Fox Snares The Phantom Menace
hanks to the Fox Network, you might be able to see Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace on television uncut and commercial free as soon as November 2000.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Fox nabbed the TV rights to the film for an undisclosed sum and is planning a special free TV presentation of the blockbuster movie.
Stolen Episode I Reel Recovered
olice have recovered a print of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace that was stolen from a theater in Menomonie, Wis., sometime during the weekend of May 21.
Three men who were allegedly involved in the theft surrendered to authorities on May 26, bringing the missing film reel along with them.
There had been some speculation that the theft was part of a plot to make bootleg copies of the film, although police said the motive behind the crime had not yet been determined. The 40-pound reel was worth a reported $60,000 on the black market.
Star Wars Can't Vanquish Jurassic Park
lthough Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace has set two new box-office records since its May 19 release, the Force wasn't enough to totally overcome the dinosaurs of The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
The Phantom Menace pulled in $61.8 million during the three-day period between Friday, May 21, and Sunday, May 23, not enough to eclipse The Lost World's weekend record of $72 million, set in 1997.
However, The Phantom Menace's opening-day earnings of $28.5 million did beat out The Lost World's single-day record of $26.1 million. And Episode I tallied $102.7 million during its first five days of release, more than enough to overcome The Lost World's five-day total of $98.8 million, which was the previous record holder.
Phantom distributor Fox has said the comparisons aren't entirely fair because The Lost World opened during a holiday weekend while The Phantom Menace did not. Meanwhile, industry analysts now say they think there is little chance that the new Star Wars film will topple the worldwide box-office record of $1.8 billion set by Titanic in 1997.
Showtime Plans Beyond Network
howtime plans to launch a digital multiplex network devoted to science fiction, fantasy and horror, according to Variety.
The new channel, called Showtime Beyond, will reportedly rely heavily on Showtime's existing inventory of SF&F movies and series such as Total Recall 2070 and Stargate: SG-1.
Showtime Beyond will premiere in September.
Buffy's Graduation Delayed
he WB Network pulled the season finale of Buffy The Vampire Slayer out of its May 25 lineup because the episode depicts "acts of violence at a high school graduation ceremony."
"It is out of sympathy and compassion for the families and communities [in Colorado and Georgia] that have been devastated by the recent senseless acts of violence perpetrated on high school campuses that we have decided to delay this broadcast," WB CEO Jamie Kellner said.
The episode is called "Graduation Day, Part Two" and is the second half of a two-part Buffy special that features students at Sunnydale High School battling a 60-foot-long demon serpent. The WB said it will air both parts of the finale later this summer.
Moss Trades The Matrix For Mars
arrie-Anne Moss, who most recently starred opposite Keanu Reeves in the SF action hit The Matrix, will next share top billing with Val Kilmer in the Warner Bros. picture Mars.
Moss has agreed to play a pilot who stays in orbit around the Red Planet while an expedition led by Kilmer begins exploring the Martian surface.
When things begin to go wrong, Moss must decide whether to follow orders and return to Earth or make a daring rescue attempt. Mars is racing into production under the direction of Antony Hoffman in an attempt to beat Disney's Red Planet feature Mission to Mars into theaters.
The Mummy Unwraps $100 Million
he Mummy pulled in another $13.8 million during the weekend of May 21, bringing its 17-day total up to $100 million.
The film, a remake of the 1932 Boris Karloff movie of the same name, has performed well for Universal Pictures despite playing in theaters opposite Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
The sister stations TBS and TNT have already purchased the cable rights to The Mummy and will begin airing the film as early as 2001. In a separate deal, Starz picked up the pay TV rights to the film and will begin an 18-month-long run of the movie sometime next year.
Mummy Success May Revive Bride
niversal Pictures is reportedly so pleased with the success its The Mummy remake that it's considering doing the same thing for The Bride of Frankenstein.
The modern-day version of The Mummy, which is based on the 1932 Boris Karloff movie of the same name, recently passed the $100 million mark at the box office.
Now Variety reports that producer Brian Grazer is planning to revive The Bride of Frankenstein, which was first filmed by James Whale in 1935. Universal has actually been working on a Bride remake for years, with both famed horror writer Anne Rice and Eve's Bayou scribe Kasi Lemmons having worked on scripts.
This time around, Grazer--along with Mummy producers Jim Jacks and Sean Daniel--wants to bring the Bride into the near future, setting the film about 10 years from now. "You can create a whole sensibility of the time, from fashion design to music," he explained to Variety.
Romero Kicked Off Resident Evil
ight of the Living Dead director George Romero will no longer be adapting Capcom's best-selling science fiction/horror game Resident Evil for the big screen.
According to Gamespot News, Romero was kicked off the high-profile project sometime during the last year.
"His script wasn't good, so Romero was fired," Capcom producer Yoshiki Okamoto told Gamespot's sister publication, Electronic Gaming Monthly. "People are trying to get the script done, but we have to be careful because it has to fit the Resident Evil feel."
The Resident Evil series has been a hit in the United States, where it spawned both a "director's cut" of the original game as well as a best-selling sequel. Romero seemed like a perfect choice for the project, which centers around members of an elite police unit who battle a seemingly inexhaustible supply of scientifically created zombies.
Sullivan Wins Clarke Award
ricia Sullivan earned the 1999 Arthur C. Clarke Award for her novel Dreaming in Smoke.
The award, given to the best SF novel whose first U.K. edition was published in 1998, was presented on May 19 at the Science Museum in London.
The Clarke Award was founded by famed British SF novelist Arthur C. Clarke and was first given in 1987. Each winner receives an inscribed plaque and a check for £ 1,000.
Briefly Noted
- Star Wars: Episode I toys have been selling so well that one toy analyst told Variety, "Factories are working overtime trying to keep up with demand."
- The U.S. release of Miramax's English-language adaptation of the Japanese anime feature film Princess Mononoke has reportedly been pushed back to October 29.
- Star Trek alum George Takei will host the Forbidden Planet cast reunion at the Los Angeles Theater in Los Angeles, Calif., on June 16. Invited guests include Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens, Richard Anderson, James Drury, Earl Holliman, Bebe Baron, and Robby the Robot.
- Greg Kinnear, John Goodman, Ben Kingsley, Linda Fiorentino, Nora Dunn and Judy Greer have been signed to round out the cast for Mike Nichols' upcoming SF comedy What Planet Are You From? Gary Shandling, Annette Bening and Camryn Manheim have already agreed to star in the film.
- Variety reports that Ever After star Dougray Scott is being courted by Fox to play the coveted role of Wolverine in the upcoming X-Men movie.
- Artisan Entertainment's film The Blair Witch Project picked up the Prix de la Jeunesse Award (Youth Prize) at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.
- Tiger has created a Web site devoted exclusively to its lineup of Star Wars: Episode I toys, complete with an online version of its Escape from Naboo game.
