Ur W33K 1N G33K (May 24 – 30)0

by A.J. Focht

The release of X-Men: First Class is just days away, marking the second of four major super hero movie releases to come this summer. In a recent YouTube viral video, A Toast To Green Lantern, all the super heroes with their own movies harassed Hawkman as he tries to get his own film. As it turns out, the joke was on the makers of the video as Warner Bros. has a Hawkman movie in the works. The current logline listed on It’sOnTheGrid is:

Part INDIANA JONES/DA VINCI CODE, part GHOST tentpole about the fictional superhero that appears in D.C. Comic books. He used archaic weaponry and large, artificial wings attached to a harness made of the Nth metal that allows flight. Most incarnations of Hawkman work closely with a partner/romantic interest named Hawkgirl or Hawkwoman in his fight against supervillains. Based on the DC comic.

If you’re not sure what to think about a super powered Indiana Jones, then try wrapping your head around this; Isaiah Mustafa (The Old Spice Guy) is campaigning Marvel for the role of Luke Cage (aka Power Man). His most recent act was to make a teaser trailer framing Luke Cage’s origin story. I’ve personally been hoping for Mustafa to get in as a Marvel hero for a while, if not Luke Cage, I’d also love to see him as Black Panther.

Speaking of movie themes that we love to overdo, a movie based on Max Brooks’ World War Z has been green lit. Brad Pitt is up for the main role in this post-zombie apocalypse flick, and Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace) is apparently ready to move forward with shooting starting in Malta.

One last note about the undead, it looks as if Jeff Bridges is set to join Ryan Reynolds in Robert Schwentke’s R.I.P.D. The movie is based on Peter M. Lenkov’s comic series about an undead law enforcement agency. The movie is currently set for a 2012 release date.

Time for your seemingly weekly Hobbit update; both parts of the Hobbit have officially been named and have release dates set. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is slated for release December 2012. The second part, The Hobbit: There and Back Again is supposed to be released one year later in December 2013.

While it seems the PlayStation Network hacks have come to a halt, one YouTube user is claiming to have hacked the electronic news ticker outside News Corp’s Manhattan headquarters. The clip they posted on the video sharing service shows a lady walking by as the sign changes to read: “WE ARE BEING LIED TO. RIGHTWINGERS ARE DESTROYING THE MIDDLE CLASS AND TRYING TO KILL OUR UNIONS…” There is speculation right now as to whether or not the hack/video are real, but in light of this week’s misplaced PBS hack, it’s a damn nice to think that someone like Faux News was hit.

Finally, just today Apple has announced they will unveil iOS 5, OS X Lion, and a third project called iCloud at this year’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC), starting on June 6th. No more information was given, but with WWDC and E3 right around the corner, expect lots of previews and new releases in the coming weeks.