Every Friday, we will wrap-up 10 stories from around the internet and the business that didn’t make our normal news feed. These could include nuggets, casting information, release dates, clips, cool movie-related stories, etc., that we feel you should know about or at least peaked our interest. Check them out below.
1.
Box Office Mojo does a good job of keeping up with the release date changes. Here are a few that caught our attention.
MARVEL UNTITLED MOVIE (Presumed to be GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY)
Marvel’s Secret Movie which is all but confirmed (wait for the official announcement at SDCC) has moved back almost three months to August 1, 2014.
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2.
Casting Additions
Jena Malone joins THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE , so says THR. She Will be taking on the role of Johanna Mason, the strong willed Tribute in the 75th Annual Hunger Games.
Deadline reported that Stephen Moyer has joined DEVIL’S KNOT alongside Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth. He will play the role of prosecutor John Fogelman in this tale about the real-life West Memphis Three.
Also this week, Deadline announced that Justin Long is in talks for the leading role, Brandon Pearson, in Stephen King’s THE 10 O’CLOCK PEOPLE.
Variety posted that Oscar Isaac has joined Viggo Mortenson in THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY, which is the feature film debut of director Hossein Amini.
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3.
Marvel Superhero’s still dominate at the box office (ok, let’s all just ignore GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE from earlier this year). Marvel’s THE AVENGERS shattered box office records and is still on a good steam with some international debuts still yet to happen (we’re looking at you Japan!). Even though Marvel Studios is not responsible for the Spidey reboot THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, that didn’t keep it from setting some records of its own.
BoxOfficeMojo reported that THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN pulled in a whopping $35 million from its Tuesday opening (combined with its midnight showings) to pull out the highest Tuesday opening ever (a record previously held by the first TRANSFORMERS movie back in 2007). With a pretty positive critical and audience reaction, expect this one to have some legs until later this month with Chris Nolan’s epic finale THE DARK KNIGHT RISES hits theaters. TASM also managed to pull the second highest 4th of July gross as well bringing in $23.4 million on our Nation’s birthday. The record is still held by the original TRANSFORMERS movie with 29.1 million. Not bad for the ole’ webhead!
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4.
Speaking of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, The British Board of Film Classification (similar to our MPAA) , via ComingSoon.net, has released the official runtime of the final piece to Nolan’s trilogy. The film will run a whopping 2 hours, 44 minutes and 27 seconds. That being the case, this will be the longest film of the three with BATMAN BEGINS weighing in at a measly 2 hours 20 minutes and THE DARK KNIGHT at 2 hours, 32 minutes.
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is directed by Christopher Nolan and stars Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Morgan Freeman.
SYNOPSIS: Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ “The Dark Knight Rises” is the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.
It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act.
But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane.
Leading an all-star international cast, Oscar winner Christian Bale (“The Fighter”) again plays the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. “The Dark Knight Rises” also stars Anne Hathaway, as Selina Kyle; Tom Hardy, as Bane; Oscar winner Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”), as Miranda Tate; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake.
Returning to the main cast, Oscar winner Michael Caine (“The Cider House Rules”) plays Alfred; Gary Oldman is Commissioner Gordon; and Oscar winner Morgan Freeman (“Million Dollar Baby”) reprises the role of Lucius Fox.
The screenplay is written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Charles Roven, who previously teamed on “Batman Begins” and the record-breaking blockbuster “The Dark Knight.” The executive producers are Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy and Thomas Tull, with Jordan Goldberg serving as co-producer. The film is based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by Bob Kane.
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is set to hit 2D and IMAX theaters on July 20, 2012.
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5.
SuperheroHype! debuted an exclusive from this years San Diego Comic-Con in the form of some IRON MAN 3 concept art. The print, which will be available at the show this year for free, shows Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) in what appears to be part of his new armor which, if they are truly following the Warren Ellis storyline “Iron Man: Extremis” will allow the suit to attach directly to Tony using nanotechnology. Check it out by clicking the image above to get a really big version.
IRON MAN 3 is directed by Shane Black and stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce, James Badge Dale and Ashley Hamilton.
SYNOPSIS: Based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series, first published in 1963, “Iron Man 3” returns Robert Downey Jr. (“Iron Man,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”) as the iconic Super Hero character Tony Stark/Iron Man along with Gwyneth Paltrow (“Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2,”) as Pepper Potts, Don Cheadle (“Iron Man 2”) as James “Rhodey” Rhodes and Jon Favreau (“Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2”) as Happy Hogan. “Iron Man 3” continues the epic, big-screen adventures of the world’s favorite billionaire inventor/Super Hero, Tony Stark aka “Iron Man.”
IRON MAN 3 is set to hit theaters on May 3, 2013.
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6.
WIVB has some new information on the on again, mostly off again, sequel GHOSTBUSTERS 3. Speaking to them, Dan Akroyd is quoted as saying:
“We’ve got a new writing staff working on it now,” Aykroyd said. “It’s got to be prefect. That’s the whole thing. There’s no point in doing it unless it’s perfect. So that’s what we’re up to now.“
What do you think of this news? Are you excited to see a Ghostbusters for a new generation? Is there a point to it if Bill Murray doesn’t come back after this new set of rewrites? Let us know what YOU think!
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7.
It’s hard to believe that we haven’t had a Guillermo del Toro directed film hit our screens since 2008’s HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY, but thankfully, all that is going to change next year with his monsters vs. robots sci-fi film PACIFIC RIM. Now, thanks to ShockTillYouDrop.com, we have our first image of Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi as pilots of Jaegers, giant robots that are controlled by two pilots who are connected by their minds via a neural bridge. They use these giant robots to battle creatures, known as Kaiju, that come thru a portal to our world over the sea.
MovieHole also brought us the first picture of Idris Alba in his armor:
PACIFIC RIM is directed by Guillermo del Toro and stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi, Max Martini, Willem Dafoe, Robert Kazinsky, Clifton Collins Jr., Diego Klattenhoff and Ron Perlman.
SYNOPSIS: When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)—who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.
PACIFIC RIM is set to hit theaters on July 12, 2013.
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8.
From the mind that brought you FIGHT CLUB (directed by David Fincher) and CHOKE (directed by Marvel Alumni Clark Gregg) comes SNUFF. The book, by Chuck Palahniuk, has been close to becoming a film before, but now it appears, thanks to ComingSoon.net, that French director Fabien Martorell has been hired to direct the film. The film is going to have to be pretty racy and almost definitely rated R as it deals with a porn actress, Cassie Wright, and her quest to have the world’s largest gang bang filmed on camera by having sex with 600 men. The story is told from the perspectives of three of the 600 men (#72, #137 and #600) who are all connected to Cassie in different and unusual ways. If you have read the book, tell us who you would like to see fan cast in the roles and what important key elements are you hoping to see in the film?
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9.
Marvel has already shown that it loves that it has created a cinematic universe unlike any other studio prior to them because not only do they interconnect their movies, but they also include short films (called Marvel One-Shots) on their Blu-Ray’s that delve further into the universe. We have already seen this with THE CONSULTANT as well as with A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THOR’S HAMMER. Now, we have some new information on Marvel’s ITEM 47, which will be included on the Blu-Rays for Marvel’s THE AVENGERS.
As you can see from the images above, you can see that the short will star Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Bradford and they seem to be in possession of an alien gun from the climatic show-down at the end of the movie. Now, Entertainment Weekly also has the lowdown on the synopsis of the short:
Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Bradford star as a down-on-their-luck couple who find one of the discarded alien guns from the finale to The Avengers — and proceed to make some incredibly bad decisions. This is the longest, most elaborate of the Marvel shorts so far, and could be a first step toward using short-subject films to dive deeper into the Marvel universe and introduce beloved but less-familiar superheroes to the mainstream.
Item 47 refers to the gun itself, which S.H.I.E.L.D. would like very much to retrieve from the hapless young troublemakers. “The world is topsy-turvy now. There’s been an alien invasion, and things are crazy,” explains Marvel Studios co-president Louis D’Esposito, who directed the film himself. “So when this gun literally fell into their lap, this is a sign: We’re going to rob a few banks, we’re going to buy a boat, we’re going to the Caribbean, and all our problems will be solved.”
Two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents (Maximiliano Hernández, returning from Thor and The Avengers, and Lost’s Man in Black Titus Welliver, making his Marvel debut) are given the job of cleaning up the mess and stopping this modern Bonnie and Clyde (not coincidentally named Benny and Claire.)
Click the link above to find out more and also read about how Marvel is looking to continue adding these one-shots to the Blu-Rays of all of their upcoming films.
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10.
This week, we lost the legendary Andy Griffith, who passed away at the age of 80 on Tuesday, July 3, 2012. Andy was well known for his two most iconic roles: Sheriff Andy Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show and as Attorney Benjamin “Ben” Matlock on Matlock. While I never watched Matlock, I grew up watching re-runs of The Andy Griffith Show on TV and I always looked up to the noble, kind-hearted sherriff.
Sherriff Andy Taylor: When a man carries a gun all the time, the respect he thinks he’s getting might really be fear. So I don’t carry a gun because I don’t want the people of Mayberry to fear a gun. I’d rather they respect me.
The world will surely miss Andy, but now he gets to once again hang out with the great Barney Fife (Don Knotts) and have another piece of Aunt Bee’s (Frances Bavier) famous pie .
Rest in Peace sir and goodnight.
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Jim is an avid movie enthusiast, representing the general movie going audience, looking at movies for their entertainment value as opposed to their critical weight. He enjoys the escapism that movies provide. He is a fan of all genre's of movies, but gravitates toward comic-based movies, summer "popcorn" flicks and over-the-top comedies as his preference. 
