Sci-Fi Storm

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Mira Nair, who directed this years Vanity Failr and is best known for Monsoon Wedding, has told the Delhi Times that she has been offered the helm of Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, the fifth installment of the bespectacled franchise. Although she hasn’t decided, her son is excited (surprise!)

Totally unsubstantiated, but there is a report circulating that Industrial Light and Magic employees are signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement to not talk about Star Wars movies 7, 8, and 9, even though George Lucas has denied their existence or plans to make them repeatedly. Update 8/26: Of course the official denial is out.

OK, so we are in crossover hell (no pun intended) – we’ve had Freddy vs. Jason, and Alien vs. Predator hit this past weekend. New Line wants to take the Freddy and Jason franchises further still, with a sequel – and they want to bring in Evil Dead‘s Ash into the mix, if Sam Raimi agrees. If he doesn’t, New Line will apparently move ahead anyways with a new character. Bruce Campbell will apparently reprise Ash if it happens. What’s next? Chucky vs. Puppet Master vs. Pinhead vs. Indiana Jones? I should register that web site…

Dreamworks and Paramount in a co-financing deal have fasttracked a remake of H.G. Wells classic War of the Worlds, set to have Steven Spielberg direct and star Tom Cruise. The contemporary adaptation is scheduled to start production in November for a 2005 release date, and the budget could exceed $100 million. This puts Cruise’s Mission Impossible 3 on a backburner, after J.J. Abrams (Alias) was brought in to replace Joe Carnahan as director.

It seems the comedy movie that used to be known as 3001, being brought to us by Mike Judge, is now being talked about as “untitled”, at least according to this article where Dax Shepard (Without a Paddle) talks up the Beavis-and-Butthead – and to his credit, Office Space – creator. Perhaps confusion with the Arthur C. Clarke novel sparked the change?

Upset that Bryan Singer, best known as the writer/director of the X-Men movies, went over to Warner Brothers to direct Superman and Logan’s Run instead of working on X-Men 3, Fox Studios has terminated their production relationship with him, even asking him to vacate his office on the Fox Studios lot. The future of the X-Men franchise is even more murky now…

The penultimate villain of the Harry Potter Series, Lord Voldemort, makes a comeback in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and to play him in the movie that has already started filming they’ve tapped Ralph Fiennes (Red Dragon). Also added to the cast are Brendan Gleeson (The Village, Troy) as Mad-Eye Moody, and Miranda Richardson (Sleepy Hollow, The Hours) as gossip columnist Rita Skeeter.

Dr. Doom will be the villain in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, and will be played by Aussie Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck, Charmed). The heroes have also been settled – Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic is Ioan Gruffudd (Century City, the Britich Hornblower TV movies), Johnny Storm/The Human Torch is Chris Evans (Not Another Teen Movie), Susan Storm/The Invisible Girl is Jessica Alba (Dark Angel), and Ben Grimm/The Thing is played by Michael Chiklis (The Shield)

SCI FI Wire has exclusive links to the online trailer for Warner Brothers’ A Sound of Thunder staring Ed Burns and Ben Kingsley, based on the Ray Bradbury story that shows even a slight change in the past can elicit massive changes in the present.