Development hell
Avatardy!
Bad news, planet- hoppers. The next Earth shuttle to Pandora has been delayed. You’ll just have to amuse yourselves in the departure lounge. Tech- bullying visionary James Cameron says that the first in his trilogy of Avatar sequels has been bumped from December 2016 to December 2017. What gives, Jim? “There’s a layer of complexity in getting the story to work as a saga across three films that you don’t get when you’re making a standalone film,” says Cameron, who plans to shoot all three films at once, the maniac. “We’ve done that so that everything tracks throughout the three films. We’re not just going to do one and then make up another one and another one after that. And parallel with that, we’re doing all the design. So we’ve designed all the creatures and the environments.” A December 2017 release potentially puts Cameron Na’vi dagger- tolightsaber with Rian Johnson’s Star Wars Episode VIII…
Keep it civil!
“I have a brand new costume; I’m in full effect,” says Anthony Mackie, poised to reprise his role as Captain America’s faithful wingman the Falcon in the shield- slinger’s third solo adventure. “I will tell you this: Cap 3 is gonna be everything you can imagine. Cap 2 was really Avengers 1. 5 and Cap 3 is gonna be Avengers 3.8.” He’ll show you his workings later. With Scarlett Johansson signed to return as Black Widow, Civil War will pitch Cap against Iron Man in a knock- down squabble over superhero rights ( can’t they just go on Question Time like everyone else?). Co- writer Stephen McFeely tells IGN the movie needs to tweak the 2006 comic books it’s based on. “The MCU didn’t exist [ then]. There isn’t a Robert Downey Jr or Chris Evans who has helped create the character, so we need to make sure that that template gets adjusted, in order to make sure it services these characters and not just rip off their parts and make them look like them.”
Astral cinema!
Who’s this we find floating in the lotus position through the astral plane? He looks a little pale. And, frankly, a tad insubstantial. Why, it’s a non- corporeal projection of Benedict Cumberbatch himself,