You knew there had to be at least one joke about Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark at this past Sunday’s Tony Awards and here’s Neil Patrick Harris in all his impressive athleticism.
(San Diego, April 1) – APRIL FOOLS! There will in fact be no Mars Attacks on Broadway– at least not yet anyway! We’re glad so many people enjoyed our little bit of fun, especially those who were excited to see it hit the stage.While Mars Attacks will not be appearing as a musical just yet, we do hope you will all check out the many exciting things happening with Mars Attacks in 2012– and beyond!
-Topps & IDW
About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The TRANSFORMERS and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; HBO’s True Blood; the BBC’s DOCTOR WHO; Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Toho’s Godzilla; Wizards of the Coasts Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons; and the Eisner-Award winning Locke & Key series, created by best-selling author Joe Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints, and Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studio.
IDW’s critically- and fan-acclaimed series are continually moving into new mediums. Currently, Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Disney are creating a feature film based on World War Robot, while Michael Bay‘sPlatinum Dunes and Sony are bringing Zombies vs. Robots to film.
About Topps
Founded in 1938, The Topps Company is the preeminent creator and brand marketer of sports cards, entertainment products and distinctive confectionery. Topps’ leading sports and entertainment products include Major League Baseball, National Football League, UFC, WWE, Star Wars, Garbage Pail Kids and Mars Attacks. The Topps Company’s top confectionery brands include “Ring Pop,” “Push Pop,” “Baby Bottle Pop,” “Bazooka” bubble gum, “Sharkies” and “Juicy Drop Pop” products. For more information, visit www.topps.com.
Topps & IDW Announce Joint Venture
MARS ATTACKS: The Broadway Musical
(San Diego, March 29)– Coinciding with the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, trading card giant Topps and comic book publisher IDW announced today an exciting joint venture: the co-production of a thrilling, big-budget Broadway musical based on the MARS ATTACKS saga, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2012. While Topps and IDW have each had success with their properties in film, a Broadway production is a first for both companies.
“Topps and IDW recently made a long-term commitment to MARS ATTACKS in the form of an ongoing comic book series, and this unique project is an extension of that,” said Ira Friedman, Topps VP of Publishing and Licensing.
Greg Goldstein, President of IDW Publishing, continued, “We’ve been hard at work preparing our new comic series since last fall, and a live stage production was the logical next step in expanding our partnership. This will be a ferocious, seat-of-your-pants musical that will engage audiences—a jaw-dropping extravaganza unlike anything theatre-goers have seen before.”
The musical, to be titled Mars Attacks: 21st Century Slaughter, will be written and produced by comics veteran John Layman, and set in the same continuity as the comic book that he is authoring. His story, adapted for the stage, chronicles the modern-day invasion of Earth by grotesque aliens from Mars, who utilize giant insects, killer robots and a variety of stunning death rays to conquer the planet.
“Ever since I saw The Sound of Music as a youngster living in New York I have dreamed of a career on Broadway, and I’m very excited to be branching out into theatre,” said Layman. “My approach to MARS ATTACKS on stage is sort of a science fiction version of West Side Story: a human and a Martian involved in a star-crossed romance, set against the backdrop of a violent interstellar war—with all of humanity caught in between! It’s going to be a rollicking good time, with songs that will make you want to get up and dance!”
Mars Attacks: 21st Century Slaughter is scheduled for rehearsals later this year with a Broadway debut planned for 2013. Topps and IDW are in negotiations with a high-profile director/songwriter team and are currently seeking a seven-foot tall male lead with extensive rock vocal experience.
IDW’s comic book series “Mars Attacks” launches this June. Topps will release a commemorative card set this July. For more information on Mars Attacks, follow their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MarsAttacks
About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The TRANSFORMERS and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; HBO’s True Blood; the BBC’s DOCTOR WHO; Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Toho’s Godzilla; Wizards of the Coasts Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons; and the Eisner-Award winning Locke & Key series, created by best-selling author Joe Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints, and Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studio.
IDW’s critically- and fan-acclaimed series are continually moving into new mediums. Currently, Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Disney are creating a feature film based on World War Robot, while Michael Bay‘sPlatinum Dunes and Sony are bringing Zombies vs. Robots to film.
About Topps
Founded in 1938, The Topps Company is the preeminent creator and brand marketer of sports cards, entertainment products and distinctive confectionery. Topps’ leading sports and entertainment products include Major League Baseball, National Football League, UFC, WWE, Star Wars, Garbage Pail Kids and Mars Attacks. The Topps Company’s top confectionery brands include “Ring Pop,” “Push Pop,” “Baby Bottle Pop,” “Bazooka” bubble gum, “Sharkies” and “Juicy Drop Pop” products. For more information, visit www.topps.com.
For their New Years celebration CNN got into a Broadway sort of mind having the Green Goblin from Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark abducting Anderson Cooper who was hosting for the channel. Check out the video below of the skit as well as the behind-the-scenes.
It’s worth watching just to see Kathy Griffin mock it all.
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On Monday’s Nightline, the show took a look at how the broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is doing after some shake-ups and changes.
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Today is Father’s Day, congrats to all the days out there! Also, if you’re in the Washington, DC area today is the DC Comicon at the GMU campus. While you were pondering what to get your dad, here’s the news you might have missed.
Around the Blogs:
The Beat – THE LEGAL VIEW: Super-style and the DCU Relaunch – We’ll soon find out the changes, and it’ll be interesting to see what we can attribute to the ongoing legal proceedings.
ArtsBeat – Taymor Calls New ‘Spider-Man’ Much Simpler – No one said she couldn’t comment as part of her departure?
CapeTown Community – What Consumers Should Know from the DC Retailer Roadshow – DC comics took to the road to talk to retailers about the upcoming reboot/relaunch.
Around the Tubes Reviews:
Seattle Pi – Modesty Blaise: The Double Agent
So what comic books did you pick up yesterday? Anything? Bueller? Well, while you were watching game 7 of the Stanley Cup, here’s the news you might have missed.
Around the Blogs:
ArtsBeat – Untangling the Reviews For ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark’ – I don’t think reviews will kill this, Les Mis had horrible reviews when it debuted. What’s the audience’s reaction?
ICv2 – Can ‘Green Lantern’ & Spidey Trump Bad Notices? – I don’t give a shit, I’m seeing both.
Kotaku – Week in Comics: Deus Ex, Gears of War, Sonic The Hedgehog Have One Thing in Common Today: New Comics – Kotaku each week highlights comics it thinks video game fans would enjoy.
Around the Tubes Reviews:
Bleeding Cool – Uncanny X-Men #538 and Generation Hope #8
Comicvine – Comic Book Reviews For The Week of 6/15/11
Complex – Has “Invincible Iron Man” Slowed Down After Three Great Years?
I love muppets, and this just makes me love them more.
This past Thursday the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society filed an arbitration claim on behalf of Julie Taymor, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark‘s original director. The claim is over the failure to pay royalties to the director. In a statement the union said to producers:
…failed to pay to Ms. Taymor any royalties for the run of the production” in violation of her contract and the union’s collective bargaining agreement. Laura Penn, the society’s executive director, said in the statement that Ms. Taymor “has given nine years of her life to this project” and its producers had “absolutely no right, legally and ethically, to withhold royalties that are due to her.” Ms. Penn added, “In fact, the right to use her work, on Broadway or anywhere else, is dependent upon the payment of royalties.
The union represents theater directors. The union says that according to it’s collective bargaining agreement, directors are supposed to receive royalties with a show’s first paid public performance, which occurred in November for the Broadway musical.
The Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has hit a huge moment. As of Wednesday night’s preview performance, its 177th, the musical is now an officially “frozen” production. That’s a term that means there’ll be no more changes made. After injuries, delays, cost over runs, plague, locusts, firings, the show is locked in. The show according to Philip William McKinley, who is overseeing production of the musical, is good enough and improved enough for audiences and more changes are not needed.
That also means the musical is ready for theater critics. Some critics have seen the production during it’s previous incarnation and came out blasting it for it’s craptacular everything.
The musical’s cost is now around $70 million and those involved are hoping for $1.7 million weekly to eventually break even.
