Sci-Fi Storm

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

Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, is joining the cast of The Flash for the upcoming season in a new regular role. No magical or super powers though, at least not yet – he’ll be playing mere human Julian Dorn, a fellow CSI in Central City who suspects there is more to his colleague Barry Allen.

The upcoming season will be taken from the “Flashpoint Paradox” storyline in the comics, where Barry’s actions trying to save his mother result in drastic changes across the DC universe.

The trailer for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was revealed by star Eddie Redmayne last night at the MTV Movie awards…

Opens November 18th!!

Actor Alan Rickman, most known for his role of enigmatic Professor Severus Snape across the 8 movies of the Harry Potter franchise, passed away early this morning at the age of 69 after a bout with cancer, his family confirms.

Rickman created many memorable roles after arriving in Hollywood – and I mean RIGHT after. Two days after coming to Los Angeles, he was offered his first film role as the criminal mastermind Hans Gruber opposite Bruce Willis in 1998’s Die Hard, and forever made his mark off the bat. But he wasn’t an inexperienced actor, being well known in London’s West End, originating the role of Vicomte de Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985 and carried that role to Broadway in 1987. Theater still remained his “first love”.

He followed up Gruber with another villainous role as the Sheriff of Nottingham against Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves with such an amazing “love to hate” character performance – something that he seemed to excel at. His portrayal as the Sheriff was even parodied in the slapstick comedy Robin Hood: Men In Tights by Roger Rees.

Other roles that we remember him and his distinctive voice most for were Metatron in Dogma, Dr. Lazarus/Alexander Dane in Galaxy Quest, and Harry, the husband who makes a mistake in Love Actually opposite Emma Thompson, whom he worked with many times and directed The Winter Guest, and they were good friends. Thompson was apparently with him and his family when he died.
(continue reading…)

It’s time to go back to the wizarding world…in theaters November 2016!

Warner Bros has confirmed that Oscar winning actor Eddie Redmayne will play the role of Newt Scamander, the author of the book (and title of the movie) Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, a prequel story set in the world of Harry Potter.

The script itself was written by Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling in her screenwriting debut, with the film being directed by David Yates (who directed the last four Harry Potter films and produced by David Heyman (who produced all of them).

Redmayne won the Oscar for his portrayal of physicist and author Stephen Hawking in the movie The Theory of Everything, and prior to that captured audiences as Marius in Les Misérables.

The film will release worldwide on November 18, 2016.

Two cool casting announcements today…

First, Emma Watson has been set to star as Belle in Disney’s upcoming live-action version of Beauty and the Beast, about a self-educated girl that tries to escape the stereotypical female role in her village and the clawing local hunk only to be captured by a horrible beast who needs to learn about love. Emma seems perfect for the role, although she may need to grow out her hair after she cut it short post-Harry Potter…Beauty is just the latest in Disney’s live action re-imaginings of its most popular animated features, most recently with Maleficent and with Cinderella up next and The Jungle Book also in the pipeline. Production will likely begin later this year.

Across the Disney studio in the Marvel section, the Netflix 13-episode original series A.K.A. Jessica Jones has picked up their villain, Kilgrave, in the form of Doctor Who and Broadchurch star David Tennant. Kysten Ritter stars as the title character, a former superhero turned private eye, dealing with cases involving people with remarkable abilities in New York City. Kilgrave, a foe of Daredevil (which will also be a Netflix series, shown before A.K.A. Jessica Jones, but unclear if there will be a relation) who used Jones against him, returns to upend Jones’ world.

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!

Three years removed from the last film and five from the last book, but hot on the heals of a theme park expansion, Warner Bros is hoping to keep Harry Potter fresh and in the minds of people who spend money. They just created the “Harry Potter Global Franchise Development” (HPGFD) which will oversee the relationship with author and HP creator J.K. Rowling, with Josh Berger, currently a Managing Director and the President of Warner UK, Ireland and Spain, at the helm.

What does it mean? For the most part, the group will manage the strategic vision for the brand across all the ancillary business units, including merchandise, online (web sites like Pottermore), theme parks, etc. And who’s to say they won’t also be asking for some more material to work with from J.K.? A new film is already on the way (Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them) along with two more theme park lands (Universal Studios Hollywood and Japan), and a stage play opening in London next year. And the fans want more Harry (perhaps to Daniel Radcliffe’s chagrin), so I think we’ll someday see at least more words written about the Boy Who Lived.

Actor and mixed martial artist Dave Legeno, who played the werewolf Fenrir Greyback in the last three installments of the Harry Potter franchise, was reportedly found dead last Sunday in Death Valley from what appears to be heat-related causes.

Legeno also appeared in a number of other movies, including Snow White and the Huntsman, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Batman Begins, and Centurion.

In the Harry Potter movies, although the character’s nature was largely lost (including being the one who scarred Bill Weasley), he was recognizable for his appearance as a large muscular and hairy quasi-human.