Hammond On Cannes: Robert Redford’s Brave New Role … 
Hot Trailer: Jennifer Aniston And Jason Sudeikis’ … 
Warner Bros Tells Space Story, From The Bra Designers Who … 
Brad Pitt’s Plan B Banner Promotes Jeremy Kleiner As … 
Hot Trailer: ‘Don Jon’ 
Billy Crystal-Starring Comedy From Matt Nix & Larry … 
UPDATE: Toronto Lands World Premiere Of Godfrey … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Dancing With The Stars’ … 
CBS Reups Tony Awards Through 2018 
HBO, FX Lead Critics’ Choice TV Awards — But … 
Hammond On Cannes: A New Day Comes To The Fest As HBO and … 
Cannes: Lionsgate Acquires U.S. On Guillaume Canet’s … 
Cannes: Radius-TWC Buys Keanu Reeves’ Helming Debut … 
Cannes: Fleming Reflects And Finds Talented Trio A Breath … 
Hot Trailer: ‘Man Of Steel’ 
Former Digital Domain CEO & Auditors Sued For Fraud By … 
Fox Acquires ‘Narc’; Zac Efron Attached To Play … 
ABC’s ‘Nashville’ Undergoes Production … 
CBS Wins Season & Ties Sweep In Demo; ABC Tops Adults … 
Mike Lobell Adds Cast To ‘Eisner,’ Plots … 
Sony Shares Rise On Report That It Will Consider … 
I’m told Marvel Studios is in final negotiations for Buffy the Vampire Slayer series architect Joss Whedon to direct Marvel Studios’ The Avengers. That’s the fast-tracked film that would amount to an all-star team of Marvel superheros, including Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), as well as SHIELD leader Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Other signature superheros will likely be involved, but I’ve listed the actors in active superhero duty. Whedon has been rumored for this job for awhile, and is high on the fanboy wish-list. He’s an interesting choice: despite his writing/producing TV series resume, his lone feature directing effort, Serenity, was not a hit. After Iron Man 2, Marvel has three pictures left on a distribution deal with Paramount before it moves to Disney, and the studio has been churning them out. Iron Man 2 gets released in May, Captain America will begin shooting this summer in Europe, Thor is in production, and Marvel Studios just set Pete Sollett to direct Runaways, based on the comic book series created by Lost writer Brian K. Vaughan. Whedon has written installments of the latter, so he knows how to make those superheros fly. Marvel has considered all of the individual superhero movies to be an intro to The Avengers, so the wanna-see on this one will be huge. The film will be released in the first weekend of May, 2012.
Loading ...
Finally, some COMMON SENSE!
Team Whedon.
Whedon sucks….just my opinion
He is awesome IMO!
Overrated yes, but sucks? Not really.
Whedon sucks? I have only one thing to say to that: Firefly.
That show was AMAZING!
HECK YES
RIP FIREFLY…
this is a really bad move. i’ve watched buffy and firefly, but he doesn’t have the chops to direct a real super hero movie
But “Mikey” from Swingers did?
ha! nice one!
hahaha good one
The Buffy-verse was super-heroic enough for me, so…
I believe this movie is really interesting.
Sorry. Love Love Love Buffy. Hated Firefly and Dollhouse.
Him getting the job makes me wonder. How can he handle Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America in one movie when he couldn’t even get a Wonder Woman movie off the ground?
If anything, Wonder Woman is something he should have been able to do EASY!
The problem with the “Wonder Woman” project lies with DC, not Joss. He wanted to bring the franchise back to its roots (You know, back in the 1940′s when its creator was writing it?). Since the 1950′s, the Wonder Woman franchise has been much less than it was originally envisioned to be. Joss wanted to go all the way back to the beginning and let a whole new generation know Dr. William Moulton Marston’s vision really was. DC wasn’t keen on the idea and that’s the sad part.
Marvel is running out of characters that are easy to feign naturalism with. The robot suit and the monster were easy to swallow- here comes the norse god, and the guy with the shield, chainmail, and wings on his head.
The problem is that the Marvel universe is a playfully bizarre fantasy pastiche where mythology, technology, and aliens mingle, and creators and fans are too busy trying to make comics “respectable” and “serious” to make the over-the-top, slightly CAMPY (yeah, I said it) Marvel Mayhem Movie that Stan himself is probably itching to see.
If they pull of The Avengers I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
ummm…really? Within the realm of comics…Marvel is vastly less campy than DC…so I’m not sure where we need to look for a less campy comic book world.
Yes they blend a bit of everything…but they have managed to do so in a very believeable way…and they’ve (pretty much) always kept the humanity at the center of their stories. In fact DC as a company would simply not exist if not for their shift in storytelling to the “Marvel” way. Many DC fans would dispute this out of a sense of loyalty, but the fact remains that their success of the last decade has rested on their shift in storytelling.
Thor and Captain America have the potential to be every bit as “believeable” as any other comic character we’ve seen on the bigscreen.
Stan may have enjoyed a bit of camp…don’t all of us who don’t take ourselves too seriously?…but a realistic human experience is what he is most known for by those with actual familiarity of his work…and why four color comics have managed to conitnuie to this day.
…which is exactly why we need Joss Whedon on this project. Don’t you agree?
Um… No.
.
Sorry, to rephrase, YES to anything pro-Whedon.
But to say that Marvel was at the head of the comics shift of the last few decades is just not true. The shift we’re seeing now, after the Dark Age of comics, is a return to the light-hearted style of pre-Watchmen and Sandman comics, combined with (in the better cases) the quality writing and thoughtfulness of Watchmen and the Sandman. Vertigo, an imprint of DC, produced both of these incredibly-successful, dark, well-written, etc. pieces.
This is not to say mainstream Marvel might not be less camp/better written than DC, but Vertigo is frankly the industry’s real innovator (recently, at least). Warren Ellis, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, all of them Vertigo writers.
No offense to Stan, of course. Spider HYPHEN Man is still going strong
Bad move, I think. Im a big comic fan but not a whedonite – his stuff is just too melodramatic and trite to me. I just hope he’s not involved with the script. The could have gotten a more solid technician like Jonathan Mostow for just as cheap.
Melodramatic and trite? Say whaaaat?
Valmurph I’m sorry, but you’re so far wide of the mark. Jonathan “surrogates” Mostow christ!. The man made the worst Terminator movie in a series which included a film directed by McG. Whedon is absolutely perfect for this movie, the movie will definitely require actors acting and punchy dialogue, he’s perfect. Image the explosion turd Louis Leterrier would have made? Well done Marvel another great leftfield director choice.
GO JOSS!!!!! WOHH!!! WE LUV YAH’, MAN!!! <3333
Joss Whedon’s stuff is a lot of things, but I’ve never heard it called TRITE before. lol Do you even know what that word means?
Edward… Long-forgotten “Buffy”? By whom? Buffy is still a huge part of our culture… and not just nerd culture. Notice that the word Buffy is in the first two sentences of every news article about this and not Whedon’s most recent projects. Why? Because the news writers know that most people still remember it as Whedon’s definitive work.
trite : adj – lacking in freshness or effectiveness because of constant use or excessive repetition; hackneyed.
Yeh, Wheldom sure is repetitious… Repetitiously AWESOME! He’s the only one who could take this sub-par hero team and give it legs. Him and Robby D Jr. = Frakkin’ gold.
trite : adj – lacking in freshness or effectiveness because of constant use or excessive repetition; hackneyed.
Yeh, Wheldon sure is repetitious… Repetitiously AWESOME! The OP up there is obviously smokin’ the wrong stuff. He’s the only one who could take this sub-par hero team and give it legs. Him and Robby D Jr. = Frakkin’ gold.
sub-par hero team? You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about. Iron Man is now the star of the super-hero universe. Up there with Batman and Spider-Man. He’s an icon that goes back to the ’60′s. Captain America is an American icon. Everyone knows who he is, even if they’ve never read a comic book in their life because his culture inspiring publications back in during WWII. Unlike Superman, he hasn’t given up on the “American Way.” Thor goes all the way back to Norse legend and myth, like Zeus does for Greek mythology. The Hulk, another superhero legend will be in the film as well, and you can’t get any cooler than Sam Jackson playing another 70 year plus comic icon (moderized Ultimates version) – Nick Fury.
He shouldn’t be involved with the script, you say? Did he not have a hand in the scripting of the Toy Story franchise?
You would be correct in that assumption. That’s where he won his Oscar, Best Screenplay from Toy Story.
Very clever Mr. Mostow, call yourself valmurph and try to angle for another job??? Very clever indeed!
Melodramatic? Trite? WTF? I’m a lover of Whedon, but even I will cope to his shortcomings. Dollhouse …. wa-wa (trumpet noise).
But he’s anything BUT repetitious or dramatic for the sake of being dramatic. And hello, what do you think comic book heroes are? Shits and giggles? The glory of comics is the drama mixed with the ideal that there is a greater good worth fighting for. Which, in fact, is EVERYTHING Joss Whedon’s writing/directing stands for.
I just hope this doesn’t fall through like Wonder Woman. That took me awhile to get over.
Actually, Dollhouse had an interesting concept, it was just paced wrong. It should not have taken a season and a half to start introducing us to the bigger plotline. It wasn’t that bad, if you watched the whole thing.
I think one of the things that really hurt Dollhouse was Fox’s advertising. They sold it as “watch how hot Eliza Dushku is” rather than suggesting it was going to have actual content. Fox really doesn’t understand nerd genres much.
No, they don’t. Which is why many of us that follow Joss Whedon were having epic moments of “/facepalm” upon hearing that Dollhouse was going to be under the Fox banner.
Fox wouldn’t know good content even if it knocked them upside the head. I mean, they’ve cancelled “Family Guy”… TWICE! I’m inclined to believe that the pacing of Dollhouse was Fox’s idea and not Joss’s. They want to sensationalize everything and believe that their audience has the attention span of a dog… SQUIRREL!
Mostow? Are you kidding? he’s the man who ruined the Terminator franchise. Whedon has a good sense of pacing and character development. This might be a good move on Marvel’s part.
Ummm … a comics fan.
Objecting “melodramatic and trite”?
That describes most of the real fanboy favourites (outside of, maybe, “Watchmen”).
“Watchmen” was EPIC, wasn’t it? As a fangirl, I was put away totally exhausted, satisfied, and totally not wanting to be touched anymore. Best geek-gasm I’ve ever had.
Actually, he IS involved:
(source: http://www.imdb.com)
The Avengers (2012)
Writers:
Zak Penn (screenplay)
Joss Whedon (screenplay)
I think that due to the high budget of the film already, because there’s at least five huge stars that need to have huge paychecks, as well as the actual movie itself, that this is a smart move all around. Joss will not get as much money as more sought after directors, and is a huge name for the fanbase. And for Joss- he really really deserves this. He deserves to finally be recognized, this has the potential to be one of the biggest movies of all time. Its win-win.
I disagree, Valmurph. Firefly was very innovative, and Whedon’s comfortable enough in the comic ‘verse to make this work. Besides, some of the most successful comic book movies to date have been dramatic.
val murph: you’re way off about Whedon as a technician. Regardless of your opinion of Whedon’s writing style (something that won’t be an issue here because he isn’t writing Avengers – though he was an Academy Award nominee for Toy Story), Whedon is a very strong technical director. He did great work in the crafting of the Serenity movie, especially in the stellar long take shot through the ship at the beginning of the movie. Plus he’s done good work at keeping at doing impressive effects work with a lesser budget – he’ll put the millions and millions given to Avengers to good use.
How can you say Serenity was not a hit? Yes, it was a cult hit, but out of the box office it has done very well.
For Serenity to be classed as a hit, it would have had have done well enough for the studio to make a sequel. It’s obvious that everyone involved would have liked to make more films (it’s a continuing story) and clearly it didn’t make enough money for the studio to make a sequel.
According to Box Office Mojo, the worlwide gross of the movie fell short of the budget – and a large proportion of the gross doesn’t make it back to the studio. By January 16, it had apparently grossed about $10 million in DVD sales and rentals but, again, the studio would only get part of that money, so the movie would be unlikely to have broken even by then.
So,if it has made a profit by now, it’s probably a modest one that was a long time coming – and definitely not enough to greenlight a sequel. I’d say that makes it not a hit.
The reason there was no sequel to Serenity is that none was ever planned, regardless of its performance. Serenity was Josh Whedon’s “goodbye” to the series. He has stated that he wanted to make Serenity as the grand finale of Firefly and then move on to other projects. As for Whedon’s direction of Serenity, he did an excellent job. The chemistry between all the characters is rare to find in a movie. The special effects were top notch even without a big budget. Josh Whedon created his own cultures through Firefly and Serenity. The dialogue, in my opinion, was instrumental in conveying the cultural varieties of the Firefly ‘verse. It is original. Something greatly missing in Hollywood and television these days. Look at Avatar. Visually stunning, but talk about your trite dialogue. Was there even one original line in that movie? Or even in interesting line? Can anybody even quote a line from the movie? I sat there for almost three hours and all I can remember is the visuals. There is not one line of dialogue that I can remember. Yet I can quote lines from Serenity and Firefly all day long. Josh is a visionary when it comes to writing and his directing skills are second to none. He will do a great job on this movie if the script is good. If the script sucks, I hope Josh will re-write it. That will perk it up.
How in the hell is it that “WhedonFan” doesn’t even know the man’s first name?
“Josh” Whedon? While I agree with your comments -certainly as regards originality, cultural distinction, excellent dialogue and general quotability, I’m shocked that you got his name wrong. It’s Joss, man.
Unless that’s just his Equity/screen name, or something… =)
Brain said “Joss”, fingers typed “Josh”. I have a good friend whose name is Josh. Got the two twisted…..
Serentiy was a close to the story told in Firefly. I don’t believe a sequel or any sort of follow up was even planned. It may have been mentioned but only in off-hand “maybe” context.
Cult hit or popular hit doesn’t matter. Serenity was meant for the fans of Firefly and possibly an introduction for others who would look to the series for history of the characters.
Whedon is a good choice for Avengers. He has a solid history of developing chemistry between characters and has directed some fairly inventive/entertaining action sequnces.
For it to be a hit it’d have to merit a sequel?
Have you seen a sequel to “Sound of Music”
?
A Sequel to “Ben Hur”
A Sequel to “Pulp Fiction”
has there been a huge clamor for a sequel to “ET”. I must have missed the sequel for “Schindler’s List”, And why no “Forrest Gump II” ?
Look, a film can be a decent earner without being a box-office burndown. Serentity had a production budget of $39M, and had a total run of $37. Which isn’t good. Then again, on a film with minor expense, as it goes on, it earns money. More then most properties, Serenity has retained value on the second market, DVD, HD-DVD, BlueRay, collectors sets, etc. It’s what you’d call a “second success”. There will be no clamor for a sequel, but the studio isn’t licking it’s wounds over losses, and it’s return has been respectable for the risk laid out.
Meanwhile, a film like this will have a large production budget, celebrities, etc. and is basically a lock for box-office-boom. Getting Whedon is a smart money pick because his fans, for whatever crazed reason, snap up his stuff long after it’s been run into the ground on cable TV/elsewhere. So, take a sure fire hit, and build in a director with some comic book cred as a well thought of writer for many Marvel series, and you’ve got the kind of thing that makes the geeks in the audience happy, and the people who’d see it anyway don’t really care. (See: Transformers2)
So, win-win.
Don’t forget that copy of “Rocky Horror Picture Show II” that is gathering imaginary dust on that imaginary shelf in that imaginary living room…
Or how about “Gone With the Wind II”? Especially since there was a sequel to the original book written…
I think Whedon will be a good choice, and I’m not particularly a comic book fan (though my husband is). Just having seen Buffy, Firefly, Serenity, and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog make that point clear enough to me.
Also, sometimes it doesn’t matter how good the director is. If the script or the actor chemistry isn’t there, then even the best director can make a flop of a movie.
Ahem, excuse me… had something caught in my throat there… also, comic books are in and of themselves a sort of cult following (for all that it’s a fairly large cult). To get a big-name director in on a project like the Avengers would almost be like an insult in my mind. I think with a “lesser known” (and I use that term sparingly) director, with any luck the movie will be closer to any of the actual comics than, say, a movie directed by Spielburg, Lucas, Bay, or Cameron would be… especially Bay… for example, until I saw Iron man, I had no idea who Jon Favreau was, and Iron Man was a spectacular movie. Even I, the comic book r-tard, enjoyed it and started pawing through my husband’s comic collection. My husband had a nerd-gasm over it and is drooling over the upcoming sequel.
Long, long, long story short, I think Joss is a perfect choice for this.
The sequel to Rocky Horror Picture Show was called Shock Therapy. Also, calling Rocky Horror a hit is a pretty big stretch. It gained a massive cult following for what it was, but a mainstream hit it most certainly was not, and lumping it in with movies like Gone With the Wind is ridiculous.
That said, I fully expect Whedon to turn the awesome on Avengers up to 11.
Shock TREATMENT is the “sequel” to Rocky Horror and is not very good.
Serenity was not a hit in the mainstream by any means. Yes, it has a cult following of ravenous fans, but to the general public it was just another space flick. The people you talk to are probably large Firefly fans so this skews your view of whats a hit. Go to any large gathering of ppl and ask random ppl if they’ve heard of Serenity/Firefly. Not many have. I personally am a fan of Whedon, but not going to follow the mark of so many other comments here of “ZOMG GO WHEDON, WE LOVE YOU!!” … we shall see what comes of this movie.
1. Good luck controlling all those egos on set.
2. This will NOT be as big as you think. Ensemble action flicks just aren’t working. Watch what happens to The Losers. And remember Watchmen?
Watchmen was really not an “all star” cast by any stretch of the imagination.
Listen, “Watchmen” and “The Losers” were properties relatively unknown to mainstream audiences prior to the film adaption release. Their box office success, or lack thereof, has little if anything to do with them being ensemble action flicks.
“Iron Man 2″ will be huge. Provided the quality of MARVEL films continues with the next few down the pipeline; “The Avengers” will be massive. The movie-going populace will be more than willing to drop their cash to see Iron Man and the protagonists of the other successful MARVEL films together in one epic picture. In this sense, “The Avengers” as an ensemble film is comparable to the “X-Men” movies except that all the major superheroes making up the team will be familiar to the general audience well ahead of time; with the film and DVD releases, continuity cameos, etc. It’s performance should be comparable to the “Transformers” films if not better.
I just fear what will happen to the quality of the Marvel films once they move over to Disney…
Somehow in my mind I can easily see Disney having Iron Man’s suit become pink vs. red, and Tony Stark dancing around in a butterfly-filled field trying to kiss a friggin’ princess while singing a musical number…
To that I reply: Pirates of the Caribbean. Prince of Persia. National Treasure. Just because it’s Disney doesn’t mean it features singing woodland creatures and ball gowns.
Wow… touche on that one. In all seriousness, I am a little frightened at what will become of Marvel under Disney, but not too afraid. I did enjoy the Pirates movies and National Treasure, so we’ll see.
Watchmen failed because a rock ‘em sock ‘em director tried to do the same thing he did with 300. It was ill-conceived to make a movie out of the book in the first place; it was even more ill-conceived to make an action flick out of it. Plot elements were changed, character roles were minimized, and the entire movie (Jackie Earle Haley excepted) was miscast. The graphic novel was intended to legitimize comics as an art form in and of themselves by creating something that just wouldn’t work anywhere else, including the screen. Clearly, it succeeded.
My distaste for them casting Chris Evans as Cap aside, any self-respecting Marvel junkie should be absolutely giddy at the prospect of good ol’ Joss directing The Avengers. The number of bad comic book movies far outweighs the number of good ones, and this is a real chance to have a genuinely intelligent director at the helm of something he obviously cares about. Did everybody forget the well-received Astonishing X-Men? And what about his stint with Runaways? He has proven time and again that he can do comics; he can do dialogue; and he can do character development. He’s got my vote.
@ Whedon is a Hack: Buffy was a huge hit. It was on my radar as an American child living on the German economy, where no American television was to be seen. That’s no modest feat. Whedon himself has been quoted as despising Alien Resurrection, as the tone was taken out of his hands by the director of the film (French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet) and shifted to said director’s trademark style. Watch Delicatessen to see what I mean. Whedon’s most recent shows have indeed been flops. This, however, does not speak to the shows’ conception, writing, or production value; it merely says that the network television-watching public demands more entertainment and less requirement for thinking. If Joss were to go to HBO or Showtime, he’d probably become television’s new golden boy. Fox just happens to be the network that kept offering him money. Ratings and money do not commensurate the quality or artistic/literary merit of a show.
I don’t get why Whedon is always in a perpetual state of demand. He’s only had one success in the entirety of his career with Buffy, and it was a modest one at that. The man’s alleged rabid fanbase has never translated into enormous viewership in either arena of television or film. His horrible script for Alien 4 was totally incongruous with the tone of the series and killed it off for all intents and purposes. There had to have been more talented people out there who tried in vain to get their own projects off the ground during the span when Whedon was allowed to create misfire after misfire. Don’t tell me how great or misunderstood Firefly was. The show got horrible ratings, and the movie was a flop.
Firefly, Angel, Buffy, Serenity, Dr horrible were all excellent works.
Firefly was the best sci-fi show ever filmed, better than even BS:G and Serenity was a very good continuation of the series.
Buffy & Angel are so awesome that they are still continuing (albeit, in comic-book form) as Buffy Season 8 and Angel: After the Fall, respectively.
If you think ratings and popularity dictate the quality of movies and shows, then Avatar, Transformers 2 and Twilight are all excellent works of art. The sad truth is that 75% of the population is retarded and wouldn’t know a good concept if it molested them in broad daylight dressed as a Playboy bunny.
Oh, and read the original script for Alien 4. The one that made it into the movie was heavily, emphasis on heavily, reworked.
You, sir, are my new best friend.
The Alien 4 script was brilliant, totally loved the film overall .. in my opinion it’s sorely under-rated and as time has passed many I’m sure will agree with me.
I love this guy, he does intelligent, funny, creative work and I think he’s going to bring something really cool to Marvel.
The Aliens franchise was killed off by Aliens 3, not 4.
Firefly got horrible ratings because Fox never promoted it. They treated the series like crap.
It wasn’t just a case of Fox not advertising it. I watched it when it first came out, and really liked it, but Fox put it up against serious out of the park heavy hitters for time slots. If I remember rightly, when it was canceled, Fox was looking for the show that was going to dethrone American Idol. Any show you put up against American Idol back in the day was gonna fail to get strong ratings because half the planet was watching Idol.
I’m sorry…you’re saying that Fox wanted to dethrone Fox’s highest-rated show?
Let’s not forget: Aired episodes out of chronology, didn’t even play the original pilot until the series ended, wanted to make demands on the script, didn’t like the casting… I could go on about this for days and it wouldn’t solve anything.
Fox just doesn’t know a good content, is all. Like I’ve said, case in point: they’ve cancelled “Family guy”… TWICE!
Okay whoa, red light. I’ll state up front that I am unabashedly a Whedonite, so I suppose my objectivity is in question, but the statement of “the show got horrible ratings” as an argument against Firefly likely came about due to ignorance of the show’s airtime plight. Fox treated the show poorly and began airing it out of order, ruining continuity in a series where continuity, although not key, was still important. I can’t remember for sure, but I recall the actual timeslots being changed around as yet another setback for the fledgling show.
Firefly gets tons of nerd cred and Net cred and it’s easy to see why people might wanna’ downplay it, but the truth of the matter is that the show really did have the characteristically strong writing and witty, off-kilter reparte that define Whedon’s best works.
One can only hope the next few years treats Dollhouse the same way…although not as instantly charming, the series spun a complex and morally ambiguous tale (both in good ways) after a seriously rocky start that threw off most fans. The show proved that once again, Whedon’s shows can deliver with the odds slowly piled against it.
Ugh, the longer this post gets, the more the fanboy in me comes out and the more I realize that most people have already made up their minds on the subject, despite the clear indication from past critical successes in multiple significant media formats (not the least of which are his runs on Astonishing X-Men, considered to be some of the best mutant mischief since Claremont in the 70s-80s, and Runaways) that he’s a great choice. Time to cut this off and go to sleep.
Thank you! The Whedon faithful are always overly emotional in defense of their “GENIOUS OMG ELEVENTY!!” but the fact is his track record (TV and film) is spotty at best. Buffy was his apex; everything else except the mildly amusing Dr. Horrible has been less than stellar. Dollhouse was execrable; Firefly and Serenity acquired tastes. I doubt the validity of this item – “I’m told”? By whom? I read this same item on AICN weeks ago – it wasn’t true then, I doubt it’s true now. I think it’s purely wishful thinking by a Whedon acolyte.
Wow, I have read dumb comments before, but you take the cake. Do you like sci fi? Cause from what you are writting I think 24 maybe up your alley. The biggest problem with Dollhouse was it was to smart and high brow for the general public. Most firefly fans were to butt hurt to accept anything else from Joss than a firefly clone. Joss tried to get to smart in his story telling, fox hates sci fi thus did a terrible job advertising for it and frankly, most of you are to dumb to grasp the concept of a moral-less corporation, mind control, and hookers with guns in a struggle for world domination or salvation. sad sad sad
Unfortunately for this argument, a much cited one by Whedon-haters because it is just about the only solid “evidence” they have for Whedon’s short-comings as a writer, the script Whedon devised for Alien 4 was not only altered, but was written with completely different characterizations in mind for many of the central characters and set-scenes. The parts that WEREN’T altered were designed for very different personalities and situations than what made it into the version audiences saw. Most of the problem arose because Jean-Paul Jeunet and the producers altered characterization and scene, but then tinkered with some areas of the script and kept whole sections of it unaltered with no thought for whether it still matched the plot-line OR the characters who would be delivering the lines. A careful reading of the actual script, and then comparison to the characters we see on the screen in Jeunet’s final version, makes the claim that Whedon was responsible for the unholy mess that was Alien 4 questionable at best; it certainly indicates a complete lack of understanding of the complexities that go into making a film work and in adapting the printed page to the final screening.
Serenity made over 60 Million with DVD sales added. It made back the money it took to make the film with its release in theaters. The movie was not a flop, not that I think Whedon should direct this though…
This is the one, Marvel? In all seriousness? This is the one particular guy you entrust your crown jewels to? This buffoon with z-e-r-o movie success? Seriously? You get heavy hitters like Branagh, Favreau, Johnston to clear the field for this television clown who’s only worth mentioning for his long forgotten “Buffy”?
Oh, come again? “Firefly”? Yeah, that’s a fine credit. Like, duh.
Favreau is the producer.
He was pointing to the fact that Favreau directed both Iron Man films.
Whedon was the top choice to replace Singer when he bowed out of X3 for Superman Returns. He couldn’t do it because he was committed to Wonder Woman. The guy is a great idea for a movie like this.
Do you mean Wonder Woman the comic book?
First of all, saying he has had zero movie success implies that he has done dozens and dozens of movies, all of which have had poor box office draws, when in reality, Joss Whedon just hasn’t done much in the way of films, tending to prefer TV shows. And no, Serenity wasn’t huge in the box office but I know a lot, and I mean a lot, of people who said they were interested in it but had never seen the show and felt they would be lost. Hence why it was more of a success on DVD than in theaters. And don’t think that because a show has low ratings or gets cancelled that it was badly written or directed. Let’s not forget the cancellations of Family Guy or Futurama, both of which were fan faves and were revived.
And television clown? Really? Joss Whedon took a movie that didn’t get particularly good reviews or a huge box office draw and turned it into a seven season long television show with a huge cult following. A show which paved the way for other myth and story heavy hits, like Lost, not to mention setting the stage for strong female characters, like Alias’s Sydney Bristow.
Last but not least, never ever refer to Buffy as “long forgetten”. Anyone, including people in the entertainment industry and not just hardcore fans, will tell you that Buffy is still a television favorite even today. Entertainment Weekly mentions it at least once a month in an issue.
Also, let’s not forget a few things about Hollywood. On the topic of Directors with “cred”, I would like to mention, for a moment, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron.
“Star Wars” was released as only the second film that George Lucas had ever directed. “American Graffiti” didn’t do very well, though it had a rabid cult following. Once “Star Wars” was released, it almost instantly became a hit and continues to influence directors, actors, special effects, and so on to this day. It has a fan base that you can’t fit in a single conference center in the world, today. It has arguably made more money in the long term than just about any other movie. It was all because 20th Century Fox took a chance on the little guy.
Watching the early career of Steven Spielberg and Joss Whedon has uncanny similarities. Both come from major television fame, and Speilberg’s own film debut, “The Sugarland Express”, was a flop and most haven’t even heard about it. But, you put together a winning hand and you have one of the most successful Producer/Directors of all time (though, both at the same time is rare for him), once “Jaws” did its work… then “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”… you get the picture.
Cameron comes from a techie turning into the front man scenario. He was not very well known anywhere. He wasn’t even the first choice of Director for his directorial debut, which also didn’t do very well, but that movie gave him the inspiration needed for the icon we know today, “The Terminator”. Now, look at him!
Just goes to show, you take a chance on the lesser known (and let the director write the bloody script) and you end up with film gold, really. Also, take into consideration, how tired are we geeks of all the directors who much up a series we treasure with all our soul? Joss Whedon is one of us, guys. Let’s not forget that. He’ll stay true to the source material, mark my words.
I think Joss is a great choice
He wrote the “Astonishing X-Men” series – so he already has a good relationship with Marvel
Whedon might turn out to be a great choice, he’s appeared to be a potentially promising filmmaker for awhile now. A lot of his big projects fell through but you would think for such a huge project you would go the more bankable route instead of taking a gamble on Whedon who is unproven as a filmmaker of big movies.
I like Whedon but I’m not digging this news. He no doubt is good at ensemble writing but nothing I have seen suggests he can grasp the action beats needed for the ultimate super hero team up. He is actually much better suited for The Runaways than Avengers.
Joss Whedon nearly single handedly destroyed Runaways with his six issue run with his crap story-telling and absolute failure to understand the characters. Joss refuses to do research into the properties he takes over… don’t expect to see a familiar team of avengers once Joss molds each member into the cookie cutters of his Buffy characters.
Totally Agree!!
Keep in mind Joss has actually written comics (Astonishing X-Men, among others), and seems to have a great eye for comics movies. Check out some of the angles he used in Buffy and Angel…typical comic framing.
EPIC WIN
I agree. Now if only they would fire Johnson (The Wolfman) from Cap USA, I would be very happy.
When I saw the trailer for “The Wolfman” I was impressed, and it raised my hopes for the Captain America movie. When I saw the Wolfman movie, I had just the opposite feelings
Brilliant move – though I’m sad Fox didn’t snatch him up for X-MEN: FIRST CLASS. (Or better yet, a KITTY PRYDE spin-off with Ellen Page.) Whedon’s a great fit. He excels with ensembles, knows comics like pancakes know syrup, has a very Marvel-esque sensibility/voice, and has proven to be a damn good director on top of a brilliant writer.
I wonder how many folks who say they’re “not a Whedonite”, etc., have actually given Whedon’s work a very close look. (Especially if they also claim to be a comic fan. Did you not read his Astonishing X-Men run? Have you not been reading Buffy: Season 8? Brilliant stuff.)
And btw, very few directors get an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes for their first feature out of the gate. Yes, SERENITY didn’t exactly set the world on fire at the box office, but that had more to do with the title, which to mainstream audiences probably evoked adult diapers more than it did the tragically short-lived series it was based on, which had an entirely different name and was also seen by too few people.
This, on the other hand, will be huge. Way to go, Marvel.
And let’s not forget that his one major film, Serenity, was released exactly 30 days after Hurricane Katrina hit, and no one was paying attention to what was in theaters.
Firefly was, in my humble opinion, the epitome of what a sci-fi show could be.
Noooooooooooooooo!!!
This means all the mighty Marvel heroes will be reduced to snarking idiots!
“Let’s face it, this is not the worst thing you’ve caught me doing.”
-Tony Stark
Iron Man (2008)
I thank thee. But were I to cut my hair, my helmet would fall off.
-Thor Odinson
Earth-616 (1996)
your heroes have been snarky since birth.
Hell yes…and bravo to Marvel–for standing-up for a truly great writer/director!!! I can sometimes be Joss Whedon’s most harsh critic, because I know how great he can be when he believes in himself–and when he executes the even merger of art and commerce, he is at his best–but when he goes for the art, over his well being…commercially; specifically…to show the Hollywood ‘Big Wigs’ that such a merger can be done successfully, well, that is when Joss usually fails. That said, “Serenity” is one of the best films of the last ten years, and Joss’ TV efforts as a director/writer…have been truly stunning. “Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog” gave us 3 characters that we had never met before, and within 45 minutes, had us emotionally invested in them, loving them, caring for them, liking them, and cheering for them, so much so…that you laughed, and then were made to cry, and finally left in stunned shock and silence, in the end. Most of the latter was accomplished in a span of under 4 minutes–with a cold and shattering twist. Now that is just great writing, and great filmmaking–when you can take a silly harmless character, as your lead, and suddenly make him brutally evil, convincingly, and in that short of a timespan!!!
Further examples of Whedon’s best work can be found in the episode “The Body”, from Buffy The Vampire Slayer…which should have won him an Emmy, hands down, and “Once More With Feeling”, another stand-out episode, should have garnered Joss a second Emmy–industry politics aside, and “Objects In Space”, from the TV series “Firefly”…was masterful, and a tour-de-force. I refer all media journalists, film execs, and producers, to this episode, as well as “The Body”, “Once More With Feeling” and the other works that I mentioned, like “Serenity”…to really help you understand just what a great, and untapped talent, this man is. Truly one of the best kept secrets, in the industry.
Whedon has been ready to take his place alongside Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, and George Lucas…as an iconic filmmaker for many years now, and why the industry failed to open-up the door for him to do so, prior to this point, is puzzling and a shameful pity?
Kudos to Joss on this!!! Now, show the industry titans out there, what you are made of Joss–don’t ask for a seat at the table anymore, take your rightful seat at the head of the table, by driving home to them, once and for all, just what you can do, and why you have so many loyal fans!!! Congratulations Joss!!! Next, Wonder Woman–from your original script!!!!
As someone who considers “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” Season 2 to be the best season of television I’ve ever seen, and who considers the Avengers his favorite comic of all time, this news…fills me with a surprising amount of dread. Joss’s later work is devoid of humanity, relying on empty spectacle in service of Emmy-begging (“The Body”, “Once More With Feeling”), ridiculous “gotcha” plotting (The S1 Dollhouse finale, all the contrivances to justify Spike’s constant unearned free pass) and drear-for-the-sake of drear (Dawnverse Buffy, Angel S5, Dollhouse) that asks us to support worthless but “cool” characters (Spike, Andrew/Topher, all the rapist/murderers running the Dollhouse) in service of “mature” storytelling. Oh, and let’s not forget the beaten-into-the-ground device of killing off characters. Be afraid, be rather afraid. Which of my faves (I’m okay with Thor, meh on Cap, and pretty much loathe Iron Man [which makes Downey's ability to actually make Tony's utter jerkitude charming all the more amazing]…I much prefer the Avengers who made their reputations in the book to the solo-stars dragged in for sales punch; give me Cap’s Kooky Quartet over Marvel’s version of the JLA, any day) will be briefly dragged onstage to get whacked? Given that women tend to die more often on Joss’s shows, my money’s on the Wasp. Poor Jannykins.
That said, he’s a pretty good storyteller as a director, so if they can keep his hands off the script…
“Dawnverse” was something I hated the first time through, but have later come to appreciate as extremely subtle genius. It was more of a middle finger to conventions of television plot and character than it was necessity to the Buffy universe/story, but I can appreciate the strong will and extreme skill required to pull it off.
This is probably a sound idea. Whedon is critically acclaimed. A hit machine? No. But neither are most of the characters Marvel/Paramount are dealing with here. Excitement with these movies starts with the geeks and moves to the general public, and Whedon will excite the geeks nicely while turning out a respectable product.
Serenity might not have been a hit (except with the fans, who managed to boost it to be the BBC Film 2005 Film of the Year) but it was a very well-directed movie. The opening tracking shot alone is pretty breathtaking.
Jonathan Mostow? After the soul-less Terminator 3? To me, a “solid technician” is a bit of a curse word — I’d rather have the possibility of greatness.
Even a hack can do a Fantastic Four-type movie. Whedon COULD do something on a higher level, and you can’t say that about every director.
Oh, goodie. A movie full of pop-referencing heroes giving each other forced sass. Joy.
Will the actors get paid the standard lowball fees Marvel has given them for their own franchises? I know the contracts contain options for this film, but do those options specify that they will get tiny salaries again?
best choice I can think of. Nice work, Marvel.
Never understood why “Serenity” did sub 40, but it wasn’t because of the film. I’ve got plenty of friends who never watched “Firefly” that enjoyed “Serenity”, which made them go back and get the DVD set of Firefly. Whedon is a good choice.
I’m one of those. Got the DVD set and everything. Seriously, I’d never before seen a movie which blended all the conventions of a half dozen genres so flawlessly. Better than average action sequences, too.
Serenity didn’t do as well because it released on just 2100 theaters (Avatar released on like 3700) and because it was just week’s after Katrina. No way was a “buzz” going to build around most any movie during that time frame. Not to mention, it actually opened #2 on its weekend with all those stumbling blocks.
I dunno about this one. I love Joss Whedon but I think this one’s not really his style. I think it would have been better with the director of the dark knight to be honest, or even Iron man. Joss whedon has a very particular style, and its not superhero movies. Especially the avengers.
@valmurph
Mostow? Seriously? That’s your alternative? The director of T3 and Surrogates? Over the director of Serenity?
And if you describe Whedon’s stuff as ‘trite’ I’m not sure which episodes of his series you’ve been watching. I personally think he’s made some of the most emotionally affective television ever.
Take Dr Horrible, while the first act seems like it’s gonna be some trite little web comedy, the last act makes it clear he’s got much bigger issues to deal with.
For me the issue will be whether he has the creative control he needs to tell the story he wishes to tell. I’m concerned they’ll be too many forces at work here that could drown him out.