Is This Marvel Studios’ Upcoming Film Schedule?

From: http://furiousfanboys.com/

A poster on IMDB who claims to be working with Marvel Studios spilled the beans in a posting with what appears to be the studio’s upcoming feature and short film schedule through 2016. Now with this being IMDB, take it with a huge grain of salt as anyone can post anything they want on there, and it can be full of crap. But this schedule does look somewhat legit based on previous rumors:

For RELEASE in 2013 –
IRON MAN 3 – DIR. SHANE BLACK – SECOND QUARTER 2013
ANT MAN (SHORT FILM) – DIR. EDGAR WRIGHT – SECOND QUARTER 2013

THOR 2 – DIR. NEIL MARSHALL (LATE STAGE NEGOTIATIONS) – FOURTH QUARTER 2013
DR. STRANGE (SHORT FILM) – DIR. DAVID SLADE (NEGOTIATIONS) – FOURTH QUARTER 2013

For RELEASE in 2014 –
THE INCREDIBLE HULK RETURNS – DIR. LOUIS LETERRIER – SECOND QUARTER 2014
LUKE CAGE + IRON FIST (SHORT FILM) – DIR. JAMES GUNN (NEGOTIATIONS) – SECOND QUARTER 2014

AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. – DIR. DOUG LIMAN (EARLY NEGOTIATIONS) – THIRD QUARTER 2014
BLACK PANTHER – DIR. ANTOINE FUQUA (EARLY NEGOTIATION) – THIRD QUARTER 2014

For RELEASE in 2015 –
THE PUNISHER – DIR. PADDY CONSIDINE (NEGOTIATIONS) – FIRST QUARTER 2015
SENTRY (SHORT FILM) – DIR. T.B.A. – FIRST QUARTER 2015

CAPTAIN AMERICA 2 – DIR. JOE JOHNSTON (NEGOTIATIONS) – THIRD QUARTER 2015
WASP (SHORT FILM) – DIR. DUNCAN JONES (EARLY NEGOTIATION) – THIRD QUARTER 2015

For RELEASE in 2016 –

BLADE: THE DAYWALKER – DIR. T.B.A. – SECOND QUARTER 2016
MOON KNIGHT (SHORT FILM) – DIR. T.B.A. – SECOND QUARTER 2016

THE AVENGERS 2 – DIR. T.B.A. – FOURTH QUARTER 2016
NAMOR (SHORT FILM) – DIR T.B.A. – FOURTH QUARTER 2016

Interesting bits in there include Neil Marshall directing Thor 2 and Edgar Wright’s long-awaited Ant Man becoming a short film. The Incredible Hulk Returns would be pretty awesome, if true, as would an Antoine Fuqua-directed Black Panther. Imagine Tears of the Sun, but with Black Panther. That would be pretty cool.

‘The Avengers’ Trailer Teaser Is Here And It Looks Great! Watch!

BY HL Staff

From http://www.hollywoodlife.com/

This movie is packed with superstars and superheroes! It hits theaters in 2012- are you excited?

Legions of Marvel Comic fans can finally get excited. At the end of the box office hit ‘Captain America’ fans were treated to a teasing glimpse of the next huge superhero movie; The Avengers.

This action packed movie will feature the Marvel superheroes we all know and love. The film combines the story lines of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger!

With all these superheroes becoming part of one team, we’ll get the chance to see favorites like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson back in action!

In the movie, the world is on the edge of disaster. Director of the super spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson) pulls together this legendary group in hopes of saving the day.

The movie is set for release in May of 2012 – just in time for summer!

What do you think of the trailer teaser, HollywoodLifers?

Captain America, @#$% Yeah

Um, is it me, or does this new Captain America trailer kick an unholy amount of ass? Maybe it's because I just suffered through Green Lantern, or maybe its because I'm terrified of having watch Transformers 3 next week, but at this moment, in this trailer, Cap here looks like the greatest goddamned movie ever. I'm more excited for Cap now than I was for Thor, and I was pretty fucking excited for Thor. Now call me crazy, but I think Captain America here has one significant advantage over Green Lantern already; it stars a guy who acts like a hero -- even before he gets his powers -- which is someone I don't mind watching for 105 minutes.A "hero" is a pretty good thing for a superhero movie to have, I think. It's a bold claim, I know, but I stand by it.

New Captain America: The First Avenger Teaser Features Plenty of Shield Play

From: http://www.movieline.com/
By: Julie Miller

On the heels of the Captain America: The First Avenger character posters unveiled last week, Paramount Pictures has debuted the first TV spot for the Marvel film. And unlike the Nazi-hating trailer, the new 30-second clip teases plenty of shield play.

Watch Chris Evans leap through the air with his shield, knock out Hitler’s henchmen with his shield, throw his shield, catch his shield, ride his custom motorcycle with his shield and ask for your feedback on his shield. Be warned though: You may have to sit through 30 seconds of ads for the 30 second clip. Apologies!

Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger hits theaters July 22.

Marvel Releases First Avengers Set Photo As Principal Photography Begins In Albuquerque

Author: Katey Rich

From: http://www.cinemablend.com/

Not to be outdone by director Joss Whedon's personal note to fans, Marvel has also taken the opportunity to announce the official start of shooting on The Avengers. They also upped the ante by adding the first official set photo-- though before you get too excited, note that there's not a single human being or special effect in the image. Check it out below, then we'll go over some highlights of the press release.


Oddly, the production is referred to throughout the release as Marvel's The Avengers- I'm not sure if that's just a vanity mention on behalf of the studio sending out the release or something that's possibly going to be attached to the final product. In listing the cast for The Avengers the release also confirms the presence of Tom Hiddleston as Loki-- who has been rumored as the film's big villain--and Stellan Skarsgard as Professor Erik Selvig, confirming a rumor we previously heard.

Beyond that it's pretty much standard press release stuff, no surprise given that they've done a remarkable job so far of giving us the minimum amount of information about the film. The Avengers will be released on May 4, 2012, giving them just over a year to pull this massive project together.

Marvel unleashes EPIC long-awaited Thor trailer!

by Jeff Jensen
from: http://blastr.com/

Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures just released the new teaser trailer for Thor—and it's epic!
The movie, directed by Kenneth Branagh, arrives in theaters on May 6, 2011, and stars Chris Hemsworth as the God of Thunder, Anthony Hopkins as his father Odin, Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Natalie Portman as Thor's human love interest, Jane Foster. Thor will be shown in converted 3-D, which we hope is done well, and 2-D in selected theaters (we just might go for that ourselves).

Fans who attended Comic-Con this past summer will notice that a lot of the footage is recycled from the six-minute presentation that Marvel gave at that event. But it still looks awesome! You'll see Thor getting thrown out of Asgard, Thor kicking a bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents' butts, battles between the Asgardians and the Fr—never mind, just watch the thing!

 

Lots of people have been wondering if Marvel could actually pull off a Thor movie, but this trailer makes us feel really good about their chances. Do you like what you see?

First photos from Broadway's $60 Million 'Spider Man' arrive

KA-POW! Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

by Adam Green | photographed by Annie Leibovitz

from http://www.vogue.com/

» Vogue Slideshow Gallery «

In 1962, the Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee came up with a story about a teenage geek named Peter Parker who gets bitten by a radioactive spider at a science exhibit and discovers that he has acquired superhuman strength, extrasensory perception, and the ability to crawl up walls—not to mention a flair for costume design. As drawn by Steve Ditko, a cultural icon named Spider-Man was born, and since then he has swung from the comic-book page to the cineplex screen and into our dream life, fighting crime on the streets of New York and protecting mankind from villains bent on global domination. Now the world’s most famous webslinger is facing his scariest adversaries yet—New York theater critics and audiences—as Julie Taymor’s long-delayed rock musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, with songs by U2’s Bono and the Edge, finally drops in on Broadway in January.

On a fall afternoon shortly before the start of previews, the many thousand moving parts of the $60 million production—already infamous as the most expensive of all time—are still syncing up inside the newly renamed Foxwoods Theatre (no gambling jokes, please) on Forty-second Street. In one rehearsal room, the Edge is listening to vocal arrangements. In another, the choreographer Daniel Ezralow, a Momix founder and frequent Taymor collaborator, is working with a group of arachno–chorus girls, who, requiring eight stiletto heels each, could be described as unusually leggy. Onstage, Spider-Man (Reeve Carney) and the Green Goblin (Patrick Page) duke it out on the roof of set designer George Tsypin’s pop-up Roy Lichtenstein–meets–Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Chrysler Building as Mary Jane Watson (Jennifer Damiano), trussed in a harness courtesy of the aerial-rigging designer Jaque Paquin, dangles fetchingly from a stone gargoyle.

In the middle of it all, wearing a headset microphone, sits Taymor, back on Broadway following her 1997 triumph with The Lion King. Slim and snub-nosed, the 58-year-old director still exudes the passion and precocity of the bohemian enfant terrible who burst on the scene in the early eighties with visually stunning pieces rooted in the rituals of Asian theater—masks, puppets, dance—and the power of mythology. And though she hasn’t exactly been letting the savanna grass grow under her feet since The Lion King (her acclaimed Metropolitan Opera production of The Magic Flute and her new film adaptation of The Tempest open this month), it is that show, a marriage of avant-garde stage wizardry and Disney schmaltz, that remains her signal achievement. Instead of trying to reproduce the movie, Taymor took the bold step of transforming it into a purely theatrical experience, creating magic by exposing all her tricks—those giraffes were clearly actors on stilts—and inviting audiences to take an imaginative leap.

It’s not difficult to see why Taymor, with her penchant for folk tales and fascination with the cycles of life, would be attracted to the epic tale of an ordinary boy who must cross the thresholds of death and rebirth to claim the mantle of hero. “Spider-Man is a genuine American myth with a dark, primal power,” Taymor says. “But it’s also got this great superhero, and—hey!—he can fly through the theater at 40 miles an hour. It’s got villains, it’s got skyscrapers, it’s colorful, it’s Manhattan. I knew it would be a challenge, but I saw the inherent theatricality in it, and I couldn’t resist.”

Taymor and her cowriter, Glen Berger, have taken the basic contours of the familiar story and added elements of their own, including a geek chorus that comments on the action and a new supervillain drawn from Greek mythology. And Taymor will be using all the weapons in her theatrical arsenal, from the low-tech (shadow puppets depict the death of Peter’s uncle Ben) to the high- (giant LED screens project mutant ne’er-do-wells wreaking havoc on world capitals). “To me, where theater has it all over film is that it’s in the moment, it’s tactile, you feel it,” she says. “You’re completely immersed in it—right here and right now.”

To help create that immersive experience, Taymor turned to her frequent collaborator the brilliant Russian designer George Tsypin, who has a gift for haunting dreamscapes. He removed the orchestra pit and the proscenium, bringing the audience and the action together. (When Spider-Man makes his first entrance, he swings from the back of the set to the foot of the stage, landing mere inches from the innocent bystanders in the first row.) In one sequence, the fisticuffs between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin atop the Chrysler Building lead to Spidey’s jumping off the ledge—and suddenly the scenery shifts to a forced perspective that makes us feel as if we are staring down the side of a skyscraper into the street. Next thing we know, Spider-Man and the Goblin are whizzing through the air over our heads, locked in mortal combat, landing on a platform attached to the first balcony. “The people in the cheap seats are going to get quite a show,” says Taymor. If everything works, the audience should feel the vertiginous thrill of having landed in the pages of an expressionist comic book sprung to life. With a cast of 41 and no fewer than 37 scene changes, Taymor is clearly working hard to keep all the balls in the air. “I know it’s too much, but is that bad?” she asks. “Seriously, if you don’t want to do something ambitious that’s never been seen before, why do you bother?”

Taymor designed most of the masks herself, but for costumes, she turned to Eiko Ishioka, a 1988 Tony nominee for M. Butterfly, who is known for her bold, graphic style and eye for the hallucinatory. “Julie wanted me to add elements of crazy fantasy to create a world that was dangerous, risky,” Ishioka says. “Something that makes audiences go, ‘Wow!’ ” Her eye-popping evildoers—the spiny Green Goblin, the Tin Man–meets–Lizzie Borden Swiss Miss, the blood-red Carnage—recall her luxuriantly nightmarish creations for Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula. As for Spidey’s signature skintight suit, Ishioka’s version evokes the aerodynamic uniforms she designed for the 2002 Canadian Olympic speed skaters. With a revamped spider symbol, mottled arachnid markings, and muscle-emphasizing, comic book–style shadings, the costume is part of an overall strategy, Ishioka says, to “bring the 2-D world into 3-D.”

Now donning the Green Goblin’s wings—the originally announced Mary Jane Watson and Green Goblin, Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming, bowed out last spring when the show’s producer ran out of money—is Patrick Page, an excellent actor with a knack for playing chartreuse-skinned villains, most recently in Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Page relishes portraying bad guys, he says, “especially when they’re not only insane but genetically modified.” As Peter’s girlfriend, Mary Jane, Jennifer Damiano brings the girl-next-door sex appeal, emotional vulnerability, and powerhouse singing voice that earned her a Tony nomination last year for her performance in Next to Normal. At nineteen, Damiano is well on her way to achieving what for her character, an aspiring actress straight out of high school, remains only a fantasy. “The other day, Julie and Glen were talking about changing Mary Jane’s dream of winning a Tony to winning an Oscar because that’s what kids these days dream about,” she says. “And I was like, ‘Well, not all kids. . . .’ ”

Various names were bandied about for the title role, including Taymor’s Across the Universe star Jim Sturgess, but the director wound up going with a little-known rock-’n’-roller named Reeve Carney after she saw him perform with his band. “He looks like a prince,” says Taymor, who cast him as just that in The Tempest, “but he’s gawky and skinny, like an indie artist.” Carney, whose stunts are performed by a team of Spideys, says he strongly identifies with the role: “I’m a gentle, thoughtful person offstage—at least I try to be. But onstage, I turn into a bit of an animal. I guess that’s the Spider-Man in me. I feel more invincible onstage than anywhere else, though if you think about it you’re really more vulnerable up there.”

That duality is something that U2’s Bono and the Edge understand. “Most kids who end up in bands are not necessarily the cool jocks,” says the Edge, who points out that Peter’s central dilemma—how to be a superhero without destroying his personal life—would resonate with most rock stars. These particular rock stars, whose full-throttle songs (“With or Without You” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” for instance) pulse with unabashed yearning, are the first to write a score directly for Broadway (Elton John doesn’t count). They were motivated in part because, despite their band’s astronomical success—22 Grammys, 155 million records sold—as artists, they still haven’t found what they’re looking for. “When we started out, we’d do shows where we were really shite or really great, but we had no control over which was which,” Bono says. “With time, we’ve gotten very good, and it makes me nervous. Because the difference between very good and great is huge. Getting to great requires putting yourself out of your depth.” The score that he and the Edge have written has the intensity and lyricism of their best work, and while some of the songs will sound familiar, one can also hear the influence of pop, world music, and, “dare I even say it, show tunes,” says Bono, adding, “It’s a rock score, but in the way that Sgt. Pepper is a rock album.”

It remains to be seen which of Bono and the Edge’s two power ballads from the show will serve as the headline for the reviews: "Rise bove" or "Boy falls from the sky." My Spidey sense tells me that Taymor and Co. might just pull it off. After all, from his debut in Marvel’s Amazing Fantasy #15 to his ongoing cinematic exploits (a big-screen “reboot” was recently announced, starring Andrew Garfield), Spider-Man occupies a special place in the pop-culture pantheon, partly because whether you’re a genius director, a Broadway neophyte, a pair of Irish rock stars, or a kid reading comic books under the covers by flashlight, he’s the kind of hero to whom we can all relate. As his creator, Stan Lee, tells me, “It doesn’t matter what your color or national origin—once the mask goes on, it could be you inside that Spider-Man costume.”

Captain America images leaked online

• By: Ryan Fleming
  
• From: http://www.digitaltrends.com/
  

Captain America: The First Avenger isn’t due to hit theaters until June 22, 2011, but filming has begun in England- as have the inevitable leaks that resulted in our first look at Cap in action.

The images leaked online are somewhat unremarkable in terms of story (Cap rides a motorcycle, the Red Skull’s soldiers ride motorcycles, there is probably a chase scene in the movie- cool, but not revealing), but it is the first official look of the costume that we have seen in action. The concept drawings were first leaked back at the beginning of June, but these are the first real shots of Cap in costume. Or at least Cap’s stunt double in costume.

The pictures were obtained by the British newspaper The Daily Mail, who had this to say about the shots:

And today his stunt double was snapped in a leafy London location, dressed in full regalia, riding a US Army Indian motorcycle.

True to the original character, the costume comprised the colours of the American flag, complete with a huge star on the chest, helmet and cape.

There was also a magnificent Forties-style car on set, which was seen being driven through a woodland location, as well as some more futuristic looking motorcycles.

The riders of the futuristic motorcycles appear to have a Red Skull logo on their shoulders, which would make sense.

Captain America: The First Avenger stars Chris Evans as Cap, Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull, and is being directed by Joe Johnston.

Check out more pictures below.

On Location: 'Captain America' will be filmed in … London

The Marvel Studios project was originally to be shot in L.A., but an executive says it made economic sense to go to London, where the story is partly set. A tax incentive helped too.

By Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times

Few comic book characters are as homespun as Captain America, who uses his superhuman powers to fight the Nazis during World War II while draped in the colors of Old Glory.

Yet even Captain America's overtly patriotic credentials weren't enough to keep a film about his exploits from being shot overseas.

The upcoming movie from Marvel Studios was originally to be filmed in Los Angeles. Instead, "Captain America: The First Avenger," starring Chris Evans, Samuel Jackson and Hugo Weaving, will shoot this July in London, where the story is partially set.

That decision was a blow to L.A.'s below-the-line community, which had been banking on the project to employ hundreds of crew members at a time when relatively few big-budget features are shot locally, thanks to rising competition from other states and countries.

When Marvel, which is based at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach, launched its studio in 2007, executives said they planned to film their first four projects in Los Angeles. The studio has largely delivered on that pledge. The hit film "Iron Man" and its sequel "Iron Man 2," currently in theaters, were shot in state, featuring locations including the Alabama Hills in the Eastern Sierra, Edwards Air Force Base and the Sepulveda Dam.

Marvel's next release, "Thor," also was filmed mostly locally, including at the Getty Center in Brentwood, but also included scenes in New Mexico, which offers a popular film rebate.

But the studio, which was acquired by Walt Disney Co. last year, concluded that London was the best location for "Captain America," largely because the story is set in Europe and will feature a number of scenes in London such as Piccadilly Circus, and also because of favorable tax incentives.

Though Marvel could have done the stage work in L.A. and shot exteriors in London, it wasn't economically feasible to split the production between two locations, given the heavy filming required in Europe, said Marvel Studios co-President Louis D'Esposito, who oversees physical production.

D'Esposito, who was recently recognized by the Los Angeles City Council for his efforts to keep production in Hollywood, said he had strongly considered L.A.

"I actually had location scouts here to see what could be done,'' he said. "But it would have required so much visual-effects work and set construction, it didn't make sense."

D'Esposito acknowledged that Britain's film incentive, which offers a 20% to 25% payable tax credit on qualified expenditures, was another factor. Marvel could not apply for a tax credit from California's program because the film's budget, in the $140-million range, would make it ineligible, said D'Esposito, who personally lobbied California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to enact a film tax program, which took effect last year. California's program excludes films costing more than $75 million.

"This is one reason many advocate that our state's incentive program be revised," said Paul Audley, president of FilmL.A. Inc., which handles film permits for the L.A. area.

Either way, D'Esposito said, Marvel is not retreating from its long-term strategy of shooting most of its movies in state.

"These are tough financial times right now that could pressure us to look at other locations,'' he added. "But we have every intention of shooting the majority of films here."

richard.verrier@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Apple's iPad: Rethinking Comics

By: Brian Heater

From: http://www.pcmag.com/

In the lead up to the iPhone's release in June 2007, the blogosphere half-jokingly referred to the handset as the "Jesus Phone." Mind you, all of that white-knuckled hyperbole played out well before anyone had any concept of the device's true potential. A year later, Apple would completely change the smartphone model, with the release of the iTunes App Store. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that a number of industries are looking toward the iPhone's second coming—the Apple iPad—for their salvation.

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When the iPad launched, media partners couldn't embrace team Apple quickly enough. Magazine and newspaper publishers saw the device as the savior of a dying industry. Even the most established papers and magazines have been hemorrhaging money by the boatload. The inability to sell physical copies of their product and monetize the online content that has replaced it has caused an ever-enlarging number of publications to fold. If you've seen Rupert Murdoch on television in the past year, chances are pretty good that he was decrying the "thievery" of his newspaper content by search engines like Google.

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The last several years haven't been great for the comics industry, either. While comic books aren't quite as immune to recessions as, say, gaming or film, comic publishers seem to have fared better than their newspaper brethren. Like record labels before them, however, comic book companies were largely late to the Internet party.

While most comic publishers continued to focus the lion's share of their attention on print, a Web comic revolution exploded around them. The list of successful Web comic artists is long, but a few spring immediately to mind, including Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, whose strip Penny Arcade has blossomed into its own cottage industry. The series has spawned several books, an episodic video game series, a Web video show, and a twice-yearly gaming expo.

XKCD, Achewood, and Diesel Sweeties all achieved a considerable level success on the Web independent of more traditional publishing channels (Achewood has subsequently released books through Dark Horse Comics, Diesel Sweeties was picked up by United Features Syndicate, and an XKCD book was released by breadpig). Hark! a Vagrant author Kate Beaton made some waves late year by eschewing offers from larger publishers in order to self-release her book Never Learn Anything From History.

Publishing houses have since turned more of their attention toward the Web. Both of the majors—Marvel and DC—have launched large Web initiatives. Marvel is focusing its attention toward back issues. Meanwhile, DC opted to foster the creation of serialized Web comics, launching Zuda Comics, which allows artists to submit their comics in the hopes of winning a DC book deal. And then there are the independent publishers, like Top Shelf Productions and Dark Horse Comics (who, in 2007, struck up a content partnership with MySpace).

PCs and Smartphones
For a long time, the Internet seemed like the next logical step in the evolution of sequential art. With his seminal 2000 book, Reinventing Comics, cartoonist and theorist Scott McCloud helped popularize the term "infinite canvas," predicting that the unlimited bits provided by the Internet marked the end of the special limitations imposed by traditional publishing.

It's no coincidence that the most popular comics properties on the Internet are almost all newspaper-style strips, rather than online graphic novels. I really can't sum up the matter any better than McCloud did during a recent conversation we had on the subject of the iPad. "Comic strips made an easy leap onto the Web," the writer explained. "They got a little bigger, so they're easier to read. God created Web comic strips in a day and took the other six off. There was no design challenge. It fit."

When he says "it fit," he means it literally. Click on a link and there's the strip—no advancing or scrolling required. Comic books, on the other hand, are an entirely different story. They don't fit—not at all. I receive a lot of comics for review in PDF form, and I just can't do it. Flipping through pages with a mouse isn't natural. And then there's the whole lean back/lean forward paradigm that's been discussed of late, in the wake of the new generation of tablet computers. Have you ever attempted to read a full-length graphic novel while hunched over your keyboard? I don't recommend it.

As consumers began to shift their attention toward the smartphone space, so, too, did the comics industry. A new generation of handsets, led by the iPhone, offered yet another opportunity to re-think the medium. Phones offer comics in your pocket, comics on the go. And, unlike electronic ink-powered devices like the Kindle, the iPhone and its ilk have bright, beautiful color screens. Unfortunately, the special issues that befall comic books on the Web are all the more pronounced on the phone. For obvious reasons, the comic strip is, once again, the ideal size for consumption.

If only there were a device that was like the iPhone but, you know, bigger…

Click here for the full article.....

Comic Book Publishers Plot Comeback via Apple IPad

From: http://www.businessweek.com/

Marvel, DC Comics, and other publishers are promoting apps to make the iPad "a game-changer for the comics business"

By Douglas MacMillan

Newspapers and magazines aren't the only established publishers who've hung hopes for a revival on Apple's iPad. Comic book makers hope to breathe life into such characters as Spiderman and the Incredible Hulk by beaming them on to Apple's (AAPL) new tablet computer.

Disney's (DIS) Marvel comics unit on Apr. 3 released an iPad comic book application that's free to download from Apple's App Store. The software lets fans buy digital versions of more than 500 Marvel comic books for $1.99 each. Readers use their fingertips to swipe through the crisply colored replications of the comics' pages.

The goal is to expand the audience for Marvel, which Disney bought for $4.3 billion last year. "Our app is for comic book lovers as well as lapsed readers—people who might be in their thirties or forties who stopped buying [comic] books after college," says Ira Rubenstein, executive vice-president of Marvel's global digital media group.

Panelfly, a New York startup that distributes digital comic books, plans to release a comic-reading app for the iPad in the coming months that lets users buy and read titles from 50 publishers. Marvel—along with publishers Sterling Comics and Top Cow—plan to distribute titles through Panelfly's app. "There's a huge opportunity to expand the market" by releasing digital comic books on the iPad, says David Steinberger, CEO of ComiXology, a company that helped Marvel produce its iPad software.

Marvel's chief competitor, Time Warner's (TWX) DC Comics, hasn't announced plans for iPad software, but says it is assessing that tablet and other devices. "Our sense is that digital comics will grow and complement the businesses we have already built up through the current network of your local comic book shops and mass market bookstores," says Jim Lee, co-publisher of DC Comics, which publishes Batman, Superman, and other popular franchises.

publishers dream of iPad bounty

Startup Graphic.ly, which is part of Microsoft's BizSpark program for fledgling companies, is also developing an iPad application that will let fans trade comments within the pages of digital comics. "The publisher that really ends up making the biggest splash on the iPad is the one that's not going to look to replicate print," says CEO Micah Baldwin.

The publishing industry has high hopes for the iPad, which went on sale in the U.S. on Apr. 3. Publishers of books, magazines, and newspapers are releasing versions of their materials for the tablet computer in hope of capturing readers and advertising revenues. Add the dusty heroes of comic books to those looking for redemption.

Comic books were a $715 million business in the U.S. and Canada in 2008, according to researchers at ICv2, a Web site that tracks the business of popular culture. Japanese comic books and high-design graphic novels aimed at adults and sold in mainstream book stores are strong sellers, according to industry analysts. But demand for traditional superhero-oriented comic books has declined.

There are about 3,000 comic book stores in the U.S., down from about 10,000 in the '90s, according to Marymount Manhattan College professor Kent Worcester, who teaches classes on comics and animation and who co-edited A Comic Studies Reader (University Press of Mississippi, 2008). "There are plenty of towns which have no comic book stores," he says.

Enter the iPad. Publishers hope new digital versions of their titles can turn comics into mass-market entertainment, not just artifacts for collectors. "Hollywood and television have begun to give people what they used to get out of comics," says Marymount's Worcester. Today, episodes of the TV series Lost provide serialized drama, as Superman comics did in the '50s, he says.

Making strips available for consumers to download on a tablet could change "the mentality that comics are just meant to be collected," says Dave Dorman, a freelance illustrator who has drawn for issues of Batman, Star Wars, and numerous additional comics. "Forty years from when I grew up, comics could potentially make a big breakthrough to a new generation," he says.

Panelfly: "lion's share" to publishers

Digital comics existed before the iPad. But the small screen size of Apple's iPhone and other handheld devices didn't bring the illustrations fully to life, publishers say. Milton Griepp, CEO of ICv2, estimates that sales of comics for the iPhone and iPod Touch in 2009 were less than $1 million. Digital comic book sales through the iPad this year will likely be many times that amount, he says. "The iPad is a game-changer for the comics business."

The move to digital comic books is changing the economics for publishers. Panelfly Chief Executive Wade Slitkin says publishers take "the lion's share" of revenues from digital comic books sold through its iPhone app, which cost consumers between $1 and $10. Apple takes 30% of sales.

The iPad isn't the only new digital device comic book publishers are evaluating. Marvel's Rubinstein says the company is also considering publishing for tablets that run Google's (GOOG) Android operating system.

For all of their bold computer graphics and ease of buying, digital comics won't replace paper for some stalwarts. On a recent afternoon in New York, popular comic book store Midtown Comics was packed with young and middle-aged men scouring stands for their superhero fix. "I still prefer coming into the store every week," says Cristoph Miller, a 29-year-old comic collector.

Miller says he's downloaded a few comic book applications for his iPhone. He's looked only at free previews and has yet to spring for new titles.

Marvel and other comic book publishers may not persuade every old-time fan to switch media. But their excitement over the iPad shows just how much the publishing world hopes Apple can polish their prospects.

Douglas MacMillan is a staff writer for Bloomberg BusinessWeek in New York.

Stan Lee Reveals New Marvel Characters For Disney Movies

From: youtube
March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Comic book creator Stan Lee talks with Bloomberg's Jon Erlichman about comic-book characters that may be featured in future films. Walt-Disney Co. acquired a 10 percent stake in Lee's POW! Entertainment Inc. for $2.5 million late last year as it completed its acquisition of Marvel Entertainment Inc. (Source: Bloomberg)

Iron Man 2 Trailer

Trailer for Iron Man 2 courtesy of Apple.

In the sequel, Mickey Rourke plays Whiplash while Sam Rockwell is Justin Hammer, a multi-billionaire businessman and a rival of industrialist Tony Stark. Iron Man 2 will also give more focus to War Machine, the alter ego of Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes (Don Cheadle).

This trailer is available in HD-Plus. Click to watch.
The version above is the regular HD format, which is still very good.

Marvel Comics Partners With Panelfly To Bring Mobile Comics To The iPhone

by Daniel Brusilovsky

If you are a comics fan, you are going to like this (unless you’re a print purist). Panelfly is partnering with Marvel Comics, one of the largest comic book companies in the world, to bring all your comic book fantasies to the iPhone. Marvel’s line up of comics is quite amazing — the original Spider-Man series, X-Men, X23, Age Apocalypse, and Iron Man. These titles are now being offered in the Panelfly iPhone application, going back to the very first issues. [iTunes Link]

If comics are to survive the digital age, they need to become available in electronic form. And that’s exactly what this partnership does. Until now, reading the original Spider-Man or Captain America on your iPhone wasn’t possible. For instance, Stephen Lynch, CTO of Panelfy, says that it’s almost impossible to get your hands on the original versions of some of these comics, but now with this partnership, you can read the very first issue of Spider-Man, X-Men, and Ironman on your iPhone.

The application is free, but each issue costs $0.99 to download into Panelfly’s reader. Now, if only Apple hurried up with that Tablet, you could actually read them in full screen.

In August, Disney acquired Marvel for $4 billion.

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CrunchBase Information

Panelfly

Website:	panelfly.com
Location:	New York City, New York, United States

Panelfly is an all encompassing comic resource, offering users a inline mobile store, complete library functionality, sequential panel navigation, bookmarking capabilities, and a unique page index menu. Learn More

Marvel Entertainment

Website:	marvel.com
Location:	New York, New York, United States
Founded:	1988
Acquired:	August 31, 2009 by The Walt Disney Company for $4B in Cash and Stock

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. engages in the licensing, publishing, toy making, and film production businesses with a proprietary library of approximately 5,000 characters. Its library of characters include Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk,… Learn More

Information provided by CrunchBase

SHOCKER! Disney Buying Marvel For $4B!

15TH UPDATE: Behind-The-Scenes Of Disney-Marvel Deal

14TH UPDATE: Universal vs Disney Over Marvel Characters

13TH UPDATE: Why Disney Must Wait For Marvel Synergy

12TH UPDATE: VIDEO: Stan Lee On Disney-Marvel Deal

11TH UPDATE: Here's the list of characters included on Universal Islands Of Adventures' Marvel Island -- Spider-Man (also attraction), Dr. Doom (also attraction), Hulk (also attraction), Storm (also attraction), Captain America, Cyclops, Green Goblin, Rogue, Storm, Wolverine, "and lots more if you include stores and dining," a Uni exec tells me.

10TH UPDATE: I get the impression that Universal lawyers right now are scrutinizing their theme park licensing and merchandising contracts with Marvel. Universal has just updated its earlier statement to me to say this, "Marvel Super Hero Island at Universal’s Islands of Adventure and the Marvel characters are an important part of the Universal Orlando experience. They will remain so. Our agreement with Marvel stands for as long as we follow the terms of our existing contract and for as long as we want there to be a Marvel Super Hero Island." So privately Universal execs tell me they've got the Marvel characters "until the end of time if we want them" and use phrases like "in perpetuity". But here's the rub: a Universal insider tells me the studio only retain the existing characters it's already made use of. Sure there are Spider-Man and Hulk attractions, but what about all the other characters? Do those revert to Disney?

9TH UPDATE: Let's not forget the still active lawsuit that clouds the Disney-Marvel deal. The usually insightful THR, Esq does an excellent job boiling down the outstanding legal dispute involving Stan Lee and the rights to many of Marvel's most valuable characters. Presently, the defendants in the case have filed motions to dismiss, but the federal judge hasn't made a ruling yet:

"The executors and shareholders of Stan Lee Media, an online comic site created in the 1990s, are unhappy with the way that Lee parted ways with the company that bears his name and took his intellectual property to Marvel. In 2007, Stan Lee Media filed a lawsuit against Marvel Entertainment that claimed that Lee assigned the rights to his creations to SLM in a 1998 "Employment Agreement/Rights Assignment" contract. In the lawsuit filed in New York District Court, SLM claimed 50% of all income, proceeds, and profits realized by Marvel's use of the characters. Then, this past January, shareholders of SLM filed a separate lawsuit in California claiming $750 million in damages after a District Court denied Lee's claim that he properly transferred assets belonging to SLM..."

"...Here's another twist of fate: Five years ago, Marvel sued Disney after the Mouse House bought the Fox Family Channel and rebranded it as ABC Family. At the time, the channel aired an animated series that featured Marvel characters. Marvel claimed that Fox couldn't transfer the copyright license to these characters to Disney. Ironic."

And here's still more irony courtesy of one of DHD commenters: "What’s hilarious is that years ago, when Disney was looking for new direction, Stan Lee had a meeting with the board and said he had the solution to all their problems – “Me!” (meaning Stan Lee and Marvel). They thought he was crazy then."

8TH UPDATE: Paramount just issued this statement to me: “Paramount Pictures has enjoyed a productive and fruitful relationship with Marvel Studios from the start of our distribution agreement in 2005. So much so, we announced a five-picture slate distribution deal last year which includes worldwide distribution rights for upcoming films: Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, Avengers, and Iron Man 3. This distribution deal will be unaffected by today’s transaction. We look forward to continuing to work with Marvel and, with today’s announcement, to working with Disney to replicate the incredible success of Iron Man on all our future collaborative projects.”

7TH UPDATE: Bob Iger on CNBC: "We'd like love to attract more boys, and we think Marvel's skew is more in boys' direction. Although there's a universal appeal, we think, to a lot of their characters and a lot of their story. Just look at Spider-Man and Iron Man films. This is a great fit. But we obviously know Disney has a lot of products that are more girl-skewed than boy. And we'd like the opportunity to go after boys more aggressively."

6TH UPDATE: Did Disney overpay for Marvel? Well, here's the argument for a resounding "Yes!" In both November 2008 and March 2009, Marvel's stock traded below $24 per share. And the run-up of the stock since March of this year has been +58%. If Disney was interested in buying Marvel, why didn't Bob Iger do it when he could have bought it at a far cheaper price? Meanwhile, in today's trading, Marvel stock is up more than 25% (+$9.75) at midday, while Disney shares are trading down almost 3% (-$.75).

5TH UPDATE: Paramount still has a 5-film distribution deal with Marvel, and Bob Iger has confirmed in his press remarks that Marvel's upcoming films will be released by Paramount.

4TH UPDATE: I'm told that Sony's deal on Spider-Man motion picture right is unaffected by today's announcement and not subject to renewal. In fact, Sony is currently developing the next three films in the franchise.

3RD UPDATE: No official word from Paramount yet about how this affects the lucrative distribution agreement with Marvel, or Sony and its Spider-Man franchise. But Universal just issued this statement to me about the future of their theme park licensing pact with Marvel: "Marvel Super Hero Island at Universal’s Islands of Adventure and the Marvel characters are a beloved and important part of the Universal Orlando experience. They will remain so. Our guests are going to get to meet Spider-Man and all our other Marvel characters. We believe our agreement with Marvel stands and that the Disney/Marvel deal will have no impact on our guest experience." Hmm, interesting how there's a "we believe" in there. Sounds unsure.

But it's important to note that the Disney/Marvel deal statement today does not mention Marvel in connection with Disney theme parks. In fact, Disney may not be able to use the 5,000 Marvel characters to freshen its theme parks for some time. Because Universal theme parks have a long-term licensing deal with Marvel that gives them the rights to the characters, and Universal not only has Marvel attractions (like the Spider-Man ride) in Orlando and Osaka but has also built them into future theme park plans. "We have a license deal that goes on for a long time," a Universal insider tells me. Or do they?

2ND UPDATE: Wow, was this kept secret. I knew something was up all weekend when a tipster told me that Disney had arranged an unscheduled investors call this AM and the art department at Disney Online went into a "lock-down" to create a logo. But the best guess by some of the experts I contacted was Disney buying Electronic Arts. Marvel seemed outside the realm of possibility. Yet I've learned that this was a deal which Bob Iger told intimates he'd been pursuing for a long time!

With the whole deal worth $4 billion in cash and stock, a little math shows that Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter, who owns 37% of his public company, stands to reap $1.5 billion in cash and stock. With so much to lose, and the SEC casting a watchful eye, Perlmutter had every reason to keep this negotiation secret from everyone, even intimates who described themselves to me as "completely blindsided". But they tell me that this sell-out has been the strategy all along of this no-nonsense Israeli. "Ike is the real story here. He's really operated like the Great Oz behind the scenes, not accessible to the public but always mindful of shareholders. This was always an acquisition play for Ike," one insider explains to me. "The bottom line is he turned the whole thing around after he fought tooth and nail with Ron Perelman for the company. Today he runs a nifty company that's tidy on expenses and has no cash flow issues. This deal with Disney just ups his game and creates shareholder value and lets him walk away a billionaire."

With this morning's announcement, Bob Iger today finally steps out of Michael Eisner's shadow and earns his keeps as Corporate America's 3rd highest paid CEO. Because everyone knows that Eisner, when he ran Disney, had to be pushed kicking and screaming to make acquisitions like ABC. (Believing that Disney did best when it grew its businesses organically.) But Iger, first with Pixar, and now Marvel, is showing himself to be the boldest Big Media CEO with an acquisition that "highlights Disney's strategic focus on quality branded content, technological innovation and international expansion to build long-term shareholder value". Now the question is whether the other moguls can keep up with him, especially Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes who's sitting on a pile of cash after the spinoff of Time Warner Cable and needs to start making acquisitions and adding value to the company instead of just buying back the company stock.

That Marvel would be a prize worth having is a foregone conclusion: the entertainment company's aggressive exploitation of its comic book heros in movies and toys and licensing is so far unparallelled. In fact, some believe Marvel Studios is moving too fast and about to flood the comic book film market with product. Yet the public has shown an endless appetite for superhero fare. Nevertheless, marketing all those movies, when P&A costs for tenpoles average $60+M these days, was going to prove costly for Marvel. Now it can rely on the Disney distribution and marketing machine, especially around the world where Marvel was weakest.

On the other hand, there's a real possibility that the fanboys may not want their comic book fare "Disney-fied" by the Magic Kingdom. It undermines the cool quotient. But that hasn't hurt Pixar and it probably won't hurt Marvel, either, as long as Iger and his team are smart enough to keep their hands off Marvel and just count the money about to come in. But can they? Considering how dark some of those Marvel comics have become -- the sex, the gore? Yet that's the stuff that addicts those fanboys crucial to Disney's strategy here because the company is weakest attracting teenaged boys. And the merchandising possibilities are endless given that Disney does something like $1 billion a year sales with Wal-Mart alone. Meanwhile, the deal puts Marvel on much the same footing as the DC Comics/Warner Bros relationship. But to date Disney has been much better at building synergy with its brands, and Iger emphasized that ad nauseum in his investors call this morning.

Here's the official Disney/Marvel announcement:

August 31, 2009
DISNEY TO ACQUIRE MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT

Burbank, CA and New York, NY, August 31, 2009 —Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

"This transaction combines Marvel's strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney's creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories," said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. "Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney."

"We believe that adding Marvel to Disney's unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation," Iger said.

"Disney is the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses," said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel's Chief Executive Officer. "This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney's tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world."

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Mr. Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney's global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel's properties.

The Boards of Directors of Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, effectiveness of a registration statement with respect to Disney shares issued in the transaction and other customary closing conditions. The agreement will require the approval of Marvel shareholders. Marvel was advised on the transaction by BofA Merrill Lynch.

Stan Lee’s Cameo in IRON MAN 2

by Matt Goldberg

A Scooper has sent us info regarding what Stan Lee will be doing in Iron Man 2. Since some folks want to avoid all spoilers at all costs, we’ll let you know what it is after the jump.

For those that don’t follow Marvel movies religiously but have always wondered who that odd, grandfatherly-looking figure who randomly appears in almost all their movies, the answer is writer Stan Lee. Lee is credited with creating or co-creating some of Marvel’s most enduring characters including Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, The Avengers, X-Men, and some cult superhero known as, “Spider-Man”. Stan almost always gets a cameo in Marvel movies because he’s such a delightful and iconic character himself among comic geeks. In the first “Iron Man”, we saw Stan mistaken for Hugh Hefner. How will we see Mr. Lee this time around? Hit the jump to find out…

Here’s the info according to a scooper:

Hey guys,

Big fan of the site. Since I hadn’t read this news anywhere, I wanted to let you know Stan Lee filmed his cameo for Iron Man 2. I was told Stan filmed earlier this week and he was dressed as Larry King. The scene has Stan asking Tony Stark when he’s going to be on his show.

While we usually like to have a second source, we are very confident in the accuracy of this report. It’s not an earth-shattering revelation (unless Larry King is actually The Mandarin; then we’ve unintentionally ruined the film), but it’s still neat and it doesn’t look like Stan’s cameo will be too distracting.

“Iron Man 2″ hits theatres on May 7th, 2010.

Stan Lee as Baxter Building mailman Willie Lumpkin in “Fantastic Four”