Rounding out our week of dark-themed 2013 movie previews, Marvel Studios just released the first trailer for Thor: The Dark World, sequel to the hit film Thor that we reviewed here at borg.com back in 2011. We liked the first big screen run at translating the classic popular comic book series starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, and Anthony Hopkins. It’s probably the most notable for giving us the backstory of Hiddleston’s Loki, who became the villain bent on Earth’s destruction in 2012′s megahit The Avengers.
Hemsworth, Portman, Hiddleston, Skarsgård, and Hopkins all return as Thor, Jane Foster, Loki, Dr. Selvig, and Odin in Thor: The Dark World, and are joined by Chuck’s Zachary Levi as Fandral, Doctor Who’s Christopher Eccleston as Malekith, Get Shorty’s Rene Russo as Frigga, and Lost’s Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Algrim.
Check out the first studio preview for Thor: The Dark World:
Thor: The Dark World hits theaters November 8, 2013.
If there is a constant as we look ahead to movie franchises and other entertainment properties in 2013, it is the sequel, spin-off, and remake. We’re sure someone will provide new content and stories for us for movies and TV from entirely new characters and worlds in 2013, but just take a look at the 24 biggest genre movies coming out next year and it is obvious that Hollywood is following the “tried and true” model of investing in current properties rather than investing money in “the new”.
So with that in mind, what are the big characters to watch out for next year–the characters we already know that seem like they can only get bigger?
10. Jack Ryan. Back in the 1980s and 1990s it seemed like Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan was everywhere, first with Alec Baldwin taking on the role in The Hunt for Red October, then mega-star Harrison Ford in two sequels, followed by a big break and then Ben Affleck in the prequel Sum of All Fears. With Star Trek star Chris Pine bringing us yet another prequel effort next December, we think a wide audience will come back again to see what this CIA agent has been up to.
9. Wolverine. I’ve always thought Wolverine should be Marvel Comics’ key property. Spider-man always relied on Peter Parker (well, until recently) who seemed pretty planted in the psyche of the past. The Avengers seemed too cartoony with characters with too little in common to really be a huge property (happily I was wrong!). But Wolverine has a certain modern grittiness that readers, especially young readers, would seem to really attach to. Audiences seem to like Hugh Jackman’s take on the character and his incredible fifth outing as Logan/Wolverine in July, titled The Wolverine should tell us if this will be the end of a big-screen Wolverine for a while or whether he will only get bigger.
A bit of buzz from Comic-Con this year was the release of the Man of Steel trailer at the Warner Brothers panel. The following week it was announced the trailer would appear before The Dark Knight Rises at screenings across the country.
Set to hit theaters next year, Man of Steel has a relatively obscure lead actor as Superman, Henry Cavill (The Tudors doesn’t count), but the rest of the cast will be familiar to everyone: Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Russell Crowe as Jor-El, Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, and Laurence Fishburne as Perry White.
So here is the trailer that premiered with The Dark Knight Rises:
I found it pretty underwhelming and I couldn’t figure out why people were so excited from the Comic-Con panel. All you really see of Superman is this flight at the end:
And we see this guy working Alaska fishing boats. I doubt this is to be Krypto:
So what’s the real story?
Turns out they actually showed a longer trailer at Comic-Con. It included peeks at Crowe, Costner, Adams, a scene with Superman being taken prisoner–what appears to be a remake of Superman 2 with Christopher Reeve, including a new General Zod.
Following up on what was an intentional sequel to Superman 2 with Superman Returns–a really good film with Superman played awesomely by Brandon Routh–now we have a random remake of Superman 2? Umm… why? And why pick a British actor to play one of the biggest truly American roles–the kid from Smallville, Kansas? Not a big deal, but maybe it’s time they let an American actor play James Bond?
So if you want to pretend you were at the San Diego premiere of the other trailer, check this out. Not great quality, but at least you can get a hint of why the folks at SDCC 2012 were more excited than the crowd watching the trailer that appeared before The Dark Knight Rises this past weekend.
BTW I don’t know who shot this footage… just ran across it on YouTube. I actually had a better link but it got pulled and I wouldn’t be surprised if this gets pulled, too. It doesn’t look all that stellar, but you can’t really judge it because of the quality. BUT I can see where there may be some cool things happening here.
Man of Steel has a June 14, 2013 release date.
And since we’re talking SDCC 2012 and superhero movies, Marvel Comics announced release dates and logos for these new Marvel flicks:
Release dates:
· May 3, 2013 — Iron Man 3
· November 8, 2013 — Thor: The Dark World
· April 4, 2014 — Captain America: The Winter Soldier
· August 1, 2014 — Guardians of the Galaxy
No date yet for Ant-Man, but don’t you wish they’d score Simon Pegg for the role of Hank Pym?
