Tag Archives: Paramount Pictures

Iron Man 3 To Get Shane Black

Posted on by Arleigh

When Marvel Pictures and filmmaker Jon Favreau announced that he wouldn’t be doing Iron Man 3 there were some worries that no one would be up to the task to replace the man who brought the character of Iron Man to the big-screen. The first film was a fun, origin story that showed Iron Man was above being relegated to Tier 2 superhero status. The sequel wasn’t as well-planned and executed. There were rumblings behind the scenes that Favreau was none too happy with Marvel for rushing the sequel.

The split between filmmaker and studio has been amicable in public and Favreau will remain as producer of the third film. Once it was official that a new director would be needed the search began and the interwebs and it’s geek hordes went into rumor overdrive. The question everyone wanted to know now is will Marvel make the same mistake 20th Century Fox did when they replaced Bryan Singer for X-Men 3 with Brett Ratner or will they actually do their due diligence and find someone who understands the Iron Man franchise to make a third film work.

It looks like Marvel may have done their job during their search for, according to the entertainment news site Deadline, writer-directed Shane Black is now in negotiations with the studio to take over for Favreau and helm the third film. If the deal goes through then it couldn’t have happened to a better filmmaker and definitely puts the franchise in very capable hands.

Black made his directorial debut with the critically-acclaimed and popular comedy-mystery, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (which also happened to have had Robert Downey, Jr. in the lead), and he’s been one of the best writers of action films since the late 80’s when he penned the first two Lethal Weapon films.

Personally, I think this is an upgrade from Favreau. I thought Favreau was a good filmmaker who did a great job in making the first Iron Man film not get lost in the hype and hoopla that was The Dark Knight, but the second film also showed that the expectations the first film created for the sequel may have been too much for him to handle. Whether Marvel studio heads rushed him or not he didn’t stand up to the challenge.

With Shane Black the franchise now has a filmmaker who understands action films, but also how to make them fun and irreverent. While the Deadline article didn’t specify whether Black will be writing the script for the third film in addition to directing, I would find think Marvel would want to tap Black’s penchant for writing smart, funny action scripts to make sure Iron Man 3 gets back to the high-bar the first film had set. One thing that bodes well for all this is that Robert Downey, Jr. has worked with Black before so the two shouldn’t have to worry about getting comfortable with each other.

Iron Man 3 has no release date other than Marvel wanting it to be a 2013 Summer film. Until, then let’s hope Marvel doesn’t screw the negotiations up and lose Black.

Source: Deadline

Thor (Super Bowl TV Spot)

Posted on by Arleigh

The second Marvel Pictures superhero is plain and simply the awesome Asgard Thunder God himself. Thor is the Kenneth Branagh directed adaptation which will help tie-in with the rest of the Marvel Pictures produced superhero hero film of the last 3 years.

The Super Bowl tv spot shows new scenes in addition to those already shown in the official trailer released a couple months ago. This tv spot is all about Chris Hemsworth being Thor. There’s action sequences involving him battling Odin’s weapon of mass destruction in The Destroyer in what’s probably a town in New Mexico. We don’t see much of any of the other Asgardians like Loki, Sif, The Warriors Three and Heimdall.

Of all the superhero films Marvel has been working on since they decided to handle making films of their comic book properties this one has to be the wild-card of the bunch with the highest chance of failing. So far, the hype for the film has been even with many loving what they’ve seen, so far. Then there are those who seem to be hating what they’ve seen, so far. We’ll see on May 6, 2011 which side ends up being correct.

Super 8 (Super Bowl TV Spot)

Posted on by Arleigh

I’ve always looked at all J.J. Abrams productions with some guarded optimism since so many people seem to hype his stuff. I liked his reboot of Star Trek, but was very so-so on his Mission Impossible 3. I will admit that he does have a good batting average when it comes to tv and now film. His latest film is Super 8.

This Super Bowl tv spot shows more than the teaser trailer with the train wreck and the steel door being pounded at. The film looks to be set sometime around the 1950’s if the set is to be believed. Some have reacted to info leaked about this film as Abrams’ homage on a certain family-friendly Spielberg alien film from the early 80’s.

Super 8 looks like the one film this summer that the less I know about it the better I’ll enjoy it when it finally comes out on June 10, 2011.

Captain America: The First Avenger (Super Bowl TV Spot)

Posted on by Arleigh

Ok, one of the big Marvel Pictures blockbusters finally gets it’s first ever trailer/tv spot release. I am talking about Joe Johnstone’s upcoming film adaptation of Captain America.

The trailer shows Chris Evans in the role of Steve Rogers both in his super-soldier persona and the before version when he’s a short, sickly and thin recruit. I will say that it was a tad disconcerting to see Chris Evans so sickly. The rest of the tv spot showed Captain America fighting the Nazis during World War 2 and I think there’s even a super brief glimpse of Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull removing his mask or, at least, losing his face which would be replaced by the iconic red skull head mask.

The film has been titled Captain America: The First Avenger and is set for a July 22, 2011 release.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Super Bowl TV Spot)

Posted on by Arleigh

I think most everyone will admit that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen wasn’t very good and to some people it was just one piece of turd. Even Michael Bay himself has admitted that the first sequel just tried to do too much without any sort of plan on how to pull it off.

Now, we have the third film and what looks like, at least from the trailer, may be a tad better. There seems to be more focus on the transformers themselves and the two sides fighting it out with lots of human collateral damage.

I sure hope this third film is not going to be like the second and more like the first but this time with invasion to make it more epic. The film comes out on July 1, 2011.

 

Kung Fu Panda 2 (Super Bowl TV Spot)

Posted on by Arleigh

Here’s another tv spot to air during Super Bowl XLV and this time around it’s the one for the upcoming sequel to Dreamworks Animations very popular and successful Kung Fu Panda.

This one using that Queen arena anthem chant from “We Will Rock You”. The 30-second ty spot shows more action with the requisite panda shenanigans from Jack Black’s character.

Kung Fu Panda 2 is one sequel I’m definitely hyped to see as the first film I ended up watching over and over and over and over and over again. The film comes out on May 26, 2011.

Captain America: The First Avenger (Official Poster)

Posted on by Arleigh

After a couple weeks of Marvel Studios and Paramount releasing official pics from the set of Captain America: The First Avenger we finally get to the first official film poster for the film. The poster itself is all about Chris Evans as Steve Rogers in the Captain America suit with the shield. The helmet is nowhere in sight, but previous released pics have already shown it and this image picked for the poster really shows off the suit.

The poster’s image is grittier in nature than I was expecting, but if one believes the rumors about which Captain America writers have influenced the script then the gritty look fits. It definitely brings to mind much of how Ed Brubaker of Marvel wrote the character just a couple years ago right before his death after the Civil War crossover in Marvel Comics.

So far, all the things Marvel has released about this film has done nothing but assuage whatever doubts fans may have about the film. Here’s to hoping that these pics and releases of information about the film will lead to a successful film.

Thor – Official Teaser Trailer

Posted on by Arleigh

First we get the first official Thor poster and now just a day later we finally have the first official trailer (just a teaser, but still a trailer) for this film which looks to be one of the most-awaited films for 2011’s summer blockbuster season.

The teaser looks to be a shorter version of the sizzle reel shown at this past summer’s San Diego Comic-Con. We get to see Thor in his Asgard and human form and boy did Hemsworth look like he worked out to fit the role. Dude looks yoked. There’s some scenes of the Destroyer doing its destroying things deal that wasn’t in the Con footage and we get a bit more Loki scenes even if they’re just a tad fleeting.

The trailer has just increased my need to see this film and it looks like Thor will explore the more epic and outrageous side of the Marvel Universe with the Asgard’s advanced tech seeming to act and look like magic to those on Midgard (Earth). Here’s to hoping Kenneth Branagh was up to task in adding some gravitas and his penchant for working well with Shakespearean themes into what is just a comic book film.

Thor Official Poster

Posted on by Arleigh

Finally! We now have the first official poster from Marvel Studios in regards to one of their tentpole 2011 summer films.

Thor looks to continue building the Marvel Universe live-action world which began with the first Iron Man then followed up by both The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2. This film will finally put the Asgardian Thunder God on the big-screen with Chris Hemsworth (played Captain Kirk’s father in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot) in the title role with British filmmaker Kenneth Branagh in the director’s chair.

The film sports quite a cast with Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba, Tadanobu Asano, Tom Hiddleston and Stellan Skarsgard brought in to support Hemsworth. This film will be one of the films to usher in the 2011 summer blockbuster season as it gets a May 2011 release. A sizzle reel of some finished footage was shown in this past summer’s San Diego Comic-Con and reaction was mostly positive though there was a vocal minority who moaned that the look of the film looked to be too corny or just plain awful.

One must take such reactions, both in the positive end and the negative end with a grain of salt as the crowd in the audience are the hardcore of the hardcore fans. It’s not surprising that the reactions would be extreme on both ends.

Thor is either doing some final reshoots of scenes or has already completed them with post-production work now in gear to get the film ready for it’s May 2011 release date. Hopefully, part of said post-production is to fine-tune the 3-D process for the film so as to avoid any Clash of the Titans and The Last Airbender 3-D debacles which has given 3-D a bad name after a great showing with James Cameron’s Avatar.

I, for one, cannot wait to finally sit in that darkened theater to see Thor with his mighty hammer, Mjolnir, smiting foes both Asgardian and technological. It is with guarded optimism that this film continues what has been and still is an ambitious project by Marvel Studios to tie-in all their films together to create an epic and ever-growing universe on film.

Source: Yahoo! Movies

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Teaser Trailer)

Posted on by Arleigh

Well, what is there to say about the Transformers franchise other than it is what it is. A special-effects heavy flick about a Hasbro toyline from the 80’s that has become a sensation (a good first film with a sub-par follow-up) that’s made millions worldwide. The fact that Michael Bay (who I tend to believe as only a step above Uwe Boll in his talent as a filmmaker) is the filmmaker in charge of the franchise almost guarantees that each film will be a hit no matter what critics say.

Now we have the third film in the series with the very Pink Floyd-ish title which I am sure Pink Floyd fans are none to happy about. The film is deep into its film schedule and the fact that there’s now a teaser trailer with still 7 months to go before its July 1, 2011 release tells me that pre-production on this project began either as soon as the second film premiered or while it was finishing post.

Gone in this third and, as Michael Bay announced earlier, final film in the series is Megan Fox thus Shia LeBouf’s character Sam Witwicky will have a new love interest in English model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Most of the cast from both previous films will return and so do most of the primary Transformers on both sides. With the Fallen having fallen in the second film this third entry will bring in one of the more popular Decepticons in Shockwave to act as the main villain. How they’ll work this part of the script into having Shockwave being the main heavy despite Megatron still appearing in the film will be interesting to see.

In the end, the film will have great special-effects courtesy of ILM with chaos and destruction as seen through the mad-eyes of Bay. The wild card is whether Bay has learned how to work the 3-D cameras used to film the project from beginning to end. Because no matter what people may think of James Cameron he seems to be the only one who has figured out how to properly create an immersive 3-D film and not lose out on the action end.

Will Bay’s hyper-kinetic and MTV-style editing be able to work well with 3-D or will this third film just end up making its entire audience nauseous and I don’t mean from the film’s plot. We’ll soon find out this coming July.