Archive for the 'News' Category
Page 7 of 9
Published on
October 29, 2008 in
News.
- Robert Downey has signed a contract confirming his reprisal role in two more Iron Man movies as well as the Avengers.
- Ripley Scott may direct a werewolf film starring Russel Crowe and written by the man who wrote “Death Sentence” and the Castlevania movie.
- The new Mystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition DVD collection selects four episodes from the series and some sweet extras that track the show’s history. The limited-edition $70 set comes in a metal gift box with four custom lobby cards and a Crow T. Robot figurine.
- Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day has now officially begun filming in Toronto. Sean Patrick Flannery and Billy Connelly are both back. The cast and crew are video diarying the experience and you can check them out on YouTube.
- Fanboys, the movie about a group of friends in 1998 trying to break into the Skywalker Ranch to see Episode One before their terminally ill friend dies, is set to finally be released in January. The film drew fire when the Weinsteins published a version that eliminated the cancer storyline and the film’s actual fanboys protested. So just 3 months until you can see Kristen Bell as slave Leia.
- Saw V earned 30.5million this weekend, making the Saw franchise the top grossing horror franchise of all time. The Saw films have earned over 317million, surpassing both Friday the 13th and Halloween.
- EA has signed a deal with Universal Studios to bring Army of Two to the silver screen. This follows the Fox deal to make The Sims into a movie. Will Wright has said that Spore has also been considered.
- Tokyo’s Disneyland is getting some new additions, like an awesome Monsters, Inc. plant from the CG Disney movie. It’s set to open in April.
- Tim Burton has cast Crispin Glover to play the Knave of Hearts in the upcoming Alice movie.
- Piccolo will turn green in the new Dragonball movie, not start green.
- LittleBigPlanet and Fallout 3 came out this week. Why is anyone here? Go decapitate fire-spitting giant ants with lawn gnomes already.
Published on
October 22, 2008 in
News.
- Lucasfilm and BioWare announced yesterday that the two companies are working on an MMORPG called Star Wars: The Old Republic.
- Students from Rice University have bioenginnered beer with anticancer properties. Its not a tumor!…its a beergut. The students made yeast that produces the same anti-cancer chemical that is found in wine.
- Two Yale students have written “Darq Knight: The Musical” [sic] which takes the plot of the Dark Knight, sets it to U2 and a few other silly tweaks. It so far has only run once, but perhaps someday the batlight will call the stars to the limelight once again, or a bootleg video will appear on youtube.
- NBC has requested 9 more episodes of Knight Rider, making it a go for a full season.
- Incredible Hulk came out on DVD yesterday and the president of Marvel was quoted as saying “To have all of the Avengers going up against a green goliath? I think that would be very cool to see that on the screen” Something to look forward to perhaps or fear.
- Universal Studios has announced a Transformers the Ride. It will be featuring 3D-HD, special effects and the best robotics you’ve ever seen. The audience is Earth’s humans, caught in the middle of an intergalactic war. The robowarriors will transform in front of your eyes. The rides will be arriving in 2011 in Singapore then Hollywood, no word yet on Florida.
- Borders has significantly cut their purchases of new science fiction, and Borders Central decides what to buy so even stores that sold lots of sci fi will not be getting in new stock. This has led several sci fi writers to debate boycotting Borders but nothing official declared yet.
- George Rogers Clark High School student William Poole of Lexington Kentucky has been charged with a 2nd degree felony charge terrorist threatening because of a short story he wrote for English class detailing a zombie attack against his school. Possible over-reaction or does Homeland Security know something we don’t?
- Last weekend NYC’s annual Zombie Con paid special tribute to Wall Street and dessicated retirement plans everywhere as the zombie horde crawled over the Wall Street bull.
- Speaking of the zed-word, Star Trek: The Experience will not die. After it closed down in the Las Vegas Hilton last month, Ted Newkirk (yes thats his real name), owner of the Neon-opolis a shopping and entertainment area is interested in saving The Experience. Negotiations are ongoing but with the opening of JJ Abrams new Star Trek movie, this could be a lucrative deal.
- Bryan Fuller of Pushing Daisies has approached JJ Abrams about a new Star Trek franchise. Fuller also wrote for Voyager, but says it missed the fun of the original 60′s.
- After realizing the reception to the latest Dragonball trailer was more like Dragon Eunuch, Fox has ordered several reshoots for the movie. Piccolo will probably still not be green. The reshoots for Dragonball start on October 30th and they’re seeking Tibetan- and Nepalese-speaking actors.
- As was reported last week, Terrence Howard will not be joining the cast of Iron Man 2, what was not reported was that he found out the same way we did, from a trade publication. That’s the equivalent of your girlfriend changing her facebook status to single.
- After a legal battle, Andre Nortons caretaker Sue Stewart will retain the rights to current published works royalties while Dr. Victor Horadam will gain rights over unpublished works.
- Spamalot is scheduled to play its last performance at the Shubert Theatre Jan. 18, 2009. It will have played 1,582 performances and 35 previews by the end of its Broadway run.
Published on
October 15, 2008 in
News.
- Don Cheadle is stepping in to replace Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2, Marvel Studios’ sequel to its summer blockbuster, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Howard played Jim Rhodes, Tony Stark/Iron Man’s best friend and the future armor-clad hero War Machine. Sources close to the deal say that negotiations with Howard fell through over financial differences.
- In a promotion tied to the DVD/Blu-ray release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Papa John’s will offer a free extra-large “Explorer” pizza to anyone in the United States named “Dr. Jones” until Oct. 26; if Dr. Jones lives in Indiana, he or she will also get a free Indy DVD.
- NBC is developing a new take on Jason and the Argonauts, which would be produced as the first-ever green-screen drama developed for prime time. NBC also aired the unrelated Robert Halmi miniseries Jason and the Argonauts, in 2000.
- A cryptography technique that relies on Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle was recently unveiled. It uses a stream of photons to create a quantum data stream that alerts anyone trying to read it and shuts down the transmission.
- As a tie-in with the new Quantum of Solace release Dr. No, Die Another Day, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia with Love, and Thunderball are all heading to blu ray in November Suggested retail price of $34.98 and packaged with a movie ticket for the new Bond adventure.
- The golden gun from the 1974 James Bond film starring Sir Roger Moore and Christopher Lee has been stolen from Elstree Studios. The gun is valued at about £80,000.
- According to IMDB there is an untitled Bill and Ted project scheduled for 2010.
- The first episode of a new Witchblade anime series is now available on iTunes for free until Oct. 26.
- Rob Tapert, who is producing director Sam Raimi’s upcoming Drag Me to Hell, says the film is a return to Raimi’s horror roots.
- AskMen.com has constructed a Jedi workout. Their slogan? “You too could harness the Force in your muscular fitness.” The routine includes Force jumps, hyperspace holds, and lightsaber pulls.
- The Toxic Avenger musical debuted this month in, where else, New Jersey. The Toxic Avenger Musical is playing through November 2nd at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
- Lost’s Rebecca Mader joins up with George Clooney as a lead in the movie adaptation of The Men Who Stare at Goats. The movie is based on Jon Ronson’s novel about US soldiers who were trained to use psychic powers in battle (i.e., killing a goat just by staring at it). Also in the Goat cast are Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey and, Jeff Bridges.
- In Transformers 2, Soundwave will join the cast….as a pickup truck. No word on the sound system on the pickup but he has already been a nascar car and a Scion xB with a loudspeaker system.
- The next Doctor Who may just fill the Tardis. Every surviving actor who has played the Doctor will appear for this years Children In Need special, with rumors of Prince Charles also joining the cast.
- Fox 2000 has acquired the rights to Joe Haldeman’s 1974 novel “The Forever War” and has Ridley Scott attached to direct.
Published on
October 8, 2008 in
News.
- Terminator – The Sarah Connor Chronicles rose in ratings, while Heroes ratings continue to dip.
- Speaking of Sarah Connor… Japanese company Cyberdyne is renting cybersuits that enhance strength for just 2,200 a month or 1,500 for a leg. The suits will go into mass production Friday.
- This is why we need a house fund. Joss Whedon’s house is for sale. The five-bedroom, six-bathroom house has 5,259 square feet with an outdoor fireplace, deck and pool set against a backdrop of mountain and canyon views. The birthplace of Buffy and Firefly can be yours for just $3,695,000.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard USS …. Tardis? Patrick Stewart will be joining Dr Who, as renegade Time Lord the Meddling Monk.
- AMC is developing a new series based on Red Mars, a 1992 novel by Kim Stanley Robison, which takes a realistic look at the first colony on Mars. While the series will be less sci fi flashy and more character driven, some of the writers and production team have worked on Jumper and Armageddon.
- Award winning Dracula docmentarian Ian Holt and Dacre Stoker, the great grandnephew of Bram, have written Dracula 2: Electric Boogaloo, er I mean, Dracula: The Undead . The authors used Bram Stokers hand written notes to write the novel so it includes characters and plots over a century old. The book is set to hit shelves in a year and of course the film is also coming soon.
- According to Harrison Ford, George Lucas is in “think mode” over Indiana Jones 5. Hey I’d also be hard pressed to think of something more ridiculous than Indy and the Invincible Fridge.
- A Daredevil reboot may be in the works. Fox’s looking for their own Christopher Nolan to direct it. As Rupert Murdoch once said, “I’d like to see that.”
- David Duchovny has completed his treatment for sex addiction. In January, Duchovny won a Golden Globe Award as best actor in a comedy for his role as Hank Moody, an oversexed single dad and novelist struggling with writer’s block in the Showtime series “Californication.” He is also set to star in a film called “The Joneses” scheduled for release next year.
- James Earl Jones will get a lifetime achievement award at the SAG awards in January. He was mute as a child because of a stuttering problem and credits reading with helping him find his voice. Where the hell can I find that book?
- M. Night Shyamalan has told sources he’s done with the prep work for his live action adaptation of “Avatar The Last Airbender.”
- The 1959 Roger Corman classic “Attack of the Giant Leeches” is getting remade by My Dead Girlfriend indie director Brett Kelly.
- Guillermo del Toro has announced plans to film Frankenstein, with promises not to appear shirtless in it (like past director Kenneth Branagh did) He has also hinted at Doug Jones as the creature. Jones played Abe Sapien in the Hellboy series and also the Silver Surfer.
- The first issue of Marvel’s adaptation of Ender’s Game hit stores today. If you want to see what it looks like, there is an exclusive preview at Io9.com.
- A University of Arizona research team has made a significant breakthrough in 3-D displays that could put holographic sets on the market in five to ten years. Insert your own holodeck or princess leia joke here.
- One of 3 official Sony/MGM authorized Ghostbusters 1959 Cadillac Miller Meteor Ecto-1 is on Ebay for 45grand. While not used in filming, it is official, and was built exclusively for Universal Studios Florida where it has been for 15 years.
Published on
October 1, 2008 in
News.
- Happy 50th Birthday NASA! NASA was actually founded in 1915 and at the time was known as the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics — or NACA. But after Sputnik was launched Eisenhower revamped the defunct committee and on October 1, 1958, the new agency officially went into business.
- Think you can writes good? Transformers: All Hail Megatron writer Shane McCarthy wants you to prove it online. Whoever comes up with the funniest/most inventive caption or dialogue to go with the image online wins. The winner will receive a copy of AHM #1 – #4 (with the Hutch covers) signed by him and Trevor Hutchison. Anyone who wants to enter has until October 22nd to do so at smactalk.com.
- As a potential heir to Smallville’s….erm throne? The CW has begun work on The Graysons, about the young boy wonder, before his parents got turned into a Pollack and a rich single man gave him short shorts. “Smallville” exec producers Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson, as well as “Supernatural” exec producer McG, are behind the project.In the one-hour “Graysons,” which will be set in modern times, young DJ will face challenges involving first loves, young rivals and his family as he grows up.
- Can I get one order of Salvation, hold the blessing? Even though McG announced at Comic Con that he wouldn’t move forward without James Cameron’s blessing on Terminator Salvation, Cameron doesn’t seem to remember bestowing such a favor on the Terminator 4 director. Cameron revealed to a Canadian paper that not only did McG not have his blessing, but he’s never actually seen or heard anything about the script.
- BBC Radio is launching a huge science fiction “drama season” that will span three stations in the month of March: Radio 3, Radio 4, and BBC 7. Audio plays, including adaptations of Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama and Iain M. Banks’ The State Of The Art (adapted by Paul Cornell), will air during Radio 3′s Afternoon Play, Classic Serial and Women’s Hour timeslots. Meanwhile, BBC 7 will launch a new 10-part audio series called Planet B.
- IMAX to the MAX! Michael Bay has decided to shoot three Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen scenes in IMAX. Now you can see things go boom in the biggest most Bay-tastic way possible, on a bigger and badder screen. Also, D.J. Caruso expressed interest in shooting Y: The Last Man in IMAX as well.
- LucasArts plans to release new characters and a new single player campaign set in the Jedi Temple as downloadable content for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed in coming months. The content will be coming to the 360 and PS3 version of the game.
- J. Michael Straczynski says Kenneth Branagh is perfect for directing a ‘Thor’ film. Straczynski, who also created Babylon 5 says, “‘Thor,’ at his best, has always had a classical bent to the character in terms of his history, the way he speaks, and the often Shakespearean intrigues and dramas that surround him. That kind of dialogue and character needs the hand of someone who comes from a theatrical/classically trained background in order for it not to sound forced or artificial. Branagh is absolutely the perfect choice.” The movie is expected to be released July 16, 2010.
- The First Avenger: Captain America, is due on May 6, 2011.
- The Avengers movie on July 15, 2011, and Iron Man 2, May 7th, 2010.
- DC’s Green Lantern has been given the green light to shoot the upcoming movie starting the spring of 09.