So, more concept from the Marvel movies has been leaked, this time images of Chris Hemsworth as Thor.

Collider has the full story and more pictures than the one below.  I’m a little worried about this.  Not the costume itself, I think it’ll look great, but these concept pieces (like the one of Captain America yesterday) look a little silly and wonky.  It’s not because their bad, it’s just the art style and the odd photoshop job done to put the actors in the suits.  Is this really the best first look of these characters we want?

I really don’t think so.  And I think some people might start to get the wrong impression about these movies far too much in advance.

Also, why doesn’t Cap have wings on his helmet?

In any  case, here’s Thor.  It looks good, but I hope the style of this doesn’t turn anyone off of the movie.

As if there wasn’t enough news yesterday, he’s a fresh new look with some slightly new bits of footage from the upcoming Scott Pilgrim movie.

AICN has posted several artist renderings of what is to be, more or less, Cap’s costume for his upcoming movie, Captain America: The First Avenger! These renderings have also been confirmed to be accurate by Mike Sampson over at JoBlo who had previously gotten an exclusive look at the costume, but was forbidden to share any visuals (in all fairness, he did write up a solid description of what he had seen).

So here you have it folks, the live-action Captain America. You can view several more pictures over at AICN!

I think it looks pretty damn good, myself. What does everyone else think!?

First up, filmonic has posted a picture (above) that shows the director of the upcoming X-Men: First Class, Matthew Vaughn hanging out with his new Professor X, James McAvoy, and Kick-Ass star, Aaron Johnson. Now, the picture isn’t revealing at all other than these three men were in each other’s presence at some point last week, but given the recent casting news about James McAvoy and his Professor X role I could see how this could possibly have been some sort of meeting about a possible role for Johnson in First Class.

All speculation at this point folks…

Moving on from speculation to hard rumor, avengersnews.com is reporting that Marvel’s people are talking to Lost star Josh Holloway’s people about him playing “…a ‘lead’ role in an upcoming Marvel film.” There are no hints to who he may play at this point, but avengersnews speculated as follows:

– Henry Pym (important role in “The Avengers” and its sequels, lead role in “Ant-Man” spinoff.)

– Clint Barton/Hawkeye (maybe a S.H.I.E.L.D. member in “The Avengers” with a starring role in the “S.H.I.E.L.D.” spin-off or a future Avengers sequel.)

– Timothy “Dum Dum” Dugan (important S.H.I.E.L.D. member in “The Avengers” and its sequels, and lead role in the “S.H.I.E.L.D. spinoff)

So there you have it! Some good old fashioned rumor-mill “news”!

Personally, I think Holloway would make a good Hawkeye (especially the “Ultimate” version), but I liked the idea of Hurt Locker star Jeremy Renner in that role as well. As far as Johnson goes I really couldn’t imagine him as a young Hank McCoy/Beast, Scott Summers/Cyclops or Bobby Drake/Iceman… perhaps a young Warren Worthington/Angel?

Sound off in the comments and let us know which Marvel character you’d like to see Johnson and Holloway step in to!

Marvel sent out the press release attached below this morning, informing us that Joe Quesada would be promoted to Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment.  My first question was to wonder who would take over as editor-in-chief at Marvel, but it seems as though it’s still Quesada.  They just added a whole extra full time job on him, where he has to over see both the Marvel U proper and all of the film and television projects that Marvel Studios is shepherding.

I think this is generally a good thing, during his tenure at Marvel Quesada has proven his love for the characters and the Universe, but my worry is that he’ll be stretched so thin that he’ll just have a rubber stamp that says “OK” to every bad idea that comes across his desk.

Only time will tell.

New York, NY – June 2, 2010 – Marvel Entertainment, LLC announced today that it has promoted Joe Quesada to Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment.  In this new role, Mr. Quesada will work alongside Alan Fine, Executive Vice President, Office of the President and Chairman of Marvel Studios’ Creative Committee, to ensure that all portrayals of Marvel’s characters and storytelling remain true to the essence of Marvel’s rich history. Additionally, Mr. Quesada will provide creative oversight of all areas of Marvel’s business including theatrical, television, publishing, animation and games, while also actively participating in all story and script development for Marvel’s films and animation. Prior to this promotion, Mr. Quesada held the role of Chief Creative Officer & Editor-In-Chief, Marvel Animation & Publishing and oversaw the creative aspects of Marvel Comics and Marvel Animation. The announcement was made today by Mr. Fine, to whom Mr. Quesada will report.

Mr. Fine stated, “I am excited to have Joe join me as Marvel Entertainment enters the next chapter in our history. Joe has already played an instrumental role as Editor-in-Chief in changing the face of the comic book industry with bold new ventures and an unprecedented penetration of the mainstream consciousness. His love and passion for Marvel, along with his experience guiding publishing for the last decade, will be invaluable as we bring our characters to life in new media.”

“I am honored to take this new position at Marvel Entertainment and work with Alan to bring the rich history of Marvel to a brand new audience” said Mr. Quesada.  “Together with the incredible talent here at Marvel, in all our divisions, I look forward to making Marvel an even bigger part of the entertainment industry and showing why we’ve been an industry leader for over 70 years.”

Mr. Quesada will also continue to serve as Editor-In-Chief, Marvel Publishing, where over the past decade he has helped usher in bold new imprints such as Marvel Knights, the Ultimate Universe and Marvel MAX. During his tenure, Marvel received acclaim for its Heroes special to commemorate the events of September 11, 2001; the groundbreaking Death of Captain America storyline; and President Obama’s historic team up with Spider-Man. Mr. Quesada is also one of the industry’s most popular artists, providing cover and interior art to blockbusters such as Amazing Spider-Man,Daredevil, Invincible Iron Man and more.

I’m not sure I would put it at the top of my list otherwise, but I think too many people are expecting to see it this week for me to not put it at the top.  Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is coming out in a variety of editions today.  What I like about this version more than the film version is that I can turn it off before the Futterwacken and imagine that it was still the great movie I was hoping to see.

Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman is coming out today.  I didn’t get to catch this one at the theatre, but I’m interested in checking it out on Blu-ray. The cast and effects team are top notch, so I’m guessing I have at least a little to look forward to there, despite the terrible reviews.

I’m slowly coming to the idea that my favorite kind of movies are war films from the 50s through the 80s and so the release I’m actually most excited to get my hands on this week is a double-sided Blu-ray edition of Kelly’s Heroes and Where Eagles Dare.  Both Clint Eastwood films, both damn fine war movies.  If you’ve not seen either, I would recommend you pick this disc up now.

The last movie I’m going to throw your way today is, oddly enough, another Clint Eastwood movie.  Written by the master screenwriter William Goldman, Absolute Power is probably one of Eastwoods strongest performances, both as an actor and as a director.  And Gene Hackman in this film is tremendous.

It would seem as though I’m the only robot with my wits about me after watching this great new trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.  You see, I was told by all the others in all their drooling and gawking over it how great it was, but none of them had the wherewithal to share it with you, our loyal readers.

The Scott Pilgrim Facebook said that once it reached 100,000 fans they would release a new trailer and that they did.  And it certainly didn’t disappoint.

Enjoy:

It’s a sad day for Tolkien fans as Guillermo Del Toro has officially announced that he will not be directing the pair of Hobbit pictures that were slated to begin their releases in 2012.

With MGM going belly up and forcing production delay after production delay, Del Toro simply can’t sit around in New Zealand any longer, waiting around for the film to happen.  MGM is really messing with a couple of big franchises with their sale that is going to hurt the bottom lines of their potential buyers.  The other we reported was that the James Bond franchise was stalling out because of them.

But as far as the Hobbit, The OneRing.Net broke the story last night in Del Toro and Peter Jackson’s own words:

“In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming “The Hobbit,” I am faced with the hardest decision of my life”, says Guillermo. “After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures.”

“We feel very sad to see Guillermo leave the Hobbit, but he has kept us fully in the loop and we understand how the protracted development time on these two films, due to reasons beyond anyone’s control – has compromised his commitment to other long term projects”, says Executive Producer Peter Jackson. “The bottom line is that Guillermo just didn’t feel he could commit six years to living in New Zealand, exclusively making these films, when his original commitment was for three years.”

It’s not great news, to be sure, but there are silver linings here.

First is that if Guillermo isn’t directing The Hobbit, but he did spend the last two years working on the screenplay and developing the look.  He will remain a screenwriter on the project.  Second, if he’s not directing The Hobbit because it’s not happening, it means he’ll be directing something else, and when you’re Guillermo Del Toro, anything with his name on it is something I want to see.

The third is that a new director hasn’t been announced.  I have a sneaking suspicion Peter Jackson might just step back into the reigns.  That would be the only other choice that would make me as happy as Guillermo Del Toro, and I think most fans agree.

So, we’ll wait and see how this plays out.  In the meantime, I’m excited to hear what kick-ass project Del Toro is leaving The Hobbit to make, because that will be a film worth seeing.

Deadline New York is reporting that Paramount and Nickelodeon have brought in Platinum Dunes to help produce the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action film due out some time in 2011. If you aren’t familiar with Platinum Dunes, it is a production company ran by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller, and Andrew Form. Yes, you read that right: Michael. Fucking. Bay will be helping to produce the new TMNT movie…

The producers will begin meetings with writers in the next few weeks. The deal puts Bay in the center of two Paramount franchises, as he started production May 17 on Transformers 3… Paramount made a first look deal with the Platinum Dunes partners, who will generate genre projects but also want to expand their scope. While they’ve already set up several projects including a Rob Cohen-remake of Fright Night, the Turtles film puts them into new territory.

So the same studio that is most recently responsible for the horrid, CGI-abused Friday the 13th remake will be involved with bringing the live-action turtles back to the big screen. Great. Considering this production company has exclusively been involved with horror remakes, it makes me even more concerned that this is going to be the new look of the Turtles.

I am actually more forgiving than most when it comes to the Transformers movies than most. I actually enjoyed many things about them. No, they weren’t great, but I wanted to see robots beating the shit out of each other and I felt like Bay delivered. However, I don’t want Michael Bay anywhere near my fucking beloved Ninja Turtles!

But of course, I have no say in the matter…

How does everyone else feel about this?

Heat Vision Blog is reporting that Scottish actor James McAvoy will be playing a young Charles Xavier in the upcoming X-Men: First Class movie.

James McAvoy has signed on to play a young Charles Xavier, aka Professor X, in “X-Men: First Class,” which Matthew Vaughn is directing for Fox.

According to Fox, “First Class” will “chart the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Eric Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were the closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.”

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this. I like James McAvoy just fine, but I just don’t see him as Professor X. Although I have been proven to be wrong in the past. I wasn’t big on Heath Ledger playing the Joker when it was first announced and look how that turned out.