Screen Rant » magneto

SR Picks [Video]: X-Men Origins: Magneto Concept Trailer

Rob Keyes — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:03:12 +0000

One of the many potential X-Men movies pushed into early development after X-Men 3: The Last Stand was an origins solo film for the master of magnetism, Magneto, played of course by the talented sir Ian McKellen in the X-Men trilogy.

I was always skeptical of a Magneto origins film, thinking it wouldn’t be as bankable as many projects touted, but this trailer (using X-men trilogy scenes and Star Trek music) does make it seem pretty epic. That being said, a lot of that awesomeness comes from the music.

Check out this fan-made concept trailer by YouTube user silverlightsaber after the jump.

The only issue here is that it presents Magneto when he’s older and we know the origin film would have to be about him when he’s young, learning his powers, defining his beliefs, working with professor X to start the school, build cerebro, etc. This is a story I hope and think will be explored as part of X-Men: First Class and would work perfect having Magneto working alongside Professor X as a teacher before they separate paths. Not too mention how well that would tie into the Bryan Singer’s first X-Men movie.

As we know, a Mangeto film would re-cast the actors we know and love from the X-Men franchise and I believe that’s the big sticking point for Fox Studios who have pushed aside X-Men Origins: Magneto for the time being to focus on the plethora of other X-related projects in development.

What do you think of this trailer and would you still like to see Magneto’s origins on the big screen?

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The Next X-Men Films Part Two: Deadpool, Magneto

Rob Keyes — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:57:38 +0000

A few days back, we put up part one of “The Next X-Men Films” series, our look into the future of Fox Studio’s growing and financially successful movie series based on Marvel’s mighty mutants. This was based on quotes from Empire’s recent feature on Lauren Shuler Donner, producer of all films X-Men related, and today we’ll look at the other two anticipated films she spoke about.

In Part One we discussed Wolverine 2, the most-likely-to-happen solo flick out of Fox’s development slate as well as X-Men: First Class, the prequel to Bryan Singer’s first X-Men which is currently in its writing stages with Josh Schwartz penning the script.

Now, it’s time to look at two other popular character solo movies that are in early stages of development: Deadpool and X-Men Origins: Magneto. One of these is likely to happen, one may not.

After the financial success of Wolverine’s solo prequel, we saw a quick greenlight for the Deadpool film and knew there’d be a Wolverine 2 down the road. Prior to this, X-Men: First Class, a team prequel to Bryan Singer’s first X-Men was already in the works. So, we all knew those were the three go-to projects for Fox Studios to come the soonest. What I never felt sure about was X-Men Origins: Magneto, since it would involve a recast of title character and wouldn’t tie-in too much with the franchise. That and the fact it would be based heavily during the holocaust made it less bankable as a superhero flick and more limited in playing with other popular mutants of the X-Men universe, especially compared to the other potential films they could create with those resources.

Deadpool

The first thing Donner said about the hopeful Ryan Reynolds starrer, Deadpool, is that it won’t be based on the messed up version of what we saw in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. By that, she means Fox and/or the folks responsible for Hugh Jackman’s solo title admittedly did a poor job of bring Deadpool to live-action.

“I want to ignore the version of Deadpool that we saw in Wolverine and just start over again. Reboot it. Because this guy talks, obviously, and to muzzle him would be insane.”

Yeap. Almost as insane as giving the character lasers that shoot from his eyes or swords longer than his forearm that come out of his arm…

Not the Deadpool we like

The one big issue that came not long after hype for the Deadpool project started to build was the unexpected announcement that Ryan Reynolds would be starring as Hal Jordan in the DC Comics movie, Green Lantern. Why would Warner Brothers choose the lead of an upcoming Marvel-based movie as the lead in their upcoming DC-based movie? More importantly for fans, does this mean he can only do one or the other?

“I don’t see it as a problem that Ryan [Reynolds] is also playing Green Lantern. I mean, look at Harrison Ford – he was in Stars Wars and Indiana Jones at the same time and everyone was fine with that. Green Lantern could not be more different to Wade Wilson. Green Lantern is a guy who finds a ring and is thrust into this world, much like Spider-Man. Wade Wilson is a guy who unfortunately gets cancer, and volunteers for a test that will give him healing powers. He is a bad ass, a wise-cracking mercenary, who will go out and kill anyone for money. But the thing about him is that, underneath it all, and he wouldn’t want you to know this, sometimes he’s not such a bad ass after all. Sometimes he does the right thing.”

As a fan of Reynolds and of his portrayal of Wade Wilson (pre-surgery) from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I want to see them make a Deadpool flick, especially with Donner, Reynolds and Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld making statements that the project will stay true to the comics, bring his red & black costume, break the fourth wall and bring a ton of attention to why he’s called the “Merc with the mouth.”

With that said, what kind of style and story can we expect from a Deadpool film?

“It’s going to be a dark, snarky, very funny movie. It’s the hardest story to tell, I think. There’s no clear cut villain – though you do have great baddies from the comic-books like Black Tom, Slayback, Blind Al and the Weasel. Blind Al is this blind woman in his house, who he abuses and mocks… it’s terrible. But you find out that she was a convict who did something terrible and he saved her from execution. So he lets her live in his house and she looks after him, but they both torture each other. Anyway, there are good stories and we’re figuring out which ones to incorporate.”

Lastly, Donner touched on where they are in pre-production for the flick and re-iterates that they’re really trying to push new boundaries in the comic book movie genre with this project.

“We’re right in the thick of talking to writers right now, and hopefully by November we’ll have decided who’s going to do it. We need someone really imaginative because we want to do some really innovative, ambitious stuff. Ryan’s mentioned this in an interview already but there are parts where he’s going to break the fourth wall and talk directly to the audience in the cinema. We have to work out how to do that. I don’t know that Fox will agree with all our decisions, but we’ll see!”

Unfortunately, she ended with the statement about Fox’s approval. Uh oh. Maybe we won’t see any fourth wall breakage and maybe they won’t have Deadpool wearing his mask after all. For once, I think fans need to see the folks responsible for production of the film to have more creative control. I’d love to see what the Donner, Reynolds and the writing team come up with if given complete creative freedom.

We’ll have to wait and see.

Click to continue reading about X-Men Origins: Magneto and more!

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The Next X-Men Films Part One: Wolverine 2, First Class

Rob Keyes — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:56:42 +0000

The folks at Empire had a chance to speak with Lauren Shuler Donner, producer of all films X-Men related, at the press junket for the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine on Blu-ray and they discussed the future of the franchise.

The feature that Empire put together on the interview was broken down into four sections for each of the movies: Wolverine 2, X-Men: First Class, Deadpool, and Magneto. We’ll go through and discuss each, passing to you the key things Donner says and giving our thoughts on it and how it relates to what we expected to see from these movies since their inception.

To start, here’s the latest on Wolverine 2 and X-Men: First Class…

Update: Click to see Part Two on Deadpool and Magneto.

To start, they touched on the most definite film we’ll see coming our way in the next fear year: Wolverine 2.

“It’s actually the story we wanted to use for the first Wolverine film, but [Fox head honcho] Tom Rothman preferred to set the character up with an origin story first. This movie will really focus on the relationship between Wolverine and Mariko, the daughter of a Japanese crime lord, and what happens to him in Japan.”

The Chris Claremont-Frank Miller run on Wolverine which saw him on his adventures to Japan is one of the most classic Wolverine tales there is and so it’s no wonder they want to turn that story into a feature film. That being said, I can’t say I disagree with Rothman’s reasoning to want to tell Wolverine’s origin first. We saw hints of his origin scattered throughout all of the X-trilogy so it was a story that had to be told. Although I’d argue that X-Men Origins: Wolverine didn’t do a great job of that, it made sense to do that before seeing Wolverine head to Japan, something not touched on at all in the X-Trilogy. The alternative would have been to do the Japan story first as a prequel to X-Men, followed by another prequel based before it? Nah, that doesn’t work as well.

I wasn’t impressed by either of the last two X-Men movies but I still hold hope that the franchise can turn it around and it looks like they’re going in the right direction with Wolverine’s next adventure. With the hiring of Oscar-winner Chris McQuarrie to write the script, with Donner’s and Jackman’s desire to have this film closely follow the source material, and with the studio seemingly holding back until (hopefully) selecting the right director, I can’t deny that I’m excited to see Wolverine in Japan, especially with what Donner says next:

“We want to make it authentic so I think it’s very likely we’ll be shooting in Japan. Also, by the way, we are looking to have the Japanese Fox executives involved in helping and counselling us, because it’s a different culture and we don’t want to portray the way they speak, dress and act in an inaccurate way. I think it’s likely the characters will speak English rather than Japanese with subtitles.”

Remember when this was a big issue for that other film McQuarrie wrote, Valkyrie? Once we all saw the movie and how they transitioned from Tom Cruise speaking German with subtitles into speaking English along with the rest of the cast, it didn’t really affect the film’s story or characters in the end. Although I admit it was weird hearing a group of German characters on screen with a half-dozen uniquely different non-German accents. I never expected to see the Wolverine sequel mostly spoken in Japanese with subtitles so this is of no surprise and shouldn’t alarm any fans.

Another thing we can expect from Wolverine 2 is Hugh Jackman fighting a lot less with his claws (after the horrible CGI of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, this is a bonus):

“What’s cool about this part of the saga is that Wolverine will be fighting in a different style to what we’ve seen before… There’ll be samurai, ninja, katana blades, different forms of martial arts – mano-a-mano, extreme fighting. We’re going to come up with a new style of fighting. It’s going to be awesome.”

As you can tell, Donner is sure excited about the potential for Wolverine’s next story so let’s hope we get a high quality movie with Wolverine 2.

Click to continue reading about Wolverine 2 and X-Men: First Class…

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Ian McKellen Talks The Hobbit & Magneto

Ross Miller — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:31:47 +0000

Are you a fan of Ian McKellen’s portrayals of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movies and of Magneto in the X-Men franchise? Thought so. Well, you’re in luck on both counts!

The guys over at Empire got a chance to talk to the legendary Mr. McKellen at the San Sebastian Film Festival (where he spoke to Rotten Tomatoes the last time he talked about Gandalf) and he gave some more tidbits of info on the status of the LOTR prequel, The Hobbit, and of the planned X-Men solo spinoff movie, X-Men Origins: Magneto.

The Hobbit

We’ve known for some time that McKellen will be returning to portray Gandalf in Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of the pre-LOTR book, The Hobbit. And ever since then, McKellen has been feeding us little bits of info and opinions on his reprising of the role – and we’ve happily been nibbling at them like the movie news-hungry fans we are. Adding to that, Empire spoke to the wizard again recently, in which he gave some rather forthright answers:

On the status of the The Hobbit at this point, here’s what McKellen said:

“The scripts for the two films will be delivered very soon… Then they’ll be budgeted, and then they’ll be cast. And they’ll be going when they’ve always said they would be, which is next spring – March or April.”

That got him onto talking about how he finds del Toro and Jackson as filmmakers:

“Guillermo even told me at one point, ‘We’re going to film for 383 days.’ He’s got that artistic autism! Jackson’s the same; they’re very, very, very alike. They also very different, but they’ve so much in common. They both can’t stand Hollywood and have wonderful imaginations, and they’re both obsessed with gore and fantasy. Both of them laugh a great deal. Guillermo’s one of the most brilliant men I’ve ever met. His English vocabulary is way superior to mine!”

It really sounds like del Toro and Jackson are as good to work alongside as it is watching their final products… Moving on from his opinions of the director and producer of The Hobbit, McKellen laid down a pretty disappointing piece of info for those hoping we would see some of the characters from LOTR make appearances/cameos in The Hobbit:

“Unfortunately, there won’t be many of the actors going back… unless they’re going to put masks on and be disguised as dwarves! Andy Serkis is, at the moment, I think, the only other actor who’s doing this film.”

Of course, McKellen isn’t del Toro, Jackson or anyone else truly “in the know” about what the ins-and-outs of the story is, what characters are returning and so forth… but I would trust his judgment at this point (even though he failed to mention Hugo Weaving returning as Lord Elrond). I wouldn’t totally rule out cameos from known and loved LOTR characters, but I’m certainly not expecting them (or at least, as many of them as people are hoping for).

Continue reading about Ian McKellen’s role as Magneto…

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James McTeigue Talks Superman & Magneto

Rob Keyes — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:24:47 +0000

At the end of July, Robert Sanchez at IESB broke the news that Warner Brothers were looking at James McTeigue to possibly direct a new Superman feature film that would act as a franchise reboot.

A few weeks later, McTeigue sat with MTV and while not confirming or denying any involvement, he did relay his idea of a reboot for Superman should he land the gig. His plan would take the Man of Steel in a different direction and skip through the overdone origins of Clark growing up into the hero we know him as.

Things were looking good for our favorite Kryptonian, up until Diane Nelson, the head of the newly formed DC Entertainment, explained that they do not have another Superman film as part of their current plans.

Was she just saying that just in case they don’t sort out their legal troubles with the heirs to the Superman creators and lose the rights to many of the original aspects of the character? Are they really not planning another Superman movie?

Obviously, they’re thinking about it with the production start deadline approaching in 2011. And it’s sure thing, WB will do everything in their power to get it all sorted out and regain full control of their poster boy character.

With DC Entertainment potentially set to launch an interconnected DC film universe of their own, starting with Green Lantern, to compete with that of Marvel Studios (and even of Fox’s X-Universe), they’re going to need their #1 hero.

If it does go forward, I think McTeigue and the Wachowskis (rumored to produce) would make for an interesting team to helm the project. On the topic of McTeigue and his ideas, Alex Billington at First Showing had a chance to chat with the Ninja Assassin director and they touched on the Superman project and his ideas for it.

“I think I would be interested in doing it if they let me do it the way I wanted to do it. I would say that, if you take the Richard Donner Supermans and the last Superman [from Bryan Singer], I think that Superman is probably ripe for a bit of a change up. I think society has changed around the core idea of what Superman was.”

“And I’m not saying you do the ubiquitous dark Superman, I’m not saying that… I’m just saying that I think there are some things that you could excise from the Superman mythology that people would get into it, if you took the world that he was in and changed that a bit, and maybe even project that into the future a bit. I think you don’t really have to play into the origin story anymore. I think there’s a whole bunch of things you could do to make that film more alive and exciting again.”

I’m glad he quickly tossed down this whole “dark superman” thing, as did Brandon Routh back when he was still likely to return. We don’t need that, we just need a new and fresh take on the character sans Lex Luthor and the history of the Kent family.

Click to continue reading about Superman: Man of Steel and that pesky Magneto rumor…

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What We Need From X-Men 4

Rob Keyes — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:24:17 +0000

The news the other day about producer Lauren Schuler Donner hinting at the beginnings of plans for an X-Men 4 movie (and a movie based on The New Mutants) got me thinking of some of the infinite possibilities for the next X-Men installment.

I could go on and on about stories and characters I’d like to see, but keeping to the basics, I’ll discuss some of the issues from the existing X-trilogy that need to be rectified going forward with the next movie, should it come to fruition.

Join us as we discuss what we’d like to see from X-Men 4 and open the floor for your ideas!

We’ll go through some topics that need to be addressed, many of which stem from issues we were left with from X-Men 3: The Last Stand, starting with who the villain(s) should be.

A New Villain

Magneto’s reign is over, have him as a guest role to touch on his relationship with Xavier and perhaps have him redeem himself in some way, becoming the friend he used to be when he was the X-Men’s co-founder prior to the events of the X-trilogy.

This would be a nice concluding touch to the story of X-Men: First Class, which I think may feature Magneto working alongside Xavier to build the institute and the Cerebro device. With a possible role in that film and his own origins solo movie, Magneto’s story will be continued in the past, not the future: leave him out of X4.

So who must the X-Men dance with? Mr. Sinister and the Marauders? Apocalypse? Sentinels?! You could make multiple movies using any of these villains, let alone the time-traveling storylines featuring Bishop and Cable, which would allow for some very cool tie-ins to other X-films in development.

The Marauders would offer a good way to showcase a team of enemies and would tie Gambit into X-Men 4, while bringing Mr. Sinister into the mix. His interest in Jean Grey/Cyclops could be a key storyline and his involvement could help branch into existing or new spinoffs in development. Going that direction could also allow for the storyline of Cyclops fathering Cable as a result of Mr. Sinister’s experiments (I doubt it would follow the comics though) .

Give Rogue some Power!

Rogue was the leading lady of the first X-Men movie and then became a completely unused and wasted character in its sequels. Her power is to acquire other powers and she didn’t do that once over the span of three superhero movies. I don’t get it and judging by the interviews I saw for the movie, neither does Anna Paquin, the actress who played Rogue.

Paquin has matured as an actress and she has a strong following with her hit show, True Blood. Bring her back and bring her into the action. Let her fly and smash things.

A more significant (and useful) role for Rogue could also include or setup a possible storyline with her and Gambit; Wolverine star Taylor Kitsch is very interested in doing just that, and many fans would like to see it happen.

Speaking of powers, Iceman finally iced up in the final action sequence of X3: The Last Stand so now he should be a full-fledged mutant combatant and X-Men member. Let him and Rogue dominate in the large-scale action sequences. Ice slides, anyone?

Click to continue reading about Cyclops, Jean Grey and other possible characters of X-Men 4…

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The Plan for X-Men: First Class [Updated]

Rob Keyes — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:07:59 +0000

The X-Men franchise has proven itself to be pretty much unstoppable so far with four financially successful films in a row, and talk of half a dozen more.

Even if they make a film with unfinished special effects, script issues, major leaks, bad critical response and a split fanbase, the movie will still bring in the crowds interested in seeing some of their favorite heroes on screen… even if they don’t match the characters they’re based on, who they came in to see.

With that in mind, there are many films Fox Studios has in development for the franchise but it’s been difficult deciphering which will come first… Could it be X-Men: First Class?

According to actor Tim Pocock who portrayed young Scott Summers in this year’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he’s currently working on an Austrialian TV show then he’s set to start shooting X-Men: First Class next year. He revealed the following in a recent tweet:

currently shooting Australian TV series till February 2010…then X-men first class

[UPDATE] Tim just posted the following on twitter a minute ago:

victim of cruel prank.last tweet=NOT me.AM filming Aussie show till2010.no official word on XM:FC but am interested.please post retraction.

Is this damage control from his agent or Fox because he spoke too soon? Weird prank that got left for a few days until news was made from it. I still think First Class could be happening relatively soon.

This isn’t too surprising since the film has been talked about for a long time and they’ve had Josh Schwartz on the task of penning the script since last November. But what does this mean for all of the other X-projects supposedly starting up in the next two years as well?

Wolverine 2 is in development with Oscar-winning writer Christopher McQuarrie penning the script that that could film in 2011 for a 2012 release date. We also heard a few weeks back from David Goyer that X-Men Origins: Magneto could start shooting as early as next year as well. And of course, we can’t forget about Green Lantern… I mean Deadpool’s solo flick with Ryan Reynolds.

Don’t stop there! Taylor Kitsch who played Gambit (the non Ragin’ Cajun version) has a three-picture deal and there’s been a tiny bit of talk he could get his own flick. I wrote a while back that Gambit’s solo feature would come a few years down the road, after the franchise establishes some other characters first and after Kitsch has his stardom built up (that’ll come with his lead role in John Carter of Mars which is planned to a massive-scale trilogy). Then, Kitsch could support his own big budget X-movie.

That being said, Gambit could pop up in one of the other movies, the most sensible being this one (X-Men: First Class). However, producer Lauren Shuler-Donner says otherwise since the movie is set to follow X-Men’s first class of mutants and Gambit wasn’t a part of it… I don’t know what that means since Angel and Iceman were part of that first class too but aren’t in the movies.

Click to continue reading about X-Men: First Class, its possible characters and more!

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Brett Ratner vs. Comic Book Fans (A Friendly Response)

Paul Young — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:57:34 +0000

Have you ever wanted to look deep into the dark recesses of a comic book movie director’s mind – nay – heart? You don’t have to look much further than the interview StarPulse.com recently held with director Brett Ratner. The Q&A session was mostly a junket to build hype for Ratner’s upcoming film The Shooter Series, but also touched on Beverly Hills Cop 4 and his thoughts on comic book fans, and it’s that last part I want to focus on.

There are sites out there (that we are most certainly friends with and fans of) that regularly rip Ratner and his films a new one. So I’m going to preface this article by saying that if you search Screen Rant you’ll find that while we may not be his biggest fans, we haven’t jumped on the “‘Brett Ratner sucks’ bandwagon” in our coverage of him or his films.

The interview is standard fare for the first part – with Ratner praising himself and all he has done. But soon enough the focus turns toward his work on X-Men 3: The Last Stand and all the flak he took from comic book fanboys for helming what many consider to be the worst installment of the trilogy. It is at this point Ratner’s true feelings towards his highly critical audience come out and the confession isn’t pretty. In fact, it should make every person that ever had a critical comment to make towards any of his movies stand up and thrust forth the proverbial finger and say “Spin on this Captain Franchise Killer!”

I’ll start with the question StarPulse.com asks Ratner, give a bit of his answer and then I’ll respond to his remarks. You can head over to StarPulse.com for the entire lengthy interview.

StarPulse.com : “You mentioned X-Men. Is the comic book fan the hardest demographic to please? If you look at the numbers: Bryan Singer’s X-Men made $157 Million, X-Men United made $214 million and your X-Men: The Last Stand made $234 million. Yet that group wasn’t particularly happy.”

Ratner: “Absolutely. Bryan Singer gave me the best advice when I was doing “X-Men 3,” Bryan is a really good friend of mine. Bryan said, “Whatever you do, do not read the Internet.” I’m like, “Why?” He’s like, “First of all, they hated on me the whole time I was making ‘X-Men’ and ‘X-Men 2.’ They said, ‘Gambit should have been the star of the movie’” They’re such rabid fans, they’re so passionate about their comic book characters that they think that their favorite character should be the star of the movie. Someone might be passionate about Iceman being the star. So, you can’t win. Everyone’s going to have their own so just stay away from their opinion and do what you feel’s best.”

Me: First off, I’m glad that Ratner clarifies that he and Bryan Singer are good friends, nothing like a good name drop and “nudge-wink-nudge” to validate the comments you are about to say. Yes we did “hate” on Singer the entire time he was making the first X-Men film but not so much with the second one. Singer needed to prove he could pull off a multiple character comic movie film that didn’t look and feel like Batman & Robin. If Singer had failed (which he didn’t), then all of the other comic book movies that came after might never would have materialized. Before X-Men, the only examples “rabid” fanboys had to look to in the comic book movie world were a handful of bad Batman movies (Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman excluded), a very bad Punisher movie and a made-for-TV Spider-Man flick – so excuse us for being overly concerned about X-Men’s transition from page to screen.

Ratner: I kind of made rules for myself. I said to the writers — Zak Penn and Simon Kinberg — I only want to put scenes in this movie that exist from actual comic books. That way I protect myself. Even though I protect myself they’re still saying, “Why the f*ck did [he] kill Professor X?” He died in five different comic books! People are crazy. “Brett Ratner killed Professor X! How dare he do that!” He died in five different comic books and came back!”

Me: First Ratner calls us rabid and passionate fans, implying that we know way more about the comic characters than he does, and then insults us for allegedly not knowing that Professor X has died on more than one occasion? Superman and Robin also died but I don’t see the other directors killing off their major characters. By the way, nice language to use during an interview.

Am I supposed to be impressed that Ratner made rules for himself and then chose to only follow the one where a character dies? He also killed off Cyclops in a manner that is not consistent with the comic stories. I don’t ever remember reading in the comics that Jean rises as the Phoenix, finds Scott by a lake and obliterates his molecules. One could argue that Cyclops did die in Uncanny X-Men #377 while sacrificing himself to save a friend from the villain Apocalypse (special thanks to Screen Rant’s Kofi Outlaw for pointing that out), and that Ratner simply took creative liberties with said death, but I don’t buy it. I think the “Great Sultan of the Lens” took the cheap way out by tossing Cyclops – a pivotal corner of the X-Universe – on the sideline.

I’m not done with his so called “rules”: Ratner says he we wanted to stay true to the source material from the comic, but then he throws in some throw-away characters and really messes up others. Fanboys gave him mad props for trying to include as many characters as he could – the inclusion of Angel, Beast and Colossus were among our favorites visually, but then he did nothing with them. They were just there to look at and chew up scenery. Some of the worst were Juggernaut, Leech, Siryn and Callisto; he put no thought into translating them from page to screen and for that I call “bull crap” on his “rules”.

(Continue to pg 2. for the “Waffle House” Effect)

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X-Men Origins: Magneto Could Start Next Year?

Rob Keyes — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:45:27 +0000

David Goyer has been talking up a storm recently. With his fame growing massively after the success of The Dark Knight, which he helped write, he’s been talked about for plenty of other projects in development, most related to comic properties.

Recently, he gave some insight into the future of the Blade franchise and revealed some details on the upcoming Super Max film which would follow DC Comics’ Green Arrow character incarcerated in prison with supervillains for a crime he did not commit.

One project that Marvel fans are looking forward to however, is that of a solo film for Magneto which would tell the story of the character’s origins before the events of the first X-Men film, similar to this summer’s Hugh Jackman-starrer based on Wolverine. The mutant character with the power of magnetism was made famous on screen thanks to the acting of the talented Sir Ian McKellen, but from the sounds of it, he’d likely be played by a younger actor this time around, no doubt with a cameo from McKellen though.

X-Men Origins: Magneto is tentatively set for a 2011 release although there’s been no official push forward in development for quite some time. Goyer is writing the screenplay and will likely be directing the film when it happens, pending his incredibly busy schedule.

He spoke to MTV recently and had this to say about the status of the project:

“They’re still thinking about doing it…They’re definitely looking into doing other X-Men spinoffs.”

“I’ve been in touch with them… I’m sure that project will move forward in the next year or so.”

There’s plenty of potential for the X-Men franchise, although I’d personally prefer them to start over from scratch and follow the comics more, the films have proven again and again to make a ton at the box office. Even with terrible reviews, the latest installment of the franchise and the first spinoff, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, banked a massive $85 million opening weekend and a world-wide money grab of more than $360 million.

Since then, a Deadpool spin-off was greenlit for Ryan Reynolds’ character and we know they’re working on an X-Men: First Class movie as well as another solo flick for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. There’s also been talk of spinoffs for Gambit and some of the other actors from the series have their own ideas for more films as well.

So, according to Goyer, they could be getting to work on Magneto next year which would allow them to make the 2011 release date. The Deadpool project is also said to release that year but with Reynolds’ casting into the role of Hal Jordan in Green Lantern which is officially set for a summer, 2011 release, we don’t know for sure when we’ll be seeing that.

Do you want a Magneto solo movie? What characters should appear in it and what do you think the story will be about?

Source: MTV

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Will Brett Ratner Return To The Marvel Universe?

Niall Browne — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:32:39 +0000

It would appear that X-Men: The Last Stand didn’t just leave a bad taste in the mouths of fanboys – it also soured the taste buds of director Brett Ratner as he has said that he isn’t particularly interested in returning to helm any new films starring the mutant superhero team.

Although, having said that, there are some films that he might be interested in tackling and they do feature a few of the original X-Men.

Speaking to MTV Ratner said:

“The thing with the X-Men universe is, I feel like I’ve already done it.”

However, the outspoken director did mention a few X-Men spin-offs that he’d like to see:

“I heard a rumor that they were going to do a young X-Men [X-Men: First Class] which would be great. I would love to see a Magneto movie personally, because I love the Holocaust backstory. I’d love to see a Storm movie, too.”

As for whom he’d like to follow in his mutant footsteps? Steven Spielberg.

“I’d love to see Spielberg do it. A Spielberg X-movie would be something I’d love to see.”

Considering that Spielberg is now directing a Harvey remake – anything is possible.

Ratner’s 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand was a much derided installment in the comic book franchise. The film was rushed into production by 20th Century Fox when original X-Men director Bryan Singer jumped ship to helm Superman Returns. Matthew Vaughan (the forthcoming Kick-Ass) was set to direct the film before he too departed at the last minute only to be replaced by Ratner.

Brett Ratner comes under a lot of fire in fanboy circles and his constant attachment to pretty much every film in production doesn’t do much to sooth their fears. However, the main reason that X3 didn’t live up to the first two films in the series was mainly because Fox wanted the film in cinemas for summer 2006. Ratner didn’t have enough prep time and the story wasn’t there because the studio wanted to wave the film in the face of Bryan Singer and his Superman film.

It would also seem that Ratner doesn’t need the X-Men franchise to survive – according to IMDB he currently has 12 projects in development.

So for now, fan boys and girls, you can breathe easy.

Source: MTV

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Bryan Singer Interested In Returning To X-Men

Ross Miller — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:52:45 +0000

Those hoping for director Bryan Singer to return to the X-Men franchise can sit up and take notice: Singer has said himself that he would “love” to make a return to the franchise! Those are certainly words that fall gladly on X-Men fan’s ears.

In a recent interview with Total Film, Singer was asked about how he feels looking back on his time making the X-Men movies and if he wished he’d stayed on for the third one. He then revealed his interest in going back to the franchise:

“I’m eternally intertwined with X-Men now… What takes an audience four hours to watch – the first two movies – took six years of my life. So, to not be part of it….It’s a shame.”

“It’s weird for me to watch it [the third movie], because I’m so close to the universe. And also Brett [Ratner] is a good friend of mine. But, of course, I would love to return to that universe.”

Singer belies the success he’s had as a filmmaker, both with the first two X-Men movies and Superman Returns. He could have one of those “just in it for the money and nothing else” kind of attitudes, but he truly sounds like a passionate director and that’s something we all want from our X-Men helmer.

After Singer’s admission that he’d love to return to the franchise, the question arose of his return taking the shape of directing the Magneto origin movie. He offered a tentative response that suggested the possibility that he might do it, but it was nowhere near any sort of confirmation:

“The only thing that concerns me about Magneto is that if the prequel were to follow the track I used in X-Men, which is Magneto’s history in the concentration camp, then I’ve lived in that world. Apt Pupil, X-Men and now Valkyrie…I’ve lived in that Nazi universe for quite a while. I just might need to take a little break before I do something like that.”

So he’s neither counting in or counting out the idea of doing Magneto. I never actually thought about it until I read what Singer said, but he has been in the world of WWII Nazi concentration camps, cinema-wise, for three of his movies – all that depressing subject matter is bound to take its toll.

Having said that, even with the seriousness of that era and the terrible things that happened (shown at the beginning of the first X-Men when we see Magneto’s childhood in the concentration camp), this is an X-Men movie we’re talking about, so surely it’ll be action-orientated.

As a bonus for Singer fans out there, he made a quick comment about doing another Superman movie. He sounded even less sure about Supes as he did about X-Men:

“I don’t know, I don’t know. There are still issues…I just…I just don’t know. I don’t necessarily…I don’t know. It’s one of those things where…It’s so weird talking about stuff unless I’m about to ramp up and shoot it.”

I know I’m not the only person who’d love to see Singer return to the X-Men universe. Even X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner said personally, in an interview with IESB, that, “nothing would please me more than to bring Bryan Singer on for another movie.”

Ah, so it’s not just us fans who want him back, eh?

Singer did a fantastic job bringing the world and characters of the X-Men universe from the comics to cinematic life. Just think for a minute how tough a job that was to adapt from comic page to screen – Wolverine’s costume change, for example, from the black and yellow to what they had in the movie was an element that was necessary to change, but nonetheless ballsy considering the ravenous comic-book purists that are out there.

Singer then went on and improved upon the first X-Men on pretty much every level imaginable. X2 remains one of the best comic-book movies to date (The Dark Knight came along and knocked it off the top spot, for me), and sadly, when Singer left the franchise, the third movie fell way below the level he had set it at.

After Wolverine, the X-Men movie universe really needs to return to the level it once sat at – in my opinion Singer is the most fitting man to do just that.

Do you think Bryan Singer should return to the X-Men universe? Should he return by directing the upcoming Magneto movie?

Sources: Total Film, Coventry Telegraph (The Geek Files), ComingSoon and IESB

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X-Men Spinoffs: Deadpool, Storm & Gambit With Rogue?

Rob Keyes — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:40:42 +0000

As we enter the aftermath of the opening weekend of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the discussions of spinoffs and sequels hit full throttle.

We’ve heard for a while now about the internal discussions at Fox about the many possible films that can branch out from the series so far. These include X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2, Deadpool, X-Men: First Class, X-Men Origins: Magneto and a Gambit solo.

Well, what’s it going to be?

With Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine origins movie banking nearly $160 Million worldwide this weekend, we can expect to see some green lights on upcoming Fox productions in the X-Men franchise.

For now, let’s talk about what the actors want to see in the future. The other day, I wrote about Ryan Reynolds and his desire to not only have his own Deadpool solo movie, but to feature the character Cable as his opposite in the film. I’m all for that idea as I thought Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson in the Wolverine movie was one of the best parts (pre-Weapon XI that is).

For those who don’t know the character, Cable is the son of Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Madelyne Pryor (Jean Grey’s clone) who was taken to the future only to return as a much older and hardened mutant. This will certainly not be his origin if he is ever to appear in the movies. At least, not until the X-Men franchise is rebooted in the not-too-distant future.

I also thought that Cable would be a good character to introduce into the X-franchise and I proposed that a good place for his introduction would be in X-Men: First Class as it will bring back major characters Cyclops and Jean Grey back into the mix (and possibly Emma Frost). That way, Cable would known by audiences by the time Deadpool is made.

So, out of the solo possibilities, Deadpool seems a more likely choice than Gambit, if not for the fact Ryan Reynolds has significantly more star power than Taylor Kitsch.

As for Gambit, he is one of my favorite characters from the comics and of the classic nineties animated series. In the movie, he does not earn such praise from me.

While Gambit is a cool character and Taylor Kitsch a good actor, together they do not meet the basic needs of what many fans of the character want. Gambit needs his Cajun accent and his French catch-phrases – that is essential.

In the comments section of Screen Rant’s review of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, you may have seen my review of the movie where I discuss a few of the characters. In it, I talk about how Gambit came off as some cocky southern kid and didn’t have the coolness or suave that the real Gambit puts forth. He wasn’t a bad character in the movie; he was just a weak character who could jump 50 feet high and nothing like the Marvel versions.

Regardless, Gambit is one of the spinoff possibilities. What does Taylor Kitsch, the actor who plays him want in a Gambit spinoff? In speaking to MTV before X-Men Origins: Wolverine hit theaters, the Canadian actor of Friday Night Lights fame said:

“I would love to go darker… [Gambit] in Vegas was fun, but I want to go into the Thieves Guild part of his story.”

“How cool would it be to see him stealing things to survive because the stakes are so high?… Of course, as an actor, I’m always going to the darker side, but for him that would just be way more intriguing.”

“Come on, Fox… Let’s do it.”

Click to continue “X-Men Spinoffs: Deadpool, Storm & Gambit With Rogue?”

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Wolverine Shreds Box Office: $87 Million Opening Weekend

Heath McKnight — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:35:26 +0000

They call him Wolverine, and he’s the best at what he does, and what he does is shred the box office with berserker rage! Okay, enough of the Wolverine analogies, but you can’t help but be impressed with the $87 million haul of X-Men Origins: Wolverine!

What a way to start off the summer–with the 2009 box office up over last year, people are still hungry for movies, even in this economy. Fox need not fret any more about the pirated version that leaked out, hurting the box office, because the Hugh Jackman-starrer proved that people love to see movies in the theaters.

But the one thing Wolverine’s healing factor and near-indestructible adamantium-laced skeleton can’t stop, and that’s the critical drubbing it’s receiving. It stands at an awful 37% rating over at RottenTomatoes.com, though Screen Rant’s owner and Editor-in-Chief Vic Holtreman gave it 3 out of 5 stars. I’ve been reading online that it’s also getting fair-to-poor word-of-mouth ratings from viewers, and that has the potential to hurt the film in the coming weeks.

I’d say a Wolverine 2 is now extremely likely to get green lit (how about Bryan Singer directing?!), and other X-Men movies could see the green light, too, like X-men: First Class and X-Men Origins: Magneto and spinoffs for Deadpool and Gambit.

Add to that another May that’s over-stocked with movies, so something’s going to give and a movie will crash and burn. Iron Man, which opened the same weekend last year, was able to stay invincible because it was a well-received film by fans and critics, while Speed Racer and The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian were both weak films that crashed and burned.

With Star Trek, Angels and Demons, Terminator Salvation, and Disney/Pixar’s Up all coming out in the coming weeks, can Wolverine stay the positive box office course? We’ll have to keep our eyes on it. For now, X-Men Origins: Wolverine has started the summer off with a rip-roaring howl!

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X-Men Producer Talks Magneto & X-Men: First Class

Rob Keyes — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:00:29 +0000

SCI FI Wire spoke with producer Lauren Shuler Donner over the phone last week to promote next Friday’s opening of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and they took some time to discuss several other projects that are in development for Fox Studios, including the Magneto spinoff and X-Men: First Class.

The first question was simply asking for a status update on X-Men Origins: Magneto for which Shuler Donner responded (responses below edited by SCI FI Wire):

“I don’t know. We have a great script. Honestly, we have all been just so focused on getting Wolverine out that we didn’t take the time to sit down and explore ‘What are the movies we’re going to do next within the genre?’ We will do that. We will do that. We all want to. Magneto is a fantastic script, and hopefully we’ll make it. I don’t know.”

I love the Magneto character and he certainly has an intriguing history to flesh out a nice story for a feature film, but I’m very fearful of what Fox may do with the character.

If things stay on track to what we’ve seen in the X-Men films and the Wolverine spinoff, we’ll likely see a convoluted history of the character loaded with other popular characters that don’t belong. Maybe they’ll throw in characters Cable and Bishop and some Sentinels just for the sake of it.

We knew scripts had been written and in November of last year we reported on the plot synopsis of the Magneto origins story. Whether or not this movie will get the greenlight however, depends on the success of Wolverine’s solo spinoff. SCI Fi Wire asked Donner if the reaction to the Wolverine movie will affect the Magneto spinoff:

“I think this is partly to do with it, yes. And then we have First Class, which is based on the X-Men comics’ first class and is very literal to the title. It’s the first class in Xavier’s school. But that’s just being written. I haven’t even seen a first draft. And I’m producing that with Simon Kinberg.”

Last year, it was reported that Josh Schwartz (The OC, Gossip Girl and Chuck) was hired by Fox to write the script for the First Class film which would tell the story of the original five X-Men characters (at least in the comics) when Xavier’s school for the gifted first started up. Donner was asked what interests her about the First Class movie and it as a potential franchise:

“I like kids. I did produce Pretty in Pink and St. Elmo’s Fire. I do like those kind of teenage movies; I really do. Part of it takes me to my roots. It’s action. There seems, to me, to be more humor, or more potential for humor. I really like that idea. The relationship … I don’t want to get into what the script is about, but it provides a bit of a lighter touch to the franchise.”

I like the idea of a more focused X-Film with a 5-mutant team but a kids movie? Is that what the next X-Men films will be? I’m not sure what the fans of the comics or previous X-films will think of that.

What do you think of Fox pursuing a Magneto solo film and their plans for X-Men First: Class?

Source: SCI FI Wire

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‘X-Men Origins: Magneto’ Plot Revealed

Rob Keyes — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:11:37 +0000

In August, Screen Rant reported that David Goyer would be writing and directing the upcoming Magneto spinoff film. The movie reportedly would take place before the X-Men trilogy and would center around the origins of none other than our favorite magnetism magician.

Last week, The Geek Files department of the Coventry Telegraph received the official plot synopsis and here are some key parts:

“The original X-Men film began with a prologue that showed the character as a child being led to a concentration camp by Nazis and that is the period in which the Magneto film will take place. This setup will allow a future villain to at least flirt with the designation of protagonist since the character will be seen almost exclusively in his formative years.”

It sounds as if Magneto grows up to combat the Nazis and this story would definitely explain how he has come to hate and fear the idea of mutants being discriminated against as he and his family were in concentration camps as a child. The synopsis continues:

“The storyline will heavily involve Professor X, the wheelchair-using X-Men leader. That character was a soldier in the allied force that liberated the concentration camps. The professor meets Magneto after the war and while they bond over the realization that they are alike in their special powers, their differences soon turn them into enemies.”

Although digital re-aging was utilized in X-Men: The Last Stand to make Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart appear many years younger, the studio will have to use younger stars to play the two lead roles. My hopes are that the two actors still have a cameo or guest appearance in the film by including flash-forwards so we can see them and their relationship as they are older but before they split, as we saw in the flashback in X3: The Last Stand.

I like the idea but it’s far too early to say. Goyer, who wrote a draft of the script earlier this year is busy on other projects for the foreseeable future and Fox is completely focused on X-Men Origins: Wolverine at the moment. Apparently, Fox has no plans going forward for another X-Men or Fantastic Four film but does have interest in a Silver Surfer spinoff. The article explains that if that’s the case, they have to have it completed by 2012 because the film rights return to Marvel after that.

If that’s true, I’m excited. The more Marvel property under Marvel’s control, the better.

What do you think of a Magneto-centric film?

X-Men Origins: Wolverine hits theaters May 1st, 2009 but there is not yet a projected release date for X-Men Origins: Magneto.

Source: The Geek Files

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No New Batman Script For Awhile; David S. Goyer Is A Busy Man

Kofi Outlaw — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:06:37 +0000

The whole blogosphere has been going nuts lately, trying to predict which villains and story lines will make it into the next installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins franchise, following the monster success (numbers never lie) of The Dark Knight.

We’ve all heard the rumors, such as “Angelina Jolie is going to star as Catwoman!” or “Johnny Depp is going to be the Riddler!” But unless some of us have developed precognitive vision, it’s all been a lot of wishful thinking, at best, blatant propagandizing at worst. (Count me among the guilty in the latter case.)

Well, there’s one man who definitely isn’t letting all the Internet uproar get him in a tizzy–and ironically enough, he’s the man who truly matters in this case: David S. Goyer, the red-hot screenwriter of both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight will have his plate nicely filled between now and another Batman script.

Yes, I’m sorry to report folks: David S. Goyer is NOT a Batman-movie-making machine. He (unfortunately) has an existence beyond sitting in a room with no windows, chained to a chair, trying to crank out the next great bat-flick. If you haven’t seen Goyer’s list of credits on IMDB, you need to. You’ll realize (as I did,) that the man has been writing great movies of all flavors, for years now. (Even Jumper was pretty good. On paper, at least.)

So the obvious question is: if not trying to appease rabid Dark Knight fans, what WILL Goyer be using his golden pen for in the next few months? Well, the answers have recently come to light and on the whole, they sound pretty promising.

“I’m writing a new version of ‘The Invisible Man’ for Universal,” said the red-hot writer/director, who was at Comic-Con recently to promote “The Unborn,” a horror flick due in theaters next year. “I’m in the process of doing ['Invisible Man'] right now, and I’m working with some conceptual artists in tandem with writing the script. I’m actually working with one of the artists from ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘The Dark Knight…’”

An Invisible Man movie? Hmmmm… Well the only examples I have to draw upon are a bunch of old TV series, a crap Chevy Chase flick (is that an oxymoron?) and that creepy “what if The Invisible Man was a psycho?” knock-off, Hollow Man. And while hearing the name “Invisible Man” doesn’t quite make me do the Pee-Wee Herman dance with excitement, it does intrigue the mind what Goyer would have in store for the character:

“My take is kind of an extrapolation. It actually deals with a nephew of the first character…It involves Scotland Yard getting their hands on the current Invisible Man and basically saying, ‘Wow, you’d be a really good secret agent to send into Imperial Russia right now,’” an enthusiastic Goyer said of the plot. “It starts off from there… I don’t want to give too much away, but I took what being invisible could mean to the next logical extreme,” he explained. “We do a lot of crazy things in it that are sort of far beyond what anyone’s done with it yet.”

Far beyond Hollow Man 2? If you say so.

Further up MY alley, however, is the report that Goyer will also be writing and directing the second installment in the X-Men Origins franchise, X-Men Origins: Magneto. In the same interview, Goyer stated that Magneto will likely be the first of his projects to hit the big screen, and seemed more than eager to prove that he could direct a blockbuster comic book film, just as well as could work a pencil and paper writing one. (We’ll forgive him for Blade: Trinity.)

Personally, I’ve always thought that opening scene with Magneto imprisoned in a Nazi Death Camp was by far one of the more interesting sequences in X-Men. I would love to see that story stretched out to its full length; though even Goyer will have to walk a tight line to avoid a Hannibal Rising quagmire–i.e., ruining a great villain by trying to “humanize” him through some crap back story. It’ll also be interesting to see how Magneto balances with the continuity of the recently announced X-Men: First Class. (I mean there is a potential intersection when you get to the point where Magneto and Xavier construct the school together. But I’m sure Goyer has a plan for that.)

So which David S. Goyer film are you chomping hardest at the bit for? X-Men Origins: Magneto? The Invisible Man? (Perhaps that long-awaited Flash movie he’s rumored to have turned in a script for?) Or do you plan to keep riding the band-wagon for that next Batman flick? Let us know where you stand.

Source: MTV News

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: August 10, 2008

Niall Browne — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:22:41 +0000

Welcome to another fun filled installment of Screen Rant’s Weekend Movie News Wrap Up.

This week:

We see who is penning Flash Gordon, we learn some details about Alex Proyas’ Dracula Year Zero, discover what David Goyer is working on, Channing Tatum lines up something for after GI Joe and The Conversation goes to television.

1. The Flash Gordon Remake/ adaptation has now grabbed Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless to pen the script. The Neil Moritiz produced, Breck Eisner (Sahara) directed film is in production at Columbia.

I just hope the film is more like the 1980’s movie and less like the Si-Fi channel show.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

2. Speaking of Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, their script for Dracula Year Zero is to be directed by Robot and Dark City director Alex Proyas. Proyas recently gave some details about the Dracula prequel/origin story:

“You could see it as a prequel to Bram Stoker’s novel, in some ways. All the cool bits out of Francis Coppola’s “Dracula”. You can see it that way as well.”

It sounds like a cool idea. I hope that they change the title. It worked for Batman in a comic – that’s it!

Source: Moviehole

3. David Goyer spoke with MTV about his upcoming film slate, the writer-director appears to be a very busy man. He’s got a Magneto film in the works, an Invisible Man film in the pipeline as well as a slew of comic book adaptations on the way.

Goyer had this to say:

“I’m writing a new version of ‘The Invisible Man’ for Universal I’m in the process of (doing that) right now, and I’m working with some conceptual artists in tandem with writing the script. I’m actually working with one of the artists from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. So it could be ‘Magneto’, or it could be The Invisible Man next.”

“Well, ‘The Invisible Man’, the Universal film, is a great movie, a Claude Rains film. My take is kind of an extrapolation. It actually deals with a nephew of the first character. It’s got some of the characters from the H.G. Wells book, but it’s kind of a continuation. It involves Scotland Yard getting their hands on the current Invisible Man and basically saying, ‘Wow, you’d be a really good secret agent to send into Imperial Russia right now. It starts off from there.”

“It kind of crosses a lot of genres. It’s very steam punk. I don’t want to give too much away, but I took what being invisible could mean to the next logical extreme. We do a lot of crazy things in it that are sort of far beyond what anyone’s done with it yet.”

I always enjoy a good Invisible Man film, so I really hope that it gets cooking before Magneto, because who really wants a Magneto spin-off?

Not me.

Source: MTV

4. Forthcoming GI Joe star Channing Tatum is attached to a free running film at New Line Cinema. The script written by Kevin Lund and T.J. Scott involves a pair of Parkour experts who use their skills in order to carry out crimes. The film will be directed by Rychie Smith, and it is currently without a title.

Tatum’s character will be called Peter Parkour.

Just kidding.

Man – Parkour is so 2005

Source: Variety

5. I have a real soft spot for the Francis Ford Coppola directed film The Conversation, starring Gene Hackman. The film plays like a low key prequel to Hackman’s Enemy of The State (that co-starred Will Smith). Seriously, watch the two movies back to back in a double bill – it’s worth it!

Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and Erik Jenresen (Band of Brothers) are writing a television series based on the film for cable channel AMC.

The series will have the same 1970’s setting as the film.

I’m pretty interested in this, but as it’s a remake I won’t get too excited. The original is a masterpiece and it includes a beautiful performance from Gene Hackman and a strangely creepy turn from Harrison Ford.

Source: Variety

That’s it for this week. See you at the movies!

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‘Magneto’ Or ‘X-Men: Year One’? Which Is It…?

Kane — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:10:20 +0000

Not a big piece of news but – hey – it’s not about Justice League, so that’s gotta be a bonus right?

Discussing the planned 2009 X-Men spin-off Magneto, writer/director David S. Goyer has revealed budgeting and location scouts for the film have begun, with the plan being to set the story in Europe and Argentina. What struck me as interesting was that he also mentioned the plot will revolve around “the origins of the X-Men with Magneto and Charles Xavier.”

So, then, which is it? A Magneto film or the origin of the X-Men? Could fan concerns about a stand-alone Eric Lensherr film have caused a rethink? Do I smell the distinctive scent of backpeddling?

I’ve gotta be honest – I don’t know where I stand on Magneto. As fascinating a character as he is, with his high ideals and concentration camp past, there’s just something about a stand alone film that doesn’t feel as though it will speak to the same crowd as X-Men does. Perhaps that’s the point. Maybe it’s meant to be more adult.

On the other hand, the addition of the X-Men in their early days will almost certainly take the focus off the title character. So, which is it going to be? Let’s call a spade a spade – if it’s ‘The X-Men Begin’, so to speak, title it accordingly. Otherwise, leave the mutant superheroes out of it.

Source: Wizard

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