Olivia Munn (naked?) and Clark Duke
Check out this clip from Attack of the Show at OliviaMunn.com featuring Clark Duke and Olivia Munn and their previous “work” together. As teased by Olivia pre-show on Twitter, she makes a naked appearance — kinda. Funny stuff!
Clark Duke and I are best friends
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Director John Hughes influenced generation of teens
Famed teen-movie director John Hughes has died at the age of 59, according to Variety.
John Hughes, more than probably any other director, had an influence on my teenage years, with films including “The Breakfast Club,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Pretty in Pink” and “Sixteen Candles.”
He spoke to being an outsider as a teen more than anyone else of his generation, and today’s filmmakers including Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen owe him a debt of gratitude. Anyone who makes a movie about teenagers can’t help but be influenced by Hughes’ redefinition of the genre.
Hughes’ collaborations with then-ingenue Molly Ringwald made her a star and put her on the cover of Time magazine. His “Molly Trilogy” of films – “Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club” and “Pretty in Pink” – were a catalog of teen longing and tribulation.
I can blame Hughes, through Ferris Bueller, of my questionable decision to wear a beret, but also for my willingness to live for the day, each day. At my high school graduation, I quoted Ferris Bueller, reminding graduates that life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. Worth remembering today as we remember a writer and director who was truly in touch with what it was to be young.
- Matt Price
G.I. Joe rising?
Rachel Nichols as Scarlett in GI Joe: Rise of Cobra
Ticket sales site Fandango.com reports that as of this morning, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra makes up 39 percent of the advance ticket sales on the site.
G.I. Joe may be spurred on Fandango by a promo that saves ticket buyers $5 on the tie-in Electronic Arts video game.
Julie and Julia, starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep, also opens Friday, and was selling the second-most tickets at Fandango as of 9 a.m. Pacific time.
- Matt Price
Del Rey to release Avatar: The Last Airbender manga
From Del Rey:
Del Rey Manga, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group and Nickelodeon/Viacom Consumer Products (NVCP) announced at Comic-Con International in San Diego, four new manga style releases – an artistic and storytelling stylized comic book set in black and white. Based on Nickelodeon’s international hit animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender and the upcoming feature film release “The Last Airbender,” directed by M. Night Shyamalan, this partnership marks the first manga tie-in for Nickelodeon.
The two original black-and-white manga will be written by Dave Roman (Jax Epoch and the Quicken Forbidden, Agnes Quill). The prequel manga, scheduled for publication in April 2009, will be illustrated by Nina Matsumoto (Yokaiden) and the movie adaptation, to be published in June 2010, will be illustrated by Joon Choi (This is Pop).
“We’re excited to partner with Del Rey on these upcoming manga releases,” said Paula Allen, SVP of Nickelodeon Global Publishing. “Recreating and adapting the layered storylines and incredible, animated martial arts of the Avatar series and upcoming feature film in the manga style will allow fans to experience their favorite moment from the show over and over again.”
The Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series and The Last Airbender live-action movie follow the epic journey of Aang, the Avatar. In an ancient world where armies of the four elements-fire, earth, water, and air-are constantly at war, the Avatar, a master of the elements, is meant to restore peace and order. Aang is the newest reincarnation of the Avatar, and is also the last airbender, harnessing the power of air and wind. Freed from a century-long sleep inside an iceberg, the 12-year-old is responsible for saving the world and finds both friends and hostile enemies on the path to his destiny.
“We’re excited to be working with Nickelodeon to bring these great stories to the manga audience,” says Dallas Middaugh, Associate Publisher of Del Rey Manga. “Avatar: The Last Airbender has shown incredible crossover appeal with manga fans. The release of The Last Airbender movie and original tie-in manga gives us the chance to share completely new stories with Avatar fans looking for more about Aang, Zuko, and their favorite characters.”
Rashida Jones comes to Oni for new project
SAN DIEGO — Oni Press announced a new miniseries to be co-written by Rashida Jones (The Office, Parks and Recreation). Frenemy of the State, co-written by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir, will follow an heiress who is working for the CIA. Jones co-created the series and will co-write with Nunzio DeFilippis (Past Lies), and Christina Weir (Past Lies).
Other Oni notes:
* Greg Rucka’s long-awaited “Stumptown” is scheduled to premiere in October.
* Polly & the Pirates will return, still written by Ted Naifeh, but with new artist Robbi Rodriguez (Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen, Maintenance)
* Jamie S. Rich is creating a new graphic novel, called “Spell Checkers,” described as “Mean Girls with Magic.”
* The “Damned” creative team of Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt will create a supernatural Western called “6th Gun.”
* A new historical fiction graphic novel called “Petrograd” will explore the death of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin.
Sterling Gates confirms Kid Flash ongoing series
SAN DIEGO — An Oklahoma writer is hitting the fast lane.
Sterling Gates, an OU graduate who was born in Tulsa, was named the writer of a new Kid Flash ongoing series at Comic-Con International. The series will star the character Bart Allen and will tie into Geoff Johns’ Flash series.
“It’s too early to talk about specifics, but I’m really psyched to be working closely with Geoff Johns. We want to make the two Flash universe books as exciting as possible,” Gates said, “and I think we can do it.”
Gates is the writer of “Supergirl” and is writing a “World’s Finest” miniseries featuring characters from the Superman and Batman families of characters.
- Matt Price
Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammmer aims to take down Tony Stark in Iron Man 2
SAN DIEGO — Sam Rockwell said there’s some pressure coming into a high-profile project like “Iron Man 2,” but added that director Jon Favreau made the process very actor-friendly.
The actor, receiving great buzz for his role in the sci-fi film “Moon,” attended the “Iron Man 2″ presentation in Hall H of the San Diego Convention Center on Saturday and talked to reporters following the panel.
“It’s definitely nerve-wracking; the first one was such a big success,” he said of the pressures of “Iron Man 2.” “But you find a home and realize there’s a reason you’re there.”
Rockwell plays a rival arms dealer to Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, in “Iron Man 2.”
“He’s kind of a Tony Stark wannabe,” Hammer said. “I’m going to do whatever it takes to take Tony down.”
Rockwell said most of his scenes in the film are with Mickey Rourke’s Ivan, who becomes the Whiplash character.
“I’m sort of a patron of evil,” Rockwell said. “Mickey is the main adversary. I come to his aid.”
The comic-book Justin Hammer is an older British man. So Rockwell obviously took some liberties from that version of the character.
“I looked at the comics, but they wanted me to create something a little different,” Rockwell said. He also said he decided against playing the character with an accent due to the amount of improvisation “Iron Man 2″ required.
Meanwhile, the fan and critic accolades keep coming in for “Moon.” Rockwell, who described himself as a sci-fi fan, was asked about his Oscar chances for the film.
“It’s very flattering,” he said. “From their lips to God’s ears. It’s very early in the year for that sort of thing.”
- Matthew Price
Marvel developing 4 anime properties
SAN DIEGO — Cort Lane of Marvel Animation, Masao Maruyama of Madhouse, Alex Yeh of Madhouse and writer Warren Ellis were on hand at the Marvel Animation panel to discuss Marvel’s forays into the anime world.
Clips were shown of the upcoming “Wolverine” and “Iron Man” projects, which will be written by Ellis. Ellis indicated “Blade” and “X-Men” would be the other two properties developed for this project.
Lane said the project was “a re-imagining of key Marvel characters in the anime format.”
Yeh, translating for Maruyama, said the company was aiming for “a perfect marriage of traditional anime with Marvel characters.”
Ellis said he enjoyed the freedom, and money, he’d been given in animation.
“You get to do visual narrative with very few hurdles between you and the audience,” he said.
The Iron Man story will be set in Tokyo, Ellis said, and is about an unexpected clash of cultures and the history of weapon design.
Wolverine has its basis in the 1980s miniseries by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller.
Blade, a character Ellis said he’d never written before, would have ties to London and a more novelistic approach.
The X-Men was the final anime mentioned as being in development at the panel.
- Matt Price
Sony Online Entertainment showcasing Free Realms, DC Universe Online
SAN DIEGO — Video game fans can get an up-close look at two MMORPGs from Sony Online Entertainment at Comic-Con: Free Realms, available now, and DC Universe Online, release date to be determined.
Margaret Krohn, apprentice game designer with SOE, said Free Realms took elements of lots of other kinds of games and melds them into a deep, immersive online game. The game, which is free to play, lets gamers choose from a large list of jobs and tasks. If you get bored of one particular kind of job, you aren’t stuck with it — you can switch.
SOE staff said Free Realms has close to 5 million users and is a family-friendly game.
DC Universe Online has been in development for a while, as I played a version of it at last year’s Comic-Con. It continues to near completion, but it won’t come out until it’s ready, said Herb Ellwood, senior UI designer for the game.
The game will feature a fully built out Metropolis and Gotham City, and every item in the game comes from a DC Comic, except for the player-created characters. However, those characters will still fit in the DC style, as every item that can be used to create a character was approved by artist Jim Lee.
- Matt Price
Archie Comics announces digital service
Archie Andrews is going high-tech. The new Web site www.archiedigital.com will offer hundreds of Archie titles, including Archie No. 200 and No. 500. Stories available include: the complete “World Tour”, “Comic Con Caper” and the “Cartoon Life of Chuck Clayton” series. Plus, “Josie and the Pussycats”, “Jughead” from the 90s and today and Archie Classics like “Jughead’s Fantasy”, Archie as “Pureheart the Powerful”, the complete run of “Cosmo the Merry Martian”, “Archie’s Madhouse” and more.
The service costs $9.95 per month, or $49.95 per year. Annual subscribers during the beta test period will receive a print subscription to the “Archie Marries Veronica” storyline.
- Matt Price
