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‘Swamp Thing’ Volume 3 due on DVD in June

Shout! Factory has announced a June 22 release for the third volume of the Swamp Thing television series on DVD. The set was being offered as part of their Shout! Select online exclusive line of product.

The first volume, comprising seasons one and two of the USA cable series, and volume two (beginning the third season) were released in 2008. This volume would complete the third season and series.

The series, featuring the character created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, debuted on July 27, 1990 with a total of 72 episodes. The series largely followed the continuity of the horrid film adaptation by Roger Corman and starred Dick Durock who portrayed the misunderstood creature in both feature films.

While the show was once a top-rated hit for the fledgling cable channel, it was poorly received by critics and fans of the source material.

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‘Captain America’ Will Likely Sling Shield in 3-D

Marvel’s super-heroes continue to dominate the headlines as Iron Man director Jon Favreau told MTV he imagined it was time for the Mandarin to step front and center in Iron Man 3. After setting up the Ten Rings in the first film, it was clear he was already heading in that direction.

Meantime Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that they were studying 3-D technology and were likely to let Captain America: The First Avenger be the first film in the new format. With Thor already shooting, an up-conversion was not ruled out.

“The team has been doing a lot of research into 3-D processes, and we’re looking at it on future films when we have the time. We will be doing it at some point,” Feige told Geoff Boucher.

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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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‘Iron Man 2’ Trivia: Who Else Has Worn The Armor?

iron-legion-1-1310166Tony Stark is the man called Iron Man. For years, he has worn high-tech armor of his own creation in order to protect his interests or save the world as a whole. Over the years, he has altered and updated his suit time and time again.

But sometimes Tony has needed other people to wear the armor. Maybe so they can act as back-up. Maybe so they can help provide an alibi. Maybe because Tony himself just can’t do that job that time.

In Iron Man 2, the question comes up about who may be worthy to wear the armor and whether or not there shouldn’t be a whole army of Iron Men protecting the U.S. If a team of Iron Men sounds weird, You might be interested to know that years back there actually was a short-lived “Iron Legion” team formed by Jim Rhodes AKA War Machine and which included the various people who’ve worn the armor over the years.

So without further ado, here are the people who made up that Iron Legion and who’ve been an alternate Iron Man for different reasons over the years. (more…)

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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

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. (more…)

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