CHUD is reporting exclusively that Marvel has decided to start making some smaller super-hero movies on lower budgets and have been having meetings with writers and directors. These would be small movies for their lower tier characters like Dr. Strange, Luke Cage, The Dazzler, and so on. According to CHUD, Power Pack is on the list, which could be interesting as a kids property.

Anyhow, I think this is a great step forward for Marvel. At the point where they have the biggest super-hero franchises in the world and they’re making they’re way to the big screen currently, why not diversify with some smaller investments and get some of the well-loved but lesser known characters out there? I think Marvel has branded themselves and their studio well enough that they could draw a good opening weekend audience in for a Dr. Strange film, or a Luke Cage film…

Personally, I’d love to see a Moon Knight film. A lower budget, gritty, much more psychological take on the Batman sort of archetype. I mean, honestly, Marc Spector is as crazy as a bedbug with all his multiple personalities and the guy was a mercenary. I think you could make him movie pretty efficiently with this model.

The price tag for these films, according to CHUD, is the $20-40 million range, which is right around where Kick-Ass was. My guess is they realize that if they make 4 of these, and even if only one of them is a runaway hit, they’ve still made all their money back plus some.

It’s good business for Marvel, and exciting news for us fans.

What second-class Marvel Superhero’s movie would you like to see flying under this banner?

The AP is reporting that because of MGM’s inability to find a buyer, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, the producers of the Bond series, have put the latest outing of the British super-spy on the shelf indefinitely.

With two films under his belt and a distribution breakdown for the films, Daniel Craig’s situation is starting to resemble Timothy Dalton’s from the 1980s. Both have made a good and a bad Bond film, both actors served to relaunch a more gritty Bond after a string of silly 007 pictures, both enjoyed wide-spread popularity, and both seemed to be stopped up before a third film because of behind the scenes wrangling.

I like Craig (I liked Dalton, too), and I hope he gets more time in the tux (I wish Dalton had a few more outings, too), but could this be where the franchise is headed? Or will Craig cling to the role in a way that would make Roger Moore blush?

In any case, if we ever do see another Bond film in the near future, with or without Craig, I hope to see Sam Mendes (who is currently attached) stick with the project. I also hope it gets back to the roots of Bond. I want Q and Moneypenny and gadgets and a super-villain. Is that so much to ask from a James Bond film these days?

What do you guys want from a new Bond film? And what’s your favorite?

I’m going to say my favorite is Goldfinger. Tied for second, though, is On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Goldeneye.

The latest outing for the DC Universe Original Animated Movies is Batman: Under the Red Hood, featuring the voices of Bruce Greenwood as Batman, Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing, Jensen Ackles as Red Hood, and John DiMaggio as The Joker!

In this new DVD based on the acclaimed story from Batman comics, the Dark Knight finds himself being stalked by a mysterious criminal who seems to know all of his secrets.

Personally, I think this looks pretty epic, though, judging by the trailer alone, I’m not a fan of Bruce Greenwood’s Batman, but the rest of the voice cast seems pretty solid. And while I am excited to see this latest installment from the DCAU, I’m pretty sure Swank disagrees with me on the potential awesomeness of this…

Watch for Batman: Under the Red Hood coming to DVD on July 27!

On its opening weekend in the US Kick-Ass made $19.8 Million and took second place for the weekend. It came in behind How To Train Your Dragon (which came out 4 weeks ago) but placed above Date Night and Death At A Funeral. All in all pretty good considering that Rated R superhero movies don’t often do well. We robots have been saying from the start that this movie is going to make it on word of mouth so make sure you go out and get people to see this movie. And if you need some reasons why read this article from Steve Zeitchik at the LA Times. He gives a lot of good reasons as to why this movie didn’t have a great opening we would like to see but that its still doing strong. If you’ve listened to the most recent podcast I tried to make some points about marketing etc but I was no where near as coherent and articulate as Mr. Zeitchik. So give it a read and tell your friends to see the damn movie.

UPDATE: Kick-Ass actually took the #1 spot. $19.8 Million compared to Dragons $19.6 (source)

If you couldn’t tell, it’s really important to me that you go see Kick-Ass this week.  I saw the film last night and am about to see it again (We’ll be roundtable reviewing it with all the robots in a day or two), but it’s just a great film.

As you’re aware, this is from our weekly column at IN Magazine, one of the alternative newsweeklies in Salt Lake City.  If you’re in the area, pick up a copy on newsstands now.

You can click here to read the online version, or you can click on the image below to read the laid out, visual version.  In any case, the fact of the matter is that you should be seeing Kick-Ass this week.

The Great Mouse Detective is an animated Disney film, and one of my favorites from the 80s.  It’s basically a Disney-fied version of a Sherlock Holmes yarn with mice as the lead characters and a rat named Ratigan in the Moriarty role (played by Vincent Price!). Even Basil Rathbone has a cameo as the real, human Holmes.

This seems to be an oft overlooked Disney film from the 80s, overshadowed by The Little Mermaid, The Fox and the Hound, and The Black Cauldron. It also came out the same year as Don Bluth’s An American Tail, which was a smash hit. This is a solid little movie, though, and is incredbily entertaining and fun for the whole family. Today, though, sees only the DVD release of the film. So maligned is it in the popular consciousness that it doesn’t seem to have earned its Blu-ray yet.

The film is still very fun and has the same breathless feeling you get when you watch the new Robert Downey, Jr. Holmes picture, you get dizzied in watching smart characters be smart, and for Disney to have applied that to a children’s film was a delicate balancing act that I would call a work of genius.  I would go so far as to say that this could be a very useful gateway drug to get kids thinking about the Sherlock Holmes formula and turn them into Holmes fans later in life.

You can get it on Amazon here.

While Iron Man 2 may be the most anticipated robot movie of the summer, Toy Story really gets my circuits a-blazing.

In fact, 10 years ago when Toy Story 2 came out, I named it the best picture of 1999, just narrowly beating out American Beauty, The Matrix, and Fight Club.  (Sorry, Swank– The Phantom Menace came in a distant 5th).  And since then, Lassater and Co have only improved on their artistry through films like Monsters Inc, The Incredibles, and last year’s tearjerking Up.

And wouldn’t you like to see what they’re doing?

Well you can– just go become a fan of TS3 Screenings on Facebook by clicking here, then go find your local college you “attend” and when and where the screening will take place. But beware– most of these screenings already have confirmed attendees in the hundreds according to their Facebooks RSVPs, and they’ve bought ad space on Facebook.  These are going to be crowded.  There will likely be riots because too many people will show up to try to see the films. And they are supposedly checking college IDs.

this is not for the faint of heart

That being said, if you feel like braving the crowds, please go enjoy this.  Then make sure you drop us a line here at Big Shiny Robot and tell us how it was.

And we know many of our local Robots are based here in Salt Lake City and Utah County, so I’ve included the info for your screenings.  Click the links to go to facebook page for the Salt Lake or Orem screenings.

University of Utah, Weber State, Utah State, Westminster, SLCC, et al:

Century 16 in Midvale, Thurs April 22, 8pm

BYU (Go Cougars!) and Utah Valley University

Cinemark University Mall in Orem, Thurs Apr 15, 8pm

As an aside, Citizen-Bot here in Austin will have to sit this one out, as not only does he not have a doppleganger with a Longhorn college ID, but Harry Knowles will likely attend the screening here for University of Texas students, filling up all seats with his Jabba-esque largesse and crowding out all other film-goers.

Mike Fleming from Deadline.com is reporting that he’s been “told” that Marvel studios is in final negotiations to give the reigns of the The Avengers movie to fanboy favorite, Joss Whedon.

I’m told Marvel Studios is in final negotiations for Buffy the Vampire Slayer series architect Joss Whedon to direct Marvel Studios’ The Avengers… 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.

Of course, Whedon is no stranger to comic books having an extended run as writer for Astonishing X-Men from 2008 – 2009, as well as the popular Runaways among others. Frankly, I loved Serenity and while I was never a huge Buffy fan I thought Whedon’s work on Astonishing X-Men was really good – I mean, the man brought back Colossus! If in fact this job goes to Whedon I think it will be a good fit; it would be a good case of a director getting to direct a superhero film he is personally attached to.

Of course, we will keep an eye on this and let you know as soon as we get some confirmation…

/Film is reporting that even thought Green Lantern has gone into production, we shouldn’t expect to see any leaked pictures of Ryan Reynolds in a Green Lantern costume. Here’s a bit of what Mr. Sciretta had to say:

I must first remind you that Ngila Dickson, the costumer designer on the film has won an Academy Award for a little film called The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Maybe you’ve seen it before? Don’t let her Xena: Warrior Princess roots scare you, she worked on the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Last Samurai (another film which earned her an Oscar nomination), The Illusionist, Blood Diamond and The International. She has an impressive IMDB page, for sure.

Ngila was tasked with trying to find a way to do something that stands apart from all of the other superheroes spandex suit designs we’ve seen in the past. Honestly, isn’t the look becoming overused?

Remember, the Green Lantern suit is something that should look alien — it needs to seem other worldly. It encompasses any creature that wears the ring, and Hal Jordan is the first human to ever wear the suit. This was a chance for Dickson to do something different. You also have to consider that Hal changes into the suit multiple times in mid scene, and the cg also allows him to do this.

I’ve heard that when the cg is complete, the suit will look like a manifestation of his power. And while I couldn’t confirm this, I’ve heard that DC’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns has seen the designs and given them his blessing.

Of course, the argument can be made that with so many films relying so much on CG these days there is a certain charm about the practicality of an actual, physical costume.  That said though – Green Lantern is one of the few DC heroes I know a fair amount about, and if there was ever a superhero who a CG suit would work for, it’s Green Lantern. /Film hit is right on the head, the suit is a manifestation of his power ring, CG almost seems like the way you’d have to do it!

You can of course read everything /Film had to say on the matter here.

What do you guy-bots and girl-bots think? Yay or nay to a CG GL costume?

We’re going to have some Kick-Ass giveaways all week on our Facebook page and via our Twitter, but we’re kicking off the grand prize contest here and now.

For the grand prize we have a whole slew of stuff:

• The Book: Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie (courtesy of Titan Books)
• An embroidered Kick-Ass Ball Cap
• A Kick-Ass T-Shirt
• A Kick-Ass cock and balls insignia Key-chain with attached permanent marker
• Kick-Ass Lenticular mini-poster
• 2 Big Shiny Robot stickers and a commemorative 2nd Anniversary BSR! poster

What do you need to do to win all this stuff?  It’s pretty simple.  All you need to do is create a superhero identity for facebook.  Go to www.IWillKickAss.com and use their superhero creator to create  a superhero (or make your own from scratch) and create a facebook fan page.  The contest ends on April 15th at midnight and the superhero with the most fans (and has driven the most fans to add Kick-Ass and Big Shiny Robot! to their facebook) will win the grandprize!

Be sure to advertise your fan page everywhere you can (and be sure to mention that it’s a Kick-Ass contest sponsored by Big Shiny Robot!) and let us know about it.  Comment here with links to your fan pages and we’ll keep an eye on them and feature some of them.

We’ll still be giving away shirts and hats and posters over the course of the next week, so be sure to add us on facebook and twitter to find out how you can win.

Kick-Ass opens in theatres across the United States on April 16th, and you pretty much have to go see it immediately.