Is Fox Destroying our Favorite Movies?

From: WorstPreviews.com

In just the last couple of days, I have heard numerous directors and lots of fans complain about 20th Century Fox and the way they deal with some of their upcoming movies.

First, there was "Watchmen." The studio announced that Warner Bros did not have the rights to make the movie and as a result they will do everything in their power to sue, win and then simply throw the movie away.

Then, there was "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." Director Gavin Hood had a big set built for a scene which he requested to look "dark, dinghy and somber." After being away from his newly designed set for a few days, he returns to find it completely repainted on orders from Fox co-chairman and CEO Tom Rothman. The now different set became brighter and less depressing. The source says that he was utterly surprised to see what has happened. But it is nothing new from Rothman.

Then there was "Babylon AD." Director Mathieu Kassovits revealed that 20th Century Fox kept sending their lawyers who made everything difficult. "I never had a chance to do one scene the way it was written or the way I wanted it to be. The script wasn't respected. Bad producers, bad partners, it was a terrible experience."

In the end, "Babylon AD," which is based on a French novel "Babylon Babies" by Maurice Georges Dantec, fails to deliver the book's messages. "It's pure violence and stupidity," he admits. "The movie is supposed to teach us that the education of our children will mean the future of our planet. All the action scenes had a goal, instead parts of the movie are like a bad episode of 24. I should have chosen a studio that has guts. I'm ready to go to war against them, but I can't because they don't give a sh*t."

And now, there is "The Silver Surfer." It was previously rumored that director Alex Proyas (I, Robot) would go on to helm a "Silver Surfer" spin-off. Proyas recently revealed that he would never consider making that film. But why? "Because it's a Fox picture," he said. "And I'm determined never to work with them ever again because of my experience on 'I,Robot.'

"What can be done about a studio like this that's holding rights to some potentially great movies? I don't know for sure, but I can tell you that they got very worried when fans began spreading the message to avoid seeing "Australia," "Wolverine" and other large Fox movies. To appease the fans, Fox has considered letting "Watchmen" go on as planned.

SPOILER ALERT! X-Men Origins: Wolverine

From: ComicBookMovie.com

We've got an organized listing of all the major rumors, confirmed and unconfirmed, from the movie's conception! Gathered together in one place, they paint a vivid picture of what we can expect to see in the film beyond the released storyline...

UGO did an excellent job of putting all this together. So give them some love...

[Spoilers.]

Hydraulx pumps up 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'

From: Comics2Film.com

Santa Monica based visual effects house Hydraulx is on board the 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' movie.

Erik Liles is on hand as visual effects supervisor and Tony Meagher is a visual effects producer on the project.

The F/X house previously contributed shots to 'Wanted', 'The Incredible Hulk' and 'Rise of the Silver Surfer'.

Read the full story...

The History of Marvel Comic's Mutant Team: The X-Men

From: AssociatedContent.com

At the end of the 1960s, the X-Men series had been cancelled due to a complete commercial failure, completely dominated by more popular series including Spiderman, Captain America, The Hulk and The Fantastic Four. It was not until the early 1990s that the X-Men made an astonishing comeback, selling a record-breaking eight million copies in the first issue alone. Saturday morning cartoons were soon dominated by the ¬X-Men animated series, which acquired phenomenal television ratings. According to Peter Sanderson, author of Marvel Universe, "If Marvel published only the books of the now extensive X-Men "family" of titles, it would still be one of the largest comics company in North America." (209)

[MORE]

Brazil Gets Wolverine and the X-Men First

From: XMF.com

Some countries are already getting their first taste of animated series, Wolverine and the X-Men! The first episode premiered today in Brazil on Jetix BR.

Canadian fans won’t have to wait long, as a September 6th date has been announced for YTV.

The series is slated to premiere domestically (USA) in 2009 on NickToons. =/

Is the First Trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine Coming to DVD?

From: SuperHeroFlix.com

An official trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine may be released soon - and it may make that first appearance not attached to a film, but on DVD. The Australian Classification Board have approved a 2 minute video for X-Men Origins: Wolverine for an upcoming DVD.

While this news is awfully cool, the site unfortunately provides no information about the type of footage that will be used, not does it state what DVD the footage will be released to. The logical assumption is that it would be attached to some release from Fox Home Video, most likely tied to one superhero film or another. The logical suspect would be that the video might appear on some X-Men video release of some sort - perhaps a new boxed set, or a Blu-Ray release.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine explores Wolverine's early days, before joining the X-Men. The film will cover Logan's early life, and his involvement with the mysterious Weapon X program. The film stars Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Dominic Monaghan, Danny Huston, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch, will.i.am, Daniel Henney, Scott Adkins and Lynn Collins. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is due to arrive in theatres in 2009.

Meet the Uncannily Nude X-Men

From: ToplessRobot.com

So when I was searching for pics of Avengers last night for today's Daily List, I came across a wonder. It's not fan fiction, per se; and it's not exactly fan art, either. It is absolutely bat-shit crazy: some enterprising young nerd has taken it upon him or herself to find pictures of nude models to represent the X-Men and every other mutant he/she can think of. You can see a playful Gambit above.

Now, that would be weird by itself, but the project has its own little fiction—that a mutant named Marie Sinclair wanted to make a coffee table book of nude mutant photography. As Cyclops puts it in his introduction (I swear I am not making any of this up):


Three years ago, a gamma-level mutant refining her powers at the Xavier Institute embarked on a project to photograph members of the various alpha-level mutant militias. She was uniquely suited to do so, having both light-manipulation as her mutation and intimate access to the alpha-levels at home. The project began with the permission of team administrators, on the condition that no one would be pressured into being photographed against his or her will.

To date, everyone who has participated has been satisfied with the results. Most of the pages devoted to individuals have been produced in collaboration with those individuals, and nothing currently appears without the participant's consent.

I'm sure Marvel will be glad to know Jubilee didn't pose nude against her will. Anyways, it's really just an insane excuse to post a lot of pictures of nekkid guys and gals with X-Men names and a list of mutant powers next to them. Frankly, I'm stunned. If you want to see 40 pictures of nude models in various states of undress—it's totally NSFW, obviously—and there are a few penises, just so you know—who are supposedly mutants ranging from the original five X-Men to nth-tier mutants like Marrow and Husk—by all means, check it out. I'm going to beat myself unconscious with a scotch bottle.

More Updated! Madhouse's First Marvel Anime Will Star Iron Man and Wolverine...and More?

From: ToplessRobot.com

After the news that anime studio Madhouse would be making four anime series of Marvel superheroes, Marvel issued a press release that shed a bit more light on the shows:

Madhouse is currently in production on the first of four new series (12 x 30 minutes), which are scheduled to launch in spring 2010. The initial series will feature characters including Iron Man and Wolverine, among others, and Madhouse will ultimately look to adapt the entire Marvel Universe, creating in essence a whole new character base for Marvel.

Now, the Iron Man sequel comes out in summer of 2010, and since the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie will be Marvel's last flick before that, these two stars stand to reason. However! I think we can read in-between the lines here and nerd out, if you please.

I've been trying to think about what "take" Madhouse could have that would explain having Iron Man and Wolverine as joint stars, and I've come up with two possibilities: 1) New fucking Avengers. The only time I know of where Wolvie and Shellhead teamed up for any length of time is recently, when Bendis re-made the Avengers with Wolverine (and Spider-man, too). I know a lot of comic fans cried foul at the time, but I'm of the opinion that like DC's Justice League, the Avengers should include all of Marvel's stars. And as long as Cap, Iron Man and Thor are in, everyone else is gravy.

The second possibility is that Madhouse's first series—hell, maybe all four series—will simply be "the Marvel Universe." It'll tell big stories with all the characters, as appropriate; I think the press release is certainly implying something like this. At any rate, when I thought that Madhouse would just be making four different superhero anime, I didn't care. If they're going to make something truly different, I'm going to have to change my pants.

Update: Madhouse just released a pic of Iron Man and Tony Stark. Iron Man looks like Iron Man, but Tony

......well, he looks a helluva lot like an anime character. Which was to be expected, I suppose.

Look familiar?

Like we didn't know the old posters were fan-made, but here's a picture if the original.