As you’d expect with just days to go until the UK release of X-Men: First Class, the mutant marketing machine has gone into overdrive this past week and, judging by the critical reception so far, it seems as if Matthew Vaughn has overseen a return to form for the X-Men series, if not a franchise best. Vaughn took part in an in depth roundtable earlier this week (the transcript of which can be seen over at HeyUGuys) and he’s also been talking potential sequels with HitFlix and MovieWeb (along with the on / off status of Kick-Ass 2), while ScreenRant posted highlights of a press conference with the First Class cast. There is of course a special guest cameo in X-Men: First Class, which we won’t ruin here (despite the fact it’s really not all that surprising anyway) but if you’re desperate to get your hands on anything X-Men then over twenty minutes of b-roll footage has made its way online that you can check out at ComicBookMovie. There’s also been a million or so more TV spots, posters, banners and what have you, but frankly it’s just too damn exhausting to keep track of them all. One thing that did prove pretty interesting though was Patrick Stewart’s comments about himself and Ian McKellen being up for another X-Men film, and with Bryan Singer linked to X4 and X5 it looks as if Fox is really going to get its money worth out of the franchise over the coming years.
And, on that very subject, the studio are also keen to push on with their latest Wolverine spin-off, with Variety reporting that eight directors are under consideration to replace Darren Aronofsky on the Hugh Jackman mutant actioner. Those said to be in the frame to helm The Wolverine are Jose Padilha (Bus 174, Elite Squad), Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith), Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Brooklyn's Finest), Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo, Never Let Me Go), Justin Lin (Fast & Furious, Fast Five), Gavin O'Connor (Pride and Glory, Warrior), James Mangold (Walk the Line, Knight and Day) and notable commercials director Gary Shore. What, no Gavin Hood?
Along with the first reveal of Tom Hardy as Bane, last week brought word of three new arrivals to the cast of The Dark Knight Rises and now you can add another two to the ever-growing list. The latest additions to Christopher Nolan’s Batman swansong are Brett Cullen (Ghost Rider, Lost) and Chris Ellis (Catch Me If You Can, Transformers), with Cullen portraying a judge and Ellis featuring as a priest in what you’d imagine to be minor roles.Meanwhile it’s also been revealed that Matthew Modine’s character is called Nixon and is described by Showbiz411 as “a politician and a key villain”. Batman’s certainly going to have his hands full in The Dark Knight Rises and it really seems like Nolan’s throwing everything he has into this final outing, which is rumoured to be getting a teaser trailer in time for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
Rounding up the best of the rest...
…Another film that could be increasing its roster of villains is Marvel’s The Avengers, with LatinoReview reporting that the cosmic tyrant Thanos could be in line for an appearance in Joss Whedon’s superhero ensemble, while Industrial Light & Magic have updated their site to announce that they’ll be handling VFX duties…
...Having finished up principal photography on The Amazing Spider-Man, Sony have released a rather bland teaser poster and logo for the upcoming reboot, while Marvel legend Stan Lee has spilled the beans on his cameo appearance and revealed a little info about a showdown between Andrew Garfield's webslinger and Rhys Ifans' Lizard......According to Hero Complex, DC executives Geoff Johns and Jim Lee are planning a major announcement for the Hero Complex Film Festival on June 11th, which is said to concern "the future of Superman and the entire DC Universe". ComicBookMovie are speculating that this could be official confirmation of a Justice League movie, but I'd be surprised if that didn't come direct from WB. Could it have something to do with the messy dispute over the Superman rights? We’ll find out soon enough…
...Green Lantern is set to arrive in cinemas next month and this past week a new clip emerged featuring Michael Clarke Duncan’s Kilowog and Ryan Reynolds’ Hal Jordon, while io9 posted an article about the make-up used to turn Mark Strong into Sinestro. And there’s me thinking they’d just used cheap-looking CGI for all the aliens…
...And finally, for those of you out there distraught over missing out on the opportunity for a glimpse of Wonder Woman's Adrianne Palicki in a pair of skimpy, star-spangled knickers, you may be able to satisfy some of those cravings here.
X-Men: First Class Press Conference Report...
Gary Collinson
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