by A.J. Focht

The Avengers has done more than just live up to the extremely high expectations it set forth, it did better than anyone imagined. It’s broken several records already, being the fastest movie to gross $100 million and $200 million as well as smashing the opening weekend record. One of the only records it left intact was the one set by Deathly Hallow Part 2 for a midnight release. Perhaps more importantly, fans and critics everywhere are raving about it.

Critics who didn’t enjoy the movie might be better off just keeping their opinions to themselves or they risk summoning the wrath of S.H.I.E.L.D. After A.O. Scott of the New York Times gave The Avengers a mediocre review, Samuel L. Jackson sent out a call to action to his fans on Twitter to find Scott a new job he could actually do. While many did rally behind Jackson, his remarks made something of a martyr out of Scott and his review, and the small group not pleased with The Avengers jumped to Scott’s aid.

Anyone who hasn’t seen The Avengers might want to jump ahead as there are some major SPOILERS coming….First, let’s talk about our favorite S.H.I.E.L.D. member, Agent Phil Coulson. We all watched him “die” bravely at the hands of Loki, but is that really the end of our hero? In a recent interview, actor Clark Gregg mentioned he is still signed on for two more movies. He doesn’t say what movie, but does say he has a meeting with the director of Thor 2. Could Nick Fury have just been pulling one over on the Avengers to get them to work as a team?

A new trailer for Amazing Spider-Man was released with The Avengers this last week. It sheds more light on the story of Peter’s search into his parent’s past. The trailer is fairly good, but was ultimately forgettable after seeing The Avengers.

Illustrator of Kick-Ass comics, John Romita Jr. has shed some light on the future of the Kick-Ass 2 movie. The film is starting production this summer. It is currently unclear if Chloe Moretz will return as Hit Girl as she has a full filming schedule. Either way, the movie is set to release in May 2013.

Michael Arndt, writer of Toy Story 3, is in talks to rewrite the Catching Fire script. Francis Lawrence has taken over as director on the film, and now they are looking at reworking the script. All of this has to be done fast as the movie is scheduled to release in November 2013.

James Cameron has closed down the development arm of his production studios and doesn’t want to think about doing any new projects. For the foreseeable future, Cameron’s mind is stuck on Avatar and only Avatar. In a recent interview, Cameron said his mind is set on making Avatar 2, Avatar 3, and maybe Avatar 4 and that is all.

Ridley Scott’s Prometheus comes out next month, and it now has a rating of R. The film decided to take the hit and not adjust to make the film PG-13. While this might narrow their audience base, it will hopefully help ensure the film is accepted by fans.

What would you say to Inception star Joseph Gordon-Levitt acting in a big screen production of Little Shop of Horrors? Well, that is just what Levitt and Warner Bros. are working towards. Levitt is currently one of the producers on the project and would also like an on-screen role.

by A.J. Focht

This last week at StarFest 2012 in Denver, I had a chance to sit down with some amazing comic writers including Tony Bedard. Bedard has been writing comics since the ‘90s and is the current writer on Blue Beetle and Green Lantern New Guardians.

A.J. Focht: How do you like working with Kyle Rayner in the Green Lantern New Guardians comic?

Tony Bedard: Credit where credits due, Geoff Johns had the idea to end the first issue by sending a ring of every color to Kyle. We were talking about what I wanted to do with this series, and he was the one at some point that said, ‘Why don’t you end the first issue with a ring of every color coming to him.’ It was the thing that broke open the whole story, and set up this great mystery that we’ve been trying to follow up ever since. We’re going to finish that off by issue twelve, let you know why that happened, and the significance of it.

A.J.: In New Guardians you use rings of most every color. Do you have any plans to do anything with the Black or White Lanterns in New Guardian?

TB: It’s not so much about White Lanterns, but there is a character, the Weaponer, that was in my Green Lantern Core run. He had picked up some of that white energy and put it in his shield and hammer. It’s become this morphing weapon so that whatever he is up against he can change that hammer to meet the situation. He’s going to be in issue #8. He was only going to be in for about one issue, but it has kind of snowballed into a thing where he’s going to stick around for a few more issues and play a big role.

A.J.: That’s good to hear. Since a lot was retconned during the change to the New 52, it was unclear what events from Blackest Night and Brightest Day have actually taken place.

TB: I’m still personally trying to figure out what had changed and what hasn’t. I would say generally that Green Lantern was not revised as much.

A.J.: Do you have any other projects, or are you just sticking with these two?

TB: These are the two right now. We’ve discussed a few other things, but they really haven’t got any traction yet. I’ve been plenty busy and quite happy with what I have right now. We have big plans for Green Lantern. Geoff always has a long term plan, and New Guardians is a big part of that, this whole third army thing that’s coming together. When you look back, you’ll be able to see a lot of what happens in New Guardians is building towards that. We’ve tried to keep the books separate so they each have their own identity, but the Green Lantern books will be intertwining a little bit here in the year to come.

A.J.: Your other book, Blue Beetle is a new take on an old hero. What’s it been like working with that book?

TB: When we started this [the New 52] we wanted to have a comic for everyone.

A.J.: Yeah, there are many niche comics.

TB: Yes. Well I use a lot of Spanglish in the comic, because I am of Puerto Rican decent that’s what it sounded like growing up. It surprised me the responses I got to that. The response from the Hispanic fans who read it was, ‘Yeah, that’s right’ But a lot of other folks who weren’t used to that were like, ‘Okay, we know he’s Mexican, don’t beat us over the head with it.’

A.J.: Do you have any plans to do a crossover with Blue Beetle?

TB: There’s a little crossover in Blue Beetle #9 and New Guardians #9. In Blue Beetle #9, Blue Beetle meets Kyle, and Red Lantern Bleez, and Orange Lantern Globulus on Earth. At the same time in New Guardians #9, the Reach who created Blue Beetles armor will actually be invading the Blue Lantern’s home world, trying to wipe them out and take their power battery. That story actually became so big that it was rolled into two issues. There is a mystery there too as to how Reach found the Blue Lantern home world, because it’s cloaked. Somebody tipped them off. A lot of that stuff, as you look around the lantern verse, happens to all the different cores. It could just be a coincidence, but you start to see a pattern.

A.J.: Do you have plans to expand the reach of Blue Beetle to reach other demographics?

TB: I think mostly we try to keep that as a personal book, to focus on that character. We do have the Green Lantern thing, and actually in issue #10 he is going to meet Booster Gold. But in a way that you would not expect, it’s not the happy meeting everyone will expect. It’s not the same relationship he had with Ted at all.

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by A.J. Focht

A new Dark Knight Rises trailer is out. This trailer seems to have fixed the problem with Bane’s voice. Although, now there are complaints about it sounding like it’s a separate audio track.

The Avengers has released internationally, but we still have a few days to wait until it comes to theatres here in America. Spoilers for the movie have been running high, despite many believing the international version is missing a few scenes. With only a few days till the movie hits, I am avoiding spoilers at all costs. While I can’t tell you what happens in the movie, I can tell you it has already pulled in $178 million overseas. I can also tell you that the positive response to Hulk in the movie is changing the tune of Marvel executives who thought his franchise was dead. With the increase of popularity, it now looks like a new Hulk movie might be coming in 2015.

Marvel has already changed the actor playing Hulk from Edward Norton to Mark Ruffalo, but what do they intend to do when other stars, like Robert Downey Jr, move on? Marvel Studios president Kevin Fiege addressed that issue at CinemaCon saying they would not reboot the series. He said:

‘I think Bond is a good example. Let’s put it this way: I hope Downey makes a lot of movies for us as Stark. If and when he doesn’t, and I’m still here making these movies, we don’t take him to Afghanistan and have him wounded again. I think we James Bond it’.

Director of Chronicle, Josh Trank, has been signed to develop the script for a Fantastic Four reboot. It is unknown whether he will also direct the movie and as of now it looks like it will be based on how the script turns out. If Trank makes this anything like Chronicle it might be more of a Dr. Doom movie and less of a Fantastic Four film, which I am more than okay with.

The Wolverine will be shooting in Japan and Australia this year, and is set for release on July 26, 2013. Fox is determined to get the most out of the rights to the X-Men and Marvel’s mutants while they have them. Now they are also talking about doing a New Mutants movie, although it is unclear if that will be in addition to a sequel for X-Men: First Class or if it will be the sequel.

Rumored Star Trek 2 spoilers have now been confirmed. If you wanted to see Star Trek 2 completely unspoiled, skip ahead now. Still here? Okay, but I warned you. First up, Leonard Nimoy will be back as Spock Prime. Not surprised yet? How about, the Klingons will be featured in the second movie. That’s not all, we have all been lied to. Benedict Cumberbatch will not be playing a new villain, but will be reprising the roll of Khan in the upcoming Star Trek film. There you have it, three spoilers no waiting.

Last week I mentioned that Peter Jackson was shooting The Hobbit at 48-frames per second (fps). Not everyone was as excited by the change as I was. At CinemaCon last week, fans were unimpressed by the fps change, some complaining it made the film look homemade. Jackson responded to the criticism saying it is something film goers will just come to except. I think he’s right; this is likely just a case of people complaining about change cause it is new and different, not necessarily worse.

Finally, science fiction is catching up with reality. Multiple billionaires including James Cameron and the people behind Google have unveiled plans for mining asteroids. This little bit of science fiction could become a very practical way to extract resources without taking them from the earth. With governments cutting space program budgets around the world, it is good to see someone at least trying to make headway into the final frontier.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

Joss Whedon’s television series Firefly was cancelled before it’s time by the FOX network. Now the company that’ owns NBC, Universal Studios, is continuing the adventures of Captain Mal Reynolds and his band of outlaws in the movie, Serenity. It has all the elements that made Whedon’s television works great, such as hot asskicking females, humor with a sly wink, and well thought out scripts, but now it’’s backed by a $40 million budget.

Read our exclusive interview with Joss Whedon on SuicideGirls.com.

by A.J. Focht

The Avengers is just over a week away, and the last batch of promotional material has hit. A new scene from the movie was released, as well as a behind the scenes video. Director Joss Whedon gave more insight to the movie and why you should see it during an interview with some collegiate newspapers this past week.

During an MTV interview with Samuel L. Jackson, the actor described his vision of a S.H.I.E.L.D movie. His casting leaves out Agent Coulson which has again given rise to the rumor that he will die in The Avengers, and even possibly be recreated as Vision. Whedon previously went as far to say they would change his background so he was created by Tony Stark. Could Coulson become Vision? Could Vision be Marvel’s secret unnamed movie for 2013? Guess we have to wait till May 4 to know for sure.

The Dark Knight Rises has been all but forgotten in the wake of excitement for The Avengers. Now, they plan to capitalize on that by releasing their trailer before The Avengers. Christopher Nolan is really pushing the IMAX release with over an hour of IMAX footage. A ‘reliable source’ at Cosmic Booknews who saw the first showing says it is better than The Dark Knight. In a similar vein, Tom Hardy recently compared Bane to the Joker to show why he was worthy to come after the Clown Prince.

While the superhero movies are fighting it out for the summer box office crown, Peter Jackson is using The Hobbit to advance film production everywhere. Jackson has shot the first half of The Hobbit: An Enexpected Journey at 48 fps (frames per second). Current industry standard is 24 fps. Because Hobbit is looking to be such a major movie event, many theaters will be forced to upgrade their equipment to show the film. This paves the way for other filmmakers, who will be able to shoot movies at 48 fps without fear of the theatres not having the equipment to show them.

Before Watchmen will hit comic stands everywhere in June. You don’t have to wait till then to get an idea of what’s in store however. Twenty-one illustrations and concept art pieces were leaked this past week. The leaked images include costume designs for most of the characters, including some you wouldn’t expect like Hooded Justice. There are also a few full page sketches.

Premiering on April 27th on EPIX is With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story. Just before its release, a sneak peek was let out to show fans what’s in store. The documentary covers the life of comic book legend, Generalissimo Stan Lee.

New photos have landed on the Ender’s Game production blog. The pics now include: Ender’s room, the neck implants, and a simulator. The Ender’s Game movie is scheduled for release in November 2013.

Would you like a new Star Trek series? Well whether you get one is apparently up to J.J. Abrams. The creator of Pushing Daisies, Brain Fuller, was really gung-ho about pitching the idea. Now Fuller says that if a Star Trek series were to happen, it would be after the next movie and Abrams would be in command. J.J. Abrams has apparently become ‘the guardian of Trek’ and nothing will happen without his input.

by A.J. Focht

The world press premiere of The Avengers was last week, and there’s been nothing but good reviews. While lips have been sealed to avoid leaks and spoilers, all the news that has come out has been positive. Despite many fans raving that Hulk was their favorite character, it doesn’t look like Hulk is getting another solo movie. Seems Hulk’s success in The Avengers was the high note that Marvel producers wanted to end him on, for a while at least.

While The Avengers has been pumping out trailer after trailer and multiple previews from the start, The Dark Knight Rises has been more subtle with their media releases. While many of the photos and previews from The Dark Knight Rises have been unofficial, Entertainment Weekly just published six new official shots from the film and a cover exclusive.

Dylan Sprayberry, who plays young Clark Kent in the upcoming Man of Steel, has revealed a little more about the film. Following in the path of the Batman series, Man of Steel will be edgier and center on making Superman more realistic. The start of the movie focuses on Superman growing up, and how his early life is filled with dilemmas and drama.

A new international trailer was released for The Amazing Spider-Man. The trailer features more of Peter Parker’s past struggles with his parents and his battle against the Lizard. That wasn’t the only Spider-Man news this last week either, Marvel announced that the Spider-Men comics will officially feature the crossover between Spider-Man, Peter Parker, and new Spider-Man, Miles Morales.

One last superhero update, Joss Whedon dropped more information about the upcoming Dr. Horrible sequel during a Reddit question and answer session. All the cast member will be returning for their parts, but Whedon said, “Penny will be… um… I don’t want to say decomposing.” So what does that mean? Will Penny be a zombie? Will Dr. Horrible have her frozen, working on a resurrection method? Only Joss knows, but they are currently working on the script and plan to start filming this summer.

Hunger Games director Gary Ross has officially stepped down from doing the sequel. With Ross out, Lionsgate has started a short list of directors for the sequel. The list currently contains Alfonso Cuaron, David Cronenberg, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

Robert Rodriquez and Frank Miller are moving forward with a Sin City sequel entitled Frank Miller’s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. There isn’t much more information on the project, but we can all rest a little easier knowing it’s at least going to happen.

The popularity brought to the Tron series by Tron: Legacy has spawned a sequel, but probably not the sequel you wanted. Tron: Uprising is a new graphic series that will appear on the Disney Channel.

Finally, the Ghostbusters series has long talked of a third movie, with Bill Murray being the only hold out. But during a recent interview, the funnyman said the project was ‘a possibility’ which is more hope than we have gotten from him previously. So while the project still remains in what actor Dan Aykroyd calls a ‘state of suspended animation,’ there is still hope.

by Damon Martin

The Walking Dead will begin principle photography again this May in Georgia, with Season 3 set to debut most likely in October 2012, but that doesn’t mean fans aren’t already clamoring for more information. The Season 2 finale left a lot of jaws hitting the floor after Herschel’s farm and house were stormed by walkers, and the group fled for cover hoping to stay together and find refuge from the zombie apocalypse.

The Walking Dead‘s executive producer and show runner Glen Mazzara has let a few secrets out of the bag surrounding the next season of the popular AMC drama. One of the most anticipated aspects will be the continuation of the close of the final episode of last season in which a cloaked and hooded figure carrying a sword and two armless, jawless zombies came out from nowhere to lop the head off an attacker, and save Andrea, who was left behind amidst the madness at the farm.

Fans of the comic book realized pretty quickly that this katana wielding badass was Michonne, a pivotal character in creator Robert Kirkman’s zombie opus. Now Mazzara, who revealed the casting behind Michonne just after the season finale, lets a little bit more information slip about a character that he says will be extremely important to The Walking Dead:

“Michonne is one of the lead characters in the graphic novel, so we’re excited to finally introduce her. She is a loner. She’s a kick ass character. She’s very dynamic and we really see her as a very, very important addition to the cast. She’s a significant character and she’ll be carrying a lot of story, so we’re excited about her…

“We’re also excited about (Denai Guerrera) who is the young actress who is going to play this role, so we’re lucky to have her and look forward to seeing what she does with it.”

While the show has deviated from Kirkman’s source material on several occasions, as well as introduced new characters that were never actually in the comic books, Mazzara looks at Michonne as a piece that comes from the page straight to the screen. From her shadowy entrance cloaked in darkness to what they have planned for her in season three, Michonne will be a pivotal part of the group when they pick up later this year. Mazzara explains:

“She comes from the comic book. She feels like she stepped off those pages into the show. I think that’s exciting. That’s a challenge for us but, you know, knowing me as a writer, I think I’m going to keep it real, keep it grounded because if it doesn’t feel real I think the audience will not be able to put themselves in the immediate circumstances of the story…

“I think our show is successful because people watching say, oh, I’d be dead now or I’d kill that guy or I’d shoot him in the leg and get away. I think that’s what’s fun about the show. We’re very consciously trying not to keep the show too serialized, not have an overdeveloped mythology so that it’s accessible to people in the way that a good horror movie is. I find the best horror movies to be very simple and that’s something that’s important and so I think overall my entire intention of the show is to keep the show grounded, real and Michonne is going to be a great challenge.”

Another major character that will be introduced in Season 3 is the brutal villain known only The Governor. Portrayed by veteran British actor David Morrissey, The Governor is the leader of the town of Woodbury in the comic books, and was rated No. 86 by IGN in the greatest villains in comic book history. Mazzara says that The Governor and his town of Woodbury will be a big part of Season 3, but the prison that was introduced in the closing scenes of Season 2 will also be a major player this year and it will roll into Season 4 as well. Mazzara said:

“I do see that prison as a significant storyline for Season 3 and Season 4. I do think that’s a major story line. I know we were on the farm for longer than perhaps people wanted. There were reasons for that. I think what we want to do is make sure that that prison does not become claustrophobic. I think the farm played a little claustrophobic for people. The farm — now that the entire landscape has fallen to the zombie apocalypse and zombies are literally at the gate of the prison — if you see the graphic novel, that prison is really, you know, a very, very small, safe corner and there’s a lot of danger around. So it won’t feel like we are bottled up in the same way that we were in — on the farm in Season 3 let’s say…

“So I do think that prison is a significant storyline. But we’re interested also in opening up the world. You know, the governor has a world of (Woodbury). There are other factors out there in the world, other groups. So I think that Rick’s group is really stumbling into a much larger world.”

As a whole, The Walking Dead has tackled some tough subjects head on thus far through two seasons, but readers of the comic books know that The Governor gets his wickedly evil reputation through his deeds and heinous self-serving behavior. There are some extremely brutal scenes therefore played out in the comic book, but would the show runners at The Walking Dead on AMC be able to work those particular aspects into the show, or are some things just taboo?

“I know what you’re referring to and we have to put our own spin…I would say this, there’s no place we won’t go…Everything is on the table. This is a cutting edge cable drama. I’m comfortable with that material and we answered a lot of these questions on The Shield when I worked there, so I’m comfortable dealing with very, very edgy material.”

Some other interesting plot points that Mazzara revealed about possible Season 3 moments include the introduction of more characters from the comic books such as Tyrese. We’re also likely to discover what happened to Morgan and Duane (the characters introduced in the first episode that helped to save Rick). The re-introduction of Michael Rooker’s character Merle Dixon (Rooker also confirmed his role previously for Season 3) is also much anticipated.

Season 3 may still be a month out from shooting, and several months away from debuting on AMC, but it looks like there are plenty of surprises in store for fans when the show returns later this year.

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