Reuters reports that Marvel's latest film, The Incredible Hulk is unlikely to get a sequel.
"We're happy with the financial results, even if they [only] reach the first film's levels," a Marvel insider insisted. "Having a sequel is not the definition of success."
That being said, about one month after release, the Louis Leterrier-directed "The Incredible Hulk" has earned $125 million, the same as what "Hulk" raked in at the same time in its run. "Hulk" finished with $132 million [domestically], and its successor is unlikely to do much better.
"Hollywood is always about perception," he noted. "The first Hulk had such high expectations after the NBC-Universal merger, then with the new Hulk film, Marvel was able to underplay the importance of the success after the great success of Iron Man this summer. So the new one overdelivered, relative to its underpromise."
It's key to remember that "Hulk" has yet to be released in some markets and huge digital video market... either way, it's been a great year for comic bok movies, who knows what the future holds?
Via MTV:
Robert Downey Jr. does a have a cameo as Tony Stark/Iron Man in the movie as part of Marvel Studios' effort to depict the same Marvel Universe on film. He will share a scene opposite General Ross.
William Hurt is a consummate actor and a closet (until now) comic book geek. Both of which explain his excitement in revealing a bit about one surprise scene he shot for this summer's "The Incredible Hulk."
"I have a scene with Iron Man, with Robert Downey Jr.," the Oscar-winning actor told MTV News Friday at the Sundance Film Festival. "It's a funky scene."
For those who haven't heard the news, superhero house Marvel Comics is aggressively cross-pollinating its superheroes, most likely in preparation for an eventual "Avengers" movie. That means Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury will make a cameo appearance in May 2's "Iron Man," and ol' metalhead himself will drop into "Hulk." Little has been said about the scene — until now.
"I don't know how it'll work," Hurt admitted, saying it was a thrill to appear as General Thaddeus Ross during Downey's scene. "I know it's weird [to work with a character from another movie], and to know it's a device. We did something; I don't know what that's going to be like [to watch]."
In town to unveil the cross-generational romantic drama "The Yellow Handkerchief" to a packed theater of weepy, applauding moviegoers, Hurt was happy to discuss the transition from making that independent film to one of the year's most anticipated blockbusters. "[Marvel] has a lot of guts," he said of the June 13 flick that recast all the characters of 2003's "Hulk." "I hope the film works. I have no idea, because it's so out of my hands now."
Still, Hurt has one particular scene — and several plot revelations — that he can't wait to watch on the big screen.
"Liv Tyler, I play her father, General Ross," he explained. "There's a scene, and during that scene there are a number of things happening. [Hulk] has beaten Abomination, and then there's a crowd that gathers around, and they realize that he's beaten Abomination. That Abomination was the one who was killing for just the joy of killing; Hulk is not the one.
"It's the moment of turn," Hurt added, "when society's relationship with Hulk stops being so stupid."
Unlike Ang Lee, director Louis Leterrier (the "Transporter" films) is intent on laying off the "Hulk as misunderstood monster" angle, thereby making him more heroic. "I want to see the relationship between Hulk and a world that realizes he's not the villain," Hurt said. "Hulk and [Tyler's Betty Ross] have their moment, and the crowd realizes he's not the bad guy."
While Edward Norton has perfected his portrayal of such good-guy/bad-guy conflict in films from "Fight Club" to "American History X," Hurt can't comment on his co-star's performance. "I don't know. I only have two scenes with him," he sighed, sounding a bit disappointed. "That's not enough to get a whole taste of it."
He is convinced, however, that the reboot flick is fully unrelated to Lee's initial installment. "I saw that film. This is, stylistically, a completely different film. They just don't relate," Hurt insisted.
Hurt said Norton worked hard behind the camera to keep the new flick from either becoming too cerebral or falling back on a "Hulk! Smash!" mentality. "[Norton did] a lot of writing, and came up with a lot of ideas. I can't relate them now, because there's not enough time, but he had a lot of ideas."
The script, which was penned by Norton, along with writer Zak Penn, "has to do with the fact that [Banner's] conscience still exists in a body that is a manifestation of power and is greater than his own ability to control it — and how he's learning that relationship," said the veteran actor, who can currently be seen in the awards-season favorite "Into the Wild." "Because that's what's happening to us. That's the central metaphor for all of us, that we're learning these powers — technological powers, whatever — that we don't know if we have enough conscience to control in a wise way yet. And that's what he's doing.
"[Hulk] is managing to save his humanity inside that, while people like General Ross can't," he said of the tension between Bruce Banner and the man who wants to take him down. "That's a main theme throughout many of the comics, and in 'Hulk,' it seems to be [primary]. ... I love him."
And when Hurt makes a statement like that, he isn't just another Hollywood actor hopping on the superhero gravy train. "I believe in Hulk. Absolutely. That's why I did the movie," he revealed. "I'm a Hulk fan, and he was always my favorite. I keep asking my son why he's both of our favorites. I read the comic books, but he's a real fanatic. I didn't even know he was a fanatic for Hulk until after I agreed to do the film — and we're father and son."
Ultimately, with actors like Norton, Tyler, himself and Tim Roth (as Abomination) on set every day, Hurt said he was amazed at how small the massive film felt. "The interesting thing about making 'The Incredible Hulk' was how audacious they were in having such a hugely expensive movie, but at the same time creating this sense right at the core — for me, Liv and Ed — that we could experiment," he grinned. "You're on a hell of a budget, and you're on a hell of a time schedule, and you know this. But when you get inside the little tight circle of the hurricane, there's a very small space of great freedom.
"I was tremendously grateful to Marvel for letting that happen, because sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes a studio film is just pure anxiety; accountants and everybody saying, 'Oh God, oh God, I'm going to get fired,' but that wasn't the case here," said the star, looking forward to the cinematic return of the gamma-fueled antihero. "It was an immense production. But once you got into your scene, it was relatively free."
Iron Man director Jon Favreau said he would like to direct a film adaptation of The Avengers. This would be a crossover to fictional universes in other upcoming Marvel films such as The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America. He also explained that Marvel has told him that "they're pretty clear on wanting to do it with the actors who’ve established the roles or to not do it at all." He continued, "I think it’s a good idea if you use the characters established in the other franchises that then come together for an event. It was later stated that Zak Penn, writer of the scripts for X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Elektra was to write the movie's script.
Directed by Louis Leterrier, The Incredible Hulk stars Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, William Hurt as her father General Thaddeus Ross and Tim Roth as the villainous Emil Blonsky. The film follows Banner as he flees the pursuit of General Ross and attempts a cure to rid himself of the Hulk. But when Blonsky injects himself with Banner's gamma formula and becomes an even greater monster, Banner must accept his own inner beast and defeat Blonsky.
The Incredible Hulk is set for release on June 13, 2008.
Press Release
Marvel is pleased to announce that Hulk #2 has sold out at Diamond (though copies may be available at the retail level) and will return with a new printing to meet the overwhelming demand for this issue! Hulk #2 Second Printing Variant, from the incredible dream team of Eisner-winning, Emmy-nominated scribe Jeph Loeb (Ultimates 3, television’s Heroes) and acclaimed artist Ed McGuinness, features the debut of the red (!) Hulk in an unforgettable clash with Iron Man! And just what role does Rick Jones play in all this? Most importantly, just who—or what—is this crimson skinned Hulk? This new printing features the stunning interior art of Ed McGuinness on a new wraparound cover!
“Hulk #2 was a blast!” exclaimed Senior Editor Mark Paniccia. “Red Hulk Vs. Iron Man! The destruction of the red and gold Hellicarrier! The New Abomination revealed! It’s a superhero sugar rush! Kudos to Jeph, Ed, Dex and Jason delivering another sold-out hit! Wait ‘till the fans see the next round of knuckle busting. In Hulk #3, New Abomination and Red Hulk go into the ring against each other!”
Marvel urges retailers to check their orders on all issues of Hulk, as the series continues to garner mainstream buzz from USA Today, Entertainment Weekly and more, along with quick sell outs of each issue! Just what’s next for the red Hulk? And what does this new Abomination have planned? Don’t miss a single issue of the smash-hit series that everyone can’t stop talking about—Hulk!
HULK #2 SECOND PRINTING VARIANT (JAN088141)
Written by JEPH LOEB
Pencils & Cover by ED MCGUINNESS
Inked by DEXTER VINES
Colored by JASON KEITH
Rated A…$2.99
FOC—3/6/08, On-Sale—3/26/08
HULK #3 (JAN082148)
HULK #3 FINCH VARIANT COVER (JAN082149)
Pencils & Cover by ED MCGUINNESS
Inked by DEXTER VINES
Colored by JASON KEITH
Variant Cover by DAVID FINCH & JASON KEITH
FOC—4/3/08, On-Sale—4/23/08
I'm not sure if you folks have heard about this but Marvel.com has branched off a For Kids Only version of their site. It's not really anything great to speak of.. BUT they have contracted the CGI animation team from the Marvel Ultimate Alliance game to produce shorts just for that site. So you get a 3-part mini-movie every month featuring one particular character and a few guest stars...
January featured "The Adventures Of Iron Man" which guest starred Spider-Man and The Hulk... you can watch the trailers below.
From Marvel's President of Production, Kevin Feige... after The Incredible Hulk, the next Marvel film will be Captain America! “Well I think we'll certainly have to play with that and play with Captain America being this patriotic propaganda machine on one hand but also being a very human Steve Rogers – interesting, fascinating hero in his own...
Via GameSpot:
Last November, Sega announced that it had taken over the game license for the Marvel Comics hero Iron Man from Activision. Today, the Japan-based company announced it has acquired three more game licenses from the venerable comic book publisher turned media powerhouse.
Evildoers, beware!.
Foremost among the new acquisitions is The Incredible Hulk, who is currently appearing in the role-playing game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Previously, Vivendi Games held the game rights to the brawny superhero, releasing 2005's critically acclaimed The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (PS2, Xbox, GameCube) and 2003's less praised The Hulk (PC, PS2, Xbox, GameCube). Under the new deal, Sega will also be developing games based on the forthcoming movie The Incredible Hulk, which stars Edward Norton as the Hulk's less angry alter ego, Bruce Banner. The game will be released alongside the film next summer.
Though he may have died in comic books, Captain America will live on in game form. Sega is planning a game based on the forthcoming Captain America film, which is still in development. The last game that centered on the shield-wielding hero was Captain America and the Avengers (Game Boy, 1994), although he currently also appears in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.
Last--but in the minds of would-be Vikings everywhere, not least--Sega has landed the license for The Mighty Thor. Like Captain America, the comic centering on the earthly adventures of the Norse god is being turned into a film with a tentative post-2008 release date. The Mighty Thor game--the first based solely on the character--will be released alongside said movie on undisclosed consoles. (Thor is also a featured hero in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.)
Today's deal is a "multi-year global licensing agreement" that gives Sega exclusive rights to make Thor, Hulk, and Captain America games for consoles, handhelds, and the PC. In a statement, Simon Jeffery, Sega of America's president and COO, said, "As Sega continues to create games that are built from the ground up to appeal to Western audiences it makes perfect sense to work with a powerhouse like Marvel."
At the WizardWorld: Chicago convention, Marvel announced artist Joe Madureira’s new exclusive contract, and released an image featuring “Joe Mad’s” version of Wolverine, the Hulk, and Spider-Man. Not just a promotional image, it was actually a cover to a new surprise “Convention Special” of House of M #1, one free copy of which was sent to every Diamond account (i.e. retailer) with this week’s new books, and undoubtedly now fetching a premium aftermarket price.
This week the publisher has announced this House of M #1 Convention Special will be made available for order on a limited basis (20 per Diamond account). This second wave of this special will be in stores on August 31st. The project will be announced at a later date. It's been about 8 years since Madureira 's art has graced the interiors of a Marvel comic, since he left to start his own creator-run series Battle Chasers through the Cliffhanger imprint.
click here for full size image
From WWC, DAY 1 - CUP O' JOE SECOND REPORT:
A Joe Madureira cover for “House of M” (pictured below) was unveiled, displaying Spider-Man, Hulk and Wolverine. No, Loeb did not go on to say what his and Madureira's project was, but he later hinted that it probably had something to do with one of the characters on the cover displayed.
Madureira was asked if he'd ever finish “Battle Chasers.” The artist seemed disappointed that it never finished, but is content to let the book toil for now.
"It's one of those things that I think about every once in a while, and not having finished it bums me out... I would love to do it at some point, but it would be very far out."
Where has the artist been in the interim? Working in the video game industry as an art director, Madureira said. Most of the work he's done in the past couple years will probably never be seen, he said, unless it gets collected into an art book. But he did say he believes he's learned some “new tricks” while he was away.
From Newsarama:
As for Joe, more details of his deal, project and length of time will be disclosed shortly in the next issue of Wizard I believe. From our discussions, Joe has agreed to do a significant amount of work, and I have to tell you, he’s excited as can be to be back and working on this project. It’s going to be fun to have Joe back in the biz.
As a matter of fact, next weeks' Wizard #168, on sale August 31st will shine some light on Madureira's & Jeph Loeb's new project. Keep locked to this site, Joe Mad! Fan & the Joe Madureira Fansite for all of your Joe Mad news!
Marvel Comics released news today of a new series of six Dollar Digests. The digests will be 64 pages of black and white digests. The books will retail for $1.00 and may contain "abridged to fit format" stories of three classic Marvel Comics.
The first six digests will include Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the Hulk, and the X-Men. The digests are:
SPIDER-MAN: AMAZING FANTASY DOLLAR DIGEST
Collects AMAZING FANTASY #15, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1, #2
FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST FAMILY DOLLAR DIGEST
Collects FANTASTIC FOUR #1-#3
AVENGERS: ASSEMBLE DOLLAR DIGEST
Collects AVENGERS #1-#3
SPIDER-MAN: DOCTOR OCTOPUS DOLLAR DIGEST
Collects AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #3,#4,#5
HULK: HULK SMASH DOLLAR DIGEST
Collects HULK #1-#3
X-MEN: CHILDREN OF THE ATOM
Collects X-MEN #1-#3
These books will be on sale June 8th. The format will be digest size measuring 4 7/8 x 6 9/16.
While there are a handful of good to even excellent comic book games -- Spider-Man 2 and The Punisher, for instance -- there are fewer and fewer really bad ones. Encore's Daredevil, which never made it to market, and TDK's Aquaman, which just plain sucked, are more remnants of bad publishing and cheap development that anything else. And remember, Titus made perhaps the worst comic book game ever, Superman 64, a long, long time ago.
Flash forward to 2005 and it looks like theres nowhere to go but up in quality. The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, a single-player action game, will hit retail stands in August 2005 on Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube.
Ultimate Destruction is the full-monty Hulk experience. The first title approached smash everything, but Ultimate Destruction will blow gamers away with "I can't believe I just did that" moments. The scale and sense of freedom of this game is much greater than any other comic book videogame to date. If you felt that locomotion in other games was great as you swing from place to place like a monkey in tights, you are in for a big surprise -- nothing can stop the Hulk! You can barrel down the street sending buses and traffic into oblivion, run up buildings leaving a swath of destruction in your wake and leap over buildings as you bound across the city linking super jumps together. The game engine was re-written to make sure that the player has the freedom to lose control -- where the world is your weapon and you can choose how, when and where to play. But this is not a sequel in any way. Ultimate Destruction has an original story penned by none other than the award-winning Paul Jenkins. The story and the game are true to the Marvel universe and to the Hulk's history. It is firmly rooted in the Hulk comic heritage but we did not stop there -- in a videogame first, the story from Ultimate Destruction is actually forming part of the Hulk continuity.
The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of the game will boast progressive-scan and 720p support respectively, both of which offer greater visual definition than standard video out. Looks like Gamecube gets left out. The developer decided to forego a progressive-scan mode for the GameCube version after Nintendo last year removed the component video out port from newly manufactured GameCube consoles. Radical Entertainment still plans to support Dolby Pro logic II in-game with the GameCube version. It was said that the GCN version stacks up nicely with the others and that the development team has actually been able to pull off some effects easier on the console than on either PlayStation 2 or Xbox.
Look for much more on this game here & ign in the coming weeks.