Oh boy, things aren’t looking good for Disney’s epic John Carter, which opens tomorrow. The $250 million CGI extravaganza is struggling to find an audience, especially abroad, according to recent analyst estimates. Some media analysts at Morgan Stanley predict that the movie needs to gross over $700 million worldwide just to break even. The same analysts expect the movie to open with a $25 million weekend in the US. In other words: don’t count on a John Carter sequel. And if you own Disney stock, consider selling.

By now we know what Disney’s $250 million “epic” John Carter will be like. At least judging by the trailer, which is so mediocre it appears to have been cut together by taking bits and pieces from Star Wars and Avatar trailers. Anyways, John Carter opens on March 9. We’ll have a review of the movie shortly.

Two new images from Marvel’s The Avengers (in Disney Digital 3D) arrived with Hemsworth muscles looking mighty fine.

The action-adventure movie introduces a star-studded cast of superheroes, including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, with Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson.

Directed by Joss Whedon, the movie features Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.

Marvel’s The Avengers is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since.

The movie opens wide May 4, 2012.

Saoirse Ronan is very close to signing the dotted line as she finalizes talks to star in Disney’s Order of Seven. Interestingly, according to Variety, Seven was originally developed as a Kung Fu retelling of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” – development began a decade ago.

If Ronan signs the dotted line, she will play Olivia Sinclair, a British expatriate in 19th century Hong Kong.  She seeks the protection of a centuries old group of warriors, who are now a contemptuous group of outlaws.  The reemergence of an ancient evil empress causes Sinclair to help the warriors reclaim their destiny and noble roots.

Variety reports that Disney hopes to boost the international appeal of the movie by casting the roles of the warriors with well-known stars in China, Russia and Japan, creating a global team of heroes. Studio execs have been making trips to those territories to begin talks with local talent.

Michael Gracey, known for his visual effects supervision and commercials, is set to make his directorial debut on the fantasy movie. The most recent version of the script was written by Jayson Rothwell and Michael DeBruyn.

IMDb lists Ronan as the U.K. voice for Arrietty in The Secret World of Arrietty that Disney is distributing for Studio Ghibli and will star in Andrew Niccol’s The Host, based on “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer’s novel.

Marvel’s The Avengers :30 second commercial during the Super Bowl was awesome to behold. Now Disney just released the :60 second, aka extended, Super Bowl commercial. Why they didn’t air it on Super Bowl, but is called the Super Bowl extended commercial, is beyond my comprehension.

I like both commercials, but prefer the :60 second spot because we get more clips of the characters and actual dialogue relating to the story.

You can see the extended commercial at YouTube. If you want to compare the two, you can see the original commerical at YouTube as well.

Marvel’s The Avengers opens in movie theaters on May 4, 2012.

We have our winner for the Winne The Pooh Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. I am excited about this giveaway because it returns us to the Hundred Acre Wood for the latest adventure featuring the world’s beloved bear, Winnie The Pooh!
READ ON »

It was just a couple days ago when we got to go hands on with The Avengers Volume 3, and now, the folks out at Disney are giving us a whole new chance by sending over a copy of The Avengers Volume 4. The last three volumes have been terrific, but will Volume 4 break the chain? Turns out it will not. Not in the least.

The Avengers Volume 4 picks up where Volume 3 left off, following the invasion of Kang and his time-traveling army.  This time around, we’re going to be a bit more focused on Thor, though Ultron will also make an appearance, along with the Fantastic Four, in a bit of a surprise. But there’s a lot more going on here, and thankfully, at this stage of the game the team has pretty much gelled together nicely, with just a little infighting going on almost more for comic relief than anything else, so they’ll be in their best position yet to go forth and knock some supervillains’ heads around in a bid to make the world a safer place.

This volume does carry on with the kind of high-powered action that the series has come to be famous for, and indeed, there’s plenty of good old fashioned skull bashing and people getting blasted by various bits of energy. This one does seem to have a little more sheer schmaltz in it than previous installments, with a little more of that thoroughly comic-book dialogue going on that doesn’t have the kind of authenticity you’d hope for. However, the plots do seem at least reasonably close to their comic book counterparts (the Cask of Eternal Winters makes an appearance, for example), so that’s something of a plus.

This entire series so far has proven to be a lot better than, frankly, I think we had any right to expect. After all, you come right down to it this is a kids’ show on Disney XD, for crying out loud. And based on Marvel characters at that. But it still managed to put on a reasonably good show with more than enough action and some downright iconic characters. It’s good, fun stuff, especially if you’re a comic buff with a fondness for Marvel.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives The Avengers Volume 4 the same eight out of ten that it gave the other three, in recognition of the fact that it’s pretty good stuff on a variety of fronts, though not without a few minor flaws and some relatively limited appeal outside of the niche. But still, for any comic buff, action fan or sci-fi lover, you’ll enjoy this one very much.

It’s been a good long while since we last had a go-round with The Avengers series, and the folks out at Disney sent over a copy of The Avengers Volume 3 for us to tackle. And if you liked the first two, chances are you’re going to be very happy with the third installment.

The Avengers Volume 3 is a little heavy on the Iron Man this time around, tackling not only Baron Zemo but even Kang the Conqueror, along with a host of other villains from across a wide variety of canons. They’ll be picking up right where they left off from the last volume, with the Avengers team only just starting out, and already full of lots of cracks and individual personalities butting heads. But can they pull it together to make a complete team? Or will the Avengers fall apart before they can even really get started?

And, as is generally the case, we’ll also get a good load of characters from the rest of the lineup, in sufficient numbers that you’ll either be hitting Wikipedia or a whole load of back issues to keep yourself well acquainted with just who’s who and who’s whose enemy and all like that. Plus, there are plenty of good fight sequences involved and sufficient close shaves to keep things from being too easy for the Avengers, and that certainly improves the watchability here by a pretty nice count.

This has proven to be a pretty good series in its previous two iterations, and volume three won’t be seen to disappoint. There’s a great continuity running through this, as little details from the previous installments actually manage to come back with great effect. This isn’t just some Disney kid’s show, this is  a particularly well-written kid’s show, sufficiently good that adults–especially those who are into comic books–will get a big kick out of this one, with plenty of action and some good laughs, as well as a couple of good romantic subplots tossed into the mix.

Whether you’ve got kids who’d appreciate a good old fashioned comic book style action frenzy, or you would appreciate a good comic book style action frenzy, you’ve got everything you need and more right here.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives The Avengers Volume 3 the same nine out of ten as the others landed, as it’s a lot like the rest. But while it shares a lot in common, there are also plenty of differences that make this well worth watching.

I am excited about this giveaway because it returns us to the Hundred Acre Wood for the latest adventure featuring the world’s beloved bear, Winnie The Pooh!

You can join Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Christopher Robin, Owl, Kanga, Piglet, Eeyore, and all of the characters you know and even  share them with your kids — Walt Disney Pictures releases Winnie The Pooh on DVD and Blu-Ray October 25, 2011!

The giveaway consists of one Winnie The Pooh DVD/Blu-Ray Combo Pack. Also, here is an activities widget to play with your kids or just by yourself.

With the widget, you can take the Winnie the Pooh Quiz! There is one for you and one for your child! Now you can see which character best fits your personality and which character fits your children’s personality.

If your kids love Winnie the Pooh, then this is the place to be. Also available on the widget are Pooh Activities and Downloads! The Winnie The Pooh widget has an awesome assortment of games and activities so you and your family can have your own adventure! Download coloring sheets, exclusive “Pooh” cooking recipes, party ideas, crafts, games and more.

Whatever you do, don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win a copy of the Winnie the Pooh DVD/Blu-ray Combo Pack.

To enter the giveaway, post your name, share which Winnie the Pooh Character most resembles you on Twitter or Facebook and we will pick the winner October 30, 2011.

Marvel has been rapidly issuing out new movies since their acquisition by Disney, and some of them have been better than others. The folks at Shout Factory sent out a new item from the Marvel Knights subclass called Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers for us to review. This one is going to be substantially different from most you’ve seen from Marvel, and if you like unique like I do, well, then you will be very happy here.

Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers takes us back out to Asgard, where Loki has achieved his dream of seizing the throne of Asgard. But his success has left the trickster god starkly unfulfilled, and he begins to wonder what went wrong. For that, he turns to his past, and gives us perspective on the longstanding rivalry between him and his brother Thor. Thus will a story spin out that provides perspective on the nemeses, and their places in the various plots that surround the land of the Norse pantheon.

This isn’t a typical Marvel animation in the sense you might think. See, it’s a Marvel Knights title, which is a little different from the standard Marvel. And this movie watches more like a comic book than like a movie; it’s a lot like X-Men: Gifted in that sense. There’s a lot of a lot of dialogue in here, and some of it is frankly a little thick. Loki’s weird metaphysical conflict as he wonders how the god of deceit and trickery can actually rule anything is pomposity made film.

But still, it’s a surprisingly literary experience from Marvel, which does a very interesting job of examining predestination, and one’s place in the universe. Trying to portray Loki as a sympathetic character isn’t an easy task–nor a very rational one, in all honesty–and it comes off more than a little whiny sometimes. But still, it’s hard not to look at this guy and think that, at least on some things, he’s got a point. They laugh at the guy’s mother, for crying out loud.

Still though, if you’re looking for a Marvel experience that’s vastly different from, and a little deeper than, the ordinary, well, you’ll get all you can ask for right here. This is some fairly impressive stuff, if still lacking in the more traditional measures. The ending, however, is a bit abrupt and a downright buzzkill, but probably the only ending that could have happened.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives the depressing, wordy, but rather unique Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers a seven out of ten for taking a chance and doing something really new and different with the whole concept.