Genre Films Top 2001
hree genre films—Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Shrek and Monsters, Inc.—were the highest-grossing movies of 2001, the Reuters news service reported.
Harry Potter grossed $286 million, Shrek pulled in $267 million, and Monsters, Inc. took in $236 million for the year, the news service reported. Among other genre films, The Mummy Returns also appeared near the top of the list, with $202 million.
The films topped a record year at the box office that included 17 films that exceeded $100 million in ticket sales and a record five movies that cleared the $200 million mark, Reuters reported.
Jackson Wins Kiwi Honor
eter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, was awarded the Companion of The New Zealand Order of Merit in the government's annual New Year Honors List, the Reuters news service reported.
Kiwi native Jackson shot the film and its two sequels entirely in New Zealand.
New Zealand's government last year dropped the knighthoods of the British honors system in favor of local awards, the news service reported.
Lee Lauds New Line's Rings
ritish screen icon Christopher Lee told SCI FI Wire that he thinks New Line Cinema deserves kudos for going forth with its $300 million big-screen version of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
"Every film is a gamble, but this was a particularly big gamble, shooting [The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King] back to back to back," said Lee, who co-stars in all three films as the evil wizard Saruman the White. "I think New Line will be amply rewarded."
Lee, who will turn 80 in May—about two weeks after he turns up as the "enigmatic separatist" Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus in Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones—added, "I think that the Lord of the Rings films will have an immense impact on the cinema, on the history of motion pictures and, thereby, on the public. I say this, because I don't think anyone has ever seen anything quite like this. This is a truly unique undertaking, you see? It's not just one film, but three. It's not several years between films, but one year between them. And each film, I think, will be extraordinary." The Fellowship of the Ring is in theaters now. Attack of the Clones will be released on May 16.
10-Cent Batman Due
C Comics announced that it will sell a new full-color, 32-page Batman one-shot comic book for 10 cents, starting Jan. 2.
Batman: The Ten Cent Adventure will feature a classic noir storyline from writer Greg Rucka, penciler Rick Burchett, artist Klaus Janson and cover artist Dave Johnson, the publisher announced.
The comic will tell the story of a tragic night in the caped crusader's life and will be the springboard for a new story arc to run through DC Comics' Batman-related comics in January and February.
N'Sync Confirmed For Episode II
t's official: Lucasfilm has confirmed rumors that boy band N'Sync will appear briefly in George Lucas' upcoming Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, according to reports on TheForce.net and E! Online.
It's not clear which members of the popular band have cameos in the movie, a Lucasfilm spokesperson told MTV. The popsters will be seen for a fleeting moment in a "big scene with lots of extras," the spokesperson said.
It's also unclear why Lucas agreed to include the band. The New York Post reported that Lucas acceded to a request from his pre-teen daughters, who are big fans of the band. But Lucasfilm representative Lynn Hale told E! Online that Lucas' daughters "didn't have anything to do with it" and that the band's members, who are big Star Wars fans, asked producer Rick McCallum if they could appear in Episode II.
Episode II Villain Rocks
ick McCallum, producer of Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, told the Empire Online Web site that the upcoming prequel will have a villain to rival Darth Maul and Darth Vader: Jango Fett, the Mandalorian bounty hunter and father of Boba Fett.
"He is the ultimate accessory dude," McCallum told the site. "Forget all the bullsh-t that we have today—color mobile phones. This dude knows how to party. He comes to it with everything."
As fans well know, Boba Fett is the bounty hunter who appeared all too briefly in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and went on to become a fan favorite. Jango will be played by New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison. "He's my favorite," McCallum said of Boba's dad. "He's my dream—to have the ability to walk into a studio meeting with that gear on, and say, 'Dude, I've got an idea.' If one of those young punk studio execs starts with, 'Well, Rick ... ' BOOM! I would just open up. ... I can't tell you what I would open up, but it would be brilliant."
Star Wars Card Games Due
izards of the Coast announced that it has nabbed an exclusive license to create trading-card games based on the Star Wars universe.
The deal was struck between Wizards, a subsidiary of Hasbro, and Lucasfilm.
Star Wars trading-card game releases will draw from every Star Wars era, including the movies and the so-called expanded universe of the franchise's novels, comics and other media. The first game release will also feature content from the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones prequel. That game will be available in stores in April 2002; the movie comes out the following month.
Game designer Richard Garfield (Magic: The Gathering) created the trading-card game.
Gans Unleashes Wolf
hristophe Gans, director and co-writer of the French supernatural thriller film Brotherhood of the Wolf, told SCI FI Wire that he considers his movie a throwback to classic fright flicks.
In Wolf, an 18th-century scientist (Samuel Le Bihan) and an Iroquois (Mark Dacascos) arrive in a remote French village to rid it of a bloodthirsty creature that preys mostly on women and children. "I'm a big genre film fan, and most of them [today] annoy me," Gans, a 41-year-old Frenchman, said in an interview. "Most of them bore me. It's boring. There's no meaning in them."
Gans, former editor of Starfix and director of Necronomicon (Part I) and the manga-based feature film Crying Freeman, added, "When you see the [Boris] Karloff movie The Mummy, it's full of meaning. I don't want to play the old veteran. 'Oh, it was better yesterday.' The Others, to me, was a great genre movie, full of meaning and strange images. It's very oblique. But most of the genre films today lack meaning."
Gans said Wolf holds a particular meaning. "For me, from my own point of view, [Wolf] is about the last dragon, and the last knight fighting the last dragon," he said. "What I want to say is that, if you want to kill the last dragon, you have to kill your heroes. The result is your heroes will die. It's very important for the men to be afraid, to have some fear. If we keep our fear, we keep our heroes. That's my way of seeing the film. But, for example, my assistant enjoyed the film because she likes animals, and for her the movie tried to show that everything in that world is separate—a tree, an animal or a human being—but that we basically all belong to the same global harmony. And if you kill an animal, you unbalance that harmony. That was another way to look at the film, and I think it's absolutely applicable. Each person in the street can look at something and interpret it in a different way, and that's what I wanted: something very open [to interpretation]. Of course, people could find my movie confusing, because it's not a straight story, but that's the nature of the beast." Brotherhood of the Wolf opens Jan. 11 in limited release.
Genre Music Gets Grammy Nods
oundtracks from several genre films were among the nominees for the annual Grammy Awards, announced Jan. 4 in Beverly Hills, Calif.
The 44th annual Grammy Awards ceremony is scheduled for Feb. 27 in Los Angeles.
John Williams' score for A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Tan Dun's music for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Danny Elfman's score for Planet of the Apes were among the nominees for best score soundtrack album for a motion picture, television or other visual medium. Music from Shrek got a nomination for best compilation soundtrack album.
Among the nominees for best song written for a motion picture, television or other visual medium were "A Love Before Time" from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and "My Funny Friend and Me" from The Emperor's New Groove.
Aykroyd To Explore Paranormal
an Aykroyd (Ghostbusters) will take an entertaining look at the paranormal as host of Dan Aykroyd's Out There, The SCI FI Channel's upcoming late-night interactive talk show.
Aykroyd, a self-described "believer" and lifelong paranormal enthusiast, will host the half-hour five-day-a-week series that just began production in New York City. Out There is scheduled to launch during the second quarter of 2002.
The Channel described the show as a cross between CNN's Larry King and PBS' Charlie Rose. It will act as a companion series to SCI FI's popular Crossing Over With John Edward. Guests will include Aykroyd's celebrity friends, professionals and members of the public who will discuss unexplainable phenomena. The series will also invite viewers to weigh in on the show's topics through SCIFI.COM, via e-mail and by phone.
Robert K. Weiss (Sliders), Aykroyd and his brother, Peter Aykroyd, will executive produce the series.
USA Enters Dead Zone
SA Network announced that it will air The Dead Zone, a new paranormal one-hour dramatic series based on Stephen King's best-selling novel of the same name, starting in June 2002.
The series, starring Anthony Michael Hall, was originally slated to appear on UPN at mid-season this year.
Michael Piller and Shawn Piller (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) developed the series with executive producer Lloyd Segan for Lions Gate, in partnership with Paramount International Television. Rob Lieberman directed the two-hour pilot at Lions Gate's studio in Vancouver, B.C., where the series will be shot.
Hall will play Johnny Smith, an ordinary man who emerges from a coma to discover that his fiancée has married another man, that he has a son who doesn't know him—and that he has developed strange psychic powers. Nicole De Boer (Deep Space Nine) co-stars as Sarah Bracknell. The series also co-stars Chris Bruno and John Adams.
Meg Movie Possible?
teve Alten, author of the prehistoric shark novel Meg, said on his official Web site that he is near striking a deal to develop a feature film based on the book.
"Yes, we are finally getting closer to completing a deal with a production company who will look to finance the Meg movie and bring in a major studio," Alten wrote. "The good news: They will be using my screenplay."
Alten added, "That means nonstop action, with characters and a storyline that stays true to the novel. And I've even added a few ... surprises."
Spidey Ad Partners Named
ony will partner with Dr. Pepper, Hardee's restaurants and Hershey's to promote its upcoming Spider-Man movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Columbia Pictures film will benefit from an estimated $18 million-$20 million in media support from its partners, the trade paper reported.
Dr. Pepper, owned by London-based Cadbury Schweppes, will create a 30-second TV commercial featuring the Spider-Man character, take out full-page consumer print ads, launch a dedicated Internet site and create various point-of-sale materials tied to the film and a movie-themed sweepstakes from April to July, the trade paper reported. Hardee's signed on after Taco Bell dropped out; it will create its first-ever joint Hardee's-Carl's Jr. non-kids promotion around the PG-13-rated Spider-Man, which will run for four weeks, beginning the week of April 15. In mid-May, Hardee's and Carl's Jr. will shift to a Spider-Man kids' meal promotion. Hershey's will promote the film with a national free-standing ad insert in late April, among other things, the trade paper reported. Spider-Man, starring Tobey Maguire, opens May 3.
Blair Witch 3 Lives
proposed Blair Witch 3 sequel film may still have momentum, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Artisan reportedly met with Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, writers and directors of the 1999 hit The Blair Witch Project, before the New Year and reaffirmed its commitment to the project, eliciting a commitment from them to begin work on a script, the trade paper reported.
The new effort comes in the wake of Artisan's merger with Landscape Pictures. The first sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, went into production without Myrick and Sanchez's participation. Directed by feature documentary maker Joe Berlinger, Blair Witch 2 grossed a disappointing $26 million.
X Ratings Frustrate Gish
he X-Files co-star Annabeth Gish told SCI FI Wire that she is disappointed by the steep decline in the show's ratings this season, its first without the presence of David Duchovny (Agent Mulder) on even a part-time basis.
"It is disappointing when you work this hard," Gish (Agent Monica Reyes) said in an interview. "We want to uphold the legacy of something that's been so successful, but, at the same time, the only thing I can take responsibility for is knowing my lines, doing the best job I can possibly do and hoping all good things."
Gish—who stars with Gillian Anderson (Agent Scully) and Robert Patrick (Agent Doggett)—added, "There is something to be said for the fact that The X-Files is a mythological thing. And Scully and Mulder are certainly myths, legends, in and of themselves. So I have to be realistic in the sense that when it's time for a show to go, it's time for a show to go."
The X-Files is in its ninth season, with Duchovny gone and Anderson there to remind longtime fans of what once was. "I just have to be grateful for what it is now," Gish said. "They've done a great job of trying to integrate us into this old franchise. Who knows what will come? But I couldn't speculate on what that will be like." The X-Files airs on Fox at 9 p.m. Sundays.
More CG Features On Tap
he success of 2001's Shrek and Monsters, Inc. will lead to even more computer-animated films in the next few years, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
That includes Fox/Blue Sky's Ice Age, the story of a human infant found by a trio of prehistoric animals, which hits theaters March 15.
Universal Pictures is developing three computer-animated films—films based on the well-known children's books Curious George and Where the Wild Things Are and the original SF story Ant Bully, which is being developed through Tom Hanks' Playtone Co., the trade paper reported.
Sony is developing its first all-computer-animated feature film, AstroBoy, about a robot boy who uses his powers to protect Earth from an alien invasion. And DreamWorks is planning to release a Shrek sequel in 2003.
Turtledove Talks 9-11
arry Turtledove, the best-selling author of alternative history, told USA Today that he doesn't expect the events of Sept. 11, 2001, to affect the genre.
We are "still too close to see what it means" in terms of historical scope, Turtledove told the newspaper.
But Turtledove added that the issue might influence general science fiction, with readers looking for more futuristic fiction set in the Muslim world. "Fiction is a good way to know people and provide information," Turtledove said. He has already woven the issue of Islamic fundamentalism into his works, including a six-book series about an alien invasion of Earth during World War II and subsequent colonization. One of the resistance movements against the aliens in Iran is led by the Ayatollah Khomeini.
Turtledove is working on the third part of his American Empire trilogy, the newspaper reported. On Dec. 5, Turtledove signed a contract with Del Rey to produce a successor trilogy dealing with World War II.
Beauty Proud Of Film
aige O'Hara, the voice of Belle in Disney's animated film Beauty and the Beast, told TV Guide Online that she knew all along that the movie would become a classic.
"We always knew it was really special from the beginning," O'Hara told the site. "I knew just being a Disney animation freak that this was going to be one of the best."
Beauty is being re-released in IMAX big-screen format. O'Hara admitted that she was pleasantly surprised when the movie became the first animated film to be nominated for a best-picture Oscar. "That was sort of a really wonderful surprise," she said.
O'Hara has voiced Belle in two direct-to-video sequels, Belle's Magical World and Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas. But when the 40-year-old actress was approached about originating the role in the stage production, she declined. "I told them, truthfully, I'm too old, and Broadway people know how old I am," she said. "I wouldn't want to put myself in a position of opening it. ... The only time I was tempted to do it was when my husband [fellow stage actor Michael Piontek] was playing the Beast in the L.A. production. I wanted to get on stage with him and do it."
Potter Author Weds
.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series of novels, wed Neil Murray in Scotland in a private ceremony during the holidays, the British News of the World tabloid and Reuters reported.
Rowling, 36, married Murray, 30, a doctor, at the couple's holiday home, Killiechassie House, in Aberfeldy in Perthshire, Scotland, on Dec. 26, 2001, Reuters reported.
It's Rowling's second marriage; she was previously married to Portuguese journalist Jorge Arantes, by whom she has a daughter, Jessica, 8. Murray was also previously married, according to the paper.
Nemesis Teased In Spring?
he SyFy Portal Web site reported a rumor that the first teaser trailer for the upcoming 10th Star Trek movie, Nemesis, may hit theaters by early May.
A source told the site that it's unlikely special effects sequences will be finished by that time, and the teaser may feature some limited dialogue and stock special-effects footage.
Nemesis is currently in production, with an eye to a fall 2002 release.
Briefly Noted
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The Comics Continuum reported that the role of Elektra in the upcoming Daredevil movie has been cast and should be announced soon.
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Elizabeth Mitchell has been cast opposite Tim Allen in Disney's upcoming Santa Clause 2 sequel film, set to begin filming in Vancouver, B.C., in February, with an eye to a holiday 2002 release, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Satellite TV subscribers may soon be able to view Enterprise, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other UPN programming under a recent federal court ruling. The official Star Trek Web site reported that the ruling requires satellite providers to carry all local programming if they're going to carry any at all. Both DirecTV and EchoStar Dish Network customers will be receiving UPN as of the New Year.
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Members of the Christ Community Church in Alamogordo, N.M., burned Harry Potter books, Star Wars items and works by Shakespeare and J.R.R. Tolkien, USA Today reported. Pastor Jack Brock called the Potter books "a masterpiece of satanic deception [that teaches] children how they can get into witchcraft," the newspaper reported.
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Patrick Stewart, who will reprise the role of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in the upcoming Star Trek: Nemesis film, told late-night host Conan O'Brien that the new movie won't feature a romantic storyline for his character, according to a report on the Trek5.com Web site. Instead, Nemesis will feature "a lot of high-energy action," Stewart said.
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Warner Brothers is blocking plans to turn the Hogwarts Express steam train, used in the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone movie, into a tourist attraction, the station storing the locomotive told the Reuters news service. The train is currently kept in a locked shed at Carnforth Station in northwest England.
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