Movies

First Trailer for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Let’s be honest: We’re all a little tired of zombies right now. Even I am pretty close to being “all zombied out.” But just when you think there is nothing left to say in the world of the recently dead, a project like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies comes along.

A delightful blend of Jane Austen prose and George Romero blood and gore, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was a literary sensation when the book was released in 2009, and the movie version seems like it has managed to capture both the period romance aesthetic and some great butt-kicking zombie annihilation.

The movie stars Lily James, Lena Headey and my personal favorite Doctor, Matt Smith, and is set to open on February 5, 2016.

The Avengers Pancakes

Daniel Drake was an ordinary fry cook with extraordinary talents. He is a the world’s first “pancake artist.” His videos landed him on Reddit and Buzzfeed, made him into a YouTube sensation and  eventually led to an appearance on the Today Show.

Although he has done tons of different pancake portraits, my favorite is his take on the Avengers.

I can never show my children these pancakes. I’ve barely mastered the art of making pancakes round. My only hope is to keep their expectations low.

You can check out more or Dan’s work on his web page, Dancakes.com.

Marvel CEO Calls Female Superhero Movies a “Disaster” in Leaked Sony Email

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By the time Captain Marvel finally makes her debut as the first female superhero to helm her own movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe on November 2, 2018, Marvel Studios will have already made 19 movies featuring male leads, including three apiece for Captain America, Iron Man and Thor.

So why did it take 20 tries before Marvel was willing to give us a movie with a female lead?

An email from Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter to Sony CEO Michael Lynton sheds some light on Marvel’s thinking. In short, they have no faith in female heroes.

[dropshadowbox align=”none” effect=”raised” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]

Subject: Female Movies
Date: 2014-08-07 09:32:50 UTC
From: [email protected]
To: lynton, michael

Michael,

As we discussed on the phone, below are just a few examples. There are more.

Thanks,
Ike

1. Electra (Marvel) – Very bad idea and the end result was very, very bad. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=elektra.htm

2. Catwoman (WB/DC) – Catwoman was one of the most important female character within the Batmanfranchise. This film was a disaster. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=catwoman.htm

3. Supergirl – (DC) Supergirl was one of the most important female super hero in Superman franchise. This Movie came out in 1984 and did $14 million total domestic with opening weekend of $5.5 million. Again, another disaster.

Best,

Ike

[/dropshadowbox]

So what did we learn? For starters, Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter does not even know how to spell “Elektra” correctly.

Yes, those movies all lost money, but they were all also horrible movies made well before the current superhero renaissance.  It’s not as if they made a good female superhero movie and no one came. There are plenty of examples of female-led action movies that made bank. Instead of looking at the incredible box office numbers of movies like The Hunger Games or Frozen, studio executives are dwelling on the dismal box office of weak superhero movies made decades ago.

Unfortunately, this email is not some relic from the distant past. It was written just last summer. This attitude is affecting what movies get developed today.

So when you are wondering where your solo Black Widow film is, or why founding Avenger the Wasp is reportedly killed off-screen in events that precede the upcoming Ant Man, wonder no more.

Marvel’s superheroic women can defeat any enemy — except for the sexist attitudes of their own studio executives.

#WheresNatasha? Age of Ultron Continues Trend of Excluding Female Heroes From the Toy Aisle

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Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow, is the world’s deadliest assassin and spy, and essential part of the Avengers movie franchise. But with Avengers: Age of Ultron hitting theaters the Friday, Marvel and Disney continue to treat Natasha as the “invisible woman” when it comes to toys, clothing and other merchandise.

Of the 60 products that Marvel and Disney released for Avengers: Age of Ultron, only three featured Black Widow. That’s five percent. There were no Black Widow action figures, costumes or clothing for girls. The three Black Widow items available from Marvel are a tote bag, a men’s t-shirt, and a figure that is part of a large LEGO set.

Marvel’s licensing partners do not fare much better. Black Widow is consistently left out of toy lines, the fail to even try to market her to girls and she is excluded from team shots on merchandise aimed at boys.

Last summer, we all were asking #WheresGamora? We hoped that the outcry would lead to changes in marketing this time around. It did not.

Fight the Power

There are two ways you can help Marvel and Disney see the error of their way. The first is to find examples of how Black Widow is excluded from merchandise, take a photo and then share it on Twitter with the hashtag #WheresNatasha.

The second is to sign and share our Change.org petition to “Include Black Widow in all Avengers-related toy lines, clothing and merchandise.”

Sign the Change.org petition
Sign the Change.org petition

We’ve partnered with our friends over at Legion of Leia to get the word out, but we need your help, too. Every hashtag, signature and share puts more pressure on the decision-makers who have decided that girls don’t need heroic toys and that boys can never look up to a woman as a hero.

After women bought record numbers of tickets to see Guardians of the Galaxy last summer, and complained mightily that they were shortchanged by the lack of Gamora merchandise, we expected that Marvel had learned its lesson, and that things would be better with Age of Ultron.

The fact that there was no improvement means we need to keep fighting to let Marvel know that they are doing a disservice to fans that they claim to care about very much.

Maybe we’ll finally get some female merchandise when Captain Marvel comes out.