Indiana Jones 5...How Far Are They In Getting This Made?

When Disney purchased Lucasfilm and all of the movie rights within it, the big news was that we were going to be getting new Star Wars movies, but they also purchased the rights to Indiana Jones, previously a Paramount property.  So what do you do if you own some of the most iconic characters in cinema history?  You make a movie with them.  Indiana Jones 5 is currently being worked on, and so far all we know is that Harrison Ford will be returning to play the title character, Steven Spielberg will be returning as director, George Lucas is titled as being one of the executive producers, John Williams will be writing the score for the films, and David Koepp is set to write the screenplay.  So where are they going to go with Indiana Jones in the future?  Ford won't be able to play Indy forever, right?  Bob Iger, the head of Disney, was recently asked if they would have Indy pass the torch to a younger character to continue the franchise like they did with Star Wars.  Here's what he had to say:

"Not like Star Wars, but we hope...right now, we're focused on a reboot, or a continuum and then a reboot of some sort.  Well, we'll bring him back, then we have to figure out what comes next.  That's what I mean.  It's not really a reboot, it's a boot - a reboot.  I don't know.  We [got] Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in the film.  But then what's the direction?  I've had discussions about what the direction is, [but] I don't want to get into it.  I don't think it reaches the scale of the universe of Star Wars, but I see making more.  It won't be just a one-off."

Clear as mud, right?  This is why I don't think that Iger should be allowed to talk about movies that his company is producing.  You just read what he said about the future of Indiana Jones, and he recently said, while talking about the Han Solo stand-alone movie, that Han Solo wasn't really Han Solo's name.  Kathleen Kennedy had to go out and do damage control, telling everybody that Iger misspoke, and that, yes Han Solo is his real name. Like I said in my earlier post...Bob, stick with stock markets and portfolios and leave the movie side of things to the professionals.  Indiana Jones 5 is scheduled for release some time in 2020.

Joss Whedon Not Following The Norm With Batgirl Movie

Movie theaters have become inundated with films based on comic books, and it seems that movie studios feel that in order to have a huge blockbuster, you have to hire A-list actors.  With the upcoming Batgirl movie, though, it seems that Joss Whedon is going to buck that trend from the start.  Instead of looking for an actor to play Batgirl, and then building the script around her, he's going to work on the character and the script, and then figure out who would be best to play her, no matter who the actor turns out to be.  While he was at a screening for Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, Whedon was asked by Variety who he wanted to get to play Barbra Gordon in the Batgirl movie.  Here's what he had to say:


"I don’t have my eye on anybody. I feel like I’m creating this character, I’m gonna dialogue with her and then we’ll see who joins that later on… I doubt it will be a name. This is somewhere where you go and find Batgirl and then you cast her.  I’m not against movie stars, they’re great, but you need somebody who’s going to be just right. And a situation like this, the name [Batgirl] carries a lot of weight so its not as critical."


Hearing this must be hard for Warner Brothers to take, because they were probably wanting to have someone like Emma Stone be brought on board.  The thing is, when you have a director like Joss Whedon, you don't need to have an A-list star front and center in the movie.  You know that you are going to see a great movie with an incredible story.  And Whedon's right, the name Batgirl carries a lot of weight with comic book fans who will show up to see it no matter what.

Did Someone Just Leak The Title For Avengers 4?

So a couple of days ago, I wrote a post where I told you that Kevin Feige stated that that they were trying to keep the title to the Avengers 4 movie a secret, because the title would give too much away.  Two days later, it looks like maybe somebody let the title slip.

Originally, the next two movies were being called Infinity War: Part I and Part II, however it was later announced that the first movie would be Avengers: Infinity War, and the next movie has since just been referred to as Avengers 4.  In a recent interview (which the video has since been yanked) with BBC's Lizo Mzimba, Guardians of the Galaxy star Zoe Saldana may have let it slip that the title for Avengers 4 will be Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet.  If this is going to be the title of Avengers 4, what does that mean we can expect?

It sounds like both movies are going to be centered around our superheroes battle with Thanos.  They'll be divided between him trying to gather all of the Infinity Stones and his putting them together to create the Infinity Gauntlet.  So if the title turns out to be true, then by the end of Infinity War, Thanos will have probably collected all of the Infinity Stones, and will have made the Infinity Gauntlet, and with Infinity Gauntlet, it will feature the Avengers and the Guardians trying to stop him from using it before he literally destroys the entire universe.  I am curious as to whether "Death" will play a part in either or both of these films...

Nobody from Marvel or Disney has confirmed that this will be the title of the fourth Avengers movie, but considering that they're trying to play it close to the vest, and that the video of the interview has since been taken down, I'm betting that it's a better than average chance that this will be the title for the fourth Avengers film.

***UPDATE!!!***

James Gunn was asked about this revelation, and in an interview said the following:



“It’s not the title. My guess is that Zoe just misspoke. I’ll talk to Zoe today, but I would imagine that is just Zoe misspeaking and saying ‘Infinity Gauntlet’ instead of ‘Infinity War’.”

While James Gunn isn't the director of the next two Avengers films, he does have an insiders knowledge of what's going on behind the scenes with the MCU.  So everything that I just wrote is either wrong, or Gunn is trying to cover up the slip by Saldana.  Probably the first one...

No Plans To Restore The Original Trilogy

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...we, the fans of the original cut of the Star Wars trilogy, were told that the 1977 theatrical release of A New Hope, the 1980 theatrical release of The Empire Strikes Back, and the 1983 theatrical release of Return of the Jedi, would be released on Blu-Ray and DVD, minus all of the junk that George Lucas threw in for their re-release into movie theaters.  It never happened.  After Disney purchased Lucasfilm, these rumors resurfaced and hope began to spread across the web again.  Unfortunately, hope wasn't enough, and our desires have not been heard.


Recently, Kathleen Kennedy (head of Lucasfilm) was asked if the original versions of these films would ever be released by Disney, to which she replied, "I wouldn’t touch those, are you kidding me? [laughs] Those will always remain his.”  So much for this happening any time soon.


It should be noted that this is her personal decision, not something that was included in on the purchase between Lucas and Disney.  If, at some point in the future, Disney decided that they wanted to do this, they could.  It would take a lot of work, though, to restore these films to their original cut.  The reason why is because when George Lucas went in a screwed everything...I mean, when he went in to "fix" his movies so they were more in line with what he wanted them to look like, he actually altered the film prints themselves.  It's said that the original sequences are somewhere in the Lucasfilm vaults, and it would take a large team to "painstakingly reassemble the films into their original forms."  It would seem like a smart thing to do.  If Disney is all about making money off of their purchase from Lucas, then doing this would be a no-brainer.  Don't they realize how many fans out there want this to happen?  But then, when has a movie ever listened to what the fans want...

No Phase 4 For The Marvel Cinematic Universe?

When Captain America: Civil War hit theaters, it kicked off Marvel's "Phase 3" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or the MCU, which will conclude when Avengers 4 gets released in 2019.  By that time, there will have been 22 movies to grace the silver screen that involve the MCU, but what can we expect from "Phase 4?"  According to Marvel head Kevin Feige, there may not be a "Phase 4."


“We’ve been lucky that [contract expirations] haven’t factored in too much. We’ve had people under contract for certain films, then we’ve had new ideas and new directions like Civil War like we wanted to do, and we’ve been lucky enough to make new contracts. Or Spider-Man: Homecoming, the cast has been awesome in their enthusiasm for the direction and the storylines that we’ve been telling. So it really does, right now, all start with where we wanna take the stories.  Certainly as we get to Infinity War there is a sense of a climax if not a conclusion to, by the time we’re at untitled Avengers 4, the 22 movies that will have encompassed the first three phases of the MCU, and what happens after that will be very different. I don’t know if it’s Phase 4, it might be a new thing.”

It makes sense to start fresh with a whole new group of Marvel superheroes, they seem to be working in trilogies, whether it's with individual movie titles, or (now) their cinematic "Phases."  The only movie that may fall outside of Marvel's "Phase 3" that is in the works will be Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, which has been announced, but a release date hasn't been confirmed.  This really shouldn't affect anything as far as "Phase 3" goes, because while the Guardian movies take place in the MCU, they've always been more of a stand-alone story.  That will all change with Avengers: Infinity War, which will bring all of the Marvel superheroes together in one epic battle against (presumably) Thanos, and then again in Avengers 4.  However, the Guardians adventures in space can be said to be separate from everyone else's in the MCU.


By the way, Feige said that the reason that they haven't released the title of Avengers 4 is because it would be too much of a spoiler reveal.  Think Captain America: Civil War.   Here's a list of the rest of the "Phase 3" movies that Marvel has scheduled for release:

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – May 5, 2017

Spider-Man: Homecoming – July 7, 2017

Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017

Black Panther – February 16, 2018

Avengers: Infinity War – May 4, 2018

Ant-Man and the Wasp – July 6, 2018

Captain Marvel – March 8, 2019

Avengers 4 – May 3, 2019

Deadpool Finally Gets An Arch-Nemesis In Graphic Novel

Rob Liefeld, one half of the duo that created Deadpool (the other half is Fabian Nicieza), will soon introduce an original graphic novel that he's been wanting to do for over a decade.  The OGN is titled, "Deadpool: Bad Blood," an Liefeld first came up with the idea nearly fifteen years ago, but only now is this project a reality.  He'll be introducing an original Deadpool arch-nemesis, something that Deadpool has been sorely lacking for sometime.  Here's what Liefeld had to say in his own words while talking with IGN:


“Deadpool does not have an arch-nemesis of note. If you look at Deadpool's history, he's either fighting lots of different versions of himself, he's killing the Marvel Universe, or he's battling villains from Howard the Duck.  He does not have a rich rogues gallery and somewhere along the way it was neglected. I can't speak to why there isn't one. But if you're going to say a villain of Deadpool's, I'm going to tell you what other character's rogues he came from. There was a three-parter where he battled Doctor Bong. Doctor Bong has a bell for a head and he hits it and it goes [makes loud bell bonging noise] -- he's from Howard the Duck. When he squares off against the Serpent Society, well those are Captain America villains. When he battles the Taskmaster, that's an Avengers villain. My whole thing is, where's his arch-nemesis? This has been gnawing at me for 15 years, so they [Marvel Comics] were wonderful to let me delve into this.”


Deadpool's new arch-nemesis is named "Thumper," and while Liefeld wouldn't give much information of the guy, he did say this:


“During the story, you will discover that [Deadpool] and Thumper have crossed paths in the past, and it's always that Deadpool is ambushed, and Thumper understands that Deadpool can't be killed, so he beats him to the highest threshold of pain that Deadpool can feel and then leaves him. You'll see that Deadpool remembers this guy foiling him on some past missions, but he seems to appear and disappear very quickly. So now in this story we open up that they are after the same MacGuffin, and so this time Deadpool is pretty determined to get his item back and to solve this mystery, so then we flash back to 1990 and do an entire sequence that has all the X-Force characters from that era and do a nice fun flashback that sheds some light on Thumper."


This is a pretty big deal, because the art work in this OGN is done by none other than Liefeld himself.  The last time he drew Deadpool was 10-issues of Deadpool Corps between 2010-2011.  The OGN is being written by co-writers Chris Sims and Chad Bowers.  He said that the title was a more recent decision, and he got it off of a Taylor Swift song.  It came to him after he saw Taylor Swift wearing Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool costume from the movie on social media.


"You got Taylor Swift wearing a Deadpool costume that was used in the movie by the guy who played Deadpool. I think it was the universe smiling on us."


Deadpool: Bad Blood will be released in stores May 17, 2017.

Clearing Up Some Star Wars Rumors

So I'm here to clear up a few of the rumors going around that involve the Star Wars movies that are being worked on right now.  One of these rumors that I'll address I actually talked about right here last week.  Let's get started...

Let's start with the one that I wrote about last week.  I reported that Carrie Fisher's brother Todd spoke with Lucasfilm and gave his blessing for them to use Carrie Fisher's Princess/General Leia character in Episode IX.  He told reporters that they were going to use her, but instead of using CGI to bring her character to life, like they did with Peter Cushing in Rogue One, they were going to use shots already done of Fisher while filming The Last Jedi.  Now, Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy has weighed in and while talking with Good Morning America she said:

"Sadly, Carrie will not be in 'Nine', but we'll see a lot of her in 'Eight', which is great.  [Todd Fisher] was probably confused because we finished everything in ‘Eight,’ and Carrie is absolutely phenomenal in the movie. We’re so happy that we were able to complete shooting in the summer. Unfortunately, Carrie passed away.  By that time we were well underway with ‘Episode Nine’ in our thoughts — we had not written the script yet — but we’ve regrouped, we started over again in January,”

So we'll get to enjoy Carrie Fisher one last time as Princess/General Leia this December when Star Wars: The Last Jedi gets released.  Okay, on to the second thing that needs to be cleared up...

Bob Iger may be in charge of Disney, but he apparently doesn't know what's going on within his Lucasfilm company.  This past March, Iger was talking about the upcoming Han Solo spin-off movie and told everyone that the movie would take place roughly ten years before A New Hope, that we'd see how Han and Chewbacca meet, how Han won the Millennium Flacon, and the Han Solo wasn't Han's real name.  Wait...what?  Han Solo isn't his real name?!?

So enter Kathleen Kennedy...again...to clear everything up.  She said that she didn't think that Iger meant that Han Solo's name would change for the movie, but did say the following:

"I'm not sure that that's entirely what Bob meant. There's more to Han Solo's name, but it's not that it's not his name. It's obviously his name. It will always be his name."

So everyone out there thinking that it will be revealed that Han Solo's real name is Han Ren, reel it back in, people.  That ain't going to happen.  And Bob?  Stick to stock markets and portfolios and leave the movie side of things to the professionals.  

Tom Holland's Spider-Man To Appear In Avengers 4

Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures came to a historic agreement a couple of years ago when they came together to allow Sony's Spider-Man property to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  He made his first appearance last year's Captain America: Civil War, and he's following it up with this year's Spider-Man: Homecoming.  The agreement also allowed Marvel to use him in their upcoming Avengers: Infinity War that will be coming out next year, and then in 2019, Tom Holland will get his first sequel to Homecoming.  It's now been confirmed, by none other than Kevin Feige, that Spider-Man will also be appearing in Avengers 4.  While it doesn't sound like big news, it hadn't been confirmed that he would be in the movie until recently.  So that's two movies that Spider-Man will be appearing in in2019.  Should be a big year for Holland!


While it should come as no surprise that he'll be appearing in Avengers 4, it hadn't been confirmed until recently.  The question now is, what role, if any, will Spider-Man play in the MCU after Avengers 4?  Avengers 4 is as far as the agreement between Marvel and Sony goes, so will they renegotiate a contract to keep allowing him to appear in Marvel movies, and to let Marvel characters to appear in the Spider-Man movies?  Feige's response to the question wasn't too promising:


“That’s as far as it goes for now.”


I guess that it's really all up to Sony.  They have two movies planned that feature Spider-Man characters, but that won't be tied to the MCU.  There's a Venom movie that's being worked on, and a Silver Sable and Black Cat movie, as well.  So the question that Sony needs to ask themselves would be, is it more profitable for us to keep Spider-Man in the MCU so they could keep sharing different Marvel characters in their movies, while helping Marvel make tons of money off of their property, or bail on the MCU and bring him over to their own spin-offs universe so he can interact with their other properties?  It's a tough question for Sony.  The recent surge in Spider-Man's popularity was only due to his joining the MCU.  When Sony is left to make their own decisions, they screw things up (i.e. Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man 1 &2).  Do they really think that they can do better on their own?  In my opinion, no, but they might get greedy and want him all to themselves, and if that happens, they may screw up the good thing that they've got going right now.


Spider-Man: Homecoming will be released July 7, 2017
Avengers: Infinity War will be released May 4, 2018
The Spider-Man sequel will be released some time in 2019
Avengers 4 will be released May 3, 2019

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Will Be Pivotal For The MCU

Last night there were a few early screening of Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 and while no details of the movie were given, the reactions from those that watched the film were very positive.  We did learn from them that there are going to be five post-credit scenes, which is a first.  Reaction was so good, that it seems to have convinced director James Gunn to finish his trilogy behind the camera after all.  There was some doubt as to whether or not he would helm the third film, but now we know that he will.  He took to his Facebook page to talk about his decision, and here's some of what he had to say:


"Much of what's happened in the MCU for the past ten or so years has been leading, in a big way, to the Avengers' Infinity War. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will happen after all that. It will conclude the story of this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and help catapult both old and new Marvel characters into the next ten years and beyond. I will be working side-by-side with Kevin Feige and the gang to help design where these stories go, and make sure the future of the Marvel Cosmic Universe is as special and authentic and magical as what we have created so far."


This is pretty interesting in itself.  Gunn has always made his Guardians movies somewhat of a stand alone story from the rest of the MCU.  Now, it sounds like it will play a pivotal role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Marvel Cosmic Universe going forward.  Since Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 will take place after Avengers: Infinity War we have no idea what direction Gunn is going to take this film, but since he's going to be in constant contact with Feige, it should allow Gunn to write one heck of a story.


Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 will kick off the summer movie season on May 5, 2017.

No, No, No...Oh Gunn, No...

The other day on Twitter, James Gunn (director of Guardians of the Galaxy vo. 1 & 2) was taking some questions from fans, and one fan asked him if he would every be interested in doing a...(gasp!)...Christmas show featuring the characters of Guardians of the Galaxy!  While some shows can pull it off (like Doctor Who) they are in fact television shows.  When it comes to movie Christmas shows, the only one that comes to mind, and the main reason why this should be avoided, is because of the horrible Star Wars Holiday Special.  It was so bad, in fact, that it's said that George Lucas bought up all of the remaining copies of the show so that they would never see the light of day again.  Luckily (or unfortunately) for us, there are boot-leg copies all over the web that you can still purchase.  The only redeeming thing about the Star Wars special was that it was the very first appearance of Boba Fett in the Star Wars Universe.  But back to James Gunn...

He said that he loved the special as a kid, and if he was to do it, he would do one like he remembers the Star Wars special being, not how it actually was.  Here's what he actually said:

"Honestly? Yes. I talk about this all the time with Kevin Feige. We both find the idea fun and funny. I LOVED the Star Wars Holiday special as a kid. It'd be fun to do one the way I remember it as opposed to the way it actually is."

I'm hoping that he was just joking around, but it really doesn't sound like he was.  If this does come to happen, let's just hope that he doesn't follow the "variety show" format that George Lucas did with his Star Wars Holiday Special!

Here It Is...Star Wars: The Last Jedi Teaser Trailer

Not much to say here, just posting this so you can watch it...if you haven't already seen it!

Star Wars Celebration To Show First Preview Of Episode VIII

At this year's Star Wars Celebration, fans are going to be treated to a "teaser trailer" for the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but according to Star Wars News Net, this teaser trailer is going to have more of a "full trailer feel" to it, and it won't be "just a brief teaser."  If you remember back to 2015 when Star Wars Celebration released the teaser for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it was just a bunch of brief shots with a voice over from Luke Skywalker.  Although the actual length of the trailer isn't known yet, it sounds to be much more than the previous movie's.  Like The Force Awakens, I'd expect the trailer to feature many of the new characters that will be appearing in The Last Jedi, like Benicio del Toro's mystery character and Laura Dern.  Others feel like it will reveal some of the basic plot points and set up the film's main conflicts.


If you aren't going to be going to Star Wars Celebration, I'm sure that leaks of the trailer will appear online right after it's reveal.  However, if Disney and Lucasfilm react to the leaks like they did after unveiling the teaser trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, they're sure to pull it from sites as soon as it goes up, so if you want to watch it, you're going to have to be fast about it.


Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits theaters on December 15, 2017.

The Role For Cable Has Finally Been Filled

And the actor is...Josh Brolin!


This is kind of a surprise because Brolin is already a playing a major character in Marvel's MCU as Thanos, and will be the main villain in the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War movie.  There has been speculation that the Thanos and the whole Infinity War storyline will spill over into the fourth Avengers movie, and if that's the case, Deadpool 2's release may be pushed back a little, unless the two studios can work around each others schedule.  Hopefully, the two projects won't interfere with one another.

Killer Frost Rumored To Appear In Suicide Squad 2

While I think that the Suicide Squad could've been better, I think it was still a fun watch and one of the better films from the DCEU.  One of the reasons that the movie was such a success was due in no small part to Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn.  People were so enamored by her, that (if rumors are to be believed) she'll be getting her own "solo" movie.  I used quotes for "solo" because the last I heard the movie was going to be called Gotham City Sirens, and while Harley Quinn will be the main focus of the film, Catwoman and Poison Ivy are also rumored to be showing up in the movie, too.  The problem is, with Harley getting her own movie, it doesn't look like she'll be appearing in the sequel to Suicide Squad.  But never fear, DC and Warner Brothers have a backup character for the Squad's second go round...at least according to the DC Leaks section on Reddit (so take all of this with a grain of salt!).

There were a couple of things that were being "reported" about Suicide Squad 2.  The first one said that while Mel Gibson had been mentioned as the director for the film, he's out, and either Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) or Jaume Collet-Serra (The Shallows) will take over the director's chair.  Also, David Ayer is currently writing the script and if everything comes together fast enough, then Suicide Squad 2 could replace Aquaman on it's current release date.

The last thing that they said was that Killer Frost was going to be joining "Task Force X" for the sequel.  Now, the person that announced this didn't say if Killer Frost would be appearing along side Harley Quinn, or if she'd be replacing her as the female lead of the group.  Her inclusion isn't that surprising, she's been known to be a team member of Task Force X in the comic books, and would definitely give the DCEU some more strong female characters to work with in future projects, something that Marvel has been lagging at in all of their movies.

So...what?  Do you think that this sounds creditable?  Do you think DC would push Harley out of Suicide Squad 2 with Killer Frost, or do you think they'll be fighting side by side in the sequel?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments section down below. 



Did Marvel Just Tease This Popular Comic Book Character InThe Thor: Ragnarok Trailer?

Ever since Marvel and Disney dropped the Thor: Ragnarok trailer, it quickly became the most viewed trailer that the MCU has released, and it's easy to see why (see yesterday's post). But with the speed that some of the scenes were given, could it be possible that we may have missed some important information about possible upcoming characters that might appear in the MCU at a future date?  Take the above picture for example.  While most of us were focused on what was happening to Thor, did we miss this possible character in the background?


When you look at the trident, the first character that comes to mind is Namor, the Sub-Mariner.  There have been reports that Marvel owned the rights to the character, and other reports saying that they acquired them from 20th Century Fox.  Because he mainly paired up with The Fantastic Four in comic books, it was assumed by many that 20th Century Fox held the rights to the character, but that might not be the case.  Look at Quicksilver.  He appeared in both Avengers: Age of Ultron and X-Men: Days of Future Past/X-Men: Apocalypse.  Same character, two different movie studios.  There have also been rumors that Marvel is ready to give the guy his own full-length feature film, so could this be his introduction to the MCU?


One online site asked the question as to whether Marvel could have been so careless to include him in the trailer ruining the surprise, or did they do it on purpose to drum up intrest in the upcoming film?  These questions, of course, are only valid if this is, in fact, Namor. 


I guess we'll just have to wait until November 3, 2017 when Thor: Ragnarok comes out.

Thor: Ragnarok Trailer Released

Before we get started, head over to YouTube.com to watch the trailer that was released yesterday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPm3IyP70XY

Okay, did you watch it?  Then let's talk about it for a bit...but first ***SPOILERS!!!***

First, it starts with Thor pulling a fourth wall joke while being chained up and suspended over a volcanic fire.  Early guesses are that he's in Muspelheim, one of the Nine Realms of Norse Mythology, which is comparable to what we now know as Hell.  Interesting way to start the trailer!

But it didn't stop there...we then got our first look at Hela, and she is definitely a bad-ass!  So much show that she destroys Mjolnir...Thor's Hammer!  She just catches it in mid-flight and shatters it!  She doesn't stop there, though.  It looks like she completely wipes out Asgard all by herself.  That scene is followed by Thor landing in another world, one that is almost definitely Sakaar, from the "Planet Hulk" comic book storyline.  There are a few quick scenes of shots from the film that are used as filler while showing Valkyrie.  She takes him to the Grandmaster, fitted in armor, and ends up in a battle arena to face off against...The Hulk!  And he looks like an armored monster!  At first Thor is happy to see his friend, but then realizes that Hulk isn't too happy to see him! 

On top of that we get a few shots of Loki.  One where he's walking towards the camera, flanked by some other worldly creatures, another where he's sitting on the opposite side of the couch from the Grandmaster, and one where it looks like Loki and Thor are squaring off against Hela.

This is a completely new type of Thor movie, and one that is sure to make up for the disaster that was Thor: The Dark World.  If you actually liked that film, I'm sorry.  I thought it was probably the weakest film so far from the MCU.  Well, that's just my opinion.

Thor: Ragnarok hits theaters November 3, 2017.

Carrie Fisher To Appear In Next Two Star Wars Films

After Carrie Fisher passed away after filming her scenes for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the world wept.  We lost a wonderful person and an incredible actress.  As time passed by, people started asking what her role would be in the upcoming films.  Now we have the answer.


Todd Fisher, Carrie's brother, recently sat down with the New York Times and said that he and Billie Lourd, Carrie's daughter, gave Disney permission to use Carrie Fisher in Episode IX.  He said:


"Both of us were like, 'Yes, how do you take her out of it?' And the answer is you don't.  She's as much a part of it as anything and I think her presence now is even more powerful than it was, like Obi Wan – when the saber cuts him down he becomes more powerful.  I feel like that's what's happened with Carrie. I think the legacy should continue."


In the article, they said that instead of going the CGI route, they're going to be using scenes shot for The Last Jedi in the Episode IX movie.  How these scenes could be made for use in the last chapter of this trilogy remains to be seen, but it is refreshing that we won't get the creepy look that the CGI characters had that they used in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

This Is Just For Fun...

Just thought you all would enjoy watching this!

This Is Where The Inspiration For Rogue One Came From...

Rogue One, which was released in theaters last December and on Blu-Ray this past Tuesday, was Disney and Lucasfilm's first attempt at a Star Wars stand-alone movie.  But where did the inspiration for the film come from?  According to visual effects supervisor John Knoll, it came from an idea for a live action Star Wars television show that was pitched about ten years ago.

“I had heard that Lucasfilm was developing stories for a potential live action TV series, and they were active in story development at the time.  I started thinking about, ‘What would be a fun thing to do as a one-hour episode as a live action ‘Star Wars’ TV show?’  One thought was, ‘What about a Mission Impossible-style break-in into the most secure facility in the Empire to steal the Death Star plans? There could be a lot of tension of potentially being discovered and overcoming security measures. That could be a lot of fun!’”

So when it was announced that Lucasfilm was interested in hearing ideas for a stand-alone movie that took place in the Star Wars universe, but was not part of the "Skywalker Saga," Knoll's friends convinced him to pitch his old idea to Kathleen Kennedy, the head of Lucasfilm.  Knoll said that at first he didn't think that they were interested in his idea, but then a week later he got a response from Kennedy and Kiri Hart telling him that they wanted to use his idea for the movie.  The rest, as the say, is history.

I picked up my copy of Rogue One earlier this week, and I'm going to make it a Star Wars movie marathon weekend.  You can look through my older posts to find out what I think is the correct order to watch the movies in.  Should be fun!

Paramount Has HOW Many Transformers Movies That They're Working On?!?

The Transformers movie franchise is a funny thing.  Critics and movie-goers seem to rip on each sequel that comes out, yet the last two movies in the story have grossed over $1 billion at the global box office.  So is it really any surprise that Paramount has put together a writers room that's strictly for writing Transformers movie ideas and scripts?  What is surprising is that there are currently 14 movie ideas for expanding the Transformers universe.  Transformers: The Last Knight is set to be released June 23, 2017, then after that it sounds like they are planning a Bumblebee spin off, then Transformers 6 and 7, but if they have 14 movies in the works, where will they decide to take Transformers?  The easiest thing to guess is that they may take them into outer space and over to Cybertron, maybe a possible origins story for them all. Your guess is as good as mine.

So you might be asking, "How did you come up with the number 14?"  It came from the man himself, Michael Bay.  In an interview at CinemaCon, he said this about the franchise:

"There are 14 stories written and there’s good stuff. I would like to do one of them though… A Transformers spinoff."

Wait, what?  He'd like to do one of these spinoff movies?  I thought he said he was that this was going to be his last Transformers movie (again!)?  Even though he keeps saying that he wants to move on from the franchise, he does seem to be the heart and soul of these movies.  So if he wants to come back and do another one?  Fine by me.  Sounds like he'll have 14 different opportunities to do it.

Remember That Gadget That Iron Man Gave Spidey?

Tom Holland is about to get his first Spider-Man movie released this year, but he made his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War.  At the end of the movie (actually, after the end of the credits) we're shown Peter Parker opening up a gift from Tony Stark.  When he turns it on, a huge Spider-Man light shines up on the ceiling of his room, but what exactly was the device created for?  According to Spider-Man: Homecoming producer Eric Hauserman Carrol, it's an interface that's designed to work with Spidey's web-shooters.


“One of the ideas is that when he does this [movement] he can adjust the spray, and he can even scroll through different web settings, like spinning web, web ball, ricochet web… you know, all of the stuff we can see him do in the comics, Tony has built into this.  That was sort of unlocked for him. So when he shines that, it will go [boom noise], and if he wants to shoot just the one swinging web, it will go down really small. And if he wants to web a guy to the wall, it goes [makes noise] and goes like that. It’s kind of like a DSLR camera. He can shoot without it, or he can hold that thing a second, get his aiming right, and really choose a web to shoot.”


It isn't quite as advanced as the Amazing Spider-Man comic book web-shooters, which are voice activated, but as Jamie Lovett over at Comicbook.com says, "it's probably a lot more fun to watch on a movie screen."


Spider-Man: Homecoming hits theaters July 7, 2017.

Will Joss Whedon Join The DCEU? Wonder Woman Director Weighs In

There's been a lot of talk lately about the DCEU movies, especially with the upcoming Wonder Woman and Justice League movies coming out this year, but the news that has been the most exciting is the one about Joss Whedon possibly writing and directing a Batgirl movie.  It's not really that unusual for a director to jump from one franchise to another, JJ Abrams did it with Star Trek and Star Wars, and the fact that Whedon is a die-hard comic book fan has a lot of people excited.  Even Patty Jenkins, the director of Wonder Woman, seems pretty jazzed about it:


“I don’t even know if that deal is done or not – I don’t have the inside scoop on that, but if it is done, then I’m excited about it. I think it’s super exciting, the tone of Joss’ work is great for female superheroes. He takes such a fun approach and I think he’ll have fun in the DC universe, which will be excited to have him.”


Whedon has a long history of giving fans strong female leads in his television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dollhouse.  As one article pointed out, even Firefly, which was more of an ensemble of space pirates, had strong female characters.  That's what's going to be needed for this movie to work.  The DCEU is already getting the jump on competitor Marvel, who has yet to create a movie that features a female lead.  Captain Marvel is in the works, but considering that it'll be something like the seventeenth or eighteenth movie that Marvel has put out, that's not a very good track record.  On the other hand, Wonder Woman will be the fourth movie put out by WB for the DCEU.


While it's all still just rumors, if I hear anything else about this I'll let you know.  If it does turn out to be true, though, it would be a huge shot in the arm for the DCEU!