Director of Knight & Day offered The Wolverine

After Darren Aronofsky jumped ship from The Wolverine, every fan boy had a good cry.  The film is the sequel to the terrible X-Men Origins: Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman as the clawed X-Man. 

It has actually taken a lot longer for Fox to put an offer to a new director than I thought it would.  Well it finally happened and the offer is going to director James Mangold.  You might remember him from last years under performing, Tom Cruise starring, Knight & Day. 

Mangold is actually a great director with films like Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma under his belt.  I liked Kight & Day, despite it's bad reviews.  3:10 to Yuma is such a great, and underrated film.  I was never really jumping up for joy for Aronofsky directing the film, this will do just fine in my book.  What do you guys think?

Darren Aronofsky's "Wolverine" Sequel Now Has a Title

So, yes, it has been confirmed that Darren Aronofsky will re-team with Hugh Jackman for the Wolverine sequel. We already know the director and lead actor, as well as the plot. It will follow the Frank Miller, Japan Saga. Where Logan (aka Wolverine) falls in love with a married woman, the wife of a samurai. Logan must battle the villagers in hopes of ending up with the woman he loves.

The title has been revealed by Aronofsky himself. The movie will be called; The Wolverine. Back to basics, I like it! I never really liked the whole "X-Men Origins" part of the title anyway. It doesn't make sense to even use that if 'Wolverine' was going to be the only entry in the franchise; now that X-Men Origins: Magneto has been canceled. Aronofsky has an interesting visual style as well as the ability to tell a love story. He will do well and I will see this movie. That is all.

Hugh Jackman Confirms Aronofsky to Direct "Wolverine 2"

In a recent quick interview with Hugh Jackman, Vulture found out that Darren Aronofsky will indeed be directing the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, confirming Tonedog's earlier rumor post.
I hope it'll be worth it and make up for the terrible first film.

Here's what Jackman had to say:

"This is, hopefully for me, going to be out of the box. It’s going to be the best one, I hope…Well, I would say that, but I really do feel that, and I feel this is going to be very different.
"This is Wolverine. This is not Popeye. He’s kind of dark… But, you know, this is a change of pace. Chris McQuarrie, who wrote The Usual Suspects, has written the script, so that’ll give you a good clue. [Aronofsky’s] going to make it fantastic. There’s going to be some meat on the bones. There will be something to think about as you leave the theater, for sure."

UPDATE: Darren Aronofsky Confirmed to Direct "Wolverine 2"

Yes it was only a rumor at first, but now Hugh Jackman has confirmed. Via various websites, here's a quote from Jackman himself:

This is Wolverine. This is not Popeye. He’s kind of dark… But, you know, this is a change of pace. Chris McQuarrie, who wrote The Usual Suspects, has written the script, so that’ll give you a good clue. [Aronofsky’s] going to make it fantastic. There’s going to be some meat on the bones. There will be something to think about as you leave the theater, for sure.

Could it be Darren Aronofsky is directing Wolverine 2? Ok, so he directed Hugh Jackman in The Fountain. Like 6 people saw the damn thing. Well, maybe it's because Zack Snyder got the Superman job and Darren Aronofsky didn't. Even though he was rumored to be in the running? I don't know, that's speculation on my part. /Slashfilm via Vulture are reporting the news.

I couldn't see Aronofsky making Superman and I don't see him doing Wolverine 2 either. Don't get me wring, I think he's a great director. Maybe Fox sees something in him that will improve upon the awful X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Improving the first film wont be very difficult. Director Gavin Hood butchered that film. There was so much wrong with the movie, it's not even funny. Check out my original review here.

Aronofsky is a dramatic director, but so was Gavin Hood. I believe that directors with a dramatic background are going to continue having difficulties in a genre such as superhero films. I wouldn't mind seeing an Aronofsky-directed Wolverine, but he wouldn't be my first pick. What do you think?

Big name director for the Deadpool movie, guess who?

There's news today about a Deadpool director? Who may you ask? Robert Rodriguez! Director of some awesome stuff, like Desperado and Sin City. The movie was on the fast track after X-Men Origins: Wolverine featured the Deadpool character. Ryan Reynolds signed on to reprise his role as a spin-off feature. Then a road bump... he got cast as another superhero! Reynolds signed on to Warner Brothers' Green Lantern.

There was talk that Reynolds may have backed out of the Deadpool project, but that hasn't happened. It was reported by the guys at /slashfilm that Reynolds is indeed involved and the offer is out to Rodriguez to direct.


As long as Rodriguez takes a comedy-action approach to the movie, I'm totally OK with this decision by Fox. But if he tries to pull a Gavin Hood, and make the movie too serious for its own good, "somebody gonna get a hurt real bad". Hood made 'Wolverine' way too damn serious for its own good. And the fact that the Deadpool character is in fact a comedic one, let's hope Rodriguez takes a lighter approach. Till then, we'll keep ya posted.

The image at the top of the post is by DeviantArt contributor Will, screen name deusxmachina.

X-Men First Class get's a director and a release date

Matthew Vaughn director of Kick-Ass, has been tapped to take on the X-Men. In a prequel of sorts, X-Men First Class will focus on the first class at Professor Xavier's school for the gifted.

Based on the first 8 issues of the 2006 comic books, the line up of mutants include the following: Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Jean Grey and Professor X.

I think Fox is planning on creating a totally new franchise independent of the first trilogy of X-Men films. I say this because the studio is already planning a fourth film in the 2000-2006 franchise.

I've already told you how much I enjoyed Vaughn's Kick-Ass; so I love this move by Fox. I can't wait to see Vaughn's take on the X-Men. I don't think it will take itself as seriously as the Hugh Jackman starring franchise, and I don't think it should. This is a younger group of heroes who haven't come into their own yet.

The studio also announced the movie would be released next year! That's right, June 2011 is the tentative release date. What do you guys think about the news?

The picture above was provided by Deviant Art, and created by "Apollorising". Check out the artist's other work here.

Disney Buys Marvel for $4 Billion

The title says it all I think. The Disney Company has just purchased Marvel for the tune of $4 billion. Ok so we could give you numbers and figures, and stock prices jumps and dives... forget all that nonsense. What does this purchase mean to the fans?! If you work for Marvel OR Disney, we know and understand your concerns are elsewhere. But what happens to the movies? The licensing? Who gets to make what movie? Ok, let's break it down studio by studio.

Disney: Gets control of thousands of characters, within the comics, merchandising and most future films.

Fox: Retains control of the X-Men universe including X-Men: First Class, X-Men Origins: Magneto, X-Men Origins: Deadpool and a possible X-Men Origins: Gambit. Fox also holds the rights to the Fantastic Four (which we just blogged about today), as well as the Silver Surfer solo project.

Sony: Retains control of Spider-Man 4, 5, 6. They've already began one phase or another of all three movies.

Paramount: Will still distribute Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers... BUT! BUT! Disney will carry on producing the movies... i.e. Writing, filming, editing.

All studios who are not Disney: When your current agreements are up... Disney's taking control back of the properties, deal with it.


Whoa... that was information overload. But that is the current news as of now. We'll update you as things come up. What do you think about this merger of sorts?

Writer found for X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2

Every few days to a week we are getting more details about the 'Wolverine' sequel. Last week, Hugh Jackman revealed that the film would follow the Japan saga made popular in the 1980's comic. This week a writer has been hired, a good one! Christopher McQuarrie has written movies like Valkyrie, The Way of the Gun, and won an Oscar for The Usual Suspects in 1996 for Best Original Screenplay. Not a bad resume.

The next rumor/ order of business is, who will direct? Neither the studio or Jackman are saying if Gavin Hood would return. The greatest rumor of all is Bryan Singer. A few months ago we told you that producers wanted him for a Gambit spin-off. Now we're hearing he may do the Wolverine sequel. He has a great relationship with Jackman, whom he discovered. So it looks like a good fit considering Singer has worked with McQuarrie on three films now. We'll see what happens in the upcoming weeks. But I am very pleased with McQuarrie as writer of Wolverine 2, hope the studio doesn't mess this one up.

Quickie: Wolverine 2 to take place in Japan

Hey folks, it looks like X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2 will indeed take place in Japan. MTV interviewed Hugh Jackman about the upcoming film and he said, "I think the fans love that saga. It's my favorite saga of the Wolverine stories."

I am a fan of the comics and have indeed read the saga. In other media, X-Men The Animated Series covered it and touched on the feud between Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike, which started in Japan. Wolverine has a rich history and there's a lot of things they could do with the Japan saga.

Here is something I'm worried about: how are they going to introduce new mutants we haven't seen in previous X-Men films? I mean, there are mutants in the Japan saga, but none that the general public are going to go goo goo ga ga over. So it will be interesting to see who they weave into the story. Either way I like the direction they're headed and hopefully it is better than the first Wolverine movie. We'll see!

Here is the Hugh Jackman interview with MTV:

Quickie: X-Men Origins: Wolverine hits DVD on Sept. 15th

It was inevitable, X-Men Origins: Wolverine had to come to DVD sooner or later, and the date has been set. September 15th will be the official release date for the DVD. I will probably buy the DVD only because my collection must go on, even if I didn't like the movie. As a comic book fan and a fan of this film genre, I really think it could have been so much better. If you're curious, here's my original review of the film. Here are the specs, provided by Comingsoon.net.

Two-Disc Special Edition Specs:

The X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2-Disc Special Edition DVD is presented in widescreen (FOX TO PROVIDE ASPECT RATIO) with English 5.1 Dolby Surround and French / Spanish Dolby Surround along with English / French / Spanish subtitles. Special features include:

Disc One:

Commentary by Director Gavin Hood

Commentary by Producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter

The Roots of Wolverine: A Conversation with X-Men creators Stan Lee and Len Wein

“Wolverine Unleashed: The Complete Origins” featurette

Deleted and Alternate Scenes

Alternate Tag Scene: Japan

Anti-Smoking PSA: Bubbles


Disc Two:

Digital Copy

Deadpool movie WILL break the fourth wall, heck yeah!

Fans of Broadway will appreciate this posting. The new Deadpool movie will indeed break the fourth wall, just as the comic book does. Ryan Reynolds confirmed it to Empire this week. What is breaking the fourth wall? Simply really; the characters talk directly to the audience. Imagine all the characters in a box, well they "break the fourth wall" that is facing the audience. There were, and still are, plays on Broadway that incorporate this into their plays.

The comic book was the first of its kind to do so. Deadpool actually goes further than that. He acknowledges that he is a comic book character and sometimes he even references being a Marvel Comic book character specifically. To fans of the comic like myself, this is very exciting news. This means the Fox studio is taking the source material very seriously and hopefully doing a better job in pre-production than Wolverine did. Here are a few snippets from the interview with Reynolds:

The studio's working on a script and trying to find a director. The main goal is to make sure it stays close to the source material. I’ve always been a fan, at least for the last eight or nine years. I feel a bit of validation because I knew going into Wolverine that there’s a huge fan base for this and I don’t think anyone else did.

Deadpool concept art!

Folks, Themovieblog has given us fans a few concept art pictures from the upcoming Deadpool movie. The movie is obviously a spin-off from the Wolverine movie that Matt and I reviewed a few weeks ago. This is kind of exciting to see the different steps involved before you see the movie itself... but did Fox give us a huge secret?! In the concept art is Victor Creed aka Sabertooth... before today's release I didn't know if he would be starring in the film. Then again, it is just concept art and may not end up in the movie. Either way, this is some cool stuff. Ryan Reynolds is playing Deadpool and is acting as a consultant in the development process.

Possible Gambit Spin-Off

Ok, so this isn't the latest news, but it is still relatively recent. It seems Fox was so impressed with the Wolverine movie that they're giving Deadpool (confimed) a spin-off, but Gambit as well. Donner, a producer on Wolverine, says there are "internal converstions" going on about a Gambit spin-off. Ready for the best part? She wants to pursue Bryan Singer to come back and direct. For those who don't know, Bryan Singer directed the first two (best of the franchise) X-Men movies. He's a genius behind the camera (minus Superman Returns) and I would love to see this movie. The actor playing Gambit in the Wolverine Movie is Taylor Kitsch. He has his own ideas about where the movie should go with the story, and I agree with him. Kitsch suggests the story arc of the Guild of Theives. That's where Gambit became the character we know and love (I do anyway). Hopefully it takes place in New Orleans and they stay faithful to the comics. Either way, we'll keep you posted.

'Wolverine' Gambit Spotlight @ Yahoo! Video

Matt: X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

I'm going to agree with you on this one.

I really had high hopes for this movie. The trailer blew me away (I
should learn by now not to trust those darn things) and I thought the
casting was just right. I heard a negative review from you going into
it, so I wasn't really expecting much in the first place.

…Which explains why I enjoyed the first 1/3 of the movie so much. It
was well done, original, interesting and captured your attention. It
showed a young Wolverine and Sabertooth, growing up as children and
how they treated each other. It was a side of these beloved X-MEN
characters that we had never seen before. I started to think you had
it all wrong, Tony.

Until Wolverine grew up and had to become badass enough to blow up a
bunch of things and attract male viewers ages 15-35.

The multi-talented Hugh Jackman always was the best casted of all the
X-MEN in the first 3 outings of this beloved superhero franchise and
it's no surprise that he does a fine job playing the title character
here. Liev Schreiber in the supporting role was also a wise decision,
and I'm glad superhero flicks are stable enough to draw some better
actors. (Remember Sabertooth in the original X-MEN movie? Neither does
anyone else.)
You mentioned Gambit. I'm sure everyone was disappointed with Gambit.
I didn't have that much of a problem with Kitsch; it's the dull,
cliché dialogue and repetitive moves he performed that annoyed me.
Ryan Reynolds does a pretty good job making the best lemonade he could
from the rotten lemons he was handed. Being a Ryan Reynolds fan
myself, I enjoyed his role in this picture. I'm looking forward to his
spin-off. I just hope it's a completely different crew that works on
that movie.

The special effects in "Wolverine" were downright laughable. There is
a scene when Wolverine is in a bathroom admiring his newly made
adamantium blades, and I swear to everyone reading this that I could
have done a better job making those things look real. I don't know who
was in charge of that, but they should be fired. Immediately.
All the effects in this movie were overdone and looked horrible. I'm
really disappointed by that, too, because I thought that I'd at least
enjoy some eye-candy if everything else was bad, and I couldn't.

And I'm disagreeing with you on the writing. I didn't like where the
story went at all. I thought showing us the other X-MEN characters for
just a few seconds was unnecessary, not a fan pleaser. All the other
dialogue was just tried too hard to be serious while coming off as,
well, comic book like; over exaggerated and overdone.

Overall, the movie didn't know whether it wanted to be serious and
gritty like "The Dark Knight," or more graphic novel-like, a la "300"
and ended up failing at both. Let's hope for the next "Origins" they
take a lesson from last year's excellent "Iron Man."

Do not spend 12 bucks on this movie.
Heck, don't even rent it unless you're a die-hard X-MEN fan. You will
be disappointed.


-Matt

Tony: X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

Yes, the long awaited prequel to the X-Men movies has finally been released. And what a release its been; to the tune of 90 million dollars! That's all fine and dandy, but was it deserving of such an opening? I'm afraid the answer is no boys and girls.

Hugh Jackman plays the title character of Wolverine and does a great job. The rest of the characters were cast very well. Liev Schreiber as Sabertooth is a menacing mutant that has the same regenerative abilities as Wolverine, and without really spoiling anything, it may be because they're brothers. Ryan Reynolds (one of my favorites) plays Deadpool (one of my favorites), and does a fantastic job. He does what he can with what little face time he gets. But its been confirmed he's getting his own spin off, so stay tuned for that one.


Now for what was the most exciting and somewhat disappointment part of this movie; Gambit. My personal favorite super hero and a fan favorite amongst those who follow the genre, was just a sidekick. The casting was wrong on this one, Taylor Kitsch is too young for the role, Gambit was a Cajun thief in his late 20's, Kitsch is just too young for that. Gambit's weapon of choice are playing cards which he charges with kinetic energy, yeah... It was shown for 10 seconds in the movie. He truly is just a sidekick to Wolverine.

Ready for the worst part of the film? The special effects. For a genre film of this kind, you need to spend the money for special effects. The audience shouldn't know where reality ends and cgi (computer generated images) begins. What made The Dark Knight so great was its on-location filming and the reality it presented. The last 30 minutes of this movie were so obviously filmed in front of a green screen that my wife noticed all of it; and she's not that into these movies. Not to mention the infamous "jump into a moving helicopter" scene (you'll all see for yourselves).

I do have to compliment the writers. The script was clever in weaving together characters and filing in plot holes we'd never seen as an audience. There are a couple of "wink wink" moments for the audience that reference the X-Men movies, especially when showing us characters in their younger years. I did like the explanation of where the name Wolverine came from, it was very well done. But the clever writing wasn't enough to save this film.

Overall, I'd save the 12 bucks (that's right, 12 dollars a ticket in Valencia, CA) and wait for the DVD. And if you're a hardcore fan (which I would like to think I am), don't anticipate much and you'll be fine. Go in thinking they were under budgeted for the special effects and you'll appreciate the movie. But for me, I think I'm going to disapprove of this one folks. Either way, we can all agree to disagree!