So, were you home today around noon? Near a computer? I was. And if you were like me, you were hitting refresh at the iTunes Movie Trailers site, eagerly awaiting the second trailer for The Avengers to make itself known to the world. If you haven’t seen it, click the link above and watch and then come back here, because I am about to break it down.

Seen it? Great wasn’t it? Granted, a lot of it was stuff we already saw before. But it was arranged in such a way that we get a better idea of what the film has in store for us. And the new stuff? Wow.

First off, we get our first look at Nick Fury in command of S.H.I.E.L.D.:

The set is not new to anyone who was at last years New York Comic Con or seen pictures from the event.

Next is the “gathering of the players” time. Here is Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America (Chris Evans) meeting Bruce Banner, a.k.a. Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).

I was wondering how they are going to get all the characters in one place. For instance, Thor, who at the end of his film was trapped in Asgard with no way to get to Earth. The trailer doesn’t answer this, but we do see him controlling the weather, a power that was underused in his own film.

Another player with an issue in how he would be involved was Iron Man. At the end of Iron Man 2, Nick Fury told Tony Stark that he didn’t want him to be an Avenger because he was too much of a loose cannon. The trailer lets us know that this will become a plot point in this film, and will probably go to show why Tony is such a rhymes-with-pick in all the footage we’ve seen so far. We get a better look at the Stark Tower and how Tony manages to change out of his Iron Man suit.

The trailer also gives a look at Agent Maria Hill (Colbie Smulders) and good old Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg). Their scene comes in the middle of what seems like a battle between Thor, Iron Man and Captain America, and their comments lead me to believe it is the real deal fighting, not any alien duplicates.

Here’s a shot that would make any fan of the Avengers comic book squeal–the Big Three:

Another tidbit we can gain from the trailer is how Loki will be portrayed. Well, it looks like we get Loki classic…

And a new, spiffy, GQ-model Loki as well!

Another question mark that the trailer doesn’t quite answer is how the Hulk will be portrayed in this new film. The scene where Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) collects Bruce Banner that made the rounds of the convention circuit is at the beginning of the trailer, with an emphasis on the Widow’s line “I’ll persuade you” when Banner brings up the idea of saying no. This could be taken as flirtatious, but the scene shifts to armed soldier right outside Banner’s hut.

This is further complicated by the scene this screen grab is taken from:

Now, are the Hulk and Black Widow escaping an attack on their headquarters, or did Banner “Hulk-out” and want to discuss the widow’s persuasion techniques with her. Could be seen either way. Or, maybe, she’s an impersonator? Hmmm.

However, later on in the trailer, in a moment that made me squeal, the Hulk saves Iron Man in a spectacular scene after Shellhead gets whacked by some of the aliens that he is fighting.

So it appears that the Hulk eventually comes around to be a team player is a sense.

Another personal favorite scene from the trailer is this one:

I just love the fact that Cap is shielding the Widow with his shield. That is totally something Cap would do.

We get a look at the aliens again, and they appear to be riding on some kind of flying steed kind of thing.

Hawkeye is a character that we don’t know much about, so we have to look at what they gave us to see if he’ll make the transition to film okay.

Getting in a last shot as he falls to his almost certain doom. Why be worried? He’ll figure something out. Yep, that’s the Hawkeye I know and love.

Another thing that gives me confidence that the film will be great is that is seems they will be playing up the fact that the human Hawkeye and Black Widow are in over their heads and outclassed by monsters, gods, super soldiers and hi-tech armor-wearing geniuses–and that they know it.

That is a great angle to play and gives their characters an arc to work through.

And leave it to Marvel to give us a button scene on a trailer. Right after Iron Man says “I’m bringing the party to you,” we get this:

Oh, man, you just know that party is going to suck!

I don’t know about you, but May 4th can’t get here soon enough.

Dan Aykroyd has confirmed what had only been hinted and guess at before – Bill Murray has no desire to strap on a proton pack for one last round of ghostbusting.

Aykroyd made the admission in an interview with the London Telegraph when asked about the status of the long in development Ghostbusters 3 sequel -

I honestly don’t know. At this point it’s in suspended animation. The studio, the director Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis feel there must be a way to do it, but Bill Murray will not do the movie.

I have to say that I am saddened, but not surprised, by this news. Aykroyd has been trying to get this project moving for sometime, having overseen a script written by The Office and Bad Teacher scribes Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. With studio Columbia, director Ivan Reitman and co-stars Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson all behind the project, Murray has become the lone hold out even though it looked for a time that he might consider doing it.

But Aykroyd isn’t upset with his former Saturday Night Live colleague. In fact he expresses empathy with his decision.

He doesn’t want to be involved. He’s got six kids, houses all over America. He golfs in these tournaments where they pay him to turn up and have a laugh. He’s into this life and living it. I know we’d have a lot of fun [but] I can’t be mad at him. He’s a friend first, a colleague second. We have a deep personal relationship that transcends business and he doesn’t want to know.

But Aykroyd also states that just because Murray won’t be a part f the film doesn’t mean that Ghostbusters 3 is officially a dead project just yet. He has hinted recently that they could recast Murray and suggests that there is some thought on how to continue without Murray.

We’re not going to do a movie that exploits the franchise. The script has to be perfect. I’m the cheerleader, but I’m only one voice in the matter. It’s a surety that Bill Murray will not do the movie, however there is still interest from the studio.

But the question remains, is there interest in the public for a non-Murray Ghostbusters film?

Elizabeth Olsen may be in the process of being offered the lead to Spike Lee’s upcoming English-language adaption of the Korean thriller Oldboy. Those of you who have seen Park Chan-wook original will know what this mean. Those who haven’t seen the original will have a surprise waiting for them when the film eventually hits theaters.

Twitch is reporting that the actress has been offered the role, but also noted that outside of securing Josh Brolin for the lead, Lee has been having a difficult time lining up the rest of the cast. Rooney Mara and Mia Wasikowska have both reportedly passed on the role previously.

Olsen first burst onto the scene last year at Sundance with her starring role in the indie dramas Martha Marcy May Marlene and The Silent House. This year she returned to the film festival with Red Lights. Even if she does go on to pass on the film, I doubt that we won’t be seeing more from the actress in the near future.

We’ve known even before we saw it in the trailers that the Avengers would be facing off against some alien invaders. There’s been lots of speculation as to which one of Marvel Comics many alien races would fill the bill, and much of it has been contradictory. Marvel Studios, for their part, have played coy with the answer and so the debate has carried on.

And as we wait for the new Avengers trailer to hit later today, we have the latest clue as to who those alien invaders may be. In the below report from this past weekend’s Toy Fair in Manhattan, one of the reps from Lego lets slip with a name that may sound familiar to die-hard Marvel Comics fans. If you don’t want to sit through the entire report (and the reporter’s way-too-perky reportage), the relevant quote comes at the 3:50 mark.

“An alien Ord character.”

Could the Lego rep be misspeaking slightly and referring to an alien named Ord who appeared in Avengers writer/director Joss Whedon’s run on the comic series Astonishing X-Men?

Ord was a warrior from a planet called Breakworld and he caused a fair amount of trouble for Marvel’s mutant heroes. Take a look at Ord as he appeared in the comics and a screen grab of the aliens briefly glimpsed in the Avengers Super Bowl trailer. Wardrobe notwithstanding, there is definitely a bit of a resemblance there.

Could the rep have been referring to Ord as a singular character, the leader of the alien army that Loki will summon to wreck vengeance on Earth?

Now I know what you may be thinking – If this guy appeared in an X-Men comic, shouldn’t their movie rights be tied-up over at Twentieth Century Fox with the rest of the X-Men character rights? Well, Fox secured the rights to the X-Men characters back in the mid-1990s and Ord didn’t appear in print until 2004. Since these rights contracts are VERY specific as to what characters are included, I doubt that Fox has just a blanket agreement that would allow them access to any character to appear in an X-Men comic even after the signing of the initial contract.

The Avengers hits theaters on May 4.

Via Comic Book Movie.

Disney has just under a week and a half to go to get people interested in seeing John Carter, their $250 epic adaption of the Edgar Rice Burroughs pulp hero. This latest trailer ramps up the excitement factor that t he movie contains, and between this and the television ads that just started running featuring positive pull quotes, I wish Disney had been doing this for the last few weeks.  This trailer spells out so much more what the film is about and I hope that there is enough time for it to sink in and excite potential ticket buyers.

For a while it looked as if this was never going to come, Disney announced that production has finally begun on their adaption of the classic western radio and television hero The Lone Ranger.

Although it stars Johnny Depp, who has always brought the audiences for his films with the studio, Disney nearly cancelled the project over budgetary concerns back in August. Director Gore Verbinski  jumped in and managed to slash a few things out of the script in order to get the budget down to the neighborhood of $210 million, a figure that the studio was more comfortable with. Along the way, though, actor Dwight Yoakum had to drop out of the project siting a scheduling conflict.

Now it just remains to be seen if all the drama will be worth it, but we’ll have to wait until May 31, 2013 to find out.

Here is Disney’s press release announcing the beginning of production -

BURBANK, Calif. (February 27, 2012) — Production has commenced on location in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado on Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ epic adventure “The Lone Ranger.” The film reunites the filmmaking team of the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” blockbusters—producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski—with Johnny Depp, who created Captain Jack Sparrow in his iconic, Academy Award®-nominated performance and contributed the voice of the title character of Verbinski’s Academy Award-winning “Rango.”

Depp plays spirit warrior Tonto in “The Lone Ranger,” with Armie Hammer (“The Social Network,” “J. Edgar”) starring in the title role. Depp and Hammer are joined by a prestigious international cast which includes Tom Wilkinson, two-time Academy Award nominee (“Michael Clayton,” “In the Bedroom”) and Golden Globe® and Emmy® winner (“John Adams”); William Fichtner (Jerry Bruckheimer’s productions of “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and “Black Hawk Down”); Emmy Award-winner Barry Pepper (TV’s “The Kennedys,” “True Grit,” “Saving Private Ryan”); James Badge Dale (“The Grey,” TV’s “The Pacific” and “Rubicon”); Ruth Wilson (television’s “Jane Eyre” and “Luther”); and two-time Academy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe nominee Helena Bonham Carter (“The King’s Speech,” “Alice in Wonderland”). The film is slated to open in the US on May 31, 2013.

“The Lone Ranger” is a thrilling adventure infused with action and humor, in which the famed masked hero is brought tolife through new eyes. Native American spirit warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid (Armie Hammer), a man of the law, into a legend of justice—taking the audience on a runaway train of epic surprises and humorous friction as the two unlikely heroes must learn to work together and fight against greed and corruption.

“The Lone Ranger” is written by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” Eric Aronson and Justin Haythe. The executive producers are Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Eric Ellenbogen and Eric McLeod.

Jerry Bruckheimer and Gore Verbinski are joined by a remarkable team of behind-the-scenes artists, including director of photography Bojan Bazelli (Verbinski’s “The Ring,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”); visual consultant Mark “Crash” McCreery (production designer of Verbinski’s “Rango”); costume designer Penny Rose (“Pirates of the Caribbean” films); film editor James Haygood (“Panic Room,” “Fight Club”); visual effects supervisor Tim Alexander (“Rango,” three “Harry Potter” films); Academy Award®-winning special effects supervisor John Frazier, a 10-time nominee whose previous collaborations with Jerry Bruckheimer have included “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and, with Verbinski as well, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”; and stunt coordinator Thomas Robinson Harper (“Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2″).

Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Gore Verbinski has enjoyed tremendous box office success as the innovative director of both character-driven franchises and thoughtful genre-bending fare. Most recently, Verbinski released his first animated film, the smash hit “Rango,” starring Johnny Depp. Grossing over $240 million worldwide, the film won the Academy Award for Best Animated FeatureFilm, as well as BAFTA and Annie awards, and received Golden Globe® and PGAnominations. Verbinski previously helmed the hit franchise “Pirates of the Caribbean,” directing the first three films starring Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley. The films have collectively grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide since release. He made his directorial debut with “Mouse Hunt,” starring Nathan Lane, followed by the road movie “The Mexican,” starring Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and James Gandolfini. He also directed the smash horror film “The Ring,” starring Naomi Watts.

Verbinski is also a successful award-winning commercial director, having been honored with four Clio Awards and a Cannes Silver Lion Award for his work on an assortment of memorable advertising spots. In addition, he directed music videos for bands including Bad Religion and Crystal Method.

First in partnership with Don Simpson, and then as the chief of Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Bruckheimer has produced an unprecedented string of worldwide smashes, impacting not only the industry, but mass culture as well. Bruckheimer’s films include (producing with Don Simpson) “Top Gun,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Beverly Hills Cop 2,” “American Gigolo,” “Flashdance,” “Bad Boys,” “Dangerous Minds,” “Crimson Tide,” “The Rock,” and (producing solo) “Con Air,” “Armageddon,” “Enemy of the State,” “Gone in 60 Seconds,” “Coyote Ugly,” “Remember the Titans,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” “Bad Boys II,” “Veronica Guerin,” “King Arthur,” “National Treasure,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” and the 2011 blockbuster “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”

On television, Bruckheimer had an unprecedented 10 television series airing in the 2005-6 season, a record in the medium for an individual producer. JBTV’s series include “C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation” and its spinoffs “C.S.I.: Miami,” “C.S.I.: NY” and “Without a Trace,” “Cold Case” and the eight-time Emmy® Award-winner “The Amazing Race.”

Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Television have been honored with 41 Academy Award® nominations, six wins, eight GRAMMY® Award nominations, five wins, 23 Golden Globe® nominations, four wins, 105 Emmy® Award nominations, 21 wins, 30 People’s Choice nominations, 15 wins, numerous MTV Awards, including one for Best Picture of the Decade for “Beverly Hills Cop.”

“The Lone Ranger” will film exteriors and studio work in New Mexico, followed by locations in Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

Television director Brian Kirk is in talks with Lionsgate/Summit Entertainment to helm their new adaption of the Robert Ludlum spy thriller The Osterman Weekend. The Luther and Game Of Thrones helmer has been looking to break into features as of late. Last August he was close to signing on to direct Thor 2 before Marvel Studio decided to go with Patty Jenkins.

Kirk has also been developing a potential Tom Cruise film called Paper Wings for Sony and Midnight Delivery with producer Guillermo Del Toro at Universal.

Previously adapted in 1983 by the great Sam Peckinpah, this new version of Ludlum’s classic novel is being scripted by Simon Kinberg and Jesse Wigutow. There’s no word yet as to whether the studio wants to go with the script that they have or if Kirk will oversee revisions.

Via Deadline.

The new poster for The Avengers has hit the Internet today, and, for the first time, we get to see the whole team on one page. More discussions after the poster.

It is always fun to over-analyze these things. And that’s just what I’ll do now.

1. Judging by my piss-poor knowledge of Manhattan, it appears we are looking west from First or Second Avenue, judging by the Chrysler Building being on the right. What throws me off is that other than the Chrysler Building, none of the architecture quite matches. There should be an overpass directly past the Chrysler, crossing over 42nd Street at Park that just ain’t in the poster, folks. It should be right behind Sam Jackson’s head. That overpass leads Park around Grand Central Terminal. If you recall, we do see some signage in the trailer that indicates that some of the action takes place near GCT, or, well, a Cleveland-ized version of GCT. So, it’s safe to say that the alien invasion will be hitting the East Side of Manhattan near 42nd Street. Perhaps the battle will start at the United Nations building which is right at the end of 42nd street facing the river.
2. Another piece of architecture that is out of place, this time deliberately, is the addition of the Stark Tower in the background. This would be the Manhattan headquarters of Stark Industries and in the present-day comics serves as the Avengers home base. Not sure this will carry over into the film, but if it does, they will be pretty close to the action.
3. From the looks of it, it seems the Stark Tower is located directly in the heart of Midtown, perhaps even on Times Square.  Again, as you recall at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, Cap wakes up in present day Manhattan and is a few steps from Times Square (at least being able to run there from where he was held). It was implied that Cap was at a S.H.I.E.L.D. installation, but could he have woken up at Stark Tower? It is possible that both Stark Tower and that S.H.I.E.L.D. installation could be on the same block in the busiest section of Manhattan, but it could be something else. And here, you thought that all Times Square had nowadays were overpriced theme restaurants, gaudy neon signage, and dicey bodegas selling cheaply made tourist souvenirs.
4. In something not tied into me being anal about Manhattan geography and trying to play into the world-building for the franchise, for some reason I find it funny that those who normally wears a mask isn’t wearing one.  It has the air of a contractually-mandated dictum that we must see Mr. Evans and Mr. Downey Jr’s faces in any and all publicity for the film, but it kind of spoils the tense mood the poster is trying to create. I want to scream, “Tony! Put your helmet on! The aliens who may or may not be the Skrulls are coming!”
5. And I don’t know if this is deliberate or not (but it probably is) the character who have already had movies are pretty much arranged, front to back, in the order of their films’ grosses.
6. Also, does the fact that Scarlett Johansson is the only member of the cast who does not have a solo film whose face isn’t obscured with shadow mean that the Black Widow will be the first of the non-film group to get their own movie? Or is it just because Scar Jo is gorgeous?
7. Love the “A” in May. Love it.

The Avengers opens May 4.

During the memorial segment at the Oscars this past Sunday, I saw a lot of people initially scratch their head as to why Steve Jobs was included. They had forgotten that not only was Apple the developer of the Final Cut software that is used throughout the industry, he was also an important figure in the founding of PIXAR.

Next Friday, John Carter, the first live-action film from PIXAR director Andrew Stanton, will open in theaters. And when it does, it will bare a title card where the director dedicates the movie to Jobs stating “Dedicated to the Memory of Steve Jobs, an Inspiration to Us All.”

When asked about the dedication during a recent round of press for the film, Stanton gave a heartfelt answer about his wanting to pay tribute to a colleague and friend.

We just happened to be, sadly, the first production up that was Disney that wanted to give [a dedication]. And I personally wanted to. I talked to John [Lassater] about it because I didn’t want to steal any thunder from Pixar’s dedication because that’s really the real family member for Steve. But it felt right just cause I didn’t want too much time to pass without giving him some sort of permanent acknowledgement. And I talked to his wife.

It was kind of eerie because on the set I would get asked all the time, from all these people, ‘What Pixar was like?’ And it was fascinating to talk to all these movie people that knew all the films, but some of them didn’t even know Pixar was in San Francisco. It was funny. They knew of us, they knew of these movies and knew there was something different but they didn’t get it to the point [where they knew] where we were and stuff. And it would be such a long explanation to them about, trying to tell them why it ran differently and why the movie came out the way they did, that I ended up just simplifying my answer down to ‘Steve. Steve’s why.’

And I did really realize how much, because I was now living it. I was now pregnant with the dysfunction of Hollywood to make this movie and how this all works, the good and the bad, and it was amazing to see how much he had firewalled us from. Like we knew he had, but he had truly firewalled us and protected us from all the bad influences of the outside world and we had just been raised in this little eden in San Francisco and had no clue how bad it could be. And so I really have to give so much more credit to him than I ever was, even though I always was, of how much he was a major factor for Pixar.

Via SlashFilm.

As the Oscars just showed us Sunday, Hollywood loves movies about movies. So maybe it should come as no surprise that Walt Disney is in the process of developing a film based on the story of how studio founder Uncle Walt himself went about securing the rights to the British children’s book Mary Poppins from its author P L Travers and is currently in talks with The Blind Side director John Lee Hancock to direct.

The project got its start with a spec screenplay written by Kelly Marcel, which managed to land on last year’s Black List. Disney is still in the process of acquiring the screenplay, but considering that they own much of the screen rights for Mary Poppins, it seems doubtful that Marcel has too many other places to shop the script. There are rumors that Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep are interested in roles in the film, but I honestly think it would take more than just a spoonful of sugar to help me swallow that.

Although Mary Poppins is considered one of the studio’s classics, Travers was very upset with the final product. She considered her novel to be very personal as she had infused it with things from her own life and relationship with her father. Expressing disappoint with how the film turned out, Travers refused to work with Disney again.

Via Deadline.