|
Fantasy | Homepage
Screaming Teens Stoke Twilight Mania The Twilight madness continues. Every teen in the Westwood area of Los Angeles was hounding her parents for tickets to the Twilight premiere. They eventually allowed 2,000 screaming teens to see the flick. No, really. They were actually screaming. Last night, the way to show you were a big shot in Hollywood was to get tickets for your daughter and all her friends to the "Twilight" premiere. The preem had what one exec called "the nag factor": many, many teenage girls telling their parents they had to attend or they would die. To accommodate demand, Summit Entertainment filled both the Village and Bruin theaters with 2,000 attendees. "It reminds me of the 'Batman' premiere in 1989," said Summit co-chair Rob Friedman, who was an exec at Warners at the time. "I haven't felt this energy in Westwood since then."There has been a lot of screaming associated with Twilight, most of it directed at the film's star Robert Pattinson. Pattinson himself seems a bit bemused by all the attention, but has gamely been giving lots of interviews and showing up at premieres with a phalanx of bodyguards. After all, there's nothing more frightening that a horde of hormonal pre-teens screaming your name. Posted on November 17, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Bestselling author Ursula Le Guin talks to Locus in its October issue. In this excerpt she talks about reading The Aeneid in Latin, which is most impressive. "Reading The Aeneid in Latin –- very slowly! -- I got fascinated with the second half of the book, especially the character of Aeneas. And what are all these battles? Did Vergil just include them because he's writing an epic? No, he's too good a poet for that. He had to have some reason. And the battles are horrifying. Homer's battles are kind of fun: everybody chops everybody's head off, and whoopee! Homer seems to enjoy it, and Vergil does not. So I got totally intrigued by what he was doing. Then the idea of looking at it from the girl's point of view appeared. In the poem, she doesn't have a line; she just watches. What does Lavinia, the little Italian girl, think of it all? So there's my book.Ursula, who is best known for her Earthsea series, is a SFWA Grand Master and the holder of a shelf-ful of the fantasy world's top awards, including five Hugos, five Nebulas and two World Fantasy Awards. You can visit Ursula's website here. Posted on November 13, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Legend of the Seeker Debuts This Weekend ![]() Legend of the Seeker - a new Fantasy series based on the Terry Goodkind's bestselling The Sword of Truth novels - debuts this weekend. The series comes from the creators of Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Reuters dubs the series "cheesy" but we though Hercules and Xena were great fun. Perhaps this proves that we're all still suckers for witches and warlocks and gargoyles and elaborate visual effects and guys with six-pack abs pretending not to be attracted to hot babes with abundant cleavage.There should always be a Hercules or Xena type of show on the air. You can read more articles about the Seeker here, here and here. You can find more about the film on the official website at legendoftheseeker.com and on the sword-of-truth.com website. Posted on October 30, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View)
We just knew it. Joss Whedon's Dollhouse really was in big trouble. Like, the network hated it. Fox thought it was too dark, too complicated and didn't have enough action. But Joss went back to the drawing board, fixed the problems and now everything's great. We hope. Here's what Joss said: Basically, the Network and I had different ideas about what the tone of the show would be. They bought something somewhat different than what I was selling them, which is not that uncommon in this business. Their desires were not surprising: up the stakes, make the episodes more stand-alone, stop talking about relationships and cut to the chase. Oh, and add a chase. That you can cut to. Nothing I hadn't heard before on my other shows (apparently my learning curve has no bendy part) but frustrating as hell given our circumstances - a pilot shot, scripts written, everybody marching together/gainfully employed... and then a shutdown. Glad I was for the breathing room, but it's hardly auspicious. So back into the writer cave I went, wondering why I put up with this when I can make literally dozens of dollars making internet movies. Why I do put up with this is divided into three parts.They made him scrap his pilot. Have we mentioned before that Fox ruined Firefly and that we can't understand why Joss would ever agree to work with them again? Maybe once or twice? Needless to say, we'll be tuning in no matter what. Posted on October 27, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Teresa Nielsen Hayden Hospitalized Teresa Nielsen Hayden was hospitalized following a heart attack. Tests are continuing, but she is reportedly doing well. You can leave get well messages at her and her husband's popular blog. We wish her a speedy recovery and a healthy future! Posted on September 15, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Harold Ramis has written the Chicago Tribune to confirm that Ghostbusters 3 is in the works. "yes, columbia is developing a script for GB3 with my year one writing partners, gene stupnitsky and lee eisenberg. judd apatow is co-producing year one and has made several other films for sony, so of course the studio is hoping to tap into some of the same acting talent. aykroyd, ivan reitman and i are consulting at this point, and according to dan, bill murray is willing to be involved on some level. he did record his dialogue for the new ghostbusters video game, as did danny and i, and ernie hudson. the concept is that the old ghostbusters would appear in the film in some mentor capacity. not much else to say at this point. everyone is confident a decent script can be written and i guess we'll take it from there."Harold Ramis was great in Knocked Up. And if Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd are also on board, we're on boards. Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters: The New Generation, that's who. Posted on September 9, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Fringe Will Start Off Jumping the Shark Wired has an article about Fringe, the new show from J.J. Abrams. Abrams says Fringe won't be like Lost and that it will jump the shark right from the start.
On Fringe's slam-bang setup: "When we did the pilot for Lost, we had the monster appear at the end of the first act because we wanted to say to the audience, 'We're jumping the shark now. We're not going to wait. We're doing crazy shit from the beginning.' On Fringe, we very consciously made what is in many ways a preposterous, front-end scientific story choice in order to say to the audience, 'This is what you're going to be getting on the show.' It may be more extreme in some episodes, less so in others."The show debuts on Fox next Tuesday, September 9th. We will be watching. You can see the Fringe website here. A few other articles about Fringe can be found here, here, here, here and here. Here's a video with J.J. Abrams discussing Fringe Posted on September 4, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) DragonCon in Atlanta This Weekend The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on the arrival of Dragon*Con in Atlanta this weekend for Labor Day weekend. There are some interesting panels at this Con including "How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse."
It's Labor Day weekend and Dragon*Con is upon us again, the huge pop culture convention where tens of thousands of superfans from all over dress up, act out, and fly their geek flag proudly today through Monday.There are a huge number of authors and actors attending the Con. You can read more about the convention on the official website at dragoncon.org. Posted on August 29, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Screenwriter Adam Stone is suing
to stop the upcoming Jason Statham film, Death Race. Stone says the producers stole his script, then used it to create the current film.
Stone claims in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles federal court that the upcoming Universal thriller is based on a script he pitched to the film's producer-director Paul W.S. Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt. He seeks a court order stopping the film's release.The Death Race trailers have been playing before almost every movie we've seen for the last three months. Or maybe it just seems that way. In any event, we are mightily tired of seeing the trailer. Posted on August 20, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Universal Acquires Film Rights to Wheel of Time Series Universal Pictures has acquired
the film rights to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. The films will begin with the first book, The Eye of the World.
Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon will produce for Red Eagle Entertainment, which published graphic novel adaptations of Jordan's books. "The Wheel of Time" follows, among its dozens of characters, Rand al'Thor, the latest incarnation of a force for good called "The Dragon." Rand is born to fight an evil character called Shai'tan.Jordan died last year at the young age of 58. The last book in the series is being written by Brandon Sanderson, who is working from Jordan's tapes and notes. It is due out in fall of 2009. Posted on August 13, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Jason and the Argonauts Heading to the Big Screen Screenwriter Zack Penn, who wrote The Incredible Hulk and The X-Men, is writing
the script for a feature film version of The Argonauts for 20th Century Fox. But that's not the only sword and sandals epic heading to the big screen. Many more films are planned.
In the wake of the success of "300," sword-and-sandals pics have become a hot commodity. Warner Bros. is moving forward with a "Clash of the Titans" remake, with Louis Leterrier at the helm, as well as a "300" sequel. Joining the chariot race is Relativity Media, which has fast-tracked "War of Gods" about Greek warrior Theseus, who led a fight against imprisoned titans.We can't believe there are going to be three Hercules films all coming out around the same time. That seems quite ridiculous. Still, we do like Hercules. But it's one of those stories that lives or dies with two things: the casting of the main character and the script. Mess those up and you get something totally ridiculous. Photo: Scene from the 1963 version of Jason and the Argonauts directed by Don Chaffey. Posted on August 12, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Clip From Animated Buffy Series That Never Aired Here is a short promo episode of what would have been an animated Buffy the Vampire Slayer Saturday morning cartoon series. Sarah Michelle Gellar reportedly passed on the animated series to focus on her film career. The voice playing Buffy in the animated series belongs to Giselle Loren. Several series regulars including Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head, Michelle Trachtenberg, Charisma Carpenter and David Boreanaz did lend their voices to this animated series that never aired. This four-minute clip was all of the animated series that was ever made. (via Animation Magazine ) Posted on August 5, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) George Lucas Discusses Plans for Next Indiana Jones Movie George Lucas discusses
the chances of another Indiana Jones movie happening.
"We were hoping for box-office figures like that, which is, ultimately, with inflation, what the others have done, within 10%," Lucas explains. "So, we squeaked up there. Really, though, it was a challenge getting the story together and getting everybody to agree on it. Indiana Jones only becomes complicated when you have another two people saying 'I want it this way' and 'I want it that way', whereas, when I first did Jones, I just said, We'll do it this way' -- and that was much easier. But now I have to accommodate everybody, because they are all big, successful guys, too, so it's a little hard on a practical level.We have no idea what that means, but we wish he and Steven Spielberg would hurry up and figure it out. Harrison Ford isn't getting any younger, people. And we're not convinced that Shia LaBeouf is ready to pick up the hat and whip. Posted on July 31, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Red Sonja Poster is Here ![]() The new Red Sonja poster is out. It features Rose McGowan licking a bloody sword, which is certainly an interesting creative choice. Apparently Sonja will have more hair in this version than in the 1985 film version starring Brigitte Nielsen. Robert Rodriguez is still directing and it appears that Rose and Robert -- who were said to have ended their relationship -- are back together again. So the movie is back on. Posted on July 24, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Top Grossing Films are SF and Fantasy ![]() The top films at the box office right now are all either fantasy or sf, which is pretty interesting. The rankings as of last weekend were: Hellboy II: The Golden Army which made $34,539,115 (first weekend gross), Hancock which has made $164,115,004 (cumulative), Journey to the Center of the Earth which has made $21,018,141 (first weekend gross), Wall-E, which has made $163,055,900 (cumulative) and Wanted, which has made $112,455,060 to date. It certainly shows that the interest in sf and fantasy is there, if the films are good. Posted on July 16, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Andre Norton Estate in Will Dispute Case Andre Norton's estate is embroiled in a lawsuit over who owns the rights to the work of one of science fiction's best known and loved female authors. Norton's caretaker in her later years and her biggest fan and friend, an oncologist, are battling out the right to control all posthumous publication of her works. Norton moved to Murfreesboro, a Nashville suburb, in the 1990s and established a writer's research library. As she got older, the library was closed and Norton, who had no children or other close relatives, moved in with her caretaker, Sue Stewart. Over the years, she gave Stewart more than $250,000, according to court testimony.It sounds like the will itself was poorly drafted. What a mess. You can be sure that whoever loses will appeal the ruling. Posted on July 10, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) When Hellboy Met Chuck In one of a series of clever cross-promotions, Universal has created a hilarious video in which Chuck and Hellboy play videogames and grouse that the government doesn't let them out enough. Hellboy II: The Golden Army opens in wide release on July 11. Take a look at the promo: Posted on July 4, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Terry Pratchett Talks God, Religion Terry Pratchett writes about his relationship (or lack therof) with God for The Daily Mail. The results are classic Pratchett. There is a rumour going around that I have found God. I think this is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist.It's well worth your time to read the whole essay. Posted on June 30, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) 34th Annual Saturn Award Winners Announced The 2008 Saturn Award Winners have been announced. Cloverfield won for best sf film and Disney's Enchanted won for best fantasy movie. Sweeney Todd won in the horror category. Lost won for best network tv series. Some of the winning actors and actresses included Will Smith, Amy Adams, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Matthew Fox, Summer Glau, Michael Emerson and Elizabeth Mitchell. Here is the complete list of winners.
You can find more information about the Saturn Awards on the official website. Posted on June 26, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) The HD Trailer for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is Here ![]() The new HD Trailer for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and it looks amazing. The CGI looks incredible. The new installment stars Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah and Michelle Yeoh. Maria Bello is stepping in to replace Rachel Weisz as Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell. The film opens August 1, 2008. The HD version of the trailer is linked off this page. Posted on June 21, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Special Effects Master Stan Winston Dead at 62 Special effects and makeup wizard Stan Winston has died. From The Terminator movies to Iron Man, Stan Winston made the magic that make movies magic. The Oscar-winning visual-effects and makeup guru died Sunday of multiple myeloma at his Malibu home. He was 62, and had been battling the plasma cancer for seven years.He will be missed. We send our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. Posted on June 16, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Sci Fi Announced Summer Premiere Dates Sci Fi Channel announced the dates for its summer premieres. The new third season of Scare Tactics kicks off July 9 at 10 p.m. ET/PT with two back-to-back episodes. New host Tracy Morgan (NBC's 30 Rock) joins the show. Before that, Ghost Hunters International returns with seven new episodes beginning July 9 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.We're most looking forward to the return of Stargate Atlantis and Eureka, although Ghost Hunters is growing on us now that they've gone international. Posted on May 31, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Latest Hobbit Rumor: James McAvoy as Young Bilbo Baggins The casting rumors for The Hobbit are swirling around and change from week to week. The latest rumor is that a young Bilbo Baggins will be played by James McAvoy.
Although director Guillermo del Toro and producer Peter Jackson recently said that casting on The Hobbit won't start in earnest until next year, the rumor mill is suggesting that the filmmakers already have the actor in mind for the lead role of Bilbo Baggins.McAvoy would do a great job. Daniel Radcliffe? That's an interesting idea, as well. But Jack Black?? Is that a joke? We do like Jack, but he's no Bilbo. Could this be the source of these insidious "Jack Black as Bilbo Baggins" rumors? We feel kind of queasy just thinking about it. And as for Guillermo del Toro directing: we better not see even one of those Pan's Labyrinth-style creatures in Hobbiton. They've already made their way into Hellboy 2. You know the ones we mean. Posted on May 30, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Spielberg Planning Social Network About Ghosts and UFOs Stephen Spielberg is planning to launch a social network about the paranormal and UFOs sometime this summer. The site will be called The Rising. As fantasy/sf fans are aware Spielberg has directed many films that focus on ghosts and aliens including Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Artificial Intelligence: AI. Spielberg also wrote the screenplay for Poltergeist.
TechCrunch reports that Stephen Spielberg has experienced a paranormal experience first-hand. Spielberg has apparently had at least one paranormal experience himself. There are stories of him staying in a hotel called Excelsior House and being so frightened by ghosts that he fled the room and moved 20 miles away. We've also heard anecdotes about Spielberg seeing the ghost of a dead relative repeatedly as a child. Whether based in reality or the product of an exceptional imagination, these experiences may have had an impact on his life's work and this upcoming social network.If it done right this new social network could be very popular. Here is an animated logo for the planned website. Posted on May 22, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Guillermo del Toro Wants Original LOTR Actors for Hobbit Movie Guillermo del Toro wants
the original Lord of the Rings cast to reprise their roles in The Hobbit trilogy that the will be directing.
Sure, not all of their characters appear in The Hobbit, but with a second, transitional film that takes place in the years between the two novels, could we possibly see Aragorn, Frodo, Galadriel, and the rest back for another go round? To hear the actors themselves say it, the answer was a resounding yes.Variety reports that negotiations are already underway with Viggo Mortensen. Presumably he'd show up in the second and third films, although he was patrolling the Shire as a Ranger back then and hunting for Smeagol. The timelines will have to be juggled a bit, no doubt. We wonder who will play a young Bilbo? Posted on May 21, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Bruce Boxleitner Joins Cast of Heroes Bruce Boxleitner is joining the cast of Heroes.
Bruce Boxleitner, who played Scarecrow to Sabrina Duncan's Mrs. King in the mid-80s, has snagged a top-secret recurring role that was originally going to be modeled after Sen. John McCain. The character has since been reconceived, and now all I know for sure is that he'll be sharing scenes with a female series regular.This is great news, but....Senator McCain? Last time we checked, he wasn't investigating mutants in the mainstream population. Or, is he.....? Posted on May 9, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Michael Chabon Wins Nebula For Best Novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon won the Nebula Award for Best Novel. The Nebula Awards are presented annually by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, for superior achievement in science fiction and fantasy writing. Here are the other winners: Novella: "Fountain of Age" by Nancy Kress Novelette: "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang Short Story: "Always" by Karen Joy Fowler Script: Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro Andre Norton Award: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. Author Emeritis: Ardath Mayhar SFWA Service Award: Melisa Michaels and Graham P. Collins 2008 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master: Michael Moorcock The Nebulas are presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Congratulations to all th winners! To learn more, visit the website. Posted on April 28, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Daniel Dae Kim Talks Lost Lost returns this Thursday night, and we can't wait. Kristin Dos Santos of E! is hanging out in Hawaii with the cast, trying to get scoop and spoilers. Here she talks to Daniel Dae Kim about the three possibilities that surround his character Jin. Specifically, is he really dead or not? And if so, when does he die? Daniel also talks about getting the dreaded "call" from Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. Posted on April 21, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) NBC Unveils SF and Fantasy Entries for New Season NBC unveiled its upcoming television schedule and it's quite heavy with SF/Fantasy elements, which certainly works for us. Here's what's coming: Debuting on May 29:We recently read the book, The Last Templar: we liked it and it should make a great miniseries. Plus -- Victor Garber from Alias! Well, and of Eli Stone. And Mira Sorvino, too. That works quite well. In addition to the new shows, there will also be new webisodes for Heroes, Chuck and The Office, which will debut on NBC.com beginning in July. Additional chapters of webisodes for each show will roll out throughout the season. Posted on April 3, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years Weird Tales has listed the 85 weirdest storytellers of the past 85 years. Here are the top 10: Not surprisingly, it's a weird list. And a pretty fabulous one. Posted on March 29, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Sir Ian McKellen is Ready to be Gandalf Again Sir Ian McKellen has been posting some interesting snippets on his blog lately. He says he's ready to play Gandalf again in The Hobbit, but hasn't been asked yet (there's no director hired yet). Yes I will, if Peter Jackson and I have anything to do with it, he being the producer and me being, on the whole, a very lucky actor.He also gives a fascinating behind the scenes look at Peter Jackson's directing style and his attention to detail: Each day on set Peter would be there before any of the cast, reading to himself the relevant chapter from the book. He was open to any last minute suggestions from the actors about details they wanted to discuss. Then he would summarise the scenes we would be shooting; a necessity when so many of them were shot out of sequence. (On my first day on the film, I was on location for Gandalf's cart-ride entry into the first film. My next day's work was in the studio filming Gandalf's departure to Grey Havens at the end of the third film!)We hope Sir Ian keeps blogging regularly and that they hurry up and get the director and cast signed for The Hobbit. Posted on March 27, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Whedon's Dollhouse Gets New Dolls Joss Whedon's upcoming show Dollhouse just got some new castmembers, in addition to star Eliza Dushku. Battlestar Galactica co-star Tahmoh Penikett, who plays Helo, Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjokaj have all signed on for the show. "Dollhouse" revolves around a group of young men and women who are imprinted with different personalities for different assignments. They have no memories of their previous lives, until Echo (Dushku) begins to try to find out who she was. Penikett will play Paul Smith, an FBI field agent obsessed with the urban myth of Dollhouse and a twisted romantic foil for Echo.The show was greenlit for seven episodes before the writers' strike and we're really looking forward to seeing it. It's produced by Fox, though. You know what they did to Firefly. Enough said. Posted on March 26, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Lost Returns in Late April Lost will return to TV screens on April 24th and will wrap up the current season with five new episodes. The truncated season was necessitated by the writers' strike interruption. But things are back on track now. Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, co-executive producers of ABC's Lost, told SCI FI Wire that the current season's final batch of new episodes will unspool a story arc based on a plan devised in anticipation of the writers' strike. "The last two weeks before the strike, we actually sat down and said, 'Here is what we want to tell for the rest of the season,'" Kitsis said in an interview. "We all sat down, and the entire staff came up with a battle plan in place."We've been very happy with this season so far, although some fans are really getting tired of the flash-forward scenes. But we aren't. Plus, Lindelof has promised that the mystery of the four-toed statue will eventually resolved, so that makes us happy. Lost returns on ABC on April 24th at its new timeslot. It's still on Thursday, but starts an hour later at 10 p.m. ET. Posted on March 25, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Terry Pratchett Donates $1 Million for Alzheimer's Research Terry Pratchett has donated $1 million to Alzheimer's research. He spoke to the BBC about how he's handling his recent Alzheimer's diagnosis and why he made the donation. Mr Pratchett has a rare form of the disease called posterior cortical atrophy, in which areas at the back of the brain begin to shrink and shrivel. He says he is starting to notice its effect on him. "I've given up my driving licence because I didn't feel confident driving. And if I've got something inside out, it's a little bit puzzling getting it the right way round again." He added: "The curious thing is that writing goes on, although the typing doesn't."Now you can Match It For Pratchett, by donating cash or buying a t-shirt. Or you can help get the word out via your blog or website. It's a great cause and any little bit will help towards stopping this dreadful and life-stealing disease. Posted on March 24, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Sarah Michelle Gellar and Seth Green Talk Buffy and More Most of the original Buffy cast showed up for the panel at Paley Fest 2008 and all seemed to be getting along, he said in his report. Alyson Hannigan and David Boreanez failed to show. But Sarah Michelle, Seth Green, Nicholas Brendan, Joss Whedon and Charisma Carpenter were all smiles. Michael Ausiello of TV Guide interviews Michelle Gellar and Seth Green in this video, in which they discuss many things, including Buffy's gay affair in the ongoing comic. Posted on March 21, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Noah Wylie is the Librarian Noah Wylie will return
to his duties as the globetrotting, adventure-seeking Librarian, in the third movie for TNT. The first two movies were monster hits for TNT, so the entire cast is returning, including Bob Newhart and Jane Curtin. This time the Librarian heads to New Orleans in search of a mysterious evil chalice.
Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: The Next Generation), who directed the second Librarian installment, The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines, will once again take the helm. Electric Entertainment's Dean Devlin, Kearie Peak and Marc Roskin are executive-producing. Wyle and Electric's Phil Goldfarb are producing, with the company's Rachel Olschan co-producing. The project began shooting in New Orleans this week.It's a fun, family-friendly franchise. Posted on March 10, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Read Neil Gaiman's American Gods for Free Online ![]() HarperCollins has posted the entire text of Neil Gaiman's bestselling novel, American Gods online. It will only be there for one month, so by all means check it out if you haven't read it yet. You can read it here. You can read our book editor's review of American Gods from back in the day here. You can read our interview with Neil in which he talks about American Gods here.You can read Neil's blog here. Posted on March 9, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Co-Creator of Dungeons and Dragons Gary Gygax Dead At 69 Gary Gygax the c0-creator of Dungeons and Dragons has died at the age of 69. Wired reports: Gary Gygax, one of the co-creators of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, according to Stephen Chenault, CEO of Troll Lord Games. Gygax designed the original D&D game with Dave Arneson in 1974, and went on to create the Dangerous Journeys and Lejendary Adventure RPGs, as well as a number of board games. He also wrote several fantasy novels.Fans can post remembrances and and thoughts about Gygax on the Troll Lords message boards. Fans are planning a massive day of D&D in his honor, so check the boards for more details. Posted on March 4, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) 10,000 B.C.: A Prehistoric Adventure The premiere of the film 10,000 BC in Germany featured life-sized figures of Woolly Mammoths. The movie is directed by Roland Emmerich, who also diected Indepence Day, Stargate and The Day After Tomorrow. In the video clip below, Emmerich says the period is a fascinating time in history because we know so little about it. The film stars Steven Straight as a mammoth hunter named D'Leh. Some of the many dangers include sabertooth tigers, ground sloths and angry warlords. 10,000 B.C. bears little resemblance to One Million Years B.C. - the film that made Raquel Welch's figure famous - or other caveman movies. There were also films and tv shows called Korg: 70,000 B.C. and 50,000 B.C. (Before Clothing). Newsday says 10,000 B.C. marks a new era of caveman flicks. You can find out more about the film on IMDB, Wikipedia and on the official website. Posted on February 29, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Golden Compass Team Wins Best Visual Effects Oscar Trevor Wood, Ben Morris, Bill Westenhofer, and Michael Fink won the Best Achievement in Visual Effects Oscar for their work on The Golden Compass. It was a surprise win and they were understandably thrilled. We quite enjoyed The Golden Compass: it worked for us. And, of course, the special effects were fantastic.
You can see a list of all the winners here. You can see critiques of the Oscar fashions here. (Photo courtesy A.M.P.A.S.) Posted on February 25, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Ghost Whisperer Renewed. Still Waiting For Moonlight Renewal Ghost Whisperer starring Jennifer Love Hewitt is one of the shows that has been renewed in what has been a slew of renewal announcements. The Denver Post listed a few of the renewals and show restart dates in this article. Numb3rs and The Big Bang Theory were among other CBS renewals.
Post-strike, the networks are posting return dates for original series. On the CW, nine episodes of "The Game" return beginning March 23; six of "One Tree Hill" return April 14; five of "Smallville" return April 17; five of "Gossip Girl" starting April 21; five "Reaper" April 22; four "Supernatural" April 24.For Ghost Whisperer you can also catch season 2 of The Other Side webisodes on the show's official website. Things are less clear for Moonlight, the great show that started following Ghost Whisperer last year. Hollywood Reporter writes that the fate of Moonlight is still up in the air. There will be four new Moonlight shows beginning April 4th but CBS really needs to hurry up and renew Moonlight! Posted on February 21, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Tolkien Estate Threatens to Pull Hobbit Film Rights From New Line Here we go again. The Tolkien Trust and Harpercollins are suing
New Line for failing to pay contractually required gross profit participations from the three Lord of the Rings movies. Sound familiar? It should. That was the whole basis of the dispute between Peter Jackson and New Line that caused The Hobbit movie to be so delayed that Jackson can't even direct it due to other commitments.
According to the suit, although the "Lord of the Rings" films produced by New Line are among the most financially successful films ever created, with worldwide gross receipts of nearly $6 billion, New Line has failed to pay the plaintiffs any portion of the gross profit participation they are entitled to under their deal.They didn't pay the Tolkien estate one dime??? They claimed they never made a profit?? New Line apparently has no shame whatsoever. We say: throw them into the flames of Orodruin. Oh, and as for The Hobbit movie? That is so not happening unless The Tolkien Estate says so. Posted on February 11, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) CGI May Help With Heath Ledger's Role in Gilliam Fantasy Film The Times Online reports that CGI may be one of the options to replace Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - a $30 million fantasy movie directed by Terry Gilliam. The article says the film was about a third of the way finished before Heath Ledger's untimely death. Another option is to have another actor - possibly Johnny Depp - take over the role. The recent location shooting in East London meant that filming was about one-third complete when Ledger was found dead in his Manhattan apartment. Cast and crew were due to get together again in Toronto next week, although that was called off as soon as news emerged of the actor's death.Heath Ledger's co-star in the film Christopher Plummer (who plays Dr. Parnassus) has commented on Heath's death saying that he had been suffering from a nasty bug. You can read another article on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus here - this one says Gilliam is working hard to save the film. Posted on January 30, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Dark Knight's Heath Ledger is Dead at 28 Actor Heath Ledger who is playing the Joker in the upcoming Batman film was found dead today in his New York apartment, apparently from an overdose of both prescription and nonprescription sleeping pills. Various media reports say he has battled substance abuse for some time. In this interview from The New York Times two months ago, there are some clues as to his mental state. He is discussing his roles in the Bob Dylan biopic and in The Dark Knight and the stress the roles caused him. It all tied him in knots. "I stressed out a little too much," Mr. Ledger said.Heath was only 28 years old; he has a two year-old little girl named Matilda. Matilda's mother is actress Michelle Williams, with whom Heath was involved with for three years. The couple broke up in September, 2007. What a terrible tragedy for his family. Posted on January 22, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Birmingham Planning Fantasy Science Fiction Convention Called OmegaCon The Birmingham News reports that Birmingham, Alabama will be home to a fantasy and science fiction convention called OmegaCon. The convention's founders hope to rival Atlanta's DragonCon and draw an attendance of over 7,000 fans of the genre.
The event will be March 14-16 at the Sheraton Birmingham, 2101 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. It will include appearances by actors, writers, scientists, fan clubs and live bands.The dates for OmegaCon are March 14-16, 2008. You can see a list of the guests and speakers on OmegaCon's website. Posted on January 16, 2008 |