Weekend Superhero Movie News Wrap-up

Daredevil reboot underway
What's good for one superhero franchise must be good for another, or evidently so thinks Fox as it was revealed this weekend that the studio has screenwriter David Scarpa working on a reboot of Daredevil. Deadline Hollywood makes this interesting comment about the reboot:

The reason this is happening is simple: Hollywood studios with Marvel superheroes need to keep reinventing these Marvel movie franchises or the rights revert back to Disney-based Marvel. Fortunately, the properties are as resilient as the indestructible superheroes themselves.

[via Deadline Hollywood]

Captain Awesome as Captain America?
Ryan McPartlin (Captain Awesome from Chuck) in an interview for Moviehole revealed that he has indeed auditioned for the role of Cap in Marvel/Paramount's The First Avenger:Captain America film slated for next summer.

 “The one thing I can't stand are these actors that are twittering about auditioning for Captain America. It's really tacky. With that said, it is in the casting process and like many other actors, I read for it, so we'll wait and see what happens. Regardless, I'm pretty psyched to be Captain Awesome for the time being.”

[via Moviehole]

Logan Lerman wants to be Spidey
Just a few days ago Logan Lerman let slip that 'preliminary discussions' were under way in which he was being considered for the lead role in Sony's Spider-Man reboot. But hold on there, Percy Jackson. The next day a Sony rep stated "No offers have been made, nor have any business discussions been made with Lerman."  The young actor's tone changed a bit during press interviews for his current film:

It was clear that junket day for Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief was dedicated to damage control. During the press conference Lerman clarified, “To be totally honest, it’s a role that any young actor would die to play and I’m just hoping to be considered for it more than anything.” He delivered an identical response in an interview with MTV. Think Lerman has had some coaching since slipping up with Access Hollywood?

[via CinemaBlend]

Marc Webb Reportedly Directing Spider-Man 4

New York Mag's Vulture blog is reporting (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb is slated to direct the next three Spider-Man movies as part of a franchise reboot of the film series.

Webb, whose (500) Days scored a Golden Globe nomination and whose name seems to have predestined him for this job, has long been a favorite of Columbia chairman Amy Pascal. We're told that last year she very nearly hired him to direct the adaptation of Michael Lewis’s Moneyball after she pulled the plug on Steven Soderbergh three days before shooting. She ultimately chose Bennett Miller (Capote), thinking that Moneyball might be hurt by Webb's whimsical style, but she views him as a latter-day Cameron Crowe for the economically and socially angsty Generation Y, and thinks he'd be perfect to explore the conflict within Parker.

Sony Conducting No Oscar Campaign For 'Moon'

Moon director Duncan Jones recently voiced his displeasure with Sony Pictures on Twitter regarding the lack of support his film is getting for an Oscar campaign, including the lack of Academy screeners or ads in industry trade magazines. 
Now Movieline is stating a Sony rep cited fear of piracy as a reason for not distributing screeners. Odd, because the studio did distribute screeners to video distributors in advance of the DVD release. I got one.

A representative for the Sony Worldwide Acquisitions Group — which picked Moon up in spring 2008, handed it off to Oscar war horse Sony Pictures Classics in January 2009, then reclaimed it for home-video release this year — acknowledged seeing some of Jones’s grievances. But, he added, the call to avoid Oscar screeners was a business decision as opposed to any lack of support.

“The DVD and Blu-ray come out on Jan. 12 — next Tuesday — and it was felt that to preserve the integrity of the film, we didn’t want to send screeners,” the rep told me. “We’re concerned about piracy. The thing about Moon is that its particular genre is very predisposed toward being uploaded onto the Web. We really just wanted to protect that aspect of it. It’s a simple as that. […] A lot of publicity for Moon is coming out next week. Hopefully that will remind all the consumers, all the readers — and especially any awards folks — that this terrific title is out there.”

full article at Movieline

Stan The Man: 'Couldn't Be Happier' With Disney/Marvel Deal

If you haven't heard today, Disney has inked a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. While this news has had it's fair share of critics, apparently comic legend Stan Lee isn't one of them.

From the NYT:

Stan Lee, a former Marvel executive and a co-creator of Spider-Man, among other superheroes, is a proud papa these days, seeing that Disney values his characters enough to pay $4 billion for them. Mr. Lee, whose complicated relationship with Marvel has included multiple court battles, released the following statement through a publicist:

“I couldn’t be happier with this agreement. It’s a great move for Disney, for Marvel and for my company Pow! Entertainment since Pow! has a first-look deal with Disney. From every possible point of view, the merger of Disney and Marvel is a match made in heaven. Just imagine, with this deal Marvel gives Disney a library of literally hundreds of unique and colorful characters that have the potential to make great, high-concept movies and long-lasting franchises — and nobody knows how to play in that ball park better than Disney. This is a great day for the two companies and for the entertainment community as a whole. To sum it up as simply as possible, when you combine the best with the best, everyone wins!”

Ryan Reynolds cast as Green Lantern

via Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
After an intense months-long search, Warner Bros. has chosen Ryan Reynolds to play the title character in "Green Lantern," the studio's live-action movie based on the DC Comics hero.

Reynolds and his representatives entered negotiations for the part Friday, after the studio held two rounds of screen tests for the actor, Bradley Cooper and Jared Leto. Justin Timberlake also did a screen test.

The film is being directed by Martin Campbell and produced by Donald De Line and Greg Berlanti.

One reason for the lengthy search process was that De Line, Campbell and the studio each had a different favorite among the finalists, making it difficult to come to a consensus.

If the deal is completed, it would make Reynolds the only actor to have played heroes for both Marvel and DC. He recently starred in a comic-book movie, 20th Century Fox's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," in which he played Deadpool, also known as the Merc with a Mouth. The character is being developed for a spin-off in which Reynolds will star. He also played Marvel's vampire hunter Hannibal King in "Blade: Trinity."

"Lantern" is Reynolds second stab at a DC Comics hero. A few years ago, he was reportedly attached to play DC's "The Flash."

NBC Renews Chuck for 13 Episodes

From TVGuide.com:

Chuck fans' consumption of all those Subway foot longs has paid off — and a full two days before NBC is slated to announce the rest of its fall season lineup.

...Even before spying the game-changing twist uncorked in the final moment of the Season 2 finale, Chuck fans had lobbied hard for a renewal by throwing their support to Subway, one of the series' cross-promotional partners. Speaking with TVGuide.com earlier this month at NBC's "infront" presentation, network boss Ben Silverman deemed the Subway Save Chuck effort as no less than "amazing," while series creator Josh Schwartz assured us that the Peacock has "always loved" the action-comedy.

Apparently there will be a further streamlining of production costs, possibly leading to not all cast members being featured in all episodes.

Green Lantern Movie To Film In Australia

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Warner Bros. and DC Comics' next big-budget feature, "Green Lantern," will be made at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees said Thursday.

Director Martin Campbell will be at the helm of the comic book's big-screen adaptation, working from a script by Greg Berlanti and Michael Green. Donald Deline will produce with a reported budget of $150 million.

Rees said the film will create about 500 jobs and include a "substantial investment" in digital effects work in Australia.

"The decision by Warner Bros. to locate the production in New South Wales is tangible evidence that having a competitive incentive scheme in place returns positive results," Fox Studios Australia CEO Nancy Romano said.

The project is the latest film also to be attracted by the decline in the value of the Australian dollar.

Preproduction on "Green Lantern" is set to begin in July, and filming is scheduled to start in November. Warners is aiming to release the film in December 2010.

Austin Fans Given Surprise Showing Of Star Trek

Last night Paramount pulled off one of the coolest stunts in fan history.
A free screening of the film Star Trek II-The Wrath Of Khan was scheduled at the Alamo Drafthouse in downtown Austin. Promoted to appear after the film was a 10 minute preview of JJ Abram's new film Star Trek, which opens May 8. Read what actually happened from TrekMovie.com:

According to our man on the scene, the evening started off normally at the Fantastic Fest Star Trek event at the Alamo Draughthouse Theater in Austin, Texas on Monday night. Star Trek filmmakers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof kicked things off by telling the crowd of around 200, that they would be seeing the Star Trek preview after Wrath of Khan. Two minutes in to the showing of TWOK, the film appeared to have ‘melted’ and the guys came back out on the stage and appeared to be stalling for time while the film was fixed…and then, wearing a ball cap, Leonard Nimoy came out in front of the audience holding a film can.

Nimoy noted to the crowd that it just didn’t seem fair that people in Australia were the fist to see the film and asked them "wouldn’t you rather see the new movie?" And apparently the crowd went wild. After that they showed the entire new Star Trek movie. Nimoy stayed for the entire event as did Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof.

According to a friend who called in to TrekMovie after the event, the audience reaction was very positive. There were "genuine laughs" at the jokes and "quiet moments" with the serious character stuff. And apparently the crowd applauded at the introduction to each character. The film ended with a standing ovation.

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FBI Called In Over Wolverine Movie Leak

The FBI are investigating the online leak of an almost finished copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a month before the film's theatrical release. The Hugh Jackman film was downloaded an estimated several 100,000 times from file sharing and video streaming websites on Tuesday.

20th Century Fox confirmed the copy had now been removed and the FBI informed.

The studio behind Wolverine stated: "The source of the initial leak and any subsequent postings will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

"The courts have handed down significant criminal sentences for such acts" the studio noted.

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Virgin Stores Closing Nationwide

Video Business:
Virgin Megastores will shutter its entire chain by this summer, confirmed a spokeswoman for the retailer.

As disclosed earlier this year, the chain’s flagship Times Square store is slated to wind down business in April. The San Francisco location is slated also to close in April.

The remaining outlets will shut down in staggered fashion, with Virgin's Union Square, New York, spot closing in late May/early June, and the remaining three Orlando, Denver and Hollywood locations targeted for summer exits.

Unlike the bankrupt Circuit City, it’s understood that many Virgin Megastore outposts were relatively financially stable. For some time, Virgin had been positioning itself as an overall entertainment lifestyle retailer, distancing itself from its history as a pure music seller.

full story

The Simpsons New Title Sequence

For the first time in the show's history, The Simpsons will be in HD for all to see tonight, as well as the first full, permanent revamp of the show's opening titles since its premiere in 1989. Fox will also air both a full-length and an abbreviated version of the credits.

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VHS Era Officially Over, Again

I thought it was already over, since the last major studio stopped producing VHS in 2006 and most video stores dropped it before that. This story is about the last wholesale reseller that still carried it. Whatever you find in stores now is leftover product from 2006-earlier.

Smallville Showrunners Prepping 'Robin' For New Show

Variety:
Holy prequel, Boy Wonder, the CW is prepping a series based on Batman sidekick Robin’s pre-Caped Crusader days.
"Smallville" showrunners Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson, as well as "Supernatural" exec producer McG, are behind "The Graysons," which has landed a put pilot commitment at the CW. Just as "Smallville" focused on Clark Kent in the years before he became Superman, "The Graysons" will follow the world of Dick "DJ" Grayson before he takes on the iconic Robin identity and aligns himself with Batman.
"The Graysons" is seen as a potential replacement for "Smallville" should that show end its run this season, which has been speculated. Should "Smallville" return next year, "The Graysons" might also make a strong companion piece.

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Movie Legend Paul Newman Dies At 83

Oscar-winning film legend Paul Newman has died of cancer at the age of 83.
The blue-eyed star of movies like Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid died in his Connecticut home on Friday, surrounded by family and close friends.
A statement from Newman's family said: "His death was as private and discreet as the way he had lived his life."

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Pompous Blowhard Jack Thompson Disbarred

Anti-video game crusader Jack Thompson has been permanently disbarred.

Judgment has been entered in the case that started last year and came to a head when Judge Dava Tunis recommended permanent disbarment for the bombastic, showboating law man. The court has approved the report and has ordered that JT is official disbarred as of 30 days from today.

This is related to the hissyfit he threw back in June when he walked out of his own disciplinary hearing. In a long winded statement to the court, he wrote “Try to get me disbarred. Go ahead, do your worst, Referee Tunis. I will continue to do my best.”
The original complaints against Thompson referred to "false statements of material fact to courts and repeatedly violated a court order," sending "hundreds of pages of vitriolic and disparaging missives, letters, faxes, and press releases," and sending court officials " inappropriate and offensive sexual materials."
So long, Jack.

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Greatest Movie Trailer Voice of All Time Goes Silent

You may not know his name, but you know his voice. Don LaFontaine, the man who provided the sonorous voice for more than 5,000 movie trailers, died Monday at age 68. LaFontaine died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of complications from a collapsed lung. He was well known for his booming, deep voice often intoning "In a world..." LaFontaine also did thousands of television commercials, network promotions, video game trailers and other spots. He told Entertainment magazine he did more than 60 such promotions a week, and in the days before the internet made it possible to work in a home studio, was famous for having a driver take him from studio to studio to save time finding parking. He recently parodied himself in a Geico commercial.

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Superman Movie News

Ready for a darker, more tormented Superman? Apparently WarnerBros is revamping the Superman franchise. Somehow 'disappointed' with the results of Superman Returns (it did within $10 million of that other 'disappointment' Batman Begins; the studio is looking at a darker tone for any future film.

Poor Superman. His last movie was a disappointment, and now his DC Comics stablemate Batman is getting all the box office glory. But Warner Bros. has a plan, according to the Wall Street Journal, to reboot the Superman franchise, and its DC superhero properties in general. That plan, in a nutshell: Do what Marvel does.
The two prongs of the plan: First, make a bunch of related movies about individual DC heroes (including Green Arrow, Green Lantern, the Flash, and Wonder Woman), then tie them together with a group tale (the planned Justice League film.)
Second, make the characters all psychologically darker.

Sound familiar? This obviously worked well with Batman, a dark hero if there ever was one, but Superman? His persona is a complete opposite of the Dark Knight. Superman represents the best potential of what humanity can be while Batman represents our darker nature. I'm not saying there isn't room for a more serious film, but Warner is misguided if they think Superman is appropriate to be a 'psychologically dark' character. If they really want to go down this path, they should make a Batman/Superman film and have the two characters play off each other.

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Ebert and Roeper No Longer 'At The Movies'

It's the end of an era. Both Richard Roeper and Roger Ebert are leaving the nationally syndicated movie review show, “At the Movies With Ebert & Roeper,” next season.
In a statement yesterday, Ebert wrote: “After 33 years on the air, 23 of them with Disney, the studio has decided to take the program named ‘Siskel & Ebert’ and then ‘Ebert & Roeper’ in a new direction. I will no longer be associated with it.”
AP is reporting that after eight seasons Roeper will also leave the show. Roeper said in a statement that he and Disney-ABC failed to reach a contract agreement. Roeper also said he planned to continue as a host of a movie review show elsewhere, but did not disclose details. His last appearance will be for the weekend of Aug. 16.
Ebert said in his statement that the trademark for the program, which he began with Gene Siskel in 1975 as “Sneak Previews” on PBS, “still belongs to me and Marlene Iglitzen, Gene’s widow, and the thumbs will return.”

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Dark Knight Sets Box Office Record

Stoked by fan fever over the manic performance of the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, "The Dark Knight" set a one-day box office record with $66.4 million on opening day, Warner Bros. head of distribution Dan Fellman said Saturday.
The movie's Friday haul surpassed the previous record of $59.8 million set last year by "Spider-Man 3." "The Dark Knight" might break the opening-weekend record of $151.1 million, also held by "Spider-Man 3."
"The Dark Knight" began with a record $18.5 million from midnight screenings, topping the previous high of $16.9 million for "Star Wars: Episode III — The Revenge of the Sith."
The opening day grosses for "The Dark Knight" far exceeded the full weekend haul of its predecessor, "Batman Begins," which took in $48.7 million in its first three days in 2005.
Reviews were excellent for director Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins," but they were stellar for his "Dark Knight."

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Star Trek Experience Closing Down

It's official; the Star Trek Experience will be closing Sept.1. This is not a good commentary on the state of Trek right now. In an official statement, Paramount Parks released the following:

Las Vegas - Star Trek: The Experience, Las Vegas’ premier interactive attraction will
conclude its historic 11 year run at the Las Vegas Hilton on September 1, 2008.

Since 1998, millions of guests have gone boldly into the 24th century to battle Klingons, Borg, and other hostile aliens. The original complex featured the Klingon Encounter, an interactive adventure and ride. In 2004 Borg Invasion 4-D was introduced and the Secrets Unveiled Backstage Tour was unveiled in 2005, making Star Trek: the Experience the stomping grounds for fans around the galaxy.

Asked if there is any final transmission he’d like to convey from the Enterprise bridge, Chad Boutte, Operations Manager and Director of Marketing said “Hailing frequencies open. We’d like to thank all the fans and friends of Star Trek, whose constant and amazing support we’ve enjoyed throughout our tenure at the Las Vegas Hilton.

As we boldly go into the futures that await, know that we take your love of Star Trek: The Experience with us. We share the memories of time spent in the most unique place in the Galaxy, and we carry those memories into our futures with us. Live long, and prosper.
Hailing frequencies closed.”

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