Marvel Logo Line-Up: Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, The Avengers
Update: Nikki Finke reports that Marvel has offered Fav a new deal to direct Iron Man 2, with a requisite “insider” telling her, “What, do people think Marvel is stupid?” Well insider, I guess it’s good that Fav didn’t have to utilize Twitter, Plurk and Facebook to get a new deal, if true.
The NY Licensing Show teaser poster for the RoboCop remake received a huge response on Slashfilm, and today brings logos marking Marvel’s ambitious future like geek tarot cards via MTV.
One has to wonder what is running through Jon Favreau’s mind when a logo and bold release date position Iron Man 2 as first in line, while Marvel continues to leave him hanging blankly on MySpace.
As for the other films? While the logo for 2010’s Thor is from the comics, it’s rather cheesy in my opinion, conjuring 1988’s Gor and/or a wrestler who ties vibrant streamers around his arms. A notch below on the meh meter is the logo for The First Avenger: Captain America, which is a mouthful no matter what and is sans patriotic stripes. And then there’s the logo for the studio’s ultra-burrito, The Avengers, which also remains faithful to the comics and my personal fave of the ones here, alongside Iron Man 1 & 2. Unsurprisingly, the company’s Ant-Man and Runaways are absent here, as is Lionsgate’s Punisher: War Zone, which opens this fall and continues to have underdog status on the Nets, and next summer’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine from Fox.
Anyone have a cell phone grab of a DC Comics rep studying this at the expo?
Hollywood Kryptonite?
So, if you're Superman, and you heard this week that ThorThor!got a release date for his movie, do you wonder what on your adopted planet you have to do to get on the calendar?
The answer might be: Be a Marvel character.
This week, hot off Iron Man's $102-million opening weekend, Marvel issued a "partial" list of eight upcoming superhero movies, everything from Iron Man 2 to Thor. All but Ant-Man had scheduled release dates.
Meanwhile, rival DC Comics' characters, from Aquaman to Wonder Woman, and with the very large exception of Batman, remain in various stages of, if you'll pardon the vulgar Hollywood expression, development.
"I really don't see a big difference between the potential of Marvel versus DC characters on the big screen," wrote Mike Voiles, editor of Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics, in an email interview.
Well, actually, there is one big difference, as comic experts like Voiles are quick point out: Marvel is its own entity, cutting its own deals, and even financing its own movies. DC Comics is a subsidiary of Warner Bros.
"Even higher profile DC properties have to fight through other Warner priorities and projects to get made," Voiles wrote.
To Jim Littler, webmaster of ComicBookMovie.com, the long-planned Wonder Woman movie is a prime example of the superhuman challenges a DC superhero can face.
"Warner Bros. was able to get Joss Whedon at the helmAND THEN THEY REJECTED HIS SCRIPT! Joss Whedon of Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more!" Littler wrote in an email. "I'll bet the DC people were crying when that fell apart."
More than a decade ago, it was Marvel heroes who were having all the rotten luck in Hollywood. Spider-Man wasn't much more than a 1970s TV washout. The Fantastic Four were fit for an unreleased Roger Corman B-movie. Captain America was singed in a direct-to-video bomb.
Now, it's DC's turn. While the comic giant's characters continue to be huge small-screen players, on Smallville and in various animated series, they're getting swamped by Marvel's gang at the multiplex. Superman vs. Batman was scrapped. Justice League of America fell apart. And all sorts of cape- and tight-wearers are cooling their bootseven Superman, who's doesn't yet have a definitive start date for his next movie, two years after Superman Returns grossed $200 million.
According to Littler, DC's troubles have nothing to do with DC's characters.
"Many comic fans think DC has a much stronger lineup than Marvel does," Littler said. "I can think of at least three or four more franchises that they haven't even touched yet that could be as big as anything Marvel has put out."
Few, in fact, expect any comic-book movie to be bigger this summer than The Dark Knight, starring DC's own Batman (with an assist from Christian Bale). Filmmaker Christopher Nolan's much-anticipated Batman Begins sequel opens July 18.
Even in star-crossed times for his JLA colleagues, the Caped Crusader reigns. "I've never run into any comics fan who doesn't like Batman," Littler said.
Now, if only some of his mojo could rub off on the Green Lantern.
Here's a look at some of the upcoming Marvel-based movies, and their scheduled release dates, per the company:
- The Incredible Hulk (June 13)
- Punisher: War Zone (Dec. 5)
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1, 2009)
- Iron Man 2 (April 30, 2010)
- Thor (June 4, 2010)
- The First Avenger: Captain America (working title) (May 6, 2011)
- The Avengers (July 2011)
- Ant-Man (no announced date)
And here's a look at the statuses of some of the planned DC-based movies, per ComicBookMovie.com:
- Aquaman: "According to Comic Book Resources, the producers want to make a screwball comedy of it."
- The Flash: Wedding Crashers' David Dobkin was signed to direct last year.
- Green Lantern: Greg Berlanti (Brothers & Sisters, Eli Stone) is writing a script; Jack Black won't starat least he promised as much back in 2006.
- Justice League of America: "Tabled."
- Superman: The Man of Steel: Director Bryan Singer's on board. Superman Returns star Brandon Routh's on board. Filming might begin "early next year," per Routh, who admittedly doesn't have the power to schedule such things.
- Wonder Woman: "Sitting uncomfortably on the backburner."
Iron Man 2—Stat!
The bigger they are, the harder they fall it is to resist making a sequel.
In Marvel's case, it won't even try with Iron Man. Three days after the superhero movie opened, and one day after its weekend gross topped $100 million, the comics giant turned movie mogul announced Iron Man 2 will hit theaters April 30, 2010.
No details were announced. But the principals of Iron Manstars Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard and director Jon Favreau, among themhave been talking for quite a while as if a sequel was going to happen and as if they were going to help make it happen.
Apparently in a really good mood, Marvel also set a June 4, 2010, release date for Thor, based on its hammer-toting hero of Norse god tradition, and penciled in a Captain America movie and an Avengers movie for 2011.
The former is tentatively titled The First Avenger: Captain America and is set to open May 6, 2011. The latter is simply called The Avengers and is due to targeted to open sometime in July 2011.
Marvel also reasserted its commitment to Ant-Man, noting that writers and a directorShaun of the Dead's Edgar Wrighthave been "engaged." But no release date was announced.
Ant-Man might be the biggest loser in the Iron Man juggernaut. Speculation was that the sometimes-diminutive hero would get his big-screen closeup in 2010. With today's announcements, even 2011 seems unlikely.
Still, Ant-Man is a member of the Avengers and would seem to be a lock for an invite to that group's movie, which, by rights, would costar Captain America, Thor, The Hulk and Iron Man.
Earlier this year, Favreau called an Avengers movie "a great idea," and expressed interest in directing it, MTV's website reported. But so far, no cast, no director and no writers have been announced.
All of today's announced filmsIron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers and Ant-Manwill be produced by Marvel and distributed by Paramount.
The lineup doesn't include the other Marvel movies on the way: The Incredible Hulk, due out June 13; Punisher: War Zone, due out Dec. 5; and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, set for May 1, 2009.
Perhaps so as to avoid whipping rival DC Comics so soundly, Marvel has declared 2009 a year of restor at least it won't release one of its self-produced films that year.
The superhero factory can spend the downtime counting its Iron Man riches. Per the final weekend numbers released today, the movie grossed $102.1 million from Friday to Sundaythe 10th biggest opening in Hollywood history. Add in the foreign box office, and the film's weekend take stands at nearly $200 million.
Memo to The Hulk: If you want your own sequel and not just a part in The Avengers, your opening weekend better show some Iron Man heart. And bank.
Marvel Studios and Brian K. Vaughan Developing Runaways Movie
I knew it was going to happen eventually, Marvel Studios has announced that they will be brining Brian K Vaughn’s Runaways to the big screen. Vaughn, best known for the critically acclaimed Y: The Last Man Series (also in some stage of development with DJ Caruso and possibly starring Shia LaBeouf), created Runaways in 2002 with Adrian Alphona, and is also penning the screenplay. It should be noted that Vaughn is also a co-producer and writer for LOST.
The series follows a group of teenagers discover that their parents are an organized group of super villains called The Pride. On the run from their homes, the group bands together and begin a journey of discovery, both of their parents’ origins and of their own inherited powers.
Unlike most other books in the Marvel universe, the individual Runaways story arcs are collected in small, manga-sized trade paperbacks. In 2006, the series won the Harvey Award for best continuing/limited series. Geek god Joss Whedon, a vocal fan of the book, took over the series after Vaughan and Alphona left at issue #24 of the title’s second volume.
Marvel is not ready to set a date for this latest adaptation or the previously announced Ant Man.
source: THR