Episode II Spoilers Revealed?
! Online reported several possible spoilers for George Lucas's upcoming Star Wars: Episode II, which the Web site called darker and more serious than Episode I.
The site quotes an unnamed source saying Episode II will be a galactic war movie centering on the Clone Wars and the romance between Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker and Natalie Portman's Queen Amidala.
Among the other big spoilers for the movie, according to E! Online:
•The Imperial Stormtroopers of the original Star Wars movie are revealed to be clones.
•The true origin of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is detailed. Episode II hints that he may be the first of the clones, meaning that the character in Episode I is not the same person portrayed by the late Alec Guinness in the original Star Wars film.
•New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison will portray Jango Fett, the bounty-hunter father of The Empire Strikes Back's Boba Fett. Australian actor Daniel Logan will play the young Boba.
•At the end of the movie, Anakin turns to the dark side and becomes the young Darth Vader because he wants to save the life of someone very close to him.
•Another character known as a good guy will betray the Rebel Alliance.
The Dark Horizons Web site, meanwhile, reported that Amazon.com has started pre-orders for the re-release of the Star Wars special edition trilogy. The package will have 10 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage of Episode II.
In other Episode II news, producer Rick McCallum told a gathering of filmmakers in Sydney that Lucas labored on the script for Episode II for two and a half years, but finished it only two and a half days before shooting commenced, according to Variety.
Episode II Includes Clone Wars
amuel L. Jackson told Access Hollywood that the upcoming film Star Wars: Episode II, in which he plays Jedi master Mace Windu, will include the Clone Wars, first mentioned in the original Star Wars.
Jackson said that the upcoming prequel will reveal the origins of the wars, which were mentioned by Obi-Wan Kenobi as played by Alec Guinness in Star Wars: Episode IV.
Jackson added that Episode II will reveal more about the Star Wars mythology than Episode I did, but declined to give further details. Episode II is currently in production in Australia.
Alec Guinness Dead At 86
ir Alec Guinness, whose 60-year career on stage and screen included playing Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, died Aug. 5 in West Sussex, near his home in Hampshire, England, the Reuters news service reported.
He was 86. Guinness had been suffering from ill health for several years, Reuters reported.
Though Guinness won an Oscar for his role in the 1957 movie The Bridge on the River Kwai and praise for his work in such films as Lawrence of Arabia, it was his career-capping role as the aging Jedi knight that brought him his greatest fame.
But Guinness was not happy about his association with Star Wars. He once told a British magazine that he had engineered the death of his character to escape having to say "those bloody awful lines." He added, "I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo. ... I shrivel up every time someone mentions Star Wars to me."
EA To Conjure Potter Games
lectronic Arts said it has bought the rights to develop, publish and distribute computer and video games based on the Harry Potter book and movie series.
Under the agreement with Warner Brothers, which holds the consumer rights to the popular franchise, EA will publish games based on all current Harry Potter books and any upcoming WB feature films based on the books.
EA, based in Redwood City, Calif., will be able to publish products for all current and next-generation video game consoles and handheld platforms, as well as for online gaming. EA will work closely with J. K. Rowling, the author of the best-selling Potter series of children's novels, and with Chris Columbus, who will direct Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the upcoming feature-film version of Rowling's first Potter book.
Harris, Rickman To Be In Potter
eteran British actor Richard Harris (Unforgiven) is in talks to play headmaster Dumbledore and Alan Rickman (Galaxy Quest) is negotiating to play Professor Snape in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Both are key characters at Hogwarts, the school for wizards that the titular young hero attends. (Tim Roth was once linked to the Snape role before he opted to play an ape in Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes.)
Director Chris Columbus has yet to cast the lead role of Potter or the villain Lord Voldemort. But Robbie Coltrane (The World Is not Enough) is talking about playing Potter's giant friend, Hagrid.
The Popcorn U.K. Web site, meanwhile, reported that 900-year-old Gloucester Cathedral in England would stand in for Hogwarts in the movie, which is based on J.K. Rowling's best-selling children's novel of the same name.
Voyager Heats Up Next Year
tar Trek: Voyager's new executive producer Kenneth Biller told the Fandom Web site that viewers can expect the relationship between Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres to heat up, starting with the episode "Drive."
"I will tell you that one of the things that we are going to do this season is explore that relationship and see really where it goes," Biller said. "We've ignored it for a while, and we are not going to ignore it this year."
Biller added, "There are going to be probably about four or five episodes, over the course of the 22-episode season, which will touch on the progress of that relationship. We are going to explore that relationship as it proceeds through the various stages of adult relationships. I don't want to say too much about it because I don't want to give away too many goodies."
Biller also said he wants to resolve long-standing character arcs in Voyager's seventh and last season. "That's part of an overall scheme," he said. "It's the last year of the series. So we are doing an episode in which Harry Kim ends up getting command of an alien starship and really playing out what it means to him to have an opportunity to pursue that dream. ... Seven is obviously going to be continuing her quest for humanity, and becoming more human."
Biller also has plans for the Doctor. "The Doctor has been, obviously, exploring his own humanity through the course of the series and his struggle for holographic rights. We are going to bring him front and center and up against that very issue in the big two-hour movie, which is called 'Flesh and Blood.' It's about a holographic uprising that the Doctor gets involved in. The Doctor becomes very politicized by these holograms and becomes a proponent of their cause."
Stars Power Monsters, Inc.
illy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly, Bonnie Hunt and newcomer Mary Gibbs will provide voices for Disney/Pixar's computer-animated fantasy movie Monsters, Inc., according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film is scheduled for a November 2001 release.
Monsters tells the story of a secret world of monsters that erupts in chaos when a child accidentally stumbles in. Monsters, Inc., is a scare factory that employs the furry, spotted and horned James P. Sullivan (Goodman) and his best friend and roommate, a feisty, green, one-eyed monster (Crystal). Other characters include the factory's CEO, a crab-like monster (Coburn); a snake-headed receptionist (Tilly); and a sarcastic chameleon (Buscemi), the trade paper reported.
Pete Docter, who was nominated for an Oscar for creating the original story for Pixar's Toy Story, will direct, and David Silverman (The Simpsons) will co-direct.
Universal Eyes Nutty III
niversal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment are considering a third film in Eddie Murphy's Nutty Professor series in the wake of Nutty Professor II: The Klumps's box-office success, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Universal reportedly submitted several story ideas for Imagine to consider.
Murphy has reportedly been approached to return and is said to be interested, pending a script. As of the weekend of Aug. 4, Klumps had grossed $76.7 million.
Starhunter Picketed
bout 20 union actors picketed the Canadian production of the international SF television series Starhunter because most of the show's actors are not members of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television & Radio Artists, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Talks broke down between the producers and ACTRA this summer over the issue of payment to union actors for repeats of the show, which is being shot in New Brunswick.
Germany-based Traumwerk owns a 30 percent stake in the 22-episode Starhunter, which is being produced with British, Canadian and French partners on a budget of 15 million euros ($13.5 million). Toronto-based Alliance Atlantis is marketing the show internationally, and it has been sold to Canal Plus for France, Spain and Eastern Europe, the trade paper reported.
SCI FI: More Prey Possible?
at Stein, spokeswoman for The SCI FI Channel, told the Indianpolis Star newspaper that the cable network may respond in some way to fans of the canceled ABC SF series Prey, who have mailed in about 500 letters (many with keys) seeking to revive the show.
Although it may not be feasible to resume the series (stars Debra Messing and Vincent Ventresca have moved on to other shows), Stein said, "I think there has been some movement internally to give the Prey fans something."
Stein added, "While it may not be bringing back the series, or even a movie, I think there's a movement afoot. I can't go into the idea, because I don't know if it's going to happen, but maybe we can give something back to the fans that would satisfy them." SCI FI has already rerun episodes of the series, about the next level of human evolution.
Fans mounted the letter-writing campaign to salvage the series, which ended with one of the main characters trapped in a cage. Fans mailed keys to SCI FI, a sly way of suggesting that the character be freed.
Messing is now star of NBC's hit comedy Will & Grace and Ventresca stars in SCI FI's The Invisible Man. SCI FI is owned by USA Networks, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Morpheus Gets An Ex-Girlfriend?
he Ain't It Cool News Web site and IGN Movies both reported rumors that The Matrix 2 will feature a new character, Niobe, a tough female ship captain who is the former romantic interest of Morpheus, played by Laurence Fishburne.
Niobe would be romantically linked with the leader of Zion, the last human city, according to AICN.
IGN reported that Matrix 2 creators Larry and Andy Wachowski are seeking an African-American actress to play Niobe, who is described as "drop-dead gorgeous" and "tough." IGN added that Matrix 2, the sequel to the hit 1999 movie The Matrix, will also feature a new teen-age boy character. Shooting of the sequel is slated to begin in March 2001.
New Galactica Trailer Done?
he Dark Horizons Web site reported that Battlestar Galactica producer Glen Larson has prepared a trailer for a proposed feature film based on the 1970s television series.
The trailer differs from one prepared by actor Richard Hatch (Apollo), who has been trying unsuccessfully to acquire the rights to the show for his own proposed film or series.
The Web site reported that the computer-animated trailer features visual effects by the No Prisoners special effects house, which worked on the movie Wing Commander. It's unclear whether Larson has the rights or financing to proceed with production of a feature film.
Straczynski Talks Comics
abylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski told an audience at the Wizard World convention in Chicago that he is close to a deal to sell the movie rights for his Rising Stars comic series, according to the Comics Continuum Web site.
"Of course, I'm going to write it," Straczynski said. Straczynski spoke as part of a panel for Top Cow Comics, which publishes Rising Stars.
Straczynski also detailed his new, 12-issue Top Cow supernatural comic series Midnight Nation. "It is set in contemporary America. There is one character, an L.A.P.D. officer, who loses his soul--like that's never happened before," Straczynski quipped. "But he has a chance to get it back, unlike most of the L.A.P.D. It's his journey across America to find what it takes to get it back again. You see a side of the country that you don't normally see, the side of the country that is out of the corner of your eye: the dispossessed, the lost, the disheartened, the thrown-away. There's an education to it on a number of levels, but it's mainly meant to be entertaining."
Furlong Will Be Back In T3
dward Furlong has signed on to appear in Terminator 3, reprising the role of John Connor from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Variety columnist Michael Fleming reported.
Furlong will reteam with his T2 co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger in the third installment of the popular film franchise created by James Cameron.
T3, which Cameron won't direct, will likely start production in early 2001, Fleming reported. Producers are still looking for a director. Cameron's ex-wife Linda Hamilton, who played Sarah Connor in the first two Terminator movies, has previously said she won't sign on unless Cameron directs; it's unclear whether Robert Patrick, who recently took a job on The X-Files, will reappear as the shape-shifting T-1000 cyborg.
Fleming reported that the sequel will pick up the story during the post-apocalyptic war between man and machine. Furlong's character becomes the leader of the rebel force that battles the machines trying to wipe out the human race.
FreakyLinks Gets New Boss
avid Simkins (Mercy Point) takes over Fox's upcoming SF thriller series FreakyLinks from Tommy Thompson (The Pretender), who left the show over creative differences, Variety reported.
Thompson wanted to explore the show's darker elements, while Fox aimed at a lighter tone to fit the show's Friday 8 p.m. time slot, the trade paper reported.
FreakyLinks features a group of young conspiracy theorists who run a Web site devoted to paranormal mysteries. Gregg Hale and David Goyer co-created the series and serve as consulting producers, along with Carlos Coto.
McKellen Disputes Rings Photo
an McKellen, who will play Gandalf in the upcoming Lord of the Rings film trilogy, denied rumors that a widely circulated newspaper photograph from the New Zealand set depicts a death scene for his character.
Writing on his official Web site, McKellen said, "No, it's not me, although I was filming on the same location yesterday. Nor, as some have speculated, is it Christopher Lee [who plays the wizard Saruman]. He is currently in Australia preparing to film the new Star Wars movie."
McKellen also described his scenes with fellow British actor Ian Holm, who played Bilbo Baggins. "Bilbo's scenes were all shot in the studio, and I shared three of them. Gandalf knocked on the round door of Bag End last January--[director] Peter Jackson answered offscreen for Bilbo, 'Go away!' and then Kiran Shah (shot from the back, but in a mask of Ian Holm) let me in. Cut to two months later as Ian Holm shuts his front door behind me in the interior of the hobbit hole in the studio. Peter Jackson was alert to the need to get both Ians onscreen together, rather than using the big or small double too much. By placing Gandalf closer to the camera, Bilbo could be shrunk and the two of us could see each other's eyes. Ian's [eyes] twinkle and pierce you through--he is so observant, and yet he looks at you as the character. And this illusion that Bilbo is present is achieved each time the camera rolls."
Tobeck To Be Smeagol?
ew Zealand actor Joel Tobeck (Cleopatra 2525) is rumored to take on the role of Smeagol, the man who eventually becomes Gollum, in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies, according to the Joel Tobeck International Fan Club.
Tobeck has made several guest appearances on syndicated TV's Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, according to TheOneRing.net Web site.
Tobeck will reportedly play the character before he morphs into a reptilian creature under the effects of the Ring. The Gollum character will likely be portrayed with computer animation.
Karma Coming Around
niversal Pictures will develop the dark comedy fantasy movie Instant Karma for Brian Grazer and Ron Howard's Imagine Entertainment, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Paul Hernandez wrote the script, about a failed bank robber who dies alone in the desert and is reincarnated as different animals, including a flea and a cockroach, the trade paper reported.
Grazer will produce the project with Digital Domain, which will provide the special effects. Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (The Mask of Zorro) will also produce.
Decipher Gets Rings Rights
ecipher Inc. said it has bought the rights to create and market digital and conventional trading card games based on New Line's upcoming Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
Under terms of Decipher's agreement with New Line, Decipher has the trading-card game rights to The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King for an initial period of six years.
A parallel agreement with New Line and Tolkien Enterprises also grants Decipher the same rights for all of the literary properties related to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings novels upon which the movies are based.
Decipher will illustrate its upcoming card games with images from the films. The conventional and digital versions of the card game will be released in conjunction with the premiere of the first Rings movie in December 2001.
Nikita To Come Back?
he USA cable network and Warner Brothers Television are reportedly holding talks about reviving the canceled SF series La Femme Nikita, fan sources told SCI FI Wire.
USA canceled the series, which stars Peta Wilson and Roy Dupuis, after failing to resolve a contract dispute with Warner, which produces the show. The four-year-old series' final original episode is scheduled to air in September.
But reports--including one on the fan-run Save LFN 2000 Campaign Web site--suggest that USA and Warner have gone back to the bargaining table. The current proposal is for LFN to return as an eight-episode limited series, with Wilson (Nikita) as the only original cast member. Other fan sources tell SCI FI Wire that other members of the cast are being asked their availability.
USA is owned by USA Networks, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Apes Game Delayed
ox may delay a video game based on its Planet of the Apes movie series because of difficulty coordinating with French game developer Visiware, FGN reported.
But there are no plans to scrap the multi-platform game, the site reported.
Fox said the game, originally slated to debut this year, could be delayed until late winter of next year.
Hollow Man Is No. 1
aul Verhoeven's invisible-man movie, Hollow Man, topped the box-office rankings in its debut, taking in an estimated $26.8 million for the weekend of Aug. 4, according to the Hollywood trade papers.
The Kevin Bacon film barely beat out The Sixth Sense as the biggest August opening ever.
The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps ($18 million) and Space Cowboys ($17.6 million), which also opened during the weekend, were nearly tied for second place. The ultimate ranking will depend on final earnings reports this week.
What Lies Beneath dipped to fifth place, with an estimated $13.9 million, a 39 percent drop from the previous week. In its third weekend of release, the Harrison Ford-Michelle Pfeiffer thriller has earned a total of $95.2 million so far. Chicken Run, meanwhile, has raked in a total of $97 million after six weeks and should cross the $100 million mark soon.
Lies Passes $100 M
reamWorks' supernatural thriller movie What Lies Beneath surpassed the $100 million earnings mark on Aug. 10, the 10th North American film this year to surmount that hurdle, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Harrison Ford-Michelle Pfeiffer movie has been in release for three weeks.
DreamWorks' clay-animated movie Chicken Run is expected to surpass the $100 million mark the week of Aug. 14, its ninth week in release. DreamWorks has tied 20th Century Fox for the most $100 million-plus releases this year, the trade paper reported. Fox's X-Men has earned $136.2 million since its July 14 release.
Aaliyah Bites Into Queen Role
inger-actress Aaliyah told MTV Radio that she's preparing to play the mother of all vampires in the upcoming film Queen of the Damned, based on the Anne Rice novel of the same name.
Aaliyah will head to Australia in September to start shooting the movie with director Michael Rymer.
"I play Akasha, who is the queen and the first, original vampire," Aaliyah said. "That's me. It's a good part. I've been working with my coach. I work with him all the time, and I've been working extra hard to prepare for this and get comfortable with what she's all about so I can do it the right way."
Aaliyah added, "I'm a night person, so I guess you could say I kind of have [the part] in me anyway. I'm a bit of a vampire for real. I like the dark. I like the night. So I really don't have to take [preparation] to [the extreme of] sleeping in coffins. Other than that, I'm just preparing for it the normal way. It's a fun role, because I've always loved vampires since I was a little girl, so the chance to get to be one is amazing."
Leoni To Star In Jurassic III
ea Leoni (Deep Impact) is in final talks to star in Jurassic Park III, the latest installment in the successful dinosaur-amok movie series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Joe Johnston will direct the movie for Universal Pictures and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment.
Leoni will play a romantic interest and business associate to a wealthy businessman, played by William H. Macy (Fargo), the trade paper reported. Trevor Morgan (The Sixth Sense) signed on last week to play Macy's son. Leoni joins Sam Neill, who will reprise his role from the original Jurassic Park, and Alessandro Nivola as a graduate student. The film is slated for release next summer.
The Dark Horizons Web site, meanwhile, passes on a report from Total Film that the budget for JP3 stands at about $83 million, compared with $74 million for The Lost World: Jurassic Park, the second film in the series. And IGN Film Force reported rumors that JP3 location scouts have approached U.S. Defense Department officials about shooting on military installations in Hawaii.
Maguire Greases Up For Spidey
obey Maguire, recently picked to play Peter Parker in Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man movie, told Time magazine that it's not easy becoming the famous webslinger.
Spider-Man is Sony's feature-film version of the Marvel Comics series of the same name.
To create a mold for Spidey's costume, Maguire told the magazine, "They put some kind of grease on my body and then layer after layer of this ... stuff. When it hardens, they take it off, and it's a bit painful 'cause I have hair on my body." Spider-Man is slated to go into production soon for a release next year.
D'Onofrio: No To Doc Ock
incent D'Onofrio, who plays a serial killer in New Line's upcoming SF horror film The Cell, told TV Guide Online that he has no interest in playing a villain in Sony's big-screen version of Spider-Man.
D'Onofrio has been rumored as a candidate to play Spidey's arch-foe Doc Octopus in the movie, which is being directed by Sam Raimi.
"I wouldn't do it," D'Onofrio told TV Guide Online."There are certain things you cannot do." The actor said he earlier turned down an offer to star in 1991's The Rocketeer, even though "it was more money than I would ever imagine making, and I still haven't made to this day. I was thinking about [doing] it ... [but] then I saw myself flying around with a rocket on my back ... and I said, 'I can't f---ing do this. This is ridiculous!'"
The Zap2It Web site and Sony's own newsletter, meanwhile, reported that Nicolas Cage may be interested in playing Spidey's other foe, The Green Goblin. And the Whoosh! Web site reported that Raimi's brother, Ted Raimi (Xena: Warrior Princess), may appear in the film as well. Spider-Man, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, stars Tobey Maguire.
New Peter Pan To Fly
.J. Hogan (My Best Friend's Wedding) is in talks to direct a $100 million live-action remake of Peter Pan for Columbia Pictures, Variety reported.
Michael Goldenberg (Contact) will write an updated script, which will be based on J.M. Barrie's original children's novel of the same name.
Talks are underway with Industrial Light and Magic to furnish the effects, Variety reported.
Japan Seiun Awards Given
he Japan Fan Confederation presented the 1999 Seiun Awards, honoring Japanese science fiction, at the 39th Japan Science Fiction Convention in Pacifico Yokohama Aug. 5, according to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Web site.
A complete list of winners follows.
Japan Long Fiction
•Good Luck Sento Yosei Yukikaze by Chohei Kanbayashi
Japan Short Fiction
•"Taiyo no Sandatsusha" by Hosuke Nojiri
Overseas Long Fiction
•Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick, translated by Masayuki Uchida
Overseas Short Fiction
•"Out of the Everywhere" by James Tiptree Jr., translated by Norio Ito
Media
•Bebop by Shin-ichiro Watanabe
Comic Strips/Books
•Itihaasa by Wakako Mizuki
Art
•Kenji Tusuruta
Non-fiction
•AIBO by Sony
RWA Prism Awards Announced
he Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal Chapter of the Romance Writers of America presented its 2000 Prism awards for SF&F romance novels published in 1999.
The awards were announced before the RWA's national conference in Washington July 27. A full list of winners follows.
Time Travel
•First Place: Beloved Warrior by Judy DiCanio
•Second Place: The Moonstone by Claire Cross
•Third Place: River of Dreams by Jenny Lykins
Futuristic/Fantasy
•First Place: The Veiled Web by Catherine Asaro
•Second Place: The Rainbow Bridge by Karen McCullough
•Third Place: Broken Vows by Cory Daniels
Dark Paranormal
•First Place: Touch of the Wolf by Sue Krinard
•Second Place: Beaudry's Ghost by Carol Goodman
•Third Place: Shadow of the Hawk by Julie Miller
Light Paranormal
•First Place: More Than Magic by Kathleen Nance
•Second Place: Love Potion Number 9 by Claire Cross
•Third Place: Ghostly Acts by Melinda Rucker Haynes
Best of the Best
•Touch of the Wolf by Sue Krinard
Buffy Wins Quality Award
he WB's hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer won the Viewers for Quality Television's Founder's award, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The award was one of several announced as part of the 16th annual Viewers for Quality Television Awards.
Last month, Buffy earned three Emmy nominations, including outstanding writing for a drama series for creator Joss Whedon's script for the episode "Hush"'; outstanding cinematography; and outstanding hair styling
Indy Comes To The Rescue
arrison Ford, known for his heroic roles in the Indiana Jones and Star Wars movies, played a real rescuer on July 31 when he flew his helicopter to airlift an ailing hiker from a Wyoming mountain, according to the Associated Press.
Ford, a pilot and part-time resident of Jackson, Wyo., offers his Bell 407 chopper for volunteer rescue missions.
Ford rescued Sarah George, 20, who was hiking on Table Mountain with her companion Megan Freeman, 22, the AP reported. George fell ill and Ford responded to a call for help. The actor transported the hiker to a Jackson hospital.
Try-Or-Buy DS9 Game Due
imon & Schuster will release the video game Star Trek: Deep Space Nine--The Fallen in a try-before-you-buy format, FGN reported.
The offering is part of a deal signed by the publisher with Uniloc that will allow consumers to try full, unlocked versions of games, software, music, video or e-books for a limited time without obligation.
When players decided to buy, Uniloc will ship the off-the-shelf copy to consumers, complete with manuals and disks, FGN reported. The Fallen is a 3-D action game for the PC and Mac that continues the narrative of the television series and is part of a new story arc called "The Millennium" that will also play out in novels, comics and more games. It is due out before the end of the year.
Mummy 2 Promises More Action
rendan Fraser, star of the upcoming film The Mummy 2, told the SFX Web site that the sequel to 1999's hit The Mummy would bring audiences more of the same kinds of thrills as the original.
"If audiences respond as well as they did the first time around, then we're definitely going to deliver even more of that kind of adventure and fun," Fraser said.
"There's a particular brand of horror genre that, turned on its ear with the right dose of leavened humor, [makes] people feel like we're not taking them or ourselves too seriously," Fraser added. The Mummy 2 is currently shooting in the United Kingdom for release next year.
Carter Mum About X-Files
he X-Files creator Chris Carter remained evasive about developments in the Fox show's upcoming eighth season, according to Time magazine.
When asked by Fox entertainment president Gail Berman who was the father of FBI Agent Scully's baby, he answered, "I am. ... I'm the father and the mother."
Carter was equally coy in response to other questions. Will Scully deliver the baby this year? "I haven't thought about it yet," Carter said. Did Mulder and Scully consummate their relationship? "Viewers will have their prurience indulged." Could Scully turn out not to be pregnant at all? "I would never assume anything in The X-Files. But I think that would be a real cheat. ... It would be like bringing back a dead character." Carter did say that about six or seven of the upcoming 20 or so episodes will deal with the series' mythology.
Mane Wants Thor
x-wrestler Tyler Mane (Sabretooth in X-Men) said he's eager to play the title character in Artisan Entertainment's recently announced television series Thor, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, according to the Upcomingmovies.com Web site.
"I went to lunch with [Thor co-creator] Stan Lee a couple of weeks ago, and when I walked into his office, he had all [his] creative staff there, and said whenever I get tired of Sabretooth that he would create a character for me. And he said that I would be a good Thor, too. So you never know. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on all of that."
Mane added that he's been in talks to appear in Rollerball, the upcoming remake of the classic 1975 SF movie of the same name.
Schneider To Be An Animal
evolution Studios will develop Animal, a fantasy comedy movie to star Rob Schneider, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Animal is set to begin shooting Oct. 1, with an eye to a summer 2001 release, the trade paper reported.
Schneider and Tom Brady wrote the script for the movie, which tells the story of a man who gets organ transplants from various animals and finds himself taking on the animals' traits.
Blood Due In U.S.
anga Entertainment has acquired the U.S. rights to the animated movie Blood: The Last Vampire, the company announced.
Meanwhile, the film's production company, Production I.G., will continue the saga in Japan in manga form and as a PlayStation game, Production I.G. representative Maki Terashima said.
Manga will consider releasing Blood as a double feature in the United States with Ghost in the Shell because of Blood's short running time (48 minutes). The theatrical release will come before Manga releases Blood on home video and DVD, Manga representative Keith Burgess said.
6th Day Trailer Online
rnold Schwarzenegger's official Web site has posted a trailer for his upcoming cloning movie The 6th Day.
The site also announced that the Sony movie will be released on Nov. 17.
The trailer premiered in movie theaters on Aug. 4. In the film, Schwarzenegger plays a man who discovers that his clone has taken over his life. The film was directed by Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies).
Sony, meanwhile, has updated the official 6th Day Web site with new graphics.
Roswell Fans Gather
ore than 300 fans joined the cast and crew of The WB's teen alien series Roswell at a charity benefit party in Los Angeles Aug. 5 and raised thousands of dollars to fight hunger.
The party was organized by message-board denizens of the Fan Forum Crashdown Web site.
The party at the Key Club on Sunset Boulevard included an auction of Roswell costumes and memorabilia. One fan paid $4,000 for the hospital-scrubs costume worn by series star Jason Behr (Max) in the episode "The White Room." Another paid $600 for pink satin pajamas worn by Katherine Heigl (Isabel), and another bid $525 for a cowboy shirt worn by Nick Wechsler (Kyle).
Behr, Heigl and Wechsler joined series stars William Sadler, Shiri Appleby, Brendan Fehr, Emilie de Ravin and Majandra Delfino and series executive producer Jason Katims at the fan event.
Briefly Noted
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French actress Clara Bellar has joined the cast of Steven Spielberg's SF thriller movie A.I., which goes before the cameras next week in Los Angeles, Variety reported.
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Hideaki Anno, director and creator of the animes Neon Genesis Evangelion and Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou, has completed Shiki-Jitsu (The Day of Celebration), a live-action Japanese movie that is an autobiographical love story.
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Pocket Books will offer Star Trek S.C.E. Book One: The Belly of the Beast by Dean Wesley Smith--the first in a series of stories about the Starfleet Corps of Engineers--exclusively as an e-book. Additional S.C.E. titles will come out on the Web in September and October.
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The Brethren Chronicle, the official newsletter of The SCI FI Channel series First Wave, reported that the show will be adapted in a series of comic books, starting in December.
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DVD Review reported that Buena Vista Home Entertainment will release Hellraiser: Inferno, the fifth installment in the Clive Barker-created horror series of movies, directly to home video around Halloween. Inferno, directed by Scott Derrickson, stars Craig Sheffer and Nick Turturro in a story about L.A. cops who find the infamous puzzle box.
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Sony Music Video said it will market and distribute in Canada the complete catalog of Japanese animation owned by Palm Pictures' Manga Entertainment division. Sony will distribute home video and DVDs of Manga's titles, which include Lupin III: Castle of Cogliostro, Perfect Blue, X and Ghost in the Shell.
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USA Network and The SCI FI Channel have bought the first broadcast rights to Hollow Man, the Paul Verhoeven invisible-man movie now in theaters. The film will air on the sibling networks starting in May 2003. USA and SCI FI are owned by USA Networks, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
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MTV is developing Fear, a reality show described as Survivor meets The Blair Witch Project, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show will air Sept. 14 as a special.
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TNT has opened an official Web site for Witchblade, the upcoming original television movie based on the Top Cow comic series of the same name. Witchblade, the pilot for a possible series, premieres on the cable network Aug. 27 at 8 p.m. ET.
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Mage creator Matt Wagner told the Comics2Film Web site that he's still awaiting Disney's green light to make a movie version of his comic series. The studio has asked for a few minor script tweaks, which screenwriter John Rogers is currently at work on, Wagner said.
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Producers have posted video clips from the upcoming syndicated television series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda at the show's official Web site.
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The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced nominations for the 52nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards' three costume categories. Nominees included Star Trek: Voyager for series and Arabian Nights, Don Quixote and Geppetto for miniseries.
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X-Men producer Lauren Shuler-Donner presented an award for outstanding achievement in directing to her husband, Richard Donner, at the fourth annual Hollywood Film Festival, Variety reported.
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported rumors that Fox is not happy with the direction Tim Burton is taking his remake of Planet of the Apes. In particular, the site (referring to other reports by Web gossip columnist Matt Drudge and the IMDB Web site) said the studio is worried about Burton's ape-human romance story line.
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USA Interactive Entertainment announced that it has bought an interest in Brainstorms Internet Marketing to build and strengthen the e-commerce capabilities of SCIFI.COM. SCIFI.COM is now using Brainstorms' e-commerce engine and back-end fulfillment services to power the SCIFI.COM store.
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Avery Brooks (Capt. Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) will perform his award-winning tribute to singer and actor Paul Robeson as part of the National Medical Association's annual conference in Washington on Aug. 13.
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Highlander: Endgame stars Christopher Lambert, Adrian Paul and Lisa Barbuscia will appear on UPN's WWF Smackdown Aug. 10 with co-star and professional wrestler The Edge.
