Tag Archives: Marvel

Help Movieline Caption the Latest Image from Thor

The hilarious existence of Marvel’s adaptation of Thor just keeps getting more hilarious. Today the studio announced that Thor (along with Captain America ), because of course it will be. Said director Kenneth Brannagh, presumably with a straight face: “We came to feel that in our case 3D could be the very good friend of story and character for a different kind of experience.” Marvel also released another still from Thor , and this time offering a first glimpse at Sir Anthony Hopkins in his role as Odin. Yes, this is all real.

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Help Movieline Caption the Latest Image from Thor

Edward Norton Responds To Hulk Controversy

‘I sincerely hoped it could happen and be great for everyone, but it hasn’t turned out as we all hoped,’ he writes on Facebook. By Eric Ditzian Edward Norton Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/ Getty Images Things got ugly in the Marvel universe over the weekend when word leaked that Edward Norton would not be reprising his role as Bruce Banner — a.k.a. the Incredible Hulk — in the 2012 superhero all-star flick “The Avengers.” Marvel production president Kevin Feige zinged Norton for a lack of “collaborative spirit,” a statement Norton’s agent called “purposefully misleading.” Now Norton, who took on the Banner role in the Louis Leterrier-directed “Incredible Hulk,” has weighed in on the brouhaha with a post on his Facebook page . “As most of you know, I don’t like to talk much about the business of making movies because it means a lot to me to protect the audience’s fullest enjoyment of the ‘magic’ that films can have,” the statement began. “But I am so appreciative of the outpouring of support from fans of the Hulk and the Avengers that I feel it would be rude not to respond.” Norton went on to avoid addressing the specifics of Feige’s statement, as well as the heated words of his agent. Instead, Norton simply stated the facts of the situation, declared his appreciation for playing the character at all and thanked fans for their support. “It seems it won’t work out for me to continue playing Bruce Banner for Marvel in ‘The Avengers,’ ” he wrote. “I sincerely hoped it could happen and be great for everyone, but it hasn’t turned out as we all hoped. I know this is disappointing to many people and that makes me sad. But I am very sincerely grateful to Marvel for extending the offer and even more so for giving me the chance to be a part of the Hulk’s long and excellent history. “And I really can’t thank the fans enough for how much enthusiasm you’ve sent my way about what Louis and I tried to do in our turn with the legend,” Norton concluded. “It means a lot to me. I grew up with Banner and Hulk and have been a fan of every incarnation. I’m really proud, and very blessed, to have been one of them and will be thrilled to see him live on through other actors. Hulk is bigger than all of us, that’s why we love him, right?” Check out everything we’ve got on “The Avengers.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos ‘The Incredible Hulk’ Sneak Peek

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Edward Norton Responds To Hulk Controversy

Edward Norton Won’t Play Hulk In ‘The Avengers’

Norton’s rep fires back after studio implies actor doesn’t have the necessary ‘creativity and collaborative spirit.’ By Josh Wigler Ed Norton in “The Incredible Hulk” Photo: Universal Pictures When “The Avengers” assemble in theaters everywhere in 2012, the rapidly growing superhero franchise will be minus one major player: Edward Norton will not be reprising his role as Bruce Banner, better known by mainstream moviegoers as Hulk. In response to a rumor that Norton has not been invited to reprise his role as Banner in “The Avengers,” Marvel Studios President of Production Kevin Feige released a statement to HitFix to confirm the news that the superhero team-up flick will move on without Norton’s participation. “We have made the decision to not bring Ed Norton back to portray the title role of Bruce Banner in ‘The Avengers,’ ” Feige said. “Our decision is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. ‘The Avengers’ demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble, as evidenced by Robert [Downey Jr.], Chris [Hemsworth], Chris [Evans], [Samuel L. Jackson], Scarlett [Johansson] and all of our talented casts. We are looking to announce a name actor who fulfills these requirements and is passionate about the iconic role in the coming weeks.” Feige’s comments have prompted a pointed response from Brian Swardstrom of WME, Norton’s agent. “This offensive statement from Kevin Feige at Marvel is a purposefully misleading, inappropriate attempt to paint our client in a negative light,” Swardstrom said in a statement also released to HitFix . He explained that Marvel had made Norton an offer, and there had been “several weeks of civil, uncontentious discussions” before a studio rep called to say they had changed their mind. “We know a lot of fans have voiced their public disappointment with this result, but this is no excuse for Feige’s mean-spirited, accusatory comments,” Swardstrom continued. “Counter to what Kevin implies here, Edward was looking forward to the opportunity to work with [rumored director Joss Whedon] and the other actors in the ‘Avengers’ cast, many of whom are personal friends of his. Feige’s statement is unprofessional, disingenuous and clearly defamatory. Mr. Norton talent, tireless work ethic and professional integrity deserve more respect, and so do Marvel’s fans.” The absence of Norton from the final roster of “The Avengers” isn’t entirely surprising, as the actor previously told MTV News that his continuing status within the Marvel Universe was far from official. “It’s purely a function of time,” Norton said last September . “It’s always about just working things out on the schedule.” Although Norton won’t be involved in “The Avengers,” Marvel’s major motion picture event will involved regularly mentioned names including Downey as Iron Man, Hemsworth as Thor, Evans as Captain America and Jackson as Nick Fury. The suggestion of a “name actor” in Feige’s statement seems to refute initial reports that Marvel would fill the role of Banner with an unknown name. Check out everything we’ve got on “The Avengers.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com .

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Edward Norton Won’t Play Hulk In ‘The Avengers’

Buzz Break: Re-Enter Entourage

Moment of Truth: Video Games are Out. New York Street Games Are In.

Welcome back to Moment of Truth, Movieline’s weekly spotlight on the best in nonfiction cinema. This week we hear from Matt Levy, the director of the fun new doc New York Street Games , now available on DVD. It’s not often you get a rule book included with a DVD purchase; I think the last time I remember that happening were David Lynch’s notes for unraveling Mullholland Dr. (which didn’t help a damn bit, by the way). But that’s just one of the value-added features of New York Street Games , a half-documentary/half-call to action that challenges viewers to get off their couches, rally the neighbors and the kids, and get that stoopball game going you’ve always dreamed of.

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Moment of Truth: Video Games are Out. New York Street Games Are In.

Tommy Lee Jones Makes it in America

Enough of these young whippersnappers stealing all the comic book roles! Captain America needs some crow’s feet, and it’s getting it in the form of Tommy Lee Jones. Love interest Hayley Atwell confirmed to the British press that Jones would be joining the film, and it’s rumored he’ll play General Chester Phillips. Tommy Lee Jones: your new R. Lee Ermey! [ MTV ]

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Tommy Lee Jones Makes it in America

Tim Gunn Carries On In ‘The Smurfs Movie’

‘Project Runway’ mentor joins cast as an executive assistant at a cosmetics company. By Adam Rosenberg Tim Gunn Photo: Henry S. Dziekan III/ Getty Images For a movie about a bunch of little blue people, the cast of “The Smurfs Movie” is sure getting very big. The latest to join the cast is noted fashion expert and “Project Runway” mentor Tim Gunn. Variety reports that Gunn will play the role of an executive assistant at a major cosmetics company. Presumably, director Raja Gosnell will work out some way for Gunn to utter his “Runway” catchphrase, “Make it work,” to Tailor Smurf . The fashion guru joins a cast that already includes Neil Patrick Harris , “Glee” star Jayma Mays, Hank Azaria and Sofia Vergara, as well as the voice-acting talents of Katy Perry , Fred Armisen, George Lopez, Anton Yelchin, Paul Reubens, Alan Cumming, Jeff Foxworthy, Wolfgang Puck and Jonathan Winters. “Smurfs” shooting is under way right now in New York City. Just this week, MTV ran an image of Azaria decked out as Gargamel , the evil wizard who was driven on the cartoon by his mad desire to cook and eat the Smurfs. The movie will follow the diminutive blue people as they flee from their village after Gargamel locates it. They slip away through a magical portal and land smack in the middle of New York City’s Central Park. With Gargamel close behind, the Smurfs must find a way home before the wizard catches up with them. Gunn has appeared in guest roles on “Ugly Betty” and “How I Met Your Mother,” which also happens to star Harris. Gunn also hosts his own reality TV series on Bravo, “Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style.” “The Smurfs Movie” isn’t out until August 2011, but Gunn will be featured on the big screen long before then: He’ll be seen in the upcoming “Sex and the City 2,” which is out at the end of this month. For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .

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Tim Gunn Carries On In ‘The Smurfs Movie’

‘Iron Man 2’ Director Jon Favreau Wants The Mandarin For Third Movie

‘I’m curious to see how they handle all that stuff,’ Favreau says of Marvel Studios’ other superhero characters. By Larry Carroll, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Jon Favreau Photo: MTV News Every great franchise deserves to be a trilogy — if not for the fans, then perhaps for the director who might appreciate a few extra hours to fully flesh out his tale. Nowadays, Jon Favreau is getting ready to unleash his second “Iron Man” movie on the world — and he readily admits that the idea of a trilogy appeals to him. “It does. I would like to [do another film],” he explained, before admitting that the biggest obstacle may be one unlike any director before him has ever had to deal with: a backlog of superhero movies from his studio that will be twisting, changing and growing his characters with minimal input from Favreau over the next few years. ” ‘Iron Man 3,’ to pay it off, there’s so much left to understand about what the world is going to be like then,” the filmmaker reasoned. “You’ve got ‘Thor,’ ‘Captain America,’ ‘Avengers’ all happening with different directors before ‘Iron Man 3,’ and that’s all going to affect ‘Iron Man 3.’ ” With each of those Avengers heroes receiving their own films between now and 2012, Tony Stark will be glimpsed as a secondary player, if at all. And it won’t be until after “The Avengers” that Marvel Studios will be willing to revisit the character. “And what’s going to have happened by then?” Favreau asked, not knowing the answer himself. “With ‘Thor,’ you’re going to have all this supernatural stuff happening, and magic. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world; if it’s going to match the comic book, it’s going to be incredibly complex for a film. I’m curious to see how they handle all that stuff.” Much like Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, Favreau has built a franchise based on heightened reality. Yeah, you and I may not be able to build flying suits, lightning-whip weapons or repulsor-beam weaponry, but it seems more reasonable than superheroic men leaping tall buildings in a single bound. Favreau revealed that he has firm plans about who his desired “Iron Man 3” villain would be — and if the next few Marvel films develop as he hopes they do, perhaps supernatural elements will seem more reasonable in a few years. “You’ve got to do the Mandarin ,” Favreau said of the next “Iron Man” baddie, a martial-arts expert who has superhuman powers that can tear apart Iron Man’s suit with his bare hands. “The problem with the Mandarin is that the way it’s depicted in the comic books, you don’t want to see that. “He has 10 magical rings — that just doesn’t feel right for our [franchise],” the director reasoned. “So it’s either tech-based, or the rings are not really rings. But maybe with Thor and all those others, you’ll introduce magic to that world and it won’t seem so out of place.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Iron Man 2.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: Jon Favreau

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‘Iron Man 2’ Director Jon Favreau Wants The Mandarin For Third Movie

‘Iron Man 2’ Director Jon Favreau Reveals Deleted Scenes

‘There are scenes that I like that don’t fit into the movie,’ Favreau says of the future DVD extras. By Larry Carroll, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Jon Favreau Photo: MTV News For decades, the stuff of Hollywood legend has been created by independently-minded directors and bottom-line-loving studio suits clashing over the final cut of a film. Sometimes, the studio is right ( “28 Days Later” comes to mind), and sometimes the filmmaker needs to be left alone (see: “Brazil” ), but these battles are more common than you’d think. So it should come as no surprise that Marvel and “Iron Man 2” director Jon Favreau — got along splendidly? “Yeah, yeah, there’s another cut that I would have had that’s, like, 50 minutes longer,” the filmmaker teased sarcastically when asked if he had one of the increasingly popular “director’s cut” versions that film fans see everywhere these days. “No, it doesn’t work that way at Marvel.” When we visited the set of the new superhero film , we saw Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. working closely with the laid-back, jeans-and-baseball-hat-wearing head of Marvel Studios — and Favs assured us that it wasn’t just for show. “That’s the nice thing about working at Marvel; they’re very supportive of the director. I’ve been given a lot of creative freedom there,” he said. “Kevin Feige, who runs the studio and is also the producer, is a partner creatively. And when we make changes, it’s ones that we’re all comfortable with. “I like to be very collaborative with them,” he continued. “So it’s not like there is a version that they strong-armed me into not using. I stand behind the one that is out there.” Somebody might want to give some career advice to Terry Gilliam and urge him to take on a Marvel flick. For his part, however, Favreau does admit there were a handful of scenes that came closer to making the film than others. “There are scenes that I like that don’t fit into the movie that I think are great, and I’ve included them in the DVD,” Favreau revealed. “It was like the thing where Gwyneth kisses the helmet and throws it out [of the airplane]. … There’s a [deleted] scene that leads up to that. It’s wonderful, but what it does is ruin the surprise and ruins the momentum of the movie in the beginning. “[The scene occurs] on a real C17 that we shot it on,” he explained. “But there’s a little bit of a misdirect that we wanted to sell, and the reveal of him landing on the stage being revealed for the first time was better. Also, [Paltrow’s character] Pepper had two introduction scenes, and so, structurally, there were issues with it that are hard to explain unless you see the whole cut.” Another deleted scene involved Scarlett Johansson, a repulsor and some heavy flirtation. “That one’s an interesting one, because the relationship between Tony and Pepper is so special to the audience that it’s [delicate],” Favreau said of making Johansson’s sensual character appear to be too close to Tony. “If you let him and Scarlett get too flirty and get too close, the audience turns off really quickly, because they really want to root for [Tony and Pepper] together.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Iron Man 2.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Photos ‘Iron Man 2’ Premieres In Los Angeles

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‘Iron Man 2’ Director Jon Favreau Reveals Deleted Scenes

‘Iron Man 2’ Blasts Away Box-Office Competition

Sequel surpasses first ‘Iron Man’ debut, but fails to beat ‘The Dark Knight’ for best opening weekend. By Josh Wigler Robert Downey Jr. in “Iron Man 2” Photo: Paramount #1 “Iron Man 2” ($133.6 million) #2 “A Nightmare on Elm Street” ($9.2 million) #3 “Date Night” ($6.8 million) #4 “How to Train Your Dragon” ($5.3 million) #5 “The Back-Up Plan” ($4.3 million) With repulsor rays armed to their fullest capacity, “Iron Man 2” burst off the ground and onto the big screen this weekend with all of the action and adventure a moviegoer would expect from Marvel Studios’ premier franchise. The result was an extraordinary $133.6 million weekend, Paramount Pictures’ single best debut of all time, as well as the fifth-best opening weekend in Hollywood history. “Iron Man 2” began the weekend with an impressive $7.5 million start from 2,500 midnight showings on Thursday, expanding into a record-breaking 4,380 screens on Friday morning. But the records ended there, as “Iron Man 2” was unable to dethrone “The Dark Knight” ($158 million) for the best opening weekend of all time. Still, the Robert Downey Jr.-starring sequel was able to outperform its own predecessor, which earned $98.6 million during its first weekend in theaters in 2008. In addition to its performance at the domestic box office, “Iron Man 2” earned a solid $57.2 million overseas from more than 10,000 theaters, bringing the film’s foreign intake to $194 million and its global total to $327.6 million. Given its reported $200 million production budget, “Iron Man 2” didn’t need to break any records this weekend in order to solidify its status as a highly lucrative endeavor for Marvel Studios. A success in and of itself, “Iron Man 2” also represents a comeback of sorts for comic book films in general, as recent efforts “Kick-Ass” and “The Losers” failed to light up the box office as many had expected. “A Nightmare on Elm Street” fell from first to second place this weekend with $9.2 million, a miniscule result compared to the might of “Iron Man 2.” “Date Night,” “How to Train Your Dragon” and “The Back-Up Plan” rounded out the top five. Upcoming Releases Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe return to medieval times with “Robin Hood” next weekend, while Summit Entertainment writes “Letters to Juliet” and Queen Latifah performs “Just Wright.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Iron Man 2.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Iron Man 2′ MTV News’ Three To See Gear Up For ‘Iron Man 2’ With These New Clips Related Photos ‘Iron Man 2’ ‘Iron Man 2’ Premieres In Los Angeles

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‘Iron Man 2’ Blasts Away Box-Office Competition