Marvel-ous

When it comes to summer blockbusters, no one does it quite like Marvel. Using the cartoons and characters my generation (18-24) has grown up, Marvel has been able to revamp its image by taking their characters from the drawing board and into Hollywood.

I recently read an article posted on cinematical.com explaining the release of Marvel's newest movie Iron Man. A smart move on Marvels part, the release date for the actual movie isn't scheduled until early May of 2008. It seems marvel is already gearing up for the famous summer blockbuster wars by positioning themselves early on in the running, much like it did with Spider-Man 3.

The trailer is savvy, funny, an action packed; everything you would expect from a Marvel movie. Robert Downy Jr. plays Tony Stark, the newest super hero to move his way from the comic book pages and onto the big screen. Marvel has successfully been able to land big name stars for their movies ever since the release of Blade in 1998, which brought in close to $100 million dollar with only a $45 million dollar budget.

I also found it clever how right off the bat, Iron Man established one of its only corporate tie in that it allowed for this movie. In the movie, super hero Tony Stark will be driving around in luxory in Audi R8. As you can imagine, Marvel didn't ask Audi to use their car, Audi begged Marvel to make it Tony Starks shaggin wagon. After auditioning automakers to find the car that best suited the movie, the R8 was chosen due to its sleak elegant looks with its masked power under the hood. Filmmakers believed this fit the persona of Tony Stark perfectly. Audi went to great lengths to secure this deal, flying in two R8's for the production crew to view. Audi also remodeled the car somewhat to resemble the costume that Tony Stark wears when he is Iron Man; remodeling the headlight to look like his eyes and the engine housing in the rear that resembles the life support system Tony Stark creates to stay alive.

The best part of the Audi tie in is the fact that filmmakers wanted a car viewers could relate to, or in fact even own. True, you don't see many, or any, Batmobiles roaming the streets these days, but you may actually see one of two R8's, assuming you have $108,000 floating around in your wallet.

So with the release of the trailer, users are flocking to Quicktime to begin viewing their first glimpse at this major motion picture. Problem? I think so. One day after being released, the web site has been flooded by online viewers. Hopefully Apple will be able to fix the problem that they have run into, where the trailer stops playing within the last 15 seconds. On a lighter note however, this only instills more curiousity in its viewers. Marvel fans will keep returning to the site over and over until finally, they can view the whole trailer.....or we can just wait a day til someone eventually puts it on YouTube.