Wednesday, November 18

• New Editors Hired for The Wolfman; French Trailer Released

  Buried deep inside a Variety piece, SlashFilm found news that Universal has hired editors Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now) and Mark Goldblatt (The Terminator) to recut Joe Johnston's The Wolfman.

  The release date for The Wolfman has already been rescheduled several times, but the move to put the movie out in February was clearly done so that Murch and Goldblatt could have some time to fix things. The two editors likely will be cutting together footage from six weeks of reshoots completed over the summer, mostly supervised by second unit director Vic Armstrong.

  Already, the work of the two editors has the movie looking more historic in the new French trailer, shown below ...:

  Ok, we admit that's the trailer for the 1941 original. It might be a little while before any work from Murch and Goldblatt will be seen in trailers, if at all. The "new" French trailer is nothing more than a shortened version of the original trailer, but with French subtitles. You can see it for yourself here.

  
  
  

  The Wolfman - Trailer

  Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins Star

  Posted 11/18/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Joe Johnston | Mark Goldblatt | Vic Armstrong | Walter Murch | The Wolfman | The Wolf Man

Tuesday, August 11

• Louis Leterrier Talks About His Avengers "Dream"

  The LA Times caught up with Louis Leterrier on the set of his upcoming Clash of the Titans, where The Incredible Hulk director talked about The Avengers and the upcoming Marvel movies. The French director revealed that he wants to make another Marvel movie, but Leterrier seemed uncommitted to making The Incredible Hulk 2.

  Well, so far, no. I am contracted to do one more film with Marvel so when I'm done here with [Titans] I will go back to say to them, "Guys you need me? Is there something I can do?"

  Leterrier explained that making The Incredible Hulk took its toll on him.

  Hulk was such a challenge. It was to reboot something and follow [the Ang Lee-directed 2003 Hulk] movie that was absolutely adored by part of the fan population and then absolutely hated by another part. It was complicated for me. I wasn't sure what to do with that history. I did my Hulk but it was not easy. If I do another Hulk film it will always be compared to the Ang Lee thing, and my first one … if I come back I'd love to do another superhero, something different that I can really put my touch on.

  So if Leterrier isn't willing to direct the next Incredible Hulk, what movie would he want to direct?

  I would love to do the Avengers film. I'd love to work with Marvel again. I loved working with them. I like [Marvel President of Production] Kevin Feige, he's a good guy and a fan. I love him. I feel really good at Marvel because they are people my age who are obsessed with movies and comic books. We talk about the same things. And they are not the nerd army — they like when you change something [away from Marvel canon] if there's a good reason, they're open to new things. Kevin is smart about movies and he takes risks. I would work with him tomorrow. But it has to be the right project.

  But directing The Avengers isn't all Leterrier wants. He outlined a much larger dream for The Avengers that surely had Feige and his fellow Marvel executives talking.

  I'll tell you my real dream: To work with [First Avenger: Captain America director] Joe Johnston and [Thor director] Kenneth Branagh and Jon Favreau and make like a triptych. We do four movies. We release them one a month for the summer. Or even every two weeks or three weeks. And the whole summer would be Avengers summer. So we do it the way they make television shows. One story arc but told in installments by different directors. So all of the directors that touch part of the Avengers world would do a part; we could make the movies shorter, maybe less than an hour and a half, and we use the same sets and save Marvel money. I would love to sit around a table with all of them a kick around the story. That's my dream.

  
  

  Posted 08/11/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Joe Johnston | Jon Favreau | Kevin Feige | Ang Lee | Louis Leterrier | Kenneth Branagh | The Avengers | The Incredible Hulk | The Incredible Hulk 2 | The Hulk

Thursday, August 6

• The Wolfman Release Delayed (Again)

  

  Typically, when a movie studio changes the release date of a movie, it's not necessarily a sign of trouble. Often this is done to take advantage of a holiday or to avoid competing with a movie with a similar target audience. However, when a movie's release is rescheduled twice, rumors start circulating that there are problems with the production. So what does it mean when a movie's release is rescheduled three times like The Wolfman? Well, if there are problems with Universal's The Wolfman, they're not saying.

  The Wolfman was initially scheduled for a November 12, 2008 release, but was pushed back to early 2009. When director Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) left, citing "creative differences," the studio met with a whole host of big-name directors before hiring Joe Johnston (Jumanji). The resultant delay caused the movie's release to be pushed back a second time, to November 6. Now Universal has pushed the release date back for a third time, to February 12, 2010. While some have speculated that the delay has to do with the movie's special effects, Universal's Adam Fogelson told Variety that the move was purely for financial reasons.

  The Wolfman stars Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, and Hugo Weaving. The first trailer for the movie will debut August 21 before Quentin Tarnatino's Inglourious Basterds.

  
  
  Next Showing: The Wolfman is scheduled to open February 12, 2010

  Posted 08/06/2009 by BrentJS

  Related: Benicio Del Toro | Joe Johnston | The Wolfman

Wednesday, April 29

• Matthew McConaughey as Captain America Upgraded to Maybe

  The rumored choice to play Steve Rogers in the upcoming Joe Johnston directed First Avenger: Captain America, Matthew McConaughey may actually be interested. Long considered to be a rumor along the lines of a Will Smith casting, McConaughey told MTV that playing the superhero "sounds fun," though he also has not seen a script or been made an offer. It's better than what he said last year about the casting rumor: "That’s a super cool name — Captain America.”

  McConaughey's Ghosts of Girfriends Past co-star Jennifer Garner, who has played a superhero before in Elektra, agreed. "You would be a great Captain America,” Garner told McConaughey, “You could wear a cape and tights and little pointy shoes."

  Jennifer, the superhero you're describing sound more like Robin than Captain America, who wears no cape, boots, and carries a shield. Ring a bell? Red, white, and blue? He has a "super cool" name?

  
  

  Posted 04/29/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Joe Johnston | Matthew McConaughey | Will Smith | Jennifer Garner | Elektra | First Avenger: Captain America | Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Friday, November 21

• Captain America Movie Gets 2 Screenwriters

  On the heels of the news that Joe Johnston will direct the film version of First Avenger: Captain America, now Variety reports that the writing duties will go to Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the writers of both Chronicles of Narnia films. Before fanboys start worrying that Steve Rogers and Bucky will be jumping out of a wardrobe to keep a Red Skull from bringing an eternal winter to the Allied powers, remember the screenwriting pair also won Emmys for their Life and Death of Peter Sellers script. So, clearly, the costumed heroes will instead jump out of a wardrobe to find the thief of a valuable pink diamond.

  So far there's no casting news for the movie, scheduled for release on May 6, 2011, with Avengers Movie scheduled to follow two months later on July 15. However there is a heated debate on who should be cast. (Click on User Comments tab).

  
  

  Posted 11/21/2008 by Ryan

  Related: Joe Johnston | First Avenger: Captain America | The Avengers

Wednesday, November 12

• Captain America Has a Director

  Joe Johnston, the man behind blockbusters Jumanji, Jurassic Park III and the forthcoming Wolf Man, has signed on to direct First Avenger: Captain America. The release date is slated for 2011.

  Along with the already released Iron Man and Incredible Hulk, Captain America will be part of a series of Marvel releases including Iron Man 2 and Thor leading up to the highly anticipated Avengers movie in 2011.

  No word yet on casting for Cap, but personally, we're hoping the Matthew McConaughey rumors are false. Hard to imagine a shirtless Captain America...

  Source: Reuters

  
  

  Posted 11/12/2008 by reelz

  Related: Joe Johnston | First Avenger: Captain America | Iron Man 3 | Iron Man 2 | Iron Man