With all the talk about the success of “The Dark Knight,” the bad-ass vibe of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and the legal troubles of “Watchmen,” it’s easy to forget that there’s another, even bigger slate of comics-savvy films hitting theaters down the road — not the least of which is the culmination of Marvel Studios’ glorious four-year plan: “The Avengers.” And just a few weeks before “The Avengers” hits theaters, the world will be introduced to the superteam’s eventual leader in “The First Avenger: Captain America.”

However, with no shortage of news, speculation and detective-like investigation surrounding “Captain America,” it can be hard to distinguish where the rumors end and the facts begin. To that end, UGO has posted an exhausting roundup of just about everything there is to know about the film (and a few things we’re still guessing about) — but that doesn’t mean they didn’t miss an item or two.

After the jump, we’ve offered up some additional context on the “Captain America” news roundup, based on our coverage of the much-anticipated film. Read more…

For the legions of Neil Gaiman fans out there, February 6 can’t come soon enough. After all, as we’ve mentioned here numerous times on Splash Page, that’s when the 3-D, stop-motion animated adaptation of “Coraline” hits theaters. And even though that premiere date seems far away, the good people at Laika Entertainment, Focus Features and Coraline.com feel our pain, and have dropped a series of behind-the-scenes videos on YouTube — each one an entertaining and informative peek at the much-anticipated film.

After the jump, we’ve posted five (count ‘em, FIVE!) more videos which explain how tiny knitting tools, shoving armpit hair into a gelatinous substance, and a highly-articulate moustache all play pivotal roles in the creation of “The Biggest Smallest Movie Ever Made.” Read more…

It looks like Fox is sticking to their game plan of going all-out on comic properties in the coming year, as news is slowly making its way around the wire that the company’s TV arm has signed an agreement with Korean production company SSD to produce and distribute a live-action TV series based on Tsukasa Hojo’s “City Hunter” manga.

According to a report first posted on ICV2.com over the holiday break, Fox TV Studios and SSD will joint-produce 13 episodes to be distributed worldwide. Korean actor Chung Woo-sung will star in the series (marking the first Asian actor to headline a U.S. TV drama) and, according to the Korean KBS TV network, will also feature “many famous Hollywood stars.” Production of the series will start next year, with filming taking place in Tokyo and Seoul. Read more…

In the shadow of the great debate over whether or not “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder should or shouldn’t have changed the ending to what many consider the greatest graphic novel ever published, lies another issue that could possibly spark debate among fans: why Snyder chose not to update the film, given that the plot of “Watchmen” could easily relate to our modern world just as well as the late-1980s dystopia of the original story.

“I didn’t update it for a couple of reasons,” Snyder recently said in an interview with iFMagazine.com. “I thought Nixon was important to the movie. He’s not in the movie a lot, but [his presence] says a lot, [especially about] what a villain is. In the graphic novel, he’s written with a lot of ambiguity of whether he’s a bad guy or not. It’s really interesting.” Read more…

If last week’s preliminary judgment against Warner Bros in the “Watchmen” court battle wasn’t enough to send comic book fans into a panic, today’s news certainly might do the trick. According to The Associated Press, 20th Century Fox will seek a court order delaying the March 6 release of the much-anticipated adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons‘ graphic novel.

The AP reports that in a response to today’s announcement, an attorney for Warner Bros said “he didn’t know if an appeal was coming, but thinks a trial is necessary and a settlement unlikely.”

As we reported last week, U.S. District Court Judge Gary Feess surprised much of the media world by offering up a preliminary judgment on the “Watchmen” lawsuit Wednesday evening, agreeing with Fox’s claim that they — not Warner Bros — held the rights to develop and distribute the adaptation. Read more…

Rebecca Romijn, who brought blue-skinned, shape-shifting mutant Mystique to life in the “X-Men” films, hasn’t forgotten the role that earned her a place in comics fans’ hearts — and now she’s apparently reprising that role in a very special video with real-life husband Jerry O’Connell.

Recently posted to FunnyOrDie, this short video titled “Mystique is Pregnant” claims to be a “classic clip from the sitcom ‘Mystique and Me’ where Jerry gets Mystique pregnant with a non-shape-shifting baby.” And while I’m pretty darn sure there was never a “Mystique and Me” sitcom, I’m absolutely certain that this clip is freakin’ hilarious.

What do you think of “Mystique is Pregnant,” folks? Glad to see O’Connell and Romijn having some fun with their real-life and comics-world roles? Let us know in the comment section!

It came out of nowhere to surprise us all, and led in no small part to making Robert Downey Jr. the actor MTV News was most thankful for this year. But now that “Iron Man 2” is already full-steam ahead, what can or should be improved from the first film?

“I’m sure Rob would have a million answers!” screenwriter Justin Theroux exclaimed when we brought the question to him (And Downey certainly did have some “Iron Man 2″ answers for us.)

As for Theroux himself, however, the biggest difference, he says, won’t necessarily be an improvement, but a total paradigm shift in dealing with Tony Stark. Read more…

Despite the fact that we left our faithful readers on a downer this past week concerning the legal battle over the rights to “Watchmen,” two facts remain.

One, even though the release date may be in jeopardy because of all this, we will see “Watchmen” hit the multiplex eventually, and two, for co-creator Dave Gibbons, just that feat alone is a worthy accomplishment.

In a recent sit-down with the UK’s Digital Spy, Gibbons related “Watchmen” making the jump to the screen like playing Mega Millions, saying, “I always looked upon it as a bit like having a ticket in a lottery. The chances are it won’t come up, and if it doesn’t come up I won’t be disappointed. I haven’t been holding my breath all these years thinking, ‘Oh, please make a movie of it, it’s gotta be a movie’. But the fact that it is being done, and it’s being done quite well, I’m quite excited about it.” Read more…

Even though his thriller “Eagle Eye” will be hitting shelves on DVD and Blu-Ray today, writer/director D.J. Caruso keeps hearing one question every time he plops down in the interview chair, “Why?” — or more specifically, “Y?” — as in his in-the-works adaptation of Vertigo Comics’ “Y: The Last Man.”

Case in point, in a recent sit-down with Caruso, SuperHeroHype.com once again brought up the possible trilogy which follows the last man on earth, and as usual, the director was more than willing to give fans of the comic an update — this time, on the struggles involved with adapting such an epic tale.

“I think it’s one of those that the source material is fantastic stuff, it’s great, but it’s a tough one to lick into getting into a screenplay,” Caruso related to SHH.com “I’ve tried to feel like it’s a trilogy of movies and I think everyone sort of agrees, but at the same time, just getting the first movie right and getting the right beats and knowing what to put in, it’s been really tough.” Read more…

The long-gestating court battle over the film rights to “Watchmen” took a possibly cataclysmic turn late Wednesday, as Judge Gary Alan Feess declared that 20th Century Fox holds a valid copyright interest in the property that would cover distribution of the upcoming “Watchmen” movie.

The ruling doesn’t bode well for Warner Bros., which is producing the Zack Snyder-directed pic scheduled to hit theaters on March 6. That release date could now be in jeopardy, although the judge appealed for both sides to find common ground and negotiate rather than continue through a trial, The New York Times reported.

The theatrical rights to “Watchmen” — the bestselling graphic novel of all time — have been mired in a series of complicated dealings dating back to the 1980s when Fox acquired the property for producer Larry Gordon. The studio subsequently abandoned plans to make the film, and Gordon began the search for a new partner. Read more…