Sci-Fi Storm

Premium cable network EPIX® announced today a straight-to-series greenlight of the DC origin story Pennyworth, from Warner Horizon Scripted Television, executive producer/writer Bruno Heller (Gotham, The Mentalist, Rome) and executive producer/director Danny Cannon (Gotham, CSI series).

The ten-episode, one-hour drama series is based on DC characters created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger. It follows Bruce Wayne’s legendary butler, Alfred Pennyworth, a former British SAS soldier who forms a security company and goes to work with Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s billionaire father, in 1960’s London. Production will begin later this year, with a series premiere slated for 2019.

Said Michael Wright, President, EPIX, “As genuine fans of these classic DC characters, as well as the incredibly talented Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon, we couldn’t be more excited to make EPIX the home of this series. We can’t wait to work with Bruno and Danny – along with Peter Roth, Susan Rovner, Brett Paul and the team at Warner Horizon – on this fantastic origin story.”

Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon said, “Michael and his colleagues have created the perfect venue for original storytelling, and all of us working on Pennyworth are thrilled to be on the EPIX slate.”

Pennyworth comes on the heels of EPIX’s recent pick up of ABC Signature Studios’ drama series Godfather of Harlem, starring and executive produced by Oscar® winner Forest Whitaker, with Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein (Narcos) serving as showrunners. Both series are part of a growing slate of EPIX originals, which includes the upcoming season two premiere of the critically-acclaimed dark comedy Get Shorty, from MGM Television, this summer.

In theaters November 17th…

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.

At last! The first official trailer to Wonder Woman! In theaters June 2nd, 2017

I hope everyone enjoyed Halloween! Some quick tidbits as I attempt to get caught up on all the great programs I’m trying to follow these days…

Timeless is one of the shows I am enjoying so far, although the implications of the show are mind-boggling…but the show will get a little extra time to play out, with an additional three episodes ordered by NBC for a total of 16. It also seems that NBC is calling this a “full season” order now, compared with the typical 22-26. I’m not sure what a “season” really means any more…

Now while Marvel appears to rule the roads of cinema release schedules, DC still seems to be having trouble getting off the starting line. Last year, the Wonder Woman movie had a false start when director Michelle MacLaren departed the project over creative differences, and now the feature version of The Flash is seeing the same thing happening. Director Rick Famuyiwa is walking away for “creative differences” as well, and this time the project’s start date is in jeopardy. And this isn’t the first time for this film. Original director Seth Grahame-Smith left the film earlier this year over – you guessed it – “creative differences”.

Lastly, the Seth MacFarlane sci-fi dramedy set up at Fox still doesn’t have a name, but it does have some more cast members. In addition to MacFarlane and previously announced members Adrianne Palicki (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Scott Grimes (ER, Party of Five), Peter Macon (Friendship!) and J Lee (Family Guy), Halston Sage (Crisis, Goosebumps) and Penny Johnson Jerald (Castle, 24) have now signed on as regulars. Still no idea what any of the characters are yet though…

So many trailers out from Comic Con…here is just a dump of a bunch of them…

Doctor Strange

Dirk Gently

Legion

Star Trek Discovery
(I’m not yet digging the new ship design…)

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

Wonder Woman

DC’s cinematic universe may have gotten off with a limp, given the critical response to Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, but with it still pulling in plenty of money Warner Bros. isn’t shying away from their superhero slate or their flagship characters.

BvS star Ben Affleck had a pitch for a standalone Batman movie he talked about last year, and Kevin Tsujihara, Warner Bros. chairman and CEO, confirmed today at CinemaCon that the movie will move ahead with Affleck’s movie, in which he will star and direct. “I’m also excited to know that we will be working with Ben Affleck on a stand-alone Batman movie,” Tsujihara said.

Affleck will also appear as the caped crusader in at least two other films already on the docket – Justice League Parts One and Two.

The current list of DC universe movies, in order of release, are:

Suicide Squad – Aug. 5, 2016
The Justice League Part One – Nov. 17, 2017
The Flash – March 16, 2018
Wonder Woman – June 2, 2017
Aquaman – July 27, 2018
Shazam! – April 5, 2019
Justice League Part Two – June 14, 2019
Cyborg – April 3, 2020
Green Lantern Corps – June 19, 2020

The spinoff from the The CW’s DC properties Arrow and The Flash is rounding out its cast. Falk Hentschel (Reckless) is joining the cast of Legends Of Tomorrow as Carter Hall, an archaeologist who is the reincarnation of ancient Egyptian Prince Khufu who can call on the powers of Horus and transform into Hawkman.

Hentschel joins the retreads from the parent shows including Victor Garber, Caity Loitz, Brandon Routh, Dominic Purcell and Wentworth Miller, plus new cast members Ciara Renee (Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl, Hall’s soulmate), Franz Drameh (Jay Jackson) and Arthur Darvill (Rip Hunter).

The CW announced today in their upfronts that they have already picked up DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, the official title of the proposed Arrow/Flash spinoff, for the upcoming 2015-2016 season.

From their release:

When heroes alone are not enough… the world needs legends. Having seen the future, one he will desperately try to prevent from happening, time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter is tasked with assembling a disparate group of both heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat – one in which not only is the planet at stake, but all of time itself. Can this ragtag team defeat an immortal threat unlike anything they have ever known?

The cast includes returning actors Victor Garber (Dr. Martin Stein, The Flash), Brandon Routh (Ray Palmer/Atom, Arrow), Caity Lotz (Sara Lance/The Canary, Arrow), Dominic Purcell ( Mick Rory/Heat Wave, The Flash), and Wentworth Miller ( Leonard Snart/Captain Cold, The Flash). Joining them is Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who) as Rip Hunter.

Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg and Sarah Schechter are the executive producers.

This leaked out via a lousy cell phone video, so Warner Bros. Pictures has released the official teaser now for Zack Snyder’s Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice starring Henry Cavill as Superman and Ben Affleck taking over as Batman.

We still have to wait 11 months for the movie, which opens March 25th, 2016.