Over the years, the San Diego Comic-Con has cemented its place as the biggest movie related event of the summer, roping in stars to promote the most hyped film and television of the next year. This year we’re hoping for exclusives on The Hobbit’s final chapter, a title for Captain America 3 and of coarse the latest on the sequel to the third highest grossing film of all time (and 16th greatest according to Empire) The Avengers. Its star Mark Ruffalo, who’ll likely play a larger role this time round, has now confirmed that the Age of Ultron cast will grace the convention with their presence, becoming the first guests to be announced to be attending Hall H this summer.
“Yeah, we’re gonna go out there,” the star of The Kids Are All Right and Zodiac explains, “We’re all flying, we’re flying from London. We’re working. We’re shooting. We’re gonna stop and get on a plane and go to Comic-Con together. It’s gonna be amazing.” We’re hoping for more Comic-Con announcements to come soon but there’s nothing the organisers will surely leave some of the lineups a mystery for the fans attending. Age of Ultron will star Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Chris Evans, James Spader, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Samuel L Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Thomas Kretschmann, Hayley Attwell, Don Cheadle, Josh Brolin and Paul Bettany and is directed by Joss Whedon (Firefly, Serenity, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dr Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog, Much Ado About Nothing, Toy Story).
Even with JJ Abrams “gone leavin”, the fan pressure to make a third instalment to the widely successful rebooted Star Trek series is immense and so Into Darkness writer Roberto Orci is taking up the directing chair this time around and he’s taken some time out to fill us in on how Kirk and Co.’s story will evolve. “In they set out finally where the original series started,” says Orci. “The first two films – especially the 2009 film – was an origin story. It was about them coming together. So they weren’t the characters they were in the original series,” continues the director. “They were growing into them and that continues on in the second movie. So in this movie they are closer than they are to the original series characters that you have ever seen.
“They have set off on their five-year mission, so their adventure is going to be in deep space.” What many Trek fans are after is a story more focused on The Original Series’ theme of discovery, exploration, at least attempting negotiations and moving on but that kind of episodic narrative doesn’t work well with a two hour blockbuster. So long as the Klingon race play a major role (how about a Next Generation cameo or William Shatner finally turning up) and the rebooted cast of Chris Pine (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit), Zachary Quinto (Margin Call), Zoe Saldana (Avatar), John Cho (American Beauty), Anton Yelchin (Terminator Salvation), Alice Eve (Men In Black 3), Leonard Nimoy (The Wrath of Khan), Karl Urban (Dredd) and Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol).
Guillermo Del Toro’s epic sci-fi action Pacific Rim became a cult hit with many fans and while it doubled its budget with its international takings and gained an overall of $410 million but wasn’t quite the smash Warners were hoping for. That plus the worry of writer Travis Beacham departing set back a potential sequel by some way but today Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Devil’s Backbone, Blade II, Hellboy), who’s now working with The Avengers’ Zak Penn, at last confirmed the follow up and its set in for April 2017. The delay may confuse some but Del Toro is still at work on horror flick Crimson Peak. We hope that Rim 2 will star Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman and Ron Perlman.
Pacific Rim 2 – April 7th 2017
Star Trek 3 – 2016
The Avengers: Age of Ultron – May 1st 2015
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