Hello ladies and gentlemen, here is some movie news with some of my thoughts and opinions (which will be in BOLD print). So without further ado...
(NOTE: All of these stories come from comingsoon.net)
Following the new character images that debuted earlier this month, Lucasfilm has revealed that Andy Serkis's Star Wars: The Force Awakens character will be called “Supreme Leader Snoke.” Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, and features a new generation of swashbuckling heroes and shadowy villains, as well as the return of fan-favorite smugglers, princesses, and Jedi. Starring Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker as their characters from the original trilogy, “The Force Awakens” also stars John Boyega as Finn, Daisy Ridley as Rey, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, Oscar Isaac Poe Dameron, Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata, and Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma. Also starring, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow, Crystal Clarke, Pip Anderson, Christina Chong and Miltos Yerolemou, the J.J. Abrams-directed film will debut in theaters on December 18, 2015.
I'm a little indifferent about the name. In one sense the name is a little dorky and it doesn't get me excited about his character, but the is a flip-side to that. One of the rumors going around is that a lot of Star Wars characters have more than one name such as Chancellor Palpatine is also known as Darth Sidious. I personally tend to agree with this simply because there are so many hints towards the character of Darth Plagueis and I would be shocked if his character isn't Darth Plagueis. If he isn't I'll be fine with it, but I'll be disappointed.
Deadline is reporting that Paramount Pictures and producer Mary Parent’s Disruption Entertainment are developing the toyline Beyblade as a live-action feature film. Essentially weighted spinning tops with different abilities that can be launched into “battle” with each other, Beyblade originated at Japanese company Takara Tomy in 2000, and were licensed by Hasbro for America in 2001. Generating over $2.5 billion dollars in revenue, the brand was popularized by a manga series by Takao Aoki about a group of kids who form a team called Bladebreakers to compete in tournaments using Beyblades. The property has spawned several Anime series, video games, and two animated movies, not to mention a new toyline scheduled to debut in 2017. Paramount has had enormous success in adapting Hasbro’s Transformers toys into a major film franchise, but its two G.I. Joe films have only performed moderately well at the box office. Meanwhile, Universal achieved amazing low-budget profitability with Ouija while the expensive Battleship utterly sunk. Beyblade has an extensive mythology with worldwide recognition to adapt, although it lacks the nostalgia factor of those previous properties and may prove a tough sell to older millennials and their parents. Former Universal co-chair Parent is also producing the toyetic Monster Trucks movie at Paramount, currently in a lengthy post-production for a 2016 release, as well as the Pacific Rim franchise at Legendary/Universal.
I think this is a pretty great idea. When I was younger I was a huge fan of Bayblade, but as I got older I kind of drifted away from it and I lost touch. It makes sense for Paramount because of the success they have had with developing Hasbro movies. I'm interested in how this film will work and how close the studio will follow or use the very huge mythology that Beyblade has.
Marvel Studios has debuted an all-new poster for their upcoming movie Ant-Man featuring the title character doing some microscopic bullet-dodging and you can check it out below. Ant-Man stars Paul Rudd (This is 40, They Came Together), Evangeline Lilly (“LOST,” The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies), Corey Stoll (This is Where I Leave You, Non-Stop) and Michael Douglas (The Game, And So It Goes) and brings a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the first time. Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang (Rudd) must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym (Douglas), protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world. Also starring are Judy Greer (“Archer,” Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Bobby Cannavale (Chef, Blue Jasmine), Michael Pena (End of Watch, Fury), Martin Donovan (Inherent Vice, Insomnia), Wood Harris (Dredd, Remember the Titans), John Slattery (“Mad Men,” Iron Man 2), Gregg Turkington (“Gravity Falls,” The Comedy), Abby Ryder Fortson (“Togetherness,” “The Whispers”), David Dastmalchian (The Dark Knight, Prisoners) and T.I. (Takers, “House of Lies”), Ant-Man features a script by Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Paul Rudd and Adam McKay. Ant-Man is scheduled to open in theaters on July 17, 2015. You can learn more about the Ant-Man cast by clicking here.
This is a pretty nice poster. Now granted it is full of unnecessary CGI images, but it is a different poster than Marvel is used to releasing. They all usually show the main cast with floating heads all around the poster. This is a new original poster and it gives you an idea of how small Ant-Man is. Through all of the ups and downs, I've been behind the film and I've dying to see it and knowing that it is a month and a half away gets me excited.
It’s been widely reported over the past few months that Paramount Pictures is looking to expand their big screen Transformers franchise, pulling together a team of writers with the aim being to develop sequels and spinoffs set in the same cinematic universe as the four existing Michael Bay films. Today, Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner spoke at this year’s Global Consumer Conference and name-dropped the Autobot Bumblebee as the potential focus for a spinoff feature. “As we go forward, we would imagine several more Transformers Movies,” Goldner said (via TFW2005.com). “Not just in the current lineage but also spinoffs and focusing on certain key characters that are beloved by the world over. Many of you know Bumblebee; the yellow Camaro… formally known as a yellow VW Bug. He is a beloved character by kids all over the world. We could see stories told around Bumblebee and other characters. We are in a process of building the brand equity around the comic book business, our TV Business, our digital gaming business and adding to that our new movie business of Transformers.” The new writing team currently includes “The Walking Dead” and “Invincible” creator Robert Kirkman, the Iron Man writing pair of Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, “Fringe” and “Lost” scribe Jeff Pinkner, X-Men: The Last Stand and The Incredible Hulk‘s Zak Penn and Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari, a duo that worked together rewriting Marvel’s upcoming Ant-Man. I Am Legend‘s Akiva Goldsman will lead the group, each member of which was selected by Bay and fellow producers Steven Spielberg, and Lorenzo di Bonaventura. Previous reports have suggested that one of the potential titles in development is Transformers One, a prequel film set on the planet Cybertron, briefly seen in the first film of the series. Last year, Paramount released the franchise’s fourth film, Transformers: Age of Extinction, starring Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor. When asked if he’d be back for a sequel, Wahlberg previously stated that he’s contracted for “a couple more.” It is also believed that Bay himself will return to helm Transformers 5 after he completes work on his Benghazi drama 13 Hours. Age of Extinction grossed over $1 billion at the global box office with all four films combined grossing over $3.7 billion.
Do we honestly need this movie? Look my favorite character in the Transformers franchise is Bumblebee and while a solo film would be cool, but is not necessary. Paramount right now is struggling to figure out what to do with the franchise moving forward especially after the fact that the last film, while making over $1 billion, was completely bashed by critics and by the true die hard fans. I think they need to just focus on one thing before trying to expand the universe.
It’s been more than three decades since Arnold Schwarzenegger headlined director John Milius’ Conan the Barbarian, launching a cinematic take on the Hyborian Age that continued in 1984’s Conan the Destroyer and 1985’s Red Sonja. Now, with cameras nearly ready to roll on The Legend of Conan and Schwarzenegger set to reprise the iconic role, it’s sounding like a cinematic universe based on Howard’s characters isn’t far off. Deadline today reports that Legend of Conan producer Frederik Malmberg, who also produced the 2011 reboot starring Jason Momoa, has acquired the rights to Howard’s entire catalogue of characters, paying $7.5 million to take control of Paradox Entertainment. “These days,” Malmberg tells the outlet, “it comes down to brands and characters and we are looking at long term possibilities. We look at how Marvel played out with its rich based of characters, and this too is a universe that lends itself to exploitation in TV and film. There aren’t many libraries like this.” Among the hundreds of characters included in the deal are Kull the Conqueror and Solomon Kane, both of whom have been the focus of theatrical films in the past. It gets a bit more complicated when it comes to the Red Sonja rights, however. Although the character was loosely based on a Howard creation, Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith are credited with creating the Sonja we know today, having debuted the warrior in a 1973 issue of Marvel Comics’ “Conan the Barbarian” series. Following a legal dispute that broke out nearly a decade ago, the rights to Sonja were awarded to an LLC separate from Paradox. Since then, however, Paradox and the Red Sonja LLC have been working in cooperation to keep current Sonja stories set in the Hyborian Age.
It’s quite likely that a similar deal could be worked out for the big screen, although no plans have been confirmed at this time. Legend of Conan, meanwhile, is moving forward at Universal Pictures with a screenplay by Chris Morgan and Andrea Berloff. Morgan recently confirmed to The Arnold Fans that “at least three” other characters from the original films are included in the screenplay for the new adventure. “We’re very lucky that the architects of this new film — the writer, the producers, the studio and most of all, Arnold — who is Conan — are all first-generation fans who either worked on the film or who came along for the ride, cheering from their theater seats opening night,” he says. “We plan nothing more than to immerse ourselves in the world Milius envisioned from Robert E. Howard’s unforgettable stories and Frank Frazetta’s stunning artwork… [W]e are honoring the locales, the religions and the traditions of the ’82 film.” “It’s 30 years after the original film,” says Malmberg, likening the overall tone of the sequel to Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, “and [Conan]’s facing his mortality and how a legend deals with the fact he’s older, and how does he want to go out.” Malmberg’s Paradox acquisition also includes the rights to some non-Howard properties, such as the ’90s role playing game Mutant Chronicles.
Like I said with Paramount I don't think we need this. I know there is a really huge universe involved with Conan, but it's not as well known as Transformers is and I just think they need to do two or three solo Conan films before expanding the universe. I'm a fan of Conan and I really want this new film to succeed. I'm also glad Arnold is coming back to the franchise especially after the last film was absolutely dreadful.
So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, which of these stories peaked your interest or was there another story that interested you? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
(NOTE: All of these stories come from comingsoon.net)
Following the new character images that debuted earlier this month, Lucasfilm has revealed that Andy Serkis's Star Wars: The Force Awakens character will be called “Supreme Leader Snoke.” Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, and features a new generation of swashbuckling heroes and shadowy villains, as well as the return of fan-favorite smugglers, princesses, and Jedi. Starring Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker as their characters from the original trilogy, “The Force Awakens” also stars John Boyega as Finn, Daisy Ridley as Rey, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, Oscar Isaac Poe Dameron, Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata, and Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma. Also starring, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow, Crystal Clarke, Pip Anderson, Christina Chong and Miltos Yerolemou, the J.J. Abrams-directed film will debut in theaters on December 18, 2015.
I'm a little indifferent about the name. In one sense the name is a little dorky and it doesn't get me excited about his character, but the is a flip-side to that. One of the rumors going around is that a lot of Star Wars characters have more than one name such as Chancellor Palpatine is also known as Darth Sidious. I personally tend to agree with this simply because there are so many hints towards the character of Darth Plagueis and I would be shocked if his character isn't Darth Plagueis. If he isn't I'll be fine with it, but I'll be disappointed.
Deadline is reporting that Paramount Pictures and producer Mary Parent’s Disruption Entertainment are developing the toyline Beyblade as a live-action feature film. Essentially weighted spinning tops with different abilities that can be launched into “battle” with each other, Beyblade originated at Japanese company Takara Tomy in 2000, and were licensed by Hasbro for America in 2001. Generating over $2.5 billion dollars in revenue, the brand was popularized by a manga series by Takao Aoki about a group of kids who form a team called Bladebreakers to compete in tournaments using Beyblades. The property has spawned several Anime series, video games, and two animated movies, not to mention a new toyline scheduled to debut in 2017. Paramount has had enormous success in adapting Hasbro’s Transformers toys into a major film franchise, but its two G.I. Joe films have only performed moderately well at the box office. Meanwhile, Universal achieved amazing low-budget profitability with Ouija while the expensive Battleship utterly sunk. Beyblade has an extensive mythology with worldwide recognition to adapt, although it lacks the nostalgia factor of those previous properties and may prove a tough sell to older millennials and their parents. Former Universal co-chair Parent is also producing the toyetic Monster Trucks movie at Paramount, currently in a lengthy post-production for a 2016 release, as well as the Pacific Rim franchise at Legendary/Universal.
I think this is a pretty great idea. When I was younger I was a huge fan of Bayblade, but as I got older I kind of drifted away from it and I lost touch. It makes sense for Paramount because of the success they have had with developing Hasbro movies. I'm interested in how this film will work and how close the studio will follow or use the very huge mythology that Beyblade has.
Marvel Studios has debuted an all-new poster for their upcoming movie Ant-Man featuring the title character doing some microscopic bullet-dodging and you can check it out below. Ant-Man stars Paul Rudd (This is 40, They Came Together), Evangeline Lilly (“LOST,” The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies), Corey Stoll (This is Where I Leave You, Non-Stop) and Michael Douglas (The Game, And So It Goes) and brings a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the first time. Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang (Rudd) must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym (Douglas), protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world. Also starring are Judy Greer (“Archer,” Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Bobby Cannavale (Chef, Blue Jasmine), Michael Pena (End of Watch, Fury), Martin Donovan (Inherent Vice, Insomnia), Wood Harris (Dredd, Remember the Titans), John Slattery (“Mad Men,” Iron Man 2), Gregg Turkington (“Gravity Falls,” The Comedy), Abby Ryder Fortson (“Togetherness,” “The Whispers”), David Dastmalchian (The Dark Knight, Prisoners) and T.I. (Takers, “House of Lies”), Ant-Man features a script by Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Paul Rudd and Adam McKay. Ant-Man is scheduled to open in theaters on July 17, 2015. You can learn more about the Ant-Man cast by clicking here.
This is a pretty nice poster. Now granted it is full of unnecessary CGI images, but it is a different poster than Marvel is used to releasing. They all usually show the main cast with floating heads all around the poster. This is a new original poster and it gives you an idea of how small Ant-Man is. Through all of the ups and downs, I've been behind the film and I've dying to see it and knowing that it is a month and a half away gets me excited.
It’s been widely reported over the past few months that Paramount Pictures is looking to expand their big screen Transformers franchise, pulling together a team of writers with the aim being to develop sequels and spinoffs set in the same cinematic universe as the four existing Michael Bay films. Today, Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner spoke at this year’s Global Consumer Conference and name-dropped the Autobot Bumblebee as the potential focus for a spinoff feature. “As we go forward, we would imagine several more Transformers Movies,” Goldner said (via TFW2005.com). “Not just in the current lineage but also spinoffs and focusing on certain key characters that are beloved by the world over. Many of you know Bumblebee; the yellow Camaro… formally known as a yellow VW Bug. He is a beloved character by kids all over the world. We could see stories told around Bumblebee and other characters. We are in a process of building the brand equity around the comic book business, our TV Business, our digital gaming business and adding to that our new movie business of Transformers.” The new writing team currently includes “The Walking Dead” and “Invincible” creator Robert Kirkman, the Iron Man writing pair of Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, “Fringe” and “Lost” scribe Jeff Pinkner, X-Men: The Last Stand and The Incredible Hulk‘s Zak Penn and Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari, a duo that worked together rewriting Marvel’s upcoming Ant-Man. I Am Legend‘s Akiva Goldsman will lead the group, each member of which was selected by Bay and fellow producers Steven Spielberg, and Lorenzo di Bonaventura. Previous reports have suggested that one of the potential titles in development is Transformers One, a prequel film set on the planet Cybertron, briefly seen in the first film of the series. Last year, Paramount released the franchise’s fourth film, Transformers: Age of Extinction, starring Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor. When asked if he’d be back for a sequel, Wahlberg previously stated that he’s contracted for “a couple more.” It is also believed that Bay himself will return to helm Transformers 5 after he completes work on his Benghazi drama 13 Hours. Age of Extinction grossed over $1 billion at the global box office with all four films combined grossing over $3.7 billion.
Do we honestly need this movie? Look my favorite character in the Transformers franchise is Bumblebee and while a solo film would be cool, but is not necessary. Paramount right now is struggling to figure out what to do with the franchise moving forward especially after the fact that the last film, while making over $1 billion, was completely bashed by critics and by the true die hard fans. I think they need to just focus on one thing before trying to expand the universe.
It’s been more than three decades since Arnold Schwarzenegger headlined director John Milius’ Conan the Barbarian, launching a cinematic take on the Hyborian Age that continued in 1984’s Conan the Destroyer and 1985’s Red Sonja. Now, with cameras nearly ready to roll on The Legend of Conan and Schwarzenegger set to reprise the iconic role, it’s sounding like a cinematic universe based on Howard’s characters isn’t far off. Deadline today reports that Legend of Conan producer Frederik Malmberg, who also produced the 2011 reboot starring Jason Momoa, has acquired the rights to Howard’s entire catalogue of characters, paying $7.5 million to take control of Paradox Entertainment. “These days,” Malmberg tells the outlet, “it comes down to brands and characters and we are looking at long term possibilities. We look at how Marvel played out with its rich based of characters, and this too is a universe that lends itself to exploitation in TV and film. There aren’t many libraries like this.” Among the hundreds of characters included in the deal are Kull the Conqueror and Solomon Kane, both of whom have been the focus of theatrical films in the past. It gets a bit more complicated when it comes to the Red Sonja rights, however. Although the character was loosely based on a Howard creation, Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith are credited with creating the Sonja we know today, having debuted the warrior in a 1973 issue of Marvel Comics’ “Conan the Barbarian” series. Following a legal dispute that broke out nearly a decade ago, the rights to Sonja were awarded to an LLC separate from Paradox. Since then, however, Paradox and the Red Sonja LLC have been working in cooperation to keep current Sonja stories set in the Hyborian Age.
It’s quite likely that a similar deal could be worked out for the big screen, although no plans have been confirmed at this time. Legend of Conan, meanwhile, is moving forward at Universal Pictures with a screenplay by Chris Morgan and Andrea Berloff. Morgan recently confirmed to The Arnold Fans that “at least three” other characters from the original films are included in the screenplay for the new adventure. “We’re very lucky that the architects of this new film — the writer, the producers, the studio and most of all, Arnold — who is Conan — are all first-generation fans who either worked on the film or who came along for the ride, cheering from their theater seats opening night,” he says. “We plan nothing more than to immerse ourselves in the world Milius envisioned from Robert E. Howard’s unforgettable stories and Frank Frazetta’s stunning artwork… [W]e are honoring the locales, the religions and the traditions of the ’82 film.” “It’s 30 years after the original film,” says Malmberg, likening the overall tone of the sequel to Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, “and [Conan]’s facing his mortality and how a legend deals with the fact he’s older, and how does he want to go out.” Malmberg’s Paradox acquisition also includes the rights to some non-Howard properties, such as the ’90s role playing game Mutant Chronicles.
Like I said with Paramount I don't think we need this. I know there is a really huge universe involved with Conan, but it's not as well known as Transformers is and I just think they need to do two or three solo Conan films before expanding the universe. I'm a fan of Conan and I really want this new film to succeed. I'm also glad Arnold is coming back to the franchise especially after the last film was absolutely dreadful.
So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, which of these stories peaked your interest or was there another story that interested you? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
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