As you no doubt read in our recent review of The Avengers, the Hulk has unexpectedly turned into the breakout character in the Marvel Studios continuity-laden franchise, thanks in large part to the smart writing of Joss Whedon and a spectacular performance by Mark Ruffalo. We gave the portrayal of the character a “10 out of 10” and openly expressed our desire to see a new Hulk movie with Ruffalo in the lead role. Now it turns out that Marvel Studios is well aware of increased audience interested in the jade giant, and is currently new feature film for 2015… and possibly even making the Hulk the new face of the company.
In an interview with Forbes (via JoBlo), Paul Gitter, President of Marvel Entertainment’s Consumer Products for North America, explains that despite two lackluster motion pictures, products featuring the Hulk are selling remarkably well. “His sales are up in a major way. We repositioned him from where he was always misunderstood to now depicting him in a more heroic and aspirational manner.” As a result, Marvel is pursuing new projects for the character, provided interest remains high. After The Avengers, we predict it will. Such projects include “a new stand-alone program next year,“ followed by another motion picture starring the character, which could be in theaters by 2015.
In fact, the new interpretation of the Hulk in Joss Whedon’s The Avengers – in which the character evolves from a misunderstood monster to a more heroic figure who overcomes personal adversity – is leading the corporation to consider making him more indelibly linked to their output, much in the same way that Snoopy is the face of MetLife. We assume they mean the well-meaning monster, and not simply Mark Ruffalo as a nervous guy.
So if you want to see a new Hulk movie, start buying Hulk products from Marvel, apparently. Those “Hulk Hands” were always pretty cool, weren’t they?
CraveOnline will be back with more Hulk news after we smash. Responsibly. We have a corporate image to maintain, of course.
