Are Sony making Spider-Man a yearly entry?

After an unusual announcement from Sony Pictures this week, it looks as though we could see a new ‘Spider-Man‘ movie every year. But is it all a bit too much?

Fans of Marvel’s resident web slinger will I’m sure be rejoicing as Sony reveals plans to produce a new ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ movie every year. But is this really such a good thing? A surprising new report reveals Sony’s ambitious plan. And while they’re obviously eager to follow the Marvel Cinematic Universe, can it really work in the ‘Spider-Man’ universe?

Latest trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2

According to Variety, Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal has revealed their plan to release a movie set in the same universe as ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ every single year. “We are expanding the ‘Spider-Man’ universe into ‘The Sinister Six‘ and ‘Venom‘,” she explained. “So that we have ‘Spider-Man’ movies every year.”

But I can’t be the only one feeling this is a bit too much.

This new approach from Sony sounds startlingly similar to the way Disney are handling the ‘Star Wars’ universe – with a new film every year. But while ‘Star Wars’ will be alternating between ‘saga’ episodes and spin-off movies, will Sony take the same steps? And will it work if they do? The only way I can see it working is if they produce say a Black-Cat film.

Would a Black-Cat film work?

Media Analyst Harold Vogel doesn’t seem to think so. He thinks that Sony’s approach is nothing more than an over-reliance on Peter Parker. “It’s creative entropy,” he said. “And I think there’s been too much of a reliance on ‘Spider-Man. They need some other things to build out.”

And to be honest, he’s right. It is a bit of a shame that Sony do not own another property like say The Punisher or even decide to try make a deal with Disney to bring both Universes together.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is very different compared to its rivals, Marvel Studios. While Marvel concentrates on developing movies based on their own comic books, it certainly seems that Sony is missing out by not realising the potential of its other intellectual properties. A list of Sony’s properties can be seen listed below:

Ghost Rider: Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze, Blackheart/Legion, Phantom Rider/Carter Slade, Abigor, Gressil, Mephistopheles, Wallow, Barton Blaze, Roxanne Simpson

Spider-Man: Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Doctor Octopus/Otto Octavius, Green Goblin/Norman Osborn, (New) Green Goblin/Harry Osborn, [The Lizard]/Dr. Curt Connors, Sandman/Flint Marko, Venom/Eddie Brock Jr., Betty Brant, Dennis Carradine (Buglar), J. Jonah Jameson, Ben Parker, May Parker, John Jameson, Joseph “Robbie” Robertson, Gwen Stacy, Mendel Stromm, Flash Thompson

Can Venom bring a new angle?

Of course, we’ve all heard about the ‘Sinister Six’ and ‘Venom’ projects and while they certainly bring a new angle to the ‘Spider-Man’ story especially if it is the Venom seen above, can this new approach really work as well as Marvel’s Cinematic Universe?

Frankly, I can’t help thinking it just won’t work. That’s not to say that Sony isn’t making strides with ‘Spider-Man’ since rebooting the franchise in 2012, I for one felt Raimi was damaging the films after his first attempt. But is there really enough variety between the characters to justify spin-off movies? The whole reason Marvel’s strategy works so well is because each movie brings something entirely new to the table. Just look at the massive difference in pace, tone and humour when you compare ‘The Winter Soldier’ to the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. Of course, neither of those films have been released as of yet, but I think you can see what I mean just from the trailers – they each bring something entirely different to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

These guys will be teased in the new film

If you ask me, it looks as though Sony is going to have a hard time competing. Taking ‘Spider-Man’ out of the mix creates a variety of films without the franchise’s main selling point. Just ask yourself right now, do you want to see a ‘Spider-Man’ movie without ‘Spider-Man’? It just doesn’t attract me. Sure, there might be a great opportunity for a ‘Venom’ movie but can ‘The Sinister Six’ really compete? I for one would rather see Spidey sock it to them than spend 2 hours watching them get together and cause carnage for no one to be stopping them.

I can’t help thinking this is a risky move and one that will ultimately fail for Sony. But good luck to them, I do like to be surprised.

What do you think of Sony’s ‘Spider-Man’ plans? Can they really get away with a new ‘Spider-Man’ film every year? Let me know what you think in the comments below…

The Guardians of the Galaxy finally get their trailer!

Every movie geek awoke this morning, loaded up ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’s’ first trailer and watched it at least five times. Follow the link below to watch it.

Full Guardians trailer here

This short glimpse at director James Gunn’s upcoming Marvel sci-fi extravaganza showed that it will possess a fantastic mix of humour, action, charm and Zoe Saldana’s green side-boob, all to the sultry sounds of Blue Swede’s Hooked on a Feeling. What more could we have asked for?

In only a mere day the ‘Guardians’ have gone from being an unknown band of misfits to the potential heir to ‘Star Wars’.

Guardians of the Galaxy could very well be Marvel’s own Star Wars, and here’s all you need to know about it.

Now let me give you a breakdown of what we see here.

Meet Starlord, what a cheeky chap!

So let’s start at the start of the trailer, this above is Peter Jason Quill, aka Starlord. He was stolen from Earth as a child in the 80s, he has grown up in the galaxy and has become a roguish type who reminds me of the incestual love child of Han Solo and Indy. Starlord is a nickname he’s given himself, showing off the arrogance of the man, but there’s a charm there too. From the trailer I can sense that Gunn has decided to make Starlord a child from the 80s in a man’s body which we will agree is going to be brilliant to watch.

He also loves his 80s walkman, his only memento of home. He gets very protective over it, even enduring a painful looking wattage of electricity for it.

Quill is played by Chris Pratt, whose path to blockbuster leading man has been an unexpected one. It began for him in comedy Parks and Recreation and since then he has had roles in other films like The Five Year Engagement and Zero Dark Thirty. Coincidently he will be following up the Guardians with Jurassic World, set for release next year. Believe me this guy is going to be a big.

Back to the trailers opening and director James Gunn recently told Total Film that he was influenced heavily by a very popular film. “There is probably no film that influenced me more as a child – no film that excited me more or that I loved more – than ‘Raiders Of The Lost Ark’.” And this statement is evident in this opening sequence.

Now these two are going to be funny!

Moving on this above is Rhomann Dey (John C Reilly), a chief officer in the Nova Corps – an intergalactic police force that will bring the Guardians of the Galaxy together after their arrests. To Dey’s right is British comic Peter Serafinowicz, his right hand man. Expect a lot of deadpan humour as evidenced in the trailer. Also, because this film is mental. Glenn Close will be playing their boss.

Now, on to the rest of the team…

The muscle!

This chap above is Drax the Destroyer. He’s played by WWE wrestler Dave Bautista (some of you may recognise him). His job in the film will be to provide the muscle (duh). As mentioned in the trailer he’s on a quest for vengeance following the murder of his family. Take note that his species is “unknown” – this will be important, as will who killed his family.

The deadly assassin!

This above is Gamora, played by Zoe Saldana, who joins her third, yes THIRD major Hollywood franchise, following Star Trek and Avatar. She’s the adopted daughter of Thanos (important bit of info there), who was last seen smirking in the credit scene of Avengers Assemble. Sadly quite a number of people thought Thanos was Hellboy…idiots!

As we already know Thanos is a key player in Guardians of the Galaxy and the whole Marvel universe, and this film will likely be setting him up for Avengers 3 – expected 2018. Marvel are as we all know always looking well ahead.

The nutball and tree!

Now take note if you have any boys in your life aged between 7 and 12 (or me) then you should be aware that Rocket Raccoon and Groot as seen above are likely going to become their favourite comic book heroes. As we all know Rocket is close to being mine. Rocket is a genetically engineered talking Raccoon voiced by Oscar-nominee Bradley Cooper. He is an absolutely barmy character, but he is awesome.

Groot is a mainly mute tree-like alien who as the trailer explains, acts as Rocket’s muscle. In the comics he says only one thing, “I am Groot” and saying it in the film will be Fast & Furious star Vin Diesel, which I’m sure won’t be a hard role for him. Expect the pair to do lots of things as cool as we see in the trailer. Gunn recently revealed his deep devotion to Groot, stating, “I love Groot so much I get teary eyed when I think of him sometimes. Essentially, all the Guardians start out the movie as b***ards – except Groot. He’s an innocent. He’s a hundred percent deadly and a hundred percent sweet. He’s caught up in Rocket’s life, really.” I’m sure the tree won’t mind too much having that loveable Raccoon with him though.

I wonder what catchphrase space pirates have?

Now on to the villains we see. This above is Nebula, now you may recognise her under that bald dome and blueish skin. She is played by none other than Karen Gillan the former Doctor Who assistant. Nebula is a space pirate and mercenary who claims to be the granddaughter of Thanos… she’s not. When Thanos finds out she has been lying about them being related, he’s not very happy.

Creepy stamp collector?

Now if you stayed after the credits of Thor: The Dark World, you’ll have met The Collector – played by Benecio Del Toro as seen above. In that scene he came into possession of something called an Infinity Gem, further setting up Avengers 3 and the Infinity Gauntlet storyline that it will adapt, which is an awesome storyline and one I can’t wait to see blossom.

Thanos wants the gauntlet and each of the gems that resides in it so he may control all of time and space. We’ve already met two gems (the Tesseract of Captain America and Avengers Assemble and the Aether of Thor: The Dark World. The third of five gems will be introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy.

I’m just so excited for this!

That’s all we’ve been shown so far. The trailer offers little in terms of plot, but The Collector and Thanos will each play a part, acting as forces behind the film’s villain Ronan the Accuser, played by Lee Pace. Gunn has admitted that there’s still plenty more to come as he declared, “We left out some of our coolest characters – Lee Pace’s Ronan the Accuser, Michael Rooker‘s Yondu, and Glenn Close’s Nova Prime – because we want to save them for the full trailer in a couple of months.”

So we have that to look forward to. Are you excited about ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’? Do you think it could replace ‘The Avengers’ as Marvel’s most beloved ensemble? Let me know.

Avengers: Age of Ultron begins production

The moment that many of us Whedonites have been waiting for has finally happened at last: Joss Whedon has called “assemble” (no pun intended) on the first day of principal photography for ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron,’ which is kicking off production in sunny old Johannesburg this week.

The eagerly anticipated Marvel superhero team-up sequel is set to shoot in Johannesburg for the next two weeks, before moving to London and possibly Italy. If recent casting calls are to be believed and a certain photo of an Italian stronghold which could be the home for one Baron Von Strucker.

(The Avengers 2 Casting Call For Bard Fortress In Italy Announced)

However, going back to South Africa. News site IOL report that “action photography sequences will not include main cast members such as Scarlett Johansson or Chris Hemsworth.” Speculations that South African locations might double for Wakanda – homeland of the Black Panther, a future Avenger who I am hoping will be teased in Avengers 2 to follow into his own standalone in phase 3. SA Breaking News quote Desmond Mthembu of the Gauteng Film Commission as declaring, “The great thing about this movie is that they are shooting Johannesburg as Johannesburg. Often you will find filmmakers will shoot in Johannesburg and portray the location as Los Angeles. This time around the first 10 minutes of the film will be of Johannesburg.” This statement may have slightly squashed any hope I may have of a Panther tease.

Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean the Panther, or his alter ego T’Challa, might not make an appearance, as speculation has been hotting up that the character may have already been cast like I mentioned last week.

(Chiwetel Ejifor and Chadwick Boseman to play Black Panther?)

I suspect fan interest and enthusiasm for ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron‘ will be set to skyrocket as the production gets underway – not that it was exactly lacking in the first place.

On top of this, there has also been speculation that Ms. Marvel – another character who we’re expecting to see at some point before the third ‘Avengers’ movie – may also be set to make an entrance in ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron.’ Now whether there’s any truth to this rumour remains to be seen – but Marvel and Whedon may yet surprise me before the sequel opens in May 2015. I for one believe that the Avengers roster is a bit too male orientated so with the new film looking to introduce two new female heroes could we be looking at finally getting a decent female hero movie on the screen in phase 3.

(Will Ms. Marvel make an entrance in Avengers: Age of Ultron)

In other news I can happily announce to you all that none other than Paul Bettany (voice of Jarvis in the Iron Man films) will be making the move from loveable AI to full-fledged android in the form of The Vision (which might perhaps explain the rumour linking him to Ultron before James Spader was cast). Now The Vision is an android created by the film’s villain Ultron, originally for villainous purposes as one of Ultron’s henchmen. However, he later turns against Ultron and becomes a member of The Avengers, he also marries Scarlett Witch! Will Whedon tackle a potential romance story in Avengers 2?

(Paul Bettany cast as The Vision)

In the meantime, we have ‘Captain America: the Winter Soldier’ to look forward to in late March – and from reports this week revealing that after the final credits have rolled we shall be given a huge teaser and, while this probably is immensely obvious, probable spoilers to follow, stop reading now if you’d rather go in stupid.

Okay, you can’t say I didn’t warn you…

Word is, the final moments of ‘Captain America: the Winter Soldier’ will introduce two new characters who will be referred to as ‘the twins’ – now we all know where this is going. Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, AKA Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), the two new additions to the team in 2015’s ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron.’ will be introduced. The circumstances under which they appear have not been mentioned. So make sure you hang around after those credits roll people.

(Captain America: The Winter Soldier to tease two new Avengers)

And finally as we still don’t know exactly what films Marvel have earmarked for 2016 and beyond, I will be on the lookout for any hints of what the future might hold – and how ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron‘ will bring us into phase 3.

So that just about wraps up what has been going on so far this week.

Keep your eyes fixed for future updates and thanks for reading!

Guardians getting a sequel?

Hi there and welcome to my first blog and post.

I will start of simply by saying i won’t bore you with what you already know and will start from news as of today. I will also try to update this weekly with the bit of #Marvel news that has interested me the most and will ensure i give you my opinions of announcements and the films i see! On that note …

Although Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ hasn’t even made it to cinemas yet, it looks as though a sequel could already be in development.

It’s one of the weirdest comic book movies that could be made – a talking tree voiced by Vin Diesel and a gun-toting raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper joining a rag-tag band of criminals and miscreants. But ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is looking to be one of the surprise movie hits of this year, and at this moment in time the movie I most look forward too, just clipping ‘X men Days of Future Past’. But how can there already be talk of a sequel?

(Potential World War Hulk)

According to the guys at JoBlo, Marvel is expecting ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ to go down really well with fans… it has already won me over. With this they have decided to set in motion a sequel.

“A reliable source has dropped a nice look into the future of Marvel films, filling in the blank on one of their upcoming Phase 3 films and it might surprise you,” they said. “We’ve learned that the film currently on slate for the May 6, 2016 date is ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2’.”

Of course, Marvel isn’t going to take a huge risk on an untested franchise unless they’re expecting some big bucks… and it looks as though James Gunn’s Guardians already has the Marvel nod of approval.

(Desolation of Smaug’s Evangeline Lilly up for female lead in Ant-Man)

“You certainly wouldn’t bank a sequel for something that was less than a sure thing,” they add. And I have to agree. If a sequel is what Marvel has in mind, it looks as though they’re pretty sure Guardians is going to be a big blockbuster.

(Captain America Winter Soldier post credits scene revealed?)

But will we really see another ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ film in Phase Three? Personally i feel that Phase 3 along with the already confirmed Cap 3, Thor 3 and Ant-Man requires two further films. I would choose to go with the long rumoured Doctor Strange and i am so desperate for a Black Panther film it is unreal. Sound off in the poll what movie you fancy seeing in Phase 3.

(Actors linked to Black Panther)

Until all this is officially confirmed however, we should take it with a pinch of salt.

If you are still clueless on who the Guardians of the Galaxy are, watch this video from IGN. (Who are the Guardians of the Galaxy)