Ghost Rider, Fist of Blood, Conan: Red Nails, Batman Begins 2: December 15th Comic Reel Wrap

CBR

By Hannibal Tabu

Published Dec 15, 2005

Johnny Blaze is gonna have to wait a while to hit the road, while we catch an exclusive rumor of an Eastman and Laird property getting the big screen treatment, everybody's favorite barbarian gets animated, Capote could be the Penguin and more in a busy day of news.

GHOST RIDER

According to Variety (subscription required), the $20 million Nicolas Cage vehicle is getting bumped back. You'll be able to catch the film President's Day weekend, February 16, 2007.

FIST OF BLOOD

The Comic Reel overheard a conversation at Culver City's Comics Ink that a Los Angeles-area special effects house is working on a film adaptation of the Eastman and Laird property, to then shop it around to studios. The basic plot, apparently, involves a gang of vampires doing battle with a gang of zombies when a naked female character appears to do battle with them all. The script has been completed, but we couldn't catch any details on casting.

CONAN: RED NAILS

The official site for the animated feature has been launched complete with information on characters and images. Ron Perlman ("Hellboy") will voice the pride of Cimmeria, with Marg Helgenberger ("CSI"), James Marsden ("X-Men" films, Superman Returns), Clancy Brown, Cree Summer and Mark Hamill ("Star Wars") along for the ride.

BATMAN BEGINS 2Batman On Film has an update on the "Philip Seymour Hoffman as Penguin" rumor, with a scooper report that may shed some light on the subject. "I live in the Rochester, NY area," their spy wrote, "which is where Philip Seymour Hoffman grew up. The media has been covering his Golden Globe nomination for 'CAPOTE,' and in a recent interview with his old high school drama teacher (who remains close to him) on a local news program, she confirmed that Hoffman has been in talks to take on The Penguin in the upcoming 'BATMAN' sequel and is very interested in the role."

X-MEN 3

With pictures you've seen and ones you haven't, Superhero Hype has a gallery of high resolution images from the mutant minded movie.

SUPERMAN RETURNS

Wish you could watch Vryan Singer's video blogs away from home? They're now available for PSP, according to the Superman Homepage.

WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN ANIMATED

There's an interesting tidbit over at Comics Continuum. "We're just ramping up the writing and the artistic development," said Jason Netter of Kickstart Entertainment, who's producing the show. They have an order for 26 episodes, and have Greg Johnson as a story editor. What's interesting to note is that they write, "He wrote all four of Marvel's straight-to-DVD animated movies -- Ultimate Avengers, Ultimate Avengers 2, Iron Man and Doctor Strange." That implies all the scripts are in, and somewhere waiting for an enterprising spy to grab and email ...

QUIET ON THE SET

Late column today because a half hour power nap got unexpectedly extended. Woops.

Anyway, here's where you get in on the action. Did you see a link we didn't catch? Have you snuck into a closed movie set, and have inside data? Maybe your cousin is dating somebody who knows something, and they had to tell you? Whatever it is, we wanna know it all -- fire off an email and let us know whether you want your name used or your contributions to geekdom to go down anonymously. Broadcasting live from Los Angeles, this is novelist/reviewer/karaoke host/all-around lunatic Hannibal Tabu saying thanks for your time and indulgence, and [tagline sent back to development hell until something hipper can be dreamed up].