The Avengers EDIT:- First Movie in history to make $200 Million in opening weekend

[massacre man]

Originally Posted by cheebacheeba

Cool, so Blacktain America is in this one too?
It would be cool if part of the storyline pertained to Rogers uncovering the "conspiracy" about all that...

When I read that I thought they had actually went ahead and cast Will Smith.

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News broke over the weekend that Marvel Studios will begin shooting The First Avenger: Captain America in June 2010.

Captain America will at that time be the fourth Marvel Superhero to make it onto film following the recently formed Marvel Studios joining the fellow Avengers, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Thor.

The news broke during an interview with Fangoria magazine. “The Wolfman” director, Joe Johnston dropped literally the briefest of tidbits during a promo interview for his latest horror flick:

Principal photography was now less than four weeks away. “By the time I got on a plane and arrived, it was three,” recalls Johnston, speaking from the art department of THE FIRST AVENGER:CAPTAIN AMERICA, which he’s readying for a June start.”

Very little else is known at this point about the project although fan speculation has been rife as to who will don the iconic stars and stripes outfit for Captain America’s first big screen outing. Among other names thrown into the pot have been Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey and Jensen Ackles.

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When Kenneth Branagh starts shooting Thor today, he'll be doing it without Stuart Townsend, who has dropped out of the film due to unspecified "creative differences".

You might recall that a similar situation occurred on Lord Of The Rings, when Townsend was either dropped or left the film just before it began shooting (reports differ) and handed Viggo Mortensen the role of a lifetime.

This time, however, it's not such a big part of the movie, and the actor he's been replaced with is largely a newcomer.

Joshua Dallas, who appeared in The Descent Part 2 and is part of the cast for World War Two pilot drama Red Tails, has stepped into the role of Fandral, one of the Warriors Three team of Asgardian warriors (Ray Stevenson and Tadanobu Asano play the other two) who fight alongside Chris Hemsworth's hero.

A scooper for Ain't it Cool News claims that Townsend was "fired from Thor due to showing up 6 hours late for a screen test."

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When the dust settles on Marvel's movie universe, who will be the ultimate winner?

Clark Gregg.

The quiet Agent Coulson was just an afterthought to many Iron Man moviegoers (and a big wink-wink to Marvel fans), but now he's becoming the key to the entire universe.

Variety reports that he's set to follow-up his Iron Man 2 appearance with one in Thor. Naturally, it's all leading to The Avengers, which Thor inadvertently helped assemble thanks to being unable to handle Loki all by his lonesome.

Those whose glory has never been denied can have fun speculating on how Agent Coulson and SHIELD get wind of a blond thunder god hanging around the mortal plane.

Will he pop up continuously through the movie trying to get Thor to set a meeting, or demand to know why he hasn't responded to his phone calls?
Or will he just show up at the end, and hand him his card?

All we know for sure is that Gregg has landed one of the sweetest gigs in franchise history because he just has to show up.

Rumors are also rampant that Tony Stark might make an appearance in Thor. The sharp-eyed couldn't help but notice that Robert Downey Jr. was sporting the Tony Stark goatee at the Golden Globes.

Did he just want to remind everyone what was coming in May 2010?
Is it for re-shoots?
A Thor cameo?
Or both?

No one knows, but this is the trivia that we have to fill the winter and spring months with.

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Speaking with SFX Magazine [via WorldOfSuperheroes.com], Kevin Feige, President of Production for Marvel Studios, confirmed that the Hulk will be in their epic superhero crossover film, The Avengers. Says Feige:

“Its fun now and we are introducing some new characters in these films…But its not about cramming in lots of new people…that’s sort of the cardinal sin of the sequel, adding too many characters….My only concern is that when we launch a franchise…whichever character’s franchise that may be, it should stand on its own two feet. With Iron Man being the first one out of the gate, thank goodness that’s what happened. Everyone loved it. Its our job to do the same with Thor and Captain America two years from now, so by the time The Avengers comes in 2012 its not just a team super hero movie with a bunch of characters with powers, its three people, four including Hulk, five including Nick Fury-who you have seen before in other movies, coming together for the very first time.”

The Hulk’s involvement was in doubt because both Ang Lee’s Hulk (2003) and Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk (2008) flopped at the box office. Additionally, Edward Norton has appeared ambivalent about returning to play the character in an Avengers movie. Now that we know we’re getting the Hulk, the question becomes who will play him and will the character smash or not (my guess: smash). Feige doesn’t exactly make a promise here, but if he’s being honest they certainly seem to want Norton on the job. Here’s his answer when asked if the actor will return:

I think there’s a chance, its certainly our intention to use the same actors from film to film where we can.

Of the three individual Marvel superheroes going to Avengers, Kenneth Branagh has the most difficult job as he has to bring a Norse god down to our world without making it look silly. But Feige says they got it covered:

“No, I don’t think it will be difficult because that’s what Thor is. We’re doing the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby/Walt Simonson/J Michael Straczynski Thor. We’re not doing the blow the dust of the old Norse book in your library Thor and in the Thor of the Marvel universe there’s a race called The Asgardians, and we’re linked through this tree of life that we’re unaware of. Its real science, but we don’t know about it yet. The Thor movie is about teaching people that.”

A final note about Wasp and Ant Man: I don’t think Feige is saying they won’t be in the film, just that we won’t be seeing them in other pictures before. So, by extension, can we expect World’s End or Baby Driver from Edgar Wright next? And will he ever even get to make his Ant Man movie? Let’s see.

Thor is slated to hit theaters on May 6, 2011.

The Avengers is set for May 4, 2012.

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Now that the long, hard slog of work on the troubled Wolfman remake is finally clawing to a close, Joe Johnston is turning his attention full time to working on Marvel's The First Avenger: Captain America. And he's finally able to say a bit more about it.

"We're in prep," Johnston tells Film Journal (via the folks at Coming Soon).

"Rick Heinrichs is production-designing and we're set up down in Manhattan Beach, California."

Looks like Kenneth Branagh's Thor is getting a studio stablemate.

Johnston seems to be enjoying this part of his job, and you can hardly blame him after the hell of Wolfman.

"It's the part of the process that I love the most. We have eight or 10 really talented artists, and we all just sit around all day and draw pictures and say, 'Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could do this?' It's that phase of the production where money doesn't matter: ‘Let's put all the greatest stuff up on the wall and then later see what we can afford.'"

And it looks like they'll be budgeting for some period work. "The film begins in 1942, 1943, during World War Two. The stuff in the ’60s and ’70s comic books we're sort of avoiding. We're going back to the ’40s, and then forward to what they're doing with Captain America now."

Would it work? Cap fans...?

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Joe Johnston has been bigging up his next movie during publicity duties for The Wolfman. Everybody knows he’s directing Marvel’s latest screen superhero flick, Captain America, but who will be cast as America’s greatest hero?

Well, Johnston gave Sci-fi Wire, this to chew over:

“We have a very short list, but we’re still juggling actors here. I’d say within the next couple of weeks we’ll have ourselves a Captain America, I hope.”

So who is on this “very short list?”

Nobody knows!

It’ll probably be some vapid t.v. teeny bopper they cast though, since this certain superhero is not going to be embraced worldwide.

As reported last week, the film begins during WW2 with Cpt. America kicking Nazi arse then moves to the present day.

Interestingly, the film is slated for a June start date…in England. Obviously, Captain America is not so keen on rescuing the American economy right now. So wait and see is the word on this. Johnston is a solid journeyman director who will deliver on nothing special, but nothing terrible either. Probably what the studio want for this title.

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Calm, deep breath - but Jon Favreau might have just dropped the biggest hint about The Avengers movie yet.

In a recent tweeting session, Favreau was asked if Iron Man 2 takes place before or after the Incredible Hulk - to which he sharply replied 'before'.

Now we know what your thinking, what's the big deal with that?

Hardly matters right?

Wrong!

Cast your mind back to the end of The Incredible Hulk movie, which ended with Tony Stark recruiting General Ross for his "team" - and everything becomes a lot more clear.

Favreau's tweet is not just some throwaway comment but points towards something much bigger, and the only logical conclusion is The Avengers.

The permutations suggest's that Iron Man 2 will possibly feature members of the Avengers putting the "team" together.

Couple that with the fact we've already seen Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury in the official Iron Man 2 trailer and you've got excitement levels at death con three!

But is this all getting a bit complicated?

Will we really see all those superheroes, played by the same actors (Captain America hasn’t even been made yet!), in a big Marvel movie?

It would take a gargantuan effort to pull that one off. Plus, Edward Norton threw his toys out of the pram during the post-production on Louis Leterrier’s film and refused to do publicity and didn’t much like the film.

Well, characters have been crossing over into each others movies, so it better be for something other than a nice “reference” to the Marvel universe.

So will a big, bad Marvel smackdown be on its way in the near future?

Is there a grand scheme?

We want answers, godammit!

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Chris Pine - AKA Captain Kirk in Star Trek - is the latest actor to be linked with the role of Captain America.

A scooper for CinemaSpy reports: "Paramount and Marvel are pretty close to closing a deal on casting Steve Rogers/Captain America and fans might be excited to learn that the short list includes somebody a lot of fans speculated about, Chris Pine. From what I'm hearing, he's the frontrunner right now, though that could change."

The news is uncorroborated, so should be treated as speculation for the moment. If Pine does sign on for the part, he'll have to juggle the role with playing Kirk in future Star Trek movies and Jack Ryan in Paramount's reboot of the Tom Clancy series.

According to The First Avenger: Captain America director Joe Johnston however, a casting announcement is due in the next couple of weeks as filming is set to begin this June, so we'll know soon enough if the news is true.

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The synopsis for The First Avenger: Captain America might have been released thanks to a casting announcement on featurecasting.com.

Also, thanks to the same release, it’s looking like filming is set to begin on June 28, 2010.

With a release date of July 22, 2011, and the fact that director Joe Johnston recently saying he’s busy in pre-production, the filming date sounds pretty accurate.

If you’re interested in reading the synopsis, here’s what was posted:

Born during the Great Depression, Steve Rogers grew up a frail youth in a poor family. Horrified by the newsreel footage of the Nazis in Europe, Rogers was inspired to enlist in the army. However, because of his frailty and sickness, he was rejected.

Overhearing the boy’s earnest plea, General Chester Phillips offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in a special experiment… Operation: Rebirth. After weeks of tests, Rogers was at last administered the Super-Soldier Serum and bombarded by ‘vita-rays.’

Steve Rogers emerged from the treatment with a body as perfect as a body can be and still be human. Rogers was then put through an intensive physical and tactical training program.

Three months later, he was given his first assignment as Captain America. Armed with his indestructible shield and battle savvy, Captain America has continued his war against evil both as a sentinel of liberty and as leader of the Avengers.

If you’ve read the comics, this sounds dead on. The thing to realize is…this isn’t going to be the final synopsis for the film, but one they can send out to casting agencies without giving away the movie. Notice no mention of who Captain America fights or what happens after he becomes a super soldier. But for now…it’s something.

With Joe Johnston elaborating that he was hoping to have casting done by March 1, expect the person who will play Captain America to be revealed any day now. John Krasinski, Scott Porter, Garrett Hedlund, Jensen Ackles, Chace Crawford, Michael Cassidy, and Mike Vogel are all on the list as potential leads.

More as we get it.


Also, Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada teased fans via his Twitter account that a screenplay for the The Avengers has, indeed, been written:

Definition of "goose bumps." Pressing enter and watching a screenplay entitled "AVENGERS" come out of my printer.

It's official, I have the greatest job in the world.

Marvel Entertainment often uses its staff to comment and aide the process of adapting a comic book property into a movie. What draft of the script, written by The Incredible Hulk screenwriter Zak Penn, though it would conceivably be early considering that Penn was writing the outline of the movie last summer and both Thor and First Avenger: Captain America — two movies with an obviously huge impact on The Avengers — are far from completion.

Still, fans that will have to wait until 2012 to see the finished product have to be salivating over Quesada's tease.