The Walking Dead Season 2 is Official – ComicBookMovie.com

AWESOME!

The Walking Dead Season 2 is Official

The Walking Dead Season 2 is Official

Filming is set for early next year and Frank Darabont reveals his plans on what to expect
Fangoria insiders have dug up the undead news that after a short 6 episode first season of The Walking Dead – which debuts this Halloween, we’re set for more than double that zombie deliciousness and it’s coming soon.

Filming is set to begin in February, 2011 with no official television debut set for the AMC show’s second season, but producer Gale Anne Hurd also confirms that the series will expand to a set 13 episode season. This is to be expected as many of these harder edge shows run around that length.

Producer/Director Frank Darabont also spoke on his plans for season 2 stating he would love to include some of the environmental elements from volume 2 of series creator Robert Kirkman’s epic comic.

“It would be great not just to get out of the heat, but to present a different idea to the audience visually and tonally by having it be winter. There’s some really cool stuff that Kirkman did, where they find the one zombie that’s frozen to the ground. I’d never seen that before and that’s really cool.” said Darabont.

He went on to say that he’s probably most excited introduce one of the fans and perhaps one of his favorite series characters into the foray possibly as early as next season, even though the comic series waits a little later on.

“Or when Michonne shows up – and boy, is she a character I can’t wait to get to – when she comes striding out of the wasteland like a Clint Eastwood f***ing spaghetti western character cross-melded with some samurai movie, like the Baby Cart character with the f***ing sword, and there’s just a little drift of snow in the air. I would love to put that on film.” said Darabont.

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The Walking Dead Premieres Halloween; Comic-Con Trailer Now Online – The Walking Dead – AMC

Awesome!  I can’t wait!

The Walking Dead Premieres Halloween; Comic-Con Trailer Now Online – The Walking Dead – AMC

The Walking Dead Premieres Halloween; Comic-Con Trailer Now Online

Close your windows, lock your doors and clear your schedules. Come this Halloween, you’ll have more to fear than trick-or-treaters. AMC has announced that its newest original series, The Walking Dead, will premiere on Halloween night, Sun., Oct. 31 at 10PM | 9C. The Sunday night series will debut with a 90-minute premiere episode. Subsequent episodes will be one-hour long presentations.

If that isn’t enough to whet your undead appetites, perhaps footage from the series will: The official four and a half-minute trailer first screened at Comic-Con is now available here online in full-screen HD.

[Press] – DISNEY ACQUIRES RADICAL’S OBLIVION

For Immediate Release

DISNEY ACQUIRES RADICAL’S OBLIVION

August 5th, 2010, Los Angeles, CA – Radical Publishing is proud to announce that Disney has acquired the film adaptation of OBLIVION, based on Radical Publishing’s illustrated novel created by Tron: Legacy director, Joseph Kosinski, written by Rex Mundi creator, Arvid Nelson, and with illustrations by Andrée Wallin. OBLIVION will be directed by Joseph Kosinki and will be produced by Radical’s President and Publisher, Barry Levine, and Kosinski. Radical Studios’ Executive Vice President Jesse Berger is signed on as Executive Producer. Kosinki is repped by Verve and Anonymous Content while Radical is repped by CAA and David Schiff.

In a future where the Earth’s surface has been irradiated beyond recognition, the remnants of humanity live above the clouds, safe from the brutal alien Scavengers that stalk the ruins. But when surface drone repairman Jak discovers a mysterious woman in a crash-landed pod, it sets off an unstoppable chain of events that will force him to question everything he knows.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Joe Kosinski on OBLIVION,” said Barry Levine, president of Radical Pictures. “Joe is one of the most creative forces in filmmaking today. From the moment he teamed with Radical to produce the book and film, he had such a clear vision of the OBLIVION landscape and universe. Add to that Joe’s successful partnership with Disney on Tron: Legacy, and you have all the ingredients for a phenomenal action/adventure film.”

OBLIVION, the 128-page illustrated novel, will be released in Summer 2011 and will feature prose, combined with over 40 fully painted landscape renderings. OBLIVION will be distributed worldwide through Random House.

Fans are encouraged to visit the Radical Publishing websites www.radicalpublishing.com

, www.facebook.com/radicalpublishing and www.twitter.com/radicalcomics for more information.

About Radical Publishing
Radical Publishing is founded by Barry Levine (producer for Hercules, Caliber, Freedom Formula, Shrapnel, Abattoir, Oblivion, The Last Days of American Crime, Legends, Damaged, Earp: Saints for Sinners and executive producer for the in-development Rex Mundi movie for Warner Bros., written by Jim Uhls and starring Johnny Depp) and entrepreneur Jesse Berger (executive producer for Hercules, Caliber, Freedom Formula, Shrapnel, Abattoir, Oblivion, The Last Days of American Crime, Legends, Damaged and Earp: Saints for Sinners).
For their quality and excellence in 2008, Radical Publishing was granted the Gem Award for “Best New Publisher of the Year” from Diamond Comic Distributors. Radical brings the best writing, storytelling, and fully painted cover and interior art to the global comic book market, from prominent international talents such as Yoshitaka Amano, Keith Arem, Rain Beredo, Marc Bernardin, John Bolton, Darren Lynn Bousman, Ron L. Brinkerhoff, Bing Cansino, Matt Cirulnick, Tomm Coker, Clayton Crain, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Flint Dille, Marko Djurdjevic, Ian Edginton, Warren Ellis, James Farr, Adam Freeman, E. Max Frye, Antoine Fuqua, Justin Gray, Paul Gulacy, David Hine, Taka Ichise, Joseph Kosinski, Clint Langley, Adam Lawson, David Lapham, Richard Lee, Rob Levin, David Liss, Alex Maleev, Leonardo Manco, David Manpearl, Stephan Martinière, Francesco “Matt” Mattina, Peter Milligan, Steve Moore, Arvid Nelson, Wayne Nichols, Steve Niles, Jimmy Palmiotti, Nick Percival, Troy Peteri, Vincent Proce, Steve Pugh, Patrick Reilly, Rick Remender, Terry Rossio, Luis Royo, Nick Sagan, Kirsi Salonen, Sam Sarkar, Stjepan Sejic, M. Zachary Sherman, Bill Sienkiewicz, Wesley Snipes, Jim Steranko, Arthur Suydam, Patrick Tatopoulos, J.P. Targete, Greg Tocchini, Andree Wallin, Rich Wilkes, Dave Wilkins, Concept Art House, Haberlin Studios, Meduzarts Digital Environment Studio, Weta Workshop, Zombie Studios, and many more.
Currently, Radical Publishing has production deals with Spyglass Entertainment and Peter Berg’s Film 44 for Hercules, with Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil for Caliber, New Regency and Bryan Singer’s Bad Hat Harry Productions for Freedom Formula, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment for Legends, Dreamworks, Sam Raimi’s Star Road Entertainment and Mandeville Films for Earp: Saints for Sinners as well as Walt Disney Pictures for Oblivion.

Gianluca Glazer
Director of Marketing
Radical Publishing
(323) 874-4400
gianluca@radicalpublishing.com
www.radicalpublishing.com
www.facebook.com/radicalpublishing
www.twitter.com/radicalcomics

So You Want To Be An Atlantan Zombie… Bleeding Cool Comic Book News and Rumors

Nice!!

So You Want To Be An Atlantan Zombie… Bleeding Cool Comic Book News and Rumors

So You Want To Be An Atlantan Zombie…
Submitted by Rich Johnston on May 28, 2010 – 1:31 pm (4) comments

The Walking Dead begins filming in Atlanta on June 2nd in the Fairlie-Poplar District of the city.

Scenes from the pilot and the second episode will be filmed in the daytime on the weekends of June 11th–13th and July 2–4. Walton, Forsyth and Poplar Streets will be partially closed from 7pm on the Fridays till 5am on the Mondays.

And they need zombies. Which is why they have azombie school. If you reckon you’ve got the chops to be undead from June till September, email twdextras@gmail.com.

As I must have told everyone by now, I was a zombie extra on Shaun Of The Dead, along with Andy Diggle, Ryan Richards and Natalie Sandells. It was a great day out, I can see myself lurching every time I see the movie and I must have freaked a couple of people on the bus back home, with some of the makeup still remaining.

We didn’t need a zombie school. It probably just came naturally.

Warner Bros Hopes To Fill Harry Potter’s Void with DC Comics Movie Adaptations | /Film

Warner Bros Hopes To Fill Harry Potter’s Void with DC Comics Movie Adaptations | /Film

Warner Bros Hopes To Fill Harry Potter’s Void with DC Comics Movie Adaptations

Posted on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 by Peter Sciretta

One of the other notable things Warner Bros head Alan Horn said at the ShoWest presentation today involved how the studio hopes to fill the void that will be left by the studio’s most successful franchise. After Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II hits theaters in July 2011, that will conclude the biggest box office franchise in cinema history. How does Warner Bros hope to fill the hole left by this profitable series?

Here is the quote from Horn:

“As we ease out of Harry Potter, we hope to bring you the excitement of the DC [Comics] Library!”

It isn’t clear if that statement is just wishful thinking or if actual plans are under way to greenlight new DC Comic book adaptations. We know that The Green Lantern is currently shooting and is set for a June 2011 release, and development of a movie adaptation of The Flash has been ongoing. We also know that Warner Bros wants a sequel to The Dark Knight, and is trying to get a Superman movie into production before they loose the rights to the character.

Discuss: But will Superman and Batman be able to fill the void left by “the kid who survived”?

It’s A Bird! It’s A Plane! It’s Chris Nolan! He’ll Mentor Superman 3.0 And Prep 3rd Batman – Nikki Finke on Deadline.com/hollywood

Hollywood Entertainment Breaking News – Nikki Finke on Deadline.com/hollywood

It’s A Bird! It’s A Plane! It’s Chris Nolan! He’ll Mentor Superman 3.0 And Prep 3rd Batman
By NIKKI FINKE AND MIKE FLEMING | Category: Uncategorized | Tuesday February 9, 2010 @ 6:50am

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is trying to ready its DC Comics stalwart Superman to soar again on the Big Screen, and the studio has turned to Chris Nolan to mentor development of the movie. Our insiders say that the brains behind rebooted Batman has been asked to play a “godfather” role and ensure The Man Of Steel gets off the ground after a 3 1/2-year hiatus. Nolan’s leadership of the project can set it in the right direction with the critics and the fans, not to mention at the box office. Besides, Nolan is considered something of a god at Warner Bros and has a strong relationship with the studio after the success of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Though he wasn’t obligated to do so, he gave the studio first crack at his spec script Inception, and Warner Bros was able to buy it before other studios even got a sniff. While Nolan completes that Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer for a July 16th release, he’s also hatched an idea for Warner Bros’ third Batman installment. Now his brother and frequent collaborator Jonah Nolan, and David Goyer who co-wrote Batman Begins and penned the story for The Dark Knight, are off scripting it. (See ‘FlashForward’ Showrunner Exits For Features).

Let us emphasize that Superman 3.0 is in the early stages of development. And we doubt Nolan would direct. This wouldn’t be a sequel to Superman Returns but a completely fresh franchise. As one of our insiders reassures: “It would definitely not be a followup to Superman Returns.” Nolan coming on board follows a hiatus period for Superman after that 2006 reboot as the studio tried to figure out whether or not to make a sequel to that version starring Brandon Routh directed by Bryan Singer. As recently as this summer, Warner Bros was still contemplating how to proceed. We were told that “Bryan or Brandon are not completely out of it yet. But Warner Bros doesn’t have a handle yet on it, either. [Producer] Jon Peters is trying to make something happen since he stands to benefit financially. But they [the studio] need to hear a great story that makes sense.” Another insider explained to us, “We know what we don’t want to do. But we don’t know what we want to do. We learned a lot from the last movie, and we want to get it right this time.”

Fans have long been yearning for Superman to finally get the big screen Nolan-ized treatment this classic superhero deserves. Warner Bros clearly has learned from its attempt to follow the mediocre 1978-1985 quartet of movies starring Christopher Reeve and produced by Ilya and Alexander Salkind, with 2006′s underwhelming Superman Returns. That inbetween period was plagued by long delays and budget troubles and script misses. In 1997, original Batman director Tim Burton tried to make a Superman movie starring Nicolas Cage. Around 2004, J.J. Abrams wrote a film that was the first leg of a trilogy. Abrams wanted to direct, but had only directed episodes of his TV series (and wouldn’t make his feature directing debut until 2006′s Mission:Impossible III. McG and Brett Ratner separately were attached to that film. Ratner got closest, but Warner Bros was wary of a budget that swelled to $250 million, and which seemed risky after established star Josh Hartnett turned down the 3-picture deal that could have brought him $100 million in salary. After that, Warner Bros bosses didn’t embrace Ratner’s s choice of soap opera actor Matt Bomer to star.

Other prominent filmmakers were reportedly in the loop, but Warner Bros never pulled the trigger on the picture until Bryan Singer’s involvement. Singer’s Superman Returns was respectably reviewed for the genre. But it turned in only $52 million opening weekend, and $391 million worldwide gross. Problem was it cost too much (the budget was reportedly $270 million), and the promotion was lousy (Joel Silver was brought in at the last minute to inject macho into the marketing campaign). Worse, it left diehard fans only “meh” about a sequel starring Routh. Singer fared better, but it seems doubtful he’ll be asked for an encore now. After all, Singer is now developing the spinoff X-Men: First Class for 20th Century Fox whose bosses were furious when he took on The Man Of Steel reboot instead of helming X-Men 3. But Singer and the studio subsequently made peace and he’s back in the Fox fold and on board.

The restructuring of Warner Bros’ business with DC Comics became Warner Bros Pictures Group president Jeff Robinov’s first priority since having his contract reupped by Time Warner last summer. Problems have plagued the DC Comics-Warner Bros relationship for more than a decade. But the biggest failure has been to leave the most valuable DC Comics characters in movie development limbo by chaotically starting and stopping development on the high profile live action pics. Most recently, Warner Bros and DC Comics are finally getting their act together as evidenced by the progress on Green Lantern.

Superman 3.0 would test Warner Bros veteran executive Diane Nelson, the head of DC Entertainment Inc, that new company founded to fully realize and integrate the power and value of the DC Comics brand and characters across all media and platforms into Warner Bros Entertainment’s content and distribution businesses. Nelson especially was charged with suping up Superman again because it’s way too valuable to leave dormant like this. Besides, the clock is ticking.

Attorney Marc Toberoff, who keeps suing Warner Bros on behalf of creative rightsholders, warns that, in 2013, the Jerome Siegel heirs along with the estate of co-creator Joe Shuster will own the entire original copyright to Superman — “and neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros will be able to exploit any new Superman works without a license from the Siegels and Shusters”. He’s also pointed out that, if Warner Bros does not start production on a new Superman sequel or reboot by 2011, the Siegels could sue to recover their damages on the grounds that the deal should have contained a clause in which the rights returned to the owners after a given time if no film was in development. The heirs of Siegel have already been awarded half the copyright for Superman. And in 2013 the heirs of co-creator Joe Shuster get the remaining half. After that, neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros will be able to use Superman without a financial agreement with the heirs. There are also stipulations on what parts of the origins story can be used in future Superman movies and which require re-negotiations with the creators’ heirs or estates.

At first, Warner Bros felt no pressure to rush out another Superman pic. As Warner Bros chairman Alan Horn told a court hearing about rights to Superman, he hoped to make another Superman movie but no film was in development, no script had been written, and the earliest he foresaw another Superman film released would be 2012. He told the judge: “We had hopes to keep the character alive and to once again reinvent Superman. Our hope is to develop a Superman property and to try again. What hurt us is that the reviews and so on for the Superman movie did not get the kind of critical acclaim that Batman got, and we have other issues with Superman that concern us.”

So Warner Bros is now bringing in Batman’s saviour. What Nolan would do with the Superman character and story is intriguing to say the least. And he has the experience necessary of prepping and pepping a played-out franchise. The 2005 Batman Begins grossed $373 million worldwide on a reported $150 million budget. And of course 2008’s The Dark Knight crossed the $1 billion worldwide gross mark on a reported $185 million budget (and Heath Ledger posthumously won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor).

But Batman has always been The Dark Knight. But there’s a big difference between Superman’s cinematic incarnation and comic-book version. Warner Brothers and DC Comics for a long time weren’t sure which version they liked better. The cinematic version has been squeaky clean, occasionally campy, and has more-or-less unlimited power except when confronted with Kryptonite. The comic book version has some limits on his powers, can be darker, and fights aliens a lot more. Shortly after Dark Knight hit it big, fans assumed that Superman would be taken to the “dark” side as well. That’s because Warner Bros mogul Jeff Robinov stressed post-Dark Knight that “we have to look at how to make these movies edgier”. One of our insiders interpreted this to say: “He meant more sophisticated.”

A more comic-accurate Superman seems like the way to go. No need to worry: Chris Nolan knows what he’s doing

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Industry Reacts to Levitz, DC Entertainment – Comic Book Resources

The rest of the article at the link below

Industry Reacts to Levitz, DC Entertainment – Comic Book Resources

Posted: 5 hours ago | Updated: 4 hours ago

This morning, DC Comics’ The Source blog lit up with release after release outlining the new shape that the just rechristened “DC Entertainment” will take in 2010 and beyond. Much like last week’s shocker news that Disney plans purchase Marvel, the word from DC’s parent company Warner Bros. on the future of the comics giant represents a game-changer for the comics entertainment landscape.

Compounding that massive change is the fact that legendary writer and longtime DC executive Paul Levitz will step down as the company’s Publisher and President to be a consultant and writer, starting with issue #7 of the recently re-launched “Adventure Comics.”

With the news already burning up the blogosphere, CBR reached out to a raft of DC talent to get their take on Levtiz’s legacy as the leader of DC and what the changes mean for the new DC Entertainment. Be sure to check back throughout the day as we update with more reactions and opinions.

Levitz & Nelson on DC Entertainment – Comic Book Resources

The rest of the article at the link below

Levitz & Nelson on DC Entertainment – Comic Book Resources

News broke Wednesday that Paul Levitz, the President and Publisher of DC Comics since 2002 and a chief architect of the publisher’s success in other roles since the 1970s, had resigned. Levitz saw DC through such publishing milestones as “Watchmen” and “The Dark Knight Returns,” the formation of its influential Vertigo imprint, and guided the publisher through the creation of the direct market. Once a hugely popular writer of such DC titles as “The Legion of Super-Heroes,” Levitz will return to writing comic books full time, beginning with next year’s “Adventure Comics” #7. Levitz will also serve as a multipurpose consultant as the company continues its restructuring, a process which includes hiring a new Publisher.

Concurrently, DC Comics parent company Warner Bros. Entertainment announced the formation of DC Entertainment, a new entity under which DC Comics will continue to operate. DC Entertainment’s stated mission is to strategically exploit the DC brand across all media, such as video games and feature film. DC Entertainment’s President is Diane Nelson, who most recently served as the President of Warner Premiere, WB’s direct-to-consumer brand responsible for the “Green Lantern: First Flight” and “Batman: Gotham Knight” DVD features, among other projects. Most auspiciously, Nelson has managed the Harry Potter franchise for Warner Bros. since 1999, turning JK Rowling’s best-selling novels into a multimedia empire.

To learn more about DC Entertainment’s plans for DC Comics and what role Levitz will play in the newly organized company, CBR News spoke with Levitz and Nelson about all the day’s big news.

CBR Staff Writer Andy Khouri contributed to this story.
Story continues below

Warner Bros. reboots DC Comics in bid to rival Marvel on big screen | Company Town | Los Angeles Times

Warner Bros. reboots DC Comics in bid to rival Marvel on big screen | Company Town | Los Angeles Times

Warner Bros. reboots DC Comics in bid to rival Marvel on big screen
September 9, 2009 | 11:34 am

Warner Bros. is hoping to bring some Harry Potter magic to its DC Comics brand.

Sick of being second banana to comic book competitor Marvel Entertainment in the movie world, the studio has brought DC in-house and appointed Diane Nelson, a brand management executive who has overseen the Harry Potter franchise since 2000 to run the unit.

Along with the move, Warner Bros. is changing DC Comics’ corporate name to mirror that of its rival. The division will now be known as DC Entertainment.

While Warner’s move has been long rumored in Hollywood, it comes just a week after Walt Disney Co. agreed to acquire Marvel for $4 billion.

Warner is hoping Nelson will be able to duplicate Harry Potter’s amazing track record with DC’s rich library of characters across movies, television, video games, the Web and consumer products. The Potter franchise, the most successful in the studio’s history, has generated more than $5.4 billion in worldwide box office and billions more from DVDs, video games and other markets.

DC Entertainment will be a separate division of the studio, with Nelson reporting to Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov.

While rival Marvel has turned super heroes including Spider-Man, Iron Man and the X-Men into big screen juggernauts, the only DC hero with a hit series of films in the last decade has been Batman. “The Dark Knight” generated more than $1 billion in worldwide box office, while “Batman Begins” grossed $373 million. However, March’s “Watchmen” was a disappointment, 2006′s costly “Superman Returns” wasn’t successful enough to merit a sequel, and 2004′s “Catwoman” was a major flop.

DC Comics’ predecessor company began publishing in 1935 and launched the super hero phenomenon, which came to define the medium, when Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938. The late media mogul Steve Ross acquired DC in 1968. The next year he bought Warners’ then-parent company Warner Communication and folded DC into it.

Warner currently has several DC projects in development as movies, including “The Green Lantern,” starring Ryan Reynolds, which the studio hopes will be its next super-hero tent pole when released in 2011. Other movies include “Jonah Hex,” a supernatural western that just completed production; “The Losers,” which started shooting in July; and “Lobo,” based on the space-faring anti-hero. It also recently released a direct-to-DVD animated movie about Green Lantern and video game starring Batman. A television series based on DC’s “The Human Target” is on the Fox network’s mid-season schedule.

As part of the corporate reshuffling, DC’s longtime publisher Paul Levitz, who has been with the company since the 1970s and became president in 2002, is stepping aside to become a consultant. He will also serve as a contributing editor and continue writing comic books, which he has done for his entire career.

The news of Warner Bros.’ move was first reported on Deadline Hollywood.

– Claudia Eller and Ben Fritz

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