by A.J. Focht

This weekend is your last chance to see The Avengers in theaters. Disney is rereleasing the film for one weekend only. Avengers was playing on 142 screens last week. It is unknown how many more theaters will be picking the movie back up for the holiday weekend. Rumors of Disney releasing The Avengers with extra footage before the summer’s end surfaced months ago. It is unclear as of now if this weekend’s release will have that extra footage or not. Either way, it looks like Disney is determined to close the $40 million dollar gap to take the second highest grossing box-office record from Titanic.

ABC has officially ordered a S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot. Joss Whedon is co-writing it with his brother Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen. All three are executive producers on the project. While Jed and Maurissa will be the show runners, Joss assures us that he will show up now and then to take credit for everything.

Rumors that Ben Affleck was being considered to direct the Justice League movie have been floating around for a while. He’s not alone on that list though as a handful of directors have been rumored for consideration. The list includes: The Watchowskis, Brett Ratner, Zack Snyder, Ruben Fleischer, and McG. There are also one or two more names in consideration that haven’t been released yet.

Sony has officially announced the Metal Gear Solid movie – again. The announcement was made at the Metal Gear Solid Anniversary event in Tokyo. Spider-Man producer Avi Arad is behind the project. Little more is known other than that the movie is currently in development.

Sony isn’t just working on videogame based movies, they are also working on a movie about the videogame console wars. Sony has registered a bunch of domains relating to the movie. The current rumor is that it will be like a Social Network for the gaming world.

If Morgan Freeman wasn’t already the voice you heard in your head as you played God over your LEGOs, he probably will be now. LEGO: The Piece of Resistance is a LEGO film that will star Morgan Freman, Elizabeth Banks, and Chris Pratt. Freeman will be playing a character named ‘Vitruvius’ who is described as ‘Gandalf meets Mr. Magoo’.

A few weeks ago David Duchovny gave an interview saying he wanted to make a third X-Files film, and now a third movie might indeed be underway. Gillian Anderson answered questions about it at the Toronto Fan Expo and said that things were looking pretty good, after having met with series creator Chris Carter. It looks like FOX is the only holdout now.

by A.J. Focht

The Avengers will be coming out on DVD in just over a month on September 25. But with the first movie not even out on DVD yet, Disney has already confirmed the release date for Avengers 2. Marvel has several movies in line before Avengers 2 releases on May 1, 2015, including sequels to Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man 2.

It’s not just a load of sequels that Marvel is producing. Marvel’s next original project The Guardians of the Galaxy movie is set to release in August 2014. Details of the plot have been revealed: We’re told it’s “about a U.S. pilot who ends up in space in the middle of a universal conflict and goes on the run with futuristic ex-cons who have something everyone wants.”

Before Guardians of the Galaxy will make it to theaters, Thor: The Dark World will be premiering November 8, 2013. With the movie just over a year away, casting reports from the Thor sequel keep rolling out. The latest cast member to be announced is Lost actor, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. He will be appearing as the villainous Dark Elf, Algrim.

Two more members have joined the cast of Arrow. Jessica De Gouw will appear as The Huntress, Helena Bertinelli, in multiple episodes of the series. Torchwood actor, John Barrowman, is also joining the cast. There is some speculation as to whom Barrowman will be playing and whether he will be a hero or villain. The current rumormill is leaning towards him playing Stanley Dover Sr., from Kevin Smith’s Green Arrow run. There is also rumors that Green Arrow’s sidekick, Speedy, will be in the show and may have already been cast as Oliver Queen’s sister Thea Queen.

The new Walking Dead series premiers on October 14th. The first batch of official Season 3 photos have hit the internet. Most of the TV favorites plus some new characters like the Governor, all featured in portraits in Entertainment Weekly.

The price of seeing movies in theaters has risen to a ridiculous level lately. With the extra fees for seeing anything in 3D or IMAX, the average trip to the movies can easily run over $20 per person. That makes the news that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will not have a price increase for the 48fps showings
so much sweeter. Everyone can save an extra few dollars this holiday season as the Hobbit will release on December 14.

The longstanding iconic relationship between Superman and Lois Lane has come to an end. Starting in Justice League #12, DC is making way for the ultimate super powered couple: Superman and Wonder Woman. This super couple is not just a one-shot publicity stunt either. The New 52 team has apparently been working toward this transition for a while and it looks to be a lasting relationship.

by A.J. Focht

Iron Man 3 is the next major movie premiering on Marvel’s line up. While there is still no full length trailers (though a teaser trailer of the logo was released), one source claims to have seen the first trailer and has posted a recap. The alleged clip features narration from Tony Stark, who talks about how he is not into the superhero game anymore after the Avengers and also includes a voice over by Ben Kingsley who is playing Mandarin. Iron Man 3 is set to release in May 2013.

Thor II: Dark World will begin shooting later this month, and another addition has been announced to the star studded cast. Alice Krige has taken on a small role in the film. Krige says that she may not even be recognizable due to makeup, leading to theories that she will play Alfyse, the queen of the Dark Elves. Thor II is set to release November 8, 2013.

The Wolverine will claw its way into theaters on July 26, 2013. Despite the mess that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Hugh Jackman says that The Wolverine will be a standalone film. The movie will take place in Japan and will have and an all new cast. Jackman will be returning, but don’t expect to see anyone else from Origins.

Superheroes aren’t the only ones getting thrown in the spotlight, NBC is developing a new super villain themed television series called Hench. The series “centers on a regular guy who, in order to support his family, gets jobs temping for super villains.” Hench is based on a comic by Adam Beechen and Manny Bello’s by the same name.

Getting ready to enter their third season, AMC’s The Walking Dead might also be crawling its way into a theater near you. It’s mostly just rumor right now, but one source is saying that AMC is looking at taking the zombie horror show to the silver screen. We will have to wait for more news about the supposed movie, but the third season of The Walking Dead premiers October 14.

Doctor Who fans now know that the Twelfth Doctor won’t be showing up for at least two more years. Matt Smith has confirmed he will be staying on as the Eleventh Doctor until 2014. For everyone who was looking forward to the Time Lord swap during the anniversary special, it looks like you’ll have to wait a few more years.

Joss Whedon is staying on with Marvel until 2015, but the nerd icon is now helping to promote another movie…or not. In a tongue-in-cheek message to his fans, Whedon calls for a boycott of indie movie Sleep Walk With Me, which he claims is threatening the continued success of his own Avengers film. However, he points out, in order to boycott the movie effectively, you will first need to call your local theater and get them to show it, so you can then not go and see it – or go see it just so you can tell your friends exactly how much it sucks (not).

by A.J. Focht

Following the tremendous success Joss Whedon’s The Avengers found in theaters, Whedon has been signed on to write and direct the second film. Even more exciting, Whedon is helping develop the unnamed ABC television series set in the Marvel universe. The top current theories as to what show might be are either the Hulk show or a spy series based on S.H.I.E.L.D.

Thor: The Dark World is set to release on November 8, 2013. Aside from incorporating the Dark Elves, not much is known about the storyline. Former Dr. Who Christopher Eccleston has been cast as one of the film’s villains, and the current rumor mill suggests he will be the king of the Dark Elves. According to Rene Russo, Thor and Loki’s mother, Frigga, will also have a larger role in the movie.

Marvel’s got a lot of movies in the works, and the next new original project is going to be Guardians of the Galaxy. Three-time Black List writer Chris McCoy has been hired to pen the script. Guardians of the Galaxy will be the cinema premier for several of Marvel’s lesser known characters. The announced cast of heroes includes: Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Groot, and Rocket Raccoon. The movie is scheduled in theaters in August 2014.

Marvel and Fox Studios have been working trade deals all week. The original offer consisted of extending Fox’s rights to Daredevil on the condition that they let Disney/Marvel take back Galactus from Fantastic Four. Fox has decided to turn down the offer and they are talking about letting the rights revert to Disney, unless the home of the Mickey Mouse is interested in co-financing a Daredevil movie.

Batman: The Dark Knight Rises recently hit theaters, but that hasn’t stopped Warner Bros. from thinking about the next Batman reboot. The Batman reboot is rumored to take flight just four years from now in 2016. Thought to be titled The Batman, it will take place in the Justice League universe of DC’s planned 2015 Justice League movie. The Batman won’t be an origins story, but instead will follow Batman’s second year of crime fighting.

The long awaited World of Warcraft movie has gained some recent movement. Sam Raimi recently confirmed he would not be directing as has been suggested as far back as 2009. Writer Charles Leavitt has been hired on to direct the script. There is no mention of release dates or cast lists, but this bit of information at least lets us know the project isn’t dead.

Speaking of movies we haven’t heard about for a while, Bryan Singer’s Battlestar Galactica film is also still on the table. The last big news was that John Orloff had been brought in to write the movie, now Singer has confirmed he is looking through Orloff’s script revisions. Singer didn’t have much more to say other than “it’s very cool” and that the movie would exist “quite well between the Glen Larson and Ron Moore universes.”

The ground breaking 48-frame release of The Hobbit is actually going to be quite limited. Warner Bros. might be convinced that high-frame rates are the way to the future, but their first high-frame release won’t even make it to all major cities. This won’t be their last chance though. Not only does The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey have one sequel already planned, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, but there is the possibility of up to two more sequels. New Line has registered two potential movie titles: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The first Hobbit is set to release on December 14, 2012, and the second a year later on December 13, 2013.

by A.J. Focht

San Diego Comic Con 2012 was packed with so much news that we couldn’t fit it all in one place. Yesterday, I covered the news about the major movies coming from Marvel and DC. In this column, we’ll take a look at some other movies and the rest of the news from the nerd fest.

It was a few years ago at 2006 Comic Con when Edgar Wright first talked about doing an Ant-Man movie. While there still isn’t a date scheduled for it, Wright did come out during the Marvel movie news panel to show off a short teaser trailer. All of the copies of the teaser that made it online were promptly taken down, but the fans that saw it at Comic Con have been raving about it.

If they don’t get their skates on and hit a looming contractual deadline, Fox face losing the rights to Daredevil, a prospect that’s becoming all the more real now that David Slade is out of the picture and the project is director-less. However the studio is moving forward with a new Fantastic Four project before they lose control of those rights too. Josh Trank, director of Chronicle, is confirmed as the director for the upcoming Fantastic Four flick. Fox still has the Wolverine and First Class sequels to push out before they move on the Fantastic Four project however. We’re told there will be an entirely new cast, but it is unclear if the forthcoming Fantastic Four film will be a reboot or in the same continuity. It is confirmed that Jeremy Slater will be writing the next movie though.

Kick-Ass 2 has signed most of the cast from the original film. Christopher Mintz-Plasse confirmed that filming for Kick-Ass 2 will commence in September. There is no scheduled date for the film’s release as of now.

The CW’s The Arrow is turning out to be a much darker show than any superhero TV series before it. Calling The Arrow a superhero show might be a stretch as what we’re seeing in the previews makes him out to be quiet the anti-hero. This is the Green Arrow like you’ve never seen before. In the newest clip released by the CW, Green Arrow kills several of his captors to protect his identity.

Suck it, Wolverine! That’s the tagline of the new Deadpool video game being designed by High Moon Studios. The merc’ with a mouth is getting his own game where he’s going to kick a bunch of ass, make a ton of inappropriate jokes, and constantly break the fourth wall. The trailer for the game captures Deadpool’s unique sense of humor and has fans ready well ahead of the 2013 release.

DreamWorks animation is in talks with Classic Media to acquire several classic cartoon properties. Among the titles included in the $150 million dollar package are: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Voltron, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Waldo from ‘Where’s Waldo’, and Lone Ranger. If DreamWorks can make this deal happen, we will likely be seeing CGI remakes of all these titles in the coming years.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC on October 14. Several of the cast were in attendance at SDCC for The Walking Dead panel, which featured clips from the upcoming season three as well as fan questions and answers. The full trailer, which was debuted at the panel, was released online, and there are some special surprises, including an appearance by the Governor.

To wrap things up, Karl Urban promised fans a sneak peak of Star Trek 2 during SDCC. He lived up to his promise, releasing a four minute video of him surfing while music plays. Only in the last ten seconds of the video is there some footage of a wrap from the Star Trek 2 set.

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Ur W33K 1N G33K: SD Comic Con 2012 Edition Part 1

by A.J. Focht

Last weekend was San Diego Comic Con, the premier nerd convention of the year. Both major comic companies were present as well as several movie studios, prominent actors, and nerd icons of all kinds. Everyone was eager to show off their newest projects.

New clips for The Dark Knight Rises were previewed at Comic Con. The first was a teaser of Morgan Freeman showing off a new vehicle, The Bat. The second clip establishes the movie takes place eight years after The Dark Knight in a conversation between Officer Blake and Commissioner Gordon. The Dark Knight Rises premiers in theaters July 20.

Batman is one of the most popular heroes in the world with one of the most iconic cars ever. This year at SDCC, each of the classic Batmobiles were on display. The Batmobiles were all lined up and a new documentary about the cars was previewed at the con. The Batmobile is a documentary that features Batmobiles throughout time and the Batmen that drove them.

A few weeks ago, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson was rumored to be in talks for a DC movie. The Rock has now confirmed via Twitter that he is indeed in talks for a Lobo movie. While he is in talks, the Lobo movie might not be planned for a while.

The Man of Steel had a panel at Comic Con, helping shed some light on the rumors surrounding the project. A short clip was shown to the audience and it was met with positive reviews. There’s a new teaser poster on their Facebook page as well.

Iron Man 3 had a major presence at Comic Con. During the Iron Man 3 panel, Kevin Feage, Shane Black, Robert Downey Jr., and Don Cheadle were present to talk about the upcoming movie. They discussed both rumors and the movie story, without giving much of anything away. All of the Iron Man armor from the past movies, as well as the armor from the upcoming movie was on display as well. Men might not be the only ones putting on armor in Iron Man 3 however, the new rumor is Gwyneth Paltrow may be dawning the rescue armor this go around.

Marvel revealed the titles to their upcoming sequels at Comic Con, and it looks like Bucky is coming back since the title of the Captain America sequel is Captain America: Winter Soldier. Bucky was the original Winter Soldier so it seems likely he’s returning as a villain. While Bucky isn’t confirmed beyond the title, Falcon will make an appearance in the film. Anthony Mackie will be playing the part. Winter Soldier is scheduled to release April 14, 2014.

The Thor sequel is entitled, Thor: The Dark World. A few things are known about Thor at the moment. The movie will explore Thor and Jane’s relationship. Loki will not be the main villain in the film, and the current rumor mill points all signs to the Enchantress. With a new director on board, it’s set for theatres sometime in 2013.

Marvel officially confirmed they are filming Galactic Guardians after Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: Winter Soldier. They also revealed the cast of the Galactic Guardians team will include: Drax the Destoryer, Gamora, Groot, Star-Lord, and everyone’s favorite, Rocket Raccoon. Galactic Guardians is slated to start in theaters on August 1, 2014.

That’s the first half of Ur W33K 1N G33K’s Comic Con coverage. Check back in for the rest of the news from the convention.

by A.J. Focht

Step aside Doctor Strange, Marvel announced their next big secret project is Guardians of the Galaxy. Marvel is expected to make it official this week at Comic Con. The Guardians of the Galaxy are an interstellar team that protects the galaxy. Originally sources were saying the release date would by May 15, 2014. But most recent reports say the release was pushed back a few months to August 1, 2014.

Marvel may have announced Guardians of the Galaxy, but that doesn’t mean they have given up on Ant-Man. Rumor is that Edgar Wright has directed a test reel that will be previewed at Comic Con. Next week, we’ll know if this is true or not, and we’ll know more about where the Ant-Man project really stands.

New concept art for Iron-Man 3 suggests that the Extremis storyline will be a major part of the movie. Extremis was a storyline in which Iron-Man makes himself into the weapon by fusing the suit into himself. Iron-Man 3 is scheduled for release May 3, 2013. Disney and Marvel have released the title previews for all their upcoming sequels, Hulk didn’t make the cut.

Just over a year ago, DC Comics announced their major comic reboot, The New 52. Now it is Marvel’s turn as they launch Marvel NOW – but don’t call it a reboot. Marvel is avidly fighting off the word, even though they will be launching several comic titles at #1 starting in October, often several each week. The main comic heroes are also going to be getting new costumes. So far Marvel has announced three comics: Uncanny Avengers, All New X-Men, and Avengers. But remember, it’s not a reboot. Marvel will also bring Jean Grey back via time travel.

Entertainment Weekly has released their Comic Con preview, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey took the cover. There were also several new preview pictures in the magazine. The film is released on December 14th this year.

The long awaited Ghostbusters sequel is still in the works. Ghostbusters 3 once again has a new writing staff. The project has been in process for quite a while now, and this is the third time I’ve heard about a new writing team, so who knows where the project really stands.

The writing and directing genius behind The Fifth Element Luc Besson is stepping back into the science fiction arena. Besson is working on an adventure about a time travelling secret agent. The internet is labeling the project as a cross between James Bond and Doctor Who which sounds about right.

While Community creator Dan Harmon won’t be on board next season, the full cast is confirmed as returning. The thirteen episode Community season is set to start on October 13.

Titan Magazine and Skybound have announced the launch of The Walking Dead, The Official Magazine. The publication will be based off the comic series, graphic novels, and the AMC television series. The first issues comes out on October 23rd, and will feature 100 pages of Walking Dead news, access, and scoops.