Various Comic Book Movie News – Bat, Akira, Thor, Watchmen, Avengers, Ender’s Game

That 6-minute “Dark Knight Rises” prologue shoot specifically for IMAX screens? That’ll screen with December’s most action-packed release “Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol” (I’ve seen the flick and…sorry, can’t comment yet. Gotta love IMAX, though! That screen swallows your peepers whole! And no, I haven’t seen the “Dark Knight Rises” stuff – but my pulse tells me I’m dead keen). In Melbourne, you’ll be able to see the prologue at IMAX Melbourne Museum. That’s the only cinema in Victoria that you’ll be able to see it. No queen-size sheet across a red wall for this baby.

Here’s the press release :

IMAX Melbourne Museum is delighted to be the only theatre in Victoria chosen to screen a six minute prologue for The Dark Knight Rises, before sessions of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, which opens on the evening of Wednesday 14 December.

Warner Bros announced today that the prologue would only be shown at 42 select IMAX cinemas that use 70 millimeter film-based projection.

IMAX Melbourne Museum is also one of the few cinemas chosen for an early release of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

According to Paramount Pictures, Australia’s biggest and best cinemas were chosen to debut the movie to fans, to showcase the ‘spectacular action sequences, daredevil stunts and stunning cinematography’ in the latest film of the Mission Impossible series.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol features around 20 minutes of footage shot with IMAX cameras that will open up the screen to its full seven-storey size in spectacular quality.

According to IMAX Melbourne Museum’s General Manager, Richard Morrison, the footage transports viewers right into the action.

“Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol will not only be an amazing movie, it will be an amazing experience at IMAX Melbourne Museum,” said Mr Morrison.

Bloggers across the globe who have been treated to a sneak preview of the IMAX footage by Paramount Pictures have given it rave reviews, including reviewers from slashfilm.com who said that viewing it at an IMAX cinema is ‘the only way to see it’.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is only the third Hollywood movie ever (after The Dark Knight and Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen) to have select scenes shot with IMAX cameras.

“This will not just be another Mission, it will be gritty, intense and the biggest Mission you’ve ever experienced,” said Mr Morrison.

If you live outside Australia, here’s a list of locations where the “DKR” prologue is showing.

 

A couple of days back we heard Asa Butterfield (of “Hugo”) was set to play the lead role in the film, that of a youngster training for the skills required to fight against an alien invasion.

“True Grit” star Hailee Steinfeld is in talks to play Petra Arkanian, the only girl in Salamander Army who quickly becomes Ender’s ally and trusted right hand, in the film version of the Orson Scott Card novel.

Harrison Ford is also being courted for a role in the film.

 

“Thor” director Kenneth Branagh, out stumping “My Week with Marilyn”, tells Coming Soon that it’s not for certain that he will produce the [Patty Jenkins directed] sequel, but he’s not against taking an acting role in it.

“I think that really it’s over to the guys with that,” he said. “Timing-wise, it just wasn’t going to work for me, and that’s absolutely been born out by the kind of year I’ve had which has been very busy, but I’m very interested. I’ll be speaking to the guys when I get back. They’re shooting in Shepperton near me, so no doubt, we’ll be hooking up and I’ll be as little or as much of it as they’d like.”
As for an acting role, he says : “Why don’t you suggest it to them?” he laughed.

 

Helena Bonham Carter says, despite reports suggesting otherwise, she’s not a lock for the feature adaptation of the Manga classic.

The “Sweeney Todd” actress tells MTV that she doesn’t know if she’ll be playing Lady Miyako. “I haven’t really decided yet,” said Bonham Carter, who confirmed she had in fact read the script already.

“I don’t know yet what I’m going to do next. I’m not really going to talk about it until I’ve decided whether to do it or not.”

 

Jeremy Renner, about to make some new fans in something grand released shortly, says “The Avengers” was too good to refuse, citing Jon Favreau’s original “Iron Man” as one of the reasons he decided to sign on for Clint Barton in the superhero blockbuster.

“[I] was blessed to be a part of [the Marvel] universe,” the actor tells Coming Soon, “because I love what Marvel did with something so fantastical and unrealistic, making it kind of plausible, like when they did “Iron Man”. I just thought those were really great movies, the first one in particular… The character of Hawkeye was always cool. He’s kind of a rogue, shadowy character. That’s what attracted me to him. Then he’s also a human being. He just has a high skill set, so they call him a superhero.”

Is there a sequel to “Watchmen” on the way? Andy Kubert is rumoured to be drawing a follow-up to Zack Snyder’s seminal anti-superhero movie; according to Bleeding Cool, there’s actually four more “Watchmen” tales on the way. “[Kubert]is drawing one of the four Watchmen prequel miniseries we’ve heard so much about. Taking one of the principle characters from the series and telling a pre-Watchmen tale”, says the site.