Sci-Fi Movies Monday: Disney Buys Marvel + Batman, District 9, Iron Man, Green Lantern, Zombieland + more

The big news this week is today’s $4B purchase of Marvel Entertainment by Disney, details below. Also in our weekly genre movie news wrap-up we cover some Batman and Underworld  rumors, find out what is next for District 9, and report troubles for Green Lantern and Green Hornet. Plus all the latest trailers and images, including 2012, Zombieland and more.

GENRE MOVIE NEWS

Disney Purchases Marvel for $4 Billion
Walt Disney Company is purchasing Marvel Entertainment, which includes the film studio Marvel Studios, for $4 billion in cash and stocks. Under the terms of the deal — and upon approval by shareholders at Marvel — Disney would acquire ownership of 5,000 Marvel characters:

“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s chief executive officer. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.”

“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said in a statement announcing the deal.

Disney said that they will honor previous deals Marvel made for distribution of their properties — for example, “Spider-Man 4” through Sony Pictures, “Iron Man 2” through Paramount Pictures and “X-Men Origins: Magneto” and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2” through 20th Century Fox — and re-examine them upon expiration.

Batman Rumors: ‘Dark Knight’ Follow-up Completely in IMAX? + Megan Fox Catwoman?
“The Dark Knight”
director Christopher Nolan shot several scenes from the film using IMAX cameras, a feature that went over incredibly well with fans and if a certain rumor/report from AICN pans out, we may be able to experience Nolan’s follow-up to the film entirely in IMAX:

The THIRD chapter of Christopher Nolan’s Caped Crusader’s saga could very well be FULLY shot in IMAX, not IMAX Digital – but the beautiful, stunning IMAX that we saw pieces of THE DARK KNIGHT in.

Now this is something that I’m sure a lot of you will feel is a no-brainer. Nolan blew us away with the IMAX sequences in that film – but it was a very tough process to work in. Mainly due to the limitations of how many available real IMAX rigs there are. Not only that, but lenses had to be created, adapted and god forbid one broke down. Part of the reason that Nolan went forward with INCEPTION first – besides taking a creative break from the cape and cowl adventures… was possibly to create a few new IMAX cameras made to his specs. Once again – the cost of shooting an entire feature film on IMAX… the stock, the time it takes to reset, to load, to move the cameras… Well… it is daunting, but as Nolan proved with DARK KNIGHT – the difference is stunning.

Meanwhile on the rumor debunking front, a WB studio representative debunked a report from the British tabloid The Sun claiming that Megan Fox had signed up to portray Catwoman in the ‘TDK’ follow-up: “It’s a rumor. It’s not true,” the studio representative told People.com. “There is no script. There is no project to be cast in.”

District 9 Sequel In the Works + Listen to the Movie Soundtrack
Director Neill Blomkamp says he’s ready to move forward with a sequel to the well-received sci-fi alien refugee film “District 9” and admits that although he wrote “District 9” with no sequel in mind, he has “an inclination of an idea” for a sequel:

“I would totally make a sequel,” he told The Sci-Fi Movie Page. “I’ve got an inclination but it’s not really fleshed out yet. Now that it’s done well, I think it would be cool. The studio have definitely said they want one, it’s just a question of what the hell it is.”

More from The Sci-Fi Movie Page:

It would seem that Blomkamp is more interested in it being a sequel than a prequel, which would again be set in South Africa and star Sharlto Copley as Wikus van der Merwe again. “Does Wikus become human again?” is one of the plot issues which Blomkamp feels can be explored in a possible sequel.

Click here to listen to the complete interview, which also includes Blomkamp discussing his involvement in the “Halo” project, which he reveals $11 million was spent on before Universal pulled the plug — he won’t be involved in any revival of the project — and more. In other “District 9” news, Sony has posted samples from the soundtrack of the film which you can access in the embedded player below or at the official website.

Jon Favreau Talks ‘Avengers’ and Iron Man 2 + Sam Rockwell
“Iron Man 2”
director Jon Favreau told Ireland Online (via io9) that although he worries about that “The Avengers” may be “a failed experiment”, he is hopeful that it may “be something wonderful”:

“I think that’s fun. I think it’s inevitable, and ‘The Avengers’ might be the thing that helps rescue us from the inevitable sequel slump that you get into, because you’re throwing everything on its ear. It might be a failed experiment or it might be something wonderful, but it allows you to add complexity in an organic way where you’re culminating with something bigger, as opposed to trying to play out and not repeat the same story over and over again.”

On the “Iron Man 2” front, Favreau discussed two of the newest additions to the cast; Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow) and Mickey Rourke (Ivan Vanko/Whiplash):

“Scarlett brings a new element that not only works us towards ‘The Avengers’ but also changed the dynamic between Robert and Gwyneth. With Mickey Rourke, I didn’t want to just have two guys in robot suits hitting each other again. I wanted to have a different type of villain.”

Meanwhile, Comic Book Resources relays an interview they conducted with another recent addition — Sam Rockwell (Justin Hammer) — at Comic-Con where he discusses his role in the film. Here’s are two excerpts:

CBR: Justin Hammer and Tony Stark are rivals in the film. What are their similarities and their differences?

Rockwell: They’re similar. I think that ultimately Justin is probably more insecure. So that may be his downfall. His ambition may be stronger in a way so it’s a trap that Justin may fall into.

CBR: Did you study any of your character’s appearances in the comic books?

Rockwell: Yeah, I looked at some of the comic books, but the character in the comic books is much different. We’re trying to find another way to tell the story. They wanted the guy to be more of a contemporary. You don’t want to disappoint the fans but you want to reinvent it and give your own interpretation of the character. Justin Hammer’s older and, like, British or something [in the comic]. That’s what’s fun about it. If you see five performances of “Hamlet,” you want to see Ralph Fiennes do Hamlet, you want to see Jude Law, you want to see Richard Burton play Hamlet. You want to see them all do their own interpretations of something. So that’s what’s fun about Don Cheadle [being in the movie] too. It’s a fun thing to watch that.

“Iron Man 2” hits theaters on May 7, 2010. “The Avengers” is scheduled to be released on May 4, 2012.

9: In Depth
Here are some excerpts from interviews with director Shane Acker and the cast of the upcoming post-apocalyptic animated film “9”, which hits theaters Wednesday, September 9th (9/9/09):

Acker on the numbering of the creatures:

“I was just having fun and kind of exploring this idea that these numbers would be versions in some way,” Acker said. “As the numbers get higher, the sophistication of the creatures gets more complex and more refined. So when 9 comes along, he is the last version, the most up-to-date version, the most complete, who has a larger, more holistic view. We just bought into that conceit, and then we tried to have as much fun with that as we could. What does the number 6 mean? What kind of emotions does that elicit, that number? What could this character be? So we tried to separate them all, as they all have their own strengths and their own weaknesses, and together they’re able to complete themselves, and they become a whole once they finally get working together.”

Elijah Wood plays the voice of the title character 9:

“He comes into the world late,” Wood said of his character 9. “So 1 has already established a kind of rule over the other characters, largely due to fear, staying away from the machines, not getting any answers and living cloistered in a tower. I love the fact that 9 comes into that world sort of naively but sort of wisely, and sees that that’s not necessarily the way for them to live, and they’re actually putting themselves in greater harm. If they simply asked the greater questions to find out who they are and what they are, they can get at what’s ultimately keeping them cloistered away.”

Acker on the differences between “9” and other films whose setting is post-apocalyptic:

“I think what’s different is it’s not our world that’s been destroyed,” Acker said. “It’s this kind of alternate reality world. It’s this steampunk world that’s fallen into disrepair that’s been destroyed so it’s as if the Victorian era or the industrial age had been allowed to progress for a couple hundred years beyond what it did. It’s all analog. It’s all pre-digital. It’s a world that was in celebration of the machine and it’s the kind of industrial revolution aesthetic where even within the machinery itself, there’s ornamentation and there’s beautiful detailing. So it’s not about just practicality. It’s about celebrating the mechanics and the industrial age. Then that world has collapsed.”

Jennifer Connelly (the voice of 7) on the parallels between the film’s themes and our dependence on technology:

“I like that it was looking at the sort of fallout of a conflict between man and the machine,” Connelly said. “I liked that there was a piece of the puzzle was held by the machine, was sort of in the world of reason and a piece of the puzzle was in the realm of the spirit. They had to be put together for the soul to be released. I thought that was interesting. It is something I think about. I think that we have incredible technology and we’ve made incredible advances in medicine and science and I don’t think those can be denied. But, I also think that there’s a cost to some of the technologies that proliferate and that we employ. I do think that there needs to be a balance of knowing where things come from and where we come from. I think there is a delicate balance that sometimes gets skewed.”

Head on over to SCI FI Wire (here and here) to read more interviews with the cast and crew. Check out some images from the limited edition “9” movie books (only 999 were made) below, and head on over to io9 for your chance to win a copy of the book.

The Green Hornet Pushed Back Five Months; Rogen Responds
Columbia Pictures has pushed back the release date of the Michel Gondry’s “The Green Hornet” by five months, moving it from July 9, 2010 to December 17, 2010. The delay, however, may not be such a bad thing. Here’s what Seth Rogen — who co-wrote and stars as the Green Hornet — told HitFix:

“We’re both relieved and psyched about the change. It gives more time for post, which would have been immensely rushed if we were to come out in the summer. It also affords us more time to promote the film, (now we can go to Comic-Con with more than a car!) and ultimately is a great vote of confidence from the studio. We got the same date that movies like ‘I Am Legend’ and ‘Avatar’ are getting, so we’re thrilled to be there.”

Kate Beckinsale Denies Reports She’s in Underworld 4
Kate Beckinsale has denied reports that she’s reprising her role as Selena in Screen Gems’ “Underworld 4 3-D”, telling a group of reporters that she hasn’t signed on to anything, but wouldn’t rule out a return:

“I haven’t signed anything,” Beckinsale said. “It was always conceived as a trilogy, which I was never going to be in the third one. I think if they came up with an amazing script or whatever, then, sure, I wouldn’t be averse to it, but it’s not necessarily planned.”

The actress was less enthusiastic about the rumor that the film would kick-off a new trilogy: “God, three whole more?” she sighed. “I don’t think my daughter needs to see my bottom in rubber for another 10 years.” With or without her, Screen Gems have already set a January 11, 2011 release date for “Underworld 4 (in 3-D)”.

Trouble Down Under for Green Lantern?

Last week Production Weekly twittered a message on their account that production in Australia on “Green Lantern” was under threat “after the rising Australian dollar has blown out production costs.” The Australian magazine Inside Film offered more details about situation (via SCI FI Wire):

Warner Bros. is understood to be negotiating with the [New South Wales] State Government to receive a higher level of concessions in an effort to claw back between $US15 and $US25 million in value eroded by the currency gains.

The value of the Australian dollar has climbed by more than 16 per cent since the State Labor government announced the deal to film at Fox Studios in mid-April. The big-budget Hollywood blockbuster was expected to create around 500 local jobs, including 100 performers and 200 crew.

While most offshore productions lock in finance when a project is green-lit, it is understood that ongoing work on the Green Lantern script delayed that move. Pre-production on the film was originally scheduled for July and filming for November.

“Green Lantern” — to be directed by Martin Campbell and star Ryan Reynolds — is currently slated to be released on June 17, 2011.


NEW IMAGES

2012

Three new posters [one more at Yahoo! Movies]

A Christmas Carol

Jim Carrey [MTV]

Astro Boy

Final poster [Cinematical]

Avatar

Empire Magazine scans [more via MarketSaw]

The Box

Frank Langella, Cameron Diaz and James Marsden [MTV]

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Lily Cole and Heath Ledger [MTV]

Inception

Leonardo DiCaprio on the set [more at Radar Online]

Jennifer’s Body

Spanish Poster [Aullidos]

New images [MTV]

The Lovely Bones

Saoirse Ronan and Rachel Weisz [MTV and SpoilerTV-Movies]

Pandorum

Motion poster–click to view in motion [io9]

Surrogates

Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell [more at SCI FI Wire and MTV]

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Set images: Bryce Dallas Howard and Xavier Samuel [more at Lainey Gossip]

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

First look at the Volturi [more at SCI FI Wire]

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Set images [edgar wright here]

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

New images [more at Comic Book Resources]

Zombieland

Set images [more at LA Times via ShockTillYouDrop]

NEW VIDEOS

2012

Japanese trailer

Avatar

I suppose it was only a matter of time: Hitler’s response to the Avatar trailer/Avatar Day

Cloverfield 2 (???)

Is this the first viral for Cloverfield 2? [via CHUD]

Gentlemen Broncos

Behind-the-scenes clip featuring

Jennifer’s Body

Behind-the-scenes featurette [via Yahoo! Movies]

Surrogates

Music clip: “I Will Not Bow” by Breaking Benjamin

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant

Clip featuring Chris Massoglia and Josh Hutcherson

Zombieland

New trailer

Clip featuring Jesse Eisenberg and Amber Heard

CASTING BITES

  • Oscar Isaac has joined the cast of Zack Snyder’s “Sucker Punch”. He joins Emily Browning, Carla Gugino, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Jena Malone, Scott Glenn and Abbie Cornish. [Variety]
  • Hayden Christensen has singed on to star in the independent sci-fi thriller “Vanishing on Seventh Street”. The film’s story is set in a once-thriving city where shadowy forms cause residents to inexplicably disappear. Thandie Newton and John Leguizamo are in negotiations to star. [THR]

MOVIE BITES

  • Evan Rachel Wood says there’s nothing new to report on the upcoming “Spider-Man” musical: “I don’t know a lot, but as far as I know, it’s still on.” [E! Online]
  • Producer Joel Silver revealed that he hopes to make a remake to “Swamp Thing” in 3-D: “I’m going to hopefully do Swamp Thing, which is a movie we’ve had for a long time. We think that might be great to do in 3-D…As of right now, there still are less 3-D houses than 2-D houses. When the day comes that there are as many 3-D houses as 2-D houses, then I may change my mind about it.” [SCI FI Wire]
  • Rob Zombie will write, direct and produce a remake of the 1958 horror classic “The Blob”: “My intention is not to have a big red blobby thing — that’s the first thing I want to change,” Zombie said. “That gigantic Jello-looking thing might have been scary to audiences in the 1950s, but people would laugh now…I intend to make it scary, and the great thing is I have the freedom once again to take it in any crazy direction I want to.” [Variety]
  • …which may explain why the director won’t be part of the plans for “Halloween 3-D”, which Dimension Films has slated for release in summer 2010. [LA Times]
  • AMC has begun selling tickets for select December 18, 2009 midnight showings of 20th Century Fox’s “Avatar”. About 50 AMC IMAX theaters have started the sales, with online ticketing services MovieTickets.com and Fandango saying that the sales were healthy. [Variety]
  • An R-rated version of “Terminator Salvation” will be released on DVD and Blu-ray (“Terminator Salvation – Director’s Cut”) later this year: “Rated for some violence and brief nudity…” [UGO]
  • …Speaking of “Terminator Salvation”, co-star Sam Worthington — in a surprisingly candid interview — offered some of his thoughts on the critiques leveled at the film: “I can nitpick with the best of them, man, and kind of go down the list of things I saw on IMDB where they found holes in it, and go, ‘You are f–king right,'” he said. “If there was a big 10-ton robot coming outside that gas station, surely we would f–king hear it. And I missed that. So I’m going to be a bit better when I’m looking through my f–king scripts. So it raises my game a bit, because now I feel like an idiot for not saying it to McG, you know?…” [SCI FI Wire]
  • …Worthington also offered up some of his thoughts on his next film, James Cameron’s 3-D sci-fi “epic” “Avatar” by way of the recently released trailer and “Avatar Day” footage: “It’s got a hell of a lot of hype,” Worthington told a group of reporters in London last Friday. “I read all what was said yesterday about the … trailer. I can see their point. But, as I said, it wasn’t meant to be built for an Apple Mac. It’s built for IMAX. It’s built for 3-D. That’s what [Cameron]’s designed it for. He’s designed it to bring people back to the cinema.” [SCI FI Wire]
  • Al Gough and Miles Millar (“Smallville”) have been hired by DreamWorks to write “I Am Number Four”, a screen adaptation to James Frey and Jobie Hughes novel. Michael Bay will produce and may direct the project about a group of nine aliens who flee to Earth, disguised as teenagers, when their home planet is destroyed. [Variety]
  • Takashi Shimizu (“The Grudge”) will next direct “The Shock Labyrinth”, a 3-D live-action movie about a group of teens dealing with the shock return of a friend they had assumed to be dead. [THR]
  • Adam Fierro and Glen Mazzara have been hired by Columbia Pictures to write a sequel to the Will Smith superhero movie “Hancock”. The writers will work with Smith and director Peter Berg to “build on the world hinted at in the first movie.” [THR]
  • Director Edgar Wright has wrapped production on his adaptation of “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”. [edgarwrighthere]
  • “Wanted” director Timur Bekmambetov hinted at how he might have Angelina Jolie’s character return in the sequel: “If you remember from the first film, we have a recovery room with the baths of wax…We know how to do this, but it’s still tough to do, because the bullet is inside her head…But there has to be a reason for her to come back… and we know the reason,” he added. “I think we found the reason for her to come back.” Bekmambetov also said that he believes filming on the sequel will get underway this winter. [MTV]
  • Sony Pictures Classics will release Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnasssus” on Christmas Day. [ComingSoon]
  • Screenwriters Michael Ferris and John Brancato on “Surrogates”: “It’s a very 21st-century fear,” Brancato said in an exclusive telephone interview this week. “There’s always the sense that ‘How well do we really know the people we know?'” [SCI FI Wire]
  • Jamie Chung co-stars in Zack Snyder’s “Sucker Punch”, which she calls a female version of “300”, and provides some story details in a new interview: “All of the characters in her fever dream are from her real life. The girls plan to escape and they come up with a plan, and things go terribly wrong. It really does affect her reality. It’s a great story. My character is one of the four girls that try to help our lead hero escape. It’s pretty dark. It’s PG-13, but it’s a great adventure.” [SCI FI Wire]
  • “The Hobbit” 3-D rumors update: As was pointed out by commentator ety3 in last week’s Sci-Fi Movies, shortly after the MarketSaw article was released — claiming, among other things, that “The Hobbit” and its sequel would be filmed in 3-D — TheOneRing.net debunked the rumors. And now director Guillermo del Toro has chimed in to debunk the 3-D rumors (although he did note that 3-D could come up in discussions down the line): “But make no mistake- I’ve been living in NZ for almost a year now and we have not been discussing 3D.” [The One Ring]
  • 20th Century Fox scouts recently completed their third week in Hawaii looking for suitable jungle locations to shoot the Nimród Antal-directed/Robert Rodriguez-produced “Predators” sequel. If Hawaii is chosen, the $40 million sci-fi/horror film would film for 18 days with an October start. Additional shooting will be done at Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios in Austin. [Tim Ryan’s Reel Hawaii via SCI FI Wire]
  • Stunt choreographer Garrett Warren was recently interviewed and gave tons of tidbits to several upcoming high-profile films, including “Avatar”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “A Christmas Carol”, and “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.” Check out the extensive interview at MovieLine.

Box Office Update: Final Destination Beats Out Halloween II; District 9 Closes in on $100M
Two R-rated horror films competed for the top spot over the weekend, with WB’s “The Final Destination 3-D” coming out ahead with $27.4 million over #3-finisher “Halloween II” ($16.3M). “The Final Destination 3-D” finished considerably ahead of 2006’s “Final Destination 3”, which grossed $19.2 million in its opening weekend.  That was not the case with “Halloween II”, which fell well short of 2007’s “Halloween” ($26.4 million opening). Meanwhile, “District 9” dropped just slightly over 40% to take in $10.3 million for the weekend, bringing its three weekend total to $90.4 million ($104.7 million worldwide). “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” brought in $7.7 million ($132.1 million/$256.2 million worldwide), “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” added another $2.5 million and is nearing $300 million domestically ($294.3 million/$896.0 million worldwide), while “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is within reach of $400 million ($399.4 million/$827.8 million worldwide). For the complete top 10 list head on over to Box Office Mojo.


Follow Russ on his blog: Your Entertainment Now and on Twitter: Twitter.com/YourEntNow.

“The Final Destination 3-D”
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I think I would cry if they had Megan Fox AND/AS Catwoman in Batman 3.

I wonder what the Marvel buyout will spell for the attractions at Universal Studios>

That 2012 movie really pisses me off. I’m constantly trying to explain to my children and others that it’s just a movie and (hopefully) the world will not end in 2012.

As for Sam Worthington, I’m starting to like him more and more. We need more people that make movies to speak up and make things alittle more believable. I don’t care if it is a cartoon movie, at least let the viewer know that you at least care about what you want us to pay $10.00 each to see.

Why I’m not that excited by Avatar?

The Avatar stuff is too much!!!!LOL!!!!!

Am I the only one who hates Megan Fox?

Please god, no Megan Fox and no Catwoman.

6,
Absolutely not. She’s one of those actresses that I could very well do without.

great. Disney bought Marvel. Can’t wait for X-Men Origins: Micky Mouse. Or better yet, The Incredible Goofy.

Avatar looks stupid btw

Surprised to learn that the creator of District 9 didn’t
think of making a sequel – it certainly needs one. Good
movie, very different & original.

Megan’s got my vote for Catwoman! Oh, yeah!

Can’t wait for ZombieLand.

#9 It cannot be good news that disney now owns Marvel. What’s next Marvel Team Up Starring Spider-Man and Tinker Bell? I guess DC will be the way to go shortly after Disney screws up Marvel really good

@3. Ya same here. I heard about this 2012 business about 6 years ago and all that the mayans said it would be, to my understanding, was a “change”/change would occur about that time.
That could mean anything! That could mean nothing. They could’ve been talking crap!
And does anyone else feel like they have pretty much seen the entire movie thanks to the lets-give-it-all-away nature of these trailers?

@6 and 8. You guys must be hoping that she will do a Catwoman movie so! Seeing as that would most probably end her career right there and then like it did to Halle Berry’s lol!

To #3 Mikey Ten,

The best I can think of for a reply besides take your head out of the rumor clouds and put it were the sun don’t… now the serious answer. Do you remember the big 2000 problem that was to crash all electronic actions, view the Mayan 12/21/2012 just as solidly as those worried fools on 1/1/2000.

I’d give better odds of the ET’s that the Mayan, Inca, Egyptians and Orientals got all their building ideas from, of returning and then giving us the star ship tech to screw up space civilizations as well as the UN now governs Earths population. And if they do arrive hope it is not in IRAN because by then IRAN will have built a bomb or bombs and they’ll nuke everyone thinking that GOD gave them the power.

And after that ask them for valid proof, not rumored proof that and how the world dies. And the proof needs to be verified by Steven Hawking.

Rumors make good paperbacks but rumors rarely if at all make best sellers, they can make penneys but rarely to they create gold.

…finally, that Hanna Montana/Wolverine team up the I’ve been hoping for…

Disney buys Marvel!?! The dark days are comming. I can see the new Marvel logo, Spidey wearing a set of mouse ears.

And Disney buys Marvel, if The Mouse company lets some guy get an over inflated ego thinking he/she can run the newly bought company better than Marvel use to, kiss Marvel into history. But if they let Marvel run the way it has, all will be fine.

The big problems happen when Marvel has to ask the Disney banks for more money than they are budgeted for.

Why such disdain for Disney? Some of the greatest films ever made have been Disney and have been a huge influence on hundreds and hundreds of filmmakers.

On the subject of Disney + Marvel:

We’re not doomed YET. Google has yet to buy Disney, Starbucks, and Wal-mart. Those particular business deals aren’t supposed to be finished until late December…. in…. 2012…..

CRAP!

the interesting part about Disney buying Marvel is at Univeral studios in Orlando they have Islands of Adventure which feature a spiderman 3-d simulator, the Hulk coaster, a Doctor Doom fearfall ride and Storm force accelatron…..you can repaint the others but the spiderman ride is a total loss. Disney just punched a major competitor in the nads……

oh great..Disney buys Marvel…its only a matter of time until Disney buys Paramount and CBS and we get a Star Trek meets Hannah Montana film:( As for all the disdain over Disney, #17, maybe its the fact that Disney is a massive empire that sexually corrupts children everywhere and corrupts, sexualizes and exploits its stars in a manner not too far shy of the way pimps trick out their ‘hoes’ or the way the underground global sex trafficking rings use kidnapped people as sex slaves…

additionally, if Disney buys DC Comics too, we can get an official Batman/Star Trek crossover via the psuedocanon idea that Spocks late Mom was the descendant of one ‘Richard Grayson’ —aka Robin?

2012 is end of world? believe it or not to be?

Well, I’d think the thing for Paramount followers to note is that even though the boat isn’t being rocked for IRON MAN 2, if this purchase goes through this pretty much will fell Paramount’s IRON MAN tentpole and that could introduce a certain amount of chaos to Paramount’s future film financing schemes.

The good news is that Paramount has Marvel till 2012 since they have a 5 picture deal with Marvel. Which means Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers. There is the possibility they could continue with the partnership but I don’t think that will happen. But that’s now 2 properties that Disney has taken from Paramount. Disney is the distributor of Dreamworks and now is the owner of Marvel. I am really starting to fear about Paramount. All of its partners seem to be leaving the studio and going to others. Another good example of this is Hasbro which has teamed with Paramount on Transformers and G.I. Joe. You would think they would remain with Paramount but they now have a partnership with Universal. I just fear that Paramount will end up being like MGM.

2012 was a novel by Whitley Strieber,done quite well, but from what i have heard,the movie takes almost nothin from the novel–the day after tomorrow was based on another book by streiber and art bell called the coming global superstorms and if anything their predictions are happening faster than they thought it would- streiber also has a movie from a novel he did, the grays, directed by wolfgang peterson i believe-strieber also wrote the wolfen and his alien/visitor bestseller-communion-anyone interested in paranormal his website unknown country is excellent-strieber also has a cameo in race for witch mountain-

re disney buying marvel-if it is like their purchase of pixar they pretty much do not interfere they just market the products with better worldwide distribution etc–Disney sometimes does great other times lousy-will stan lee be wearing mouse ears now?

I think Marvel will be fine with Disney which also owns Miramax which made the movies Pulp Fiction, Frida and Kill Bill to name a few, movies with lots of violence and/or nudity. Not your typical Mickey Mouse stuff.
I would be surprised if you see much of a change at Marvel, if anything there might be more toys for sale.

The only time you will see Wolverine and Mickey Mouse together will be in Disneyland or Disneyworld.

If the producer of District 9 didn’t plan for a sequel… the editing certainly did. No spoilers, but the end left it WIIIIIIIIDE open (and an inevitable “3 years later”, common development cycle for a sequel IN DIALOGUE)

@17: it is not disdain of Disney’s rich heritage (I’d happily argue that 1940’s Fantasia is the greatest animated film ever made); what bothers me is that when you read those quotes from the two executives — I’ve copied them below — they discuss “licensing” and “value creation”, but not a single word about artistry. Now, I like money myself and business certainly has its important place but this is a deal done by businessmen to make money, not by creative people like Walt Disney or Stan Lee to make new art.

———–

“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s chief executive officer. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.”

“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said in a statement announcing the deal.

The Disney Marvel story, I think, is one of the best stories in a long time. After all they made a better Fantastic Four movie than Marvel and it was called The Incredibles. And with john Lassetter involved…..that’s exciting. Many good possibilities here.

FYI, Stan Lee was interviewed about the Disney/Marvel deal by the Washington Post. It’s at:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/2009/09/the_riffs_interview_stan_lee_s.html

#27 Yep, editing can work wonders! District 10, coming soon… (why not, it doesn’t make any sense, but neither did Ocean’s 12 and 13 until the scripts made it work….)

#Marvel/Disney: Everyone’s forgetting. Disney owns ABC. This opens the possibilities for *series* television with Marvel characters. A new Hulk series. A Spiderman TV series. Disney has read the tea leaves with Smallville, and the Dark Knight and has seen the $$$ that Warner has made with DC. They’re not stupid at all here.

And a Fantastic Four for television could work much better than the films. ABC needs content sorely with Lost ending soon.

I agree with you #29, this is all good.

Plus as others said, this kicks NBC/Universal in the NADS! They took Marvel for granted at their Universal Studios theme parks. What are they now left to do? “Heroes”? Maybe they can pick up the shit that is “Avatar”. “Avatar: The Ride”. Meow.

#Hitler on Avatar: Much better than having to watch Avatar. :) Says it all, in a nutshell! The mash there was ausgezeichnet!! Who put that together?

11. Gosh your right, I’ve had it up to here with all of those Flash / Road Runner crossovers since Warner bought DC 30 years ago. Oh wait, that never happened. The naysayers are laughably ignorant.

Megan Fox in Batman 21st century = nipples on bat suit + arnold + silverstone + schumacher + 20th century = well, at least they gave us the dark knight :(

Megan Fox + Cannonball Run 5 = Perfect (as I would not go see it anyways)

#12:

You forget that a more enigmatic trailer was the first to show regarding ‘2012’. This far along in the publicity game the general public would demand something more and they get it… and that’s where we are now.

Megan Fox has a fantastic body but she also has toe-thumbs. Freaks me out.

As for Disney’s acquisition of Marvel: are you naysayers on crack? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Disney is a pretty succesful company that has a long history of outstanding storytelling. All you Marvel movie/comics fans should rejoice. The popularity of comics adapted movies is waning and Disney just gave that a huge shot in the arm.

Avatar will be a fun movie to watch, but I am reserving judgement on the story. I know some folks who got to see the sneak peek in 3D and said it looks beautiful.

Cloverfield 2. I’d watch that. But I am a sucker for big bug genre films.

Again……Pixar, Marvel, Disney. Seems like a great recipe to me.

Cook it up boys.

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– If I had ten divisions of those men, our problems here would be over very quickly.

The more I hear of Iron Man 2, the less interested I become. Scarlett? Ick.

And let’s get real – the X-Men Origins movies were going to suck whether they were through Disney or not.

Are we ready for Mickey vs. Wolverine?

To Porthos X: Disney to buy Paramount, CBS and DC Comics? “That may not be possible.” Disney owns ABC. CBS Corporation owns the CBS network. DC Comics is owned by Time Warner. Paramount is owned by the post-2006 Viacom.

31. Daoud – September 1, 2009

In this case it makes more sense than Oceans 12 and 13… I don’t want to give anything away but Dialogue certainly sets it up for “District 10” to be a just fine name for the movie.

I can see the death of Batman, just think Batman is sucked into a computer and Tron takes him over.

Tron was a good visual aspect movie but as dimensional deep as a piece of paper. And the tech is still 1980s CMOS tech with photo etching via metal plates/masks.

The Dark Knight at least moved from 2D to 3D, the plot can jump off the paper script but as gravity says every thing always falls back to where it came from.

DC Comics ventures in the the some what R-ratings. and Disney likes the G rating, but may do PG-13 stuff. So anything that would make a teen grow wood is about as possible as the Government making a profit with out taxes.

It is going to be a interesting battle in the next few years as they fight and merge into one ever growing corporate blob company. It might even be a less than boring movie in 20 years and made for TV if TV lives that long.

NOT a viral marketing for Cloverfield 2. That was still in very early talks last I heard, with JJ working on so many other projects. The trades have been silent since the last talk was out.

This was someone’s personal play on it. Interesting but not the real thing.

CE

Hopefully Chris Nolan designed an IMAX rig that could withstand being knocked about or smashed!

– I like the news about PREDATORS and 2012…

Erich Kunzel died recently . he did star trek music recordings for telarc digital. sorry to be off topic but i thought it’s worth mentioning.

I would never want to have a conversation with Megan Fox but would definitely get physical with her.

OT: Erich Kunzel was the conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. RIP.

Sorry to hear about Kunzel. His “Star Tracks” was one of the first CDs I ever bought (circa 1985.)

Glad to hear that the Seth Rogen Green Hornet has been pushed back 6 months. I’d be estatic to hear that it had been dropped completely. The Hornet deserves better.

Oh great…now that Disney has bought Marvel I guess we can look forward to a reimagined Howard The Duck film…replete with CGI Howard…:-(