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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.
Whedon To Direct Marvel's 'The Avengers'
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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.
Joss Whedon is a brilliant writer and director.Just because he hasn’t received great ratings and his shows get cancelled does not reflect his work it only comments on how mindless the majority of America is. People prefer to watch indulgent dribble rather then intellectually stimulating television.Whedon is a terrific choice he has the insight and creativity to really transform this film I only wish he was involved in the writing process.
Whedon thrives on ensemble casts. Every great thing he’s done has deeply explored multiple facets of multiple characters in innovative ways. I’m happy for this news.
Folks judging Whedon on his “hit” status are misguided. All of his projects have been originals. Avengers is uber-presold. Auds will go see RDJ as Iron Man regardless.
Whedon’s cast chemistry is ways outstanding. He’s perfect.
Best news in a long time. Joss is THE person for this movie.
The man is genius at directing an ensemble cast and managing actors and their egos. He can do amazing work in a small budget, and loves the Marvel verse and comics.
On top of that, the man knows how to direct. Don’t believe me?
Go watch the Buffy episodes “Hush” or “The Body”. Watch Serenity.
If you don’t like his WRITING, that’s fine…he’s not writing this movie, so no worries for you there.
Robogeek (from Aicn? cool) – I have read ASTONISHING X-MEN and, aside from Cassadays amazing art, it really wasn’t my thing. The X-Men versus aliens never works for me.
Mostow is just a name that came to mind as the type of director Marvel might have looked for. He’s produced some great, well regarded stuff (U-571, Breakdown), is technically skilled and can handle big productions (T3), but he’s not currently in huge demand which means he’s affordable. Favreau, Branagh and Johnston had the same qualifications when Marvel hired them and I suppose it could be said that Whedon has many of the same qualities.
I’m just saying that – for me – Whedon’s instincts (talky, over the top melodrama) are wrong for what I was hoping this project could be – a serious full scale superhero crossover movie.
Maybe the best thing is to hope for the Justice League project that Geoff Johns has hinted will be revealed at San Diego.
Man, I hope this is true. Marvel is really proving to be smart with its talent decisions. Whedon will hit such a home run with this due to his vision and vast talent. The guy knows how to entertain with heart!
BEST.CHOICE.EVER!!!
Dichen Lachman to play Wasp!
This is awesome news! Finally he gets a new break! Buffy was quite simply the best show created of all time, Angel and Dollhouse not far behind, and even if Serenity was not a box-office smash, it was a cult hit. This is what he makes, cult hits – badass cult hits. The best there are.
it will never happen
If Joss directs this movie, I might actually see it. He’s done far more than just BUFFY and SERENITY. He’s done a lot of script doctoring in Hollywood — the man knows how to make a movie work. Won an Oscar for co-writing TOY STORY, too.
Joss is a genius that does on occasion miss, but I liken this decision to putting Sam Raimi at the helm of Spiderman. It’s an inspired choice. My one concern is that he’ll make Captain America a whiney angst-ridden teen, turn the Scarlett Witch into a lesbian, have Iron Man die in a tear jerking, world saving manner and make Nick Fury lose an eye in battle.
Oh wait, Nick Fury’s already missing an eye. All right, carry on then.
Some people would say that Raimi (for all that he does have quite a few hits), has several “misses” as well. However, as I mentioned in a response somewhere higher up in this thread, sometimes that can have absolutely nothing to do with the directors themselves. It’s kind of hard to make gold when all you have to work with is elephant dung…
From what I can tell, the casting choices are there with the potential for good chemistry, and Whedon is good at bringing about good cast chemistry. The major factor is going to be the script. Unless he is allowed some writing freedom (which, yes, I know… some people are for, and some are against), he will have no choice but to work with whatever he’s given. If he’s given a crap script, AT BEST he can turn it into a mediocre movie… but even if he actually improves the script via good directing, all the blame will go to him regardless. This is simply because people seem to forget that the writer(s), not the director, are the ones behind the pens (and thus the emo, overly-dramatic, snarky, or trite dialog). Yes, sometimes the director and the writer are one and the same, but everything I’ve heard so far about this movie tells me this is not the applicable case for Avengers.
WB and Fox’s loss is Marvel’s gain. Whedon had an idea for Wonder Woman that was rejected, and his recent foray in television was cut by Fox. The man has a good understanding of characters and universes –he writes the X-Men! The Avengers are in great hands.
Thank God! I’ve always wanted to see what Joss Whedon could do with a big blockbuster budget. I’ve been going through some of his comics, and this guy clearly needs a budget to match his imagination for once.
Oh no. And I wanted to see this movie too and they hire this burned out jerk whose never going to work well with RDJ, not after the fights he’s had with other Oscar winners with minds of their own over his over-rated dialogue and rotten plotting.
Poor Black Widow. Doomed to be punished for being an adult sexual woman.
Everyone here seems to have forgotten one very important, innovative project that most likely served as the deciding factor – Dr. Horrible. In 40 minutes, with a limited budget, Joss gave us a new troupe of “heroes” and proved that the internet is a viable platform for new entertainment.
Give him a little credit.
I don’t know this franchise but if there is a sweet woman love interest, I’d advise people not to get too emotionally invested in her given Whedon’s favorite tropes.
Whedon couldn’t be better choice. As a major Firefly/Serenity fan,he may the only one in Hollywood that could bring real justice to an Avengers film. Fingers crossed…
Meh, I’m on the fence about Whedon. I think the only creative and engaging thing to come from him was Firefly, and alas, that one got killed off far too soon. The movie was a forgettably-directed, halfhearted attempt to conclude the series but just felt like an overlong TV episode which still left too many loose threads dangling. His awful script for Alien Resurrection left that series a rotting corpse, and I thought his Buffy and Angel series were too campy to qualify as entertaining in even a sit-and-laugh-at-it kind of way. Firefly proved that he is capable of some degree of genius, I’ll grant that, but he would be far from my first choice to helm something as big as The Avengers, and while I respect him and the successful career he’s had, I really don’t understand why he’s adored as much as he is. Most of his work has ranged from lousy to forgettable, if you ask me.
One might say, he had a good script for “Alien 4″, but it was spoiled by its director Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
If you read his A4 script, you know that Joss spoiled it first.
Actually, no – Jean-Pierre Jeunet admits to spoiling it. Joss Whedon wrote a script for an ALIEN movie that is pretty decent (it’s actually got a lot of FIREFLY in it, to be honest). Was it groundbreaking? No, but it would have been fun.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet came to the franchise wanting to make a big budget American action movie. He literally watched the big dumb action movies of America and counted how many times the camera cut, wanting to cut at least that many times in ALIEN RESURRECTION. The man was making a satire – unfortunately, Joss Whedon didn’t write one. So we’re left with what we’re left with.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet admits that it probably wasn’t the best decision on the feature length RESURRECTION documentary on the QUAD boxed set.
Yeah, I’m not much of a Whedon fan. I think he may be a good choice for this particular project, given his kind of fanbase and the fact he writes comics so he gets the genre. But I don’t really understand the rabid obsession with the guy. I never got into Buffy. Firefly is highly praised for originality, but really owes a huge debt to the anime Outlaw Star. To me, he’s overrated and the only projects of his I give him any credit for are Toy Story (and how much of that is Whedon I don’t know), and Dr. Horrible which is a little hit-or-miss, but mostly works. Though I think that Dr. Horrible owes as much to the charisma of NPH as it does to Joss and his brothers. And I should point out that Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is mostly not a blog (it’s a vlog if anything, and much of the onscreen action is NOT the vlog), nor is it a “sing-along” in the traditional sense.
RE: “And I should point out that Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is mostly not a blog (it’s a vlog if anything, and much of the onscreen action is NOT the vlog), nor is it a “sing-along” in the traditional sense.”
Oh, wow. That’s hilarious. Thanks for that, that was really funny.
I love how people equate a successful film with a film of high quality. Remember when the Wayans bros “Little Man” was the no 1 movie in america? Yea so do I and it still baffles me to this day. Just cause it’s a box office hit does not make it a good film. Some of the best movies out there did little to no biz in theaters but became cult classics later.
Much as I love Whedon’s work (excepting Dollhouse – that was just a bad idea) I’m not looking forward to the Avenges, whether he’s involved or not.
I just can’t believe there’s any way at all to make that movie work.
I’ll be surprised if Thor can be made to work at all, and interested to find out if they succeed with Captain America.
But trying to crowbar the easy suspension of disbelief from comics into a movie that tries to fit all those disparate elements together?
It’s likely possible to make any super hero movie work by making the movie that’s right for the charatcer, but trying to make one movie work for a number of disparate characters?
I’ll be really, really impressed if anyone could do it.
I suspect Whedon is considered exactly because he excels at ensemble work.
YES !
Hope we get to see Amy Acker as the Wasp !
Wrong move Marvel.
Joss Whedon has done nothing but make failure after failure.
Are you really going to entrust the Avengers movie, the biggest movie you have been planning for years, to the so-called “creative genius” behind the colossal failures that were Firefly, Serenity, and Dollhouse?
Granted he does have experience writing for the superhero comic Runaways, but if you ask any fan of that comic book, they’ll tell you that the issues he wrote rank among the worst of the entire series.
Get a clue Marvel. Dump this over-glorified “genius” and hire somebody who actually knows how to make a successful movie or TV show.
Marvel has been planning an AVENGERS movie for literally four years – don’t act like this is “decades in the making.” Realistically, IRON MAN was their opening salvo. That’s all we’re talking about here. Don’t over-dramatize anything.
Help me out here.
This means Avengers will be a Disney pic?
Blah. At the very least, let a talented writer do the script and have Whedon just direct, but overall I think there’s far better choices for director than a one-trick pony like Whedon.
I assume he’ll find a part for the adorable Felicia Day?
How about craft services cooking the food for the cast and crew?
Whedon is a great writer but not a capable director, especially so for something this scope. Good for him though, I hope he proves me wrong.
So MARVEL has kicked ass in the comic book movie genre since they came out with BLADE yes people fail to be uninformed jerks Blade was the start of MARVELS big screen comic book dynasty. Lets face it MARVEL can’t be touched.
With that bein’ said I’m glad to see they are stayin’ on their toes & keepin’ us on ours with this choice in director. Whedon is the man & I can’t wait to see what he does. As for his debut directing shot well serenity may not have been a box office smash but it is popular I those of us who payed to see it knows this man’s time has come.
TEAM WHEDON
This sounds as dumb as putting Bryan Singer on Superman. Neither Singer nor Whedon understand what makes, in both artistic and commercial ways, a successful Comic Book Movie. Which is probably the most difficult kind of movie to make, with almost no margin for error.
In fact, Whedon WRITING CURRENT COMICS is likely to be poison to the movie’s filming.
Comic books today are made for a very small sliver of readers, often in the 13,000 copy range, almost exclusively male fanboys over age 40 with disposable income, and very socially liberal and in particular feminist. Stuff that appeals to them is repellent to the Comic Book Movie fan.
Comic books trade on the work done in some cases (Siegel and Schuster) done more than 70 years ago. Characters and situations created and written for young boys and young men featuring traditional heroism, challenges, and the like.
Singer failed because Superman was a Gay Christ figure instead of the Man of Steel every 9 year old boy wanted to become. The Avengers with Whedon is likely to be a BIGGER FAILURE.
Whedon cannot write for boys or men. He just cannot do it. Too much feminist blather, “Big Shot” guys that appeal to women and girls (vampires, A-hole Starship captains) and a few feminist fanboys. Whedon couldn’t come up with a script that Warners would accept for Wonder Woman. His run on X-Men has been the usual “more morally holy than thou” that characterized such “hits” as “Rendition” and “Stop-Loss.” With a huge heaping helping of soap opera junk. His idea of being edgy is to make a character gay, particularly lesbian, and exploit it with lurid storylines.
Frank Miller (you may have heard of him) was right: characters like Captain America exist to punch Hitler or Osama in the face. That’s what the character does! Not angst around, about who is the most glittery Vampire Alpha Male. [Buffy's stuff was over-ripe soap opera melodrama, particularly it's "real" stuff involving rape, death, etc. Girls/women liked it, not as much as the real thing from Stephanie Meyer, but guys never found it appealing.]
The point of the Avengers is a squabbling group of superheroes, who each thinks HE should be the boss, coming together under the leadership of WWII “Greatest Generation” icon Captain America against a threat none of them alone can defeat. Akin to a sports movie like Major League, or Friday Night Lights (the series) — only with comic book action.
This depends on presenting the characters, particularly patriotic and 1930’s attitude Captain America without irony, and sincerely. Particularly the idea that ordinary people have value and are worth fighting for. Whedon cannot write un-ironically, or patriotically, to save his life. He can’t write male characters that guys like (no equivalent to Die Hard’s John McClain or Iron Man’s Tony Stark).
The Avengers are led by Captain America. A guy who believes, honestly, that America is the greatest nation on earth and its values (as embodied in WWII sacrifice) are worth fighting for, no matter what. It is a straight up, no chaser, standard storytelling movie.
How is this like ultra-ironic Whedon, catering to the hipper-than-thou? With a heaping dose of Stephanie Meyer type Alpha-Male vampire studs, only not even THAT done un-ironically?
Frank Miller, or Mark Steven Johnson (Daredevil), or Luc Besson (Taken), or heck, David S. Ward (Major League, the STING!) who is older, but a proven guy to do male-oriented movies, would be good choices.
I suspect Whedon has the following advantage:
HE’S CHEAP!
He’s not coming off hot movies, his Dollhouse series flopped hard, after Serenity, the failure of the Wonder Woman script, and so on make him affordable. Whedon lacks the visual beauty and touch of Roger Donaldson (World’s Fastest Indian was a stunning piece of beauty). He’s not proven capable of directing a male-driven and oriented group piece (basically sports comedies/dramas, action movies). His cult following is small, most of his sucess relied on actors he didn’t want (Sarah Michelle Gellar was forced on him by the WB).
A small budget (~30 million) “edgy” movie with pop-cult references, “hip” attitude, about 30 something hipsters and made to a female, feminist audience? A female oriented feminst Seinfeldian-drama? Sure. That’s Whedon’s wheelhouse, his strength, and might make a small profit.
Sure to be a massive flop.
Because you’re asking the guy to do something he’s just not capable of doing: make an un-ironic, un-hip, un-edgy, straight ahead patriotic male ensemble movie where everyone works together. The man just can’t do it.
Whiskey, there is no way to improve your post. Buffy was successful in the way the latest clothing style or music star of the month is successful to a youth audience. The majority of the world has no interest in it. If a major network had had Buffy, it never would have made it to episode 2. And all the cult “hits” that followed are even less of consequence to the majority of oxygen breathers on planet Earth. The first achievement of a cult following is living in denial.
It’s nice to see someone not biased in favor of humanity. True, Joss Whedon is inconsequential to the majority of those insects, reptiles, and mammals that breathe oxygen.
As for humanity, I can only assume you do not pertain to it.
I have every confidence that Joss will do an amazing job directing ‘The Avengers.’ There are very few shows I enjoy(mostly due to the current upsurge of reality TV), however Joss has yet to disappoint me. Super pumped.
Let me add that almost no one in Hollywood really understands male social dynamics, which is why male-oriented ensemble pieces generally fail, unless they are done by folks outside.
Hollywood runs on fear and intimidation and humiliation and constant status-competitions. It’s like MEAN GIRLS only on steriods. Guys like stories about how some authority figure (Tom Berenger in Major League, Gerard Butler in 300, Kyle Chandler in Friday Night Lights, Damien Lewis in Band of Brothers) or leader brings a group, often disparate and feuding, together in a common goal to victory of some sort.
This is why, mostly, male oriented action films are so hard to do. Most of Hollywood has no emotional understanding of what makes them work. Its own social world is just too alien.
Stick around in Hollywood, long enough, or worse, be second or third generation Hollywood (JJ Abrams, Whedon) and you internalize this viewpoint, along with heaping doses of PC and feminism and other toxic attitudes that male audiences despise.
Whiskey, seriously, what the hell are you talking about??
Yes, I understand that Hollywood never makes anything aimed at dudes, and obviously men and women have totally different tastes in every single thing.
Nope, I don’t know any males who like anything Whedon has done, apart from all my friends.
I do agree that anything in which a woman expresses an opinion or has any kind of personality, is all a vast feminist plot to ruin entertainment.
@Rum: Hollywood never makes anything aimed at dudes? Are you smoking something? So this is why every time I go to the video store I can’t look at any inch of space without seeing a movie with ten-tons of explosives in it, horses, guns, drugs, sex, violence… etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum that pulls guys into the theaters like flies to honey?
Yes, there are a few (STRONG emphasis on a few) movies out there that are chick-flicks… (i.e. Twilight), but those are very few and far between these days in comparison to all the comic-book movies (a traditionally male realm of fandom), Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, the new Clash of the Titans (which was a complete disappointment to me since 1. I know the original myth of Perseus, and 2. had seen the original film of the same name), the upcoming A-Team movie, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Predators, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, The Expendables, Shutter Island, Tron Legacy, Robin Hood (a very gritty male-centric rendition from what I’ve seen from the previews), The Green Hornet, Brooklyn’s Finest, Repo Men…
Should I really continue? Or would you like to tell me that these are all films directed towards a female audience?
@Whiskey: As for what you think guys want in a movie, if that’s what they want, then why does almost every single male-targeted film have an hour and a half of a 2 hour movie’s-worth of explosions/gunfire in it with a half hour of breasts, buttocks, or sex scenes and/or drug use?
Both of you need to pull your heads out of your bongs and actually see the world without the haze of weed around you for once. Frigging basement-dwelling trolls…
Uh, Militareh, I think Rum was being ironic. But you’re right, Whiskey has a weirdly misogynistic, anti-gay vibe coming off of him. Apparently he’s pissed that Whedon dared to write gays and women as people, some of whom are strong. Whiskey, go ahead and rant all you want, but, to quote John Rogers, you’re living in the 17th century. Everyone who wants to enjoy the 21st century–this way
I’m a guy and I don’t appreciate you speaking on my behalf. I couldn’t disagree with you anymore on almost everything you’ve said. I suppose Black Widow and Wasp will be staying at home washing the dishes in your version of the Avengers? Yes sometimes Whedons work rebels against attitudes like yours and I’m happy that your not going to enjoy the movie.
As a non-Buffy fan, I don’t really welcome Whedon, but the worst part here is that it’s going to be a mega-crappy Zak Penn script. That guy’s a total hack. Read his IMDB if you need a good laugh.
Joss Whedon directing this movie would probably be the only thing Marvel could do to make me take this movie seriously. No doubt it will be fun. But Whedon could make it amazing. Here’s hoping.
WOW, did I see some people blame Hurricane Katrina for people not seeing “Serenity” in the theater? Seriously? I’ve been a manager at a movie theater for years, and never EVER has a disaster (natural or otherwise) affected box office performance for films that people weren’t going to turn out for anyway. If a blizzard wipes out the east coast, yes, maybe, but even then, people will come out for something they WANT to see. We had sellouts on opening night a couple of months ago for “Dear John”(!) because there was an audience for it that had no regard for their own lives during the worst blizzard of the last few years, much less regard for anyone else’s.
“Flightplan” came out a week before “Serenity” and somehow managed to make 90 million at the box office despite being pretty much panned across the board. Mid-August saw the arrival of “40-Year Old Virgin”, which went on to be huge, but it looks like the late summer and early fall of ‘05 was, with only a couple of exceptions, a cinematic wasteland (which is pretty typical EVERY year). Is it because the nation was concerned about New Orleans? Absolutely not. People just weren’t interested in the product. As someone else stated before, Whedon’s diehard TV audience doesn’t translate to box office numbers, and “Firefly” was the least successful Whedon property up to that point, so it should come as no surprise to anyone that “Serenity” didn’t find an audience at the theater. I didn’t see it until years later after a friend had loaned me the TV series on DVD, and I thought the film was fine, but I could see how it wouldn’t seem very appealing to people that didn’t care about “Firefly” in the first place, the same people that ignored it the first time around for free that weren’t about to plop down 9 bucks to see what was essentially the series finale.
But again, WOW, to blame poor box office performance on Hurricane Katrina is a huge cop-out. That reminds me, I recall someone somewhere (probably a studio spin doctor that didn’t seem to have a soul) pin part of “Glitter”’s failure on the nation’s mood following 9/11. Seriously.
Whedon is a great choice, he has a unique following in the “geek” world wether you like his stuff or not. He does have the passion to put in the job and look at recent successes with other helmers of big projects. Rami with spiderman had small budget cult following like Whedon, Favreu didnt have a lot of experience especially in this genre,Peter Jackson had only sub par experience with movies before LOTR, and what about Thor/Captain America neither one of those movies have A-list directors. So lets just give him a chance and wish him success.
And on a final note lets hope for a casting of Nathan Fillion for something small on the movie.
This is a horrble move by Marvel Studios. Don’t get me wrong, Whedon fans are certainly allowed to watch the stuff this guy churns out over and over again and post favorable messages on each other’s blogs. But the reason Iron Man was successful was because Favreau learned long ago not to keep making “Swingers” clones every couple of years. He has learned to make films accessible to wider audiences. Which is what Marvel Studios needs to do to not only kill off their film franchises, but to stay in business period. This movie has nearly all of their big potential franchises tied up in the same project, so to put it in the hands of someone who has had one minor success in a 20 year career (and a television success, at that) is virtual suicide.
Having said all of that, when he works on projects he hasn’t created, the effect is even worse. Astonishing X-Men was good for exactly six issues, and abysmally bad for ever issue after that. He killed, KILLED Runaways. A comic book about angsty teenagers, and his work made Vaughn’s look like Shakespeare.
Wise up Marvel Studios – Whedon’s had two decades to prove himself. Get someone proven or get someone with potential.
And Whedon fans – there’s a reason the actors he keeps using over and over again fail to find much work outside of his projects.
That is absolutely ridiculous. Nathan Fillion is the lead actor on Castle. David Boreanez is the lead actor on Bones. Adam Baldwin is a lead actor on Chuck. Summer Glau was a lead on Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles. Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan are both leads on How I Met Your Mother. Morena Baccarin is a lead on V. Amy Acker has just started on Happy Town. Felicia Day has become a huge hit on her chosen medium. I’d say these people aren’t exactly having trouble finding work. Sarah Michelle Gellar has had some difficulty, but that was a result of type-casting. Casting directors simply couldn’t see her as anyone but Buffy. But is that that unbelievable? Mark Hamil played Luke Skywalker in the most successful film franchise of all time and what has been one of his only gigs since? The voice of the Joker on the Batman series. So your statement is false. Sorry.
Most of the shows you have mentioned have never been ratings hits and some have already been cancelled. To use the high-school metaphors Team Whedon thrives on, you all exist in a clique.
Bones and How I Met Your Mother are enormous hits. Castle just got renewed. The comment was “fail to find much work outside his projects.” Clearly, clearly false (and that’s not even mentioning the writers who’ve worked under him–Drew Z. Greenberg, Drew Goddard, Jane Espenson, etc….)
all absolutely rubbish shows………..hmmmm
Really? Then why do Nathan Fillion (“Castle”), Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother”), David Boreanaz (“Bones”), Felicia Day (“The Guild”) and Alyson Hannigan (“How I Met Your Mother”) have shows of their own?
If anything, Joss hasn’t used Sarah Michelle Gellar in anything else, and she’s the one needing a huge career boost. Ever since she had her kid, she dropped out of sight. She could do with a cameo in “The Avengers” more than Nathan Fillion does.
And Anthony Stewart Head is in “Merlin” (currently in its second season), Michelle Trachtenberg has “Mercy” (and would be welcomed back to “Gossip Girl” in a hot second), Seth Green has numerous projects (including the mega-success of “Family Guy”), and Julie Benz has moved from “Dexter” to “Desperate Housewives” without her Years of Whedon crushing her career. That’s a pretty good batting average.
And don’t forget Seth Green’s MAJOR success with Robot Chicken…
Before Ironman who would have thought John Favreu could have made such an amazing comic book movie. So I say we give whedon the bennefit of the doubt. We are used to whedon writing from his own materials, Buffy, Firefly, dollhouse. He has the marvel source material and back stories (Ironman, Hulk, captain america, ETC.) to build off of with the avengers.
This makes sense and good for Whedon, but after losing interest five minutes into DOLLHOUSE (still not sure of the appeal) and seeing his retardedpublicity stunt with the TERMINATOR license, I don’t think I’ll ever take a liking to the guy.
He knew there was no way he would get Terminator. That’s why he basically wrote the “plea” as jokingly as possible.
Personally, I think the people behind 24 would make a kickass AVENGERS film. They’re great with large casts, action, intricate storylines, and political intrigue. A guy can dream
It’s amusing and ironic to see the anti-Whedonites out in full force again exhibiting the same cultish behavior that they accuse the Whedon “fanboys” of having.
I don’t think “anti-Whedonites” exist. Most of us just see him as cute and mediocre. I think this movie needs more than that.
If he can do it great! But if he turns out something similar to Serenity or Buffy, I will be very sad, because I just didn’t enjoy either of those projects very much and I want to enjoin the Avengers.
Does that make sense? We don’t hate Whedon, (Dr. horrible was great!) but we don’t find him extremely powerful or vibrant. He’s like watching Dr. Who written by Oscar Wilde, sometimes the banter is spicy, but the computer is still cardboard and the acting is from a soap opera.
GO JOSS!!!!! Joss has been far too ignored for far too long. he does great work, and it all stays just shy of main stream. there are still far too many people who don’t know the name, and this is a great cross over for both the true whedonites as well as the more main stream. GO JOSS! GOOOOO
To those saying Whedon is too dramatic – have you read Avengers (especially the Ultimates, which is what the new Avengers film is supposed to be more predominantly modeled after) – that stuff is stuffed with drama, ‘melo’ and otherwise.
Whedon doesn’t write for an ensemble, he writes a group of 5-10 characters who all have exactly the same voice. Pop in “Serenity” to check out his directing style–he marches actors around like robots and seems to care only that they hit their marks and speak Whedon’s dialog exactly as written. I am having a hard time imagining a worse choice for a project where the director somehow has to simultaneously appease Ed Norton and Robert Downey Jr.
I respect Joss for making a career in a tough town with a modicum of talent. He’s not a hack but he is far from the genius these fanboys want to believe. “Buffy” had it’s moments and did a lot on a low budget but was a B movie most of the time. “Angel” was forgettable. “Firefly” a rip-off of “Blakes 7″ and numerous other sci-fi mash-ups. “Dollhouse” was unwatchable.
His spec scripts were average for the time. You never saw them made did you? Not a one. They were usually variations on whatever had sold the year before.
His rewrite work was okay. He writes snarky dialogue that’s very self-conscious. “Speed” had a concept that could have survived Akiva Goldsman. “Twister” was a bloated, big budget mess with, again, Joss’ bickering stick figures giving it some shine.
Joss has been paid an obscene amount of money and given every opportunity to make his mark. He made it with Buffy almost 15 years ago with a show that couldn’t even beat “7th Heaven” in the ratings as the most popular show on the CW. He is competent but derivative and pitched towards a geek audience that needs to believe in heros.
I’m sure “Avengers” will be technically okay and break even at the box office.
Time to get a life.
Whedon has never had a spec script bought before? You obviously didn’t know about MGM buying his “Cabin in the Woods” script (which he co-wrote with “Lost”/”Buffy” writer Drew Goddard) and putting it into production.
Spare me from your idiocy, please.
The comment was not that Whedon’s specs were never bought. The comment was that they were never made. “The Cabin in the Woods” has been produced. For whatever it is worth Whedon shares writing credit with director Drew Goddard and the studio is the barely breathing MGM, so who knows if the flick will ever see the light of day.
Get your facts straight before you throw around a big word like “idiocy.”
Are they paying him scale?
“Twilight” gets Bill Condon, “Prince of Persia” Mike Newell, Bond gets Sam Mendes – and “The Avengers” get Mr. My-nerdy-TV-Shows-get-cancelled-every-single-time?
That’s a major fuck-up, Marvel! Whedon’s dialogue is cringeworthy, his characters are as flat as a stamp. He will reduce “Avengers” to a TV flick with unbearable dialogue. Hell, he can’t even direct action scenes. Do us all a favor and abort this train wreck in the making.
God, hire Kevin Smith already. He’ll do a better job – and yes, he’s a lousy director.
Every single time? Um, did Buffy not last 7 seasons and Angel 5? Even Dollhouse managed 2…
That’s pretty good compared with a lot of other major US TV shows these days.
I totally agree with you! This such a fucked up move, I can’t even believe this guy gets more projects. The guys dialogue is not worth setting on fire at its best…
We don’t want his nerd stamp on the avengers thank you very much. There are plently of crappy shows that have that already
His characters evolve and show many different layers. I have seen many of his characters grow and evolve into something completely different from what they were when they started.
That’s not flat.
Every time I hear things like this, I am reminded of the time I heard Michael Keaton was cast as Batman and I freaked. Then he turned around and gave a fairly credible performance in a better-than-average film.
I am also reminded of JJ Abrams. Didn’t like “Alias” and have no interest in “Lost” but I am a long-time (since the 60’s) “Star Trek” fan so I went and was pleasantly surprised. He put his own spin on it, while still giving a nod to the classic TV drama. Whedon’s done some interesting work and there are a LOT worse directors this could go to. Why not keep an open mind and see what happens? I did that with IRON MAN and was bowled over.
I don’t mind the fact that Whedon is directing The Avengers because personally I liked Buffy, granted I was a very little girl when it came out. But Samuel L. Jackson playing the roll of Nick Fury! !?!REALLY!?! It’s that I don’t like him; I can’t turn on a movie these days without seeing his face whether it be a cameo or lead roll! Im just ready to see a new face! Seriously A NEW FACE!
Awesome, perfect choice.
Brave and appropriate, Marvel. Well done.
If he can create a super villian as awesome as Dr. Horrible, he’ll have no problem making an awesome super hero movie
Personally, I’d have searched for talents/collaborations more to the likes of J.J. Abrams and his team or Jack Snyder…
Joss Whedon? I’ll say this, he definitely has legitimate experience with connecting to a particular fan-base/age group.
Sure, he has a lot of writing experience and must have tons of small-scale set experience. He probably won’t go over-budget, he’d understand not to mess with the script, blah, blah, blah a list of pro’s… but can he really bring the pain?
Can he really imagine an epic hero mash-up and orchestrate a worthy film crew capable of delivering the right measure of elements to ‘assemble’ one of the greatest super-hero team-ups of all time?
I can’t answer that question… and neither can anyone else besides Joss Whedon himself.
And for that, we all have to wait and wonder
And hopefully not worry…
Fan-boy’s choice? Fan-girl’s choice too…just sayin’. Geekdom isn’t restricted to guys!!
<— fan-girl & proud!
Hear hear! I am a newcomer to the comic-book scene, but with all the new movies coming out (quite frankly, especially Sin City, The Spirit, and Watchmen… after which I went back and read the comics), I have gotten into it…
And, um, isn’t that really the whole point of Marvel and DC making movies of all these comics, not to mention the Star Trek remake? (Yes, new-found trekkie here too…) To bring a new audience into a previously-declining media-set? Another example is the live-action films being made of anime series (e.g Dragonball and Avatar: The Last Airbender). Yes, yes, money is always involved, but without a new audience, male and female alike, there IS no money…
So, in short, let’s hear it for the FANS… of whatever gender…
The biggest complaint every comic book fan has when they go to see a film adaptation is that the movie was not at all true to the series, whether it be altering the characters, storyline, or flat out ignoring every part of the series canon. I went and saw all the travesties that were the X-men movies, and I still get angry when I think about how blatantly an amazing franchise was ruined.
Joss Whedon is first and foremost a fanboy himself, which is why I have to say he is one of the few directors I would trust to direct an iconic superhero movie. Maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part, but I like to think that had Whedon been able to direct X3, maybe, just maybe he could have salvaged the series.
Anyone saying Joss is a hack is just plain idiotic.
Joss is a genius director and writer and people saying otherwise just don’t know great writing when they see it. the only bad thing he ever did was Season 4 of Buffy and even that has some watchable moments. Dollhouse really picked up towards the end, it’s not Joss fault that americans has an attention span that equals that of a 3-year old child. If they had just stuck with the show it probably wouldn’t have been taken off the air. People saying Buffy/Angel/Firefly sucks has probably not watched more than a few episodes at most and they’re probably stating that it sucks just to try and piss off fans of the franchises.
Well said. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Joss has some amazing writing and done some Wonderful Direction and definitely will not take the low route of Brucheimer or Bay.
Who cares, the Marvel universe is really an Archie love triangle with few battle scenes for filler. Bring on the Green Lantern film!
Whedon is talented. I really liked Dr. Horrible. Serenity was like a great TV movie. His early work is kind of cute and silly to me. Buffy and Angel are like camp vampire soap operas. Not really my thing. The writing get’s a bit too cute. I think Jon Favreau does it better and with a fresher sense of realness in his banter.
So, I’m not against Whedon, but I can’t really understand why Marvel would choose a TV guy who’s best work is a musical web series and who did one film that seemed to be more of a TV show, as the director of the biggest movie they may ever make.
I’m stumped. I’m a bit concerned. I hope he knows how to bring his game up a notch.
This is a great choice. I am a Whedonite. Joss Whedon will make this the hit it deserves to be.
He writes amasing comics Buffy season 8, Asthoing Xmen and runaways were amasing it was. His writing that made me carry on Runaways when I felt it had died.
He has won awards for buffy dr horrible and toy story and others not big awards but still awards.
He knows the genre will make the advengers shine.
His humor and writing style work as they are like marvels.
Trust in Marvel Trust in Joss Whedon.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Goddamn stupid move of the year!
Well, it couldn’t have happened to a better franchise. Joss is the right person. He has been caring for these characters, debating there hopes, dreams, and aspirations for decades. He cares about their origin, their voice, and frailty. What will most certainly happen is the execution of a great movie, more than likely one of the best. The worst part about this decision, is that we have to wait until 2012 to see the result. It’s going to rock sox.
this -MIGHT- be ok, I watched/enjoyed the entire firefly series and serenity. However, all the “Buffy” support throws me, I’ve seen a few episodes, my little sister used to watch it, it was nothing special.
So the above comments lead me to believe that there are alot of fourteen year old girls with too much time on their hands, or there is some chemical I’d need to take (like a sex change and a time machine) to enjoy it.
yeah, I can hardly wait. We’ll have a whole team of superheros who can’t save anyone until they’ve burned out their angst by mumbling at their shoes for an hour.
Go Joss…
With any luck everyone but the 14 year-olds will be asleep when your heroes haul out their six shooters to stop a nuclear weapon then ride away to their secret sanctuaries on their cows.
Full disclosure- I’m a big Whedon fan, although I find his worldview as a whole a bit dark. I’m glad he finally got his chance at doing a big movie. Anyone who’s seen Serenity with commentary would know that he fully understands movies are a different medium and is perfectly capable of adjusting to good movie directing. In particular, for Serenity he repeatedly cut dialogue and some otherwise interesting scenes to keep up the pace. Also he took out some jokes at Mal’s expense because he did not want to undercut the heroic character who is new to some audience members, as compared to his TV audience who already knows Mal is a hero. That shows me he can handle the movies as a medium, including when needed suppressing his propensity for overlong dialogue and self-aware irony, when given a proper chance.
Whedon is a good choice, but I have yet to see a movie where you bring all these characters together where it’s success. So I don’t have high expectations for it.
Ok so I’m completely excited that Joss will be involved with this film! To “edward” your nerdy shows getting cancelled comment is so far off base, did you not notice that Buffy was on the air for 7 years, and created a spin off that lasted 5? That’s as long as any sci-fi show runs (including star trek tng which was on the air for 7 years too). And his shows are still being shown daily in re-runs nearly 10 years after they finished. Firefly was cut short before it had it’s prime by network failure not Joss’. I agree that Dollhouse was a failure, but not every director has home runs with every concept. He also has great credentials for comedy including a boxoffice hit in Toy Story which has now spawned it’s third movie, and let’s not forget Roseanne which lasted for nearly a decade too.
I am also going to mention all of Joss Whedon’s awards and nominations including winning an Oscar for Toy Story, and several awards for Buffy and Serenity. He was even nominated for an Emmy with the eppisode “Hush” in which he was able to portray not only horror, but romance and comedy with an eppisode that had maybe 5 spoken lines total.
With such a great resume Joss Whedon has proven he deserves the job on the Avengers.
Joss Whedon is a great choice for this and the author is incorrect, Serenity was a hit. You’re going to see an amazing movie come out of this, I guarantee it. Obviously, I’m never wrong.
I do enjoy how so many people are certain that Firefly is a ripoff of another show, but none of them agree on which one they ripped off.
…I’m indifferent.
On the one hand, we have a huge fucking fanboy running the show.
On the other hand, he’s a major screw up.
If he’s given complete creative control, it might actually be awesome, which he tends to get whenever he’s in a position of power buuut again: Fuck Joss Whedon.
Whedon a bad director? Have you guys SEEN “The Body”?
As someone rather more objective than anyone else here (it seems) I don’t think it’s possible to criticize this move until we see how it plays out. It was almost impossible to imagine Favreau turning in “Iron Man” on the basis of, say “Zarthura”, and I think it’s going to be very difficult to predict what Whedon will do with this.
I never saw “Buffy”, liked “Firefly”, and (alone here) really liked “Dollhouse” (so I guess, overall, this makes me a non-Whedon fan, since all his fans seem to hate “Dollhouse”). But I’m also someone who thinks this movie should indeed be a “man’s” picture — I’m just not so worried that Joss can’t do that (without looking to be sure, I think he owns the necessary equipment to qualify for one).
Give him a chance. Then tear him a new one (or praise Caesar, depending on how it goes).
Im a whendon fan I know 3 others who love dollhouse your not alone. The movie will be well directed lets hope the writing and acting can keep up
DIsney ruins everything why the hell did marvel sell or w/e i thought that was a very pore choice on marvels part and im really looking forward to the next few years of marvel movies.
Joss Whedon, you are about to direct one of the biggest superhero movies ever. The Avengers is one of the most important superhero movies ever made. Bigger than the original Superman. Bigger than Spider-man. And bigger than Dark Knight.
The pressure is on you, man.
It’s ironic that a few months ago, you made a snide bid for the Terminator franchise, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME unleashing one of the worst pieces of television shit in the form of Dollhouse.
Do not approach Avengers with THAT fucking attitude.
Good luck. Hope to be entertained. And please keep the snarky pop culture references to a fucking minimum.
And for the last fucking time, people, Serenity flopped. A good movie? Hell yes. But still a flop.
Production budget – $39 million
Worldwide gross – $38 million
Considering on average theaters keep half the money (there are exceptions for big blockbusters, I know) this means Universal collected a $19 million return on investment. THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE P & A costs!
If the film “hit” as so many of you say, we’d be talking about the greenlighting of Serenity 4! Not the Avengers!
I love the morons blasting Clash of the Titans, saying it’s a flop. $125 million budget… $250 million worldwide gross… and it’s still going. They’ve paid off the movie already! It’s a hit, dipshits! God I’d love it if the armchair box office “analysts” did a little research before talking out of their ass.
Financial success does not a classic movie (i.e. hit) make.
Everyone and their dog went to go see Titanic… at LEAST once, more often than not 2-5 (or more) times… and yet, no one can stand the movie.
Financially successful? Yes. A new classic movie for the ages? No.
And as for Clash of the Titans… if you’ve ever actually READ any of the Greek myths then you’d agree it’s a piece of crap movie. Even the cheesy 1970s version of the film was closer to the myths. Only thing that I enjoyed from Clash of the Titans was the (very) brief cameo of an original version prop (the owl of Athena). The rest was crap… especially in 3D.
“if you’ve ever actually READ any of the Greek myths then you’d agree it’s a piece of crap movie.”
HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Jupiter’s cock! You’re funny!
Please enlighten us as to the true historical nature of the movie.
How often did Medusa have PMS?
What was the size of the Kraken’s colon?
Shock me with your knowledge!
Serenity flopped, Serenity flopped, Serenity flopped, IS it all about money …. Serenity did not flop, it caused a lot of people to go back to the series on DVD to get all the background story because they loved the movie and the characters. Fox sabotaged Firefly by showing the episodes out of order and not even completely, they skipped over some, and they deleted all the Chinese dialogue, which you would only know if you watched the whole progression on Friday nights and then watched the DVD as the episodes were meant to be seen and heard. AND I LOVE all the comments from self-professed anti-Whedonites (Excellent, you all have a CLUB, ha ha) who claim to hate what they have been watching but still know it inside out because they have been watching it, ALL of it,and they still hate it, Jeez Louise, if you hate it why are you watching…. I do want to say that Jon Favreau did not have much of a track record before Iron Man – so, Excellent! that he got that chance… for Gods sake look at Spiderman 3, and Xmen 3, which did not even make sense… Joss does have a track record and a fricken Oscar, how about a little faith here You must be a really amazing human being when people are members of groups calling themselves Anti-YOUR NAME.