Joss Whedon To Direct The Avengers 349
olyar noted that Joss Whedon has been tapped to direct The Avengers. This should make a lot of nerds very excited, and begin rampant speculation on Buffy/Firefly/Horrible universe actor cameos. Hope the script doesn't suck.
The [real] Avengers had... (Score:5, Informative)
...Mrs Peel. 'nuf said.
Re:Doubt it will ever get made (Score:1, Informative)
Robert Downey Jr. is working a franchise; that means he will most likely agree to do the movie since he is an established character. He did a cameo in The Incredible Hulk, helping to set up the Avenger initiative storyline. Besides; you don't know what his Iron Man contract has him obligated into.
Re:Doubt it will ever get made (Score:2, Informative)
here is no way that a) Downey is going to agree to doing an ensemble picture as a bit player after headlining 2+ Iron Man movies, or b) That the studio is going to spring for the big money it would take to hire him, just for an ensemble role in a risky new franchise.
Don't be too sure about that.
We don't know what kind of deal he has going with the studios. Nor do we know what his intentions are. I've seen big name actors take bit parts due to: favors, desire to work, or wanting to work with someone that they've always wanted to work with.
Eddie Murphy did Bowfinger because he is a fan of Steve Martin. Tom Cruise worked for scale on Rainman to work with Hoffman. Sean Bean shows up in weird places with different sized parts all the time. And Downey did do a cameo in Hulk - granted it was part of a grander plan for some future super hero movies, but never the less, he did it.
There are countless times where you see a big name in credited and uncredited appearances in movies doing small parts.
Re:Doubt it will ever get made (Score:1, Informative)
I don't think he is responsible for Firefly's failure. Whoever killed Firefly, should rot in hell or an equivalent place. Dollhouse isn't that great, i don't mourn it.
Dollhouse would have been better had it not been done with Fox. Those fuckers know how to kill a show.
Re:death penalty (Score:5, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Doubt it will ever get made (Score:5, Informative)
Whedon's last movie was 5 years ago, and bombed [imdb.com].
Not sure where you got your info from... According to Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] "It received generally positive reviews and opened at number two, taking in $10.1 million its first weekend, spending two weeks in the top ten, and totaling a domestic box office gross of $25.5 million and a foreign box office gross of $13.3 million. However, it did not make back its budget until its release on DVD. Serenity won film of the year awards from Film 2005[2] and FilmFocus. It also won IGN Film's Best Sci-Fi, Best Story and Best Trailer awards and was runner up for the Overall Best Movie. It also won the Nebula Award for Best Script for 2005, the 7th annual 'User Tomato Awards' for best Sci-Fi movie of 2005 at Rotten Tomatoes, the 2006 viewers choice Spacey Award for favorite movie, the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form and the 2006 Prometheus Special Award."
Although it did not make back its budget immediately, it did after DVD release, plus winning all those awards...I would not call that a movie that "bombed"
Re:Doubt it will ever get made (Score:1, Informative)
I personally don't think this movie will ever get made. The first clue that this is not a serious project is the fact that the studio is talking about Robert Downey, Jr. playing Iron Man. There is no way that a) Downey is going to agree to doing an ensemble picture as a bit player after headlining 2+ Iron Man movies, or b) That the studio is going to spring for the big money it would take to hire him, just for an ensemble role in a risky new franchise.
You obviously haven't been paying attention. "The Avengers" is a culmination of the separate movies in the franchise ("The Incredible Hulk", "Iron Man" 1 and 2, "Thor", "Captain America"). Those characters have had or will have their big screen debut/reboot in the separate films but then team up in "The Avengers". This was planned from the beginning. Most of the big name actors (Downey, Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Scarlett Johansson, etc.) have already signed on. The only unclear one is Edward Norton as the Hulk because it's unknown at this point whether the Hulk will be in "The Avengers" movie, though Norton has expressed interest in playing the part if asked.
As far as Whedon goes, he's one of these guys that studios often bring in to write/rewrite scripts just to test the waters on early projects. His name generates some buzz, and the studio may or may not get an interesting script out of him.
He's directing, not writing.
I suspect the studio is just looking for a little PR. The "Robert Downey is going to play Iron Man in the Avengers" thing is probably just to get some PR for "Iron Man 2." They know that's not going to happen. Hiring Joss Whedon may be a good way to get some geek buzz, but it doesn't indicate in any way that the studio is serious about actually making this movie. Until the real money starts to flow (i.e. when they actually start filming with the A-list talent), it's just another "Superman Lives"/"Green Lantern"/"Captain America" project that could spend decades in limbo and go through many directors/writers before it actually amounts to anything (if ever).
"Thor" is currently in production and with a release date of next year. "Captain America" is in pre-production and slated for release next year. "The Avengers" is slated for release in 2012. Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Studios#The_Marvel_Cinematic_Universe [wikipedia.org]
Re:Doubt it will ever get made (Score:5, Informative)
You don't seem to be aware that Downey's contract already requires him to be in the Avengers [wired.com].
That still doesn't make me optimistic about this movie getting made by him. Your comments about Whedon getting played by the movie executives seem quite familiar, given how he was assigned to Wonder Woman [mtv.com], got all worked up over it [rottentomatoes.com], and here we are five years later with no sign of a movie.
Re:Doubt it will ever get made (Score:2, Informative)