strange_one
06-21-2005, 10:39 PM
<font color=33FFFF>In an interview published Monday with MTV.com, Marvel Chairman and CEO Avi Arad updated Marvel’s Hollywood production schedule and dropped a few new details about Marvel projects in development.
Among the highlights:
Regarding Brett Ratner’s X3, Arad said, "Dark Phoenix should not be the centerpiece of the movie."
Two X-Men spin-offs, including 2007/’08’s Wolverine with Hugh Jackman ("Totally different, just Wolverine's journey") and a movie about a young Magneto are in development.
On next August’s Ghost Rider, Arad said the big-budget Nick Cage "morality tale” will sport a PG-13 rating and a "Southern rock" soundtrack and ethos, that one scene will feature Ghost Rider facing off against a CGI, The Perfect Storm-like tidal wave, and at one point he’ll be completely submerged… though Arad added you can’t extinguish hellfire.
Spider-Man 3 remains on target for May 2007, and Arad debunks rumors films 3 and 4 will be shot simultaneously. Also, Dylan Baker will return for the third film as Dr. Curt Connors
Turning his attention to the slate of up to 10 films (which could ******* sequels) that Marvel will self-finance and distribute through Paramount, Arad named Captain America, Nick Fury, Dr. Strange, Black Panther (“a big, big, big deal”) and Ant-Man (“a Honey I Shrunk the Superhero kind of story”) as part of the possible production slate.
On Captain America, Arad says Marvel has a writer (and the script will take some time as it has to be a “masterpiece”) and someone in mind to star and direct. Arad called him Marvel’s second most famous character by name after Spider-Man, and called the project a “man out of time” story, about someone “looking at our world through the eyes of someone who thought the perfect world was small-town America.”
A major announcement regarding a Silver Surfer project is promised soon, which Arad described as, “Independence Day meets Marvel, times 10." Arad described a director who’s “mentally committed to it” and currently lensing another film as, “incredible with visuals” and “a spiritual guy, a Zen Buddhist."
Plans are for Galactus (“a force of nature, not a being”) to be part of the film."
Marvel is "very close" to striking a deal for an Iron Man" movie, and Arad described its development as a “war” with co-producers New Line Cinema. He also promised an announcement in a few weeks announcing Nick Cassavetes as the writer, who he said as unique emotional attachment to Iron Man's alter ego, Tony Stark, due to Cassavetes relationship with his father, a legendary filmmaker in his own right, John Cassavetes.
A sequel to 2004's The Punisher is planned, with Jigsaw as the villain and will be among a handful of Marvel films with an ‘R’ rating. Of the first film Arad said, "blood and intestines should have been blown out on the wall, because that's the Punisher."
Other possible ‘R’ films mentioned *******, Cloak and Dagger (“maybe”), Iron Fist (ditto). Arad mentioned 'Shang Chi and Luke Cage as ‘PG-13’.
The latter John Singleton helmed film Arad described as “Big studio movie” and said Diamondback will be villain.
The Hulk sequel is targeted for 2007, which [as compared to Ang Lee’s first film] Arad described as “Diet Hulk”. The CEO wants to play up the Hulk’s child-like curiosity in the second film, ala a Frankenstein’s monster.
On the opposite track, Arad would like to make a “darker” Daredevil sequel, and would make it if they got the licensed film rights back.
And as far as Elektra MTV.com describes a red rubber bracelet Arad wears on his wrist to remind him of past mistakes, and gets Arad to “somberly” admit, "I think Elektra is on ice now," but not before suggesting one way to make a sequel would be to return the character to her roots, by way of Sin City.
Finally, Arad played round robin on a number of other possibilities. Nick Fury ("I'm going back in time. I'm going back to the classic on this. It's about him; it's about S.H.I.E.L.D."); Thor ("We are feverishly working on Thor. It's a vast 'Lord of the Rings' sort of universe"); Deathlok ("There is an actor, a very big star, that we want to do it, and we'll talk to him within a month"); Namor, which he compared to Jurassic Park; and Black Widow (“It's going to be 'X-Men' writer David Hayter's directorial debut”.)</font>
Among the highlights:
Regarding Brett Ratner’s X3, Arad said, "Dark Phoenix should not be the centerpiece of the movie."
Two X-Men spin-offs, including 2007/’08’s Wolverine with Hugh Jackman ("Totally different, just Wolverine's journey") and a movie about a young Magneto are in development.
On next August’s Ghost Rider, Arad said the big-budget Nick Cage "morality tale” will sport a PG-13 rating and a "Southern rock" soundtrack and ethos, that one scene will feature Ghost Rider facing off against a CGI, The Perfect Storm-like tidal wave, and at one point he’ll be completely submerged… though Arad added you can’t extinguish hellfire.
Spider-Man 3 remains on target for May 2007, and Arad debunks rumors films 3 and 4 will be shot simultaneously. Also, Dylan Baker will return for the third film as Dr. Curt Connors
Turning his attention to the slate of up to 10 films (which could ******* sequels) that Marvel will self-finance and distribute through Paramount, Arad named Captain America, Nick Fury, Dr. Strange, Black Panther (“a big, big, big deal”) and Ant-Man (“a Honey I Shrunk the Superhero kind of story”) as part of the possible production slate.
On Captain America, Arad says Marvel has a writer (and the script will take some time as it has to be a “masterpiece”) and someone in mind to star and direct. Arad called him Marvel’s second most famous character by name after Spider-Man, and called the project a “man out of time” story, about someone “looking at our world through the eyes of someone who thought the perfect world was small-town America.”
A major announcement regarding a Silver Surfer project is promised soon, which Arad described as, “Independence Day meets Marvel, times 10." Arad described a director who’s “mentally committed to it” and currently lensing another film as, “incredible with visuals” and “a spiritual guy, a Zen Buddhist."
Plans are for Galactus (“a force of nature, not a being”) to be part of the film."
Marvel is "very close" to striking a deal for an Iron Man" movie, and Arad described its development as a “war” with co-producers New Line Cinema. He also promised an announcement in a few weeks announcing Nick Cassavetes as the writer, who he said as unique emotional attachment to Iron Man's alter ego, Tony Stark, due to Cassavetes relationship with his father, a legendary filmmaker in his own right, John Cassavetes.
A sequel to 2004's The Punisher is planned, with Jigsaw as the villain and will be among a handful of Marvel films with an ‘R’ rating. Of the first film Arad said, "blood and intestines should have been blown out on the wall, because that's the Punisher."
Other possible ‘R’ films mentioned *******, Cloak and Dagger (“maybe”), Iron Fist (ditto). Arad mentioned 'Shang Chi and Luke Cage as ‘PG-13’.
The latter John Singleton helmed film Arad described as “Big studio movie” and said Diamondback will be villain.
The Hulk sequel is targeted for 2007, which [as compared to Ang Lee’s first film] Arad described as “Diet Hulk”. The CEO wants to play up the Hulk’s child-like curiosity in the second film, ala a Frankenstein’s monster.
On the opposite track, Arad would like to make a “darker” Daredevil sequel, and would make it if they got the licensed film rights back.
And as far as Elektra MTV.com describes a red rubber bracelet Arad wears on his wrist to remind him of past mistakes, and gets Arad to “somberly” admit, "I think Elektra is on ice now," but not before suggesting one way to make a sequel would be to return the character to her roots, by way of Sin City.
Finally, Arad played round robin on a number of other possibilities. Nick Fury ("I'm going back in time. I'm going back to the classic on this. It's about him; it's about S.H.I.E.L.D."); Thor ("We are feverishly working on Thor. It's a vast 'Lord of the Rings' sort of universe"); Deathlok ("There is an actor, a very big star, that we want to do it, and we'll talk to him within a month"); Namor, which he compared to Jurassic Park; and Black Widow (“It's going to be 'X-Men' writer David Hayter's directorial debut”.)</font>