Disney's presentation then turned to Marvel Studios with president of production Kevin Feige in attendence and "armed with the first footage from Avengers: Age of Ultron." Sadly, The Hollywood Reporter didn't offer a description of footage shown, but did reiterate that writer/director Joss Whedon is "half way through a 100-day shoot" for the Marvel sequel. Despite reportedly skipping Age of Ultron set visits last week possibly to avoid inevitable Edgar Wright questions, "Feige also played sequences and an interview montage from Ant-Man, including contributions from Peyton Reed," who is course taking over directing duties after Wright's upexpected exit last month.
The Spain-based annual CineEurope convention, which major film studios use as a platform to showcase their upcoming big-screen releases, has been underway since Monday, but Disney's presentation was held today. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lucasfilm's Star Wars: Episode VII was first showcased with R2D2 strolling out onstage before a video message from director J.J. Abrams on the Abu Dahbi set was shown. "Abrams said he had just finished two weeks of shooting, and described it as a thrill to see the movie’s incoming cast act on set with the members of the original installments," says THR.
Before wrapping up with visuals from Cinderalla, Into the Woods, and Pixar's Inside Out, Disney also showed the CineEurope audience "extensive" footage from Guardians of the Galaxy that included the James Gunn-directed film's opening sequence. Anyhow, there likely won't be any descriptions of the Avengers: Age of Ultron footage, but San Diego Comic-Con is just a little over a month away (July 24-27), so we can at least expect all the goods and much more then.
Word has come from the folks over at the Dover Express in England who have learned that the production of the Marvel Studios blockbuster is continuing to do some on-location shooting and is now filming some sequences as Dover Castle. The report says that multiple stars from the movie will be present,but one name stands out in particular: Scarlett Johansson. Because of the young actress' pregnancy, she was forced to film all of her scenes as Black Widow at the front of the shooting, allowing her to take time off to have her baby later this year. It's possible that Whedon is bringing her back for some additional shooting in Dover, but it's also possible that the source has been misinformed.
While Johansson is a questionable presence in Dover, though, we do know for a fact that Robert Downey Jr. and his Tony Stark persona will definitely be on hand. Twitter user DienPacheco has posted a few images of the Iron Man star exiting a helicopter at the site, which you can see below:
#AvengersAgeOfUltron set UK. Dover Castle UK @RobertDowneyJr 17/06/2014. pic.twitter.com/h82i0IYCOT
— DİDEM ELSİE EAGLE (@DienPacheco) June 18, 2014
#AvengersAgeOfUltron set 49-year-old Downey Jr stepping off a helicopter near the castle. Dover Castle pic.twitter.com/S2DLM2F62B
— DİDEM ELSİE EAGLE (@DienPacheco) June 18, 2014SOURCE 1& 2