Marvel's Cranking out Movies and their Stock Soars

The comic book company Marvel has had some rough history. In fact, they briefly (about a year) let the relatively new comic publisher Image publish the popular Marvel comics. As recently as the end of 2000 Marvel stock was hitting below $1 per share and this was after the release of the popular X-Men movie. Today, Marvel is pushing ahead with more movies and will be producing the movies themselves. Read the full article at Hero Goggles.

Ghost Rider Premier's Feb 16, 2007

"Superstar motorcycle stunt rider Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) strikes a deal with the vile Mephistopheles for the most precious of commodities, his immortal soul. Now Johnny Blaze is forever destined to ride night after night as the host to the most powerful supernatural entity known as the Ghost Rider."

Visit the Official Movie Site and the Official Blog

In May 2000 at the Cannes Film Festival, Marvel Studios announced an agreement with Crystal Sky Entertainment to film Ghost Rider with actor Jon Voight attached as a producer. Production would start in early 2001 with a budget of $75 million, with actor Johnny Depp expressing interest in the lead role. The following August, Dimension Films joined Crystal Sky to co-finance the film, which would be written by David S. Goyer and directed by Stephen Norrington. In June 2001, actor Nicolas Cage entered talks to be cast into the lead role for Ghost Rider, and by July, had closed a deal with the studio. According to producer Steven Paul, Cage had found out about Depp being a possibility for the role and contacted the director to express his own interest, being an avid Ghost Rider fan.

In the following August, Norrington abandoned the project due to a scheduling conflict, leaving to film the action flick Tick Tock starring Jennifer Lopez. Cage eventually left the project as well. By May 2002, the studio Columbia Pictures sought to acquire rights to the film in turnaround from Dimension Films following the success of Spider-Man. In April 2003, under Columbia Pictures, director Mark Steven Johnson took over the helm for Ghost Rider with Cage returning for the lead role. Both had been drawn by a script written by screenwriter Shane Salerno. Johnson, rewriting Salerno's script, was set to begin production of Ghost Rider in late 2003 or early 2004. With production delayed into October 2003, Cage took a temporary leave of absence to film The Weather Man. Ghost Rider production was slated to tentatively begin in May or June of 2004.

Ghost Rider had again been delayed to begin in late 2004, but the lack of a workable script continued to delay production. In January 2005, actor Wes Bentley was cast as the villain Blackheart, having been introduced to Johnson by Colin Farrell, who had worked with the director in Daredevil. Actress Eva Mendes was also cast opposite Cage as the Ghost Rider's girlfriend. By March 2005, the long-delayed production of Ghost Rider had begun in Australia, with actor Peter Fonda cast as the villain Mephistopheles. By June 2005, filming had been completed for Ghost Rider, which was set for a summer 2006 release. The entire film was shot in Melbourne, Australia. Bluescreen scenes were shot at the Central City Studios in the Melbourne Docklands. Other locations include Flinders Street Station, Southbank, the Melbourne General Cemetery and the Telstra Dome. Ghost Rider was originally scheduled to release on July 14, 2006 with a US rating of PG-13. Sony changed the film's release date to February 16, 2007 to help relieve the studio's crowded 2006 calendar.

As an interesting bit of trivia, Cage had to have his tattoo masked as it is a picture of the Ghost Rider.

Comic Book Superhero's in Movies

The Movie Industry and the Comic Book Superhero

The public fascination with comic book superhero characters
have been exploited by movie production companies for
years. Hollywood has been creating feature length comic
book movies, movie serials and TV shows to continue to whet
our appitites. But as special effect technology and costume
designs became better and better, Hollywood kicked it up a
notch with feature-length high budget productions.
Superman, the Movie and the 3 sequels started in the 1970s
and the '90s and beyond brought us Batman, The Hulk, the
X-Men and the now infamous Spider-Man, to name a few.

Why all this interest in producing comic book superhero
movies? Big bucks!! The two Spider-Man movies alone have
netted about 800 million dollars apiece in worldwide ticket
sales. That's not chicken feed. This kind of income could
not be generated without an avid public interest in comic
book movies. So if you feel you are alone in your voracious
passion for your own comic book collection, think again.

And now a new twist has been added. Directors, screenplay
writers, and even actors are writing for, of all things,
comic books now. Big name Hollywood writers are helping to
sell more comics. For example, Joss Whedon, perhaps best
known for creating Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has written
stories for Marvel in the series Astonishing X-Men. Back in
the 90s, who would have known that all these fan boys had
been hiding in the Hollywood woodworks waiting for comics
to gain some cultural credibility?

If you haven't followed some of the comic news of the last
several months, Stan "the man" Lee has been fighting his
personal battle with His life long employer, Marvel Comics.
Stan is probably one of the most well known character
creators in the comic book industry. He has characters like
Batman, Spider-Man and the Hulk credited to his creative
imagination.

Seems Stan had a contractual agreement with Marvel for 10%
of any revenue acquired by Marvel from comic book superhero
movies and TV projects centered on Stan characters. But
apparently the high dollar superstructure of the corporate
mind doesn't want to part with all their income. Now this
is nothing new, but Stan Lee managed to win the first round
for the little guy. The judge presiding over Stan's case
agreed that Stan should receive his share of the agreed on
profits.

Now maybe Stan will get his share and maybe he won't.
Sounds like Marvel will be appealing the decision. At any
rate, if there weren't big bucks involved in the production
of comic book superhero movies, this case would not have
been such an issue.

I believe the near future is going to bring many more of my
favorite comic book superheroes to the silver screen. I
have already started my own DVD collection and as more
comic book superheroes get transferred from the screen to
round disc, I will continue to increase the size of my
collection. Do you think a DVD comic book movie collection
will be worth as much as a comic book collection in the
future? Probably not, but that won't stop me from building
my collection anyway.

What does the future hold for comic book superhero movies?
It almost seems that we can call the present and near
future the Golden Age of the comic book movie. I spend a
lot of time researching comic book superheros and creating
new content for my comic book site. Is there a movie in the
planning stages for your favorite comic book superhero? A
frequent visit to my site may inform you as to when you can
expect the next comic book movie. See you there.

About Author

Dave Gieber owns and edits a website built around one of his childhood passions. Learn the basic essentials to comic book collecting success. To receive your free 5-part mini course visit: www.comic-book-collection-made-easy.com/5-day-course.html







Source: ArticleTrader.com