Reboots. Good or Bad?

          For years now reboots have become a part of Hollywood. Now reboots are a completely different thing than remakes, remakes are a movie being made to be exactly like the movie its remaking, a reboot is taking a film franchise and taking it in a new direction. Many recent reboots have been extremely successful, like Batman Begins, Superman Returns, Incredible Hulk, and Star Trek. But are they a good choice to make, Yes. If you wait long enough people will embrace a new vision of a franchise. When you don’t wait long enough, like the Incredible Hulk, people don’t understand what you are doing. Most of the people I know thought it was a sequel.

THE OSBORN SUPREMACY: The Initiative

The 50-State Initiative was supposed to help insure the safety of civilians. Instead, the U.S. Government’s program to put a team of trained superheroes in every state has actually made the Marvel Universe a more dangerous place. During Secret Invasion, the Initiative was riddled with shapeshifting Skrull infiltrators, and now that Norman Osborn’s Dark Reign has begun, the program and all its resources are at his disposal. CBR News spoke with “Avengers: The Initiative” writer Christos Gage about what’s next for his title now that Osborn is in charge of America’s superhuman army.

Osborn made his first major appearance in “The Initiative” with issue #23, in stores now. He arrived at to proclaim that he was closing the Initiative training ground of Camp Hammond; an announcement that has left many of the book’s cast shocked and surprised. “Everyone feels a tremendous amount of uncertainty about where to go from here,” Gage told CBR News. “Is there a place for them in the new Initiative? If so, do they want it? If not, do they really have another choice? Like many of us, the heroes of Camp Hammond feel like they’re on shaky ground right now. And when the questions they have about their future start to be answered in issue #25, those answers might just be worse than anyone imagined.”

Raimi And Maguire Locked Down For Two More Web Slingers

Well it looks like the team is shaping up for another run at Spider-man. We get the scoop from DeadlineHollywood via IESB:

News hit today that Spider-man veterans Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi have been locked in by Sony to return for back to back productions of Spidey 4 & 5.

…I’m told that both star Tobey Maguire and director Sam Raimi will be returning to make Zodiac screenwriter Jamie Vanderbilt’s script of Spider-Man 4. Sources tell me that Sony has recently locked in both veterans of Spider-Man 1 through 3…

…There’s no deal yet for Kirsten Dunst but Mary Jane Watson will be featured. I’m told Sony “would never recast her” despite her rehab problems…

Warner Bros to Hold a Superhero Movie Summit with DC Comics

Taking their cue from Marvel’s recent success at the movie house, Warner Brothers is planning some intense meetings with comics publisher DC–whom the WB owns. They’re having high-level, super secret get-togethers to cement a master plan for comic book movies based on DC’s huge stable of superhero characters.

Reports say Warner Bros is looking to, not only reboot the Superman franchise a la The Incredible Hulk, but also to exploit the cross-over idea started by Marvel movies the likes of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Between the two movies, Marvel has kick started several other potential “team-up” movies where mutliple characters either will share screen time, or be getting their own big screen adaptation.

Teasing applicable movies within movies is a good idea simply because it allows for streamlining another character’s origin story. Captain America’s origin was hinted at in the Hulk, and Shield’s existence is covered in Iron Man. Together they lay the groundwork for at least two more movies greenlighting “The Avengers” and “Captain America.”

Till now that sort of connected strategy has never been done with DC’s characters, which makes no sense when you consider that WB owns the rights to all DC properties. Marvel, on the other hand, is having to buy back their characters, several of which will not be included in near-future “team-ups” due to the fact that their license is still owned by other production companies. Sony/Columbia just renewed Marvel’s most popular superhero in Spider-Man. So, you won’t be seeing him in an ensemble, neither will any of the Mutant X-Men, who are still under contract by FOX.

With the exception of the newly rebooted Batman franchise, every superhero based movie announced coming out of WB has been botched. Justice Leauge is the best case in point. Yet, most would agree that DC has a better stable of characters that could work well in theaters. Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash are all fairly well known to most people. Where Marvel has to introduce less-well-known characters such as Iron Man, DC could feasibly bring out some of theirs without the initial origin story taking up the first movie.

As is common in Hollywood, now that Marvel has shown the way, everybody is going to try and copy their success. Let’s just hope they get it right and provide a decent product that doesn’t talk down to the comics fans. Making meetings with the creatives at DC is a good sign. Nothing good ever comes about when the suits push out the creatives. This initial step of communal conferencing bodes well.

Comic Con Thursday Schedule

10:00-11:00 Kings: Exclusive Sneak Peek Screening and Q&A with Cast and Executive Producers
Kings is a contemporary re-imagining of the timeless tale of David and Goliath, an epic story of greed and power, war and romance, forbidden loves and secret alliances, and a young hero who rises to power in a modern-day kingdom. Be the first to see an exclusive sneak peek from the two-hour pilot. Moderated by Greg Grunberg (Heroes), the panel includes a Q&A with creator/executive producer Michael Green (Heroes), director/executive producer Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend), executive producer Erwin Stoff (I Am Legend), and the cast: Golden Globe winner Ian McShane (Deadwood), Chris Egan (Resident Evil: Extinction), Susanna Thompson (Star Trek: Voyager), Sebastian Stan (Gossip Girl), and Allison Miller (Seventeen Again). Room 6B