The Mouse to Buy the House of Ideas!

I guess that means we'll get that "Spider-Man Meets Mickey Mouse" one-shot after all.

In an official press release issued this morning, Disney has announced its plan to purchase Marvel Entertainment for the sum of $4 billion. It's funny to imagine that just 10 years ago the House of Ideas was forced in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Oh how things have turned around for Marvel.

The inevitable question arises, "What does this mean for Marvel Films?" Well they already had a distribution deal in place with Paramount Pictures resulting in the Iron Man franchise as well as the forthcoming Thor, Captain America and Avengers films.

And 20th Century Fox still has the X-Men rights and Sony has a tight grip on Spider-Man. One would assume said deals are still in place. We'll have more on this news-item as it develops.

Seriously, who the Hell saw this coming?

UPDATE: According to a conference call this morning, all current deals between Marvel Films and other studios stand as is.

So the Spider-Man franchise sticks with Sony (they're currently cooking up three more installments with and without Sam Raimi), X-Men with 20th Century Fox (*Sigh*), etc. Paramount still has a distribution deal with Marvel Films that includes Iron Man II, Captain America, Thor and The Avengers. Whatever film follows 2012's Avengers (which will more than likely wind up being a third Iron Man film) seals the deal and the characters go straight to the Mouse.

Also Disney CEO Bob Iger also revealed that Pixar chief John Lasseter recently met with some of the top guys at Marvel to shoot the shit over ideas and what not. Thus there will probably be multiple reports of death from nerdgasming.

Indeed this was "Holy shit!" news, folks.

Awww Hell Nah - Bad Boys 3 Moving Forward

Not a strike against them, but Sony must be in desperate need of tentpoles. What I mean is they'll have to spend quiet a pretty penny in order to get Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer to return for Bad Boys 3 before anyone else is hired.

As per THR, movement has officially begun on another action orgy as the studio has hired Peter Craig to pen the script. Of course, this is in the early stage of things and no deals are on the table for any of the afore-mentioned parties.

Although of the four, it'll be the easiest to get Lawrence on-board. He's the only one who genuinely "needs" Bad Boys 3. Smith is the biggest movie-star (of which there are very few to begin with) in the world and can get pretty much anything he wants a greenlight (hence Hancock 2 is in our future). Bruckheimer is juggling multiple film and television franchises and Bay is having too much fun with Transformers. At the most, Lawrence has the inevitable Big Momma Saves Christmas in his future.

Michael Myers Will Return Next Summer In 3-D

It's not exactly a vote of confidence from the general movie-going public when Halloween II failed to make more than Inglorious Basterds this past weekend. Did I mention that the Quentin Tarantino-helmed WWII epic was in its second weekend and only dropped 47%?

"Audience fatigue be damned!," says The Weinstein Company. Oh no, Bob Weinstein reveals to the LA Times that a third installment in the new Halloween series is moving forward for a Summer 2010 release. The Brothers Weinstein are already talking with another director (Rob Zombie if you forgot will be too busy ruining The Blob) who has a "different take" on the series.

Well, I hope for his sake this phantom filmmaker's plans include 3-D because thats the gimmick...err..."plan" for Halloween III. Of course, some are curious if this means the franchise will return to its ill-fated (and brief) period back in the early 80s when John Carpenter & Co. intended to move away from the Shape and focus on other Halloween-themed horror tales.

Don't hold your breath on that one, folks.

Movie Moan - Some Logic to Jamie's Bullshit

That's it, ladies and germs. The 2009 Summer Movie Season is officially over with this weekend's releases of Final Destination 4 and Halloween II. Phil, Ed and Jamie reflect on the past four months worth of films and compare their initial predictions back in April to what ultimately went down.

They were right on some items (Transformers and Potter sequels easily owned), off on others (Jamie calling Land of the Lost one of Will Ferrell's biggest hits? Ouch!) and some genuine "Who saw that coming?!?" (The Hangover's $420 million box-office!) In between is our heroes usual off-topic bullshit discussions including just how many films have been shot near Ed's home (but yet he didn't appear on screen), Jamie does his Harold Ramis impression and Phil's hope of hopes that HellBoy III will some day get made.

All of that plus why seeing a non-Pixar animated film by yourself is socially-unacceptable, revisionist history with just how many good movies Heath Ledger was in, why Oliver Stone's W would have been better as a Muppet movie and just how modern-day Nazis are offended by their depiction in Inglorious Basterds.

Movie Moan - Some Logic to Jamie's Bullshit

Could Arnold Schwarzenegger Own Terminator Rights?

We already knew the producers of Terminator: Salvation were in deep shit. Legally speaking, of course. They owed quiet a few of vital organ's worth of money to a handful of people including Salvation director McG, star Christian Bale and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hence why they filed for bankruptcy protection last week.

At the end of an article from Daily Express detailing the matter, an interesting tidbit was brought up. Supposedly, Schwarzenegger himself has been approached by a consortium to purchase the rights of the franchise.

So, the Terminator could possibly own the Terminator? Interesting indeed. Cut to: fanboys nerdgasming over the prospect of Schwarzenegger and James Cameron reuniting for another go-around with a fifth film.

Rob Zombie to Remake The Blob

I tend to follow the "Siskel & Ebert Code" when it comes to film criticism - specifically Rule #1: "See the movie."

It's with that I can't truthfully tell you that Rob Zombie's Halloween remake from 2007 was ass. But if it looks like a turd and smells like a turd, there's a 99.9999999% chance that it is in fact a turd. So there are those rare exceptions. Despite initial interest in his take on the Shape, I refused to waste $8 (and more importantly 2 hours of my life) on Halloween as well as its just-released sequel.

Zombie has his sights set on another "old-school" horror film that will get the trademark "killer redneck" treatment. As per Variety, the Devil's Rejects director is prepping to remake The Blob while he writes the script on tour this fall with a $30 million budget at his disposal.

Now I could bitch about some of his retarded comments in the trades including the gem that The Blob isn't in the horror genre but science fiction because its about "a thing from outer space." I guess that means Carpenter's The Thing isn't a horror film then. Huh. No, this quote stood out:

"That gigantic Jello-looking thing might have been scary to audiences in the 1950s, but people would laugh now. I have a totally different take, one that’s pretty dark."

I guess he missed the 1988 Chuck Russell/Frank Darabont remake. What stands out for everyone in that one is Paul McCrane (he's the bad-guy who got splattered by Kurtwood "Bitches Leave" Smith's car in Robocop) being split into two by the blob. Now come on, Zombie. That was pretty fucking scary.

Michael Bay's A Million Little Aliens

It almost feels like this is Hollywood's way of making it up to James Frey after being ritualistically raped by Ophrah Winfrey in front of hundreds of millions of people. Granted, the douchebag deserved it after the revaltion that his "memoir" A Million Little Pieces (infamously pimped by Winfrey's "Book Club" resulting in quiet the sales-boost) turned out to be 100% Grade-A bullshit.

Oh no. The hack-turned-novelist has a potential book-series on hand. The yet-published I Am Number 4 concerning adolesent aliens who hide amongst human high-schoolers while on the run from...something presumably evil. Whatever.

So who else would be interested in adapting it to the silver screen than Michael Bay, of course. Really, dude? As much as people would like to think otherwise, you are better than this. Now THR reports that Bay has commissioned screenwriters Al Gough and Miles Millar for penning duties.

I'll repeat myself. Really, guys? Sure, you created Smallville (a great or terrible thing depending on taste) and were responsible for garbage like The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. But like Bay, you are better than stooping yourselves to that level

Magneto Prequel Next Year? Sure.

For all the ball-sucking nerds of the Internet give Christopher Nolan for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, they seem to revel in shitting on David Goyer. They do realize he played a big hand in the writing scheme of things for both films (as well as the eventual third installment), right? Nolan has said so much himself.

In the meantime, Goyer also throws his hat in the directing arena from time-to-time resulting in such classic-clunkers like Blade: Trinity and The Unborn. So what's up with Magneto? You remember, that other X-Men Origins film Goyer is attached to direct.

He gives an "update" to MTV saying that the studio is "still thinking about doing it" and that he's "sure that project will move forward in the next year or so." Not to sound like a dick to Goyer (because I like the guy), but who seriously thinks this is going to happen at this point? Anyone...?

Wolverine was still able to churn out a profit despite being a box-office under-performer and its across-the-board God-awful reception. Hence them still moving forward with a sequel indicated by the hiring of Chris McQuarrie. The other X-Men spin-offs remain in the "We'll think about it" phase. That in itself isn't good (at all) for Magento since it was first announced along side Wolverine a few years back and yet still no movement. That speaks for itself, folks.

Another (Much Better) Look at Avatar

Sure, the sheer awesomeness of Avatar footage didn't cause my hemroids to be cured. But the trailer was decent, and TMT's very own Phil Gee got a better look at things attending the "Avatar Day" screening at his local IMAX.

For those still in the "It looks like a $300 million video game" camp, MarketSaw got some scans taken from this month's issue of Empire Magazine including a first look at Sigourney Weaver in her own Avatar form.

Judging 100% by these new pictures, it looks great - does actually look like Worthington is merely in one of Rick Baker's elaborate makeup designs as opposed to the CG/Motion-Capture effects. The problem is we saw some of these images in motion from the above-mentioned teaser trailer. And yeah it did in fact look like a video game.

Is Hal Jordan Headed to the Big Easy?

The news that Green Lantern might be forced to relocate out of Australia was quiet the shocker for its eagerly awaiting fans. It didn't help matters that there's been silence from the production with the exceptions of the hiring of Ryan Reynolds to yield the power ring as Hal Jordan and 007 alum Martin Campbell sitting in the director's chair. Could this be the beginning of a series of bad-news for the Emerald Knight?

Fear not, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the back-up plan. According to a report from /film (and quickly backed up by CHUD), filming will commence as planned next year for its June 2011 release. And they've already found a capable replacement in the form of New Orleans. Its local film economy has been going through quiet the boom lately with productions including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Final Destination 4, Dead of Night and The Expendables.

With that said, I'm surprised a deal wasn't struck between the Australian government and Warner Brothers. Like New Orleans, things are going great for the Aussie film industry right now with $100-$200 million productions like John Carter of Mars, the third Narnia film Voyage of the Dawn Treader and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo. However this recent boom comes after quiet the dry-spell. It's never a bad idea to squeeze in as many big productions under your plate as possible.

With that issue resolved, it shouldn't be too terribly long before actors are cast in fill in the other roles. Of course, we at TMT can't help but wait and see just who will play Jordan's main-squeeze Carol Ferris if you'll remember.