Surfer. (Nerd alert!)
Is “War in Heaven” the Next “300″?
It hasn’t even made it onto retailer shelves yet, but Hollywood studios are scrambling to get a piece of the upcoming comic book series (ahem, excuse me, I meant, graphic novel) “War in Heaven”, which according to IESB, people are looking as being a possible “300″-like. So what’s it about: It’s “a Braveheart-like storyline that ultimately follows Lucifer as he leads a rebellion in Heaven. Battle sequences shows legions of Angels, including Gabriel and Michael, battling with their brother Lucifer and his army of fallen Angels.”
BSG’s Tricia Helfer to Slip on the Supergirl Tights?
Well, she made the uber depressing “Battlestar Galactica” TV show worth watching, so why wouldn’t Tricia Helfer make a movie about the female version of Superman also worth a gander? Via Joblo.com, who hears from someone in the know that Warner Brothers has begun the first stages of making a movie based on the Supergirl character — they’ve paid someone to write a script. One of the names on the list of possibilities is Helfer, who happens to be 33-years old, way too old for someone called “supergirl“. Personally I think the producers should look at Helfer’s “Battlestar Galactica” co-star, Grace Park. An Asian superhero? Why not, it’s the 21st century!
Batman, Superman, and the Justice League Movie Rumors
Will Batman be in the announced Justice League movie currently being written over at Warner Brothers? Will Superman? Will Wonder Woman? Will Hawk and Dove? Okay, so we can probably do without Hawk and Dove (although I gotta say, I’ve always been a fan of those two, but I have bad taste, so…), but a Justice League movie without Batman or Superman? Inconceivable! But that’s been the rumor for a while now, and now the reverse is happening — more rumors that the two superheroes will be in the movie. True? False? Can I survive a full day without two cans of Red Bull? We’ll never know.
Cobie Smulders was Almost Wonder Woman!
The big buzz around the fanboy water cooler is that before he left the Wonder Woman project, “Buffy” dude Joss Whedon was set on making Cobie Smulders his Amazonian asskicker. For those who don’t know, Cobie Smulders is one of the stars of CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother” — she’s the one who plays the ex-Canadian. No word on whether Cobie Smulders would remain Wonder Woman now that Whedon is off the project, but according to the same rumors, Joel Silver, the film’s producer, also liked Whedon’s choice of Smulders. Then again, it could all be crap, as by now I don’t think Wonder Woman will ever make it to the big screen.
Angelina Jolie Joins Mark Millar’s “Wanted”
Comic book scribe Mark Millar’s “Wanted” comic book is finally seeing the light of day as a big screen movie, and it’s got Angelina Jolie attached to star. How about them apples? Via Variety: “Universal Pictures has set Angelina Jolie to star alongside James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman in “Wanted,” an action film based on a graphic novel that Timur Bekmambetov (”Day Watch”) will direct. McAvoy will play a young man who discovers his father is an assassin, only to learn shortly thereafter that his dad has been murdered. The youth is drafted to follow in his father’s footsteps. Jolie will play an assassin who teaches the ropes to the wannabe killer.”
Neil Gaiman’s “Stardust” Images, Trailer
I’m familiar with Neil Gaiman the British comic book writer, but as I hear it, he also writes novels and what have you, and apparently he’s quite the prolific bloke. One of his works, “Stardust”, is getting the big screen treatmeant, to star Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sienna Miller, and Charlie Cox, and is being directed by Matthew Vaughn (”Layer Cake”). In the film, a young man promises his beloved that he’ll retrieve a fallen star by venturing into the magical realm, where he has to contend with witches, goblins, gnomes, talking animals and evil trees. All manner of “Harry Potter”-esque stuff happens.
Neil Marshall to Direct “Sherlock Holmes” for Warner
British horror director Neil Marshall, whose last movie “Descent” was hailed as one of the best horror movies to come out in, well, decades, and who is working on the too-cool sounding “Doomsday”, is now slated by Warner Brothers to direct their big-screen “reimagining” of venerable English detective Sherlock Holmes from a script by Michael Johnson. The movie will not be based on the traditional Holmes that we know and (maybe) loved, but rather a version of Holmes as chronicled in the upcoming comic book “Sherlock Holmes” by Lionel Wigram, who will produce the movie. In Wigram’s version, Holmes sheds his Victorian stuffiness for high adventure, including bare-knuckle boxing and swordfighting as tools to solving crimes.
Will “300″ Lead the Way for “Watchmen”?
Nutcase comic book writer Alan Moore’s 1980s limited series “Watchmen” has been in development hell longer than, well, just about any movie I’ve heard of. It’s chewed out two possible directors, “Pi’s” Darren Aronofsky and “United 93’s” Paul Greengrass, and now “300″ director Zach Snyder, flushed off the success of “300″, has a $150 million dollar idea for the “Watchmen” movie. But the question is, “Will the studio go for it?” According to Reuters, the studio is looking at something under $100 million — then again, that was before Snyder’s $60 million dollar “300″ blew the roof off the box office over the weekend. Will Zach Snyder get his wish, and put “Watchmen” into production by Summer 2007? Time will tell…
Aaron Eckhart Talks “The Dark Knight”. Kinda.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, or a really big tractor trailer, Aaron Eckhart (”Thank You for Smoking”) is the new Harvey Dent in the new “Batman” franchise. Harvey Dent, in case some of you non-geeks don’t know, is a crusading Gotham City district attorney who became the criminal Two-Face after his face was splashed with acid by a criminal he had put away. This results in Dent becoming a schizophrenic constantly fighting between his two half for control. In any case, About.com recently caught up with Aaron Eckhart at the red carpet premiere of “300″ and fired off some quick questions about the upcoming “Batman Begins” sequel, “The Dark Knight”. Read on…
Uber Producer Joel Silver Updates “Invasion”, “Wonder Woman”
(Via Sci Fi Wire) Hollywood uber producer Joel Silver (aka the only other Hollywood producer who has made just as much “shit blows up” movies as Jerry Bruckheimer) was recently at the WonderCon convention in San Francisco, and updated fans on a couple of his projects. On the rumor that the Wachowski Brothers (of “Matrix”) fame had been brought in to “finish” the Nicole Kidman sci-fi thriller “Invasion” (a remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”), Silver said the rumor isn’t true, that original German director Oliver Hirschbiegel is still at the helm. But this is what he added: “And we’re kind of working our way through it, and it should come out this summer.” Ooooh. That definitely means there’s problems with the movie. And what about the Joss Whedon-less “Wonder Woman”…?
Is “Spider-Man 3″ the End for Spidey?
Via ComingSoon, here’s news that Spidey himself, Tobey Maguire, posits in an interview with Australia’s The Courier-Mail that the third “Spider-Man” movie might also be the last. Says Maguire: “To me it seems like this is a natural point for the team to break up because we have a lot of story conclusions that were going along for the main characters for the first two movies and we kind of tie almost everything up for the third movie.” Hmm, so “almost everything” gets tied up in the third film? He caps it off with: “It feels like a trilogy to me and it feels like the end.” Sorry, Spidey fans.
Charlize Theron is “Jinx”-ed
Via SuperheroHype, here’s news that Charlize Theron’s upcoming graphic novel (re: comic book) adaptation “Jinx” now has a full script courtesy of the GN’s creator and comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis (”Ultimate Spider-Man”). The interesting part is that it’s only 2007, and Theron’s name is already attached, but IMDB.com has the movie listed as going into production in 2009 — two full years away! I don’t know if IMDB.com has fubar the movie’s info, or if this film is still a long way from happening. In any case, “Jinx” concerns a bounty hunter who teams up with a crook to find a stash of lost mob money. Bendis first created the “Jinx” comics in 1995, and counts the titles Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out among the franchise.