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.
Odd couple indeed. This is just wierd.
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.?
Can't wait to see who he goes up against next.
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.
Crap, now I really want to see this movie.
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.
SJ as a redhead in a leather suit for the freaking win! Whiplash will definitly be cool to see.
There is like 2/3's more stuff here.
http://trekmovie.com/2009/08/31/sci-fi-movies-monday-disney-buys-marvel-batman-district-9-iron-man-green-lantern-zombieland-more/
Topic: Lots and lots of sci-fi movie news (Read 953 times)
