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Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 30, 2015 in Animation, Anime, Cinema, Comic Books, Design, Fandom, Hobbies and Collections, Horror, Podcasts, Pulp Fiction, Science, Star Trek, Star Wars, Tech, Television, Videogames 
I’m sorry to report that Fanboy.com is now on hiatus: We’re currently thinking of relaunching the site in the future, but for now no new stories will appear. We will still be posting links we love on a regular basis on our Facebook page so please keep in touch with us there.
I first registered this site on a lark in the 90s, but then started blogging almost 9 years ago in 2006 and found it to be a very rewarding experience. However after about 3,000 or so posts I got a bit burned out, however I was very lucky in that I found a few folks who were willing to put in the work to keep the site alive (namely Ben Huber, Bob Muir and Tim Sheehy) and to them I owe a great deal of thanks. I also would like to thank you the readers of this website for coming back to us over the past few years. In the meantime we’ll keep this site up for anyone who would like to see our old stories until further notice.
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 30, 2015 in Cinema 
If you don’t want a major plot twist for Terminator: Genisys spoiled, don’t click this. The marketing for this movie seems determined to ruin the plot twist at every turn. Do they think it’s not that big a deal? Is it only a “minor” twist in the grand scheme of the film’s story? Or are they hoping the shock value of the spoiler will be enough to get people to turn up? Who knows. To me, it’s a bizarre choice… but then again, Genisys has been marketed abysmally, with bizarre press photos, badly edited trailers, and now… poorly-Photoshopped posters. Read more…
Tags: Terminator, Terminator Genisys
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 30, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Here’s your first straight-up press shot of Batman from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It wasn’t supposed to get out this soon, but hey, this is the internet, and these sorts of things happen. It’s actually the same shot from the IMAX posters, but without the face obscured and cropped slightly less. It’s kind of a weird shot because Batman just has his arms… hanging out there. Almost like he’s trying to strike a cool “tough guy” pose but didn’t know where to put his arms. As goofy as it looks, I do like this gruffer, stubblier, and less-pointy-ears Batman. He looks like could take a punch or two from Superman! Read more…
Tags: Batman, Batman v. Superman
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 30, 2015 in Cinema 
Does one guy cut every action blockbuster trailer? Probably not, but Red Letter Media makes a strong case in their newest video. With summer movie season coming up, we’ll be seeing a lot of trailers before choosing what to watch. RLM’s video reminds us that yes, every action trailer is the same, especially if it’s for a superhero movie. They’re the same beats, the same editing style, and the same music, over and over again. At least we’ve managed to move on from that “trailer voice guy” who said things like “In a world…” Read more…
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 26, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Here’s what you’ve all been waiting for: the next incarnation of the Joker. Suicide Squad, out next August, will feature Jared Leto as the clown prince of crime. So… here’s what he looks like. I can only imagine — scene: at a Warner Bros. office. “How do we make it clear that the Joker has issues?” says a nameless exec. “I know!” says another, “We’ll tattoo ‘Damaged‘ across his forehead!” Weird ableism issues aside (its not like it’s easy to avoid stuff like that with the Joker as a character), it’s just silly. The rest? I’m actually okay with. The other tattoos and erratic, edgy look he has could play well. Plus, we need to see Leto in action before final judgement, I feel. Until then, though, I have a feeling we’ll see a lot of “Damaged” jokes. But do you remember the original reaction to first images of Heath Ledger as the Joker? People hated his design! I wouldn’t write this off just yet… Read more…
Tags: Suicide Squad, The Joker
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 25, 2015 in Cinema 
Universal is shuffling around the dates of some of their upcoming films. Warcraft, which has already been pushed around quite a bit, is moving from March 11th, 2016 to June 10th, 2016. Not a huge difference, but it shows two things: a) Universal wants to get out of the way of Batman v Superman, and b) they think Warcraft is good enough to stand up to the summer movie box office! Let’s hope it’s solid. I trust Duncan Jones! Pacific Rim 2 has also been pushed back, April 7th, 2017 to August 4th, 2017. That was moved to make way for the eighth Fast and Furious film, which will open April 14th, 2017. Oh yeah, and there’s a new Mummy film on the way, which will show up March 24th, 2017. With all those dates out of the way, the real question is: how much of this slate will be… good? Read more…
Tags: Pacific Rim, Warcraft
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 24, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
It’s summer! I’ve got my hat on backwards and it’s time to watch a whole bunch of superhero movies. Here are two new clips Marvel movie clips: one from Ant-Man, and another from Avengers: Age of Ultron. Both are a tad spoilery, so go no further if you want to stay untarnished! The first clip features Scott Lang breaking in and stealing — what else? — the Ant-Man suit. It’s an interesting setup! The second clip is for folks who can’t wait: it’s a brief look at Vision in action from further in the film, when he’s first activated. I hear he’s one of the best elements of Age of Ultron! Read more…
Tags: ant-man, Avengers: Age of Ultron
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 24, 2015 in Animation, Cinema 
Surprise! That leaked news from the Sony email hack from last year has turned out to be true! Phil Lord and Chris Miller are working on an animated Spider-Man film for Sony — in fact, they’ll be the “masterminds” behind the project and will executive produce as well. However, the press release doesn’t mention them directing it, and doesn’t bring up anyone else, so who will helm the pic remains a mystery. According to Sony, it will exist independently of the live-action Spider-Man film universe and they have already dated it for July 20th, 2018. I wonder if we’ll see a different interpretation of Spider-Man here? Having two Spidey films going at the same time could be awfully confusing… unless the animated one is say, Spider-Man 2099 or Miles Morales, eh? Hey, I can hope, can’t I? Read more…
Tags: Chris Miller, Phil Lord, Sony, Spider-man
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 23, 2015 in Anime, Cinema
After releasing films like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, and Wolf Children, Mamoru Hosada has established himself as one of the best directors of anime films. His creativity, skill, and attention to detail make for outstanding cinema, especially in a field that has lost luminaries like Hayao Miyazaki (retired) and Satoshi Kon. His next film, The Boy and The Beast, has a new English-subtitled trailer, courtesy of Australian distributor Madman. It tells the story of a boy who falls into a parallel beast world and is raised and trained by one of the beasts. The animation already looks outstanding, so check it out! Read more…
Tags: Mamoru Hosoda, The Boy and The Beast
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 22, 2015 in Cinema, Television 
I think I saw and enjoyed Galaxy Quest way before I ever saw one episode of Star Trek, and it didn’t matter, because it’s such a funny movie. But soon, it will also be a (hopefully funny) TV series. Paramount is developing it, along with the original film’s writer, director, and producer, so the same crew is along for the ride. I wouldn’t expect any of the original actors to reprise their roles, but I could see the potential for this to work as a series. Naturally, Paramount isn’t giving out any more details, so we’ll have to imagine who could possibly step into Alan Rickman’s shoes. Read more…
Tags: Galaxy Quest, Science Fiction, Star Trek
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 21, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books, Fandom 
Despite knowing that I probably won’t like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice because of the overly dark direction they’re taking it, I was surprised that I enjoyed the teaser trailer as much as I did. It’s not what I want, but for what Zack Snyder is making, the trailer seems pretty cool. (Maybe it appeals to my inner teen, I dunno.) But what if that trailer was too dark for you? Did you want something lighter, more optimistic, even more campy? YouTube user Bobby Burns has recut the trailer with footage from Christopher Reeve’s Superman movies and Adam West’s live-action Batman TV series. No matter how gritty the dialogue gets, it’s undercut by, say, Batman running around with a cartoon bomb. I’m just going to assume this will happen for every future trailer as well. Read more…
Tags: Adam West, Batman v. Superman, Christopher Reeve
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 20, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Fox’s new trailer for Fantastic 4 started showing up around the internet a little early, but no matter! They posted it officially on their YouTube channel so that we can all see it legit. The big thing here is our first non-set-photo look at Doctor Doom. Sadly, I am not a fan. It looks like he’s wearing a garbage bag… and that feels really awful to say! I’m usually the first person to say that the comics and movies have different design aesthetics and you can’t compare the two, but man, I wish we could see a version of Doom closer to his comic book iteration. Ok, enough complaining: the Thing looks pretty great!
Do you think we’ll ever find out if the rumors about Josh Trank’s behavior are true? He didn’t show up to the Star Wars Celebration panel he was supposed to be on yesterday due to feeling “under the weather.” Very last minute! I wonder if there’s trouble following the director?
Here’s the Fantastic 4 trailer! Read more…
Tags: Fantastic Four, Josh Trank
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 19, 2015 in Cinema 
Remember Kung Fury? It was a pastiche of 80s action movies that raised funds via Kickstarter with plenty of success. The short film will release on May 28th on YouTube. It has a little bit of everything: dinosaurs, kung fu, nazis, vikings, and plenty of over-the-top action. As you know, any good 80s film has to have a theme song tie-in, right? Well Kung Fury hit it out of the park: they enlisted David Hasselhoff to perform the theme song True Survivor… and it’s just as ridiculous as you’d expect. Check out all the explosions, cheesy lyrics, and dinosaurs in the video below! Read more…
Tags: David Hasselhoff, Kung Fury
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 19, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
There’s a good chance you’ve already seen this, given that this teaser leaked earlier. It didn’t make as big of a splash as say, um, The Force Awakens trailer, but it definitely got people excited because we got a closer look at Ben Affleck’s Batman. So, hey, here it is again but not blurry, dark, and shakey! Setting aside the leak, the overall reaction in the geek community seems to be a bit negative… but that could be because of the pedigree here. Man of Steel wasn’t exactly well-loved by Superman fans. Still, I hope that Zack Snyder’s skills are improving and he’s made films that I’ve enjoyed in the past (even if they weren’t perfect per se). “Do you bleed?” Read more…
Tags: Batman v. Superman, Zack Snyder
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 18, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Here’s a fun rumor to chew on: Bleeding Cool is reporting that they’re hearing that Netflix’s Defenders will appear in Avengers: Infinity War Part 2. As you may already know, the Defenders are the eventual team-up of the Netflix Marvel series Daredevil, A.K.A. Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. Once this team-up happens, Bleeding Cool says they’ll help out in Infinity War Part 2. Seems like that film will be packed with heroes, if that’s true! It could be fun to see the small-screen superheroes make it to the big one. Read more…
Tags: Avengers: Infinity War, Defenders, Netflix
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 17, 2015 in Cinema 
While everyone was busy freaking out over the new Star Wars trailer, Alcon Entertainment decided to put out a press release announcing that Ryan Gosling has signed on to star along side Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2, which will be directed by Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy). The press release doesn’t detail who Gosling will be playing, leaving us wondering what the script currently looks like. This does seem to imply that the movie won’t be entirely shouldered by Ford, who’ll now have some new faces to bolster the film. I’m still curious about what the plot will be, but will Villeneuve behind the wheel and Gosling stepping up, I’m way more interested than before. Read more…
Tags: Blade Runner, Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 16, 2015 in Cinema, Star Wars 
Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim has kicked off in a big way: with J.J. Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy premiering the new teaser trailer for The Force Awakens. This new teaser still doesn’t give much away, but does give you a better look at the leads and the villains they’ll be up against. Of course, there’s also a shot of two certain characters from the original trilogy too. You can probably guess who! I won’t spoil anything else, just watch the teaser below! Read more…
Tags: Episode VII, The Force Awakens
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 16, 2015 in Cinema 
It’s still uncertain whether Fox is rebooting Flash Gordon, or if it’s some sort of sequel to the 1980 one as that film’s star Sam G. Jones claims. But whatever form it takes, at least it’s going to have a great director. Matthew Vaughn is currently in talks to direct the film. And after seeing Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class, and Kingsman: The Secret Service, I’d say Flash Gordon is in good hands. There’s still no word if Fox plans to resurrect Freddie Mercury so that Queen can score this reboot too. Read more…
Tags: 20th Century Fox, Flash Gordon, Matthew Vaughn
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 16, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
X-Men: Apocalypse has found its Psylocke. Director Bryan Singer revealed on his Instagram that Olivia Munn has been cast as Betsy Braddock, a.k.a. Psylocke. There have been some weird stories about Psylocke’s body getting modified or merged with another person (or something like that — it’s comics), but it’s likely that this movie will simplify things and keep the character as she’s most popular: a psychic ninja. It’s a big role for Munn, but she did give a good performance on The Newsroom, so this casting seems solid. Read more…
Tags: 20th Century Fox, X-Men
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 15, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Wonder Woman, part of DC’s fledgling film universe, was set for a 2017 release. Not only would it have been the first female superhero movie, but it would have had a female director, Michelle MacLaren. Now I wouldn’t say the movie is in trouble, but MacLaren just left the project due to creative differences. This happens all the time in Hollywood, and it could be for a variety of reasons, from clashing with executives over franchise continuity (see: Edgar Wright and Ant-Man) to disagreeing over creative vision (perhaps with producer Zack Snyder, who is establishing Wonder Woman in Batman v. Superman). There’s no word on whether this will delay the movie, but regardless, it still has a good chance of beating Captain Marvel, due out in 2018. Read more…
Tags: DC Comics, Warner Brothers, Wonder Woman
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 14, 2015 in Cinema 
There’s a new trailer out for Terminator: Genisys, but before you watch it, be aware that it will ruin what seems like a very significant plot twist that changes the previous mythos of the franchise. But hey, you’re probably not going to let that stop you, and I’d be lying if I said this spoiler didn’t pique my interest. The jury is still out as to whether this sequel/reboot/whatever will be worth it, and some of the creative choices seem unusual. But it looks like they’re swinging for the fences, so at least they’re trying. Read more…
Tags: Terminator, Terminator Genisys
Posted by Bob Muir on Apr 14, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
I’m surprisingly interested in Ant-Man, considering that Marvel’s Phase Two “epilogue” comes across like an afterthought after Avengers: Age of Ultron. But that teaser trailer was incredibly uninteresting, showing some cool visuals without explaining what makes this different than other Marvel movies. The first “real” trailer has dropped, and it makes up for most of the teaser trailer’s faults. The comedy could still use more of a presence, but at least the jokes land better. And we have an idea of what Ant-Man is about, including a good look at the villain Yellowjacket. I get the feeling it will still be an uphill battle to sell people on the movie after Age of Ultron, but this is a good start. Read more…
Tags: ant-man, Marvel
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 13, 2015 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Marvel’s president Kevin Feige has laid to rest much of the speculation surrounding the upcoming Spider-Man reboot in the MCU: he has confirmed that yes, Spider-Man will be Peter Parker, yes, he will be 15-16 years old, and yes, there will be no origin story in the film. Great! I don’t think we need to see the spider bite and Uncle Ben die again. Feige said their conceit is that Spidey is already out there, “running around New York City in a homemade version of the Spider-Man costume in the MCU. You just don’t know it yet.” And as for the costume itself? “We’ve already designed the costume, which is different than any of the ones that have come before. And yet ours is classic Spidey, as I think you’ll see.” Read more…
Tags: Marvel, Spider-man
Posted by Ben Huber on Apr 12, 2015 in Cinema 
Stephen King’s novel series The Dark Tower has been floating around in the adaptation sphere for a while, first at Universal, then Warner Bros. At one point Ron Howard was producing! It was conceived as an elaborate multi-film plan with a TV series season filling in between each movie. Now, the license has been passed on to Sony, who is fast-tracking the movie along with Media Rights Capital who is going to build a TV series companion. Sony & MRC still seem to desire a huge franchise, but are starting small (comparatively!) with one movie and one TV show first. Akiva Goldman and Jeff Pinkner are still writing, but have updated the script since last time it was shopped around, focusing mainly on the first book and the characters of Roland and Jake. Sony will soon begin courting directors for the project and then begin casting anew, which will start the wonderful rumor cycle back up again. Read more…
Tags: Dark Tower, Stephen King
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