This was a big week for news, especially of the comic book movie variety. Surprisingly, even with all that coming out we still have even more items worth talking about on the radar. Batman beats Superman…again, a Star Wars character makes a bid for a mascot job, MGM is still looking for money, Brian De Palma may get paranormal and what cities will Michael Bay reign destruction upon next?

Batman trumps Superman on the auction block

Looks like Batman wasn’t content with beating Superman at the box office, he had to do it at an auction as well. The 1939 first appearance of The Dark Knight sold for a whopping $1,075,500. This beats Superman’s first appearance in comics which sold for 1 million. Sorry, Supes…but, hey, you did land an awesome writer for your upcoming reboot.

Blockbuster struggles to remain relevant in the digital age

Video rental store Blockbuster continues an uphill battle to compete against digital alternatives.  The brick-and-mortar business reported a “$435 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $360 million in red ink in the year-ago frame. Revenue dropped 18% to $1.1 billion.” As companies like Netflix and Redbox continue to steal market share some believe Blockbuster has some merit left:

“The drying up of retail competition from the ongoing closures of most Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video stores; major studios aren’t making their new releases immediately available to Redbox; and Warner Bros. will begin a 28-delay before giving Netflix access to new-release DVDs.”

Personally, I don’t see a rebound at this point and beyond the legit competition Blockbuster still has piracy to content with. Is this the end? We’ll see.

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Despite Tobey’s dropping that he knows who will be replacing Sam Raimi as director for the planned Spider-Man4 movie reboot, the bigger news surrounding the Golden Globe nominee has been a rumor fueled by the entire internet that he’s currently signed on to play Bilbo Baggins in Guillermo del Toro’s The Hobbit.

But word has come from the Headgeek over at Ain’t It Cool News, via email from del Toro and Peter Jackson who is stepping back to the role of Producer for the two films being made from J.R.R. Tolkien’s lead-in to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, that the rumors aren’t true and that the production is still about a month or two away from making any announcements. Peter Jackson, in his email response even said that they’re  ”currently auditioning for Bilbo.”

Will this mean that in a month or so we’ll be completely shocked at who gets the role? Or might Maguire actually have a shot at it and the filmmakers are just playing coy? Let us know what you think of this idea, or who you’d like to see as Bilbo, in the comments below.

Once Peter Jackson announced to the world that he would be writing and producing an adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and that it would be two movies, there has been speculation as to just how the book will be split. Will it be cut in two and be a two-part adaptation like others are doing for the last Harry Potter and Twilight films or will the first movie be based on the book and the second serve as a bridge to Jackson’s Lord of the Rings?

Well, wonder no more because Jackson himself has cleared up the mystery, according to an interview he gave recently. The two movies will be based completely on the book.

“The second Hobbit script is still based on the Hobbit novel,” Jackson said in a group interview after a press conference for The Lovely Bones. “The Hobbit novel is in two parts.” Well, that sounds pretty definitive, doesn’t it?

In case you’re not familiar, The Hobbit tells the story of young Bilbo Baggins’ quest for a treasure guarded by the dragon Smaug. Written prior to The Lord of the Rings, it establishes some of the characters for that trilogy, including the wizard Gandalf and the evil Gollum, and the world of Middle Earth in which they live.

The first Hobbit movie is due in theaters in 2011, with part two following in 2012.

The Hobbit has been on everyone’s radar since the success of the Lord of the Rings films, but has been a long time coming. After New Line was sued by both director Peter Jackson and Tolkien’s heirs, Jackson is now reporting yet another delay to Variety.

Stating that writing on The Hobbit, which will be a two-part film, is slowing down production, Jackson said that he hopes that he along with Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens and director Guillermo del Toro will finish writing by the beginning of next year. Production would then start by the middle of next summer, a few months later than expected.

With Jackson as writer/producer and Del Toro at the helm, The Hobbit is sure to be worth the wait. However, fans of both the literature and the “Rings” trilogy are sure to be antsy to return to Middle Earth as soon as possible, so this latest delay won’t make them very happy.

The Hobbit films have reported release dates of December 2011 and December 2012, with no word as to whether the recent delays will push back these dates.

Things looked pretty bleak a week or so ago when lenders to Metro Goldywn Meyer seemed ready to plunge the studio into bankruptcy. Facing over 3 billion dollars in debt and struggling with a recent slate of films that just weren’t bringing in audiences, MGM seemed like a lost cause. Worse, had it gone under two of its biggest properties, The Hobbit and James Bond, would have gone with it (or at least to the highest bidder).

Fortunately, MGM has received a reprive for the time being. While not technically a “bailout,” the studio has reached an interim agreement with lenders to forgo investment payments until mid-December:

“MGM is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into a forbearance agreement with its lender group. The Company is appreciative of its lenders’ ongoing support. Under the terms of the agreement, MGM’s lender group has agreed not to enforce its rights or remedies arising as a result of the Company’s request to not currently pay interest due on September 30, October 31, and November 30, 2009. This agreement, which expires December 15, 2009, provides MGM with additional liquidity as discussions continue regarding the development of an optimal capital structure in support of the Company’s long-term business plan.”

This deal only buys some  time but will afford MGM the opportunity to coordinate efforts to turn the company around.  I say that with some skepticism considering the studio’s upcoming films: Cabin in the Woods, Hot Tub Time Machine, The Zookeeper, and the remake of Red Dawn.

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The recent economic downturn has had a ripple effect across the economy and now it’s threatening two of our favorite film prospects: The Hobbit and James Bond. In a conference call to bondholders studio Metro Goldywn Meyer sought funding to shore up the rest of the year and get projects on track. As money dwindles from MGM, management made a desperate plea to creditors:

“…with a request, or forebearance, to waive interest payments on MGM’s $3.5 billion killer debt until February 2010. Because if MGM doesn’t have to make those interest payments, then the studio can afford to use that money instead to fund the production slate.”

Just how bad is MGM at the moment? It needs, “$20M in short-term cash flow to cover overhead, and an additional $150 million to get through the end of year and continue funding its projects, and to start Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit.” Bondholders did not take the news well at all. In fact, reports indicate that they would sooner let the studio go bankrupt as they would be the first creditors to get paid back as assets were liquidated.

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Fans who thought that Peter Jackson’s presence at this year’s Comic-Con meant that he would have big news regarding the release of The Hobbit are in for a bit of a disappointment. Cinematical reports that Jackson revealed The Hobbit is much farther away than fans have been led to believe.

Prior to his appearance, rumors circulated that Jackson (who is producing with Guillermo del Toro directing) would announce who would star as Bilbo Baggins in the highly-anticipated double-feature prequel at Comic-Con. Far from announcing who was cast, he claimed they’re not even close to choosing one. “Everyone assumes we’re casting but we’re not,” he said.

Jackson related that they’re three or four weeks away from finishing the first draft of the script, and that the film isn’t even really greenlit yet. Once the draft is handed in, they still need to get approval on the script and have the budget approved before any casting decisions will be made. Fans shouldn’t panic however; the film will certainly be made, but wait a few months before you start looking for a casting announcement.

The first Hobbit film is due to hit theaters in December of 2011.

The release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has reopened discussions about what makes a good book to film adaptation. The Potter series often divides fans, and the latest chapter is no exception. I’ve heard from a number of fans of the book series who are  disappointed with the current film’s adaptation, while I’ve also talked to fans who are satisfied. Brad Brevet from RopesofSilicon reflected on some of the more negative fan reactions and he asks, “how faithful should film adaptations be?”

Adapting a book into a film is not an easy process. Squeezing a 300-page novel into a 120-minute film is difficult, especially if the book has lots of exposition or other elements that are not easily cinematic. For books that are rich and deeply characterized, like the Potter books, adaptation is almost always going to mean losing some characters or the minute characterizations that many fans hold dear.

That said, making an adaptation that is too close to the original work can often be just as problematic as making an unfaithful adaptation. Brevet mentions this spring’s Watchmen as an example of a film that while remarkably true to its graphic novel counterpart, still didn’t end up endearing itself to even diehard Watchmen fans. I would argue this was because despite getting the character and plot details correct, Watchmen didn’t effectively bring enough of its own cinematic virtues to the project. In contrast, Frank Miller’s Sin City was a tremendous adaptation of various vignettes from the graphic novel series, and it managed to be both accurate and bring in its own voice.

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Director Guillermo del Toro has had a unique and varied career so far. His range of films from Mimic, Blade II and Pan’s Labyrinth to Hellboy I and II, have managed to keep us interested, entertained and sometimes even a little scared. Currently, del Toro is working on a live-action version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic The Hobbit. But apparently, that’s not enough to keep him busy.

He’s also co-written a novel with Chuck Hogan called The Strain, which concerns a mysterious virus that turns humans into horrifying vampiric creatures. Over at Wired, they’ve got a first look at the video trailer for the book. Yes, even books have trailers now — especially if they are co-written by directors.

The video, according to Wired, “includes brief NSFW language and some monstrous imagery, (and) offers a glimpse of the gory horrors that await upon The Strain’s printed pages.”

The Strain, published by William Morrow, goes on sale June 2. Meanwhile, click through to check out the trailer.

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Previously on The Flickcast, the team discussed, among other things, the remake of campy horror classic Piranha and the casting of Elizabeth Shue in a lead role, the sad performance of the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles season finale and who should not play Captain America in the upcoming The First Avenger: Captain America.

On this week’s episode, the team delved into the death of author J.G. Ballard, discusses the latest footage released from Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen, decides if breaking J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit into two movies is a good idea and digs deeper into porn. Yes, that’s right, porn. Well, at least porn parodies of popular movies and television shows.

The team also made some great pics again this week including Matt’s choice of two movies, Crank 2 and Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle, Christina’s recommendation of a great television show called Oz and Chris’ picks State of Play with Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck and Star Trek: The Original Series on DVD to help get you ready for J.J. Abrams’ upcoming reboot of the franchise. Speaking of Star Trek, don’t forget to head on over and visit our friends at The Icon Factory to grab your very own shiny icons based on the upcoming film. They’re really cool.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter or via email. Thanks for listening.

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