Sci-Fi Storm

The trades are reporting that Brad Pitt may take leave of The Fountain, the latest blow to the troubled Darren Aronofsky project. Pitt apparently believes the script is too complex, and rumors have Pitt joining the cast of Troy. With co-star Cate Blanchett (Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings) pregnant, and the previous pre-production problems, this could get shelved.

IMDB News is reporting that due to health concerns, Richard Harris, 71, who plays Professor Albus Dumbldore, may need to be replaced for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He already has had a double in the first two films, the unknown Harry Robinson, and he is the favorite to take over if Harris is too ill.

Update 8/30: Perhaps not. The Beeb is reporting that “his recovery was imminent”, and filming isn’t set to begin until February or March. At least they still have a backup…

The SCI FI Channel has announced that Stargate SG-1 is its first original series to achieve a 2.0 rating, with its August 23rd Summer Finale (Season 6 will continue in January). It’s averaging a 1.7, and is beating UPN and the WB in several key demographics. Now, I caught a rumor somewhere that the plans for a feature movie had been scrapped because it couldn’t hit 2.0 – I wonder if that has changed?

Update: It appears Avatar Press will be producing a Stargate SG-1 comic, along with several other MGM properties such as Robocop.

I heard about this prank a while back – apparently they went through with it. 70,509 people declared Jedi as their religion on the official Australian census, in the face of a AUS$1,000 fine for providing false information. Authorities say they don’t actually have any plans to collect the fines though.

Some genre movies have had their DVD dates announced (and some Amazon pre-order pages too): Scooby-Doo will be release October 11th in Widescreen and Fullscreen; Spider-Man will be released on November 1st in Widescreen, Fullscreen, and a Widescreen Collector’s Gift Set; and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones will be released in Widescreen and Fullscreen on November 12th. Men in Black II is reported for November 26th.

Actor Jeff Corey, who Babylon 5 fans will remember as the Shadows’ human spokesman Justin in the episode “Z’ha’dum”, died on August 16th at the age of 88. He also appeared in such movies as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Devil and Daniel Webster, and Beneath the Planet of the Apes.

weefle writes “Yep, it’s up now at http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/x-men_2/ ! Looks like Magneto is back, and there’s a raid on Prof. X’s school for mutants. Check it out!”

The official web site for Enterprise has been updated, including a lot of details regarding Season 2 production. In addition, TrekWeb has an online interview with John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox).

Trying to piece this all together, based on the scoops at Coming Attractions: First we heard that Superman vs. Batman would go ahead with Wolfgang Petersen (The Perfect Storm, Air Force One) at the helm. Then we hear that he’s planning on doing Troy next, based on Homer’s The Illiad. Now it appears that BvS may have been put on the backburner after J.J. Abrahms (TV’s Alias, Armageddon) turned in a 200-page script for Superman 5 that apparently knoecked the socks off executives, and if they can sort out a director that project may go ahead instead.

Digging into the the old to come up with the new seems to be the current “thing” in Hollywood. Now USA Networks is looking to dig out The Bionic Woman, which aired originally from 1976-1978 and was actually a spinoff of The Six Million Dollar Man, and turn it into a new original series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. I wonder if this will complete before the supposed feature film version of the show that spawned it…