Marvel makes it look easy. That’s what kept running through my head while watching Iron Man 3 Thursday night. Pumping out one solid standalone film after another with the overall goal of creating a whole that is equally, if not more, entertaining than its formidable parts can’t be that easy. And yet, Marvel makes it seem that way. In a medium outside of their native reach no less. Granted, Iron Man 3 isn’t without its flaws. But it doesn’t have to be. It succeeds on the exact level it’s meant to: in moving both the individual character and universal stories ahead in an entertaining and logical way. If “Marvel makes it looks easy” was my primary takeaway from IM3, “DC has their work cut out for them” isn’t far behind.

But enough Marvel love for one opening paragraph. In this week’s Top 5 we’ve got Iron Man 3 interviews with director Shane Black and more, a video blog review for Star Trek Into Darkness, the Pacific Rim trailer from WonderCon, Fox’s courting of Michael B. Jordan the the role of Human Torch in its upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, and the new trailer for Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx‘s White House Down. A brief recap and link to each is a “Continue Reading” click away.

Girls star Allison Williams is making the move into features.  Williams, who plays Marnie on the polarizing HBO comedy series, has booked a starring role in an upcoming feature film and has landed on the short list for a highly anticipated superhero reboot.  Deadline reports that Williams will topline the Romeo & Juliet reimagining Rosaline, which tells the classic Shakespeare story from the point of view of Rosaline, Romeo’s jilted ex-lover.  Michael Sucsy (Grey Gardens) is directing the period pic from a script by (500) Days of Summer scribes Scott Neustader and Michael H. Weber.

The Shawn Levy-produced project was previously set up early last year with True Blood star Deborah Ann Woll in talks to play Rosaline alongside Dave Franco and Lily Collins as Romeo and Juliet, but that version of the film did not move forward.  There’s no word on whether Franco and Collins are still attached, but the project is said to be mobilizing at 20th Century Fox.  Hit the jump for news concerning Williams possibly starring in the Fantastic Four reboot.

Though the news that 20th Century Fox was moving forward on a sequel to Chronicle came rather quickly after Josh Trank’s film performed very well at the box office, development on the follow-up has been fairly slow.  Screenwriter Max Landis returned to pen the script, but it seemed unlikely that Trank would return to direct given that he’s next helming The Fantastic Four and is also attached to a Venom movie and Shadow of the Colossus.  Last we heard re: Chronicle 2, Landis’ father John Landis claimed that Fox wasn’t happy with Max’s script and wanted “more of the same.”

Now Max Landis himself has spoken up regarding the status of Chronicle 2 and also directly addressing his father’s comments.  Hit the jump to read on.

20th Century Fox is doing a bit of polishing on their Fantastic Four reboot script.  Jeremy Slater was tapped to pen the redo last summer shortly after Josh Trank (Chronicle) signed on to direct, and with a March 2015 release date looming, the studio is ready to start heading towards production.  Just the other day we learned that X-Men: First Class and Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn is joining the project as producer, and now word comes that Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer author/screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith has done some script work on the film.  Hit the jump for more.

Though Matthew Vaughn was previously set to direct the X-Men: First Class sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past only to step down and let Bryan Singer take the helm instead, it looks like he might be involved with another upcoming 20th Century Fox superhero property.  Vaughn remains a producer on Days of Future Past, and now proverbial Chatty Cathy Mark Millar has revealed that Vaughn will also be producing Fox’s upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, which will be directed by Chronicle helmer Josh Trank.  Hit the jump for more.

As we look forward to a number of superhero films hitting theaters this year, there’s also plenty by way of costumed characters heading our way in 2014 and 2015 as well.  One such anticipated property is 20th Century Fox’s reboot of Fantastic Four.  The studio tapped Chronicle director Josh Trank to take the helm, and the project was recently given a March 2015 release date.  As comics guru Mark Millar was just hired on at Fox as their creative consultant on all things Marvel, the talkative creative has been privy to all the in-the-works projects, including Fantastic Four.  Now Millar has spoken up a bit about the reboot, teasing what fans can expect from Trank’s iteration of the characters.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

With the rights to Daredevil set to revert to Marvel on October 10th, 20th Century Fox is anxious to start production on a reboot.  With director David Slade having exited, Fox is now looking at Joe Carnahan (The Grey) to helm.  While solidifying a director is a step in the right direction, the deadline still looms.  Luckily, Fox has been in talks with Marvel for a character swap of sorts, an arrangement that, if both studios agree, could keep the “Frank Miller-esque, hardcore 70s thriller” version of Daredevil at Fox while bringing some big players back to Marvel.  Hit the jump to find out who.

Hot on the heels of the news that Fox’s planned reboot of the Fantastic Four will be helmed by Chronicle director, Josh Trank, the studio has tapped Jeremy Slater to pen the project.  The first family of Marvel that features the Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, the Human Torch and the Thing previously appeared in two movies, 2005′s Fantastic Four and the sequel, 2007′s Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Neither of those properties were particularly good and didn’t make a dent in the same way that other Marvel or DC properties have in recent years.  Attaching the director for the surprise superhero hit, Chronicle and now Slater, who has a Lovecraftian spec script for Tape 4 set up at Lionsgate, may go a long way in giving the remake some geek cred.  Hit the jump for more on Fantastic Four.

Fox has moved a step forward on one superhero franchise and a step back on another.  First up, Deadline confirms that Josh Trank (Chronicle) will direct the reboot of Fantastic Four.  The studio is trying to get all of its superhero franchises back up and running, but right now X-Men is the only one with any gas.  The Wolverine is due to start filming next month, and the sequel to X-Men: First Class will shoot in January once Jennifer Lawrence has wrapped on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  Progress on Fantastic Four could mean that the studio has at least one new superhero movie every year.

However, the studio may not have much time left for Daredevil.  Hit the jump for more.

The found footage film and the superhero movie are both formulaic to a fault, so it’s odd that the combination of the two bring new life to both.  Josh Trank’s Chronicle tells the story of three kids who gain powers, but does so in a way that’s refreshing and engaging.  The movie was a surprise hit, and we can’t wait to see what Trank does next.  Our review of the Blu-ray of Chronicle follows after the jump.

Director Josh Trank turned quite a few heads when his found-footage superhero pic Chronicle was a critical and box office hit earlier this year.  Understandably, he was quickly flooded with offers to some big name properties.  He’s currently developing a reboot of Fantastic Four at Fox, an adaptation of Red Star at Warner Bros., and the Spider-Man spinoff Venom for Sony, but he’s now become attached to yet another high profile property.  Deadline reports that Trank has signed with Sony to direct a feature film adaptation of the video game Shadow of the Colossus.  Hit the jump for more.

At this year’s CinemaCon, I was able to land an exclusive interview with Tom Rothman (Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fox Filmed Entertainment).  While we posted selected portions of the interview last week, after the jump you can read the entire conversation which covers a lot more than comic book movies.  I love getting to speak with actors and directors, but if you really want to find out which projects are moving forward and why certain decisions were made, a studio head has all the answers.

During the wide-ranging conversation we talked about 48 frames per second, the shift towards higher quality films on Fox’s slate, Prometheus (and it’s rating), Daredevil, Fantastic Four, the Chronicle sequel, The Wolverine, the Rise of the Planet of the Apes sequel, a New Mutants movie, A Good Day to Die Hard (Die Hard 5), and more.  Hit the jump to read what he had to say.

With the guaranteed blockbuster superhero movie The Avengers opening in less than a week, let’s turn our attention briefly to an unexpected heroic hit: Chronicle.  Screenwriter Max Landis gave an extensive interview recently at the Middle East Film and Comic Con 2012 in Dubais in which he discussed the sequel to his found-footage superhero film, Chronicle 2.  Whereas the first film gave us the origin story of the world’s first super-heroes, the follow up will apparently focus on the world’s first super-villain.  Landis had a lot to say on the script, which he is currently writing and also commented on the possibility of director Josh Trank returning for the sequel.  Hit the jump to see some of Landis’ choice quotes as well as the full video interview.

Steve sat down with 20th Century Fox CEO recently at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and we’ve been bringing you highlights from their wide-ranging conversation.  We already shared what Rothman had to say about a New Mutants movie and the rating for Prometheus, the Rise of the Planet of the Apes sequel, and now we wanted to share the CEO’s updates on a few highly anticipated Fox properties.  Rothman talked about the status of the studio’s Fantastic Four reboot, Daredevil, and a sequel to this year’s hit superhero pic Chronicle.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

With Chronicle, director Josh Trank put together the rare feature debut that was successful both critically (84% on Rotten Tomatoes) and commercially ($116 million worldwide on a found footage budget).  Plus, I liked the movie a lot—that’s the ominous trifecta that this guy’s going places.  Trank has been linked to both the Fantastic Four reboot and the Spider-Man spinoff, Venom, but another comic movie may skip to the front.  Deadline reports Trank will direct The Red Star, an adaptation of the graphic novel by Christian Gossett that producer Neal Moritz (21 Jump Street) is developing.  The script by Jason Rothenberg is set an alternate universe where the Soviet Union survived and magic is mixed with futuristic technology: “The protagonist is a Red Fleet soldier who goes up against an ex-leader who rules with an iron fist.”  Since Rothenberg’s script is much closer to its final state than the screenplays for Fantastic Four and Venom, The Red Star could serve as a natural follow-up to Chronicle.

Hit the jump for the synopsis of volume 1 of The Red Star, “The Battle of Kar Dathras Gate.”