DreamWorks Acquires Classic Harvey Comics

DreamWorks Animation is acquiring Classic Media, owner of properties such as the Harvey Comics characters (including Casper, Golden Books, Lassie, The Lone Ranger, Where’s Waldo, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Veggie Tales, and with some rights to Voltron, for $155 million, the company announced Monday. Eric Ellenbogen and John Engelman, who co-founded and ran Classic, will join DreamWorks. Classic Media has 80 employees at its headquarters in New York and offices in the UK and at its Big Idea Entertainment offices in Nashville.

Over its most recent year, Classic Media had $89 million in sales and $19 million in operating profit.


Classic Media has a bit of a convoluted history. It was sold to British company Entertainment Rights by Ellenbogen and Engelman in December of 2006. Ellenbogen and Engelman formed Boomerang Media with funding from GTCR in January of 2008. When Entertainment Rights ran into liquidity problems , Boomerang acquired its assets in April of that year.

The deal is expected to close by the end of Q3.

Del Toro & Perlman On Board for "Hellboy 3"



Comic-Con News: It has been over four years since the second Hellboy movie, and given the relatively mediocre box office success of the franchise there hasn’t been a lot of interest in a third film featuring the demonic do-gooder. In fact until Comic-Con, it wasn’t even clear that director Guillermo Del Toro, who appears to be in demand constantly for a variety of projects, or star Ron Perlman, who had complained about going through the elaborate makeup process, were even interested in a third Hellboy movie that would tie up the loose ends from the first two films.

But at Comic-Con promoting his Pacific Rim robots vs. monsters movie, Del Toro didn’t hesitate to talk about a third Hellboy film, stating flatly: "I can say publicly now that we (Del Toro and Perlman) are together in wanting to do Hellboy 3."


Perlman, who had recently donned the Hellboy makeup to fulfill the wishes of an ailing young fan, who had requested a meeting with Hellboy, was definitely on-board, telling Entertainment Weekly: "The first two movies were set up to have this incredible resolve. Everything that was done in both movies was leading up to this destiny, written in stone, of what Hellboy has been summoned to Earth to do. To not do it, particularly in light of the scope that Guillermo is thinking of for the resolve, would be to my mind a little bit of a shame."

Of course with no studio on board yet, a Hellboy 3 movie is still far from the big screen. Hellboy II: The Golden Army almost broke even theatrically, earning $160.4 million worldwide vs. a cost of $85 million. That might be close enough to convince a studio that wants to get in on the comic book movie parade to gamble that with Hellboy, the third time will indeed be the charm. If comic book movies continue to perform well at the box office, Hellboy 3’s chances should definitely improve.



"Captain America: the Winter Soldier"

Anthony Mackie, who rocketed to stardom in The Hurt Locker, is in negotiations to play The Falcon in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is being directed by Joe and Russo Anthony (You, Me and Dupree). Mackie will likely join Chris Evans in the Captain America sequel, which will be based on the Ed Brubaker Winter Soldier saga in which The Falcon aids Cap in his struggle against the Sentinel of Liberty’s former sidekick Bucky, who returns as a brainwashed super-assassin.

The Falcon was created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan and introduced in Captain America #117. Although Black Panther debuted first, T’Challa is a native of Wakanda, so The Falcon can lay claim to being mainstream comics’ first African-American superhero. The Harlem-born hero, whose alter ego is Samuel Thomas Wilson, has a suit that enables him to fly and a mental bond with his falcon Redwing. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mackie will be seen in Warner Bros. Gangster Squad this fall, and is currently shooting Runner, Runner with Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which just received its real title at Comic-Con , is slated to debut on April 4th, 2014.

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Jessica Biel Cast as Viper

Comic-Con News: Pouty-lipped actress Jessica Biel has been cast in the key role of Victoria/Viper in James Mangold’s Wolverine sequel, which is now known as The Wolverine. Biel is no stranger to Marvel Comics-based films having starred in Blade Trinity in 2004. Biel is also starring in the upcoming science fiction film Total Recall with Colin Farrell.

According to Deadline, Biel will play The Viper, who was formerly known as Madame Hydra. Created by Jim Steranko she has ties not only to HYDRA, but also to the Hellfire Club and the Serpent Squad. She is closely associated with the Silver Samurai, and this association will be on display the new Wolverine film. Will Yun Lee recently signed on to portray the Silver Samurai in Mangold’s film alongside Hugh Jackman in the title role, Tao Okamoto as Mariko, Wolverine’s former fiancé, and Brian Tee who plays Noburo Mari, a corrupt minister, who is currently engaged to Mariko.

Mangold’s The Wolverine is slated to debut in just over a year on July 26th, 2013. Christopher McQuarrie’s screenplay is based on Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s Wolverine miniseries from 1982.

First Trailer for "Oz : the Great and Powerful"

Comic-Con News: Here's the trailer for Sam (the original Spider-Man trilogy) Raimi's Oz: The Great and Powerful. Disney has released this trailer for the big budget fantasy film just minutes after it premiered at Comic-Con. Raimi's film is intended as a prequel to the 1939 Wizard of Oz film. It stars James Franco as the eponymous anti-hero with Mila Kunis, Michelle WIlliams, and Rachel Weisz as the three witches.

Note how Raimi's film mirrors the format of the 1939 Wizard of Oz film with a black-and-white prologue set in Kansas and the settings and characters in the colorful realm of Oz also recalling the 1930s fantasy. Raimi's Oz: The Great and Powerful is slated to debut on March 8th, 2013.

Fox Pushes "Fantastic Four", Daredevil" Reboots

Comic-Con News: Twentieth Century Fox may not have a major institutional presence at Comic-Con this year, but the studio made waves by announcing its firm intentions to reboot two of its dormant Marvel Comics-based franchises, the Fantastic Four and Daredevil. Of course Marvel’s "use it or loose it" motion picture licensing agreements make it mandatory for the studios who hold the rights to Marvel characters to use them or let them revert to Marvel Studios. No studio wants to relive the red-faced embarrassment of Paramount after Marvel Studios scored a major hit with the Iron Man property, which Paramount had acquired and then relinquished.

So in spite of two disappointing (both financially and critically) Fantastic Four films, Fox is far from giving up on the property. According to Deadline, Fox has indicated that it has convinced the hot young director Josh Trank, who helmed the sleeper hit Chronicle and has been mentioned as a likely helmer for a Venom movie, to preside over a rebooting of the FF franchise at Fox. In fact Deadline states flatly that the Fantastic Four will be "the next Marvel property to be slated for production and dated for release by the studio."

The clock is ticking on Daredevil at Fox. The studio has a script it likes, but director David Slade, who has been attached to the project since early in 2011 has bowed out of this reboot because of scheduling conflicts. Look for the announcement of a director for the Daredevil reboot soon, because the film has to be in production by this fall or Fox could lose the rights to the character.

Gaiman to Write New "Sandman" Series

Comic-Con News: Neil Gaiman appeared at the Vertigo panel via a 4-minute film clip in which he described a new Sandman miniseries that he is writing, and which Vertigo plans to release in 2013, the 25th anniversary of the publication of Gaiman’s first Sandman comic book. The miniseries will be a prequel and it will explain how what happened to Morpheus before we met him in the first issue of Sandman. "This was one of the few stories that I felt, that after I finished Sandman, I felt that I had failed because I had not told this story," Gaiman explained in the video.

The as-yet-untitled Sandman miniseries will be published day and date digtially and will be drawn by J.H. Williams. Gaiman was enthused at the prospect of working with Williams telling the Comic-Con crowd, "I am incredibly excited that it is going to be drawn by J.H. Williams. I’ve been a fan of his since Promethea. I love his Batwoman stuff, but on this you are going to see a side of J.H. that you have never seen before."

In other Gaiman-related news, according to The Guardian, the author has signed a contract with Harper Collins for five children’s books. The first, which is due out in January is Chu’s Day, the story of a little panda with a big sneeze that will be illustrated by Adam Rex. Gaiman’s contract includes a sequel to Chu’s Day along with Fortunately the Milk, a middle grades novel that Skottie Young (Oz) will illustrate, a sequel to Gaiman’s 2008 saga Odd and the Frost Giants, and an as-yet untitled project.

"Wolverine" Villain Cast

Will Yun Lee has been cast as the villain, the Silver Samurai, for The Wolverine feature, according to Variety. His credits include: TNT's Witchblade series, Elektra, Die Another Day, and Hawaii Five-0.  The film starts production next month with director James Mangold, after a number of delays.

New 'Sailor Moon' Anime



A new anime series based on Sailor Moon will be released in the summer of 2013, according to Anime News Network. The new series will be released simultaneously worldwide. The theme song will be performed by Momoiro Clover Z.

Despite its age, the Sailor Moon manga has been tearing up the charts here in the U.S. since its re-launch by Kodansha last year, a new anime series, especially if it’s broadcast on TV, can only fuel greater awareness and sales.

"Iron Man 3" Concept Art

New concept art released by Marvel Studios for Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 appears to confirm the widespread speculation that Warren Ellis’ 'Iron Man Extremis' storyline will form the basis for the film’s storyline. The illustration by Marvel Studio’s mainstay Ryan Meinerding appears to show Tony Stark under attack employing his armor without his wristband sensors. This sort of action would be possible for an "Extremis-enabled" Stark, since in the "Extremis" storyline Stark’s armor actually becomes part of his physiology thanks to nanotechnology.

The concept art was first published by Entertainment Weekly  , which notes that the "Extremis" storyline is perhaps the most logical explanation for what is happening in the concept art. But nobody including EW can definitively explain the black-ops types who are attacking Stark, though they could be members of the domestic terror cell that is featured in the “Extremis” storyline.

But it is important to note that so far Marvel Studios’ movie storylines have rarely been confined to one comic book story arc. While this can make selling graphic novel tie-ins more difficult for retailers, it provides lots of narrative flexibility for Marvel Studios, which can mine the entire Marvel universe compatible characters and events. Last month Variety noted that James Badge Dale was joining the cast of IM3 as the cyborg character Coldblood. While the character of Coldblood, who was originally Army officer Eric Savin before he stepped on a landmine and was then transformed into a cyborg, makes sense in an Iron Man movie, Coldblood has yet to appear in an Iron Man comic.

Tom Hanks' "Electric City" Animated Web Series to Launch on July 17, 2012



Yahoo! has announced that Playtone and Reliance Entertainment's Electric City animated series will be premiering on July 17, 2012, with the first ten 5-7 minute episodes going live on that date. The series was created by Tom Hanks, who stars along with Jeanne Tripplehorn, Holland Taylor, Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Antoon, Chris Parnell, Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Georg Stanford Brown. The series focuses on the seams and cracks in the facade of the urban utopia of Electric City, which stands for peace and order in a dystopian future world.

Avengers to Home Video in September

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment will release The Avengers for home video in three packages, and will also release the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Avengers Assembled, a six-movie set. The Avengers release will take place on September 25 as a single DVD for $29.99; a two-disc DVD/Blu-Ray Combo Pack for $29.99; and a four-disc 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray combo pack with DVD and digital copy at $49.99.

Of course, special features will abound, including Joss Whedon commentary (on all versions) and featurettes.

Disney is also planning a limited edition 10-disc Blu-ray boxed set, Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One: Avengers Assembled, with all five movies leading up to The Avengers, as well as 3D versions of The Avengers, Captain America, and Thor, plus a bonus disc of The Phase One Archives. The release date for this set has not been announced.

Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014?

The previously un-named Marvel movie for 2014 will be Guardians of the Galaxy, according to the usually reliable Latino Review. The film is to be announced at Comic-Con, according to the report, and will feature Thanos, who was teased in the closing of Joss Whedon’s The Avengers. That will put four movies in the run-up to The Avengers 2, including two in 2013: Iron Man 3 and Thor 2.

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige had previously revealed that a Guardians of the Galaxy film was in the Marvel slate, albeit unscheduled. And Disney had reserved dates for two Marvel movies in 2014. It’s expected that one of those two films, scheduled for May 16th and June 27th, will be Captain America 2. Now Guardians of the Galaxy is expected to be the second 2014 Marvel feature. Stay tuned for the official announcements at Comic-Con.