The Geek Beat is taking a late-September vacation to Middle Earth -- but it will be back next month and those of you suffering withdrawels can always check the archives. In the meantime, you can relax with a daily round-up of nerdy news bites. (They taste like coconut!) This is relaxing for me, too -- I get to catch up on my reading, my Halloween shopping, and my yoga. I can stay up all night re-reading Preacher (you know I will) and not waiting for an X-Men Origins: Wolverine story. A good way to end summer! Now, onto today's news ...
- According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jeffery Erb and Robert Robinson Jr. have launched Framelight Productions with an eye to producing edgy comic and graphic novel adaptations. They already have options on Larry Hama's Dr. Death with Kip and Muffy, Gary Reed's Deadworld, Ralph Tedesco and Joe Tyler's Sins of the Fallen, as well as their 1001 Arabian Nights. (Clicking on any of those links will take you to previews of the books.) All of their productions aim to do one thing in particular -- involve the creator in all aspects of movie making. "We weren't the only producers wanting to make movies based on these creators' babies, but we were the only ones inviting them in as co-producers," says Erb.
- Edward Norton told MTV News that he's uncertain about the future of The Incredible Hulk and his role in it. There's been no word on whether they will be a solo sequel, or if Norton will be playing the Hulk in The Avengers. "The minds of Marvel are sometimes opaque. I won't say [they're] obtuse, but I don't have any idea what they want to do." Perhaps they're considering Matthew McConaughey, who had no idea he was rumored for Captain America -- but revealed to MTV that Hulk is really the only Marvel character he would like to play. (They could save on the budget -- all they have to do is dye that muscled dude green.)
- According to The Sunday Times, Tobey Maguire has been granted an unprecedented "working father" deal for Spider-Man 4 and 5. He's willing to shoot them back to back, a six month shoot starting next year, but only if he's allowed early mornings and evenings off to spend with his young daughter. Awwww. He really is Peter Parker!
- According to Access Hollywood, Clark Duke is the latest to join Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass. He'll be playing Marty, best friend of Dave Lizewski, the main character. This film could be subtitled Kick-Ass: The Superbad Reunion.
- And speaking of Mark Millar -- /film has a scoop on a behind the scenes battle centered on the rights to his upcoming series War Heroes. A big-screen adaptation has been making its way around Hollywood, which has upset those who have been developing Shannon Eric Denton and Keith Giffen's series Grunts. Grunts came out first, has a similar concept of superpowered soldiers, and reportedly garnered the interest of Steve Buscemi. Comics2Film caught up with Denton, who confirms Grunts is making the rounds, but denies any knowledge of bickering or Buscemi.
1. I liked Norton as Banner/Hulk, I hope he comes back. I get that there may be no standalone sequel already taken care of, but I'm surprised that they don't have him optioned already to play Hulk in the Avengers film. I guess I just assumed all of that was a done deal since Marvel has been doing so much work setting Avengers up with the standalone films. Maybe that's not realistic, I'm far from a hollywood insider, but I was hoping that they already had the key players (that they know of) signed to do The Avengers.
Anyway, I'LL MISS THE GEEK BEAT, but absence makes the heart grow fonder...glad it'll be back next month.
Posted at 12:06PM on Sep 16th 2008 by Moo