THE TOMORROW PEOPLE
This series is easily the most promising of the bunch new at The CW, and seems to boast the best production values to boot (for what it’s worth). The series looks like a good spin on Heroes, with young people figuring out they have awesome superpowers. As suspected, it definitely has a Push vibe, which should be a good fit for the small screen. Oh, plus Mark Pellegrino (Supernatural, Lost)!
THE ORIGINALS
We got a peek at the backdoor pilot earlier this season with The Vampire Diaries, and the network liked the New Orleans-set pitch so much they decided to bring the more mature spinoff back for a full season. It’s a no-brainer for Vampire Diaries fans, and could also appeal to fang fans who found the high-school series a bit too young-skewing.
THE 100
This one could go either way. It’s a future-set series following 100 teens sent back to Earth to investigate whether the planet is hospitable to re-establish a colony. It has a lower-budget Terra Nova vibe (minus the dinosaurs, of course), and definitely feels like a Hunger Games ripoff. It’ll be interesting to see how they develop the premise for the pilot.
STAR-CROSSED
Do you miss Roswell? Well, you’re in luck! This series looks like a pretty straight play on the fish-out-of-water storyline of aliens in a high school, only this time the whole world knows they’re aliens (and apparently hates them for it). It looks like 90210 with aliens, which could definitely appeal to a niche of CW fans.
PACIFIC RIM
Last month, Guillermo del Toro rolled out a package of footage from his epic monsters-vs.-mechs flick Pacific Rim that had previously been available only to attendees at this year's WonderCon. That trailer featured, among other things, a Jaeger (the film's name for the giant human-piloted robots that fight the beasts known as Kaiju) clubbing a monster in the face with a ship and smashing another's head with a pair of crushing punches. Now a new, two-and-a-half-minute trailer for the film has hit the 'net, and it's packed with even more Jaeger-vs.-Kaiju badassery.
We've still got nearly two months to go before Pacific Rim finally barrels into theaters, but if you weren't pumped up for this flick already, you're about to be. Monsters! Explosions! Kaiju dropping Jaegers into the ocean! Jaegers superpunching Kaiju at a full run! Ron Perlman's sunglasses! Check it out! Pacific Rim is in theaters July 12.
DISPICABLE ME 2
Universal Pictures has released the first clip from Despicable Me 2 in which Gru and Agnes show you how to avoid unwanted guests. Hitting theaters on July 3, the sequel is voiced by Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand, Steve Coogan, Ken Jeong and Benjamin Bratt.
THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2013
NEW CBS DRAMAS INTELLIGENCE
"Intelligence," meanwhile, is straight out of the CBS playbook. A sarcastic, hunky leading man (Josh Holloway) bantering with a bright-eyed young woman (Meghan Ory) and backed by a network veteran (Marg Helgenberger). Action, mystery and crime-solving elements collide to give the network's regular viewers exactly what they expect. Which, let's face it, is part of what gives CBS the right to be so cocky. There was also a little more of the show on display during the upfront than there is in the behind-the-scenes promo above, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't find the whole thing instantly forgettable.
HOSTAGES
It's an interesting play: a heavily serialized thriller set for a limited cable-style run of 15 episodes that still looks and feels like a CBS procedural. Put another way, "Hostages" feels closer in spirit to an extended arc from "NCIS" or "Person of Interest" than something cut from the same sharp cloth as "The Good Wife." Or maybe it just finds the middle ground. Starring Toni Collette, Dylan McDermott and Tate Donovan, "Hostages" at least shows CBS' willingness to play with their form ... to a point.
The pilot cut-down shown to advertisers ran longer than the behind-the-scenes video above and gave a more concrete overview of the plot with more details about Donovan's character and the kidnappers. It also featured a brief look at future episodes, including what seemed to be a shocking twist (that drew gasps from the audience), but could have just as easily been a dream sequence.
ONCE UPON A TIME: WONDERLAND
ABC's unveiled the first trailer for Once Upon a Time: Wonderland. It's a spinoff of the popular drama that brings fairy tales into the modern day. Wonderland sets itself apart by taking place in Victorian England. It centers on Alice as she tells her story of love and loss in a magical land.
As you might expect, not everyone believes her account. When Alice tells her family about a place with an invisible cat, a hookah-smoking caterpillar and playing cards that talk, they find it hard to believe. Can you blame them? Because of that, she's placed into a mental facility.
Alice yearns for freedom but can't forget about Cyrus ((Peter Gadiot), a genie she fell in love with. She assumes he's dead but learns he's actually alive and kicking. With the help of the Knave of Hearts (BBC's Being Human's Michael Socha) and the White Rabbit (John Lithgow), she returns to Wonderland on a mission. Once Upon a Time: Wonderland will air Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
DEPARTURE
Billy Ray has come aboard to direct Departure, a sci-fi romance from Good Universe.
Jim Whitaker is producing while Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane will executive produce.
The script is inspired by Ghosts of the Air by Martin Caidin. The book told of the real accounts from pilots who have experienced flight anomalies.
According to Good Universe, Departure "follows a brilliant Miami-based FAA investigator who is obsessed with learning how a 727 suddenly vanished into thin air and then reappeared in the exact same spot 10 minutes later. As mysterious occurrences continue to occur with increasing frequency in the skies over Miami, the investigation becomes personal when the employee’s beloved wife is on one of the planes affected."
The company is fast-tracking the project and wants to begin casting immediately.
Spencer Wong will oversee the project on behalf of Good Universe. Elizabeth Ingold will oversee for Whitaker Entertainment.
Ray is one of Hollywood’s most in-demand scribes with recent credits including The Hunger Games and the upcoming Tom Hanks movie Captain Phillips. As a director, he helmed the acclaimed Shattered Glass as well as Breach.
ORPHAN BLACK
TORONTO – Canadian indie producer Temple Street Productions has seen its sci-fi drama Orphan Black go to BBC 3.
From co-creators Graeme Manson (Flashpoint) and John Fawcett (Spartacus), Orphan Black follows a young woman played by Tatiana Maslany who discovers she is, in fact, one of several clones after she witnesses the suicide of someone who looks exactly like her.
The conspiracy clone thriller was also recently renewed for a second season by BBC America and Space in Canada with a 10-episode order.
Executive producers are Ivan Schneeberg and David Fortier.
The cast includes Maria Doyle Kennedy, Jordan Gavaris, Dylan Bruce, Kevin Hanchard and Michael Mando.
Z FOR ZACHARIAH
Chris Pine, Amanda Seyfried, and Chiwetel Ejiofor are starring in Z For Zachariah, a post-apocalyptic feature that will be directed by Craig Zobel.
Tobey Maguire is producing via his Material Pictures banner along with the company’s senior vp Matthew Plouffe. Zik Zak Filmworks’ Skuli Malmquist, Thor Sigurjonsson and Palomar Pictures’ Joni Sighvatsson are also producing.
Zachariah is a psychological thriller, set after an apocalyptic event. It centers on a teenaged girl (Seyfried) who is seemingly the sole survivor until a scientist (Ejiofor) finds her farm, and the two fall in love. Another survivor, a young man (Pine), surfaces, complicating matters.
An August shoot is being planned.
Nissar Modi wrote the script, an adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's classic science fiction novel.
Gary Ross and Lucky Hat Entertainment’s Stephen Bannatyne are executive producing, along with Silver Reel’s Claudia Bluemhuber and Lotus Entertainment’s Jim Seibel and Bill Johnson.
Lotus is selling international territories at Cannes. CAA arranged financing for the project, and CAA and WME will co-represent domestic rights.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2013
KILLER WOMEN
The teaser ABC unveiled Tuesday (May 14) for its midseason series "Killer Women" does not waste much time living up to its title.
In the opening scene, a woman in a red dress stalks up the aisle at a wedding and shoots the bride. Lead character Molly Parker (Tricia Helfer), the only woman in the Texas Rangers, is loaded for bear for pretty much the entire trailer (except for a love scene with a DEA agent played by Marc Blucas). In three minutes, the trailer expends more bullets than seemingly an entire season of "Justified."
Helfer plays tough incredibly well, and the chemistry she and Blucas have is palpable. There are a more than a couple cop-show cliches present as well, but the hope is that Helfer's magnetism and the action, which is plentiful and well-shot, can overcome them.
ABOUT TIME
We lurrrve romcoms. But a romcom with sci-fi elements like time travel sprinkled in it? Sounds like a winner to us. Especially if one of its stars is the great Bill Nighy. Oh, and it has Rachel McAdams in it, too. About Time is the new brainchild from Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and Funeral, Notting Hill and the wonderful, infinitely sad Doctor Who episode “Vincent and the Doctor,” in which Nighy had a cameo).
It stars Domhnall Gleeson (Black Mirror) as Tim, an unlucky-in-love guy who is revealed to have the ability to travel through time (but not space) by his dad, the always-awesome Bill Nighy, when he turns 21 (a secret family trait).
So what’s a guy to do?
Well, first dad makes a point that he can’t change history: "You can't kill Hitler or shag Helen of Troy, unfortunately." Hi-la-ri-ous.
So instead Tim uses said special ability to get himself a hot girlfriend in the shape of McAdams’ Mary—in her second outing in a romantic time-travel movie (the first was The Time Traveler’s Wife, based on Audrey Niffenegger's book)— and to get everything in their relationship absolutely right. (We could always use that kind of power, right?)
Written and directed by Curtis, About Time also stars Lindsay Duncan, Tom Hollander, Margot Robbie and Vanessa Kirby. It’ll be released in the U.K. on Sept. 6.
ROBO COP
Some new footage have leaked out from the RoobCop reboot, showing off some action scenes and a major set piece in the works.
Judging by the bit we’ve seen here, it looks like director Jose Padilha will be bringing the action once this reimagining finally arrives. We also get a better look at that sleek new RoboCop outfit — which looks like a combo of a G.I. Joe exo-suit and the original RoboCop design, in a good way.
A reboot of the 1987 cult hit about a cop turned into a half-machine lawkeeper, the film stars Joel Kinnaman (The Killing) as the title character, Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight Rises) as a scientist and Samuel L. Jackson (The Avengers) as a media mogul.
Here’s the film’s synopsis:
In RoboCop, the year is 2029 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Their drones are winning American wars around the globe and now they want to bring this technology to the home front. Alex Murphy is a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit. After he is critically injured in the line of duty, OmniCorp utilizes their remarkable science of robotics to save Alex’s life. He returns to the streets of his beloved city with amazing new abilities, but with issues a regular man has never had to face before.
A new set video also captured what looks to be the staging of a major police standoff, with RoboCop using his fancy robo-cycle to roll up on the incident.
The film opens February 7, 2014.
24: LIVE ANOTHER DAY
Fox has confirmed that it's restarting its hit "24" with the limited event series "24: Live Another Day" to debut in Summer 2014.
Showrunner Howard Gordon and star Kiefer Sutherland will return for the series which will retain all the regular hallmarks (split screens, interweaving story lines, etc.) of the eight earlier seasons.
Set several years after the events of the final season, one difference is that this will be a shorter run with twelve episodes now set to represent 24 hours. This will make the 'real time' gimmick a bit tricky.
TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2013
SLEEPY HOLLOW
A slick and tantalizing re-imagining of the classic Washington Irving tale of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman, from "Fringe" producers and "Star Trek Into Darkness" co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Tom Mison (HBO's "Parade's End") stars as 18th Century soldier Crane who somehow winds up in the 21st Century under the watch of a small town police officer (Nicole Beharie of "Shame"). Given that FOX's track record on high concept fantasy/sci-fi/action dramas contains far more flops than hits, we probably should be worried about this one. But the trailer is too much fun (beheadings! Revolutionary War flashbacks! banter! the Headless Horseman with a machine gun!), so we're hoping the powers that be pull this off.
ALMOST HUMAN
FOX went all-in with the "Fringe" folks this season, also ordering a series from the team of J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk and J.H. Wyman. This one is a buddy cop drama with a sci-fi twist, set in the not too distant future of 2048 when every LAPD officer is required to have a "synthetic" (a.k.a. robot) ridealong partner. A troubled cop (Karl Urban) is partnered with a troubled 'bot (Michael Ealy) and the drama goes from there. Another shiny and intriguing hour that could also suffer the curse of the FOX high concept drama (recent casualties include "Terra Nova," "Alcatraz" and "Touch"), but also looks promising enough to set itself apart.
AFTER EARTH
Well, this isn't exactly a warm father-son moment. After Earth, the new sci-fi epic co-written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Will Smith and his son Jaden, hits theaters in just a few weeks, and the filmmakers have finally released a clip. In it, Cypher Raige (Will Smith) tasks his son Kitai (Jaden Smith) with retrieving a beacon from their crashed ship, which is somewhere in the threat-filled wilderness of a future Earth that's long been abandoned by humans. It's an important task, and a dangerous one, but as you'll see below, Kitai is getting no coddling from Cypher. After Earth hits theaters May 31.
DOCTOR WHO NEWS
If any of you had any itsy-bitsy, tiny doubts at the back of your mind that an eighth season of Doctor Who was upcoming after the show’s 50th anniversary in November, then you can now brush them all aside and throw them away in the Time Vortex.
Showrunner Steven Moffat has “definitely confirmed” season eight is indeed coming up.
During last night’s BAFTA Television Awards, Moffat addressed the issue, since he was bewildered (as are we, frankly) that some Doctor Who fans were unclear about the beloved show’s fate.
"This is a thing that just seems to have slipped by... so can I say it very firmly - series eight is absolutely, definitely confirmed," Moffat said.
"It is real and it's happening - it's [taking up] most of my time at the moment."
"I get people telling me [that series eight is] not really happening," he explained. "It really, definitely, honestly is!"
Season eight will feature current companion Clara, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. No confirmation has been made about Matt Smith's return as the Doctor.
So now that season eight has been officially confirmed by the Moff himself, are you relieved by the news? Did you guys have any doubts whatsoever that the show would return for season eight?
DRACULA
NBC's lavish new Dracula drama doesn't debut until this fall, but three set shots of the famed bloodsucker seducing Olde London have recently been released by the network. Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) stars in the 10-episode series as the undead Wallachian prince.
The production has been filming in Budapest and also stars Thomas Kretschmann (King Kong, Wanted) as the vampire hunter Van Helsing, Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Raven, Going the Distance) as Jonathan Harker and Nonso Anozie (Game of Thrones) playing Renfield. Dracula is slated to be unleashed in the coveted Friday night programming slot from 10 p.m.-11 p.m. beginning in September. It's being produced by former 24 producer Tony Krantz, Collin Callender (ex-president of HBO Films), Anne Mensah, Reece Pearson and Downton Abbey producer Gareth Neame. Creator Cole Haddon will serve as writer and co-executive producer.
Here's the official synopsis:
It's the late 19th century, and the mysterious Dracula has arrived in London, posing as an American entrepreneur who wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. He's especially interested in the new technology of electricity, which promises to brighten the night - useful for someone who avoids the sun. But he has another reason for his travels: he hopes to take revenge on those who cursed him with immortality centuries earlier. Everything seems to be going according to plan... until he becomes infatuated with a woman named Mina Murray (Jessica De Gouw) who appears to be a reincarnation of his dead wife.
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION VIDEO
As Cmdr. Chris Hadfield prepares to take his final bow and exit the outer-space stage that is the International Space Station, he gives us one last encore.
There's already no shortage of reasons to love Cmdr. Hadfield. His raw charisma has reignited the world's interest in space exploration. He even managed to grab the attention of both Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock. But his time is running out, and, before he returns to the womb of Mother Earth, he has one last video message to impart, which also doubles as the first music video to be recorded in space.
Somehow, deep down, we always knew the first-ever intergalactic music video would involve David Bowie. We're glad we were right, and we're thankful it was Hadfield who made it happen.
MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013
AGENTS FROM S.H.I.E.L.D.
Here is our first look at the new ABC series "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."
The network teased the teaser (why that's become a thing, we'll never understand) early Sunday (May 12), hoping to drive fans to the "Once Upon a Time" finale where the longer trailer would debut.
The clip is narrated by Clark Gregg's magically resurrected Agent Coulson, though there's still no hint as to how he's back among the living after "The Avengers."
"We work the cases that S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't classified; the strange, the unknown," he explains. "It's not just spy versus spy anymore -- the whole world's in on the action."
It's still a frustratingly brief clip, teasing so many images without any real explanation. No doubt an even longer trailer is to come this week when ABC unveils their 2013-14 lineup at their Upfront on Tuesday.
For now, this will have to do.
THE WALKING DEAD
Production is ramping up on the fourth season of AMC’s hit zombie series The Walking Dead, and now we have our first look at Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) back in action. Not surprisingly, there’s a walker close behind.
Though it’s hard to glean much from this pic, we can tell that Rick at least looks a little bit more put together than the near-crazy version from last season. Plus, after a year spent fighting with humans, it’s nice to see a good old-fashioned zombie hanging ominously in the background here. The fourth season officially started shooting on May 6, and the pic originated on set in Atlanta, Ga.
Hopefully this is new showrunner Scott Gimple’s way of telling us they’ll be getting back to the dead-on-undead action once October rolls back around.
So while we get ready for a long, Dead-less summer, enjoy this peek at the new season to come.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness beamed up $31.7 million from only seven international markets as it began its worldwide rollout -- 70 percent ahead of the director's 2009 film.
Paramount is determined to improve the franchise's standing overseas, where Trekkie mania has never fully taken hold. To that end, the studio decided to whip up interest by opening the 3D tentpole first internationally, including in several countries where Abrams' Star Trek did the best the last time out. Into Darkness, opening in the U.S. on May 10, returns Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in the roles of James T. Kirk and Spock, respectively.
In those markets where Star Trek films have seen their strongest business -- U.K., Australia and Germany -- aggregate grosses for Into Darkness were 56 percent ahead of Abrams' 2009 reboot.
The real test for Paramount came in Mexico, New Zealand and German-speaking Switzerland, where the space-set franchise has never been especially popular. The results: Into Darkness paced 250 percent ahead of the 2009 film.
Mexico was of particular importance, since sci-fi isn't a favored genre there (it's also one of the biggest markets for 3D fare). Into Darkness took in a stellar $3 million from 573 locations, triple the opening of the 2009 film.
"That's what we were really for. Mexico is a great Barometer," says Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore. "The first movie certainly laid the groundwork for anyone who is a Star Trek fan. We want this film to cross over and create new fans."
The U.K. led with $13.3 million from 556 locations, 50 percent better than the 2009 reboot. Into Darkness also dominated the market in Germany, grossing $7.6 million from 627 locations, 80 percent better. Australia took in $5.5 million from 263 locations, 50 percent ahead of the 2009 movie.
Paramount has taken elaborate measures in marketing Into Darkness overseas, including dispatching producer Byran Burk to share 20 minutes of footage with media and distributors in numerous countries earlier this year. Into Darkness continues its international rollout next week, including in Russia. On May 16, it opens in China. It's already delivering strong results for Imax theaters, which took in $2.7 million over the weekend from $2.3 million.
In 2009, Star Trek grossed $257.7 million in North America and $128 million overseas, where most Hollywood tentpoles do far better.
THE BLACKLIST
NBC is betting big on The Blacklist.
The freshman drama starring James Spader has just landed the best time slot on the network's 2013-14 fall schedule -- on Mondays at 10 p.m. following The Voice. It's the same slot where the network launched Revolution this season, with the J.J. Abrams drama moving to lead off Wednesdays at 8 p.m.
Ahead of its Monday upfront presentation to Madison Avenue ad buyers -- and the release of the full trailers for all its 12 freshman shows, NBC has released the first trailer for The Blacklist.
Spader stars as the world's most wanted criminal who mysteriously turns himself in and offers to give up everyone he's ever worked with. His only condition is he will only work with a newly minted FBI agent (Megan Boone) with whom he seemingly has no connection. Perfect Stranger's Jon Bokenkamp and showrunner John Eisendrath (Alias) and producers John Fox and John Davis.
MAN OF STEEL
A fourth TV spot with more footage from Warner Bros. Pictures' Superman movie Man of Steel.
Hitting 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on June 14, the action adventure stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, Russell Crowe, Michael Kelly, Harry Lennix and Richard Schiff.
In Man of Steel, a young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.
PHOENIX BABYLON 5 EXTRAVAGANZA
The Phoenix Comicon has the Babylon 5 Programming that you are looking for! 2013 will feature over 19 hours of B5 focused programming over all 4 days. We are beginning with Babylon 5 101 & 102 and going all the way up to panels with J. MIchael Straczynski and culminating with the 20 Anniversary Reunion panel featuring 14 of the Starring Cast and the Creator himself all on one-stage. Come join us for the once in a life-time experience, after Phoenix Comicon an experience like this will disappear fast that the 4th Bablyon.
Go to https://www.phoenixcomicon.com/page/70 for a look at the full program.
For more information about the convention, go to https://www.phoenixcomicon.com/page/1.
NBC FALL SCHEDULE NEWS
We will launch two classy, attention-getting dramas in February: 'Believe' from J.J. Abrams, and 'Crisis' starring Dermot Mulroney and Gillian Anderson.
"On Fridays, anchored by 'Grimm' at 9 p.m., we will have a more fun genre night with the limited-series 'Dracula,' starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers at 10 p.m. In the spring, 'Crossbones' - with John Malkovich as the infamous pirate Blackbeard - replaces 'Dracula,'" said Greenblatt.
SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2013
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
In the battle of the billionaire playboys, Jay Gatsby couldn't topple Tony Stark, though he gave the Marvel superhero quite a run for his money.
"The Great Gatsby" had spectacular opening day, grossing $19.4 million, which has put the Warner Bros. adaptation on track for a $50-55 million weekend (which exceeds all expectations). Baz Luhrmann's film, which cost roughly $100 million to make, will undoubtedly become the director's best debut ever. As for Gatsby himself, the film will rank as Leonardo DiCaprio's second biggest opening in his career, behind "Inception," which bowed with $62.8 million in 2010.
The huge opening couldn't beat back "Iron Man 3," however. The latest installment in the Marvel franchise followed up its phenomenal opening weekend with $19.8 million on Friday (May 10).
It wasn't all rosy results on Friday, though. The weekend's other big opener, the Tyler Perry-produced "Peeples," truly flopped, placing fourth with a paltry $1.2 million. The film, starring Craig Robinson, David Alan Grier and Kerry Washington, is the first film marketed on Perry's name to open in the single digits.
Friday's Top 5:
1. "Iron Man 3" - $19.8 million
2. "The Great Gatsby" - $19.4 million
3. "Pain & Gain" - 1.3 million
4. "Peeples" - $1.2 million
5. "42" - $1.1 million
MAN OF STEEL
The official Man of Steel Twitter account debuted the latest poster for the upcoming reboot with a little reminder - "In five weeks..."
The film, arriving in 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on June 14, stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, Russell Crowe, Michael Kelly, Harry Lennix and Richard Schiff.
In Man of Steel, a young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.
MANIAC
A new poster for director Franck Khalfoun's remake of Maniac is now online!
Starring Elijah Wood and Nora Arnezeder, the thriller is set for a limited theatrical bow and VOD debut on June 21st. Written and produced by Alex Aja and Gregory Levasseur, the film finds Wood playing Frank, a man - haunted by seedy memories of his promiscuous mother - who works in a mannequin shop by day and stalks 'n kills women by night. Things take a turn in his life when he meets a beautiful photographer (Arnezeder).
STAR WARS NEWS
Lucasfilm has announced that the next "Star Wars" movie, like the previous six, will be filmed in the U.K. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy added a brief story hint in the following official statement:
"We've devoted serious time and attention to revisiting the origins of Star Wars as inspiration for our process on the new movie, and I'm thrilled that returning to the U.K. for production and utilizing the incredible talent there can be a part of that.
Speaking from my own longstanding connection to the U.K. with films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire of the Sun and recently War Horse, it's very exciting to be heading back."
SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2013
ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND
ABC has picked up "Once Upon A Time In Wonderland," the spin-off of the network's popular fairy tale drama, currently wrapping up its second season.
The network describes the series, designed to air as a limited-run standalone series to bridge the gap between the original show's fall and spring runs, as such: In Victorian England, the young and beautiful Alice (Sophie Lowe, "Beautiful Kate") tells a tale of a strange new land that exists on the other side of a rabbit hole. An invisible cat, a hookah smoking caterpillar and playing cards that talk are just some of the fantastic things she's seen during this impossible adventure. Surely this troubled girl must be insane and her doctors aim to cure her with a treatment that will make her forget everything. Alice seems ready to put it all behind her, especially the painful memory of the genie she fell in love with and lost forever -- the handsome and mysterious Cyrus (Peter Gadiot, "The Forbidden Girl"). But deep down Alice knows this world is real and just in the nick of time, the sardonic Knave of Hearts (Michael Socha, "This Is England") and the irrepressible White Rabbit (voiced by John Lithgow, "Third Rock From The Sun") arrive to save her from a doomed fate. Together, the trio will take a tumble down the rabbit hole to this Wonderland where nothing is impossible. Emma Rigby ("Hollyoaks") also stars as antagonistic Queen of Hearts.
"OUAT" co-creators Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz wrote the pilot and will executive produce with Steve Perlman and Zack Estrin.
AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.
ABC has ordered its pilot "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." to series, confirming maybe the most no-brainer decision of this upfront season.
The show stars Clark Gregg as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson, reprising his role from "The Avengers" and several Marvel movies that preceded it. The cast also includes Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Elizabeth Henstridge, Chloe Bennet and Iain de Caestecker.
"Avengers" writer-director Joss Whedon also directed the "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." pilot and co-wrote it with his brother Jed and Maurissa Tancharoen. All three will be executive producers, along with long-time Whedon writer-producer Jeffrey Bell and Jeph Loeb ("Smallville," "Heroes").
Per ABC, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." will follow Coulson and his team as "they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary." The first teaser for the series will air Sunday (May 12) during the "Once Upon a Time" season finale.
DEFIANCE RENEWED
Get ready to return to TV's hottest new sci-fi world.
After the second-biggest series premiere in network history and three straight weeks of leading its Monday-night timeslot in key demographic ratings and total viewers for a cable drama, Syfy announced today it has renewed its acclaimed, groundbreaking original series Defiance for a second season of 13 episodes.
The show's second season will begin production this summer in Toronto for a 2014 release, and will reunite the season-one production team of showrunner Kevin Murphy (Caprica) and executive producers Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin (Smallville). As for the tie-in Defiance game developed by Trion Worlds, that's still a part of things, too, so if you're one of the more than 1 million players who've set up a game account, keep playing. Your gameplay will continue to affect the world of Defiance in the second season.
"Bringing the rich world of Defiance to life has been in incredible team effort. We couldn't ask for better partners than Kevin Murphy, his amazing cast and crew, and Trion Worlds," said Mark Stern, President of Original Content for Syfy and Co-Head of Original Content for UCP. "We can't wait to see where they take us in the second season."
Nearly 4 million viewers watched the premiere of Defiance in its first week, and the show has continued to deliver strong demo numbers and more than 2 million viewers every week. It's already become an anchor for Syfy's Monday night programming block (which also includes the likes of Warehouse 13, Lost Girl and Being Human), and it seems the best could be yet to come. Defiance airs Mondays at 9/8C on Syfy.
GRAVITY
The first full trailer for Alfonso Cuaron’s long-delayed sci-fi flick Gravity has finally arrived, and space has never looked so absolutely terrifying.
No, these astronauts aren’t facing xenomorphs or Reavers, but the inky, black nothingness all around them is more than scary enough. Set 372 miles above the Earth, the story follow two astronauts drifting away from the planet after a horrible accident aboard a space station.
If you thought that teaser footage was good, you ain't seen nothing yet.
The effects are breathtaking, and the footage here looks like nothing we’ve ever seen. If Cuaron can carry this tension for the length of the film, this could be one of the most unique films of the year.
Here’s the full synopsis:
Sandra Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone–tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth…and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.
After a year-long delay to add some 3D effects, Gravity finally opens Oct. 4.
AFTER EARTH
Columbia Pictures has released a new TV spot for After Earth, the sci-fi thriller starring Will and Jaden Smith.
The film begins when a crash landing leaves teenager Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) and his legendary father Cypher (Will Smith) stranded on Earth, 1,000 years after cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape. With Cypher critically injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help, facing uncharted terrain, evolved animal species that now rule the planet, and an unstoppable alien creature that escaped during the crash. Father and son must learn to work together and trust one another if they want any chance of returning home. After Earth hits theaters May 31.
FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2013
BELIEVE
Not surprisingly, J.J. Abrams will have a few more new shows on TV this fall, and now we have the first look at his NBC series Believe.
This one isn’t quite as straightforward as his new robo-cop drama Almost Human at Fox, though NBC is betting on the golden goose anyway and officially picked the pilot up for a series order. It has the potential to be one of the most ambitious (or terrible) shows of the fall. So, we'll see.
The fantasy-ish pitch follows the “unlikely relationship that develops between a young girl with a gift and a man sprung from prison who has been tasked with protecting her from the evil elements that hunt her power.”
The first pic from the pilot shows off the young girl and her protector, though it’s hard to glean much more from the pic. It’ll be interesting to see the mythology that Abrams and company have in mind for this one, since it’s a pretty strange premise to build a series around.
In addition to Abrams, the series is also being developed by Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), Mark Friedman (The Forgotten) and Bryan Burk (Fringe, Lost). It stars Jake McLaughlin, Kyle MacLachlan, Delroy Lindo, Sienna Guillory, Jamie Chung, Johnny Sequoyah and Arian Moayed.
AMOST HUMAN/SLEEP HOLLOW
Well, Fringe might be gone, but Fox seems to be doubling down on new sci-fi shows next season.
The latest? J.J. Abrams’ Almost Human and Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci's Sleepy Hollow, both of which received a full season pickup from the network.
For Fringe fans, Almost Human should definitely be one to watch, as Abrams has teamed up with former Fringe producer J.H. Wyman to make it happen. That series will be a twist on the buddy-cop genre, following a cop (Karl Urban) who is teamed up with a humanlike android. Abrams’ name alone was likely enough to get this one on the schedule, and it’s the latest of many series (Fringe, Alcatraz) he's had on the network.
As for Sleepy Hollow, reboot gurus Orci and Kurtzman (Hawaii Five-0, Amazing Spider-Man 2) will be mixing time travel with the classic headless-horseman tale for a sci-fi-tinged crime procedural. The series will follow Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison), who gets yanked 250 years through time to find the world on the brink of destruction. Once here, he’s somehow partnered with a modern-day cop (Nicole Beharie) to try and figure it all out. The biggest question? How they plan to string this premise out for the long term. Best guess: a big mystery and a new mythology.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Consider Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on the air at ABC.
The Joss Whedon drama based on the Marvel Comics property is near a series order at the Disney-owned network, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter, with an official green light expected to come Friday morning, May 10.
The ABC Studios project is based on Marvel Comics' secret intelligence organization that has appeared in countless titles, including Iron Man, Captain America and The Ultimates, since being introduced in the 1960s. The military law-enforcement agency's moniker stands for Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistic Directorate, which also has evolved over time in the comics.
Whedon is on board to co-pen the pilot alongside his brother Jed Whedon and Jed's wife, Maurissa Tancharoen; the trio previously teamed on the three-part web series Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Avengers and Buffy the Vampire Slayer mastermind Whedon directed the pilot, which has had ABC social media accounts for months. S.H.I.E.L.D. is executive produced by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Tancharoen, Jeffrey Bell and Marvel TV's Jeph Loeb. ER's Ming-Na stars as Agent Melinda May, The Avengers' Clark Gregg reprises his role as Agent Phil Coulson, Killing Lincoln's Brett Dalton is set as gruff rising star Agent Grant Ward, Elizabeth Henstridge as science whiz Agent Gemma Simmons and Iain De Caestecker as tech guru Agent Leo Fitz, with Nashville's Chloe Bennet set as Skye, a superhero-obsessed woman.
Since the project was first announced in August, it has been a clear front-runner to land on ABC's 2013-14 schedule. ABC Entertainment Group president Paul Lee told reporters in January that the project was being fast-tracked and he was "very hopeful" that the entry with a "great script" would go to series.
"Marvel has the ability to bring the whole family around it," Lee said at the time. "Joss has great relationships around it. There's a lot of real funny male-female relationships and flirtations, but it's also Joss and Marvel, so there's a lot of action to it."
"My boss Bob Iger buys Marvel, and how wonderful is it for ABC to be able to use the core talent from that and not use the Marvel brand but the Avengers franchise for a show that is not exactly about the Avengers but is attached to it?" Lee said, noting that Whedon was already working on scripts at the time.
ABC is expected to begin a major marketing push for the high-profile project with a sizable built-in fan base as soon as Sunday, May 12, during the season finale of Once Upon a Time. While ABC would yet not confirm S.H.I.E.L.D. had been ordered to series, a cryptic promo featuring Marvel's Hulk popped up on a network YouTube account Thursday, May 9, perhaps a telling sign of its imminent pickup. (The video has since been removed.)
THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2013
UNDER THE DOME
We’re still a month away from CBS’s Under the Dome, based on King’s hit novel of the same name, but the network has finally released the first full trailer for the high-concept series. Thankfully, there's a lot more footage here than in those tantalizing teasers we've been getting.
The show will follow a plot similar to the novel, which explores the goings-on in a town cut off from the world by a huge, mysterious dome. The gimmick is used to perfect effect with the new footage here, as we see everything from cars to airplanes crashing into that seemingly impenetrable barrier.
We also get to see a little more of the national response, and how the townsfolk start to unravel. Think Jericho, with a dash of Lost, but more claustrophobic and with a focused sci-fi hook. If it’s done right, this could be one of the best shows of the new season. Or it could crash and burn under the weight of the premise. Regardless, fingers crossed.
The series will star Mike Vogel, Dean Norris, Jeff Fahey, Rachelle Lefevre, Britt Robertson and Keith Harris. The premiere is set for Monday, June 24.
HAVEN NEWS
Sheriff Carter is back (well, kind of)! A familiar face will be showing up in Haven next season as a former Eureka star has signed on for a season-long arc on the Syfy series.
Colin Ferguson, who played Sheriff Jack Carter for five seasons on the beloved series Eureka, will be headed to Haven once the new season premieres. Ferguson will play William, a “handsome, mysterious stranger, whose secret agenda” leads him to Audrey Parker (Emily Rose). [Possible spoilers ahead.]
The third season ended on a pretty massive cliffhanger, and Deadline reports the season premiere will pick up six months after the finale, which saw the town nearly destroyed by meteors and Audrey finally face her mysterious origins.
Ferguson could always play the slapstick off with a bit of believable drama, so it’ll be interesting to see what he can do with a more series tone.
Production is actually ramping up today in Halifax, Nova Scotia, so hopefully we’ll have a peek or two at the new season soon.
BLACK SAIL
If you haven’t been getting enough Michael Bay in your diet, you’re in luck: The explosion maestro behind the Transformers series has two new TV series in the works set to debut next year. His latest targets? An apocalyptic military tale and a hard-nosed pirate series.
First up, TNT has ordered Bay’s The Last Ship to series with 10 episodes, which will follow the crew of a U.S. Navy destroyer after a global catastrophe decimates most of the world’s population. The crew are among a small group of survivors and could hold the fate of humanity in their hands. Of course, that dense conspiracy plot will play out with a fair share of explosions (shocked, no?) as the crew tries to make sense of the world around them.
If it could take some of the best elements of Shawn Ryan’s criminally short-lived Last Resort and throw in some nice sci-fi twists, it could be fun. Here’s hoping.
As if that wasn’t enough, Starz has also announced the tentative premiere date for Bay’s pirate drama Black Sails, which will follow Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) and his men 20 years before the events of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel Treasure Island. The show is set to debut in January 2014.
The network has released a tantalizing new poster for the series, which plays up the Game of Thrones-meets-Sons of Anarchy comparisons that have been thrown around. Depending on the execution, that could be a really good thing.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
MTV has released a new clip from Star Trek Into Darkness.
Opening in IMAX theaters on May 15 before expanding to conventional theaters on May 16, the film stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller.
In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2013
RAY HARRYHAUSEN HAS DIED
The ultimate creator of movie monsters is gone. The prolific visual effects artist, and creator of our epic fantasy dreams, Ray Harryhausen, has died.
The family of Harryhausen announced his passing in London. He was 92 years old. The stop-motion maestro and model animation trailblazer was (and will continue to be) a key inspiration for future filmmakers. His work on movies such as Clash of the Titans, Jason And The Argonauts, The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad will be remembered in the world of cinema forever (and even nodded to in current films like Monsters Inc.).
ENDER'S GAME
It’s finally here. The first trailer for Ender’s Game has arrived, and Orson Scott Card’s 1985 novel has never looked so good.
The film will follow humanity in the wake of a huge alien war, specifically focused on a group of highly-trained students at a high-tech military school in space.
So, can they pull off some of the epic scenes that Card described in the book and actually make this thing work? Yes and yes, at least according to the first real look we’ve gotten at some footage.
The effects are absolutely insane, and if nothing else, director Gavin Hood has created a true FX extravaganza. The films stars Asa Butterfield as Ender Wiggin, Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff, plus Ben Kingsley, Nonso Anozie, Moises Arias, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin and Viola Davis in supporting roles.
Here’s the full synopsis:
In the near future, a hostile alien race (called the Formics) have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander, Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young children to find the future Mazer. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy, but strategically brilliant boy is pulled out of his school to join the elite.
Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult war games, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military's next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he's trained by Mazer Rackham, himself, to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.
The film is set to open in November 2013.
DOC SAVAGE Doc Savage is back on the docket for Shane Black.
Sony Pictures says it's closed its deal with Black to co-write and direct the film based on the classic pulp hero.
Black began work on a screenplay in 2009, and decided to make it his directing vehicle in 2010 when the opportunity to direct Iron Man 3 came along.
Now with that movie out of the way, and on its way to earning $1 billion in global box office, Black is renewing his commitment to one of his favorite heroes.
Black co-wrote the screenplay with Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry. Neal H. Moritz is producing the project with Ori Marmur through his Original Film banner. Michael Usland will also serve as a producer on the film.
Sony is prepping to go all out with Savage and make it its next big franchise.
"We couldn't be more excited to be building a franchise from the ground up with Shane and this team,” said Sony’s president of production Hannah Minghella in a statement. “Shane and Neal have a fantastic understanding of the character and a great take on the material and we can't wait to get this production up and running.”
Known as the Man in Bronze, Savage was a popular fixture on radio and magazines in the 1930s and 1940s. Savage had almost limitless skills – he was a surgeon, scientist, inventor – and possessed super-strength, was a master of disguise and more. He surrounded himself with a group of helpers and, from his office in the Empire State Building, fought villains bent on world domination.
Black is a huge fan of the pulp stories and has the original Savage books lining his book cases.
The character was translated into a Warner Bros. movie in 1975 produced by George Pal and starred Ron Ely.
DUALING SPOCKS
Saw this post from Ranger Jan on Facebook and JUST HAD TO SHARE it with everyone!
TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013
WAREHOUSE 13 NEWS
Syfy's Warehouse 13 and the world barely escaped another Earth-shattering tragedy a la artifact, this time a pandemic, when the series premiered its season 4.5 last week. But don't think things are going to get easy for the Warehouse agents anytime soon, as consequences of the deeds of evil Artie reverberate and an array of notable sci-fi guest stars pop in for recurring roles, including Buffy alums James Marsters and Anthony Head and X-Men's Kelly Hu. [Spoiler alert!]
“We've got to, of course, deal with the repercussions of what Artie has done,” said creator and executive producer Jack Kenny. “He killed Leena. That's going to be some pretty major stuff. But we still continue to do what we do with a sense of … I hesitate to say a sense of humor, but we do try to keep humor alive. It's not all dark and weepy and crying.”
Now that Claudia has saved Artie and he's returned to his right mind, “our next order of business is to figure out how do we move forward now having been through what we've been through. Leena's dead. She's not coming back. It's not a sci-fi death. It's a real death. She's gone. And that was important for us to do it that way because you don't want everybody always thinking, 'Oh, well, in sci-fi there's no jeopardy, no stakes because you can always come back to life.' So it was important to us to have somebody die who's really dead and have her really go away,” said Kenny.
“The first journey is one of healing. Our theme for both last season and this season was dealing with various forms of mortality. Our family is pretty firm and pretty strong now. We know who we are and how we feel about each other and there's a great deal of love and concern. So the next hurdle to throw at the family was loss and mortality. How do we deal with the loss of someone else? Our own mortality?”
That kind of loss “has a tremendously powerful effect on a family. I think it speaks to the strength of the relationships if we're able to get through it. And we will continue that. We will continue to test the bonds of our family. At the end of episode 17, we have a pretty big bomb to drop on Myka. That Myka and Pete are going to have to deal with in a major way, in a pretty powerful way. We'll get to meet an ex-flame of Steve's on a mission and see how he deals with that. Kind of an unexpected turn of events. Of course our people give him endless shit about it,” he said.
This season there are “some really cool guest stars lined up.” Buffy's James Marsters and Caprica's Polly Walker guest stared as Professor Sutton and Charlotte Depres last week, and they'll be recurring this season. Sutton turned out to be the 500+ year old Count of St. Germain, whose in a constant battle with his ex, aka Charlotte. Unlike Leena, the Count's death at the end of the episode, doesn't look like it's going to stick considering he's immortal and all.
Marsters and Walker will “thread in and out of the season. Then the big bad comes in and there's even another pickle. As you know, we like to leave you in pickles.”
Later in the season, Marsters is “going to be teaming up with another Buffy alumnus.” That turns out to be Anthony Head, who'll play the villainous Paracelsus, an alchemist. Head will guest star in the final three episodes of the season.
And X2's Kelly Hu guest stars as someone who comes in due to Leena's death. She joins the cast as Abigail Cho, a protégé of Mrs. Frederic. Returning guest stars include Jaime Murray as H.G. Wells and Kate Mulgrew as Jane Lattimer, who appeared in the premiere.
In season 4.5, “we go to Vegas for an episode. There's an artifact that a magician is using to levitate people. There's an artifact, an old mining lantern, that can cause the earth to swallow somebody up,” said Kenny. “There's an episode that we shot a lot of at the Niagara Falls power plant that's about an old pirate from the 1920s. He actually intercepted a warehouse ship full of artifacts and stole a bunch of them, and Artie and Pete and Myka are on a hunt to find his lair beneath the Niagara Falls power plant. Yep, searching for pirate's treasure,” said Kenny.
“It gets pretty major by the end of this next season. There's some pretty huge upheavals in the warehouse due to what this big bad does. It has a lot to do with Warehouse 9,” said Kenny. Warehouse 13 airs on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on Syfy.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 5
Following a worldwide gross of $694.7 million for Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions are ready to move forward with a fifth installment and have signed a deal with Tom Cruise to reprise the role of Ethan Hunt and produce.
Deadline says that both Paramount and Skydance have confirmed the signing but they are not saying who is writing and directing or when the release date may be. "Ghost Protocol" was directed by Brad Bird, who has moved on to directing Tomorrowland for Disney.
Deadline adds that they are hearing Christopher McQuarrie will direct, but that is not confirmed yet. The two just teamed up for Jack Reacher last year. That film is in early talks for a sequel as well.
ICE STATION ZEBRA
All of a sudden, EVERYONE wants to know if Christopher McQuarrie will indeed direct Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 5, a question that's been around for a good five months now.
While digging around, The Hollywood Reporter discovered that the talented Oscar-winning writer/director and frequent Tom Cruise collaborator already has another assignment on his plate, to write and direct a remake of the Cold War thriller Ice Station Zebra for Warner Bros.
The 1968 MGM movie based on the Alistair McLean novel was about an American Naval submarine team racing the Russians to retrieve sensitive photographic material in the Arctic and it was one of the very first submarine action movies with all the torpedoes and intrigue and double agents that you would expect from one. It's illustrious cast included Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan and Jim Brown and it was a major hit at the time.
McQuarrie first got attention for his screenplay for The Usual Suspects, directed by his other frequent collaborator Bryan Singer, for which he won an Oscar, before turning to directing with 2000's The Way of the Gun. He reunited with Singer and first worked with Cruise writing the 2008 WWII thriller Valkyrie and then wrote and directed Cruise in last year's Jack Reacher. He's also been involved with the writing on Singer's recent Jack the Giant Slayer, Cruise's upcoming All You Need is Kill and did a pass on The Wolverine.
Ironically, Cruise recently signed to another Cold War-inspired movie for Warner Bros., the re-imagining of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., directed by Guy Ritchie and co-starring Armie Hammer.
THR's seems to think that this new project may impact whether McQuarrie directs Mission: Impossible 5, although nothing has been confirmed for either project besides the fact that they exist.
MONDAY, MAY 6, 2013
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
The studio is wrapping up a nifty viral marketing stunt, which has unveiled a new 3D trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness. Want to see Benedict Cumberbatch wreak havoc on Starfleet ... in 3D?
It all started by asking fans to tweet #The1701, and ended with 1,701 of them (get it?) being selected to receive that cool wreckage poster, a pair of old-school 3D glasses and a secret URL to check out a new 3D trailer.
Well, the rest of us might not have gotten the cool poster and 3D glasses, but we do have the new 3D trailer above. It seems to be your basic anaglyph-style (blue and red lens) video, so if you have an old pair of 3D glasses lying around, dig ‘em out and give this thing a look.
The folks at Trek Movie have been kind enough to post what the prize pack looks at, so go ahead, marvel and be jealous:
The movie opens May 17.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
The summer spectacle has begun.
Kicking off the season with the pedal to the metal, Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man 3 made the record books as it opened to $175.3 million from 4,253 theaters in North America, the No. 2 debut of all time behind fellow Marvel pic The Avengers ($207.4 million), also starring Downey as Iron Man. Iron Man 3 received a glowing A CinemaScore from audiences, fueling word of mouth.
Overseas, the Disney and Marvel threequel grossed $175.9 million in its second weekend, putting the 3D movie's international total at $504.8 million and early worldwide haul at $680.1 million. Internationally, Iron Man 3 - the first title in the franchise to be released in 3D -- is all but matching Avengers overseas, where 3D remains a big draw. China leads with a whopping $63.5 million, the top opening of all time for a Marvel film. Iron Man 3 -- directed by franchise newcomer Shane Black -- has a strong shot of joining an elite club of films ultimately grossing $1 billion or more and is another sizeable victory for Marvel and parent company Disney, giving them the top two slots on the list of all-time North American openings as Iron Man 3 beat out the final Harry Potter pic ($169.2 million).
Box office observers are convinced that the threequel is playing more like a sequel to Avengers than to Iron Man 2, a testament to Marvel's superhero strategy. They say it bodes well for sequels Thor: The Dark World, which opens Nov. 8, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, opening April 14, 2014 (both characters shared the screen with Downey's Tony Stark in Avengers).
"A year ago, we speculated as to the impact of Avengers, and now we're witnessing it first-hand with the success of Iron Man 3," said Disney executive vice president of distribution Dave Hollis, crediting Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.
Case in point: Iron Man 3 has already surpassed the total global box office of Iron Man ($585 million), Iron Man 2 ($624 million), Thor ($449 million) and Captain America ($369 million). And it zoomed past the $128.1 million domestic opening of Iron Man 2.
In North America, Iron Man 3 played across all age groups, although the film skewed male overall (61 percent). There was a good turnout among moviegoers under the age of 25 (45 percent)), while 45 percent of the overall opening gross came from 3D tickets.
Overseas, Iron Man 3's performance propelled Disney to cross the $1 billion mark at the international box office. The movie also shattered records for IMAX, which took in $30 million globally over the weekend for a cume of $40.2 million.
Helmed by franchise newcomer Shane Black, Iron Man 3 shattered a number of other records in its worldwide assault, including scoring the top-grossing Saturday of all time in North America ($62.2 million) save only for Avengers ($69.6 million).
Overseas, the movie scored the biggest weekend of all time in Southeast Asia and many regions of Latin America, as well as in Australia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UAE.
The threequel sees the return of Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark's girlfriend Pepper Potts and Don Cheadle as James Rhodes. Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall join the superhero series as characters threatening the stressed-out Stark.
Other male-fueled pics saw big declines as Iron Man 3 entered the market. Michael Bay's Pain and Gain fell 63 percent in its second weekend to place No. 2 with $7.6 million for a 10-day domestic total of $33.9 million. Tom Cruise starrer Oblivion, from Universal, fell 67 percent in its third weekend to $5.8 million for a domestic cume of $76 million. The sci-fi epic took in $6.5 million overseas from 61 markets for a worldwide haul of $222.8 million.
Several specialty films served as effective counter programming, including Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon drama Mud, from director Jeff Nichols. From Roadside Attractions, the specialty pic climbed to No. 7 in its second weekend, although it is only playing in 576 theaters. The movie grossed $2.2 million for a cume of $5.2 million.
Millennium Entertainment's mob pic The Iceman, starring Michael Shannon and debuting in four theaters in New York and L.A., turned in a strong performance, grossing $93,149 for a location average of $23,289, the best of the weekend after Iron Man 3 ($41,218). Millennium's second new entry, Julianne Moore-Steve Coogan drama What Maisie Knew, grossed $23,248 as it debuted at the Angelika in New York.
Sony Pictures Classics saw solid business for Danish diretctor Susanne Bier's romantic dramedy Love is All You Need, starring Pierce Brosnan as a widow who takes up with a younger woman, played by Trine Dyrholm. The film grossed $38,954 from four theaters in New York and Los Angeles for a location average of $9,729.
Below are the top 10 estimates for the May 3-5 weekend at the North American box office.
Title, weeks in release/theater count, studio, three-day weekend total, cume
1. Iron Man 3, 1/4,235, Disney/Marvel, $175.3 million
2. Pain & Gain, 2/3,227, Paramount, $7.6 million, $33.9 million
3. 42, 4/3,345, Warners/Legendary, $6.2 million, $78.3 million
4. Oblivion, 3/3,430, Universal, $5.8 million, $76 million
5. The Croods, 7/2,915, Fox/DreamWorks Animation, $945K, $165.5 million
6. The Big Wedding, 3/2,633, Lionsgate/Millennium, $3.9 million, $14.2 million
7. Mud, 2/576, Roadside Attractions, $2.2 million, $5.2 million
8. Oz the Great and Powerful, 9/1,160, Disney, $1.8 million, $228.6 million
9. Scary Movie 5, 4/1,857, The Weinstein Co., $1.4 million, $29.6 million
10. The Place Beyond the Pines, 6/1,162, Focus/Sidney Kimmel, $1.3 million, $18.7 million
WORLD'S END
Director Edgar Wright has revealed this new quad poster for The World's End, arriving in UK theaters on July 19 before opening in North America on August 23.
Wright and actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reunite for a third film following the successes Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). In The World's End, 20 years after attempting an epic pub crawl, five childhood friends reunite when one of them becomes hellbent on trying the drinking marathon again. They are convinced to stage an encore by Gary King (Simon Pegg), a 40-year-old man trapped at the cigarette end of his teens, who drags his reluctant pals to their hometown and once again attempts to reach the fabled pub – The World's End. As they attempt to reconcile the past and present, they realize the real struggle is for the future, not just theirs but humankind's. Reaching The World's End is the least of their worries.
SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2013
THE CROW REBOOT
Luke Evans is apparently destined to star in comic book reboot "The Crow." Relativity Media has delayed the start of production to early next year to accommodate Evans' schedule.
The Welsh native plays Bard the Bowman in "The Hobbit" trilogy, the villain in the upcoming "Fast & Furious 6" and will soon play Dracula in origin story "Dracula: Year Zero." While all of those commitments have raised Evans' star status, they also seemed to place him out of the running for "Crow." But the studio is apparently so smitten with the star that they're willing to give the film a later start.
As Deadline reports, several other actors -- including "Avengers" villain Tom Hiddleston and "True Blood" heartthrob Alexander Skarsgard -- were rumored to be close to landing the role. But Evans was ultimately the guy.
James O'Barr's comic book series "The Crow" launched in the late '80s and was adapted into a 1994 film starring Brandon Lee -- which is sadly most famous as the film where Lee lost his life during an accident on set.
A poorly received sequel (1996's "The Crow: City of Angels"), short-lived TV series ("The Crow: Stairway to Heaven") and several direct-to-DVD continuations followed.
TRUE BLOOD
HBO revealed the trailer for True Blood season 6 this weekend. You can now watch it below and begin to speculate as to what is going to go down this season. It definitely looks like the stakes are high this time.
The new season begins June 16th.
Based on the popular Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris, the show follows waitress and part-faerie Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), who can hear people's thoughts, vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) and vampire Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard).
IRON MAN 3
After making an estimated $15.6 million in Thursday previews and midnights, Marvel Studios' Iron Man 3 brought in an estimated $68.5 million its opening Friday.
That's a strong opening day, definitely in the Top 10 but below last year's Marvel's The Avengers ($80.8 million), The Dark Knight Rises ($75.7 million), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($91 million) and three of "The Twilight Saga" movies - it's tied with "Eclipse."
Right now it's on its way to anywhere from $165 million and up depending on how well it holds business on Saturday, but its A CinemaScore is a good sign of positive word-of-mouth to carry it through the weekend.
Essentially it could take second place behind the opening of last year's Marvel's The Avengers which holds the record with $207.4 million but more likely it will take third place behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, which held the opening record for ten months with $169.2 million.
SATURDAY, MAY 4, 2013
MAN OF STEEL
Another new Man of Steel trailer has been released, showing the new Superman doing his very best Hulk impersonation. I’m thinking we will not like him when he’s angry.
Narrated by Russell Crowe’s Jor-El, the voiceover here sets the scene for Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) to be the ideal for humanity to strive toward. We also get some snippets of explosive new footage, including some peeks at Krypton and alien ships blasting through the clouds. Man of Steel stars Henry Cavill as Superman, Michael Shannon as General Zod, Crowe as Jor-El, Diane Lane as Martha Kent and Laurence Fishburne as Perry White.
Superman’s triumphant return opens June 14.
WARNER BROS. ANIMATED SERIES
It wasn’t that long ago that Warner Bros. and the Cartoon Network pulled the plug on two beloved DC animated series. There was a bit of hope for a while, but now it looks like they’re definitely staying dead. Boo.
The folks at SMGO.tv were organizing a Kickstarter crowdfunding movement to revive Young Justice and Green Lantern: The Animated Series, which were cancelled recently. DC pulled the plug to clear the way for a new line-up of animated series, but that didn’t make the decision any easier for fans to stomach.
Well, after months of trying, the folks at SMGO just announced that Warner Bros. has axed their plans to raise funds to save one or both of the shows. Here’s their statement:
“Hey all, I’ve been trying (all day) to come up with a slightly better way to say this, but I’m just going to give it to you straight. Warner said no – they don’t think we can reach our goals – do you believe that?”
The two shows have been replaced by Beware the Batman and Teen Titans Go! on the Cartoon Network schedule, and it seems DC doesn’t want to deal with the potential distraction of a fan campaign. Heck, why not give them a seemingly unattainable goal of what it would take to realistically happen? Then, if they don't make it, so be it, but they at least have a chance.
Oh, well. For every Veronica Mars, it looks like there will be a whole lot of good-intentioned ideas like this one that fall by the wayside.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
Paramount Pictures has started airing this new TV spot for Star Trek Into Darkness, opening in IMAX 3D theaters on May 15 and conventional theaters on May 16. The J.J. Abrams sequel stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller.
In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice.
As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.
FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013
INTERSTELLAR
Jessica Chastain is the latest major name to emerge in the casting for Christopher Nolan's top secret sci-fi project "Interstellar," which already has Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway set for lead roles.
Based on an original screenplay by Nolan's brother Jonathan Nolan (who worked on the Batman films and executive produces CBS' "Person of Interest"), "Interstellar" is said to involve time travel, an interstellar voyage and the scientific theories of Caltech physicist Kip Thorne. It's scheduled to open Nov. 7, 2014.
Deadline reports Chastain is in talks for the third lead role in the film, which would represent one of her first projects since landing her second consecutive Oscar nomination (last year for "The Help" and this year for "Zero Dark Thirty").
Chastain also recently joined the cast of Guillermo del Toro's upcoming horror film "Crimson Peak" along with Benedict Cumberbatch, Emma Stone and Charlie Hunnam.
DARK TOWER
Looks like one of Stephen King's strongest and most prolific works still has hopes of getting adapted.
Gunslinger Roland Deschain has faced a long, uphill battle to find his way to any kind of screen, big or small. Universal, Warner, Media Rights -- all these companies have held the rights to adapt The Dark Tower into a TV Show or movie and all of them have let that opportunity lapse for one reason or other. It's had fans of the books series (and its stellar comic adaptation) feeling a little down.
But hope springs eternal, and this project isn't totally down and out just yet. In fact, none other than famed director Ron Howard has his eyes on the project and, with his show Arrested Development returning to our screens, so does Netflix. Vice President of Content at Netflix, Ted Sarandos, was asked recently about the possibility, and he sounded hopeful.
I spoke to Ron about it, actually. The last time we talked about it the thing was being kicked about HBO – but it’s no longer there. Once Arrested Development gets through we’ll keep talking about it.
Netflix could be a great fit for the project. Rather than having to either force the series into a few movies or risk dealing with fickle TV networks, The Dark Tower could get a great shot at having a full season released all at once giving ample time for it to find an audience. It worked for House of Cards. We think it could work for Stephen King's opus, too.
THE WIDOW
David Slade -- whose credits include "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" -- had drawn rave reviews for his "Hannibal" episodes.
Slade has come aboard to direct The Widow for Vendome Pictures.
Penned by Ray Wright, the psychological thriller centers on a young woman who befriends a lonely widow only to discover that their encounter was not a coincidence.
Vendome CEO Philippe Rousselet will produce the film alongside Steve Golin and Alix Madigan of Anonymous Content. Vendome is financing the film, with plans to commence production later this year. The project is out to actresses.
Slade, whose feature credits include The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, is the executive producer on NBC's midseason hit Hannibal. He's directed multiple episodes, as well as the pilot, with his work drawing rave reviews. Spade's breakthrough movie was Hard Candy in 2006, followed by the vampire genre pic 30 Days of Night.
"We are thrilled to be working on this piece with David. He is such a dynamic filmmaker, and we are excited about his vision to make this movie a throwback to some of the most iconic thrillers in cinematic history -- not to mention the two females leads being the strongest and most interesting we have seen in some time," Rousselet said.
Vendome’s Guy Stodel and Sarah Schweitzman will oversee the project for the company.
Vendome, which financed and produced Source Code, also is developing El Bulli, based in part on the world-famous Spanish chef Ferran Adria and the restaurant he built.
Anonymous’ recent credits include such awards-season contenders as Winter’s Bone, Babel and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
ORPHAN BLACK Orphan Black, currently airing its freshman run as part of BBC America's "Supernatural Saturday" lineup, will return for a 10-episode second season in 2014.
The conspiracy clone thriller, produced by Temple Street Productions, stars Tatiana Maslany and was co-created by Graeme Manson and John Fawcett.
“Tatiana Maslany has delivered one of the year’s standout performances," said Perry Simon, general manager, channels at BBC Worldwide America. "We’re excited to commission a second season from the talented team of Graeme, John and Temple Street Productions, and we can’t wait to see who Tatiana shows up as in season two.”
“We’re delighted with the second season order for Orphan Black and want to thank everyone at BBC America, BBC Worldwide and Space for their support and commitment to our show,” said David Fortier and Ivan Schneeberg, executive producers of Orphan Black and co-presidents of Temple Street Productions. “We’re thrilled to continue this journey with such a strong team and fantastic cast, led by the ridiculously talented Tatiana Maslany. A huge thanks to the fans for their steadfast support of the show. We’re looking forward to giving every one of them more Orphan Black.”
Maria Doyle Kennedy, Jordan Gavaris, Dylan Bruce, Kevin Hanchard and Michael Mando co-star in Orphan Black.
The cable network, home to Doctor Who and The Nerdist, announced the renewal early Thursday afternoon on Twitter: "JUST ANNOUNCED: @BBCAMERICA Original Series, @OrphanBlack, Renewed for Second Season! #OrphanBlack."
The season one finale airs June 1. The DVD and Blu-ray sets of Orphan Black's first season will hit stores July 16. BBC America will roll out Copper's sophomore season June 23.
ENDER'S GAME
Summit Entertainment has brought online a teaser for next week's Ender's Game trailer featuring an intro by Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford.
The world premiere of the first teaser trailer for Ender's Game will debut during a Google+ Hangout on Tuesday, May 7 at 1:00 PM PT / 4:00 PM ET. The event will also feature a live conversation with director Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), producer Bob Orci (Star Trek Into Darkness) and star Asa Butterfield (Hugo).
You can tune in to the live Google+ Hangout at YouTube.com/EndersGameMovie and Google.com/+EndersGame. Fans are invited to submit their questions for a chance to have them answered in the Hangout. Join in the conversation online using #EndersGame. You can join the event here.
In the near future, a hostile alien race called the Formics have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young minds to find the future Mazer.
Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy but strategically brilliant boy, is recruited to join the elite. Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult challenges and simulations, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military’s next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he’s trained by Mazer Rackham himself to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.
Based on the best-selling, award winning novel, the November 1 release is an epic adventure which stars Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, with Abigail Breslin and Harrison Ford.
TEN GRAND #1 - JMS COMIC BOOK
For a review of J. Michael Straczynski's new comic book, TEN GRAND, go to http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2013/05/02/comic-review-ten-grand-1.
For more information about the book, see below in the KEEPING UP WITH CAST AND CREW section.
MERLIN RETURNS TODAY TO SYFY
Time is running short and only Arthur’s impassioned love and Merlin’s timely magic can stop Morgana’s spell from dooming Gwen to an eternity of evil in “With All My Heart,” the first of the final five episodes of MERLIN, which airs Friday, May 3, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Syfy.
The series lauded by Entertainment Weekly as “an utterly charming mini-epic” barrels toward its stunning conclusion in five episodes fraught with tension, revelation – and, of course, filled with magic.
The first of the five episodes is this week’s “With All My Heart.” In it, Merlin must act fast before Morgana’s twisted power over Gwen takes control of the queen forever. But Gaius warns him that only the most powerful magic can save Gwen – a task that will not be easy, even for Merlin.
THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
The shooting schedule for Captain America: The Winter Soldier is finally hitting some good action scenes, and now we have our first look at Anthony Mackie as Cap’s new sidekick The Falcon.
Judging by the set pics here, it looks like his introduction should be an awesome one. Some fans snooping around the set popped off several picks of Mackie in costume, guns blazing, as he flew around on wires in front of a green screen.
The costume has some vague homages to the newer versions of the comic, but it looks like a pretty standard evolution of the S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform style, and should be a good fit with the film universe aesthetic. Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens April 4, 2014.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
Ever wonder what happens when a starship starts flipping while zipping through deep space? Well, wonder no more.
The latest clip from J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness finds the Enterprise and company in deep trouble as Kirk (Chris Pine) and Scotty (Simon Pegg) scramble through the halls of the ship while taking heavy fire.
But when the Enterprise starts spinning, the shiny halls turn into a funhouse-style death trap as corridors become pits and crew members go flying.
It’s a neat scene and shows a new angle and consequence of being in deep space without solid artificial gravity. It shows some great effects work as Kirk and Scotty try to stay on track while everything (literally) turns upside down around them.
FALLING SKIES RETURNS
Next month, Falling Skies returns to TNT. The third season ups the ante with new characters and more drama for the 2nd Mass. The network's released six photos from the premiere, plus a detailed description of what's to come. It looks like Tom (Noah Wyle) and Anne's (Moon Bloodgood) bundle of joy will appear, while Weaver (Will Patton) and his daughter join forces. Plus, Hal's (Drew Roy) still exhibiting questionable behavior.
As the new season of Falling Skies opens, seven months have passed since the survivors of the 2nd Mass reached Charleston, which has been named capital of the New United States. Now elected to public office, Tom (Wyle) has taken a more aggressive approach to the alien occupation than former leader Dr. Manchester. The government has formed a tenuous alliance with a band of rebel skitters who now paint their faces with a red and yellow stripe before battle in honor of Red Eye, their fallen leader. Tom’s son Ben (Jessup) serves as the mediator between Mason and the rebel skitters. But the alliance may not be enough to overpower the enemy Espheni, whose forces are now being led by an even more sinister overlord. To complicate matters further, another race of aliens has just entered the battlefield.
Charleston also faces dangers from within its own walls. Recent battle losses have convinced Tom and the military that there may be a mole feeding strategic plans to the Espheni. Despite the threats they face, the survivors living in Charleston are doing their best to rebuild their lives. Dr. Glass (Bloodgood) and Tom are focusing on their growing family. Newly promoted to Colonel of the 2nd Mass, Weaver (Patton) is enjoying a renewed relationship with his daughter. Hal (Roy) is recovering from mysterious injuries he suffered while trying to destroy an alien super weapon. Meanwhile, his romantic pursuit of Maggie (Carter) is finally starting to see positive results, though she has a growing concern that something is wrong with him beyond mere battle injuries. And Pope (Cunningham), the non-conformist leader of the Berserkers, has set up his own little Popetown on the outskirts of Charleston. Falling Skies returns June 9 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on TNT.
STAR WOLF - KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN
Tired of network TV? Two former Star Trek writers are, too, so they're turning to you to help make their next series.
David Gerrold and D.C. Fontana got a big career boost thanks to their work on Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek. Fontana, one of Trek's very first writers, penned 10 episodes of the original series (some under pseudonyms), including "Tomorrow Is Yesterday," "This Side of Paradise" and "The Enterprise Incident," and later went on to a healthy screenwriting career that includes contributions to The Six Million Dollar Man, Kung Fu, Babylon 5 and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Gerrold first came on board after being impressed by the pilot, and began pitching scripts. He eventually contributed two episodes to the series, including the legendary "The Trouble With Tribbles," and later went on to write for the Star Trek animated series, Land of the Lost and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He also became an acclaimed novelist, with works like the Hugo- and Nebula Award-nominated The Man Who Folded Himself, the War Against the Chtorr series and the Hugo- and Nebula-winning novelette The Martian Child (made into a feature film in 2007).
Now Gerrold and Fontana are teaming up again, alongside Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition producer David C. Fein, to adapt Gerrold's Star Wolf series of novels into a TV series, and they're using Kickstarter to make it happen because they simply don't believe networks know what to do with sci-fi.
"Star Trek, The Original Series got cancelled because NBC executives didn't understand what they had. Firefly got cancelled because Fox executives didn't understand what they had. Babylon 5 was cancelled because the network executives didn't understand what they had," the team said on their Kickstarter page. "Even a profitable series can be cancelled if the numbers don't work for the accountants. And anything less than three million viewers isn't considered enough.
"But even a million committed viewers are more than enough to make any show profitable -- if we leave out the obsolete distribution system and go directly from the producers to the audience."
The Star Wolf is the story of a lone starship faced with trying to get back home after a devastating attack by a humanity-hating alien race called the Morthans. With limited resources and a small crew, the show's heroes must simultaneously rebuild the damaged ship and get back home as quickly as possible, all while being hunted.
"This is a story of the courage of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. It's about the strength of human beings in an impossible situation. It's about war and revenge, hope and triumph. It's about us. The Star Wolf is an epic adventure of ordinary men and women caught in an extraordinary war against a race of superhuman creatures... the Morthans who have augmented their evolution, genetically transformed themselves into a breed of gigantic warriors, trained for aggression, ferocity, and hatred... and they have sworn to destroy humanity!"
To make the production possible, Gerrold, Fontana and Fein have assembled a crew that includes Oscar-winning visual effects artist Dennis Skotak (The Abyss, Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Batman Returns), sound designer Steve Lee (The Lion King, Apollo 13) and composer/arranger Edwin Wendler (The Losers, Sleeper Cell).
According to Gerrold, four scripts for the show have already been written. If the team hits its $650,000 fundraising goal, they'll produce the first episode. For every $500,000 they can raise after that, they'll produce another one, until hopefully they've made their first four-episode arc.
As for what you get if you back the project, rewards start at $10 (a PDF of the script and advance online viewing of the first episode) and run all the way up to $10,000 (you get to be a character who suffers an extremely gory death). In between there are cameo appearances, less gory deaths, Star Wolf "Launch Crew" jackets, posters and bumper stickers, and a chance to name a character. So if you're interested in helping a couple of sci-fi TV legends with their next project, check out the video below, then head over to Kickstarter to lend a few bucks to The Star Wolf.
EPIC
A new battle scene from director Chris Wedge's animated-adventure Epic is now online.
Opening in theaters on May 24, the film is voiced by Beyonce Knowles, Colin Farrell, Christoph Waltz, Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler, Blake Anderson and Judah Friedlander. Epic is a 3D CG action-adventure comedy that reveals a hidden world unlike any other. From the creators of Ice Age and Rio, Epic tells the story of an ongoing battle deep in the forest between the forces of good and the forces of evil. When a teen age girl finds herself magically transported into this secret universe, she must band together with a rag-tag team of fun and whimsical characters in order to save their world…and ours.
MAN OF STEEL
Warner Bros. Pictures has revealed the second TV spot for director Zack Snyder's new Superman movie, Man of Steel, opening in 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on June 14.
In the action adventure, a young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.
Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, Russell Crowe, Michael Kelly, Harry Lennix and Richard Schiff star.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2013
WORLD WAR Z
Everyone involved with World War Z has been trying to downplay those recent rewrites and reshoots, but apparently new writer Damon Lindelof didn’t get the memo.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Lindelof opens up about how he was brought in after the fact to help rework the final act, which resulted in a massive reshoot and a full rewrite of the ending and several other late scenes. Lindelof described the original cut as “abrupt and incoherent” and said it was “missing a large chunk of footage.” Well, that’s not good.
That’s why star Brad Pitt and director Marc Forster brought Lindelof in to have a fresh set of eyes. Here’s Lindelof’s recollection of what Pitt told him when he was hired:
“‘But when we started working on the script, a lot of that stuff had to fall away for the story to come together. We started shooting the thing before we locked down how it was going to end up, and it didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to. The thing we really need right now is someone who is not burdened by all the history that this thing is inheriting, who can see what we’ve got and tell us how to get to where we need to get.”
After watching a rough cut of the film, Lindelof said he had two ideas to make it better: try to write around what’s already there, to give it context, or scrap a whole chunk of the movie and try something else. Turns out the film was in such a mess that they went with the second route, cutting 12+ minutes and reshooting approximately 40 minutes of footage while dropping a huge Russian battle scene:
“I said to them, There are two roads to go down here. Is there material that can be written to make that stuff work better? To have it make sense? To have it have emotional stakes? And plot logic and all that? And Road Two, which I think is the long-shot road, is that everything changes after Brad leaves Israel. I didn’t think anyone was going to say, ‘Let’s throw it out and try something else.’ So when I gave them those two roads and they sounded more interested in Road B, I was like, ‘To be honest with you, good luck selling that to Paramount.’”
It took a few months, and a budget that climbed to approximately $200 million, but they apparently think they have the kinks worked out. The film is finally hitting the big screen June 21, so we’ll know soon enough. Here’s hoping.
ARROW
The first season of The CW’s Arrow has been building to a certain faceoff all year, and this first look at the season finale confirms we’ll have it soon enough. Spoilers ahead!
Yes, TV Guide has published the first pics from the May 15 season finale, showing Arrow (Stephen Amell) chained up as Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman), aka the Dark Archer, looks on. That’s right — they’re both unmasked, meaning Malcolm will learn Oliver’s secret identity and apparently get the upper hand on him.
Amell didn’t want to give too much away, but did say that all the subterfuge comes to an end as the two ass-kicking archers finally have a chat face-to-face:
"I start the season finale chained up and left for dead. I'm chained up by Mr. Barrowman. In the photos, he's not wearing a mask and neither am I. So everything is out in the open between us."
We’re definitely curious to find out what Arrow has to say once he finds out his archnemesis has been right under his nose all season. The writers have made it a point not to hold any storylines back this season, and it's made for one of the most engaging and action-packed shows of the year. Since we've been building to this faceoff for months, it should be a doozy.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
Paramount Pictures has released more TV spots for Star Trek Into Darkness. Opening in IMAX 3D theaters on May 15 and conventional theaters on May 17, the J.J. Abrams-directed sequel stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller.
In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice.
As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.
TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2013
PACIFIC RIM
Last month at WonderCon, Guillermo del Toro unveiled a new two-and-a-half-minute trailer for his epic sci-fi flick Pacific Rim. Unfortunately, you had to actually be at WonderCon to see the footage ... until now. Citing popular demand for more footage from the flick online, del Toro released the full trailer today via the Legendary Pictures Facebook page. There's quite a bit of new footage to enjoy, including lots of giant-scale action and a closer look at the birth of the Jaeger program, which crafted the giant two-pilot mechs designed by humanity to take down the Kaiju. Pacific Rim hits theaters July 12.
REVOLUTION
With Revolution officially coming back for season two, NBC is adding yet another sci-fi vet behind the scenes to make sure it can match that early momentum. The latest? Farscape creator Rockne S. O’Bannon.
Since his latest CW series Cult crashed and burned, O’Bannon’s schedule is clear, so Eric Kripke (Supernatural) and J.J. Abrams (Lost) brought him on board to have a “heavy role” behind the scenes of the hit sci-fi series as work on season two cranks up.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, O’Bannon will serve as an executive producer behind Kripke, meaning he’ll definitely be involved in the day-to-day operations. In addition to Farscape and Cult, O’Bannon also had a hand in Syfy’s new hit series Defiance, Alien Nation and SeaQuest 2032.
Needless to say, the guy is a sci-fi legacy, and should be a welcome addition in the writers’ room for season two. After its initial 10-episode run, the writers opted for a soft reset with the back half of season one, which has made for an action-packed (though a bit awkward) transition into a bigger scope.
Considering O’Bannon’s experience with epic sci-fi worlds in Farscape and Defiance, he could have the right touch to help Revolution hit its stride next year.
THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN
Young newcomer Travis Tope has booked the male lead opposite Addison Timlin in MGM’s The Town That Dreaded Sundownz.
Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum are producing the remake of a 1976 horror thriller that is being directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon.
The story centers on a rural Texarkana town that was stalked by a serial killer in 1946. The maniac was never caught and in 2013, he comes back.
Timlin plays a young high schooler being raised by her grandmother who’s targeted by the mysterious killer. Tope will play a classmate who befriends Timlin’s character and decides to make a documentary about the search for the killer. The pic begins shooting in May in Louisiana.
The part is a coup for Tope, who auditioned via tape for a couple of Hollywood productions while based in Plano, Texas. Nothing took, but he was encouraged enough to move to Los Angeles. He was in town for a whole 10 days before he nabbed the Sundown part, beating out at least two other more established young actors, according to sources.
CAPSULE
20th Century Fox has picked up Capsule, a sci-fi spec by Ian Shorr that has Matthias Hoene attached to direct.
Hutch Parker and John Zaozirny are attached to produce with Parker producing through his Hutch Parker Entertainment banner.
Based on an original story by Hoene, Capsule centers on a young man whose life is turned upside down when he mysteriously begins to receive metallic capsules containing messages from his future self.??
Steve Asbell will oversee the project for the studio. Aaron Ensweiler will shepherd the project for Hutch Parker Entertainment.
Shorr (UTA, Mosaic, Morris Yorn) wrote the 2008 indie horror movie Splinter and has Cristo, a futuristic re-telling of The Count of Monte Cristo set up at Warners. His horror thriller script The Operator is in pre-production with Zaozirny and Jimmy Miller producing.
Hoene (Gersh, Partizan, Lichter Grossman) directed the comedic horror flick Cockneys vs Zombies for Studio Canal. ?
Parker is a producer on Fox’s The Wolverine, which opens July 26.
LINE OF SIGHT
AMC is moving forward with a drama project from Brotherhood's Blake Masters.
The cable network has green-lighted a pilot order for Line of Sight, centered on a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator who survives a mysterious plane crash. Masters will write and serve as executive producer.
Production on the Fox TV Studios/AMC Studios-produced pilot will begin later this year.
Described as a "genre-bending odyssey," Line of Sight is the story of Lewis Bernt's search to find out what happened to him. He becomes a man whose world, as he knows it, unravels in a whirlwind of obsession and paranoia.
"Blake Masters has created a world and set of characters that defy the traditional boundaries of drama and sci-fi. It's got great elements of both genres while also having that unique blend of a conspiracy thriller. It is genuinely unexpected and unconventional,” said Joel Stillerman, AMC’s executive vice president of original programming, production and digital content. “It is also great to be working with our incredible partners at FTVS again."
Stillerman, senior vice president of scripted programming Susie Fitzgerald and senior vice president of production Jason Fisher are overseeing development and production.
This comes more than a week after AMC unveiled its slate, which included a Breaking Bad talk-show companion Talking Bad and seven scripted efforts in development. Other pilots at AMC include Ballistic City and Halt & Catch Fire.
I-ORIGINS
Mike Cahill, the co-writer (with Brit Marling) and director of 2011's Another Earth, has revealed, via Deadline, the full cast of his followup feature, I Origins. Also a science fiction tale, the film will again star Marling alongside Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Archie Panjabi, Michael Pitt and Steven Yeun. The official description reads as follows:
[I Origins] connects the lives of the most unlikely people from around the globe. One doctor on the brink of a scientific discovery which will have historical ramifications, travels to India to search for the one person, a young Indian girl, who can prove or disprove his theory. The story follows the incredible journeys which bring these strangers together, and proves there is no separating matters of science and matters of the heart.
Cahill, Hunter Gray and Alex Orlovsky will produce with Pitt, Adam S. Bersin, Tyler Brodie, Jayne Hong, Rebekah Paltrow Neumann, Adam Neumann and Bonnie Timmermannexecutive producing.
VAMPIRE ACADEMY
First announced for a big screen adaptation back in 2010, Richelle Mead's hit book series Vampire Academy is headed to the big screen with Mean Girls director Mark Waters helming the first film, Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters. Today, Deadline reveals that Oblivion star Olga Kurylenko has joined the cast as Kirova, the Academy's headmistress.
The Vampire Academy book series is a coming-of-age, action driven, "paranormal romance" fantasy. It is set in the present day against a hidden universe of vampires, half-humans, alchemy, and magic. The series centers on a strong, yet flawed, 17-year-old female who confronts her world with grit, determination, and lots of moxie. Rose Hathaway is a dhampir, half human/half vampire and guardian of the Moroi, a race of peaceful and magical mortal vampires who can walk in the daylight, survive by feeding off willing blood donors, grow old and die. Hidden deep in the forests of Montana is St. Vladimir's Academy, where Moroi and dhampirs learn to take their place in Moroi society. Rose must master her inherited abilities as a dhampir and earn the approval of the Royal Council, as guardian to Princess Lissa, her best friend and sole heir of one of the twelve Royal families of Moroi. Rose and Lissa share a mysterious psychic bond and sense of destiny, but first they must survive an intense social scene, politics and the physical challenges of Moroi life at the Academy. Outside the sanctuary of St. Vladimir's waits their greatest threat of all, the Strigoi, a race of bloodthirsty immortal vampires and predators of the Moroi.
Zoey Deutch, who recently starred in Beautiful Creatures, will play Rose with newcomers Lucy Fry as Lissa and Danila Kozlovski as Dmitri.
Susan Montford, Don Murphy, Deepak Nayer and Michael Preger will produce with Stuart Ford executive producing.
BLACK AND WHITE
Kevin Costner is set to both headline and produce the upcoming indie drama Black and White. Deadline reports that Costner will re-team with director Mike Binder, who previously helmed 2005's Upside of Anger.
The film will star Costner as a man who, along with his wife, has been raisng his bi-racial granddaughter in the wake of his daughter's death. When the wife is killed in a car accident, Costner's character finds himself at odds with the child's other grandfather, who seeks to legally take the girl away.
Costner can be seen later this year in both Zack Snyder's Man of Steel and Kenneth Branagh's Jack Ryan.
Production on Black and White is slated to begin this summer in New Orleans.
MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2013
IRON MAN 3
Marvel Studios and Disney's Iron Man 3 has blasted into the stratosphere overseas, opening to $195.3 million from 42 markets to beat last year's global blockbuster The Avengers, which debuted to $185.1 million internationally.
Box office observers agree that Iron Man 3 is playing more like a sequel to last summer's The Avengers -- which featured a myriad of Marvel superheroes, including Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man -- than a follow-up to Iron Man 2, which posted a foreign opening of roughly $100 million in 2010.
The mammoth foreign opening bodes well for the tentpole's domestic prospects, and is already whipping up speculation as to whether the threequel can match or better Avengers in North America. Avengers debuted to $207.4 million domestically, the top number of all time.
Disney president of worldwide distribution Dave Hollis didn't want to speculate as to whether Iron Man 3 could reach that number but said the film is clearly off to a stellar start. "To say we are beyond encouraged is an understatement," he said. Iron Man 3, another victory for Marvel Studios' president Kevin Feig, is breaking a slew of records overseas, scoring the biggest opening weekend ever Asia Pacific and Latin America, and in individual countries including Argentina, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. It also scored the top Marvel opening in another raft of markets.
Teaming Downey with franchise newcomer, director Shane Black, Iron Man 3 opened at the international box office ahead of its May 3 North American launch, as Iron Man 2 did in 2010. Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle also are returning cast members. Iron Man 3, which has been well received by critics so far, is playing in roughly 80 percent of the foreign marketplace, excluding major markets Russia and China, where DMG Entertainment put up some of the financing.
It saw its biggest gross in the U.K. ($21.5 million), followed by Korea ($19.2 million), Australia ($18.4 million), Mexico ($16.1 million), France ($14.7 million), Brazil ($12.3 million), Italy ($11.2 million), Taiwan ($8.4 million), Philippines ($7.4 million), Japan ($5.4 million), India ($5.2 million), Spain ($5 million), Hong Kong ($4.9 million), Malaysia ($4.6 million) and Indonesia ($4.5 million), among other markets.
The tentpole broke numerous records for 113 IMAX theaters, which took in $7.2 million for a per screen average of $64,000, coming in ahead of any Marvel title, including Avengers.
UNMASKED
Christina Ricci in talks to start in Indie Thriller Unmasked.
Geoffrey Sax (White Noise, Frankie & Alice) is onboard to helm the film, which was written by first-time scribe Peter Scott Vicaire.
The script was discovered on Inkip.com and optioned by Sean Thomas, producer of the upcoming A Single Shot starring William H. Macy, Sam Rockwell and Melissa Leo.
The story follows a man who joins a dangerous and mysterious club in order to relive the worst day of his life.
The filmmakers are now looking to cast a male lead.
Founded in 2001, InkTip.com has become a well-used repository for scripts, with 11 feature films having gone into production from InkTip.com-sourced scripts and writers.
Ricci recently wrapped the relationship drama Mother's Day and a voice role in The Smurfs 2. She is repped by ICM Partners, Management 360 and attorney Melanie Cook.
DRIFT Drift, an Australian drama starring Sam Worthington, Myles Pollard, Xavier Samuel, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Robyn Malcolm, Steve Bastoni and Aaron Glenane will be available On Demand July 2nd and in theaters on August 2nd.
In the film, after their mother escapes from Sydney to Margaret River in the 1970’s, the two Kelly brothers spend their youth searching for the perfect wave. Out of necessity the family launches a backyard surf business - re-thinking board design, crafting homemade wetsuits and selling merchandise out of their van.
Battling big waves, small town conservatism and criminals, the brothers give rise to a global brand. A story of passion, corruption, friendship and loyalty, deadly addictions and fractured relationships, Drift tells a tale of courage and the will to survive at all odds.
Myles Pollard, Xavier Samuel, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Robyn Malcolm, Steve Bastoni and Aaron Glenane co-star.
FAST AND FURIOUS 6
Universal Pictures has released the final trailer for Fast & Furious 6, which hits theaters on May 24 and for which you can now buy tickets in advance. Directed by Justin Lin, the anticipated action thriller stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Elsa Pataky, Luke Evans and Gina Carano.
Since Dom (Diesel) and Brian's (Walker) Rio heist toppled a kingpin's empire and left their crew with $100 million, our heroes have scattered across the globe. But their inability to return home and living forever on the lam have left their lives incomplete.
Meanwhile, Hobbs (Johnson) has been tracking an organization of lethally skilled mercenary drivers across 12 countries, whose mastermind (Evans) is aided by a ruthless second-in-command revealed to be the love Dom thought was dead, Letty (Rodriguez). The only way to stop the criminal outfit is to outmatch them at street level, so Hobbs asks Dom to assemble his elite team in London. Payment? Full pardons for all of them so they can return home and make their families whole again.
SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2013
SERIES RENEWAL NEWS
NBC has picked up five of its most valuable performers for the 2013-14 season.
On Friday, the network handed out early renewals for Revolution, Grimm, Law & Order: SVU, Chicago Fire and Parenthood.
From J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot and Warner Bros. TV, Revolution ranks as NBC's top scripted drama across all of primetime -- averaging more than 6 million viewers in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic. Revolution, which has had the benefit of The Voice as a lead-in on Monday nights this season, returned from its four-month midseason hiatus down two-tenths of a point from its winter premiere with a 2.7 among the under 50 demo. It has seen further dips since but remains one of the biggest success stories of the 2012-13 season.
Another freshman success, Chicago Fire has proved a solid performer for NBC on Wednesdays, where it recently topped CBS' veteran procedural CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and remains neck-and-neck with ABC competition Nashville. From SVU producer Dick Wolf, NBC is also mulling a potential spin-off centering on the Chicago police department. For his part, Wolf also has a half-hour comedy in contention -- Girlfriend in a Coma, which was pushed off-cycle after difficulties finding a replacement for star Christina Ricci.
With NBC's additional season orders for Revolution and Chicago Fire, the network joins Fox as having picked up two first-year series. CBS and the CW, meanwhile, have thus far only added one each (Elementary and Arrow, respectively). The fate of CBS rookies Golden Boy and Vegas, along with CW's Beauty and the Beast and The Carrie Diaries has not yet been determined. Fox's The Goodwin Games and NBC's Save Me are not expected to return.
The lone survivor of Wolf's once sprawling Law & Order franchise, SVU has averaged a 2.1 rating with adults 18-49 in its Wednesday time slot. Heading into its 15th season, the show is not the juggernaut it once was but remains a consistent performer on a night that has been problematic for NBC.
Critical darling Parenthood will return for a fifth season. The perennial bubble show proved its worth this past season on Tuesday nights, where the network struggled to find a replacement after the Jason Katims ensemble wrapped its abbreviated 15-episode run. Ending early to allow room for the second and expanded season of Smash, the Broadway drama tanked in its return and was banished to Saturdays. Reality dating series Ready for Love followed in the slot and was canceled after two episodes. Like Grimm, Revolution, Chicago Fire and SVU, Parenthood -- which comes with a pricey and sizable cast -- will be back for a full season of 22 episodes.
Supernatural procedural Grimm has proven a sturdy performer for NBC on Fridays at 9 p.m., averaging nearly 3.2 million in the demo -- the network's fourth-best drama and behind only Revolution, rookie Chicago Fire and Parenthood in the metric. The series hails from Universal Television and Sean Hayes' Hazy Mills Productions, the latter of which also has a scripted drama pilot in contention for fall as well as the upcoming Jane Lynch-hosted unscripted offering Hollywood Game Night, both via his overall deal with the studio.
Dramas that did not receive a green light Friday include long shots Deception and Smash -- as well as April entry Hannibal. Deception finished its soft run last month, while dramatic declines have seen the pricey Smash banished to Saturday nights.
There is a bit more optimism around Hannibal, which saw a soft debut but strong DVR growth. Still, Byran Fuller's update on Silence of the Lambs dropped to a troubling low on Thursday night, averaging just a 1.0 rating with adults 18-49. The 10 p.m. Thursday hour has been a revolving door of failed dramas for the past two years. Mid-season entry Do No Harm was pulled after just two episodes.
Comedy renewals are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
NEW SCI-FI THRILLER
Jason Blum and "Fast & Furious" franchise writer Chris Morgan are teaming to produce a low-budget sci-fi movie, says The Hollywood Reporter. Chris Denham will write the script.
According to the trade, "the story centers on a group of students who invent a new technology with ramifications that go far beyond their control."
Universal Pictures may distribute the project, as both Blum's Blumhouse and Morgan's Chris Morgan Productions have first-look deals with the studio.
IRON MAN 3
Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel Studios have released a new TV spot for the upcoming Iron Man 3 and it features new footage.
Marvel Studios' Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?
THE WALKING DEAD
Rumors began circulating last week that "The Wire" alum Larry Gilliard Jr. was in talks to join the hit AMC series The Walking Dead. The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Gilliard has signed on for the series and will play the role of former Army medic turned alcoholic Bob Stookey.
In the source material, Stookey was a resident of Woodbury and saved The Governor's life after being tortured by Michonne. With David Morrissey set to return as The Governor in the upcoming season, it remains to be seen if these two characters will interact, but it does seem likely. The Walking Dead will begin production on its fourth season this May and will return to air in October.
JMS AND TEN GRAND AND SUPERMAN
Follow the link below to hear about how J. Michael Straczynski is paying off on plot items that were set up in Superman Volume 1, plus he teases the reveal of the big bad responsible for the destruction of Krypton, and shares insight on his Shakespearian roots. Also, find out if JMS has any more adventures with Superman up his sleeve.
JMS also talks about TEN GRAND, his latest comic book venture.
JULIE CAITLIN BROWN
Julie Caitlin Brown had a passionate energy that lit up the media room from the moment she walked in. Sporting a big pink feather in her hair that one of her loyal StarFest fans had asked her to wear, this successful actress, writer, and producer took time out of her busy schedule at the StarFest Convention in Denver April 19-21, 2013 to share her current projects with her fans. Best known for her role as "Na’Toth" from 'Babylon 5' Ms. Brown talked about her incredible career and her thoughts on going back to singing Cabaret.
To read more of this interview, go to:
http://www.examiner.com/article/interview-with-bablyon-5-actress-julie-caitlin-brown
JULIE CAITLIN BROWN
SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2013
11/22/63
Deadline is reporting that J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot is in negotiations to turn Stephen King's 2011 novel "11/22/63" into a TV series. The book is described as follows:
Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. He receives an essay from one of the students—a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk.
Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane—and insanely possible—mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life—a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time."
Bad Robot would be teaming up with Warner Bros. TV for the project. The project was originally set up to become a movie that was to be directed by Jonathan Demme.
VAMPIRE DAIRIES SPIN-OFF
The CW Network has given early pickups to three additional dramas for next season, including the first new series order of the season with "The Originals," the spin-off of "The Vampire Diaries," which was introduced during last night's episode. The network also gave advance orders for the second season of "Beauty and the Beast" and the third season of "Hart of Dixie." The pickups were announced today by Mark Pedowitz, President, The CW.
"As soon as we saw last night's episode of 'The Vampire Diaries,' we knew we wanted more of 'The Originals' - Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson have done a fantastic job with 'The Vampire Diaries,' which is as fast-paced and well-written as ever, and Julie has created an equally compelling world for 'The Originals,'" said Pedowitz. "We're also very excited to bring back 'Beauty And The Beast' and 'Hart of Dixie' for next season - both series continue to be creatively strong and compelling, and their fans are incredibly passionate. I'm very happy to have all three series on the schedule for next season."
"Beauty and the Beast" stars Kristin Kreuk and Jay Ryan and "Hart of Dixie" stars Rachel Bilson.
The CW has already given advance orders to "Arrow," "The Vampire Diaries" and "Supernatural" for next season.
FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2013
THE STRAIN
Guillermo del Toro's pilot at FX has found its lead in "House of Cards" star Corey Stoll.
"The Strain" is described by the network as a "high concept thriller" that tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Stoll), the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in NYC. He and his team are tasked to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism. As the strain begins to spread, the team, along with a group of everyday New Yorkers, must fight in a war for the fate of humanity itself.
"To me, having the right lead for 'The Strain' series was perhaps the most important creative task," del Toro said in a statement. "To be able to secure the perfect actor in Corey Stoll sets the project on the right track. To embody a character like Ephraim Goodweather - who transitions through every emotion and situation imaginable, and which anchors the narrative of the series - requires amazing talent and craft. Corey has both in spades as he has demonstrated it over and over again."
"The Strain" is based on the best-selling vampire novel trilogy from del Toro and author Chuck Hogan. They will co-write the pilot script, with del Toro attached to direct. Famed writer and producer Carlton Cuse ("Lost") will oversee the series with del Toro as an executive producer, acting as showrunner, should the pilot go to series. Production on the pilot is set to begin in September 2013.
JOHNNY MNEMONIC/SCREAM
With series development ramping up, networks are looking to the 1990s for inspiration this year — and two classic film franchises will be coming back to life on the small screen.
Do you remember Scream and Johnny Mnemonic?
The 1995 sci-fi flick Johnny Mnemonic, starring Keanu Reeves, is being reimagined as a weekly TV series. No network is attached yet, but the studio behind Syfy’s Lost Girl, Prodigy, is involved in early development.
Based on a short story by sci-fi author William Gibson, the dystopian flick focused on a guy (Reeves) with a cybernetic brain implant, tasked with moving some highly sensitive data. It was admittedly a mixed bag, but it was set in a pretty rich sci-fi universe, and with the right hands at the wheel it could be a compelling jumping off point.
The production company apparently has some talent lined up behind the scenes, including some folks who were apparently involved in the long-running Stargate franchise (SG-1, Atlantis and Universe). But, no word on which specific writers are signed on.
Over at MTV, where they’ve already turned the 1985 classic Teen Wolf into a hit series, the network has green lit a show based on the 1990s horror slasher Scream. The film, which was followed up with three dreadful sequels, is best known for the “ghost face” mask worn by the knife-wielding killers.
With horror shows like The Walking Dead and The Following becoming bona fide hits in recent years, it makes sense MTV would want to get in on the action. It’ll be interesting to see if they can retain the cheap thrill charm of the original, or if they go for a full-fledged reboot and drop the meta-tinged tone.
Still no word on who will head up the Scream series, though the network is apparently talking to original Scream director Wes Craven to see if he’d be interested in directing the pilot.
DOCTOR WHO NEWS
The BBC has released the official synopsis for Neil Gaiman’s highly anticipated second Doctor Who episode, titled “Nightmare in Silver.”
From the look of it, it sounds like it could be a doozie:
Hedgewick’s World of Wonders was once the greatest theme park in the galaxy, but it’s now the dilapidated home to a shabby showman, a chess-playing dwarf and a dysfunctional army platoon.
When the Doctor, Clara, Artie and Angie arrive, the last thing they expect is the re-emergence of one of the Doctor’s oldest foes. The Cybermen are back!
Guest-starring Warwick Davis (Willow, Life’s Too Short), the episode sees the return of the original Cybermen and will serve as the finale for season seven, perhaps even seguing into the Doctor Who 50th-anniversary special in November.
Hopefully it’ll be as awesome as Gaiman’s first Doctor Who effort, the wonderful “The Doctor’s Wife.” Doctor Who season-seven finale "Nightmare in Silver" is set to air on May 11.
DOC SAVAGE
Now that Iron Man 3 is done, director Shane Black is setting his sights again on the long-awaited Doc Savage movie.
Speaking to Collider, Black said:
“Well Doc Savage is proceeding on pace. I mean we’ve got to try to set a deal now to go back into that, so as Iron Man wound down I sort of reconnected with Sony who have been gracious to say, ‘We’ll wait a year and sit on these rights until you’re finished with this other picture that we don’t control.’ So they were really cool about it, they were really nice. So yeah I’m back on it.”
Doc Savage was described by the series’ main writer, Lester Dent, as “a mix of Sherlock Holmes’ deductive abilities, Tarzan’s outstanding physical abilities, Craig Kennedy’s scientific education, and Abraham Lincoln’s goodness.”
He was a fictional character with stories originally published in U.S. pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s (he first appeared in March 1933 in the first issue of Doc Savage Magazine). "The Man of Bronze" also appeared on the radio and in comic books. If you recall, there was also a little 1975 movie, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, which starred former Tarzan actor Ron Ely.
Producer Neal Moritz also added that Black is “100%” still writing and directing Doc Savage and that it’ll be Shane Black’s next big film, and we couldn’t be happier about it.
IRON MAN 3
A new clip from next week's Iron Man 3 is now online and it deals with Tony Stark's reaction to a post-Marvel's The Avengers world.
The Shane Black-directed action adventure stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau, Ben Kingsley and Wang Xuequi. Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?
MR. PIP
An international trailer for writer/director Andrew Adamson's Mr Pip has been released. Based on the Lloyd Jones novel, the drama stars Hugh Laurie, Xzannjah, Healesville Joel and Eka Darville.
In 1991, a war over a copper mining in the South Pacific tore the island of Bougainville apart. In 14 year-old Matilda's tiny village, the reclusive "Popeye” (Hugh Laurie) offers the children escape into Dickens' "Great Expectations." But on an island at war, fiction can have dangerous consequences.
THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2013
DOCTOR WHO
Clara Oswin Oswald may be a computer genius, but her common sense leaves something to be desired.
In the next episode of Doctor Who, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, Clara will get lost within the labyrinthine corriders of the Doctor's big, blue, sexy, um ... box. Now maybe she assumes the TARDIS is a safe place. She's wrong. That's not what had us pulling our hair out, though. No, it's something else entirely. Take a look at the clip:
Clara is smart enough to reason out that a red flashing light means "bad." She even checks her logic aloud to make sure. Then she opens the door anyway!
THE WALKING DEAD
It seems like the Walking Dead producers are really big fans of HBO’s acclaimed series The Wire.
A report indicates that Lawrence Gilliard Jr. has been cast as new character Roy Stark, described as a "former Army medic who is deeply haunted by his past." Stark seems to be a TV creation who does not appear in the comics, though he bears some background similarities to comic character Sgt. Abraham Ford.
Gilliard has previous held roles on The Wire, Friday Night Lights and Southland. If this report does pan out, Gilliard will be the second Wire alum to take a regular spot on the zombie drama, following Chad Coleman’s turn as Tyreese.
It’s not much of a surprise to hear that new showrunner Will Gimple is beefing up the cast for season four, after the bloodbath of Glen Mazzara’s third season. Considering the fact that Hershel is about the only person with any medical training, this new character should be a welcome addition to the fold.
It’ll be interesting to see if he’s a Woodbury refugee or just some other survivor who stumbles upon the prison.
MAN FROM UNCLE
Armie Hammer is building an impressive list of co-stars.
Hammer, who stars opposite Johnny Depp in this summer’s The Lone Ranger, now joins Tom Cruise in Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
Guy Ritchie is on board to direct the Warner Bros. movie, which had a heck of a time finding its leads.
Cruise’s boarding in March gave life to the project at the last second, as Ritchie was close to picking another movie to direct.
U.N.C.L.E., created in the 1960s during the Cold War, featured the spy adventures of American agent Napoleon Solo and Soviet agent Illya Kuryakin.
Robert Vaughn and David McCallum played the roles of the American and Soviet agents, respectively. Hammer will play McCallum to Cruise’s Vaughn.
Hammer caught Hollywood’s eye when he played the Winklevoss twins in David Fincher’s The Social Network.
CHASING LIFE
ABC Family has greenlighted Chasing Life, formerly known as Terminales, to series.
With the pickup, the cable network has gone 3-for-3 with its drama pilots, with the murder mystery Twisted (formerly Socio) and The Fosters launching in the summer.
The 10-episode series will debut in early 2014. Production will begin in July in Santa Clarita, Calif.
Based on the Mexican format by Miguel Angel Fox, the series centers on a young woman's life after she is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Italia Ricci, soap veteran Mary Page Keller, Aisha Dee, Richard Brancatisano, Haley Ramm and Abhi Sinha are among the cast.
Aaron Kaplan (GCB, Terra Nova) will executive produce the Lionsgate/Televisa project. Susanna Fogel and Joni Lefkowitz, who wrote the pilot, also serve as executive producers.
ABC Family, which is gearing up for a busy summer with eight scripted and unscripted series on the schedule, still has yet to make an official decision on Bunheads and The Lying Game, opting to wait until after it's summer offerings premiere. In an effort to sample one of its new scripted offerings, the network aired a sneak preview of the Twisted pilot following the season finale of Pretty Little Liars.
Last month, the network took to social media to announce a Pretty Little Liars spinoff, Ravenswood, which will debut in October.
MONSTER
Guillermo del Toro is teaming with "Sherlock" and "Doctor Who" screenwriter Steven Thompson to bring Naoki Urasawa's manga series "Monster" to the small screen. Deadline reports that the pair will co-write the series with Thompson tackling the pilot's screenplay and Del Toro directing.
The 18-volume series has previously been adapted in anime form. Published domestically by VIZ Media, the first volume is officially described as follows:
An ice-cold killer is on the loose, and brilliant Dr. Kenzo Tenma is the only one who can stop him! Conspiracies, serial murders, and a scathing indictment of hospital politics are all masterfully woven together in this compelling manga thriller. Tenma risks his promising medical career to save the life of a critically wounded young boy. Unbeknownst to him, the child is destined for a terrible fate. Who could have known that Tenma would create a monster!
Del Toro and Thompson will also executive produce alongside Susan Montford and Gary Ungar. The Japanese publishing company, Shogakukan Inc. will serve as consulting producer.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2013
WOLVERINE
Between three X-Men films and a prequel spinoff, we’ve seen several sides of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). But, the upcoming spinoff sequel is definitely trying some different things. Most notably? It looks like Logan is about to get his ass kicked.
As most comic fans know, Wolverine's true mutant power lies not in those trademark adamantium claws but in his incredible healing abilities, which keep him mostly ageless and near-invincible. The claws were added later on, along with an indestructible skeleton.
There have been some allusions to the fact that director James Mangold’s The Wolverine would tackle the mostly immortal mutant’s mortality, and now we get a look at him taking a hit and not just popping back up in a new trailer. The footage also hints at some of those story elements, and we're curious to see what type of "cure" the film will showcase.
So what happens when you take away those awesome healing powers? This, apparently:
It’s definitely a risky move to hint that Wolverine could (at least temporarily) lose his powers in this film, but it’s also a brave direction to take a character best known for chomping cigars and kicking butt.
Here’s hoping Mangold’s Japan-set epic can pull it off.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
A Japanese trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness is now online, courtesy of TrekMovie. Star Trek Into Darkness opens in IMAX theaters on May 15 before expanding to conventional theaters on May 17. The film stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller.
In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.
MAN OF STEEL JUNE 13 SCREENINGS
Walmart announced today that it has partnered with Warner Bros. to give its customers exclusive access to see Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ Man of Steel in theaters nationwide before the film’s official release.
Tickets for the exclusive screening will go on sale in more than 3,700 Walmart stores starting at 8 a.m. on May 18. Customers will be able to purchase up to four tickets per visit and will have the option to choose between 2D or 3D showings, where applicable. The advance screenings will take place in selected local theaters nationwide at 7 p.m. on June 13.
Specific details of the promotion read as follows:
• Each ticket bought at Walmart will feature a code on the back that allows customers to pre-order their own Blu-ray Combo Pack or HD Digital Download of Man of Steel, which will contain exclusive film content.
• Fans can bring Superman to life with the official "Man of Steel Experience” augmented reality app. The app allows customers to take photos with the superhero, as well as unlock special photo frames by pointing their phone at Man of Steel signage in their local Walmart.
• Customers will receive a free original Digital Comic Book written by Man of Steel screenwriter David Goyer with every ticket.
• Beginning April 28, a variety of Man of Steel merchandise such as t-shirts, electronics, posters and more from top brands will be available at Walmart stores and at Walmart.com.
Walmart invites customers to join the conversation and show their excitement for the first screening of “Man of Steel” on Facebook and on Twitter with the hashtag #SeeSteelFirst.
The highly-anticipated action adventure stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, Russell Crowe, Michael Kelly, Harry Lennix and Richard Schiff.
In the film, a young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind. Man of Steel will 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters nationwide on June 14.
MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2013
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
"Oblivion" shows that Tom Cruise still has some solid pull at the box office. It earned just over $38 million in its first weekend, which is the fourth-best opening weekend for a movie in 2013, behind "Oz the Great and Powerful," "The Croods" and "G.I. Joe: Retaliation."
Coming in second was "42," the Jackie Robinson flick, at just over $18 million in its second weekend of release. "The Croods" was third at $9.5 million, "Scary Movie 5" was fourth at $6.3 million and "G.I. Joe" was fifth at $5.78 million.
The rest of the Top 10 is as follows:
6. "The Place Beyond the Pines," $4.7 M
7. "Olympus Has Fallen," $4.5 M
8. "Evil Dead," $4.1 M
9. "Jurassic Park 3D," $4 M
10. "Oz the Great and Powerful," $3.05 M
SPIDER-MAN 2
Last week we caught a glimpse of Jamie Foxx as Electro on the set of the upcoming sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Today, director Marc Webb tweeted a photo of Foxx without his blue makeup on and presumably before his electrical transformation. Webb captioned the photo with this: "Day 52. My name is Max."
Shortly after Marc Webb tweeted the picture, Dane DeHaan tweeted the first photo of his character, Harry Osborn, as well.
In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, opening in theaters on May 2, 2014, for Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), life is busy – between taking out the bad guys as Spider-Man and spending time with the person he loves, Gwen (Emma Stone), high school graduation can't come quickly enough. Peter hasn't forgotten about the promise he made to Gwen's father to protect her by staying away – but that's a promise he just can't keep. Things will change for Peter when a new villain, Electro (Jamie Foxx), emerges, an old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, and Peter uncovers new clues about his past.
MAN OF TAI CHI
Keanu Reeves revealed the first trailer for his directorial debut, Man of Tai Chi, at the Beijing International Film Festival.
The film reunited Reeves with star Tiger Hu Chen, who was martial arts trainer for "The Matrix" trilogy, as well as Yuen Woo-ping, who was action choreographer of the Wachowskis' trilogy. The film co-stars Karen Mok and Iko Uwais.
A North American release date has not been set yet.
300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE
The official website for Noam Murro's upcoming 300: Rise of an Empire is now online, taking over the original film's official site at 300themovie.com. In addition to a character guide, there are two new stills for the sequel.
The movie, a follow-up to Zack Snyder's 300 (in turn based on Frank Miller's 1998 comic book miniseries), is expected to tell, in part, the story of Greek General Themistocles, who lead Athens against Persian invaders in a battle that played out simultaneously with the Battle of Thermopylae (depicted in the first film).
Rodrigo Santoro returns as Xerxes in the film with Sullivan Stapleton as General Themistocles and Eva Green as Artemisia (the film's original namesake). The Noam Murro films also stars Lena Headey, Hans Matheson, Igal Naor, Callan Mulvey, Jack O'Connell and Andrew Tiernan and is set to be released in 2D, 3D, and IMAX.
SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 2013
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
There’s a new image out, as well as a menacing viral video, of Benedict Cumberbatch’s villainous “John Harrison” from this summer's Star Trek Into Darkness.
The new short viral promo below features the menacing voice of John Harrison in a video that’s similar to General Zod’s threat to Earth from Man of Steel.
It’s also dripping with quiet menace (helped along by Cumberbatch's sexy, velvety voice, but we digress) and taunts Capt. Kirk (Chris Pine) as well as the rest of the crew of the USS Enterprise.
IRON MAN 3
A short new TV spot for Iron Man 3 has come online! The third installment hits international theaters this week and will be available in North America the evening of May 2nd.
Marvel Studios' Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
WAREHOUSE 13 NEWS
"Warehouse 13" has cast "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" actor Anthony Head as a villain called Paracelsus. Head's role on the Syfy series will begin with the final three episodes of Season 4.5 this spring and summer.
The casting news was first announced by The Hollywood Reporter, but no details about the character -- other than the fact that he will be a bad guy -- made available. Head is but one of several guest stars already announced for the upcoming episodes, including Joel Grey, Enrico Colantoni, Missi Pyle, Polly Walker, Nora Zehetner, Kelly Hu and Steve Valentine.
While we don't know anything for sure about Head's future character, the name -- Paracelsus -- might give some clues. If you're an avid "Harry Potter" fan, you may recognize the name from a Chocolate Frog card in the series' first book. For you medieval history buffs out there, the actual Paracelsus was a 16th-century Swiss scientist known for work in alchemy, physics, medicine and astrology.
As was becoming increasingly common at the time, Paracelsus insisted on the primacy of natural observation over authoritative texts, although his medical practice was based on ancient Greek theories as much as anything. The scholar was also influential in what became the field of toxicology, noting that toxicity depends as much on dosage and concentration as anything else.
That said, history has mostly remembered Paracelsus as an alchemist and astrologer. "Warehouse 13" will probably go with that.
Best known for playing the role of Rupert Giles on "Buffy," Anthony Head more recently co-starred on "Merlin" as King Uther and has been cast in the CW pilot, "The Selection."
New episodes of "Warehouse 13" begin on Monday, April 29 at 10pm on Syfy.
THOR: THE DARK WORLD
Chris Hemsworth looks as sharp as ever in his slightly tweaked battle armor, and the lightning effects are top-notch. It also has that otherworldly vibe, as it should, since it's supposedly set out in the cosmos, as opposed to the Earth-centric first film.
If nothing else, it’s great to finally get an official look.
The flick stars Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano and Jaimie Alexander.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Marvel’s "Thor: The Dark World" continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s "Thor" and "Marvel’s The Avengers," Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos...but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.
TOMORROWLAND
A little over a month ago, we heard a pretty weird rumor claiming to be the convoluted plot for Damon Lindelof and Brad Bird’s upcoming sci-fi project Tomorrowland. Now a new casting note could’ve confirmed it.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, young actress Raffey Cassidy (Dark Shadows, Snow White and the Huntsman) has been cast in the mysterious flick as a “young girl robot who has been around for decades.” Cassidy joins George Clooney and Hugh Laurie in the project, which was previously known by the code name 1952.
Now, if that little point sounds familiar, it should — because it’s the crux of that rumored plot breakdown that made the rounds earlier this year. If you need a reminder, here’s the alleged plot pitch:
"A teenage girl, a genius middle-aged man (who was kicked out of Tomorrowland) and a pre-pubescent girl robot attempt to get to and unravel what happened to Tomorrowland, which exists in an alternative dimension, in order to save Earth."
It looks like it’s all starting to come together. Clooney is the man booted out of Tomorrowland, Laurie is the guy who kicked him out, and Cassidy is the girl robot. For fans hoping those initial rumors that the film would follow a 1950s UFO crash would turn out to be true, it sounds like we can officially put those to rest.
Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that the plot synopsis is pretty, well, weird. But, like most complicated sci-fi flicks, it can sometimes be hard to boil down a high-concept plot in the span of one sentence.
If nothing else, this sounds like it could be a pretty cool combination of A.I. Artificial Intelligence with the heart of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And with Bird in the director’s chair, it should at least look great.
DOCTOR WHO NEWS
Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the BBC's "Doctor Who" has today revealed the title of its season finale. "The Name of the Doctor" will feature the return of Alex Kingston as River Song.
The seventh modern season of the show follows the adventures of The Doctor (Matt Smith) and his new companion Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) on their incredible adventures through space and time. Known only as "The Doctor" for half a century, the reveal of the character's real name has been teased ever since Kingston's first appearance in 2008's "Silence in the Library."
Written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Saul Metzstein, "The Name of the Doctor" will air on May 18. Fans won't have to wait too long after that for another new episode, however, as a 50th anniversary special will follow later this year, featuring the return of both David Tennant and Billie Piper.
FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2013
DOCTOR WHO 50TH ANNIVERSARY
Christopher Eccleston, who played the Ninth Doctor on Who, will make a return to the series ... but not exactly as you'd think. Instead, he’ll be a voice from the past.
The actor had been rumored to make a return for Doctor Who’s 50th-anniversary special that will air in November, but apparently he pulled out of it at the last minute.
The 49-year-old actor will be featured in next week’s episode, titled "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS," that sees the Big Blue Police Box being taken by a spaceship salvage team.
So what will Eccleston’s voice from the past consist of? Apparently we will hear him say: “The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through these doors, and believe me, they've tried.”
The line is taken from the very first episode of new Doctor Who (back in 2005), titled “Rose,” which also starred Billie Piper as the Doctor’s then-companion Rose Tyler. Both Piper and David Tennant are part of the 50th-anniversary feature-length special, alongside current Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith and his newest companion, Clara Oswin, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman.
A BBC spokesperson recently said: “Chris met with Steven Moffat a couple of times to talk about Steven's plans for the Doctor Who 50th-anniversary episode. After careful thought, Chris decided not to be in the episode. He wishes the team all the best.”
CINEMACON - LIONSGATE
The final studio to present at 2013's CinemaCon, Lionsgate celebrated a record-breaking 2012 by debuting the first-ever trailer for the forthcoming Ender's Game, set for release on November 1 in 2D theaters and in IMAX. Fans will be able to catch the trailer on the big screen before May's Star Trek Into Darkness.
Hosted by Kevin Hart, the presentation also touted his upcoming comedy tour documentary Let Me Explain, revealing a new Red Band trailer and announcing that another film is in the works, to be titled Quick and Easy, presumably based on his comedy tour of the same name.
Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas revealed an anti-cell phone message with Perry dressed as his popular character scolding audience members for using phones during movies.
Stars Morgan Freeman and Isla Fisher came on stage to intro Now You See Me's latest trailer. The Louis Leterrier film also stars Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine and Common and hits theaters on May 31. RED 2 also showcased a new trailer. Largely similar to the first trailer, this new one played up Anthony Hopkins' character, an eccentric scientist that Bruce Willis' Frank Moses has to break out of a Russian mental institution. It looks like Hopkins is having a lot of fun with the role (his character literally doesn't seem to know that he's not a young man) and he offers a very, very animated performance.
The Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger starrer Escape Plan showed off its first trailer, largely focusing on the storyline that has Stallone's Ray Breslin, an expert at breaking out prisons, being kidnapped and sent to a new, experimental jail. The prison itself has all the cells as as The Silence of the Lambs-style glass cubes, all set up on different levels of metal scaffolding with guards wearing creepy all-black masks.
Schwarzenegger plays Emil Rottmayer, an inmate already in the prison who reluctantly teams with Breslin to win their freedom. They've definitely worked in a few one-liners, too. At one point, Stallone punches Schwarzenegger and he shoots back, "You hit like a vegetarian!" Escape Plan hits theaters September 13.
Joss Whedon came onstage to show off two scenes from his June 7 release, Much Ado About Nothing. The same two scenes were showcased at WonderCon.
The big reveal of the presentation was Ender's Game, welcoming stars Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld and, Ender himself, Asa Butterfield to the stage to premiere the film's first trailer, which features lots of shots of Ender's zero-G training, battles with the Formic race both in space and within a planet's upper atmosphere and lots of dialogue from Ford's Hyrum Graff and Ben Kingsley's Mazer Rackham (the latter of whom has his character's very intricate face tattoo).
Closing out the film slate, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire offered up the teaser trailer on the big screen for the first time. It will arrive in theaters with Iron Man 3 on May 3.
THE LONE RANGER
The final trailer for Disney's mega-budget western epic "The Lone Ranger" starring Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp is out. This one showcases a bit more of the plot, not to mention some effects heavy shots.
The Lone Ranger rides into UK cinemas on 9 August 2013. In The Lone Ranger, native American spirit warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) and man of the law John Reid (Armie Hammer) are opposites brought together by fate and must join forces to battle greed and corruption.
BREAKING BAD
AMC has finally confirmed a premiere date for the final eight episodes of what many call the greatest show on television right now - "Breaking Bad".
The final batch kicks off Sunday August 11th at 9pm. Assuming there are no gaps, people (including myself) who plan a marathon viewing of the final season should keep in mind September 29th as that would be the day the final episode goes to air.
AMC is also set to debut "Talking Bad," a post-episode discussion show, on the same night in the 11pm timeslot. The 10pm timeslot will be filled by the network's new crime drama series "Low Winter Sun".
SUPERMAN: UNBOUND
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is proud to release the first official clip from SUPERMAN: UNBOUND, the next entry in the popular series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies.
The clip features Superman's first encounter with Brainiac, a destructive force who has been devastating planets across the galaxy – with Earth next in his sights. Matt Bomer ("White Collar") provides the voice of Superman opposite John Noble ("Fringe," "The Lord of the Rings" films) as the voice of Brainiac. The film also features the voices of "Castle" stars Stana Katic as Lois Lane and Molly Quinn as Supergirl.
Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, SUPERMAN: UNBOUND film arrives May 7, 2013 from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment as a Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, DVD, On Demand and for Digital Download.
THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013
STAR WARS MOVIES AT DISNEY
We knew that Disney was taking the Star Wars business seriously, but fans might get even more than they’d bargained for over the next few years.
Beginning in 2015 with J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII, the Mouse House is planning to release a new Star Wars film every summer for the foreseeable future.
Disney made the announcement at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, saying they’ll offer up a new Star Wars every summer, with the schedule alternating between the new trilogy and proposed standalone films. Basically, we’ll get a proper “episode” every other year, with standalone universe stories sprinkled in to double the fun.
Considering the success Disney has had with a big-picture approach to Marvel’s release schedule, it makes sense they’d want to do the same thing with Star Wars. It’s arguably one of the biggest sci-fi franchises in existence, and there is a lot of potential there to tap.
With at least six movies apparently coming down the pike, Disney seems more than ready to make use of their latest investment. As long as they keep the quality up (a la Marvel) fans will come, meaning it’s easy money to keep cranking out movies.
BLACK SAILS
So long, Spartacus and its hot gladiators in skimpy loincloths. Hello, Black Sails with its (no less hot, well, some of them, at least) pirates!
STARZ has released the first exciting sneak peek at its highly anticipated pirate drama Black Sails, an original series from executive producer Michael Bay.
The new show looks a bit like Game of Thrones (action + sexy times) but with pirates (which is also really cool) and is slated to air sometimes in 2014.
Here’s what STARZ has to say about the series:
The eight-episode first season of the pirate adventure centers on the tales of Captain Flint and his men, and takes place twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic “Treasure Island.” Toby Stephens (Die Another Day) stars as Flint, the most brilliant and most feared pirate captain of his day, takes on a fast-talking young addition to his crew who goes by the name John Silver. Threatened with extinction on all sides, they fight for the survival of New Providence Island, the most notorious criminal haven of its day – a debauched paradise teeming with pirates, prostitutes, thieves and fortune seekers, a place defined by both its enlightened ideals and its stunning brutality.
Looks like a rollicking good ride to us! Arr, matey! Black Sails stars Luke Arnold as John Silver, Zack McGowan as Captain Charles Vane, Toby Stephens as Captain Flint, Hannah New as Eleanor Guthrie, Jessica Parker Kennedy as Max and Clara Paget as one of the most famous female pirates of all time, Anne Bonny.
ZOMBIELAND
The rules of survival, and zombie kills of the week, are all back in the pilot episode for Amazon’s Zombieland series.
Amazon has posted the pilot for its proposed series, based on the hit 2009 film, and the first trailer has also gone live. So, is it any good?
Well, that depends. The effects are a little spotty, and the new cast isn’t bad. But after getting used to the original portrayals in the film, the recasting feels a little awkward. Since most have gone on to be huge stars, that’s a necessary evil, but it will still take some getting used to. The comedy is a bit more slapstick than the movie, and it feels like the writers are trying to make the transition from big-screen dark comedy to a dark sitcom format. It’s a weird mix, but it could work if given the time to develop.
Picking up two weeks after the film, the pilot does a solid job of reintroducing the characters, with Tyler Ross as Columbus, Izabela Vodovic as Little Rock, Maiara Walsh as Wichita and Kirk Ward as Tallahassee. Despite the format change, the pilot definitely maintains the weird Zombieland vibe. All the little fun stuff is still here, and original writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick wrote and produced the pilot, along with the film’s producer Gavin Polone.
Zombieland is one of several pilots Amazon is prepping, and the company will seek feedback from viewers to determine which ones actually get a series order.
R.I.P.D.
Universal Pictures has released the first trailer for R.I.P.D., directed by Robert Schwentke and starring Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Bacon, Mary-Louise Parker, Stephanie Szostak, Robert Knepper, James Hong, Marisa Miller, Mike O’Malley and Devin Ratray. Opening in 3D and 2D theaters on July 19, R.I.P.D. is based on the Dark Horse mini-series.
Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds headline the 3D supernatural action-adventure R.I.P.D. as two cops dispatched by the otherworldly Rest In Peace Department to protect and serve the living from an increasingly destructive array of souls who refuse to move peacefully to the other side.
Veteran sheriff Roy Pulsifer (Bridges) has spent his career with the legendary police force known as R.I.P.D. tracking monstrous spirits who are cleverly disguised as ordinary people. His mission? To arrest and bring to justice a special brand of criminals trying to escape final judgment by hiding among the unsuspecting on Earth.
Once the wise-cracking Roy is assigned former rising-star detective Nick Walker (Reynolds) as his junior officer, the new partners have to turn grudging respect into top-notch teamwork. When they uncover a plot that could end life as we know it, two of R.I.P.D.'s finest must miraculously restore the cosmic balance...or watch the tunnel to the afterlife begin sending angry souls the very wrong way.
RACHEL RISING
The Hollywood Reporter says that Terry Moore's comic book "Rachel Rising" is being groomed for the small screen. Alcon Television Group snatched up the rights to the property for development. Moore is best known for his on-going series "Strangers in Paradise."
According to the outlet, it "centers on a woman named Rachel who wakes up dead in a shallow grave. She begins to unravel the mystery of her death while crossing paths with not only friends but also a mysterious blonde woman who is tracking her and a horrific little girl named Zoe, out on a killing spree. Also figuring into the mix is the history of the local town, magic and witchcraft."
Alcon is currently looking for a showrunner to take point on the project. Also, some networks have been sniffing around the property to perhaps give it a home.
HEROES COMING BACK?
TV Line is reporting that MSN is looking into reviving the NBC series Heroes exclusively for the Xbox platform. Though they're said to be in early talks with NBC about this possibility, they do want it to be a new creation that will feature "new stories and heroes, while mixing in cameos from the original series’ cast."
Created by Tim Kring, Heroes lasted for four seasons on NBC and starred Hayden Panettiere, Milo Ventimiglia, Adrian Pasdar, Leonard Roberts, Ali Larter, Cristine Rose and Zachary Quinto. The series came to an end in 2010 after 77 episodes.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2013
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN SEQUEL
Kristen Stewart has officially signed on to star in a "Snow White and the Huntsman" sequel, but Robsten fans don't need to freak out, because Rupert Sanders will not be directing this one. Universal Pictures chairman Adam Fogelson announced the studio's official plans for the second film on April 16 at Cinemacon.
Stewart's highly-publicized affair with Sanders stirred up rumors that Stewart would not be returning to the franchise. Because of the cheating scandal, many assumed that the second film would be a prequel, instead focusing on Chris Hemsworth's Huntsman character in the years before he met Snow.
Fortunately, that's not the case. Hemsworth has not yet been confirmed to star in the sequel -- and neither has Charlize Theron, though that's to be expected, as her character died in the first film.
In December, Stewart said the sequel would be "f***ing amazing." "I'm so excited about it, it's crazy," she told Indiewire. "The other day I said that there was a strong possibility that we're going to make a sequel, and that's very true, but everyone was like, 'Whoa, stop talking about it.' So, no, I'm totally not allowed to talk about it."
MAN OF STEEL
Warner Bros. has released the newest full trailer for "Man of Steel." The three-minute trailer contains the first footage of Russell Crowe as Jor-El, father of Kal-El/Clark Kent (Henry Cavill). It also shows the war on Krypton as Superman's parents send him to Earth.
Lots of new content in contained in the clip, including a look at General Zod (Michael Shannon) in his Kryptonian armor, as he does battle with Superman. You also get the first verbal interaction between Lois Lane (Amy Adams) and Superman, as she asks him about the "S" on his chest, which he assures her isn't an "S" at all. It's then revealed how he is given the "Superman" name.
The trailer is also jam-packed with Superman saving the day, both in and out of costume, along with a look at the Fortress of Solitude. "Man of Steel" also stars Diane Lane, Kevin Costner and Laurence Fishburne. It arrives in theaters June 14.
SENSE 8
There's a reason why J. Michael Straczysnki chose Netflix for his next foray into serialized sci-fi.
The Babylon 5 creator recently announced the Netflix Original Series Sense8, a parternship between him and Andy and Lana Wachowski (The Matrix, Cloud Atlas). But why not try to launch another sci-fi show the traditional way? Straczynski recently sat down to answer some fan questions, and took the time to bash network TV for its attitude about sci-fi shows.
"The problem is that the networks still don’t take SF seriously, or even feel threatened by it. I’ve had executives say that a space-show doesn’t work because people don’t care about what happens to characters in space, it has to be on earth or nobody’ll be interested," Straczynski wrote. "I’ve had them say 'you can do whatever you want, it’s scifi, it doesn’t have to make sense.' Because it’s SF they always think that somehow or other The Fate Of The World has to be at stake. If you’re doing a drama, no one suggests that solving the relationship problems of the murder has to save the world, but they feel that it has to be that way if you’re writing SF, which is why it’s also so often the rule in SF movies. It’s absolutely crazy-making. 2001, one of the most classic SF motion pictures of all time, could never get made today. Not a chance. Too cerebral, they’d say. Not enough action. All the crowdsourcing in the world won’t rewire the neurons engaged in that kind of thinking.
"I keep waiting for a paradigm shift to happen that will let network and studio execs see that SF is the same as any other genre in terms of how you approach it – logically, character based, with challenging ideas and forward thinking – but I worry that it might never happen in my lifetime."
To be fair, network TV has allowed stuff like Fringe and Supernatural to stick around for a while in recent years, but that doesn't necessarily speak to network behavior as a whole. It looks like after years of playing the ratings game, Straczynski is happy to try a different format.
"We’re still very new to our dance, but so far all they want is for us to do what we think is best for the story," he said about his partnership with Netflix. "I think they enjoy a serialized structure because it feeds into binge viewing, but honestly, they haven’t said anything to us one way or another other than 'here’s a buttload of money, go have fun.' And I like that a lot."
BYZANTIUM
Despite what often feels like vampire overload, Byzantium's latest trailer actually has us genuinely intrigued.
When it comes to vampire fare, a movie tends to come in one of the following forms -- vampire romance, vampire horror, or vampire action flick. But we found ourselves hard-pressed to force Byzantium into any of those boxes because it feels like a mixture of all of those styles.
The story trails a permanently sixteen-year-old girl vampire and her mother to a run-down coastal resort. In no short order, they start a pop-up brothel business (really.) Unfortunately the fun is quickly marred by death, far more than simply from these two women who occasionaly must drink of the living. Also there's a waterfall of blood.
The trailer projects the feeling of Interview with a Vampire on speed. In a good way, we mean.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
The final full-length trailer for J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness has been released, featuring a ton of new footage—including the confrontation that leads to the Enterprise crashing back down to Earth.
Abrams has been peeling back more and more with each passing trailer, and this one shows off a whole lot. It’s mostly focused on Benedict Cumberbatch’s mysterious baddie John Harrison, and Kirk’s (Chris Pine) quest for vengeance after he takes out a Starfleet office in London.
We get to see a face-off between the Enterprise and Harrison’s ship, and the good guys are obviously outmanned. Anyone worried about those first few trailers being too Earth-bound, worry no longer. This film looks to be packed with deep-space action.
The new footage also includes some new hints at Cumberbatch’s true identity. Star Trek Into Darkness opens May 17.
HELIX - FIRST TRAILER
Something really, really creepy is going on in the first teaser trailer for Ronald D. Moore’s (Battlestar Galactica) new Syfy series Helix.
The network has revealed the first peek at Moore’s The Thing-esque series, which follows a team of several dozen scientists working at a large Arctic research facility. The scientists apparently stumble upon something that could potentially destroy the world, leading to "a terrifying life-and-death struggle that holds the key to mankind’s salvation or total annihilation."
The teaser sets the scene, with a slow pan through the snowy landscape offering a peek at the research base. We then cut to a pristine, white-washed research lab, where a scientist takes off his mask to reveal ... something creepy leaking off his face.
What is that black ooze? We don’t know, but we really want to find out.
The series is set to debut later this year.
TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2013
IRON MAN 3
Some new footage from Iron Man 3 shows off more of that epic attack on Stark’s mansion, plus some new clips of Rhodey’s Iron Patriot armor in action.
The studio has released a great clip that goes much further into that attack on Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) home, as he basically summons the Iron Man armor to his body so he can survive a hail of gunfire. Of course, that’s just the first problem, because then the house comes down on top of him. The scene is a massive set piece, and the effects work is fantastic.
A new trailer focusing on Rhodey (Don Cheadle) is also in the wild, including some new footage of that shiny new Iron Patriot gear. It sounds like Rhodey will be a much bigger part of this film, which looks to be a very good thing. Cheadle was one of the best parts of Iron Man 2, and it's nice to see new director Shane Black will be taking advantage of the longtime friendship between Stark and Rhodey this time around.
TRANSFORMERS 4
Taking to the stage at Las Vegas' CinemaCon for this evening's Paramount Pictures presentation, director Michael Bay announced that Stanley Tucci has joined the cast of the upcoming Transformers 4. He'll appear opposite Mark Wahlberg, Jack Reynor and Nicola Peltz, as well as another mysterious young actor that Bay teased will be announced very shortly.
Although the plot of the June 27, 2014 release is still top secret, Bay teased to ComingSoon.net that it will involve a "Chase from Hell."
Tucci, who recently starred in Jack the Giant Slayer, will be seen later this year reprising his role as Caesar Flickerman in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Bay's latest, Pain & Gain, will meanwhile hit theaters April 26.
BRILLIANCE
Legendary Pictures has brought David Koepp on board to write an adaptation of the Marcus Sakey sci-fi/superhero novel Brilliance, says The Hollywood Reporter. The book, to be released on July 16, is described as follows:
In Wyoming, a little girl reads people’s darkest secrets by the way they fold their arms. In New York, a man sensing patterns in the stock market racks up $300 billion. In Chicago, a woman can go invisible by being where no one is looking. They’re called “brilliants,” and since 1980, one percent of people have been born this way. Nick Cooper is among them; a federal agent, Cooper has gifts rendering him exceptional at hunting terrorists. His latest target may be the most dangerous man alive, a brilliant drenched in blood and intent on provoking civil war. But to catch him, Cooper will have to violate everything he believes in—and betray his own kind.
Joe Roth and Palek Patel are producing along with Legendary.
DIVERGENT
Liongate's Summit Entertainment announced today that Tony Goldwyn has joined the cast of the studio's feature film adaptation of Divergent, starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and Academy Award winner Kate Winslet. The film will also feature Ray Stevenson, Maggie Q, Mekhi Phifer, Jai Courtney, Miles Teller, Zoë Kravitz, Ansel Elgort, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Ben Lamb, Christian Madsen, and Amy Newbold.
Currently filming in Chicago, the futuristic action adventure, based on author Veronica Roth's New York Times bestseller is being directed by Neil Burger from a script by Vanessa Taylor. The original draft of the script was written by Evan Daugherty. Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher are producing the project via their Red Wagon Entertainment banner along with Pouya Shahbazian. Red Wagon's Rachel Shane is executive producing, alongside John J. Kelly. Summit will release the film theatrically in North America on Friday, March 21, 2014.
Goldwyn will portray Andrew, Tris' father, in Divergent. He currently stars as President Fitzgerald Grant on ABC's "Scandal." His feature acting credits include The Pelican Brief, Kiss the Girls, Nixon, The Substance of Fire, The Last Samurai and Ghost. Divergent is a thrilling adventure set in a future world where people are divided into distinct factions based on their personalities, Tris Prior (Woodley) is warned she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. When she discovers a conspiracy to destroy all Divergents, she must find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it's too late.
Erik Feig, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group's President of Production, and Gillian Bohrer, Lionsgate's SVP of Production, are overseeing the project for the studio.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
Deadline reports that former "Seinfeld" star Danny Woodburn will play Master Splinter in the Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Woodburn recently starred in Mirror Mirror and has recurring roles on Fox's "Bones" and Disney XD's "Crash & Bernstein."
Directed by Jonathan Liebesman, the film stars Megan Fox in the role of April O'Neil, Alan Ritchson as Raphael, Jeremy Howard as Donatello, Pete Ploszek as Leonardo, Noel Fisher as Michelangelo, and Will Arnett in an unspecified role. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is scheduled to hit theaters on June 6, 2014.
MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2013
HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE
The moment we're waiting for has finally arrived! After a whole week of hyping the footage, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" trailer premiered at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards, and it was definitely worth being voted the can't-miss moment of the awards show.
This trailer was way more than we were expecting. It's clear that Katniss had problems much larger than just surviving the Hunger Games in "Catching Fire". President Snow is out for her blood, and he has a new ally in the form of Philip Seymour Hoffman's new Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee. It looks like there's plenty of darkness going on here, and even though the trailer doesn't tease the upcoming Quarter Quell, there is a whole lot of action involved in Katniss' journey on the Victory Tour. She doesn't seem like she's happy with her new job as a beacon of hope for Panem either, as she clearly welcomes death at the end of the trailer.
Directed by Francis Lawrence, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Claflin and Jena Malone. It's due in theaters on Nov. 22.
IRON MAN 3
The big "Iron Man 3" reveal at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards has arrived. The exclusive clip features Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark as he struggles to survive an attack by the Mandarin. He uses one of his newly designed superhero suits to protect him as his Malibu home crashes around him.
Directed by Shane Black, "Iron Man 3" stars Downey, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Jon Favreau, Wang Xueqi and Ben Kingsley. It's due in theaters on May 3.
Here's the official synopsis for the movie: "Marvel Studios' 'Iron Man 3' pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?"
AFTER EARTH
Columbia Pictures has released the first TV spot for After Earth, the sci-fi thriller starring Will and Jaden Smith.
In the June 7 release, a crash landing leaves teenager Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) and his legendary father Cypher (Will Smith) stranded on Earth, 1,000 years after cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape. With Cypher critically injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help, facing uncharted terrain, evolved animal species that now rule the planet, and an unstoppable alien creature that escaped during the crash. Father and son must learn to work together and trust one another if they want any chance of returning home.
MAN OF STEEL
The static has ended at the official site for Man of Steel and has been replaced with a message from General Zod (Michael Shannon), who requests that we return Kal-El to his custody and he tells Kal-El to surrender within 24 hours or our world will suffer the consequences.
A new site for the viral has also been discovered at IWillFindHim.com which is counting down 48 hours. We'll have to wait and see if that means we'll get the trailer then.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
The latest poster for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness is now online and it features Zachary Quinto's Spock surrounded by molten lava inside an active volcano.
In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.
Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller also star in the sci fi adventure film, opening on May 15 in IMAX and May 17 in conventional theaters.
TEN GRAND - ISSUE #2 AND #3
J. Michael Straczynski's comic book #2 hits the street on June 5. Issue #3 is shipping July 3. Here's a peek at the cover art from JMS.
Those wishing to order our premiere comic Ten Grand can do so through Midtown comics http://www.midtowncomics.com/ Gahl Buslov is the point of contact. gahl@midtowncomics.com. JMS SIGNING MAY 1 IN SAN DIEGO
Justin posted this information about JMS signing at Yesteryear Comics on May 1 at 3:00pm.
Read his post at http://thirteenminutes.blogspot.com/2013/04/j-michael-straczynski-yesteryear-comics.html.
SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2013
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE NUMBERS
Moviegoers took themselves out to the ballgame at Friday’s box office, giving a rousing cheer to 42, the biopic about the legendary Jackie Robinson. The Legendary production released by Warners took in an estimated $9.1 million at 3003 locations in North America as it heads for a weekend in the mid $20 million range, buoyed by an enthusiastic A-plus CinemaScore.
Thing weren’t quite so rousing for Dimension’s Scary Movie 5, the weekend’s other new wide release. While it arrived in second place, the horror movie parody collected $5.5 million in 3,402 locations and is looking at a weekend total of $13.5 million, with moviegoers giving it a C-minus CinemaScore.
Financed by Legendary Pictures, whose CEO Thomas Tull personally produced the $40 million project, the PG-13-rated 42 was written and directed by Brian Helgeland (A Knight’s Tale), and stars Chadwick Boseman as Robinson and Harrison Ford as the Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey. Scary Movie is the latest installment in the long-running franchise from The Weinstein Co.’s Dimension label that dates back to 2000. Malcolm D. Lee, who last directed 2008’s Soul Men, handled the directing reins of the PG-13 comedy, which cost just $19.5 million, and the cast is something of a rogue’s gallery of boldface names including Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Simon Rex and Ashley Tisdale.
Among the holdovers, Sony/Screen Gems Evil Dead, which was number one at the box office last weekend, checked in in third place with $3.2 million.
Fox’s release of DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods, entering its fourth weekend, claimed the fourth spot with $3.1 million.
Paramount’s GI Joe: Retaliation was fifth with $2.9 million as it climbs above the $100 million domestic mark this weekend.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
A new international spot for Star Trek Into Darkness has hit the web and it highlights the film's villain, played by Benedict Cumberbatch.
In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice.
As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew. Star Trek Into Darkness hits IMAX 3D theaters on May 15 and conventional theaters on May 17. The anticipated sequel stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller.
PARANOIA/OUT OF THE FURNACE
Relativity Media has shifted a few of their 2013 releases around, moving Robert Luketic's thriller Paranoia, the adaptation of Joseph Finder's novel starring Harrison Ford, Liam Hemsworth and Gary Oldman, to August 16, and placing Scott Cooper's crime drama Out of the Furnace, starring Christian Bale, Casey Affleck and Zoe Saldana, into its original date of October 4. Paranoia now faces Universal's action sequel Kick-Ass 2 and CBS Films' comedy The To Do List while Out of the Furnace, the second feature from Crazy Heart director Scott Cooper, takes on another comic book sequel, Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Henry Selick's animated The Shadow King and Vince Vaughn's comedy Delivery Man.
So far, neither film has rolled out any sort of marketing although Relativity has a good four months to plan their strategy on Paranoia.
NEW WORLD
Sony Pictures has picked up the remake rights to Park Hoon-Jung's recent South Korean crime thriller "New World".
After spending eight intense years deep undercover, a cop has become the right-hand man to the leader of South Korea's largest crime syndicate, Goldmoon.
Things get complicated when that leader is killed in a car accident, and various criminal factions vie to be named his replacement. Lee Jung-jae, Choi Min-shik and Hwang Jung-min starred.
Will Fetters ("The Lucky One") will pen the screenplay for the remake. Roy Lee and Dan Lin will produce.
SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013
VERONICA MARS KICKSTARTER EFFORT ENDS
The "Veronica Mars" movie Kickstarter has finally ended. The groundbreaking crowd-funding effort ended up making $5,701,694 from 91,564 total backers. The Kickstarter's goal had only been $2 million.
These final totals are record-setters for Kickstarter. With less than a day left, the "Veronica Mars" movie passed 87,143 backers to become the most backed Kickstarter ever. It also was the fastest project to reach $1 million, the fastest project to reach $2 million and the all-time highest-funded project in Kickstarter's film category. The film ended up being the third-highest funded project in Kickstarter history, falling behind "Pebble: E-Paper Watch's" $10.3 million and "Ouya's" $8.6 million.
The fact that the Kickstarter is now over means that creator Rob Thomas and stars like Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring need to get cracking making the actual movie. The script is complete, and now it remains to be seen how long it takes the movie to follow suit. Based on the fact the film will have a presence at San Diego Comic-Con and will debut footage there, fans shouldn't have to wait too long.
It will be interesting to see what other cancelled shows start getting Kickstarters now that "Veronica Mars" has shown that fans will lend their support. Bryan Fuller has already teased a "Pushing Daisies" movie, though it remains to be seen if he can follow through.
BRADBURY BOOKS GOING E-BOOK
Almost a year after the prolific writer's death, the bulk of his library is heading toward the digital clouds.
Ray Bradbury is famous for saying, "I don't try to describe the future, I try to prevent it." It's an edict he lived by, even to his last breath. This was a feeling he ascribed to many modern comforts, e-books included. In fact, when Yahoo approached him about putting one of his works on their site, he claims to have said, "To hell with you. To hell with you and to hell with the Internet."
Bradbury was a fierce advocate for libraries, and he only agreed to publish his most famous work, Fahrenheit 451, in digital form in order to renew the hardcover rights as well.
But the past is the past, and now the majority of his library is headed to Kindles, iPads and all the rest.
So, why now? The approval came not from Bradbury, but from his descendants. In a press release, one of Bradbury's four daughters, Alexandra, said "The entire Bradbury family is excited to know that Dad’s work will finally be available to all readers: traditional print readers and the new generation of digital readers."
And with that, Bradbury's publisher, William Morrow, has begun adapting his works, and, over the remainder of April, we will see these titles made available on the following dates:
April 16: Bradbury Speaks, Death Is a Lonely Business, A Graveyard for Lunatics, Now and Forever, One More for the Road, Green Shadows, White Whale.
April 23: Dandelion Wine, Something Wicked This Way Comes, We'll Always Have Paris.
April 30: The Illustrated Man, Quicker Than the Eye, Driving Blind, The October Country, The Cat's Pajamas, Let's All Kill Constance, A Medicine for Melancholy and Other Stories.
We won't judge whether this is the right move. Certainly it's easy to see the benefit in having the best of Bradbury in the palm of your hand, especially if you live in a tiny apartment on a crowded island. Still, we can't help but think of Bradbury and about that future he was trying to prevent. Hopefully, history (as accessible through the digital cloud, no doubt) will prove him wrong.
CONTINUIUM SEASON TWO
The first season of Syfy’s Continuum asked some pretty big questions in its final episode, and our first look at season two promises more twisty time travel and terrorist-fighting action.
The show, which was developed by the Canadian network Showcase, has released a season two promo showing off some of the massive action set pieces the producers have whipped up for next season.
It sounds like they’ll be digging deeper into the question of destiny, and how the actions in our present might affect Kiera’s (Rachel Nichols) future. That’s always been one of the most promising aspects of the show, and it looks like the writers won’t be backing away from some of the big reveals (and mysteries) presented in the finale.
Also, we're not entirely sure what's happening with that epic helicopter chase, but we can't wait to find out.
Season two is set to debut in the U.S. on June 7 at 10 p.m., but until then check out the trailer and let us know what you think the series has in store for the next 13 episodes.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
Paramount Pictures has revealed the new poster for Star Trek Into Darkness. The new trailer arrives on Tuesday!
In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller star in the J.J. Abrams-directed film, opening on May 15 in IMAX and May 17 in conventional theaters.
FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2013
TRANSCENDENCE
Morgan Freeman is heading to Transcendence.
The Oscar winner is in final negotiations to star opposite Johnny Depp in cinematographer Wally Pfister's sci-fi directorial debut, it was announced Thursday.
Plot details have been closely guarded, but the film is described as in the vein of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Inception. Depp stars as a man who creates a computer program that develops an awareness.
Kate Mara, Paul Bettany and Rebecca Hall co-star. Transcendence was penned by Jack Paglen and developed by Annie Marter and Straight Up Films, whose principals include Marisa Polvino, Kate Cohen and Regency Boies. Polvino, Marter and Cohen will produce, with David Valdes (The Book of Eli), Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove co-producing.
Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas and Aaron Ryder are executive producers.
Principal photography will begin in May in Los Angeles. Alcon Entertainment is financing and producing and will release it through its Warner Bros. deal on April 25, 2014.
Freeman most recently starred in Olympus Has Fallen and last year's The Dark Knight Rises and next appears opposite Tom Cruise in Oblivion and Now You See Me.
OVERLOOK HOTEL
Glen Mazzara, the ousted showrunner of The Walking Dead, is in negotiations to pen the screenplay to what is being called Overlook Hotel, the prequel to Stephen King’s horror classic The Shining.
For Mazzara, the project marks his first gig since he exited as showrunner on AMC's Walking Dead. The prolific producer, whose small-screen credits also include Crash and The Shield, recently signed a TV development deal with Fox Television Studios to develop cable projects under his new banner, 44 Strong Productions.
Under his oversight, The Walking Dead became TV's No. 1 scripted series in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic. The Shining was set in a haunted hotel named the Overlook, and the prequel will look at what transpired there long before struggling author Jack Torrance brought his family there and went crazy.
INTO THE WHITE
Here is a first look at a clip from Magnolia Pictures' Into the White, the war drama starring Rupert Grint ("Harry Potter" films), David Kross, Stig Henrik Hoff, Florian Lukas and Lachlan Nieboer.
At the beginning of World War II, a hostile chance encounter in the skies above the harsh Norwegian wilderness leaves two aircraft—one British, one German—shot down in a remote and isolated region. By strange coincidence, the crews seek shelter in the same cabin. They must battle to survive the brutal winter in order to get back to the war—and to fighting one another. Although war has made them enemies, as the days go by, animosity proves hard to maintain. Mutual need leads to unlikely friendships, and the rules of war must be put aside. Into the White is now available On Demand and in theaters.
CATCHING FIRE
Lionsgate has released another image from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, opening in theaters and IMAX on November 22. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire begins as Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a "Victor's Tour' of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) - a competition that could change Panem forever.
ELIZA GRAVES
Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley have both signed on to join the cast of the upcoming horror-thriller Eliza Graves, Deadline reports. They'll star opposite the previously announced Kate Beckinsale and Jim Sturgess in the Brad Anderson (Session 9, The Call) film.
Loosely based on "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether," a short story by Edgar Allen Poe, the film will center on a Harvard Medical School graduate (Sturgess) who takes a job at an insane asylum, unaware of the fact that it has been taken over by its occupants.
Joseph Gangemi (Fear Itself, Wind Chill) provided the screenplay.
Caine can next be seen in Now You See Me while Kingsley stars in the upcoming Iron Man 3.
Shooting is expected to begin this June with Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity) among the project's producers.
THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2013
SYFY RENEWS TWO SERIES
Syfy is bringing two series back next season, and prepping a freaky new anthology with Jamie Foxx that should give us chills this Halloween.
The third season of Being Human ended this week, and Syfy has now confirmed the hit series will be back for 13 more episodes next season. In overall ratings, season three averaged 1.8 million total viewers, including 1.1 million Adults 18-49 and 1.1 million Adults 25-54. The show is also a Top 10 cable program in its time period among both key demographics.
The unscripted series Ghost Mine will also be back next season, after raking in solid ratings the past year. The 13-episode season season will follow the ragtag team of miners and paranormal investigators as they keep on digging for gold and ghosts in Oregon’s creepy Crescent Mine.
Looking ahead to Halloween, the network is teaming up with Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx to executive producer a new five-episode horror anthology in the vein of Tales of the Crypt and The Twilight Zone. The series will debut in October, during Syfy’s 31 Days of Halloween. The half-hour episodes will tell “creepy morality tales with themes such as envy, jealousy and superficiality.” Sounds like fun.
Here’s how Foxx described the project:
“This is a project that I’ve wanted to do for a long time and I’m so happy to see it come to life. Get ready to lose it when some special friends and I bring the scares this October, and who knows… maybe I’ll make a guest appearance or two along the way!”
These renewals and new projects join the several other Syfy announcements today, as part of the network’s up-front presentations. Here is a rundown of new pilots in development, along with some high-profile projects from Bryan Fuller, Ronald D. Moore and Robert Zemeckis.
Clandestine
This series follows a group of left-for-dead outlaws who hide out in an abandoned Coalition ship. Before long they use the ship to pose as Coalition officers, until they discover a huge conspiracy surrounding the real agenda of the Coalition. This one is definitely intriguing, and sounds like it has a solid Farscape and Firefly vibe. Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead) will executive-produce this one, making it one to watch.
Dominion (working title, formerly known as Legion)
This one picks up 20 years after rogue, evil angels take their vengeance on humans, following a freedom fighter who rises up to protect humanity. It promises a solid amount of religious-tinged intrigue, perhaps wrapped up in a Supernatural vibe. Writer Vaun Wilmott (Sons of Anarchy) and director Scott Stewart (Defiance) are putting this one together.
Orion
This “space opera” is a combination of elements ranging from Tomb Raider to Farscape, and follows a female relic hunter tracking down artifacts from her past in deep space. To keep it interesting, the story is set in the middle of a huge intergalactic war, and those artifacts could potentially turn the tide of the campaign. Ron Milbauer and Terri Hughes Burton (Alphas) will write and executive-produce this series, and their experience with a grounded series like Alphas should help Orion strike the right balance.
Sojourn
Just because we can travel into space doesn’t mean humanity’s bad habits won’t come with us. This series would follow the first detective in space and the ensuing investigation to solve a murder on a starship. The investigation takes the detective deeper down the rabbit hole, digging up a conspiracy to cover up a crime that occurred half a century earlier. Sci-fi vet Phil Levens (Smallville) will write, with Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity) producing.
Shelter
This one takes the classic meteorite headed for Earth trope and tosses in a big mystery, as hand-picked survivors are sent underground into a utopian-esque bunker to keep society moving. But all is not as it seems, and everyone from the bunker survivors to those left on the surface have to figure out why and how this is happening. Plus, toss in a healthy dose of political intrigue, and this one sounds like it could be fun. In case you’re worried it won’t have enough asteroid street cred, Bruce Joel Rubin (Deep Impact) is writing and producing, so this will be one to keep an eye on.
Infinity
It’s been a long time since we had a good old-fashioned Lost In Space story, and Infinity looks to fill that void with a twist. This series would follow the crew of the only interstellar ship in existence, which is sent to meet an alien armada as they enter our solar system. But during the ensuing firefight, the ship is sent through a wormhole and winds up lost on the other side of the universe. The crew would then encounter different alien worlds as they search for a way home. This one is being written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Lost).
Silver Shields
This series would follow country boy Caymer as he journeys to the big city after his father is killed. Caymer then decides to follow in his father’s footsteps and join up with the local police force to solve the mystery surrounding his dad’s death. But once he digs a little deeper into the mystery, he comes face to face with all kinds of magical creatures. Alphas alum Robert Hewitt Wolfe is attached to write and produce this series if it makes it to air.
MOORE NEW SERIES
The schedule at Syfy couldn't be more star-studded this fall, with Ron Moore (Battlestar Galactica), Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies) and Robert Zemeckis (Back the Future) all prepping series for the network.
We heard about Ronald D. Moore’s Helix series a while back, and now the Thing-esque project about a team of scientists at an Arctic base trying to save the world from annihilation has officially been picked up to series. Look for it later this year.
Bryan Fuller is developing the quirky, high-concept series High Moon, which will follow several lunar colonies planted by Earth governments. But things go haywire when scientists discover a new form of life on the Moon, and all sides will be scrambling to capitalize on the resources of the new discovery. Fuller has cut his teeth on comedy-dramas that don’t make a lot of sense in a capsule (i.e. Pushing Daisies: Pie-maker brings things back to life), so it’ll be interesting to see what he can do with an otherworldly premise like this.
The other new series is No Place, which is being spearheaded by Hollywood legend Robert Zemeckis. The series would follow the residents of a high-tech gated community, who wake up to find the world outside their neighborhood has disappeared. With food and resources scarce, tensions run high as the residents try to figure out what is happening and how to escape. It sounds like an interesting premise, and could be a more sci-fi counterpoint to CBS’s upcoming Stephen King series Under the Dome. Definitely one to keep an eye on.
CULT CANCELLED
Despite their best efforts, The CW couldn't make Cult a hit. The new series has been pulled from the schedule indefinitely. It initially aired as part of the network's Tuesday-night lineup, but its low ratings got it bumped to Fridays. Unfortunately, the new slot was no help and Cult continued to struggle.
The CW has aired seven of the 13 episodes in the season. We're unsure whether the remaining five will ever see the light of day. The most recent episode, titled "Suffer the Children," pulled a mere 620,000 total viewers. With numbers like that, perhaps it's a good thing The CW cut their losses.
Series creator Rockne S. O'Bannon reacted to the news as follows:
#Cult Sadly true. CW Execs once called the last 5 episodes "outstanding". I guess too outstanding. You are great, SMART fans. Thx to u all! Cult centered on a journalist and research assistant who investigated the cult following of a TV show. Its fans take their obsession to a deadly level when they begin re-creating fictional murders from the series. Cult starred The Vampire Diaries' Matt Davis, Cloverfield's Jessica Lucas and Heroes' Robert Knepper. At the moment, Cult's Friday-night slot will be filled with reruns of The Carrie Diaries and Oh, Sit.
HOUDINI
History is lining up its next miniseries.
The A&E Networks-owned cabler is developing a potential miniseries based on the life of master illusionist Harry Houdini, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
As first reported by EW, Adrien Brody is attached to star in the period project centering on Houdini's life and his rise to fame.
Gerald W. Abrams (Nuremberg, Modern Marvels) will executive produce the project for History. The project is a co-production from Abrams' Cypress Point Productions and History.
Brody, who won the best actor Oscar for his role in 2002's The Pianist, would play the magician and mark his first scripted TV appearance since the 1990s, when he appeared in the TV movie Bullet Hearts. Houdini (working title) comes as History has found both critical and ratings success with its longform entries. The Bible recently concluded its 10-episode run with a two-hour finale that averaged 11.7 million viewers, boosting History's first scripted series, Vikings. Last summer's Hatfields & McCoys shattered network records over the course of its three-day run and concluded with 14.3 million total viewers. It was nominated for 16 Emmys, taking home wins for lead actor Kevin Costner and supporting actor Tom Berenger, among others.
WAYWARD SONS: LEGENDS
Lin Pictures, the production banner behind Warner Bros.’ upcoming animated feature The LEGO Movie, is teaming up with digital comics publisher Red Giant Entertainment to bring Red Giant’s Wayward Sons: Legends to the big screen.
The two companies will develop and co-produce the feature, which is out to writers. Wayward Sons centers on two groups of diverse warring aliens who crash-landed on earth thousands of years ago. With their unending fight, the groups end up inspiring humanity’s every myth, legend and fairy tale, from Greeks gods to dragons to vampires to superheroes.
"The Wayward Sons comics present a great framework for an event science-fiction movie that explores ancient mythologies from various cultures around the world," said Lin Pictures head Dan Lin in a statement.
Producer Jon Silk brought the project to Lin Pictures and will oversee it for the company.
Producing for Red Giant Entertainment are Isen Robbins and Aimee Schoof (Blue Caprice).
The partnership also includes a television component. The two companies will simultaneously develop a series based on the Wayward Sons universe, including an upcoming book series titled Wayward Souls.
Wayward Sons is one of the top indie digital comics. Since its launch, it has produced 26 full-color issues and four graphic novel collections and generated more than 420 million advertising views worldwide. The comic is also the No. 1 seller on the charts of digital distributor Keenspot, a Comixology partner.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2013
VERONICA MARS "Veronica Mars" is going to San Diego! According to the most recent Kickstarter movie update from the show's creator, Rob Thomas, members of the cast and production will attend the San Diego Comic-Con this summer.
This isn't a huge surprise for anyone who knows how much of Comic-Con focuses on the attendees obsessions. Since the Kickstarter meant to fund a "Veronica Mars" movie has managed to break fan-support records left and right, this project definitely counts. As of this writing, over 75,000 backers had pledged between $1 and $10,000 in an effort to bring the 2004-2007 series to the big screen.
The original goal of the Kickstarter campaign had been $2 million, enough to make a basic film. That amount was reached in less than a day, and the total pledge has since inched its way toward $5 million. That money will go to the production and to providing rewards to backers. Warner Bros. will cover the costs of promotion and distribution when the film hits theaters.
As of right now, there aren't many details about what sort of presence "Veronica Mars" will have at SDCC. It's early though, and more information has been promised.
ELYSIUM
The first trailer for "Elysium" has arrived and promises futuristic war. The movie is set in the year 2159, with the world separated into two classes. The very wealthy live on a space station called Elysium, while everyone else lived on a ruined and rotting planet Earth.
Matt Damon's character, who lives on Earth, needs to get on board Elysium to access their medical care, and in trying to do so may tear down the barrier between the two classes. First, though, he has to get suited up in all kinds of mechanical parts and fight robots. Once the mayor of Elysium (Jodie Foster) realizes what he's trying to do, she'll stop at nothing to make sure he fails. "Elysium," directed by Neill Blomkamp ("District 9"), lands in theaters August 9.
IRON MAN 3
A new featurette for "Iron Man 3" shows off quite a bit of new footage, mixed in with cast interviews featuring all of the major players. One of the biggest reveals in the clip is Gwyneth Paltrow's character Pepper Potts suited up in Iron Man's armor, saving Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) life.
"Robert was really interested in having Pepper do more in this movie," Paltrow says. The clips and trailers released so far focus on Stark not being able to live without Pepper. The Mandarin has quite a bit to do as well, being the film's villain. Oscar-winner Ben Kingley says he was happy to sign onto the role, "There's something original, dare I used the word intelligent, approached in this film."
The featurette also has the first footage of Happy Hogan, played by Jon Favreau. Favreau returns as an actor only for the third movie, after directing the first two. "It's fun to come back as Happy," he says. As for Colonel Rhodes, Don Cheadle says, "The relationship between Tony and Rhodey is deepening," with Downey Jr. adding, "We really wanted Rhodey to be able to match Tony in his bravado and his wit."
The clip also contains portions of interviews with Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall, both of whom play scientists who work on the Extremis virus. "Iron Man 3" is in theaters May 3.
POMPEII
Peter Schlessel's FilmDistrict has acquired U.S. rights to Paul W.S. Anderson's historical action epic Pompeii, setting a Feb. 28, 2014, release date in partnership with Sony/TriStar.
Germany's Constantin Film and Impact produced and financed the big-budget action pic, which stars Kit Harington, Emily Browning, Kiefer Sutherland, Jared Harris and Carrie-Anne Moss. Production is currently underway.
The film follows an enslaved Celtic gladiator who falls in love with a noblewoman on the eve of a massive volcanic eruption that destroys Pompeii, an event that also brings him face-to-face with the man who slaughtered his family years earlier.
Jeremy Bolt, Anderson, Robert Kulzer and Don Carmody are producing the film; executive producers are Martin Moszkowicz, Jon Brown and Schlessel serving as executive producers. Lee Batchler, Janet Scott Batchler, Michael Robert Johnson and Julian Fellowes wrote the screenplay for the film which is currently in production.
Lionsgate International is representing foreign rights.
"Pompeii is the kind of big and bold film we all love to go to the movies to experience. We believe the film’s scope and story line will resonate well with U.S. moviegoers and we are pleased to once again team with Sony on bringing a film to theaters and beyond," Schlessel said.
FilmDistrict and Sony/TriStar have an ongoing partnership, and are currently in theaters with the remake of Sam Raimi's cult horror pic Evil Dead, which opened to a better-than-expected $25.8 million over the weekend.
KUNG FU PANDA 3
"Pandamonium" is back for a triple kick with a trio of new cast members in DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda 3, which will be distributed by 20th Century Fox. Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad," Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted), Mads Mikkelsen ("Hannibal," Casino Royale) and Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect, Bridesmaids) join Jack Black, Angelina Jolie and other original cast members in the third installment of the beloved action-packed franchise. The film, slated for December 23, 2015, marks the first planned co-production with China based Oriental DreamWorks and follows Po, the chosen one, as he continues on his journey mastering the art of Kung Fu… and noodle slurping.
Continuing on his now legendary adventures of awesomeness, Po must face two hugely epic, but very different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to home. This chapter in the continuing adventures of Kung Fu Panda is directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who also helmed the worldwide hit Kung Fu Panda 2 and remains the highest-grossing female director for a film at the worldwide box office. The film is produced by Melissa Cobb, executive produced by Guillermo del Toro and co-produced by Jeffrey Hermann along with Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, who wrote and co-produced the original films and continue in these roles.
"Having the wonderful Jennifer Yuh Nelson return as director is incredibly exciting for the studio. Under her guidance I have no doubt that our returning cast and our outstanding new voice talent will take the franchise's story to the next level," said DreamWorks Animation Chief Creative Officer Bill Damaschke.
The first two chapters of DreamWorks Animation's critically acclaimed Kung Fu Panda franchise opened in 2008 and 2011. Both films were honored with Academy Award® nominations for Best Animated Feature Film. Together, they have generated approximately $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office.
TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 2013
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Details surrounding Joss Whedon's S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot have been heavily guarded. Now, two months after production has wrapped, an official plot synopsis has surfaced. With the description, we learn of the show's new and improved title: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Here's the synopsis:
Joss Whedon shows us not all heroes are super with Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Fresh from his role in the summer’s box office smash, Marvel’s The Avengers, Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) returns to the worldwide law enforcement organization S.H.I.E.L.D. He puts together a small, highly trained, team of Agents to tackle the cases that haven’t been classified yet, the new, the strange and the unknown. That team consists of straight arrow Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), an expert in combat and espionage; pilot and martial artist Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen); and brilliant if socially awkward scientists Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge). They’ll be joined by civilian new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet).
Prepare for an epic adventure that showcases the hope and wonder of the human spirit. This is a world of superheroes, aliens and the unusual – of action, spectacle and world spanning stories. The show will speak to the human condition through the lens of our very human, non-powered S.H.I.E.L.D agents – that together we are greater than we are apart, and that we can make a difference in the world.
Last week, it was announced that J. August Richards would also appear in the pilot. The actor's best known for his work on Angel, the popular spinoff of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Even though his role in S.H.I.E.L.D. is a mystery, we're happy with his addition to the cast. There's always room for more Whedon alumni.
DRACULA
Luke Evans has played a couple of Greek gods and even a musketeer, but now he is about to play the most god-like of literary characters.
In his first starring role for a studio, Evans has signed to topline in Dracula Year Zero, Universal’s dramatic horror movie telling an origin story of the most famous of vampires. (UPDATE: A Universal rep says the film will now be called simply Dracula.)
Michael De Luca is producing the project, which quietly has been greenlighted and hopes to start shooting later this year. Commercials helmer Gary Shore is making his directorial debut on the picture.
Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless wrote the script. Alissa Phillips is executive producing.
Universal, once the home for literature’s most horrifying characters, set the tone for Dracula’s screen image for decades with its 1931 classic. Now, this project hopes to set the tone for the modern age with a historical-oriented origin story.
The script tells of a young prince who, when the lives of his wife and child are put in danger by a bloodthirsty sultan, risks his soul to save them, and in the process becomes the first vampire.
Evans already is well known to the studio: the actor is playing the villain in its Fast & Furious 6, which opens May 24. He played Zeus in Immortals and Apollo in Clash of the Titans, and starred with John Cusack in the Edgar Allan Poe thriller The Raven.
Evans, repped by WME and United Agents, will be seen portraying Bard the Bowman in the upcoming installments of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies.
Vp of production Anikah McLaren and creative executive Jay Polidoro are overseeing the project for Universal.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
The first image for Captain America: The Winter Soldier has made its way to the web.
Just as Marvel announced production on the Captain America sequel commenced Monday in Los Angeles, the studio released an image of Captain America (Chris Evans) in shadow with his iconic shield behind him. Other filming locations include Cleveland and Washington, D.C. The Winter Soldier picks up where The Avengers left off, with Steve Rogers struggling to embrace his role in the modern world, with the help of Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) to fight a "powerful yet shadow enemy" in D.C.
The cast for The Winter Soldier includes Robert Redford (Agent Alexander Pierce), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Falcon), Cobie Smulders (Agent Maria Hill), Frank Grillo (Brock Rumlow), Georges St-Pierre (Georges Batroc), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Toby Jones (Arnim Zola), Emily VanCamp (Agent 13) and Maximiliano Hernandez (Agent Jasper Sitwell).
Anthony and Joe Russo are directing from a screenplay by Christopher Markus.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is producing, with Alan Fine, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Michael Grillo and Stan Lee executive producing. Captain America: The Winter Soldier hits theaters April 4, 2014, following Marvel's Iron Man 3 (May 3) and Thor: The Dark World (Nov. 8).
NEW CYBER THRILLER FOR MICHAEL MANN
HONG KONG -- Michael Mann will set parts of his upcoming hacker thriller in Hong Kong and cast a pair of Chinese actors to play two prominent roles.
Produced by Legendary Pictures – which has already had experience of a Hong Kong location shoot with The Dark Knight – Mann’s as-yet-untitled project will feature scenes in the city revolving around a pair of Chinese hackers, according to the Chinese-language Apple Daily.
The report said Mann and his entourage arrived in Hong Kong on Friday and spent Sunday night walking around Jordan, a bustling area in the center of the city, to scout for locations.
The visit reportedly took place after a series of meetings the director had with local stars during the afternoon, as A-listers such as Tang Wei (a Bafta nominee for Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution and star of current Chinese chart-topper Finding Mr. Right), Nick Cheung Ka-fai (The Stool Pigeon, The Viral Factor) and Shawn Yue Man-lok (who starred opposite Josh Hartnett in Tran Anh Hung’s Hong Kong-set I Come With the Rain) were spotted visiting the hotel Mann was staying in.
Chris Hemsworth signed up for Mann’s film in February, and it is understood that producers have been searching for appropriate locations for the Hong Kong-set scenes since then.
Legendary’s Hong Kong shoot for The Dark Knight – which involved scenes of a carrier plane flying low over the city, and also a sequence set in and around the central business district – was facilitated by local shingle October Pictures, which also contributed to the Hong Kong shoots of Contagion, Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
When contacted by The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday, the company declined to offer details or comment on its role in Mann’s project.
It remains to be seen how Mann’s cyber-warfare feature will play out at a time when Beijing and Washington are regularly attacking each other for masterminding organized hacking into computer systems.
While some Hollywood productions have offered narratives with positive depictions of China and Chinese culture – the savior for Iron Man 3’s Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), for example, is the Chinese scientist-doctor Dr. Wu, played by veteran actor Wang Xueqi – there are others that paid no heed toward the country’s notoriously sensitive censors. Contagion, for example, is based on the premise of an epidemic with roots in Macao and Hong Kong. Meanwhile, The Dark Knight was also met with mild criticism here for depicting the city where outlaws – in the shape of a mob accountant, played by Singaporean actor Chin Han – could flee to and live freely.
It was reported last week that World War Z will be released in China in a version devoid of dialogue referring to the country as the source of a virus that eventually led to a zombie outbreak. The film stars Brad Pitt, who has remained persona non grata for his role in Seven Years in Tibet, which the authorities deemed as offering an unflattering depiction of Chinese military officials taking over the southwestern region in 1950.
OMEGA POINT
CBS Films has optioned Omega Point, a sci-fi spec script from newcomer Cameron Alexander.
Sidney Sherman, a co-producer on the 2006 John Travolta thriller Lonely Hearts, is on board to produce via his Rosa Entertainment banner.
The story centers on a young man who comes across a mysterious crash site in the woods where he discovers and befriends a god-like artificial intelligence agent desperate to escape earth.
Execs Mark Ross and Alex Ginno are overseeing the project for CBS Films.
Omega is the first sale for the 25-year-old Alexander, a budding music video director (one of the videos under his belt is Cry Wolf from Kristinia DeBarge, the daughter of '80s pop singer James DeBarge). Alexander eventually wants to direct what he writes, but for now, he knows that writing is the way to make the inroads.
He is repped by Resolution, Rosa Entertainment and McKuin Frankel.
BATES MOTEL
A&E has extended its stay at Bates Motel, renewing the series for a second season.
From Universal Television, the Psycho prequel ranks as A&E's most-watched scripted drama in network history among adults 18-to-49 and 25-to-54. The series premiere drew 4.5 million total viewers and 2.5 million in both 18-to-49 and 25-to-54 when factoring in Live+7 figures. The series held up well in its second airing, jumping 6 percent among the 25-to-54 set against increased competition in its 10 p.m. Monday slot.
The second season again will feature 10 episodes and come from showrunners Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin, who use Psycho as a inspiration to help tell the story of Norman Bates' (Freddie Highmore) formative years growing up with his mother, Norma (Vera Farmiga).
“Bates Motel has garnered critical acclaim and a loyal audience in its first few weeks,” A&E president and GM Bob DeBitetto said in announcing the pickup Monday. "With superb writing and exceptional acting, led by the critically acclaimed performances of Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore, we’re incredibly excited to see where Carlton and Kerry take Norma and Norman Bates next.”
The series marks A&E's latest push into original scripted programming and joins a roster that also includes Longmire, which last year was renewed for a second season. A&E also has the pilots Occult, with Josh Lucas, and Those Who Kill, starring Chloe Sevigny, in the works.
MAN OF STEEL
The very first TV spot for Zack Snyder's upcoming Man of Steel is now online.
Flying into 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on June 14, the comic book action adventure stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, Michael Kelly, Harry Lennix and Richard Schiff.
In the film, a young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.
I, FRANKENSTEIN
Lionsgate has just announced that Hopscotch Features/Lakeshore Entertainment's comic book adaptation I, Frankenstein has moved from September 13 of this year to January 24, 2014.
"The film's franchise potential, given its large scale premise, setting and creative elements are perfectly aligned with the 3D experience and the studio wants to put forth the best version of the film possible to audiences," says an official press release.
Set in a dystopic present where vigilant gargoyles and ferocious demons rage in a battle for ultimate power, Victor Frankenstein's creation Adam (Aaron Eckhart) finds himself caught in the middle as both sides race to discover the secret to his immortality. From the creators of the hit supernatural saga, Underworld, comes an action thriller written for the screen and directed by Stuart Beattie based on the graphic novel "I, Frankenstein" by Kevin Grievous. I, Frankenstein also stars Bill Nighy, Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto, Jai Courtney, Socratis Otto, Mahesh Jadu, Caitlin Stasey and Aden Young as Victor Frankenstein.
MONDAY, APRIL 8, 2013
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
The modestly budgeted remake of Sam Raimi's 1981 cult horror pic Evil Dead earned a better-than-expected $26 million in its domestic bow for a No. 1 finish. Overseas, the pic took in $4.5 million from its first 21 markets for a worldwide debut of $30.5 million. Evil Dead, from Sony/TriStar, FilmDistrict and Raimi's Ghost House Pictures, earned a C+ CinemaScore in North America. Usually that would be problematic but horror films often receive a middling grade. The remake, appealing heavily to males (56 percent), cost $17 million to produce.
It is the fourth Evil Dead title and the first not to be directed by Raimi, who personally tapped Fede Alvarez to direct the reboot, which follows five friends who awaken a demonic presence while visiting a cabin in rural Massachusetts. The film's strong performance marks another victory for Sony/TriStar after The Call.
"Fede did an amazing job remaking this film," Sony president of domestic marekting Rory Bruer said. "When you think you've seen it all, they bring in something new. The movie really is scary."
Nostalgia invaded the box office all the way around.
Universal's 3D rerelease of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park also turned in a pleasing performance, coming in No. 4 domestically with $18.2 million, one of the top openings for a 3D redo (as a way of comparison, Titanic 3D opened to $17.3 million domestically). Overseas, Jurassic Park grossed $3 million from seven territories for a total opening of $21.2 million.
The 3D rerelease generated record-breaking returns for IMAX, which delivered $6 million in ticket sales -- or 32 percent of the total gross, the biggest share ever for the large-format circuit.
Universal opens the 3D rerelease of Jurassic Park 20 years after the original dinosaur movie debuted and is using the pic to prime audiences for Jurassic Park IV, which rolls out in June 2014 (Spielberg is producing but not directing). Hollywood has had a mixed track record with 3D rereleases and will be watching closely to see how Jurassic Park performs over the course of its short run (the Blu-Ray/DVD comes out in two weeks). The Croods and G.I. Joe: Retaliation claimed the No. 2 and No. 3 spots on the North American box office chart, although the precise order won't be determined until Monday morning, since both films are estimating a $21.1 million weekend. Croods, from DreamWorks Animation and Fox, jumped the $300 million mark globally over the weekend, becoming only the second title of 2013 to do so after Oz the Great and Powerful. Croods grossed $34.1 million internationally from 62 markets for a foreign total of $206.8 million. The 3D toon has now earned $125.8 domestically for a global cume of $332.6 million. G.I. Joe raced past the $200 million mark in its second weekend of play at the global box office. The action pic, from Paramount, MGM and Skydance, boasts a domestic total of $86.7 million, while it earned $40.2 million internationally from 60 countries for a foreign total of $145.2 million and global haul of $231.9 million.
The action pic easily topped the foreign box office, followed by Croods.
Internationally, G.I. Joe is already on the verge of eclipsing the $150 million earned by G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra in its entire run.
At the specialty box office, Robert Redford's political drama The Company You Keep debuted to a solid $146,058 from five theaters for a location average of $29,212. Redford both directed and stars in the film, opposite Shia LaBeouf, Stanley Tucci and Anna Kendrick.
Financed and produced by Voltage Pictures, Company You Keep is being released in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics. In the film, Redford plays a former member of the Weather Underground who has been hiding for three decades, but whose identity is now in danger of being revealed.
Focus Features' A Place Beyond the Pines, starring Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper, rose up the domestic chart to No. 14 as it expanded into a total of 30 theaters in its second weekend, grossing $695,041 for a total $886,459 and location average of $23,168.
Among other openers, Danny Boyle's British thriller Trance grossed a solid $136,103 from four theaters in New York and Los Angeles for a location average of $34,206.
Shane Carruth's Upstream Color nabbed the top location average of the weekend as it opened on one screen at the IFC Center, grossing $31,500.
Below are the top 10 estimates for the April 5-7 weekend at the domestic box office.
Title, weeks in release/theater count, studio, three-day weekend total, cume
1. Evil Dead, 1/3,025, Sony/TriStar/FilmDistrict, $26 million
2. The Croods, 2/4,046, Fox/DreamWorks Animation, $21.1 million, $125.8 million
3. G.I. Joe: Retaliation, 1/3,719, Paramount/MGM/Skydance, $21.1 million, $86.7 million
4. Jurassic Park, 1/2,771, Universal, $18.2 million
5. Olympus Has Fallen, 3/3,059, Lionsgate/Millennium, $10.04 million, $71.1 million
6. Tyler Perry's Temptation, 2/2,047, Lionsgate, $10 million, $38.4 million
7. Oz the Great and Powerful, 5/2,905, Disney, $8.2 million, $212.8 million
8. The Host, 2/3,202, Open Road Films, $5.2 million, $19.7 million
9. The Call, 4/2,002, Sony/TriStar, $3.5 million, $45.5 million
10. Admission, 3/1,407, Focus Features, $2.1 million, $15.4 million
OBLIVION
Universal Pictures has released this new featurette on director Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion which talks about the filming at Earl Peak. Opening in theaters and IMAX on April 19, the film stars Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Melissa Leo.
On a spectacular future Earth that has evolved beyond recognition, one man's confrontation with the past will lead him on a journey of redemption and discovery as he battles to save mankind.
Jack Harper (Cruise) is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack's mission is nearly complete.
Living in and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above, his soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.
STAR TREK RE-ENACTMENT
I posted this video over on my Facebook page at The Zocalo Today but for those who don't do Facebook, you have just got to watch this video. It is awesome! The upcoming video game looks pretty good as well. Enjoy!
SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
The remake of Sam Raimi's 1981 cult horror pic Evil Dead easily won the Friday box office race with $11.9 million for an expected weekend gross of $27 million.
Nostalgia invaded the box office all the way around. The 3D rerelease of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park also did better than expected, landing at No. 2 with $7 million. That puts the redo on course for weekend earnings of $18.5 million. The Croods and G.I. Joe: Retaliation are both expected to overtake Jurassic Park as the weekend gets fully underway. Croods should place No. 2 with a weekend gross in the $21 million to $22 million range, while G.I. Joe is projected to take in $20 million. Evil Dead, from Sony/TriStar, FilmDistrict and Raimi's Ghost House Pictures, earned a C+ CinemaScore. Usually that would be problematic but horror films often receive a middling grade.
It is the fourth Evil Dead title and the first not to be directed by Raimi, who personally tapped Fede Alvarez to direct the reboot, which follows five friends who awaken a demonic presence while visiting a cabin in rural Massachusetts. The pic also opens this weekend in 19 foreign markets.
Universal opens the 3D rerelease of Jurassic Park 20 years after the original dinosaur movie debuted and is using the pic to prime audiences for Jurassic Park IV, which rolls out in June 2014 (Spielberg is producing but not directing). Hollywood has had a mixed track record with 3D rereleases and will be watching closely to see how Jurassic Park performs. G.I. Joe, from Paramount, MGM and Skydance, placed No. 3 on Friday for a domestic total of $72 million.
DreamWorks Animation and Fox's Croods came in No. 4 with $6 million, pushing its domestic cume to $110.7 million. The family film is anticipating a sizeable bump on Saturday.
Lionsgate and Tyler Perry's sultry thriller Temptation came in No. 5 on its second Friday with $3.4 million for an eight-day total of $31.7 million.
GODZILLA
Warner Bros. Pictures has been filming Godzilla at Golden Ears Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada and a new video of the production is online.
Directed by Gareth Edwards, the May 16, 2014 release stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston and Sally Hawkins.
A presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, Godzilla will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, except in Japan, where it will be distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. Legendary Pictures is a division of Legendary Entertainment.
SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013
S.H.I.E.L.D.
A familiar face from the Whedonverse is joining the cast of ABC's pilot "S.H.I.E.L.D."
J. August Richards, who starred on "Angel," is reteaming with Joss Whedon on the show, about the organization that provides support for the Avengers and occasionally has to save the world on its own. His casting was first reported by SHIELDtv.net and later confirmed by other outlets.
No details about Richards' role are available.
Whedon is directing the pilot and co-writing it with his brother Jed and Jed's wife, Maurissa Tancharoen ("Dollhouse"). Or rather, Whedon directed the pilot -- it was on an earlier production schedule than most pilots and wrapped filming in mid-February.
That would mean either that Whedon will shoot some extra scenes for the pilot featuring Richards ... or that ABC has signaled that it's OK to begin planning for a series pickup. To be clear, the network has not made any kind of announcement about a pickup yet -- ABC reveals its lineup for 2013-14 at its upfront presentation in May.
In January, ABC Entertainment president Paul Lee said he's "very hopeful" the pilot will go to series, but at the time he hadn't seen anything beyond a script.
Richards' post-"Angel" credits include "Conviction," "Raising the Bar" and recent guest roles on "Warehouse 13" and "Emily Owens, M.D.".
IRON MAN 3
Marvel Studios has dropped an exclusive new trailer for Iron Man 3. The sequel pits the hero against his biggest enemy yet -- the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). Without the assistance of the Avengers, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has to depend on his brain as well as his brawn.
The Mandarin is a terrorist whose sole purpose is to destroy Iron Man. He hits Tony where it hurts and breaks him down mentally and physically. Following the events of The Avengers, Tony's not in the best state. He's a changed man. Will that help or hinder his chances of survival?
Here's the official synopsis:
Marvel Studios' Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man? hits theaters May 3.
PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS
Twentieth Century Fox has moved up the release date for Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters a week-and-a-half from Friday, August 16 to Wednesday, August 7. This change puts the release date just five days after 2 Guns and 300: Rise of an Empire and only two days before Disney's Planes, Elysium and We're the Millers.
Directed by Thor Freudenthal, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters stars Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Douglas Smith, Mary Birdsong, Yvette Nicole Brown, Missi Pyle, Nathan Fillion, Anthony Head, Paloma Kwiatkowski, Leven Rambin, Stanley Tucci, Robert Maillet and Zoe Aggeliki. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters continues the young demigod's epic journey to fulfill his destiny. To save their world, Percy and his friends must find the fabled and magical Golden Fleece. Embarking on a treacherous odyssey into the uncharted waters of the Sea of Monsters (known to humans as the Bermuda Triangle), they battle terrifying creatures, an army of zombies, and the ultimate Evil.
FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2013
IRON MAN 3
Some new footage from Iron Man 3 has been released, showing off the Mandarin’s army as he preps for war with Tony Stark.
Marvel is getting pretty good at slipping out bits of new footage with each trailer, and the latest shows off more of the Mandarin’s (Ben Kingsley) efforts to rally his forces and prepare an attack on Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.). These enemy soldiers definitely look like they mean business.
We also get to see some excellent new fight scenes, with Stark only sporting portions of his armor but still kicking an extreme amount of ass. Director Shane Black has hinted we’ll get to see a lot of Stark (as opposed to his suited alter ego) in this film, and he seems to be striking a great balance to that effect.
The sequel stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley. Iron Man 3 opens May 3.
OBLIVION
Go inside a spaceship crash and a creepy, abandoned building in new clips from Tom Cruise’s sci-fi epic Oblivion.
The studio has released four new clips from the unique post-apocalypse flick, showing Jack Harper’s (Tom Cruise) investigation into the mysteries that remain after humanity has abandoned the planet. The unique visual style that director Joseph Kosinski has put together is definitely on display here, and the big FX set pieces look stellar.
Here’s the synopsis:
Tom Cruise stars in Oblivion, an original and groundbreaking cinematic event from the director of TRON: Legacy and the producer of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. On a spectacular future Earth that has evolved beyond recognition, one man’s confrontation with the past will lead him on a journey of redemption and discovery as he battles to save mankind.
Jack Harper (Cruise) is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack’s mission is nearly complete. Living and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above, his soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands. Oblivion opens April 19.
THE BLACK HOLE
Disney’s reinvention of its 1979 sci-fi movie The Black Hole is getting a new engine. Prometheus co-writer Jon Spaihts has been hired to kickstart the project, which has Joe Kosinski -- the filmmaker behind the upcoming Tom Cruise sci-fi pic Oblivion -- attached to direct.
Justin Springer, who produced Kosinski’s feature debut Tron: Legacy, is producing Black Hole. Black Hole was the most expensive movie Disney ever made when it was released in 1979 with a cast that included Maximilian Schell, Anthony Perkins, and Ernest Borgnine.
The original followed a group of space explorers aboard the USS Palomino who come across a lost ship, the USS Cygnus, hovering outside a black hole. Inside the Cygnus, the explorers meet a scientist commanding an army of faceless robots, who explains that his crew deserted him as he planned to go through the black hole. The explorers soon discover that the robots are the remnants of the former crew and that the scientist has no intention of letting them leave.
Disney put the remake into development in 2009. Travis Beacham was writing the script at the time, and Kosinski was working on the project while prepping the Tron reboot.
Among the signature pieces of the original movie were a threatening red robot named Maximillian as well as two kindlier robots named V.I.N.CENT and B.O.B.
It is unknown if those characters will return, but the new take, which restarts the project, has been described as being big idea -- philosophical and somewhat dark in tone.
Spaihts also wrote the screenplay for The Darkest Hour, an alien-invasion thriller produced by Timur Bekmambetov and is writing a script for Universal’s reboot of The Mummy.
He is repped by Paradigm, Circle of Confusion and Stone Meyer.
CRIMSON PEAK
Benedict Cumberbatch is joining Emma Stone and Charlie Hunnam in Guillermo del Toro’s haunted house thriller Crimson Peak.
Legendary Pictures is behind the movie, which has a February 2014 start.
The gothic horror story centers on a woman who discovers that her husband may not be whom he appears to be.
Details on who is playing whom were not revealed.
Del Toro wrote the script with Matthew Robbins; Lucinda Coxon recently did a rewrite.
Cumberbatch is proving to be in great demand thanks largely to his stellar and acclaimed work in Sherlock, which has caught the eyes of filmmakers Stateside, leading to several high-profile gigs. He stars as the villain in next month’s Star Trek Into Darkness and is currently filming The Fifth Estate, DreamWorks’ Wikileaks movie in which he is portraying Julian Assange.
ARROW
The CW's Arrow will be taking a brief hiatus for three weeks and its next episode will premiere on April 24. Titled "Home Invasion," the episode appears to contain the confrontation between Deadshot and Diggle that we learned about back in January. A plot description hasn't been revealed for the episode yet, but check back here for that and photos in the coming days.
Arrow airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
JURASSIC PARK
We don't know very much about what to expect in the upcoming Jurassic Park 4, but one thing we can guarantee is Velociraptors and a T-Rex or two. A new feature in USA Today, however, teased that a brand new set of teeth will be appearing in the film as well.
"I can't actually tell you who that will be," said paleontologist Jack Horner, who served as technical advisor for the previous Jurassic Park films and will consult on the new film. "But you'll want to keep the lights on after you see this movie."
The Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment production will be produced by Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley with Steven Spielberg as Executive Producer. The script was written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes). Safety Not Guaranteed's Colin Trevorrow will direct the movie, which is planning a June 13, 2014 release date.
THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2013
JMS SIGNING ON SATURDAY - TEN GRAND #1 COPIES
At C2E2 Saturday 4/27 at 4:30 Ben and I will be at Joe's Comics table signing and giving away 500 convention variant copies of Ten Grand #1. That's Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2). For more information, go to http://www.c2e2.com.LEVEL 1313
Been looking forward to that really cool, Blade Runner-ish Star Wars game that’s been in development for a while now? Well, we have some bad news.
As was rumored for a while now, Disney has officially pulled the plug on LucasArts. The long-running game developer has been responsible for many recent Star Wars games, as well as some fun '80s and '90s classics (The Secret of Monkey Island!).
The company will now transition from an active developer to a “licensing model,” which will essentially farm out development of Star Wars games to other companies. Though it’s sad to see the studio close, the real impact for gamers today is that it further jeopardizes the fate of Star Wars 1313, an epic new adventure game that looked to be one of the coolest Star Wars games we’ve seen in ages.
Disney is cagey on exactly what the closure will mean for the project, but a Mouse House representative told Game Informer that 1313 could live on if they’re able to find a new publisher willing to take a chance on it:
“It is worth noting that we are looking for proven external partners who can help us provide video games to our fans. We still believe in the video game industry, we still will provide Star Wars games, we’re just looking at different models rather than internal production… They’re evaluating everything. There’s always a possibility that it [Star Wars 1313] can still come out via licensing.”
The game has been in development for a while now (heck, it’s been eight months since we saw the first trailer), so the longer it languishes the longer the odds it will ever see the light of day.
Prognosis: Not good, but not dead yet.
HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE
After months of leaked set pics and weird character posters, we finally have our first real look at The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
The first official trailer is set to debut Sunday, April 14, during the MTV Movie Awards, but the network has been kind enough to drop a teaser that shows off the first actual footage from the eagerly anticipated sequel.
We get a peek at Katniss’ (Jennifer Lawrence) intro as the reigning champ, and our first glimpse at the visual style we can expect from new director Francis Lawrence. How does it look? Classy, which is a good thing.
After The Hunger Games blew up the box office, Catching Fire should be one of the most anticipated flicks of 2013. It captures the perfect zeitgeist of sci-fi, dystopia and pretty young people. If the sequel is half as fun as the first film, it should do fine.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
Zoe Saldana is kinda dominating the sci-fi and comic book genres. Over the past four years, she's appeared in Avatar, Star Trek and The Losers. Now she's adding another title to that list: Guardians of the Galaxy. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Saldana is in negotiations to play the film's female lead opposite Chris Pratt and Dave Bautista.
If everything goes smoothly, Saldana will star as "Gamora, the green-skinned humanoid who is the last of a species that was exterminated by a race known as the Badoon. She also happens to be a skilled assassin." Saldana will be the third major addition to the cast following Pratt's Star-Lord and Bautista's Drax the Destroyer. The Guardians are almost complete. The team also includes a character called Groot, who's been described as a giant tree-like creature. There's also Rocket Racoon, a genetically modified animal that's highly intelligent and knows its way around weapons. Guardians of the Galaxy is directed by James Gunn and hits theaters Aug. 1, 2014.
THE WALKING DEAD
In a case of "this is kind of obvious," reports are coming in that Chad L. Coleman and Sonequa Martin-Green have been elevated to series regulars as Tyreese and Sasha in the fourth season of "The Walking Dead."
The two entered season three rather late in the game, but now that they're on Rick's side, yes, we're going to be seeing a lot more of them. Oh, and one other character, too.
TVLine reports that Emily Kinney, who plays Beth, has been promoted to "series regular" status as well. That's Hershel's daughter, if you lost track.
The cast and crew of "The Walking Dead" are set to return to Atlanta, Georgia on Monday, May 6th to begin production on season four, which will premiere in October with 16 episodes.
CARRIE
Screen Gems and MGM will be debuting the full trailer for the upcoming Carrie tomorrow, but Entertainment Tonight has a 15-second preview available now.
Directed by Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry, Stop-Loss), the film stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Judy Greer, Portia Doubleday, Alex Russell, Gabriella Wilde, Ansel Elgort and Julianne Moore.
The movie is a reimagining of the classic horror tale about Carrie White (Moretz), a shy girl outcast by her peers and sheltered by her deeply religious mother (Moore), who unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom. Carrie is based on the best-selling novel by Stephen King. Carrie hits theaters on October 18.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013
THE CONJURING
James Wan delights in scaring the bejesus out of us, and he's perfecting his craft with each new supernatural project. He's been on a roll since directing the first jagged installment of Saw and the deliciously creepy Insidious. The Conjuring is his latest grim ghost affair, branded with an MPAA "R" rating due to its stratospheric fright factor.
In this terrifying trailer, Wan produces an interesting array of disturbing tricks from his maniacal magic hat. It's based on an actual case from The Amityvile Horror's real-life husband-and-wife ghostbusting team, the Warrens, and appears to raise the boogeyman bar for this season's horror offerings.
Here's the official synopsis:
Before there was Amityville, there was Harrisville. Based on a true story, The Conjuring tells the horrifying tale of how world-renowned paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren were called upon to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in a secluded farmhouse. Forced to confront a powerful demonic entity, the Warrens find themselves caught in the most terrifying case of their lives. The Conjuring appears in theaters on July 19, 2013, and stars Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor, Joey King, Shanley Caswell, Haley McFarland, Mackenzie Foy and Kyla Deaver.
DEFIANCE TRAILER
The action-packed tie-in game for Syfy's new series Defiance is finally here!
After months of anticipation, the online 3rd person shooter from Trion Worlds (makers of Rift) is available today for PC, PS3 and XBox 360. Set in a future Earth that's been radically altered by alien conflicts and terraforming, you play as an "Ark Hunter," tasked with tracking down alien technology from "Arkfalls," pieces of a destroyed alien fleet that periodically fall to the surface. You can choose to play as either a human or an alien, fight alone or with a group of other players, choose from a wide variety of weapons and modify them with alien tech, and travel the game's open world with a range of vehicles. As you play, events in the game will impact the Defiance TV series, and events in the TV series will impact the game, for a tie-in experience unlike any other. Defiance the series premieres April 15th at 9/8C on Syfy.
VERONICA MARS
Rob Thomas' massively successful, Kickstarter-financed Veronica Mars feature film has officially added Jason Dohring to the cast. He'll reprise his role as Logan Echolls.
"Jason Dohring is officially on board for the Veronica Mars movie," Rob Thomas updates. "We now have three actors officially cast. Veronica. Logan and the waiter who says, 'Your check, sir.'"
The series starred Kristen Bell as the titular Mars, a young student who, growing up with a detective for a father, moonlit as a private investigator. The series ran for three seasons, transitioning Mars from high school to college.
Having already broken several records, the Veronica Mars funding campaign is now attempting to become the single largest Kickstarter in history. Want to contribute? Go to .
BIG EYES
Tim Burton has set "Big Eyes" as his next directorial effort.
Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams will star in the project about Margaret and Walter Keane, the artists whose paintings of large eyed children became one of the first mass marketed art sensations in the 50s and 60s.
Walter was the marketing genius and a full fledged celebrity. His shy wife, however, was the actual artist and when they split she tried to get what was due to her.
They ended up in court where a judge provided them with two easels and ordered them to prove it. His reputation crashed overnight as he begged off the order saying his arm hurt, whereas she created one of the trademark big-eyed works.
Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski ("Ed Wood," "The People Vs. Larry Flynt") penned the script and will produce with Burton and Lynette Howell. The Weinstein Company is closing a deal to fund and distribute the film which will shoot this summer.
THE SAINT
The first promo trailer is out for "The Saint," the new TV series reboot of the classic property which stars Adam Rayner plays gentleman thief Simon Templar, along with Eliza Dushku, James Remar, Enrique Murciano and Thomas Kretschmann.
MPCA produced the series which will be shopped to networks following a screening at this year's MIPTV Media Market in Cannes.
TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2013
DOCTOR WHO
The first read-through for the hourlong Doctor Who 50th-anniversary special just finished, and we've got the photographic evidence to prove it.
If you've been as excited as we have since the Beeb finally confirmed that, yes, David Tennant (and Billie Piper!) would be returning for Who's 50th extravanganza, then this picture might just crest you beyond elated to full-on manic, insane and jumping up and down with joy.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
The Marvel universe is headed to the small screen this fall, and one of the most intriguing aspects of Joss Whedon’s S.H.I.E.L.D. series is that it will bring beloved agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) back to life.
As most fans know, the longtime agent (apparently) met his untimely demise at the hand of Loki in The Avengers, which inspired the team to come together and face off with the invading alien army. But then once the proposed ABC series came together, we learned that Gregg would be front and center, which set fans frothing at the mouth to find out how Coulson lives.
Gregg didn’t spill the exact details, but did tease how long fans will have to wait to learn how Coulson survived the seemingly fatal stabbing by Loki. Plus, he reveals the conversation he had with Whedon when he first learned they were bringing Coulson back to life.
Here’s an excerpt from his interview with Collider:
“I’ve been so happy and living this geek fantasy as they kept adding Agent Coulson to everything including The Avengers and then gave him this magnificent, almost Shakespearean death scene, and I found out on that day how much I loved this guy and had come to identify with him partly because of the way fans responded to him, and also because he had such a great niche in those movies. He got to be funny, he got to be, in this case, heroic. And then I got to say good-bye to him, and it was a very emotional day. And yet I feel what Joss did with that was a fantastic conclusion of the character.
And even though my friends at Marvel said, ‘You know, we spent a lot of time talking about how Coulson lives, and we know that there’s a movement out there, and there are t-shirts and people paint on bridges ‘Coulson Lives’, we’re going to bring you back’, and it’s one of the many things people tell you that never ever happens. And then I get this call from Joss saying, ‘Well…there’s a script. And here’s what we’re thinking, and it’s after The Avengers, and here’s the concept.’ By the time Joss finished telling me, I was in ... After people see the show, they’ll have some clue as to why I’m still there, still breathing. But I don’t think they’ll know everything.”
Though ABC is keeping mum on the S.H.I.E.L.D. series, it’s expected to debut at some point this fall.
UNDER THE DOME
CBS has released a sneak peek at its upcoming series Under the Dome. Based on the novel by Stephen King, who also serves as executive producer, the show explores what happens when a group of people are cut off from society. Under the Dome takes place in a town called Chester’s Mill, which is trapped underneath a massive barrier. No one can come in, and no one can go out.
According to actress Britt Robertson, who plays Angie McAlister, "Two thousand people secluded. It just gets pretty scary very quickly." In the promo we see blood-soaked hands and a body being dumped into a grave. The isolation must be making everyone a little stir-crazy. Under the Dome also stars Mike Vogel (Bates Motel) as Dale "Barbie" Barbara, former Twilight star Rachelle Lefevre as Julia Shumway and Supernatural's Colin Ford as Joe. The series will run for 13 episodes and is slated to premiere in June.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
The new teaser for the red hot JJ Abrams sequel – starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Chris Pine – will air during Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway this evening.
ACTION-PACKED trailer starring Chris Pine as James Kirk to be revealed during Ant and Dec show.
The explosive new movie – which also star Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Zachery Quinto and Alice Eve – sees the crew of the Enterprise called home to find an insider from within their own organization has destroyed the fleet.
With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction. Star Trek Into Darkness is released on May 17, 2013.
IRON MAN 3
Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel Studios have debuted a new TV spot for Iron Man 3 in which Tony Stark has a little greeting for the Mandarin.
Hitting 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on May 3, the Shane Black-directed action adventure stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau, Ben Kingsley and Wang Xuequi.
The film pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?
THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES
Sony Pictures' Screen Gems has released a new trailer for their upcoming The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, based on the popular fantasy book series by Cassandra Clare.
Set in contemporary New York City, a seemingly ordinary teenager, Clary Fray (Lily Collins), discovers she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of young half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect our world from demons. After the disappearance of her mother (Lena Headey), Clary must join forces with a group of Shadowhunters, who introduce her to a dangerous alternate New York called Downworld, filled with demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves and other deadly creatures. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is set to hit theaters August 23.
APRIL 1, 2013
THE WALKING DEAD
"The Walking Dead" will still have the Governor to contend with next season, and David Morrissey is set to return as a full-time regular. [SPOILERS AHEAD.]
The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that although Morrissey initially signed a single season contract for the "Dead" role, he has been set to return for Season 4. Not knowing in advance whether or not Morrissey would return made the bloody Season 3 finale all the more suspenseful for fans.
The decision to keep the Governor alive after he led Woodbury into battle with Rick Grimes' gang at the prison represents another significant storyline departure from the Robert Kirkman comic books. But just because the Governor survived this fight, doesn't mean his days aren't numbered.
Shocking deaths have become a regular occurrence for the series (so regular it's debatable whether or not they even qualify as "shocking"). During Season 3, "The Walking Dead" killed off characters played by full-time cast members Sarah Wayne Callies, Michael Rooker and Laurie Holden, plus recurring players IronE Singleton and Dallas Roberts.
DOCTOR WHO NEWS
From out of the time vortex come MAJOR SPOILERS!
The official Doctor Who Magazine just made a huge error. Due to the holiday weekend, they sent out their magazine early. What was inside? THIS!
Yes, we can now confirm that two of the biggest names in Doctor Who history, David Tennant and Billie Piper, will be back for the show's 50th anniversary. And the choice of actors is extremely telling. Clearly this means we'll be seeing what happened with Rose and the Doctor Donna, Ten Two, or however you want to refer to the Doctor's half-human clone.
This is HUGE! But does it mean that this is the only reunion we're getting? Or is there more news to come? Stay tuned!
TRUE BLOOD
Yes, Game of Thrones started this Sunday, but what we really want to know now is just when the sixth season of True Blood will make its bloody return to our TV screens, right?
Well, HBO has revealed just when we’ll return to Bon Temps and get to see what’s happening next with our fave faerie-telepathic waitress, Sookie (Anna Paquin), hunky Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard) and newly minted Vampire-God Bill (Stephen Moyer), as well as a score more beloved characters.
And the date is ... June 16!
We’re thrilled to know when we’ll finally get to sink our teeth into season six.
The great news follows in the wake of the real-life drama that arose from the abrupt departure of Alan Ball's showrunner replacement Mark Hudis (in the midst of shooting season six, no less), who was promptly replaced by writer-producer Brian Buckner; plus the release of some pretty cool pics of new guest stars, sci-fi god Rutger Hauer as Macklyn and new resident hunk Rob Kazinsky as Sookie's new faerie boytoy beau Ben.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Jon M. Chu's G.I. Joe: Retaliation opened to a pleasing $132 million at the worldwide box office, one of the best showings ever for the Easter holiday and marking the top international debut of the year so far. G.I. Joe took in $80.3 million overseas and $51.7 million domestically, including $41.2 million for the weekend proper, the second-best domestic Easter gross behind the 2010 Clash of the Titans ($61.2 million). Internationally, G.I. Joe opened 10 percent ahead of Oz the Great and Powerful, which debuted earlier this month to $69.9 million.
In North America, Paramount opened the action bonanza -- headlining franchise newcomers Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis -- on Thursday to get a jump on the holiday weekend. The sequel, earning an A- CinemaScore, came much closer than expected to matching the $54.7 million bow of G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, which opened in early August 2009. Males turned out in force, making up 68 percent of the audience.
Overseas, the sequel is doing double the business that Cobra did (that film opened to $92 million globally). It's doing especially well in Russia ($11 million), Latin America and Asia, where 3D remains a popular format. IMAX theaters generated $7 million of the total global gross.
The successful opening of G.I. Joe vindicates Paramount for deciding to push back the film's release from summer 2012 in order to convert it to 3D and refashion Channing Tatum's role so that the actor has more scenes.
"Clearly this was a movie that felt like it should be in 3D, so Jon Chu went back and did an excellent job in making that happen," said Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore. "Certain parts of the story also needed to be massaged, and Adam Goodman and his team worked with Jon to get it to a great place."
Paramount financed and produced the film with MGM and Skydance Productions in association with Hasbro. Producers are Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Brian Goldner.
The studio says it minimized its risk overall by keeping G.I. Joe's budget to roughly $130 million; Cobra cost at least $175 million. Paramount put up half the money for the sequel, while MGM and David Ellison's Skydance each put up a 25 percent share. Stereo D covered the cost of the 3D conversion and will get a percentage of the 3D grosses.
Animated event pic The Croods, from DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox, jumped the $200 million mark in its second weekend. The family pic came in No. 2 domestically, grossing $26.5 million for a 10-day cume of $88.6 million. Overseas, Croods took in $52.5 million for a worldwide total of $229.1 million.
Opening on Good Friday in North America were writer-director Tyler Perry's sultry thriller Temptation -- a marked departure from the filmmaker's comedic fare -- and director Andrew Niccol's sci-fi thriller The Host, adapted from Twilight author Stephenie Meyer's novel.
From Lionsgate, Temptation opened to a pleasing $22.3 million to place No. 3. Women fueled the film's performance, with females making up 70 percent of the audience and moviegoers over the age of 25 making up 79 percent of those buying tickets.
Receiving an A- CinemaScore, Temptation stars Jurnee Smollett-Bell (Friday Night Lights) as a restless marriage counselor who begins a dangerous affair with a social media mogul (Robbie Jones). Lance Gross, Kim Kardashian, Vanessa Williams also star.
"There's no fatigue at all for Tyler Perry," Lionsgate executive vice president of distribution David Spitz
said.
Lionsgate targeted women and African-Americans in marketing the film. The studio also took advantage of Kardashian's celebrity profile.
It is the fourth Perry film that Lionsgate has released over Easter weekend.
The Host, starring Saoirse Ronan, Max Irons and Jake Abel, opened to a so-so $11 million. Coming in No. 6, the film received an B- CinemaScore.
Open Road Films is distributing the film on behalf of producers Nick Wechsler, Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz and Inferno Entertainment. Meyer also is a producer and has tirelessly promoted the project, which marks her first post-Twilight outing.
Set in a society where parasitic aliens known as "Souls" inhabit humans, The Host is appealing primarily to females (Meyer's fan base). The story follows a "Soul" who finds it impossible to entirely banish the human girl she inhabits.
Among holdovers, White House pic Olympus Has Fallen came in No. 4 in its second frame, grossing $14 million for a domestic total of $54.7 million for FilmDistrict and Millennium.
Disney's Oz the Great and Powerful jumped the $400 million in its fourth weekend of play at the global box office. The tentpole, placing No. 5 in North America, has now earned $198.3 million domestically and $214 million internationally for a total $412.3 million, by far the best showing of 2013 to date.
Harmony Korine's dark indie comedy Spring Breakers placed No. 9, grossing $2.8 million for a domestic total of $10.1 million for A24 Films.
Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond the Pines, starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Eva Mendes, made headlines at the specialty box office. Opening in four theaters, the Focus Features film grossed $270,184 for a location average of $67,546, easily the best average of Easter weekend and the second best of the year so far after Spring Breakers.
"We're thrilled," said Focus distribution chief Jack Foley, who reported sold out shows in theaters such as the Landmark in West Los Angeles.
The film's strong domestic launch should help its overseas run. Sidney Kimmel financed and produced the film, with Sierra/Affinity handling international sales.
Filmmaker Rodney Ascher's documentary Room 237, examining the various theories about the hidden messages in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining opened on two screens in New York, grossing $36,000 for a location average of $36,000. From IFC Films, the doc opens in Los Angeles and other major markets next weekend.
Below are the top 10 estimates for the March 29-31 weekend at the domestic box office.
Title, weeks in release/theater count, studio, three-day weekend total, cume
1. G.I. Joe: Retaliation, 1/3,719, Paramount/MGM/Skydance, $41.2 million, $51.7 million
2. The Croods, 2/4,046, Fox/DreamWorks Animation, $26.5 million, $88.6 million
3. Tyler Perry's Temptation, 1/2,047, Lionsgate, $22.3 million
4. Olympus Has Fallen, 2/3,106, Lionsgate/Millennium, $14 million, $54.7 million
5. Oz the Great and Powerful, 4/3,324, Disney, $11.6 million, $198.3 million
6. The Host, 1/3,202, Open Road Films, $11 million
7. The Call, 3/2,439, Sony/TriStar, $4.8 million, $39.5 million
8. Admission, 2/2,161, Focus Features, $3.3 million, $11.8 million
9. Spring Breakers, 3/1,379, A24 Films, $2.8 million, $10.1 million
10. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, 3/1,575, Warner Bros./New Line, $1.3 million, $20.6 million
ARROW
Although executive producer Marc Guggenheim and his "Arrow" took to the WonderCon stage this afternoon in Anaheim, California, they were relatively tight-lipped as far spoilers go for the future of the series. Guggenheim did, however, let slip one big surprise for the 21st episode.
"Episode 21 is the first time we flashback to a point that wasn't on the island," he says. "We'll be flashing back to before the ill-fated boat trip."
He goes on to say that the flashbacks will allow for actor Colin Salmon to reprise his role as Oliver Queen's stepfather Walter Steele.
The panel also revealed a new sizzle reel, featuring footage from upcoming episodes.
Starring Stephen Amell, Willa Holland Katie Cassidy, Colin Donnell, David Ramsey, Susanna Thompson and Paul Blackthorne, "Arrow" airs on the CW Wednesday nights.
UNDER THE DOME
You'll find the text-heavy second teaser for Under the Dome, the upcoming CBS mini-series based on the novel by Stephen King.
This 13-part adaptatioon stars Chad Vogel, Dean Norris, Jolene Purdy, Nicholas Strong, Britt Robertson, Aisha Hinds, Alex Koch, Natalie Martinez and Colin Ford and concerns an invisible force field that descends upon the small town of Chester's Mill.
The first episode airs on June 24th.
SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 2013
DOCTOR WHO RECAP
"Doctor Who" is back and Clara Oswald is finally here to stay (at least as long as any companion is ever here to stay on "Doctor Who").
The midseason premiere episode "The Bells of Saint John" faced the tricky task of introducing Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara a third time -- following her debut as Oswin in "Asylum of the Daleks" and return as Clara in "The Snowmen." And Coleman still seems like a perfect fit for the role, but the hour couldn't help but suffer in comparison to those two more engaging, bigger canvas stories.
The central plot of "The Bells of Saint John" was a bit of a misfire despite an intriguing premise ("Suppose there was something living in the wi-fi harvesting human minds") and a couple of reliably delightful action set pieces (the Doctor landing the TARDIS aboard a crashing plane and waking up the pilots; and riding the motorcycle up the side of London skyscraper The Shard -- the kind of stunt Tom Cruise would kill for).
It was never quite clear how this wi-fi body snatching worked or what the purpose was, and the "Spoonhead" monsters were rather forgettable. Fortunately, the hour worked a lot better as an excuse to send the Doctor and Clara on an adventure, convince Clara that hanging out with this guy might be fun, and drop a few clues (or maybe red herrings) about what exactly is going on with "the woman twice dead."
Matt Smith has terrific chemistry with Coleman, and it's a fun change of pace to see a character who is a bit skeptical of the Doctor. I think it's easy for many Whovians to imagine jumping at the chance to take a trip in the TARDIS, but those without any previous knowledge of the Doctor might not be so easily seduced. And that's the fun of the Doctor/Clara relationship -- at least for now. He's desperate to uncover the mystery of who she is, and why he keeps running into her. He's the one who needs to convince her to come along, instead of the typical companion eager to convince the Doctor she's up to the task.
And then there were the tantalizing clues (Clara telling the Doctor she got his number from a woman in a shop and not recognizing the name "Oswin"; the numbers 16 and 23 missing from the ages the Doctor sees in Clara's book of 101 Places to See) and wink-wink references (the author of the book Clara's charge was reading? Amelia Williams -- that's Amy Pond, if you forgot her formal married name) that provided enough subtle pleasures to make up for the faulty main story.
Also, the final reveal of guest star Richard E. Grant as The Great Intelligence (the faceless terror behind the events of "The Snowmen," in which Grant played Dr. Simeon) suggested we may have found our Big Bad for the Doctor and Clara to defeat.
REVOLUTION
Following the show’s spring return last Monday, "Revolution" fans plugged into today’s WonderCon panel session featuring stars Billy Burke, Elizabeth Mitchell, Tracy Spiridakos, Zak Orth, David Lyons, Daniella Alonso and Tim Guinee, as well as co-executive producer David Rambo. Fans in attendance also got an advance look at footage from upcoming episodes, via an exclusive highlight reel prepared specifically for WonderCon. Check out the preview below! http://www.comingsoon.net/news/wonderconnews.php?id=102175.
CITY OF BONES
Sony Pictures launched its WonderCon film presentation panels today with a look at the upcoming The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, based on the popular fantasy book series by Cassandra Clare.
Clare joined stars Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower and Kevin Zegers on stage to discuss the adaptation and revealed that she herself gets to cameo in one scene. Fans should be on the lookout for her wearing cat ears during Magnus Bane's (Godfrey Gao) party.
The panel saw the debut of the film's new trailer which plays heavily on the theme of worlds colliding, showing Clary's life before becoming aware of the Shadowhunters at a nightclub. There's also quite a bit of narration by Hodge Starkweather (Jared Harris), explaining some of the rules of the fantasy world.
The trailer includes a few scenes played for jokes, including one where an old friend of Clary's sees her in the street clad in her Shadowhunter gear. Even though she's surrounded by the rest of her team, the guy can't see them and remarks about how different she looks.
"The werewolves are here to save us," says one of the characters, pausing to consider his words, "I never thought I would say that."
As for the future of the franchise, Collins is eager to return for sequels.
"If you'll have me as Clary," she laughs, "I'm willing to be a redhead for awhile." The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones will hit theaters August 23. Check back soon for our exclusive WonderCon interview with Collins.
SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 2013
HEMLOCK GROVE "Hemlock Grove" is making a gruesome splash on WonderCon weekend. In a video clip that premiered on IGN, Famke Janssen's character, Olivia Godfrey, looks on with frightening satisfaction as a handsome young man makes his slow and terrifying transformation into a werewolf. (Sorry the clip was age-restricted so I have not posted it.)
The show, which released its official poster earlier this month, uses the tagline, "The monster is within." And based on this preview, it's not just a saying. After the dude's eyeballs pop out on to the ground to be replaced by beady wolf eyes, and after claws protrude from what used to be his human hands, the face of the beast emerges straight from his face as bloody human teeth hit the ground in piles. It almost makes you forget about what just happened to the guy's back ... Almost.
The premise of "Hemlock Grove" -- brought to you by Eli Roth ("Grindhouse," "Hostel") and based on the novel by Brian McGreevy -- is a murder mystery surrounding the brutal death of 17-year-old Brooke Bluebell. The investigation into Brooke's murder uncovers a seamy side of the former Pennsylvania steel town, wherein every person -- and creature -- is a suspect. The show promises to be graphic, and if this teaser is any indication, Roth will deliver on the promise. "Hemlock Grove" will air exclusively on Netflix. All 13 episodes of Season 1 become available April 19.
TRUE BLOOD
HBO has just announced when fans of "True Blood" can expect to get their fill of Southern-fried supernatural goodness this summer.
Season 6 of the cable hit will premiere on Sunday, June 16 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO. This season, 10 episodes of will air, opposed to the usual 12-episode cycle, due to star Anna Paquin's pregnancy.
The upcoming season will see a slew of new faces in Bon Temps, including British actor Rob Kazinsky as a new love interest for Sookie and Rutger Hauer as Macklyn, "a mysterious and sinister figure with deep ties to Sookie and Jason." Additional actors joining the show include Jurnee Smollett-Bell ("Friday Night Lights"), Karolina Wydra and Luke Grimes ("Brothers & Sisters").
THE KILLING
AMC announced today that the critically acclaimed drama "The Killing" will return for its third season with a two-hour premiere on Sunday, June 2 at 8:00 p.m ET/PT. The new season, which stars Mireille Enos (Sarah Linden) and Joel Kinnaman (Stephen Holder) along with new cast members Peter Sarsgaard, Elias Koteas and Amy Seimetz, is executive produced by series creator Veena Sud, and will focus on a new case, which will be resolved over the course of ten episodes, ending with a gripping two-hour finale.
Season three begins one year after the close of the "Rosie Larsen" case (the focus of the series' first two seasons) with Sarah Linden (Enos) no longer working as a detective. But when her ex-partner Stephen Holder's (Kinnaman) search for a runaway girl leads him to discover a gruesome string of murders that connects to a previous murder investigation by Linden, she is drawn back into the life she thought she'd left behind.
"We learned so much from the first two seasons of 'The Killing' and are thrilled to be bringing it back with the elements that the fans loved," said Charlie Collier, president & general manager, AMC. "Veena's captivating storytelling along with the performances of Joel and Mireille, and the rest of the exemplary cast, will remind audiences of what they loved about the series and provide a season of suspenseful television."
Added David Madden, president of Fox Television Studios, "From the beginning, Veena Sud has invested 'The Killing' with some of the richest characters on television, testing and sometimes trampling the traditions of the television procedural - and we're indebted to AMC for the opportunity to present a third season. We're particularly excited by the new moves of our returning leads, 'Sarah' and 'Holder,' brought to life so beautifully by Mireille and Joel, as well as the addition to our stellar cast of Peter Sarsgaard in his television series debut, the brilliant Elias Koteas and Amy Seimetz, and a cluster of newcomers whom we hope will dazzle the audience as this new season unfolds."
Said executive producer and series creator Veena Sud, "I am grateful to AMC, Fox TV Studios and Netflix for their commitment to the show and their efforts in bringing 'The Killing' back to air. I'm also thrilled to be working with our incredible writing team as we continue to explore the lives of 'Sarah' and 'Holder,' who, like so many real-life detectives, grapple with the consequences to their own lives of a no-holds-barred immersion in the world of a homicide investigation." "The Killing" is produced by Fox Television Studios and executive produced by Veena Sud, Mikkel Bondesen, for Fabrik Entertainment, Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin. Kristen Campo and Ron French serve as co-executive producers.
As previously announced by Fox Television Studios, which produces the series for AMC, and Netflix, "The Killing" season three will be available to Netflix members three months after the season finale airs on AMC.
FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013
WORLD WAR Z
If you’ve seen any of the trailers for Brad Pitt’s oft-delayed zombie epic World War Z, one thing probably stood out pretty quickly. The zombies function more like swarming ants, as opposed to the shambling undead. So why did they make the change?
Pitt chatted with Entertainment Weekly about why they switched to what many fans have called a pretty weird style of zombie, and said the change was made to differentiate World War Z from all the other zombie movies and TV shows out there.
Here’s his explanation, via Indiewire:
“The book focused on slow zombies. We chose to be more dynamic in that we wanted to base all of this on science. So it’s ‘What if we had them move like ants? Or a swarm of bees? Or birds or a school of fish that’s being chased?’ One of the first [questions] we asked was how to portray the zombies and how to do it differently because it’s been done so many times and been done pretty damn well.”
Well, they’ve definitely pinned down a very different look when compared to other zombie movies, though the jury is still out over whether that’s actually a good thing. The trailers are intriguing, but we’ll have to wait and see if those FX can stand up for a full two-hour movie.
DOCTOR WHO 50th ANNIVERSARY
The first casting news for Doctor Who’s upcoming 50th-anniversary special has been revealed!
The only downside is, it’s not any former Doctors, nor even former companions, but brand-new characters.
According to actor Ken Bones' CV—he was most recently seen in the BBC's revival of Upstairs Downstairs and will appear in Starz’s upcoming DaVinci’s Demons as well as the BBC's upcoming new fantasy series Atlantis—he is playing a character that is simply called the General.
A newcomer actor by the name of Orlando James (not to be confused with Orlando Jones) will play a character called Lord Bentham.
Also, and according to his agents, an actor by the name of Marshall Griffin has been cast on Doctor Who's upcoming big 5.0, but there’s no name for his character just yet.
ONCE: WONDERLAND
ABC's Once Upon a Time pilot presentation -- now called Once: Wonderland -- has cast its Alice.
English-born Australian actress Sophie Lowe has landed the Alice in Wonderland role in the network's Alice in Wonderland-themed spinoff, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Additionally, relative newcomer Peter Gadiot has been cast as Alice's mysterious love interest, Cyrus, in the project from Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.
The duo joins Michael Socha, who was cast earlier Thursday as the Knave of Hearts.
The Once team -- including EPs Jane Espenson, Zero Hour's Zack Estrin and Steve Pearlman -- will shoot a short "teaser" presentation in April and, should it move to pilot, shoot that in late July or August.
Lowe's Alice is described as young but having lived a hard and long life and carrying those scars on her psyche. Underneath it all, she has a generous heart that she tries to keep hidden. Gadiot's Cyrus, meanwhile, will play Alice's love interest with a background shrouded in mystery. Still to be cast are the mysterious Amahl and the White Rabbit, which will likely be animated with voiceover.
Lowe's credits include the Australian drama The Slap and episodes of Satisfaction, as well as features Two Mothers, The Philosophers and Blame. She's repped by CAA and Shanahan Management.
Gadiot's credits include an episode of My Spy Family and features Night Wolf and The Forbidden Girl. He's repped by Jonathan Arun and Industry Entertainment.
ZOMBIELAND
Amazon Studios has debuted, via The Huffington Post, a teaser poster for the upcoming "Zombieland" pilot.
"Zombieland" is based on the hit Columbia Pictures movie of the same name, and finds four survivors outwitting zombies and searching for a place to call home. The "Zombieland" pilot comes from the feature film's original creative team, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (G.I. Joe: Retaliation, "The Joe Schmo Show"), and producer Gavin Polone ("Gilmore Girls," "Curb Your Enthusiasm"). Eli Craig (Tucker and Dale vs. Evil) is directing the pilot.
The part of Tallahassee will be played by Kirk Ward (The Island), Maiara Walsh ("Desperate Housewives," "Switched at Birth") is cast as Wichita, Tyler Ross (Milkshake) will play Columbus, and Izabela Vidovic has the role of Little Rock. "Zombieland" is the seventh comedy pilot added to Amazon's pilot line-up, will be made available (along with the other six comedy pilots and six children's pilots) for free on Amazon Instant Video and LOVEFiLM UK. Customers are invited to view the pilots and then review them on the site; customer feedback will help determine which of the 13 pilots Amazon Studios will make into full-season productions, to air on Prime Instant Video.
STAR TREK VIDEO GAME
Since the reptilian Gorn are set to serve as the primary antagonists in the upcoming Star Trek: The Video Game, NAMCO Bandai Games has just debuted a new ad that reunites William Shatner with his "Arena" co-star.
In the game, you play as Kirk and Spock whose battles will take you into familiar locations, like the bridge, transporter room and the engine room – but also deep into many areas of the ship that have never been seen on film before, including the Enterprise’s turbolift shafts, observation lounge, engineering decks and officer’s quarters. This epic action adventure features an original storyline and provides immersive co-op gameplay.
The producers and development team of Star Trek: The Video Game worked closely with the entire creative team responsible for the re-imagined 2009 blockbuster Star Trek film to ensure what players see will look and feel remarkably authentic. Star Trek: The Video Game will be released on April 23, 2013 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
INTERSTELLAR
Matthew McConaughey has allegedly been offered the leading role in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. Deadline reports that the actor would play a character named Cooper.
Directed and written by Nolan, Interstellar is based on a script by Jonathan Nolan. The film will be produced by Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan of Syncopy Films and Obst of Lynda Obst Productions. Kip Thorne will executive produce. The film will depict a heroic interstellar voyage to the furthest reaches of our scientific understanding.
McCanaughey, who recently starred in Killer Joe, The Paperboy, and Magic Mike, can soon be seen in Mud, The Dallas Buyers Club and The Wolf of Wall Street. Interstellar is set for a November 7, 2014 release.
THIS WEEKEND -- WONDER CON NEWS UPDATE:
"White Collar" star Matt Bomer, the voice of Superman, at the World Premiere of "Superman: Unbound" on Friday at WonderCon in Anaheim.
Mr. Bomer will participate in the post-premiere panel discussion alongside Molly Quinn ("Castle"), director/producer James Tucker, screenwriter Bob Goodman and dialogue director Andrea Romano.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will bookend the WonderCon weekend of March 29-31 in Anaheim with animated film adventures featuring DC Comics' greatest heroes, first presenting the World Premiere of Superman: Unbound as Friday night's marquee event, then capping Sunday's programming with a screening of LEGO Batman: The Movie - DC Superheroes Unite.
Both presentations will be supported with expansive post-screening panel discussions by cast and filmmakers, autograph opportunities for fans, and interview opportunities for media in attendance.
On Friday, March 29 at 6:00 p.m., fans lucky enough to gain admission to the Anaheim Convention Center's Arena will witness the World Premiere of Superman: Unbound, the latest DC Universe Animated Original Movie. A destructive force is devastating planets across the galaxy - with Earth next in its sights - and even Superman may not be capable of halting the destruction alone. Based on the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank 2008 DC Comics release "Superman: Brainiac," the film's stellar voicecast is led by Matt Bomer (White Collar) as Superman, John Noble (Fringe, The Lord of the Rings films) as Brainiac, Molly Quinn (Castle) as Supergirl and Stana Katic (Castle) as Lois Lane. Quinn will be on hand to lead the post-premiere panel discussion alongside producer/director James Tucker (Justice League, Batman: The Brave and the Bold), screenwriter Bob Goodman (Warehouse 13, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns) and eight-time Emmy Award-winning dialogue director Andrea Romano (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns). As always, the panel discussion will include exclusive prizes and some potential glimpses into future DCU animated films by moderator Gary Miereanu. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Superman: Unbound will be released on Blu-ray, DVD, OnDemand and For Download on May 7, 2013.
Prior to the premiere, the Superman: Unbound panelists will sign WonderCon-exclusive mini-posters from 3:00-4:00 p.m. at the DC Entertainment booth.
On Sunday, March 31 at 2:00 p.m. in Room 300AB, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will present the first West Coast screening of LEGO Batman: The Movie - DC Superheroes Unite. The ultimate blend of action and humor guaranteed to entertain fanboys of all ages, LEGO Batman: The Movie - DC Superheroes Unite finds Lex Luthor taking jealousy to new heights when fellow billionaire Bruce Wayne wins the Man of the Year Award. To top Wayne's accomplishment, Lex begins a campaign for President - and to create the atmosphere for his type of fear-based politics, he recruits the Joker to perfect a Black LEGO Destructor Ray. While wreaking havoc on Gotham, Lex successfully destroys Batman's technology - forcing the Caped Crusader to reluctantly turn to Superman for help.
A lively panel discussion will follow the screening featuring TT Animation's award-winning director/producer Jon Burton and renowned videogame/animation actors Troy Baker (Bioshock Infinite, Batman: Arkham City), Travis Willingham (Avengers Assemble, The Super Hero Squad Show), Christopher Smith (Mortal Combat vs. DC Universe), Charlie Schlatter (Diagnosis Murder) and Laura Bailey (The Super Hero Squad Show). Once again, special prizes will be awarded to a lucky few audience members by moderator Gary Miereanu.
Prior to the screening/panel, LEGO Batman: The Movie - DC Superheroes Unite panelists will sign WonderCon-exclusive mini-posters from Noon-12:45 p.m. at the DC Entertainment booth.
From TT Animation, creators of the best-selling video game upon which the film is based, LEGO Batman: The Movie - DC Superheroes Unite will be released May 21, 2013 via Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on Blu-ray and DVD.
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2013
WONDER CON NEWS
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and DC Entertainment will start of production on the all-new documentary, "Necessary Evil: Villains of DC Comics". The Joker, Bane, Deathstroke, Darkseid and Lex Luthor -- the scariest and most menacing villains in DC Comics' universe -- take center stage in a brand new full-length documentary from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) and DC Entertainment (DCE). The joint announcement was made yesterday by WBHE and DCE.
Fans attending WonderCon this Saturday, March 30 have the opportunity to become part of the documentary. From 10:30am-Noon, the documentary crew will be filming in and around the DC Booth at the Anaheim Convention Center -- seeking video and interviews with fans attired as their favorite DC Comics' villain. So dress your best.
DOCTOR WHO
The Doctor tells us bow ties are still cool ... but being a monk is definitely not.
That’s what we learned in three brand-new Doctor Who clips from the upcoming season seven returning episode “The Bells of Saint John.”
The first two clips are snippets from the episode itself—with the first one featuring Matt Smith dressed as a monk. (Which reminded us of the Doctor’s fellow Time Lord the Meddling Monk for some reason. Must be the monk robes.) Let’s just say our beloved Mad Man in the Big Blue Box is not overly fond of the garment.
The second clip lets you meet a certain evil character named Miss Kizlet.
The third clip has Jenna-Louise Coleman and Matt Smith introducing the episode.
Annnd we just can’t wait. Doctor Who finally returns this Saturday. Geronimo!
TRANSFORMERS 4
Michael Bay is trying to shake up the tone of his Transformers franchise by adding Mark Wahlberg as the new headliner, but don’t worry, he’ll still have a young leading lady in the line up.
Forget Megan Fox and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, the former on-screen girlfriends of Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky in the first three Transformers movies. For Transformers 4, Bay has tapped 18-year-old actress Nicola Peltz for a key role, likely the daughter of Wahlberg’s character.
Peltz already has two genre roles under her belt, via The Last Airbender and creepy new A&E series Bates Motel, but can she muster proper reactiony faces to all the explosions and ridiculous FX to come? Who knows, and only time will tell if she has the leading lady chops to lead a Michael Bay tentpole.
Peltz’s character will likely be the girlfriend of a young race car driving character played by Jack Reynor, at least according to some early storyline reports.
PACIFIC RIM
Following this week's debut of the Coyote Tango and Cherno Alpha posters comes a third Jaegar design from Guillermo del Toro's upcoming Pacific Rim. This one, hailing from China, is the Crimson Typhoon.
Opening in 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on July 12, Pacific Rim stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Ron Perlman, Robert Kazinsky, Max Martini, Clifton Collins, Jr., Burn Gorman, Larry Joe Campbell, Brad William Henke and Diego Klattenhoff.
When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity's resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)—who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.
THE SECRET SERVICE
It's no secret that X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn has been keen to bring Mark Millar's Marvel Icon series to the big screen. Originally set up at Universal Pictures, Deadline is today reporting that Twentieth Century Fox has secured the rights to a big screen adaptation.
The series, illustrated by Dave Gibbons, tells the story of a British secret agent who recruits and begins to train his rebellious nephew.
“Secret Service is [about] the ramifications of [how] America is struggling on the world stage," Millar wrote of the series in its original solicitation. "Funding is being seriously undercut to balance the books and some people are trying their best to take advantage of the fragile global situation. The hero and sidekick guys who lead the book are, I think, the best characters I’ve written.”
Although casting is likely still a ways off, Millar previously confirmed that he and Vaughn want Mark Hamill to appear as himself, as he does in the comic. The Secret Service is set to begin production in August for a November 14, 2014 release. At this time, it is the only major release scheduled for that day.
YESTERDAY'S BREAKING NEWS - SENSE8
Netflix signs up The Matrix, Babylon 5 creators to develop a new sci-fi series: Sense8
Continuing its quest to sate subscribers' appetites with a flow of original content, Netflix has announced a new original series, Sense8. Due in late 2014, it's being developed by the Wachowskis of The Matrix, V for Vendetta, Cloud Atlas and Speed Racer fame, as well as J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5. Details are thin, but the press release promises a gripping global tale of minds linked and souls hunted with a ten episode run for its first season.
As it did with House of Cards, Arrested Development and other productions, Netflix is relying heavily on data from viewers to decide which programs to support. According to chief content officer Ted Sarandos, "Andy and Lana Wachowski and Joe Straczynski are among the most imaginative writers and gifted visual storytellers of our time," whose creations are very frequently viewed on the service. According to the creators themselves, they've sought to work together for a decade, and this idea started from a late night conversation about "the ways technology simultaneously unites and divides us." If that's not enough for now, then there are a few more details and quotes in the press release, which is included after the break.
Go to http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/27/netflix-wachowskis-sense8/ to read the Press Release.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2013
BREAKING NEWS
Netflix signs up The Matrix, Babylon 5 creators to develop a new sci-fi series: Sense8
Continuing its quest to sate subscribers' appetites with a flow of original content, Netflix has announced a new original series, Sense8. Due in late 2014, it's being developed by the Wachowskis of The Matrix, V for Vendetta, Cloud Atlas and Speed Racer fame, as well as J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5. Details are thin, but the press release promises a gripping global tale of minds linked and souls hunted with a ten episode run for its first season.
As it did with House of Cards, Arrested Development and other productions, Netflix is relying heavily on data from viewers to decide which programs to support. According to chief content officer Ted Sarandos, "Andy and Lana Wachowski and Joe Straczynski are among the most imaginative writers and gifted visual storytellers of our time," whose creations are very frequently viewed on the service. According to the creators themselves, they've sought to work together for a decade, and this idea started from a late night conversation about "the ways technology simultaneously unites and divides us." If that's not enough for now, then there are a few more details and quotes in the press release, which is included after the break.
Go to http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/27/netflix-wachowskis-sense8/ to read the Press Release.
ZOMBIELAND
The awesome horror comedy Zombieland is coming back to life, and now we have out first look at the new cast as they continue to search for Twinkies and kill the undead.
The hit 2009 movie was originally conceived as a TV show, but after the networks passed, the writers reworked it for a feature film. After the movie rocked the box office, studios were once again interested in making a small-screen version, and now we finally have our first look at Amazon's online Zombieland series.
It’s amazing when things come full circle.
Since most of the original cast have gone off to become bona fide movie stars (Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, etc.), the Amazon pilot has recast all the main roles for the small screen. The pic above shows the new cast in action, including: Wichita (Maiara Walsh), Columbus (Tyler Ross), Little Rock (Izabela Vidovic) and Tallahassee (Kirk Ward).
Creator Paul Wernick seems pretty excited to bring the franchise to its original medium, and said he believes the sitcom-style format should be a good fit:
“Zombieland will strive to break the rules—action, adventure, thrills, chills and laughs and all packed into a half hour format. This is not your average show but Amazon is not your average network.”
In a pretty cool twist, Amazon has opted to post the pilot (and 12 others) online to allow viewers to vote on which projects they want to see receive a series order. The company says “customer feedback” will determine which shows move forward.
So, once the pilot goes live, be sure and let Amazon know what you think.
CONTINUIUM RENEWED
It’s official: Syfy is bringing Continuum back for a second season, and now we know when the time-traveling sci-fi drama will be back in action.
After spending the last few months on the Monday drama block with Being Human and Lost Girl, the Canadian import will slide over to Friday beginning June 7 at 10 p.m. with its second-season premiere.
The second season will consist of 13 episodes, up from 10 in the first season, and will continue the adventures of future cop Kiera Cameron (Rachel Nichols) as she tracks a terrorist organization in modern-day Vancouver. It’s a smart show, and is just starting to scratch the surface of its intriguing time-travel premise.
During its first season, the series delivered 1.35 million total viewers (644,000 adults 25-54 and 537,000 adults 18-49), ranking No. 6 in adults 25-54 and No. 10 in adults 18-49 among all cable entertainment programs with at least three telecasts in its time period.
Since it’s shot in Vancouver, the series is a who’s who of small screen sci-fi stars. The show features and has featured Victor Webster (Castle), Erik Knudsen (Jericho), Tony Amendola (Stargate SG-1), Lexa Doig (Andromeda), William B. Davis (The X-Files) and Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica), among others.
BEING HUMAN Being Human's taking a break from all the blood and gore to focus on romance. What do you get when you mix two werewolves, a vampire and a rotting corpse? Josh and Nora's wedding!
The couple's decided to bump up their ceremony so Sally can be part of the festivities. Over at EW, they've published two photos from the upcoming episode that features their exchanging of vows.
The episode's entitled "Always a Bridesmaid, Never Alive." It's fitting, considering the drama surrounding their maid of honor. Will the wedding go as planned, or will an unexpected force step in and ruin everything? Your guess is as good as ours. There's only one episode left until the season finale. Being Human airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Syfy.
DOCTOR WHO
One of Doctor Who's unexpected mysteries finally gets explained.
When details began to emerge for last year's Christmas special, The Snowmen, we were really surprised to see Sontaran nurse Strax among the characters appearing. Didn't he die during the battle at Demon's Run? If he didn't die, then how did he survive? And what's he doing in Victorian England with Madame Vastra and Jenny?
Behold -- the answer, at long last, awaits you!
While it may not be the most necessary story, we really enjoy the goofy comedy that Strax brings to the Who formula.
GAME OF THRONES
HBO has released an exciting new Game of Thrones season three promo that has lots of ice and fire and Dany’s mighty fiery cool dragons.
The 30-second spot has some new snippets of footage, including those magnificent, magnificent dragons, and a blink-or-you’ll-miss-it terrifying wight (aka Westeros’ equivalent of a Walking Dead icicled zombie).
But nothing really compares to that last shot that’s filled with Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) mighty dragons flying into the air. Priceless.
Have an epic look at the Mother Of Dragons’ growing beauties making some kababs.
INDEPENDENCE DAY SEQUEL
Nearly 17 years after the original hit theaters, a two-film sequel to Roland Emmerich's Independence Day is in the planning stages. Tentatively titled ID Forever, Part I and ID Forever, Part II, the film will, according to a new report from EW, pick up 20 years after the original.
”The humans knew that one day the aliens would come back,” says Emmerich. ”And they know that the only way you can really travel in space is through wormholes. So for the aliens, it could take two or three weeks, but for us that’s 20 or 25 years.”
Emmerich goes to say that, while Bill Pullman is set to reprise his role as President Whitmore, leading man Will Smith has not signed on to return as Captain Steven Hiller. The film will, instead, follow the character's stepson, Dylan, in addition to a number of new, younger leads.
“It’s a changed world," Emmerich says of the world's post-invasion reality. "It’s like parallel history. [Humans] have harnessed all this alien technology. We don’t know how to duplicate it because it’s organically-grown technology, but we know how to take an antigravity device and put it in a human airplane.”
Scripts for both sequels are now being rewritten by James Vanderbilt, who worked with Emmerich on his latest, White House Down, slated to hit theaters June 28.
EDEN
The Fourth Kind writer/director Olatunde Osunsanmi is set to tackle Eden, a sci-fi tale at Gold Circle Productions, says a story at The Hollywood Reporter. Osunsanmi will direct from his own original screenplay.
The storyline takes place in a world where aliens have enslaved humanity. Survivors follow an Underground Railroad-like path called "The Rail" in the hopes of winning their freedom.
Paul Brooks is attached to produce with Guy Danella and Scott Niemeyer serving as executive producers.
Although they share the same title, Eden is unrelated to the just-released Megan Griffiths drama.
TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2013
WOLVERINE
This Wednesday, Fox will release the first trailer for The Wolverine. But before its debut, director James Mangold has given fans something to tide them over. He released a six-second teaser which features a lot of action in a short amount of time. The biggest reveal is the appearance of Famke Janssen's Jean Grey.
Last fall, the actress coyly teased her return as the mutant telepath. The Wolverine takes place after the events of the original X-Men trilogy. [Spoilers]
In X-Men: The Last Stand, Jean Grey was killed at the hands (or claws) of Logan. Her power was all-consuming and made her reckless. Because of Logan's healing ability, he was the only one who could get close enough to put her out of her misery.
Jean was the love of his life, and her death still haunts him. In the following clip, it seems as if she appears in a vision or flashback. If you look closely, there's also a shot of the Silver Samurai's helmet. There's word that Fox has another 20-second teaser in the pipeline before the full-length one hits. The Wolverine opens in theaters July 26.
STAR WARS: CLONE WARS
It’s never a good thing when a beloved show is canceled, and shutting things down without a proper ending can just seem like adding insult to injury. Hmm, well, we have some bad news, Star Wars: Clone Wars fans.
It’s being reported that the team behind the beloved Cartoon Network CGI series is being disbanded, which isn’t much of a shock since Disney pulled the plug after buying out Lucasfilm.
But here’s the troubling part: It sounds like Disney has no plans to actually wrap up all the dangling storylines in the material that has already been produced for season six before shutting it all down.
At the moment, it seems there is reportedly no “clean resolution” to the arcs surrounding characters Ahsoka Tano and Asajj Ventress. With the development team reportedly being reassigned or laid off, it’s unlikely that’ll change.
According to TheForce.net, the folks at Disney are disbanding the Clone Wars team, with plans to route any future TV shows (animated or live action) through their existing studios. Considering Disney’s sizable infrastructure, this makes sense, but for Clone Wars fans it spells doom.
Of course, this is all just conjecture at the moment, as Disney is being cagey about what exactly will happen with the final season of Clone Wars. Here’s hoping they at least give fans some type of proper finale to the fading, pre-Disney era.
DEFIANCE
Why wait until April 15 when you can watch the first 14 minutes of Syfy's groundbreaking new series Defiance right now?
Set on a post-alien-invasion Earth, the series follows characters both human and alien trying to survive and protect their freedom. In addition to the TV series, the storyline will also continue in a shared-universe videogame of the same name.
The cast includes Grant Bowler (True Blood), Julie Benz (Dexter), Jaime Murray (Warehouse 13), Tony Curran (Blade II) and many others.
The series premieres April 15 at 9/8C, and the game hits shelves April 2.
IRON MAN 3
The action comes fast and furious in a new Iron Man 3 trailer, which shows off the latest edition of Tony Stark’s armor and all those other suits that’ll be flying around in part three.
Debuting at the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards, the latest teaser shows off some more of the banter between Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) and Rhodey (Don Cheadle) to go along with all those massive FX set pieces.
We get to see more of how Stark takes advantage of that nifty Extremis tech, but the most interesting thing is the glimpse we get at what is likely the epic finale. Those are a lot of Iron Man suits, including something that looks a lot like the Hulkbuster Armor. Awesome.
The sequel stars Downey, Cheadle and Gwyneth Paltrow, along with newcomers Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall.
ZOMBIELAND
Amazon Studios is moving forward with its cult-comedy pilot Zombieland.
The move comes as the online player continues to bulk up its original efforts, with its differentiator being a crowd-sourcing pickup strategy. Customers will be able to watch this Sony Pictures TV-produced effort along with 12 other pilots (six comedies, six kids entries) for free and then help determine which of them will be made into full-season productions to air on Prime Instant Video.
“Zombieland is a fan favorite, and we can’t wait to see where this story line goes in a serialized format,” said Amazon Studios director Roy Price in a statement announcing the news Monday. “We’ve been announcing a lot of exciting exclusive content for Prime Instant Video, like Downton Abbey, Under the Dome and Justified, and we think adding original shows to that lineup is going to make Prime even more enticing for customers.”
The pilot, based on the 2009 Columbia Pictures film that starred Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin and Woody Harrelson, follows four survivors outwitting zombies and searching for a place to call home. The pilot, the company's first from a major studio, hails from the movie’s original creative team, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (G.I. Joe: Retaliation, The Joe Schmo Show) and producer Gavin Polone (Gilmore Girls, Curb Your Enthusiasm). Eli Craig (Tucker and Dale vs. Evil) has been tapped to direct the pilot.
“Zombieland will strive to break the rules: action, adventure, thrills, chills and laughs and all packed into a half-hour format,” said Wernick. "This is not your average show, but Amazon is not your average network."
Kirk Ward (The Island) has been cast as Tallahassee, while Maiara Walsh (Desperate Housewives), Tyler Ross (Milkshake) and Izabela Vidovic will play Wichita, Columbus and Little Rock, respectively.
Amazon Studios, which is said to be making pilots that fall into the $1 million budget range (compared with the far-pricier $4 million-plus Netflix efforts), has begun production on its six other comedy pilots: Alpha House, Browsers, Dark Minions, Onion News Empire, Supanatural and Those Who Can’t. On the kids side, the company is working on Creative Galaxy, Oz Adventures, Teeny Tiny Dogs, Tumbleaf, Sara Solves It and The Untitled J.J. Johnson Project.
SCARY MOVIE V
Dimension Films has brought online a new TV spot for their upcoming Scary Movie V.
Hitting theaters on April 12, the spoof comedy stars Ashley Tisdale, Erica Ash, Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen, Simon Rex, Molly Shannon, Terry Crews, Marisa Saks, Heather Locklear, Jasmine Guy, Angie Stone, Kate Walsh, Angela "Big Ang" Raiola, Sherée Whitfield, Mike Tyson, Audrina Patridge, Kendra Wilkinson and Katt Williams.
In the film, snooty, aloof, imperious, and oversexed French dance company director Pierre is putting on a new production. Jody (Tisdale), a Caucasian late-20s mother of two and her late-20s African American friend Kendra (Ash) are both vying for the lead in the production. Jody’s extremely controlling former dancer mother is determined that Jody will have the brilliant career that eluded her. The highly skilled mid-30s Diva veteran dancer with the company, Heather Daltry (Shannon), gets cut from the production and goes berserk.
DIVERGENT
Summit Entertainment announced today that Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Ben Lamb and Christian Madsen have joined the cast of the upcoming Divergent. They join the previously-announced Kate Winslet, Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Zoe Kravitz, Maggie Q, Jai Courtney and Theo James. Divergent is a thrilling adventure set in a future world where people are divided into distinct factions based on their personalities, Tris Prior (Woodley) is warned she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. When she discovers a conspiracy to destroy all Divergents, she must find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it's too late.
Lloyd-Hughes (Great Expectations, The Scapegoat) will play Will, Lamb ("The White Queen") will play Edward and Madsen (Palo Alton) will play Al.
The futuristic action adventure, based on author Veronica Roth’s New York Times bestseller, will be directed by Neil Burger from a script by Vanessa Taylor. The production will commence principal photography this April in Chicago with a script by Evan Daugherty.
Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher are producing the project via their Red Wagon Entertainment banner along with Pouya Shahbazian. Red Wagon’s Rachel Shane is executive producing. Divergent hits theaters on March 21, 2014.
MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013
DOCTOR WHO RUMORS
And the rumor mill is back at it again. Matt Smith, who plays the beloved Eleventh Doctor on the BBC's hit sci-fi series Doctor Who, is apparently set to bow out of the TARDIS sooner rather than later. So when will that happen?
According to an Insider of the Sun (so you guys take this with a bucket of salt for now), it seems that Smith will regenerate into the Twelfth Doctor during the upcoming Christmas episode, following the big 50th-anniversary special.
Their source says that the BBC already know who they want next for the role.
Filming of the Who Xmas special will get underway later while filming for the 50th-anniversary 3D special episode will start next month.
Smith’s contract expires in November, and the actor apparently doesn’t want to renew it. He has recently said on the Jonathan Ross Show last week that: “I am very happy doing it. I do the anniversary special, then the Christmas special. At the moment it’s 2013, and we will see what 2014 holds.”
The Sun insider said: “Matt has told bosses he wants to bow out at Christmas.”
The British actor has filmed his first Hollywood project by playing the lead in Ryan Gosling’s first directing effort, How To Catch A Monster, which will be released next year.
Four years ago, in 2009, when Smith nabbed the role of the famous Time Lord, Smith had gotten a £200,000-a-year deal. Now it’s believed he’s now earning £1million a year, the same salary David Tennant was making when he left the show.
The BBC has issued a statement saying: “Sorry folks but even we don’t know what’s going to happen at Christmas. It’s not been written yet! But Matt loves the show and is to start filming the unmissable 50th anniversary, and the new series starting on Easter Saturday.”
Whether there is any truth in this, we do have to tread carefully. Rumors of Smith's departure have been swirling around ever since he got cast. The same happened when Tennant was on board the TARDIS before Smith.
WORLD WAR Z
Paramount Pictures has released a new black-and-white poster for its upcoming zombie thriller World War Z, starring Brad Pitt, that features a horde of zombies piled high as they attack a helicopter in flight.
The movie centers on a U.N. employee (Pitt) who travels the world in a race against time to stop a pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity.
Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Matthew Fox andDavid Morse also star in World War Z, which hits theaters June 21. Marc Forster directed the film from a script by Matthew Michael Carnahan, who adapted the book by Max Brooks.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
After a slower weekend, the box office rebounded with a strong comeback as three movies grossed more than $20 million for the first time in a month with two of the three new movies bringing in over $30 million each.
DreamWorks Animation's The Croods, their first movie marketed and distributed by 20th Century Fox and featuring the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds and Catherine Keener, opened decently with an estimated $44.7 million, getting a nice weekend bump after an $11.6 million opening day on Friday. This is slightly better than the $43.7 million opening for Croods co-director Chris Sanders' 2010 movie How to Train Your Dragon, which also opened in late March to take advantage of school spring break. With a strong A CinemaScore, the movie should be able to carry its legs through Easter and April via strong word-of-mouth. The Croods also brought in an additional $63.3 million internationally--including $16 million from previews last weekend--to bring its total worldwide gross to $108 million.
Antoine (Training Day) Fuqua's White House invasion movie Olympus Has Fallen (FilmDistrict), starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett and Rick Yune, also fared very well, opening with roughly $30.5 million in 3,098 theaters, averaging just under $10 thousand per location. This was good news for Butler, who was coming off three huge bombs in Chasing Mavericks, Playing for Keeps and the comedy anthology Movie 43. It's also the biggest opening for fledgling distributor FilmDistrict.
After two weeks at #1, Sam Raimi's Wizard of Oz prequel Oz The Great and Powerful, starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams, dropped down to third place with $22 million in its third weekend, bringing its total to $177.6 million. Internationally, the movie has grossed slightly more with $178.8 million bringing its worldwide cume to $356.4 million.
After a solid opening, Halle Berry's thriller The Call (TriStar Pictures) dropped to fourth place with $8.7 million, down 49% from its opening weekend with a $30.9 million gross in ten days.
Despite a ton of television ads, the Tina Fey-Paul Rudd romantic comedy Admission (Focus Features), directed by Paul (In Good Company) Weitz, disappointed with a fifth place opening, earning roughly $6.4 million in over 2,100 theaters. That's the lowest opening for a Tina Fey live action movie despite the success she's had with movies such as Date Night, Baby Mama and Mean Girls, but it's on par with some of Paul Rudd's recent comedies.
After an impressive platform release, Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers (A24), starring Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens and James Franco, expanded nationwide into 1,104 theaters where it took sixth place with $5 million or $4,620 per location.
The less-than-magical comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (New Line/WB) , starring Steve Carell and Jim Carrey, tanked in its second weekend, dropping 58% to seventh place with $4.2 million and $17.3 million total.
Bryan Singer's Jack the Giant Slayer (Warner Bros.) took eighth place with just under $3 million, bringing its total to $59.1 million after four weeks in theaters.
Seth Gordon's hit comedy Identity Thief (Universal) took ninth place with $2.5 million and a total gross of $127.7 million.
Rounding out the Top 10 was Dwayne Johnson's action thriller Snitch (Summit) with $1.9 million as it crossed the $40 million mark.
This week's box office didn't stand much of a chance against the same weekend last year when Lionsgate's The Hunger Games opened with $152.5 million, which was 15% more than this weekend's Top 10 movies combined.
The Aussie musical comedy The Sapphires (The Weinstein Company) finally opened in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles following its year-long festival run, where it grossed $40.9 thousand or $10.2 thousand per site.
TEN GRAND
Writer J. Michael Straczynski wanted to do something special to commemorate the launch of his Joe's Comics at Image Comics. The creator has teamed up with Dynamic Forces to release two variant covers by artist Jae Lee. The covers will be for the first series, TEN GRAND #1 which is set to hit comic store shelves this May.
In addition to the new series TEN GRAND, Straczynski has an entire new line of series and titles prepared to be released under the Joes Comics banner.
Read more over at http://www.comicvine.com/news/exclusive-first-look-j-michael-straczynskis-joe-comics-variant-covers/146226/.
SUNDAY, MARCH 24, 2013
DOCTOR WHO
With one week to go, it's about time we started getting to the real, Gallifreyan meat and potatoes.
So what's the good Doctor been up to since last we saw him? Turns out he's been looking for his old companion. No, not Amy! Clara "Dies almost as much as Rory" Oswald. And where is he looking? Why, on a playground of course! And that's precisely where we pick up with him in this prequel to the latest episode, The Bells of Saint John.
Did you see that twist coming? And what does this tell us about Clara?
GAME OF THRONES
It’s another day and another glorious promo for the upcoming third season of HBO’s Game of Thrones.
Titled “All of Us,” the new trailer is making the rounds on the net and has snippets of brand new/extended scenes that A Song of Ice and Fire book readers will definitely be looking forward to see.
*Hint* There’s THAT bathtub scene and Jaime’s (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) in it. Naked. Preferably. And so will apparently be Brienne! (Gwendoline Christie). Plus that awesome bear makes another appearance. So it's all good.
That looks pretty good to us. Game of Thrones returns on March 31.
OBLIVION
New TV spots for Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion have come online. Oblivion hits theaters and IMAX on April 19.
Starring Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Melissa Leo, the film envisions a spectacular future Earth that has evolved beyond recognition. There, one man's confrontation with the past will lead him on a journey of redemption and discovery as he battles to save mankind.
Jack Harper (Cruise) is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack's mission is nearly complete.
Living in and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above, his soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.
G.I. JOE RETALIATION
Paramount Pictures has brought online a new compilation of clips from their upcoming G.I. Joe Retaliation.
In this sequel, the G.I. Joes are not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence. The film stars D.J. Cotrona, Byung-hun Lee, Adrianne Palicki, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce, Ray Stevenson, Channing Tatum with Bruce Willis and Dwayne Johnson.
The film was directed by Jon M. Chu, and produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Brian Goldner, from a screenplay by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick. G.I. Joe Retaliation hits theaters March 28.
WONDER CON NEWS
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will bookend the WonderCon weekend of March 29-31 in Anaheim with animated film adventures featuring DC Comics' greatest heroes, first presenting the World Premiere of Superman: Unbound as Friday night's marquee event, then capping Sunday's programming with a screening of LEGO Batman: The Movie - DC Superheroes Unite.
Both presentations will be supported with expansive post-screening panel discussions by cast and filmmakers, autograph opportunities for fans, and interview opportunities for media in attendance.
On Friday, March 29 at 6:00 p.m., fans lucky enough to gain admission to the Anaheim Convention Center's Arena will witness the World Premiere of Superman: Unbound, the latest DC Universe Animated Original Movie. A destructive force is devastating planets across the galaxy - with Earth next in its sights - and even Superman may not be capable of halting the destruction alone. Based on the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank 2008 DC Comics release "Superman: Brainiac," the film's stellar voicecast is led by Matt Bomer (White Collar) as Superman, John Noble (Fringe, The Lord of the Rings films) as Brainiac, Molly Quinn (Castle) as Supergirl and Stana Katic (Castle) as Lois Lane. Quinn will be on hand to lead the post-premiere panel discussion alongside producer/director James Tucker (Justice League, Batman: The Brave and the Bold), screenwriter Bob Goodman (Warehouse 13, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns) and eight-time Emmy Award-winning dialogue director Andrea Romano (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns). As always, the panel discussion will include exclusive prizes and some potential glimpses into future DCU animated films by moderator Gary Miereanu. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Superman: Unbound will be released on Blu-ray, DVD, OnDemand and For Download on May 7, 2013.
Prior to the premiere, the Superman: Unbound panelists will sign WonderCon-exclusive mini-posters from 3:00-4:00 p.m. at the DC Entertainment booth.
On Sunday, March 31 at 2:00 p.m. in Room 300AB, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will present the first West Coast screening of LEGO Batman: The Movie - DC Superheroes Unite. The ultimate blend of action and humor guaranteed to entertain fanboys of all ages, LEGO Batman: The Movie - DC Superheroes Unite finds Lex Luthor taking jealousy to new heights when fellow billionaire Bruce Wayne wins the Man of the Year Award. To top Wayne's accomplishment, Lex begins a campaign for President - and to create the atmosphere for his type of fear-based politics, he recruits the Joker to perfect a Black LEGO Destructor Ray. While wreaking havoc on Gotham, Lex successfully destroys Batman's technology - forcing the Caped Crusader to reluctantly turn to Superman for help.
A lively panel discussion will follow the screening featuring TT Animation's award-winning director/producer Jon Burton and renowned videogame/animation actors Troy Baker (Bioshock Infinite, Batman: Arkham City), Travis Willingham (Avengers Assemble, The Super Hero Squad Show), Christopher Smith (Mortal Combat vs. DC Universe), Charlie Schlatter (Diagnosis Murder) and Laura Bailey (The Super Hero Squad Show). Once again, special prizes will be awarded to a lucky few audience members by moderator Gary Miereanu.
Prior to the screening/panel, LEGO Batman: The Movie - DC Superheroes Unite panelists will sign WonderCon-exclusive mini-posters from Noon-12:45 p.m. at the DC Entertainment booth.
From TT Animation, creators of the best-selling video game upon which the film is based, LEGO Batman: The Movie - DC Superheroes Unite will be released May 21, 2013 via Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on Blu-ray and DVD.
SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 2013
RIDDICK
The power of Vin Diesel's throaty voice compels you!
We've been waiting and waiting for the next entry in the Riddick saga. And while we've still got almost half a year yet to go before we finally get to see the entire thing, that doesn't mean we can't get a taste. And that's exactly what this is -- the tiniest of morsels. Let's savor it, shall we?
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
The Heroes in a Half Shell are beginning to come together.
One month after announcing that Megan Fox would join his Ninja Turtles flick, Michael Bay and director Jonathan Liebesman have cast the first of the four turtles. The character is Raphael, and the actor is up-and-comer Alan Ritchson. The 28-year-old's past credits include three seasons on the Spike comedy series Blue Mountain State and a role as one of the ruthless tributes in the forthcoming Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire. But if you're a Smallville fan, you might be more familiar with him as Aquaman.
So after making a name for himself on TV and scoring a supporting role in what's certain to be a major blockbuster, Ritchson's now landed himself one of the leads in a Michael Bay production. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is set to hit theaters in May 2014.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER
Robert Redford is in negotiations to do his first comic book movie.
The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the acting icon appears likely to close his deal with Marvel Studios and join the cast of Captain America: Winter Soldier, which will begin shooting May in locations around the U.S.
Sundance 2013: Festival Founder Robert Redford Addresses Sex, Guns and Family Values
Joe and Anthony Russo are directing the movie, which continues the adventures of Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and will focus on his relationship with sidekick Bucky (Sebastian Stan), who in the comics returns as the brainwashed assassin Winter Soldier.
Sources say that Redford will be playing an older member of secret government agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and one source describes the role as similar to the one played by Ralph Fiennes as M’s replacement in last year’s James Bond movie Skyfall.
EARLY WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Animated tentpole The Croods is off to a solid start at the domestic box office, where it's expected to gross $11 million to $12 million on Friday for a projected weekend opening in the $40 million to $42 million range.
That's welcome news for Jeffrey Katzenberg's DreamWorks Animation, whose previous film Rise of the Guardians was a box-office dud. Wall Street is paying close attention to Croods, with most analysts agreeing that a North American opening of $40 million or more would suffice in combination with a strong international run. Croods, costing at least $135 million to produce, opens around the world this weekend. Insiders tell The Hollywood Reporter that the 3D family film is doing well offshore, though no numbers are yet available.
Following the travails of a prehistoric family, Croods is the first DWA title to be distributed by 20th Century Fox via their new distribution and marketing deal. The voice cast is led by Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone and Nicolas Cage. Croods hopes to benefit from a dearth of family product in the marketplace. It is also aiming to do brisk weekday business because of spring break.
Elsewhere at the domestic box office, Antoine Fuqua's White House action pic Olympus Has Fallen is likewise off to a solid start. The pic, marking something of a comeback for Gerard Butler, is expected to gross north of $9 million on Friday for a weekend debut in the $25 million range, if not more.
FilmDistrict is distributing the Millennium Films title, which cost at least $70 million to produce.
In the film, Butler plays a disgraced presidential guard who is called back into action when North Korean terrorists take over the White House. Roland Emmerich's White House Down, opening in June, is similarly themed. Olympus Has Fallen also stars Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Melissa Leo and Ashley Judd.
The new Paul Weitz comedy Admission, starring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, is expected to earn roughly $2.5 million on Friday for a softish opening in the $6 million to $7.5 million range. Focus Features had hoped for slightly more but believes that the film will benefit from good word of mouth and have solid legs.
Focus' financial exposure is limited considering Admission, playing in more than 2,000 theaters, cost a modest $13 million to produce. The comedy tells the story of a straitlaced Princeton University admissions officer (Fey) whose life takes an unexpected turn when she makes a recruiting trip to an alternative high school run by a former classmate (Rudd).
Harmony Korine's outrageous indie comedy Spring Breakers, which expanded nationwide Friday, isn't that far behind Admission despite only playing in only about 1,100 theaters. The R-rated pic could gross north of $2.1 million on Friday for a weekend gross of $6 million, a victory for upstart distributor A24 Films. Spring Breakers, starring James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson, scored the best limited release of the year last weekend when opening in three theaters in New York and Los Angeles.
FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2013
STARGATE SG-1 GAME
Evil aliens of the universe, watch out: New mobile game Stargate SG-1: Unleashed is officially available for iOS, and all the original cast is back to give it the classic SG-1 feel. Want to see Richard Dean Anderson (Jack O’Neill) and Christopher Judge (Teal’c) back in action?
Well, not exactly in action, but developer Arkalis Interactive has released some new behind-the-scenes clips showing the two beloved actors doing voice work in character. The videos also show off a ton of new game footage, which features the gang we've all come to know and love.
It’s been way, way too long since these guys kicked some Goa’uld ass.
Here’s the synopsis for the game:
Get involved in the action – defeat Jaffa warriors, infiltrate a Goa’uld labor camp, solve cryptic ancient puzzles - and stop a new evil menace before it’s too late!
NEIL GAIMAN AND MARVEL
For the first time in six years, Neil Gaiman's headed back to Marvel Comics, and he's bringing a friend.
The Hugo, Nebula and Eisner Award-winning author who became a comics superstar with his legendary Vertigo series Sandman, has collaborated with writer Brian Michael Bendis on the 10th and final issue of Marvel's Age of Ultron miniseries. The issue, which will drop in June, will conclude the next big Marvel event, and will introduce the Gaiman-co-created character Angela to the Marvel Universe.
This is big news for a number of reasons. For one thing, Angela isn't a Marvel character (or rather, she wasn't a Marvel character). She first appeared in issue #9 of the Todd McFarlane-created Image comic Spawn, one of the company's longest-running and best-selling titles. Sometimes she's Spawn's ally and sometimes she's his nemesis, but her biggest claim to fame is the 10-year legal battle between McFarlane and Gaiman over ownership of the character, which Gaiman first wrote and McFarlane first drew. That dispute ended with a 50-50 split between the two men, and while we don't know how McFarlane feels about it, it seems Gaiman decided to cross the character over into another comic-book universe.
As for her appearance in Age of Ultron, Marvel bigwigs insist that it's not a spoiler to let you know Angela will be popping up at the end of the book. Rather, they'd like you to think of it as a kind of post-credits teaser to let you know that something big is coming.
"We were looking for a good entry point to tease our fans and to let them know [Angela] was going to be a major player [in the Marvel Universe]," Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada said.
After Age of Ultron, Angela will pop up in July's issue #5 of Marvel's new Guardians of the Galaxy series. That issue will also be co-written by Gaiman and Bendis. From there, we don't know, but it's clear Marvel wants as many readers as possible to know that Angela has arrived, so more adventures for her can't be far behind.
As for how much Gaiman will be involved beyond these two comics, we don't know that either. He hasn't commented on the news yet, and we know he's already got a new Sandman prequel coming over at Vertigo this fall. Could he be adding more Marvel work in the coming months? Gaiman fans have their fingers crossed.
DEFIANCE
Fans are going to dive into a deep alien world when Syfy’s Defiance debuts next month, but lucky for us a new clip breaks down all the alien races occupying post-invasion Earth.
The series, which takes place after an alien colonization, finds humans living alongside seven alien races that sought refuge in our solar system. In a new behind-the-scenes featurette, the cast and crew break down the differences between the races and show off a ton of intriguing new footage.
It looks like a dense sci-fi world, not unlike the universe producer Rockne S. O’Bannon put together on his previous series Farscape. It seems to be loaded with action, intrigue and a fair dose of sexiness, as well. The expansive cast includes sci-fi alums such as Julie Benz (Angel), Grant Bowler (True Blood) and Jaime Murray (Warehouse 13), along with several others.
In addition to the new series, the universe will also play out in multi-platform videogame, which is available for pre-order now. Events on the show, and in the game, will have lasting effects to both media.
The series premieres April 15, and the game hits shelves April 2.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
Maximiliano Hernández, who played Agent Jasper Sitwell in Marvel's The Avengers and in the Marvel One-Shot: Item 47, took to Twitter today to confirm that he will play the character again in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
"So it's a much bigger role in a much darker Cap Story. Lots of twists and turns. And lots secrets about the MCU revealed!" he said, adding, "I can't say much more or the Marvel cops will revoke my SHIELD clearance! Trust me u will all freak out in the theatre when all is revealed!
A follower also asked if he meant "comic canon twists or new twists??" to which Hernández replied, "new twist."
He's joining a cast that includes Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Frank Grillo, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Scarlett Johansson, Toby Jones, Emily VanCamp and Hayley Atwell. Anthony and Joe Russo will direct the April 4, 2014 release.
PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS
The very first images for Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters are now online! What's more, the first trailer is expected to hit theaters next week before showings of The Host.
Directed by Thor Freudenthal with a script by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, the much-anticipated sequel stars Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Douglas Smith, Mary Birdsong, Yvette Nicole Brown, Missi Pyle, Nathan Fillion, Anthony Head, Paloma Kwiatkowski, Leven Rambin, Stanley Tucci, Robert Maillet and Zoe Aggeliki.
The sequel finds Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon, continuing his epic journey to fulfill his destiny, as he teams with his demigod friends to retrieve the Golden Fleece, which has the power to save their home and training ground, Camp Half-Blood. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters hits theaters August 16, 2013.
DIVERGENT
Lionsgate's Summit Entertainment confirmed today that Kate Winslet will star as Jeanine Matthews in the studio's futuristic action adventure Divergent. She joins previously-announced cast members Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Jai Courtney, Zoë Kravitz, Ansel Elgort and Maggie Q.
The film, based on author Veronica Roth's New York Times bestseller, will be directed by Neil Burger from a script by Vanessa Taylor and commences principal photography this April in Chicago. The original draft of the script was written by Evan Daugherty. Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher are producing the project via their Red Wagon Entertainment banner along with Pouya Shahbazian. Red Wagon's Rachel Shane is executive producing. Summit will release the film theatrically in North America on Friday, March 21, 2014.
Divergent is a thrilling adventure set in a future world where people are divided into distinct factions based on their personalities. Tris Prior (Woodley) is warned she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. When she discovers a conspiracy to destroy all Divergents, she must find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it's too late.
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013
THE HOST
The super-sexy alien invasion begins in a little over a week with The Host, but don’t think Stephenie Meyer’s latest creation is just an alien-tinged rehash of her vampy love story Twilight. If anything, The Host looks more like a Bourne action movie with aliens.
Though other clips have played up the love story at the heart of the film, the latest trailer strikes a great balance between heartstring-tugging, gunplay and action set pieces.
Based on Meyer’s novel of the same name, The Host follows a young woman’s (Saoirse Ronan) journey through a world invaded by evil aliens. Along the way, she’ll apparently be kicking lots of ass and jumping out of windows. Oh, plus falling in love.
Sci-fi fans, if you need anymore prodding, the film was written and directed by Andrew Niccol (Gattaca), so hopefully this one will have a little something for everyone. The Host opens on March 29.
GAME OF THRONES
HBO is pumping out the new previews and trailers and clips and whatnots for the upcoming third season of Game of Thrones at an almost alarming speed—except we’re not alarmed, but delighted, obviously.
This newest 30-seconds promo, titled “Enemies,” has mostly footage we've already seen, but it also has some new footage as well, and a bit more dialogue than the previous ones.
One thing's for sure after seeing this, you won’t want to turn your back on anyone, especially your enemies.
With a sister like Cersei (Lena Headey) and a nephew like Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), we, too, would be doing like Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and be hiding behind our closed door with an ax in hand. Game of Thrones season three starts on March 31, 2013 on HBO.
TURBO
DreamWorks Animation continues to churn out star-powered animations, with the first full-length trailer for Turbo arriving online Wednesday. Turbo features Ryan Reynolds as an ambitious snail who, after a freak accident, gains super speed and the opportunity to pursue his dream of racing in the Indy 500. The underdog tale also stars Paul Giamatti, Ken Jeong, Maya Rudolph, Ben Schwartz, Samuel L. Jackson and the unmistakable voice of Snoop Lion.
Following a soft opening for its holiday film Rise of the Guardians in November, DreamWorks is hoping for better results with its next two projects. First up is The Croods on March 22. The story of a prehistoric family also stars Reynolds, along with Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener and Cloris Leachman. Turbo then arrives July 17, right in the heart of tentpole season, via 20th Century Fox.
POMPEII
Kiefer Sutherland is in final negotiations to star as the villain in Pompeii, the 3D Roman disaster movie being directed by Resident Evil maestro Paul W.S. Anderson. Game of Thrones actor Kit Harington is starring in the movie, which began shooting in Toronto last week. Constantin Film is financing and producing the big-budget title.
The movie is set in 79 A.D. in the days before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, one of history’s great disasters.
Harington is playing a slave stuck on a ship who must race against time to save his true love, his master’s daughter, as well as his best friend, a gladiator trapped in the coliseum when the destruction begins.
Jared Harris is playing Harington’s master, a wealthy merchant, while Emily Browning is his daughter.
Sutherland will play a Roman senator who enslaved Harington’s village. The scheming senator forces the merchant to give his daughter’s hand in marriage to him.
Sutherland, the star of 24 and now of Fox’s Touch, appeared in Lars von Trier’s Melancholia and recently starred in indie thriller The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
ARROW NEWS
The CW's Arrow continues to bulk up for season two.
The series has promoted Manu Bennett to series regular for its recently announced second season, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.
On the network's adaptation of DC Comics' long-running title, Bennett plays Slade Wilson -- who in the comics ultimately becomes Arrow's villain Deathstroke. Producers have been cagey about whether Bennett would follow his comic book counterpart and transform into the famed villain; the show has featured multiple Deathstrokes during its freshman run.
Exec producers Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim thus far have written Slade as an ally to Stephen Amell's Oliver, appearing in Arrow's flashbacks to their time on the island.
Bennett joins Colton Haynes (Roy Harper) and Emily Bett Rickards (Ollie's IT whiz Felicity Smoak) as series regulars for Arrow's second season. He's currently wrapping the third and final season of Starz's Spartacus, where he plays Crixus. Repped by Sanders Armstrong Caserta Management, Bennett also stars as Azog in all three Hobbit films.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
Paramount Pictures has revealed this new international trailer for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness, hitting IMAX 3D theaters on May 15 and conventional theaters on May 17. The anticipated sequel stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller.
In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice.
As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.
IRON MAN 3
Marvel Studios revealed a short new TV spot for Iron Man 3 promoting that more footage will debut during Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards on Saturday, March 23 at 8/7c. Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?
OBLIVION
A new featurette on the Bubbleship in Universal Pictures' Oblivion is online (via iTunes Movie Trailers)!
Hitting theaters and IMAX on April 19, Oblivion is an original and groundbreaking cinematic event from the director of TRON: Legacy and the producer of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. On a spectacular future Earth that has evolved beyond recognition, one man's confrontation with the past will lead him on a journey of redemption and discovery as he battles to save mankind.
Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack's mission is nearly complete.
Living in and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above, his soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013
JAMES BOND NEWS
The wait for the next James Bond movie won't be very long. After the success of 2012's "Skyfall," MGM has announced that they expect to release the next installment in the long-running franchise within three years, Reuters reports. They also hope to announce a new director soon, after "Skyfall" director Sam Mendes decided not to continue with the series, but instead to focus on live theater projects.
During an investors conference call, MGM Chairman and CEO Gary Barber said the studio already has a screenplay for the next film in development. No story or casting details were hinted at, but Daniel Craig, Agent 007 himself, is signed on for two more films.
The next movie will be the 24th in the Bond series, which began over 50 years ago with 1962's "Dr. No." "Skyfall" was the most profitable film in the Bond franchise, raking in $1.1 billion.
GODZILLA
That Godzilla reboot only started shooting today, but director Gareth Edwards has already gone ahead and leaked out the first set video from production. So what do we see?
Edwards is front and center, video diary-style, saying hi to fans and letting everyone know that filming is officially underway. He’s obviously standing on set, and in the background we can see an airport terminal with signs in Japanese. Hmm, it’ll be interesting to see if the film is actually set in Japan, or if the locale only features into an America-set story.
Likely it's a combination of both, as Edwards could be trying to pay homage to the franchise’s roots while reintroducing it to a new generation of fans. Edwards has already proven he can make a smart monster movie with his indie hit Monsters, so here’s hoping he can make ample use of a bigger budget and star power.
The flick will star a who’s-who of great sci-fi stars, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass), Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai), Elizabeth Olsen (Silent House), Juliette Binoche (Cosmopolis), David Strathairn (Alphas) and Bryan Cranston (Total Recall) all attached. The script was written by former Walking Dead showrunner Robert Kirkman.
GAME OF THRONES AD
What’s a poor, fire-breathing lost little dragon from the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros to do in a big city without its mommy?
In what must be one of the cutest TV adverts we’ve seen in a while (we just went awww when we saw this), Time Warner Cable has Drogon, one of Dany’s (Emilia Clarke) three baby dragons from HBO's Game of Thrones, all lost and alone in a big city.
The poor thing hears the Mother of Dragons’ voice everywhere: “Where is my dragon? Find my dragon.” (Boy, does it take us back to season two big time.) But she’s nowhere to be found!
Looks like Time Warner Cable has dropped some pretty silver dragons (aka muchos dollars) for that ad.
PACIFIC RIM
First we get monster footprints, now we get monster blood.
Yesterday we showed you a teaser image from Guillermo del Toro's upcoming epic Pacific Rim that featured a massive monster footprint that dwarfed every human standing around it. Details are slowly leaking out about the giant beasts of Pacific Rim, called "kaiju," and today we get another peek, this one with a more ... well, let's say internal feel. Pacific Rim production company Legendary Pictures released the above image this week with the caption "This is as close as you ever want to get to kaiju blood." Right, because we needed more convincing that we don't want these monsters to ever be real things. Pacific Rim hits theaters July 12.
ONCE UPON A TIME
ABC is bulking up its potential Once Upon a Time spinoff. Once consulting producer Jane Espenson and Zero Hour's Zack Estrin have inked multiple-year overall deals with ABC Studios and boarded the network's now Wonderland-themed effort, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Espenson will serve in the same capacity, while Estrin will be an executive producer.
Under the pact, they'll join Once creators/executive producers Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (who are penning the pilot) on the spinoff. The project, first announced in February, was previously set to revolve around the Mad Hatter (who has been portrayed by Sebastian Stan on the ABC drama), with producers noting at this month's PaleyFest that they had "no plans" to recast anyone considering the actor's busy schedule. The project is now set to take place in Wonderland.
The Once team will shoot a short "teaser" presentation in April and, should it move to pilot, film that in late July or August. Casting is currently under way to fill roles including Alice, The Knave and the mysterious Amahl. No casting has been announced.
Espenson, whose credits include Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse, Warehouse 13, Torchwood and Caprica as well as YouTube hit Husbands, is repped by CAA and Hansen Jacobson.
Estrin counts ABC's recently canceled Zero Hour, The River, No Ordinary Family, The Good Guys and Prison Break among his credits. He's repped by WME and Ziffren Brittenham.
Should the Once spinoff not move forward, Espenson and Estrin will develop original projects for the studio under their overall deal.
PETE'S DRAGON
Walt Disney Pictures has plans to remake their 1977 live action/animation hybrid Pete's Dragon. Deadline reports that the studio has brought aboard Ain't Them Bodies Saints writer/director David Lowery and his writing partner, Toby Halbrooks, to provide the screenplay.
The original film followed Pete, a young orphan boy with an imaginary friend, Elliot, who just happens to be an enormous animated dragon. Ain't Them Bodies Saints, set for release on August 16 through IFC Films, marks Lowery's first feature as a director although, at this time, he's boarding Pete's Dragon strictly as a writer.
Although the 1977 film was a musical, it is noted that the new version is not being planned as one.
TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2013
DOCTOR WHO
"Doctor Who" returns to BBC America for the second half of Season 7 beginning March 30, and the new trailer previews wild adventures ahead for the Doctor (Matt Smith) and mysterious new companion Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman).
"I look at you every single day and I don't understand a thing about you," the Doctor says about Clara in the trailer. Adding: "You're the impossible girl."
Coleman quietly made her debut in the Season 7 premiere, "Asylum of the Daleks," as Oswin Oswald -- a space traveler trapped inside a Dalek. She then returned as Clara in the annual Christmas special, "The Snowmen," as an 1890s governess who the Doctor opens up to after the loss of previous companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams. But just after the Doctor invites her on to the TARDIS, Clara was killed.
The Christmas special closed out with a brief glimpse of the character destined to become the Doctor's actual companion. So even though we've met her twice, we really haven't met her at all. Or have we? It's all very timey-wimey, and a mystery that's sure to play out through these next eight episodes.
Other highlights to look forward to: another episode penned by sci-fi and fantasy icon Neil Gaiman, a guest appearance by Diana Rigg, the return of the Cybermen and the first 21st Century appearance of classic "Who" villians the Ice Warriors.
HEMLOCK GROVE
The streaming service Netflix is getting into the horror business, and a new trailer for Eli Roth’s creepy series Hemlock Grove shows they don’t plan to pull any punches with their first stab at the supernatural.
Looking like a cross between Twin Peaks and American Horror Story, the 13-episode series seems loaded with chills and intrigue. Plus, odds are Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel) has brought his trademark brand of horror to the Brian McGreevy book adaptation.
Here’s the official synopsis:
The series revolves around the eccentric residents of a dilapidated former Pennsylvania steel town and the murder of 17-year-old Brooke Bluebell. Through the investigation, the town’s seamier side is exposed, revealing that nothing is what it seems.
The new trailer digs a little deeper into the world of Hemlock Grove, and peels back a few of the supernatural layers:
The entire 13-episode horror series debuts April 19 on Netflix.
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK
You can’t keep a good badass down. It’s taken a few years to get off the ground, but it looks like that Escape From New York reboot is finally back on track.
Producer Joel Silver (Sherlock Holmes, V For Vendetta) is working to bring Snake Plissken back to life, with a retelling of the sci-fi classic that found Kurt Russell as a hard-nosed criminal sent into a lawless apocalpytic city to rescue the president.
The 1981 original was a true sci-fi action masterpiece, and Silver hopes to develop the property into a trilogy of films. The studio is comparing the strategy to the recent hit Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which successfully revitalized a stagnant sci-fi classic to its former glory.
The original Escape From New York was a modest box-office hit and had a cult following among fans, but its 1996 follow-up Escape from L.A. tanked, thanks in large part to a bloated budget.
Not surprisingly, this isn’t the first time someone has tried to bring the franchise back from the dead. A reboot has been kicking around development hell for years now, with Breck Eisner (The Crazies) originally attached to direct. Every action star under the sun was rumored for the main role at one point, with Jeremy Renner, Tom Hardy and Gerard Butler at the top of most heaps in the rumor mill.
But Silver’s take is apparently a completely new project, so anything related to that failed attempt wouldn’t apply here.
Now, the big question: Who do you think can take over Kurt Russell’s eye patch as the new Snake?
SHERLOCK
It’s been more than a year since we had any new Sherlock, but work is finally underway on season three of the hit BBC series. Need proof? Here’s the first pic from production, plus the revealing title of the premiere.
Producer Mark Gattis has been kind enough to tweet a pic of a place card from the premiere episode, and also unveiled the title of the first new episode: “The Empty Hearse.”
The title is a play on words from the classic Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story “The Adventure of the Empty House,” which is the classic tale that brought Sherlock back to life after his apparent death (sound familiar?). In the original story, Holmes explains his three year absence spent traveling the globe. It’ll be interesting to see how Gattis and Steven Moffat adapt the story for the modern day.
Like the first two seasons, the third season will also consist of three movie-length episodes.
How do you think Sherlock escaped his apparent death?
IRON MAN 3
In case you haven't realized it yet, Tony and his friends aren't having a very good time in this movie.
The latest new footage from Iron Man 3 isn't in a much-anticipated mega-trailer, but that doesn't mean it's any less interesting. The flick's latest teaser comes courtesy of Chinese electronics company TCL, who managed to get their televisions into the movie in Tony Stark' slick California mansion. So, not surpisingly, the television sets feature heavily in the teaser (at least, until Mandarin comes along and blows the house up), but we also get a few seconds of new stuff from the film itself, including more Mandarin-induced angst from Tony as he apologizes for putting those he loves in harm's way.
Be on the lookout for a new look at James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Don Cheadle) as he makes a distressed phone call (on what we're guessing is a TCL phone). Iron Man 3 hits theaters on May 3.
THE COLONY
An international trailer and poster for sci-fi thriller The Colony, starring Laurence Fishburne, Kevin Zegers and Bill Paxton, are online and can be viewed below! The Jeff Renfroe-directed film opens in Canadian theaters on April 12.
Set during the next ice age, an outpost of colonists struggle to survive below the world's frozen surface. Short on supplies, and plagued by illness and internal conflict, the colonists suspect the worst when they mysteriously lose contact with their only other known settlement, Colony 5. When Colony 7's leader Briggs (Laurence Fishburne) decides to lead an expedition to discover what happened, he is challenged by Mason (Bill Paxton), his former comrade-in-arms, who has his own ideas of what is best for the colonists. Briggs takes two volunteers on the mission, the young Graydon, and Sam (Kevin Zegers), a strong-willed mechanic who seizes the opportunity to confront the icy wasteland that orphaned him. When they reach their destination, the team discover a threat much worse than nature and must battle to save themselves and protect their fellow colonists in what might be humanity's last stand.
MONDAY, MARCH 18, 2013
GAME OF THRONES
The third season of Game of Thrones will hit us in two weeks with its awesomeness, and we’ve got new trailers and promos to share!
The 61-seconds second promo is titled “The Beast” and has House Tully and the funeral boat and more of the Hound (Rory McCann), amongst other things. Plus it has snippets of amazing new footage (again) and gives us another glimpse into some of the brand new characters that will inhabit season three. GAME OF THRONES returns March 31.
DOCTOR WHO
With only two weeks left to go before the premiere of Doctor Who season seven, part deux, our appetites are being whetted by this new explosive trailer that had us gaping at our screen.
Filled with the monsters we’ll get to see in the upcoming remaining eight episodes, this 41-second new trailer is chock-full of brand-new footage and more. Mystery? Check. Action? Check. Alien planets? Check. Aliens? Check. Plane in trouble? Check. Warwick Davis? Check.
The Doctor (Matt Smith) says Clara Oswald (Jenna-Louise Coleman) is “the only mystery worth solving,” and our beloved Time lord is right: Just who in the Time Vortex is she?
We’ve already met her future counterpart, Oswin Oswald (who was also a Dalek), as well as her Victorian version. Could there be more? Just who is she? And who is she in relation to the Doctor?
We have a feeling this second part to season seven will be truly exciting, with events that may just lead into Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary in the fall.
AMERICAN HORROR STORY
Where will the hit fright anthology take us next?
Season one took on the classic American haunted house, while season took us into a classic madhouse, and now it looks like season three will indeed explore another American horror classic: witches.
At the American Horror Story panel at PaleyFest Friday night, series co-creator Ryan Murphy took the stage with members of the cast and announced that season three will be titled American Horror Story: Coven. This seems to confirm the tease dropped by co-star Dylan McDermott a few weeks back that referred to "the witches of Salem," though Murphy noted that the season would have several "cool" locales, including New Orleans, so don't expect an exclusively Salem story.
“It’s a really cool story we’ve been talking about for a couple of years. So we’re going to do that," Murphy said.
The PaleyFest panel also included a surprise appearance by the show's new co-star, Kathy Bates, which led Murphy to offer up a few thoughts on her character, who he described as "cucko for Cocoa Puffs."
"I wanted to see a lot of scenes with Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates going at it,” Murphy said, “so that’s what you’re going to see.”
Murphy also noted that a big theme for this season will be "female power," and that another iconic monster (like season one's "Rubber Man" and season two's "Bloody Face") will be featured. American Horror Story: Coven will debut on FX this fall.
ORPHAN BLACK
We’re just a few weeks away from the debut of one of the most intriguing new sci-fi series of 2013 on BBC America. Now the network has released a new clip peeling back a few of the mysteries surrounding Orphan Black.
The cloning drama looks like a smart, sci-fi spin on the recent CW flop Ringer, but with that enigmatic British flair. The series is one of BBC America’s first original scripted programs, and it’s great to see they’re willing to take a shot on a high-concept sci-fi series.
Here’s the synopsis:
Sarah hopes that cleaning out a dead woman’s bank account will solve all her problems. Instead, they multiply at an unnerving rate. Smart, sexy, and pulsating with suspense – BBC America’s new original series Orphan Black features rising star Tatiana Maslany (The Vow, Picture Day). She portrays Sarah, an outsider and orphan whose life changes dramatically after witnessing the suicide of a woman, “Beth,” who looks just like her. Sarah takes her identity, her boyfriend, and her money.
But instead of solving her problems, the street-smart chameleon is thrust headlong into a kaleidoscopic mystery. She makes the dizzying discovery that she and the dead woman are clones... but are they the only ones? Sarah quickly finds herself caught in the middle of a deadly conspiracy, racing to find answers.
The premiere of Orphan Black is on BBC America, Saturday, March 30.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
This weekend saw the release of two new movies, both with fairly big name stars, although neither of them stood much of a chance against Walt Disney Pictures' Oz The Great and Powerful, which held up decently in its second weekend with an estimated $42.2 million, down just 47% from its opening weekend which was enough to keep it at first place at the box office with relative ease. And just like that, the movie, directed by Sam Raimi and starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz, became the highest-grossing movie of 2013 with $145 million grossed domestically. It held well in its 308 domestic IMAX screens, adding another $4 million to its IMAX total. Disney's movie did even better internationally in its second weekend, bringing in $46.6 million ($2 million from IMAX venues) to bring its international total to $136.8 million and its worldwide cume to $281.8 million after just ten days.
Despite opening in over 600 fewer theaters, Halle Berry's thriller The Call (TriStar Pictures), co-starring Abigail Breslin, did significantly better than the Vegas magic comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (New Line/WB), starring Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Jim Carrey, Olivia Wilde and Alan Arkin. The high concept thriller brought in an estimated $17.1 million over the weekend in 2,507 locations, averaging roughly $6,800 per site, while the star-studded magician comedy tanked with just $10.3 million in over 3,100 theaters, a dismal per-site average of $3,259 per location. It's the poorest showing for one of Carell's movies to open in over 2,000 theaters since the breakout success of The 40-Year-Old Virgin in 2005. It also continues Warner Bros.' run of disappointments and outright bombs for the year with only one of their releases opening over $20 million this year.
That movie was Bryan Singer's Jack the Giant Slayer (Warner Bros.), which dropped down to fourth place with a better hold than its previous week, adding $6.2 million to its three week total of $53.9 million.
Seth Gordon's hit comedy Identity Thief (Universal), starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy, took fifth place with $4.5 million, bringing its running box office total to $123.7 million to date, still good for what is now the second-highest grossing movie of the year. It also became Gordon's biggest comedy hit to date, surpassing the grosses of his previous comedies Four Christmases and Horrible Bosses.
Dwayne Johnson's real-life action thriller Snitch (Summit) had another great hold in its fourth weekend, down just 31% and one spot from the previous weekend to take sixth place with $3.5 million over the weekend and $37.3 million total.
Of the rest of the movies in the Top 10, all of which grossed less than $3 million, the R-rated party comedy 21 and Over (Relativity Media) did the best with $2.6 million to bring its total to $22 million.
Meanwhile, the Colin Farrell crime thriller Dead Man Down (Film District)--which like The Call was co-produced by WWE Films--took the biggest plunge of the week, dropping 62% from its fourth place opening to fall out of the Top 10 in its second week.
The Top 10 grossed an estimated $94.3 million, which is up slightly-less than 1%--from the same weekend last year when the Jonah Hill-Channing Tatum R-rated undercover cop comedy 21 Jump Street (Sony) won the weekend with $36.3 million.
Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers (A24), starring Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens and James Franco, opened big in just three theaters in New York and Los Angeles, grossing an estimated $270 thousand or $90,000 per site, a great lead-in for its nationwide expansion next Friday. Taking full advantage of the number of college students currently on spring break--presumably many former Disney Channel watchers--it was quite a coup for new distributor A24, which also finally released Sally Potter's Ginger & Rosa, starring Elle Fanning and Alice Englert, on Friday into the same number of theaters to lesser effect. The British coming-of-age drama brought in just $45,000.
The Studio Ghibli animated film From Up on Poppy Hill (GKIDS) also opened in two theaters in New York on Friday where it brought in $55,000.
SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2013
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST Days of Future Past director Bryan Singer took to Twitter once again Friday afternoon to tease us with further news of who's joining the X-Men for their latest adventure. Rather than simply tell us the names, though, Singer posted a photo of a wall covered in headshots, three of which we hadn't seen on the cast list before.
You probably see a lot of familiar faces there. There's Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Michael Fassbender, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page and so on, but the three faces on the right side of the bottom row are new. So, who are they?
The one in the center of the bottom row is Daniel Cudmore, who played Colossus in both X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand. So there's yet another returning star for Singer's third X-flick. The actress in the photo to the right of Cudmore is Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, who's been a star in Asia for quite some time and is best known for flicks like Double Xposure and Battle of the Warriors (she'll also show up in Iron Man 3 later this year). According to ComingSoon, she'll be playing the mutant Blink. On the far right is actor Boo Boo Stewart, who's best known for his appearance in The Twilight Saga films. We don't know who he's playing yet, though.
So, that's one returning X-Man and two new mutants for Days of Future Past.
GAME OF THRONES
Winter, war and all manner of foreboding w-words are heading to Westeros in the third season of Game of Thrones, as the latest promo makes quite clear.
Just about two weeks shy of the drama's return, "War" gives a rather concise run-down of who's fighting and why.
"A man who fights for gold can't afford to lose to a girl," says Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), clearly rebounding from last season's humbling desert sojourn.
It's Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane), however, who seems to say what's on everybody's mind when he announces, "I want Joffrey dead."
DIVERGENT
Aaron Eckhart ("The Dark Knight"), Ray Stevenson ("Rome"), Miles Teller ("21 and Over") and Theo James ("Golden Boy") are all reportedly hopping onboard the upcoming adaptation of Veronica Roth's young adult dystopian novel "Divergent" at Summit Entertainment.
The story is set in a society divided into five factions that each represent a particular virtue: honesty, selflessness, bravery, peacefulness and intelligence.
Once a year, sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. It's then a teenage boy and girl set out to rebel against the system and discover a growing conflict that threatens to unravel this seemingly perfect society.
Shailene Woodley, Jai Courtney, Kate Winslet, Ansel Elgort, Zoe Kravitz and Maggie Q are already attached to star in the Neil Burger-directed project.
Doug Wick, Lucy Fisher and Pouya Shahbazian are producing. The film is currently targeting a March 21st 2014 release.
POMPEII
Production began earlier today on Paul WS Anderson's "Pompeii" in the actual city of Pompeii.
Constantin Film and Impact Pictures are producing the film which will spend the next two weeks on location at the uncovered ancient Roman city before moving to Toronto on March 28th.
Jared Harris has just joined the cast which is lead by Kit Harington and Emily Browning. The story follows a slave turned invincible gladiator who tries to save his love from a corrupt Roman General as Mount Vesuvius erupts.
Lee Batchler, Janet Scott Batchler, Michael Robert Johnson and Julian Fellowes worked on the screenplay, and Summit Entertainment will distribute the film next year in North America.
Anderson and Jeremy Bolt are producing.
SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 2013
UNFORGETTABLE
It won't surprise anyone if Dallas Roberts' character Milton doesn't survive Season 3 of "The Walking Dead," but it'll be even less surprising with the news Roberts is joining the cast of CBS' "Unforgettable" for Season 2.
Roberts has been a prominent recurring figure this season on "Dead" as Woodbury resident and the Governor's personal researcher, Milton. But last week's episode hinted that he's becoming a bit disenchanted with his boss, and the Governor doesn't take kindly to disobedience.
Roberts' casting on "Unforgettable" keeps him in the CBS family -- where he's also had a recurring role as Alicia's brother on "The Good Wife." Season 2 of "Unforgettable" is scheduled to kick off July 28 and will introduce Roberts as Eliot, a NYPD detective in charge of major cases.
CBS nearly canceled "Unforgettable" after its so-so first season ratings but gave the show a last minute reprieve order of 13 episodes to air in the summer. First season cast members Poppy Montgomery, Dylan Walsh and Jane Curtin are all on board to return, while James Laio and Tawny Cypress ("Heroes") have been added in a recurring capacity.
IRON MAN: RISE OF THE TECHNOVORE
Check out the operatic awesomeness of this second trailer for Marvel’s Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, a direct-to-video Marvel Anime adaptation directed by Hiroshi Hamazaki.
Its classic Japanese anime style comes from the fact that Hamazaki was key animator in such legendary manga-riffic titles as Ninja Scroll and Blue Submarine #6 in the 1990s. This polished animated movie features Matthew Mercer as the voice of Tony Stark and Norman Reedus, The Walking Dead's favorite squirrel-eating redneck, Daryl, doing the sinister voice of the Punisher.
Here's the official synopsis:
Billionaire Tony Stark, in his Iron Man armor, prevents an attack from a mysterious new foe, but innocent bystanders are killed, including his best friend War Machine, Lt. Colonel James Rhodes. Detained for questioning by S.H.I.E.L.D., Iron Man escapes, determined to find the mastermind behind the attack. Pursued by Black Widow and Hawkeye, Iron Man enlists the help of the ruthless vigilante The Punisher. But can the Armored Avenger handle what he finds when he catches the person responsible and is forced to face his deadliest weapon, a biotechnology called Technovore that could wipe out all life on the planet? Iron Man: Rise of Technovore launches on DVD and Blu-ray on April 16, 2013.
COLOSSUS
Universal Pictures is bringing Men in Black scribe Ed Solomon aboard to rewrite the Will Smith vehicle Colossus.
The move gives a shot in the arm to the Imagine Entertainment-produced project, a remake of the studio's 1970 Colossus: The Forbin Project that the studio began developing in 2007. Solomon, who is also collaborating on an untitled film with J.J. Abrams, has a long history with Smith, dating back to Smith's breakout hit Men in Black.
Blake Masters and Jason Rothenberg wrote earlier drafts of the super-secret sci-fi screenplay. Though the studio is keeping plot details under wraps, the project would see Smith taking on the role of Dr. Charles Forbin, who is the creator of a computer that has taken over the world and is the only scientist who can stop it.
Imagine's Brian Grazer and Ron Howard are producing alongside Erica Huggins and David J. Collins.
Universal’s Anikah McLaren and Sara Scott are overseeing the project for the studio.
PACIFIC RIM
Legendary has released one teaser of an image from Pacific Rim. The pic shows the aftermath of a Kaiju attack - well, more like a giant footprint...
In the film, opening July 12th, legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, start rising from the sea and begin a war that would takes millions of lives and consumes humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes-a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)-who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.
FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
It seems reports of "Game of Thrones" star Jason Momoa taking on the part of Drax the Destroyer in Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" were premature. THR is reporting that a deal for the part has been closed, and the actor stepping into the role isn't someone known for acting at all. Dave Bautista, a former WWE World Champion and mixed martial artist, will play Drax in the upcoming movie.
Bautista left WWE in 2010 to try his hand at mixed martial arts fighting, as well as to pursue acting jobs. His roles so far have been mostly in direct-to-video movies, but with September's "Rick," in which he has a supporting role, he's to be taking a step forward.
Bautista joins Chris Pratt, who is already cast in the lead role of Star-Lord, "Guardians of the Galaxy," which will be directed by James Gunn, is expected to fit in the same universe as the other current Marvel franchises, and will include ties to "The Avengers." Filming is expected to begin this summer, with a release date scheduled in August 2014.
SAGITTARIUS A
It seems like Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have their hand in just about everything these days, and now the hit writers are prepping a massive new sci-fi flick.
Dubbed Sagittarius A, the project looks to be a big-budget sci-fi flick. No word on the plot, though the title suggests it could be set on a spaceship or perhaps in deep space. Definition-wise, Sagittarius A is a complex radio source located deep in the center of the Milky Way. What that means as far as the story? Who knows.
This project joins about a half dozen other films Orci and Kurtzman have in the works, including everything from Amazing Spider-Man 2 to a Van Helsing reboot. They’ve also had a hand in the Transformers series and J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek films.
It’s nice to see Kurtzman and Orci branching out into their own projects, and finally trying something outside of the big franchise fare. Here’s hoping it’s good.
RESIDENT EVIL 6
It’s one of the few successful franchises to make the jump from videogame to movies, so don’t expect Resident Evil to go away anytime soon. Resident Evil 6 is officially happening, and the studio seems to have wrangled longtime star Milla Jovovich (Alice) and longtime director Paul W.S. Anderson back for one more go-round.
It’s not much of a surprise to hear the duo will be back for the next film, as Anderson had originally wanted to shoot Resident Evil 6 at the same time as the fifth installment, but eventually decided to just focus on Retribution.
The franchise is pretty much wild, popcorn sci-fi—but it does have an audience. Five films in, Retribution still managed to wrangle a $221 million box-office haul, so there’s still a lot of life left in this old zombie story.
No word on what the sequel will focus on, but after the ending to the last film, it’s safe to say that we’ll see the continued journey of Alice as she battles zombies and the evil Umbrella Corp.
As for what’s coming beyond Resident Evil 6? Who knows, but it’s likely this will be Jovovich and Anderson’s last film. Anderson has previously said he’s aiming for a double trilogy, so he may try to wrap up his convoluted epic with the last film. This being such a popular franchise, you’d have to think a reboot would come sooner rather than later.
TYRANT
Coming off of his Academy Award win for Life of Pi, celebrated director Ang Lee will make his television directorial debut with FX, directing the pilot episode for the upcoming drama "Tyrant" from Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning producers Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff ("Homeland"), and Emmy-nominated writer/producer Craig Wright ("Six Feet Under," "Lost"). The announcement was made today by John Landgraf, President and General Manager, FX Networks.
"Tyrant"will be Lee's first project following Life of Pi.
"Tyrant" tells the story of an unassuming American family drawn into the workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. The series was created by Raff and developed by Gordon and Wright. Raff wrote the pilot script, which comes from Teakwood Lane, the company Gordon has set up at 20th Century Fox Television. "Tyrant" is produced by Fox 21 and FX Productions.
"Ang Lee has demonstrated time and again an ability to present characters with such depth and specificity that they reveal the universal human condition," said Landgraf. "No one could be a more perfect film maker to bring Howard Gordon, Gideon Raff, and Craig Wright's 'Tyrant' to indelible life."
Gordon, Raff and Wright are executive producers in association with Keshet Broadcasting. Lee is an Executive Producer. If "Tyrant" receives a series order, Wright will serve as showrunner.
"The fact that the brilliant Ang Lee has signed on to direct his first project for television speaks to the extraordinary nature of 'Tyrant,'" commented Bert Salke, President of Fox 21, which will produce the show. "Ang Lee, Gideon Raff, Craig Wright and Howard Gordon are master storytellers at the height of their powers, and the material is incredible. We can't wait to get started."
Production on "Tyrant" is tentatively slated to begin this summer.
JUPITER ASCENDING
Warner Bros. has set Jupiter Ascending, the new science fiction film from Andy and Lana Wachowski (The Matrix, Cloud Atlas) for a July 25, 2014 release. They've also moved Peter Segal's boxing comedy Grudge Match from November 15, 2013 to January 10, 2014.
Starring Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean, Douglas Booth and Tuppence Middleton, Jupiter Ascending focuses on higher forms of life who are watching us from other worlds. Kunis will play a Russian immigrant who is busily scrubbing toilets for a living. Unbeknownst to her, she actually possesses the same perfect genetic makeup as the Queen of the Universe and is therefore a threat to her otherwise immortal rule.
The date puts Jupiter Ascending up against Brett Ratner's Hercules, set to star Dwayne Johnson. Grudge Match, meanwhile, stars Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Kevin Hart, Kim Basinger and Alan Arkin and revolves around retired boxers Billy "The Kid" McDonnen and Henry "Razor" Sharp, lifelong bitter rivals who are coaxed out of retirement and into the ring for one final grudge match -- 50 years after their last title fight.
THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2013
THE LONE RANGER
Disney's campaign to corral a captive audience for its big-budget summer hoedown of The Lone Ranger is hitting full stride. Check out this hyperactive new European trailer cut for the Japanese market, sharply focused on the Masked Man's mayhem, with Helena Bonham-Carter sporting an awesome cannonball-firing trick leg.
Galloping into theaters on July 3rd, 2013, The Lone Ranger stars Armie Hammer, Johnny Depp, Tom Wilkinson and Barry Pepper.
OBLIVION
A lengthy new featurette for Tom Cruise’s Oblivion has been released, which digs into the mysterious story and shows off some new footage of the glorious post-apocalypse.
The new promo clip includes some interviews with the cast and crew, where they break down the finer points of the story about one of the last men on future-Earth.
Here’s the latest synopsis, which teases lots of sci-fi intrigue:
Jack Harper (Cruise) is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack’s mission is nearly complete.
Living in and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above, his soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands. Oblivion is scheduled to open April 19.
ARROW NEWS
It sounds like Arrow could be getting even more help soon.
After popping up in a guest role this season, it seems a classic Green Arrow character will be sticking around The CW’s small screen take on the comic permanently.
Former Teen Wolf star Colton Haynes, who guest starred as Roy Harper on Arrow, has signed on as a series regular for the recently announced second season. Harper was introduced as a teenage thief who has a run in with Oliver’s younger sister Thea.
As fans of the comic likely know, Roy Harper is also Green Arrow’s young sidekick Speedy. The character has been a part of the comic canon for decades, and has also had stints with the Teen Titans and Justice League of America.
So does this mean we’ll be seeing Speedy suit up sooner rather than later? Maybe, maybe not. The comic writers may be in a hurry to keep the action rolling, but they’re taking their time when it comes to character development.
If anything, the writers will likely start laying the groundwork next season with Oliver and Roy to eventually feed into season three or four (assuming the show survives that long, of course).
EVIL DEAD
TriStar Pictures has announced they are bringing Evil Dead to WonderCon at the end of the month with the following video, which features an intro by director Fede Alvarez and producers Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert, as well as new footage!
In the much anticipated remake of the 1981 cult-hit horror film, five twenty-something friends become holed up in a remote cabin. When they discover a Book of the Dead, they unwittingly summon up dormant demons living in the nearby woods, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left intact to fight for survival.
Opening in theaters on April 5, the film stars Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas and Elizabeth Blackmore.
HANNIBAL
NBC has released a new two-and-a-half minute trailer for their upcoming "Hannibal," based on the literary world created author Thomas Harris.
The series looks at the early days of FBI agent Will Graham's career and the time when he worked alongside Hannibal Lecter - naturally, before Graham realized Lecter was a cannibal. It appears the series is taking a few creative liberties, picking up with Graham being drawn back into the FBI game, which is where we saw him in Red Dragon/Manhunter, but in that book/film, Lecter had already been capture and Will was mentally exhausted/scarred by his time in the field.
David Slade directs the first episode which premieres April 4th.
VERONICA MARS
Anticipated by fans since the series went off the air in 2007, a Veronica Mars feature film is officially on the way! This morning's ambitious Kickstarter attempt to raise the $2 million necessary to greenlight such a project was a record-breaking success and the targeted budget was reached in less than 12 hours. You can check out what the total is up to now here.
The series, from creator Rob Thomas, starred Kristen Bell as the titular Mars, a young student who, growing up with a detective for a father, moonlit as a private investigator. The series ran for three seasons, transitioning Mars from high school to college.
As per the rules of the Kickstarter, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution has agreed to put the movie into production and pick up the tab for marketing, promotion, and distribution. The film will be released in the first quarter of 2014 for a limited-time theatrical run, before moving to VOD, iTunes, and other digital platforms.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013
THE BLACKLIST
NBC's action pilot "The Blacklist" has set Emmy winner James Spader to star in the lead role that was previously offered to Kiefer Sutherland.
Spader will play one of the world's most wanted criminals who inexplicably offers to work with a brand new FBI agent (played by "Law & Order: LA" alumna Megan Boone) and inform on all of his underworld associates.
The concept comes from "Taking Lives" screenwriter Jon Bokenkamp. It had been reported that NBC was pursuing Sutherland for the starring role, since the former "24" leading man's current show, "Touch," continues to struggle in the ratings.
But with Spader, "The Blacklist" has found another respected and well-known star with an established track record on the small screen. Spader won an Emmy for playing Alan Shore on "The Practice" before the character was spun off on "Boston Legal," which brought Spader three more Emmy nominations and two wins.
He then recurred on "The Office" in the 2011-2012 season. Spader also recently had a supporting role in Steven Spielberg's multi-Oscar nominated box office hit "Lincoln."
DEFIANCE
We’re just a few weeks away from the debut of Syfy’s ambitious new series Defiance, and a new clip has been released that takes us behind-the-scenes with two main characters on the sci-fi epic.
The featurette is all about the characters of Nolan (Grant Bowler) and Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas), and digs a little deeper into the post-alien invasion world of the project. The scope looks absolutely huge, and it definitely has a Farscape vibe when it comes to world-building (which is no surprise, with Rockne S. O’Bannon among the producers).
In addition to the TV show launching on April 15, the Defiance universe will also play out in a MMORPG video game set to hit shelves April 2. The game is already available for pre-order now (Use Arkfall code WBIEos) and will connect with the events that play out on the series.
OCCULT
That Fringe-sized hole in the fall schedule might not be there for too long, as A&E is prepping a new X-Files-styled series created by a bona fide X-Files alum.
The cable network has nailed down the cast for former X-Files writer James Wong’s new series Occult, about a team of FBI agents working for the government’s occult crimes task force. Josh Lucas (Poseidon) and Lynn Collins (John Carter) will star as the two agents at the center of the story. The series is being produced by Michael Bay.
Here’s the synopsis, via Deadline: Occult, which draws parallels to X-Files and Fringe, centers on Dolan (Lucas), an FBI agent who returns from administrative leave after going off the deep end while investigating his wife’s disappearance. Eager to be back on the job, he is paired with Noa Blair (Collins), an agent with her own complicated backstory who specializes in the occult. Together, they will solve cases for the newly formed occult crimes task force.
The cable network is making a hard push into genre-tinged fare this year, along with the upcoming Psycho prequel Bates Motel. This sounds like a classic premise for a sci-fi show, drawing heavily from everything from X-Files to Night Stalker, but its success will all depend on how well they can build a mythos.
But with Wong’s experience on X-Files, that shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.
GODZILLA
The beloved Syfy series Alphas might be gone, but that doesn’t mean Dr. Rosen is done trying to save the world. Next up for actor David Strathairn? A battle with continent-crushing super monster Godzilla.
Strathairn is the latest addition to director Gareth Edwards’ (Monsters) new take on the classic monster movie, which is being written by Walking Dead co-creator Frank Darabont.
The acclaimed character actor will likely join Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass), Elizabeth Olsen (Silent House) and Bryan Cranston (Argo) in the big-budget tentpole flick.
All of the main cast are apparently still in talks, though, as Darabont is still hammering out his final draft of the script. This is a pretty solid team in front of and behind the camera, and this could turn out to be a surprise hit in a few years.
Edwards’ take on the franchise is rumored to be a more serious, dark imagining of a giant monster attack seen through the eyes of a young soldier and those around him.
JUSTICE LEAGUE
Who says print is dead?
The '90s may not have always been considered the best time for writing and art when it came to comics, but it can't be understated that sales boomed in a way they never had before. For a long time, it seemed as though they never would again, either. So it's shocking that we can report today that DC Comics has sold more copies of Justice League of America #1 than it has of any other comic since 1996.
With nearly 308,000 copies ordered from retailers, the new Justice League managed to outpace even the highest selling DC 52 #1's by at least 100,000. At the moment, it is the seventh top-selling comic of the 21st century, and that number may increase with potential reorders.
But what made this issue so successful? Well, it seems that one of the major reasons for its sales is due to the variant covers. At a whopping 50, there are versions of this single issue for each state in the union. That's 50 different state flags, plus the U.S. flag for the regular cover.
That's certainly not as romantic as the notion that writing and artistry are paving the way to a more successful creative industry, but at least now DC knows that something sells better than sex and violence -- flags.
HUMAN
J.J. Abrams is someone who likes to keep it in the family. The director and producer has tapped a member of his Star Trek team to headline his new show. It's called Human and is a futuristic thriller written by Fringe's J.H. Wyman.
Karl Urban, who'll reprise his role as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in Star Trek Into Darkness, has landed the lead. The series is described as "an action-packed buddy cop show set in the near future, when all LAPD officers are partnered with highly evolved human-like androids."
Urban's character John Kennex is a veteran cop who's partnered with an android called Dorian (Michael Ealy). Even though John is human, his tragic past has left him emotionally and physically scarred. Despite Dorian's A.I. origins, he has a much better understanding of the human race.
Other Human castmembers include Friday Night Light's Minka Kelly, Lili Taylor, Michael Irby and Mackenzie Crook.
Aside from Star Trek Into Darkness, Urban will also appear in the sequel Riddick, which opens this fall.
TRUE BLOOD
With a fancy suit, pipe and some wild white hair, actor Rutger Hauer was spotted sauntering onto the set of "True Blood." Thanks to ShockTillYouDrop for the pictures.
The HBO series is entering its sixth season this summer and welcoming Hauer as a character named "Macklyn."
The Dutch actor signed up for the series last October and it has been said that his character has "close" ties to Sookie and Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten is also featured in one of the pics).
Hauer has had his fair share of vampire experience playing Lothos in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Barlow in Salem's Lot, Dracula in Dracula III: Legacy and Van Helsing in Dario Argento's forthcoming Dracula.
BRILLIANCE
Legendary Pictures has acquired the rights to Marcus Sakey's forthcoming sci-fi/superhero novel Brilliance, Deadline reports. Set for release in July, the book is officially described as follows:
In Wyoming, a little girl reads people’s darkest secrets by the way they fold their arms. In New York, a man sensing patterns in the stock market racks up $300 billion. In Chicago, a woman can go invisible by being where no one is looking. They’re called “brilliants,” and since 1980, one percent of people have been born this way. Nick Cooper is among them; a federal agent, Cooper has gifts rendering him exceptional at hunting terrorists. His latest target may be the most dangerous man alive, a brilliant drenched in blood and intent on provoking civil war. But to catch him, Cooper will have to violate everything he believes in—and betray his own kind.
Joe Roth and Palak Patel, fresh off the tremendous success that Sam Raimi's Oz The Great and Powerful, are attached to produce alongside Alex Hedlund.
TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013
STAR WARS: CLONE WARS
After five seasons on Cartoon Network, Lucasfilm's animated adventure series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is coming to an end.
Lucasfilm delivered the news while announcing a "new direction" for the company's animated content. No further "Clone Wars" episodes will be produced for Cartoon Network -- a decision expected since Disney acquired Lucasfilm last year -- and only a few additional "story arcs" will be produced as "bonus content" (likely to wrap up ongoing storylines). When and where these "arcs" will be seen (cable TV? online? DVD?) has not yet been announced.
Additionally, Lucasfilm has indefinitely postponed the release of the animated spoof series "Detours" from the "Robot Chicken" producers (including Seth Green). Apparently the company now finds the idea of an off-kilter look at the "Star Wars" universe counterproductive to its strategy leading up to the 2015 launch of "Star Wars Episode VII."
But it's not all bad news from Lucasfilm. The company also made sure to note: "We are exploring a whole new 'Star Wars' series set in a time period previously untouched in 'Star Wars' films or television programming. You can expect more details in the months to come."
DOCTOR WHO NEWS
We'd already heard that actor Jenna Louise Coleman had, allegedly, said she would be back, but in an interview on BBC Radio 5, it was finally confirmed for all eager fan ears to hear. Clara will continue her adventure with the time-traveling Doctor all through the second half of season 7 and on through season 8.
One particular detail, though -- Matt Smith will be in America over the summer for a film that sees man-turned-internet-meme Ryan Gosling's directorial debut. That means filming for Season 8 of Doctor Who will be delayed until September. This means Coleman will be the first companion since the show came back to actually get the summer off. Her plan? To go someplace "hot."
BITTEN
We haven't seen the last of Laura Vandervoort. The beautiful blonde is returning to genre television. Vandervoot has landed the lead in the upcoming Space series Bitten. She's been cast as Elena Michaels, the world's only female werewolf. The character is taken from the Women of the Otherworld novels, written by Kelley Armstrong.
Vandervoort is best known for her work on Smallville and the rebooted V. On the former, she starred as Kara Zor-El/Kara Kent, aka Supergirl, before becoming Lisa on ABC's V. According to Corrie Coe, senior vice-president, independent production of Bell Media, Vandervoort was the perfect choice for Bitten.
"Laura has complexity and strength, and is also very relatable, making her the perfect fit for a character struggling to maintain the life she desires, while fighting against who she really is, and for those she loves," said Coe. "Well-known to genre fans, Laura's star power is sure to stir up even more excitement for this already buzzed-about series."
Here's the plot synopsis:
A foster child, Elena thought she finally found her "happily ever after" with her new love Clayton, but with one small bite, her life was changed forever and she was forced to survive life with the Pack as a werewolf. Years later, Elena has found refuge in Toronto, working as a photographer and dating a new man. But when bodies turn up in the backwoods of Stonehaven, the rural mansion that has served as a werewolf sanctuary for generations, the perfect life Elena has constructed begins to crumble. With the Pack threatened by an unknown predator, they turn to Elena for help. Caught between two worlds and two loves, Elena returns to Stonehaven out of duty, but once back in the fold she realizes that when push comes to shove, like any true alpha female, she'll stop at nothing to defend her family.
Production on Bitten begins next month for its 13-episode season.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
We all know Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) bit the dust in The Avengers, right? So how in the blazes will he be alive and kicking for that S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series? Unless the series takes place before the events of last year’s hit summer movie.
Well, Joss Whedon has revealed not only that the S.H.I.E.L.D. series will take place after The Avengers, but that Coulson will definitely be alive and kicking. No trick, no flashback. Ain't that super-exciting news!
This was revealed during Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing Q&A panel in Austin at the SXSW festival, where he addressed Coulson's return from the dead.
Cinemablend reported Whedon jokingly saying: "I’ll tell you guys this, Heimlich." Then he admitted, "I can’t talk about it," but he did say that he did indeed bring Coulson back from the dead for the ABC drama series and that "Yes," it is "For realsies."
So why did Joss Whedon want Coulson back for that S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series despite his apparent demise at the hands, or rather at the staff, of Loki (Tom Hiddleston)?
Speaking to Deadline he said:
The idea of the Little Guy is something that I am very fierce about, and there has never been a better Little Guy than Clark Gregg. That intrigued me, this world around the superhero community. It’s the people whose shop windows get blown up when the Destroyer shows up. It’s the more intimate stories that belong on television that we can really tap into the visual style and ethos, and even some of the mythology, of the Marvel movies. I think we’ve put together another really great ensemble headed by Clark. And how much it’s actually seeding or hinting or reacting to what’s going on in the movies is something we’ll let play out as we go. For me the most important thing is that people fall in love with it on its own merits, rather than constantly asking, “Is there gonna be an Avenger?” Well, there’s not gonna be a Hulk because that guy’s too expensive.
Hopefully (and if there is a TV God), the pilot will get picked up and the series will start airing in the fall.
ANATOMY OF VIOLENCE Anatomy of Violence has found its lead in Skeet Ulrich.
The former Jericho actor has been tapped to star in the CBS pilot from Homeland's Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa and Alex Cary, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The hourlong drama effort, inspired by Adrian Raine’s nonfiction book The Anatomy of Violence: The Biological Roots of Crime, is familiar territory for the trio as it centers on Dr. Raines, a criminal psychologist who partners with a young female detective with whom he shares a conflicted past.
Ulrich will play Raines, who is being billed as the unshaven, disheveled maverick FBI criminal psychiatrist who specializes in the reasons people commit acts of extreme violence. He joins previously cast Homeland vet David Harewood, who is set to play Alejo, a celebrated profiler and Raines' boss and friend in the 20th Century Fox TV project.
THE BEAST
There's a new live-action take on "Beauty and the Beast" on the way from Walt Disney Pictures. Deadline brings word that the studio has hired Trance screenwriter Joe Ahearne to work on a reimagining of the classic tale, to be titled The Beast.
A French fairy tale with origins in the 18th century, "Beauty and the Beast" has been brought to the big and small screen time and again. Recently, 2011's Beastly offered a modern take on the story, as has The CW's recently launched "Beauty and the Beast" television series. Another, still-untitled live-action film is in the works with Guillermo del Toro slated to direct and Emma Watson attached to headline.
The new Disney version will be produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman.
MACHINIMA Machinima has today announced a partnership with Ridley Scott and his commercial production company Ridley Scott and Associates that will focus on building original science fiction content for distribution through the online platform. Initial plans call for the creation of 12 sci-fi short films.
"Partnering with Ridley Scott to work with his talented directors shows Machinima's dedication to going above and beyond in delivering quality original content for our audience to embrace," said Allen DeBevoise, Chairman, Co-founder and CEO at Machinima, Inc. "By combining this unique incubation model together with our powerful partnership of established creative talent and scaled distribution to millions on Machinima, we believe new sci-fi franchises will be born.”
"RSA has always been at the forefront of creating innovative work. With new media transforming the way audiences connect with films and filmmakers, Machinima is a great partner for us as we embark on this new model of delivering original content to fans. It's a tremendous opportunity for pushing the creative boundaries for both our filmmakers and the audience," said Ridley Scott.
Scott will serve as executive producer with RSA president Jules Daly, and with Machinima, will select filmmakers from Ridley Scott and Associates to direct the short films.
MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2013
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Breathing life into the beleaguered box office, Sam Raimi's 3D fantasy-adventure Oz the Great and Powerful took in an impressive $80.3 million in its North American debut and $69.9 million overseas for a global opening of $150.2 million.
Disney and producer Joe Roth hope to launch a family-friendly franchise with Oz, which scored the top North American debut of 2013 as well as the third-best March opening of all time after last year's The Hunger Games ($152.5 million) and fellow Disney fantasy-adventure Alice in Wonderland, which debuted to $116.1 million in early March 2010. The Wizard of Oz prequel tells the story of how a fast-talking Kansas circus worker (James Franco) became the wizard. The three witches central to the story are played by Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams.
Disney spent north of $300 million on Oz, between the $215 million production budget and a hefty worldwide marketing campaign. It is opening in the same corridor as Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp. Alice received an A- CinemaScore from moviegoers, versus a B+ for Oz.
Oz did solid but not spectacular business internationally, where the original 1939 film isn't as well known. Russia led with $15 million, followed by the U.K. ($5.7 million), Mexico ($5.1 million) and Australia ($5 million). Oz opened to $4.2 million in Germany, where it was in a close battle with holdover Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. Oz opened in a total of 46 territories, or roughly 80 percent of the international marketplace.
In North America, Oz was up more than 35 percent from Friday to Saturday as families turned out in force, making up 41 percent of the audience. Couples made up 43 percent, while teenagers made up 16 percent. The movie skewed slightly female (52 percent).
"The families absolutely came out, but we also did great business during the evening," said Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis."After six weekends of decline at the box office, Oz has become a water-cooler movie and gets people back in the mood to see movies."
Roughly 53 percent of the domestic gross came from 3D theaters, a pleasing number considering the overall decline in 3D attendance. Imax theaters contributed 10 percent of the 3D total, or $8.2 million. Overseas, Imax grosses came in at $4 million, setting a March record.
The relative strength of Oz was a key victory for Disney; on the same weekend a year, the studio's ill-fated John Carter opened to a dismal $30.2 million.
And as expected, Oz made life impossible for Bryan Singer's troubled 3D fantasy-adventure Jack the Giant Slayer, which fell 63 percent in its second weekend to $10 million for a domestic total of $43.8 million. The tentpole, from New Line and Legendary Pictures, is trailing both John Carter and Battleship. Overseas, Jack took in $4.9 million from 10 Asian markets for an international total of $22.6 million and global cume of $66.4 million.
The weekend's other new wide release, romantic thriller Dead Man Down, fell flat in its opening, coming in No. 4 with roughly $5.5 million. Marking the English-language debut of Danish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev, Dead Man Down reteams the filmmaker with his The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo star Noomi Rapace.
Colin Farrell, Terrence Howard and Dominic Cooper also star in the movie, which is being distributed domestically by FilmDistrict. IM Global, Original Films and Frequency Films are partners on the film.
Debuting at the specialty box office was Peter Webber's post-World War II historical drama Emperor, starring Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones. Distributed by Roadside Attractions, the movie grossed $1 million from 260 theaters in the top 75 markets for a location average of $4,010.
Below are estimates for the March 8-10 weekend at the domestic box office.
Title, weeks in release/theater count, studio, three-day weekend total, cume (*denotes Oscar best picture nominee)
1. Oz the Great and Powerful, 1/3,912, Disney, $80.3 million
2. Jack the Giant Slayer, 2/3,525, Warner Bros., $10 million, $43.8 million
3. Identity Thief, 5/3,002, Universal, $6.3 million, $116.5 million
4. Dead Man Down, 1/2,188, FilmDistrict/IM Global, $5.4 million
5. Snitch, 3/2,340, Lionsgate/Participant, $5.1 million, $26.8 million
6. 21 and Over, 2/2,771, Relativity Media, $5.1 million, $16.8 million
7. Safe Haven, 4/2,541, Relativity, $3.8 million, $62.9 million
8. *Silver Linings Playbook, 17/1,727, The Weinstein Co., $3.7 million, $120.7 million
9. Escape From Planet Earth, 4/2,549, The Weinstein Co, $3.2 million, $47.8 million
10. The Last Exorcism: Part II, 2/2,700, CBS Films, $3.1 million, $12.1 million
THE WALKING DEAD
There are three more episodes left in the third season of "The Walking Dead" and you can now check out a promo from next Sunday's episode, titled "Prey," here.
In "Prey," The Governor chases a dissenter who fled Woodbury. While the Governor is gone, a traitor tries to sabotage his upcoming plans.
"Prey" will air on AMC on Sunday, March 17.
ARMY OF DARKNESS
Last night at the post-premiere Q&A for the South by Southwest Film Festival premiere of Evil Dead, director Fede Alvarez revealed that they're already writing the sequel to the remake, which we're going to dub Evil Dead 2 until a better title comes along.
But just last week, Sam Raimi revealed that he and his brother Ted are working on a screenplay for an Evil Dead 4, which would presumably follow the further adventures of Bruce Campbell's Ash Williams.
Could they have been talking about the same project or is it possible that sometime in the future we may have competing Evil Dead franchises, both involving Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell? Not exactly.
According to Raimi's Ghost House Pictures producing partner Rob Tapert, they were never talking about doing an Evil Dead 4 but actually doing a direct sequel to Army of Darkness.
"That would be 'Army of Darkness 2,'" Tapert said, correcting the earlier news story when we talked to him at the movie junket. "Everybody calls it 'Evil Dead 4' but 'Army of Darkness' wasn't called 'Evil Dead' anywhere except by the fans."
And how does Bruce Campbell feel about returning as Ash? At the same Q&A last night, the actor told the audience that he's fine if the younger actors take over the franchise allowing his three movies to stand alone and apart, but if the Raimis are writing a fourth installment of their series, wouldn't that mean it would have to revolve around his character Ash?
"Sam threatens this every six months," he told us during the same interview. "I've heard this a thousand times, because in the back of his mind, he never wants to let go, because he loved making these movies. We all loved making them together. They were a nightmare to make, very difficult, but they lasted the test of time, so he's not going to let that go, and I'm never going to say 'no.' It'll be me and a walker fighting some other old guy. But that's what he does and who knows? It may happen."
And what about that sequel to Evil Dead, which played like gangbusters at SXSW last night? We asked Jane Levy if she had heard any of the crazy stuff they might do to her in the sequel, which she's already signed on to do.
"They haven't actually, but Shiloh has a secret," she said about her co-star who plays her brother in the upcoming remake. "He knows stuff but I don't, but I'm excited for it."
SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 2013
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Sam Raimi's 3D fantasy-adventure Oz the Great and Powerful is expected to gross north of $75 million in its North American debut after topping Friday's chart with $24.1 million. The big question is just how much more.
Some box office experts believe The Wizard of Oz origins pic, from Disney, could approach $80 million for the weekend if family traffic surges on Saturday. Disney insiders are giving a more modest range of $69 million to $74 million.
The studio hopes to launch a new franchise with Oz, which is on pace to score the top debut so far of 2013, as well as the third-best March opening of all time after last year's The Hunger Games ($152.5 million) and fellow Disney fantasy-adventure Alice in Wonderland, which debuted to $116.1 million in early March 2010.
Disney has spent north of $300 million on Oz, between the $215 million production budget and a hefty worldwide marketing campaign. It is opening in the same corridor as Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp. Alice received an A- CinemaScore from moviegoers, versus a B+ for Oz.
Oz tells the story of how a fast-talking Kansas circus worker (James Franco) became the Wizard of Oz. The three witches central to the story are played by Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams.
As expected, Oz is making life impossible for Bryan Singer's 3D fantasy-adventure Jack and the Giant Slayer, which fell 67 percent on its second Friday to $2.5 million. From New Line and Legendary Pictures, Jack is expected to gross $10 million for the weekend, putting its 10-day domestic cume in the $44 million range.
The weekend's other new wide release, romantic thriller Dead Man Down, fared dismally on Friday, coming in No. 3 with $1.8 million for a projected weekend debut of $5.5 million. Marking the English-language debut of Niels Arden Oplev, Dead Man Down reteams the filmmaker with his The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo star Noomi Rapace.
Colin Farrell, Terrence Howard and Dominic Cooper also star in the movie, which is being distributed domestically by FilmDistrict. IM Global, Original Films and Frequency Films are partners on the film.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
The latest trailer for J.J. Abrams next entry in the Star Trek series ditches the ominous tone of previous teasers in favor of rollicking action.
The clip opens with a familiar sequence seen in the first trailer, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) running and jumping off a cliff into an ocean, that's been revealed as a chase sequence (via The Playlist).
From there, Kirk gets lectured on breaking the rules, Benedict Cumberbatch's presumed villain delivers some glowering looks and some spaceship hijinks result in a one-liner delivered by Spock (Zachary Quinto). There's even an Enterprise warp drive scene as the teaser draws to a close.
The sci-fi tentpole release, produced by Paramount, hits U.S. theaters on May 17.
GAME OF THRONES RECAP
Need a reminder of what happened in Season 2 of "Game of Thrones" before Season 3 premieres on March 31 at 9 p.m.? HBO has brought online this 14-minute recap of the last season which features executive producers D.B. Weiss and David Benioff talking about the show.
If you previously missed them, you can check out the new extended trailer for Season 3 here, view 12 character posters here and the dragon teaser poster here.
Summers span decades. Winters can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun. It will stretch from the south, where heat breeds plots, lust and intrigues; to the vast and savage eastern lands; all the way to the frozen north, where an 800-foot wall of ice protects the kingdom from the dark forces that lie beyond. Kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars, lords and honest men...all will play the 'Game of Thrones.'
SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME IS COMING!!!!!
Be sure to set your clocks ahead an hour tonight so that you aren't running behind all day tomorrow!
TRUE BLOOD
Some big changes are being made in the "True Blood" offices.
Mark Hudis, who was hired as a showrunner for Season 6 after series creator Alan Ball resigned to work on "Banshee," is now being ousted. The rest of the sixth season will be run by series vet Brian Buckner, a writer/producer who has been with "True Blood" since Season 1.
Hudis, who has a two-year deal with HBO, will still be developing under the HBO umbrella. "Mark Hudis has stepped down as showrunner of 'True Blood' to focus on development under his overall deal with the network," HBO confirms to THR, which first reported the news.
"True Blood" began filming Season 6 earlier this year. Though a premiere date has yet to be announced, the show will return with new episodes this summer.
INTERSTELLAR
Good news, sci-fi fans: We won’t have to wait too long to see what Dark Knight mastermind Christopher Nolan is working on next.
He’s been kicking a new sci-fi epic around in development the past several months, and now Interstellar has a green light and will be hitting theaters and IMAX on Nov. 7, 2014.
The script was written by Nolan’s brother Jonathan, and reportedly chronicles a “heroic interstellar voyage to the furthest reaches of our scientific understanding.” In layman’s terms, the story will reportedly feature time travel and alternate dimensions wrapped up in a deep-space package. Good, old-fashioned hard sci-fi.
It sounds like a “big idea” movie, and Nolan’s proven he can do smart sci-fi with his 2010 box-office smash Inception.
EVIL DEAD 2
Some breaking news out of SXSW where ShockTillYouDrop.com is on the scene at the very first public screening for the Evil Dead remake.
Director Fede Alvarez told the crowd this evening that they have begun writing Evil Dead 2. Yes, a sequel to the remake. That demonstrates the studio (Sony, in this case) is confident in the remake, as are the producers, and they should be given the response the film received tonight in Austin, Texas.
So far, based on the various Twitter reactions, Evil Dead is a real "crowd pleaser."
The film opens in theaters April 5th!
MONSTER X
A big screen ensemble of monstrous proportions is on the way as The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Benderspink and Monsterfoot Productions are teaming for Monster X, based on an original story by Ahmet Zappa.
The film finds humanity assembling of team of ten of ten of the world's most famous monsters (Dracula, Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein's monster are all mentioned) to defend the Earth from an even bigger threat. Monster X marks the latest original idea from Zappa. He has, in various stages of development, the Charles Dickens-inspired Dodge & Twist, the Hawaiian family adventure Tiki, and the similarly monster-themed Monster Relocation Program.
Zappa will produce alongside Chris Bender, J.S. Spink and Jake Weiner.
SHADOWMAN
Last year, Valiant Comics approached J. Michael Straczynski to write the movie adaption of "Shadowman" and JMS jumped at the opportunity because, as he told us in out exclusive video interview: "A, I like jazz. B, I like the supernatural. And there's a really cool mix between those two, not just in terms of the usual New Orleans, Voodooo environment, but what is music but incantation?"
Find out more about JMS's work on the script including whether or not Valiant is planning a Marvel-esque cinematic universe.
HELIX
Syfy is back in business with "Battlestar Galactica" executive producer Ronald D Moore, giving his new series "Helix" a 13-episode order.
The show is designed as an "intense thriller about a team of scientists from the Centers for Disease Control who travel to a high-tech research facility in the Arctic to investigate a possible disease outbreak, only to find themselves pulled into a terrifying life-and-death struggle that holds the key to mankind's salvation or total annihilation."
Syfy plans to debut "Helix" later this year (at which time it may or may not have a different title). Joining Moore as executive producers are Lynda Obst ("Contact") and Steven Maeda ("The X-Files"). Cameron Porsandeh wrote the pilot script and will serve as co-executive producer.
"With its well-drawn characters, taut drama, and incredible production team, we couldn't be more excited to see this intense thrill-ride of a series come to life," Syfy president Mark Stern said in a statement.
Moore's "Battlestar Galactica" reboot remains one of the most critically acclaimed shows in Syfy's history, earning two Emmy nominations for writing and two for directing during its four season run.
THE RETURNED
Former "House" star Omar Epps has found his next TV role after a year away from the small screen.
Epps will have a lead role in ABC's drama "The Returned," about how people react when loved ones who have died suddenly start returning to them. He'll play an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who looks into the case of Jacob, a boy who suddenly pops up in rural China.
Kurtwood Smith ("That '70s Show") has also joined the cast as Jacob's father, who along with his wife (Frances Fisher) buried Jacob more than 30 years earlier.
More pilot-season news:
- Paige Turco ("Person of Interest," "The Agency") has been cast in "The Hundred," The CW's drama about the surviving members of humanity attempting to re-colonize Earth a century after a nuclear holocaust.
AFTER EARTH
If you were wondering just how hard sci-fi the new Will Smith action flick After Earth will be, wonder now more.
The new trailer is here, and it looks to be a sci-fi FX spectacle with everything from an epic spaceship crash, to some cool set pieces, to alien creatures and big tech McGuffins.
In addition to a ton of action, the latest trailer also sets up the story of the Will and Jaden Smith flick. The father-son duo crash land on Earth 1,000 years after humanity had abandoned the planet to the wild, and have to fight for survival in search for the ship’s lost beacon. It looks like a nice, personal story packed in a big budget package.
Much like the upcoming Tom Cruise tentpole Oblivion, it could be a unique sci-fi tale that should make for a great 2013. If they manage to pull it off, it could be stellar. After Earth is directed by M. Night Shyamalan and opens June 7.
THE WALKING DEAD
With the third season barreling toward a close, Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has opened about what may (and may not) carry over into next year. So what about Woodbury?
Though the big picture tale is about characters just trying to survive, each season has had its own arc—be it a trip to the CDC or trying to start a live on Hershel’s farm. Season three told the biggest story yet, with Rick’s gang at the prison facing off with the Governor and the forces of Woobbury. So could that story evolve into a multi-season arc?
Probably not, according to Kirkman, though he does leave enough wiggle room to make us wonder:
“That would certainly appear to be settling into a cycle. I don’t want to give anything away because we have some really cool stuff planned for the finale, but I will say that there is a resolution to the storyline at the end of the season, as people would expect. It becomes a whole complete story that you’ve been able to experience over the course of season 3. And It will set things up nicely for season 4. There are new places to go in season 4, but whether or not that means a new setting or new story direction or simply new characters I can’t really nail down any specifics.”
The season-long arc model has been a good fit for the series, and it makes sense they wouldn’t want to linger too long on a storyline when there’s a whole, undead world still out there to explore. But you also hope they don’t have all this build-up to blow through a few episodes that could easily be fleshed out into several great storylines. Between the back half of season two and first half of season three, we’ve seen the best of both worlds.
Here’s hoping new showrunner Scott Gimple can make it all work for 16 new episodes next season. After seeing his solo writing style on last week's stellar episode, "Clear," it does have us cautiously optimistic.
STAR WARS NEWS
The Force truly is with Disney and Star Wars.
Yesterday, Disney CEO Bob Iger officially revealed at the annual shareholders meeting in Phoenix that the company will be developing "some standalone movies" that will feature Star Wars characters.
Those movies will probably be appearing alongside the planned Star Wars: Episodes VII, VIII and IX.
The million-dollar question now is: Which Star Wars characters will get their very own, standalone movies? Iger is remaining tight-lipped about that for the time being.
Fans have been clamoring for a film about everyone's favorite bounty hunter, Boba Fett. (He’s one of the most likely characters to actually get his own standalone movie and is a very popular choice.)
A young Han Solo outing would also be pretty awesome for us—and heck, why not one with Jedi Master Yoda as well? We're all for it! There are so many interesting possibilities, and as long as they don’t make a movie about Jar Jar Binks, we’ll all be intergalactic happy campers.
OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL SEQUEL
As Sam Raimi's Oz The Great and Powerful prepares to hit theaters tomorrow, Variety is reporting that Walt Disney Pictures already has a sequel in the early planning stages. Mitchell Kapner (The Whole Nine Yards) has been brought in to provide a screenplay.
Inspired by the rich literary world of L. Frank Baum, Oz The Great and Powerful serves as a prequel of sorts to the first of Baum's 14 fantasy novels, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." That project was most famously adapted as Victor Fleming's 1939's musical The Wizard of Oz. There's no word yet on whether or not this proposed sequel might re-adapt that story, although there are certainly elements in the new film that hint at that possibility.
Starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff and Joey King, Oz The Great and Powerful follows Oscar Diggs (Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, who is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz. He thinks he's hit the jackpot -- fame and fortune are his for the taking -- that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Kunis), Evanora (Weisz) and Glinda (Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity--and even a bit of wizardry--Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.
SO COLD THE RIVER
Ben Coccio, one of the writers behind this month's The Place Beyond the Pines, has been brought aboard New Regency's planned adaptation of Michael Koryta's So Cold the River, says a story at The Hollywood Reporter. Published in 2010, the novel is officially described as follows:
It starts with a beautiful woman and a challenge. As a gift for her husband, Alyssa Bradford approaches Eric Shaw to make a documentary about her father-in-law, Campbell Bradford, a 95-year-old millionaire whose past is wrapped in mystery. Eric grabs the job even though there are few clues to the man's story—just the name of his hometown and an antique water bottle he's kept his entire life.
In Bradford's hometown, Eric discovers an extraordinary history—a glorious domed hotel where movie stars, presidents, athletes, and mobsters once mingled, and mineral springs whose miraculous waters were reputed to cure everything from insomnia to malaria. Neglected for years, the resort has been restored to its former grandeur just in time for Eric's stay.
Just hours after his arrival, Eric experiences a frighteningly vivid vision. As the days pass, the frequency and intensity of his hallucinations increase and draw Eric deeper into the area's dark history. He discovers that something besides the historic resort town has been restored—a long-forgotten evil that will stop at nothing to regain its lost glory. Brilliantly imagined and terrifyingly real, So Cold the River is a tale of irresistible suspense with a racing, unstoppable current. So Cold the River is currently without a cast or director, but the trade notes that Kevin Misher and Scott Silver have both signed on to produce. Check back for details on the project as they become available.
THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013
THE SELECTION
Anthony Stewart Head played the beloved Rupert Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer for seven years, but now he's coming back to American screens as a king.
Fans of Head will no doubt be aware that he's not new to playing royalty. In fact, the former Watcher recently wrapped playing the father of King Arthur on BBC's Merlin. Clearly, though, Head's not ready to hang up the crown just yet, as he has just been tapped to play King Clarkson on The CW's new show The Selection.
The series, based on a story by Kiera Cass, has an almost Hunger Games quality to it. Set 300 years in the future, The Selection tells the tale of America Singer, a lowly working-class woman who is, you guessed it, selected along with 25 other women to compete for Royal Prince Maxon's hand in marriage.
Head's King Clarkson will play a seasoned leader who does his best to advise his son to select a bride based not on love, but on the basis of the strongest political alliance. Naturally, in the midst of the competition, there are also brewings of a rebellion.
Head won't be the only Whedon alum on the program. Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, who produced and wrote for both Angel and Dollhouse, will act as executive producers and writers for The Selection. Considering the pedigree, we've got high hopes that the show will find success ... and that they can sneak in a few Buffy cameos here and there.
A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST
Add Liam Neeson to the all-star cast being assembled for Seth MacFarlane's Ted follow-up A Million Ways to Die in the West.
Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Neeson is in negotiations to join MacFarlane, Charlize Theron and Amanda Seyfried in the Media Rights Capital-produced comedy Western.
MacFarlane wrote the script with Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild (Ted, Family Guy) and will direct and produce with Scott Stuber and Jason Clark. A May production start is planned. A Million Ways to Die follows a cowardly sheep farmer (MacFarlane) who chickens out of a gunfight and sees his girlfriend (Seyfried) leave him for another man. When a mysterious woman (Theron) rides into town, she helps him find his courage. But when her outlaw husband arrives seeking revenge, the farmer must put his newfound courage to the test. Neeson would play Theron's outlaw husband.
Giovanni Ribisi also recently boarded the project when Jonah Hill passed.
Neeson, who most recently starred in Taken 2, is repped by CAA.
AFTER EARTH
Sony Pictures' After Earth has revealed a new poster design that features leading men Will and Jaden Smith. Look for the new trailer here tomorrow, March 7, courtesy of iTunes Movie Trailers. After Earth takes place after a crash landing leaves teenager Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) and his legendary father Cypher (Will Smith) stranded on Earth, 1,000 years after cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape. With Cypher critically injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help, facing uncharted terrain, evolved animal species that now rule the planet, and an unstoppable alien creature that escaped during the crash. Father and son must learn to work together and trust one another if they want any chance of returning home.
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, After Earth hits theaters June 7.
THE CROODS
A new clip from DreamWorks Animation's The Croods is online.
Opening in theaters on March 22, the animated adventure is voiced by Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke and Cloris Leachman. The Croods is a prehistoric comedy adventure that follows the world's first family as they embark on a journey of a lifetime when the cave that has always shielded them from danger is destroyed. Traveling across a spectacular landscape, the Croods discover an incredible new world filled with fantastic creatures - and their outlook is changed forever.
REVOLUTION
"Revolution" returns to NBC on Monday, March 25 at 10/9c and the network has revealed the first minute, which you can watch below. The clip features an intro by J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke.
What would you do without it all? In this epic adventure from J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions and "Supernatural's" Eric Kripke, a family struggles to reunite in an American landscape where every single piece of technology - computers, planes, cars, phones, even lights - has mysteriously blacked out forever. A drama with sweeping scope and intimate focus, "Revolution" is also about family - both the family you're born into and the family you choose. This is a swashbuckling journey of hope and rebirth seen through the eyes of one strong-willed young woman, Charlie Matheson (Tracy Spiridakos), and her brother Danny (Graham Rogers). When Danny is kidnapped by militia leaders for a darker purpose, Charlie must reconnect with her estranged uncle Miles (Billy Burke), a former U.S. Marine living a reclusive life. Together, with a rogue band of survivors, they set out to rescue Danny, overthrow the militia and ultimately re-establish the United States of America. All the while, they explore the enduring mystery of why the power failed, and if - or how - it will ever return.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013
DOCTOR WHO NEWS
You can't keep a good Time Lord down for long and "Doctor Who" will be back for eight new adventures in space and time beginning March 30 on BBC America. Unfortunately we don't have a TARDIS to take us directly to that date, so we'll have to make due with these fresh images from the upcoming batch of episodes.
The new run is technically the second half of the show's seventh season (or series, if you prefer) and will pick up directly after 2012's epic Christmas special. The premiere episode, "The Bells of St. John," promises to officially introduce Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman), the Doctor's mysterious new companion who he has previously met as two different people in two different time periods.
Confusing? Yeah, "Who" is like that, but fans are already eager to solve the mystery of Clara's true identity. So peep the pics below for hidden clues. (Warning: If you think this enigma will be easy to solve, you don't know "Who.")
The first two images are from the midseason premiere, "The Bells of St. John".
Written by Steven Moffat, the episode involves the Doctor finding something nefarious lurking in present day Wi-Fi signals.
Classic "Doctor Who" villains the Ice Warriors are set to make their first appearance in the current run of the show in Season 7.5's third episode, set aboard a submarine.
And a brand new villain will debut in episode 2.
THE ORIGINALS
It's all happening! "The Vampire Diaries" Episode 420 began filming on Tuesday, March 5 -- and this isn't just any old episode. It will serve as a backdoor pilot for "The Originals," the spinoff in consideration for The CW's Fall 2013 season.
Director Chris Grismer, who is "The Vampire Diaries'" supervising producer and has directed fan favorite episodes like "The End of the Affair" and "Before Sunset," will serve as director for the pilot. Grismer shared this behind-the-scenes pic of the cast at work in Atlanta on Tuesday, writing, "The beautiful cast of #theoriginals wait for the next shot."
Visible are series stars Phoebe Tonkin, Daniel Gillies, Joseph Morgan, and Daniel Gillies' Waistcoat... which is so awe-inspiring we're assuming it gets its own billing.
The episode will see Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah travel to New Orleans, where Hayley has settled after betraying pretty much everyone in Mystic Falls. There, Klaus is reunited with his old vampire protege, Marcel. They'll also come across witches Sophie and Davina, who are on the cusp of a supernatural revolution, and psych student Camille, who seeks answers about innate evil after a horrific family tragedy.
The episode airs April 25 at 8 p.m. EST on The CW.
IN THE FLESH
With AMC’s The Walking Dead tearing up the ratings, the BBC is prepping its own zombie series this year. In classic Brit fashion they’re going highbrow with the approach—and the latest trailer for In the Flesh shows this is definitely not going to be a Walking Dead clone.
The show will follow Britain in the wake of a zombie uprising. But instead of battles with the undead, the series will take a sociopolitical spin and try to reintroduce the undead back into the world of the living.
The idea is ripe for great character moments, and could strike the balance between the recently canceled (U.K. version of) Being Human and the zombie fun of Walking Dead.
Heady? Sure, but it’s loaded with potential.
The series debuts Sunday, March 17, on the BBC. Still no word on a U.S. premiere date.
IRON MAN 3
Marvel Studios has dropped an exclusive new trailer for Iron Man 3. The sequel pits the hero against his biggest enemy yet -- the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). Without the assistance of the Avengers, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has to depend on his brain as well as his brawn.
The Mandarin is a terrorist whose sole purpose is to destroy Iron Man. He hits Tony where it hurts and breaks him down mentally and physically. Following the events of The Avengers, Tony's not in the best state. He's a changed man. Will that help or hinder his chances of survival?
Here's the official synopsis:
Marvel Studios' Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man? Iron Man 3 hits theaters May 3.
AGATHA
Will Gluck (Easy A, Friends with Benefits), has signed on to direct a spec script called Agatha at Paramount Pictures, Deadline reports.
Written by Allison Schroeder (Mean Girls 2), Agatha fictionalizes Agatha Christie's infamous eleven-day disappearance in 1926, crafting an action adventure around the event.
Gluck should tackle Agatha after his next project, Sony's 2014 remake of the Broadway musical Annie which recently cast Quvenzhané Wallis in the title role.
Chris Bender, Cale Boyter, Mary Parent, JC Spink and Jake Weiner are attached to produce.
TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2013
DOCTOR WHO
It's been nearly 40 years since the Ice Warriors last graced our TV screens. How have the years treated them? Let's find out!
Mark Gatiss's episode, which pits the Martians against the Doctor all whilst in the tight confines of a submarine, is rumored to be called The Cold War and is set to debut next month. That is when we will finally see the Ice Warriors in action. In the meantime, however, let's check out their redesign.
This is actually an incredibly faithful adaptation of the original design. The mask is nearly identical. The torso is a bit more heavily armored looking, but is otherwise very similar to the '70s incarnation. The biggest change is that they traded out their lego stumps for actual hands! If ever there were a worthwhile change, it's that.
But will they look as exciting in action, or will that suit force the actor inside to lumber around in a way that is less scary and more unintentionally hilarious? All we can do for now is cross our fingers and hope for the best.
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
After a few months of will she/won't she, it looks like our favorite weather-controlling mutant will be back for another flick.
Just a few days ago we were hearing that Halle Berry's return as Storm for Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past wasn't a sure thing. Today, we got confirmation from Singer himself that she will indeed join her fellow mutants for another round.
Bryan Singer's Twitter feed:
Couldn't be more excited that #HalleBerry has joined the cast of #XMen #DaysofFuturePast. Hopefully she can improve the weather in Montreal.
Berry's return adds even more star power to a cast that already includes the likes of Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage and James McAvoy, to name just a few.
AMERICAN HORROR STORY
Where will the hit horror anthology series take us next?
In its first season, FX's American Horror Story took on a single-family home. In its second season, subtitled Asylum, it took on a psycho ward. But where will season go? Co-star Dylan McDermott, who has played two different characters thus far in the series, teased a possible location when talking about the addition of actress Kathy Bates to the season-three cast.
"She really is [perfect]," McDermott said, referring to Bates. "All the witches of Salem…there's plenty of them!"
So are we heading to the Salem witch trials for season three, or some modern-day incarnation thereof? What do you think, American Horror Story fans? Is McDermott on the money, or is he just trying to throw us off the trail?
CITY OF THE DEAD
TNT is looking to bring Claire DeWitt to the small screen.
The Turner-owned network is developing a scripted drama based on novelist Sara Gran's book series about the tough female private investigator in post-Katrina New Orleans.
Gran is attached to write and co-executive produce the hourlong drama script, with John Wells, Andrew Stearn and Christopher Chulack on board as executive producers. If ultimately ordered to pilot, Chulack will serve as DeWitt's director.
The move expands the producers' relationship with TNT, where they have spent recent years in production on the network's Southland. The cop drama, which got its start on NBC before shifting to cable, is in its fifth season. DeWitt is being produced by John Wells Productions in association with Warner Horizon Television.
As The Hollywood Reporter previously reported, Gran also is developing Nutshell Studies, a Hitchcockian drama about a 1950s small-town housewife who becomes obsessed with solving brutal crimes, at HBO. Guillermo Del Toro will serve as an executive producer as well as director on that project, with Gran attached to write and co-executive produce.
Gran is repped by RWSG Agency, The Karpfinger Agency and Hirsch Wallerstein; Wells and his John Wells Productions president Stearn are repped by CAA; Chulack is repped by UTA and Ken Gross Management.
ARTEMIS
Tim Miller, currently attached to direct Deadpool, has now signed on for another Twentieth Century Fox project with the action thriller Artemis. Artemis' plot is still unknown, although it is said to be set in outer space. Andrew Lobel, the screenwriter behind the upcoming Tunnels, is attached to draft the screenplay.
Miller's career so far has been as a VFX artist behind films like X-Men, Planet of the Apes and Where the Wild Things Are. As movement on Deadpool appears to have slowed as of yet, it is unclear whether that or Artemis will be his directing debut.
TOMB RAIDER
Square Enix is releasing Crystal Dynamics' new Tomb Raider game today for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and the PC. The game explores the intense and gritty origin story of Lara Croft and her ascent from a frightened young woman to a hardened survivor.
But what is the status of the movie reboot? Variety says Crystal Dynamics is working closely with GK Films to develop the film that will also focus on the younger Lara Croft.
"They are working from this new take that we've given them," Darrell Gallagher, head of studio at Crystal Dynamics, said of GK Films. "It's a good partnership. We're seeing the challenges through the same lens."
He added that "It was important for both of us to have a cohesive version of the franchise. We didn't want to see a film version that was a continuation of the old 'Tomb Raider' films."
Producer Graham King previously told us that the new film will be "the story before she became Lara Croft, so it is a character piece. It does have a lot of really great characters, but it's a lot of action and a lot of fun, and for me, it's something very different. I've not really done a movie like that before, but I really gravitated to rebooting this franchise and we're going to give it a shot."
Starring Angelina Jolie, Paramount Pictures made two movies based on the daredevil archaeologist on a series of global missions in 2001 and 2003. They grossed a total of $432 million at the worldwide box office.
RESIDENT EVIL 6
ShockTillYouDrop.com has learned that the next chapter in the successful Resident Evil franchise is planned for a release on September 12, 2014, meaning that production on the next chapter should begin soon.
The most recent film, Resident Evil: Retribution, grossed $221 million worldwide and previous reports have suggested that a sixth film could close out the series. Director Paul W.S. Anderson previously indicated that he had mapped out a story for a new trilogy that started with the fourth film, Resident Evil: Afterlife.
Story-wise, no details have been released, but when we last saw Milla Jovovich's Alice, she was at the White House and facing a rather large threat with Shawn Robert's Wesker by her side.
No title or plot details for the sixth entry have been revealed, but check back for details as they become available.
MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2013
STAR WARS: CLONE WARS NEWS
There's no crime in giving yourself over to pleasure. Or, in this case, the Dark Side.
Ian Abercrombie has been the voice for Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious for quite some time, and his passing left not only a hole in the hearts of Star Wars fans, but a huge gap in the Clone Wars itself. Without Abercrombie, who could play the most sinister of sinister villains from a galaxy far, far away?
Supervising director for the cartoon series Dave Filoni took the task of recasting the role tremendously seriously and came up with an absolutely perfect replacement -- Tim Curry.
We had an extensive search to find a new voice for Palpatine. It wasn’t just a matter of finding an actor who could to recreate lines from the films. We needed someone to deliver a performance that could stand alongside what Ian McDiarmid and Ian Abercrombie created as this legendary Star Wars character. At the end of the day, there is little question that bringing in an actor of Tim’s caliber was perfect for Chancellor Palpatine.
We have to say that we wholeheartedly approve. Curry has played so many baddies to camp perfection over the decades that we've lost count. Curry is set to debut this coming Saturday in the season finale. While we're still sad about the loss of Abercrombie, but we're still excited to see what new flavor Curry will bring to the role.
ONCE UPON A TIME Once Upon a Time took over PaleyFest on Sunday afternoon, with the raucous crowd taking in every eyebrow raise, every tease and and every promise with fervor.
ABC's fairy tale drama left off with the long-awaited reveal of Gold's son and Henry's father, Baelfire, and executive producers Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis promised the Saban Theatre audience that the rest of season two explores "this dysfunctional family" that is now in place. The identity of Henry's father was established "very early in maybe season one," Horowitz revealed, with actress Jennifer Morrison admitting that the moment in "Manhattan" was crucial for her alter ego, Emma Swan. "How do you play [all those emotions] in three seconds?" she asked.
Producers also took a brief moment to discuss the potential Mad Hatter spinoff, though never outwardly addressed it. When asked about a possible Jefferson return on Once Upon a Time, Horowitz and Kitsis denied that they were recasting the character. "No plans to recast anyone," Kitsis said, but did note portrayer Sebastian Stan's busy schedule.
Here are 11 teases for season two, including pivotal clues to the 17th episode, "Welcome to Storybrooke":
A darker Snow: In Sunday's episode, Snow White makes a decision on which side she'll fall: the light or the dark. It will be a big point of contention for Snow and Charming's relationship. Though it will be a major hurdle for their romance, Josh Dallas said: "He's going to be there no matter what." Lana Parrilla, who plays Regina, was excited to see this new side to Snow: "It's going to get very intense."
Storybrooke's early days: Details of the 17th episode, "Welcome to Storybrooke," were revealed. The episode, which marks the return of the Huntsman (Jamie Dornan), Gus Gus and Billy the Mechanic, will go back in time to the first week after the curse. " 'Welcome to Storybrooke' is the very early days of Storybrooke," Horowitz teased, adding that viewers will see what it was like in 1983, what it was like for Regina to be victorious and why she wanted to adopt Henry. The timing for the episode is also crucial. "When you see the episode, the answer will be very clear," Horowitz said, as to why they decided for it to be in season two.
Another shade to Belle: In an upcoming Belle-centric episode, "things are going to get a lot more interesting for Gold," Kitsis said, with Emilie De Ravin revealing that Belle's cursed alter ego will be far different. "Lacey is the opposite of Belle," De Ravin said. What is the likelihood for Belle to regain her memories? "Have hope and faith," Kitsis said coyly.
Another realm: Before the end of the season, the show will visit another realm. Producers wouldn't offer any more details other than: "We'll be going to a new land!" as Kitsis exclaimed. However, they will be "teasing someone who will live in this other land, but we won't see them until season three."
Final season two episodes revealed: The two-part finale will be called "Second Star to the Right" and "And Straight on 'Til Morning," major hints that the season may very well be ending in Neverland.
Father, son and grandson troubles: Now that Rumpelstiltskin has found his son, what will this mean for their relationship? "There's a little gamechanger," hinted Robert Carlyle of episode 22. Now that he is aware that Henry may be his undoing, it will present Rumpelstiltskin with an interesting question. "Has he learned anything [from his past and] what chance does his grandson have?" asked Kitsis of Rumpelstiltskin's debacle. "Is undoing a bad thing?" Horowitz inquired.
A love triangle forming? Now that Henry's father is back in the fray, will there be a possible love triangle forming between Emma, Hook and Bae? "I'd like to see it," Kitsis offered. Fellow EP Horowitz seconded it: "It could happen."
The Evil Queen will be back: "Regina the Evil Queen is going to make a comeback, but in a different way," teased Parrilla.
Is Hook redeemable? "He's out for himself," Colin O'Donoghue said, "as long as he gets his greasy paws on Rumpelstiltskin." Kitsis offered this: "At the end of the day, they're all searching for their happy ending. Some just have a harder road." Viewers will see Hook "pop back into the season in a fun way," Horowitz said.
More familiar faces: August will return and viewers will find out where he ran off to and what he's been doing. However, that big question of how August knew Neal was Bae will not be answered this season.
More backstories: Sunday's episode will reveal an interesting connection between Hook and Bae; expect their backstories to be explored even further. Once Upon a Time airs at 8 p.m. Sundays on ABC.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Things picked up somewhat as March kicked off with the release of Bryan Singer's fantasy epic Jack the Giant Slayer (New Line/WB), starring Nicholas Hoult, Stanley Tucci, Ewan McGregor and newcomer Eleanor Tomlinson, and though it didn't have much competition, allowing it to gross $28 million over the weekend, that might be seen as a disappointment compared to its reported $200 million budget.
It opened on Friday with a modest $7.7 million but it got a nice bump on Saturday showing that despite its PG-13 rating, it was able to bring in a family audience. It grossed $3.4 million of its weekend gross from its 317 IMAX sites.
The hit comedy Identity Thief (Universal) dropped back down to second place for the second time, bringing in $9.7 million over the weekend to become the first 2013 movie to cross the $100 million mark with $107.4 million since opening in early February.
The R-rated coming-of-age comedy 21 and Over (Relativity Media), directed by the writers of The Hangover, opened in third place with a relatively disappointing $9 million in 2,771 theaters, roughly $3,200 per site.
The horror sequel The Last Exorcism Part II (CBS Films) may indeed prove to be the last exorcism this time as it tanked with just $8 million in 2,700 theaters.
Dwayne Johnson's action thriller Snitch (Summit Entertainment) dropped to fifth place with $7.7 million, down just 42% from its opening week, with $24.4 million grossed so far.
The animated family comedy Escape From Planet Earth (The Weinstein Company) took sixth place with $6.7 million and $43.2 million to date, while the Nicholas Sparks adaptation Safe Haven (Relativity Media) followed in seventh place with $6.3 million and $57.1 million in the same amount of time.
David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook (The Weinstein Company) had a nice 3% bump following Jennifer Lawrence's win at the Oscars last weekend as it added another $5.9 million to its running total of $115.5 million.
Bruce Willis' action sequel A Good Day to Die Hard (20th Century Fox) and the alien invasion thriller Dark Skies (Dimension Films) both took substantial drops, taking ninth and tenth place with $3.5 million and $4.5 million, respectively. The fifth "Die Hard" installment has grossed a measly $59.6 million over the last three weeks while Dark Skies has grossed just $13.5 million in ten days.
The Top 10 brought in roughly $89.5 million, which was down $56 million from the March opening last year when the animated Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (Universal) blew into theaters with over $70 million with the R-rated comedy Project X (Warner Bros.), produced by The Hangover director Todd Phillips, taking second place with $21 million.
Back in the present, new distributor RCR Distribution tried to give the submarine thriller Phantom, starring Ed Harris and David Duchovny, a wide release into 1,100 theaters over the weekend but it was a failed effort that amounted to roughly $465 thousand or $416 per theater, which is among the worst for a wide release into over 1,000 theaters.
There were a lot of limited releases out on Friday, but the true standout was the psychological thriller Stoker (Fox Searchlight), directed by Korea's Park Chan-wook and starring Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode, which brought in an estimated $158 thousand in 7 theaters in New York and Los Angeles. Its $22.6 thousand per site was the best theater estimate for the weekend.
SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2013
REVOLUTION TEASE
The cast and producers of "Revolution" teased a Paley Festival audience Saturday (March 2) with the first act of the show's March 25 return, but that maybe wasn't the most revealing thing to come out of the evening.
Series creator Eric Kripke was in a talkative mood, and he revealed several things about the second half of the season, starting with when we'll find out the cause of the worldwide blackout.
"It's almost avant-garde [how early] we're revealing why the power went out," Kripke jokes, noting the tendency of many genre shows to tease their big mysteries endlessly. That's not the case here, he says.
"Episode 13," Kripke promises. "I'm just saying it. I'm throwing it out there."
Kripke explains that he doesn't like to be "precious" about answering questions the show raises, and he and his fellow writers also realized that explaining the blackout opens the door to a lot of other possible stories.
The writers got an assist from co-executive producer and pilot director Jon Favreau in deciding when to explain the blackout. Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) knows what happened, and naturally Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) and Co. don't waste much time pressing her for answers.
Favreau noted that there's only so long Rachel could plausibly duck the question, and Kripke and the writers went with it.
Among the other things the "Revolution" crew revealed at Paleyfest:
- While other questions will be raised over the second half of the season, Kripke promises to answer everything from "why Rachel slapped Miles [Billy Burke]" to why Miles and Monroe (David Lyons) had their falling out.
- The other republics in the carved-up United States will become real places instead of just spots on a map. Kripke notes that the Georgia Federation -- Leslie Hope of "24" and "The River" plays its president -- will be substantially different than the Monroe Republic because of geography and climate, among other things, and the show will explore what those differences mean.
- Aaron (Zak Orth) will see his wife again, which will bring up all sorts of issues about his leaving her and how she's survived in the decade since he left. "Revolution" returns to NBC on Monday, March 25.
WEEKEND AT THE MOVIES
New Line and Legendary Pictures are bracing for a tough weekend after a poor showing by 3D tentpole Jack the Giant Slayer at the Friday box office.
From Bryan Singer, Jack earned a disappointing $7.7 million to top the chart, but it was something of a hollow victory.
That puts the year's first tentpole on course for a weekend opening in the $24 million to $25 million range, not enough considering the movie cost nearly $300 million to make and market, including a $195 production budget. Last year, Battleship -- costing in the neighborhood of Jack -- debuted to $8.8 million on Friday for a $25.5 million weekend.
New Line and parent company Warner Bros. are hoping that Jack, loosely based on the classic British story Jack the Beanstalk, picks up the pace on Saturday as families become available. Although it is rated PG-13, Warners believes the 3D event pic is well suited for adults and teens alike.
Jack, starring Nicholas Hoult in the title role, earned a B+ CinemaScore.
New Line and Warner Bros. already are counting on strong international business to make up for any deficit in North America. Their hopes are being fulfilled so far in seven Asian markets where Jack opened on Thursday, grossing a total of $2.5 million, ahead of Wrath of the Titans ($2.1 million) and Journey 2: Mysterious Island ($1.3 million), both of which were successes.
Moviegoing was soft overall in North America on Friday, with new entries 21 & Over and The Last Exorcism Part II placing No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, with a modest $3.4 million and $3.3 million. Each is expected to post gross in the $8 million range for the weekend.
New independent thriller Phantom, from RCR, is only expected to open to a dismal $500,000, one of the worst openings of all time. It opened at 1,118 locations.
Universal's Identity Thief could beat both films and rise to No. 2 for the weekend. On Friday, the Melissa McCarthy-Jason Bateman comedy became the first movie of the year to cross $100 million.
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
The already impressive roster for X-Men: Days of Future Past is getting bigger.
French actor Omar Sy, known for his work in the acclaimed 2011 film The Intouchables, is joining the cast in an unspecified role. Director Bryan Singer shared the news on Twitter Saturday, where he called the actor "brilliant."
"Thrilled to welcome the brilliant #OmarSy from the amazing film #TheIntouchables to the cast of #Xmen #DaysofFuturePast!" Singer tweeted.
The follow-up to 2011’s X-Men: First Class, will reunite castmembers James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult. On Feb. 13, Singer announced Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage was joining the cast in a role still being kept under wraps.
The film will also include appearances from the actors of the original X-Men trilogy, which was released from 2000-2006. Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page and Shawn Ashmore are on board to reprise their roles.
Based on the iconic 1981 story in Marvel Comics' Uncanny X-Men, Days of Future Past will portray the original series stars as older versions of their characters in a dystopian future in which mutants are hunted down. Days of Future Past, from 20th Century Fox, is eyeing an April start date and is slated for a July 18, 2014, release.
ASSASSIN'S CREED
The announcement trailer for Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag, featuring Blackbeard talking about the protagonist, has come online early!
The trailer includes a release date of October 29 and reveals that the game will be available for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Wii U and PC.
Ubisoft will announce more details on Monday, March 4 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific.
SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 2013
ZERO HOUR RUNS OUT OF TIME
The clock has run out on "Zero Hour." According to a report from TV Line, ABC has canceled the series. The conspiracy thriller never really got off the ground, with three low-rated episodes.
The show premiered February 14, Valentine's Day, to a weak 6.3 million viewers, with a 1.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic, and didn't get any better moving forward. The latest episode, airing Thursday night, dropped down to 5 million viewers and an 18-49 rating of 1, leading ABC to cut their losses.
"Zero Hour" was Anthony Edwards' first full-time TV role since he left the critically-acclaimed "E.R." in 2002. ABC has yet to officially confirm the cancellation, or announce what will take over its time slot.
GAME OF THRONES
Even though season three of Game of Thrones doesn’t roar into life on our TV screens until March 31 on HBO, we now have the titles for eight out of the ten episodes set to air. SPOILERS AHEAD!
The episode titles were gathered together by Winteriscoming thanks to some of their sources, and while some titles are quite mysterious, others may give a tiny hint as to what the episode will be about. (In fact, a few of them are pretty telling for those who've read A Storm of Swords.)
According to our esteemed colleagues, the reason why two episodes are currently missing their titles is due to recent reshuffling of material and subsequent renaming.
And they are:
· Ep. 301 – Valar Dohaeris
· Ep. 302 – Dark Wings, Dark Words
· Ep. 303 – Walk of Punishment
· Ep. 304 – And Now His Watch is Ended
· Ep. 305 – Kissed by Fire
· Ep. 306 – to be determined
· Ep. 307 – The Bear and the Maiden Fair
· Ep. 308 – to be determined
· Ep. 309 – The Rains of Castamere
· Ep. 310 – Mhysa
What do you think each episode will be about? Time to speculate!
OBLIVION
A new trailer has been released for Tom Cruise’s upcoming post-apocalypse flick Oblivion, which reveals a ton of new footage and is crammed with even more mysteries.
The new trailer digs a little deeper into the premise, which follow’s Cruise’s character as one of the last men on Earth doing drone repair. Things apparently get interesting after a ship crashes, and it goes haywire from there. The sweeping, creepy shots of abandoned Earth are absolutely breathtaking, and however this film turns out story-wise, it should be a beauty to behold.
Here’s the synopsis:
Jack Harper (Cruise) is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack’s mission is nearly complete. Living and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above, his soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands. Oblivion opens April 26.
REVOLUTION
It’s been months since we last visited the post-electric world of NBC’s Revolution, and during the hiatus the creators have made some pretty big changes to the hit series. One of the biggest? The back half of season one will apparently be less scrappy adventurers and more political intrigue.
The show has already hinted at the world beyond the Monroe Republic, and producer Eric Kripke and co-star Giancarlo Esposito say they’ll be digging deeper into the politics of North America once the series returns.
Kripke even pulled the trump card and compared the new direction to HBO’s acclaimed series Game of Thrones, and said they’re trying to make a future-set sci-fi take on the highbrow drama genre.
Per TV Guide: "We've seen personal relationship struggles and personal revolutions happen, but we haven't seen how this particular power outage has affected the whole world. We're about to," Esposito teases. With the revolution finally beginning, everyone has their own role to play, roles that will take them outside of the Monroe Republic. "We'll see the Georgia Federation this season, we'll see the Plains Nation this season — and they're wildly different nations ... We really want this to evolve into kind of an American Game of Thrones,” Kripke says. But with the world expanding, don't expect our recently reunited gang of misfits to stay together too long.
The return date of March 25 is getting closer, but we’re still about a month away from seeing how that shocking cliffhanger will resolve itself.
EVIL DEAD 4
There's likely no question that has been asked of director Sam Raimi and leading man Bruce Campbell more often in the last two decades than, "Is there ever going to be an 'Evil Dead 4'?" Today, however, the answer to that question looks it could finally be "Yes."
"I would love to make 'Evil Dead 4,'" Bleeding Cool quotes Raimi as having said during a press tour for his upcoming Oz The Great and Powerful (via ShockTillYouDrop.com), "My brother and I plan to work on the script this summer."
The Evil Dead series began in 1981 with the self-proclaimed "Ultimate Experience in Grueling Terror" and continued in 1987's semi-sequel/semi-remake Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn, finally concluded (for the time being) with 1992's Army of Darkness. Although the franchise has continued through video games and comic books, hope for a big screen sequel seemed dashed when Raimi announced that he would be producing Fede Alvarez's upcoming remake of the first film, set for release on April 5.
The brother Raimi mentions is likely his older brother, Ivan Raimi, with whom Sam co-wrote Army of Darkness and Drag Me to Hell (among other projects) as opposed to his actor brother, Ted Raimi (who can be seen in a cameo in next week's Oz The Great and Powerful). The Walt Disney Pictures film also features a role for Campbell who, while nothing is confirmed as of yet, it's hard to imagine the horror series continuing without. Regardless, check back for details as soon as they become available.
FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2013
LOST GIRL RENEWED
"Lost Girl," possibly the sexiest of all supernatural series, has been renewed for a fourth season by Syfy (in the United States) and Showcase (in Canada). There is no projected date for the beginning of Season 4 yet.
Currently airing episodes from the show's third season, "Lost Girl" averages 1.3 million total viewers during its Monday night time slot, making it the top original cable drama at that time. Considering that this puts "Lost Girl" up against strongly rated programs like "Castle" on ABC and "Hawaii Five-0" on CBS, this is an impressive number.
The show deals with the Fae, legendary and magical creatures who hide in plain sight among humans. The main character, Bo (Anna Silk), is a succubus and the main character, a young woman whose past has always been a mystery. This does, however, allow Bo the independence to choose her own path among humans and to not align with either the Light or the Dark clans of the Fae.
Kris Holden-Ried, Ksenia Solo, Zoie Palmer, Rick Howland and K.C. Collins co-star in the Canadian production.
"Lost Girl" airs Mondays at 10pm on Syfy. The Season 3 finale will air on Monday, April 22.
FRANKENSTEIN
Who better to play creepy hunchback assistant Igor in a new take on "Frankenstein" than -- Daniel Radcliffe? The "Harry Potter" star is said to be near a deal for the role, according to Variety.
The "Frankenstein" feature film in the works at 20th Century Fox will be directed by Paul McGuigan (BBC's "Sherlock") and written by Max Landis ("Chronicle"), inspired by Mary Shelley's classic novel.
Radcliffe would be the first actor cast in the project, which is expected to shoot in the fall and said to focus on the twisted friendship between Igor and his "master," Dr. Victor Frankenstein.
Radcliffe will next be seen on the big screen in the racy indie "Kill Your Darlings," which recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. He also co-stars with Jon Hamm in the British miniseries "A Young Doctor's Notebook."
IN THE FLESH
Starting this fall, AMC won’t be the only place to find zombies on the small screen. The BBC is getting in on the undead craze, and it's released a hilariously awesome new public service announcement to promote the new series In The Flesh.
The new show finds Britain in the wake of a zombie outbreak. But instead of survival horror, a la The Walking Dead, this series will follow the social and political ramifications of reintroducing domesticated zombies back into the populace.
Sure, it’s kind of weird, but it could be awesome. The premise has a lot of potential, and the series will follow a zombie trying to find his place in the (undead) world. It seems like it could be a spin on those vampires-living-in-society tropes, as zombie Kieren (Luke Newberry) fights the urge to eat brains on a daily basis.
The BBC hit a grand slam with the marketing campaign, putting a zombie spin on the old “Keep Calm” ads. The best bit of polite advice? If surrounded by a zombie horde, please call this number and remain calm while an armed team responds. You know, just don’t get eaten while you wait. In the Flesh debuts on March 17 in the U.K. A stateside release date has yet to be announced.
HOBBIT NEWS
The release of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: There and Back Again is being pushed back five months, from July 18, 2014, to Dec. 17, 2014.
News of the shift comes as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey prepares to cross the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office, thanks to a strong run in China. The movie's global gross is approaching $990 million as the weekend gets underway. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second title, is staying put and will open Dec. 13.
The relocation of There and Back Again means the 3D tentpole won't have to face direct competition from Fox's X-Men: Days Of Future Past.
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Gary Oldman is joining the growing cast of 20th Century Fox’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
Jason Clarke and Kodi Smit-McPhee are already cast in the sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes being directed by Matt Reeves.
While much of the plot is being kept under lock and key, it is set 15 years after the events of the hit 2011 film. One focus is on the human scientists who are struggling to survive alone in San Francisco. Another aspect of the story is the struggle of intelligent ape Caesar, played by a returning Andy Serkis, to maintain dominance over his kingdom.
Oldman is coming on board to play a leader of the human resistance, a diplomatic type who has a military background and was, interestingly enough, a former police commissioner (at least in the current script).
Fox had no comment on the roles. Apes is the latest franchise that Oldman has joined. The veteran actor is becoming a favorite of the fanboy nation with turns in the Harry Potter and Batman movie series and the recently wrapped shooting Robocop, MGM’s reboot that could turn into yet another franchise.
He is repped by APA, manager Douglas Urbanski and Loeb and Loeb.
CINDERELLA
Emma Watson is eyeing the title role in Walt Disney Pictures' upcoming live-action take on Cinderella, Variety reports. Cate Blanchett is already set to play the wicked stepmother with Kenneth Branagh (Thor) directing.
Watson starred last year in The Perks of Being a Wallflower and can be seen coming in Darren Aronofsky's Noah, Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring and Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen's This is the End.
Produced by Simon Kinberg, the film was originally written by The Devil Wears Prada screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna with subsequent rewrites by The Twilight Saga: New Moon director Chris Weitz.
Production is planned to begin this fall in London.
DOCTOR WHO NEWS
Fans anxious for the continuation of the seventh modern "Doctor Who" series don't have long to wait as the first new episode since last year's Christmas special is set to debut Saturday, March 30 at 8:00pm on BBC America. Today, the channel has revealed a new poster for the upcoming episodes along with details the premiere, now officially titled "The Bells of St. John."
Said to be a modern day urban thriller, "The Bells of St. John" is written by lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat ("Sherlock"). Set in London against the backdrop of new and old iconic landmarks – The Shard and Westminster Bridge – "The Bells of St. John" introduces a new nemesis, the Spoonheads, who battle the Doctor as he discovers something sinister is lurking in the Wi-Fi.
The premiere will be followed by seven new episodes written by Moffat, acclaimed writer Neil Gaiman (Coraline, Beowulf), Mark Gatiss ("Sherlock"), Neil Cross ("Luther") and Stephen Thompson ("Sherlock").
The Doctor (Matt Smith) is joined by his new companion Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) for the latest set of incredible adventures through space and time. The duo finds new adversaries and familiar friends around every corner as they journey from the bottom of the ocean in a submarine to the center of the TARDIS and beyond. The Cybermen make a thunderous return and the Ice Warrior arrives in an unexpected place.
“It’s the 50th year of Doctor Who and look what’s going on!" says Moffat. "We’re up in the sky and under the sea! We’re running round the rings of an alien world and then a haunted house. There’s new Cybermen, new Ice Warriors and a never before attempted journey to the centre of the TARDIS. And in the finale, the Doctor’s greatest secret will at last be revealed! If this wasn’t already our most exciting year it would be anyway!”
Also appearing this season are guest stars Dougray Scott ("Desperate Housewives," Mission: Impossible II), Warwick Davis ("Life’s Too Short," Harry Potter), Celia Imrie (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), Richard E. Grant (Iron Lady, Dracula), Jessica Raine ("Call the Midwife") and Tamzin Outhwaite ("EastEnders," "Law & Order: UK"). Additionally, mother and daughter Dame Diana Rigg ("Game of Thrones," "The Avengers") and Rachael Stirling (Tipping the Velvet) will appear on screen together for the first time.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013
IRON MAN 3
A new poster has been released for the upcoming "Iron Man 3" that shows just how bad things can get for Tony Stark. The poster, released by Yahoo!, shows a beaten down Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in a heavily-damaged Iron Man suit. Behind him, seven different Iron Man suits take to the sky.
If the film makes use of the "Extremis" virus, which has been rumored, it's possible those suits of armor are controlled by Stark himself, mentally. In the comics, the virus makes this possible, creating the Iron Legion. Of course, there are a number of explanations for those suits, including it simply being artistic interpretation. The background of the poster also features the destruction of Tony's home, which can be seen in the film's trailer. The poster follows Marvel releasing looks at other characters in the movie, including the film's villain, The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley).
"Iron Man 3" finds Stark's personal world being destroyed by The Mandarin. Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, and Jon Favreau reprise their roles from the previous films, with Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall joining the cast as scientists. The movie hits theaters May 3.
allowfullscreen>DEFIANCE
The upcoming Syfy series Defiance looks to be a true FX extravaganza, and a new trailer shows off some of the big-budget set pieces that are in store on post-invasion Earth.
The latest footage digs a little deeper into the world of Defiance, which picks up in the wake of an alien invasion that finds humanity just one of many competing races on the planet we call home. We see a ton of huge alien battles, and some hints of political intrigue in the namesake town.
In addition to the Syfy series, the events of Defiance will also play out in a shared-universe videogame that ties in to the storylines in the TV series. Ambitious? Absolutely. Here’s hoping they can pull it off.
The expansive cast features several sci-fi alums, including Grant Bowler (True Blood), Julie Benz (Dexter), Jaime Murray (Warehouse 13) and Tony Curran (Blade II).
SPIDER-MAN 2 NEWS
One of Spider-Man's (and the Marvel Universe at large's) greatest foes has just been cast.
Move aside, Willem Dafoe. For the first time in more than a decade, there's a new Norman Osborn in town. The sinister CEO of Oscorp Industries will be played by none other than Academy Award-winning actor Chris Cooper. Probably still best known for his portrayal of the terrifying next door neighbor in American Beauty, Cooper has a real talent for scaring the pants off of audiences with just a glance. So what we're saying is, this is killer casting, and we can't wait to see if they'll let him take a crack at being the Green Goblin eventually, too.
Cooper is just one of many big names that Amazing Spider-Man 2 has picked up along the way. In fact, with both Jamie Foxx and Paul Giamatti cast as Electro and Rhino respectively, the only real problem we see is that the villains could very easily outshine the heroes.
TOMB RAIDER
With the game hitting the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC next Tuesday, March 5th, Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have released this new "Reborn" trailer for the anticipated new Tomb Raider game. Tomb Raider explores the intense and gritty origin story of Lara Croft and her ascent from a frightened young woman to a hardened survivor. Armed only with raw instincts and the ability to push beyond the limits of human endurance, Lara must fight to unravel the dark history of a forgotten island to escape its relentless hold.
TRANSCENDENCE
Said to be in negotiations last fall, Johnny Depp is officially attached to headline Wally Pfister's directorial debut Transcendence. With a shoot scheduled to begin in April, Depp will also be able to headline the Whitey Bulger biopic Black Mass, set to begin production this summer.
Although no official plot details have been revealed, recent reports suggest that Transcendence will feature Depp as a scientist who uploads his consciousness into a computer.
The film is being financed and produced by Alcon Entertainment’s Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove and will be released by Warner Bros. The film will also be produced by Straight Up Films’ Annie Marter, Marisa Polvino and Kate Cohen along with David Valdes. Pfister will direct from newcomer Jack Paglen’s screenplay, which was developed with Annie Marter, with the most recent draft by Noah Oppenheim. Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are serving as executive producers. Straight Up’s Regency Boies will co-produce.
Depp will next be seen starring in Walt Disney Pictures’ The Lone Ranger, directed by Gore Verbinski and debuting July 3, 2013. The film is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Verbinski along with Depp and Christi Dembrowski’s Infinitum Nihil banner. Infinitum Nihil’s credits also include Hugo, Dark Shadows and The Rum Diary.
OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL
A new TV spot from director Sam Raimi's upcoming Oz The Great and Powerful is now online and you can check it out in the player below, courtesy of Fandango. Also below is the cover to this week's EW, which shows off a new image of the Wicked Witch.
Opening in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D on March 8, the fantasy adventure stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff and Joey King.
When Oscar Diggs (Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he's hit the jackpot--fame and fortune are his for the taking--that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Kunis), Evanora (Weisz) and Glinda (Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity--and even a bit of wizardry--Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.
JOE'S COMICS
It's official: Joe's Comics, the imprint that created Midnight Nation and Rising Stars, is back in business. And MTVGeek has exclusively learned from JMS himself that the first comic book from the new line will be "Ten Grand," illustrated by best-selling artist Ben Templesmith ("30 Days of Night"). The comic will officially debut May 1st -- but a convention variant will be unveiled at C2E2 in Chicago the week before for those who can't wait.
Watch our exclusive video interview with J. Michael Straczynski after the jump!
"The temptation to bring back Joe’s Comics has been very powerful over the last few years," J. Michael Straczynski remarked, "but I really wanted to wait until I had a collection of stories that I absolutely had to tell, that like Midnight Nation wouldn’t let me go until they were told. Stories that could be dark, funny, deeply personal but also played out on a large stage in terms of action."
Read the rest of the piece at http://geek-news.mtv.com/2013/02/27/jms-joes-comics-ten-grand/.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2013
HALT & CATCH FIRE
AMC's 1980s-set pilot "Halt & Catch Fire" has tapped Lee Pace as its lead.
The "Pushing Daisies" star will play a computer visionary in the pilot, which is about the PC revolution of the 1980s. His character is a former top salesman at IBM who joins a Dallas tech firm. Mackenzie Davis ("Smashed") will also star as a gifted young programmer.
If it's picked up, "Halt & Catch Fire" will be the first series role for Pace since "Pushing Daisies" ended in 2009. His recent movie credits include "Lincoln" and "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"; he'll be in the next two "Hobbit" films as well.
More pilot casting:
- NBC's "Believe" has added Delroy Lindo to its cast. The drama is about a young girl with great powers and the ex-con (Jake McLaughlin) assigned to protect her from harm; Lindo will play Winter, a man who poses as a priest. [Hollywood Reporter]
- British actor Tom Mison ("Parade's End") will star in FOX's drama "Sleepy Hollow" as Ichabod Crane. The character is transported from the late 1700s to the present day and teams with a detective when the Headless Horseman begins terrorizing the town. [Deadline]
- NBC's "The Sixth Gun" has cast Laura Ramsey ("The Ruins") in its lead role. Her character comes into possession of the titular weapon, which has otherworldly properties and a whole lot of bad people looking for it. [Deadline]
FALLING SKIES
For the most part, Falling Skies has been about humans vs. aliens. These creatures have killed innocent men and women, while kidnapping their children. Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) and his 2nd Mass militia have struggled to put up a fight. Everytime they think they've made progress, they discover something worse on the horizon. [Season two spoilers ahead]
TNT's released new footage from the upcoming season, which is a gamechanger. A bigger and badder threat may be heading their way. In last season's finale, we discovered that Hal (Drew Mason) was implanted with an alien parasite. It drastically changes his personality and makes him unstable.
There's also the issue of Anne's (Moon Bloodgood) baby. The writers and producers insinuate that something more diabolical could be going on. We're reminded that Tom was held captive on an alien ship and is unaware of what was done to his body. We don't know what's floating in his bloodstream. Could he have passed it on to the child?
We can't forget the introduction of the new aliens. They're completely different from the ones we've seen in the past. The first one we saw was played by Hellboy's Doug Jones.
WAREHOUSE 13
We finally know when new episodes of Syfy’s hit series Warehouse 13 will return, and the network has released a new trailer teasing tons of new, crazy artifacts.
The final 10 episodes of season four will debut April 29 with the installment “The Living and the Dead,” which will address the cliffhanger about the Black Orchid Artifact. The gang will have to race against the clock to save the world, which always makes for compelling television.
A familiar face to Syfy fans will also be joining the gang, with Caprica co-star Polly Walker popping in for a multi-episode arc.
HERCULES
MGM and Paramount Pictures announced today that the Brett Ratner-directed Hercules, starring Dwayne Johnson, has been moved up from August 8, 2014 to July 25, 2014.
This means the film will be released in between The Hobbit: There and Back Again and X-Men: Days of Future Past, both set to be released on July 18, 2014, as well as Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy, opening in theaters on August 1, 2014. HerculesHer is based on the Radical Publishing "Hercules" comic books of which there were two series, "The Thracian Wars" and "The Knives of Kush," both written by Steve Moore with Cris Bolsin on art.
FANTASTIC FOUR
Just days after it was revealed that Matthew Vaughn is boarding Twentieth Century Fox's upcoming reboot of Fantastic Four comes word, via The Hollywood Reporter, that Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter novelist and screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith has signed on to do a polish on the screenplay.
To be directed by Chronicle's Josh Trank, Fantastic Four is targeted for release on March 6, 2015. Vaughn, who directed 2011's X-Men: First Class, is also producing the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past as well and, while nothing has been confirmed as of yet, it has been speculated that Fox could develop their Marvel properties for the same kind of crossover potential shown with Marvel's The Avengers. Fantastic Four's screenplay was previously drafted by Jeremy Slater. Grahame-Smith's big screen resume also includes last year's Tim Burton project, Dark Shadows.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013
SUPERNATURAL NEWS
The long-running CW series Supernatural has never been afraid to write off some supporting characters, but it looks like one guest star will be sticking around permanently next season.
It’s been confirmed that Misha Collins, who plays the fan fave angel Castiel on the monster-hunting drama, will be a series regular for the show’s upcoming ninth season.
The network recently pulled the trigger and ordered an early renewal, and it seems the producers are wanting to lock in the cast they’ll need for wherever they’re taking the story next year.
Collins has bounced from recurring to regular roles on the series the past several seasons, depending on the storyline. So, expect Castiel to factor in heavily next season.
Even cooler? The actor will also be stepping behind the camera for at least one episode next season and serving as director.
IN THE FLESH
It was only a matter of time before zombie shows started popping up in places other than AMC.
In a few weeks, The BBC will debut In The Flesh, a zombie show with a twist. Set in the aftermath of a zombie outbreak in the UK, the series will follow Kieren (Luke Newberry), a dead teenager who was resurrected as a zombie and has since been rehabilitated somehow by the British government (they apparently call his condition "Partially Deceased Syndrome"). As Kieren attempts to re-enter society (while surrounded by people whose friends and relatives he just ate), he continues to struggle with the old urges that come with being a shambling undead cannibal.
The show is set to debut on BBC Three starting Sunday, March 17. No word on when (or if) it'll hit the States.
HENRi
The first trailer for the new sci-fi short HENRi has finally been released, after the film cleaned house on the indie festival circuit. The coolest part? The flick brings 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Keir Dullea (aka Dave) back to the world of sci-fi.
Written and directed by Eli Sasich, the film tells the tale of a derelict spaceship that becomes self-aware and starts building itself a body. The trailer looks like a good mix of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Moon, and should make for a chillingly cool story.
It also brings in some true sci-fi legends on the casting front, with Dullea and Margot Kidder (Superman) the big draws.
Here’s the plot synopsis: HENRi is an epic new sci-fi short film starring Keir Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey) and Margot Kidder (Superman). Kickstarter funded, and two years in the making, HENRi tells the story of a derelict spaceship that becomes self-aware and builds itself a mechanical body in order to feel alive. Utilizing a mixture of quarter-scale miniatures, in-camera effects, and computer animation, HENRi is a completely unique and visually stunning short film. HENRi from Eli Sasich on Vimeo.
The entire film is out now.
THE RETURNED Covert Affairs actress Devin Kelley has joined ABC drama pilot The Returned, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
From Criminal Minds' Aaron Zelman and based on the Jason Mott novel, The Returned asks what happens when the people you have buried and mourned suddenly appear on your doorstep as if not a day's gone by.
Kelley will play Gail Garland, a tough, attractive and smart doctor at the local clinic in Arcadia with an inquisitive nature. Daughter of the local sheriff, her mother Barbara died 30 years ago in the same accident that killed an 8-year-old boy. Against her father's wishes, she teams up with Agent Martin Bellamy to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Kelley joins a cast that includes Matt Craven. Zelman will write and executive produce, with JoAnn Alfano, Jon Liebman, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner. Charles McDougall will direct the ABC Studios/Brillstein Entertainment and Plan B production.
Repped by APA and Group Entertainment, Kelley recurred on USA's Covert Affairs as Parker and was a regular on the one-season Fox drama The Chicago Code. On the big screen, she appeared in Chernobyl Diaries.
UNBROKEN
Last year Angelina Jolie indicated she had plans to direct an adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken as her sophmore feature film. Today, The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Jolie has found some surprising talent to board the project: Joel and Ethan Coen will rewrite the current draft by Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson.
Co-financed and co-produced by Universal and Walden Media, Unbroken follows the incredible life story of Olympian and war hero Louis Zamperini who, along with two other crewmen, survived in a raft for 47 days after a near-fatal plane crash in WWII only to be caught by the Japanese Navy and sent to a prisoner of war camp.
The book has sat atop the New York Times bestseller list for more than 108 consecutive weeks, fourteen of those at number one. It was also the winner of the Los Angeles Times Book of the Year Award for Nonfiction.
The Coens' latest, Inside Llewyn Davis, is slated to hit the big screen later this year through CBS Films. They also provided the script for Michael Hoffman's Gambit, which will also see a 2013 release through the same distributor.
MAD MAX ON BLU-RAY JUNE 4 Mad Max, the sci-fi franchise that introduced Mel Gibson to the world, will come together for the first time as a Blu-ray collection when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment debuts "The Mad Max Trilogy" on June 4th.
The three films – Mad Max (1979), Mad Max: The Road Warrior (1982) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) – are all set in the near-future in Australia and hail from Oscar-winning director George Miller (Happy Feet). All three films star Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky, a highway cop traveling through the Outback in a society descending into chaos.
Although photos of the limited premium tin packaging are not yet available, it has been revealed that the set retail for $49.99 on Blu-ray Disc. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, which is making its Blu-ray debut, will also be available as a single release along with Mad Max Road Warrior.
Special features have not yet been revealed, but the films' official descriptions are listed as follows: Mad Max (1979)
George Miller's first entry in the trilogy, Mad Max packs brutal action and insane stunts as it follows the inevitable downfall of relentless cop Max Rockatansky (Gibson) in a world gone mad. Living on the edge of an apocalypse, Max is ready to run far away from it all with his family. But when he experiences an unfortunate encounter with a motorcycle gang and its menacing leader, the Toecutter, his retreat from the madness of the world is now a race to save his family's life. Mad Max Road Warrior (1982)
The sequel to Mad Max, Mad Max Road Warrior provides action-packed, “automotive” entertainment, telling the story of a selfish-turned-selfless hero and his efforts to protect a small camp of desert survivors and defend an oil refinery under siege from a ferocious marauding horde that plunders the land for gasoline. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Mel Gibson returns for his third go-round as the title hero who takes on the barbarians of the post-nuclear future - and this time becomes the savior of a tribe of lost children. Music superstar Tina Turner co-stars as Aunty Entity, a power-mad dominatrix determined to use Max to tighten her stranglehold on Bartertown, where fresh water, clean food and gasoline are worth more than gold.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2013
GAME OF THRONES
HBO just debuted the first official Season three Game of Thrones trailer. And you know what? It’s 60-seconds of pure awesomeness.
Shown on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the brand new stunning official trailer features characters both returning and new, and has it all: Drama, thrills, fights, ice wall climbing, dragons, fire, and more drama.
The third season of Game of Thrones returns to HBO on March 31 at 9PM.
DOCTOR WHO DESIGNER DIES
Ray Cusick, the BBC designer who created the look of Doctor Who's most iconic nemesis, the Daleks, died in his sleep Thursday. He was 84.
Back in 1963, it was Cusick who was tasked with designing a new alien rival for the Doctor based on writer Terry Nation's script for the Who serial "The Daleks." Cusick went to work, and later said he developed the basic shape of the Dalek simply to make it easier to fit a human operator inside.
"When I'm asked what I was inspired by I suppose it was really a system of logic because I realised that you've got to have an operator to operate them. If you had anything mechanical, 10 to one on the take it would go wrong, so you've got a human being in there who would be absolutely totally reliable," Nation said in an interview with Doctor Who Confidential. "I then thought 'Well, the operator's got to sit down', [so I] drew a seat, ergonomic height, 18 in., got the operator down, and then drew round him. That's how the basic shape appeared."
The Daleks have evolved over the years. Their shape has changed slightly, they've sometimes changed colors, and their place in the Who universe has shifted, but they remain an indispensible part of the show's mythology, and easily its most remembered and most celebrated villain.
"Extinction is not an option - If you say Doctor Who to someone in the street about the second thing they're going to say is 'Exterminate'," said Nicholas Briggs, the current voice of the Daleks. "Lots of my friends who are not Doctor Who fans think that the programme is 'Doctor Who and the Daleks' - that surely the Daleks are in it all the time - which isn't true but that is the impression. That's the brilliance of the creation of the Daleks. They've made an indelible stamp on the series really."
Half a century after his creation first hit British homes, Daleks live on, and Cusick's original design will be trotted out once again this year for An Adventure in Space and Time, the dramatized origin story of Doctor Who, set to air as part of the Doctor Who 50th annivesary celebrations. It's just a shame Cusick won't be here to see it.
Cusick is survived by two daughters, seven grandchildren and one of the greatest fictional alien races ever to hit TV.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Universal Pictures continues to have a great 2013 as their hit comedy Identity Thief, starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy, bounced back to #1 after dropping to second place last weekend. It brought in $14.1 million to take first place, down 40% from the holiday weekend with a total gross of $93.7 million in three weeks. Not counting the Oscar-nominated movies that opened in late December that have been dominating the box office, it's currently the highest-grossing movie of 2013, although it has some competition for that spot in the coming weeks.
Dwayne Johnson starred in the true life crime thriller Snitch (Summit Entertainment), co-starring Susan Sarandon, Jon Bernthal, Barry Pepper, Michael K. Williams and Benjamin Bratt, which had to settle for an opening in second place with an estimated $13 million in 2,511 theaters, averaging $5,177 per site.
The animated family comedy Escape From Planet Earth (The Weinstein Company) jumped up from fourth place to third in its second weekend, taking in $11 million and bringing its total to $35 million. Hard to believe, but that amount would already put it in the top 10 highest grossing movies for the distributor and that's after just ten days. It could ultimately catch up to their earlier animated hit Hoodwinked! to join the company's top 5 biggest hits.
The Nicholas Sparks adaptation Safe Haven (Relativity Media, starring Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel, took a plunge from the previous weekend, dropping to fourth place with $10.6 million, which is down 50% from last week. It has grossed $48.1 million so far and will likely end up among the second tier of Nicholas Sparks films.
By comparison, Bruce Willis' return as John McClane in A Good Day to Die Hard(20th Century Fox) took an even nastier plunge in its second weekend, dropping a whopping 60% to fifth place (from first last week) with $10 million and $51.8 million total so far. Right now, it's looking doubtful that the movie will even gross $100 million domestically.
The alien invasion thriller Dark Skies (Dimension Films), starring Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton, opened weakly in sixth place with $8.9 million in 2,313 theaters, roughly $3800 per site.
On the other hand, David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook (The Weinstein Company) continues to do big business during the Oscar weekend where it won three Independent Spirit Awards including Best Picture and Director on Saturday. With a negligible 3% drop from the holiday weekend, it brought in another $6 million to bring its total gross to $107.5 million, which makes it the Weinstein Company's fourth-highest grossing movie of all time. Their #1 is currently Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, which has grossed nearly $160 million domestically and another $222 million internationally, although the latter distribution is being handled by Sony Pictures.
Summit Entertainment's zombie comedy Warm Bodies took eighth place with $4.8 million, down 48% as it brought its total to $58 million after four weeks.
Ninth place went to Steven Soderbergh's psychological thriller Side Effects (Open Road) with $3.5 million and a running total of $25.2 million after three weeks.
The romantic fantasy Beautiful Creatures (Warner Bros.) rounded out the Top 10 with $3.4 million, down 55% from its opening weekend and bringing its total to $16.4 million.
The Top 10 grossed roughly $85 million, which continued the trend for the month by being down 21% from the same weekend last year when Act of Valor topped the box office with $24.5 million while Tyler Perry's Good Deeds took second place with $15.6 million.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2013
COVERT AFFAIRS GETS A NEW REGULAR
A CSI: NY star is jumping ship.
Hill Harper has joined USA spy drama Covert Affairs as a new series regular for season four, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Harper, who has played Sheldon Hawkes on CSI: NY since the CBS procedural's 2004 debut, will play an ambitious CIA station chief in Latin America. Intelligent, charismatic and slightly cocky, he ascended to a very high position at a relatively young age and is plotting his way into a bigger position back in Washington. In his journey for greater power, he will attempt to make CIA operative Annie (Piper Perabo) and blind tech-op Auggie (Christopher Gorham) his allies, but his questionable actions will cause the pair to doubt his intentions.
The casting comes as CSI: NY wraps up its 17-episode ninth season Friday night. There has been ongoing speculation that the current season could be the series' last. Though Harper will not return should CBS renew CSI: NY for a 10th season, the other core cast members are still on board.
Harper joins a Covert Affairs cast that includes Perabo, Gorham, Peter Gallagher and Kari Matchett. The one-hour series is executive produced by Doug Liman and David Bartis via Hypnotic and is written/executive produced by co-creators Matt Corman and Chris Ord, who signed an overall deal with studio Universal Cable Productions in December.
The new season picks up after Annie and Auggie finally acknowledge their romantic feelings, and things get complicated when Annie aligns with Henry Wilcox (Gregory Itzin) in a dangerous mission that has potentially scandalous consequences for the CIA.
Harper, also a best-selling author, is repped by Innovative, Luber Roklin and Carlos Goodman at Bloom Hergott. Covert Affairs returns this summer.
THE WOLVERINE The Wolverine director James Mangold is taking up the trend of X-Men: Days of Future Past director Bryan Singer and The Amazing Spider-Man 2's Marc Webb and teasing us with new images for the film via his Twitter account. A few days ago , he posted a new still from the film and today he's released a new behind-the-scenes shot captioned with "A production snap from shooting a wood chopping scene in Omishima. We found an eight inch caterpillar that morning."
Opening in theaters on July 26, the action adventure stars Hugh Jackman, Will Yun Lee, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hal Yamanouchi, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima and Brian Tee.
Based on the celebrated comic book arc, The Wolverine finds Logan, the eternal warrior and outsider, in Japan. There, samurai steel will clash with adamantium claw as Logan confronts a mysterious figure from his past in an epic battle that will leave him forever changed.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige says that the upcoming sequel "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" is tonally more akin to a political thriller than the historical fantasy adventure of the first movie. Asked about comic book movie adaptations in general, Feige says:
"If it is a fad, it's one that lasts 30 to 40 years, as the Western did, because each one is so different. There's an opportunity to graft almost sub-genres onto them.
Our first Captain America film was a World War II picture, and the next is a political thriller. They all have their own textures and patinas, and that's what is exciting about it."
Chris Evans, Emily VanCamp, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Frank Grillo, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Scarlett Johansson and Toby Jones all star.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2013
GAME OF THRONES
"The revenge you want will be yours in time," Varys says in full Season 3 trailer for "Game of Thrones," and so it will be for many of the main characters when the hit fantasy series returns to HBO on March 31.
Unlike the previous teaser, this new video gives fans a good taste of what they can expect for their favorite characters in Westeros and the lands beyond. From Mance Rayder (Ciaran Hinds) gathering the wildlings north of the Wall to Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) wreaking havoc in King's Landing to Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) finding the Unsullied in Astapor, there is a lot to be teased in this trailer.
That's not even mentioning our favorite Starks, who are trying to find their place in the world when Season 3 starts. Bran and Rickon are on the run, Robb is still building up his army, Catelyn returns to her Tully family and Arya continues to be a badass, this time with the Brotherhood Without Banners. Jon Snow's place is still north of the Wall with Mance, but it remains to be seen how long he stays there.
The best scene in the trailer comes when one of Daenerys' dragons flies towards a ship at sea. These critters have certainly grown since we last saw them, but will that help or harm Daenerys' search for an army? Tune in when "Game of Thrones" premieres on March 31 to find out.
TOMORROW PEOPLE/THE HUNDRED
A pair of actors who played key roles on "Lost" have signed on to two different pilots at The CW.
Mark Pellegrino, "Lost's" Jacob, will co-star in "The Tomorrow People," The CW's remake of a 1970s British series. Henry Ian Cusick, who played star-crossed lover Desmond on "Lost," has joined the cast of "The Hundred" at the network.
Pellegrino is familiar to CW fans from his recurring role on "Supernatural" as Lucifer. He'll play a bad guy on "The Tomorrow People" as well: a scientist committed to containing the "threat" of the show's title characters, young people with advanced abilities. The cast also includes Robbie Amell ("1600 Penn"), Peyton List ("Mad Men") and Luke Mitchell. "The Hundred" is set about a century after nuclear war renders the planet uninhabitable. What's left of humanity resides on a space station called the Ark, and its leaders send 100 juvenile delinquents back to Earth to see if it's possible to return to the surface.
Cusick, whose credits also include "Scandal" and "The Mentalist," will play an officer aboard the Ark who has his sights on a higher rank.
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Just days after Zero Dark Thirty star Jason Clarke signed on for Twentieth Century Fox's Dawn of the Planet of the Apes comes word, via Deadline, that Kodi Smit-McPhee will be starring as well.
The film is set 15 years after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes and finds most of humanity wiped out and the intelligent apes ruling over the world. Part of the film's focus is said to be on a small group of San Francisco-based scientists that are forming a resistance against the apes and part follows Andy Serkis' Caesar as he, like his namesake, tries to maintain order and power within his new civilization.
Smit-McPhee, who recently voiced the title character in ParaNorman, will be re-teaming on Dawn with director Matt Reeves. The two previously worked together on 2010's Let Me In.
Featuring a screenplay by Scott Z. Burns, Amanda Silver, Rick Jaffa and Mark Bomback, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes hits theaters on May 23, 2014.
RIDDICK
Vin Diesel is back on his official Facebook page and, today, has released a new image from the upcoming Riddick.
In the film, the infamous Riddick has been left for dead on a sun-scorched planet that appears to be lifeless. Soon, however, he finds himself fighting for survival against alien predators more lethal than any human he's encountered. The only way off is for Riddick to activate an emergency beacon and alert mercenaries who rapidly descend to the planet in search of their bounty. The first ship to arrive carries a new breed of merc, more lethal and violent, while the second is captained by a man whose pursuit of Riddick is more personal. With time running out and a storm on the horizon that no one could survive, his hunters won't leave the planet without Riddick's head as their trophy.
Also starring Karl Urban, Jordi Molla, Matt Nable, Katee Sackhoff, Bokeem Woodbine, Dave Bautista, Conrad Pla, Raoul Trujillo, Nolan Funk and Keri Hilson, Riddick hits regular theaters and IMAX on September 6.
J.K. ROWLINGS NEW BOOK NEWS
J.K. Rowling, who should need no introduction as the bestselling author of the Harry Potter books, has begun work on a brand new not-related-to-Harry-Potter novel, she’s signed with a new publishing company in order to do it.
Said Rowling of the switch, and her new novel: Although I’ve enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series, which has been published so brilliantly by Bloomsbury and my other publishers around the world. The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry’s success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher. I am delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life.
Rowling’s Harry Potter publisher in the US, for what it’s worth, is Arthur A. Levine Books, a company only a year older than the Harry Potter books themselves.
As for the content of that new novel (as if you weren’t already skimming this article to read that part first), we’ve got no hints at all, except that it will be her first novel intended for adults. So, adults out there who grew up loving the Harry Potter books… well, you won’t be getting another any time soon. But you will be getting a novel aimed at your age group, so that’s something interesting and new to look forward to.
I’m sure everyone is interested in seeing what Rowling has up her sleeve for a grown audience.
Update: jkrowling.com has updated its front page with a useful form that anyone can use to sign up for updates on Ms. Rowling’s new novel.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013
NEVERWHERE
In what will make fantasy and Neil Gaiman fans everywhere happy, we have the first official pic of the extremely star-studded ensemble cast of Gaiman’s Neverwhere.
Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Start Trek Into Darkness, The Hobbit), James McAvoy (X-Men: First Class, the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past), Natalie Dormer (The Tudors, The Fades, Game of Thrones), Sophie Okonedo (Doctor Who) and David Harewood (Homeland) will take on Gaiman’s tale of London Below, which is an alternate reality beneath the capital. In the story, famous landmarks take on a life of their own.
But not every glorious cast member is in this pic.
The awesome-and-we-don't-need-to-tell-you-who-he-is Christopher Lee and the wonderful Bernard Cribbins (Doctor Who) also star in this adaptation, which is being called an “audio film.”
And therein lie the itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, tiny catch. Neverwhere is an audio play in six parts that will begin with an hourlong episode on Saturday, March 16, on Radio 4 at 6PM in the U.K. Subsequent installments will be 30 minutes long and will be spread across the week on Radio 4 Extra starting March 18.
But never mind that Neil Gaiman’s star-studded Neverwhere will be an "audio film." With a cast as fantastic and hugely talented as this, we’re certain that it’ll be a hit for fantasy fans everywhere.
THE ORDAINED
Charlie Cox has been tapped to join CBS' family drama The Ordained, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Ordained revolves around Tom, the son of a Kennedy-esque family who leaves the priesthood and becomes a lawyer to prevent his politician sister from being assassinated.
Cox, who played Nucky's right-hand man/Margaret's love interest Owen on HBO's Boardwalk Empire, will star as Tom, who is described as having the charm and looks of the late JFK Jr. Tom joined the priesthood after law school to quell anger issues and to spite his authoritarian father. He leaves the priesthood in an attempt to unravel an assassination plot against his sister, the mayor of New York City.
Journalist/author Lisa Takeuchi Cullen will pen the script for CBS Television Studios and will executive produce alongside Frank Marshall, Larry Shuman and A.B. Fischer. RJ Cutler will helm the pilot, with Robert Zotnowski on board as a co-EP.
In addition to his role on Boardwalk (his character, Owen, was murdered last season), the WME and United Agents-repped Cox's credits also include a starring role in Stardust, the mini Moby Dick, in which he played Ishmael, and the upcoming feature Hello Carter.
Cox joins a cast that also includes Act of Valor's Nestor Serrano, who will play a partner at the law firm where Tom is employed whom he suspects is behind the plot to kill his sister.
GOTHICA
ABC's gothic monster soap has cast two of its leads. Kings alum Chris Egan has landed the role of Dorian Gray, while EastEnders' Tom Ellis has been tapped to portray Victor Frankenstein in the high-concept drama Gothica, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The pilot is described as a sexy gothic soap set in the present day that weaves together a mythology that incorporates the legends of Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, Frankenstein and Dorian Gray, among others.
Egan's Dorian Gray -- the character who first rose to fame in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray -- is described as a beautifully charming and devastatingly sexy man with a smile like a switchblade. He's an enigmatic playboy who develops a relationship with Grace Van Helsing and attempts to help her figure out who killed her family.
Ellis -- whose name recently circulated as a new addition to Downton Abbey -- will portray Victor Frankenstein, a good-looking guy with intense eyes and a brilliant doctor who's trying to find a way to bring his late daughter, Anna, back to life. Now married to Madeline Usher, he used to have a relationship with Grace and is still in love with her.
Egan, repped by WME, Trokia, Anonymous Content and Jackoway Tyerman, also had roles in the ABC's failed pilot Beauty and the Beast as well as features Letters to Juliet and Crush. Welsh actor Ellis, repped by Hamilton Hodell and Anonymous Content, starred on EastEnders, Pulling, Merlin and Gates.
They join the previously cast Raza Jaffrey (Smash) in the pilot. The Sorcerer's Apprentice's Matt Lopez will pen the pilot for ABC Studios and executive produce alongside the Mark Gordon Co.'s Mark Gordon. Anand Tucker will direct the pilot, which is slated to film in Montreal.
SEVERED CONNECTION
TORONTO - Michael Biehn will topline Severed Connection, a Canadian horror thriller from Rob Freeman and Cody Hackman's newly launched film production shingle Hackybox Pictures. Severed Connection, which revolves around a man and woman who wake up to find themselves trapped in a remote location, also will star Jennifer Blanc, UFC’s Krzysztof Soszynski, Nick Bateman (Hobo With a Shotgun) and Hackman, a karate expert.
The picture is based on a story by Bateman and Hackman, who earlier starred along with Biehn and Soszynski in Tapped, a Canadian action drama about a disgruntled teenager with a troubled past who enters an MMA tournament to face the man who killed his parents.
Hackybox Pictures also is producing Gridlocked from writer-director Allan Ungar.
There is no word yet on casting for the action drama about a former SWAT team leader and the arrogant movie star shadowing him.
Ungar directed Tapped, which also starred Martin Kove (The Karate Kid) and UFC stars Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida.
Both Severed Connection and Gridlocked are due for release in 2014.
MERLIN PREVIEW
Morgana’s plans to kill King Arthur grow more intense when Guinevere makes a secret pact with a visiting ruler to complete the task – and Merlin is nowhere to be found during “The Hollow Queen,” an all-new episode of MERLIN premiering Friday, Feb. 22, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Syfy.
Merlin agrees to help a young Druid boy who begs for assistance, and at first his absence is barely noticed as Camelot prepares for a visit by another nearby king, fearsome Sarrum of Amata (John Shrapnel).
But as the sky darkens, so do Merlin's suspicions. Is there more to the Druid than meets the eye? And can a man as ruthless as the Sarrum ever really be trusted? Before long, the young warlock realizes he's made a terrible mistake.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013
NEBULA AWARDS
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America have just revealed their picks for the best sci-fi and fantasy writing and filmmaking of the last year.
Since 1966, the Nebula Awards have been recognizing the very best in sci-fi storytelling, and the award is now among the most prestigious anyone working in genre fiction can hope to earn. Past winners include legends like Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert and Ursula K. LeGuin and still-active icons like Neil Gaiman, Steven Moffat, Connie Willis and Greg Bear.
This year the nominees include Joss Whedon (up for the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation for The Avengers and a second Bradbury Award as co-writer of The Cabin in the Woods), Kim Stanley Robinson (up for Best Novel for 2312), China Miéville (up for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy for Railsea) and Andrew Stanton (also up for the Ray Bradbury Award for directing and co-writing John Carter).
The full list of this year's nominees is below. The awards will be given out in a ceremony at the San Jose Hilton during Nebula Awards Weekend, May 16-19, 2013. Novel
Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz ’13)
Ironskin, Tina Connolly (Tor)
The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK) Novella
On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
“The Stars Do Not Lie,” Jay Lake (Asimov’s 10-11/12)
“All the Flavors,” Ken Liu (GigaNotoSaurus 2/1/12)
“Katabasis,” Robert Reed (F&SF 11-12/12)
“Barry’s Tale,” Lawrence M. Schoen (Buffalito Buffet) Novelette
“The Pyre of New Day,” Catherine Asaro (The Mammoth Books of SF Wars)
“Close Encounters,” Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)
“The Waves,” Ken Liu (Asimov’s 12/12)
“The Finite Canvas,” Brit Mandelo (Tor.com 12/5/12)
“Swift, Brutal Retaliation,” Meghan McCarron (Tor.com 1/4/12)
“Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia,” Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 8/22/12)
“Fade to White,” Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/12) Short Story
“Robot,” Helena Bell (Clarkesworld 9/12)
“Immersion,” Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12)
“Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes,” Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld 4/12)
“Nanny’s Day,” Leah Cypess (Asimov’s 3/12)
“Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream,” Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed 7/12)
“The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species,” Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/12)
“Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” Cat Rambo (Near + Far) Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation The Avengers, Joss Whedon (director) and Joss Whedon and Zak Penn (writers), (Marvel/Disney) Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin (director), Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Abilar (writers), (Journeyman/Cinereach/Court 13/Fox Searchlight ) The Cabin in the Woods, Drew Goddard (director), Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (writers) (Mutant Enemy/Lionsgate) The Hunger Games, Gary Ross (director), Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray writers), (Lionsgate) John Carter, Andrew Stanton (director), Michael Chabon, Mark Andrews, and Andrew Stanton (writers), (Disney) Looper, Rian Johnson (director), Rian Johnson (writer), (FilmDistrict/TriStar) Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy
Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
Black Heart, Holly Black (S&S/McElderry; Gollancz)
Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)
The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom)
Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House; Doubleday UK)
Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
Every Day, David Levithan (Alice A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)
Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)
HERCULES Headhunters star Aksel Hennie is set to join Dwayne Johnson in Brett Ratner's upcoming Hercules, says a story at The Hollywood Reporter. He will play a mad warrior named Tydeus.
Co-produced between MGM and Paramount Pictures, the film will be based on the Radical Publishing "Hercules" comic books of which there were two series; "The Thracian Wars" and "The Knives of Kush," both written by Steve Moore with art by Cris Bolsin. "The Thracian Wars" is officially described as follows:
Fourteen-hundred years ago, a tormented soul walked the Earth that was neither man nor god. Hercules, powerful son of the god king Zeus, received nothing but suffering his entire life. After twelve arduous labors and the loss of his family, this dark, world-weary soul turned his back on the gods, finding his only solace in bloody battle. Over the years he warmed to the company of six similar souls, their only bond being their love of fighting and the presence of death. These men and woman never question where, why, or whom they go to fight; only how much they will be paid. Knowing this, the King of Thrace has hired these mercenaries to train his men to become the greatest army of all time. Hercules begins to question King Cotys' motives when he takes his army out to battle and sees them practice on innocent men, women, and children of their neighbors. Deep in his soul something stirs, but is it enough to stop a mad king and his army of the damned from marching across Greece - or even Olympus itself?!
The screenplay for the film version was written by Ryan Condol. MGM's Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber and Jonathan Glickman will produce with Peter Berg and his Film 44 partner Sarah Aubrey, as well as Barry Levine of Radical Pictures, whose Jesse Berger will executive produce.
SLEEPY HOLLOW
Orlando Jones (Evolution) and Katia Winter ("Dexter") are the first cast members to sign on for Fox's upcoming "Sleepy Hollow" series. From Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Transformers, Star Trek), "Sleepy Hollow" has now been revealed to feature a time travel element. The still-uncast Ichabod Crane will travel from the past to present day Sleepy Hollow where he finds himself accused of murder.
Jones will play Lieutenant Frank Williams, a present-day police officer while Winter will play Crane's wife in the 18th century.
Based on the now-classic 1820 Washington Irving short story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," the pilot episode will be directed by Brad Anderson (The Machinist) (Len Wiseman was previously attached) and written by Kurtzman and Orci alongside Phillip Iscove.
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" has been adapted for film and television as far back as 1922. It last hit the big screen with Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow in 1999 and the small screen with "The Hollow," an ABC Family telefilm that also brought the plot to present day.
ARCLIGHT
Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment have plans to adapt Josin L. McQuein's upcoming sci-fi novel Arclight into a feature film, says a story at The Hollywood Reporter. The book, set for release this April, is officially described as follows:
There is the Light. There is the Dark. And no one survives The Fade. These are the absolutes... until a teenage girl stumbles out of the shadows with no memory of how she survived.
Her appearance brings hope, but also danger as a race of parasitic, chameleon-like creatures known as The Fade begin attacking those who have given her shelter. Torn between the possibility that she's the key to defeating the Fade, and the growing dissent that would sacrifice the girl in hopes of stopping the attacks, she's hard pressed to find anyone she can trust.
She finds a strained ally in the son of the man who died to bring her to safety. And when the two teens stumble across a captive Fade who begs them for help locating his lost mate, they begin to wonder if the Fade are the enemy they've been taught to believe.
Matthew Sand (Ninja Assassin) is attached to adapt the screenplay with Brian Grazer and Pouya Shahbazian producing and Sarah Bowen and Erica Huggins executive producing.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Looks like there are a couple of big changes coming for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
For one thing, there's a new star. Say goodbye to James Franco and say hello to Jason Clarke. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Clarke just nabbed the lead role in the Apes sequel, which will be directed by Cloverfield's Matt Reeves. Though you might have seen him in flicks like Public Enemies and in the short-lived series The Chicago Code, Clarke is best known these days for his work as a tough CIA interrogator in Kathryn Bigelow's acclaimed and controversial Zero Dark Thirty. It's a breakout role that was bound to land Clarke plenty of other acting opportunities, and he's apparently decided his next big job should be sci-fi.
But that's not the only big news here. Most of Dawn's plot will likely remain a secret until we're a good bit closer to the release, but THR is reporting a few new tantalizing details to go along with the news that Clarke is coming aboard. For one thing, the sequel will be set 15 years after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and will feature at least two major plotlines. One will include a group of scientists fighting to survive in San Francisco (which, if you'll recall, took quite a pounding from the apes in the first film), while another will follow ape resistance leader Caesar (Andy Serkis) as he tries to maintain authority over the apes. Where does Clarke fit in? We don't know yet, but this certainly sounds like a combustible mix of elements. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is expected to begin shooting sometime this spring for (hopefully) a 2014 release date.
IRON MAN 3
A new Iron Man 3 poster has been released, giving us a pretty kickass look at newcomer Guy Pearce getting ready to mix it up in Marvel’s biggest standalone franchise.
Pearce has signed on to play Aldrich Killian, who works with scientist Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) developing the Extremis technology at the center of the sequel’s storyline.
The studio has been leaking out some pretty great character posters in the leadup to the May 3 release date, and it's great to finally get a look at Pearce in action. Director Shane Black definitely has him looking cool here, so it’ll be interesting to see how Pearce fits into the Marvel world.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
Paramount has released a thrilling official Star Trek Into Darkness first-look featurette that’s so action-packed that you may want to hold on to something.
“The goal for this movie was to up the ante as much we could.” Lofty words from our man, director J.J. Abrams, and from the looks of the trailer and this intense, actiony "first-look featurette" on the highly anticipated Star Trek sequel, it looks like he may very well have succeeded.
The almost one-minute-thirty-second gripping video is chock-full of action scenes and breathtaking sequences, as well as perfectly awesome footage. There's also a little something for the ladies and the romantics at heart, since we get more smooch time between Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Uhura (Zoe Saldana).
Oh, and we also have Abrams, Quinto, Saldana and Chris Pine talking about the upcoming tentpole movie.
Quinto—fresh from his recent stint on American Horror Story: Asylum—calls it “stunningly beautiful,” while Pine, who plays Capt. Kirk, calls it “relentless.”
With that very exciting first-look featurette, we can say that we're as ready as can be to descend into darkness with the cast and crew of the U.S..S. Enterprise.
SECOND SIGHT
CBS is developing an American version of the BBC crime drama "Second Sight", TV Line reports. Jason Lee is attached to play the lead.
The original series premiered in 2000 and ran for eight episodes. It starred Clive Owen as Detective Chief Inspector Ross Tanner, a maverick cop who undergoes an experimental treatment to hide the fact that he's going blind. The setting of the CBS version will be relocated from London to New Orleans.
Michael Cuesta will direct the pilot with a script co-written by Gerald Cuesta. The former Cuesta will also executive produce alongside Phil Goldfine, Carol Mendelsohn, Paula Milne, Nick Reed and Julie Weitz.
UNDER THE DOME The Twilight Saga star Rachelle Lefevre has taken a leading role in the upcoming Stephen King television adaptation, "Under the Dome," says a story at TV Line.
The series, set to debut on June 24 at 10/9c on CBS, has been adapted for the small screen by Brian K. Vaughan ("Y: The Last Man," "Ex Machina," "LOST"). Neils Arden Oplev, the director of the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, will helm the pilot.
The story tells of Chester's Mill, a small town in Maine, which is cut off from the rest of the world by an invisible dome. With air, food and patience dwindling, societal norms within this town begin to break down.
Lefevre, who can soon be seen on the big screen in White House Down, will play Julia Shumway, the owner of Chester's Mill's newspaper.
The 13-episode first season will also star Colin Ford, Aisha Hinds, Alex Koch, Natalie Martinez, Jolene Purdy, Britt Robertson, Mike Vogel, Dean Norris and Nicholas Strong.
BATES MOTEL
Premiering on A&E March 18th, "Bates Motel" offers a contemporary take on the story of Psycho's Norman Bates and his mother and, today, the network has launched a lengthy trailer.
Starring Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga as Norman and Norma Bates, "Bates Motel" concerns the early days of Norman's life. Following the tragic death of her husband, Norma Bates buys a motel on the outskirts of the idyllic coastal town of White Pine Bay, seeking a fresh start. As Norma and Norman get ensconced in their new home, they discover this town isn't quite what it seems, and the locals aren’t so quick to let them in on their secrets. But the Bates’ are done being pushed around and will do whatever it takes to survive – and will do whatever it takes to protect their own secrets.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2013
HANNIBAL
Now that NBC's "Hannibal" finally has a premiere date, the network has released an official trailer giving audiences the first look at the new series from Bryan Fuller ("Pushing Daisies") starring Hugh Dancy as FBI agent Will Graham and Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
If the trailer looks uncomfortably similar to FOX's current serial killer serial "The Following," we have hopes that Fuller has a plan to take the genre somewhere fresh.
The bigger concern could be how Dancy and Mikkelsen adjust to roles we've already seen brought to life by other actors. Graham was previously played on screen by William Petersen (in Michael Mann's "Manhunter") and Edward Norton (in Brett Ratner's "Red Dragon"). And, of course, Lecter was made famous by Anthony Hopkins who won an Oscar for his performance in "The Silence of the Lambs" and reprised the role in "Hannibal" and "Red Dragon." (Brian Cox played Lecter in a supporting role in "Manhunter.")
We'll find out when "Hannibal" premieres April 4 on NBC.
THE CULT
Cult (The CW) 9 p.m. - You're Next
Series premiere! A journalist begins to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his troubled brother, only to discover it might have something to do with the freaky fans of a popular TV show named Cult. Stars The Vampire Diaries' Matt Davis and Heroes' Robert Knepper.
G.I.JOE: RETALIATION
Paramount Pictures International has debuted both a new trailer and a new TV spot for the upcoming G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
Opening in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters on March 29, the Jon Chu-directed action adventure stars D.J. Cotrona, Byung-hun Lee, Adrianne Palicki, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce, Ray Stevenson, Channing Tatum, Bruce Willis and Dwayne Johnson.
In the sequel, the G.I. Joes are not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2013
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
After a touch-and-go start, the Bruce Willis starrer A Good Day to Die Hard has pulled ahead of rivals Safe Haven and holdover Identity Thief to narrowly win Presidents Day weekend with a three-day gross of $25 million. The 20th Century Fox pic now is projected to earn $30 million for the full holiday weekend, pushing its five-day domestic debut to $38.3 million (both Die Hard and Safe Haven opened on Valentine's Day).
Overseas, the fifth installment in the series topped the international box office with $61.1 million for a foreign total of $80.1 million and worldwide haul of $113.3 million.
Melissa McCarthy-Jason Bateman's R-rated comedy Identity Thief has plenty of reason to laugh in its second weekend. Declining a narrow 33 percent, the Universal pic came in No. 2 for the weekend with $23.4 million in domestic ticket sales. Its projected Friday-Monday gross is $27.7 million for a domestic haul of $75 million through Monday.
Relativity Media's Nicholas Sparks film adaptation Safe Haven remains a big winner as well, even at No. 3. Fueled by younger females, the romantic drama grossed $21.4 million for the three-day weekend and should earn $25 million for the four days.
Pairing Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel, Safe Haven wasn't expected to open much past $25 million; now, it should finish Monday with $34 million in the bank. Safe Haven narrowly won Valentine's Day and tied with Die Hard on Friday. Die Hard had been widely expected to amass a five-day gross in the $40 million to $45 million range. Dismal reviews likely are hurting the R-rated film since the franchise's fan base is older and more influenced by a critic's opinion (65 percent of the audience was over the age of 25). Those who are turning out gave the film a B+ CinemaScore. Live Free or Die Hard, the PG-13 previous installment in the series, posted a five-day debut of $48.4 million when opening on the eve of the Fourth of July holiday in 2007.
In A Good Day to Die Hard, Willis' McClane travels to Moscow to rescue his son (Jai Courtney), a CIA operative who's in some nasty trouble.
IMAX theaters contributed $4.3 million of the total domestic gross and $8.3 million worldwide.
Fueled by younger female moviegoers, Relativity's Safe Haven received even worse notices than Die Hard but is more review-proof. The romantic drama also drew a B+ CinemaScore. More than 70 percent of those buying tickets were females, while 68 percent of the total audience was under the age of 25. Safe Haven is directed by Lasse Hallstrom and stars Hough as a young woman who returns to her hometown only to be gripped by a dark secret from her past, even as she falls for a stranger (Duhamel).
Animated 3D family entry Escape From Planet Earth, opening on Friday, is holding steady at No. 4, grossing a solid $16.1 million for the three-day weekend. From the Weinstein Co., the pic should post a four-day opening gross of $21 million. Escape From Planet Earth is the first theatrical feature from Rainmaker Entertainment. Its voice cast is led by Brendan Fraser, Jessica Alba, Rob Corddry and Sarah Jessica Parker. William Shatner plays the evil alien Shanker.
The holiday's fourth new wide release, Beautiful Creatures, has fared poorly. The movie, based on the popular YA book series, grossed $7.5 million for the three-day weekend and is projected to post a five-day opening of only $11.6 million, well less than expected.
From Alcon Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros., Beautiful Creatures was bested by fellow YA film adaptation Warm Bodies, which took in $2.6 million for the three-day weekend to come in No. 5 in its third frame and pushing its domestic cume to $50.2 million.
Directed and scripted by Richard LaGravenese, Beautiful Creatures is the latest film property to be based on a young-adult book series. The film stars Alice Englert and Alden Ehrenreich and is being distributed by Warner Bros. via its deal with Alcon. Jeremy Irons and Viola Davis also star in the film based on the first book in the Caster Chronicles series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
The movie centers on Lena Duchannes (Englert), whose special powers have long kept her separated from others. Moving to a new town, she quickly captures the attention of Ethan Wate (Ehrenreich), but their budding relationship is threatened by an ancient battle between good and evil.
At the specialty box office, Gael Garcia Bernal's No opened to a notable $74,476 from four theaters for a location average of $18,619. The Chilean film, distributed by Sony Pictures Classics in the U.S., is a contender for the best foreign-language film Oscar.
The Metropolitan Opera's The Met: Live in HD continued to hum along as Verdi's Rigoletto, a new production from Michael Mayer, grossed $2.6 million from 800 theaters on Saturday morning. The live broadcast ranked No. 12 overall.
Below are estimates for the Feb. 15-17 weekend at the domestic box office.
Title, Weeks in release/theater count, studio, three-day weekend total, cume (*denotes Oscar best picture nominee)
1. A Good Day to Die Hard, 1/3,553, Fox, $25 million, $33.2 million
2. Identity Thief, 1/3,141, Universal, $23.4 million, $70.7 million
3. Safe Haven, 1/3,223, Relativity, $21.4 million, $30.3 million
4. Escape From Planet Earth, 1/3,288, The Weinstein Co, $16.1 million
5. Warm Bodies, 3/2,897, Summit, $9 million, $50.2 million
6. Beautiful Creatures, 1/2,950, Warner Bros., $7.5 million, $10 million
7. Side Effects, 2/2,605, Open Road, $6.2 million, $19 million
8. *Silver Linings Playbook, 14/2,202, The Weinstein Co., $6.1 million, $98.5 million
9. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, 4/2,103, Paramount/MGM, $3.5 million, $49.8 million
10. *Zero Dark Thirty, 9/1,522, Sony/Annapurna, $3.1 million, $88 million
OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL
Rachel Weisz and James Franco appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" last week and brought along two clips from director Sam Raimi's Oz The Great and Powerful. Opening in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D on March 8, the fantasy adventure also stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, Joey King and Bruce Campbell.
When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he's hit the jackpot--fame and fortune are his for the taking--that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity--and even a bit of wizardry--Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.
Here is a teaser trailer for the upcoming season of the webseries "Mortal Kombat: Legacy 2" that just premiered at the 3rd Annual Streamy Awards.
The follow-up to "Mortal Kombat: Legacy," one of the most-viewed web series of all time with 60 million views on Machinima's YouTube site, the sequel is once again directed by Kevin Tancharoen, co-writing with Josh Baizer and Marshall Johnson.
The cast is made up of Harry Shum, Jr. ("Glee") as the warlord adviser Kuai Liang, Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers) as martial arts film actor Johnny Cage, Brian Tee (The Wolverine) as Shaolin Monk Liu Kang, and Mark Dacascos (Cradle 2 the Grave) as Kung Lao. Ian Anthony Dale (“Hawaii Five-O”) also returns as the resurrected ninja Scorpion and Cary Tagawa reprises the role he made famous in the Mortal Kombat theatrical release as the powerful, arrogant sorcerer Shang Tsung.
According to the description, "The footage showcases the non-stop action of the continuing saga as Liu Kang and Ermac join the ranks of fighters introduced in the hugely successful first season. The trailer features first glimpses into the rivalries and histories of these fierce warriors as Raiden and his recruits clash against the dark forces of Outworld in the epic battle for Earthrealm!"
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2013
DOCTOR WHO NEWS
After much teasing, we have our first tantalizing look at Harry Potter and Game of Thrones actor David Bradley in the role of William Hartnell, aka the First Doctor.
Ever since it was announced by the BBC that they were doing a special for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who retelling how the show first came about, we were excited about the project.
Titled An Adventure in Space and Time, the Mark Gatiss-penned drama is currently filming and will air sometime in November on BBC2.
Bradley is playing the role of William Hartnell, who played the first mysterious time traveler from Gallifrey. At first, Hartnell was apparently reluctant to take on the role, but he was sad to leave in 1966. He died in 1975.
David Bradley said that when Mark Gatiss offered him the part, “I almost bit his hand off.”
This very first picture shows Bradley as William Hartnell (incidentally reading a copy of Radio Times magazine) along with actress Lesley Manville who plays Hartnell’s wife Heather. An Adventure in Space and Time also stars Jessica Raines (Call the Midwife) as producer Verity Lambert (who was then only 27 years old) and Brian Cox as colorful Canadian Sydney Newman, BBC head of drama, who was the “father” of Doctor Who.
HANNIBAL
Set to premiere on NBC on April 4, Bryan Fuller's upcoming "Hannibal" series has debuted a first trailer..
The pilot is directed by David Slade and the series is said to explore the early days of Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) and the working relationship he had with FBI agent Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) before it turned sour.
"Hannibal" will also feature appearances by Gillian Anderson and Lance Henriksen.
HERCULES
Dwayne Johnson says Brett Ratner's "Hercules" project at MGM and Paramount is a dream project for him.
Ryan Condal ("Paradise Lost") adapted the script from the Radical Publishing comic book series' "The Thracian Wars" and "The Knives of Kush" by Steve Moore and Chris Boslin.
Johnson became attached to the project back in November, and while out doing promotional work for "Snitch," he waxed on enthusiastically with MTV about his upcoming role as the ancient Greek hero:
"The next shoot, I'm really excited about, a passion project I've had now on my mind ever since I got into Hollywood, over 15 years now, Hercules. I can't wait. We're going to shoot that in Croatia and Budapest. I've been preparing for this role now for the good part of a year."
"Understand, for me when I was a kid, Hercules was always a hero of mine, from Steve Reeves to the multiple guys who have played Hercules, but the idea and the notion of this man. When I first got into movies, I thought, 'Gosh, I would love to do that one day.' I always thought that the version of Hercules that I want to play was one that was more dramatic and survived in barren lands and not necessarily slick in any way or anything like that. It's been around and been on my mind for some time."
CRAZY ONES "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, is attempting a return to TV. The actress was last seen on CW's "Ringer," which was canceled after one season in early 2012. This time, she's looking to make the audience laugh, and she's got a secret weapon named Robin Williams.
THR reports Gellar has signed on to co-star with Williams in the CBS pilot "Crazy Ones." The show is a single-camera comedy, about an advertising agency run by a father and daughter. Williams plays Simon Roberts, while Gellar plays his driven, yet practical daughter, Sydney.
The pilot's script is written by TV veteran David E. Kelley, who is also the show's producer. If the show goes to series, it would be Williams' first since "Mork & Mindy" ended in 1982.
TWILIGHT ZONE
Bryan Singer has a plan for his proposed Twilight Zone reboot -- but he says he's going to need a lot of help to make it happen.
News that Singer was getting involved with yet another new version of the classic anthology series first surfaced last January, with the X-Men and Jack the Giant Slayer director negotiating with CBS to develop and executive produce the show. But with Singer now taking the helm of next year's X-Men: Days of Future Past, projects like this and his Battlestar Galactica movie may have taken a back seat.
Singer, however, says he's still very much attached to The Twilight Zone, telling Total Film:
"I’ve taken over The Twilight Zone. I’d love to direct one -- at least the pilot. It’s really not easy to jumpstart an anthology show, particularly because it’s hard to pair them with other things. The production is complex too, because you don’t have standing sets and you have a revolving cast. But I like the challenge."
Singer goes on to say that for The Twilight Zone to be successful again, it needs to attract the kind of top-notch actors and writers that the 1959 Rod Serling original featured:
"If we can get Twilight Zone to a place where A-list talent is participating, then it would emulate the experience of the Rod Serling show which had, you know, William Shatner, Agnes Moorehead, Burgess Meredith...all these terrific actors doing these really serious morality tales. If we achieve that it could be really something."
Certainly the 1985 version of the program attempted to aspire to those same goals (the 2002 version not so much). And Singer, who has worked with actors like Tom Cruise, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman and Kevin Spacey, probably has a deep enough contact list on his phone to make a few calls.
But will top-shelf talent be willing to work for less pay on the kind of anthology series that is rarely seen these days (except on New Year's Day marathons)? And will the Twilight Zone "brand" still be strong enough to attract a new generation of viewers already bombarded with plenty of sci-fi series on broadcast and cable?
THE VATICAN
Kyle Chandler is returning to the small screen.
The Friday Night Lights Emmy winner has been tapped to star in Showtime's drama pilot The Vatican, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The Vatican, a contemporary thriller about spirituality, power and politics, is set against the modern-day political machinations within the Catholic Church. The potential series would explore the relationships and rivalries in addition to the mysteries and miracles behind the institution.
Chandler, who has been among the most sought-after actors since his five-season run on NBC's Friday Night Lights, will star as Cardinal Thomas Duffy, a charismatic yet enigmatic archbishop of New York whose progressive leanings excite some and alarm others within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The casting reunites Chandler with former Friday Night Lights executive producer and Showtime Entertainment president David Nevins, who is said to have wanted to cast the actor for the role of Brody on Homeland.
The Super 8 and Argo actor joins a cast that also includes A Good Day to Die Hard's Sebastian Koch and A Single Man's Matthew Goode.
Paul Attanasio (House) penned the one-hour script, with Ridley Scott (Prometheus, The Good Wife) onboard to direct his first television pilot. Production on the Sony Pictures Television entry is expected to begin soon. Attanasio, Scott and David Zucker (The Good Wife) are onboard to exec produce.
"Kyle Chandler is one of the most talented and sought-after actors working today and was a fantastic creative partner through five seasons of Friday Night Lights," Nevins said. "With Kyle, Matthew Goode and Sebastian Koch, Ridley and Paul have put together a powerhouse cast to anchor this incredibly timely show.”
Koch will play Cardinal Marco Malerba, the Vatican's secretary of state, who is informally known as the "dark prince of the Curia" for his ability to ruthlessly wield power within the Church hierarchy. Goode will play papal secretary Bernd Koch, the pope's closest confidant, who has a very powerful perch within the Vatican inner circle.
Chandler earned two Emmy nominations and one win for his role as Coach Eric Taylor on FNL. His credits include The Day the Earth Stood Still, Broken City and best picture Oscar nominee Argo and Zero Dark Thirty. He also earned an Emmy nomination for his guest turn in ABC's Grey's Anatomy. He's repped by Gersh and Brillstein Entertainment.
THE CROODS
The first clip from DreamWorks Animation's The Croods is online.
Opening in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters on March 22, the animated adventure is voiced by Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke and Cloris Leachman. The Croods is a prehistoric comedy adventure that follows the world's first family as they embark on a journey of a lifetime when the cave that has always shielded them from danger is destroyed. Traveling across a spectacular landscape, the Croods discover an incredible new world filled with fantastic creatures - and their outlook is changed forever.
THE LAST EXORCISM PART II
A UK trailer for horror thriller The Last Exorcism Part II has surfaced!
Opening in North American theaters on March 1st, the film continues where the last one left off. Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell) is found terrified and alone in rural Louisiana. Back in the relative safety of New Orleans, Nell realizes that she can't remember entire portions of the previous months only that she is the last surviving member of her family. Just as Nell begins the difficult process of starting a new life, the evil force that once possessed her is back with other, unimaginably horrific plans that mean her last exorcism was just the beginning.
OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN
FilmDistrict has released this new featurette on the R-rated action-thriller Olympus Has Fallen, starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Dylan McDermott, Ashley Judd, Melissa Leo and Rick Yune.
In the March 22 release, directed by Antoine Fuqua, the White House (Secret Service Code: "Olympus") is captured by a terrorist mastermind and the President is kidnapped, while disgraced former Presidential guard Mike Banning finds himself trapped within the building. As our national security team scrambles to respond, they are forced to rely on Banning's inside knowledge to help retake the White House, save the President, and avert an even bigger disaster.
FARPOINT THIS WEEKEND
For those of you in the Washington-Baltimore area, don't forget the 20th Anniversary of FARPOINT this weekend. This is one of the best fan-run conventions in the country. They have some wonderful guests coming -- and I'm sure you will have a marvelous time. For more information, go to www.farpointcon.com.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2013
MERLIN
Murder and deception reign supreme in King Arthur’s court when Queen Guinevere falls completely under Morgana’s mystical control in “A Lesson in Vengeance,” an all-new episode of MERLIN premiering this Friday, Feb. 15, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Syfy.
In the episode, darkness steals into the very heart of Camelot as Morgana (Katie McGrath) and her puppet queen hatch a sinister plan to murder King Arthur. But stable hand Tyr Seward becomes caught in the crossfire and threatens to ruin everything. As the plot reaches its deadly climax, a suspicious Merlin seeks to unravel the truth before it’s too late.
In the role of Tyr Seward is John Bradley, the latest member of the “Game of Thrones” cast to make an appearance in the fifth and final season of MERLIN.
THE MUMMY
Universal Pictures has apparently developed a new strategy for getting the best possible Mummy reboot: two writers, two scripts, and may the best draft win.
We already knew that Universal was hoping to get a third incarnation of the classic horror franchise off the ground sometime soon, and that they'd picked up Underworld and Total Recall 's Len Wiseman to direct it and Prometheus' Jon Spaihts to write it. But it seems Spaihts has company in the film's script department. Sources have told Vulture that Universal also hired Hunger Games screenwriter Billy Ray to work on the flick, but he's not collaborating with Spaihts. He's competing with him.
That's right, in what seems like an effort to double the odds of a good script being produced, Universal has picked up two high-profile scribes to work on two different drafts of the flick, both of which will reboot the Mummy franchise with a present-day story. It's an unusual (and possibly expensive) strategy, but it could help the studio to speed up the production process. After all, having two writers at work simultaneously lessens the chance that yet another writer will have to be hired for rewrites further down the line. Plus, one insider said it's possible that these dueling scripts could simply turn into one uber-script by the time the flick heads into production.
“My suspicion is that one of them will be a ‘structure-and-body’ man, and one’s going to be a ‘character-and-dialogue’ man — and that they’ll then just gang-bang them together into one script, crediting both writers,” the insider said.
So, we could see a Ray script, we could see a Spaihts script, or we could see a Ray/Spaihts script, all in the service of hopefully saving Universal time, helping Wiseman get back to making hit movies after the box office disaster of Total Recall, and keeping the Mummy franchise profitable. Will it work? Well, the studio's hoping to begin shooting by fall at the latest, so we'll see if the dueling writers can hit that target.
THE HOST
The latest trailer for Stephenie Meyer’s sci-fi thriller The Host finally breaks down some of the plot, and gives us a much better look at the mysterious alien invasion.
Based on the book by Meyer (Twilight), The Host follows a young woman who is one of the last free humans left battling against a parasitic alien invasion. The film stars Saoirse Ronan (Hanna The Lovely Bones) and is directed by Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, In Time).
Having Niccol attached could be a good thing, seeing as Gattaca is a bona fide modern classic. But the so-so In Time left a lot to be desired.
The new trailer gives us a look into how the aliens operate, and tries to show and explain the alien force that is taking over humanity. It’s definitely a tough sell to translate from the page to the screen, but it looks like NIccol is taking some Bourne-like action cues to keep it entertaining.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Just last year, Bryan Singer was teasing us about his "very cool" new Battlestar Galactica movie.
So what’s happening with the planned reboot to the 1978-79 TV series?
Well, as you know, Bryan Singer is getting busy working on the highly anticipated X-Men: Days of Future Past, and the film’s keeping the director-producer pretty much occupied.
In fact, it seems like the news just keeps on coming for that flick (and pretty awesome news at that).
Speaking about Days of Future Past, Singer talked about his eagerly awaited Battlestar Galactica reboot, and, as you can imagine, the news is not so hot:
"I have that one on hold for a moment, so hopefully, I'd love to be able to get back to that, but for now I'm just focused on this X-Men business."
Considering the news broke way back when in 2009, we guess a couple more years of waiting won’t kill us. But if Days of Future Past is as successful as we expect it to be, Singer may put the Battlestar reboot on hold for a loooong while.
HANNIBAL
According to ShockTillYouDrop.com, Bryan Fuller's upcoming "Hannibal" series is set to debut on NBC April 4 at 10pm.
The pilot is directed by David Slade and the series is said to explore the early days of Hannibel Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) and the working relationship he had with FBI agent Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) before it turned sour.
In addition to this announcement, Fuller revealed a new pic of Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter.
"Hannibal" will also feature appearances by Gillian Anderson and Lance Henriksen.
THE CURSE OF DOWNERS GROVE
Award-winning indie filmmaker Derick Martini (Lymelife with Alec Baldwin and Cynthia Nixon) has teamed up with Brett Easton Ellis on the new psychological thriller The Curse of Downers Grove. The film, currently in development, will begin production in spring of this year. Martini will direct.
Bella Heathcote (Dark Shadows, Not Fade Away will star in The Curse of Downers Grove with Lucas Till (X-Men: First Class, Stoker) who recently wrapped on Paranoia in which he stars opposite Gary Oldman, Harrison Ford and Liam Hemsworth. Penelope Mitchell ("Hemlock Grove") will also take a leading role.
The movie takes us on a wild ride through a small midwestern town gripped by a curse that claims the life of one high school senior every year. Chrissie Swanson (Heathcote) fears she is the next victim of The Curse of Downers Grove.
Jason Dubin, Oren Segal and Chiara Trento are producing the film.
CHRIS HEMSWORTH NEWS
Michael Mann has lined up a new project in the form of a still-untitled thriller that he co-wrote with Morgan David Foehl. Variety reports that Chris Hemsworth is attached to headline.
Set up through Legendary Pictures, the thriller marks the first Mann film since 2009's Public Enemies and, while official plot details have not been released, the trade suggests that the storyline has to deal with cyber security.
Hemsworth had a busy 2012, starring in The Cabin in the Woods, Red Dawn, Marvel's The Avengers and Snow White and the Huntsman. He'll next headline Ron Howard's Rush before returning to Marvel's Cinematic Universe in Alan Taylor's Thor: The Dark World.
Mann joins Jon Jashni and Thomas Tull as producers with Alex Garcia executive producing.
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
Although the most recent update to David Fincher's long-gestating adaptation of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea named Brad Pitt as a likely headliner, The Hollywood Reporter now brings word that the World War Z star is not involved in the project. Movement towards a green light is underway, however, and Australia is offering Walt Disney Pictures brand new tax incentives to shoot down under.
Originally scripted by Scott J. Burns, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is based on the classic Jules Verne novel of underwater adventure with Captain Nemo and the crew of his submarine vessel, the Nautilus.
If Disney elects to film in Australia, the choices are said to be between Village Roadshow Studios in Queensland and Fox Studios in Sydney. At its planned budget, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea would be the country's most expensive production to date.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013
LOST GIRL
Linda Hamilton, possibly the toughest woman to ever grace television and film screens, will soon play a part on one of television's sexiest dramas. The actress will guest-star on an episode of the third season of Syfy's fantasy series, "Lost Girl." Hamilton's episode is scheduled to air in March.
In the episode, titled "Delinquents," Hamilton will play the character of Acacia. She is a sexy, tough and ruthless assassin with a long trail of bodies left behind throughout her career. She will come into contact with the "Lost Girl" heroes at an urban camp for at-risk youth. Bo (Anna Silk), Kenzi (Ksenia Solo) and Dyson (Kris Holden-Ried) are undercover at the camp, trying to catch a Fae serial killer who seems to be preying on the kids.
There is no word yet as to whether Acacia is Fae or human, although a name like Acacia certainly would fit a Fae assassin. Will Hamilton's character be the killer? Or is she there to stop that killer from harming anyone else?
A star for several decades, Linda Hamilton's television credits include the original "Beauty and the Beast" series as well as a recent recurring role on the spy comedy, "Chuck." On film, she is best known for the starring role of Sarah Connor in the "Terminator" movies.
The "Delinquents" episode of "Lost Girl" will air on Monday, March 25 at 10pm on Syfy.
OBLIVION
Tom Cruise's latest gives us a big trailer full of big questions.
What is Oblivion about, really? It's more than a bit of a mystery. That, it seems, is the point -- to craft a sci-fi story that will keep you guessing just what is really going on. Just check out the blurb from the latest trailer.
A court martial sends a veteran soldier to a distant planet, where he has to destroy the remains of an alien race. The arrival of an unexpected traveller causes him to question what he knows about the planet, his mission and himself.
So was there really a war between mankind and a malevolent alien race? What really happened to cause humanity to abandon Earth? And why is something changing now?
INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN
Richard Matheson’s classic novel The Shrinking Man is getting a modern makeover. In 1957, he adapted it for the screen as Jack Arnold's The Incredible Shrinking Man. The film centered on Scott Carey, a man who's exposed to radiation and insecticide, which causes him to slowly shrink.
MGM has acquired the rights to the book and have partnered with Matheson and his son Richard Matheson Jr. for a reboot. The author describes the new take as “an existential action movie.” He says, “My original story was a metaphor for how man’s place in the world was diminishing. That still holds today, where all these advancements that are going to save us will be our undoing.”
Why revamp the story now? MGM president Jonathan Glickman thinks its themes are still relevant. He believes "the Mathesons’ cutting-edge ideas for the adaptation will make for a great film that will play all over the world.”
Universal had the book rights for years and planned to adapt it for a film with Eddie Murphy. They were eyeing a comedy about a magician who would shrink due to a spell. As you can see, that idea never got off the ground.
SUPER CLYDE
"Harry Potter" actor Rupert Grint will star in the new CBS comedy "Super Clyde," says The Live Feed.
According to the site, the show, from "Raising Hope's" Greg Garcia, "centers on a meek, unassuming fast-food worker who decides to become a super hero."
"Grint will play the title role of Clyde, the well-meaning and sweet yet slightly neurotic guy who never feels like he really fits in. The avid comic book reader considers himself a borderline agoraphobic with mild to severe anxiety issues who wishes he were a super hero himself. When Clyde inherits a $100,000 a month inheritance from his long-dead eccentric Uncle Bill, he decides that the cash will be his secret super power and will use it only for good and reward the good-hearted."
Garcia will write and executive the comedy. Mike Fresco ("Raising Hope," "My Name Is Earl") will direct the pilot.
THE TERROR
AMC has a new horror-themed television series on the way in the form of "The Terror," an adaptation of Dan Simmon's novel. Deadline has the news, saying that Scott Free TV, Television 360 and producer Alexandra Milchan are developing the story for the small screen. Published in 2007, the book is officially described as follows:
The men on board the HMS Terror - part of the ill-fated 1845 Franklin Expedition - are entering a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, stranded in a nightmarish landscape of ice & desolation. Endlessly cold, they struggle to survive with poisonous rations & a dwindling coal supply. But their real enemy is even more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror clawing to get in, picking the men off one at a time.
David Kajganich (The Invasion, Blood Creek) is attached to adapt the screenplay for the pilot.
RATINGS PICTURE THIS WEEK WALKING DEAD - 12.26 million viewers The Walking Dead premiered its third season last fall by posting the highest demo score of any basic cable series ever. It was proof that the show was continuing to spread its influence after a robust second season that was itself kind of unbelievable. Now, with its midseason return, the show has surpassed even those numbers, once again breaking a basic cable demo score record and pulling in more viewers than it ever has before. There are episodes from season two that had half the viewers this episode had, and those were considered good performances.
ONCE UPON A TIME - 7.08 million viewers Once Upon a Time returned from a break to another drop in viewers and ratings. This was the show's worst performance ever, but it was going head to head with the Grammy Awards, so we'll see if this is a permanent problem or just a temporary setback.
MERLIN - 1.48 million viewers Merlin broke even this week. It's not where it was at the start of the season, but it's still doing well for a Friday night show.
TOUCH - 3.94 million viewers
The last time we saw Touch was a September leftover episode that brought the shows lowest ratings and viewership ever. Fans might have hoped that was a one-time disappointment, but last Friday's season two premiere didn't fare much better. It pulled in only a third of the series premiere audience last year. There's always a chance the show will recover in the coming weeks, but this isn't a good way to start.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST - 1.48 million viewers Beauty and the Beast dropped again this week. It's still struggling, but it's struggling less than many other shows on The CW right now, so there's a good chance we'll see more of it.
VAMPIRE DIARIES - 2.50 million viewers The Vampire Diaries dropped again this week for its lowest episode since last April. History tells us it'll bounce back, but even if it doesn't it's still the strongest show its network has, and it's already been renewed.
ELEMENTARY - 10.84 million viewers Elementary broke even this week, holding on to its position as one of the top new shows of the season.
PERSON OF INTEREST - 14.88 million viewers Person of Interest dropped a bit this week but remained a strong part of the CBS Thursday night block.
SUPERNATURAL - 2.29 million viewers Supernatural got another boost this week, pulling in its best numbers since November. That, plus word that it's getting another season, makes this a good week for Supernatural fans.
ARROW - 2.96 million viewers Arrow broke even in viewers and picked up a tenth of a ratings point. It's not where it was a few weeks ago, but it still rivals The Vampire Diaries in terms of audience, and it just got renewed, so The CW's definitely still enthusiastic about it.
LOST GIRL - 0.84 million viewers Lost Girl broke even with its ratings score but took a big drop in viewers for its least-watched episode ever. It's been down low before and bounced back, though, so we'll see if a recovery is on the horizon.
CONTINUIUM - 1.08 million viewers Continuum lost viewers again but held on to its ratings score. We'll see if it can ever pick up more points in that key demo score.
BEING HUMAN - 1.04 million viewers Being Human took a hefty drop this week, but still managed to stay above one million viewers and wound up with the best rating of any of Syfy's Monday shows.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2013
DOCTOR WHO
The BBC has released a new drama showreel (aka a trailer) that features their upcoming 2013 TV line-up. And what timey wimey treasure does it include? Yep, it includes a few clips from two upcoming episodes from the second part of Season 7 of Doctor Who. Geronimo!
According to our colleagues over at Doctor Who TV, the new clips are apparently from Mark Gatiss’ two upcoming episodes which are the as-of-yet-untitled-one with the Ice Warriors, and “The Crimson Horror” (title apparently still to be confirmed) which stars Dame Diana Rigg.
If you look closely at the trailer, you’ll see we have both Victorian and is it future-Clara? (Jenna-Louise Coleman) again, and that the Silurian Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh) and Jenny (Catrin Stewart) are also back for more adventures with our favorite Time Lord (Matt Smith).
Oh, and there’s also a bit of Sherlock in there too, just to let you know, no biggie. Doctor Who Season 7 part-two airs March 30th.
CULT Farscape creator Rockne S. O'Bannon's new CW series Cult doesn't hit TV screens until next week, but you can get a sneak peek at the premiere online right now.
O'Bannon himself tweeted out the news Tuesday that the series' first episode, "You're Next," is available to check out now on The CW's official website and on Hulu.com.
In case you're not yet up to speed on what Cult has to offer, here's the official synopsis:
Investigative journalist Jeff Sefton has learned to laugh off his brother Nate's relentless string of obsessions, especially his latest rant that a hit TV show intends to harm him. However, when his brother mysteriously disappears, Jeff takes Nate's paranoia seriously, and in the process uncovers the dark underworld of the TV show "Cult" and its rabid fans.
Cult stars Jessica Lucas (Cloverfield, Evil Dead), Matt Davis (The Vampire Diaries), Alona Tal (Supernatural) and Robert Knepper (Heroes). Check out a trailer, then head over to The CW or Hulu and check out the premiere.
And if you don't have time to check it out today (or just prefer a more traditional viewing experience for some reason), don't worry. Cult will premiere on The CW next Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 9 p.m./8 p.m. Central.
FALLING SKIES
The survivors on Falling Skies spent the past two seasons fighting the alien invaders, but in season three it looks like they might be getting their first true otherworldy ally.
Series co-star Drew Roy (Hal Mason) recently chatted with Collider about the third season, which is set to debut on TNT this summer. Though the 2nd Mass. dabbled in alien politics by getting a little help from the skitter rebellion last year, Roy says the third year could see an alien character become a true regular on the show.
Played by Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy), the mysterious new alien character that was introduced in the final shot of season two will be sticking around for a while. Roy said he had a blast working with Jones, and seems to imply that they had quite a few scenes together—meaning that the new alien character could be embedded with the 2nd Mass.
After a slow start to find its footing, Falling Skies has grown into a solid series about what happens to humanity after we’re no longer the dominant species on the Earth. It’s never been quite as heady as Battlestar Galactica, but its always been compelling.
DEAD MAN DOWN
Here is your exclusive first look at a clip from Dead Man Down, the action thriller opening in theaters on March 8. Dead Man Down stars Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace as two strangers whose mutual desire for revenge draws them together and triggers an escalating trail of mayhem.
The clip shows what Rapace's character, Beatrice, films and will use to get Farrell's character, Victor, to help her take revenge.
The film, which also stars Academy Award-nominee Terrence Howard and Dominic Cooper, marks the American theatrical debut of director Niels Arden Oplev (the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).
SHADOW AND BONE
DreamWorks Studios is developing a feature film version of Leigh Bardugo's debut novel Shadow and Bone. Today, The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Christopher Kyle has been brought aboard to provide the screenplay.
In the book, the first in the planned "Grisha Trilogy," a young woman must learn to control her newly discovered power in order to save her country from the Shadow Fold, a creature-filled darkness that threatens to overrun the land.
The next book in the series, "Siege and Storm," is scheduled for release in June 2013 with the third installment coming in summer 2014.
Kyle's work as a screenwriter includes Oliver Stone's Alexander and Kathryn Bigelow's K-19: The Widowmaker.
THE NUMBERS STATION
Here is the trailer for the upcoming action-thriller The Numbers Station.
The film, directed by Kasper Barfoed and written by F. Scott Frazier, stars John Cusack and Malin Ackerman and is set to hit theaters on April 26.
After his latest mission goes disastrously wrong, veteran CIA black ops agent Emerson Kent is given one last chance to prove he still has what it takes to do his job. His new assignment: guarding Katherine, a code operator at a top-secret remote CIA "Numbers Station" where encrypted messages are sent and received. When an elite team of heavily armed assailants lays siege to the station, Emerson and Katherine suddenly find themselves in a life-or-death struggle against an unknown enemy. With the station compromised and innocent lives at stake, they must stop the deadly plot before it's too late.
DARK SKIES
Dimension Films has released, via Empire, a new British quad poster for the upcoming supernatural thriller Dark Skies.
Opening in US theaters on February 22, the film is written and directed by Scott Stewart and stars Keri Russell, Josh Hamilton, Dakota Goyo, Kadan Rockett and J.K. Simmons. Dark Skies follows a young family living in the suburbs. As husband and wife Daniel and Lacey Barret witness an escalating series of disturbing events involving their family, their safe and peaceful home quickly unravels. When it becomes clear that the Barret family is being targeted by and unimaginably terrifying and deadly force, Daniel and Lacey take matters in their own hands to solve the mystery of what is after their family.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2013
DOCTOR WHO - 50th ANNIVERSARY IN 3D
The BBC is pulling out all the stops for the 50th birthday of sci-fi institution "Doctor Who," announcing that this year's anniversary special will be broadcast in 3D and also shown in cinemas in the U.K.
The as-yet-untitled special is expected to air Nov. 23 in the U.K., the same day that the Doctor's first adventure was broadcast. The BBC has also commissioned a TV movie about the behind the scenes story of bringing "Doctor Who" to television.
The 3D broadcast is a first for " Who." Details of the special remain under wraps and it's unclear if BBC America will follow suit with the 3D broadcast.
"It's about time," "Who" executive producer Steven Moffat punned in a statement. "Technology has finally caught up with 'Doctor Who' and your television is now bigger on the inside. A whole new dimension of adventure for the Doctor to explore."
"Doctor Who" continues its current seventh series run on March 30 on both BBC and BBC America.
The 50th anniversary special is an additional installment beyond the usual series order and is expected to be followed by the show's customary Christmas special in December.
THE CW RENEWS ARROW, VAMPIRE DIARIES, SUPERNATURAL
The CW made a huge announcement today. They've renewed three shows for next season. First up, we have newcomer Arrow, which was a no-brainer. It's been a standout since its premiere last fall. The modernized take on the Green Arrow comic has proven to be a winner.
Next up, the oldie but goodie Supernatural. Sam and Dean will be back for a ninth season. The veteran's shown improvement since being bumped from Friday to Wednesdays. The one-two punch with Arrow is a bright spot on the CW schedule.
Last but not least, The Vampire Diaries will return for its fifth season. Even though The CW's hard at work on its spinoff The Originals, they still have faith in the series.
“We said last year that one of our goals was to establish building blocks to grow on, and now with our new hit Arrow and fan favorite Supernatural on Wednesday night, and the continued success of The Vampire Diaries on Thursday, we’ve been able to do that,” network president Mark Pedowitz said in a statement. “Not only do Arrow, Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries perform well on-air, they’re also extremely successful for us both digitally and socially. I’m thrilled to have all three shows returning to our schedule next season.”
THE WALKING DEAD
After breaking cable ratings records with its season 3 premiere back in October, The Walking Dead hit yet another high with its midseason return Sunday.
Sunday's episode, "The Suicide King," raked in a whopping 12.3 million viewers at its first airing, and picked up another few million with encore airings for a total of 16.6 million viewers. But that's not the biggest news. The first airing garnered 7.7 million viewers in the key 18-49 demographic, a 6 percent increase from the season 3 premiere and a new record for a basic cable series. And it did all that on a night when it had to compete with the Grammy Awards broadcast, which pulled in more than 28 million viewers.
So, with a fourth season already on the way The Walking Dead hit a series high in viewers and a basic cable high in demo ratings for the second time in just four months. We're just a few weeks away from the season finale.
MINIONS
Sandra Bullock is set to provide the lead villain voice in the "Despicable Me" 3D spin-off feature "Minions" at Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment.
In the film, it is established that the adorable yellow henchmen have existed since the beginning of time, in service of history’s most ambitiously evil villains. Through their lovable ineptitude, they have thwarted and ultimately killed them all.
The story is set in the 1960s as the now depressed collective seek a new master at a villain convention.
They soon compete for the right to be henchmen to Scarlet Overkill (Bullock) who is described as a "stylish bad-ass super-villain bent on world domination".
The CG-animated comedy is currently targeting a December 19th 2014 release.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013
DOCTOR WHO NEWS
We knew Neil Gaiman was writing another Doctor Who episode for the second half of season seven, and we knew it was about the Cybermen. Now we finally know the revealing title.
Titled "The Last Cyberman," the Neil Gaiman-written Who episode will be the penultimate episode of the current seventh series.
Apparently, the title was first leaked last year when a script for Gaiman’s episode was discovered in ... the back of a taxicab, and the cover page started making the rounds on the wonderful world of the Internet.
IMDb has even listed the episode with that title ever since.
However, the confirmation comes from the American Gods and "The Doctor’s Wife" author, who made the reveal on themusic.com.
Gaiman said about his Who episode: “I’ve written [one] that broadcasts in May. It guest stars Warwick Davis (Willow, Harry Potter, Life’s too Short), Tamzin Outhwaite and Jason Watkins (Being Human U.K.). The episode is called "The Last Cyberman." It’s about identity, it’s about responsibility and it’s about porridge (which also happens to be the name of Davis’ character).” Doctor Who returns Easter Sunday, March 30.
THE GREEN INFERNO
ShockTillYouDrop.com has posted the first official still from Eli Roth's next feature directorial effort, The Green Inferno.
Shooting began in Peru last November with stars Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Aaron Burns, Daryl Sabara, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Magda Apanowicz and actress/singer Sky Ferreria. The Green Inferno is cannibal flick based on a screenplay Roth co-wrote with Aftershock co-writer Guillermo Amoedo. The film follows an idealistic student and a group of naive do-gooders who are captured by cannibalistic Indios after their plane crash lands in the Peruvian jungle.
GAME OF THRONES
HBO has debuted a new "Chaos" preview for the third season of "Game of Thrones." The new season premieres on March 31.
Based on the novels of George R.R. Martin, the third season is said to adapt events from "A Storm of Swords." The series is executive produced by David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger with co-executive producers George R.R. Martin, Vanessa Taylor, Alan Taylor, Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis and Bernadette Caulfield producing.
BLOOD SISTERS
The Weinstein Company (TWC) has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to Blood Sisters, the first feature film installment of the highly successful "Vampire Academy" series of young adult books from financiers Reliance Entertainment and IM Global. Blood Sisters, to be directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls, The Spiderwick Chronicles), is based on the first book in author Richelle Mead's successful series of books, with the screenplay written by Dan Waters (Batman Returns, Heathers). The "Vampire Academy" book series has sold over 8 million copies in print across 35 countries. To date there are 6 books in the series, with the last 4 on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Blood Sisters will be produced by Don Murphy and Susan Montford (Transformers, Real Steel) of Angry Films, Michael Preger (Day of the Triffids) and Deepak Nayar of Kintop/Reliance (Walking With Dinosaurs, Bend It Like Beckham). IM Global CEO Stuart Ford will executive produce.?
The Kintop Reliance partnership/IM Global film will go into production in early summer and last week announced Zooey Deutch, Lucy Fry and Danila Kozlovsky as principal cast.
The mini-major will release the film on a nationwide level on February 14, 2014, a date that combines both Valentine’s Day and the Presidents Day long weekend.?? ??
“I am thrilled to be working on the first feature for 'Vampire Academy.' This series is fantastic and I am excited to bring it to the screen for diehard fans and introduce the stories to a whole new audience,” said TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein.
Said producer Don Murphy, “The addition of Harvey and the TWC distribution and marketing team gives us the opportunity to present this wonderful franchise to the world in a bold, unique fashion and only adds to 'Vampire Academy's' considerable momentum.”
In Blood Sisters, Rose Hathaway develops a mental and spiritual bond with her BVFF (best vampire friend forever) Princess Lissa. The two girls attend a strict school for vampires designed to retain their humanity where it is Rose’s task to protect the Princess. Among the everyday issues faced by teenage vampires Rose falls for Dimitri, their dreamy guardian, and together the three battle the mysterious forces of the evil Moroi who are set on destroying the Princess’s bloodline.?
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2013
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD AND CHROME
If you've never gotten into any of the incarnations of Battlestar Galactica in the past, now's your chance, agreed Luke Pasqualino and Ben Cotton, the stars of Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, which premieres on Syfy on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET. The two-hour movie, which began life as a 10-episode web series last November on Machinima.com, offers not only an accessible new story in the franchise, but also never before scenes not available online. Blood & Chrome takes place during the First Cylon War and digs into the first big mission of a young William Adama when he's assigned to the a new battlestar called the Galactica.
"I think you could jump in on this,” said Cotton, who plays a new original character to the franchise, the war weary Lt. Coker Fasjovik. “It introduces the Adama character. If you weren't aware of him before, I think you get a pretty good picture of this person. I'm always a big fan of doing things in order, but then again, with this show, you'd have to start with Caprica, wouldn't you? You'd start with Caprica and then this and then Battlestar, the reimagined version. But I feel like this is a contained story. You could jump in and just watch this and get a really good feeling for who these people are and what the world is and what's going on.”
Jumping in for the actors, however did offer the actors some challenges, they said during a conference call with journalists.
“We both knew what to expect. We both knew what we wanted to do with our characters, and I think being able to explore every realm,” said English actor Pasqualino, who plays the iconic character of William Adama as a young man right out of the Academy. “Being able to take these characters and their relationship, my character's relationship with Ben's character, I think to be able to take them anywhere, for me it came from me and Ben becoming such close friends. We didn't feel that we'd have to hold back on any kind of performance. If I wanted to shout at him, I could shout at him. If I wanted to laugh at him, I could laugh at him. If I wanted to scream in his face, I could have screamed in his face, you know? It was one of those things that we just had so much confidence in performances, and [director] Jonas [Pate] gave us a lot of free reign to take it wherever we wanted in terms of improvisation and all of that. Involving team effort, really. It was brilliant. If ever something was completely out of character that wasn't on the page or anything like that, they just didn't use it in the final edit, you know? But so much of the great performances that you see, some parts really are improvised. We just went with it and brought out the final product.”
“I found there was a real freedom on this set to just let it go and play with each other, like Luke said. I felt like you could yell at each other, you could shout at each other, you could laugh, you could do all of those things. And Jonas let us make it up now and then. He'd just kind of keep rolling and we would go at each other a little bit. So it was really fun, because you get to work with an actor who's going to hand it back to you when you hand it to them. It just rises and keeps going and keeps going and there's this chemistry that happens. I thought we were lucky. It was cool. It was really cool,” said Cotton.
Stepping onto the set of the newest incarnation of Battlestar Galactica was one thing. However, Pasqualino found himself in the sizable shoes of William Adama, originally played by Edward James Olmos in the 2004 reimagined version of the series.
“He's fantastic,” said Pasqualino. “He did an amazing job and he's got such a huge fanbase. I feel like he helped make Battlestar what it is today. But I didn't really want any advice in terms of performance, because I think seeing Adama at the age that I portray him compared to the age that Eddie portrays him is two completely different stages of anyone's life. And I didn't want anything that Eddie said to me to upset my interpretation of the material. I wanted to go ahead and take the writing for what I thought and get my own stamp on it.”
Pasqualino admits when it came to playing Adama, “I was never really fazed by the bar that Eddie had set. I just really wanted to go in there, like I said before, with my own interpretation of the material and just do the best job I could as an actor. The writing's great. Michael Taylor wrote an amazing script. Just to go in there and really push those limits as far as we could go.”
The other challenges they faced were more of the physical kind.
“The hardest part was the helmet,” said Cotton. “Hard to breathe in those helmets. The green screen, everybody kind of kept saying before we started, 'Oh, it's going to be so hard,' but I didn't find it to be too much of a challenge. There's little markers that you can pick to have an imaginary spaceship or whatever it is. But after watching some of the dailies, I realized that I wasn't taking in the environment as much as I would if I was actually in some kind of a Cylon facility or whatever. But once you figure that out, I didn't find it too challenging at all.”
“I kind of felt a little bit daunted by the whole thing when I first realized the scale of how much green screen we would be using. You would think it would cause problems in terms of where you're going to be. A lot of times you don't actually have any physical set to touch or work with. We worked even some props and a lot of the foreground stuff on our sets actually. They were props and we could actually touch and move around and stuff. But the hardest thing for me that I found was really the stuff in the spaceships, like Ben said. Like when something hits the windscreen or something's flying over our heads. We don't have anything to play to, or we have a ball on the end of a stick that we have to follow. That was really kind of the hardest for me. But everything else was really just … it all came. I think for Ben as well, I think we adapted to it a lot quicker than we thought we would,” said Pasqualino.
“It becomes a little more like doing a black box theater type of situation, where you just have to use your imagination,” added Cotton.
Before they started filming, they were given a book of computer generated images of what the set would look like. “And then you take that image in your head and you have to kind of visualize your surroundings based on a picture given to you on a piece of paper. So it does involve imagination for sure. But that's what acting is. That's what performance is all about. You have to be able to take your character and your performance any which way you can and to go in there. It did pose problems in certain areas just because me and Ben had never really worked on green screen to that scale before, but ultimately it was just such an enjoyable experience. It taught me so much about our work for sure. It was great,” said Pasqualino.
“And you do get accustomed to having to imagine. A lot of the times when you do closeups, the other actor can't even be in your eyeline because he's too close to the camera. Half the time you're talking to a piece of tape. So you get used to using your imagination,” said Cotton.
“Definitely. With a virtual environment like the one [the] special effects team created on Battlestar, you can take it anyway. There's no such thing as a location anymore with this kind of technology. Every day of our shoot was in one studio surrounded by green walls. We didn't have to visit locations. By doing that, that's when you can achieve anything you want. We could have put a sandy beach on that backdrop. We could have put a snowy mountain, which we did. We can put anything that we want. That's what I love about it. You can take a story anywhere with this kind of technology, and it's great,” said Pasqualino.
While Cotton played a couple roles in the franchise before, Pasqualino admits he wasn't that familiar with the series.
“For me, being a Battlestar virgin, the first thing that [executive producer] David [Eick] did to me was throw seasons one and two of Caprica at me. That's kind of the dawn of this this whole epic, the birth of the Cylons in Caprica. That was his input to my performance, really, just sit down and watch Caprica, just so you know where we're at in terms of story. And I did and I really enjoyed it. It helped me a lot to see where our show fit into the whole Battlestar mix, to see that birth. The rest is all set completely in the future, so that didn't really affect my performance at all. But Caprica I did watch,” he said.
As for Cotton's character Coker, could he be a Cylon, like so many characters we came to know and love on Battlestar Galactica?
"Haha. No, I personally don't think he's a Cylon,” said Cotton.
“I did,” said Pasqualino.
“You do, do you?”
“He could be. … He was a bit grumpy, wasn't he? … I think you're right. Maybe he is a Cylon.”
Cylon possibilities aside, Cotton believes the reason Battlestar Galactica has continued on is because “the writing has always been really good. People love it. Our fans are the best fans that you're going to find. They'll stick with you. I think people want to embrace this story. Or so it seems, anyway. People are excited,” he said.
“I think aside from that, even someone like me who wasn't a Battlestar fan before I was involved with it. People like to see action. People like to see relationships. People like to see real life stories. People like to see drama. They like to see comedy. They like to be human. All these different things, Battlestar can offer that. The only difference between Battlestar and any other show is that it's set in space. We're dealing with real life situations here, whether it be love, hate, there's everything going on there,” said Pasqualino.
“It's humanity.”
“Just set in space, so it looks cool.”
Syfy is offering special online incentives to viewers involving Twitter and Battlestar Galactica Online. People that watch Blood & Chrome will see a code that will allow them to unlock a special B&C ship in Battlestar Galactica Online. And on February 19, the unrated edition of Blood & Chrome will be available from Universal Studios Home Entertainment on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download.
STAR WARS - FRESH START
Fandom abuzz in the wake of Walt Disney Pictures' recent confirmation of plans to develop stand-alone films in the Star Wars universe, The LA Times spoke with writer Lawrence Kasdan who is said to be writing one of those solo films and consulting overall on J.J. Abram's Star Wars: Episode VII.
“I’m trying to start fresh,” Kasdan explains. “There are certain pleasures that we think the saga can bring to people that they’ve been missing, and we’re hoping to bring them that, and at the same time, have them feel that it’s all new.”
Although recent rumors have suggest that Kasdan's film may follow either the adventures of a young Han Solo or those of Boba Fett, the screenwriter did not confirm the focus of his specific project. He did say, however, that it was George Lucas himself who asked that he return to the Star Wars universe.
“George sort of brought me into this part of it," he says, "and he’s stepping back from the company. He’s sort of given his blessing to everybody, and he’ll be there if you need him. I think everyone’s interested to see where this can go. It’s been some very different places over 30 years …. I think with J.J., we’ll get something entirely new.” Star Wars: Episode VII is tentatively planned for release in 2015 with two sequels and the first of the stand-alone films following within the next six years.
BLUE ANGEL
Clive Owen is set to headline writer/director Richard Levine's Blue Angel, Variety reports. The film is adapted from Francine Prose's novel of the same name, officially described as follows:
It has been years since Swenson, a professor in a New England creative writing program, has published a novel. It's been even longer since any of his students have shown promise. Enter Angela Argo, a pierced, tattooed student with a rare talent for writing. Angela is just the thing Swenson needs. And, better yet, she wants his help. But, as we all know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions...
Owen, best known for films like Closer and Children of Men, recently starred opposite Nichole Kidman in the television miniseries "Hemingway & Gellhorn".
Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy are attached to produce Blue Angel.
KAGAWA SERIES COMING
Universal Pictures has picked up the film rights to an untitled supernatural young-adult book series proposal from fantasy author Julie Kagawa.
The story is set in a present-day coastal town where mythical creatures hide amongst us cloaked as humans.
Slayers soon infiltrate the town disguised as out-of-town kids, setting up a confrontation and a love triangle.
The first book is to be released in 2015. Chris Morgan is attached to produce the film adaptation.
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 3
20th Century Fox is moving forward with a third film in the "Night at the Museum" series.
Director Shawn Levy is back, as it actor Ben Stiller who will reprise his role of security guard Larry Daley. No story details are currently available.
The involvement of scribes Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant isn't confirmed as yet. A December 25th 2014 release is being targeted.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2013
DO NO HARM CANCELLED
The first victim of the new debuts has been announced. TV fans were not in the mood for a modern day spin on Jekyll and Hyde this season.
After just two episodes, NBC has pulled the plug on the good/evil doctor drama Do No Harm, which received some pretty terrible reviews from critics and even worse ratings. That leaves 11 of its 13 episodes still in the can, and the best fans can hope for is that the network will go ahead and dump them online to stream or sell them on iTunes.
With 3.1 million total viewers and a 0.9 demo rating for its January 31 series premiere, the show now holds the dubious honor of being the lowest-rated season premiere in the history of major network television (excluding smaller net-lets like The CW). With ratings that bad, the network would probably lose money by burning the episodes off on an already dead night. Ouch.
Just hours after the news broke the studio moved quickly to distance itself from the series, as a keen eye spotted one of the show’s many billboards already being torn down.
THE LEFTOVERS
Ever since Lost ended its run back in May 2010, fans have been wondering if co-creator Damon Lindelof would come up with something new for TV.
Lindelof is busy these days with a healthy screenwriting career (Prometheus, Star Trek Into Darkness, Tomorrowland), but somehow he's found time to develop a new TV series that HBO has just decided to produce a pilot for.
According to Vulture, the proposed series is called The Leftovers, and it's based on a 2011 novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta (Little Children). The novel takes place three years after a Rapture-like event called the Sudden Departure, in which vast numbers of people simply disappeared from the face of the Earth one day. The book follows those who were left behind as they struggle to make sense of and get on with the rest of their lives.
It seems as though the show will not get into the religious aspects of such an event as much as the implications of what happens afterward. Lindelof told Vulture:
"The fact that there's this reaping which occurred, and you don't make the cut, some of us don't feel worthy, seemed very ripe territory for a cool character drama."
Lindelof and Perrotta pitched the series to HBO just six months ago, and the notoriously slow network must like the idea if it's already moving ahead with a pilot. There's no word on when that will shoot or when a potential series would debut, but pencil it in for 2014 at the earliest -- hopefully nothing like the Sudden Departure will happen before then.
MONSTER UNIVERSITY
The new trailer for Disney•Pixar's Monsters University is coming soon, but first this extended preview has surfaced which features director Dan Scanlon talking about the June 21 release.
The prequel features the voices of Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Dave Foley, Julia Sweeney, Joel Murray and Peter Sohn. Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan are an inseparable pair, but that wasn't always the case. From the moment these two mismatched monsters met they couldn't stand each other. Monsters University unlocks the door to how Mike and Sulley overcame their differences and became the best of friends.
JACK THE GIANT SLAYER
Here is a clip for Jack the Giant Slayer from the March 1st release.
Directed by Bryan Singer (upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past), the 3D action adventure stars Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane, Bill Nighy and Ewan McGregor. Jack the Giant Slayer tells the story of an ancient war that is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants. Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing the young man, Jack, into the battle of his life to stop them. Fighting for a kingdom, its people, and the love of a brave princess, he comes face to face with the unstoppable warriors he thought only existed in legend—and gets the chance to become a legend himself.
THE HOST
Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds, "National Treasure" films) stars as The Seeker in Andrew Niccol's adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's The Host.
Also starring Saoirse Ronan, Max Irons, Jake Abel, William Hurt, Frances Fisher and Chandler Canterbury, the film opens in theaters on March 29.
In the film, when an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories, Melanie Stryder (Ronan) will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about - Jared (Irons), Ian (Abel), her brother Jamie (Canterbury) and her Uncle Jeb (Hurt), proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2013
BEING HUMAN CANCELLED BY BBC
"Being Human" is coming to an end on the U.K.'s BBC Three. The successful supernatural drama airs in the U.S. on BBC America and spawned an Americanized adaptation that's currently in Season 3 on Syfy.
The U.K. original premiered its fifth season Feb. 3 in the U.K. but the BBC announced that this year's finale will wrap up the show with an "apocalyptic end." The current trio of stars -- Damien Molony as vampire Hal, Michael Socha as werewolf Tom and Kate Bracken as ghost Alex -- will face off against the devil.
Executive producer Rob Pursey noted in a statement: "Working on 'Being Human' has been a truly great experience. From the first one-hour pilot, all the way through to this climactic series, we've been given real creative freedom and encouragement. It's a credit to BBC Three that such an unusual idea has been allowed to flourish and evolve in its own unique way."
Creator Toby Whithouse wrote about the decision on the official "Being Human" blog: "We've created what I hope you'll agree is an epic, thrilling and shocking finale that'll keep the fans guessing and speculating for years to come."
ORPHAN BLACK
BBC America continues to expand into original programming with the upcoming sci-fi series "Orphan Black," set to premiere March 30.
The show stars Tatiana Maslany as Sarah, a young woman who encounters a complete stranger who looks just like her moments before the stranger kills herself. Sarah assumes the stranger's identity to escape from her own life, but realizes the freaky coincidence is only the beginning of a deeper, darker mystery.
BBC America will air "Orphan Black" under its Supernatural Saturday banner with all new episodes of "Doctor Who" as its lead-in. Chris Hardwick's "The Nerdist" will round out the night.
ARROW
The CW's released a new midseason trailer for Arrow. They really want you to get excited about what's to come. After this week's game-changing episode, Oliver's bitten off more than he can chew. [Spoiler alert]
After Diggle provided him with proof of his mother's dirty dealings, Oliver had no choice but to confront her. Yet somehow he found himself on the opposite end of a gun. Flash forward to him back at his lair recovering from a nasty bullet wound. When it comes to the new promo, we noticed several things.
First off, it sounds like Felicity (Queen Consolidated's resident techie) is brought in on Oliver's operation. That's been a long time coming. Secondly, we get our first glimpse of Roy Harper. In the comics, he was Green Arrow's sidekick, who went by Speedy. That's why it's so interesting that Oliver chose that as a nickname for his sister Thea.
Speaking of Thea, she'll have a rough first encounter with Harper. He's from The Glades and represents a life she knows nothing about. In the trailer, he's shown wearing a red hoodie as he tries to escape with a stolen purse (we assume Thea's). The character is played by Colton Haynes, who previously starred on MTV's Teen Wolf.
Follow this link for a new trailer: http://www.zap2it.com/videogallery/74333338/Entertainment/Arrow-exclusive-video-Justice-is-Earned. Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
STARGATE SG-1 GAME TEASER
Considering that it's one of the biggest sci-fi brands after Star Trek and Star Wars, fans of Stargate SG-1 have gotten the short straw when it comes to videogames. But not for long.
The first trailer for a new Stargate SG-1 episodic mobile/tablet game, a la the recent smash hit The Walking Dead, has gone live. We don’t get any gameplay footage for Stargate SG-1: Unleashed, but the clip here sets it up as a dark, gritty adventure that will leave SG-1 worse for the wear. It’s set in the Goa’uld enemy era, meaning it can hopefully capture some of that early series fun that faded once the snakeheads were essentially vanquished in the later seasons. Stargate games have been in development off and on for years, though almost all of them crashed and burned in development hell. A MMORPG game dubbed Stargate Worlds got closest to release, but the developer went bankrupt and tied it all up in court. Whatever work was done has been on the shelf for more than three years now.
Developers MGM and Arkalis Interactive are keeping the plot under wraps, but it seems all the key members of the team will be involved (though Dr. Jackson is on the bloody end of some torture). The developer is a relatively new outfit, but they’ve proven they can ship apps on time. They most recently developed the Stargate Command app, which includes a Teal’c’s Revenge action game. Both are currently available in the iOS and Android app stores.
The developers hope to ship Unleashed in March for major mobile platforms.
ZOMBIELAND
It was revealed last month that Amazon is making plans to turn Ruben Fleischer's 2009 horror comedy Zombieland into a streaming series and, today, Deadline has learned two of the actors that will be joining the central four-person cast. Tyler Ross (Milkshake) will play Columbus and relative newcomer Izabela Vidovic will play Little Rock.
The original film, written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, starred Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin as a group of survivors trying to stay alive in the face of the zombie apocalypse. Ross and Vidovic's roles are those originally played by Eisenberg and Breslin, respectively.
Planned for 30-minute episodes, the "television" version of "Zombieland" returns the franchise to its original concept of an ongoing serialized comedy adventure.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2013
DA VINCI'S DEMONS
The show won't air for another couple of months, but you can get your first look at one of the more bizarre new shows on television right now: Starz has released key art for its new series, "Da Vinci' Demons."
Created by David S. Goyer ("The Dark Knight Trilogy," "Man of Steel"), the series focuses on Renaissance artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci. This version of the story recasts Leonardo in the role of a true action figure. Played by Tom Riley, this particular version of the man shows him as a swordsman, an artist, an inventor and a dreamer.
Basically, there is a lot more action than you might expect from a story based on history. Da Vinci is 25 years old when the story begins, an ambitious and eccentric man on the edges of Florence's high society. In addition to the outside pressures keeping him down, this Leonardo struggles to survive reality and his own almost-superhuman genius.
"Leonardo was a transformational figure -- the original Renaissance man and the kind of genius that only emerges every thousand years or so," David Goyer said of his series.
"Da Vinci's Demons" premieres on Starz Friday, April 12 at 10pm. Following the premiere, the show will air Fridays at 9pm.
HALF-LIFE/PORTAL
If you thought J.J. Abrams would be too busy with Star Wars VII to take on any more movies, think again.
The prolific director/producer/writer participated in a discussion at the DICE 2013 summit with Valve co-founded Gabe Newell, and revealed that the two are in preliminary talks to develop movies based on the popular videogame franchises Half-Life and Portal.
So go ahead and throw these two on a list that already includes Star Trek 3, Star Wars VII, Mission Impossible 5 and a ton of new and ongoing TV series.
The Half-Life franchise focuses on an alien invasion at a top-secret research facility, while Portal is a sci-fi puzzle game that utilizes teleportation to get around obstacles and solve problems. Both games have been the subject of movie speculation for years, and fans have even gone so far as to make live-action spec trailers for fun.
Abrams said both franchises are ripe for exploration on the big screen and his team is working with Valve to see how they could make the leap:
"[The games are] as real as anything in Hollywood ever gets... which is that we are really talking to Valve, we are going to be bringing on a writer, we have a lot of very interesting ideas. Our goal here to is to treat the world Valve has created in both these properties like anyone would a book or some great story that comes from a pitch or original script — just to treat it with the respect they treat their games and their players with.”
In addition to the potential films, Abrams said he’d also like to see Bad Robot work with Valve to co-develop a videogame. But he clarified they want to make a “real” game, not some film-esque extension into the medium:
“We're not looking to make a movie in the gaming world, we're not looking to impose what we do on that, we're looking forward to taking some of our strengths and collaborating with some of these incredible minds that make some of my favorite games."
This actually sounds like it could lead to something cool, and Abrams has proven he can take an existing brand and turn it into gold.
STAR WARS SPIN-OFF
The debate over who shot first is about to start again, apparently. It seems Disney wants to take full advantage of all the iconic characters littering George Lucas’ Star Wars universe, and young Han Solo and Boba Fett are the latest in line for spinoff films.
Entertainment Weekly is reporting that both characters, which have become fan favorites over the years, will be getting standalone adventures as part of Disney’s push to crank out a steady stream of Star Wars movies. Throw in the fact that a rumored Yoda movie is also in development, and it looks like we’ll have more Star Wars than we know what to do with in the coming years.
The Han Solo film will “focus [on] the wisecracking smuggler’s origin story,” while the Boba Fett flick will put the masked bounty hunter “at the center of a rogue’s gallery of galactic scum.” Both projects are early in the development cycle, but it seems they’re pretty likely to move forward.
The stories would reportedly fit in the existing six-film timeline, with the Han Solo standalone falling between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. The Boba Fett story would apparently take place either between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, or between Empire and Return of the Jedi.
Both films would almost certainly require younger actors to step into these iconic roles, because there’s no way that Harrison Ford could pull off playing a young Han Solo. He’s good, but not that good. Of course, there’s always a chance he could have a role to introduce the story (much how The Hobbit brought back some Lord of the Rings stars to kick off the story) in some way, which could be a nice passing of the torch.
GAME OF THRONES
HBO has released a new animated Game of Thrones Season 2 Blu-ray exclusive short that reveals the secrets of the Alchemists Guild and that pesky (yet totally awesome) little thing called wildfire.
Narrated by that old alchemist geezer Hallyne the Pyromancer from Season 2 (played by veteran actor Roy Dotrice), this new clip talks about the history of his order and the story of wildfire which was featured heavily in the masterful Blackwater episode written by George R. R. Martin himself back in Season 2.
“The History of the Alchemists” is but one little part of the many, many, many extras that the Season 2 Blu-ray set will be chock full of.
We’ve always liked those animated extras that provide useful (and much needed) background information that are not dealt with in the hit HBO fantasy series, but are found in Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series of books.
HBO's Game of Thrones Season 2 will be released on February 19 on DVD and Blu-ray sets. Season 3 will begin to air on March 31.
THE LAST MAN OUT
Pierce Brosnan has signed on to lead an adaptation of Stuart Neville's The Twelve (titled Ghosts of Belfast in America), says a story at The Hollywood Reporter. The film version will be titled Last Man Out and has been scripted by Craig Ferguson and Ted Mulkerin. Published last year, Neville's novel is officially described as follows:
Former paramilitary killer Gerry Fegan is haunted by his victims, twelve souls who shadow his every waking day and scream through every drunken night. Just as he reaches the edge of sanity they reveal their desire: vengeance on those who engineered their deaths. From the greedy politicians to the corrupt security forces, the street thugs to the complacent bystanders who let it happen, all must pay the price.
When Fegan's vendetta threatens to derail Northern Ireland's peace process and destabilise its fledgling government, old comrades and enemies alike want him gone. David Campbell, a double agent lost between the forces of law and terror, takes the job. But he has his own reasons for eliminating Fegan; the secrets of a dirty war should stay buried, even if its ghosts do not.
Set against the backdrop of a post-conflict Northern Ireland struggling with its past, "The Twelve" takes the reader from the back streets of Belfast, where violence and politics go hand-in-hand, to the country's darkest heart.
Terry Loan will direct with Beau St. Clair, Steve Clark-Hall, Jonathan Loughran and Rebecca Tucker producing.
HOW TO CATCH A MONSTER
Ryan Gosling has cast the lead in his directorial debut, How to Catch a Monster, and it's someone with quite a bit of monster-catching experience. Variety reports that "Doctor Who" star Matt Smith will star opposite Christina Hendricks and Eva Mendes in the fantasy adventure.
Said to weave elements of fantasy noir and suspense into a modern day fairytale, How to Catch a Monster is set against the surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city. Billy, a single mother of two, is swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld while her teenage son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town. Both Billy and Bones must dive deep into the mystery, if their family is to survive.
Marc Platt and Adam Siegel will produce on behalf of Marc Platt Productions, along with Ryan Gosling via his Phantasma Films banner, and Michel Litvak and David Lancaster via the Bold Films banner.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
SAD NEWS - ROBIN SACHS HAS DIED
Robin Sachs has died at the age of 61, reports BBC News.
The British actor died last Friday, but news of his death was announced on his official website on Feb. 5:
"Please join us in raising a glass to Robin - goodbye, dear friend. Thank you for all the laughter and the cookies. We will miss you so very much."
Further details about the actor's death have yet to be revealed.
The actor (who was just four days shy of his 62nd birthday) is best known for playing villainous character Ethan Rayne on the hit series "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," but boasts a full resume and will also be remembered for his roles on "Babylon 5 (Coplann, Hedronn, N'Kal and Callain)" and "Star Trek: Voyager."
YODA MOVIE?
The "Star Wars" universe is suddenly a very active place. With production now scheduled to begin in the next few months on "Star Wars: Episode VII," rumors are already flying about what could come after that. According to rumors, a standalone film focusing on the character of Yoda is a definite possibility.
While a whole series of standalone films -- each focusing on a character important to the "Star Wars" saga -- are possible, the word is that the very first has to be about Yoda. The first word on a Yoda-based spinoff came from Ain't It Cool News. This report indicated that, while there was a Jabba the Hutt idea out there as well as some passion for a story about Boba Fett, the plan for any standalone series starts with Yoda.
Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger confirmed to CNBC the development of the standalone movies on Tuesday (Feb. 5). Screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan (the writer of "The Empire Strikes Back") and Simon Kinberg have already begun work on concepts for these spinoffs.
If there is indeed a Yoda movie coming, that brings up a whole host of questions. Since Yoda didn't survive the original "Star Wars" trilogy, a new standalone film would have to take place earlier in the timeline. Could we see the Jedi Master as a young warrior? Or would the Yoda story focus on the creature's escape to Dagobah when the other Jedi were destroyed?
GAME OF THRONES
In what could potentially be seen as a good news/bad news kinda thing (but mostly good), George R. R. Martin has just signed a two-year overall deal with HBO.
Deadline reports that the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, on which HBO's Game of Thrones is based, has signed on the dotted line, keeping him on as a co-executive producer on the hit fantasy series that will have its eagerly awaited Season 3 premiere on March 31.
Not only that, but Martin will also develop and produce a new series project for the network. And this is where it could potentially mean bad news for fans of the books who are eagerly waiting for Martin to finally finish the opus that was begun in 1996 with the first book, A Game of Thrones. There are two more books left to be written and published in order to finish the saga. They are The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring.
Still, we think that its very, very good news that Martin is staying put as co-executive producer on the series, which also probably means that Martin will still write one new episode per season for the next two years, just as he’s done for the past three seasons.
JUPITER ASCENDING
Andy and Lana Wachowski are hard at work on their new film, Jupiter Ascending, and they've lined up a fan favorite actor from Game of Thrones to join the cast.
Deadline reports that the siblings have recruited Sean Bean to join their latest mind-bender in the role of Stinger, described as a "Han Solo-type character." He'll be acting alongside Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), Mila Kunis (Oz the Great and Powerful) and Eddie Redmayne (Les Miserables).
The film follows a poor Russian cleaning woman (Kunis) who discovers that she has been marked for death by the Queen of the Universe since she has the same genetic makeup and thus threatens her rule over humanity, who are pretty low on the galactic ladder in this reality. The woman is forced to go on the run, accompanied by the bounty hunter (Tatum) originally sent to kill her.
Bean, of course, played Ned Stark in season one of Game of Thrones, and is perhaps best known before that for playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings. He'll also appear in this year's Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, reprising the role of Zeus from 2010's Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Jupiter Ascending, which will follow up last year's poorly received Cloud Atlas for the Wachowskis, is due to start filming this spring for a release sometime in 2014. In the meantime, enjoy this compilation of Sean Bean death scenes -- he almost never makes it out of any of his movies alive. Here's hoping Jupiter Ascending changes that.
DEFIANCE
Syfy’s latest trailer for their epic new series Defiance shows an alien assault in the making, and one thing's for sure—this project promises to be a true FX extravaganza.
Combining a television show and video game set in the same universe, Defiance follows humans and aliens on a post-invasion Earth. It's loaded with action and intrigue, not to mention a shared universe between mediums that could make for a pretty expansive experience.
The series premieres on April 15, but the game hits shelves a few weeks before that on April 2. Digital and physical editions of the game are available for pre-order now.
The latest trailer peels back a few more layers on Syfy’s biggest gamble of the 2013 season and we can’t wait to see how this battle actually plays out. The series stars Grant Bowler (True Blood), Julie Benz (Dexter), Jaime Murray (Warehouse 13), Tony Curran (Blade II), Stephanie Leonidas (Mirrormask) and Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves).
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
Director James Gunn has found the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy. After an exhaustive search, Chris Pratt has landed the role. The actor will play Star-Lord aka Peter Quill, the frontman of the intergalactic team. The actor's best known for his role on NBC's Parks and Recreation, as well as the films Moneyball and Zero Dark Thirty.
Oddly enough, Pratt beat out Zero Dark Thirty co-star Joel Edgerton for the part. His stiff competition also included Boardwalk Empire‘s Jack Huston, Cloud Atlas‘ Jim Sturgess, The Hobbit's Lee Pace, and Eddie Redmayne from Les Miserables. Even Zachary Levi (Chuck) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were eyed as candidates.
Over the past few years, Pratt's shown some serious range. He's able to go from comedy to drama at the drop of a hat. For his role as a Navy SEAL in Zero Dark Thirty, he got in amazing shape. We're sure he'll do the same for Star-Lord, the half-human half-alien hero. Guardians of the Galaxy hits theaters Aug. 1, 2014.
THE SHADOW KING
Following yesterday's announcement that they'll be producing Henry Selick's next stop motion feature film, The Shadow King, K5 International (via Bleeding Cool) has revealed through their website a first look at the project and the following list of voice talent:
Jaden Betts as Hap
Pamela Adlon as Richard
Brendan Gleeson as Darce
Jeffrey Tambor as Cuzzie Bell
Catherine O’Hara as Miss Fern The Shadow King is described as being a deliciously magical tale about nine-year-old New York orphan Hap who hides his fantastically weird hands with long fingers from a cruel world. But when a living shadow girl teaches him to make amazing hand shadows that come to life, his hands become incredible weapons in a shadow war against a ravenous monster bent on killing Hap’s brother Richard and ultimately destroying New York.
CEDAR COVE
Ranger Anne reports that Dylan Neal ("The Legend of the Rangers") will be appearing in a Hallmark Channel TV movie this June, "Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove," based on the author's best selling series of novels set in a lakeside town. Airdate is June 1st at 9pm ET.
The info about the telefilm, including photos, synopsis (spoilers included) & bios, can be found at:
http://www.crownmediapress.com/Shows/PRShowDetail?SiteID=142&FeedBoxID=845&NodeID=302&ShowType=&ShowTitle=Debbie%20Macomber's%20Cedar%20Cove.
It's a lead-in to the channel's first original primetime scripted series, which carries the same name. Dylan's character is Jack Griffth, new editior of the Cedar Cove Chronicle newspaper and possible love interest to Judge Olivia Lockhart, played by Andie McDowell.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2013
THUNDERBIRDS RETURN Thunderbirds are finally GO! as the classic 1965 children's sci-fi series is at last getting the reboot treatment we’ve been waiting for so long.
According to Deadline, the U.K.’s ITV studios will partner with New Zealand’s Pukeko Pictures and Weta Workshop to bring back to life the five Tracy brothers and their awesome vehicles to lead impossible rescues around the globe.
However, instead of puppets (or supermarionation), the new series will use a unique mix of CGI animation and live-action model sets while paying tribute to the late Gerry Anderson’s legacy of model locations.
A total of 26 half-hours have been ordered, to air on ITV and CITV in the U.K. in 2015.
ITV’s Denise O Donoghue said:
"Thunderbirds is a highly respected brand that continues to hold recognition around the world. This cult series is often credited as changing the history of animation and action-adventure, and we look forward to taking the show to another level while retaining the much-loved heritage that has endured over the past fifty years.” Thunderbirds may have only aired for two seasons in the 1960s, but it became an international hit, spanning a 2004 feature film (which flopped big-time) and inspiring South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s Team America: World Police (as well and a hilarious Stargate SG-1 parody for the show’s 200th episode).
THE WALKING DEAD
After a few months away, the zombies are back. Sunday, The Walking Dead returns with an all-new episode. The second half of season three picks up right where it left off. Daryl and Merle are pit against each other, Rick and Michonne are on the road, and Tyreese is trying to adapt to his surroundings.
AMC's released a new clip from the midseason premiere "The Suicide King." While at the prison, Hershel does his best to make sure Tyreese and his group are healthy and bite-free. Through awkward chit chat, imagine their surprise when they learn that Hershel was once a zombie chew toy (hence the missing leg).
Not only that, but the newcomers are amazed by Judith. They've been surrounded by so much death, birth has been out of sight and out of mind. They assume Beth is the baby's mother, but are quickly corrected.
QUEEN OF THE NIGHT
Bruce Greenwood has joined co-writer/director Atom Egoyan’s thriller Queen of the Night.
Greenwood, who also has appeared in Egoyan's Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter and Ararat, will play the role of a successful developer in their latest collaboration.
Ryan Reynolds and Mireille Enos in previously announced roles will play the parents of an abducted child. Queen of the Night is based on an original story by Egoyan, who penned the screenplay with David Fraser.
The feature from Ego Film Arts and The Film Farm is shooting in northern Ontario.
The ensemble cast includes Scott Speedman, Rosario Dawson and Kevin Durand.
Egoyan, Simone Urdl, Jennifer Weiss and Stephen Traynor share the producing credits, with Entertainment One distributing Queen of the Night.
STAN LEE'S MONSTERS VS. KITTENS
He might be 90 years old, is getting over a flu and has canceled several comics convention appearances, but comics legend Stan Lee still proved he could still draw a crowd Saturday for the book launch of Monsters vs. Kittens, the debut tome from his family-friendly imprint, Stan Lee’s Kids Universe.
The event, held at Giggles 'N Hugs in Century City, attracted a diverse group ranging from Make-A-Wish Foundation families to hipsters and Hollywood moms with their kids. Kittens is joint venture between Lee’s POW Entertainment and 1821 Comics, run by Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis and Terry Dougas -- an odd combination if there ever was one. But the pair have had success in publishing before, with the best-selling graphic novel Romeo & Juliet: The War.
With the new imprint, which will encompass books, e-books and apps, Lee said he and Dougas "were looking in book stores and on the Internet, and we noticed that there’s really nothing that great, we thought, for very young children -- children who are just starting to read. So we thought we could try to produce some reading matter for them and introduce them to the joy of reading."
Lee holds the title of creative director for the imprint and had a great deal of input on the book, which was written and illustrated by Dani Jones.
At the event, still nursing a cough, Lee read the very simple book to the crowd of attending kids, but every few sentences he displayed his trademark charm with one-liners that had their parents chuckling out loud.
It’s hard to say what drives Lee -- the co-creator of Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk, Iron Man, Daredevil, Avengers, and other iconic Marvel characters -- to keep pursuing ventures that deal with storytelling and imagination long after his peers put down their pens.
On one hand, he jokes that "greed” keeps him going, but then he follows that up with this: “Most people say, ‘I can’t wait to retire because then I can do the things I want to do.’ But I’m doing what I want to do, so why retire?”
He adds: “I never really thought I’d live to be 90."
THE SHADOW KING
Fans of Henry Selick and his films like Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas were dismayed last August when it was revealed that Walt Disney Pictures had elected not to move forward with his then-untitled next feature. Since then, the future of the project has been uncertain but today, K5 International has revealed that they've stepped in to produce alongside Josh Penn (Beasts of the Southern Wild). The film, titled The Shadow King, is officially described as follows: The Shadow King is a deliciously magical tale about nine-year-old New York orphan Hap who hides his fantastically weird hands with long fingers from a cruel world. But when a living shadow girl teaches him to make amazing hand shadows that come to life, his hands become incredible weapons in a shadow war against a ravenous monster bent on killing Hap’s brother Richard and ultimately destroying New York. The Shadow King is written and directed by Selick. His team includes Director of Photographer Peter Sorg (Frankenweenie, Coraline), Eric Leighton, Animation Director on Legend of the Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’hoole, Production Designer Lou Romano (The Incredibles), Editor Wyatt Jones (Immortals, Rango), and composer Bruno Coulais (Coraline).
“K5 is the perfect presenter for 'The Shadow King' – they appreciate the film's exciting blend of the fantastic and personal with its mix of humor, scares, and moments of sweetness. We can't wait to get back into production,” stated Henry Selick.
“We immediately realized that 'The Shadow King' is a fantastic and exciting prospect that needed to find the support. To offer our help to Henry’s brilliance as a storyteller is an absolute pleasure for us. And it also demonstrates K5’s commitment to bringing bigger and bolder projects to the market,” say K5’s Co-Founders Oliver Simon and Daniel Baur.
“Henry Selick is the best in the business. His films are all instant classics and they delight family audiences all over the world over and over again,” adds Partner Sales Carl Clifton.
A significant amount of production on the project has already been completed and K5 International will bring the project to the European Film Market at Berlin to conduct special presentations to selected buyers with exclusive clips from the film screened behind closed doors as part of the presentation.
SECRET GARDEN
Universal Pictures has acquired a pitch for a new film adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel "The Secret Garden".
The story follows an orphaned girl is sent to live with her reclusive uncle and discovers a hidden garden containing magical secrets. This version is tipped to take place in the American South at the turn of the 20th Century.
"Beasts of the Southern Wild" co-writer Lucy Alibar will pen the script and will work closely with producers Guillermo del Toro and Mark Johnson ("Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark"). del Toro's schedule prevents him from directing.
Alfonso Cuaron ("Children of Men") penned the last major film adaptation of the property twenty years ago.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013
STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS
A new trailer for the much anticipated "Star Trek Into Darkness," the sequel to 2009's reboot of the popular "Star Trek" franchise, debuted during the first half of the Super Bowl. The sneak peak shows a stare down and brief conversation about the end of the world between Chris Pine's Captain Kirk, and the film's villain, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Spliced in are shots of all kinds of destruction, including what looks to be a disabled Enterprise falling to Earth.
"Star Trek Into Darkness" will land in theaters on May 17. After that, director J.J. Abrams begins preparations on his next sci-fi epic, "Star Wars: Episode VII."
OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL
For fans of "The Wizard of Oz" and "Wicked," here comes another offering to add to the pantheon. "Oz the Great and Powerful" debuted a new trailer during Super Bowl XLVII and it promises a wild romp through a magical world.
This prequel to the 1939 classic stars James Franco as the titular wizard. Before he was the Wizard of Oz, he was Oscar, a magician and con man who goes on the run in a hot air balloon and winds up in Oz.
Once there, he convinces everyone he's a powerful wizard -- except three witches, Evanora (Rachel Weisz), Glinda (Michelle Williams) and Theodora (Mila Kunis). Zach Braff also stars; the director is Sam Raimi, of "Spider-Man" (2002) and "Evil Dead". "Oz the Great and Powerful" hits theaters on March 8.
THE LONE RANGER
Disney unveiled the trailer for "The Lone Ranger" during CBS' Super Bowl pre-gam show Sunday (Feb. 3). It's safe to say this is not your father's masked man.
Directed by Gore Verbinski (the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise) and starring Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp, "The Lone Ranger" is every bit a 21st-century action movie, from the big set pieces to the close-up effects shot of a revolver's chamber turning.
As for the plot? Well ... yeah. There's a bit of exposition about Hammer's Texas Ranger character being left for dead, being discovered by Tonto (Depp) and the two of them teaming up to "ride for justice." Hammer then returns to his home, presumably for unfinished business.
"The Lone Ranger" is scheduled to hit theaters on July 3.
IRON MAN 3
Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel Studios debuted a 30-second spot for Iron Man 3 during the Super Bowl on Sunday which pointed fans to the official Facebook page for an extended look.
Hitting 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on May 3, the Shane Black-directed sequel stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau, Ben Kingsley and Wang Xuequi. Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?
UNDER THE DOME
CBS premiered the first teaser for their upcoming "Under the Dome," based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. Go UndertheDome.com to see what your own house looks like trapped under the dome.
Niels Arden Oplev, the director of the original The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, will helm the first episode. Brian K. Vaughan ("LOST") adapted the book for the screen.
The story tells of a small town in Maine which is cut off from the rest of the world by an invisible dome. With air, food and patience dwindling, societal norms within this town begin to break down.
"Under the Dome" will debut on CBS June 24 at 10/9c.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2013
JMS TO DIRECT THE FLICKERING LIGHT
Acording to Variety, Babylon 5's J. Michael Straczynski will be working on a The Flickering Light, World War II drama about the plight of Gypsies in the Marzahn Concentration Camp. THE FLICKERING LIGHT, which Straczynski will direct, is based on his script about Leni Riefenstahl's filming of TIEFLAND, which used Gypsies as actors. Every day Riefenstahl would use the prisoners in her film, and at the end of the day the Gypsies would return to the terrors of Marzahn. "During the day, the prisoners were escorted to the studio by armed guard and corralled onto movie sets," said Straczynski. "They were cleaned up by the largely sympathetic Aryan crew, feasted on food unimaginable to prisoners, then dressed in period Spanish wardrobe as Riefenstahl required 'authenticity' on camera. Then after filming each day, returned, once more in rags, to the horror of the camp."
It sounds like a fascinating piece of history from World War II, and not the usual work we expect from Straczynski. Leni Riefenstahl is a hugely controversial director, and it's quite a difficult subject to cover. Riefenstahl was obviously a very gifted filmmaker, who worked for the most evil people imaginable. THE FLICKERING LIGHT sounds like a very personal project for Straczynski and we have yet to see what he can do behind the camera. Straczynski will be producing along with Grant Hill and Norman Golightly.
IRON MAN 3
Marvel's released a new photo from Iron Man 3 featuring Dr. Maya Hansen, played by British actress Rebecca Hall, and she appears to be slightly injured. Judging from the bloody scar on her head, Hansen just escaped a dangerous situation.
Hansen's a brilliant mind who plays a huge role in developing the Extremis technology. Marvel Chief Kevin Feige told Empire Magazine (via CBM), "Maya is a scientist who makes a pretty astounding discovery that leads her to places -- and some are healthier than others. It's not dissimilar to what Tony's been through, and it's a great parallel."
It's been said that Iron Man 3 will find Stark in a state of paranoia. He'll develop a dependence on his suit. In the comics, the Extremis technology allows the hero to become biologically integrated with his armor. It makes sense that they'd introduce this story as he battles his biggest opponent yet (the Mandarin). Iron Man 3 hits theaters May 3.
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
Mark Millar continues to stir the pot for X-Men: Days of Future Past. As Fox's Marvel consultant, he has firsthand knowledge of the sequel, and in a recent interview he teased some key elements from the story. He confirmed that Sentinels will make an appearance, and suggested the return of Kitty Pryde.
"I don’t really want to give too much away, but the Sentinels are a big feature of this story," Millar revealed. "They will be cool and this will deliver on all of the teasers. We’ve all been waiting for this ever since X-Men: The Last Stand showed us one of their heads. Now it is finally coming, and we only have to pay ten quid to see it in the cinema, whereas they’re having to pay $100 million to deliver it. So I’m delighted [laughs].”
As for Kitty, Millar didn't openly discuss the character, but he did drop a hint.
“Ach, I cannae get into that [laughs]. As soon as I say something it will turn into a big Internet story. Let me put it this way though: Kitty Pride fans will not be disappointed."
We can't imagine Days of Future Past without Kitty. She was a huge part of the comic arc. They need to make that work. X-Men: Days of Future Past opens in theaters July 18, 2014.
THOR: THE DARK WORLD
Starring in this weekend's Bullet to the Head, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje spoke today with The LA Times about appearing on the big screen later this year in another comic book-inspired feature, Thor: the Dark World. He'll be playing both Algrim and the character's demonic alter-ego, Kurse, in the November 8 release.
“It’s an amalgamation of a bull and a lava-like creature,” the actor told the outlet. “He has very animalistic tendencies but with this insatiable and unstoppable power. As an actor, that’s one of the hardest things to embody. You have to realize you are probably the most powerful thing you could imagine. And you have to be that. You can’t pretend, so that when you face Thor, it’s real.”
Algrim first appeared in Thor #347 and was one of the most powerful of the dark elves. He is given the task of killing Thor by Malekith the Accursed (set to be played by Christopher Eccleston). He is betrayed by Malekith who tries to kill Thor by allowing both the god of thunder and Algrim to fall to their deaths. While both survived, Algrim developed amnesia from the event and is transformed into the much more powerful being, Kurse. Thor: the Dark World reunites Chris Hemsworth's Thor with Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, and Natalie Portman as the love interest, Jane Foster. Alan Taylor ("Game of Thrones") is directing.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2013
CAPTAIN AMERICA 2
Chris Evans has found his new leading lady. According to Deadline, when he returns for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, he'll be sharing scenes with Emily VanCamp. The actress is currently causing a stir on television as the star of ABC's Revenge. She beat out tough competition including Anna Kendrick, Felicity Jones and Imogen Poots.
In the initial report, it doesn't clarify what character VanCamp will play. It just cites her as the "female lead." But we assume Sharon Carter, the niece of Peggy (Hayley Atwell), would fit the bill. Aside from her headlining gig on Revenge, VanCamp previously appeared as a regular on the defunct series Brothers & Sisters and Everwood. Captain America: The Winter Soldier co-stars Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Frank Grillo, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Scarlett Johansson and Toby Jones.
The film hits theaters April 4, 2014 and is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo.
CULT
One of the most intriguing shows coming up this season is The CW’s Cult, developed by Farscape creator Rockne S. O’Bannon. It’s been described as a mysterious meta-twist on Twin Peaks—and the opening of the pilot episode definitely fits the bill.
The series revolves around a cult series (dubbed Cult), with an investigative journalist looking into the show’s rabid fan base after a fan disappears. It’s definitely a unique premise, but O’Bannon knows how to write his share of quirky characters, and it should be cool to see what he’s cooked up. The only concern is that, with a premise like this, you have to wonder how long it can be sustained. But if it proves too quirky for an audience (even by The CW's standards), it won't survive long enough to matter.
The clip looks like a convoluted mishmash of bloody fingerprints, VHS tapes and static-filled screens. Mysterious, but weirdly cool.
VAMPIRE ACADEMY
First announced back in 2010, Richelle Mead's hit book series Vampire Academy is headed to the big screen. Today, Deadline announces that Mean Girls director Mark Waters has signed on to direct the first film in a planned franchise with a cast that now includes Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry and Danila Kozlovski. The title has been amended as well and the first film will now be known as Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters.
The Vampire Academy book series is a coming-of-age, action driven, "paranormal romance" fantasy. It is set in the present day against a hidden universe of vampires, half-humans, alchemy, and magic. The series centers on a strong, yet flawed, 17-year-old female who confronts her world with grit, determination, and lots of moxie. Rose Hathaway is a dhampir, half human/half vampire and guardian of the Moroi, a race of peaceful and magical mortal vampires who can walk in the daylight, survive by feeding off willing blood donors, grow old and die. Hidden deep in the forests of Montana is St. Vladimir's Academy, where Moroi and dhampirs learn to take their place in Moroi society. Rose must master her inherited abilities as a dhampir and earn the approval of the Royal Council, as guardian to Princess Lissa, her best friend and sole heir of one of the twelve Royal families of Moroi. Rose and Lissa share a mysterious psychic bond and sense of destiny, but first they must survive an intense social scene, politics and the physical challenges of Moroi life at the Academy. Outside the sanctuary of St. Vladimir's waits their greatest threat of all, the Strigoi, a race of bloodthirsty immortal vampires and predators of the Moroi.
Deutch, who stars in the upcoming Beautiful Creatures, will play Rose with newcomers Fry as Lissa and Kozlovski as Dmitri.
Susan Montford, Don Murphy, Deepak Nayer and Michael Preger will produce with Stuart Ford executive producing.
NOON Noon, a sci-fi short from writer/director Kasra Farahani, is headed to the big screen through Chernin Entertainment, says a story at The Hollywood Reporter. Farahani, best known in Hollywood for his work as an art director, will make his directing debut with the feature version. Noon is said to be a science fiction story about a soul-deadened "coyote" who reluctantly guides a band of rebels on journey to take control of water and energy on a future Earth where the Sun has stopped moving in the sky.
The full short is actually a scene from the feature screenplay. It introduces the protagonist, Gray, officially described as "a coyote numbed to the cruelty of the world and his part in it."
SUNDAY, JANUARY 13, 2013
NEW SPIRAL GALAXY
The spiral galaxy we live in, known as the Milky Way, is a massive place. From outer arm to outer arm, it's a whopping 100,000 light-years across. But using a variety of astronomical instruments, scientists have now confirmed there's a spiral galaxy more than five times bigger than the one we live in, and now we can see what it looks like.
The above image is a composite of spiral galaxy NGC 6872, put together using visible light images from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, far ultraviolet light data from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) and infrared light data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. It's a gorgeous image, and all that data combined has confirmed for astronomers what they've long suspected: NGC 6872 is the biggest spiral out there.
The galaxy has been listed among the biggest in the universe for decades, but scientists couldn't definitively call it the largest spiral galaxy because they couldn't see all of it. Now, thanks to GALEX, they can.
"Without GALEX's ability to detect the ultraviolet light of the youngest, hottest stars, we would never have recognized the full extent of this intriguing system," lead scientist Rafael Eufrasio, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and the Catholic University of America, said.
From arm to arm, NGC 6872 measures a whopping 522,000 light-years across. How'd it get so big? Eufrasio and his fellow researchers believe it has to do with gravitational interaction with a much smaller nearby galaxy, IC 4970.
"The northeastern arm of NGC 6872 is the most disturbed and is rippling with star formation, but at its far end, visible only in the ultraviolet, is an object that appears to be a tidal dwarf galaxy similar to those seen in other interacting systems," Duilia de Mello, a professor of astronomy at Catholic University, said.
So, after years of speculation, astronomers have crowned the king of the spiral galaxies.
OBLIVION
Just like he did with picking music duo Daft Punk to do the score for TRON: Legacy, director Joseph Kosinski has chosen another great band, M83, to do the music for his next film, Oblivion. M83 has been keeping their fans updated and they just posted this clip of a "Drum Battle" recording for an action scene in the Tom Cruise-starrer.
Opening in IMAX theaters first on April 12 before hitting conventional theaters on April 19, the Universal Pictures release co-stars Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Melissa Leo.
In the film, on a spectacular future Earth that has evolved beyond recognition, one man's confrontation with the past will lead him on a journey of redemption and discovery as he battles to save mankind. Jack Harper (Cruise) is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack's mission is nearly complete.
Living in and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above, his soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.
A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD
"Die Hard" series fans received some great news on Friday with word that A Good Day to Die Hard will be rated R. Now Twentieth Century Fox Film has released a new TV spot for the February 14 release which includes the R rating.
The John Moore-directed action film stars Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Yulia Snigir, Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Megalyn Echikunwoke and Anne Vyalitsyna.
Since the first Die Hard in 1988, John McClane has found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the skills and attitude to always be the last man standing, making him enemy #1 for terrorists the world over. Now, McClane faces his greatest challenge ever, this time on an international stage, when his estranged son Jack is caught up in the daring prison escape of a rogue Russian leader, and father and son McClane must work together to keep each other alive and keep the world safe for democracy.
PENNY DREADFUL
On Friday, news broke that Skyfall director Sam Mendes and screenwriter John Logan's new high-concept drama series "Penny Dreadful" would be going to Showtime, and the company has now confirmed the deal. Here's the press release:
Some of literature's most iconic figures will step into the light on SHOWTIME in PENNY DREADFUL, a psychosexual horror series created, written and executive produced by three-time Oscar(R) nominee John Logan (Hugo, The Aviator, Gladiator) and executive produced by Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) and Neal Street's Pippa Harris (Revolutionary Road, Call The Midwife), it was announced today by David Nevins, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks. PENNY DREADFUL will begin production in London in the second half of 2013.
In PENNY DREADFUL, some of literature's most famously terrifying characters - including Dr. Frankenstein and his creature, Dorian Gray and iconic figures from the novel Dracula - become embroiled in Victorian London. The series weaves together these classic horror origin stories as the characters grapple with their monstrous alienation. This project marks Logan and Mendes' second major collaboration, following Skyfall, their recent critically-acclaimed and box office record-breaking James Bond film, which Mendes directed and Logan co-wrote; and their first ever collaboration for television. The project will be produced by Mendes' production company Neal Street Productions.
"John Logan and Sam Mendes are two of the great storytellers of our time," said Nevins. "The visual spectacle combined with the psychological insight in their reimagining of these iconic literary characters seems totally mesmerizing to me. This promises to be a wholly original television show."
SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013
VAMPIRE DIARIES SPIN-OFF
The CW's going into vampire overload. The network's confirmed that they're planning a spinoff of their hit, The Vampire Diaries. The good news is, the holy trinity of Stefan, Elena and Damon will stay intact. But their biggest adversary is moving on.
According to EW, The CW will "launch a backdoor pilot for a spinoff within the show's current fourth season." The episode will be written by TVD executive producer Julie Plec. If the show's picked up for a series order, it will center on Klaus (Joseph Morgan) and his family of Originals.
Here's the pilot description:
In the episode, Klaus "returns to the supernatural melting pot that is the French Quarter of New Orleans — a town he helped build centuries ago — and is reunited with his diabolical former protégé Marcel.
Phoebe Tonkin, who currently plays werewolf Hayley on TVD, will also appear on the new series. The episode's scheduled to premiere April 25, under the show's working title The Originals.
Even though Plec's on board as The Originals showrunner, Kevin Williamson won't be involved.
GAME OF THRONES
We still don't have any actual footage from the third season of Game of Thrones, but a stark (get it?) new teaser definitely sets the mood for a return to Westeros.
Set to the tune of Lord Tywin's "The Rains of Castamere," the teaser shows the creepy three-eyed black raven flying around several major cities. From New York, to Paris, to Florence, it looks like winter is coming soon.
The only teaser text? "Their world returns to ours." The crew behind Thrones has made the surreal, epic teaser a true art form. The latest is a great addition to the canon. Yeah, we can't wait.
The new season premieres March 31 on HBO.
JURASSIC PARK 4
Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall are returning to produce the long-awaited next installment in the franchise, although no director or cast is yet attached. Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) are writing the script.
Spielberg -- who only days ago revealed that Robopocalypse won't be his next directing project -- directed the first two films in the Jurassic Park franchise.
A fourth installment has been in works for years. Jurassic Park III, directed by Joe Johnston, opened in theaters in July 2001.
Marshall said in a July interview that Jurassic Park 4 would still rely on animatronic dinosaurs despite the advancements in technology over the past decade.
So far, the movie has June 13, 2014 to itself.
FRANKENSTEIN COMING TO SHOWTIME Skyfall helmer Sam Mendes and co-writer John Logan are in talks with Showtime to develop a high-concept drama series, reports Deadline. But this isn't any ordinary "drama" as the site says:
"The untitled drama, which has undergone some tweaking from the original spec to tailor it to the Showtime audiences, is described as a psychological horror drama series with literary underpinnings, including Dr. Frankenstein and his creature, set in the 1800s."
This is just the latest Frankenstein-themed project to get some heat. There are a number of films in the works - including Fox's Frankenstein and Lionsgate's I, Frankenstein as well as a television series at NBC.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
Although reports from back in 2011 seemed to suggest that Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides co-writer Terry Rossio had developed a screenplay for a fifth installment in the hugely successful franchise, Variety reports today that Catch Me If You Can scribe Jeff Nathanson has been brought aboard the same project. It's unclear whether or not Nathanson will be working from Rossio's draft or if he'll be tackling the project as a page one rewrite.
Launched in 2003 with The Curse of the Black Pearl, the Walt Disney Pictures franchise has, in every film so far, featured Johnny Depp in the role of Captain Jack Sparrow. The most recent adventure, On Stranger Tides, also starred Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane and Sam Claflin and turned out more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 2013
With his Dark Knight trilogy out of the way, Christopher Nolan looks to be heading into hard sci-fi for his next big-screen adventure. Enter Interstellar.
Incorporating time travel and alternate dimensions, the script reportedly follows a team of explorers sent through a wormhole. Nolan is reportedly in talks to direct the high-concept sci-fi flick, which was written by Chris' brother Jonathan, who also collaborated on the Dark Knight films and The Prestige.
If Nolan does sign on, he'll replace a name even bigger than his own. Steven Spielberg was originally circling the film, and could stay on in some capacity, especially considering that Robopocalypse debacle just cleared up his schedule.
Nolan has always skirted around the edges of sci-fi (with the mind-bending Inception probably falling closest into the genre), so it's nice to see him finally taking the plunge.
We're definitely curious to see what he could do with a big budget and a wild premise.
STAR WARS
It's been some time since there was last an update on the proposed live-action "Star Wars" television series. Today, EW reports that, with the property now owned by Walt Disney, ABC has a tentative interest in bringing a galaxy far, far away to the small screen.
“We’d love to do something with Lucasfilm," ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee told the outlet. "We’re not sure what yet... We haven’t even sat down with them. We’re going to look at [the live-action series], we’re going to look at all of them, and see what’s right. We weren’t able to discuss this with them until [the acquisition] closed and it just closed. It’s definitely going to be part of the conversation.”
ABC is already hard at work bringing a major film franchise to television in the form of "Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D." Lee says that, while "Star Wars" plans are currently nascent, he could imagine the series going a similar route.
“It’s going to be very much up to the Lucasfilm brands how they want to play it,” he adds. “We got to a point here with Marvel, a very special point, where we’re in the Marvel universe, and very relevantly so, but we’re not doing 'The Avengers'. But S.H.I.E.L.D. is part of 'The Avengers'. So maybe something oblique is the way to [approach the Star Wars universe] rather than going straight head-on at it.”
Earlier plans for the "Star Wars" were postponed due to budgetary concerns. It remains to be seen as to how that same issue might affect new plans, but check back for updates as they become available.
SPECTRAL
First announced back in 2011, Legendary Pictures' supernatural thriller Spectral appears to have found a pair of directors in Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg. Deadline reports that the Kon-Tiki pair are eyeing the project following their recent film's Academy Award nomination this morning.
The script, written by Ian Fried, follows a special ops force that has trained in hunting the supernatural. They come up against ghosts that have taken over Manhattan.
Production on Spectral is expected to begin later this year with Kon-Tiki itself set for a domestic theatrical run in March.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013
GAME OF THRONES
Boy, George R.R. Martin knows how to build anticipation. The acclaimed fantasy author is knee-deep into his hit series A Song of Ice and Fire but is taking his sweet time finishing up the latest book, The Winds of Winter. Luckily, to at least whet our appetite, he's finally released a tantalizing new sample chapter.
Martin's series was already acclaimed in fantasy circles, but skyrocketed to a new level of attention once HBO adapted it into the smash hit TV series Game of Thrones. But Martin hasn't let all the attention put his feet to the fire. He's always worked at his own pace, and doesn't plan on changing anytime soon.
No solid release date has been revealed for Winds of Winter, the sixth book in the proposed seven-volume saga, but many expect it to hit shelves late this year or at some point in 2014.
For now, let's just enjoy the shiny new chapter dubbed "Arianne," which focuses on the character of the same name. In typical Martin fashion, the sample chapter is pretty lengthy, meaning we at least get a good feel for what he's planning for the next installment.
Use this link to read Arianne.
DOCTOR WHO 50TH ANNIVERSARY
While rumors persist about the possibility of an 11 Doctors 50th-anniversary special for Doctor Who, we have confirmed that there is one story going out that will star all five living actors who have played the Doctor and more. But it's not quite what we thought.
Big Finish, the company that kept Doctor Who alive during the times it was off the air by continuing the Doctor's stories through audio dramas, has announced it will be releasing a special adventure for the 50th anniversary. Titled The Light at the End, this radio play will include Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann. That's every living actor who played the titular role during the classic series.
But that's not all! A slew of classic companions will be returning as well, including India Fisher, Louise Jameson, Nicola Bryant, Sarah Sutton and Sophie Aldred.
And that's still not all! At the bottom of the press release is the phrase "With special guest stars ...", which we think means they'll be using audio clips from the deceased actors. Writer Nicholas Briggs even says, "That's not to say the first three Doctors don't appear—we wanted to pay homage to the whole history of the classic series." There look to be even more companions popping by, too, as Briggs adds, "There will be a number of appearances from some much-cherished old friends from the TV series."
The whole thing is going to run about two hours and will be due out sometime this year. And while we'd love to see the classic actors appear in the 50th Who TV special, we're absolutely thrilled that they'll all be getting together for a thrilling audio adventure.
HEMLOCK GROVE
Though most edgy new series are relegated to cable these days, horror auteur Eli Roth's new project Hemlock Grove is skipping the TV system entirely and heading straight to Netflix. Want to see the first creepy, sexy trailer?
Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel) has a cult following for his unique style of scary, and Hemlock Grove looks like a worthy addition to his canon. Based on Brian McGreevy's novel of the same name, the 13-episode series stars Famke Janssen (X-Men), Bill Skarsgard (Simon & The Oaks), Landon Liboiron (Terra Nova) and a few others.
Here's the official synopsis:
The series revolves around the eccentric residents of a dilapidated former Pennsylvania steel town and the murder of 17-year-old Brooke Bluebell. Through the investigation, the town's seamier side is exposed, revealing that nothing is what it seems.
Not content merely to air other networks' TV shows anymore, Netflix is making a push this year to become an outlet for exclusive quality programming in its own right, and Hemlock Grove is among the first wave of that effort. The company is also developing a new season of cult fave sitcom Arrested Development, as well as a political drama dubbed House of Cards.
The entire 13-episode run of Hemlock Grove is scheduled to go live to stream on April 19.
INTERSTELLAR
In development for some time, the sci-fi tale Interstellar looks to have a found a new director in Christopher Nolan. The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Nolan is interested in developing the project, taking over the reins from the previously-attached Steven Spielberg.
Production on Interstellar would be a joint effort between Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. and would see Nolan again tackling a screenplay from his brother, Jonathan Nolan (The Prestige, The Dark Knight Rises).
The plot is said to have been informed by a scientific theory by Kip S. Thorne, a Caltech physicist and expert on relativity. His theory suggests that wormholes exist and can be used for time travel.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2013
SIN CITY 2
"Gangster Squad" star Josh Brolin has just lined up his next project. THR reports that Brolin will be filling the role of Dwight, a part Clive Owen originally played in the first film.
Brolin joins original Sin City cast members Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Jaime King, and Rosario Dawson, as well as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who was announced as joining the cast yesterday. Other cast replacements include Jaime Chung taking over for Devon Aoki and Dennis Haysbert replacing the late Michael Clarke Duncan.
In a statement, directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller say, "Dwight is a constant character throughout the 'Sin City' world, and 'A Dame to Kill For' is a defining episode in his life. We're looking forward to Josh's take on Dwight."
"Sin City: A Dame To Kill For" is currently in production at Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Tex. and is scheduled to be released October 4.
DEFIANCE
If you were worried Syfy's new post-alien invasion series Defiance wouldn't feature enough wild sci-fi action, the latest trailer is chock full. Want to see a full-scale alien battle set in former St. Louis?
The new trailer finally starts to break down the premise, which is a disparate pile of survivors trying to make it in a tough world where humans don't seem to be alone at the top of the pecking order anymore.
Developed by Rockne S. O'Bannon (Farscape), the new series stars Grant Bowler (True Blood), Julie Benz (Angel), Jaime Murray (Warehouse 13) and a slew of ensemble players. We can't wait to get to know them all in the 12-episode debut season.
In addition to the series, the storyline will also play out in a video game set to be released in April. The two will share the same world, and events in one will have consequences in the other.
Here's the synopsis:
Set in the near future, Defiance introduces an exotically transformed planet Earth, its landscapes permanently altered following the sudden - and tumultuous - arrival of seven unique alien races. In this somewhat unknown and unpredictable landscape, the richly diverse, newly-formed civilization of humans and aliens must learn to co-exist peacefully. Each week, viewers will follow an immersive character drama set in the boom-town of Defiance, which sits atop the ruins of St. Louis, MO, while in the game, players will adventure in the new frontier of the San Francisco Bay area. The dramatic tapestry of the series and the intense action of the game will exist in a single universe where their respective narratives will inform one another and evolve together into one overall story.
The new series premieres April 15, at 9 p.m.
WAYWARD PINES
After a string of box-office and critical disasters in theaters, M. Night Shyamalan is turning to television to see if his fortunes pick up there.
According to Deadline, Shyamalan is the executive producer on a new "event series" for FX (home of American Horror Story) called Wayward Pines. Based on a best-selling novel called Pines, by Blake Crouch, the series is described as "an intense, mind-bending thriller evocative of the classic cult hit Twin Peaks."
The story follows a Secret Service agent named Ethan Burke who travels to the town of Wayward Pines, Idaho, in search of two missing federal agents. If you think he finds them, guess again: There's a lot more going on in Wayward Pines than Burke has bargained for, and it's very possible that he may end up sharing the same fate as the men he came to look for.
The pilot script was written by Chad Hodge and the show is envisioned as a "limited series," topping out at 10 to 12 episodes. If all goes well, FX is hoping to get it on the air in 2014.
Meanwhile, Shyamalan's next big-screen foray, After Earth, arrives in June, and we're sure he's hoping that the post-apocalyptic epic, which stars the father and son team of Will and Jaden Smith, will put the director back on top after misfires like Lady in the Water, The Happening and The Last Airbender.
BONES RENEWED
Fox has renewed the hit series "Bones" for its upcoming ninth season, it was announced today by Kevin Reilly, Chairman of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company.
"After more than 150 episodes, 'Bones' continues to be one of television's most dynamic and consistent dramas," said Reilly. "We at Fox, along with millions of zealous fans, look forward to seeing where the incredible creative team takes the series next season."
"Bones" returns with all-new episodes, beginning with a special two-hour Winter Premiere Monday, Jan. 14 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on Fox. In the episode, "The Diamond in the Rough/The Archeologist in the Cocoon," the Jeffersonian team investigates the death of a professional ballroom dancer who was murdered three days before her audition on a popular dancing competition show. In order to solve the case, Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and Booth (David Boreanaz) go undercover as dance competitors to see if they can find potential suspects. Then, the team investigates the murder of a well-known archeologist with a questionable reputation, who came upon a career-defining discovery right before his death.
"Bones" is a darkly amusing procedural centered on a highly skilled forensic anthropologist and an FBI agent. These unlikely partners take on homicide cases involving human remains that most forensic specialists can't handle. The series stars Emily Deschanel, David Boreanaz, TJ Thyne, Michaela Conlin, Tamara Taylor and John Francis Daley.
"Bones" is from Far Field Productions and Josephson Entertainment in association with 20th Century Fox Television. The series was created by Hart Hanson. Hanson, Stephen Nathan, Ian Toynton, Barry Josephson and Jonathan Collier are executive producers.
TRANSFORMERS 4
A rumored contender from late last year's short list, Jack Raynor has officially been chosen to play a leading role in Michael Bay's upcoming Transformers 4. Bay himself issued the following statement on his official site:
I just hired a great new actor for Transformers 4 to star against Mark Wahlberg. Jack Reynor, he is an Irish kid that came to America with 30 bucks in his pocket. Pretty ballsy. Seriously who does that? Anyway I spotted him in a great little Irish movie WHAT RICHARD DID. This kid is the real deal. Transformers 4, is not a reboot. That word has been floating around on the net.
This movie takes place exactly 4 years after the war in Chicago. The story makes a very natural transition, and reason as to why we have a whole new cast. This Transformers will feel very different then the last three. We are embarking on a new trilogy.
Set for release on June 27, 2014, Transformers 4 will begin production this spring. The film will be produced by Don Murphy & Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Ian Bryce, and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, Bay, Brian Goldner and Mark Vahradian.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2013
NASA'S DAWN MISSION
From planning epic Mars missions, to floating ideas for a space base, NASA is pretty busy these days. Luckily, they have Leonard Nimoy to explain the next big plan—a study of the asteroid belt that could hold the secrets to the genesis of the solar system.
The space agency is right in the middle of the Dawn mission, which sent a spacecraft to the asteroid belt to collect data that could shine a light on how the planets formed in the early days of the solar system.
The craft launched in 2007, but it took four years to finally arrive at the large Vesta asteroid, which it studied for over a year between 2011-2012. Next up? The spacecraft— NASA's fastest at 78,000 miles per hour—is headed to the dwarf planet Ceres (which accounts for approximately one-third of the asteroid belt) for more research.
The original Spock himself was kind enough to lend his voice to a new video explaining the project, which gives it that great Star Trek vibe. Plus, it's an excellent example of the cool work taking place in space exploration everyday.
DA VINCI'S DEMONS
After Spartacus became a hit, Starz decided to try their hand at another fantasy-tinged period piece with Da Vinci's Demons—and the new trailer looks like it could be a sexy, steampunk thrill ride.
Developed by David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight trilogy, Flashforward), the series will follow young inventor and artist Leonardo Da Vinci as he gets into all kinds of trouble in the 1400s.
Though it may look like a period action drama on the outside, Goyer told The Hollywood Reporter his vision of Da Vinci also owes a debt to modern-day comic book movies like Batman Begins:
"We've embellished it with what I'm calling historical fantasy; he had an incredible life and we didn't have to embellish as much as you'd think. I didn't want to do Ye Olde Historical Drama; I wanted to do something historical, viewed through a modern prism... Da Vinci is kind of superhero-y, there are so many legends and tall tales about him. People have said aside from Christ he's the most recognizable figure in the world. My approach wasn't unsimilar to adapting Batman and Superman -- obviously we did a lot more research."
From the uneven Flashforward, to under appreciated Threshold and Freakylinks, Goyer has a long history with TV. After helping hatch Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, it looks like he wants to bring some of that cinematic flair to the small screen this time around.
GODZILLA
We've still got more than a year before the second American attempt to reboot Godzilla rampages into theaters, but it's not too early for the flick to be in trouble. Just months before production is set to begin, Legendary Pictures is ousting the flick's original producers and bringing in Frank Darabont to fix the script.
Though we don't know exactly what he's been called in to fix, or how in-depth his rewrites will be, Deadline is reporting that Darabont (best known to genre fans these days as the guy who brought The Walking Dead to TV) will take on a "final rewrite" of the script originally penned by The Seventh Son writer Max Borenstein.
Meanwhile, Dan Lin and Roy Lee, the Warner Bros. producers who first came to Legendary with the Godzilla rights, are being ousted from the flick. See, Legendary has the rights, and for some reason they're not pleased with Lin and Lee's work on the film so far. So they're exercising pay-or-play deals to buy off the producers. They'll get paid for working on the film, but they won't be credited in the final production, and they won't have any access to any back-end cash the movie generates (which is where the real money is made). Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni and Brian Rogers (who was in on the original deal with Japanese rightsholder Toho) are Legendary's choices to produce the flick now.
Why did this happen? Well, Deadline mentions the possibility that Legendary was mad at Lin for comments he dropped about the flick in interviews, while other reports suggest the split was amicable. But either way, things could still get uglier. Lin and Lee are important producers at Warner Bros. (Lin's been there for 15 years), and Warner Bros. is both co-financing and distributing Godzilla. Will the studio strike back at Legendary for taking Lin and Lee off the project? Will the movie be delayed? We don't know yet, but trouble of this sort never bodes well for an already-expensive flick that hasn't even started shooting yet.
DEFIANCE
One of Syfy's biggest shows coming out this year is Defiance, an epic tale set on alien-occupied Earth. Now we finally know when we'll get to see it.
The series, developed by Farscape mastermind Rockne S. O'Bannon, Kevin Murphy (Caprica) and Michael Taylor (Battlestar Galactica), will premiere with a two-hour pilot on Monday, April 15, at 9 p.m. The first season will consist of 12 episodes (making a total of 13 hours, including the two-hour premiere).
In addition to the series, the franchise will also tie in to a MMORPG video game set in the same universe. The Defiance game is expected to hit shelves around the same time that the show premieres.
The series stars Grant Bowler (True Blood), Julie Benz (Angel), Jaime Murray (Warehouse 13), Stephanie Leonidas, Tony Curran, Graham Greene and Mia Kirshner.
For a refresher on the concept, here's the synopsis:
Set in the near future, Defiance introduces an exotically transformed planet Earth, its landscapes permanently altered following the sudden - and tumultuous - arrival of seven unique alien races. In this somewhat unknown and unpredictable landscape, the richly diverse, newly-formed civilization of humans and aliens must learn to co-exist peacefully. Each week, viewers will follow an immersive character drama set in the boom-town of Defiance, which sits atop the ruins of St. Louis, MO, while in the game, players will adventure in the new frontier of the San Francisco Bay area. The dramatic tapestry of the series and the intense action of the game will exist in a single universe where their respective narratives will inform one another and evolve together into one overall story.
PACIFIC RIM
An alternate version of the trailer for Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim is now online, courtesy of Qualcomm. The video debuted as part of the company's presentation at CES in Las Vegas with del Toro himself in attendance.
Opening in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters on July 12, the film stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Ron Perlman, Robert Kazinsky, Max Martini, Clifton Collins, Jr., Burn Gorman, Larry Joe Campbell, Brad William Henke and Diego Klattenhoff.
When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity's resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed up former pilot and an untested trainee who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind's last hope against the mounting apocalypse.
MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2013
GRIMM
It is so on when Grimm returns March 8.
Nick (David Giuntoli) finally learns the truth about Renard (Sasha Roiz) -- not only that he's a royal but has stolen the heart of his girlfriend, Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch).
"This had to come to a head -- we didn't want to play it out forever," executive producer David Greenwalt told reporters today (Jan. 6) at the TCA press tour. "It is [Nick's] girl Renard is messing around with -- albeit under a spell."
"I was very excited to finally have a confrontation," Roiz said. "It's going to be a powder keg. It's a lot of fun to work with David on a whole other level now that he's in the know."
"It finally all comes to a big angry kerfuffle, to resurrect a word," adds Giuntoli. "It comes to blows. He has a bit of a height advantage on me, but I had a rage advantage."
"There's a tremendous amount of stuff going on, in addition to the kerfuffle between these handsome men," reveals Tulloch. "There was also a sort of bedroom scene that was so intense that it required a stunt coordinator and hours of rehearsal, which 'Grimm' has not yet done. Which is really, really fun and crazy."
"[Juliet is] really starting to lose her mind," laughs Tulloch about her character's confused amnesia. "It's really trippy and kind of fabulous."
Fortunately, Rosalee Bree Turnerwill be coming to her rescue.
"I do go back to Portland just in time in regards to Juliette's condition," observes Turner about Bree's return after caring for her ailing aunt.
That's also good news for Rosalee and Monroe's Silas Weir Mitchell budding romance.
"Monroe and Rosalee are snuggling into the spice shop," says Mitchell, but emphasizes that the focus is "really about the love triangle. Monroe helps where he can and tries not to break things." "Grimm" returns Friday, March 8 at 9 p.m. on NBC.
WHEN WILL YOUR FAVORITE SCIENCE FICTION SHOWS RETURN?
With the holidays and breaks of one sort or another, everyone must be asking when their favorite shows will return. Syfy has pulled together a great list giving us some answers. Doctor Who had a huge night with its annual Christmas special, while Tron: Uprising returned to a big boost.
MONDAY
Revolution (NBC) — OFF
Revolution is on a long midseason break. We won't see it again until March.
Tron: Uprising (DISNEY XD)
.26 million viewers/0.0 (Dec. 17) and .43 million viewers/0.1 (Dec. 24) Tron: Uprising basically broke even the week before Christmas, but got a big boost for Christmas Eve, rising to its highest viewership since last June. As we head into the final stretch of the show's first season, we'll see if the trend continues.
Shows on Hiatus
Alphas (Syfy) — Returns Unknown
Being Human (Syfy) — Returns Jan. 14, 2013
Teen Wolf (MTV) — Returns 2013
Warehouse 13 (Syfy) — Returns April 2013
WEDNESDAY
Arrow (CW) — OFF
Arrow returns January 16th.
American Horror Story: Asylum (FX) — OFF
American Horror Story was off over the holidays. We'll talk about its return next week.
Dragons: Riders of Berk (TOON) — OFF
Dragons returns January 23rd.
The Neighbors (ABC) — OFF
The Neighbors is back January 9th.
Supernatural (CW) — OFF
Supernatural is back January 16th.
Shows on Hiatus
Futurama (Comedy) — Returns 2013
THURSDAY
The Big Bang Theory (CBS) — OFF
The Big Bang Theory returns to our list next week.
Person of Interest (CBS) — OFF
Person of Interest is also back on our list next week.
Elementary (CBS) — OFF
We'll also discuss Elementary again next week.
Last Resort (ABC) — OFF
Last Resort returns January 10th.
The Vampire Diaries (CW) — OFF
The Vampire Diaries returns January 17th.
Beauty and the Beast (CW) — OFF
Beauty and the Beast is back January 24th.
Shows on Hiatus
Saving Hope (NBC) — Returns Unknown
Touch (Fox) — Returns Feb. 1, 2013
Wilfred (FX) — Returns 2013
FRIDAY
Haven (Syfy) — OFF
Haven is back for a two-part finale January 17th.
Fringe (FOX)
3.02 million viewers/1.0/3 share
Fringe dipped a bit the week before Christmas, but the numbers are still steady. New episodes return January 11th.
Grimm (NBC) — OFF
Grimm is off until March.
Shows on Hiatus
Lost Girl (Syfy) — Returns January 6, 2013
Merlin (Syfy) — Returns January 4, 2013
Spartacus (Starz) — Returns January 25, 2013
SATURDAY
Doctor Who (BBC)
1.43 million viewers/0.6 Doctor Who returned to us briefly for its annual Christmas special, and BBC America reaped the benefits. "The Snowmen" was the second most-watched telecast ever on the network (the top spot is still held by Who's season seven premiere), and its highest-rated ever among adults 25 to 54. Will this continue when season seven returns?
Clone Wars (TOON) — OFF
Clone Wars is back Saturday.
Shows on Hiatus
Bedlam (BBC) — Returns Unknown
SUNDAY
Once Upon a Time (ABC) — OFF
Once Upon a Time is back Sunday.
666 Park Avenue (ABC) — OFF
666 Park Avenue is also back Sunday.
The Walking Dead (AMC) — OFF
The Walking Dead is back in February.
Shows on Hiatus
Falling Skies (TNT) — Returns 2013
Game of Thrones (HBO) — Returns March 31, 2013
True Blood (HBO) — Returns 2013
THE FOLLOWING
Fox has aired this new 3-minute promo for "The Following," starring Kevin Bacon and premiering on Monday, January 21 at 9/8c. "The Following" is the upcoming psychological thriller from creator/executive producer Kevin Williamson (“The Vampire Diaries,” “Dawson’s Creek,” the "Scream" franchise).
The FBI estimates there are currently up to 300 active serial killers in the United States. What would happen if these killers had a way of communicating and connecting with each other? What if they were able to work together and form alliances as they left a trail of blood across the country? What if one brilliant and charismatic, yet psychotic serial killer was able to bring them all together and activate a cult of believers following his every command?
THE BLUE UMBRELLA
The Wall Street Journal has debuted this first clip from Pixar's new short film, The Blue Umbrella.
The short will hit theaters with Monsters University on June 21.
Amidst the rain in a singing city, two umbrellas - one blue, one not - fall eternally in love.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 6, 2013
ORPHAN BLACK
Who are you if you're a clone? What about if you assume the clone's identity? Those are the questions at the heart of "Orphan Black," the upcoming BBC America show about a young woman named Sarah who finds out that there are more of her than meets the eye.
She's a clone. It's problematic.
The stars -- Tatiana Maslany (Sarah), Jordan Gavaris (Felix) and Dylan Bruce (Paul) -- and co-creator Graeme Manson did their best to explain the twisted and creepy new show. What did they share?
The story begins...
...With Sarah, a street-smart and independent orphan who sees a woman commit suicide by stepping in front of a train. The thing is, the dead woman looked exactly like Sarah. A purse-snatching and some identity theft later, Sarah has assumed the life of her doppelganger, Beth. But Beth's life turns out to have more than its share of problems.
And then there are more women who look like Sarah.
Clones!
The cast and producer wouldn't share exactly how many clones there would be -- or which of the women is the original -- but there may be a lot. "It's like 'The Parent Trap' on steroids," Bruce explained on the clone aspects of the show.
The results of all this
Although "Orphan Black" was originally conceived of as a feature, the writers decided there was too much story for just a couple of hours. The result is supposed to be a creepy (and at least occasionally sexy) descent into sci-fi territory.
The central theme of it all, according to Tatiana Maslany, is as follows: "It's all about the clone identity. What makes me me?"
You can find out the answer to that question when "Orphan Black" premieres on BBC America on Saturday, March 30 at 9pm.
RIPPER STREET
Jack the Ripper was the most notorious killer of the Victorian era, but he wasn't the only one. Haunted by their failure to apprehend him, the police on "Ripper Street," the new period procedural premiering January 19 on BBC America, have to move on.
"The whole idea for us setting out on this journey was to really discard Jack the Ripper at least in terms of wondering who he was or trying to catch him," creator Richard Warlow said at the TCA winter press tour Saturday (Jan. 5).
"What we wanted to do really was tell stories about the streets down which he walked and committed his crimes in the wake of those terrible murders and how it affected the community -- most importantly the police who tried and failed to catch him."
Detective Inspector Edmund Reid (Matthew MacFayden) and Detective Sergeant Bennet Drake (Jerome Flynn, who plays Bronn on "Game of Thrones") are working during a "time of great change" and experimentation in police work, notes executive producer Will Gould. "So many things, like fingerprinting, were just around the corner, [but] our characters" -- especially roguish American captain Homer Jackson (Adam Rothenberg) -- "felt they were in a modern age."
"Reid is convinced that if tomorrow's technology had been here today, they would've got the Ripper. They just didn't have the resources they needed to get that guy."
Thanks in part to the detectives' controversial and "cutting edge" (for that time) forensics, each episode of "Ripper Street" will feature a "standalone crime that is solved," promises Warlow. But will the "Ripper Street" detectives ever identify Jack?
"I think the answer's no," says Warlow. "The whole point of show is what it was like for police at the time --- the confusion and loss and trying to move on. The whole credo of Reid's character is that we are moving on, there are other things to concentrate on and we always have to be true to that."
"[The Ripper] will always be part of our characters' lives," notes Gould. "Obviously we'll never come up with this is the guy, because no one ever did."
"Unless we do work it out," laughs Warlow.
"If we work it out," cracks Gould, referencing the holiday-themed episodes of shows like "Downton Abbey" and "Doctor Who," "then it will be a Christmas special." "Ripper Street" debuts Saturday, Jan. 19 at 9 p.m. on BBC America.
THOR: THE DARK WORLD
Next appearing on the big screen opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in January 18th's The Last Stand, Jaimie Alexander is also set to reprise her role as Sif in this fall's Thor: The Dark World. Today, Alexander spoke with IAmRogue about the Marvel Studios project in this video interview..
"We sort of explore the Sif/Thor relationship a little bit," she tells the outlet. "…It's more getting a feel of who these people are and how they are the way they are with each other."
Alexander goes on to discuss director Alan Taylor, the recasting of Fandral and the overall darker tone of Thor's third big screen appearance.
The sequel takes place in the aftermath of Thor and Marvel's The Avengers, following Thor as he fights to restore order across the cosmos when an ancient race, led by the vengeful Malekith, returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all. Thor: The Dark World hits theaters on November 8, 2013.
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, PART 2
Although physical DVDs and Blu-rays won't be hitting store shelves until January 29, Amazon already has Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 available for digital download.
With Gotham City back under his watchful eye, and accompanied by able sidekick Robin, Batman continues to battle crime – but his resurgence awakens a far worse evil at Arkham Asylum: The Joker. In the meantime, Superman has been dispatched by the President to halt Batman’s unsanctioned reign by whatever means necessary. Between the Joker’s diabolical scheme to drag Batman to the darkest levels of insanity, and the Man of Steel’s seemingly invincible physical presence, the Dark Knight must confront adversaries and allies simultaneously while maintaining the peace in Gotham City.
Primetime television stars Michael Emerson ("Person of Interest", "Lost") and Mark Valley ("Human Target," "Fringe") join the voice cast as The Joker and Superman, respectively; and popular talk show host Conan O’Brien gives voice to animated talk show host Dave Endochrine. Fanboy favorite Peter Weller (RoboCop, "Dexter") continues as Bruce Wayne/Batman, and he is once again accompanied by David Selby (The Social Network, Dark Shadows) as Commissioner Gordon, Ariel Winter ("Modern Family") as Carrie/Robin, and Michael McKean (This is Spinal Tap) as Dr. Bartholomew Wolper. Also featured in the voice cast is Maria Canals-Barrrera ("Wizards of Waverly Place") as new Commissioner Yindel, Paget Brewster ("Criminal Minds") as Lana Lang, and Radio Hall of Fame member Michael Jackson as Alfred.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013
MAN OF STEEL
Here's an intense shot of Krypton's favorite son surveying some unseen destruction from Zack Snyder's summer Superman reboot. Wonder what's being absorbed by those blue alien eyes? Take a look.
When the latest Man of Steel trailer launched last month, heat on this long-gestating project began to really ignite. With Snyder at the helm, the film has the operatic flair and gritty realism seen in the director's Watchmen adaptation and the Christopher Nolan Batman Trilogy. While Nolan serves as executive producer on the film and no doubt applied a fine layer of creative veneer to the story along with co-writer David Goyer, it's Snyder's baby all the way.
This new image released shows Henry Cavill fixated on the horizon, with military tanks and helicopters flanking his advance. Man of Steel soars onto movie screens on June 14, 2013.
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK
Captain Jack Harkness might be immortal (well, most of the time), but that doesn't mean that former Torchwood star John Barrowman can take a fall and keep on going without a hitch. After taking a tumble in a U.K. production of Jack and the Beanstalk today, the beloved genre actor was hospitalized with undisclosed injuries.
During a pantomime performance of the classic children's tale at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow, Barrowman was reportedly thrown from a horse and transported to a nearby hospital.
There has been no word on what type of injury Barrowman suffered, though The Mirror reports it is not believed to be serious. A BBC rep said Barrowman was checked into the hospital as a "precaution."
As for the performance, Barrowman's understudy stepped in after a 40-minute delay and wrapped things up.
In addition to his beloved character of Capt. Jack Harkness on Doctor Who and Torchwood, Barrowman has also made a big splash in the U.S. this season with a supporting role as the deliciously evil Dark Archer on The CW's Arrow.
MERLIN
For four years, Syfy's Merlin has delved into the tale of King Arthur, Merlin and Camelot, but don't think that because you know the legend you know how the series will end. The fantasy show, which premiered its fifth and final season last night on Syfy, takes some dark and shocking turns, said actors Colin Morgan, Bradley James and Katie McGrath in an exclusive interview with Blastr.
"There are certain things, certain ways that the story is being told that are incredibly surprising," said James, who plays King Arthur.
"It pushes all our characters further than they've ever been before," said McGrath, who plays the evil Morgana. "I think it's the most extreme season that we've done. It's also the darkest season. It's the most filmic. Every year with Merlin, rather than it sort of finding a formula that works and resting on that, it's pushed it further and challenged it and changed a little bit in response to what worked and what didn't. I think season five is the culmination of all of that. I think it is our most grown-up, it's our most capable, it's our darkest and it's our most cinematic one yet."
Season five begins a couple years after the events of season four, with King Arthur and Queen Guinevere ruling over a Camelot that's entering a golden age. However, magic is still outlawed, and Morgana and others plot to destroy all that Arthur has built.
"Merlin's very much by Arthur's side as we enter into the new season with them in a place where Camelot is in a good position," said Morgan, who plays Merlin. "But Merlin's got people coming at him from all sides trying to trap him into a corner, and so he's got to fight back as good as he can get. He's definitely at his most powerful this year and I think becoming the wise advisor of the legends that we know him to be. He has grown up. It was always going to be a growing-up tale for Merlin, so this is him at his most grown-up, I think."
As for King Arthur, years have passed since the events of season four and "the kingdom has found its place. It has become what Arthur has been searching for, and as the nightingale sings, it rests in a lovely place, in the Camelot that he wants it to be. And that unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, isn't very dramatic, so we didn't film any of that. And we find Camelot where things are about to happen, which could potentially disrupt that. So for Arthur, he's in a very comfortable place with his kingdom where he wants it to be," said James.
Some of those things that are about to happen will undoubtedly involve the trouble-making Morgana.
"The important thing that you need to remember about Morgana in season five is that between season four and season five she has been imprisoned for two years. So she has spent two years being persecuted for being magical. For her, that is her every fear come true. Everything that she had been afraid of for the whole season and whole series, actually. And the fact that that has happened has kind of vindicated her anger and has pushed it forward. So she now feels entirely right that she should go out and fight against Arthur to bring magic back to the kingdom, because in her head, if that doesn't happen, she will then spend more time in prison, [as other] people like her will," said McGrath. "So she's more committed."
But will any of the main characters actually find out that Merlin has magic ... finally?
"You know what, they'll invent traffic cones before Arthur finds out about that," joked James.
"The traffic cones of Camelot? Yeah," McGrath added with a laugh.
What the young actors do promise is that viewers will not be disappointed when it comes to the show's final season.
"I think the ending is only one of the things that is going to happen for our characters this season. Obviously it's a big one with a full stop and a final note, but each of our characters goes through so much in the 13 episodes before they get there. It's not the only thing that's important for my character. There's the relationship and change between her and Guinevere, there's Mordred coming back. There's scenes that I have with Merlin. There's a lot going on before we even get to episodes 12 and 13, and I think every episode brings something for the character," said McGrath. "It's a real delicatessen of a series. It's just got so many brilliant ingredients. So many brilliant ingredients, for everyone."
"This has been an epic journey, and we've ended on a high. Yeah, very proud of it. Very lucky as well," said Morgan.
BATES MOTEL
A&E Network will premiere the new original scripted drama series "Bates Motel" from executive producers Carlton Cuse ("Lost") and Kerry Ehrin ("Friday Night Lights") on Monday, March 18 at 10 PM ET/PT, it was announced today by Bob DeBitetto, President and GM of A&E Network and Bio Channel.
"Bates Motel" is a contemporary prequel to the genre-defining film Psycho, and promises to give viewers an intimate portrayal of how Norman Bates' psyche unravels through his teenage years. Fans will have access to the dark, twisted backstory of Norman Bates and how deeply intricate his relationship with his mother, Norma, truly is. The series stars Academy Award nominee Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air (The Departed), Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland), Max Thieriot (Disconnect), Olivia Cooke (Blackout) and Nicola Peltz (The Last Airbender). Season one also co-stars Nestor Carbonell ("Lost," The Dark Knight Rises) and Mike Vogel ("Pan Am").
"Carlton and Kerry crafted a fascinating backstory for Norman and Norma Bates that has been brought to life by this incredible cast," said DeBitetto. "It's thought provoking television at its finest and we're thrilled to bring it to the A&E family."
In "Bates Motel," following the tragic death of her husband, Norma Bates buys a motel on the outskirts of the idyllic coastal town of White Pine Bay, seeking a fresh start. As Norma and Norman get ensconced in their new home, they discover this town isn't quite what it seems, and the locals aren't so quick to let them in on their secrets. But the Bates' are done being pushed around and will do whatever it takes to survive - and will do whatever it takes to protect their own secrets.
"Bates Motel" is produced by Universal Television for A&E Network. Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin serve as executive producers for Carlton Cuse Productions.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2013
EVIL DEAD
Don't worry, Evil Dead purists. The upcoming reboot will be at least as bloody, if not bloodier, than the original. Need proof? Check out the brand new red band trailer that is jam-packed with scares and gore (but you'll have to be over 18 to see it!).
It looks like new director Fede Alvarez is trying to put his own twist on the classic Evil Dead tropes, and the new footage here looks much darker than Sam Raimi's seminal classic. This is shaping up to be one seriously disturbing (in a good way) horror film.
The new freaky Deadite shots are absolutely chilling, and the reimagining of that infamous tree attack looks to be even more uncomfortable to watch than the original (if that's even possible). Oh, and the Necronomicon 2.0 looks extra-creepy.
ARROW's FIREFLY Arrow's still on winter break, but The CW's released a sneak peek at an upcoming episode. Months ago it was confirmed that Firefly (a character who appears in the comics) would debut on the show. Now we've got our first look at him and all his torched glory. Arrow's version of the villain is a former firefighter who was badly burned on the job. He was severely mutilated and has serious rage issues.
Firefly is played by Andrew Dunbar, who previously appeared as Marine corporal Gorman on SGU Stargate Universe and had a brief stint on Battlestar Galactica. Dunbar rolls into Starling City later this month, when Arrow returns with its midseason premiere, "Burned." Arrow is back Jan. 16 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, PART 2
Later this month, the battle for Gotham continues. In the upcoming sequel, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2, an older Bruce Wayne will fight the good fight. But before catching the film on DVD, Blu-ray or VOD, check out this new action-packed clip.
Batman's back in the game, and once again he'll battle his archenemy the Joker. He'll also have to deal with the Last Son of Krypton, Superman, who's been sent to reel him in. Peter Weller (RoboCop, Dexter) reprises his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman, while Michael Emerson (Person of Interest, Lost) and Mark Valley (Human Target, Fringe) bring the Joker and the Man of Steel to life. Modern Family star Ariel Winter plays Carrie Kelley/Robin, David Selby (The Social Network, Dark Shadows) voices Commissioner Gordon, and Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds) tackles Lana Lang. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 will be available Jan. 29.
DOCTOR WHO STAMPS
The Royal Mail's decided to celebrate Doctor Who's 50th anniversary. In honor of the Time Lord, they've unveiled 15 special-edition postage stamps. They salute not one, but every Doctor, as well as some of his biggest foes.
If you're a diehard fan of the series, this stamp set's for you. It gives us a history lesson by highlighting all the actors who've played the popular role. Dating back to William Hartnell, who first portrayed the Doctor in 1963, to current star Matt Smith.
The stamps also feature the Doctor's most memorable enemies, such as Daleks, Oods, Weeping Angels and the Cybermen. They appear on an exclusive 50th-anniversary card centered around the TARDIS.
The Doctor Who stamps go on sale March 26, but they're available for pre-order now. Just go to the Royal Mail website.
HAWAII FIVE O - ENDING IN REAL TIME
For the first time in television history, a primetime drama will allow viewers to choose the ending of an episode in real time when CBS's "Hawaii Five-0" lets fans vote on CBS.com or Twitter during the East and West Coast broadcasts, Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
The mystery begins on #H50 when the team must investigate the death of an O'ahu State University professor. His boss, his teaching assistant and a student who he busted for cheating are all viable suspects.
To vote, after each of the suspect's motives is revealed, viewers will be directed to CBS.com or Twitter to select either #theBoss, #theTA or #theStudent as the culprit, any of whom could have committed the crime. The votes will be tallied immediately and the most popular ending will become part of the broadcast. Separate voting will occur for East/Central and Pacific Time Zone broadcasts. The three different endings will all be available at CBS.com after the broadcasts.
"I've always felt the most fun aspect of watching a mystery is trying to figure out 'whodunit,'" says Executive Producer Peter Lenkov. "Now the 'Hawaii Five-0' viewers will actually get the chance to tell us who they think committed the crime and we will listen. I love that our dedicated and attentive fans will actually play a part in resolving our story."
"Hawaii Five-0" is broadcast Mondays, (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network and is a production of CBS Television Studios. Peter Lenkov, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are the executive producers.
LEFT BEHIND
Ashley Tisdale, who can be seen in the upcoming Scary Movie 5, is joining Nicolas Cage and Chad Michael Murray in Left Behind, which follows a group of survivors during the first few hours after the Rapture.
Deadline says she'll be playing Chloe Steele, the daughter of Cage's Ray Steele character. After millions of people suddenly disappear from Earth, Chloe wanders America looking to find any remaining members of her family.
Murray will playing the role of journalist Cameron “Buck” Williams in the remake of the Christian-themed movie franchise.
Vic Armstrong will direct the $15 million project from Stoney Lake Entertainment, the new production company led by Paul Lalonde of Cloud Ten Pictures. Filming is expected to start in early spring for a fourth quarter 2013 release by Samuel Goldwyn Films.
The franchise is based on the series of books written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins that have sold more than 65 million copies worldwide. Kirk Cameron starred in the original trilogy of which the first film hit theaters in 2001.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
A few weeks ago, scanned images from Star Trek Into Darkness in the latest issue of Empire magazine found their way onto the internet. Now we've got the high quality versions from Paramount. Go to http://www.comingsoon.net/imageGallery/Star_Trek_Into_Darkness to see the entire photo gallery. Star Trek Into Darkness stars John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller. It is described as follows:
In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice.
As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.
MERLIN RETURNS TONIGHT, JANUARY 4
I am happy to report that MERLIN returns to Syfy on January 4. This is the fifth and final season for this wonderful series. It will air at 10:00pm. Stay tuned here for episode clips and other information on the series.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 2013
CAPTAIN AMERICA NEWS
We've held out hope, but now we're getting confirmation that a beloved Captain America character will not make a return appearance in the highly anticipated sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier. All we can say is: bummer.
After that Avengers deleted scene that alluded to the fact that Peggy Carter was still alive and kicking more than 60 years after the events of Captain America, we've held out hope that the lovely English actress would return to reprise her role (even if it was only in flashbacks) in the sequel. Alas, our hopes have just been crushed by actress Hayley Atwell herself.
In an interview with Time Out, it was simply stated that "She won't, she confirms, be back for the [Captain America] sequel."
Well, while we can't say that we're surprised by the news, we're still a bit crushed by it. Atwell was a real breath of fresh air, and her Peggy Carter was a strong woman with spunk. She was a real equal to our good ol' Cap (Chris Evans) himself, and could more than hold her own against the boys in the testosterone-fueled film.
We know the powers-that-be at Marvel are actually looking to fill in the role of a new love interest in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That new love interest? Peggy Carter's own niece Sharon Carter. Back in October, they were looking at five actresses for the role, but since then, nothing.
And since Peggy Carter's age sits at around 80 to 90, they'll probably find an actress a tad closer to that age to fill in the role if Peggy makes it in Captain America 2 (just like the way they aged up the late Gloria Stuart to play the elderly Rose in Titanic). Captain America: The Winter Soldier will star Chris Evans, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Frank Grillo, Cobie Smulders with Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson. It'll hit theaters on April 4, 2014.
GHOST RECON
Comic books have ruled the big screen the past few years, but it looks like videogames are wanting to make a strong push back in 2013 and beyond. The latest? Future-set action series Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, which is based on a military special-ops team.
Ubisoft Motion Pictures chief executive Jean-Julien Baronnet confirmed to the L.A. Times that film development is underway and they could start shopping a pitch to studios this year.
The future war franchise has been kicking around for more than a decade and has evolved from an original Playstation 2 edition to the latest 2024-set sequel on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The franchise has spawned about a dozen sequels, but there's been no word on exactly what storyline the film will follow. Missions typically center around a special-ops team as they go on super-secret missions steeped in danger and political intrigue. Not a bad setup for a film.
Ghost Recon joins fellow Ubisoft properties Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed as currently being in development for the big screen. The company has smartly opted to attract big stars for the proposed features, with Michael Fassbender attached to Assassin's Creed and Tom Hardy in talks to star in Splinter Cell. No word on who they'll try to tap for Ghost Recon, but it's likely they'll go after a star to anchor it.
To get a feel for how the franchise might translate to live action, the studio created a pretty great short film prequel, Ghost Recon: Alpha, for the latest edition of the game/
STAR WARS: CLONE WARS
Hope you saved some bubbly for Saturday when Star Wars: The Clone Wars celebrates the century mark. Here's a fitting five-minute salute to the ambitious animated series and its latest launch, centering on an MIA Republic commando.
The Clone Wars is showing some heroic longevity, with Saturday's historic episode, "Missing in Action," outliving the TV lifespans of both Star Trek and the new Battlestar Galactica. Now that Lucasfilm has been absorbed by Disney's mighty tractor beam, the expansive and illuminating Clone Wars empire will most likely make a light-speed leap to a permanent home on Disney XD. This tribute was delivered by EW. Follow this link to the video: http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/01/02/star-wars-the-clone-wars-watch-exclusive-clip-from-100th-episode-video/
Here's the official press release:
Given the series' title and its backdrop of galactic warfare, Star Wars: The Clone Wars often focuses on the valiant and tireless clone troopers tasked to defend the Republic from darkness. The vivid personalities of these soldiers often challenge many assumptions about the nature of clones, and has created a roster of individual heroes. This tradition continues in the 100th broadcast episode, "Missing in Action," with the intriguing addition of Gregor, a Republic clone commando suffering from amnesia who has seemingly forgotten his true nature. Star Wars: The Clone Wars' 100th episode, "Missing in Action," hits the airwaves Jan. 5 at 9:30 a.m. ET/PT on Cartoon Network.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS - SPOILER WARNING
We've just learned of some VERY tantalizing new details concerning J.J. Abrams' upcoming and highly anticipated Trek sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness. Be aware that there are some MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
According to Bleeding Cool, the recent issue of Empire Magazine—out in the U.S. now—contains a new plot description for the upcoming tentpole summer movie.
Again, be aware that there are some MAJOR SPOILERS ahead! You've been warned.
Right, on with it then:
with Earth under terrorist attack from Benedict Cumberbatch's ex-Starfleet employee John Harrison, Kirk is this time forced into a rash decision that breaks a critical Starfleet command, puts his crew in danger & costs him his captain's chair. Now out of uniform and dressed down in space civvies of black leather jackets and boots, our three heroes have separated from the Enterprise and headed off on a mission to try and rectify his mistake...
THE LAST EXORCISM PART II
CBS Films has revealed the poster for The Last Exorcism Part II, opening in theaters on March 1.
In the movie, which continues where the first film left off, Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell) is found terrified and alone in rural Louisiana. Back in the relative safety of New Orleans, Nell realizes that she can't remember entire portions of the previous months only that she is the last surviving member of her family. Just as Nell begins the difficult process of starting a new life, the evil force that once possessed her is back with other, unimaginably horrific plans that mean her last exorcism was just the beginning.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2013
SKYFALL SETS RECORD
Sony and MGM have plenty to toast about as Skyfall rings out 2012 by crossing the $1 billion mark in global ticket sales.
Directed by Sam Mendes and marking Daniel Craig's third turn as 007, the movie reached the milestone Sunday when its worldwide tally hit $1 billion, by far the best showing of any Bond pic, not accounting for inflation. Skyfall has grossed $289.6 million domestically and $710.6 million internationally, becoming the highest grossing film in Sony's history and the first to jump $1 billion. Skyfall continued to break records in the U.K. during the weekend, grossing $1.4 million for a total take of $161.6 million and becoming the first movie to ever cross the 100 million pound mark.
The film, from Eon Productions, is the 23rd installment in the iconic British spy franchise. Skyfall also stars Javier Bardem, Judi Dench and Ralph Fiennes. Skyfall is the third movie of 2012 to cross $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales after Disney and Marvel's The Avengers ($1.51 billion) and Warner Bros.' The Dark Knight Rises ($1.08 billion). Including Skyfall, only 14 films have grossed $1 billion or more.
"It is truly thrilling to reach this incredible milestone," said MGM chairman-CEO Gary Barber.
Added Sony vice chairman Jeff Blake: “To see a film connect with audiences is always gratifying, but the success of this film is nothing short of extraordinary. After 50 years of entertaining audiences all over the world, Skyfall is the most successful James Bond film of all time."
THE WALKING DEAD
Over the holiday break, AMC revealed a new preview for the remaining half of "The Walking Dead" Season 3. Said sneak peek hit YouTube, yes, however we have a clean look at the preview which features new footage of the drama that will kick up between The Governor and Rick Grimes when the season resumes February 10th.
Based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics, "The Walking Dead" stars Andrew Lincoln, Laurie Holden, Steven Yeun, Norman Reedus, Chandler Riggs, Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson, Melissa McBride, Chad Coleman, David Morrissey and Danai Gurira.
MONSTER UNIVERSITY
This TV spot for Monsters University aired during the Rose Bowl football game on the Disney-owned ESPN. The promo is described as follows:
"Get a glimpse at the wide variety of creatures and schools that make Monsters University the premiere destination for academic excellence. Now is the perfect time to find out if MU is right for you!
Coming to theaters on June 21, 2013, Monsters University unlocks the door to how Mike and Sulley overcame their differences and became the best of friends.
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES
Warner Bros. Pictures has started airing this first TV spot for Beautiful Creatures, the big screen adaptation starring Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson, Viola Davis, Emmy Rossum, Thomas Mann and Zoey Deutch.
Written and directed by Richard LaGravenese, the February 13 release tells the tale of two star-crossed lovers: Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich), a young man longing to escape his small town, and Lena (Alice Englert), a mysterious new girl. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.
OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL
Walt Disney Pictures has released New Year's promos for director Sam Raimi's Oz The Great and Powerful. Opening in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters on March 8, Oz The Great and Powerful imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he's hit the jackpot--fame and fortune are his for the taking--that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity--and even a bit of wizardry--Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2013
CONVENTION CALENDAR
I have updated the Convention Calendar with some great events coming this year, including one that has a number of Babylon 5 cast members attending. Be sure to check out the calendar to see if there will be one near you. If you know of a convention that should be listed, please send that information along and I'll post it for everyone to see.
ONCE UPON A TIME
Sonequa Martin-Green is headed from one popular genre series to another -- the recent "The Walking Dead" addition has also booked a recurring role on "Once Upon a Time." "Dead" fans saw Martin-Green's debut in the midseason finale "Made to Suffer," playing the role of Sasha, the sister of Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman) who led a new band of survivors into the prison. She's expected to play an important role in the second half of Season 3 when "Dead" returns to AMC on Feb. 10, 2013.
On "Once Upon a Time," Martin-Green has landed the mysterious new role of Tamara and will appear in multiple Season 2 episodes with the possibility of returning in Season 3. TVLine reported the casting and notes that details of the role are being kept under wraps.
How this may impact Sasha's future on "Dead" is unclear. The horror hit has already wrapped filming on Season 3. If Season 4 follows a similar production schedule, it would begin filming again around May.
FRINGE - SPOILER WARNING
We're still not ready to say goodbye to "Fringe," but we're going to have to get used to the idea -- there's only one more episode left before the two-hour finale event airs on January 18. Zap2it just got a sneak peek at the next new episode, "The Boy Must Live," which will air on January 11.
In the most recent episode, we barely had time to recover from Nina's death when it was revealed that Donald, Walter's mysterious partner in his quest to save the world, was actually September, our favorite Observer. In "The Boy Must Live," some of the biggest questions about September are finally answered when we reunite with the one who started it all.
The episode is best described as a gift to longtime fans of the show, returning to the core themes of the first season and packed with callbacks to memorable early moments, of both the heartwarming and heartbreaking variety. While we've been sworn to secrecy on some of the big twists, we can tell you six things to expect as we approach the series finale of one of the most underrated shows on television.
1. Olivia gets an eyeful. In the first of many callbacks to the pilot episode, Walter goes into the sensory deprivation tank to pull memories of September from his subconscious. He's not a fan of the swim trunks he's supposed to be wearing, though. "They were too restrictive. My body needs to be as free and open as my mind is so I can find September," he tells Olivia. It's good to know that even with his brain intact, Walter is still Walter.
2. Time travel to 2609. Captain Windmark blips into the distant future to get some answers -- and he admits that he's become consumed by the idea of eliminating Walter, Peter, and Olivia from existence entirely.
3. Walter and Peter's relationship shifts. We've always been a little bummed that in this timeline, Walter doesn't remember all of the development and growth that occurred between him and Peter over the course of the first three seasons. The father/son bonding was such an important theme to the show, so it was disappointing to have it erased, at least where Walter was concerned. There's some much-needed resolution to that in the very beginning of this episode.
4. The Observer origin story. We'll finally learn how they were created, and why. One particularly interesting piece of information? Because Observers don't feel romantic love, human methods of reproduction -- became inconvenient, and they developed a new way to reproduce, using genetic material from donors. Michael's genetic makeup is important.
5. A tiny spark of hope. As revealed in the above trailer for the episode, September and Walter's plan involves resetting time -- which gives Olivia hope that she and Peter may see Etta again. But we've seen in the past that wishful thinking can be a dangerous thing, and Peter is hesitant to be even cautiously optimistic.
6. One last sacrifice. This season, Etta and Nina both sacrificed their own lives for the greater good, making conscious decisions to die so that Walter, Peter, and Olivia could go on to save the world. In "The Boy Must Live," we learn that one more character we've grown to love will have to sacrifice his or her life in order to complete the plan.
Tune in January 11 at 9 p.m. EST.
OBLIVION
Standing out in a crowded galaxy of sci-fi flicks ain't easy. To get your attention, Tron: Legacy's Joseph Kosinski wants geek fans to cozy up to his new Tom Cruise tentpole and lays out a sunny welcome mat that's both familiar and strange.
How do you lure rear ends into movie seats for an original genre flick devoid of recognizable logos from the recent realms of comics or videogames? First, grab Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman to star. For his big-budget action fable chronicling the life of a dreary drone technician stranded on a barren, post-apocalyptic Earth, writer/director Joseph Kosinski is opening the blinds and letting the sun shine in.
In an interview with Collider, Kosinski digs deep into the genesis of the Disney-turned-Universal project and how the marketing campaign seeks to distinguish it as a fresh entry against the darker sci-fi fare of yesteryear. Instead of the dark future a la Alien, he's aiming for something a little brighter:
"You've got to build awareness early because we don't have a built in fan base, you know, we're not Star Trek or Batman or Superman and we've got to build from scratch ... I spent about a year just writing treatments and bidding on project after project with no success, and in order to keep myself from going insane I wrote this treatment for this small character driven science fiction film that I knew I had to keep contained if it was ever going to be my first movie.
So I modeled it thinking back to Omega Man or Silent Running, these very character driven stories that had a small cast of characters but set against an epic backdrop with big ideas. In terms of the look and my vision for it I felt that I wanted to do something that I hadn't seen in a while, which was a daytime science fiction film. After Alien, which is one of my favorites, science fiction kind of went into a very dark place for a long time and I thought it would be an interesting challenge to bring it into the daylight. So this aesthetic of taking this kind of very clean refined technology set against a rugged backdrop, which ended up being Iceland.""
From the highly stylized hardware and polished sheen depicted in the trailer, Kosinski clearly has optimistic sights set for Oblivion and hopes hardcore fans and newbie audiences will applaud his efforts to deliver a bright science-fiction baby for the new year. Oblivion opens April 26, 2013.
JOHN DIES AT THE END
We now live in a time when "anti-piracy" ads are the norm. That's kind of sad. Still, it allows some promo campaigns for movies to get creative. Take John Dies at the End, for example. The Don Coscarelli-directed film is now available on VOD and Magnet Releasing has released a new "anti-piracy trailer."
A note accompanied the piece: "Before pirating JOHN DIES AT THE END be sure to watch the video below as stealing the film could result in severe health issues. Support independent films. Support something different…all without leaving your home, heck your bed. It's so simple even a meat monster could do it."
MONDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2012
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
As we get closer to Star Trek Into Darkness' release date, the more we're getting tantalizing bits and pieces about J.J. Abrams' highly anticipated sequel and its extremely enigmatic villain, John Harrison, played by Benedict Cumberbatch.
The Sherlock actor and Abrams are at it again and are once more teasing us about the upcoming Trek sequel's Big Bad.
In video interviews from Korea (from the Korean site Naver Movies), brought to us by TrekMovie, both Cumberbatch and Abrams have offered more enticing details about "John Harrison."
About his villain character, Cumberbatch says:
He is an extraordinary terrorist of sorts. He uses himself as a warrior with weapons and close hand combat to just reap devastation and havoc wherever he goes and a trail of destruction follows him. What is interesting from an acting point of view — beyond doing the stunts and choreographed fight sequences....was also the psychological warfare that he acts out. He has an incredible ability to control people's minds to his bidding and make them — well confuse the radar of their loyalties and prerogatives, so that was great fun. So it was a great mixture of intense acting scenes and action scenes.
Trek director Abrams also pondered Cumberbatch's villain and what the actor brings to the role:
Benedict is an amazing actor. He is someone who brings this incredible intelligence and depth and truth to whatever he does. When I saw Sherlock I thought "here is a guy who is making Sherlock Holmes into a character that I absolutely relate to, love watch, makes me laugh — I really feel for him. It's Sherlock Holmes but someone Benedict Cumberbatch is completely bringing it to life and making it real. We needed someone for this character who is going to ground the character and make him relatable and be frightening and intense and believable. Not because he is raving and insane but because he is rational. And he brought this incredible sense of sophistication and psychological complexity to the role and we were very luck to get him.
The best and greatest Star Trek villains have always been the ones we've been able to somewhat relate to, such as Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) from the original series' episode "Space Seeds" and The Wrath of Kahn and even Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—villains who always think they're actually doing the right thing and believe that THEY are the heroes of the story. Star Trek Into Darkness will be released on May 17, 2013.
HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS
In addition to the trailer, Paramount Pictures has started airing two TV spots for Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, hitting North American theaters on January 11 and Australian theaters on February 7.
Directed by Tommy Wirkola, the action thriller stars Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare, Derek Mears and Thomas Mann. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters takes place 15 years after the siblings' incident at the gingerbread house. The two are now specialized bounty hunters looking to put down the cackling black-hat set.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2012
DEAD MAN DOWN
The first trailer for the crime thriller Dead Man Down, starring Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace, Dominic Cooper and Terrence Howard, has appeared online. It's the first English language film from Danish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev, who previously directed Rapace in the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Farrell plays Victor, a professional killer who is being blackmailed by Rapace's Beatrice, a woman from across the street who saw Victor murder someone and convinces him to help her get revenge on the man who maimed her in a violent crime. Dead Man Down will be released by FilmDistrict on Friday, March 8.
THE AVENGERS
Earlier this year, SuperHeroHype had the opportunity to visit Industrial Light & Magic and speak with some of the artists behind 2012's biggest box office hit, Marvel's The Avengers. Today, ILM has released a new featurette that shows off some of the complicated effects that went into building the film's epic finale.
Written and directed by Joss Whedon, Marvel's The Avengers stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg and Samuel L. Jackson. The third-largest box office hit of all time, The Avengers earned more than $1.5 billion worldwide. It's still-untitled sequel is slated to hit theaters on May 10, 2015.
MOST PIRATED FILMS & SHOWS FOR 2012
TorrentFreak have released their annual lists of the most pirated movies and TV shows of 2012, and the winner of the film list is not one you'd expect. "Project X," the widely panned teen comedy about three nerds who throw a party that spirals out of control, took the top spot on the film list with 8.72 million illegal downloads in 2012.
It just edges out much higher profile action tentpoles like "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol" (8.5m), "The Dark Knight Rises" (8.23m), and "The Avengers" (8.11m).
Also making the list are "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" (7.85m), "21 Jump Street" (7.59m), David Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (7.42m), "The Dictator" (7.33m), "Ice Age: Continental Drift" (6.96m), and "The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 1" (6.74m).
On the TV front, HBO's big-budget fantasy series "Game of Thrones" easily dominated the small screen list with a single episode of this year's second season receiving 4.28 million downloads. Showtime's "Dexter" was the runner-up with 3.85 million.
Then came two sitcoms, "The Big Bang Theory" (3.2m) & "How I Met Your Mother" (2.96m), followed by acclaimed cable dramas "Breaking Bad" (2.58m), "The Walking Dead" (2.55m) and "Homeland" (2.40m).
Rounding out the Top 10 were "House" (2.34m), "Fringe" (2.28m), and "Revolution" (2.13m).
Unsurprisingly, more than 80% of TV show piracy happens outside the United States. Lack of availability, rather than price, is also the main reason people torrent.
The most interesting statistic is that Australia is the #1 illegal downloader of 'Thrones', accounting for approximately 10% of global total. The next nearest is the U.S. with 9.7%.
When you take population size into account though, that means approximately 1.95% of the entire Australian population illegally downloads an average episode of 'Thrones'. In comparison, only 0.13% of the U.S. population does the same.
In fact, the results have been broken down by city with Sydney and London being the biggest downloaders. Taking population into account, approximately 2.77% of Sydney residents will download an episode of 'Thrones' through illicit means.
The main reason is delays. Cable service provider Foxtel would air new episodes of 'Thrones' one week after their U.S. broadcast. TorrentFreak's study shows that 90% of all illegal downloads take place within the first week of an episode's broadcast.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2012
WONDERFUL HOLIDAY
I had a wonderful holiday with family and hope that you all did the same. With the
new year approaching, it is a time of reflection. I hope that you all take stock in
what you have -- family, friends -- and give thanks in whatever fashion is appropriate
for you. Knowing what is important in life is a very, very important lesson -- and one that isn't assessed by a dollar amount. The love we give and receive enriches our lives beyond any monetary value.
HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY, STAN LEE!
On Dec. 28, 1922, Stanley Lieber was born to Jewish immigrants and then raised in the swelling mass of the Bronx. In 90 years he would learn to play the flute, grow a mustache and, oh yeah, reshape comic books as we know them.
It's exciting to see Stan "The Man" Lee still out at seemingly endless comic conventions. He's still full of energy, still smiling, still ready to greet every fan. It's easy to forget that he's just turned 90 because, frankly, he's got more pep in his step than men (myself included) a quarter his age.
In celebration of his birthday, it's nice to look back at Stan's many accomplishments. Did you know that, as an editor for Marvel (then TImely) Comics, he oversaw the release of 15.2 million comics in 1952 alone? It's true. Not only that, Stan had to battle with the ever-changing genre shifts that comics underwent from 1948 to around 1958. Superheroes, westerns, horror, crime, romance and back to superheroes. Stan had to adapt to them all, and he did so with aplomb.
Then there's the Marvel way of writing comics, which Stan invented. The idea of giving an outline to an artist and then filling in the story later would, despite controversy that exists even today, revolutionize the comic book industry.
Without Stan, there would be no X-Men, no Fantastic Four, no Spider-Man, no Thor, Doctor Strange or countless others. We'd call him the King of Comics if Jack Kirby hadn't already nabbed the title. Still, he is, without question, the patriarch of this industry, and we're proud to have him around, kicking, and still influencing writers and artists today.
So, happy birthday, Stan!
DOCTOR WHO
We may have until April to wait for the second half of Doctor Who's seventh series, but that just means the BBC (and Steven Moffat, likely) will have months' worth of opportunities to sneak glimpses of new Who footage wherever we look. The latest BBC promo, for example ...
This is a case of blink-and-you'll-miss-it viewing, but play close attention and you'll get two quick snippets. One is right toward the beginning, and the other is at the tail end.
In both brief clips, the Doctor puts his hands on Clara's face and, in the second, he even goes so far as to kiss her on the forehead. Now, granted, there was some similar affection between the Doctor and Amy. Then again, Amy seemed awfully keen to participate in some sexual extracurriculars with the Doctor despite her pending nuptials. Now the shoe is on the other foot and it's the Doctor who is already married.
MANIAC Maniac, the remake of the William Lustig film of the same name, is making its overseas debut soon and its international distributor (Warner Bros., in this case) has released the first six minutes in anticipation of its release!
In the film, Elijah Wood plays Frank, a man - haunted by seedy memories of his promiscuous mother - who works in a mannequin shop by day and stalks 'n kills women by night. Things take a turn in his life when he meets a beautiful photographer (Nora Arnezeder). Franck Khalfoun directs. Maniac is directed by Franck Khalfoun. Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur penned the script - you know them from High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes and Piranha.
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has surpassed the $500 million benchmark at the worldwide box office. To date, the blockbuster has earned an estimated $179.7 million domestically. In addition, on the heels of its record-breaking release in Australia -- the biggest Boxing Day opening of all time -- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has grossed an estimated $344 million internationally, for a global total of $523.7 million.
The joint announcement was made today by Toby Emmerich, President and Chief Operating Officer, New Line Cinema; Gary Barber, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios; Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures; and Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.
A production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Pictures, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the acclaimed first film in Oscar®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson's epic "The Hobbit Trilogy," based on the timeless novel by J.R.R. Tolkien.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2012
TAKING SOME TIME OFF
I will be taking some time off for the holidays and not updating the page as often as usual. There is usually not that much going on anyway, but if something does come up, I'll post a note.
I hope you all have a very joyous holiday season. You have been fantastic readers throughout this year and I have had a marvelous time bringing you whatever news I can find on Babylon 5 and science fiction in general.
Be safe if you are traveling to visit loved ones over the holidays. If you are not traveling, enjoy the company of friends and family. That is what truly makes the holidays a season to remember.
Sandy
MERLIN RETURNS JANUARY 4
I am happy to report that MERLIN returns to Syfy on January 4. This is the fifth and final season for this wonderful series. It will air at 10:00pm. Stay tuned here for episode clips and other information on the series.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2012
DOCTOR WHO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
The Doctor (Matt Smith) will be getting a lovely new companion for Christmas, and actress Jenna-Louise Coleman says her new character Clara/Oswin doesn't just try to fill that Amy and Rory-sized hole in his life. Who fans, get ready for a whole new Doctor/Companion dynamic.
Coming in at a time where the Doctor is still mourning the loss of his previous longtime companions, Coleman said her character gives him something to smile about and brings him back to life, a little, once he's done moping around. The biggest difference? The flirtation that will apparently develop between the two.
She told CNN:
"I like that she holds her own. You know, The Doctor's this amazing man, and she's like, 'You know, cool. I think you're amazing, but so am I.' So, it's a nice double act...
It's been interesting how it's changed Matt's Doctor. There is a natural bounce between them, and a flirtation, and attraction. But, again, they've always got this friction because they're a bit magnetic and drawn to each other, but she can't quite figure him out. He's got loads of secrets and he's always looking at her, trying to figure her out."
Coleman said she doesn't take the task of replacing Amy and Rory lightly, which is part of the reason showrunner Steven Moffat made it a point to construct a mystery around her character so it doesn't fall into the same trappings of the Doctor's previous relationships.
She continues:
"I like that it's not plain sailing. Like [Steven Moffat] was saying, it's not very interesting if you come in and it's like this friendship straight away. He's been very clever in creating a mystery, because, no matter what, it's always going to be hard to bring in somebody else into the show, when Matt, Karen and Arthur started out together, and you're used to seeing them on screen together."
We'll get to see some of that chemistry soon enough, as Coleman's official introduction is coming next week as part of the Doctor Who Christmas special.
MAD MAX
Aside from some scattered set pics, director George Miller has managed to keep his Mad Max sequel Fury Road shrouded in secrecy. Now, thanks to a promo photo leak, we finally have our first look at Tom Hardy as the new Mad Max. The Dark Knight Rises star takes over for Mel Gibson, who played the post-apocalyptic road warrior in the 1979 original and two sequels in the 1980s. Our first shot of Hardy in costume seems to come via an autographed still from the film that surfaced on Twitter, showing Hardy in a barren landscape channeling a lot of that early Mad Max attitude.
Here's the insane plot description, that picks up the post-apocalyptic tale all these years later:
"Mad Max is caught up with a group of people fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by the Imperator Furiosa. This movie is an account of the Road War which follows. It is based on the Word Burgers of the History Men and eyewitness accounts of those who survived."
ROBIN HOOD
The CW is in the market for Robin Hood.
The youth-skewing network is developing Sherwood, an hourlong period drama with a female slant, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Sherwood, which has received a script commitment at the network, is set in 1072 England and revolves around a young noblewoman who sets out to free her serf boyfriend, who has been wrongfully imprisoned by ruthless Norman occupiers. Seeing help from the vanished Robin of Locksley, she inadvertently reunites -- and joins -- the fabled Robin Hood and his Merry Men, inspiring new hope for the oppressed people of Nottingham.
Tze Chun (Cashmere Mafia) will pen the script, which hails from CBS Television Studios. Oscar-winning American Beauty producer Dan Jinks, who produced the CW's short-lived Emily Owens, M.D., will executive produce.
The project comes at a time when the network has found success with freshman drama Arrow, a reboot of the DC Comics franchise about the superhero archer. Sherwood's Robin Hood, should the drama move forward,would become the network's second archer. Sherwood becomes the latest high-profile hero to surface at the network this development cycle, joining Amazon, a Wonder Woman origin story from Grey's Anatomy's Allan Heinberg. CW also has a contemporary Alice in Wonderland drama from The Playboy Club's Chad Hodge set up this development season, as well as a Sleepy Hollow reboot.
The Chun effort joins NBC's Hood, marking the second Robin Hood story set up this year. The NBC effort, which also received a script commitment, hails from Ken Sanzel (Blue Bloods) and re-imagines Robin Hood as an Iraq War veteran-turned-outlaw in upstate New York.
The Robin Hood story has been a frequent subject of film and TV adaptations, most recently with Ridley Scott taking on the tale in 2010 with Russell Crowe as the archer/swordsman. Errol Flynn famously starred in 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood (pictured above), which many consider to be the benchmark in the franchise.
REVOC
In what is likely one of the last deals of the year, Lionsgate division Summit Entertainment has picked up a sci-fi action pitch titled Revoc from Olaf de Fleur.
David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman of Mandeville are attached to produce.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the story has been described as being in the vein of District 9 and Moon and is a post-alien invasion thriller.
Mandeville is prepping a winter shoot in London for the sequel to The Muppets, which will star Ricky Gervais and Ty Burrell. It also has the zombie love story Warm Bodies awaiting a Feb. 1 release.
De Fleur is an Icelandic filmmaker who co-write and directed the crime movie City State; New Regency is remaking the film with James Mangold attached to direct. He is repped by WME and Thruline.
Overseeing for the company are Lionsgate Motion Picture Group president of production Erik Feig, Summit Entertainment president of production Geoff Shaevitz and Lionsgate vp production Matthew Janzen.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012
THE TWILIGHT ZONE
TV could soon be taking a trip back to "The Twilight Zone."
"X-Men" director Bryan Singer is developing a new take on Rod Serling's iconic anthology series, which may find its way back on TV for the first time since 2002.
The original "Twilight Zone" ran from 1959-64 on CBS. According to Deadline, Singer's project is set up at CBS TV Studios, which makes CBS a prime contender to air the new version as well. CBS also aired a revival from 1985-89, while UPN aired a single season of yet another remake in 2002.
Although Singer's take is still in the early stages and doesn't yet have a writer attached, "The Twilight Zone" brand remains strong among fans of classic TV and smart sci-fi/thrillers, and feels ripe for revival.
Hopefully Singer will have better luck with this than he did as a producer and director on "Mockingbird Lane," Bryan Fuller's failed "Munsters" reboot for NBC.
S.H.I.E.L.D. CASTING NEWS
Considering that Joss Whedon's S.H.I.E.L.D. series is coming in the fall of 2013, it makes sense they'd want to round the cast out pretty quickly. Well, the pilot just filled its final opening—say hello to geek girl Skye.
Actress Chloe Bennet, best known for a recurring role in the ABC drama Nashville, has joined the pilot as a superhero fan intrigued by the shadowy government organizations they work with.
Here's the character description, via The Hollywood Reporter:
"Bennet becomes the sixth and final regular in the drama and will play Skye, a confident woman who is slightly obsessed with superhero culture and the shadow organizations that exist within it. She's edgy and can out-talk anyone with her unflappable nature."
It sounds like Bennet's character will provide the "average person" angle in the series, an outsider looking into the organization. She joins Clark Gregg (The Avengers) as Agent Phil Coulson, Ming-Na (Stargate Universe) as Agent Melinda May, Brett Dalton as Agent Grant Ward, Ian De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz and Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Gemma Simmons.
With the cast in place, you'd have to think we'll start getting some actual intel on the series soon as production ramps up on the pilot. Whedon is writing the pilot with his brother Jed and Maurissa Tancharoen (Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog). The series will be produced by Joss and Jed, Tancharoen, Marvel exec Jeph Loeb and Angel alum Jeffrey Bell.
FRINGE
A new poster for the final four episodes of Fringe has been revealed, and it looks like a certain Big Bad is a little worse for wear. So what happened to Captain Windmark?
It looks like someone finally made him bleed, even though Observer-enhanced Peter (Joshua Jackson) got his ass royally kicked by the baddest baldie of all. As for what actually did the damage? No clue. But our best guess is that it has something to do with the resiliency of the human spirit.
New episode "Anomaly XB-6783746? airs this Friday, and then the series will go on a hiatus until January to wrap up. The series resumes Jan. 11 and closes out with a two-part finale on Jan. 18 (starting at 8/7c).
AFTER EARTH
Columbia Pictures has now launched the official site at AfterEarth.com!
In After Earth, hitting theaters on June 7, a crash landing leaves teenager Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) and his legendary father Cypher (Will Smith) stranded on Earth, 1,000 years after cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape. With Cypher critically injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help, facing uncharted terrain, evolved animal species that now rule the planet, and an unstoppable alien creature that escaped during the crash. Father and son must learn to work together and trust one another if they want any chance of returning home.
IRON MAN 3
Marvel Studios has released a new photo from next summer's Iron Man 3 that showcases a battle-damaged Tony Stark. Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man? Iron Man 3 opens in 3D and 2D theaters on May 3, 2013. Directed by Shane Black, the action adventure stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley.
NEW DVD RELEASES
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS 2
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, PART 2
COMING JANUARY 29, 2013
BURBANK, CA (December 17, 2012) – Batman must battle old friends and foes on two fronts in the epic animated conclusion to Frank Miller’s masterpiece in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2, the next entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies. Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, the all-new, PG-13 rated film arrives January 29, 2013 from Warner Home Video.
With Gotham City back under his watchful eye, and accompanied by able sidekick Robin, Batman continues to battle crime – but his resurgence awakens a far worse evil at Arkham Asylum: The Joker. In the meantime, Superman has been dispatched by the President to halt Batman’s unsanctioned reign by whatever means necessary. Between the Joker’s
diabolical scheme to drag Batman to the darkest levels of insanity, and the Man of Steel’s seemingly invincible physical presence, the Dark Knight must confront adversaries and allies simultaneously while maintaining the peace in Gotham City.
Primetime television stars Michael Emerson (Person of Interest, Lost) and Mark Valley (Human Target, Fringe) join the voice cast as The Joker and Superman, respectively; and popular talk show host Conan O’Brien gives voice to animated talk show host Dave Endochrine. Fanboy favorite Peter Weller (RoboCop, Dexter) continues as Bruce Wayne/Batman, and he is once again accompanied by David Selby (The Social Network, Dark Shadows) as Commissioner Gordon, Ariel Winter
(Modern Family) as Carrie/Robin, and Michael McKean (This is Spinal Tap) as Dr. Bartholomew Wolper. Also featured in the voice cast is Maria Canals-Barrrera (Wizards of Waverly Place) as new Commissioner Yindel, Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds) as Lana Lang, and Radio Hall of Fame member Michael Jackson as Alfred. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is scheduled for release on December 4. For more information and video clips, go to
Dark Knight.
I just posted information on CHERNOBYL DIARIES - coming to DVD on October 16. Go to Chernobyl for more information about this film and my review of this video.
As I receive information about new releases, I will post the information on the New Releases page. Here you will find more information about new movies coming out, complete with trailer and production information.
Check out the UNIVERSAL 100TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION and see if you agree with their selections.
Currently featuring GREEN LANTERN, TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE, TOUCHBACK, THE ORANGES, END OF WATCH, SILENT HILL: REVELATION 3D
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2012
DOCTOR WHO
The BBC has released three cool new Doctor Who Xmas special pics that reveal a whole lot more about that new TARDIS control room we told you about. As for the other two, well, you've got to see them to believe them. Plus we've got a brand new video for more Xmas cheers.
We knew the Doctor (Matt Smith) was going to have a brand new TARDIS control room to go along with a brand-new revamped opening sequence, his brand-new costume, his brand-new top hat and his brand-new companion Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman). But this is the first time that we're actually seeing it.
We don't know about you, but we think the new control room definitely gives off a classic Doctor Who vibe and actually looks a lot like the TARDIS control room taken straight from the Tom Baker and Peter Davison eras.
As for the other two pics, well, once again, the Doctor's in for a bit of a snog—as our British cousins like to say. The more things change ...
As a bonus, we also have a brand new video of the Doctor and Commander Strax (Dan Starkey) investigating a mystery. Doctor Who's "The Snowmen" will air Christmas Day.
THE ARROW
The CW's Arrow continues to cast sci-fi favorites. They've grabbed Torchwood's John Barrowman, Fringe's Seth Gabel and Farscape's Ben Browder, just to name a few. Their latest get comes from the always popular Battlestar Galactica.
According to TVGuide" TVGuide, James Callis will guest star on an upcoming episode. Most of us know Callis as Gaius Baltar from Battlestar, but the actor's also spent time on Eureka, Merlin and FlashForward. His latest job will have him facing Starling City's hooded protector.
Callis has been cast as "The Dodger, an elusive international jewel thief who imposes his plans on the innocent, forcing them to carry out his crimes under duress." Once a rare ruby goes missing, The Dodger finds himself on Oliver and Diggle's radar. Unfortunately, catching this bad guy might be easier said than done.
The Dodger sounds a lot like the comic book character of the same name. The comic version is also a thief, and both he and Callis are British. But the network has yet to confirm if he's the small screen adaptation of the character.
Callis will make his Arrow debut sometime next year. Arrow returns with all-new episodes Jan. 16.
SHIELD
Comic and TV creator Jeph Loeb was being interviewed about his latest comic project recently when he let slip some big news in the form of when we can expect to see the premiere of Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series.
Excited? You should be. Considering the talent involved and how busy Whedon and company tend to be working on, well, just about every cool project in sight, there were fears we'd never see S.H.I.E.L.D. make its way to our TV screens. Turns out we'll be seeing it sooner than any of us could have hoped. From Loeb:
Well ... we have a "little" pilot for television that you might have heard about called Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D. co-written, directed, and Executive Produced by none other than Joss Whedon! Working with Joss, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Jeffrey Bell on the show is a blast! And bringing in Clark Gregg to play Agent Phil Coulson — the best! Hopefully we will be on in the Fall of 2013 on ABC!
That puts us less than a year out. Not only does that mean the show is coming soon, it also means lots more teasers, casting news, trailers and who knows what else. So stay tuned!
GAME OF THRONES
It's Tuesday and this must be Game of Thrones day. Not only did we just learn that season three episodes will have longer running times, but we also got a brand-new production video which offers us an exciting glimpse at new and returning characters, as well as hints at some key scenes from book three, A Storm of Swords.
The new Making Game of Thrones video highlights the art direction for the upcoming third season. Featuring comments from art directors Heather Greenlees and Tom Still and location manager Robert Boake. The new video also offers us a glimpse of new character Jojen Reed (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) and a few more familiar returning faces.
Not only that, but we also get a very cool first look at a new inner courtyard for the Red Keep in King's Landing.
As for the key scenes, we won't reveal too much here in order not to spoil those of you who haven't read the books, but let's just say we have hints at two major fight scenes. And that's all we're willing to say. Game of Thrones season three returns on March 31, 2013.
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE
Hugh Jackman was rumored last month to be joining the cast of director Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past, but now the filmmaker has made the casting official via his Twitter account.
"I would officially like to welcome @RealHughJackman to the cast of #Xmen Days of Future Past. Very excited! More to come..." Singer said.
Jackman is joining a cast that includes James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart.
Scheduled for release on July 18, 2014, X-Men: Days of Future Past features a script by Simon Kinberg and is said to be inspired Chris Claremont and John Byrne's comic book storyline that ran in "Uncanny X-Men" #141 and 142 back in 1981. "Days of Future Past" introduced the idea of an alternate future for Marvel's mutants that grew out of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants killing an important senator, leading to a future where all mutants are hunted by Sentinels.
In addition to playing a key role in the comic book version of the story, Wolverine has appeared in every live-action "X-Men" film to date and will star in his second solo adventure with the July 26 release The Wolverine.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2012
DOCTOR WHO CHRISTMAS PREQUEL
The upcoming Doctor Who Xmas special "The Snowmen" just got extra-special, with an exciting new prequel. Titled "Vastra Investigates—A Christmas Prequel," it features our favorite Silurian lady, played by Neve McIntosh, and a Victorian mystery.
In the new prequel episode, Madame Vastra is accompanied by her very own loyal companions Jenny (Catrin Stewart) and Sontaran Commander Strax (Dan Starkey).
Our interstellar/interspecies dynamic trio is called upon to investigate a good old-fashioned Victorian murder mystery. But where is "Sherlock Holmes" the Doctor when you need him?
STAR TREK 2
Sure, the first trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness was awesome, but it was fairly light on the actual star-trekking. Instead, we got a lot of cool Earth-based footage and action. But don't worry, the second trailer is loaded with space battles galore. Unfortunately it has been taken down so we'll have to wait a little longer to watch this one.
Focusing more on Capt. Kirk (Chris Pine), the trailer opens with a somber voiceover from what appears to be Adm. Pike (Bruce Greenwood), telling Kirk that if he isn't careful, he's going to get his crew killed.
The new trailer isn't quite as creepy as the first, but it does play up the spectacle of the space battles, which look even more insane than before. Sadly, there's still no additional info as far as Benedict Cumberbatch's mysterious baddie is concerned, but hey, we'll happily take some nifty space battles any day. Star Trek Into Darkness opens May 17, 2013.
HELLIFIED
In development at Paramount for some time, Hellified has received a new writer in Predators' Michael Finch, says a story at The Hollywood Reporter.
Originally scripted by Andy Burg, the film follows a team of criminals who travel to Hell itself to prevent the apocalypse. Dan Bradley (Red Dawn) was formerly attached to direct but the project is currently without an announced helmer.
Producers on Hellified include Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian.
THE SMURFS 2
A trailer for Sony Pictures Animation's The Smurfs 2 is now online!
In the sequel, the evil wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria) creates a couple of mischievous Smurf-like creatures called the Naughties that he hopes will let him harness the all-powerful, magical Smurf-essence. But when he discovers that only a real Smurf can give him what he wants — and only a secret spell that Smurfette knows can turn the Naughties into real Smurfs — Gargamel kidnaps Smurfette and brings her to Paris, where he has been winning the adoration of millions as the world's greatest sorcerer. It's up to Papa, Clumsy, Grouchy, and Vanity to return to our world, reunite with their human friends Patrick and Grace Winslow, and rescue her! Will Smurfette, who has always felt different from the other Smurfs, find a new connection with the Naughties Vexy and Hackus – or will the Smurfs convince her that their love for her is True Blue?
The film, which also stars Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofia Vergara, Brendan Gleeson, Katy Perry, Jonathan Winters, Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen, George Lopez, Anton Yelchin, Christina Ricci, JB Smoove and John Oliver, is set for release on July 31, 2013.
JUPITER ASCENDING
Eddie Redmayne is the latest name to enter negotiations to star in Andy and Lana Wachowski's Jupiter Ascending, Variety reports. He'd star in the sci-fi tale opposite Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis.
The film focuses on higher forms of life who are watching us from other worlds. Kunis will play a Russian immigrant who is busily scrubbing toilets for a living. Unbeknownst to her, she actually possesses the same perfect genetic makeup as the Queen of the Universe and is therefore a threat to her otherwise immortal rule.
Although Redmayne's specific role has not yet been revealed, you can catch the star in Les Misérables when it hits theaters Christmas Day.
PARADISE LOST The Hunger Games' Josh Hutcherson is set to join Benicio Del Toro in the upcoming Paradise Lost, reports Deadline. The story, based on true events, will mark the directorial debut of Andrea di Stefano, who was recently seen as an actor in Ang Lee's Life of Pi. He will also provide the screenplay.
The story follows a young man, Nick (Hutcherson), who visits Colombia and falls in love with a girl named Maria. Things get a little more complicated, however, when he learns that Maria's uncle (Del Toro) is the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Despite the matching title, Paradise Lost has no connection to Alex Proyas' now-defunct adaptation of John Milton's 17th century poem or Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's trilogy of documentaries surrounding the West Memphis Three.
Frederique Dumas, Dimitri Rassam and Jerome Seydoux will produce Paradise Lost with production slated to begin in March 2013 in Panama.
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS 2
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, PART 2
COMING JANUARY 29, 2013
BURBANK, CA (December 17, 2012) – Batman must battle old friends and foes on two fronts in the epic animated conclusion to Frank Miller’s masterpiece in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2, the next entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies. Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, the all-new, PG-13 rated film arrives January 29, 2013 from Warner Home Video.
With Gotham City back under his watchful eye, and accompanied by able sidekick Robin, Batman continues to battle crime – but his resurgence awakens a far worse evil at Arkham Asylum: The Joker. In the meantime, Superman has been dispatched by the President to halt Batman’s unsanctioned reign by whatever means necessary. Between the Joker’s
diabolical scheme to drag Batman to the darkest levels of insanity, and the Man of Steel’s seemingly invincible physical presence, the Dark Knight must confront adversaries and allies simultaneously while maintaining the peace in Gotham City.
Primetime television stars Michael Emerson (Person of Interest, Lost) and Mark Valley (Human Target, Fringe) join the voice cast as The Joker and Superman, respectively; and popular talk show host Conan O’Brien gives voice to animated talk show host Dave Endochrine. Fanboy favorite Peter Weller (RoboCop, Dexter) continues as Bruce Wayne/Batman, and he is once again accompanied by David Selby (The Social Network, Dark Shadows) as Commissioner Gordon, Ariel Winter
(Modern Family) as Carrie/Robin, and Michael McKean (This is Spinal Tap) as Dr. Bartholomew Wolper. Also featured in the voice cast is Maria Canals-Barrrera (Wizards of Waverly Place) as new Commissioner Yindel, Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds) as Lana Lang, and Radio Hall of Fame member Michael Jackson as Alfred.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2012
I'M BACK!
Had a wonderful trip abroad and am catching up on everything. I'll be updating the page gradually so stay tuned.
THE MUMMY
Dust off your bandages and prepare to enter Universal's tomb for a reboot of Egyptian proportions. Len Wiseman tosses vamps and werewolves for a crinkly dead pharaoh, resurrecting the "T" in terrifying horror flicks.
Universal's love for The Mummy dates back to 1932, when Boris Karloff wrapped himself in dingy whites for the lead. There have been several remakes, including Hammer's 1959 Technicolor outing, with Christopher Lee shuffling around causing trouble, and the Stephen Sommers action-fests The Mummy and The Mummy Returns in 1999 and 2001, starring Brendan Fraser.
Wiseman is currently finalizing plans to direct an updated version of the classic tale with a dark, gritty slant. Here are his comments on the project regarding bringing The Mummy back to life in the 21st century:
"There was skepticism. The difference between the two, if 'The Mummy' is to be the next movie for me, is that 'The Mummy' is a completely different film. It is a modern-day take. It doesn't have anything to do with the Brendan Fraser films, and it is not a remake of any kind.
"'The Mummy' is one of Universal's longstanding, iconic characters, well before the Brendan Fraser movies ... This is such a different thing. What was attractive to me ...There is still a script to be written, and all of that. ... But the pitch was to go with a much different tone. It was a Mummy like I'd never heard of before. It's nothing like what you would expect, at all, oddly. I was picturing Egypt, and the sand-swept settings. The mummy wrappings. When I heard what they were wanting to actually do with it, it was shocking.
"It's horror. Its epic. It's more of a modern-day version of what would happen if we came across a mummy in our world today. It is pretty fascinating."
Universal's The Mummy is hoping to crawl into theaters sometime in 2014.
TRANSFORMERS 4
The Transformers franchise is getting a makeover. It's got a new leading man, and two fresh-faced co-stars. Mark Wahlberg headlines the sequel, which he believes kicks it up a notch.
While promoting his upcoming film Broken City, Wahlberg spoke about his blockbuster gig. The actor and director Michael Bay just worked together on the upcoming film Pain and Gain. The experience was so great that they wanted to do it again. According to Wahlberg, "He said to me (on set), 'What do you think about doing a Transformers movie with me?' I said, 'Well, what do you want me to do?' He told me and I said, 'Absolutely!'"
Despite Wahlberg's impressive resume, with parts in The Fighter and The Departed, he says Transformers 4 "will be the most challenging role that I've played." He spoke to producers Steven Spielberg and Brian Grazer and assured them this wasn't about money. He wanted a family-friendly blockbuster under his belt.
"I said, 'Don't worry, guys, this is not me taking a paycheck and running with it. This is me trying to ... I liked what the guys did with, like, The Avengers, for instance. When I watched that movie I was not interested in seeing it at all, but it was entertaining for me as well as for my kids. I think they did a really good job, and we want to do something special with it, so I'm excited about it." Transformers 4 begins shooting in May and hits theaters June 27, 2014.
BATES MOTEL
One of the most curious series coming down the pike is A&E's Psycho prequel Bates Motel, which will follow psychopath-in-training Norman Bates as a teenager. Judging by the first trailer, this could be one of the creepiest character studies of the year.
Carlton Cuse (Lost) is bringing his clout as an executive producer to the contemporary reimagining of the story, and it seems to be shaping up as a dense family drama drenched in pure creepiness. Some intriguing cast and crew interviews are interspersed along with the series footage, which reveals they definitely won't be beholden entirely to the story of Psycho.
Instead, it'll serve as a jumping-off point, perhaps in the same way that the modern-day Battlestar Galactica reboot used the original series. Ideally they'll take what worked from Psycho and wrap it up in a modern blanket—then slice it up and murder it.
The series stars Freddie Highmore as Norman Bates and Vera Farmiga as his mother Norma. The show premieres in March.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
New Line Cinema and MGM's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey kicked off the holiday season with an estimated $84.8 million, a new December opening weekend record, surpassing the $77.2 million earned by Will Smith-starrer I Am Legend the same weekend in 2007. The Peter Jackson film debuted in 4,045 theaters in which it averaged a strong $20,958 per location. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey received an A CinemaScore from moviegoers which should help with word-of-mouth through the holidays. 58% of the audience was over the ages of 25 and males made up 57% of the audience.
$10.1 million of the domestic total came from the 326 IMAX theaters the film opened in this weekend. That's an average of $31,000 per screen. Internationally, the picture broke an IMAX December record grossing $5 million in 126 IMAX locations (an average of $40,000). The IMAX locations which showed the film in 48 fps were quite strong, generating $44,000 per screen domestically and $57,000 per screen internationally. IMAX's global weekend total for "The Hobbit" is an estimated $15+ million, which is a record for December.
In North America, DreamWorks Animation's Rise of the Guardians remained in second place with $7.4 million for a four-week total of $71.4 million. The animated family adventure cost about $145 million to make.
DreamWorks Pictures' Lincoln climbed a spot to third with $7.2 million. The $65 million Steven Spielberg film has earned $107.9 million after six weeks in theaters.
Dropping from first place to fourth, Sony and MGM's Skyfall added $7 million domestically for a total of $272.4 million after six weeks. Internationally, the 23rd James Bond film grossed an estimated $12.2 million this weekend, bringing the overseas total to $678.7 million. Worldwide, the film has earned $951 million to date.
Ang Lee's Life of Pi rounded out the top five with $5.4 million its fourth weekend. The Twentieth Century Fox Film release has collected $69.6 million after four weeks.
Also, Summit's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 earned $45.2 million its fifth weekend for a domestic total of $276.9 million.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2012
THE WALKING DEAD
We've barely had time to catch our breath from the insane midseason finale of "The Walking Dead," but AMC has set an official premiere date for the second half of Season 3: Feb. 10, 2013.
That's only 10 weeks away! Season 3 of the mega-hit zombie drama has been split into two equal halves, so the second half will run for eight episodes, just like the first.
Additionally, Chris Hardwick announced on "Dead" "post-game" talkshow "Talking Dead" that "Talking" will move to 10 p.m., immediately following new episodes of "Walking" in 2013. Plus, "Talking" will expand to one hour to allow for "more time to talk about the episodes, interview actors from the show, much more fan interaction," according to Hardwick.
STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS
Paramount Pictures has just released the first teaser poster for J.J. Abram's highly-anticipated sequel Star Trek Into Darkness.
The film, which stars Chris Pine, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve and Peter Weller, is described as follows:
In Summer 2013, pioneering director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes "Star Trek Into Darkness."
When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.
With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.
As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew. Star Trek Into Darkness hits theaters on May 17, 2013.
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
Warner Bros. Pictures has started airing this new TV spot for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey which gives a very quick look at the dragon Smaug in the film.
The December 14 release follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain, first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever... Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum's "precious" ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities... A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.
SEVENTH SON
USA Today has published the first two photos from Warner Bros. Pictures' Seventh Son featuring Jeff Bridges, Ben Barnes and Julianne Moore. Based on the young-adult novel "The Spook's Apprentice" by Joseph Delaney, the Sergei Bodrov-directed film hits 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters on October 18, 2013 and also stars Alicia Vikander, Antje Traue, Olivia Williams and Kit Harington. Seventh Son is described as follows:
In a time long past, an evil is about to be unleashed that will reignite the war between the forces of the supernatural and humankind once more. Master Gregory (Jeff Bridges) is a knight who had imprisoned the malevolently powerful witch, Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore), centuries ago. But now she has escaped and is seeking vengeance. Summoning her followers of every incarnation, Mother Malkin is preparing to unleash her terrible wrath on an unsuspecting world. Only one thing stands in her way: Master Gregory.
In a deadly reunion, Gregory comes face to face with the evil he always feared would someday return. Now he has only until the next full moon to do what usually takes years: train his new apprentice, Tom Ward (Ben Barnes) to fight a dark magic unlike any other. Man's only hope lies in the seventh son of a seventh son.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE RESULTS
The weekend after Thanksgiving has never been a great one to release a movie, but this weekend's two offerings barely even made a mark with Brad Pitt having one of his worst openings for a wide release as Andrew Dominik's gangster thriller Killing Them Softly (The Weinstein Company) didn't even crack the Top 5.
Instead, the top six movies remained the same with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (Summit) pulling a three-peat by remaining at #1 for the third weekend in a row, bringing in $17.4 million and taking its total gross to $254 million. Down 60% from the Thanksgiving weekend, it's slightly ahead of the previous chapter which had grossed $247 million by its own third weekend. It also grossed $48.4 million overseas to bring its global total to date to $702.4 million.
The 23rd James Bond film Skyfall (Sony/MGM), directed by Sam Mendes, also held its ground, remaining in second place for a third week in a row and closing the gap with "Breaking Dawn" by grossing $17 million over the weekend and bringing its four-week total to $246 million. It grossed an additional $34 million overseas to bring its global total to $869 million.
Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (DreamWorks), starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the nation's 16th President, continues to do big business despite only playing in roughly 2,000 theaters. It remained in third place for its third weekend with $13.6 million, down 47% from the holiday weekend, and taking its gross to $83.7 million. DreamWorks distributor Walt Disney Pictures still plans on expanding the movie wider, although they may be waiting to see how the upcoming critics awards and other nominations pan out.
DreamWorks Animation's Rise of the Guardians was right behind it in fourth place with $13.5 million, down a respectable 43% from its opening weekend and bringing its total to $48.9 million in 12 days. It added another $40 million overseas to bring its international total to $57 million, which might end up being the holiday adventure film's savior.
The animated film also remained just ahead of Ang Lee's Life of Pi (20th Century Fox), which brought in $12 million in its second weekend of wide release to take fifth place, with its domestic total falling right behind "Guardians" with $48.4 million.
The animated family adventure Wreck-It Ralph (Walt Disney) took the second-biggest plunge in the Top 10, dropping 58% to bring in $7 million for sixth place. It has grossed $158.2 million since opening in early November.
Brad Pitt teamed with Australian filmmaker Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) for the gangster thriller Killing Them Softly (The Weinstein Company), co-starring Scott McNairy (Argo), Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises), Ray Liotta and James Gandolfini. Opening in 2,424 theaters, it failed to bring in the type of business Pitt normally sees, grossing just $7 million to take seventh place with approximately $2.9 thousand per site.
The long-delayed Red Dawn (FilmDistrict) remake dropped to eighth place with $6.5 million, down 54% from its opening weekend. It has grossed $31.3 million so far.
Robert Zemeckis's Flight, starring Denzel Washington, took ninth place with $4.5 million, having grossed $81.5 million to date.
The grisly horror sequel The Collection (LD Entertainment) from the writers of the "Saw" franchise opened in 1,403 theaters nationwide on Friday and was able to bring in $3.4 million to round off the Top 10, which grossed roughly $101 million, up 31% from last year when no new movies were given a wide release.
Falling just outside the Top 10, David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook (The Weinstein Company), starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, held well with $3.3 million, down just 24% from last weekend despite not adding any theaters of significance. It's grossed just $11 million and one expects that the Weinstein Company will expand it nationwide gradually over the coming month.
Two weeks after opening in limited release, Joe Wright's Anna Karenina (Focus Features), starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law, expanded into 384 theaters and that was enough to help it take 12th place with $2.2 million and a three-week total of $4 million.
Opening in 172 locations, the Bollywood thriller Talaash (Reliance Entertainment), starring Indian superstar Aamir Khan, grossed just under $2 million over the weekend. That's roughly 11,600 per site, showing the box office draw of Khan, the star of the Bollywood hit 3 Idiots.
SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Once again silencing the naysayers, Pixar and Disney's Brave topped the Friday box office with an impressive $24.5 million, putting the animated tentpole on course for a weekend debut in the $66 million range. Brave -- receiving an A CinemaScore from audiences -- is the first Pixar title to feature an female heroine, prompting some to question whether the 3D movie could come near other titles in the company's pantheon. So far, it is having no trouble.
Last year, for example, Pixar's Cars 2 earned $25.7 on the same Friday for a $66.1 million weekend.
And so far, Brave is pacing ahead of DreamWorks Animation and Paramount's Madgascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, which opened earlier this month to a strong $60.3 million after earning $20.7 million on Friday (one difference -- not all kids were out of school yet). Madagascar 3 remains a potent force in its third weekend and will easily come in No. 2, beating out Timur Bekmambetov's new entry Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which is now looking at a soft debut in the $16 million-plus range.
The strength of both Brave and Madagascar 3 underscore the pent-up demand for family movies.
Fom 20th Century Fox, Abraham Lincoln grossed $6.3 million on Friday after losing steam during evening shows.
Fox had hoped the film -- costing roughly $68 million to make -- would get to $20 million. Abraham Lincoln -- featuring the storied U.S. president as a vampire hunter -- is playing like a horror film and received a problematic C+ CinemaScore.
Produced by Bekmambetov and Tim Burton, Abraham Lincoln was adapted for the big screen by Seth Grahame-Smith from his book. Abraham Lincoln is an important test for the "mash-up" genre. (Lionsgate is making the film adaptation of Grahame-Smith's ride and PrejudiceP and Zombies.)
DISNEY AT COMIC-CON
Disney Channel and Disney XD have announced their full lineup of panels for next month's Comic-Con in San Diego. Check out the full listing below!
Friday, July 13 TRON: Uprising: 2:15 - 3:15 p.m. (Room 6A) - Voice cast Elijah Wood ("Beck") and Bruce Boxleitner ("Tron") join executive producer/director Charlie Bean and consulting producers Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz. The panel will also feature never-before-seen clips of Disney XDÕs turbo-charged original series "Motorcity" and a sneak peek of the upcoming animated series "Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja." The panel will be moderated by Daily Variety film editor Josh Dickey.
Saturday, July 14 Phineas and Ferb: 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. (Room 6A) - Creators/executive producers Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh join cast members Vincent Martella ("Phineas"), Alyson Stoner ("Isabella") and Dee Bradley Baker ("Perry"). The panel will also include an exclusive sneak peek of this summer's epic two-part cliffhanger episode "Where's Perry?" Special guest moderator to be announced at Comic-Con.
Disney Channel Television Animation: 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. (Room: 5AB) - Fans can see exclusive footage and clips from upcoming episodes of Disney Channel's BAFTA award-winning series "Fish Hooks" and its newest mystery adventure series "Gravity Falls," plus a first look at the upcoming series "Wander Over Yonder." Panelists include: "Fish Hooks" creator/executive producer Noah Z. Jones and executive producer Maxwell Atoms and voice talent Justin Roiland ("Oscar") and Kari Wahlgren ("Shellsea"); "Gravity Falls" creator Alex Hirsch and creative director Michael Rianda and voice talent Jason Morgan Ritter ("Dipper"), and "Wander Over Yonder" creator Craig McCracken and co-producer Lauren Faust. The panel will be moderated by Eric Coleman, Senior Vice President, Original Series, Disney Television Animation.
SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 2012
THE PROTOTYPE
The first teaser trailer for the new sci-fi action flick The Prototype has been releasedÑshowing off a humanoid cyborg you do not want to mess with. So what happens when it goes rogue?
The film, from Act of Valor creators the Bandito Brothers, follows a humanoid combat drone that gets loose, and the manhunt that ensues. Plus, there appear to be some conspiratorial undertones to boot.
The effects look stellar, and the heads-up display (HUD) for the robot looks awesome.
The film stars Neal McDonough (Captain America), Joseph Mawle (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) and Anna Anissimova.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
A new clip from The Amazing Spider-Man has been releasedÑdropping some major intel on how Marc Webb's reboot is tackling the mysterious death of Peter Parker's parents.
The clip shows off a tense conversation between Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifan) and Ratha (Irrfan Khan) as they discuss shady, secret trials for a new serum.
The topic of Richard Parker's death, and how it may have come about, comes up in a spoilery bit of conversation.
THE BOURNE LEGACY
It happens every summer, the last-minute shuffling of release schedules and today it's been announced there will be another major one as Universal Pictures has decided to move Tony Gilroy's The Bourne Legacy, starring Jeremy Renner, back one week to August 10.
It makes perfect sense, because originally it was going up against another action movie, the Len Wiseman-directed remake of Total Recall, starring Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel, and Kate Beckinsale, and now it's also able to get away from the third weekend of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, which is likely to still be going strong by early August.
The movie now just has to face the Will Ferrell-Zach Galifianakis political comedy The Campaign and Meryl Streep, Steve Carell and Tommy Lee Jones in the adult-oriented Hope Springs.
At the same time, Deadline is reporting on recent Vancouver reshoots on the movie that will reboot the franchise sans original star Matt Damon, while clarifying that they had nothing to do with the decision to move release dates. Last minute reshoots are nothing new and often done to improve small things in the story, and the film's second unit director and stunt coordinator Dan Bradley (who performed the same functions on "Ultimatum") was at the helm for the two days of pick-ups.
They also confirm that the decision to move The Bourne Legacy was more in response to exhibitors complaining about having two high profile action movies being released on the same date.
OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN
Aaron Eckart has been elected President of the United States for the action thriller Olympus Has Fallen, Variety reports.
Set up at Nu Image/Millennium Films, the Antoine Fuqua film also has Gerard Butler attached to play an ex-Secret Service agent who must defend the White House from terrorists.
Written by newcomers Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt, production on Olympus was previously reported to begin in September, but it's being fast-tracked to race against the similarly-themed White House Down, set up at Sony Pictures.
Eckhart, who recently appeared in The Rum Diary, can next be seen in I, Frankenstein, set for release on February 22, 2013.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2012
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST REMAKES
A few months ago, The CW ordered a script for a remake of the '80s fantasy TV series Beauty and the Beast. It seems they weren't the only ones who thought a new Beauty series was a good idea. It turns out ABC has a script, too, and now BOTH of them are getting pilots.
News that The CW was taking its script to the pilot stage came last week. That wasn't entirely unexpected, but now ABC is jumping into the mix with its own take on the tale in what could be a bid to become America's Fairy Tale Network.
Unlike the CW version, which will follow the original show's more modernized romance with a "procedural twist," ABC's Beauty pilot will be set in a "mythical, dangerous" fairy-tale world where "a beautiful and tough princess discovers an unlikely connection with a mysterious beast." Once Upon a Time gave ABC a major boost this season, revitalizing its waning Sunday-night lineup. It seems ABC is hoping yet another fairy-tale show will provide yet another ratings bump. Beauty may even end up being Once's Sunday night follow-up.
The CW's take on the tale is co-executive-produced by Ron Koslow, creator of the '80s series, and co-written by Jennifer Levin (Felicity) and Sherri Cooper (Brothers and Sisters). For its version, ABC has tapped Jericho co-creator Jonathan E. Steinberg to write the pilot. There's no word on casting for either show yet.
WIDOW DETECTIVE
CBS has added another drama to its pilot orders. Widow Detective, which counts CSI mastermind Carol Mendelsohn as an executive producer, certers on a decorated police detective who becomes a surrogate husband, lover and father to the families of three partners lost in the line of duty.
David Hubbard (Noel) is attached to write and executive produce the CBS TV Studios project, with Julie Weitz, head of development at Mendelsohn's production company, on board to executive produce. Widow is one of four dramas Mendelsohn has in development at CBS. The others include Two Badges, based on the book by Mona Ruiz and Geoff Boucher with The Good Wife writer Ted Humphrey, Murder Room with feature scribe George Nolfi and the Rifleman reboot with Chris Columbus set up at CBS.
In addition, TNT picked up her Missing to pilot in September, and she has projects in development with both CW and FX through her overall deal with CBS Television Studios.
BANSHEE
Alan Ball is working double time for HBO.
The premium cabler's sibling network, Cinemax, has given a series order to Ball's crime drama Banshee, ordering 10 episodes of the project that will be executive produced by the True Blood showrunner.
Jonathan Tropper and David Schicker will pen the drama, which revolves around a criminal who steps into the identity of the Banshee, Penn., where he continues his shady ways while being hunted by gangsters he crossed in his past. House's Greg Yaitanes will direct the pilot and executive produce with Ball, Tropper, Schickler and Peter Macdissi.
Ball will juggle Banshee with his duties on HBO's campy Anna Paquin vampire drama True Blood, which is in production on its fifth season.
Cinemax has been making a bigger push into original scripted fare with Strike Back picked up for a sophomore season, Melissa George action drama Nemesis and a reboot of the feature series Transporter, starring Chris Vance.
In addition to Banshee and True Blood, Ball also has Wichita, an hourlong medical drama in development at HBO about a Kansas surgeon who inadvertently becomes the focal point of a contemporary political, cultural and ethical war surrounding late-term abortions.
Ball inked a multiyear deal with HBO in July.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Columbia Pictures has released the official synopsis for director Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man, opening in 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on July 3. This is how the studio describes the film:
One of the world's most popular characters is back on the big screen as a new chapter in the Spider-Man legacy is revealed in "The Amazing Spider-Man." Focusing on an untold story that tells a different side of the Peter Parker story, the new film stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, with Martin Sheen and Sally Field. The film is directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay written by James Vanderbilt, based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Matt Tolmach are producing the film in association with Marvel Entertainment for Columbia Pictures, which will open in theaters everywhere in 3D on July 3, 2012.
"The Amazing Spider-Man" is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents' disappearance – leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father's former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors' alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.
Stay tuned for lots more on the movie as we get closer!
JOHN CARTER
A fifth TV spot for Walt Disney Pictures' John Carter is now online.
Directed by Andrew Stanton, the big screen adaptation of the classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs hits 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters on March 9. The film features a cast that includes Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, Thomas Hayden Church and Willem Dafoe. John Carter tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.
MERLIN NEWS
For six seasons, he played the traitorous Gaius Baltar on Battlestar Galactica. This Friday, James Callis brings his acting talents to the international hit series MERLIN, playing the equally unscrupulous Julius Borden.
And in his first scene in this Friday’s episode, titled “Aithusa,” Callis comes face to face with the man who was once his mentor – fittingly, court physician Gaius.
Once the pupil of MERLIN’s Gaius, Borden left Camelot during the Great Purge, but in the darkness returns to Camelotlooking for the third part of the Triskelion – an ancient object that promises to reveal the location of the last dragon egg.
Despite a stern warning from Gaius, Merlin offers to help Borden if it means he can fulfill his obligation as the Last Dragonlord to ensure the survival of the species. But the task turns deadly when Merlin realizes exactly why Borden wants the egg.
Although the Great Dragon, Kilgharrah (voiced by John Hurt), figured prominently in the first season of MERLIN, in the last two seasons his primary function has been to give advice to Merlin and help him in times of greatest threat. It was Kilgharrah, for instance, who cautioned Merlin that “your determination to see goodness in people will be your undoing.”
In “Aithusa,” however, the Great Dragon assumes a much more prominent role in the story. In the last two seasons, MERLIN “has shown his separation, his independence from the Dragon,” says actor Colin Morgan, who plays Merlin. “At the beginning of Season One, the Dragon was a confidante, someone Merlin needed help from. Slowly and slowly, they grew apart, and the Dragon’s motives became slightly unclear, so there has been a question of trust between them.”
And yet, Kilgharrah and Merlin are inextricably linked, Morgan says. “As Dragonlord, Merlin can always command the Dragon, which is a great quality. What’s going to be interesting to see is if Arthur ever meets the Dragon – what his reaction would be.”
While the Dragon doesn’t meet Arthur in “Aithusa,” he does meet a new character … though just who (or what) that is remains to be seen. Viewers will discover the identity – and his or her role in Camelot – in “Aithusa,” the next episode of MERLIN, which airs Friday at 10 p.m. ET/PT (9 p.m. Central), only on Syfy.
All three seasons of MERLIN are now available on DVD and on iTunes. Be sure to follow the latest news on MERLIN at the Official Merlin page on Facebook.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2012
THE EVIL DEAD NEWS
The remake of The Evil Dead that we've been hearing about for ages has lost its female lead just weeks after she signed on.
It was right after the start of the new year that Lily Collins was announced as the first cast member of the new Evil Dead, with the young actress slated to play Mia, one of the five friends who stumble upon that cabin in the woods and its dreaded contents.
But today Variety reporter Jeff Sneider posted on Twitter that Collins was out due to "a scheduling issue." The actress just completed work on Mirror, Mirror, one of two Snow White movies coming out this year, and has also reportedly been attached to an adaptation of the young adult fantasy novel The Mortal Instruments.
Although we've heard little about that project for a while now, it's speculated that the production could be finally starting up and throwing a wrench in Collins' plan to appear in The Evil Dead.
So now producer Sam Raimi and director Fede Alvarez have to start looking again—and the clock is ticking since The Evil Dead is due in theaters on April 12th, 2013. Maybe they can run the script through the word processor again and put Ash back in there?
ELEMENTARY
When news broke that CBS had approved a pilot for a modern-day reimagining of the Sherlock Holmes story called Elementary, it seemed like just another part of the Holmes resurgence—falling in line with the successful film series starring Robert Downey Jr. and the BBC's hit series Sherlock. But it could have some slightly more nefarious origins, at least according to a producer from the BBC series. Sherlock executive producer Sue Vertue told The Independent that her team was actually approached by CBS to create a licensed U.S. version of Sherlock a while back, but they turned the U.S. network down. Not soon after, CBS announced Elementary was in development.
According to Vertue, the timing seems like more than just a coincidence.
"We understand that CBS are doing their own version of an updated Sherlock Holmes," she said. "It's interesting, as they approached us a while back about remaking our show. At the time, they made great assurances about their integrity, so we have to assume that their modernised Sherlock Holmes doesn't resemble ours in any way, as that would be extremely worrying."
If there is too much of a resemblance, Vertue noted every recourse could be taken—and hinted that could even mean a potential lawsuit against CBS.
"We are very proud of our show, and like any proud parent will protect the interest and wellbeing of our offspring," she said.
For those unfamiliar, the BBC series takes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's turn-of-the-century detective and places him in modern-day England, solving cases with everything from CSI equipment to cellphones. Plus, his partner Dr. John Watson publishes their exploits online via his personal blog.
As for the now-in-development Elementary, Holmes and Watson will be solving cases in modern-day New York City. Additional details about the show have not been released.
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
For months now, we've all been wondering whether actor Liam Neeson was going to be in The Dark Knight Rises. With the actor playing coy—or rather, playing the ''comatose amnesiac patient'' card regarding the fate of his character, Ra's al Ghul—we almost never thought it would happen! Until we finally got to hear exactly what we wanted.
The actor has confirmed to showbizspy that he's indeed back as Ra's al Ghul in TDKR and that he had filmed some scenes. However, the Irish actor has no idea what's really in store for his character:
"I can tell you nothing about Dark Knight Rises, seriously. I was on set for maybe an hour-and-a-half and the director didn't tell me anything of what it's about. So, I'm being very honest when I say I have no idea what's going to happen."
An hour and a half is a short time to film anything, making us think that perhaps we may only get to see Ra's al Ghul in flashback scenes (after all, the character appeared to die in that spectacular train crash at the end of Batman Begins; try to get out of THAT alive) with his beloved daughter Talia al Ghul. (Joey King plays the character as a young girl, and Marion Cotillard as the older Talia.)
Neeson may also have some scenes with a younger Bane (Tom Hardy), or he may also appear in flashbacks about Bruce Wayne's (Christian Bale) past with the man who was his former mentor.
No matter how he appears in TDKR, it is really exciting to have him back as Ra's al Ghul. The Dark Knight Rises will soar into theaters on July 20, 2012.
THE WOMAN IN BLACK
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Daniel Radcliffe stepped out without his trusted wand and wizardry for the world premiere of his first post-Harry Potter role in The Woman in Black in the British capital Tuesday.
For his first spell after Potter, Radcliffe stars in the spooky Victorian England-set picture which also includes Janet McTeer, who was in Los Angeles at the time, in its cast.
McTeer is fresh from learning she has been nominated for a supporting role actress Oscar for her turn in Albert Nobbs.
Radcliffe drew a crowd -- albeit smaller than he's used for at the height of Potter mania -- for the premiere held at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank.
The dank, damp weather did nothing to dampen the spirits of the crowds all waiting to see the Potter star.
Before the film unspooled, Radcliffe said it turned out scary enough to "make me jump."
The James Watkins-directed ghost story adaptation is penned by Jane Goldman and backed by Alliance Films, Hammer Films Productions, Cross Creek Pictures, Exclusive Media Group and Film I Vast.
It is a long-anticipated return to British horror stories for Hammer.
Radcliffe also said he will next play poet Allen Ginsberg in the independent film, Kill Your Darlings on the big screen next.
SIDE EFFECTS
First announced in November (under the title The Bitter Pill), Steven Soderbergh's medical thriller, Side Effects has now, according to Deadline, added Catherine Zeta-Jones to its cast.
Zeta-Jones, who previously teamed with Soderbergh for Traffic in 2000, joins Jude Law, Blake Lively and Channing Tatum.
The film, which also reunites Soderbergh with screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (The Informant!, Contagion), is said to be set in the world of psychopharmacology (the study of how drugs affect the human mind). Zeta-Jones and Law are said to play doctors with Lively a woman who becomes addicted to prescription drugs and begins an affair with Law's character. Tatum, meanwhile, plays Lively's character's husband, a convict who is due to soon be released from prison.
Lively remains the sole cast member not to have worked alongside Soderbergh in the past. Law appeared in last year's Contagion and Tatum just appeared in Haywire and will soon star in the director's Magic Mike, arriving June 29th.
CHRONICLE
Twentieth Century Fox has debuted a third TV spot for their upcoming Chronicle.
Opening in theaters on February 3rd, the movie stars Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan, Alex Russell and Michael Kelly. In Chronicle, three high school students make an incredible discovery, leading to them developing uncanny powers beyond their understanding. As they learn to control their abilities, and use them to their advantage, their lives start to spin out of control, and their darker sides begin to take over.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2012
CHANGES IN RELEASE DATES FOR RELATIVITY MEDIA
Relativity Media has made two big release date changes today. The Raven was scheduled to go up against John Carter on March 9th, but the James McTeigue-directed thriller will now open in theaters on April 27th. Starring John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson and Oliver Jackson-Cohen, the film faces The Five-Year Engagement and Safe on the new date.
Relativity also pushed back the Jennifer Lawrence-starrer House at the End of the Street from April 20th to September 21st. The horror thriller will go up against Dredd and Hotel Transylvania on the new release date.
Relativity's Haywire just opened last Friday and their next film, Act of Valor, opens on February 24th.
THE VOW
A new clip from the upcoming romantic drama, The Vow, has debuted at Yahoo! Movies.
Starring Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum, Sam Neill, Scott Speedman and Jessica Lange, the film tells the story of a newlywed couple as they recover from a car accident that puts the wife in a coma. Waking up with severe memory loss, her husband endeavors to win her heart again.
The Vow arrives in theaters on February 10th.
MAN OF STEEL NEWS
Zack Snyder's Man of Steel has added another famous character from the Superman mythos to the production, albeit in a younger form than fans might have been expecting. Superman Super Site confirms today that 13-year-old Jadin Gould will play a young Lana Lang in a flashback scene to Clark Kent's Smallville childhood.
First appearing in 1950's Superboy #50, Lana is the teenage girlfriend of young Clark. She was a central character in the television series, "Smallville" (played by Kristin Kreuk) and has also appeared as a teenager on the big screen in 1978's Superman: The Movie (played by Diane Sherry) and later as an adult, re-entering Clark's life in Superman III (Played by Annette O'Toole, who would later play Martha Kent on "Smallville").
At her young age, Gould already boasts an impressive resume, having appeared on television shows like "Chuck", "Rizzoli & Isles", "The Mentalist" and on the big screen in Battle Los Angeles.
Now filming, Man of Steel's cast also includes Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Michael Shannon, Antje Traue, Christopher Meloni, Harry Lennix and Laurence Fishburne. It is targeting a June 14, 2013 release.
MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2012
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
This weekend's box office duel was between the fighting vampires of "Underworld: Awakening" and the Tuskegee Airmen of "Red Tails." Alas, the "Underworld" sequel managed to cleanly beat the George Lucas-produced historical drama, bringing in $25.4 million to "Red Tails'" $19.1 million.
Rounding out the top five box office earners for the weekend of Jan. 20-22 were last week's No. 1, "Contraband," in third with $12.2 million, the wide release of "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" in fourth with $10.5 million and another butt-kicking female-fronted film, "Haywire," in fifth with $9 million.
Here's the rest of the top twelve:
6. "Beauty and the Beast 3D," $8.6 million
7. "Joyful Noise," $6.1 million
8. "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," $5.5 million
9. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," $4.8 million
10. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," $3.8 million
11. "The Iron Lady," $3.7 million
12. "War Horse," $3 million PS: For those of you not aware of this, J. Michael Straczynski (yes, our Babylon 5 JMS) is one of the writers
on this movie.
DA VINCI DEMONS
Starz has found its da Vinci.
British actor Tom Riley has been cast to play a young Leonardo da Vinci in the network's upcoming original series, Da Vinci's Demons.
The historical fantasy drama, a co-production with BBC Worldwide, follows what is being labeled the "untold" story of da Vinci during his turbulent youth in Renaissance Florence.
"Given that da Vinci was the model for the 'Renaissance Man,' these were incredibly large shoes to fill. Leonardo had to be smart, witty and incredibly confident --without coming across as arrogant. He also had to be tormented, because, as a true visionary and polymath, he was ostracized for his ideas as much as he was celebrated," said the series' scribe David S. Goyer. "As soon as [Tom] finished his audition, we knew we had found our man."
Added Starz managing director Carmi Zlotnik, "Tom showed us that there are many dimensions to this man yet to be explored, and, at the same time, make him believable, suprising and unique to a world-wide audience."
Riley, who is the first actor cast in the series, is well known in UK circles where he's a regular at London's Royal Court Theatre. His small screen credits include ITV's Monroe as well as Bouquet of Barbed Wire and Lost in Austen. On this side of the pond, he was nominated by the Drama Desk Awards for his performance as Septimus Hodge in Arcadia.
The project, the first to enter production under the multi-year pact between Starz and BBC Worldwide Productions, is set to premiere with eight episodes in 2013. It will join a schedule that currently includes Boss, Spartacus and upcoming Magic City. BBC will distribute Da Vinci's Demons internationally.
Goyer, whose other works include Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, is already on board as the series' showrunner. Julie Gardner and BBC Worldwide Productions' head Jane Tranter are attached as executive producers.
THE LAST EXORCISM
It looks like The Last Exorcism wasn't the last exorcism. A good box office performance in 2010 made sure of that, so now we have a sequel in the works.
Shooting is expected to begin very soon, using a script by Damien Chazelle. This weekend, the director of the sequel was revealed and it's not Daniel Stamm, who helmed the first entry.
Ashley Bell is returning to reprise her role as Nell, however.
According to Deadline, Ed Gass-Donnelly (Small Town Murder Songs) is in the director's seat this time.
And while story details are being kept under wraps, it is known that the events that take place pick up three months after The Last Exorcism.
The producers - Eli Roth, Eric Newman, Marc Abraham and Tom Bliss - are mulling over titles for the sequel. The Last Exorcism 2 isn't going to cut it, apparently.
A Studiocanal (the company financing the film) exec tells Deadline: "This much bigger scale movie will unravel a profoundly scarier chapter to Nell’s battle between good and evil. God have mercy."
SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2012
SPIELBERG UPDATE
Steven Spielberg is a busy, busy man.
Not only is the famous director helming new projects like "Lincoln," a biopic about our 16th president, and "Robopocalypse," a sci-fi book adaptation about a robot uprising -- let's not forget "War Horse" and "The Adventures of Tintin," both of which are still in theaters -- Spielberg also has his hand in all sorts of projects as a successful producer.
This TV season alone he had his hand in three different series -- "Terra Nova," which aired its first season on FOX in the fall, and two midseason dramas that have yet to debut. "Smash," about the mounting of a Marilyn Monroe-themed Broadway musical, debuts Feb. 6 on NBC, while "The River," a creepy mockumentary about a documentary crew observing supernatural forces in the Amazon, premieres Feb. 7 on ABC.
Spielberg seems especially proud of "Smash," telling Access Hollywood, "I came up with the idea for the series. I'd been flogging it for about five years. It took [NBC entertainment president] Bob Greenblatt to step forward, because he's done musical theater with '9 to 5.' He really responded to the material."
Spielberg also recently spoke about some of his film projects at a press conference, calling "Robopocalypse" "a cautionary tale about war between human beings and robots. It's a big crowd pleaser, I think, a big action popcorn movie with a message."
And if you're a fan of Spielberg's previous work, you'll be happy to know that he's coming back for "Jurrasic Park 4" -- but not as director. "I don't want to talk about 'Jurassic Park 4' yet - it's too early - but I can tell you that I'm not directing it. I'm producing it though," he says.
BOX OFFICE REPORT
Box Office Report: 'Underworld 4' Wins Friday With $9.4 Mil, 'Red Tails' Flies With $6 Mil.
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" grosses $3.2 million as it expands nationwide; Steven Soderbergh's upscale action pic 'Haywire' comes in No. 5 after scoring D+ CinemaScore.
Screen Gems' Underworld: Awakening and George Lucas' Red Tails are fueling a strong weekend at the domestic box office, which could be up as much as 30 percent over last year despite bad weather in the Midwest and East. Underworld Awakening, the fourth outing in the Kate Beckinsale vampire-werewolf franchise, grossed $9.4 million on Friday, benefiting from being released in 3D and IMAX runs. The horror action pic is course to gross $23 million to $24 million for the weekend -- better than two of the three previous titles.
Threequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycons debuted to $20.7 million in January 2009, a franchise low. The original Underworld opened to $21.8 mllion, followed by $26.9 million for sequel Underworld: Evolution. Awakening, co-produced by Screen Gems and Lakeshore Entertainment for $70 million, also opens in a number of overseas markets this weekend.
Fully financed and produced by George Lucas, Red Tails grossed a better than expected $6 million on Friday for a projected $16 million weekend. Fox is distributing the movie, which came in No. 2 behind Awakening. Red Tails, about the Tuskegee Airman during World War II, received a glowing A CinemaScore. Awakening and Warner Bros.' Extremely Loud & Incrediby Close, which is expanding nationwide this weekend, both received an A- CinemaScore.
Lucas spent 20 years pursuing the project, and recently revealed he couldn't get any studio to finance the film because of an all-black cast. He finally decided to put up the money himself, and spent $58 million on the production budget and another $35 in distribution costs. Lucas produced with Rick McCallum.
The cast of Red Tails includes Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard. Recently, the producers and cast were recently at the White House for special screening of the film, along with director Anthony Hemingway.
Stephen Daldry's post-9/11 drama Extremely Loud, starring Thomas Horn, Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks, came in No. 4 on Friday, grossing $3.2 million as it expanded from six theaters, where it's been playing since Christmas Day, to 2,630 locations. Projections show Extremely Loud grossing $10 million for the weekend.
Universal's Mark Wahlberg starrer Contraband came in No. 3 on its second Friday, grossing $3.7 million for a projected $12 million weekend. The pic's domestic gross through Friday was $37.6 million.
Steven Soderbergh's upscale action film Haywire, the weekend's other new player, came in No. 5 on Friday after scoring a dismal D+ CinemaScore. The Relativity Media pic grossed $2.9 million for the day, and is expected to gross $8 million to $9 million for the weekend. Relativity says the film only cost $23 million, with much of the budget covered by foreign presales.
Headlining Gina Carano as a female covert operative, Haywire also stars Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Chaning Tatum and Michael Douglas. Haywire opens in a handful of foreign territories this weekend, including Russia and the U.K. Alliance is distributing the movie in Canada.
THE NORMAL HEART
Julia Roberts, Alec Baldwin, Matt Bomer and Jim Parsons have joined Ryan Murphy's ("American Horror Story," Eat Pray Love, "Glee") next film, an adaptation of Larry Kramer's semi-autobiographical play The Normal Heart, says The Hollywood Reporter. The film is being produced by Brad Pitt's Plan B production company. The play is described as follows: "The Normal Heart" is the explosive drama about our most terrifying and troubling medical crisis today: the AIDS epidemic. It tells the story of very private lives caught up in the heartrendering ordeal of suffering and doom - an ordeal that was largely ignored for reasons of politics and majority morality."
Mark Ruffalo will play the lead character Ned Weeks. Roberts plays Emma Brookner, "a wheel-chair bound doctor who is one of the only doctors in New York talking the new disease seriously." Baldwin will play Weeks' brother, "a lawyer having a hard time dealing with his sibling's sexuality." Bomer's character is Felix Turner, "a gay fashion journalist who becomes Week’s boyfriend and tragically contracts the disease," while Parsons is reprising his Broadway version of "a Southerner who is a gay activist and part of a gay men’s health crisis group."
Kramer wrote the screenplay.
NOTHING TO FEAR
Anchor Bay Films has made a deal at Sundance with Slash's new company Slasher Films to distribute Nothing to Fear. The full press release:
Anchor Bay Films announced today the pick up of Slasher Films’ Nothing to Fear. Slasher Films is the new horror label conceived by legendary guitar hero Slash and the producing team of Rob Eric and Academy Award™ winning producer Michael Williams (Session 9, Transsiberian, The Fog of War). Nothing to Fear is the first film to be produced in the Slasher Films slate and is based on an actual town in Kansas, which, according to legend, is one of the seven gateways to Hell. The film will be directed by Anthony Leonardi III. Leonardi has been the lead creature artist and storyboard artist for such films as Constantine, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Rango and the upcoming 47 Ronin. His vision and tenacity have made him one of the most talked about new directors. Slash will be co-producing the score of the movie.
“Anchor Bay is thrilled to be working with the Slasher Films team,” commented Kevin Kasha, Executive Vice President, Acquisitions and Co-Productions for Anchor Bay Films. “We knew we wanted to work with Slash when he announced the formation of the label back in September at Toronto and after having read this script, we are even more excited. Anchor Bay Films is the PERFECT home for Nothing to Fear.”
“The team that we’ve put together for Nothing to Fear is nothing short of excellent,” added Slash. “Anthony Leonardi’s vision of this story is exceptionally unnerving and dark. It will keep you totally engaged from the first second of the film to the last. It’s guaranteed to scare the hell out of you.”
“Slash is one of the biggest music icons in the world,” remarked Josh Thomashow, Director of Acquisitions for Anchor Bay Films. “Anchor Bay is so proud to be a part of the brand that makes him an icon in the horror world as well.” Nothing to Fear is about a family whose journey towards a better life in a small town is savagely derailed by a charismatic but emotionally conflicted man of the cloth.
Stemming from folklore surrounding the actual town of Stull, Kansas, generations of residents and outsiders alike have proclaimed Stull to be one of the seven known gateways to Hell, where once a year, the Devil will rise from the town’s modest graveyard to walk the Earth. For decades, television, music, movies, and more have cautiously addressed the town; its horror is so infamous, even Pope John Paul II refused to fly over its grounds. Nothing to Fear finally pulls the folklore to the forefront and reveals the unsettling fact and fiction rumbling beneath the surface.
The deal was negotiated by Josh Thomashow on behalf of Anchor Bay and by Executive Producers Shaun Redick and Ray Mansfield of Movie Package Co., and Jackie Eckhouse of Sloss Eckhouse LawCo on behalf of Slasher Films. Content Media Corp. is currently handling international sales for the picture.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2012
666 PARK AVENUE
The Hollywood Reporter writes that ABC has made a date with the Devil.
The network has picked up to pilot 666 Park Ave., an hourlong drama from Alloy Entertainment, the producers of The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle and Gossip Girl.
From Warner Bros. Television and Alloy, 666 Park is based on the book series by Gabriella Pierce. Like the books, the drama centers on an innocent couple from the midwest that moves to New York and gets hired to be resident managers of a building on the Upper East Side. There, unbeknownst to the couple, the residents have all unwittingly made deals with the Devil to have their deepest needs, ambitions and desires fulfilled.
David Wilcox is attached to adapt the project and executive produce alongside Alloy's Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo.
The project marks a reunion of sorts for ABC entertainment chief Paul Lee and Alloy executives, who worked together when Lee was at ABC Family. 666 Park joins a growing crop of Alloy dramas that include ABC Family's The Lying Game, Pretty Little Liars and The Lying Game. It marks the fourth drama ordered to pilot at the network this season, joining Shawn Ryan's Last Resort, the untitled Roland Emmerich election project and Shonda Rhimes' period hotel piece Gilded Lillys.
THE CONJURING
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are in final negotiations to star in The Conjuring, a supernatural thriller from New Line.
The casting will reteam Wilson with director James Wan, who directed the actor in Insidious, another supernatural creepfest that was one last year's most profitable movies.
In Conjuring, written by Chad and Carey Hayes, Wilson and Farmiga will play a husband and wife team of demonologists and psychic investigators who enter the most horrifying case of their career, spirits in a Rhode Island farmhouse.
The story is based on the real life tale of the Perron family and their ordeals in the 1970s. When New Line acquired the pitch from the Hayes, it included life rights to the Perron family and the paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.
A March shoot in North Caroline is being eyed.
Pete Safran, Rob Cowan, and Tony DeRosa-Grund are producing.
Wilson, currently seen on screen in Jason Reitman's Young Adult, is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content and Hansen Jacobson.
Farmiga, who appears in next month’s Denzel Washington-Ryan Reynolds action thriller Safe House, is repped by CAA, Authentic Talent and attorney Jodi Peikoff.
RESIDENT EVIL 6
Here is a trailer for newly-announced video game Resident Evil 6 from Capcom. Coming to stores on November 20, 2012, the game is described as follows:
It has been ten years since the incident at Raccoon City and the President of the United States has decided to reveal the truth behind what took place. Raccoon City survivor and personal friend of the President, Leon S. Kennedy, arrives to find the President transformed beyond recognition by a bioterrorist attack. Leon is forced to make the hardest decision he has ever made.
At the same, Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance Member, Chris Redfield arrives in China, itself under threat of a bioterrorist attack.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2012
NEW TOM CRUISE SF FILM
The new sci-fi epic from Tom Cruise and the director of Tron: Legacy has finally found its female leads.
According to Variety, Olga Kurylenko and Andrea Riseborough have been cast as the two main female characters in the first film directed by Joseph Kosinski since he brought Tron: Legacy to the screen in 2010. Previously called Oblivion, then Horizons, then Oblivion again, the movie is currently without a title until Universal Pictures' marketing department finds one they like.
The movie, based on a graphic novel written by Kosinski himself, follows a soldier (Cruise) who scours the surface of an obliterated Earth looking for remnants of the alien race that leveled the planet a while back. He eventually comes upon a woman in a crashed spaceship who changes his life and everything he knows.
Riseborough plays the mystery woman, while Kurylenko will show up as Cruise's wife. Kurylenko has been seen as a Bond girl in Quantum of Solace and a savage Pictish warrior in the Dark Ages historical thriller Centurion. Cruise reportedly liked her from her very first screen test and preferred her over Olivia Wilde (Cowboys & Aliens), Noomi Rapace (Prometheus) and others.
Riseborough, meanwhile, is from England and has not been seen yet in an American film. But she must have been damn good in her screen test since she allegedly beat out Hayley Atwell (Captain America) and Kate Beckinsale (Underworld: Awakening) for the part, which first went to Jessica Chastain (Take Shelter) until she had to drop out because of a scheduling conflict.
Production is supposed to start sometime before the end of March and the movie is set for release in 2013.
BEING HUMAN
The stakes are high, there's no escape, the vampires are coming.'' That's what we're being ominously told in this first exciting and full-on emotionalÑand may we add, a bit trippyÑBeing Human U.K. season-four trailer.
Returning for this fourthÑand perhaps even lastÑseason of the popular BBC Three supernatural drama series created by Toby Whithouse are actors Russell Tovey, as werewolf George, and Lenora Crichlow, as ghost Annie.
The remaining twosome is joined by new posh vamp Hal (Damien Molony) and young werewolf Tom (Michael Socha), who was first introduced last season.
Annie, George, Tom and newcomer Hal find the fate of humanity in their hands as Being Human returns for it's fourth series.
Have a look:
From the looks of things, George is NOT in a good emotional place, having lost both his best friend Mitchell (Aidan Turner) last yearÑGeorge became the prophesised ''wolf-shaped bullet'' and staked his bloodsucking BFFÑand his girlfriend Nina (Sinead Keenan; the departure of the character will be made off-screen).
If that wasn't enough, our poor George also has to deal with the new vampire-authority-in-town that wants to kill his baby daughter because ''werewolves have only ever been made, not born.'' Awesome. Being Human season four will air on BBC Three in the U.K. in early February (date still to be determined). Let's keep our fingers (and toes) crossed that it'll air sooner rather than later on our side of the pond.
RESIDENT EVIL RETRIBUTION
As they've gone on, Milla Jovovich's Resident Evil movies seems to have become less and less tethered to anything resembling sanity. Thing is: We don't care. Insane is precisely what we want, and this first snippet from Retribution doesn't disappoint.
I'm particularly fond of the use of Patrick Stewart's dulcet voice to soothe you into a kind of tech-commercial stuporÑand that is a whole lot of Sony products this teaser is sellingÑbefore all hell breaks loose.
It's a long way until September 2012, but I'm marking my calendar.
ARTHUR & LANCELOT ON HOLD
In a surprise move, Warner Bros. has taken David Dobkin's Arthur & Lancelot off its release calendar in order to iron out several issues, including a large budget.
The new take on the King Arthur legend, starring Kit Harington and Joel Kinnaman, was supposed to open March 15, 2013.
In a second major move, Warners moved back Bryan Singer's fantasy Jack the Giant Killer 3D by nine months to March 22, 2013. It had been set to open June 15, 2012. In a more minor tweak, New Line and Warners' Rock of Ages is being pushed back by two weeks, from June 1, 2012, to June 15, 2012.
Dobkin called talent and crew Wednesday night to inform them that Lancelot "wasn't looking good."
The studio says it is trying to address the movie's issues. "We are trying to make it work. It's not dead," says a Warners insider.
The reimagining of the King Arthur myth is new territory for Dobkin, a helmer best known for comedies including Wedding Crashers. After an exhaustive search, Harington and Kinnaman were picked to play King Arthur and his most loyal knight, Lancelot, respectively. The film is intended to be a lighthearted action pic, similar in tone to Warners' successful Sherlock Holmes franchise.
But the budget for the project soared from less than $100 million to $130 million, prompting Warners to ask for cuts. Adding to the complication was the untested box-office power of the two actors, both of whom have drawn raves for their television work but have yet to carry a movie.
If the film does move ahead, it could be without one or both actors because of scheduling issues (Dobkin was supposed to start shooting in spring 2012).
Kinnaman is shooting AMC's The Killing and was due to segue into Arthur & Lancelot, but Harington was meant to do the movie before returning to his hit show Game of Thrones, which is due to start shooting in the spring. If ironing out the issues takes too long, he could be the first casualty.
Warners can likely afford to move back Jack the Giant Killer because of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, which opens in July. And pushing the film back gives the studio more time for special effects, as well as a chance to attach trailers for it to Peter Jackson's Christmas tentpole The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN
Universal Pictures has released, through the film's Facebook page, a new sneak peek from their upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman. The footage debuted as part of Charlize Theron's guest appearance on "Top Chef" and, while it contains much of the same footage as the first trailer, it also has a few brand-new shots as well. Check it out in the player below!
Directed by Rupert Sanders, the fantasy take on the classic fairytale also stars Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, Eddie Izzard, Bob Hoskins, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Stephen Graham, Ray Winstone, Lily Cole, Sam Spruell, Liberty Ross and Noah Huntley.
ATLANTIS RISING
Platinum Studios Inc. chairman Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and producer Mark Canton (300, Immortals) announced today that they are immediately putting the Platinum Studios comic book Atlantis Rising into development for a new, ongoing film franchise. Atlantis Rising is just one of the titles in Platinum Studios' international library of thousands of comic book characters which it adapts, produces, and licenses for all forms of media.
Created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Atlantis Rising was first published as a five-issue mini-series that had been previously optioned to DreamWorks. Platinum Studios recently regained the production rights, allowing them to reboot the series and to team up with Canton. The film is set against an undersea civilization that began over 10,000 years ago, and whose presence is unknown to the surface population.
"'Atlantis Rising' has the franchise potential of 'Men in Black,' which I green lit for Scott while at Sony's Columbia Tristar Motion Picture Companies," says Mark Canton. "I'm looking forward to bringing it to the screen with Platinum as a dynamic, state of the art action thriller."
Canton, who is chairman and CEO of Atmosphere Entertainment, has been on the Platinum Studios' board of directors since 2010. Atmosphere Entertainment's recent films include Relativity's Immortals which has grossed over $210 million in worldwide box office sales; Warner Bros.' 300, based on the best-selling graphic novel by Frank Miller; and The Spiderwick Chronicles, based upon the best-selling book series, for Paramount Pictures.
"'Atlantis Rising' is a provocative sci-fi thriller that at its core brings up the question: whose planet is this?" adds Scott Rosenberg. "We hope to duplicate that achievement after the enormous success of the 'Men in Black' franchise."
THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012
TRUE BLOOD CASTING NEWS "Twilight" actor Christopher Heyerdahl will be joining the cast of HBO's "True Blood." Yes, it's his second turn as a vampire, and this is a guy who's played Bigfoot and Jack the Ripper in Syfy's "Sanctuary." Heyerdahl might be the current king of monsters.
According to Deadline, Heyerdahl will play the recurring role of Dieter Braun, an ancient, powerful vampire who plays a large part in the intelligence of the Authority and especially enjoys enhanced interrogation. Hey, he's got that vampy face. One can see why he keeps playing supernatural characters. Heyerdahl played the ancient Volturi vampire Marcus in three of the "Twilight" movies, a demon in "Supernatural" and a wraith in "Stargate: Atlantis."
He currently co-stars on the AMC drama series "Hell on Wheels" (just renewed for a second season) where he plays The Swede. Heyerdahl will be joining the recently cast hottie Christopher Meloni on "True Blood."
SYFY GREENLIGHTS TWO-HOUR PILOT FOR TIME TRAVEL ACTION THRILLER REWIND FROM BERMANBRAUN AND UNIVERSAL CABLE PRODUCTIONS
NEW YORK - January 18, 2012 -- Syfy has given a two-hour pilot greenlight to the action thriller Rewind from BermanBraun and Universal Cable Productions, it was announced today by Mark Stern, President of Original Content, Syfy and Co-Head of Original Content for Universal Cable Productions.
"We couldn't be happier to be back in business with BermanBraun. Justin Marks has created a time-travel series with an exciting innovative approach that really exemplifies Syfy's commitment to bring compelling storytelling to life," said Stern.
The thriller revolves around a team of military field operatives and civilian scientists who must use untested technology to travel back in time to alter past events in order to change the future and avoid a devastating terrorist attack. Justin Marks wrote the pilot and will executive produce with Tom Spezialy, Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun and Gene Stein. BermanBraun and Universal Cable Productions also produce Syfy's original hit series Alphas, currently entering its second season. Rewind is set to begin production in April 2012.
THE STAND
A new report from Vulture says that the Warner Bros. adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand has landed screenwriter David Kajganich.
Kajganich (The Invasion, Blood Creek) also worked on an as-of-yet unproduced adaptation of King's It, which is likely what brought him to director Ben Affleck's attention.
Previously adapted as a television miniseries in 1994, "The Stand" tells the story of a full-scale apocalypse, driven by the accidental release of a biological weapon and the ensuing struggle of good versus evil carried out by the world's final survivors.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2012
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STAR TREK 2
While we're still waiting with bated breath to know exactly just who-in-the-universe Benedict Cumberbatch is playing in J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek 2 (or XII, if you prefer), the Sherlock actor has at least revealed some tantalizing tidbits about his mysterious character.
It's been nearly two weeks since it was announced that the War Horse actor had been tapped to play the film's villain. Two weeks, and yet both Abrams and Cumberbatch are still remaining tight-lipped about whether the awesome British actor is actually playing the film's villain.
Cumberbatch is even teasing the fact that he may not be playing Capt. James T. Kirk's (Chris Pine) next nemesis after all!
While on the Red Carpet during this past Sunday's Golden Globes awards, Cumby (as people are now affectionately calling the 35-year old actor) told MTV's Josh Horowitz:
"I don't think we do know that [him playing the villain], actually. That's just supposition. And that's all I'm going to say about it."
"I started [becoming a Star Trek fan] slowly, but quite genuinely, when he rebooted it with this last film. I have lots of friends and family, all sorts of people who've loved all of the series and all of the films. I've been introduced to it through them and now I'm going back to them and asking them questions so I can get up to speed with true Trekkies."
However, what the actor did reveal is that the role he'll be playing in the as-yet-still-untitled Trek sequel demands a good deal of physical preparation, saying that he's been ''working out nonstop'' to get ready for the film.
Even if the role appears physically demanding—making us even more curious in the process—Cumby had only high praise for Abrams, saying:
"[Abrams has] great ideas. It's been great fun to prep. I start [shooting] next week, which is really exciting, and I can't say any more than that."
IN YOUR EYES
As part of what seems to be an increasingly urgent bid to become the hardest-working man in show business, Whedon is gearing up to kick out another post-Avengers flick. And he's tapped a Mad Men star for the lead in a supernatural-flavored romance.
Whedon seems hell-bent on carving out a niche for himself in movies, much the way he did in television: a smart, genre-savvy creator who can churn out lots of high-quality material rather quickly. (Let's not forget that, for one golden year, Whedon had Buffy, Angel and Firefly on TV all at the same time.)
So, even while prepping The Avengers for its May release, and nudging Cabin in the Woods to open the South by Southwest festival, and shooting Much Ado About Nothing in secret, Whedon wrote and will produce the supernatural romance In Your Eyes (which'll be directed by Brin Hill).
Starring Abigail Spenser, who just wrapped up Sam Raimi's Oz: The Great and Powerful, In Your Eyes is allegedly about two people who are preternaturally or supernaturally connected, despite being polar opposites. Vague, huh? Well, if we've learned anything, it's that the Whedon moves in mysterious ways.
ONE NIGHT STAND
Though he's best known for his acting resume (most recently appearing in Warrior and The Thing), Joel Edgerton has, according to The Hollywood Reporter, now sold his screenplay entitled One Night Stand to New Regency and will stay involved as executive producer. Edgerton previously co-wrote the screenplay for the crime-thriller The Square, directed by his brother Nash Edgerton. One Night Stand is described as a comedic drama that focuses on a one night stand between a man and a woman and the ensuing consequences.
Edgerton is not intending to star in the project, though he can soon be seen back on the big screen in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby and in Peter Hedges' The Odd Life of Timothy Green.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2012
BEING HUMAN
Aidan is drawn back into the vampire fold by a character named Mother and her daughter Suren. Dollhouse's Dichen Lachman joins the cast as Suren.
"So we see how that affects him in a really, really bad way. And there's just ... there's some very cool overtones in terms of the story as it develops and Aidan finds himself in a dysfunctional relationship. I'll put it that way," said Witwer.
Aidan ends up on a destructive path. "A really destructive one, and eventually self-destructive. So yeah, if you are invested in that character then it's going to be a painful season to watch, I think. Yeah, I'll be honest, I actually am concerned that people are going to turn on Aidan in terms of the fanbase. On the other hand, maybe they'll stick with him no matter what," he said with a laugh.
Last year we saw flashbacks from the '50s and '70s as the story dug into Adian's past. "Now we get to go and spend a good deal of time in the '30s. We spend a ton just on the backstory of who Aidan was in the '30s and what happened to the vampires back then. Because the vampires we've seen are, they hide in the shadows and they have day jobs and they try to keep a very low profile. Well, back in the day, that wasn't necessarily the case. Things were a lot cooler for these guys, and they had a lot more money, and they had a lot more prestige, and they were a little bit flashier, and we learned why they felt it was necessary to change that and head for the shadows and seek a low profile and really just hide out. We learn why they changed, and we also learn what part Aidan had to play in that. So it's really cool stuff. We even spent some time in World War I," said Witwer.
As for ghost Sally (Meaghan Rath) and werewolf Josh (Sam Huntington), "the good news is that the writers are able to raise the stakes with the other characters as well, quite a bit more so than they did last year. So that's kind of fun."
Sally will be dealing with the repercussions of missing her door, and Josh will hunt for a cure for being a werewolf. And they'll also have to "deal with characters from their past showing up and shaking things up," said Witwer.
The actor believes that Being Human can go places other types of television shows can't go.
"Science fiction at its best is always examining very real issues and real human stories through the lens of, 'Oh, don't take us too seriously, we're science fiction,'" said Witwer. "But in the case of Aidan we have not forgotten this whole drug-addiction metaphor. In fact, it comes into focus very clearly in this season."
Being Human premieres its second season tonight on Syfy at 9 p.m. ET
SKYFALL
You can watch a countdown until the release of the 23rd James Bond film, Skyfall, on the newly revamped site. In case you're wondering, there are currently 296 days of waiting left.
The website, 007.com, also provides the first official video about the film. Long-time Bond co-producer Michael G. Wilson hosts the slick video, which features images of men with guns in front of a blue-lit background.
While the sleek site doesn't give much away about the top secret plot, it will feature production videos and stills, casting updates and also a look back at the history of Bond films. 2012 is the 50th anniversary of the James Bond genre, so the site should have plenty to celebrate.
Daniel Craig is back as James Bond 007 in Skyfall, the 23rd adventure in the longest-running film franchise of all time. In Skyfall, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. Skyfall, which is helmed by Sam Mendes, also features Javier Bardem, Dame Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe and Ben Whishaw.
The highly-anticipated film will begins its worldwide roll-out in the U.K. on October 26 2012, and will reach North America on November 9, 2012.
CATCHING FIRE
It's always a little strange when a sequel is greenlit before the first installment of a movie comes out, but that's what Lionsgate did with the sequel to the soon-to-be-released adaptation of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, announcing a release date for its sequel Catching Fire last August. That release date set was November 22, 2013, and now, The Wrap's "Deal Central" reports that Oscar-winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) has been hired to write the adaptation for Collins' second book. It also reports that Gary Ross who co-wrote and directed The Hunger Game (out March 23) is overseeing Beaufoy's work and has been confirmed to return as director for the sequel. Furthermore, they're confirming that four of the cast--Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson and Liam Hensworth--will also be returning, although that's probably not that strange since they all were likely to sign multi-picture deals, since that's standard operating procedure these days. The Hunger Games is out on March 23 and now, it looks like its sequel Catching Fire is still on track for its planned release date of November 22, 2013.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Going into the second weekend of January, the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, it seemed like it might be a close race between two very different movies, an adult crime thriller and a Disney 3D rerelease, but on Friday, it became quite clear that Mark Wahlberg's Contraband (Universal), which he co-produced and starred in with Kate Beckinsale, Giovanni Ribisi and Ben Foster, would win the weekend and that it did with $28.8 million in 2,863 theaters over the four day Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. With a per-theater average over $10,000 per site, it's officially the highest opening movie for the film's primary producer Working Title Films, topping the opening of Sidney Pollack's The Interpreter.
After the successful rerelease of The Lion King 3D last September, Disney gave it another go with Beauty and the Beast 3D (Disney), a 3D conversion of the Oscar-winning film which had already been released on DVD and Blu-ray. That didn't matter to family audiences who went out to see it over the extended holiday weekend, amassing $23.5 million in over 2,600 theaters. This is added to the nearly $400 million the film already made in its theatrical runs since opening over 20 years ago.
The Tom Cruise action movie Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (Paramount) continues to do big business as it took third place with $14.2 million over the four-day holiday, bringing its own total to $189.5 million.
Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton teamed for the musical comedy Joyful Noise (New Line/WB), which ended up in fourth place with $13.8 million in 2,735 theaters, averaging roughly $5,000 per site.
Guy Ritchie's period action sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Warner Bros.), starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, continued its run as the second-strongest holiday rerelease, bringing its running domestic total to $172.1 million with the $10.5 million it made for fifth place.
Paramount Insurge's low-budget horror movie The Devil Inside, which began the year on top, tanked in its second weekend, losing over 70% of its business and dropping all the way down to 6th place with $9.2 million and $47.5 million. Clearly, bad word-of-mouth spreads fast and those interested in seeing the movie rushed out opening weekend.
David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Sony) continued to bring in business with $8.1 million for seventh place, $89.3 million total, while Fox's Alvin and the Chipmunks - Chipwrecked took eighth with $7.8 million and $121 million total since opening before Christmas.
Steven Spielberg's War Horse (DreamWorks) and the Cameron Crowe-Matt Damon family drama We Bought a Zoo (20th Century Fox) continue to vie for position as they settled on ninth and tenth place, respectively, War Horse earning $7.1 million to Zoo's $6.8 million. They both have earned in the $65 to 68 million range since opening over Christmas weekend.
After a successful platform release, Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady (The Weinstein Company), starring recent Golden Globe winner Meryl Streep as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher expanded nationwide into 802 theaters, but it just missed the chance to get into the Top 10 (at least going by the four-day weekend), taking in $6.5 million, roughly $8 thousand per site.
The Top 10 grossed an estimated $129 million for the four-day weekend, which is right in line with the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend last year, when Seth Rogen's action-comedy The Green Hornet (Sony) beat Vince Vaughn and Kevin James' comedy The Dilemma (Universal) by double, $40 million to $20 million.
MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 2012
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN "The Adventures of Tintin" managed to beat out "Arthur Christmas," "Puss in Boots," "Rango" and even Pixar's "Cars 2" for a 2012 Golden Globe award.
Interestingly, the Steven Spielberg- and Peter Jackson-produced "Tintin" isn't your traditional animated feature. Starring Jamie Bell as the titular young reporter and Daniel Craig as the villain Ivanovic Sakharin, "Tintin" used 3D motion capture technology to create its unique-looking world. (That's also known as what made "Avatar" so cool-looking and what makes Andy Serkis so in demand. Coincidentally, Serkis co-stars as Captain Haddock in the film.)
Spielberg, who also directed the film, spoke to Moviefone about using the technology for his film. "Motion capture is just another tool in a vast tool chest," he tells the site. "It was the right tool to use to be able to make this movie as close to the original artwork of the great Herge, who illustrated and wrote all the Tintin books. But, at the same time, the adventure of making 'Tintin' is always the same for every movie, no matter what the medium. It's telling a good story and getting the actors to acquit that story in the funniest and most breathtaking ways possible. That's where my focus was -- being able to tell a good story."
Though "Tintin" was nominated for a handful of awards this season, it only managed to take home two (aside from its shiny new Golden Globe) -- from the Florida and Toronto film critics.
FRINGE NEWS
Just because season 4 might be the last for Fringe, don't think that the show is going to even think about slowing down. The show returned on January 13 with an awesome midseason premiere, and things are only going to get better from there. In fact, Fringe is about to introduce one of its best bad guys yet.
Michael Massee has been cast in Fringe season 4 in a role that is very shrouded in mystery. All we know about the role, in fact, is what we've heard from executive producer J.H. Wyman. "His character promises to be one of the most memorable, guest bad guys we've ever had," he told TV Guide. The episode Massee's character will be featured in will be "a terrifying journey with a man pushed to the limits by intense loneliness," Wyman confirmed.
Massee has previously appeared in Se7en, 24, Alias, Supernatural, and Carnivale. Genre television fans might know him as baddie Dyson Frost from ABC's short-lived FlashForward.
Massee's as-yet unnamed character won't be the only bad guy of the second half of Fringe season 4, though. As confirmed back in November, Jared Harris is returning to the series to reprise his role as season one's big bad guy David Robert Jones, who is still alive in the show's new timeline. Harris made his (re)entrance in January 13's episode, "Back to Where You've Never Been." Fringe returned with all-new episodes starting January 13, starting with "Back to Where You've Never Been" at 9/8c on FOX.
GAME OF THRONES
After picking up the Emmy for HBO's fantasy drama Game of Thrones, Golden Globe supporting actor in a drama or miniseries winner for Peter Dinklage said he hopes the win gives fantasy dramas more credibility.
"Hopefully it will give that genre a little bit more respect," he told reporters backstage.
Based on the best-selling series by author George R.R. Martin, Dinklage credited the willingness of the series to take risks adds to Thrones' addictive nature. "You never know what's going to happen when you kill the protagonist," he said, referencing the death of Sean Bean's Eddard Stark in the penultimate episode of Season 1.
"That's really smart narrative. … You've got to push the envelope and challenge expectations and ideas of what's going to happen next. That adds to the addiction of the show -- you never know what's around the corner."
As for what's to come when Thrones returns April 1, Dinklage offered this gem: "In Season 2, we're not done killing off people," he told reporters.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, 2012
WALKING DEAD NEWS
AMC is adding more of The Walking Dead.
The zombie series based on the comic books by Robert Kirkman will expand its third season with three additional episodes for a total of 16.
Season 1 featured six episodes, while Season 2 has 13 episodes, with the current sophomore frame split into two parts and set to return for its back half on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 9 p.m. Season 3 will also follow the same broadcast pattern, with a fourth-quarter bow and subsequent split.
Leading up to the Season 2 return, which will find Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his group of rag-tag survivors cope with Sophia's death, AMC has scheduled a marathon of episodes from Seasons 1 and 2.
On Saturday, Feb. 11, starting at 8 p.m., the network will marathon all of Season 1, while on Sunday, viewers can catch up on the first seven episodes of the second frame starting at 1:30 p.m. and leading up to the show's return at 9 p.m. with an episode titled "Nebraska."
The Season 2 midseason finale topped the show's freshman year finale, drawing 6.6 million total viewers and 4.5 million in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic, pulling in 3.9 million in the adults 25-54 demo, according to Nielsen.The zombie drama was renewed for a third season in October after the Season 2 bow shattered basic cable ratings records.
FRIDAY NIGHT RATINGS
It was business as usual for the returns of several Friday programs, including Fringe and Grimm. Fringe returned to match a series low, drawing only 2.9 million total viewers, and a 1.1 rating in adults 18-49 demographic. The poor showing came nearly a week after Fox entertainment chief Kevin Reilly admitted that the network lost money on the heavily-serialized multi-universe drama.
"At that rating, on that night [Fridays], it’s impossible to make money," he told reporters during the winter Television Critics Assoc. press tour, "and we’re not in the business of losing money.”
Meanwhile, Fox's Kitchen Nightmares won its time slot at 8 p.m. with a 1.7 rating. The Gordon Ramsay series lured 3.8 million.
NBC's Grimm (4.6 million, 1.4) returned after several weeks off the air, down slightly from its most recent episode in December. Airing against Fringe in the 9 p.m. hour, Grimm placed second in its time period behind ABC and CBS which tied for No. 1. Grimm lead-in Chuck (3.2 million, 0.9) stayed flat as it nears the series finale.
CBS' A Gifted Man (8.7 million, 1.3) and CSI: NY (10.5 million, 1.7) both dropped from last week's returns. Blue Bloods (11.9 million, 1.8) remained the same. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition wrapped up its series run on ABC with 6.3 million viewers tuning in from 8-10 p.m. and a 1.6 rating, relatively steady from the previous week. Newsmagazine 20/20 (5.6 million, 1.7), however, saw an uptick at 10 p.m.
The CW's Nikita (1.5 million, 0.5) and Supernatural (1.5 million, 0.6) both slipped.
In a rare tie, ABC and CBS top Friday with a 1.6 primetime average. Fox followed with a 1.4, with NBC (1.2) and the CW (0.6) trailing.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
The extended 4-day Martin Luther King Jr. weekend has started off strong with Mark Wahlberg's crime-thriller Contraband (Universal) winning Friday with an estimated $8.7 million in 2,863 theaters, besting Disney's rerelease Beauty and the Beast 3D, which took in $5.6 million in 2,625 theaters. While the latter should gain some ground over the weekend with many schools out on Monday, Contraband should still come out on top with roughly $29 million Beauty and the Beast should end up somewhere between $25 and 27 million.
The Queen Latifah-Dolly Parton musical mash-up Joyful Noise took third place with $3.3 million, but it has Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol nipping at its heels for third place over the weekend with both of them expected to be in the $13 to 14 million range.
Paramount's The Devil Inside took a massive tumble from its enormous opening weekend, making just $2.7 million on Friday, down 84% from its opening day last week.
GAME OF THRONES
HBO has finally announced that their Emmy-winning hit series, Game of Thrones, will return for its second season on Sunday, April 1 at 9 p.m. ET. Like the first season, season two will have ten episodes.
It was previously announced that season two would be based on the second book in George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire," A Clash of Kings. That means you can expect plenty of treachery and turmoil as the battle for control of the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms continues.
Returning cast members include: Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Emmy winner Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Lena Headey and Kit Harington.
THE FADES
Get ready for a new monster to haunt your nightmares, says Scottish actor Iain De Caestecker, who stars in BBC America's latest Sci-Fi Saturday series, The Fades. The series does its own spin on the horror genre with the spooky Fades, which don't quite fit into the normal monster categories.
"These new kind of creatures have been created, and I think that's a really exciting thing. You've got vampires and werewolves and things like that, and now you've got the Fades, I suppose," said De Caestecker. "There's a lot of rules, things that are associated with the Fades that you need to become aware of to really understand them ... So there's a mythology behind it now." The Fades, which premieres tonight, is about 17-year-old Paul (De Caestecker) who suddenly finds himself facing the terrifying Fades, which appear to be a cross between ghosts and zombies. Unfortunately, his friends and family can't seem to see them AND he's having apocalyptic nightmares. The high schooler is quickly drawn into a war that's brewing between the Fades and the only people who can see them, the Angelics. After the Fades lead a devastating attack against the good guys, Angelic Neil draws Paul into the fight after realizing that he can see things he shouldn't be able to see.
Still, for Paul there's something more terrifying than ghostly zombie monsters that are trying to break into the real world and eat people ... high school and girls. The Fades also stars Daniel Kaluuya as Paul's best friend, Mac, Johnny Harris as the Angelic Neil, and Sophie Wu as the girl Paul has a crush on, Jay.
According to De Caestecker, when it comes to creator Jack Thorne, "he's got quite a lot of balls, and he's not scared to do something that you're not expecting. There's a couple times I remember reading the scripts and going to myself like, 'Oh really?' and then turning the page, 'Oh, no! You've done that?' So, that's one good thing about it. There's lots of twists," he said.
"Paul has been given these powers which he can't really explain, and it doesn't really fully know their purpose yet, and that's really interesting. That's something that I've never come across before. I've never experienced myself in my life and I don't know if I will," said De Caestecker with a laugh. "So that adds something really different, the supernatural element."
The teen has "all the normal worries that a 17-year-old kid does. Coupled with the fact that he's got this really huge burden on his shoulders of ... is he going to have to do something to try to save mankind or what? You know, he doesn't really understand what exactly it means, him having these powers," he said.
Paul's other big challenge is how to reconcile possibly being the savior of the world and telling his friends and family what's going on.
"How do you tell someone that? You know, when you find out that this is the way the world ends and there's all this other stuff going on ... first, of all do you believe it? Secondly, how do you explain that to someone who doesn't have the same connection as you do with the Fades?"
Probably the most important relationship Paul has is with his best bud, Mac, who's a big nerd and movie fanatic. "Mac's quite content to stay in that world with Paul and not meet anyone else, and I think Paul is yearning for something a little bit more. So there's that, yeah, and there's also growing up and living up to the responsibilities of these powers that he's been given. ... I think he has to become a man and he has to become selfless, and learn what the difference between right and wrong is. I think starting the story he's quite impressionable. He can be manipulated because he's quite innocent, and I think he starts to learn to make decisions for himself for the greater good, or what he perceives as the greater good," said De Caestecker.
While this might initially sound like a Buffy knockoff, not so. The Fades is filled with the language and sexual situations that the British are used to, but that might have challenges when it comes to what the American audience is accustomed to.
Beyond that, De Caestecker feels the show is adult in other ways as well. "I think it's really deeply rooted with some adult themes, and there's a lot of different ways you can interpret some of the messages that come across, maybe. But that was one of the things I always found so great about it, was that it had a real sense of purpose around in it in whatever way you took it. It's got a lot of depth to it."
The role has given the 24-year-old actor plenty of meaty material to sink his teeth into, including using an English accent for the character.
However, his biggest challenge involves dealing with "so many sci-fi elements and the special effects. There's loads of practical things you've got to be very aware of whilst trying to mesh yourself into a scene," said De Caestecker. "I think there was, at one point, we shot a sequence for about two days that only probably lasted 10 minutes. I remember it being really grueling. Me and the other actor had bruises all over us, and but I felt at the start if you didn't have a few bruises, you weren't really doing it properly, I don't think."
Here's a look:
BBC America premieres The Fades' six-episode first season tonight at 9 p.m. ET. Episodes run 75 minutes long. After the premiere of The Fades at 10:15 p.m., BBC America will air The Nerdist, hosted by Chris Hardwick, who will interview The Fades castmember Lily Loveless, who plays Paul's sister, Anna.
JOHN CARTER
A new TV spot for Walt Disney Pictures' John Carter is now online.
Directed by Andrew Stanton, the big screen adaptation of the classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs hits 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters on March 9. The film features a cast that includes Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, Thomas Hayden Church and Willem Dafoe.
John Carter tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.
FANTASTIC FOUR
It's been some time since it was first announced that 20th Century Fox is planning a reboot of the Fantastic Four film franchise. Today, Variety has an update with word that the studio is eyeing Josh Trank as a potential helmer.
Trank makes his big screen directorial debut with Chronicle on February 3rd and, with it, already has a connection to both the studio and the superhero genre. Fantastic Four, Marvel's self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Comic Magazine", first hit the stands in 1961. Its debut is generally considered the beginning of the "silver age" of comics and the real beginning of the Marvel Comics universe that exists to this day.
The property has been adapted twice before for the big screen with Fantastic Four in 2005 and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in 2007. Both were directed by Tim Story. A 1994 feature-length version was also infamously produced by Roger Corman and never released.
Trank's involvement in the reboot is likely contingent on Chronicle's box office performance and a decision is not expected to be reached until next month at the earliest.
THE LADY
A new trailer for Luc Besson's The Lady is now online, courtesy of iTunes Trailers.
Starring Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis, The Lady is an epic love story about how an extraordinary couple and family sacrifice their happiness at great human cost for a higher cause. This is the story of Aung San Suu Kyi and her husband, Michael Aris. Despite distance, long separations, and a dangerously hostile regime, their love endures until the very end. A story of devotion and human understanding set against a background of political turmoil which continues today. The Lady also is the story of the peaceful quest of the woman who is at the core of Burma's democracy movement. The Lady hits theaters on April 13th.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012
DARK SHADOWS
Is that you Johnny Depp? Once again, the actor's gone pale and pasty for his latest role in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows. Remember Edward Scissorhands and Sweeney Todd?
One of Depp's biggest fan sites, Johnny Depp Italia, got its hands on a new photo from this summer's Dark Shadows remake. It features Depp as bloodsucker Barnabas Collins and Michelle Pfeiffer as Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. The film is based on the soap opera of the same name that ran from 1966-1971. Coincidentally, Burton's version takes place in 1972. Dark Shadows centers on Barnabas, a Liverpool native who moved (with his family) to America in 1752. He grew up to become one of the most popular residents of Collinsport, Maine and the master of Collinwood Manor. He had everything; good looks, charm and money. Too bad he lost it all when he screwed over Angelique (Eva Green), his ex-girlfriend who happened to be a witch!
Angelique uses her powers to turn Barnabas into a vampire, and buries him alive. But somehow, some way he emerges hundreds of years later and wants to reclaim what's his. Unfortunately, the times have changed and his family and estate aren't what they used to be. Dark Shadows hits theaters May 11.
CHANGES COMING AT DC COMICS
It's been nearly five months since DC Comics rolled the dice on a companywide reboot that took every superhero in their stable back to issue #1. The gamble seems to be paying off overall, but DC's not done tweaking. They just announced six new series to replace six outgoing ones, and one of them is written by fantasy novelist China MiŽville.
The new titles will launch in the spring, after each of the outgoing series has a chance to publish an eighth and final issue. According to DC's editor-in-chief Bob Harras, the new titlesÑwhich DC is branding "The Second Wave"Ñwill focus more on expanding the world of the New 52 than the titles that launched last fall.
"The excitement of the initial launch of DC ComicsÑThe New 52 was in seeing the re-imagining of these classic characters and concepts," said Harras. "The 'Second Wave' is all about world-building."
The titles we're losing are Men of War, O.M.A.C., Static Shock, Hawk and Dove, Mister Terrific and Blackhawks, all of which will conclude in April. In their place, we get these: Batman Incorporated, written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Chris Burnham, will continue Morrison's concept of Bruce Wayne taking the Batman brand to an international scale to combat a global threat. Earth 2, written by James Robinson and drawn by Nicola Scott, will star a Justice Society fighting evil on an Earth parallel to our own. Worlds' Finest, written by Paul Levitz and drawn by George Perez and Kevin Maguire, will continue the parallel world theme by following Earth 2's Huntress and Power Girl as they try to get back to their world after they're stranded on our Earth. Dial H, written by China Mieville and drawn by Mateus Santoluoco, will feature a "bold new take" on the concept of an ordinary man who gains superpowers and becomes a hero. G. I. Combat will feature the return of the classic soldiers vs. dinosaurs story The War That Time Forgot, written by J. T. Krul and drawn by Ariel Olivetti, along with rotating backup stories The Unknown Solider by writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and artist Dan Panosian and The Haunted Tank by writer John Arcudi and artist Scott Kolins. The Ravagers, by writer Howard Mackie and artist Ian Churchill, will spin off from both Teen Titans and Superboy to tell the story of four teens with powers on the run from a group that wants to turn them into supervillains.
The biggest news here is MiŽville's entry onto the comics scene. He's won virtually every major award a genre novelist can win for novels like The Scar, Iron Council and The City & The City, so it'll be interesting to see if he can make the same kind of impact on another storytelling medium. Of course, this is a sad day for fans of titles like Static Shock and O. M. A. C., but Harras says fear not. Those characters might not be starring in their own books anymore, but they're not leaving the DC universe.
"Many of the characters from our canceled books will appear in DC ComicsÑThe New 52 titles, and in some very surprising ways," Harras said. "We're developing stories that reach from cultures around the globe to parallel worlds. We're just getting started."
FRINGE RETURNS TONIGHT
When Fringe finally endsÑif it ends wellÑwe may look back and realize it was perhaps the best sci-fi television series ever. There's been plenty of discussion today about the possible cancellation of Fringe because Fox is losing money by airing it. So if you're a Fringe fan, dig in and enjoy what's left of this amazing series. One way or another, either being canceled this year or being given a few episodes a la Chuck, its days are certainly numbered.
As for this episode, it looks like another great mythology story which has Peter making a dangerous journey to the alt-verse to have a chat with Walternate. Meanwhile, Olivia is paid a visit by the Observer, and he has an ominous message for her.
MERLIN'S BACK
Conclusion to the two-part season-four premiere! After throwing himself in front of a Dorocha to save Arthur, lucky Merlin's only mostly dead. As Lancelot tries to get him back to Camelot so Gaius can save him, strange creatures called Vilia delay their journey. Meanwhile, Arthur continues his efforts to sacrifice himself to stop the Dorocha.
GREEN ARROW TV SERIES PLANNED
A "Green Arrow" television series is being planned for The CW with Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg writing and executive producing, EW reports.
Dating all the way back to 1941 when he made his first appearance in "More Fun Comics" #73, Oliver Queen is a billionaire who leads a double life as expert archer and costumed hero Green Arrow. Over the years, Queen has been a member of the Justice League and even Mayor of his hometown, Star City.
Justin Hartley previously played a television version of the character on "Smallville", becoming a regular cast member in later seasons. It's not mentioned whether or not the new series will connect in any way, but it is noted that Hartley is not being sought to play the role at this time. "Green Arrow" isn't the only DC superhero being planned for the small screen. Plans for a "Booster Gold" pilot were announced late last year with "Blue Beetle", "Deadman" and "Spectre" series still believed to be in various stages of development.
Of course, just because a network expresses an interest in a pilot doesn't mean that a series will see the light of day, as was the case with last year's proposed "Wonder Woman" series.
TANGLED EVER AFTER
Walt Disney Pictures has debuted a second clip from their upcoming short film "Tangled Ever After."
A follow-up to their 2010 hit animated feature, Tangled, "Tangled Ever After" will premiere before the theatrical release of Beauty and the Beast 3D, beginning January 13th. The official synopsis is as follows:
By popular demand, directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard are bringing back some of DisneyÕs most beloved characters when "Tangled Ever After" picks up where "Tangled" left off. The Kingdom is in a festive mood as everyone gathers for the royal wedding of Rapunzel and Flynn. However, when Pascal and Maximus, as flower chameleon and ring bearer, respectively, lose the gold bands, a frenzied search and recovery mission gets underway. As the desperate duo tries to find the rings before anyone discovers that theyÕre missing, they leave behind a trail of comical chaos that includes flying lanterns, a flock of doves, a wine barrel barricade and a very sticky finale. Will Maximus and Pascal save the day and make it to the church in time? And will they ever get FlynnÕs nose right? "Tangled Ever After" is the perfect accompaniment to "Beauty and the Beast", which is returning to the big screen in Disney Digital 3Dª and introducing a whole new generation to the Disney classic with stunning new 3D imagery. Beauty and the Beast was nominated for six Academy Awards¨, winning Oscars¨ for Best Song, by the renowned Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and Best Original Score (Menken).
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2012
HOME VIDEO MARKET
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Warner Home Video snagged the top four spots on the national home video sales charts for the week ending Jan. 8, with the newly released Contagion debuting at No. 1 on the
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MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 5
Following a worldwide gross of $694.7 million for Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions are ready to move forward with a fifth installment and have signed a deal with Tom Cruise to reprise the role of Ethan Hunt and produce.
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Stepping onto the set of the newest incarnation of Battlestar Galactica was one thing. However, Pasqualino found himself in the sizable shoes of William Adama, originally played by Edward James Olmos in the 2004 reimagined version of the series.
“I kind of felt a little bit daunted by the whole thing when I first realized the scale of how much green screen we would be using. You would think it would cause problems in terms of where you're going to be. A lot of times you don't actually have any physical set to touch or work with. We worked even some props and a lot of the foreground stuff on our sets actually. They were props and we could actually touch and move around and stuff. But the hardest thing for me that I found was really the stuff in the spaceships, like Ben said. Like when something hits the windscreen or something's flying over our heads. We don't have anything to play to, or we have a ball on the end of a stick that we have to follow. That was really kind of the hardest for me. But everything else was really just … it all came. I think for Ben as well, I think we adapted to it a lot quicker than we thought we would,” said Pasqualino.
As for Cotton's character Coker, could he be a Cylon, like so many characters we came to know and love on Battlestar Galactica?
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When Fegan's vendetta threatens to derail Northern Ireland's peace process and destabilise its fledgling government, old comrades and enemies alike want him gone. David Campbell, a double agent lost between the forces of law and terror, takes the job. But he has his own reasons for eliminating Fegan; the secrets of a dirty war should stay buried, even if its ghosts do not.
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IRON MAN 3
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
THOR: THE DARK WORLD
CAPTAIN AMERICA 2
NEW SPIRAL GALAXY
PENNY DREADFUL
FRANKENSTEIN COMING TO SHOWTIME
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
With his Dark Knight trilogy out of the way, Christopher Nolan looks to be heading into hard sci-fi for his next big-screen adventure. Enter Interstellar.
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LEFT BEHIND
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MERLIN RETURNS TONIGHT, JANUARY 4
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STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS - SPOILER WARNING
THE LAST EXORCISM PART II
SKYFALL SETS RECORD
ONCE UPON A TIME
OBLIVION
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
MOST PIRATED FILMS & SHOWS FOR 2012
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
DOCTOR WHO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
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PARADISE LOST
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THE WALKING DEAD
STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS
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THE STAND
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