In April, Devin brought you the scoop that Marvel was taking meetings and showing serious interest in producing a series of smaller-scale films starring their secondary characters. Films that would have appropriately smaller-scale budgets. You can expect a lot of newly refreshed predicting and rumor-churning as El Guapo at LatinoReview has released his scoop that “Marvel/Disney are looking at doing 10 minute short films in front of their feature length movies that will introduce secondary characters like Black Panther, Luke Cage, Dr. Strange, etc.”
Even Guapo admits the news is thin on useful information, but nonetheless it raises a number of questions… Is this in addition to or replacing their interest in the aforementioned small-scale features? How would these be exhibited– Pixar style? Big TV events? How soon?
There’s virtually nothing to go on here, but combined with the news from April we can at least be sure that Marvel is definitely exploring their options for getting the universe of characters out there. By one method or another we can expect with increasing certainty to see second and third tier characters get some kind of live-action treatment.
Commence speculating!
30 comments
I say do it. This may be as close to my Squirrel Girl movie as I will ever get.
The Spider-Man reboot should only be 10 minutes.
if you ask me, this is a fantastic idea: a short film before the main feature? using lesser known (to GA) characters? win/win
Well…I lament the loss of pre-show features, but this seems like a straightforward marketing gimmick to me.
If this gets me a Dazzler movie set in the 70's then I say do it.
Ten minutes of Shang Chi: Master of Kung Fu should consist of twenty seconds of intro of the character followed by 9+ minutes of him breaking all the bones of his opponents. Nickname it Ong Bak 2 1/4 or something to get the attention of the kids.
I don't know which idea I like more: low-budget features of lesser known characters, or a return to pre-feature shorts.
If Marvel pays as much attention as Pixar does to its pre-show short films, color me excited.
What really excites me about this is not the exposure to secondary characters, but the opportunities that this could open for a lot of new filmmakers. We could get some really ballsy and inventive superhero stories. It could be like that project that Sony did recently, except not all the winners would have to be in bed with Ridley. I'm excited 🙂
Great idea. That's how Ant-Man should be done, if they want him in Avengers, because 2 hours of Ant-Man ain't gonna fly very high, in my opinion.
It sounds exactly like a back-up feature in a comic, which is great. Let a smaller character piggyback on a more successful or established. If the character goes nowhere, it doesn't hurt anything, but if it's popular, it can be plugged into a bigger storyline in another movie or can be spun off into it's own "title", so to speak.
"Incredible Hercules," a buddy action/comedy featuring Herc and Amadeus Cho on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D. Also, "Agents of Atlas" and "The Irredeemable Ant Man."
also, it might be a good low-risk way to get some good a-list talent involved who might not be able to commit to a full-length feature at that time. maybe we can finally see edgar wright do that ant-man film that runs as a 3-part, serialized short film that plays before whatever marvel films are coming out that year instead of a full-length 2-hour movie. it can draw in audiences that might not be so psyched for thor 3 or whatever, but still want to see the continuation of whatever back-up character is featured in the short films.
I love the hell out of this idea. I really enjoyed the Spectre short on the Green Lantern DVD, and it would be nice to see them on the big screen. Of course, there's also a chance that an awesome short could make the feature look bad. But I'm willing to take that chance.
A fantastic idea. IRON FIST, please.
@#2: Fucking hilarious – and, hopefully, true. Thanks for the laugh.
This is a very cool idea, if true. Makes a lot of sense as an effective way to introduce secondary characters without the financial risk of committing to a full-blown feature.
Makes sense. Have to laugh when the poor actors and directors have to bullshit about having read the comics as kids when at best they maybe would have caught Property X as a Saturday morning cartoon or more likely as the decoration on some nerdy kid's lunchbox.
Comment #4 (Posted by Magic Of Velcro)***Well…I lament the loss of pre-show features, but this seems like a straightforward marketing gimmick to me.***
FUCK OFF!
of course, in true marvel entertainment fashion they can pay the talent even less as running time is 1/9th of a feature. Everybody wins!
Best idea I've heard in a long time; and it might even be a better way to "reboot" bigger characters without redoing the whole origin story again (e.g. Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Hulk, Fantastic Four, etc). Bring it on, I say.
This would be a bucket of wins if true. Everyone benefits: The studio gets to take chances it normally wouldnt and can gauge interest with little risk. Starting/lesser known filmmakers can get some exposure. If it sucks, its only 10 minutes. If its awesome, we may see a feature length film in the future. It may be the only way we get to see some more obscure characters.
Count me in.
Power Man and Iron Fist starring Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins. Doooooo ittttt. The only forseeable problem with this is that they will probably have to cast small for these shorts, and either recast if they spin off into features or use the low profile actor/actress they hired to do the short.
the hulk on a rampage would make a good 10 minute bit. moonknight could be dark. heroes for hire might be a bit much. dr strange doing his thing. war machine could make a good 10 minute spot taking out a small army.
Pros and cons seem to abound with this idea, but if Marvel is smart about this, it could score well in the long run with feature length pictures based on the characters in the shorts.
For some reason I can only imagine these as animated shorts, not live-action. Silly I know, but for some reason a 10-minute Luke Cage live action short is just going to come off like a fan-made film burned to a dvd and sold at cons.
Now, a great Cage animated film… hmmmm…
Wasn't the Woverine movie only 10 minutes?
MJW AND SCOTT ADKINS… "HEROES FOR HIRE"!!! DO IT!! GET THE GUY THAT DID MORTAL KOMBAT FOR IT!!!
I love it! Somehow, I don't see them using "lesser" talent to get these done. I see them as more of a BMW films type project with high profile directors and actors. Bring it on, Baby!!!!
And with that, the cinematic redemption of Howard the Duck begins.
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