New Posters & Photos For ‘The Wolverine’ Spotlight Viper & Yukio

Iron Man 3 kicks off the summer 2013 movie season in comic book style, but it’s not the only Marvel property hitting theaters this summer against Man of Steel. Hugh Jackman returns for another solo X-Men outing in The Wolverine, a standalone film aimed to make audiences forget about X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

The marketing machine is revving up and Twentieth Century Fox is releasing the first trailer for The Wolverine this week. Teasing Logan’s journey to Japan, new photos and a new poster have been released, offering fans their very first legitimate look at several of the key supporting characters.

Coming Soon shared this exclusive new poster for The Wolverine which drops the artistic style of the first poster in exchange for a rough photoshop job of Logan in berserk mode surrounded by ninja warriors.

If anything, the one-sheet does at least honor the idea that The Wolverine will showcase Logan’s rage like we’ve never seen on screen before. The more interesting imagery can be found in the gallery of new stills shared by EW which offer the first official look at Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova) in a surprisingly true-to-the-comics green costume, holding Logan in an interesting contraption. Does that have anything to do with Logan’s enemies finding new, never-before-seen methods of making Wolverine vulnerable?

The images also throw Yukio, Wolverine’s young ally in the film and the reason he heads to Japan, front and center with multiple shots of her wielding different weaponry. Lastly, there are more images of Logan in his black suit, claws out, and a pair of images with him and his new love interest, Mariko, who he marries in the comics.

With the film’s original concept meant to be a story involving no mutants at all outside of Wolverine, we wonder since that changed which of these characters may possess the mutant gene. We’re also still awaiting official imagery on the Silver Samurai villain, confirmed to us directly by Jackman himself at Comic-Con a few years back while promoting Real Steel. We’re also still curious on which X-Men character will cameo, potentially teasing next year’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.

The first Wolverine trailer debuts Wednesday and will be attached to G.I. Joe: Retaliation in theaters.

The Wolverine is directed by James Mangold off of Mark Bomback and Christopher McQuarrie’s screenplay. It stars Hugh Jackman, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Will Yun Lee, Brian Tee, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rila Fukushima.

The Wolverine hits theaters July 26, 2013. X-Men: Days of Future Past hits theaters on July 18th, 2014.

10 Movie Remakes We Never Asked For

There’s evidently an old saying in Hollywood: if it ain’t broke, break it.

Piggybacking on someone else’s success by milking an old idea for a quick buck — and dragging that once-great idea through the muck in the process — is a Tinseltown tradition as deep-rooted as rhinoplasty.

With some notable exceptions (The Coens’ 2010 True Grit, 1978′s Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Cronenberg’s take on The Fly, to name a few), remakes are usually derivative at best, unwatchably redundant at worst.

Here are some entirely unnecessary rehashes that got green-lighted because there is no all-loving God to prevent evil from happening in the world.

10. Karate Kid

Why the 1984 original was awesome: Mr. Miyagi’s “wax on, wax off” mantra inspired countless children to polish their parents’ cars; middle-aged drunken men everywhere still attempt to unleash the crane kick with hilarious results; the film introduced the world to Joe Esposito’s inspirational cheese-pop anthem“You’re The Best“; the finale proved violence solves everything in the end.

Why the 2010 remake sucked: It’s not about karate, for starters (the martial art in question is kung fu); Will Smith’s son Jaden proves the showbiz gene skipped a generation; some heavy-handed production guidance from the state-run China Film Group lends the whole enterprise an air of propaganda.

9. Total Recall

Why the 1990 original was awesome: Sharon Stone kicks Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ass; Arnie’s eyes nearly kablooie out of their sockets as he hollers his trademark roar; Martian hooker has three boobs.

Why the 2012 remake sucked: no former Austrian bodybuilder with bulging eyes and zingers like “Considah it a divorrrce”; although the triple-breasted hooker makes a cameo, her elapsed time onscreen works out to roughly one second per breast. Plus she’s a little too attractive, which makes us feel icky.

8. Straw Dogs

Why the 2011 remake sucked: the simmering suspense has been mostly replaced with gory violence, which itself would be fine if there weren’t already a bazillion movies that pull off gory violence with much greater aplomb; 40 years ago, a cinematic contemplation of the violent urges that lurk within the human psyche was innovative movie fodder, but nowadays Grand Theft Auto is the perfect mirror into our sadistic souls.Why the 1971 original was awesome: a taut, brooding pyschodrama starring a feisty Dustin Hoffman long before he became Gaylord Focker’s dad; the film’s title is never explained, which adds to its coolness (it comes from a Chinese proverb by Lao Tzu, if you must know).

7. The Longest Yard

Why the 1974 original was awesome: Burt Reynolds, sans moustache.

Why the 2005 remake sucked: Adam Sandler, sans talent.

6. The Omen

Why the 2006 version sucked: this scene-for-scene remake copied everything about the original except its watchability; the demon-child looks more like Love Me Do-era Paul McCartney.Why the 1976 original was awesome: the little kid who is the physical embodiment of Satan looks a lot like AC/DC guitarist Angus Young; if that’s not enough, the movie is also effing scary.

5. Arthur

Why the 1981 original was awesome: it wasn’t, really, but it was a hell of a lot better than the remake. 

Why the 2011 remake sucked: Russell Brand drains all the foppish charm out of the titular drunken playboy, stumbling from one pratfall to the next; even Dame Helen Mirren can’t lend any class to this IQ-reducer.

4. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Why the 2003 remake sucked: it lacks all the grit, washed-out colors and low-budget wonkiness that gave the original the off-putting feel of a snuff film; this rehash was even less relevant to the franchise than 1994′sThe Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which is only noteworthy because of its then-unknown stars Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger.Why the 1974 original was awesome: it was a genre-defining masterpiece in splatter cinema; it was actually a “black comedy” if you ask director Tobe Hooper, but censors didn’t see the humor, banning the film in several countries after its release; the “based on a true story” conceit (not really true, but not altogether false) adds extra chills.

3. Godzilla

Why the 1998 remake sucked: we already saw Jurassic Park; Matthew Broderick is only believable as Ferris Bueller; no hilarious overdubbing.Why the 1954 original, and the scads of Japanese spin-offs that followed, were awesome: an allegory about the dangers nuclear science created in post-war Japan after the atomic obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — that’s damn-near poetic; features unintentionally hilarious overdubbing; Godzilla can totally kick Mothra’s ass/venom-sac.

2. Planet of the Apes

Why the 2001 remake sucked: Marky Mark without his Funky Bunch; Tim Burton’s all-too-predictable casting of Helena Bonham Carter; overdone CGI that lacks all the charm of the original monkey make-up. Note: the series attained some redemption with the 2011′s mostly awesome Rise of the Planet of the Apes.Why the 1968 original was awesome: talking monkeys; a gorgeous mute cave-woman wearing a skimpy animal hide; Chuck Heston desperately craving a gun in a wonderful dose of real-life foreshadowing.

1. Psycho

Why the 1998 version sucked: a shot-for-shot remake of the original, but with hokey gimmicks that add nothing but viewer rage. And in color, no less. Blasphemy!Why the 1960 original was awesome: an excruciatingly suspenseful masterpiece that exemplifies Hitchcock at the top of his game; Janet Leigh in the shower, booyah; violins shrieking “REE REE REE” is still the universal sound of abject terror.

Sam Raimi Explains Why Spider-Man 4 Didn’t Happen

It’s been a long time since Spider-Man 4 fell apart, and Sam Raimi is still upset about it. But he’s finally ready to talk about it.

The director tells Vulture he was a bit exhausted with the “tremendous amount of delegation” needed to make “gigantic” movies like the Spider-Man films. However, it ultimately came down to an inability to get together a suitable story that led him to pass on a fourth installment of the blockbuster franchise.

“It really was the most amicable and undramatic of breakups: It was simply that we had a deadline and I couldn’t get the story to work on a level that I wanted it to work,” he said of his split with Sony Pictures. “I was very unhappy with Spider-Man 3, and I wanted to make Spider-Man 4 to end on a very high note, the best Spider-Man of them all. But I couldn’t get the script together in time, due to my own failings, and I said to Sony, ‘I don’t want to make a movie that is less than great, so I think we shouldn’t make this picture. Go ahead with your reboot, which you’ve been planning anyway.’”

He continued, “[Sony co-chairman] Amy Pascal said, “Thank you. Thank you for not wasting the studio’s money, and I appreciate your candor.” So we left on the best of terms, both of us trying to do the best thing for fans, the good name of Spider-Man, and Sony Studios.”

Raimi still hasn’t seen Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man or Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, but he did say he has nothing but love for both projects. In fact, he had originally looked at Anne Hathaway to play Felicia Hardy, character Webb is rumored to be incorporating intoThe Amazing Spider-Man 2 and an actress that Nolan used in The Dark Knight Rises.

“I’m not surprised [Hathaway did great in TDKR], because I loved what she was doing with the auditions for Spider-Man 4,” Raimi said.

One movie he has seen is Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, and he “loved it.” It turns out that he has a bit of a history with Joss Whedon, who Raimi finds an “extraordinarily talented filmmaker.”

“In 1994, I was making a western called The Quick and the Dead and having a script problem, and I came to the studio and said, ‘Can you find me a writer? I’ve shot this movie, and the end isn’t quite working,’” Raimi recalled. “Ultimately, the movie didn’t quite work. But they suggested Joss Whedon, who was doing Buffy, so I met Joss and he saw the movie, and he helped me solve this ending in one afternoon. I thought, ‘Damn, you’re a good writer! I wish I could have had you rewrite the whole movie and save this picture!’”

He continued, “I’ll never forget how good he was, and how precise, so when I saw The Avengers, I was not surprised that his name was on it. It’s a very hard job to take all those heroes and all those stories and know exactly what bits the audience needs and what they don’t need.”

Disney Stars Grown Up - Spring Breakers (Part 1)

Spring Breakers - The Cast

Spring Breakers - Young Vanessa

Spring Breakers - High School Musical

Spring Breakers - Guns Drawn

Spring Breakers - Arrested

Spring Breakers - Hanging Out

Spring Breakers - Young Selena

Spring Breakers - What Is Going On?

Spring Breakers - Going For A Ride

Spring Breakers - Night Time Fun

Logan’s Reason For Going To Japan in ‘The Wolverine’

After devoting himself to the role of Wolverine in three X-Men films and all of the comic book reading that came with the job, star Hugh Jackman wanted an opportunity to explore more of the character’s history. He did with X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but that’s not the story Jackman wanted to tell in his first solo outing. The Aussie star instead wanted to bring to life the classic ’80s Wolverine miniseries by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller that propelled the character into becoming one of the greatest comic book superheroes of all-time.

With The Wolverine, Jackman finally gets the chance to take Logan on an epic journey to Japan where the character will find love and a new threat he’s never faced before. But what’s the driving force behind the character’s trip overseas this time around?

We say “this time” since Logan (real name James Howlett) has lived well over a century, and over the decades has fought in nearly every major war, including WWII which saw him in Japan. That forgotten segment of his history is part of the plot of The Wolverine and the driving force behind his travels to Japan.

Unlike the prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine takes place after the X-Men trilogy where Logan is aware of much of his past and his lost loved ones (including Jean Grey). The story therefore deals with the emotional drain of immortality and we find the titular character in a very bad place. Producer Hutch Parker tells Empire a little bit about Wolverine’s journey:

“We pick up Logan in a very isolated state, full of self-loathing. He is sought out by a young Asian woman for reasons he doesn’t fully understand, who is asking him to follow her to Japan where he is meant to reconnect with someone he spent prison-time with in Nagasaki. And the legacy of that experience – effectively Logan saved him – is that this man is on his deathbed, and is looking to give him a gift, to thank him for the life he’s had. But this gift draws Logan into a very complex and very unexpected world within both contemporary Japan, and to some degree the feudal history of Japan. The quality of this story is that it takes Logan on such a challenging personal journey. He’s so in isolation, so out of his element. It’s a much more powerful distillation of his character than you’ve seen before. It’s why people have always love this particular story.”

Is the young Asian woman who seeks Logan Mariko Yoshida (Tao Okamoto) and is that how they fall in love? Or is it Yukio (Rila Fukushima)?

What is the “gift” the old dying man offer to Logan and does it have anything to do with the ‘weakness’ his enemies employ against him?

The following image also appeared in the latest issue of Empire, featuring Wolverine dressed as slick as ever, beard and claws included.

The Wolverine is directed by James Mangold off of Mark Bomback and Christopher McQuarrie’s screenplay. It stars Hugh Jackman, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Will Yun Lee, Brian Tee, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rila Fukushima.

The Wolverine hits theaters July 26, 2013. X-Men: Days of Future Past hits theaters on July 18th, 2014.

Top 5 Superhero Movies That Never Happened

There are three things in life that can send my nerd rage-meter from zero to max in an instant. Pushing back the release date of games, LAG, and announcing movies that never come out. All of the following (believe it or not) are actual comic book movie adaptations that were announced and never found their way to the silver screen.

Whether it was for better or worse I'll let you decide.

5. Green Arrow: SUPERMAX

Besides the fact that Green Arrow is a clown and will never be half the marksmen that Hawkeye is, this script looked pretty legit! Titled Supermax and written byBatman Begins writer David Goyer, this film featured an unmasked Green Arrow being thrown into an Alcatraz like jail for life. The twist? If he wants to get out he has to team up with numerous B and C level DC villains to make his escape! While I don't entirely understand the concept (putting me in the camp of the film execs I guess) it sounds remotely amusing, which speaks volumes when on the subject of the Green Arrow.

4. Lobo: The Movie

Probably the oldest hyped Superhero movie on the list, studios have been teasing fans of a Lobo movie since the first Batman movie was released touting it as "in development". The movie was, of course, scrapped and nothing was heard until about 6 years ago when Warner Bros. started talking jive saying once again that a Lobo movie was "in development". Let's be real though, the time for a Lobo movie has come and gone because no one's looking for that 80's ultra violent grit anymore, but who knows? Maybe Rob Zombie will get the rights and disappoint us all anyway.

3. X-Men Orgins: Magneto

Thanks largely to the flop that was X-Men Orgins: Wolverine, this otherwise awesome idea was cut with scenes of it used in X-Men First Class. It was touted as "X-men meets the Pianist" and centered around Magneto exacting revenge on Nazi's until encountering Charles Xavier. So basically take that scene in First Class when he takes down all those dudes in a bar and leave out the rest of the mutants? Sounds good to me.

2. Spiderman 4: CARNAGE

It's a question that long remains to be answered in geek lore. What was the scene after the credits in Spiderman 3? Some say there was no scene, others talk about a lab where Venom symbiote was transforming, possibly alluding to the birth of Carnage. Spiderman 4 was rumored to be happening, as Sam Raimi went public saying he wished to redeem himself for Spiderman 3. With The Amazing Spider-man on the way, there's a snowballs chance in hell we'll ever see Spidey take on the violent offspring of Eddie Brock on the silver screen, but it sure is nice to dream about.

1. JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE MOVIE

Yeah...this one's on the way all right. Keep telling yourself that. Judging by the time it will take to complete the rumored Flash movie and to revitalize the recently scrapped Aquaman movie, this one's not coming anytime soon. It won't make sense, there's not enough time to properly introduce every character, and Christian Bale's price tag alone would force the Justice League to cut its membership down to 4. As much as studios like to hype this project throughout time, it's not feasible that it could be done right, on top of being something a large audience would want to see. For those reasons we can only pray that this movie never sees the light of "brightest" day.