Sci-Fi Storm

So, that apparently confirmed Neill Blomkamp Alien sequel? It may not be so advanced in production as we thought – and it may never happen.

In an interview for French site Allocine (Google Translate in English), original Alien director and more recent franchise prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant director Ridley Scott said that “There was never a a scenario,” apparently referring to reports of a completed script, but “only an idea that evolved into a pitch of ten pages.” Scott was involved as a producer, but Fox decided not to proceed with it, since Scott was already involved in the prequels.

Blomkamp wanted to insert his movie as a specific sequel to Aliens, the second film of the franchise, somehow nullifying both Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. And he had star Sigourney Weaver on board as well. But Blomkamp tweeted a reply to a fan asking about the likelyhood of the project moving forward, where he only said one word – “Slim”.

@jamesportella slim

— NΞill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) January 21, 2017

From the “never a good sign” department, NBC has abruptly pulled the DC comics-tinged comedy series Powerless from the prime-time schedule, without any word on when the remaining episodes may air. The show, which starred Vanessa Hudgens, Alan Tudyk, Danny Pudi and Christina Kirk, struggled to find an audience from the start, despite the success of comics-based series of late. It centered on the normal human workers at Wayne Enterprises, who dealt with all the destruction caused by the superheroes and coming up with ways to protect the citizens.

Disney announced release dates for a slew of movies, and one of the notable dates is that the final episode of the Star Wars saga will move back to it’s old traditional release month, specifically May 24th, 2019 – which is the day before the 42nd anniversary of the first movie.

The Han Solo anthology movie also releases in May in 2018.

In addition, Disney has pushed back the fifth Indiana Jones installment a year to July 10, 2020, giving the old slot of July 19th, 2019 to the upcoming live action version of The Lion King.

Other dates (in release order):

A Wrinkle in Time: March 9th, 2018 (Moved up from April)
Magic Camp: April 6th, 2018
Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks The Internet: November 21, 2018 (Moved back from March)
Frozen 2: November 27, 2019
Gigantic: November 25, 2020 (Moved back from 2018)

Some updates from the weekend…

It appears that the Avatar sequels – all four of them – may finally have release dates that are attainable, if not still far off. With James Cameron increasing the number of sequels from two to four, and choosing to film all simultaneously, it’s been a long and winding road from the release of the original film in 2009. Now all four have set release dates, with the next film being release on December 18th, 2020 – exactly 11 years from the original’s wide release date in the U.S. Avatar 3 will follow the next year on December 17th, 2011, and then a three year break before the last two release on December 20th, 2024 and December 19th, 2025 respectively. Of course, who knows if that schedule will keep…but it at least seems realistic.

Freeform’s fantasy series Shadowhunters, based on Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series of novels, has been renewed for a third season. The show is currently in a mid-season break with the second half of season two scheduled to return on June 5th. Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer, who took over as showrunners for the second season, will remain.

Lastly, Bryan Singer, currently serving as executive producer on FX’s Legion, is partnering with digital media company Blackpills on the new series August One, created by John Cabrera (Gilmore Girls, H+). The series is described as a futuristic thriller in which the Roman Empire never collapsed, but instead grew into a technologically advanced civilization but where the old concepts of slavery, corruption and sin are “normalized” – but now that civilization is on the brink of collapse.

Anyone remember the Star Trek episode “Bread and Circuses”?

Before I say more, I want to preface this by pointing to the second word in this article’s headline – “considering”. There have been a number of “breaking news” articles in the last 24 hours that say “creating”, and the two are VERY different.

According to Tom Corliss of WDW News Today, Disney has been sending a survey to guests via Swagbucks (an earn-rewards-for-surveys site), that asks them their interest in a new form of Star Wars experience – a two-night all-inclusive stay aboard a “starship” (think something like a Star Destroyer or Republic cruiser) with a fully immersive experience where you take part in the story via training programs including lightsaber training, secret missions, and more. The reported price tag would be $900-$1000 per person. You can see some concept art on the original article. This would be a resort next to Disney’s Hollywood Studios park, which is currently getting a massive makeover for a Star Wars “land”, and the price would include some exclusive access to that area (due to be completed in 2019).

Although I think this is a GREAT idea and would totally do it (I’m still considering the price tag, however – I could spend a week on a cruise for that), I’m cautious mainly because I am very familiar with Disney and all these plans that never come to fruition. First, historically a lot of “blue sky” ideas (basically the first level of coming up with ideas, long before practicality and budgets get looked at) get leaked through social media. I’m still waiting for the extra-immersive Adventurers Club over at Animal Kingdom, for example, or the return of River Country.

Second, Disney sends LOTS of surveys with all sorts of ideas to gauge guest interest. I’ve taken dozens of them. Many things on those surveys can be outlandish, and never come to be, but may lead to other ideas. Usually Disney does such surveys internally as well, but this one was done by a third party.

There are various stages of bringing any idea to fruition – this is somewhere above “blue sky”, since they have some concept art showing they are thinking of this seriously), but this is still far below “announced” – and if you know about Disney’s history with announcements, even then that doesn’t mean it gets built.

I place this right now as a 10% confidence of it happening. So while I’m thrilled at the possibility of this existing, my practical Disney side is also saying it is a long shot. I’d like to see this more like a special Star Wars cruise – at least then you are on a real ship. 🙂

This is not confirmed, and the source is The Mirror, but if the bookies have stopped taking bets, something is up…but The Mirror reports that the next Doctor will be actor Kris Marshall, who recently starred in the British series Death In Paradise but recently announced he is leaving the show.

If you’re not familiar with the name, you might be familiar with the face if you’ve ever seen the movie Love Actually…he’s the one that went to America to meet girls.

Yes, this guy.

I’m not sure I can see it but I only really know him from the film, and that certainly isn’t a character I can see as the Doctor, but I’ve been surprised by actors before.

In the trailer posted below, we do see the Doctor start to regenerate – which indicates he will regenerate no later than the end of Series 10 and NOT in the Christmas episode as had been done for Smith and Capaldi, and the Mirror’s source says Marshall had already joined the show.

So take it as you will while we wait with baited breath…

It’s official – with the release of the trailer for Star Wars Rebels at Celebration Orlando, they also announced that the series will conclude with the upcoming 15-episode fourth season. It isn’t surprising, as we can see the storyline starting to approach the events of Rogue One. The real question is, who will make it that far?

One welcome addition will be the voice of Warwick Davis, who as Mark Hamill has said has been in more Star Wars movies than himself, as the character of Rukh. If you’re familiar with the Expanded Universe and Grand Admiral Thrawn, you may recognize the name as Thrawn’s bodyguard and…well, don’t want to spoil it.

See the trailer for Season 4 below.

And while the ending of Rebels may leave a void in the Star Wars animated universe, it will at least be partially filled with the previously mysterious project Star Wars Forces of Destiny. This new initiative will start with a series of animated shorts which will feature the female heroines of Star Wars – Princess Leia, Rey, Jyn Erso, Ahsoka Tano, Sabine Wren, and more – and the original voices will return as well. As a joint project between Lucasfilm, Disney and Hasbro, it will focus and the strong female characters the Star Wars universe has always given us. Hasbro will produce “adventure figures”, 11 inch highly poseable figures featuring the characters from the micro-series.

Star Wars Forces of Destiny will start airing on the Disney YouTube channel this July. See an inside look below.

Straight from Celebration!

When all seems lost, a few brave souls can save everything we’ve ever known.

Opens June 23rd, 2017

Sing it with me…”One Season More…”

Syfy today announced a 13 episode third season pickup of the critically acclaimed Universal Cable Productions drama The Magicians. Hailed as “one of the best shows on TV” by Wired, the series continues to buck industry trends, performing stronger in its second season than its first. To date, Season 2 is up year over year across all key demos (P18-49 +15%, P18-34 +23%, P25-54 +9% and +6% among P2+), and has nearly doubled its freshman run in social engagements across platforms. The sophomore season currently airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Syfy, and the must-see finale will air Wednesday, April 19. Season 3 of The Magicians will premiere in 2018.

Based on Lev Grossman’s bestselling novels, The Magicians centers on Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) and his 20-something friends as they are thrust into the unfamiliar world of the beautifully enchanting yet mysteriously dangerous Fillory – and places beyond – where they must draw upon their novice skills to save the existence of magic.

The Magicians stars Ralph, Stella Maeve, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Hale Appleman, Arjun Gupta, Summer Bishil, Rick Worthy and Jade Tailor. The series is executive produced by John McNamara, Sera Gamble, Chris Fisher and Groundswell Productions’ Michael London and Janice Williams.

Check out what’s happening on tonight’s penultimate episode!