Mutant News Annex

Moving day...

2009-01-14T15:55:00.002-05:00

The Mutant News will now be on it's revamped parent site Mutant Reviewers from Hell! Very exciting.

Bad Fighting to the Death

2008-11-20T18:52:00.005-05:00

So with all this Star Trek talk this week I decided to post these clips from the original, which is my personal favorite of the Treks.

Worst Fight Scene Ever (No it's not in slo-mo)

I think Lizard Guy needs to cut down on the cigs!

He's Dead, Jim!

Chats, Trailers, Scripts, Wax!

2008-11-20T18:47:00.001-05:00

Participate in First-Ever Live BD Chat with Director Guillermo Del Toro November 23

Trailer Reveals Who’s Hooking Up With Kirk and Why Scotty’s All Wet (Thanks to Justin)

Warner Brothers has posted the script for The Dark Knight (Submitted by dex)

Tinker Bell becomes the smallest wax figure in the history of Madame Tussauds.

Women Who Pretended to Be Men to Publish Scifi Books

The different Terminators of The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Kaiju Eiga.

Darth Toaster.

Comics and Books

2008-11-20T18:46:00.000-05:00

Bluewater and Lionsgate are developing a Leprechaun comic. The first story arc will be written by Zach Hunter, the second by Michael Kingston, with art by Kris Carter. In it Lubdan will travel all over to track down his gold "Battling greed, the genocidal Cluracan and new mystical adversaries, Lubdan must save all life to save himself." Says Hunter, "Leprechaun is an immensely popular horror franchise and I'm excited about expanding the mythos.”

Bluewater and Lionsgate will also make a comic version of Warlock. Written by Nick Lyons, it takes place after second sequel (Warlock III: The End of Innocence) with the Warlock trying to destroy a book that imprisoned six other Warlocks in order to release them. It’ll be drawn by Jacob Bear, colored by John Hunt, and alternate covers by Matt Billisle.

Broccoli has decided to shut down its subsidiary Broccoli International USA due to “competition in the subsidiary's fields of business increased sharply in recent years, which resulted in a drop in revenue and profits.” This includes the imprint Broccoli Books which directly published manga and artbooks in North America.

TV News...

2008-11-18T21:05:00.002-05:00

HBO has green lit the David Benioff and D.B. Weiss written pilot for the fantasy drama Game of Thrones based on George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series.

After 14 years Fox has canceled Mad TV. It came “after the show failed to see a ratings boost during the recent presidential campaign.” As compared to Saturday Night Live, that saw some of its best numbers in a while.

NBC has canceled new show My Own Worst Enemy and Lipstick Jungle, in its second year, both due to low ratings. It is unknown whether NBC will let the already filmed episodes for My Own Worst Enemy run out, or yank it out of rotation.

SciFi Channel has green lit the second season to Santuary for thirteen more episodes. It will resume production in Vancouver for an early 2009 premiere.

Mayuri Yamamoto’s horror anthology manga Reset will become a live action TV drama. “Each episode will follow a different person as he or she deals with an ultimate choice.” Naoki Tanaka will play a "time guide" who visits each episode's main character as they choose whether to reset their lives. Premieres in Japan in January.

Trailers and Video

2008-11-17T18:42:00.002-05:00

Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.

Trailers:
Star Trek
Watchmen
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
The Spirit
The Day the Earth Stood Still
2012 teaser
Race to Witch Mountain
Cadillac Records
The Lodger
The Alphabet Killer
Alien Uprising
B**** Slap NSFW

Video:
Resident Evil: Degenration 2 clips
Transporter 3 1 clip

Posters

2008-11-17T18:40:00.002-05:00

Watchmen
Red Sonja
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Wrestler
Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Images

2008-11-17T18:37:00.002-05:00

Star Trek
Push
Kick Ass
Four Christmases

Animation Week!

2008-11-16T21:51:00.001-05:00

Animation Week has started over on MRFH.

Movie News

2008-11-16T21:46:00.002-05:00

Dark Horse Entertainment founder Mike Richardson said that the publisher will partner with Universal Pictures to develop movies based on their comics and graphic novels. "We have a slate of projects that we're setting up over at Universal. We've just done a new partnership with Universal. We're very excited about it. We're going to bring some great movies from them. They'll have an announcement very shortly, a press release very shortly about our slate. ... They're great people over there, and they really understand the kinds of books and movies that we do." Titles include R.I.P.D., Emily Strange, and Freaks of the Heartland.

Dentsu will transfer majority ownership in Geneon Entertainment to NBC Universal’s Universal Pictures International Entertainment (UPIE). UPIE will merge Geneon Entertainment with Universal Pictures Japan. UPIE will own 80.1% with Dentsu retaining 19.9%.

Greg Mottola will direct Working Title and Universal’s extraterrestrial comedy Paul. “The story revolves around two British slackers who, after visiting Comic-Con International, go on a road trip to Area 51, where they encounter a small alien named Paul, who enlists them to help him find his way home.” Simon Pegg and Nick Frost will star, and Edgar Wright is exec producing. Filming starts April in New Mexico.

Martha Fiennes’ espionage thriller Blown will star Jim Caviezel and Samuel L Jackson. It’s about “a top MI5 operative whose routine investigation of a global corporation leads him to discover an imminent terrorist attack. Jackson will play Julian Lezard, the businessman who engages him in a high-stakes game of wits and deception.”

Broken Lizard and Adam Duritz are producing Freeloaders. It’s about “five guys and a girl who live in the lap of luxury in a rock star's mansion. But their sweet situation is threatened when the rock star decides to sell the home.”

Director Jeffrey Lau will be making the tentatively titled Robot, a Chinese version of Transformers. A longtime dream for Lau, he has partnered with Le TV.com to make a film company for the film. Le TV.com investor Zhuo Shungo has said it “will present a refreshing look at Chinese robots for people who are used to stereotypical Hollywood figures like Spiderman and Superman.” … “The Chinese robot, in comparison, would feel closer and more human to audiences, as it is the incarnation of Oriental wisdom and strength.”

Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

2008-11-16T21:41:00.002-05:00

Columbia Pictures is doing a “new version” of 1984’s The Karate Kid. Chris Murphy is writing the script for what’ll be a vehicle for Jaden Smith. Filming starts next year in Beijing. “While the new film will be set in that exotic locale, it will borrow elements of the original plot, wherein a bullied youth learns to stand up for himself with the help of an eccentric mentor.” [E: Because it totally won’t spit on the ‘80s fun of the original at all, and y’know, that last Karate Kid movie was just so awesome.]

Sam Worthington will star in John Madden’s action thriller Debt, a remake of Israeli movie Ha-hov.

George Millar’s Happy Feet 2 will film in Sydney Australia. It will take 3 years, and be done by new digital production studio Dr D.

Director Catherine Hardwicke on adapting Twilight sequel New Moon: “Well, here's the challenge. Book two is literally about twice as expensive as this one, because they turn into werewolves, and they go to Italy, and they do all these stunts. So this one definitely looked like when you add it up, OK, how much does it take to market a movie? $35 to $40 million. Took almost $40 million to make it. That's $80 [million]. Then another $40 [million] to make the more expensive one; that'd be $120 [million]. So this thing has to make way more than that before somebody'll really be able to afford to make it. So we don't know if it's going to do that. That would be quite extraordinary, to make that much money on such a low budget.”

Dolph Lundgren talks Universal Soldier 3: “’Absolutely untrue,’ Lundgren insisted, clearing the air with a surprise call to MTV News HQ. ‘I’ve met with the producers many times, and I AM the one resisting.’”

Director Darren Lynn Bousman hopes to start a Repo! The Genetic Opera sequel in 2009. "I would love to follow up Repo and finish the story, because it was conceived as a three-part movie. But I’m doing an action film next. I can’t say exactly what it is yet. It’ll be announced next week. But I’m doing a big action film next, which is really exciting.”

Adaptations

2008-11-16T21:32:00.002-05:00

Zack Snyder talks Watchmen’s ending.

Latest Dragonball release date: April 8, 2009.

Joe Johnston has signed with Marvel Studios to direct The First Avenger: Captain America. Kevin Feige will produce. There are no writers currently, but the studio is hearing pitches. The movie is due May 6, 2011.

The Cowboys and Aliens movie is now being written by Kurtzman and Orci. With Imagine producing, and Ron Howard is developing it for Robert Downey Jr.

Dark Horse’s Mike Richardson: "The most immediate is R.I.P.D. ... David Dobkin is directing. We're doing it over at Universal Studios. We have a great script by [Matt] Manfredi and [Phil] Hay. R.I.P.D. stands for Rest in Peace Department. It's based on a graphic novel by Peter Lenkov. It's about dead cops that died in the line of duty that are sent back, basically, to get people who don't want to come peacefully, people who stayed behind. It's a lot of fun. ... It has a few of the elements of something like a Men in Black, except this one has real scares in it. It's not sort of cartoon scares. A lot of humor, but real scary stuff going on."

"I will say we'll have a good announcement [about Emily Strange] coming up very shortly. I'm working with Rob. Yes, we've set it up with a studio, ... but there'll be an official announcement coming up soon. ... [There's a] very interesting story that we've come up with, too. It'll add background to Emily."

"We just set up Freaks of the Heartland over at Overture, with David Gordon Green directing. And the writers just started working on that."

Guillermo Del Toro on The Hobbit, Frankenstein, and At the Mountains of Madness.

The 39 Clues is still in scripting phase with Jeff Nathanson adapting the first book.

Simon Beaufoy has finished a draft for a screenplay based on Steven Hall’s novel The Raw Shark Texts. "OK, get this. It's about conceptual sharks that eat your memory. It's like Memento and Jaws and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Just pair it all up. It's the most amazing flight of imagination I've read for 20 years."

Guillermo Del Toro will be producing a stop motion adaptation of Carlo Collodi and Gris Grimly's Pinnochio. Says Del Toro, "The idea came from Gris, and everybody loves his book about it. The original story is far more perverse and spooky and semi-necrophilia vibe to it in certain aspects. Gris certainly has that vein in him, he wants to do this with that original spookiness in it, we are trying to get it going. The Jim Henson Company is the behind it and we are currently working on the screenplay! Its not coming to a screen near you any time soon, even if it were to begin today it would be about three years in the making, but we are working to make it happen. A full-scale puppet universe takes time.” Grimly will direct.

Marc Foster will direct World War Z. The movie, based on Max Brooks’ zombie novel, is being produced by Brad Pitt owned Plan B, leading to rumors that he may star. It “tells the story of the world's desperate battle against the zombie threat with a series of first-person accounts ‘as told to the author’ by various characters around the world. A Chinese doctor encounters one of the earliest zombie cases at a time when the Chinese government is ruthlessly suppressing any information about the outbreak that will soon spread across the globe. The tale then follows the outbreak via testimony of smugglers, intelligence officials, military personnel and many others who struggle to defeat the zombie menace.”

Pamela Pettler will write Hasbro-Universal’s Monopoly movie. Already producer, Ridley Scott has officially signed on as director “with an eye toward giving it a futuristic sheen along the lines of his iconic ‘Blade Runner.’"

Ron Howard on an Arrested Development movie:
"I really hope we do it. The reason there's been so much back and forth is... well, for two reasons, is the business understanding coming from the studio side was not clear, so even though we were wanting to do it and said, 'Yeah, maybe we could' but things weren't defined. I think that's really come into focus in the last week or so. Mitch's full-on commitment to not only write it but direct it is something he's been wrestling with, he's been launching a TV show at the same time, so he couldn't let it really be at the forefront of his mind creatively. It is now. He seems very committed. We still don't have a script. Yeah, he's got some great ideas, and the cast seemed very excited about it and I certainly am. I'm very, very hopeful—more hopeful now than ever—that it's really going to happen."

11th Annual Mutant Awards!

2008-11-14T13:48:00.001-05:00

Don't forget to vote in this year's Mutant Awards!

“Yeah, but, what level does my heart explode?”

2008-11-13T22:29:00.000-05:00

Treadmill Race Across Azeroth

The Dark Knight and Bruce Campbell, my week is complete

2008-11-13T22:21:00.003-05:00

Hey, Look… The City of Batman Is Suing Christopher Nolan For ‘The Dark Knight’

Dark Knight Score Loses Oscar Contention

Dance Dance Revolution – The Musical

Props and costumes from Battlestar Galactica will be auctioned off January 16-18, 2009, in Pasadena, California, with proceeds in part going to benefit the United Way.

Lupin III Theme Attraction to Open in Tokyo in Spring

An interview with Bruce Campbell “The only major issue I have directing myself is when I refuse to come out of the trailer. I then have to go banging on the trailer and ask myself to come out of the trailer. But in doing so I find myself out of the trailer and then back inside the trailer and then I just get confused and tend to give up and just wait till I am ready to come out.” And what he says about ‘Torture Porn’ is spot on. I love you Bruce Campbell!

80 Great Posters of Not So Great & Even Worse Sci-Fi Movies 1950 - 1965 I’ve seen, at least, 38 of these (I didn’t count the ones I wasn’t sure about)… and, um, kinda own quite a few too....

William Shakespeare, Science Fiction Author of the Forbidden Tomorrow Zone

Crossing Charles Schultz with H.P. Lovecraft‏ (Submitted by Sitting Duck)

“The aim here is to poke fun at the seemingly endless variant cover themes Marvel comes up with.”

Games

2008-11-13T22:18:00.002-05:00

Press release: ESRB Announces New Video Game Rating Summaries (PDF)

IMAGI and D3Publisher have an agreement for a video game based on the film version of Astro Boy. It’s slated for all handheld systems in 2009’s fourth quarter.

“The rights to the ‘Heroes’ video game have reverted back to NBC Universal. Ubisoft will no longer produce a video game based on the TV series.”

Street Fight IV’s Seth trailer.

Kingdom Under Fire II - Gameplay Trailer

Comics and Books

2008-11-13T22:16:00.001-05:00

A rundown on the Terminator comics out there.

IDW has the rights to a comic book adaption of IMAGI’s CG Astro Boy, an adaption of Osamu Tezuka’s comic. Tentatively, there will be a four part prequel and a four part straight adaptation of the movie. Pending approval the prequel will release May 2009. The movie comes out October 2009.

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is developing a new occult comic series called Witchfinder, centering on a Victorian-era occult detective first introduced in Hellboy.

Bat-Manga Ignites Online War Of Words Between Fans And Author

The Brothers Bloom

2008-11-11T22:14:00.002-05:00

November 16, Melbourne Australia. At 6:30 pm The Cinema Nova will have an early screening of The Brothers Bloom (release is 2009). It’ll be followed by a Q&A with director Rian Johnson.

“Rian Johnson's BRICK was one of the most audacious directorial debuts in a long time - injecting film noir with a teen sensibility. His follow-up is a fun caper film about the best con men in the world (Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody), swindling millionaires and the occasional heiress (Rachel Weisz).”

Tickets and info here.

DVD Releases

2008-11-11T21:56:00.001-05:00

Burn After Reading – December 13
Mamma Mia! – December 16
Death Proof (Blu-ray) – December 16
Death Race – December 23
Serenity (Blu-ray) – December 30
Babylon AD – January 6, 2009
Ring of Death – January 19, 2009
Boogeyman 3 – January 20, 2009
Raging Bull (Blu-ray) – February 10, 2009
A History of Violence (Blu-ray) – February 10, 2009

TV News...

2008-11-11T21:43:00.003-05:00

Fans are campaigning for Pushing Daisies with daisies.

Fox will premiere Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse February 13, 2009, and will continue at Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT -what’s been called the “death slot”- following Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Reiko Aylesworth is in negotiations for, at least, four episodes in the next season of Lost. The recurring role is for “Amy, a smart and successful professional woman with a love for the outdoors who is looking for the right man.” [E: Quite possibly the most personals sounding character description ever]

In retooling the show, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Yancey Arias, and Bruce Davison will not be returning to Knight Rider. Says show runner Gary Scott Thompson, "It's a reboot. We're moving away from the terrorist-of-the-week formula and closer to the original, making it a show about a man and his car going out and helping more regular people, everymen."

Fox TV, CTV, ProSieben, and BBC will team up for 13 episode science fiction drama Defying Gravity. From James Parriott and Michael Edelstein, it’s “set in the near future and revolves around eight astronauts from five countries who take on a mysterious six-year mission through the solar system.” Ron Livingston and Florentine Lahme have been cast, and David Straiton will direct the first episode. Filming starts January in Canada.

A&E is developing paranormal procedural drama Signs & Wonders. Produced by Jed Mercurio, Mandalay Television, and Fox TV, “Signs & Wonders tracks a psychiatrist who runs the cognitive sciences research department at a prestigious university and leads a team of grad students in solving suspicious medical cases.”

CW and Warner Brothers TV have already axed Robin/Dick Grayson pre-Batman pilot The Graysons. Warner Brothers Pictures Group president Jeff Robinov, after initially green-lighting the project, has changed his mind. [E: Darn, I was hoping for another Birds of Prey *rawr*.]

“Keep an eye out for ‘BSG: Essential Elements,’ a half-hour special on Sunday, January 11 at 11:00/10:00c. And if that wasn't enough ‘Galactica,’ it's understood the latest wave of webisodes for the series will be broadcast during the network's January 15 presentation of ‘Pitch Black.’"

SciFi’s Warehouse 13 has hired executive producers Jack Kenny, David Simkins, and Dana Baratta, supervising producer Drew Greenberg, co-producers Matt Federman and Stephen Scaia, and staff writers Bob Goodman, Tamara Becher, Ben Raab, and Deric Hughes. Production is set to begin February in Toronto, with a July 2009 premiere.

Trailers

2008-11-10T22:15:00.002-05:00

Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.

The Tale of Despereaux
Up
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Marley and Me
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Pink Panther 2
Drop (Japanese)
Nobel Son
The Dukes
Dark Streets
Valkyrie

Dollhouse (TV)

Videos

2008-11-10T22:12:00.003-05:00

Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.

REPO! The Genetic Opera 1 interview
Watchmen 1 featurette
Terminator Salvation 1 featurette
Monsters Vs. Aliens 1 featurette
MW (Japanese) 1 promotional video

Posters

2008-11-10T22:08:00.002-05:00

Watchmen
Star Trek
Australia
Valkyrie

Images

2008-11-10T22:03:00.002-05:00

The Spirit
Twilight
Terminator Salvation
Transporter 3
Angels & Demons
Defiance
Nine

Movie News

2008-11-09T22:20:00.002-05:00

Fanboys will open on February 6, 2009 (the original release was August 2007).

December 18, 2009, is the release date for James Cameron’s Avatar in IMAX and conventional 3-D theaters.

Director Peter Winther and special effects designer Patrick Tatopoulos have signed on for Arclight Film’s Speed Demon. Based on the last designs of Stan Winston, and written by Randy Vampotic and Mike Sorrentino, it’s about “a talented female wheelman and an enigmatic mob enforcer as they chase her slimy ex-boyfriend and some missing diamonds to a remote desert road that holds a monstrous test for them all.” Filming starts spring 2009.

Alan Cumming will direct, and star in, indie straight to DVD Ghost Writer. A supernatural thriller, it’s about a composer/music teacher (Cumming) who mentors a struggling writer who it turns out is just using him. When the writer accidently dies working off his rent, he comes back to haunt Cumming, who has taken credit for his book. Also cast is David Boreanaz, Anne Heche, Carrie Fisher, and Henry Thomas. Release date January 6, 2009.

Voltage Pictures has the foreign sales rights to Jason Connery’s supernatural thriller Devil’s Tomb. Starring Ron Perlman, Cuba Gooding, and Ray Winstone, it’s about “a team of mercenaries sent on a rescue mission in a Middle Eastern desert who uncover a mystery that has been hidden for thousands of years.”

Director, co-writer, and producer Gurinder Chadha is prepping It’s a Wonderful Afterlife. Chadha describes the movie, about a how a mother’s obsession to marry off her daughter comically leads to serial murder, as “My Big Fat Greek Wedding meets Shaun of the Dead.” Filming begins in February in the UK.

Sylvester Stallone will direct and star in The Expendables for Nu Image/Millennium Films. The movie, which he also wrote, is about a team of mercenaries sent to overthrow a South American dictator. Jason Statham has joined, and Jet Li is in final negotiations. Filming starts February in Costa Rica and Louisiana.

Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci, Justin Long, and Josh Charles will star in Agnieska Wojtowicz-Vosloo’s psychological thriller After Life. It’s about a young woman who gets caught between life and death, and a funeral director who might be trying to bury her alive.

Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

2008-11-09T22:12:00.003-05:00

Michael Bay has announced that production has finished on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and now post-production will begin.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine’s trailer will debut in December attached to The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Dolph Lundgren won’t be in Universal Soldier 3. [E: Nooooo!] Says Jean Claude Van Damme, "I told them, guys bring in Dolph! They said there's no more value [to cast him]. I said, ‘it will have value with me!'" He also says that he doesn’t know if it’ll be a theatrical release or not, and that he’s only working ten days on the movie.

Ashok Amritraj says, depending on how Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li does, he’d like a franchise, and even has the next two in mind: ''I would like to do the Ryu and Ken stories [separately].”

Brothers Peter and Bobby Farrelly will finally be moving forward on the Three Stooges movie with MGM (it was previously developed for Warner Brothers). It already has a release date of November 20, 2009.

Brett Ratner will direct Nu Image/Millennium and Lionsgate Films’ reboot/remake of the Conan series. “The story opens on the battlefield where Conan is born and tells the origin story that sets the stage for what will be the first of multiple films.”

Darren Aronofsky on the RoboCop remake: “It's a real reinvention. Me and David Self are working on the screenplay. He's a great, great writer and we're trying to do something new and fresh. We'll see what happens when the screenplay comes.”

Is Planet of the Apes Getting Rebooted Again?

DreamWorks is securing the remake rights to Oldboy, and Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are in early talks to collaborate on it.

Mickey Rourke, Ray Winstone, Jason Statham, Sam Riley, 50 Cent, and Ray Liotta will star in 13. Remake of French psychological thriller 13 Tzameti, it’s about a “young man who stumbles into an underground competition where the wealthy gamble on human beings in a Russian Roulette-like competition.” Gela Babluani, who wrote and directed the original, will write and direct the movie that begins shooting in New York, November 20.

Universal is in negotiations to remake Seung-wan Ryoo’s Korean crime drama Die Bad. They’re developing it as a vehicle for director Marc Forster, and Brad Ingelsby will write the script. The remake will move the original’s story about the rise and fall of a gangster told in four short stories to New York.

Adaptations

2008-11-09T22:05:00.002-05:00

John Boorman will direct a CGI adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Written by Boorman, Ron Mita, and Jim McClain, it’s currently in preproduction and is slated for summer 2010. It won’t be a musical.

Fox is going forward on a movie adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. The “contemporary reimagining” will star Jack Black and be directed by Rob Letterman. A free spirited travel writer finds himself amongst the tiny people of Lilliput while on assignment in the Bermuda Triangle. Filming starts March.

Michael Winterbottom will direct the second adaptation (the first was in 1976) of Jim Thompson’s novel The Killer Inside Me. Casey Affleck and Jessica Alba will star in the story of a West Texas sheriff’s downward spiral from small town cop to sociopathic murderer. They are looking for a mid January production date.

Universal Pictures won the bidding war for Electronic Arts’ upcoming game Dante’s Inferno. Both the game (Dante’s Inferno is an unconfirmed title) and the movie are about a journey through the depths of Hell.

Universal has bought the rights to Tony winner In The Heights. Quiara Alegria Hudes, who wrote the multi-generational, mulit-ethnic musical, will also adapt. “Set over three days in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights, In The Heights is an exhilarating musical journey into one of New York's most vibrant communities, where the lives of three generations come together in an unforgettable story of hope and self-discovery.” The music and lyrics were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda who will also be a producer on the movie.

11th Annual Mutant Awards!

2008-11-06T22:04:00.001-05:00

VOTE in the 11th Annual Mutant Awards!

So... what you're saying is, it's in the future?

2008-11-06T21:57:00.006-05:00

Plan 9 From Outer Space - Best Lines

Bless.

Because truth is stranger than fiction...

2008-11-06T21:48:00.004-05:00

In celebration of its fiftieth birthday, the Smurfs will make their first appearance in Macy’s (82nd) Thanksgiving Day Parade. “The Smurf will measure approximately 57.6 feet long, 38.7 feet wide and 47 feet tall, when he is filled with 15,050 cubic feet of helium on Parade day.”

FUNimation Sues CA Retail Sites over Alleged Bootlegs

Stephen Hawking to Retire

Fruits Basket Gets Stage Play — by All-Male Troupe Hey, if you’re interested and in Japan, they’re holding auditions from October 1 - November 28 for "Healthy males 23 years old or younger."

Museum Explores Japan's Old Capital through Manga

Angry online divorcee 'kills' virtual ex-hubby

“A man has launched a campaign in Japan to legally allow comic book-loving humans to marry their favourite fictitious characters.” Just when you thought comic book fans couldn’t do anything to get an even weirder reputation.

Simon Pegg argues for a return to traditional zombie values

A teenager has changed his name to Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk And The Flash Combined.

All James Bond films require two ingredients, a villain and a lair from which they can launch their attempt at world domination.

One step closer to a Terminator future.

Star Trek when Sulu was black and Uhura was white

'70s Frank Frazetta paintings for Battlestar Galactica

Celebrity Muppet Lookalikes Of The Day (Thanks to Justin)

Games

2008-11-06T21:42:00.002-05:00

PS2s are out selling PS3s.

Game developer Gameloft has made a deal with Marvel Entertainment to publish mobile games based on Marvel properties. The exclusive multi-year, multi-product agreement starts 2009 with games based on Spider-Man and Iron Man 2. Spider-Man will be released across all major carrier decks.

Bioshock DLC Trailer

Atari has bought publishing rights from Activision Blizzard for a Chronicles of Riddick: Escape at Butcher Bay sequel. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena will release this spring, also Atari has signed a deal with Universal that will allow a continued Riddick franchise. Rumor has it that they’ll also buy the Ghostbusters based game, with a similar franchise deal with Sony.

Comics and Books

2008-11-06T21:41:00.001-05:00

Tezuka's 700 Manga, 100 Anime to Be Posted for Free

Marvel has posted the entirety of the first issue of its Ender's Game comic adaptation online.

Q&A: Butcher On Dresden Comic

42 VIEWS OF TOKYO

2008-11-05T20:16:00.001-05:00

November 1-17, in the Los Angeles suburb of Alhambra, at The Gallery Nucleus:

“Gallery Nucleus presents W+K Tokyo Lab's ‘TOKYO.TEN 42 VIEWS OF TOKYO.’ Never before seen outside of Japan, the show will showcase a visual remix of the nine previously released hybrid CD/DVD albums in addition to the works of 42 artists (graphic designers, illustrators, photographers) who have collaborated and participated in the TOKYO.TEN project.”

More info here.

CBLDF

2008-11-05T20:15:00.002-05:00

November 8, in New York City, at the Helen Mills Theater:

“Veteran voice actor Tom Wayland and others, will read from some of the most politically charged excerpts of THE SANDMAN written by New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman, in honor of the 20th Anniversary of THE SANDMAN. Hosted by the CBLDF [Comic Book Legal Defense Fund) and Vertigo, the dramatic reading will be will be held at the Helen Mills Theater in New York City on Saturday, November 8 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available for a $50 donation to the CBLDF. Only 100 tickets are available to this special reading event.”

Reserve tickets here.

Grinchmas

2008-11-05T20:13:00.001-05:00

Starting December 6, Universal Studios Hollywood will have “Grinchmas.” The celebration will take place on weekends starting the 6th, and daily from December 22-31, included in the price of admission. Attractions include real snow, character meetings with The Grinch, Cindy-Lou, and Max, a Whoville jubilation at the original sets where Dr Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas was filmed, a whimsical Grinchmas tree, and the Whoville set from the 2000 movie will performers re-enacting scenes.

Tickets here.

DVD Releases

2008-11-04T20:27:00.002-05:00

Twin Blades of the Ninja - November 11
Ninjaken—The Naked Sword - November 18
Female Prisoner Sigma - November 25
Cruel Restaurant - December 2
Attack Girls Swim Team vs. the Undead - December 9
Death Row Girls - December 16
Hit and Run – December 17
Chain Gang Girls - December 23
Gluttonous - January 6, 2009
Mirrors – January 13, 2009
Maid's Secret - January 13, 2009
Maid's Secret—Welcome Home - January 20,2009
Killer Bees - January 27, 2009
New Manager of the Sumo Club - February 17, 2009

TV News...

2008-11-04T20:20:00.004-05:00

How Did The Fall TV Shows Fare?

David Tennant says his time as the tenth Doctor is over, "When Doctor Who returns in 2010 it won't be with me." He’ll film a Christmas special and then four more specials in January before ending his tenure. The show’s fifth series is scheduled to premiere in 2010. More here.

“CW and CBS Paramount Network TV are exploring the possibility of reviving ‘Melrose Place.’”

Joss Whedon said in a blog post that Dollhouse’s original pilot has been scrapped.
“Basically, the Network and I had different ideas about what the tone of the show would be. They bought something somewhat different than what I was selling them, which is not that uncommon in this business.” … “Nothing essential has changed about the universe. The ideas and relationships that intrigued me from the start are all there (though some have shifted, more on that), and the progression of the first thirteen eps has me massively excited. The episode we’re shooting now I wrote as fast as anything I have before, not because I had to (although, funny side-note: I had to) but because I couldn’t stop the words from coming. Because I can feel the show talking to me; delighting, scaring and occasionally even offending me.”

Heroes co-exec producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb were fired November 2nd. The two, who’ve been with the show since season one and who led day-to-day production under Tim Kring, were let go because of NBC’s frustration over the creative direction of the show, budget overruns, and sinking ratings. “Kring has reportedly assured NBC and Universal Media Studios, which produces the series, that he intends to focus on simplifying what's been criticized, even by ardent fans, as an overly complex storytelling structure to get back to the show's comic-bookish good-vs.-evil themes and to emphasize character development more than plot twists.”

Brooke Smith has been taken off Grey’s Anatomy. Smith says it’s because of the direction of her character as a lesbian, while executive producer Sondra Rhimes says, "Brooke Smith was obviously not fired for playing a lesbian. Clearly it's not an issue as we have a lesbian character on the show – Calliope Torres. Sara Ramirez is an incredible comedic and dramatic actress and we wanted to be able to play up her magic. Unfortunately, we did not find that the magic and chemistry with Brooke's character would sustain in the long run.”

Trailers

2008-11-03T23:05:00.001-05:00

Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.

Fanboys
Neko Rahmen (Japanese) [select the leftmost white text link in the top menu.]
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Defiance
Angels & Demons
The Grudge 3
Plague Town

Videos

2008-11-03T23:02:00.002-05:00

Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.

Dragonball 1 promo
Zack and Miri Make a Porno 1 featurette
Twilight 1 clip
Let the Right One In 1 clip
Fear[s] of the Dark 2 clips

Posters

2008-11-03T23:00:00.001-05:00

Coraline
Fanboys
Twilight
Seven Pounds
Infected

Images

2008-11-03T22:55:00.002-05:00

Star Trek
The Day the Earth Stood Still
S. Darko
Valkyrie
Edge of Darkness
Angels & Demons
Friday the 13th

Movie News

2008-11-02T22:19:00.001-05:00

Dominic Sena’s thriller WhiteOut has been bumped back, again, to September 2009.

Amy Adams will play NPR correspondent Jacki Lyden in biopic The Queen of Sheba.

M. Night Shyamalan, through newly formed Night Chronicles, and Media Rights Capital have started on the first of their three horror picture production deal. John Erick Dowdle will direct, and Brian Nelson will write, Devil, a PG-13 supernatural thriller based on an original story by Shyamalan. Shyamalan will oversee selection of talent on the project that should begin production next year.

Samuel L. Jackson will narrate Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds.

Jessica Simpsons Major Movie Star is going to be renamed and go straight to DVD.

Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

2008-11-02T22:05:00.003-05:00

Paramount is fast-tracking a Footloose remake, with hopes to start production early in the spring. After seeing the success of High School Musical 3, Paramount will have Kenny Ortega directing and Zach Efron starring, with Peter Sollett rewriting Jon Hartmere's script, and "the studio is working on new songs that will complement some of the memorable original tunes." [E: *sigh*]

J. Michael Straczynski is writing an update of Forbidden Planet for Warner Brothers.

Pascal Laugier is in final negotiations to write and direct the "re-imagining" of Clive Barker's 1987 Hellraiser.

Mike Nichols will direct Miramax’s remake of High and Low. David Mamet wrote the script based on Akira Kurosawa’s detective thriller (which was based on King’s Ransom by Ed McBain) about a businessman who is ruined when he honorably pays ransom to kidnappers who mistakenly took his driver’s son.

Chris Wyatt and Mark Altman are remaking 1963 cult movie They Saved Hitler's Brain as a sci-fi musical comedy. They’ll partner with the original’s Crown Intl. Pictures, with Jon and Al Kaplan doing the songs and book. “The original, set in South America, revolved around a secret attempt to preserve Hitler's brain in the hopes of raising a Fourth Reich.”

Samuel L. Jackson will play Sho’nuff in the The Last Dragon remake. “The updated plot will be along the same lines of the original, centering on young martial arts student Leroy Green in his quest through the streets of New York to achieve the highest level of martial arts accomplishment, known as the Last Dragon. Those who achieve the high ranking possess the Glow, making them the greatest fighter alive.”

Marvel's announcement on Avengers:
"THE AVENGERS will bring together the super hero team of Marvel Comics characters for the first time ever, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk and more, as they are forced to band together to battle the biggest foe they’ve ever faced." So Hulk ain't the villain then. Marvel Studios also made some confirmations about the Iron Man and The Avengers movies. Don Cheadle has definitly replaced Terrance Howard as Rhodes, not only for Iron Man 2, but has also for any subsequent Iron Man movies and The Avengers. As part of his four picture deal with Marvel, Robert Downey Jr. will be on as Tony Stark for The Avengers as well as Iron Man movies. Jon Favreau will direct Iron Man 2 and produce The Avengers. Favreau has brought in Genndy Tartakovsky to help with storyboarding on Iron Man 2.

Pulitzer-prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire is in final negotiations to write Spider-Man 4.

Sean Patrrick Flannery and Norman Reedus will reprise their roles as the McManus brothers in the Boondock Saints sequel, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. Also returning are Billy Connolly, David Della Rocco, and Brian Mahoney, with Clifton Collins Jr., and JoJo Rhama joining the cast. Willem DaFoe will not be back.

Tyler Mane will play Michael Myers again in a direct sequel to Rob Zombie’s Halloween.

Joe Carnahan has confirmed that a Smokin’ Aces a prequel has been green-lit, and will going straight to DVD.

Paul Giamatti, who will produce, says Ron Perlman will play Elvis in Bubba Ho-tep prequel, Don Coscarelli’s Bubba Nosferatu. “[Coscarelli’s] actually taking a weird, interesting take on the whole Elvis myth and kind of investigating the whole Elvis myth in a really interesting way, so it’s got a lot of stuff about Col. Parker being responsible for a lot of what happened to Elvis and kind of literally making him a vampire in some ways, you know? A kind of a blood sucker… It plays on a lot of things, this movie, in a great way and it’s got Sitting Bull in it and there’s a peyote trip in it that is amazing and it’s just a big leap beyond the other movie. It’s ten times more insane and bizarre and it’s great and hilarious, too. It’s funnier than the other one is even. It still ends up being this great character study of this Elvis guy.’’…"Every effort was made by us, [Bruce Campbell] just didn’t want to do it and he was cool about it. 'He just didn’t want to do it, which is a bummer, because part of the reason I love that movie is him… a big part of it. He’s fantastic and I’ve always loved him. I’m a big fan of his, but he didn’t want to do it, which is totally cool."

David X. Cohen on final Futurama straight to DVD movie Into the Wild Green Yonder and the hope of someday restarting the show: "So we have the rare luxury of a writer who's experienced with writing the last episode of Futurama writing it again. So, in tone, we've gone for a similar approach, where if it is the last thing we ever do, I think we'll be quite proud of it, and it will serve us well as the last episode ever. But we leave ourselves a thin ray of hope in the story--and in real life--of returning." It'll come out in the spring.

Director Rob Cohen on xXx 3, "Yes, they're doing it with me and producer Joe Roth. We made the deal recently, it's named xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. We met the writers yesterday and we're trying to get into production by late spring, to have it out for the summer of 2010."

Chris Nolan on returning for another Batman movie:
“Is there a story that’s going to keep me emotionally invested for the couple of years that it will take to make another one? That’s the overriding question. On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question: ‘How many good third movies in a franchise can people name?’ [E: Right off the top of my head? Indiana Jones, Die Hard, Rocky?] At the same time, in taking on the second one, we had the challenge of trying to make a great second movie, and there haven't been too many of those either. It’s all about the story really. If the story is there, everything is possible.”

Universal is mulling over a third theatrically released direct sequel to American Pie.

Adaptations

2008-11-02T22:00:00.002-05:00

Viper Comics’ Villains has had its rights bought by Universal. Adam Cogan and Ryan Cody’s comic about “a young man who is failing at life and finds purpose when he meets a Svengali-style villain who takes him under his wing” will be adapted by Matt Jennison and Brent Strickland.

Sam Mendes will direct Columbia Pictures' movie adaptation of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher graphic novel. The 75 issue series is about "the preacher of a Texas town, who is struggling to get by and is driven only by his strong moral sense. When the city is decimated by an otherworldly force, he embarks on a journey across the country to take on the evil."

Sony and Paramount will partner to finance and distribute Steven Spielberg’s Tintin trilogy. Paramount will handle the distribution in North American and certain English speaking territories and Sony will handle the foreign.

Kengo Hanazawa's boxing manga Boys on the Run will be adapted into a live action film by Daisuke Miura. Singer Kazunobu Mineta will star as Toshiyuki Tanishi, a “27-year-old man stuck in a company that sells vending machine prizes, until the day he meets an old acquaintance who is now a boxer. Inspired to try boxing himself, Tanishi joins a gym that happens to have a female trainer named Hana.” A Japanese fall release is planned for next year.

The rights to Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander fantasy novels have been bought by Essential Pictures as a potential franchise. The series of six (soon to be seven) novels are about a time traveling nurse and her 18th century Scottish Highlander husband. Essential is currently developing the first adaptation written by Randall Wallace.

Christopher Lee, Alan Rickman, and Eleanor Thompson have joined on for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Lee's role is as yet undisclosed, Rickman will be The Caterpillar [E: Awesome!], and Thompson is an original character that'll be a friend of Alice.

Geoffrey Rush, Ernie Dingo, and Missy Higgins will star in the film version of Aboriginal musical Bran Nue Dae. “The touring musical told the story of a young boy's flight from mission school back to his remote Kimberley community.”

No! Not... whole wheat!!!

2008-10-30T19:35:00.002-05:00

My rye! My rye! (Get it? Anyone? Just... never mind....)

Night of the Living Bread

"This is Halloween"

2008-10-30T19:27:00.005-05:00

Outbreak: Interactive Online Zombie Game

Comic Monsters Cool site, layout's a bit busy though.

What Happens to Science Fiction Writers After They Die?

Scifi's most daring head transplants

Teen Vampires: 10 Most Toothsome

Something for Everyone: Looking at the Varieties of Vampires “Ow, my neck! Dang, why am I so unpopularrrrrrr?”

The Joy of Cooking Human Flesh

Hurley Lantern

The Graveyard Pumpkin

Vegan Zombie

Zombie Apocafest

The Cruisin' Casket

Comics and Books

2008-10-30T19:25:00.001-05:00

Monthly comic book series Vincent Price Presents, written by Chad Helder and illustrated by Joel Robinson, will have "the master of macabre haunt a new generation of horror fans posthumously. The new series features Price in a myriad of roles including host, muse, background player, and protagonist." Published through Bluewater Productions.

Prince of Stories: A New Guide To All Things Gaiman, Plus Poster Giveaway

Twelve Kingdoms, vol 3: The Vast Spread of the Seas has a March 17 release date and is available for preorder.

Band of Ninja

2008-10-29T16:19:00.002-05:00

November 15, Toronto, Canada, the Cinematheque Ontario will host an English narrated screening of Nagisa Oshima's rare 1967 anime film Ninja Bugei-cho (Band of Ninja). 2:00 pm at the Art Gallery of Ontario's Jackson Hall, tickets are C$10.14 for the general public, and C$5.90 for students, seniors, and Cinematheque Ontario members.

"Band of Ninja is an adaptation of Sampei Shirato's 1957 manga about a young boy from a noble family who joins a peasant rebellion to avenge the death of his father. Rather than just using the manga as the basis for the film's plot, Oshima shot pictures of the actual manga pages, added camera pans to give an illusion of movement, and had actors read the dialogue and narration."

Band of Ninja is part of the Cinematheque's touring Oshima retrospective that will travel to various cities around the United States and Canda.

For more on this showing.

Go here for the other titles in, and more information about, the retrospective.

DVD Releases

2008-10-28T20:34:00.003-05:00

The 4400: The Complete Series - October 28
Toward the Terra - November 25
The Mask (Blu-ray) – December 9
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor – December 16
Wedding Crashers (Blu-ray) – December 16
Resident Evil: Degeneration - December 30
Being There (Blu-ray)– February 3, 2009

TV News...

2008-10-28T20:30:00.002-05:00

Effective October 31, after four episodes CBS will pull The Ex List. It marks the first death of an hourlong scripted series this fall season.

Q & A with Seeker producers.

A list of updates on Stargate Universe.

Ben Koldyke and Tony Hale will star in Fox's comedy science fiction Boldly Going Nowhere.

Gary Cole will be a regular in the sixth season of Entourage as Ari's friend, Hollywood agent Andrew Klein.

Paterson Joseph confirms that he's "on a list of God knows how many others, but flattered to be considered" as Doctor Who's next Doctor.

Trailers

2008-10-27T19:08:00.001-05:00

Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
17 Again
Notorious
Gran Torino
JCVD
Boogeyman 3
My Bloody Valentine 3D
Friday the 13th teaser
Friday the 13th Scream Awards trailer

Lost Season 5 (TV)

Videos

2008-10-27T19:02:00.003-05:00

Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.

Watchmen Scream Awards footage
The Spirit 1 featurette
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa 1 clip; 2 featurettes
Twilight 1 clip
REPO! The Genetic Opera 1 clip
REPO! The Genetic Opera 1 featurette
Saw V 5 clips
The Haunting of Molly Hartley 7 clips

Posters

2008-10-27T18:59:00.002-05:00

Watchmen
Australia
Gran Torino
My Bloody Valentine 3D
The Unborn
The Burrowers

Images

2008-10-27T18:54:00.002-05:00

Australia
Road Trip 2
Saw V

Stargate: Universe (TV)

Fox's new dates

2008-10-26T20:58:00.002-05:00

Fox’s new line up of release dates:

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel - December 25, 2009

The A-Team - June 11, 2010 (formerly June 12, 2009) [John Singleton has left due to the changes and rewrites]

Tooth Fairy - November 13, 2009 (formerly June 2009)

I Love You Beth Cooper - July 10, 2009 (formerly March 27, 2009)

They Came from Upstairs - July 31, 2009 (formerly February 13, 2009)

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief – July 2, 2010 (formerly 2009)

Ramona - July 2, 2010

Movie News

2008-10-26T20:52:00.002-05:00

Anime distributor FUNimation says that Japanese trading company Sojitz’s decision to dissolve its North America anime licensing and distribution subsidiary ARM will not effect their titles. "FUNimation no longer deals with ARM or Sojitz regarding the titles we acquired over the summer. Each title was transferred to us and we have been in direct contact with the licensers." A list of transferred movie and series titles here.

Castle Rock has bought Zoe Green's spec script Book of Shadows. The movie, which'll be a vehicle for director Rob Reiner, is about "a young man who must embark on the perilous journey of first love and face many trials of maturity while on the dangerous quest to close a mythical tome called the Book of Shadows in order to restore balance to the world."

Chris Columbus will direct Paramount's Ripley's Believe it or Not, a film Tim Burton was at one point the director for. The biopic of newspaper columnist/explorer Robert Ripley is still starring. Columbus has dropped Burton's China set storyline.

Steven Soderbergh is shopping around a 3-D rock ‘n’ roll musical about Cleopatra. The script is by James Greer, with music by indie band Guided by Voices, and Greg Jacobs and Casey Silver are producing. Soderbergh wants Catherine Zeta-Jones for Cleopatra and Hugh Jackman for Marc Antony. [E: Chicago meets Oklahoma! in Egypt]

Robert Luketic will direct action comedy Five Killers. It'll star Ashton Kutcher as an ex-hitman with someone from his past sending people to kill him. Ted Griffin is doing the rewrite of Bob DeRosa's spec script.

Burr Steers will direct romantic comedy The Fiance, starring Anne Hathaway as a woman who breaks up with her fiance in oreder to find herself, cue meddling parents. Ethan Cohen is rewriting from Dyanne Stempel and Jennifer Robinson's script.

Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore, Claire Foy, and Robbie Sheehan have joined Nicholas Cage in the cast for Dominic Sena's Season of the Witch. [Okay, I know it's about knights and witches, and it's going to have Ron Perlman, so yeah I'm seeing it, but every time I hear the title I think of this:

French Stewart, Doug Hutchinson, and Eileen Ryan have been cast in Russell Mulcahy's Give 'em Hell, Malone.

Teri Polo will play the mother in Joe Dante's supernatural horror The Hole.

Ashley Greene, Haley Ramm, and James LeGros will star in Anthony Burns' '80s coming of age roller rink story Skatetown. Taylor Handley and Shiloh Fernandez are in talks to join the cast.

Stella Stevens has joined Derek Milton’s horror western Death Keeps Coming.

Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

2008-10-26T20:46:00.003-05:00

Andy Fickman will "godfather" four of the eight Roseblood and Twisted Pictures remakes of RKO horror movies, directing at least one. The four titles that Fickman has made a deal for are Jacques Tourneur's I Walked With a Zombie (1943); Robert Wise's The Body Snatcher (1945); Mark Robson's Bedlam (1946); and John Farrow's Five Came Back (1939).

Warner Bros. has the rights to remake anime Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s anime movie Ninja Scroll as a live action. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way will produce, but he will not be acting in it. Alex Tse will write the script about a wandering sword for hire in feudal Japan who gets in the middle of a fight between the government and demons that has connections to his past.

The 18 straight to DVD titles Dimension plans to release in 2009 will include sequels to: Pulse, Children of the Corn, Feast, and Hell Ride.

Director McG made his first Terminator Salvation post in three months:
“We wrapped principal photography. Now we're heavy into post. I've already shown early cuts to Christian and Sam. They seem pleased with where the film is headed. Our focus is on story and character, but it's fun diving into the world of visual effects.”

Marc Foster says that he knows and asked fellow directors Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron to portray members of a fictional Bolivian army in Quantum of Solace.

Adaptations

2008-10-26T20:41:00.002-05:00

Dragonball -which was suppose to release back in August, but was pushed back to April 2009- is still filming. Fox is currently planning to debut the trailer in North American theaters December 12.

Robert Kurtzman will direct the movie adaptation of Mark Kidwell’s horror comic Bump. Kidwell also wrote screenplay: “Sheriff Lundy is called into action to solve the mystery of the unexplained forces at work on the Dill Farm. A supernatural tale of extreme horror, where even the confines of the grave aren’t able to contain the brutal spirit of serial killer Edgar Dill, and his legion of monstrous Treehuggers.” It’ll star Tobin Bell, Sean Patrick Flannery, and Ashley Laurence. Kurtzman's Precinct 13 Studio will do special effects.

Mark Goerner Talks James Cameron's Battle Angel

Crispin Glover will play The Knave of Hearts in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

Warner Bros. has the rights to Jon Stock’s upcoming novel Dead Spy Running. McG will direct, and co-produce with Jeanne Allgood, the adaptation of Stock’s first of three books about the origin of a newly trained spy.

Neil Gaiman on bowing out of Black Hole: “Once they got David Fincher on, David explained his process consisted of having over ten drafts, done over and over, and Roger and I were sort of asked if we wanted to, if we were interested in doing that. And we definitely weren’t.”

"Is there... anyone?"

2008-10-23T22:00:00.004-05:00

In 1938 Orson Welles and The Mercury Theatre adapted H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. The sixty minute broadcast aired October 30 as a special Halloween episode - without commercials. While they (Welles and Mercury Theatre) always said that they said it was a dramatization, the one at the opening of the show was timed to be before people would have turned the channel from other radio programmes. End result: People freaked.

I can't tell you how much I love this recording. While I listen to it on cd every once in a while, it's the first time I heard it in fifth grade that'll always stick with me. Halloween was on a Friday, and so my homeroom teacher decided to make it a light day. She played it while we waited for school to get out and I remember as it went on everybody got quiet and just listened, looking at each other like 'What if?'.

An interview with H.G. Wells and Orson Welles:

Mercury Theatre's presentation of War of the Worlds (7 part playlist):

Superman vs. Roger Ebert vs. JJ Abrams vs. Jigsaw (Tonight on Pay-Per-View)

2008-10-23T21:44:00.004-05:00

"The Kinokuniya bookstore in New York City will be holding a Cosplay Night on October 29 at 6:00 p.m. Manga For Dummies author Kensuke Okabayashi will be holding a reading, demonstration, and signing at the same store on October 25 at 3:00 p.m."

Saw V's viral marketing shutdown by the police.

Abrams talks to EW about William Shatner's YouTube video. "I don't know how my life has become a thing where William Shatner talks to me through YouTube."

Roger Ebert talks about his Tru Loved review.

Universal Parks & Resorts, Hasbro, and DreamWorks will bring a Transformers ride to Hollywood and Singapore. Using 3-D high-definition with special effects, robotics, and a track, it'll put riders in the middle of the war between Autobots and Decepticons. In early 2011, it'll open first at Universal Studios Singapore and then Universal Studios Hollywood. Transformers will replace the Backdraft attraction and special effects soundstages in the lower section of the Hollywood park.

Superman Takes On Other Superheroes in Court The Man of Steel's legal history.

Truthful TV Title Cards

Comics and Books

2008-10-23T21:40:00.003-05:00

It seems Borders will stop shelving (note: NOT pulling from shelves) original and mid-list author science fiction books.

Bloomsbury Q3 trading solid despite credit crisis

Oregon mom won't return 'Bunny Suicide' book

Now on CD: library's treasure trove of authorial voices

Dark Horse is re-releasing the Bernie Wrightson illustrated Frankenstein in hardcover. [Thanks to Drew]

The New Annotated Dracula by Bram Stoker (Author), Leslie S. Klinger (Editor), Neil Gaiman (Introduction) [Submitted by Drew]

Preview Azzarello and Bermejo’s JOKER

Games

2008-10-23T21:37:00.001-05:00

XBox360 NOT getting a BluRay add-on

CthulhuTech RPG

Fable II trailer

Theatrical horror...

2008-10-22T10:53:00.001-05:00

Los Angeles' New Beverly Cinema has a few neat things going on:

"Oct. 29: Legendary horror writer CLIVE BARKER is scheduled to appear in person for a double bill of THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN (2008) and CANDYMAN (1992)!"

"Oct. 31 or Nov. 1: Schedule permitting, director EDGAR WRIGHT will appear in person on one of these nights for our screening of his film SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004)! Mr. Wright has also selected the film's co-feature, the amazing RIKI-OH: THE STORY OF RICKY (1992)."

Also, today (the 22nd) and tomorrow (the 23rd), they're showing a double billing of William Castle movies Homicidal(1961) and Strait-Jacket (1964).

The 24-25, there'll a double feature of Stephen King based movies The Dead Zone (1983) and Pet Sematary (1989).

Full calendar and times here.

DVD Releases

2008-10-21T20:40:00.002-05:00

Chuck: The Complete First Season – November 11
Tropic Thunder – November 18
Europa [Criterion Collection] – December 9
Event Horizon (Blu-ray) – December 30
Night Court: The Complete Second Season – February 3, 2009

The Blu-ray edition of The Incredible Hulk will come out on the 24.

Warner VP of TV marketing Rosemary Markson said that the second season of Everwood is coming 2009.

TV News...

2008-10-21T20:30:00.002-05:00

Battlestar Galactica has set the date of the premiere for its last nine episodes as 9 pm (CT) January 16, 2009.

Fox has picked up Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles for another full season.

While NBC has ordered another full season of Knight Rider.

NBC is developing a pilot for a new Jason and the Argonauts (no relation to the two movies both titled The Argonauts. Jason and crew are very busy). Media Rights Capital will produce what would be the first green screen prime time drama.

MGM and the BBC are developing two TV projects based on movies. 1998 Robert De Niro starring Ronin will be for a series. MGM exec vp Chris Ottinger says they're looking for an American lead. The French Lieutenant's Woman, a 1981 movie starring Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep, will be a, probably four hour, miniseries. It'll use parts of John Fowles' novel that weren't in the movie.

Trailers

2008-10-20T20:20:00.003-05:00

Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.

Push
Transporter 3
Block 66 (teaser)
The Haunting in Connecticut
Trick ‘r’ Treat
Let the Right One In (red band)

Videos

2008-10-20T20:11:00.004-05:00

Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.

Quantum of Solace 8 clips, 3 TV spots, behind the scenes
High School Musical 3 6 clips, 1 featurette
High School Musical 3 twenty minute behind the scenes
Role Models 7 clips
Zack and Miri Make a Porno 4 clips
Saw V 1 clip

Eleventh Hour behind the scenes (TV)

Posters

2008-10-20T20:01:00.002-05:00

UP
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li
Punisher: WarZone
REPO! The Genetic Opera
The Haunting in Connecticut
Let the Right One In
Block 66

Images

2008-10-20T19:52:00.002-05:00

Star Trek
Star Trek
Centre Stage: Turn it Up
Inglorious Basterds
REPO! The Genetic Opera
The Horde

Movie News

2008-10-19T21:01:00.002-05:00

DreamWorks has signed a five year distribution deal with Universal Pictures. The agreement, which takes effect in 2009, is for six films per year.

Vince Colosimo on Spierig Bros’ vampire movie Daybreakers, “It was meant to be released at the end of October… November… but I think it’s been delayed and probably won’t be released till next year now.” It stars Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Neill.

Kevin Smith is developing a futuristic space comedy about a father and son and will reference scifi movies. View Askew will produce, and the Weinstein Co. is interested after having read part of the first draft of the script. Smith wants a $45 million-50$ million budget. There will be no movement on it until after he’s finished Red State.

F. Gary Gray will replace Frank Darabont as director on Law Abiding Citizen, starring Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx. Since production starts in December, he’s still set to direct Armored, which films in April.

Production I.G. and Fuji TV are producing a computer animated family film tentatively titled Hottarake no Shima: Haruka to Maho no Kagami (The Abandoned Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror). Director Shinsuke Sato is overseeing the movie about a girl who gets lost in a mysterious fantasy world. It’ll release summer 2009.

Mamoru Oshii is developing and writing Miyamoto Musashi: Sōken ni Haseru Yume (Musashi Miyamoto: The Dream of Riding with Two Swords) for Production I.G., though the actual director will be Mizuho Nishikubo. Kazuto Nakazawa will design the characters, Kazuchika Kise will be animation director and supervisor, Shuichi Hirata will direct the art design, and Makoto Endo will handle the computer animation. Pony Canyon will distribute the film that’s scheduled for early summer of 2009 in Japan.

Alice Braga, Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Carice van Houten, The RZA, and Liev Schreiber will star in Miguel Sapochnik’s directorial debut, science fiction thriller Repossession Mambo. It “takes place in the not-too-distant future, when people can buy artificial organs using credit. Pity those who fall behind on their payments, as someone may come calling to get the organs back. Law plays Remy, a repo man whose body is filled with artificial organs ... and who must go on the run when he can no longer pay the bills.”

Adrien Brody and Michael Chiklis have signed on for John Stalberg Jr.’s indie comedy High School. Co-written with Stephen Susco, it’s about a valedictorian who decides to get the whole school stoned so he can beat a drug test. Production starts November.

Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis, and Malin Akerman will play, respectively, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau, and Vince Vaughn’s wives in Couples Retreat.

Kim Cattrall and Brian Dennehy will be in Keith Bearden’s comedy Miss January. In it a young man goes cross country to meet an ‘80s screen siren to find find she’s a 50 year old mother in the middle of a child custody battle.

Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

2008-10-19T20:49:00.003-05:00

Don Cheadle will replace Terrance Howard as Jim Rhodes/War Machine in Iron Man 2. While Marvel have made no official statement, the word is that contractual negotiations fell through because of financial differences. Says Terrance Howard, “It was the surprise of a lifetime. There was no explanation. [The contract] just…up and vanished. I read something in the trades implicating that it was about money or something, but apparently the contracts that we write and sign aren’t worth the paper that they’re printed on, sometimes. Promises aren’t kept, and good faith negotiations aren’t always held up.”

Star Trek XI’s synopsis: “Star Trek’s time-travel plot is set in motion when a Federation starship, the USS Kelvin, is attacked by a vicious Romulan (Eric Bana) desperately seeking one of the film’s heroes. From there, the film then brings Kirk and Spock center stage and tracks the origins of their friendship and how they became officers aboard the Enterprise. In fact, the movie shows how the whole original series crew came together.”

Universal is moving forward on the fourth Bourne movie as a tentpole project. George Nolfi will write the script, the first original story in the series instead of being based on one of Robert Ludlum’s novels. Director Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon are already on board.

Fox is fast-tracking a sequel to 1987’s Wall Street. Allan Loeb has been hired to write, and Edward R. Pressman will produce, what is being planned as a Michael Douglas vehicle, though he’s not technically attached yet. It’ll be about Gordon Gecko coming back into the, now more tumultuous, financial world after getting out of prison. Bud Fox, Charlie Sheen’s character, will not be in it.

Paul W.S. Anderson, “I’m writing an adaptation of the Long Good Friday right now, set in present-day Miami. Then I will probably write Resident Evil 4.”

David Friendly says that Big Momma’s House 3 is currently in the script writing stage, and will hopefully be ready for 2009. [E: Why?]

When asked Sam Raimi said that he isn’t sure about Dylan Baker’s Dr. Connors as the villain in the next Spider-Man, “He’s a great actor, and I think one day The Lizard’s story will be told. I don’t know if it will be this one or not. I just don’t know. I’m definitely hoping to work with Dylan in the picture. I just don’t know who the villain is yet.”

Kevin Smith on going back to any of his earlier films: “I don’t think so for Jay and Bob. I am 38 now and it’s not cute having a baseball hat on backwards. Plus I would have to get in shape to play him and that would be pathetic. Jason no longer looks like the impish weed dealer as well, becausehe’s grown up. When I get into my 40’s I might want to visit Dante and Randle and see what they are up to though.”

Lakeshore Entertainment and MGM are reinventing 1980’s Oscar winner Fame. Some of the names signed on are Thomas Dekker, Kristy Flores, Paul Iacono, Paul McGill, Naturi Naughton, Kay Panabaker, Kherington Payne, Collins Pennie, Walter Perez, and Anna Maria Perez de Tagle. The story will be in the same vein as the original with a bunch of young hopefuls trying to make it at the High School for the Performing Arts… they wanna live forever, so, baby, remember their names.

Shannon Elizabeth and Edward Furlong are filming on Night of the Demons. “Inspired by” the ‘80s movie of the same name, it’s about three friends who go to a Halloween party at a notorious mansion where six people disappeared without a trace about eighty years ago and the owner hung herself. After the party is broken up by the police, the remaining guests realize (dun dun DUN) the mansion is home to demons that need seven vessels to break a curse. Drac Studios is in charge of makeup.

While it’s nothing official it is kinda interesting, Iron Man Writers Want Hulk To Be ‘The Avengers’ Villain.

Adaptations

2008-10-19T20:40:00.002-05:00

Warner Brothers have hired Brad Ingelsby write the Sam Raimi produced adaptation of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' comic Sleeper.

If he can get a studio behind it, Seth Green will direct the movie adaptation of his and Hugh Sterbakov’s comic The Freshman, "It is kids - it's Revenge of the Nerds meets X-Men. It's kids in their first year of college, their first days of college, leaving the nest for the first time, awkwardly discovering their own identifies, trying to cast off all the things that have been placed on them throughout their scholastic career, and define their own identity in college. And these kids are - you know, because of the overflow of the enrollment, they're put into the science building, where they don't even have permanent housing. And, you know, now this is a makeshift group they're supposed to be best friends with, and they find themselves at a fraternity party where they are the butt of every joke and humiliated beyond their imagination. And then they go back to the dorm and kind of mull over the notion of being trapped in this place for the next four years. And then they are the victims of a scientific event, which gives them borderline useless superpowers. So now in addition to being these outcasts of the outcasts, they are additionally alienated, with a physical deformity."

Tai Seng Entertainment will release Cheang Pousoi’s adaptation of Izô Hashimoto and Akio Tanaka’s manga Shamo. “Shamo is the story of a promising young student who suffers a mental breakdown, murders his parents, and while in prison, trains to become a professional martial artists.” It stars Shawn Yue, Francis Ng, Bruce Leung, Ryo Ishibashi, and Masato Kobayashi.

Post apocalyptic thriller The Road has been pushed forward, from a November 14 limited release and November 26 wide release, to at least December, possibly next year.

Fox 2000 has the rights to Joe Haldeman’s novel The Forever War. Ridley Scott will direct, with Scott Free producing, and Vince Gerardis and Ralph Vicinanza exec-producing. “The book centers on a soldier who battles an enemy in deep space for only a few months, only to return home to a planet he doesn't recognize some 20 years later.”

Tim Burton on Alice in Wonderland: "It's a funny project. The story is obviously a classic with iconic images and ideas and thoughts. But with all the movie versions, well, I've just never seen one that really had any impact to me. It's always just a series of weird events. Every character is strange and she's just kind of wandering through all of the encounters as just a sort of observer. The goal is to try to make it an engaging movie where you get some of the psychology and kind of bring a freshness but also keep the classic nature of 'Alice.' And, you know, getting to do it in 3-D fits the material quite well. So I'm excited about making it a new version but also have the elements that people expect when they think of the material."

Marvin Media LLC will produce “an original environmentally aware scifi” based on a story by Paul Kanter. Keiichi Satou will direct and Manabu Ishikawa will write. They’ll try for a 2010 release date.

Brad Pitt will star in George Miller’s futuristic outer space take on Homer’s The Odyssey Warner Brothers.

From BlizzCon about the World of Warcraft movie: “There are still plans for a World of Warcraft movie. The script is being written but if they say anything more than that they will be shot.”

Milla Jovovich will play Alyssa Barron in Clock Tower. Senator Entertainment and the Weinstein Co.’s adaptation on the survival horror video game series is set to start filming November, in Los Angeles. Eric Pippen wrote the screenplay, that will take its cue from the second game, with the heroine trying to escape a psychiatric hospital and a family curse.

Black and white and dark comedy all over...

2008-10-16T19:02:00.002-05:00

Two videos of morbid movie mirth this week! The first is a clip from a Eunice’s Top 5 Comedies ™ movie, 1944’s Arsenic and Old Lace. It’s about a crazy family, particularly a pair of darling little serial killer aunties, and how things come to a head on Halloween night.

The Body Count:

And, to go with Justin’s Psycho II and Psycho III reviews, one of my favorite trailers of all time:

Psycho (Oh, Alfred Hitchcock, you so funny!)

Hey you GUYS!

2008-10-16T18:46:00.003-05:00

The first episode of a new Witchblade anime series is now available on iTunes for free until October 26.

CBS has started putting Star Trek episodes on YouTube.

Funimation to Stream Anime Samples on Joost for Free

BBC radio launches major cross-station sci-fi season.

"'Goonies' cast reflect on life-changing film. Richard Donner about a sequel: "We tried really hard, and Steven (Spielberg) said, 'Let's do it.' We had a lot of young writers submit work, but it just didn't seem to call for it." But perhaps on the stage? "I'm in the process of trying to get it done as a musical on Broadway. Wouldn't that be great?" I see a whole show stopper devoted to the Truffle Shuffle and Jake Fratelli bring down the house with an aria. I have a good imagination.

Browse the Artifacts of Geek History in Jay Walker's Library

The Battlestar Galactica computer. Shiny!

5 Ways To Make Star Trek More Like Star Wars

Slideshow: Steampunk Sensation

The William Gibson line of designer bags.

Games

2008-10-15T20:01:00.002-05:00

Microsoft corporate vice president John Schappert on Xbox Live Arcade: "We have no immediate plans to act on de-listing."

French entertainment publisher Infogrames completes Atari Inc acquisition for $11 million.

Diablo III Wizard Class Cinematic Trailer From BlizzCon '08.

TGS '08 Street Fighter IV trailer.

The World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse

Comics and Books

2008-10-15T19:55:00.003-05:00

Devil's Due is putting out Stef Hutchinson and Jeff Zornow's Halloween: The First Death of Laurie Strode this month. The four part comic takes places between Halloween 2 and H20: "As the only survivor of Michael Myers’ rampage through the small town of Haddonfield on Halloween night, 1978, Laurie Strode is haunted by the memories of her encounter with evil itself. To make things worse, she is convinced Michael Myers is still out there, ready to strike again-- and the only person who believes her is Dr. Sam Loomis!"

Last month Dynamite started releasing New Battlestar Galactica: Ghosts. The four part comic is written by Brandon Jerwa, with art by Jonathan Lau and covers by Dennis Calero. "Meet the Ghost Squadron, a black-ops Viper team that calls the Pegasus home. Separated from the Pegasus at the time of the Holocaust, they join forces with a freelance salvage team and their ship, Orion's Pride. After the apocalypse, unlike their fellow survivors on the Galactica, the Ghost Squadron isn't looking for Earth - they're just trying to stay alive."

Associate Publisher Marco Pavia has said Tokyopop will release a graphic novel based on the TV franchise CSI called CSI: Interns. Written by Sekou Hamilton and illustrated by Steven Cummings, it'll be about "a group of teenaged interns in the Las Vegas Criminal Investigations Unit. The interns discover that a body in the morgue is one of their own." Planned release September 2009.

No Starch Press will translate and release Ohmsha's Understanding Through Manga series. The non-fiction manga guides teach technical or educational topics with comics. No Starch will eight books by the end of 2009, starting with The Manga Guide to Databases in December 2008 and The Manga Guide to Statistics in January. Other subjects will include physics, molecular biology, electricity, and relativity.

Dark Horse Comics will post one new chapter a week of Kim Young-Oh's supernatural adventure manhwa series Banya: The Explosive Delivery Man for free on its website.

DVD Releases

2008-10-14T20:41:00.003-05:00

Wanted – December 2
Battlestar Galatica: Season 4.0 – January 6, 2009
Dexter: Complete First Season (Blu-ray) – January 6, 2009
The Boondock Saints (Blu-ray) – January 13, 2009
Star Gate: The Ark of Truth (Blu-ray) – January 13, 2009
The Pink Panther [1963] (Blu-ray) – January 27, 2009
Zodiac (Blu-ray) – January 27, 2009

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull retailer exclusives:

“Circuit City will offer two lithographs of concept art from the movie.
“Best Buy will sell a gift set with a replica crystal skull from Sideshow Collectibles and a $25 gift card to Sideshowcollectibles.com.
“Target will feature exclusive packaging and a hardcover book from Palace Press with 80 pages of behind-the-scenes photos, including many never-before-published images.
“Kmart and Sears will offer four exclusive LEGO mini-posters, with a LEGO replica of the original theatrical poster from all four Indy films.
“Trans World will sell exclusive steel packaging.”

WFAC

2008-10-14T20:06:00.003-05:00

November 13-16, in Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada, the Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema will hold all screenings at The Gig Theatre.

“A unique film festival celebrating the artistry of animated feature films, the Waterloo Festival showcase is one of the most comprehensive public exhibitions for animated feature films in the world. More ambitious than ever, the first titles revealed in the 2008 programme span the gamut of animation and storytelling styles.”

Titles include:
Quirino Cristiani: The Mystery of the First Animated Movies
Sita Sings The Blues
We Are The Strange
Rebuild of Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone
Genius Party
Genius Party Beyond
Piano no Mori

There will also be a retrospective screening of, earliest surviving animated feature, Lotte Reiniger's 1926 Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed, and We Are The Strange will be presented by director M dot Strange in person.

Press release with ticket info here.

Updates will be posted here.

TV News...

2008-10-14T19:58:00.003-05:00

NBC has ordered four more scripts for Knight Rider.

USA Network has renewed Burn Notice, for a third season, and Psych, for a fourth season, with orders for 16 episodes for both shows.

FX has cancelled The Riches. The show lost steam with only seven, of its total twenty, episodes in the strike shortened second season. Show costs were another factor. Meanwhile, FX has already picked up Sons of Anarchy for a second season.

CW shows Valentine and Easy Money have halted production for four to six weeks. The official reason given was so writers could catch up to their writing schedules. Shooting, however, will continue on already written episodes and a spokeswoman for MRC says that the agreed upon thirteen episodes will be produced.

ABC is developing a new version of '80s miniseries V. Written by Scott Peters this one will "center on Erica Evans, a Homeland Security agent with an aimless son who's got problems. When the aliens arrive, her son gloms on to them, causing tension within the family." Just like the 80's one, there will be multiple simultaneous storylines, and it'll open with an army of spaceships around Earth's major cities. Peters, Warner Brothers TV, and Jace Hall will produce.

RHI Entertainment has sold its science fiction miniseries Meteor to several European broadcasters: Germany's Tele Muenchen, Italy's Mediaset, and Spain's Antena 3 TV. The four-hour action-adventure, which chronicles the race to stop a giant meteor from making final impact with Earth stars Christopher Lloyd, Marla Sokoloff, Jason Alexander, and Stacy Keach.

Marvel Animation and Film Roman have started production on The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The 26 episode animated series will broadcast 2011, the same year as movies The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers. Marvel characters will include Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Giant Man, and Wasp.

Turner Broadcasting and MGM Worldwide Television have announced they are producing 26 half hour episodes for an animated Pink Panther series. Production will be done in both Los Angeles and Amman, Jordan, through Rubicon. The show - which will havePink Panther as a rambunctious teenager who, along with his friends, gets into all sorts of mischievous capers and hilarious escapades – will air Fall 2009 on Cartoon Network channels worldwide.

Trailers

2008-10-13T19:55:00.002-05:00

Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.

Twilight
The International
Sunshine Cleaning
Good Dick
Christmas on Mars
The Uninvited
House
The Unborn

Posters

2008-10-13T19:54:00.001-05:00

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Twilight
Punisher: War Zone
Amusement

Images

2008-10-13T19:52:00.001-05:00

Sherlock Holmes
High School Musical 3
Max Payne
The Unborn

Sunday Sunrise...

2008-10-12T20:30:00.000-05:00

What Older Movies Scared You?

Movie News

2008-10-12T20:24:00.002-05:00

Paramount and DreamWorks formalize breakup.

Marvel Studios has signed a long term lease with Raleigh Studios to film Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, and The Avengers at Raleigh's Manhattan Beach complex. Also part of the agreement, Marvel will move its Beverly Hills offices to Raleighs Manhattan Beach facility.

Director Darren Lynn Bousman has said that since Lionsgate will only release REPO! The Genetic Opera in a limited theatrical release (in Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas and San Francisco) on November 7, he'll be financing his own tour. The planned seven cities are Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; Chicago, Illinois; Kansas City, Missouri; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Orlando, Florida; and Atlanta, Geogia, November 10-17. "There has been so much support from the fans--even those who have yet to see the movie and won't be able to in its official limited release -- we want to reward their loyalty by taking it around to as many of the other major cities as we can. Terrance Zdunich will be joining me, and we're so excited about giving everyone a chance see this labor of love we have all put our hearts and souls into. It's a bold, big-screen, audience-participatory kind of movie."

Dominic Monaghan, Freddy Rodriguez, and Barthelemy Grossman, who also wrote and directs, will star in science fiction horror thriller Fortuna. In 2100 the Earth’s economy has collapsed and there are climate crises, which creates a small very wealthy class with everyone else in severe poverty. To keep the unwashed masses from rebelling a game called Fortuna is created where you can win big and join the elite – and are never seen again. The real goal is to “reduce poverty” by 30 percent over 50 years. Shooting begins November in Bulgaria.

Danny Glover will play the president in Roland Emmerich's 2010.

Carrie-Anne Moss will star in Gregor Jordan’s action thriller Unthinkable.

Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

2008-10-12T20:18:00.002-05:00

Chris Nolan has officially signed on for The Dark Knight sequel. Rumor is it’s already in preproduction.

Warner Brothers is developing a sequel to Get Smart and has signed a three-year first-look deal with Steve Carell.

ComingSoon.net has some quotes from Guillermo del Toro about The Hobbit and Frankenstein: "There will be different sensibilities involved in this movie than there were in the original trilogy. First of all, because we have the travelogues in 'The Hobbit' which goes to places and variations on races that were not addressed in the trilogy.”

Character designer Aaron Sims on Magneto: “Remember the scene [from 'X-Men'] in the concentration camp where you see Magneto as a young boy? It just continues from there. Some people thought that might be too dark, but I really like that. It’s a lot of death and mayhem.”

“A sequel to ‘Bull Durham,’ the 1988 movie that helped jump-start the popularity of minor league baseball, is in the works, and the producer [Thom Mount] of the sequel said Tuesday he hopes to be filming in Durham sometime in late spring.”

Ray Wright and Scott Kosar will write for Breck Eisner’s take on George Romero’s Crazies. Production will begin early next year.

Eric Bana has signed on for Armored, Millennium Films’ remake of heist thriller Le Convoyeur. “The story follows a man who takes a job for an armored car company and ingratiates himself with his co-workers, who trust him enough to make him part of their heist plans. Unbeknownst to his colleagues, the man had his own motives for taking the job.” F. Gary Gray is in talks to direct.

Adaptations

2008-10-12T20:06:00.002-05:00

The synopsis for Captain America: “Born during the Great Depression, Steve Rogers grew up a frail youth in a poor family. Horrified by the newsreel footage of the Nazis in Europe, Rogers was inspired to enlist in the army. However, because of his frailty and sickness, he was rejected. Overhearing the boy’s earnest plea, General Chester Phillips offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in a special experiment… Operation: Rebirth. After weeks of tests, Rogers was at last administered the 'Super-Soldier Serum' and bombarded by 'vita-rays.' Steve Rogers emerged from the treatment with a body as perfect as a body can be and still be human. Rogers was then put through an intensive physical and tactical training program. Three months later, he was given his first assignment as Captain America. Armed with his indestructible shield and and battle savvy, Captain America has continued his war against evil both as a sentinel of liberty and leader of the Avengers.”

A 3-D animated version of Ken Haeser and Buz Hasson’s The Living Corpse will be released next year from director Justin Paul Ritter and Shoreline Entertainment.

Josh Brolin is “in talks” to star in Jonah Hex.

DreamWorks has extended its option for the rights to John Wyndham’s novel Chocky.

Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter have joined the cast for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland as the White Queen and the Red Queen, respectively.

Guillermo del Toro on Frankenstein: "I'm not doing 'Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.' I'm doing an adventure story that involves the creature. I cannot say much, but it's not the central creation story, I'm not worried about that. The fact is I've been dreaming of doing a 'Frankenstein' movie since I was a child. The one thing I can promise is, compared to Kenneth Branagh, I will not appear shirtless in the movie!"

David Cronenberg will direct and Denzel Washington will star in political thriller The Matarese Circle. Michael Brandt and Derek Haas wrote the adaptation of Robert Ludlum’s novel about two men who must cooperate to stop a plot to bring down the world’s governments during the Cold War.

Kevin Lima has on with Warner Brothers and Red Wagon to direct a live action Tom Thumb movie. Robert Rodat’s script will be an origin story of “an arrogant knight who's shrunk to 6 inches while assigned to protect a princess and then discovers what it means to be a real hero.”

Fox says that the trailer for Dragonball will not be released with Max Payne film next week, but later this year.

Kristen Bell and Matt Lucas have been cast in Astro Boy.

To all the clockwatchers out there, this one's for you...

2008-10-09T18:09:00.001-05:00

Spectacular Sticky-Note Experiment:

House of the Knitted Opera Marvel

2008-10-09T18:01:00.005-05:00

The soundtrack for REPO! The Genetic Opera came out September 30.

As part of Fearfest, AMC's website has free streaming of The Haunted Palace (1963), House of Usher (1960), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977), and Pumpkinhead (1988).

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. has "announced that David Maisel, Executive Vice President, Office of the Chief Executive, and Chairman of Marvel Studios, will lead a 'Fireside Chat' regarding Marvel at the Natixis Bleichroeder Second Annual Hidden Gems Conference on Tuesday, October 14th. The Fireside Chat will start at 3:00 p.m. and will be webcast live for all interested investors. The Hidden Gems conference is being held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, NY. Live Webcast and Replay: http://www.wsw.com/webcast/nblr2/mvl or via www.marvel.com/company/index.htm?sub=webcasts_current.php. An archived version of the webcast will be available at these locations for 30 days."

Star Wars slippers!

For $45,000 you can own a fully restored Ecto-1.

An extraterrestrial teapot.

Iron Man concept art.

The 9 Transformers Toys Who Looked Nothing Like Their Cartoon Counterparts

A Loudly Lurid Universe of Sci-Fi Pulp Illustration

I've got two from You Knit What - 2: "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope." Peter's first go at the Spider-Man suit.

Comics and Books

2008-10-09T17:55:00.003-05:00

A video of tour of Neil Gaiman reading The Graveyard Book. Alternate link if the first gets overloaded.

The second chapter of Warner Premiere's Watchmen Motion Comic came out this week on iTunes, Amazon Video on Demand, Xbox Live and the Sony PlayStation Store. Motion Comics for Batman: Black & White and Superman: Red Son are both currently under developement.

Fred Van Lente on Marvel Zombies 3

Halo: The Cole Protocol's final cover.

An article by Terry Pratchett on his Alzheimer's.

DVD Releases

2008-10-08T18:31:00.000-05:00

Futurama: Bender's Game - November 4
Primeval: The Complete Series 1 and 2 - November 4
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - November 11
Night Gallery: Season 2 - November 11
Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald (Vol. 4 - 1951-1961) - November 11
The Third Man (Blu-ray) - November 18
24: Redemption - November 25
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - December 2
The X-Files: I Want to Believe - December 2
The Day the Earth Stood Still [1951]: Special Edition (Blu-ray) - December 2
The Shawshank Redemption (Blu-ray) - December 2
Lost: The Complete Fourth Season - December 9
Battlestar Galatica: Season 4.0 - January 6 (Submitted by Sitting Duck)
Is Spinal Tap (Blu-ray) – January 20, 2009
Moonlight: The Complete Series - January 20, 2009

Films from the South

2008-10-07T20:26:00.001-05:00

October 9-19, in Oslo, Norway is the Films from the South festival. Now the website is in Norwegian, so I can't tell you much, BUT I can tell you that these titles are included:

My Neighbor Totoro
Kiki's Delivery Service
Porco Rosso
Spirited Away
The Cat Returns
Howl's Moving Castle
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

The October 15 showing of Nausicaä will include a presentation and a panel led by Nausicaä.net and EX.org contributor Geir Friestad.

More info here. (Norwegian)

Bleach the Movie

2008-10-07T20:24:00.002-05:00

October 20, Canada, Viz Media has announced that anime Bleach the Movie: Memories of Nobody will be screened at select Cineplex Entertainment and Empire Theatres locations throughout Canada.

The list of participating Cineplex locations.

The list of participating Empire Theatres.

Howl's Moving Castle

2008-10-07T20:21:00.002-05:00

October 25-31, West Yorkshire, England, The National Media Museum will be screening Ghibli's anime adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones' (completely excellent) book Howl's Moving Castle.

Show times here.

TV News...

2008-10-07T20:19:00.001-05:00

Fox has ordered an additional nine episodes of Fringe, bringing the season total up to twenty two.

AMC is developing a series based on Kim Stanley Robinson's science fiction novel Red Mars, about the first human colony on the Red Planet. Jonathan Hensleigh is writing and will exec produce with Jaffe Braunstein Entertainment and Created By.

Smallville's producers Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders:
"Dear Smallville fans,

As news and rumors swirl around the development of The Graysons for the CW, we have every intention of letting you, our fans, be the first to know the reality. Never have we been so committed to the continuing success of Smallville as we are to seasons 8 and 9. While we are extremely excited to be working hand-in-hand with Wonderland, Warner Bros. and the CW to create the origin story of Dick Grayson, it has never been intended as a replacement for Smallville, as is speculated in some media. The cast, crew, writers and producers are all working full-steam ahead on a story-line for Clark that allows for seasons of further trials and adventures for our favorite hero. As always, we all have you to thank for achieving eight years of this amazing show that Al and Miles created, and we're looking far beyond!"

Trailers

2008-10-06T19:38:00.001-05:00

Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.

Just Buried
Hank and Mike
Resident Evil: Degeneration
Let the Right One In
Shiver

Videos

2008-10-06T19:28:00.003-05:00

Some of these links may contain mature material, and MRFH is not responsible for their content.

Watchmen making of Doctor Manhattan
Splinter podcast 3
Quarantine 3 clips

Posters and Images

2008-10-06T19:23:00.002-05:00

Posters:
Bolt
Resident Evil: Degeneration
The Harvest Project
House

Images:
Saw V

Movie News

2008-10-05T20:36:00.002-05:00

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment have an agreement for Paramount to distribute Marvel's next five self produced features. It's an extension of the original agreement, so now it includes theatrical distribution in foreign territories. The titles and changed release dates are Iron Man 2 (May 7,2010), Thor (July 16, 2010), The First Avenger: Captain America (May 6, 2011), The Avengers (July 15, 2011), and Iron Man 3.

According to Variety, more directors want to film in IMAX, “Michael Bay will film at least three action setpieces using Imax cameras for ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,’ which is lensing. Jon Favreau has discussed using Imax cameras in filming ‘Iron Man 2,’ while ‘Eagle Eye’ director D.J. Caruso has expressed interest in doing so for future projects such as ‘Y: The Last Man.’"

“Digital Cinema Implementation Partners (DCIP) announced today that it has entered into long term agreements with Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney Motion Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Lionsgate Films for the deployment of digital projection systems to nearly 20,000 movie theatre screens across North America, including the AMC, Cinemark and Regal theatre chains.”

Sundance Channel now has the international rights to Isabella Rossellini starring short series Green Porno.

Horror Camp Hope has been pushed to early 2009.

George Romero has written and started production on an untitled zombie movie. Alan Van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Kathleen Munroe, Devon Bostick, Richard Fitzpatrick, Stefano Colacitti, and Athena Karkanis will star in the movie about an island community where the dead rise and eat their relatives. The living must decide whether to kill them or hold them while looking for a cure.

Universal has bought Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger’s comedic take on The Borne Identitiy. The Jack Black vehicle is about an “American who washes up on the shores of Cuba with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He comes to the inaccurate conclusion that he must be a superspy like Jason Bourne.”

Live Schreiber and Helen Hunt will play a couple whose marriage is strained to the breaking point in Richard Levine’s drama Every Day. It’ll be Levine’s feature directorial debut. Filming begins this month.

Prequels, Sequels & Remakes

2008-10-05T20:27:00.003-05:00

Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance will open in Japan in early summer of 2009.

Zack Snyder says that the 300 sequel will take place between the Battle of Thermopylae and the Battle of Plataea (where 300 ends with Dillios [David Wenham] finishing his story).

Kirsten Dunst on Spiderman 4 & 5 to MTV: “’I’m in,’ said the actress matter of factly. However, when pressed to make the announcement official, Dunst quickly changed her tone, and rather cryptically added, ‘I’m not saying anything, I know there’s rumors…’”

DreamWorks is moving forward on a 3-D sequel to Kung Fu Panda called Pandamonium. Kung Fu Panda’s head of story Jennifer Yuh Nelson will direct, and Jack Black and Angelina Jolie have already signed on. It’ll be about Po’s continuing journey of master kung fu and being the chosen one. Slotted release date is June 3, 2011.

Chris O’Donnell and Jack McBrayer will star in live action and CGI mix Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. Brad Peyton’s directorial debut will continue “the story of the battle between cats and dogs for control of Earth.”

Producers Michael De Luca, Alison Rosenzweig, and Michael Gaeta will develop a remake of 1987's Angel Heart. They have also optioned the rights to William Hjortsberg's novel Falling Angel, which the original was based on. The novel is about Harry Angel, "a New York detective hired by a mysterious client to track down a once-popular performer indebted to him. While pursuing this seemingly routine investigation, Harry encounters dark and supernatural forces."

Harrison Ford says that "George [Lucas] is in think mode right now" about Indy 5.

James Cameron on Terminator 4: "It could be a big steaming pile, or it could be brilliant. Sam Worthington is in ... Avatar and the new Terminator, and he likes the script, but I never saw it. There was no blessing involved."

Adaptations

2008-10-05T20:19:00.002-05:00

A description of the Watchmen footage Zack Snyder screened, and the Q & A.

Kenneth Branagh is in negotiations to direct the Donald Blake written adaptation of Marvel’s Thor. Marvel will set a distributor soon.

Sony has the rights to Mark Millar and Tony Harris’ comic book War Heroes, and is currently looking for a writer. The superhero military story is about an “experimental military program that gives ordinary soldiers superpowers. When a small group of recruits break off to use these powers for a criminal enterprise, a hero rises from their ranks to prevent catastrophic results.”

Ridley Scott has cast Russell Crowe as both Robin Hood and the sheriff of Nottingham.

Max Payne has won a PG-13 rating from the MPAA.

Brett Ratner will direct the God of War movie.

Ash Brannon will direct a Yogi Bear live action/CGI mix for Warner Brothers. Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia will write.