Sci-Fi Storm

The teaser for the fifth movie in the franchise, and a direct sequel to 2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction, dropped during Monday Night Football last night, and like any Michael Bay feature it has lots of booms – but a very haunting soundtrack and an air of despair…

This is the latest full trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which opens in just three weeks! Here we get to see some more of K-S2O, voiced by Alan Tudyk (Wash from Firefly)

The family-oriented SF film The Space Between Us, originally scheduled to open right against Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on December 16th and among a variety of other movies around the same time that threatened to drown it out, will move to February 3rd as production company STX Entertainment saw fit to push the film back a couple months into a less crowded slot to give the film the exposure it might deserve.

The film follows the first human born on Mars (Asa Butterfield, Ender’s Game), who travels to Earth for the first time to experiencing the wonders of the planet through fresh eyes. He embarks on an adventure with a street smart girl (Britt Robertson, Tomorrowland) to discover how he came to be.

We could still see another Dune adaptation…but I’m not holding my breath.

The last attempt we reported on fell apart in 2010 and the rights lapsed in 2011, when it was set up at Paramount. But now with studios not just satisfied with a standalone blockbuster, but in search of the next great franchise, studios look to the extensive library of fantasy and science fiction, and few seems to show such untapped potential as the universe of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Of course, it’s been tried before, and became reality twice so far.

Most of you will remember the 1984 David Lynch effort for Raffaella and Dino DeLaurentiis, which was visually striking but confusing, departed in some ways from the book, and less than compelling acting despite the extensive experienced cast list, bombed at the box office, and was later disavowed by Lynch. An extended version added more explanation as to the history leading up to the plot, but did little to help in the end. Even so, it did achieve a cult status, but cemented the idea of the novels not being possible to translate to film.

In 2000 then Sci-Fi Channel produced a miniseries based on the first book, which did reasonably well enough to warrant a sequel, adapting Dune Messiah and Children of Dune under the latter’s title for a 2003 miniseries. Both were among the top rated miniseries for the network at the time.

So good luck to Legendary on attempting to bring this to the big screen again. I’ll be over here playing with my sandworm…

The Harry Potter spinoff film Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, expected to lead another run in the franchise with up to 5 films, handily won the weekend box office with a $75 million opening take domestically and over $218 million globally. But this may have been a tad below expectations given that it was a Harry Potter film, with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 having done more than twice that at $169.2m, and the lowest opening of any of the films was $77.1m for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

We don’t know if this is a disappointment yet for Warner Bros, who might have been happier with a bigger haul, but this still seems respectable take and should insure the franchise moving forward. As fans get comfortable with the new characters and setting, I expect more heat to generate for the openings of future installments.

Quick editorial note – apologies for the broken links on social media…I had to switch methods due to API changes, and unbeknownst to be a combinations of plugins produced bad social media links. That’s all fixed now. I’m also getting my head above water again after being involved in a local theater production and attending Rhode Island Comic Con last weekend…

Deadpool 2 now has a new director in David Leitch, the former stuntman who directed 2014’s John Wick. He’s currently working on The Coldest City, starring Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman and Sofia Boutella. Original directory Tim Miller left the project after creative differences with star Ryan Reynolds.

The CW has elected not to pick up back-end orders for its two freshman shows Frequency and No Tomorrow. This is unusual as the CW has generally given back end orders to nearly all of its new series. While they aren’t necessarily dead yet, hopes are very minimal as the ratings were extremely low. However, under the deal with Netflix, the shows will be on the streaming provider 8 days after the finale ends, so if it does well there, there could be enough impetus to pick them up.

Syfy, with Paramount Television and Universal Cable Productions, is developing a series based on Robert Heinlein’s Stranger In A Strange Land, about a man born and raised on Mars who comes to Earth.

So that Inhumans movie that was announced for 2018? Not happening – at least, not exactly.

Marvel.com announced that The Inhumans will in fact be a TV series in ABC, starting in September 2017, which at least brings it a whole year sooner. But it WILL get a big screen treatment, in the form of the first two episodes debuting on IMAX screens late in the summer prior to the network run. The first two episodes will be filmed entirely with IMAX cameras to facilitate this.

The new project comes from Marvel Television and ABC Studios, and follows a race of superhumans with diverse and singularly unique powers, were first introduced in Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1965. The Inhumans were already introduced in the cinematic universe in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

ABC, IMAX and Marvel Television also intend to work together to create a joint marketing and promotion plan for the series across their proprietary media platforms–which would be the first such cross-platform marketing launch of a television series. Today’s agreement also marks IMAX’s first time as a financing participant in a TV pilot and series.

“This first-of-its-kind multi-platform production, distribution and marketing agreement brings together Marvel Television’s unique brand of entertainment, ABC’s unparalleled audience and IMAX’s brand and global fanboy demographic,” said IMAX CEO, Rich Gelfond. “It also takes our decades-long relationship with The Walt Disney Company to a whole new level, jointly breaking new ground in the industry. We are confident our exhibition partners will be excited to work with us on this innovative launch of a series across the IMAX network.”

“We’re happy to see this unique deal come together, working with our partners,” said Dan Buckley, President, Marvel Television, Publishing & Brand. “In an ever-changing world of distribution and consumption, it’s very exciting to be part of a groundbreaking initiative that takes us to the forefront of this evolution.”

Monty Python member, writer and director Terry Gilliam did a webchat for The Guardian on Monday, and as part of it, Gilliam mentioned an old favorite, Time Bandits, as well as another possible project:

“Yes I am! We are involved in two possibilities – one, a TV series based on Time Bandits, another based on a script by Richard LaGravanese and I wrote after Fisher King, called The Defective Detective. We’re currently adapting a two hour film into a six hour series. It’s about a middle aged New York cop who was once a hero who has grown fat and cynical and is in the middle of a breakdown, ending up in a child’s fantasy world where the rules of the mean streets of New York no longer apply. The best way to kill a dragon is no longer a gun, but a tree branch you think is a sword.”

Time Bandits was one of the films that played frequently on cable TV when we first got it, and I watched it frequently. It’s still one of my favorite films. It follows 11 year old Kevin (Craig Warnock), who suddenly finds himself on a journey through history with six dwarves who have stolen a map to all the time portals so they can travel through time and steal valuable items. Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelley Duvall, Ian Holm, David Warner and more all appeared in the film.

The Dark Tower, the first film of the epic project from Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment, Sony Pictures and MRC, based on Stephen King’s series of post-apocalyptic fantasy novels, is getting the release date pushed back from February to June 28th, 2017. According to EW, this is to allow more time in post-production to complete the visual effects, but also will give then more time to market the film.

No official trailer has been released, while principle photography completed on schedule in July.

The film follows gunslinger Roland Deschain (Idris Elba) and the sorcerer known as the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) who are on a quest to reach the mystical tower that stands at the nexus of countless dimensions, in a post-apocaplyptic Earth.

The project is intended to be multiple films AND at least one TV miniseries, which is currently being developed for 10-13 episodes, although no outlet has been announced yet.

At last! The first official trailer to Wonder Woman! In theaters June 2nd, 2017