Earth's Mightiest Heroes

So I've been really getting into the Avenging spirit lately, have you?

Last week I saw Captain America: The First Avenger and it was one of my favorite superhero films of all time. Director Joe Johnston just nailed the tone and look. Everyone keeps referencing his work on The Rocketeer, which was great, but Don't forget he also made a few clunkers so I'll say I was really pleased to see he brought his A-game to this one. Minor nitpicks like the way they killed off Bucky aside the film delivered on all fronts especially the cast. The film has pitch perfect casting and really great performances all around. For anyone who hasn't seen it yet I'd obviously, highly recommend it.

So as we all should know by now, Caps story is dovetailing into next summer's big Avengers film, being directed by none other than Jon Favreau. The movie will bring together every geek's wildest comic to film dreams, with Captain America joining Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow on Marvel's premiere super team The Avengers. There's already a short teaser trailer up for the film, and if you missed it the first time, the ending and credit sequence to The First Avenger, give us a bit more teaser goodies on the upcoming film.

I'm pretty stoked about The Avengers movie, since I've been a Marvel fanboy for a very long time. While I was never a huge Avengers follower, preferring to stick mostly with Spider-Man and some of the cosmic guys like Silver Surfer, I always enjoyed seeing my favorites interact with the Avengers, and whenever there was a big company wide event storyline I was always excited. The trick as with any ensemble cast is to make sure everyone gets enough screen time, and that it all serves the story. With this creative team involved though I am heartily optimistic.

I also just recently finished watching the first season of the latest Marvel cartoon on Netflix, and it couldn't have gotten me more in the mood for some Avengers action. The cartoon, which launches into its second season this October on DisneyXD, is of course The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

The first season consists of twenty six 22 minutes episodes and will set you up really well with everything you'd want to know about the Avengers and more. All of the major players are introduced and explored, as well as most of the major villains, and even a few of the bigger storylines are tackled in this first season. As anyone who's read The Avengers comic even a little bit like me knows, the team has had a few different makeups over the years and Earth's Mightiest Heroes is no different. After the obligatory origin episodes, which I'm actually very glad they didn't rush through, the team lineup features: their team leader Iron Man, along with Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Ant Man, Wasp, Hawkeye, and Black Panther. Additionally a few other 'Avengers-to-be' make regular appearances, like Black Widow, and Wonder Man. What's great about these characters and the writing, headed up by Christopher Yost, is that everyone is given time to develop organically, we get a great balance of character moments where the players actually grow throughout the season and amazing battle sequences where the viewer is treated to just minute after minute of perfectly choreographed battle scenes.

If you think you're even remotely interested and you have Netflix streaming, I'd really recommend checking it out. The season is available for instant streaming right now, and if you only want to give one or two episodes a try, jump ahead to the two parter The Breakout, which kicks the season into high gear and gives a good sample of the action to come.

While I was on a Netflix streaming kick I realized that there are a lot of other Marvel superhero shows online. The 90s cartoons of X-Men, Spider-Man, Spider-Man Unlimited, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Silver Surfer are all available in their entirety right now; although Fantastic Four, and perhaps to be expected the pretty awful Avengers: United They Stand cartoons are not there. Other great Marvel cartoons are though, including the Spider-Man 1967 series, the first of the excellent two season Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon, X-Men: Evolution, Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, and the first season of the currently airing Iron Man: Armored Adventures (season 2 is in full swing now on Nicktoons). Unfortunately, none of the other more recent Marvel animated series (Wolverine and the X-Men or any of the Marvel anime projects) are available yet; nor are any of the other older Marvel animated series like the classic Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. That said there is also one more cool new series that is available on instant Netflix streaming that should be checked out: Black Panther the animated series. While I understand why fans we're a bit disappointing to learn that this miniseries (its only 120-ish minutes long in its entirety) wasn't much more than a souped up motion comic, I'd still really urge you to have a look. If you like motion comics, then you're in luck, this is probably the best produced motion comic ever with voice talents that include the amazing Djimon Hounsou, Alfre Woodard, and Kerry Washington. Also it's got a pretty kick ass opening title sequence with a catchy song.

If from all my babbling you can't tell yet, I am a pretty huge fan of these Marvel superheros. I love seeing how they work solo, getting in depth on their backstory and rogues gallery; but I'm also a huge fan of when they meet, crossover, and have excellent adventures together. That's why I'm so looking forward to the Avengers movie. A great crossover crossover is in the making and I don't think anyone would have anticipated that it could be done on such a scale in a live action form. For us fanboys this is a dream come true, and for everyone else, we'll this is the best time ever to get into a hero or three. I'm sure we'll get into more Avengers goodness as the film approaches release next summer, but until then count me very excited!
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Avengers and Thor delayed!

Dammit that sucks! I have no doubt that getting everything together in just the right order for The Avengers is a huge headache, but I'm still disappointed to hear this news. Marvel has announced a revised release schedule for its upcoming properties, and the only film that has stayed squarely where it was, is Iron Man 2. So now here's what we're looking at for a release timeline:

Iron Man 2 - May 7th, 2010
Thor - June 17th, 2011
The First Avenger: Captain America - July 22nd, 2011
The Avengers - May 4th, 2012

So Thor and Avengers have both been pushed back a full year! That's what I call lame. I mean I get that they want to make the movies right, but I'm still disappointed.

In other Marvel news and rumor though there have been a few juicy casting notices out there. Apparently Mickey Rourke has finally signed on as the villain in Iron Man 2. After reports that the studio lowballed him on a paycheck word is that they have come to a much more reasonable figure now and he will be playing a Russian. No word exactly on who he's playing, but as a Russian its probably The Crimson Dynamo. Rumors are also about that Emily Blunt is no longer signed on the the role of Black Widow and it is now being offered to Scarlett Johannson. hmmm... Favreau has said that casting should be confirmed by the end of next week, and that there won't be any major surprises. Good news.

As for Thor news, well as has been mentioned before the word on the street has been lately that director Kenneth Branagh has been looking at Alexander Skarsgård for the title role, but IESB now says that Channing Tatum (aka Duke in the upcoming G.I. Joe film) is also in the running. The really big rumor on the Thor front though is that Josh Hartnett is interested in the role of the villain Loki. This is great news if you ask me, Hartnett would be fantastic as Thor's duplicitous brother. We'll have to see what becomes of this.

As for the Avengers, well over at AICN they're saying that the delay is partly due to financing, but also because Marvel wants Favreau to helm the film, and since hes definitely locked in to Iron Man 2, there wasn't anyway it could've happened before. That at least actually makes sense to me. Since the success of Iron Man, I've no doubt Marvel would love for Favs to take a crack at The Avengers.

So its kind of sad about the delays, but in the end I know I want them to make the best movies possible. If that means waiting one more year, then I guess, so be it. More on all of these as they develop.
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Tidbits of movie news

Here are a few headlines that I missed lately. Some good stuff here.

Michael Cera to star as Scott Pilgrim.

A Dragonball sequel has already been written.

Filming on Kenneth Branagh's directed Thor movie begins this July. No word on casting yet... but rumors are speculating on this guy...

Battlestar Galactica to the big screen? hells yes. oh wait... the original BSG to the big screen?! wtf?!?!!

Jeffrey Dean Morgan set to star in The Losers.

Should we start getting our hopes up for a Ghostbusters 3 finally? oh and Judd Apatow is NOT involved.

Now that Stephen Chow is out it looks like Michael Gondry may be in to direct The Green Hornet.

Another comic book property Suicide Squad is coming to the big screen.

Gore Verbinski will direct a new Clue movie.

Despite the studio really wanting Ryan Gosling, it looks like Anton Yelchin is now in the running for Green Lantern. Expect the Green Lantern film in theaters Dec 17th, 2010.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is moving forward for a holiday 2010 release through FOX 2000 and Walden media.

Uber hottie Megan Fox in talks to play Aspen in the comic adaptation of Fathom, and the love interest in Jonah Hex.

the plot for Chris Nolan's next big film, Inception, a sci fi starring Leo DiCaporio is being kept under wraps.

oh the sorry state of Fury Road.... looks like Mad Max 4 may now ber coming to us as an animated film, and a video game :(

FOX is looking into a full reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise...

are we finally going to get another Riddick movie? I hope so.

ABC picked up rights to a 4 hour miniseries about a meteor hitting the moon causeing it to collide with the earth, called Impact. sweet.

Lots of great stuff there. I guess I miss alot when I'm so busy with work and family. Its really all worth it though. Oh and yes a lot of the links are from Latino Review. I love that site :) They have a kick ass archiving system for news stories. Check em out.

Until later all. Good hunting.
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Venom movie

Well it looks like Avi Arad was right. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Venom the brain eating, symbiotic, psychopath alien from Spider-Man is coming to the big screen. A script apparently has being written by Mean Creek writer / director Jacob Estes, but SONY is reportedly looking for other writers to tackle a new draft. Also interestingly the studio is apparently not sold on Topher Grace as the Eddie Brock / Venom character. I think, despite the poorly written character in Spider-Man 3, the issue definitely was not with Grace's performance, so I would hope he in fact stays in the role. I'd definitely like to see him become a bigger star.

Whatever happens though I'm sure well get more on Venom as it develops, and as suggested by LR, why not tie it into the proposed Spider-Man 4, currently slated for summer 2011? We'll see how Sony deals with this though, as I'm sure it'll be a tricky movie to bring to life.
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Depp is Mad

It's really not at all unexpected, but according to reports, Johnny Depp has been cast in Tim Burton's re-imagined version of Alice in Wonderland. Reports have it that Depp has been offered the role of The Mad Hatter, a part I kind of think he was destined to play. Other than Depp though, and the rumored casting of Mia Wasikowska, not much is known about the project. Still this is some good solid casting.

We'll hopefully find out more about this and the feature length adaptation of Frankenweenie soon.
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Tyrese as a Thundercat?

While this isn't much more than a snippet of a rumor, its a good indication that things are still on the move for a planned Thundercats movie. If you'll remember, there is a film in the works for the coolest kitties on Third Earth. Last we heard the movie has a draft script, by Paul Sopocy, and a director, Gears of War game helmer Jerry O'Flaherty, although it's still at the early stages of development and is sure to change as things move forward. The movie was announced by Warners as a CG property with an eyed 2010 release. Of course we can't know exactly what is still true on the film front, but at least we're getting a bit more. And its from the unlikely source of Transformers actor Tyrese Gibson.

In a recent interview Tyrese stated that he is in negotiations for the project and while he wouldn't confirm anything, he indicated that there are a number of options in terms of what role he would play. Whether this means a voice over role in a animated film, or a live action part is unknown, but he suggested that we should get more information soon.

Of course the obvious guess for a part is Panthro. Is that racist... I think especially if its an animated film though it really wouldn't matter who he plays. I think this is a good sign regardless. Tyrese needs another good action film, and anything that bring the Thundercats closer to cinematic reality is a good thing. We'll just have to wait and see if this develops into more than a rumor.

For the latest info and more on the planned Thundercats movie, check out The Thundercats Lair message boards. These really guys know what they're talking about.
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A long list of quick hits

There is a lot of coverage on the San Diego Comic Con out there, but much of it is buried in panel reports and drawn out press events. Also the world has not stopped turning just because of the con. There is other cool entertainment news to be had as well. But I just don't have the time to write up posts about everything. So maybe a few quick hits are in order. I mean, theres a lot of cool stuff going on, I wouldn't want to miss it. And with that said here are a few quick stories or links for you.

According to THR, Leonardo DiCaprio and his Apian Way production company are looking to possibly make a series of movies out of old Twilight Zone stories. They've put the call out to writers for pitches.

Some descriptions of the 3 minutes of Tr2n footage that was screened at the con can be read here and here, with more follow up details at AICN. And just a note, the footage was NOT actually from the new movie.

Cartoon Network is developing 3 comic book titles into tv movies. The first is Firebreather, a story about a teenager growing up in a divorced family with a typical worrying mother, and a fire-breathing dragon for a father. The next is The Mice Templar, a book about templar mice, a prophecy, and oh so much more. When I was at Wizard World the creator gave me a full 5 minutes on the book after I guessed that it was probably just like Mouseguard... And the third is The Vanishers, about a fifth grader who travels through time to rescue his friends after they start disappearing from existence.

Bryan Singer is developing a feature based on the comic miniseries Freeedom Formula , a sci fi about a high speed illegal mecha racing circuit and the cost of freedom in a fascist techno-future. Seems reminiscent of IGPX with a bit of Akira.

You can watch the trailer to Afro Samurai: Ressurection at Spike TV right now, or read more about the show here.

You can watch a painfully bad clip with Paris Hilton singing from Repo! The Genetic Opera over at MTV right now.

An honestly pretty cool trailer for Sam Raimi's new family friendly tv show Legend of the Seeker (formerly Wizards First Rule) has landed online. The show is based on Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth book series, and premieres on ABC on Nov 1st, '08.

Kevin Feige said at the SDCC Marvel panel that FOX was waiting the see how well the Wolverine movie does before moving forward on the Silver Surfer solo film.

NBC has posted videos of their Knight Rider and Kings panels on their website. Also catch this new one minute KR trailer.

The will be NO Dinobots in Transformers 2 say the writers.

Care of IGN watch the trailer for the upcoming animated film Resident Evil: Degeneration. No word on a western release date yet.

MTV interviews The Rock on Shazam, and Sam Jackson on Nick Fury.

AICN has a review of what is apparently a terrible script rewrite on Escape From New York by Jonathan Mostow.

IESB has heard that The Rock may appear in the Johnny Quest film, as Race Bannon!

Watch almost 4 minutes of new footage from Star Wars Clone Wars right here on Yahoo!

MTV has a preview up for the upcoming direct to dvd Marvel animated film "Hulk vs Wolverine" and it is killer.

Read Comingsoon.net panel reports and coverage on The Spirit, Watchmen and here, Day The Earth Stood Still, Prince of Persia, The Wolfman,

Read AICN panel reports and coverage on Wolfman, Watchmen, Twilight, Wolverine, Batman: Brave and the Bold and here, and a non-con Star Trek report

Read Latino Review's reports on the Hasbro panel (G.I. Joe), the Fox panel (DTESS, Max Payne, Wolverine), Watchmen, Punisher WZ, The Spirit, Ninja Assassin, Star Wars, and a video interview for Red Sonja,

Read IESB.net's well written reports on Watchmen, Twilight, the Fox panel, the best Wolverine footage breakdown online, and video interviews on Wolverine, Max Payne, and DTESS

And that's about all I can handle for now. That's sure a ton of info, And there'll be even more tomorrow after the Saturday panels get going at Comic Con. It's kinda crazy, but very cool stuff overall. Anything in this list really stand out to you as awesome? In my opinion the Star Wars footage steals the show so far. I'll post it up on its own later this weekend. Until then, I'm off to bed.
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Barrowman as Captain America?

Another great rumor for you fine folks today. Yesterday at SDCC after a panel, the Torchwood star John Barrowman was reportedly asked if there was any chance he might be playing or interested in playing Captain America in the planned upcoming First Avenger: Captain America movie.

And funnily enough Barrowman wasn't surprised at all. Although I hadn't heard his name bandied about he would make a fine choice. Reportedly after the stock answer of how much he'd love to play a role like that, and that Captain America was always his favorite hero, he admitted that his agents have been in discussions on that very issue.

Seems a bit out of the blue, but I have to think other than his name not being super recognizable to most of America, he might be a very decent choice. And if Marvel wants to play their cards really right they might just want to pick some young actor who is not all that well known. While Robert Downey Jr can transcend his stardom to become Tony Stark, maybe especially because his personal public past is somewhat reflective of Stark's fictional one I can definitely see some at Marvel feeling that a lesser known name might work better for the epitome of all that embodies America. Barrowman is a very good actor, and while not exactly what I'd envisioned for the part, I haven't any doubt he's got the chops for the role. I just wonder in terms of look... I mean I know hes got the square jaw, but isn't he just a bit... pretty? Kinda like Rob Lowe maybe...

We'll see how and if anything develops from this meaty rumor.
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Alice cast?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tim Burton may have found his lead for the planned Burtonized Alice in Wonderland, in young Australian actress Mia Wasikowska.

Mia, who is in talks for the role, has started to make a name for herself on the show All Saints, and now HBOs In Treatment. Of course these are two shows I have never seen. But I've no doubt Burton wouldn't hire someone on who wasn't up to his caliber. Also, she recently wrapped playing a young Amelia Earhart to Hilary Swank in an upcoming biopic. So I think that we can safely say her star is on the rise.

I for one, can't wait to see what Tim Burton has in store for us with this one though. As previously reported the film will use new 3-D techniques, and be a combination of digital animated creature capture and live action. I fully expect something totally crazy.

Fingers crossed Burton delivers.
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Magdalena movie

As reported yesterday in The Hollywood Reporter, the Top Cow comic book Magdalena is set to come to the big screen. In the tradition of all the best Top Cow comics, Magdalena features well proportioned scantily clad women fighting demons, so you just know its going to be fun ;)

Reportedly being set up by Valhalla Motion Pictures, Platinum Studios, and Top Cow productions, the film will star the lovely Janna Dewan and Luke Goss in the lead roles. "Dewan is set to play Patience, a woman who discovers that she's a part of the lineage of female warriors descended from Mary Magdalene who fight supernatural evil." and "Goss will play Kristof, an agent sent by the secret organization that has been the guardian of the lineage."

Sounds pretty cool to me. I've definitely seen the comic in stores from time to time, and despite the enticing cover I've always been more drawn to Fathom, or Witchblade when it comes down to this kind of thing. I think really I just never got into that religious kink. Anyhow, it still seems like a cool project. Check out this cover for the book.

We should hear a bit more about this project soon, as the actors are slated to appear at the Top Cow panel at comic con this week. Fun times.
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Heroes season 3 trailer

Check out this sweet trailer for the next season of Heroes.



The show returns on September 22nd.

UPDATE - Kristen Bell has confirmed that she will be reprising her role of electricity shooting Elle for a multi-episode arc in Heroes season 3.
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Body of Lies trailer

Care of LR, and from director Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio, comes Body of Lies.



Alright. Seems like it could be a good film. All the pieces are sure in place for something fantastic. Let's hope it delivers.

Oh and speaking of DiCaprio, rumors are building that he may be set to star alongside, the also rumored, Brad Pitt in Quenten Tarantino's new 4 hour badass WWII epic Inglorious Bastards. More on that as it comes.

As for Body of Lies, its set to hit theaters on October 10th, 2008.
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The T-800

In another bit of Terminator Salvation news, we now reportedly have a new T-800. That was the model played so aptly be Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original films. It's also been a bit of a worry for fans as to how the new planned trilogy would deal with the lack of a Govenator. Well our fears should be allayed now, because Austrian actor and bodybuilder Roland Kickinger has been cast in the role.

Does he look like Arnold you ask? Well not exactly, but he's honestly not too far off, and maybe more importantly he's got the chops to pull off Arnold without overdoing it. You see, he has experience... Kickinger played Arnold in an A&E biopic called See Arnold Run. Check out this video of Kickinger in action.



For more on the man that would be Arnold, check out Kickinger's website. I think this should work out well. I know after seeing that teaser, I'm definitely getting more excited. I just hope in the next trailer we'll get a little more Sam Worthington.
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Plastic Man rumor

Over at CHUD they recently reported on what they admittedly call a rumor. Granted that rumor came second hand from uber producer Joel Silver himself. Apparently he was on German radio talking mostly about Ninja Assassin, and he brought up the plan for the Wachowski's to follow up Ninja Assassin, and really more importantly the under-seen Speed Racer, with a film version of the DC hero Plastic Man.

Plastic Man, aka Patrick Eel' O'Brien, was a once a petty criminal, but after a botched robbery at a chemical plant caused him to fall into a vat of some kind of horrible Chemical X; Eel gained the power to amazingly stretch his body. Since then he has reformed his ways, and become something of a comical hero. Despite often being written as an excuse for Gumbification and goofy antics, the character has a good heart, and can be written very well. Anyone who's read Mark Waid's excellent JLA run, from the 90s with the Tower of Babel story followed by the Cathexis story will know that. And we know that the Wachowskis are fans of the character, having actually already written a script for the film.

The other big piece to this puzzle though is that reportedly Keanu Reeves is in talks to take on the leading role. Crazy I know, but they do already have a good working relationship and somehow I could see them pitching a mostly goofy stretchy superhero to Keanu and making headway.

Could be real, could just turn out to be rumor. Interesting nonetheless.


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Downey as Sherlock

Forget about Borat and Farrell, the next real Sherlock Holmes film, from director Guy Ritchie sounds like its starting to shape up. As previously reported the film, an attempt to reinvigorate the character for a modern audience should feature a more gritty super sleuth. And now its being reported than none other than Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr is set to sign on as the greatest detective ever.

The project is being fast tracked and should beat the competing Holmes film to the big screen. Filming is set to start this October.
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A bunch of Joe news

Over the past little while there has been a bunch of great G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra news and I simply haven't had time to share it with you. But trust me this is all just awesome stuff.

Especially the biggest most awesomest news of all. There's a new G.I. Joe animation on the way!!! No word exactly on whether the series will be on tv, on the web, or just sold on dvd but it sounds fantastic! Taking a cue from Clone Wars, this Joe series, called G.I. Joe: Resolute, will be a microseries, consisting of ten, 5 minute episodes, and one, 10 minute season finale episode. So all told we're talking about 60 minutes of Joe action. As you can imagine this might be a difficult product to find a place for on regular television. But honestly I just don't care because it sounds great. The always excellent Joe resource Hisstank.com has a great breakdown of the sneak peak that was recently shown at the New York Licensing Fair. The show will be PG-13 and aims to be exactly what we've always wanted from our Joe cartoon. The action will be intense, people will die, and the characters will be badass. Read the full report at Hisstank.

I am very excited by this news if you couldn't tell. The past few Joe outings in animation haven't been too great. I am decidedly NOT a fan of Sigma 6, and as for the direct to dvd fare, while Spy Troops was alright (mostly due to the awesome Shipwreck centric story), Valor vs Venom was extremely weak, and if anyone out there other than me has seen Ninja Battles, you know it was like they weren't even trying... Hasbro claims that this new series isn't about trying to make a ton of money for the company, its about being creative, doing something we all want, and increasing the brand presence before the live action movie gets into gear next summer. Great stuff.

The next piece of Joe news is also awesome. Remember back at the beginning of the year when they were just starting to cast the Joe movie? It was reported then that veteran British stage actor David Murray would be playing Destro in the film, but then quickly due to some VISA issues he had to drop out and was replaced by everyone's favorite 9th Doctor Who, Christopher Eccleston. Well it now appears that Murray is back in the film, and no he's not replacing Eccleston, he's actually in the film playing another Destro! The original Destro to be exact, According to IESB, he will portray the character James McCullen the 1st, the ancestor to the current day tyrant and arms dealer. He will be the first of the clan to wear the iron mask.... Which means, that we are definitely going to be getting flashbacks into Destro's family history! Awesome. I only vaguely remember that episode of A Real American Hero where they told this story, but it always stood out in my mind as extremely cool. And everyone knows Destro is the most badass of all the villains. This is exactly the kind of thing I want of my G.I. Joe movie.

In other Joe movie news, it seems that Brendan Fraser was not exactly clear before when talking about his cameo role in the Joe film. Instead of playing Gung Ho, Fraser recently told the Winnipeg Sun that he is actually playing Rock & Roll. AND he'll be riding by us on the classic Joe vehicle, the three wheeled motorcycle called the RAM.

Next up is a bit of ancillary news that's sure to make some people very happy. As you probably know, IDW recently got the license to make a new G.I. Joe comic book line. The question among the fan community was how would they handle the original Marvel continuity or the more recent and affecting Devil's Due stories? Also, what about the rumors that Joe comic legend Larry Hama himself would be involved... Well IDW editor-in-chief Chris Ryall has directly answered the fans questions on their message board, check via IESB, and he says they've made the decision to start fresh in terms of continuity. He gives a long and very well thought out response to the question though, and I think brings up valid points. They respect everything that's come before of course, but they will treat this as something of a reboot, he calls it G.I. Joe: A New Beginning, which I think is kind of sweet. Also he confirmed that Larry Hama will in fact be working on the book, which is simply the best possible news for everyone. And he even notes that IDW will now have republishing rights to the old Marvel and DDP stories, so hopefully we'll get some more of those hard to find trades on the shelves. The first issue #0 will come out this October, followed by #1 in January.

Finally, onto the bread and butter of the Joe franchise, the toys. Well, in a somewhat historic move, Hasbro is finally letting an outside company take a crack at a 12" Joe line, and thankfully it's Sideshow Collectibles. After the notable work they did over the years on the 12" Star Wars figures, really bringing that size of doll back into vogue there's really no one else I would think of for this kind of job. Check out Sideshow's two excellent behind the scenes videos on the making this new venture and what approach they're taking, followed by a look specifically at their Snake Eyes figure, here and here. So far Snake Eyes is the only one on sale, and the exclusive version is sold out, but you can own the regular version yourself for a mere $120... ok, maybe that's a bit steep, but he is pretty damn cool.

Remember everyone, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra hits theaters August 7th, 2009. It's gonna be big! And hopefully we'll get more details on the new series soon as well. Stay turned. For a little final Joe fun, check this out :)
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Red Sonja redux

Nu Image and Millennium Films have announced that the barbarian woman Red Sonja of Robert Howard's classic tales is coming to the big screen again. If you'll remember Red Sonja, a character who spun off out of the tales of Conan the Barbarian was already the subject of a major movie starring the beautiful Brigitte Nielson in 1985. According to wikipedia, the character of Red Sonja actually owes much of her history to the Marvel comics stories of the 80s. So I suppose in this age of superheroes where Sonja herself has a new and sexy comic from Dynamite Entertainment, its no surprise that she would be making her way back to the big screen.

In the new film, the buxom warrior woman Sonja, will be played by Rose McGowan. Set to be produced by Planet Terror director Robert Rodriguez, and directed by Douglas Aarniokoski. The story, based on a screenplay by David White, follows "Red Sonja, a young girl risen from the ashes of tragedy to become the most feared woman warrior of all time. The mythical red-head blindly seeks vengeance on those who destroyed her family. In her path of destruction she discovers a larger purpose for her unearthly powers: to save all Hyrkania from the villainous Kulan Gath."

Production is slated to begin this October, with a 2010 release being eyed up. And all that said, this seems just another link in Nu Image / Millenium's plan to bring us everything we've seen before again, only better. We'll have to see if its successful or not. Interestingly enough, McGowan is also attached to star in the update of Barbarella... must be her personality :)

While we wait, why not enjoy the trailer for the last Sonja film. It was pretty fun, I hope this new one will be too.



UPDATE - IESB has an article about how it looks like Barbarella might be having funding problems, and that may be why Red Sonja is moving forward now. That said, I didn't realize she was an item with Rodriguez...
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Nottingham getting cast

Ridley Scott is at it again. With his new film Nottingham he will look to reinvent the Robin Hood story. The film sees a love triangle between the dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham and the man in the green tights. Which is definitely a new take on the material.

So far Russell Crowe has been cast as the Sheriff, a role I have no doubt he will excel at, and Sienna Miller as the lovely object of affections Maid Marion, but the big role of Robin Hood is still up in the air. Rumors are now circling that Ridley Scott is "extremely keen" to cast Christian Bale in the lead.

Of course as I look now, it appears that the Bale rumor is most likely false, and now Latino Review is saying that Russell Crowe at least wants Sam Riley to play Robin Hood. Sam broke recently on the scene in the role of Ian Curtis, the troubled lead singer of awesome and influential progressive band Joy Division in the film Control. This maybe makes sense in terms of casting for a budget, but Bale is definitely the Robin Hood type in my opinion.

I'm interested to see where this film leads whoever ends up in the main role. A new take on Robin Hood could be exactly whats needed. Although, as this article mentions if the SAG strike does in fact materialize pics like Nottingham seem to be directly in the line of fire. Only time will tell how this develops.
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John Connors new love?

The Hollywood Reporter is saying that Leven Rambin, who is a Young actress that's made a splash in daytime tv on All My Children is set to join the cast of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Leven will reportedly play Becky, John's new love interest.

Although I hope that doesn't mean his previously hinted at love interest won't be seen in season 2. I guess we'll just have to wait and find out. As a reminder to everyone, season 1 of Terminator:TSCC will re-air on FOX beginning this August 10th, before the premiere of season 2 on September 8th, 2008. I definitely recommend you watch it. Also the dvds are coming out on August 19th so you can just check it out then if you prefer.
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Astro Boy update

The voice cast for Imagi's upcoming Astro Boy film has been announced and for some reason that surprises me, its got more than a few stars in the mix. I mean I know this is a character that has been around for quite some time now but I'm happily surprised at this voice acting pedigree.

The robotic boy himself will be voiced by Freddie Highmore. And he will be joined by the vocal talents of Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy and Eugene Levy. None of the other voice actors roles have been revealed.

Sounds like it should be a winner at least in the voice department. Lets just cross our fingers on the story :) The animated feature, Imagi's second after last summer's TMNT, is set to come out in theaters sometime next year.
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