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    Disney Acquires Marvel


    The future of the Marvel Superhero movies (once all current deals expire anyway) now fall under the house of the mouse. It was announced today that Disney has bought Marvel. The press release reads as follows:

    Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.

    Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

    Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

    "This transaction combines Marvel's strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney's creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories," said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. "Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney."

    "We believe that adding Marvel to Disney's unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation," Iger said.

    "Disney is the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses," said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel's Chief Executive Officer. "This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney's tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world."

    Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Mr. Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney's global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel's properties.

    The Boards of Directors of Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, effectiveness of a registration statement with respect to Disney shares issued in the transaction and other customary closing conditions. The agreement will require the approval of Marvel shareholders. Marvel was advised on the transaction by BofA Merrill Lynch.

    Now… before getting too worried about Disney ruining everything that Marvel has accomplished… keep this in mind. Many were worried about the same thing when Disney bought Pixar, but the reality has been that Disney has allowed Pixar to function pretty independently and we can probably expect the same for Marvel as well.

    Paramount still has the rights to distribute "Iron Man 2," "Thor," "Captain America" and "The Avengers" as per their pre-existing agreement, but Disney will probably take over all distribution rights after that deal lapses.



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    More New Images Of The Volturi!


    Think yesterday’s pictures of The Volturi were good? Then why not try seeing them in action!
    Further images have been released of The Volturi, the vampire “royal family” featuring in The Twilight Saga: New Moon and being played by Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning, Cameron Bright, Jamie Campbell Bower and Christopher Heyerdahl.
    In New Moon, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) finds himself facing death at the hands of the self appointed vampire enforcers, only for his abandoned, mortal love, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) to fly to his rescue.

    In The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is devastated by the abrupt departure of her vampire love, Edward Cullen, but her spirit is rekindled by her growing friendship with the irresistible Jacob Black. Suddenly she finds herself drawn into the world of the werewolves, ancestral enemies of the vampires, and finds her loyalties tested.

    The Twilight Saga: New Moon is due for UK cinematic release on 20th November 2009, check out the new images below, courtesy of Latino Review:


     
      
      






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    The Blind Side

    Directed by: John Lee Hancock.

    Starring: Quinton Aaron, Sandra Bullock, Kathy Bates, Lily Collins and Tim McGraw.

    Plot:

    The Blind Side is the remarkable true story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfil his potential. At the same time, Oher’s presence in the Touhys’ lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle.

    Watch Trailer>>


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    Preview Christopher Nolan's Inception

    Directed by: Christopher Nolan

    Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine and Cillian Murphy.

    Release date is July 16, 2010.

    Plot:

    His mind is the scene of a crime. Lucky for us, there is no crime being committed against the art of cinema here, as The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan is finally in the game with a trailer for his new film, Inception. Until today or this weekend, for those who saw it in theatres all we knew about Inception was that it was “set inside the architecture of the mind.” Now we know that it includes some sort of a dreidel reference, Leonardo DiCaprio having some wild visions, and two guys fighting in a hallway, Matrix-style.

    With continued trust that Christopher Nolan, who before he brought us The Dark Knight gave us films such as Memento and The Prestige, will not lead us astray. He’s a great storyteller who is following the second highest grossing film of all-time with an aggressive science fiction pic. And at this point, it’s impossible to judge this movie based on less than a minute of actual footage. But I will say this: that fight scene in the hallway looks pretty cool




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    The Vampire’s Assistant - Trailer And Poster

    Director: Paul Weitz
    Screenwriter: Paul Weitz, Brian Helgeland
    Starring: John C. Reilly, Ken Watanabe, Josh Hutcherson, Chris Massoglia, Ray Stevenson, Patrick Fugit, Orlando Jones, Willem Dafoe, Salma Hayek
    Official Website: TheVampiresAssistant.net
    Release Date: October 23, 2009


    Plot:

    "Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant," based on the popular series of books by Darren Shan, is a fantasy-adventure about a teenager who unknowingly breaks a 200-year-old truce between two warring factions of vampires. Pulled into a fantastic life of misunderstood sideshow freaks and grotesque creatures of the night, one teen will vanish from the safety of a boring existence and fulfill his destiny in a place drawn from nightmares.

    16-year-old Darren (Chris Massoglia) was like most kids in his suburban neighborhood. He hung out with his best friend Steve (Josh Hutcherson), got decent grades and usually stayed out of trouble. But when he and his buddy stumble upon a traveling freak show, things begin to change inside Darren. That's the exact moment when a vampire named Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) turns him into something, well, bloodthirsty.

    Newly undead, he joins the Cirque Du Freak, a touring sideshow filled with monstrous creatures from a snakeboy and a wolfman to a bearded lady (Salma Hayek) and a gigantic barker (Ken Watanabe). As Darren flexes his newfound powers in this dark world, he becomes a treasured pawn between the vampires and their deadlier counterparts. And while trying to survive, one boy will struggle to keep their brewing war from devouring what's left of his humanity.

    [Source: comingsoon.net]






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    James cameron's Avatar


    It's the moment we've all been waiting for, quite some time for this, its been in making for about 10 years! The first official teaser trailer for James Cameron's Avatar debuted this morning on Apple. After years and years of waiting and hearing all about the groundbreaking technology that Cameron has been using, we finally get to see what the world on Pandora looks like. Watch the teaser below or head over to Apple to see this in high def, which is the real way you should be watching it!






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