Voyager Captain Doomed?
s Star Trek: Voyager Capt. Kathryn Janeway headed for that big dirt nap in the sky?
That was the intimation of mortality offered by Voyager star Kate Mulgrew on Craig Kilborn's Late Late Show on CBS, according to a transcript on Cinescape Online.
In response to Kilborn's question about Janeway's fate in Voyager's upcoming seventh and last season, Mulgrew said, "I can tell you exactly. Now, I may stand alone in this, and I'm sure it's going to be controversial. I think it should be poignant. ... I think it should be stunning. Unpredictable. Heartbreaking. The audience should guess, but it should be the last frame of the last episode. An extreme close-up of a beloved character. Out."
"Are we fading to black, or is she?" Kilborn asked.
"I can't, I'm not allowed to say," Mulgrew stammered. "I think you should see the ship go up in flames, deck by deck. Just get to the escape pods."
"Wow," Kilborn said. "You're going to ... you're going to die!"
"I was told not to speak of this," Mulgrew said. "As you can see, I'm the biggest blabbermouth in Hollywood." Later, Mulgrew clarified, "I didn't say Janeway was going to die."
Forget Rise of the Empire
ucasfilm has denied rumors that Star Wars: Episode II will be subtitled Rise of the Empire, according to E! Online.
The newspaper The Australian first reported the rumor, which was given weight by the fact that both the paper and Fox Studios, which is distributing Episode II, are owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
But the report seems premature. "As far as we know, we're still calling it Star Wars: Episode II," Lucasfilm spokeswoman Jeanne Cole told E!. She said she hadn't heard about the rumor, and added, "We don't know where that [rumor] came from."
Fans Love Fake Episode II Trailer
mpatient for the real thing, fans of Star Wars: Episode II have downloaded a fan-created faux trailer for the movie more than 1 million times, CNN reported.
The trailer, created by someone with the handle "Anonymous Director," can be found on TheForce.net Web site.
Jeff Yankey, Web site editor at TheForce.net, told CNN that the response to the trailer has been overwhelming. And Lucasfilm spokeswoman Jeanne Cole said the company is happy with the fake trailer. "People keep asking us about the controversy," she told CNN. "There is no controversy. We look at it as an homage from our fans of Star Wars. We're fine with it."
Duchovny May Star In Evolution
-Files headliner David Duchovny is in talks to play the lead role in director Ivan Reitman's SF comedy film Evolution, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The DreamWorks picture will feature an ensemble cast in a story chronicling the aftermath of a meteor that crashes into Earth and unleashes single-celled organisms that begin to evolve rapidly.
Duchovny and Reitman previously worked together on the Universal Pictures film Beethoven, which starred Duchovny and was executive produced by Reitman.
SCI FI Renews John Edward
he SCI FI Channel has ordered an additional 65 episodes of its late-night series Crossing Over With John Edward.
The show, which airs Sunday-Thursday at 11 p.m. ET, features psychic medium John Edward, who puts audience members in contact with their dead relatives.
The half-hour series debuted on SCI FI in July and now reaches an average of 443,000 households, which is a 40 percent increase over its debut. In every episode Edward "reads" members of the studio audience and also conducts one-on-one sessions with select guests.
Gatecrasher TV Show Coming
ainframe Entertainment and Black Bull Entertainment will develop the Gatecrasher comic series as a television show, the companies announced.
Mainframe (ReBoot) will develop a computer-animated half-hour television series for children.
Gatecrasher is designed and written by the team of Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Connor and Mark Waid. Gatecrasher tells the story of Alec Wagner, a half-alien college student who is a member of the Split-Second Squad, a secret army that protects Earth from aliens who attack through interdimensional gates.
Tolkien Documentary In Works
heOneRing.net Web site--which tracks developments related to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books and upcoming feature films--reported that Assassin Films is contemplating producing a Tolkien documentary.
Assassin Films is headed by New Zealand filmmaker Mark Morgan and British director David Perry, the site reported.
The documentarians are attempting to interview Tolkien's daughter, Priscilla, and to visit the writer's home in England.
Elfquest Animation Undecided
raig Miller, executive producer and writer of the upcoming Elfquest animated movie, told the Comics Continuum Web site that filmmakers are still deciding what kind of animation to use.
The movie would be based on the venerable fantasy comic series of the same name by Wendy and Richard Pini.
"We don' know yet if the movie will be traditionally cel-animated or computer-generated," Miller said at the International Comic-Con in San Diego. "We're looking at what might work, what would look best, if it will have the warmth of character that we really want with the elves that's so important to make them come alive in the movie. We're not convinced that [computer animation] will work, but we're willing to look and see."
Miller, partner Marv Wolfman and Wendy Pini wrote the screenplay for Elfquest, which is being produced in association with the European Animation Group. "We took the first four bound volumes of Elfquest--the initial quest--and took that story as the frame of what we wanted to do," Miller said. "That's over 600 pages of comic, and an animated feature runs about 90 minutes. So you can imagine you can't include everything that's in those 600 pages in a movie. What we tried to do was figure out ... the heart of the story, what the story is really about and stay as true as possible to the heart of Elfquest, the flavor of it." Elfquest, which will reportedly have a budget of at least $15 million, doesn't have a U.S. distributor yet.
Gundam Ride Opens In Japan
he first amusement attraction based on the popular anime franchise
Gundam recently opened at the Fuji-Kyuu Highland Amusement Park at
the foot of Mount Fuji, Japan.
Gundam the Ride: A Baoa Qu features a flight-simulator spaceship that moves in synchronization with an animated movie projected on a 300-inch screen.
The ride was created by New Visual World with the approval of Gundam creator Sunrise Production. Gundam the Ride introduces two new characters to the Gundam universe, Adam and Jack, and takes place in "Universal Century 0079." The premise of the ride has the audience boarding an Earth Federation Cruiser that gets involved in the decisive battle at A Baoa Qu.
The amusement park has also opened a Gundam Mania specialty store adjacent to the ride to sell Gundam and Fuji-Kyuu items.
Blair 2 Spoilers Revealed
he Dark Horizons Web site offered a glimpse at the upcoming Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows, based on a viewing of 20 minutes of footage at the recent Fangoria Weekend of Horrors convention.
The sequel to 1999's hit The Blair Witch Project is slated to open around Halloween.
The sequel begins with real-life news footage chronicling the hoopla surrounding the first film, The Blair Witch Project, Dark Horizons reported. The film then segues into a story playing off the Blair phenomenon. The main characters include a Maryland tour guide who takes people on tours of the "Blair" area woods, a couple obsessed with details of the Blair Witch legend, a "goth" girl, and a woman who practices Wicca. The group travels to the house seen at the end of the first movie; finds their videotapes buried underneath the house; returns to the guide's big house; and watches as strange things begin to happen.
Rollins To Host Night Visions
unk rocker and actor Henry Rollins (Johnny Mnemonic) will host Fox's new anthology series, Night Visions, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Rollins fronted the punk band Black Flag in the 1980s and now divides his time between his new Rollins Band and acting gigs in films such as Lost Highway and Jack Frost.
Night Visions, coming in the fall, will feature supernatural or paranormal stories starring well-known actors such as Aidan Quinn, Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Brian Dennehy, Gil Bellows and Cary Elwes. The pilot was shot without a host, and series creators and executive producers Dan Angel and Billy Brown noted on several occasions that any host would have to be unconventional, the Reporter said.
Zondag To Direct Ghosts
alph Zondag (co-director of Dinosaur) will make his live-action feature-film helming debut with MGM's supernatural comedy movie Raised by Ghosts, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The movie is slated to begin production early next year.
Craig Mitchell and Richard Stern wrote the screenplay for Ghosts, which tells the story of an orphaned teen-age boy who was raised from infancy by a group of ghosts. Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson (Steinbeck's Point of View) have been hired to rewrite the script.
Highlander Fans To Gather
ans of the syndicated television show Highlander: The Series will come together Sept. 15 to 17 in Vancouver, Canada, for a convention and book signing.
The party will coincide with the release of An Evening at Joe's, a new anthology of fiction written by the cast and crew of Highlander.
Guests will include Joe's authors Gillian Horvath (the series' associate creative consultant), Donna Lettow (associate creative consultant), actor Anthony De Longis, F. Braun McAsh (swordmaster), Laura Brennan (script coordinator) and Don Anderson (prop master). The convention will also feature appearances by Ginjer Buchanan (author of the Highlander novel White Silence) and several Vancouver-based actors who appeared on the series, including Matthew Walker, who portrayed Duncan MacLeod's father, Ian MacLeod, in three episodes.
Lopez Not Disturbed By Cell
ennifer Lopez, who stars in New Line's SF thriller The Cell, told E! Online that she wasn't disturbed by the film's graphic content.
"No, and I really expected I would be freaked out," Lopez told E!. "When I first read the script, I was like, 'Oh, this is going to be tough.' It's definitely not for the little girls who buy my album, who like to sing along with my songs."
In The Cell, Lopez plays a psychologist who enters the mind of a serial killer to locate one of his victims. Directed by commercial and video helmer Tarsem Singh, the movie contains several violent and disturbing scenes.
"When I saw what Tarsem, the director, wanted to do visually with some of the violence, I thought to myself, 'I'm not going to sleep a wink,'" Lopez said. "But I actually found filming the violent scenes that Oliver Stone staged in U Turn to be more disturbing."
Lopez added that she went to a therapist to research her role. "I had never been to therapy, and when you haven't been, you think, 'Oh, I'm just paying somebody to talk with me, and I have friends for that.' So, I went to see a therapist, but I didn't tell her it was for a movie, because I wanted to see how they work with the patient. I started telling her an actual problem I was having in my life; I didn't make it up. In case you're wondering, I have problems in my real life. Anyway, I thought I had figured out this particular problem, but the therapist gave it a totally different spin and kind of blamed everything on me. I was like, 'Hey, hold on here.' I actually walked away learning a lot."
Watson Asked Back On Nikita
lberta Watson, who plays Madeleine in the canceled USA Network series La Femme Nikita, told fans that she has been approached to play the role a few more times in a possible fifth season.
Posting on the message board of her official Web site, Watson said, "I try and move on ... but they keep pulling me back."
Watson added, "I spoke with one of [the powers that be] today, and he asked if I would come and possibly do one or two eps for LFN. 'Well ... sure,' I said. So the details aren't ironed out yet, but when they are, you'll know. This is the most bizarre show ever!"
Warner Brothers, which produces the show, and USA have reportedly been in talks about bringing the show back. Variety reported that USA was considering a full-season order of 22 episodes; fans have speculated that the two parties are discussing only eight more new episodes. USA canceled the series in May, citing a contract dispute with Warner. The cable network is currently airing the fourth season's final original episodes, which end in September. An announcement about LFN's fate is expected this week. USA is owned by USA Networks, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
The fan-run Save LFN Web site, meanwhile, reported that several people involved with the series have been asked about their availability for a fifth season. Carlo Rota (Mick) said on his newly created message board that his agent had been asked about his availability for additional episodes, the site reported. Executive consultant and LFN writer Larry Herzog similarly posted on his board, "From what I understand, there's every possibility that R[oy ]D[upuis (Michael)] will show up in the short season. (Of course, a lot has to be decided so nothing is definite.)" Chris Heyn, LFN's assistant to the executive consultants, said on his message board that he has been asked to return to the show. LFN supervising producer and writer Peter Lenkov said it's "still too early" to say if he'll return for any future episodes, the Save LFN Web site reported.
Nikita Renewal Talks Confirmed
onfirming earlier rumors, Variety reported that USA Network and Warner Brothers are talking about reviving the genre television series La Femme Nikita, which USA canceled in May.
Original episodes now airing on USA have earned good ratings, and the parties are reportedly considering bringing the show back for another full season of 22 episodes.
Variety reported that Warner and USA could strike a deal by the middle of the week. USA canceled Nikita after a contract dispute with Warner, which produces the show but reportedly lost money on the series.
Rumors had suggested USA was discussing renewing the series for only eight more episodes and bringing back only series star Peta Wilson. The season's final Nikita episode will air in September. USA is owned by USA Networks, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
MGM To Develop Rising Stars
GM has bought the feature-film rights to Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski's Rising Stars comic book series, Variety reported.
Straczynski will write the script for a movie version of his Top Cow comic series.
MGM, Top Cow and Atlas Entertainment/Gold Miller/Third Rail envision turning Rising Stars into a trilogy, the trade paper reported. The comic tells the story of 100 people who develop special powers after their small Midwestern town is struck by a fireball. Years later, the people begin to disappear.
Straczynski is currently writing City of Dreams, an original 13-episode audio drama for SCIFI.COM's Seeing Ear Theatre.
Potter Games To Go Deep
on Mattrick, president of worldwide studios at game publisher Electronic Arts, told Newsweek Online that EA's upcoming series of Harry Potter games will allow users to explore Harry's universe.
EA beat out Sony, Infogrames and Microsoft to win the coveted gaming licenses to J.K. Rowling's best-selling Harry Potter children's novel series and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Warner Brothers' upcoming feature film.
"A book has a certain experience and amount of time associated with reading it," Mattrick told Newsweek. "A film is approximately two hours. For a great gaming experience, we're looking at giving the consumer 40 hours-plus of great entertainment."
Mattrick added, "We're going to build off of the book assets, the movie assets, and, with the help of J.K. Rowling, create some additional depth that will reward consumers for coming to experience Potter in the interactive space. Imagine that you're interested in [Harry's wizard school] Hogwarts, and you want to go deeper into learning a certain set of spells than what's outlined in the book. You could. What I found really encouraging is that a lot of that has been created already by Rowling, but she hasn't had an opportunity to express it in print or in the movie format due to the time constraints associated with those media. So we see tremendous possibilities to fill in the details in the Potter universe: to make characters that grow and [to] get to do some of the fabulous experiences that are already in the book, like [the game] Quidditch, like learning about magic, like solving the mysteries that exist in that universe."
EA is beginning pre-production on its Potter games, which will be released to coincide with the movie next year. Mattrick said EA would develop games for the PC, for the Web and for hand-held gaming devices.
Potter To Be Picketed?
he British newspaper The Citizen reported that demonstrators plan to picket Gloucester Cathedral in Great Britain during the filming of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, according to the Dark Horizons Web site.
Churchgoers reportedly object to the portrayal of witchcraft and wizardry in the film, which is based on J.K. Rowling's best-selling children's novel of the same name.
The cathedral will stand in for Harry Potter's Hogwarts School of Wizardry. The movie, to be directed by Chris Columbus, is set to begin filming before the end of the year.
Rowling: Smith, Coltrane In Potter
.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter children's novel series, told the audience at a book festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, that Dame Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane have been cast in the feature-film version of her first Potter book, the London Telegraph reported.
Smith will play Prof. McGonagall and Coltrane will play Hagrid the giant in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, to be directed by Chris Columbus.
"They were the two I wanted most of all, and I am quite happy about that," Rowling reportedly said. Rowling also confirmed that a young actor has been chosen to play the hero, but a final contract has yet to be signed. Rowling declined to identify the actor.
Rowling hinted that her next Potter book--No. 5--would be published about the same time as the premiere of the film next year.
Potter 2 Paperback Bows
arry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second volume in J.K. Rowling's hugely popular Harry Potter series of children's novels, will appear in paperback on Aug. 15, the books' U.S. publisher, Scholastic, announced.
The hardcover edition of the book, which debuted in June 1999, remains among the top five books on The Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-seller lists.
Meanwhile, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire--the fourth and latest volume of the series--has set a record as the fastest-selling book in history since its debut July 8. With an unprecedented initial print run of 3.8 million, the book broke all industry records by selling nearly 3 million copies in its first 48 hours, Scholastic announced. Scholastic has printed another 3 million copies.
Baker Scrambles For Apes
akeup wizard Rick Baker, who is working on Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes, told the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors convention that he would be making close to 500 apes by October to meet the film's tight production schedule, according to Fandom.
He added that he has 75 people in two crews working day and night on the Apes costumes.
Baker said there won't be any animatronic primates in Apes and that most of the film's apes would be created with makeup effects, though digital effects may help fix problems later. The film, tenatively called The Visitor, will star Mark Wahlberg and Helena Bonham Carter.
Paul Thrilled About Endgame
drian Paul, who plays Duncan MacLeod in the upcoming movie Highlander: Endgame, told Cinescape Online that he's thrilled to take his long-standing television character to the big screen.
Paul played MacLeod in the syndicated Highlander TV series.
"I finally did Duncan MacLeod on the big screen," Paul said. "All of what he is and who he is is something I've worked on for a long time, and now I've got the chance to do it on the big screen."
Highlander: Endgame is the fourth installment in the movie franchise, which began with 1986's Highlander. In the new movie, Paul joins Christopher Lambert, who has played Connor MacLeod in the films and has appeared on the pilot of the TV show.
The new movie picks up where the first one left off, ignoring the intervening sequels. "There is a problem at the beginning of the picture. It's something that Connor has dealt with that Duncan doesn't know about," producer Bill Panzer told Cinescape. "Duncan is seeking out what's happening, and gradually it is revealed to him. They are together in the past in a number of different time periods. And then in the present, it all becomes revealed. So it is absolutely a Connor/Duncan relationship [story] with a great baddie." Highlander: Endgame opens Sept. 1.
Aspect Buys Seven Suns Trilogy
arner Aspect outbid three rival publishers for the rights to an upcoming SF trilogy of novels by best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson, tentatively titled The Saga of Seven Suns.
Aspect editor-in-chief Betsy Mitchell made the deal--which included North American, audio and electronic rights--via Matthew Bialer at the William Morris agency.
Aspect will publish the trilogy in both hardcover and paperback editions beginning in mid-2002. Mitchell said the books will appeal to fans of Anderson's Dune books (co-written with Dune creator Frank Herbert's son, Brian) and his Star Wars novels.
The Saga of Seven Suns chronicles a legendary war that spans half the galaxy and involves the intrigues, ambitions, loves and tragedies of several competing races in an expanding stellar empire. Humans are one of three known intelligent races, yet they are still "the new kids on the
block," having been starfarers for only a few centuries.
SCI FI Licenses Shows For Comics
ndromeda Entertainment will publish a new line of comics based on productions of The SCI FI Channel, the company announced.
The first series will be based on SCI FI's original series First Wave, created by Chris Brancato and produced by Francis Ford Coppola and Larry Sugar.
First Wave comics will appear starting in December. "The fans are gonna love this!" Brancato said in a statement. "Comic books are a bold, fantastic, visual medium and the perfect venue to expand the First Wave universe. I'm really excited about exploring Cade Foster's mission with the writers and artists at Andromeda."
WB To Film Dust, First King
arner Bros. will develop Dust, an SF movie based on Charles Pelligrino's 1998 ecological disaster novel of the same name, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The studio wants Patrick Massett and John Zinman (Tomb Raider) to write the screenplay adaptation of the book.
Jan De Bont will direct Dust for Warner and Village Roadshow and will produce the movie through his Blue Tulip Productions company, the trade paper reported. The book tells the story of a massive ecological nightmare and the efforts by a paleobiologist and a group of survivors to find a way to stop it before the world ends, according to a description on Amazon.com.
Meanwhile, Warner has hired Massett and Zinman to write the script for First King, a supernatural adventure film starring Jet Li, based on Li's original idea. Joel Silver (The Matrix) will produce the movie, in which the first king of China and his court are brought back to life in modern times.
Polley Headlines Monster
arah Polley (Go) will star in Monster, a modern-day retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, Variety reported.
Hal Hartley will write and direct the MGM/United Artists movie for Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope production company.
Julie Christie, Helen Mirren and Robert John Burke (Thinner) will also star in the film. Monster will tell the story of a journalist (Polley) who travels to Iceland to find her missing fiance and forges an unlikely friendship with a mythical monster (Burke), Variety reported. Production is slated to begin Sept. 1 in Iceland and New York.
Fantasy Nominees Announced
rganizers announced the nominees for the 1999 World Fantasy Awards, which will be presented
at the 2000 World Fantasy Convention in Corpus Christi, Texas, Oct. 29, according to Locus Online.
A special Life Achievement award will also be presented. Members of the current and previous World Fantasy Convention and a panel of judges chose the nominees.
The 1999 awards judges are Suzi Baker, W. Paul Ganley, Tim Holman, Marvin Kaye and Melissa Scott. A full list of nominees follows.
Best Novel
•Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle
•The Rainy Season by James P. Blaylock
•Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
•A Witness to Life by Terence M. Green
•A Red Heart of Memories by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
•Thraxas byMartin Scott
Best Novella
•"Scarlet and Gold" by Tanith Lee
•"The Wizard Retires" by Michael Meddor
•"Crocodile Rock" by Lucius Shepard
•"The Transformation of Martin Lake" by Jeff VanderMeer
•"The Winds of Marble Arch" by Connie Willis
•"Sky Eyes" by Laurel Winter
Best Short Fiction
•"The Grammarian's Five Daughters" by Eleanor Arnason
•"The Chop Girl" by Ian R. MacLeod
•"Naming the Dead" by Paul J. McAuley
•"Amerikanski Dead in the Moscow Morgue" by Kim Newman
•"Human Bay" by Robert Reed
•"The Parwat Ruby" by Delia Sherman
Best Anthology
•The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Twelfth Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds.
•Silver Birch, Blood Moon, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds.
•Northern Frights 5, Don Hutchison, ed.
•Dark Detectives: Adventures of the Supernatural Sleuths, Stephen Jones, ed.
•999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense, Al Sarrantonio, ed.
Best Collection
•Moonlight and Vines by Charles de Lint
•Reave the Just and Other Tales by Stephen R. Donaldson
•Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King
•Deep into That Darkness Peering by Tom Piccirilli
•Necromancies and Netherworlds by Darrell Schweitzer and Jason Van Hollander
Best Artist
•Les Edwards
•Bob Eggleton
•Stephen E. Fabian
•Jason Van Hollander
Special Award Professional
•Seamus Heaney
•Warren Lapine
•John Betancourt
•Stephen Jones
•Kim Newman
•Gordon Van Gelder
Special Award Non-Professional
•Ken Abner
•The British Fantasy Society
•Dwayne Olson, Peder Wagtskjold, Scott Wyatt
•Rosemary Pardoe
•William K. Schafer
•R.B. Russell
Blade Director To Helm Ghost
lade director Stephen Norrington is in talks to develop and helm the feature-film version of Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider series, Variety reported.
Blade, the 1998 Wesley Snipes film, was also based on a Marvel series, Blade the Vampire Hunter.
Ghost Rider, budgeted at $75 million, will tell the story of a motorcycle stuntman who is transformed into a fiery demon to battle evil. Norrington will re-team with Blade writer David Goyer, who will write the script for Ghost. New Line's Blade earned $70 million in its domestic release, Variety reported.
Goyer Talks Blade 2
riter David Goyer told Eon Magazine that his script for the upcoming Blade 2 will resurrect Kris Kristofferson's character, who was killed off in the original movie, 1998's Blade.
"I won't say how, but it makes sense," Goyer said.
Goyer added, "Blade 2 is going into pre-production [this] month, and we'll start shooting that in February. The scripts are all done, all approved. The only two people coming back are [star] Wesley [Snipes] and Kris Kristofferson. ... Fans won't be disappointed. I'm also going to be producing that, so I'll have a little bit more [involvement]--although I was fairly involved with the first one. ... Guillermo del Toro is directing, who did Cronos and Mimic, and he's directing a film in Spain right now called The Devil's Backbone."
Goyer said the film is targeted for a November 2001 or February 2002 release. As for the story, "All I'm going to say is that [Blade is] forced to team up with the one thing he hates more than anything in the world--vampires--because an even greater threat has arisen. And there is a plan for a third movie. I always intended it to be a trilogy. If it continues beyond the third one, I doubt I'll be involved. But I really love writing the characters." The films are based on the Marvel Comic series Blade the Vampire Hunter.
Buffy Spoilers Revealed?
! Online columnist "Watch with Wanda" reported that Marc Blucas, who plays love interest Riley Finn, will leave The WB's hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer next year.
Blucas will exit at mid-season, after about a dozen episodes, E! reported. The departure of Buffy's paramour from last year will leave her in a more independent phase of life.
In other spoilers for the show's fifth season, E! reported that Willow's girlfriend, Tara, will reveal a big secret that will affect the rest of the Buffy gang. And villains Drusilla, the nutty vampire played by Juliet Landau, and evil slayer Faith (Eliza Dushku) will return.
Next door, on the Buffy spinoff series Angel, the new character of Gunn (J. August Richards) may develop a crush on Cordelia. But E! speculates that Darla (Julie Benz), who was glimpsed in the season finale, may not be long for this world.
USA, SCI FI Buy SF Film Rights
ew Line has sold the first broadcast rights to a dozen of its movies--including genre films Final Destination and Frequency--to The SCI FI Channel, USA Network and three other networks, Variety reported.
Nine of the titles went to USA and its sister SCI FI, who will share Frequency with ABC and Final Destination with Fox.
USA and SCI FI also bought rights to the upcoming SF thriller movie The Cell, starring Jennifer Lopez, which opened Aug. 18. New Line also pre-sold Little Vampire, starring Jonathan Lipnicki, to the Disney Channel.
USA and SCI FI are owned by USA Networks, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Hollow Edges Cowboys
ollow Man narrowly edged Space Cowboys as the No. 1 box-office draw during the weekend of Aug. 11, based on final earnings figures, according to the Hollywood trade papers.
Preliminary estimates had put the two genre films in a tie for first place. Both movies are in their second week of release.
Hollow Man took in $13.04 million for the weekend; Space Cowboys earned $13.01 million. Cowboys kept a larger share of its audience in its second weekend of release; its audience slipped 28 percent, compared with a 50 percent drop for Hollow.
Comike Draws 400,000
he 58th Comike, the world largest international underground comic market, drew an estimated 400,000 attendees to listen to speakers and view about 40,000 exhibits at the convention's Tokyo Bay venue.
The convention, sponsored by the Tokyo Comic Market, ran Aug. 13 and 14 and featured Murata Range (Blue Submarine No. 6 creator), Tsukasa Kotobuki (Street Fighter author) and Minami Ozaki (Bronze Zetsuai), who introduced their works exclusively to Comike.
Started in 1976, Comike takes place twice a year and is famous for talent recruitment by many anime directors and producers.
Spidey Casting Rumors Abound
he Coming Attractions Web site reported rumors that William H. Macy is under consideration to play newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man movie.
But a scheduling conflict may arise as Macy has already signed on to appear in Jurassic Park 3, which begins filming soon.
The site also reported that filmmakers talked to Bob Hoskins about playing the villain Dr. Octopus, a role previously linked to Nicolas Cage. Brian Dennehy, meanwhile, is one of the names being discussed to play hero Peter Parker's Uncle Ben, the site reported. And Ted Raimi, who is rumored to have a role in the movie, may play a "one-armed scientist," possibly Dr. Curt Connors, who goes on to become the Lizard.
Lastly, the site reported rumors that Cirque Du Soleil ballerina Helena Buonfiglioli has been hired to help design the aerial choreography for Spider-Man's airborne travels through New York City. Raimi's Spider-Man, starring Tobey Maguire, is based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name.
New Angel Guy Likes Fans
. August Richards, who has joined the regular cast of The WB's hit vampire series Angel, told EW.com that he's not worried about the show's legions of fans.
"I was a little nervous when my first episode aired, because I know fans of the show are very devoted," said Richards, whose season-one character, homeless vampire-killer Charles Gunn, becomes a regular next year.
Richards added, "But I read roughly 50 letters about me, and only one was negative. And it was so negative it was actually positive. This person wrote, 'He shouldn't be a regular, because he needs to go back to school!' So that viewer must have really believed I was a homeless high-school dropout."
As for his role in Angel's second season, Richards said, "Well, I'm still going to be the leader of this street-fighting vampire team, so it's not like my whole lifestyle is going to change and I'm going to suddenly move in with Angel now that I'm a regular character. But I will be in alliance with him. There are a lot of changes coming up that I am not able to disclose. And you'll be glad I didn't, because it would just ruin the surprise."
New Line To Release D&D
ew Line Cinema has bought the U.S. distribution rights for Dungeons & Dragons, producer Joel Silver's feature-film version of the popular TSR Inc. fantasy role-playing game of the same name, the Hollywood trade papers reported.
The movie, which was directed by Canadian first-time helmer Courtney Solomon, stars Jeremy Irons, Thora Birch and Marlon Wayans.
Topper Lilien and Carroll Cartwright wrote the film, which tells the story of an evil wizard who attempts to dethrone a young, new empress because of her belief in equal rights between commoners and aristocrats, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She is helped by a common thief and a young sorceress, who set out to find an ancient artifact that will help them save the kingdom.
New Line did not announce a release date for the movie, which finished shooting in the Czech Republic earlier this year.
Reeves: Matrix 2 To Shoot In Oz
eanu Reeves told MSN.com that he expects The Matrix 2 and 3 to shoot in Australia--the location of 1999's The Matrix--starting sometime in March.
In the fall, Reeves will begin training for the sequels, which will be shot back to back.
Reeves declined to comment on the story of the sequels, but said his Matrix co-stars Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss will return. He added that the sequels' special effects "will raise the bar" for other films.
Reeves added that he understands the popularity of the first Matrix. "My character in the film is looking for answers, which is admirable," Reeves said. "The movie poses some good questions about our lives. Do you want to stay in the rabbit hole or get out? Do we want to go to sleep or wake up?"
Seuss' Cat Headed For Screen
niversal Studios and Imagine Entertainment are close to a deal to develop a live-action version of Dr. Seuss' classic children's story The Cat in the Hat, Variety reportec[
Universal and Imagine are the forces behind the upcoming Jim Carrey live-action movie of Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! directed by Ron Howard.
Tim Allen would star in the Cat movie, the trade paper reported. DreamWorks had previously tried unsuccessfully to develop a Cat movie for Allen. Universal and Imagine will reportedly scrap the DreamWorks script and start from scratch.
Briefly Noted
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Composer Howard Shore (The Cell) will write the original music for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, the Music from the Movies Web site confirmed. Shore told the site, "Yes, I am doing the Lord of the Rings trilogy."
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The Ain't It Cool News Web site reported a rumor that director Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility) is the unlikely favorite to helm the feature-film version of Marvel Comics' Silver Surfer series. Marvel entertainment chief Avi Arad is reportedly pleased with Andrew Kevin Walker's script for the proposed movie, the site added.
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported that plans for a sequel to 1997's live-action Spawn movie are still active. Writer Leigh Paatsch told the Australian Herald Sun newspaper that "New Line Films still maintain it's happening. The draft script, which one New Line executive describes as 'much darker, like Seven on acid,' looks likely to get the green light for the production!" Dark Horizons reported.
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Vera Farmiga (Autumn in New York) will join Miranda Richardson and Tom Irwin in the ABC television movie Snow White, Variety reported. Farmiga will also star with Joseph Fiennes in the upcoming SF feature film Dust.
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Trevor Lissauer (Roswell) will play Sabrina's offbeat college roommate on The WB's Sabrina, the TeenageWitch, Variety reported.
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Noah Taylor (Shine) has won a role in Paramount's Tomb Raider, joining Angelina Jolie, Iain Glen and Daniel Craig in the feature-film version of the popular Eidos video game series of the same name, Variety reported. Simon West is directing the film, currently in production in Great Britain.
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Harvey Entertainment Co. has acquired all U.S. rights to Pearson Television International's animated children's film A Monkey's Tale, about rival tribes of monkeys, Variety reported. The movie, voiced by John Hurt and Michael York, is slated for an early 2001 release.
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Fox has bought the first-broadcast rights to Nutty Professor II: The Klumps and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Klumps will air in early 2003; no air date was set for Rocky.
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Lance Henriksen (Millennium) will star in the supernatural thriller movie The Invitation, Variety reported. Pat Bermel wrote the script and will direct the film, about an eccentric and wealthy writer who has a near-death encounter, then invites friends to his island home to share his experience.
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Surprise celebrities will read from Elizabeth Haydon's just-released epic fantasy novel Prophecy: Child of Earth on the Web daily through Aug. 31 to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. David Cassidy, Fran Drescher, Terry Goodkind, Diana Gabaldon, Dolly Parton, Scott Wolf and others have volunteered to read.
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LucasArts said that it will release its Star Wars Demolition game for the Sega Dreamcast and PlayStation gaming platforms in the fall. Star Wars Demolition is a vehicular combat game.
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In a move that calls to mind William Gibson's SF novel Idoru, writer and director Andrew Niccol said he would employ a computer-generated actress as the title character in New Line Cinema's upcoming live-action movie Simone, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The animated actress will star opposite Al Pacino.
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MindShare, a media investment management company, predicted that James Cameron's cyberpunk television series Dark Angel on Fox was among the new shows likely to survive their freshman season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. But the company said Fox's upcoming midseason X-Files spinoff, The Lone Gunmen, had only an "outside chance" of surviving its first year.
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Eliza Dushku (Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) will star opposite D.J. Qualls in the upcoming feature film The New Guy. Dushku is also in talks to star in Francis Ford Coppola's production Taking on the Neighborhood.
