Sci-Fi Storm

TV Line reports that Big Bang Theory producers Bill Prady and Steve Molaro said on the red carpet last night at the Golden Globes that they’ve signed James Earl Jones, best known as the booming voice of Darth Vader, and Princess Leia herself Carrie Fisher, to play themselves in cameo roles in an upcoming episode of the show where they will cross paths with Sheldon.

We know that Sheldon is a huge fan of That Other Franchise, but we’ve not seen a lot of Star Wars representation on the show. I wonder what reaction we’ll see?

In the meantime, The Hollywood Reporter is reporting on some of the names being bandied about as possibly up for roles in the upcoming Episode VII movie, including Michael Fassbender (X-Men: Days of Future Past), Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix), Adam Driver (Girls) and Breaking Bad‘s Jesse Plemons.

But there is also this interesting nugget…that with the departure of Michael Arndt, who was originally writing the script which focused on the offspring the of the original trilogy’s main characters – Luke, Leia and Han, with them and the original actors taking supporting roles, J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan, who have taken over the writing, have rewritten the script to put the three back into the lead roles!

Apparently even George Lucas, who had given guidance at the start, has acquiesced to Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy, President of Lucasfilm.

Is this a good idea? I can see them perhaps using this film as a transition, launching the new characters forward, but I can’t see it working for three movies.

While details of what is exactly going to be in it, Walt Disney World finally broke ground at its Animal Kingdom park to add the new land based on James Cameron’s Avatar – more than two years after it was announced.

And not only was Mickey Mouse present, but a Na’vi as well – as well as (pictured, l to r) George Kalogridis, president of Walt Disney World Resort; Meg Crofton, president of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Operations, United States and France; Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts; Jon Landau, producer of Avatar; Bruce Vaughn, chief creative executive for Walt Disney Imagineering; and Joe Rhode, creative executive for Walt Disney Imagineering.

Check out the video as well for what they said about Avatar.
(continue reading…)

Director Matt Reeves, who recently directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the sequel of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, has already signed on for a third movie in the franchise, and he’ll also co-write the script with Dawn scribe Mark Bomback. The third movie appears to be getting fasttracked as well and will be Reeves next film.

Dawn will debut on July 11th, 2014, and features Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke and Keri Russell, with Andy Serkis returning as Caesar. Check out the trailer here.

I totally missed this during the actual holidays, but here it is…bookmark for next year!
(continue reading…)

Now that both Star Wars and Marvel are one under the Mouse, it is no surprise that today Marvel announced that the license for Star Wars comics will return to Marvel, where it began in 1977 and lasted for 9 years. After a break, Dark Horse picked up the license in 1991, and has been publishing Star Wars comics ever since, including some highly acclaimed stories, and most recently, “The Star Wars #1”, based on George Lucas’ original rough draft. Marvel will publish new comics starting in 2015.

From the announcement:

The Walt Disney Company’s Lucasfilm Ltd. and Marvel Entertainment are joining forces to bring new Star Wars adventures to readers across the galaxy, with Marvel granted exclusive rights to create and publish Star Wars comics and graphic novels beginning in 2015.

The agreement marks a homecoming for the Star Wars comic books. Marvel Comics published the first Star Wars comic book, STAR WARS #1, in March 1977, which went on to sell more than 1 million copies. Marvel Comics published its STAR WARS series for nine years. In 1991, Dark Horse Comics took over the license, publishing fan-favorite titles like Dark Empire and Star Wars: Legacy. Last year, Dark Horse released The Star Wars #1, an adaptation of George Lucas’ original rough-draft screenplay for the film, garnering rave reviews and national media attention and ranking among the top-selling Star Wars comics of all time.

“Dark Horse Comics published exceptional Star Wars comics for over 20 years, and we will always be grateful for their enormous contributions to the mythos, and the terrific partnership that we had,” said Carol Roeder, director of Lucasfilm franchise publishing, Disney Publishing Worldwide. “In 2015, the cosmic adventures of Luke, Han, Leia and Chewbacca will make the lightspeed jump back to Marvel, to begin a new age of adventures within the Star Wars universe.

“We here at Marvel could not be more excited to continue the publication of Star Wars comic books and graphic novels,” said Marvel Worldwide Publisher and President, Dan Buckley. “The perennial brand of Star Wars is one of the most iconic in entertainment history and we are honored to have the opportunity to bring our creative talent pool to continue, and expand Star Wars into galaxies far, far away.”

“We’re incredibly excited by this next chapter in the Star Wars saga,” said Andrew B. Sugerman, executive vice president of Disney Publishing Worldwide. “Bringing together the iconic Lucasfilm and Marvel brands to tell new stories will allow us to continue to thrill lovers of the original Star Wars comic books and entertain generations to come.”

The Generalissimo Stan Lee himself introduced the teaser for the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which was played on the big screen at Times Square for all the revelers on New Years Eve…the movie premieres May 2nd…
(continue reading…)

Marvel has it’s Ant-Man. Interestingly, after Wil Wheaton posted the following on Tumblr:

I actually got to thinking, “Hmm…maybe Joss could give Wil one of those superhero cameos in the next movie…wait, don’t they still need an Ant-Man?”, immediately afterwards the rumors started that Paul Rudd had been selected – and now it is confirmed. The Anchorman 2 actor was director Edgar Wright’s first choice for the role.

Maybe there’s still something for Wil to play… 🙂

Classic science fiction film Forbidden Planet and Disney’s Mary Poppins will join Pulp Fiction, Judgment at Nuremberg, The Magnificent Seven and others as the 25 films chosen to join the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress this year.

Being inducted into the Registry means that the Library’s Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation takes special effort to insure that the film is preserved for future generations.

The National Film Preservation Board selects the inductees, and is taking nominations for 2014.

A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species.

Click here to accept Marketing cookies and load this content

The latest project from Christopher Nolan is Interstellar, due out on November 7th, 2014…all we know from the plot is:

A group of explorers make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.

From the teaser, we don’t know much else, but it does give a forlorn look at the state of our current exploration into space…but it almost seems as if there is hope that this movie might inspire a new wave of exploration, perhaps?

In any case, we’re intrigued…

Click here to accept Marketing cookies and load this content