Comic-Con: Upcoming Marvel titles revealed

We have the official titles for the upcoming sequels to Captain America and Thor as well as a title for another upcoming Marvel project.

Thor's sequel is now Thor: The Dark World.

Captain America's sequel is now Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

And of course, the new Marvel project is Guardians of the Galaxy.

I don't know if this is just rumor or if it's fact, but I read that Guardians of the Galaxy is a set-up for The Avengers 2 and will feature Thanos and introduce him for the Avengers sequel. Whether that is true or not I think is still up in the air but I think that it's probably true. There will be a lot of new characters in the Marvel Universe introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy.

And of course we have the next Marvel release, Iron Man 3.

How Peter Jackson could turn The Hobbit into a trilogy

According to the good people spreading the news and hearsay from Comic-Con, apparently Peter Jackson went on record saying that he wants to shoot more footage for The Hobbit.

If you didn't know, there is a movie called The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey set to be released this December and yes, it is yet another JRR Tolkien adaptation. If you have no clue about Lord of the Rings... The Hobbit is basically a prequel to Fellowship of the Ring. We saw Bilbo Baggins as an old Hobbit in Fellowship of the Ring and now we will see Bilbo as a young Hobbit in An Unexpected Journey.

HOWEVER... this is already split into two parts. An Unexpected Journey comes out this December and the second part, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, is set for release in December 2013. If Peter Jackson rounds everyone up again and films more footage this could mean one of two things, as Collider predicts:

1. One or both films will have extended cuts for DVD/Blu-Ray release or will be released extended theatrically.
2. He will tweak the editing and release a third Hobbit film making one book an entire trilogy.

Now, I have read all the Lord of the Rings books including The Hobbit. I did a book project on this book when I was in 6th grade including making a model of Smaug to go along with my book report. Not only is it the shortest book of them all but it doesn't really need to be expanded this much, imo. Seeing that Peter Jackson completed three books in three movies already (Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and Return of the King) I don't see why he has to make three more movies out of one book. But of course we all know the real reason; Peter Jackson wants all the money he can get out of the LOTR nerds of the world. All the money, merchandise, and Academy Awards he got from the first trilogy wasn't enough.

I disagree with this prediction in the sense of not wanting it to happen. I am honestly expecting this to happen and it pisses me off. I don't want to deal with three more LOTR movies that are, no doubt, going to be just as boring as the previous three were.

Comic-Con: Kingsley's role named for Iron Man 3

As speculated and rumored, Ben Kingsley will indeed be playing The Mandarin in Iron Man 3. This was revealed during the Iron Man panel at SD Comic-Con 2012.

We also have a new image from the upcoming movie, which is going to be awesome.

Comic-Con: First poster for Man of Steel

Comic-Con: The Walking Dead Season 3 Trailer

Gotta get down on Friday... the 13th

[Update] Mikkelson will not be in Thor 2

It was previously confirmed that Mads Mikkelson was set to play a villain in the upcoming Marvel film, Thor 2. However, new news has surfaced that Mikkelson will not be in Thor 2 after all. Mikkelson was nabbed for Hannibal Lecter so he unfortunately had to drop out of the project. He has also dropped out of the upcoming Daredevil reboot.

Oh well.

Mockingjay to be released in two parts

The release dates for Mockingjay, the third chapter of The Hunger Games, have been released by Lionsgate. And yes, if you caught the fact that I said "dates" then you are paying attention. Part 1 will be released in November 2014 and Part 2 will be released in November 2015.

This pisses me off so much. Why must everything be split into two parts? Fucking hell. The books are all equal in length so splitting the third book into two parts is unnecessary. I guarantee it will make it slow and feel dragged. I could throw eggs at Lionsgate.

Philip Seymour Hoffman WILL play Plutarch in Catching Fire

I wrote about this a couple weeks ago but we now have confirmation that Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote, Moneyball) will play Plutarch Heavensbee (aka, the new Gamemaker) in Catching Fire, the upcoming sequel to The Hunger Games.

This excites the fuck out of me. When I read this article earlier today I almost jumped out of my chair. This makes two casting choices I am really happy with, along with Jena Malone as Johanna, so hopefully they didn't skimp out when it comes to Finnick. Whoever is cast better be a good choice.

Update - July 2012

Sorry for the lack of posts on this blog lately. The truth is it is kind of a slow time for news and stuff. I have seen most of the movies I want to see until later in the year, and until The Dark Knight Rises, and the stuff I could post about just because I don't want to talk about.

Movies I am looking forward to seeing:


The Dark Knight Rises
Sparkle
Cosmopolis (if it is released in my city)

ParaNorman
The Possession (again, if it is released in my city)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
House at the End of the Street
Frankenweenie
Wreck It Ralph
Skyfall
This is 40
Django Unchained
The Great Gatsby

Everything else I will post as it is made available, as I have been doing. I log on almost every day and read around looking for tidbits or whatever. If I don't find something interesting I don't post. Simple as that.

Disney developing Hocus Pocus 2?

Moviehole has made the statement saying that Disney is in the development stage of a sequel to the popular 1993 Halloween film, Hocus Pocus. The rumored title is Hocus Pocus 2: Rise of the Elderwitch.

Now... if you have never seen Hocus Pocus the basic plot is this; 300 year old witches (Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker) return to the town of Salem under their own spell after a teenage boy (Omri Katz), his classmate (Vinessa Shaw), and little sister (Thora Birch) light a candle bringing them back to life for Halloween night. It is a kids movie, but it is truly a great movie. It is one of my favorite films from when I was a kid. It's one of those movies you watch as you get older and realize how adult the humor really was.
However, I am a bit confused on why make a sequel almost 20 years after the first movie was made. The actors have all moved on and aged significantly so unless they introduce all new characters or use one of the former kid actors as current parents or something it could be really lame. I also bet it will be one of Disney's many Direct-to-DVD features. Either that or it will air on The Disney Channel if that channel even exists anymore.

wtf.

The Devil's Carnival back out on the road

The road show for the newest film collaboration between Terrance Zdunich and Darren Bousman is headed back on the road for another tour. The tour will begin at San Diego Comic-Con 2012 on July 13th and will end in Vancouver on August 18th.

As I have mentioned before I went to The Devil's Carnival road show in May and it was pretty worth it. Not as good as Repo! The Genetic Opera but it wasn't a total loss. If you get a chance to see it this time around I suggest going.

Official runtime for The Dark Knight Rises

We will be sitting in the theater watching a 164 minute and 27 second movie, otherwise known as The Dark Knight Rises. It is 12 minutes longer than The Dark Knight and 24 minutes longer than Batman Begins.

I can do that.

Jena Malone WILL play Johanna Mason in Catching Fire

It is confirmed! Jena Malone (Stepmom, Sucker Punch) will play the role of Johanna Mason in Catching Fire, the upcoming sequel to The Hunger Games.

I mentioned this last week and I was excited for this possibility. Now that it has been confirmed I am even more excited. I really like Jena Malone and I think she is going to be a fantastic Johanna. Now all we need is for them to cast Finnick and we'll be all set when it comes to the absolute major characters.

True Blood to return for 6th season

HBO has renewed True Blood, the vampire drama based on Charlaine Harris' novels, for a 6th season. Filming will begin in January for a summer premiere.