Sci-Fi Storm

Looks like the the award-winning story of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, part two (and best known) of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, will finally get adapted for the big screen. Walden Media, which in December optioned the entire 7 part series, will produce in partnership with the C.S. Lewis Company, and Ann Peacock (Emmy-winning writer for A Lesson Before Dying) will adapt it.

Update 8/1: Andrew Adamson (Shrek) will direct, according to Variety.

It was announced some time ago that Chris Columbus, who has directed the first two Harry Potter films, plans to step aside after the completion of the second. Variety is now reporting that Alfonso Cuaron (The Little Princess, Great Expectations) will take over for Harry Potter and the Prisoneer of Azkaban, with filming scheduled to begni early next year. Not much is known on casting yet, other than all the main characters will return.

One of Gerry Anderson’s more famous Supermarionation shows, Thunderbirds from 1965, appears to have gotten the go ahead for a live action version from Universal Pictures, with Star Trek: The Next Generation alum and now veteran director Jonathan Frakes at the helm. The original Thunderbirds now has a slot in our Sci-Fi TV Store, and on July 30th, you can get the entire series one 12 DVD set!

I’ve been hearing rumors of Alien vs. Predator for – well – a decade. All that came out were video games. Now, it seems, a movie might become a reality – Paul Anderson (Resident Evil director) has been hired to write and direct the movie which merges the storylines from the Alien and Predator franchises.

I’m back, finally. And topping off the news: apparently Steven Spielberg has begged George Lucas to let him direct an episode of Star Wars – but George has been unwilling to let Steven play with his “baby”.

The trailer for Star Trek: Nemesis can be seen on TV tonight (Wed 6/26) on Entertainment Tonight. Expect it on the official web site sometime thereafter.

X² has begun production up north, according to the Victoria Times Colonist, and Brian Cox (The Bourne Identity, Braveheart) is set to star as the chief villian, Stryker, although the latter is being denied over at Coming Attractions. Also announced newcomers: Alan Cumming (Spy Kids) as Nightcrawler; Aaron Stanford (Third Watch) as Pyro; and Kelly Hu (The Scorpion King) as Anne, Stryker’s assistant.

SCI FI Wire ran a number of articles today revolving around several proposed sequels. The events of Sept. 11th have inspired Devlin and Emmerich to come up with ideas for a sequel to Independence Day (a.k.a. ID4), for which they never intended a sequel; Spielberg, despite saying earlier in the week that he isn’t interested in doing any more sequels, says he’s eager to do a Jurassic Park IV; and Tim Allen is up for doing a Toy Story 3, if a “corporate and business thing” can be worked out…

Two items of note today: Variety reported that a remake of Clash of the Titans is being penned by John Glenn and Travis Wright (Red World); and brothers Anthony and Joe Russo
(Welcome to Collinwood) have been named to write the screenplay adpatation of J. Michael Straczynski’s Top Cow comic Rising Stars.

Without anything earth-shattering news-wise to report, I’ll add another review: this past weekend I caught Star Wars Episode II in digital. In brief – it wasn’t quite as bad as the critics made it out to be, but there were some moments that just didn’t work, like the scene someone likened to The Sound of Music. Read More for details. Be forewarned of possible spoilers.

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