The Wonderful Wizarding World Of Competition...

Universal Studios has came out with some interesting artwork and video for their Harry Potter theme park within a theme park...

If you'd like to see what Universal Orlando has up their sleeve, then check out the video here that highlights what Universal Creative (Universal's equivalent to Imagineers) has designed. The primary attraction, "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey" will be interesting to experience when the attraction opens in spring 2010. Although there's not a lot of information about that ride on the site yet. Go over to the official website and look at a lot of the concept art. Also, Brooks Barnes has a nice article over at the New York Times about the announcement.

Some people worry that this will steal guest away from WDW, while some think it'll have no affect on Disney whatsoever. I tend to play it in the middle. Islands of Adventure is a great, fun theme park with many detailed areas, but it didn't do the damage that Eisner and Co. worried it would do to the Florida resort, because if it had there would've been a couple nice additions to the park to compensate. Never panned out. I hope it does gangbusters, because competition is good. If they do something that draws more people into their park, the Mouse will have to counter and that's good for everyone. After all, why do you think that Fantasyland expansion got the go-ahead? Universal was one reason, Lasseter and others pushing the expansion was the other. But that's what happens when challenges are put upon you... you strive to do better and the results of that benefit us all. Difficult times lie ahead.

So let's have at those obstacles...

Hero Worship...

Funny how success can change things...

I mean, when comics first came out, film makers tried to cash in on them with serials and then television shows and finally films. But Hollywood Suits always thought of them as jokes. Just a way to appeal to a bunch of geeks that they didn't understand. It wasn't art, it was business. They made the product because they figured they could make a buck or two.

Serials never got a budget worth of their stories, television got a little more respect with the "Superman" series in the 50's, but not much. It wasn't until 1978, with "Superman: The Movie" that Hollywood took more than a passing glance. Don't even begin to think about all those horrible Marvel TV series. The Hulk turned out to be the most solid, but quite off the mark of the property it was supposedly portraying. Finally, a decade later, "Batman" came out in 1989 and the studios started to finally get an idea of what they might have on their hands. But still, it went in jumps and sputters. From the flash of "The Flash" to the beginning of the Marvel Age of films that started with "Blade." And that's when they finally started taking comics serious... I mean, about the making money really. They were marketable, but they still weren't art. Or so they thought.

Until 2008. Until "The Dark Knight" knocked them off their high pedestal and they suddenly realized comics could be both art and commercial. And thus, the floodgates were let loose. That was the beginning of Disney's desire to join the club. And with DC already taken by Warner Bros. that only left the other big guy, Marvel. They could have bought individual properties from independent companies, but Iger wanted the crown jewel. Having it put the company on a level playing field with Warner... almost. Those legal wranglings will take a decade to sort out, but here we are.

It's a game of chess and DC made a major move last year with TDK, followed by the stunner move made by Disney last week buying Marvel. Warner was in the process of focusing more attention on the DC properties, but this town is filled with egos and Warner wasn't about to be shown up. This may have just all come together or it may have been planned for months, but the Mouse's announcement caused the gears of this deal to go into motion much quicker. And this press release shows how much Warner now values these properties. It also shows me that there is going to be some resolution to this Superman rights fiasco. There's just too much money to be made to not come to an agreement between all parties.

Now as for some of the pieces of this deal, I like what I see. Based solely on a quick analysis, of course. First off, I think getting Diane Nelson to head the division is a great move. She's done a fantastic job of guiding the "Harry Potter" series and if she handles the DC properties with as much care, comic fans are in for a treat. The first property she has to get hold of and put into an advanced state of play is Superman. The clock is ticking on that crown jewel and she needs to move now. If she has the power to move and make decisions with only Robinov to veto her, it's a good thing.

Paul Levitz moving to become a consultant for DC Entertainment is a good move with his many decades of experience with the characters. His leaving is something many have expected for a while as he's expressed interest in going back to the creative side of his talent: writing. It's not known yet if a new president will be hired to take over his duties or if those duties will fall on Nelson. Hopefully someone within the company will be elevated to take care of most day to day duties of the comic side of the division. Nelson is going to have her hands full with all the other platforms she plans on integrating these comic characters. Plus she has to weed through all those characters to find which ones Warner Bros. is going to invest millions of dollars in to. All this she's going to be doing while handling the last Potter film(s). Nelson is going to be one busy Suit. All in all, it's a good idea to focus the brand and have a more clear direction for setting up the future properties Warner will have its logo in front of.

I welcome the coming competition between Bugs and Mickey...

Wild Poster...

Wake up, people!



A new poster for Spike Jonze's "Where The Wild Things Are" is out...
Wake up, I said!
Let your eyes fall in love with being young once again.

October is simply too far away...

Warner's "Lobo" No Longer In Limbo...

Warner Bros. is proceeding ahead with more comic book adaptions in the midst of Disney's acquisition of Marvel...

Guy Ritchie has been put in charge of the live-action interpretation of DC Comic's cult classic character "Lobo." This is a spot-on pic for the director's chair of this project. Ritchie is the perfect kind of director to bring this adaption to fruition. For those that don't know, Lobo is sort of an intergalactic bounty hunter than comes off like an alien Hell's Angel. If fact, he rides a version of a space bike. I remember first seeing him when I was a young boy reading "Omega Men," when my days were long and the world was filled with promise. The character has evolved quite a bit since then, but he's a wild property that should make an interesting impression on audiences not familiar with his persona.

And for those that are worried about a PG-13 rating, I think the majority of things you see in an action film today with that rating could have easily received an R rating back in the 80's. So I don't think you're going to have to suffer a softened version of rude, crude dude.

Chill baby, chill...

Fantastic More...

I'm sure you saw the other news that was announced yesterday...

20th Century Fox has announced a reboot of "Fantastic Four" because they were unhappy with how badly they screwed up the last two. See, if these executives would only listen to me they wouldn't be in this position. If they would have filmed the script that was written by Michael France and Chris Columbus. Then maybe hired Columbus to direct it, or a good director whose last name wasn't Story. There would be no need to reboot. They'd have a great FF film. It was pure action-adventure wrapped in sci-fi. It was the comic. It wasn't a family comedy; a mediocre comedy to be exact.

Here's hoping that this new version gets the Akiva Goldsman that gave us "A Beautiful Mind" and not the one that gave us "Batman and Robin." To be fair to Goldsman, a good deal of the problems with that film were the director. Not all, but most. As for people that I've seen complaining about Michael Green, who'll write the script, I don't think you should fear too much. He co-wrote the script to the new "Green Lantern" film and it's a really good script that's faithful to the material. The funny thing is I had a discussion with a friend a couple weeks ago where I compared GL to FF. Essentially, I said that Lantern was DC's Fantastic Four, in the sense that he's more a sci-fi creation than a Super-Hero. Which is how I would describe the Fantastic Four. If Green gets it on Lantern, he'll get it on Four. Now, if only Goldsman knows this and lets him work through a treasure trove of forty years worth of material. And we don't need no origin again, that's been done. We get it. We know how they got their powers. If you want to rehash that then have a reporter in the film do a quick two-minute bio on the Quatro before he's going to interview one of them and that'll get everyone up to speed without wasting thirty minutes.

Now as for casting... My suggestion for Mister Fantastic? Jon Hamm would make a great lead. Whoever you get for the Thing, PLEASE make him CG this time. That suit was horrendous last time... it looked like something out of a bad slasher film. And this time, when you get someone to play Invisible Girl, please make sure you get a talented actress, because when you get Jessica Alba, you don't want to make her invisible, especially when she's naked. If she wasn't already taken by the Marvel Universe, I'd say cast Scarlett Johansson. The only people from the original that worked were Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans. That said, I'd still recast the parts and start over, it is a reboot after all.

That's my two cents worth, Fox. But remember, you better play well with those properties because the Mouse is watching you. It's got their lawyers watching you and anything you do to screw up will have them itching to take that franchise away from you. Because unlike the Fox Suits that have been mismanaging the Marvel properties lately, the Mouse Suits realize how valuable they are. But I have a feeling you now know this, because that announcement made yesterday wasn't planned for yesterday. It was made in a scrambling attempt to mark your territory. To show that you still controlled the property. And it's bought you time.

For now...

Cameron's Empire...

For those that are interested in James Cameron's "Avatar" film...

This coming week, Empire Magazine has a new issue out that has an article with a lot of photos that haven't been seen yet of 20th Century Fox's Christmas/Holiday release. I know there's been a lot of criticism of the teaser trailer that premiered last week. But the majority of those that went to the Avatar Day screenings left impressed. Myself included. It may not be a revelation/game changer, but it will be an event film with images and scenes like you've never seen before. Many bet against Cameron when he made "Titanic" over a decade ago. No one felt it would make the 200 million dollar budget back. They were all wrong. Badly wrong. Could they be again?

In December we'll find out what 300 million can buy...

American Boy...

Go, go gadget poster!


First the Japanese poster, now the domestic (read: North American) poster...

Hat Tip to Cinematical.

He's A Bad Mutha...

One of the few remaining films that I want to see before the holidays is this...

A little independent film made on a shoestring budget (reportedly 3 million dollars) that was bought by Sony after making waves at the festivals. "Black Dynamite" is a take on the Blaxploitation films from the 70's and it looks hysterical. If you're a fan of cinema like myself, you'll recognize the inspiration of such films as Coffy," "Black Caesar," "Superfly" and many others. This film generated a lot of buzz when shown around and looks like it could do for those films what "In Like Flint" did for "Austin Powers."

Take a look at some of these amazingly realistic looking 70's style posters...

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto...

Secret, secret, I got a secret! Secret, secret, I got a secret! Secret, secret, I got a secret! Secret, secret, I got a secret! Secret, secret, I got a secret! Secret, secret, I got a secret! Secret, secret, I got a secret!


New Japanese poster for Astro Boy is out...

Rewriting The Max...

David Goyer told MTV in an interview that Warner Bros. is still moving ahead with the super-hero prison break out film...

Original "Supermax" writer Justin Marks, whom most recently worked on McG's Pre-20K film, is being rewritten (his work on the Nemo script is also being rewritten by Randall Wallace). Those of you that follow this blog remember our review of the script last year. I enjoyed it, but it didn't blow my socks off. I can only hope that Justin performed spectacularly on his Nemo rewrite.

Perhaps Warner has another angle on the script, then again, perhaps they don't and that's why the rewrite...

There's One In All Of Us...

The new trailer for "Where the Wild Things Are" is out...

I loved this book, it's one of those simple yet brilliant stories that a young mind can wrap their minds around and totally connect with. This second trailer, along with the first one, captures perfectly the tone of the novel while also expanding the narrative for more than just toddlers. I can't wait to see this. I know that Warner Bros. is extremely pissed with Jonze about this film and the production was rather bumpy, but if the film plays like the trailer, those Suits are going to be kissing some major butt. Now, where did I leave that monster suit I wore as a kid?

I may still be able to fit into it...

Despicable Trailer...

"Despicable Me," Universal's foray into animation features, has released it's first trailer...

I don't know if it's what Illumination Entertainment (the Globe's new CG animation division) intended, but the scenes king of remind me of the Peter Sellers "Pink Panther" films tone-wise. That's not a bad thing. Steve Carell stars.

Give it a look...

Thor Finds His Maiden...

Well I can tell this script is definitely different than the version I read...

If you haven't heard, Natalie Portman has been cast in the new Marvel Studios "Thor" as Jane Foster. So now that I've heard that I know that the draft I read has been changed dramatically. I can only hope that it's still a great script, as the one I read is one of the 5 Best Scripts Never Made. That version was set in Asgard and a cold, cruel, blood drenched world of vikings. I loved that story. It was pitch perfect "The Mighty Thor" without trying to cast him as a superhero in tights, much closer to the Walt Simonson stories of the 80's. This new take is a balanced one I hope. The change to a modern world was done for the sake of making sure Thor could appear in The Avengers film and while I don't mind him appearing in it, I'm uncomfortable with changing a brilliant tale simply for the sake of synergy and marketing.

Still, Natalie is a great actress; especially when given a good script (hear that, George?), and Kenneth Branagh is assembling a fantastic cast.

By Odin's Beard, I'm crossing my fingers that it all comes together...

A Riddle Wrapped In An Enigma...

There's a lot of talk going on about the next Batman film and who should be the villain...

Everyone is trying to figure out who could possibly top the performance of Heath Ledger's anarchist Joker. I think it's being approached from the wrong point. If you want to know who has the best chance of being a fly in Batman's ointment, wouldn't it be good to go to the source? Or at least understand where that source is coming from? With that said, I'll just say this... the man that is most likely going to write the next Batman film is Jonathan Nolan, the screenwriter of "The Dark Knight" and brother of the film's director, Christopher Nolan. Now if he is going to be the man behind the typewriter or keyboard, then his taste come into play, so couldn't/wouldn't what he's interested in inform us as to the direction he could take? The choices he would decide on...

Riddle me this: Who is Jonathan Nolan's favorite Batman villain?

I'll give you a hint. It's not the Joker, Penguin or Catwoman. Need another hint?

If so, you're trying way too hard...

Reynolds Is The Emerald Warrior...

It's confirmed...

The trades (as in Variety) have just confirmed it. Ryan Reynolds is Green Lantern. So all you N Sync Haters can rejoice. I'd say I'm happy with the choice, I think he'll make a very good GL, but he would have made an even better Flash (he was connected to David Goyer's failed attempt of the Scarlett Speedster at one time). Most of the comic geeks/friends I've talked to about this are happy with the casting, but the question is...

Is Marvel?

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night...

So let me see...

A dying alien named Abin Sur, crashes on Earth. In his last dying moments, he has his powerful ring search for and summon the planet for his replacement. The fallen member of the Green Lantern Corps asks the ring to find someone that is "utterly honest and born without fear" and all he could come up with was this?



Better check the battery and recharge that thing...

First, Ain't It Cool News was reporting the testing of Justin Timberlake for Green Lantern earlier today, and now the Hollywood Reporter is confirming that along with the news that Bradley Cooper and Ryan Reynolds are among the other two in the running.

I have nothing against Timberlake, but he ain't test pilot Hal Jordan. Ryan Reynolds is the best of the three, but he's currently attached to "Deadpool" and I don't think Suits over at Warner Bros. would want him playing two Superheros. Bradley Cooper could wind up being the man that gets the job being as the studio is very sweet on the people involved in "The Hangover" right now. But Justin Timberlake? Who would have thought Abin Sur was a fan of N Sync?

Even space aliens can have bad taste...

Predatorial Direction...

Harry over at Ain't It Cool News has scooped who's directing the "Predator" sequel...

I've never heard of Nimrod Antal (Who names their kid Nimrod? Do they know what that means in English?), but I've been hearing good things about "Armored," his latest feature. Robert Rodriguez, who is working from his original script and producing is guiding the project and personally picked the director. I've been a huge fan of the original Arnold Schwarzenegger film and have been really disappointed with the sequel (Predator 2, lame!) and spin offs(AvsP, yuck!). The idea of approaching the film as what "Alien" was to "Aliens" is a great concept and I hope it turns out as great a comparison.

Developing...

Iron Man Too...

The Iron Man 2 teaser poster is out...



Nothing special, but I'm really looking forward to this. It has an outstanding cast and Jon Favreau really hit it out of the park on the last one. I'm curious to see what he does with a bigger budget and a broader canvas.

And now, where's that trailer...

The Final Nine...

This Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov Production directed by Shane Acker based on the short film is very intriguing...



Here's the final poster for the film "9". I may just go see this to see if the haunting images are matched by an equally haunting story...

International Transformation...

A new international poster for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" has debuted over at Empire Magazine...





Sure it's fluff, but it looks like really fun, pop-culture fluff...