RUMOR: Echo Lake Demolition Imminent? Are Gertie the Dinosaur and Min & Bill’s Dockside Diner at Hollywood Studios History?

WDWNT on February 26, 2015

It’s certainly no secret that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is on the verge of a major overhaul, and we’ve already heard several times from Bob Iger that a Star Wars land is on the way, but does that mean we will be losing two more Studios establishments to the construction zone soon?

Echo_Lake_at_Disney's_Hollywood_Studios

Rumors are swirling that the Echo Lake area may close to be demolished by March 2015. This would include the actual lake, Gertie the Dinosaur, and Min & Bill’s Dockside Diner, all opening day features of the Disney-MGM Studios.

The obvious thought would be that this would become part of the Star Wars themed land planned for the park, but it is unclear at this time. Similar rumblings have also claimed the adjacent Superstar Television Theater and ABC Sound Studio could be the next items to go come Summer 2015. Conflicting rumors have stated the Star Wars area would expand north and replace the Muppet-Vision area, but the removal of Echo Lake may save the Jim Henson creations from extinction.

Much is still unclear, but as we have been stating for several months now, it is clear that something BIG is up. We will provide any more information as it becomes available.

2/17/15 Marvel News Mash-Up (Spider-Man Deal Details, Avengers Posters, Princess Leia, ETC.)

WDWNT on February 26, 2015

Update On Disney/Marvel And Sony’s “Spider-Man” Deal

Marvel-Sony-Spider-Man-Avengers-Crossover-570x294

Now that Disney/Marvel and Sony finally came to an agreement in regards to Spider-Man appearing in future Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, more information about the deal is making it’s way out. The following is what I was able to come up after researching all aspects of the deal:

  • No money changed hands by either company. This deal is being used so that both companies mutually benefit. It will benefit Sony by giving Spider-Man more exposure from appearing in Marvel movies like “The Avengers.” It will benefit Disney by having Marvel’s most popular character, Spider-Man, in their most popular movie franchise.
  • The final deal that Sony agreed to was to basically lease Spider-Man to Disney and in return Kevin Feige, head of Marvel, will co produce the new “Spider-Man” film scheduled to be released in 2017.
  • Marvel will have full creative control and help write the script for the new “Spider-Man” movie but Sony has final approval of the script.
  • Disney acquired Marvel in 2009 for $4 billion dollars. Since then they have been pursuing the “Spider-Man” movie rights from Sony for years offering billions of dollars for the franchise. Sony has rejected them every time.
  • The “Amazing Spider-Man 2” grossed $708 million dollars worldwide. The production budget and marketing costs for the movie was close to $500 million dollars. If you take into consideration that usually 50% of ticket sales goes to the theater owners over the distribution period of the film, Sony incurred a loss of about $150 million dollars theatrically. “Guardians Of The Galaxy” grossed $774 million dollars worldwide. The production budget and marketing costs for the movie was close to $350 million dollars. Unlike Sony, Disney incurred a profit from “Guardians” theatrical release. Both companies had additional revenue through home video sales. What stands out is that Spider-Man is one of the most recognizable comic book characters and previously had a franchise consisting of 4 profitable movies going into the release of “Amazing Spider-Man 2.” Prior to “Guardian’s” release, barely any moviegoers ever heard of them and two of its main characters were a talking raccoon and a tree that said three words. I heard that the parent company of Sony was very much aware of this and not happy.
  • Disney owns all of the merchandising rights to Spider-man, including movie merchandise, and having Spider-Man have more exposure in their movies will add to a big increase in Spider-Man related products. If Sony owned the merchandising rights to the “Spider-Man” movies, this deal between Disney/Marvel and Sony probably would not have happened.
  • The studios are looking for a much younger actor than Andrew Garfield, age 31, to portray Spider-Man. They would like to go with an actual teenager.
  • The story for the new “Spider-Man” movie will not be an origin story and will focus on Peter Parker being an awkward teenager by day and being Spider-Man at night. There will be less focus on his love life. All 5 previous “Spider-Man” movies focused on his love life and the studios want to go into a different direction.
  • By Disney planning to include some of their Marvel characters in Sony’s “Spider-Man’s” movies some sources are saying that this is the first step in Disney acquiring the movie rights. Disney could also be positioning itself into purchasing Spider-Man’s movie rights in the future.
  • The plan is for the new Spider-Man to appear in a Marvel movie “prior” to the release of the solo “Spider-man” movie in 2017. The movies prior to the new “Spider-Man” are:
    • ”Avengers: Age Of Ultron” – Maybe. It’s possible as a post credit teaser.
    • “Ant-Man” – Highly unlikely. I know, spiders and ants, but don’t see it happening.
    • “Captain America: Civil War” – Highly likely. Marvel is scrambling to have Spider-Man in this movie before it goes into production. Apparently two scripts were written. One with Black Panther being a central figure, the other with Spider-Man.
    • “Doctor Strange” – Mmmm, maybe. Doctor Strange is based in New York and so is Spider-Man. Plus Doctor Strange is a bit of a risk character with less people knowing who he is and the addition of Spider-Man could help the box office.
    • “Guardians Of The Galaxy 2” – Nope. Unless it takes place on Earth.

Even though we are learning more about the “Spider-Man” deal, there probably is a lot that has yet to be revealed.  The one thing that I feel most people have overlooked is Disney moving “Thor: Ragnarok” and other Phase 3 release dates to accommodate the opening of the new “Spider-Man” movie. Why would Disney do that? Sony will get 100% of the revenue and Disney will get nothing, except maybe a bump in Spider-Man merchandise revenue. This is either an act of goodwill on Disney’s part, or like what was mentioned, Disney is positioning itself to acquire the “Spider-Man” movie rights back. Disney had planned to release 3 Marvel movies in 2017 and with “Thor” moving to November of 2017 it resulted in “Black Panther” being pushed back to 2018. I think that is more than just goodwill on Disney’s part because they are sacrificing a whole movie that would add to Disney’s overall 2017 revenue. Disney is basically saying, “This is the movie that we want you to see before you see the rest of our Phase 3 movies.” Maybe I’m just an optimist but I think that move was a significant move on Disney’s part.

Definitely exciting times are ahead and expect news some news next month since “Captain America: Civil War” begins filming this April.

Actors Being Considered For The New “Spider-Man”

collagefddfdfd

According to Variety, Sony is looking at actors Dylan O’Brien (“The Maze Runner”) and Logan Lerman (“Percy Jackson”) as potential candidates for the role of the new Spider-Man. Both actors are 23 years old. As previously mentioned, the studios want to go with a younger Peter Parker who is an awkward high school teenager by day and superhero at night. Sony is looking for a new director to replace Marc Webb, who directed “Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2.”

comic1

The studio is also unsure if they will continue with Peter Parker or go with Miles Morales. In the comic “Ultimate Spider-Man,” Miles Morales is a young boy of African American and Hispanic decent who takes over the role of “Spider-Man” after Peter Parker dies (not much of a spoiler, this is comic is based in an alternative universe).

Variant Covers For Marvel Comics “Princess Leia #1”

Princess-Leia-1-Cover-1459b

If it is one thing that Marvel Comics can never have enough of, it’s variant covers.

When Princess Leia Organa was captured by the Empire as a Rebel spy, she never betrayed her convictions, even in the face of the complete destruction of her home world, Alderaan. When her rescue came, she grabbed a blaster and joined the fight, escaping back to the Rebel Alliance and helping strike the biggest blow against the Empire-the destruction of the Death Star. But in the aftermath of that victory, the question remains…what is a princess without a world? Follow Leia’s journey in the days following the end of “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope” as she searches for answers…and for hope. Witness the beginnings of the journey that transforms a princess without a home into one of the greatest leaders in the fight for freedom across the galaxy! “Princess Leia #1” will be released on March 3rd, 2015.

Behold the latest variant covers for the continuing adventures of “Star Wars” very own “Princess Leia.”

collagegggggcollageyyyycollageggggggcollagesddssd

More Promo Art For “Avengers: Age Of Ultron”

Avengers_Age_Of_Ultron_Unpublished_Character_Poster_j_JPosters

Here is some beautiful looking promo art poster from the upcoming movie, “Avengers: Age Of Ultron.”

tumblr_njkk6lCp7f1rhmne4o1_1280Avengers_Age_Of_Ultron_Unpublished_Character_Poster_b_JPostersAvengers_Age_Of_Ultron_Unpublished_Character_Poster_d_JPostersAvengers_Age_Of_Ultron_Unpublished_Character_Poster_a_JPostersAvengers_Age_Of_Ultron_Unpublished_Character_Poster_i_JPostersAvengers_Age_Of_Ultron_Unpublished_Character_Poster_k_JPostersAvengers_Age_Of_Ultron_Unpublished_Character_Poster_e_JPostersAvengers_Age_Of_Ultron_Unpublished_Character_Poster_f_JPostersAvengers_Age_Of_Ultron_Unpublished_Character_Poster_g_JPostersAvengers_Age_Of_Ultron_Unpublished_Character_Poster_h_JPosters

Source: Jposters

That’s it for this week!

2/27/15 Marvel News Mash-Up (Avengers, More Spider-Man Drama, ETC.)

WDWNT on February 26, 2015

“Avengers: Age Of Ultron” Official Movie Poster

PZYwQRv

Here is the first official movie poster for “Avengers: Age Of Ultron” with all of the cast front and center.

If you have a magnifying glass, this poster also confirms that Anthony Mackie is reprising his role as The Falcon from “Captain America: Winter Soldier.” Both Thor alumni Idris Elba (Heimdall) and Stellan Skarsgård (Dr. Erik Selvig) are also returning from proof of their cast names appearing on the poster.  I tried my best to zoom in on it and highlight it below.

Capturecdsdsdsd

Definitely glad to see that Captain America, the leader of the team, is highlighted in this poster as opposed to the original “Avengers” poster where he was way in the background and they basically made Robert Downey Jr. the focus:

avengers-movie-poster-1

Funny thing is that after this official poster was released, Marvel released another poster with Robert Downey Jr. as the focus, just in case:

International-Avengers-Age-of-Ultron-Poster-700x989

“Avengers: Age Of Ultron” Opens on May 1st, 2015.

Robert Downey Jr. Shares His “Iron Man” Character Poster From “Avengers: Age Of Ultron” And Also Hints Of Some Big News Coming Next Week

1139454677053734472

Robert Downey Jr recently revealed through his Twitter account the official character poster for Iron Man from “Avengers: Age Of Ultron.” I am sure this will be the first of many character posters that will eventually make its way into movie theater lobbies.

What is even more exciting is that he teased us that there will be a big announcement next week.

Captureddssds

Of course I couldn’t help but speculate as to what it could be:

  1. Marvel will officially announce that “Spider-Man” will be in “Captain America: Civil War” This is probably the most probable. During the announcement of the Sony and Marvel Spider-Man deal, they announced that Spider-Man will “first appear” in a Marvel movie prior to the new “Spider-Man” movie opening in 2017.
  2. Marvel and Sony will announce that they have cast an actor to play “Spider-Man.” Very possible since “Civil War” starts shooting in April.
  3. “Captain America: Civil War” will be split into two parts. This is wishful thinking on my part. There is so much material in the original Civil War comic book that there is no way that they could come close to being faithful to the original source material. Besides Captain America, Iron Man and hopefully Spider-Man, there is a huge lineup of superheroes involved. Civil War is one group of superheroes against another group of superheroes. You can’t squeeze all of that into one 2 hour movie.
  4. Robert Downey Jr. will announce an extension to his contract with Marvel. Maybe showing up in “Guardians Of The Galaxy 2?” This could somehow tie the Guardians universe with the Avengers so that they could come together for “Avengers: Infinity War.”
  5. New Trailer For “Avengers: Age Of Ultron” revealing “The Vision” for the very first time. This is very likely but definitely last on my list as to what I would prefer to see happen.

We should find out next Thursday and I will definitely let you know.

*And just as I was witting this article, Marvel released the official character poster for The Hulk.

B-yR-iBUAAATdwD

 

Tom Rothman Named New Chairman Of Sony Pictures; Does This Mean “Big Trouble” For “Spider-Man?”

collagedddd

Last week we had possibly the best news ever when it was announced that “Spider-Man” was coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What a difference a week makes because this week we received some of the worst worst news ever. Tom Rothman is now in charge of Sony Pictures. What makes this such bad news? This guys track record is horrible when it comes to comic book movies and just movies in general. Tom Rothman was originally over at Fox and here are some of the questionable things that he did:

  1. Rothman is rumored to be majorly responsible for all of the hate between Fox and Disney/Marvel.
  2. Rothman was against the movie “X-Men” being made and went out of his way to cut the budget for the film. The first “X-Men” movie was the first superhero movie to reignite the public’s interest in superhero movies after the disastrous “Batman And Robin.” Comic book movie fans owe a lot to this movie.
  3. Rothman was responsible for causing Brian Singer to leave as director of “X-Men: Last Stand” and then he hired Bret Ratner, one of Hollywood’s worst directors. Rothman went onto micromanage the film resulting in the worst X-Men movie ever made.
  4. Rothman had his hands all over “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and forced director Gavin Hood to make changes that he was firmly against. So many changes were made by Rothman to the final movie that Gavin Hood eventually came out and said, “This is not my movie anymore.”
  5. Rothman refused to have any Sentinels in any “X-Men” movies while he was head of the studio.
  6. Rothman was behind the cloud version of Galactus that appeared in “Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer.”
  7. Rothman personally blocked the movie “Deadpool” from ever being made. The movie “Deadpool” was recently announced to be in production but it is mostly because Rothman left.
  8. Rothman was behind the movie release of “Elektra.”
  9. Ridley Scott and James Cameron were going to work together and make a sequel to “Aliens” and Rothman said no and decided to go with “Aliens Vs. Predator” instead.
  10. Rumor is Rothman does not like comic book movies and he only names himself as producer for those comic book movies that guarantee him a huge paycheck and then he tinkers with them and they become a disaster.

It’s not all bad news though. I mentioned last time that with the new “Spider-Man” deal that Marvel has creative control of Spider-Man, which includes the upcoming solo film. Several people pointed out to me that in the press release Sony still has creative control. I found this hard to believe because Sony made the deal with Marvel because they knew they were having trouble with the “Spider-Man” franchise and they wanted to have similar success that the Marvel movies were experiencing. It made me wonder, why would Sony have creative control and why would Marvel agree not to have creative control? I recently read this in Bigassdigest.com and it confirms what I originally stated:

“Everything I have heard is that Marvel is calling most of the shots on this new movie. There’s been a lot of language in the press to help Sony avoid some embarrassment, to make this look less like admitting defeat.“

That sounds more feasible than Marvel not having any creative control and Sony having all of it.

Latino Review goes on to explain this even more in depth:

Avi Arad and Matt Tolomach, producers of the Amazing Spider-Man movies (and Arad being attached to the property since it’s initial sale) are producers for Spider-Man in name only.

We have information from a source suggesting there is no financial involvement whatsoever and no direct creative control over Spidey coming from the old guard. Amy Pascal still has a say in the Mom-and-Pop arrangement she has with Feige, but Disney didn’t want to unite Pearlmutter, Arad and Feige in earnest. This is the solution.

What does that mean? It means Marvel might have a bit more control than we thought. It means the new Spider-Man has been insulated from BOTH Avi Arad and new Sony head, superhero property curse, Tom Rothman.

As I had mentioned previously, there are many things that we will probably never know about the Spider-Man deal that exists with Disney/Marvel and Sony. I am sure that Disney was well aware of any possibility and probably knew that Amy Pascal was going to be replaced and who the likely candidates were. I don’t think they would have agreed to the deal if they did not have certain assurances and could also protect themselves. And I am sure one stipulation was “you wanted our help, don’t interfere in the direction we are taking the character.”

Rant: Seriously, why do corporations sometimes hire the worst possible candidates for high level positions? This guy seems like your typical corporate jerk who takes credit for everything and throws everyone else under the bus when someone is needed to blame. He seems like he thinks he knows better than everyone else and loves to throw his power around. I can never understand why people like this are constantly rewarded. Of all of the atrocities that he was responsible for, there was going to be an Aliens sequel where both Ridley Scott and James Cameron both agreed to be on board and he said no? This man should not even be allowed to work at a 7-Eleven.

Sources: Deadline, Latino Review, Bigassdigest

Preview Of Marvel’s “Star Wars #3”

star-wars-3-cover

Looks like Darth Vader still doesn’t know that Luke Skywalker is actually his son and he still hates his guts. In this issue, Han Solo and Princess Leia commandeer an AT-AT, C3PO has a license to drive the Millennium Falcon and Vader is about to take on the above mentioned AT-AT with a light saber!

star-wars-3-page-1star-wars-3-page-2star-wars-3-page-3

“Star Wars #3” will go on sale on March 11th, 2015.

Source: StarWars.com

First Clear Image Of Marvel’s “Daredevil”

B-gD9SQCMAAtobj

The magazine Film Ink has given us our best look at Daredevil so far by featuring “The Man With No Fear” on it’s front cover.

Rant: We better be seeing the classic red “Daredevil” costume very soon because if he is going to be wearing black pajamas throughout the first season, I’m not watching it. That’s like Batman not having his mask and cowl. That’s not Batman, that is just Bruce Wayne looking for trouble. This costume is fine if this is his first attempt at Daredevil but the character needs to look more like the iconic Daredevil. It makes no sense to be just showing us the black costume in promotions and not just revealing his red costume. Even if this was a motion picture, they would have revealed it by now. Don’t screw this up Marvel, you have a great track record with remaining loyal to the comics and the trailer looks great too.

Here are some of Daredevil’s costume that would be completely acceptable to me:

collagesssss

* Marvel just released this new poster as I was writing this. Well, there is red in there, but not the red I’m looking for.

B-zFLHJUcAAMEqS

Marvel’s “Daredevil” will premier exclusively on Netflix on April 10th, 2015.

Stan Lee Draws An Image Of “Spider-Man” For A Young Fan With Autism

collageffddfdffd

This is a great story. The New York Times reported that Jamel Hunter, an 8 year old boy with autism, was celebrating his birthday with friends and family. Jamel’s favorite hero is Spider-Man and Jamel’s mother went out of her way to have Spider-Man images displayed throughout the birthday party.

Stan Lee read about the story and was moved and wanted to do something to help. Stan Lee is Spider-Man’s creator and he has always played the role of writer, not artist. But Stan decided this one time that he would draw a very special picture of Spider-Man for Jamel. New York Times writer, Michael Wilson, delivered the drawing to Jamel, with Lee’s signature in the corner.

Here are some pictures of Jamel with Stan Lee’s gift:

stan-lee-spidermanstan-lee-draws-super-man-for-jamel-hunter-with-autism-450x225

Source: New York Times

New “Ant-Man” Promo Art

uyCeAc8

Some new promo art for the upcoming Marvel movie “Ant-Man” has recently hit the internet. Lets’ take a look at what we could expect from the movie based on the concept art below.

GsSYgVW 8DHDFrU L4ZE8lG i9fL5ib h5RAXFS P8l0ADC

“Ant-Man” will open on July 17th, 2015.

Sideshow Collectible Corner

“The Hulk” From “Avengers: Age Of Ultron”

902348-hulk-deluxe-011

Sideshow Collectibles and Hot Toys have done it again. Check out this amazingly detailed premium figure of The Incredible Hulk as seen in “Avengers: Age Of Ultron.”

902348-hulk-deluxe-008902348-hulk-deluxe-012902348-hulk-deluxe-001

Sideshow Collectibles and Hot Toys are thrilled to officially present the Hulk Deluxe Sixth Scale Figure Collectible Set from this epic blockbuster!

The movie-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on the image of Hulk in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. This deluxe set specially features two newly developed angry and screaming Hulk head sculpts with rolling eyeballs, a specially painted muscular body and a newly sculpted interchangeable Hulk smash pose upper body.

The Hulk Deluxe figure is available for pre-order exclusively through Sideshow Collectibles. The cost is $374.99 and expected to ship sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.

That’s it for this time!

Major Character From Original Star Wars Trilogy May Be In “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

WDWNT on January 29, 2015

starwarstrilogy_0

Massive spoilers ahead so do not read unless you want to be spoiled.

RebelScum.com provided a list of the upcoming Hasbro toy line for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. There is noting really exciting in the list, since it is just names, but one name that sticks out more than others is “Darth Vader”.

(This is only a section of the toy list. The rest can be found at RebelScum.com)

Star Wars 7 Signature Lightsaber
Star Wars 7 Deluxe Villain Lightsaber
Star Wars 7 Electronic Lightsaber Assortment
Star Wars 7 Extendable Lightsaber Assortment
Star Wars 7 Villain Extendable Lightsaber
Star Wars 7 Foam Lightsaber Assortment
Star Wars 7 Force FX Lightsaber
Star Wars 7 Force FX Lightsaber Assortment
Star Wars 7 The Black Series Villain Helmet
Star Wars 7 Mask Assortment
Star Wars 7 Chewbacca Electronic Mask
Star Wars 7 Lead Villain Electronic Mask
Star Wars 7 Darth Vader Voice Change Mask

It’s also interesting to note that Hasbro recently announced that they would not be revealing their “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” toy line at this year’s New York City Toy Fair.

The following is a press release from Hasbro:

As usual, Hasbro will be exhibiting a variety of fun and exciting Star Wars products from across its portfolio of brands, including Star Wars action figures, Star Wars Galactic Heroes and more. There will be no toys based on Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Star Wars Episode VII) shown at Toy Fair this year.

Obviously, we know that there’s a huge amount of anticipation for Star Wars toys this year, and we wanted to be forthcoming about this as we know it might make a difference for some of you in regards to travel plans. While we’re happy to host all of you at Entertainment Brand Preview Day and look forward to having you check out the latest and greatest toys from Star Wars and Hasbro’s other exciting brands, we want you to have as much information as possible to be able to plan your travel and coverage.

More than likely the reason that this particular toy line is being held back from Hasbro is because it will contain spoilers for the movie. To see Darth Vader packaged in their “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” toy line would reveal a huge spoiler.

Does this mean that Darth Vader will be in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”? I do think it is a safe bet that at the very least we will see Darth Vader’s helmet in the movie or maybe even in some kind of flashback. We also have seen some evidence through concept art (see below) that his presence will somehow be in the film.

Guess we will have to wait until December 18th before we all know for sure.

f9a8ab64e0757b98a0d759c7d74dd666

4285d653470373677e4af63847340bc0

 

“Lando Calrissian” Will Appear On “Star Wars Rebels”

WDWNT on January 29, 2015

collagesdcfssd

Here is the first image of Lando Calrissian as he will appear in the upcoming “Star Wars Rebels” episode called “Idiot’s Array”. This episode will air on Monday, January 19th at 9 PM on Disney XD.

Billy Dee Williams will be providing his voice as the classic gambler, smuggler and baron administrator of Cloud City, also known as Lando Calrissian.

The official synopsis for the episode “Idiot’s Array” is ” The crew is forced into transporting some unusual cargo after an issue with a new acquaintance.” From some of the photos and the synopsis, it sounds like Zeb loses Chopper during a card game to Lando and Lando offers another alternative.

Here are some more images and a brief clip from “Idiot’s Array”:

LANDOsassaLando5qqRbCi

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLinMMWXw_g]

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Second Trailer Coming; Trailer Will Showcase ‘Original Trilogy’ Characters

WDWNT on January 29, 2015

collagesdsdds

The second teaser trailer for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ will appear before the movie, ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron,’ when it opens in theaters on May 1st. This isn’t to much of a surprise since ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is expected to have the biggest opening of 2015 and it makes sense to show the trailer before what is expected to be the second biggest opening, ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron.’ It is rumored that we will get our first at look at Han, Leia, Luke and possibly Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2 .

It is possible that we will see the second teaser even earlier than May 1st. ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ will open a week earlier in Australia and New Zealand. Also keep in mind that ‘Star Wars Celebration,’ which is the official Star Wars Convention, will take place on April 16-19 in Anaheim, California and there is a very strong probability that fans attending may see the teaser there.

Update: I just got some new information regarding the next trailer. /Film is saying that although they agree that the new trailer will debut before the film ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron,’ they do not believe that the characters from the ‘Original Trilogy’ will be shown in the next trailer because Lucasfilm wants to keep their specific roles as secret as possible. This makes more sense to me and I will tell you why in the spoilers below.

SPOILERS: Your first clue is in the actual title, ‘The Force Awakens.’ Luke has been missing for 30 years. If Luke was around during all of that time, they would not have called the movie ‘The Force Awakens.’ As the last known living Jedi, Luke would not have just given up being a Jedi and stopped practicing the Force. MAJOR SPOILERS: Most insiders are saying that the movie opens up where Luke’s severed hand and his light saber are floating in space and the light saber lands on a desert planet (might be Tatooine, might not). This is what brings the main characters, John Boyega (Finn) and Daisy Ridley (Rey), together. They find the light saber and eventually find Han Solo, who confirms it is Luke’s light saber. Han, Rey and Finn then take off on the Millennium Falcon to search for Luke.

Original Source: Latino Review

1/20/15 Marvel News Mash-Up (Spider-Man in MCU, Star Wars Comics, ETC.)

WDWNT on January 29, 2015

Rumor: ‘Spider-Man’ Will Make His Marvel Cinematic Universe Debut In ‘Avengers: Infinity War Part 1’

Spider-Man-Avengers-600x300

Take this with a very heavy grain of salt. This story was originally posted by Latino Review, which has a decent track record for nailing exclusive stories, but they are not perfect. We still have not heard anything official from the SONY and Marvel Spider-man summit, which is to take place this month, but it sounds like some sort of agreement will be met where Spider-man will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Disney and Marvel will co produce future Spider-man movies with SONY.

According from a reliable source at Latino Review, the Spider-man deal is done. Since this article was written, SONY has denied any kind of deal has occurred but I also doubt that SONY would come out and say, “Yes, that is true,” until they are ready to do so.

Massive SPOILERS ahead concerning the fate of many of the Avengers and Spider-man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nothing here is confirmed but comes from a reliable source. Do Not Read Unless You Want To Be Spoiled!

  • Since ‘Captain America: Civil War’ is close to starting production, unfortunately Spider-man will not be in this movie, even though he plays a major role in the comic book.
  • Andrew Garfield will no longer be Spider-man. Don’t count out Tobey Maguire just yet.
  • ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ will split up the team at the end. Captain America will lead one team. Iron Man will lead the other team.
  • In ‘Captain America: Civil War,’ Tony Stark finds out that Bucky (The Winter Soldier) killed his father, Howard Stark.
  • Black Panther is introduced in ‘Civil War’.
  • Crossbones, who also appeared in ‘The Winter Soldier’ leading the team in the elevator to try and kill Captain America, kills Captain America this time.
  • Iron Man is “lost in space” at the end of ‘Civil War’.
  • Hulk may also be in space. lol Planet Hulk?
  • Dr. Strange may take over for Captain America and lead Cap’s Avengers team after his death.
  • ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ will kill a lot of Asgardians and have Thor imprisoned.
  • Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and the Hulk will not be in ‘Avengers: Infinity War Part 1’.
  • Spider-man is in ‘Avengers: Infinity War Part 1’.
  • Possible other heroes in ‘Avengers: Infinity War Part 1’ are Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Black Panther, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man, Wasp, Captain Marvel, Luke Cage, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Jewel/Power Woman, ANY of the New Inhumans, ANY of the classic Inhumans, ANY of the Guardians of the Galaxy and ANY Cosmic Marvel characters Guardians chooses to send to Earth.
  • Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and Hulk will return for ‘Avengers: Infinty War Part 2’.

This definitely sounds great and if this is all true, part 2 of Infinity War is going to be incredible. Again this has not been confirmed but hope Marvel is heading in this direction.

‘Marvel’s Daredevil‘ Will Premier On Netflix On April 10th

B6w3S0VCMAAmj0G

Marvel Entertainment official announced the premier date for the Netflix series ‘Daredevil’ will be Friday, April 10th. The poster above was released for the series as well as a small teaser below:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h334vn103YM]

‘Marvel’s Daredevil’ is a live action series that follows the journey of attorney Matt Murdock, who in a tragic accident was blinded as a boy but imbued with extraordinary senses. Murdock sets up practice in his old neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen, New York where he now fights against injustice as a respected lawyer by day and masked vigilante at night.

More Images From ‘Ant-Man’

collagesdsdsdsEntertainment Weekly recently had a cover story on ‘Ant-Man’ as well as a ton of new images and behind the scene pictures.

static1.squarespace.comAnt-Man-TubScott-LangScott-Lang-on-an-antYellowjacketigKUVPZJw3FC4GhuaWwUz7zUjNZl

Source: Entertainment Weekly

New Promotional Art For ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’

wwNW9dHnNJzci4

The images above are from the official 16 month 2016 calendar. Have I said how much I love the new Captain America suit?

Preview Of Marvel Comics’ ‘Star Wars #1’

star-wars-1

Marvel Comics’ ‘Star Wars #1’ came out January 14th and it sounds like it sold even more than expected. According to Marvel, they sold more than one million issues to retailers. And the final tally for variant covers was 74! A second printing for ‘Star Wars #1’ has already been announced. Basically, anything Star Wars is gold. Marvel and Entertainment Weekly shared with us a special preview of some of the first panels from the first issue.

star-wars-03star-wars-02star-wars-04star-wars-05

‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ Size Chart

avengers-aou-size-chart-piclarge

Ever wonder how tall everyone is in The Avengers? Well now you don’t have to, thanks to the 東尼史塔克 鋼鐵人 Tony Stark Facebook page (yeah, I can’t pronounce his name either 🙂 ).

I thought it would be fun to add their weights too:

  • Captain America: 220 lbs
  • Iron Man(with armor): 425 lbs; Hulk Buster: ???
  • Thor: 640 lbs
  • Hulk: 1,400 lbs
  • Black Widow: 131 lbs
  • Hawkeye: 230 lbs
  • Nick Fury: 231 lbs

Also check out these before and after pictures of Chris Pratt (Starlord from ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’) and Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) that he posted on his Facebook page. Damn!10429400_896124537088248_1187418094150300176_n

Who Is The Mysterious Woman In The New ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ Trailer?

_1421206792

When the new ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ trailer premiered last week the big question on everyone’s mind was who is this woman and where is she? The general consensus is that it could be one of two characters. The first would be the character Hela:

aa43f19b5fd4f80bc82507fec715a7ae

Hela is the Asgardian goddess of death in the Marvel universe. Originally appointed by Odin to rule over the dead in the realms of Hel and Niffelheim, she tried to expand her power to Valhalla, but was defeated by Thor. This led to her embracing the life of villainy and frequently clashing with the God of Thunder and many other Asgardians.

In the second trailer you can see below that Thor is being attacked in what seems to be a similar place to where this woman is and it does look like it could be on Asgard. Also Thor should never have any problem with lightning being the God Of Thunder. So this could be Hela and could lead directly into ‘Thor: Ragnarok’.

Capturedsdsddsds

The other person that this woman could be is a member of the Dora Milaje, who are the personal bodyguards of the Black Panther. The movie did film in South Africa and from the rumors it does sound as though Wakanda, which is the Black Panther’s kingdom, may be one of the locations in the movie. This could lead up to ‘Captain America: Civil War’, which is supposed to have the first appearance of Black Panther.

704683-war_of_kings_darkhawk_01

I’m kind of hoping it is the former because I think that would be a great way to set up ‘Civil War’ and the future movies. Also in my first story above it would make somewhat sense if the possible spoilers for ‘Avengers: Infinity War Part 1’ were true.

That’s it for this week!

Disney Didn’t Use Any Of George Lucas’ Ideas For ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

WDWNT on January 29, 2015

George-Lucas-DisneyMM-600x412

George Lucas has been making the rounds promoting his upcoming animated movie, ‘Strange Magic’ and he let it known that although he did present his ideas for ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ to Disney, they decided to pass on them.

The ones that I sold to Disney, they came up to the decision that they didn’t really want to do those. So they made up their own. So it’s not the ones that I originally wrote [on screen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens]

After hearing what he said, it reminded me of a few months ago, after the first trailer for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ was released, Lucas was asked what he thought of the trailer. His response was:

“I don’t know anything about it. I haven’t seen it yet because it’s not in the movie theater. I like going to the movies and watching the whole thing there. I plan to see it when it’s released.”

I had the feeling that Lucas was not happy with the direction that Disney and JJ Abrams were going and that maybe they haven’t been using his as a consultant. That Disney passed on all of his ideas makes me think that what I thought is true.

Lucas recently revealed that he did see the new trailer and this was his response:

“I saw the trailer. I saw it in a theater because I don’t watch movies online.” When asked if he liked it, he smiled. “Yeah, it was intriguing.”

To me this is not a positive response and that was his best way to not really say anything positive or negative.

Editorial: The problem that I have with George Lucas now is that he really has lost his way and he has been surrounded by yes men for so many years that he thinks he can do no wrong. I am very grateful for George Lucas in that he created the stories and characters for ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ but ever since the ‘Star Wars Prequels’, I have come to the conclusion that he is not a very good director or story teller.

I was ecstatic when it was announced that Disney was purchasing Lucasfilm and they had announced that there would be an ‘Episode VII.’ Some fans were upset fearing that Disney would make an awful kid friendly movie but seriously, could any movie be worse than any of ‘The Prequels?’ ‘The Prequels’ were horribly written, horribly directed, horribly acted and relied to much on green screen and CGI rather than real locations and practical effects. And lets face it, the blame squarely goes on George Lucas who wrote and directed them. I have seen Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Samuel L Jackson and Christopher Lee in movies where their acting was really well done. If all of your normally good actors are horrible in a movie, it’s because of direction. According to many that have acted with Lucas, he doesn’t like second takes, doesn’t really give direction and the most popular words of direction that he gives his actors are, “Faster and more intense.”

After Lucas finished ‘The Prequels’, he was asked out of the 6 ‘Star Wars’ movies, which was his least favorite? Lucas shocked ‘Star Wars’ fans and said, ‘The Empire Strikes Back!’ That is when I knew Lucas had lost his mind but also read into some jealousy there too. To me, and most Star Wars fans, ‘Empire’ is by far the best of the ‘Star Wars’ movies. Lucas’ complaint was that there was “to much drama.” What Lucas calls drama, most movie lovers would refer to that as “character development.’ ‘Empire’ was the movie that Lucas had the least control over. Irving Kershner directed ‘Empire’ and it had a different tone and feel from any of the other Star Wars movies. Back when I was a kid, this was the first sequel that I had ever seen that was drastically different from the first movie and that made it special.

‘Return Of The Jedi’ was directed by Richard Marquand, but I have read that Lucas had much more control and essentially directed the movie himself. The first thing that I thought of when I first saw ‘Jedi’ was ‘Do they really have to destroy another Death Star?’ Even a a kid, I thought that was weak writing. Why not have an all out war against the Rebel Alliance and The Empire.? And the Death Star was basically destroyed the same way, poor design. It did have a powerful ending, that was eventually ruined due to Lucas’ constant altering of the film (see below).

Yes, I do agree that this is his world and he has a right to create whatever story he wants with it but I am very much against it when anything from ‘The Prequels’ leak into ‘The Original Trilogy.’ Even though I did not like ‘The Prequels,’ I understood that millions did. So the way I looked at it was that ‘The Prequels’ just didn’t exist to me, just like ‘The Godfather Part III’. Now with Lucas’ obsession to have every aspect from ‘The Prequels’ tie to ‘The Original Trilogy,’ he has ruined parts of ‘The Original Trilogy’ for me and for a lot of Star Wars fans. ‘The Star Wars Special Editions’ had improved some parts of  ‘The Original Trilogy’ but ultimately did more harm than good. The worst additions that he made were to ‘Return Of The Jedi’ where he added Hayden Christensen, the young version of Anakin Skywalker, to the end of Return Of The Jedi, replacing Sebastian Shaw, who portrayed the older version of Anakin Skywalker.

Original Anakin:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S2auEHR4rg]

Anakin-‘lite’:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1-4U6GXPnc]

I used to watch the original scene over and over and each time I saw that scene I really got the chills knowing that Anakin was redeemed and was now a part of the living spirit of the Light Side Of The Force. Now I see that scene with Hayden Christensen as the young Anakin Skywalker and each time I see it I think Luke must be thinking, “Who is that guy, who is younger than me, hanging out with Ben and Yoda?” First off, Hayden Christensen was God awful in ‘The Star Wars Prequels.’ Make that, his character was God awful. Before ‘The Prequels,’ I never imagined that the person inside the Darth Vader costume was an annoying, conceited, perverted, jealous, whiny, arrogant jerk. The original Darth Vader worked because fans loved to hate him. “The Prequel” Darth Vader doesn’t work because he is just a jerk. Then to make matters worse, Lucas decided to add probably the worst scene from ‘Revenge Of The Sith’ to ‘Return Of The Jedi.’ The dreaded “Nooooooooo!” yell from Darth Vader.

‘Return Of The Jedi: Special Edition’ “Nooooo!”:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGxnOnaQyGo]

‘Revenge Of The Sith’ “Nooooo!’ (Is he saying No or calling cattle?):

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWaLxFIVX1s]

The other change in the ‘Return Of The Jedi Special Edition’ that is not as offensive as the other two is seeing Jar Jar Binks on Naboo at the end jumping up and down screaming “Weesa Free!” I really think that is George’s way of saying to all of the Jar Jar haters that, ‘Yep, you forced me to minimize his part in the sequels, but this guy is still alive and there is nothing you can do about it.’ And when Lucas is asked if we can have ‘The Original Trilogy’ on Blu-ray he basically says, “but these are far superior, besides I used the original negatives from ‘The Original Trilogy’ to create ‘The Special Editions’ so basically those negatives have been altered or destroyed and they no longer exist.” What he is saying is, “it’s either my way or the highway.” Why would you destroy the original negatives unless you wanted everyone to be forced to enjoy your new version? I still find ‘The Special Editions’ of ‘A New Hope’ and ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ as watchable and enjoyable. I can’t say the same about ‘Return Of The Jedi’ because they are tainted with ‘The Prequels’ horrible storyline and characters.

I have no doubt that Lucas presented Disney with his version of a storyline for ‘Episode VII’ and it was rejected by them. Let’s not forget that the last thing Lucas wrote was ‘Indian Jones And The Chrystal Skull’ and that was another mess. He can’t write anymore but I think the basic problem is back when he was making ‘The Original Trilogy,’ he had people that would actually step up and say, “That doesn’t sound right. George.” Lucas used to listen to people. Now those people are afraid to stand up to Lucas out of fear of losing their jobs. Or he just doesn’t listen to them.

Mark Hamill recently said during an interview:

“The most interesting aspect from my point of view is that [Star Wars] is now in the hands of the generation who were fans,” Hamill said. “…It’s the next generation of filmmakers who were sort of weened on these pictures.”

And I couldn’t be happier now.

RUMOR: Next Year’s ‘Star Wars Spin-Off’ Will Feature ‘Han Solo’ And ‘Boba Fett’

WDWNT on January 29, 2015

1360177198_boba_solo

Last month I reported that there was a rumor going around that the first ‘Star Wars Spin-Off’ would center around a heist story dealing with several Bounty Hunters from the Star Wars Universe. Now LatinoReview is reporting that we may see a Spaghetti Western like movie taking place in the Star Wars Universe that will star Han Solo and Boba Fett. It sounds like a great idea to introduce a young Han Solo, who originally had a shady past, either competing or working with Boba Fett and a group of Bounty Hunters over a certain mission concerning the Empire’s Death Star Plans.

MakingStarWars.com also got their hands on some information regarding the upcoming ‘Star Wars Spin-Off’:

  • Expect more on-location shooting than for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
  • Crew members are hearing their start dates now.
  • Many believe they are doing a lot of work on-location in Mexico for the first spin-off.
  • There have been some Star Wars: The Force Awakens re-shoots going down recently at Pinewood using some of those people.
  • Bounty hunters are important to the film.
  • Painters are expected to redress some set pieces from The Force Awakens and there are lots of cost cutting measures like that in place for the first spin-off film. Most of the reshoot materials are to be saved when possible for this reason.

The first ‘Star Wars Spin-Off,’ directed by Gareth Edwards, is scheduled to open on December 16th, 2016

 

12/29/14 Marvel News Mash-Up (Star Wars Princess Leia, Avengers, Inhumans, ETC.)

WDWNT on December 30, 2014

Marvel And Netflix Have Found Their Luke Cage and Jessica Jones

marvelnetflix2

Marvel has announced who will be playing heroes Luke Cage and Jessica Jones for Netflix’s upcoming Marvel series, AKA Jessica Jones. Mike Colter (The Good Wife) will play Luke Cage and Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad) will play Jessica Jones. Luke Cage will first be introduced in the Netflix series’s, AKA Jessica Jones and will later join up with Iron Fist. Eventually he will have his own Luke Cage series leading ultimately to a similar small screen version of The Avengers called “The Defenders”, which will include Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.

collagefdfdffd

A More Detailed Look At “Avengers: Age Of Ultron” New Uniforms Courtesy Of “Hot Toys”

15868208409_da9d10d45c_b

Recently at the Toy Soul Convention in Hong Kong, Hot Toys revealed their premium collectible figures for the upcoming movie “Avengers: Age Of Ultron”. This is probably the best look that we have of the new costumes for the Avengers that will appear in the movie. See more of Iron Man’s Mark 43 suit in The Sideshow Collectible Corner section below.

Hulkbuster and Mark 43 Iron Man Suit

collageczczxczxzcx

Captain America

collageccxcxc

Thor

collagevdsffvsvdsvs

Hulk (he now has stretchy pants!)

collagedsdsds

Black Widow

collagedscdsdcscsdsc

Hawkeye

collagecxv xcvx

Thanos (guess this confirms he will be in the movie)

collageczczzcxczx

Source: Toy-People.com

First Look At Marvel’s “Star Wars: Princess Leia #1”

STWLEIA001-CVR-d0abd-03ff5

StarWars.com got their hands on an exclusive preview of the upcoming Marvel Comic, “Star Wars: Pricess Leia #1.” The story takes place right after the movie, “Star Wars: A New Hope” and deals with Leia coming to terms with the destruction of her home planet, Alderaan, by the Death Star in A New Hope. Star Wars: Princess Leia will go on sale in March 2015.

princess-leia-1-674x1024princess-leia-2-671x1024

Peter Jackson Will Not Do A Comic Book Movie

peter-jackson-7

Can we get this in writing? Recently while being interviewed by Movie Fone, Peter Jackson was asked about the idea of doing a comic book movie. His response was, “I don’t really like the Hollywood blockbuster bandwagon that exists right now. The industry and the advent of all the technology, has kind of lost its way. It’s become very franchise driven and superhero driven. I’ve never read a comic book in my life so I’m immediately at a disadvantage and I have no interest in that.”

Editorial: The views, opinions and positions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of WDW News Today. Now that I got that out of the way, talk about the pot calling the kettle black. First off, I love The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy but the Hobbit Trilogy was a mess. I really don’t want to see Peter Jackson make a superhero movie split into 3 parts where only one movie is needed, I don’t need to see real actors in makeup replaced with awful looking CGI and I don’t need to see unnecessary made up characters have more screen time than the actually character that the book and the movie are based on. The movie was called The Hobbit and he was reduced to a supporting character.

Vin Diesel Teases Again That He Will Be In “Marvel’s Inhumans”

10411086_10153044404438313_8580845131336142974_n

For months Vin Diesel has been teasing that he will be a character in the upcoming Marvel movie, “Inhumans”. Diesel was at it again when he posted the above photo on his Facebook page.

52333bd91a4ac

Most people feel the obvious choice that Diesel will play is the Inhumans leader, Black Bolt. What’s interesting is that in Guardians Of The Galaxy, he only uses his voice for the character Groot and if he is cast as Black Bolt in Inhumans, that character does not speak.

Marvel’s Inhumans will be released on November 2nd, 2018.

Sideshow Collectible Corner

902314-iron-man-mark-xliii-016

The Iron Man Mark XLIII collectible figure is another beautifully designed premium figure designed by Hot Toys and available for sale exclusively at Sideshow Collectibles.  This will be the exact same suit that Iron Man wears in “Avengers: Age Of Ultron”. Iron Man Mark XLIII is priced at $344.99 and expected to ship in August 2015.

902314-iron-man-mark-xliii-011902314-iron-man-mark-xliii-010902314-iron-man-mark-xliii-017

That’s it for this week!