Let's go to the movies!

The Marvel Entertainment first-quarter webcast today featured a lot of talk about licensing charges and the cost of action figure molds being moved and other financial bruhaha (which I would probably care about if I owned Marvel stock), yet little new information on Marvel's movie slate.

Avi Arad, chairman and CEO of Marvel Studios, didn't have near as much to say this time around as he did last quarter. I blame the analysts who were asking questions; who cares about the stock price? Give me movie news!

Arad did confirm that production of Fantastic Four 2 was "moving at a brisk pace" and was slated for next summer. Rotten Tomatoes, meanwhile, talks about a new character that will appear:

According to Variety, "A Surfer feature has been in Fox's arsenal for a decade, but the studio waited because project is so ambitiously f/x-heavy and Fox has been busy with other Marvel franchises.

The wait ends with "FF2." Storyline is being finalized, with the studio about to choose between a script by "X2" scribe Mark Frost and another by Don Payne, who scripted Fox/New Regency's "My Super-Ex Girlfriend."

And while Marvel is excited about X-Men and the possibilities of "variations" on the franchise in coming years (Because let's face it; when you talk about the X-Men, you're talking about spin-off hell ... why should the movie world be any different than the comic book one?), they wouldn't speculate on how much money they were expecting for X3's opening weekend. SciFiWire, meanwhile, has a feature up on X3's "quieter moments."

Superherohype.com has a list of everything on Marvel's slate right now. And outside of today's webcast, there has been plenty of comic book movie news lately ... first up, there was another flair up of the Robert Rodriguez/Madman movie rumors that have been going around for many years:

Why did Robert Rodriguez quit Grindhouse? The latest rumor on the block says its because the man is (finally) interested in making action happen on his movie adaptation of the comic Madman. Rodriguez has possessed movie rights to the property since the dawn of time (or at least the late nineties), and periodically rumors begin to circulate about him getting behind the camera for a Madman flick. These rumors surface every year or so, and thus far have always proven false -- but they are back again, this time with the help of Madman's comic creator Mike Allred. Allred recently mentioned to a large convention crowd that Rodriguez is set to start filming this very month, and that he (Allred) himself has been busily at work on "hundreds of storyboards."

Jumping now to DC's films, Joss Whedon gives an update on the script for Wonder Woman:

Joss Whedon, who is slated to direct a proposed Wonder Woman feature film, told SCI FI Wire that he has turned in a draft script to producers, who have given him their usual "notes," or comments. "I did [turn it in] to the producers, not to the studio yet," Whedon said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. "I'm working on revisions now. ... It's business as usual. I'm writing and that's all."

Jon Favreau could use your help with Iron Man:

Recently named as the director of the upcoming Iron Man film, Jon Favreau has taken it to the people. The filmmaker has created a MySpace group in order to gather fan ideas and input about Iron Man, and what they would like to see in the film.

Currently, there are five topics of discussion, including “Tony Stark Casting” started by Favreau when he asked who fans would like to see (as well as who they would not like to see cast) as the hero, a forum devoted to whether or not Stark should have a goatee or moustache, calls for James Caviezel and Oded Fehr to play Stark, and, of course, a negative forum, started by a fan who hopes the film gets mired in development hell.

The group can be found here: http://groups.myspace.com/ironmanmovie

And finally, MTV.com begins a five-part series of opinion articles on Superman:

When it comes to Superman, I'm pretty territorial. To me, Supes is more than just a comic book character, and far more than merely a favorite pop culture icon. Superman represents absolute power absolutely uncorrupted. He represents humility (despite his name and primary-colored costume), altruism and, yes, the hidden power of the underdog. Apply whatever Jesus or Freudian metaphor you like. The point, to me, is that the Man of Steel matters. So when he's portrayed in a manner I consider wrong, or wrong-headed, I get a bit testy.

And this week? The summer movie season starts! X-Men 3! Superman Returns! Mission Impossible! Pirates of the Caribbean! Break out the popcorn and turn down the lights!

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