Disney Buys Marvel for 4 Billion.

Yeah this came as kind of a shock this morning.  Interesting it is and with Marvel now also being owned by a Media Conglomerate this could easily lead to some interesting developments in the industry.  (Hopefully something to get comics into more retail marketplaces and supermarkets by fixing the massively broked distribution stream sometime down the line)  Catching this on CB Cebulski’s twitter was kind of suprising and was definitely something I don’t think people saw coming.  Now if you don’t mind I believe I will go pick my jaw up off the floor and drive to work.

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Walt Disney Co.(DIS 26.59, -0.25, -0.92%) said on Monday it has reached a deal to acquire comic book titan Marvel Entertainment Inc.(MVL 48.90, +10.25, +26.52%) for $4 billion in stock and cash. In a statement, Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger said “adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation.” Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration. Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters, including The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the X-Men, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man, all of which have been turned into highly valuable feature film franchises. Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s CEO, would continue to oversee the Marvel properties, and work directly with Disney executives to integrate them into Disney’s businesses.

GS Reporter : Chris Hansbrough

Original Source : MarketWatch

Exclusive news on Bristol Comic Con 2010 with Chris Claremont!

Thanks to the organiser of the Bristol Comic Show Geek Syndicate can bring you the exclusive first piece of news regarding next years show. The first thing to be noticed is now the con is called ‘The Bristol International Comic & Small Press Exp0″

Check the poster below for the latest info!

GS Reporter: Nuge

Rambo 5 gets a green light

“Killing as easy as breathing when you’re pushed”

I spent more time than was cool walking around spouting that line in my best Rambo stlye voice. It seems that now I need to start brushing up on my impression for a whole new round of one liners as Mr Stallone has been given the go ahead for Rambo 5.

This time our ageing Vietnam vet is heading to Mexico and going up against Human Traffickers and drug lords in his quest to save a kidnapped girl.

Filming is due to kick off next year after Sly finishes up his work on The Expendables.

I don’t know much else about the film except it ‘s pretty safe to say a lot of bad guys are going to a grade A Rambo whupping.

GS Reporter: Nuge

Source: Total Film

Bad Boys 3 on the way?

I had no idea this was even on the cards to be made but apparently Columbia Pictures is developing a third Bad Boys movie. Apparently neither Will Smith or MArtion Lawrence have signed on as yet, nor has director Micheal ‘I like big ass explosions’ Bay.

The plan is that if Columbia can put together a good enough story it will draw our three bad boys back behing and in front of the camera.

Although I wasn’t that big a fan of the sequel I loved the first Bad Boys film so this isn’t the worst news I’ve heard. I just don’t know if I can see Will or Bay returning to this franchise. ON th otyher hand to avoid doing Big Momma’s House 10 I’m sure Martin Lawrence will eat through somebody’s ass to get back into this franchise.

GS Reporter: Nuge

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Hellblazer:The Laughing Magician

I recently read a couple of Hellblazer trades by Andy Diggle, Joyride and The Laughing Magician. I really enjoyed both of them very much, I think the Diggle man is rather awesome and shall have to root out more of his stuff as haven’t yet read a duff thing.

New Drinking Craze Hitting Argentina. Be Careful!

I think this may quite possibly be the greatest thing I have ever seen in my adult life.  Other than Shark Attack 3 Megalodon.

and yes.  That is straight from the Secret of Monkey Island.  I thought I had seen stupid before.  But this takes the Stupidial and spins it all the way around into the realm of awesome.  Better get out and buy some before the city government talks to all the night clubs and you can’t get any Grog XD.

(Thanks to Destructoid.com for giving me my first glimpse of brilliance)

Review – Batman : Arkham Asylum : XBOX360

If I wanted to I could probably write my entire review as just one single acronym.  What would that acronym be?  GOTY.  Oddly enough I’m not really exaggerating.  The game is simply stunning.  It’s got it’s flaws but it is more fun than anything else I’ve played this year.  It’s not a superhero game, nor is it a game.  It’s a Batman simulator.  I didn’t feel like I was playing as Batman.  I felt like I was Batman.  I could go on and on talking about why I loved the game but instead I’ll just start to get into the role of explaining.  

Men who stare at Goats – Trailer

A reporter, trying to lose himself in the romance of war after his marriage fails, gets more than he bargains for when he meets a special forces agent who reveals the existence of a secret, psychic military unit whose goal is to end war as we know it. The founder of the unit has gone missing and the trail leads to another psychic soldier who has distorted the mission to serve his own ends. – IMDB

Boasting an all star cast of George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan Mcgregor and Kevin Spacey this trailer didn’t look half bad and did raise a chuckle or two. My favourite line being.

“We’re Jedi , we don’t fight with guns we fight with our minds”

Any film with a line like that in there is worth checking out.

GS Reporter: Nuge

Hans Zimmer handling the soundtrack duties on Modern Warfare 2

If I wasn’t excited about the follow up to the ace Modern Warfare I know have another reason to add to the list.

One of my favourite movie score composers, the Oscar winning Hans Zimmer had just announced that he will be writing the score for the sequel. In past Hans has done soundtracks for “Batman Begins”,”The Dark Knight,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Gladiator,” , “Mission Impossible 2″ and many more.

Roll on November I say.

GS Reporter: Nuge
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Press Release – Star Wars comes to the iPhone

STAR WARS™ COMICS ARRIVE ON iTUNES!

LUCASFLIM, THQ WIRELESS AND DARK HORSE COMICS PARTNER TO BRING STAR WARS™ TO THE iPHONE

MILWAUKIE, OR – AUGUST 27, 2009 — In a partnership that will echo through the cosmos, Lucasfilm, THQ Wireless, and Dark Horse Comics will release Star Wars™ comics to the iPhone mobile platform for the first time ever!

The selection of Star Wars: The Clone Wars Vol. 1 – Shipyards of Doom, Star Wars: Empire Vol. 1 – Betrayal and Star Wars: Legacy Vol. 1 – Broken represents three of the most important time periods in the history of the Star Wars galaxy.  The three collections will span the time between the Clone Wars era, the Classic era and the distant future.

Star Wars: Empire Vol. 1 – Betrayal is set just weeks before the events of the original film, Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, and follows a faction of disgruntled Imperial Officers attempting to overthrow Emperor Palpatine.  But the plot is complicated by the emergence of the bounty hunter Boba Fett and by the loyalty of Darth Vader to his dark master. Betrayal will be released in four chapters, written by Scott Allie and drawn by Brian Horton.

Star Wars: Legacy Vol. 1 – Broken takes place more than a century after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi and focuses on a fifth-generation Skywalker named Cade, a rogue Jedi and bounty hunter who travels the galaxy living by his own code. Broken will be released in two parts, written by John Ostrander and drawn by Jan Duursema.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Vol. 1 – Shipyard of Doom is based on the wildly popular animated series from Lucasfilm Animation and highlights events from the epic time period when Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Padawan Ahsoka Tano struggled to maintain order and peace in a war-torn galaxy. Shipyards of Doom will be release in its entirety, written by Henry Gilroy, and drawn by the Fillbach Brothers.

Working together with Lucasfilm and THQ Wireless, Dark Horse Senior Editor Randy Stradley and Senior Web Designer Mike Denning carefully reformatted each panel and page to maximize the visual grandeur while staying true to the original comic books.  All parties involved ensured that the material would transition to the new medium in the best format possible, delicately considering every word balloon and background image.

Dark Horse President Mike Richardson is delighted with the new program, stating, “Lucasfilm has been a proud and longstanding partner of ours, and I’m equally excited to be working with the wonderful people at THQ Wireless on this program. The stories of The Clone Wars, Legacy, and Empire embody some of the best comics in the Star Wars universe that Dark Horse has ever released. I think it’s wonderful that these key tales will be available to fans everywhere in a new and accessible way.”

Adam Comiskey, Vice President THQ Wireless commented, “Bringing a selection of some of the finest comic books to the iPhone mobile platform is an exciting chapter in our relationship with Lucasfilm.  Our partnership with Dark Horse means that for the first time, Star Wars Fans will be able to use their iPhone to view a fantastic line up of comics.”

About Dark Horse

Since 1986, Dark Horse Comics has proven to be a solid example of how integrity and innovation can help broaden a unique storytelling medium and establish a small, homegrown company as an industry giant. The company is known for the progressive and creator friendly atmosphere it provides for writers and artists.  In addition to publishing comics from top talent like Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, Neil Gaiman, Gerard Way and comics legend Will Eisner, Dark Horse has developed such successful characters as The Mask, Timecop, and SpyBoy. Additionally, their highly successful line of comics and products based on popular properties includes Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Aliens, Conan, Emily the Strange, Tim Burton, Trigun, Serenity and Domo. Today Dark Horse Comics is the third largest comic-book publisher in the U.S. and is recognized as one of the world’s leading publisher of licensed comics material.

About THQ Wireless

THQ Wireless Inc., a subsidiary of THQ Inc., is a global leader in mobile entertainment, offering a wide range of wireless products, including games, personalization products, information services and messaging based on top brands such as the WWE, Star Wars and popular Nickelodeon properties.  Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, THQ Wireless has offices worldwide, in addition to distribution agreements through wireless carriers across the globe. Further information can be found at www.thqwireless.com.  THQ Wireless is a registered trademark of THQ Wireless Inc

LucasArts and the LucasArts logo are registered trademarks of Lucasfilm Ltd. © 2008 Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. or Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or ™ as indicated. All rights reserved.

Wii and Nintendo DS are trademarks of Nintendo.

Lucasfilm, STAR WARS™ and related properties are trademarks and/or copyrights, in the United States and other countries, of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. TM & © Lucasfilm Ltd.  All rights reserved.  All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

GS Reporter: Nuge

Mass Effect 2 Comes to Eurogamer Expo!

Those of you eager to get a glimpse on the sequel to hugely popular Sci-Fi epic Mass Effect will be pleased to know that the game will be at this year’s Eurogamer expo.

According to the organisers who announced the news on twitter fans will be able  to play the sequel on the show floor as well as the sequel to Army of Two.

Time to end the speculation. You’ll be playing Mass Effect 2 and Army of Two: The 40th Day at the Expo! #eurogamerexpo

This is turning into one hell of a games line up for the expo. I’m hoping the expo guys have a few more aces up their sleeves.

GS Reporter: Nuge

Source: Eurogamer Expo

Summer Glau joins Dollhouse

Well it seems there is life after Sarah Connor for ex  Terminator.

Summer Glau will be joining the second season of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse in a recurring role as Bennett, a Dollhouse employee with links to Echo (Eliza Dushku).

I thought Summer was ace in both Firefly and Sarah Connor so this is some kick ass news.

GS Reporter: Nuge

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Queen & Country movie gets a writer

One of my favourite comic authuors and indeed a man whose prose work I really enjoy is the creator of the series Queen & Country.  That man is Greg Rucka.  I’m currently loving his work on Detective comics.  I’ve loved Whiteout and am really looking forward to the upcoming movie.  I loved his Atticus Kodiack novels …well I could go on for a while, suffice it to say I’m a fan.

However probably his only work that I found it hard to get into is his Queen & Country. The series is centered on Tara Chace, an operative of the Special Operations Section of SIS (Secret Intelligence Service), colloquially known as the Minders. It attempts to

Spielberg Dealing With Pirates

USA Today share with us that Stephen Spielberg will be adapting Michael Crichton’s last novel Pirate Latitudes.

Steven Spielberg is developing a film out of a posthumously published novel by the late Michael Crichton—Pirate Latitudes, an adventure story set off the coast of Jamaica in 1665.

Screenwriter David Koepp, who adapted Crichton’s novels for Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World, also has signed on to create the script. Spielberg plans to produce and is considering directing.

DreamWorks Studios describes the novel, set for release Nov. 24, as the story of “a daring plan to infiltrate Port Royal, one of the world’s richest and most notorious cities, and raid a Spanish galleon filled with treasure.”

“It’s a mission movie, and we see it through the prism of what it might have been like to live on the island during that time,” says Stacey Snider, Spielberg’s partner in DreamWorks and the company’s co-chair and CEO.

While I think it’s great that Spielberg is adapting Crichton again and Jurassic Park was visually stunning, I’m not a real big fan of David Koepp. His scripts always seem flat and lacking to the point that they need visual effects to liven it up a bit. Don’t get me wrong, I love Carlito’s Way, Toy Soldiers and even The Shadow, but even I’m man enough to say that those movies needed a little more effort. Koepp’s last two adaptations of Crichton really don’t stand with the movies themselves. They don’t feel like all around films. Unless they’ve got a reasonable CG budget, I have my doubts about the movie.

For now.

2012 New Trailer

This new trailer for the disaster film 2012 (actually shown in Japan) is as subtle as a brick through a window and I loved it.

I’m big sucker for disaster films and this is shaping up to be an ace one. This looks like the kind of film that back in the day would have starred Paul Newman, Steve Mcqueen, Shelly Winters, Charlton Heston and good old Red Buttons.

I’ll said it before and I’ll say it again if the pilot of that plane in the trailer doesn’t have an eye patch, an unshaven chin, a cigar, a drink problem and is called Buck Mcoy I’m waking out of the cinema.

Gawd Bless yer Roland Emmerich you sure know how to blow up stuff real good mate.

GS Reporter: Nuge