June 6, 2014

Will The GAMBIT Movie Be The First Time Channing Tatum Plays The Ragin' Cajun?


Although we've heard Bryan Singer admitting his desire to include Gambit in X-Men Days of Future Past and the in-development X-Men Apocalypse, recent quotes from Channing Tatum could mean Singer won't get his wish. While speaking with MTV, Tatum gives the impressive he's looking to play Remy in the standalone Gambit film before any X-Men installments. A great way to bolster his commitment to the character, pushing for the solo feature first.

“We’ve talked about it being a standalone, first, and actually trying to change the ‘hero, superhero movie.’ Because Gambit is not your typical hero. He’s a thief. He walks on the gray. I’m hoping we can change it a little bit, and then ultimately feather into the other ones.”

The events of Days of Future Past has made the future of the present day X-Men unknown, along characters stuck in a timeline gray-area such as Gambit. Singer, Kinberg and Shuler Donner could really go any route they want with the character. However, if they are going to consider Origins a bit of a blueprint, we'll see Remy living a pre-X-Men life in the 1980's. That decade is currently the setting for X-Men Apocalypse and would be a good way to introduce his character. It's sort of a shame that fans might never see Gambit and Rogue play-out their romantic storyline in the films, but you never know with altered timelines and access to time-travel powers/time machines.

It's a given that X-Men producer and writer Simon Kinberg will likely get involved if/when the studio pursues the Gambit film. At the moment a script isn't in place and it's without a director, Tatum hasn't been officially announced by the studio either. Longtime producer Lauren Shuler Donner has been a bit more positive and told press Tatum was indeed playing Gambit. Even hinting the project could work with a lower budget than recent X-Men films. The only question is, will Fox be willing to fit the bill and greenlight it?

This isn't the first X-Men spin-off mentioned and even pitched to Fox, in the last couple of years. Spin-offs like Deadpool and X-Force have existing scripts, but haven't been given the go-ahead. We've seen Fantastic Four 2 and The Wolverine 2/Wolverine 3 get official release dates, without even completed outlines. This must be extremely frustrating to people like Tim Miller and Jeff Wadlow who have been patiently developing their projects for the studio.


SOURCE: MTV

TERMINATOR: GENESIS Set Images With Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney And Jason Clarke


Production has been underway for a few weeks on Alan Taylor's Terminator: Genesis. A few set photos have been making their way online thanks to outlets like JustJared and DailyMail. We get our first glimpses of Arnold Schwarzenegger as an aged T-800 model terminator. Along with Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney and Jason Clarke. There is also a photo from a shootout scene with Emilia and Jai's stunt-doubles.






STARDUST And BOARDWALK EMPIRE Actor Charlie Cox Is Officially Our New DAREDEVIL


Marvel has announced that British actor Charlie Cox (Boardwalk Empire, Stardust) has landed the role of Matt Murdock in their Daredevil series on Netflix. The 13-episode run is set to shoot this summer in New York City, with Steven DeKnight (Spartacus) showrunning the series. Drew Goddard was poised for the job originally, but had to exit to focus on Sony's Sinister Six. It's possible we could also see a new Elektra added to the cast as well, along with cameos from the other Defenders.

There's no word on villains, but it was revealed that Marvel has access to Wilson Fisk aka The Kingpin. A rather formidable gangster that controls a majority of the crime in Hell's Kitchen. Other iconic villains include Bullseye, The Owl, The Hand, Typhoid Mary and Elektra. The latter two have played both love-interest and foe.



SOURCE: MARVEL

Lupita Nyong'o And Gwendoline Christine Join STAR WARS EPISODE VII


We officially have more ladies joining the cast of J.J. Abrams' Star Wars Episode VII. There had been a bit of controversy, when Daisy Ridley was the only new female addition to the cast, among six new male cast members. A total of two actresses with eleven actors, was a bit embarrassing and earned a bit of backlash during the original casting announcement.

The pair of ladies couldn't be better and will be exciting additions to the franchise. First, we have Oscar winning actress Lupita Nyong'o (Non-Stop, 12 Years A Slave), who had been rumored for meetings since the winter. The second is rising Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christine, who also recently filmed a role in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2.

Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the Saga Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film. Star Wars: Episode VII is being directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing and John Williams returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on December 18, 2015.

SOURCE: LUCASFILM

June 5, 2014

ZOMBIELAND Director Ruben Fleisher In The Mix For GHOSTBUSTERS 3?


During the recent Ant-Man madness concerning who will replace Edgar Wright, a tidbit was dropped about Ghosbusters 3. TheWrap reveals that Sony is considering Zombieland's Ruben Fleisher (Gangster Squad, 30 Minutes or Less) to the direct the film, after Ivan Reitman exited. The studio seems hellbent on getting this movie made.

We know that Bill Murray wants nothing to do with the film, but did work with Ruben on Zombieland. Which did homage Murray's iconic role in Ghosbusters. Emma Stone and Jonah Hill were pursued for the two new leads, the former was also in Zombieland. I'm not entirely sure if we'll end up getting our Peter Venkman ghost cameo, but at least we know Fleisher respects the original material.



SOURCE: THEWRAP

Lucasfilm Announces FANTASTIC FOUR's Josh Trank Will Direct A Standalone STAR WARS Movie


Lucasfilm is going full-force with their future Star Wars plans. Episode VII is currently filming and it was revealed Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Monsters) would be directing an unnamed spin-off (likely Boba Fett) for a Decemeber, 2016 release. They have named another director for second unnamed standalone film. Chronicle and Fantastic Four director Josh Trank has been hired for the nameless Star Wars project. I'm assuming it will have a December release date in 2018.

The studio fails to name the project or even give any details, but it's rumored it could be their Han Solo movie. It's said to focus on the early smuggling days of Solo, a prequel of sorts. Another possibly is a Red Five movie, which could focus on the group of legendary X-Wing pilots (including Luke Skywalker) who took-on the Empire. We also heard about the studio considering a Yoda movie, the least interesting of the bunch (unless it's combined with Zack Snyder's Seven Samurai pitch).

SOURCE: LUCASFILM

Jordan Vogt-Roberts In-Talks To Direct Sony's METAL GEAR SOLID Film


Deadline has some news concerning development of Sony's gestating live-action adaptation of Metal Gear Solid. They report that the studio is in early talks with director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kings of Summer) with Spider-Man's Avi Arad tapped to produce. Sony is working closely with Metal Gear's creator Hideo Kojima on the project. Since Kojima has written a majority of the stories for the franchise, it wouldn't be hard to imagine him getting involved with the script.


Christian Bale has long been considered a favorite for the lead role and expressed a slight interest to MTV a while back, even playing the game from time-to-time. Hideo at the original press conference mentioned a desire to see Hugh Jackman play the role of Snake. I feel that either would be great for Snake, but I might enjoy Jackman in the role slightly more. The only problem, Hugh's current lineup of X-Men productions could remove him from ever considering the movie. However, he's been able to squeeze-in projects like Chappie, Prisoners and Pan. Bale on the other hand, might not be so gung-ho about re-upping on a new franchise.

Studios are quickly making grabs for recognizable video game properties, and we should expect a wave of films coming very soon. High-profile adaptations such as Warcraft, Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell, Uncharted and Mass Effect are already gathering steam.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Josh Brolin Will Voice Thanos In GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Possibly AGE OF ULTRON And AVENGERS 3 Too)


LatinoReview has revealed who will play our purple death-obsessed villain Thanos in Guardians of The Galaxy and Avengers 3. Veteran actor Josh Brolin has taken the role, and will voice the Mad Titan. His role of puppet-master in Guardians is expected to be a big larger, than in Avengers and will likely see him take an even bigger role in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Avengers 3. Thanos is expected to be as prolific a villain as Tom Hiddleston's Loki, if not more, as he could be the driving threat of all three Avengers films.

Brolin is an inspired choice with roles in films such as American Gangster, No Country For Old Men, True Grit, Milk and W. Playing many villains in his career, not to mention being in the mix for the new Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. His Oscar nomination for Milk is also worth noting, as Marvel is keen on actors with Academy nominations and or awards. Josh isn't opposed to taking-on genre pictures as well with projects like Planet Terror, Hallow Man, Mimic, Jonah Hex and this summer's Sin City: A Dame To Kill For.





SOURCE: LATINOREVIEW

June 4, 2014

Scott Derrickson Will Direct Marvel's DOCTOR STRANGE And Jared Leto Rumored


THR reports that Marvel has decided on Sinister's Scott Derrickson to direct Doctor Strange. Scott was linked with a group of candidates, but seemingly has been chosen to for the director's chair. The director confirmed this news via his Twitter account, with a photo of himself with the comic and stating his next film would be "Strange". A release date hasn't been announced, it's expected more information will be revealed during Comic-Con.




His other credits include The Day The Earth Stood Still and the upcoming thriller Deliver Us From Evil. I had a feeling Derrickson was a front-runner, from the get-go. He's also attached to direct a film based on the video game Deux Ex: Human Revolution, which he is also co-writing. We've been hearing for months that Marvel wanted Strange's director to make rewrites to the existing script.





While we've heard Johnny Depp, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jon Hamm mentioned for the lead role. BadassDigest adds another name into the mix, which is recent Oscar winner Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club). Not so odd, since a lot of people had been suggesting his co-star and fellow Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey for the role. The site is quick to

Jared has been apart of a bunch of solid movies including Requiem For A Dream, Fight Club, Panic Room (messy but still good), American Psycho and Lord of War. His break from acting has paid-off and could be ready for a franchise role. We already know that Marvel loves actors with Oscar backgrounds and recent winners/nominees are courted by the studio. I think he would be great in the role, we just have to remember Marvel contacts a lot of Oscar winners/contenders for roles.

It's been rumored that the Doctor Strange role would be a surrogate for Tony Stark for future phases. Leto could be the next Robert Downey Jr. and this could be a very good move on the part of Marvel. I also wouldn't be shocked if Jared was being considered for the Mordo role as well.


SOURCE: THR

May 27, 2014

SPOILERS: What Could We Expect From X-MEN APOCALYPSE?


It's starting to look like Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg have made one hell of an X-Men film with Days of Future Past. It basically gives the best action sequences in the franchise, along with fixing a lot of the problems caused by X3 and Origins. I'll be going over spoilers from the film to piece-together what we can expect from X-Men Apocalypse. SPOILER WARNINGS!


We know that the film will be mainly set around the First Class characters and that the timeline will be the 1980s (hopefully early in the decade). Another excellent stylistic choice and could be an excuse to use even crazier mutant outfits. Be prepared for costumes even more wild than Quicksilver's. I would personally like to see one or two of the Jim Lee designs (Gambit and Rogue) influence the costume department, but I'm sure some fans would hate that.

It was revealed that mutants such as Angel, Banshee, Emma Frost and Azazel had been killed by Trask. I don't expect to see them brought back anytime soon. Even though I really liked Azazel, they had to get rid of him to make room for Nightcrawler. Emma Frost leaving the franchise also opens the door for The Red Queen and Psylocke to take her place.


It's been confirmed by Singer/Kniberg and even hinted to in the film that Xavier will seek-out young Storm, Jean and Cyclops in the sequel. We've also heard from Singer that he wants to also use Gambit and a young version of Nightcrawler. Producer Lauren Shuler Donner all but confirmed that Channing Tatum would be playing Remy. Writer Simon Kinberg is still trying to figure-out how to include Gambit into the film. While a solo film is a given, a large role in Apocalypse might not happen and it's unknown how much we'll see of him.

A deleted scene alluded to Scarlet Witch being apart of the Maximoff household. They might be holding back to give that character a proper introduction and they do hint Quicksilver is Magneto's son. Another character that almost made it into the film was Cain Marko, the step-brother of Charles who eventually becomes the Juggernaut. It's very possible he'll make an appearance or at least could be referenced in the film.


In the end credits scene from Days of Future Past, we see a young Apocalypse and in the background his villainous group The Four Hosemen. This is obviously during ancient Egypt as you can clearly see how young the villain is in the footage. Gambit, Angel and Wolverine were brainwashed into becoming Horsemen in the comics, it's likely they could take some spots in the lineup. We could also see other familiar mutants become pawns of Apocalypse. It's unknown if we'll see Ben Foster reprise the role of Angel, but considering his connections to Apocalypse I'm sure Singer is considering it.


There is also confirmation that the original cast will be returning again, it's likely it could serve as cameos. Unless they have Forge build them a time-machine which sends them back to the 80s. I have to admit I really liked the new additions of Bishop, Blink, Warpath and Sunspot. If it allowed them to return, than I could handle the untalented batch of original cast members. I actually wouldn't be shocked if they turned out to be present day Horsemen, depending on which era Apocalypse shows-up.

The Age of Apocalypse comics featured Bishop and Cable as major characters, the pair being sent back in time Terminator-style could be amazing. One being sent-back to kill Xavier and the other trying to prevent the assassination. It hasn't been confirmed if they'll bring back the time-travel element. Seeing how they are talking about bringing back old cast members and it will focus on the First Class era in the 80s, they'd have to use it again. Forge does build a working machine in the distant future, so they wouldn't need to use Kitty again. I would assume that preventing the Sentinel program, could have fuelled an even more horrific future.


Even though we visited the 70's, there are a few things that are kind of up-in-the-air concerning Logan/Jimmy. Does he eventually join the Weapon X program and get his adamantium skeleton/claws, or will that storyline just disappear? Mystiuqe disgusted as Stryker rescues Logan from the government at the end of the film. This could mean that the Weapon X program never turned Logan into the black-ops killing machine.

If Singer resurrects that aspect of Logan's life, we could finally get a solid reboot of the badass government special-ops program (unlike what was shown in Origins). Plus, this could lead to the return of Victor Creed aka Sabertooth and possibly Yuriko aka Lady Deathstrike as well. This alternate timeline could also mean that Deathstrike and Sabertooth, might show-up in The Wolverine 2, if the the sequel is set in this altered timeline.

May 24, 2014

Steven DeKnight Showrunning DAREDEVIL Series, As Drew Goddard Focuses On SINISTER SIX



It's been a hectic weekend for Marvel Studios. First, Edgar Wright exits Ant-Man over possible script conflicts and now someone else leaves their television division. Marvel announces that Drew Goddard (Cabin In The Woods) will not be showrunning Daredevil. The Netflix series was expected to begin production this summer in New York City.

They've hired Steven DeKnight to replace Drew. Steven has worked on shows such as Buffy, Angel and showrunning Spartacus. Let's just hope this isn't another Agents of SHIELD situation, and DeKnight is a little more creative and canon with his series. DeKnight's Spartacus peers are the ones running Agents of SHIELD, so I'm a little worried. I assume that Goddard's writing-work on the few episodes he helped write won't be altered, but with Marvel's recent behind the scenes practices we can't assume that. Casting for the project should be begin very soon, and Dexter's Michael C. Hall expressed some interest.

Goddard was hired by Sony to write and direct their Spider-Man villain spin-off The Sinister Six. It was rumored that production that film could be begin as early as Winter/Spring 2015. This would mean that Drew would need the summer to tighten-up the script and then jump right into pre-production. This is supported in the press release by Marvel.

His commitments to Sinister Six wouldn't leave a lot of room to be the showrunner of a series. I'm going to place this in the conflict by Sony category and not Marvel's fault. We've seen this before when Fox dragged Josh Trank away from Sony's Venom to direct Fantastic Four, only for Sony to replace him with Alex Kurtzman.

Maybe this will mean Spartacus' Liam McIntyre will get into the mix for casting.



SOURCE: MARVEL

Edgar Wright Walks From ANT-MAN Over Marvel's Script Rewrites?



Looks like we might finally have the skinny on why Edgar Wright left Ant-Man. It's apparently Edgar who quit, he wasn't fired by Marvel Studios, as some had assumed. LatinoReview is reporting from inside sources that Wright and Cornish we trying their best to appease production notes from Marvel. That didn't seem to be enough and two low credited writers were making massive rewrites to their script. To the point that Wright's vision had been lost, this is according to this article. I guess we'll hear from Edgar soon, but it's unlikely he'll be giving straight answers. Considering he still has a project or two in-development over at Disney.

About 3 months ago, Marvel had notes. The meat of the notes were about the core morality of the piece, must include franchise characters. etc., These notes came from the big four at Marvel. Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright did two drafts to try and answer the notes without compromising their vision.

6 weeks ago Marvel took the script off them and gave the writing assignment to two very low credit writers. One of the writers were from Marvel's in house writing team. Edgar stayed cool, agreed to stay on the project, and read the draft.

The script came in this week and was completely undone. Poorer, homogenized, and not Edgar's vision. Edgar met with Marvel on Friday to formally exit and the announcement went out directly after.

I have my own theory that these "writers", could in fact be Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus. Since the pair, have had their hands in doing rewrites to "troubled" scripts. Most recently adding their "magic" to Thor: The Dark World, when the script wasn't up to the studios' standards. It would be even more insulting, if Marvel had unknowns reworking the script that Edgar had been writing off-and-on for around eight years.

SOURCE: LATINOREVIEW

May 23, 2014

Wait A Minute, Does Marvel Studios Have The Film Rights To Namor?



Kevin Feige seemingly made it clear nine months ago that Universal was indeed the holder of the movie rights to Namor The Sub-Mariner. Yet, that answer seems to be dwindling as time goes-on. A more recent quote from Feige to IGN, makes things seemingly less clear. We've been noticing Marvel Studios has been teasing Namor for years and there actually might be a reason for this. Is Namor a similar situation to the shared rights of Kingpin, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch?

"No, Namor I think is a little complicated, the way some of them are."

A rumor from LatinoReview suggests that Legendary Pictures' unnamed event film for November 2016, could be a Namor movie. THR went even further than that, and believe that Marvel Studios has more of the rights than Universal currently has. It's very possible this could be another Incredible Hulk situation, as Universal might only have distribution rights. A similar deal was made with Paramount Pictures for majority of the Phase One movies. Disney would eventually buy-out that contract, and paid a hefty price-tag for it.




It's possible that Marvel is able to include Namor in their movies (like Hulk), but if they decided to make a feature film with him, they'd have to allow Universal to distribute. That's unless Disney is working on getting those rights back. This could mean we might see Namor become an important antagonist or hero in future movies.

Would you support a Namor movie if it was made by Marvel Studios?

SOURCE: THR

It's Not The End Of The World, ANT-MAN Will Find A New Director


You'd think the sky was falling, if we accurately gaged the response of Twitter today. News broke this afternoon that Edgar Wright will no longer be directing Ant-Man. A project he had been writing for Marvel since 2006, and would eventually see Joe Cornish join to co-write on the script. Wright was eyed for the directing gig, but Marvel allowed him to go off to make Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim and The World's End before locking him down as the official director. The studio obviously wanted Wright's vision for the film, even though it's being reported his departure is over "creative differences"

We just learned about this news, but people are already choosing sides, and making Marvel out to be the villain. The full story hasn't been revealed and Wright hasn't even weighed-in on the departure. It's basically the worst we've come to expect from fandom, reactionists just spouting conspiracies and misplacing their anger over what-ifs. If only half of these people actually supported Edgar Wright's film when they were released in theatres, he wouldn't have such a poor record at the box office.

I'm not overly shocked, as Marvel has moved up the date twice and Wright already seemed a bit overwhelmed by the amount of special effects needed for the movie. It's possible that Wright actually got cold-feet about the looming release date and couldn't meet that deadline. This doesn't make Edgar a terrible director, just someone who obviously wasn't ready for something of this scale. Of course, this is just one of many theories that are circling the internet at the moment. Let's not forget that Wright has a bunch of other films in development and could have been offered a bigger project as well.

A majority of this will be Edgar's movie no matter who end's up directing it. Wright blocked a bunch of film's shots, helped with storyboards, hired most of the cast and even co-wrote the script. It's safe to say the film will be 70% Edgar's even with a new director taking over for him. He's done basically all the prep-work, so it's not the case of Marvel removing all of Wright's fingerprints from the project. The new director will simply help finish casting and will just aggressively shoot the production extremely fast.

I have a few names I'd like to put out there for consideration. Variety has pointed out while Marvel is zeroing-in on someone, a deal hasn't been made. So they could end-up looking at other people for the gig.



RICHARD AYOADE: Richard has very similar sensibilities to Edgar Wright, both have a love of topical pulp culture and dry British humor. Ayoade comes from the indie world of filmmaking which should appease the film nerds. His films Submarine and The Double, wouldn't give the impression he'd make an excellent superhero film. However, neither did the Russo Brothers with their work on the show Community. He's sort of a diamond-in-the-rough director you'd want Marvel to search for.


BEN WHEATLEY: Another friend of Edgar Wright, Ben has walked the line of insane and brilliant. His films The Kill-List and A Field In England are projects you'd expect Stanley Kubrick to make, but then makes a black-comedy like The Sightseers (produced by Wright). He's the kind of unpredictable director that I believe Marvel would be attracted to. Ben recently agreed to direct an episode of Doctor Who, something you wouldn't expect him to be into. The only problem is that Ben is about to start shooting his next film High Rise starring Tom Hiddleston.


JOE CORNISH: A lot of people are dismissing Cornish getting involved because he's lined-up another feature, which will focus on the origins of MI6. Joe is the co-writer of the script and could easily direct the hell out of an Ant-Man movie. The people at Marvel must have seen Attack The Block, and the star of that film John Boyega landed a role in Star Wars. I could see Cornish dropping that other project if given the deal from Marvel.

Some honorary mentions include Eran Creevy (Welcome To The Punch, Autobauhn) Sam Miller (Luther), J Blakeson (The Disappearance of Alice Creed) and Paddy Constantine (Tyrannosaur).

Edgar Wright Exits ANT-MAN, New Director To Be Announced Shortly


After eights years and many different script drafts, Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim, Shaun of The Dead) has officially exited Marvel's Ant-Man. Wright had been involved with the project since it's inception over eight years ago, and was about to start rolling on the film at Pinewood Studios, Atlanta. The joint announcement via THR, confirms that Wright has left the production and a new director will be named soon.

Marvel and Edgar Wright jointly announced today that the studio and director have parted ways on ANT-MAN due to differences in their vision of the film. The decision to move on is amicable and does not impact the release date on July 17, 2015. A new director will be announced shortly.



The cast isn't likely to change which includes Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lily, Patrick Wilson, Corey Stoll, and Michael Pena. The release date won't be changing either, and pre-production will likely resume shortly. This isn't the first time something like this has happened at Marvel. Patty Jenkins was originally hired to direct Thor: The Dark World, only to exit and be replaced with Alan Taylor.

It's unknown who Marvel will place in the director's chair, but some are already speculating co-writer Joe Cornish might get the offer. Cornish directed the well-recived film Attack The Block, and was a favorite to land the directing gig for Star Trek 3. Joe turned down the offer to takeover Star Trek, so it's possible he'd also turn this down as well.

We also don't have the full story here, and it's likely that Wright was offered a bigger project and felt the need to turn away from Ant-Man. I'm sure things will come into the light in the coming days.

SOURCE: THR