Is WB Executive Jeff Robinov planning a Justice League movie?

In LA Times, Jeff Robinov talks about his job, but he also spills the tea on the future of DC Comics in films.

His most immediate hurdle is filling the void that will be left this summer when the multibillion-dollar "Harry Potter" series shepherded by Horn ends. Robinov is betting on DC Comics characters to take center stage starting in June with the $200-million-plus production "Green Lantern."

He's then aiming to release new "Batman" and "Superman" films in 2012 and "Justice League," a teaming of DC's top heroes, in 2013.

Many agree that Robinov's greatest strength is his willingness to take creative risks on ambitious movies — a rarity in a business that increasingly plays it safe. "I think what defines Warner Bros. is the filmmaker choices on our event movies," he said.

A JL movie? What would that look like? And who would put it together, hopefully not Zack Snyder.

WB, Don't Whitewash AKIRA!

 The anime classic 'AKIRA' is being made into a live action film. But if you know Hollywood, you know they will find a way to frak it up.

The lead characters are Kaneda and Tetsuo, clearly Japanese all up and through.

But here's the shortlist for these characters

Scandal! Well, one of my favorite sites, Racebending.com called this mess out.

Given the current lack of lead roles for actors of color in the science fiction genre, the complex characters of Akira would be a great opportunity for Asian American actors. Last year, a Racebending.com volunteer ran a count of the 241 Warner Bros movies from 2000 to 2009 and found that only 2% had an Asian first-billed lead. Aside from The Matrix trilogy starring Keanu Reeves, the majority of films with Asian leads starred Asian nationals like Jet Li and Rain.


Although Asian American actors are sometimes cast as supporting actors in films like this month’s Sucker Punch, they still struggle for representation in leading roles in Warner Bros. films. If not in a film called Akira, for characters named Kaneda and Tetsuo, when will Asian Americans get to star in a Warner Bros film?


In contrast, even though 40% of movie tickets are purchased by people of color, 90% of the films released by Warner Bros between 2000 and 2009 featured a white lead.


Because one out of every 10 modern-day Manhattanites are Asian American (Lower Manhattan is 41% Asian,) it would make just as much sense–if not more sense, given the names “Kaneda” and “Tetsuo”–for the leads to be Asian American as it would for the leads to be white. Tetsuo and Kaneda should be cast with Asian American leads.

This is really bad planning on WB's part. AKIRA is a known classic and respect should be paid. To possibly cast any of these "IT' boys means they are depending on the look and not the story. Newsflash! AKIRA is a CLASSIC for over 20 years. We don't need an A&F face to make us watch this movie!

So please sign their petition on their website and keep AKIRA real.

The Sandman TV Show? Great Hera give me Strength

If there's a classic, powerful, odd comic book that presents a wide array of stories and characters; I beg for it to stay on comic book print.

However, that's not the case. Warner Bros. is planning on making The Sandman (Neil Gaiman's version) into a TV show... Somebody give me a Coney Island Iced Tea.

Warner Bros. TV is in the midst of acquiring television rights from sister company DC Entertainment and in talks with several writer-producers about adapting the 1990s comic. At the top of the list is Eric Kripke, creator of the CW’s horror-tinged “Supernatural.”

“Sandman” told the tale of Morpheus, the Lord of the Dreaming, a deity who personifies dreams. The book began in the horror realm but quickly made its mark in fantasy and mythology as Gaiman introduced the Endless, a group of powerful brothers and sisters named Destiny, Death, Destruction, Despair, Desire and Delirium (as well as Dream).

Now, I'm not sure if these stories can be done on TV, and I don't mean any harm, but Supernatural? Let's just say it's not a Buffy or a True Blood.

Unless, Neil is writing, casting, producing and directing this, it's a "No" for me.

source

New promo: Green Lantern

Green Lantern will be in 3D

3D is taking over the world, especially in the comic book movie universe.

Warner Bros. announced that Green Lantern will be filmed in 3 ASS D:

Warner Bros. is adding two more projects to its growing portfolio of 3D films -- "The Green Lantern" and Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch."

"Green Lantern," starring Ryan Reynolds and directed by Martin Campbell, is heading into production in Louisiana with a June, 17, 2011, release date. "Sucker Punch," starring Emily Browning as a teen confined to a mental institution by her stepfather, has completed principal photography and is set for a March 25, 2011, launch.

I'm not a huge fan of 3D, I feel that it's a cheap ploy to save bad scripts. But, I'll wait and see if this will be worth it.

source

Watchmen Drama Settled...maybe

Warners and Fox finally hashed out their issues and resolved (we hope) the Watchmen movie drama.

Here's the drill:

Fox will not be an active distributor of the flick, but will receive up to 8 1/2% gross participation in the movie and a piece of every goddamn thing around the movie, meaning sequels or spinoff, and a cash payment upfront including recoupment of its development costs and attorney fees, and the cast next set of kids.

Also here is a statement from the studios

"Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox have resolved their dispute regarding the rights to the upcoming motion picture Watchmen in a confidential settlement. Warner Bros acknowledges that Fox acted in good faith in bringing its claims, which were asserted prior to the start of principal photography. Fox acknowledges that Warner Bros. acted in good faith in defending against those claims Warner Bros. and Fox, like all Watchmen fans, look forward with great anticipation to this film's March 6 release in theatres."

I hope this truce will last

No DC Comics Movies anytime Soon

David Goyer, script writer, director, and comic lover, dropped some (I think) good news involving the upcoming DC Comic movies.

When asked about several projects he's been involved with - i.e. Supermax, The Flash - Goyer said in a recent interview with IESB, "A lot of the DC movies at Warner Brothers are all on hold while the figure out, they're going to come up with some new plan, methodology, things like that so everything has just been pressed pause on at the moment. It was the double header of both Iron Man and The Dark Knight coming out, so more than ever I think they've realized, I think DC was responsible for 15% of Warner Brother's revenue this year, something crazy like that, so they realized that comic books, it's become a new genre, one of the most successful genres."

Maybe this will get them to "think" about the story and product. Comic fans remember the casting for the Justice League movie, it was terrible and horrific. Then, the past ideas for Wonder Woman the movie, one in particular had the notion of Diana and Donna being spies (Great Hera).

If you want a great comic book movie, it needs to stick to the story we all fell in love with. Too many changes = failures and disappointments, then reboots. Yes, WB please take all the time you need to find the right writers, directors, studios, actors, and story for these movies. No more mess and no more flops. This is the measure to get it right. I applaud this move and I hope for the best.

Fox may be the Grinch that Stole Watchmen

This may not be good if you are a Watchmen fan. Quick recap, Fox owned the rights to Alan Moore's masterpiece, Watchmen, but did nothing with it. Then Warners made a movie with Fox fully aware.

But once the fans fell hard for it during Comic Con, all of a sudden Fox gives a damn. So they sued and I hate to say it, but they won.

In a surprise ruling, a federal judge in Los Angeles said he intended to grant 20th Century Fox’s claim that it owns a copyright interest in the “Watchmen,” a movie shot by Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures and set for release in March. The decision was disclosed in a five-page written order issued on Wednesday.

Gary A. Feess, a judge in the United States District Court for Central California, said he would provide a more detailed order soon. Fox has been seeking to prevent Warner from releasing the film. The superhero adventure, based on the “Watchmen” graphic novel, is being directed by Zack Snyder (who also directed “300”) and has shaped up as one of most eagerly anticipated releases for next year.

A Warner spokesman, Scott Rowe, declined to comment on the ruling and the studio’s plans. At an earlier hearing, the judge said he believed that issues in the case could be settled only at a trial, which was scheduled for late January. On Wednesday, however, Judge Feess said he had reconsidered and concluded that Fox should prevail on crucial issues. “Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the ‘Watchmen’ motion picture,” the ruling said. Fox acquired rights to the “Watchmen” graphic novel in the late 1980s for the producer Lawrence Gordon, but eventually dropped its own plan to make a movie from its story, about the underside of life for superbeings.

Mr. Gordon later pursued the project with Universal Pictures, and then with Paramount Pictures, before shooting it with Warner and Legendary under an arrangement that allows Paramount to distribute the film abroad.

In ruling on Wednesday, Judge Feess advised both Fox and Warner to look toward a settlement or an appeal. “The parties may wish to turn their efforts from preparing for trial to negotiating a resolution of this dispute or positioning the case for review,” he said.

This should prompt artists and creators to keep their stuff on lockdown so mess like this won't happen. Fox had every right to sue, but it still comes off very shady. Both studios should work something out and make sure this movie is released on time. They need to know that we, the fans, are in middle of this. If this battle gets ugly, everybody suffers. So I hope this can get solved and settled soon.

Thanks to Latino Review for the news.

No GRAYSKULL for us

Well I was hoping to see He-man and his short shorts on the screen, but that won't happen.

Why?

Warners! They are always doing something, right?

According to my favorite site, Latino Review, WB wasn't big about the idea and there were other reasons as well.

The studio gave the execs at Silver Pictures a very small list of A-director names they would consider making the film with, amongst them Doug Liman and Bryan Singer who both passed.

There were some up and coming directors that were gung ho on the script, but the studio wasn’t feeling them. Another reason and perhaps the biggest was that Navid McIIhargey, the exec who brought in He-Man to Silver Pictures, left the company last month to become a Senior VP at New Regency as reported last month in both trades. Sources tell me Navid and another exec (who also left Silver) – guys in their thirties who grew up on the property - were the unsung heroes of He-Man and are no longer there doing the day to day to get He-Man over the mountain and get the movie made.

In the Hollywood business culture, once an exec leaves, usually his projects are killed by the new incoming exec. Even heroes like He-Man need allies and Prince Adam no longer has any at the studio. Sad. Execs at toy company Mattel are so infuriated at Warners, that they want the property back to take it elsewhere. Mattel’s anger is understandable. No movie equals no toys to make.

I can't believe it, but then I can. Warners are so backwards about what works. Remember their push for the Justice League? And then their attempts to make all the other DC Heroes dark? Mess. Just a mess.