Author: Robert Greenberger

Marvel Comics’ Super Hero Squad, aimed at its youngest readers, will begin running all-new daily comic strips beginnign today.

Marvel’s heroes and villains have been visually reimagined for all ages readers of their online material.

Marvel Super Hero Squad, according to a press release, "shines the spotlight on the characters of Super Hero City, some who battle for good, some who battle for evil and all begging the question on everyone’s minds—Are You Ready To Hero Up?"

The comic stirp will be made availabel free to those checking out Marvel’s website.

Columnist Don MacPherson has posted a thoughtful piece on his Eye on Comics blog indicating the falling US dollar may bring about the elimination of separate Canadian pricing.

He cites Strange Adventures’ Calum Johnston, reporting, “Both Marvel and DC are thinking of removing the Canadian cover price to comic-book periodicals.”

Marvel Comics spokesman Arune Singh clarified conflicting statements in an e-mail today to MacPherson saying Canadian pricing won’t be dropped from its books, only from its periodical publications. “For the time being, Canadian prices will remain on Marvel collections,” he said in an e-mail.

Comics Pro president Joe Field of Flying Colors Comics tolds MacPherson, “I believe there are conflicting reports because the issue of whether to continue putting Canadian cover prices on periodical comics is still unsettled. What one publisher may do another may not follow,” he said Thursday. “The dialog happening now will lead to some resolution. And I believe the publishers will do what they feel best suits the majority of their retailers.”

Traditionally, the covers have carried the two prices and the adjustments to match exchange rates occurred with regularity. Many Canadian retailers are said to be ignoring the printed Canadian prices for years, hand calculating that day’s exchange rate.

“Many Canadian comic retailers have been going by the US cover price plus applicable exchange rate. The rate is determined by what Diamond Comics Distributors charges the retailer on their invoice,” Johnston said. “While the rate hovered between one and five per cent, we just went by the U.S. price as being the same as Canadian. A few weeks ago, the rate climbed to eight percent, and we had to go back to adding the exchange. Two weeks ago, it was 12 percent, last week 18 per cent and this week 26!”

Writer Ed Brubaker chimed in, noting his Criminal, published under Marvel’s Icon imprint, has just a domestic price, adding "More in Canada".

Charles Addams’ immortal family of kooks will be singing and dancing in the Windy City come late 2009. The performances for the yet-to-be-cast musical will begin November 13, 2009 at Chicago’s Oriental Theatre according to The Chicago Tribune. The formal opening date is expected to be a few weeks later in early December.

When The Addams Family production was first announced May 21, 2007 by Elephant Eye Theatrical they anticipated it being ready for the 2009-2010 Broadway season but that date may now slip a year.

The production is being written by songwriter Andrew Lippa and Jersey Boys writers Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. Improbable Theater founders Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch will direct and design.

“Chicago has instructive and enthusiastic audiences,” lead producer Stuart Oken told the paper. “Given our roots in the Chicago theater community, this was the only place we ever imagined doing our first production.”

Workshop productions to help shape the show have included Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia with the producers hoping to land the famed performers for real.

Rights to the characters, first seen in the New Yorker before coming to fame as an ABC sitcom, were granted by the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation.  While the characters have been seen in print in addition television and film, this marks the first time they will be seen on the stage.

"With a unique style that combined the ghoulish, macabre and just plain weird with charm, wit and enchantment, Addams’ drawings of Gomez, Morticia, Fester, Wednesday, Pugsley, Grandmama, Lurch and Thing have entertained millions worldwide and served as the inspiration for multiple television series and motion pictures," according to the Elephant Eye announcement.

Of course, the television theme song has become a recognizable part of popular culture with its familiar finger-snapping now used in sports stadiums around the country.

The Charles & Tee Addams Foundation was founded in 2000 by the late Tee Addams, widow of Charles Addams. The Foundation’s purpose is "to interpret and share the artistic achievement of Charles Addams’ life through programs developed from the artist’s work and archives."

Universal Studios helped pioneer the direct-to-DVD concept for film franchises with American Pie. The series of videos — American Pie: Band Camp, American Pie: Naked Mile and American Pie: Beta House — has brought them much cash and provided Playboy with many an actress to peel for their pages. Now, Moviehole says the studio is eyeing an actual feature film to pick up the story of the original characters. After all the first film, released in 1999, brought in an eye-popping $235 million. No cast or crew has been signed or announced so speculation can run rampant as to which characters will be brought back as the focal point.  Stifler? Stifler’s Mom? Jim and Michelle? We vote for Nadia, since after all, Shannon Elizabeth could always use the work.

Ian Jeffers has written an original werewolf tale and according to Bloody Disgusting, he has sold it to director Ridley Scott.  Jeffers has previously written Death Sentence and the screen adaptation of the video game Castlevania.

Madagascar 2 director Tom McGrath told Skiewed and Reviewed, “While we never know how well the film will do, I have been kicking around ideas for another film in the series.” He went on say he’d like to see the characters return to their home, the Central Park Zoo, in the third film.

As we mentioned the other day, M. Night Shyamalan is producing three films in his new three-picture deal with Media Rights Capital. Now we hear the first picture will be Devil, written by Brian Nelson (30 Days of Night). John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine) will direct and produce alongside his brother, Drew Dowdle. Devil comes from an original story by Shyamalan. The Unbreakable and Sixth Sense director will produce the film with Sam Mercer under Shyamalan’s new Night Chronicles banner. Night Chronicles was set up by MRC as a financing and production partnership with M. Night to create one genre film per year over three years. Shyamalan will come up with the ideas, select the creative team and oversee the creative direction. He’ll also co-own the film copyrights and retain artistic control.

Twentieth Century Fox has announced its sequel will be titled Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel opening Christmas Day 2009.  Fox has also moved the kid/family movie Tooth Fairy to Thanksgiving 2009 release. Chris Columbus other movie, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, based on Rick Riordan’s books, has been kicked back a year to July 2, 2010.   Another kid’s series, Beverly Cleary’s Ramona, will become a feature film, to be released March 19, 2010.

Sir Roger Moore has been added to the voice cast of Gnome & Troll: The Forest Trial. The animated feature is coming from Swedish film company White Shark and is set to debut in 2009. The film is a sequel to this year’s Gnome & Troll The Secret Chamber.   Moore will play King Leif, with Peter Stormare to voice Ogar Mini.

Director Rob Cohen confirmed for Collider that xXx 3 is being developed with an eye towards being ready summer 2010. "Yes, they’re doing it with me and producer Joe Roth”, he said. “We made the deal recently, it’s named xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. We met the writers yesterday and we’re trying to get into production by late spring, to have it out for the summer of 2010." Diesel will first be seen in the summer 2009 sequel to the Fast and Furious.

Producer Gale Anne Hurd confirmed for Moviehole that her recent comment about trying to reboot the Alien Nation franchise was more than wishful thinking. “I dropped Hurd a line to see whether she’s actually pitched the film or whether it’s just something she bought up in conversation,” Moviehole wrote, “with no plans to actually convince someone with money to bankroll it. “The good news is? Hurd has indeed talked to the powers-that-be about doing the film but, in her words, there’s ‘no traction yet’. The 20th-Century Fox film spawned a beloved weekly series which aired on Fox in the 1980s.