Random Thoughts

Comic Book Movies

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• Posted on June 21, 2005

Needless to say, I am excited about this. Avi Arad, who is the man at Marvel right now, had part in an interview where he talked a lot about the whole comic book movie thing and how they are just on the edge of all of the movies that are coming from Marvel based material. Comicbookmovie.com is the source for the story.
Marvel Studios chairman and CEO Avi Arad talked to MTV during a new
interview. In the interview Arad revealed the status on nearly all new
Marvel films currently in the works.

X-Men 3:

"I’ve
never seen a reaction like that," Arad says of the Internet buzz that
erupted after the casting of Kelsey Grammer as Beast was announced. He
also confirms that Vinnie Jones (Bullet Tooth Tony from "Snatch") will
play Juggernaut and that the cast from the first two movies are "all
coming back." Regarding Jean Grey’s possible evolution at the end of
the last movie, however, Arad says, "Dark Phoenix should not be the
centerpiece of the movie."

Magneto spin-off:

"I
will always want Ian McKellen," Arad says. "There’s no way for me to
think of not walking into the story through him — through something
happening now, and then going back there. Ian is an ambassador for
this, and he needs to be there."

Ghost Rider:

"I
remember seeing ‘The Perfect Storm,’ how the whole wave was CGI. You’re
going to see something [similar] in ‘Ghost Rider.’ " While he reveals
that Ghost Rider will, at some point, be entirely submerged, Arad vows
that the infamous grinning skull will continue to flame on. "Nothing
can extinguish it," he smiles. "It’s hellfire."

Spider-Man 3 and 4:

While
insisting that rumors of a simultaneous third and fourth "Spider-Man"
movie shoot are simply "not true," Arad did confirm that Dylan Baker
will return for the third film. Although Thomas Haden Church and Topher
Grace are set to play the main, as-yet-unnamed villains of the third
film, the seeds are apparently being planted for Spidey to also someday
take on a superhumanly strong, green-scaled monster.

Ant-Man, Dr. Strange, and Black Panther:

"The
Ant-Man is also in there, a ‘Honey I Shrunk the Superhero’ kind of
story," Arad says. Dr. Strange is also in the works, as well as a movie
version of Black Panther, "which is a big, big, big deal. When you say
’10,’ some of them may be sequels."

Captain America:

"I
have a writer," he says. "And I have someone in mind to be the star,
and I definitely have someone in mind to be the director. This script
is going to take a little bit of time, because it has to be a
masterpiece. It’s ‘Back to the Future’ kind of stuff."

Silver Surfer:

"There
is a director who should make ‘Silver Surfer’ — he is mentally
committed to it. He’s doing another movie now. What’s most important to
me about this guy, first, is that he’s incredible with visuals. But
he’s also a spiritual guy, a Zen Buddhist." Arad also confirms that the
enormous planet devourer Galactus will be in the movie, but chances are
he’ll be all-CGI. "Galactus is a force of nature, not a being. That’s
all I’m saying."

Iron Man:

"It’s been a war
with [co-producers] New Line Cinema. I had a four-hour meeting with
[‘The Notebook’ director] Nick Cassavetes in my house. If everything is
cool, in the next few weeks there’ll be an announcement about Nick
writing it. Nick has a unique emotional attachment to Iron Man’s alter
ego, Tony Stark. Think about John [Cassavetes] and Nick, father and son
— the father was a great visionary director, and here’s the son, an
actor and a writer and turned out to be a very gifted artist himself."

Punisher 2, Shang Chi, and Luke Cage:

The Punisher; Arad confirms that Jigsaw will be the villain and that, with the first movie, "blood and intestines should have been blown out on the wall, because that’s the Punisher." He added that the sequel will be among a handful of Marvel films with an R rating.

"
‘Punisher,’ of course. Maybe ‘Cloak and Dagger.’ I think ‘Shang Chi’ we
can do PG-13, and ‘Iron Fist’ maybe an R. ‘Luke Cage,’ I don’t know.
Big studio movie. We’ll try and do PG-13."

Namor, Thor, Luke Cage, Nick Fury, and Deathlok:

Arad
then speaks like a proud papa of films about Cage (John Singleton’s
directing; Jamie Foxx had been considered for Diamondback, who will
definitely be the villain); Nick Fury ("I’m going back in time. I’m going back to the classic on this. It’s about him; it’s about SHIELD"); Thor ("We are feverishly working on Thor. It’s a vast ‘Lord of the Rings’ sort of universe"); Deathlok ("There is an actor, a very big star, that we want to do it, and we’ll talk to him within a month"); and Namor. Comparing the last film to "Jurassic Park," Arad says, "a lot of design work has been done on it. The script is gigantic."

Hulk 2:

Arad says, insisting that "I
had a meeting with Universal [a few] weeks ago. We are going to make a
Diet Hulk." He says the sequel will arrive in theaters "no later than
2007."

Daredevil 2 and Elektra 2:

"I would
make it in a second, as soon as could I get the rights back. We
licensed it. If they’ll give us the rights back, we’ll make the movie."

"I
think Elektra is on ice now," he admits somberly, before suggesting one
way a sequel might return the character to her comic book roots: "If we
could do her à la the ‘Sin City’ idea — whoa."

I am so excited about all of this. Now, the question is, who are these people he has in mind for these roles and positions? I think that Vin Diesel is who he is looking at for the Deathlok character. At least from the sound of it. I also think maybe Matt Damon for Captain America. He just seems like he would be good in that role. And I think Tarantino is the man for the Silver Surfer job. He is a Zen Buddhist, so he fits it. And he is a very visual director.
It will be fun to watch all of this come to pass. The big thing is, how long will this go on? I know they are trying to capitalize on the trend of comic book movies at the moment, but if you get too many irons in the fire, you are going to get burned. I just hope that they don’t put out crap just to put out a lot of it. More does not mean better. I won’t get tired of it, but I know a lot of people who will. With each wave of movies, there is the potential for backlash. Soon, one is going to flop and make people think of comic book movies in the vein of the first punisher, captain america, or fantastic four movies. They stunk, bad. Not to say I don’t own them, but they stunk still.