Sci-Fi Storm

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!

Sony/Columbia’s reboot of the Marvel Franchise The Amazing Spider-Man appears to have been a good play, with the superhero movie taking in $21M on Friday and is looking at a $65M weekend, and since it opened strongly on Tuesday before the holiday it likely going to top $140M total through Sunday.

Meanwhile, Disney/Pixar’s Brave, in it’s third weekend of release, is looking at a $24M weekend, taking third behind Universal’s R-rated Ted ($36M). Although from my ears buzz on Brave has been light, it’s a cute fantasy mother/daughter story but with enough elements to interest the boys as well.

In this first official image from the set of Iron Man 3, you can see that Tony Stark has an increasing number of power suits…we count 7, not including parts. It will be interesting to see what each of them is best used for – other than just for style…

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.

Eliza Dushku will take on the role of She-Hulk in the upcoming series, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.…but before your chants of “Rawr!” go overboard, this is an animated series, and she is only providing her voice! Although, I can say, the preview image of She-Hulk is Rawr-worthy…in addition, Adrian Pasdar (Heroes), who voices Iron Man for Ultimate Spider-Man, says that his Iron Man will also make a guest appearance.

Yahoo! Movies recently interviewed Mark Webb, the director of the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man, the reboot of the Marvel franchise starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and premieres June 30th.

On Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone’s instant chemistry:

“We screen tested them together, and she’s very funny and really quick and snappy. I remember the first time we screen tested them — I don’t think they’d met before, really — and he took a minute for him to get back up to speed with her because she was so funny. And then they really brought out really great parts of the other’s performance. Of course, it was there, and that’s why we cast that dynamic. It was really great to watch it on screen.”
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