The biggest news of the week broke last night with the announcement from Marvel that they have agreed a deal with Joss Whedon to return to write and direct the sequel to one of the biggest movies of all time, The Avengers. This is a no brainer and fans have been waiting for this announcement for a long time after the success of the biggest blockbuster of the summer. Marvel are also bringing out another team movie (we think separate from the Avengers universe but who knows really?) in Guardians of the Galaxy and a new writer has been snapped up to pen the script. Chris McCoy has never had a film produced yet his scripts have ended up on the Black List in 2007, 2009 and 2011. For those that don’t know the Black List is where the best unmade scripts end up basically so his writing must be pretty good! Apparently all of his scripts have a quirky comedic element to them so his writing for Guardians of the Galaxy is something to look forward to.
Along with Marvel’s Avengers, The Hunger Games was another huge film this summer and casting has taken another step forward on its sequel Catching Fire and it is no wonder being as though the sequel is slated for a November 2013 release. Meta Golding is the newest cast member to join who will be playing Enobaria, a former Hunger Games winner from District 2 who became champion through brutal methods. Meanwhile Patrick St. Esprit will take the role of Romulus Thread, the head peace keeper of District 12. Jennifer Lawrence, as Katniss Everdeen, was the star of The Hunger Games and the producers are desperate to keep her in the role as she has reportedly been offered a huge $10million to return to the role.
Jennifer Lawrence has also signed up for a new film entitled ‘The Ends of the Earth‘, a period drama that is already being seen as a chance for Lawrence to win the Oscar she so narrowly missed out on just a couple of years ago. The story follows 54 year old oil tycoon Ernest Marland who marries his adopted daughter Lydie (Lawrence) after having the adoption anulled. Weird right? Anyway, Lydie helped her husband incorporate social issues of the day into his work and became quite the socialite in the process. The main conflict of the film arises when Ernest’s business comes crashing down.
Christian Bale, fresh from the huge Dark Knight franchise and Chinese war epic Flowers of War has signed on to dip his feet back in the pool of the Old West as he joins Todd Field’s upcoming Western Creed of Violence. Back in 2007 Bale appeared in 3:10 to Yuma and I loved it so I am very excited to see him return to the genre. In 3:10 to Yuma Bale played the War veteran good guy, here he is a small-time assassin named Rawbone, who reluctantly teams with a Bureau of Investigations agent to infiltrate the Mexican criminal underworld during the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Pretty different I think you would agree?