What’s the difference between justice and punishment? The answer is in this short film starring Thomas Jane, Ron Perlman, and directed by Phil Joanou. (I’m loath to call this a Punisher fan film, even though it obviously is a labor of love unsanctioned by Marvel— because, really, you don’t get A-list directors and actors reprising their roles from major motion picture releases in any old fan film.)
“I wanted to make a fan film for a character I’ve always loved and believed in – a love letter to Frank Castle & his fans. It was an incredible experience with everyone on the project throwing in their time just for the fun of it. It’s been a blast to be a part of from start to finish — we hope the friends of Frank enjoy watching it as much as we did making it.”
More footage from Warner Bros’ The Dark Knight Rises. Most of the behind-the-scenes intel is in the second half of this 13-minute video, which also includes the aerial stunts and the football stadium destruction scene seen in the early trailers. That stadium for the imaginary Gotham Rogues football team is where the Pittsburgh Steelers play. No coincidence that pic’s co-financier Legendary Pictures chief Thomas Tull owns a minority stake in the Steelers:
Jim Starlin has offered proof that he created Thanos, leading to speculation that he may launch a lawsuit against Marvel Comics.
The writer and artist has posted an early concept drawing of the Mad Titan from before he began working at the publisher, reports The Beat.
Interest in the character is growing following his cameo in The Avengers movie, the speculation of an upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film and the announcement of a Thanos: Son of Titan miniseries from Joe Keatinge and Richard Elson.
“This is probably one of the first concept drawings of Thanos I ever did, long before I started working at Marvel,” Starlin wrote on his Facebook page. “Jack Kirby’s Metron is clearly the more dominant influence in this character’s look. Not Darkseid.”
“Both D and T started off much smaller than they eventually became. This was one of the drawings I had in my portfolio when I was hired by Marvel. It was later inked by Rich Buckler.”
Marvel is reportedly struggling to find records relating to the period in the mid-’70s when Thanos debuted in its comics.
“This is the second film that had something I created for Marvel in it – the Infinity Gauntlet in Thor being the other – and both films I had to pay for my own ticket to see them,” Starlin previously said.
“Financial compensation to the creators of these characters doesn’t appear to be part of the equation.”
Audiences are rewarding “The Amazing Spider-Man” for being a very, very good film.
The fourth film in the Sony franchise faced high skepticism as the producers resorted to rebooting Spider-Man for the second time in a decade — and as “The Avengers” and “The Dark Knight Rises” have loomed large as the summer’s superhero tentpoles.
Turns out, Peter Parker’s origin story, in the right hands, is as resilient as a wrist-packed monofilament — even as the Marvel webslinger turns 50 this year.
“Amazing Spider-Man” continued to soar above studio projections by grossing $65-million domestically to win the weekend — doubling the take of last week’s champ, “Ted” — and lifting its six-day start to $140-million, according to studio estimates released Sunday. Final numbers are due Monday.
Buoyed significantly by the winning performances of Andrew Garfield (who has inherited the super-suit from Tobey Maguire for his own newly announced trilogy) and Emma Stone (as Gwen Stacy), “Amazing Spider-Man” has now grossed a strong $341.6-million worldwide.
As Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee told Comic Riffs: Whoever decided to cast the talented Garfield as the new teen “Everyguy” should get a medal.
“Amazing Spider-Man” performed well right out of the gate, grossing $7.5-million Tuesday from midnight screenings; and through the Fourth of July, “Amazing Spider-Man” had grossed $58.3-million domestically and $108-million overall, according to the site BoxOfficeMojo.
“What a spectacular relaunch,” Sony worldwide distribution President Rory Bruer told the Hollywood Reporter, citing “the chemistry between Andrew and Emma” and “the out-of-the-box direction of Marc Webb,” who until now was best known for directiong “(500) Days of Summer.”
“Amazing Spider-Man” also benefited from its popularity with “family” demographics (25-percent of the film’s audience); its generally positive critical reviews and filmgoer scores; and its haul at IMAX theaters ($14.3-million).
”Spider-Man’s” performance dwarfed the domestic debuts of “Savages” (fourth at $16.2-million) and “Katy Perry: Part of Me” (eighth; $7.15-million).
Seth MacFarlane’s CGI/live-action “Ted” strengthened its claim as the R-rated comedy hit of the summer, grossing $32.6-million to raise its domestic total to $120.2-million. And Pixar’s animated “Brave” also remained strong, grossing $20.1-million to boost its domestic take to $174-million.
FUN WITH NUMBERS
Sony’s four Spider-Man films have now grossed $1.25-billion domestically and $2.83-billion worldwide.
“Amazing Spider-Man” had the fourth-best Independence Day weekend ever (not adjusted for inflation) — behind only two “Transformers” film (“Dark of the Moon” tops the list with $97.8-million) and “Spider-Man 2” ($88-million).
“Amazing Spider-Man” had the 12th-best weekend opening ever for Marvel character film — barely trailing last year’s “Thor” ($65.7-million) and “Captain America: The First Avenger”($68.05-million), though those two films didn’t open on a Tuesday.
And “Amazing Spider-Man” just beat the average opening for a Marvel character film: $65.57-million.
Followers of the Alternate Reality Game hinted at in the recent trailer of “The Amazing Spider-Man” have been watching the web site markofthespider-man.com to play along as people found backpacks from Peter Parker and followed clues and instructions to tag certain locations with Spider-graffiti and take pictures.
Now those efforts have born fruit as the tasks have been completed, and we’ve all been rewarded with a new clip from the film.
The film opens July 3rd and stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen, and Sally Field.
Continuing the tradition of movie studios teaming up with comics companies to create properties that can be turned into movies (see: Disney/Marvel, WB/DC, Universal/Dark Horse, Legendary/Legendary, etc./etc.) we have the latest entry…
Benderspink and Sean Patrick O’Reilly’s Arcana Comics are launching ArcanaBenderspink Comics, a label that will publish under the Arcana brand. The idea: hatch comics that can be turned into movie and TV properties. The partnership comes out of JC Spink and Sean O’Reilly’s strong relationship after setting up the Arcana comic book Continuum at New Line. “What I thought made this a great partnership was that Sean not only knows how to make a great comic but he’s actually produced movies,” Spink said. “I don’t know any comic publishers that have his producing experience.” Benderspink partner Jake Weiner said that the comics label is a byproduct of the company’s increased focus on generating intellectual properties. “This is one of five IP creation deals we are entering into along with deals in mobile content/apps, Y/A publishing, videogames, and toys.”
Benderspink has already been tapping comics for films, as the company has percolating Y The Last Man at New Line, Area 52 at Summit, The Mighty at Paramount, Ghouly Boys at Mandate, and Undying Love at Warners. “Jake, JC, Sean, and I are looking to partner with other producers and then start shopping these projects to studios in the next few weeks,” Chris Bender said. “What we wanted to do differently was have studios option the projects inexpensively and then hire writers as the studio helps us develop the comic. I think this makes it a no lose proposition for everyone.”
Arcana founder Sean O’Reilly said the venture was a good fit because Benderspink is so steeped in comics. “And they produced one of what I think is the top 3 comic book movies ever with A History of Violence,” O’Reilly said.
via Benderspink, Arcana Launch Film-Friendly Comics Line – Deadline.com. Go there to read the concepts they already have movie posters for. (Comics? Finished comics? Hey, we can sell the concept just based on the movie poster of the comic… remember how well that worked for Cowboys and Aliens?)
More than a month after word of a six-minute prologue surfaced, Warner Bros. has at last officially announced the opening sequence of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises will premiere exclusively on select 70mm IMAX screens with Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. The PG-13-rated prologue will debut on Dec. 16 in North America and on Dec. 21 in the United Kingdom.
The press release notes that Nolan’s 2008 blockbuster The Dark Knight was the first major motion picture to utilize IMAX cameras. With its sequel, the conclusion of his Batman trilogy, the filmmaker utilized the extremely high-resolution cameras even more extensively.
“Our experience on The Dark Knight shooting and projecting IMAX 15 perf 65mm/70mm film was inspiring,” Nolan said in a statement. “The immersive quality of the image goes beyond any other filmmaking tool available, and in revisiting Gotham, we were determined to shoot even more of the movie in this unique format. Giving the fans an early look at an IMAX sequence is a great way to draw attention to what I believe will be an incredible way to experience our story when it comes out next summer.”
Hammer Films bought motion picture rights to Cherie Priest‘s zombie-steampunk novel Boneshaker (published by Tor in 2009) via agent Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
Hammer has already teamed with Cross Creek Pictures and Exclusive Media Group to produce the film, for which John Hilary Shepherd (Nurse Jackie) is writing the screenplay.
The book is set in an alternate 1880s Seattle, in which the city is walled in and a toxic gas has turned many of its residents into Rotters (zombies). A young widow hunts for her teenaged son in the Seattle underworld while dealing with airship pirates, a criminal overlord and heavily armed refugees.
The next installment in the [[[Iron Man]]] superhero film franchise will shoot in North Carolina. Marvel Studios will film Iron Man 3 starring Robert Downey Jr. in Wilmington, with pre-production starting soon and work in the state lasting about 10 months. State film office head Aaron Syrett said Thursday it will be the largest production to shoot in North Carolina. The production is expected to create 550 jobs for tradesmen, technicians and other crew members and more than 1,000 spots for actors and other talent.
What does it say when fictional billionaire Tony Stark is more of a job creator nowadays than the real billionaires?
Well, this is different– and yet, very familiar. Batman: The Killing Joke, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Brian Bolland, has been partially adapted into a Lego version. Voice actor Patrick Girts does an amazing job channeling Mark Hamill’s version of the Joker, and it was animated with Legos by filmmaker Forrest Whaley.
What’s the difference between justice and punishment? The answer is in this short film starring Thomas Jane, Ron Perlman, and directed by Phil Joanou. (I’m loath to call this a Punisher fan film, even though it obviously is a labor of love unsanctioned by Marvel— because, really, you don’t get A-list directors and actors reprising their roles from major motion picture releases in any old fan film.)
More footage from Warner Bros’ 
