The Terminator Will Be Back...Twice
ilm producers Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna have announced plans to shoot two new Terminator movies back to back beginning next year.
Variety reports that Metalheads scribe Tedi Sarafian will pen Terminator 3 for a 2001 release, while Supernova screenwriter David Wilson will work on Terminator 4.
It's not clear whether franchise star Arnold Schwarzenegger will appear in the films, but it's doubtful that writer/director James Cameron--who directed the first two movies in the series--will be involved. The pictures are being developed by Kassar and Vajna's company C-2 Pictures.
Terminator 3 will be set in what will then be present-day 2001 and will feature a nuclear war. According to C-2 executive James Middleton, "The fourth movie is going to be set in the future, after the nuclear conflagration has ended.
"The setting will be that apocalyptic world you saw in both of the first two films," Middleton said. "The third will lead you into the fourth, and [resistance leader] John Connor will be the lead in both of those movies, which follow and expand his character. There will be a protector Terminator, and an antagonist machine."
Rumors about the Terminator franchise have been circulating during the two years since Vajna and Kassar spent $8 million to acquire the rights to the property. Terminator films have previously been reported to be in the works at Fox and Universal, both with and without Schwarzenegger and Cameron attached, but it appears those deals are dead.
Arnold Won't Be Back Without Cameron
uring a Nov. 15 press conference for his new supernatural thriller End of Days, Arnold Schwarzenegger discussed his possible involvement with the recently announced Terminator 3 and 4 movies.
The two films will be shot back to back by producers Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna, and the filmmakers have said they plan to approach Schwarzenegger about starring in the pictures.
However, Schwarzenegger said he isn't interested unless Terminator writer/director James Cameron is involved. "I have no intentions of doing it except when Jim Cameron is doing the directing or the producing or the writing," he explained. "Jim Cameron has to be involved in one way or another."
Since Cameron has indicated he's no longer interested in working on the Terminator franchise now that the films aren't set up over at Fox, it looks like Schwarzenegger won't be back.
Ray Bradbury Recovering From Stroke
ccording to various reports, acclaimed SF&F author Ray Bradbury suffered what's now being called a "mild" stroke on Saturday, Nov. 6.
The stroke was reportedly caused by a blood clot in Bradbury's brain stem, and it has left the beloved author temporarily paralyzed on his right side.
According to Variety columnist Army Archerd, producer John Dayton visited Bradbury on Nov. 11 and said the author is as sharp as ever and is expected to fully recover the use of his right side. Bradbury was recently in the news for his work on a new Mel Gibson film adaptation of his famous novel Fahrenheit 451.
Bradbury is a legendary figure in SF circles, having gone from an active fan in the 1930s to one of America's greatest writers, both inside and out of the genre. His books include The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man, while his TV and film credits range from Moby Dick to his own television series, Ray Bradbury Theatre.
Miyazaki Not Worried About Mononoke
cclaimed animator Hayao Miyazaki isn't worried about how his hit Japanese film Princess Mononoke will fare during its U.S. theatrical run.
Although Mononoke became the biggest blockbuster of all time in the Land of the Rising Sun back when its 1997 release earned $150 million (a record later eclipsed by Titanic), Miyazaki doesn't think the picture will do as well in American cinemas.
"I'm not really expecting the film to be a success in the United States," Miyazaki told Reuters. "I have never made a film trying to get approval from the audience or to cheer the audience."
Although Miyazaki has often been called Japan's version of Walt Disney, the violent and often gory Mononoke doesn't resemble anything put out by the Mouse House. "I saw it as a sort of Star Wars-style legend set in a 14th century Japanese forest--only instead of good battling evil the battle is much more complex and realistic," said Neil Gaiman, who translated Miyazaki's dialogue into English.
The PG-13 rated Mononoke is currently in limited theatrical release by Miramax and so far has been earning positive reviews. It's not clear whether Miramax will put the film into widespread distribution if the Miyazaki epic performs strongly at the box office.
Iron Giant Earns Nine Animation Awards
he critically lauded but commercially unsuccessful Warner Bros. film The Iron Giant crushed the competition at the 27th Annual Annie Awards for animation.
According to The Los Angeles Times, Giant took the top honors in nine out of 23 categories, including animated feature of the year, best character animation and outstanding voice acting.
Most impressively, The Iron Giant succeeded against blockbuster competition such as A Bug's Life, Tarzan, The Prince of Egypt and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. The Annies were created in 1972 by June Foray and are considered the Oscars of the animation world.
Psychic John Edward Will Talk For SCI FI
est-selling author and psychic medium John Edward will host the SCI FI Channel's first-ever talk show, which is slated to debut in the first quarter of 2000.
Edward's claim to fame is his alleged ability to communicate with the dead, which has earned him appearances on CNN's Larry King Live show and the HBO special Life Afterlife: America Undercover.
The pilot episode for Edward's series will be shot later this year in New York, N.Y., under the direction of Peter W. Kimball and in association with Media Savvy. Ramey Warren Black and Adora English will serve as executive producers, while Candice Harmon will produce.
Troma Gets Alien Blood Transfer
roma Entertainment has picked up the worldwide distribution rights to the independent British SF film Alien Blood.
According to SFX, Blood director Jon Sorensen will even be doing commentary for the DVD release of the movie.
"When [Troma president] Lloyd Kaufman saw the film, he absolutely loved it," Sorensen said. "I'm really excited about this release, and I'm even flying out to the states in a couple of weeks to record a commentary for the DVD!"
Asimov's, Analog Go Electronic
ell Magazines has struck a deal with Peanutpress.com to offer electronic versions of the popular SF magazines Asimov's Science Fiction and Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact.
The January 2000 issues of both magazines are already available for download on the Peanutpress.com Web site with the same editorial content and at the same price as the print editions.
According to Peanutpress.com, customers can download the magazines in about a minute using a 28.8K connection and can then load them onto handheld computers and personal digital assistants. Dell is also offering electronic editions of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
New York To Experience Vampire Dreams
ampire Dreams, a play written by SF author Suzy McKee Charnas that's based on the third chapter of her novel The Vampire Tapestry, will begin a three-week "off-off broadway" run in New York, N.Y., on Dec. 1.
The play--which has previously run in San Francisco, Calif.--will be performed at Altered Stages by the Mefisto Theatre Co.
Charnas recently sat in on two rehearsals for the production and reports: "We follow eagerly--audiences do tend to take sides--as two intelligent, determined personalities--a skilled, passionate, burnt-out psychiatrist, and a wary, manipulative, but increasingly intrigued monster--engage in a scintillating dance of risk, seduction, trust,
and revelation. Jealousy and the demands of ethics force a climactic confrontation between human aspiration and desire and Nature's laws of brute necessity."
Vampire Dreams will run through Dec. 18 "unless hordes of slavering fans appear demanding tickets, necessitating an extension of the run."
Briefly Noted
- Greg Bear's novel Dinosaur Summer earned the 1999 Endeavour Award, which honors "a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book, either a novel or a single-author collection, created by a writer from the Pacific Northwest." Bear lives in the Seattle, Wash., area.
- Boba Fett actor Jeremy Bulloch reportedly suggested to George Lucas that The Fall of the Jedi would make a good title for Star Wars: Episode II.
- Glamour magazine has named 34-year-old single mother and Harry Potter author Joanne (J.K.) Rowling one of its 1999 Women of the Year for "rising from obscurity against difficult obstacles to become a blockbuster best-selling author."
- Anakin Skywalker's Podracer from Star Wars: Episode I will be on display from Nov. 21, 1999, to April 2, 2000, as part of the Science Fiction to Science Fact exhibition at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Wash.
- TNT has picked up the broadcast rights to the recent remake of House on Haunted Hill and plans to air the horror feature in 2002.
