Comicbook Movie Round-Up: April 2019 (Part 1)

 

It's been a while since I've done one of these but, as there's a lot of comic-book movie hype at the moment (think there's a comic-book film coming out soon?), I thought it'd be good to collate all the various bits and pieces flying around. 

This was initially one post- one very long post - so I decided that sanity should prevail and have split it into three. The other two parts will be posted over the weekend. 

MARVEL

AVENGERS: ENDGAME

In just under two weeks' time (the UK gets it on Thursday April 25th - and Watchers Tez and Rhys have midnight screening tickets for that day- whilst the US gets it a day later on April 26th), Avengers: Endgame will hit the screen. 

At 3hrs 2mins, it'll be the longest Marvel film to date. No news as to whether there'll be an interval yet - I personally hope not, but that's just me. The 32 character posters released recently show both those who survived Thanos' snap at the end of Avengers: Infinity War... and those who didn't:

Something else that Kevin Feige has stated is that- rather to referring to Phases 1, 2, and 3 - every MCU film from Iron Man (2008) to Avengers: Endgame (2019) is now called 'The Infinity Saga', but there's not been any word on what anything from Spider-Man: Far From Home onwards will be called. 

Speaking of that, Kevin Feige has also stated that won't be any further details about other MCU films until after Spider-Man: Far From Home premieres in July - although (as you can see below) bits and pieces have already started to come out. 

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME

The first film in the post-Endgame MCU is Spider-Man: Far From Home. Revolving around a European trip that Peter and his classmates are taking, Peter just wants to kick back and relax and not be the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man for a bit. Of course, that doesn't happen... when a group of extradimensional humanoids known as the Elementals start to cause havoc, Nick Fury recruits Peter to stop them. 

Along with Tom Holland, Jacob Batalon (Ned), Zendaya (MJ), Marisa Tomei (Aunt May), Jon Favreau (Happy), Tony Revolori (Flash), and Michael Keaton (Adrian Toomes/Vulture) will reprise their roles from Spider-Man: Homecoming. 

Joining them for this European adventure will be Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders (as Nick Fury and Maria Hill) whilst Jake Gyllenhaal makes his MCU debut as Quentin Beck (a.k.a. Mysterio). Initially, Mysterio will help Peter- in the trailer, he's shown helping fight Hydro-Man in Venice- but whether his allegiances will shift by the end of the film, who knows? Other cast members  Numan Acar (Dimitri), and Remy Hii and JB Smoove  in as yet undisclosed roles.

BLACK WIDOW

Now Marvel have been spinning their wheels about a solo Black Widow movie for years. Literally, years. Well, good news, as it's finally entering pre-production! Cate Shortland will direct from a script written by Jac Schaeffer which will apparently show Natasha Romanoff facing off against The Taskmaster. 

Joining Scarlett Johansson will be British actress  Florence Pugh (Fighting With My Family, Lady Macbeth) who has confirmed her appearance in the film, although- as with all casting- no roles have been announced.  

Other actors in talks to join the movie are British actor O-T Fagbenle (The Handmaid's Tale, Looking), David Harbour (Hellboy, Stranger Things) and Oscar winner Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener, The Favourite). If all three are signed, it's got all the makings of a wonderful cast.  

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3

After firing writer-director James Gunn when his decade-old but less-than-favourable tweets were dug up, Disney have (predictably) done a U-Turn, and rehired him to direct Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3. Of course, in the interim, Gunn has crossed the floor and is directing The Suicide Squad for DC (more information on that in Part 2), so it'll be a bit of a wait for this to hit the screens. Dave Bautista- who plays Drax- had previously said that he wouldn't be prepared to do a third firm without Gunn and would have asked to be released from his contract if Gunn had been replaced. 

SHANG-CHI

Marvel also seem to be looking to their lesser-known titles for the post-Endgame world. A director is attached to a Shang-Chi movie. Created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin in 1973, Shang-Chi was originally conceived as the son of Fu Manchu and is often known as the 'Master of Kung Fu'.

This will mark the first Asian lead in an MCU movie. David Callaham (The Expendables, Wonder Woman 1984) has written a screenplay that will be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12, The Glass Castle). No casting has been announced as yet. 

THE ETERNALS

A film focusing on The Eternals has also been announced, with a couple of intriguing names attached to the cast. 

Created by comic legend Jack Kirby in 1976, the Eternals are a race of ancient human beings created a million years ago by the cosmic entities known as the Celestials. the Celestials accelerated the evolution of a handful of subjects and gave them the genetic potential to mentally manipulate limited quantities of cosmic energy, as well as other superhuman traits.

The story, written by Matthew & Ryan Firpo (Refuge, Bet Raise Fold) will focus on the female Eternal Sersi, and it's none other than Angelina Jolie who has been rumoured to be taking the role! Of course, there's no official word as yet but this would be a pretty big coup if Marvel could do it. Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick, Silicon Valley) has also been in talks to star. 

It's also been widely rumoured that there will be a gay male hero as part of the team- with many online suggesting it would be Hercules- which, if true, would mark the first time that an openly LGBT hero will be in the MCU. Given Marvel's desire to increase diversity within its canon, this can only be a good thing. 

The Eternals will be directed by Chloe Zhao (The Rider, Songs My Brothers Taught Me).


In Part 2, we take a look at the upcoming developments in the DCEU Worlds Of DC Movies.

News From Comic-Con 2016

It's that time of year, folks, when the geek Mecca that is San Diego Comic-Con opens its doors and gives us a rundown of what's coming up in the worlds of film, TV and other entertainment. The dust has barely settled (it ran from July 21st-24th) but it's given us a lot to talk about.

So here's a quick round-up of some of the biggest news.

After the lukewarm reception that Batman V Superman got, DC may have felt like they had a bit of an uphill battle to get people onboard for their next movies. Well, mission well and truly achieved as even the most petulant and hard-to-please fanboys couldn't help but be blown away by what DC had to show.

Whilst Marvel discussed several of their upcoming properties, DC focused on the ones that are closest at hand. DC also made a very canny move by officially releasing the three trailers they showed straight away, ready for public consumption.

The first was a trailer for Suicide Squad, which gives a few good lines to Will Smith and a few laughs for Jai Courteney:



There was also a first-look trailer for Wonder Woman, which was seriously good. Gal Gadot was easily the best thing about Batman V Superman and- if the trailer is anything to go by- her dignified and strong performance will continue. You also get to see Chris Pine as Steve Trevor and the final electric violin sting at the end of the trailer is just sublime.

Finally, and the biggest news, there was a trailer for Justice League. It shows Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) visiting both Arthur Curry/Aquaman and Barry Allen/The Flash to recruit them. There's a brief appearance by Cyborg towards the end but no Superman- not surprising, really. Ezra Miller really impresses as The Flash, and there's some nice little moments of humour which helps to lift things.




Marvel had a lot of information to impart, although- unlike DC- a lot of the footage hasn't been officially released. An enhanced Doctor Strange trailer was one of two videos put out by Marvel but footage from Thor: Ragnarok (a mockumentary over what Thor and Hulk have been doing since Age Of Ultron), Spider-Man: Homecoming and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 still remain (at the moment, at least) Comic-Con exclusives.

The Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 footage confirms a few pieces of rumoured casting - it was announced a while ago that Kurt Russell would be joining the cast and immediately the rumour mill went into overdrive that he'd be playing Star-Lord's father. Well, as usual, the rumour mill was right- Russell is playing Ego (a living planet who took human form and then knocked up Star-Lord's mum). The footage also shows Sylvester Stallone in a small role.

Speaking of the rumour mill being right, it was also confirmed that this year's Best Actress Oscar winner Brie Larson has been cast as Captain Marvel for the 2018 film (although she may appear in an earlier film as Spider-Man and Black Panther have; if that's the case, she'll probably be seen in Infinity War). Rumours of Larson's casting started several months ago, and I think this is a strong piece of casting.

There was some further casting announced for Black Panther, with Creed star Michael B. Jordan, The Walking Dead's Danai Gurira and Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o joining Chadwick Boseman for the film, directed by Ryan Coogler. Jordan will play Erik Killmonger, Nyong'o will play Nakia and Gurira will play Okoye.

Finally, concept art from Spider-Man: Homecoming reveals that the main villain for the film will be The Vulture:

Away from the comic book franchises, we were treated to some other top-quality trailers, including one for the surprise sequel to The Blair Witch Project- originally filmed under the generic title of The Woods, but now titled Blair Witch- which goes back to the found-footage format and is genuinely atmospheric and not a little creepy. Directed by Adam Winguard (You're Next, The Guest), the film is due for release very soon.

There were also trailers for Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, Kong: Skull Island, Guy Ritchie's new take on King Arthur and the Batman Lego Movie.

There was also a special panel to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Aliens, attended by James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen.

In terms of TV, trailers for Iron Fist, Luke Cage and The Defenders were aired, plus it was announced that Netflix's Daredevil was renewed for a third season. Bryan Fuller's new Star Trek series- now titled Star Trek: Discovery- had a teaser trailer too.

There were also trailers for the seventh season of Game Of Thrones, the fourth series of Sherlock, the Starz adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods (which looks seriously brilliant) and a very interesting piece of casting news that Rihanna will be appearing in the final season of the Psycho prequel Bates Motel... as Marion Crane!

So a lot of good stuff coming our way over the next few years.

Marvel Movies 2016-2019

Marvel Studios held a press conference today to announce their latest batch of movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Responding to DC's announcement last week of their upcoming movie roster, Marvel brought out some of the big guns and announced the properties from 2016-2019.

As we already know, Avengers: Age Of Ultron (which premiered a downright brilliant first trailer earlier this week) and Ant-Man are Marvel's properties for 2015.

But coming up in 2016 will be:

Captain America: Civil War

May 6, 2016 (US)

The Russo Brothers (who directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier) are back to direct

And if that isn't enough, later in the year comes:

Doctor Strange

November 7, 2016 (US)

Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism Of Emily Rose) has been confirmed as director.

There was no casting news on who will be playing the Sorcerer Supreme, despite several news reports over the last few days that Benedict Cumberbatch is firmly in the frame to star.

Moving in to 2017, which is gearing up to be a bumper Marvel year,

Guardians Of The Galaxy 2

May 5, 2017 (US)

James Gunn will come back to direct the sequel

Thor: Ragnarok

July 28, 2017 (US)

No director announced - but interestingly, Ragnarok means 'The End Of All Things'

Black Panther

November 3, 2017 (US)

No director has been announced - however, Chadwick Boseman (Draft Day, Get On Up) has been confirmed to play T'challa/Black Panther

It was confirmed that Black Panther will appear in Captain America: Civil War and will be seen in costume.

But there's still more! In 2018, you will see...

Captain Marvel

July 5, 2018 (US)

It was announced that this particular Captain Marvel will be Carol Danvers, making this Marvel's first female-led superhero movie.

Inhumans

November 2, 2018 (US)

No casting or director named for this project

But before all of that in 2018, we're in for an absolute doozy:

Avengers: Infinity War

Part One will hit cinemas May 4 2018 with Part Two in cinemas May 3 2019

Certainly some very intriguing and very exciting projects here!

Programme 38: Summer Blockbusters 2014

The Watchers Film Show: Ep 38 Summer Blockbusters of 2014 from The Watchers Film Show on Vimeo.

It's been a bumper summer full of blockbusters, so the Watchers get down to discussing what we thought of this summer's big movies. We discuss comedy sequel 22 Jump Street, animated feature How To Train Your Dragon 2 and Marvel's latest movie Guardians Of The Galaxy, whilst there's some interesting splits of opinion on Transformers: Age Of Extinction and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes.

Enjoy!

News From Comic-Con 2013

This year's Comic-Con International took place from July 18-21. A veritable Mecca for film-goers, TV geeks and comic-book fans, it boasted an array of panels, press conferences and events to showcase the big things coming in film and TV over the next twelve months (and further ahead).

Sadly, we couldn't be there this year- all tickets sold out in a mere 93 minutes- but here's a round-up of the biggest news from the event.

* * *

Man Of Steel vs The Dark Knight

The biggest news of the event was the announcement that the sequel to Man Of Steel will feature Superman and Batman on screen together for the first time. As you can imagine, this news sent the Twittersphere alight with comments ranging from 'OMFG best thing EVER!' to '#ruined'. What we know so far is this: 

Zack Snyder is back to direct and is co-writing the story with David S. Goyer. Goyer will then write the screenplay. Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas (from the Christian Bale Batman trilogy) are acting as executive producers.

Henry Cavill will reprise his role as Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent. Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane will also reprise their roles from Man Of Steel as Lois Lane, Perry White and Martha Kent respectively.

The new Batman has not yet been cast.

The anticipated release date is Summer 2015.

* * *

Karen Gillan has a Close Shave!

At the panel for Guardians Of The Galaxy, Karen Gillan- renowned for her flowing auburn locks- revealed a startling new look.

She has shaved her hair off for her role in the Marvel superhero movie! 

It's also been confirmed that she will be playing villainous space pirate Nebula in the James Gunn directed movie alongside Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora,  Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser, Michael Rooker as Yondu, Benicio Del Toro as The Collector, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, John C Reilly as Rhomann and Djimon Hounsou as Koranth.

Character art and props from the movie (including Star Lord's helmet and Drax The Destroyer's knives) were also shown.


* * *

Marvel's Upcoming Slate

You can imagine that DC's announcement of the Superman/Batman collaboration was a major gauntlet thrown down to their rivals Marvel.

In addition to the Guardians Of The Galaxy panel, Marvel also released new posters and showed clips from Thor: The Dark World (presented by Tom Hiddleston in character as Loki) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, as well as a one-shot short showing what Peggy Carter- played by Hayley Atwell- did after the events of Captain America: The First Avenger

Joss Whedon announced that his sequel to The Avengers, due in cinemas on May 1 2015, is called Avengers: Age Of Ultron. For those who don't know, Ultron is an evil robot created by Dr. Hank Pym (aka Ant-Man). However, Whedon has played down reports that Pym will appear in The Avengers sequel as Edgar Wright is directing an Ant-Man movie for the third phase of Marvel Studios' cinematic universe.

Ant-Man will be released on November 6 2015 whilst three further as yet untitled movies are scheduled for release on May 6 2016, July 8 2016 and May 5 2017.

* * *

The Best Of The Rest

There were panels for many of the major films coming out over the next twelve months.

Many of the cast members of X-Men: Days Of Future Past attended their panel, where a preview of the film was shown:

New trailers and character posters were shown for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire:

There was a lot of fun at the panel for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, with Andrew Garfield appearing as Spider-Man for the first part of the panel:

There was a press conference for Divergent, based on the first novel in a trilogy by Veronica Roth where a young girl rebels against the restrictive rules of her society. and starring Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz, Theo James and Kate Winslet:

There was also a special poster released for this:

There were also panels for TV shows including Doctor Who, Game Of Thrones, Sherlock, True Blood and Once Upon A Time plus a special 20th anniversary panel for The X-Files!

Comic Book Movie Round-Up #4: Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians Of The Galaxy

In the last of our comic book movie round-ups (for now, at least), we have all the info on a double-bill of Marvel movies, both of them from Phase 2. So first up...

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Director: Joe and Anthony Russo
Writer: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
Provisional Release Date: April 4 2014

What We Know:

Writers Markus and McFeely confirmed before the release of Captain America: The First Avenger that they were working on a sequel to the film.

The title of the Captain America sequel was announced at Comic-Con in July 2012.

Whilst there is no official synopsis yet, it is understood that the film will be a 'political thriller' mostly set in the modern day with elements taken from Ed Brubaker's Winter Soldier comic-book storyline, which sees Captain America's friend Bucky Barnes return from the dead as a brainwashed Russian assassin. As Steve Rogers adjusts to the modern world, he must team up with the Black Widow to deal with a powerful yet covert threat in Washington DC.

Who's In?:

There are a lot of returning characters within this film and several major additions.

Chris Evans will reprise his role as Steve Rogers/Captain America. Evans revealed he signed a six-picture deal with Marvel Studios to play the character.

Sebastian Stan will also reprise his role as Bucky Barnes, the 'Winter Soldier' of the subtitle. 

Scarlett Johansson will play Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow for the third time (after appearances in Iron Man 2 and The Avengers) whilst Samuel L. Jackson returns for his sixth outing as Nick Fury. Cobie Smulders and Max Hernandez will appear as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Maria Hill and Jasper Sitwell respectively, reprising their roles from The Avengers.

Hayley Atwell, who played Peggy Carter, will appear in the sequel (it is expected that these will be mostly via flashbacks) and will also appear in a short film detailing what happened to her character after the events of The First Avenger. 

Toby Jones will also reprise his role as Dr. Armin Zola from the first film, as will Dominic Cooper who played the young Howard Stark. 

Garry Shandling will appear as Senator Stern, the character he played in Iron Man 2.

As for new characters, Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker, Gangster Squad) will be playing The Falcon, an ally of Captain America.

Frank Grillo will play the role of Crossbones, one of the movie's villains, and Georges St-Pierre will play another villain named Georges Batroc

Emily VanCamp has been cast as a character only known as 'Agent 13'

Robert Redford has been cast as Alexander Pierce, a senior agent within S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury's superior. Alan Dale, Chin Han, Bernard White and Jenny Agutter will play a team who will support Pierce, with Agutter once again playing a member of the World Security Council (as she did in The Avengers).

Anything Else?

Directors George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau) and F. Gary Gray (Law Abiding Citizen) were considered for the film before the Russo brothers were chosen.

Anna Kendrick, Imogen Poots and Felicity Jones were all linked to an unspecified role, as were Jessica Brown Findlay, Emilia Clarke, Teresa Palmer and Alison Brie. It is thought this role would have been Sharon Carter, Peggy's niece and Captain America's new love interest. It is uncertain whether this character will appear in the film.

Hugo Weaving announced that reprising his role as Red Skull was 'not something [he] would want to do again' despite having signed a multi-picture deal. Weaving stated "I did sign up for a number of pictures and I suppose, contractually, I would be obliged to, if they forced me to, but they wouldn't want to force someone to do it, if they didn't want to."

Production officially began on April 1, filming in Los Angeles with this initial picture officially released by Marvel Studios:

Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and Max Hernandez were seen filming an action sequence in Los Angeles:

Filming also took place in Washington DC on May 13 2013, with filming done at the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge and the National Mall. Filming started in Cleveland, Ohio on May 17 and is scheduled to last until mid-June.

As part of the Phase Two preview, Marvel released several pieces of concept art for the film:

Captain America vs The Winter Soldier

Concept art for The Falcon

And a picture of Sebastian Stan in full 'Winter Soldier' gear has been released:

The short featuring Hayley Atwell as Peggy will be shown at the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2013.

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So that's the lowdown on Captain America: The Winter Soldier. So now, here's what we know about the penultimate film in Marvel's Phase Two (which will then lead into The Avengers 2):

Guardians Of The Galaxy

Director: James Gunn
Writer: James Gunn, Chris McCoy and Nicole Perlman
Provisional Release Date: August 1 2014

What We Know:

The project was announced at Comic-Con in July 2012, along with the Ant-Man film and the sequel titles to Thor and Captain America.

There are several characters who fall under the banner of Guardians Of The Galaxy but so far the characters Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax The Destroyer, Groot and Rocket Raccoon are confirmed to appear in the film.

From l-r: Drax The Destroyer, Groot, Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon and Gamora

One potential plot that was revealed in August 2012, stated that the film was about 'a US 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', which suggests that the character Major Victory would be involved. This has not been confirmed as yet.

James Gunn was officially confirmed as the director in September 2012. Directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden were rumoured to be in the running but ruled themselves out. Yes Man director Peyton Reed was apparently a back-up choice.

Who's In?:

Chris Pratt (Moneyball, Zero Dark Thirty) will play the lead role of Star-Lord, also known as Peter Quill. He is a gunslinging space-ranger, a joker but also a hero.

WWE star Dave Bautista will play Drax The Destroyer who is a human who was rescued from death and resurrected as a green-skinned berserker with a mission to kill. 

Michael Rooker is playing Yondu, a game hunter of a primitive tribe native to Centauri IV and one of the four founding heroes.

Star Trek actress Zoe Saldana will play Gamora, a green-skinned humanoid and last survivor of her race, trained to be The Most Dangerous Woman In The Universe by Thanos.

Lee Pace has been cast as an as-yet-unnamed villain, who could be an alien Kree warrior named Ronan The Accuser or as The Collector.

British actor Enzo Cilenti has been cast but there is no confirmation about who he will be playing. Similarly, British actress Ophelia Lovibond has been cast, rumoured to be playing a servant of The Collector although this has yet to be confirmed.

John C. Reilly will play the role of Rhomann Dey, a human agent who deals directly between the Guardians and Earth, reporting to S.H.I.E.L.D. about their movements. Hugh Laurie, Alan Rickman and Ken Watanabe have been linked with a separate character who plays Dey's peer.

Glenn Close is attached to play a senior figure in Nova Corps, an intergalactic police force with military origins. Close's character is reported to be a counterpart to Nick Fury.

Former Doctor Who actress Karen Gillan has been cast as one of the film's major villains.

Oscar-winning actor Benicio del Toro has been cast to appear in the film, with the option of further appearances. It is expected that he will play a lead character but, as with much to do with this film, a lot has yet to be confirmed.

Anything Else?

Joel Edgerton, Garrett Hedlund, Jack Huston, James Marsden, Lee Pace, Eddie Redmayne, Jim Sturgess, Zachary Levi, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Rosenbaum, John Krasinski, Wes Bentley, Cam Gigandet and Sullivan Stapleton were all reported to be auditioning for the role of Star-Lord.

Actors Isaiah Mustafa, Brian Patrick Wade and Jason Momoa were said to be in the running for the role of Drax The Destroyer before Bautista was cast.

It was reported that Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler were being lined up for roles (possibly as the voices of Rocket Raccoon or Groot), but Carrey has quashed the rumours and nothing more has been said about Sandler's involvement.

The villain Thanos, glimpsed briefly at the end of The Avengers, will be appearing in Guardians Of The Galaxy (as well as The Avengers 2) but it is uncertain whether he will be a major antagonist or not.

As part of their Phase Two preview, several pieces of concept art have been released for the film:

Production has already started with shooting scheduled to start sometime in June 2013.