Source: ComingSoon.net, IMDB
There seemed to be some confusion on the part of the interwebz about whether or not red-haired EMMA STONE would play red-haired MARY JANE WATSON or blond-haired GWEN STACY.
Regardless of the hair, Stone has been slected to portray the role of GWEN STACY. And there seems to be a lot of importance attached to this casting so THRALL WORLD is led to believe that MJ might not figure as prominent in the SPIDER-MAN initial reboot movie as producers rewind and start anew the telling of the popular comic book hero.
EMMA STONE [ZOMBIELAND] has been cast as the female lead in the upcoming Spider-Man film film from Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, it was announced today by Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures.
Stone has been tapped for the role of GWEN STACY opposite ANDREW GARFIELD [THE SOCIAL NETWORK, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS] as Peter Parker.
The film, to be directed by Marc Webb [(500) DAYS OF SUMMER] from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt and produced by Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, will begin production in December and will be released in theaters nationwide in 3D on July 3, 2012.
Marc Webb, the director of the Golden Globe-nominated Best Picture (500) Days of Summer, will direct the next chapter in the Spider-Man franchise, set to hit theaters summer 2012, it was jointly announced today by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios.
That's A Wrap: SAM RAIMI, TOBEY MAGUIRE, and KIRSTEN DUNST have officially spun their last web together as SONY opts to reboot the SPIDER-MAN franchise and start from scratch with a new director and cast.
The new chapter in the “Spider-Man” franchise produced by Columbia, Marvel Studios and Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, will have a new cast and filmmaking team. Spider-Man 4 was to have been released in 2011, but had not yet gone into production.
Bold move on the part of Sony. THRALL WORLD was passing up on reports that production was delayed on ‘Spider-Man 4′ over the past few weeks. But now comes word that the entire cast and crew is kaput and that the entire franchise is starting from scratch!
We “got” that the script was kind of “eh” and that must have been a solid “issue” in moving forward with the 4th Spider-Man movie. No problem there. Venom was a glaring mistake in Spider-Man 3 and Sony probably wanted to avoid being trapped to the history of that sub-par Spider-Man chapter – especially as they’re pursuing a Venom movie and possible franchise there as well.
But when you keep going to the well at some point the well runs dry. When a comic book runs astray it’s easy to axe the creative team and start fresh. But such is not the case with comic book movies. It will be long time before we see another Superman, Fantastic 4 and even X-Men is being rebooted to a younger generation of familiar mutants after the turd that was ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’.
Bottom line in the new age of the comic book movie of the week? Make sure the movie you greenlight doesn’t suck because it appears to be pretty difficult to get over.
Sam Raimi commented:
“Working on the ‘Spider-Man’ movies was the experience of a lifetime for me. While we were looking forward to doing a fourth one together, the studio and Marvel have a unique opportunity to take the franchise in a new direction, and I know they will do a terrific job.”
The rebooted Spider-Man is tentative for summer 2012.
Source: ComingSoon.net, BadTaste.it
Doesn’t mean it’s a done deal though just yet. The big question is if the Vulture from the classic Spider-Man comic book stories from the old-school 60′s run is compelling enough as a villian to translate well today. Here’s the latest:
Malkovich was interviewed by an Italian sports show called “Quelli Che il Calcio” and he was asked not only about whether he had been approached to play the Vulture but also about the production delays. The fine folks at the Italian web site Bad Taste have graciously provided an English summation of what was said on the show:
“When conductor Simona Ventura asked him about his role of Vulture in the movie, he not only didn’t deny his involvement, but confermed that he’s waiting for the final script to be sent to him, and that the movie has been delayed. He also hopes that shooting will begin as soon as possible”.
Read more HERE and if you can read in Italian click HERE for the original interview.
THE VULTURE (from waaay back in SPIDER-MAN #2) is starting to sound like a very strong possibility as a key villian in 'SPIDER-MAN 4'
Source: Sizemore.co.uk
Maybe. But don’t look for it on television. Not yet anyways. At the very least it gets the award for thee longest THRALL WORLD headline EVER…
Following in the footsteps of ‘District 9′ and ‘Paranormal Activity’ comes ‘SLINGERS’ – a sort of interstellar OCEAN’S 11 complete with the snappy dialogue and wit of say SNATCH.
Plot synopsis: Slingers is set in the year 2960 A.D., following mankind’s first interplanetary war. Humanity is now clustered into a finite, but still vast section of the universe known as Enclosed Space. Humanity won the war with an aggressive alien enemy, but at a cost. The way back to Earth is now cut off by an impassable barrier – a side effect of the blast that finally pushed the enemy back.
The show takes its name from a group of people thrown together on board an experimental spacecraft that is capable of Slinging itself to any point in space. In theory it’s the only craft capable of getting home. In reality the crew are using it to carry out a series of high tech heists and get even with those who are now exploiting their positions in the post war hierarchy.
Dominic ‘DM’ Monroe, a special ops war veteran becomes the de facto leader of this small team of thieves who rail against the decision by military command to just ‘stay where they are and make the best of it’. They’re determined to get home and if that means breaking a few rules and picking up a lot of enemies along the way then so be it.
Keep up with the latest at Sizemore’s official site HERE.
Still from the 'PANIC ATTACK' short by FEDE ALVAREZ
Source: Variety
SAM RAIMI (SPIDER-MAN, EVIL DEAD) seems to think so…
Ghost House Pictures [Sam Raimi production house] has made a seven-figure deal with a Uruguayan commercials director to direct his pitch for an alien invasion film — an exceptional deal for a helmer making his feature directing debut.
Most first-time helmers make $250,000, but Fede Alvarez scored his million-dollar deal based on the heat generated by “Ataque de panico!” (Panic Attack), a four-minute, 48-second short about an apocalyptic robot attack Alvarez directed through his commercial production house for less than $500. After the short found its way to the Internet and Kanye West featured a link to the film on his blog, a 30-year old who was not on anyone’s radar outside the Uruguayan blurb market suddenly found the biggest agencies in Hollywood in a panic to sign him. That created a chain reaction of activity over two weeks that led to a trip to Hollywood, where he met with every major agency, management firm and law firm that responded to the short.
Read more HERE and watch the original short (made for a reported $500 or $5,000 depending on which source) below.
[Dylan] Baker confirmed that he is on board for Sam Raimi’s forthcoming Spider-Man 4. Baker appeared in Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 as Dr. Curt Connors, a professor at Empire State University.
In the comic-book Dr. Curt Connors becomes the Spider Man villian, The Lizard, and it’s possible director Sam Raimi could go in that direction for one of the films villians.
IMAX Corporation and Columbia Pictures today announced that the highly-anticipated action-adventure Spider-Man 4, will be released to IMAX(R) theatres simultaneously with the film’s worldwide release on May 5, 2011. The fourth installment of the successful “Spider-Man” franchise, based on the Marvel Comicbook character, will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience.
Spider-Man 4 will reunite director Sam Raimi with stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.
Source: ComingSoon.net
Warner Bros. has officially announced the restructuring of DC Comics into a new company:
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI) has created DC Entertainment Inc., a new company founded to fully realize the power and value of the DC Comics brand and characters across all media and platforms, to be run by Diane Nelson, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, and Alan Horn, President & COO, Warner Bros.
Source: Variety
Hot on the heels of the absolutely dreadful one-two suck-punch of FANTASTIC FOUR (2005) and its even more abhorrent sequel, FANTASTIC FOUR 2 (2007) comes news of FOX plans to reboot the entire franchise:
While Disney lays down a $4 billion bet on the future of Marvel’s superheroes, 20th Century Fox has already begun overhauling one of its big Marvel franchises, “Fantastic Four,” to take the property beyond the two films already made.
Akiva Goldsman has been hired to oversee the reboot as producer. Michael Green, the co-exec producer of TV’s “Heroes” who co-wrote “Green Lantern,” will write the script for the new “Fantastic Four.”
The Walt Disney Co. is buying Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion in cash and stock, bringing such characters as Iron Man and Spider-Man into the family of Mickey Mouse and WALL-E.
Under the deal, which was announced Monday and is expected to close by the end of the year, Disney will acquire the rights to 5,000 Marvel characters. Many of them, including the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, were co-created by the comic book legend Stan Lee.
As Sony Pictures Entertainment preps a fourth installment of “Spider-Man” to begin production early next year, the studio has quietly engaged screenwriter James Vanderbilt to pen “Spider-Man 5″ and “Spider-Man 6.” Vanderbilt was the first writer on “Spider-Man 4.” Director Sam Raimi brought on “Rabbit Hole” playwright David Lindsay-Abaire to rewrite him, and Gary Ross is now rewriting that script. The studio is enthusiastic about where it stands as the picture begins prepping for an early 2010 production start for a May 2011 release.
Raimi didn’t embrace all of Vanderbilt’s ideas, but execs at Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios have. Vanderbilt has been hired to pen the fifth and sixth movies, which have an interconnected storyline. That’s what was originally discussed when Vanderbilt signed on to write “Spider-Man 4,” but the idea of shooting a fourth and fifth film back to back with the original cast was scrapped.
Sources said it was unclear whether Raimi, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst will be back. If they aren’t, Vanderbilt’s script would be the blueprint for a franchise reboot. After committing to his fourth “Spider-Man” film, Raimi signed on to direct a new franchise based on the massively multiplayer role-playing online computer game “World of Warcraft” for Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Maguire and Dunst were locked into the first three pictures and made a new deal for “Spider-Man 4.” It’s unclear how long they want to continue with the series.
The article points out that Sony wants a Spiderman movie every 2-ish years and the delays between Spiderman 2 and 3 (3 years) and Spiderman 3 and 4 (4 years) are not consistent with that plan. In addition Raimi is confirmed to hop on the new World of Warcraft franchise and will not likely be available anyway.
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Legendary Pictures announced today that Sam Raimi has signed on to direct the eagerly-anticipated major motion picture based on Blizzard Entertainment’s award-winning Warcraft universe.
Raimi directed the “Spider-Man” trilogy, which has broken box-office records around the world and garnered five Academy Award nominations. Known for his imaginative filmmaking style, richly drawn characters and offbeat humor, Raimi wrote and directed the cult classic, The Evil Dead and produced 30 Days Of Night. He most recently wrote and directed the supernatural thriller, Drag Me To Hell.
Source: SciFiWire.com
SAM RAIMI on the current development of ‘SPIDER-MAN 4′:
“I’m still working on Spider-Man 4. More properly, the writer is writing the screenplay right now.”
“He should be done with his script in about four weeks…”
On coming back for a 4th Spider-Man installment:
“I only wanted to do it with Tobey [Maguire] because my interest is in living the character with Tobey in a deeper way than we ever have lived it before.”
Sony is officially moving forward with its Spider-Man spinoff movie focusing on Venom and has hired Zombieland writing team Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese to pen the script.
