Samuel L. Jackson has announced that  he is going to star in a feature as Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in 2009. Jackson has also confirmed he is contracted to appear as Fury in Iron Man 2, Captain America, Thor and the nerdgasm that will be The Avengers. We can all expect the yelling of dialogue that only can be delivered by the Sam Jackson.

“I should kinda pass through Iron Man 2, Captain America, Thor - all those things - and eventually get to that Avengers space, yeah. They sorta gave me a master plan about how they want it to work… (But) I’ll do every movie they wanna do. I’m down.”

Marvel has kept details of the Nick Fury feature under lock and key but rumor has it it will involve snakes on a Helicarrier.

Though, I normally come off as a cynical asshole, a story on the local news caught my eye last night about a boy with a rare form of leukemia who’s family are telling him that Spider-Man will help him fight it.

The family is hitting financial troubles in paying for the treatment.

More information at www.spidermanfightscancer.com.

(EDITORS NOTE: Basically, Austin (pictured here) has luekemia and the chemotherapy is brutal.  In order to give him the mental strength to deal with it, his dad came up with a way to Roleplay with his son with Spider-man.  So, basically in this kids mind, Spider-man literally came to his rescue and helped him kill the monsters of his luekemia.)

Some great news from Variety regarding “Graysons”:

The trade says the decision to yank the project came from Warner Bros. Pictures Group president Jeff Robinov, who initially gave his blessing but changed his mind in recent days.

The CW had been counting on “The Graysons” to fill the void left by the likely series end of “Smallville.” Like “Smallville,” “The Graysons” is a superhero origins story. The show was developed to revolve around the world of Dick “DJ” Grayson before taking on the iconic Robin identity.

“The studio has opted not to go forward with the development of ‘The Graysons’ at this time as the concept doesn’t fit the current strategy for the Batman franchise,” the studio said in a statement. “Warner Bros. Television is currently working on several replacement options for the CW.”

A script had not yet been written for “The Graysons,” which was still in early stages of development.

The one-hour “Graysons” was to be set in modern times and focus on young DJ as he faced challenges involving first loves, young rivals and his family — a famous juggling act — as he grew up.

Whew! Dodged a bullet there!

This robot was pleased to stumble across this piece of news, being that I am a big fan of the original:

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Principal photography has started in Toronto on Troy Duffy’s sequel to the 2000 indie he helmed and wrote, “The Boondock Saints.”

Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus are reprising their roles as the crusading fraternal twins Connor and Murphy MacManus, who seek revenge on the tough Boston underworld. Billy Connolly is also returning as Poppa M.

Chris Brinker and Don Carmody are producing with Lloyd Segan and Rob Fried executive producing.

“It’s a joy and a longtime coming to be bringing such an enormously talented group of people back together again,” Duffy said of the project.

Brinker said the script is well-crafted and will satisfy “Boondock” fans.

“We expect this film to be a truly intense, humorous and satisfying film for all those who have looked forward to the sequel for so long,” Brinker said.

Rounding out the cast are Clifton Collins, Julie Benz, David Della Rocco, Bob Marley, Brian Mahoney and David Ferry.

Duffy became well known in Hollywood for selling his “Boondock” screenplay — which he penned while bartending in Hollywood — to Harvey Weinstein for a high six-figure deal that would also allow him to direct and produce the soundtrack with his band, The Brood. The project was set up on a $15 million budget, but later dropped.

The first “Boondock,” which starred Willem Dafoe, was later made for $6 million and grossed $30,471 domestic. The project was chronicled in the 2003 documentary “Overnight,” which told the tale of Duffy’s rags-to-riches-to-rags saga.

Hey everyone! Arse-Bot here with some Iron Man 2 and Spider-Man 4 news!

First off, EW.com has posted a story from “Hollywood Insiders” speculating the real reason for Terrence Howard’s departure from Iron Man 2:

Hollywood insiders believe the exit stems from Terrence Howard’s difficult behavior on the set of Iron Man. But those with intimate knowledge of the situation suggest a far more dramatic backstory: Howard was the first actor signed to the film and, on top of that, was the highest-paid. That’s right: more than Gwyneth Paltrow. More than Jeff Bridges. More than Robert Downey Jr. And once the project fully came together, it was too late to renegotiate his deal. It didn’t help that, according to one source, Favreau and his producers were ultimately unhappy with Howard’s performance, and spent a lot of time cutting and reshooting his scenes. (Favreau could not be reached for comment, while Howard’s publicist says: ”Terrence had a tremendous experience working on Iron Man.”)

As such, when Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux went to map out the sequel they found themselves minimizing Howard’s story line. Once Marvel learned that Favreau was thinking of curtailing the role, the studio went to the actor’s agents with a new and drastically reduced offer — a number that’s similar to what supporting cast members were paid for the first movie. The agents, according to sources, were so taken aback by this new figure — estimated at somewhere between a 50 and 80 percent pay cut — that they questioned it. Why did they blanch? Multiple sources say that Marvel execs never told Howard’s reps that they had issues with the star’s on-set conduct. (Marvel would not comment for this story.)

Also, looks like Spider-Man 4 has a new writer on deck, according to the Hollywood Reporter:

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire got out of a rabbit hole, only to be ensnared by a spider’s web.

Lindsay-Abaire, who won a Pulitzer in 2007 for his drama “Rabbit Hole,” is in final negotiations to write “Spider-Man 4″ for Columbia.

Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire are back as director and star, respectively, as are series producers Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad. Kirsten Dunst also is expected to return for the latest movie featuring the Marvel Comics character.

Plot details are under lock and key.

Columbia always has gone off the beaten path during the development process when hiring writers for the “Spider-Man” movies. Alvin Sargent, a veteran scribe best known for 1973’s “Paper Moon” and 1980’s “Ordinary People,” served as a writer on the second and third films. Michael Chabon, another Pulitzer winner, also worked on “Spider-Man 2.”

James Vanderbilt previously wrote a draft of “Spider-Man 4.”

Lindsay-Abaire’s “Rabbit Hole,” which starred Cynthia Nixon and Tyne Daly, hit the Broadway stage in 2006 and won four Tonys, including best play. The writer also is known for the play “Fuddy Meers.”

Lindsay-Abaire has said in interviews that his plays tend to be “peopled with outsiders in search of clarity,” which would put his work on sympathetic terms with Peter Parker, who in his classic incarnation is the perpetual outsider.

The choice of scribe also signals that that filmmakers are intent to focus on character, something that critics said got lost in the third installment.

Its official. Atari purchased the Ghostbusters game from Activision for a flat fee. It will be relased Q2 of 2009. You can read the story at ProtonCharging.com.

Mark Millar is apparently still pushing his 8 hour Superman epic trilogy. Empire Online sat down with him and talked a little about it. Here’s an excerpt and you can check out the whole interview here.

Mark has been working closely with a ‘big-Hollywood action director’ – who he refuses to name at this stage – on a pitch for what he is calling the Magnum Opus of Superman stories. His idea is for an 8-hour saga, split into 3 films to be released a year apart, in a Lord of the Rings fashion. Although several other sources have reported similar conversations with Mark, he went into further detail, fleshing out the story arc a little more.

“It’s gonna be like Michael Corleone in the Godfather films, the entire story from beginning to end, you see where he starts, how he becomes who he becomes, and where that takes him. The Dark Knight showed you can take a comic book property and make a serious film, and I think the studios are ready to listen to bigger ideas now.”

“I want to start on Krypton, a thousand years ago, and end with Superman alone on Planet Earth, the last being left on the planet, as the yellow sun turns red and starts to supernova, and he loses his powers.”

• Amazing Spider-Man 574 The follow up to the New Ways to Die story arc.
• Invincible #54 Mark travels to the future to save the human race.
• New Avengers #46 Check out Steam! Clang! Boom!’s review here.
• Porn & Pong The title alone sells this book.
• Secret Invasion #7 More of the Marvel U being flipped upside-down
• Ultimate Spider-Man Sorry Jeff Vice, this is the best book Marvel is putting out.

From Telltale games:

We have just released chapter two of “Behind the Bad,” a documentary series that pulls back the curtain on our working relationship with the star of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People. In this episode, Strong Bad gets fed up when his design demands are not met and goes a little nuts. Hilarity ensues.