Hugo Weaving to Portray The Red Skull

Marvel Studios has announced that veteran character actor Hugo Weaving will play the key role of The Red Skull in The First Avenger: Captain America, which begins production next month in London. Introduced in Captain America #1 in 1941, the original Red Skull was George John Maxon, an American industrialist turned Nazi saboteur, but the character in the movie has been identified by Marvel Studios as Johann Schmidt, who was actually the second Red Skull in the comic continuity. Schmidt, a German orphan who survived a harsh upbringing, was working as a bellhop in a Berlin hotel when he was chosen by Hitler for special training that the Fuhrer supervised himself.

Weaving joins a cast that so far includes Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell. Weaving is perhaps best known for his work in the Matrix Trilogy (Agent Smith), V for Vendetta (V), and Lord of the Rings (Elrond). Weaving has also provided the voice of Decepticon leader Megatron in Michael Bay’s two live-action Transformers movies.

'Captain America' Filming in June 2010

Joe Johnston, the director of Marvel Studios’ Captain America has revealed that he is working toward a June start for filming the The First Avenger: Captain America, which is slated for a July 22, 2011 debut.

In an article in Fangoria about Johnston’s remake of The Wolfman, Johnston told the interviewers that he was speaking from the Marvel Studios’ art department where he was readying the Captain America film for a June start. So far none of the cast of the Cap movie has been announced, though if the film is to begin principal photography in June, casting announcements will likely be made over the next few months.

Marvel Retools Movie Schedule

Marvel announced Thursday morning that it is rescheduling three of its upcoming films to allow a longer run-up to its Avengers film, which was moved back from July 15 of 2011 to May 4, 2012. Thor was moved back from July 16, 2010 to June 17, 2011. The First Avenger: Captain America was moved back to July 22, 2011 from May 6, 2011.

Iron Man 2’s release date remains unchanged: May 7, 2010.

And Marvel confirmed that Spider-Man 4 will release May 6, 2011.

The changes give Marvel the first weekend in May for the next four years (X-Men Origins: Wolverine opens May 1st of this year).

Marvel Confirms Film Movie Details

David Maisel, chairman of Marvel Studios, told reporters that the success of the 2008 theatrical and DVD releases of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk paves the way for a slew of sequels and new films based on Marvel Comics properties and characters. Among those in the works are Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers, Maisel confirmed in a conference call with reporters on Nov. 4 to discuss the company's third-quarter earnings.

As previously reported, Maisel also said that Marvel Studios will, for cost efficiency purposes, relocate its headquarters to the Raleigh Studios facility in Manhattan Beach, Calif. All the upcoming movies will be shot at Raleigh Studios, with post-production work done there as well.

"2010 is scheduled to bring Iron Man 2 and Thor, while 2011 has The First Avenger: Captain America and the Avengers movie," Maisel said. "We've announced Robert Downey Jr. will star in both Iron Man 2 and The Avengers and Jon Favreau will direct Iron Man 2 and executive-produce The Avengers. We will be making other talent and director announcements as these deals are finalized."

Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. will be back for the sequel and for an Avengers movie.

Maisel added, "On one other note, by 2010 we also expect that our Spider-Man Broadway musical will premiere on Broadway. This is the musical directed by Julie Taymor, the director of The Lion King, with music written by Bono and The Edge from the rock band U2. In keeping with our conservative fiscal approach, we are not funding the show, but we are co-producing it and have a meaningful first-dollar gross participation, which could create significant upside if the show is successful and spawns multiple touring companies around the world."

Addressing the move to Raleigh Studios, Maisel said that, in addition to housing Marvel's studio headquarters on the premises, they will also have dedicated sound stages and pre- and post-production areas where the next four Marvel movies will be developed and shot.

"That's a significant move on Marvel, a significant investment in space," Maisel said. "We believe that by doing that, we will not only have cost efficiencies by being able to have all the productions under one roof and negotiate various volume discounts and other sorts of cost efficiencies, but also hopefully continue and have a better probability of having the quality that we all saw this past summer in the movies by being the hands-on producers, as we were with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk."

In a press release issued in conjunction with the earnings call, Marvel Entertainment also confirmed the tentative release dates for company's upcoming film productions. Iron Man 2 is scheduled for a May 7, 2010, release, followed by Thor on July 16, 2010, The First Avenger: Captain America on May 6, 2011, and The Avengers on July 15, 2011. --Ian Spelling