If you stayed for the end credits of the craptastrophe that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine (our reviewer liked it even more than I did), then you know where the producers are wanting to take Logan’s story next. Star Hugh Jackman, speaking to MTV at “The Teen Choice Awards” recently, confirmed that the Origins sequel will indeed be covering Wolverine’s time in Japan.  Jackman said:

“Japan is where we’re heading, [and] we’re starting to work on it now. We’re in the … first steps of developing that story.”

Reiterating his desire to Miller and Claremont’s story arc brought to the screen, Jackman said he’s “made no real secret” of his fondness for that particular chapter of Wolverine’s history. “I think the fans love that saga. It’s my favorite saga of the Wolverine stories.”

Hugh Jackman also hinted at a 2012 release date. Wolverine had one of the better trailers of the year, yet let down many audeince members with an uninvolving story.  It’s often been said that the origin story is the most boring of any tale, so perhaps there is hope for the sequel.  Wolverine banked enough coin at the box office ($179mm) to warrant another go ’round and it will apparently be taking place overseas.  Who is interested in this one?  Share your thoughts with us.

A lot of casting announcements or near-announcements made today concern higher profile actors in higher profile projects.

Let’s start off with Ms. Carla Gugino, who you may recognize as the hot naked one from Sin City or the original Silk Spectre from Watchmen. After those two comic book films and a semi-recurring role on “Entourage,” Gugino is once again teaming up with her Watchmen director, Zack Snyder, for the female-empowered Sucker Punch. According to “The Hollywood Reporter,” the film is set in a 1950’s mental institution when a character played by Emily Browning is scheduled by her evil stepfather to be lobotomized (think the ending of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) in five days. She forms an escape plan with other female inmates. Gugino will play Mrs. Schultz, an adult figure in the institution.

Sam Worthington, he of Terminator Salvation, the upcoming Avatar and the the even further upcoming Clash of the Titans is in talks to join Charlize Theron in The Tourist, according to “Variety.” The film is based on the 2005 French thriller, Anthony Zimmer, about a female Interpol agent who uses an American tourist to expose a criminal who was once her lover. I’m assuming Theron would play the female agent and Worthington the used American.

Finally, after receiving non-critical praise for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Hugh Jackman has found his next project. He’ll play the title role in The Greatest Showman on Earth, based on the life of circus ringleader P.T. Barnum. The twist differentiating this from the typical biopic-based-on-circus-showman is it will be a musical. For those that don’t know, Jackman has been a longtime Broadway musical star, having hosted the Tony Awards multiple times before given the reigns to this past year’s Oscars. On an even more intriguing note, the script being written by Jenny Bicks (Sex and the City) has a co-starring role written for one Anne Hathaway, who happened to be Jackman’s opening number partner at the Oscars, as well (relive that performance with the video, here).

I’m probably most interested in Snyder’s Sucker Punch as he’s proven to deliver an astounding visual. The concept of biopic-as-musical intrigues, especially with the possibility of Anne Hathaway co-starring. But, to dismiss a Theron project when she easily holds her own if not dominates the “beautiful” category against the aforementioned female names, would be disrespectful. So, hell, at the moment I’m down for all of it. Which of the three projects piques your interest the most? And since I mentioned it, which of the three women?

Times are tough. The economy sucks. 401(k)s are worthless. No one can afford their own home. I should know. I’m an expert after watching 42 minutes of I.O.U.S.A. yesterday via Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” function before it froze in the middle of Jim Cramer’s screaming. However, we never thought it would come to this. A Hollywood star has been reduced to selling Avon products for cash. A MALE Hollywood star. Saddening. As hard as it may be to take, that’s the reality facing Hugh Jackman now or at least his character in Avon Man.

Fox has just purchased the pitch from Hitch writer, Kevin Bisch, as a star vehicle for Hugh Jackman.

According to “Variety,” the story sets up like this: [M]en [are] laid off from an auto dealership. One is reluctantly recruited into becoming an Avon salesman, and while the experience is initially emasculating, he uses his charm and good looks to become a top seller. The comedy takes on a ‘Full Monty’ vibe when the car salesman sets out to save his financially strapped family and town by conscripting his buddies into the makeup business to win a regional contest.

Although I’ve never been a fan of the X-Men film franchise which made him a star, I do like Jackman. This doesn’t sound particularly appealing to me, but I’ve encountered a few people who sold Avon products in my life and I’d be willing to bet most of you have as well. Instantly relatable. In fact, I’m supposed to be writing a retirement roast for a woman who sells Avon on the side. Better get to it.

Gathering the latest in film news from around the web for our Wednesday news coverage, we start with some slightly sad news that has Nicole Kidman leaving the untitled Woody Allen movie that would have paired her with Frieda Pinto, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Brolin, Antonio Banderas and Naomi Watts. I enjoy Kidman as an actress quite a bit, so hope Woodrow can find an ample replacement, since there aren’t many that can fill her shoes, IMO. [Frieda Pinto Fan]

There are images of Puff Daddy aka P.Diddy, from an upcoming Forgetting Sarah Marshall spin-off, Get Him To The Greek with Russell Brand, Jonah Hill, and Colm Meaney. [Just Jared] Why is there a spin-off for a movie that wasn’t funny in the first place? Sometimes people/things become media darlings for one reason or another, and the FSM script was just that. I still have no idea why.

[Beyond Hollywood] has info on Robert Pattison signing on to join Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz for Unbound Captives. There are interesting bits about actor and now director Madeleine Stowe who wrote the script years ago and hoped to play Weisz’s role in the gunslinging film but studios balked. Turnabout is fair game, years later.

Comic book adaptations continue to be the biggest trend in Tinseltown with Dark Horse Comic’s Secret next in line for adaptation at Universal. I’d be lying if I said I have ever heard of this one, a horror graphic novel, so clue me in if you know anything about it. [Atomic Comics]

By the power of Grayskull, there will be a new He-Man adaptation after all (at least it’s being written) with Evan Daugherty taking the reins for Grayskull. [Shakefire] This could be a trip down memory lane for me or a wasted sperm like Transformers is now. Hoping for a least a line drive double, but we’ll see.

And while Star Trek broke IMAX records this past weekend, complaints came in (including one from our own contradicting Prod Son, who can wear a fake shoe but not see a fake IMAX movie) about the authenticity of some of those IMAX experiences.  And as any good company does, they listen, and seek to repair any wrongdoing done, as reported by [THR].  They can’t control what some cinemas are claiming as IMAX, so good news on their part, now go get those IMAX tickets.  As many as you  can!

Since last year’s The Dark Knight, superhero movies have had the bar raised in terms of quality and what depth they should bring. This was matched earlier this year with Watchmen, which explored the extreme dark side of the hero and almost left its image surreal. The characters of The Dark Knight and Watchmen were complex and layered. It’s the characters that the audience wants to understand the most, even beyond the action the heroes attract.  I think since those two films, there’s a yearning to demystify the hero.  X-Men Origins: Wolverine doesn’t reach any of these points, or at best half-assess them.

Wolverine had the potential of being one of the best in the X-Men series. It was to be a movie dedicated solely to the franchise’s most beloved character. It was good to see Hugh Jackman reprise his role as Wolverine, but his character never conveys enough emotion to care for him. Instead, you get a killing machine. The beginning of the movie is flat-out terrible. I had no idea what was happening and by the time you get close to figuring it out, the opening-credits roll. It opens in 1845 Canada with James Howlett Logan (Young Wolverine, Troye Sivan) and Victor Creed (Young Sabretooth, Michael James-Olsen), two mutant kids who run away from their home after James kills Thomas Logan, the groundskeeper who shot his father. After James brings Thomas within an inch of his life with his bone-claws, Thomas reveals to the young boy that he’s his real father. By the way, Victor is Wolverine’s half-brother.

Okay, this mess of a beginning was so confusing and ridiculous that it must have left three plot holes and the movie was only five minutes in. One, it never established why the young Wolverine was sick in bed (that’s where he starts out). Two, why in the hell did the groundskeeper kill the elderly Howlett and then decide to tell the young boy he’s his father after he’s stabbed by the boy’s bone-claws? After the young James kills his supposed father, he and Victor go on the run and decide to always have each others backs. Since Wolverine and Sabretooth have “healing factors,” as part of their mutant powers, they age very slowly and can recover from an injury in a matter of seconds. With this unique ability, they serve in most major wars, including the Civil War (the North), WWI, WWII and Vietnam. Since both Wolverine and Sabretooth are Canadian, why in the hell would they serve in the United States Military? Plus, if they did serve in four major wars, don’t you think ANYONE would recognize that these guys don’t age and are the same people? Mind you, this is in the first ten minutes of the movie, now.

During the Vietnam War, Victor kills a superior officer and James defends him. They are ordered to die by firing squad, but they naturally survive because of their mutant ability and they’re then thrown into military jail. They are approached and asked by William Stryker (Danny Huston) to join a secret government project involving other mutants, including Wade Wilson (later Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds). They agree and then perform special ops in other countries as part of the project. While doing a mission in Africa, they go after a terrorist group, which knows the whereabouts of a metal from space, called “adamantium.”  While the team is about to murder a village of woman and children to get information on the metal, James stops them and quits the team.

"My love for you is like a truck. Berserker (rage)!"

James spends the next six years as a lumberjack in Canada and goes by the name of Logan.  He lives in the woods with his mutant girlfriend, Kayla Silverfox.  While at work, he is approached once again by Stryker to come back to the team, but Logan declines.  He is forced to change his mind when Victor, now Sabretooth, kills Silverfox.  Logan allows Stryker to perform an experiment on him so he can defeat Sabretooth.  Stryker, who finds the adamantium metal in Africa, fuses Logan bones with the substance. Logan now proclaims himself Wolverine and escapes in a rage after he hears Stryker true plans to exploit him.  He must also exact revenge on Sabretooth for the death of Silverfox.

Since I had high expectations for Wolverine, I have to say I was really let down by this. A problem with most of the X-Men films is that they try to pack too many other mutant characters into the movie. Although you’d think that would be the reason for a spin-off film, to give one character the vast majority of screentime, this film falls into the same trap. They introduce characters like The Blob and Cyclops. It was too grand a scale when things should have been lower key, perhaps only having three to four mutants, not something like fifteen characters smashed into a less-than-two-hour film. I partly blame this on the studio for almost certainly pressuring the writers to include as many characters as they could. Despite not having any good reason to include him, I thought the role of Gambit was well-done. When I first heard the Gambit character was going to be in it, I was excited. Gambit, along with Wolverine, was one of my favorite X-Men. Taylor Kitsch plays Remy LaBeau/Gambit as I had hoped and I’d much rather see a spin-off with him than Deadpool with Ryan Reynolds. The Deadpool character was vastly different from the comics, but I was impressed with how he turned out. Another glaring problem with the film was determining what time period it took place in.  Judging by when they first left Vietnam and then spending the next 6 to 10 years in a government program, I assume this took place in the late 1970s or early 80s.  Yet the clothes are very contemporary, the use of modern computer software and their weapons seem state-of-the-art, even by today’s standards.

The film did have some positive moments, particularly Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed/Sabretooth. Schreiber was very menacing and sometimes unpredictable in scenes, which left the other characters and the audience on the edge of their seats, wondering what he was going to do next. Another good performance came from Danny Huston as William Stryker, who was also very dark and ominous. Jackman was good as the lead (he’s been this character four times now), but I really felt he was hindered by the writers (David Benioff and Skip Woods), because he has the talent to do more raw emotion with the tortured Wolverine character, he just didn’t get a chance. He was sadly reduced to a grunting, pissed-off killing machine.  I don’t blame this on director Gavin Hood at all, because I’m sure he wanted a different outcome on the story, as well.  Studio middling was widespread on the film.  It had the potential to go down the path set by The Dark Knight and Watchmen, because the Wolverine character is so complex and emotionally torn. Instead, you get an action-adventure movie with no substance. Wolverine tried to give the people what they want with an action-adventure film, but failed to realize this might not be what the people want any longer.

Ghostbusting is back in style, homie! It’s not a subtle art, but somebody’s got to do it. The rumor mill has been swirling over the past few months about another Ghostbusters sequel (making it Ghostbusters 3) and instead of waiting to pounce once that film rules the box office on opening weekend, Disney has decided to move forward with a ghostbusting film of their own.

Instead of the actual Ghostbusters crew, though, Ghostopolis is set to star current box office champ, Wolverine a.k.a. Hugh Jackman (that could be the other way around). The film is based on a graphic novel by Doug TenNapel, so at least Disney didn’t commission somebody to write something new involving the act of busting ghosts, but rather plucked an idea all set to go. At the moment, no director or screenwriter is attached, but Jackman’s involvement should make quick work of that problem. His adamantium claws say so.

The plot sounds a lot like Monsters, Inc., but with ghosts and in reverse. Jackman plays a ghosthunter working for the Supernatural Immigration Task Force (La Migra). He traps all ghosts who happen into the human world and releases them back in Ghostopolis. A human boy ends up in Ghostopolis and Jackman’s character must retrieve him.

There’s something amusing about a supernatural border patrol and that could be played to great heights if done creatively. I also like the Monster’s Inc. angle. I dimissed the notion at first, but I think the idea is growing on me. Hopefully they can come up with a tight theme song.

“X-Men” was one of my favorite comics growing up. I made a ritual to see X-Men: The Animated Series every Saturday morning because it was so cool to finally see characters from the comics move and talk. Wolverine was always the stand out character for me and certainly for a lot of people. He had a no-nonsense, rebel, badass mentality that a lot of people liked. His character was reminiscent of the Man With No Name (Clint Eastwood) character from the Sergio Leone Dollars trilogy. One of the most interesting aspects of Wolverine (whose real name is Logan) is his origin, which is very long and complex. The one part that stands out most is how he received his “adamantium” bones, the metal claws that come out of his hands, which are easily the most identifiable part of his character.

"The least they could've done was blindfold us."

Hugh Jackman reprises his role as Logan a.k.a. Wolverine and it will be the fourth time he plays the part. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is set about 20 years before the X-Men trilogy and it chronicles the early life of Wolverine’s beginnings as a child. Since Wolverine’s mutant power is to heal his body at an incredible rate, it also allowed him to stunt his aging process. Through this process, he was able to serve in major armed conflict, like World War II. During his time as a soldier, he served with his mutant half-brother, Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber). After the service, he falls in love with Kayla a.k.a. Silver Fox and decides to live a peaceful life with her. Logan’s life is shattered when Creed kills Silver Fox in a jealous rage. Logan, bent on revenge, joins a Canadian governmental project called Weapon X. While at the Weapon X facility, the head of the project, William Stryker (Danny Huston), offers Logan a chance to extract his vengeance by letting him experiment on him and become a member of a mutant group called Team X. Logan agrees and his bones are fused with a nearly indestructible metal, adamantium. Before the process takes place, he informs Stryker that he wants to be known as Wolverine. When Wolverine discovers Stryker’s intentions are just to exploit mutants for experiments, he escapes the facility.  While on the run from the government, he must also find Creed a.k.a Sabretooth and get retribution for the death of Silver Fox.

The movie will feature other characters as well. One hero I’m finally glad to see is Gambit (Taylor Kitsch). He was one of my personal favorite X-Men and I can’t wait to see how he turns out. Other notable characters will be Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), The Blob (Kevin Durand), John Wraith (Will.i.am) and Emma Frost (Tahyna Tozzi).

Dude...Trim. Your. Nails!

Wolverine is directed by South African Gavin Hood, who directed the Oscar-winning Tsotsi (Best Foreign Film). David Benoiff, who adapted the novel “Kite Runner” for the screen, wrote the screenplay.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is definitely one of the more anticipated movies of the year and it promises to be pretty sweet.

It opens on May 1^st.

I’ve written about this before and I’ll write it again. Wolverine is a sweet character. Second only to Batman in my eyes. I wasn’t really sold on Hugh Jackman portraying him at the beginning, but certainly he’s grown into the role. I expect good things out of this movie, even with the murmurs of re-shoots. Here’s a chance to catch more of a glimpse of what’s to come on May 1st.

Over the past three days, Fox has released a new TV spot for X-Men Origins: Wolverine that tell a slightly successive story. Although they’ve been released a day at a time, I figured it’d be better if all spots were posted at once. So, here they are.

First, there’s a slight promo just to get you charged up for what you’re about to see afterward. Enjoy!

Now, that you’re salivating for all things Wolverine, here’s the trilogy of TV spots:

That’s it! So, what’d you think? Did they whet your appetite further? Ready to see Logan run now?

A movie based on the animated series from the 80’s Thundercats, has long been rumored to hit screens. Currently, IMDB has the project scheduled to drop in 2010. In the meantime we get the trailer featuring none other than Brad Pitt, Vin Diesel, Hugh Jackman, and Halle Berry.  That’s more of a dream cast than Sega’s game machine.  Film School Rejects hooked us up with the trailer that presumably is dream-like in nature due to the casting.  There was a fair amount of time involved in putting this together I am sure, and although the voice-over seems rather pedestrian, this gets props simply for the cast alone.  Ben Button himself, Brad Pitt as Lion-O?  Classic.  What do you think, is this something you would want to see?

Okay, people. Here is the new Wolverine trailer. Yes, the real deal in HD glory. Normally when it comes to comic book adaptations, I get up to get letdown (this year’s The Dark Knight notwithstanding). This trailer, without question, gets me fired up. Great visuals, and intriguing origin storyline, and Hugh Jackman doing his thing. Who knows what the final product will ultimately become but based on the trailer below, the excitement level here has been raised considerably. Very tight.

What do you think of this, folks? Is it May 1st, ‘09 yet? Gettin’ excited!?! Let us know.