First thing to notice is the mention of "IMAX's exclusive aspect ratio" which as anyone who's been following the tussle between actual IMAX and FauMAX will know is a bit of a moveable feast. Since its digital presumably this means the 16:9 like affair which usually turns up in the likes of The Hunger Games and Guardians of the Galaxy rather than the square frame that everyone expected when such things were shot on "film".
But buried in the text is this quote:
"The intent with the Infinity War films is to bring 10 years of accumulative storytelling to an incredible climax. We felt that the best way to exploit the scale and scope required to close out the final chapter of these three phases, was to be the first films shot entirely on the IMAX/Arri Digital camera."Here we are then, actual notice that Infinity War is acting as a kind of season finale for the MARVEL Cinematic Universe. Presumably it won't be the end of the end, unless the whole thing fails in the next year or so which seems unlikely given the box office cash Avengers 2: Ultron Boogaloo has made. Plus there's bound to be a Guardians 3 not to mention 2s for any of the characters handed their own films in Phase 3.
But it will be the end of the Thanos's glove storyline and has the tantalising prospect of what will come afterwards. Will it be something as intricate as the jewels business, and will it have tentpole features like the Avengers (assuming the Avengers films don't simply continue)? My guess is still something along the lines of Secret Wars, or even Secret Wars, but I'll probably be in my fifties by the time that comes around ...
Updated later:
MARVEL have also published a press release about the start of production of Civil War. First of all, we have a "synopsis":
“Captain America: Civil War” picks up where “Avengers: Age of Ultron” left off, as Steve Rogers leads the new team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. After another international incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to enlist the services of the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers while they try to protect the world from a new and nefarious villain."Which pretty much explains exactly how the adaptation is going to work and also how it puts Steve Rogers front and centre in the narrative and also a cast list, which is filled with the annoying "other films they've been in nonsense which I'll strip away to leave just a cast ... list:
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon
Paul Bettany as The Vision
Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye
Don Cheadle as Jim Rhodes/War Machine
Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
I'm not sure that we understandably knew about Bettany before but there they are The "New" Avengers. But hold on, there's another paragraph ...
Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man
Blimey. Oh hold on, there's some more:
Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther
Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter/Agent 13
Daniel Brühl
Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones
William Hurt as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross
Martin Freeman
Which makes this an even more stuffed movie than Avengers: Ages of Ultraman but can justifiably allow for some cameos. Black Panther's being introduced before his own film is out.
But the real surprise here is General Ross as played by William Hurt as he was in the stand alone Hulk film with Edward Norton and what's interesting about that is that Mark Ruffalo suggested MARVEL didn't have the standalone rights to a Hulk film, those still being at Universal. Have those now reverted back to MARVEL in the time it's taken to produce Avengers or is Ross on loan somehow? What will his role be? On top of that, what do Daniel Brühl and Martin Freeman have to do with it? [Updated again: io9 has a potential explanation for why he's there]
Also in a vaguely related topic, Scarlett Witch has been retconned in the comic not to be Magnetos daughter and not a mutant presumably in an attempt to stop FOX retaining the rights. Perhaps at a certain point they'll decide there was no such thing as mutants and The X-Men have been Inhumans all these years ...
And on an unrelated topic, isn't it strange that MARVEL haven't schedule a film for November 2019? In 2017 and 2018 there are films out in May, July and November but there's a gap there. Hmm ....
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