‘Pacific Rim 2’ Finds A New Director

Pacific Rim 2 may be back on track but at the expense of Guillermo del Toro, who has handed over Directorial duties to Netflix’s Daredevil Showrunner Steven DeKnight.

According to Deadline, the Buffy The Vampire Slayer writer and Spartacus creator will make his Feature Film Directorial debut with the 3D sequel while Del Toro will remain Producer on the epic Kaiju vs Mechs franchise. Prometheus (2012) scribe Jon Spaihts will pen the movie based on characters created by Travis Beachman and Del Toro with Legendary’s Warcraft executive producer Jillian Share also on board.

Little details are known about monster and machine beat ’em up sequel besides the tentative title Pacific Rim Maelstrom and the announcement that leading man Charlie Human is expected to make a return as hero Raleigh Becket. But curiously enough, Del Toro favourite Ron Pearlman has also been rumoured to step back into the Golden Tipped Boots of Hannibal Chau as well, even though the blackmarket Kaiju dealer met his gristly end in the first instalment.

The news marks the first piece of positive information regarding Warner Bros. and Legendary’s planned franchise after the films dogged history in getting a sequel off the ground. Only last November did Del Toro disclosed that shooting had been postponed with reports also indicating that the film had been cancelled indefinitely.

Pacific Rim was a surprised hit for Legendary, grossing $411 million worldwide with 75% of that figure due to overseas market, proving a big hit with China where it made $111 million.

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‘Vikings’ Star Lands The Lead In NBC’s ‘Taken’

One of NBC’s more curious Pilots this season is the Taken prequel show based on the popular revenge-action series starring Liam Neeson. With the network placing a straight-to-season order, the series has quickly found its leading man.

Variety recently broke the news that Vikings star Clive Standen will play Bryan Mills – the role made popular by Neeson – in the prequel series set before the Taken trilogy. The series will however be a modern-day interpretation calling into question its relation to its cinematic forbearers and whether it will rely on continuity and characters from the preceding films.

Alex Carey (Homeland) will serve as Showrunner and write the series following Mills as he develops and hones his particular-set-of-skills. While The West Wing and Game of Thrones Director Alex Graves is on board to helm the pilot.

Expect the threat-heavy telephone call trailer any day now.

For all your Particular-Set-Of-Skills-News, stick with @mitch_rated only on Skatronixxx

‘Captain America: Civil War’ New Details Emerge

Captain America: Civil War will have major repercussions for the cinematic universe with many speculating that Cap (Chris Evans) himself may meet his end. Certainly if Crossbones has anything to say about it.

In Empire’s upcoming issue, fans will get an official glance at the HYDRA bad-guy whose known to comic-book fans as the villain who killed Captain America in the 2007 arc The Death of Captain America.

Fans will be familiar with the man-behind-the-mask as Captain America: The Winter Solider (2014) actor Frank Grillo, whose Brock Rumlow returns to get some sweet revenge against our straight-laced superhero.

The returns don’t stop there however with TheWrap revealing that fan-favourite Pepper Potts will return in a “small yet key” role in the film, once again played by Academy Award winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow. Pepper was last seen in Iron Man 3 (2013) with Extremis-enthused powers that proved helpful in kicking Guy Pearce’s Aldrich Killian’s ass.

Empire also finally revealed Martin Freeman’s role in the upcoming superhero-mash up as Everett Ross a supporter of debuting Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman). With Potts proving to be a formidable businesswomen, its likely that the two could face off on screen as Marvel traverse the political landscape within the MCU as the American government legislate for Superhero Registration.

With Captain America: Civil War hitting theatres on May 6, 2016. We will have to wait and see how the Marvel landscape will change coming out of the movie.

 

For all your Straight-Laced-Superhero-News, stick with @mitch_rated only on Skatronixxx

DC’s ‘Justice League: Part 1’ Announces Shooting Date

With Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice hitting out screens on March 25. The anticipation for DC’s fast-forward universe-builder has gathered pace with Warner Bros showing no sign of slowing down just yet, announcing that the first Justice League film will begin shooting this year.

Sources out of Entertainment Weekly reveal that DC’s superhero team-up will begin filming on April 11 at Harry Potter’s old stomping ground in the UK, Leavesden Studios. Additional locations throughout London and Iceland will also be used for Justice League: Part 1 while Part 2 will shoot at a later date.

Dawn of Justice will mark the first time that Superman (Henry Cavill), Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) will meet on screen. With Director Zack Snyder teasing recently on the Hall of Justice Podcast that rumours of Ezra Miller’s Flash and Jason Mamoa’s Aquaman cameos in the film are nothing but “whispers they exist.“

Justice League: Part 1 is currently slated for November 17, 2017, with Part 2 scheduled for 2019.

For all your DC-Team-Up-News, stick with @mitch_rated only on Skatronixxx

 

Martin Freeman’s Role Announced for ‘Captain America: Civil War’

Martin Freeman’s role in Captain America: Civil War has finally been announced to eager fans everywhere!

Ever since the announcement of Martin Freeman joining the cast for Marvel’s next highly anticipated blockbuster, the internet has been in mass speculation about who he could be – wonder no longer internet, we finally have a reveal!

Freeman will be taking on the role of Everett Ross.

Everrett K. Ross worked for theU.S. State Department; his job was to escort foreign diplomats on American soil. One of his duties was to escort T’Challa during his visit to New York City – so this can more than likely fit him beautifully into Black Panther and lead him to a broader contract in the future.

It’s also been revealed that in Civil War, he will feature as a member of  Joint Counter Terrorist Centre in Germany – the Russo’s say that this return to Germany for Cap will bring him full circle and be one of his most challenging moments yet – rough.

It’s set to be that Captain America: Civil War is going to be the heart-breaker of the year from Marvel comics – and it hits cinemas in April. Catch the trailer below:

 

Deadpool & His Red Suited Booty

(Alternative title: Why Deadpool and His Red Suited Booty Deserve Everything)

It’s safe to say that Deadpool is one of the highest anticipated movies of 2016, and with damn good cause.

The Deadpool movie has been in the works for over 11 years now – work on the movie began in 2004. 2004. That is an insane amount of time for a movie to remain in development hell, especially a movie that was so wanted and begged for by the fandom.

There were multiple issues with Deadpool and the studios that were interested – could we make it an R-Rating? How do we not repeat the same mistakes? How do we introduce all these elements from the Deadpool comics, namely his fourth-wall breaking? Over and over again, Deadpool seemed to hit a brick wall. IMDB would tease dates, at one point reading 2014 before resorting back to those Godawful “????” they put in the place when nothing is decided. It honestly looked like fans were never going to get this damn movie, and they seemed to accept it bitterly.

Until that faithful day in July 2014. When some sweet, beautiful, adonis of a human being leaked the Deadpool test footage online. You know the one I mean.

That’s right. And try as they might to get it off the internet (and oh, they did try.) no one seemed to be able to stop it – this awesome two minute long piece of everything fans have been begging for. So Blur Studio did what anyone would do in that situation – they said “fuckit.” and released this footage officially.

And thus, from there, the high demand, the excitement and the now renewed desire of the fans became too much to ignore, and little more than a month later it was announced that Deadpool was officially in production.

And now here we are. It’s February 2016. And Deadpool has broken a tonne of Box Office Records in North America, including 20th Century Fox opening weekend (Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith held it before then, let’s just all think about that.), R-Rated Opening Weekend, and R-Rated Opening Weekend (last held by The Matrix: Reloaded). And let me tell you: it goddamn deserves it.

It’s not just the sheer amount of time it took to even get this movie made (11 years. Most pets don’t live that long. I was twelve for Christ’s sake.) but the marketing strategies were pretty damn great.

You already knew from the go that Deadpool was not going to be like other superhero movies – it was going to be a lot cruder. From the moment they revealed the costume in a photoshoot which involved Ryan Reynolds lying on a bearskin rug to the 12 Days of Deadpool, to awesome PSA’s like this;

I can safely say Deadpool had a solid, clear marketing strategy from day one. It was so perfectly executed, and because of that, and because of the sheer perfection of the film itself – it deserves every record it broke upon release.

And hey, if you want to know exactly how awesome the film is, my lovely friend wrote a pretty sick review here.

Fare thee well,

Fran

(All images were taken from the official Deadpool Facebook Page!)

Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie

This is the first part of a two part article about Warhammer 40,000 animation and media, where it’s been in the recent past, and what we can look forward to in the coming years.

You all have to trust me. I’ve locked him away. I’ve attached him to adamantium chains that even a Primarch couldn’t break. Who am I talking about?

That Warhammer fanboy that likes to break out of his imposed exile and muck up the place when anyone even says the words ‘Raven’ or ‘Guard’ in a sentence (let’s be honest, a paragraph) together. I promise that I locked the door and threw away the key. But he has his ways.

You’re all probably wondering why I chose to discuss a movie made in 2010. It’s simple, really: We have to understand the past in order to move forward into the present. If this is the first time you’ve ever heard of Warhammer 40,000 (sometimes affectionately called ’40K’ by its fan base), then you have quite a lot of catching up to do. Go look it up on Google. There’s a whole wiki dedicated to the universe and let me tell you, it’s incredibly substantial. Go ahead! I can wait…

Finished? I doubt it. No worries, however, for I can give you a quick version of the universe. Don’t tell my boss this, but it just might be the best thing the British ever made. 40,000 stands for the 41st millennium, a time when humanity exists within a stagnating futuristic society ruled by the Imperium of Man, the literal juxtaposition of the Medieval Catholic Church and Medieval Europe tens of thousands of years into the future where mankind numbers in the trillions and is constantly beset by aliens, traitors, and the forces of the Chaos gods. In the 31stmillennium, this spectacular individual of legend called ‘The God-Emperor of Mankind’ began his Great Crusade to reunite all of the scattered vestiges of humanity under one rule: his. Using his own supernatural DNA, he created 20 sons called Primarchs in order to assist him in his mission. The gods of Chaos, understandably upset that the Emperor wanted to rain on their parade, tossed his infant Primarchs into the void and each one landed on a world far away from Holy Terra.

Does this stop the Emperor? Of course not! He instead creates superhuman warriors using parts of each Primarch’s DNA and calls them ‘Space Marines’, with each Primarch getting his own legion of warriors that shares his specific DNA. The Emperor eventually reunites with all of his sons, a LOT of bloodshed occurs, fully half of his sons (and their respective legions) betray dad, and while the Emperor and his loyal sons win this event called the ‘Horus Heresy’, the Emperor is critically wounded and forced to remain on the Golden Throne, an advanced type of life support. Humanity understandably panics and in a moment of brilliance, they decide to do the only natural thing that anyone would do: completely throw away the Emperor’s desire to create a society based on science and reason, become a feudal religious state where human life is worth practically nothing, and the Emperor is worshiped as a god (thus the God-Emperor). This creates 10,000 years of stagnation where technology barely advances (and in some cases, regresses) and things slowly escalate.

*I apologize to any Warhammer veterans who may read this article. There’s a great deal of information and background to this universe and I hope that very short version provided enough to enlighten the nonbelievers. Let’s move on to the movie.*

Created in 2010 and directed by Martyn Pick (Evil Never Dies), Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie follows the story of a squad from the Ultramarines chapter of Space marines who respond to a distress signal sent by some of their brothers from the Imperial Fists chapter. Written by Dan Abnett, a prolific writer heavily involved in many of the Warhammer novels, the movie does a reasonable job at staying true to the lore of the universe while providing fans of the tabletop game with several iconic set pieces: Humanity vs. Chaos, weapons nearly as large as a normal human, and the obsessive warrior tradition of the Adeptus Astartes (Space Marines).

If Ultramarines accomplished anything as a film, it was the voice actors who lent their talent in order to breathe life into the characters. Known for his roles as the Prophet of Truth in the popular video game series Halo and Chancellor Valorum in Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace, along with many other superb characters, Terence Stamp plays Captain Severus and truly helps bring depth to this movie. Along with Stamp, John Hurt (you Potterheads know him as Mr. Ollivander) voices Chaplain Carnak and Sean Pertwee (Alfred Pennyworth in Gotham) plays as Brother Proteus, the obligatory headstrong warrior who wants to prove himself in the field of battle. The story has predictability to it and without the superb cast of actors, along with the impressive musical score by Adam Harvey, I feel as though Ultramarines would have failed spectacularly.

The story itself doesn’t present anything new or dynamic to this long running, fictional universe. I sometimes wonder if Games Workshop wanted to pander to a wider audience with this film; while certainly not horrible, I am familiar with Dan Abnett’s work and am well aware that his storytelling can significantly eclipse anything Ultramarines set out to accomplish. The animation helped set the mood for the dreary situation in which the Ultramarines find themselves and though certain portions of the animation had stunning detail (did you see Chaplain Carnak’s armor?!), the environmental details of the Shrine World felt bland, and the facial and body animations made the Space Marines look like the plastic models you assemble out of the box. Perhaps Martyn Pick, Games Workshop, and the production team set out to intentionally create the movie in this manner, or maybe they couldn’t afford anything more. The latter reason has plagued many potentially wonderful projects in the past and detractors can levy little blame against the production crew. The former, however, asks for criticism. 2010 saw phenomenal animation in the form of superb hits such as How to Train Your Dragon and Batman: Under the Red Hood; either style could have been modified and adapted to the grim future of Warhammer 40,000.

Despite all of this, I adore this movie. I really shouldn’t. It’s about the Ultramarines, Games Workshop’s poster boys for the franchise (who are apparently, according to the movie,are the “best” of the Space Marines). It’s incredibly predictable, the combat looks like a Nintendo 64-era fighting game, and it accomplishes absolutely nothing in terms of the greater storyline of Warhammer. Yet I want to watch it again. By the Emperor, the fanboy is loose! It’s a Warhammer  40,000 MOVIE! How many of these do we get?

Not many. Ultramarines, however, had potential. This potential can be realized. With a dedicated animation team willing to create beautiful content, actors who burn with a passion for their craft, and a talented production crew, fans could very well get the Warhammer 40,000 movie they deserve. It’s not that it might happen…

It can happen.

What does the future hold?

Hopefully a lot of grimness and darkness.

And Erasmus Brosdau can help.

Victorus aut Mortis!

-Valiant

Stay tuned next week when we talk about The Lord Inquisitor and the potential for the Warhammer 40,000 universe in the digital medium.

‘Deadpool Vs. Gambit’ Comic Book Series Announced

As Wade Wilson continues to dominate the Silver screen, X-Men mainstay Remy LeBeau looks to rain on his comic-book parade as Marvel announces Deadpool Vs. Gambit comic book mini-series coming this Summer.

The news was revealed at the recent ComicsPRO comic book submit explaining that the five-issue series will explore Deadpool and Gambits “secret, shared history”, with ComicBook.com elaborating that the two conmen worked together “just long enough to stab each other in the back.“

Celebrated She-Hulk artist Kevin Wada will bring his talent to the covers with Danilo Beyruth providing the artwork across the pages. Thunderbolt writers Ben Acker and Ben Blacker will script the story as the Merc-with-the-Mouth takes on the Cajun-sensation when the first issue debuts this June.

Marvel looks to capitalise on 20th Century Fox’s record breaking success with Deadpool’s solo movie and are surely hoping that Channing Tatum’s Gambit film will do the same when it is released in 2017. With Deadpool 2 having already been green-light however, expect more R-Rated 4th-wall breaking shenanigans to come.

For all your Comic-Book-Showdown-News, stick with @mitch_rated only on Skatronixxx

‘San Andreas’ Gets A Sequel

San Andreas (2015) better prepare for aftershocks as last Summer’s disaster movie is set to receive a sequel with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson returning to his starring role.

Sources out of The Hollywood Reporter reveal that the sequel will explore the Ring of Fire, a series of fault lines and volcanoes located in an area of the Pacific Ocean that scientist believe are responsible for 90% of the world earthquakes.

Although story details are under-wraps it is expected that Carla Gugino and Paul Giamatti will also return, with The Rock’s Baywatch Movie co-star Alexandra Daddario reprising her role from the first film as the WWE superstars daughter.

San Andreas Director Brad Peyton is also back with New Line cinema tapping relative unknown’s  Neil Widener and Gavin James to script the follow-up movie.

Although San Andreas was met with a less-than-positive response from critics, the film went on to make  $473 million worldwide. Not only proving to be Warner Bros. highest grossing movie of 2015 but becoming Dwayne Johnson’s biggest solo opening of his career.

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Ryan Reynolds talks about script for ‘Deadpool 2’

So Ryan Reynolds isn’t hanging around by the sounds of it with getting the Deadpool sequel ball rolling he was doing a podcast with Chris Hewitt from Empire and was quoted as saying “We are on a script, we are well into a script” this of course is music to my ears.

It has so far been a box office success taking what the last Wolverine did in its entire run in one weekend and it’s not hard to see why the film was amazing from start to finish. One person who seems to be eager to get in on the action is Avatar actor Stephen Lang I won’t spoil who he wants to play for the people who have yet to see the film(Just make sure you stay for the end credits). But below is a picture of Lang pulling a strong pose to show he is ready via his Instagram.

Reynolds also spoke about the issues he had with pulling the current Deadpool film through production nightmares he said the following.

We has endless conversations about other X-men. Taskmaster was in the script originally, too expensive. We had versions where we wanted Hugh Jackman in there, we wanted all kinds of cameos from different people, but it just becomes a big mess at the studio.

We went through such hell developing the script and which X-men we could keep and which we couldn’t and it just turned into a nightmare. The studio would just say ‘too expensive, too expensive to expensive’ to everyone. So we were like ‘Well what about Negasonic Tennage Warhead’ and they said ‘Negasonic what?’

Seeing as how well the first movie has already done I can’t see there being the same problem with the sequel (Fingers crossed). You can listen to the podcast in its entirety on the following link https://soundcloud.com/empiremagazine/deadpool-spoiler-special-with-ryan-reynolds (Be warned if you have not seen the film yet I would not give this a listen as they talk about the film in its entirety)