THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010

TRON MONORAILS IN DISNEY WORLD
Disney will paint its Disney World monorails with light cycles from its upcoming TRON LEGACY movie in an effort to cross-promote the upcoming movie.
The repainted monorails will feature snazzy versions of the new generation light cycles from the upcoming 3-D sequel to the classic 1982 sci-fi movie.
Disney Parks posted this description:
The transformed trains will be visible on the Epcot monorail line as early as this month. And if you look close, you'll notice that the design of the futuristic motorcycle-like vehicles from the upcoming film TRON: LEGACY also includes walls of trailing colored light.
TRON LEGACY opens Dec. 17.

Walt Disney Pictures has provided us with a new billboard for Tron Legacy, opening in 3D theaters and IMAX 3D on December 17. You can get a bigger version of the billboard by clicking on the image below (and save it to your desktop in the gallery for an even larger version).

DA VINCI PROJECT
Warner Bros. is turning Leonardo Da Vinci into an action-adventure hero.
The studio has picked up a treatment titled "Leonardo da Vinci and the Soldiers of Forever" from producer Adrian Askarieh, who is teaming with Vertigo's Roy Lee and Doug Davison.
Da Vinci is best known as the painter behind "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper," though he also was an inventor, engineer, architect, mathematician among many other occupations. The project re-imagines Da Vinci as a member of a secret society who falls headlong into a supernatural adventure that pits the man against Biblical demons in a story involving secret codes, lost civilizations, hidden fortresses and fallen angels. Think "National Treasure" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" by way of "Clash of the Titans."
Askarieh, who is producing via his Prime Universe banner, came up with the original idea and wrote the treatment, with a search for a writer now under way.
Jon Berg is overseeing for Warners.
In the wake of the worldwide success of "Sherlock Holmes," Warners seems eager to make more projects involving a period setting, a historical figure and the fantastical. Last week, the studio picked up a pitch that has Francis Lawrence attached to direct a supernatural tale featuring explorer Marco Polo, and it's back in business with "Holmes" director Guy Ritchie on a King Arthur project.

J. EDGAR HOOVER BIOPIC
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Clint Eastwood will next direct a biopic of controversial FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Brian Grazer and Ron Howard's Imagine Entertainment will produce.
Hoover was the first Director of the FBI of the United States. He was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972. Hoover is credited with building the FBI into a large and efficient crime-fighting agency, and with instituting a number of modern innovations to police technology, such as a centralized fingerprint file and forensic laboratories.
Late in life, and after his death, Hoover became an increasingly controversial figure. His critics have accused him of exceeding the jurisdiction of the FBI.
Dustin Lance Black (Milk) wrote the script.

PROTECTION
Variety reports that Gary Fleder will direct the thriller PROTECTION for 20th Century Fox. John Davis is producing via his Fox-based Davis Entertainment.
The story centers on a college professor who investigates the disappearance of his wife and daughter and who must confront authorities at the Witness Protection Program to find them.
Mark Bomback has been brought on board to rewrite the script, which was an original spec from Allan Loeb.

PRINCE OF PERSIA
Walt Disney Studios and Jerry Bruckheimer Films have announced plans to release its epic action-adventure PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SAND OF TIME in IMAX theatres across the globe to coincide with the film's day-and-date worldwide release on May 28th 2010.
The film's limited international IMAX release will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of the larger screen format. The project will be the sixth feature of the Summer season currently set to score a IMAX release in at least some territories. Others presently listed on the IMAX website include IRON MAN 2, SHREK FOREVER AFTER, TOY STORY 3, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE and INCEPTION.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2010

CAPTAIN AMERICA CASTING UPDATE
According to HEAT VISION and DEADLINE NEW YORK, Marvel Studios is looking seriously at Wilson Bethel (HBO's "Generation Kill," "The Young and the Restless"), Mike Vogel (Cloverfield), Chris Evans ("Fantastic Four" movies) and Garrett Hedlund (upcoming Tron Legacy) are reading for the role of CAPTAIN AMERICA, have tested or have received test offers.
Actors previously reported as testing including Krasinski, Michael Cassidy, Chace Crawford, Scott Porter and Patrick Flueger are no longer under consideration, say the sites. The part calls for a nine-picture deal, the second of which would be The Avengers.
To be directed by Joe Johnston, The First Avenger: Captain America is scheduled for a July 22, 2011 release.

TWILIGHT SAGA TRAILER COMING
The first trailer for Summit Entertainment's THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE will come online on Thursday morning at around 6:00 AM PST/9:00 AM EST. The 90-second trailer's contents are being kept under tight wraps until its debut. Prior to this, on Wednesday, March 10 a 10-second teaser of that trailer will come online at about 6:00 AM PST/9:00 AM EST. The full trailer for THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE can also be seen in theaters in front of Summit Entertainment's Remember Me, which also stars Robert Pattinson.
In THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between Edward and Jacob — knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella is confronted with the most important decision of her life.
Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner reprise their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen and Jacob Black. The film is directed by David Slade, based on the novel "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer, with a screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg. The movie hits conventional theaters and IMAX on June 30, 2010.

OUR WILD LIFE
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Walter Salles (Dark Water, The Motorcycle Diaries) is in talks to direct OUR WILD LIFE, an animal drama from New Line/Warner Bros. being produced by Mandalay Pictures' Peter Guber and Cathy Schulman.
Previously known as "Peaceable Kingdom," the film is based on the true life and work of Dame Daphne Sheldrick, the leading animal conservationist in Kenya, who has devoted her life to preventing elephant extinction by endeavoring to save baby elephants left orphaned by war, poaching and culling.
Jeff Stockwell wrote the script.debut with "Dark Water" and recently directed a segment in the ensemble shorts feature "Paris, I Love You."

DARKEST HOUR
Deadline New York writes that Entertainment are teaming for the thriller THE DARKEST HOUR.
A more sci-fi spin on "28 Days Later" in tone, the story follows a group of kids struggling to survive somewhere in Russia after an alien invasion.
Chris Gorak ("Right at Your Door") directs from a script by Les Bohem and Jon Spaihts he re-wrote.
Timur Bekmambetov and Tom Jacobson will produce with filming kicking off in Russia in June.

MURDER MYSTERY
According to Variety, Kevin Macdonald is set to direct the whodunit MURDER MYSTERY, the first feature from production company Tower Hill Entertainment.
Tower Hill picked up James Vanderbilt's script from Disney, which put the project into turnaround. Vanderbilt ("Zodiac") is currently penning the next chapter in Sony's "Spider-Man" franchise.
MURDER MYSTERY revolves around an American couple honeymooning in Europe who are implicated when they witness a murder and wind up embroiled in interna-tional intrigue.
" 'Murder Mystery is pure entertainment. It's exciting, suspenseful and romantic," said Dix, who is Tower Hill's prexy of production.
Dix said MURDER MYSTERY will be shot on location across Europe, and that the film is now casting.
Macdonald, who past credits include "The Last King of Scotland" and "State of Play," is next in theaters with historical drama "The Eagle of the Ninth," which Focus Features releases in the U.S. on Sept. 24. Pic stars Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell and Mark Strong.

TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2010

THOR ANNOUNCEMENT
Paramount and Marvel released the official synopsis and cast list for its upcoming THOR, starring Star Trek's Chris Hemsworth and Star Wars' Natalie Portman.
"THOR"
Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment Present
A Marvel Studios Production
A Kenneth Branagh Film
Co-Producers Craig Kyle Victoria Alonso
Executive Producers Louis D'Esposito Alan Fine Stan Lee David Maisel Patty Whitcher
Produced by Kevin Feige
Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Cast:
Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo, Stellan Skarsgard, Jaimie Alexander, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Josh Dallas, Tadanobu Asano, Idris Elba, Clark Gregg, Colm Feore
Synopsis:
Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the epic adventure, "Thor," which spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and is forced to live among humans. A beautiful, young scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), has a profound effect on Thor, as she ultimately becomes his first love. It's while here on Earth that Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.
Release: May 6th, 2011
CREDITS ARE NOT FINAL AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE

ARABIAN NIGHTS
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Liam Hemsworth, who co-stars in Disney's upcoming Miley Cyrus drama "The Last Song," is jumping into action-movie territory with ARABIAN NIGHTS.
The actor is in negotiations to star in Inferno Entertainment's 3D adventure directed by Chuck Russell.
Inferno's Bill Johnson is producing with Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray of Mayhem Pictures. ROAR also is producing.
Written by Russell and Barry P. Ambrose, the period epic centers on a young commander (Hemsworth) who, after his king is murdered in a coup, joins forces with Sinbad and Aladdin to rescue Queen Scheherazade.
An end-of-summer shoot is being eyed.
Hemsworth is a relative unknown who apart from the buzz he is generating from "Song" appeared in last year's "Knowing."
The deal also puts him in territory being tread by brother Chris Hemsworth, who is in production as the title character in Marvel's superhero action fantasy THOR.
Inferno is planning a year-end shoot for "The Grey," an action project starring Bradley Cooper and directed by Joe Carnahan. The company also is coming off the Sundance premiere of comedy "The Kids Are All Right" and the Berlin premiere of thriller "The Experiment."

COVERT AFFAIRS ADDS CAST MEMBER
According to the Hollywood Reporter, HEROES co-star Sendhil Ramamurthy is joining USA Network's new drama series COVERT AFFAIRS as a regular. The spy drama centers on Annie Walker (Piper Perabo), a multilingual CIA trainee unexpectedly promoted to field operative while reeling over a mysterious ex-boyfriend who appears to be of particular interest to her agency bosses.
Ramamurthy will play a CIA agent. He fills the void left by the departure of Eric Lively, who played a third-generation CIA agent in the pilot. However, this is not a straight recasting as Ramamurthy will play a new character.
He joins COVERT cast members Christopher Gorham, Peter Gallagher, Kari Matchett and Anne Dudek as well as Eion Bailey.
Ramamurthy first indicated that he may be done with HEROES in November when he was cast in a regular role on NBC's dramedy pilot REX but made a quick exit over a scheduling conflict.
Ramamurthy's character on HEROES, Mohinder Suresh, was key in the series' first couple of seasons, but his importance has gradually been scaled down. He also recently guest starred in an episode of another USA series, PSYCH.

TRON LEGACY
The teaser trailer for Tron Legacy that debuted in front of Alice in Wonderland this weekend is now online.
Tron Legacy is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that's unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father's disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin's loyal confidant (Olivia Wilde), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the anticipated film hits 3D theaters and IMAX 3D on December 17.

MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2010

ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Tim Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND killed the competition at the March 5 weekend box office, taking in an estimated $116.3 million domestically to set a new record.
Worldwide, the 3-D fantasy movie took in $210.3 million, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Even accounting for ticket-price inflation, that's the biggest-ever (domestic) opening in the first quarter of the year, easily beating the record of $83.8 million set by THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST in 2004.
In the 40 foreign territories where it opened simultaneously, ALICE IN WONDERLAND collected an additional $94 million. That's also a record for the biggest foreign opening in the winter or spring, Disney said.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
Here is a new clip from DreamWorks Animation's HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, opening in 3D theaters and IMAX 3D on March 26th. Set in the mythical world of burly Vikings and wild dragons, and based on the book by Cressida Cowell, the action-comedy tells the story of Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), a Viking teenager who doesn't exactly fit in with his tribe's longstanding tradition of heroic dragon slayers. Hiccup's world is turned upside down when he encounters a dragon that challenges he and his fellow Vikings to see the world from an entirely different point of view.
The voice cast also includes Gerard Butler, America Ferrara, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, Kristen Wiig and T.J. Miller.

SUNDAY, MARCH 7, 2010

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Plenty of moviegoers followed Alice down the rabbit hole on Friday as Disney's 3D ALICE IN WONDERLAND opened to an estimated of $41 million. Setting up shop in 3,728 theaters, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's PG-rated revisionist take on the Lewis Carroll classic, is on track to climb above the $110 million mark for the weekend.
While ALICE dominated the scene, Overture's R-rated cop drama BROOKLYN'S FINEST, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Don Cheadle and Richard Gere, still found solid footing. Bowing in 1,936 locations, it took in $4.8 million for a second place showing.
Last week's #1 picture, Paramount's psychological thriller SHUTTER ISLAND, moved into third place after two weekends in the top spot. Its Friday haul amounted to nearly $4 million as its collective domestic gross moves in the $90 million range this weekend.
In its second weekend, Warners' buddy cop movie COP OUT ranked four for the day with $2.9 million.
Overture's zombie tale THE CRAZIES was fifth with $2.3 million.
Although it ceded most of its 3D theaters to ALICE, AVATAR still hung in in sixth place with nearly $2 million for the day.

BEYOND
According to reports in The Hollywood Reporter, Suri Krishnamma (“A Man of No Importance”) will direct the film adaptation of acclaimed New Age author Deepak Chopra's graphic novel BEYOND.
The supernatural thriller follows an American businessman and his family who journey to India on vacation. In the midst of a teeming bazaar, the son sees his mother wander into a small store but never come out, leading to a frenzied search for her whereabouts.
Gotham Chopra, Sharad Devarajan, John Garland and Michael Dufficy will produce the UK film production.

SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2010

PENDRAGON
The Los Angeles Times reports that Sylvain White, who directed upcoming THE LOSERS, is negotiating to helm PENDRAGON, a retelling of the Arthurian legend. The spin involves providing the key Camelot characters -- Arthur, Lancelot, Guinevere, Galahad, et al. -- with origin stories.
The script for the Phoenix Pictures project was written by Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevy.
The film is set up at Fox-based production company New Regency.

MIDNIGHT RUN
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal Pictures is developing a sequel to MIDNIGHT RUN, the 1988 action-comedy that starred Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. Here's synopsis for the original:
Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) is a tough ex-cop turned bounty hunter. Jonathan 'The Duke' Mardukas (Charles Grodin) is a sensitive accountant who embezzled $15 million from the Mob, gave it to charity and then jumped bail. Jack's in for a cool $100,000 if he can deliver The Duke from New York to L.A. on time. And alive. Sounds like just another Midnight Run (a piece of cake in bounty hunter slang), but it turns into a cross-country chase. The FBI is after The Duke to testify - the Mob is after him for revenge - and Walsh is after him to just shut up. If someone else doesn't do the job, the two unlikely partners may end up killing each other in this hilarious, action-filled blockbuster from producer-director Martin Brest (Beverly Hills Cop).
Timothy Dowling (Role Models) will write the script that would bring back De Niro's character, Jack Walsh, and pair him with a younger comedic foil.
The 1988 film carried a budget of about $30 million and earned $38.4 million domestically.
De Niro will produce the sequel with Tribeca Films partner Jane Rosenthal.

FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2010

FUTURAMA RETURNS IN JUNE
Comedy Central sources confirm to HitFix that Thursday, June 24, at 10:00 p.m. is currently set to be the premiere of the first new half-hour episode of "Futurama" since 2003.
Despite earlier reports, the entire voice cast will be back.

CAPRICA
James Marsters fans! Buffy and Caprica fans! Here is the first look at James Marsters as terrorist leader Barnabas Greeley from Syfy's new Battlestar Galactica prequel series, CAPRICA!

BODY OF EVIDENCE
Jeri Ryan has joined ABC's drama "Body of Evidence." "The Unit" alum Robert Patrick has joined ABC's drama "Edgar Floats," Allison Miller has landed a lead in the CW's drama "Betwixt" and Alan Ruck has joined the CW's untitled Wyoming project.
"Body" is a procedural that centers on a brilliant, tenacious medical examiner -- a part Dana Delany is in talks for -- whose background as a neurosurgeon gives her a unique and refreshing crime-solving perspective but puts her at odds with nearly everyone.
Ryan will play the city's chief medical examiner. She has been recurring on TNT's "Leverage" and Star Trek fans will remember her from her days as 7 of 9 on Star Trek: Voyager.
"Edgar" centers on a a police psychologist-turned-bounty hunter who often works for a bail bondsman (Patrick) whose daughter (Alicia Witt) is Edgar's ex-wife.
"Betwixt" revolves around "changelings," who are responsible for saving humans from evil. Miller ("17 Again") will play an ethereal beauty.
The Wyoming project centers on 22-year-old Gideon (Sean Faris), a horse trainer who becomes the patriarch of a Wyoming ranch responsible for his three younger sisters after their parents die. Ruck will play a nemesis who wants a chunk of Gideon's land.

BOOK 'EM DANNO
Scott Caan, co-star in the "Ocean's Eleven" movie franchise, has been tapped for the role of Danny "Danno" Williams on CBS' updated version of "Hawaii Five-O."
The new "Hawaii," from CBS Studios, "Star Trek" writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and "CSI: NY' executive producer Peter Lenkov, centers on an elite branch of the Hawaii State Police headed by Steve McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin).
Williams, who was played by James MacArthur on the original series, is a New Jersey cop who has recently undergone an acrimonious divorce and has transferred to Hawaii to be near his 7-year-old daughter. Forced to partner with McGarrett, Danno is initially leery of their association -- but as he grows more familiar with his maverick new boss, he begins to appreciate the opportunity to work with McGarrett.
The character's name was immortalized by McGarrett's catchphrase, "Book 'em, Danno!" which closed most episodes of the original series and is expected to live on on the new show.
Caan will be a guest star on the "Hawaii" pilot because of his commitment to HBO's "Entourage."
Caan is regular on the showbiz comedy for the upcoming seventh season, reprising his role as tough-talk manager Scott Lavin introduced in an arc last season.
He will then segue to "Hawaii" as a regular if the pilot is picked up to series.
Caan is probably best known for his role as Turk Malloy in the three "Ocean's Eleven" heist movies from Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney.
He will next be seen in IFC Films' "Mercy," which he also wrote and produced.

GREEN LANTERN GOING 3-D
Warner Bros. on Thursday revealed plans to release two previously announced 2D pics in 3D: THE GREEN LANTERN and SUCKER PUNCH.
Zach Snyder's action fantasy PUNCH is still set to land in theaters on March 25, 2011, following its move into the third dimension. And Ryan Reynolds starrer GREEN LANTERN will light up screens about three months after that, on June 17 of next year.
Warners has gotten more bullish on 3D following Fox's big payday with "Avatar." In a pair of previous moves, Warners announced plans to convert action fantasy CLASH OF THE TITANS and HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART ONE to 3D for release on April 2 and Nov. 19, respectively.
On Thursday, Warners also confirmed it will release HALLOWS, PART TWO in 3D on July 15, 2011.

FOUNTAIN CITY
Variety reports that Andrew Adamson ("The Chronicles of Narnia" and "Shrek" franchises) will next make the fantasy film FOUNTAIN CITY. The trade indicates that Lightstream Pictures has preemptively picked up the live-action/CGI hybrid, which it will co-finance.
The budget for the film is projected at more than $100 million. The company is keeping the storyline under wraps. Adamson and writer Joby Harold sold the fantasy-adventure to Lightstream based on their pitch. Harold is writing the script, which Adamson will direct.
Adamson, Aaron Warner, Tory Tunnell and Lightstream executives Garrett Kelleher, Paul Currie and Lawrence Inglee will produce.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2010

| PRINCE OF PERSIA
The new full 2-and-a-half-minute trailer for Disney's upcoming PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME gives us a great look at the epic scale and amazing action in the video-game adaptation.
In particular, we finally get to see some of Prince Dastan's (Jake Gyllenhaal) signature parkour-like acrobatics, which gamers may recognize, as well as more of Jake's English accent and co-star Gemma Arterton's voluptuous moves. PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME also stars Ben Kingsley. Jerry Bruckheimer produced and Mike Newell directed. It opens May 28.

WAREHOUSE 13 RETURNING IN JULY
Syfy announced that its hit series WAREHOUSE 13 has begun production on season two, which will premiere on July 13. All the main cast members are back, along with special guest star Nolan Funk (Nickelodeon's Spectacular and Drake & Josh), who will appear in a four-episode arc.
Season two will consist of 13 brand-spanking-new episodes.
Here is the official announcement:
New York, NY - March 2, 2010 - Syfy's #1 original hit series, WAREHOUSE 13, commences production on season two this March in Toronto and will kick off the new season with a summer premiere on Tuesday, July 13. Series regulars, Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek and Allison Scagliotti, along with series guest star, CCH Pounder, reprise their roles in the series ratings leader for Syfy. The 13 episode, hour-long dramedy is slated to return this summer 2010.
Nickelodeon star, Nolan Gerard Funk (Spectacular), who recently starred on Broadway in Bye, Bye, Birdie, guest stars in a four-episode storyline in season two. Funk portrays Todd, a tech savvy local who takes a special romantic interest in Claudia (Scagliotti). This budding relationship is put to the test by the secrets they are forced to keep from one another.
WAREHOUSE 13 follows two Secret Service agents who find themselves abruptly transferred to a massive, top-secret storage facility in windswept South Dakota which houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. The Warehouse's caretaker Artie (Saul Rubinek) charges Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka (Joanne Kelly) with chasing down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects to cache at the Warehouse, as well as helping him to control the Warehouse itself.
WAREHOUSE 13 became the all-time Syfy leader in total viewers (4.1 million), Adults 25-54 (2.1 million) and Household ratings (2.9), as measured by 7-Day DVR data, making it the most successful series in Syfy's 17-year history.
WAREHOUSE 13 is produced for Syfy by Universal Cable Productions. Jack Kenny (The Book of Daniel), returns as showrunner.

FANTASTIC VOYAGE REMAKE
According to James Cameron, the script for his proposed remake of the classic 1960s medical sci-fi movie FANTASTIC VOYAGE is done and in a group interview Sunday in Century City, Calif., at the Visual Effects Society Awards, Cameron said, "Fantastic Voyage, we're looking for a director."
Cameron will produce the new FANTASTIC VOYAGE, based on the 1966 sci-fi movie that starred Raquel Welch, about a team of scientists in a miniaturized submarine who navigate a human body to zap an inoperable blood clot.
Cameron said that he has updated the original, thanks to new medical information available. "Look, medical imaging has come an awful long way since the '60s, when the first film was made," Cameron said. "So we can do some pretty amazing stuff."

FRINGE SEASON FINALE SURPRISES
The first-season finale of Fox's FRINGE revealed the twin towers in an alternate-universe New York. So how do you top that? Series creator and producer J.J. Abrams said this season finale will outdo the last, in a deeper way.
"I think the whole alternate-universe idea is at the core of what's going to be happening," Abrams said in a group interview Sunday in Los Angeles, where he attended the Milk + Bookies Story Time Celebration with his family. "Without giving anything away, I think that the ending of this second season is, I think, richer and better and deeper than what we did last year. I mean, last year was definitely shocking, but I think the end of this year is different, but I think equally impactful."
No doors should be totally closed in the finale. It is FRINGE, after all, and anything is possible. "There are certain things that I think happen that I wouldn't want to talk about that might resolve certain stories, but for the most part I think the fun about Fringe—which I think some episodes that are coming up this season and certainly the ending take advantage of—is that sort of unlimited possibility. Not to say there aren't rules and things that are happening that have to be abided by, but the fun of this show that's specific to Fringe is the fact that we can go to certain places and do certain things that you couldn't normally do on a show and not have it be 'The Wacky Episode.' Every episode is a little bit the wacky episode."
FRINGE's second season resumes on April 1 with seven new episodes (eight if you count a two-parter as two episodes). Abrams said the April Fool's Day episode is awesome, and he doesn't sound like he's joking.
"It's one of my favorite episodes that we've done," Abrams said. "It is particularly retro and weird. It's a really cool episode."
Retro could mean many things. It wouldn't be that strange for Fringe to mimic the tone of classic sci-fi shows that came before. The creators could also use retro technology for a change. Abrams only hinted, "Both. You've got to see it."
It's too early for even Abrams to know whether Fox is ordering a third season of FRINGE. "There's no official word yet," he said. "I would hope so, but my fingers are crossed."
It would be surprising if Fox did not renew the hit show, though. "I have no idea," Abrams continued. "I hope so. Like I said, my fingers are crossed. I don't know. I just know that we have a lot of story yet to tell, so I hope that we get our shot to do it."
When the order comes in, Abrams knows how he would begin the third season. "Well, you have to see how the second season ends first, because it's pretty cool, but there are a lot of really fun ideas that are being kicked around," Abrams said. "I'm hoping that we get a chance to actually realize them and not resort to just blogging it or something."
FRINGE airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Fox.

SPACE INVADERS MOVIE
The Los Angeles Times reports that Warner Bros. Pictures is negotiating to acquire feature rights to classic video game SPACE INVADERS from Taito, the Japanese company that originally manufactured the game.
"Space Invaders" was designed by Tomohiro Nishikado and released in 1978. The game was later licensed for production in the United States by Midway.
The project would be produced by Mark Gordon (The Day After Tomorrow, Saving Private Ryan), Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity) and Guymon Casady.
Movie versions of "Missile Command" and "Asteroids" are also in development at Fox and Universal, respectively.

GILLIGAN'S ISLAND
Variety reports that Warner Bros. Pictures and production company Atlas Entertainment are developing a feature film based on CBS' GILLIGAN'S ISLAND.
Charles Roven and Richard Suckle will produce for Atlas, with Brad Copeland writing the screenplay. Original show producer Sherwood Schwartz is on board to executive produce along with son Lloyd Schwartz.
Variety says that plans are for a contemporary take on the iconic show. They're hoping to start production next year but won't move forward on seeking a director or cast until Copeland's script is completed.
"The characters are so good," Roven added. "We think it's going to be a great story to transport these cultural icons to the modern day."

TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2010

FOUNDATION
Director Roland Emmerich (2012, The Day After Tomorrow) is still waiting for a complete script for his proposed film version of Isaac Asimov's FOUNDATION series but says now that he will take a page from James Cameron's AVATAR when he finally gets down to making the movie as a 3-D CG epic.
"I want to create everything," Emmerich told Empire magazine. "I want it to be a full CG film, so [performance capture] is perfect for that."
Earlier, Emmerich told MTV: "The AVATAR technology applies to FOUNDATION. It has to be done all CG because I would not know how to shoot this thing in real."
As for the story, Emmerich assures us that he wants to remain faithful to Asimov's original books, about the rise and fall of a galactic civilization.
"I want to give people exactly what the Foundation trilogy is," Emmerich said. "You have to tell a story that represents the books but also works as a film. That's the challenge."

DEATH RACE 2
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Sean Bean is starring opposite Luke Goss in DEATH RACE 2, the prequel to Universal's 2008 Jason Statham starrer.
Universal is putting out the feature, now shooting in South Africa, as part of its DVD Originals banner. "Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball" was the label's most recent release.
Also in the cast are Lauren Cohan, Ving Rhames, Danny Trejo and Frederick Koehler. Paul W.S. Anderson, who directed the 2008 movie, is producing with Jeremy Bolt. Roel Reine is directing.
The prequel is serving as the origin story for the character named Frankenstein, a convicted cop killer (Goss) in a declining American empire where a racing reality show is about to be born in the country's corrupt prison system.
Bean, currently seen on screens as Zeus in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief," is starring in the pilot "A Game of Thrones," which is awaiting a series pick-up order from HBO.

LUCK
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Dustin Hoffman has signed to topline HBO's horse racing drama pilot LUCK, from Michael Mann and David Milch. It will be the Oscar winner's first major TV series.
The following is how the project is described:
The project is described as a provocative look at the worlds of horseracing and gambling told through a diverse group of characters surrounding a racetrack.
It centers on an intelligent, intuitive tough man (Hoffman) who always has been involved with gambling, from bookmaking and money laundering to casino operations.
Recently released from prison after four years, he teams with Gus Economou (Dennis Farina), his longtime chauffeur and muscle, to craft a complex plan involving the track. They recruit Turo Escalante (John Ortiz), a successful trainer with a sordid reputation.
Milch wrote the pilot, which Mann is directing. Filming is expected to star in the spring in Los Angeles.

TANGLED
A short teaser trailer for Disney's upcoming animated Rapunzel movie TANGLED is hitting stores with the DVD and Blu-ray for The Princess and the Frog on March 16th.
Coming to theaters in November, TANGLED is an action-packed, swashbuckling, animated musical comedy about the girl behind 70 feet of magical, golden hair. A princess stolen from her parents' castle as a baby, Rapunzel (voice of Mandy Moore) is locked in a hidden tower longing for adventure Now an imaginative and determined teenager, she takes off on a hilarious, hair-raising escapade with the help of a dashing bandit (voice of Zachary Levi). With the secret of her royal heritage hanging in the balance and her captor in pursuit, Rapunzel and her cohort find adventure, heart, humor, and hair... lots of hair.

MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2010

SERENA
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Angelina Jolie and Darren Aronofsky are in discussions to adapt Ron Rash's 2008 novel "Serena: A Novel." The project would be a starring vehicle for Jolie, while Aronofsky would direct. Chris Kyle (Alexander, K-19: The Widowmaker) wrote the screenplay.
The following is how publisher HarperCollins describes the book:
The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire. Although George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child, Serena is new to the mountains—but she soon shows herself to be the equal of any man, overseeing crews, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness. Together this lord and lady of the woodlands ruthlessly kill or vanquish all who fall out of favor. Yet when Serena learns that she will never bear a child, she sets out to murder the son George fathered without her. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking reckoning.
Rash's masterful balance of violence and beauty yields a riveting novel that, at its core, tells of love both honored and betrayed.
Jolie is currently shooting THE TOURIST with Johnny Depp, but she has nothing lined up next. The untitled Kay Scarpetta project is one possibility.

INCARCERON
Variety reports that Fox 2000 and Seed Productions have scored the film rights to Catherine Fisher's young-adult novel series INCARCERON.
The dystopian fantasy follows a young boy incarcerated in a futuristic and living prison ruled by rivalry and savagery, and the daughter of the prison's warden who lives outside in a future world made to resemble the 17th century and is being forced into an arranged marriage. Both find a device, a crystal key, which allows them to communicate with each other.
The project will go out to writers and directors shorly and John Palermo will produce. The second novel in the series, SAPPHIQUE, hits bookstores early next year.

SHREK FOREVER AFTER
SHREK FOREVER AFTER, the fourth installment of the jolly green ogre's adventures and the first in 3D, will raise the curtain at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival as its opening-night film.
The DreamWorks Animation feature, directed by Mike Mitchell, will have its world premiere April 21 at the New York City fest.
Shrek has always had a taste for fests -- the first two movies in the franchise played the Cannes Film Festival.
"We have always sought to open our festival with films that are captivating and strike an emotional chord with moviegoers," Tribeca co-founder Jane Rosenthal said. " 'Shrek Forever After' combines the very best in storytelling and artistry while showcasing the wonders of innovative 3D filmmaking."
With a voice cast headed by Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas, the movie pits Shrek against Rumpelstilskin, who tricks the ogre into signing away the life he has known.
Paramount will release the movie nationwide on May 21.
Tribeca, which runs through May 2, will announce its full slate of programming next month.

SUNDAY, FEBRURAY 28, 2010

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Martin Scorsese's SHUTTER ISLAND from Paramount got a big jump on a likely repeat performance atop the domestic rankings this weekend when the suspense thriller topped the boxoffice Friday with an estimated $6.7 million.
The Leonardo DiCaprio starrer boasts $59.6 million in cumulative boxoffice through its first eight days in the marketplace. Originally set to unspool in the fall, ISLAND cost an estimated $75 million to produce, after tax credits.
Warner Bros.' Kevin Smith-helmed buddy cop movie COP OUT, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan – captured the #2 spot, ringing up $6 million during its first day in release. That should keep COP on track to cop mid- to high teen millions through Sunday, meeting pre-release expectations despite another snowstorm's hitting the East Coast on Friday.
Overture Films' THE CRAZIES, an R-rated remake of George Romero's 1973 horror classic, debuted just a shade further back with $5.9 million in third place. Starring Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell, "Crazies" also appears to be hitting its marks and should fetch mid-teen millions on the three-day frame.
Participant Films and Imagenation Abu Dhabi jointly contributed 50% of pic financing on CRAZIES.
Fox's AVATAR was fourth among all Friday grossers, with $3.1 million on the day shaping a $696 million cume. And Warner Bros.' romantic comedy VALENTINE'S DAY was fifth with $2.9 million and a $93.8 million cume.

MORE HAWAII FIVE-O CASTING
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Grace Park, aka Lt. Sharon "Boomer" Valerii from BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, has joined CBS' HAWAII FIVE-O remake.
The updated take on the original series centers on an elite branch of the Hawaii State Police headed by Steve McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin). Park will play Kona Kalakaua, the niece of squad member Chin Ho Kelly, played by LOST's Daniel Dae Kim.
Kono is a beautiful and smart champion surfer who is about to graduate from the police academy when McGarrett recruits her to join his team.
Park most recently co-starred opposite Benjamin Bratt in A&E's dram drama THE CLEANER.
She joins another BATTLESTAR alumna, Katee Sackhoff, who was recently recruited to star in ABC's untitled Richard Hatem drama pilot. Additionally, Tricia Helfer, who played No. 6 on the sci-fi series, is joining TNT's cop drama DARK BLUE as a new regular.

GRAVITY
According to Vulture, Angelina Jolie has pulled out of WANTED 2 in favor of the space thriller GRAVITY which Alfonso Cuarón ("Children of Men") is helming for Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures. Jolie would play the sole survivor of a space mission gone wrong who desperately tries to return to Earth and see her daughter again.
David Heyman, who worked with Cuaron on HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, will produce. Cuaron co-wrote the script with his son Jonás.
Jolie is currently shooting the Johnny Depp-led thriller THE TOURIST in Paris.

CONAN CASTING
Heat Vision has confirmed a Latino Review scoop that Mickey Rourke (Iron Man 2) is in negotiations to play Conan's father in Lionsgate's CONAN, to be directed by Marcus Nispel.
Filming on the fantasy action adventure, in which Jason Momoa plays Conan the Barbarian and Leo Howard a younger version of the character, will start in Bulgaria on March 15th.
The story sees Conan embark on a quest to avenge the slaughter of his people.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2010

MAX STEEL/STRETCH ARMSTRONG
Twilight teen werewolf Taylor Lautner has pulled out of MAX STEEL, a proposed film based on the Mattel toy, in favor of his other toy movie, Stretch Armstrong (Hasbro).
... In the weeks after signing on to play Steel, Lautner became increasingly convinced that Hasbro was playing its hand better than Mattel. Thanks to WME, Hasbro was moving with far greater speed through Hollywood's development maze than Mattel, not only setting up projects, but quickly moving them forward ...
As a result, by the time Universal had begun conversations earlier this month with Monsters vs. Aliens director Rob Letterman about directing Stretch Armstrong, Lautner had already decided not to do Max Steel.

ROCKFORD FILES REMAKE
In his first regular TV role, Dermot Mulroney is set to play the iconic private eye in NBC's updated take on THE ROCKFORD FILES, the hit 1970s drama that starred James Garner in the title role.
The new Jim Rockford is described as "slightly crumpled, wry humored, cynical, world weary, compassionate when it's called for and easily irritated by morons."
His troubled past includes includes doing some time as a convict and as a cop.
Aside from an arc on NBC's "Friends" in 2003, "My Best Friend's Wedding" Mulroney has been focused on features, most recently appearing in "Burn After Reading."
NBC's "Rockford Files" was penned by "House" creator David Shore, who is executive producing with Steve Carell.

STEEL CITY CON
Just a reminder that this weekend kicks off the STEEL CITY CON in Monroeville, PA. Guests include SMALLVILLE's John Schneider, STAR WARS' Matthew Wood, LOST IN SPACE's Mark Goddard, STORM TROOPERS' Jake Busey and many others.

JMS INTERVIEW SERIES
Ranger Jim sent along this note regarding a series of interview with J. Michael Straczynski over at Newsrama. Here are the links:
Day 1: SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/JMS-Week-Superman-Earth-One-100216.html
Day 2: BRAVE & THE BOLD and WORKING With DC
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/jms-brave-bold-dc-100217.html
Day 3: MARVEL COMICS & THE TWELVE
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/JMS-Week-MARVEL-100228.html
Day 4: His Secret Origin in Comics!
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/JMS-Week-Comics-Secret-Origin-100219.html
Day 5: MOVIES, TV, & Following Dreams
http://www.newsarama.com/film/JMS-Week-Movies-TV-100220.html

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010

WALTER KOENIG'S SON FOUND DEAD
After days of searching, the body of missing "Growing Pains" actor Andrew Koenig was discovered in a Vancouver area park today (Thu. Feb. 25), the actor's father has confirmed. "My son took his own life." Walter Koenig, Andrew's father, said at today's press conference.
A private group of family and friends, including his father, discovered his body in a wooded area of Stanley Park around noon today. His father did not find the body, but he was nearby. Police were summoned to the scene soon after.
Both Walter and Judith Levitt Koenig reached out to those who are suffering from depression and hopes they learn from Andrew's death that there are people out there who care. Friends and family previously reported that the actor was severely depressed and had stop stopped taking his prescribed medication.
The family asks that their privacy be respected at this time.
Friends revealed on record that in the weeks leading up to the Vancouver trip, Koenig sold or gave away his belongings, gave notice on his Venice apartment and paid his final rent.
Walter and his family are in our hearts and prayers at this most difficult time.

FLASH
IESB.net report that Greg Berlanti, co-writer of the upcoming GREEN LANTERN and director of Life as We Know It, is in line to direct the upcoming FLASH movie:
The name should ring a bell or two, Berlanti wrote GREEN LANTERN with one my favorites Marc Guggenheim and was once attached to direct the film before WB settled on Martin Campbell.
It's unclear whether FLASH will be based on David Goyer's initial idea or will be written by someone else. And, of course, way to early to know who will put on the red suit, though Ryan Reynolds was once Goyer's choice (he's not involved and will instead play Hal Jordan in Green Lantern).

TRANSFORMERS 3
According to Michael Bay's official site, the director has settled on where two big action sequences will be shot for Transformers 3:
Spoke with Michael today and got some little info on TF3: there will be big action sequences shot in Chicago and Moscow this time around.
The third installment, again starring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox, will be released in theaters on July 1, 2011.

ANONYMOUS
Empire Online reports that Vanessa Redgrave, David Thewlis and Rhys Ifans have all joined ANONYMOUS, the Shakespeare- themed royal political thriller that big-budget disaster movie helmer Roland Emmerich ("2012," "The Day After Tomorrow") will direct.
John Orloff ("A Mighty Heart") penned the script which explores the theory that Shakespeare was not the author of his plays, but rather Edward De Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. The film will also explore the declining years of Elizabeth the First's reign as her court devolved into feuding factions between the Cecils and the Essex's. The aim is expected to be a dark and tense thriller along the lines of 1998's Oscar-winning "Elizabeth".
Redgrave will play Elizabeth, David Thewlis will be both the old and young incarnations of William Cecil, and Rhys Ifans will be the Earl of Oxford. Shooting kicks off in Berlin next month.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2010

NINE LIVES
Steven Spielberg's proposed supernatural miniseries NINE LIVES, which was original developed for Syfy, is now being rewritten for NBC, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Executive producer Les Bohem, who previously partnered with Spielberg for Syfy's TAKEN miniseries, is reportedly reworking the script to appeal to a broader audience.
The 12-hour miniseries was originally slated to air on Syfy in 2007.
[It] revolves around a group of people who find a way to reunite with their loved ones in the afterlife through near-death experiences, but those journeys unleash an evil force. ...
Bohem is reworking the script for a broader broadcast audience. NBC won't make any decision until reading the latest draft, but it's eyeing "Nine Lives" as a direct-to-series vehicle.

FINAL ORBIT
According to Production Weekly, John Moore is attached to direct FINAL ORBIT, a sci-fi thriller based on the graphic novel adapted by Phil De Blasi & Byron Willinger, about lottery winners who are vacationing on the International Space Station when it is damaged and they find themselves trapped.

BACK NINE
SMALLVILLE's John Schneider has been tapped to star in the single-camera BACK NINE for Spike TV. Schneider portrays Ronnie Barnes, a hard-drinking, larger-than-life, washed-up former U.S. Open champion. He travels the country competing in small-time tournaments with Tiger, his sex-addicted longtime caddy, in order to qualify again for the PGA Tour. Miguel Nunez is in negotiations to play Tiger in the project written by Jason Filardi ("17 Again") and Mark Perez ("Accepted").
Spike put the BACK NINE script on the fast track almost a year ago. Filardi and Perez also are set to direct the pilot for BACK NINE and executive produce with John Lynch.
Schneider recently recurred on THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER, 90210 and NIP/TUCK. BACK NINE is looking to join Spike's two new sports-themed scripted comedy series: BLUE MOUNTAIN STATE and the upcoming PLAYERS.

NEW NIKITA NAMED
According to the Hollywood Reporter, The CW has cast Maggie Q (Mission: Impossible III) as the new NIKITA. The character was first played by Anne Parillaud in Luc Besson's 1990 film, followed by Bridget Fonda in the 1993 remake and Peta Wilson in the 1997 USA Network series. According to the trade, The CW's premise of a new Nikita being trained to replace the original one after she goes rogue gave creator Craig Silverstein an opportunity to break the stereotype, and he wrote the lead as "beautiful and exotic."

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2010

TREASURE ISLAND UPDATE
Variety reports that Ecosse Films is moving forward with a contemporary adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's TREASURE ISLAND.
Taking a page from the success of SHERLOCK HOLMES, the project will update the 19th century tale with a 'hipper' contemporary sensibility and a stronger focus on the relationship between Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins Douglas Rae and Robert Bernstein will produce while Niall Johnson ("Callas") is penning the script.

WARNER/TALPA MEDIA PARTNERSHIP
Warner Horizon, a unit of Warner Bros TV, is teaming with Holland's Talpa Media to develop series for the American market based on the latter's formats.
Under terms of the agreement Stateside, Warner Horizon TV will have exclusive rights to develop and produce shows, jointly with Talpa, for cable and broadcast in the U.S. based on reality and game formats which have already been telecast in the Netherlands.
For Talpa, the arrangement gives the Dutch-based producer entree into a major new marketplace for its programs and the support and expertise of a key local player in it.
Current formats in Talpa's collection include "The Golden Cage," "Viper's Nest" and "Pretty Smart."
In a similar move in France, Talpa recently partnered with Elisabeth Murdoch's Shine to exploit its formats and finished product in the Gallic market.
Warner Horizon TV produces the "Bachelor" and "Bachelorette" franchises as well as "High School Reunion."
It is unclear if any money changed hands in the deal or what the split in profits would be from eventual broadcast fees.

FINAL ORBIT
According to Production Weekly, John Moore is attached to direct the 20th Century Fox action-thriller FINAL ORBIT, based on the graphic novel adapted by Phil De Blasi & Byron Willinger.
Back in June of 2008, publisher Platinum Studios announced that Gale Anne Hurd's Valhalla Motion Pictures would co-develop and produce a feature film.
FINAL ORBIT tells the story of some lottery winners who are vacationing on the International Space Station but when it is damaged, the vacation becomes a nightmare, trapping the tourists alone in a crippled module with no astronauts to help them.
Moore's credits include MAZ PAYNE, THE OMEN, FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX and BEHIND ENEMY LINES.

SOURCE CODE UPDATE
In a Twitter posting, MOON writer/director Duncan Jones announced Wednesday that Jeffrey Wright (QUANTUM OF SOLACE, CASINO ROYALE, ANGELS IN AMERICA) has joined Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga and Michelle Monaghan in his new sci-fi thriller SOURCE CODE at Summit Entertainment.
In a recent interview, Gyllenhaal said that "'Source Code' is a kind of sci-fi thriller based in different time continuums. I play Colter Stevens and he's a helicopter pilot who finds himself in a very unlikely and disoriented situation."
According to previous reports, Stevens is part of an experimental government program to investigate a terrorist incident who finds himself in the body of an unknown commuter living and reliving a harrowing train bombing until he can find out who is responsible for it.
Farmiga will play a hands-on communications officer controlling Gyllenhaal as he travels through time and space. Monaghan is a woman on the train with whom the man is involved romantically.

FASTER
Variety reports that Carla Gugino has signed on to CBS Films revenge thriller FASTER, joining a cast that includes Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Maggie Grace, Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Moon Bloodgood.
Johnson will play an ex-con bent on avenging the death of his brother, murdered 10 years earlier when the two were double-crossed during a heist.
Gugino plays the detective in charge of the investigation, hot on his trail and hell-bent on connecting the killings with a decade-old case.
Directed by George Tillman Jr. from a script by Joe and Tony Gayton, the project started shooting earlier this month.

ERECTOR
Indie producer Helix Films and the Meccano Toy Company are teaming to develop an original 3D feature film based on Meccano's Erector Set toy line.
Meccano was conceived in England in 1901 as a model toy construction system which enables the building of working models and mechanical devices. The products are currently sold in more than 80 countries.
The tone will be a family fantasy/adventure but plot details are being kept quiet. The project is developing an original script with the aim of creating a film franchise.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2010

TWILIGHT: ECLIPSE
Bryce Dallas Howard takes over the role of the evil vampire Victoria in the upcoming THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE. Here is the first look at the red-haired star as Victoria, a role previously played by Rachelle Lefevre, in an encounter with Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson. Fearnet says:
The new image shows Victoria (Howard) with her hands around Edward's (Pattinson) head, preparing to kill him the old-fashioned way: by tearing his head clean off. Victoria's boy-toy Riley (Xavier Samuel) is also present, restraining Edward who kneels in pain.
Twilight devotees will notice that nothing exactly like this happens in the book, although Edward does face off with the vengeful Victoria in the snow, so it seems as though screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg has taken some creative liberties to raise the stakes in the third, and more suspenseful, film installment.
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE is in theaters June 30.

RENEWAL FOR THE VAMPIRE DIARIES AND SUPERNATURAL
THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and SUPERNATURAL fans can rejoice! Both shows received early pickups from The CW for next season, meaning a second season for breakout hit THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and a sixth season for the apocalyptic SUPERNATURAL. THE DIARIES pickup was expected, since the teenage vampire romance is The CW's most watched series, with 4.6 million total viewers, and the network's number-one show among those coveted 18-34-year-old adults. The series debuted on The CW with their largest audience ever, at 5.7 million total viewers and increased 18-34-year-old female viewership on Thursdays at 8 p.m. by a whopping 114 percent.
But SUPERNATURAL's pickup was less certain, though the series did improve over last season among 18-34-year-old women by 29 percent and adults by 8 percent. The CW's press release praised SUPERNATURAL, saying that it has "one of the most loyal audiences of any show on television and does heroic work in a perennially tough time period."
Beyond angels, demons, the devil and an apocalypse, SUPERNATURAL has indeed managed to survive for years airing in the toughest timeslot on the schedule, Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT, opposite ABC's GREY's ANATOMY and CBS's CSI. This season, Fox threw FRINGE into the mix as well. On the other hand, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES' strong female viewership has given SUPERNATURAL, a lead-in that has introduced some of that desirable audience to the charms of the Brothers Winchester.
One CW show that's still waiting to learn its future is SMALLVILLE, which is in its ninth season. While the soon-to-be- Superman series lost viewers when it was moved from Thursdays to Fridays, SMALLVILLE stabilized and actually began performing well, considering the universally low ratings that Friday shows receive.

GREEN LANTERN VILLAIN
Peter Sarsgaard (An Education) goes before the cameras in March in the role of GREEN LANTERN's villainous Hector Hammond, the infamous massively domed telepath with the tiny, withered body.
Sarsgaard's excited to wrap his brain around the role. "It's something completely different for me and something that I've not done before," he told us at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where he received a Cinema Vanguard Award. "I imagine that if I'd done 10 of them I wouldn't be as excited as I am, but it's not the kind of thing that I normally do. It feels expansive to me. It feels like shackles being taken off instead of being put on. I just feel like I can do anything with this role." Sarsgaard said "meeting [director] Martin Campbell" was what hooked him on taking on the enemy to Ryan Reynolds' ring-slinger— he wasn't initially familiar with the comic-book villain. "I can't really talk much about it, because we have to protect it, but it's a very, very fun role, and I just don't get the opportunity to play a role that is so expansive and delicious—and it really is!"
He's mum on whether the movie incarnation of Hammond will be visually faithful to the comics version first drawn by classic Silver Age artist Gil Kane, but he claims he was not taken aback when he first saw the original incarnation. "No," he chuckled. "I think it's awesome!" GREEN LANTERN is due in 2011.

TRUE BLUE
The Hollywood Reporter writes that WITHOUT A TRACE alumna Poppy Montgomery and Marc Blucas are set as leads on the ABC drama pilot TRUE BLUE. TRUE BLUE, from ABC Studios, revolves around six former best friends who rose through the ranks at the San Francisco Police Department and reunite to solve the murder of one of their own.
Montgomery plays one of the six, the only female police captain in San Francisco, who was once married to another member of the team (Blucas), a detective.
Blucas also co-starred on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. Peter Horton is directing the pilot exec produced by Jon Feldman, Chris Brancato and Bert Salke.

TERRA NOVA
Variety reports that Steven Spielberg and Peter Chernin are in negotiations to board Fox's drama project TERRA NOVA, which is described as following a family from 100 years in the future who travel back in time 150 million years to the strange and inhospitable environs of prehistoric Earth.
The trade adds that the project would involve such elaborate sets and visual effects that there's been talk of greenlighting it directly to series production rather than a pilot because it would be too expensive to shut down and start up again during the downtime between pilot and first season's episodes.
The script for TERRA NOVA was co-written by Craig Silverstein and British writer Kelly Marcel, from an idea of Marcel's. Silverstein and Marcel would serve as executive producers along with Aaron Kaplan. Spielberg and Chernin would also executive produce, but deals for the two are not in place yet. If Spielberg comes aboard, DreamWorks TV's Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank would also sign on as executive producers, as would Chernin Entertainment TV's Katherine Pope.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2010

VLAD
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Scott Kosar has been brought on to work on the screenplay for Summit Entertainment's VLAD. Actor Charlie Hunnam ("Sons of Anarchy") wrote the original script, which takes an action-oriented look at Dracula, or Vlad the Impaler, as a young prince. Music video director and photographer Anthony Mandler recently came aboard to direct the project and will shepherd Kosar's work on the screenplay.
Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner are producing through their Plan B shingle. Summit president of production Erik Feig and vp production Meredith Milton are overseeing the project. Jeremy Kleiner is shepherding for Plan B.
Kosar wrote the script for the 2003 "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake, the 2005 "Amityville Horror" remake and "The Machinist." He also co-wrote the screenplay for the remake of George A. Romero's "The Crazies," which Overture releases Feb. 26.

FRANKENSTEIN
Variety reports that Ralph Winter and Terry Botwick have acquired feature rights to Dean Koontz's "Frankenstein" through their 1019 Entertainment. Three titles in Koontz's series have been published, with the fourth scheduled for release in June.
Here's how the books are described:
Every city has secrets. But none as terrible as this. His name is Deucalion, a tattooed man and sleight-of-reality artist who's traveled for two centuries with a secret worse than death. He arrives in modern-day New Orleans as a serial killer stalks the streets, a killer who carefully selects his victims for the humanity that is missing in himself.
Is this an age-old conspiracy? A near-immortal race of beings, and killers that are more – and less – than human? They are stronger, heal better, and think faster than any humans ever created – and they must be destroyed. But not even Victor Helios – once Dr. Frankenstein – can stop the engineered killers he's set loose.
On the case is Detective Carson O'Connor, who is cool, cynical, and every bit as tough as she looks. Her partner Michael Maddison would back her up all the way to hell itself – and that just may be where this case ends up.
Now, the only hope rests in Deucalion, a one-time "monster" and Frankenstein's first attempt to build a perfect human, and his partners, the all-too-human detectives O'Connor and Maddison. Together, they must destroy a monstrosity that even Dr. Frankenstein could not imagine. Deucalion's journey is fated to end in the ultimate confrontation between a damned creature his mad creator.
"These books have enough twists and turns to keep the public coming back to the theaters for many years to come," Winter and Botwick said. The project will be produced by Winter and Botwick along with 1019 Entertainment executive Whitney Thomas.
The first book is titled "Prodigal Son," the second is "City of Night" and third is "Dead and Alive." The fourth book, "Lost Souls," will be published June 22.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2010

SHARKTOPUS
Syfy's original movies director Karen O'Hara tweeted last week the network has greenlit a long-rumored SHARKTOPUS movie -- and directed by B-movie king Roger Corman.
Wrote O'Hara: "Just got off the phone with the legendary Roger Corman who's doing a new movie for us this year. Yes, it's the long-rumored SHARKTOPUS! ... Spent half am hour discussing what a sharktopus should look like, how many mouths it should have and how it should kill. That's my job!"

DENIRO/SCORSESE PAIR AGAIN
According to Reuters, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro are re-teaming for a presently untitled mobster drama. At the premiere of SHUTTER ISLAND at Berlinale on the weekend, Scorsese says "Bob De Niro (and I) are talking about something that has to do with that world… We're working on something like that, but it's from the vantage point of older men looking back, none of this running around stuff."
Scorsese and De Niro previously worked together on RAGING BULL, TAXI DRIVER, CAPE FEAR and CASINO.

UNBLINKING EYE
Jeffrey Dean Morgan ("Watchmen," "P.S. I Love You") is set to star in the psychological thriller THE UNBLINKING EYE for Wind Fish Motion Pictures says The Hollywood Reporter. The story begins with a determined journalist hunting down a retired homicide detective (Morgan) who has become a recluse after nearly being killed by a serial killer. Dark stories from both their pasts come out as the pair face each other.
Michael Bassett ("Solomon Kane") penned the script and is directing while Juliusz Kossakowski and Kevan Van Thompson will produce. Filming kicks off in May.

SHIVER
Variety reports that scribe Nick Pustay ("Ramona and Beezus") has been hired to adapt Maggie Stiefvater's supernatural romance novel SHIVER for Unique Features. The first in a trilogy, the story covers a bittersweet paranormal romance between a teen who becomes a wolf each winter and his girlfriend, who helps him find the secret to staying human.
Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne will produce. The second novel in the series, LINGER, is scheduled to be released next August.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2010

TEEN WOLF REMAKE
According to reports out on the internet, Russell Mulcahy (Resident Evil: Extinction) will direct the pilot for MTV's "Teen Wolf," a reinvention of the 1985 movie starring Tyler Posey, Tyler Hoechlin, Crystal Reed and Dylan O'Brien. The pilot was written by "Criminal Minds" creator Jeff Davis.
MTV's take on the film, which starred Michael J. Fox, is a dramatic thriller with a buddy-comedy element at the center and a romantic plot line. It revolves around Scott McCall (Posey), a dorky high-school student who gets a rush of new powers, including the ability to attract girls, after a wolf attack. The pilot is filming in Atlanta, Georgia.

MIND HUNTER
Variety reports that Charlize Theron and David Fincher have teamed to develop a drama series titled MIND HUNTER for HBO and Fox 21. The series will revolve around the investigation of serial killers. Fox 21 has optioned the book "Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit," by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. The book recounts Douglas' experiences as a top FBI investigator of serial killers and rapists, and the profiling techniques he developed.
Scott Buck, an executive producer on DEXTER, has been hired to write the pilot. Theron and Fincher are executive producing along with Jennifer Orme Erwin and Buck.

MAGNIFICENT ELEVEN
"Trainspotting" Irvine Welsh will direct gritty UK comedy The Magnificent Eleven, a modern-day version of the classic 1960 western THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, reports Screen Daily.
In the updated story, the Cowboys are a local amateur soccer team, the Indians run a nearby Tandoori restaurant and the bandits are a group of menacing thugs run by a maniac called Blonde Bob.
Sean Bean, Dougray Scott and Robert Vaughan, the veteran actor who is the last surviving cast member from the original "Magnificent Seven," will star.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2010

SPLICE
According to Deadline.com, a monster-sized deal is in the works for the Frankenstein-esque film SPLICE, thanks to the Sundance Film Festival. Two weeks after the film premiered at Sundance, producer Joel Silver's Dark Castle is in the final stages of closing a huge distribution deal, which includes a wide summer release on 3,000 screens and a marketing commitment somewhere between $25 million and $40 million. SPLICE, a tale of genetic mutation gone wrong, stars Adrien Brody (King Kong) and Sarah Polley (Dawn of the Dead) as two scientists who combine human and animal DNA to create a new creature. The Cube's Vincenzo Natali directed the film, with executive producer Guillermo del Toro guiding the project for over a year.
Sundance often generates film offers, but usually at $5 million or less. While the megabucks potential for Splice is huge, the Dark Castle deal is not the first deal via Sundance that SPLICE has been close to having. We'll have to wait and see if it goes through.

DAVID GOYER - WRITER
David S. Goyer former show runner for FlashForward and TV writer/author Michael Cassutt have signed a three-book deal with Penguin's imprint, Ace Books, to write a sci-fi adventure trilogy, including HEAVEN'S SHADOW, HEAVEN'S WAR and HEAVEN'S FALL, according to Variety.
The HEAVEN trilogy involves what happens when an object hurtling through space toward Earth threatens to destroy the human race. Two rival teams of astronauts race to intercept the apparent meteor, only to discover alien forces when they land on the object.
"The idea of telling a big story over a series of novels is something I've been thinking about for a while, and a little over a year ago I actually got down to doing a treatment for one and invited Michael to write the series with me," Goyer said.
The trilogy is Goyer's first adventure as a novelist. However, he has written several films, including BATMAN BEGINS, the BLADE films and the upcoming X-MEN ORIGINS: MAGNETO. He also is developing a new version of THE INVISIBLE MAN for Universal and Imagine Entertainment. In TV, he developed BLADE: THE SERIES and executive-produced THRESHOLD.
Cassutt has been writing for TV for more than 20 years, including working as a story editor on MAX HEADROOM, a staff writer for THE TWILIGHT ZONE and a co-executive producer for Showtime's THE OUTER LIMITS. He has also written several novels, such as Tango Midnight, and nonfiction books, including We Have Capture: Tom Stafford and the Space Race.

THREE MUSKETEERS
Variety reports that SHERLOCK HOLMES producer Lionel Wigram is setting up a similar period-set but modern-toned update of another great literary adventure, Alexandre Dumas' THE THREE MUSKETEERS at Warner Bros. Pictures. Peter Straughan ("The Men Who Stare at Goats") has been hired to pen an adaptation that will play up the action, humor and 'sexier' elements of the story.
No director or cast has yet been announced. The project is not linked with Paul W. Anderson's 3D version of the story currently in development.

NEW SERIES NEWS
CRIMINAL MINDS SPIN-OFF
According to the Hollywood Reporter, CBS has tapped Beau Garrett as the female lead for it's new CRIMINAL MINDS spinoff series. Garrett will play a new FBI recruit who joins the team of profilers led by Forest Whitaker's character. The proposed spinoff will be introduced in a CRIMINAL MINDS episode toward the end of the season. Garrett co-stars in TRON LEGACY later this year. Her other credits include TURISTAS, 4: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER and an episode of HOUSE earlier this season.

NUMBERS
NUMBERS star David Krumholtz is going back to his comedy roots in a FOX pilot executive produced by Ron Howard and set in an IRS office, the HR says. Krumholtz will play an auditor whose boss won't leave him alone. NUMBERS is on the bubble for renewal this year for CBS, so the pilot is in second position to NUMBERS.

CHASE
Cole Hauser ("K-Ville") and former "Prison Break" regular Amaury Nolasco have joined NBC's CHASE, the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced drama about a team that tracks fugitives. The Hollywood Reporter writes that Hauser will play the head of the unit and Nolasco the team's intelligence specialist.

CHAOS
Freddy Rodriguez ("Six Feet Under," "Ugly Betty") will star in CBS' drama CHAOS, which follows a group of CIA agents who work around government bureaucracy to get results.

BEING HUMAN
The second season of BEING HUMAN will debut on BBC America in late summer, with the third season following shortly, the network announced.

THE LOSERS
Warner Brothers has pushed its comic-based action movie THE LOSERS to June 4 from its original April 9 release date to move it out of the way of CLASH OF THE TITANS, which comes out April 2 (to allow for the addition of 3-D effects).

SUPERHERO CONTEST
Lionsgate is launching a Superhero Contest in connection with the superhero satirical movie Kick-Ass; entrants can create their own heroes and compete for a chance to win a cameo in a comic sequel. Go to http://www.iwillkickass.com/ for more information.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2010

THE LONE RANGER
Heat Visision reports that Justin Haythe, who adapted Revolutionary Road, is negotiating to write the script for Walt Disney Pictures' THE LONE RANGER. Jerry Bruckheimer is producing the project, which will star Johnny Depp as Tonto. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN scribes Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were previously attached to write the script.
The Hollywood Reporter says Haythe's last gig at the studio, writing 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA: CAPTAIN NEMO, ended when the project was cancelled during the recent executive turnover.
The Lone Ranger's origin story begins with a group of Texas Rangers chasing down a gang of outlaws led by Butch Cavendish. The gang ambushes the Rangers, seemingly killing them all. One survivor is found, however, by an American Indian named Tonto, who nurses him back to health. The Ranger, donning a mask and riding a white stallion named Silver, teams up with Tonto to bring the unscrupulous gang and others of that ilk to justice.

THE LAST EXORCISM
Variety reports that Lionsgate has picked up the U.S. distribution rights for the Eli Roth-produced horror thriller THE LAST EXORCISM (formally titled "Cotton").
Helmed by German director Daniel Stamm, the cinema-verite style pic stars Patrick Fabian as a troubled evangelical minister who allows his final exorcism to be filmed by a documentary crew.
"It's always great to work with our friend Eli, who has played a key role in establishing Lionsgate in the vanguard of the horror genre," said Jason Constantine, Lionsgate's president of acquisitions and co-productions. "'The Last Exorcism' feels as close to a real exorcism as anyone would ever want to get -- audiences are going to find this movie scary as, well, hell."
THE LAST EXORCISM will premiere next month at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

SHIVER
Unique Features' Michael Lynne and Bob Shaye are moving forward with supernatural romance Shiver, hiring Nick Pustay (Ramona and Beezus) to adapt the Maggie Stiefvater novel, according to Variety.
The Scholastic Press title is described as follows:
For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human... until the cold makes him shift back again.
Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.
The second book, "Linger," will be published in August.

A LITTLE WAR OF OUR OWN
Variety reports that Kevin Costner will direct and star in action-adventure A LITTLE WAR OF OUR OWN, portraying a sheriff during World War II. Beacon Pictures is fully financing. Beacon topper Armyan Bern­stein will produce in his fourth teaming with Costner and their first since 2003's OPEN RANGE for Disney. Production's slated for fall.
A LITTLE WAR OF OUR OWN, penned by Dan Gordon, centers on a sheriff who must try to keep a town from exploding into violence. Beacon and Costner are beginning to cast, including pic's other lead role -- that of a German U-boat commander. Suzann Ellis, Jasa Abreo and Peter Almond will exec produce. IM Global is handling foreign sales and is introducing the project to distributors at Berlin's European Film Market this week.
"This has been a dream project for Kevin and I for years," Bernstein said. "The themes are timeless -- war, peace and reconciliation. The canvas is epic -- look at the movies Kevin has directed."
Costner won Oscars for best picture and director for DANCES WITH WOLVES. He starred with Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones in John Wells' feature directorial bow, THE COMPANY MEN, which screened at Sundance last month.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2010

SPIDER-MAN IN 3D
Sony has confirmed that its proposed reboot of SPIDER-MAN will be in 3-D and will hit theaters on July 3, 2012. Here's the full announcement:
SPIDER-MAN will swing into theaters worldwide in 3D beginning July 3, 2012, it was announced today by Jeff Blake, Chairman of Sony Pictures Worldwide Marketing & Distribution. The new film which is still untitled, will begin production later this year directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt. Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin will produce the film from Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios.
Commenting on the announcement, Blake said, "SPIDER-MAN is the ultimate summer movie-going experience, and we're thrilled the filmmakers are presenting the next installment in 3D. Spider-Man is one of the most popular characters in the world, and we know audiences are eager and excited to discover Marc's fantastic vision for Peter Parker and the franchise."

DUNE NEWS
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Chase Palmer has been hired to work on the DUNE script for director Pierre Morel at Paramount. Morel came aboard the project at the beginning of the year, and Palmer will work Morel's ideas into original scribe Josh Zetumer's screenplay. The "From Paris With Love" and "Taken" helmer is intent on hewing close to the source material, Frank Herbert's classic 1965 sci-fi tome.
David Lynch adapted the first novel into a feature for Universal in 1984.
Kevin Misher and Richard Rubinstein are producing the new Paramount version, which they hope will spark a franchise.

NEW STEVE MC GARRETT NAMED FOR HAWAII FIVE-O
After much speculation, the Hollywood Reporter writes that Alex O'Loughlin is the new Detective Steve McGarrett. The "Moonlight" star has closed a deal to topline CBS' "Hawaii Five-0" remake. He will play the role of the head of the Hawaii State Police portrayed by Jack Lord in the original series. O'Loughlin, who was an early favorite for the part, joins recently cast "Lost" co-star Daniel Dae Kim, who will play Detective Chin Ho Kelly.
The new "Hawaii Five-0" hails from hot feature writers and "Fringe" co-creators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and "CSI: NY" executive producer/co-showrunner Peter Lenkov. CBS Studios is producing. "Hawaii Five-0" marks O'Loughlin's third starring vehicle at CBS, following "Moonlight" and this season's medical drama "Three Rivers."
CBS brass certainly hope that the third time will be the charm for O'Loughlin the way it was for another network favorite, Simon Baker, who starred in CBS' short-lived drama series "The Guardian" and "Smith" before headlining hit "The Mentalist."

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2010

SUPERMAN/BATMAN NEWS
Warner Brothers is going to try to reboot its SUPERMAN franchise yet again, but the big news is that they're enlisting the man who turned Batman into one of the biggest movies of all time: THE DARK KNIGHT director Christopher Nolan.
According to Deadline Hollywood:
Our insiders say that the brains behind rebooted Batman has been asked to play a "godfather" role and ensure The Man Of Steel gets off the ground after a 3 1/2-year hiatus. Nolan's leadership of the project can set it in the right direction with the critics and the fans, not to mention at the box office. ... Superman 3.0 is in the early stages of development and no one knows if Nolan would direct. This wouldn't be a sequel to SUPERMAN RETURNS but a completely fresh franchise. As one of our insiders reassures: "It would definitely not be a followup to SUPERMAN RETURNS."
It's well known that Warner was disappointed with the results of Bryan Singer's 2006 reboot movie SUPERMAN RETURNS. Nolan is currently putting the finishing touches on his sci-fi mind-bender INCEPTION, which debuts on July 16.
Meanwhile, news that David Goyer had left ABC's FlashForward fueled speculation that he is turning his attention to a third Batman movie, which Deadline Hollywood confirms:
Now [Nolan's] brother and frequent collaborator Jonah Nolan and David Goyer who co-wrote BATMAN RETURNS and penned the story for THE DARK KNIGHT, are off scripting it.

TV NEWS
THE SHIELD's Michael Chiklis has landed the role as superdad in ABC's new superhero drama pilot NO ORDINARY FAMILY. In the pilot, Chikis plays the father of an American super family who all have special abilities. NO ORDINARY FAMILY was written by Greg Berlanti (Eli Stone) and Jon Feldman (Tru Calling) and comes from ABC Studios. Chiklis won an Emmy for his role as the rogue supercop Vic Mackey on FX's THE SHIELD; however, he's no stranger to superhero movies. He played the Thing in the FANTASTIC FOUR movie franchise and has been very in demand this pilot season.

In other pilot casting news, we reported that LOST (and CRUSADE's) Daniel Dae Kim has been tapped to play Detective Chin Ho Kelly in the remake of HAWAII FIVE-O. Moonlight star Alex O'Loughlin is in talks to play the lead role of Detective Steve McGarrett (originally played by Jack Lord). And Stargate's Michael Shanks confirmed to us that he was reading for the part of Danno (originally played by James MacArthur).

THE CW has ordered a pilot for BETWIXT, which takes place in an urban setting and revolves around "changelings" who try to save humans from evil. Elizabeth Chandler (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) wrote the script, which is being executive-produced by Paul Stupin (Make It or Break It).

THE GATES
The Hollywood Reporter indicates that PRISON BREAK alum Frank Grillo has landed the lead in ABC's supernatural crime drama series THE GATES. Luke Mably, Janina Gavankar and Chandra West also have been cast in the project, which Terry McDonough has come on board to direct.
GATES is produced by Fox TV Studios through the company's international co-production model. Its green light was contingent on FtvS securing foreign financing. The series, being eyed for a summer launch, moved forward after ABC stepped up and increased the license fee on it while FtvS continues conversations with international broadcasters.
Written by Richard Hatem and Grant Scharbo, GATES centers on a big-city cop (Grillo) who becomes chief of police in a seemingly sleepy planned community only to discover there's much more to the residents than meets the eye.
Mably ("The Prince and Me") will play one of the residents, a cardiologist who is a vampirelike creature. Gavankar ("The L Word") will play a local cop with a dark secret. West ("90210") will play the owner of a tea shop.

STAN LEE AND SEVEN
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Andy Heyward's recently launched A Squared Entertainment and Archie Comics have partnered with Stan Lee for a multimedia comic book property, SUPER SEVEN, which will feature the comic book icon. Lee, the Marvel legend and chairman and founder of POW!, is creating SEVEN, about seven aliens who find themselves stranded on Earth after their spaceship crashes and are befriended by Lee himself. Taking them under his care, Lee becomes their leader and enables them to resume their lives as superheroes.
"Although I've briefly appeared in other comics, 'Super Seven' is the first time that I'll actually be a continuing character in a far-out, original superhero series," Lee said.
"Seven" does not fall under the agreement between POW! and Disney, which this year acquired a 10% stake in Lee's company for $2.5 million.
Archie Comics will publish "Seven," and A Squared will focus on developing the project as a TV series and online property as well as handling licensing and merchandising. The partners are targeting a fall launch in print, online and on TV.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE IV
Paramount Pictures announced today that it is making MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE IV. The film, which will be produced by Tom Cruise, J.J. Abrams (Star Trek) and Bad Robot Productions and will star Cruise, will be released Memorial Day weekend 2011.
"Tom and J.J. are great talents and we are excited to be working with them to re-launch this legendary franchise," said Paramount Pictures Chairman & CEO Brad Grey.
Screenwriters Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec are attached to write the script, from an original idea by Cruise and Abrams.
The studio, Cruise and Abrams are in now the process of identifying a director for the film. Cruise's MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE franchise has grossed over 1.4 billion globally.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE IV will be co-financed by David Ellison's Skydance Productions.
The move puts the fourth installment up against The Hangover 2, while Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides opens a week earlier on May 20th.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010

HAVEN
Emily Rose (Jericho, Brothers and Sisters, ER) has been cast in Syfy's new supernatural drama series HAVEN, based on the novella The Colorado Kid from renowned author Stephen King. Rose will play the lead role of Audrey Parker, the shrewd and confident FBI agent with a lost past who arrives in the small town of Haven, Maine to solve the murder of a local ex-con. Before long, her natural curiosity lands her in the epicenter of activity in this curious enclave, which turns out to be a longtime refuge for people that are afflicted with a remarkable range of supernatural abilities.
As the townspeople's dormant abilities begin to express themselves, Audrey helps keep these forces at bay while discovering the many secrets of Haven - including one surrounding her own surprising past in this extraordinary place.
Production is expected to commence in Spring 2010, with an eye towards a Summer 2010 premiere.
The impressive creative team behind Haven includes Scott Shepherd (Tru Calling, The Dead Zone) serving as showrunner and is joined by his partners Executive Producers Lloyd Segan and Shawn Piller (The Dead Zone, Wildfire, Greek) and E1 Entertainment's John Morayniss (Hung,) and Noreen Halpern (The Bridge, Copper). The pilot is written by Sam Ernst (Shrek the Third, The Dead Zone) and Jim Dunn (Shrek the Third, The Dead Zone) who will also serve as executive producers on the series.

TERMINATOR RIGHT SOLD
According to Deadline Hollywood, the Halcyon Holding Corp. has sold the TERMINATOR rights not to Sony Pictures or Lionsgate, but to Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor for $29.5 million. What's interesting is that Halcyon has previously accused Pacificor of extortion, bribery, and fraud and demanded $30M in damages.
Halcyon will receive $5 million for every TERMINATOR movie made from now on, as well as retains the revenue streams from the third and fourth TERMINATOR movies. An arrangement also was made that the sale now wipes out the debt Halcyon owed to Pacificor and all the other creditors.
Back on May 9, 2007, rights to the TERMINATOR series passed from producers Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar to the privately funded Halcyon for a reported $30 million. It was Pacificor that lent Halcyon the money to conclude the deal.

GREEN LANTERN CAST ADDITION
Heat Vision reports that Tim Robbins has joined the cast of director Martin Campbell's GREEN LANTERN at Warner Bros. Pictures. Robbins will play Senator Hammond, the disapproving father of the movie's villain, Dr. Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), who becomes infused with psychic powers.
Ryan Reynolds stars as Green Lantern, with Blake Lively as the hero's love interest, Carol Ferris. Filming is set to star in March in New Orleans. The studio is planning a June 17, 2011 release.

DREAM HOUSE
Rachel Weisz will star alongside Daniel Craig and Naomi Watts in Universal Pictures' DREAM HOUSE. The Morgan Creek production is being directed by Jim Sheridan and was written by David Loucka. Filming began Sunday in Toronto.
The film is about a family that relocates into what appears to be the ideal residence in small town Connecticut. However, the father (Craig) and his family are disturbed to discover that their beautiful new home was the site of another family's slaughter, believed to be at the hands of the husband who survived. Weisz will play the wife and Watts is the family's neighbor.

CONTAGION
Variety reports that Marion Cotillard and Kate Winslet are in talks to join Steven Soderbergh's CONTAGION. Matt Damon and Jude Law are set for the action-thriller.
Soderbergh's been developing the project with producing partner Gregory Jacobs. Participant Media is in talks to co-finance and produce. Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher of Double Feature Films are also producing. The plan is to shoot the project later this year.
CONTAGION, based on a script penned by Scott Z. Burns, revolves around the threat posed by a deadly disease, with multiple plotlines in the style of Soderbergh's "Traffic."
Soderbergh currently is lensing "Knockout" for Relativity Media. Project stars Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor and martial arts champ Gina Carano.

MONDAY, FEBRUARAY 9, 2010

DANIEL DAE KIM IN HAWAII FIVE-O
According to the Hollywood Reporter, LOST's (CRUSADE's Lt. Matheson) Daniel Dae Kim is staying in Hawaii with a lead role on CBS' HAWAII FIVE-0 remake.
In CBS' updated take on the classic cop series, from CBS Studios, Kim will play Detective Chin Ho Kelly, a role played in the original series by Kam Fong.
The part of Detective Steve McGarrett has not yet been cast, though "Moonlight" star Alex O'Loughlin continues to be in talks for it.
The new "Hawaii Five-0" hails from hot feature writers and "Fringe" co-creators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and "CSI: NY" executive producer/co-showrunner Peter Lenkov.
Kim, who played Jin Kwon on "Lost" for its six-season run, is the first actor from the show's core cast to book a new series project this pilot season as the ABC mystery drama heads to its May finale.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
James Cameron's AVATAR, which has dominated the box office for the last seven weekends, finally slipped to second place the weekend of Feb. 5, but still took in a strong $23.6 million. That raised the blockbuster's domestic total to $630.1 million, the Associated Press reported.
Screen Gems' new drama DEAR JOHN, starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, took the industry by surprise taking the #1 spot away from James Cameron's AVATAR. Directed by Lasse Hallstrom and based on the Nicholas Sparks novel, Dear John earned an estimated $32.4 million from 2,969 theaters, a strong average of $10,913 per theater. The film was made for about $25 million and the studio said its audiences were 84% female and two-thirds were under the age of 21. Screen Gems had hoped for an opening of about $20 million for the movie, which set a new Super Bowl weekend record, surpassing 2008's Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour ($31.1 million).

CAPTAIN AMERICA
Director Joe Johnston has addressed concerns that an Australian or Englishman would take the title role as CAPTAIN AMERICA. Johnson said categorically that he will cast an American in the title role of THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA.
"Casting an American? Absolutely," Johnston said in a news conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Saturday while promoting his next film, The Wolfman. "Oh, yeah. I don't think we could make the film without an American playing the part. But we may not be casting in America, because we're going to London. I think we'll probably shoot in the U.K. for most of it, because it takes place in Europe. But, yeah, we'll definitely be casting [an American]."
Johnston also revealed other details about his upcoming film:
"Expect a casting announcement no later than March 1. And expect an unknown. "I hope it'll be somebody that we discover and who's never been in ... —he's probably been in something, but you won't know who he is. You won't recognize him, and we'll surround him with more prominent names. That's who we're looking for. Will we find him? I don't know. It's tough."
"It won't be shot in 3-D, but it will be shot on high-definition video that could be converted to 3-D later. "We're not going to be shooting it specifically in 3-D, but this is the first film I will have shot in hi-def."
"It won't look like other superhero movies. "We're definitely going to shoot it in a different way than any of the other Marvel pictures have been shot. What I'm trying to do is look at the comics, mostly the new ones, mostly the [Ed] Brubaker series [from 2004] and to interpret that sort of visual style into a film in a way that I think has been tried before, but it always looks like it's a little too on the nose. It looks like, oh, they're shooting a comic-book movie. I want to try something a little bit different."
Johnston promises big action set pieces. "Right now we have to sort of pick our battles, because it's a little more than we can afford right now, but there are some great action sequences, stuff we haven't seen before."
CAPTAIN AMERICA is due in theaters on July 22, 2011.

THE THING
The website, Heat Vision, says that Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton will star in Universal's THE THING, the latest take on the shape-shifting alien who terrorizes a group of people.
Matthijs Van Heijningen is directing the the film, which was written by Ronald D. Moore and Eric Heisserer. Strike Entertainment's Marc Abraham and Eric Newman are producing.
Winstead will play a Ph.D. candidate who joins a Norwegian research team in Antarctica after it discovers an alien ship in the ice. When a trapped organism is freed and begins a series of attacks, she is forced to team with a blue-collar mercenary helicopter pilot (Edgerton) to stop the rampage.
The movie starts shooting on March 15 in Toronto.

THE DESCENDANTS
Variety reports that Shailene Woodley (ABC's "The Secret Life of the American Teenager") is set to star opposite George Clooney in Alexander Payne's THE DESCENDANTS.
Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, the revolves around an attorney (Clooney) who is forced to get closer to his daughters after a family tragedy. Woodley will play the oldest daughter.
Nat Faxon and Jim Rash wrote the script.
Payne will helm the pic and produce along with Jim Burke from a script adapted by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash.

TEXAS KILLING FIELDS
Variety indicates that AVATAR star Sam Worthington is in talks to front the cast of TEXAS KILLING FIELDS, a new thriller by Ami Canaan Mann. Her father Michael Mann will produce.
THe trade says the film is a murder mystery titled Texas Killing Fields and written by Donald F. Ferrarone. Shooting will start in April in Louisiana.
The film focuses on the true story of a pair of police officers who undertook to solve two decades of disappearances and homicides -- totaling as many as 60 victims -- in the industrial wastelands surrounding Gulf Coast refineries.
Worthington will portray a local homicide detective who works with a New York transplant to wage a war against the unknown but fierce killers.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2010

STRETCH ARMSTRONG
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Taylor Lautner has signed on to star in “Stretch Armstrong,” Universal’s movie based on the Hasbro toy. The studio is making the movie in 3D, which will push back the release date of the movie from May 15, 2011 to some time in 2012.
The story developed for the movie, being produced by Imagine and Hasbro, sees an uptight spy who stumbles across a stretching formula, which he takes and must now adjust to in everyday life and when fighting crime.
“In the past two years, Taylor has emerged as a real star at the global boxoffice. He brings the perfect balance of energy and athleticism to the role of an unlikely super hero with a fantastic super power,” said Universal co-chairman Donna Langley.
Taylor has emerged as the mainstream star from the “Twilight” movies, signing on to major tentpoles such as “Max Steel” or action vehicles such as “Cancun.” The actor, repped by WME and Management 360, has shown charisma and physical prowess on screen beyond the “Twilight” movies (a recent “Saturday Night Live” appearance is an example) and Lautner is being positioned to be this decade’s action star.

CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE RED SKULL
THE WOLFMAN director, Joe Johnston, has been doing press for his new movie and Johnston confirmed that the Red Skull will indeed be the villain of the first movie and told Ryan a bit more about why they decided to set the majority of the movie during WWII:
"Virtually the entire story except the bookends are in World War II because we all recognize we have one chance to tell the origin story of how he became Captain America, you can't tell a modern story and then go back and tell the origin story. If you're going to do it, let's do it. Let's do it first. Everyone wanted to tell an origin story. There was a version where it was a modern story and it didn't work."
THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA is currently scheduled for release on July 22, 2011.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2010

FLASHFORWARD GETS ANOTHER SHOWRUNNER
Co-creator and executive producer David Goyer is exiting as showrunner of the sci-fi thriller just months after he took over for former showrunner Mark Guggenheim, according to The Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed. Goyer created FlashForward with Star Trek's Brannon Braga. However, because Goyer had limited experience running a television series, Guggenheim, who co-created ABC's Eli Stone, took the reins. During the fall, Guggenheim then stepped down, leaving Goyer in charge for the show's back nine episodes.
The series, which is based on Robert Sawyer's novel about what happens when everyone on the planet blackouts at the same time for two minutes and 17 seconds and has visions of their future, started off with big ratings. However, FlashForward has struggled in its first season so far, and ABC removed it from the schedule in early December. The series is due to return to the ABC schedule on March 18 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, with the network planning to air original episodes through the end of the season without repeats or pre-emptions.
It's never a good sign when a series has showrunner trouble, since that key position is basically the captain of the ship, running all the day-to-day operations for a series. No word from ABC as yet as to who will take over for Goyer, but the production is still several episodes shy of the show's 23-hour order.
Goyer said: "As my feature projects have started ramping up again, I felt I was being pulled in too many directions. I'm proud of the show and excited about the relaunch. It's in great hands." Goyer will still maintain the title of executive producer, and still be "involved" in the show, according to ABC sources. The producer wrote The Dark Knight and Batman Begins, and directed the films, The Unborn and The Invisible.

DAREDEVIL
According to deadline.com, Marvel's blind superhero will get a chance on the big screen again. David Scarpa, who has already scripted one reboot—The Day the Earth Stood Still—will be writing the screenplay for the new Daredevil film, which will be released by New Regency and produced by former News Corp. president Peter Chernin.
Why could we see yet another superhero on the big screen? Any Hollywood studios with Marvel superheros need to keep bringing those characters to the screen or else the rights will revert back to Disney-based Marvel.

ROYAL PAINS ADDS FONZI TO CAST
Henry Winkler is joining the breakout USA Network hit in a major recurring role next season, playing Eddie R. Lawson, the absentee father to Hank (Mark Feuerstein) and Evan (Paulo Costanzo) Lawson.
In ROYAL PAINS' first-season cliffhanger, Hank learned that their father had taken the majority of the funds of his and Evan's company HankMed.
In the second season, Eddie arrives unannounced in the Hamptons, determined to reinsert himself into his sons' lives and make up for lost time, but his motives are unclear at best. ROYAL PAINS, which centers on Hank Lawson, a disgraced New York City physician who reinvents himself as the hot new in-demand doctor-for-hire returns in the Hamptons, for a 18-episode second season in the summer. The series, from Universal Cable Prods., also stars Reshma Shetty and Jill Flint.

BAG OF BONES
Where BAG OF BONES TV mini-series will reside on the small screen is to be announced shortly. In the book, novelist Mike Noonan still suffers writers block several years after his wife's death. A dream inspires him to return to the couple's summer retreat in western Maine, a lakeside house called Sara Laughs. Shortly after arriving, Noonan is caught in the middle of a custody battle involving the daughter of an attractive young widow and the child's enormously wealthy grandfather. He also discovers that Sara Laughs is haunted and that his late wife, Joanna, still has something to tell him.

EARTHBOUND
Whoopi Goldberg and Kathy Bates have signed onto Nicole Kassell's romancer EARTHBOUND says Screen Daily. Kate Hudson and Gael Garcia Bernal play the leads while Rosemarie DeWitt, Lucy Punch, Romany Malco, Steven Weber and Treat Williams also star in the project.
Story details are unknown at this time, but Kassell is directing from a script by Gren Wells. Shooting is currently underway in New Orleans.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2010

TRUE BLOOD
TRUE BLOOD has filled in the last major piece of its season 3 casting puzzle, adding Brit Morgan to the ensemble. Morgan ("The Middleman") will have a recurring part on the HBO hit as Debbie Pelt, the ex-girlfriend of Alcide (Joe Manganiello), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Morgan's other credits include a guest spot on "Cold Case" and the Toby Keith movie "Beer for My Horses."

NEW SPIDER-MAN?
According to the Latino Review, Logan Lerman, the 18-year-old actor who stars in the upcoming PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF as a teen who discovers he's the descendant of a Greek god, may soon discover himself to be the next friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
"Conversations are starting," said Lerman. "It's a long process with the studio and the producers and everything. But it's definitely a project that I'm really interested in, of course. I'd love to focus on the human element a little bit more. It'd be such a fun experience."
Lerman also revealed that he's been a longtime Spider-Man fan. "It's one of my favorite characters ever, and I'm a huge fan of the series," he continued. "I'd love to have more conversations about it. I'm definitely very interested in it."

TERMINATOR AUCTION
Variety reports that Sony has joined Lionsgate in the bidding on the rights to the "Terminator" franchise. The studio submitted a bid on Thursday, the final day for submitting offers. Lionsgate stepped up last month as the first bidder for the rights to the "Terminator" franchise with bid of $15 million and a 5% cut of future gross receipts.
Halcyon Group put the franchise up for sale in September. The auction for the assets--which include the rights to future "Terminator" movies, TV series, DVDs and merchandise--will be held Monday at the offices of FTI Consulting in Los Angeles, followed by a bankruptcy court hearing two days later. If Lionsgate doesn't win the auction, it will receive $750,000 as a breakup fee from the winning bidder.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2010

AVATAR CONTINUES TO MAKE FILM HISTORY
The records keep falling for James Cameron's AVATAR. It has officially become the highest-grossing film domestically of all time, surpassing Cameron's own TITANIC.
As of yesterday, AVATAR's domestic gross was $601.1 million, higher than TITANIC's $600.8 million, Variety reported.
AVATAR earlier topped TITANIC's global total with $2.05 billion worldwide, compared with the boat movie's $1.84 billion.

THOR
In a recent interview, Sir Anthony Hopkins talked about his current project, THOR, the big-budget comic book-based movie in which he'll play Odin, the Norse god-like ruler of Asgard, as well as the father of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and stepfather of Loki (Tom Hiddleston).
Production is underway now on the superhero adventure, which also stars Natalie Portman, Jaimie Alexander, Ray Stevenson and Rene Russo and is being directed by Kenneth Branagh (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein).
"That's a really big one, a really big movie," Oscar winner Hopkins said a couple of weeks ago while promoting THE WOLFMAN. "I'm a big Ken Branagh [fan]. I think he's an extraordinary guy, a wonderful actor and a terrific director. He's one of the easiest guys to be with. He doesn't shout or scream. He just is very gentle with everyone. He believes in his actors. He needs them to act, and he'll direct in a strong way, but he leaves it to you. Whatever you want, he gives it to you."
Hopkins didn't know Branagh well before signing on for THOR. But the two men had met previously as Hopkins had worked, twice, with Branagh's ex-wife, Emma Thompson, and they'd all gone out to dinner years ago. Hopkins got a better feeling for Branagh a few months back, over conversation and coffee in Santa Monica, Calif.
"He said, 'Would you take the [Thor] script and read it and see what you think? And if you'd like to play Odin,'" Hopkins recalled, adding: "I felt he was a very, very smart man, very bright and compassionate and well rounded."
THOR is in production now, with an eye toward a May 6, 2011, release.

THE LOST SYMBOL
According to Variety, Columbia Pictures is moving forward with THE LOST SYMBOL, the third installment of the "Da Vinci Code" franchise. Steven Knight has come on board to adapt Dan Brown's novel.
The book is described as follows:
The Lost Symbol is a masterstroke of storytelling--a deadly race through a real-world labyrinth of codes, secrets, and unseen truths... all under the watchful eye of Brown's most terrifying villain to date. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol accelerates through a startling landscape toward an unthinkable finale.
As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object--artfully encoded with five symbols--is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation... one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.
When Langdon's beloved mentor, Peter Solomon--a prominent Mason and philanthropist--is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations--all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.
Tom Hanks, who played Langdon in THE DA VINCI CODE and ANGELS AND DEMONS. has not yet committed to reprise the role, though he is expected to. Imagine's Brian Grazer and John Calley have signed on to produce the latest installment.

FAST AND FURIOUS 5
Variety indicates that Universal Pictures is pushing through on a fifth installment of "Fast and Furious," currently being referred to as "Fast Five." The studio has closed deals with Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, director Justin Lin and producer Neal Moritz to return to the franchise, which has become one of the studio's most lucrative.
Diesel and Walker sat out the third chapter in the series but returned for last year's fourth installment, which was the highest-grossing "Fast and Furious" film and Universal's top grosser of 2009. Its box office haul was more than $350 million worldwide.
Chris Morgan is writing "Fast Five," marking the third time he and Lin have teamed for a "Fast and Furious" film. The story finds Dom (Diesel) and Brian (Walker) as fugitives being pursued by relentless lawmen.
Lensing will begin later this year for a 2011 release.
Original Films' Moritz has produced every film in the series, beginning in 2001 with the "The Fast and the Furious." Universal's Jeff Kirschenbaum and Franklin Leonard will oversee the project for the studio.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2010

TRON LEGACY
Walt Disney Pictures has released this new photo of Jeff Bridges in TRON LEGACY, opening in 3D theaters and IMAX 3D on December 17. Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the film co-stars Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, James Frain, Beau Garrett and Michael Sheen.

SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN
According to the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post, Hugh Jackman will play the male lead in Wayne Wang's SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN and that Li Bingbing (The Forbidden Kingdom) has replaced Zhang Ziyi in the film that also stars Jeon Ji-Hyun.
Filming started today at Hengdian, a large film studio near Shanghai. Jackman is expected to join the production in mid-February.
Set in 19th century remote China, SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN revolves around the lifelong friendship of Lily and Snow Flower and their imprisonment by rigid cultural codes of conduct for women.
The script is based on the novel by Lisa See. Wendi Murdoch and Florence Sloan are producing.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2010

SYFY - NEW SATURDAY MOVIES
Syfy announced that it will add a series of new original fantasy films to its schedule of Saturday Original Movies, based on classic fairy tales and legends.
The new series kicks off with BEAUTY AND THE BEAST on Feb. 27, followed by re-imaginings of LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, HANSEL AND GRETEL, ALADDIN and other stories.
Below is the official announcement.
SYFY UNVEILS NEW SATURDAY NIGHT ORIGINAL MOVIES RE-IMAGINED CLASSIC FAIRY TALES, LEGENDS AND POP CULTURE CHARACTERS FROM LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD TO HANSEL AND GRETEL KICKS OFF WITH PREMIERE OF BEAUTY AND THE BEAST SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, AT 9PM (ET/PT)

New York, NY - February 1, 2010 -- Syfy announced today it is adding a new Saturday Original Movies genre to its popular mix, re-imagining classic fairy tales, legends and pop culture characters -- from LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, ALADDIN and SINBAD THE SAILOR to HANSEL AND GRETEL -- beginning with the premiere of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST on Saturday, February 27, at 9PM (ET/PM).
Starring Estella Warren (Planet of the Apes), BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is not the traditional Disney fairy tale. In this gritty celebration of Valentine's Day, a young Beauty (Warren) with a gift for healing helps a deformed Prince (Rhett Gilles, Wraiths of Roanoke) regain his throne and defeat the ruthless nobleman who wants to be king -- and then together they try to destroy a power-hungry witch. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST was directed by David Lister and written by Gavin Scott.
Said Thomas Vitale, Executive Vice President, Programming and Original Movies, Syfy: "By turning familiar timeless stories inside out -- like retelling LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD as a werewolf tale or envisioning a dark version of Shrek -- we're creating an entertaining new genre for our popular Saturday night movie franchise, which has become the television destination for fans of action-packed independent sci-fi, horror and fantasy films."
During 2009, the 22 Syfy Saturday Original Movies averaged nearly two million total viewers (1.8 million) across the channel's twice-monthly original presentations. Syfy is one of television's most prolific producers of original movies.
Vitale also announced a preliminary development slate for the new line of Syfy Original Movies including:
o Red -- A young woman who is a descendant of the real Little Red Riding Hood brings her fiancé home, where he meets the family and learns about their business - hunting werewolves. He's skeptical until bitten by a werewolf. When her family insists he must be killed, Red tries saving him.
o Hansel -- Twenty years after his encounter with the witch, a grown-up Hansel returns to the haunted forest, seeking revenge. But there's a surprise waiting - his sister Gretel (who he thought had been killed) is the witch's protégée.
o 8TH Voyage of Sinbad -- Sinbad searches for the golden head of the long lost Colossus of Rhodes and, instead, discovers an island where the mythical Minotaur still rules, protecting a vast treasure. Sinbad and his crew have to battle the creature and its minions to get the treasure and save their own lives.
o Aladdin (working title) -- After accidentally releasing an evil genie from an ancient lamp, Aladdin must find a way to imprison the genie again before it wreaks havoc on the world.
o Black Forest -- A group of naïve tourists take a sightseeing tour into a supposed enchanted forest, where they encounter evil creatures from the world of fantasy. Trapped in the Black Forest, their only hope of survival is fighting their way out.

THE GOOD DOCTOR
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Orlando Bloom is toplining THE GOOD DOCTOR, an indie drama to which Michael Pena, Troy Garity, Courtney Ford, Taraji P. Henson, Rob Morrow and J.K. Simmons are in negotiations to co-star.
Bloom also is producing the Lance Daly-directed pic while his Viddywell Prods. producing partner Sharon Miller exec produces. Jonathan King and Dan Etheridge also are producing.
The script from John Enbom ("Veronica Mars"), described as a Hitchcockian thriller, centers on a frustrated doctor looking to impress his superiors and colleagues. When his 18-year-old patient, admitted for a kidney infection, provides him with the esteem he so craves, the doctor tampers with her treatment so that she'll have to stay at the hospital with him.
Pena will play an orderly who discovers the doctor's budding relationship and blackmails him for prescription painkillers. Garity is a successful, self-assured doctor, a counterpoint to Bloom. Ford is a woman who has eyes for Bloom's character.
Production is to start this week in Los Angeles. Leonid Lebedev is exec producing while Julia Lebedev acts as co-producer. Nicholas Chartier of Voltage Pictures is handling foreign sales. "Doctor" will make house calls at the European Film Market, which opens next week in Berlin.

NEW CBS PILOTS
CBS is laying down REAGAN'S LAW, giving a pilot order to the project from "The Sopranos" alumni Mitchell Burgess and Robin Green.
The network also has ordered a medical drama pilot produced by "ER" chief John Wells.
Burgess and Green wrote "Law," a multi-generational show revolving around a family of cops in New York.
The two are also executive producing with Leonard Goldberg for CBS TV Studios.
The untitled medical drama, from Warner Bros. TV, revolves around a roaming medical team that travels the U.S. helping those less fortunate get through life-or-death medical crises.
Hannah Shakespeare wrote the script and is exec producing with Wells.

SGT. ROCK
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Producer Joel Silver revealed the that comic book adaptation Sgt. Rock has found new life at Warner Bros. Pictures, but that the film won't take place in WWII. Instead, the plan is for Sgt. Rock to serve his country in the not-too-distant future.
"It's a little bit in the future," Silver said. "As a war movie, it's not going to be 'where it's been,' it's going to be 'where it's going.' We didn't want to do Iraq, we didn't want to do a contemporary war. We wanted to do a sort of futuristic war. It's pretty strong. Chad St. John wrote the script and we've got Francis Lawrence involved in developing it with us. It's not a 'go' movie yet but I'm feeling good about it."
As far as the status, Silver added that they just received a new draft of the script this week.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2010

SPOCK, SYLAR, GERSHWIN?
According to Deadline Hollywood, Star Trek and "Heroes" star Zachary Quinto will play famed composer and pianist George Gershwin in a biopic at DreamWorks Pictures. This is one of three projects that Steven Spielberg is looking at to direct next.
The site says that the studio is supplying accent and dialogue coaches for Quinto, and shooting could begin as soon as April. Doug Wright wrote the script, and Marc Platt and singer/pianist Michael Feinstein are producing.
Gershwin, who passed away at the age of 38 in 1937, composed music for both Broadway and the classical concert hall, as well as popular songs. His compositions have been used in numerous films and on television.

THIS WEEK'S TOP SHOWS
It is wonderful to see so many of my favorite shows in the top ten this week:
1. Bones (FOX)3.6/1112.4.
2. Fringe (FOX)3.0/88.9
3. The Mentalist (CBS)2.3/611.0
4. The Office (NBC)2.1/64.6
5. CSI (CBS)2.0/59.1
6. The Vampire Diaries (CW)1.8/53.7

SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2010

DOLLHOUSE FINALE
Fox's DOLLHOUSE concluded on a familiar ratings note Friday night, while a battle of reality remakes had a tight race.
The DOLLHOUSE series finale drew 2.2 million viewers and a 0.8 preliminary adults 18-49 rating, providing a weak lead-in for the return of Gordon Ramsay's KITCHEN NIGHTMARES (3.3 million, 1.4) at 9 p.m. For NIGHTMARES, that's down 42% from its premiere a year ago on Thursday nights.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010

BEING HUMAN GETS THIRD SEASON
The BBC's supernatural show Being Human winds up its second season in February on BBC Three, and now comes word that the network has ordered up a third season, with the regular cast returning. In the show, a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost try to suppress their violent natures while finding a way to share a flat in Bristol. It stars Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner.
(The new season of the British original show is gearing up as Syfy develops its own American remake of the show.)
It's unclear when or whether the season will air in the United States.

ANOTHER DUNE REMAKE
French action director Pierre Morel is taking over a new film version of Frank Herbert's sci-fi classic DUNE and indicates he wants to remain faithful to the book, of which he is an immense fan.
Speaking to the Tribeca Film Web site, Morel (Taken; From Paris, With Love) said he's going to start drafting a new script soon:
I'm preparing for a long trek in the dunes... We're going to start writing in a couple weeks. It's very early [in the] process.
[Q:] Do you plan to infuse it with some action?
I don't know. It's all about—I'm a huge Dune fan, a reader, like for 30 years; I read it when I was a teenager. I've read it 10 times maybe, so I want to stay true to the book. Saying that, I also think that there's a lot of scenes that are not described in the books—it's just mentioned, like the bad guys attacking something—and it might make sense to include those in the movie, not just by mentioning it but showing them, and that would maybe [call for] some action scenes, yes. It's not about action. It's not the point. It's not about [making] an action movie. It's just doing Dune. It's like a huge universe thing, and there's such a fanbase, like guys who have been reading that forever—you can't mess with that.

THE LOSERS
Warner Bros. Pictures has debuted the trailer for director Sylvain White's THE LOSERS, starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, Holt McCallany, Oscar Jaenada, Jason Patric and Peter Macdissi. The action-thriller opens in theaters on April 9.
Based on the DC Comics title, the film centers upon the members of an elite U.S. Special Forces unit sent into the Bolivian jungle on a search and destroy mission. The team--Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar--find themselves the target of a lethal betrayal instigated from inside by a powerful enemy known only as Max. Presumed dead, the group makes plans to even the score when they're joined by the mysterious Aisha, a beautiful operative with her own agenda. Working together, they must remain deep undercover while tracking the heavily-guarded Max, a ruthless man bent on embroiling the world in a new high-tech global war.

LOST TRAILER
ABC recently held a sweepstakes in which 815 winners received an exclusive message in a bottle with the opening minutes of the sixth and final season of "Lost." That footage is now online. The premiere is airing on Tuesday, February 2 at 8/7c.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2010

CAPED
The Hollywood Reporter writes that on Thursday NBC picked up an hourlong pilot for "The Cape." "Cape," from "Empire" creator Tom Wheeler, is a light drama with a comic book sensibility. Set in a fictionalized version of Los Angeles, it centers on a former cop framed for a crime who becomes the Cape, a masked hero, to clear his name and reunite with his son.
The project, from UMS and BermanBraun, was set up at NBC in the fall with a premium script commitment. Wheeler wrote the script and is exec producing with Lloyd Braun and Gail Berman.

COLD WARRIOR
Reports in the Hollywood Reporter indicate that Mel Gibson is in negotiations to reteam with his "Lethal Weapon" scribe Shane Black for Universal's spy thriller COLD WARRIOR.
Black, directing his second movie after 2005's "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," is tackling a tale in which a Cold War spy (Gibson) comes out of retirement to confront a domestic terrorism threat from Russia by joining with a younger agent. Charles Mondry wrote the script.
The dealmaking is in the early stages, but it does further Gibson's plan to get back in front of the cameras. "Edge of Darkness," his first onscreen performance since 2002's "Signs," opens Friday.
Michelle Manning, David Greenblatt and Anthony Bagarozzi are producing COLD WARRIOR.

THE WELL
Variety reports that Philip Seymour Hoffman and Emily Ziff's production company Cooper's Town Productions is developing a psychological thriller titled THE WELL.
Guy Pearce and Mary-Louise Parker will star in the film, which will mark actor Tim Guinee's feature directorial debut. Guinee will also write the script.
Story details are being kept under wraps, but THE WELL revolves around a well-to-do Manhattan couple whose obsessive pursuit of salvation ultimately leads to destruction.

WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS
20th Century Fox has released the trailer for Oliver Stone's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, coming to theaters on April 23rd. The film's official website is now also online.
MONEY NEVER SLEEPS stars Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Frank Langella, Carey Mulligan, Susan Sarandon, Vanessa Ferlito and Charlie Sheen.
Use this link to see the trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi875627545/

FIRE
Deadline Hollywood reports that Zac Efron is attached to star in Universal Pictures' adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis' graphic novel FIRE. In the film, based on the Image Comics title, Efron will play a college student who is recruited by the CIA, only to find that he has been trained for a program that creates expendable agents.
Bendis will write the script for the movie. Neil Moritz will produce with Circle of Confusion's David Engel. Efron and Alchemy Entertainment's Jason Barrett will be executive producers.
In a separate deal at Warner Bros., Efron has signed to star in a BACK TO THE FUTURE-like film that combines two projects - a pitch from writer Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowski and a WB project called ALGORITHM that the studio was developing for director Nick Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall).

THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2010

STAR TREK ONLINE
Syfy has entered into a promotional partnership with Atari for Star Trek Online, the upcoming MMO, which goes live next Tuesday. The promotion includes exclusive new content and special offers through Syfy.com. Following is the official announcement with all the details.
ATARI AND SYFY ANNOUNCE EXCLUSIVE PARTNERSHIP TO LAUNCH THE EPIC TITLE STAR TREK™ ONLINE
Syfy to Broadcast Two-Day Star Trek Marathon and Offer an Exclusive "Syfy Bundle" for Download Only on Syfy.com's Game Center
New York, NY (January 27, 2010) - Atari, Inc., one of the world's most recognized videogame publishers, and Syfy, the broadcast leader in imagination-based entertainment, have announced an exclusive partnership promoting the highly anticipated massively multiplayer online game (MMO), Star Trek Online, releasing for the PC on February 2, 2010.
This exciting initiative explores uncharted territory, empowering Syfy.com to build a one-stop "hub" for Star Trek Online, where fans and gamers alike will be able to view explosive new content, participate in special contests and sweepstakes, and even purchase an exclusive bundle via digital download. The deal furthers Syfy's mission to leverage multiple platforms, transcending just the television screen, to reach its broad audience and leverage the affinity they have with the most mainstream and profitable genre world wide: science fiction.
Star Trek fans can visit Syfy.com/StarTrekOnline and purchase the limited time "Syfy Bundle" to digitally download the game and receive a variety of bonus offers, both in-game and out of game!
* "Neodymium Deflector Dish" -- An in-game item grants a bonus to Auxiliary power, boosts maneuverability, and increases the effectiveness of a ship's Science abilities.
* "500 Cryptic Points" -- These micro-transaction credits can be used to purchase in-game items and unlock unique bonuses.
* "Syfy Store Discount" -- Purchasers of the Syfy bundle will receive 15% off their next purchase at the Syfy.com store.
In addition, to celebrate the launch of Star Trek Online, Syfy will air a two-day Star Trek marathon on Monday, 2/1 8 am to 5 pm of "STAR TREK ENTERPRISE" and Tuesday, 2/2 8 am - 9 pm of "STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION".
"Syfy is the perfect home for Star Trek Online," said Jim Wilson, President and CEO of Atari, Inc. "By offering broadcast support, exclusive content and in-game bonuses, fans of Star Trek and the science fiction genre will be able to take part in this title's much anticipated release."
Alan Seiffert, Senior Vice President Syfy Ventures, added, "The Syfy audience has immense passion for video games. With that said, we are making a significant commitment to growing our presence in gaming and establishing Syfy.com's Game Center as a leading destination for cutting edge interactive entertainment from a news, entertainment and even sales perspective. This joint venture with Atari helps showcase the types of unique partnerships we will look to develop to provide our audience with exclusive experiences tied to today's hottest interactive entertainment."
This exciting - and first time - sales partnership between a media property and a gaming publisher will be supported with TV and Digital advertising and promotional units throughout the month of February.
Taking place in the year 2409, Star Trek Online boasts extraordinary features and lets fans both new and old experience unparalleled adventures. Players have the opportunity to become a high ranking Starfleet officer and participate in missions that take them into the depths of space, across exotic planets and even inside other starships. Star Trek Online offers total customization, from a player's avatar to the ship he captains.
Star Trek Online is a licensed product from CBS Consumer Products. For more information, please visit:
www.startrekonline.com and www.atari.com
Videos, screens, and additional assets are available at the Atari press vault. Log onto: www.atari-press.com.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2010

DRACULA YEAR ZERO
According to reports in The Hollywood Reporter, AVATAR star Sam Worthington is in negotiations to star in DRACULA YEAR ZERO, a period vampire epic Alex Proyas (Knowing) is set to direct for Universal. Michael De Luca is producing:
Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless wrote the spec, which explores the origin of Dracula, weaving vampire mythology with the true history of Prince Vlad the Impaler. It seeks to depict Dracula as a flawed hero in a tragic love story set in a dark age of magic and war.
Worthington will also appear in the Helen Mirren thriller THE DEBT, and his next role is Greek hero Perseus in the remake of CLASH OF THE TITANS.

SHERLOCK HOLMES 2
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Producer Joel Silver said that Guy Ritchie is no longer attached to direct Warner Bros. Pictures' adaptation of the DC Comics title LOBO because the studio is moving forward with SHERLOCK HOLMES 2.
"I don't think he's going to do it now," Silver, who is producing both properties, said. "The studio wants us and Guy to focus on making another 'Sherlock Holmes'... So we're trying to see if we can do something quickly with another 'Sherlock Holmes' movie. We have some ideas and some good story points." Silver added that they'll likely go with another director for LOBO.
He expects everyone to come back for Sherlock Holmes 2. "Downey loves the experience of playing Sherlock and would love to play him again, and I'd love to see him play it again. Jude and all of them will be back and it will be great."
Silver was also asked about the rumor that Brad Pitt would appear in the "Holmes" sequel as Professor Moriarty. "Well, I mean, we talked about that at one point, but you know as of right now we're not sure what we're going to do. We'll see what happens," he said.

PASSENGERS
Gabriele Muccino (The Pursuit of Happyness, Seven Pounds) is in advanced negotiations with Morgan Creek to direct PASSENGERS, a sci-fi romance film he described as "a love story set on a spaceship," reports Variety. PASSENGERS is set in the future on a spacecraft making a centuries-long interstellar voyage to a new planet. Due to a computer glitch, a single passenger (Keanu Reeves) awakens from cryogenic sleep 90 years before anyone else. Faced with the prospect of growing old and dying alone, he, in turn, awakens a beautiful woman. Stephen Hamel and James G. Robinson will produce. Jon Spaihts (Ridley Scott's upcoming Alien prequel) wrote the script. Muccino expects to start shooting the film this summer.

CRUELEST MILES
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Gavin Hood ("X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "Tsotsi") is in talks to direct an adaptation of Gay and Laney Salisbury's book THE CRUELEST MILES for Walden Media.
Set in Alaska in 1952, the story follows twenty dog teams who're the only ones who could transport a life- saving serum across a thousand miles of Alaskan wilderness to the town of Nome where a deadly diphtheria epidemic was underway. The journey, through -60 Degrees Farenheit and phenomenon like ice fog, inspired the annual Iditarod dogsled race.
Sean O'Keefe and Will Staples are penning the script with filming to kick off in the Summer. Mark Johnson will produce.

HEREAFTER
Former GHOST WHISPERER star Jay Mohr has landed a role in director Clint Eastwood’s next HEREAFTER, says Variety.
The film, about a group of people who experience death in dissimilar ways (though not in a “Final Destination” sense. In fact, the film is said to be closer in tone to “The Sixth Sense”), stars Matt Damon and Bryce Dallas Howard.
Mohr, whose film credits include “Go!” and “Picture Perfect”, will play Damon’s brother.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2010

STARGATE PROPS ON SALE
Would you like to have an actual piece of STARGATE in your home? You may be in luck. Propworx, who was also behind 2009's Battlestar Galactica auctions, has launched a series of Stargate Artifacts auctions this week. Fifteen seasons of STARGATE SG-1 and STARGATE ATLANTIS memorabilia will be up for sale through eBay and two huge live auctions.
There will be thousands of items auctioned off over the next few months, culminating in two live auctions in which you'll even get a chance to see a full-size, working Stargate. But even before those live auctions, Propworx will be auctioning plenty of affordable items on eBay, including costumes, props and even pieces of the STARGATE.
You can find out more about the eBay auctions and what will be for sale at www.propworx.com, where the Stargate fans who make up the Propworx team have blogs, videos and a forum for fans and collectors to discuss the Stargate auctions.
Some of the best props that Propworx will have in the live auctions include: Working Jaffa Serpent Head
Horus (Falcon) Head
MALP
Goa'uld Hand Device
Jaffa Staff Weapon
Thor
Jack O'Neill's Sunglasses
Hero Zat Gun
Hero T.E.R.
Hero Replicator Pistol
Hero Anti-Replicator Gun
The Ark of Truth
Daniel's Glasses
Ori Prior Staff
Ancient Drone
Zero Point Module (ZPM)
Ronon Dex's Blaster
Ancient Communications Terminal
Ancient Lifesigns Detector
Teyla's Bantos Rods
You can see these items along with a description and estimated price at http://scifiwire.com/2010/01/stargate-props.php#more.

SPIKE MEETS CAPRICA
Entertainment Weekly has posted the first image of James Marsters as he appears in the March 5 episode of Syfy's CAPRICA.
Marsters, best known to sci-fi fans as the charming vampire Spike on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, will play Barnabus Greely, "an enigmatic and dangerous leader in the monotheist world."

AVATAR HIGHEST GROSSING MOVIE EVER
It's official: James Cameron's AVATAR on Monday officially pulled ahead of Cameron's other big movie, TITANIC, to become the biggest-grossing movie of ALL TIME.
Twentieth Century Fox said that the sci-fi epic had amassed an estimated global total box office take of $1.8437 billion, just ahead of TITANIC's worldwide total of $1,843,201,268, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The worldwide crown isn't adjusted for inflation, and AVATAR's high grosses were certainly boosted by higher ticket prices overall and especially for 3-D and IMAX screenings.

CRIMINAL MINDS SPIN-OFF
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Oscar winner Forest Whitaker is in final negotiations to star on CBS' potential "Criminal Minds" spinoff. The project, which revolves around a new group of profilers who work outside the FBI bureaucracy, will be introduced on an episode of "Criminal Minds" in the spring.
Whitaker will play Cooper, the squad leader. Described as dynamic, mysterious, charming and a father figure to the rest of the team, he is a former star profiler in the Behavioral Unit who has been off the radar for the past eight years.
"Minds" executive producer Chris Mundy wrote the planted spinoff, from a story by him and "Minds" executive producer/showrunner Ed Bernero. Richard Shepard is directing. Like the original series, the potential spinoff is being produced by ABC Studios, the Mark Gordon Co. and CBS Studios. Producers of the new show zeroed in on Whitaker early and finally moved close to locking him in Monday night after lengthy on- and off- negotiations. As part of the deal, Whitaker is expected to get a producing credit.

DARK LIFE
Variety reports that the Gotham Group (The Spiderwick Chronicles) has optioned DARK LIFE, an underwater adventure novel by Kat Falls. The book will by published in May by Scholastic. The following is how the book is described:
Set in an apocalyptic future where rising oceans have swallowed up entire regions and people live packed like sardines on the dry land left, DARK LIFE is the harrowing tale of underwater pioneers who have carved out a life for themselves in the harsh deep-sea environment, farming the seafloor in exchange for the land deed.
The story follows Ty, who has lived his whole life on his family's homestead and has dreams of claiming his own stake when he turns eighteen. But when outlaws' attacks on government supply ships and settlements threaten to destroy the underwater territory, Ty finds himself in a fight to stop the outlaws and save the only home he has ever known.
Joined by a girl from the Topside who has come subsea to look for her prospector brother, Ty ventures into the frontier's rough underworld and begins to discover some dark secrets to DARK LIFE.
As Ty gets closer to the truth, he discovers that the outlaws may not be the bloodthirsty criminals the government has portrayed them as. And that the government abandoning the territory might be the best thing for everyone, especially for someone like Ty, someone with a Dark Gift.
Gotham's Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Lee Stollman will produce. The pair are in the process of attaching a director before taking the package out to studios.

MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 2010

MACHETE
According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, bidding for the distribution rights to Robert Rodriguez's next movie, the independently-financed MACHETE, expanding upon the fake trailer created for Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse experiment, has ended with 20th Century Fox winning out over five other studios for the rights to distribute it.
Danny Trejo returns in the title role, surrounded by a number of big stars including Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodriguez. Robert Rodriguez wrote and produced the movie with financing from Rick Schwartz's Overnight Productions, and directed it with co-director Ethan Maniquis.
According to the report, the six studios were shown roughly 15 to 30 minutes of footage with the price set at $9 million with a healthy profit sharing from the film's theatrical and back-end grosses. While the Weinstein Company had the first look rights for the movie due to their long involvement with Rodriguez, the MACHETE deal included a production deal with Rodriguez, so one can probably assume that Fox will be the filmmaking pioneer's new home.

I HOP
The Hollywood Reporter writes that James Marsden will star opposite Russell Brand in Universal and Illumination Entertainment's I HOP, the live-action/CG-animated hybrid comedy.
Tim Hill (Alvin and the Chipmunks, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties) is directing the tale of an out-of-work slacker (Marsden) who accidentally injures the Easter Bunny (voiced by Brand) and must take him in as he recovers. As Fred struggles with the world's worst houseguest, both will learn what it takes to finally grow up.
Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio and Brian Lynch are writing the screenplay.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 24, 2010

REAL STEEL
According to The Detroit Free Press, DreamWorks will begin filming the Shawn Levy-directed REAL STEEL in Michigan this June.
"The movie will be filmed primarily in Michigan at locations in metro Detroit and across the state," said the newspaper.
The sci-fi action-adventure, starring Hugh Jackman, is targeted for a November 18, 2011 release. In the film, based on Richard Matheson's short story, Jackman plays an ex-fighter who becomes a promoter when human boxing is outlawed for being too violent. The new gladiators are 2,000-pound robots with human qualities. The ex-fighter's access to sub-standard robot parts hampers his hopes for glory in Robot Boxing, until he discovers a discarded robot that always seems to win. The ex-fighter has also discovered he's the father of a 13-year old son, and they bond as the robot brawls its way toward the top.

POWERS
Premium Hollywood writes that "Journeyman" creator Kevin Falls is writing the TV pilot for the Sony adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis' POWERS at FX.
If FX gives the pilot the green light, Michael Dinner ("Karen Sisco," "Kidnapped") would reportedly direct.
POWERS is a superhero police/noir detective series that Bendis co-created with Michael Avon Oeming, who also does the art.

WALKING DEAD
Variety reports that AMC has given the green light to THE WALKING DEAD.
Based on Robert Kirkman's graphic novel series set after a zombie apocalypse. The story revolves around a group of survivors, led by a police officer, who travel the country in search of a safe home.
Frank Darabont penned the adaptation and will direct. Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert and Darabont will executive produce.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 2010

HOBBIT DELAYED
Variety reveals that the first of the two Hobbit films may not hit theaters until late 2012, a full year after the previously-announced December 2011 release:
Once the script for the second film is in -- Jackson and his longtime collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are working on it with Del Toro -- New Line will work up a budget for both films and start casting. New Line exec Michael Disco, who was once Emmerich's assistant, will oversee for the studio.
Alan Horn, studio executive at Warner Pictures said he won't predict when the first of the two "Hobbit" films will be out, but says the most probable scenario would be a release in the fourth quarter of 2012.
"It's a big bet for us. But it's one we think will pay off given the success of 'Lord of the Rings,'" says Roland Emmerich. "This is one of the few movies it feels like people are waiting for."
New Line's original plan was to release the first film in December 2011, followed by the second one in December 2012. One reason for the delay may be the restructuring of MGM, which shares the financing rights with New Line for the "Hobbit" films. MGM is currently accepting bids for the studio and those rights may go to another studio (Warner Bros. is said to be one of the bidders).

DREAM HOUSE
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Naomi Watts is set to star opposite Daniel Craig in DREAM HOUSE, director Jim Sheridan's psychological thriller at Universal Pictures.
Written by David Loucka, the film is about a family that relocates into what appears to be the ideal residence in small town Connecticut. However, the father (Craig) and his family are disturbed to discover that their beautiful new home was the site of another family's slaughter, believed to be at the hands of the husband who survived.
Watts will the family's neighbor in the Morgan Creek production. Filming is scheduled to start in February in Toronto.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2010

PRIMEVAL RETURNING
The SciFiWire reports that series creator Adrian Hodges managed to secure financing elsewhere, and international networks airing the show—including BBC America—are contributing the budget for a fourth season. (Possible spoilers ahead!) That means we get to learn the fate of the characters, who were last seen in the past.
"Obviously there's a question of, at the end of the last season, three major characters were stuck in the past," Hodges told us. "So a lot of the first two episodes is going to be about how some of them at least get back."
The upcoming new season of Primeval will explore the other side of time travel: So far, the characters have only gone backward, where dinosaurs chase them. "There will be an aspect of the future in it, which is new for us," Hodges said.
Here's where it gets really interesting: There probably aren't dinosaurs in the future, but Hodges could take inspiration from other future-based sci-fi stories to bring new creatures to Primeval.
"Well, if you think of the future predators from other series, we're going to have a kind of variation on that idea," Hodges said. "There may also be some human intervention from the future as well."
In the aftermath of the series' temporary cancellation, lead actor Jason Flemyng moved on to other projects. He has agreed to return for up to three episodes, but Hodges is working on ways to advance the story without Flemyng.
"We're going to move it on pretty fast," Hodges said. "Jason won't necessarily come back at the beginning of the season. We're going to hold back his reappearance, but that will be shooting from March. We have the first five episodes written, so we're shooting in March."
Hodges envisions 13 episodes for Primeval's fourth season. BBC America aired the first two seasons of the show as Volume 1.

NEW CONAN FROM ATLANTIS!
According to Deadline Hollywood, Lionsgate and Millenium Films have picked the actor to play the lead role in Marcus Nispel's reinvention of Robert E. Howard's CONAN and it's 30-year-old Jason Momoa, who may best be known for his run on STARGATE ATLANTIS and who also appears in HBO's upcoming mini-series GAME OF THRONES. At the same time, Latino Review says that an offer has been put out to Mickey Rourke to play Conan's father Corin. The movie is scheduled to start production in Bulgaria on March 15.

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 3 COMING
Access Hollywood reports that 20th Century Fox is planning a third installment of their very successful NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM and NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN. Having collected almost $1 billion at the worldwide box office, who wouldn't?
Thomas Lennon, who co-wrote the first two films with Ben Garant, hinted to Access Hollywood that a script for the third film is being written.
"How could you not? I think it's a really outstanding idea to do 'Night at the Museum 3,' in fact," he said. "I wonder if someone's not even already working on a script for that," he added with a raised eyebrow. "I cannot confirm that for a fact, but I cannot deny it for a fact either... It might be in the works."

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK
In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Neil Gaiman said that the adaptation of "The Graveyard Book" is no longer in the works at Miramax, but may turn up elsewhere soon. The film was to be written and directed by Neil Jordan (The Brave One, The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire).
"It was all put together over at Miramax Films. The people there had a long, great relationship with Neil Jordan and it was all set up and ready to go, and then Miramax was more or less erased from existence," Gaiman said. "It became a filing cabinet in somebody's desk, more or less... But it looks like almost all the pieces are on the table again. They have a studio, they have a distributor and they are putting stuff together and I'm not allowed to say anything else."
Gaiman next hopes to write a screenplay for "Anansi Boy," his first novel.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2010
SPIDER-MAN REBOOT
Now that Marc Webb has been hired to direct the SPIDER-MAN film franchise, new details are surfacing on what he plans for his proposed trilogy: namely, basing them on a rebooted Marvel comic series, Ultimate Spider-Man.
Sony is making a smaller movie ($80 million, compared with an estimated $260 million for Spider-Man 3) with an unknown actor to star and James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) writing the script.
Here's how The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Business blog reported it:
The story will be pared down to center on a high school kid who is dealing with the knowledge that his uncle died even though the teen had the power to stop it.
The touchstone for the new movie will not be the 1960s comics, which were the inspiration behind the movies by [previous director Sam] Raimi, who grew on up on them, but rather this past decade's "Ultimate Spider-Man" comics by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley where the villain-fighting took a back seat to the high school angst.
The first of the new Spidey movies is set to begin production this year.

SURVIVORS
BBC America's upcoming SURVIVORS revolves around a flu virus that wipes out all but a handful of the world's population. In England, survivors including a mother, a prison inmate, a nurse and a child form units to try to rebuild according to their own different plans.
Adrian Hodges (Primeval), who created the new series, says there's no limit to how many post-apocalyptic survival stories you can tell. (The show has already been picked up for a second season in the United Kingdom.)
"I think [the difference] is character," Hodges said during an interview as part of the Television Critics Assn. winter press tour. "You're right, there is a lot of stuff out there and a lot of different angles on it. The fact of survival is a given. What it's about is how your character responds. So the interesting thing for me as a dramatist, and for the actors, is it gives you a brilliant chance to explore characters outside of society. If you look at most drama, it's all about people interacting within society. It's about the rules. Everything is about our reaction for or against society. If there is no society, then you're down to the basic stuff. You're down to how human beings really behave, how they might behave, how they would behave."
In the new SURVIVORS, Greg (Paterson Joseph) just wants to find a farm somewhere and take care of himself. Abby (Julie Graham), a newly widowed mother, convinces him to join up with him and other survivors. Former inmate Tom Price (Max Beesley) gives himself a clean slate and reinvents himself. These are only a few of the permutations Hodges' drama can take. (Doctor Who's Freema Agyeman also stars.)
Survivors also deals with a politician (Nikki Amuka-Bird) trying to re-establish government, under her own leadership, of course. She gets dangerously strict in the series' third episode.
"She badly wants to be the government," said Hodges. "That's the point. I think the interesting thing about that episode is in a world where we no longer have to play by the old rules, anybody who wants to play by the old rules has to prove that they're the big cheese."
SURVIVORS premieres Feb. 13 on BBC America.

NEW AMC PILOTS
The Hollywood Reporter writes that AMC is looking to extend its perfect development record with the pickup of drama pilots "Walking Dead" and "The Killing." They mark the fourth and fifth pilots ordered by the basic cabler, with its first three -- "Mad Men," "Breaking Bad and "Rubicon," which premieres in the summer -- all going to series. They also continue "the tradition of delivering premium cable quality shows on basic cable," AMC president and GM Charlie Collier said.
"Dead" is based on Robert Kirkman's comic book. It chronicles the months and years following a zombie apocalypse and focuses on a group of survivors, led by policeman Rick Grimes, who travels in search of a secure home. Frank Darabont is writer, director and executive producer of the project, with Gale Anne Hurd of Valhalla Pictures and David Alpert of Circle of Confusion also executive producing.
"The Walking Dead," a monthly black-and-white comic, had been a sought-after property since it was published in 2003 by Image Comics. After healthy bidding, it landed at AMC in August in one of the network's biggest development deals to date.
"Killing," from Fox TV Studios, is based on the Danish series "Forbrydelsen." Written by Veena Sud ("CBS' Cold Case") and set in Seattle, the AMC project chronicles the investigation of a young girl's murder through the perspective of the police, the victim's family and the mayor's office.
Denmark-born producer Mikkel Bondesen (USA Network's "Burn Notice"), who is based at FtvS, brought the format to the studio and is executive producing with Sud.
"It's 'Prime Suspect' meets 'The Wire,' " FtvS exec VP David Madden said. "We're cutting between the three interconnected worlds that are all affected by the killing and everything that has come out in the investigation."
AMC's first three pilots and series were original concepts. The fact that "Dead" and "Killing" are based on underlying material is a coincidence, AMC senior vp original programming and production Joel Stillerman said. "We think that both of these pieces are incredibly original and distinctive," he said.
AMC is coming off of a record-setting best series Golden Globes award for "Mad Men," which became the first drama to win the top category three consecutive years.

THE ELECTRIC CHURCH
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Sony Pictures has picked up the rights to a series of sci-fi novels by Jeff Somers and has hired Trevor Sands to adapt the first book, THE ELECTRIC CHURCH.
Jimmy Miller is producing the adaptation, which is working under the moniker of the The Avery Cates Project, named after the book's main character. Somers has so far written three books.
Here is a description of THE ELECTRIC CHURCH:
In the near future, the only thing growing faster than the criminal population is the Electric Church, a new religion founded by a mysterious man named Dennis Squalor. The Church preaches that life is too brief to contemplate the mysteries of the universe: eternity is required. In order to achieve this, the converted become Monks -- cyborgs with human brains, enhanced robotic bodies, and virtually unlimited life spans.
Enter Avery Cates, a dangerous criminal known as the best killer-for-hire around. The authorities have a special mission in mind for Cates: assassinate Dennis Squalor. But for Cates, the assignment will be the most dangerous job he's ever undertaken -- and it may well be his last.

AFRAID
John and Drew Dowdle (Quarantine, upcoming Devil) are attached to direct an adaptation of Jack Kilborn's novel AFRAID. The book, about five killer members of a classified Special Forces unit, is described as follows: A helicopter has crashed near Safe Haven and unleashed something horrifying. Now this merciless force is about to do what it does best. Isolate. Terrorize. Annihilate. As residents begin dying in a storm of gory violence, Safe Haven's only chance for survival will rest with an aging county sheriff, a firefighter, and a single mom. Larry Malkin and Chad Thumann are writing the script.

THE QUESTOR TAPES
Rod Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Productions, announced that Roddenberry Productions has entered into a deal with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard's Imagine Television to develop the Gene Roddenberry pilot THE QUESTOR TAPES. The announcement was made at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame induction ceremony where Rod Roddenberry accepted the posthumous honor, presented by Seth MacFarlane, on his father's behalf.
THE QUESTOR TAPES was originally conceived as a television series pilot about an android with incomplete memory tapes who searches for his creator and his purpose. The pilot ultimately aired as a 1974 television movie.
"My father always felt that 'Questor' was the one that got away," said Rod Roddenberry. "He believed that the show had the potential to be bigger than 'Star Trek.'"
Rod Roddenberry will develop the project along with Roddenberry Productions COO Trevor Roth and Imagine Television's President David Nevins and EVP of Development Robin Gurney. The team is currently in negotiations with writer, producer and show runner Tim Minear ("Lois & Clark," "The X-Files," "Angel," "Dollhouse") to produce.

HOWL
HOWL takes the audience back to the birth of the counterculture with the beat poets of the 1950s, encapsulating the inter-generational conflicts of the time in a landmark obscenity trial over the Allen Ginsburg poem from which the movie gets its name. The movie, originally to be a documentary, mixes scenes of Ginsberg (James Franco) reading his signature poem with a dramatization of the trial, a legendary disappearing interview that Ginsberg gave to Time magazine, and some dreamy animation.
Although HOWL did not end up being a documentary, filmmakers went to great lengths to recreate the atmosphere and the anxieties of the time, as cast members Franco, Jon Hamm (Don Draper in Mad Men), and Jeff Daniels explain in a series of on set video interviews.
Also released in conjunction with the movie's debut this week at Sundance is this set of four clips, starting off with an extended bit of Ginsberg's original incendiary poetry slam. Later, as a comic counterpoint, we get a scene in which a stiff establishment suit reads extracts from Ginsberg's work in the courtroom, pushing for some sort of meaning that makes sense in his world.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2010

SPIDER-MAN DIRECTOR NAMED
With the SPIDER-MAN film franchise getting the reboot, Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios announced Tuesday that Marc Webb is on board as director. While not a household name yet, his "(500) Days of Summer" starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel has been widely acclaimed by critics and audiences alike for its playful youthfulness. Webb steps into the director's chair vacated by Sam Raimi, who helmed the first three SPIDER-MAN films before Sony decided to revamp the franchise.
"This is a dream come true and I couldn't be more aware of the challenge, responsibility, or opportunity," says Webb. "Sam Raimi's virtuoso rendering of Spider-Man is a humbling precedent to follow and build upon. The first three films are beloved for good reason. But I think the Spider-Man mythology transcends not only generations but directors as well. I am signing on not to 'take over' from Sam. That would be impossible. Not to mention arrogant. I'm here because there's an opportunity for ideas, stories, and histories that will add a new dimension, canvas, and creative voice to Spider-Man."
SPIDER-MAN co-creator Stan Lee approves of the decision to hire Webb: "I'm excited that Sony has chosen a director with a real penchant and understanding for the character. This is a brave, bold direction for the franchise, and I can't wait to see what Marc comes up with next."
The first of the films, written by James Vanderbilt, will hit theaters in summer 2012. Production will begin sometime later this year.
Columbia and Marvel claim they picked Webb because of his talent with telling more human, intimate stories, which would be important for the rebooted franchise that focuses more on a high school-aged Peter Parker.

TWO PILOTS FOR ABC
According to the Hollywood Reporter, ABC picked up two more pilots, a new medical drama from "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes, and "Body of Evidence," both from ABC Studios.
"Off the Map," executive produced by Rhimes, revolves around three doctors, each anxious for a fresh start. They leave the comfort of the States to work at an isolated tropical clinic, where they face both exotic and unusual medical challenges as well as personal ones.
"Grey's Anatomy" co-exec producer Jenna Bans wrote the script and is executive producing with Rhimes and Betsy Beers.
"Body of Evidence," is a procedural that centers on Megan Hunt, a former neurosurgeon-turned-medical examiner who brings a unique and crime-solving perspective to the ME's office that often puts her at odds with her superiors. Chris Murphey wrote the script and is exec producing with Matt Gross, on whose idea the project is based. Gross described "Body of Evidence" as "a female postmortem 'House'."

I AM NUMBER FOUR
Heat Vision is reporting that D.J. Caruso (Eagle Eye, Disturbia) has signed on to direct the adaptation of James Frey and Jobie Hughes' sci-fi book I AM NUMBER FOUR.
The book is about a group of nine earthbound alien teens who escaped their planet just before it was destroyed by a hostile species. While the high school-aged kids assimilate, the title character discovers that he is being hunted by the enemy that blew up his planet.
HarperCollins Children's Books is publishing the book, which would be the first in a series of six, this fall. Al Gough and Miles Millar wrote the screenplay. Michael Bay will produce algon with Benderspink for DreamWorks Pictures.

TRUE GRIT REMAKE
Variety reports that Paramount Pictures has scheduled Joel and Ethan Coen's remake of TRUE GRIT for a Christmas Day 2010 release.
Based on Charles Portis' novel, the story follows a 14-year-old girl who, along with an aging U.S. marshal (Jeff Bridges) and another lawman (Matt Damon), tracks her father's killer in hostile Indian territory. Josh Brolin also stars.
The positioning sets the film squarely up for a high-profile awards run and the Christmas Day holiday box-office.

EDGE OF DARKNESS
Martin Campbell's EDGE OF DARKNESS is ready to hit theaters this month. The movie, based on a 1985 BBC mini-series that Campbell directed, is Mel Gibson's first leading role since 2002's Signs. Gibson plays a homicide detective who starts investigating the death of his daughter and uncovers a conspiracy of corporate and government collusion.
Warner Brothers has released 7 clips to help promote the movie, which Collider has compiled together into one long clip for your viewing convenience.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2010

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Cameron's AVATAR will soon sink TITANIC's global record of $1.843 billion, as the 20th Century Fox release earned yet another $54.6 million domestically over the four-day holiday weekend, claiming first place for a fifth weekend in a row. The film has reached $505.1 million in North America and passed up the $500 million mark in just 32 days, a new record. That record was held by THE DARK KNIGHT, which reached the mark in 45 days, and AVATAR is expected to surpass the THE DARK KNIGHT in total domestic box office ($533.3 million) as well next weekend to become the second-biggest title of all time behind Cameron's own TITANIC ($600.8 million). AVATAR also set a new record for the biggest fifth weekend ever domestically, beating TITANIC's $30 million by earning $41.3 million over the Friday-to-Sunday frame.
Internationally, AVATAR earned $125 million from Friday to Sunday for a total of $1.115 billion (not counting Monday). The worldwide total has reached an amazing $1.64 billion already!
At the domestic box office, Warner Bros. Pictures' THE BOOK OF ELI opened well in second place with an estimated $38 million for the four days from 3,111 theaters, a strong average of $12,221 per theater. It is Warner Bros.' biggest January opening ever and also the biggest R-rated debut for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. It marks Denzel Washington's second-best opening after 2007's AMERICAN GANGSTER ($43.6 million).
After playing in just a few theaters since December 11, Peter Jackson's THE LOVELY BONES expanded to 2,563 theaters and earned $20.5 million from Friday through Monday for a total of $21 million. Made for about $100 million, the Paramount film is based on the best-selling novel by Alice Sebold.
In fourth place, Fox's ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKUEL collected another $15 million to bring its four-week total to $196 million.
Lionsgate's new family action-comedy THE SPY NEXT DOOR, starring Jackie Chan, rounded the top five with $13 million over the four days from 2,924 theaters.
In their fourth weekends, Warner Bros.' SHERLOCK HOLMES added $11.7 million in sixth place for a total of $181.9 million, while Universal's IT'S COMPLICATED made $9.1 million for a total of $89.7 million.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES
Governor of Hawaii Linda Lingle announced that Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films will shoot PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES on the islands of Kaua'i and O'ahu this summer:
Governor Linda Lingle today announced that Hawai'i will be the location for "PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES," the fourth installment of the highly successful Walt Disney Pictures' action adventure film series from Jerry Bruckheimer Films.
The Walt Disney Company President and CEO Bob Iger met with Governor Lingle on Friday to share the news that the islands of Kaua'i and O'ahu will be sites for the production of the feature film, which will begin shooting this summer and is slated to be released in summer 2011. The production is expected to generate an estimated $85 million in direct and indirect spending in Hawai'i, providing a needed economic boost for the state's economy as well as creating hundreds of jobs for local residents. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES will star Johnny Depp, returning to his iconic role of Captain Jack Sparrow.

BRUCE VS. FRANKENSTEIN
In a recent e-mail message, Bruce Campbell announced that he'll be reprising his role as... well, himself for the MY NAME IS BRUCE sequel titled BRUCE VS. FRANKENSTEIN. Here's his official statement:
Hello everyone. Bruce Campbell here. This urgent message is short, because my keystrokes are monitored and I fear for my life. My partner at Dark Horse comics, Mike Richardson (normally a very rational and talented man), threatened to have his foot soldiers "crush my spleen" if I did what I am about to do. But the fans deserve to know, so with great trepidation I officially announce BRUCE VS. FRANKENSTEIN, the sequel to MY NAME IS BRUCE. Principal photography begins this fall in Oregon. I'd like to live long enough to see the cameras roll, so please, for the love of God, do not tell anyone - I can't risk this announcement getting back to Mike! Thank you.

NEVERENDING STORY
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. and a pair of top-tier production companies are in the early stages of a remake of the 1980s children's fantasy classic THE NEVERENDING STORY.
The Kennedy/Marshall Co. (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Leonardo DiCaprio's company Appian Way are in discussions with Warner Bros. about reviving the 25-year-old franchise with a modern spin. The studio recently acquired rights to the property, clearing the way for a potential remake.
Born out of a German-language novel by Michael Ende, the film centers on a boy named Bastian Balthazar Bux who discovers a parallel world in a book titled "The NeverEnding Story." As the boy, a loner, delves deeper into the book, he increasingly finds his life intertwined with the plot of the novel, in which a hero in the land of Fantasia must save the universe on behalf of an empress.
The new film--which original producer Dieter Geissler--will examine the more nuanced details of the book that were glossed over in the first film, that was directed by Wolfgang Petersen.
A sequel directed by George Miller came out in 1990; a third movie followed in the U.S. in 1996 but quickly went to video.
Those familiar with the project emphasize that it is in its early stages and that writers have not been attached.

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2010

AVATAR CONTINUES TO MAKE MONEY
James Cameron's AVATAR topped the U.S. box office for the fifth straight weekend in a row, raised its domestic take to about $491.8 million, and overtook STAR WARS as the third-highest-grossing movie of all time domestically. The Associated Press estimates that the sci-fi epic will top $500 million domestically by the end of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday.
Globally, AVATAR's total is now an estimated $1.6 billion, second only to Cameron's TITANIC ($1.8 billion). The first STAR WARS movie took in $460.9 million domestically in its original run and several reissues over the years. (STAR WARS is still ahead of AVATAR in terms of tickets sold.)
Meanwhile, THE BOOK OF ELI opened strongly in second place, with about $31.6 million domestically.

GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS
Here are some of the winners from last night's Golden Globe awards:
Best drama - AVATAR
Best actor in a drama - Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART
Best actress in a drama - Sandra Bullock, THE BLIND SIDE
Best director - James Cameron, AVATAR
Best actor in a musical or comedy - Robert Downey, Jr., SHERLOCK HOLMES
Best actress in a musical or comedy - Meryl Streep, JULIE & JULIA
Best animated film - UP
Best TV drama - MAD MEN, AMC
Best actor in a TV drama - Michael C. Hall, DEXTER
Best actress in a TV drama - Julianna Marguulies, THE GOOD WIFE
Best actor in a supporting role - John Lithgow, DEXTER
Special moments:
Cameron acknowledged the movie's global appeal as he accepted the best picture award, saying: " 'Avatar' asks us to see that everything is connected, all human beings to each other and us to the Earth. And, you know, if you have to go 4 1/2 light years to another made-up planet to appreciate this miracle of a world that we have right here, well, do you know what? That's the wonder of cinema right there."
Sandra Bullock was recognized as best dramatic film actress for her true-life role as a suburban mom in takes in a homeless teen and prospective football star in the sleeper hit "The Blind Side." She acknowledged the Tuohy family, depicted in the movie, for reminding everyone "that a family is not just who you were born to or what color you are. It's who's got your back."
Industry vet Jeff Bridges won after three previous nominations, picking up a Globe as best dramatic actor for his down-and-out country singer in "Crazy Heart." Offering thanks to his wife and parents, Bridges said of his late father Lloyd Bridges: "He loved show business so damned much, he encouraged all his kids to go into showbiz. ... So glad, I listened to you, Dad."

SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2010

24
The action doesn't stop on Fox with HUMAN TARGET. Next up is the 8th season premiere of 24. It has been a long time coming, but this 2-hour premiere is finally here. It will be followed by another 2-hour episode tomorrow night. Season 8 promises a different Jack Bauer -- we'll have to watch and find out.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA fans will love seeing Katee Sackhoff in her new role.

JOHN CARTER OF MARS
Walt Disney announced that JOHN CARTER OF MARS, the upcoming live-action adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Barsoom" books, has begun production in London. The movie, from WALL-E director Andrew Stanton, is slated for release sometime in 2012. Below is a portion of the official announcement.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WALT DISNEY PICTURES' "JOHN CARTER OF MARS" BEGINS PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY IN LONDON
BURBANK, Calif. (January 15, 2010) - Principal photography is underway in London for Walt Disney Pictures' "JOHN CARTER OF MARS." Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton brings this captivating hero to the big screen in a stunning adventure epic set on the wounded planet of Mars, a world inhabited by warrior tribes and exotic desert beings. Based on the first of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Barsoom Series," the film chronicles the journey of Civil-War veteran John Carter, who finds himself battling a new and mysterious war amidst a host of strange Martian inhabitants.
Produced for Walt Disney Pictures by Jim Morris ("WALL•E," "Ratatouille") and Colin Wilson ("Avatar," "War of the Worlds"), the live action/animation film marks Academy Award®-winning director/writer Andrew Stanton's ("Finding Nemo," "WALL•E") first foray into live action. Stanton directed and co-wrote the screenplay for Disney•Pixar's "WALL•E," which earned the Academy Award and Golden Globe® for Best Animated Feature (2008); Stanton was nominated for an Oscar® for the screenplay. He made his directorial debut with Disney•Pixar's "Finding Nemo," garnering an Academy Award-nomination for Best Original Screenplay and winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature (2003). He has worked as a screenwriter and/or executive producer on Disney•Pixar's "Toy Story," "A Bug's Life" (which he also co-directed), "Toy Story 2," "Monsters, Inc.," "Ratatouille" and "Up."
"I have been waiting my whole life to see the characters and worlds of 'John Carter of Mars' realized on the big screen," says Stanton. "It is just a wonderful bonus that I have anything to do with it."
The stellar ensemble cast is led by Taylor Kitsch (NBC'S "Friday Night Lights", "X-Men Origins: Wolverine") in the title role, Lynn Collins ("50 First Dates," "X-Men Origins: Wolverine") as the warrior princess Dejah Thoris and Oscar® nominee Willem Dafoe ("Spider-Man 3," "Shadow of a Vampire") as Martian inhabitant Tars Tarkas. The cast also includes Thomas Haden Church ("Sideways," Spider-Man 3), Polly Walker (upcoming "Clash of the Titans," "Patriot Games"), Samantha Morton ("Elizabeth: The Golden Age," "In America"), Mark Strong ("Sherlock Holmes," "Body of Lies"), Ciaran Hinds ("Munich," "There Will Be Blood"), British actor Dominic West ("300," "Chicago"), James Purefoy ("Vanity Fair," "Resident Evil") and Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad"). Daryl Sabara ("Disney's A Christmas Carol," "Spy Kids") takes the role of John Carter's teenaged nephew, Edgar Rice Burroughs.
The creative team includes Oscar®-nominated production designer Nathan Crowley ("Public Enemies," "The Dark Knight," "Batman Begins"), costume designer Mayes Rubeo ("Avatar," "Apocalypto"), cinematographer Daniel Mindel ("Star Trek," "Mission Impossible III," "Spygame") and video effects supervisor Peter Chiang ("The Reader," "The Bourne Ultimatum").

SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2010

HAWAII FIVE-0 GETS GREEN LIGHT
The Hollywood Reporter writes that CBS has greenlighted an updated version of the classic cop series from hot feature scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and "CSI: NY" executive producer Peter Lenkov. The project, from CBS Studios, scored a sizable commitment when it landed at CBS in October. It is described as an updated take on the original series that is centered on an elite branch of the Hawaii State Police headed by Steve McGarrett and answerable only to the governor. The classic procedural, created by Leonard Freeman, ran on CBS from 1968-80 and became famous for its opening music and for its staple "Book 'em, Danno" closing line.
Kurtzman and Orci co-wrote the story for the pilot with Lenkov, who penned the script under their supervision. All three are executive producing.
CBS and CBS Studios, which has the rights to "Hawaii Five-O," first took a stab at developing a contemporary take last season with "Criminal Minds" executive producer/showrunner Ed Bernero.
Kurtzman and Orci, co-creators/exec producers of Fox's sophomore drama "Fringe," know a thing or two about reinvigorating TV series: They recently penned the J.J. Abrams-directed blockbuster "Star Trek." Their feature writing credits also include the two "Transformers" movies and "Mission: Impossible III."
Lenkov serves as exec producer/co-showrunner on CBS/CBS Studios crime drama "CSI: NY" alongside Pam Veasey.

UNDERCOVERS ADDITION
Jessica Parker Kennedy rounds up the core cast of J.J. Abrams' NBC pilot UNDERCOVERS. UNDERCOVERS, which Abrams co-wrote with Josh Reims, revolves around Steven (Boris Kodjoe) and Samantha (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a domesticated husband and wife who are re-activated as CIA agents after years of retirement.
Parker Kennedy will play Samantha’s younger sister who works at a catering company.
In addition to Kodjoe and Mbatha-Raw, Parker Kennedy joins previously cast fellow regulars Gerald McRaney and Ben Schwartz. Abrams is directing the Warner Bros. TV-produced pilot.

HAPPY FEET 2
Movieline reports that George Miller has reunited "Ocean's Eleven" franchise co-stars Matt Damon and Brad Pitt for HAPPY FEET 2. The site says that the two actors already started doing voice work for the sequel this week. They join the returning Elijah Wood and Robin Williams in the Warner Bros. sequel, targeted for a November 18, 2011 release. Who Damon and Pitt are playing is unknown at this time.
The first film made $384 million worldwide.

TWILIGHT NEW MOON RELEASE DATE
Summit Entertainment has announced that THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON will hit DVD and Blu-ray on Saturday, March 20: One of the most talked about films of 2009, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON, will be released on a Two-Disc Special Edition DVD and Special Edition Blu-ray on March 20, 2010 – a Saturday street date that will allow for fans across the nation to celebrate at retailer’s midnight release parties before taking home the film at 12:01 a.m.
Already a worldwide literary phenomenon, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON, a post modern Romeo and Juliet story filled with action, suspense and the supernatural, took in an estimated $300 million domestic at the theatrical box office and had the third largest opening weekend box office in movie history at $142 million.
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON Two-Disc Special Edition DVD has a suggested retail price of $32.99, while the Special Edition Blu-ray is set at $34.99. Both are packed with bonus features that are sure to please even the most-hard core fans, including a revealing Audio Commentary with Director Chris Weitz and editor Peter Lambert; a riveting 6-part documentary that takes you behind the scenes; exclusive band rehearsal footage with Muse; and music videos from Death Cab for Cutie, Anya Marina and Mute Math.
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Dakota Fanning, Michael Sheen and Anna Kendrick. Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene, Jackson Rathbone and Kellan Lutz return to their roles in the Cullen family.

ARCHER ON FX
Thursday saw the premiere of ARCHER, and found the network toon friendly for the animated spy laffer. Skein drew 1.8 million total viewers and 1.2 million in the 18-49 demo and established another beachhead on the comedy front for the net. ARCHER opened better than IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA in 2005 and, more recently, THE LEAGUE in October. For season five of SUNNY that launched in September, 1.7 million tuned in and the 1.4 million were in the demo.
The episode that aired at 10 p.m. was actually the second of the season. The pilot was telecast in the fall as a test balloon to gauge the show's popularity.
Next up on the comedy side is LOUIE, from the standup of Louie C.K. Show will premiere in April.
Cabler is on a roll following a big second season of motorcycle club drama SONS OF ANARCHY and is set to launch DAMAGES Jan. 25.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2010

NEW CONAN?
Who will take over as the new Conan? That is the question as producers gear up to shoot a new Conan film, a reboot of the barbarian saga created by Robert E. Howard. Rumors about who will step into Arnold Schwarzenegger's spot are centering in part on STARGATE ATLANTIS' Jason Momoa, better known as Ronon Dex.
Deadline Hollywood reported:
Director Marcus Nispel is on track to start production March 15 in Bulgaria—if they can find the right barbarian. Last weekend, it seemed like things came down to two buff finalists: Kellan Lutz (Emmett Cullen in the Twilight Saga sequels New Moon and Eclipse), and Jason Momoa (Ronon Dex in the TV series Stargate: Atlantis). Suddenly, Millennium and partner Lionsgate decided today to look at another unnamed but better established actor before deciding.

NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA
Director Joe Johnston (the upcoming reboot of The Wolfman) has revealed his plans for the upcoming THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA, saying it'll differ from the Marvel comics series.
Here is an excerpt from an interview with BoxOffice.com:
It is influenced by the comic book, but it goes off in a completely different direction. It's the origin story of Captain America. It's mostly period—there are modern, present-day bookends on it—but it's basically the story of how Steve Rogers becomes Captain America.
The great thing about Captain America is he's a super hero without any super powers. Which is why this story, among the hundreds of superhero stories, appealed to me the most. He can't fly, he can't see through walls, he can't do any of that stuff. He's an everyman who's been given this amazing gift of transformation into the perfect specimen—the pinnacle of human perfection.
How does that affect him? What does that mean for him emotionally and psychologically? He was this 98-pound weakling, he was this wimp, and he's transformed instantly into this Adonis. You'd think he got everything he wanted. Well, he didn't get everything he wanted. The rules change at that point and his life gets even more complicated and dire. For me, that's the interesting part of the story. It's got some great action sequences in it and some incredible stuff that we've never seen before.

AVATAR STILL CLIMBING
According to Fandango, James Cameron's unstoppable AVATAR is entering its fifth weekend with more dominant ticket sales. 80% of its ticket sales for AVATAR have been for the 3D and IMAX screenings and for the fifth weekend, 73% of its advanced ticket sales are for AVATAR, followed by THE BOOK OF ELI with 7% and THE LOVELY BONES with 5%.
Worldwide, the film has earned $1.42 billion and has just passed up Shrek 2's $441.2 million to climb to the fourth spot on the all-time domestic list with $445.7 million. It only trails Star Wars ($460.9 million), THE DARK KNIGHT ($533.3 million) and TITANIC ($600.8 million) now.
In sequel news, James Cameron told Entertainment Weekly that he was even planning a sequel during production. "I've had a storyline in mind from the start - there are even scenes in 'Avatar' that I kept in because they lead to the sequel," Cameron said. "It just makes sense to think of it as a two or three film arc, in terms of the business plan. The CG plants and trees and creatures and the musculo-skeletal rigging of the main characters — that all takes an enormous amount of time to create. It'd be a waste not to use it again."

THE CHANCELLOR MANUSCRIPT
Variety reports that Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace) is attached to direct THE CHANCELLOR MANUSCRIPT for Paramount. The studio -- which paid a rich $4 million for the Robert Ludlum political thriller in 2005 -- has tapped Peter O'Brien to adapt. The story centers on Peter Chancellor, who turns in a novel about D.C. power brokers who are blackmailed into altering U.S. policies. When some operatives get hold of the manuscript, they think he has uncovered their actual scheme and try to hunt the author down.
The project, which is being developed as a Leonardo DiCaprio starring vehicle, has seen earlier drafts penned by Michael Seitzman and Alessandro Camon.
In recent years, the late Ludlum's thrillers have proven irresistible to studios and big-name talent. Universal, the studio behind Ludlum's "Bourne" franchise, is developing "The Sigma Protocol." And Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington and helmer David Cronenberg are attached to an adaptation of "The Matarese Circle" at MGM.
Douglas Wick is producing CHANCELLOR MANUSCRIPT alongside DiCaprio. Forster's partner Brad Simpson is also involved in some producing capacity as is Captivate Entertainment, which reps the Ludlum estate.

COWBOYS AND ALIENS
According to Collider, DreamWorks Pictures, Universal Pictues and Platinum Studios are in discussions with James Bond star Daniel Craig for its comic book adaptation "Cowboys & Aliens." If he signs, Craig would replace the just departed Robert Downey Jr. who left the project due to scheduling issues. Jon Favreau ("Iron Man") remains attached to direct.
Craig would play Zeke Jackson, the lead character in a story about Apache Indians and Western settlers who must lay their differences aside when an alien spaceship crash lands in Silvery City, Arizona. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci ("Transformers," "Star Trek") adapted the script.
Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Steven Spielberg and Scott Rosenberg will produce.

CONSENT TO KILL
Variety reports that Antoine Fuqua ("King Arthur," "Training Day") is set to direct the spy thriller "Consent to Kill" for CBS Films.
An adaptation of the Vince Flynn novel, the story centers on counterterrorism agent Mitch Rapp who battles a vengeful Saudi billionaire, an ex-East German Stasi spy and a husband-and-wife team of assassins -- all while dealing with a knee injury.
Jonathan Lemkin adapted the script while Lorenzo DiBonaventura and Nick Wechsler are producing.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2010

STAR TREK 2
STAR TREK co-writer Damon Lindelof has confirmed that he and co-writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman will begin drafting the new screenplay in the spring for the follow-up film.
"We're going to start probably in April once the writing on Lost is done," said Lindelof—who co-created and executive-produces the ABC show—in a group interview Tuesday in Pasadena, Calif. "Trek will come out in 2012 some point, so we've still got a little bit of time, but we've been talking about it. We just haven't been writing."
It's unclear when production would begin.

JOHN CARTER OF MARS
According to the Hollywood Reporter, BREAKING BAD (and BABYLON 5) star Bryan Cranston has joined the cast of Walt Disney's JOHN CARTER OF MARS. Andrew Stanton is directing the production, which goes before cameras next week.
The adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs book series centers on a Civil War veteran (Taylor Kitsch) who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars, where he becomes involved with the planet's warring people. Cranston plays a Civil War colonel who comes into conflict with Carter. Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Samantha Morton and Polly Walker are among the cast.
Stanton wrote the screenplay with Mark Andrews. Jim Morris, who produced "WALL-E," and Colin Wilson are producing CARTER.
The movie will be a hybrid of live action and CGI.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010

GREEN LANTERN VILLAIN
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Peter Sarsgaard is in negotiations to play the villain in GREEN LANTERN, Warner Bros.' big-budget, Martin Campbell-directed tentpole based on the DC Comics superhero.
Ryan Reynolds is starring as Hal Jordan, the test pilot who finds a downed spacecraft with a dying alien who passes him a powerful ring, introducing Jordan to an interstellar police force known as the Green Lanterns.
Sarsgaard will play Dr. Hector Hammond, the pathologist son of a senator who is seen as a disappointment in his father's eyes. He becomes infused with psychic powers when he discovers a meteor.
The character was created by John Broome and Gil Kane in the early 1960s.
Blake Lively has already been cast as Reynolds' love interest, Carol Ferris.
The movie is prepping for a March start in New Orleans. Donald De Line and Greg Berlanti are producing. Sarsgaard, who starred opposite Carey Mulligan in "An Education," recently wrapped "Knight and Day" with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. The actor is shooting the indie thriller "The Ledge" with Terrence Howard and Evan Rachel Wood.

UNDERCOVERS
British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw ("Spooks," "Doctor Who") has landed the female lead opposite Boris Kodjoe on J.J. Abrams' UNDERCOVERS at NBC. Abrams and Josh Reims co-wrote the pilot.
The project revolves around a domesticated husband (Kodjoe) and wife (Mbatha-Raw) who are re-activated as CIA agents after years of retirement.
Abrams also will direct, marking the first pilot he has helmed since LOST in 2004.

SOURCE CODE
Heat Vision reports that Michelle Monaghan is set and Vera Farmiga is in negotiations to join time-travel thriller SOURCE CODE for Summit Entertainment.
The story centers on a soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal) who, as part of an experimental government program to investigate a terrorist incident, finds himself in the body of an unknown commuter living and reliving a harrowing train bombing until he can find out who is responsible for it.
Monaghan is a woman on the train with whom the man is involved romantically. Farmiga will play a hands-on communications officer controlling Gyllenhaal as he travels through time and space.
MOON director Duncan Jones helms the project which begins filming in March. Mark Gordon, Philippe Rousselet and Jordan Wynn are producing.

LOST PATROL
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Stephen Norrington ("Blade," "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen") will write and direct supernatural action thriller THE LOST PATROL for Legendary Pictures.
Set against the backdrop of World War II, story details are being kept scarce. Andrew Hilton and Matt Cirulnick penned the original script.
Norrington says the project is a mix of "hardware, heroes, grime, insane monsters." Rick Porras and Steven Boyd are producing.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2010

CHUCK RATINGS GREAT
Sunday's high-rated premiere of NBC's CHUCK made a lot of people happy.
The first hour of Sunday's third-season premiere of Chuck garnered an audience of 7.7 million viewers and a healthy 3.0 preliminary rating among adults 18-49, with the second drawing 7.2 million and a 2.9 rating. That was where the show needs to be for Warner Brothers, McG said. (McG spoke about the numbers based on the first report of ratings as high as 3.4.)
"We were mid-3s, and that was above [expectations]," McG continued. "They wanted to have a 3 in front of it, so we were right around a 3.4 with the men 18-49, and I think they're really happy with that, especially because I think the football game got a really good number on the other network and led into a big, strong Simpsons/Fox night."
The premiere revealed marked changes to Chuck's (Zachary Levi) character, who has all sorts of new skills after having downloaded Intersect 2.0. "We changed his hair, we did it all," McG said. "It was to show that emotional pivot in the character. Plus, he's ready for it. He's a talented guy, Zach, and he's capable of a lot, so if you ask it of him he's able to do it."
CHUCK airs Monday nights at 8 p.m. on NBC.

FIREFLY LIVES ON IN SHORT STORIES
While Joss Whedon's beloved FIREFLY/SERENITY has left the galazy, fans can look for more adventures of Capt. Mal Reynolds and the crew of the doughty ship in a series of short stories coming soon from Titan Books.
Writer/producer Jane Espenson—who wrote one episode of the Fox sci-fi series but is a longtime friend and colleague of Whedon's going back to her days on Buffy the Vampire Slayer—told us that she will be writing one of the stories, centering on the characters of Kaylee and Wash (obviously set in a time period before the events of the movie Serenity).
"I'm writing a short story set in the Firefly universe that someone's putting together," Espenson said in an interview on Sunday in Pasadena, Calif., where she was promoting her upcoming Syfy series Caprica. "Titan Books is putting together a collection written by various of the Firefly writers. But [it's a] very short story, ... 2,000 words."
She added: "Oh, I just came up with a very clever little short story that involves Kaylee and Wash, two characters that we haven't seen together that much."
Espenson's Firefly episode was "Shindig," the fourth episode in the series, which deals with a society dance and a duel. It's best loved by fans for Kaylee's appearance in an over-the-top flouncy ruffled dress.
Espenson is an executive producer of CAPRICA, the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA prequel series, which debuts on Syfy at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Jan. 22.

ACE AWARD NOMINATIONS
Sci-fi films fared well with the America Cinema Editors, who nominated AVATAR editors James Cameron, John Refoua and Stephen Rivkin, Julian Clark for DISTRICT 9 and Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey for STAR TREK for best edited dramatic feature. Dramatic feature noms also went to Bob Murawski and Chris Innis for THE HURT LOCKER and Dana Glauberman for UP IN THE AIR.
Best edited comedy or musical feature noms went to Alan Edward Bell for 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, Debra Neil-Fisher for THE HANGOVER, Joe Hutshing and David Moritz for IT'S COMPLICATED, Richard Marks for JULIE AND JULIA and the Coen brothers' pseudonymous alter ego Roderick Jaynes for A SERIOUS MAN.
CORALINE, FANTASTIC Mr. FOX, and UP got nods in the animated feature category, while favored docus were THE COVE, FOOD, INC and THIS IS IT.
TV standouts include "30 Rock," "Breaking Bad," "Grey Gardens," "The Deadliest Catch" and two episodes of "Dexter."

NBC GREENLIGHTS NEW SERIES
NBC is bringing in big drama guns for next fall, greenlighting pilots from David E. Kelley, Jerry Bruckheimer, "House" creator David Shore and "Without a Trace" creator Hank Steinberg.
The network ha picked up six drama pilots, in addition to the previously ordered J.J. Abrams drama "Undercovers" and legal dramedy "Rex Is Not Your Lawyer." The new pickups include Steinberg's remake of the icon British drama "Prime Suspect," Shore's updated version of the classic "The Rockford Files," Kelley's legal drama "Kindreds," the Bruckheimer-produced action procedural "Chase," as well as romantic comedy "Love Bites," from "Sex and the City" alumna Cindy Chupack, and thriller "The Event" from Nick Wauters.
Among the contenders for the remaining couple of slots on the network's drama pilot slate are "Midnighters," based on the Alloy book series, and the Dick Wolf-produced "Sam & Twitch." NBC also is developing a Los Angeles- set "Law & Order" series eyed for fall.
-- "Kindreds," written on spec by Kelley, follows a curmudgeonly ex-patent lawyer and his group of misfit associates as their lives come together to form an unconventional kind of law practice. The project, from Warner Bros. TV and David E. Kelley Prods., was taken to NBC on Tuesday and, in a competitive situation, NBC closed a deal Friday. The pickup of "Kindreds" doesn't affect the chances of "Rex," which recently completed its pilot, said NBC primetime entertainment president Angela Bromstad, noting that she would love to have two legal shows on the air that are working.
-- "Prime Suspect," from UMS and ITV, centers on a courageous female detective who investigates complex mysteries in a politically explosive big city. Steinberg and Erwin Stoff are executive producing.
-- The new "Rockford Files," from UMS and Steve Carell's Carousel Prods., centers on Jim Rockford, a roguish private eye who tackles the dangerous, quirky and unpredictable cases that no other detective wants to handle. Shore and Carell are exec producing.
-- "The Event," from UMS, features multiple points of view and follows a regular fellow throw in a large government conspiracy. Steve Stark is exec producing, with Wauters co-exec producing.
-- "Chase," from WBTV and Jerry Bruckheimer TV, based on a real-life group in the American Southwest, follows a fugitive apprehension team of U.S. Marshals that tracks down the nation's most notorious criminals. Jennifer Johnson wrote the script and is exec producing with Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman.
-- "Love Bites," from UMS and Working Title Films, is exec produced by Chupack, Timothy Bevan, Eric Fellner and Shelley.
On the comedy side, the network has picked up one project so far, a single-camera comedy starring Adam Carolla.

MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 2010

HEROES FUTURE
It is no secret that ratings for HEROES, once NBC's flagship series' have dropped, and its fans have slammed the show's meandery plots and confusing character arcs in recent seasons. However, NBC executive Angela Bromstad said no decision has been made on the show's fifth season and added that the network will hear a pitch from creator Tim Kring before making one.
Should this season be Heroes' last, the season finale will serve as the series finale, but since the show has already wrapped production on its current fourth season, there won't be time to add anything. "No, they're out of production," Bromstad said. "They've wrapped production."
Of course, Bromstand couldn't say where the season finale would leave the heroes in any event. "I can't give anything away on the Heroes finale."
She did confirm that if she renews HEROES, the show can continue to operate on its current budget without any more cuts. "Actually, HEROES has already been very responsible in having a good budget, so I don't think that we'd be looking at cutting it further," she said.

DAY ONE - A MOVIE
When NBC first announced DAY ONE, it was a sci-fi series -- it then was transformed into a mini-series. Now, Angela Bromstad, president of prime-time entertainment at NBC and Universal Media Studios, indicates it will be a TV movie.
"DAY ONE is going to air as a two-hour movie," Bromstad said in a group interview on Sunday as part of the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena, Calif. "We looked at after V launched and after FLASHFORWARD launched with a strong initial thing. We didn't want to come on after that. As we sat down with [executive producer] Jesse [Alexander] and talked about more of the mythology, there's just concern about sustaining that."
Bromstad added that the DAY ONE will consist of the pilot that was originally shot. They just didn't shoot any additional footage. "We've only shot the two-hour pilot," Bromstad said. "It will be a pilot where you could see where it could go in series, but there will be a resolve at the end of the two hours."
There is still hope for continuing the story if the standalone movie version is a hit. "Absolutely," she said. "If it performs, absolutely." She has not scheduled DAY ONE yet.

AVATAR - #1 AGAIN
Fox's AVATAR continued its hold on the #1 spot for a fourth consecutive weekend, with an estimated $48.5 million tally in the latest frame producing a $429 million domestic cume.
Doubly deep foreign grosses give James Cameron's sci-fi epic a $1.34 billion worldwide cume, the second- highest in history after the filmmaker's TITANIC, which cruised to $1.84 billion in 1997-98. Its domestic total is the seventh-best ever after 24 days of release.
The weekend's three wide releases bowed further down the session rankings.
-- Lionsgate's vampire actioner DAYBREAKERS, starring Willem Dafoe and Ethan Hawke, rung up $15 million in fourth place.
-- Universal's romantic comedy LEAP YEAR, starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode, debuted roughly as expected with $9.2 million in sixth place. -- Dimension Films' Michael Cera-toplined comedy YOUTH IN REVOLT unspooled limply, with $7 million in ninth place.
Among the strongest holdovers, Warner Bros.' Robert Downey Jr. starrer SHERLOCK HOLMES finished second in its third outing with $16.6 million and a $165.2 million cume. And Fox's family comedy ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKQUEL was third with $16.3 million and a $178.2 million cume since bowing Dec. 23.
Collectively, the session's top 10 grossers during the first boxoffice weekend of 2010 rung up $143.2 million, or 18% more than top performers in the comparable frame last year, according to Nielsen EDI.
Looking ahead, Friday begins the four-day Martin Luther King holiday frame, an increasingly lucrative boxoffice opportunity for domestic distributors.
Two pics open wide: Lionsgate's Jackie Chan starrer THE SPY NEXT DOOR and Warner Bros.' Denzel Washington- toplined THE BOOK OF ELI. Also next weekend, Paramount is scheduled to expand Peter Jackson's THE LOVELY BONES into wide release after a month of limited engagements.

SPIDER-MAN 4 VILLAIN
There has been much speculation about Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN 4, including its scheduled May 5, 2011 release date and why it has run into production problems. The latest info shows that John Malkovich was indeed up for the role of the Vulture, Raimi's choice of villain for the fourth movie.
Malkovich was interviewed by an Italian sports show called "Quelli Che il Calcio" and he was asked not only about whether he had been approached to play the Vulture but also about the production delays. The fine folks at the Italian web site Bad Taste have graciously provided an English summation of what was said on the show:
"When conductor Simona Ventura asked him about his role of Vulture in the movie, he not only didn't deny his involvement, but confirmed that he's waiting for the final script to be sent to him, and that the movie has been delayed. He also hopes that shooting will begin as soon as possible."
Some may remember that Malkovich was the alternate choice to play the Green Goblin in the first "Spider-Man" movie, a role that went to his Shadow of the Vampire co-star Willem Dafoe, so it has always made perfect sense that Raimi would be interested in him to play a Spidey villain. The question is whether Sony will agree to the lesser Spider-Man villain for such an important tentpole franchise.

RED
Variety reports that John Malkovich has replaced John C. Reilly in Summit Entertainment's comic book adaptation RED, based on the WildStorm/DC title.
He's joining a cast that includes Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker, Julian McMahon, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dreyfuss, Brian Cox and James Remar. Directed by Robert Schwentke, the film was written by Erich and Jon Hoeber.
In RED, former black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses is now living a quiet life. That is, until the day a hi-tech assassin shows up intent on killing him. With his secret identity compromised and his love interest in danger, Frank must reassemble his old team to figure out who is out to get them.
The film will start shooting in Toronto and Louisiana this month for a fall release.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 2010

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE PLAN
It's back to BSG for a little Cylon action as two Number Ones and a Number Six take on all those humans without numbers. It involves the Cylons' plan and what happened behind the Cylon scenes that we never saw. Actor Edward James Olmos starred and directed. The Plan is already out there as a DVD and Blu-ray, but here's your chance to see it for free. After this, that's it for BSG, forever. We mean it. You'll never see anything involving Cylons again. Well, at least until Jan. 22, when we can watch CAPRICA.

CHUCK
Chuck is finally back, and he knows kung fu. While Chuck (Zachary Levi) doesn't get to give up his day job at the Buy More, he'll at least finally be getting lessons on being a spy now that he's the Intersect 2.0. But don't think that's going to make things easy on him. Apparently Chuck still has "emotions." Luckily for him, the gang's all back, including Adam Baldwin as Casey, Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah and Joshua Gomez as Morgan. Rumor has it that one of the minor characters will be killed off and that Chuck will have a major falling-out in the romantic department with Sarah. After the big two-episode Sunday premiere, Chuck moves into its regular timeslot on Mondays at 8 p.m. the very next day.

THE GHOST WRITER
Summit Entertainment will give Roman Polanski's THE GHOST WRITER a limited release on February 19th, with expansion plans to follow on March 5th and March 19th. The release comes just a week after the film's world premiere in Berlin on February 11th.
OK, I know the trailer is dubbed in German, but while the dialogue will make sense to only a few readers, all should enjoy the interesting visuals which are able to convey a surprisingly compelling and tense atmosphere in a very naturalistic way.
The film stars Evan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, Eli Wallach, Timothy Hutton, Tom Wilkinson and James Belushi.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 2010

FX PURCHASES TV RIGHTS FOR AVATAR
FX captured the basic cable TV rights to James Cameron's AVATAR, the 3-D blockbuster that's now the second- highest-grossing movie of all time, according to The Hollywood Reporter. And if FX ever decides to go 3-D, they'll be set and will be able to air Avatar the way the Creator intended (that'd be Cameron).
Watching 3-D at home is not as outlandish as it sounds: The film is expected to premiere on FX in the middle of 2012, after AVATAR has given DVDs and HBO a chance to make their money. While no plans have been announced for a 3-D FX channel, by then two 3-D television channels are expected to be in place, one from ESPN and one from Discovery. So anything's possible, especially considering the 3-D craze that's rampaging through the movie and television industries these days.
FX is making big moves these days. Besides acquiring rights to THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON, STAR TREK, MONSTERS VS. ALIENS, TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN and ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS, the network is also launching the new animated spy series ARCHER on Jan. 14, the drama JUSTIFIED in March and the third season of DAMAGES this month.

STAR TREK DATE SET
It looks like Paramount Pictures has decided at least on a tentative release date for J. J. Abrams' anticipated Untitled STAR TREK Sequel as it stakes claim to the coveted pre-4th of July weekend of June 29, 2012. At this time, it is the only movie scheduled for June that summer, and absolutely nothing is known of the sequel except that one expects most of the cast introduced in the first movie to return.

GREEN LANTERN NEWS
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. and director Martin Campbell have finally found the female lead for their GREEN LANTERN movie. Hal Jordan's lady love, Carol Ferris, will be played by Blake Lively, star of the CW's hit GOSSIP GIRL, THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS and its sequel.
Ferris is one of the who hires hot-shot test pilot Hal Jordan, played by Ryan Reynolds, to her father's aerospace company, which she's running, before he gets the ring to become Earth's GREEN LANTERN.
The movie is scheduled to start shooting in March.

A-TEAM TRAILER
The trailer for director Joe Carnahan's THE A-TEAM, which hits theaters this weekend, has come online! Opening in theaters on June 11, the big screen adaptation of the TV series stars Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley, Jessica Biel, Quinton Jackson and Yul Vazquez.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2010

SUPERNATURAL - WINCHESTER BOYS ENGAGED
Jared Padalecki, who plays Sam Winchester on The CW's SUPERNATURAL, is engaged to marry his former co-star Genevieve Cortese, who played the hot but very evil demon Ruby. E! Online reported Jensen Ackles, who plays Padalecki's onscreen older brother Dean Winchester, got engaged in fall 2009 to Danneel Harris.

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GEORGE LUCAS TALKS ABOUT MOVIES
George Lucas recently appeared on Jon Stewart's THE DAILY SHOW. He was out promoting his new book, BLOCKBUSTING, but he talked about making movies and how his life has changed since creating the first STAR WARS movie. "Life is duality," he said with Yoda-like equanimity. "It's a work of fiction. It's a metaphor. It's not real. And therefore, you can either like it or not like it. Whatever."
BLOCKBUSTING examines the movie industry through its most timeless films.

127 HOURS
According to Production Weekly, James Franco ("Spider-Man" films) will star in Fox Searchlight Pictures' 127 HOURS, to be directed by Oscar winner Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire).
The film tells the story of mountaineer Aron Ralston, whose right forearm got pinned for nearly five days under a boulder during a climb in Utah in May 2003. He used a dull knife to amputate the limb, then scaled a 65-foot sheer wall and hiked out before running into a family that gave him water and food.
Filming is set to begin early March in Utah.

MR. VENGENCE
Variety writes that Warner Bros. Pictures has scored the remake rights to Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park's SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGENCE.
The story follows two men who set out on violent quests to punish those responsible for the murder of the women they love. Trouble is, they themselves are the ones responsible and only one of them will have vengeance.
Brian Tucker ("Broken City") will write the script. Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, Miky Lee, Ted Kim and Steven Schneider will produce.

THE APPARITION
Sebastian Stan ("The Covenant," TV's "Gossip Girl," TV's "Kings") will star opposite Ashley Green in the supernatural horror thriller THE APPARITION for Dark Castle Entertainment says The Hollywood Reporter. The story follows a couple who are haunted by a supernatural presence that is unleashed during a college experiment.
Todd Lincoln is directing and wrote the script inspired by true events. Joel Silver, Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman are producing.
Filming kicks off February 1st at Studio Babelsberg in Germany before moving to Los Angeles in March.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2010

TV PIRACY
We all know that pirating TV series and movies is a big problem. How big? According to recent reports, HEROES has been downloaded by 6.58 million people on a regular basis, more than actually watch the series live. Yes, in 2009 NBC's HEROES and Showtime's serial-killing DEXTER actually suffered more pirated downloads than they had actual viewers, according to TorrentFreak.com.
While HEROES sits on the edge of cancellation, TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES actually did get canceled last spring. If you do the math, TSCC had 6,340,000 actual viewers + 1,960,000 illegal downloads, which probably would have equaled enough to give it another season. However, it's not that simple.
Most of the downloads come from countries other than the U.S., where they sometimes have to wait weeks or months before the new episodes are available, according to TorrentFreak. Their take ... it's all about availability. "The piracy figures simply show that TV viewing habits are changing."
Here is TorrentFreak's list, with actual viewers and then the number of illegal downloads:
1. Heroes—5,900,000 actual viewers vs. 6,580,000 downloads
2. Lost—11,050,000 actual viewers vs. 6,310,000 downloads
3. Prison Break—5,300,00 actual viewers vs. 3,450,000 downloads
4. Dexter—2,300,000 actual viewers vs. 2,780,000 downloads
5. House—15,600,000 actual viewers vs. 2,590,000 downloads
6. 24—12,620,000 actual viewers vs. 2,440,000 downloads
7. Desperate Housewives—15,500,000 actual viewers vs. 2,180,000 downloads
8. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles—6,340,000 actual viewers vs. 1,960,000 downloads
9. Grey's Anatomy—15,640,000 actual viewers vs. 1,740,000 downloads
10. True Blood—12,400,000 actual viewers vs. 1,600,000 downloads

NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
Warner Home Video has included this behind-the-scenes clip for A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET on the Blu-ray and DVD for THE FINAL DESTINATION.
In theaters on April 30, the Samuel Bayer-directed film stars Jackie Earle Haley, Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Thomas Dekker, Kellan Lutz, Katie Cassidy and Connie Britton.

THE HOBBIT
According to Production Weekly, Guillermo del Toro's HOBBIT movies are moving ahead as planned. It is reported that hey will begin a 14-month production schedule in June in New Zealand.
Last month, producer Peter Jackson indicated that he and his co-writers were working on scripts for two Hobbit films, based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien.
"We're still working on the script, and of course it's going to be directed by Guillermo [del Toro]," Jackson said. "That's going really well, and in fact we've already delivered the first script to the studio, and they really liked it, so now we're working hard on the second script, and that's going to keep us pretty busy until the end of this year [2009]."
The first film is slated to come out sometime in 2011 if all things stay on schedule.

BOND 23 DIRECTOR NAMED
According to the Hollywood Reporter, British helmer Sam Mendes is in negotiations to direct the 23rd installment of the James Bond franchise. Production is being fast-tracked and could begin as early as June with an eye toward a 2011 release. Plans for the film are moving forward despite a possible sale of MGM. Sony co-produced and distributed the most recent installment of the 007 series with MGM.
Bond regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are writing, along with "Frost/Nixon" scribe Peter Morgan. Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are producing. Daniel Craig will reprise his role as 007.
The film will be Mendes' first action-heavy project, though his 2005 effort JARHEAD was set amid U.S. war in Kuwait. Mendes' most recent directorial effort, the road-trip dramedy AWAY WE GO, grossed $10 million domestically last summer. Marc Forster directed the previous Bond film, 2008's QUANTUM OF SOLACE, which grossed $586 million worldwide.

THOR
Marvel Entertainment President Kevin Feige recently posted some memories from working on comic book movies for over 10 years on Marvel.com and, understandably, Feige concluded his thoughts by telling about his excitement over a screen test of THOR, which is heading into production in mid-January.
To be honest the thing that I'm most excited about right now, though, is the screen test we just finished for Thor. We've done some costume tests and watching the Asgardians walk onto the sound stage takes me back to that first time I saw the X-Men on the set all together in Toronto. Only it was unlike anything we've ever put on film before! It's great to be starting the next decade in such an exciting way just as we did last decade. We're really redefining the comic book genre and what a Marvel movie can be. It's going to be great.

LEGEND OF THE SEEKER
STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE's Jolene Blalock has been cast in a recurring role in the upcoming second season of the syndicated fantasy TV series LEGEND OF THE SEEKER. Blalock will play a mysterious Sister of the Dark who possesses a very powerful magic.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2010

DUNE DIRECTOR NAMED
According to Entertainment Weekly, Paramount has hired TAKEN director Pierre Morel to take over DUNE. Peter Berg was set to direct but dropped out last year.
EW adds that the studio "is currently looking for a new writer to incorporate Morel's vision of the project into the original draft by QUANTUM OF SOLACE scribe Josh Zetumer. Morel plans to make a very faithful adaptation of the 1965 book by Frank Herbert."

DAYBREAKERS COMING FRIDAY
Ethan Hawke's latest, DAYBREAKERS, will be released by Lionsgate in theaters this Friday, January 8th.
In the film, written and directed by Peter and Michael Spierig, Hawke plays Edward Dalton, a researcher in the year 2019, in which an unknown plague has transformed the world's population into vampires. As the human population nears extinction, vampires must capture and farm every remaining human, or find a blood substitute before time runs out. However, a covert group of vampires makes a remarkable discovery, one which has the power to save the human race.
For more information, clips, photos, go to http://www.daybreakersmovie.com/.

THE ORPHANAGE
Variety reports that Mark Pellington ("The Mothman Prophecies," "Arlington Road") is set to direct the remake of supernatural thriller THE ORPHANAGE for New Line Cinema.
2007's "Spanish-language El Orfanato" followed a woman (Belen Rueda) who takes over the orphanage where she was raised, to open a home for disabled children.
Then her young son begins to play with the same imaginary friend who terrorized her when she was a child.
Like the Spanish version, Guillermo del Toro is set to produce and co-write the script with Larry Fessenden. Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson will also produce.

MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2010

TRUE BLOOD/SOUTHLAND
According to the Hollywood Reporter, SOUTHLAND co-star Kevin Alejandro is joining Alan Ball's vampire drama TRUE BLOOD. Alejandro, expected to appear in almost every episode of the HBO series' upcoming third season, will play Jesus, a Latino orderly who is taking care of Ruby Jean Reynolds (Alfre Woodard) at her care facility and becomes involved with her son, Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis).
Alejandro continues to be attached as a regular to SOUTHLAND, which recently moved from NBC to TNT. Because of the cable network's plan to air the 13 produced episodes of the cop drama, starting Jan. 12, before making a decision whether to order a second season, Alejandro can accommodate BLOOD while keeping his obligation to SOUTHLAND.
On BLOOD, he joins such other new additions as Denis O'Hare, Marshall Allman, Theo Alexander, Grant Bowler, Joe Manganiello and Lindsay Pulsipher.

24
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Rami Malek, Julian Morris and Hrach Titizian have landed multiepisode arcs on Fox's 24. On the action drama's upcoming Season 8, Malek ("Night at the Museum") will play Marcos, a would- be suicide bomber who is Arab American with sympathies toward radical Islam.
Morris ("ER") will play a CTU SWAT agent. Titizian will play Nabeel, the second-in-command of security for President Hassan (Anil Kapoor).

THE THING PREQUEL
According to Production Weekly, the prequel to John Carpenter's 1982 remake of THE THING will begin filming in March and continue to June in Toronto.
Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen, Jr. from a screenplay by BATTLESTAR GALACTICA exec. producer Ronald D. Moore and Eric Heisserer (The Nightmare on Elm Street remake), the prequel is supposed to be an earlier story about the mutation that attacks the Norwegian base from Carpenter's movie. Casting announcements are expected in the next few weeks.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 2010

FOX/TIME WARNER CABLE REACH DEAL
Fox and Time Warner Cable execs came to terms on the contentious retransmission consent agreement that threatened to knock numerous Fox channels off Time Warner Cable systems. The deal came together after an all-night New Year's Eve stint at the bargaining table that extended into lunchtime the next day for top execs at both companies. Both sides refused to comment on financial terms of the multiyear pact.
"We're pleased that, after months of negotiations, we were able to reach a fair agreement with Time Warner Cable -- one that recognizes the value of our programming," said Chase Carey, News Corp. chief operating officer, in a statement.
Time Warner Cable chief said he was gratified to have "reached a reasonable deal with no disruption in programming for our customers."
Broadcasters, especially Big Four network affils, are focused on charging more to cable operators for the right to carry their stations signals, which remain among the most-watched channels on the cable dial and serve up exclusive programming and sports franchises. Cable operators, not surprisingly, are alarmed by the prospect of a triple-digit increase in programming costs and have every incentive to play hardball with station owners. The Fox-Time Warner deal is seen as setting an important benchmark for what the cable market will bear for retrans deals in the coming year or so.

Meanwhile, overshadowed by the Fox-Time Warner headlines was another cable contract fight that went down to the wire on New Year's Eve. Scripps Networks has pulled Food Network and HGTV from Cablevision systems serving areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in a contract renewal battle.
Scripps said that Cablevision pays less than 25 cents a month per subscriber for both channels, and that it was asking for less than $1 per sub for Food and less than 73 per sub for HGTV. Scripps has launched websites iloveFoodNetwork.com and iloveHGTV in an effort to ramp up viewer pressure on Cablevision, which has more than 3 million subs.
Cablevision said flatly that the company had "no expectation of carrying (Scripps) programming again," and it pulled no punches in offering its perspective on the source of the fee dispute.
"We are sorry that Scripps' current financial difficulties are making it impossible for them to continue our relationship on terms that are reasonable for Cablevision and our customers," the statement said.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2010

TOY STORY 3
Disney•Pixar has debuted a new sneak peek of TOY STORY 3 that gives you a first look at Mr. Pricklepants, who is voiced by Timothy Dalton. The video, featuring director Lee Unkrich, gives you a glimpse of what's ahead for Woody, Buz Lightyear and your other favorite characters.
Opening in 3D theaters and IMAX 3D on June 18, the anticipated sequel is voiced by Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, R. Lee Ermey, Jodi Benson, Ned Beatty, Michael Keaton, Dalton, Jeff Garlin, Bonnie Hunt, Whoopi Goldberg, Kristen Schaal and Blake Clark.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 2010

AVATAR $700M
20th Century Fox reports that James Cameron's AVATAR grossed another $18.29 million on Tuesday to push its domestic total to an impressive $250.4 million after just 12 days.
The $18.29 million is an increase over last Tuesday's $16.1 million and both numbers trail only THE DARK KNIGHT'S $20.9 million on the all-time non-opening Tuesday list.
Internationally, the blockbuster has reached $476.2 million as of the 29th for a combined worldwide total of $726.6 million! Percentage-wise, the domestic take is 34.5% and the international take is 65.6% of that massive total.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
If you are looking for a movie your kids will like, be sure to watch this trailer for DreamWorks Animation's HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. Opening in conventional 3D theaters and IMAX 3D, the animated film features the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrara, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, Kristen Wiig and T.J. Miller.
Set in the mythical world of burly Vikings and wild dragons, and based on the book by Cressida Cowell, the action comedy tells the story of Hiccup, a Viking teenager who doesn't exactly fit in with his tribe's longstanding tradition of heroic dragon slayers. Hiccup's world is turned upside down when he encounters a dragon that challenges he and his fellow Vikings to see the world from an entirely different point of view.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2009

SIR PETER JACKSON
LORD OF THE RINGS film writer and director Peter Jackson has been made a knight in New Zealand's New Year Honors' list. He becomes Sir Peter Jackson for what the annual list honoring the country's worthy citizens simply calls "services to film."
The LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy showcased New Zealand's unique natural scenery as writer J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy land, filled with sword-swinging warriors, elves, wizards and hairy-footed hobbits. The project broke box office records around the world, won Jackson international accolades, and prompted a spike in tourism to New Zealand. Jackson is currently is working on the two-movie prequel THE HOBBIT, also based on a Tolkien book, with Mexican director Guillermo del Toro.
Jackson finished the screenplay for the first HOBBIT film in August after spending several months in early 2009 writing full-time and said he was pleased at how quickly he was able to re-immerse himself in Tolkien's world. "It was just like writing Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, all the old favorite characters," Jackson told movie buffs. "We just clicked straight back into Middle Earth again."
He earlier wrote, directed and produced THE LOVELY BONES, released to mixed reviews in December. He also produced and served as mentor on DISTRICT 9, released in mid-August. Before that he remade the celluloid classic, KING KONG.
His Weta Workshop and Weta Digital production facilities in the New Zealand capital, Wellington, this year completed filming and special effects for James Cameron's alien 3D extravaganza, AVATAR.
In 2003 he opened Park Road Post Production with one of the world's fastest super computers among its facilities, to establish New Zealand as a major film production center.

THE WOLFMAN
Universal Pictures has launched the official website for THE WOLFMAN timed with today's full moon! The site will provide you with a synopsis, videos, and features including sections on "Lycanthropy" and the "Universal Monster Legacy," view photos and get downloads such as wallpapers and icons.
Directed by Joe Johnston, the February 12 release stars Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving and Art Malik.

THE EAGLE OF THE NINTH
The first photos from Focus Features' The Eagle of the Ninth have arrived. Coming to theaters in the fall of 2010, this adventure film, directed by Kevin Macdonald, stars Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, Mark Strong and Tahar Rahim.
THE EAGLE OF THE NINTH is set in the dangerous world of second-century Britain. In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion Marcus Aquila (Tatum) arrives from Rome to solve the mystery and restore the reputation of his father, the commander of the Ninth. Accompanied only by his British slave Esca (Bell), Marcus sets out across Hadrian's Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia - to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his father's memory, and retrieve the lost legion's golden emblem, the EAGLE OF THE NINTH.

NIGHT AND FOG
Variety reports that producer Gil Adler ("Superman Returns") and Shane McCarthy have optioned Studio 407's sci-fi horror comic NIGHT AND FOG.
Set during WWII, the story revolves around an infectious mist unleashed on a military base that transforms its victims into preternatural creatures of the night.
But when the survivors try to kill them, they adapt and change into something even more horrific and unstoppable. Adler and McCarthy are also teaming to produce adaptations of TJ English's HAVANA NOCTURNE and Ken Bruen's TOWER.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2009

SPECIAL OFFER
Didn't get what you wanted in your stocking this year? Have some gift cards you need to spend? Here's something for you to consider.

For a mere $89,000 you can own the most screen-accurate Back to the Future DeLorean time-machine replica you're ever likely to see. Currently listed on e-bay, the seller describes "this super-accurate replica as even better than the real thing, because "sadly, the 'actual' film cars have been rotting away on the Universal backlot for the last 25 years, being picked apart and neglected. This car looks exactly like what you saw in the film, with all the cool lights, sounds and buttons you thought the car in the film had. People are often really disappointed when they see a prop up close. Movie props are designed to be filmed from a distance, but this car truly looks and feels 'real' even up close. It is in many ways 'better' than the 'real' car, as many replica props often are, because the people who build them spend so much more time and effort tending to every last detail."
Some of the stated features which have us checking our checking account balances include:
Programmable time circuits which function just like those in the film.
Functioning digital speedometer on the dashboard (reads actual vehicle speed).
Main Time Circuit switch functions just like in the film, with all sound effects.
All interior indicators and switches light up, just like in the film.
Sound effects for door openings.
Includes "Plutonium rods," which can be loaded in to the "reactor" on the rear of car, just like in the film.
Exterior flux band lighting
Custom "95 MPH" in-dash speedometer like the one mocked up for the film. The stock Delorean speedometer only goes up to 85MPH.
Screen-accurate "OUTATIME" metal-stamped license plate with 1986 registration tag.
The auction ends Dec. 31, so get your bid in now.

MARATHONS
TWILIGHT ZONE
The traditional TWILIGHT ZONE marathon begins on Syfy Thursday, December 31 and runs through January 1. This year the focus is on "Twist Endings," featuring uncut episodes and special interstitials (which means something cool in between the commercials).

DOCTOR WHO TWO-DAY MARATHON
BBC America is offering a mega Doctor Who marathon, featuring David Tennant as the 10th Doctor beginning on Friday at 12a.m. First up is "The Christmas Invasion," where ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston regenerates into Tennant. Then it's two full days of Tennant episodes (with a little Demons thrown in on Saturday).
On Saturday at 9:00pm, be sure to watch David Tennant's final appearance as Doctor Who! Series creator Russell T. Davies wrote the David Tennant finale, which should introduce Matt Smith, who plays Doctor #11. Guest stars include John Simm as the Master, Catherine Tate, Timothy Dalton, David Harewood and June Whitfield. Euros Lyn directs.

TRUE BLOOD
HBO is running a season one TRUE BLOOD marathon, Monday-Thursday at 8:00pm EST. A season-two encore begins in March 2010 so you'll be ready for all things TRUE BLOOD when it comes time for the season-three premiere this June.

INCEPTION
Have you been wondering about the latest Christopher Nolan film? INCEPTION, from the director of THE DARK KNIGHT, stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Michael Caine and Dileep Rao. It opens July 16, 2010. Here's a trailer to get your curiosity going:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/inception/.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Final box-office figures on Monday show that AVATAR was underestimated, coming in at $75.6 million, enough to top THE DARK KNIGHT's $75.2 million as the highest-grossing second weekend ever, BoxOfficeMojo.com reported. Overseas, the movie pulled in $152 million, raising its worldwide total to $623.6 million in less than two weeks.
James Cameron's AVATAR topped the box office for the second weekend in a row, overtaking SHERLOCK HOLMES, which threatened to knock the sci-fi epic off its perch when it premiered on Christmas Day.
AVATAR took in an estimated $75 million domestically during the three days beginning Dec. 25. That's only a 3 percent drop from the domestic gross in its opening weekend. The film's 10-day total rose to $212.3 million across the United States and Canada, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
SHERLOCK HOLMES, meanwhile, grossed about $65.4 million over the weekend after setting a Christmas Day opening record of $24.8 million.
In third place: ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKQUEL, with $50.2 million for the three days, far exceeding the studio's forecasts. Since opening on Wednesday, the follow-up to the worldwide 2007 hit has earned $77.1 million.

CAPTAIN AMERICA STARTS IN JUNE
According to Fangoria, Director Joe Johnston, whose next film THE WOLFMAN hits theaters on February 12, revealed that Marvel Studios is planning a June start for THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA. The start is mentioned in an article on Johnston taking over as director for The Wolfman:
Principal photography was now less than four weeks away. “By the time I got on a plane and arrived, it was three,” recalls Johnston, speaking from the art department of THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA, which he’s readying for a June start."
Paramount Pictures will distribute THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA on July 22, 2011. No cast members have been announced yet.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2009

I hope each and everyone of you have a joyous holiday season. Take care if you are traveling and be sure to make this time of year special for those you love. Do it now, while you can.

MONDAY NIGHT IS HEATING UP
NBC's midseason schedule is out and it CHUCK and HEROES to return in early January. Fox is countering with a move of their own -- a brand-new HOUSE and FRINGE are joining the fray on Monday nights.
NBC's schedule has HEROES premiering two new episodes of the series on Monday, Jan. 4, beginning at 8 p.m. And on Sunday, Jan. 10, CHUC premieres its third season with back-to-back episodes. Then on Monday, Jan. 11, CHUCK and HEROES have their regular timeslot premieres at 8 and 9 p.m.
Fox has thrown down the gauntlet and slated original installments of HOUSE and FRINGE for Jan. 11. While FRINGE was scheduled to return with originals on Thursday, Jan. 14, HOUSE wasn't scheduled to return until Monday, Jan. 25.
The FRINGE episode is an unaired episode from season one called "Unearthed" that has the deceased Charlie in it, according to TheFringereport.com. No word which episode of HOUSE will air. This move by Fox does hint that the network is trying to build viewers for FRINGE (horray!!!!).
24 is still scheduled to premiere in the Monday 9 p.m. timeslot (opposite HEROES) on Jan. 18, while FRINGE will head off the air for seven weeks starting in February to make way for the new reincarnation series, PAST LIFE. FRINGE will then return with new episodes on April 1.
This isn't the only change to Fox's midseason schedule. They just announced that American Idol and HUMAN TARGET will be flipping slots on Wednesdays as well, with TARGET moving up to the 8 p.m. slot on Jan. 27, the week after it premieres.

SIR PATRICK
Patrick Stewart—Star Trek's Capt. Jean-Luc Picard and X-Men's Charles Xavier—will be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, according to a report in the British newspaper the Mirror.
In addition to appearing in films, Stewart has been spending much of the last decade performing on the British stage. He is to be knighted by the queen on this year's New Year's Honours list. (The news isn't official yet; the newspaper bases its report on anonymous sources.)
Palace sources said the Queen is a huge fan of the 69-year-old, who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. If he is knighted, Stewart will join fellow X-Men star Ian McKellen.

MORTAL ENGINE
According to The Dominion Post, LORD OF THE RINGS and THE LOVELY BONES director Peter Jackson is secretly working on an adaptation of MORTAL ENGINES, the award-winning first book of Philip Reeve's four-volume sci-fi novel series.
The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world where cities have become giant vehicles and must consume each other to survive. Weta Workshops believed to be working on designs for the giant mobile cities.
Asked for comment, a Jackson spokesman didn't deny the project but said "any comment should come from Peter". Jackson has apparently held the rights to the books for some time.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2009

AVATAR ROLLS ON
According to the Hollywood Reporter, James Cameron's AVATAR launched with an estimated $26.7 million opening day Friday, including $3.5 million from its midnight screenings. Fox's mammoth, PG-13 3D movie is playing in 3,452 locations in North America, many of them charging premium ticket prices.
Its Friday number fell short of the $30.1 million that Will Smith's "I Am Legend" pulled in on its opening day on Dec. 14, 2007, which enabled that movie to set the record for a December opening weekend of $77.2 million. The final weekend number for AVATAR should approach "Legend" territory may be difficult to predict given that much of the East Coast is contending with a blizzard.
AVATAR's arrival dwarfed that of the weekend's other new wide release, Sony's "Green Acres"-flavored rom-com, "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant. The PG-13 movie, directed by Marc Lawrence, took in $2.4 million as it opened in 2,718 locations for a fourth-place showing for the day. Disney's animated THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, No. 1 at the boxoffice last weekend, shifted into second place as it collected $3.4 million, dropping a little more than 50% from last Friday, its first day in wide release, when it collected $7 million.
In third place, Warners' resilient drama "The Blind Side" picked up $3.2 million. Its cumulative gross passed the $150 million mark Monday.
In the fifth slot was Summit's NEW MOON, which notched $1.4 million for the day as its domestic total crested the $270 million mark.

TOY STORY 3 COMING IN JUNE
TOY STORY 3, which opens June 18, will be released on Imax 3D screens as part of its wide release, Imax said Friday. The Pixar film, directed by Lee Unkrich, will be remastered for its Imax engagements with the proprietary Imax DMR technology. Pixar's Darla K. Anderson is producing. The film's screenplay is by "Little Miss Sunshine's" Michael Arndt.
"We have always envisioned the Toy Story franchise as an ideal fit for the Imax experience and we're very happy to finally turn that vision into a reality," IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond said. "This film also fits nicely into our 2010 lineup, ensuring that families will be able to start the summer holidays with a fun Disney release in Imax."

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2009

WHITE COLLAR RENEWED
According to the Hollywood Reporter, USA Network has renewed WHITE COLLAR for a second season.
The show's creator/executive producer Jeff Eastin tweeted the news Friday evening. "Congratulations to the best cast and crew on television," he wrote.
The pickup was confirmed by USA though no details on the size of the order or the second season's premiere date were provided.
"Jeff Eastin created a show that was both on-brand and that arguably took USA Network to a new level of sophistication," USA's president of original programing Jeff Wachtel said. "After breaking out of the gate so strongly, and with finale ratings that actually exceeded the premiere, 'White Collar' was a lock for a second season."
In the first portion of its freshman season, "White Collar" was a solid performer though not a breakout hit of the caliber of recent additions "Royal Pains" or "Burn Notice."
Still, the show, which got off to a strong start with 5.4 million viewers tuning in for the well-reviewed premiere, boasts a charismatic lead in Matt Bomer as a suave white collar criminal-turned-FBI consultant and began to hit its creative stride towards the end of its initial seven-episode run. That run ended on a high note when the fall finale, which followed the record-breaking "Monk" series finale, hit series highs, averaging 5.55 million viewers.
WHITE COLLAR is slated to return for the rest of its freshman season Jan. 20 when it moves from Fridays to Tuesdays.

ALIEN WRITER DAN O'BANNON DEAD
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Dan O'Bannon, the unassuming sci-fi screenwriter and quirky horror specialist behind the ALIEN film franchise, died Thursday at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica after a 30-year battle with Crohn's disease. He was 63.
His work on various movies ranging from 1983's "Blue Thunder" to "Lifeforce" and the mid-1980s low-budget "Invaders From Mars" to 1990's Paul Verhoeven-Arnold Schwarzenegger blockbuster "Total Recall" made him an influential figure in the genre world, as his did his 1985 directorial debut, "The Return of the Living Dead." ALIEN established him in Hollywood by creating characters and monsters that are still around today (Fox is readying an "Alien" prequel with original director Ridley Scott resuming helming duties.)
The St. Louis-born O'Bannon met John Carpenter at USC, where the two wrote a short film -- Carpenter's thesis film -- that turned into the cosmic low-budget comedy "Dark Star" (1974). O'Bannon co-wrote the pic with Carpenter, who also directed, and served as effects supervisor, production designer, editor and actor (playing Sgt. Pinback).
"Dan had an enormous talent and an acerbic, biting wit," Carpenter said. "He had a very high IQ, but I think he was under-appreciated and underserved by the film business. He took a stand against all manner of authority."
O'Bannon was hired by George Lucas to do some effects work on "Star Wars" in 1977, then set "Alien" on its course into space with his and Ronald Shusett's bug-filled action spec script "The Star Beast."
He worked as a script doctor in recent decades and co-wrote 2004's "AVP: Alien vs. Predator." O'Bannon is survived by his wife, Diane Lindley O'Bannon, and son Adam. A memorial service is pending.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
AVATAR is off and running. James Cameron's epic sci-fi actioner rang up an estimated $3.5 million in domestic boxoffice from 12:01 a.m. Friday performances. Toting a running time of more than 2 1/2 hours, AVATAR opened in a mix of 3D and 2D venues amid mostly positive reviews and broad expectations of a first-weekend haul exceeding $80 million. Though nowhere near any records, the solid witching-hour coin will help keep the Fox release on track as it strives to reach that sort of rarefied range.
The current record-holder for midnight openings, Summit Entertainment's "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," grossed $26.3 million in its opening night last month. But the "Twilight" sequel was a fan-driven movie more apt to register a big midnight sum. AVATAR -- which until the Summit pic was not based on a book but an original concept and screenplay -- was never likely to set a midnight record. On the other hand, Fox domestic distribution president Bruce Snyder said Friday matinees grosses were "exploding" on AVATAR. "That tells me this is going to be a real moviegoers' picture, not just a movie for the fans," Snyder said. AVATAR played on about 2,000 mostly 3D screens for its earliest showtimes but will boast about 3,000 3D screens the rest of the weekend and an equal number of 2D auditoriums. Its domestic theater count is more than 3,400.
Fox is also opening the pic -- produced in a mix of motion-capture animation and live-action -- in most foreign territories this week but won't release any estimates of its international boxoffice until Sunday. AVATAR bows in Japan on Wednesday, in China on Jan. 2 and in Italy on Jan. 15.
Sony has this weekend's only other domestic wide release, the romantic comedy "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" Starring Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker, "Morgans" may get to $10 million through Sunday.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2009

THOR AND B5'S LT. CORWIN
We reported yesterday that LETHAL WEAPON and RANSOM actress Rene Russo will play Frigga, the step-mother of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and the wife of Odin (Anthony Hopkins).
Today there's more casting news. IGN Movies has also confirmed that Joseph Gatt has indeed been cast in Thor, as have Troy Brenna ("Avilas" in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Josh Coxx (Lt. David Corwin in BABYLON 5). Their roles have not yet been confirmed, although IMDb claims that Brenna will play "Kale."
It is reported that Gatt, Coxx, Brenna, Ray Stevenson, Jaimie Alexander and Stuart Townsend are currently in stunt training for Thor, which begins filming in January.

PREDATORS
SCI FI Wire has learned that Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix) has been added to the already impressive cast for the upcoming sci-fi movie PREDATORS that includes Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Walton Goggins and Danny Trejo.
Fisburne will play Noland, a character being compared to Yoda, who has used his Zen-like abilities to survive among the alien Predators on a deadly hunting planet.
PREDATORS, which is now in production, is conceived of as a sequel of sorts to the original Arnold Schwarzenegger film, with the added "s" an homage to James Cameron's classic Alien sequel, ALIENS. The story of Predators centers on a group of eight humans who wake up to find themselves being hunted for sport in the jungles of a strange planet.
PREDATORS is being directed by Nimrod Antal (Armored) and is produced by Robert Rodriguez. The production shot in Hawaii for a few weeks and is now being completed at Rodriguez's Austin-based Troublemaker Studios. PREDATORS is currently slated for a summer 2010 release.

FRINGE NEWS
The year's last new episode of FRINGE aired last Thursday, but now comes news that the show is going to get an extra boost when the show comes back in January. According to Thefutoncritic.com, FOX will air an original installment of the second-year series on Monday, Jan. 11, following a new episode of HOUSE:
Said pair will face off against the time period premieres of CHUCK and HEROES on NBC as well as fresh installments of CBS's comedies and week two of "The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love" on ABC.
FRINGE returns in its regular timeslot on Thursday, Jan. 7, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
In February, FRINGE will take a seven-week break to make room for the supernatural show PAST LIFE; it returns April 1.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
Variety writes that in the last few days, they have learned that X-Men and X2: X-Men United helmer Bryan Singer is returning to direct X-MEN: FIRST CLASS for Fox and that Jamie Moss will write the new script. Lauren Shuler Donner and Simon Kinberg are producers.
Singer said that the studio sparked to a detailed treatment he wrote for the film.
"This is the formative years of Xavier and Magneto, and the formation of the school and where there relationship took a wrong turn," Singer said. "There is a romantic element, and some of the mutants from 'X-Men' will figure into the plot, though I don't want to say which ones. There will be a lot of new mutants and a great villain."
In the film, Xavier and Magneto will be twenty-something, and the film sounds similar in construct to the J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek.
"Whether it's 'Batman,' 'Lord of the Rings' or 'Star Trek,' if the characters are good, you want to see them on their journey even if you know their destiny," Singer said. "I put myself in the fan's position, and I think this story is something I would want to see, and so will they."

NEW WARNERS PROJECT
According to Variety, Warner Bros. Pictures has bought an untitled spec script by CARS and BOLT screenwriter Dan Fogelman that is a star vehicle for Steve Carell.
Carell will play a father whose life unravels while he deals with a marital crisis and tries to manage his relationship with his children.
The trade says that Fogelman wrote the script specifically with Carell in mind, and WB paid a premium for that. The script becomes a candidate for one of two films Carell will do during his hiatus from "The Office," the other being Mail-Order Groom with Tina Fey.

WAR HORSE
The trades write that DreamWorks Studios has scored the film rights to Michael Morpurgo's 1982 novel WAR HORSE.
Lee Hall ("Billy Elliot") is penning the adaptation about the epic tale of a friendship between a boy and his horse, who become separated but continue to be intertwined as they try to survive the horrors of World War I.
Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Revel Guest are producing.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2009

STORM TROOPER REPLICAS
Do you have one of prop designer Andrew Ainsworth's replica stormtrooper helmets and have been worried that Lucasfilm would send Boba Fett or one of the other Star Wars bounty hunters after you? You can breathe a sigh of relief. Three judges of the High Court dismissed an appeal and ruled that a £10 million damages award granted in the U.S. courts against Ainsworth, who helped manufacture the helmets and suits for the first Star Wars film in 1977, could not be enforced in the U.K.
Ainsworth can continue selling replicas cast from the molds used to make the original stormtrooper helmets and armor. According to London Telegraph, the suit was dismissed because the Star Wars collectibles in question "were not works of art."
That opens up an entirely different argument!

CLASH OF THE TITANS
The second, fuller trailer for Louis Leterrier's upcoming kick-ass reboot of Clash of the Titans has finally been officially released at Apple.com.
The new trailer reveals Liam Neeson's Zeus, a glimpse at the new Medusa, giant scorpions, eyeless Stygian witches, a black Pegasus, more giant scorpions, Worthington's badass Perseus and a full look at the new Kraken, which sure has a lot of teeth.
The new movie, starring AVATAR's Sam Worthington, is chock-full of monsters, mythical creatures, dizzying sword fights and snake-headed Gorgons, brought to you by director Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk).
CLASH OF THE TITANS opens March 26, 2010.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS
Bryan Singer, who directed X-MEN and X2: X-MEN UNITED for Avatar distributor 20th Century Fox, said in a recent interview that he always seemd interested in directing the planned prequel X-MEN: FIRST CLASS. However, in an discussion during the "blue carpet" arrivals to AVATAR's Los Angeles premiere, he let slip that he has in fact just signed the deal with Fox to direct the next "Origins" film, which will reportedly look at the early days of Cyclops, Jean Grey and others at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.
In the MySpace clip, Singer says: "I'm ramping up to do a movie called 'Jack the Giant Killer' at Warner Bros, and I just yesterday signed a deal to do an 'X-Men: First Class Origins' picture, which is kind of cool. I'm very excited."
X-MEN fans will be excited too. They have been hoping Singer would return to the fold.

MARMADUKE
USA Today has posted a first look at the Great Dane in 20th Century Fox's Marmaduke, opening in theaters on June 4. Directed by Tom Dey, the big screen adaptation stars Owen Wilson, Emma Stone, Christopher Mintz- Plasse, Ron Perlman, Judy Greer, Anjelah Johnson, Lee Pace, Steve Coogan, William H. Macy, George Lopez, Stacy Ferguson, Damon Wayans Jr., David Walliams, Amanda Seyfried and Jeremy Piven.
Brad Anderson created the decades-running newspaper comic strip, about a mischievous Great Dane who lives with the Winslow family, in 1954.

THOR
According to Variety, Rene Russo is set to play Frigga, the mother of the titular hammer-wielding Norse hero in THOR for Marvel Studios.
As the wife of Norse god (Anthony Hopkins) Frigga is the queen of Asgard and mother to both Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and the villain Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Natalie Portman also stars as Thor’s love interest.
Mark Protosevich and Zack Stentz penned the script in which arrogant warrior Thor reignites an ancient war and as punishment, Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans.
Once here, he learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends dark forces of Asgard to invade Earth. Kenneth Branagh directs the project which begins filming in January.

WARNER HOME VIDEO
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment today announced two Blu-ray(TM) packaging initiatives that will give consumers greater value and portability when shopping for the best possible way to watch movies at home. Beginning in the first quarter of 2010, Warner Home Video will be releasing its entire Theatrical New Release slate as Blu-ray combo packs, containing a Blu-ray Disc of the film with exclusive special features and exciting BD-Live interactivity, a standard-definition DVD and a Digital Copy of the film. For no additional cost, Blu-ray combo packs offer consumers significantly more value by merging the unsurpassed quality of Blu-ray with the convenience of being able to watch the film in any format, on just about every playback device.
Warner Home Video is also launching the industry’s first line of Blu-ray Double Features, priced at $24.98 (SRP). Beginning February 23, the attractively packaged and entry-level priced Blu-ray Double Features pack will include a pair of well-matched catalog hits spanning multiple genres – comedy, action, drama/thriller and horror. The first wave will include “Dirty Harry” and “Magnum Force” starring Clint Eastwood; “Analyze This” and “Analyze That” starring Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro; “Presumed Innocent” and “Frantic” starring Harrison Ford; “Miss Congeniality” and “Miss Congeniality 2” starring Sandra Bullock; and Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon.
“When people experience Blu-ray – they love it, and with Blu-ray combo packs on all of our top new releases, we are giving consumers the titles they want without having to sacrifice convenience and portability,” said Ron Sanders, President, Warner Home Video. “And our new Blu-ray Double Feature sets make it easier and more affordable than ever for consumers to build or expand their home movie libraries and discover why Blu-ray is simply the best way to watch movies at home.”

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2009

ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Walt Disney Pictures has released a the new trailer for Tim Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND, opening in conventional 3D theaters and IMAX 3D on March 5th.
Johnny Depp stars as the Mad Hatter and Mia Wasikowska as 19-year-old Alice, who returns to the whimsical world she first encountered as a young girl, reuniting with her childhood friends: the White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, and of course, the Mad Hatter. Alice embarks on a fantastical journey to find her true destiny and end the Red Queen's reign of terror. The all-star cast also includes Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter and Crispin Glover.

INCEPTION
The official website for Christopher Nolan's INCEPTION, you'll be able to play an online maze game. If you beat the game, you are rewarded with the new teaser poster for the film.
Opening in conventional and IMAX theaters on July 16, the sci-fi actioner stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Michael Caine and Dileep Rao. The film is set within the architecture of the mind.

SPONGE BOB
According to Variety, Nickelodeon has ordered 26 more episodes of SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS. The series celebrated its 10th anniversary Nov. 6 with a special that drew 7.7 million total viewers and ranked No. 1 among all basic cable programs that week. It has been the top-ranked animated series among kids 2-11 for more than seven consecutive years.
The new season, the series' eighth, will bring the show's all-time total to 178 episodes. Taking into account the nearly year-long production process, the just-commissioned episodes should begin airing in late 2010 or in 2011.
"SpongeBob" creator Stephen Hillenburg exec produces the series with Paul Tibbitt. The original voice cast of Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Clancy Brown and Carolyn Lawrence will remain on board.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2009

DAMN NATION
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz, who wrote THOR for Marvel, have come aboard to pen DAMN NATION, a futuristic vampire project lurking at Paramount.
Dark Horse Entertainment's Mike Richardson and Keith Goldberg are producing the adaptation, which is based on a comic by Andrew Cosby and art by Jason Alexander (not the "Seinfeld" actor). Michael Aguilar and Dean Georgaris are also producing.
Set in a U.S. evacuated after an attack from "inhuman nocturnal predators," the comic tells the tale of the survivors after the government has been forced to relocate to London while scientists search for a solution.
Cosby and his Boom! Studios partner Ross Ritchie are exec producing.
In addition to THOR, the WME- and Principato/Young-repped Miller and Stentz are writer-producers on FRINGE, the supernatural Fox series created by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. They also wrote Fox's TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES.

LORD OF THE RINGS TO BLU-RAY
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING is finally coming to Blu-ray Disc.
Warner Home Video will release a Blu-ray box set of the RINGS trilogy April 6, marking the first time the titles have been released in the HD format. Suggested retail price for the nine-disc set is $99.98.
In a related move, Warner Bros. Consumer Products will partner with Games Workshop, Tonner Doll Co., Sideshow Collectibles, WMS Gaming and others to create merchandise support for the home entertainment release. Plans include "Rings"-related apparel, collectible, toys and games.

ROBIN HOOD
Here is a trailer for director Ridley Scott's ROBIN HOOD. The action-adventure, coming to theaters on May 14, stars Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, William Hurt, Matthew Macfadyen, Mark Strong, Oscar Isaac, Lea Seydoux, Scott Grimes, Kevin Durand, Alan Doyle, Danny Huston and Max von Sydow.
I have been a lover of ROBIN HOOD since I was a kid. It will be interesting to see how Russell Crowe matches up with others who have played the part -- Errol Flynn, Richard Greene, Kevin Costner, Jonas Armstrong.

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON
Universal's CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON has found a new mate in director Carl Eric Rinsch. The L.A. Times reports commercial helmer Rinsch (and one time contender for the Alien prequel) has been tapped to direct the long-gestating remake.
Gary Ross penned the script, but Universal is starting over in the story stage.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2009

TEEN WOLF
The Hollywood Reporter writes that MTV has assembled the acting pack for TEEN WOLF, its reinvention of the 1985 movie.
Tyler Posey, Tyler Hoechlin, Crystal Reed and Dylan O'Brien have been cast in the pilot presentation penned by "Criminal Minds" creator Jeff Davis.
MTV's take on the film, which starred Michael J. Fox as a high-school student who discovers he is a werewolf, is a dramatic thriller with a buddy-comedy element at the center and a romantic plot line.
It revolves around Scott McCall (Posey), a dorky high-school student who gets a rush of new powers, including the ability to attract girls, after a wolf attack.
Posey's series credits include "Lincoln Heights" and "Brothers & Sisters."
O'Brien will play Scott's best friend who is initially dismissive of Scott's theory that he was bitten by a wolf but then begins research on human-werewolf transformation.
Reed (MTV's "Hard Times") will play a sweet new girl at school who is immediately smitten with Scott.
"7th Heaven" alum Hoechlin will play a handsome local boy who in fact is a vicious and predatory werewolf capable of great harm.
WOLF is executive produced by Davis, Marty Adelstein and Rene Echevarria.

NEW VIKING PROJECT
According to Variety, Mel Gibson will direct Leonardo DiCaprio in an untitled period drama about Viking culture that will be written by William Monahan. Shooting is expected to begin in fall 2010.
The trade says that DiCaprio, who has long been fascinated by Viking culture, will play one in a storyline that will be as unsparing as Gibson's other period directing efforts, BRAVEHEART, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST and APOCALYPTO.
"This will be an awe-inspiring story, created with some of the industry's finest cinematic talent, and I am just over the moon to be making this film with Mel, Leo and Bill," producer Graham King said.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Variety writes that Disney’s THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG leapfrogged over the competish to top the domestic box office, grossing an estimated $25 million from 3,434 theaters in a solid start for the traditionally animated pic. Opening in a handful of market overseas, PRINCESS grossed $7 million for a worldwide total of $32 million.
Warner Bros. took the Nos. 2 and 3 spots domestically with holdover THE BLIND SIDE and new entry INVICTUS, respectively.
INVICTUS, the latest from Clint Eastwood, grossed an estimated $9.1 million from 2,125 runs, drawing a largely older adult aud. Drama, co-financed by Spyglass Entertainment, saw a slightly more modest bow than Eastwood’s other recent films, but box office observers are taking a wait-and-see attitude before judging the pic’s prospects.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2009

THE GHOST WRITER
Summit Entertainment has announced that the studio will distribute the thriller THE GHOST WRITER, directed by Roman Polanski, in North America. Polanski produced the film along with long time collaborators Robert Benmussa and Alain Sarde. Current plans call for Summit to release the film during the first half of 2010.
The movie tells the story of a former British Prime Minister, Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), who is holed up on an island off the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. in midwinter, writing his memoirs. When his long-standing aide drowns, a professional ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) is sent out to help him finish the book. The anonymous ghost writer is quickly drawn into a political and sexual intrigue involving Lang’s wife, Ruth (Olivia Williams) and his aide (Kim Cattrall). Hanging over Lang is the threat of a war crimes trial and a mysterious secret from his past that threatens to jeopardize international relations. The cast also includes Jim Belushi, Robert Pugh and Tom Wilkinson. Alexandre Desplat scored the film.
THE GHOST WRITER is based on the novel "The Ghost" written by best-selling author Robert Harris. It won the International Thriller Writers' Award for best novel of 2008. Harris joined Polanski in adapting the book for the big screen.
In a joint statement, Summit Entertainment Co-Chairmen Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger said, "We had the good fortune to recently screen "The Ghost Writer" in Paris and were amazed at the film Roman and his team have created. He once again has proven himself as one of the world's most talented filmmakers and master of suspense creating a very modern thriller and we look forward to sharing this film with North American audiences."

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2009

SHERLOCK HOLMES
Over at www.comingsoon.net, you will find a photo gallery provided by Warner Bros. Pictures of photos from director Guy Ritchie's SHERLOCK HOLMES, opening in theaters on Christmas Day. The mystery-action-adventure stars Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Eddie Marsan and Kelly Reilly.
SHERLOCK HOLMES sends Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson on their latest challenge. Revealing fighting skills as lethal as his legendary intellect, Holmes will battle as never before to bring down a new nemesis and unravel a deadly plot that could destroy the country.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2009

CHUCK TEASER
Are you in CHUCK withdrawal? Does it seem like it's been forever since the season-two finale of CHUCK? To help with the long wait, here's a 6-minute preview of season three.
Spoiler warning: This video recaps season two, so if you are unaware of Intersect 2.0, then don't watch this video! (Go get the DVD on Jan. 5 and catch up to the rest of us!)
Highlights include: Chuck speaking Thai, Chuck playing the guitar, Chuck being a real spy, Chuck as Charles Carmichael and a few great shots of the lovely Sarah Walker in ... very small clothes. CHUCK premieres Sunday, Jan. 10, with a special two-hour episode. It then returns to its regular timeslot on Monday, Jan. 11, at 8 p.m. EST on NBC.

MURMURS
According to the Hollywood Reporter, CBS is hearing MURMURS, teaming with writer Jason Smilovic and producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas for the time-travel drama.
The project, from CBS Studios, is set in a world where time travel is a reality and centers on the Commission, an agency that detects and corrects alterations in time called murmurs, ensuring that history remains unchanged. MURMURS, which has received a script commitment, was conceived by Smilovic, Goldsmith-Thomas and Smilovic's producing partner, Tyler Mitchell.
Smilovic and Goldsmith-Thomas are executive producing, with Mitchell serving as supervising producer and Goldsmith-Thomas Prods. executive Marisa Yeres as co-producer.
Smilovic was a struggling writer in Manhattan living on un¬employment checks before his feature spec "Lucky Number Slevin" helped him break into Hollywood. He went on to write four pilot scripts, all of which were picked up to pilot and series: ABC's "Karen Sisco" and the NBC trio "Kidnapped," "Bionic Woman" and, most recently, "My Own Worst Enemy."

LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN
The Hollywood Reporter writes that J.J. Abrams will produce an adaptation of Colum McCann's National Book Award-winning novel LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN, McCann will write the script.
Abrams would produce at Paramount, where Bad Robot resides. The Gotham Group is also producing. Random House describes the book as follows:
In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in bestselling novelist Colum McCann’s stunningly intricate portrait of a city and its people.
LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN is the critically acclaimed author's most ambitious novel yet: a dazzlingly rich vision of the pain, loveliness, mystery, and promise of New York City in the 1970s.
Corrigan, a radical young Irish monk, struggles with his own demons as he lives among the prostitutes in the middle of the burning Bronx. A group of mothers gather in a Park Avenue apartment to mourn their sons who died in Vietnam, only to discover just how much divides them even in grief. A young artist finds herself at the scene of a hit-and-run that sends her own life careening sideways. Tillie, a thirty-eight-year-old grandmother, turns tricks alongside her teenage daughter, determined not only to take care of her family but to prove her own worth.
Elegantly weaving together these and other seemingly disparate lives, McCann's powerful allegory comes alive in the unforgettable voices of the city’s people, unexpectedly drawn together by hope, beauty, and the "artistic crime of the century." A sweeping and radical social novel, "Let the Great World Spin" captures the spirit of America in a time of transition, extraordinary promise, and, in hindsight, heartbreaking innocence.

SOLOMON KANE
The "Hall of Mirrors" scene from writer/director Michael J. Bassett's SOLOMON KANE has come online.
SOLOMON KANE is an epic adventure adapted from the classic pulp stories by Robert E. Howard, creator of "Conan the Barbarian." SOLOMON KANE (James Purefoy) is a 16th Century soldier who learns that his brutal and cruel actions have damned him. Determined to redeem himself, Kane swears to live a life of peace and goodness but is forced to fight once more when a dark power threatens the land.

HEREAFTER
According to Variety, Bryce Dallas Howard will star opposite Matt Damon in Clint Eastwood's supernatural drama HEREAFTER for Warner Bros. Pictures.
HEREAFTER tells the story of three people -- a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — who are touched by death in different ways.
The project is produced by Eastwood, Kathleen Kennedy and Robert Lorenz. Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall, Peter Morgan and Tim Moore are the executive producers.
Peter Morgan wrote the script for the film, which will shoot in Paris, London, Hawaii and San Francisco. The movie is scheduled for a December 2010 release.

FANTASTIC VOYAGE
Shane Salerno ("Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem") has been hired to pen a sci-fi feature for James Cameron and 20th Century Fox reports Variety. The feature is a remake of the classic 1966 sci-fi feature FANTASTIC VOYAGE which Cameron will produce.
The story centres on a dying scientist whose only chance for survival rests with five colleagues who are miniaturized and injected into his bloodstream.
The film is expected to be the first of several features that Cameron and his Lightstorm Entertainment will utilise the 3-D and digital technology developed for AVATAR.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2009

TRON LEGACY
Disney has released a few new visuals for upcoming TRON LEGACY, from the 3-D sequel to the 1982 sci-fi classic. The image appears to show Olivia Wilde as a new program and Garrett Hedlund as Sam Flynn, the son of original Tron character Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges). They're wearing what appear to be the new version of the light suits worn in the Tron universe, with the identity discs on their backs. Gives a nice idea of the much darker look for the sequel.
The poster also depicts what looks like a light-cycle race, again with Hedlund in the lead.
TRON LEGACY opens on Dec. 17, 2010.

FRINGE
Fox's sci-fi series FRINGE is preparing to wrap up its second season. One of the enduring questions has been: What happened to the wife of Walter Bishop (John Noble) and mother of Peter (Joshua Jackson)?
According to Entertainment Weekly, that question may soon be answered.
Mrs. Bishop will appear in an episode early next year:
Irish actress Orla Brady has nabbed the pivotal role of Walter's other half and mother to Peter.
The character—described in the initial casting breakdown as strong, smart, and likable—will debut in early '10.
FRINGE airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.

FALLEN
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Disney has optioned rights to FALLEN, a young-adult novel by Lauren Kate that features angels. Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray will produce the film adaptation through their Mayhem Prods. banner.
The book, released this week by Delacorte Books for Young Readers, is part of a four-tome series, all of which were included in the deal. The contemporary story centers on an alienated girl torn between two charismatic young men, unaware that they are fallen angels who have battled over her for centuries.
The book series was packaged by rightsholders Nadia Cornier, Ted Malawer and Michael Stearns.
TWILIGHT comparisons are inevitable, and angels have been identified as the next trend in young-adult fiction with vampire and werewolf tales having inundated the market. FALLEN and titles like Becca Fitzpatrick's HUSH, HUSH, which was moved from a 2010 publication date to this past October, present angels as otherworldly hotties who are immortal and possess bad-boy charm. FALLEN is the first cherubic title to receive major Hollywood attention.
Oren Aviv and Todd Murata will oversee the supernatural romantic thriller for Disney, and Victor Constantino will shepherd for Mayhem.
Mayhem is in production on Disney's "Secretariat," a Diane Lane-starring movie about the famed racehorse, and has Dwayne Johnson-toplined family comedy "The Tooth Fairy" awaiting a Jan. 22 domestic release by Fox.

SORCERER'S APPRENTICE
The plot sounds pretty far removed from the Fantasia short with Mickey trying to control some wayward brooms that magically come to life. In this reimagining, Nicholas Cage plays a master sorcerer in modern day New York trying to protect the city from his arch nemesis (Alfred Molina). Cage and Jerry Bruckheimer are no doubt hoping it will repeat their "National Treasure" success. Here is the first trailer from Disney.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2009

HOBBIT CASTING
Peter Jackson announced this week that casting for the upcoming LORD OF THE RINGS prequel movie based on THE HOBBIT has begun. Every single role, save the one tha only Ian McKellen could fill: Gandalf, is open.
"Apart from Ian McKellen, who we obviously want to return as Gandalf, we are not really offering any roles to anybody until we've done a casting sweep," Jackson said, quashing the Web rumors that James McAvoy was offered a key role, possibly Bilbo.
According to Heat Vision Blog, Jackson prefers to do broad searches, in an effort to better match actors with roles.
"What we've done over the years is discover a lot of interesting actors, like Orlando Bloom (in Rings), Kate Winslet (in Heavenly Creatures), Saoirse Ronan (in The Lovely Bones). So if you start looking and auditioning seriously, it's amazing what incredible talent you'll find out there." ...
"(These movies) have never been a star-driven vehicle. The star is (author J.R.R.) Tolkien and the world he created. We are not under any pressure. We want to find the right people. Casting someone to portray a hobbit is not as easy as you might imagine. They have to have a particular type of physical appearance and a sensibility. And the same with an elf or a dwarf. These are fantastical characters, but you've got to find the right people to play them, the right humans to translate these characters."
Shooting for the two-part THE HOBBIT is planned to start in 2010.

TIM MINEAR AND 20th CENTURY FOX TV
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Tim Minear has inked a new two-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV, solidifying his position as one of the top writer-producers at the studio where he has been based for more than 12 years.
Under the seven-figure pact, which kicks in after the end of Minear's current deal in June, he will join TERRIERS, Fox 21's new comedic drama series for FX from creator/executive producer Ted Griffin and executive producer Shawn Ryan. Minear will serve as an executive producer and No. 2 to Ryan in running the buddy PI show.
Ryan worked under Minear on Joss Whedon's "Angel" before the two parted ways. Minear did stints on Whedon's "Firefly" and "Dollhouse" as well as on "Wonderfalls" and two shows he created, "The Inside" and "Drive." He also consulted on several 20th shows.
In addition to working on TERRIERS, Minear is developing a take on ALIEN NATION for Syfy, also from Fox 21.

THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE TRAILER
Apple has debuted the first trailer for The Sorcerer's Apprentice, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Jon Turteltaub. Opening in theaters on July 16, the adventure film stars Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Alfred Molina, Teresa Palmer, Monica Bellucci and Toby Kebbell.
In THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE, Balthazar Blake (Cage) is a master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan trying to defend the city from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath (Molina). Balthazar can't do it alone, so he recruits Dave Stutler (Baruchel), a seemingly average guy who demonstrates hidden potential, as his reluctant protégé. The sorcerer gives his unwilling accomplice a crash course in the art and science of magic, and together, these unlikely partners work to stop the forces of darkness. It'll take all the courage Dave can muster to survive his training, save the city and get the girl as he becomes "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."
Follow this link to the trailer in Quicktime format:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/thesorcerersapprentice/

JAMES CAMERON PROJECT
According to Production Weekly, "James Cameron is developing a Shane Salerno-scripted sci-fi action script for Fox, described as an 'event' film set in the future."
That sounds like DOOMSDAY PROTOCOL, which was announced over a year ago. We would assume the Cameron will just be producing.
When it was announced, the project was described as "an epic sci-fi adventure in the vein of 'The Seven Samurai' involving a group of aliens and humans with various abilities who are brought together to save Earth."

SCAVENGERS
Louise Linton and Sean Patrick Flanery have been cast in the indie sci-fi film SCAVENGERS, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The project is about crews of space scavengers competing for supplies, energy and treasure. When the crew of the Revelator, led by Emerson (Linton), comes across the alien-created Chaos Generator, they must fight to keep it out of the hands of her former shipmate, the sinister Captain Jekel (Flanery).
The film will be the directorial debut of production designer Travis Nicholas Zariwny. Filming starts today.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2009

MONK FINALE SETS RECORDS
The Hollywood Reporter writes that MONK ended its eight-season run with a bang, becoming the most-watched hourlong series on basic cable.
The Friday series finale of the USA Network dramedy drew about 9.4 million viewers, 3.2 million of them in the adults 18-49 demographic.
It is the largest audience and demo turnout to date, not only for the show and for a USA scripted series but also for a drama series on basic cable, eclipsing the 9.2 million mark for TNT's "The Closer." ("Monk's" final tally is expected to grow further once Live+7 numbers are factored in).
It is a fitting farewell for a series that defined USA's brand of quirky dramedies and kicked off the network's ascension to cable-ratings supremacy.
The second part of "Monk's" two-part closer, which saw Tony Shalhoub's OCD-plagued detective solve the biggest case of his career -- his wife's murder -- beat the series' previous high in total viewers by 37%. It also towered over all programs on the broadcast networks Friday night.
Boosted by MONK, the fall finale of USA's freshman series WHITE COLLAR also hit series highs, averaging 5.55 million viewers, the cable network's best performance at 10 p.m. Friday in more than three years, since the series premiere of PSYCH.
COLLAR also posted its best numbers in adults 18-49: 2.1 million.
"What a perfect way for 'Monk', our first tentpole success, to finish its run -- going out even stronger than it came in, and helping to launch another great show, 'White Collar'," said USA's president of original programming Jeff Wachtel.

HAPPY FEET 2
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Elijah Wood and Robin Williams are in negotiations to reprise their their roles in George Miller's HAPPY FEET 2 at Warner Bros. Pictures. Wood will return as the voice of Mumble, while Williams will again play both Ramon and Lovelace.
Miller wrote the script for the sequel, expected to hit theaters on November 18, 2011.
The actors will travel to Australia in late January/early February to record the voice tracks.

UNKNOWN WHITE MALE
Frank Langella is joining Liam Neeson, January Jones and Diane Kruger in Dark Castle thriller UNKNOWN WHITE MALE, reports Variety.
Neeson plays a man who awakens from a coma to find somebody else has assumed his identity. Langella plays Cole, who comes forward as the coma guy's colleague and gets involved as he tries to reclaim his identity. Shooting starts January in Berlin, with Warner Bros. distributing.

VENGEANCE
Variety reports that CBS Films is acquiring VENGEANCE, an action pitch by screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen (Taken). Erwin Stoff will produce.

"Basically, it's a contemporary revenge love story -- what happens when violence meets love," Kamen said. "The main characters are 20 and Italian, and there are themes that echo films like 'The Godfather.' It's about family loyalty and how much someone owes their family and the past. It's not set in the gangster milieu but just outside it."
Kamen said he and Besson have written a sequel to Taken that will get made based on star Liam Neeson's availability next year.

CYBER CRIMES
CSI creator and executive producer Anthony Zuiker is developing CYBER CRIMES at CBS, reports Variety. The trade says the hour-long procedural drama centers on a newly formed government agency that fights the modern onslaught of Internet- and technology-driven offenses.
Zuiker created the project and will executive produce. Zuiker has spent time in Washington meeting with the CIA, FBI and Department of Defense as part of the show's research.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2009

REX IS NOT YOUR LAWYER
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Jerry O'Connell has replaced HEROES Sendhil Ramamurthy in NBC's comedic drama pilot REX IS NOT YOUR LAWYER.
Lindsay Kraft and Cleo King also have been cast in the pilot, directed by David Semel.
REX stars DOCTOR WHO's David Tennant as Rex Alexander, a top Chicago litigator who begins suffering panic attacks and takes up coaching clients to represent themselves in court.
O'Connell (SLIDERS) will play an ambitious but good-natured lawyer who was in Rex's shadow until Rex's career switch and whose friendship with Rex becomes complicated when he falls in love with his pal's fiancee (Abigail Spencer).
Ramamurthy withdrew because of scheduling issues, an NBC rep said. The recasting was done Friday, on the eve of REX's production start.
Kraft ("Epic Movie") plays a former waitress singer-songwriter working as Rex's assistant. King ("The Hangover") plays a no-nonsense private-school bus driver coached by Rex in her wrongful-termination case.
REX, from UMS and BermanBraun, also co-stars comedy veterans Jane Curtin and Jeffrey Tambor.

WAR BIRDS
Michael Chait penned the story and will direct the action-adventure film WAR BIRDS for TMU Pictures says The Hollywood Reporter.
The story follows an Air Force veteran-turned-reckless airshow re-enactment pilot as he gets pulled into the underground culture of illegal, real-life aerial combat.
Josh Staman and Bryan Binder wrote the screenplay which Richard Jefferies ("Tron Legacy") is polishing. Chair, Jeffries and J. Todd Harris will produce.
Filming kicks off this summer in Michigan and will use all real airplanes and aerial sequences.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2009

At long last it looks like Jeremiah Season Two will be available to buy. You can preorder it now on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002Y26UR4?tag=tvshowsondvdcom&link_code=as3...

It's a Manufacture On Demand and can't be shipped outside of the US but I've got my pre-order in now.

Info at TV shows on DVD: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Jeremiah-Season-2/13063

ALICE
ALICE premieres tonight on Syfy -- the first of a two part mini-series. In this final behind-the-scenes video for Syfy's ALICE, writer/director Nick Willing and other creators of the two-part event reveal how the sci-fi thriller evolved and some of the inspiration for the show's look and feel.
For more information about this show, go to www.syfy.com/alice.

RETURN DATES FOR FLASHFORWARD AND V
"FlashForward" and "V" will return to the ABC schedule in March 2010, allowing for both shows to air uninterrupted through the end of the season. After Thursday night's episode, "FlashForward" will return on Thursday, March 4, 2010 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET), and "V" on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET), moving to its new timeslot following "Lost."
"FlashForward" stars Joseph Fiennes as Mark Benford, John Cho as Demetri Noh, Jack Davenport as Lloyd Simcoe, Zachary Knighton as Bryce Varley, Peyton List as Nicole Kirby, Dominic Monaghan as Simon, Bran F. O'Byrne as Aaron Stark, Courtney B. Vance as Stanford Wedeck, Sonya Walger as Olivia Benford and Christine Woods as Janis Hawk.
David S. Goyer, Brannon Braga and Jessika Borsiczky are executive producers. "FlashForward" is from ABC Studios.
"V" stars Elizabeth Mitchell as Erica Evans, Morris Chestnut as Ryan Nichols, Joel Gretsch as Father Jack, Lourdes Benedicto as Valerie, Logan Huffman as Tyler Evans, Laura Vandervoort as Lisa, with Morena Baccarin as Anna and Scott Wolf as Chad Decker.
"V" is produced by The Scott Peters Company and HDFilms in association with Warner Bros Television. Scott Rosenbaum, Scott Peters, Steve Pearlman, and Jace Hall are executive producers.

NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
Heat Vision reports that New Line has picked up a pitch from Darren Lemke (upcoming Jack the Giant Killer) that reimagines the classic tale of "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" as an action-adventure movie.
Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey of Temple Hill Entertainment are producing.
"Nutcracker" is best known as the Christmas ballet with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky but the actual story was written by E.T.A. Hoffmann in 1816 prior to the ballet's debut in 1892.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2009

NEW STAR TREK
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, a national film group, selected J.J. Abrams' STAR TREK as one of the top 10 films of the year!
The list also included Quentin Tarantino's alternate-universe World War II movie INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, Spike Jonze's fantasy WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE and Disney/Pixar's animated UP.
The organization also singled out Neill Blomkamp's sci-fi action movie DISTRICT 9 and Duncan Jones' creepy MOON as among the year's top independent films.

MONEYBALL
Variety reports that Columbia Pictures has hired Bennett Miller (Capote) to direct Brad Pitt-starrer MONEYBALL. Based on Michael Lewis' nonfiction bestseller "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game," the book's subject is Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, who assembled a contending baseball club on a shoestring budget by employing a sophisticated computer-based analysis to draft players.
Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin wrote the script. Stan Chervin wrote an earlier draft.
Steven Soderbergh had been attached to direct the film, but Columbia's Amy Pascal pulled the plug just five days before shooting was to begin after reading Soderbergh's rewrite.

CRYPTOZOOLOGY
The Hollywood Reporter says that Jack Black is developing a Jason Micallef pitch about CRYPTOZOOLOGY for Universal-based Illumination Entertainment. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but CRYPTOZOOLOGY is the study of mythic and legendary creatures such as Bigfoot, the Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster.
Black will produce, though not voice-star at this point, with this Electric Dynamite partner Ben Cooley. Illumination's Chris Meledandri will also produce.

MAX STEEL
The Los Angeles Times has reported and Variety has confirmed that TWILIGHT star Taylor Lautner has signed to play the title role in Paramount's MAX STEEL, based on Mattel's action figure toy line.
The 17-year-old would play a 19-year-old extreme sports junkie recruited by a secret agency after an accident infects his body with nanobots, making him superhuman.
Mattel introduced the character in the U.S. in 1999 as an action figure, and soon after in an animated series that ran from 2000-2002. The newspaper adds that J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani are writing the script for the film.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2009

MARVEL THEME PARK IN DUBAI
Plans are underway for a Marvel Theme Park. The $1 billion theme park based around Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer and other superheroes is set to open in 2012.
This is a joint venture of United Arab Emirate-based Al Ahli Group and Marvel Entertainment Inc., and will be built in Dubai.
Check out a complete gallery and more info over at Disney and More. The concept drawings are awesome.

EXTREME FANDOM - PERSONAL GATEROOM
I know there are a lot of STARGATE fans out there. Here's one that really put his money into a project centered around STARGATE.
Jacob Yarmuth of Louisville, Kentucky, spent some $70,000 to build a home theater that duplicates the gateroom of Atlantis. Here is a segment from Electronic House:
It surrounds a 10-foot diagonal circular screen that shows a 96-inch diagonal image. The circle within the Stargate can also light up blue, mimicking the water that appears in the show's Stargate prior to transport. ... The theater, explains Phil Chaney, president of the Louisville division of Visual Concepts, uses a blend of styles from Stargate Atlantis, the original Stargate SG-1 TV series, and the 1994 movie. There are even air pocket doors that open like those on Star Trek and a star dome that shows comets streaking across the sky.
And for the technically inclined, here are more details:
The Stargate is made from MDF (medium-density fiberboard), with the symbols, or glyphs, of Lexan (a plexiglass- like resin). The glyphs and other effects in the room are backlit with large, old-style Christmas tree bulbs. About the only thing it doesn't do is transport you across the galaxy in an instant.

NEWS CLIPS
GEORGE LUCAS
Star Wars creator George Lucas was among 13 individuals inducted into the California Hall of Fame on Tuesday, chosen for being "remarkable individuals who embody the innovative spirit of the Golden State and who have changed the world by pursuing their dreams."

DAYBREAKERS
Lionsgate has released a new TV commercial for DAYBREAKERS, its upcoming sci-fi vampire movie, which opens Jan. 8, 2010.

FLASH FORWARD RETURNS IN MARCH
ABC ran a promo at the end of Thursday's "FlashForward" letting viewers know the show would return in March -- March 4, to be exact. It's similar to the announcement made at the end of "V," saying the show would return that same month. But while the "V" message met with relief (it's coming back!), the "FlashForward" push is being met with dismay, especially since fans expected the show to continue in January.
ABC wants to get the show out of the way of the Winter Olympics and air the show straight through without repeats. The network also is setting a firm date for the return of "V" -- March 30.

STEVEN SEGAL LAWMAN
A&E's new original series "Steven Seagal Lawman" premiered Wednesday with two back-to-back episodes and a record-breaking 3.5 million total viewers and 2.0 million viewers in adults 18-49, making it the most-watched original series launch in A&E's history in all key demos.
The series, which chronicles Seagal's life in law enforcement, drew 3.4 million viewers for the first episode at 10 p.m., climbing to 3.6 million for the second one at 10:30 p.m.
"Lawman" is produced by ITV Studios and Steamroller Prods.

HOWL
The Fox network is developing a werewolf TV series titled "Howl," from DreamWorks TV. Variety says the project is being written by Joshua Miller and M.A. Fortin.
"Howl" is described as an epic family saga about warring families of werewolves in a small Alaskan town. "Alaska is a place where people disappear and now you know why," Miller said.
The script reflects the changes that are going on in the country, and "metamorphosis and constant change is the basis of werewolf mythology," he added. "Howl" is about "the psychology of living with change."

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2009

IRON MAN 2
Sam Rockwell plays a small but key role in Jon Favreau's upcoming IRON MAN 2: military industrialist Justin Hammer, a rival to Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark.
In the comics, Hammer is an English-born criminal weapons maker who commandeers Iron Man's armor at one point to frame him with a political assassination.
It's unclear what role Hammer will play in the upcoming sequel film, but Rockwell's description makes it seem like he's a bit different. Here's what he told Dark Horizons:
"He's kind of more of the plucky comic relief, but he's got a little bit of an edge. He's a little pissed off. ... He's a little more Salieri than he is the plucky comic relief, but Mickey Rourke is really the bad guy. ... I'm more of a cross between the agent character in Entourage and Salieri and maybe Bill Murray in Kingpin." Rockwell's Hammer as Ari Gold-meets-Salieri, the rival composer to Mozart from Amadeus? Interesting. Iron Man 2 opens May 7, 2010.

NEW BUCK ROGERS
When we first heard about a web series based on the classic sci-fi comic Buck Rogers in the 25th Century we were apprehensive.
James Cawley, whose Cawley Entertainment Company had obtained the rights to the character created back in 1928, said he was aiming for a "retro-contemporary" look to the show. But what exactly did that mean? And he also announced that he hoped to release 20 Buck Rogers episodes a year, starting in late in 2010.
We have no idea whether he'll be able to accomplish such an ambitious slate, but as for that look? From what we've seen in the just-released teaser trailer, we now know what he meant. What do you think?

MASTER
THERE WILL BE BLOOD writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson will next helm a Universal Pictures period drama to star Philip Seymour Hoffman as a founder of a new religious organization in the 1950s, says Variety. Hoffman would play THE MASTER, as in "master of ceremonies," a charismatic intellectual who hatches a faith- based organization that begins to catch on in America in 1952. The core is the relationship between the Master and Freddie, a twentysomething drifter who becomes the leader's lieutenant. As the faith begins to gain a fervent following, Freddie finds himself questioning the belief system he has embraced, and his mentor.
Hoffman made his breakthrough in the cast of Anderson's BOOGIE NIGHTS and has also appeared in the Anderson- directed HARD EIGHT, PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE and MAGNOLIA.

THE PIPER
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Persistent Entertainment, Pantry Films and Zenescope Entertainment are teaming up to produce an adaptation of Zenescope's comic THE PIPER. Here's how the company describes the comic:
Seven hundred years ago he took a horrifying revenge and paid the ultimate price for his sins. Now he's returned to forge a deal that will cost more than your life.
Present day Florida, a prestigious boarding academy where a musically gifted but misunderstood high school student named Sean stumbles upon a mysterious book that will give him the ability to finally get back at those who have wronged him the last few years. But when Sean realizes exactly what he has summoned, he knows that the price of revenge is certainly not worth the trouble... It's time to pay the Piper!
The project is out to writers.

RIDDICK
Vin Diesel's Facebook page reports that location scouting on a new film in the Riddick franchise has begun in New Zealand. The post also indicates David Twohy has finished the script for the third film featuring the character.
Diesel first played the gruff, sliver-eyed anti-hero Riddick in the well-received cult hit "Pitch Black" in 2000. Four years later he reprised the role in 2004's generally panned big-budget flop "The Chronicles of Riddick".
Diesel has also voiced the character in the animated short 'Dark Fury' and the video games 'Escape from Butcher Bay' and 'Assault on Dark Athena'.
Twohy has indicated the film will be an R-rated feature and more modestly budgeted along 'Pitch' lines which allows him and Vin more creative control.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009

HARRY POTTER
Here is the first image from the last movies, THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. The image was published in USA Today, which also ran a short story about the two films based on the seventh and final book by J.K. Rowling:
The first installment finds young wizards Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) struggling to find their way in the Muggle (human) world, with their own lives in the balance and the fate of the magical realm in their hands.
"They're paranoid," says Grint. "It's quite a scary world because the Snatchers and Death Eaters are running around everywhere. Harry, Ron and Hermione are just camping out in random places, living rough, in regular clothes." Snatchers and Death Eaters are minions of the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).
Grint adds, grinning: "Me and Dan actually have some stubble." His facial hair served as a kind of invisibility cloak for the lanky, redheaded Grint, who went unrecognized by fans recently while on location in the Welsh countryside.

FAMILY GUY DOES STAR WARS
You gotta love the Family Guy does Star Wars parodies. The next installment takes on The Empire Strikes Back; watch this awesome trailer Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side.
Here's the official description:
The saga continues as Luke (Chris), Leia (Lois), Han Solo (Peter) and Chewbacca (Brian) have evaded the dreaded Imperial Starfleet led by the cunning, conniving and curiously short evil lord Darth Vader (Stewie), setting up a new secret base on the remote ice world of Hoth. With the rebellion in trouble, young Skywalker must take the advice of his late, and rather lascivious, mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Herbert) and learn the ways of the farce under Jedi Master Yoda (Carl) to save the galaxy once and for all.
The parody drops on DVD and Blu-ray on Dec. 22. You can read the full announcement at http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/hilarious-trailer-for-fam.php.

AVATAR
Variety reports that MTV will present a live Webcast of a roundtable with director James Cameron and other featured talent from the film Avatar on Thursday as a prelude to a half-hour television special the network will air later in the month.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Jesse Corti, Danielle Harris, Bill Moseley, Joe Pilato, Alona Tal and Cornell Womack are lending their voices to "Night of the Living Dead: Origins."
The 3D CGI re-imagining of the George A. Romero zombie classic is being directed by newcomer Zebediah de Soto. Simon West and Simon West Prods. president Jib Polhemus are producing.
The story again follows a group of humans trying to stay alive during a zombie attack.
Corti ("Heroes") is voicing a news reporter, and Harris ("Halloween II") plays a woman who held her family together forced to come to grips with its absence. Moseley ("Carnivale") is reprising the role he portrayed in a 1990 live-action remake "Living Dead": a Wall Street-type with an expense account attitude. Pilato, who appeared in 1978's "Dawn of the Dead," is voicing Harry Cooper, a blue-collar worker who lives for his injured daughter, and Tal ("Supernatural") voices his wife, Helen, who blames her husband for all the ills of the world. Womack ("Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen") is a no-nonsense New York cop.
The movie is being animated with the voicework in the early stages.

ALIBI
Variety reports that Summit Entertainment ("The Twilight Saga") has come onboard a feature version of Top Cow's comic book ALIBI, with Mandeville's David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman producing.
The comic centers on a well-known socialite whose public presence establishes a perfect alibi for the covert activity of his secret twin brother, a government assassin.
Summit has attached John Hlavin ("The Shield") to write the script. He was recently hired to write the fourth installment of "Underworld" for Screen Gems and is developing his Western screenplay Gunslinger at Warner Bros. The comic book was created by Top Cow COO & President Matt Hawkins and Michael Renegar, written by Joshua Hale Fialkov and illustrated by Jeremy Haun.

FROST ROAD
Reports from Variety indicate that Keith Arem, director of Activision Blizzard's hit video game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," will be making his feature directorial debut on FROST ROAD, an action thriler that Cary Brokaw ("Closer," "Angels in America") will produce along with Steven L'Heureux.
The film centers on a young man who awakens from a car accident to discover he is one of few survivors in the aftermath of a mysterious outbreak that's struck a small coast town on the East Coast. Somehow immune to the contagion, he tries to save the remaining survivors as he struggles to prevent the deadly wave from spreading across the planet.
Arem wrote the script for the movie, and is also developing the project as a graphic novel with co-creator Brandon Humphreys, with Christopher Shy illustrating.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2009

THE SHINING SEQUEL?
Horrormeister Stephen King has been talking about writing a sequel to THE SHINING, which he says might be called DOCTOR SLEEP.
Here's how the Filmofilia Web site reported it:
The second novel would center on Danny Torrance, the young boy from the original story with the gift of being able to communicate clairvoyantly with ghosts, and who is now an appropriately aged 40-year-old. All these years after being tormented by the spiritual inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel and his father's alcoholism/homicidal rage, Danny is now working at a hospice using his supernatural powers for palliative purposes. King even offered a tentative title: "Doctor Sleep."
King talked about the possible book at a Toronto appearance to promote his new book, Under the Dome.
THE SHINING, which was released in 1977, was famously adapted into a Stanley Kubrick film in 1980, starring Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd and Shelley Duvall.

TERMINATOR SALVATION
Robert J. Sawyer, who wrote the book on which ABC's FLASH FORWARD is based, foresees real Terminators in our own future and talks about the ways the TERMINATOR series of films should be taken seriously as cautionary tales.
http://citynews.video.citytv.com/?bcpid=29650505001&bctid=53226371001 Listen to Sawyer speaking to City TV in Toronto. The Canadian SF author answers the questions: Will the machines take over as depicted in TERMINATOR SALVATION? Will we be able to time-travel one day? Is the Internet ever going to be piped directly into our brains?
TERMINATOR SALVATION is available on Blu-ray and DVD tomorrow.

REX IS NOT YOUR LAWYER
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Heroes Sendhil Ramamurthy has joined NBC's comedic drama pilot REX IS NOT YOUR LAWYER as a regular. Jane Curtin also has been cast in the pilot that stars David Tennant as Rex Alexander, a top Chicago litigator who begins suffering panic attacks and takes up coaching clients to represent themselves in court.
Ramamurthy will play an ambitious but good-natured lawyer who was in Rex's shadow until Rex's career switch and whose friendship with Rex becomes complicated when he falls in love with his pal's fiancee (Abigail Spencer).
For Ramamurthy, the casting is in second position to "Heroes." But, given that both shows are at the same network and are produced by the same studio, UMS, it's safe to assume that Ramamurthy would be free to do "Rex" should the pilot go to series for next season.
Ramamurthy's character on "Heroes," Mohinder Suresh, was key in the series' first couple of seasons, but his importance has gradually been scaled down. He has appeared in three episodes so far this season.
Although his role on "Heroes" is dramatic, Ramamurthy recently showed off his lighter side in an episode of USA's "Psych."
As for Emmy-winning comedy veteran Curtin, she will play Rex's mother and mentor, a successful law professor who falls in love with Rex's shrink (Jeffrey Tambor).
David Semel is directing the pilot from a script by Andrew Leeds and David Lampson. Showrunner Barry Schindel, Semel, Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun and Gene Stein are exec producing, with Leeds and Lampson serving as supervising producers.

TRUE BLOOD ADDITION
Marshall Allman is joining the cast of HBO's TRUE BLOOD as a regular for the show's third season. Meanwhile, Shannon Lucio has landed a guest role on the vampire drama.
Allman will play Tommy Mickens, the long-lost younger brother of Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) who works at a Tire Depot in Arkansas.
He is the second new series regular cast on Alan Ball's drama following the hire of Denis O'Hare as Russell Eddington, the Vampire King of Mississippi.
Lucio will play Caroline Compton, the wife of Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) who lived during the Civil War. Amber Dawn Landrum played the character in a flashback on the show's first season.
Production on the third season of BLOOD begins this week in Los Angeles.
Allman, a series regular on Fox's "Prison Break," playing the teenage son of Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), recently guest-starred on AMC's "Mad Men" and FX's "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

BLACK HOLE REMAKE
Heat Vision is reporting that Joseph Kosinski and Sean Bailey, the director and producer of Disney's upcoming TRON LEGACY, and screenwriter Travis Beacham are teaming up for a reinvention of the 1979 sci-fi film THE BLACK HOLE.

In the original, the explorer craft U.S.S. Palomino is returning to Earth after a fruitless 18-month search for extra-terrestrial life when the crew comes upon a supposedly lost ship, the magnificent U.S.S. Cygnus, hovering near a black hole. The ship is controlled by Dr. Hans Reinhardt and his monstrous robot companion, Maximillian. But the initial wonderment and awe the Palomino crew feel for the ship and its resistance to the power of the black hole turn to horror as they uncover Reinhardt's plans, which involve turning his former crew into robots and flying through the hole. As they try to escape, a meteorite shower damages the ship, and the survivors hang on as they are plunged into the most powerful force in the universe, heading toward the blinding light that holds whatever eternity awaits them.
The details of the update are being kept secret, though the take does involve grounding the story in the science of a black hole, much more so than in the original.

IRON MAN 2
Here is the first poster for IRON MAN 2. It’s War Machine! Is this the first official confirmation that Cheadle's indeed going to be wearing the helmet?

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2009

THE MENTALIST
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Aunjanue Ellis has joined the cast of the sophomore CBS drama in a heavily recurring role.
She will play the beautiful but tough new head of the California Bureau of Investigation who is installed following the resignation of the unit's former chief, Virgil Minelli, played by Gregory Itzin. (Itzin recently signed on to return to "24," reprising his role as former President Charles Logan.)
She is brought in to restore discipline and morale to the division after the murder of three agents, including Agent Sam Bosco (Terry Kinney), and will be Agent Teresa Lisbon's (Robin Tunney) new supervisor.
The Warner Bros. TV-produced series revolves around Lisbon's team and the help they get from independent consultant Patrick Jane (Simon Baker).
Ellis' debut on "Mentalist" is tentatively slated for April.

THE HOBBIT PUSHED BACK
In a recent interview with German site MovieReporter.net, Peter Jackson revealed that THE HOBBIT and its sequel will now start filming mid-summer 2010 instead of the previously-reported March start. Here's a translation of Jackson's quote, thanks to TheOneRing.net:
We're currently working on the second script which we hope to have completed by the end of this year or beginning of next. When the scripts are completed, we can begin with the exact calculation of the necessary budget. We hope to start filming in the middle of next year. However, we've received no green light from the studio yet.
We're guessing that green light won't come until MGM's future is cleared up. We don't expect that this will affect the first film's targeted release of December 2011 and second film's release of December 2012.

NAKED LENNON
Variety reports that Christopher Eccleston (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, "Doctor Who") will play John Lennon in BBC Four's upcoming NAKED LENNON.
The film highlights the years from 1967 to 1971 when the Beatle was ending his first marriage to Cynthia as Yoko Ono entered his life, coping with the death of manager Brian Epstein and the group's own messy and acrimonious disintegration.
Naoko Mori ("Torchwood") will play Ono and Rory Kinnear has been cast as Epstein. Other cast members include Claudie Blakley as Cynthia Lennon and Andrew Scott as Paul McCartney.
LENNON NAKED was written by Robert Jones, the co-creator of BBC TV drama "Party Animals."

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2009

FRIDAY NIGHT RATINGS
While most broadcast networks were in rerun and movie mode on the day after Thanksgiving, but as usual CBS finished the night on top.
CBS averaged 5.3 million viewers and a 3.5 rating/6 share in households in primetime. FOX (4.8 million, 2.6/5) finished second. ABC's 4.4 million viewers and 2.9/5 were good enough for third, topping NBC's 3.7 million and 2.4/4. The CW (1.2 million, 0.8/1) was in the back of the pack.
FOX led the adults 18-49 demographic, albeit with just a modest 1.4 rating. CBS took second with a 1.2, and ABC and NBC tie for third at 1.1. The CW came in at 0.5.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Variety reports that in its eighth day of release, Summit Entertainment's "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" crossed the double-century mark making an estimated $206.1 million. The domestic B.O. for "New Moon" easily eclipsed that of the first "Twilight" which amassed $192.8 million in 20 weeks. In the first three days of the holiday frame beginning Wednesday, "New Moon" has grossed $41.4 million.
The record holder for the best Thanksgiving frame haul still belongs to the first "Harry Potter" which made $82.4 million from Wednesday through Sunday.
After Warner Bros.' football drama "The Blind Side" squeezed a few more bodies into the multiplex on Thanksgiving than "New Moon," the vampire sequel took the top spot back on Friday with $17.9 million at 4,042 theaters.
While that figure reps a 75% decline for "New Moon" from its first Friday, such steep drops aren’t uncommon for a record tentpole opener, i.e. "The Dark Knight" fell 67%; "Spider-Man 3," -71%; and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End," -70%.
Multiplex traffic picked up greatly yesterday for the top 10 which is typical on Black Friday as auds tend to sit back on Thanksgiving. Of note, "New Moon" saw a 95% surge in its Friday take over its Thanksgiving B.O., "Blind Side" shot up 71% as well as wide entries "Ninja Assassin," (+24%) and "Old Dogs" (+67%).
Though "Blind Side" slipped to second after its Thursday win, more people caught the Sandra Bullock film in its second Friday than on its opening day, with the film seeing a 47% uptick at 3,140 run for a B.O. of $16.2 million. Pic's domestic cume stands at $76.3 million.
Sony’s "2012" rose to third yesterday after placing fifth on Thanksgiving with $7 million off 3,444. Pic dipped just 14% in its third Friday from a week ago with a running estimated cume of $127.8 million.
A pair of Walt Disney PG titles took fourth and fifth respectively with "Old Dogs" making $6.85 million from 3,425 and "A Christmas Carol" taking $6.64 million from 3,013. In three days "Old Dogs" has generated $14.1 million while the domestic cume for "Christmas Carol" should cross $100 million this weekend; its B.O. currently standing at $96 million.
Warner Bros. R-rated actioner "Ninja Assassin" took sixth in its third day with $5.7 million from 2,503 and a three-day B.O. of $13.5 million.
Sony’s feature toon "Planet 51" counted $4.1 million in seventh from 3,035, up 29% from a week ago with an eight-day take of $22.4 million.
20th Century Fox’s "Fantastic Mr. Fox" doubled its domestic cume from Thursday, drawing $3 million from 2,029 in eighth yesterday for a new domestic total of $6 million.
Lionsgate’s "Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire" took in $2.8 million from 663 and a theater average of $4,175. Domestic B.O.: $27.1 million.
Overture Films’ "The Men Who Stare at Goats" generated an estimated $632,000 from 1,119 for a running cume in its fourth Friday of $29.3 million.
Weinstein Co.’s "The Road" raised its three-day cume to $1 million off 111 yesterday. Pic easily owned the no. 11 spot with a theater average of $5,045 or $560,000.
Disney’s exclusive run of its new hand-drawn animated feature "The Princess and the Frog," set to go wide on Dec. 11, drew an estimated $277,000 from two sites for a running three-day domestic take of $707,630.

LOST RETURNS IN FEBRUARY
ABC says the final season of "Lost" will begin in February with a night devoted to the drama. An hourlong special recounting the story line so far will air at 8 p.m. EST Tuesday, Feb. 2, followed by the two-hour season premiere. "Lost" will move to its regular 9-10 p.m. EST time slot beginning the following week, on Feb. 9, the network said Thursday.
This past summer, many of the cast members of the hit TV show appeared at Comic-Con to talk about the upcoming season.
When we last saw the castaways, Ben (Michael Emerson) was coaxed by a fake version of Locke (Terry O'Quinn) to confront and kill the mysterious Jacob (Mark Pellegrino). Jack, Kate, Sawyer and some of the others remained stuck back in the 1970s in the middle of a conflict between the Dharma Initiative and the Others. Jack (Matthew Fox) suggests to his fellow castaways that they should try and change the future by igniting a bomb at the site of the original hatch from season one. The results of these events still remain a mystery as the 5th season ended with a cliffhanger.
The series about an airplane crash on a mysterious island and its aftermath is ending after six seasons. The stars of "Lost" include Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2009

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009

IN THE SMALL
Francis Lawrence ("I Am Legend," "Constantine") has been tapped to direct a film adaptation of the comic IN THE SMALL for Weed Road Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures reports Pajiba.com.
Michael Hague's graphic novel concerns a strange explosion that leaves all humans six inches tall, yet nothing else is affected. Those who survive the transition are forced to create a new social order and adjust in a world where man is no longer at the top of the food chain.
As they attempt to find out what happened, humanity is faced with a new and existential threat. Laura Harrington penned the adaptation.

HOWLING REBOOT
Variety reports that Producers Joel Kastelberg and Etchie Stroh are set to reboot the "Howling" franchise with "The Howling: Reborn".

GREMLINS helmer Joe Dante directed the first film which hit in 1981 and spawned six sequels. Dee Wallace- Stone starred as a news anchor stalked by a serial killer who turns out to be a werewolf.
Story details on the remake/reboot are being kept under wraps. Joe Nimziki will make his feature directorial debut from his own script.
Shooting kicks off in February for a release next Halloween.

THE HUNGRY RABBIT JUMPS
According to Production Weekly, Guy Pearce will be joining Nicolas Cage and January Jones in Roger Donaldson's (The Bank Job) new film, THE HUNGRY RABBIT JUMPS.
The script, written by Robert Tannen, tells the story of a man (played by Cage) who becomes entangled with a vigilante group when he goes out seeking retribution on those who assaulted his wife. Rabbit is being produced by Tobey Maguire's Maguire Entertainment and Endgame.
Information provided indicates that filming will begin in New Orleans in two weeks.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009

AVATAR
In an interview with DETAILS magazine, Zoe Saldana, who played the new Uhura in J.J. Abrams' STAR TREK provides the voice for a blue alien in James Cameron's upcoming AVATAR. She says she is not just a sex plaything. "I've always gravitated toward the Sigourney Weavers, the f--king Linda Hamiltons, the Angelina Jolies. I just love strong women that are in tune with their bodies—that don't just use their bodies as sex tools."
She also talked about her new role as sci-fi leading lady and about gravitating toward action films, learning to kick ass in combat training and playing a computer-animated 10-foot-tall alien, for which she also provided a performance through motion-capture technology.
"Motion capture isn't like shooting SHREK," Saldana said. "You're in a suit with all these dots on you, and whatever you do, they get it. Sam [Worthington] and I did all sorts of stupid s--t. If you burp, your character burps. I'd shake my booty, and you'd see my character shaking her booty."
AVATAR opens Dec. 18, and STAR TREK is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.

CAPRICA
Syfy has provided an early look at one of five new behind-the-scenes video vignettes for the upcoming BATTLESTAR GALACTICA prequel series CAPRICA, featuring never-before-seen cast interviews.
In this one, cast members Esai Morales and Eric Stoltz talk about the relationship between their characters, Joseph Adama and Daniel Graystone.
Go to www.syfy.com for all of them. CAPRICA premieres January 22, 2010.

THOR
Kat Dennings (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) has joined the cast of THOR, the Marvel Studios production that begins production in January, Variety reported; Dennings will play Darcy, who works with Natalie Portman's Jane Foster character.

TWILIGHT
FX has acquired the ad-supported TV rights to the four TWILIGHT movies in a package deal with producer Summit Entertainment that also includes the sci-fi movies Knowing and Push, according to The Hollywood Reporter; FX will start running last year's TWILIGHT, the first movie in the franchise, beginning in late 2011.

STAR TREK
STAR TREK, from Paramount Home Entertainment, easily topped both the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart and Home Media Magazine's rental chart for the week. The film sold an estimated 5.7 million discs its first week out, according to Home Media Magazine market research -- a figure that includes all of North America as well as the rental market. First-week Blu-ray Disc sales are pegged at 1.1 million.
Walt Disney's UP, the No. 1 seller the previous week, slipped to No. 2. Warner's MY SISTER'S KEEPER, a Nick Cassavetes-helmed drama that earned $49.2 million at the boxoffice, debuted at No. 3, while Universal Studios' BRUNO, with $60 million in domestic theatrical earnings, bowed at No. 4.
Excitement about the theatrical opening of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON sent the original TWILIGHT, released to the home video market last March, back up to No. 5 on the sales chart.
On Home Media Magazine's rental chart, Sony Picture's THE UGLY TRUTH, the previous week's top renter, slipped to No. 2, with 40% as much rental action as STAR TREK. BRUNO debuted at No. 3, with 37% as much rental activity as STAR TREK, while UP and MY SISTER'S KEEPER finished at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.
On the Nielsen VideoScan Blu-ray Disc sales chart, STAR TREK was the easy victor -- not surprising, considering that nearly 38% of total first-week sales were of the Blu-ray version. 'Star Trek' tops video chartsPic is best in sales, rentals; 'New Moon' spurs 'Twilight'By Thomas K. Arnold.

THE HOBBIT
Peter Jackson was out in London for THE LOVELY BONES premiere, his latest murder thriller. However he received a number of questions about his next two projects - the film versions of Herge's TINTIN graphic novel series and J.R.R. Tolkien's literary classic THE HOBBIT.
Filming on the motion-capture THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: SECRET OF THE UNICORN wrapped a while back after a super fast month-long shoot. Jackson says the film is already cut together with only nearly two years of animation ahead to complete.
"TINTIN' is great. It's made. The movie is cut together and now [we] are turning it into a fully-rendered film. So the movie, to some degree, exists in a very rough state" said Jackson to a packed press conference which included The BBC.
In regards to THE HOBBIT, he and his co-writers have already finished the first film's script and submitted it, and they're now halfway through the second film's script.
He adds that continuity will be kept between 'Hobbit' and his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy with much of the dialogue written in the same way, though director Guillermo del Toro will interpret the look and feel in his own way.
One good bit of news however is that despite all the 3D wizardy and fancy digital camera technology available, "Guillermo wants to shoot in 35mm, old-fashioned film, which suits me, because he wants to keep it in the same space as the original trilogy."

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009

AVATAR
Twentieth Century Fox has released what they are calling the first-of-its-kind "next generation" trailer because its a dynamic interactive experience allowing viewers to access special additional content embedded in the piece. The trailer also will keep audiences up to date on AVATAR events by providing real-time feeds of film-related conversations on Twitter, real-time updates on official video content on YouTube, and images on Flickr. Updates on ticketing information will also be provided. The trailer is a first-of-its-kind application built on Adobe® AIR® software with technology existing outside of a web browser. AVATAR opens December 18th.
You will need to install Adobe® AIR® software to see the trailer. I did and was IMPRESSED by the sheer beauty of the piece. AVATAR is amazing and the trailer tells the story and gives you a glimpse of the marvel James Cameron has created.

FLASH FORWARD HALTS PRODUCTION
The ratings for FLASH FORWARD fell again with last week's episode, down 8 percent to a new low of only 8 million. According to The Hollywood Reporter, ABC has stopped production on the freshman series for this week.
A representative for the network said that the six-day hiatus had always been built into the show's schedule, adding, "They want to maintain the high quality of the show, and this gives the writers the opportunity to do so."
Since FLASH FORWARD has already been picked up for a full season—and even with its ratings slide still retains a sizeable audience—this creative pause could result in a better, stronger show.
However, if the viewership continues to drop, and the behind-the-scenes shakeups (David Goyer in as show runner, Marc Guggenheim out) don't result in a creative and ratings turnaround ... FLASH FORWARD could be gone in a flash.

FOX MID-SEASON LINE-UP -- HUMAN TARGET COMING
HUMAN TARGET is one of three Fox shows to receive the coveted AMERICAN IDOL lead-in next year while FRINGE will keep toughing it out on Thursdays.
The decisions are part of Fox's midseason schedule which lays out the network's lineup through April. Mondays will contain the network's marquee dramas, HOUSE and 24, starting Jan. 25, with 24 getting a two-hour opener the previous week.
Tuesdays have AMERICAN IDOL kicking off Jan. 12. IDOL will be used to introduce viewers to Mark Burnett's new family friendly game show, OUR LITTLE GENIUS, on Wednesday, Jan. 13, before the show shifts to Tuesdays (also paired with IDOL) beginning Jan. 19.
GLEE will return to take over for GENIUS on Tuesdays starting April 13 -- meaning the musical comedy is taking a whopping four-month hiatus after its mid-December fall finale. The move likely accommodates showrunner Ryan Murphy's shooting schedule for his adaptation of "Eat, Pray, Love." Also, given that GLEE is returning to a powerful IDOL lead-in, the network doesn't exactly have to worry about the show's ratings falling due to the extended break.
On Wednesdays, new action-drama HUMAN TARGET will benefit from IDOL starting Jan. 20. TARGET will launch a few nights earlier, Sunday, Jan. 17, where it will have a plum launch, debuting between Fox's telecast of the NFC Divisional Playoff game and the two-hour 24 premiere -- a male-skewing ratings sandwich.
Despite some ratings trouble for FRINGE that's had fans clamoring for Fox to move the show to a less competitive night, the drama will stay on Thursdays paired with BONES. New procedural drama PAST LIFE will take over for FRINGE as of Feb. 11, but since Fox shortened its order for the show, FRINGE will return April 1.
Fox will air the series finale of DOLLHOUSE on Jan. 22, then Gordon Ramsay's KITCHEN NIGHTMARES takes over the time period the following week.
And finally on Sunday nights, new live action comedy SONS OF TUSCON will get a chance in the animation block, airing at 8:30 p.m. starting March 14. CLEVELAND will shift to 9:30 p.m. to make room, with AMERICAN DAD off the board.
Also off the board is LIE TO ME, which Fox just picked up for a full season and plans to air sometime in midseason. Though there's no obvious spot on the schedule now, it's always better to have a show and not need it than to need a show and not have it. TIL DEATH will also rise again at some point.
Fox also said its one-hour special "The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3-D! On Ice!" will now air on Jan. 10 at 8:30 p.m., behind the 450th episode of "The Simpsons."

SHREK FOREVER AFTER!
USA Today has published a first look at DreamWorks Animation's SHREK FOREVER AFTER, the final film in the series that will hit theaters and IMAX in 3D on May 21st. The first trailer will be released with James Cameron's AVATAR, which opens on December 18.
Director Mike Mitchell told the newspaper that Shrek is feeling over-domesticated in the fourth installment. "He has lost his roar. It used to send villagers running away in terror. Now they run to him and ask him to sign their pitchforks and torches."
To regain his ogre mojo, he strikes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin, who is voiced by Walt Dohrn, the film's head of story. The pact goes awry and Shrek must confront what life would be like in Far Far Away if he had never existed. That translates into Donkey being forced into cart-pulling duty, fat and lazy Puss in Boots trading his sword for a pink bow and the underhanded Rumpelstiltskin ruling the kingdom.
Comedians Kathy Griffin and Kristin Schaal ("Flight of the Conchords") are joining the voice cast as witches who hunt ogres. On the side of good is an underground resistance group led by Jon Hamm of "Mad Men," who plays "the best-looking ogre you've ever seen," Mitchell says.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009

To catch up a bit with JMS, go to http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=23780 for an interview where he discussed NINJA ASSASSIN and upcoming projects.

Beastly Teaser Trailer

| BEASTLY
CBS Films hopes next year's hot item will be beasts, as in BEASTLY, a modern-day take on the BEAUTY AND THE BEAST fairy tale.
BEASTLY, adapted from the novel of the same name, stars Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Hudgens and Neil Patrick Harris, the last of whom unfortunately can't be seen in the just-released teaser trailer.
BEASTLY hits theaters on July 30th, 2010.

JOSS WHEDON HONORED
Deadline Hollywood reports that the Producers Guild of America announced yesterday that Joss Whedon will be honored with its prestigious 2010 Vanguard Award, joining a list of previous recipients that includes George Lucas, James Cameron and John Lasseter.
Whedon's humorous response won't be surprising to anyone who's seen his superhero spoof Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog or watched the way he accepted previous awards.
"This is an honor I didn't expect and probably don't deserve," he said. "The truth is, I've never actually guarded a van. But I am a super-total visionary, so that fits. I'm ready to take my place next to the guys who made THX 1138 and Tin Toy (Did they ever do anything else, btw? They showed such promise.). This is a time of radical change in media delivery and content, and I'm honestly proud the PGA has singled me out as someone who sort of knows what's going on."
The award will be presented at the 21st Annual PGA Awards ceremony on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010, at the Hollywood Palladium.

THE RAVEN
Edgar Allan Poe could be perceived as the original "torture porn" author, writing stories about diabolical ways in which characters can die. An upcoming film called THE RAVEN posits a story about what would happen if Poe were faced with the very murders he wrote about. In the movie, at the end of Poe's life, a serial killer challenges him to solve a series of killings inspired by Poe's fiction.
Director James McTeigue (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) revealed some of the classic Poe stories that provide inspiration for his upcoming movie. "'The Raven,' 'Tell-Tale Heart,' 'Premature Burial,' 'Murders in the Rue Morgue,'" McTeigue listed in an exclusive interview Saturday in Hollywood. "There's a whole lot of them. It's actually a pretty cool concept."
Of course, the movie is a total work of fiction: The real Poe never solved any serial murders. But within his historical fantasy, McTeigue plans to present an accurate version of the author.
"It's a total fiction, but obviously Poe is, like, a well-known and much-beloved character," McTeigue said. "People know a lot about him, the way he was a bit of a rascal, the way he was a bit of drunkard, the way he married his 13-year-old cousin. He was penniless for most of his life. He touched on consumption, like a lot of people did then, so all those kind of real elements are bled into a fictionalized story."
The Poe of THE RAVEN is 40, so McTeigue is casting actors in that age range.
McTeigue has already begun prepping THE RAVEN and expects to begin shooting next year. "I've already done some initial location scouting," he said. "I'm in the middle of casting, and hopefully it'll get going by about mid-March."

REAL STEEL
Variety has confirmed that DreamWorks Pictures principals Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider have greenlit the Rocky-esque robot tale REAL STEEL starring Hugh Jackman. Filming will start in June.
The Shawn Levy-directed futuristic film, budgeted at about $80 million, is based on a short story by Richard Matheson that was adapted into an original "Twilight Zone" episode.
Jackman will play an ex-fighter who becomes a promoter when human boxing is outlawed for being too violent. The new gladiators are 2,000-pound robots with human qualities. The ex-fighter's access to sub-standard robot parts hampers his hopes for glory in Robot Boxing, until he discovers a discarded robot that always seems to win. The ex-fighter has also discovered he's the father of a 13-year old son, and they bond as the robot brawls its way toward the top.
Levy describes the film as a "rousing sports movie" with Jackman's character "a former boxer who can no longer do the only job he's good at, and one particular robot that may be his return to grace."

DEEP SEA COWBOYS
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Anthony Peckham will rewrite the script for the DreamWorks Pictures thriller DEEP SEA COWBOYS.
The film is an adaptation of Joshua Davis' Wired article about a salvage crew trying to save a capsized Japanese cargo ship. The real-time action scenario will explore how a tightknit crew races to save the ship's dangerous cargo and claim its reward.
Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are producing through their K/O Productions. David Ayer (Training Day) previously worked on the script.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009

The Thursday midnight shows actually outdrew DARK KNIGHT, indicating that NEW MOON was on its way to becoming a big hit. NEW MOON shattered the records for opening day ($72.7 million) and midnight showings ($26.3 million).
The other movies in theaters this weekend did reasonably well. 2012 dropped 59 percent to an estimated $26.5 million, lifting its total to $108.2 million in 10 days. Roland Emmerich's previous movie, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, had grossed $128.5 million by the same point.
Disney's A CHRISTMAS CAROL, meanwhile, also took a sizable hit in its third weekend, with an estimated $12.2 million for a total of $79