Sci-Fi Storm

British tablod The Sun cited a “Hollywood source” on the title of the last of the Star Wars movies, along with a note about the climactic battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan – on racks in a lava pool controlled “like surfboards.?

The official website for The Hitchhiker’s Guide ot the Galaxy movie has gone live, with a few different flash animations and even a blog (albeit with only one entry so far).

SCI FI Wire is full of news on movies being made or considered: James Cameron will begin shooting a new unnamed SF movie, using his 3-D highdef camera process. He’s also working on an update to the classic Fantastic Voyage; Production on Serenity begins in three weeks; Polar Express will be released in IMAX on the same date as traditional theaters (Nov. 19th); Arnold Vosloo thinks there will be a Mummy 3; and X-Men 3 will begin shooting in 2005.

JMS has been quiet lately – it’s been more than a month since he’s posted to rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, and that usually means one of two things – he now has so little time because he is so busy, and he’s already given up sleep; or he can’t say what he wants to. Well, he has been dropping hints. We know that there is a B5 project coming up, but we didn’t know what. Well, in his posting from yesterday evening, he drops a HUGE hint: “I don’t like being Mr. Mysterioso on this, but if I say too much, the-powers-that-be will use my head to make a 2.35:1 sized hole in the wall.” Well, lets just say that is the perfect ratio for something to be projected on to a nice big screen, and I’m not talking HDTV – which is only about 1.78:1…read the whole post here.

TrekWeb is reporting that Berman is working on a new film for the Star Trek franchise, but the only details we would give was that it is a “prequel” – the question is, a prequel to what exactly? Could it be the long-rumored Starfleet Academy movie Harve Bennett (producer of several Trek films) once pitched?

Paramount has announced that Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, the retro-scifi movie starring Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, would be delayed until September 17th. It was originally scheduled for June 11th, and then delayed until June 25th (probably to avoid the crushing Harry Potter). The most recent move is supposedly because “the summer play time is insane, and this great movie deserves a better date.”

John Malkovich (Johnny English) is set to join the cast of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as Humma Kavula, a religous cult leader. Don’t remember that name? You shouldn’t – it is a role the late Douglas Adams added strictly for the movie.

Didn’t have time to post this yesterday – the release date for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has been set – November 18, 2005. And somehow, I missed posting this before – you can catch a 10 minute preview of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (which opens June 4th) at the conclusion of ABC’s network airing of Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone on May 9th, along with I believe some interview snippets during the breaks.

tchansen writes “According to Slashdot and LucasArts the theatrical worldwide release will be … May 19, 2005. Well, nearly world wide; Japan will get it in July, the traditional date in Japan for Star Wars releases.”

The Phantom Poster writes: “Could the Lord of he Rings get remade already? Rumors have David Lynch (Twin Peaks) wanting a shot at it. “If they can remake my Dune epic, why can’t I remake someone else’s? And Jackson is even doing the 534th version of King Kong.” And since no one in Hollyweird can come up with new ideas – remaking movies over and over, adapting comic books, sequel after sequel – why not just remake the same blockbuster movie every year?” Hmmm…The Rock as Aragorn, Paul Williams as a Hobbit (no camera tricks needed!)…what would be your fantasy fun casting?