Wow, this would be so cool if this happens, athough George Lucas ever letting a film version spin-off of his Star Wars franchise go outside himself is highly unlikely. There has been talk for years about various ideas for Star Wars spin-offs as live-action films and of course they always get shut down. Still, Captain America director Joe Johnston, who knows Lucas from his days working as an art director on Star Wars (the original trilogy) and Indiana Jones, wants to do a Boba Fett solo film.

I’m trying to get George to make a feature based on Boba Fett.” When asked if he would direct the film Johnston said simply, “I would like to, it would be a lot of fun.”

Johnston revealed that wish in an interview with our pals at ScreenRant. All I can say is, can you imagine if this movie actually happened? I mean Boba Fett is perhaps one of the most interesting characters in the universe because even though his allegiances seem always nefarious, he is a bounty hunter and his sole purpose is to make money. His origin is already known through the prequels as he is a clone of Jango Fett, who was aged normally, to be a son to Jango. When Jango was killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi, Boba took it upon himself to take over his father’s legacy. In the later storylines from the original trilogy he was in high pursuit collecting a bounty for the gangsta, Jabba the Hutt, on Han Solo. Boba Fett dies in the Return of the Jedi after falling into the Sarlaac pit during a fight outside Jaba’s floating palace. There is a lot of time between the prequel trilogy and the original one that would make for an interesting bit of stories revolving around Fett.

Well…he was my choice for Sinestro in The Green Lantern film but that part went to Marc Strong, not bad choice, though I was still left wondering if Hugo Weaving would ever be tapped to play a comic book villain since he was so good in V for Vendetta as well as The Matrix. I say this is the best choice possible for Red Skull, no doubt there.

THR’s Heat Vision Blog reports that Marvel Studios is in early talks with Hugo Weaving to play Red Skull in The First Avenger: Captain America.

Joe Johnston is directing this film which is still looking to cast the lead role of Steve Rogers/ Captain America. Johnston recently directed Weaving in the remake of The Wolfman. The deal with Weaving should either happen or not happen in the next day or so. We have known for quite awhile that the main villain in the film would be Red Skull.

In the Marvel comics realm, Red Skull has been Captain America’s enemy since 1941. Red Skull took part in espionage and sabotage working as Hitler’s right-hand man. In his last battle with Captain America he was buried under the rubble of a bombed building but – as would occur later with Captain America – and fell into a state of suspended animation.

Early today we reported that John Krasinski was all but official for the role as Captain America/Steve Rogers, turns out that is not true as the insiders at Deadline Hollywood say he is out along many of the other named few, but that there is some considerations and favorites.

The article states that Joe Johnston and Marvel Studios want to make sure they have the right guy for the pivotal role. It seems they have even expanded their search outside the six actors originally mentioned on the short list, looking at Chris Evans, who has already spent time in the Marvel Universe as Johnny Storm in The Fantastic Four. It is also mentioned that short list member Mike Vogel is a heavy favorite.

Heat Vision claims that Wilson Bethel, who starred on HBO’s “Generation Kill”, is in the running as well.

Lastly, Tron Legacy star Garrett Hedlund is being considered and the site reports was “on Marvel’s original wish list but didn’t test at first. Scheduling was the reason.”

Guess this is one of those things that it will happen when its meant too. I still think that Ryan McPartlin is worthy  but can see Hedlund not being a bad choice. Disney would be keen on that being they own Marvel now and Tron Legacy so their is some hefty marketing/publicity potential there.

Pine was rumored last year to be playing Hal Jordan after his huge head turner as Kirk in J.J. Abrams update of the sci-fi franchise but that role went to Ryan Reynolds. Pine will be the next Jack Ryan though in Paramounts reboot of the Tom Clancy character. I can’t see Pine being the poster boy of 3 Paramount franchises? Can you?

CinemaSpy supposedly received an email from a tipster claiming to be well-connected within the Paramount hierarchy, (probably an intern screwing with them) and alleging that they had info about the casting of the lead for The First Avenger: Captain America.

The email reads:

“Anyway, just thought you guys might like to know that Paramount and Marvel are pretty close to closing a deal on casting Steve Rogers/Captain America and fans might be excited to learn that the short list includes somebody a lot of fans speculated about, Chris Pine. From what I’m hearing, he’s the frontrunner right now, though that could change. Can’t tell you who the other couple of choices are, cause that’ll work against me for reasons I don’t want to get into.”

Why do you ask we are picking up in CinemaSpy’s cruddy and questionable rumor laden “exclusive” we simply put, we want to know your thoughts on Pine in the role? We know at this point Johnston said there would be a “no name in the role with lots of big names surrounding him” Does Pine consist of a no name?

I think this is bunk personally but makes for interesting conversation. Let us know your thoughts below.

Many people expected we’d hear more about the upcoming Marvel studios adaptation of Captain America being that director, Joe Johnston was going to be out and about at press events promoting his latest film, The Wolfman.

Massive details have circulated around the internet through various articles on what to expect for the latest Marvel superhero adaptation. Some of those interviews included that Red Skull would be the main villain in the movie, The Invaders plan to appear and that Johnston is looking at 6 actors currently for the title roll (we reported this here).

Collider, The LA Times, Shock and AICN collectively learned a bunch of bits about the next Marvel comic adaptation. Click the links to read the full interviews on the respective sites.

When it comes to how we will see the character and the feel/tone of the movie the film will be shot in 2D High Definition, with a visual style that is “a bit different,” trying to interpret the visual style of the more recent comics “into a film in a way that I think hasn’t been tried before.” This means because its almost like a period piece its look is a lot different than most of the comic books we have seen before it.

The villain has been confirmed to be Red Skull. An enemy to Captain America, Red Skull’s known alias is , Johann Schmidt (sometimes spelled Shmidt). He was a former Nazi general officer and confidant of Adolf Hitler. He has been closely affiliated with HYDRA and is an enemy of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Avengers, and the interests of the United States and the free world in general. He was physically augmented by having his mind placed into the body of a clone of Captain America, the pinnacle of human perfection. He has been seemingly killed in the past, only to return time and time again to plague the world with schemes of world domination and genocide.

Johnston then talked about the costume they’ve come up with including the reasoning behind it to explain why the scientifically enhanced super-soldier wears a bright red, white and blue costume in the World War II battlefields.

“After he’s made into this super-soldier, they decide they can’t send him into combat and risk him getting killed. He’s the only one and they can’t make more. So they say, ‘You’re going to be in this USO show’ and they give him a flag suit.” … “So he’s up on stage doing songs and dances with chorus girls and he can’t wait to get out and really fight. When he does go AWOL, he covers up the suit but then, after a few things happen, he realizes that this uniform allows him to lead. By then, he’s become a star in the public mind and a symbol. The guys get behind him because he embodies something special.” The USO outfit will look closer to the classic Jack Kirby-designed costume, but later he will be wearing “a sturdier, more muted version that he makes himself that is more like battle togs. The stripes across his mid-section, for instance, will be straps, not colored fabric.” Johnston says “He realizes the value of the uniform symbols but he modifies his suit and adds some armor, it will be closer to the Cpa costume in some of the comics in more recent years.”

CHUD has also confirmed with Johnston himself that The Invaders, a WWII superteam that Cap and sidekick Bucky Barnes are a part of, will be in the movie, too. “They’ll be in the entire second half,” said Johnston to the site. Speculation has loomed over the past year that The Invaders might make an appearance but now we know they’re officially involved.

For those who are unaware of what the Invaders are they are like the original Avengers team or at least a precursor to them. The Invaders team first appeared in flashback stories set during World War II, and comprised existing characters from Timely Comics, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel. Originally, Captain America (Steve Rogers), his sidekick Bucky (James Barnes), the original android Human Torch (“Jim Hammond”), the Torch’s sidekick Toro (Thomas Raymond), and Namor the Sub-Mariner were together as heroes opposing the forces of Nazism. When these superheroes saved the life of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill from Master Man, the thankful Churchill suggested that they should become a team, known as the Invaders. Other members of the Invaders included Miss America, Whizzer, Blazing Skull and Silver Scorpion.

I do not know if the Invaders origin will go quite like that in the film. I will say this though – AWESOME! Back in August we got an update that Jonathan Mostow was still attached to the Sub-Mariner solo movie, could Captain America be setting that up? I think that would be sweet as hell! not to mention the Invaders teaming up can be a lot of fun for the film and really harness the true essence of giving Capt. America a proper origin film.

All thumbs up here for this movie and how it sounds so far.

In an interview with Moviehole, McPartlin confirmed to the site that he recently auditioned for the role of Steve Rogers in The First Avenger: Captain America.

“The one thing I can’t stand are these actors that are twittering about auditioning for Captain America. It’s really tacky. With that said, it is in the casting process and like many other actors, I read for it, so we’ll wait and see what happens. Regardless, I’m pretty psyched to be Captain Awesome [on Chuck] for the time being.”

McPartlin is certainly a wonderful candidate and probably the best I heard thus far. He definitely has the physique to play the role but many, myself included, may wonder if he has the chops to play a character that really has a lot of interesting character elements too him.

Recently Joe Johnston, on a press junket for The Wolfman, was bombarded by questions on the film and he talked specifically about casting. It was reported (via Slashfilm) that Captain America will definitely be played by an American actor, Johnston says he wants to discover a complete unknown and surround him with more prominent names. Johnson says he’s testing five or six guys, “The youngest is 23, the oldest is 32.” This is interesting considering that McPartlin is 34 years of age and wouldn’t be considered a true unknown because of his role on Chuck. “Most of the guys in the war are just kids, 18 or 19, but we want to go a little bit older.” It was also mentioned that casting needs to be complete by March 1st 2010.

Johnston talks Captain America and Jurassic Park IV

Over the past year we have heard on and off again stories related to Jurassic Park IV. For awhile it seemed that this project would never as delays, script changes and other priorities insued. Jurassic Park III director, Joe Johnston, who will be directing the Marvel Studios adaptation of Captain America next has been the only consistent person telling us the project is go. He didn’t shy away from telling Boxoffice Magazine that there was plans for a whole new trilogy.

“Well, there is going to be a Jurassic Park IV. And it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve seen. It breaks away from the first three-it’s essentially the beginning of the second Jurassic Park trilogy. It’s going to be done in a completely different way. That’s pretty much all I can tell you.”

A whole new trilogy sounds interesting. I wonder if it will be a complete reboot or if the project will just emerge itself separately within  the previous laid out universe. I’d like to see the Dino-geddon idea come out but something and related to Jurassic Park I am down with.

Johnston also talked about what to expect with Captain America, his next project for Marvel Studios. The consensus of his state revolves around his idea for the use of the character and how they plan to explore the nature of Steve Rogers and his new abilities of super strength.

“It’s not going to be a Captain America that you expect. It’s something different. It is influenced by the comic book, but it goes off in a completely different direction. It’s the origin story of Captain America. It’s mostly period-there are modern, present-day bookends on it-but it’s basically the story of how Steve Rogers becomes Captain America. The great thing about Captain America is he’s a super hero without any super powers. Which is why this story, among the hundreds of super hero stories appealed to me the most. He can’t fly, he can’t see through walls, he can’t do any of that stuff. He’s an every man who’s been given this amazing gift of transformation into the perfect specimen-the pinnacle of human perfection. How does that affect him? What does that mean for him emotionally and psychologically? He was this 98-pound weakling, he was this wimp, and he’s transformed instantly into this Adonis. You’d think he got everything he wanted. Well, he didn’t get everything he wanted. The rules change at that point and his life gets even more complicated and dire. For me, that’s the interesting part of the story. It’s got some great action sequences in it and some incredible stuff that we’ve never seen before. But at the heart of it, it’s a story about this kid who all he wants to do is fit in. This thing happens and he still doesn’t fit in. And he has to prove himself a hero-essentially go AWOL to save a friend. Eventually at the very end, I don’t want to give away to much, but he does fit in. But it’s the journey of getting him there that’s interesting. And it’s a lot of fun.”

I like Johnston’s analysis of the character and how they plan to use him and explore the themes he brings with him. Captain America is hopefully going to be a great film with lots to offer the world of comic book heroes to film. Johnston is a capable director with a nice vision. We only need to wait now for who they will cast as Steve Rogers in this adaptation, the film has a planned release for sometime in July of 2011.

In a story from Fangoria we are being told that Marvel Studios is aiming to start production on The First Avenger: Captain America this June according to director Joe Johnston (The Wolfman).

“Principal photography was now less than four weeks away. “By the time I got on a plane and arrived, it was three,” recalls Johnston, speaking from the art department of The First Avenger: Captain America, which he’s readying for a June start.”

Born during the Great Depression, Steve Rogers grew up a frail youth in a poor family. Horrified by the newsreel footage of the Nazis in Europe, Rogers was inspired to enlist in the army. However, because of his frailty and sickness, he was rejected. Overhearing the boy’s earnest plea, General Chester Phillips offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in a special experiment… Operation: Rebirth. After weeks of tests, Rogers was at last administered the ‘Super-Soldier Serum’ and bombarded by ‘vita-rays.’

Steve Rogers emerged from the treatment with a body as perfect as a body can be and still be human. Rogers was then put through an intensive physical and tactical training program. Three months later, he was given his first assignment as Captain America. Armed with his indestructible shield and battle savvy, Captain America has continued his war against evil both as a sentinel of liberty and leader of the Avengers. The First Avenger: Captain America is slated be released on July 22, 2011, no one has been cast in the role of Steve Rogers yet, though many names have been rumored such as Will Smith and Channing Tatum.

Now AICN is reporting that Jurassic Park III director Joe Johnston, who’s next project is Marvel’s Captain America film, chatted with them about the film while on the set of the Wolfman ( his most recent film).

“There is a great story for the fourth one that I would be interested in getting involved with and it’s nothing like the first three. It sort of takes the franchise off in a completely different direction, which is the only way I would want to get involved.”

“We’ve done that and it’s been done three times. Why would anybody go back to that island? It was hard enough to figure out the second and third reason for them to go, but it would take it off in a whole other trilogy basically, but when it gets to that level it’s sort of about studios and Steven’s thing and who knows. I think we are at that point where we are due for another one if we are going to do it. They had what four years between them? 1992… 1996 or 1997, and then 2001, so we are past due. I don’t know, but we will see.”

Sounds like everything we have ever heard about this project which just seems to be in development hell and rightfully so because of what Johnston said, you have to do something new that hasn’t been done before. I wrote a treatment for a new trilogy that revolves around a “new” company, Biosyn (Dodson’s company – the guy that bought off Nedry in film one) had bought out Ingen and succeeded where they had failed by bringing the research to a whole new level combining nanotechnology and genetic engineering. You have the mixture of life-size dinos like we love but then there are these dinopets that people own.Anyway I not going to write anymore because its not that bad  of an idea and it brings everyone back as well in a creative and non-cheesy way. It is sort of the Dino-geddon route though.

Anyway I doubt we will see a Jurassic Park IV anytime soon but one thing I am sure if they did another one and Spielberg produced i am sure it would be 3D and such and maybe filmed like Avatar, that would be interesting.

Cinematical and Ain’t It Cool News have just released the first two new posters for the film which is set for release on February 12, 2010. This is some of the best promotional art I have seen for the film.

“I’ve seen a couple of outlines and an initial screenplay, and it’s going to rock everyone’s socks off,” Quesada said. “It’s very unexpected, the kind of movie it is.” He added that “Captain America” sets up The Avengers in “a fantastic way” and also mentioned that there is an undisclosed wish list of actors to play the superhero.”

The Joe Johnston-directed comic book adaptation stars Samuel L. Jackson. Paramount and Marvel Studios have set a July 22, 2011 release date. The Avengers will hit theaters May 4th, 2012.

Quesada was also asked by an enthused fan how Marvel’s characters manage to work up on the big screen:

“Back on the subject of film, Quesada was asked if some Marvel characters work better on film than others. He used Blade as an example of a character that works very well on film but not as well in comic books. The same fan asked Quesada if he believed that continuity could truly be established from film to film, prompting the editor-in-chief to identify Marvel Studios’ current lead-up to “The Avengers” as proof that it’s possible. “It won’t be the same exact continuity from the comics, but it’ll feel very much like the Marvel continuity,” he said.”

Can’t wait to here more about this movie and who they will finally pick to be the red, white and blue avenger. Captain America is a great character and his story could be cool. I do not have any real thoughts on who would be good playing him but you never know, Hemsworth, was a big surprise for Thor and now I think he was the best choice. Joe Johnston is set to direct the film based on the script written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.

Joe Johnston to direct Captain America!

Beyonce wants to be Wonder Woman!

Highlights from the new Star Trek movie include young Kirk stealing a car and another scene with Spock trying to stab Kirk.

This quick overview of the weekend was brought you by MajorXero!