Sci-Fi Storm

Joss Whedon made a comment on Whedonesque.com that there was no Serenity sequel in the works, squashing rumors that there were. In the process, a number of people seem to think this means there will NEVER be a sequel – including IGN. However, given a followup comment it seems people have gone off the deep end. Absolutely nothing is in the works, and he will not work on it – unless asked to by a studio. In other words, he isn’t going to work on it on his own time. Still, I think it will be unlikely that another production will come about.

The lead role in Jon Favreau’s upcoming Iron Man feature film has finally been announced. Robert Downey Jr. will play Tony Stark, the wealthy alcoholic who develops a suit of armor that gives him superhero abilities. Kevin Feige, Marvel’s president of productions, said they would not deal with the alcoholic aspects of the character in the first movie, but probably in sequels (if they happen). Filming is set to begin in February.

I guess the production vs. distribution rights haven’t quite been settled yet. MGM is talking about “tentpole” films – ones that “prop up” the studio for the entire year – and mentioned The Hobbit having possibly “one or two installments”, and hoping that Peter Jackson will direct. However as previously reported, New Line Cinema owns the production rights – so I’m not sure how this one is working out. Update: Apparently the two studios may have reached an agreement.

This is a suprise: As part of a restructuring at MGM Worldwide Television Distribution Group, it was mentioned that the group would handle distribution of 4 sequel films – including Species 4 and War Games 2. The followup to the 1983 hacker’s dream War Games will start shooting in November, and deal with what happens when they try and dismantle the WOPR. Time for everyone to dig out their IMSAI computers and hook them up…

Jam! Movies is running an article that Leonard Nimoy has been contacted about the upcoming Star Trek 11 production, and that he and Shatner may have some sort of involvement. Nothing has been said on what that involvement is, but Nimoy speculates that it may be done as some sort of flashback between the characters.

TheOneRing.net is reporting a rumor from an insider that The Hobbit is on the production calendar at New Line Cinema, presumably for the formal start of production. Hopefully we’ll hear more about this soon.

Dreamworks Animation has put up a teaser web site for the upcoming Shrek the Third. Nothing more than a flash image with a little animation so far, but I expect more soon. The movie is set to open in May 2007.

According to The Hollywood Reporter (not on the web site), The Chronicles of Narnia producer Mark Steven Johnson said that filming of the second movie, Prince Caspian, will begin in January in Europe instead of New Zealand, where The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was filmed (along with a lot of the recent epic films). Also, the third movie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, will begin production a year after Prince Caspian is finished.

Sorry this is a bit late…been busy…anyways, the release date for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie has been set for November 21st, 2008. Ambitious, considering there is no director attached yet, or cast signings. Order of the Phoenix is due out next July. In the meantime, American authors Stephen King and John Irving “opened” for J.K. at a story reading ay Radio City Music Hall, pleaded with her to not kill off her boy wizard…

Actress Helena Bonham Carter (Planet of the Apes, Merlin) has signed on to join the cast of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange. Have you noticed more characters in the later books are getting astronomical names? Remus, Sirius, Bellatrix, Luna, Regulus…