Sci-Fi Storm

There has been an awakening…

A video posted by Star Wars (@starwars) on Aug 27, 2015 at 10:00am PDT

It looks like we are getting teased what may be a big part of this movie…but Finn looks rather unprepared…

Check out the article on our sister site for details, but if you have been waiting for a bigger theme park experience than Star Tours, you’re going to be very happy…

It appears that Fantastic Four director Josh Trank yesterday tweeted about the movie he wanted to make, which he later deleted. “A year ago I had a fantastic version of this,” he said. “And it would have received great reviews. You’ll probably never see it. That’s reality though.”

Fantastic Four has not been receiving good reviews, and we here didn’t have high hopes for the movie – many saw it as a “sequel for rights”, produced so that Fox could retain the movie rights to the Fantastic Four rather than let them lapse and revert to Marvel Studios. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t try to produce a good movie. Without naming names, it appears that Trank at least blames someone else for the resulting film, and that would usually be the producers/studio. Rumors of troubles on the set came about, and Trank had previously been attached to a Star Wars anthology film, both being produced by Simon Kinberg, but Trank left that production. It seems the friction with that kept the embers burning on Fantastic Four as well, where Kinberg was reportedly less than thrilled with the results.

The troubles may dog the film at the box office as well. While the film appeared to be tracking highly, it managed only $2.2M in early release so far.

Remember that lawsuit that had been going on for years over the movie rights for the Dungeons & Dragons game franchise? The one that went to court almost eleven months ago?? Well, it’s finally been put to bed, with both sides reaching a settlement.

Many felt this was a “proxy war” between two studios – Warner Bros, who reached a deal with original rightsholder Sweetpea Entertainment and director Courtney Solomon to bring D&D back to the big screen, and Universal, who reached a similar agreement with Hasbro, who owns the game through subsidiary Wizards Of The Coast. Hasbro felt that Sweetpea was simply producing DVD “sequels” just to retain the rights, and sought to reclaim them to hand over to Universal. Sweetpea contested, backed by Warner Bros.

Now it appears that Sweetpea and Warner Bros. were on the winning side in the settlement, and Universal is out of the picture.

“We are so excited about bringing the world of Dungeons & Dragons to life on the big screen,” according to Greg Silverman, WB’s president of Creative Development and Worldwide Production. “This is far and away the most well-known brand in fantasy, which is the genre that drives the most passionate film followings. D&D has endless creative possibilities, giving our filmmakers immense opportunities to delight and thrill both fans and moviegoers new to the property.”

Courtney Solomon and Allan Zeman of Sweetpea Entertainment, Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis, and Roy Lee (The LEGO Movie) are all set to produce. A script has already been written by David Leslie Johnson (The Conjuring 2). No director has been named yet, so it seems likely that we are quite a ways off yet.

From what I’ve been told, Solomon and Zeman will remain producers for all Warner Bros productions of the franchise in theaters or on TV, but overall rights return to Wizards Of The Coast.

Now, let’s see if they can come up with something good. Been waiting 25 years…

Universal Pictures has already set a release date of June 22nd, 2018, for a sequel to the summer blockbuster Jurassic World sequel, which does not have an official name yet, but stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are confirmed to return, and writer/director Colin Trevorrow will write the script, but is not likely to return as director as rumors have him attached to a future Star Wars movie.

Here is the official trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 that debuted at SDCC – it was just released this morning and is already closing on 1.5 million views!

The movie fills theaters on November 20th…

Well, it’s been a couple years, but it’s time for more news about a remake of Logan’s Run.

The project is still at Warner Bros with Joel Silver producing, but now Simon Kinberg, who has been working on one of the Star Wars anthology films, will work on a script and join as a producer.

The novel follows Logan, who works as a Sandman (also called a “Deep Sleep Operative”) – the police of the of the post-apocalyptic world where population is strictly controlled. The Sandmen were charges with hunting down and executing “runners” – those who upon reaching the age of 21 refused to report to a “sleepshop”, where they were humanely executed to keep the population steady. Logan is chosen to become a runner on his Lastday in order to track down and infiltrate an underground railroad for runners. While doing so, he has a change of heart.

The novel was turned into a 1976 feature film starring Michael York as Logan, but to take advantage of more mature actors the age for Lastday was changed to 30 along with various other differences, including being set in a domed city.

It is uncertain if this version will follow the book or film settings, although previous reports were that it would return the Lastday age to 21. I think having the Lastday age being set older makes more logical sense, but in the current environment of young adult post-apocalyptic franchises, adhering more closely to the book might be a boost, especially considering that the novel could be the granddaddy of all YA post-apoc stories…

After the success of A Force For Change, the other giant SF franchise in this universe is getting in the act with “Star Trek: To Boldly Go”, an Omaze fundraiser supporting nine charities (chosen by the cast members), with the big prize being a walk on role on Star Trek Beyond!

Six “Honorary Crew Members” will be chosen from separate pools of weekly entries, with those winners getting to visit the set, meet the cast, and see scenes being filmed. Then one Grand Prize winner will be chosen from all the entrants.

Donation amounts also come with goodies, up to a Captain’s Chair (limited number available)!

Check out the video below, and see more details and donate here! Entry deadline is September 1st.

Here are some video soundbites from the panel members at the SDCC panel on Star Wars: The Force Awakens…

Director J.J. Abrams

Producer/writer Lawrence Kasdan and producer Kathleen Kennedy

Harrison Ford

John Boyega (Finn), Daisy Ridley (Rey) & Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron)

Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux), Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma) & Adam Driver (Kylo Ren)

The mystery Lucasfilm panel in Hall H was indeed for Star Wars (no surprise), but there were some surprises, such as Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford all being present for the panel along with all the new talent, and a behind-the-scenes sizzle reel that you can see below.

There wasn’t much surprising news…they are still editing the movie, with Disney giving them all the time they need. Lawrence Kasdan gave the nod to George Lucas for bringing him back on board, and the characters “never left his consciousness”, and he went “beserk” when he heard that J.J. Abrams was directing. The brought out a practical effects character, named “Bobbajo” or something like that, showing that they are doing all the practical effects they can with makeup and robotics, although CGI cannot be avoided. A flamethrower Stormtrooper and explosions shown were all real.

In the sizzle reel many of the actors can be seen. Simon Pegg is indeed appearing in the film, but it appears he will be in costume, so his face will not actually be seen. Peter Mayhew is back as Chewbacca and Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, but Warwick Davis, who originally played Wicket the Ewok but also other characters in the prequel trilogy, could be seen on set as well. The sizzle reel gives me goosebumps – this is REAL, folks!

Actors appearing in the panel at various times: John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendolyn Christie, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford.

Gleeson’s character is definitely evil. Apparently because he is British 🙂

Harrison Ford’s foot is fine…he said he walked to the hall.

And now, the sizzle reel…