Retweet New Shot of Tony Stark in Iron Man 2

When Paramount and Jon Favreau brought footage of Iron Man 2 to Comic Con, we saw a scene where Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), mostly in his Iron Man suit, has a conversation in a donut shop with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Now we’ve got a shot from that scene, sadly only featuring Stark. Fury must have been ordering another couple crullers.

via /Film

Retweet They're Making a Venom Movie

SCI FI Wire got a chance to talk to Zombieland co-writer Paul Wernick about the script for 'Spider-Man' spin-off Venom that he wrote with Rhett Reese.

'We've written two drafts of Venom, and the studio has it, and they're pushing forward in whatever ways they push forward,' Wernick said. He was tight-lipped about whether there was a relationship between Spider-Man 4 and the Venom project.

Retweet X-Men Origins: Wolverine Sits Atop The Charts

Rentrak Retail and Home Video Essentials announced that X-Men Origins: Wolverine topped both the DVD sales and rentals for last week. According to the company's proprietary tracking services, the top ten selling DVDs and the top ten most rented motion pictures, per data collected for the week ending September 20, 2009 include the follwing right after the break.

Retweet Disney Buys Marvel: Full Press Release

DISNEY TO ACQUIRE MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT

Worldwide leader in family entertainment agrees to acquire Marvel and its portfolio of over 5,000 characters. Acquisition highlights Disney’s strategic focus on quality branded content, technological innovation and international expansion to build long-term shareholder value

Burbank, CA and New York, NY, August 31, 2009 —Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today…

“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”

“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Iger said.

“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.”

Retweet Disney Drops $4 Billion To Acquire Marvel

Wow. Just when it seemed that Paramount pretty much had the lock on a distribution deal for all the in-house superhero movies made by Marvel Entertainment, Disney swoops in and buys Marvel whole hog, to the tune of $4 billion.

In a company press release that you can find at MarketWatch, Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter said

"Disney is the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses. This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney's tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world."

In other words, just in case you were wondering, this is all about money. Disney has the better action figure manufacturing companies, apparently.

I have no idea what this means for the approximately 800 Marvel movies currently in development-- I had just assumed they would all be Paramount films, but I'm not sure how many of them Paramount actually has signed deals for. There's also the question of what it means for the characters themselves, given how beloved Disney figures like Cinderella or Simba have been put through the wringer thanks to direct-to-DVD sequels and toys that should embarrass anyone.

No matter what happens, it likely means big changes for all fans of the Marvel movies, and even more comic book overload in an already crowded market. We'll be holding our breath to see how this turns out.

UPDATE: Over at CHUD, Devin Faraci is on a conference call with the Disney-Marvel folks getting some key updates, such as the fact that current Marvel distribution deals will stay in place (Spider-Man stays at Sony, Iron Man at Paramount) until they expire, AND John Lasseter has met with the Marvel folks. Expect some crazy Pixar/Marvel hybrids that might make this whole deal worth it alone.

Sources: Cinematical and CinemaBlend

Retweet Ryan Reynolds is a Comic Book Movie Whore, Lands Role of Green Lantern

In all seriousness, huge props to Ryan for picking up the part of the Green Lantern in the upcoming film which is in works over at Warner Bros. On the other hand, this will be his third major comic book role, the first being in Blade: Trinity and second as Deadpool in the X-Men prequel Wolverine.

I think this is a good casting decision and it just goes to show that an avid comic book reader can someday become their hero, at least on screen. Will it be a comedy? How will this movie turn out? Let us know what you think in the comments.

[Photo Via Wikimedia]