Posts with tag Iron Man
Posted Jun 17th 2008 2:38PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Horror, Awards, New Releases, Fandom
Apparently teens have short attention spans, evidenced by this year's nominees for the 2008 Teen Choice Awards, which
were announced this morning. Looking at the first two movie categories, Best Action Adventure Movie and Best Actor: Action Adventure, all the contenders (including
Iron Man,
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and
The Forbidden Kingdom) are from either May or late April of this year. I guess this summer's other movies, like
The Dark Knight,
The Incredible Hulk and
Hancock will just be ignored, since they're too late for this year and won't be remembered next year.
Another related thing that was revealed: actresses were not too prominent in action movies of that same period, because the category for Best Actress: Action Adventure looks back a little farther to Abigail Breslin in
Nim's Island, Rachel Bilson in
Jumper and (whoah, December? that was so long ago) Diane Kruger in
National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
Continue reading 2008 Teen Choice Awards Nominees Announced
Posted Jun 17th 2008 11:02AM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Paramount, Distribution, Dreamworks, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg
Over the weekend, Paramount Pictures International
went over the $1 billion mark, reportedly thanks to the success of its distribution of summer blockbusters
Iron Man ($210 million),
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($350 million) and
Kung Fu Panda ($41 million), as well as earlier releases
The Spiderwick Chronicles ($91 million),
Cloverfield ($90 million) and
No Country for Old Men ($86 million). Paramount is the first studio to reach a billion bucks in international grosses this year, and it did so faster than in 2007, when it didn't top the figure until late July.
But is it really fair for Paramount to be bragging so much?
On her Variety blog, Anne Thompson weighs in on the news, pointing out that all three of the studio's summer blockbusters were produced outside the main studio.
Indiana Jones was Lucasfilm;
Iron Man was Marvel;
Panda was DreamWorks Animation. Of course, Paramount deserves a lot of credit for the marketing of these films, but Thompson wonders what it will be like if DreamWorks really does break away soon. Fortunately it has a good looking slate for the next few years, thanks to next year's toy-based titles
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and
G.I. Joe, and then the next four or five Marvel Studios releases in 2010 and 2011.
Continue reading Paramount Boasts Billion Dollar B.O. Overseas
Posted Jun 16th 2008 12:35PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Monday Morning Poll
First off, I need to apologize because I was supposed to provide our second
Incredible Hulk review late last week, but life got in the way and I never produced it for you. I know, I'm a horrible person and I've given myself 27 lashings as punishment, though I'm sure
Scott's review of the film helped you decide whether to see it or not. Truth be told, I wasn't that crazy about it -- but I'm also not a huge fan of Bruce Banner or the Hulk as characters. Banner, to me, is too depressing; how do you root for a guy who wants to hide in the corner? Sure, there are other loners like Batman and Spider-Man, but both of those guys have some fun toys to play with (like a car and a web). Banner has the Hulk, who, well, smashes things. Yay!
But anyway, Marvel gave fans a good flick with tons of action, crazy special effects and more than a few geeky nods to the comics and to
The Avengers. Following the successful opening weekend of
Iron Man, all we talked about was the sequel. Now that
The Incredible Hulk seems to have won back more than a few fans, what are your feelings on a sequel? I've heard some say they'd rather Hulk return as a villain in
The Avengers film (tentatively due out in 2011), but would you rather the guy get another solo flick too? Where are you at with this character? Do you want a franchise? Can you picture one?
Posted Jun 15th 2008 3:02PM by Eugene Novikov
Filed under: Box Office, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek
The rumor mill has been awfully quiet on Hancock recently, despite everybody and their mother predicting megabucks upon its July 4th weekend release. But there's at least this: in an apparent attempt to take after Iron Man, which did the same thing back in May, Hancock will be hitting some US theaters a few hours early.
If you'd like, you'll be able to see the Will Smith superhero comedy -- which, by the way, finally got its PG-13 rating from the MPAA after wrestling with the dreaded R for a little while -- starting at 7 pm on July 1st, rather than the previously scheduled July 2nd.
Continue reading 'Hancock' Moves Up a Day
Posted Jun 13th 2008 11:32AM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Paramount, RumorMonger, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Comic/Superhero/Geek
He's portrayed a few iconic characters, including Shakespeare's Romeo and Howard Hughes, but could
Leonardo DiCaprio be taken seriously as an iconic superhero? Specifically the Sentinel of Liberty -- Captain America?
According to Latino Review (a site well-known and typically respected for its accuracy with rumors of this sort), Marvel Studios has placed Leo on the top of their list of candidates for the role. Of course, there's been no offer made yet, and this is simply the same sort of wish list we heard about for
Thor (
Brad Pitt is the top of that list), so there's no need to get crazy over the possibility ... yet.
Speaking of Pitt, Marvel apparently has placed him as second on their list for Cap. They either want him for
The First Avenger: Captain America or
Thor. Maybe they'll even offer him the roles of Ant-Man and everyone else in
The Avengers (it would be like
this, but with Pitt playing all the roles instead of Johnny Depp). There's no mention of who is #3. It could be
Matthew McConaughey, who
was rumored to be considered before. Or, it could be George Washington. Yes, the real G.W., first President of the United States. Not only is he perfectly relevant for the part, but I think Marvel has as good a chance of casting him as they do of casting Leo.
Continue reading Latest Captain America Casting Rumor: Leo?
Posted Jun 12th 2008 9:00PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Action, Paramount, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
I've gotten excited over teaser trailers without any footage. I've even gotten excited over teaser posters with nothing more than a title (and the words "coming soon") on them. But I never thought I'd get excited over a mere title graphic alone -- no trailer, no poster, no nothing, save for a logo and a release year. Well, that's what just happened. I got all giddy over
a post on MTV Movies Blog featuring a bunch of new logos for the next four Marvel Studios release. There's
Iron Man II,
Thor,
The First Avenger: Captain America and
The Avengers, all written in mostly familiar fonts (if you're a comic book reader, that is).
The logos were unveiled at the New York Licensing Expo, from which we've also seen new promotional materials
from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,
from Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins and
from Where the Wild Things Are. This latest image may not be as exciting as those, but if you grew up with any of these titles, you may still be as excited as I am by seeing their logos. I'm pretty glad they didn't go with the arched, red, white and blue striped logo for Captain America, and I really hope they stick with the plain old Roman numerals for
Iron Man II and avoid any subtitle or alternate title. Also, The Avengers logo is just how I remember it.
Two complaints, though, coming from an old, old Thor reader: first, I much preferred the original Thor logo, with the torn-paper look; second, I wish Marvel would rethink their avoidance of "The Mighty" part before the character's name. After all, look what happened with the simply titled
Hulk. Are we to assume the first
Thor will be a disappointment and we can then look forward to a reboot titled
The Mighty Thor?
So, will we be seeing this compilation of logos as a four-in-one teaser poster in theaters soon?
Posted Jun 11th 2008 10:32AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Casting, RumorMonger, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek
With
all the bad Iron Man news floating around this week, it seems fitting that we take a glance back and remember when all the rumors circling around his debut were fun.
If you remember, there was a flurry of interest surrounding
Iron Man cameos, and one of
the confirmed names was Hilary Swank. Speculation was rampant as to who she would be, the guesses ranging from She-Hulk to Black Widow. And then
Iron Man came and went, with no Swank to be seen. I assumed she had been left on the cutting room floor, and would show up on the DVD.
Continue reading The Truth About Hilary Swank's 'Iron Man' Cameo
Posted Jun 10th 2008 12:37PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, RumorMonger, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Over on
MySpace, writer-director
Jon Favreau (aka the newest Marvel superhero) has been answering a bunch of
Iron Man-related questions from fans ... though I may want to slip in there and ask about a
Swingers sequel and throw everything off balance. One thing Favreau has been very vocal about are the
scheduled release dates for Iron Man 2 and The Avengers. He's already stressed that it would be near impossible for him to direct both since they're only a year apart, but now he's going on record complaining about the 2010 release date for
Iron Man 2.
He says, "I am concerned, however, about the announced release date of April 2010. Neither Robert nor I were consulted about this and we are both concerned about how realistic the date is in light of the fact that we have no script, story or even writers hired yet. This genre of movie is best when it is done thoughtfully and with plenty of preparation. It might be better to follow the BB/DK, X/X2 three year release pattern than to scramble for a date. It is difficult because there are no Marvel 09 releases and they need product, but I also think we owe it to the fans to have a great version of IM2 and, at this point, we would have less time to make it than the first one."
Continue reading Favreau Not Keen on 'Iron Man 2' Release Date
Posted Jun 9th 2008 11:02AM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Trailers and Clips
Warning: The above TV spot kinda spoils the Tony Stark cameo in
The Incredible Hulk. Watch at your own risk.
A very smart new TV spot for
The Incredible Hulk opens on a snippet of the scene featuring Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and General Ross (William Hurt), spoiling what, for many of your average moviegoers, would have been a giant surprise. Of course, those of us living out our days in internet movie geek land have known about the Stark cameo for awhile now -- and
if you visited New York Comic Con earlier this year, you would've seen a good majority of the Stark scene during the
Hulk panel.
But the question is: Should they have ruined the surprise for everyone right off the bat with this new commercial? I guess it depends on which side you're on. From a marketing standpoint, it's kinda brilliant and a great way to show moviegoers that both
The Incredible Hulk and the wildly-successful
Iron Man are connected in some way. And while many predict
Hulk will not pull in
Iron Man numbers, throwing that film's star in a trailer will certainly help
Hulk give its Marvel counterpart a run for its money. Then again, some folks like to be surprised -- but what's to say the Stark cameo is the only surprise in the film? Oooohhh ... goosebumps! I'm seeing
The Incredible Hulk in just a few hours from now and I'm stoked. Fingers crossed for Norton, Roth and the gang!
The Incredible Hulk smashes into theaters this Friday.
[via
The Movie Box]
Posted Jun 5th 2008 4:02PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Action, Box Office, Distribution, Exhibition, Family Films, Summer Movies
After the disappointing box office of both
Speed Racer and
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian last month, it's apparent that May was too busy a month for all its blockbusters to succeed. Last week,
Eric D. Snider initiated a discussion about
Caspian's release date and many of our readers agreed that it should have been released in December, or any other month, for that matter. Couldn't it have been a success in February or October, too? As part of an initially popular franchise, you'd think it could stand to be released anytime of the year.
Earlier today,
I responded to an interview in which two cinema industry honchos argued that big movies should be released 12 months in the year. Or, at least, the summer movie season should begin earlier, in April. Imagine, the first blockbuster of the year being released on Easter weekend. Or, when Easter is in March, April Fool's Day weekend. Unfortunately, the month doesn't have any Monday holidays with which to capitalize on a three-day-weekend release, but a two-day weekend didn't seem to hurt
Iron Man's enormous opening.
One commenter on my earlier post noted that moving the summer season up to April will only make that month the busiest release month, just as May is currently. But there's a good chance Hollywood will recognize, after May 2008, the benefits of staying spread out. Plus, Memorial Day weekend will continue to be prime real estate, so tentpoles might be better spread out, as they should be according to their name (imagine going camping and placing all your literal tentpoles in one corner).
What do you think? Should the summer movie season begin earlier? Or is it just fine as is? Or did you think it actually began on April 18 with the release of the fantasy martial arts flick
The Forbidden Kingdom?
Posted Jun 5th 2008 1:02PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Action, Exhibition, Family Films, Remakes and Sequels, Summer Movies
Officially, the
season of summer doesn't begin for another two weeks, but for the movie business, summer 2008 started back on May 2, with the release of
Iron Man. Though it seemed like an early enough start, some exhibitors would like it to begin even earlier, like in April. In
an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, John Fithian, who heads the National Association of Theatre Owners (the largest trade group for cinema operators), and Mike Campbell (no relation), who runs Regal Entertainment (the largest cinema chain in the U.S.), discuss the benefits of having tentpole (aka blockbuster) movies released all year long rather than in just the summer and winter holiday seasons and ask that Hollywood at least consider bumping up some major releases to April rather than the busy month of May.
The argument for limiting tentpoles to the summer has always been that it's a time when kids are out from school. But as Fithian points out, most kids are still in school through May, when the biggest blockbusters are released. And movies like
Iron Man and
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull still made a lot of money anyway. In fact, aside from whatever tentpole is scheduled for July 4th weekend, the movies released in May are often the biggest moneymakers of the year. At least for Hollywood. But according to Fithian, theater owners actually lost a lot of money in May because of how many tentpoles are released so closely together. Campbell adds that overall box office gross would be up significantly if major releases were more evenly spread out. Certainly moviegoers would appreciate having more blockbusters and/or better movies released in months like January and September, as well as other months often considered "dumping grounds" for movies that shouldn't have even been made.
Continue reading Theater Owners Want Summer to Begin in April
Posted Jun 1st 2008 9:57PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Awards, Fandom
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"The second one's gonna be f**kin' badass!"-- Megan Fox on
Transformers 2
The
2008 MTV Movie Awards are in the books and
Transformers came out on top with the best movie award, with director Michael Bay and an unbelievably hot (seriously -- no one should be
that good looking)
Megan Fox accepting the honors. Bay, who was sitting next to his own Fox all night, looked happy up there at the podium -- and if it was possible to make love to yourself on live television, we probably would've seen something nasty.
Highlights for me this year include a very funny
Wayne's World reunion, in which the boys counted down the top ten porn names for 2008 films (even though half the flicks mentioned came out in 2007). Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. cracked me up big time with their
Tropic Thunder viral video bit, which concluded with them blowing up Black's head in order to impress Stiller's overweight, internet nerdy nephew. (Loved the line about
Iron Man: "It'll do till
The Dark Knight gets here." Classic!)
Myers was a decent host; liked the animal trainer bit; was iffy on the craft services chick. How odd was that gum commercial/sketch with the award rolling around in the bathroom? Thought the Sandler tribute was cute, though most of the intro jokes fell flat. (I love Seth Rogen and James Franco, but that pot bit tanked hard. Did you see the uncomfortable looks from the audience? And what was up with the wide shot for the entire bit, this way no one at home could actually see what was happening on stage?) Oh, and I will
admit -- the kiss from
Step Up 2 the Streets was kinda hot.
Step Up 3 Way ... anyone? J/K!!
Favorite moments from this year's show? Did you watch it? Do you care?
WAIT! One more thing:
How 21 Jump Street did
Johnny Depp look tonight???? Holy crap, dude looked 17.
Hang on! Check out a gallery from the show below ...
%Gallery-24143%
Posted May 30th 2008 9:55AM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Drama, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Movie Marketing, Images
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Over at
USA Today, they've got a first look at
Robert Downey Jr. and
Jamie Foxx in
The Soloist, due out November 21st. Based on a true story, Downey Jr. plays
Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, who discovers a schizophrenic music prodigy (Foxx) living on Skid Row. On this role versus playing a superhero in
Iron Man, Downey Jr. notes, "I've loved every part of
Iron Man. But the last thing you want is to be seen as
that guy, who just does
that role." Funnily enough, he says this as he's about to play another real-life reporter not long after he took on the role of Paul Avery in
Zodiac. Next up for Downey Jr.? Well, Superman, of course -- this way he can play superhero
and reporter! The perfect mix!
The Soloist also stars Stephen Root and Catherine Keener, and it was directed by Joe Wright (whose
Atonement popped up on all sorts of awards lists last year).
Whaddya think? Can you see Jamie Foxx as a homeless, schizophrenic music prodigy?
Posted May 29th 2008 8:02PM by Jeffrey M. Anderson
Filed under: Columns, 400 Screens, 400 Blows
I had a friend once who claimed that there was no point in listening to a record or seeing a movie that was merely good, that to invest the money and time, it should be great. I later caught him listening to -- and enjoying almost to the point of tears -- a CD that would never be described by anyone as great. The point is that sometimes a good movie does wonders for the soul that a great movie could never hope to replicate. Take a look at
Iron Man, still on nearly 4000 screens and still raking in the returns. It's well on its way to earning $300 million and shows no signs of stopping there. It's currently the #1 highest grossing film of the year, as well as one of the top rated films at Rotten Tomatoes, with a whopping 93%. I'm one of the movie's fans, but it seems to me that this response is based more on sheer gratitude than anything else. Everyone seems to be simultaneously chiming in: thanks for the good movie!
2008 has been a lousy year for great movies, but I have seen quite a few good ones. The documentary Young@Heart (212 screens), for example, has continued to live in my memory long after I saw it, and long after any of the award-winning Iraq documentaries I've had to sit through. I suspect that it's one of those rare, word-of-mouth docs like March of the Penguins or Grizzly Man that people actually tell their friends about. I don't want to give anything away, but before I saw the movie I didn't care much for the band Coldplay, and now I can't listen to "Fix You" without getting a lump in my throat. The key to this movie is that it looked terrible before I went in, and it turned out to be a huge and happy surprise.
Continue reading Jeffrey M. Anderson's 400 Screens, 400 Blows - Good Movies, Good Company
Posted May 22nd 2008 3:32PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Sony, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Don't worry, I'm not going to go off on a tangent here about how things were better in my day, but I will say that watching the whacked out
80's incarnation of
Flash Gordon is one of my favorite childhood memories (I can hear the strains of Queen's
theme song as I type this). So you can imagine I wasn't exactly thrilled with the news that the man behind the 'swashbuckling bomb'
Sahara had signed to direct an update of the classic sci-fi story.
Variety reports that Sony has won the bidding war for the rights to make a live-action film based on Alex Raymond's original comic strip with
Breck Eisner at the helm.
In the original story, "Flash was a handsome polo player who is kidnapped and taken to the planet Mongo. He is pitted against an evil ruler named Ming the Merciless." Some of the other incarnations of Flash included making him a football player, and a hover-boarding teen in the 90's (um, OK). In 2007, the Sci-Fi channel also attempted to reboot the series with
Eric Johnson in the lead, but the series was canceled shortly after.
Believe me, I know the 1980 film was
a total flop, and most of it looked like it was conceived on a mushroom trip. But how you can say no to flying hawk men,
Timothy Dalton dressed like Robin Hood while in a fight to the death, and
Max Von Sydow in a skull cap?
Continue reading 'Sahara' Director to Helm New 'Flash Gordon' Flick
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