Are you an aspiring crew member on a future blockbuster? Or a paparazzi looking for pictures of Sam Worthington having a crafty cigarette? Or just a really big fan looking to finally give Robert Downey Jr. that volume of poetry you wrote about him? Then good news! Production Weekly have revealed the prospective filming dates for some of the biggest movies of 2012.
First up is “Clash of the Titans 2,” the sequel to this year’s hit for Warner Bros, which the studio has sped into production with director Jonathan Liebesman (the upcoming “Battle: Los Angeles”) at the helm. Typically outspoken star Sam Worthington, who’s always far more entertaining in interviews than he is onscreen, spoke to Collider a few days ago and gave an update on the project, which will be shot in 3D this time around, rather than hastily converted with an XBox 360 and a Viewmaster like last time.
Apparently a draft of the script, from teamed-up writers Dan Mazeau and David Leslie Johnson, is ready, and Worthington liked it, although he’s keen for Perseus to be less dour and more fun this time around. Production Weekly’s twitter reports that “Clash of the Titans 2: Clash Harder” (you’re welcome, Warners…) will tentatively start next February, aiming for a Spring 2012 release date. Worthington will return, and it’s expected that Gemma Arterton, Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson will join him. You know what we’d like to see this time round? A titan. Preferably clashing with another titan.
Another big fantasy movie in the works is Disney’s “Oz The Great and Powerful,” a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” which has Sam Raimi considering the director’s chair, and Robert Downey Jr. strongly linked to the lead role. It was initially reported that the studio were keen for it to go before cameras this year, but, as we predicted, Downey Jr’s schedule, which sees the actor filming “Gravity,” “Sherlock Holmes 2” and “The Avengers” back-to-back, made that impossible, and it’s now likely to get underway next June. This can only be a good thing, to be honest — the script we read needed a lot of work.
Finally, it looks like the first big non-Avengers project from Marvel Studios will be their adaptation of Brian K Vaughan’s excellent comic “Runaways,” about a group of teens who discover that their parents are supervillains. Having gained a director and writer in the past few months in the shape of Peter Sollett (“Raising Victor Vargas”) and Drew Pearce (“No Heroics”), it now seems to have a start date, with a fairly hefty six month shoot from January to July next year, around the same time that Marvel will also be rolling on “The Avengers” (so don’t be surprised if we see a cameo from one of that cast, as in the original comic). We imagine casting will get underway fairly soon. Although there’s no word on a release date, we guess it’ll follow some time after “The Avengers” in 2012.