It would appear that the second time may not be the charm for Marvel and The Hulk. The reboot of the franchise following Ang Lee’s expensive 2002 misfire looks to be in trouble, with creative infighting and very little positive buzz.
Considering that the film opens only two months from now on June 13, there has been almost no publicity, except for a trailer to the film… it’s a marketing campaign that makes Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’s studio endorsed publicity look like an all out marketing blitz.
So what is going on with The Incredible Hulk?
Yeah… keep reading.
|
|
When Marvel realized that they didn’t like the Hulk when he was “Ang Lee” (geddit???) they decided that they needed to make the cultural icon more action oriented and hired Louis Leterrier to direct the reboot. With a new director came a new actor, and when they nabbed Edward Norton for the part everything looked rosy. However, the problem with Norton is that “you won’t like him when he’s angry.”
Fans were over the moon when they heard that Norton was rewriting the script and it seemed that this new version of the Hulk would be incredible. Filming went without a hitch and then the filmmakers went into the editing bay, and Norton went “American History X” on them.
What is American History X?
Simple, it’s an Edward Norton film released in 1998 that Norton re-edited, causing director Tony Kaye to try and remove his name from the film, and replace it with Humpty Dumpty. No, I’m not making this up… sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. That film turned out to be a critical success but did terrible at the box office (no doubt due to the dark subject matter).
David Maisel, chairman of Marvel Studios says that:
“When you get to this point in the process, there are always lots of passionate discussions. Edward is very passionate. He is as passionate about the Hulk as we are.”
Representatives for Norton have refused to comment, but apparently if Norton doesn’t get his way he won’t publicize the film. We know that Norton has a temper, and he’s willing to talk about it in public - just remember back to The Italian Job, when Paramount forced Norton to star in the film to meet a contract obligation,
There seems to be a major (and quite ironic) fear that The Incredible Hulk will be dwarfed by this summers other superhero movies, caught between The Dark Knight and Iron Man and then throw in Hancock starring box office powerhouse Will Smith to boot. Not to mention a certain Dr. Jones.
Universal Pictures’ head of marketing Adam Fogelson has stated that the film’s trailer has generated more streams online than any previous trailer for a Universal Picture and that the film has a huge amount of licensing attached to it. Have you seen any of it yet? Neither have I.
According to a source at the studio, the reason for the lack of more promotion is that visual effects sequences are still being worked on, so that means that we may start seeing more of a push in the coming weeks.
To help promote The Incredible Hulk Marvel has lined up Robert Downey Jr for an Iron Man cameo (so we know that Vic will be going to see it) but will audiences return to the character following the faliure of Ang Lee’s version? Eric Bana’s Bruce Banner left audiences cold and it’s not just the lead actor and director that have changed.
In this new version of the Hulk, the CGI character speaks - unlike in Ang Lee’s film. Also the Hulk will stay at 9 feet tall, and not change size depending on his mood - what, the Hulk is having a fat day!
Will the movie be a success? Who knows. If it isn’t then I wouldn’t bet against Marvel having another stab at rebooting - just look at The Punisher.
I’m sure we will be hearing more about the film, just as soon as they know what exactly they have to market!
What do you think?
Sources: New York Times , The Incredible Hulk
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter. Thank you for visiting and we look forward to reading your comments!
Want to ask us a question? Contact us directly.
14 Comments
the movie hasn’t come out yet , so there is still a chance that it WON’T suck.
The Hulk is friggin GREEN.
I decided what color these pics render him as. It’s formaldehyde. It’s the faded, listless color of something that’s been pickled or preserved. Or sometimes just aged. Have you seen it in old diner menus or menu boards? All the food looks pale and bland.
Skewer Ang all you want, at least he knew that the Hulk is friggin GREEN.
I have talked about this movie with alot of my non-comic-book friends, and I absolutely NO ONE knows anything about a new Hulk movie coming out this summer, and when I tell them about it, they don’t get that it isn’t a sequel to the Ang Lee film, and I don’t blame them for not getting it, because unless you’re one of us folks who sits on websites like Screen Rant, and keeps up with everything, why would it make sense?? I really think they screwed this “franchise” up along time ago and it might not be repairable. The same with the Punisher, and sadly (even though I loved it it) Daredevil. They simply need more “comic book” guys, who get it, to be involved in these movies. Not people who want to make it their own personal interpetation (sorry Ang).
I think that once Iron Man has been out for about 3 weeks they’ll start advertising this movie a lot more. I think the issue is more of one where it’s getting overshadowed by Iron Man and The Dark Knight and may get lost in all the hoopla over those two.
Vic
Hi,
I’m new on here, like the look of this page.
Marvel may have royally screwed up with this new HULK movie, they should never have changed all the cast and wot not, it wasn’t the cast that was the problem in Ang Lee’s film.
Maybe Marvel should have concentrated on some other big gun character and give Hulk a rest and come back to him in a few years to do an Avengers movie and just cameo’ed him in that.
Welcome Glove! You’ll have some fellow Avengers fans here. Not me though. It wouldn’t make sense. You can’t get established stars to come together for something like that, where they get 10 minutes face time. And when you find replacements for the big name stars, you get everyone whining that George Reeves can’t be Superman or whatever.
X-Men was different. They basically all had the same origin, you didn’t have to introduce each one in their own movie. Plus, how many years before they make Capt. America, Ant-Man, and Thor movies? Norton & Downey will be Senior Citizens and by then Ang Lee (or Spike Lee) will be re-imagining Iron Man’s origin.
Welcome- glad that you like the look of the site (it’s all Vic though!)
Always good to get a new reader
Not every Avenger needs their own movie beforehand, just a few to get the party started. Hulk, Ironman, Thor is already in the works. Cap needs his own movie, the rest can be introduced in the Avengers movie. Throw in a Reed Richards cameo and the Avengers would be THE comic movie event of the century.
One problem I’ve pointed out before tho, if there are that many big name actors, and egos, think of the budget…
It’s the way to go for these franchises… WB needs to catch on because a DC has the better characters but WB is making a tragedy out of the JL - that is if all the rumors are true
DON’T PANIC FOLKS,NEW HULK WILL BE GREAT I’M SURE,DON’T THINK IT;LL BE A MASSIVE BLOCKBUSTER BUT I THINK IT’LL STILL BE A HIT THAT’LL SATISFY EVERYONE AND MAKE SURE WE GET MORE HULK MOVIES!
I THINK THE LOOK OF THE HULK IS ACE, KEEP THE FAITH HULK FANS.
I am with you braveheart. I think that the movie is prety good. Me persenoly I am not a big fan of the HULK story it just dosnt intrige me, but when he goes berzzerk there is nothing stoping it.
The main reason Ill see thise movie is for the adraline rush. I dont really care about Banner.
BTW
I like it that they arnt trying to promote the movie because it would be more spoilers.
When I go to watch movies I like to know as little much as I can about the movie before I see it.
Like if you dont know what’s going to happen or what the movie is about you wont be disipointed if it sux.
At least theyre not promoting it like Ironman. I have read so much spoilers about it that I am afraid to say that I stoped reading any news related to Ironman.
I wonder what Big and Tall shop Hulk got his jeans at… XD
i think the movie will do awesome at the box office. this hulk movie i believe will more than trump ang lee’s movie. i’m hoping for it. besides, as i have said many times before, this hulk looks far more better than ang’s anime looking hulk.
Have IQ’s dropped sharply in last few years? Why wouldn’t anyone understand the concept of a reboot? It’s called a REMAKE and has been done with countless films for countless years. Give it a new fancy name it’s still just a remake, only this time the film they’re remaking isn’t from the distant past but from a few years ago. And why should the public have to wait 20 years for the studios to correct their mistake. That is exactly what the first film was… a mistake. Ang Lee is a talented visual artist yet that screenplay and story was the most garbled, deliberately convoluted snoozefest. And Gamma Poodles, really?!? With all this talk of the reboot(remake) I have to point out that Batman Begins and its sequel are essentially just that, remakes or reboots or retoolings. They’re not sequels to Batman and Robin, are they? And no one seems to have a problem with them. Why? Because aside from the first two Tim Burton films they are vastly superior movies to anything in that franchise. Christopher Nolan was simply cleaning up the unbelievable mess that hack Schumacher created in the process of turning that whole franchise into one giant inane sight gag. Thank God for Nolan.
Also I don’t see a problem with them toning down the green a bit to appear more like real flesh and not look so flat. New Hulk doesn’t look grey or brown, he’s green, simply not day-glo. With Ang’s Hulk I was expecting him to open his mouth and the voice of Mike Meyer’s voice to come out complete with Scottish accent. Oh that’s right, Ang’s Hulk never uttered a word. Boring. All I’m saying is give this Hulk a chance.
ah, stevendore. i must say that i agree with you 100%
What's your opinion? Leave a comment!