Metric Fuckton of Marvel movie news

[Velorath]

From articles here and here.

Points of interest:

He may have played Matt Murdock’s best friend, Foggy Nelson In the film version of Daredevil, but when it comes to a film version of Marvel’s Iron Man, Jon Favreau has a much larger role than that of a supporting character.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel has tapped the actor/screenwriter/director to develop and direct Iron Man, working on the script from Arthur Marcum and Matt Holloway. While many may only remember Favreau as Nelson or perhaps from his breakout role in Swingers, Favreau has moved recently, to work behind the camera, directing last year’s Zathura, executive producing the acclaimed Green Street Hooligans, and directing Elf, among others. Favreau is also attached to direct a film version of John Carter, Warlord of Mars.

I haven't seen Zathura or Elf so I've got no idea how good a director he is.  Interesting to hear that he's also doing a John Carter movie though.

- Shaun of the Dead co-writer Edgar Wright is adapting Ant-Man. Wright will direct and co-write the film version with Joe Cornish.

Ok, now this I'll be looking forward to.

- Captain Americais being adapted by David (Road to Perdition) Self, who is also adapting/has adapted Namor and Deathlok

- Andrew (Hoolow Man) Marlow is adapting Nick Fury.

- Mark (Poseidon) Protosevich is adapting Thor."In the comics, the stories that appealed to me most were the features called 'Tales of Asgard,' " Protosevich told the Reporter. "They were very much based on the traditional Norse myths and how the relationship between being like Thor and Loki and Thor and Odin, and how these beings manifested themselves. I don't want to give too much away, but I will say the movie will take place in the world of myth and legend but will not betray some of the thematic elements of the comics that made them so appealing, like the idea of a god growing to truly understand man."

Meh...

Soon, Arad is musing about the Hulk, whom many Hollywood observers now believe has the inside track to be the star of Marvel's debut self-made film. It would be an interesting choice, given that Ang Lee's version was a box office disappointment. But Arad thinks he knows what went wrong, and he has a plan for fixing it.

After praising Lee as a genius, Arad observes that "the Hulk movie was a study of anger, and people wanted a popcorn movie." Lee's film focused on the Hulk's origins - Bruce Banner's abusive father, his mutated DNA, the gamma ray accident that gave him the power to transform into a walking steroid attack. It was dark and intense, and Banner didn't even do his Hulk bit until nearly halfway through the film. "Our Hulk," Arad says, "will be a diet Hulk. Lighter. Focusing on the love story, Hulk as hero, and his battle with the villain."

The Hulk (the character not the movie) is pretty popular with kids as far as superheroes go, so I'm not surprised they're going to take another shot at it.

The article that focuses on Arad is actually a pretty good read.

[HaemishM]

Elf was a decent movie. I won't say it was spectacular, but the direction certainly didn't hurt it. He could probably do a decent job. Ant-Man done by Shaun of the Dead will probably be really good, though I wonder if they are going for the Scott Lang, Henry Pym or another version altogether.

Hollow Man was a terrible movie, so Nick Fury's deal will probably suck.

While I agree with Arad that the Hulk movie probably wasn't built as a blockbuster type, I still thought it was a damn good movie. It was just slow.

[stray]

I thought the Hulk was good too. I understand that there's other aspects to that character, but the Hulk as the study/embodiment of RAGE is the one that appeals to me.

I really think Marvel is just about done with, as far as which characters are worthy of cinematic treatment goes. DC/Vertigo has double the potential...Even more probably.

Daredevil, Hulk, and the Punisher deserve a second chance, but I can't think of anything else I'd like to see (except an animated Silver Surfer flick). Nick Fury won't suck because of Hollow Man -- it'll suck because of Nick Fury. Captain America is more ridiculous than the FF in a live action flick (same goes for Thor or Namor). Iron Man will come off almost Power Ranger-ish.

[edit] Actually, I'm torn on Namor. That could possibly be cool.

[Johny Cee]

Elf was a decent movie. I won't say it was spectacular, but the direction certainly didn't hurt it. He could probably do a decent job. Ant-Man done by Shaun of the Dead will probably be really good, though I wonder if they are going for the Scott Lang, Henry Pym or another version altogether.

Hollow Man was a terrible movie, so Nick Fury's deal will probably suck.

While I agree with Arad that the Hulk movie probably wasn't built as a blockbuster type, I still thought it was a damn good movie. It was just slow.

I had the same first impression of the announcements.  But....  remember that just because someone writes a good script or a shitty script,  I don't think it has much to do with the rest of their output.  I've been really surprised on IMDB when I look at a film I enjoyed, then looked at the rest of the writers credits.  9 out of 10,  the rest of it is complete junk.

A script gets treated like toliet paper by the financial backers, producers, directors, and/or big name stars so regularly that scriptwriters don't particularly mean too much.

Just as a comic example,  League of Extraordinary Gentlement was a great novel.  The director wasn't bad.  No idea about the script.  And from most reports Sean Connery almost singlehandedly shit on the whole thing.  Or Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Alien Ressurection.  I think Joss Whedon's contributions were pretty thoroughly undermined in that.

[Velorath]

I thought the Hulk was good too. I understand that there's other aspects to that character, but the Hulk as the study/embodiment of RAGE is the one that appeals to me.

I really think Marvel is just about done with, as far as which characters are worthy of cinematic treatment goes. DC/Vertigo has double the potential...Even more probably.

Daredevil, Hulk, and the Punisher deserve a second chance, but I can't think of anything else I'd like to see (except an animated Silver Surfer flick). Nick Fury won't suck because of Hollow Man -- it'll suck because of Nick Fury. Captain America is more ridiculous than the FF in a live action flick (same goes for Thor or Namor). Iron Man will come off almost Power Ranger-ish.

[edit] Actually, I'm torn on Namor. That could possibly be cool.

It's hard to say really, as even shit concepts and characters could have good movie with the right writer and director attached.  Take a character like Blade for example (I actually like comic book version mind you, except for the last few books he was in).  Here is a character whose longest run was as a supporting character in Tomb of Dracula way back in the 70's.  Nightstalkers lasted less then 2 years.  His solo series launched shortly after was canceled even more quickly.  Marvel hasn't even had any success with the character in books launced after the movie's success.  He's a C-list character but somehow became the basis for Marvel's first successful movie.  Brother fucking Voodoo could make for an interesting movie if done right.  It's a shame they kinda fucked up Dr. Doom's character in the FF movie because you could actually do a pretty good movie focused on him.

[Llava]

From that description of the Hulk movie, I'm more interested in the "study of anger" one than the "popcorn movie" one, and I didn't like the Hulk movie.  So...  that's probably not good.

I'd like to see a Captain America film, but it had better be controversial and tell the whole story of Captain America.  It could be really good.  But it won't be, because there's no way they've got the balls to make a movie like that.

[HaemishM]

Cinematic treatments of comic characters have to tread a very fine line between being a good movie and being a good movie about that character. The latter keeps the comics fans from shitting all over the movie, and the former pulls in the regular joes. Spider-Man and X-Men movies have done it well. Batman Begins did it really well. Most of the others failed in some respect. Daredevil wasn't a great treament of the character nor was it a great movie, but it would have been about 10 times better had they put out the director's cut instead of that chopjob they put out. But it still wouldn't have been a great Daredevil movie because they changed tac in midstream from not having a flashy super-hero costume to having one. Elektra was just shit from the getgo, and if that's the respect they are going to give the Marvel characters who aren't the topline features like Spider-Man, they should just stop. Directed by Favreau, I think Iron Man has a chance. Nick Fury is just really not that interesting a character to me, especially with the overuse he's gotten in the comics lately. And God forbid they use the Ultimates (I'm Sam Jackson) version.

Making Hulk a more popcorny version is really going to depend on who does it and how well the CGI effects for the Hulk come off. I didn't mind them in the first one, but the puffy, plasticy Hulk bothered a number of folks.

[Velorath]

Elektra was just shit from the getgo, and if that's the respect they are going to give the Marvel characters who aren't the topline features like Spider-Man, they should just stop.

In that second article, Arad blames Elektra's shittiness on the fact that it's the one Marvel movie where they didn't really have any sort of creative control.  I notice he didn't mention Man-Thing anywhere though which I believe was originally supposed to have a theatrical release.

[stray]

I'll be honest, I didn't read those articles until now ;)

Some interesting things though....Iron Man has kind of sparked my interest now, if only to see how well a Marvel produced film compares to the stuff from other studios.

In that second article, Arad blames Elektra's shittiness on the fact that it's the one Marvel movie where they didn't really have any sort of creative control.

Arad is probably right about the reasons for Elektra not doing so well, but on the flipside, I wonder if he (and others at Marvel) may be too familiar with the comics. If the majority of comics fans (on the net) are any indication, then his ideas could be just as lousy as some film director running amok with a Marvel license. Many of those people demand absolute faithfulness and no compromises -- And sometimes that's good, but in many cases, it's just convoluted, untranslatable shit (or at best, inconsequential shit) that just shuts the average filmgoer out.

[HaemishM]

Elektra was just shit from the getgo, and if that's the respect they are going to give the Marvel characters who aren't the topline features like Spider-Man, they should just stop.

In that second article, Arad blames Elektra's shittiness on the fact that it's the one Marvel movie where they didn't really have any sort of creative control.  I notice he didn't mention Man-Thing anywhere though which I believe was originally supposed to have a theatrical release.

I believe Daredevil would seem to prove him wrong, but I'm not sure anyone had much creative control besides the producer on that one.

[Ironwood]

Gotta disagree with anyone who saw any merit in Hulk at all.

It was SHIT.

[tazelbain]

The only Hulk I have liked was the one the Ultimate Avengers cartoon.

[Velorath]

Just read this over at Newsarama:

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: MVL), a global character-based entertainment and licensing company, today announced that the company has entered into a new arrangement with Avi Arad to independently produce films for Marvel under his own production company banner, Avi Arad Productions. In this new capacity, Mr. Arad will remain actively involved in Marvel's upcoming film slate, including Iron Man and Hulk, the first two films anticipated to be financed and produced by Marvel under its new film financing slate. Mr. Arad will also remain attached to produce various licensed productions, including the upcoming Spider-Man 3, scheduled for release next year, and subsequent sequels. Consistent with this restructuring, Mr. Arad is resigning from his corporate positions as Chairman and CEO of Marvel Studios, Chief Creative Officer of Marvel and a Marvel director, but will continue to serve as Creative Advisor for Marvel through the remainder of 2006.

There's a lot more to the article also, but this is a fairly surprising move.

[Broughden]

Just read this over at Newsarama:

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: MVL), a global character-based entertainment and licensing company, today announced that the company has entered into a new arrangement with Avi Arad to independently produce films for Marvel under his own production company banner, Avi Arad Productions. In this new capacity, Mr. Arad will remain actively involved in Marvel's upcoming film slate, including Iron Man and Hulk, the first two films anticipated to be financed and produced by Marvel under its new film financing slate. Mr. Arad will also remain attached to produce various licensed productions, including the upcoming Spider-Man 3, scheduled for release next year, and subsequent sequels. Consistent with this restructuring, Mr. Arad is resigning from his corporate positions as Chairman and CEO of Marvel Studios, Chief Creative Officer of Marvel and a Marvel director, but will continue to serve as Creative Advisor for Marvel through the remainder of 2006.

There's a lot more to the article also, but this is a fairly surprising move.

Another Hulk movie? hadnt heard about that.

[HaemishM]

Just read this over at Newsarama:

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: MVL), a global character-based entertainment and licensing company, today announced that the company has entered into a new arrangement with Avi Arad to independently produce films for Marvel under his own production company banner, Avi Arad Productions. In this new capacity, Mr. Arad will remain actively involved in Marvel's upcoming film slate, including Iron Man and Hulk, the first two films anticipated to be financed and produced by Marvel under its new film financing slate. Mr. Arad will also remain attached to produce various licensed productions, including the upcoming Spider-Man 3, scheduled for release next year, and subsequent sequels. Consistent with this restructuring, Mr. Arad is resigning from his corporate positions as Chairman and CEO of Marvel Studios, Chief Creative Officer of Marvel and a Marvel director, but will continue to serve as Creative Advisor for Marvel through the remainder of 2006.

There's a lot more to the article also, but this is a fairly surprising move.

Not really that surprising once you think about it. Arad will do the same shit he always did, only he'll get paid more to do it because it's through his own production company. It's win/win for him, and apparently Marvel values his time enough to get stuck by him.

[Velorath]

Also from Newsarama

We start Fantastic Four 2 in August. The four of us learn that there are other people out there with superpowers, and the Silver Surfer appears as a villain/hero. And another villain comes in as well. My character, Susan Storm, has another love triangle and may use a power people haven't seen before. She's the most powerful of the four.”

With Silver Surfer appearing the obvious question is whether there's any sort of set-up for Galactus.  As far as love triangles go, there was that whole thing between her and Namor.  If they decide to use him I can only figure that they've given up on trying to come up with ways to do a Namor movie.  He'd be a decent fit in Fantastic Four though.

[stray]

Man, I hope they don't fuck it up. It needs to be successful - The Surfer needs a spinoff.

[Johny Cee]

Surfer!!!

There were two comics I contiued to read into high school:  Surfer and The Punisher (give me a break,  I live in NYS;  at the time we were sure that NYC was going to collapse into gang ruled anarchy...)

The Surfer is waaaaay to bizarre and high concept to rate the high budget it would require to do decent effects.

[stray]

I'd settle for a straight to video, animated movie (though CGI would be best). Origin story, lots of celestial shit, rockin' soundtrack, etc..

It'd probably be better than high budget feature anyways.

[Velorath]

Or maybe the writers will just latch onto the "Surfer" part and turn him into a dive shop owner who teams up with Ving Rhames

[Johny Cee]

I'd settle for a straight to video, animated movie (though CGI would be best). Origin story, lots of celestial shit, rockin' soundtrack, etc..

It'd probably be better than high budget feature anyways.

Animated would mean that they could shoot for more of a high concept take.  Justice League actually does superhero fiction pretty well.

[Evil Elvis]

I liked the Hulk movie.  I think there were only 4 things holding it back from actually being good:

1) The last 15 minutes is some of the most god awful shit I've ever seen.
2) Hulk dogs.
3) I thought the comic-book transitions didn't jibe well with the brooding nature of the film.
4) Selling it as a summer blockbuster, family-fun movie; like Spider-man.  It was a poor popcorn flick, but it told a decent story.

[Hoax]

I'd settle for a straight to video, animated movie (though CGI would be best). Origin story, lots of celestial shit, rockin' soundtrack, etc..

It'd probably be better than high budget feature anyways.

Animated would mean that they could shoot for more of a high concept take.  Justice League actually does superhero fiction pretty well.

QFT.

I really think only gritty "real" characters need live action movies.  I'm always fucking amazed that the X-Men movies (I didn't watch 3) were so solid.  But I'm betting if I re-watched 1 & 2 I would be less impressed.  Ghost Rider deserves a live action, Punisher could have a second and the Wolverine movie could be good if they play up the bad ass angle a great deal more then they did in X-Men.  Deadpool wouldn't be terrible, Cable would become a bad sci-fi movie most likely.  Silver Surfer is guaranteed to suck balls in live action same with Namor.

As for Iron Man is he's a good series character but I can't think of any one event that you could make into a movie.  Basically their best bet may be to make him into James Bond but with a really badass looking suit of armor.  Make the villians more over the top and make sure the babe is smoking.  Somehow they will fuck it up.  I really dont understand why Marvel refuses to put an animated show on TV, does DC have an exclusive contract with CN and Marvel actually knows better then to release some kiddie crap on the pathetic Saturday morning network slots or something?

[Velorath]

Not particularly related to Marvel or comics, but it's being reported that Boaz Yakin is writing the upcoming Conan movie.  Highlights from his resume include writing Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, From Dusk Till Dawn 2, and the Dolph Lundgren version of The Punisher.  Needless to say, I'm not enthused.