-
Considering the huge success of last year's The Avengers, there are probably few out there who are unfamiliar with Marvel's comic book adaptation, which assembled all of Marvel's individual, cinematic superheroes onto one team. However, what most people probably haven't seen is how effects company Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) created the Academy Award–nominated visual effects of the movie, including the creation of the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier and the computer-generated New York City that Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) flies around in at the start of the movie.
In order to reveal the company's visual effects work (and celebrate the Oscar nod), ILM has released an Avengers reel online. "This reel represents a small fraction of the work created by over 200 ILM artists, scientists, and engineers backed up by a world class production team," said the company of their reel, which transitions from computer sketches to behind-the-scenes shots of the production to the final product.
watch the video >> Posted 01.12.13 by Ryan -
Upon hearing the news that the comic book heroes-turned-Saturday morning cartoon sensation-turned movie franchise Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were going to come "from an alien race" in the upcoming Ninja Turtles reboot fans weren't pleased — the popular notion is that the former household pets were transformed by a green ooze. However, Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman has remained steadfastly in favor of the project, urging fans "not to worry" and claiming that the reboot will be true to the "core concept", and "will be a great TMNT film."
"If we learned nothing else from one of my favorite comic book based films, The Avengers, that there's a lot to be said about never forgetting that core concept and core fan-base."
Much has been made online about Eastman comparing Ninja Turtles to The Avengers, which led us to think: "What would happen if the two teams fought each other?" Well, now the time has come inside the imagined cyber octagon that is our Character Cage Match!
check out the teams' strengths and weaknesses before voting >> Posted 12.05.12 by Ryan -
For many team members in the upcoming The Avengers, future installments are already planned. Next year will see Robert Downey Jr. return as Tony Stark in Iron Man 3 and Chris Hemsworth as Thor in Thor 2, while 2014 will see Chris Evans reprise his role as Steve Rogers in Captain America 2. But what about the rest of Earth's Mightiest Heroes?
While Marvel is reportedly opening its mind to the possibility of another Hulk movie, it turns out the studio already knows when Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) will be back. While Johansson won't be in Iron Man 3, she's said that she would like a "Bourne-like" solo outing for the character. In an interview with Movieline, Marvel President of Production Kevin Feige said that the studio has already "planned her next appearance," and it sounds like she will get her own movie yet.
feige talks black widow; downey jr. still on board to play tony stark >> Posted 05.02.12 by Ryan -
Marvel's The Avengers is already a hit overseas, and isn't going to stop anytime soon. THR reports that the comic book movie adaptation could gross anywhere from $500 to $600 million after its US release this weekend, thereby outpacing all of its previous, individual superhero movies.
With new TV spots arriving on almost a daily basis, the latest is a slightly altered version of a previous spot. Even so, we're not afraid to admit that we're not tiring of watching Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and (especially) the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) tackle Loki's (Tom Hiddleston) army in the movie's promotional footage.
watch the TV spot >> Posted 05.02.12 by Ryan -
After releasing not one but two preview clips in as many days this week, Marvel has suddenly become a touch more conservative with their latest promotional offerings for The Avengers, just as it started to look like fans were going to be able to watch the entire movie in one-minute-or-less clips. Instead, Marvel has revealed a batch of new images (via ComingSoon) that will seem slightly familiar to those that have been following the comic book adaptation closely.
There's a more close-up shot of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), still stuck behind monitors like she was in a pair of stills released last month. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) is seen tied to a chair (much like she was in The Avengers's first preview clip) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) is seen standing in his armor (or perhaps it's just his armor as it was depicted here). Don't worry, MTV has also released an action shot of Captain America (Chris Evans) leaping out of harm's way (though it may be just a screenshot from the movie's Super Bowl ad). Did we mention there are also some new character posters?
see the images and the new posters >> Posted 04.19.12 by Ryan -
With The Avengers mania at a fever pitch, fans can now download their favorite team member to their desktop or toast their favorite character with a can of Dr. Pepper. There's also an almost daily outpouring of TV spots and preview clips, the latter of which had S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) helpfully explaining the Tesseract (or Cosmic Cube, depending on your fanboy acumen).
The third preview clip for The Avengers is similarly dialogue-based, but gives fans a bit more of what they want. Released by MTV, it shows Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in a verbal tête-à-tête with Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Talking in Stark Tower, Tony hands the Norse god a warning since he's managed to "piss off every single" member of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
watch the clip, TV spots, and featurette >> Posted 04.11.12 by Ryan -
The Avengers has so much potential to be a mega-hit — the superheroes of Marvel's Iron Man, First Avenger: Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor movies all "assembled" in one movie! — that it seems like everyone wants in on the action, from obvious merchandising tie-ins like coloring books, games, and toys to less obvious ones like cologne (we're not sure we want to know what the Hulk smells like, let alone smell like the Hulk).
The latest to get in on the action is the Wyndham hotel group, which recently launched the HotelsAssemble website. Through the site you can, of course, book a hotel stay, but you can also download a set of awesome wallpapers featuring the star-studded cast of The Avengers — the Hulk wallpaper offers our best look yet at Mark Ruffalo as the "jade giant" — and also play Avengers-themed puzzles and games, answer trivia, read digital comic books, and more.
download Avengers wallpapers >> Posted 04.11.12 by BrentJS -
We are now officially a month away from when The Avengers reaches theaters and Marvel is spreading the word with a new preview clip and a new TV spot.
Combining the collective efforts of every movie Marvel Studios has done so far — 2008's Iron Man, 2008's The Incredible Hulk, 2010's Iron Man 2, and last year's Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger — The Avengers assembles characters from each of those movies, as revealed in the latest TV spot. Titled "Team," the spot starts with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) firing on New York City, prompting Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to declare "we are at war" and "we need a team." The TV spot then shows off each member of the team, revealing Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) de-armoring into Tony Stark, Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) transforming into the Hulk, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) strapping on his quiver of arrows, and ending with Captain America (Chris Evans) asking Thor (Chris Hemsworth) if he's "sure about this" — amongst other snippets of new footage.
watch the TV spot and preview clip >> Posted 04.04.12 by Ryan -
Kevin Feige has been producing Marvel's comic book movie franchises since 2000, when he was made the associate producer of X-Men. Feige was promoted to Marvel President of Production in 2007, just as the company became Marvel Studios and began launching what Feige has called "phase one" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starting with 2008's Iron Man and culminating with the upcoming The Avengers.
Juggling characters from 2008's The Incredible Hulk, 2010's Iron Man 2, and last year's Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger was clearly a daunting task for writer-director Joss Whedon, but Feige told SlashFilm during a set visit that Whedon kept his sanity by thinking about The Avengers as a "Part 1" instead of a sequel to several other movies. Therefore, each member of The Avengers will be re-introduced, from the well-known characters like Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) to the lesser known, like Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).
more about The Avengers, Iron Man 3, and Ant-Man >> Posted 04.03.12 by Ryan -
The Avengers may be the biggest movie of the year, let alone the summer, but that doesn't mean it's the easiest franchise to jump into. Building from five prior movies with wildly varying backstories and tones means that it's easy for anyone to be lost. To solve this problem, we made a Cliff's Notes–style primer of the team members being featured in the flick in case you've missed some of the movies. But while compiling this, we were struck by how many of the dozens of Avengers members missed the cut. So alongside the A-Team, we put together a list of some of the more, frankly, disappointing superheroes who at one time or another were on the team, and why we're glad they didn't make the cut.
The Avengers primer >>
Posted 04.03.12 by reelz