Now that the Twilight film franchise is drawing to a close (with $1.8 billion in receipts and counting, not including the projected $125 million opening predicted for this weekend's Breaking Dawn - Part 1), series screenwriter and Dexter veteran Melissa Rosenberg has turned her attention to a sizable slate of television projects. Talking with Movieline today, Rosenberg delved into the Sopranosesque qualities of her newly announced female-led crime drama Penoza and discussed the challenges of bringing a Jessica Jones superheroine series into a post-Birds of Prey/Wonder Woman world.
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This morning Disney released the first full trailer for Joss Whedon's Marvel superhero party The Avengers, and ZOMG guys -- have there ever been two minutes of action more packed with hero shots, zingers, and things blowing up before this very moment? (Michael Bay might give Whedon a run for his money, but the Avengers trailer has what even his robot spectaculars don't: copious slow-mo superhero booty shots. Consider the bar raised.)
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Here's a treat for Marvel fans who live for the film-bridging post-credits scenes and cameos that have connected The Incredible Hulk, the Iron Man films, Thor, and Captain America: a short starring S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) that begins to fill in the space between the different Marvel films leading into The Avengers. After the jump, watch the deadpan Agent Coulson hatch a plan to dispatch a superhero code-named "The Consultant" -- described as "arrogant and abrasive, with an utter disdain for authority." Sound familiar?
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Screenwriting duo Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely began their partnership in college, moved to Los Angeles together ("We watched Baywatch and thought, 'Somebody wrote Baywatch -- we could do that!'" quips McFeely), wrote a film for Bill Pullman, scripted The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, and caught the eye of Andrew Adamson, who then hired them to write all three Chronicles of Narnia films. Now they've penned Captain America: The First Avenger, the latest in Marvel Studios' multi-film Avengers franchise and a rollicking WWII-set adventure that they hope to follow up with a sequel. It's safe to say Markus and McFeely might have some wise words to share on the subject of their craft.
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After auditioning "five or six times" for the role of Steve Rogers, a/k/a Captain America, 27 year-old Sebastian Stan didn't get the gig. But he did get a call to discuss a different iconic character in the WWII-set Marvel comics blockbuster: James "Bucky" Barnes, Cap's best friend, sidekick, and, in Joe Johnston's big screen adaptation (in theaters Friday), a soldier who could potentially undergo big changes in future Captain America sequels.
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It's a Marvel movie so you knew it was coming, but still: Despite studio efforts to keep it from press in early screenings, a teaser sequence appearing at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger has leaked online. Multiple accounts and even a bootlegged video of the footage suggest that the leaks didn't come from the media, but from special public screenings held over the weekend. So why keep it from the press to begin with?
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If you weren't sold on the Chris Evans-starring Captain America: The First Avenger yet, let the newly released theatrical trailer assuage your fears that it'll turn out to be another tame, Thor-level Marvel meh-fest. Instead, the trailer tells us, literally, what Edith Zimmerman learned the drunken way: Evans, and Captain America, is "gonna get so many girls." And boys. And anyone with a lingering fetish for the retro-futuristic stylings of Raiders of the Lost Ark and director Joe Johnston's underappreciated 1991 adventure The Rocketeer.
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With Thor poised to kick-off the next chapter in Marvel's superhero empire this week, the film's stars and creatives found themselves looking to the future at a press conference Sunday in Los Angeles. Though actors Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston were loath to drop details on the currently-filming Avengers, they gave a teaser of what to expect when their godly alter egos collide with human superheroes like Iron Man and Hulk in the Joss Whedon-helmed 2012 pic.
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With only two weeks to go until the epic fantasy adventure Thor barrels into theaters to ring in the summer movie season, Paramount/Marvel Studios have unleashed an array of new images for your perusal. Among them, closer looks at Asgard's finest gods and goddesses, including Rene Russo as Frigga and Jaimie Alexander as Thor's childhood gal pal, Sif. After the jump, dive into the gallery for over 35 images from Thor -- including, ahem, a full shot of Chris Hemsworth sans shirt. Who needs shirts, anyway? Shirts are for puny humans!
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Remember that adorable Star Wars-themed VW Super Bowl commercial that went viral, about a tyke in a Darth Vader costume who's duped into thinking his Force is strong by a dad with a remote-controlled keychain? (Ah, deceiving kids. Always fun.) Well, here comes Little Thor, whose frustrated attempts to similarly use Mjolnir on unsuspecting household appliances and a golden retriever culminate in a decidedly different ending.
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With Lionsgate milking its casting announcement roll-out as much as possible (today's news: All My Children's Leven Rambin and Meg Ryan/Dennis Quaid progeny Jack Quaid are your new District 1 tributes, Glimmer and Marvel!) it's time to play the speculation game with one of the series' most important supporting characters: Haymitch. Which veteran actors could fill the Hunger Games winner-turned-alcoholic mentor's shoes?
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Deadline reports that visual effects veteran Tim Miller (X-Men, X2, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) has graduated to the helm of Fox's Deadpool, which is currently being written by Zombieland scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. But with its star currently carrying another studio's comic book tent pole (Green Lantern), how soon will Deadpool happen with Reynolds -- and will it be the Deadpool movie that Reynolds wants to make?
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Chris Hemsworth, the Norse god Thor himself, revealed recently that he helped brother Liam rehearse for his Hunger Games auditions by reading the part of Katniss aloud. Liam eventually landed the part of Gale, one of two young men in love with Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) in Lionsgate's 2012 adaptation of Suzanne Collins's YA novels, but lest you assume that means the elder Hemsworth is unequivocally on Team Gale, think again. Talking with Movieline he explains his ties to Liam's future on-screen rival, Josh Hutcherson, and how they've landed him firmly in the middle of the Peeta-Gale conflict.
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Can we all agree that the Thor marketing materials thus far have been a little less than thrilling? Good. Because now we really have something to look forward to from the Kenneth Branagh-directed Marvel actioner -- an epic-scale tent pole set on two worlds with a sense of humor about itself, lots of swirling, hammer-smashing action, fantastical villains and creatures to ogle, and the acknowledged fetishizing of Chris Hemsworth's abs.
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Writer-director Shane Black is reportedly in negotiations to direct Iron Man 3, taking over from series helmer Jon Favreau for the threequel, which is already slated for release on May 3, 2013. But hey, no pressure! Two years should be plenty of time for the guy who wrote Lethal Weapon in six weeks. Besides, Black's got plenty of qualifications that should inspire fanboy confidence. Such as:
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