The Week In Geek: Tron 3, New Tarantino, X-Men and Fantastic 4
Tron 3 Gets Closer To Reality
Despite all the naysayers who said it wouldn’t happen, mostly due to TRON: Legacy not making Pirates of the Caribbean type money, Disney has hired a screenwriter for a third installment to the TRON saga. The writer who got the gig is a guy by the name of David DiGillio, who to date is best known for writing the Paul Walker movie Eight Below. Now, this doesn’t mean a green light for the actual movie is a sure thing; my understanding is they are taking a wait and see approach to how well the new TRON:Uprising animated series does on Disney XD, (and no doubt how much merch it sells to the kiddies) before going forward with a new live action movie. But the hiring of a screenwriter shows they are at least seriously considering another installment, so this news bodes well for those of you who want another trip to the Grid. And the way I see it, anything that furthers along the notion of a TRON ride at Disneyland is a good thing.
New Quentin Tarantino Flick Begins To Take Shape
It looks like the new Quentin Tarantino movie, Django Unchained, is getting put together pretty fast. The movie is said to be described as a “Southern” and not quite a “Western,” about a former slave who goes to rescue his wife who is being held captive my an evil bar owner who makes his female slaves fight to the death. (I’m so already there) According to reports, Tarantino veterans Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson are expected to sign on, and Leonardo DiCaprio is about to sign on as well to play the part of the villain. (which I think makes it the first time he has ever played a villain..maybe ever?) Still, the actual lead for this movie has yet to be cast. For awhile there it seemed Will Smith was locked for the part of the titular Django, described as “a slave who is liberated and taught the tricks of the trade by a German dentist-turned-bounty hunter.” It is seeming less and less likely that Will Smith is going to sign on for this, as a QT movie might be too controversial for him, a guy who seemingly only makes choices based on big paychecks lately. Another name being bandied about is Idris Elba, most recently seen in Thor. Other names thrown about are Jamie Fox and even Chris Tucker, so I pray to the movie gods this one goes to Elba.
Darren Aronofsky’s Next Could Be Biblical
Darren Aronofsky has a new pet project, a $130 million dollar version of the Biblical story of Noah and the Flood. The last time Aronofsky had a quirky pet project to make, it was The Fountain, which was originally going to be a big budget movie starring Brad Pitt in the lead role. Ultimately, the project was deemed not commercial enough, Pitt dropped out, and was replaced by Hugh Jackman and the budget was seriously lowered. All of this back and forth took about six years, and eventually the movie was released and did not set the box office on fire, nor did all critics love it for that matter either.
Now with his clout coming off Black Swan, Aronofsky is looking to get another not so commercial idea off the ground (but with a commercial budget) this time the saga of Noah and the Ark. Apparently, Aronofsky has had this idea for a Noah movie since he was thirteen, and describes it as a big fantasy epic, but one with a dark edge to it. Certainly audiences don’t mind big budget escapism with a darker edge anymore (Dark Knight anyone?) but it depends on just how far Aronofsky goes with this one.
Uncanny X-Men Title To End….For Now
In an effort to not let DC Comics steal all their thunder this week with announcements of their new reboot, Marvel has announced that Uncanny X-Men #544 will bring an end to the series which is Marvel’s longest running uninterrupted title (even Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four have been rebooted back to #1 before, only to resume their original numbering eventually) This is due to the fall out between Wolverine and Cyclops in the upcoming Schism crossover, which will see two distinct X-Men teams form out of this. I don’t know, doesn’t this sound JUST like Marvel’s Civil War, only trade Iron Man and Captain America for Cyclops and Wolverine? And doesn’t it seem less dramatic as Scott and Logan have always kind of hated each other anyway? Oh well, X-fans shouldn’t mourn the loss of Uncanny, as Marvel has said two new X-Men titles will spin out of this, one led by Cyclops, the other by Wolverine naturally. I miss the days the when there were like, eight X-Men tops and they all lived in Xavier’s school. And speaking of Marvel….
X-Men First Class and Thor Screenwriters Want A Crack At The FF
Ok, this is kind of non-news, but maybe if it circulated around the internets enough it might become a self fulfilling prophecy. It seems Ashely Miller and Zack Stentz, the co-writers of both Thor and X-Men: First Class want a crack at a reboot of Marvel’s first family as well. At a Q&A recently, this is what they had to say about what their vision of the Fantastic Four could be like.
“We would absolutely love to reboot the Fantastic Four. There is a franchise that’s crying out for it. The Fantastic Four are adventurers, not superheroes, and we have not seen that so far. It should all be about venturing into the unknown, space, the Negative Zone, the Microverse. They are explorers. It should be Star Wars meets superheroes.”
Condsidering both movies have been mostly very well received by fanboys and general audiences, here’s hoping these two are given a crack at Marvel’s first family before too long. And I really hope they set the movie in period…even more than the X-Men, the early 60’s time-frame is so crucial to the Fantastic Four’s iconography, what with the space race and atomic age stuff, not to mention all the Mad Men era sexism that could be played for humor.
