All kidding aside, by “contract” he could just be speaking of a hypothetical contract. As in, “I didn't sign anything, so I'm not anything yet.” Or is he winking at the fact that he can't legally say anything, but he has talked to Marvel about the role?

August is usually the lame second cousin of the summer blockbuster season. All the really major entries get released in May through July. Maybe Buena Vista was a little hesitant about how well received Guardians of the Galaxy would be when they chose to launch it in August, but the comic blockbuster saw a massive opening, shattering the current August opening record.

This latest marathon actually runs a little long – it'll take you from noon to 12:30 the next day. But the effort was made to avoid simply listing the best of the genre, instead focusing on a diverse and wildly different collection of stories, from legends like Bob Dylan, to curiosities like Glenn Gould, titans like Notorious B.I.G. and tragedies like Kurt Cobain.

The end result is a rowdy, rambunctious film about a moment in music history where everything stopped to accommodate Brown's ruthless talent and ingenuity. The Get On Up press conference was held in New York, and it allowed journalists to talk to Chadwick Boseman , as well as Jill Scott, Octavia Spencer, Dan Aykroyd, producer Brian Grazer, director Tate Taylor, and the one and only Mick Jagger.

This could start to feel like the dregs of summer. It could. But it isn't. Do you know why? Because there’s something to get excited about, with an unexpectedly great comic book movie hitting the screen. We’ve got Guardians of the Galaxy coming at you with a little James Brown to keep the funk alive.

Get On Up is directed by Tate Taylor, a Southerner (from the great state of Mississippi) who brought a taste of the region to his award-winning The Help. But I’m still wondering, after watching this clip, if he’s the right director for this job.

Which is why we've decided to break down most of the summer's offerings, observing exactly what it is about some films that cause them to succeed and fail. This involved number crunching, market analysis, educated guesses, and the application of a few snobby biases.

It’s a man’s man’s man’s world, as per the lyrics and title of James Brown’s classic 1966 single. But it’s what the woman does to the man that drives him. At least that’s the feeling I get from the first trailer for Tate Taylor’s next film, Get On Up, a feature version of the formative years in James Brown’s career and life. Who? (horn stabs) I said the Godfather of Soul! (horn stabs) I said the Sex Machine himself, James Brown!

Eversman joins a cast headed by Chadwick Boseman (42) that includes Viola Davis, Dan Aykroyd, Octavia Spencer, and Craig Robinson. Written by Steven Baigelman, Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth, Get On Up will chart Brown's story from his humble beginnings to his well-earned reputation as The Hardest Working Man In Show Business, and his eventual drug-aided downfall.

DuMont has been extremely busy lately. In addition to his regular TV work – in addition to Treme, he has guest spots and recurring appearances on ABC’s Nashville and FX’s American Horror Story: Coven -- the character actor logged roles in both Lee Daniels’ The Butler and Dallas Buyers Club this year.

Now that the James Brown biopic has found its lead actor it looks like Universal is finally committing to get the movie made. Earlier this week we reported that 42 star Chadwick Boseman has been cast to play the Godfather of Soul in the movie, and now not only does the project have a new release date it even has a title.

It would seem that Hollywood sees Chadwick Boseman as the go-to actor to play African-American icons. Just a few months after the actor scored positive marks for his performance as race-barrier breaking baseball player Jackie Robinson, the young actor has been cast as James Brown in the upcoming biopic about the Godfather of Soul.

Two days after the death of James Brown in December 2006 there was talk of a biopic about the Godfather of Soul. Spike Lee, who was just coming off the biggest success of his career, Inside Man, had signed on to direct the movie with Paramount funding the project. And that was the day the waiting began.

Despite winning plenty of critical acclaim for his Academy Award winning film The Help in 2011, director Tate Taylor hasn't really been cooking up much in the way of in-development projects. In April it was reported that he was in talks to helm an adaptation of the British miniseries The Jury, but we haven't heard anything about it since. Now, however, things are starting to get interesting for the filmmaker - as they do when one's name is mentioned in the same headline as Mick Jagger.

Both Usher and Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie are actively seeking parts in the Spike Lee's James Brown film. Usher wants to play James Brown, and Fergie one of his many wives. Usher is a great R&B singer, but who cares about that. He’s not an actor. It’s more important than you find someone to act if you’re going pull a movie like this off. If they have to, they can always lip sync the singing the way Jamie Foxx did in Ray. You can’t lip sync acting

Hollywood’s coffin chasers are on the prowl. With the death of James Brown, now comes the rush to make a movie about him. Director Spike Lee has signed to direct a James Brown biopic. They could have at least let the body get cold before announcing it. They already have a script which has been through many revisions, and James Brown himself was reportedly actively involved in its development