A wonderful look into WHAT IF?

After this weekend, it appears we ain’t going to be getting any new Ghost Rider films for a while.  While the modestly budgeted film didn’t exactly tank, it also didn’t set the world on fire (figuratively speaking)  Spirits of Vengeance, directed by the Crank duo Neveldine/Taylor, seemed to have been universally bashed by just about everyone who has a keyboard.  But if the box office charts are a tell, non of them saw it, and are just bashing it on A: Nic Cage hate B: Neveldine/Taylor hate C: Hate for the first film or D: All the Above.

Let it be known: I love the Crank films, and I had a blast with Ghost Rider: SOV.  A damn fun film, and that’s what I wanted.

But, like many films, this Ghost Rider sequel has a history.  And part of that history includes two guys who made a film last year that’s pretty much Ghost Rider without the flaming skull, and all the Nic Cage you can handle.  Todd Farmer and Patrick Lussier made a film called Drive Angry, and according to Farmer’s blog, he almost got the gig making Ghost Rider.

During one of our many meetings, De Luca, who had produced Ghost Rider, suggested we come up with a pitch for Ghost Rider 2. We said yes with much enthusiasm. So Mike set a meeting with Avi Arad that we might meet and discuss the franchise. And we had a blast. We met Avi and his son Ari (who sat with me and Tom Jane during the My Bloody Valentine premiere). We talked superheroes and what made Ghost Rider different. We talked through what Vilains we could legally draw from. It was a perfect meeting.

Patrick and I returned to the ghostcave and worked our magic. We decided to not only create a pitch but since there were so many entities involved (Avi, Marvel, Sony and De Luca) we would create a document we could leave behind. A doc that would represent our story, our characters and our tone. And that’s what we did.

When we returned we were pumped. We had nailed it. It may seem arrogant to say that but DUH. Isn’t that the point? Why would you ever go back if you didn’t think you nailed it? During the initial chit chat I said something along the lines of, “We know there are several entities involved here but we think we’ve found a story that fulfills everyone’s concerns.” Avi then informed me that there was only one entity that mattered. Everyone laughed. I gulped.

And the pitch was fun!

We knew De Luca dug it. Later we heard that Sony loved it.

But in the end Avi passed. He said it was too violent.

Hate not getting the job but I’ll take TOO VIOLENT as the reason any day of the week.

Well, Farmer has given you the chance to decide for yourself.  He’s uploaded the treatment (not a full script, but the outline a writer will use to pitch the story to become a script), to his website to be viewed here.

I love looking at hat could have been, like the unused script for George Romero’s almost made Resident Evil film.  Sigh.. what could of been.

It’s a documentary!

I love this day and age we live in.  Where a mere 10 years ago, doing a big documentary on something as trivial as comic books would have been madness.  But today, it’s common place!  Case in point, Wonder Woman: The Untold Story of American Super heroines.  A documentary set to debut at South by Southwest in a few weeks that takes a look at girl power in comics and entertainment, and the one figure that started it all: Wonder Woman.

Check out the trailer below.

One where he dosn’t resort to low budget antics.

For years, Robert Rodriguez has done things his own way.  He re wrote the indy film guide book (literally) with El Mariachi and the book based on his journal: Rebel with out a Crew.  From there, he has made a WIDE variety of films, lots in the action category, many in the children category.  He’s spearheaded digital film making with his Troublemaker Studios, which he runs from his house.  He’s brought to life one of the few comics everyone said couldn’t be done in Sin City, and he’s a musician as well.  You’d think the man wouldn’t have much left to do.

Nay!

Today, Comcast announced a new multi ethnic network(s) launch that includes P.Diddy, Magic Johnson, and Rodriguez himself.  Dubbed EL REY, the network will feature a variety of English speaking Hispanic shows.

From the press release:

 El Rey: Proposed by legendary Hollywood director Robert Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures executives John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa, this network is designed to be an action-packed, general entertainment network in English for Latino and general audiences that includes a mix of reality, scripted and animated series, movies, documentaries, news, music, comedy, and sports programming. The El Rey network will include programming that features Hispanic producers, celebrities and public figures. The network has entered into an agreement to launch by January 2014.

“This partnership with Comcast signals an important moment for the Latino community in this country – we are passionate about creating a wildly entertaining destination that we can be proud of by appealing to both Latino and mass market audiences,” said Robert Rodriguez and CEO of FactoryMade Ventures John Fogelman. “We engineered El Rey to address a burgeoning opportunity to deliver unique, high-quality and compelling content to a hard-to-reach demographic and are excited to bring more opportunities to generations of talent, storytellers and dreamers through this special partnership.”

As for what Rodriguez will be creatively for the network has yet to be told.  No doubt a few made for tv films and several shows he’ll either produce or actually write for.  The network doesn’t launch till 2014, so there’s still time for him to work on Sin City 2, his Fire and Ice remake and several Machete films he’s got under his belt.

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Here are my top five cons of March, 2012:

5. Creation’s Salute to Supernatural: Los Angeles, CA (March 2nd -4th)
For the second month in a row, Creation and Supernatural team up to place a show in the top five. As I wrote last month, I’m not a huge Supernatural fan, but I am a big Creation fan. I love the quality shows that they produce and as such have a constant bias in favor of their shows. In a world where mile-long lines to see celebrity panels often result in little more than frustration and disappointment, Creation promises a seat for each attendee. As a result, shows organized by Creation allow attendees to enjoy every minute without the frustration of rushing from line to line. So, if it’s a Creation show, count me in. For more information visit www.creationent.com/cal/supernatural_tn.htm.

4. Day of the Dead II: Peachtree City, GA (March 9th-11th)
For those interested in the horror genre, there are few shows in America that rival the upcoming Day of the Dead II near Atlanta, GA. While there are many shows that dip their proverbial toe in the horror waters, Day of the Dead has quickly developed a reputation for jumping in fully. With a show focused on everything from the biggest budget slasher films to the smallest fan-made productions, keep an eye on this rising star of the con world. For more information visit www.dayofthedead.net.

3. Planet Comicon: Overland Park, KS (March 24th -25th)
If you look closely at the top three cons of March, you’ll see that they are really more of a 1A, 1B and 1C. Your preference on the shows will vary on the atmosphere you most prefer in a show. Planet Comicon in Kansas is a show with a rich history of success and it looks to be taking another impressive step this year. Firstly, Planet Comicon is a show focused on comics and their creators. Although the list is extensive, the biggest spotlight will be on hometown hero, Jason Aaron (creator of “little” hits like Scalped, Wolverine and the X-Men and Incredible Hulk).Outside of San Diego Comic-Con, there are few shows that attract the pure number of comic artists and writers that Planet Comicon does. For those that are a bit more interested in media and pop culture than strictly comics, this show also features a good list of guests from fan favorite films of the past. Some of the notable guests in this vein for 2012 include Billy Dee Williams, Jake Lloyd, Adrienne Wilkinson, Gil Gerard, and G4’s Blair Butler. All in all, Planet Comicon has a rich history and 2012 looks to only add to this legacy. For more information visit www.planetcomicon.com.

2. Emerald City Comicon: Seattle, WA (March 30th – April 1st)
Coming in at number two in March is one of the fastest growing and hottest shows in the world of cons. Already the largest show in the north, Emerald City Comicon (ECCC) has quickly gained notice across the rest of the United States and is becoming a “must attend” for many con-goers. Beyond their huge focus on comics, ECCC has grown to become a favorite for pop culture enthusiast as well. This year Katee Sackoff, Robert Kirkman, Christopher Lloyd, Matt Fraction, George Takei, Ed Brubaker, and Wil Wheaton headline an event with way too many stars to include here. Even more important than an impressive guest list is the consistent message heard from past attendees that the fan experience is unrivaled. The word on the street is a positive one and with ECCC celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, it’s quite likely that this one will be the best yet! For more information visit www.emeraldcitycomicon.com.

The Con-Fluence Pick of the Month:

1. WonderCon: Anaheim, CA (March 16th -18th):
Coming in at number one this month is the biggest wild card of the bunch. For the first time since its inception, WonderCon is traveling to Anaheim for its yearly pop culture extravaganza. With the Moscone Center under construction, Comic-Con International (CCI) opted to take its show on the road (something their San Francisco-based fans are not too happy about) and test the waters at a show at the Anaheim Convention Center. Ever since the move was announced, there have been wild rumors of all sorts. Some thing the move to Anaheim will bring an even larger presence of Hollywood to San Diego Comic-Cons (SDCC) “little brother” show. Others think that The Mouse will block Marvel (and anyone that knows what’s good for them) from treading on their D23 territory. In traditional CCI fashion, there have been few formal announcements thus far. We know of a handful of comic creators that are headlining such as Scott Snyder, Jim Lee, and Mark Waid, but just like SDCC most card are being hidden until a few weeks before the show (or so we presume). So, this number one slot is picked on potential and guessing. Seeing as how CCI has become the powerhouse that it has and the new location giving even easier access to Los Angeles-based talent, my guess is that this will be the biggest and (turn away NorCal readers) best WonderCon yet. And inevitably, this show will further fuel rumors of a move for SDCC… For more information visit www.comic-con.org.

I hope this list gives you an idea of the best on the con-scene this March. Make sure to check back frequently for more info on the best of everything CON, and make sure to follow me on Twitter for updates on this and more: @The_Con_Fluence.

Now with more Boxleitner!

It’s been roughly a year since we’ve seen ANYTHING for Tron Uprising.  The preqeul to Tron Legacy, sequel to Tron.  Today, Disney has finally gotten of their collective asses and given us something!

This new trailer has hit the web, and if you’re iching for a Tron fix, it’ll give it to you.   Tron Uprising tells the tale of Beck, a program who leads the revolt again Clu as he took over the Grid the first time.

Voice cast includes Elijah Wood, Mandy Moore and Bruce Boxleitner as Tron.  Daft Punk retun to provide the soundtrack to the show.  Tron Uprising airs this summer on Disney XD

source:

Now more super deformed than ever!

Nothing like a new Teen Titans short to cap off the night.  This clip features the Titans doing what they do best:  Eating pizza.

Again.. It’s just damn nice to hear the original voices coming out of the mouths of these characters again.  My hope, and it’s a long shot, is that these things prove popular enough to warrant a full come back.  But seeing as that’s probably not going to happen, I’ll gladly take theses little shorts they’ll air on DC Nation.

A night to remember.

We here at the Realmcast have been covering the DC DTV titles since we started this little show.  We’ve been to several premieres at Comic Con and pretty much rave about every single Superman, Batman and Green Lantern movie that hits the store shelves.  So when I say that tonight, (2/16/2012) was a special night, we damn well mean it.

Tonight my esteemed editor in chief George and I were fortunate to be able to attend the West Coast premier of Justice League Doom at the Paley Center for Media.  A small gathering of fans, cast and crew packed into the illustrious screening room of the Paley Center to watch as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the Justice League took on Vandal Savage‘s Legion of Doom.  This would be the first non Comic Con premiere we’ve attended, and by Primus, it didn’t disappoint.

Arriving around 5:30pm in Beverly Hills, just narrowly missing rush hour traffic in downtown LA, we found ourselves amongst fellow geeks; an odd sight to see.  A line of nerds, sporting the various wears of Graffiti Designs while women in skin tight $500 designer dresses and jubilant same sex couples who put more money into their hair than most of us do into our own shoes stroll past us.  Even as a California native, I do sometimes feel a bit out of place in the state I grew up in.  As we entered the theater and took our seats, I soon realized just how intimate this screening was.  The Paley Center holds roughly 180 people.  This was as personal as it was going to get.

7 pm rolled around, and we were greeted with introductions by the fine folks running the screening before the lights went down and on the big screen before us rolled Justice League Doom.

THE MOVIE:
As for the finished product, Justice League Doom lives up to the DC DTV standard that it’s previous entries have set before them.  Mention was made that this was the 13th title that Warner Premiere has released, and I’m happy to say that none of the momentum has been lost.  The story of Vandal Savage: Immortal, gathering up the JLA‘s rouges gallery, and stealing Batman‘s contingency plans that was the basis for the 90′s JLA storyline Tower of Babel, with liberties taken to the story to form it into a feature narrative.  As always, it’s the details in these movies that are the strongest.  The charter moments, portrayed by the original voice cast of the Justice League TV series remind you why you love these characters.  A lot of this was due to the writing talents of the late, great Dwayne McDuffie, who sadly passed away almost a year ago to this date.

If I were to  sum up Justice League Doom, it be that it felt like a damn great multi-part episode of the TV series.  Probably would have been one of the best storylines on the show.  What kept JL Doom from being perfect compared to say, Batman Under the Red Hood, is that it felt like there was too much to process and that there wasn’t enough time.  The focus on Batman‘s stolen plans was fine, but the endgame of Vandal Savage seemed a bit more tacked on then it should of been.  The inclusion of Cyborg, now a member of the current New 52 JLA, seemed to be a bit of an afterthought than anything else.  Sure, he plays a vital part at a point in the film, but after that, he’s regulated to the TECH guy.

But, if at worst we got a damn good story from the Justice League TV series, then it was still a damn good showing.  Like coming in second in a cake eating contest, it was still sweet either way.

Following the film there was a good hour long Q&A with Tim Daly, Susan Eisenberg, Olivia D’Abo, Phil Morris, director Lauren Montgomery and voice director Andrea Romano.  If the Paley Center shined on anything the most, it was in this post-movie Q&A.  A nice tribute to Dwayne McDuffie was given, followed by some chatter by the cast and crew, and ending with an audience portion of the Q&A.  Of the few things learned on this night:

There are currently 4 different titles in the works at the moment.  Two of them confirmed are: Superman vs The Elite and from Andrea Romano’s lips, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.  DKR has been rumored for a while now and was thought to be the follow up to Batman Year One.  Such isn’t the case as Superman vs The Elite will be next.

Speaking of which, Superman vs The Elite will have it’s world premiere at Comic Con 2012.  Probably on Friday night as tradition with the DC DTV movies.

While poked and prodded, no other info on The Dark Knight Returns were given other than a few scenes of animation are already done.  We will probably find out who’s voicing Batman in this movie by Comic Con.

One final note that I was to get was on the status of the DTV line.  While Bruce Timm has gone on record to state that the crop of films we’re getting today is dictated by DC and Warner, we wouldn’t be getting any “lesser” hero films due to the less than stellar sales of Wonder Woman and Green Lantern First Flight.  But seeing that we live in a post Green Lantern movie era now, perhaps DC would give the green light to projects based on other heroes.  I was told that, yes, such a thing is finally happening, and a good chance that one of the four DTV movies will be a non Batman/Superman based film.  I couldn’t get more than that.  But the news alone that another attempt at the non JL or Bats/Sups films is being given ago is exceptionally promising.  My hopes for a Green Arrow film are not dashed at the moment.

It’s now 2:30 in the morning, and my high from the night is winding down.  I close with this.  Huge props to Warner Premiere, Hero Complex and the Paley Center for hosting an event like this and giving the average fan a chance to attend. While the DC movies are popular, sometimes it feels like they don’t get their just dues.  I can proclaim that for at least one night in Los Angeles, everyone involved in these projects got the kudos that they deserved.

Acording to Badass Digest Michael Bay finally figured out Transformers 4 doesn’ t need to have fourth grade humor in order to sell tickets.

A source close to the production of Transformers 4 has cleared up some elements about the film. While the term ‘re-imagining’ was thrown around, the fourth film will be a straight up sequel to the last movie. It just won’t be told through Witwicky’s point of view. As to whose point of view it will be told through, that’s unclear right now, but it’s also unclear which – if any – human characters will be back.

Bay seems intent on cutting down on the goofy, tone-deaf comedy bits that have seen some of our finer actors pissed on and tickled by giant robots. Bay realized it needs to be more like the last hour of Dark of the Moon so expect lots of big action, lots of carnage, lots of military badasses, very few silly bits.

This next bit is speculation based on what this source told me, and not moored in facts: I feel like Transformers 4 could be the movie where they finally make the robots the center of the story. Rather than having the robots as sidekicks to whatever Sam is going through, the film could well finally place them right in the middle, with their character beats fueling the narrative. The ‘narrative.’ That would at least give fans something closer to what they want – people come to a Transformers movie to see what Optimus Prime et al are doing, not to find out how Sam Witwicky’s job search is going.

An international trailer for Ridley Scott’s sci-fi epic Prometheus has just surfaced. Video after the cut.

 
Prometheus – International Teaser Trailer #1… by addictomovie

Prometheus is set for release June 2012.

Such a beating!

T minus 3 weeks till the cross platform release of Street Fighter X Tekken.  Capcom’s entry into the interpromotional game that NO ONE thought would ever happen.  If you can’t wait that long, the last few trailers have gone up to get your fix before your pre order comes in and you waste a month online beating up 12 year old’s who are screaming racial slurs at you.

First trailer is told from the perspective of one Dan Hibiki, and gives the actual story of the game.  Yes, it has a story.  No I’m not being a asshole when I say that, but there are many a folk that I’ve talked to that think the Street Fighter games have no story to them.

This trailer is more or less showing off the pretty graphics in the game as Akuma and Ogre have a giant pissing contest of who’s more jacked and evil.

Finally, two game play trailers.  The last one features M. Bison and Yuri pretty much sodomizing everything in their path, and Akuma destroying everything  with his Super Saiyan demon power.