How Thor-tful
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
All it took was a man with a hammer to get audiences at the Australian International Movie Convention drooling last week. Never-before-seen footage from the upcoming Thor movie, based on the Marvel superhero, played at the event during a presentation by Paramount Pictures.
Director Kenneth Branagh and Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor in the film, introduced the scenes via videolink. Both apologised for not being able to make the convention and Branagh said he has fond memories of Australia.
"I love Australia, I have fond memories of working on an ABC television show and then with director Phillip Noyce on Rabbit Proof Fence," he said.
Although some footage of Thor was screened at the Comic Con event in the US recently, delegates were the first to see this new material. As well as watching scenes from the movie itself, Thor concept art was shown and interviews with the producers, creative directors and fellow big-wigs.
From what I saw, I must say I’m quite intrigued. Note how I say intrigued rather than excited. I’ve never been into the Thor mythology myself and I’ll see the movie regardless, but this looks a bit to `out there’ for me. The film seems to be set between the two planets and rely heavily on the alien thing, which are the same elements that turned me off about Superman and Green Lantern. Anyway, Thor’s home planet of Asgard (which Anthony Hopkins and bunch of the other characters live on) looks visually quite amazing and tres alien. The creative lads said they tried to make something `unlike anything you’ve seen before’ which immediately makes me go `pffft, who hasn’t?’. For the most part though, I shall reserve judgement until we get a full length trailer and it’s packaged properly. Maybe.
Thor will be released on May 5, 2011. 
(Above) Thor was very happy at the success of his latest DYI project around the house.
There have been rumours circulating since Marvel created their own studio to independently produce their creations and those rumours appeared to have some substance when Downey Jnr had a cameo in The Incredible Hulk. Marvel Studios today confirmed The Avengers movie is in pre-production and Jon Favreau is on board to direct. Favreau did a stellar job of directing the first Iron Man film and is also set to direct the rest of the franchise. Sounds like a hefty work load for the writer/director/actor but he’ll be backed up by an awesome support team in the form of Louis D'Esposito, Stan Lee, David Maisel and Denis Stewart. Phew. Admittedly I’m getting really sick of comic book to film adaptations and it seriously feels like every second movie was originally a comic or graphic novel. Be original folks and create some new shit! But (and there is a but) I’m looking forward to The Avengers mainly because it’s a classic and one of the most recognised comics of all time. Those of you unfamiliar with The Avengers, here’s a quick run down. First created in 1963 by the legendary Stan Lee, The Avengers features some of Marvels key characters who unite to create a unique crime fighting unit. Originally founded and majorly funded by Tony Stark other characters in the unit include The Hulk, Captain America, Thor, The Black Widow, Spider Man, The Fanatstic Four and more. Whether some of these characters will appear in the film adaption is yet to be known but other team members in The Avengers have included Wolverine, Storm, Daredevil, Electra, The Punisher and tonnes of other lesser known characters. Only Edward Norton’s version of the Hulk, Captain America and Thor have been confirmed to be in the film version which is scheduled for release on July 15, 2011. The Iron Man sequel will be in theatres on May 7, 2010. Both will be distributed by Paramount Pictures.
Hugh Jackman will be back to reprise his role as Wolverine and