Sci-Fi Storm

Director Matt Reeves, who recently directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the sequel of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, has already signed on for a third movie in the franchise, and he’ll also co-write the script with Dawn scribe Mark Bomback. The third movie appears to be getting fasttracked as well and will be Reeves next film.

Dawn will debut on July 11th, 2014, and features Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke and Keri Russell, with Andy Serkis returning as Caesar. Check out the trailer here.

If you haven’t heard, Helix is the next big scripted show from Syfy. And out of all the new shows that debuted so far or are debuting soon, this is the one I’m most excited for. Helix premieres this Friday, January 10th, at 10/9c.

Helix is a science fiction thriller, set in a secret corporate research facility inside the Arctic Circle – outside of any government oversight – or laws, for that matter. After a distress call, a team of scientists from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) travel to the massive underground Arctic Biosystems facility to investigate a possible retrovirus outbreak, but instead find themselves in a life-and-death situation which goes beyond just a virus and it seems everyone knows more than they want to say.

A bit about the main characters first.

The CDC rapid-response team is lead by Dr. Alan Farragut (Billy Campbell, The Rocketeer, The 4400), a top pathologist for the CDC who puts science first, but is closed off emotionally after find his wife and brother having an affair. Making matters worse, his wife is on the investigative team, and his brother is one of those infected.
(continue reading…)

I totally missed this during the actual holidays, but here it is…bookmark for next year!
(continue reading…)

Now that both Star Wars and Marvel are one under the Mouse, it is no surprise that today Marvel announced that the license for Star Wars comics will return to Marvel, where it began in 1977 and lasted for 9 years. After a break, Dark Horse picked up the license in 1991, and has been publishing Star Wars comics ever since, including some highly acclaimed stories, and most recently, “The Star Wars #1”, based on George Lucas’ original rough draft. Marvel will publish new comics starting in 2015.

From the announcement:

The Walt Disney Company’s Lucasfilm Ltd. and Marvel Entertainment are joining forces to bring new Star Wars adventures to readers across the galaxy, with Marvel granted exclusive rights to create and publish Star Wars comics and graphic novels beginning in 2015.

The agreement marks a homecoming for the Star Wars comic books. Marvel Comics published the first Star Wars comic book, STAR WARS #1, in March 1977, which went on to sell more than 1 million copies. Marvel Comics published its STAR WARS series for nine years. In 1991, Dark Horse Comics took over the license, publishing fan-favorite titles like Dark Empire and Star Wars: Legacy. Last year, Dark Horse released The Star Wars #1, an adaptation of George Lucas’ original rough-draft screenplay for the film, garnering rave reviews and national media attention and ranking among the top-selling Star Wars comics of all time.

“Dark Horse Comics published exceptional Star Wars comics for over 20 years, and we will always be grateful for their enormous contributions to the mythos, and the terrific partnership that we had,” said Carol Roeder, director of Lucasfilm franchise publishing, Disney Publishing Worldwide. “In 2015, the cosmic adventures of Luke, Han, Leia and Chewbacca will make the lightspeed jump back to Marvel, to begin a new age of adventures within the Star Wars universe.

“We here at Marvel could not be more excited to continue the publication of Star Wars comic books and graphic novels,” said Marvel Worldwide Publisher and President, Dan Buckley. “The perennial brand of Star Wars is one of the most iconic in entertainment history and we are honored to have the opportunity to bring our creative talent pool to continue, and expand Star Wars into galaxies far, far away.”

“We’re incredibly excited by this next chapter in the Star Wars saga,” said Andrew B. Sugerman, executive vice president of Disney Publishing Worldwide. “Bringing together the iconic Lucasfilm and Marvel brands to tell new stories will allow us to continue to thrill lovers of the original Star Wars comic books and entertain generations to come.”

The Generalissimo Stan Lee himself introduced the teaser for the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which was played on the big screen at Times Square for all the revelers on New Years Eve…the movie premieres May 2nd…
(continue reading…)