Star Wars Sets Australian Record
n its first official overseas debut, Star Wars: Episode I set a new record in Australia by earning $A2.4 million ($1.5 million) during its opening day at box offices Down Under.
According to Variety, that was a whopping 41 percent better than the previous single-day record holder, Independence Day.
The Phantom Menace managed to exert its force on Australian moviegoers despite the fact that screenings in a cinema complex in Penrith, Sydney, suffered severe technical difficulties. In one theater a film reel of Star Wars actually caught on fire, while in another a projector broke down just minutes after the film's opening credits began to roll.
Episode I Digital Theaters Announced
tar Wars: Episode I will make its all-digital debut at theaters in Los Angeles, Calif., Paramus, N.J., and Secaucus, N.J., on June 18, according to Variety.
The "filmless" film screenings had originally been planned for New York, N.Y., and L.A., but Lucasfilm switched from the New York venue to New Jersey because of certain theater requirements.
The special Episode I showings will try out two rival digital projector systems, so Lucasfilm said it needed to find two equivalent multi-screen theaters in which to compare the technologies. The New Jersey screenings will be held at Loews' Route 4 Paramus cinema and Loews' Meadows 6 in Secaucus.
The California theaters selected for the digital Episode I broadcasts are Pacific's Winnetka Theater and AMC's Burbank 14.
Star Wars Tops $200 Million
espite harsh reviews from critics and even charges of racism, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace was a force to reckon with during the Memorial Day weekend.
George Lucas' latest outer-space extravaganza pulled in an estimated $68.4 million at the box office during the four-day holiday, enough to push it over the $200 million mark after less than two weeks in release.
Officially, Star Wars broke the $200 million plateau in just 13 days, a full eight days ahead of the previous record holder, Independence Day. Based on that strong performance, industry analysts are expecting Episode I to bring in at least $400 million during its U.S. domestic run.
Meanwhile, Universal's surprise hit The Mummy racked up another $12.7 million in ticket sales over the weekend, bringing its total to date up to a healthy $117.1 million. Roland Emmerich's SF thriller The Thirteenth Floor didn't fare nearly as well, earning just $4.3 million during its first weekend in release.
1999 Hall Of Fame Inductees Announced
ay Bradbury, Robert Silverberg, A. Merritt and Jules Verne will be inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame during this year's Campbell Conference, which will be held July 9 at the University of Kansas Alumni Center in Lawrence, Kan.
Each year the Hall of Fame honors four individuals on the basis of their continued excellence and long-time contribution to the science fiction and fantasy field.
The Hall of Fame was founded in 1996 by the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society and the J. Wayne and Elsie M. Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. The inductees are chosen by the Hall's board of directors, which includes Robin Wayne Bailey, James Gunn, Joe Haldeman, Larry Hopkins, Allison Stein, Keith W. Stokes and Ben Thomas-Morgan.
The John W. Campbell and Theodore T. Sturgeon Memorial Awards will also be announced at the conference.
Terminator 3 Targets Universal
lthough Terminator 3 was recently rumored to be going great guns over at Twentieth Century Fox, Variety columnist Michael Fleming now reports that the film might end up at Universal.
Fleming says producers Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar, who own the rights to T3, got booted off the fast track at Fox because they took money from other companies to help recoup the purchase price of the film rights.
If T3 does end up at Universal, it's unclear whether Terminator writer/director James Cameron and star Arnold Schwarzenegger will remain attached to the project. When the film was at Fox, it seemed almost certain that Cameron would at least write the screenplay, and that Schwarzenegger would headline the flick.
Cleopatra To Replace Hercules
tudios USA announced it will replace its hour-long syndicated action series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys with two new half-hour shows created by Herc producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert.
The new series, Cleopatra 2525 and Jack of All Trades, will be sold together as a themed package called the "Back 2 Back Action" hour.
Cleopatra centers around an exotic dancer who is cryogenically frozen in the year 2001 and then accidently thawed out in 2525 by two female warriors who are fighting against evil robots that have taken over the world. The three join forces and try to escape the endless underground caverns to which humanity has been banished, meeting up with all sorts of strange creatures along the way.
Jack of All Trades details the escapades of a James Bond-like spy named Jack Styles who serves the British Secret Service in the year 1699. His partner is a successful working-class agent named Emilia who is posing as the daughter of the long-lost cousin of Governor Don Carlos.
Back 2 Back Action is scheduled to debut the week of Jan. 17, 2000, while casting for the shows will begin next week. The final episode of Hercules will air the week of Nov. 15.
ID4 Gives The X-Files A Boost
hen Independence Day debuted on the Fox Network on May 23, it apparently had a big impact with viewers of syndicated SF shows.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, ID4's 9.5 rating in the Nielsens helped boost the numbers for syndicated showings of The X-Files, which jumped from a 4.9 during the week ending May 16 to a 5.5 during the week ending May 23.
Likewise, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine saw its ratings increase from a 4.3 to a 4.4, and Xena: Warrior Princess moved from a 3.8 to a 4.1. Hercules: The Legendary Journeys also appears to have gotten a heroic push from ID4 as its Nielsen ratings soared 26 percent, from a 3.1 to a 3.9.
Briefly Noted
- Mel Torme, the famous composer and father of former Sliders executive producer Tracy Torme, died Saturday, June 5, at the age of 73. Mel made guest appearances in two episodes of Sliders, both times starring as himself.
- Fans of Hercules headliner Kevin Sorbo say they have ordered their idol a star of his own. The Hercules followers raised funds to have a star in the Hercules constellation named "Sorbo," courtesy of the International Star Registry.
- Interplay announced that the third installment of its ground-breaking SF game series Descent has already begun shipping to stores, well ahead of its official June 15 release date.
- Ken Ralston, who has earned five Oscars for his visual effects work, will make his directorial debut on the Columbia Pictures film Jumanji 2.
