Author: Robert Greenberger

Judge Dredd Ramps Up Towards 3-D Production

Judge Dredd’s return to the silver screen has accelerated with DNA Films cutting a deal with India-based Reliance Big Entertainment and IM Global to finance a 3-D film. The 2000 AD star last was seen in the movies via the 1995 Sylvester Stallone bomb.

According to an exclusive report at Deadline, the movie has a new script from Alex Garland (The Beach), and will be directed by Pete Travis (Vantage Point).  The report indicates the film creators are going back to the original 1970s adventures as envisioned by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra.

This version is budgeted at under $50 million which will be stretched by the needs of 3-D production.

One of the reasons the first film failed is that the vision of Mega City One and the world of Judge Dredd had been usurped years earlier by Ridley Scott in Blade Runner and had been oft-imitated, making the adaptation seem dated. Additionally, the things that made Dredd Dredd were largely absent.

No casting or release date for the new film was announced.

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Vaughn Reunites with Goldman for ‘First Class’

Marvel properties continue to dominate the media news with word out that Jane Goldman has been added to the writing staff of the 20th-Century Fox’s X-Men reboot, First Class. Last week, Matthew Vaughn signed to follow the delightful Kick-Ass with this fourth film in the mutant franchise. Writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, who wrote Thor, were confirmed as being at work on the film, which has a relatively short production schedule.

Goldman’s involvement was announced via a tweet from husband Jonathan Ross. He posted, “Also, for those who need to know, my wife IS currently writing X men First Class. It’s just referred to as X men 4 around the house…”

Goldman and Vaughn have collaborated on several films in the past so having her on board is a natural step.

No casting has occurred but shooting is expected later this year.

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Luke Cage Being Eyed for the Silver Screen

luke-cage-super-9250762Geoff Boucher at the Los Angeles Times reports that Luke Cage is likely to be one of the first next level Marvel heroes to get the film treatment. Marvel Studios announced a few weeks ago that the time had come to look at the smaller characters for lower budgeted films but no formal announcements had been made.

Marvel continues to develop Ant Man with director Edgar Wright, which may also fall into this category and Stan Lee mentioned Doctor Strange as a strong candidate to perform film magic sooner than later.

Cage was first introduced in 1972 in Hero for Hire, from writer Archie Goodwin and artists George Tuska and Billy Graham. He’s been a fixture ever since and in the last few years has gained prominence under the pen of Brian Michael Bendis who featured him first in Alias then the New Avengers. As part of the Heroic Age refresh of the Marvel Universe, he takes center stage in Thunderbolts beginning with issue #144 with writer Jeff Parker and artist Kev Walker, on sale May 26.

“Speaking of Luke Cage, a.k.a. Power Man, I hear that there’s more talk underway about putting the urban hero into his own film and that a notable Hollywood star is now having (very) preliminary talks with Marvel Studios about the property and its potential,” Boucher wrote.

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‘Men in Black 3’ Will be a 3-D Reunion

men-in-black-2-3551188With the summer 2010 film season officially underway, calendars for 2011 and 2012 are rapidly filling up with eagerly anticipated fare. The latest juggernaut to claim a weekend is Columbia Pictures’ Men in Black III, which staked out May 25, 2012. Jumping on the bandwagon, the film was also announced as a 3-D production.

The film will feature the return of Will Smith as Agent Jay, and Tommy Lee Jones is expected back as Agent Kay, although he has yet to complete negotiations. Portraying a younger Agent Kay will likely be Josh Brolin.

A screenplay has been completed by Etan Cohen after several years of discussion over whether or not any of the principals wanted to reprise their roles. Barry Sonnenfeld will return to direct as he has on the first two installments based on Lowell Cunningham’s black and white comic book from Malibu (now owned by Marvel/Disney).

Summer 2012 will be another sequel heavy period with Madagascar 3 set for the same weekend followed June 29 by the Star Trek sequel and then Spider-Man 4 on July 3. The season kicks off May 4 with The Avengers.

Jeff Blake, chairman of Sony Pictures Worldwide Marketing and Distribution, said in a release, “Sony’s summer of 2012 will get off to a red hot start with an incredible new 3D adventure for the Men in Black. We couldn’t be more excited that the original filmmaking team responsible for the first two worldwide hits is reuniting for this third installment.”

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Brad Bird Confirmed for ‘M:I 4’

Actor/producer Tom Cruise confirmed for Empire Magazine that the talented Brad Bird will make his feature film debut with Mission: Impossible 4. Cruise will return to lead the IM Force’s field leader, Ethan Hunt, for the big budget Paramount Pictures release.

The studio initially announced a May 2011 release date but either the production schedule or competition caused them to alter the release to December 16, 2011.

J.J. Abrams, who stepped in to salvage the floundering film franchise by directing the third installment, returns as a producer. The screenplay will be by Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec from a story by Abrams and Cruise.

Cruise told the English magazine, “The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille – Brad is enormously talented and JJ and I are having a blast, cranking away. We’re having a lot of fun. I like working with people I just love hanging out with. You get to hang out and laugh and talk stories and movies and technology: what are we going to do?”

Apparently Bird was in contention with Edgar Wright for the assignment but his work on August’s  Scott Pilgrim versus the World kept him from being signed. “I dig Edgar. Very nice guy, very smart, very talented, I’d really like to do something with him,” said Cruise. “I met Edgar on the set of Mission 3. Simon Pegg and those guys are hilarious. I love Shaun of the Dead. It’s amazing. But we’re working with Brad right now. I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about it but everything’s signed… Brad is doing it.”

The film will open against some genre competition during the holidays with Paramount’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn and Disney’s The Bear and the Bow also coming out in December.

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Iron Man’s Costly Armor

iron-man-2-7927418Our friends over at io9 attempted to price out what it would cost to construct Iron Man’s movie armor using real world technology.

Annalee Newitz concluded, “So, what’s the final price tag? $100,420,000

“To put that in perspective, the cost of the F-35 fighter plane is estimated at $95 to $113 million. So this suit might easily fit in today’s military budgets.”

However, please think twice before suggesting this to your Congressman.

Meantime, the film took in $133.6 million over the three day weekend, making the fifth best domestic opening in history. Add in the $194 million of international box office and the film has already achieved stratospheric numbers.

Of course, the film cost in the neighborhood of $175 million coupled with a global marketing budget of $150, and the expenses are $325 million. The movie will have to gross something on the order of $900 million to show profit from the feature alone. Of course, ancillary merchandise already on sale followed by cable, disc and other revenue streams, no one will cry poverty when the finally tallies are completed some time next year.

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Frank Frazetta: An Appreciation

  • Uncategorized
  • May 10, 2010

frank-frazetta-thebarbarian-1091165Frank Frazetta ushered in a new era of cover painting with heavily muscled heroes and lush, voluptuous women, evolving the pulp magazine style for more contemporary audiences. His work proved influential to writers, artists, and musicians for decades.

Best known for his series of covers featuring Conan the Barbarian on the Lancer paperbacks of the 1960s, he went on to create moody and evocative paintings for the Warren Magazines.

A child of Brooklyn, his artistic talents were evident early and by age eight, he was sent to the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts. He was mentored by Italian painter Michael Falanga who died before he could send young Frazetta to perfect his craft in Europe.

As the school closed in 1944, Frazetta sought ways to earn a living and drifted into illustrating comic books with several memorable Buck Rogers covers for Famous Funnies. He also drew several Shining Knight stories for DC Comics and displayed range with numerous funny animal stories as well.

By the 1950s, Frazetta was lending his talents to EC Comics, where he, Al Williamson and Roy Krenkel formed a powerful triumvirate, capable of masterful science fiction or fantasy stories.

Frazetta was hired by Al Capp to assist him on the popular Li’l Abner comic strip and he went on to also work with Dan Barry on Flash Gordon. The artist harbored his desire for a feature of his own and sold the short-lived Johnny Comet to the syndicates.

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Review: ‘The Amazing Adventures of Nate Banks’

  • Uncategorized
  • May 8, 2010

It seemed fairly inevitable that as super-heroes and graphic novels grew more prevalent for younger readers, there’d be a greater variety in presentation. Jake Bell and Chris Giarrusso have come up with something a little bit different: young adult prose books with 8-page comic sections.

Bell, an experienced writer, offers up [[[The Amazing Adventures of Nate Banks]]], comic book expert and middle school student in the new Scholastic series. The first two volumes were simultaneously released this month to give readers a chance to enter and immerse themselves in Nate’s colorful world.

The precipitating event is the arrival of [[[Ultraviolet]]]], a brand new super-heroine in the small suburban community of Kanigher Falls. Her arrival prompts speculation over who she is and why the community, which lacked its own resident metahuman. The world of Nate Banks is one filled with super-heroes and the requisite super-villains where people accept their presence.

Book one, [[[Secret Identity Crisis]]], is all set up and introductory material so we meet Nate, his family, his friends, and his teachers while also giving us the early days of  Ultraviolet. The second volume, [[[Freezer Burned]]], picks up a short time later as Coldsnap comes to town ostensibly seeking a valuable diamond on display but Nate figures out there’s more to his scheme.

The books are nicely constructed and written. While many of the twists and turns are telegraphed and therefore lack surprise, the stories move along briskly and expand this inventive world that clearly pays homage to beloved comic book creators from Jack Kirby to Steve Gerber.

Bell fails, though, to create original and interesting characters. Nate is a fine protagonist but his friends and family all come from a stock company. Most have little or anything to do or say that don’t further the story and lack any sense of dimension. The same for Ultraviolet, the town’s hero and budding friend to Nate, who actually has less to do in book two than she should.

The comic sections provide additional background and information to each story. Giarrusso, an incredibly talented and funny writer/artist in his own right, does a nice job here and on the covers.

This series is off to a solid if unspectacular start. If more arrive, hopefully Bell will deepen the supporting cast and offer up some truly interesting characters and complications.

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Warner adds ‘Superman II’, ‘V’, ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ and More Genre Titles to DVD2Blu Program

Apparently, Warner Bros. has achieved success with their program of allowing people to upgrade from standard DVD to Blu-ray and has announced an expansion of the DVD2Blu program. The studio called our attention to the growing number of genre titles that ComicMix fans were most likely to be interested in exploring.

This program is a nice idea as is their Archive programming, effectively producing Disc on Demand offerings from their library. Now, if only they would offer some of those lost and forgotten films also in Blu-ray. Maybe in the future. In the meantime, here’s the press release:

Burbank, Calif., May 6, 2010 – Responding to the extraordinary growth of Blu-ray set-top hardware, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group has expanded its “DVD2Blu” upgrade program. Starting today, consumers can select from 90 of Warner Home Video’s most popular titles to upgrade that include the action-packed “Under Siege” and “Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut” as well as classics from the 1980s including “Risky Business” and “The Lost Boys.”   

According to recently published figures by the Digital Entertainment Group, sales of Blu-ray hardware for the first quarter of 2010 increased by 125 percent over the same period in 2009.  The DVD2Blu program will serve as a great way for new Blu-ray owners to jump start their Blu-ray Disc collections.

Launched in 2009, DVD2Blu.com is a site that allows consumers to upgrade the movies they already own on DVD to Blu-ray Disc™, the absolute best in 1080p high definition picture and sound. The process to upgrade is simple. Consumers select the titles they want to upgrade on DVD2Blu.com, mail in their standard DVDs with pre-paid postage and a short time later receive copies of the same film on Blu-ray Disc. Titles such as “V for Vendetta,” “Deliverance” and “Ocean’s Eleven” can be upgraded for as little as $4.95 plus shipping and handling charges.  For a complete list of titles visit DVD2Blu.com. 

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group is proud to be an environmentally friendly company and will recycle all DVDs mailed for upgrade.  The discs will be processed and used for future plastic packaging. 
     

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Review: ‘Iron Man: The Ultimate Guide’

ironmanguide1-9795500Anticipating today’s release of [[[Iron Man 2]]], DK Publishing released [[[Iron Man: The Ultimate Guide to the Armored Super Hero]]] back in February. The book, like last year’s [[[Wolverine]]] offering, is in their new thicker but shorter trim size and at 200 pages is chock full of information regarding only the comic book career of the Golden Avenger.

Matthew Manning, who also wrote the Wolverine volume (and is my co-author on [[[The Batman Vault]]]), returns to tell us everything about Tony Stark, his metallic alter ego and his friends and foes.

The book takes us through the origins of the character up through the beginning of the acclaimed Matt Fraction “Stark: Disassembled” storyline. Sections are devoted to his Stark Industries staff, his friends, his foes, and of course the many, many women in his life.

Maybe it’s because of Marvel’s own Iron Manuals, but the section devoted to his many armored incarnations is perhaps the weakest portion of the book. We get a few pages detailing how the more current armor works and then artwork depicting many but not all the variations. By using pick-up art in this manner, we’re treated to the work of many different artists but many of the shots are details and not full figures so for a visual guide, it feels oddly lacking.

Matt does a better job detailing the other sections starting with the various versions of Stark’s family business. Oddly, his spread on Pepper Potts seems written for people only familiar with her from the movie, ignoring her elopement and troubled marriage to Happy Hogan. Instead, that aspect of her life can be found in Happy’s own section.

A six page timeline concisely gives you what you need to know about the character’s career before getting into decade by decade sections with additional details. The 1960s was the decade it all got stated and the foundation was built. A little too much space is given to team-ups and battles and not enough given to the feature’s early Cold War-inspired stories or Stark versus Congress, rooting the series to the real world setting it apart from the other Marvel titles at the time.

The 1970s sadly gets the shortest shrift, with emphasis entirely on the classic “[[[Demon with a Bottle]]]” story. Yes, the series floundered after Archie Goodwin stopped writing it in favor of many hands until settling in with David Michelinie and Bob Layton in the latter 1970s. Still, the feature endured and should have been explored a little more.

Stark and Iron Man’s growing prominence in the Marvel Universe over the last decade does get a much stronger review and is among the best portions of the book.

Rather than devote two-pages to a montage of covers and splash pages at the end, the book could have benefitted from expanding the Ultimate incarnation of Iron Man from two to four pages to better explore how this Stark differs from the core Marvel Universe version.

Matt does a solid job keeping many of the convoluted storylines clear for readers – not an easy feat – and his affection for the character is clear. Similarly, the publication design is a little more straight-forward than some of DK’s hyperkinetic earlier offerings.

To be honest, this is one of those dream jobs I wish I had a shot at writing, but Matt does a fine job here and makes the character, his world, and his importance to the Marvel Universe clear. At $24.95, you couldn’t find a better resource on the Armored Avenger.

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