More Marvels coming to theaters
With the opening weekend success of “Iron Man,” Marvel Studios announced earlier this week its planned lineup for its next few superhero movies. Here’s the list, courtesy of the Associated Press:
- “Iron Man 2″ on April 30, 2010.
(As we discussed in Monday’s box office report, the first movie made nearly $100 million domestically in its debut, enough to land it as second on the list for nonsequel movies, after “Spider-Man.”)
- “Thor” on June 4, 2010.
- “The First Avenger: Captain America” on May 6, 2011.
- ”The Avengers” on July 2011.
- “Ant-Man,” which is in development but has no release date.
Also, ”The Incredible Hulk,” starring Edward Norton, which is based on a Marvel comic but was made by Universal Studios, will be in theaters June 13.
“Iron Man” star Robert Downey Jr. makes an appearance in “The Incredible Hulk” as Tony Stark. Likewise, Marvel Studios Chairman David Maisel said the Hulk could turn up in “Iron Man 2.”
Plus, we could see even more superhero crossover since “The Avengers” is made up of a rotating cast of Marvel heroes – including original members Iron Man, the Hulk, Ant-Man and Thor. That means virtually any Marvel character could turn up in an “Avengers” film.
“In controlling our destiny, we can control where the characters are and we can have our movies connect and be in the same universe,” Maisel said in the AP story.
“Iron Man” was the first film financed by Marvel, which in the past licensed its characters to Hollywood studios, who scored big hits with the “Spider-Man,” “X-men” and “Fantastic Four” movies.
Marvel plans to make future films on its own and use the studios to distribute them for a fee. That allows them a bigger steak from their cash cows and gives them more creative control – thus allowing them to swap their heroes and villains in and out of different films and franchises.
- BAM
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It is cool that they will be able to do more crossover stuff. Comic book fans love that kind of thing.