Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
Joss Whedon doesn’t have to worry about finding work for the next three years. Marvel Studios has locked up the writer-director of The Avengers through the summer of 2015. On the heels of the news that Whedon will make the sequel to Disney and Marvel’s The Avengers and develop a Marvel-based television series for Disney’s ABC network, Marvel said it has made a long-term pact with the 48year-old Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator. “Joss Whedon has signed an exclusive deal with Marvel Studios for film and television through the end of June 2015,” Marvel said in a statement Tuesday. “As part of that deal, Whedon will write and direct Marvel’s Avengers 2 as well as help develop a new live action series for Marvel Television at ABC. He will also contribute creatively to the next phase of Marvel’s cinematic universe.” The first Avengers movie, released by Marvel owner Disney earlier this year, is the biggest hit in modern Hollywood history, with global ticket sales in excess of $1.46 billion.
Randy Travis is accused of driving while intoxicated and threatening to kill Texas state troopers after the country singer crashed his car and was found naked and combative at the scene. It was the second Texas arrest involving alcohol this year for the Grammy-winning singer, who was cited in February for public intoxication. The sheriff’s office in Grayson County in far North Texas along the border with Oklahoma received a 911 call at 11:18 p.m. Tuesday about a man seen lying in a road west of Tioga, where the entertainer lives. Texas troopers responding to the scene said a Pontiac Trans Am registered to the 53-year-old Travis had been driven off the road and struck several barricades in a construction road. Travis was not wearing clothes at the time of his arrest and made threats against the Texas troopers, said Tom Vinger, a Department of Public Safety spokesman. He said the singer refused sobriety tests, so a blood specimen was taken. Grayson County sheriff’s Sgt. Rickey Wheeler said Travis faces charges of retaliation or obstruction in addition to driving under the influence. A Travis representative said there was no immediate comment on the arrest. Travis was arraigned and released on $21,500 bond Wednesday morning from the jail in Sherman, about 60 miles north of Dallas. Blood-test results are pending.