A recent Deadline article floated the possibility that Robert Downey Jr. may not be the only person getting a big payday from the upcoming The Avengers 2. Writer/director Joss Whedon, whom many credit at least a portion of the film’s success too, is supposedly going to make somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million for the project. Not bad for the man that used to make his bread and butter at the WB.

But not so fast, says Whedon, I’m rich, but I’m not that rich. He went on his blog, Whedonesque, to explain:

Hi guys.

I was going to let it slide, but I’ve got this sour taste in my mouth. (Mmmm, lemonade!). Some facts are not facts. I’m not going to go into the whole thing, but jeepers, I’m not getting $100 mil on Avengers 2. If I were, I would come on this site and laugh and laugh and laugh. I’m not making Downey money. I’m making A LOT, which is exciting. I’m not pretending to be a poor farmer, an Everyman, an ANYman. But that number is nuts. A few other things about me that have been “reported” that people should take with a grain of salt:

That I throw wild Hollywood parties where everyone is naked and dancing and wild and I remember to serve enough snacks.

That I can get a movie greenlit by sighing and staring into the middle distance.

That I ate a unicorn and made it winter for three years.

That I “can write.”

Well, that’s a load off. Sorry to get so personal — the whole thing’s a bit tawdry. But honestly, it bugged me. I’m off for a nice juicy steak. There’s a place downtown that does it with rosemary butter, it tastes just like unico — like a steak.

BYE-ee! J.

Now you’ll notice that Whedon clarified that he’s not “getting $100 mil on Avengers 2,” when in actuality Deadline reported that Whedon’s services for that pay check included writing and directing Avengers 2, consulting on the wide field of Marvel movie projects, and developing and executive producing the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series for ABC. That’s still a lot of scratch, but if it’s more multiple projects over three years, then it seems to make (a little) more sense. Either way, Whedon’s a rich man who even FOX would be hard pressed to treat like $#!% anymore. Way to go, Joss!

Source: Screen Rant

No Comments

There’s lots of news in the wake of Marvel‘s release of Iron Man 3. Will Robert Downey Jr. be back for more, will there be an Iron Man 4, what other Marvel Superheroes will get a big screen treatment? Marvel’s President of Production, Kevin Feige, recently put a couple of those rumored about which heroes might get a stand alone movie to rest.

When asked by Collider if anyone at Marvel is currently developing or writing a Falcon of War Machine spinoff, Feige simply said:

“No.”

Now that just means that currently there are no plans for those two heroes, but perhaps as Marvel proceeds through Phase Two and into Phase Three some decisions could be made to bring those two characters to the big screen in their own rights.

Recently, Ms. Marvel, Blade, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Black Panther, and The Runaways have script development projects in the works at Marvel Studios. There’s no production dates for these yet, but scripts are being written (Runaways was already scripted by Iron Man 3‘s Drew Pearce), and concept art is in the works.

These would most likely come after the third Avengers movie, and until there is a release date or green-light announcement, keep your expectations grounded. These things have a way of getting side tracked until the real money starts getting pumped into the project.

Which of these would you like to see the most?

Via: Comicbookmovie

No Comments

In news that excites me, because it means soon we’ll be done talking about Iron Man 3 (at least until it comes out on home video), Comingsoon.net’s Box Office Report puts IM3‘s opening weekend total at $175,300,000.

Thursday previews and midnight screenings alone brought in a tidy $15.6 million – by the time Friday’s sales were totaled, Shane Black’s highly anticipated trilogy capper had made $68.3 mil…less than one might expect, but by Sunday totals shot up to $175.3 million, surpassing opening weekend totals for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt. 2, and coming in second only to The Avengers (released almost exactly one year ago) for highest grossing opening weekend.

IM3 played on 4,253 screens in the US….meaning a per-theater average of over $41,000 – the third highest in cinema history.

Totals were just as impressive internationally, with the other 54 territories adding up to $175.9 mil….the current global take adds up to approximately $680,100,000 – and that’s just for starters!

IMAX reportedly sold out at nearly every one of their locations – surpassing The Avengers IMAX opening with $16.5 mil. in sales, second only to The Dark Knight Rises. Globally, IMAX totaled $40.2 million.

Iron Man 3 accounted for nearly 84% of movie theatre business this weekend.

Think about that: That means that if you were to grab any five movie-goers at random this weekend, FOUR of them would be on their way to see Iron Man 3…

Wow!

Source: Comingsoon.net

No Comments

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige can’t stop talking, and that’s a good thing because we’ve got a lot of mega-pixels of space to fill. But joking aside, Feige’s just doing his job and chatting up the press on the occasion of the release of Iron Man 3 today.

There are some pretty big questions out there, and first and foremost is whether or not there will be a future for Tony Stark post-IM3, and whether or not Robert Downy, Jr will be involved. In a new interview with Superhero Hype, that’s the first thing that Feige addressed:

Currently, as you may imagine, Iron Man is a big part of “Avengers 2” and that’s what we’re focusing on and what Joss (Whedon) is focusing on. So where we go after that remains to be seen, but certainly, “Avengers 2” being the next appearance, the next storyline for Iron Man. Do I think there will be another Iron Man movie? Of course I do. Who will be in that movie and who will be a part of that movie? Who knows? And how far down the line will it be? Will it be right after “Avengers 2,” will it be a few years after “Avengers 2”? Who knows? For as advanced as we are in terms of the advanced planning that we do, we’re already looking out to 2015, 2016 and that’s further than most people look out. Beyond that, we’re still not sure.”

Next, Feige talked about why he’s so driven to give Ant Man his big screen debut:

“Well, it’s for a couple of reasons. The primary reason is because I met a very talented filmmaker who was about my age almost ten years ago, we got along very well. He had a movie called “Shaun of the Dead” which hadn’t come out yet and he said he really wanted to meet to talk about “Ant-Man”… and this was even before we were on the studio. This was just at the dawn of us even discussing becoming our own studio. But we met with him, he had a cool idea and when we became our own studio, we hired him and Joe Cornish, who as you know, went on to do “Attack the Block” and become a very talented filmmaker in his own right. At the time he hadn’t done much at all but we really believed in him and we believed in Edgar [Wright] and they delivered a draft that was sort of unlike anything we’d done before that was sort of wholly Edgar and wholly Marvel and a very fun spin on the Ant-Man mythology. And if you’ve seen the in-progress test we showed at Comic-Con last year and there’s been some clips of it we’ve released. People go like, “Ant-Man, is that a joke? What happens? He talks to ants?” And Edgar and his team put together this test of basically just Ant-Man going down the hallway and it is so kick-ass and so bad-ass, people instantly go, “Oh, I get it! Now we see what it can be.” And that of course is only 1% of what the movie is, but it’s certainly enough to get people to realize, ‘Oh, that’s why you’ve been thinking about this for so long.’”

And finally, somewhat off topic, Feige responded to a question about whether or not the development of new Star Wars at Disney is going to impact Marvel’s production slate:

“Well, we’ll see. We’re definitely doing our own thing and that’s what’s been so great about the relationship with Disney. As they said, ‘We’re purchasing Marvel because we like what you’re doing.’ Keep doing it. And that’s been three years now and that’s certainly what they’ve allowed us to do, so I hope that means I can get into an advanced screening of a new ‘Star Wars‘ movie, that’d be fun (laughs) but I don’t know how much more it will effect us than that.”

Well I hope if there’s one perk being one of Disney’s top producers, it’s free Star Wars tickets…

Source: Comic Book Movie

No Comments

A long time ago, when Marvel was struggling to survive, let along make superhero movies, they sold the rights to numerous characters to various studios looking to cash in. Jump forward a decade or so and suddenly Marvel Studios is making some pretty successful movies, but those heroes rights that had been sold, remained out of reach, even for a cameo.

Studios often cranked out movies just to retain the rights, just look at Sony and the recent Amazing Spider-man reboot. You know that Marvel would have loved to put a Spider-Man cameo in the Avengers, fans would have loved it too.

Recently, many of the rights for those Marvel heroes have lapsed and returned to Marvel Studios, like the Punisher and Daredevil. Now, according to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, two more names can now be added to the list of returned rights.

Ghost Rider & Blade

Entertainment Weekly recently interviewed Feige, Here’s what he had to say about the returning hero rights:

Whenever a character comes back to us, it’s usually because the other studios don’t want to make the movies anymore – and that usually means the [previous] movies may not have been particularly well-received.

Although Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance grossed $132 million, it was panned by many fans and reviewers and wasn’t a strong return on the film’s investment. Don’t get excited about the rights return yet though, just because these character rights are back, Disney’s not just gonna crank out new movies.

They all have potential, but we’re not going to say ‘We got it back – make it.’

Who knows though, maybe we could see some Midnight Sons on the big screen. The return also opens the door for cameos. No one is sure what Disney will do with the more adult, violent characters like Ghost Rider, the Punisher, or Blade. Many are betting that Disney won’t make movies with “R” ratings.

There’s a market for these films though, and Disney won’t let valuable properties lay around gathering dust and doing nothing. Sooner or later those characters will be used, even if it’s just to resell the rights to another studio willing to make movies with those characters.

Via: /Film

No Comments

 It’s been a very improbable ride for Tony Stark.

I mean, let’s be honest with ourselves here. Think back five years to right before Iron Man hit theaters. Or better yet, think back six years, to when you first heard there would be an Iron Man movie, and that Robert Downey Jr. would be starring in it. How high were your hopes, honestly? Even if you thought it would be good, how many people thought it would be as good as it turned out to be? And even if you did think Iron Man would be badass, who among you really thought that Tony Stark – not Peter Parker, not Wolverine, not The Punisher – would be the coolest dude in all of Marvel-based cinema? Who among you thought he would be the heart and soul of Marvel Studios? If you predicted all of that, you are a much more prescient cinephile than I, and you should probably go out and buy a lottery ticket or something.

But regardless of what I or anyone else thought, all of that happened, and then – perhaps just as improbably - The Avengers happened. Some of us never thought that day would come, but it did, and Tony Stark’s charisma put him at the center of that incredibly ambitious movie universe too. He’s the rock star of Marvel cinema. We couldn’t take that away from him now if we wanted to. And what’s more, he’s earned it.

Unfortunately, this status also means that he’s the most scrutinized of the Marvel heroes (so far; believe me when I tell you I will be looking very closely for flaws when Thor: The Dark World hits theaters this fall). Remember Iron Man 2? As over-the-top action flicks go it’s a damn fun time, full of action and cool effects and lots of that patented RDJ charm. But in spite of that, it fell flat. It seemed stale and redundant next to its predecessor, and it almost felt like an absolute snore compared to the bombastic cleverness of The Avengers. So, with all that in mind, we come (at last) to Iron Man 3.

It’s the first Tony Stark solo adventure in three years, and there have been whispers that it will be the last. It’s also the first major Marvel Studios adventure since Joss Whedon set a new standard of superhero awesome. In other words, there’s a lot riding on this movie. It’s a new chapter for Marvel Studios, a chance for a new writer and director (Shane Black) to make waves in one of the most successful action movie families in recent memory, and a chance for Robert Downey Jr. to prove that his Tony Stark shtick hasn’t gotten stale in spite of Iron Man 2. So, let’s talk about this damn movie.

Tony Stark (Downey) hasn’t been sleeping well ever since he flew through a wormhole into another dimension and almost died at the end of The Avengers. He still doesn’t fully understand what the hell happened to him, how he went from battling terrorists and vengeance-seekers to trans-dimensional aliens and gods, or how he somehow got roped into fighting alongside a pair of secret agents, a man from the past, a thunderous blonde deity and a huge green rage monster. As a man who’s spent his life focusing on science and mechanics, where everything has a logical place, this really gets to him. He doesn’t feel right anymore, and things are getting worse.

But as anxiety begins to wrack Tony’s brain, the world begins to need him more. A new terroristic threat is looming in the form of Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), a mysterious criminal mastermind responsible for a series of almost untraceable bomb attacks and a set of freaky video messages. As things inevitably get personal and a showdown between Iron Man and Mandarin looms, Tony must fight to both save the world and protect his girlfriend and business partner, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who has concerns of her own as she deals with the intriguing but enigmatic scientist Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), who claims to have a new biological agent that could change the way humans heal.  Add to this the re-appearance of an old flame of Tony’s in Dr. Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) and the transformation of Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) into the president’s favorite armored soldier Iron Patriot, and Tony’s set to face a set of challenges unlike anything he’s ever experienced before.

And yes, that’s as much plot as I’m going to give you, though you’ve probably figured a good deal more out just from watching the trailers and reading the news. I’m keeping it vague not because  I’m trying to avoid spoilers (again, you probably already know a good deal more than what I’ve told you), but because this film – like most of the best superhero films – isn’t about what happens, but how it happens. Let’s face it, there’s a formula to these things. We’ve all seen Iron Man movies (and Spider-Man movies, and X-Men movies and Batman movies) before. We know where certain things in this movie are going before the movie even starts. Therefore the difference is made in the personality of the story, and it’s here that Iron Man 3 is an unquestionable triumph.

It starts with the dialogue, and right away it’s clear that Black and co-writer Drew Pearce know exactly where Downey’s strike zone is. Even in its most desperate and dark moments (and yeah, you know from the trailers that there are several), Iron Man 3 is packed with characteristic Tony Stark wit, and it’s all the more noteworthy because it’s wit that works no matter how dark the moment is. This is a film largely about taking Tony Stark out of his comfort zone, and yet he still keeps his sense of humor, his sharp tongue and a twinkle in his eye. This could come off as cheap audience-pleasing trickery, but Black and Downey somehow make this an essential part of Tony’s personality, just as Joss Whedon did. His unceasing smart-assery in the face of the absolute horror of the battle he’s fighting is both a sign of courage and a sign of outright panic, and it makes him both endearing and endlessly fascinating.

Black also serves the film well by making certain that this adventure takes us places no other Marvel movie has taken us before. We see Tony Stark down in the dirt, battered and scared and lost, we see him thinking on his feet without any armor to guard him, we see him digging deep into his most primal instincts. We step further away from the polish and showmanship of Iron Man than we ever have before, and in so doing we get to see a part of Stark that’s more vital than the armor ever was. Black hones in on Stark’s inherent identity as mechanic, as fixer, as tinkerer. It’s a thread that runs through all of the Iron Man films (The Avengers included), but Black and Pearce nail it better than anyone has before, and the result is not only an incredibly inventive action movie, but the best Tony Stark character study we could have hoped for.

As a result, Downey gets to take the character to depths of expression previously unseen. He gets to probe further into Tony’s inherent pain, his inner turmoil and the lengths to which he’ll go to preserve his outer cool, his sense of family, revenge and protectiveness, and his own struggles with identity. There’s much more to Tony Stark than quipping and well-manicured facial hair, and here we see that shine through in ways the other films never managed. That’s thanks in large part to Black and Pearce’s inventiveness, but we owe most of it to Downey’s genius. Don’t let the huge salaries and blockbuster cred fool you. He’s one of the greatest actors of his generation, and we’re lucky that he loves this part so much.

This film is also a chance for Paltrow to dig deeper into Pepper Potts, a character that – until now – was mostly noteworthy for her patience with the exasperating genius billionaire playboy philanthropist. She finds new fire in the character this time around. But the real scene-stealer is Kingsley, who does some wonderful and unexpected things with Mandarin (which I will not spoil here). He nails the mystery and the bombast of the character. And the voice. Much like Tom Hardy’s Bane, it’s an accent so unsettling, so unplaceable, that it knocks something loose in your brain. It doesn’t just make you fascinated with the character. It makes you crave more of him.

As I said before, the real success of this film isn’t what it does, but how it does it. Obviously I won’t spoil any of that for you now, but after the often stale Iron Man 2, this film is the biggest breath of fresh air we could hope for. The entire creative team seems to have a rock solid understanding of how a good Iron Man movie should work, but an even greater understanding of how to take everyone completely by surprise. This is an unpredictable, witty, earnest and utterly indulgent superhero film that delivers all the action movie goods (Iron Man army and all) along with a massive dose of heart and exuberance. It gets almost everything right, and it reminds us all why Tony Stark is the reigning King of Marvel Cinema.

No Comments

Well, we saw some early concept art for Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier showing off how Anthony Mackie will look as The Falcon. Yes, they ditched the red and white disco duds for black combat gear… wimps. Want to see how he’ll look in the reals? Well some set photos just hit the net showing of Falcon’s new look, granted he seems to be missing something. Check them out after the jump. (more…)

No Comments

When we last saw the fan favorite Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) Loki pierced his chest with his Loki-pokey-stick™ leaving the Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. to bleed out and die. His death was the moment that finally gelled the Avengers together as a team, gave them something to avenge and almost immediately led to fanboy speculation that the character would return somehow. Well, we know he won’t be The Vision no matter how cool that would have been, in fact we’ve known for awhile that the character will make his return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe on the small screen in the forthcoming ABC TV show Agents Of  S.H.I.E.L.D. How, exactly has been topic of more speculation… UNTIL NOW!

An unidentified source recently revealed to /Film how Gregg’s character beat a terminal case of chest wounditis and if you are cool with having it spoiled, hit the jump. (more…)

No Comments

You like that? It could be yours if you go to the midnight IMAX screening of Iron Man 3 at your local IMAX theater, according to Screen Rant. The poster was designed by comic book artist Jock (The Losers, Hellblazer), and is the latest in 12:01 poster series, which previous has included unique works honoring the release Real Steel, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Frankenweenie.

In other Iron Man 3 new, Marvel Studios head honcho and Iron Man 3 producer Kevin Feige recently talked to the LA Times about Tony Stark’s mind set going into the movie, and where the character’s head is at this point in his story arc. Here’s what Feige had to say:

“He’s experienced things now that frankly was a wake-up call. You don’t have gamma-powered strength that anger can bring about. You don’t have super-soldier serum flowing through your veins. You’re not a thunder god from Asgard. You’re just a guy. And Tony doesn’t necessarily like to be reminded of those kinds of things because he likes to be at the top of the food chain.

“Where we meet Tony, he wants to be in that suit all the time, and he wants a lot of suits around him. And just as we sort of learn that’s his issue, we blow them all up and take him out of that comfort zone.

“We wanted to take Tony to a place that he hadn’t been since the first half of the first ‘Iron Man’ film, which is, essentially, by himself without his money, without his toys, without his gadgets, with just his mind, his intellect. We wanted to do that in a big climactic fashion by literally taking away everything that is near and dear to him, as symbolized in that mansion crumbling down into the Pacific.”

In other Iron Man 3 developments, a new featurette has been released, and it outlines just how Extremis comes into play in the film and how it factors into The Mandarin’s (Ben Kingsley) master plan. Included is commentary by director Shane Black, star Robert Downey Jr., and new head henchman James Badge Dale. Press play below (courtesy of Collider):

Finally, from the people who have more time on their hands than I do (and Geeks Are Sexy), a break down of just how much it costs to be Tony Stark. Enjoy!

No Comments

Apparently, Fox was unable to get its ducks in a row in the time allotted to begin production on their announced, Joe Carnahan-directed Daredevil reboot. Thus, the film rights to The Man Without Fear have returned home to Marvel, according to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.

Fox was given until October 10th of last year to begin production. It was assumed that if they failed, the rights to the franchise would revert to Marvel, but this had not been confirmed by Marvel Studios until Feige was asked directly by Newsarama on Monday at the Iron Man 3 press junket if the studio indeed now possessed the rights.

Feige replied:

“To Daredevil? Yes.”

While Marvel Studios has yet to announce any plans to integrate a Daredevil film into any of their vaunted “Phases”, it seems likely that since it’s now confirmed that the blind vigilante is once again a member of the cinematic Marvel family, fans will be expecting him. The smart money says sooner or later he’ll show up.

Whether this means we can expect an actually watchable Elektra movie someday, only time will tell.

Source: /Film

Comment (1)