Jurassic 3 Shoots In Hawaii
rews have been shooting in and around Honolulu's Dillingham Airfield for scenes from director Joe Johnston's upcoming Jurassic Park 3, the latest installment in the dinosaur movie franchise, the Honolulu Advertiser reported.
Filming will also continue at secret locations on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Molokai and Kauai until Sept. 20, the newspaper reported.
Filmmakers turned the military airfield into an "abandoned jungle airfield." The newspaper reported that one or two characters in the sequel get crunched by dinosaurs: One man meets his fate while standing on the runway, when a dinosaur looms in front of an oncoming plane.
Neill: Jurassic 3 Is A Prequel
am Neill, who reprises his Jurassic Park role of Alan Grant in the upcoming sequel Jurassic Park 3, told the Melbourne, Australia, Herald Sun newspaper that the movie will fit in the time frame between the first and second films, according to Dan's JP3 Page.
"The movie is actually based before The Lost World, but after Jurassic Park," Neill said. "What they seem to call a prequel, I believe."
Neill will join Tea Leoni and William H. Macy in JP3. "I like movies with soul, which is actually the reason I accepted the role of Alan Grant in Jurassic Park," Neill said. "I declined to star in Jurassic Park 3 [at first] because the script was bad. After they went back to work on it some more, I got a new and improved script, and I signed on. I loved working on the first film, and look forward to doing it all again."
SCI FI Orders New Lexx
he SCI FI Channel ordered 24 new one-hour episodes of its original series Lexx for 2001, the network announced.
In the new season, the series' dysfunctional crew will find itself on a world that may provide it with its most challenging adventures yet. Production on the new episodes is slated to begin in Germany and Nova Scotia later this year.
The quirky and sexy comedy/adventure series broke ratings records for a SCI FI series with its January premiere. Lexx airs regularly at 10 p.m. ET during SCI FI Prime, SCI FI's Friday night block of original programming.
""Lexx came onto our airwaves with a bang, bringing a deliciously twisted approach to the genre," Bonnie Hammer, executive vice president and general manager of SCI FI, said in a statement. "The producers then approached us about supporting a new season, with a wonderful story arc that delivers more of Lexx's guilty pleasures."
New Pretender Films On TNT?
yndicated columnist Jeffrey Wells reported that the TNT cable network will produce two new movie-length installments of NBC's canceled SF series The Pretender.
Wells interviewed series co-star Patrick Bachau, who plays Sydney in the show.
Wells reported that TNT will shoot the two new installments this fall. Pretender, which stars Michael T. Weiss as a genius who can impersonate anyone, ended abruptly on NBC last year with a cliffhanger in which key characters got caught in an explosion.
In an interview with SCI FI Wire, TNT spokesman Walter Ward in Atlanta declined to confirm that the network was producing new Pretender installments. TNT currently airs reruns of the show at 7 p.m. daily.
TV Guide Previews New SF Season
V Guide is providing spoilerish previews of returning genre shows in its current print and online edition.
Star Trek: Voyager, entering its final season, will open with the conclusion of last season's cliffhanger episode, in which Capt. Janeway was assimilated by the Borg.
Voyager executive producer Ken Biller told TV Guide, "In the season opener, the Borg queen (Susanna Thompson) will go toe-to-toe with Janeway." He added that "the crew will manage to snag a victory out of the jaws of defeat in a way that will surprise everyone." Later in the season, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) will come to terms with the possibility of her own death, and a Manchurian Candidate-inspired episode will deal with a repressed order among the Maquis members of the crew, the magazine reported.
On The X-Files, meanwhile, creator Chris Carter told TV Guide that the new season will capitalize on the absence of co-star David Duchovny, who will appear in about half of the season's episodes. "I hope to turn that into a virtue," Carter said. "The theme of the season is the search for Mulder." The two-part premiere will give clues as to where he might be, and Carter added that the father of Scully's child will "quite probably" be revealed early on.
Over at The WB, Buffy the Vampire Slayer will get a younger sibling, kind of, in a cute pre-teen named Dawn (Michelle Trachtenberg), TV Guide reported. Anya (Emma Caulfield) joins the Scooby Gang as a regular. "Buffy's spent her whole life trying to be everything except the slayer," creator and executive producer Joss Whedon told TV Guide. "This is the year she really takes charge of it." Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) will run the local magic shop, Xander (Nicholas Brendon) will get some direction, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) will be even witchier, and Spike (James Marsters) will return, the magazine reported.
Morgan And Wong Ready Visitation
ames Wong and Glen Morgan, the directing-writing team behind New Line's hit movie Final Destination, will develop a UFO movie next, according to the Popcorn U.K. Web site.
Morgan and Wong will write, produce and direct After the Visitation, based on an obscure Russian novella of the same name, the site reported.
Visitation tells the story of a small patch of land controlled by the United Nations where an alien visitation occurred 20 years previously. The film would shoot in the fall of 2001, Popcorn reported.
SCI FI Delays B5 Sciography
iting production delays, The SCI FI Channel will postpone the airing of its Babylon 5 edition of Sciography, originally scheduled for Sept. 24.
A spokesman said that producers wanted to ensure that the Babylon 5 installment of Sciography was of the highest quality before airing it.
SCI FI will proceed with rebroadcasts of Babylon 5 episodes Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET, starting on Sept. 25, in never-before-seen widescreen format.
Blair Witch 2 Echoes Old Scares
he current issue of ifcRANT Magazine, a publication of the Independent Film Channel, reported that the upcoming Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows combines Scream 2 with Nightmare on Elm Street.
Editors of the magazine got a sneak peak at 20 minutes of footage from the sequel to 1999's indie film hit The Blair Witch Project.
The movie begins with a look at the hype that surrounded the first Blair Witch movie, then follows a group of kids exploring Burkittsville, Md., and the surrounding woods, led by local Jeff Donovan, leader of the fictitious Blair Witch Hunt company. Book of Shadows opens around Halloween.
Del Toro Hones Blade 2
he Dark Horizons Web site reported that Blade 2 director Gullermo Del Toro told a Spanish newspaper that the upcoming sequel will differ from its 1999 predecessor.
"I'm scared about doing another vampire film," Del Toro told the El Pais newspaper.
Del Toro added, "I'm doing lots of changes in the script. In terms of story, Blade 2 will be 60 percent similar to the first part [Blade], but we are changing the visual aspects. We are going down to dark catacombs. We are entering my territory to explore [a] vampire's biology. We are still working on a final version of the script, but, at this moment, my relation with [producer and star] Wesley Snipes is very good. He likes the director to have a clear vision of what he wants to do with his script."
Blade and Blade 2 are based on the Marvel Comics series Blade the Vampire Hunter.
Matrix Sequels To Amp Up Fights
he IMDB Web site reported that fight scenes in the upcoming two sequels to 1999's hit film The Matrix will be bigger and better than ever.
Fight coordinator Wu Ping is choreographing the fights for the sequels while he works on an unrelated Hong Kong movie, The Black Mask 2.
Matrix directors Larry and Andy Wachowski have reportedly called on the stunt team to choreograph more high-kicking action, and Ping is already auditioning fight doubles and actors for the martial-art scenes. Keanu Reeves and the other stars of The Matrix reportedly trained in martial arts for months before the first movie.
British martial art stunt agent Anthony Jones told IMDB, "Wu Ping is looking for a really crack team of fighters. He's out to make the most compulsive fight scenes at the movies, and that's before the special effects."
New Line Eyes Shudder
ew Line is in talks to buy Shudder, a supernatural thriller script from new writers Matthew Odgers and David Markus, Variety reported.
Zide/Perry Entertainment would produce the film.
Shudder tells the story of a photojournalist who is haunted by the ghosts of the victims whose misery he has chronicled and exploited, the trade paper reported.
Silver To Remake Westworld
roducer Joel Silver (The Matrix) has hired writer Richard D'Ovidio (Exit Wounds) to write an update of the 1973 SF classic movie Westworld, Variety reported.
Silver has also been in talks with Michael Crichton, who wrote and directed the original film, about the update, though it's unclear what role Crichton would play, the trade paper reported.
Silver's production company will make Westworld a priority, though a start date is uncertain in light of pending actors' and writers' strikes next summer, Variety reported.
The original film starred Yul Brynner and Richard Benjamin in a story about a futuristic theme park in which robots run amok. Variety reported that the remake would remain true to the original, but will add a modern twist and update the look of the robots.
Bridges Talking K-PAX Role
eff Bridges is in talks to star opposite Kevin Spacey in the feature film K-PAX, an SF fable from Universal Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Iain Softley will direct the film, which is slated to begin shooting in November.
Bridges would play a psychiatrist treating a mental patient (Spacey) who claims to be an alien from the planet K-PAX, the trade paper reported. Charles Leavitt (The Mighty) wrote the script, which is based on Gene Brewer's 1995 novel of the same name.
Mummy 2 Pays Big For FX
akers of The Mummy 2 will pay $20 million for special effects to Industrial Light & Magic, according to EW.com.
That's a sizeable chunk of the $88 million budget for the sequel to the 1999 hit movie The Mummy. The Mummy 2 is currently in production in London and elsewhere.
Director Stephen Sommers told EW.com that "the special effects have to be bigger, better and different [from the first film]. The pygmy skeletons will be worth the price of admission." The movie also features a $1 million cavern set for the character of the Scorpion King, played by professional wrestler The Rock.
Pitt Approached To Play Batman?
he British Sun newspaper speculated that Brad Pitt has been approached to play the caped crusader in the fifth installment of the Batman film franchise.
The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said Pitt had held "talks with Hollywood chiefs about the role."
EW.com earlier reported that Pi director Darren Aronofsky had talked with Warner Brothers about helming the next Batman movie, and that Aronofsky had met with Pitt during a recent visit to Los Angeles. But EW did not say Aronofsky had discussed the bat-role with Pitt.
Clooney: Make Batman Batty
eorge Clooney, who played the caped crusader in Batman & Robin, told Movieline.com that he's got a great idea for the next installment in the franchise: It's all in Bruce Wayne's head.
"You do the movie cheap, in film noir style," Clooney said. "Make Batman
the dark knight, something [director] Tim Burton [Batman] didn't even do."
Clooney's version of the film would begin with the funeral of Alfred, and an aging Bruce Wayne awaking in a hospital. "What you have is that since he was eight years old and his parents were killed, he's been comatose," Clooney said. "He has lived his entire life--all of this hatred--in this room. ... And he's saying, 'Am I to believe that my life, everything, all these people, lived in my imagination, in this room? No. I will not accept it.' The camera slowly pans the room, it comes around and you hear him saying, 'I am Batman. I am Batman. I am Batman.' Then you see him, Michael Keaton, whoever you want. White hair, sitting up, just totally crazy, out of his f--ing mind."
Clooney added, "Do it for $30 million. You reinvent the franchise. What they want to do instead is this Batman Beyond, and just like with Anthony Hopkins in Mask of Zorro, you have this guy create the whole thing all over again with someone new. I think they are going to do Batman Beyond, but they should use my ending to start the movie."
King Sells Dreamcatcher Rights
tephen King has sold the screen rights to his next novel, The Dreamcatcher, to Castle Rock Entertainment for a film that will be adapted by writer William Goldman, Variety columnist Michael Fleming reported.
Goldman also adapted King's Misery and Hearts in Atlantis for the screen.
The Dreamcatcher, which Scribner will publish next summer, tells the story of four boyhood friends who perform a heroic act and are given a strange gift as a reward. Years later, they reunite to use that power to defeat a mysterious enemy, Fleming reported.
Carpenter's Mars Is Low-Tech
irector John Carpenter told Fandom that his upcoming SF thriller movie Ghosts of Mars won't be a high-tech romp.
"Most of it takes place in this little outpost, a frontier type town on Mars that's near a mine," Carpenter said. "There's no trace on the surface that there was any past civilization on the planet, but the mines have uncovered this ... well, basically a trap."
Carpenter added, "It's a Land of the Pharaohs kind of situation, where these doors open and out comes this almost unkillable evil that sweeps across the planet. That's our dilemma. It takes us over. You're not human anymore. You become an ancient Martian warrior, and you gather together and start attacking, wiping out anything on the planet that you perceive as an invader."
Rapper Ice Cube plays Desolation Williams, an outlaw, and Natasha Henstridge (Species) takes on the role of Melanie Ballard, a Martian cop on Williams' trail. Henstridge takes over for rocker Courtney Love, who left the project after injuring her ankle during training for the fight scenes, Carpenter said.
British actor Jason Statham plays Jericho Butler, whom Carpenter described as "a seasoned cop on his first escort squad assignment." Joanna Cassidy (Blade Runner) plays science officer Darlene Whitlock, and Clea Duvall plays Bashira Kincaid.
Hugo Brings Quest Full Circle
hen Galaxy Quest picked up the Hugo Award for best dramatic presentation
during this year's World Science Fiction Convention, writer Bob Gordon
said the honor brought his film full circle.
Galaxy Quest is a movie about science fiction fans, and Gordon said receiving fandom's highest award at one of the largest SF conventions in the world was both satisfying and
surreal.
"Keep in mind, I did research early on at a few conventions, then during production spent a lot of time on the convention set for a Galaxy Quest TV show that never existed, working on scenes for a Galaxy Quest movie that hadn't come out yet," Gordon told SCI FI Wire. "So to finally cap it off accepting an award at the Worldcon convention and have the entire audience shouting [the line from the film] 'Never give up, never surrender' ... was a little mind-bending."
Gordon said he was also surprised that his film beat out stiff competition such as the blockbusters The Matrix and The Sixth Sense, and he definitely considered Galaxy Quest to be the underdog. "Before the awards people kept saying 'Well, I voted for you' in a way that sounded like they didn't think we'd win, but wanted us to," he said.
"You want everybody to like the movie, obviously, but to get an acknowledgment from this community in particular meant so much to me," Gordon said. "First, these are writers and real fans of writing, so of course it means a great deal to have them acknowledge the work. But also the film was a valentine to SF and fandom itself, so it was very gratifying to know that this is how it was perceived by true fans of the genre."
The win was gratifying for fans, too, who often feel snubbed because many times Hollywood seems not to know or care about the Hugos, something Gordon brought up in his acceptance speech and also discussed with SCI FI Wire. "I think it's true that many folks in Hollywood aren't aware of the Hugos, or don't take them as seriously as they should," he said. Gordon suggested part of the problem is that the World Science Fiction Society, which presents the Hugos, could probably do more to raise the awareness of the awards within the film industry. "But also the Hugos are primarily a writer-centered award, and let's face it, writers have never been the center of attention in Hollywood. This is starting to change somewhat, but that's the larger problem they're up against."
While Hollywood in general seems in no rush to embrace the Hugos, fans could well see Gordon at future ceremonies since he is currently at work on another science fiction project, the sequel to the hit film Men in Black. And although he has no specific plans to write another Galaxy Quest movie, he said he had a lot of fun ideas that could not fit into the first film, so it seems there may be some hope for those fans who never give up and never surrender.
Next Men Heads For Screen
he Coming Attractions Web site reported that Vanguard Films will try to develop a movie based on the Dark Horse comics series John Byrne's Next Men.
Writer Matt Johnson will develop a pitch for the film, the site reported.
Byrne's comic series tells the story of superheroes whose powers have consequences in the real world.
Rings' McKellen Relies On Tolkien
an McKellen, who is in New Zealand to play Gandalf in Peter Jackson's upcoming film trilogy The Lord of the Rings, told fans on his official Web site that he's sticking closely to the J.R.R. Tolkien novels of the same name upon which the movies are based.
"I haven't felt a need for outside references, as Tolkien's characterization, especially of Gandalf the Grey, is full of lively particulars," McKellen said in response to a fan question. "The book is resident in my dressing room/trailer."
McKellen added that he's up to the challenge of playing Gandalf in the three films, which are being filmed out of sequence and back to back. "Plays are often rehearsed piecemeal, and scenes may only be played sequentially as the dress rehearsal approaches," he said. "So as long as wits are about us, shooting scenes for the third film before the first is completed is not unnerving. [Director] Peter Jackson's grasp of the story and its changing moods is so sure that he is the reliable guide whom we can safely trust. Wardrobe and makeup personnel can be flustered more than the actors, for they must ensure the continuity of appearance is accurate. They are aided by Polaroid snapshots and the written notes of the script supervisor Victoria Sullivan. And video playback is invaluable."
Chesley Awards Announced
he Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists presented the Chesley Awards for works from 1999 at the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago over Labor Day weekend.
Named for astronomical artist Chesley Bonestell, the Chesleys were started in 1985 to recognize individual SF and fantasy art and achievements during the previous year. A full list of winners follows.
Award for Contribution to ASFA
•Wizards of the Coast
Best Monochrome Unpublished
•Rick Berry for Artemis
Best Color Unpublished
•Stephen Hickman for At The Entmoot
Best Three-Dimensional
•Johnna Klukas for From the Astrologer's Anteroom
Best Art Director
•Ron Spears for Wizards of the Coast
Best Interior Illustration
•James Gurney for Dinotopia: First Flight
Best Cover Illustration, Magazine
•Bob Eggleton for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1999
Best Gaming-Related Illustration
•Brom for Warriors of Heaven/Guide to Hell
Best Product Illustration
•Richard Bober for Cleopatra
Best Cover, Paperback
•John Jude Palencar for Terrorists of Irustan
Best Cover, Hardback
•Michael Whelan for Otherland: Mountain of Black Glass
Award for Artistic Achievement
•Stephen Hickman
Infogrames Licenses Superman Games
nfogrames Entertainment, DC Comics and Warner Brothers will produce video games based on the longstanding Superman comic series.
Infogrames will develop games based on the Man of Steel for Sony, Sega, Nintendo and other gaming platforms.
Infogrames will create games based on Superman comic books and the Superman animated television series. The game series will cover a variety of stories, themes and sensibilities, and will include games for children and young adults, as well as games with an edgier style that will appeal to hardcore gamers and longtime fans, the company announced.
SF Author Likes Andromeda
F author Walter Jon Williams (The Rift) thinks the upcoming series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda has a lot of promise, at least judging from the writing he's seen so far.
Williams recently penned an episode of the show and says the other scripts he was given to look over were "sharp and smart."
"If the production and acting equal the quality of the writing, I'd say it's going to make a big splash," Williams told SCI FI Wire. The Hugo- and Nebula-Award-nominated author became involved in the series when Andromeda
executive producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe asked Williams to pitch him some story ideas.
"Robert Hewitt Wolfe had read some of my fiction, and liked it enough to contact my agent and ask if I'd like to contribute a few ideas to the show," Williams said. "He was unaware that I'd had some screenwriting experience, and was receptive to my idea of writing the teleplay as well as pitching ideas."
Williams said the story he turned in is tentatively titled "All Great Neptune's Oceans," "which is a reference to Macbeth, if anyone cares to look it up." He described the story as a murder mystery in which "one of the series regulars did it. (Really!) But I can't tell you which one." "All Great Neptune's Oceans" was shot in August, but Williams said he is not sure when it will air. He added that he enjoyed the chance to work on the
series and hopes to contribute more stories to Andromeda in the future.
The WB Offers Roswell Spoilers
he WB is dropping hints about the sophomore season of its teen alien series Roswell, which premieres Oct. 2.
In season two, the three teen aliens--played by Jason Behr, Katherine Heigl and Brendan Fehr--discover that they are not alone on Earth, and Max (Behr) is chosen to lead their exiled people, the WB said.
The teens learn that their destiny is to ensure not only their own survival, but also that of their besieged planet. Meanwhile, the romances that blossomed in the first season are disrupted by the knowledge that the aliens are meant to be only with their own kind.
Executive producer Jason Katims, meanwhile, told TV Guide that the show will start with a bang. "What happens to one of the characters in the first episode--not necessarily one of the kids--will lead to a major discovery, and someone may get killed off," he said.
Lucas Talks Episode II In Italy
eorge Lucas told the international press that the production of Star Wars: Episode II will shoot briefly in Caserta, Italy, the location for Queen Amidala's palace, according to the official Star Wars Web site.
"We are supposed to be shooting here for two days," Lucas said at a press conference there. "We have been in Italy for a little over a week. We have been in the north, around Lake Como."
Lucas added, "What we are shooting here in Caserta are the same palace scenes that we shot in Episode I. [The Naboo] had a very advanced society that was rich in culture that we have modeled after Italy. This is the palace of the queen, but in this case the queen is an elected official."
In Lake Como in northern Italy, Lucas said, "Primarily we were interested in the beautiful gardens of Como. We shot on some various locations of villas. It was really, again, a part of this planet of Naboo that we have created, and it is incredibly beautiful up there. There are many places here in Italy that are unlike anyplace else in the world. It is not just the natural beauty that we are looking for, it is also cultivated beauty of the culture."
Lucas said Episode II is set about a decade after the end of Episode I, with Anakin Skywalker now a teen training under Obi-Wan Kenobi. The young Jedi also begins to fall for Queen Amidala, the future mother of Luke and Leia. Lucas says the film is a "romantic story" and "basically a fairy tale, but there's a lot of action, too."
Lucas said the budget for Episode II is roughly the same as that for Episode I, around $115 million. "The last time we were able to bring it in for less money than what it was budgeted for," Lucas said. "I am hoping that we can do the same thing this time."
Enhanced E.T. Coming In 2002
niversal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment will re-release Steven Spielberg's classic SF film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in an enhanced version in March 2002, E! Online reported.
The release will commemorate the 1982 film's 20th anniversary.
The new version of the movie will include never-before-seen footage, computer-enhanced effects and a digitially remixed soundtrack, E! reported. "E.T. is my most personal film, and my greatest gratification has been to see how the film and E.T. became so loved all over the world," Spielberg said in a statement. "Even though E.T. has achieved this special place in our lives, I always wanted to give audiences another chance to experience it as they first did--in theaters, seeing it again, or--for the first time--seeing it with their own families. I also wanted to enhance that experience with advances in technology and some new footage. I want to thank Universal for giving us this opportunity to do it for the 20th anniversary."
Since its release, E.T. has gone on to become one of the top 10 highest-grossing films of all time. It grossed more than $359 million domestically in its initial run and has earned $702 million worldwide.
Ford Wary Of Computer Imaging
hat Lies Beneath star Harrison Ford told the Popcorn U.K. Web site that he worries about having his face digitized and scanned into a computer.
He was scanned for his role in the thriller movie, which recently opened in Great Britain.
"It's just like getting a dental X-ray," Ford said. "They end up with a wire-grid matrix of your face. I'm a little disquieted by the idea of this supplanting of intellectual property rights. ... I don't want to be doing Coke adverts when I'm dead. If I choose to do them when I'm alive, I want to participate in profit from it."
Gatecrasher TV Trailer In Works
riter Jimmy Palmiotti told the Comics Continuum Web site that work is underway on a test trailer for the proposed animated series based on his Gatecrasher comic series.
Palmiotti created the supernatural story with Mark Waid and Amanda Connor.
Mainframe Entertainment acquired the television rights to the Black Bull comic book. "Amanda just finished the storyboards on the two-minute thing, over 70 storyboards in all," Palmiotti said. The two-minute spot should be completed by the end of the month and will be shown at a Cannes TV festival in October.
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
.
Johnson, Marsden In Interstate 60
my Jo Johnson (Felicity) will join Gary Oldman and X-Men's James Marsden in Interstate 60, a fantasy movie for Redeemable Features/Seventh Art, Variety reported.
Bob Gale (Back to the Future) wrote the screenplay.
Interstate 60 tells the story of a young man who searches for answers along a highway that doesn't exist on any map.
Disney Develops Country Bears
alt Disney Co. will develop the fantasy comedy Country Bears, based on an attraction at Disneyland, Variety reported.
Mark Perez will write the screenplay based on his treatment.
The movie will feature a combination of puppet-like bears and live-action actors. The film will also include a host of real-life country music stars in cameos, Variety reported.
Fantasy IX Due In November
quare Electronic Arts said it would release Final Fantasy IX in the United States in mid-November.
Final Fantasy IX has sold 2.8 million units since its release in Japan on July 7.
U.S. gamers will get a chance to preview the latest installment in the popular series during a special "Consumer Demo Day" Oct. 7 at the Sony Entertainment Center in San Francisco.
The PlayStation game centers on an evil queen's desire to dominate the world, while players follow a group of bandits, knights and magicians who wish to stop her.
The popular science-fiction/fantasy game series is also the basis of an upcoming computer-animated film.
6th Day To Open In Tokyo
rnold Schwarzenegger's upcoming SF thriller The 6th Day will hold its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival Oct. 28, weeks before its Nov. 17 U.S. premiere, Variety reported.
Schwarzenegger, who stars in the cloning movie, will make the trip to Tokyo himself.
The 6th Day tells the story of a man who discovers that he has been cloned and must fight to regain his life.
Nikita Fans Campaign For Roy
ans of USA Network's La Femme Nikita series are pleased that USA has ordered eight new episodes of the once-canceled show, but are now gearing up to make sure co-star Roy Dupuis is signed on again as love interest Michael Samuel.
The Save LFN 2000 campaign is urging fans to keep writing letters to USA and Warner Brothers, which produces the show, to sign Dupuis up for the abbreviated fifth season.
"[Warner Brothers] apparently does not understand how essential Roy is to the show, so you will need to make them VERY AWARE that unless Roy is brought back for a major role in season five, USA and WB are out of your lives forever!" the campaign said on its Web site. USA credited the fans' letter-writing campaign in part for reviving the series, which ended its fourth season last month. New episodes of Nikita are scheduled for early 2001.
Highlander Debuts Weakly
ighlander: Endgame premiered at a lackluster No. 5 in the box-office rankings, taking in an estimated $6.4 million over the Labor Day weekend, according to the Hollywood trade papers.
The Cell ranked second, with an estimated $9.1 million in earnings, for a total take of $46.4 million in its third weekend of release.
Space Cowboys came in third, with an estimated $8.3 million for the weekend and a total of $74.2 million after five weeks in release. What Lies Beneath took the No. 6 slot, with an estimated $6.2 million for the weekend and a total of $139 million in its seventh week of release.
Scribner To Release Jordan E-book
cribner acquired the latest work from SF author Robert Jordan in an e-book auction, Variety reported.
The auctioneer was Nat Sobel, whose Sobel Weber Associates literary boutique held the first auction of its kind in July.
Jordan's e-book Snow is the prologue to Winter's Heart, the ninth installment in Jordan's Wheel of Time series, the trade paper reported. Scribner will release the e-book on Sept. 13.
Diablo II Expansion Set Due
lizzard Entertainment announced that it will release an expansion set for its Diablo II video game in the first half of next year.
The set will be available for the PC and Macintosh.
The expansion set will allow gamers to return to follow the path of Baal, the last of the Prime Evils, into the Barbarian Highlands of the north. Gamers will face a new series of quests and challenges to prevent the minions of the underworld from destroying the world of Sanctuary.
The expansion will also offer thousands of new weapons and other items, new recipes for the Horadic Cube, and interactive environments like siege towers.
Gaiman To Tour For Comic Fund
omic writer Neil Gaiman (Sandman) will embark on a "Last Angel" speaking tour to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Gaiman's first stop will be Chicago on Oct. 16, and he will visit New York; Portland, Ore.; and Los Angeles.
Gaiman has toured since 1993 to benefit the fund by giving dramatic readings from his short fiction and poetry. This year, he will also debut new, unpublished works and give fans an early look at his new novel, American Gods.
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for creators and retailers in the comics community.
Briefly Noted
-
Viz Communications announced that it has launched a daily Pokemon newspaper comic strip to be offered by the Los Angeles-based Creators Syndicate. The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and Seattle Times are among newspapers that have already picked the strip up.
-
The upcoming syndicated television series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda has posted new teasers to its official Web site. New teasers have also gone up on the official Web site for the upcoming television movie series Robocop: Prime Directives.
-
Eon magazine reported that Jurassic Park 3, the latest installment in the popular dinosaur movie franchise, will be released on July 18, 2001. No official announcement about a release date has been made yet.
-
Professional wrestler The Rock, otherwise known as Dwayne Johnson, has dropped out of an untitled SF action movie in development at Sony-based Revolution Studios, Variety reported. The film, from the Final Destination team of James Wong and Glen Morgan, tells the story of a futuristic cop who must battle an evil version of himself from another dimension.
-
The Harry Potter Network fan site reported a rumor that Verne Troyer (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me's Mini-Me) will play Peeves, the irritable poltergeist in the upcoming feature film version of J.K. Rowling's best-seller Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
-
The SFX Web site reported a rumor that the next Star Trek series may go into production without a pilot. The site quoted unnamed sources as saying that Paramount will break from the usual Trek production method in ordering the series without an audience test.
-
Eliza Dushku (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's evil slayer Faith) and Casey Affleck told E! Online that their upcoming thriller Soul Survivors is similar in mood to Jacob's Ladder. The film tells the story of a college coed who gets trapped in the netherworld between life and death after a nasty car crash.
-
The new trailer for the upcoming supernatural horror film Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 will accompany prints of The Way of the Gun, which opens in theaters Sept. 8.
-
The French edition of Premiere magazine has posted pictures from the upcoming live-action Jim Carrey movie Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas to its official Web site.
-
Toronto will host the 61st World Science Fiction Convention in 2003. The voting took place at Chicon 2000 on Labor Day weekend.
-
Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld told Entertainment Tonight that prospects are good for a sequel to the 1997 hit movie, according to the Comics Continuum Web site. "Sony actually has pretty much made a deal for myself and Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones to come back and do a sequel," Sonnenfeld said.
-
Marvin Rosenblum, the Chicago lawyer who holds the television and film rights to George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984, has sued the CBS game show Big Brother over the show's title, which is the same as the name of the totalitarian government figure in the book. Rosenblum's complaint argues that the game show's title violates U.S. copyright law.
-
A poll by the British Film Institute ranked Doctor Who among the top 10 best British television programs ever made, according to the Reuters news service. Who ranked No. 3 on the list.
-
Alex Lifeson of the rock band Rush is composing the theme to the upcoming syndicated television series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, and an early version of the music is available on the show's official Web site.
-
New Web sites have opened for the upcoming SF films The 6th Day and Rollerball.
-
The SCI FI Channel saw its prime-time Nielsen ratings jump by 13 percent in August, Variety reported. The cable network showed a mix of movies, reruns of network series such as The Outer Limits and original programming such as The Invisible Man and Farscape during the period.
-
The Coming Attractions Web site reported a rumor that Spider-Man director Sam Raimi was courting Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Talented Mr. Ripley) to play the villainous Dr. Octopus.
-
Scott Brick recently wrote a new script for the long-stalled feature-film version of Arthur C. Clarke's epic SF novel Rendezvous with Rama, Entertainment Weekly reported. Morgan Freeman's production company is set to produce.
