Sci-Fi Storm

It appears there is something beyond the Edge Of Tomorrow…Deadline broke the news yesterday that Frankie and Alice writing duo Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse have been named for a sequel to the Tom Cruise sleeper hit, and that director Doug Liman would return to direct. Original writer Christopher McQuarrie would be involved in some capacity.

No details on any sort of plot were given, but it is expected for Cruise to reprise his role.

Edge Of Tomorrow is set during a time when aliens called Mimics have invaded and control continental Europe, while NATO’s forces struggle just to hold the line. It follows a relations officer Major William Cage (Cruise), who has no combat training, and after defying orders to cover a major assault against the Mimics, wakes up on a base demoted to private and assigned to a combat squad. During the assault, he is killed covered in alien blood – and then wakes up back at the base, reliving the same day. From then on, any time he is killed, he returns to that very moment.

He teams up with Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), a famous soldier who recognizes his abilities as she had the same ability, until she was injured and received a blood transfusion which removed it. The two through trial and error work on ways to defeat the Mimics, with any failure resulting in Cage’s death in order to reset time.

“I rebel.”

It’s here…the first official teaser for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – and now we see when it takes place…and some familiar characters, and not-so-familiar characters but familiar faces…

In theaters December 16th, 2016.

And also check out below the new Force for Change campaign announcement from Kathleen Kennedy and a staring-intensely Mark Hamill…

Robin Wright (House of Cards, The Princess Bride) is set to join the cast of the thusfar untitled Blade Runner sequel being directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling. No further details on her role are known, but we do know the movie will take place several decades after the original 1982 movie. Filming is expected to start this summer for a January 12th, 2018 release.

Yes, it is finally happening! Disney, which purchased the film rights to the Indiana Jones franchise from Paramount in 2013, just announced that there will be a new Indiana Jones film with the old gang – Harrison Ford will star, Steven Spielberg will direct, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy will produce. The film is planned to be released on July 19th, 2019.

Marshall and Kennedy have been involved at the start – the two, married in 1987, were both involved starting with Raiders of the Lost Ark – Marshall as producer, and Kennedy as the assistant to Spielberg, and both cofounded Amblin Entertainment with Spielberg. Kennedy is now the president of Lucasfilm after the acquisition by Disney.

No mention of Shia LaBeouf, who was the heir apparent to the franchise when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released in 2008 – until that film nearly sunk the franchise. Whether they will try again to pass the fedora on is unsure, but it is expected to involve younger actors.

In an interesting development this weekend, Emmy winning actress Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Expanse, House of Saddam) is reported to be the High Command of the Federation for reshoots taking place for Star Trek Beyond, being directed by Justin Lin. The reshoots are not expected to affect the release date, which is July 22nd. It sounds like some last minute improvements or replacements to scenes are taking place.

Oh my…

Although it looks a bit more like “Avengers Divided” than a Captain America-specific movie, this is going to rock! And there is a little surprise at the end…

Two industry passings were sadly reported this weekend.

Tony Dyson, who referred to himself as “R2-D2’s Dad”, passed away at the age of 68. While working at his own studio, the White Horse Toy Company, he was commissioned by George Lucas to turn Ralph McQuarrie’s sketches of a plug-shaped mechanical character into an astromech that would become the most loved droid in two galaxies.

On his web site Dyson wrote about the return of R2-D2 in Episode VII, “The love for R2 is universal; no other Star Wars character has been loved over the years the way R2-D2 has, his merchandising has rocketed over the years and his influence in the world of robotics is truly remarkable.”

Emmy-winning visual effect artist Gary Hutzel, who’s career shot starward when he helped define the look of Star Trek: The Next Generation including the infamous Borg Cube, as well as the U.S.S. Defiant design for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, passed away on Thursday at the age of 60.

Hutzel later worked in movies, including Red Planet and Spy Kids, but would return to television for Ronald D. Moore’s reboot of Battlestar Galactica, where he won two of his Emmys.

Some Thursday tidbits for you…

Rod Roddenberry, the son of the “Great Bird of the Galaxy”, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and president of Roddenberry Entertainment, will join the upcoming Star Trek series for CBS All Access as an executive producer, along with chief operating officer Trevor Roth. Roddenberry Entertainment will co-produce the series.

Actor Ian McShane (Deadwood) will play the mysterious con man Mr. Wednesday in Starz’ series adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, where the gods of myth are about to enter a war against the gods of modern society representing money, power, etc.

ABC gave quite a few early pickups to its shows, including Once Upon A Time and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Absent, at least so far, is Agent Carter, which appears to be a long shot at this point – especially since star Haley Atwell has signed on to do a pilot for ABC. While Carter currently operates on a half-season schedule it is possible that if the other show is also half-season she could do both, but the shows only modest ratings already were pointing at an ending for the show.

And finally, the Radio Times is reporting that Peter Capaldi is set to show up in the upcoming Doctor Who spinoff Class which is set at the Coal Hill School – where the very first episode of Doctor Who started and where Clara Oswald had been teaching. “It wil[sic] have a close connection with Doctor Who so don’t be surprised if Peter pops up,” according to someone close to the production. Now, my interpretation of that statement is that it isn’t definite Capaldi will appear, but that the story will allow for it.

With several official live action spin-off series in the history of the show (K-9 and Company (only one episode produced), Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and K-9), the Doctor only appeared on The Sarah Jane Adventures – but he did so in two incarnations: both David Tennant and Matt Smith appeared in separate two-parters.

Now we finally get a taste of what the new Ghostbusters are up to…some of it seems a bit familiar, but perhaps with a tad more slapstick…

Ghostbusters start bustin’ July 15, 2016.

While the Oscars were good in general for genre movies at least for nominations, it was Mad Max: Fury Road that stood out with the statues, collecting six of them in a near-sweep of the technical awards (Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, Best Make-up and Hair, Best Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing), and coming out the big winner of the night.

However, the rest of the genre fell flat, with favorite The Martian and Star Wars: The Force Awakens not getting any awards, and Ex Machina winning for Visual Effects and Inside Out winning for Best Animated Film.

All is not lost – at least Fantastic Four made a good showing at the Razzies. 🙂