Screen Rant » Carl Lee

Answered: Which Studios Own Which Marvel Characters

Carl Lee — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:50:50 +0000

[We first published this article three years ago, but with the recent rumblings of a cameo by a certain superhero in The Avengers, we thought it might be a good time to bring this to your attention once again. - Editor]

With X-Men Origins: Wolverine a little under three weeks from release, we here at Screen Rant thought an overview of all Marvel properties (and possibilities) might be in order. Though the new independent studio is now producing their own films, solely distributed by Paramount Pictures, there are a number of iconic characters still residing at Hollywood’s other major studios.

Now that the film division of Marvel Entertainment exists, we’ve seen questions around the inter-webs about certain properties and copyrights concerning top-tier Marvel characters. Many readers have been calling for Wolverine to cameo in the expected 2012 ...

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Red Carpet Premiere for ‘Public Enemies’

Carl Lee — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:50:24 +0000

"It's nice to be able to come back here and say 'Thank you,' and this shindig is a way of doing it," said Johnny Depp..

Thursday, June 18, Johnny Depp and Co. walked the red carpet for Chicago’s premiere of Public Enemies. The notorious bank robber, John Dillinger, was shot less than 5 miles away at the Lincoln Park theater–nearly 75 years ago.The action-er was filmed last year at locations Dillinger once frequented (including the Biograph Theater on Lincoln Avenue), providing the upcoming blockbuster a taste of the authentic. Although Wrigley Field won’t be appearing on screen, Depp also attended a Cubs game and signed autographs for fans after speaking with the media.

Christian Bale with wife, Sibi, posing for photographers

Christian Bale, who ...

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Join In On ‘Public Enemies’ Bank Raids

Carl Lee — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:32:36 +0000

To promote Public Enemies, Universal is launching one of the first film marketing campaigns to incorporate Facebook Connect and Twitter. Though the gaming is a little light, the social aspect has the potential to be pretty effective.

Bank Raids brings out the 1930′s John Dillinger in everyone by feeding criminal ambition, recruiting gang members and robbing banks. Gameplay generally lasts 2 to 3 minutes – since luck doesn’t last forever – but aspiring thieves can save their progress and come back to finish the job. Buy guns and cars to make bank jobs easier and increase your notoriety, but beware: the more notorious you get, the lower the chances of successfully pulling off the job.

When you’re done playing, automatically posting updates to Facebook or Twitter takes care of the bragging for you. Although you can’t edit the text, ...

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Chris Nolan On Batman 3: Worth the Wait?

Carl Lee — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:16:30 +0000

There hasn’t been much news revolving around Batman 3 as of late, but Batman-On-Film has an article shaking fanboys to their core. It involves Christopher Nolan and whether or not he’ll be at the helm of the next installment.

As you can imagine, Warner Bros. would desperately want Nolan to return – but the deal isn’t a given. Co-writers David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan said they would have to convince Chris again; since The Dark Knight was his first sequel ever, asking the director to make it a trilogy is another task entirely–a task that might nearly be impossible.

According to BoF‘s source, there are a number of issues at play. The death of Heath Ledger “rocked Mr. Nolan hard.” Apparently so much so that it convinced Chris “TDK was going to ...

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New Cast Members Bringing ‘Redemption’ to Heroes?

Carl Lee — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:27:02 +0000

With Heroes‘ fifth volume, “Redemption”, set to start shooting next week, the cast has been accommodating a few additions, including a new villain and a new roommate for college-bound Claire (Hayden Panettiere). Thumbs up for a new villain, but a college roommate? Great! Because the whole going-to-college storyline worked so well for Claire last season [sarcasm].

Robert Knepper, best known as bad guy “T-Bag” from Fox’s Prison Break, will continue his villainous streak as Samuel on Heroes; Madeline Zima (a.k.a. the conniving “Mia Lewis” from Showtime’s Californication), will appear in a multi-episode arc as Claire’s edgy, outsider college roommate, Gretchen.

Knepper’s Samuel will be a “Jim Jones type–charismatic but evil, with a twisted sense of humor–who will veer into the lives of all heroes.” He’s been referred to as the “Carnival Barker,” which peaks my interest beyond ...

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Pixar’s ‘Brave’ is Actually ‘The Bear and the Bow’

Carl Lee — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:24:34 +0000

With Up coming out this weekend (May 29th), you might have guessed that director Pete Docter has been doing lots of interviews and other press. In a discussion with Coming Soon, an intriguing slip lead to massive amounts of speculation. We tried to stay out of that mess until some clear(er) details were available. So what exactly is Brave you ask?

Apparently, it’s Pixar’s 2011 winter feature The Bear and the Bow.

‘Brave’, it turns out, is Pixar’s internal name for The Bear and the Bow. Writer and director Brenda Chapman (Cars, Prince of Egypt) is ‘behind the lens’ of Pixar’s first fairy tale, which stars Reese Witherspoon. The Pixar Blog reports the story is of a Scottish princess Merida, who would rather be known as a great (and brave) archer. Against her mother’s wishes, she ...

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A Look At ‘The Brothers Bloom’

Carl Lee — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:10:31 +0000

Over the extended weekend I had an opportunity to see The Brothers Bloom, and I jumped at it enthusiastically. It’s currently out on limited release since May 15th and goes nationwide on May 29th. It is the follow-up to director Rian Johnson’s acclaimed Brick and it stars Adrian Brody, Mark Ruffalo, and Rachel Weisz. We thought we’d highlight the trailer for you and give this film some of the attention it deserves.

The plot centers around the world’s greatest con men, the Brothers Bloom, who have duped millionaires with complex scenarios involving love, intrigue, double-cross and of course, slight of hand. Bloom (Brody) has grown tired of the fabricated story-lines and scripted characters his brother, Stephen (Ruffalo), has created since their youth, so big brother maps one last mark to set them up with an easy $2.5 million ...

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Harry Potter Updates: New Clips & Poster

Carl Lee — Fri, 22 May 2009 01:38:39 +0000

This week, we’ve seen a burst of New Moon propaganda ranging from RPattz’ confirmation of a fourth Twilight movie to an MTV Movie Awards clip premiere and a new poster all to sway teen hearts. Not to be outdone, the wizards at Hogwarts have announced that Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) will also premiere a clip from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at the MTV Movie Awards.

With a release two months away, the MTV Awards Show has become prime real estate to let fans know the Harry Potter phenomenon isn’t over. More importantly, it will finally go up against Twilight in a test of content and quality. I suspect Potter-director, David Yates, will provide a clip more polished that is geared towards getting teens to ...

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Tarantino Reflects on ‘Inglorious Basterds”

Carl Lee — Wed, 20 May 2009 03:26:40 +0000

In just a few hours, Quentin Tarantino will be debuting his WWII epic drama Inglourious Basterds at Cannes and contend for the prestigious Palme d’Or award. It would be his second (the first being for Pulp Fiction 15 years prior), but extra special because he’s “expecting this to be one of the high moments of [his] career.”

In an interview with Variety, Tarantino described the film festival as “the cinematic Olympics” and provided some insight on what it took to get it ready for the competition. The film had the same 10-week production schedule as Pulp Fiction, a bit fast for a period piece shot in war-torn Europe but the director would accept nothing less; he expressed the reason to work at breakneck speed.

If you’ve done a movie you’re proud of, that you might be ...

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Marvel’s Thor is Chris Hemsworth

Carl Lee — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:55:14 +0000

Courtesy of a Nikki Finke exclusive, it seems Marvel has its Thor. Just days after Kenneth Branagh talked about Thor casting delays, the word is Chris Hemsworth will wield the mighty Mjolnir. That’s right, Captain Kirk’s dad in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot is now Marvel’s God of Thunder.

Hemsworth has had a whirlwind of a month: he was captain of a starship for 12 minutes just last week, cast as the lead in Red Dawn on Thursday, and the 25-year-old Aussie was doing an Australian TV series just last November. After 171 episodes of being “Kim Hyde” on Home and Away, he’s getting his big break with Thor - but it took two reads for him to be chosen as Odin’s son.

Finke reports Hemsworth had read for the part before ...

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Robert Rodriguez To Direct Predator Remake – Updated

Carl Lee — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:00:37 +0000

[UPDATE: It seems that Rodriguez will be PRODUCING the movie but not DIRECTING it - and there's a tentative release date: July 7, 2010]

Remember back about two months ago when we said Predator-remake was in the works and quite possibly the worst idea ever? Today, we retract those statements… Well, maybe not entirely, but at least a little.

Why? Because Robert Rodriguez is taking the reigns not only as a producer, but also as director!

The re-titled Predators has now been confirmed with Rodriguez in the director’s chair.

Although the project is still with 20th Century Fox, things are looking a little better with the Desperado-director in the seat.

Via IESB.net comes word that a news conference was held at Troublemaker Studios (Rodriguez’s independent filmhouse) for the signing of a long-awaited reform of Texas film incentive program-HB ...

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Mark Millar Defends Writer Hired For ‘Wanted 2′

Carl Lee — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:22:54 +0000

Last week, we reported Evan Spiliotopoulos was set to write Wanted 2–the other comic book movie. Yeah, you read that right, the writer who wrote Pooh’s Heffalump Movie and The Nutty Professor is writing the sequel to last year’s just-above-average summer “blockbuster.” Mark Millar, graphic novel creator and producer of the sequel, tried to quiet concerns but the Spiliotopoulos’ repertoire speaks for itself.

Millar, opting to create a story with producers instead of writing another comic book, had a number of comments on his message board regarding the issue. He had this to say in response:

“Never listen to any commentators as they never know anything about who’s coming back, etc. It’s just speculation and 99% of the time these guys don’t have access to the people who know. ‘Wanted 2′ is being made in a very tight circle ...

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Deadpool Creator Talks Deadpool Solo Project

Carl Lee — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:36:59 +0000

A Deadpool project has been in the air since David S. Goyer (writer of Blade-Trilogy, Batman Begins/The Dark Knight) did a script while Blade was in production, but now with X-Men Origins: Wolverine a few weeks from release, buzz of a solo flick has ramped up. Deadpool creator Robert Liefeld recently chimed in, adding fuel to the fire.

Liefeld is the mastermind behind a few pivotal characters besides Deadpool: he’s the reason why Marvel has Cable and X-Force. Though he’s faced criticism in the comic book industry, lately he’s been dabbling in a little screen writing and being involved with film. Via Twitter, he’s posted a few notes about the upcoming Wolverine origin piece and Deadpool’s solo arc.

Also, talked to producers of ‘Wolverine’ yesterday and they said that there are definite plans to spin off ‘Deadpool’ if the ...

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New ‘State of Play’ Pics (Plus A Trailer)

Carl Lee — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:37:14 +0000

If you caught last night’s Heroes (and didn’t skip through the commercials), you would’ve seen glimpses of Universal Pictures’ political thriller, State of Play. Based on a BBC Television mini-series, the film revolves around a team of investigative reporters work with a police detective to solve the murder of a research assistant/mistress to potential presidential candidate, U.S. Congressman Stephen Collins. Filled with drama and conspiracy, the film features a number of great actors including: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Helen Mirren.

State of Play is directed by Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland), the screenplay is written by Matthew Michael Carnahan (Lions for Lambs, The Kingdom), Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton, Bourne-series), and Billy Ray (Breach, Flightplan). Judging by the scribes involved, State of Play has potential to be a heart-pumping meeting ...

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3 More Disappointing ‘Dragonball’ Clips

Carl Lee — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:37:06 +0000

With the U.S. release of Dragonball approaching, MTV Splash Page has exclusives that will make die-hard fans cringe. Hints of how adaptation was handled are here, it doesn’t look good.

Already released in various places around the globe, the marketing team keeps peddling this movie despite the negative press. The last time we checked, we had 5 character-centric TV spots and a name change but this time we get a little closer with actual scenes. Full of cheesy dialog, terrible acting and bad fight scenes, the three clips are excruciating to watch. You have been warned.

Goku and Chi Chi don’t meet at the World Martial Arts Tournament, but at high school. Awesome.

Sans-Turtleshell Roshi explains details to Goku and Bulma. Great.

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A ‘Houdini’ Action-Thriller?

Carl Lee — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:08:18 +0000

Summit Entertainment has grabbed the rights to a biography by William Kalush and Larry Sloman, entitled The Secret LIfe of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero. To capitalize on the magician’s name, the studio intends to make an action thriller – potentially nothing like the real performer.

Against the views of magic historians, the controversial book painted Houdini as a spy for early British Intelligence as well as being asked to be an adviser to Czar Nicholas II’s court in Russia. Though the book has some details right, he did investigate and debunk psychics and mediums, it also suggests his death was part of a spiritual movement as payback.

The book was published in 2006 and now the feature-film rights have been acquired by Summit Entertainment.

The Hollywood Reporter says the studio is looking to feature a character, part-Indiana Jones and ...

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Seth Rogen Updates Us On ‘Green Hornet’

Carl Lee — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:33:41 +0000

There’s been some recent buzz surrounding The Green Hornet, what with Seth Rogen out doing junkets for Observe & Report and Monster Vs. Aliens. Some of the major questions have been addressed, like how much comedy will there be; what will Michel Gondry’s take on the character look like and what role does Stephen Chow still have.

Via SCI FI Wire, Rogen said the film will be both comedy and action because they’re not “mutually exclusive.” That’s good to hear, but Green Hornet was always more camp than comedy; does Rogen get that?

“I’ve seen the early ‘Indiana Jones’ movies in theaters, and they kill,” Rogen said. “There’s laughs throughout the whole thing, and it doesn’t feel like a comedy per se. It just feels like something that’s trying to solicit reactions from the audience, and we think ...

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Is Natalie Portman Set To Star In Thor?

Carl Lee — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:56:38 +0000

Along with Nikki Finke’s list of potential candidates for Thor, she also had a small blip about Natalie Portman in the lead for a female role.

Excuse me for a second… (was your mind blown too?).

The actress, whose career begun with films like Léon: The Professional and the Star Wars Prequels, might have a role in Thor? That just upped the ante for this project.

Portman, who I want to speculate is a fangirl in secret, brings a level of acting chops and big-name status to Thor that was much needed. Along with the aforementioned prequels, she’s also played the role of Evey in V for Vendetta, bringing out the humility in the masked anarchist.

Since the Norse God is seen as a secondary (maybe even third tier) character like Iron Man was, Portman in a lead role gives this ...

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More Angry Wolverine Pictures

Carl Lee — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:45:59 +0000

We’ve stumbled upon three new X-Men Origins: Wolverine images. Don’t worry, they don’t give away any details about the movie and you aren’t missing anything. Hugh Jackman is as ripped as ever, and like the French poster, always angry.

XMenFilms has three exclusive promo photos, though they look like a photo shoot for Genre magazine. He shows off the claws and the redneck t-shirt, but comes off as unnecessarily upset–maybe he’s seen the first cut of the film. Why so angry, Wolvie?

Head over to XMenFilms to see the rest in high-res.

And I still think he looks too tall, Sabretooth can’t call him a “little runt” if he’s the same height. I guess I ...

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‘New Moon’ Art And Title Change

Carl Lee — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:38:41 +0000

Last night, as if it was some global event at 10PM ET, the MTV Movie Blog unveiled the art and official title for the second chapter in the Twilight series. From this point forward, it shall be addressed as “The Twilight Saga’s New Moon” – although the new art leaves out the “‘s.”

The name and art for the second installment includes some changes but retains much of the concept from the first – there’s nothing to get too excited about here. Fans will likely enjoy the same font though it has changed to an orange tint. There is also a subtle crescent moon and the release date of Nov. 20, 2009.

See it for yourself below.

As I said, nothing too thrilling, but I suppose it’s worth noting the changes in color from blue ...

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