Posts Tagged ‘Marvel Comics’
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 10th, 2008
The Dark Knight continues to rule the box office as it takes the number one position for the fourth weekend in a row, the first time any 2008 release has achieved this. Its estimated haul of $26,030,000 pushes its domestic take to $441,541,000, faster than any movie in history.
In its second weekend Universal’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor dropped -60.2%, taking in just $16,113,000. With a total of $70,671,000, it chugs along although there has to be some concern that bad word of mouth, poor reviews and steep drop off may mean the franchise is running out of steam despite director Rob Cohen already talking a fourth film. (more…)
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 8th, 2008
You can’t turn around without seeing an interview with writer/director David Goyer these days. After all, he’s co-written the hottest movie of the century and has his next project in post-production. With The Dark Knight out and The Unborn being finished, he’s been turning his attention to other scripts. He’s completed a new draft of The Flash for Warner Bros. and is lined up to direct from his script for 20th-Century Fox’s X-Men Origins: Magneto.
Then there’s that other project he’s talked about on and off these last few months. He finally sat down with MTV to talk about his take on H.G, Wells The Invisible Man. The movie is being written for Universal Studios, naturally. “I’m working with some conceptual artists in tandem with writing the script,” he revealed to the network. “I’m actually working with one of the artists from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. So it could be Magneto, or it could be The Invisible Man next.” (more…)
Posted by bob in Films, News on August 3rd, 2008
After a strong Friday showing, it looked as if The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor might topple The Dark Knight from the top of the box office. However, mostly negative reviews seem to have scared enough people away so it opened at number two for the weekend. It took in a healthy $42,450,000, under Universal’s estimates, but was beaten by Batman, who brought an additional $43,800,000 to Gotham City. The film now has earned a total of $394,887,000 in just three weeks and will clear the $400 million hurdle any minute now.
Showing surprising durability, Brendan Fraser’s other summer film, Journey to the Center of the Earth finished its fourth week in fifth place, taking in $6,875,000, totaling $73,140,000. (more…)
Posted by bob in Comics, Films, News on July 31st, 2008
Everyone is anxious for details on Sony’s fourth Spider-Man film, already announced for 2011 so fans got surprised when Variety reported this morning that the studio is now focused first on a Venom spinoff project.
Jacob Estes (Mean Creek) had been assigned the unenviable task of writing a screenplay featuring the monstrous alien symbiote that ruins people’s lives while consuming other people. After his draft, the production execs have decided to go in a different direction so he’s off and a new writer has yet to be named. (more…)
Posted by bob in Films, News on July 30th, 2008
Transsiberian, which has been performing well on its two screens, will expand starting August 8 in Los Angeles; August 15 in Chicago, Washington DC and San Francisco; August 22 in San Diego, Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Dallas, Seattle; and August 27 in Minneapolis.
Chuck Jones’s classic would-be conqueror, Marvin the Martian, is now in development by Warner Bros. in partnership with Alcon Entertainment. The proposed feature film will use CGI and live action. According to Variety, the pitch involves Marvin coming to Earth to ruin Christmas for all until he gets trapped in a gift box. This matches his other attempts at destroying the Earth, usually to be foiled by Bugs Bunny (starting in 1948) or Duck Dodgers.
What can X-fans expect after X-Men Origins: Wolverine next May? Well, there’s the David S. Goyer-written Magneto origin film in the works. But, what about the rest of the team? Production Weekly has listed a new project, X-Men: First Class, which exactly the name of a Marvel Comic about the original quintet of mutants with a fresh, modern day approach from writer Jeff Parker and artist Roger Cruz. Try www.x-menfirstclass.com and you get taken to 20th Century-Fox’s website. Interesting, no?
Posted by bob in Films, News on July 27th, 2008
There are probably no surprises with the box office results this weekend with The Dark Knight firmly in first place, earning another estimated $75,630,000. The drop off is interesting in that it’s a relatively modest -52.3%. To date, the second Batman film from Christopher Nolan has accumulated $314,245,000, faster than any other film in history.
20th Century Fox’s The X-Files: I Want to Believe debuted in a disappointing fourth place, taking in just $10,200,000. (more…)
Posted by bob in Comics, News on July 25th, 2008
At Thursday’s Mondo Marvel panel it was announced that David Mack (Kabuki) will write a graphic novel adapting Philip K. Dick’s “The Electric Ant”.
Dick’s story first appeared in the October 1969 issue of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Dick said at the time, “Again the theme: How much of what we call ‘reality’ is actually out there or rather within our own head? The ending of this story has always frightened me … the image of the rushing wind, the sound of emptiness. As if the character hears the final fate of the world itself.” (more…)
Posted by bob in News on July 25th, 2008
Stephen King continues to break new ground. To promote his latest short story collection, Just After Sunset, he has authorized a video adaptation for one of the stories, “N”, which was handled by Marvel Comics.
The story, which broke in today’s Wall Street Journal, will be announced and previewed later today at Comic-Con International. The article detailed how the 54-page story has been broken into 25 mini-chapters that can be downloaded for computer or cell phone with five episodes a week available beginning Monday and running through August 29. (more…)
Posted by bob in Films, News on July 21st, 2008
Director Louis Leterrier told the French press that he doubts there will be a sequel to his Incredible Hulk given the so-so American box office. On the other hand, he fully expects the jade giant to be a part of 2011’s anticipated Avengers film.
He also discussed that he doesn’t anticipate re-editing the film for DVD but include the cut sequences as extras. Once he said that he also did not rule out the re-edit so we’ll just have to wait for fall. (more…)
Posted by bob in Films, News on July 20th, 2008
Everyone knew The Dark Knight was going to open huge, the only question was going to be how huge. Now we know. Counting the midnight haul on Friday, the film took in an estimated $155,340,000, easily surpassing Spider-Man 3’s $151.1 and becoming the biggest three day opening film of all time.
Other genre films included Transsiberian’s $35,200 opening on just two screens. It garnered good reviews and should expand its rollout. (more…)
