Digital Spy is reporting that shooting on The Avengers has been delayed.

The cause of the delay? Apparently, Samuel L. Jackson’s script had been leaked and they want to rewrite compromised scenes.

There is no word about how long this delay will last, but the film has been shooting for less than a week. It’s bad news for all parties involved, anything to make the film behind schedule risks the integrity of the film Joss Whedon has been wanting to make.

How drastic will the rewrites be that would require a complete production halt?

This is not heartening news. Will we get a substandard script because of these leaks? On the other hand, could this mean a better script? Could the leak be a ploy to give Whedon more time to turn in a better script?

Anything is possible. We’ll keep you updated.

If you grew up at any time between 1975-1996, you’re probably familiar with the phenomenon of trading cards. For a quarter, you could get a pack of 10 or so cards of your favorite licensed property, along with a stick of gum that can double as a deadly projectile. Arguably, some of the best ones were based on the burgeoning summer movie blockbuster. I remember poring over my collection of cards from Tim Burton’s Batman all through the summer of 1989-90. Sadly, aside from a few holdovers like Batman Begins, they are few and far between nowadays. And even when they do surface, they simply aren’t as pure “fun” as the cards of yore.

An Example of the Batman (1989) cards.

I have to give huge props then to Blaine Hefner. He took this year’s slew of blockbusters and made his own cards, via the power of the internet and graphics programs! Originally done for the Salt Lake Tribune, these cards look so authentic, that if I didn’t know they weren’t real, I’d be hard-pressed to figure it out on my own. Be sure to check Blaine’s blog for a scan of the actual article from the Tribune, but he was kind enough to share some of the individual card images as well. In out gallery below, you can see what cards from Thor, Captain America, Green Lantern, Conan, Cowboys & Aliens and many more would look like is Topps was still as prominent now as they were then.

Well, if you watched last week’s exciting episode, you learned two things. First, this incarnation of Captain America is way different from just about any other. Second, flying in the face of movie serial tropes, you know who the mysterious Scarab is right off the bat! As for the cliffhanger? Let me tell you, that is definitely the most realistic building collapse a 1940’s serial budget could buy! That is to say, well, not terribly convincing. How do you think Captain America will get out of this one? If it were Steve Rogers, I’d bet he’d  just shrug off a building, using his shield as a brace. For District Attorney Grant Gardner though? I dunno, maybe he’ll shoot it or something. At any rate, we’ll find out in chapter 2: Mechanical Executioner!

Hope you all liked that! As a bonus, here is the one-sheet poster for this very chapter!

Transformers 3 Dark Of The Moon Theatrical Trailer from Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.

I have a dirty little secret: I liked the first two Transformers movies.

I know, I know, “Michael Bay sucks! All his movies are just explosions!”, “The plots are dumb!”, “Transformers 2 was horrible!”, and so on and so forth. Maybe I’m the minority here, maybe it’s because I went into these movies wanting and expecting little more that giant robots beating the living shit out of each other, or possibly you may just think I have a horrible taste in movies. Frankly, I don’t care. I enjoyed the hell out of the first two Transformers films (despite the presence of some really dumb humor in the second one) and I have been looking forward to the third one, and this new trailer just released over at michaelbay.com makes me even more excited.

I think I may be the only bot here at BSR! who likes these movies as much as I do, but even I have slacked on posting much on this upcoming third installment. Mostly because all of the news that has hit has been pretty much the same as the last two films: a couple images of a handful of transformers, some movie banners here and there, nothing terribly exciting. But this! I think this trailer is absolutely badass. The stakes have been raised, there actually seems to be a sense that the whole world is in peril, massive amounts of distruction, and most importantly Optimus Prime jetting in and skidding down a freeway cutting down bad guys! Think what you want, but watching the trailer (a few times actually) I couldn’t help but think, “Hell yes!” The human race is essentially boned in a big way and it’s up to Bumblebee and Optimus Prime and company step up and kick some Decepticon ass.

This may not be as high on my anticipation list as Thor or Captain America: The First Avenger, but I will still be at my local cinema opening weekend for this one, most likely enjoying the hell out of it.

The Autobots do battle for the final time (at least for a long while) when Transformers: Dark of the Moon opens on July 1, 2011!

Big Shiny Robot is excited to bring you this interview with voice actor extraordinaire Steve Blum! For those of you who aren’t familiar with his work, Mr. Blum is probably most well known as Spike in Cowboy Beebop, Mugen in Samurai Champloo, Wolverine in Wolverine and the X Men, and currently as the voice of Starscream on Transformers Prime on the Hub network.

For me personally, it was an absolute honor to interview Mr. Blum. I have been a huge fan since the 1990’s and have enjoyed his voice acting work in countless series and video games (most recently as Wolverine in Wolverine and the X Men and as Zaka in the Playstation 3 game Valkyria Chronicles).

Check out our interview in which Mr. Blum talks about getting started as a voice actor, working with legends like Frank Welker and fellow anime talent Crispin Freeman, some of his favorite characters, his current projects, and more!

Listen to the interview here: Steve Blum Interview

You can hear Mr. Blum at work as the ultra-cool bounty hunter Spike Spiegel in this great trailer for Cowboy Beebop the Movie:

and as Wolverine in this fantastic trailer for Wolverine and the X Men:

To check out more from Steve Blum, what he’s working on, where he’ll be appearing this year, and some really cool interactive audio clips, head over to his site at www.steveblumvoices.com

Things get added to Netflix’s Instant Watch service all the time. Normally we don’t deem it newsworthy unless it’s a significant add, like the recent CBS deal. This is one of those times. Marvel has announced that they’re bringing nearly their entire catalog of animated shows, spanning nearly 50 years, to Netflix Instant watch! Starting tomorrow, April 29th, you can relive someone the greatest adventures ever put to thousands of frames of celluloid! Here’s the list of launch day shows and what’s coming later. Check back with me afterward, and I’ll tell you what’s missing.

Streaming April 29th:

• The Incredible Hulk (1996-97)
• Spider-Man Unlimited (1999-2001)
• Iron Man: Extremis (2010)
• Astonishing X-Men: Gifted (2010)
• Spider-Woman: Agent of the S.W.O.R.D. (2010)
• Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes (2006)
• Silver Surfer (1998)
• Black Panther (2010)
• Iron Man: Armored Adventures Season 1 (2009)

Coming Later This Summer:

• Marvel Action Hour: Iron Man (1994-1996)
• The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! Season 1 (2010)
• X-Men: Evolution (2000-03)
• X-Men (1992-97)
• Spider-Man (1967-68)
• Spider-Man (1981-82)
• Spider-Man (1994-98)
• Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (1981)

Coming This Fall:

• Iron Man (1966)
• Thor (1966)
• Captain America (1966)
• Hulk (1966)
• Sub-Mariner (1966)

That my friends, is a mighty impressive lineup. Some of these shows are more obscure than others, and I’m not personally a fan of the motion comics. The fact that they are adding shows like Silver Surfer and Spider-Man Unlimited are simply astounding (in the good way)! I am a bit sad that there are a couple shows missing from this list though. Notably, The Incredible Hulk (1981-82), Marvel Action Hour: Fantastic Four (1994-1996). Those two were pretty great. Also missing is Avengers: United They Stand (1999-2000), but well, that’s ok by me.

Let us know what you think, is Marvel missing anything else? Are you excited?

Big thanks to Alonso Frias for the heads up!

I found this hilarious post over about an alternate Harry Potter universe over at the Failbook… (and in case you hate clicking links)

I quickly posted it to my facebook and almost immediately Bizarrobot jumped in and gave her two cents, eventually, what started as a funny thought about a gun toting boy wizard, turned into a semi-serious discussion about how the world of H.P. could be humanized and darkened (it also showed just how nerdy I can be… a lot):Just before she left to procure some pastry- Bizarro had this to say:

So- my question to you is: How would you make Harry Potter more gritty and muggle-esque? If simple human inventions were thrown into the mix of wizardry- how would things have been different?  Discuss!

Today seems to be trailer day, but this one takes the cake.

I’m not really sure I care what anyone says, this movie looks incredible and bloody epic. I got teary eyed. My son has been obsessed with Harry Potter, so it’s all I hear about and all he’s been watching, so it’s all been soaking in a lot lately. And Part 1 of the Deathly Hallows was tremendous in my book. (Not as good as Prisoner of Azkaban, mind you, but very excellent.)

This is… wow…

This series has grown up in a way I would never have guessed. I wonder what franchise Warner Brothers is going to get going next. Just from the the few scenes shown here, Daniel Radcliffe has taken his game to the next level and is standing toe-to-toe with Ralph Fiennes. And there’s not going to be a dry eye in the house when this is all said and done.

What say you?

Want to know a secret? X-men: First Class looks awesome. Seriously.

I don’t care how bad the posters and marketing department working on this film is, every trailer that has come out has made me extremely happy. This film looks really, really cool and I can’t wait to see it.

It’s pretty obvious that Matthew Vaughn is tying visual motifs from the first two X-men films into this and it makes me even happier.

Really, what is there to complain about in this trailer? I say there isn’t anything.

IF you were hungry for a glimpse of what Henry Cavill (AKA the guy that will be playing Super Man in Zach Snyder’s reboot of the franchise) was like on the silver screen the first trailer for Immortals is out now. It should be no surprise to anyone that this film is “from the producers of 300”. AS it kind of has the feel of B-Roll footage from 300 that was cut together in some of the shots. Personally – I think this film should have the hanger below the title of “OR; What the producers of the Clash of the Titans reboot SHOULD have strove for, but just didn’t give a damn to”. Biased?!? Moi? I am a bit of a greek mythology nerd, so to say I am excited for this is kind of an understatement. Plus – HOLY WOW SHINY PRETTY!!! Love the look and costumes, love the casting. But what do YOU, our beloved Big Shiny Robot! readers think? Epic and New? Or Rehash of a proven winner and therefore kind of stale? Sound off below!