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‘Priest’ Finds its Director

  • News
  • December 17, 2008

ScreenGems has announced that Scott Charles Stewart will direct their film adaptation of the manhwa (Korean comic) Priest according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie is being written by Cory Goodman (The Brood) and will adapt the initial storyline of the series which debuted in South Korea in 1998 and continues to today.  Tokyopop has produced 16 volumes for English-language readers. The series was created by Hyung Min-woo, after being inspired by a video game called Blood.

The story is set in a “world ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampire and follows a warrior priest who turns against the church to track down a murderous band of vampires who have kidnapped his niece.:

Priest nearly made it before the cameras years earlier with 300’s Gerard Butler in the lead for director Andrew Douglas but it failed to gain a green light.

Stewart is also at work for the studio, making his directorial debut on Legion, a “biblical apocalyptic thriller” that he also wrote.  Prior to that, he worked at Industrial Light & Magic before forming special effects house the Orphanage with former ILM staffers Stu Maschwitz and Jonathan Rothbart.
 

‘Watchmen’ Trial Pushed to January 20

  • Uncategorized
  • December 17, 2008

watchmen-ozymandiasfull-2-4419691The eagerly awaited trial pitting 20th Century Fox against Warner Bros. over The Watchmen has been delayed from January 6 to January 20, according to Variety. On Monday, Judge Gary Allen Feess declined to “issue a ruling on whether Fox or Warner Bros. controls the rights to the project.”

The delay is a result of the judge having a criminal matter also scheduled for the 6th, which takes precedence over Hollywood behemoths. He declined both sides’ request for summary judgment regarding the rights, saying, “the contracts between Fox and Watchmen producer Larry Gordon are so open to interpretation that a trial is required.”

Warner insists the movie will still open, as scheduled, on March 6.

Watchmen has had a complicated history from when the rights were first sold to Fox in 1986.  The rights have been with Warners once before, when Joel Silver and Terry Gilliam were attached to produce and direct, respectively.  Universal had the rights for what seem like 15 minutes where they had David Hayter write a draft of the script.  Creator Alan Moore praised this draft saying it was, “as close as I could imagine anyone getting to Watchmen.”  The Hayter draft was the basis for the version that was eventually filmed.  After Universal the project went to Paramount, who dropped the project because of budget issues as management changed from Sherry Lansing to Brad Grey.  Paramount has received the international distribution rights in exchange for their turnaround rights.

The issue of contention comes from an agreement between Fox and producer Lawrence Gordon.  Gordon has been attached to the project since it’s inception and when his company, Largo International, dissolved he purchased the rights from Fox and moved it around until the film found it’s final home with Warner, parent company to DC Comics which published the maxiseries in the first place.  Fox contends that their deal with Gordon required him to resubmit the film to Fox every time there was a changed element.  In this context "element" can mean anything from a new subplot to a new starring actor.  Fox says that Gordon’s failure to do this when the project moved to Warner and acquired director Zack Snyder means that they retain some of the rights to make this film.

Fox said they spent in excess of $1 million in developing the film before giving up and Gordon has said he has paid nearly $400,000 to Fox to settle that debt.

Warner contends that they have settled all the rights issues through their settlement with Paramount, the previous rights holder.  They dispute that Fox has any claim on the property at all.

Fox’s suit, filed in February, contends that it retains distribution rights to the graphic novel penned by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. It asserts that Gordon’s option to acquire Fox’s remaining interest in "Watchmen" was never exercised, thereby leaving Fox with its rights under a 1994 turnaround agreement.

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‘Roots of the Swamp Thing’ Includes 3 by Nestor Redondo

  • Uncategorized
  • December 17, 2008

swampthing13-1-2-1383962Lost amidst DC Comics’ latest round of solicitations is a historic reprint collection of one of its seminal works: DC Comics Classics Library: Roots of the Swamp Thing. And it’s historic not because it represents the first hardback compilation of the material but because the story is being published in its entirety for the first time ever.
 
Upon her arrival at DC Comics in 1976, Jeanette Kahn made no secret of her disdain for the company’s sampler-style use of reprints in the years prior to her arrival. Instead, she wanted to see specific fan-favorite storylines compiled in a single volume or series. So 1977 saw the release of four key Ra’s al Ghul stories in the tabloid-sized Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-51 and the beginning of an irregularly-published set of one-shots called the Original Swamp Thing Saga (appearing in DC Special Series #2, 14, 17 and 20) that ultimately reprinted Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson’s Swamp Thing #1-10 from 1972-1974.
 
The years passed and collections of specific stories grew to become the industry standard, evolving from the newsprint of these formative examples to much nicer grades of paper and from the traditional pamphlet-type package to paperbacks and hardcovers. There was a tendency, however, to favorite the art over the scripts in many of these early (and not-so-early) collections.
 
When Steve Englehart’s landmark eight-part Batman opus from Detective Comics from 1977 was reprinted (first in 1985/1986 and again in 1999), the impact of his last chapter was blunted a bit by the fact that the Len Wein-scripted Clayface III follow-up was attached by virtue of the fact that it had also been penciled by Marshall Rogers. Conversely, Wein’s own run has only ever been reprinted up to Swamp Thing #10–because that’s the point when artist Bernie Wrightson left the book. Problem is, Len continued to write Swamp Thing for another three issues, ably abetted by artist Nestor Redondo. More significantly, he carried the themes from issue #1 (and specifically the tragic creature’s relationship to his pursuers Matt Cable and Abby Arcane) to a touching, satisfying conclusion in #13.
 
Unfortunately, the fan without access to the original issues has never read it. The first ten issues (along with the prototype story from House of Secrets #92) were gathered again on much nicer paper in 1986’s Roots of the Swamp Thing #1-5 before going the trade paperback route with Swamp Thing: Dark Genesis in 1992. And most recently in the digest-sized Secret of the Swamp Thing (2005). [Meantime, the pre-series short story from House of Secrets #92 is now one of the ten most-reprinted stories in DC’s history, with–to date–ten reprintings compared to Swamp Thing #1’s five.]
 

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‘Dora the Explorer Saves Three Kings Day’

  • Uncategorized
  • December 17, 2008

dora5-2-4798611While we’re inundated with good, classic and fairly crappy Christmas specials, we here at ComicMix take note of what we think may be the first holiday special surrounding Three Kings Day, a.k.a Little Christmas, of the day when the three kings arrive to see the newborn baby.

Nickelodeon will air its Dora Saves Three Kings Day, on Tuesday, January 6, at 8 p.m.  We’re not sure how Dora the Explorer will accomplish this miracle but Nick wants to make sure we’re all aware of the impending event with the following planned:

•    A two-minute sneak peek at the episode and clips from a song from the show, along with additional episodes, will stream on Nick Jr. Video from Monday, December 29.  The entire episode will be available on Nickjr.com from January 7.

•    The two-minute sneak peek, song and episode clips from the episode will be available on various wireless carriers also from December 29.

•    Nickelodeon on Demand will offer a sneak peek, shorts and song clips from the episode, as well as additional Dora episodes Throughout January.
 

‘Tron’ Sequel Gains New Cast

  • News
  • December 17, 2008

olivia-2-4661579Whatever Disney intends to formally call its sequel to Tron, the movie has added Olivia Wilde (House) and Beau Garrett (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer), joining returning star Jeff Bridges.

The 1982 film was among the earliest to use computer special effects and has a strong fan following.  The sequel was among the top five film searches performed at IMDB in 2008.

The trades refer to the sequel as Tron 2.0, and was written by Lost’s Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, for director Joseph Kosinski, making his helming debut. Steven Lisberger, who directed the original and cowrote its script, will produce with Sean Bailey and Jeff Silver.

Wilde’s character will be ‘worker in the virtual world who tries to help fight Master Control Program, the villainous intelligence protocol that was the nemesis in the original film. Garrett will play a siren in the virtual world.”

The film’s tech look has been in development for a year with footage screened at Comic-Con International, igniting a fresh round of buzz for the film.  Actual production begins in the spring.
 

JJ Abrams Completes ‘Star Trek’ Edits

  • News
  • December 17, 2008

JJ Abrams spoke briefly with MTV News about Star Trek, allowing us a chance to show off the new banner released today by Paramount Pictures.

The film’s trailer has wowed crowds and Abrams has completed editing the movie, which doesn’t up until May 8, 2009.

He admitted not everything shot will make it into the final cut. “You make a movie, and I think you always find yourself losing things here and there, embellishing things. It’s sort of par for the course. They’ll probably end up as deleted scenes on the DVD.”

Abrams noted that the film is intended for the widest audience possible but there remain nods to the diehard fans who have stuck with the franchise though some very lean times. “I think what you’ll see is there are — both story-wise and performance-wise, visually and aurally — many connections to what is familiar and what has come before. Which for the new fans of Star Trek, the newcomers to the world, will be irrelevant. But for those people who are fans and who hope for or expect certain familiar nods, they will undoubtedly get those,” he said.

He also confirmed that Leonard Nimoy’s Spock will be more than just a mere token appearance. “He’s in the movie, and his role is critical. I always think "cameo" feels like a role that the movie could exist without. This is critical, emotional and also a story element.

When asked to compare his film with the previous Trek films, Abrams spoke about how they pick up from the television series where everyone has been introduced and the crew knows one another. His film, in contrast, takes things back to those very early days.

“But on a much more practical level, Star Trek has never had the opportunity, nor the resources, to be realized in this way,” he said. “Things like the ships and the battles and the planets and the chases and the action sequences … and do them in a way that felt thrilling and terrifying and entertaining in a way that the show and the prior movies simply couldn’t afford to do. I feel we were able to bring to life, in a way we’ve never seen before, what it is to be a member of Starfleet. And that’s kind of cool.”

Review: ‘The Dark Knight’ DVD

The Dark Knight stunned movie audiences by taking the mature themes and tone of its predecessor, [[[Batman Begins]]], and amping things up by a factor of 10. The movie was hailed by critics for around the world and theatres packed in the crowds to the tune of $1 billion in box office (or thereabouts).

In rewatching the film on DVD, now out from Warner Bros., the film remains very strong thanks to terrific lighting, set design, and riveting performances from Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart.  Yet, the story doesn’t hold together as well. 

First of all, Gotham looks and feels different from the first film from director Christopher Nolan. The city had been a character all on its own, with the architecture and monorail but now it just looks like, you know, Chicago. We don’t know how long its been since the first film, but since it ends with the Joker’s calling card, it can’t have been that long for a remake, and yet Batman’s legend is such that people are already out there being bat-masked vigilantes.

We know [[[Batman]]] is a presence, so much so that the criminal operations are suffering.  Enter, the Joker, a force of nature. The performance by Ledge is riveting because he makes you forget all about Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson and creates something totally fresh. His desire to spread chaos in opposition to Batman’s sense of order becomes the film’s spine.

But, once you examine what happens next, things take an odd turn.

As the UK’s [[[Guardian]]] put it, when they named the film as having the most ridiculous plot of the year: “Wait, so the Joker really orchestrated that big truck chase just so that he could get caught and go to prison, then he could kidnap that guard and grab his phone to make the call to set off the bomb he’d previously sewn inside the henchman in the next cell? That would kill the guy who stole the mobsters’ money, thus enabling him to … er, what? Heath Ledger’s Joker may have been a psychopath, but he had a nerdish capacity for forward planning.”

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Universal Options ‘Bakugan Battle Brawlers’

  • News
  • December 17, 2008

Bakugan Battle Brawlers has been optioned by Universal Studios and Stuber Productions according to The Hollywood Reporter. The anime series currently is shown on Cartoon Network while toys and game come from Spin Master and Sega.

The series is based on a “strategic game that uses metal cards and magnetic, spring-loaded miniature figures that transform from marble-like balls into toy monsters.

“The show’s story line revolves around creatures called Bakugan and the young human battle brawlers who wield them. The creatures have such names as Pyrus Drago, Haos Tigrerra, Ventus Skyress, Subterra Gorem and Darkus Hydranoid that inform their character and power; they are involved in a battle in a parallel dimension called Vestroia that spills into ours.”

A total of 51 episodes were produced by TMS Entertainment and Japan Vistec and debuted in Japan last year. The English-language version has been handled by Nelvana which has produced 52 episodes.

Universal is currently seeking a writer for what they perceive to be a hot property that will translate well around the world.
 

ComicMix Radio: We Hit 300!

  • News
  • December 16, 2008

We celebrate our Big 300th Broadcast with another run through the comics and DVD Buy Me lists, and then some news on the future of ComicMix Radio , plus:

  • Peter David explains how to add Fallen Angel trades to your gift list
  • William Katt on just what to expect in this week’s Greatest American Hero #1
  • Mark Henke promises more Golden Age Men of Mystery from AC Comics

After all of that, we bring ComicMix Radio to a close for a final time, but before you get too choked up we unveil our plans for a new piece of audio goodness that you will get to sample even before the holidays. We’ll tell you about The Point and how you should watch ComicMix for the first broadcast in just a few days!

Meanwhile, one for time – just Press the Button!

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And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-6894769 or RSS!

 

‘Ultimatum’ #1 #1 in November

  • News
  • December 16, 2008

ultimatum1-2-3640885The November numbers are in and ICv2 notes that sales of the top 300 titles fell 11% compared with a year ago.  They note that with DC Comics and Marvel Comics skipping issues of Secret Invasion, Final Crisis, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Astonishing X-Men, and Justice League of America, there’s little wonder.

Only two titles — Marvel’s Ultimatum #1 and DC’s Batman #681 – cracked the 100,000 unit marks based on numbers provided by Diamond Comics Distributors, the fewest since March.

Marvel had 14 of the top 25 titles, DC 10, and Dark Horse one. 

Looking over the list, it’s interesting to note that beyond events and new titles, several mainline books continue to bring in readers because the content seems to be consistently entertaining month after month as exemplified by Amazing Spider-Man and Captain America being in the Top 10. The most popular creators do seem to translate to best sales making it all the more important for creative team consistency month to month.

Here are ICv2’s estimates of the sales by Diamond Comic Distributors to comic stores on the top 25 comic titles in November:

114,230           Ultimatum #1
103,151           Batman #681 (RIP)
  90,776           Hulk #8
  88,910           Wolverine #69
  77,773           Uncanny X-Men #504
  76,625           Amazing Spider-Man #577
  75,493           Captain America #44
  74,202           Buffy the Vampire Slayer #19
  72,862           JSA: Kingdom Come Special Superman #1
  71,355           Justice Society of America #20
  69,522           Batman: Cacophony #1
  68,956           Amazing Spider-Man #576
  66,564           Amazing Spider-Man #578
  64,196           Detective Comics #850 (RIP)
  63,512           X-Men Legacy #218
  61,331           Fantastic Four #561
  58,547           Action Comics #871
  58,279           Dark Tower: Treachery #3
  57,241           X-Force #9
  57,205           JSA: Kingdom Come Special Kingdom #1
  56,931           Final Crisis: Resist #1
  56,224           Avengers / Invaders #6
  55,560           JSA: Kingdom Come Special Magog #1

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