Upcoming Marvel - 02/08

Care of SuperheroHype! here is Marvel's list of upcoming projects...

It should be noted that because of the writers strike, Marvel will probably not have 2 feature films in 2009, as is their business plan from 2010 and onward. Which film will make the cut for '09 though is still up in the air. SHH thinks it will be Thor, and I hope so too.

Feature Film Projects Being Developed by Marvel – partial list
Iron Man, Marvel - Scheduled for May 2, 2008 release
The Incredible Hulk, Marvel - Scheduled for June 13, 2008 release
Ant-Man, Marvel - Writer/director engaged
Captain America, Marvel - Writer engaged
Thor, Marvel - Writer engaged
The Avengers, Marvel - Writer engaged

Licensed Marvel Character Feature Film Line-Up
Punisher: War Zone, Lionsgate - Completed principal photography; scheduled for September 12, 2008 release
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Fox - Director engaged; scheduled for May 1, 2009 release

Marvel Character Animated TV Projects
Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, Moonscoop SAS (France) - 26, 30-minute episodes airing internationally.
Spectacular Spider-Man, Sony - In development; US distribution agreement with Kids’ WB; scheduled for Spring 2008 release.
Wolverine and the X-Men, First Serve Toonz (India) - 26, 30-minute episodes in development; scheduled for Spring 2009 release.
Iron Man: The Animated Series, Method Films (France) - 26, 30-minute episodes in development; scheduled for Spring 2008 release.
Hulk: The Animated Series, TBD -In development; scheduled for Spring 2009 release.
Super Hero Squad, TBD - In development; scheduled for Spring 2009 release.

Marvel Character Animated Direct-to-DVD Projects
Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, Lionsgate - Scheduled for August 2008 release.
Hulk Vs., Lionsgate - Scheduled for January 2009 release.
Thor: Son of Asgard, Lionsgate - Scheduled for September 2009 release.
Planet Hulk, Lionsgate - Scheduled for February 2010 release.

Marvel Character Live Stage Projects
Spider-Man, the Musical, Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Martin McCallum, Marvel Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment
In development/opening date to be determined; Julie Taymor director; music & lyrics by U2's Bono and The Edge

Marvel 2007 – 2008 Video Game Releases (Release dates controlled by Publishing partner)
Sega, Iron Man - Scheduled for release Friday, May 2, 2008.
Sega, The Incredible Hulk - Scheduled for release Tuesday, June 3, 2008.
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Some non-news news

So I'm not sure exactly how interesting this post will be. Welcome to a series of non-update updates :)

A few to start from Jessica Alba. Recently in interviews while promoting her new film The Eye, which I have zero interest in, she addressed questions on her upcoming projects. These are the kind of questions that while they don't explicitly give any solid new info are the kind of notes that reveal more on what she's thinking, knows, or suspects about her upcoming projects. And interestingly enough Alba really does have a few projects we should care about.

Firstly, she was asked about the status of Fantastic Four 3. In stride Alba, told reporters that with the writers strike there is currently no movement. She says that the FF films take at least 6 months of prep work, which I can definitely believe, and that she unfortunately didn't expect the sequel anytime too soon. She also said that it would be fun to see Franklin Richards in the films. In the comics he's Reed and Sue's very precocious super-powered son. For the record, I would like to see FF3 follow our heroes into the Negative Zone and feature Annihilus as the villain, although I have a feeling they want to do a Mole Man story.

She also addressed questions on Sin City 2, saying that she has no solid update on it. And that Robert Rodriguez hasn't even talked to her at all yet. It makes me wonder whats really going on with that film...

Finally, kind of out of the blue if you ask me, she talked about a possible Dark Angel movie. If you'll remember, this is where Alba got her big break. It was a sci fi series created by James Cameron that lasted two seasons and featured Alba as a genetically engineered super soldier chick who is just trying to lead a peaceful life in post-apocalyptic Seattle, but gets drawn into a all sorts of government conspiracies and adventures. It is also the tv series that I worked on the entire second season of... Ahh, yes, my illustrious career in the film industry. On the best of days I was getting people coffee, not Alba's mind you, she had the 3rd A.D. to do that, but maybe for like... the key grip. Oh the memories.... Anyhow, the prospects of a Dark Angel movie are news to me. Alba says that yes, she has talked about it with Cameron, and they've kicked around some ideas. Nothing is set, but if he (Jim) wants to do it, Alba will definitely be up for it.

In other non news news, Jason Statham has been at it again, this time care of IESB.net, promoting the abysmal looking In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, and more. He talked about a lot of projects he's working on, from The Bank Job, to Transporter 3, and Crank 2: High Voltage (yes, they're really going to do a sequel...) But the oddest most totally out of the blue thing he mentioned, was his response to when they asked him if he's like to do a superhero film. His answer was that he'd actually already taken a meeting with Marvel about Namor The Sub Mariner, but doesn't know if he's up for it. He actually sounded like he wasn't really too interested specifically in that character, but he would be up for something if the right role came along. The really interesting thing though is the hint that maybe Marvel is looking to actually move forward on this film. Last we had heard, the Namor movie was scheduled to be directed by Jonathan Mostow of Terminator 3 fame based on a screenplay by David Self. I don't know where it was, but back two years ago or so I remember reading about how this film was on the Marvel fasttrack with a script that everyone loved, and a proposed trilogy of films. I think that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's name was even bandied about some. But somewhere along the line, Namor fell by the wayside, so this news of possible movement is definitely interesting. While I was never a massive fan of the character I definitely think that a good movie could be made with him. Have we ever even seen an underwater film starring mer-people with today's CG technology? I think it could be very cool. Although I might say as with Silver Surfer, he should probably be introduced in Fantastic Four, and then spun off into his own films. Whatever they decide to do though, I'll be keeping my eyes open for further news.

Finally, in Shia Labeouf news, as he was out stomping for Indy 4, and Eagle Eye he talked a bit about the proposed Y the Last Man film, and Transformers 2. Regarding Y, Labeouf says that he has been talking about it with director DJ Caruso, and they are both big fans of the comic. They want to make it happen, but just need to find time to schedule it. And as for Transformers 2, while it already has a tentative release date of July 26th, 2009, considering the WGA strike Labeouf says that there hasn't been any significant movement on the film. That said, I suspect that pretty much as soon as the strike ends Bay and co will get right on it. As we know Bay is already doing what pre-production he can. So we'll definitely hear more on that in the near enough future.

And that's all I've got for the non-news updates. Kinda nice to get a status check on a few things in the pipeline, despite the fact that there isn't really much to report. More to come on all of these projects as it develops.
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