Newsarama: September 2nd

Newsarama: September 2nd

It's that time of the week again - here are 10 of the biggest, tastiest nuggets of news from over the last seven days. If you think there's a lot of news about The Avengers, well...you'd be right.

10 - The Avengers to be re-released in cinemas for a limited time.

Marvel's The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble for us tea sipping Brits) is to be screened in cinemas once again following its phenomenal success at the summer box office. 

The Facebook page of Marvel studios announced "Marvel's The Avengers is back in theaters for Labor Day Weekend!" So far there has been no official confirmation of whether the film will be shown again outside America, however given the fantastic reception over here they'd be crazy not to. The DVD and Blu-Ray will be released on 25th September with over 30 minutes of added scenes.

9 - Ryan Gosling will make his directorial debut with How To Catch A Monster.

It's about to get a whole lot better looking behind the camera as Drive star Ryan Gosling acquires the director's chair for "How To Catch A Monster". 

The film will star Christina Hendricks as a single mother who, along with her young son, is swept into a dark fantasy underworld. Filming begins in Spring next year, with Gosling also acting as writer and producer.

8 - Metal Gear Solid movie confirmed.

Spider-Man producer Avi Arad has announced plans to adapt the Metal Gear Solid videogame into a movie. Speaking at the Metal Gear Solid 25th Anniversary event in Japan, Arad stated "For many years I wished to adapt comic books into movies - and games are the comic books of today."

Seeing as comic book films are doing pretty damn well on their own these days, I'm not sure if his statement really has a lot of weight behind it but the development is exciting nonetheless. Casting rumours are currently abound, with everyone from Hugh Jackman to Ryan Gosling rumoured for the pivotal role of Solid Snake.

7 - Micheal Keaton replacing Hugh Laurie as Robocop villain.

The Robocop remake has been in "development hell" according to director Jose Padilha, however there is hope as former Batman Michael Keaton has taken Hugh Laurie's role as the film's villain.

Laurie dropped out of the role last week, however Keaton has saved the day and will be playing Raymond Sellars, the CEO of the company which invented Robocop. Meanwhile, director Padilha seems to have performed a u-turn on his statements from last week, stating that he "can't wait to get this innovative new vision of Robocop back on the streets."

 6 - Jerry Bruckheimer gives a production update on The Lone Ranger.

Disney's adaptation of The Lone Ranger has certainly been taking its sweet time getting to the big screen, however producer Jerry Bruckheimer has given an update on what stage the film is currently at.

"Almost done with filming of The Lone Ranger," he said. "125 days of shooting seemed to fly by. We dealt with winds up to 70 mph, rain, snow, and even wildfires but nothing has stopped us from filming this incredible movie."

Meanwhile, production stills (seen below) give an impression of the grand scale we can expect from the cinematography of the movie which stars Johnny Depp and will be released on July 3rd next year.

5 - Alternative opening released for The Avengers.

The Avengers could have had a much darker opening tone, as this clip shows. Rather than opening in outer space, the movie could have opened with a retrospective feel, with the battle over and hundreds of people dead.

Director Joss Whedon has also spoken about why he decided not to use this opening, stating "Audiences didn’t respond to it as well in the movie. Most of them didn’t know who this character was or what the context was, and they were like, 'Uhhh, I don’t know why I’m supposed to be personally involved in this character I don’t know.'" He added that Cobie Smulders "nailed it" as Maria Hill, but ultimately he was able to get what he needed to achieve otherwise.

4 - Batman and Green Lantern reboots could arrive as early as 2015.

The Dark Knight Rises is still drawing in some moviegoers at the cinema, however rumours are abound that Batman's reboot will make his first appearance in the Justice League movie. His solo movies would follow this. Following the heavily criticised 2011 adaptation of Green Lantern, it has also been rumoured that Hal Jordan's alter-ego will recieve a reboot in the Justice League also, however there has been no confirmation of whether or not Ryan Reynolds will be reprising the role.

Meanwhile, Zak Snyder has claimed his 2013 Superman movie Man of Steel will have no connection to Justice League which means the version of Superman we find in the superhero team-up will also be portrayed by a different actor. It looks like DC are doing a very good job of attempting to confuse as many cinema audiences as possible, while Marvel have become kings of continuity with The Avengers.

3 - Bruce Willis claims Looper is the best thing he's ever done.

Mind-bending time-travelling thriller Looper is shaping up to one of the best films of the year, with some citing it as "this generation's Matrix" (which, as a 21 year old Matrix fan, makes me feel very old indeed).

Star of the film Bruce Willis has spoken of director Rian Johnson's brilliant talent for writing. "It’s more than an original story. It’s a story people are going to talk about, and see twice. And argue about. I was arguing with myself about the story when I read it the first time. That’s all Rian Johnson, beginning to end. Great, great director." He then went on to add that Looper is "better than anything I've ever done." Coming from a man who has worked on Die Hard and Pulp Fiction, that is certainly saying something.

Looper, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt alongside Willis, is released on September 28th, and you can watch the excellent trailer right here:

2 - Joss Whedon reveals plans for a S.H.I.E.L.D TV show.

 

It's official - The Avengers will be moving to TV. Well, maybe not with Iron Man and Hulk, but S.H.I.E.L.D, the organization spearheaded by Nick Fury, is getting its own show on ABC. Production is expected to begin imminently, however casting news is still nothing but rumours.

That said, Maria Hill is one of the characters expected to appear, so it would make sense for How I Met Your Mother's Cobie Smulders to reprise that role to maintain a connection with the cinematic Marvel universe. Whedon is expected to direct the pilot, with his brother Jed Whedon producing.

1 - The Hobbit trilogy recieves full names and release dates.

The much anticipated news has arrived - The Hobbit is definitely a trilogy, and all three films now have titles and release dates as follows:

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - December 14th 2012.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - December 13th 2013.
The Hobbit: There And Back Again - July 18th 2014.

So there you have it, the names have shifted. Where beforehand Part 2 was simply to be There And Back Again, concluding the duology, a trilogy now has room for Part 3 to take that name and Part 2 to claim the title of "The Desolation of Smaug". That's not a spoiler at all!

Also, Dan Fellman of Warner Bros has spoken of the decision to release the final part during summer rather than winter like the previous installments. "We wanted to have a shorter gap between the second and third films. Opening in July affords us not only the perfect summer tent pole, but fans will have less time to wait for the finale of this epic adventure."

That's newsarama over for this week, check back to Movies Under The Microscope over the next seven days where I'll be reviewing Dredd 3D and looking forward to September's biggest films.