Iron Man, Blu-ray, and Burger King

Sales of the Iron Man Blu-ray are breaking various records for titles sold in the next-gen DVD format.

Amazon.com reported that the “Iron Man” Blu-ray beat both the single- and two-disc standard editions of the title in their weekly charts, and is the top-selling Blu-ray title of 2008 thus far, while Best Buy representatives reported similar sales. Echoing Marvel Studios’ own plans for the project, one Best Buy spokesperson called the film a “tentpole title for the format.”

In other interesting Iron Man news, we all remember the scene where Tony Stark, having just barely escaped a cave prison with his life after being held captive by The Ten Rings terrorist organization, steps off a military aircraft and demands two things, a press conference and an “American cheeseburger.” Cut to the next scene, and we see Stark stepping out of his limo, finishing off what is clearly a Burger King cheeseburger.

Many fans thought viewed this as blatant product placement. According to an Interview with the New York Daily News, Robert Downey Jr. actually had the scene put in there to thank Burger King for saving his life.

"He’d been driving a car with 'tons of f–king dope' and decided to stop at the popular fast food chain for a burger. It was at that moment that the actor — who had been publicly plagued by drug problems throughout his career — had an epiphany.

“'I have to thank Burger King,' said Downey in the Daily News article. 'It was such a disgusting burger I ordered. I had that, and this big soda, and I thought something really bad was going to happen.' The actor then said that at that moment of clarity, he tossed all of the drugs in his car into the ocean and got cleaned up, claiming that the 'American cheeseburger' scene from Iron Man was a special tribute to Burger King saving his life."

And we all say fast food is bad for us. :]

The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender, based on Nickelodeon's animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender, is set to be released July 2010. M. Night Shyamalan will direct the film.

“It is gonna be really cool (Laughs). I’m at the stage where we have pre-vized the last act of the movie. Because my normal approach to filmmaking is almost like making an animated movie, you take out every shot and analyze everything, it kind of lays out really nicely for a big CGI movie. That is such a helpful thing in the process with all the pre-viz. I feel like I’m making the movie right now. I’m editing it and stuff because doing the pre-viz, if you were here, I could show you the last 30 minutes of The Last Airbender in animatic form. It’s an amazing and emotional experience, just to watch that. This is so exciting. It’s such a different kind of movie that I’m used to making, but yet, we were all kind of born out of Star Wars, and somewhere in there is a desire to return to fantasy, on that level.”

The film was going to be called Avatar, but James Cameron's Avatar movie will be coming out and there was a legal dispute in the name similarity.
The animated show Avatar is very entertaining and I'm hoping the movie doesn't stray too far from its original source.

Bootleg Wolverine Trailer

Watch the epic trailer for the upcoming Wolverine movie below.
May be hard to hear, but it is worth it.

Site link. Wolverine trailer.

Astro Boy

According to MTV Splash Page,

“'Astro Boy' will retell the classic superhero origin story about a young robot boy with incredible powers who searches for the love of his father/creator, Dr. Tenma. Along the way, however, he faces seemingly unstoppable monsters and robots, which he must defeat in order to save the people of Metro City.

Regarded as the standard by which all other manga are judged, 'Astro Boy' was created by the 'God of Manga,' Osamu Tezuka. The film will be directed by David Bowers (Flushed Away), and is set to hit theaters on Oct. 23, 2009."The film will be CGI and has an amazing pool of voice talent including: Kristen Bell, Nicholas Cage, Matt Lucas, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy and Eugene Levy. Freddie Highmore will supply the voice for the title role.

Some news about this week

Movies coming out this week. Summaries thanks to IMDB.

Quarantine - What happened to the people who were locked inside an apartment building by a CDC-issued quarantine? The only evidence left after the quarantine has been lifted is a videotape shot by a TV reporter (Carpenter) and her cameraman (Harris) who were investigating the initial 911 call ...

Body of Lies - In Jordan, an ex-journalist (DiCaprio) working to locate an Al Qaeda leader for the CIA faces pressure from an agent (Crowe) for whom failure is not an option.

RocknRolla - n London, a real-estate scam puts millions of pounds up for grabs, naturally attraction the attention of some of the city's scrappiest tough guys (Butler, Elba) its more established underworld players (Wilkinson), and others -- all of whom are looking to get rich quick.

City of Ember - For generations, the underground City of Ember has been the only light in an otherwise dark world. But when the city's generator begins to fail, teenagers Lina (Ronan) and Doon (Treadaway) desperately race to help their fellow citizens escape before the lights go out permanently. To do so, they will have to search Ember high and low for clues that will unlock the ancient mystery of their city's origins.

Movies out on DVD!

The Visitor
The Happening
You Don't Mess with the Zohan

Indiana Jones 5?

Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford says ideas are now being developed for a fifth film in the blockbuster adventure movie franchise.

Harrison Ford is now 66 years old, but George Lucas is said to be writing up a plot for the next installment in the Indiana Jones films.

Ford confirmed this when he told the LA Times: "George [Lucas] is in think mode right now. It's automatic, really. We did well with the last one and with that having been a positive experience, it's not surprising that some people want to do it again. It's a way of nature, of course. Success breeds opportunities."

Crystal Skull grossed $770 million worldwide and is expected to fly out of the shops when it comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray on Oct. 14, 2008.

Ford added he did not want to be involved in an Indiana Jones cartoon, an idea that emerged after Lucas turned to animation with his Clone Wars movie and TV series.

"I'm not philosophically against doing animation roles but not for Indiana Jones," Ford said. "I'd hate to see it reduced in any way from the movies that we have done and the way we have done them."

Will the next film feature more aliens? Will Shia LaBeouf return as Mutt?
More news to come! Catch ya' later!

Punisher: War Zone gets new site

The upcoming Punisher movie, Punisher: War Zone, has a new updated website letting you tour the world of the Punisher.
Check it out here. Punisher site

"Waging his one-man war on the world of organized crime, ruthless vigilante-hero Frank Castle sets his sights on overeager mob boss Billy Russoti. After Russoti is left horribly disfigured by Castle, he sets out for vengeance under his new alias: Jigsaw. With the "Punisher Task Force" hot on his trail and the FBI unable to take Jigsaw in, Frank must stand up to the formidable army that Jigsaw has recruited before more of his evil deeds go unpunished."

Punisher: War Zone comes out on Dec. 5. It is rated R.

Fox Summer films not up to par

20th Century Fox had a poor list of summer movies that all ended up not doing so well at the box office.

Fox's co-chairman and CEO Tom Rothman said that the start of the year had gone well but had led into an 'off summer.'
"It's been pretty obvious to most film fans that Fox has had a terrible season. Meet Dave, The Happening, X-Files: I Want to Believe, Babylon AD, Mirrors and Space Chimps were among the releases that bombed at the box office.
"The summer was a disappointment and there's no two ways about that. Ultimately, the movies weren't good enough and we had made the decision because of the strike and other things that we were not going to rush certain movies."

The next few movies for 20th Century Fox should do well. With films like Max Payne, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Wolverine scheduled to come out, Fox hopes to reestablish its movie fame.