Sci-Fi Storm

The news last month that stars Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde along with director Joseph Kasinski were in for a third installment of Tron, gave hope even after several years had already passed since Tron: Legacy, but Disney said today that it never officially gave a green light for the project, and has in fact pulled it from the development slate.

No specific reasons were given, but given the relatively soft worldwide box office ($400 million against an approximately $180 million budget, not including marketing), and the subsequent failure of the animated Tron: Uprising, and with expected blockbusters from Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the next several years, Disney probably sees the slate pretty clogged with high budget features with likely better returns.

Update: There have been various reports that this was due to the poor opening of Tomorrowland, but there is no real reason they would be connected.

I actually missed earlier reports on this…but it is in production right now in New Zealand, will feature the return of Bruce Campbell as Ash, Lucy Lawless has a role and has Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert in charge.

Groovy!

Could this be the final sign that studios are out of original ideas? It’s one thing to want to reboot something that has shown success (Sony is about to embark on it’s third reboot of Spider-Man), but Fox seems set on trying to make gold from lead, this time with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

The 2003 film was a critical and box office failure, but it did at least get a cult following, as does the source material from writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O’Neill, which deals with a group of Victorian heroes who band together to help save the world. The characters are taken from various stories of the time: Mina Harker (Bram Stoker’s Dracula), Alan Quartermain (H. Rider Haggard’s novels), Captain Nemo (Jules Verne), Doctor Jeckyl (Robert Louis Stevenson), and the Invisible Man (H.G. Wells) (for the 2003 movie, the character was renamed for legal reasons.) It’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie, but it deviated from the source material in terms of the leaders of the group (in the comic/graphic novel, Harker was in charge with Nemo aiding a lot, while the movie it was mostly Quatermain – likely due to Sean Connery – and Tom Sawyer), and overall I think it just dealt with characters that were too unfamiliar to people. Even in the case of Captain Nemo, although in the Verne novels he is an Indian prince, most portrayals were by British or American actors.

I was overall less than impressed with the acting and the visuals, but I do remember the one bright spot was with Tony Curran as Skinner (not THE Invisible Man, but invisible, making a noticeable performance a major feat.) Even Connery permanently retired from acting right afterwards.

Back in 2013 Fox committed to a put pilot (they would have to air the pilot regardless if they pick it up to series, or pay a penalty) for a TV adaptation, but from what I hear the pilot was rejected, and I haven’t seen any sign it will ever air. This movie appears unrelated to the pilot, with a different production team in the form of Ira Napoliello (Mr. Popper’s Penguins) and Matt Reilly, and John Davis (Mr. Popper’s Penguins, I, Robot).

Defiance holds a unique record – it is now the series that has run the longest since I’ve visited the set. Warehouse 13, Being Human and Helix were all gone within 2 seasons or less. Haven still has the second half of it’s fifth season to air, and no decision on renewal has been made yet, but the film tax credit situation in Nova Scotia, where it is filmed, makes it something of a long shot…maybe I should stop visiting sets…

But Defiance remains, well, defiant. Season 3 premieres Friday, June 12th, and picks up seven months after the radical events of Season 2. With the collapse of the gulanite mines, the town of Defiance is rapidly becoming a ghost town – the Earth Republic has left and the farms are buried under snow, while Amanda (Julie Benz) is back as Mayor with Berlin (Anna Hopkins) as Lawmaker. The lack of gulanite means a lack of power generation, jeopardizing the stasis nets that protect the town. And a new threat wants the town destroyed.

Nolan (Grant Bowler) and Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas) wake to find themselves outside, with Nolan having remembered being removed from the stasis pod by two strange aliens he has not seen before. They return to Defiance, but the town has not forgotten what Irisa did while controlled by the Arkbrain.

Datak (Tony Curran), Stahma (Jaime Murray) and Rafe McCawley (Graham Greene) are hot on the trail Rafe’s wife Pilar (Linda Hamilton), who had kidnapped Alak (Jesse Rath) and then-pregnant Christie (Nicole Muñoz), and is keeping them and her new grandchild in her custody.

Defiance has not lost any of its momentum. We are introduced to two new aliens – Kindzi (Nichole Galicia, Django Unchained) her father T’evgin (Conrad Coates, The Strain), two of the Omec – a Votan race only mentioned before in hushed whispers and dread. Called devils, enchanters, “takers of the innocent”, they subjugated the other races in the Votan system and even would eat them. They were believed to be near extinct when the Votans fled their home system for Earth. They need gulanite for their ark, still in orbit – but can they be trusted when the other Votans say they should be killed on sight?

Also joining the show is Lee Tergesen (The Americans) as General Rahm Tak, a megalomaniac Castithan and leader of a Votanis Collective “death squad”, who sees the town of Defiance as a symbol that must be destroyed.

So now Defiance has two threats that need to be dealt with, in addition to the existing problem.

Oh, and I don’t think it is a good idea to get on Doc Yewll’s (Trenna Keating) bad side. Just sayin’…

Wow…I’ve been to the London Madame Tussauds, and they can be frightfully real at times…well, I can say they really NAILED Qui-Gon Jinn. And the Han “Shot First” Solo isn’t bad either…
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In this next chapter of the epic Maze Runner saga, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD’s vastly superior forces and uncover its shocking plans for them all.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials hits theaters September 18th, 2015.
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I have to admit – when I first heard that CBS was throwing itself into the comics frenzy with an updated Supergirl, I was quite skeptical…it sounded like the network was just trying to get a slice of the pie with a property that had the potential to be hokey on the small screen, especially since the only previous attempt, the 1984 feature film starring Helen Slater, was dismal. And in the current environment of empowerment, the name itself seems to fall short.

But after seeing this, I am pleasantly surprised as it appears to take itself seriously yet still have fun with it – and even addresses the name in-show. I can’t help picture this as just a version of Arrow, where Felicity is the superhero instead, but I’m hoping that Melissa Benoist does well enough to establish herself as the character.
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Update 5/18: EuropaCorp has announced that they have set a July 21, 2017 worldwide release date for Valerian, in addition to extending their deal with China’s Fundamental Films, who will kick in $50 million for the film and will distribute it in China.

Fifth Element director Luc Besson joined Twitter today, and in the process announced that he will return to the sci-fi genre with his next project: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, based on the French comic series Valérian and Laureline by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières, which is closing in on 50 years of being published.

The stories follow Valérian, a spatio-temporal agent from the 28th century, and his companion and fellow agent Laureline, who grew up as a peasant girl in 11th century France, while they take on jobs for Galaxity, the capital of the Terran Galactic Empire on Earth.

Many see Valérian and Laureline as having influence in later science fiction, including Star Wars.

Besson also tweeted that Dane DeHaan (Chronicle, The Amazing Spider Man 2) and Cara Delevingne (Anna Karenina) will star as the two protagonists.

Fox today confirmed the details on the return of The X-Files for a limited six episode run starting Sunday, January 24th, 2016.

The first episode will air immediately following the NFC Championship game. The second episode will air on Monday the 25th, at 8/7c. The remaining 4 episodes will air on succeeding Mondays at 8/7c.

Production will start June 8th, 2015 in Vancouver, BC.

It’s a good evening for Marvel on TV – ABC just announced among a slew of shows returning that both Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Marvel’s Agent Carter have been renewed for another season!