The Week In Geek, Post Comic-Con Edition!
So you might have heard, but the 41st Annual San Diego Comic Con was last weekend. Meaning by now, you are sick todeath of hearing about the Marvel Studios panel, The Avengers movie reveal, Sucker Punch, or TRON Legacy, or everything else that has been talked about to death all week in the geek online world. So I’m gonna shed some light on some of the stories to come out of the Con that didn’t get as much attention, but are cool nevertheless. And maybe even a NON Comic Con story too.
Guillermo Del Toro reboots Disney’s The Haunted Mansion
During all the hub bub last weekend at Comic Con, one announcement was made at the tail end of the TRON: Legacy panel, slipped in right at the end; beloved geek director Guillermo del Toro will be producing and possibly directing a new film version of the classic Disneyland ride The Haunted Mansion. The orginial Eddie Murphy starring version came out in 2003, the same year they mega popular Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was launched. But while Pirates clicked, Haunted Mansion landed with a thud. The movie really sucked ass, and was not worthy of one of the coolest attractions Disney has to offer.
One good thing about this ADD generation; you can literally go back to square one with a property only a few years old and do it better the second time around, because your audience will barely remember there even being an original, even if it was just a handful of years ago. 2003 might as well be 1983. Del Toro is an avowed Haunted Mansion freak, and even has a room in his house dedicated to the ride. He plans to make the focus of the movie the infamous “Hatbox Ghost”, a component of the ride long thought to be an urban legend. In truth, the effects on the Hatbox Ghost didn’t work properly on the ride when it opened in 1969, so it was removed a few months later. The character was used in Haunted Mansion merchandise for years though, making people wonder if they imagined the damn thing in the ride in the first place. The fact that Del Toro is such a fanboy for the attraction and plans to include such an obscure element such as the Hatbox Ghost proves this franchise is now in perfect hands.
Marvel Anime
With all the noise being made about Marvel Studio’s Thor, Captain America and The Avengers live action flicks, a lot of people failed to notice the announcement that Marvel Studios would be launching four new anime series based on the characters of Iron Man, Wolverine, X-Men and Blade. There will be twelve episodes per series, all written by comic superstar Warren Ellis, and all will be produced by Madhouse studios in Japan to be aired stateside on….G4? I suppose they are a fit, demographic wise, but isn’t G4 a little low rent to be showcasing these series? I’m sure G4 is hoping that these Marvel shows will do for them what South Park did for Comedy Central and Project Runway did for Bravo. Whether any of this means Kitty Pryde and Pepper Potts will be running screaming from phallic tentacles remains to be seen. And speaking of animation….
Young Justice for All
So at the panel for Warner Animation’s Batman: Brave and the Bold series, producers snuck in a preview for Cartoon Network’s new DC Universe animated series set to debut next year, Young Justice. While I was at first skeptical, I gotta say this might actually be… kinda cool? The reason to have a bit of faith is that the producer of the series is none other than Greg Weisman, who produced uber cool 90’s animated series Gargoyles.
· Unlike the Teen Titans cartoon, the Justice League will figure prominently in Young Justice. In fact, the JLA will be 16 members strong. Batman (voiced by the awesome Bruce Greenwood) will be the JLA’s “general”, doling out missions to the JLA’s covert ops team comprised of their young sidekicks. Because who better to take care of those pesky black ops missions than your less experienced kids? Aside from the traditional “Big 7” JLA members, others included will be Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Black Canary, Red Tornado, Captain Marvel, and Zatara the Magician?? No doubt to this element will be used to introduce Zatara’s more famous daughter Zatanna as a member of Young Justice.
· The team will be a combo of retro 80’s Teen Titans and the more modern version. Robin will be Dick Grayson and Flash will be Wally West, however their teammates will be more recent characters like Superboy (Conner Kent) and Miss Martian and the new African American Aqualad (Blaqualad?)
· The series will take place on “Earth 16” of the new DC Multiverse, making it an official part of DC Comics continuity.
· Members of the team will die. And I’ll bet the first one to go will be new character Artemis, leaving a spot on the team to eventually be filled by Wonder Girl. At least I’m hoping.
DISNEY TO SELL MIRAMAX… FINALLY
While who or what own a movie studio is usually of little interest to the average fanboy or fangirl, the sale by Disney of their Miramax label to a consortium of various investors for the tidy price of $660 million dollars should be. For the past year or more, the potential sale has held up a huge number of movies from being released on Blu Ray. Since one of the few ways that Miramax can now be profitable by the new owners is to milk their library, in the following year we can finally expect to see such beloved titles as Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, The Crow, The Scream series and more hit Blu Ray. (Oh yeah, and other movies like The English Patient. But c’mon, we’re geeks. We’re more excited about the stuff with the blood and explosions. Don’t lie) Hopefully somebody will buy MGM soon, and the planned versions of The Hobbit and the new James Bond flick can finally get off the ground.
