The Dark Knight Rises: Two new TV spots and seven new images

The new TDKR TV spot that played during the Idol finale featured some new footage. Infinitely different from last week’s NBA playoffs TV spot. A second TV spot, this time focusing on Catwoman, aired during Modern Family. Also, new stills of the movie have landed online which makes this the third consecutive day Warner Bros has released images for their upcoming summer blockbuster. All signs point to them pushing their campaign into high gear ahead of the movie’s July 20 opening and now that The Avengers‘ dominance of the news is begining to die down.

Spidey is also upping the ante with a six minute preview of The Amazing Spiderman attached to the midnight screenings of MIB3 in IMAX 3D this Thursday. No news yet as to whether this will be similar to the four minute super preview (which only contained 90 secs of new footage added to a previously released trailer) that aired last week.

[youtube:http://youtu.be/kOR7bE5AdTQ%5D

 

[youtube:http://youtu.be/imE3EaitaHk%5D

 

Images from Collider (via Batman-News.com)

Not pictured above is  Gotham’s commissioner Gordon. The Wrap reports that Gary Oldman. has already made plans for after the legend ends this summer. Oldman has signed on to MGM’s  remake of Robocop to play the scientist that creates the half man, half machine law enforcer. Joel Kinnaman of TV’s The Killing will play the eponymous cyborg a role originated by Peter Weller. Incidentally, Weller is signed to voice Batman in Warner Bros upcoming animation The Dark Knight Returns. Quite a cross over of actors. Robocop is set for a August 9, 2013 release.

OSCORP’s animal dynamics lab

Just finished the latest puzzle released on the OSCROP site. They’re mildly amusing and aren’t too easy, which is good, and stick with the whole chemistry theme. Seems The Amazing Spiderman marketing team release the new games on Monday. Only one more left so check that out next week. This week it was “Molecular Nesting”. Completed all 16 phases and ended up with this:

(via oscorpindustries.com)

Haven’t been able to decipher it as yet. Could the shapes correspond to molecules (would certainly fit with the theme) but then what of the letters? The periodic table doesn’t have an element that’s identified as “E” or “L” alone.

Last week’s puzzle resulted in this:

(via oscorpindustries.com)

Even more cryptic. Certainly the man to ask about these would be @ScaleSeeker but he seems to be mum on the subject at the moment. We’ll have to see if next week’s puzzle will shed more light on the matter.

The Amazing Spiderman viral campaign

(via Scriptflags.com)

In the age of social media it seems common practice now for studios to organise quasi-grassroot viral campaigns around their tentpole offerings. We saw it with The Dark Knight Rises last month. Batman related graffiti popped up around the world and citizens who located, photographed and uploaded them to twitter were rewarded with a single frame of the new trailer.

Last week saw The Amazing Spiderman join in on the fun. Using the handle @ScaleSeeker someone’s been tweeting clues that put people on the trail of The Lizard a.k.a Dr Curt Conners (Rhys Ifans). People are encouraged to post pics of what they find to twitter using the #Lizardtrail or email them to scaleseeker@gmail.com. 

The Lizard finally seen in second Amazing Spiderman trailer

We finally get a better glimpse of the monstrous Lizard and a few plot points are revealed. What have we learned today: apparently what happened to Peter wasn’t an accident (was his father involved? OSCORP maybe?); Peter has daddy issues (substituting for his uncle Ben issues from the Sam Raimi movies); Gwen Stacey knows about Peter’s dual personality; Peter’s a more brooding superhero akin to Batman rather than Superman (daddy issues you know) and yes I know Spiderman is a Marvel hero; and there seems to be someone pulling the Lizard’s strings (the guy in the cell asking Rhys Ifans whether he told Peter about his father. Also, does this scene come at the end? teaser for the second installment maybe?).

 

[youtube:http://youtu.be/xjVgZwZ2h-I%5D

 

In theaters July 3.

The Avengers’ new TV spots and new images from Expendables 2 and The Amazing Spiderman

The Avengers vol. 2, #11 (Sept. 1997), showing the Heroes Reborn Avengers. Cover art by Michael Ryan and Sal Regla. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Marvel’s released two new TV spots for The Avengers. The movie, following previous Marvel release strategies, opened in international markets last Wednesday and has grossed $73.1 million in its first 3 days. And according to MovieTickets.com’s presale data The Avengers is pre-selling more tickets for the upcoming May 4th US release than all 5 previous Marvel movies combined. Analysts’ belief that the movie will do ‘big business’ in the States seem to be confirmed.

New trailer for The Amazing Spiderman

[youtube:http://youtu.be/atCfTRMyjGU%5D

 

The Amazing Spiderman is certainly going to be an action packed first chapter in Sony’s reboot of the franchise. It seems that while Sam Raimi’s first installment dwelled on Peter’s loss of his guardian uncle Ben Marc Webb will focus on Peter’s daddy issues. With Martin Sheen playing Uncle Ben I wouldn’t want to get rid of him just yet.

Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker seems more adept with the ladies, at least in the trailer and with Gwen that is. Which leaves the question will Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy) be around for the next installment? We’ll have to wait till July 3rd to find out.

Meanwhile, Walt Disney Co., the parent company of Marvel Studios, will co-produce Iron Man 3 with Beijing-based DMG Entertainment. The company has previously co-produced Looper the science fiction thriller with a novel premise due to be released on September 28th. In addition to investing in the film the company will handle the co-production process in China and distribute the film in the country. Filming in China will begin in late summer.

With Iron Man 3 using locations in China it brings to question whether the villain Ben Kingsley will portray will in fact be The Mandarin. Reports have persuaded audiences that it will not but that does not stop a loose connection to be made to the villain perhaps in flashback or off screen.

Iron Man 3 hits theatres on May 3, 2013.