VioletEyedDragon (Level 19)

Back when the R-rated sci-fi comic book movie Dredd opened last year it was considered a major bomb, making only $35 million wordwide. However, it was awesome, so it found an audience (which includes myself) when it was released on DVD.

While promoting Star Trek into Darkness, Karl Urban (who played Judge Dredd in Dredd) was asked if there was any hope for a sequel. His answer was surprising:

“Interestingly enough, I did have breakfast with Alex Garland this morning. It’s not off the agenda. Clearly everyone has woken up to the fact that an audience has found this movie and loves it. It’s entirely possible, and if people want to see another installment then they should be vocal about that, because, it can happen. The power of fandom can resurrect projects. In fact, that’s what happened with Star Trek. They weren’t going to do a third season until fans did a letter writing campaign and they continued that series.”

So, I guess it is up to fans like me. Also, I am delighted to hear that if the sequel happens Alex Garland will be involved. His darkly funny and very bold script was much of what made the picture so fantastic, and that isn't even touching on the work he did as a producer.

300: Rise of an Empire, the spin-off to the stylized historical epic 300, has long been scheduled for US release on August 2 of this year. It would have opened a week after The Wolverine and would be going up against 2 Guns and The Smurfs 2 (though the latter's target audience probably wouldn't have conflicted much with Empire's). However, the high profile sequel will now be opening in the US on March 7 of 2014, making it arguably (arguably) the first big movie of next year.

It is unclear if this is because Rise of an Empire's production was incomplete, the marketing had been too tardy, or the release date was more desirable. The week of March 7 has been a very good time to open movies in the past--this year, Oz: The Great and Powerful opened to roughly $80 million domestically and in 2010 Alice in Wonderland scored $116 million. Of course, both of those movies were PG-rated, and past adult-oriented films haven't performed as well on that date. The closest example is another big-budget, R-rated, comic-book movie, Watchmen, which opened on the same week in 2009 but only made $185 million worldwide total. And of course, who can forget the debacle that was John Carter, which occupied that time slot last year. and bombed hard. It is worth noting that the original 300 also opened in March, albeit at the end of the month.

In a way, this might be bigger news for the distributors of the movies that would have had to compete against Empire. As mentioned above, 2 Guns--a Denzel Washington/Mark Wahlberg buddy cop film in the vein of Lethal Weapon--would have opened opposite 300: Rise of an Empire following the presumably massive opening for The Wolverine. Of those three films, 2 Guns was probably the one that would have garnered the least attention despite targeting the exact same audience (in fact, it likely would have moved to a different week). Now, though, it is in a great spot--end of the summer/start of the fall is a prime time for adult-oriented action flicks and with less competition the movie could really be a hit. The other film that should benefit is Elysium, which opens a week later and targets the same crowd as well.

The only other film scheduled to open in wide release on March 7 of 2014 is Robert Downey Jr. animated picture Mr. Peabody and Sherman.

UPDATE: We all know this now, but it is a completely original character, a President Ellis. He is named after Warren Ellis, the writer of the story arc "Extremis," on which IRON MAN 3 is very loosely based.

In the IRON MAN 3 trailers, we are shown the new president of the United States in the MCU. This brings up a lot of interesting questions.

In the comics main-stream universe, the president is always whoever is in office at the time (Barrack Obama has appeared as president in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN comic and THUNDERBOLTS, and in the 2000s George W. Bush was featured as president in the WORLD WAR HULK story-line). This is in contrast to DC comics, where the president is often a fictional character (for a while it was Lex Luthor). The X-MEN movies did away with the comics idea of having the real-life president be the one of the fictional universe, instead casting Cotter Smith as President McKenna, who wasn't a character in the comics (in prequel X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, which is set in the sixties, JFK is president just like he was in real-life).

Being a creation of 20th Century Fox, President McKenna can't appear in the MCU. The president in the trailer looks nothing like him (this guy looks significantly younger), but he obviously isn't President Barrack Obama. I don't know who the actor is, but it looks like a substantial role. I can't find any casting announcement for the character, which leads me to believe it might be an existing character (if it isn't, why not just say so?).

Marvel Comics has very few politician characters. There is Senator Robert Kelly, but he is owned by 20th Century Fox (he had a significant role in X-MEN). There is Congressman Woodman, who is actually working for HYDRA, but he hasn't appeared in many issues. There is Senator Bethany Cabe, but she is female. This leaves only one character I can think of for the role: Senator Henry Peter Gyrich.

If the character is Gyrich, this would be a weird choice, as Gyrich generally appears as an antagonist, who's constant manipulations and false accusations cause needless red tape for the Avengers and X-Men. He has never been portrayed as president, mainly because the president is such a sacred position it would likely be unpatriotic for the character to be filled by someone so unsavory. I guess the MCU could make him a little more likeable, but it would still be odd.

So, who is the actor playing the president? Is the character Senator Gyrich? Another comics character? Someone completely new?

Thanks to @roger778: for being able to name the actor. It is William Sadler, the villain in DIE HARD 2.

If this movie ever actually happens, here are some ideas (in no particular order) for a possible director. Please post your own ideas.

Robert Rodriguez

Back when there was an active plan to make this movie, Fox approached Rodriguez to direct. That didn't happen--yet. Rodriguez's grasp of comedy, action, and pleasing fans is unrivaled and his unique style would perfectly match the quirky tone of Deadpool comics. The questions is if he would ever accept the job. I'm pretty sure he is a lot of people's first choice.

Fede Alvarez

Maybe I'm just suggesting him because I just saw the wildly entertaining Evil Dead reboot, but I think Alvarez would be a good choice to helm a Deadpool picture, especially if they went the R-rated route. He is able to effectively blend genres and isn't afraid to take risks. He is also a good writer, so obviously he would have a big hand in the creative department.

Guy Ritchie

What Guy Ritchie was able to do with Sherlock Holmes was fantastic--perfectly capture the best parts of the beloved character and yet also add his own unique spin. Also, if you watch Ritchie's earlier films, like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, you see that it wasn't a fluke: He routinely uses unique, personal characters with easily quotable dialogue in very entertaining action comedies.

James Gunn

Currently Gunn is working for Disney of a Guardians of the Galaxy movie, but since that is almost ready to start filming it wouldn't conflict with his availability for a Deadpool movie. Gunn's movie are darkly funny with great characters and awesome action--they work as dramas, horrors, comedies, and action flicks. Disney entrusting him with an MCU picture (which will probably be the first introduction viewers have to Avengers 2 baddie Thanos) shows that he probably has the ability to create more mainstream, action blockbusters (and even work within a PG-13 rating, which Fox seems to want for a Deadpool picture). Finally, keep in mind that Gunn is an avid comic fan and would probably be very concerned with pleasing fans.

Timur Bekmambetov

Bekmambetov's ability to use speed-ramping to make fantastic action sequences is topped by only one person, and that guy is busy making Superman movies. In addition, Bekmambetov was able to create one of the highest-grossing R-rated action films (Wanted) and a surprisingly good, serious-yet-funny, soon-to-be cult-classic (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter). Bekmambetov rarely writes his own stuff (so if you didn't like how unfaithful Wanted was to the comics, that likely wasn't his fault), but he is able to adapt other people's screenplays in the best possible way. And, I repeat, he can make some incredible action scenes.

The domestic release of Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor opened to over $22 million. This puts Tyler Perry in an elite class of directors who have had nine movies they directed open to $20 million in the US. The other two are Oscar winners Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. What is more shocking is that unlike Spielberg and Zemeckis, the distance between the first Perry movie that opened above $20 million and Temptations was less than a decade (a FAR shorter time-span). In fact, at least one Perry directed movie has opened above $20 million each year since 2006. I guess it makes sense than that Perry is the highest paid person on the film industry.

The nine movies are as follows (listed in order of release date):

Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?

Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns

Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail

Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?

Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family

Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection

Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor