Sci-Fi Storm

iFilm is currently offering interviews and clips for Hellboy, starring the forever-in-prosthetics Ron Perlman, which opens Friday (4/2).

After teaming together for Minority Report, Variety is reporting that Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise will team again to remake the H.G. Wells classic The War of the Worlds, with production possibly starting in late 2005. David Koepp, who with Spielberg, writing the screenplays for Jurrasic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park, is reworking the first draft from Josh Friedman (Chain Reaction).

Hmmm…Kermit as the scarecrow? Fozzie is the Tin Man? Miss Piggy as Dorothy? It could happen, as ABC is preparing a Muppet version of The Wizard of Oz. No word on the actualy roles, but they do say that there may be a human character, possibly Dorothy. And the story will be based on the original book, not the musical we are all familiar with.

OK, this is a bit scary. Think Aragorn and Arwen doing a love duet, Frodo and Sam a deep dirge, and Gimli a drinking song. It could happen in London. Kevin Wallace, former collaborator with Andrew Lloyd Webber, is among the producers of what could be the most expensive musical ever produced, and itself rival the movies at three and a half hours long. Perhaps we’ll see Tom Bombadil this time around…

Although sometime options amount to hot air, Red Eagle Entertainment has bought the rights to Robert Jordan’s entire The Wheel of Time fantasy series for feature films. After Lord of the Rings, I see a lot of studios trying to take advantage of the fantasy theme, but I fear too many will do a poor job and burn out the genre…

Lending more credence to what we’ve discussed earlier, Peter Jackson discussed planning to film The Hobbit, but New Line and MGM must duke it out with lawyers over their split rights – somehow New Line has production rights and MGM has distribution rights – and I’m sure neither is willing to give up much of that lucrative pie. Having read The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales and working on other books, I’m wondering if an enterprising screenwriter could develop stories based in Middle-Earth with the humongous backstory Tolkien developed. Middle-Earth is literally a complete mythology – I wish he could have fleshed out more epic stories…(and yes, I stole the topic image from Slashdot)

Busy-body Bryan Singer (X-Men) will direct the remake of William F. Nolan’s Logan’s Run, originally rendered onto film in 1976 starring Michael York. Singer will also share screenplay duties with Ethan Gross (Klepto) and Paul Todisco (Revolver), and Joel Silver (The Matrix) is producing. This version will go back to the original “death day” as the 21st birthday, whereas the 1976 version used 30 years.

Serenity, the apparent name for the Firefly feature film, is now listed under the “Coming Soon” section of the Universal Studios Movie Web Site (Flash required) Update 3/4: Variety reports Serenity is a go…

Yeah, do I really need to post this? If you cared at all, you’ve already heard it from a zillion news outlets if you didn’t stay up like me to make sure Jackson didn’t get shorted. Return of the King finally got Peter Jackson and the rest their dues and took home every Oscar it was nominated for – eleven – which is a record for a sweep, and ties Ben Hur and Titanic for most Oscars, and that didn’t include any Acting categories. It also breaks the non-Fantasy mental block the AMPAS had.

tchansen writes “According to The SciFi Channel, Orson Scott Card has signed a deal with Warner Brothers to allow his novels, Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow, to be made into a movie (or movies?) directed by Wolfgang Petersen. X2 writers Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty are onboard to adapt the books, which are among my favorite novels of all time.”