BE AN ACTIVE READER

Read an excerpt from the article What’s Big and Green and Desperate to Be a Hit All Over? Written by
Brooks Branes and published in The New York Times on April 10, 2008. As you read, think about
your answers to the questions on the previous page.

LOS ANGELES - Bad buzz. Creative infighting. Superhero gridlock at the multiplex. For Marvel
Studios, handling gamma rays is starting to look like a cakewalk compared to turning “The
Incredible Hulk” into a movie franchise.

The unjolly green giant, born from a botched gamma bomb experiment in a 1962 comic book,
belongs to an elite class of superhero. In Marvel’s stable of characters, which includes the X-Men
and the Silver Surfer, only Spider-Man outsells him. The Hulk, along with his emotionally withdrawn
alter ego, Dr. Bruce Banner, has spawned television shows, theme-park rides and best-selling toys.

But big-screen glory has eluded him. In 2003 “Hulk,” a pricey attempt to give the monster a Spidey-
size movie career, flopped after the director Ang Lee’s artsy creature was ridiculed as Gumbyesque.
That picture, which cost $150 million to make, sold a disappointing $132 million in tickets in North
America and made less overseas.

Now Marvel is attempting what it openly calls a do-over. Starring Edward Norton, “The Incredible
Hulk,” set for a June 13 release, will serve up more action (Hulk battles a new creature called
Abomination) and more female-friendly themes. (Banner is madly in love.) Also, the monster now
speaks, breaking with its portrayal in Mr. Lee’s film and the campy 1978-82 television series that
starred Bill Bixby and the bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno (resplendent in green body paint).

Marvel and its distribution partner, Universal Pictures, expect “The Incredible Hulk” to be nothing
short of a blockbuster, citing strong sales for a newly introduced “Hulk” comic book series as one
reason for optimism.

“We are really proud about how the new film came out,” said David Maisel, chairman of Marvel
Studios. “The 2003 movie was like test-driving a car. We were able to see what people liked and did
not.” But signs of trouble abound, leading to lip-biting among some Marvel investors, Hulk fans and
movie theater owners. “There are people who clearly don’t think it looks good and are expecting a
bomb,” said Doug Creutz, an entertainment analyst at Cowen & Company.

Universal Pictures, which will distribute and market “The Incredible Hulk,” bristles at the notion that
the monster needs C.P.R. “I would caution anybody against betting against it,” said Adam Fogelson,
Universal’s president for marketing and distribution.

Mr. Fogelson said the trailer for “The Incredible Hulk” had generated more streams online than any
previous Universal trailer. He also said the movie had the largest number of licensing and
promotional partners of any Universal project in 2008, although he would not name any.
 IDENTIFYING NOUNS AND VERBS
PRACTICE 1

Scan the article for interesting or challenging nouns* and verbs**. Complete the chart that follows.
Use your dictionary to validate the parts of speech of the words you have written on the chart.
Write as many as you find interesting or challenging. The first row has been done for you. Submit
your answers online through the next activity.

Noun Verb
cakewalk spawned

*Nouns usually serve as a subject of a sentence or an object of the verb in the sentence. They are
usually introduced by articles (a, an, the), preceded by an adjective, or follow a verb.
** Verbs express actions or the existence of a noun or pronoun. In the sentence, they usually follow
a noun.
Nouns and verbs are essential parts of a sentence. If either a subject (usually a noun) or a verb is
missing, a group of words is considered a fragment.