Sci-Fi Storm

Orson Scott Card, author of the Hugo and Nebula Award winning Ender’s Game, announced via his official web site that Wolfgang Petersion will direct and Warner Brothers will develop a movie based on Card’s Ender’s Game and its sequel, Ender’s Shadow, with Card penning the first draft of the script.

hossman writes “As seen on Slashdot…. The June issue of Wired includes a list of the top 20 Sci-Fi movies, based on ranking a combination of Adrenaline, Vision, and Precision. … Their rating system was based on one by Josh Calder, who also uses a three-point (Futurism, Entertainment, Plausibility) system ….”

Just a friendly reminder – previews for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions will air on Entertainment Tonight tomorrow evening. Check local listings for channel and time.

According to Variety (via an article at SCI FI Wire), Paramount and Cruise/Wagner Productions, the partnership between Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner (producer of the Mission Impossible films), are working on a remake of the H.G. Wells classic The War of the Worlds. Production is scheduled for 2003, and the hope is that Cruise will star – but I just can’t see him playing part of the professor. The original 1953 George Pal film was a must see whenever it was on…

Gee, do you think that Spider-Man is a hit? I’ve heard nothing but good reviews for it, and the first-weekend 3-day take comes in at US $114M, squashing the previous record holder, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone at $90.3M, like a, well, bug…

It’s been rumored for a while – now Dean Devlin, one of the producers of several SF movie hits with partner Roland Emmerich, has confirmed the two are in the early stages of a sequel to hit Independence Day. He says they’ve found a story, but mum’s the word on the plot. Also, the two are working on another SF movie, called The Hunt. No details on that yet either.

Seems someone had made off with the captain’s chair – again. Seems that thieves wandered off with the center chair of the Enterprise-E – which costs $15,000 – during a production break for Star Trek: Nemesis. Apparently, it’s happened twice before since 1994…

Rumors are swirling around the ‘net – and even Wil Wheaton himself has mentioned it – that his cameo as Wesley Crusher at the beginning of Star Trek: Nemesis has been cut from the film. Wil does say that “it’s too early to know if I’m out or not, and it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to cut my scene,” but who knows? Don’t put anything past Hollyweird. Oh – and Wil is involved in this mysterious G4 Network.

Disney/Pixar have announced their upcoming films for the next three years: Finding Nemo, released in 2003, about father and son fish who get separated; The Incredibles, 2004, about a family of superheroes; and Cars, 2005, about a variety of autos travelling on Route 66.

This is popping up all over the place…I’d have reported it sooner if I wasn’t seeing Wayne Brady (Who’s Line Is It Anyway?) live last night. But anyways, Warner Bros. has optioned a live-version of the cult-fave manga comic Akira, about the post-nuclear war Neo-Tokyo and a secret science experiment that results in the greatest threat to the city. Stephen Norrington is assigned to write and direct, but don’t expect it anytime soon – Norrington is busy on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Update 4/15: There was a request for where it was said that it was live-action and not another anime. Coming Attractions is one place, citing The Hollywood Reporter.