Check out the teaser poster to the upcoming Lionsgate Conan movie.

Here’s your uh-oh alert for today! The Hollywood Reporter is reporting Frank Miller is in negotiations with Samuel L. Jackson to play the role of the Octopus, the Spirit’s nemesis who wants to take over Central City (not to be confused with that other Central City).

Miller said during an introduction of the project at the Festival de Cannes that Jackson is his first choice to play the evil genius who knows the secrets behind the Spirit. He added that he is beginning to mull different actors to play the comic book hero.

Hmmm… While I like Samuel L. as an actor, I’m a little concerned about him playing the arch-nemesis. If they kept the villain in the shadows like Darwyn Cooke has been doing in the comic, then this could be genius, but knowing actors like to be seen, I think we’ll be seeing a lot of Sam on screen.

What do you think?

via Hollywood Reporter

Lionsgate has picked up the distribution rights to the live action adaptation of Will Eisner’s The Spirit movie, written by Frank Miller.

“Will was a dear friend, a mentor, and translating his vision to the screen will be a labor of love,” Miller said.”The Spirit” will be produced by Pritzker and Del Prete, along with Lionsgate’s Mike Paseornek and Batfilm’s Michael Uslan. Benjamin Melniker will exec produce with Steve Maier, and Linda McDonough and F.J. DeSanto are co-producers.

As great as Frank Miller is, this film will be his first solo directing gig. He’s only co-directed one other film - Sin City with Robert Rodriquez, and I’m not sure learning the ropes from the man who breaks all the rules is the best way to learn a craft, but hey, that’s just me.

via Variety

This January, Marvel Studios and Lionsgate will release to DVD the latest title in the very successful Marvel Animated Features video series — THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN, inspired by one of Marvel’s most popular Super Hero franchises. The third release of a multi-picture direct-to-DVD deal signed by the two companies, THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN follows on the heels of the enormously successful ULTIMATE AVENGERS: THE MOVIE and ULTIMATE AVENGERS 2: RISE OF THE PANTHER, which have sold more than 1.5 million units combined since debuting in February 2006, and currently rank among the top 10 children’s releases year-to-date according to Nielsen Videoscan (10/8/06). THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN is an origin story that follows billionaire inventor Tony Stark as he raises a long-buried city in China and awakens an unspeakable evil that only the armor-clad Iron Man(TM) can destroy in a battle of modern technology versus eastern mythology.

(more…)

Yesterday, during the Marvel Studios Analyst webcast, the company revealed more details on their future projects.

Direct-to-DVD Features Status
Ultimate Avengers 2 - Released 8/8/06
Iron Man - In production
Doctor Strange - In production
Teen Avengers - Development

TV Series
Fantastic Four - In production
Wolverine and the X-Men - Pre-production
Iron Man - Development
Spider-Man - Development

(more…)

Tomorrow July 26, 2006, you can catch the first 10 minutes of the Ultimate Avengers 2 DVD online at Habbo.com. The first DVD did “okay”, and it is good to see companies willing to launch themed titles directly to DVD (see Warner/DC announcement earlier today).

Lionsgate (press release) — Through a partnership with HABBO, one of the world’s largest and hottest on-line destinations for teenagers, Lionsgate, the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, will premiere the first 10 minutes of its highly-anticipated Marvel™ animated feature, Ultimate Avengers 2, on the popular website, Habbo.com. This event marks the first time the online community will be able to view 10 full minutes of a never-before-seen film prior to its release. A virtual red-carpet premiere event will be held at the Habbo Theaterdome on July 26th at 4:00pm PST, where a host of “special guests” will be in attendance, including the human personas of Captain America™ (Steve Rogers), Iron Man™ (Tony Stark), The Hulk™ (Bruce Banner) and Black Panther™ (T’Challa). This will be a “black tie” affair – and all Habbos in attendance will be required to dress in black.

During the premiere event, registered users of the site, called “Habbos” will be able to attend by logging in to the virtual community and entering the Habbo Theaterdome to view the film footage and also respond within the community immediately – even while the footage is still playing. After the premiere showing is completed, Habbos will be treated to an interactive Q&A session with the Marvel Heroes from the movie who attended the premiere. Once the premiere event concludes, all other Habbos will be able to view the footage on Habbo.com for two weeks leading up to the August 8th DVD release of Ultimate Avengers 2.

Ultimate Avengers 2 is the second film in a multi-picture deal between Lionsgate and Marvel Studios and is the sequel to Ultimate Avengers: The Movie. Available on DVD on August 8th for the suggested retail price of $19.98.