By NIKKI FINKE

Given that the Walt Disney Co announced its $4 billion purchase of Marvel three years ago almost to the day, that price tag looks like a bargain after Summer 2012. Because Marvel’s The Avengers in its 19th week of global release has passed $1.5 billion in worldwide theatrical grosses through Sunday. It’s now the world’s 3rd biggest movie of all time (not adjusted for inflation or higher ticket prices or 3D premium sales) behind only #2 Titanic (1997) and #1 Avatar (2009).

After Disney re-released the superheroes assembly actioner into 1,705 locations this weekend, it took in another $1.7M in North America. Its 4-day Labor Day holiday domestic take is estimated at $2.2M. That puts its domestic cume through Sunday at $619.5M and through Monday at $620.1M. Its estimated international gross through Sunday is $882.3M. For a new global cume through Sunday of $1,501.8M.

Source >>

By Eric Pfeiffer

Director Zack Snyder and “Man of Steel” star Henry Cavill promised to reinvent Superman for a modern generation.

“We certainly respect the history,” Snyder told 6,000 screaming fans at Saturday’s Comic Con panel. “But I kind of felt like Superman needed to be reintroduced to a new generation,” Snyder said. “He’s always been like this Boy Scout on top of a mountain and you can’t really touch him.”

“I just wanted to bring Superman into the modern world,” Cavill added. “Hopefully I bring a version that everyone can relate to.”

Snyder screened the first-ever footage from the film, which premiers next June.
Continue reading →

By NIKKI FINKE

Warner Bros owns Rotten Tomatoes (through the social movie site Flixster.com). Warner Bros also owns The Dark Knight Rises (with co-financier Legendary Pictures). Now the studio finds itself with the weird and rare dilemma of protecting movie reviewers who hated the movie from furious Rotten Tomatoes readers. AP reports tonight that RottenTomatoes.com for the first time ever suspended user comments today on movie reviews of the final installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy hitting theaters Friday. Why? Because the comments savaged and threatened those critics who wrote negative reviews, including Marshall Fine of Hollywood & Fine, Christy Lemire of The Associated Press, and Nick Pinkerton of the Village Voice. However the movie overall has an 84% positive rating on RottenTomatoes.com.

Source >>

By Olivia Marne

It’s official.
“Man of Steel” looks awesome – in fact, so awesome it’ll bring tears to your eyes… and it did.
Kleenex would’ve made a mint if they had been selling boxes of tissues at the “Man of Steel” panel today at Comic-Con.

The words spoken by director and star duo Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill, coupled with footage from the film that suggests the ‘Superman’ reboot will be 2013′s ‘Dark Knight’ of comic book movies, saw the eyes of many Superman fans swell up today.

As fun as “Superman Returns” (2006) was, “Man of Steel” looks to be the Superman epic that many have been waiting for. Profound, epic, topical, deep, moving, rousing and action-packed, it’s clearly a product of its producer, “Dark Knight” main-man Christopher Nolan, more so than its only-sometimes-successful director Zack Snyder (“300″, “Sucker Punch”, “Watchmen”). Proof lies within the teaser footage we were shown, which clearly shows we’re in for a much deeper, more emotional ‘Superman’ blockbuster than we’ve ever seen before – this won’t be just the story of a man who has the ability to magically punch threw walls, it’ll be the affecting story of an illegal alien trying to find his place in the world.. while staying one step ahead of an out-and-out psychopath.
Continue reading →

by Germain Lussier

The unparalleled success of this summer’s Marvel movie The Avengers, coupled with the interest in Christopher Nolan’s final Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, has shined a bright spotlight on DC Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. If Marvel can make billions with second tier superheros like Iron Man and Thor, why hasn’t DC done the same thing?
Continue reading →