Sci-Fi Storm

We haven’t heard anything for 3 and a half years (I really need to start a page to track these things), but Morgan Freeman says it is still on track – and David Fincher (Fight Club) still attached to direct. The problem, Freeman says, is “It?s a very intellectual science fiction film, a very difficult book to translate cinematically.? Although I thought that Freeman’s adaptation may have been aimed more at Rama II (or possibly a hybrid story) to shoot for a possible franchise-making story, he mentions specifically that he’d be the captain of the Endeavor, which was the ship specifically in the original book. Doesn’t mean they won’t hybridize the story later, but for those that haven’t read all the books the three later books (written with Gentry Lee) form a more cohesive trilogy, where the first book (written by Clarke alone) really is a standalone story.

Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and screenwriter Josh Olson (Masters of Science Fiction “The Discarded”) have had an idea to revisit the land of Oz – now Warner Brothers is making it possible. WB has purchased the rights to all 15 of the Oz books (14 by L. Frank Baum, and 1 by another author), stocking up for a possible franchise. McFarlane and Olsen have slightly different ideas on the tone of the movie – McFarlane wants a darker, PG-13 film, whereas Olsen is thinking PG.

As a followup to the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD debate, director Michael Bey said on his official blog that he may still do a Transformers sequel – after having previously said that he would because Paramount would only release Transformers in the HD-DVD format. Advice to Michael – don’t post after midnight.

Since it seem Bryan Singer would never get to it, Joel Silver’s planned remake of Logan’s Run has spent the last year in limbo. Well, Silver’s pulled it out of the pile again, attaching commercial director Joseph Kosinski (in his feature debut) and writer Tim Sexton (Children of Men).

Could Peter Jackson and New Line be talking again? Apparently so, despite previous comments from the head of New Line, Robert Shaye. So perhaps we could get some movement on The Hobbit…

It’s kind of out there, and kind of unlikely, but IGN is reporting that J.J. Abrams has been wooing Tom Cruise to play a bit part in Star Trek XI as a younger Captain Christopher Pike, Jim Kirk’s predecessor in the center seat on the Enterprise. Strangely, I think he looks enough like Jeffrey Hunter, who played Pike in the original pilot episode, “The Cage”, that it could be pulled off. Of course, they’d need to make him look at least a foot taller…

I got to watch Order of the Phoenix a second time this weekend, this
time in IMAX with the entire climactic battle shown in 3D, which was done
very well and was totally cool. So here is a bit of a review (relatively
spoiler free) for the 5th movie installment of the series.

(continue reading…)

The Dark is Rising, the Newbery winning novel turned feature film, is getting a bit of a name change. Now referred to as The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, it involves a boy (Alexander Ludwig, The Sandlot 3) who finds out that he is The Seeker, the last of a group of immortals dedicated to fighting evil forces. Also starring are Ian McShane (Deadwood) as Merriman Lyon and Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) as the Dark Rider. The movie is due out in October. I sense the name change is in anticipation of sequels…

Guess the long-standing rumors of the upcoming J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie being about a younger Kirk and Spock were true. Both Zachary Quinto (Syler in Heroes) and Leonard Nimoy were made an appearance at Comic-Con, with Quinto cast in the role of the younger Spock, and Nimoy also appearing in the film. Kirk is still to be cast, but Abrams did say William Shatner will likely have a role. Production should begin in December.

The latest casting announcement on the upcoming Indiana Jones installment is that Jim Broadbent has signed on. You may remember him as the Professor in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and he also won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2001 for Iris among many other roles.