By Odin’s beard! Valhalla will come to Earth this weekend as Thor makes its debut in Australia! Our friends at Paramount Australia have asked us to remind people that Thor is having its world premiere in Australia this Sunday, and that even if you aren’t on the exclusive red carpet guest list, you can be a part of the action too.
The Thor World Premiere in Sydney will be streamed live on the web this Sunday 17th April from 5pm onwards on their Facebook channel. You can be a part of the experience by watching the stars arrive and be interviewed on the red carpet.
To get you in the mood, we’ve been sent a couple of clips from the film that should get you swinging your own version of Mjǫlnir from the comfort of your own den or lounge-room.
Thor will take place on Sunday April 17 at Event Cinemas George Street, Sydney. Walking the red carpet will be the film’s director Kenneth Branagh and Australian Chris Hemsworth in the title role of Thor, ‘The God of Thunder’ as well as Kat Dennings who stars as Darcy, Tom Hiddleston in the role of Thor’s brother Loki and Jaimie Alexander who plays Sif.
Thor is released in cinemas in Australia ion 21 April 2011 by Paramount.
Few Marvel comics are iconic as Captain America, the human embodiment of the American flag. Thanks to Paramount, not only do we have a look at the Australian trailer for the film, but an exclusive image of the Cap’s nemesis: the Red Skull! Red Skull will be played by Australia’s Hugo Weaving, who is no stranger to big-budget epics like The Matrix or the Lord of the Rings films.
Based on the long-running Marvel comic, Captain America: The First Avenger, the film tells the story of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a runt of a soldier plucked from obscurity during the Second World War and made into an American super soldier by US government experiements. As the title implies, the film will also serve as a forerunner to the spin-off film, The Avengers, tying the storylines of the recent Iron Man films, The Hulk and the forthcomingThor together as the ultimate super-team assembles.
If the eye-catching posters released in the last few weeks are any indication, one of the biggest superhero movies for the first half of the year is undoubtedly Thor– and not for nothing. Based on a story by comic book legend J. Michael Straczynski (also TV’s Bablyon 5) and Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend), and a screenplay by Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz and Don Payne, it comes with added weight of thesp-turned-director Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet, Frankenstein, Much Ado About Nothing) in the director’s chair. Paramount has sent us the first clip they are releasing from the forthcoming movie.
The epic adventure “Thor” spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the mystical realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. As a result, Thor is banished to Earth, where he is forced to live among humans. When the most dangerous villain of his world sends its darkest forces to invade Earth, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero.
Starring Australia’s Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek) as the titular Norse god fallen to the earthly realms, along with Academy Award® winners Natalie Portman (The Black Swan) and Anthony Hopkins (The Rite) as ‘the girl’ and ‘the villain’ respectively. In this clip, Portman’s character meets Thor for the first time.
Stay tuned over the coming weeks as we bring you more Thor content, including interviews with cast members Jaimie Alexander (Sif, The Goddess of War) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki, The God of Mischief).
Thor will have its world premiere in Sydney on 17 April 2011. Thor will be released in Australia on 21 April 2011 by Paramount.
2011 has already been hotting up as the year of the superhero film, with some of the biggest names in the business set for a remake, reboot or sequel. Indeed, it’s only February, and we’ve already had one blockbuster comic book adaptation in the form of Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet. As we saw from the Super Bowl commercials last week, the battle will continue throughout the year as Captain America: The First Avenger fights for freedom, the Green Lantern polices the galaxy and Thor brings down the mighty hammer of Odin. With so many to see, how are our anticipation levels reading for these fabulous films of 2011?
X-Men: First Class
Today, Twentieth Century Fox released the first trailer for the highly anticipated X-Men: First Class. Although this will be the fourth film in the franchise to date – following X-Men, X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand and the atrocious Wolverine – this prequel has got fans in an uncanny buzz. Director Matthew Vaughn, who has already popped his comic cherry on Kick-Ass and its forthcoming sequel, should bring back the sense of frenetic energy that X-fans have been craving since Bryan Singer’s high-octane second installment in 2003.
Then there’s the cast: James McAvoy (Gnomeo & Juliet) takes on the role of a young Professor Charles Xavier, a role made famous by the venerable Patrick Stewart. Meanwhile, Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) has his own big shoes to fill replacing Sir Ian McKellen as Magneto. The awarded actors are certainly up to the task, and boy are they accompanied by a terrific cast: Kevin Bacon, January Jones, Australia’s Rose Byrne, Nicholas Hoult (A Single Man), Jennifer Lawrence and Oliver Platt just to name a few. If that’s not enough to convince you, then script is co-written by Kick-Ass scribe Jane Goldman. You will be seeing this film.
As you can see from the trailer itself, this is an origin of the famous team set during the Cold War era of the 1960s, complete with Cuban Missile Crisis, younger versions of familiar characters and a few new ones to boot. Most notably, Golden-Globe nominee January Jones (Mad Men) joins the cast as Emma Frost, another telepath with the ability to create thought projections. There also seems to be some kind of fairy creature that Charles and Erik visit in what can only be described as a David Lynch-style red room. If Michael J. Anderson turns up, it could be the greatest film ever made. (X-Men: First Class is out in Australia on 2 June, 2011 from Twentieth Century Fox).
Green Lantern
Will ‘Green Lantern’ shine at the box office?
One of Warner Bros./DC’s great hopes for the year didn’t run a spot during the Super Bowl, possibly saving themselves the $3 million price tag that goes along with it. As was the case with the Facebook-launched X-Men: First Class trailer, when the Green Lantern trailer launched online in November last year, it caused quite the fanboy stir.
Although never a major mainstream player on the superhero front, Green Lantern has managed to get some good marketing from DC and its parent company Warner Bros. thanks to appearances in the popular Justice League animated series, and his very own direct-to-DVD animated film, Green Lantern: First Flight. The trailer to the first live-action film for the character managed to elicit a few laughs – both intentional and the unfortunate kind – thanks to the all-CGI costume the character was wearing. This has the fanboys already crying outrage, but let’s see if the company can keep the goodwill built by Batman Begins and The Dark Knight going. Fingers crossed! (Green Lantern is out in Australia from Warner Bros. on 16 June 2011).
Thor
Potentially the silliest of all the films to date, Thor is a character that traces back to Norse mythology, but Marvel adapted into a comic book back in the 1960s under Stan Lee.
The new trailer that Paramount debuted at the Super Bowl this year amps up the hammer wielding and the muscly action, but the extended version – showing much poncing about in capes with Anthony Hopkins demonstrating why he should have stayed retired – has the potential to be one of the biggest giggle-fests of 2011. Lest we forget: for every Spider-man and Iron Man, there is an Elektra or Ghost Rider. Let’s pray to mighty Odin that with seasoned thesp Kenneth Branagh behind the camera, Thor will be the former. (Thor is out in Australia from Paramount on 28 April 2011).
Captain America: The First Avenger
Marvel’s plan is to bring together most of their film characters to date – Hulk (now played by Mark Ruffalo, replacing Edward Norton, who in turn usurped Eric Bana), Thor, Iron Man and a few bit players from the respective movies – and team them all up as The Avengers in 2012. First the team needs a captain, so in the Hollywood tradition of explaining everything before it happens, we get the origin story of Steve Rogers (aka Captain America). As such, the ‘First Avenger’ bit has been strategically stuck into the title to evoke a sense of…franchising?
The first footage we saw was (you guessed it) at the 2011 Super Bowl, and we witnessed the transformation of Chris Evans (who was last seen in superhero mode in the woeful Fantastic Four sequel The Rise of the Silver Surfer), from skinny private to super soldier as part of US government experimentation in the Second World War. As with X-Men: First Class, this looks to be a period piece (rather than the Cap on Ice modern storylines), and a very cool one at that. In the short 32 second teaser, we get to see his nemesis the Red Skull, the famous US flag shield and Tommy Lee Jones. Is that not cool, or what? (Captain America: The First Avenger is out in Australia on 28 July 2011).
The Reel Bits: It’s going to be spandex city this year, with a plethora of heroes vying for your coin. Based on what we’ve seen so far, our money is on X-Men: First Class and Captain America: The First Avenger being the must-see superhero titles of 2011.
For non-sport fans, the US Super Bowl is a place to catch all the latest big-budget commercials, check for wardrobe malfunctions and perhaps hear a diva making a hash of the US national anthem. For film fans, there is always the added bonus of getting an early look at some of the US summer blockbusters that will be screaming “look at me, look at me” during the middle months of the year (the hump if you will, or as we call it in Australia, winter).
Paramount has sent over a collection of their 30-second TV spots for some of their biggest releases this year. We’ve got a Queen-themed spot for Kung Fu Panda 2, the threequel Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon (yes, they are still going with that title), the Johnny Depp animated western Rango. There’s also the epic-sounding Cowboys & Aliens (one of our Most Anticipated in 2011), comic adaptation Thor and the Steve Spielberg/J.J. Abrams Super 8. Finally, they’ve given us some footage from the much anticipated Captain America: The First Avenger.
