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

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So, uh, spoiler alert? Damn right!

For months we’ve been hearing about who’s in Amazing Spider-Man 2, and who might be playing them, and now, courtesy of Comic Book Movie, we get some cool details hot off the press. So spoilers revealed in…

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Still here? You asked for it. Let’s take these one at a time

-Electro played by Jamie Foxx, will not being wearing the character’s traditional yellow and green outfit. Look for Foxx to sport something a little more stylish, like Electro’s Ultimate Spider-Man duds. Also, as if you didn’t know, Electro’s alterego Max Dillon will be gainfully employed as an employee at Oscorp.

-That Venom rumor? Forget about it! That morgue shot released last month wasn’t a Venom reference, but rather the morgue is where Dillon is taken after his “accident,” presumably the same “accident” that turns him into Electro.

-We know Chris Cooper‘s been cast as Norman Osborn, but there won’t be any Green Goblin in the film. What there will be is lots of foreshadowing, and that, at the beginning of the film at least, Norman won’t be cured and is still dying from his mysterious illness.

-And the biggest spoiler of all, sources confirm that Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) will indeed being going to the giant comic book store in the sky by the film’s end, perhaps even sooner than that. In fact, sources are saying that Stone may not have a very big role in the film at all.

So Bastards, are you intrigued yet? Sound off below.

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So we all know that The Amazing Spider-Man has pretty divisive amongst fans when it was released last year (including some division amongst the Bastards here), but seriously, what did Sam Raimi think?

The director of the first three Spider-Man movies has previously said he was afraid to see the film, not because he was concerned that Marc Webb had done an awful job, but because he felt so close to the material. But now it seems that Raimi has swallowed that fear, and put the Blu-ray on his TV. So what did he think? Raimi told the gang at Hey U Guys in an interview.

“It was very hard for me to see the new Spider-Man movie, I felt so attached to it, I couldn’t see Spider-Man with another director; it’s like my love, and I didn’t want to walk in on my love with someone else. It was just like that. Then I got over myself last week and said, ‘just see the damn thing’. And I did, and I loved it. I actually felt free.

“I thought, ‘why am I carrying around this baggage?’ Of course the next Spider-Man story should be told, and [Marc Webb] did a wonderful job telling that. I loved the movie, and I’m looking forward like a fan to the next instalment. I love the comic book, and now I don’t feel bound, and I’m really glad somebody’s remaking it again.”

So there you go. Stop asking Raimi about Amazing, he loved it.

Of course, now the conspiracy begins: did he really love it, or was he trying to save face for Webb? Sound off below.

Source: Blastr

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Sure, you read that headline and said, “Come on! Who cares?” Don’t deny it, we know you did. We know you enjoyed The Amazing Spider-Man just a little bit more than you enjoyed The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II. Well regardless, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (or The Spectacular Spider-Man if you rather like that rumored title), is now before the cameras as of yesterday, the knowledge of which director Marc Webb shared via Twitter:

But perhaps more interesting than the news the production has begun on Amazing 2, is the news that Webb will be shooting the film on actual film, and not in 3-D digital like he did on the first Amazing. The film will still be in 3-D, but it will be converted in post, which is the general direction of the medium now. Interesting that just three short years after everyone went 3-D crazy to pad their returns, they’re now looking for cheaper ways to do 3-D for less.

Why, you may ask. Apparently, Webb himself was less than thrilled about the RED Epic 3-D cameras he used on Amazing 1, he considered them too bulky to do what he want to do. Perhaps, Webb was able to use over three-quarters of a billion dollars of clout to let him do what he wants to do on the sequel.

So is this good news or bad news for Amazing Spider-Man 2? Well, the look of the film, I don’t think, was the problem with the first Amazing Spider-Man, but more control by Webb has to be a good thing, right?

Right?

More news as it develops.

Source: Screen Rant

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A costume is something that all comic book geeks can identify with. It defines a character and sticks in our memory as a part of what that character represents. In the comic books, costume designs for the heroes and villains can go unaltered for decades – until they reach the hands of Hollywood, that is. That’s when things can change for better or worse.

The costumes in Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man have so far been a great example of keeping things traditional. Even with a giant Hollywood budget, the designers tried to stay as close to the original as they could and still kept Spidey recognizable. So imagine our surprise to hear that Jamie Foxx, who will play Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man sequel, will not wear the classic green and yellow we’re all familiar with. It’s almost like telling us Mary Jane isn’t actually a red head.

While doing press for Quentin Tarantino‘s Django Unchained, Foxx brought BlackFilm up to speed on the more “grounded” appearance of former electrical engineer Maxwell Dillon.

“It won’t be green and yellow. It will be a different color. They (the producers) want something for the future. They want to have it more grounded and not as comic bookie, so it won’t be green and yellow. They want to try new things, like a liquid rubber and things like that, and there are all these bolts and stuff in my arms when they are hanging me upside down and trying to figure out what happen. How did he become this way? So, it will be some new stuff.”

As for how he’ll be portrayed in the sequel, Foxx had some words of encouragement on the work of screen writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci:

“In the script, this villain is the first time it’s be written well. Andrew Garfield and Marc Webb both commented on how great the script is, so it should be an exciting time.”

Oh Jamie, your way with words will never cease to amaze us. It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with for the final look of Electro, but maybe the costume department will be smart and avoid all the CGI that their last villain had. The next installment in the yet unnamed sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Sally Field, Dane DeHaan, Jamie Foxx and Shailene Woodley and is set to start shooting in early 2013 in New York. Release is planned for May 2nd, 2014.

What do you think? Should there be some reference to the classic Electro or is it time to move on?

Source: Comic Book Movie

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Martin Sheen, who played Uncle Ben in this past summer’s The Amazing Spider-Man, has confirmed with The Late, Late Show that he will be reprising his role in the Spidey sequel.

They’ve called me back, I don’t know what the part is gonna be, but I’m going to be Uncle Ben once again in Spider-Man next year. We shoot it in February.

Since we all know what happens to Uncle Ben in the storyline, we can assume that he’ll turn up in a flashback or dream sequence. Or even a hallucination or as a zombie. Who knows!

I’m looking forward to seeing what Marc Webb comes up with for the next film.

Sources: Geek Tyrant, The Late, Late Show, Comic Book Movie

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As part of the Marvel NOW shake-up, The Amazing Spider-Man will wrap up with issue #700 to be released late next month, but it appears that the series isn’t going to end quietly. Spoilers lay after the jump… (more…)

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The Amazing Spider-Man was both a critical and commercial success in spite of a lot of hesitation and skepticism from fans leading up to its release. But the results, which were, admittedly, mixed, give us all some cause for hope it terms of what director Marc Webb and his team can do with Amazing Spider-Man 2, and that hope is being buttressed by some telling statements by creators on the upcoming Blu-ray release of Amazing Spider-Man. 

If you’re looking for some direction as to where the Amazing sequel will go, the visual effects artists say look to some telling Easter Eggs in the film. From ET Online, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor Jerome Chen says:

“There’s a scene where Gwen is in the Oscorp lab giving a tour to a series of students and there could be Easter eggs in there. There’s also an Easter egg at the end of the movie.”

End of the movie, you say? What have you got for us Animation Supervisor David Schaub?

“In the very last shot of the film where [Spider-Man] is swinging, [he] gets himself shot out of the crane and he’s flying down past the George Washington Bridge and he strikes a pose. There’s an Easter egg – but I can’t tell you any more than that – [that's] for something to come.”

Interesting. But enough of this being coy business! Let’s get right to the heart of the matter with Webb himself, what can we look forward to in the Amazing Spider-Man sequel?

“The last movie, Peter’s sort of discovering his powers and he’s getting gradually better. Peter, in the next movie, is going to be a virtuoso. Spider-Man, from the outset, is a pro. He’s an expert, and he’s having a blast, and he is just electrifying in terms of his abilities as Spider-Man. That’s going to be really fun. I’m really looking forward to a lot of those sequences.”

The Amazing Spider-Man on Blu-ray or DVD on November 9th. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 swings into theaters on May 2nd, 2014.

Source: Screen Rant

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With out question, the years most shocking news goes to the buyout of LucasFilm by Disney. The second most ear bleeding news, however,  has got to be the identity of the villain in The Amazing Spider-Man sequel.

From Variety:

It looks like Sony’s  The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is coming together faster than expected as sources tell Variety the studio is in early talks with Jamie Foxx to play the villain in the movie. Though the studio would not comment on the character sources have also told Variety that Foxx would play Electro in the pic.

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It should come as no surprise really, after leading the first in Sony’s rebooted Spider-Man franchise to an astounding $751 million bank roll, it has been announced that Marc Webb will return to direct the webslinger a second time. Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and, Jeff Pinkner are currently rewriting James Vanderbilt‘s script for the sequel and Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach will produce. Before you ask, yes Andrew Garfield will be back as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and Emma Stone is currently in talks to return as Gwen Stacy. Filming is expected to begin in early 2013 with a release date of May 2nd, 2014.

In a statement Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures, said:

“We could not be more confident in the direction we are taking this new Spider-Man storyline and we are tremendously excited to be ramping up production again with Marc at the helm and Andrew continuing on as Peter Parker. We can’t wait to share what we have in store for Peter and Spider-Man with audiences worldwide.”

Tl;dr version: Dude directs a reboot of a franchise that stumbled after it’s 3rd outing and it rakes in a tonne of money. Studio hires him back a second time. Studio starts making room for more money.

Source: /Film

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