Jerry Bruckheimer to bring us World War Robot

Jerry Bruckheimer has snapped up feature rights to the graphic novel World War Robot from IDW Publishing.

The story is by Ashley Wood and recounted in war-diary form by participants on both sides, centers on a small band of humans and robots facing off in a battle on Earth, the moon and Mars.

The deal for the rights closed during Comic-Con last week in San Diego. Bruckheimer, as usual, hasn't commented on the pact.

Ten-year-old IDW is home to such titles as "30 Days of Night," "Popbot" and "Dark Days" along with licensed titles such as "24," "Angel," "CSI" and the Transformers toy line.

IDW has been eager to set up its books as film properties around town in order to generate more coin for the publishers. It's currently the third-largest behind Marvel and DC.

The adaptation of the company's "30 Days of Night," released by Sony in 2007, grossed $40 million domestically.

Source: Variety

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Jon Favreau sees Iron Man 3 and The Avengers in 3D

"I really love the 3-D," director Jon Favreau told MTV at the San Diego Comic-Con. "I think 'Up' was probably my favorite movie I've seen this year."

Marvel has plans to make at least one more "Iron Man" film, as well as an "Avengers" film in 2012 that will feature Tony Stark. If Favreau has his way, he'd like at least one of those films to be three-dimensional.

"I like all the new technologies, 3-D being one of them. James Cameron had brought me around a few months back to see what he was doing with 'Avatar'; that's what's been seen now by many of the fans," he said of the 3-D footage shown last week. "It was exciting to go in there and see what he's doing with cutting-edge technology. He's just a great storyteller as well, and to see a great filmmaker working with the cutting-edge of this technology is amazing."

"I talked to Marvel after I'd seen [Cameron's footage] about doing 'Iron Man 2' in 3-D," he said. "I was hoping to get a shot at doing it this time around, but it didn't work out that way. ... There are a few drawbacks to it at this point — there's more cost involved, and it also forces you to shoot digitally. My cinematographer [Matthew Libatique] really likes film, and 'Iron Man' had a certain look because it was film."

As of right now, Favreau isn't certain he'll direct "Iron Man 3" or "The Avengers." But Feige is on record as saying that he'd like to see Marvel films jumping off the screen soon, and Favreau is convinced that the technology will be there for whichever film he makes next.

"We haven't had any talks about [me directing 'Avengers'], although we do have talks about what the content of 'Avengers' will be," Favreau said of the film expected to feature Iron Man, Nick Fury, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow and others. "I'm going to be involved in some capacity with it, but as far as directing goes, we're still working on this one. ... I'm happy they brought me back to do 'Iron Man 2.'

"But I think that, as the digital technology gets better, 3-D is going to be a lot easier," the filmmaker continued. "Certainly for 'Iron Man,' I think it would work out well."

Would you like to see the Marvel superheroes go 3D?

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Joe Dante is in The Hole

Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling) was at the San Diego Comic Con where he debuted a trailer for his latest feature The Hole in 3-D. It's his first film since Looney Tunes: Back in Action although he has done a couple of Masters of Horror episodes and a zombie-themed CSI:NY.

The Hole stars Teri Polo, Haley Bennett, Nathan Gamble and Quinn Lord. Written by Mark L. Smith (Vacancy), it concerns a family that moves into a new home. There they discover a hole in the basement that feeds off of their darkest fears and manifests them. It sounds a bit like a cross between The Gate, Sphere and Poltergeist. STYD managed to speak to the director about his new film.

"I read a lot of scripts, seldom do they strike me on a character level," says Dante. "This is not a big movie, it's a modest picture. I managed to convince them to do it in 3-D because I thought of the visuals and also the drama. It's not a gore-fest. It's more in the line of The Others or The Devil's Backbone. It's creepy and sneaks up on you, and it's not filled with eyeballs on sticks poking out at you in the third row. Not that there's anything wrong with that, that's just not what this is, there are plenty of those movies out there. So the idea was to try and make the kind of movie they stopped making in the '80s when you can take your family to a scary picture and they were not traumatized, they were scared."

I like the sound of the creepiness rather than all out gore.

Regarding the 3D technology Dante had this to say. "We found a way to do it that only added a modest amount to the budget an we went ahead and did it. I think it was a great idea. It's an unusual 3-D movie in the sense that it's not what you expect from a 3-D movie. It's still got all of the stuff - breaking the frame - but to me it's immersive. You feel a little more like you're in the room with the people and what their problems are. I think you find that in some of the current 3-D movie, the animated ones at least."

He also said shooting went smoothly and that his fans will "find this to be a Joe Dante movie. It has its silly aspects, of course, as I do. But it's pretty straight-forward, a character picture. The kids are very good. I have Bruce Dern. It's a small cast and not a lot of locations, but people who are movie fans will get a lot of the references."

The Hole is still in post-production and doesn't have a release date yet.

"The trick is to not repeat yourself, but then again, what is Small Soldiers but Gremlins 3, so you can't escape that stuff."

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Captain Jack as Captain America

The Avengers film draws ever closer and we have our Iron Man, Thor, Nick Fury, and a few others. However, there is still no news on who will play Captain America.

Worryingly Will Smith's name keeps getting bandied about. Don't get me wrong, I like a bit of Big Willy stylee (hmm a dodgy sentence if ever there was one!) but they should stick with the Steve Rogers set out in the comic. However, another actor, who would agree with the sentiments of my previous sentence but in a whole different way, has said they'd like to give it a go.

During the BBC "Torchwood: Children of Earth" mini-series panel at Comic-Con last weekend, actor John Barrowman revealed that he would like the chance play Captain America in The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers films.

"You know what I want to play? Captain America," he said to the wildly receptive crowd, before adding that it "so won't happen."

Barrowman plays the fixed point in time, Captain Jack Harkness and is pretty good at it.

The question is would he make a good Cap? To be honest I think he would. He's got the looks (my wife and mother love him as do many other men and women), he's a bit of an unknown for the mainstream audience (only fans of TV sci-fi, musical theatre and 1980's Saturday Morning Kids TV would know him) which would make them buy into him as the character rather than as a big name playing a part. Although Kevin Feige has said they are looking for a star with international appeal.

Of course, there would be none of the shenanigans that Captain Jack gets up to if he took on the role of Steve Rogers.

I seriously doubt that this will come to pass or that he will even make it to an audition, just one of those things that the Comic Con throws up once in a while. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there are people working away on making vids and pics of Barrowman as Captain America right now.

Would Barrowman be a good Captain America?

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Megan Fox talks Fathom and Wonder Woman

"They just wrote the first draft of the script, and everybody's really happy with it," Fox told MTV News when asked about the adaption of Michael Turner's Fathom. "I haven't read it yet, but the studio's really happy with it and there's growing excitement around the project."

While Fox already made a case for her geek cred during Comic-Con, she admitted that there isn't any other comic book roles she's really looking to take on right now -- and that includes Wonder Woman, a character she famously shot down a while back.

"I feel like that's a hard adaptation to make into a live-action film," said Fox. "She flies around in an invisible jet and she has a lasso of truth... It's going to be a hard movie to make live action."

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District 9 - Interviews with Neill Blomkamp, Peter Jackson and Sharlto Copley

The first screening of District 9 was at the San Diego Comic Con (honestly, you would think that there have been no other sources of film news over the past few days!)

After the screening the Neill Blomkamp (director), Sharlto Copley (star) and Peter Jackson (producer) chatted about the film.

The film is on general release from 14th August.

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Iron Man 2 won't end on a cliffhanger for the Avengers to resolve

At the moment we know that War Machine (check out the screenshot from the Iron Man 2 footage) will make a significant appearance, Black Widow could be good or evil, and Sam Rockwell will be reinventing the character of Justin Hammer. Director Jon Favreau weighed in as well at Comic-Con with his own details on the film, stating that the sequel won't leave an open-ended cliffhanger for Marvel's 2012 "Avengers" movie. We also know what heroes to expect in the Avengers film.

"We're working towards 'Avengers,' but by the same token we want to resolve this film and make ['Iron Man 2'] play on its own," Favreau told MTV News. "It's not a serial. It's a self-contained film."

Since Marvel Studios began planted movie crossover appearances in "The Incredible Hulk" and the first "Iron Man," continuity buffs have had a great deal to speculate about, given Marvel's ambitious calendar of releases, including "Thor" and "Captain America: The First Avenger." Favreau stressed that while the movies would all be working off of each other, his focus remains on making his film work on its own.

"It's not building towards a cliffhanger that's the next movie," he explained. "It's about wrapping up our story and making it a complete tale."

What about Iron Man 3? "There’s an Iron Man 3. Here’s how I know. When they make the option deals, they include Iron Man 3. So I know they’re planning on 3. Whether that would be before or after Avengers, they’ve announced that Avengers is next but they pushed back The Avengers once which I thought was encouraging."

As for whether, like many sequels, there will be too many villains in Iron Man 2 Favreau had this to say, "Well, we had to walk a fine line. I think you’re good for number two. Two seems to be the charm because you got your origin story out of the way. You can add some complexity to it and you have room, because you don’t have to tell the origin story, to introduce the characters. When you get to number three, you can get hidebound. You’re like a beached whale sometimes because you have so much, you collapse under the weight of the complexity that you’ve created. We looked at the successful sequels that we liked. I’m not talking about Two Towers or films that are chapters based on novels or Harry Potter. I’m talking about true sequels. The two that we liked the most, this was me and Kevin Feige talking, were Wrath of Kahn and Empire Strikes Back. Those were the two that we said, “They did it right. Now let’s look at what they did right.” There were so many others that didn’t feel as good as the first but for those two, what we found was that it really gave room to explore the characters and the villain plotlines were very simple but the stakes were very high. The less you get bogged down in complexity, the more you could really let the audience enjoy what they really like which are the relationships. Two years later, I know I’m a pretty savvy audience member, I don’t remember the dynamics and the subtleties of it. It’s not as precious to me as it is to the filmmakers. So it’s putting yourself in the seat of the audience and saying, “What do they want to see more but you want to go bigger.” You go from Alien to Aliens and then you want to show them the characters that they’ve invested in and how they’ve changed and change those dynamics by introducing new characters. Don’t just add to the action but throw the relationship into a little bit of a curve ball."

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Jonah Hex - Comic Con Panel

San Diego Comic Con panel for Jonah Hex, which features Q&A with Josh Brolin and Megan Fox.

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Sherlock Holmes - Comic Con Panel

The San Diego Comic Con panel for Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, which features Q&A with Robert Downey Jr., Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, and Kelly Reilly

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Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Black Panther?

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Lost, G.I. Joe) during a Comic-Con red carpet told MTV News that he's been talking to Marvel about bringing the African warrior-king known as The Black Panther to the big screen.

"We're talking to Marvel about 'Black Panther,'" Akinnuoye-Agbaje told MTV News. "This is the first round, so you know, hopefully they'll look at 'G.I. Joe' and see the potential. But it's about time we have a black superhero, isn't it?"

Akinnuoye-Agbaje said his hopes were high for the film, and the conditions were never better for it to get the green light.

"He's from a fictional village in Africa and the timing is so right for that kind of character to come through," he said. "And while I'm in my prime, this is the time. We've got [U.S. President Barack] Obama, now we need something on screen to represent, so... 'Panther,' man."

Do you think he would make a good Black Panther?

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Iron Man 2 Comic Con Panel

San Diego Comic Con panel for Iron Man 2, which features Q&A with Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Sam Rockwell, and Scarlett Johansson.

Check out some photos from the exclusive Iron Man 2 footage that was shown.

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Pandorum - Comic Con Trailer

From the producers of the Resident Evil film franchise comes Pandorum, a terrifying thriller in which two crew members wake up on an abandoned spacecraft with no idea who they are, how long they've been asleep, or what their mission is. The two soon discover they're actually not alone -- and the reality of their situation is more horrifying than they could have imagined.

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Legion - Interviews with Paul Bettany and Scott Stewart

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The Goon - Clancy Brown and Paul Giamatti voicing The Goon and Frankie?

Some more Comic Con news. This time about Eric Powell's film of The Goon. Apparantly footage was shown and it looked lovely, in a smashing zombie's around the head kind of way. /film had this to say.

At the moment, Clancy Brown is interested in voicing the Goon, and Paul Giamatti is interested voicing Frankie. We heard their voices in the clips, and they worked beautifully. But since the film isn’t fully greenlit, they’re not signed. The first clip was a ‘public service announcement’ from the Goon, who explained how to deal with a zombie, or slackjaw. “Pick up a hammer or a large wrench, maybe a rusty mailbox and…bash the fucker’s head in!” Then we saw Frankie at a bar with a slackjaw, and got a little dialogue from Giamatti complaining about getting a drink. It’s fun, vulgar and just dark enough.

I think that voice casting is just spot on and I hope they get signed for the feature. Clancy Brown's voice is just fantastic plus he was the Kurgen!

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World War Z may be looking for a new director

First there were delays then there was the news that J Michael Straczynski's script was being rewritten by script hot shot Matthew Michael Carnahan.

Now a rumour that came from the San Diego Comic Con that Paramount Pictures is currently looking for a new director.

Currently attached is Marc Forster who directed Quantum of Solace. To me Quantum was a huge disappointment after the excellent Casino Royale. The action scenes in Quantum just didn't work. Therefore, the news that Forster may not be doing World War Z is actually pretty cool to me. I just really want to see Max Brooks excellent book on the big screen - The Battle of Yonkers, lobos, the astronauts on the space station watching the swarms of the undead, underwater zombies and more.

This is a rumour at the moment, but who would be a good director for this adaption? Zack Snyder, Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Sam Raimi, Lloyd Kaufman? Who could it be?

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Tim Burton talks about Alice in Wonderland and a certain Mr Depp turns up

Johnny Depp appeared in the final moments of Burton's Alice presentation at Comic-Con on thursday. Burton referred to him as his imaginary friend who follows him everywhere. Depp walked onstage, screaming ensued and all he got to say was "Hey. Happy to be here."

Thanks to Pam for sending me the news.

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District 9 - Comic Con Screening

Footage from the SDCC screening of District 9, which opens with an introduction by producer Peter Jackson, director Neill Blomkamp, and actor Sharlto Copley.

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Batman 3 shooting next year? Gary Oldman thinks so

During the Book of Eli presentation at Comic-Con 2009, Gary Oldman was asked when we would be seeing a third Batman movie. He gave a surprising answer.

According to Oldman, a sequel to The Dark Knight is not only happening, but it begins shooting in 2010.

“The next batman is next year, so I think it is two years away. But you didn’t hear it from me.”

Surprising as Christopher Nolan has said he has not signed on for a thirs Batman film just yet and he is currently shooting the sci-fi of the mind film, Inception.

Those who where there said Oldman was not joking. Interesting news.

Expect his to be debunked or confirmed over the next few days.

Source: /film

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Pandorum - New clip from sci-fi horror

From the creators of the Resident Evil film franchise comes Pandorum, a terrifying thriller in which two crew members wake up on an abandoned spacecraft with no idea who they are, how long they've been asleep, or what their mission is. The two soon discover they're actually not alone -- and the reality of their situation is more horrifying than they could have imagined.

Pandorum is in theaters September 18th, 2009 and stars Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Antje Traue, Cung Le, Norman Reedus and Cam Gigandet.

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UPDATED: Avatar - Footage from the Comic Con Panel and news on Avatar day

James Cameron had some big news about his new sci-fi film, Avatar, at the San Diego Comic Con.

15 minutes of the film will be screened in digital theaters for free across the globe on August 21. After viewing the Avatar footage, I thnk an event such as this will serve the film well—at least, much more so than a typical trailer and marketing campaign.

We’re going to do something unprecedented. It’s a social marketing experiment. We’re going to take over as many IMAX 3D theaters and other select 3D theaters worldwide on August 21 and we’re going to let an international global audience come see 15 minutes of Avatar for free. It’s going to be Avatar day.

UPDATE: Here is the official press release from Fox about Avatar Day.

On August 21, the world will get its first look at director James Cameron’s motion picture epic AVATAR, when Twentieth Century Fox and Cameron debut the film’s trailer everywhere – while select cinemas and IMAX® theaters will screen extended footage prepared by the renowned filmmaker for this global “Avatar Day” event.

The worldwide trailer launch will be presented in all formats, including IMAX® 3-D, IMAX® 2-D, digital 3-D, digital 2-D, and 35mm 2-D. The trailer will also be available online.

The extended look at AVATAR will unspool only on August 21 – and only in 3-D – in select theaters and IMAX®. Details on locations and reserving tickets for this extraordinary and unprecedented experience will be announced soon.

In addition on the 21st, Ubisoft® will unveil the trailer for their videogame James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game, and Mattel will reveal the action figures for the film’s Avatar and alien Na’vi characters.

AVATAR takes us to a spectacular new world beyond our imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption, discovery and unexpected love, as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization. The film was first conceived by Cameron 14 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist. Now, after four years of actual production work, AVATAR delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film, disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

AVATAR opens in theaters everywhere December 18, 2009.

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