[Update: The "official" version of the poster is here]

Universal has been a little, shall we say, withholding when it comes to Edgar Wright’s highly-anticipated film adaptation of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Fans of both the director and the comic have been clamoring for any sort of promotional materials or endeavor on the studio’s part.

Other than Wright’s own video diaries and stills, there has been not a teaser, not a trailer, not a convention presence to be found – at least until Coming Soon found an official Scott Pilgrim teaser poster.

Reactions have been mixed so far in forums and comment sections where the poster is going up. It seems those who have read the graphic novels or believe in the immutable power of the Wright think the teaser poster does what it should- tease (perhaps even tantalize or dare I say it- titillate?).  Others find it boring or at least uninspiring, and feel that it is misleading with regard to the plot of the film.

Given the narrative importance of Scott’s involvement with his band (Sex Bob-omb) – and the extremely cool picture of the battle of the bands scene on the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World official site, I’d say the poster is relevant. But then, I also just like the aesthetic and the tag line.

Update: Here’s the official poster:

Thanks again to Coming Soon for the early look at this.

Hopefully, the response to this poster appearing online will prompt Universal to step up their efforts, considering they now only have four months in which to promote the movie. With Wondercon around the corner and the epic San Diego Comic Con looming a scant three weeks before Scott Pilgrim vs. The World opens in theaters, now would really be the time.

The cover art for the graphic novels (especially volume 5) and promotional flyers and posters from the comic’s release provide dynamic templates for great teasers. The first poster released for the film – an illustration of the entire cast of characters recreated with the live actors – would be guaranteed to become one of the more coveted grabs at upcoming conventions. I’m just sayin’ they’ve got options.

Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim

Personally, for a first glimpse, I can’t say this poster gets me all worked up. It’s the only teaser we’ve been given and it is some very gentle teasing. Truth be told, it’s more the fact that the poster exists at all after the frustrating lack of virtually any promo materials that thrills me. Although, as stated, I do like the tag line. “Epic” is, after all, my favorite four letter word.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World opens August 13, 2010.

Source: Coming Soon

A bunch of new images have recently appeared online for what are sure to be some anticipated movies simply as a result of the people involved, not necessarily how good the movies look themselves. They are the new Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) comic book adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. The World; the new comedy Cop Out directed by Kevin Smith (Clerks); MacGruber, the movie based on the Saturday Night Live sketch; and Your Highness, an historical comedy from the director of Pineapple Express and starring the likes of Danny McBride, James Franco and Zooey Deschanel.

The image above is actually the first of two official images released for Edgar Wright’s fantasy-comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which stars Michael Cera as the titular character who must defeat his new girlfriend’s seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to win her heart. Although as anyone who has read the original comic series will probably tell you, it’s not as simple as that.

One of the photos released is just of the main cast lined up which can be seen as the above header, but the other one is pretty damn sweet indeed: it shows Cera wielding some sort of red flaming sword whilst his girlfriend and one of the evil ex-boyfriends (Jason Schwartzman) watch from atop a pyramid in some sort of futuristic nightclub. Sound strange? Take a look for yourself (click for bigger versions):

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Scott Pilgrim vs. The World stars Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin and Jason Schwartzman. It hasn’t got an official release date as of yet but one in 2010 is expected.

With Edgar Wright currently hard-at-work on his comic book adaptation, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, us Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (both of which he directed) fans are left rightly wondering what he’s got lined up next. A lot of us assumed it would be the comic book adaptation, Ant-Man.

We were wrong.

Wright’s involvement in the Marvel-based project first surfaced almost two years ago, with him later saying that the adaptation will be funny but not in a spoof kind of way. It’s one of those projects that’s presumed to be still on the way, but courtesy of Empire, we got some news that could mean that Wright’s Ant-Man may be further away than we think.

So if not Ant-Man, what’s Wright got his eye straight after he’s done with Scott Pilgrim? Well, he told Empire recently that he wants to make a film called Baby Driver. Don’t worry, we hadn’t heard of it either. Here’s what he had to say:

“I’d like to make Baby Driver next if possible… On this film (Scott Pilgrim) and other things I’ve been blogging furiously and putting up a photo every day, but I think when I do that one I’d like to go completely silent for once. Probably because it’s not an adaptation or anything, or a sequel to anything else. I’d like to just make it in private, basically.”

Apparently, Baby Driver has been in the cards for a while now, with a news update on the official Edgar Wright website giving us a description that it’s, “a wild spin on the action and crime genre which will be set in the US.” Do we read that as Hot Fuzz in the US? (Hot Pigs, perhaps?). It seems kind of strange Wright would go for this one first, considering both Ant-Man and the yet-to-be-named third part of the “three-flavor Cornetto trilogy,” (parts one and two are Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) were announced first.

However, the reason Wright has given seems solid and believable to me – at least a couple of the movies Wright’s worked on so far have involved some sort of constant news updating (particularly Scott Pilgrim). So, a break from that probably seems very appealing to him at the moment.

It seems that this news could mean the delay of Ant-Man. Even though there was no official release date set for the comic book movie, we all still expected it’d come along fairly soon, especially with a director already in-toe. The last word on the script front was that it was being revised, but that status hasn’t been updated since. I’m sure we’ll still get Ant-Man with Wright at the helm at some point, but now it seems it’ll be later rather than sooner.

Do you think Edgar Wright’s interest in doing this Baby Driver movie will mean a delay of Ant-Man?

Ant-Man is currently in the early development stages, and doesn’t have a release date set as of yet (although a general release date of 2010 has been mentioned). Baby Driver doesn’t have a release date yet, either.

Source: Empire

This week: 

 We have the box office rundown; Don Quixote rides again; Emmerich lays Foundations; Scott Pilgram gets a cast and Juno what Diablo Cody is doing next?

 Box Office

The US public showed their lack of taste once more with Kevin James’ Paul Blart: Mall Cop capturing the top spot over the Martin Luther King weekend with an estimated $35 million. Badass Clint Eastwood drives Gran Torino into the runner-up position with a gross of $26 million over the four days. I’m betting 78 year old Clint could kick James’ ass in a fight. Can somebody arrange that, please?

My Bloody Valentine 3-D should slaughter about $25 million over the long weekend. Talk about making a killing at the box office. Speaking of killing, Hotel For Dogs should bark up $18 million.

Rap biopic Notorious made an excellent $24 million. Now for older readers this is not a remake of the Cary Grant/Alfred Hitchcock movie. Just warning you.

Daniel Craig’s Defiance expanded from 2 theaters to 1,789, the WWII film should make about $9 million.

Brad Pitt has landed himself another $100 million grossing film with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Time will tell if this has legs following Oscar nominations.

Top Gun Tom Cruise’s Valkyrie is still flying high with a total gross of $80 million.  They thought he was out, but he came back!

Movie News

1. It looks like Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is going to ride again  – maybe. Gilliam has finally regained the rights to the project after ten years in legal limbo. The Johnny Depp starring film started shooting almost a decade ago when co-star Jean Rochefort left the project due to back problems. The film was shut down, never to regain momentum.

Gilliam tells Empire:

“Tony (Grisoni) and I have started rewriting Don Quixote just this last week. [We] finally got the script back. I re-read the greatest script ever written and realise we gotta get rewriting! I really wanna knock that one out in the next month or so.”

He went on to say:

“[I'm] starting to think I was lucky, because maybe the film will be better seven years later. It will have matured a bit longer.”

So will Gilliam be able to get the film back up and running and will Depp saddle up once more? Following the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean films Depp is a much bigger star now and much more in demand. Will he rejoin Gilliam? Well the two are obviously still tight as Depp is one of Heath Ledger’s replacements in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Time will tell – but come on, would somebody please give Gilliam a break it seems like every film that he directs is jinxed.

Source: Empire

2. Science Fiction fans are going to have a major pain in the Asimov when they discover that Independence Day director Rolland Emmerich is attached to direct Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy.

According to Variety:

“Originally published as a series of eight short stories in Astounding Magazine beginning in 1942, Foundation is a complex saga about humans who are scattered on planets throughout the galaxy, living under the rule of the Galactic Empire.

A psycho-historian who can scientifically read the future sees an imminent empire collapse, and sets to work preparing to save the knowledge of mankind.?”

It sounds a bit too literary for Emmerich, but I’m sure he’ll be able to dumb it down.

Source: Variety

3. Kieran Culkin and Chris Evans will join Michael Cera (Superbad) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Grindhouse) in Edgar Wright’s movie adaptation of Scott Pilgram. Evans will play Pilgram’s nemesis Lucas and Culkin will portray his gay roommate Wallace.

The film starts shooting soon in Toronto.

Source: AICN

4. Juno writer Diablo Cody will write a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew for DreamWorks. Err… wasn’t this made in the last 10 years and called 10 Things I Hate About You?

Well, if the shrew fits and all that. Ahem.

Source: Collider

 That’s it for now. See you at the movies.