Movies

While Captain America's sugartastic ice cream and donut tie-ins have been causing a lot of comment -- and cavities -- here's a new comic book movie tie-in that is frighteningly hip: a lens/case pak for Hipstamatic, the trendy and addictive photo app for iPhones that produces instantly professional looking photos thanks to filters and levels. Director Jon Favreauannounced it on Twitter:

To find out that one of your regular drinking pals had quietly snuck off into the desert and directed a movie is always a surprise -- when it's Garth Ennis who did the sneaking it's a delightful surprise.

The Comic-Con film festival has become an increasingly important part of the show, with a variety of premieres in the fiction and non-fictin categories. Of note are screenings of comics-related documentaries Superheroes, Comic Books Go to War, My Comic Shop DocumentARy, and To Romero With Love. Complete list follows:

In for a penny in for a pound: Despite bad reviews, and a 66 percent decline at the box office this weekend, Warner Bros. is still planning a sequel to Green Lantern, THR reports. A WB spokesman admits that the studio was "somewhat disappointed” with the box office, but they still believe in it as a franchise.

While there are some things we can complain about with the system Marvel Studios has in place for its movie assembly line, there are some thing they do really well. Like release trailers that continually build excitement. And the new one for CAPTAIN AMERICA -- while telling the whole story of the movie -- also includes some awesome action shots that have everyone on the net raving.

Meanwhile, back at the box office, GREEN LANTERN debuted at #1 with $52.6 million, less than THOR and even X-MEN: FIRST CLASS. As the Times put it: "An all-hands-on-deck effort by Warner Brothers to turn “Green Lantern” into a box office superpower fizzled over the weekend." With a budget of a reported $300 million, dreadful reviews and a big Friday-to-Saturday drop-off, GL's task as the advance guard for a new generation of movies based on DC characters has been made much more difficult.

If you had asked me if I had wanted to see a movie about Green Lantern, I would have been neutral, but if you had asked me if I wanted to see a movie about a giant space octopus made of fear and smoldering owl fewmets busting loose from green chains, I would have said hell yes! GREEN LANTERN is probably the most comic-book comic book movie since SPIDER-MAN. All the imagery and spirit come straight from the yellowing pages of some old comic by John Broome and Gil Kane -- a boldly colored, nuance-challenged world of wonder and battle in the stars.

As the film GREEN LANTERN opens nationwide, a segment of the population, mostly male, is wildly excited because their favorite superhero is finally getting a lavish and respectful big screen treatment. Yes the reviews have been mixed, but under the watchful eye of Lantern's flamekeeper Geoff Johns, the whole mythology has been faithfully brought to the screen in expansive CGI splendor. For the Lantern fans out there—and there are many -- this is a treat. But are they really a cult within a cult, as this Onion video suggests? I admit to being completely unable to answer this question myself; I'm completely immune to the Lantern's power, and I find this highly puzzling. Everyone's life has gaps, memory holes that remain a mystery. In my case, one such example is learning to swim. One moment, I seem to recall, I was learning how to float as a tot. The next I'm a full grown adult standing on the beach and afraid of the water. Something must have happened...but what?

Russell Crowe will attempt to banish memories of Marlon Brando as he assays the role of Jor-El, father to Superman, in Zack Snyder's MAN OF STEEL reboot. Crowe joins Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane and Michael Shannon in the cast. THe script is by David Goyer, while Christopher Nolan instructs from the sidelines.

And what of the other BIG event this weekend? GREEN LANTERN is the movie that will either justify the creation of a whole universe of DC superheroes (akin to Disney's Marvel-verse) or....well, it won't Thus far, reviews are...unfavorable, with a 24% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. . Despite this the movie is tracking very well with young men and should easily open at #1.

Andrew Adamson, director of several outings in the Shrek and Narnia franchises, has set his sights on a CGI-animated version of BEASTS OF BURDEN, the acclaimed tale of animals who fight supernatural threats in a suburban community. The film will be made by Reel FX.

Shannon O'Leary brings you up to speed on the week's developments in nerd-themed entertainment, starting with a mysterious photo of Catwoman.