Star Wars, Geek Culture, and Power Converters
No, we still don’t know who our favorite Brit, Benedict Cumberbatch, is playing in Star Trek: Into Darkness. But io9 does have spoilers on certain characters who will be appearing in the movie.
Also in io9’s morning spoilers: news on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Hobbit, and other shows.
Because being in three Star Wars movies isn’t enough for the biggest BAMF in film:
“I can come back as one-armed or a one-handed Jedi that’s still around that didn’t actually die,” he said. “I could do that or be a ghost hologram. I don’t care!”
Adding, “I just want to stay associated with the franchise. Not that I won’t, because I’ve been in three of them.” As for why the actor is drawn to the sci-fi world, Sam said he loves the concept of life in other in galaxies far, far away.
Mace Windu in a Holocron as a possible plot point for Episode VII? We’ve heard crazier rumors.
via Yahoo!
Via Yahoo! today: The AP reports today that Federal anti-trust regulators have given the all-clear for Disney to buy out Lucasfilm. Disney’s stock prices closed up .02% on the news.
What is of other interest in Disney news is that Netflix has grabbed the subscription rights to Disney films, starting in 2016, also according to the AP, and The Wall Street Cheat Sheet notes that this includes movies from Pixar and Marvel. However, with Disney’s newest acquisition, a question might be whether or not movies from Lucasfilm will show up on Netflix as well.
The sound you just heard was the Marvel fandom losing their collective minds. Myself included.
The Avengers 2 may not be coming out for another two and a half years but casting speculation has already begun and with good reason. Given the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s tendencies to introduce characters in their lead up films, there’s a good chance that we’ll be seeing new team members in one of the four Phase Two films currently in production. Ms/Captain Marvel, aka Carol Danvers, is currently one of the superheroes rumored to join the team and with that rumor comes plenty of casting speculation. Earlier, the rumor mill was offering six actresses who are supposedly under consideration and that list has since been narrowed down to two: Emily Blunt and Ruth Wilson. Emily Blunt was originally the front runner for Black Widow but had to bow out due to other film commitments. She could certainly be an interesting choice as Carol.
However, what’s the fun in there being casting speculation if we don’t get to join in? With that, we present a few of our own picks for who could step into the role of Carol Danvers in the MCU. To the jump!
Rejoice, Avengers fans! YOu can finally own the summer’s biggest blockbuster on Blu Ray and DVD. The four-disc Blu Ray set features deleted scenes, a one-shot short film, a digital album, and the obligatory gag reel. You can pick it up at Amazon for $24.99.
I know I’ve got my plans for the evening now. Shawarma and director commentary ahoy!
http://youtu.be/yYz0JWJioOM
New Hobbit trailer! In fact, it’s the first full theatrical trailer for the upcoming Peter Jackson film. Or as staff writer Maggie would put it, LOOK AT THE PRETTY SCENERY PORN.
Part of Joss Whedon’s new keys-to-the-city deal from Marvel and Disney indicated that he would be helping to create a new TV series in the marvel film universe. Now we’ve gotten confirmation that ABC has placed an order for a pilot centered around S.H.I.E.L.D.
Three weeks after Disney CEO Robert Iger announced Joss Whedon would create a Marvel-related TV series for ABC, the network has made good on his vow.
ABC has given pilot orders to S.H.I.E.L.D, with the Avengers scribe on board to co-write the project based on the Marvel comic, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
From ABC Studios, the project is based on the long-running comic created by Jack Kirby and revolves around the secret military law enforcement agency dubbed S.H.I.E.L.D., which stands for Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistic Directorate.
So. Cobie Smulders can be lured away from How I Met Your Mother for this series, right? Maria Hill: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D would be fun.
I don’t know how I missed this, but jawajames over at Club Jade pointed out that Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark will be coming back to theaters this September in gigantic, awe-inspiring IMAX format. Screen Crunch has the details:
Can’t get enough ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark?’ Well, you’re about to get a lot more. To help promote the upcoming release of the Indiana Jones Blu-ray Box Set, we can confirm that Paramount will be re-releasing ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ in IMAX theaters this September.
As it went through the restoration process for Blu-ray, Paramount and Steven Spielberg also worked with IMAX on reformatting ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ for 70mm. The ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ will IMAX re-release will hit theaters starting on Friday, September 7th and run through until September 13th. (The ‘Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures’ Blu-ray box set hits shelves on September 18th.)
And if you’re wondering, yes. Yes I will definitely be seeing this.
Earlier this week, news broke that Joss Whedon would continue his role as writer/director of the Avengers 2 as well as contributing to a brand-new Marvel film-universe television series on ABC. Further details have come out since and by the looks of it, Marvel and Disney have handed Joss the keys to the city.
io9 reports that Whedon has signed an exclusive three-year contract with Marvel, locking him into their works during that duration. That’s mildly interesting, but there’s one key portion to the agreement that’s worth noting:
The three year contract, according to Marvel, means that Whedon will “contribute creatively to the next phase of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.” You can assume that means Whedon will be involved, at some level, in the scriptwriting of the movies between now and Avengers 2 — especially the second Captain America film and Guardians of the Galaxy.
io9 goes on further to break down why Whedon’s involvement in all of the films moving forward is critical:
The main takeaway from Marvel’s announcement, though, is the notion that Whedon is joining a very small group of people who make the big decisions about the direction of the shared universe that includes Marvel’s movies and this new TV show. This comes at a crucial phase, when most of Marvel’s films are going to be sequels rather than origin stories, and at least half those films (Thor 2 and Guardians) are likely to be insanely “cosmic,” with the obvious risk of falling into the Green Lantern trap of excessive CG and flat characters.
So most of all, Marvel’s on-screen universe is going to have to stay grounded, something that Whedon excels at because he understands that the best stories are “about us.”
For long-time Whedon fans, this is all great news. Finally there’s a studio that’s going to stand behind Joss, his fans, and his process. For fans of the Avengers films, this is going to likely mean much tighter narrative control and cohesion from film to film.