Video Games Damage The Brain?
rolonged time playing video games could cause people to lose concentration, get angry easily and have trouble associating with others, the Japanese Mainichi Daily News reported.
A survey conducted by Akio Mori, a professor at Nihon University's College of Humanities and Sciences in Japan, found that the longer people spent playing video games, the less activity they showed in the prefrontal region of their brains, which governs emotion and creativity, the newspaper reported.
People who continually played games did not recover in the periods when they weren't playing games, the research showed. Mori analyzed the brain waves of 240 people aged between 6 and 29, the newspaper reported.
Head: Season 7 Buffy's Last
nthony Stewart Head, who plays Giles in UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that he expects the upcoming seventh season to be the show's last.
"It's supposed to be, from what I know," Head told the newspaper. "If it is, it will be born out of everyone wanting to move on."
But the good news is that Head told fans to expect to see more of Giles in the coming season. Last year, Head appeared in only seven episodes; next season, "I'll be in a minimum of 10 and maybe more than that," he said. As for how his character will fit into the now-grown-up Scooby Gang, Head said, "I don't know how they're going to do that. It will be interesting to find out."
Buffy OK With Emmy
spokesman for the company that produces UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer told SCI FI Wire that creator Joss Whedon does not blame the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for an error that left the critically acclaimed series off a recent Emmy ballot.
Last season's musical episode, "Once More With Feeling," was inadvertently left off ballots for nominations for the best dramatic writing Emmy, which were mailed to academy members; the academy acknowledged the mistake and subsequently sent out cards with the correct information.
"There was indeed a 'human error' that resulted in [the episode's] being omitted from the [best dramatic writing] ballots; however, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences was not to blame for the error, and they were quick to respond in rectifying the situation," Christopher Buchanan, president of Mutant Enemy, Whedon's production company, said in an e-mail. "Moreover, Joss and I were very pleased with the academy's response to the problem. Nothing's perfect."
Buchanan added, "Joss is an active member of the academy and continues to support the ATAS in its many endeavors. And the ATAS remains a real fan of Joss and his work. For example, the ATAS recently (at the very time of the ballot problem) honored Joss and BTVS with a very cool (and sold out) panel discussion at the academy, with Joss and many of the writers, cast and crew from the show in attendance. Our hope at Mutant Enemy is that the extraordinary response we received from the show's fans and television critics across the planet upon viewing 'OMWF' will be reflected in the balloting of Joss' peers in the writing category—even if it required an extraordinary effort on their part to cast that vote. We'll know on July 18th, when the nominees are announced. Keep your fingers crossed for us!"
Buffy Fans Help Kids' Fund
ans of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer raised $700 for a children's literary charity in honor of executive producer Marti Noxon, who gave birth to her first child, a son, in July.
Fans who post on the Bronze Beta, Buffista and Bronze Camp bulletin boards made the donation to the First Book charity, an
organization that donates new children's books to underprivileged kids.
Fans also donated 15 children's books, chosen in an online poll, to Noxon and her child.
Buffy, Enterprise Boost UPN
uffy the Vampire Slayer and Enterprise helped boost UPN's ratings among total viewers last season by 15 percent, Variety reported.
The sixth season of Buffy, which moved to the Smackdown network from The WB, and the premiere season of Star Trek spinoff Enterprise also helped UPN see a 13 percent increase in adult viewers 18-49 and a 19 percent hike in adults 18-34 in the 2001-'02 season, the trade paper reported.
In all three categories, UPN bested its archrival The WB. But UPN's other pickup from The WB, Roswell, tanked in the ratings and wasn't renewed, the trade paper reported.
Looking ahead, it's an open question whether Buffy will continue after UPN's deal with the show's producer, 20th Century Television, expires next spring. Star Sarah Michelle Gellar has been publicly noncommittal about returning for the 2003-'04 season. But Buffy creator Joss Whedon has been planning for such a possibility and might be inclined to continue even without Gellar, the trade paper reported.
Enterprise Season Premiere Set
nterprise started up production last month on its second season, which is scheduled to debut on UPN Sept. 18 with "Shockwave, Part II," the conclusion to the first-season cliffhanger finale, the official Trek Web site reported.
Cast and crew returned from hiatus to start shooting a second-season episode called "Carbon Creek," which included two days of location shooting. Production of "Shockwave, Part II," will begin shortly.
Enterprise co-creator Brannon Braga, meanwhile, told the official Star Trek: Communicator magazine that season two will deal with the Temporal Cold War story arc and added that the founding of the Federation will be a theme at some point, according to a report on the TrekWeb fan site.
"We've mapped out a great deal of the [Temporal Cold War] arc and want to make sure that every time we do it, you learn something very tantalizing," Braga told the magazine.
Trek Still Strong
ontrary to speculation, Paramount doesn't feel that its prize Star Trek franchise is on the wane after more than three decades, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"We see no signs of the Star Trek franchise weakening," Rob Friedman, chief operating officer of Paramount Pictures and vice chairman of the Paramount Motion Picture Group, told the trade paper. "The new TV show Enterprise is strong, video sales are strong, and the movies are performing in the $80 million to $100 million range."
In particular, expectations are running high for the upcoming 10th Trek film, Star Trek: Nemesis, which reunites the Next Generation cast and crew. "I don't want to start talking in ridiculous superlatives, but fans are going to get one hell of a movie," executive Rick Berman told the Reporter. "There are immense space battles and a good deal of humor, but there's also some extremely terrifying elements to the story."
Berman is especially excited about Tom Hardy, who plays the villainous Shinzon in Nemesis. "He'll go down as perhaps the greatest Star Trek villain ever, right up there with Ricardo Montalban's Khan," he said. Nemesis opens Dec. 13.
Stewart Counts Trek Blessings
atrick Stewart smiled slyly when asked by SCI FI Wire if it would be safe to say that he's taken Capt. Jean-Luc Picard from Point A with Star Trek: The Next Generation to Point Z with the upcoming film Star Trek: Nemesis.
"Your question presupposes that [Nemesis] is Z," he said in an interview. "I don't know yet if this is Z. It may or may not be the case."
Stewart added that his Star Trek association remains both a blessing and a curse. "I must say that Star Trek is 90 percent blessing," he said. "The curse part of it is minimal and has only to do with a couple of personal
issues and one professional issue. One of the personal issues is the loss of privacy, of course. And the professional issue is the one I've spoken of often, and that's that you run the risk of something becoming an albatross around your neck when, professionally, you are so associated with one role. Fortunately, I have been able to do a great deal of work outside of Star Trek. And I'm pleased that there were four years between Insurrection and Nemesis. So, for me, the blessing of Star Trek definitely outweighs the curse of it." Nemesis opens nationwide on Dec. 13.
Trek Cast Welcomed Logan
scar-nominated screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator), who wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Star Trek: Nemesis movie, told SCI FI Wire that the Trek cast welcomed him into the fold, even though he wasn't a franchise veteran.
Unlike Brannon Braga and Ronald. D. Moore, who wrote Star Trek Generations and First Contact, and Michael Piller, who wrote Insurrection, Logan was new to Trek.
"Because I was looked at as a serious writer with outside work, I think I was treated with a great deal of respect in terms of bringing ideas to the franchise that might be considered unusual or provocative," Logan told a gathering of genre press. "Also, quite frankly, Brent [Spiner, who shares 'story by' credit and arranged for Logan to meet Trek executive producer Rick Berman,] is my buddy. So I came into it with an entrée to that family of Brent's."
Logan, a longtime Trek fan who also wrote Bats and the recent Time Machine update, added, "I got along very well with Patrick [Stewart] immediately, and [the cast] made an effort to get to know me. We'd go out and have dinner. We'd go to parties together. I made an effort to get to know them and to have meetings with each one of them. It would be the height of arrogance on my part to say to Marina Sirtis, 'I know Deanna [Troi] better
than you do. Let me tell you how she would react.' My job as a writer is to be a cannibal of their ideas. They've lived with these people for 15 years. So I could sit down and say, 'Here's the situation for Riker [Jonathan Frakes]. Here's what happens. Help me. Help me think how he would respond. Give me the words he would respond with. Give me the ideas. Give me the ramifications of what certain things mean to him.' So the cast, in my experience, was invaluable. They were very kind to me, very welcoming and very helpful just in terms of developing the story." Nemesis opens nationwide Dec. 13.
Davison Confirms X2 Role
ruce Davison, who played Sen. Kelly in X-Men, confirmed to SCI FI Wire that he will make an appearance in the upcoming sequel, X2.
"I'm going up [to Vancouver] to do something in X-Men 2," Davison said. "Sen. Kelly, they're going to rejuvenate him."
Kelly melted into a puddle of goo in the first X-Men. So how will he return? "Well, I can't tell you that," Davison said. But he did say that it was important to have a character like Kelly in the superhero film, because "it's sort of the human voice of melted reason."
In the first film, Kelly took a hard stance against mutants. This time around, Davison said that would change. "He is one, isn't he?" Davison said coyly. X2 is currently in production, aiming for a May 2, 2003, release.
Cinesite Leads X2 F/X
handful of visual-effects shops will work on X2, the upcoming sequel film to the hit Marvel Comics adaptation X-Men, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The shops include Cinesite, Rhythm & Hues, Kleiser-Walczak, Grant McCune Design and Frantic Films.
X2, which is currently shooting in Vancouver, B.C., reunites lead shop Cinesite with X-Men director Bryan Singer, producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter and executive producers Avi Arad and Tom DeSanto, the trade paper reported. Cinesite will handle more than 300 shots, including the Nightcrawler sequence, Drake House, a generator sequence and the mansion scenes, the trade paper reported.
Darabont Hints At Indy IV
rank Darabont, the writer/director who is penning the screenplay for the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie, is tight-lipped about the much-anticipated sequel's storyline, but revealed to SCI FI Wire that it will be set in the 1950s.
That's in part to accommodate star Harrison Ford's age (the actor just turned 60), Darabont said in an interview.
Not surprisingly, Indy won't be facing down Nazis this time around, Darabont said. "We're going to give you some good villains, let me just put it that way," he said.
Darabont added that producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg are allowing Darabont (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles) to bring his own ideas to the script. "It winds up being a pretty good collaboration, a good exchange of ideas," he said. But, he added, "at the end of the day, I'll be writing what they ask me to. I'll be giving them the story that they want, so in that sense, I'm an employee. But a very excited and engaged employee. And what a fun project to work on."
When probed for specific details—such as the rumors that Indy will have a son—Darabont said, "If I told you, they'd kill me. I wouldn't leave here alive. I'm sworn to secrecy." Indy IV will begin production in 2004 for a release in 2005.
Luke Dies In Infinities
ark Horse's new Star Wars Infinities comic series takes on The Empire Strikes Back, looking at how the saga would have changed if Luke Skywalker had died on the ice planet of Hoth, the official Star Wars Web site reported.
In the first Infinities series, A New Hope, the story asked what would have happened if the Death Star had survived the Battle of Yavin.
The new four-issue series, which went on sale this week, features characters from the Empire movie, but in new situations. The first issue, written by Dave Land with art by Davidé Fabbri and Christian Dalla Vecchia, features cover art by Chris Bachalo and Tim Townsend.
Batman Vs. Superman Hinted
olfgang Petersen, who is slated to direct Warner Brothers' upcoming Batman vs. Superman movie, told MTV.com that the two DC Comics superheroes will clash over their beliefs.
"I cannot tell you what really gets them together," he told the site. "I can say that much of [the conflict] is because of the different philosophies that they represent. Superman represents sort of everything clear and bright and noble. He represents our hopes and ideals. Batman, on the other hand, represents the dark and obsessive and vengeful side."
Petersen added, "The plot is structured in a way that these two very different sides basically of the same coin have to clash at some point, because they handle situations totally differently. ... For a large portion of the thing they are at each other's throats. But then, of course, because they are both crime fighters, they join forces again and fight evil."
Seven writer Andrew Kevin Walker is working on the script, which Petersen said will contain villains, lots of action and absolutely no Robin, MTV.com reported. "We have a script that really very, very much concentrates on the characters," he said. "It's really material for two great actors." Petersen added that Batman vs. Superman will steer clear of the conventions laid down in each film series, though he admitted some degree of influence from DC Comics' World's Finest series.
Batman Vs. Superman To Fly?
olfgang Petersen will direct Batman vs. Superman for Warner Brothers, with the movie targeted for a 2004 release, Variety reported.
Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven) wrote the script, in which the two DC Comics superheroes are allies who come to blows, the trade paper reported. Petersen will produce with Diana Rathbun.
Word of the movie comes amid continuing development of similar Batman and Superman projects, including a new Superman to be helmed by McG (Charlie's Angels), Darren Aronofsky's Batman: Year One, a Catwoman movie and a live-action version of the Batman Beyond animated TV series.
Petersen is expected to begin shooting Batman vs. Superman in early 2003, with plans for five or six months of shooting, the trade paper reported. Petersen is also attached to a movie based on Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow books.
Bullock Drops Wonder Woman
andra Bullock told TV Guide Online that she won't be putting on the tights to play DC Comics superhero Wonder Woman in a proposed feature-film version of the series.
Contrary to longstanding reports that Bullock would play Amazon Diana Prince, Bullock said, "I just don't have the time or the capability to think that I can pull that off."
Who does Bullock think is best suited for the role? "Somebody who is really athletically inclined and can kick ass," Bullock said. "She's agile. She's like a cat. That's what it deserves. It deserves someone who can enjoy the camp, but also play the serious or the dark side. Because Wonder Woman has such a dark core to it, if [producers] embrace that, there's a couple of women that could do a good job."
German To Helm Blade III?
erman director Oliver Hirschbiegel (The Experiment) is in talks with writer-producer David Goyer to helm the third installment in the Blade movie franchise, Variety reported.
Hirschbiegel told the trade paper that he would be thrilled to shoot the third adaptation of the Marvel Comics series Blade the Vampire Hunter.
Blade II, in which star Wesley Snipes reprises the title role of the half-human vampire killer, made $125 million worldwide, the trade paper reported.
League Shoots In Prague
he League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, based on Alan Moore's graphic novel, began principal photography in Prague last week, Variety reported.
The film's start was delayed two days because of star Sean Connery's illness, though some background photography began June 28, the trade paper reported.
Steve Norrington (Blade) is directing the film, set in Victorian England, and Mike Nelson is line producer.
Cat Cast In Hat
ike Myers, Dakota Fanning (SCI FI's Taken) and Spencer Breslin headline the cast for the upcoming Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat for Universal Pictures/DreamWorks Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Based on the classic children's book, Cat begins principal photography in the fall at Universal Studios, with Bo Welch directing for producer Brian Grazer and his Imagine Entertainment, the trade paper reported.
Myers will play the titular feline, who magically enters the lives of a boy named Conrad (Breslin) and his younger sister, Sally (Fanning). Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer wrote the script for the feature-film version of Seuss' book.
Donner Talks Timeline
ichard Donner, director of the upcoming time-travel movie Timeline, told the Toronto Sun that he's aiming to use real sets to depict 14th-century France, as opposed to computer imagery.
"You swear it's real," Donner told the newspaper about the Montreal-area sets created by production designer Daniel Dorrance and his team. "These guys are fabulous. They are geniuses. You're so limited with the CGI. I've never done it, and I don't want to do it."
The Sun reported from one set, which included a medieval village and its ancient manor house at a farm outside the city. In the film, based on Michael Crichton's book of the same name, a group of 21st-century archaeology students journeys back in time to rescue a professor and finds itself in the midst of the Hundred Years War. Donner said he's making more than just an action film.
"This is not an action movie, per se," Donner said. He prefers "mystery and suspense thriller." "There are moments of action, but they come out of real, honest situations. If it was just an action film, I wouldn't want to do it," he said. Timeline is aiming for release in 2003.
Devlin Developing Noah
roducer Dean Devlin (Eight Legged Freaks) and his Paramount-based Electric Entertainment company have picked up Noah, an SF movie pitch from writers Jan Skrentny and Neal Tabachnick, Variety reported.
The action movie tells the story of a young scientist's battle for survival, the trade paper reported.
"Jan and Neal have created something totally original with the concept for Noah," Devlin told the trade paper. "The character of Noah becomes a sci-fi superhero, part comic book, part everyman. The scope and energy of this potential franchise material makes it a perfect project for Electric Entertainment."
Director Hosts Signs Special
. Night Shyamalan, director of the upcoming SF thriller film Signs, will host an ABC special called M. Night Shyamalan's Signs of Fear on July 22, the Zap2it.com Web site reported.
The hour-long program consists of 10 segments in which real people describe a terrifying experience that actually happened to them and how it affected their lives.
Shyamalan illustrates the accounts with clips from his own films, which include The Sixth Sense, and from others, including Poltergeist and Twister, the site reported. Signs, about crop circles, opens Aug. 2 from Disney's Touchstone unit; ABC is also owned by Disney.
Pratchett Wins Carnegie
erry Pratchett, author of the Discworld novels, has won the Carnegie Medal, the United Kingdom's most prestigious award in children's literature, BBC News Online reported.
One in every 100 books published in the U.K. bears his name, and worldwide he has sold 27 million copies of his books, the news service reported.
Pratchett has authored 28 Discworld books, each of which can be read independently, yet together they create a rich world of ideas, characters and stories, the BBC reported.
DreamWorks is also in pre-production on a film version of Pratchett's Bromeliad trilogy.
Campbell, Sturgeon Winners Named
ack Williamson's Terraforming Earth and Robert Charles Wilson's The Chronoliths tied for this year's John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the best science fiction novel of 2001, Locus Online reported.
Andy Duncan's "The Chief Designer" won the Theodore Sturgeon Award for the best short SF of the year.
The awards were presented July 5 at the University of Kansas, the site reported. At the same event, Donald A. Wollheim, James Blish, Samuel R. Delany and Michael Moorcock were inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
Locus Awards Presented
he 2002 Locus Awards were presented July 5 at Westercon in Los Angeles, the Locus Online Web site reported.
The awards are given to winners of the annual poll in Locus magazine. Complete poll results will appear in the August issue of the magazine. A list of winners follows.
SF Novel
•Passage by Connie Willis
Fantasy Novel
•American Gods by Neil Gaiman
First Novel
•Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
Novella
•"The Finder" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Novelette
•"Hell Is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang
Short Story
•"The Bones of the Earth" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Collection
•Tales from Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Anthology
•The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighteenth Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed.
Nonfiction
•Being Gardner Dozois by Michael Swanwick
Art Book
•Spectrum 8: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner, eds.
Editor
•Gardner Dozois
Magazine
•The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Book Publisher
•Tor
Artist
•Michael Whelan
Spectrum Finalists Named
rganizers announced finalists for the Spectrum Awards, awarded to SF&F works of special interest to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people.
The awards were created and are primarily sponsored by the Gaylactic Network, a national organization of gay SF fans and their friends.
The awards will be presented for works originally released in 2001. The award presentation takes place at the World Science Fiction Convention (ConJose), which occurs in San Jose, Calif., Aug. 29-Sept. 2. A list of finalists follows.
Best Novel
•Bouncing Off the Moon by David Gerrold
•Dreamer by Steven Harper
•The Ghost Sister by Liz Williams
•The Kappa Child by Hiromi Goto
•Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
•A Paradigm of Earth by Candas Jane Dorsey
•Point of Dreams by Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett
•The Song of the Earth by Hugh Nissenson
Best Short Fiction
•"The Anthvoke" by Steve Berman
•"The Devil and Mrs. Faust" by Ian Phillips
•"If on a Moonlit Night" by M. Shayne Bell
•"Kindred" by Alexis Glynn Latner
•"Love on a Stick" by Carrie Richerson
•"Passing" by Mark Tiedemann
•"Shiomah's Land" by Nisi Shawl
•"Soul of Light" by Catherine Asaro
•"Triangle" by Ellen Klages
Best Other Work
•Bending the Landscape: Horror, Nicola Griffith and Stephen Pagel, eds. (anthology)
•Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Joss Whedon (television)
•Charm School (comic)
•Codename: Knockout, Nos. 0-6, by Robert Rodi (comic)
•Green Lantern, Nos. 137 and 140, by Judd Winick (comic)
•Sextopia, Cecilia Tan, ed. (anthology)
•Trysts by Steve Berman (collection)
•X-Force, Nos. 117-118 (comic)
Miracles Explores Dark Forces
pyglass Entertainment's Roger Birnbaum, producer of ABC's upcoming supernatural series Miracles, told SCI FI Wire that the show will explore dark forces that pursue the protagonist, played by Skeet Ulrich.
"This is a show that will be watching this man, who's trying to find his faith again, exploring not just miracles, but all kinds of odd occurrences that are going around that we find are fueled by some sort of darkness, and the darkness is coming for him," Birnbaum said in an interview.
Birnbaum brought aboard David Greenwalt to run the show because of his experience on genre series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff, Angel, on which he served as executive producer. "He brings an enormous amount of expertise in handling shows that we at Spyglass have never done before," Birnbaum said. "This is our first foray into television."
Miracles begins shooting in August for a midseason timeslot. Birnbaum joked about ABC's decision to hold the series until January. "It wasn't my decision," he said. "That was ABC's decision. I think it had something to do with saving the best for last."
Lightstorm Takes A Lifetime
ames Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment company has picked up Twice in a Lifetime, a comedy fantasy film based on a pitch by Aaron Mendelsohn, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Lifetime tells the story of a man who is accidentally regressed to the age he was when he first met his wife. As he progresses back to his normal age over the course of 10 days, he and his wife get to relive their relationship and make it better, the trade paper reported.
Cameron and Lightstorm's Jon Landau and Rae Sanchini will produce. "This is a star vehicle for any actor to sink his teeth into; he'll get to play nine different ages in one movie," Landau told the trade paper.
Miramax Gets Bionicle
iramax Films will develop a computer-animated children's theatrical film based on Lego Co.'s Bionicle line of action figures, Variety reported.
The film, produced jointly by Miramax and Lego Media, is eyeing a 2004 release.
Under the deal between Miramax and Lego, the studio also gets certain distribution rights to a computer-animated, direct-to-video Bionicle movie slated for a September 2003 release, the trade paper reported. That film, Bionicle: Mask of Light, is being produced at Creative Capers Entertainment in Los Angeles.
The Lego Bionicle brand began as a story concept and appeared on the Web and as a comic book before coming to life as a toy, Variety reported. Aimed at boys 8-12, Bionicle toys are rooted in a single, multicultural storyline created by Lego, involving six heroes, known as the Toa, who join forces to collect legendary artifacts called the Masks of Power and defeat Makuta, an evil ruler who has taken over the island of Mata Nui.
TDK To Publish Disney Games
ame publisher TDK Mediactive announced that it had reached a licensing deal with Disney to publish games based on the Disney theme park rides The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean and the upcoming movies based on those rides.
The film versions of the rides are slated to hit theaters in 2003.
TDK will publish Haunted Mansion video games timed to the film's release; the games will be designed for most major video game platforms and are due around Halloween and the holiday season.
Pirates of the Caribbean games, also for a variety of platforms, will support the Pirates movie, but no release dates have been set.
USA Updates Night Gallery
SA Network announced that it will produce a new limited series that updates Rod Serling's classic TV series Night Gallery as part of its new development slate of original programming.
The new series will feature a two-hour movie with four stories of psychological horror. Other stories will be based on new material, as well as stories from modern best-selling authors and updates of classic Night Gallery episodes, such as one directed by a then 22-year-old Steven Spielberg.
Writers on the new Night Gallery will include David Pirie (Breaking the Waves) and Wesley Strick (The Glass House). Tom Thayer (The SCI FI Channel's original miniseries Firestarter: Rekindled) will executive produce.
USA Network is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Matrix II Release Date Set
arner Brothers set a May 15, 2003, release date for the upcoming sequel film The Matrix Reloaded, one day earlier than expected, Variety reported.
A second Matrix sequel, The Matrix Revolutions, will also be released in 2003, possibly during the holiday season, the trade paper reported.
The Reloaded date would mark the first time that Warner has released a film on a Thursday. Reloaded is aiming for a release on more than 3,200 screens eight days before the Memorial Day weekend—a pattern similar to that of Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones this year, the trade paper reported. Reloaded is still in production in Australia.
Salmon Never Says Die
ritish actor Colin Salmon, who plays M's (Judi Dench) number two in the upcoming James Bond movie Die Another Day, told Empire Online that he's thrilled to be working alongside Dame Judi.
"Judi's a dream, she's amazing," Salmon (Resident Evil) told the site. "We got her into iPods and MP3s on this job, so M is now a techno-babe."
Salmon promises that the 20th Bond movie will be special. "It's going to be really memorable," he said. "It's the 40th anniversary, and there's so many references for real Bond fans who know about the films. There are lots of references in the movie, it's one you definitely don't want to miss."
Bogus Potter Hits China
fifth Harry Potter book has popped up in China. Only it's fake, the Associated Press reported.
An anonymous Chinese author has impersonated British writer J.K. Rowling with Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-To-Dragon, the bogus new volume in the best-selling children's book series, the AP reported.
In the unauthorized book, Harry turns into a hairy dwarf after a "sour-sweet rain." The book features characters familiar to Potter fans, including the Dursleys and Harry's Hogwarts classmates Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy. The AP excerpted a portion of the fake Potter, which bears little resemblance to the real thing: "Harry is wondering in his bath how long it will take to wash away the creamy cake from his face. To a grown-up, handsome young man, it is disgusting to have filthy dirt on his body. Lying in a luxurious bathtub and rubbing his face with his hands, he thinks about Dudley's face, which is as fat as Aunt Petunia's bottom."
Rowling is at work on the real fifth installment, which is not expected to be finished this year, the wire service reported.
Mansion Film Takes A Ride
irector Rob Minkoff told SCI FI Wire that his upcoming movie The Haunted Mansion may affect the Disneyland ride on which it's based.
"They have a strategy at Disneyland that one of the things they have to do is bring people back to the park," Minkoff said in an interview. "[Changing staple rides is] the way they do it. ... When they have an opportunity to do something new, to give it a little bit of a reawakening, they're very excited."
The film tells the story of a family, led by patriarch Eddie Murphy, which moves into the titular mansion and has to undo a curse. Minkoff said the movie is only loosely based on the ride. "There are some of the images from the ride that we are going to incorporate into the storytelling, but really the goal is you'll watch this movie as its own thing. It's not about a ride. What will happen is you'll see the movie, and you'll go, 'Oh, I understand slightly differently what that meant [in the ride].' It will actually have more of an inflection on the ride than the ride will have an inflection on the movie."
Haunted Mansion is a dream project for Minkoff, who said he is a longtime fan of the theme park. "I've been going to Disneyland forever, and I've been on that ride so many times. I always said to myself, 'Wouldn't this make a cool movie?' When I got the call and they said, 'Do you want to make a movie out of this?' it was suddenly like, 'God, I guess I have to.'"
New Leap, Tremors On SCI FI
he SCI FI Channel, which is now a part of Universal Television Group, is developing a number of original series and films based on existing Universal titles, the network announced.
SCI FI will develop a two-hour movie based on the TV series Quantum Leap, which will also serve as a back-door pilot for a possible series. Series creator Don P. Bellisario will executive produce.
SCI FI will also develop a one-hour action series based on the Tremors series of movies, which will be scheduled for a January 2003 premiere. The films' creators, executive producers Nancy Roberts, Brent Maddock and S.S. Wilson, will work with series executive producer David Israel.
"Projects such as Quantum Leap and Tremors are exactly why SCI FI is excited about being part of the Universal family," said SCI FI president Bonnie Hammer in a statement. "We have an opportunity to access the rich Universal library—which includes a vast array of horror and sci-fi titles—to create new television experiences for a contemporary audience."
SCI FI Conjures Dream Team
he SCI FI Channel has ordered 65 half-hour episodes of The Dream Team with Annabelle and Michael, an "alternative reality TV" series that will explore the sometimes humorous meaning of dreams.
The series will be co-hosted by Annabelle Gurwitch (TNT's Dinner & A Movie) and psychotherapist Michael Lennox, an expert in dream interpretation, and will kick off in January, the network announced.
Stone Stanley Entertainment will produce the series, which begins production in Los Angeles in the fall.
SCI FI Wraps Taken
CI FI Channel, DreamWorks Television and executive producer Steven Spielberg wrapped seven months of principal photography in Vancouver on Steven Spielberg Presents Taken, the network's upcoming limited series about the alien abduction phenomenon.
Leslie Bohem (Dante's Peak) wrote Taken and executive produced it with Spielberg and Steve Beers. The 10-night television event premieres on SCI FI in December.
Taken tells the story of three families over four generations and their crucial roles in the history of alien abduction and government conspiracy. The story is told through the voice of Allie (Dakota Fanning), a young girl whose journey is at the heart of the stories. The cast includes Catherine Dent, Joel Gretsch, Steve Burton, Eric Close, Julie Benz, Anton Yelchin, James McDaniel, Desmond Harrington, Willie Garson, Matt Frewer, Desmond Harrington, Ryan Hurst, Ryan Earl Merriman, Michael Moriarty, Gabrielle Rose, Heather Donahue, Adam Kaufman, Andy Powers, Chad Donella, Emily Bergl and James Kirk.
Helmer Talks Resident Evil 2
esident Evil director Paul Anderson told the Empire Online Web site that he is at work on the screenplay for a proposed sequel, Resident Evil: Nemesis.
"I'm still writing the script at the moment, [and] that won't go into production 'til next year," Anderson told the site. "The sequel will be Nemesis, and it will be set during the same time period as the Nemesis game, so it will be survivors from the movie meet survivors from the video game."
Anderson added, "We're going to introduce Jill Valentine and Carlos Oliveira from the game and a few little surprises as well. Of course there's the Nemesis himself, too, the big dude." Anderson quashed a rumor that Mira Sorvino was in line to play Jill Valentine. "That is a rumor, no basis in truth there. I haven't finished the script, so we haven't gone out to anybody yet. I think I'll finish it before I decide on anyone in particular."
Anderson said he hoped to enlist Milla Jovovich to return to play Alice. "I certainly hope so," he said. "I'm writing her a kick-ass role at the moment, so she'd better come back."
Infogrames Gets T3 Rights
rench game publisher Infogrames announced that it has acquired the gaming rights to the upcoming sequel film Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
Infogrames signed the deal with C-2 Pictures and Intermedia.
Under the deal, Infogrames has the exclusive interactive rights for video games based on T3 and has the exclusive first option for interactive rights to any possible Terminator 4. The first T3 game is expected to hit store shelves in 2003, coinciding with the July 2, 2003, release of the film.
Infogrames is currently developing another title, Terminator: Dawn of Fate, for the PlayStation 2 gaming platform, based on the first Terminator movie. Dawn of Fate is scheduled for release later this year.
Disney Animator Kimball Dead
ioneering animator Ward Kimball, who helped modernize Mickey Mouse's look in 1938 and created the character Jiminy Cricket for the Disney classic film Pinocchio, died July 8 of natural causes, the Reuters news service reported.
He was 88.
Kimball, a member of Walt Disney's trusted team of artists known as the "nine old men," died at a hospital in Arcadia, Calif., the Disney Co. said in a statement. During a Disney career that stretched from 1934 until his retirement in 1973, Kimball animated or served as directing animator on such feature classics as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland, Reuters reported.
Two animated shorts he created for Disney—Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Bloom (1953) and It's Tough to Be a Bird (1969)—won Academy Awards, the wire service reported.
Bale Talks Equilibrium
hristian Bale, who stars in the upcoming SF movie Equilibrium, offered SCI FI Wire a peek at his character.
"I play a law enforcement guy, called John Preston, who lives in a society set in the future in a kind of non-specified country, where psychiatric drugs are enforced in order to create peace," Bale said in an interview while promoting his next film, Reign of Fire.
Bale added, "In eliminating hatred and anger, etc., they've also eliminated love and joy. And then through circumstances, my character doesn't take his dose and experiences emotions that he's never felt before. And what comes with that is incredible remorse about what he knows now are crimes that he's committed throughout his life."
The film is in the can, but has been delayed for reasons Bale couldn't explain. "I have no idea why it's been delayed so long," he said. "I have no knowledge of any problems whatsoever. And I don't know anything else. ... I expected that it would have been out before Reign of Fire." Bale added, "I believe it's coming out later this year." Reign of Fire, which stars Bale as a dragon fighter in the future, opened July 12.
Briefly Noted
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported that director Roland Emmerich is currently deciding among Montreal, Toronto and Prague as the location to shoot his upcoming SF movie The Day After Tomorrow.
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Mitch Pileggi, who played Assistant FBI Director Walter Skinner in The X-Files, told SCI FI Wire that he'd consider appearing in a second X-Files movie, if one gets made. But Pileggi added that he doubts that any X-Files film could answer all the questions some fans still have. "It's like every time they answer a question, it seems they pose two more, so it's a hard situation to try to answer all the questions," he said.
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LucasArts has posted a patch for its Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast video game, which fixes several problems with the game.
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Disney Channel announced a new supernatural sitcom starring The Cosby Show's Raven (formerly Raven-Symone), who is now 16, Variety reported. That's So Raven centers on a teenage girl who gets flashes of the future.
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The Ain't It Cool News Web site reported what it purports are casting spoilers for the upcoming seventh-season premiere episode of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which returns in the fall.
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The Dark Horizons Web site has posted early images from the upcoming supernatural horror film Ghost Ship, which opens Oct. 25.
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The first part of the two-part first-season finale of Showtime's SF series Jeremiah aired at 10:45 p.m. ET/PT July 12, with an encore at 10:45 p.m. July 14 on Showtime Beyond. In the episode, "Things Left Unsaid (Part One)," Jeremiah and Kurdy discover the traitor and search out the Brothers of the Apocalypse, who finally tell them the truth about the Big Death and the vital importance Thunder Mountain plays in the future of the world.
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Warner Brothers has awarded Mattel the right to produce toys and games based on its Batman, Superman and Looney Tunes characters, including Bugs Bunny, for the next five years, the Associated Press reported. Mattel has the right to make plush dolls, vehicles, games, action figures and other toys for upcoming movies and television shows featuring the characters.
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A spokeswoman for Madonna confirmed a rumor, first reported on the CommanderBond.net Web site, that the pop singer will make a cameo appearance in the latest James Bond movie, Die Another Day, as a fencing instructor, the Associated Press reported. Madonna will also record the theme song for the movie, which opens in November.
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The IGN FilmForce Web site reported that Jason Isaacs has joined the cast of the upcoming League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie in the role of Campion Bond, a British secret service agent and possible forebear of 007.
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A teaser Web site and trailer have gone live for the upcoming sequel film Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which has staked out a release date of July 2, 2003.
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The American Cinematheque will commemorate the 20th anniversary of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan with a screening at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 8 in Hollywood to kick off its Third Annual Festival of Fantasy, Horror & Science-Fiction, the official Star Trek Web site reported. The film's director, Nicholas Meyer, is scheduled to be on hand to answer questions after the screening, along with actors George Takei and Walter Koenig.
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Warner Brothers has moved the release date of its upcoming giant-spider movie Eight Legged Freaks to July 17, two days ahead of schedule, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Yahoo has posted new images from the upcoming movie Star Trek: Nemesis.
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James O'Barr, creator of The Crow, told the Comics Continuum Web site that he is working with producer Kevin Eastman to bring the character back to life, this time in animation. "These would be R-rated things," O'Barr told the site. "The plan is to do three 45-minute videos that can be cut together like one film."
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The CommanderBond.net Web site reported a rumor that Madonna will play a fencing instructor in her much-anticipated cameo role in the upcoming 20th James Bond movie, Die Another Day. The scene will take place at the Blades Club in London, the site reported.
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