Guillermo del Toro explains why he signed off on a 3D conversion for Pacific Rim. Doctor Who might be headed to New Zealand... but first check out trailers for Amy and Rory's big farewell. Plus three new Looper clips!
Spoilers from here on out!
Top image from Pacific Rim.
The Incredible Hulk 2
With Mark Ruffalo's Hulk arguably the breakout star of The Avengers, the thought of giving him his own spin-off movie seems considerably more reasonable than it was, say, six months ago. Here's what Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige considers the prospect, suggesting it could indeed happen, but not for a while yet:
"Do I think Hulk can carry a movie and be as entertaining as he was in 'Avengers'? I do believe that. I do believe he absolutely could. We certainly are not even going to attempt that until [after] 'Avengers 2.' So there's a lot of time to think about it. Part of what's fun about the way we played him in 'Avengers' is the ensemble quality of it. I think the pathos and humor, most importantly, that Mark and Joss brought to it showcased a different element of Hulk that's there in the comics, and was always inherent in his character. But when he was so brooding in his other two films, he didn't get to have that wry sense of humor that Mark did such an amazing job performing."
Looper
Here's a trio of sneak peek clips. [IGN]
Pacific Rim
Director Guillermo del Toro explains why he signed off on a post-production 3D conversion, despite specifically saying this film wouldn't work in 3D due to issues of scale:
"What happened was, in the weeks and months following Comic-Con, what I asked from the studio was to agree to four points that I wanted to do. The more the ILM shots arrived, the more I realized that there were only a few shots that would miniaturize. I asked the studio, number one, that we would not hyper-stereo-lize the thing. That we would not force 3D on the beauty shots. That we would keep the giant dimensions. They agreed. Number two, they agreed to something very unusual. Normally a conversion takes a few weeks. I asked to start it immediately so we could take the full 40 weeks to do the conversion. As an example, 'Titanic' took about 50 weeks to convert. The final thing that I asked that they agreed to, which was amazing, was that I asked them to give me an extra budget, which is considerable, to actually have ILM composite the shots that are CG native 3D. We're not giving elements. ILM is giving the composite in 3D from the get-go. That's a huge, huge element. Now I'm going to be involved in supervising it. What can I tell you? I changed my mind. I'm not running for office. I can do a Romney."
The Hobbit
Here's a poster showcasing Sherlock star Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins. [First Showing]
Cloud Atlas
Here's a TV spot for Tom Twyker and the Wachowskis' adaptation of David Mitchell's genre- and centuries-spanning novel. [First Showing]
Kick-Ass 2
Star Aaron Johnson confirms the movie won't be a straight adaptation of Mark Millar's sequel comic book, which I think we all could have logically concluded from the fact that they weren't going to have this thing be rated NC-17 (and actually, that still might have somewhat undersold it):
There's some really interesting journeys [that] our characters embark on. I can't really go too deep into it, but I'm really excited about it; we've got a great cast. There are some really disturbing things in the comic book which we're not gonna put in, I think for the better. Yet it's got all the elements there and probably more, it's got a bit of narrative and story to be told, so it's great."
[Collider]
Looking much further ahead, the rumors that Doctor Who will film an episode in either Australia or New Zealand is picking up steam, with star Matt Smith declaring he wants The Hobbit's Peter Jackson to direct a New Zealand-set episode. The call has also been taken up by Luther creator Neil Cross, who is writing two episodes for this current Doctor Who series and lives in Wellington, who says he has urged Steven Moffat to let him write an episode that would bring production down there at some point after next year's 50th anniversary special. Executive producer Caroline Skinner recently weighed in on the rumors, saying Cross and Moffat are actually discussing it more or less right now:
"Let's see what those two very brilliant writers come up with whilst they are in LA. It won't be for a while but rest assured that we are thinking about it. The landscapes and just the world of New Zealand is of course phenomenal and many movies are set in your beautiful country. It is also an extremely long way from Cardiff Bay so the logistics and the sheer scale of moving Doctor Who to New Zealand is something that would take an awful lot of planning and time. It's an enormous thing to move an entire production down there for an episode or two."
As for the acclaimed director, Peter Jackson hasn't commented on these rumors directly, although he has previously said he would direct Doctor Who at a moment's notice, and Moffat just needs to give him a time and place. Assuming he's not busy turning The Hobbit into a twelve-part series in 2014, it sounds like Moffat might actually take him up on that offer. [Stuff.co.nz]
Fringe
Here's a pair of promos for the fifth and final season, which begins this Friday. [Fringe Television and BuddyTV]
And here's a pair of sneak peeks for the season premiere, "Broken."
Episodes four, five, and six are reportedly called "The Crocodile", "The Doctor", and "Tallahassee." [SpoilerTV]
Grimm
Additional reporting by Amanda Yesilbas and Charlie Jane Anders.