News Bites: Downeys and Dragons

It’s Friday morning, and that means another batch of news bites. This turned out to be a fairly busy week in Hollywood, with a whole lot of movie news coming to light. There’s a big mess of Marvel news, a touch of Turtle news, a dash of Disney, and an assortment of news on other major film operations. What there isn’t, strangely enough, is the need for a rumors section this week. Everything is relatively solid, at least what I came across. I’m sure there’s some random speculation out there, but I only came across a few items that come under that header, and they’re all tied to more definite news.

So for once, we can have a Friday without any major rumor-mongering. Read on!

News Bites: Guardians and Good Grief

Coming in a bit late today, but still technically Friday morning, at least in my time zone, it’s this week’s dose of News Bites. As always there’s a fair amount of superhero movie news and speculation, and some odd film and TV adaptations. There’s news on Martin Scorcese’s next project, and Luc Besson’s as well. So read on for what’s going on.

Turning Back the Clock: Some Guidelines for Reboots

It’s been a while since I last gave my thoughts on Hollywood’s franchise-building techniques; almost exactly six months, in fact. Back then I talked about when it’s acceptable for Hollywood to remake a film. This time I thought I’d take a broader approach and look at when it’s appropriate for Hollywood to reboot an entire franchise.

Now, technically, even a single film can be viewed as a franchise. But for the purposes of this discussion, I’m looking at those situations where there is either more than one film in the franchise (e.g., Rocky), or where there’s one film but a pre-existing character and story from other media (e.g., The Phantom). (I’ll note that those examples were chosen specifically because I am unaware of any reboots in the making for either… and in the case of Rocky, I hope there never will be. But more on that later.) I’ll also note that I’m not really counting cases like Robin Hood and King Arthur, where there are dozens of films on the same characters, but they aren’t really connected as such.

Rebooting a franchise has a certain logic to it. It’s a known money-maker, or at least is strongly hoped to be. But for one reason or another simply continuing the series as it stands is untenable. So, assuming Hollywood wants to reboot a franchise, what are the things to consider?

Weekly Weblinks: Horror and Heathcliff

It’s Friday morning, and as always it’s time for the Weekly Weblinks. I’m going to be out of town for most of the day, so it may take me a while to respond, but fortunately there’s a lot of reading to do out and about on the web. Got a nice assortment of blog posts, including horror movie reviews and more, and a huge slew of news, including a lot out of Marvel Studios. So read on!

Rock Liebster

So there’s this meme going around called the “Liebster Award”; it’s basically a way to pass around questions and draw attention to other blogs. I’ve been tagged by three people (that I know of; if I’ve missed one, sorry!), so I figured I’d knock out a post to answer the questions. There are a few rules associated with it, but a: I’m not always good about following rules, and b: most of the rules relate to passing the award on. While there are many bloggers who I think are worthy of a spotlight — if I’m following you, and/or if I’ve featured you in my Weekly Weblinks, you’re almost certainly one of them — I suspect that anybody I could tag either doesn’t want to do it or has been tagged three or four times already. So like a few others I’ve seen, I won’t be passing it along — but if by chance you haven’t been tagged and want to have been, consider yourself tagged and steal 11 questions from the people who asked me questions. I’m sure they won’t mind.

The other rules are that I have to post eleven things about myself, and answer 11 questions from the people who tagged me. Since three people tagged me, that’s 33 questions. Plus 5 more from a fellow rule-breaker. So here we go.

News: Whedon to Bring S.H.I.E.L.D. to Television

Earlier in the month, it was announced that Joss Whedon, in addition to being on board for The Avengers 2, was also working on a television program for ABC based on a Marvel Comics property. Now Entertainment Weekly is reporting just which property that is: Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D., the paramilitary organization run by Nick Fury, as seen in The Avengers. ABC has officially ordered the pilot, which is being written by Joss Whedon, brother Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen. Joss Whedon is expected to direct the pilot episode.

To a certain extent, S.H.I.E.L.D. is a logical choice for a television series. It would fit in with the cop dramas that are always popular on TV, but would have a different feel as it would have more of a science-fiction comic book scope. They could reasonably stay within budget by having only a few superhuman elements per episode, such as a supervillain the S.H.I.E.L.D. team needs to track down. And it would allow Marvel Studios to flesh out the organization without taking time away from any of the big heroes on the big screen.

The one question I have is, who is going to be leading them? Nick Fury is in charge in the comics and the movies, but I don’t see Samuel L. Jackson signing on for a television program, and even if everybody involved was OK with the idea of a substitute Sam, I don’t think the audience would go for it.

Weekly Weblinks: Avengers and Abominations

It’s Friday, and that means it’s time for new movies to be released tonight, 9-to-5 workers to get ready for the weekend, and me to post the Weekly Weblinks. I’ve got a full slate of both reviews and news for you this week. There are fun reviews of both new movies and old, good and bad. And the news has some information to make you a little sad, to make you laugh, to make you cheer, and to make you curse Hollywood executives and all their ancestors.

Which, admittedly, is pretty common for these news blurbs. So to see what will have you pulling your hair out this week, read on for the Weekly Weblinks!

Weekly Weblinks: Reboots, Remakes, and Recall

Bandwidth issues may be slowing me down, but they’re not stopping me from making my rounds. It’s Friday morning, so it’s time for our weekly assortment of blog posts and news links, complete with a shiny new graphic I spent my downtime creating. In fact, this edition of the Weekly Weblinks is just a bit heavier on the news than it has been, and I’m not skimping on the blog posts either. There are a few reviews of new movies, a review of a much-reviled comic book movie, and a review of one of the greatest comedies ever made.

On the news front, there are quite a lot of things to cover, from rumors and news on comic book movie directors, to a surprising film adaptation, a film franchise which is getting rebooted, and — refreshingly — one which isn’t. So read on for the Weekly Weblinks!

News: Whedon Back on Board for Avengers 2

Some very welcome news has come out of a conference call with analysts, from Disney chairman Bob Iger. Fans of Joss Whedon and The Avengers were well aware of just how much of an influence the writer/director had on the film, with his style of character development and his way of blending small character moments with larger-than-life events in a plot. Many fans wondered if he would return for the sequel, and whether it could be as good without his input. Now Iger confirms that Whedon has signed on to write and direct The Avengers 2, so fans can expect more of the same quality in the second film. A release date has not yet been mentioned, but with two Avengers-related character films coming out in 2013, and Captain America: the Winter Soldier landing in 2014, we can probably expect a release date of 2015.

This isn’t the only project that Whedon is working on for Marvel/Disney, however. Iger also mentioned that Whedon will be creating a television series for ABC, based on a Marvel Comics property. Which property has not yet been mentioned, but considering there was talk a few months ago about a new Hulk TV series, we have to consider the possibility that we’re looking at an ongoing series based on Whedon’s take on Bruce Banner — which, considering how The Avengers took a character whose movies had lackluster receptions at best and made him the breakout star of the film, could be a very good thing.

Weekly Weblinks: Moonrise and Marvels

It’s Friday morning (at least if I actually schedule this correctly this week!) and so it’s time once again for the Weekly Weblinks. Every week I select a handful of blog posts that I’ve enjoyed reading, and feature them here to spread the word and help build the community. This week’s selection of blog posts includes a couple reviews of newly-released movies, an in-depth look at Alfred Hitchcock’s cinematography, and more.

Also included are a few tidbits of news, which this week mostly consists of superhero movie rumors, as well as the latest from our favorite corporate nutcases at Hasbro, so read on!