Lot of upcoming events with Marvel Comics and the Movie Business. Under an LJ cut so you don’t strain your brains unless you really want to 🙂
Marvel Movies
(taken from comixfan)
Topics discussed by Arad were as follows:
– A Director’s Cut version of Daredevil will be out on DVD in April.
– Nick Fury and Tales of The Zombie are on the slate for big screen treatment as action/adventure and horror films, respectively.
– The Punisher will be rated R, and will be distributed internationally by Sony. A full trailer for the film will be released at the end of this year.
– Werewolf By Night, to be directed by John Fasano, was described as “sufferance” with “less Verdi… done in a very unique way.” Classified as a fantasy/romance, the film will be somewhere inbetween a family movie and an R-rated film.
– Mort The Dead Teenager will be Marvel’s first comedy film.
– Man-Thing director Brett Leonard will be helming other Marvel movie adaptations.
– 20th Century Fox’s Fantastic Four has been pushed back until summer 2005. Marvel and Fox had previously targetted a December 24, 2004 release, but it was ultimately decided that was too late in the year. The movie will be billed as a major tentpole release, and will be supported with many licenses including video games, toys, apparel, and more.
– 2005 will also see the release of Iron Man and Ghost Rider. Arad said that Elektra would “probably” be ready for the 2005 slate, but that “time will tell”.
– Iron Man was described as being “Howard Hughes meets superheroes”, and is being penned by Smallville and Spider-Man 2 writers Miles Millar and Alfred Gough. The script for the “expensive” movie will be ready by the end of this year, and Arad said the writers would also be working on more Marvel movies and television series’ “because they’re very, very good”.
– Activision are actively developing both Fantastic Four and Iron Man video games.
– Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Cage as John Blaze with Mark Steven Johnson directing, will be a PG-13 movie. Arad hopes production will begin after January 1st.
– Elektra will delve more into the character’s back story based on feedback received from the first Daredevil film. The two characters will then be reunited in Daredevil 2.
– Both X-Men 3 and Hulk 2 are set for release in 2006, alongside new properties Namor, Captain America, Nick Fury, and Iron Fist.
– Screenwriter David Self has almost completed his script for Namor, which Arad described as “fresh”, “unique”, and joked that it boasts “a lot more fish” than Finding Nemo.
– Captain America is in development with “a race between some of the world’s greatest writers” to see who will pen the script.
– Nick Fury, which is in fast development, was described as “James Bond made in the U.S.” A “terrific star who always wanted to be Nick Fury” has committed to the project.
– A writer for Hulk 2 has just been hired.
– Brother Voodoo is in active development for a live-action television show on the Sci-Fi Channel, as is the Strikeforce Mortituri adaptation 1000 Days.
– A live-action Night Thrasher series is set up at UPN.
– Two new animated series’ are in development – Blade on MTV and Hulk.
– The Spider-Man animated series is being moved from MTV to “where kids expect to see it”, whilst X-Men: Evolution remains on Kids’ WB! Both series were described as continuing.
– All of Marvel’s upcoming tentpole movies, such as Fantastic Four and Iron Man, are being considered for television development as animated series’.
I still hope for the best: Faithful adaptations, good actors, and non-cheesy stories. 🙂