Sony Letting Go of Spider-Man? *UPDATE*

In a nerd conversation of epic proportions the other day with Dr. Kronner, I disclosed that it was my dream to see the three studios controlling the biggest Marvel superhero franchises to come to an agreement and make a trilogy of awesome movies on par with the Avengers, but involving everyone. This would mean Spiderman, the Avengers, the X-men and the Fantastic Four all sharing the same universe and then Marvel Studios, Fox, and Sony all split the revenue from the trilogy. Clearly this is a fevered dream that will never happen, but there has been news that Sony may be looking to offload the film rights to Spiderman in the future according to a report at Geek Rest:

A new report has surfaced that suggests Sony may be exploring their options as to how they can raise capital for their fledgling hardware divisions by selling off several of their numerous music and film properties. According to CEO Kazua Hirai, Sony is currently considering a proposal from investor Daniel Loeb and his hedge fund company Third Point that would see Sony selling off several of their movie properties including Resident Evil and – wait for it – Spider-Man.

“Third Point’s proposal involves the way we manage a core business of the Sony group and the direction of our management. So the Sony board will give it thorough consideration before replying to Mr Loeb,” explained Hirai.

So although it’s not as grand as my plan that the studios would never buy into, at least that’s one of the big heroes that could possibly be joining the fray of Marvel Studio’s/Disney’s shared movie universe.

I know it’s not a guarantee that Sony would sell to Marvel Studios/Disney, but really who else could make the highest bid for the rights? This is a company that not only has Marvel in it’s pocket, but it’s now showing off the recently bought Star Wars franchise by announcing a new trilogy and a crap load of new standalone movies to boot. In the coming decade, Disney will have made more movie money than all of the other studios combined, unless DC can get some steam behind their own sought after shared movie universe in which the Man of Steel may or may not kick start. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, what does everyone think of this news? After all of the recent reacquiring of characters such as Daredevil, Elektra, Punisher, Ghost Rider and Blade, would it be a big game changer if Marvel Studios had Spider-Man in its holster? Sound off below!

UPDATE via Comic Book Therapy:

[box_light]After the initial post from The Register hit, more details regarding what is in the proposal have hit. Unfortunately it doesn’t look good for those wanting Spidey in the MCU either. The proposal that Loeb has brought to Sony wouldn’t be to sell of the franchises, but rather spin their entertainment branch into a separate entity that people can buy into. So the long and short of it is, don’t expect Peter Parker to be helping Tony Stark or any of The Avengers anytime soon.[/box_light]

The Amazing Spider Man – 2 AM Text Review

My buddy Aaron is a bartender for a certain movie theater here in Michigan, and on occasion, the theater will have advanced employee screenings for movies a couple nights prior to the film’s release. These are his thoughts on The Amazing Spider Man…

Aaron: Watching spiderman was like watching the drunkest guy at the bar hit on the hottest waitress at the bar at the end of the night. – 3:08 AM

Aaron: It’s actually pretty entertaining, there’s a lot of misguided effort, but some how, you find yourself rooting for the guy because he’s trying so  – 3:10 AM

Aaron: hard. – 3:10 AM

Aaron: And more than likely, he’ll try again next week. So, yeah, Im definitely lookin forward to the sequal.  – 3:12 AM

 Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter – 2 AM Text Review

Ted – 2 AM Text Review

The 25 Most Anticipated Films of 2012

We seem to spend a lot of time talking about the various new mind-blowing movies that come out bigger and better every year. So we figured it was time to bring out the science again and put together a list of our 25 Most Anticipated Films of 2012.

Now we are only talking about the March-September slate of movies as some haven’t received official release dates yet, so keep that in mind.

Each member of the staff made a list. These lists will be compiled from a point system determined by votes from each member of the staff. It’s very scientific, we used Excel. Our resident cinephile joey123mo will take a look at each movie and outline why it made our list of Most Anticipated Films of 2012!

Marvel Comics Review: The Amazing Spider-Man #667 – Spider Island Part 1

The excitement of Spider Island continues in full force in this issue of Spidey! The Jackal and his cohorts are hosting a meeting with all of the major crime families of New York to distribute a little something to the now spider-powered thugs. Spider suits. Almost every Spiderman costume there has been, and he has also given them orders to terrorize the city in every way possible. Not good! Peter in the meantime can’t get over the fact that his gal pal Carlie has spider-powers as well now. What makes it worse is that she flat-out told him instead of keeping it a secret. What a jerk that makes you Mr. Parker! Or it just makes her look like a gossipy woman who can’t keep anything to herself. I’ll let you the readers decide on that one.

Mayor J. Jonah Jameson as you can imagine is happier than a pig in its own excrement due to the fact that his idiotic Aniti Spider Patrol is somewhat relevant for the moment. After all the guy did spend 30 percent of the city budget on it…. good call JJ. A group of folks not so happy are the Avengers who show up in the issue to perform some spider control. I get the feeling that the spider powered criminals may be in over their heads because you have the likes of Wolverine, Ms. Marvel, Red Hulk and the Thing whooping their web-clad asses in the issue.

I have to say one of the best moments for me was when Peter showed up in his spider suit to help out and was rewarded by getting pummeled by his comrades. Something tells me that he should have just thought that one over a few minutes longer before jumping into the fray. Overall I give the issue 4 out of 5 grizzlies.

The issue was a bit on the light-hearted side even as all hell breaks loose in New York. I have to say it kind of annoys me continuity wise when an event like this happens during the same time as another event, that one being Fear Itself. How can all of this crap be happening at once?! Regardless, Spider Island is just too much fun for me to care at this point. I hope Dan Slott keeps it up throughout the arc because I am thoroughly entertained. I may be one of the few but I still enjoyed the issue even when I’m not a huge fan of Humberto Ramos’ art. I’ve grown to accept it over the years but not enough to hope he’s drawing one of the books I read.

The 10 Worst Superhero TV Projects

TV and Superheroes rarely mix well, and on the off-chance they do it probably isn’t the best representation of superheroes on the market. Smallville worked, Lois & Clark kind of worked. That’s… about… it. So it’s obviously time to present a list about some of these less than awesome superhero shows. The problem was I had TOO many shows/TV movies to choose from, so I expect to hear about what I’ve missed or that my choices suck or that I need to put down the fork. Wait, what? Anyways, let’s get to the list. We didn’t stick to comic heroes, because sometimes the ones created just for television pretty much define this list.

10.) My Secret Identity

It’s possible this show missed a lot of people’s radar as it was a Canadian TV series, but it aired in syndication in the States. I personally loved this show as a kid, but giving it another look kind brought shame to my younger self. Might have to re-evaluate my love for Biker Mice From Mars.

My Secret Identity is basically Back to the Future meets The Sentry, except no god like powers or Time Travel. Let me explain. Jerry O’ Connell, the fat kid from Stand By Me (he probably hates it when people call him that) plays Andrew Clements, a 14-year-old kid who is zapped by a photon beam while helping his neighbor, 4th smartest man in the world Dr. Benjamin Jeffcoat (the fact that he’s a smart guy inventor dude is obviously the B2TF connection), played by Derek McGrath. Obviously, this grants him super powers (a la The Sentry… sort of). Super speed, Invulnerability, and levitation, with super strength added in later seasons, because why not? He actually used aerosol cans to direct his flight for a time, but that was changed pretty quick.

If you recognized his friend Kirk, played by Christopher Bolton, then you’ve probably seen another Canadian show called Rent-A-Goalie, and I applaud you. Regardless, this show is a terrible excuse at a superhero show, made even more so with Degrassi level quality and Canadian film mentalities. No offense to my homeland’s cinema, but… well…