Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: Mar 2, 2008

Hey there guys and gals, welcome to my first Weekend Movie News Wrap Up.

This new column is to try and fill you in on various pieces of news that happened during the week that we may have missed.

We at Screen Rant are a dedicated bunch, but there are only so many hours in the day, and movie news comes in thick and fast - so to try and keep you up to speed, we will now be picking up some news stories from the past week that we missed and bring them to a computer near you!

New Iron Man, Hulk (Sort Of), And Wolverine Pictures

Those lucky Brits have gotten new images from Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and X-Men Origins: Wolverine in the upcoming issue of Empire Magazine.

The "sort of" in the title refers to the fact that there is no Hulk in the photos below, but we do get a look at a "you don't want to make me angry" Ed Norton and what I believe is our first look at William Hurt as General Ross. In particular, I think Hurt looks great as General Ross - I guess I haven't seen him in a movie for some time because he looks much older than I remember, which suits the role.

Robert Downey Jr. graces the cover as Tony Stark, the alter ego of Iron Man in the upcoming film. I'll tell you one thing I really like about the picture above (and the larger version below): He looks serious.

There has been growing concern over the amount of humor that may be in Iron Man, with one site actually referring to it as being a possible comedy. I think this image lays those concerns to rest.

You can click on any of the images below to see much larger versions at Empire Online.

First Poster For X-Men Origins: Wolverine

[UPDATE: Superherohype.com debunked this as a fan-made poster. It's cool looking, but it's not official, unfortunately. Sorry, guys, didn't mean to lead you astray.]

Thanks to our friends over at ReelComix.com here's the first poster for X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

While I was initially stoked about the possibility of a Wolverine origin movie, I've been getting nervous lately with the onslaught of casting news. I'm afraid that they may cram so many Marvel characters into this that it'll make Spider-Man 3 look good by comparison.

See below for a larger version of the poster.

Yet More Actors Cast In Wolverine!

I really hope that X-Men Origins: Wolverine is four hours long.

In fact, I hope that Gavin Hood leaves the film and that Kevin Costner takes over directing duties. Only then will it make sense to have so many characters crammed into one film.

Dominic Monaghan, Daniel Henney and Kevin Durand have now joined the cast of Marvel's newest superhero extravaganza.

According to Variety :

"Monaghan will play Barnell, a mysterious character from Wolverine's past who has the ability to manipulate energy and electricity. Henney will portray Agent Zero, a member of the Weapon X program and an expert tracker with lethal marksman skills."

Meanwhile, Film School Rejects has a scoop that states Durand will play The Blob. Apparently the actor has already been “live-scanned” and he will be heading to Canada to shoot scenes next week.

The three actors join the rest of the Screen Actors Guild in this spin-off from the X-Men trilogy.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Casting Round-Up

We all knew that Hugh Jackman was in it. And we'd heard that Liev Schreiber would probably be playing Sabretooth, but other than that news has been quiet on the X-Men Origins: Wolverine casting front.

Until now.

First up, Joblo is reporting that Danny Huston, son of the legendary John Huston has signed up to play William Stryker, the character previously played by the great Brian Cox in X-Men 2.

IESB states that Lynn Collins, who has starred in such quality films as 13 Going on 30, The Number 23 and The Lake House will be starring as Wolverine's love interest Kayla Silverfox.

AICN is stating that fan favorite Ryan Reynolds will be playing Deadpool, apparently a cameo that will lead to his own spin-off film.

Meanwhile, Empire magazine is saying that Taylor Kitsch from TV's Friday Night Lights has snagged the role of Gambit, a character that X-Men fans have been waiting to see on the screen since before the birth of Christ (well, Mel Gibson's screen version at least).

There are also reports that The Blob will make an appearance in the film. The character will be huge, so HUGE in fact that he will be a combination of an actor in a fat suit and CGI. Yes you read that correctly.

So what does all this mean?

First Offical X-Men Origins: Wolverine Image Is HOT

A few days ago an image was making the rounds that purported to be the first one from the Wolverine standalone movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It was frankly, pretty lame so I didn't bother posting it.

But now this... this is freakin' Wolverine, baby!

Screen Rant Movie News Grab Bag

Lots of movie news bites for you all! Let's start out with what's happening with Justice League, which seems to be a dream film for fans, but with Warner Brothers' decision to not use Christian Bale or Brandon Routh as Batman and Superman, respectively, fans aren't happy. The script isn't up to snuff, so according to Superhero Hype!, and a final decision on whether they'll strike ahead vs. waiting for the Writers Strike to end will be made for a major re-write. We may know as early as tomorrow, January 15th.

In related news, it looks like Bryan Singer and Routh are still onboard to bring us the action packed sequel to Superman Returns, Superman: Man of Steel. (Why not just Man of Steel, like The Dark Knight?) The release date was pushed back to 2010, and there isn't an iron-clad guarantee Singer will be back. It looks like producers learned some lessons, and the movie will feature more action, a super-powered villain and less romantic stuff. Hey Spider-Man producers, are you reading this?? Original screenwriters Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty won't be returning, plus the Writers Strike is delaying the start of scriptwriting on the sequel. Source: Superhero Hype!

More news after the jump.

X-Men: Straight to DVD?

Okay, X-Men: The Last Stand wasn't good. Considering how great the first two films were, the third was woeful in comparison. While most people tend to blame Brett Ratner, I blame the suits at Fox.

Ratner isn't a bad director, in fact I quite like him, he knows how to make a good popcorn flick, and his stab at a Hannibal Lecter film was much better than Ridley Scott's. Yes, you did read that correctly.

The Last Stand was ruined by a release date and Fox's wish stick a finger up at Bryan Singer, who bailed from the franchise to direct Superman Returns (a film that I really like).

Now that the money grabbers at Fox have realized that it's just too expensive to continue with the X-Men franchise in its original incarnation, they've apparently decided to milk the cash cow my going straight to DVD with a series of origin films.

Wolverine Title, Release Date And Younger Version

I haven't updated news on the upcoming Wolverine movie because really there hasn't been too terribly much to talk about. Now a few things have piled up so here's a summary of where things stand at the moment...

Woah, Wolverine Is Deep

Superhero Hype! had a chance to talk to director Gavin Hood, who starts production on Wolverine in November for a planned 2008 release. Hugh Jackman reprises the starring role (and is also a producer). Hood's latest film, Rendition, opens soon and SHH! was able to get in a few key questions during an interview about his newest flick.

One big question they asked regarding Wolverine was whether the film is going to be shot in Japan. "No, sadly no. We're not going to Japan", said Hood. The question is relevant because Wolverine's ongoing series debuted with his berserker rage in Asia, and is regarded by many as one of the best stories to feature a solo Wolverine.

Hood had more to say about why he, a South African director who recently won an Academy Award for his landmark film Tsotsi, would want to go mano-a-mano with Wolverine.

Wolverine Director Confirmed

After well over a year of rumor and hearsay, Twentieth Century Fox have revealed Wolverine will be helmed by Academy Award-winning director Gavin Hood. Set for a late 2008 release and written by Troy screenwriter David Benioff, the X-Men spin-off will delve into the origin of the character - played for a fourth time by Hugh Jackman - and combine accepted comic book lore with more recent takes by Frank Miller.

Continuing what seems to be an ongoing trend among comic book adaptations, the studio's decision to hand the job over to the South African director of Tsotsi may come as a surprise to many fans. After all, Brett Ratner had been rumored to take the reigns once more following his success with X-Men: The Last Stand, while Underworld director Len Wiseman had reportedly expressed interest as well.