Captain America to challenge Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman in 2016

Captain America to challenge Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Yes Marvel and DC movies will face off directly at the box office on May 6, 2016 with the third Captain America film and the Man of Steel sequel both opening the same weekend. Is Marvel’s head start and higher quality enough to take down DC’s three biggest names? All I know is that I’ll probably be seeing the one that’s not directed by Zack Snyder first.

Ben Affleck is Hollywood’s latest Batman

AffleckFollowing in the footsteps of Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney and Christian Bale, Warner Brothers has dropped the bomb that Ben Affleck will be the next Batman. He’ll join the reigning Superman, Henry Cavill, in the Man of Steel sequel that was announced at SDCC. It’ll be the first live-action film in which the two characters face off.

My reaction can only be summed up with an animated GIF.

Affleck’s doing pretty well for himself these days as a star and director, taking home a second Oscar earlier this year for Argo’s Best Picture win, but who among us doesn’t remember 2003’s Daredevil? Still, if the second superhero role was the charm for Chris Evans, certainly Affleck can turn it around as well.

And, lest we forget:

Sigh.

SDCC: Marvel piles on superhero reveals; Superman and Batman to meet in 2015

Guardians of the Galaxy

Saturday night’s highlight was the Marvel Studios panel, which opened with Tom Hiddleston as Loki (in full costume!) taunting the crowd and introducing a new new trailer for Thor 2: The Dark World. They continued with the full cast of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and more footage… And then the Guardians of the Galaxy cast, who’ve only just begun filming. Somehow they brought footage as well, and then… Doctor Who’s Karen Gillan, who will be playing space pirate Nebula, revealed she’s shaved her head for the role. They introduced some new Guardians concept art, above. And then Joss Whedon came out to reveal that Avengers 2 is titled Avengers: Age of Ultron. [Recaps: Tor, THR, HitFix/HitFix, Hero Complex, EW]

For the Marvel properties that live at other studios, Fox brought out the entire cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past, a time travel story which includes mutants from the original films and the prequel First Class. [THR, EW, /film] And Sony touted the just-wrapped Amazing Spider-Man 2. [/film]

As for DC… They announced that the Man of Steel sequel will also involve Batman – a new one, as the studio has previously said that they’ll be rebooting the character for any future films. Both writer David S. Goyer and director Zack Snyder will return. It’s aiming for… You guessed it… 2015. Rumor has it that they plan to follow the team-up with The Flash and Justice League. [Hero Complex, THR, EW]

Trailer park: Man of Steel, R.I.P.D. and Byzantium

Here’s the third – and perhaps the best – trailer for Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel. Of course, if there’s one thing we can count on, it’s that Snyder cuts a hell of a great trailer… But can the movie live up to it?

(And yes, of course someone has already remixed it with the John Williams score from the ’78 Superman.)

Under the cut, R.I.P.D., Byzantium and which superhero movie is releasing a teaser trailer next week.

Continue reading “Trailer park: Man of Steel, R.I.P.D. and Byzantium”

Movie news: Yes, this post contains Sweet Valley High

It could be worse. It could be My Little Pony.Just deal with it, boys. I thought April Fools had come early when I heard that Diablo Cody is adapting the Sweet Valley High series for the big screen. (It is indeed for real. There goes one of my jokes for next year.) Of course, the reaction has been mixed. And we can take solace in the fact that Cody is keeping the series in its proper time period – the 80’s. In any case, it’s only Sweet Valley High, and they’ve never exactly been classic anything.

  • Mark Hamill is not in Zombieland. Because really, once one has spoofed their most famous role in the form of a character called the Cocknocker, everything else in that vein is just kind of downhill.
  • Stephanie Meyer’s other property. Her science fiction novel, The Host, will be adapted by Gattaca’s Andrew Niccol.
  • Remakes rearing their ugly heads. Highlander and He-Man not as dead as we thought. DAMN IT. But at least we can be grateful for one thing:
  • My eyes! My eyes! io9 unearthed some a test shot of Nicolas Cage from the late 90’s Superman movie that never got made, and it’s every bit as awful as you might expect.