Inexplicably, Hulk 2 moves forward

From Moviesonline, "According to two of our good friend's 'in the know' Hulk 2 will begin shooting in the mighty Toronto in June. Louis Leterrier has revealed to Superhero Hype that Hulk 2 has gathered its enemies. Thunderbolt & The Abominable will take on Hulk in the sequel to the original HULK movie which I really didnt enjoy at all.

Eric Bana will not be returning for the sequel but the director does say that they are very close to casting the new Bruce Banner. There have been a lot of rumors regarding "Hulk 2," particularly since Eric Banadecided not to return to reprise his role as the mean green machine for the sequel. This will make "Hulk" the first comic film franchise since "Batman" to recast the main character while the films were still being turned out regularly, and that wild card variable places more pressure on this sequel than most others these days. Brendan Fraser and David Duchovny had both been mentioned as possible replacements, but neither rumor has turned out to be true. Now that the gossip has been dispelled, Comic-Con brings real news. The announcement was made that Louis Leterrier will be directing "The Incredible Hulk."

Leterrier co-directed and was an artistic director on "The Transporter" and then helmed "The Transporter 2," both starring Jason Statham. So, the French director has experience bringing a sequel to life on his own and keeping it true to the best aspects of the original, and even better his directorial debut and his solo directorial flight were super-action movies of high quality in their genre. Before he started playing his hand behind the camera, Leterrier also worked on "Alien: Resurrection" and "The Messenger."

IGN.com quoted some of Leterrier's comments from the panel at the convention; "It's Marvel's horror movie... It's 'Frankenstein,' it's 'Jekyll and Hyde' and a little 'Edward Scissorhands.'... The good thing about number twos is that you don't waste your time on the origin." Leterrier also spoke about the villain for the next movie; "I think we needed an anti-Hulk this time. Abomination is mega-bad Hulk."

The original "Hulk" movie took in $245 million worldwide, a little more than half of that accounting for domestic gross, and it cost $137 million to make. And, many fans have said that "Hulk" could have done much better if it hadn't been for some shortcomings of the film. It's apparent from his encouraging words that Leterrier knows his stuff about sequels, especially since the origins in the first "Hulk" were partially to blame for fan disappointment. The new director has also promised there will be no gamma-zapped Hulk-ing poodles this time. Some also thought the climax of the film, the big battle with the bad guy, Banner's father (Nick Nolte), was too confusing and convoluted by the virtually implicit action.

"The Incredible Hulk" might just be the promised land that "Hulk" seemed it would be. When "Spider-Man" premiered in 2002 to the sounds of cheering audiences with the "Hulk" trailer in front of it, hopes soared high that Marvel was on a winning streak and "Hulk" would be the "Spider-Man" of 2003. But, when the next year came, audiences were not as thoroughly and massively won over by "Hulk" as they were by the comic book fan event that was Sam Raimi's masterful Spidey film. Suddenly, The Hulk has a chance to redeem itself to those that were less than impressed with his theatrical debut. Now, the sequel has a comic style title (which may or may not stick; "Spider-Man 2" was supposed to be "The Amazing Spider-Man") and it has a new director with all the right ideas."