Despite the semi-confusion at Comic-Con this weekend, Edgar Wright's "Ant-Man" was officially announced as a Marvel film. Or at least, for a good 30-40 minutes after Marvel's presentation of Wright's well-received "Ant-Man" test-footage, no one in the audience, journalists included, could agree whether the film had been officially announced or not. Marvel Studio's website cleared that up with an official movie logo. The commotion, in part, was perhaps because unlike all the other titles officially announced, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," "Guardians Of The Galaxy," etc., "Ant-Man" had not received a release date and still doesn't have one.
The reasons are pretty straightforward. Wright has prior committments, the primary one being directing, editing and releasing the final installment of his Cornetto Trilogy, "The World's End" for Focus Features. Set to shoot this fall and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the finale in their loose triumvirate has no release date yet, with (presumably) summer 2013 being the earliest day as a conservative guess. So when would "Ant-Man" hit theaters, intensely curious super hero fans would like to know? Well, co-President of Marvel Studios Louis D’Esposito hopes for a late 2014 release according to a recent interview.
"That might be an opportunity where we do a third [2014] film, depending on his schedule when he finishes 'World’s End,' " he told Collider. "But he’s such a competent filmmaker; the script is in great shape. The test will prove a lot of things on the visual effects front: how do we handle the shrinking, obviously, and the scale issues, because when he’s small he’s a half-inch. So we’re gonna work that out, maybe that’s when we do a third film."
First off, D'Esposito never specifically says 2014, but sure as a "third film" it's kind of inferred. So back to Wright. Competent filmmaker? No doubt, but D'Esposito's timeframe sounds like shooting back to back films in time for a 2014 release and after "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" — like any sane human — Wright just wanted to take a nap for a few months. Personally, 2014 doesn't sound reasonable nor realistic, but maybe it'll turn out different. Your thoughts? Wright does inhale caffeine in copious amounts… By the way, here's some brief footage from Comic-Con.