Sci-Fi Storm

This weekend marks the 35th anniversary of the original release of Star Wars, later known as Star Wars Episode VI: A New Hope.

I remember when it came out, when I was 8 years old. I also remember not seeing it for a while afterwards. My parent’s work scheduled often didn’t allow going to the movies too frequently, along with taking care of my then two-year-old sister. And for weeks, lines would wrap around our little two-theater cinema behind the shopping center, which only gave one theater to the movie despite the lines. I remember friends having the first one or two series of trading cards before I actually got to see the movie. This was tough on an 8 year old SF fanatic who could tell you the plots of every episode of Star Trek within 20 seconds of the teaser act, loved Space: 1999 and would sit down with his dad to watch any SF we could find.
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The latest movie-themed attraction, Transformers: The Ride, opened this week at Universal Studios Hollywood, and it certainly looks like a wild ride! To celebrate the opening, a full red carpet event was put on, including Optimus Prime and Bumblebee walking the carpet and posing for photo ops, and a whole ceremony with the two driving in and saving the All Spark. Check out the pictures and video (provided by Universal and our friends at Inside the Magic, who described the ride as “Spiderman x1000”).

Friday estimates show that Men in Black 3, which opened this weekend, will finally take the top spot from The Avengers, which held it for the past three weekends. MiB3 was looking at an $18 million Friday take and an estimated $75 million for the long weekend, compared to a still amazing $45 million for its 4th weekend.

Newcomer thriller Chernobyl Diaries is third for Friday at $3.5 million, but it appears it may lose the third spot to Battleship when the weekend is over.

As the Superhero Steamroller called The Avengers rolls over everything, taking in another $55 million in it’s third weekend and burying Battleship, which may be on it’s way to become Universal’s John Carter (both of which starred Taylor Kitsch…hmmm…hope he isn’t invested in Facebook stock…), Marvel/Disney wants to ride the high and has infused the just-started Iron Man 3 with an additional $60 million in it’s budget…raising the total to $200 million, according to Latino-Review. That’s a lot of explosions and devastation…no idea exactly what they’ll spend it on, I just hope they do so wisely, and not on Tony Stark’s Scotch budget.

Remember that “Carbon-Freeze Me” experience that we reported would be available at Star Wats Weekends at Walt Disney World? Well, check out the video of the experience from our friend Ricky Brigante over at Inside The Magic:

Ashley Eckstein, who voices the character of Jedi padawan Ashoka Tano in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, is not your typical SF actor…she’s a fan as well. And as a female fan, she’s trying to change the SF merchandise landscape: one that has been marketed primarily to males, even though females account for half of science fiction fans. That’s why she’s founded Her Universe, which produces products focused on female fans.

Her Universe just launched some of their Star Wars shirts online with retailer Hot Topic, and Ashley begins her job as co-host for Star Wars Weekends at Walt Disney World this Friday, and taking place every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through June 10th.

I spoke with the always friendly Ashley about Her Universe, Star Wars, and Disney.
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Check out this full trailer for the SF comedy movie Space Milkshake, starring Amanda Tapping (Stargate SG-1, Sanctuary), Robin Dunne (Sanctuary), Billy Boyd (The Lord of the Rings) and Kristin Kreuk (Smallville, Chuck), and written and directed by Armen Evrensel (The Zero Sum).

The style seems to remind of early Red Dwarf – and that’s a real good thing…release date to be determined.
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To absolutely no one’s surprise, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced during today’s quarterly earnings call that a sequel to mega-hit The Avengers is already in development, but skipped over any details. He also re-iterated that Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and Captain America 2 are still on schedule.

He also mentioned that Disney’s Imagineers are also stepping up plans for Marvel-themed attractions for it’s DisneyParks division. However, Universal currently holds the rights to most of the top-line Marvel characters in the US east of the Mississippi for it’s theme parks in Orlando – so don’t expect anything other than merchandise to show up at Walt Disney World any time soon.

This is just amazing – a single guy, doing the theme to Star Wars theme, totally a cappella! And unlike video several years back where someone used his own face on an a capella group’s track where words were used, this is the actual theme…Nick McKaig also covers various other themes by multi-tracking himself to be his own group…not sure how he’d do it live though. 🙂
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Did you ever want to decorate a wall, like Han Solo did in Jabba the Hutt’s palace, but don’t want to deal with hibernation sickness? Well now you can…this year at Star Wars Weekends at Walt Disney World, which starts a week from Friday on May 18th and takes place for four weekends, they will be offering “Carbon-Freeze Me”.

Guests will step into a “carbon freezing chamber”, where multiple cameras will be used to scan the guest’s face in 3D. That scan will be used to create an 8-inch figurine of the famous carbon freeze pose, with the guest’s face instead of Han’s (which will be shipped to the guest in about 4 weeks). A light-up wristband is also included, and the process costs $99.95. Additional figurines can be ordered for $74.95 each.

You must book ahead by calling 407-WDW-TECH and a credit card is required to guarantee the reservation with a $25 cancellation fee if canceling within 48 hours. Theme park admission to Disney’s Hollywood Studios is also required.