Sci-Fi Storm

One of my favorite fantasy movies, Willow, will get the [asin=B000Y5JFNE]Blu-ray treatment[/asin] for its 25th anniversary! Starring Warwick Davis (Harry Potter, Life’s Too Short) and Val Kilmer (Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Top Gun) and directed by Ron Howard (The da Vinci Code, Cocoon), it gollows the travels of the diminutive Nelwyn amateur wizard Willow Ufgood (Davis) as he tries to help the Daikini (human) baby Elora Danan fulfill a prophesy and defeat the evil Bavmorda (Jean Marsh, Upstairs, Downstairs).

Check out the trailer and the the full details, which includes all sorts of extras including never before seen footage!

Willow will be [asin=B000Y5JFNE]released on Blu-ray on March 12th, 2003[/asin].
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I don’t see too many buying it, but the announced name of Benedict Cumberbatch’s mysterious villain role on the upcoming Star Trek: Into Darkness is apparently John Harrison…quite an anticlimactic name, don’t you think? Benedict Cumberbatch even mentions the name in an interview with MTV (via BBC America…MTV’s site has become nearly unbearable with the ads), and discusses the character and how his motivation is personal.

Is this really the character’s name? We’ll see…but the description still makes me think that Gary Mitchell is out for revenge for being buried alive on a planet outside our galaxy…

Despite a pretty certain announcement by director Bryan Singer a couple weeks ago that Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellan would reprise their roles as the older Professor Xavier and Magneto, respectively, in X-Men: Days of Future Past, he may have jumped the gun. Apparently neither have actually signed a contract yet. Stewart told Entertainment Weekly earlier this week that he “knows nothing” but that he’s also under a contractual gag order. Now McKellan tells MTV that he has “yet to sign on the dotted line.”

However, it sounds like both are more than willing – if Singer and the studios can get the contracts to them…

A full 13-minute making of featurette for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is now available online, and you can watch it right here! Enjoy!
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I’ve been asked many times since the announcement that Disney would acquire Lucasfilm what I think of the news. I just haven’t gotten around to finishing this article…now that the feds have cleared the acquisition, I remembered 🙂

It’s no secret that I’m a big Star Wars fan (and of other Lucasfilm productions – heck, I still see humor in Howard The Duck…), nor is it a secret I’m a big Disney fan. As I mentioned to a certain Disney Jedi friend of ours, it’s two of our worlds colliding!

But is it a good thing? I think so.
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Check out the latest TV spot for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – and get a quick glimpse of Smaug the Dragon!
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These are not the sequels you are looking for…

It has yet to be confirmed that Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg have been hired by Disney to work on the the Star Wars franchise films, THR reports that they are working on the franchise, but not necessarily on the expected Episode VIII and IX films.

It seems that as part of Disney’s desire to expand the franchise (and apparently wants to do so quickly), the two may be working to take the franchise in different directions with spinoffs or similar projects, which they would produce, and could eventually be given “Episode” status.

Finally, something about what is going on in the upcoming Star Trek movie! J.J. Abrams hasn’t been very forthcoming, so far only showing a fraction of a second of film, but now we’ve got a synopsis to give us some idea of what the movie is about:

In Summer 2013, pioneering director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes Star Trek Into Darkness.

When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.

With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

So, this doesn’t sound at all like the return of Khan Noonian Singh, which all the early rumors claimed that Benedict Cumberbatch was playing. But who could the unstoppable force be? Gary Mitchell, anyone?

It seems that the upcoming X-Men: Days Of Future Past will have a pair of Professors, a pair of Magnetos – and a pair of knights! Actors Sir Ian McKellan and Sir Patrick Stewart have been announced to appear in the movie in their respective franchise roles, despite the film being a sequel to the younger-cast X-Men: First Class. How this will be accomplished is unknown, but I’m expecting the film to be played as a flashback memory between the two old friend/foes, or else there is something of a Star Trek-style reboot. In any case, stock just went up…

We’re not far from the debut of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – and they are still doing post production! Here is the latest video about the production – and at times, it’s downright silly 🙂
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