Tue, March 10, 2009 As things get under way for Iron Man 2, director Jon Favreau has released a picture of Tony Stark's house, which currently is under construction.
Favreau linked to the new picture through his Twitter account, adding the following description: "Matty and me in Casa de Stark, under construction."
Favreau, left, is shown with cinematographer Matthew Libatique.
Iron Man 2 is scheduled to be released May 7, 2010.
Tue, March 10, 2009 Coming up with new ways to market a movie can't be easy, but every once in a while, one comes along that grabs my attention.
Coming on the heels of the viral campaign for "The Dark Knight," the makers of "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" have embarked of a "viral campaign" of a different sort.
In the movie, which is based on a comic book series by Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim (played by Michael Cera) must defeat the seven "evil ex-boyfriends" of delivery girl Ramona V. Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) in order to date her. Among the actors portaying the exes are Brandon Routh, Chris Evans and Jason Schwartzman.
For the past several weeks, director Edgar Wright has released a photo every day through his MySpace page of something to do with the movie. Some of the shots are as mundane as photos from the set or the title page of the script, but the best ones have been the cast shots.
Wright has taken pictures of the cast members, typically one at a time, holding a picture of the character they are playing.
The idea of releasing a photo a day is ingenious in its simplicity. Every day, Wright posts a pic on MySpace. Then, that pic is posted on message boards throughout the world. Which equals a ton of free publicity. The possible downside is that audiences could be tired of the very idea of the movie before it even hits the theater (which will be sometime in 2010). But, at least for now, it's a fun idea.
In addition to actors I already have listed, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" also will feature Mae Whitman ("Arrested Development"), Kieran Culkin ("Father of the Bride") and Anna Kendrick ("Twilight").
For those interested, here is a link to all of the photos released so far from the movie: http://www.flickr.com/photos/edgarwright/sets/72157612796619700.
The newest picture to be released from "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" shows: Brandon Routh as Todd Ingram, a rock star with vegan psychic powers, at left; Brie Larson as Envy Adams, who fronts the band The Clash at Demonhead, at right; and an unnamed actress as drummer Lynette Guycott.
Tue, March 10, 2009 
Or they're officially too old for that shit.
Clint Morris (the big cheese over at the great Movie Hole) got confirmation from two separate sources that any and all development on Lethal Weapon 5 has stopped.
The first of said sources is screenwriter Shane Black while the other is an anonymous studio contact saying, "That one is as good as dead. It won’t happen. Which is a pity."
Despite the quality of Black's script, it all boiled down to getting Mel Gibson to return and the culprit behind his refusal to come back vary depending on who you ask - whether it be money, the fact that series-director Richard Donner was reportedly not asked back, etc.
I am surprised this didn't go through considering the current wave of 80s nostalgia reviving franchises from the decade of New Coke, "I Want My MTV!" and Max Headroom.
Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Live Free or Die Hard and Rambo showed old tough guys can still kick ass and take names. Hell, we might even get a Ghostbusters 3 by the way things are looking!?!
Tue, March 10, 2009 
One would assume George Miller had more to do right now than continuing to talk up a Justice League film considering the version he was set to direct was (thankfully) shit-canned by Warner Brothers last year - and twice, no less!
Just last week, Miller was telling the MTV Movies Blog about the possibility of revisiting Mad Max (minus Mel Gibson - now in his Colonel Sanders look and state-of-mind) as a 3D anime film. That sounds cool enough.
And now he "confirms" that any Justice League film will be years down the line. No offense, but it's safe to say everyone already knew that. Warner Brothers is enjoying the Batman gravy-train with a third installment coming down the pike (eventually) as well as Jonah Hex, next Christmas' Green Lantern and the Superman sequel, requel, whatever.
Miller also adds that despite this he is still attached for the directing gig. Again, that doesn't mean anything frankly. He's also attached to The Odyssey with Brad Pitt, this Mad Max 3-D anime project (if that's to be believed!) and of course the inevitable Happy Feet sequel.
Nonetheless, I'll give the man an A for effort in keeping the conversation(s) going.
Tue, March 10, 2009
Well, the British comedian confirmed to Access Hollywood that he's had talks regarding his participation and said it was "a possibility!" At the moment, however Brand has higher priorities such as Get Him to the Greek where he'll reprise his Sarah Marshall role as British rocker Aldous Snow. Not to mention, the last official word we got on Pirates 4 was that writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott were cooking up an outline while they're also writing The Lone Ranger (as per producer Jerry Bruckheimer) and the target date was moved from Summer 2011 to 2012. Truthfully, I hated both Pirates sequels and wish that franchise would go back to the Hell it was spawned from - i.e. Disney World. But alas said sequels earned around $2 billion worldwide - not including home video sales, merchandising, etc. So no doubt we're getting another installment. Joy.
The rumor's been out for there since the middle of last year of Forgetting Sarah Marshall co-star Russell Brand appearing in a fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise - possibly as Captain Jack Sparrow's brother.
Tue, March 10, 2009 
Could Alexander Skarsgård be in line to wield Mjöllnir for Marvel Studios?
For my money, Thor might just be the most difficult out of all of the superheroes to cast.
The match of massive brawn with credible acting chops would seem to be an extremely difficult combination to locate in an actor.
However, "Thor" director Kenneth Branaugh may have found just such a candidate.
Latino Review ran the following letter from one of its readers:
Hey Mayimbe,
Long time reader, finally with something juicy. I had a first hand eyeball witness of Kenneth Branagh eating dinner at Blairs today accompanied by a young Blonde actor who i recognized from HBO's awesome miniseries Generation Kill that was on a year or so ago. I had no idea what his name was but I got home today and Googled him, his name is Alexander Skarsgård. I have no idea if he actually is Thor or not, maybe he's being considered, maybe he and Kenneth are just friends. However, it seems likely he is being considered since he's a young Blonde actor and seems to fit the description of the character. Two other men were with them but I didn't recognize either of them. I know it's speculative at best, even so I thought you'd wanna know.
Latino Review has confirmed the meeting took place.
I have heard Alexander Skarsgård's name brought up in conjunction with the role before, and while this lunch doesn't exactly confirm he will be hired, Skarsgård as Thor makes a lot of sense.
The actor is 32 years old, 6-foot-4 and simply looks the part. Skarsgård, whose father is the outstanding actor Stellan Skarsgård, currently appears on the HBO vampire show "True Blood."
Here is Alexander Skarsgård in a scene from "True Blood":
"Thor" is scheduled to be released July 16, 2010.
Sean Gerski
IESB is reporting that Josh Hartnett is "really interested" in playing Loki, Thor's brother and the villain of the movie.
IESB says the 6-foot-3 Hartnett is "on a very short list for the role."
Additionally, IESB is saying it also has heard Branagh wants Alexander Skarsgård for Thor, but that other actors, including Channing Tatum, may be in the mix.
Tue, March 10, 2009 
Mickey Rourke seems to be pretty hot property after is turn as Randy "The Ram" Robinson in "The Wrestler, a role for which he was showered with nominations. This role has opened doors for Rourke that were long since thought shut and locked, similar to the doors that Robert Downey has broken down due to the sucess of "Iron Man" and his portrayal of kabillionaire Tony Stark. It is fitting that rumors have been rushing back and forth across the internet superhighway about a possible rule for Rourke as a villian in "Iron Man 2". Seems like these rumors are about to heat up again due the video being run by IESB where Mickey is asked, "Iron Man 2?" and he replies, "bet your ass."
IESB: Mickey Rourke says You Bet Your Ass to IRON MAN 2
Menawhile "The Sun" is reporting that Sylvester Stallone is possibly interested in Mickey Rourke for a possible role in "Rambo 5". Apparently Rourke said "You Bet Your Ass!" to that role as well. Stallone will be working with Rourke on his new film "The Expendables" which is due to start shooting any day now.
Mon, March 9, 2009 
As expected "Watchmen" won the weekend completely burning up their competition. Not expected, by WB and many other websites is the 55 Million + take. This number is nothing to sneeze at but WB was projecting 60's and many box office predictions from sites around the interwebs were predicting 70+ for Zack Snyder's comicbook film. It fell right into the 50-60 Million range that I expected and I am sure the drop will be at or above 60% next weekend.
Weekend Actuals (Mar. 6 - Mar. 8)
1 Watchmen $55,214,334
2 Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail $8,532,412
3 Taken $7,334,814
4 Slumdog Millionaire $6,808,383
5 Paul Blart: Mall Cop $4,146,316
6 He's Just Not That Into You $4,017,326
7 Coraline $3,255,852
8 Confessions of a Shopaholic $3,100,298
9 Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience $2,832,454
10 Fired Up $2,478,381
Mon, March 9, 2009 
-If Rob Sanchez and his crew over at IESB are to be believed (and I definitely believe em!), 20th Century Fox plans on setting the "reboot" button on the Fantastic Four franchise. It can't be any worse than the previous films or Roger Corman's 1994 version. Right? *Long silence*
-Yeah, this one definitely fits in the "100% Grade-A Internet Bullshit" category. The Australian publication Herald Sun are claiming that Sam Worthington will replace his Terminator: Salvation co-star Christian Bale as the Cape Crusader in Batman III. Yeah. Sure he is. *Rolls eyes*
-I just can't buy into the hype surrounding James Cameron's Avatar until something gets put in front of me to justify it - i.e. actual photos from the film or footage. Now rumors have surfaced that eight(!?!) trailers for the sci-fi epic (cut by the studio presumably) have failed to impress its director. Thus he's hard at work doing one himself.
-The first photos from Harry Potter & the Deathy Hallows have surfaced online. Damn, I can't believe it will have been ten years since the release of the first film when the final installment hits cinemas coming July 2011.
Mon, March 9, 2009 
On this week's Movie Moan, Phil and Jamie react to Zack Snyder's insanely anticipated silver screen adaptation of Watchmen. What did they like, dislike and exactly how did their audience react as well as the nerdgasming coming from the Internet fanbase over it's opening weekend box-office.
In addition, our heroes discuss the new trailers for Star Trek, Terminator: Salvation, Up, Public Enemies, Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince and Wolverine. Damn, what a week for trailers!
Also on topic is the news of Leonardo DiCaprio staring in the Christoper Nolan-helm Inception and Kevin Smith's decision to make A Couple of Dicks with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan absent his long-time producing partner Scott Mosier!