Sci-Fi Storm

Talk about extremes…hot off the heels of his blockbuster turn in Aquaman, it seems that Jason Momoa is looking for something a little less, well, wet. And the driest place in the universe would of course be Arrakis, the desert planet also known as Dune.

We hear Momoa is in talks to take on the role of Duncan Idaho, the swordsmaster for the Atreides clan, in Denis Villeneuve’s remake of the Frank Herbert classic novel. Idaho was previously played by Richard Jordan in the 1984 David Lynch film, and James Watson in the 2000 Syfy miniseries.

Now, we know a blockbuster cast does not make a blockbuster movie (ala the Lynch film), but I’m becoming more and more intrigued with each passing announcement…and Jason, if you are out there, I’d like to be there for the next haka…

A few tidbits from the past few days…

Syfy’s The Magicians are pulling a bit of sophomore magic, with the Season 2 premiere getting double digit gains over the series premiere in the Live+3 ratings, netting a 25% overall increase and 33% higher in the 18-49 demo, and the highest for the channel since 2014. It seems that this show really has caught with audiences as the story has developed.

Jason Momoa’s Aquaman has found its villain…Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Get Down) has signed on to play foe Black Manta in the standalone film, scheduled for an October 2018 release.

Teri Hatcher is returning to the Kryptonian world of DC Comics…the former Lois Lane from Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman will join the cast of Supergirl in an unspecified recurring role – but word on the street is that she will become the new Big Bad of the show.

Warner Bros is very busy the next several years, announcing today it’s release slate. And it features both dipping back in the well that works as well as trying to out-superhero Marvel.

Warner Bros.’ Chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara spoke at the Time Warner shareholder’s meeting and laid out a lot of their studio plans for 2016-2020.

First up is the expected Harry Potter spinoff, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, which is currently being set at three separate films, set to release in 2016, 2018, and 2020.

Next, after the HUGE success of The LEGO Movie, the already-announced sequel has been set for 2018, but it will be preceded by two others: Ninjago (2016), based on the Cartoon Network series, and The LEGO Movie: Batman (2017), a spin-off that follows the rather stuck-up (and not to mention, blocky) take on the character from the first movie.

And then there is the world of DC Comics…we’re already waiting for Batman vs. Superman (2016) and Justice League (2017), but Wonder Woman will indeed get her own standalone movie before Justice League (starring Gal Gadot, who will be introduced in BvS), 2018 will see The Flash (starring Ezra Miller, and apparently not connected at all to the just-started TV series) and Aquaman (with Stargate Atlantis and Game of Thrones Jason Momoa finally confirmed).

2019 will give us Shazam and a second Justice League movie, and in 2020 Warner Bros will try and get Green Lantern off to Oa again with a reboot after the disappointing Ryan Reynolds effort.

Shuffled in are two other titles, Suicide Squad in 2016 and Cyborg in 2020. And apparently this isn’t even ALL of the planned DC movies. Yikes!