1. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
Let’s not make more out of this than it really is: it’s just a fan-made, 16 minute video taken of Avengers: Age of Ultron doing some outdoor filming, with the fan in question clearly being quite far away from the actual set. At one point someone who appears to be Elisabeth Olson acts in front of a green screen because, spoiler alert, The Scarlet Witch is the type of character who do can do cool crap that’ll require lots of special effects. The rest of it is a small army of people doing set preparations before running through some kind of disaster evacuation scene with a ton of extras. Avengers: Age of Ultron is set to open May 1, 2015, at which point we can look back on this video and marvel at how boring it all looked while they were filming it yet how amazing it came out in the finished movie.
Mark Ruffalo: New ‘Hulk’ Movie Should Not Be ‘Planet Hulk’ (ScreenCrush)
Ruffalo previously revealed that Marvel maybe, kind of, sort of, then again maybe not, but probably are contemplating maybe doing another Hulk movie. Asked about it again, he specified he’s not a fan of the “Planet Hulk” story as an idea for a movie because who wants to see Hulk dropped onto a planet of other monsters where he then basically follows the plot of Gladiator? [POTENTIAL SPOILERS] Funny he should say that because there are rumors that Age of Ultron‘s ending will appear to set up a Planet Hulk movie, but in fact will actually set up Hulk somehow being a part of Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
2. ARROW
She was in Sin City. I don’t remember her. Either way, she’s “been cast as Tatsu Yamashiro — aka Katana — a deadly, blade-wielding martial arts expert.” Here’s the thing: Oliver is going to have a new, Hong Kong-based mentor in the season 3 flashbacks, and that mentor is going to have a wife, which is where Aoki comes in. My gut reaction is that I will be stunned if we reach the end of the season with past Oliver having failed to add Katana to the notches on his bedpost. Oh, Katana is an actual character from the comics, although my first reaction to that name is to think of the Mortal Kombat character.
3. ENCHANTED
ENCHANTED 2 Moving Forward at Disney with SHREK 2 and SMURF Writers (Collider)
Seriously, how good is Enchanted? Imagine how silly Amy Adams must have felt on set, unsure if her Disney-princess-brought-to-life act was going to charm or simply nauseate. What came out of it was a movie which is kind of impossible to hate, a Disney movie so self-aware but so fond of it’s source material it can appeal to Disney detractors as well as enthusiasts. No, it’s not perfect, but it’s a gosh darn delight.
Of course, much like the Disney classics Enchanted spoofs it leaves no real obvious room for a sequel, yet Disney is going to churn one out anyway, except this one won’t likely go straight to video like the Little Mermaids 2 of old. There was a talk of a sequel after the movie came out, but that never went anywhere. Now, seven years later Disney has hired the guys who wrote The Rugrats Movie, Shrek 2, and both Smurfs films together to pen the screenplay, and the woman who directed Sandra Bullock’s The Proposal is attached to direct. No word on potential story or who among the cast might be involved.
4. FLASH & CONSTANTINE
5. NETFLIX
New Netflix Instant Releases – July 2014 (ScreenCrush)
Still mourning the loss of those movies which just magically disappeared from Netflix once June turned into July? Well, the replacements are on the way, with July bringing the likes of Bad Santa, Fever Pitch, Gandhi, Karate Kid 1-2, Mean Girls, Patton, Philadelphia, Star Trek I, VI, Homefront, and Out of the Furnace.
6. LIST OF THE DAY
Who Are the Remaining Unused Marvel Characters and Could They Make a Viable Movie (IndieWire)
Because Marvel was once a poorly run business consistently teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, the film rights to its characters have been scattered to the wind over the years. As a result, Sony has Spider-Man, Fox has X-Men and Fantastic Four, and Disney has most everything else. Slightly more under the radar is the fact that Universal actually has the rights to Namor: The Sub-Mariner (someone, somewhere just said “Yay!” and somebody else said, “Whoa, wait, you seriously want a Namor movie?”)
So, with WB about to potentially go comic book movie crazy IndieWire looked at all Marvel characters (sorted by film studio) to find potential movie stars because if Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy can get their own movies then all bets are off. Sony? Try Black Cat. Fox? Seriously, get serious about Deadpool, Gambit, and X-Force. Marvel? WTF is the hold-up on Black Panther and Captain Marvel? Also, please make a Runaways – about a group of teenagers who realize their parents are all supervillains – movie. It would be amazing.
7. INFOGRAPH OF THE DAY
The History of the Superhero Movie, 1978-2009 (io9.com)