Opening in theaters on June 14th is the highly anticipated reboot of the Superman franchise entitled Man of Steel, which was helmed by Visionary director Zack Snyder (Watchmen). The new film was produced by Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight), and based on a story he developed with screenwriter David S. Goyer (Batman Begins), who wrote the script. The new movie features an all-star cast that includes Henry Cavill (Immortals) as Clark Kent/Superman, Academy Award-nominees Amy Adams (The Fighter) as Lois Lane, Laurence Fishburne (What’s Love Got to Do With It) as Perry White, Diane Lane (Unfaithful) as Martha Kent, and Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) as General Zod, as well as Emmy Award-winner Richard Schiff (TV’s The West Wing) as Dr. Emil Hamilton, and Academy Award-winners Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves) as Jonathan Kent, and Russell Crowe (Gladiator) as Jor-El.

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down with Michael Shannon to talk about Man of Steel while the actor was doing press for The Iceman, which opens in theaters on May 3rd. The Academy-award nominee discussed his role as General Zod in Man of Steel, that his accent will be different than Terence Stamp's in Superman and Superman II, his approach to the role, why he didn't portray Zod as a villain, and comparisons between his character and General Patton. 

Opening in limited release on April 5th and wide release on April 12th is the new drama thriller entitled Trance from Academy Award-winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting). The film stars an excellent cast that includes James McAvoy (X-Men: First Class), Vincent Cassel (Eastern Promises) and Rosario Dawson (Sin City).

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had the pleasure of sitting down with James McAvoy via satellite from London to talk about his work on Trance, as well as the upcoming sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past. The popular actor discussed his new film, why he wanted to work with director Danny Boyle and what the process is like, the film's strong "old school" caper-type script, and his research into hypnotism, as well as his upcoming sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past, reuniting with his X-Men: First Class cast members, working with the original X-Men series actors, having scenes with Sir Patrick Stewart but not Sir Ian McKellen, just reading the script for the first time the day before, and why fans and new audiences alike will enjoy the upcoming movie. 

At WonderCon 2013 in Anaheim, California on Saturday, actor/director/co-writer Seth Rogan (The Guilt Trip), director/co-writer Evan Goldberg (The Green Hornet), appeared in front of a packed arena crowd to discuss their upcoming comedy film This Is The End, which also stars Danny McBride (30 Minutes or Less), Craig Robinson (Escape from Planet Earth), James Franco (Oz the Great and Powerful), Paul Rudd (This Is 40), Jonah Hill (21 Jump Street), Jason Segal (The Muppets), Michael Cera (Superbad), Jay Baruchel (Goon), Aziz Ansari (30 Minutes or Less) and Emma Watson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1).

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick had a chance to speak with Seth Rogan, and Evan Goldberg before the panel on Saturday about the possibility of making a sequel to The Green Hornet. The actor and his writing/directing partner confirmed that they have absolutely no interest in making a sequel to their super hero film and explained why they are much happier working on smaller budgeted films like This Is The End. 

Scheduled to open in theaters on November 8th is the highly anticipated sequel to Thor entitled Thor: The Dark World, which will mark the second film released in Marvel Studios' Phase Two. The new installment was directed by Alan Taylor (Kill The Poor) and based on a screenplay by Captain America: The First Avenger scribes Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and popular Marvel Comics writer Christopher Yost. The sequel features returning cast members Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Stellan Skarsgard (Dr, Erik Selvig), Idris Elba (Heimdall), Kat Dennings (Darcy Lewis), Ray Stevenson (Volstagg), Tadanobu Asano (Hogun), Jaimie Alexander (Sif), Rene Russo (Frigga), and Anthony Hopkins (Odin), as well as new cast members Christopher Eccleston (G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (The Thing), and Zachary Levi (Tangled). 

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had the pleasure of sitting down with the beautiful Jaimie Alexander while she was promoting her new movie The Last Stand, which opens on January 18th and also stars Arnold Schwarzenegger. While we will run our interview with Alexander regarding The Last Stand closer to the films release date, we wanted to let you know now what the actress had to say about her work on Thor: The Dark World. The talented actress discussed the upcoming sequel, when she finished shooting, where we find the characters after the events of The Avengers, the darker tone of the film, more character development for Sif, exploring her possible romantic relationship with Thor, returning to the franchise without Thor director Kenneth Branagh, Marvel Comics scribe Christopher Yost's contributions to the project, and the addition of actor Zachary Levi as Warriors Three member Fandrai. 

Found-footage films are not a new concept; especially in horror movies where the idea goes all the way back to ‘1999’s The Blair Witch Project and has been utilized in such recent hits as Cloverfield, the Paranormal Activity franchise and The Devil Inside. However, two films in particular this year, Chronicle, and Project X, have pushed the envelope by incorporating the found-footage concept into entirely new film genres. With Warner Bros.’ Project X, the technique was used to illustrate a high school party movie, and with 20^th Century Fox’s Chronicle, which is available on Blu-Ray and DVD beginning May 15^th, the concept was fused with the super hero genre to great success as the film was an international box office hit.

First time director Josh Trank, along with screenwriter and childhood friend Max Landis, created a found-footage story about three friends who find something mysterious that gifts them with unthinkable super powers. The film follows Seattle high-school seniors Andrew (Dane DeHaan), his cousin Matt (Alex Russell), and Steve (Michael B. Jordan), as they form a close bond after receiving telekinetic abilities from an unknown object. The boys use their newfound abilities for mischief and personal gain until Andrew begins to utilize them for more nefarious purposes. Since the initial success of the film, Trank has been mentioned as a possible director for several upcoming comic book based films including a Fantastic Four reboot, a Venom Spin-off, and an adaptation of Image Comic’s The Red Star.

In honor of the Blu-ray and DVD release of the film, I recently had a chance to chat with director Josh Trank about Chronicle, as well as his rumored involvement in those upcoming comic book adapted film properties. Trank discussed his recent movie, developing the story with screenwriter Max Landis, marrying the super hero and found-footage genres, his actual cinematic inspirations for the film, what the studio wanted him to change, the technical aspects of directing a found-footage movie, and which comic book-based film he will direct next.

“Catches thieves just like flies.”

That’s how one of the most anticipated panels and presentations this year at WonderCon 2012 opened, spoken by the Sony Pictures Panel moderator in a room brimming with people, young and old. The quote pertains to the Spider-Man reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man helmed by director Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer), and distributed by Sony Films.

It is a complete re-imagining of the Spider-Man movie franchise, because Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) plays Peter Parker, Martin Sheen plays Uncle Ben, and MJ is not the love interest. In fact, Emma Stone (The Help) plays Gwen Stacy, Peter’s love interest, who as it turns out, is wildly different than MJ. More importantly, the driving motivator differs from the emotional catalyst put forth by the Raimi trilogy. In all, this story takes a different approach to telling the story of what compels Peter to try to make the world a little bit safer and better.

Ever since Walt Disney Studios acquired Marvel Comics in 2009 fans have been wondering just what the studio has planned for “The House of Ideas” vast catalog of characters and material. We know that they plan to continue what Marvel Studios began doing on the big screen in 2008 with Iron Man, which will culminate with next summer’s highly anticipated superhero team-up movie The Avengers, but what about on the small screen? Disney does own ABC after all and there has not been a live-action TV series based on a Marvel property on network television since The Incredible Hulk starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno in the late ‘70s. But that could all change soon as it was announced last year that Twilight screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg would write and executive produce a pilot for ABC based on the extremely popular Marvel comic book series "Alias" by Brian Michael Bendis.

"Alias," which will be re-titled AKA Jessica Jones for TV, tells the story of Jessica Jones (“Jewel”), a former superhero who gave up costumed crime fighting to become a private detective. While Rosenberg’s biggest success has come from penning the entire Twilight film series, she’s no stranger to writing for television as she’s a former writer and executive producer of Dexter. She is even familiar with writing comic book adapted material having penned several episodes of the Batgirl inspired series Birds of Prey. I recently had a chance to speak with screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg about the status of AKA Jessica Jones while she was out promoting The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, which will be in theaters on November 18^th.

Without a doubt, one of the most highly anticipated films of 2012 has got to be The Avengers. Marvel Studios has been teasing this film since the release of Iron Man in 2008 and the movie promises to bridge elements from all of their previous endeavors, including The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, and this past summer’s Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger, into one cinematic Marvel universe. It’s a pretty daunting task if you think about it and one that has never been attempted before, which makes it all the more impressive that it appears that they are about to pull it off.

One man who Marvel Studios has given a pivotal role to in this process is Swedish born actor Stellan Skarsgard. Best known for his roles in films like The Hunt for Red October, Ronin, Good Will Hunting, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Skarsgard appeared this past summer as Dr. Eric Selvig in Thor and is set to reprise his role next summer in The Avengers. Anyone who stayed through the end credits of Thor to see Marvel’s traditional tag-on scene knows (SPOILER ALERT) that Skarsgard’s character is now working with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and S.H.I.E.L.D. to study the cosmic cube, which was first introduced in Captain America: The First Avenger. However, unbeknownst to Fury, Selvig appears to now be under the influence of Thor’s brother and archenemy, Loki (Tom Hiddleston). But how is Loki controlling Selvig and just how large will Skarsgard’s role in The Avengers be?

This morning I had the pleasure of speaking to Stellan Skarsgard about his work in Thor, which will be released on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD on September 13^th. While we won’t publish my conversation with Mr. Skarsgard about the making of Thor until closer to the film’s home media release, I wanted to let you know what the veteran actor told me today about his work on The Avengers. It turns out that Skarsgard is actually in New York today filming his final scene for the film and will then fly to Los Angeles to re-shoot some scenes for David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, based on the extremely popular Swedish novel of the same name.

Comic books have become a rich resource that Hollywood has been tapping into for many years now. While Superman first took flight in the late ‘70s, and Batman began patrolling Gotham on the big screen in the ‘80s, the super hero movie genre really took off in the last decade with film franchises like Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight. With the recent prequel X-Men: First Class, the upcoming reboot The Amazing Spider-Man, and The Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel, and The Avengers on the horizon … it doesn’t seem like the genre is going away anytime soon. So here at IAR, any time we have the opportunity to speak with someone in the comic book industry about their latest project, comic book adapted movies and the marriage of Hollywood and comics, we’re going to jump at the chance.

Comic book writer Brandon Thomas is best known for his work on popular mainstream comic books like Spider-Man Unlimited, Marvel Age Fantastic Four, and Tales of The Thing for Marvel, and Robin for DC Comics. However, the popular scribe has recently seen his longtime passion project, The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury: Time Runs Out, finally hit shelves in a new hardcover edition from Archaia Entertainment. The graphic novel follows the futuristic adventures of the title character, a sci-fi hero who comes from a long line of heroic heritage.