Nerd News Roundup!

With New York Comic Con kicking off this weekend, geeky news and announcements have been particularly abundant over the past few days. Here are the most noteworthy:

Emma Stone Is Gwen Stacy
I have a confession to make: I have a massive crush on Emma Stone. She’s charming, she’s gorgeous and—perhaps most important of all—she has incredible comic timing. Don’t believe me? Watch Zombieland again.

So I was understandably pretty excited when I learned that Ms. Stone would be starring as the romantic lead in Marc Webb’s 2012 Spider-Man reboot. However, I was befuddled when I learned that the redheaded actress would be playing Peter Parker’s blonde (and doomed) first love, Gwen Stacy. Surely, Ms. Stone would be a better Mary Jane Watson, no?

Evidently, as reported by First Showing, Stone’s a natural blonde, so the casting isn’t as bizarre as it would seem. Cosmic. (Via First Showing)

Zack Snyder Will Direct Chris Nolan’s Superman
Say what you will about 300 or Watchmen, it’s hard to deny the fact that Zack Snyder is pretty good at creating compelling visuals. His actual ability as a storyteller, however, is often questioned by critics.

Be that as it may, Warner Bros. has confirmed that Snyder will be taking the helm of the studio’s Superman reboot, which is being produced by Chris Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception) and written by frequent Nolan collaborator David S. Goyer.

This could be cool, assuming that Nolan, Goyer and Snyder refrain from simply rehashing the Richard Donner series, one of the predominant flaws of Bryan Singer’s 2006 attempt at a franchise reboot, Superman Returns. However, it’s rumored that the villain in the Man of Steel movie revival is Superman II baddie General Zod.

Aw, crap. (Via Heat Vision)

Transformers 3 Has a Title
Managing to somehow sound simultaneously pretentious and idiotic, Michael Bay’s third Transformers movie—due out next summer—is apparently called The Dark of the Moon. Wow, Pink Floyd is gonna be pissed.

I guess it’s better than Bay’s rumored original title, Transformers: F*ck You, Megan Fox. (Via Seibertron)

Zombieland Writers Mobilize for G.I. Joe 2, Deadpool

I might be in the minority on this, but I actually really liked Stephen Sommers’ G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. It was dumb and ludicrously cheesy at times, but it was also far more enjoyable than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, last year’s other mindless, toy-based summer blockbuster.

Despite near-universal criticism, G.I. Joe was moderately successful, bringing in more than $300 million worldwide not counting revenue earned through home video sales and merchandising. As one might expect, Paramount Pictures is readying a sequel.

IESB.com reports that Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick—who wrote the uproariously entertaining horror comedy Zombieland—are on hand to write G.I. Joe 2.

Do these names seem familiar? If you’ve been following movie news recently, you might have read that Reese and Wernick are also penning Deadpool, a film based on the popular Marvel Comics character.

Great writing was one of Zombieland’s many strengths, so this is promising news for fans who vehemently exclaimed “No, Joe!” when the first G.I. Joe movie hit theaters last August.

Zombieland 2 in 3D?

Recently, Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer told Moviehole that the sequel to the zombie survival comedy will likely be in 3D. Yep, that means blood and guts, right in your face. Sounds fun, right?

“The genre really lends itself to 3D,” said Fleischer, who confirmed that not only is Sony Pictures gearing up for a follow-up, but the original cast—Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin—is also eager to return.

Emerging as a surprise hit earlier this year, Zombieland arrived at a time when I was getting pretty tired of zombie movies, and the film was so freshly entertaining that it completely reignited my interest in the sub-genre. While Fleischer told Moviehole that the film is a few years away, I’m assuming that this and other 3D film projects will be fast-tracked if James Cameron’s Avatar is a success. But with one anonymous early reviewer calling the anticipated 3D sci-fi epic “alienating,” “weird” and “literally vomit inducing,” 3D technology could be a hard sell in the years to come.

Journeying Through Zombieland

In spite of pop culture’s ongoing obsession with vampires, spurred by Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books and accompanying feature films, zombies (the other undead) haven’t lurched out of the limelight just yet. While not the first zombie comedy—the 1980s Return of the Living Dead films and Shaun of the Dead immediately spring to mind—Zombieland is an uproariously funny and relentlessly gory trek through post-apocalyptic, zombie-ridden America.

The main character is Columbus, played by Jesse Eisenberg doing his best Michael Cera impression (these two are going to be fighting over the same roles for years). Serving as the narrator, Columbus explains that his neurotic tendencies have been key to his survival, inspiring him to come up with a list of rules to avoid falling victim to the undead. His rules include traveling light, “double tapping” seemingly incapacitating zombies (always shoot them twice) and to beware of public bathrooms. Anyone who’s read Max Brooks’ The Zombie Survival Guide is sure to get a kick out of these zombie survival rules, which crop up humorously throughout the film.

Columbus (everyone is nicknamed after their hometown) crosses paths with Tallahassee, a Twinkie-loving badass zombie killer played by Woody Harrelson. Harrelson seems to be enjoying himself whenever he’s onscreen, and his chemistry with Eisenberg provides much of the film’s comedy that isn’t derived from creatively massacring—or running from—the living dead. The pair soon stumbles upon con-artist sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), who round out this film’s makeshift and eventually somewhat functional family unit. Once they all learn to get along, the group heads west to Pacific Playland, an amusement park that’s rumored to be zombie-free. If you’ve ever seen a zombie movie before, you already know those rumors are complete bull.

As if director Ruben Fleischer’s genre mash-up wasn’t awesome enough—finding a tremendous balance between horror and comedy—a brilliant cameo toward the end of the film sends Zombieland right over the edge. I won’t spoil the surprise here, but it’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a movie in recent years.

With franchise written all over it (likely smeared in blood), Zombieland is an instant comedy classic.