John Malkovich confirmed rumors that he was going to co-star in SPIDERMAN 4 (now a canceled project) as "The Vulture", Spiderman's adversary. Slash Film interviewed him on the set of his latest film, RED, and found that Malkovich, although normally considered to be "above popcorn franchises", really wanted to play a role in the movie. “Yes [I was disappointed],” he told them. “But because I like Sam and I like Toby [Maguire] and all that stuff, and the producers, two of whom I’d met before because I’d been offered [Green Goblin on] the first [Spider-Man]… I came to like them, so sure why not? But it didn’t play out" (more).

BOX OFFICE MOJO titled their major news headline this morning, "KICK ASS Opens Up A Can of Weak Sauce" despite the fact that KICK ASS was the number one film over the weekend. Still, according to the weekend totals, KICK ASS barely beat out HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, which has been dominating for weeks. Brandon Gray, who wrote the article, claims that the film did not "bust out of its unpopular superhero comedy confines nor did it match its hype" (more). Similarly, today's LOS ANGELES TIMES features an article, "Why Kick Ass Failed (and did it really?)", which outlines some of the staff's misconceptions that were fueled by the hype surrounding the film. Some of these misconceptions include: 1) An abstract marketing campaign is almost foolproof and 2) Controversy will sell tickets (more).