Sci-Fi Storm

Harry over at Ain’t It Cool News managed to score some time watching J.J. Abrams edit some footage for the upcoming Star Trek movie – and spills the beans on some of the footage he saw regarding various cadets getting their starship assignments, as well as the bridge of the Enterprise. How does the bridge look? “Then for the first time in the history of Star Trek, it looked amazingly functional. It echoes that classic Trek look ? but imagine if you handed that design to the folks at APPLE and said? Make it really work.”

The long-coming John Carter of Mars project, based on the series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which has passed through many hands to its current resting place at Disney, may not be live action, but animated. Writer/Director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall*E) says they haven’t made a decision on the format yet, and won’t “for about a year.” So it looks like John Carter will continue to wait.

The live action Robotech feature has gained a writer in the form of Lawrence Kasdan. Kasdan is currently working on the remake of Clash of the Titans, and also did the screenplays for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

In an interview for Military.com, Terrence Howard, who played Lt. Col. James Rhodes in Iron Man, said that he’d begin filming for Iron Man 2 next March, with the film being released in April 2010. Jon Favreau thinks otherwise, deeming it “unrealistic”. “Neither [star Robert Downey Jr.] nor I were consulted about this and we are both concerned about how realistic the date is in light of the fact that we have no script, story or even writers hired yet.”

Looks like the Dune remake being produced by Kevin Misher and directed by Peter Berg now has a writer. Josh Zetumer will pen the screenplay. Zetumer appears to be a bit of a newcomer – he’s got two in-production writing credits – Villain and The Infiltrator, which I can find very little information on.

Could Saruman appear in the upcoming Hobbit movies? Christopher Lee is hoping so. He understands that to fill out two movies, the material will need to be expanded – and he has a wealth of knowledge about Middle Earth and the Istari (Wizards). “I’d be interested in seeing how that transition from good to evil occurred and, yes, of course I would return to the role if I was asked.” Saruman does not appear in the book, but both he and Radagast the Brown would be around at the time.

The previously announced chat with fans done by Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro about the upcoming The Hobbit and its unnamed sequel is now available. 6000 fans tuned in, and asked a whopping 7000 questions – no, they didn’t answer ALL of them…

Now I’m convinced Hollywood has run out of ideas. First up, on the infinite quest of a decent version, modern version of Flash Gordon, Columbia pictures will have at it, with Breck Eisner as director/exec producer, and Neal Moritz producing – no writer is lined up yet. Between the two of them, they are a remake machine: Goosebumps, 21 Jump Street, The Green Hornet, Creature From The Black Lagoon, and George Romero’s Crazies are all in the pipeline.

In the meantime, since no one understands the original’s penultimate line, “There can be only one!”, Summit Entertainment has obtained the remake rights to Highlander from Panzer/Davis, and will retain Peter Davis as a producer. Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (Iron Man) will write the screenplay.

Maybe I should channel my programming skills into writing some spec scripts. But then again, you still don’t see any new site software yet…

On Saturday, May 24th, at 4PM ET, you can join Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro online for a chat about The Hobbit films. Online registration is required. The chat is being hosted by Weta, the special effects group responsible for The Lord Of The Rings.

Variety is reporting that the successful video game Bioshock is getting the big screen treatment from Universal, and Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Carribean is attached to produce and direct. Bioshock is a first-person shooter that takes place in an underwater city where the inhabitants used ADAM, a chemical that allowed them to undergo genetic changes, including the ability to use “plasmids” which give them special abilities. Eventually they either turned into homicidal mutants, or were murdered by them, all while a power struggle took place in the city. The setting had a future-retro feel, which reminded me of the movie Captain Nemo and the Underwater City. Think it will fair better than Halo?