Make Mine Marvel

Ahhh, Hollywood is so predictable sometimes.

It always amazes me that whenever a major blockbuster film hits, the studios fall all over themselves trying to make "the next "  We see it every once in a while with disaster movies - remember the summer of Volcano AND Dante's Peak?  Genres get it by the boatload - after Scream, how many horrific (no pun intended) teen horror movies did we get?  

Over the past few weeks here on the B-Spot, we've talked about various comic book properties that would do well to follow in the footsteps of this summer's amazing Iron Man and The Dark Knight runs.  We even discussed (I think) Warner Bros. decision to push on with the Green Lantern and Superman flicks.  Now, it's time for Marvel to get in on the fun with the folks at Fox.

A small excerpt from today's Variety...

Though Fox has no plans for a major overhaul, the studio has scheduled a strategy meeting to assess the status of its superheroes, a group sorely missed this summer. On the agenda, Fox will mull the possibility of more "X-Men"spinoffs, including a young-X-Men project as well as "Deadpool," based on a character played by Ryan Reynolds in "Wolverine." The studio is even considering reviving the "Daredevil" property.

Hrmm.  More X-Men spinoffs.  I'm reserving judgment on more X-Men movies until I see Wolverine.  X-Men 3 really killed my love for that series so... yeah.  I'll hold off on being excited by the idea of more X movies.  However, I think a Deadpool movie could be a lot of fun.  It's too bad that Cable/Deadpool would translate really poorly, IMO, on the silver screen.  And more Daredevil movies?  Make it so!  Daredevil is badly in need of a franchise.  

A few other comic book movie related notes...

Someone left a comment on this blog today about a black Captain America being "racist."  I think it was a joke - maybe... sorta.  Marvel has obviously set a history in place for race-changing their heros [see: Nick Fury] when the mood strikes them so I'm not opposed to a black Captain America.  What I am opposed to is the friggin' Fresh Prince playing Captain America.  Oh, and if you're really curious, Marvel did an interesting [but horribly drawn] mini-series a few years ago called "Truth" which told the story of a group of black soldiers who were experimented on with the Super Soldier Serum before they gave it to Steve Rogers who then became Captain America.  It was actually a fantastic premise for a story that I think was poorly executed if my memory serves me right.

Michael Caine stirred the shit today when he told MTV that Warner Bros execs had told him that Johnny Depp would be playing The Riddler and Phillip Seymour Hoffman would be playing The Penguin in a third installment of the Bat-Movies.  Of course, these are both now long-standing rumors that have been tossed around online so there's no telling if Mr. Caine really knows something we don't know, is mistaken, or is just jerking the chain of the Internet en masse.  Here's hoping the former because that's a movie I'd like to see.

The final thing was a Yahoo piece going over The Dark Knight's chances at an Oscar nod.  Besides the technical stuff, they seem to agree that the only shot is Heath for a supporting acting nod.  I... just can't see it.  I would love to see it but as Kate Winslet summed up so perfectly in her guest spot on Extras... you only win Oscars for movies about the Holocaust or if you "play a mental."  Hrm... I guess The Joker is kind of a mental.  We'll see!