director’s cut of the Daredevil DVD in April

[Monster]

MARVEL RAISES 2004 GUIDANCE AGAIN, OUTLINES MOVIE, PUBLISHING PLANS
Marvel yesterday held a conference call for analysts to outline its projections for Q4 2003 and 2004. Chief among the announcements was that the company has raised its guidance for 2004, and now predicts generating $145 - $435 million in sales - $100 million more than previously stated.

Net income for 2004 is projected by the company to be in the range of $98 - $111 million, which is up from ealier projections of $74 - $87 million. The even more robust projection will be a decrease from 2003, as this year saw a one-time gain of $31.5 million from Marvel’s recording of an asset on its balance sheet for Federal tax net operating loss carry forwards. This gain allowed Marvel to virtually eliminate paying taxes (as it claimed a $31.5 million loss) in 2003, but the company will have to begin paying taxes around the middle of 2004 at a rate of 36% (Marvel’s effective tax rate in 2003 was -2%).

The major bump in the projections for 2004 come from the toy division, which is expecting solid growth due to Spider-Man 2.

For the calendar year 2004, Marvel estimates that 40% - 45% of its total net sales will come from licensing, thanks in no small part to: “recently announced initiatives in Europe and Asia/Pacific aimed at significantly increasing Marvel's international licensing activities. Licensing sales related to the Spider-Man 2 sequel and the related 50/50 joint venture with Sony will make a material contribution to overall operating income in 2004. Marvel expects a significant portion of this contribution will be recorded in Q2 2004, prior to the film's July 2nd release. Total revenue from Marvel's more than 35 toy licensees is expected to decline year-over-year as a result of the shift from a substantial contribution from Hulk licensed toys in 2003 (the royalties of which were recorded in the licensing division), to Spider-Man movie toys in 2004 (the wholesale sales of which are recorded in Marvel's toy division).”

The company is also projecting a modest increase in publishing thanks to “continued strength in the core business plus moderate growth in new distribution channels such as traditional book stores. Other revenue contributors, such as advertising income and new growth initiatives targeting young adults, should also gain momentum by late 2004.”

During the conference call with analysts, Gui Kayro said that publishing is the research and development arm of the company and that they’re planning on brining new looks to classic characters. Kayro said that Marvel sees enormous possibilities in publishing within new distribution channels, products and new demographics.

The head of publishing noted that the challenge for publishing is to continue the growth trends it has seen in the last few years, adding that Marvel will continue to broaden its distribution channels with comic book racks in Borders, as well as a partnership with Barnes & Noble Proprietary Publishing (it was this partnership which allowed B&N to get the trade editions of Marvel Masterworks which bypassed the direct market). Kayro said that Marvel has only scratched the surface of relationships with Wal-Mart and Target, and is planning to move into school book fairs and other youth-targeted venues. One new project named by Kayro that will be aimed at younger readers - Spider-Man Adventures.

Citing late release dates (August 26th and December 24th, respectively) for Man-Thing and Fantastic Four, Marvel’s enhanced guidance did not include any projected revenue from those films.

In the conference call with analysts, Marvel’s Avi Arad stated that Fantastic Four’s release has been pushed back to summer of 2005.

Also, Arad said revealed:

- a director’s cut of the Daredevil DVD will come out in April;

- a writer for Hulk 2 has been hired

- a television series based on the Hulk may happen

- X-Men 3 is slated for a 2006 release, as is Hulk 2, Captain America, Namor, Nick Fury, and Iron Fist

- Elektra, Ghost Rider, and Iron Man are targeted for 2005, with Iron Man being written by Smallville writers Miles Millar and Alfred Gough

newsarama

awsome news for daredevil an hulk 2.... an x-men 3...

[Surf Monkey]

I really doubt that this will make the film any better. It was a disaster on many more levels than just the editing. I'm sure fans of the movie will love the new version though.

[mikenyc]

For real fans only.

It was an Ok film, but how much better can they REALLY make it, without the filler featurettes ?

[SharpShooter5]

great news, i love this film, and i can't wait to see a director's cut

[limacharliewhiskey]

I'm quite happy with the current version, which is packed with enough stuff I need to know about the movie. I'll likely rent the director's cut to just see the extra footage.

[reapersaurus]

Does anyone else cringe when they read the way stock analyst metings and announcements are worded?

It's like those guys aren't human, the way they talk about "publishing is the research and development arm of the company" and they view the whole thing as solely $$$ signs, not as entertainment in any way.

For example, if MArvel (comic book 'division') decided to somehow throw out all continuity for their characters, and force people to buy them brand new, stock analysts would think that was a grand idea. Of course, all comic book fans would spit in their face and realize what an insanely-greedy move it was and not buy the product...
(the above is slightly tongue-in-cheek, since it's scary, but I'm not sure if this happened or not )

[El Lancito]

Personally, I think that a great improvement on this movie would be to simply remove the cheesy songs from the soundtrack.

[ctoelle]

Originally Posted by Surf Monkey

I really doubt that this will make the film any better. It was a disaster on many more levels than just the editing. I'm sure fans of the movie will love the new version though.

I agree completely. I am a long time fan of the comic book, but could not stand this flick. IMO, Affleck is the hammiest actor working today. I refer to the movie as Daredrivel.

[optimalautobot]

i for one, loved this movie and cant wait until the director's cut comes out

at any rate, hopefully some specs come out soon

another one to add to the list... ha ha

[robarnold99]

Looks like I'm against the majority so far...I liked the movie, thought it was a decent comic book flick and I also enjoyed Mark Steven Johnson's commentary. Many of the changes that he discussed in the commentary would take the movie in a different direction and I can't wait to see it.

[SilentBob]

*checks wallet for money*


Well at least i have until April to save some money. Seems like some great thinkgs are to come from Marvel over the next 2-3 years.


Anyways back to the movie. I really enjoye dit a lot when i watched it on dvd again. the sound and picture was a lot better then when i saw it in the theater. Now to hear the *REAL Colin Farrell on the movie should be great


tons of swearing (duh!)

[lostwire]

I thought this film was a lot of fun & look forward to the new cut. IMO, there hasn't been a comic book adaption yet that gave me the impression of what it would be like to really be a super-hero, but DD did.

[MrMike]

This is good news. I heard they weren't going to produce to DC until Elektra came out in 2005.

[downhuman]

Damn! I would have held off if I'd known this was coming so soon. I thought it was going to another year or so.

I thought DD was above average. It had it's daffy moments (most notably the whole Electra sandbag scene with flavor-of-the-month Evanescense playing over it) but I felt that everything it needed to get right, it did. Affleck managed to not fuck up the proceedings and despite his shortcomings managed to make Matt Murdock a believably human character. Micheal Clarke Duncan and Colin Farrell were inspired casting choices even if their characters were underused (that's what sequels are for). It was good enough to make me anticipate the inevitable sequal. Not bad at all. I can't wait to see what they cut out.

[Oscar Antonio M]

Unless i hear the director's cut improves the movie, ill be getting it. I kind of liked the theatrical cut.

[JakeLipson]

The MPAA has just rated the new cut of Daredevil and -- unfortunately, but not suprisingly -- Fox is pulling an X-Men with the new DVD and calling it Daredevil 1.5.

Daredevil 1.5 (2003)
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
R Rated R for violence and language.

FYI, thiis compares to the theatrical cut rating of PG-13 as follows.

Daredevil (2003)
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.
PG-13 Rated PG-13 for action/violence and some sensuality.

For those of you wondering why the rating reasons are different - director Mark Steven Johnson (very occasionally) visits another board I go to and in one of his most recent updates he said that the director's cut gets rid of the sex scene (and also the confessionals), which would indicate that he is restoring it to his original version of the screenplay.

Also of intrest, from Sci Fi Wire.

Ben Affleck told SCI FI Wire that he's reluctant to reprise his superhero role in any Daredevil sequel film. "I don't know about Daredevil II," Affleck said in an interview while promoting his upcoming SF movie Paycheck. "That may be too much work for me. I don't have any idea."

Affleck added that he'd consider it if friend, filmmaker and sometime Daredevil comic-book writer Kevin Smith took part. "I suppose that if Kevin Smith wrote it and was going to be involved, I would do it," he said.

Affleck added that he'd be willing to take up the red cowl and billy club again in the proposed Elektra movie spinoff, which would star his Daredevil leading lady Jennifer Garner. "I would do some sort of cameo in Jen's movie—she's going to do Elektra—just because she's cool, and she's my friend. But I'm not banging down the door trying to get Daredevil II made. You'll know when my career is really on the slide when I start resurrecting the franchise."

Well, we'll have to see where this goes. Interesting, since Fox is aiming both Elektra and DD2 for a 2005 or 2006 release. And I believe they've got Ben Affleck under contract for at least one sequel, so he might have to do DD2 anyway. Again, we'll see....

[mighty mint]

Where did you get the new rating info from?

[larphillips]

Originally Posted by reapersaurus

Does anyone else cringe when they read the way stock analyst metings and announcements are worded?

It's like those guys aren't human, the way they talk about "publishing is the research and development arm of the company" and they view the whole thing as solely $$$ signs, not as entertainment in any way.

For example, if MArvel (comic book 'division') decided to somehow throw out all continuity for their characters, and force people to buy them brand new, stock analysts would think that was a grand idea. Of course, all comic book fans would spit in their face and realize what an insanely-greedy move it was and not buy the product...
(the above is slightly tongue-in-cheek, since it's scary, but I'm not sure if this happened or not )

It's about time that Marvel started acting like this. They have been flirting with bankruptcy and mismangement for years and years. As a creative house, nobody could beat them. As a company, they have been a basket case. Their comics, and their characters are pure GOLD and up until the X-Men, they've done a piss poor job until now figuring out how to stay solvent. I applaud this move toward responsibility.

[Marq]

Originally Posted by mighty mint

Where did you get the new rating info from?

If you go to www.mpaa.org and do a search in the database for "Daredevil", you'll find the new listing and rating for Daredevil 1.5 (as "R").

[SharpShooter5]

i wonder how much racier the movie will be, i know it's getting an "R", but does that mean alot of swearing, or just the f word said 5 times

anyways, i was hoping for some Elektra nudity

also for those who hated Afleck, i was reading over at superherohype.com, that he's not interested in doing a sequel, so we could see a new daredevil in DD2 (but he did say he was up for a cameo in the Elektra spin off)

[larphillips]

Originally Posted by SharpShooter5

anyways, i was hoping for some Elektra nudity

Rumor has it that this unreleased film, Rennie's Landing, never got a release due to the inclusion of Garner's exposed breasts. The director wouldn't cut it, and Garner's rising star allowed her people to push this film into the closet. At least that's what I heard....

[mighty mint]

I
CAN'T
WAIT!!!
WOOHOO!!

[optimalautobot]

daredevil 1.5?!

doesnt fox ever learn anything!? argh

i'll still be getting it though

[Master Gandhi]

Originally Posted by optimalautobot

daredevil 1.5?!

doesnt fox ever learn anything!? argh

I'm sorry to contradict, but what is there for Fox to learn? I'm sure the X-Men 1.5 DVD sold phenomenally well, regardless of its pointless title. At least this time the '1.5' will be a director's cut, so the name makes more sense.

I thought the theatrical version of Daredevil was only relatively good, but seemed to just try too hard to maintain a "dark" tone on the villain side (Bullseye was way too one-dimensional with his incessant blood lust), while making the love-story aspect too cornball (the playground fight was so...subtle ). Despite these complaints, the visuals were great, especially the way they represented Murdock's vision. The lighting added to the "dark" effect they were going for in the fight scenes, which I also enjoyed. If all you're interested in seeing some action, this movie works pretty nicely.

Nevertheless, I would consider buying the director's cut when it comes out if it gets enough good reviews from sources I trust. Even then, it would more than likely still be a rental. Only time will tell.

[3DMan]

The only movie "1.5" would sound good on would be something like Tron. What the fuck is wrong with "Director's Cut"?

I may give this a shot if the new one is a lot better than the first, which I held off getting. Liked some stuff about the movie, didn't like other stuff.