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]
When will Albert Pyun ever say he\’s sorry to the people of Guam?
No Scott, you are not alone. I too remember watching this when I was 11 and thought it was the coolest thing (next to Lundgren as The Punisher) -And yes I know this isn\’t the best \”Superhero\” movie ever made but I will definitely be getting this on Blu-ray.
When you write \”20th Century Fox\” you probably mean \”21st Century Film Corp.\”, which is the production company, Menahem Golan\’s newly formed company after Cannon fell and he had a fall out with cousin/partner Yoram Globus… never really big budget by any means…
Would actually rank this above Wolverine.
Thanks for the great article. The link you posted goes to a part of the website that has been disabled until further notice. An email to [email protected] will get through to Albert Pyun.
Thanks
Cynthia Curnan
Woa, woa woa… Lundgren\’s Punisher is a fine movie… damn I love that film…
Saw this on VHS like 20 years ago, it was truly terrible. The crazy thing is that this was back when Marvel couldn\’t buy a hit. DC had all the luck with adapting their properties, Donner/Superman in the 70s, Burton/Batman in the 80s/90s. Marvel was stuck with 3rd rate efforts like this, Corman\’s \’Fantastic Four\’ and Lundgren\’s \’The Punisher.\’ Then \’X-Men\’ and \’Spider-Man\’ changed everrrything.
I was always kind of fond of this thing. Yes, it\’s terrible and cheap, but Scott Paulin makes a fine Red Skull and the film is really violent in spots (which is cool when you\’re ten). Was actually going to do a quasi-review of the 1990 version (I still have a VHS copy taped off of Cinemax or HBO), but now it appears I should wait… Count me as perhaps the only person actually excited by this news (just a little).