The secret history of why Stan Lee REALLY created The Avengers

We’re all desperately waiting to see the Marvel Universe come together on screen in The Avengers on May 4, 2012 (assuming the date doesn’t shift, that is). But it turns out the creation of that supergroup was an accident, brought about by an impending deadline and an artist with a drinking problem.

Tom Brevoort, currently Marvel’s senior vice president of publishing, has been answering fan questions over on formspring, and he recently revealed that the whole reason an Avengers comic had to be created was because Daredevil #1 was late.

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Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders will finally take flight as a movie

The Dragonriders of Pern series of books has been stuck in Development Hell for years. You know what Development Hell is, right? It’s more like limbo: a place where some great ideas are stuck and unable to actually get turned into movies. Now the series has FINALLY been freed from that Hell.

According to Deadline, Dragonriders of Pern is going into production in early 2012:

David Hayter has been set to write the script for Dragonlight, the first novel in a series that includes 22 novels generated by Anne McCaffrey. Steve Hoban’s Copperheart Entertainment has teamed with Hayter and Benedict Carver’s Dark Hero Studios and Angry Films partners Don Murphy and Susan Montford on the project.

Hoban has apparently been trying to bring Dragonriders to the big screen for 14 years. It looks like he’s about to succeed.

Spoiler-Free Review of Doctor Who’s Next Two Episodes

ESO WILL NOT SPOIL ANYTHING FROM THE FIRST EPISODE OF DOCTOR WHO UNTIL WE HAVE SEEN IT OURSELVES AND DO OUR REVIEW OF THE EPISODE ON ESO#57

But until then…

Among all of the spoiler-free reviews available right now, io9′s was particularly embracing and fresh, having just been written after the stateside premiere. These are some pieces from the review, which is conveniently broken apart.

Read the story here (NO SPOILERS HERE, SO NO WORRIES)

Predator producer bringing The Martian Chronicles to the screen

Steven Spielberg tried—and failed—to get a movie made out of Ray Bradbury’s short story collection The Martian Chronicles back in the ’90s. So it looks like it’s up to John Davis, a producer responsible for bringing Predator, I, Robot and Waterworld (uh-oh) to the screen, to finally make it happen.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount has picked up the movie rights to Bradbury’s collection, which had previously been made into an NBC/BBC miniseries written by Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) in 1980.

Get Ready to Be Creeped Out for Five Seconds by the ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ Ape

20th Century Fox and Academy Award winning visual effects team WETA Digital have released five seconds of the CGI apes for their new movie Rise of the Planet of Apes.

The movie, starring James Franco and Freida Pinto, is set to be released on August 5.

The Rise of the Planet of Apes Facebook page will be hosting live a behind-the-scenes look at the movie on Apr. 13.
Read about the story here