Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
You Don’t Mess With Zohan
Meet Dave
The Tracey Fragments
Andromeda Strain TV mini series
Monday, March 31, 2008
Trailers
Posters
Iron Man international/Audi
X-Files 2 teaser poster
Mamma Mia!
War, Inc.
Bangkok Dangerous
Creature of Darkness
Day of the Dead
Day of the Dead
Man of Steel's legal issues
Attorney and "copyright crusader" Marc Toberoff represented the heirs of Jerome Siegel (one of Superman's creators) in, and won, a legal battle against Warner Brothers last week. After being sold for $130.00 71 years ago to Detective Comics, a federal court restored their stake in rights to the Superman franchise.
This, along with legal actions that will be eligible in five years for co-creator Joe Shuster's heirs to take, might affect any further film plans for the character. This includes the two known projects: The sequel to Superman Returns and Justice League. Also, since the ruling applies to any domestic monies made for projects since 1999, Warner could be looking at paying tens of millions from Superman Returns.
The studio declined to comment to Variety only stating that "substantial issues relating to the accounting of profits were ruled in our favor." These issues include: international profits, trademark-related revs and profits stemming from Superman fare produced before 1999, when Siegel's heirs terminated the earlier copyright arrangement under a 1976 law.
This, along with legal actions that will be eligible in five years for co-creator Joe Shuster's heirs to take, might affect any further film plans for the character. This includes the two known projects: The sequel to Superman Returns and Justice League. Also, since the ruling applies to any domestic monies made for projects since 1999, Warner could be looking at paying tens of millions from Superman Returns.
The studio declined to comment to Variety only stating that "substantial issues relating to the accounting of profits were ruled in our favor." These issues include: international profits, trademark-related revs and profits stemming from Superman fare produced before 1999, when Siegel's heirs terminated the earlier copyright arrangement under a 1976 law.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Movie News
Lionsgate has dropped Clive Barker’s Midnight Meat Train from its May release, without giving another date, or even saying if it’ll still be a theatrical release.
Dream Works has acquired Peter Morgan’s supernatural thriller script Hereafter. It’s “in the vein of The Sixth Sense.”
Mark Levin, co-director of Nim's Island, says "Nim had some imaginary friends that lived in her imagination, [including] Huck Finn and Alice in Wonderland from the books, who kind of brought to life the idea of a girl who lived on an island and what her imagination must be like. But when we made the movie and then we shot them and saw them in the context of the movie, we realized that the girl alone, and her aloneness, made her situation much more poignant, and it just drove the story better." Those imaginary characters have been cut from the movie, but will be available on the DVD release.
Creature of Darkness (formerly titled Hunter’s Moon), has finally worked out its financing issues for post production -it shot in 2005- and should be able to screen soon. “This extraterrestrial hunter terrorizes a group of young friends on an off-road cycling trip in the desert, including one played by Devon Sawa, who has had dreams of falling victim to the Catcher.”
Sites like Stop Darth Weinstein have been organizing and urging fans of the first cut of Fanboys to boycott and picket Weinstein’s movies, namely Superhero Movie. The company responded with this statement: "In recent weeks, Star Wars fans nationwide have built a multi-tiered grassroots effort to voice their strong support for one of the earlier versions of the film, including a campaign which generated over 300,000 e-mails in support for the film. Based on the tremendous feedback and interest from the fans, today's announcement will ensure both versions will be equally available within the marketplace." This means both versions will be released on DVD, and see theatrical releases (that's a big maybe). Producer Kevin Mann said, "This is more about avoiding picket lines at 'Superhero' than it was about making a decision about the release of our movie."
Now Millennium/Nu Image have greenlit a Dolph Lungren starring, directed, and co-scripted -with Steve Latshaw- action movie, Command Performance. (Be still my heart!) Lundgren describes it as “Die Hard at a rock concert.” … “I got the idea from Madonna.” The movie, set and filming in Russia, is about a drummer for a warm up band at a concert for the Russian premier. But (Wait for it!) bad guys drop in, unsuspecting that aforementioned drummer is (Wait for it again!) an ex-Marine.
Satoshi Kon’s next movie, Yume-Miru Kikai (The Dreaming Machine), is described as "animation that children can enjoy" and “a future folklore story."
Animation studio Madhouse announced Sunao Katabuchi’s Maimai Shinko to Sennen no Mahō (Maimai Shinko and the Millennium-Old Magic). It’s about “a transfer student [who] lands in a field of millennium-old magic…"
Tyrannosaurus Rex, Rob Zombie’s next project, will go into production August 2009. It’ll be distributed by Dimension, and Sheri Moon Zombie will be in it. No official word on what it’s about.
Antoine Fuqua will direct Michael Martin scripted Brooklyn’s Finest, a drama with three intertwining stories about Brooklyn cops. Richard Gere and Ethan Hawke will star, and could start filming as early as May.
Another George W. Bush movie, titled Commander and Chief and directed by Gerson Sanginitto, will star C. Thomas Howell. This one’s a parody/comedy that won’t actually use his name.
Ice Cube will star in Janky Promoters, a movie based on his first original script since Friday. “Two music promoters get the chance to book a top-tier hip-hop artist into a midsized California venue. The pair are ill equipped for such a task and everything goes wrong.”
Radha Mitchell and Bruce Willis will star in Jonathan Mostow’s The Surrogates. A science fiction action thriller set in the near future, humans are isolated and interact through robots, called “surrogates,” who are wishful versions of themselves. A cop uses his surrogate to investigate surrogate murders, until he has to leave his home and unravel the conspiracy himself.
Vinnie Jones, Michael Matthias, Michael Madsen, DMX, Armand Assante, William McNamara, Pittsburgh Slim, Rachelle Leah, Traci Lords, and Kat Von D have been cast in, and Charles Picerni will direct, Indifferent Entertainment's action vampire movie The Bleeding. It's about a former Army Ranger who stumbles upon a coven of vampires in a weapons factory turned nightclub, while looking for his parents' killer. Shooting starts next month in North Carolina.
Anime series Bleach's first movie, Bleach the Movie: Memories of Nobody, has been licensed in North America by Viz.
Prequels, Sequels & Remakes
Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer will team up for the Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot scripted The Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger, for you whipper snappers out there, started in the ‘30s as a radio show and has seen just about every medium since. “The hero's origin story begins with a group of Texas Rangers chasing down a gang of outlaws led by Butch Cavendish. The gang ambushes the Rangers, seemingly killing them all. One survivor is found, however, by an American Indian named Tonto, who nurses him back to health. The Ranger, donning a mask and riding a white stallion named Silver, teams up with Tonto to bring the unscrupulous gang and others of that ilk to justice.”
The remake of The Day Earth Stood Still will replace the original’s Cold War era message of ‘peace or else’ with an anti global warming message. I’m depressed.
Jamie King will be the female lead in Patrick Lussier’s remake of 1981 slasher My Bloody Valentine. It’s about a murderer who kills people who celebrate Valentine’s Day. The movie will shoot as 3-D starting May.
Michael Martin has been hired to write the sequel to 1991’s New Jack City, Warner Premiere is behind the movie.
Julie Benz, Tobin Bell, Scott Patterson, and Costas Mandylor have been cast in Saw V, with David Hackl directing and Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan writing. “John Kramer has been confirmed dead, and Hoffman, who admires Jigsaw's work is hunted and captured by the sadistic apprentice, currently unknown. Agent Perez, who is in critical condition, is suddenly missing, and awakes to find herself at the beginning of the apprentice's new work.” Lionsgate is looking at an October 24th release.
Simon Pegg talks Star Trek XI. (Submitted by Sitting Duck)
According to Spoiler TV, the plot for Crank 2 is: “In spite of having fallen a mile from a helicopter at the end of CRANK, Chev Chelios faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working.”
Chris Carter says about X-Files 2’s title, "I can't tell you [what it is], because I don't know, really. I know what I want it to be, but Fox has ideas of their own. And I know what it should be."
According to Robert Downey Jr., he makes an appearance in The Incredible Hulk: “It happens to be a scene where I basically approach [William Hurt's character, General Ross], and we may be considering going into some sort of limited partnership together... I don't want to give too much away -- but he's in disrepair at the time I find him. It was really fun seeing him play this really powerful character who's half in the bag.”
Director Jon Turtletaub said about a National Treasure 3, "I'm guessing that we're a few years away. By the time we come up with a decent idea and develop it into a complicated and intelligent puzzle it's going to be at least 2009. Then to prep it and cast it... it should be three years away."
Rumor has it that Clint Eastwood’s new film, Gran Torino, will actually be a sixth Dirty Harry movie.
Adaptations
Warner Brothers has bought the right to Josh Lieb’s upcoming book I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President. It’s about a 13 year old with a secret base under his house and is one of the smartest and richest people in the world, who runs for class president to please his father and finds campaigning trickier than he thought.
Gregor Jordan’s adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel The Informers has cut the vampires according to actor Jon Foster, "There are no more vampires. They took the vampires out. There are no zombies or monsters either. This is more about the narcissistic side of people's characters. God knows why they took the vampire characters out. I can't say if I was pleased or displeased, that is just the way it is."
Frank Darabont on making Stephen King/Richard Bachman story The Long Walk into a movie, “It’s on one of the burners on the stove you know. It’s not on the front burner at the moment but I imagine it’s going to be something that I’ll do probably within the next five years. I don’t have any immediate plans…” “That one will be very, very faithful to Stephen’s story, even more faithful then The Mist was. But it doesn’t bear a huge budget because it’s a very existential strange little story. To do it faithfully then it winds up being a strange little movie so not a blockbuster, just a very interesting film I think.”
Group TAC announced an animated movie adaptation of Kenji Miyazawa’s Guskou Budori no Denki (The Life of Guskou Budori), with Gisaburo Sugii directing and Sadayuki Murai scripting. Continuing the Miyazawa trend of having all the characters as cats, it’s set in a mythical Japan, where a boy’s little sister is mysteriously kidnapped. After he grows up he becomes a volcanologist, and devotes his life to the study of volcanoes and protecting the land. The original story was written in 1932 and is connected to, the then new, theories of the greenhouse effect.
G.I. Joe will have black hair for The Baroness, and “address some little bits of backstory never explained in the cartoon or comic like Destro's metallic head and Snake Eyes inability (or unwillingness) to talk.”
Tobey Maguire, along with Relativity Media, is on to produce Afterburn, based on Paul Ens and Scott Chitwood’s Red 4 comic book. The “story begins one year after a solar flare burns half of Earth. Treasure hunters go back to the scorched portion of the planet to retrieve valuable artifacts.”
Fumi Yoshinaga's four volume manga Antique Bakery, about four young men who run a small café named "Antique" and the importance of cake, will be made into a live action movie by South Korea's United Pictures. Joo Ji-Hoon will star and Fine Cut will handle international distribution after the movie's release later this year.
Michael Brandt will be adapting the Richard Matheson’s 1963 Twilight Zone episode Death Ship into the movie Countdown. Three astronauts land on a planet to find dead bodies near a spaceship – their dead bodies. "Countdown is fantastic because it wraps the themes of fate and predestination in a movie that is really a giant puzzle (that will also) be fun for the audience to piece together."
Dead Space, Electronic Arts' science fiction horror game, will be made into an animated direct to DVD movie by Starz' Film Roman production unit. It'll be "a prequel to the game, picking up where a comic that is being made by Image Comics leaves off." The game, which will be released this fall, is about a spaceship taken over by aliens called Necromorphs.
Casting
Stephen Tobolowsky says he’s not playing Alfred in The Justice League movie, and, while amused, has no idea how the rumor started.
After a scheduling change made her involvement a five week stint instead of two, Maggie Gyllenhaal has left The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and been replaced by Maria Bello.
James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn, and Elizabeth Banks will be, respectively, George, Barbara, and Laura Bush in Oliver Stone’s W.
Paul Bettany, Tyrese Gibson, Dennis Quaid, Jon Tenney, Charles S. Dutton, Lucas Black, Kate Walsh, Adrianne Palicki, Kevin Durand, and Willa Holland will star in apocalyptic thriller Legion.
Jon Heder and Dax Shepard have joined the cast of fantasy romantic comedy When in Rome.
Erica Cerrahas signed on for Dark Swarm.
Kiele Sanchez has been cast in horror A Perfect Getaway.
Gabrielle Union will play Geneva Wade in Cadillac Records, a biopic of Cadillac founder Leonard Chess.
Laz Alonso has joined The Fast and the Furious 4.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
What were they thinking?
This thing is called a Swing Wing. People may blame a lot of post ‘60s stuff on drugs, but I think this is the real culprit. Y’know, back when toys were toys and we didn’t worry about things like “brain injuries” and “whiplash” and “looking like an idiot.” (I bet it's covered in lead paint too) Kids are so soft these days!
Remember, kids, Pac-Man says, "Hugs not drugs!"
Care to try your hand at Sci Fi’s Make a Cylon contest?
GDH has announced that it will stream new titles from animation studio Gonzo in Japanese with English subtitles - via YouTube, Crunchyroll, and BOST - the same day as their Japanese broadcasts.
Creators Wendy and Richard Pini are making 30 years worth of Elfquest available for free online.
Free SF Reader. More free Science Fiction than you can shake a stick at. Which is dangerous, you could put someone's eye out.
Another step closer to the robot apocalypse.
An article on Dr. S. H. Williams' 1920s search for dinosaurs in "The Lost World."
What Will Life Be Like in the Year 2008? Hey, man, where’s my 250 mph car and domed city? I feel cheated!
If I ever start a company, I'm getting Marvel to design my letterhead. It'd almost be worth incurring their wrath to get a letter from them!
Super Punch's DC Comics Pulp Heroes cover gallery.
On Sunday(3/23/08), after two years, 20 million yen ($200,000 US) and a petition signed by 2,400 local residents, a bronze Gundam statue was erected at Tokyo’s Kamiigusa train station. (site is Japanese)
A life size, wearable replica of the "Gold Cloth" armor from the Saint Seiya manga and anime (site is Japanese). …Looks heavy.
Pac-Man as a hallucinating astronaut.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Game stuff
NCsoft confirmed that it will expand MMO City of Heroes with "Midnight Hour." Focusing on the Midnight Squad, a secret organization of "mystics, mages and academics, which holds the key to fighting an alien invasion," this new content will enhance the storyline, add new powers and characters, and include a trip to ancient Rome (that last one's for high level [35-50] players). Senior lead designer Matt Miller says, "This organization has always been in the lore of City of Heroes, but never realized in the game itself." For City of Villians, players can unlock two new epic archetypes, allow them to create Wolf Spiders, Blood Widows, among other characters. In general, there will be improvements to the user interface and chat functions, and a complete redesign of the Hallows. Issue 12's launch date depends on the progress of current testing.
Turbine plans to expand its MMO The Lord of the Rings Online with The Mines of Moria this fall. The expansion will increase the play options and areas in the game, add new classes, raise the level cap up to 60, add the ability to create legendary items, and enhance the ability to delve into the Mines of Moria, to the Balrog and Khazad-dûm itself.
Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, and Shaun Toub have signed on to do voice work for their respective characters in the Iron Man video game.
DVD releases
Confessions of a Superhero – January 22
Love*Com: The Movie - February 19
Bad Meat - March 25
Lost Highway – March 25
The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll – March 25
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Grindhouse on Starz
”Starz presents Grindhouse, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s homage to exploitation B-movie thrillers Monday, March 31 at 9:00 p.m. Over three hours, the two feature-length films, turned into a double-bill, complete with fake trailers, missing scenes and bad film stock will be shown in its entirety, the way it was originally screened in movie theaters.”
TV News
Jericho has been canceled by CBS for a second time. After losing about 4 million viewers between its first season (when it got canceled for low ratings) and the second season, Tuesday night was the last episode. SciFi Wire has an interview with executive producer Carol Barbee about the possible futures for Jericho.
Collider has an article on the two upcoming Star Wars show. About the live action one? "Deadwood meets The Sopranos." While ComingSoon.net has an interview with George Lucas.
The Office will return April 10, with the first of the last six episodes that'll finish up its sixth season at eighteen episodes, which was shortened because of the writer's strike. Actor Rainn Wilson and executive producer Greg Daniels both say that rumors of an Office spin off aren't true.
What Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, Lost's co-executive producers, have to say on season four having three less episodes than originally planned because of the strike. Horowitz, "I feel that the three missing episodes will be made up over the course of the next two seasons. Seasons four, five and six are meant to encompass 48 episodes." Kitsis, "I have a feeling it will mean more, like, two-hour shows as opposed to more episodes, but those are decisions above our pay grade."
David Eick has announced that he's adapting Children of Men into a show. Based off of P.D. James' novel instead of the movie, Eick says, "It's really taking root more in the origins of the novels in that it will focus on the cultural movement in which young people become the society's utter focus. Much like our culture, whenever Lindsay Lohan does something, it becomes the headline of every news show, it's about how, when you don't have a responsibility to the next generation and you're free to do whatever you want, where do you draw the line?"
David Cross and Bob Odenkirk will be returning to HBO with comedy pilot David's Situation: "David leaves Hollywood to move into a suburban, gated community where he has two roommates, a right-wing conservative and a liberal hippie." Filming starts May.
Fox has signed on for a fourth season of Prison Break. The new season will pick up where the last one left off, having been cut short by the strike: "Season four will pick up with the characters having escaped prison, and Michael (Wentworth Miller) seeking revenge against the people who killed his love interest. Dominic Purcell stars as Miller's brother, Lincoln Burrows."
Amy Smart will star in CBS pilot Meant to Be's. Created Glenn Gordon Caron it's about "a rich, young gallery owner who elopes one winter night in New York, only to fall victim to an unexpected act of violence en route to her honeymoon. After dying, she finds herself in someplace other than heaven or hell and is charged with helping people on Earth do those things that were meant to be."
Upcoming on Sci Fi Channel
Eureka has been picked up for a third season, and will begin production soon with a premiere of either late this year or early 2009.
And there's a lot of pilots:
“True Believer is a two-hour backdoor pilot based on an original concept from Dawson, David Atchinson, Matthew Spradlin, and Tom Feister. The contemporary dramedy centers on a 20-something comic-book nerd who hires a washed-up real-life superhero to be his crime-fighting sidekick and to teach him the ropes.”
”The Stranded is a two-hour pilot based on the SCI FI/Virgin Comics title by Mike Carey, which was released in January. In it, five seemingly everyday people must face a terrifying question: What if your entire life--your childhood, your family, your memories--was a lie? For the stranded--Sisera, Endo, Drum, Tamree and Cullen--that's true. Each of them is from another world called Standfire, and the past is returning to try to kill them.”
”…Deputized, a two-hour pilot written by Joe Gazzam. The dramedy centers on an average guy who suddenly finds himself possessing special abilities after being accidentally fitted with an alien exoskeleton that cannot be removed. He is enlisted to serve on an intergalactic police force.“
”Alice is a six-hour miniseries from writer/director Nick Willing and executive producers Robert Halmi Sr., and Robert Halmi Jr. The miniseries is a modern-day retelling of the classic story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.”
Monday, March 24, 2008
Trailers and Video
Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.
Sex and the City
Tropic Thunder
U, Me Aur Hum (English and Hindi)
Special
Irish Twins
Righteous Kill
Deception
Lost Boys: The Tribe 2nd trailer
Eye of the Beast
Stones War
Train
Pathology red band
Video:
The Orphanage
[REC]
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Adaptations
Joseph Delaney’s Spook’s Apprentice, the first of a six book series, has been optioned by Warner Brothers. Kevin Lima has been picked as director. It’s “about a 13-year-old boy who learns about wizardry from a forbidding old spook.”
Dreamworks’ 3-D How to Train Your Dragon will be directed by Patty Hastings. Based on the book by Cressida Cowell, a scrawny teenaged Viking must capture and tame a dragon. The voice cast includes: Gerard Butler, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, America Ferrara, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
Mel Gibson will adapt Robert Drewe’s novel The Drowner with his company, Icon Films. Gibson is undecided on whether he will direct or not. It’s “an epic romance set against the construction of the Mundaring Weir and the Goldfields pipeline.”
John Fusco has completed a draft of the script for Michelle Paver’s YA novel Wolf Brother, part of her Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series. The movie will be live action and produced by Ridley Scott, but he doesn’t plan to direct.
Warner Brothers has the rights to Alexis Nolent’s Science fiction novel Cyclops, and is developing it for James Mangold as director. In the near future a mercenary soldier chosen to lead a squad realizes he’s fighting for commerce and not justice.
Neil Marshall’s next movie will be Universal’s Drive. Based on the James Sallis novel: “Sallis' noir-style story, set in the seamy underside of Southern California and Arizona, centers on a stuntman who moonlights as a wheelman during robberies and discovers that a contract has been put on him.” Hugh Jackman will play the stuntman.
Kenneth Johnson, creator of the 1983 miniseries V, hopes to develop a movie based on his sequel novel V: The Second Generation. "A number of the major studios have approached me, very interested, about turning it into a movie. We're exploring all of those possibilities. Certainly the fact that the second-generation novel is currently in bookstores has had an impact on people who are interested in V as a movie, because it not only indicates there's an audience for more V, ... it's [also] lovely to be able to place a hardcover novel on a desk of a studio executive. That has its own weight."
It seems that if Narnia sequel Prince Caspian doesn’t do well, Disney will move onto a Pixar produced adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series with hopes of a trilogy.
Warner Brothers has picked up Frank Miller’s Ronin comic book miniseries, in it a samurai is put in a Manhattan where cannibals roam the sewers and humans can be half machine. Sylvain White is directing and Joby Harold is scripting.
Stuart Levy, founder of American manga translation and distribution company Tokyopop, is talking to Japanese companies about turning Kei Toume’s teen psychological horror manga Lament of the Lamb into a movie. So far he has Takahiko Akiyama to direct a 120 minute 3-D, with the tentative title Love Like Blood. "…the goth-flavored tale revolves around a slightly anemic high-school boy named Blake Edwards, who meets a beautiful girl called Jira. Their relationship becomes increasingly intense — and gory — before a final twist."
Masahito Soda’s high school bicycle racing manga Shakariki! will be turned into a live action movie this September. Shinsuke Ono will direct and it’ll star Yuya Endo, Yuuichi Nakamura, Hiroki, Noriko Nakagoshi, Miho Nakai, Akira Emoto, Yoichi Nukumizu, and Taizo Harada.
News
The A Team has a theatrical release date of June 12, 2009.
Magnolia Pictures has the distribution rights to Special, and it’ll be getting a theatrical release “later this year.” It’s about a comic book geek that signs up for experimental drug tests that he thinks have given him super powers.
Relativity Media bought Brad Ingelsby’s first script The Low Dweller. Ridley Scott and Leonardo DiCaprio are already being looked at to maybe direct and star, respectively. It’s about “Slim, a man who gets released after serving years in prison for murder, and wants only to follow through on his promise to marry his long-suffering girlfriend. That is, until he discovers that his loser brother has been murdered after getting involved in a seedy midwestern gambling racket. While Slim did time for a murder he couldn’t avoid, he decides he can’t skip out on his obligation to avenge his brother’s murder.”
“Directed by Julian Doyle, Chemical Wedding is a supernatural horror film that tells the story of a shy professor (Simon Callow) at Cambridge University, England, who brings evil occultist Aleister Crowley (also Simon Callow) back to life. In a move kind of reminiscent of Jekyll and Hyde, the wussy professor actually transforms into the sexually depraved but strangely attractive Crowley, and goes onto kick butt all around the hallowed halls.” It will premiere May 17 at Cannes, and have a UK release in the summer.
Steven Spielberg produced (unknown if he’ll direct) and Jonah Nolan written Interstellar has used Caltech physics professor Kip S. Thorne to check the script’s science concerning wormholes.
Steve Zahn joins Timothy Olyphant in David Twohy’s action thriller The Perfect Getaway. It’s about a couple who encounter two killers posing as hikers while on their honeymoon in Hawaii. Shooting starts March 31.
Collin Chou has been cast in the Wachowski brothers Ninja Assassin (working title). He says production will start in April or May.
Victor Garber and Douglas Smith have been added to the cast of Gus Van Sant’s Milk.
Naohito Fujiki, who played Rui in the 1995 Hana Yori Dango movie, will play a new character in Hana Yori Dango Final.
Prequels, Sequels & Remakes
Troy Duffy says that Sony has agreed put up money for Boondock Saints: All Saints Day (finally), and that it will have the original cast members, except Willem Dafoe.
Screenwriter John Fusco says he’s ready to adapt and update Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 classic, The Seven Samurai, this time as a private paramilitary company. "I didn't want to do it unless it could be remade like Magnificent Seven, which was great and translated beautifully with the Old West gunfighters. I did a lot of research on these [paramilitary] guys and the way they are, and they lend themselves to an updated version of this story."
Rambo 5 will be shot in Bulgaria. At the moment, word is this is for financial reasons, but that the story’s actual setting will be America – somewhere in Arizona.
Kevin Conroy will voice Batman in Batman: Gotham Knight (Yay!). The rest of the cast includes Corey Burton, Rob Paulsen, Kevin Michael Richardson, Will Friedle, Jason Marsden, Jim Meskimen, Pat Musick, Scott Menville, Hynden Walch, Corey Padnos, and Crystal Scales.
Jared Padalecki will play the lead “who investigates what happened up at Crystal Lake” in the Friday the 13th remake. Movie’s set for a February release. (But if he’s investigating what happened [as in past tense] is it really a remake or a sequel?)
Neal McDonough will play M. Bison in the Street Fighter remake.
Lena Headey has joined the cast of Tell Tale. In this “update” of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart, Josh Lucas is "a single father whose recently transplanted heart leads him on a frantic search to find the donor's killer before a similar fate befalls him."
Gina Phillips is in talks to reprise her role for the third Jeepers Creepers movie.
Sam Raimi is the latest director in negotiations with Paramount for the revival of Tom Clancy’s CIA analyst Jack Ryan.
Guillermo Del Toro on the status of negotiations for The Hobbit: "At this stage anything I say is of no consequence for I am not yet signed to do 'The Hobbit.' Negotiations advance but are still ongoing."
Anton Yelchin is in talks to play Kyle Reese, John Connor’s later father, in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins [latest title]. In this one, Connor is in his thirties, and Reese is a teenager (What would Freud say about all this?) who is a child survivor of a “machine driven nuclear holocaust,” and befriends an early version of the Terminator named Marcus.
Christian Bale on the possibility of a third Batman Begins movie: "Um, look, let's wait and see.”…”Part 3 is what I'd consider it, yeah, I don't say part 6. Batman Begins - that was the beginning there, with all due respect to the others. We are re-creating this. You know, obviously the decision is out of my hands. I would, knowing the Dark Knight story, I would like very much to complete a trilogy. And I think that knowing the story of The Dark Knight, it leaves you anticipating something that really can get very, very interesting for a third. Now, the question would be: Is Chris going to be doing it? Because to me I find it tricky to imagine working on it without it being a collaboration with Chris."
Chris Evans on a third Fantastic Four movie: “I’m pretty sure we won’t do one. I’m assuming that one is a closed book. After the first one was released we got wind of potential titles and plots, and I’ve heard nothing from anyone at Fox. We had all planned on doing one but if there were going to be a third I think a week after the second one was released we would have heard.” But if Johnny Storm were to make an appearance in another Marvel superhero movie? “Absolutely, If Johnny Storm wanted to make a pop in appearance in one of those movies that would be a treat.”
While director Francis Lawrence says, depending on the script, he’d do another Constantine/Hellblazer, Keanu Reeves isn’t interested in playing John Constantine again.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Whee!
You know, my sense of humor, for the most part, isn't what you'd call "complicated." So when a clip with a touch of WoW, based on a Muppets skit, which used a novelty song, that tied in with a running family joke, that (after a long story) is tied to a John Travolta movie, came across my way I had to use it.
Actually that is pretty complicated. To simplify: This amuses me exceedingly.
Lost scenes from lifesize Mutant giveaway sculptures!
After Terry Pratchett donated half a million pounds (about $1 million US), a site started up called Match it for Pratchett. Pratchett says that while he isn’t accusing them of fraud the site isn’t officially linked to him and that if you’d like to donate to Alzheimer’s research to do so directly.
In April, manga creator Naoki Urasawa, and editor/producer Takashi Nagasaki, will be taking guest teaching posts at the Aichi Prefecture located Nagoya Zokei University of Art and Design for manga classes. They will teach two or three "Modern Expression Course: Manga Classes" per year, with each class meeting every month. The class has been expanded from a five student capacity to about fifteen.
Members of the Church of Jedi have bought property on the moon.
Saiyuki Kagekiden: Go to the West (site in Japanese) is a stage musical based off of Kazuya Minekura’s loose (but fun!) manga adaptations of Journey to the West: Saiyuki and Saiyuki Reload. It’ll play September 13-21 in Tokyo’s Ginza district. Saiyuki is one of my favorite guilty pleasures, so if someone sneaks in a camera for me… you can have Kyle! (I kid! Maybe....)
Turner Classic Movies’ Underground website has webcomics of “Lost Scenes” from cult movies.
March 27-28, a poster from the original King Kong, a hydraulic Velociraptor from Jurassic Park 2, a Spinosaur head from Jurassic Park 3, the Batman costume from Batman Returns, and the Ming the Merciless cape from 1936’s Flash Gordon, plus about 1,100 other items will be auctioned off through Profiles in History.
Want an $8,000 7’ Cylon?
Also from the life size sculpture file, the Paper Moon doll-making company has started accepting orders for the title character of the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, at almost $4,000 each (site is Japanese, and kinda creeps me out). If you’re in Tokyo and want a look, there’s one on display at Asobit Chara City in the Akihabara district.
Steampunk Daleks
Peanuts as Watchmen (site in German)
Web show stuff
Joss Whedon told Whedonesque Web about a webseries superhero musical he’s producing called Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog: "It's the story of a low-rent supervillain, the hero who keeps beating him up and the cute girl from the laundromat he's too shy to talk to. And I'm having the time of my life."…"During the strike I started writing a musical intended as a limited internet series, three episodes of approximately 10 minutes each. Writing with me was my brother Jed; his fiancee, Maurissa; and my other brother, Zack. To my shock and surprise, we finished it." Cast includes Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer, and Felicia Day as Penny.
Farscape’s executive producer Brian Henson, and creator Rockne O’Bannon are talking about a 10 “webisode” revival series. Ben Browder would be reprising his role as John Crichton in the proposed webseries, "At the moment, that's Rockne and Brian's job, and I'm aware that they're figuring out what they're going to do with it, but I don't know how far along in the process they are." But Browder also says he’s not sure how involved he’d be, "They haven't come to me with any specifics yet, and I don't read anything into that, but at Comic-Con, Brian discussed it and said, 'Yeah, we're still figuring it out.' The writers' strike happened immediately after that, ... and a lot of things went on hold, and it will take a little while before a number of things get going again."
Presented by Degree Men, 24’s online spinoff The Rookie: Day 3 Extraction will have six chapters, each three to four minutes long. Rodney Charters, who has worked on the show, directs each episode in the same style, and set in the same world, as 24. “Blaine races against the clock to try rescue his boss, who is kidnapped by a nefarious drug cartel.”
Comics and books
Starting this month, IDW Publishing will unveil a five issue Ghost Whisperer comic. Taking place between the second and third seasons of the CBS show, it follows Melinda Gordon as she comes face to face with Egyptian god of the dead Osiris, who wants souls for himself. It’s written by Carrie Smith and Becca Smith (who also write on the show) and illustrated by Elena Casagrande.
Also from IDW, Angel: After the Fall will be expanded with special interim issues and a spin off. Issues 6-8 will have a three part story within a story First Night. Issue 6 will be about Spike, 7 about Connor, and 8 Lorne, all with a framing sequence with character Betta George.
The miniseries, which comes out in July, is Spike: After the Fall. Brian Lynch and Franco Urru write and direct the four part that picks up after the First Night story arc, and looks at his changing relationship with Illyria.
Also -also- from IDW, the 12-part maxi-series Transformers: All Hail Megatron is looking for a July release for the first issue. It’s set one year after Transformers: Devastation and shows what happens when the good guys aren’t around to defend against villains. Shane McCarthy writes and Guido Guidi illustrates. The series will cover what happened to the Autobots, and the aftermath of an Earth taken over by Decepticons.
Not from IDW, Titan Books’ official novelization of the Iron Man movie is available for pre-order. Street date April 25.
DVD releases
The Sickhouse – March 18
Cloverfield - April 22
Rambo - May 27
Lost Boys: The Tribe – July
Pushing Daisies: The First Season – September (UK release – June)
Cherry Blossoms...
Also in Washington, D.C...
April 5, The Smithsonian Institution’s Freer Gallery of Art, in conjunction with the Japan Information Cultural Center and Otakorp, Inc., will screen four anime films:
Jungle Emperor Leo
Atagoal: Cat’s Magical Forest
5 Centimeters Per Second
Appleseed: Ex Machina
Jungle Emperor Leo is dubbed in English, while the other three are Japanese with English subtitles. Free tickets for the movies will be distributed on April 5, starting at 10:30 am. The showings are part of the Cherry Blossom Anime Marathon, which is part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington March 29-April 13.
More info here
Here
And here.
In Washington D.C.
The Japan Information and Culture Center of the Embassy of Japan and DC Anime Club will be screening two movies for free (but reservations are required). March 26, Shinobu Yaguchi’s live action comedy Swing Girls, and March 27, Takahiro Imamura’s anime One Piece: The Desert Princess and The Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta. Both are Japanese with English subtitles.
More info here.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Job opportunity
Digital Manga, Inc. “is looking for an energetic and organized individual to assist with sales, and marketing for our company. Candidate would be responsible for helping to generate sales reports on a weekly basis from data provided by our distributor along with other various market reports that our company may need from time to time.”
Go here for requirements and details.
Phillyfest
April 3-15, is the 17th Philadelphia Film Festival:
"Held for two weeks in April, the Festival brings the world's imagination to Philadelphia with screenings of nearly 300 features, documentaries, shorts and animation from 50 countries for an audience of 61,000. Among its thematic highlights are 'Cinema of the Muslim Worlds', which in 2003 was covered by the Wall Street Journal; 'Danger After Dark,' an internationally-renowned celebration of genre films; and the annual Festival of Independents, a regional filmmaking showcase."
Titles include:
Bad Biology
Timecrimes
Stuck
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
Mirageman
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
Trailer Park of Terror
Black House
Epitath
The Sperm
Official site.
pdf complete festival guide.
Russian TV news
In Russia, The Consulting Council of Heads of Russia's Protestant Churches have asked the Russian attorney general to cancel channel 2x2's broadcasting license. They also want American shows South Park and Sealab 2021, the UK's Angry Kid, Japan's Ikki Tousen (Russian title Shkol'nye Voyny), and eight other titles banned.
They say these shows promote and glorify "cruelty," "homosexuality," "drug and alcohol use," "platitude," "pedophilia," and an "asocial way of life." Also, that they contain "elements of child pornography" and contribute "to the destruction of public norms and values."
2x2's representatives said that the government, not a religious organization, should initiate any regulations since Russia is a secular country. Director of 2x2 Prof-Media, Yuliya Solovieva, "It would be the same as if atheists were demanding to shut down channels that broadcast religious programming."
Roman Sarkisov, the channel's general director, says 2x2 is aimed at adults, and the titles in question all air after 10:00 pm, "children should be sleeping."
Two months earlier they pulled Happy Tree Friends and The Adventures of Big Jeff after a government warning.
TV News
On Sci Fi Channel: The Sarah Jane Adventures will premiere April 11, at 7:30 pm EST, (with a regular timeslot 8 pm EST), and the fourth season of Doctor Who on April 18, at 8:30 pm EST (regular 9 pm EST).
Sci Fi has green lit Battlestar Galactica two hour prequel/backdoor pilot Caprica.
Dollhouse will begin production in April. i09 has some script pages.
While NBC hasn’t officially said, Bionic Woman’s co-executive producer, David Eick, says the show is dead.
The CW has green lit Sam Raimi’s horror/reality show 13 (working title). Debuting this summer, the eight episode series takes contestants through horror movie like challenges and games that frighten them along the way. Executive producers are Jay Bienstock, Sam Raimi, and Robert Tapert. Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane will produce.
NBC is looking at Jason Smilovic’s untitled drama starring Christian Slater. “It is described as ‘The Bourne Identity’ meets ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ and centers on a mild-mannered suburban dad (Slater) who learns that his alter ego is a spy.”
Rob Thomas has been given the OK by ABC to do a “reinvention” of his 1998 comedy series Cupid. In the original, Jeremy Piven played a man who believes he’s a god sent by Zeus to bring together 100 couples.
While there aren’t many details, The CW and producer Rob Thomas is developing a Beverly Hills: 90210 spin off.
Yoko Kamio’s slice of life drama manga, Cat Street, will be adapted into a live action series to air this summer on Japan’s NHK public broadcasting. It’s about a former child actress who comes out of hiding when she enters a school for outsiders, aka “stray cats.”
Monday, March 17, 2008
Trailers and Video
Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.
The Incredible Hulk
Speed Racer full trailer
Batman: Gotham Knight
Wall-E
Madagascar: The Crate Escape
Nerdcore Rising
Lost Boys: The Tribe
The Strangers
Video:
Son of Rambow - 3 clips
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Deals
Universal and comic book publishers Dark Horse have signed a three year production and distribution deal. The upcoming Hellboy II movie “had a lot to do with it” said Dark Horse founder and prexy Mike Richardson. "We've done a number of pictures with Universal over the years, and we have a lot of relationships with the people there. Since they get the particular genre, it makes sense to go with them." Universal will have creative access to all of Dark Horse’s characters and properties, while Dark Horse gets a distribution outlet for any self-financed movies and access to lot based producers.
Warner Brothers is in talks with New Line production prexy Toby Emmerich about running a smaller version of New Line. While WB integrates them, New Line would make 6-8 movies a year with smaller budgets, below $50 million (However, planned and proposed movies The Hobbit, Wedding Crashers 2, and Austin Powers 4 would have larger budgets), and the exec staff will be slimmed down from fifteen to as few as four.
Adaptations
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be split into two movies, to be filmed concurrently. The first will release November 2010 and the second May 2011. David Yates will direct and Steve Kloves will write. Warner Brothers Pictures Group president Jeff Robinov said, "We recognized that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is packed with vital plot points that complete the story arcs of all of its beloved characters. That said, we feel that the best way to do the book and its many fans justice is to expand the screen adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and release the film in two parts. We could not imagine the final chapter of the film franchise being in better hands than those of David Yates.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar is in talks to replace Kate Bosworth in Veronika Decides to Die. It’s based on Paulo Coelho’s novel about a depressed woman who finds the will to live after a suicide attempt that injures her heart, leaving her with only days to live.
Warner Brothers has the rights to Jeff Smith’s Bone comic book series. Depending on the eventual director it could go either CGI or live action.
Richard Saperstein has optioned Clifford Meth’s graphic novel Snaked. Meth says about the main character, "Timmons is an honest man working in the political mainstream who finds himself dysfunctioned by the dishonesty of politicians. Everyone around him is a bit of a snake... but he's the real deal insofar as he must shed his skin from time to time, and he can swallow your whole head if it isn't ridiculously large."
The rights to Valiant Comics’ Harbinger, have been acquired by Paramount. “Harbingers are humans with powers that can be unlocked by 'omega' harbingers. Teenage Pete Stanchek finds himself on a collision course with an older omega who used his gifts to become an evil industrialist.” It’ll be live action, and possibly a vehicle for Brett Ratner.
Paramount Pictures has the feature rights to Deouglas TenNapel’s graphic novel Monster Zoo, which will be published by Image in the spring. When an ancient idol is brought to a zoo, "the idol's spirit awakens and starts to mutate the caged animals. A group of teenagers must band together to try to stop the idol and the evil from destroying the world." Sam Raimi is attached, but only for producing since he’s prepping Drag Me to Hell right now.
Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment is producing the adaptation of Kazu Kibuishi's graphic novel Amulet, starring children Willow and Jaden Smith. The story is about a brother and sister who, after their father dies, move into their late great-grandfather's home. When their mother is lured into an undergroung world by a monster, they have to use an amulet to save her.
The manga Pride, by Yukari Ichigo, about two rival budding opera singers who become “best partners" will be made into a live action movie with a January 2009 release. It’ll star pop singer Stephanie and be directed by Shusuke Kaneko.
Meg Kunis and Mark Wahlberg will star in John Moore’s Max Payne movie adaptation. Wahlberg will be Payne, a cop haunted by tragically losing his family, and Kunis is an assassin who wants to avenge her sister’s death and joins forces with him while he’s in the middle of investigating murders and a conspiracy.
David Fincher will be in charge of a set of short stories based on the magazine Heavy Metal. It’ll have eight or nine animated segments with different directors. David Fincher, Kevin Eastman, and Tim Miller are signed on.
Movie News
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus has restarted in Vancouver with Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law. In a statement from the movie’s producers: "Since the format of the story allows for the preservation of his entire performance, at no point will Heath's work be modified or altered through the use of digital technology. Each of the parts played by Johnny, Colin and Jude is representative of the many aspects of the character that Heath was playing."
Dreamworks’ Monsters vs. Aliens will be out March 2009. Starring Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, and Steve Colbert, it’ll have Earth’s beasties facing off against space invaders. Also, it’s the first CGI movie to ever be produced in 3-D, instead of being animated then having 3-D effects put in later.
Sopranos movie rumors have surfaced again, and HBO still says it’s a no go.
Also from the rumor mill, Paramount says that Iron Man will not be released two days early.
Len Wiseman will be directing futuristic action thriller scifi movie Shell Game. While investigating the black market immortality trade, a detective has a moral delima.
Neil Marshall’s will write and direct Sacrilege, horror set in the old west. "It is set during the gold rush, a time remembered for incidents like the Donner party. It is meant to be a pitch-black, gritty, period horror movie."
Wolfgang Petersen will direct Columbia Pictures’ sci-fi Uprising. It’s about "the resistance efforts of some citizens after Earth has been occupied by a powerful alien race." Charles Leavitt is writing.
MGM currently owns a script by Ben Browder and Andrew Prowse for a horror movie called Black Mountain. "Yeah, it sort of has a horror/sci-fi critter in it and it's a critter in the woods."
Justin Long is onboard for Drag Me to Hell. Also, Universal is distributing domestically and in select international territories, while Mandate International will distribute to all other foreign territories.
Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, and Leslie Mann are signed onto Judd Apatow's, still unnamed, next comedy.
Ray Winstone will star in Rob Green’s Live Girls. After visiting his first strip club a man, and a wild night with one of the dancers, he starts going through strange changes. When he returns to the club for answers, he teams up with a private eye looking for revenge for the murder of his family. It turns out the club is a nest of blood suckers.
Val Kilmer is replacing Al Pacino in Charles Winkler’s cop drama/murder mystery New Orleans. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson also stars.
Prequels, Sequels & Remakes
MGM press release:
“MGM is planning an exciting fall and winter release schedule. In partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM will bring new installments of two of its tentpole franchises -- the new James Bond movie QUANTUM OF SOLACE and Steve Martin in PINK PANTHER 2. MGM will also release United Artists' international thriller VALKYRIE, starring Tom Cruise on October 3. With the appointment of Parent, MGM will enter its new phase of evolution by focusing on its major movie franchises highlighted by JAMES BOND and PINK PANTHER sequels, THE HOBBIT, THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR 2, THE OUTER LIMITS, ROBOCOP, DEATH WISH and FAME, among others.”
Robocop. Huh.
The Rosemary’s Baby remake is confirmed.
Killer Tomato Entertainment and producer M. Dal Walton have a deal for a remake of 1978’s Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine will write, with Nichols making his directorial debut. Okay, I’ve posted on a lot of remakes, but this makes me die inside. Just a little.
Jason Segel and Nick Stoller will be bringing another Muppets movie to the big screen.
Stallone on Rambo 5: "I would like to take Rambo to another genre, experiment a little with the character. It would definitely not be another war movie, cuz I can't go any further with that than what I've already done. What it's going to be like I'm not going to reveal at this point. But I'm already halfway though writing the manuscript."
X-Files 2 has wrapped shooting. Those pics with Mulder and Scully smooching were staged.
Carla Gugino has joined Race to Witch Mountain, she’ll play a discredited astrophysicist and UFO expert who helps the children and cab driver.
Bryan Singer is, for definite sure, back for the Superman Returns sequel. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are being looked at to take over the writing.
Shock Till You Drop has a source that says “another Aliens vs. Predator sequel is a ‘certainty’ at this point.”
George Miller:
“We were all ready to go on ‘Fury Road,’ but instead of going off and shooting ‘Fury Road’ straight away, I said ‘Okay, now that we've got that whole world prepared, let's work together with somebody, if there's someone out there.’ And that started off on the path of trying to get together with Corey. Not handing it off to some third party game developer as we did on ‘Happy Feet,’ but to try to do it all as a piece, in the hope that we overcome that problem of making bad films from good games or vice versa.” “[Fury Road] was in a very highly advanced stage of preproduction when we stopped it. It's all prepared, but now I want to stop and do the game and get those schedules in sync.”
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Dentmobiles! Trains! Robots! Snacks!
George A. Romero wants to do a stage version of Christian Nyby’s The Thing From Another World (Which John Carpenter later remade as The Thing)… In a freezing theater.
The Harvey Dent centric viral marketing for The Dark Knight continues with campaign buses called "Dentmobiles" in select cities.
After ADV Films closed its London branch, Lace Digital Media Sales picked up their titles. Lace has announced they’ve rescheduled release dates for all ADV releases in the UK for spring. Hugh David will stay on as marketing consultant.
March 16, Leiji Matsumoto will serve as Seibu Ikebukuro line's stationmaster for one day to mark the Neritan Anime Project in Oizumi event and the Tokyo International Anime Fair later this month.
According to University of Sheffield's Professor Noel Sharkey, a Terminator-ish war could be upon us within ten years.
Robot Dextre goes into space. And so the enslavement of the human race begins.
"Japan's Imperial Enterprise mail-order company is offering a 1-million-yen (about US$9,000) pure-gold figure of Mighty Atom (Astro Boy) to mark the 80th anniversary of his creator Osamu Tezuka's birthday. Only 80 figures will be made, each from 80 grams (2.8 ounces) of gold and a natural diamond."
Futurama's addictive secretion drink, Slurm, may become a reality. Hopefully there won't be actual secretions…
Starting March 25, Japan's am/pm company will be selling official Macross Frontier Cream Puffs. "Lanka's Delicious DekaruCha Puffs" are filled with green tea flavored cream and whipped cream, and "Sheryl's Galaxy Cream Puffs" with custard and whipped cream. This is to celebrate the franchise's 25th anniversary and the April 4 premiere of the Macross Frontier sequel.
Comics and books
Publisher Wildstorm has a free preview of Yoshinori Natsume's Batman: Death Mask on their Myspace page. The fist issue ships April 9, and follows Batman as he investigates a serial killer who seems to have the same martial arts training in Japan that he had.
Following Buffy's example, the original Star Trek will continue in comic book form. Starting with The Enterprise Experiment (a kinda sequel to TV episode The Enterprise Incident) IDW Publishing will be presenting Star Trek: Year Four as a continuation, since the show went off after three years and the Enterprise was on a five year mission. "In the new story the Federation tries to adapt the stolen tech and of course, things don’t go as planned. Kirk and Spock end up on an Enterprise phased out somewhere between time and space. Oh, and the Romulans don’t take the theft lying down and stage an attack at this most inopportune time."
Jonathan Hickman's Pax Romana is about how, "[The Catholic Church] sends an army back in time to pretty much conquer the world and set up a theocracy. They send everyone back in time to around 312 or 313 A.D., when Constantine was the first Christian emperor in the Roman Empire. And everything goes wrong." There's a sample up on the official site.
Wall Street Journal:
"Borders Group Inc. has decided you can sell a book by its cover. In a radical move aimed at jump-starting sales, the nation's second-largest book retailer is sharply increasing the number of titles it displays on shelves with the covers face-out. Because that takes up more room than the traditional spine-out style, the new approach will require a typical Borders superstore to shrink its number of titles by 5% to 10%." For anyone who doesn't understand how shelving in bookstores work, this'll have an effect on small publishers, "mid-list" authors, and niche genres: "Even so, its new strategy -- which at a typical superstore will mean a reduction of anywhere from 4,675 to 9,350 titles from the former total of around 93,500…"
DVD releases
No Country For Old Men - March 11
Bionic Woman: Volume One - March 18
Indiana Jones boxset - May 13
Futurama: Beast With A Billion Backs - June 24 (Submitted by Sitting Duck)
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
SFL
April 30-May 4, this year's SCI-FI-LONDON Film Festival will be having a contest…
The 48hour Film Challenge:
"Use your creative circuits, wit and talent to make a short film and you could win some neat prizes, let alone kudos from our jury - headed by Hollywood legend JOHN LANDIS - the festival and of course our audience. Why? Well, winning films will be premiered at the festival! Our film challenge is FREE TO ENTER - well, it seems wrong to ask you for money, you will be working hard enough as it is!"
More info on SFL here.
48hour Film Challenge page.
STIFFC
April 12-18, the Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children will show 68 films, representing 26 countries and 15 languages. Guests include Helen Hood Scheer, Anna Justice, Mischa Kamp, Darius Weems, and Tiffany Knight.
"Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children offers children and youth the opportunity to learn about film and cultural perspectives from around the world. Through the power of film, Sprockets is helping to transform the way children and youth see the world. The 11th annual Sprockets runs from April 12-18, 2008, and includes a Family Programme (April 12-13) for ages three and up, on-site activities and a week-long School Programme (April 14-18) for students in Grades 1 through 12. Family Programme tickets are $6.60 per child and $10.61 per adult, Reel Rascals, The Snow Queen screening and Jump Cuts Young Filmmakers Showcase tickets are $6.60 per person (does not include GST, building fund fee or service charges)."
Official website here. Tickets available through the website, calling 416-968-FILM (toll free at 1-877-968-FILM.
AFFF
April 9-April 20, Holland's 24th Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival celebrates "Fantasy, Horror, Anime, Thriller, Cult, Science-Fiction." But they, unfortunately, don't have their programme up yet.
AFFF official site here.
BIFFF
March 21-April 8, Belgium's 26th Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival will be showing about ninety movies along with thirteen events.
"Why are we so tenaciously defending fantastic film, a genre which, since the birth of cinema, has often been met with derision and contempt. Well, if you really want to know, as programmers and organisers of the biggest Belgian genre film festival, we’ll shout it from the rooftops : fantastic film is the most significant cinema on the planet !
"And we’ll prove it for the 26th time with a program that’s overflowing with young directors bombarding us with poignant questions about a future that’s not a century away, but that’s here and now and all around us : virtual worlds, ecological catastrophes, nano-technology, privatised war, genetically manipulates beasties, extreme reality TV… Where else but at Bifff will you get a taste of what’s in store for all of us ?!
"As usual, we don’t take ourselves too serious and wrap the festival in a multitude of animations, exhibitions, side-events and a few surprises along the way, allowing spectators to browse through our cinematic pearls in a true, festive manner."
BIFFF's official site here.
Myspace page.
TV News
Michael Rosenbaum and Kristen Kruek will only be back "on a recurring basis" for Smallville's 8th season.
Alexander Skarsguard has joined the cast for HBO's Alan Ball series based on Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire books, True Blood, as a thousand year old vampire Viking. Focusing on the love story between mind reading waitress Sookie Stackhouse and vampire Bill Compton, it takes place in a world where vampires have been a part of society for four years.
24's producers are developing a two hour TV movie for this fall that will bridge the two year gap that takes place between seasons 6 and 7. While filming will start on the remaining season 7 episodes in April, and the season will premiere in January.
Friday Night Lights will return for a third season.
Robert Carlyle has said officially that rumors of BBC approaching him to become the 11th Doctor are just rumors.
Patrick Swayze's The Beast is "in contention to become one of the new drama series on the network," according to A&E, despite him having pancreatic cancer.
Eriko Tamura, who played Taeko last season in Heroes, has some spoilers for next season.
Ben Browder is working on mini series Going Homer for the SCI FI Channel that "brings to life characters from Greek and Roman mythology."
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