Sci-Fi Storm

NBC sent down word today that the first series it is renewing is the fairy tale based crime drama Grimm, and it has been picked up for a full 22-episode second season, doing reasonably well on a Friday night slot.

I finally got the time today to check out John Carter, and see if it was deserving of the critics who lambasted it – or the so-called “fanboys” who praised it. My verdict: good movie, not superb, but it had the potential to be a great epic. I do have to say that I’m not sure where it actually missed. It was just something of an overall feeling.
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Despite Warner Bros putting Arthur and Lancelot on the extreme fast track last summer with Kit Harington (Game of Thrones) set to play King Arthur with Joel Kinnaman (The Killing) as his champion Lancelot, it came to a screeching halt two months ago when WB felt the budget was too high.

Now it appears that WB may be talking to hot star Colin Farrell to provide some star power to the David Dobkin-directed film, although for which role is uncertain (I’m heading it could be Lancelot though). The lack of an A-list star is possibly another reason WB got cold feet on the budget – and is also cited as a reason that Disney’s even-bigger-budgeted John Carter wasn’t getting much heat either.

Syfy made two casting announcements today.

Syfy has inked actor Shane McRae to star in the two-hour pilot for the action thriller Rewind from BermanBraun and Universal Cable Productions. Jack Bender (Lost, Alphas) is set to direct the pilot penned by Justin Marks, who will also executive produce with Tom Spezialy, Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun and Gene Stein. Rewind is set to begin production in April 2012.

McRae attended the NYU Graduate Acting program where he received his master’s degree. Soon after, he landed his first role in the Tony Award-winning play Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out on Broadway. He was recently seen in The Help, Bad Teacher, The Adjustment Bureau and Killer Pad among others. He was also a series regular on NBC’s Four Kings. His theater credits include Fifth of July directed for Bay Street and Williamstown by Terry Kinney, Killer’s and Other Family (Rattlestick) and Richard III (Public Theatre). He’s represented by Gersh and TMT Entertainment.
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If you remember, Disney made a big announcement in September that it was going to build an Avatar-themed land at the Animal Kingdom park in Walt Disney World in Florida. But since then there has been little said, and no visible work has been done.

If you follow Disney fan boards, there has been a large uptick in speculation that Disney put the plan on hold or even outright canceled it, and given how long it might be before we see the next movie, the costs, etc. it seemed that could have been the case.

Well, at today’s shareholder meeting for the corporation, Disney President/CEO Bob Iger and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman Tom Staggs talked about some upcoming things, and Avatar was specifically mentioned. They are still working on the plans, and the “land” themed for Pandora will likely not open until 2015, which could put it around the time of the sequels.

During a Q&A period, Iger was asked about how John Carter would affect the financials of the corporation, but Iger said it was too early to tell.

Here is the latest trailer for Universal’s Battleship!

Peter Berg (Hancock) produces and directs Battleship, an epic-scaled action-adventure that unfolds across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior force. Inspired by Hasbro’s classic naval combat game, Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch as Lt. Alex Hopper, a Naval officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones; Brooklyn Decker as Sam Shane, a physical therapist and Hopper’s fiancée; Alexander Skarsgård as Hopper’s older brother, Stone, Commanding Officer of the USS Sampson; Rihanna as Petty Officer Raikes, Hopper’s crewmate and a weapons specialist on the USS John Paul Jones; and international superstar Liam Neeson as Hopper and Stone’s superior (and Sam’s father), Admiral Shane.

In the next episode of Merlin, we find Gwen shoveling hay in a small village, when suddenly it is being raided by men in dark robes on horses. She races to try and get away and one raider is about to kill her but is stopped by another man stating, there is “pleasure” to be had. Tune in an all new episode this Friday at 10/9c to see if Gwen will ever return to Camelot safely.

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I started hearing about this on the weekend, but finally got official word: Being Human‘s resident werewolf, Sam Huntington, will guest on an episode of Warehouse 13 in the upcoming season as a jazz musician named Ethan. Warehouse 13‘s 4th season is currently in production in Toronto, Canada.

Said Warehouse 13 executive producer Jack Kenny: “We love bringing other Syfy icons on to Warehouse 13… There’s something they just “get” about the genre. People like Kate Mulgrew, Lindsay Wagner, Jaime Murray and Rene Auberjonois know that delicate balance we play between humor, drama and action. And Sam Huntington is a natural fit for us. Funny, charming, smart and compelling, he plays ‘Ethan’ — a young jazz musician, desperate to leave his mark on the world of New Orleans jazz — even if it means a great sacrifice.”

Sam’s natural wittiness should be a good fit for the Warehouse 13 style.

The key word is “survive” – after the weekend where all eyes were on Disney and the predicted major flop of John Carter, the $250 million budget movie opened to a $30.6 million domestic weekend (and word was is that Disney brass hoped to see that 3), but perhaps amazingly it took in $70.6 million in overseas markets. But still, the performance is still poor, and some analysts believe it needs needs about $600 million globally to break even.

Reviews are fairly polarized – it’s still 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, but with 72% of the audience liking it. And among the fan community, I’m hearing from various places that some believe some negative reviewers may not have even watched the movie.

I’m going to try and check the movie out myself later this week, with a hopefully open mind.

In next Monday’s Lost Girl, Bo and Kenzi enter Trick’s bar for quick drink but find they themselves in a fun-filled Fae Holiday, La Sho Shane, the most sacred day of the year for Fae. It turns potentially deadly when a Banshee wail predicts the death of one of the revelers within the next 12 hours. Tune in to the all-new episode next Monday at 10/9c to see who among the fae will face death.
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