Shane Black pioneered what is now considered the archetypal buddy-action genre with his script work on the Lethal Weapon franchise, The Last Boy Scout, and Long Kiss Goodnight - he then went meta with his 2005 directorial debut, the cult Neo-Noir comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Edgar Wright, by comparison, made his name in America on his genre-riffs with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) before making his own one-of-a-kind cult film in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World two years ago.
That’s to say, there’s a lot of interest amongst the moviegoing public to see what these gentlemen come up with in their respective Marvel superhero films, Iron Man 3 and Ant-Man. Marvel co-president Louis D’Esposito promises that chance will be arriving sooner, rather than later.
The first footage from Black’s Iron Man 3 was screened in the form of a sizzle reel at Marvel’s Comic-Con panel this past summer. Reports have since emerged that a formal trailer showed at a premiere for the Avengers Blu-ray. However, in a recent interview with FilmJunkies.de (hat tip to CBM), D’Esposito stated the official IM3 teaser has yet to be finished, but that he expects the preview to hit theaters in “mid to late October.”
Iron Man 3 will, among other things, set the stage for “Phase Two” of the Marvel Movie Universe (MMU). The Comic-Con footage had plenty of humor, but imminent danger and world-shattering events are also on the table for Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Indeed, IM3‘s mix of wise guy heroes, outlandishly menacing villains, and tangible violence recalls Black’s oeuvre as a whole – not to mention, seems like the perfect formula for the Iron Man franchise.
There’s a fair amount of pressure on Iron Man 3 to raise the bar for the MMU to the next level; it has to followup Marvel’s game-changing Avengers, as well as rebuild fan confidence after what many consider a regressive second installment in Iron Man 2. Marvel has seemingly been taking its time with Wright’s Ant-Man movie for similar reasons, since the occasionally-miniaturized superhero will be all the more difficult to “get right” now that expectations are higher.
Comic-con attendees were very receptive to the Ant-Man test footage, enough so to prompt demands from others who want to check out the results. D’Esposito, when asked about the idea, reiterated the claims of Marvel producer Victoria Alonso saying “Yes, I think so. Edgar is just adding the finishing touches and then we will once again make the final visual effects editing. The process is almost complete. Then we will decide when and how we can make it available to the fans. We are more than happy with it. He’s a great filmmaker and we look forward to [it].”
Marvel’s co-president once again avoided setting an official date for when, exactly, Wright could begin filming Ant-Man for real. Rumors persist that production could get underway once Alan Taylor finishes up shooting Thor: The Dark World overseas in London, meaning Wright’s flick could join the Russo Brothers’ Captain America: The Winter Soldier and James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy as the Marvel flicks hitting theaters in 2014.
Wright is in the midst of principal photography on his new Pegg/Frost collaboration, The World’s End, so there’s good reason to wonder if Ant-Man can start shooting in a matter of months. The test footage suggests Wright’s ability to interweave stylized action with cartoonish comedy will serve the superhero film well, so there is all the less reason for either Marvel or the fan community to demand that he start rushing things after several years of careful development.
We will continue to keep you posted on the status of Ant-Man. Meanwhile, Iron Man 3 releases on May 3rd, 2013, Thor: The Dark World on November 8th, 2013, Captain America: The Winter Soldier on April 4th, 2014; Guardians of the Galaxy on August 1st, 2014; and The Avengers 2 on May 1st, 2015.
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Source: FilmJunkies.de [via CBM]
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I’m excited to see both and I hope it’s soon.
Especially the Ant-Man footage.
I know Ant-Man hasn’t been officially confirmed but it seems like just a formality at this point.
Why else would Wright continue to work on the footage if it was for a film that wasn’t going to happen? That’s a lot of time and money for something to just release online or attach to a Blu-ray.
Ant man was officially confirmed during SDCC, there is no cast nor date but the movie is confirmed.
Holy Marvel news day! Very excited for both of these films. It seems like Marvel is constantly at work and that migth finally lead us to three Marvel movies in one year! That would be amazing!
Can’t wait for the Ant Man clip!
As for Iron Man, I’m still not in love with his new armor(he just got a new one in Avengers!) but I’m interested in seeing what Shane Black has planned and how different it’ll be than Favreau’s style.
Completely agree.
But just to add to your opinion on IM3, I’m also really looking forward to seeing Sir Kingsley as the Mandarin!
I really want to see that trailer and the Ant-man footage.
Agreed! Kingsley should make a fantastic villain
I’m meh on ant-man, especially if it’s Lang.
I always want to see more IM clips!
Lang is beyond “meh” for me because it means either no Ultron or worse, taking the Ultron story and completely reworking it to make Stark the creator. Marvel will lose a LOT of credibility with me if they do that.
But wait, work it the other way and give Pym some of Lang’s storyline!? Perhaps it makes a certain kind of sense, the scientific genius that would’ve rather been a secret agent…
Lang never wanted to be a secret agent. He was an ex-convict who robbed the Ant-Man suit from Pym to try to abduct a heart surgeon so she can perform surgery on his ill daughter. Wow… what a backstory for a movie…!
Pym is a genius scientist who invented a way to shift sizes, created another superhero (Wasp), battled supervillains, founded the Avengers, married a hottie, suffered from a mental breakdown, created Ultron, found a way to shrink things just by touching them, was replaced by a Skrull, founded Avengers Academy, and was named Scientist Supreme. Just to list a few things
Sounds cool to me. But hey, I’m sort of a geek myself
That means it’s attached to Frankenweenie which is the only Disney release next month. Makes sense, Frankenweenie was the only trailer on the Avengers Blu Ray. Think SR’s ealier article about what it will be attached to has been answered.
That’s a great catch and a nice coincidence!
Good day for MCU news! cant wait for the iron man trailer and antman footage. I think that after phase two finishes, they should spend more time on introducing new characters for the avengers 3 and less time on sequels.
I agree. I don’t think we’ll see another Iron Man sequel and hopefully RDJ will just be in Avengers 2 and 3 if they can work out a contract. I think they should also spread out Thor 3 and Cap 3. My phase 3 wish list:
Incredible Hulk 2- RULK!
Black Panther
Thor 3
Dr. Strange
Cap 3
yeah my list would be about the same. though i might throw in antman 2 in there depending if they get the first out in phase two and if its good.
Incredible Hulk (with Norton) had the Leader, remember the blood spilling on his open head wound? I would love to see the Leader brainwashing Abomination and maybe the Absorbing Man for a 2 on one fight with Hulk, Rulk is a new character, who I would love to see in a movie, but they already set up the story for the Leader…
Maybe after Iron-man 3, Avengers 2, and Avengers 3 Tony Stark will stop being Iron-man and become something less physical like the director of SHIELD.
It is a strong possibility, after all Stark was for a time director of SHIELD. So it is possible that we could see in a future Iron Man or Marvel movie with Stark becoming the director of SHIELD. It would be instresting to see how Stark would handle the job.
i think if they do so they might have iron man make a quick cameo in one of those movies just to keep him fresh
At what point does hype become over-hype? I know they want to keep their fan base fed and keep the projects alive in people’s minds, but releasing test footage just seems excessive.
With all the complaints about, well complaints, that people make when set footage is leaked or a two second trailer doesn’t live up to some people’s expectations, what do film companies think might happen when they start showing people every facet of the film before it’s even done?
Isn’t it kinda obvious?
They want to know if people will LIKE it.
Ant-man is a huge risk for the studio (a bigger risk than all the other movies they’ve done IMO) so before they throw +$100 million dollars into a movie, I think they’d like to see if the broader audience (not just a test audience) will like what they see, and if not, it’s either back to the drawing board, or scrapping the project.
It is obvious, but it still doesn’t take away from the fact it is basically trying to make a movie via committee. Ant-Man has never seemed like a slam-dunk movie hit concept to me, and clearly somewhere in the minds of the studio they might feel a little gun-shy about the project. All of the hype built up online may have helped jump-start this movie project, but showing all their cards this early might just kill it like you said. That just makes it seem like they are not as confident about this movie as they let on from one news clipping to the next, which hurts the validity of the project if it goes forward.
And the reality is the people who will even seek this footage out are probably die-hard fans, who even if they love it or hate, won’t be an accurate gauge of anything from a marketability standpoint. And we all already know that there is going to be a percentage of people who hate it no matter what, so trying to alter things based off such feedback might just be spinning the wheels so to speak.
Teaser clips are one thing, but showing raw test footage is just like taking something out of the oven before it’s done. It won’t look or taste like anything and you run the risk of people spitting it out. Can you imagine how many movies wouldn’t get made if fans saw all the test footage? Well maybe in some cases that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
i like that they are doing this. it showes that they care about what the fans want.
I have to agree to with rudy, in today’s day and age, any movie with any degree of appeal is strained to prevent pre-release footage anyway. Instead of seeing pics that “could” be authentic or completely doctored, I would just as soon see the (essentially) same quality media shared on purpose. I think it has potential to build excitement and give viewers a sense of “ownership,” in addition to providing the producers with some hard data from reaction.
A lot of people love watching the “making” of a movie on a purchased dvd; this is basically the same thing but before the release, instead.
I was disappointed at “coming soon”
Anxious for these films. Guess I don’t mind waiting, tho, if it gives them more time to “get it right”!
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSWWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nice! I can’t wait. Now if we could get DC/WB to jump on the bandwagon and release that ASTOUNDING ‘Man of Steel’ comic-con footage
I’m not really excited at all for the character of Ant Man, since I’d never heard of the character until recently, and it almost seems like there will be too many comic book movies being made. That said, I am excited for Edgar Wright making it. His films with Pegg/Frost were great, and I loved Scott Pilgrim, so I have high hopes for Wright’s take on Ant Man.
Cant wait!! Really they gotta use hank pym other wise it would be a waste
Okay… now cut the news and show us the trailers!!!
What? Not yet… Oooow T_T
Hmm, I went to Rotten Tomatoes to see if the rest of the world hated IM2 as much as this site. Apparently not. Wish you could post a poll for Rocket Raccoon and compare it to the real world.
IM 1 has 7.9 on IMDB and part two has a 7.1 rating, so plenty of people thought the sequel wasn’t as good as the first.
I didn’t think it was a garbage movie, but I was disappointed and liked the first one much more.
I agree, it wasn’t as good as the first one, but I have watched it several times and enjoyed it every one of them.
I just watched it again (fourth time, I think) and I still like it just fine
I think GOTG is a waste… The ultron story has a poopton better story. A TREE AND A RACCOON. Heros that I have heard of is all good. Ones that I haven’t are typical because no one else cares
WHERE IS THE ANT-MAN TEST FOOTAGE. IVE BEEN WAITING FOR AT LEAST 4+ MONTHS.
Ant Man footage: http://goodmoviesbadmovies.com/2013/03/20/ant-man-teaser-trailer/
I… I… I think I’m gonna faint…!!!!!!!!