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Comic book movies - who says yes and who says no? — Page 9
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I wish that a someone as beautiful and talented as Theron could play Samus, though it's unlikely to ever happen.
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I hope they're wrong, because I'll probably end up seeing it anyway.
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Not a "Fantastic" Fourth for Fox
What was shaping up to be a Fantastic face off between two summer blockbusters has turned out to be nothing more than a close encounter of the studio kind.
Despite staking out the usually lucrative Fourth of July holiday first, 20th Century Fox has confirmed it's postponing the release of Fantastic Four, its superhero movie adapted from the Marvel comic book, from July 1 to July 8--ceding Independence Day weekend to a Martian invader--the Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise (news) update of H.G. Wells' sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds. That film is scheduled to unspool Wednesday, June 29.
A showdown between the two high-profile projects had been in the offing since last August, when Paramount announced it was moving up production on War after Spielberg and Cruise cleared their calendars to work together on what will be as close to a surefire box-office hit as they come--a big-budget alien-invasion epic from the man who brought moviegoers 1977's UFO tale Close Encounters of the Third Kind and a host of other blockbusters with one of Tinseltown's most bankable stars leading the cast.
Not even four superheroes could thwart that kind of monster so it's easy to see why Fox blinked. Just don't tell that to studio executives.
"We are not running from War of the Worlds," Fox distribution head Bruce Snyder said, presumably with a straight face, to the Hollywood Reporter. "This [new] date just works better for us."
The Fantastic Four, starring Michael Chiklis and Jessica Alba (news), follows the adventures of a dysfunctional team of astronauts who gain superhuman powers after being exposed to radiation when their space voyage goes awry. Chiklis plays the rock-like Thing, Alba plays the Invisible Woman, Iaon Gruffud plays elastic team leader Mr. Fantastic and Chris Evans plays the Human Torch. Nip/Tuck's Julian McMahon is their nemesis, Dr. Doom.
Fox announced its intentions for a Fantastic Fourth way back in 2003. But that was before Cruise's third Mission: Impossible movie stalled, giving him a chance to ramp up working with his Minority Report director. Spielberg in turn shelved plans for his long-in-development drama about the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
As recently as last month, Fox was sticking with a July 1 release for Fantastic Four, even including a trailer with the studio's Elektra that played on the Independence Day release ("On July Fourth...4th...5 people will be changed...forever...4-ever" went the tagline).
However, the stakes were raised when Paramount premiered its own 30-second teaser for War of the Worlds during Sunday's Super Bowl.
The move should help protect Fantastic Four from getting blown away, especially since its pedigree doesn't match War's. The superhero flick has a largely unknown cast--Chiklis and Alba are the biggest names--and a relatively untested director in Tim Story, whose previous credits include two comedies--the 2002 box-office surprise Barbershop and last year's woeful Taxi.
Fantastic Four will now go up against Sony's Bewitched, starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell (news), and Universal's thriller, Skeleton Key with Kate Hudson.
Meantime, Fox will now try and counter the onslaught of War of the Worlds by rolling out on Roll Bounce on July 1 in Fantastic's place. The comedy features pint-sized rapper Bow Wow
Fox isn't the only studio doing the Hollywood shuffle.
Sony has also pushed back the debut of its Jim Carrey (news)-Téa Leoni comedy remake Fun with Dick and Jane from June 25 to Dec. 21, according to the Hollywood Reporter, to try to repeat the success of Meet the Fockers, which grossed $70 million-plus over Christmas week and whose cumulative haul now stands at $265 million.
And here's a promo still...
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Kevin A
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--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Kevin A
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But if we're talking about Marvel, the most popular ones have already been made into movies, so why not delve further back towards the lesser known ones if it'll get you some more of the almighty dollar?
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Princess Leia: I happen to like nice men.
Han Solo: I'm a nice man.
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And yes, FF is obscure in terms of mass audience. My wife had never heard of them. One of her brothers had only heard of them in passing reference. Didn't know anything about them. And these are the people that the movie needs to be playing up to in order to make ticket sales. Comic book fans are still a relatively small audience. Not nearly enough to cover the production costs on a movie such as this. Elektra proved this. They were just hoping to cash in on the recognition of the role from the Daredevil movie and on Jennifer Garner's fame. That really worked, didn't it?
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Princess Leia: I happen to like nice men.
Han Solo: I'm a nice man.
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They can release their new Fantastic Four movie whenever they want; it's gonna suck.
Who should play Captain America? I heard Brad Pitt was in talks for it, but I think that was only a rumor. James Caviezel might work (he seems to have a knack for portraying stalwart characters), though it would require that he dye his jet black hair blonde (and after his long, hard and ultimately fruitless campaign to get the role of Superman in Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns" he may have sour feelings towards superhero films).
Did anyone catch the "Batman Begins" super bowl TV spot?
In other news, I hear that Daniel Day-Lewis has agreed to play Jor-El in Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns" and that Famke Janssen will play Superman's birth mother Lara while Eva Marie Saint plays his Earth mother Martha 'Ma' Kent. Kevin Bacon is also signed on to portray John Corbin/Metallo. The plot - as it were - picks up where 1980's "Superman II" left off (ignoring Superman 3 and 4), in which the people of Earth start hating Superman (exit the late Christopher Reeve, enter 25 year old Brandon Routh) because he was so late to saving them from General Zod (who's going to appear in the form of Jude Law) and because he left at the end of that famous fight to lure General Zod and his cronies away; a depressed Superman decides that he can't live up to the expectations of us stupid Earthlings so he exiles himself to the Fortress of Solitude. Six years later some new threat shows up (presumably Metallo) and this prompts Superman to come out of retirement and fight for truth, justice and all the rest. So far I still think the only thing this movie has going for it is Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. I'm not a die-hard Spacey fan but I think he's a good choice for Luthor and I hope and pray to god that he doesn't do it the way Gene Hackman did it. Part of me would like to give Brandon Routh a chance as Superman/Clark Kent, but I really don't like a lot of what I've heard about this movie... plus Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane?! I mean what the Hell are they thinking?! I was against casting a 20 year old actress from the get go but if they had to go 20s, I was hoping they'd at least pick Claire Danes (she was easily one of the more talented actresses in the line). Bryan Singer may be a skilled director but I'm losing confidence in him.
Plus... if Superman's been living in exile why not hire an older man? I mean that takes a big chunk out of the work of having to make him look older than he naturally is.
And why would Daniel Day-Lewis even look at this script? He's never shown any interest in the fantastical stuff before, so why start now with a half-assed relaunch of the Superman movies? How could this guy who claims he can only do roles he feels he can totally devote himself to, who turned down the role of the brooding Aragorn in the Lord of the Ring movies, see any potential for real acting in this movie?
Red heads ROCK. Blondes do not rock. Nuff said.
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Originally posted by: Han Solo VS Indiana Jones
And why would Daniel Day-Lewis even look at this script? He's never shown any interest in the fantastical stuff before, so why start now with a half-assed relaunch of the Superman movies? How could this guy who claims he can only do roles he feels he can totally devote himself to, who turned down the role of the brooding Aragorn in the Lord of the Ring movies, see any potential for real acting in this movie?
Some good questions, indeed.
I did catch the Batman spot and I am still very much looking forward to this movie.
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Originally posted by: Han Solo VS Indiana Jones
And why would Daniel Day-Lewis even look at this script?
I take it you haven't read Bruce Campbell's If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor. Every actor has to take some crappy jobs to pay the bills, and Day-Lewis may finally have reached that point.
Princess Leia: I happen to like nice men.
Han Solo: I'm a nice man.
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Ben Affleck: Oh, now you're the director.
Matt Damon: Hey shove it, Bounce-boy. Let's remember who talked who into doing this shit in the first place. Talking me into Dogma was one thing, but this...
Ben Affleck: Hey look, I'm sorry I dragged you away from whatever-gay-serial-killers-who-ride-horses-and-like-to-play-golf-touchy-feely-picture you're supposed to be doing this week.
Matt Damon: I take it you haven't seen Forces of Nature?
Ben Affleck: You're like a child. What've I been telling you? You gotta do the safe picture. Then you can do the art picture. But then sometimes you gotta do the payback picture because your friend says you owe him.
[They both take a beat and look at the camera]
Ben Affleck: And sometimes, you have to go back to the well.
Matt Damon: And sometimes, you do Reindeer Games.
Ben Affleck: See, that's just mean.
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Kevin A
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I thought Day-Lewis could support himself between jobs by doing woodwork and cobbling. Maybe he's being blackmailed?
Red heads ROCK. Blondes do not rock. Nuff said.
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--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
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Originally posted by: ricarleite
Ah, so I see Daniel Day-Lewis is following the steps of Marlon Brando. He is already a legendary actor, all he needs to do now is to become bizarre and anoying.
What with cotton in his mouth?