Immense as it is, it seems that The Hobbit isn’t all that Guillermo del Toro has on the boil. Beyond being just six months or so into a many-year journey to bring the Baggins family back to the silver screen, he’s now teasing that there’s another big project – or big for him at least, he says – about to come to light. What could it be? Thankfully, there are clues lying about and you can peruse them after the break.
Posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Disclaimer: I usually refrain from running speculative rumors on /Film, but it’s a slow news day. And besides, I’m not going to pass this off as news. Heck, I’m not even going to pass this off as a rumor. For now, consider this story a fun “What IF?”
/Film reader Jon B brought it to my attention that George Clooney was spotted pre-holidays in Hollywood having a business meeting with director Ridley Scott, and Marvel Studios chairman David Maisel (Paris Hilton was also in attendance, but gossip mags have recently linked the heiress and Clooney, so that’s more likely personal than professional).
Marvel Studios has said that they are interesting in bringing a Dr. Strange movie to the big screen. Clooney looks a bit Strange, doesn’t he? Or might Ridley Scott might direct The Avengers movie? Or perhaps it was just a fun meeting between friends. We know this whole discussion is circumstantial and speculative at best, but in the boring days of early January, I find it a little fun to speculate. So lets pretend for just a minute that there is something more to this dinner meeting.
Discuss: What do you think of the idea of a Dr Strange movie starring George Clooney directed by Ridley Scott?
Would Ridley Scott really direct a B-comic book character? I’d much rather see him involved in The Avengers. Clooney would be uncanny as Strange. Or what about the possibility of Clooney playing Captain America and Scott directing Avengers?
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told MTV News that Dr. Strange is on the short list of comic properties that they will explore after The Avengers hits the big screen.
“Very much so,” Feige said. “I’d say in the next year, year and a half, as we start putting together our film slate for 2012 and 2013, I would not be shocked if we saw Dr. Strange on those lists. I love the idea of taping into the magical realm of the Marvel Universe, which is fairly significant and hasn’t yet seen life on screen. It’s something I’m very, very interested in.”
To me, Dr. Strange has always been a C-level Marvel property. He’s like a DC character stuck in the Marvel universe. Whenever he shows up in one of the stories I’m reading, I’m immediately turned off. Dr. Strange’s magical powers are endless, and I usually like my superhero stories to be grounded in a realistic world (which probably explains my addition to Vertigo imprint books). For example, Strange’s appearance in Kevin Smith’s Daredevil, which is a flawless story arc aside from the Strange appearance. That said, I’ve never given a stand along Dr. Strange book a fair read, but I somehow doubt my opinion would change about the character.
Discuss: Should Marvel make a Dr. Strange Movie? Really?
Posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
Residents of Middle-Earth should pop some Advil, as already-troubled New Line Cinema has been sued by the Tolkien estate, which seeks $150 million plus in damages in the mega-lawsuit. Peter Jackson‘s The Lord of the Rings trilogy did over $6 billion in world-wide receipts, but the estate claims that not a drop of gross profit participation has come its way. Moreover, the suit seeks further damages and, here’s the real killjoy, the right to take any other J.R.R. Tolkien works (i.e. The Hobbit films) elsewhere.
The estate released the following statement via its U.S. Counsel, Bonnie Eskenazi, practically writing the word “ludicrous” in the sky for all of the films’ and books’ fans to sigh at…
“New Line has brought new meaning to the phrase ‘creative accounting.’ I cannot imagine how on earth New Line will argue to a jury that these films could gross literally billions of dollars, and yet the creator’s heirs, who are entitled to a share of gross receipts, don’t get a penny.”
This huge “penny” hangs over last month’s once-optimistic news that fanboy favorite and Peter Jackson friend Guillermo del Toro was nearly a lock to direct both Hobbit flicks simultaneously. All of this after New Line and Peter Jackson settled their own notorious disagreement about boatloads of LOTR money back in December.
However, del Toro has more recently expressed doubt that the films are a sure thing, while playing up his multiple, rad spinning plates like Frankenstein, his H.P. Lovecraft pet project At the Mountains of Madness, and even Marvel’s Dr. Strange. What is going on over at New Line, I mean, really. This suit could not have come at a worse time, what with Business Week even suggesting that Warner Bros. fold the studio altogether.
Source Link: Variety
