O
h, smurf. First it was Tim Gunn and superheroes, and now he’s working with other comics characters. He’s taking a role Columbia’s new mixed live-action/animated movie The Smurfs in 3D, according to Variety. Gunn will play an executive assistant at a cosmetics company in the movie.
Gunn will also appear in the Sex and the City 2 movie, which comes out later this month. Which may or may not be cartoons as well.
Oh, all right. You know you want to talk about it– go ahead. What did you think? Also: how much do you think it’s going to make this weekend?
WARNING: Somebody may spoil something for you, so you’ve been warned in advance.
We noticed htmlcomics.com a while back and its, shall we say, creative interpretation of copyright law before Rich Johnston brought them a bit of extra attention– which, as we were afraid of, spiked their traffic upward even faster than it was going.
So we were pleased to notice their site went down about three weeks back, and even more happy to see the illegal hosting of files is now officially gone:
The FBI has shut
down comic scan site htmlcomics.com and seized its servers in a raid
supported by a consortium of comic publishers, according to an
announcement by Katten Muchen Rosenman, the law firm representing the
publishers consortium. Marvel, DC, Dark Horse,
Bongo, Archie, Conan Properties, Mirage, and United Media were involved.Htmlcomics.com was the
largest site offering scanned American comics, according to the
announcement, with an average of 1.6 million visits a day and over 6.6
million pages of comics from 5,700 series. The
site was “…producing rampant copyright infringement on a daily basis and
depriving artists and publishers of hard-earned and much-needed
revenue,” according to the publishers’ attorneys.
That said, my rule of black markets apply– there’s no supply if there’s no demand. And comics are still the most expensive entertainment out there. Rich goes after some of the other arguments here.
We’ve just gotten word that Lewis “Alan” Coil, a regular commenter here at ComicMix and at many other websites, died last Friday, April 30, 2010 from an apparent
heart attack at the age of 55.
Paul Shiple posted the notification on Harlan Ellison’s web board. “I wish I could speak more of what a great friend he was to
me and my family, to me and all of my friends but I don’t have it in me
at this time. He is greatly missed by many.”
He was well known to many in the Ohio fan community, and was a regular at Mid-Ohio Con.
“Alan was also a frequent commenter over at at www.michaeldavisworld.com,” noted Mike Gold, ComicMix editor-in-chief and michaeldavisworld.com weekly columnist. “His observations and comments were witty and informative which just the right amount of fringy attitude that we find in the best bloggers. This news hits me like a ton of bricks, and I’m truly saddened by his passing.”
ComicMix extends its love and sympathy to Alan’s friends and family. He will be missed.
Nikki Finke has the numbers: “Early
overseas estimates from Paramount have Iron Man 2
grossing just over $100 million from 53 markets. And some large
territories haven’t even opened yet, like Germany, Japan, and China. In
local currencies, the film opened 25% ahead of the original Iron
Man (despite the fact that in those two years both the British pound
and Euro have dropped significantly). IM1 opened at $99
million (that opening also included Germany). The largest opening was
the UK ending the weekend with $12M including previews. Second was Korea
at $11M. Third was Australia at $9M. Fourth was France at $8.5M.”
Nikki goes on to guess at a $155 million opening weekend in America this weekend, with an outside chance of topping
The Dark Knight‘s 3-day record of $158.4 million.
That’s a lot of gold-plating on that armor.
Yep, it’s Free Comic Book Day in comic stores all over the planet.*
To check out participating locations, in the US and around the world, where fans will be able to get a range of free comic books, including titles for kids, from sponsors go to store locator section of www.freecomicbookday.com. Free Comic Book Day 2010 sponsors include: Ape Entertainment; Archie Comics; Archaia Studios Press; Boom! Studios; Dark Horse Comics; DC Comics; Drawn and Quarterly (D&Q); IDW Publishing; Image; Marvel; as well as C2E2; ComicCon; WizKids; Worldcolor; among others. Some location will also feature activities and signings.
* Of course, every day is Free Comic Book Day at ComicMix, so we’re a bit jaded. Why not try a romp through Shaman’s Tears, Black Lamb, or Simone & Ajax?
Archival footage. Honest. (Oh, yeah, like you know what Don looked like.)
As part of the ramp-up for Iron Man 2 (subtle hint) the first photo of Chris Hemsworth as Thor has been released into the wild.
So: do you think he can pull it off? Is he worthy to hold the hammer?
Hat tip: Comics Alliance.
Warner Bros. is now so committed to getting a Superman film out the door by 2013 that it’s now showing up in press releases from partners.
IMAX, as part of their earnings statement, announced that they’ve signed a deal with Warner Bros. to release 20 films in IMAX format up to 2013. And on the list is a new Superman film.
This would seem to back up that Warner Bros. really is taking the Siegel Estate threat seriously, which states that if a movie wasn’t going to be in release by 2013 they would be in breach and owe the estate a large sum of cash.
Other Warner Bros. movies that will be released in IMAX
are: Legends of the Guardian: The Owls of Ga’Hoole 3D (September 24,
2010); Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (3D) (November 19,
2010); Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (3D) (July 15,
2011); Happy Feet 2 (3D) (November 18, 2011); and The Hobbit (December
2013). Warner Bros. and IMAX also plan to release an additional 15 films
over the course of 2011, 2012 and 2013, including Gravity, Dark
Shadows, Fury Road, and the third Batman movie.
Of course, as we all know, things can happen, production can get weird, and I’m sure that there are ways out of all of those clauses– but it’s still an encouraging sign.
Presented by MoCCA and Small and Creepy Films
7 PM | Admission: $5 | Free
for MoCCA Members
Hosted by Aurelio Voltaire.Stop-motion
animation has been around since the very beginning of film and is still
around today. The art of manipulating rubber puppets and bringing them
to life by posing them one frame at a time on film has seen something of
a renaissance in recent history with the release of such films as
Coraline, The Fantastic Mr. Fox and A Town Called Panic. Unlike it’s
shiny and new cousin, computer animation, stop-motion has always had a
home-made and somewhat surreal quality to it. Perhaps it is for that
reason that it is often the technique of choice for filmmakers like Tim
Burton and Henry Selick, looking to create a strange and spooky world
(Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, James and the Giant Peach).
Aurelio
Voltaire, a filmmaker firmly entrenched in the world of dark, puppet
animation takes us on a little tour of the genre on April 29th during
“Puppet Masters of the Macabre: A Night of Spooky Stop-Motion
Animation”. Voltaire will screen excerpts from his reel (including
station IDs created in the early days of MTV and The SyFy channel as
well as a few of his award-winning shorts) as well as the work of other
colleagues and luminaries of macabre animation. The screening will be
immediately followed by a panel discussion lead by Voltaire. On the
panel will be Micah Van Hove of Small and Creepy films and other
stop-motion animators and industry professionals.
For a glimpse at Voltaire’s work visit:
www.youtube.com/voltairenyc
www.smallandcreepy.com is the website
of Caroline Thompson.
(Screenwriter of Edward Scissorhands, Corpse
Bride, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Addams Family and others)
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