Disney Entertainment, owner of damn near everything in the entertainment world, is planning on purchasing Marvel Entertainment. The purchase price is purportedly $4,000,000,000. That’s four billion, for the zero challenged.
No word on what will happen to the current crew of Marvel employees, but as of this writing the House of Idea is not expected to move to the west coast.
More as this story develops.
This is the first part of a very long interview with Chris Claremont that started on the topic of X-Men Forever and branched into a number of other areas. We start the interview today to tie in with today’s release of X-Men Forever Alpha, and we’ll be running more as we get closer to the release of X-Men Forever #1 next month.
ComicMix: X-Men Forever Alpha is a reprint of the first three issues plus an eight page bridge to the
new series, correct? What do we need to know going in?
Chris Claremont: Essentially
nothing. Those were the issues going in, to establish all the fundamental
parameters: the X-Men are a team of heroes that are based at Xavier school for
gifted youngsters at Salem center, outside of New York City.
CM: So you’re
starting up right from where you left the book in 1991.
CC: Yes.
CM: Is this House Of C, then, as compared to House of M?
CC: No, it’s the
Marvel Universe, there’s no real change to it, other than the fact that in a
very practical sense that the subsequent sixteen, seventeen years of material
following my departure doesn’t exist.
CM: So this is a
new forked off continuity.
CC: Yes. We’re
essentially picking up where I left off and the only acknowledgment we are
making to the passage of time is that if a label needs to be placed on #1, #2,
and #3, they occurred in the opening months, weeks, whatever of 2009.
CM: Then
everything that happens since in mainline Marvel continuity has not happened
and is not going to happen?
CC: Everything
that relates to the X-Men specifically has not happened. The origins of
characters that were established after I left are not necessarily the origins
that we will encounter here. For example, the reality in this book is that
Sabretooth and Wolverine are father and son. Betsy Braddock has not been
transferred into a cloned dead Asian body.
CM: Do you find
it strange that people are looking at this series and referring back to your
original run as the time when X-Men continuity wasn’t convoluted?
While the networks and studios try and figure out how to make serious profit from airing their productions online, a new study shows that ABC’s Lost is the king of the net. According to Nielsen VideoCensus statistics, there were 35.8 million video streams of full-length episodes, clips and other shortform content.
The report stated that “130 million unique users watched 9.7 billion streams, up nearly 39% from March 2008 and up nearly 9% from February’s benchmark.” Viewers watched 169.3 minutes in February compared with 190.3 minutes in March.
As to where people watch the content, YouTube is the top spot with 5.47 billion video streams and 89.4 million unique viewers for March with Hulu in second place with 348 million streams and 8.9 million unique visitors, followed in popularity by Yahoo, Fox Interactive Media, MySpace and the Nickelodeon suite of sites.
Of the networks, ABC ruled the roost with CBS slowly gaining ground. As for the programs themselves, with Hulu not offering show specific breakdowns, the numbers indicate Grey’s Anatomy was number two with 19.7 million streams and 1.2 million unique viewers trailed by Dancing With the Stars, Family Guy, The Office, The Simpsons and House.
Whatever 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.
Warner Premiere is known to ComicMix readers as the source for the cool direct-to-DVD movies featuring the DC heroes but they also produce original fare as well. This morning, they announced a deal with director Bryan Singer to create a “cyberpunk sci-fi thriller” H+, “which picks up after a terrorist fries the brains of a segment of the population ‘jacking’ into the net”
The series will be written by John Cabrera (Gilmore Girls) and Cosimo De Tommaso, who will also serve as executive producers. They conceived of H+ as a television series but Warner Premiere’s Head of Digital Content, Lydia Antonini, persuaded them to convert it to a web-based series.
The new series, to debut sometime in mid-2009, will be produced by Singer’s Bad Hat Harry Productions, the outfit that already gives us House.
Warner Premiere is dipping its toe into live action after working on numerous animated efforts including the recently unveiled Peanuts, a full animated comic web series. They have 20 original web series in development, some of which will go to video, some to the recently relaunched TheWB.com.
Monsters vs. Aliens, slated to open March 27, 2009, reinvents the classic 50s monster movie into an irreverent modern day action comedy.
The cast of Monsters vs. Aliens includes: Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line, Rendition) as Susan Murphy, a.k.a. Ginormica; Golden Globe winner Hugh Laurie (TV’s House, Stuart Little) as Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D.; Will Arnett (TV’s Arrested Development, Blades of Glory) as The Missing Link; Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, Superbad) as B.O.B.; Rainn Wilson (Juno, TV’s The Office) as Gallaxhar; Emmy winner Stephen Colbert (TV’s The Colbert Report, Bewitched) as The President of the United States; Golden Globe winner Kiefer Sutherland (TV’s 24, Phone Booth) as General W.R. Monger; and Paul Rudd (Knocked Up, Night at the Museum) as Susan’s boyfriend, Derek.
Directed by Rob Letterman (Shark Tale) and Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2), produced by Lisa Stewart (I Think I Love My Wife) and co-produced by Jill Hopper and Latifa Ouaou, the film marks the theatrical debut of DreamWorks Animation’s Ultimate 3-D.
When California girl Susan Murphy is unexpectedly clobbered by a meteor full of outer space gunk, she mysteriously grows to 49-feet-11-inches tall and is instantly labeled a “monster” named Ginormica. The military jumps into action, and she is captured and held in a secret government compound. The world learns that the military has been quietly rounding up other monsters over the years. This ragtag group consists of the brilliant but insect-headed Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D.; the macho half-ape, half-fish The Missing Link; the gelatinous and indestructible B.O.B.; and the 350-foot grub called Insectosaurus. Their confinement time is cut short however, when a mysterious alien robot lands on Earth and begins storming the country.
As a last resort, under the guidance of General W.R. Monger (on a desperate order from The President), the motley crew of Monsters is called into action to combat the aliens and save the world from imminent destruction.
Hot off the heels of yesterday’s report that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is endangered, word has come in that Fringe is thriving.
According to Variety, Fox has ordered a full season’s worth of episodes for their newest science fiction serial. That’s hardly a surprise, considering Fringe helped put Fox on top in the ratings on Tuesday night with a strong 9.91 million viewers. Of all new shows this season, Fringe has ranked No. 1 among all adults in the 18 – 49 age range. That ranking is in no small thanks due to House, the show’s lead-in. On Tuesday, Fringe retained 78% of House‘s audience in adults 18-49. Looks like Grumpy McGrump House (that’s his name, right?) is good for something.
Fox’s full season order means that nine more episodes will be produced for Fringe‘s freshman season, totaling the usuaal 22 episodes for a full season. There’s no guarantee that these episodes will be made, however, if the Screen Actor’s Guild approves an impending strike order. In that case, viewers will have a lot more to worry about than Fringe. Fingers crossed that those cooky Bishops can rig something up to stop the SAG!
This is the second freshman series to get a full season order, following on the heels of 90210. CBS’ well-regarded The Mentalist is expected to get its "back nine" order shortly. Of the sophomore shows, Chuck is the only one with a full season order to date.
Fringe focuses on Olivia Dunham, an FBI Agent investigating mysterious happenings known as The Pattern. She’s assisted by Walter Bishop, an questionably sane but brilliant scientist, and his son Peter, an equally brilliant but arrogant mind. To catch up on the show, check out our weekly reviews by clicking here! (Yes, we know it’s a shameless plug-in, but just do it. It feels so right, and you know you want to.)
Saavy readers of Previews may have already picked up on this bit of news, but BOOM! sent out a release to ensure everyone was aware that Rockne O’Bannon was getting som ehelp turning Farscape into a comic book. Here’s the release:
September 4th, 2008 – Los Angeles, CA – BOOM! Studios and The Jim Henson Company announced today that Keith R.A. DeCandido will be scripting the Farscape miniseries from an original story by Farscape creator Rockne O’Bannon.
Using O’Bannon’s unique vision and richly detailed story, DeCandido will work with BOOM! Studios and The Jim Henson Company to bring fans the best comic this or any universe has ever seen!
Keith R.A. DeCandido has authored more than 30 novels, among them, the acclaimed Farscape novel House of Cards, released in 2001. DeCandido also wrote three short stories in that universe for the show’s official magazine and role-playing game.
"Words cannot describe how thrilled I am to be returning to Farscape. Writing House of Cards was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my career, and I was always sorry I didn’t get to do more work in the universe," said DeCandido. "Re-immersing myself in the wild and wacky world of FARSCAPE has been a true joy, as the show remains just as brilliant in 2008 as it was at the turn of the century. (more…)
We’re back from Comic Con and ready to hit the comic shop in search of so much we saw previewed on the floor in San Diego, plus:
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There’s a lengthy breakdown of DC’s May sales up at The Beat, and it only serves as further notice that the ol’ warship is taking on copious amounts of water.
The big story, of course, is the soft debut of Final Crisis
The problem, according to Marc-Oliver Frisch, is mainly one of marketing:
One reason that may have led to this loss of faith in DC’s product is the publisher’s recent string of high-level failures. … Retailers had learned their lessons, and I suppose there was no reason to presume that they were going to forget them when it came to ordering Final Crisis. DC would have to put out all the stops to convince them that this was going to be different.
Which they emphatically did not do. Crucially, DC never bothered to tell anyone what Final Crisis was going to be about. … The slogan with which DC chose to advertise the content of Final Crisis when pressed for it, “The Day Evil Won,” doesn’t really address the problem. I mean, congratulations, so you’ve got a second act in there somewhere, at the end of which the bad guys temporarily win, which they always do.
In short, there is no hook.
Which sounds an awful lot like what I had to say about the first issue.
Things go from worse to, well, worse for DC, as its WildStorm line is basically not selling any comics. The average units sold for the line was a shade over 9,800, which is its worst ever mark, Frisch writes.
All told, sales are down everywhere and a whopping 11 series have been canceled because of poor sales.
The only good point was Vertigo’s new House of Mystery
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