Tuesday, March 2, 2004
MARVEL MOVIES ROUNDUP
With four films being released this year, Marvel Studios announced plans for five movies in 2005 on Tuesday morning during its fourth quarter webcast.
Projects in the pipeline for 2005 include Fantastic Four, a possible July releease from Fox currently out to directors; Elektra, from Fox, starring Jennifer Garner and targeted to begin production in May, with Rob Bowman in talks to direct; Iron Man, from New Line, out to directors, written by Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, with Tom Cruise expressing interest; Ghost Rider, from Sony, with Mark Steven Johnson writing and directing; and Luke Cage, written by Ben Ramsey, with John Singleton in talks to direct.
Other films in development, according to Marvel, are X-Men 3, The Hulk 2, The Punisher 2, Namor, Iron Fist, Black Widow and Deathlok.
Marvel's next film is The Punisher, which reaches theaters on April 16. Marvel's Avi Arad said that television spots for the film should begin next week.
Spider-Man 2 is next on July 2, followed by Blade: Trinity on Aug. 12 and Man-Thing in October.
Arad said a third Spider-Man film is targeted for a 2007 release, and that the Hulk sequel will be lighter in tone.
SUPERMAN SELLING OUT
Superman's new story arc, "Godfall," continues its sales momentum as DC Comics announced that Action Comics #812 Second Printing, Adventures of Superman #625 Second Printing and Superman #202 all have sold out at the publisher.
Superman #202 sold out at DC on Feb. 27, two days after reaching stores.
Action Comics #812 Second Printing and Adventures of Superman #625 Second Printing both sold out on February 27, five days before their in-store date of March 3.
"Joe Kelly, Mike Turner and Talent Caldwell all were really psyched to do this story," said senior editor Eddie Berganza. "From the first image of Superman on a motorcycle, we knew this was going to be a unique story with a lot of surprises. And I also want to thank Peter Steigerwald for his amazing color work on the books."
"I'm thrilled to hear how well the books are doing," says cowriter Kelly. "The Aspen crew has been kicking butt from page one on this project, and it's great to see that the fans are responding to everyone's hard work. Mike, Talent and I had a lot of fun whipping up this arc, and I think everyone will see how our enthusiasm and desire to put Superman through his paces ratchets up issue by issue!"
"I'm so happy that people are enjoying this story," said cowriter/cover artist Turner, "and I can personally say that Talent's really excited, too. He's been working his butt off for four or five months straight on it, and he couldn't be more thrilled to have people see it at last. We've been having a blast working with Joe Kelly, too, and there's still a lot of wild stuff coming in the last three chapters."
DC has no current plans to go back to press on these issues.
SMALLVILLE UPDATE
Warner Home Video on Tuesday detailed more of the special features for Smallville: The Complete Second Season set of DVDs.
The collection will be available on May 25 and will cost $59.98. Look for Warner to also package the first two seasons together.
In addition to all 23 episodes, the collection will include:
* "Christopher Reeve: Man of Steel" featurette, "Faster Than a Speeding Bullet - The Visual FX of Smallville."
* "The Chloe Chronicle" - webisode investigation/documentaries of the bizarre Smallville events that make Chloe's "Wall of Weird."
* Audio commentaries by producers Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Greg Beeman, director James Marshall and stars Tom Welling, Kristin Kruek and Michael Rosenbaum on two episodes.
* Additional special features include deleted scenes from season two, gag reel, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles, and a DVD-ROM link to the smallville.net website.
In other Smallville news, upcoming episodes of Smallville: The Beginnings will be "Tempest" on Sunday and "Vortex" on Sunday, March 14. The Wednesday, March 17 episode of Smallville will be "Slumber."
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES DVDS
4Kids Entertainment Home Video, the home-video unit of 4Kids Entertainment, in association with FUNimation, will release three new DVD titles this month: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 7: Return To New York and Volume 8: Search for Splinter on March 16 and Ultraman Tiga Volume 2: Fugitive from Beyond on March 23.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles DVDs feature seven episodes from the TMNT series, now in its second season on the Fox Box and joining Cartoon Network on April 19.
Episodes on Volume 7 include "Monster Hunter" and the three-part "Return to New York."
Episodes on Volume 8 include "Lone Raph & Cub," the two-part "Search for Splinter."
FIRST LOOKS
For covers and previews of upcoming titles, CLICK HERE.
Titles include Star Wars: Infinities -- Return of the Jedi #3 from Dark Horse Comics and Mighty Love from DC Comics.
BRIEFLY
Edited for broadcast by DIC Entertainment, Knights of the Zodiac premiered in August on the Cartoon Network's Saturday night line-up. The Knights of the Zodiac is being released simultaneously with the ADV Films' release of the unedited Saint Seiya series, which is based on a manga by Masami Kurumada and produced by one of Japan's top animation studios, Toei Animation.
"Astro Boy has a rich story and great action which we think Toonami viewers will enjoy," said Jim Samples, executive vice president and general manager, Cartoon Network Worldwide. "Astro Boy is one of the most influential franchises in animation, so bringing it to Toonami will give fans the chance to see one of the classic anime heroes in action."
COMICS CONTINUUM BACK ISSUES
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In case you missed The Continuum's recent coverage, here are some links:
* For Wednesday, Feb. 25, including Marvel's solicitations for May, CLICK HERE.
* For Tuesday, Feb. 24, including Angel news, CLICK HERE.
* For Monday, Feb. 23, including Elektra movie news, CLICK HERE.
* For Saturday, Feb. 21, including Static Shock news, CLICK HERE.
* For Friday, Feb. 20, including an interview with Kevin Nash from The Punisher movie, CLICK HERE.
* For Thursday, Feb. 19, including Devil's Due solicitations for May, CLICK HERE.
* For Wednesday, Feb. 18, including CrossGen solicitations for May, CLICK HERE.
* For Tuesday, Feb. 17, including DC solicitations for May, CLICK HERE.
* For Monday, Feb. 16, including Mutant X news, CLICK HERE.
* For Saturday, Feb. 14, including Smallville news, CLICK HERE.
* For Friday, Feb. 13, including Punisher movie news, CLICK HERE.
* For Thursday, Feb. 12, including Superman news, CLICK HERE.
* For Wednesday, Feb. 11, including news on The Batman, CLICK HERE.
* For Tuesday, Feb. 10, including an interview with Smallville executive producer Al Gough, CLICK HERE.
* For Monday, Feb. 9, including Batman animated news, CLICK HERE.
* For Saturday, Feb. 7, including Hellboy movie news, CLICK HERE.
* For Friday, Feb. 6, including Simpsons news, CLICK HERE.
* For Thursday, Feb. 5, including Hellboy movie news, CLICK HERE.
* For Wednesday, Feb. 4, including DC Comics news, CLICK HERE.
* For Tuesday, Feb. 3, including Daredevil news, CLICK HERE.
* For Monday, Feb. 2, including CrossGen news, CLICK HERE.
* For Saturday, Jan. 31, including X-Men: Evolution news, CLICK HERE.
* For Friday, Jan. 30, including Punisher movie news, CLICK HERE.
* For Thursday, Jan. 29, including Justice League animated news, CLICK HERE.
* For Wednesday, Jan. 28, including Marvel solicitations for April, CLICK HERE.
* For Tuesday, Jan. 27, including Kevin Nash talking about The Punisher movie, CLICK HERE.
Copyright © 2004, The Comics Continuum