I've complained here and there over the last month or so about my inability to actually cover real movie news as it breaks. By that, I mean so much news is reported as a 'rumor' or 'allegedly' or 'kinda-sorta/probably', that I'm loathe to actually believe it. But since the Internet runs on being first above being right, there is an inclination to run every rumor you hear and then take credit for breaking the one or two that turned out to be true. So while I'd love to tell you how great it is that Brad Bird may be directing Mission: Impossible IV, said 'news' is still a rumor. And while I'd love to share my thoughts on Logan Lerman playing Spider-Man in the Marc Webb reboot, said 'scoop' may not even be true at this point. And let's face it, by the time either of those stories are confirmed as fact, most of the readership will have moved on to the 'next big rumor'. So do I comment on the rumors and hope they turn out true? Or do I wait for official confirmation and hope you still care to hear my thoughts?Oddly enough, if I may speculate just for the sake of this essay, I'd be more excited about Logan Lerman had I not seen Percy Jackson and the Blah Blah Blah. I thought he was fantastic in The Butterfly Effect and he's done well for much of his varied career, shining in various genre pictures (Gamer, The Number 23, 3:10 to Yuma, etc). But Percy Jackson and the Olympians was a stunningly terrible movie and Lerman didn't do the material any favors. Pure speculation, but I'm sure Lerman's camp is terrified of any would-be negotiations going public, as it just makes it that much more likely that Fox will enforce the option for a Percy Jackson sequel just to be 'evil'. Lightning Thief made $218 million worldwide on a $95 million budget so it wouldn't be completely insane if DVD/Blu Ray business does well. Like most nerds, I'm far more interested in who Sony gets to fill out the supporting cast. I still think the whole idea, Sony trashing their linchpin franchise and betting on a cheaper, younger-skewing variation, is insane, but if it magically turns out to be a solid adaptation of the early Bendis Ultimate Spider-Man arcs (and if the Raimi 3 finally get feature-packed Blu Rays as a tie-in), who cares.
Scott Mendelson
