New "Man Of Steel" Comic Con Poster

After a good amount of fanboy anticipation, The Brothers Warner pulled out all the stops in Hall H for the Man Of Steel at this year's Comic Con. To coincide with the presentation WB released a Comic Con related teaser poster heavily inspired by Alex Ross.

I dig the poster, very similar to a fan design I saw on the forums many months ago. I hope when the marketing actually takes off they will stray away from simply showing the \S/ logo, that isn't going to cut it this time around. I look forward to the teaser.

Irom Man 3 Armor Revealed!

There was some recent banner art that suggested the new suit for RDJ's third outing as shellhead would be more gold than red.......looks like it's true and I think it looks great!

Stephen Daldry to Take on "Wicked"?

It seems to be the day for Oz-centric news.  According to Deadline, director Stephen Daldry (The Hours, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) is in the running to direct the big-screen version of the hit Broadway musical, Wicked.  Based on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked is a sort-of prequel to The Wizard of Oz about the unlikely friendship between the two witches of Oz in the years before Dorothy crash-landed in Munchkinland.

Years ago, Universal had acquired the movie rights to Maguire's original novel, but those plans changed when composer Stephen Schwartz managed to persuade producer Marc Platt to let him turn Wicked into a musical instead.  That turned out to be a very smart move:  since opening on Broadway in 2003, Wicked has been playing to sold-out houses not only in New York, but also on tour and overseas.  It won three Tony Awards, a Grammy, it's been referenced on Glee so many times it should just count as advertising, and recently there was even a mini-version of the show playing at the Universal theme park in Japan.

So we're inevitably going to be getting a movie version, which is fine, since it is a really good musical.  I somehow managed to win the lottery for $25 tickets before a matinee on Broadway back in 2004, so I got to see it in the front row with the original cast, which was pretty awesome.  The music is great, and the story is so insanely clever that I assure you that you'll never be able to watch The Wizard of Oz quite the same way ever again...in a good way.

Daldry is no stranger to musicals - he directed the stage musical versions of Billy Elliot in London and on Broadway, winning a Tony for the Broadway production (he also directed the original film, which was not a musical).  Billy Elliot, which is one of my favorite movies, turned out to be a great musical.  I saw it in London in 2008 and liked it so much that I went back and saw it again the next night.  So I think Daldry's a good choice for this, should it actually happen.  Hopefully it will.

First Trailer for 'Oz the Great and Powerful'

I'm not gonna lie, even though I think Sam Raimi's first choice for Oz (Robert Downey Jr.) or his second choice (Johnny Depp) would have been much better than James Franco, this thing actually looks pretty dam good.

For those who aren't familiar, Oz the Great and Powerful - serving as a prequel to the all-time classic, The Wizard of Oz - tells the story of the dubious wizard (Franco) from a small, traveling circus who gets transported to the land of Oz and drawn into a battle between three witches (Theodora, Evanora, and Glinda), to be played by Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, and Michelle Williams, respectively.

Disney’s fantastical adventure “Oz The Great and Powerful,” directed by Sam Raimi, imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot—fame and fortune are his for the taking—that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity—and even a bit of wizardry—Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.

“Oz The Great and Powerful” is produced by Joe Roth and written by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire (credit not final). Grant Curtis, Philip Steuer and Palak Patel are serving as executive producers. “Oz The Great and Powerful” opens in U.S. theaters on March 8, 2013.

Ed Helms Going on "Vacation"

Back in February, the rumor-mill was churning Ed Helms would play the grown-up Rusty Griswold for a new Vacation sequel. He denied such claims, leaving many to sigh wondering how he would have matched up to Anthony Michael Hall, Jason Lively, Johnny Galecki and Ethan Embry. Oh the possibilities.

THR says, spoiler alert, actors lie. Helms will do his Andy Bernard routine as Clark Griswold's prodigal son embarking with his own family on a vacation. Rest assured, there will be hijinks and Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo will, somehow, be configured into this equation.

While not what strikes me as the best course of action for Helms (Surely he's had better offers), the life-cycle of a comedy star can be swift and cruel. You're hot one minute and gone the next. Helms is playing it smart, milking this for all its worth as The Hangover Part III shoots this fall for next Memorial Day release (I'd bet all the strands of hair on Zack Galifianakis' beard gets the 3D treatment) and getting paid premium bucks on the sinking-ship formerly known as The Office.

First Look at Ben Whishaw as Q in Skyfall

What's made the James Bond films lasting as they have? Adaptability.

No other franchise has been able to change with the times (both successfully and... not so much) as 007. So when Eon announced Ben Whishaw would portray Bond's gadget-man Q for Skyfall, we all took one good look at the British thesp and said, "He doesn't look anything like Desmond Llewelyn!"

The character of Q as he existed during the previous regimes wouldn't work nowadays, sad to say. So he went from a cynical (at times, crabby), seasoned veteran to a twenty/thirty-something tech-geek. For this day and age, it's a fitting transition.

Below is the first official look at Whishaw in character from the top-secret production from Oscar-winning helmer Sam Mendes.

"Man Of Steel" Teaser Length Confirmed

In what has to be the worst kept secret since Alanis Morrisette's "You Oughta Know" being written about Dave Coulier AKA Uncle Joey on Full House, the Man Of Steel teaser will be attached to The Dark Knight Rises. According to the Alberta Film Ratings the teaser is 1 minute and 27 seconds long which is around 7 seconds shorter than the Superman Returns teaser for those who are counting seconds.

This film has been shrouded in secrecy so it's going to be interesting to see the first footage of the film to gauge tone, characterization, and story.

Darren Aronofsky Reveals Noah's Ark

Director Darren Aronofsky showed off his partly constructed version of Noah's ark on the set of Noah via Twitter and it's pretty damn impressive. You would imagine there will be a lot of green screen used for this flick, especially the massive amount of water shots. I believe Superman Returns had an effect house that worked entirely on the water, I can imagine this being the case for Noah, which is set to splash into theaters on March 28th, 2014.

New Total Recall Poster

Comingsoon.net has debuted the cool new international poster for the Len Wiseman adaption of Total Recall.

Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he’s got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life – real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police – controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), the leader of the free world – Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) to find the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy) and stop Cohaagen. The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate.

Casting Roundup for "The Wolverine"

 

With filming set to begin in a few weeks - not to mention Comic-Con is happening this weekend and the release of The Dark Knight Rises is less than 10 days away, so everyone's geek-dial is off the charts right now - it's a good time for a ton of casting updates as to will be joining Hugh Jackman in The Wolverine.  The sequel, directed by James Mangold, will be based on the comic's popular 1982 Japanese saga by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, and it's looking like they have a pretty cool cast lined up.

Our pals at SuperHeroHype had the first exclusive, confirming that Hiroyuki Sanada will be playing the role of Shingen, a Yakuza crime boss who also happens to be the father of Wolverine's fiance, Mariko.  Sanada has previously appeared several episodes of Lost, so for those keeping score, that makes him the third Lost veteran to appear in a Wolverine spinoff film, after Dominic Monaghan and Kevin Durand, who both appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  Joining him will be Hal Yamanouchi as Yashida, and newcomers Tao Okamoto as Mariko and Rila Fukushima as Yukio.

There are two more casting announcements, courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter:  Brian Tee will be playing Noburo Mori, the sleaze who's planning to marry Mariko, and Will Yun Lee has been cast as Kenuichio Harada, who is more famously known as (trumpets please): the Silver Samurai.  Nice.

So we've got Wolverine, Japan, samurai stuff, and a little romance...yeah, I'm ready for this one to start already.

The Wolverine is set to open in theaters on July 26, 2013.