Plus Brief New Footage From New ‘Captain America’ Movie & Photo Too
There was a time before Sam Raimi‘s “Spider-Man” and Christopher Nolan‘s “Batman Begins,” when comic book movies were considered kid stuff and not treated with the reverence and seriousness they are now. Studios hung on to the properties because they knew that they might have a franchise on their hands, but it took them a while to figure out how to handle them. As such, every now and then, something like Albert Pyun‘s “Captain America” would happen, and looking back on it is a reminder of just how far the genre has come.
Going into production in 1989, the film cast Matt Salinger in the lead (Dolph Lundgren, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Val Kilmer were considered at various points), and the film was supposed to be a big budget spectacle for 21st Century Film Corporation. But when the financiers pulled funding just as cameras started rolling, the result was a low-grade mess that tested poorly and was ultimately taken out Pyun’s hands, re-edited and dumped onto home video to be forgotten. Until now.
Speaking with io9 Pyun reveals that hot off the heels of his director’s cut of “Cyborg” (details on that here), he’s got his final version of “Captain America” ready to go. Now running 124 minutes instead of 97 minutes, and based on his “own 35 mm CA work picture and temp mix” before he was booted, the new cut has “a few added scenes, and is more character-oriented and less ‘super hero action’” (not really sure how that last thing is a selling point, but whatever). It will arrive on BluRay in May, screen at the Fantasia Film Festival in July and B Movie Celebration in September.
We’re not sure any added amount of footage can make up how this movie fails on every conceivable level, but at least Pyun is getting it out there in the best version he could’ve made given the resources he had at the time. For details on the release you can send an email here.
Last but not least “Entertainment Tonight” — your favorite show — has unveiled some teaser footage of longer footage (get that?) from the new “Captain America” film later today. Marvel has also released a new “Captain America: The First Avenger” photo of Chris Evans looking for his puppy in rubble. [Splashpage]
