Sci-Fi Storm

Disney CEO Bob Iger announced during the company’s regular earnings call that Joss Whedon is on board to direct a sequel to the blockbuster movie The Avengers – big news enough – but then also said that Whedon is also developing a live action series using Marvel characters! More when we get it…

Update: Marvel Studios confirms the deal, along with a targeted 2015 release for the sequel. Whedon also has an exclusive deal for film and television development with Marvel Studios until the end of June 2015.

In two separate suits, both Marvel and NBCU/Syfy are being sued for alleged trademark and copyright infringements.

Marvel (along with Disney corporate sibling Buena Vista Home Entertainment) is being sued by the German luggage manufacturer who made a special luxury briefcase used in the movie. Not because if its use in the movie, however – they had permission – but because Marvel/BVHE planned to distribute a [sfs=1253]special box set of Avengers movies[/sfs] in a replica attache case, and they haven’t received permission for that – yet.

In the other case, Preston Asevedo, a Louisiana artist, filed suit against NBC Universal/Syfy and the creators of the show Dream Machines over the use of a piece of art that can be seen on the outside sign of the Parker Brothers’ shop in each episode of the recently aired first season of the show, where the brothers and their team build custom futuristic vehicles for celebrities and charities. Check out the images below of the original work and the one seen in the show:

It isn’t just similar – it looks like someone took the original, inverted it and dressed it up. It also appears that Asevedo had contacted the Parkers, who acknowledged that they used a variation of the art for their own logo but were unable to determine who the original artist was, and wanted to work with Asevedo to give him credit and remuneration. But apparently they weren’t able to reach and agreement, and Asevedo filed suit.

Lesson learned – unless the art is provably in the public domain, make sure you get permission or don’t use it…

Disney will pass $1 billion in domestic gross receipts for it’s movies this year faster than any other studio and faster than it’s best previous year – in only 188 days.

The Avengers was a big part of that, grossing over $600 million alone so far, outpacing even The Hunger Games this year. The Avengers come out on [sfs=1249]Blu-ray[/sfs] and [sfs=1250]DVD[/sfs] September 25th. We managed to catch The Avengers while on a cruise – it was an extremely fun movie to watch. Sure, there were plot holes, etc. but it was just fun!

Friday estimates show that Men in Black 3, which opened this weekend, will finally take the top spot from The Avengers, which held it for the past three weekends. MiB3 was looking at an $18 million Friday take and an estimated $75 million for the long weekend, compared to a still amazing $45 million for its 4th weekend.

Newcomer thriller Chernobyl Diaries is third for Friday at $3.5 million, but it appears it may lose the third spot to Battleship when the weekend is over.

As the Superhero Steamroller called The Avengers rolls over everything, taking in another $55 million in it’s third weekend and burying Battleship, which may be on it’s way to become Universal’s John Carter (both of which starred Taylor Kitsch…hmmm…hope he isn’t invested in Facebook stock…), Marvel/Disney wants to ride the high and has infused the just-started Iron Man 3 with an additional $60 million in it’s budget…raising the total to $200 million, according to Latino-Review. That’s a lot of explosions and devastation…no idea exactly what they’ll spend it on, I just hope they do so wisely, and not on Tony Stark’s Scotch budget.

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced during today’s quarterly earnings call that a sequel to mega-hit The Avengers is already in development, but skipped over any details. He also re-iterated that Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and Captain America 2 are still on schedule.

He also mentioned that Disney’s Imagineers are also stepping up plans for Marvel-themed attractions for it’s DisneyParks division. However, Universal currently holds the rights to most of the top-line Marvel characters in the US east of the Mississippi for it’s theme parks in Orlando – so don’t expect anything other than merchandise to show up at Walt Disney World any time soon.

The Avengers might wipe out some of the bad memories of John Carter for Disney, as it is likely to surpass $185 million by the end of the weekend after scoring over $80 million just on Friday. This would put it past Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 for the weekend box office record.

Update:: It smashed the record, breaking the $200 million barrier and besting the previous record holder by more than $30 million. There were reports from IMAX that they had to turn people away due to lack of seats.

Check out the latest video on The Avengers, which includes director Joss Whedon’s commentary about the scuffle between team members Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth). The Avengers has already opened in 39 international markets and is breaking records, so far taking in $181.5 million in just 5 days. It opens in the U.S. this Friday.

Remember those tracking numbers that showed Disney had not done it’s job properly in advertising John Carter, resulting in a $200+ million loss for the studio? Well, the numbers are out for Disney’s first Marvel film for which it is doing the distribution, The Avengers – and it looks like it has nothing to worry about this time.

Deadline is reporting that tracking numbers are “incredibly strong” ahead of the May 4th U.S. release – with great numbers from both men and women, both young and old, and is looking at a possible $100+ million domestic opening weekend. Plus, it will open a week earlier in several international markets, which should increase the buzz.

Speaking of early international openings – Universal’s Battleship opened in 5 locations yesterday and received previews in 11 more, more than a month ahead of its May 18th U.S. debut – and it is reported that it is doing very well in those markets so far, estimating a take of $7.4 million for yesterday alone and taking the #1 spot in many cases.

Battleship, from Peter Berg, was another risky, expensive movie – numbers place it between $200-250 million – and after the failure of John Carter, some believe this had the potential to follow it as a massive bust. From the trailers, I get the impression of it being Battle: Los Angeles on water – buy I don’t know if it suffers from similar marketing to John Carter – action scenes without context or story. I can say, however, that I’m looking forward to The Avengers much more.

Even though many of Marvel’s characters live over at nearby Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure, Disney will be showing off some of them at Walt Disney World. To celebrate the upcoming movie The Avengers, WDW will be “wrapping” (covering with a durable but removable skin) one of their Monorail trainsets with an advertisement for the movie, similar to how they created the “Tron-o-rail” for the release of Tron: Legacy.

Monorail decorated for The Avengers - click to embiggen

It appears there are still some restrictions, though…word is this particular monorail will be restricted to the Magic Kingdom routes, and will not travel to Epcot – possibly because the beam track to Epcot actually runs within the park itself, which may violate the contract or agreement in place that restricts what can be done within the parks.