Rings Premiere Set
he first of three Lord of the Rings films will hold its world premiere Dec. 10 in London, New Line Cinema confirmed to the Reuters news service.
More details will be released in the next few days, the wire service reported.
The film, The Fellowship of the Ring, is the first of three films adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy. Elijah Wood, who plays Frodo Baggins, this week launched the film's international fan club by signing up as the first member. Fellowship opens to the public on Dec. 19.
Rings Fans Get Credit
harter members of the official Lord of the Rings fan club will see their names in the DVD credits of the film adaptations coming from director Peter Jackson.
"This is an announcement unprecedented in cinematic history and of immense importance to the Lord of the Rings fans," Dan Madsen, vice president of Decipher's Fan Club Studio, said in a statement.
Fans who sign up for a one-year charter membership ($39.95) will see their names in the DVD credits for the first Rings film, The Fellowship of the Ring; fans who sign up for two years ($69.95) will get listed in the DVD credits of the first two films; and fans who sign up for three years will get listed on all three.
Charter members also receive an annual subscription to a bimonthly movie magazine; special-edition, widescreen-format collector's lithographs featuring scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring; a 10 percent discount at the fan club's online store and catalog; preference (two weeks before the general public) in purchasing exclusive, limited-edition collectibles; a fan-mail service to link fans directly to the stars of the trilogy; and more.
Visitors to the official fan club Web site will also be able to enter a sweepstakes to win a trip for two to London to attend the world premiere of The Fellowship of the Ring on Dec. 10.
Enya Confirmed For Rings
rish New Age artist Enya and singer Elisabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins) will be featured on the upcoming soundtrack to the first Lord of the Rings movie, Billboard.com reported.
The soundtrack will be released on Nov. 20.
Enya provides two tracks, May It Be and Airon (Theme for Aragorn and Arwen). Fraser contributes Gandalf's Lament, the site reported. The soundtrack will also feature score music by Howard Shore. May It Be will also be released as a single to U.S. radio outlets later this month, Billboard reported. A companion music video featuring Enya and footage from the film will be released to video outlets. The first Rings film, The Fellowship of the Ring, opens Dec. 19.
Depp Ripped Into Lore For Hell
ohnny Depp, who stars in the upcoming film From Hell, told SCI FI Wire that he's always been fascinated by the mysteries surrounding the case of Jack the Ripper.
"I sort of stumbled on a broadcast of a documentary when I was a little kid," said Depp in an interview while promoting the film. "From there I sponged up as much information on the case as I could."
From Hell offers a possible solution to the identity of Jack the Ripper, who was responsible for the brutal deaths of five prostitutes in Victorian London. Depp plays Inspector Fred Abberline, a clairvoyant police detective assigned to investigate the case. After eagerly taking on the role, Depp read as much as he could about the Ripper and even traveled to London, where he did some investigating of his own.
"Before we started shooting the film, I wandered in the real Whitechapel with one of the great Ripperologists. [We] went to the Ten Bells and went to the sites of the killings," he said. Depp explains that his fascination with the case stems from an historical perspective. "It's the first type of serial killer we ever had. I mean, nothing like that had ever happened before on such a grand scale before the world's eyes." Depp added, "I think primarily the most fascinating thing is that it's unsolved. And it seems pretty guaranteed that it will always be unsolved."
So does the amateur Ripper scholar agree with the conclusion proposed in the film? "It's definitely one I would consider, " Depp acknowledged. "I mean, I would say it's one of the top three or four theories. That certainly makes a lot of sense. It's very possible." From Hell opens nationwide Oct. 19.
Hughes Brothers Give 'Em Hell
rothers Allen and Albert Hughes, who directed the upcoming Jack the Ripper feature From Hell, told SCI FI Wire that they received little creative input from Alan Moore, the author of the graphic novel on which the film is based.
"We had one conversation with him," Allen said in an interview while promoting the film. "And it was just more like 'Hey, let's hook up, let's hook up.' And he goes ... 'You guys go on and make the movie you want to make. I did my thing. You do your thing.' That was the conversation."
Although Moore was not directly involved in the production, his vision still influenced the filmmakers significantly. "The script we had originally was a real Hollywood sanitized version," Allen said. "We just decided to go and take the graphic novel and put more of the flavor and social context in there ... because the original script we got, it didn't chronicle the women's lives or characters."
Like the graphic novel, the movie presents a painstakingly detailed account of the events surrounding the killing spree of the infamous Jack the Ripper, who brutally murdered five prostitutes in the poverty-stricken London district of Whitechapel during the Victorian era. Both explore the far-reaching conspiracy theories that have surrounded the case for more than a century. Johnny Depp stars as a London detective with psychic powers who is searching for the Ripper.
Although the subject matter may seem like a departure for the Hughes brothers—whose previous work consists mainly of urban crime dramas like Menace II Society and Dead Presidents—there were certain similarities to the Ripper story that drew them to the project. "It was probably the edginess of the stories, and of course there's, you know, the violent nature," Allen said. "The underclass—street stories, basically. And just interesting characters in the streets ... criminals, for lack of a better word."
"Pimps and prostitutes," added Albert. From Hell opens nationwide on Oct. 19.
Graham Returns for Powers 3
eather Graham confirmed to SCI FI Wire that she will reprise her role as Felicity Shagwell in the upcoming sequel Austin Powers: Goldmember.
"They wrote some pages up for me," Graham said in an interview while promoting her latest film, From Hell. "And I'm probably going to show up in the beginning of that movie."
Graham said she didn't yet know the details of her cameo role, but she agreed to do the film on one condition: "I said I wanted to do it as long as they don't blow me up or something like that."
Graham co-starred with Mike Myers in the 1999 sequel Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. The beginning of that film features a cameo by Elizabeth Hurley—co-star of the original Austin Powers film—in which she is revealed to be an evil "Fembot" and is subsequently blown up. Graham says she did not want her character to suffer a similar fate. "I was, like, 'Look. Just don't dispose of me in, like, a bad way." Austin Powers: Goldmember is slated for release in July 2002.
Episode I DVD May Set Record
he DVD release of Star Wars: Episode I is on track to break the first-week sales record of 2 million copies set earlier this month by The Mummy Returns, 20th Century Fox Entertainment told Variety on Oct. 17.
The DVD, which went on sale Oct. 16, set a first-day sales record at traditional retail outlets by selling $17 million worth of discs, the trade paper reported. The VHS edition of Episode I broke records in its April 2000 debut, when it sold 5 million copies and generated $100 million at retail in its first 48 hours of release.
Last week, Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment said DVD sales of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs raked in a record $20 million-$25 million on its first day, fueled by an aggressive preorder campaign and placement in Disney Stores, Variety reported.
Anakin Girds For Episode II Fame
ayden Christensen, who plays Anakin Skywalker in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II—The Attack of the Clones, told SCI FI Wire that he expects his life to change when the film comes out next year.
"Both Ewan [McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi)] and Natalie [Portman (Amidala)] kind of got their worlds turned upside down when Episode I came out, and so they all had to deal with what I will deal with in a year," he said in an interview while promoting his new film, Life as a House. "I will experience a loss of anonymity that is going to be unsettling. You have to be a pretty deranged individual to want that, to want to be famous on that level. [Privacy]'s something that has to be taken from you, and it comes with the territory, and when it's taken from me, it's taken from me."
With George Lucas' emphasis on computer-generated effects, Christensen said that he had to get used to a lot of blue-screen work. He said his stage background prepared him for that. "It was a new experience for me, working off a blue screen, and it's not too dissimilar from theater, in that it requires a lot of the imagination. I'd say about a 10th of the work we did in the studio environment was with a constructed set. Everything else was blue-screen work. But even in the sets there were some elements of blue screen."
As for the controversial title, Christensen said that he had not heard McGregor's scathing remarks. (McGregor called the title "terrible," but later recanted.) "It's pertinent to the story," Christensen said. Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones opens in May 2002.
Star Wars Comics Re-Released
ark Horse will re-release the classic 1970s and '80s Marvel Star Wars comics in large-sized collections, the official Star Wars Web site reported.
Dark Horse will gather the original Marvel issues into a series of four black-and-white trade paperbacks, the site reported. No release dates have been set.
The reprints will cover the entire series run, plus Star Wars Annual numbers 1-3, in the four paperbacks. The Marvel series covered 107 issues from 1977-86 and filled in the story between the films of the classic trilogy. The series features art and writing by Archie Goodwin, David Michelinie, Chris Claremont, Jo Duffy, Carmine Infantino, Al Williamson, Walt Simonson, Michael Golden, Ron Frenz, Tom Palmer and Cynthia Martin.
Denisof Takes Flight In Angel
lexis Denisof, who plays Wesley on The WB's Angel, told SCI FI Wire that his character was never meant to last beyond two episodes of the series' progenitor, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
"We were shooting the second of the two episodes," Denisof said in an interview, "when [creator] Joss [Whedon] said to me, 'You know, we were going to kill off Wesley, but we're thinking we might keep him alive a little longer. Are you going to be around to do another episode?' I said, 'Yeah. Sure. I'd love to.' That would happen every episode."
Denisof ultimately turned up in nine third-season Buffy episodes, ranging from "Bad Girls" to "Graduation Day, Part 2." He then joined spinoff series Angel as a regular, beginning with "Parting Gifts," the 10th episode of Angel's first season. The character has developed from an annoying, wimpy guy into a likable, forceful presence who's very much the equal of Angel (David Boreanaz), Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) and Gunn (J. August Richards) in Angel Investigations.
"You need to understand that [Wesley] wasn't invented to be liked in those first few episodes of Buffy," said Denisof, who is romantically involved with Buffy co-star Alyson Hannigan (Willow). "From the moment they decided to put Wesley on Angel, Joss, [series co-creator] David Greenwalt and I all got together and started looking at ways in which we could evolve the character into somebody people would want to have around week in and week out. Because the guy who arrived in Sunnydale was not somebody you'd want around all the time. It was a gradual process, and I get the impression now that people accept Wesley more. He's grown a lot, and there are more qualities that people enjoy and like."
Angel's Acker A Genre Vet
my Acker—the newest regular cast member on The WB's Angel—told SCI FI Wire that she doesn't quite understand how she's ended up a genre veteran at the tender age of 24, but she's not complaining.
"Most of my film [and TV] work has taken place in the dark world," Acker, who plays Fred, said in an interview.
Acker added, "I did a movie with an alien [writer-director William Shatner's upcoming Groom Lake]. I did a movie where someone was murdered [The Accident]. I did a TV pilot [Hell House] that didn't get picked up, but it was all about ghosts and a haunted house. So, for some reason, I seem to be drawn to these kinds of parts. So now [on Angel], it's like, 'Oh yeah, there's the demon. He should be there. The guy in the green face? That's perfectly normal.' It's definitely different, though. I was talking to one of my college professors, who called the other day. I was like, 'I think you need to add a class about acting with demons, because no one really taught us that in school.'"
Acker first appeared on Angel last season, turning up in the final four episodes as Winifred "Fred" Burkle, a human who spent five years as an ill-treated "cow" in the demon dimension Pylea. Angel (David Boreanaz), Gunn (J. August Richards), The Host (Andy Hallett) and Wesley (Alexis Denisof) mercifully brought Fred back with them after she helped Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), who'd recently been sucked into Pylea. These days, Fred is spending lots of time with the gang at Angel Investigations and appears to have a bit of a crush on Angel.
"I'm thinking that she's going to end up joining the team and helping them," said Acker, who's now a regular on the show. "But it will be kind of a slow process. First, she's got to get out of the hotel and see other people. She's still a little gun-shy after everything that she's been through." Angel airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Buffy Fans Want New Board
rdent fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer—who call themselves "Bronzers" in reference to Sunnydale's only nightclub, the Bronze—have organized to urge Buffy's new network, UPN, to revamp the message board on the official Web site.
The new message board replaces the old Bronze message board on the previous WB Web site, which was a meeting place for fans, Buffy writers, actors and even creator Joss Whedon.
Bronzers have been responsible over the years for organizing an annual charity party and regional get-togethers, and some contributed to an Emmy campaign on behalf of Whedon, which included the purchase of a full-page ad in Variety.
But after Buffy announced it would switch networks from The WB to UPN, the old Web site and its message board shut down at the beginning of the summer. UPN's new Web site features a message board that fans find difficult to use, hard to read and wholly inadequate, compared with a fan-run version of the old message board that has become the de facto new Bronze—even Buffy cast and crew continue to post at the fan-run message board.
Kamen Not Scoring X-Men 2?
omposer John Ottman disputed to the Countingdown Web site reports that X-Men composer Michael Kamen will score Bryan Singer's upcoming sequel film X-Men 2.
"Out of respect for Michael, it really would be inappropriate to respond in detail at this point, as this will all come out in the wash soon, but I can tell you that at this point those rumors [Kamen scoring X-Men 2] are currently false," Ottman told the site.
Ottman added, "It's just best to wait before there is an official announcement about my involvement in X-Men 2. I'm sure something that was said was taken out of context, as there is not even an official agreement in place for either one of us yet. I'm sure the Web will somehow buzz with the details before the contract's even signed!"
E! News Daily broke the story about Kamen, who also wrote music for Frequency and The Iron Giant. Ottman is currently writing the music for the Dean Devlin/Roland Emerich giant-spider film, Eight-Legged Freaks (formerly Arac Attack), Countingdown reported.
Proyas Goes Into Drive
aramount Pictures will adapt Harlan Ellison's SF story "Along the Scenic Route" into a movie entitled Drive, to be directed by Alex Proyas (Dark City), Variety reported.
Cyrus Vorris and Ethan Reiff have been hired to adapt the story for the screen, the trade paper reported.
Proyas and his Sydney-based producing partner Topher Dow will produce. The story is set 20 years in the future, when American highways are left unpatrolled and auto dueling has been legalized—not just as an acceptable form of conflict resolution on the road, but also as a ratings-generating event on local newscasts, the trade paper reported.
Regency Pays Big For Stay
egency has paid $1.8 million for the spec script Stay by new writer David Benioff, Variety reported.
The supernatural thriller film centers on a psychologist at an Ivy League university and his attempt to prevent one of his students from committing suicide; the movie has overtones of The Others and The Sixth Sense, the trade paper reported.
Former Warner Bros. executive Tom Lassally will produce the film. Stay is the first spec script from Benioff. Benioff previously wrote the novel The 25th Hour, which he has adapted for Industry Entertainment.
Fox Options Aquamarine
ox 2000 has optioned the film rights to Aquamarine, a young-adult fantasy novel by Practical Magic author Alice Hoffman, Variety reported.
The book tells the story of two girls who plot to rescue a mermaid they find in the pool of their neighborhood beach club, after she develops a crush on a boy who works at the club.
No producer, screenwriter, director or actors are attached to the project, the trade paper reported. Fox 2000 production director Jack Leslie is overseeing the project for production president Elizabeth Gabler.
Final Coming To U.S.
ions Gate Films is partnering with Cowboy Pictures to acquire the U.S. distribution rights to the SF-tinged film Final, Campbell Scott's solo directorial debut, Variety reported.
The film is slated for a December release in New York, followed by a national rollout in January and February.
The movie, starring Denis Leary and Hope Davis (Hearts in Atlantis), tells the story of a hospital patient who's convinced he's living in the year 2399. Scott previously co-directed 1996's Big Night with Stanley Tucci and Hamlet with Eric Simonson, which screened on the Hallmark Channel last year, the trade paper reported.
Li Is The One, Twice
et Li, star of the upcoming futuristic thriller film The One, told SCI FI Wire that science fiction action movies are an ideal showcase for his brand of martial arts.
"You have more space to develop the movements," Li said in an interview. "You can overdo the action a little bit and show some body language."
Li added, "In real life you can't do that. The Matrix is a good example. It's got an amazing story, and it's got martial arts, action and SF." Another good example might be The One, written by The X-Files and Final Destination veterans Glen Morgan and James Wong, produced by Morgan and directed by Wong.
The One casts Li as both Gabe Yulaw, a likable L.A. cop, and Gabriel Yulaw, an alternate-universe figure who's already killed more than 100 alternate-universe versions of himself and will become The One if he eliminates Gabe. The Catch-22 is that if Gabe kills Yulaw, then he'll become The One, and no one knows for sure what the ramifications on the
"multiverse" will be if The One actually emerges.
"I try to do different kinds of movies," said Li, best known to American audiences for his work in Lethal Weapon 4, Romeo Must Die and Kiss of the Dragon. "The last few years, it seems like the world audience has liked Hong Kong action movies, but with American production values. Putting the two together makes a better-quality action movie. I did my best when I was working [on The One]. I'm like a student who finished his test. Now let it be judged. I hope the audience enjoys it. Sometimes they don't, and you
can't control them, but I do my best."
Li is involved in several other projects and not involved in one notably high-profile genre venture. He and Mel Gibson co-produced the TV movie-pilot Invincible, which will air on TNT in November. Li's also shooting the Chinese period drama Hero and will likely follow that with either A Monk in New York or First Emperor. But Li took a pass on The Matrix 2 and 3. "The Matrix was very successful," Li said. "I think the second one and the third one, even without Jet Li, will be successful. So I can make other movies, and they don't necessarily need Jet Li." The One opens nationwide on Nov. 2.
Dreamcatcher Green-Lighted
astle Rock has given a green light to and begun casting for The Dreamcatcher, the film adaptation of Stephen King's supernatural novel of the same name, according to Variety columnist Michael Fleming.
The studio got the rights from King, with Misery and Hearts in Atlantis adapter William Goldman writing the screenplay.
Lawrence Kasdan has spent the past year working on a rewrite and plans to produce and direct, Fleming reported. The book tells the story of four kids who bond while performing a heroic act, then reteam to tackle a much larger adversary. Production is slated to start in January.
Carpenter's New York Changing?
s MGM altering John Carpenter's 1981 SF movie Escape from New York in light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks—without Carpenter's input?
Fangoria magazine reported that MGM will digitally edit sequences in the upcoming special-edition DVD of the film to change conversations between the President (Donald Pleasance) and the crew of Air Force One, then remove a shot of the plane striking a skyscraper, according to a report on the C.H.U.D. Web site.
Carpenter himself was philosophical in an interview with the magazine: "What can I do? It's owned by the studio, and I guess they can do what they want with it," Carpenter said. "They are using the commentary from the laser disc with Kurt and [me], so I can't really explain the cuts to the viewer. I wish they would let me record another commentary, but that seems to be out of the cards."
But MGM denies that the changes are being made, C.H.U.D. reported. It remains unclear whether the DVD, which comes out next year, will include the rumored changes.
Marvel's Heroes Sells Out
eroes, Marvel's poster book benefiting the Twin Towers Fund, has sold out, the Comics Continuum Web site reported.
The project, which features Marvel superheroes honoring firefighters, police officers and rescue workers at the site of the World Trade Center, benefits the victims of the terrorist attack on New York.
Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada told Al Roker of NBC's The Today Show that, in addition to honoring the true heroes of Sept. 11, the effort shows a different side of the comic business. "I think that there's another important message here, which is, for the longest time, comics have been fighting against the stereotype that we are strictly for kids, and, you know, we have comics for all age ranges. I think that this set of art really proves that we can communicate on all sorts of different levels."
IPublish Seeks Military SF
ime Warner Books' e-book division, iPublish.com, announced that it is seeking "gripping and thoughtful" military SF stories, in the tradition of Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, of up to 10,000 words for the e-book edition of its anthology Dogs of War.
Aspect will publish Dogs of War, edited by David Drake (author of the Hammer's Slammers series, as well as Queen of Demons and Fireships) and featuring stories by Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison and Drake, in January 2002. The iPublish.com edition will be available later in
2002.
Submissions are due by Jan. 31, 2002. Check the science fiction section of iPublish.com for additional details about the Dogs of War project—referred to as Cry Havoc!
Milton A. Rothman Dead At 81
ilton A. Rothman, science fiction writer and nuclear physicist, died on Oct. 6 of a heart attack after battling both Parkinson's disease and diabetes, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
He was 81.
In 1938, Rothman published "Holocaust" in Science Adventure Stories No. 2 and also penned, under the pseudonym Lee Gregor, such genre tales as Heavy Planet (1939), Shawn's World (1939), The Eternal Genesis (1979) and Prime Crime (1979). Non-fiction works included Discovering the Natural Laws, A Physicist's Guide to Skepticism and The Science Gap: Dispelling the Myths and Understanding the Reality of Science. Rothman also co-founded the Science Fiction League, which eventually morphed into the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. The author also had a hand in the formation of Philcon, which claims to be the world's first and oldest SF convention.
Rothman is survived by his wife, daughter, son and granddaughter. His son is SF novelist Tony Rothman. Services will be held on Nov. 4 at the Trinity Center for Urban Life in Philadelphia.
New Writers Get Up To Speed
hristian Gudegast and Paul Scheuring are writing a new script for Speed Racer, a Warner Bros. movie based on the classic anime series of the same name, Variety reported.
The movie has been in development for more than a decade, the trade paper reported.
Hype Williams is attached to direct the picture, which would be produced by Joel Silver and the Donners Co. The original 52-episode Japanese anime series, which began its English-language syndication life in 1967, is the story of the dashing Speed Racer, whose Mach 5 vehicle can jump, go underwater or clear a path of trees, Variety reported.
Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett, Jeffrey Abrams and Patrick Read Johnson (Dragonheart) have written drafts. Other directors have been attached to the film over the years, including Julien Temple, Gus Van Sant and Alfonso Cuaron.
Crystal Breaks Ground In Monsters
illy Crystal—who voices the green, one-eyed Mike Wazowski in the upcoming computer-animated Monsters, Inc.—told SCI FI Wire that he and co-star John Goodman broke animation protocol by recording their roles together in the same room.
"I did the first session alone—the first two, I think—and I said, 'You know, this is terrible,'" Crystal said in an interview while promoting the Disney/Pixar co-production. Director Pete Docter "kept wanting all different line readings of the same line. ... Why am I doing all of these? He said, 'Well, in case I change the scene around, and I'll get John to do it.' I said, 'Isn't that just silly? When we can be together and do it together and play the scenes?' And that's what we did."
Crystal's character is the roommate and best friend of Goodman's James P. Sullivan, a hulking, furred blue-and-purple monster. Typically, actors who do voices for animation record their parts individually and never meet their co-stars. But Monsters, Inc. took a chance, allowing its two principals to work together and improvise off each other for virtually all their scenes together, Crystal said. Much of that spontaneous banter makes it into the final film.
"They brought him in," Crystal said. "And for whatever reasons, they'd never done it before. And it was great. Because then we were really acting with each other. And then they videotape us. And so, John and I are looking at each other, and playing, like actors. So then, the animators, as genius as they are, are able to take our faces, and put that real emotion into these characters, and then you give a performance. I never felt I was giving a voice-over job. I felt I was acting. And then when you see the movie, and you're moved by it, if you were, it's because the acting comes through these faces. It's an extraordinary compliment to them that they can do that. ... And grab how good your acting can be, and you're not losing anything." Monsters, Inc., from the team that created Toy Story and A Bug's Life, opens Nov. 2.
Follett Bids For Pratchett
est-selling British author Ken Follett bid £2,200 ($3,185) at a London charity auction Oct. 16 to appear in the next book by SF/fantasy writer Terry Pratchett, the Reuters news service reported.
The bid was part of the Immortality Auction, an event in which members of the public were allowed to bid on the chance to appear in fiction by nine well-known writers, all to benefit the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, which supports refugees and asylum seekers.
"I want to appear as a giant, but Terry is making no promises,'' Follett said in a statement. "All he asked me is how I want to die, which is a little disconcerting." All told, the auction raised £5,000 for the charity, the news service reported.
Pratchett (Discworld) was joined by authors Raymond Benson, Margaret Atwood, Pat Barker, Robert Harris, Ian McEwan, David Lodge, Zadie Smith and Follett in the second annual auction.
Potter Premiere Tix Auctioned
he QXL Web site is auctioning 12 tickets to the Nov. 6 preview screening of the first Harry Potter movie in Edinburgh, Scotland, to benefit charity.
The auction, which ends Oct. 22, will benefit the MS Society of Scotland, a charity that supports people with multiple sclerosis.
Winning bids will receive tickets to the first United Kingdom screening of the highly anticipated adaptation of J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter book, which is called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in Britain and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States. Rowling herself is expected to attend the screening. Potter opens to the public on Nov. 16.
New Writers For Shrek 2?
avid Stem and David Weiss (Clockstoppers) will write the sequel to DreamWorks' hit computer-animated film Shrek, Variety reported.
Shrek has raked in more than $440 million worldwide.
It's unclear how bringing in the new writers will affect Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, who wrote and co-produced the first movie and signed a deal last spring to write the sequel, the trade paper reported.
Schneider Headlines Hot Chick
ob Schneider will star in Disney's The Hot Chick, a body-switching fantasy movie that will mark the feature directorial debut of screenwriter Tom Brady, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Brady co-wrote the script with Schneider, with whom he earlier collaborated on The Animal. The project is slated to start production next year, the trade paper reported.
Chick tells the story of a popular but mean-spirited teen-age girl who wakes up one day to find herself in Schneider's body. Schneider's brother John is producing Chick. The studio is also in negotiations with Adam Sandler and Jack Giarraputo's Happy Madison to produce, the trade paper reported.
A Renewed X-Files On Tap
he X-Files executive producer Frank Spotnitz told The Hollywood Reporter that the series begins its ninth season with new characters joining longtime regular Gillian Anderson (Agent Scully).
Cary Elwes joins the show and Annabeth Gish starts her first season as a regular.
"There are new characters who are sharing the stage with the old characters, and, by necessity, they're driving the show in new directions," Spotnitz told the trade paper. "So it's definitely the X-Files television series that we've all come to know so well over the past eight years, but it feels very fresh and different."
Central to this year's arc: Scully's baby, whose birth was the series' eighth-season finale. "There's something afoot, and it involves what could be looked at as a new conspiracy, but one far different from the one that Agent Mulder [David Duchovny] pursued all those years," said X-Files creator Chris Carter.
Though Duchovny is long gone, there will be other familiar faces this fall. The Lone Gunmen, whose spinoff series bombed in the ratings, return to The X-Files, bringing with them more humor. "Last year we were establishing Robert [Patrick]'s character [Agent Doggett], so we didn't do any lighthearted episodes like we've been known to do over the previous seven years of the show," Carter said. "This year, I think you will see a number of those." The X-Files returns to Fox on Nov. 4.
Universal Gets Martian Rights
niversal Studios has struck a deal for the rights to the computer-animated SF TV comedy series Butt-Ugly Martians, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Universal has bought the rights to the kids' series, which include feature films, consumer products, home entertainment, theme parks and the right to finance and produce additional episodes of the series, the trade paper reported.
Universal struck the deal with United Kingdom-based Just Group, Mike Young Productions and Hong Kong-based DCDC. A total of 26 episodes of the half-hour series have been produced; 13 aired in the United Kingdom this year. Nickelodeon acquired the batch of 26 episodes, with plans to begin airing them next year in the United States, the trade paper reported.
Set in the year 2053, Martians tells the story of three Martian heroes who are sent to Earth on a mission, but who seek out the planet's pop culture of fast food, video games and TV.
Silver Develops Party Animals
asey Silver Productions will develop Party Animals, a fantasy film based on a pitch by writer Jeff Rothberg, Variety reported.
Rothberg will receive a co-producer credit on the live-action/computer-animated project.
Party tells the story of an endangered lizard who tries to elude a pair of pet dealers by linking up with eccentric reptiles that perform at children's birthday parties, the trade paper reported.
Phantastik Winners Named
rganizers have announced the winners of the German Phantastik awards, honoring the best in German science fiction and fantasy from the year 2000.
Winners were named at the Buchmesse Convent 2001 in Frankfurt, Germany, on Oct. 13. A complete list of winners follows.
Best German Novel
•Lord Gamma by Michael Marrak
Best Foreign Novel
•Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Best Short Story
•"Herz in Bernstein" by Manfred Weinland
Best Original Anthology/Collection
•Wolfgang Hohlbein's Fantasy Selection 2001, W. Hohlbein, ed.
Best Serial
•Maddrax
Author of the Year
•Jo Zybell
Best Translation
•Klaus Fritz for J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Best Feature
•X-Men
Best TV Series
•Farscape
Best Actress
•Sarah Michelle Gellar, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Best Actor
•Patrick Stewart, X-Men
Best German Internet Site
•SF Radio
Honor Award
•J.K. Rowling for Harry Potter
Flop 2000
•Star Trek: Voyager
Fox Beating ABC For Time
ox is finalizing a deal to air the proposed remake of the 1966 SF TV series The Time Tunnel, apparently beating out ABC, Variety reported.
Fox siblings Regency Television and 20th Century Fox Television are producing the new version of the classic SF show created by legendary producer Irwin Allen, the trade paper reported.
Fox is expected to offer at least a put pilot commitment, with a seven-figure penalty attached, Variety reported.
ABC, led by network co-chairman Lloyd Braun, has gone to great lengths to win Time Tunnel for itself, the trade paper reported. Braun took Allen's widow, Sheila, to lunch, and ABC also sent faxes to 20th executives informing them that it was prepared to match and exceed Fox's most recent offer.
Hulk To Go Deep
arvel Studios executive Avi Arad told the Comics Continuum Web site that the upcoming Incredible Hulk movie will be "deeply psychological."
"The [NBC Hulk] television series was great," Arad told the site. But, he added, the difference "is obviously you're doing it now with a lot more money and technology. It's a big movie."
Arad added, "The television series never got into the psychological reason of [Bruce] Banner being who he is. If you look at the early books, Banner was an abused child. His father was a terrible man. You'll see it will be a deeply psychological movie."
Australian actor Eric Bana has signed to play Banner in the movie, which will be directed by Ang Lee. "Ang Lee is having the time of his life getting into the technology, so that's in very good shape," Arad said. The Continuum reported that the film is in active preproduction and will likely go before the cameras in March for a summer 2003 release.
Bana Signs On For Hulk
ustralian actor Eric Bana has signed to play the titular character in Ang Lee's adaptation of Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk, as rumored, Variety reported.
Filming should start in March.
Bana started out as a comedian and television host, and is best known for his role as murderer Mark "Chopper" Reid in Chopper, the trade paper reported. "He was immensely appealing, and we are lucky to have him to be Bruce Banner," Marvel Studios president Avi Arad told the paper. "He's a fresh face, but he's a veteran performer who has a unique combination of great strength and the most soulful eyes. That is a difficult combination to find." Bana reportedly has option deals on two Hulk sequels.
Prey Alights At WB
arner Bros. Television and Tollin/Robbins Productions are developing a new series for The WB based on DC Comics' Birds of Prey series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
An offshoot of the Batman comic series, Prey centers on a trio of female crimefighters, the trade paper reported.
Laeta Kalogridis will write the script of the project, which will be executive produced by Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins and Joe Davola. Prey could be a companion piece for The WB's new Superman series, Smallville, which debuts Oct. 16, the trade paper reported.
The WB earlier gave pilot commitments to a young-Tarzan project from producer Laura Ziskin and a drama about the land of Oz, based on the books of L. Frank Baum, according to the Reporter.
Nick Orders Cruz Pilot
ickolodeon has approved a pilot for The Strange Legacy of Cameron Cruz, a supernatural series from D.J. MacHale, creator of Nick's Are You Afraid of the Dark? series, Variety reported.
Cruz tells the story of a 14-year-old boy who follows in his grandfather's footsteps by becoming an investigator into the paranormal, the trade paper reported. MacHale and Alec Griffith created the series and will act as executive producers and writers. Cruz is a co-production between Nickelodeon and Fireworks Television, the trade paper reported.
MacHale, meanwhile, will write a four-book young-adult adventure series for Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books imprint, entitled The Pendragon Adventures. The series will chronicle the exploits of a boy launched into a quest through space and time. The first book is slated for an early 2002 release.
And MacHale is developing a two-hour backdoor SF pilot, Among the Hidden, for Showtime. Based on a novel of the same name, Hidden is set in the near future, when the government restricts families to no more than two children. The central character is a teen-age boy who is a third child and therefore an outlaw, the trade paper reported.
Hemecker Re-Ups For Witchblade
riter-director Ralph Hemecker has signed up for a second season as executive producer of TNT's Witchblade series, Variety reported.
The Warner Bros. Television series was given the green light for a second year in late summer, the trade paper reported. Production recommences in Toronto in January.
New episodes of Witchblade, which is based on the Top Cow comic series of the same name, will debut in spring or summer 2002, Variety reported. The first 10 episodes of the show, which stars Yancy Butler as New York cop Sara Pezzini, averaged a 2.3 rating Tuesdays at 9 p.m.—a 64 percent bump over the movies that were running in the time period a year ago, the trade paper reported.
Hemecker's other TV directing credits include episodes of The X-Files, Millennium and Roar.
Nothing Rounds Up Cube Team
incenzo Natali (Cube) has signed on to direct Nothing, a fantasy film based on a screenplay by Cube star Andrew Miller and Andrew Lowery, Variety reported.
Natali is currently in post-production on Miramax's upcoming thriller Company Man, starring Jeremy Northam and Lucy Liu.
Nothing, a surreal comedy, follows two young men who find themselves in a Dali-esque world of their own making, the trade paper reported. Nothing reunites Natali with the team behind the 1997 independent SF thriller film Cube, including producer Steven Hoban, stars David Hewlett and Miller and cinematographer Derek Rogers.
Producer Amends Knight Suit
roducer Tim Van Rellim has dropped his suit against producer Todd Black and attorney Alan Wertheimer in a dispute over producing fees from A Knight's Tale, but continues to focus on director Brian Helgeland, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In August, Van Rellim filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Helgeland and the others, alleging that he and Helgeland agreed in late 1999 to jointly develop and produce Knight, with Helgeland agreeing to assign to Van Rellim half of his eventual producer fee, the trade paper reported.
On Oct. 12, Van Rellim's attorney, John Mumford, filed a request to dismiss the complaint against Black and Wertheimer without prejudice. "Tim's just made a decision that his case should be focused on Brian as opposed to the others," Mumford told the Reporter. "He still believes there is merit in his claims against the others, but it makes more sense to focus the claim directly against Brian."
Warner Gets In Danger
arner Bros. and Gaylord Films have purchased Brock Danger, a genre comedy script by Greg Erb and Jason Oremland that sets out to combine elements of Austin Powers and Indiana Jones, Variety reported.
The film centers around a man with unlimited resources who, despite limited brain power, travels the globe righting wrongs and picking up relics along the way, the trade paper reported.
"We see this as a summer event picture that will spoof adventure film," Gaylord producer Casey La Scala told the trade paper. "What Austin Powers is to spy films, Brock is to adventure films like Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider."
Winston Talks Genre Projects
pecial-effects wizard Stan Winston (Jurassic Park III) told Cinemax that he will direct a new fantasy film in the near future, according to a report on the Dark Horizons Web site.
"There are a couple of possibilities that could happen within the next year," Winston told the cable network.
Winston added, "One is a film from a screenplay that I have been developing for a couple of years, which presently is set up at 20th Century Fox. I am producing with James Cameron and Lightstorm, and I will be directing. The present title of the film is Damned If You Do, and it is a fantasy comedy. It's a script that I love and hope to make happen within the next year."
Winston said he's also developing a horror movie anthology. "Another film that I have in development as a producer ... that I am considering getting back into the director's chair for is a film presently titled Trick or Treat, written by a wonderful talent by the name of Michael Dougherty, who may direct one of the segments. Michael comes from an animation background. The script is four stories. Each will have a different director. I am considering one of the segments. Michael would direct one of the segments, and we'll find hopefully two other classical horror-genre directors to be involved with the two other segments."
Atlantis Sinks To 10th
earts in Atlantis dropped to the 10th slot in the box-office rankings for the weekend of Oct. 12, taking in an estimated $2.8 million, the Hollywood trade papers reported.
Atlantis saw its revenues slip by 45 percent in its third weekend. Its total take so far is about $20.7 million.
Atlantis was the only genre release in the top 10 for the weekend.
Jacko Shoots MIB 2 Role
ources confirmed to SCI FI Wire that Michael Jackson appeared on the set of Barry Sonnenfeld's upcoming sequel film Men in Black 2 on Oct. 16 to shoot a cameo role.
The sources had no information about the role, but reported that Jackson made an impression on the crew, to whom he handed out autographed 8-by-10 glossies.
Jackson had been rumored to play a small part in the sequel to 1997's Men in Black, in which he was briefly mentioned as an incognito alien. Jackson reportedly contributes an original song to the sequel in addition to appearing in the movie; earlier reports said that Jackson won't play an alien.
Briefly Noted
-
Angel star Charisma Carpenter will play a goth singer in an upcoming episode of VH1's SF anthology series Strange Frequency, the Charisma Carpenter fan Web site reported. Carpenter's character encounters the Grim Reaper at one of her shows in the episode, "Don't Fear the Reaper," which airs Nov. 10 at 10 p.m.
-
TheForce.net reported that three separate teaser trailers for Star Wars: Episode II will emerge in November: a very short theatrical teaser with Monsters, Inc. on Nov. 2; an online trailer on Nov. 9, available through the DVD-ROM link on the Episode I DVD; and a longer trailer attached to prints of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on Nov. 16.
-
Organizers of the James White Award announced that it will be presented in a ceremony on Nov. 3 at Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The James White Award, instituted in 2000, honors the memory of one of Ireland's most successful science fiction authors.
-
The WB network and its sister channel TNT are in discussions to share the run of a second WB series in January, either Smallville or Gilmore Girls, following the auspicious early TNT numbers for Charmed, Variety reported. The first two weeks of sharing Charmed have uncovered a whole group of young-adult women who didn't watch the episode on The WB, the trade paper reported.
-
The Mummy Returns star Arnold Vosloo told the 13th Street Web site that he's been approached to play the part of the villain in the next James Bond movie.
-
First he was in, then he was out, now he's back in again: Variety reported that pop star Michael Jackson will indeed make an appearance in Barry Sonnenfeld's upcoming sequel Men in Black 2. Jackson, who is also providing a song for the film, will reportedly play a small role—but not an alien.
-
Hugo and Nebula award-winning SF writer Geoffrey A. Landis' first collection of short stories, Impact Parameter and Other Quantum Realties, is now available. The volume contains the Hugo-winning "A Walk in the Sun," plus "Approaching Perimelasma" and other stories, with cover art by Bob Eggleton. Golden Gryphon Press is releasing the book.
-
Smallville, The WB's new Superman series, premiered to some of the best ratings in the network's history, Variety reported. The Oct. 16 debut of the show attracted the largest audience ever for a series premiere on The WB, attracting 8.35 million viewers, the trade paper reported.
-
The 13th Street Web site reported a rumor that unknown actor Andrew Downing has been cast in the lead role in the upcoming sequel film Final Destination 2. Ali Larter, who played Clear Rivers in Final Destination, returns in the sequel. David Ellis is directing the sequel for New Line Cinema.
-
Platinum Studios executive Scott Rosenberg told the Comics2Film Web site that Universal is still developing a movie based on the Marvel/Malibu Ultraverse comic superhero series Prime. The now-defunct series centered on a geeky teen-ager who could transform into a superhero, the site reported.
-
Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Anthony Stewart Head will appear on a Halloween edition of Hollywood Squares, Oct. 29-31. Head will be dressed as Robin Hood.
-
Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon posted on a fan-run message board, the Bronze Beta, that he is urging UPN to revive the official Bronze posting board that used to reside on The WB's official Buffy site. That posting board—a community of fans that has sponsored several charity galas and other activities—was shut down by The WB when Buffy moved to UPN. A new message board on the official UPN Buffy site has drawn scathing criticism from most fans.
-
The Dark Horizons Web site reported that Steve Buscemi (Monsters, Inc.) will play the villainous Romero in the upcoming sequel film Spy Kids 2.
-
The Dark Horizons Web site and E! Online reported that Seth Green was slated to reprise the role of Oz in the upcoming Halloween episode of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but couldn't overcome scheduling conflicts.
-
The Dark Horizons Web site reported the latest casting rumor for the upcoming 20th James Bond movie: Irish dancer Jean Butler is reportedly headed to London to talk with producers about a role in the upcoming 007 film. Meanwhile, producers have denied an earlier rumor that Anna Kournikova was up for a role in the movie.
-
New York Gov. George Pataki told the Albany, N.Y., Times Union newspaper that he's been reading J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings with his 14-year-old son, Owen, to relieve the stress of dealing with the recent terrorist attacks and their aftermath. "It's about the struggle of good against evil," Pataki told the paper. "Good triumphs. Evil loses."
-
The Dark Horizons and Coming Attractions Web sites reported a rumor that the only new X-Men character being considered for the upcoming sequel film X-Men 2 is Nightcrawler.
-
Rumors of a fifth Alien film were resurrected by the BBC, which reported that star Sigourney Weaver said that she has been in talks with director Ridley Scott about making the sequel.
-
Dark Horizons and TheArnoldFan Web site reported that Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he had approached Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson about appearing as his son in a proposed King Conan: Crown of Iron film.
-
New release dates have been added for the independent SF film The American Astronaut. The film, now playing in New York's Angelika Film Center, will open Nov. 2 in San Francisco's Lumiere Theatre, Nov. 9 in Los Angeles' Laemmle's Fairfax and Nov. 16 in Seattle's Grand Illusion theater.
Back to the top.
